Some recent non-Braves baseball stories of interest

Over the past few days there have been a few interesting stories on Yahoo (I know, gasp) that I thought would be worth a look. Since tonight is an off-night, I thought it would be a good time to post.

1.)  3,494 and counting - By Pat Graham, AP. The content of this article actually annoyed me. Here's a guy that is not satisfied just going to games and enjoying the sport, cheering on his team and marveling in the great players of today. No, he's simply on a mission to collect baseballs. At least he gives a few of them to deserving kids.

2.) Pujols is a faith healer - By Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports. Uh, Pujols doesn't talk to God, he is God. That is why he heals so well. Mystery solved.

3.) Ramirez considers incident with team official over - By Fred Goodall, AP. This goes back to my comments about Barry Bonds, relates to the Chacon fiasco and is relevant to the discussions about Yunel. First, Manny is a great player, but the whole persona is something I'm glad we don't have to deal with. "Manny just being Manny." What the hell does that mean? Not only does Manny smack around his teammates (ask Eukilis), but secretaries as well. Now Bonds never did this type of stuff (that we know of) but his attitude seems similar-- both are bigger than their team (or think they are). Now, had Manny had an altercation with his manager, like Chacon, would he be gone? If Chacon had more than 2 wins or an ERA under 5 would he have been released (and subsequently clear waivers)? I don't know, but I wouldn't want either on the Braves. And finally, Yunel's temper needs to be scaled back, because he can't get away with upstaging the umpires. But so far, it seems that he is not directing any of his temper toward players, coaches or staff (that we know of). I think Yunel is just frustrated and really is passionate about winning.