For wh
at appears to be many of the same reasons I mentioned in an article yesterday NASCAR has opted to not suspend Carl Edwards the driver of the #99 Ford Fusion.
Citing discussions with the drivers, car owners and others Mike Helton announced during a press conference that Edwards would be placed on probation but no further penalties would come at this time.
This means Edwards and Keselowski will both be on track when the series heads to Atlanta next weekend.
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This season in some silly attempt to hype the series NASC
AR announced that they were putting the control back in the drivers hands. NASCAR tried to distance themselves as the hand of justice or the law.
NASCAR said it numerous times leading up to Daytona and it was all you heard as the series headed to California. The drivers are in control, the drivers are the law.
Well the results are in and without question NASCAR has failed this one . Blame Carl Edwards if you want, blame Brad Keselowski for being an aggressive driver that had it coming. Do whatever but it’s clear to me that this one is on NASCAR’s hands as much as anyone else.
Edwards and Keselowski have a rich history of crashes most notably last years race at Talladega where Keselowski sent Edwards’ car airborne as he took home his first career win. The two later tangled in the Nationwide Series again with Edwards being wrecked out of the event.
It’s not just Edwards that has felt the pain of being wrecked by Keselo wski. Denny Hamlin and Keselowski had a feud that highlighted the Nationwide Series last year. In the end Hamlin, who was tired of being ran into by Keselowski, exacted revenge by intentionally wrecking Keselowski in the final race of the year. It wasn’t just that Hamlin wrecked him. It’s that he said the week before he was going to. The result was no response by NASCAR as if the sanctioning body realized they had a problem but was hoping that by Hamlin getting revenge he problem would go away.
Edwards didn’t exactly say he was sorry Sunday night. Posting the following on his Facebook. Judging by the over 5,000 people who have clicked like it’s a popular sentiment on the digital side of NAS CAR.
Carl Edwards My options: Considering that Brad wrecks me
with no regard for anyones safety or hard work, should I: A-Keep letting him wreck me? B-Confront him after the race? C-Wait til bristol and collect other cars? or D-Take care of it now? I want to be clear that I was surprised at his flight and very relieved when he walked aw…ay. Every person has to decide what code they want to live by and hopefully this explains mine.
Edwards and Hamlin aren’t the only two drivers in NASC AR with a dislike for Keselowski so one has to think that sooner or later (had Edwards not retaliated) that someone was going to put him in the wall. It just happened to be Edwards and Keselowski’s Dodge just happened to go airborne.
For what it’s worth I don’t think NASCAR can do much to Carl Edwards. They advocated this driving style leading up to Atlanta. They failed to take any action in the Nationwide dispute between Keselowski and Hamlin last season and while they publicly say they dislike these showings on the track they know that nothing gets ratings or fans interest like a good ole’ feud.
How many times in the remaining 32 races do you think that the 12 and 99 car will be next to each other? I bet it’s more then one and that my friend that sells tickets and advertising time. Quite well might I add. Think about it this way. How many more people turned in to see Brett Favre versus the Packers then Brett Favre versus the Bears? They wanted to see if Brett would take a big dump on the Packers logo at half field, not if Brett was going to throw touchdowns against a second rate defense.
NASCAR made their bed. They have to lye in it now. They can fine Edwards and I think everyone will think that is just . They can’t take Edwards out of his car, at Bristol nonetheless, and expect people to be happy. Edwards has big time sponsors behind him and huge fan support (a fair portion gained on Sunday) so parking him for a Sprint Cup race is not he answer.
A Nationwide race would be another story. It would really hamper his chances to win the Nationwide title this year should he miss the next event, an event that’s ratings won’t be too effected whether Edwards and the 60 car is on the track or not.
NASCAR knows as well as anyone else that there’s an off week coming up and cooler heads will prevail during that time. They also know that the hunger of their fans is to see Edwards and Keselowski on the track at Bristol beating and banging.
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Jason Heyward continued his demolition of spring training pitching hitting a two-run homer off Max Scherzer and collecting a walk in Monday’s trashing of the Tigers.
Heyward is currently 5-for-12 with three extra-base hits so maybe just maybe he’s starting to make even me believe he’ll be on the opening day roster. Ah but there is still a few more weeks of March so I won’t bet on it yet.
Still it’s great to see him get off to a good start and even I can’t discount that.
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Troy Glaus has done this to me in the past and I just
have to hope it isn’t happening again. Glaus was once a very good third basemen for the Anaheim Angels. The type that could lead the AL in homers on year and take his whole team on his broad back to a World Series in another.
He was one of the power hitting guys who could be called “The Slugger” you know the type of power that hit balls onto picnic tables, the kind that could drive in 100-plus yearly, the kind of guy you wanted on your team.
Oh but what havoc a bunch of injuries will do to your career. He’s been bounced around both the NL and AL since the time he was thought of that highly and while the results have been very good when he’s healthy the time on the DL has also been so large that you can only begin to think of the stats he could have had on the back of his baseball cards.
A new season, a new team and yet Glaus is still giving me good vibes. He’s always seemed to get off to reasonable starts and if Sunday is any indication of things I think he’s again set the bar high for my expectations. Glaus was 3-for-3 with a double and an RBI on Sunday as the Braves middle of the order was in full check and they were clicking.
Glaus is without question the Braves go-to guy at the cleanup spot with the hope that Nate McLouth, Martin Prado, and Chipper Jones are on base for him to drive in. If he struggles he’ll move down the order which ultimately means the Braves are going to again turn to McCann/Escobar as the four-five combo which isn’t the worst thing in the world but something everyone hoped would be updated by the acquisition of a big bat this winter: Troy Glaus’ big bat this winter.
Ideally Glaus remains in the four spot much of the year which puts a very couple of very good hitters behind him in McCann and Escobar which would only elevate the number of runs the Braves score this year. Exactly what we need to go along with a stellar rotation.
Despite the fact the Braves finished sixth in the NL in runs scored last season they struggled for good portions of the year to give their starting pitching any wiggle room and found themselves in tenth in home runs and slugging percentage.
Glaus will need to put an end to that power outage or this team isn’t going any further then it did last year. I hate to say it but it’s true. As much as we can write about Jason Heyward it’s the free agent first basemen that will play the biggest role for the Braves in 2010.
Heyward at best puts up number that could be replicated by Melky Cabrera. That’s fine.
But for the Braves to be a serious playoff team Glaus needs to put up numbers that read 30 homers, 100 RBI, 70 runs scored.
Can he do it? I’ve always believed he could but he’s sometimes left me disappointed. Will he do it? For the Braves sake I sure hope so.
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The Miami Dolp
hins have brought back Chad Pennington on a one year deal worth $2.5 million to serve as the backup/mentor to Chad Henne.
Pennington signed with the Dolphins prior to the start of the 2008 season and led the team to an 11-5 record to lead the AFC East before the team was ousted in the first round of the playoffs.
Pennington started last season as the Dolphins QB but after suffering an injury in the teams third game he missed the remainder of the season following a third shoulder surgery.
With Henne currently the top quarterback on the depth chart the Dolphins have brought back Pennington as an insurance policy. If he were to be traded prior to the trade deadline his contract would escalate by $1.515 million, there are also extra incentives should he be the teams starter.
The resigning of Pennington by Miami is not much of a surprise as he wasn’t considered to be a highly sought after option due to his injury but he does give the Dolphins a familiar and effective face should he be needed.
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Jason Heyward was 1-for-3 today with an RBI while he also stole a base. Of course he also was thrown out after that so I don’t know if it’s even worth mentioning it.
Anyway the Braves won 11-8 and it’s worth pointing out that Heyward again hit second in the order. The rest of the lineup today featured what the Braves starting 8 should look like on opening day with the exception of Nate McLouth.
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Jason Heyward met his match today perhaps Charlie Morton decided it was better to just throw at him. Aside from the HBP the youngster went 0-for-2 while batting second in the Braves lineup and playing right field.
Heyward has continued to gain support within the Braves system with Dale Murphy being the latest to compliment the 20-year old.
That is all for this daily Jason Heyward note. Please check back tomorrow for another update so I can get more money and keep my power turned on. You may think that is a joke but it’s not completely.
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Jon Heyman of CNNSI.com said that he think
s Hank Blalock is choosing between the Florida Marlins and the Tampa Bay Rays.
Blalock wouldn’t appear to be the primarily option for either team at any position but would be a fine complementary player at both locations. Blalock never quite lived up to the expectations in Texas after the strong start to his career and despite hitting 25 home runs last year had a dismal .234/.277/.459 line last season.
The Marlins would figure to use him as their top left handed bat off the bench while in Tampa Bay he could be looked at to share time at DH with Pat Burrell.
Personally I think that Tampa Bay offers the best situation for him since Burrell is hardly a lock to keep the DH spot held down for the entire season after he hit just .221/.315/.367 with 14 home runs in 476 at-bats with the team last year.
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Peachtree City native Reed Sorenson will not attempt to make Sunday’s race at Atl
anta. Sorenson, who is supposed to share seat time with Brian Vickers in the Nationwide Series, was originally scheduled to attempt to run a Cup race at Atlanta for Braun Racing.
As part of Sorenson’s contract with Braun racing the 24-year old driver was to attempt five races on the Cup side including Atlanta. The team has now moved the attempt back to Texas. Sorenson is also hoping to run Chicagoland, Indianapolis and Charlotte for the team later this year.
For those wondering Sorenson has not finished higher then 27th in his last four races at Atlanta after two top 10’s in 2007. At Texas Sorenson has not managed anything better then a 24th place run in his last six tries after a 13th and 17th place finish in 2006.
Sorenson has yet to make an official appearance this season at the Cup or Nationwide level after missing the Daytona 500 in February. According to his website he’ll be in the Nationwide 32 car at Bristol. (3/20)
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Well I figured I’d go ahead and list Jason Heyward’s batting line everyday until the end of Spring Training since it’s bound to get me mega hits. So here goes.
In three plate appearances Heyward was 1-for-2 with a run scoring double and a walk.
Chipper Jones seems to think he’ll make the team out of spring training while my thinking is the Braves are far from making that decision. Heyward is doing everything thus far to make the decision as tough as possible but he’ll likely have to keep up the hot streak.
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