Saviors

Deception and regret. Two things in abundance during baseball’s Steroid Era, which can’t seem to end. When we thought that Bonds and McGwire were the main offenders, out come Pettitte and Clemens. And just when we thought we were past it, we learn that superstar Alex Rodriquez was using earlier in his career. Just when we thought we had a clean hero who could take down the dirty career home run record held by heavy steroid user Barry Bonds, Alex turns out to be just another cheater. How far could it go? Exactly who cheated? All of this treachery has tarnished America’s former pastime.
This tragedy is similar to the infamous Black Sox scandal in 1919, when Chicago lost the World Series intentionally to the Reds to win a bet. This event as well as the strike in 1994 brought baseball into a time of despair. Thankfully, the sport was saved both times. Babe Ruth took minds away from the Black Sox scandal by hitting home runs unlike anyone before him. The race to beat Babe Ruth’s home run record between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire, who were later found to be cheaters, brought baseball back to its glory days in the late 1990’s. So what will resurrect baseball’s grand reputation this time? There are some bright stars in the dark night that baseball has become.
Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera are incredible all-around players who bring excitement and flare to the game. Pujols, who was the 5th youngest player to hit 300 homers in MLB history, led his St. Louis Cardinals to a World Series championship in 2006. If he can stay healthy, his numbers could put him up with the best in the game’s long history when he hangs up the uniform for the last time. He and Cabrera each have a shot at winning this year’s Triple Crown. Cabrera is first in the American League in batting average, 2 home runs behind the AL leader, and 4 RBI behind the AL leader. Pujols is 1 home run and 2 RBI’s shy of the National League leaders, but will need a big boost in his batting average to claim the lead. But it is early in the season, so the averages fluctuate more than later in the year. These young studs can help get our minds away from the filth of the long-lasting Steroid Era.
They are plenty of other interesting twists in baseball to get fans excited. We have had three thrilling cycles, one from Orlando Hudson, one for Ian Kinsler on a day that he went 6 for 6, and one for Jason Kubel that he completed with a grand slam.
The standings have been extremely surprising and contradictory to what experts and logic believed they would be. After years of dominating the AL East, the Red Sox and the Yankees are struggling mightily while the Orioles and Blue Jays have found themselves out of the cellar for the first time in years. People thought that the Seattle Mariners would easily repeat the feat of 100 loses suffered last year again this year when star Ichiro went down with an ulcer. But the Mariners are 8-4 and comfortably in the lead in the AL West. The Padres were predicted to be one of the worst teams in baseball before the year mainly due to a low budget. Well, somehow the Padres are 9-3 and tied for first in the NL West. Amazingly, the Florida Marlins are in first place in the NL East at 10-1 despite sharing the division with the defending World Series champs in the Phillies and the bullpen-strong Mets.
Unfortunately, there have been significant struggles in New York. The Yankees are 7-6 and are having severe bullpen problems. Their greatest problem is the dismal pitching of Chien-Ming Wang. The two-time 19-game winner is 0-3 with an astronomical 34.50 ERA. He gave up 8 runs while just going 1 and a third innings in a 22-4 drubbing of the Bronx Bombers courtesy of the Cleveland Indians. The Indians scored 40 runs on the Yankees in the series. The Mets are sitting at 6-6 despite good starting pitching. Johan Santana has a chance at the pitching Triple Crown; he leads the NL in strikeouts and ERA and is one win behind the leaders. Main flaws for the Mets are stranded base runners and errors. Daniel Murphy’s dropped ball against the Marlins lost the game for Santana. The Amazins’ are four games back of the first-place Marlins.
The New York squads have plenty of potential and have a shot at the playoffs if they can turn things around. Hopefully baseball will continue to recover from the Steroid Era and supply kids with good role models for their futures.