As of September 7, 2009 the Milwaukee Brewers were 14 games back in their division and 10 1/2 games back of the Wild Card lead. They were coming off a victory over the San Francisco Giants at their home park. Milwaukee dropped the first two games, but came back in the third to tie and eventually win in extra innings. In dramatic fashion mind you. Bottom of the twelfth, self proclaimed vegetarian slugger Prince Fielder drives a ball to deep right field. It does clear the wall for a game winning walk-off home run. We all get caught up in the moment whether we are the player, fan or broadcaster. It’s an exciting moment that I have been present for both as a fan and a broadcaster. I was there in 2002 as a season ticket holder for the Angels when they had that magical season. Many come from behind walk-off wins that year. I was a broadcaster for the 2008 Long Beach Armada team that had four straight walk-off wins in a row. You don’t see that very often. There are many unwritten rules in this sport and you don’t know how someone will react to the way you celebrate that dramatic win. Many took issue to Mr. Fielder’s.

Prince approached second base and began to untuck his shirt. Rounding third he gives his teammates a look and they all began to brace for something. I thought he was going to slide into home like Rickey Henderson did when he set the all time runs scored record with a home run. Nice. Anyway Prince didn’t do that. He jumped as high as he could, came down on home plate and the entire Brewer team proceeded to fall down like an earthquake just happened (see above). My first reaction was, “I’ve never seen that before.” My second thought was, “that was very creative.” My last, “someone is going to get pegged.” Luckily that was the last of a three game series between the two. And luckily for Prince, the last meeting of the season.

Torii Hunter of the Angels said this after being asked about the celebration,

“It’s all TV, acting, until someone gets hit with a pitch in the chin. I’m old-school. I could never do that.”

Joe Saunders voiced a similar opinion,

“It was original. Fans like to see it. But as a player, it’s a little over the top.”

Fielder thought of the celebration in a different light,

“It was fun, especially the way the season is going now for us,” Fielder said. “It’s always good to have some fun.”

Now all three are correct in their quotes. Torii is of the old school sector of Baseball that doesn’t like an entire team to show up the other in victory. Joe was right that the home town fans will love it, but what about the opposing dugout? Prince is also right. You are playing a game and you want to have fun no matter what place in the standings you are at that point. I had no beef with the celebration, but if I were to do something different, I wouldn’t have untucked my shirt going to second. It sounds weird to complain about that, but it just seemed to be too much. You do need to realize that you didn’t win the World Series. It was a September game that ended in dramatic fashion that affected the Giants season more than the Brewers. Oh, and a triple play was turned by the Brewers in that game to. You gotta love Baseball.

With the All-Star break being the halfway point in the MLB season it’s time to decide who is worthy of taking home the individual hardware. Be it MVP, Cy Young, Rookie, Manager or my newest one, best story. Lets see who wins the individual awards for the first half of 2009.

AL MVP: Justin Morneau 1B Minnesota Twins

NL MVP: Albert Pujols 1B St. Louis Cardinals

Close second in the AL goes to Angels CF Torii Hunter. What he has done in a lineup without Vladimir Guerrero for most of the year is amazing. Morneau though has been a constant force. Remember, he’s been doing this without Joe Mauer in the lineup for almost the whole first month of the season. .311 batting, 21 HR and 70 RBI. Those are the best all around numbers of any first baseman in the American League. The Twins would not be where they are in the standings without Morneau’s consistent bat. What else can I say about Pujols other than he is a threat for the triple crown. Again. .332, 32 HR and 87 RBI. Fourth, first, first respectively leading in those categories. Is there really anyone else?

AL Cy Young: Zack Greinke Kansas City Royals

NL Cy Young: Tim Lincecum San Francisco Giants

Both of these pitchers are going for the Triple Crown in their leagues. Greinke sports a league leading 2.12 ERA. Lincecum is second at 2.33. Greinke and Lincecum both have 10 wins. Greinke has 129 strikeouts to put him at third. Lincecum leads with 149 strikeouts. I could make a case for Roy Halladay in Toronto or Dan Haren in Arizona, but both have won this award until further notice.

AL Rookie: J.A. Happ Pitcher Philadelphia Phillies

NL Rookie: Andrew Bailey Pitcher Oakland Athletics

It was no fluke that Bailey was selected to the All-Star game. Well, part of it was the Selig rule that every team must be represented, but aside from that this kid has put up some impressive numbers. In 39 relief appearances he has struck out 60 batters in just over 52 innings pitched. A WHIP under 1.00 and an ERA at 1.92. Oh and also getting 10 saves. Not bad considering the state the A’s are in now. Happ is a good story and has backed it up with solid outings. A perfect record of 6-0 while starting the season in the bullpen, but later put back in the rotation to stay. With an ERA of 2.90 and a WHIP under 1.20 while playing in Philadelphia is very impressive. Colby Rasmus of St. Louis deserves some consideration, but I award it to a Phillie.

AL Manager: Jim Leyland Detroit Tigers

NL Manager: Ken Macha Milwaukee Brewers

Now there were a lot of choices in the American League. Especially in the AL West with Ron Washington, Don Wakamatsu and Mike Scioscia. But who had the Tigers in first place at the half way point. No one, so put your hands down. The Tigers were predicted in a lot of circles to finish last in the Central. The bats are back to life and the pitching has not thrown them out of games. Jim gets all the credit for this turnaround. Macha is the only winner at this point in the NL. I expected the Brew Crew to hit their way to the top, but the pitching has turned from a weakness to a strength. Granted they haven’t had any debilitating injuries, but like with the Tigers who thought the pitching would help. Trevor Hoffman was not a bad pickup for that bullpen.

Best Story: Angels

Not only losing a teammate, but with the injuries mounting up and the inconsistent bullpen which was a strength, they enter the break in first place. Scioscia would be a good pick for manager of the year, but he gets credit for best story. This team was written off when Vlad went down, but Torii Hunter and Juan Rivera stepped up. Chone Figgins is having a career year with Jered Weaver leading the starting staff in wins with 10. The bullpen struggled mightily in the first two months, but has turned it around thanks to Brian Fuentes leading the majors with 26 saves. This is one of many good stories this season, but this has been playing out since the season started.

Taking a break from the return of the dummy known as Manny Ramirez, I bring you my American and National League All-Star teams. I’ve followed the rules of having 33 players on each roster, a player from every team and selected those that are deserving whether they will play or not. Hopefully the real selections this Sunday will be made correctly and there won’t be any snubs (there will be though). And yes if you haven’t heard, Manny is back. Good grief.

Pitchers
Minnesota Twins Joe Nathan
LA Angels Brian Fuentes
New York Yankees Mariano Rivera
Boston Red Sox Jonathan Papelbon
Toronto Blue Jays Roy Halladay
Texas Rangers Kevin Millwood
Seattle Mariners Felix Hernandez
LA Angels Jered Weaver
*Kansas City Royals Zack Greinke
Detroit Tigers Justin Verlander
Detroit Tigers Edwin Jackson
Boston Red Sox Josh Beckett
Cleveland Indians Cliff Lee

Notable omissions: There are many more closers I could choose, but I think four is good enough. You have to remember if this goes extra innings, you need at least two starters to go the distance. Unfortunately it happened last year, but it was still a great game nonetheless. Cleveland’s Cliff Lee I included mainly because of his ERA (2.92) on a losing team. Probably no Cy Young this year, but he is an All-Star in my mind. Detroit’s Edwin Jackson only has 6 wins, but his ERA (2.49) is second only to Greinke. The rest I can’t leave off the roster simply because they are so good.

Catchers
Cleveland Indians Victor Martinez
*Minnesota Twins Joe Mauer

Notable omissions: The only ones of mention are A.J. Pierzynski of the White Sox and Mike Napoli of the Angels. If Martinez was having a poor season like last year, then I would go with one of those two I just mentioned. How can you go against these two?

Infielders
*2B Toronto Blue Jays Aaron Hill
2B Texas Rangers Ian Kinsler
*SS Tampa Bay Rays Jason Bartlett
*3B Tampa Bay Rays Evan Longoria
SS New York Yankees Derek Jeter
1B Minnesota Twins Justin Morneau
*1B Detroit Tigers Miguel Cabrera
1B Boston Red Sox Kevin Youkilis
2B Oakland Athletics Adam Kennedy
3B LA Angels Chone Figgins

Notable omissions: Yes, Kennedy over Pedroia. Why? Following the rules. Kennedy is the only Athletic on the roster. He is the leader in batting at .291 for Oakland and was batting well over .300 for quite some time this season. Mark Teixeira is well deserving, but not anywhere near a .300 batting average. Morneau, Youkilis, and Cabrera are. Scott Rolen and Brandon Inge are having All-Star seasons. Great numbers, but I have seen Figgins more. He will be an asset if he is on the All-Star team. He can play anywhere and will be a great weapon off the bench for Joe Maddon. He was the bench coach of the Angels before his time at Tampa Bay.

Outfielders
Toronto Blue Jays Adam Lind
*Tampa Bay Rays Carl Crawford
Tampa Bay Rays Ben Zobrist
*Seattle Mariners Ichiro Suzuki
Minnesota Twins Jason Kubel
*LA Angels Torii Hunter
Chicago White Sox Jermaine Dye
Baltimore Orioles Adam Jones

Notable omissions: Only Boston’s Jacoby Ellsbury and the Angels Juan Rivera were the toughest ones. If you haven’t heard of Ben Zobrist. You will now. The numbers he has been putting up are phenomenal. Get used to seeing Adam Jones here. He is a younger version of Torii Hunter. Jason Kubel and Adam Lind are having breakout years. I’m satisfied with this group and don’t be surprised if this comes close to the actual roster.

I’m really at a loss. How can things get any worse for this once great pastime. Yes, I said once great. I mean, I want to think that what I watch during the highlights on TV and at the ballpark is legit. I have had it. Alex Rodriguez came as no surprise to me just three months ago. Heck even half the players named in the Mitchell Report didn’t surprise me either. I’m at a loss. I can honestly tell you that in my eyes Baseball has lost all its legitimacy with me. How many more big names are going to get popped for taking steroids or an “illegal substance” as they would like to call it. If Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals and Johan Santana of the New York Mets, arguably the best hitter and pitcher in the game today got caught with a positive test. Would you be surprised? You know my answer.

I had the thought that when steroids in Baseball was the hot topic and the powers that be were trying to decide what to do, I had a radical idea. Banishment for life. There are two prime examples of this and they both have a common crime with them. That of course being the 1919 Black Sox scandal and Pete Rose where gambling was involved. The cardinal sin in Baseball is gambling. Two sure Hall of Famers, Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose have been banned from Baseball for life. They cheated the game. That’s how it is written and always will be. You want a deterrent. One word, BANISHMENT. You want to clean up the sport. You get caught once your “outta here.” Asterisks are not going to solve anything. Three strikes and your out will not send the message. Anyone gets caught goes away for life. Simple as that.

(Hey LA, I just screwed you over)

Back to the Dummy (see above). I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. That lasted for only a second. You say it was a prescribed medication from a doctor that resulted in the positive. Okay, fine. We’ll let the facts come out first. The drug that triggered the positive test was hCG. A female fertility drug that is used by steroid users coming off a cycle to restart their natural testosterone production. You trying to get pregnant there Manny? Now I can’t wait for the next excuse. You can’t use these classics anymore, “I didn’t knowingly take an illegal substance,” “I was young and naive,” “I’m not here to talk about the past.” Or you could forget how to speak english, wag your finger in front of Congress. Heck you could just apologize and not say what your apologizing for. Take your time Manny. I can’t wait for the newest excuse.

“I didn’t know what I was putting in my body,” is another good one. That seems to be the popular one. Even if this drug you took, allegedly, is for a legitimate reason. You do know about it. It is one hundred percent your responsibility to know what is going in you. If I get up in the morning for a bowl of cereal and instead have a bowl of nails. I’m gonna know about it. Logic and sanity dictates that you know what goes in you. But please take the high road. Use all the excuses I gave you and then some. Throw one out of left field and really wow us. Myself and I’m sure most of you have grown numb to it.

(I’ll have fifty days to smell my bats and perm my hair)

I can’t read minds, but I’m sure MLB is deeply disturbed. At least publicly they will. Privately they think they’ve done their job. The Players Association could care less. Lets be honest, when have they ever cared about anything, but the benjamins. Don’t get me wrong, MLB and the owners also care about money to. Both are at fault. The media, players, fans. The blame goes full circle here. Now we need to fix what is already broken. I’m for banishment. Test positive once and your out. No ifs ands or buts about it. I will no longer listen to the argument of this doesn’t enhance hand eye coordination, bat speed. It doesn’t help to hit the ball farther. Again, if it doesn’t work, why do guys go through so much trouble to take it and risk getting caught, thus ruining their reputation. Here are names that were mentioned in the Mitchell Report that bought steroids and/or used as well; Troy Glaus, Rick Ankiel, Eric Gagne, Kevin Brown, Paul LoDuca, Mo Vaughn, David Justice, Miguel Tejada, Andy Pettite, Roger Clemens, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield and Barry Bonds. One thing is for certain about this list. There are many more than this, but it shows that Barry Bonds was not the only big name involved in this era of cheating. Bonds, Clemens, A-Rod and now Ramirez were already great players. Yet they had to take something to cheat the game out of its greatness. I retreat to watching “Field of Dreams.” Which I think is the greatest Baseball movie ever. James Earl Jones at the end was brilliant. “The one constant through all the years Ray has been Baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. Baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good and it could be again.” I guess it’s not over. Will it ever be?