{"id":7703,"date":"2010-04-26T07:01:43","date_gmt":"2010-04-26T06:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=7703"},"modified":"2010-04-27T18:47:25","modified_gmt":"2010-04-27T17:47:25","slug":"weekly-hit-ground-ball-fiery-thursday-evening-debates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=7703","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Hit Ground Ball: Fiery Thursday evening debates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-7400\" title=\"WhgbHlSq\" src=\"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/wp-content\/WhgbHlSq.jpg\" alt=\"WhgbHlSq\" width=\"200\" height=\"225\" \/>Thursday evenings have become a big event in recent weeks.\u00c2\u00a0 Putting a long day at work to one side, I sank into a sofa and readied myself for the much-anticipated spectacle to unfold.\u00c2\u00a0 The tension among the protagonists was palpable and it produced a highly-charged occasion, made memorable by fiery exchanges and disagreements.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, deciding against watching all of the second General Election debate proved to be a very wise move.\u00c2\u00a0 A game between the New York Yankees and my Oakland A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s is too good to miss at any time, but Thursday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s encounter was even more exciting than usual.\u00c2\u00a0 <!--more--><\/p>\n<p>As a baseball fan in the UK, I sometimes feel like I live in a parallel universe.\u00c2\u00a0 Friday morning was a classic example of this.\u00c2\u00a0 Every newspaper, TV and radio breakfast show, not to mention most conversations, all focused on the latest Clegg-Brown-Cameron conflab and yet all I could think about was the A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 4-2 win over the Yankees and the various incidents that had taken place during the game.\u00c2\u00a0 No one else seemed interested in Dallas Braden\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s outburst, the Yankees\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 triple play or Kurt Suzuki\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s continued good form at the plate against CC Sabathia.\u00c2\u00a0 It was a familiar case of other people urging me to get my priorities in order, while I was certain that I already had them ordered just right, thank you very much.<\/p>\n<p>I should point out that I do not detach myself completely from politics.\u00c2\u00a0 I value the importance of casting my vote and think that the new General Election debates are a good idea, a view enhanced by the first debate that proved to be more compelling than many, including myself, expected.<\/p>\n<div style=\"float:left;margin-right:5px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/view.picapp.com\/default.aspx?term=david cameron&amp;iid=8602254\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cdn.picapp.com\/ftp\/Images\/f\/7\/3\/8\/Britains_PM_Brown_7b48.jpg?adImageId=12651605&amp;imageId=8602254\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Britain's PM Brown, opposition Conservative Party leader Cameron and Liberal Democrat leader Clegg take part in the second of Britain's leadership election debates, in Bristol\" width=\"234\" height=\"131\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><script src=\"http:\/\/cdn.pis.picapp.com\/IamProd\/PicAppPIS\/JavaScript\/PisV4.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script>I even watched bits of the second debate in between innings. MPs expenses, immigration, deployment of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, Trident: it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t cover much new ground.\u00c2\u00a0 Nick Clegg was on his high horse about MPs flipping houses (didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t he talk about that last week?), Gordon Brown was smiling (he definitely did that last week and didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t follow the avalanche of advice that suggested he really shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t repeat the trick), while David Cameron was ever-so-slightly losing his temper about some Labour leaflets. The political commentators tried to whip everyone into a frenzy about the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcheated exchanges\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, claiming that the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcgloves had come off\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 amidst the anger.<\/p>\n<p>Anger? Going a bit red in the face and raising your voice isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exactly what I would describe as anger.\u00c2\u00a0 Anger is when you completely blow your top, hurl a load of abuse at someone and start whacking anything within whacking distance.\u00c2\u00a0 If you wanted to witness someone getting angry, you should have been watching the Yankees-A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s game.<\/p>\n<p>A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pitcher Dallas Braden <a href=\"http:\/\/oakland.athletics.mlb.com\/news\/article.jsp?ymd=20100422&amp;content_id=9503546&amp;vkey=news_oak&amp;fext=.jsp&amp;c_id=oak\" target=\"_blank\">was incensed<\/a> when the pampered prima donna Alex Rodriguez broke an unwritten rule by running across the pitching mound to get back to the Yankees\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 dugout.\u00c2\u00a0 After giving A-Rod a piece of his mind, Braden was shepherded from the field and took his frustration out on some innocent paper cups and a Gatorade bucket before slamming his glove onto the bench.\u00c2\u00a0 If those leaflets had really riled Cameron, he could have at least given his podium a hefty kick and squared up to Brown (Clegg was quoted over the weekend as saying that Labour are now \u00e2\u20ac\u0153irrelevant\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, raising the delightful possibility that he might have stepped in and said \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Leave him Dave, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not worth it\u00e2\u20ac\u009d).\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tempting to think that, unless they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re filling in expenses forms, these politicians just don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t put the effort in. In truth, Cameron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s instinct may well have been to confront Brown (or maybe just throw a glass of water at him) but that was never going to happen as the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcPR\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 switch planted in his brain was already flicked into \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 mode.\u00c2\u00a0 Everyone in the public eye has to maintain a squeaky clean image.\u00c2\u00a0 It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an unfortunate consequence of these media-obsessed times that afflicts top sportsmen as much as anyone.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<div style=\"float:right;margin-left:5px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/view.picapp.com\/default.aspx?term=dallas braden&amp;iid=8602748\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cdn.picapp.com\/ftp\/Images\/d\/a\/2\/7\/Oakland_As_Dallas_1386.JPG?adImageId=12651612&amp;imageId=8602748\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Oakland A's Dallas Braden throws against the New York Yankees in Oakland, California\" width=\"234\" height=\"156\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><script src=\"http:\/\/cdn.pis.picapp.com\/IamProd\/PicAppPIS\/JavaScript\/PisV4.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script>Dallas Braden would not be considered a \u00e2\u20ac\u02dctop\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 sportsman, a point that the class-less Rodriguez tried to use to dismiss his complaints.\u00c2\u00a0 Braden is not an ace and has never wowed scouts with his ability, but he knows how to pitch and gets the most out of his talent.\u00c2\u00a0 He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a battler, the sort of person that a fan can relate with.\u00c2\u00a0 What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more, he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel a need to project any sort of false image.\u00c2\u00a0 He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take life too seriously and regularly has the A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s beat writers in stitches, whether holding court at Spring Training while telling tales of his <a href=\"http:\/\/clubhouseconfidential.mlblogs.com\/archives\/2010\/02\/nothing-finer-than-the-sights-sounds-of-spring.html\" target=\"_blank\">offseason holiday in Amsterdam<\/a> or laughing off a long home run by saying that it had probably <a href=\"http:\/\/oakland.athletics.mlb.com\/news\/article.jsp?ymd=20100416&amp;content_id=9349984&amp;vkey=recap&amp;fext=.jsp&amp;c_id=oak\" target=\"_blank\">landed on his coffee table in Stockton<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In short, Braden is the kind of player that is easy to root for.\u00c2\u00a0 Watching him get the better of CC Sabathia and the Yankees before putting A-Rod in his place made for a highly entertaining evening (being an A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fan helped, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure).\u00c2\u00a0 Nick Clegg and Gordon Brown both seem to be going for the outsider\/underdog vote in this election so maybe they could gain political capital from events across the pond?\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It seems a long shot, but if either is seen wearing a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dallas says: \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcGet off my mound\u00e2\u20ac\u2122&#8221; T-shirt then the anti-A-Rod vote will be theirs for the taking.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;<\/p>\n<p><strong>This week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s early MLB game schedule<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After a barren start to the week, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got twelve early games to look forward to over Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Probable pitching match-ups can be affected by any number of factors (rain-outs, injuries etc), so let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all cross our fingers in the hope that nothing affects the schedules of Hamels and Lincecum and that they do meet up in what would be a classic encounter on Wednesday.\u00c2\u00a0 The Jurrjens-Wainwright clash on Thursday is another good-looking game in prospect, while Friday games at Wrigley always make for a great way to start the weekend.\u00c2\u00a0 All times are in BST.<\/p>\n<h3>Monday 26 April<\/h3>\n<p>No early games<\/p>\n<h3>Tuesday 27 April<\/h3>\n<p>27\/04 UPDATE: 21.10. LA Dodgers at NY Mets (Hiroki Kuroda &#8211; Johan Santana)<\/p>\n<h3>Wednesday 28 April<\/h3>\n<p>17.10. San Diego at Florida (Kevin Correia &#8211; Nate Robertson)<br \/>\n18.10. Pittsburgh at Milwaukee (Paul Maholm &#8211; Chris Narveson)<br \/>\n18.10. LA Dodgers at NY Mets (TBD &#8211; John Maine)<br \/>\n19.10. Seattle at Kansas City (Ryan Rowland-Smith &#8211; Gil Meche)<br \/>\n19.20. Washington at Chicago Cubs (Luis Atiliano\u00c2\u00a0&#8211; Ryan Dempster)<br \/>\n20.10. Arizona at Colorado (Kris Benson &#8211; Greg Smith)<br \/>\n20.45. Philadelphia at San Francisco (Cole Hamels &#8211; Tim Lincecum)<\/p>\n<h3>Thursday 29 April<\/h3>\n<p>18.05. Minnesota at Detroit (Carl Pavano &#8211; Dontrelle Willis)<br \/>\n18.40. Atlanta at St. Louis (Jair Jurrjens &#8211; Adam Wainwright)<br \/>\n19.05. Chicago White Sox at Texas (Gavin Floyd &#8211; Scott Feldman)<br \/>\n19.20. Arizona at Chicago Cubs (Ian Kennedy &#8211; Ted Lilly)<\/p>\n<h3>Friday 30 April<\/h3>\n<p>19.20. Arizona at Chicago Cubs (Rodrigo Lopez \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Randy Wells)<\/p>\n<p><em>All the above games can be followed via various resources on MLB.com (Gameday, At Bat with Gameday Audio and MLB.tv), while ESPN America\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s MLB schedule can be found <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.espnamerica.com\/portal\/content\/index-mlb?open&amp;action=viewschedule\" target=\"_blank\"><em>here<\/em><\/a><em>. A complete schedule of MLB games can be found on MLB.com. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thursday evenings have become a big event in recent weeks. Putting a long day at work to one side, I sank into a sofa and readied myself for the much-anticipated spectacle to unfold<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,4],"tags":[82,25,70,553,66,98,128],"class_list":["post-7703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-hit-ground-ball","category-mlb-2","tag-bst-guide","tag-espn-america","tag-gamedayaudio","tag-mlb-2","tag-mlb-tv","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-oakland-as"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7703"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7703\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7708,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7703\/revisions\/7708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}