What's Wrong With Baseball in 2015

When my dad coached our Little League team more than 50 years ago, we had a player named Mike who shunned all hitting advice from my dad. "I would rather hit one home run than 5 singles." Mike would boast. My dad responded with a reserved seat on the bench for Mike. Today, Mike would fit right in. Tony Gwynn and Ty Cobb would lose their lunch watching most of these guys play. As a San Diego dweller, I watch all 162 games and these guys would make an onion cry. Teams shift against all of them and dare them to hit against their positioning. They position 3 infielders between 2nd and 3rd or 1st and 2nd, depending on whether the batter is Right or Left. In fact, the Padres don't hit Right or Left. They hit seldom. Alonso, Venable. Middlebrooks, Gyrko, Upton, Jr. Makes no difference. They all suck. Could they bunt the ball and beat the shift and walk to First Base without a play. No doubt. Then why don't they just do it? You need a psychiatrist, not a hitting coach to investigate that answer. Are they that dumb? Maybe you should be asking if it is the Padres brass who are that dumb. Paying Melvin Upton, Jr. 14 million dollars with 30 more guaranteed over the next two seasons. I can't think of anything dumber than that. Tony Gwynn was working on a video response to the Padres problem. We had several conversations about it. Then Tony died and the idea died with him. Maybe someday someone will really want to play baseball the way the game was meant to be played. I will wait for my phone to ring---but I am not holding my breath. The Padres have become the answer to the definition of insanity. Doing things the same way and expecting different results. Wait till next year!