It's 10:14am here in the east and I'm three days removed from my college graduation. So this is what "the real world" is like, huh? I've heard about this for what seems like forever. Colleges, these days, pride themselves on preparing us for the great wide world that is going to crush us if we're not ready.

My opinion.. honestly? Kinda boring.

Okay, I don't have a "job" yet, but I do have several things going on. I'm attending the Allentown Bartending School after the new year. That should be fun. My ultimate goal would be to get a job in a nice sports bar where I could talk sports all day long. I do that already, but my fiancee is not very receptive unless it about the Pittsburgh Steelers.

I'm also working in a new web series that I'm trying to pitch. It's called Guys With Girl Problems (cheap plug) and I think people will find it funny. I've spent the last 4 1/2 years in college working my tail off toward something I have little interest in. If I've learned anything in that time, it's that I need to be working toward something I believe in.

Wait a minute. This is a baseball blog, right? Sorry. On to baseball!

To quench my winter thirst for baseball in the wake of the Roy Halladay trade, I'm fixed on mlb.com eying the next big moves. One of today's headlines was regarding the fan voted "all-decade" teams. So I thought I'd weigh in.

Now I don't know all the rules here. From what I gather, this is like an AL/NL all-century team except just the 2000-2009 decade. So here goes.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

1B: Albert Pujols - No surprises here. They don't call this guy a machine for nothing. since breaking into the league in 2001, Pujols has hit .334 with 366 dingers and 1,112 RBI on his way to 3 MVPs and a World Series. Some guys would sell their soul for the career this guys has had in 9 years. If Ryan Howard had come into the league earlier than 2006, this might be a more difficult discussion, but Pujols is just undeniable right now.

2B: Chase Utley - Here comes the homer! Okay, yes I'm a Phillies Phanatic but you really can't argue with Utley at all. I don't even need to throw out numbers with him. He's going to go down as the greatest second baseman of all time, even better than Ryne Sandberg.

3B: Chipper Jones - This was a little tougher decision. Chipper has battled some injuries which kept him out the better of one or two seasons and he's getting up there in age. But I've been following his career since he was a rookie in 1995, A lot of people want to shy away from him but at the end of the day you can't deny what he brings to the plate. Yes, he moved around position wise, playing LF for a couple years, but he's always been a third baseman.

SS: Jimmy Rollins - This was by far the toughest decision because SS seems to be a forgotten position anymore. It was sexy in the 90's with Ripken, Jeter, A-Rod and Garciaparra but now I can only name maybe 5 starting shortstops in all of baseball without really thinking hard. For me, it came down to Jimmy Rollins and Rafael Furcal. I went with Rollins because he's been consistent and clutch and he's got an MVP trophy and a World Series ring. Furcal has neither. Plus, Rollins and his club have come up victorious in the last 2 NLCS of the decade.Compelling.

LF: Barry Bonds - I'll take the 2001-2004 Bonds who hit a billion home runs and won 4 consecutive MVPs. Not the 2005-2007 Bonds who played every other day and walked more than he ran. Literally. Steroids or not, the games count so he counts. He never could win a championship but he was playing in San Francisco. Gary Sheffield was a close second, but he spent a lot of the decade in the AL with New York and Detroit.

CF: Jim Edmonds - I had three choices for best CF of the decade. Edmonds, Andruw Jones and Carlos Beltran. Beltran only came to the NL at the trade deadline of 2004 so he's out. That left Jones and Edmonds. Both of these guys were staples in CF for one teams nearly the whole decade. There was a time where no fly ball was safe in St. Louis or Atlanta. I gave the nod to Edmonds because his numbers were a bit more consistent whereas Andruw Jones was more of a bell-curve. 

RF: Gary Sheffield - Yes, I know I mentioned him in the Left Field discussion, but Sheff really did spend more time in Right than Left until recently. I re-thought his career and despite spending 2004-2008 in New York and Detroit, he is still hands down better than the youngsters that have been in right for the rest of the decade. A shout out goes to Will Ferrell, i mean, Adam Dunn.

C: Mike Piazza - Even though he retired in 2008, Piazza still stuck out as the best of the unsung heroes behind the plate. He was one of the few to be feared at the plate and meant a lot to the city of New York following the tragedy of 9/11. Russell Martin, Brian McCann and the Molina family are all great catchers, but Piazza is up on the pedistal in my book.

P: John Smoltz - Picking just one pitcher out of, I don't know, A MILLION is a tall order. In the end, I went with Smoltz because he was part of what could be the greatest 1-2-3 rotation (Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz) of all time. AND he did what his team needed and stepped into the closer role and was nothing short of a lock. He was the Mo Rivera of the NL for 3 seasons.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

1B: Paul Konerko - This is tricky because the 1B/DH designation is typically one and the same. You can throw around names like Jim Thome and David Ortiz, but they were typically DH. Many First basemen in the AL are there for defensive purposes. Konerko played a lot of 1B in the decade and is one of the most overlooked players of the decade. So I'm going to show him some love in this blog at least.

2B: Alfonso Soriano - It's hard to remember his time in the AL since his astronomical contract in Chicago and his move to LF, but he was once considered the next great Yankee. After losing the 2001 and 2003 world series respectively, New York traded him away and teams have been overpaying for him ever since. Gotta give it up to a guy who looks like he weighs 150lbs but can power it to China.

3B: Alex Rodriguez - He still seems like he doesn't know what he's doing at 3B but what he's done at the plate greatly overshadows it all. A lot of his great work of the decade was done at SS but its undeniable who belongs at that designation, I had to give 3B to Rodriguez.

SS: Derek Jeter - In my book, he's still the last true great Yankee. I think he can be mentioned in the same breath as Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio and Mantle. I spent most of my life loathing the Yankee organization, but I always liked Jeter. He's a classy, old fashioned ballplayer. I really don't think I need to say anything else.

LF: Manny Ramirez - One of the many great products of the Cleveland Indians organization to experience success somewhere else. Manny has been Manny this whole decade and while his antics on the field have been somewhat comical, he been the best and most consistent hitter we've had outside of DH.

CF: Torii Hunter - Center Field used to be a premier position with guys like Mantle and Griffey Jr., but now teams usually want a speedy defensive center fielder and are lucky to find one that might be able to put the bat on the ball well enough to lead off. Hunter has done all that and more and he's done it year in and year out.

RF: Ichiro - He largely stays out of the media because he doesn't speak much English and he plays in Seattle. But Ichiro has started almost every All-Star game since he came into the league in 2001 from Japan and he's the one guy you DO NOT want to see when you're looking for a safe out. Many fans also discount his defense which is amazing. I remember watching him throw out a tagging runner on a frozen-rope strike from RF to third.

C: Jorge Posada - Consistency is big in my book. There are a lot of players that are hyped up because they have 1 or 2 big months, but I like the players who get it done day in and day out. Posada is one of those players who can hit almost anywhere in the lineup from either side of the plate and put the barrel of the bat on the ball. What more do you want from a catcher?

P: Roy Halladay - Yes, I know, I'm excited to see him in Philadelphia, but he was the workhorse of the AL for the entire decade. A Cy Young in 2003 doesn't begin to describe what he did for Toronto who otherwise had to think back to Joe Carter's series winning home run, but Mitch Williams and I don't want to talk about that. You could make a good case for Roger Clemens or even Andy Pettite, but both of them abandoned the AL for the NL in 2004, and Clemens has been baseball's version of Brett Favre ever since. So I had to take points away. Halladay has pitched around 200 innings a year in 6 of the last 10 seasons on his way to winning 139 games.

So there it is. My all-decade teams for the AL and NL. Of course there are arguments to be made and I'm open to any of them.

WELL HELLO THERE!

Just logged into the Blogosphere for the first time since the great Harry Kallas passed away early last season. It's been a hectic 8 months since my last post and I'm sorry I haven't been around to take part in all of the interesting stories that have been going on in the world of baseball in 2009.

I got engaged down in good ol' Disney World last May. I'm very excited about the wedding which will be this coming July 10th. I wish I could invite everyone. I also just finished up my last semester at Penn State and will be graduating on Saturday. So needless to say, I've had a lot going on and unfortunately my blogging had to take a back seat.

But it's time to end the silence. I've got so much to say and wouldn't rather say it anywhere else. I had some bad experiences during this past world series on facebook, and before I get into the sadness in my heart over the loss of Cliff Lee, I'd like to speak my mind very briefly.

Personally, I thought this had all the makings for one of the greatest and most competitive world series of all time. You couldn't have put 2 more evenly-matched, equally competitive franchises if it had been written by Bill Shakespeare himself. Unfortunately, the greatness that was the 2009 world series was tarnished by the thousands of New York and Philadelphia fans on facebook, running their mouths in the most vindictive, sadistic and downright awful ways. As if it had any effect on the game itself.

This is sports, people. It's a game. I loved the Phillies from the day I put on my first red cap, and as much as I may disagree with the Yankees' front office philosophies, or disagree with their impact on baseball, I'm never going to root for them to fail. I just don't believe in that anymore. There may have been a time in my young life when I did, but I've grown. And so should the rest of the world.

We all love different teams, but we should all love the game more. So let me take this opportunity to congratulate the New York Yankees on their World Series victory in 2009. It was well deserved and I hope to see a rematch in 2010.

**exhale**

Now, on to the 2009-2010 off-season.

I've been glued to ESPN and ESPN.com the last two weeks waiting to see what would happen with Roy Halladay much like I did mid-season when the possibility first rose. This is something Yankees fans might not be able to identify with since this is common occurrence in NY; but in Philadelphia, the possibility of acquiring someone like Roy Halladay is like Neil Armstrong landing on the moon. It just doesn't happen that often. If at all.

It didn't happen in July, but we ended up with Cliff Lee and he was nothing short of amazing in red pin-stripes. From the first time he put on that #34 jersey against San Francisco, Philadelphia was in love. The rest speaks for itself.

Now the rumors came up again regarding Halladay and again, this isn't something I'm used to. Late Monday afternoon I saw the ESPN ticker go across the screen that the Phillies had agreed to a trade, time stood still... Then, the ticker completed, and I found out that Cliff Lee was then traded to Seattle. My heart sank.

We went from having arguably the best 1-2 rotation in baseball, to the Roy Halladay we've coveted since last June. Since late October, there has not been a bigger celebrity in Philadelphia than Cliff Lee. He's everything the city wants in the pro athlete. He doesn't talk smack, he doesn't make empty guarantees, he just plays. If you're not sure, go search YouTube for a clip of Lee catching a Johnny Damon pop-up in game 1 of the world series and watch him calmly step back onto the rubber and prepare for the next pitch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKoUEhVYpmI

I'm not going to lie... man-crush.

Now he's a Mariner. He literally could not be any further away from us.

It's awesome to have Roy Halladay who is widely considered to be the best pitcher in baseball by everyone who has an opinion. His stats in the last 2 seasons are marginally better than Cliff Lee and he's been doing it in the AL East against the Yankees and Red Sox. He has the makings to be everything Cliff Lee was and more, but still, Philadelphia is left wanting.

I don't like the position he's in now. Philadelphia does not quickly forget. Lee was only a Philly for 3 months but it felt like he belonged. He was one of us. I have the eerie feeling that every pitch Halladay makes will be compared to Lee's. That's Philadelphia.

I'm not Reuben Amaro, and I suppose it's a good thing because I'm much more impulsive. I would have looked at the opportunity to have Lee and Halladay in the same uniform and not given a crap how bare the cupboard was. I would have done everything possible to sign Lee to an extension and keep Cliff and Doc in Philly for the next 4-5 years. Lee-Halladay-Hamels. That spells unstoppable.

Reuben said that his job was to put a championship caliber team on the field every year beyond 2010. I agree. But Reuben, your tenure as GM of the Phillies will not be measured in how many years your "could have" won the world series, it will be measured in how many years you did. 2008 belongs to Pat Gillick. You had the opportunity to, in essence, lock in a trip to the 2010 series, and have a great shot at winning it, and you balked. All because you wanted a couple of guys who might be good players 4 or 5 years from now.

In my book, that's a bad trade. I see your reasoning and I don't disagree with your job description. I'm glad you want to win year in and year out. But in Philadelphia, we don't just want to be competitive, we want parades down Broad Street.

The Yankees gave Joe Girardi number 27 because they wanted a 27th championship and they got it. Roy Halladay will wear 34, which happens to be the number of the guy he's inevitable replacing. They should have given him #3.

To many of us Philadelphia Phillies fans, the loss of Harry Kalas is like losing a family member. What makes losing a family member so difficult is the fact that we can't imagine our lives without them. You go to sleep every night confident that they will be there when you awake. When they aren't, it's an uneasy feeling that can't be described. That's the best way I can explain the emotion that Philadelphia is feeling right now.

A signature broadcaster is a rare thing in sports. We think of names like Harry Cary, John Madden, Marv Albert and - at least for Phillies fans - Harry Kalas. Made famous by his child-like excitement for the game and his signature catch phrase - "it's 'outta' here!" - Harry Kalas was more than just a voice to so many. In Philadelphia, he was synonymous with baseball.

He was there to announce the two Phillies World Championships, first in 1980 and just this past season.

It's an old cliché in baseball to 'play every game as if it were your last' and that's exactly how Harry announced. Even those who knew him well could hardly tell the difference between a loss or a win by Harry's voice, because he was equally excited no matter what the outcome was. It didn't matter if the Phillies were in a hunt to win the division or they were suffering their ten thousandth franchise loss. To Harry, time stopped with every fly ball deep to right field.

It's hard to imagine what life will be like when Philadelphia wakes up tomorrow morning and Harry isn't there. He sat in that booth for so many years; most of us assumed he always would. It's hard to imagine what will happen the next time Ryan Howard hits a fly ball deep to right field. Ryan hasn't hit a homerun yet that Harry hasn't called, just like so many Phillies.

In the minds of many of us, the Phillies won't quite be the same. For nearly 40 years, the Phillies hit a lot of long fly balls deep to right field and it was Harry's voice that willed them 'outta here.' Now, those hits will simply land safely in the crowd. They'll count for just the same, but they won't feel the same.

To Harry: our voice, our legend, our soul, but most of all, our friend.

We will always remember the joy you brought to all of our hearts.

We will forever miss you.

Godspeed, old friend.

Harry Kalas

1936 - 2009

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, children of MLBlogs.com; I come to you now with great humility and regret. After weeks of careful consideration and deliberation with my attorneys, advisers and family, I have decided to come clean.

I, William Scott Lentz of Reading, Pennsylvania, am guilty of using performance enhancing substances...

I know. I know.

"How could you?" you may say. "How could you tarnish yourself?"

While my original blog featured on the front page of MLBlogs.com last November was clean, I must plead guilty to using performance enhancers in December of 2008.

When I wrote "The Best Idea I Ever Had... Maybe" where I suggested Donovan McNabb join the Phillies bullpen, I tested positive for... gulp... SPELL-CHECK. I don't know what I was thinking, it was just the pressure of the moment I suppose. I hadn't written a blog in weeks and I knew that if I didn't post soon, I may be lost in MLBlogosphere obscurity. The blog started off well, but in the second full paragraph I tackled the word "arbitration" which I butchered. So I paniced. I right clicked on the word and selected the correct spelling, a spelling - I must sadly admit - that was not my own.

It doesn't stop there.

A few days later when I posted "C-C-C-Ya Real Soon!" I was on a kick. My McNabb blog drew critical acclaim and I liked the feeling, so I asked Jose Canseco to grease my keyboard with a thin layer of vasoline so my fingers could type faster and thereby allow me to blog faster. The post went by like a blur and before I knew it, it was posted. I wish I could take it back, but I can't. I was just lucky I convinced Canseco to leave me out of his next book. Don't ask me how I did it.

It all just happened so fast.

My third and final "enhanced" post was the fatal "Everything Baseball Should Be: And Everything Baseball Is Not." At this point, I was so engulfed in the ways of dishonest blogging I had no idea which way was up. I took all of my blog-rage out on the Yankees who were an easy target at the time. The blog was full of vasoline-enduced rants and spell-checking that allowed me to use words such as 'allegiance' and 'romanticised.' Words I would have never been able to spell naturally. And - as much as it pains me to say - the meatball line is from Seinfeld.

I am a fraud and I have put myself to shame. I'm embarrassed for myself, I'm embarrased for the Yankees and I'm embarrassed that I just stole another line; this time from Don Zimmer.

I must apologize to all of my fans. You all had faith in me and I let you down. I would like to announce that I will spend the remainder of my blogging career educating young writer about the dangers of spell-check. Children: 'spell-check' is unnatural so rely on your own spelling talents and do not take the easy way out.

I must also apologize to Jane, the most prominent member of Yankee-nation. I should not have taken out my blogging rage out on the Bronx-bombers and I am truly sorry. Let this be a lesson to you... Vasoline kills people.

Mark my words dear blogging friends, my resolve has never been higher than it is on this day. My blogging career is far from over and I promise you I will spend the rest of it proving to you that I can blog clean. You may see a few more spelling errors and a few less alliterations, but darn it, it'll be clean. Have faith in me!

January is a tough month for Major League Baseball. The players have had a good month or two off depending on when their respective seasons ended and they're starting to get that pre-Spring Training itch to get out there and play. Fans - not unlike all of us on MLBlogosphere - are feeling the full effects of baseball-withdraw and beginning to lash out at each other.

My girlfriend is a psychology major and she told me about a recent report on "winter-depression" that Americans suffer from around this time of year. It seems the human psyche is effected by the amount of sunlight we receive on a daily basis, and as the daylight of the winter season becomes shorter and shorter, we become more and more depressed.

The solution: More light!

This study reminds me of what we on the 'sphere' are suffering from this wintery season. I live on the east-coast in Reading, PA and we have been experiencing record-low temperatures. Tuesday night we had a high of 10°F and a -2°F wind-chill.  That's cold enough to make anyone forget about the green grass and the boys of summer.

So if the solution to "winter-depression" is more sunlight, perhaps the solution to winter baseball-withdraw" is more baseball. Unfortunately they don't make special incandescent light bulbs that make us feel like we're at the ballpark, but at the very least, I think we can all perk up our baseball spirits a bit with a few old-fashioned remedies.

1.       WEAR YOUR TEAM GEAR WHEREVER YOU GO!

Now, maybe I'm a little biased because my team just won the world series, but I still wear my 'MLB Playoffs' sweatshirt and 'NLCS Champions' wherever I go. No matter where I am, I am reminded of baseball and my favorite team.

 

My suggestion to us Northeasterners is to buy some winter team gear - a beanie or a jacket perhaps - and make sure you wear it every time you go out to shovel the driveway or pick up the mail.

 

    2.       GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!

It may ne early yet, but it's never too soon to get your tickets. Personally, I already have my opening day tickets to watch the Phils get their Championship rings. No, this idea won't make opening day come any faster, but it will give you something to look forward to doing. All you teenage girls can start making red 'X's' on your calendars until the big day arrives and start crafting your puffy paint 'Grady Sizemore' t-shirts.

 

3.       PLAY GOLF, AMERICA!

Ok. Maybe those of us who are being bombarded by arctic storms can't take part in this idea, but those of you who live in warmer climates have the opportunity to get out on the links and play a game that is a little bit like baseball. There's green grass, a few bunkers that can be confused for an infield and while the rest of your four-some is looking away you can call your shot over the left field fence.

 

Many of your favorite major leaguers take advantage of the same opportunity.

Does anyone want to share with me a possible legitimate reason for former MLB trainers coming out and slandering a former player's name? Maybe I'm a little out of touch sitting at a computer desk in the snowy, snowy northeast, but I don't see what anyone could possibly gain from publicly "blowing the whistle."

 

Let's be honest here. Brian McNamee and Kirk Radomski are nobodys.

 

Maybe they face a little trouble with the law for possession of steroids and they want to take someone down with them. Maybe they are taking all the blame for a steroids ring and they want to point the finger in another direction. Or maybe they have realized that they are culturally irrelevant to baseball and they want to make a name - albeit a bad one - for themselves. Either way you slice it, they're both cowards and they don't deserve to be written about.

 

It's no secret that I could care less about baseball players taking steroids, let alone former players. My question to you, though, is this: If Bud Selig is so dead-set on removing steroids from baseball, why is all the media attention revolving around former players?

 

Whatever happened with David Justice, Dwight Gooden, Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds happened a long time ago in baseball years. All Selig can do now is humiliate them and take away a possible Hall-of-Fame enshrinement, which is not really that big of a punishment. Selig can't remove the games that they played from history.

 

If Bud really wants to punish someone and make a difference, he would focus on players who are still on a Major League roster and take games away from their career. Denying a potential Hall-of-Famer absolution really makes no impact on the game itself and it upsets more fans than it does players.

 

So why do trainers who aren't so much as a blip on the baseball radar feel the need to do this? Why any of us ever feel the need to do this?

 

If you're that miserable with your own life it's just plain cowardice to blame other people. We are all responsible for our own lives and our own mistakes and we need to accept that responsibility.

I fully understand that I am an idealist and as such I can sometimes be accused of being a bit naive. I may look at situations and see the issues that most of us miss, but I assure you, I ignore nothing.

Last week I made the best case I possibly could for Mark McGwire's Hall-of-Fame vote. It's not easy with all of the speculation surrounding him, but instead of denying that he took steroids (because I have no idea if he did or didn't) I tried to analyze what is and is not a legitimate reason for voting someone into the Hall-of-Fame. I pointed out that we are not criminal investigators and even though we think we may know everything about a steroid user, I don't think we've even scratched the surface.

As much as I love baseball, I am willing to let a one or two time steroid user off the hook; even if that steroid user is a legend or a potential "Hall-of-Famer." Most of us writing about sports will never understand what it's like to compete at that level and I don't think anyone who doesn't has the right to call any of them cheaters. Sometimes professional athletes resort to drastic measures and make mistakes. They're not perfect just like we aren't perfect, and I don't think its right to hold them to such impossible standards.

That aside, I think I did a pretty good job. I may not have changed anyone's minds about the slugger but at least I made my case and I got my point across.

What more could a writer ask for?

This morning, however, I wake up at a crisp 7:45AM to a SportsCenter report that Mark McGwire's brother, Jay, is trying to publish a book about Mark's alleged steroid/HGH use. Needless to say, the brothers are not on speaking terms.

It's times like this, I am glad I do not have a brother. Sisters are better anyway. (She's mine!)

My family comes from a town which has been aptly named "The City of Brotherly Love." Growing up, I was always taught it was unforgivable to do something negative to your family. We fight just like every family fights but it has never resulted in anything beyond a week or two of the cold shoulder.

Jay McGwire should be absolutely ashamed of himself for so many reasons right now, I don't think there is enough room on the MLBlogosphere for me to write it all.

First of all, he is following in Jose Canseco's footsteps as a whistle-blower (they're not worthy of being called 'authors') who just wants some money. So they publish a collection of pages bound together (they're not worthy of being called 'books' either) that basically point fingers in every direction until someone end up getting a phone call from congress.

Second of all, the fingers are all pointed directly at his brother Mark.

I understand, Jay, that you might be a little bit jealous of your bigger bro. After all, he had a career and no one even heard of you until this morning. I know I didn't. But that's no reason to play the blame game and basically destroy what was left of your brother's image.

I don't know the degree of validity Jay McGwire's accusations have and I don't care. If they are proven true, I don't really have a leg to stand on when I argue for his Hall-of-Fame vote other than '1998 saved baseball,' but that isn't much. If they are proven false then it confirms that people will do absolutely anything for a quick buck, even if it means tarnishing the reputation of your own brother,

Either way, Jay McGwire committed a crime that even some of the worst serial killers wouldn't do.

I'm an avid follower of the three big medical dramas on TV. ER, House and Grey's Anatomy.Earlier this evening on the latter of the three, an interesting concept arose about the "grey" areas of life. Fitting for the show to have a subject line that connects to the title, it also fits well into our every day lives.

Growing up, we are all familiarized with the essential 'black and white' concepts; right or wrong, true or false, good touch/bad touch, and fair or foul. As we grow older, however, we begin to realize that not everything is as transparent. This is a part of life and a part of growing up that everyone goes through at different rates. To me, though, I find that far too much emphasis is placed on the 'what' in this world and not enough is placed on the 'why.' 

"WHY" is the greatest question mankind has the difficult opportunity to answer. In most cases, the question of 'why' simply cannot be answered, but is still the only question worth tackling.

Our world is based heavily on black and white and we have become a society that depends on the answer being decided for us. Baseball, for instance, is a system that clearly defines the black and white concepts such as fair/foul and out/safe, but also provides some of the gray areas such as the moving strike zone. No two strike zones are the same, even though they are supposed to be. Some umpires call 'em low, some call 'em high. Take also, for example, the different strategies of base running. A lone runner on second can advance at his own will and has to make a judgment of whether or not to stay at third on a base hit or try to beat the throw home. It's a grey area.

In baseball, as in life, there is no escaping the grey. A batter can't demand a different umpire for a different strike zone, just like we can't demand a different system to suit our needs. A good hitter has to adapt to the umpire they are given and use that knowledge to their advantage.

My advice to you all is to try and become comfortable with the grey's on our lives. Clinging to the black and white is a safe bet, but we really don't learn anything about ourselves or each other. If we all learn to accept the grey areas, maybe we can find some peace.

Why not?

I had a comment on my last post and my response to it became so long that I figured I may as well make it another post.

The comment came from Julia over at Julia's Rants. Here's the comment:

Scott - I don't think you can compare the possible use of PEDs (a CHOICE someone makes) with someone who struggles with alcohol abuse (NOT a choice). I have to agree with those who feel that McGwire, Clemens, Bond and others don't deserve to be in the HOF because of use of PEDs. I also agree that Pete Rose doesn't belong in the HOF because of gambling. When a player makes the decision to do something that violates the rules of Baseball then they have to live with the consequences. There is a difference between behavior that we might not approve of - but doesn't violate MLB policy - and behavior that does.

~Julia

Here's my response:

DISCLAIMER!: Julia, this is not an attack on you and please don't take it that way. My response was just so long I wanted to make it a post. I respect you and your opinions, this is just my response.

Jules,

I can certainly see why the majority of people don't believe accused steroid users belong in the hall of fame, and their argument is certainly legitimate, as is yours.

But I have to disagree with you when you say we can't compare steroid use with something like alcohol abuse. First of all, everything is a choice. Addiction - whether it is alcohol, gambling or tobacco - is no exception. We make our choices in life and when those choices become too overwhelming, we are quick to write it off as "not our choice" so we feel like it's not our fault. It was always our choice, just like using steroids is a choice.

I never liked the term "Performance Enhancing Drugs" because it doesn't tell the whole story. A lot of things can be considered "performance enhancing" - coffee, red bull, cigarettes, even Gatorade - but steroids has medical risks if not used properly, which is why everyone is in such an uproar. But somehow, we label anabolic steroids as "Performance Enhancing" and they sound like a forbidden fruit instead of a medical necessity, as it sometimes is. There are plenty of major leaguers playing today only because they were prescribed steroids to help them return to play. Everyone who ever had Tommy John's surgery has steroids to thank for the rest of their career. Should we consider all of the stats they accumulated afterward as "cheating." No, because they have a doctor's note, McGwire, Bonds and Clemens don't.

There's still way too much smoke around steroid use in baseball to let it effect Hall-of-Fame voting just yet. Some say that steroids enhanced Mark McGwire's performance "significantly," yet there are no positive tests, no court ruling, nothing, just a suspicious statement at a congressional hearing five years ago and the word of Jose Canseco. Damning as it was, I don't think it's right to keep Mark McGwire out of the hall because we suspect he used steroids.

My point is, Hall-of-Fame voting should be based upon on-field performance and nothing else. There are a thousand different things athletes use to enhance their performance, anabolic steroids is just one of them. Mark McGwire supposedly used steroids when there was no steroid policy, so he broke no rules. Yet, we continue to act as a society who judges people on standards we ourselves can never meet. At our jobs, we use all kinds of things to "enhance" our performance. But should a business person be denied a raise because he used a caffeine pill to stay up all night and finish the presentation? Should my writing be considered "phony" because I use spellcheck?

Don't get me wrong. I am definitely against steroid use in baseball, but not because I'm afraid of someone hitting more homeruns than someone else. I'm concerned because of the danger of their use. Plain and simple. Without doctor supervision, steroids can be dangerous or even kill you, and that's why I want to keep them out of sports. 

The crusade against steroids is something I support but not if it is going to be a witch hunt against former players. We aren't going to remove the numbers from the record books so we can't take them away from the player either. Major League Baseball is going to keep McGwire out of the hall but they have no qualms about celebrating the magic of the summer of 1998 at the same time.

I support the cause, but I won't support hipocracy.

~Scott

P.S. Pete Rose gambled when he was a manager, not a player. He broke the rules after he put up the numbers and played the game. Ban him from managing, ban him from commentating, that's all fine, but you can't keep the all-time hits leader out of the Hall-of-Fame because of something he did as a skipper.

I don't know how a guy's supposed to write about baseball at a time like this. Since the Mark Teixeira signing, little has happened. At least, little has happened that I'm interested in. The Marlins may or may not sign Pedro, Michael Young wants to be traded rather than play third base and Manny still has no place to hang his size 42 extra husky pants.

My Penn State Nittany Lions lost the Rose Bowl (to no one's surprise) and the Philadelphia Eagles may just be following in the Phillies footsteps on the way to an unprecedented second major sports championship for Philadelphia in as many tries.

Some may find all of this incredible but I choose to envoke my signature catch phrase:

"Meh."

The catch phrase is not as cool if you can't see me shrug my shoulders as I say it, but this isn't the ML-VIDEO-Blogosphere. 

In all, I am very bored right now and I must apologize to all of the dedicated fans of my blogs.

Sorry, Elizabeth and Kaybee! May your tears be dried by the man of your dreams!

The Hall-Of-Fame vote did take place earlier today and the hallowed hall will now open its doors to Ricky Henderson and Jim Rice. Congratulations to the both of you. What an incredible honor.

Now, I don't have a Hall-Of-Fame vote officially. Not yet, anyway. But if I did, I would still haveto write the name "Mark McGwire" on my ballot. Agrue as much as you want, but somehow we keep holding things against guys like him in the court of public opinion.

Maybe he took steroids, maybe he didn't, I don't know, I'm not a criminal investigator just like every other sports writer who won't vote for Mark McGwire. But we're still going to treat him like he did, aren't we? We're still going to act like it because we don't dare risk the "integrity" of the hall-of-fame.

It's the hall-of-fame, not necessarily the hall-of-model citizens. Many will say McGwire and Bonds cheated but all they really did was cheat better than most others. We'll easily deem the mid 90's to 2005 as the "steroids era" which implies that most everyone was using steroids at that time, yet we still hold it against the guys who were still the best.

If a lot of guys were on steroids when Mark McGwire was chasing Roger Maris, how come he was the only guy hitting all the home runs? Is it possible that despite the roids he may or may not have taken, Mark McGwire was still a strong and talented slugger?

Babe Ruth had his demons (most of which ran $45 an hour or came from cuba) and Mickey Mantle struggled with an alcohol abuse problem. As much as we want, expect and demand ball players to be perfect, sometimes they aren't. Why do some make the hall-of-fame but not others?

All else aside, Mark McGwire had 583 home runs, good enough for 8th all time, better than Mantle, Ted Williams and Jimmie Foxx. By that case alone, how can you not vote for Mark McGwire?

Maybe no one's going to give me a hall-of-fame vote anytime soon, but as long as I have my opinion and as long as I still remember the summer of 1998, I will vote for Mark McGwire.