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From Kimberly:
I have to say, I don’t watch baseball that much. I do care a little. And, I do like the Yankees.
But, my nurturing instincts and environmental concern cause me to have to try one shot at posting this message to Yankees player Joba Chamberlain.
Evidently a swarm of bugs descended on a Yankees game. And, as “a favor” to Joba Chamberlain, someone came out on the field and sprayed bug spray all over him. Yikes!
Does anyone know what is in that stuff? Most regular bug sprays have DEET or other chemicals in them. I hope that the Yankees would be wise enough to use a natural bug spray. But, I wonder.
Anyway, if I was Joba Chamberlain, I would take some time to check out what is in that bug spray. And, see if there are any cleanses needed related to those chemicals. And, have a better back up plan next time than to be sprayed all over my face with chemicals.
Filed under: Environment Tagged: | baseball, bug spray, chemicals, Environment, Joba Chamberlain, Yankees
I raised this issue on
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_steven_l_071005_yankees_robbed_of_wi.htm
about last night’s beautifully-played baseball game between the Yankees and Cleveland — beautiful, that is, until a huge swarm of gnats stormed the Yankee pitcher, Joba Chamberlain, as he came out to start the 8th inning, and all sorts of insanity and pesticides ensued.
The blog article is here, and my comment is posted under it (you might want to go to the website and add your own comments, too. Many people apparently read this):
Yankees Robbed of Win in Game 2 of ALDS by Bugs and Inept Umpiring
by Steven Leser
http://www.opednews.com
Bugs should not decide the result of a baseball playoff game.
With a cloud of bugs reminicent of a biblical plague harrying his face, eyes, nose and mouth, Joba Chamberlain, relief pitcher for the New York Yankees, threw a wild pitch that allowed the tying run in the Eighth inning of the second game of the Yankees-Indians ALDS series. The game went to eleven innings where the Indians eventually won the game.
The umpires should have stopped the game before the wild pitch and not allowed it to continue until the insect infestation had stopped. I am not suggesting anything that is new. I recall games that umpires halted due to excessive wind where the wind was causing dust to be blown into players eyes. That was less disruptive than the insects were in tonights game. The insects were completely visible via the telecast in the air and on the players faces and bodies. Players were waving their hands in the air at the insects and shaking their heads to attempt to get relief. Several times, the trainers for the teams were called out in a vain attempt to improve the situation by applying insect repellant to the players. These are not the conditions in which to play a game.
Without the insects, Joba shuts down the Indians in the Eighth inning, Rivera comes in in the ninth inning as he did and closes it out. Joba threw only one wild pitch in the entire regular season and is known for his control. In the seventh inning, before the insects became a problem, Joba Chamberlain had completely silenced the Indian hitters. The Yankees should protest the game. Insects should not be the determining factor in a baseball playoff game.
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Steven Leser specializes in Politics, Science & Health, and Entertainment topics. He has held positions within the Democratic Party including District Chair and Public Relations Chair within county organizations. Mr. Leser broke the story of the Bush Impeachment Resolution being drafted in the Illinois General Assembly. The story was printed right here on OpEdNews.com
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Pesticides, Bugs and Baseball
I guess I’m the only one commenting who agrees with Steve Leser, though I wouldn’t say that the Yankees were robbed. If you watch the game, the bugs came out by the thousands just as Joba Chamberlain came to the mound in the 8th inning (after pitching well in the 7th) with the Yankees holding a 1-0 lead over Cleveland, in a tremendously played pitcher’s duel. Both Carmona and Pettite pitched brilliantly, with great defensive plays being made all around.
And then the gnats descended for one inning, and then they disappeared again.
Derek Jeter said, “It was almost like someone just let them go.”
Well, here’s one for conspiracy theorists (admittedly, I usually fall into that category myself). However, I think that more likely, this had to do with the unusual time for the start of the game — 5 pm ET, so that MLB and TBS could rake in the cash by playing all the playoff games in sequence instead of at their usual times. By the time the bugs blitzkrieged Joba, it was dusk in Cleveland (at the far west end of the Eastern Time zone).
The umpires should have realized that this phenomenon was temporary, and delayed the game for 1/2-hour. But they didn’t. Their decision ruined a beautifully played game all around.
Instead, the Yankee players sprayed themselves with poison — DEET-containing insecticides (which later may show up as impaired motor and nerve functions or even cancer). I write this as coordinator of the No Spray Coalition in NYC, which has fought the City (and just won an interesting settlement) against Giulani’s massive helicopter and truck spraying (more like a military operation in 1999 and 2000) to kill mosquitoes said to be carrying West Nile Virus. I was dismayed to see the Yankees take this insane approach to warding off bugs — and it didn’t even work, as closeups of Joba Chamberlain’s neck and face showed. (I can send info about non-toxic ways to ward off bugs (go to http://www.nospray.org), but the pharmaceutical companies’ influence over major media AND the AMA remains extremely trenchent.)
Joba didn’t just throw one wild pitch, as some commentators here remarked. This young pitcher has excellent control, as evidenced by his performance in the previous inning. Yet, with bugs and bugspray fog all over and around him — it had abated somewhat (but was still there) when Carmona came in to pitch the top of the 9th — Joba, clearly distracted, walked the first batter, and then threw not one but two wild pitches, clearly affected by the gnats and allowing the tying run to score without a hit.
So, score one for Cleveland’s bugs. But also for Major League Baseball’s and TBS’s greed — gotta start the game at this weird time (for baseball) and get it in before the beginning of the next one to sell those commercials all day and night. And will someone please teach those Yankees (and maybe the rest of us) NOT TO USE DEET. The price for refusing to learn from the Greens about holistic approaches to health care and the environment may be much greater than losing a baseball game.
Mitchel Cohen