Homeruns are exciting and also effective.

"Ultimately, this is what Bud Selig and Donald Fehr have wrought, a baseball culture so myopic and home run-crazed that even Jose Reyes, who reminds us what the game was like when only the fans in the bleachers were juiced, believes the long ball is king."

Yes, this sounds like an accurate and well-rounded analysis of baseball history.

Pre-Selig players like Ruth, Gehrig, Foxx, Dimaggio, Mays, Aaron, McCovey, Jackson, Schmidt, Berra, Williams, and Ott were completely ignored by fans and media.

Bud Selig and ESPN were secretly behind Bobby Thomson's shot heard 'round the world, Gehrig's four-hr game, Ruth's three-hr game in the World Series, Mazeroski's World Series walkoff, Maris's 61st, Aaron's 715th ...

I mean, who's Babe Ruth, anyway? Bob Meusel led the 1927 in stolen bases and that's why Meusel still sells so many tee shirts with the number 3 on the back.


"There was a time when players such as Reyes were what the game was all about."

Maybe so, but not in your lifetime, you lying liar. Maybe back in the 1890s when the fielders didn't even wear gloves.


"Apart from batting average, Reyes' numbers are as good or better than Phil Rizzuto's when the Scooter won the AL MVP in 1950 and light-years better than those of Barry Larkin, the last 'traditional' -- read: non-home run-hitting -- shortstop to win the award back in 1995."

Is that meant to be a pro-Reyes argument for 2006 National League MVP?

Because it's not.

Because Ryan Howard's 2006 numbers are much better than Phil Rizzuto's 1950, Barry Larkin's 1995, and also Jose Reyes's 2006.

I give Matthews credit for a new tack, though. The criteria for 2006 MVP is now how they stack up to the 1950 MVP. Freddy Sanchez could be the NL MVP using Matthews's criteria.


Also, I thought Matthews's point was that light-hitting shortstops used to win lots of MVP awards? To prove his point, he goes back to freakin' 1950? That kind of disproves his point.

It's like saying that lots of relief pitchers win MVP awards because Willie Hernandez won one in 1984.

All he's doing is underscoring the decades-long love affair with the homerun.


"But over the last 10 years, baseball has changed every bit as much as Barry Bonds' hat size. Now, the things that Reyes does are considered novelties, quaint relics of a bygone era as dead as dial-up."

How arbitrary is "last 10 years," and how easily disputable?

It's not the last 10 years. It's more like the last 100 years.

I mean, the MVP is not always a slugger. It's sometimes a leadoff batter or a middle infielder or a pitcher. If they can make a compelling argument for that particular season.

But it's purty darn easy to go back to through the decades and prove that Matthews's contention is misleading at best. I mean, Roy Campanella had 25 career stolen bases and 3 MVPs.


"The driving influence behind the MVP voting these days is television. That is where most baseball writers get their information about out-of-town players, and the next time 'SportsCenter' leads off with a guy legging out a drag bunt, stealing second, crossing to third on a groundout and scoring on a sac fly will be the first."

Again, what's with the "these days" nonsense?

How did baseball writers get their information about out-of-town players in the 1970s or the 1940s? A week-old boxscore which didn't list drag bunts? Or a guy in a radio booth reading the plays off a ticker and smacking two pieces of wood together to emulate the sound of a baseball hitting a bat? Exchanging anecdotes over a few beers at the local watering hole?


"That's the kind of things Reyes does. As the engine driving the league's best team, he should be the NL MVP. Yet, he has no chance to win the award because his value to his team and to the league is expressed in ways the highlight reels and boxscores can never capture."

Reyes has no chance to be first in the NL, mainly because of the existence of Ryan Howard and Albert Pujols, but Reyes will probably make a very nice showing in the MVP voting. Top five is my guess.

Oh, and the things Reyes does are absolutely captured in boxscores. Batting average, on-base percentage, walks, singles, doubles, triples, homeruns, runs scored, runs batted in, and steals are all captured in boxscores.


"Disruptive rather than destructive, Reyes not only sets the table, he sets the tone. When Reyes is on base, the runner becomes more important than the batter and the ball becomes a slippery seed in the grip of otherwise sure-handed infielders. And in pitching-dominated playoff baseball, that is likely to win you more games than Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard or Carlos Beltran ever will."

Nonsense.

You know, Carlos Beltran hit eight homeruns in about nine playoff at-bats in 2004. His slugging percentage was approximately 10,000. He could not cause any chaos on the basepaths because he was slowly trotting around them in an orderly manner.

Furthermore, if Wallace Matthews wants to see a man "set a tone," I'll send him a YouTube link of Pujols's two-out, ninth-inning, three-run homerun off Brad Lidge in the NLCS.

Andy Pettitte said "Oh, my God!" That ball is still flying. The crack of the beat is still reverberating.

That's what I call setting a tone and helping a team win a baseball game.


"Reyes' numbers are good but not spectacular - a .300 batting average, 19 homers, 189 hits heading into last night, 80 RBIs and 120 runs scored, more than all but three other National Leaguers, including Beltran, who had one more."

Gosh, it kills me to admit it, but those are spectacular numbers.


"He leads not just the NL, but all of Major League Baseball, in the game's most exciting plays, the triple (17) and the stolen base (60), and though he may never match Beltran for home run totals, a 30-homer season is not beyond his grasp."

Screech ...

Triples and stolen bases are baseball most exciting plays? Huh.

I have always liked the srike-'em-out-throw-'em-out double play.

I have also always liked the homerun.

See, I believe Ryan Howard's 60 homeruns are exciting and also effective. More effective than 60 stolen bases for sure.

Because, when a player hits a homerun, he scores a run 100% of the time. (As a bonus, all the runners on base score, too.)

When a players steals a base, he scores a run less than 100% of the time.