Beating a dead horse... you are nuts if you are against Interleague Pleay

The Red Sox and Rockies are squaring off...
The Rox beat the Sox in a thriller last night in their match up since the 2007 World Series, and the Rockies got revenge on Jon Lester, who won the clinching game in in '07, by beating him and also on World Series MVP Mike Lowell who was retired for the last out.

The Sox offense will probably come back in the thin air and deep power alleys of Coors Field.

But on the mound tonight for Colorado is Ubaldo Jimenez.

He's having a mind boggling first half of the season and is the Cy Young front runner.

Shouldn't the Cy Young winner have to face all the best teams in the game? The Red Sox have the second most wins in the big leagues and Jimenez is facing them while they are hot, last night's loss not withstanding.

And he could be getting revenge for Game 2 of the 2007 World Series... a game where Jimenez pitched and actually had the lead for a few innings before the Sox clawed a pair of runs off of him to get the lead and the win.

You don't get this match up in a regular season game without Interleague Play.
There isn't this kind of intrigue about a late June game if it were two contending teams in the same league.

And yet some lunatics will still say it should be abolished.

And THIS lunatic will continue pointing out how insane that point of view is.
I don't care if the horse is dead. Give me that whip!

Jimenez vs. Mauer ... YOU WOULDN'T WANT THAT Interleague Foes?

JUST as I finished typing my last entry about Jimenez pitching against the Twins, Joe Mauer came up to the plate.

The front runner of the 2010 National League Cy Young Award faced off against the defending American League MVP.

The crowd loved it... taking pictures of the match up.

It is PRECISELY the unorthodox head to head match ups that Interleague Play has in mind.

Mauer lined out in a bang bang play where the runner at first was doubled up.

Jimenez goes 8 strong with 1 run... ups his record to 13-1 and has a 1.15 ERA now. And Twin fans got to see on a beautiful June day a match up they wouldn't normally see.

Ohhhh. So bad for baseball!

Jimenez is on the mound... and Interleague Play opponents HATE IT

It's a beautiful day game in Minnesota. A decent crowd is on hand and they are getting a real treat. Ubaldo Jimenez is on the mound for the Colorado Rockies.

He's having a Cy Young caliber season and his ERA ROSE to 1.16 in his last win in Denver. He's having a remarkable season, looking to be the first starting pitcher since Roger Clemens in 2005 to finish the season with a sub 2.00 ERA and enough innings pitched for the ERA title.

And remember he's doing that pitching half of his games in DENVER!

So Twins fans will get a chance to see Jimenez pitch against Morneau (sadly Mauer isn't playing) in the beautiful new park. And they are seeing him at his peak... and they probably wouldn't see him again for a few years as the Interleague Matchups rotate.

It's a good fun and unusual day for baseball... and again it shows the opponents of Interleague Play have got NOTHING.

If this were a game in Houston, or Pittsburgh or Arizona there would be nothing unique about it. The Rockies come through a few times a year anyhow.

But here Twins fans have a chance to see their team face someone having a possibly historic season.

Keep games like this in mind the next time you hear some of the same sorry bogus complaints about Interleague Play!

Going into the season who thought a Rockies/Twins game was going to be interesting?
Probably as many people who circled a Nationals/Indians game on their schedule.

It's good for baseball... especially in mid June when the excitement of the season starting has worn off but it is still too early to feel like a pennant race.

Deal with it folks. Interleague Play works and it is cool.
Sorry things that work and are cool upset you.

(By the way, he threw shutout ball into the 8th. The Twins are now rallying. The crowd is into it. Better not have THAT happen on a June day!)

Strasburg is doing is again...

So far so awesome for Strasburg.
5 strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings with no walks!

A packed house in Cleveland getting their only chance to see Strasburg before the 2016 Presidential campaign.

(But foes of Interleague Play think this is bad for baseball... I guess reality is difficult for some people to process.)

People against Interleague Play are WRONG! Reason #2,893

Oh people spend each year writing about Interleague Play being dumb and past its worth.

And each year the people who write that look stupider and stupider.

Their reasons make less and less sense. And they are always contradicted by things like "facts" and "reality."

I know I covered a lot of this earlier when I wrote my people against interleague play are morons post, but it is now beyond opinion.

One of the insane reasons that people say Interleague Play is obsolete is the match ups.

"Who cares about the Orioles versus the Marlins?" et al. As if an Orioles versus anyone is a riveting match up.

But I bet one of the pairings that would have been ridiculed would be the Indians and the Nationals.

Starting the season, it would be a 97 loss Indians club taking on the worst team in the game. Who cares?

And even with the Nationals playing better than expected, they are two sub .500 teams with no history between each other facing off.

Two also rans between the AL team with the worst attendance in the league facing a team with one of the worst attendance numbers in the NL.

Who cares? Just another terrible Interleague Matchup.

And it will be sold out and on National TV!

Why?

Stephen Strasburg is making his second start... and he's doing it in Cleveland.

The team with the worst attendance in the game will probably be jumping and buzzing with excitement. There will be excitement in a regular season game in June.

This will be Strasburg's only trip through Cleveland until probably around 2016.

Fans want to see the phenom up close and for real. It will probably be the biggest game in Progressive Field all season long.

And it would NOT happen if not for Interleague Play.

So keep that in mind, all of you morons who say "They should get rid of Interleague Play."
You are depriving cities not only of the natural cross town rivalry games, but also those unexpected match ups that no schedule make can predict.

If you are against interleague play, I want you to watch the game in Cleveland tomorrow and say "this would be better if it were Nationals vs Diamondbacks."

Once again, the argument has no leg to stand on.

Hey Interleague play haters... you've got NOTHING

As I wrote earlier, only morons criticize Interleague play.

I don't always respect other people's arguments and opinions if their arguments and opinions are baseless.

I don't respect Intelligent Design supporters. I don't respect the Birther movement. I don't respect the people who say Interleague Play is bad for baseball.

And among the argument flung at me like a simian tossing their waste was how unfair it is. "The Yankees get to play the Astros but the Red Sox have to play the Phillies. IT'S NOT FAIR!"

Well here's a way to counter act that injustice... just like the Sox did in May... WIN THE GAMES!

The Sox took have taken 4 out of 5 from the Phillies so far this year and will look to make it 5 of 6 tomorrow.

It's so unfair... for the PHILLIES.

Nonsense.

Complete and utter nonsense.