Joel Pineiro: Reality Stranger Than Fiction Et Al

Try as I might, there are just some things in sports that get stuck in my craw, and I can’t get them out.

Take for instance, Joel Pineiro. Last night, Piniero gave up one earned run over seven innings as the St. Louis Cardinals downed the Houston Astros, 11-2. With the win, the righty improves to 15-11. In 203 innings of work this year, Pineiro has an ERA of 3.24, with 100 strike outs and 25 walks. Let me get this straight. Joel Pineiro has an ERA of 3.24? Isn’t the same guy who spent ‘04 – ‘07 in the American League with an ERA no lower than 4.67?  Pineiro has as many complete games (3) this year as he had combined in ‘05-’06 with Seattle.

I get the whole idea of the pitcher coming to the plate in the NL being more often than not an out. I get the the idea that with the Red Sox, Pineiro came out of the pen, and that takes adjusting. But he is a professional. In ‘07 Pineiro made 31 appearances for the Saux to the tune of a 5.03 ERA. Boston let him go. He finished the campaign with the Cardinals and made 11 starts earning an ERA of 3.96.

"Throwing BP is not my idea of work." AP Photo/Jeff Roberson

Add to Pineiro’s story that of John Smoltz, and I am scratching my scalp raw. Smoltzy made five starts with the Saux . He tossed 25 innings giving up 26 earned runs while fanning 23 and walking six. Boston waived him, and Smoltz headed to the gateway of the west.  He has made five starts for LaRussa’s gang: 28 innings, 10 earned runs, 32 Ks, and 4 walks. Let’s just forget about the night that Smoltz pitched batting practice to the Yankees. 

On July 26th, Smoltz pitched five innings and gave up six runs to the Baltimore Orioles. That’s the Orioles everybody—a team that currently has a record of 60-91. Six runs to the Orioles? That’s as many runs as Smoltz held the Cubs, Braves, Padres, and Nationals to in a combined 22 innings.

How did the Phillies win the World Series last year? How can any team coming from the National League hope to compete in the Fall Classic?

I don’t even want to think about Brad Penny. He goes 7-8 with Boston giving up 27 runs in his last 26 and 2/3 frames of work. With San Francisco? 11 runs in 22 innings. Although, Penny did get shelled (7 runs in 2 2/3 vs. LA) in his most recent outing.

Don’t worry. Baseball doesn’t have a corner on the market of oddities. For some reason, football players—those rough and tumble guys who play the most violent of sports—seem to need a key board to show their bravery.  Or, at least for a little while.

"Did I say that?"

Washington’s rookie linebacker, Robert Henson and Green Bay’s Nick Barnett have taken to tweeting to express, of all things, their disagreement with fans. After the home fans booed his teammates (Henson hasn’t been on the field yet during a game) the rookie decided to call ‘Skins fans a bunch of ‘dim wits’ adding something to the effect that they all worked at McDonald’s. Oh boy. Robert, what were you thinking?

That’s okay. Barnett actually gets into the game. It’s just that he decided to celebrate a tackle in the backfield…in the final minutes of a loss to Cincinnati. I applaud the fans who booed Barnett. The only stat that matters is the scoreboard.

Both Henson and Barnett have since closed their Twitter accounts.

At least those guys get a paycheck in the NFL. Marcus Fitzgerald? He hopes to get a job in 

the NFL some day. The brother of Larry Fitzgerald didn’t exactly help his cause when he went a tweeting during and after Sunday’s game. While Kurt Warner was busy going 24-26 for 243 yards with two touchdowns and 0 picks, Fitzgerald decided to play en loco tweetist for his brother, Larry, claiming the wide receiver to be upset about his lack of touches. The younger Fitzgerald has since deleted the above comments. Of course, he then blamed the media for blowing the story out of proportion. Yeah, Marcus seemed to forget that his dad is part of the media.

None of those guys have anything on Michael Crabtree. What’s Mike doing these days? Holding out. How’s that working for ya Mike? At this rate you sure are going to earn yourself a big fat raise when you re-enter yourself into the NFL draft.

Diego Maradona is back in the news.  Okay, so he wants to lose weight. How many weight-loss clinics are there in the world? Better yet, how many weight-loss clinics are there in the Western Hemisphere? Why would he choose a weight-loss clinic in Italy? A country where he still owes $54 million in back taxes. And all he had to turn over were his earrings? Geez, those must have been some good size rocks.

If you had a 15-year contract for more money than you could possibly know how to spend, would you be in a rush to suit up and have opposing players drill you with a hard rubber object? Consider that when you think about Rick DiPietro of the New York Islanders. What did the Isles do? They signed to the Lewiston, Maine native to a contract that no one in their right mind would offer. DiPietro gets hurt. Yeah, I would take my time rehabbing too. Let someone else play goal. He has what…11 years left to prove himself?

Pickin' Splinters