ESPN Just Can't Get Off The Red Sox Bandwagon

(Bags O' D)

Interesting little tidbit I saw in the Post today:

"Joba Chamberlain, Alex Rodriguez and Nick Swisher were cited as baseball's top three overrated players, according to a poll of major league players."

I almost crapped myself when I read that this morning. Literally (not literally). These 3 guys are the most overrated players in baseball? Not Ellsbury, the leadoff hitter/incredible outfielder who can't get on base or make a play at the wall? Not K-Rod, the closer who can't work more than 1 inning without risking his arm falling off and who has a higher career WHIP than you would like to see from a "shutdown" closer? Not even Jonny Papelbon, who's ERA and WHIP has gone up every year he's been in the league and who can't even close out the fucking Orioles?

I mean sure Joba is a shitty starting pitcher, we already knew that. But a 2.92 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 13 Ks in 12.1 IP to go along with 2 saves in 2 chances and 5 holds sounds pretty fucking solid to me. Swishy is hitting .295/.380/.457 with 5 HRs and 17 RBIs right now and plays a pretty damn good right field. And even though it seems like he's hardly done anything this year, The A-Horse is still on pace to drive in 102 runs this season and is playing Gold Glove defense at 3rd. But then I stopped and re-read the second sentence in the article and suddenly it all became clear.

"The poll, conducted by ESPN the Magazine during spring training, also found that 67 percent of the players feel home-run king Barry Bonds deserves enshrinement in baseball's Hall of Fame." (used courtesy of Reuters)

Really, ESPN?? That's what you've resorted to with the Yankees continuing to stomp on people's dicks while the Red Sox toil away at or below .500? Creating false player polls to try to keep your Yankee smear campaign alive as long as you can?

Please. Just stop. It's getting downright embarrassing now. I'm sorry that you don't have Peter Gammons to slurp Terry Francona's ball sweat anymore and that his replacement, Nomar, is boring and never says anything insightful. Just admit you were stupid to dump to the Yankees back in '04 for the flavor of the month, put your Jeter jerseys back on, and crawl back to the Dark Side with your tails between your legs. Just don't expect to be welcomed with open arms.