Just for Sport

As the title might suggest, I hate getting wrapped up in all of the New York-Boston hoopla. Let’s face it - the rivalry is overrated, and while I have been well-documented in my hatred of the Yankees, I have never subscribed to the school that says if you hate the Yankees, you must cheer for the Sox. The Red Sox have turned into the Yankees, and I honestly don’t see how a card-carrying Yankee hater can root for them. Nevertheless, whenever the two teams get together, I generally root for the lesser of the two evils. Today, though, I’m (gasp) rooting for the Yankees.

Why? Because of David Freakin’ Ortiz. I’m sick of sportswriters (especially ones that write for a company based in New England) writing things like, “Anybody who’s watched a Red Sox game this year knows who the MVP is.” Let me tell you, watching Boston play doesn’t really define MVP for me, unless you’re talking about Jason Varitek, the one player who can spark that team. An MVP doesn’t throw his team under the bus by saying, “Come hit in this line-up and see what kind of numbers you get.” So the rest of the team doesn’t do it for you? What about Manny, your best friend, who has hit behind you all year? The Red Sox have such a ridiculous payroll; it’s absurd to insinuate that the rest of the line-up isn’t up to snuff. Maybe Ortiz should switch places with Jermaine Dye or Magglio Ordonez or Frank Thomas and see what his statistics look like. I know one statistic that would stay the same: .000, as in Fielding Percentage.

Any part-time player that would be rendered useless by switching leagues doesn’t even deserve consideration for Most Valuable Player. A player is only valuable as long as he is on the field. Anybody who takes the field helps his team for 27 outs, plus however many at-bats he gets, plus however many hits/walk the other team gets. If every team averages 9 hits/walks per game (a very conservative estimate), then a full-time player is on the field for 40 of the game’s 72 plate appearances. A DH is “on the field” (Consider this: if a designated hitter doesn’t reach base in a game, he will never have set foot inside the foul lines) for 4 of those 72 plate appearances.

Maybe David Ortiz should spend all the time he spends on the bench considering a different method for winning the MVP he apparently wants so much: stop complaining about reporters and other players and pick up your glove.