IT'S ONLY ONE GAME!

Yesterday was a blustery, windy day in Cincinnati, and it caused a few balls in the air to fly around like a paper bag on American Beauty. Adam Dunn had such a horrendous day in left field that he made Soriano look like Jim Edmonds. But he wasn't the only one responsible for the Reds pathetic 16-7 loss to the Cubs yesterday. The defense was like a Little League team's, and the offense blew its share of opportunities, leaving 13 runners on base. Dunn was 2-4 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored, so it wasn't like he was slacking at the plate.

The Reds blogosphere is alit with degrading comments towards Dunn and what is perceived as his "big contract." The Reds fans at the game were pretty nasty, too.

I hate to use baseball as a microcosmic example of something more fundamentally wrong with rational discourse in this country, but I've begun to see a pattern throughout the baseball world, and it is starting to make me worry that the place where I go to get away from the world, that being the ballpark, might actually let some of that real world in. The comments on some sites are as hateful as something you'd see on Moldy Footballs or unDemocratic Underground.

Take, for example, some of the comments on Mark Lancaster's blog.

some of you people make retards look like brain surgeons.

Some people need to un-bunch their panties, calm the hell down, and decide if they're baseball fans.

Maybe you guys should drink a little less beer at the game (it could save some money). Sounds as though some of you probably took off work and bought a couple cases of hudie. Or, maybe, find a team you don't have to trash. Yeah, I understand you want a winner.........but, damn, did you actually think it was going to happen over the winter when very little in the way of pitching was added to the roster?

GET A LIFE

And John Perricone of Only Baseball Matters has been getting hate for weeks for his views on steriods and Bonds.

I vaguely recall some pretty partisan nonsense going on last year when George Soros wanted to get into the Nats ownership group, with people saying they wouldn't renew their season ticket packages if he did.

Now, it's all fun and games to debate baseball, to rip on Bowden, or to Googlebomb National Disgrace. But when the namecalling starts, when people are screaming profanities at a guy who's having a bad day on the field in only the first game of a long season, when bloggers are having to delete abusive comments, we've lost all sense of reason and rationality. Baseball is a beautiful game. Sure, it's not without its flaws, like National Disgrace, for example, but it is a game that abounds with the best qualities that life has to offer. Has America become so hostile, so divided, that we can't even enjoy Opening Day, that holiest of baseball holidays?

Chad at Redleg Nation has some rational perspective on the situation.

It's BASEBALL! There's no mudslinging in baseball! Save it for November!