Post Mother’s Day I had a few thoughts I wanted to share.

I want to tip my cap to ESPN-W and Sport Center along with Tom Rinaldi for the piece they did on women in the military and the special challenges they face when deployed. We all think of the young men that are sent far away to serve in uniform. We think of the Mothers and Fathers and wives and small children that wait for that serviceman to come home. We think of them holding down he fort while their loved ones are far away. But we don’t often think of the women that are deployed and their families and the kids that lose their backbone of the home, the one who makes a house a home. Rinaldi always does a fabulous job with his gut wrenching stories, from Make a Wish, to other stories, Tom is the best at telling those stories and the one he did on Mother’s Day was awesome.

You know speaking of Mother’s Day, we always talk about fathers and sons when it comes to sports. If you ask me more often than not it’s the Mom who is the most important parent for kids and sports. Mom washed your uniform, was a taxi driver taking you back and forth to games. She is there to cheer you on and there when you strike out and feel so bad only she can make you feel better by making your favorite meal to cheer you up. For me my grandmother was the biggest sports influence in my life. She loved her baseball and football teams. We could talk baseball all day long. I remember sitting with her in the kitchen with the radio on the game as she made supper. I remember her falling asleep listening to the games. I remember her and how much she loved Joe Montana and Warren Moon. She was the greatest sports fan ever and I am lucky she was my grandmother.

I am really proud of MLB for what they do for Mother’s Day. There is no way to be around the game on Mother’s day and not know there was something different going on with the pink bats, ribbons, and cleats. But let’s not get caught up in the fashion of the day at the silly social media and posing just to show how in touch you are, that is not why players wear pink. The reason why MLB does pink and blue ribbons is to remind the men out there to talk with he women in their lives to get checked for breast cancer, and for men to get checked for prostate cancer. A pink ribbon on game day doesn’t mean anything unless there is that conversation in your home sometime this week.

The Injury bug has now moved from Tropicana Field to Yankee Stadium. The Rays lost three of the starters and now the Yankees will have to figure out what to do without 3 hurlers. Ivan Nova gone for the year with Tommy John surgery. CC Sabathia is going on the shelf and now the Yankees are saying Pineda’s shoulder has a tear and he will be out a lot longer that we thought when we saw him go on the DL.

I know there are a lot of old school baseball guys out there that hate pitch counts and making sure that we treat young pitchers like egg shells that we are afraid to crack. Yes we are overly cautious when it comes to young arms, the answer is an overwhelming yes! What is the alternative, let em rip go ahead and throw let the pitch count be darned. As you can see from this season with the Braves, the Athletics, the Rays and now Yankees, they all have found out how fragile your chances of the post season success can be when your arms come up lame. So if you ask me I’ll side with babying pitchers, I’ll hold the clicker for you to help with pitch counts, because the other side of the coin is 15 day DL that become 60 Day DL stays that end up in trips to see Dr Andrews. Is it the amount of pitches themselves that cause the issues sometimes yes, sometimes no. But the fatigue that comes with the pitchers and the breakdown in mechanics that lead to injures I am sure of that.

Bad news for Brandon Belt over he weekend of the Giants with a broken thumb that will keep him out 6 weeks. He is really driving the ball the way San Francisco has always projected him to hit. The Giants will use Micheal Morse and Buster Posey at 1st base until Baby Giraffe comes back in July. Good news is that Morse has played some 1st, and by using Posey at 1st you can keep him fresher at that spot rather than have him beat up at catcher.

I got a chance to interview Josh Harrison on Saturday night on MLB Network Radio after the Pirates beat the Cards. Harrison was really cool to talk to and was excited about the win. He has a chance to make my list of guys I pull for after talking to him. I am working on a roster of players that I think are good dudes and even if there aren’t on your team you should root for them because there are good people. Early favorites for my list are James Shields, JP Howell, and Josh Harrison. My list should be ready soon.

The Brewers gave Jeter a check for his foundation for his good-bye tour. What are they, my aunt who sent me a check for my 8th B day. Did they not read every website on the planet that Jeter was hanging them up. What Happened at Miller Park did that all look at each other and say “Dude I thought you were getting him something!”. Where there no CC Sabathia bobblehaeds left over to regift. Wow, come on Brewers step up your game dude. Humm Milwaukee … what do they make in Milwaukee hummm let me think , oh yeah I know don’t they make Harley’s up there … or at least they could have given him a cheese head ….