Feliz Herndandez threw the first perfect game in Seattle history on Wednesday, and there is no current Mariner that deserved it more then him. Unlike most perfect games, Hernandez did not have a scare in the field, having the only “scare” be from the fourth pitch of the game beiing a runnig catch made in the outfield. Hernandez had all the right stuff and the K corner along with the rest of Safeco knew it as well. As soon as the thrid strike was called, the crowd went insane. If you ask me, Felix deserves that perfect game for his resume as he has flirted with no hitters several times. The perfecto is just the icing on the cake for the 26 year old, as Hernandez tries to grab his second Cy Young award of his career. King Felix has been having an incredible season with and 11-5 record and 2.60 ERA. Herndandez is having an incredible season, and I can not wait to see what is up his sleeve for his next start.

Now we all know that every year, Major League Baseball is full of surprises, with standout players and teams, but one thing that has happended so far this year is a first. Hernandez’s perfect game marked the 3rd perfect game pitched this season by a major leaguer joining Chicago’s Humber and San Fransisco’s Cain. Before the 2012 season, only twice in the history of baseball has more then 1 perfect game been thrown in the same season, 1880 and 2010; this year 3. So what is it, that is allowing these pitchers to be perfect? A perfect game is not something you know is happeneing so a fan buys tickets for the game, no anybody can throw one on any given day. Since Mark Buehrle’s perfect game in June 2009, there has been 16 No-Hitters (6 Perfect) thrown, and Spetember 2006-JUne 2009 there were only 8. The rate of this milestone is increasing very fast and pretty soon it could lose its feeling. The more pitchers begin to do this, the less of a celebration people will have because its not as rare. To think, the era we are living in, one would say more homeruns weould be getting hit and less pitching feats would happen, obviosuly not. Pitchers are throwing no hitters as easy as a player hitting it out of the park. It seems that almost every month this season you hear about a no hitter or someone going deep in a game being perfect and blowing it. With September right around the corner, who knows what else we will see, as September baseball is where all the magic starts to happen.

-Ray Malaspina
@raymalaspina

As you may or may not have heard, San Francisco Giants Outfielder Melky Cabrera has been suspended 50 games by Major League Baseball for testing positive for testosterone effective immediately. Cabrera, who is having by far the best season of his career has just hurt himself tremendously. The results, which were announced today, came back positive around the All Star Break, which is when he won the All Star Game MVP and helped the National League win home field advantage in the World Series.

Before being traded to San Fransisco last November, Melky has played with the Yankees, Braves and Royals, where he had a combined batting average of .275 with 58 home runs, and 357 RBI’s over 7 seasons. This season alone in 113 games, Melky hit .346 with 11 home runs and 60 RBI’s. In his only All Star season, his numbers have been better than they have ever been, coincidence?

With 45 games left for the Giants, Melky is now done for the season and the only action we could possibly see him in this year is in the NLCS, if the Giants make it that far, if not it wont be until after the first week of next season. This is also Cabrera’s contract year as he will be a free agent after the season is over. If he was to have stayed clean, many teams would have been after him for 5-6 year deals, now after this, some teams may be skeptical and either not offer him a deal or a deal only worth 1-2 years. No MLB team likes to be associated with players failing drug tests.

My opinion has always been, if you can make it to the Major Leagues, why must you feel the need to take any type of drug to perform better, obviously being at this level shows you have what it takes to play professional baseball. Whenever I hear about a player in any sport failing a drug test, I automatically lose respect for them, because they obviously don’t respect themselves. If they respect themselves, then they wouldn’t be doing drugs. I did lose respect for Melky Cabrera, however there is one thing that he did that no other player has done after a failed test, that is not make an excuse for failing. Cabrera said in a statement released by the union, “My positive test was the result of my use of a substance I should not have used, I accept my suspension under the Joint Drug Program and I will try to move on with my life. I am deeply sorry for my mistake and I apologize to my teammates, to the San Francisco Giants organization and to the fans for letting them down.”

reading that quote, he knows what he did was wrong, but why did he do it in the first place if every player knows they get tested randomly throughout the season; makes no sense to me. Although I have no more respect for Melky, I still feel that him coming clean and admitting his mistakes is the right thing to do. When his suspension is over, will people now know him for this, or can he clean himself up and become a better player then what he was before the positive testing; time will only tell.

Ray Malaspina
@raymalaspina

One of the perks that I had interning in the summer at Comcast SportNet in Philadelphia is that I was able to go assist the producers at the Philadelphia Eagles training camp at Lehigh University.  I spent 2 days at camp where I did many things.  Each day I would get there around 8am and watch the walk through practice.  After practice we would interview some players coming off the field and them going to their cars.  After that we (cameraman, producer, and myself) went back to our room logged the interviews and wrote the scripts for the day newscasts.  After that we would go to the full pads practice and then interview more players going off the field.  We would then shoot live broadcasts from the field on several of our station shows.  By the time everything was said and done, it was around 7pm.

While at practice, I would bounce around from field to field and watch  the different teams practice, scrimmage, and drills.  If I was to see any players land funny or limping, i would let the producer know and they would take notes on it.  It may not seem like a lot of work, but believe me, those days there i never had ti,me to sit around, always on the move.  The experience there was great, and is something i won’t forget.

I will try to post some of the interviews of the players that i was able to ask questions to.  They may not be the best, but I am still in the beginner process

Thanks

Ray

@raymalaspina

 

Good afternoon, My name is Raymond Malaspina and I am a student from Brick, NJ.  I am going into my senior year at Monomouth (NJ) University where I am studying Radio/TV communications with a minor in Sports.  I decided a few weeks ago to start up a blog, and after doing much research, I thought word press would be the best place to get things started.

About me-  I am a huge sports fan, any sport doesn’t matter if I dont know much about it, I will learn.  I am finishing up a summer internship this week with Comcast SportsNet in Philadelphia, PA.  At Comcast I was given many responsibilities such as logging games, interviews, sound bites, and assisting in selecting daily sports highlights, assisted field producers in interviewing athletes and coaches from local professional teams, assisted editors in creating opens, highlights and script writing for broadcast, and also assisted the producer of Daily News Live, providing statistics and notes on teams and athletes. Those were some of the things that I did while I was there.  Besides interning at Comcast, I am heavily involved with Monmouth’s radio station WMCX 88.9 fm.  The music played there is “modern rock with and edge”.  I host a weekly music show, where I play my choice of music and discuss what is in the news and anything else I feel is important to the listeners.   The main thing however at WMCX is I am involved in our sports department.  I am the play-by- play, color commentator, and also board operator for the Division I football, men and women’s basketball, and baseball teams.  When I am not doing games, I am on another radio show, this one sports related called Sports Beat.  A group of students sit around the mic and give our opinion on whats going on in the world of sports.  If you couldn’t tell by now, I enjoy sports, radio and tv.

Like everybody else, I am a fan of several teams, but throughout this blog, I will not be a homer and I will give an honest opinion no matter if I like the team or not.

When I graduate in May 2013, I plan on finding a job hopefully in the sports world.  I would love to have a job in either broadcasting or sports media.  The team or company doesn’t matter, as long as I am doing what I love to do

In this blog, I plan on blogging about whatever comes to my mind, mostly sports though.  I plan on blogging several times a week so be ready.

I am very accessible if you ever need to talk about sports or anything else that comes to mind.  You can follow me on twitter @raymalaspina or on linkedin.

I hope you will enjoy this blog as much as I enjoy writing this for you.

Ray