All Hail The King (Shouldn't he play in KC then?)

MAJOR LEAGUE GOOFBALL congratulates Seattle Mariners star pitcher Felix Hernandez, who threw the 23rd perfect game in the modern history of baseball ^_^ King Felix fanned twelve Tampa Bay Rays on his way to a complete, nine inning game with twenty-seven outs, no runs, no hits, no walks, and no errors scored against him in the nail-biting 1-0 victory (did I miss anything? Nope ^_^) .
As you can see, it took him awhile o_O LOL

Mariners star pitcher Felix Hernandez celebrates saving
a bunch of money on his auto insurance by switching, I MEAN,
throwing only the 23rd perfect game in modern major league history.

I didn't understand how the 2010 Cy Young Award Winner adopted the title of "King" Felix in the first place. I thought "royal" titles were for member of the Kansas City baseball club, or members of that royal family across the pond? Hernandez is a Mariner, so maybe he is tied to the Atlantis court? No, I'm just making that stuff up ^_^ ...or am I? o_O DUH DUH DUH!

Congratulations Felix Hernandez ^_^ Send your congratulations to King Felix on Twitter; he answered a bunch so far, so he might answer yours, too!

Clemens: The Saga Continues?

Acquitted of all charges, "Rocket"
Roger Clemens speaks to the media
Tuesday (Maine News Daily).

After being cleared of perjury charges on Tuesday, former baseball star and suspected performance-enhancing drug user Roger Clemens stepped into the Washington streets with family in tow a free man. According to Canadian sports radio hosts Jeff Blair and Stephen Brunt that afternoon, Clemens was found "not guilty" of committing perjury to a grand jury about taking performance enhancing drugs, yet he was not found "not guilty" of taking performance enhancing drugs by his former trainer Brian McNamee.

When the Boston Red Sox said goodbye to the "Rocket" in the mid 90s, many thought the game past him by. However, with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1997, Roger Clemens responded to his critics by leading the American League in wins, lowest ERA, and strikeouts: The first real "Triple Crown" winner of the Cy Young Award that year. It was during that time in Toronto McNamee claimed Clemens used steroids to return to his old 80s form, when he fanned an MLB record twenty Mariner batters for the Boston Red Sox in Fenway Park in 1986.

McNamee's reputation and character came into question when poor medical procedures and testimony from his former wife at that time came into light, thus throwing the Clemens case into limbo. With no credible leg for the prosecution to stand on, the judge could only acquit Clemens of all six perjury charges.

What this does for Roger Clemens in the future is uncertain. His chances of getting into the Baseball Hall-of-Fame are slim, but he won 354 games, threw 4672 strikeouts over his career with the Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees, and Houston Astros (Don't forget a pair of World Series championships with the Yankees in 1999 and 2000).

There is one other statistic that you will not find in any record book: When Roger Clemens flirted with retirement, he returned to Fenway Park for the last time, and left the game with another quality start and a standing ovation from the Fenway Faithful of Boston. FOX broadcasters stopped the game, and even held an on-field interview with Clemens, even broadcasting it over the speakers in the stadium. The most notable and odd thing about the interview is that Clemens was wearing a New York Yankees jersey at the time.

If you get in, Mr. Clemens, which team will you sport on your hat?

I can count on one hand the number of Yankees players honoured with standing ovations by Red Sox fans.

I don't think Clemens would make the Hall-of-Fame on the first ballot, or even in his first year of eligibility. I believe fans already moved past the witch hunt, and want to return to watching baseball games instead of sitting through baseball players testifying to grand juries, which is sad because entertainment and "safety" became more important than the values we cling to as individuals. Clemens like other players suspected of taking HGH, steroids, and other performance enhancing drugs might get into the Hall-of-Fame, but will it be under clouds of indifference and politics, or under blue skies?

Early to Bed, Early to Pitch =_=

ICHIRO jersey available NOW at shop.mlb.com ^_^

With the Major League Baseball season kicking off across the pond (The Pacific one, not the Atlantic o_O), game time for the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland Athletics begins at 5:04am Eastern Time at the Tokyo Dome.

I remember when American television executives requested start times for sporting events in far and distant lands to be pushed back so they could showcase those events in prime-time. They did it for "The Rumble in the Jungle", but this isn't a boxing match between two heavyweights, and the Yankees and Red Sox are still in the sunny climbs of Florida suffering from near tropical weather, deadly orange juice cocktails, and the menace known only as "Lee Roy Selmon's Restaurant" and their exquisite cuisine. So terrifying indeed o_O

Known as the away match for the Season Opener the previous day, Seattle won that game 3-1 in extra innings thanks to Dustin Ackley's 2 "ribbies" (2 RBIs or runs batted in for those unfamiliar with ball talk): A solo home-run in the fourth inning, followed an RBI single in the eleventh frame.

Ichiro (at bat) with one of four Opening Day hits vs Athletics (Toronto Star)

It's good to see Seattle star Ichiro perform in front of his native land; his four hit performance is another Opening Day record in the fact book for the Mariners. I still question why Ichiro doesn't try his hand at batting for a competitive team in the American League East Division, where clutch hitting and national exposure can go a long way for a player's career and reputation. No offence to the Seattle Mariners, but a player with 200 hits could see their name on MVP ballots and postseason game reports playing for the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, or maybe this year my Toronto Blue Jays ^_^

Dropping Ichiro in the batting order is one of the first signs the Mariners ball club is in need of a culture change. Since the days of Ken Griffey Jr, Seattle loved their all-star players, and as long as they hit the ball and bolstered fantasy league scores there was no problem. Assets depreciate over time, and the Mariners found that even the great superstar Ichiro Suzuki is showing signs of rust at thirty-seven years of age, according to Steven Goldman of the Bleacher Report. The Mariners finished dead last in the West Division of the American League in three of the previous four campaigns, and went through just as many managers during that span, if not more. The Pineda trade with the Yankees in the off-season is a step in a direction towards competing with the Rangers and Angels, but I hardly call it the right one. Albeit too late, I see the Mariners preparing for life after Ichiro :(

If Ichiro taught me anything about baseball, it is the higher the knee socks, the better the player ^_^ "High knee socks means he's good!" - Benson Chiu