Home Rules Advantage: Melky's Revenge.

Sunday, August 19, 2012
Melky Cabrera: should his stats be purged and his team's wins vacated?

Melky Cabrera was suspended 50 games by the Major Baseball League (MBL) ... To purge the stats of an athlete in a team sport such as baseball presents many more complex issues all of which would need to be ignored by those who mindlessly advocate such action...  what will be the cry if the season ends with the banned Melky Cabrera having the highest batting average in the National Conference?  You can bet that the hypocrites and zealots will advocate that Melky somehow be stripped of this distinction...

But wait, there's more in Wonderland.  What about the record of Melky's team?  Without Melky the Giants would probably have won fewer games.  Shouldn't the Giants wins with Melky playing be vacated the way the NCAA does with rules violations in football?  And shouldn't the Giants be banned from the MBL tournament for a couple of seasons?  ...

Last but not least: Melky was MVP in the 2012 All Star game, which though an exhibition, carries the weight of designating which conference champion receives home field advantage in game seven of the finals of the MBL tournament.  Shouldn't that result also be vacated and home field advantage awarded to the American Conference?

What a tangled web.  I'll be rooting for Melky to have the highest batting average in his conference just to see the hypocrites and zealots squirm.

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This morning I read that the American Conference (AC) tournament winners, the Detroit Tigers, plan to use Designated Hitter (DH) Delmon Young in left field in the opening game of the MBL finals in the National Conference (NC) home park, either in St. Louis or in San Francisco.

It hit me all over again.  In the finals the team with the home field advantage (actually only in a game seven) also has the home RULES advantage.  Geez, what a joke.  The Major BUSH League will look even more ridiculous than usual this season if the league championship comes to that absurd ultimate conclusion.

Melky's team, the San Francisco Giants, the one that refuses to activate Melky even though his suspension has been served, will get an advantage that it clearly does not deserve.

I guess it's too late to ban the Giants but at least MBL commissioner Bud Selig should have the basic common sense and decency to deprive the Giants of home rules advantage in a seventh and deciding game in the MBL finals.  If Melky was guilty then so was Melky's team, which should not be rewarded for Melky's transgression.