TheLounge
08-22-2007, 03:12 PM
Is anyone else confused by this season’s baseball schedule? It’s been bothering me for a while but the Giants game Monday against Florida is the last straw. Never in my life have I seen so many two-game and four-game series during one season than this year.
Two-game series have always been an anomaly. In the past, you’d see them on a team’s schedule maybe once a season. This season, the Giants have played in such series twice — Colorado and St. Louis — in back-to-back series in April.
The four-game sets are the ones that bother me. Not the traditional Thursday-through-Sunday. Those have been around for years. The Giants had two of those the first two weeks of May.
It’s the weekend series that overlaps to the next Monday. It’s not natural.
The A’s schedule is even more wacky. Four, two-game series (all in the first six weeks of the season). Three traditional four-game sets, two Monday-through-Thursday series and one Friday-Monday oddball.
It’s the odd-ball series I don’t understand. A Monday-through-Thursday, four-game set? Friday to Monday? It’s just not balanced. The baseball season has a rhythm to it and these crazy schedules are upsetting my baseball flow.
That and the fact the Giants and A’s have been irrelevant since July.
***
With the flick of his foot against D.C. United, David Beckham officially took control of the L.A. Galaxy. What was once Landon Donovan’s team is now ‘Dave’s World” and everybody else is just living in it.
It didn’t take the Galaxy long to strip Donovan of captain’s armband in favor of the team’s newest flavor. Nevermind the fact that Donovan is the face of American soccer and could use some of the marketing muscle given to Beckham.
In the last two games, captained by Beckham, he has two goals and three assists. Donovan has been just as deadly, scoring twice — off Beckham assists.
I’m sure Donovan isn’t complaining. He’s thrilled to be playing with a man who though he may have lost a step, still serves one of the best balls in the world.
***
Turns out I was completely wrong about Michael Vick. When the dogfighting allegations surfaced, I said in this space that Vick was probably no more than just a money man.
I was way off. He was knee-deep in one of the most vile, disgusting practices that I can think of. The rumors and myths about dog fighting that was occasionally reported on by the media over the years were brought centerstage with the Vick allegations.
I was initially torn when it was first reported Vick was working on a plea deal. I wanted prosecutors to throw the book at him but why should he be treated any different than anyone else? Everybody would take a plea deal.
But then you see pictures of dogs’ faces torn up from fighting. Or two dogs locked in battle. It makes my stomach turn. I can’t watch it.
I’ve changed my mind. If the prosecutors believe they have the goods against Vick —*a slam dunk — they owe it to the public to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.
Nathan Mollat can be reached by e-mail: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 117.
Two-game series have always been an anomaly. In the past, you’d see them on a team’s schedule maybe once a season. This season, the Giants have played in such series twice — Colorado and St. Louis — in back-to-back series in April.
The four-game sets are the ones that bother me. Not the traditional Thursday-through-Sunday. Those have been around for years. The Giants had two of those the first two weeks of May.
It’s the weekend series that overlaps to the next Monday. It’s not natural.
The A’s schedule is even more wacky. Four, two-game series (all in the first six weeks of the season). Three traditional four-game sets, two Monday-through-Thursday series and one Friday-Monday oddball.
It’s the odd-ball series I don’t understand. A Monday-through-Thursday, four-game set? Friday to Monday? It’s just not balanced. The baseball season has a rhythm to it and these crazy schedules are upsetting my baseball flow.
That and the fact the Giants and A’s have been irrelevant since July.
***
With the flick of his foot against D.C. United, David Beckham officially took control of the L.A. Galaxy. What was once Landon Donovan’s team is now ‘Dave’s World” and everybody else is just living in it.
It didn’t take the Galaxy long to strip Donovan of captain’s armband in favor of the team’s newest flavor. Nevermind the fact that Donovan is the face of American soccer and could use some of the marketing muscle given to Beckham.
In the last two games, captained by Beckham, he has two goals and three assists. Donovan has been just as deadly, scoring twice — off Beckham assists.
I’m sure Donovan isn’t complaining. He’s thrilled to be playing with a man who though he may have lost a step, still serves one of the best balls in the world.
***
Turns out I was completely wrong about Michael Vick. When the dogfighting allegations surfaced, I said in this space that Vick was probably no more than just a money man.
I was way off. He was knee-deep in one of the most vile, disgusting practices that I can think of. The rumors and myths about dog fighting that was occasionally reported on by the media over the years were brought centerstage with the Vick allegations.
I was initially torn when it was first reported Vick was working on a plea deal. I wanted prosecutors to throw the book at him but why should he be treated any different than anyone else? Everybody would take a plea deal.
But then you see pictures of dogs’ faces torn up from fighting. Or two dogs locked in battle. It makes my stomach turn. I can’t watch it.
I’ve changed my mind. If the prosecutors believe they have the goods against Vick —*a slam dunk — they owe it to the public to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.
Nathan Mollat can be reached by e-mail: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 117.