Make no mistake about it: Bud Selig's number one goal has always been finding ways to make his former fellow owners rich. With Selig, it's not about the fans or the integrity of the game, it's simply about making money. Now, I certainly understand the importance of the league and its owners making money, but not at the expense of the players or the fans. And that is exactly what Selig has done with the Red Sox and A's opening the season in Japan.

How ridiculous was it, that to see the first game of the baseball season, fans on the East Coast had to get up and watch TV at 6AM...only to leave for work long before the game ended. It was even worse for A's fans who had to turn on their TVs at 3AM to watch the game. This is America's past time Bud. You catered to the Japanese businessmen, and brushed aside the needs of the fans who pay your salary Bud.

The series made much money for MLB, and the players and coaches were compensated fairly. But was that worth the negative impact the series had back home? As mentioned, fans were largely ignored and in most cases were unable to watch the entire game. Now, both teams come back home and play exhibition games until the season starts in America next week. How ridiculous is that? The Oakland A's have two less home games this season for their fans to attend. Does Bud care about those fans? Apparently, he does not. Brandon Moss hit his first MLB homerun....in Japan. Somehow, that doesn't make sense. And, TV ratings in the U.S. were down for obvious reasons. Who'd have thought that one day MLB would be competing for viewers with Regis and Kelly or Al Roker?

If MLB wants to make money and globalize the sport, the practice of having teams play exhibition series before or after the season is fine. Selig can talk all he wants about globalizing the sport, and perhaps having international teams, but that's a load of crap in plain slang English. There will never be a team outside of North America. The thought that it could happen is a joke. Perhaps the fans in Japan do enjoy watching the MLB teams play. But ask yourself how interested you'd be in Japnaese baseball if two Japanese teams played in this country. We could care less. Hell...the Little League World Series is uninteresting if a US team is not involved. Sure, you can argue that Japan wants to see the American players playing in their country, but the fact is that the Japanese welcomed the Red Sox and A's because of Dice-K pitching the season opener. How interested would they have been if Jon Lester was going against Justin Duchscherer?

So, in 2008, MLB started its season at 6am/3am in Japan. Then the next official game starts on a Sunday night. What the hell happened to baseball starting its season on a Sunny afternoon while kids played hooky from school to watch their favorite team play their first game? Unfortunately, those days are long gone. Is it any wonder why football is now America's national past time?

Extra Bases
Pedro Martinez looks poised to have a great comeback season. No one is smarter on the mound than Pedro. Even with 5 or 6 less MPH on his fastball, he knows how to win with pitch location and selection......The Indians added Julio Lugo to their 40 man roster. Have they seen him pitch?......The Brewers released Claudio Vargas, who was 11-6 last season. Granted, I've never thought much of him as a pitcher, but couldn't they have dealt him for something?......Has any prospects stock fallen further than Dallas McPherson? It appears that he's heading nowhere fast. If he couldn't make the Marlins roster, he's in big career trouble......Just when you start to feel good for the Tampa Bay Rays, they do something brainless like sending Evan Longoria to the minors to start the season......Kaz Matusi was placed on the DL because he had surgery to repair an anal fissure. There's a tasteless joke to be made there somewhere......JD Drew was unable to go on opening day, gee that's a shock.......Manny Ramirez ball watching at home plate when he hit a double off the centerfield wall was disgraceful.......Much of what Jose Canseco said in his first book was accurate. Anything he says in his second book is total BS. If it were true, why not include it in the first book?.......For years, I thought Mike Pelfrey was the real deal. I'm starting to think I was wrong about him. I'm also concerned in what I'm seeing from Homer Bailey. I know both pitchers are young, but I'm not seeing much from either pitcher right now.......I get the feeling that Dusty Baker will have little patience with the young guys on the Reds. That's not good for a team that has alot of talent ready to be promoted this season......A-Rod now says he regrets not signing with the Mets when he was a free agent seven years ago. Is that supposed to make Met fans feel better, or Yankee fans feel worse?.......Kerry Wood was named the closer in Chicago. That's good for him, but Carlos Marmol is the better pitcher......Has anyone noticed how dominant John Maine has been this preseason? He could be in contention for the Cy Young this season......Mike Hampton has looked pretty impressive this Spring. He may actually win a few games before his season ending injury occurs in May........Who in their right mind would take a chance on Barry Bonds? It's not even that he's been involved with a trial. He's just not a good guy to have on any team.....The only teams I can see that would benefit by having Bonds are the lowly Orioles and equally lowly Pirates. At least he could return to where it all started by going to Pittsburgh. All they seem to care about in Pittsburgh is getting fans in the stadium while putting a poor team on the field anyway. Bonds would at least give them extra fans in the seats.....Sammy Sosa and Mike Piazza being unemployed is still shocking to me. Both can still hit, and Piazza can catch if needed.....

Court Adjourned!