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Baseball has changed. Not necessarily the game itself, but the philosophy behind the game.
Back in the day, Lou Gehrig and then Cal Ripken were revered for their consecutive game streaks.
Now, 'Less is More' has become the thinking behind baseball minds.
Less games means less chance of injury.
Less pitches means less chance of injury.

Today, Ryan Ludwick is getting a rest.
Ludwick has been hotter than a jalapeno under our tongue. I don't own him on any teams, but right about now, I wish I did.
Dusty Baker is resting him so that he stays 'fresh'.
Well pardon me, but screw 'fresh'!
Fresh is for feminine hygiene products.
I want my hot players stinky and more importantly, I want them at the plate.
Fresh gives a hot hitter no at bats.
Fresh takes the hottest hitter in your lineup out of that lineup.
Fresh is something your worst player should be, not your hottest hitter.
He can be fresh on somebody elses time.
He can be fresh in October.
Fresh stinks.

Gauging the players ages on the Reds team, Baker already has a nursing home of a team.
Now, he wants to make it a 'rest' home as well.
Baker has finally found a hot left fielder. Something the Reds have been looking for all year.
And he benches him.
It was a choice of Moore or Les.
In this case, the More was Dudley Moore.
And the Less was Les Nessman.
Baker chose Les Nessman.

Doritos used to be an automatic purchase for me at the store. 15 1/2 ounces of pleasure.
Now, that 15 1/2 ounces of pleasure is considered a 'Family Pack' and the regular bags are a lot smaller, but still the same price or even higher.
I swear, someday they will package Doritos with 0 ounces and only I'll only get the smell of Doritos when opening the package to remind us of the old days.
Less is not more.
Take it from anybody who has bought a bag of Doritos.

The 'Less is More' may be taken to the hilt at the end of the year. The Washington Nationals are thinking of shutting down Strasburg at the end of the year.
So far, the Nationals have been very smart with Strasburg. They have limited his innings in games where they look to have the game in hand or the occasional times where he gets beat up.
The Nationals backed themselves into a corner by announcing an innings limit before the year. They'd never been in a pennant race and may have not expected to be in one this year.
Their comments of late have them in more of a straddling the fence mode.
Still, taking Strasburg out of the rotation at the most important part of the year will be the zenith for the 'Less is More' thinking.

With the current trend of wussification for players and especially pitchers, I can see a rule change coming down the pike.
Changing the five innings of starting a game for a win, to four.
I'm surprised that agents haven't already started the push. They could argue that a quality start (An agent's stat) is six innings and that there is only one inning of difference between a quality start and a Win. They'll argue that two innings of difference would be more suitable for the modern pitcher.
Agents are Champions of the 'Less is More' cause.

Also in our future, I could see a Maverick Manager changing philosophy on how a pitching staff should be used.
Why have a starting pitcher throw at 85-90 percent so that he can go deeper into games?
They have a staff of 12 pitchers.
Why not have all 12 rotate and throw one-three innings at 100 percent?
If Fielder, Young, and Boesch were set to come up in the fourth inning of a game, the lefty would get up to throw the next inning.
If it's Jackson, Berry, and Cabrera, the righty.

There may be some snickering at the thoughts.
The same snickers you may have heard from Steve Carlton if a Manager said he was going to count his pitches.
Or the same laughs from Goose Gossage if told a Manager was restricting him to one inning of relief.

Unless hurt or sick, Baltimore fans were guaranteed in seeing Eddie Murray.
Yankee fans were guaranteed of seeing Mattingly.
Dodger fans were guaranteed of seeing Davey Lopes.
Now, the best players in baseball are 'rested'.
McCutchen, Kemp, or Trout may be missed by 30,000 fans expecting to see them.
Instead, those fans get the scent of that Doritos package.

I know comparing our jobs with those of athletes is fruitless.
But, can you imagine your boss approaching you with this line?-
'Hey Dan, Go home, we're going to give you a rest today'.

Being a numbers sort, the 'Less is More' is totally lost on me.
If I am pitching against the Reds today and see Ryan Ludwick on the bench, I'm giving Dusty Baker a mental kiss.
He's made my job easier and given my team a better chance to win.
A game the Reds may need down the stretch if they lose.
A game that'll be forgotten. Because down the stretch, all of a sudden, less is not more.
It is 'All hands on deck'.
Well, except for maybe you, Stephen Strasburg.

Really great and entertaining stuff. On a similar note I picked up Donovan Solano this week after reading blurb after blurb about how ozzie guillen loves the guy. "he's making the most of his opportunities," "he's the new bonafacio" and we "are going to keep this guy on the field."

well its now thursday and he is making his first starting appearance. He is currently losing playing time to the likes of Donnie Murphy, Bryan Peterson, Greg Dobbs, and Scott Cousins. 3 of those guys are hitting below .190 and so far in their MLB careers have shown nothing as far as potential, but for some reason Ozzie trots them out. This team has no future this season. The owner has already pulled a fast one and screwed over the teams fan base. I would think the least that Ozzie and the organization could do was at least show the fans who will make up the future marlins and get some of these young guys some much needed experience. But alas it seems as though Ozzie is sending a big F U to ownership and the fans (and Me!) by saying, ill play who i want when i want. Ill move zambrano to the bullpen (needed) and Ill bring in mark beurhle for some relief innings. Ill play these MLB retreads every day and ill say that Saddam Hussein was merely mis-understood. It seems as though he has taken whatever instincts he might have had and thrown them away. Which makes me believe in his head he is saying, please fire me.....

so for you teams out of the playoffs already, play MORE exciting and interesting rookies and LESS of the boring and "cagey" vets please

Thank you.
And you're so right.
No team was embraced more by the media when the season started than the Marlins.
A new name, a new stadium, new players, new Manager. They were going to run, run, run with Reyes and Bonifacio and mash, mash, mash with Hanley and Stanton.
But Reyes didn't run all that much.
Bonifacio got hurt.
Hanley was just being Manny.
And Stanton has turned to a pane (pain) of glass (ass).

The new stadium looks like an aquarium. And Ozzie Guillen has transformed one fortunate year of managing into a multi-million dollar bonanza.
Remember, it was spring training when he said he'd be platooning Bonifacio. Not even knowing that Bonifacio was a switch hitter.
Guillen is still king of the sound bytes, but now the press and public are not laughing with him, they're laughing at him.

What the Marlins did right, was trade Hanley.
Like Manny, his brother in name, personality, and locker room effect, just not in real life, Hanley was shipped to Hollywood or Mannywood, and now Hanleywood.
He may thrive there for awhile like Manny did, but in the end Hanley is going to be Manny and wear out his welcome.

Flush with money from the new stadium, the owners bought players and offered huge packages to Pujols and others.
Luckily for Pujols, he didn't sign on.
Reyes did.
And it looks as though Reyes has signed on to be the top player in a side show. A side show with Guillen as the Carny barker and owners who will continue to cut corners when less and less Floridians show up to see an air breathing aquarium of a stadium.
Eventually, it could be a race between the Miami owners and Tampa Bay owners to move to a new site where fans will flock to see a new team. Miami and Tampa fans may be the least ravenous of all fans.
Floridians have spring training, that looks to be enough for them.

And you're right, Ozzie will play who he wants to play.
The owners don't care. They're counting proceeds like Scrooge McDuck.
The players are playing out the string.
And the fans are left to wonder why they were excited in the first place.