And finally...

Baseball.. No longer America's past time, Baseball has been ruined by innuendo and rhetoric this decade. Steroids have been a bigger story than the play on the field. Great, Great players have been be destroyed by allegations of illicit use of performance enhancement drug. Barry Bonds, in my opinion the best player over the last 25 years is the poster man of this era. If he won a championship, the pundants would not know what to do with themselves. He won four M.V.P. awards and would have put records out of reach had teams pitched to him over the decade. He set records for walks, runs scored, home runs, that are hard to believe. I still contend that steroids can't help you hit a baseball and the amazing ability he showed this decade will not be forgotten by me. Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Andy Petitte had their names dragged in this steroid argument. Rafael Palmeiro and Jason Giambi too. Jose Canseco wrote a book the blew the lid off of the steroid epidemic in Baseball. f you stopped for a second and look at the names I have mentioned, that is baseball's royalty. Former M.V.P.'s, 500 club home run members, world champions in almost all cases. The game is looked through a skeptical eye by the public. It is a shame because baseball is still a beautiful game to watch. So on the field lets honor those for their work over the decade.
The team of the Decade is the New York Yankees. They played in 4 world series and won 2. They have the most wins. They deserve the award. The Red Sox are a close second with two wins. St. Louis was probably the best team in the National League. This decade had the curse of the Bambino end and the White Sox win a ring. The Marlins won again and then blew up the team. Arizona Diamondbacks won in an epic seven game series with the Yankees. St. Louis and Philadelphia won one each. The Anaheim Angels won one giving the American league a 6-4 advantage in championships. The trades and free agent signings of this decade left a mark on the game. The rich got richer and the poor got weaker. The Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Dodgers, Cardinals, and Phillies spent and the Royals, Brewers, Padres, Twins grew from within. Almost every team got brand new stadiums. Only the Mets did not take full advantage of their new digs. Houston, Detroit, St.Louis, Anaheim, Philly, Chicago White Sox got new stadiums and attendance grew in all of those cities. The Tampa Rays made it to the World Series despite having one of the lowest payrolls in sports history.
The player of the decade is going to be debated for years to come. Albert Pujols is the man most would say is the winner although Barry Bonds fans would beg to differ. Alex Rodriguez fans would chime in too. So would David Ortiz fans. Pujols does not have any steroid links to him but I am sure someone is going through his trash can as we speak. Curt Schilling is the Pitcher of the decade. He was apart of 3 world championship teams and the main reason that his teams won Championships. Greg Maddux and Roger Clemens got their win totals up to over 350. Rickey Henderson finally retired. Joe Torre quit working for the evil empire and joined the Dodgers. Mannywood is opened in L.A. and he leads the Dodgers to the Post Season. Pujols won 3 M.V.P.'s in the decade. He was runner up in two other years. Derek Jeter is still man in New York. He is on pace to get his 3000 hits in the next 2 years and continue to be a model citizen. Todd Helton is another great player who is on pace to get 3000 hits in the near future. The best hitter in this decade has to be Ichiro Suzuki. He came to America and has taken baseball by storm. He already has 2000 hits in less than a decade. He uses speed and an awkward hitting style that gets him on base better than we have ever seen. The Yankees had Godzilla who culminated his Yankees career with an incredible world Series. Randy Johnson pitched for several teams this decade. He won a couple of Cy Youngs and got his 300th win. Tom Glavine did as well. Rot Halliday and Brandon Webb are the future of baseball. C.C. Sabathia got paid in New York and Cliff Lee got jobbed in Philly. The Phillies had a run of M.V.P.'s with Howard and Rollins. Injuries caused Chase Utley and Raul Ibanez their chances but they have a formidable team going into the next decade. The Mets have been like the stock market this decade. Either really up or really down. Jose Reyes and David Wright and Johan Santana need to grow up and achieve their destiny. 2010 we will win the series.. I guarantee it!!! The Braves dominance came to an end in the decade and Bobby Cox and Chipper Jones are still going strong. The Cubs still have not won a world series. They had a chance in 2003 but Bartman caused them a chance with his interference in the 8th inning of a playoff game.
The All Star game determines who gets home field advantage.. How stupid is that? They want the players to care so much about a an exhibition game, it makes no sense. The Home run derby is still cool. Chicks do love the long ball. They love it so much that Instant replay was added to baseball only on Home Runs. The Umps went on strike and half of them got fired. One ump died at a game in Cincinnati on opening day. They still screw up calls but still are the best of all refs in all sports. They keep talking about speeding up the game and raising the mound. I say leave the game alone. Every thing averages out in baseball. The "Boss" finally stepped down. Espn and their scandals. Harold Reynolds and Steve Phillips are naughty. Fernando Vina took HGH allegedly. How about the F.B.I. going after Bonds and trying to get Jason Grimsley to give info about Bonds. Bud Selig becoming Commissioner has not been a bad thing. He really cares about the game and really loves Hank Aaron. Hell we all do. We lost Jack Buck and said goodbye to Harry Kalas and Ernie Harwell. Kalas died at the stadium in Philly. I loved his voice. He used to do NFL highlights after John Facenda died. Will baseball get its place back in America in the next decade? We shall see. I love baseball and hopefully they are doing all of the right things to clean up the sport. I still think that football will remain king but they have a labor situation approaching soon so we shall see if we will still love it after the strike. The 21st century started with the Yankees and Mets in the series. Maybe 2010 will too. I root for the Royals and Brewers to get back to being what they once were. The Orioles have so much history that needs to be rekindled. Pittsburgh Pirates too. You got two great teams in the Penguins and Steelers you got to find a way to match them. We look forward to more spending by the haves and more complaining by the have nots. The Minnesota Twins don't have a lot but with Mauer and Morneau they have a future. The Brewers could be the team of the next decade if the spend and don't break them up. Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton have started a renaissance in Tampa and the Marlins win because they play the game the right way. Then there is the Nationals.. Cleveland has to stop letting Cy Young talent go and stay healthy and win. We love OZZIE.. Keep it real OZ.