Zigeunerzelt » in the league. Are we 100-

Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - The Baseball Writers Association of America continued to serve as the moral police on Tuesday. First of all, congratulations to the newest electees to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, as pitchers Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson and John Smoltz, all got in on their first time on the ballot, while Craig Biggio enters one year after coming up just two votes shy. There is no question all four deserved to be in and while the general consensus is that this is a good day for baseball, Im not so sure. Yes, Cooperstown will be rocking next July with four people going in, but Im still focused on the guys who did not get in. And I am not even talking about the Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens types. I am talking about the guys who have now been labled steroid abusers without a shred of evidence by the BBWAA. If I had a vote Bonds and Clemens would be on my ballot, but I can at least understand why they are not on others. Someone, though, has to explain to me why Mike Piazza is not in the Hall of Fame. It was ridiculous that he wasnt in last year and its even more absurd that he has to wait for a third ballot. Piazza is the best hitting catcher of all-time. There is no dispute about that. But, the rank and file of the BBWAA has pegged him as someone who may have taken performance-enhancing drugs without any evidence. Piazza was the closest of those not elected and received 69.9 percent of the vote and was 28 votes shy of election. He is going to get in at some point and hes far from the best player not to get elected on his first or even second try. Ryne Sandberg, Roberto Alomar and even Joe DiMaggio were passed over their first time around too. Yes, Joe DiMaggio was not a first-ballot Hall of Famer. This isnt some grass-roots campaign to get Piazza in, I just cant take the fact that people chose not to vote him in because, maybe, just maybe he may have dabbled with PEDs. Although nobody knows for sure. There is no paper trail like there is with guys like Bonds or Clemens. The only red flag for him are the obscene offensive numbers produced by a catcher in an era where the numbers were skewed by the guys we know were using. That and speculation from blogger Murray Chass, who once noted that Piazza had a case of back acne. So, of course, that means he is guilty. Career tarnished. And you can throw Jeff Bagwell into that same mix too. Now if you held a gun to my head and asked me if either of those two guys took PEDs, Id say yes, especially in the case of Bagwell. But a whole lot of other people did in that time, too. Is it the 75-percent that Jose Canseco once claimed? Im not sure, but its probably not far from that number and Id be willing to bet some of them who did take them have already been elected. Remember, the Mitchell Report flat out stated that as far back as 1973 performance enhancing drug use in baseball was alarming. Now, there is nothing to suggest that Pedro, Unit or Smoltz ever used PEDs, but why are they not under the same scrutiny that Piazza seems to be? Pedro and Unit were as dominant as any pitchers we have seen in the last 50 years and Smoltz had to overcome Tommy John surgery in 2000 and eventually became one of the more dominant closers in the league. Are we 100-percent sold Smoltz did not take anything to speed up that recovery? If you smile a lot and get along well with the press, those questions dont seem to come up I guess. Forget Piazza, though, the Hall will always be tarnished for me until it opens its doors to Bonds and Clemens. The same group of people who chose to give Darin Erstad and Tom Gordon Hall of Fame votes are the ones who decided to keep Bonds and Clemens out. Makes perfect sense. When you go to a museum about American history, are the bad times just ignored? Of course not. And what exactly are they trying to keep so sacred up in Cooperstown? The Hall of Fame features a guy like Ty Cobb, someone who may have been a better racist than he was a ballplayer. And thats saying something. And Cobb is nowhere near the only bad guy in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Thats the point. For some reason, though, PEDs are the hill BBWAA will die on. Now, Piazza stands a good chance at getting in next year, as Ken Griffey Jr. is really the only lock candidate on the ballot. Dont get me started on Trevor Hoffman. Hell probably get in at some point, but it wont be his first time on the ballot. Regardless, balloting has become the all powerful BBWAA getting up on their high horse and letting the world know that they are the ones who judge the games most extraordinary individual honor. Air Jordan 10 For Sale . None of them was better than playing with LeBron James again. Wholesale Air Jordan 10 China . -- The Chicago Bears say they have agreed to a one-year contract with centre Roberto Garza. http://www.cheapairjordan10.com/ . Pearce had a career-high four hits and drove in two runs, and Wei-Yin Chen shut down Texas again as the Orioles completed a four-game sweep of the Rangers with a 5-2 victory on Thursday night. Air Jordan 10 Wholesale . -- For one night, Nick Calathes provided a big reason to believe the Memphis Grizzlies might be able to withstand the loss of Mike Conley on a short-term basis. Cheap Jordan 10 For Sale . Top-ranked Rafael Nadal was also taken to three sets but emerged with a 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3 win over Tobias Kamke of Germany, while second-seeded David Ferrer joined Murray in making an early exit after a 6-4, 7-5 loss to Daniel Brands of Germany.FRANKFURT, Germany -- Borussia Dortmund stunned new and old champion Bayern Munich 3-0 in the Bundesliga on Saturday to remain alone in second place. It was Bayerns biggest loss under coach Pep Guardiola. "We did not find our attacking game, we only played well in the last 10 minutes," Guardiola said. Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored in the 20th and Marco Reus and Jonas Hofmann added goals after the break as Bayern lost its second straight game in the Bundesliga without scoring a goal. Bayern is winless since clinching the title with a record seven matches to play. "We have lost our rhythm, we have slowed down since winning the title," Guardiola said. Rafinha was sent off in injury time for grabbing the face of Mkhitaryan and Bayern and Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer did not return for the second half with a calf injury. He was replaced by Lukas Raeder, who made his Bundesliga debut. Mkhitaryan scored after being found by Reus in the box. Reus was set up by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Hofmann collected a long pass to bury the shot past the helpless Raeder. "We tried to win the ball close to their goal and we managed to do that and we used our chances. We attacked very well," Reus said. Dortmuund coach Juergen Klopp said his team had to stay focused throughout the game.dddddddddddd "We disrupted their game early and didnt let them come forward," Klopp said. Bayern was coming off a 3-1 win over Manchester United for a place in the semifinals in the Champions League, while Dortmund was eliminated by Real Madrid, Bayerns next opponent. Both Bayern and Dortmund have German Cup semifinal games midweek but fielded most of their stars, with the exception of Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski, who came on during the second half. Dortmund is 17 points behind Bayern but three points ahead of Schalke. In other matches, Freiburg improved its chances of avoiding relegation while hurting those of Eintracht Braunschweig with a 2-0 victory. Nuremberg also had a setback by going down 4-1 at Wolfsburg, which moved up to fourth. Hamburger SV lost 2-1 at Hannover and remained in the danger zone, while Stuttgart clinched a 1-1 draw at Borussia Moenchengladbach, which fell behind Wolfsburg to fifth. Freiburg and Hannover are four points ahead of Stuttgart, which is one point ahead of Hamburg. Hamburg is one point ahead of Nuremberg and two points ahead of Braunschweig. Mainz beat Werder Bremen 3-0. China NFL Jerseys Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys NFL Jerseys Cheap Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap Basketball Jerseys Online Stitched Hockey Jerseys Wholesale Baseball Jerseys Football Jerseys Outlet College Jerseys For Sale Cheap MLB Jerseys Wholesale Soccer Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys For Sale Wholesale NFL Jerseys ' ' '