Fan News

If you've read my first two articles, "The Stolen Base: A Lost Art. Will we ever see a 100 Steal Man Again?" and "Gimmie Five!

You'll have to excuse Pittsburgh Pirates fans for not knowing quite how to react to a front office with a plan.

Tuesday's trade that sent the speedy and affable outfielder Nyjer Morgan and left-handed reliever Sean Burnett to the Washington Nationals for sidetracked prospect Lastings Milledge and righty Joel Hanrahan was met with predictable discontent from many followers of the maligned Buccos.

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The bottom line on the ESPN SportsCenter screen scrawled by and the White Sox versus Indians score blinked an all too familiar array of crooked numbers. 

The 11 runs scored by the White Sox, in a rain shortened game to boot, helped cement a growing 2009 pitching legacy that bathes in futility.

It's been well known, the struggles that the Indians pitching staff has had this year. The Indians have given up 440 runs in 2009, which is exactly 80 runs more than the next highest allowed run total of anyone in the American League Central. 

We're just about halfway through the MLB season. The Yankees and Red Sox are having their perennial fight for the top of the American League East (and the Rays are catching up too). The Tigers, White Sox, and Twins are all duking it out while the Angels and the Rangers are swapping punches.

Then you have the National League.

I have figured out the cause behind the struggles of Jeff Francoeur and Kelly Johnson.

Surprisingly, it is a very easy problem to fix.

Kelly's and Jeff's issues lie in their poor taste in music.

That's right, their walk-up music has immersed both in dreadful slumps.

Neither "Your Love" by The Outfield and "Summertime" by Kenny Chesney hardly strike fear into opposing pitchers. And, in my opinion, both fail to energize the two struggling sluggers.

How, you ask, can I attribute walk-up songs to on-the-field performance?

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This is not about a billy goat, a Bartman, or some new Century Club Curse hanging over the Chicago Cubs. Yes, the Cubs haven’t won a World Series in over 100 years now, but it’s no longer about a lack of talent or a propensity to choke.

Everybody wants to bury the Mets this week for their underachieving ways, but at least their struggles can be largely related to their lineup that has been decimated by injuries, a bullpen that lost its power set up man, and one misguided contract given to Oliver Perez.

When the Atlanta Braves made Jeff Francoeur their first round selection in 2002 MLB Draft, a lot of hype surrounded the kid from Parkview High School and for good reason.

A two-sport star in high school, Francoeur made headlines when he decided to turn down a football scholarship from Clemson University in order to play professional baseball.

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