baseball handicappers
What the hell has baseball come to? The game was nearly ruined over the strike in 1994 and was brought back to life by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. We have found out the past couple of years that the memorable chase year’s ago was by two men juiced up on ‘roids. The greatness of that year is now a fog of controversy and lies. The sport that has been built on history and purity is now tainted (for the moment being) because of selfishness, greed and deceit.
Yes, I understand records are made to be broken but by natural ability and not cheats. Record books serve a purpose of allowing generations to remember back to their youth and allowing fathers/mothers the ability to pass on those great accomplishments to their sons/daughters. I remember being fairly young and listening to my father quite often talk about baseball and the legends he grew up watching. He learned from his father the players that played before his time. When I’m sitting down with my son in the future and my son hears the name “Barry Bonds” and notices he is the single season home run hitter, what am I suppose to say? The follow up question of “Why does he have a star next to his name?” will be hard to explain. Now I am forced to go into the darkest moment in baseball history since the 1919 “Black Sox” World Series scandal. I must explain that these guys cheated the great game of baseball. Not only did they cheat baseball but they cheated the fans that came to watch these so called “greats”. And for what, a $100,000 incentive clause in their contract? More magazine covers? More publicity and notoriety?
We lost interest in baseball once over money and greed and now we are letting it slip through our hands again. In actuality, it’s the same problem that’s just been delayed, greed. The old saying, “Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me” has never been more true. Are we to believe that these players will now stop? The recent investigations will be enough to limit the problem but it will not stop it completely. Criminals/cheaters are always one step ahead of the people trying to catch them.
I may not have the baseball legends my father grew up watching and that’s fine by me. We immortalized and emulated every move, batting stance and trademark of these players when were on the playground. We wore their jerseys and watched their every at bat. There is some good out of all this. I’d rather know they were cheaters now while I still have an opportunity to enjoy the players that are playing steroid-free baseball. It’s hard to imagine that some of the players who were getting all the cheers should have been the players that were getting all of the “boos”. Sad to think, the players that never got a chance to play in their spot were the real baseball players and treated the game with honesty.
It’s hard to turn our backs on a player we grew up immortalizing but that’s exactly what they did to us. Hopefully, come their time to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, the BBWAA (writers who vote members in) will also turn their backs on them. McGwire, Sosa, Bonds and Palmeiro may feel “cheated” by the result but that would only seem fitting for the situation. Our Internet folks tell us you want picks for these races. Well, here they are for today’s stakes races at Belmont Park on Belmont Stakes day.
Third race – Birdstone StakesOlder horses – and one really old horse, 9-year-old Evening Attire, going a one-turn mile and an eighth on the dirt. Hesanoldsalt lost a stretch duel by a head at Pimlico and has three triple-digit Beyer speed figures coming into the race. I’ll box him with A.P. Arrow in the exacta.Result: Hesanoldsalt second, A.P. Arrow third.
Fifth race – Fly Emirates Foresta StakesFillies and mares four years old an up going a mile and a sixteenth on the turf. Flow Chart won an allowance at Churchill Downs last month and jockey Julien Leparoux who rode then also will be riding today. I’ll also use Keeneland allowance winner Criminologist on top with those two and I’m in Love in the second position. I’m trying to beat Meribel, who won a restricted stake at Belmont last month.Result: Meribel wins, I'm in Love second, Criminologist and Flow Chart were off the board.Sixth race – Grade 2 True North Handicap (start of Belmont’s pick 6)Three year olds and up going six furlongs. Bordonaro enters off nine straight triple-digit Beyer speed figures and is making his third start this year and first since winning the Count Fleet at Oaklawn.
Seventh race – Grade 2 Just A Game (start of Belmont’s Grand Slam bet)A mile on the turf for fillies and mares three and up. Wait A While is the logical pick to move forward after a slow start in the Jenny Wiley at Keeneland in April. She finished fourth as a three year old in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf last fall at Churchill and has won one previously on the Belmont turf. Take the Ribbon makes the trip from Churchill after a nose win in Distaff Turf Mile. I’ll use them on top and bottom with Mauralakana also in the second spot.
Eighth race – Grade 2 Woody Stephens Breeders’ Cup (start of Belmont’s stakes pick 4)Three year olds going seven furlongs. Street Magician looked good in the Hirsch Jacobs at Pimlico. I’ll use that son of Street Cry (sire of Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense) with Deadly Dealer on top in the exacta and put those – and two others (Stormello and Hobbitontherocks) in the second spot.
Ninth race – Grade 1 AcornThree-year-old fillies going a mile. Dream Rush likes the track – being 2 for 2 at Belmont – and looks good. I also like Boca Grande from Shug McGaughey’s barn off a two-month layoff. She won the Comely at Aqueduct in her last. I’ll use them over one another and add Christmas Kid and Cotton Blossom in second.
Tenth race – Grade 1 Manhattan HandicapThree year olds and up going a mile and a quarter on the turf. Sky Conqueror, the winner of the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic at Churchill is a huge scratch in a race that begs for you to hit the all button. That said, Cosmonaut is my choice. He should have won the Dixie at Pimlico but finished three-quarters of a length back in second because he had to avoid a spill. I’ll include Shakis on top in the exact at a price and use both in the second spot with just about everybody else. Tremendous betting race.
Eleventh race – Grade 1 Belmont StakesThree year olds going a mile and a half. Curlin should win on paper. Period. But I’m going to go with a longer price – Hard Spun, the second-place Derby and third-place Preakness finisher. Some question whether this son of Danzig can get the distance, although one did in 1986 (Danzig Connection). I think he’ll get soft pace fractions and roll late. He has tremendous staying ability. How many other three year olds have run his fractions in the Derby and stopped at Central Avenue? He kept going, and Street Sense was better. Street Sense isn’t here and I’ll pick Hard Spun to get his piece of the Triple Crown. I also think Kentucky Oaks winner Rags to Riches is serious – especially carrying five fewer pounds than the boys for 12 furlongs. I’ll take Hard Spun and Rags to Riches on top of those two and Curlin for second. In a trifecta, I’ll repeat that pattern and add Tiago, C P West and Slew’s Tizzy in third. By all means, if betting a pick 3, you have to use Curlin. You could even single. I’m shooting for a price.
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