TSN Baseball Insider Steve Phillips answers several questions each week. Black Saints Jerseys . This weeks topics include the Colby Rasmus-Colby Lewis bunting controversy, Yu Darvish suggesting a six-man rotation and the difficulties faced by the Colorado Rockies. 1. On Saturdays game against the Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Colby Rasmus laid down a bunt in the fifth inning with nobody on base with two outs and the Jays up 2-0. The shift was on and Rasmus got a base hit. The Rangers pitcher Colby Lewis took offence with the play after the game. Did Rasmus break an unwritten rule, or was Lewis simply complaining after a loss? Bunting for a base hit with two outs in an inning and no one on base is not good baseball. In that situation, the batter should go to the plate with the intention of getting a pitch he can drive to the gap for extra bases. That means that it would only take a single to score him. When a hitter bunts for a single, it means that it will take two singles to score him from first base. The only time that it is acceptable to bunt for a hit with two outs and no one on is if the man bunting has the kind of speed and ability to steal second base even when everyone knows he is going to try. Rasmuss bunt for a hit was bad baseball. Even with a shift on and the fact that they just about gave him first base on a bunt, it isnt a good play. He certainly doesnt have the kind of base-stealing ability to justify it. So Colby Lewis was right about his evaluation of the play. It was either very selfish of Rasmus or it showed a lack of baseball knowledge. Take your pick. Neither is flattering. What I dont understand is why Lewis voiced disgust over the play. Since it was bad baseball by Rasmus, he was doing Lewis a favor. Lewis should thank Rasmus rather than criticize him. Lewis just sounds like a pitcher who has a 6.23 ERA and has given up 139 hits in 95 innings leading to a .345 opponents average. Quite honestly, what Lewis did is worse that than what Rasmus did and what Rasmus did is bad. I guess I would rather be ignorant than whiny. 2. Texas Rangers ace pitcher Yu Darvish told the Japanese media that he believed that if MLB teams switched to a six-man rotation that teams could reduce injuries to pitchers. What do you think the ideal numbers in a starting rotation are? How ironic is it that a Texas Rangers pitcher made the suggestion of going to a six-man rotation? Former team president and Hall of Fame pitcher, Nolan Ryan, is just a year removed from the franchise. It was Ryan who had suggested that the Rangers pitchers needed to work harder. He thought that the organization needed to demand more from its pitchers. He wanted guys to be like him when he played. What Ryan didnt recognize is that he was a freak of nature. Others cant do what he did. Ryan wanted to do away with pitch counts. He thinks that todays pitchers are pampered and overprotected. Pitchers arms break down from fatigue and/or poor mechanics. At one point this year, the Rangers have had eight pitchers on the disabled list and five of them have had elbow injuries, four of whom had Tommy John surgery. Nolan Ryan is no longer with the Rangers organization, but he has left a mark for sure. Darvishs recommendation of moving to a six-man rotation to protect the health of the pitchers is an understandable suggestion. In Japan, teams typically play six games per week and starters make one start per week. It certainly has worked for him. One of the major adjustments for Japanese pitchers coming to the States is their ability to handle the workload. Masahiro Tanaka got off to a great start with the Yankees, but unfortunately he couldnt handle the rigors of a five-man rotation and tore his ulna collateral ligament in his elbow. I think a five-man rotation is sufficient. A six-man rotation would mean that there would be one fewer position player or reliever on the roster. This would tie the hands of the manager far too much to be functional. Adding a sixth starter would also drive payrolls higher, as starters make more money than relievers and utility bench players. The next suggestion will be to expand the rosters, adding three players. The MLBPA would support the addition of major league jobs, but owners would reject it as it would drive payroll budgets even higher. The answer isnt to add another starter - it is to better manage the innings of the five in the rotation. Managers need to trust their middle relievers to soak up innings. They need to make fewer pitching changes and trust that a pitcher who has one solid inning of work can keep pitching for a second inning. 3. The Colorado Rockies are poised to miss the playoffs yet again and now there are rumblings that their two star players – who are both under long-term deals – Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez are open to being moved. If you ran the Rockies, how would you try to the turn this franchise around? The Rockies have the toughest path to long-term winning because of playing in the high altitude of the Rocky Mountains. Coors Field is a hitters dream come true and a pitchers nightmare. It is also so dramatically different than playing on the road that it almost feels like a different sport. Hitters stats drop significantly almost across the board away from Coors Filed. At home, pitchers have to cope with the reality that they are going to give up more hits and home runs and it is okay. Baseball is a mental game. The mind can play tricks on players. The roller coaster of emotions takes a toll to the point that players dont know which direction they are going. It takes a special breed to play in Colorado. The Rockies have been able to configure winning teams here and there, but the inability to sustain success will forever be a trademark of this franchise. There swing of the emotional pendulum at home and on the road is so tiring that it will be nearly impossible to consistently win. The key to winning in Colorado is to have strike-throwing, ground-ball pitchers. It is also critical to have a solid defence. The idea is to not give the opposition free passes on the bases or extra outs in a game. Because every at-bat can be an extra-base hit at Coors Field, runners are in scoring position when they are on first base. It is critical to make the opposition earn every base runner and run that they get. Offensively, contact hitters are critical because, every time a hitter makes contact, they have a chance to do something impactful. I would not trade Tulowitzki or Gonzalez. As soon as the Rockies get more competitive, they are going to wish they had them. They are both extraordinary defensive players and impactful offensive studs. A trade is not the answer. Their best chance to win in Colorado is to stockpile pitchers and hope to catch lightning in a bottle with a couple of them. They need to have at least 20 major league-ready pitchers every year because of the mental toll of pitching at Coors Field. They need a full-time sports psychologist to aid in keeping the pitchers sane. Ballplayers like stats. Pitchers hate to give up runs. They try to miss bats when they give up hits and runs. Rockies pitchers need to understand that giving up five runs over six innings may be a successful result, despite what the stats may say. The key for the Rockies will be to keep their successful pitchers. If a guy shows he can handle the stress of performing at Coors Field, they need to secure him for the long term. The Rockies are fighting an uphill battle because of the nature of their stadium. That isnt going to change. So they need to change the thinking of their players as to what is success. They will win again at some point, but I think it will be very difficult to win year after year. -- This weekend is the induction ceremony for the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. It is a big year for the Hall. Bobby Cox, Tony LaRussa and Joe Torre, three of the games best managers ever, are being enshrined. So too are Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and Frank Thomas. It will certainly be a weekend to remember. Bryant Gumbel from HBOs Real Sports made a really good point this week about the contradiction that exists in Cooperstown, particulary around Tony LaRussas induction. Gumbel said, “La Russa is being honored for guiding teams he managed to 2,728 wins — a total that ranks third in baseball history. But heres the rub — about 43 percent of all of those wins were recorded when La Russa was managing Mark McGwire and winning because of his prodigious power. Thats the same Mark McGwire who has been denied inclusion in the Hall because voters believe that prodigious power owed a great deal to steroids. By what logic can the guardians of the Hall vilify McGwire for his pharmaceutically assisted feats — yet glorify La Russa, who benefitted most from those same feats — and who, by the way, conveniently played dumb while his slugger morphed into the Incredible Hulk?" Now the same could be said about Joe Torre, too. He had multiple players tied to PEDs over the years. I would add that Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux and Bobby Cox won a ton of games over the years with some PED-users on their teams, too. Isnt there some amount of shame for all of this years inductees? Now, you can make the argument that all of this years inductees had to overcome cheaters to earn their success, as well. The reality is that all of them, in some way, were impacted by steroid-users, one way or another. So why discriminate? The Hall of Fame is a museum that documents the history of the game. In every era of baseball, performance was enhanced in one way or another. Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, two iconic Yankees never faced the best African American players of their time. Didnt that enhance their performance? Isnt there some shame in the segregation and discrimination that existed in that era? The mound was lowered in the early 70s to increase offence. Didnt that enhance performance? In the 70s, baseball introduced the designated hitter. Doesnt that mean that, every season prior to that, a pitchers performance was enhanced as they didnt have to face line-ups of the same strength? I could go on and on with examples which changes the balance of power in the game. The Hall of Fame needs to induct all worthy players based upon their production. They need to document the era by inclusion and then explanation, not by exclusion. This weekend has a chance to be one of the best ever in Cooperstown, but it could be so much better. Will Clapp Stitched Jersey . -- Nick Bjugstad snapped out of his scoring slump and spoiled Drew MacIntyres first NHL start. Elite Saints Jerseys . He insists hes not counting. "If youre thinking hits, youre not paying attention to wins," Altuve said Sunday after leading the Houston Astros past the Texas Rangers 3-2. http://www.officialsaintsnflauthenticshop.com/ .Y. - Alex Smith and the Kansas City Chiefs didnt flinch in the face of adversity.BOSTON - First, a warning: There will be no in-depth statistical analysis here of what happened at Fenway Park on Sunday night. There will be no attempt to affirm, or deny, the existence of the clutch hitter in baseball and whether David Ortiz fits the bill. Instead, there will be the celebration of a moment, or a series of moments, in an epic game of what has the makings of being an epic American League Championship Series. The experience, sitting in the right field auxiliary press box, began before the first pitch. Flat-screen televisions are fastened to the top of the green beams supporting the second deck. Early arrivers sat, necks craned, glued to the last-minute, game-winning touchdown drive Tom Brady was completing down the road in Foxborough. When receiver Kenbrell Thompkins caught the pass to secure a 30-27 win over the New Orleans Saints, a raucous cheer went up, surely a strange scene for the handful of Detroit Tigers who remained on the field at the end of batting practice. Less than an hour later, Game 2 began. Mathematically speaking it wasnt a must-win game for the Red Sox, but Justin Verlander is on deck for the Tigers in Tuesdays Game 3 and to be down a couple and heading to Detroit, well, you get the picture. Having been one-hit by Anibal Sanchez and four Tigers relievers in a 1-0 loss to open the series the night before, Bostons hitters picked up where they left off. Detroits Max Scherzer was every bit the Cy Young Award winner hes likely to be. He struck out two Red Sox in each of the first three innings, racked up another strikeout and a double play in the fourth and another strikeout in the fifth. At that point, Scherzer had yet to allow a hit. In the meantime, the Tigers had scored a run in the second on a Victor Martinez double and Alex Avila RBI single. Then came the sixth, when Detroit batted around, scoring four runs on five hits and chasing Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz from the game. Detroit led 5-0. Scherzer was more than halfway toward a no-hitter. It was happening again, just like the night before, except the deficit was much larger. With no ghosts of Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio and Mantle to draw upon, Boston would later find out that the living, in this case the lone holdover from both the 2004 and 2007 championship teams, would create a special moment. The Red Sox got on the board with one out in the sixth when Shane Victorino singled, ending Scherzers no-hit bid, before Dustin Pedroia doubled him home. In thhe blink of an eye Boston had scored a run and pieced together two hits in a game – new ground for the home side in this young series. Throwback Saints Jerseys. And its worth mentioning, when Victorino singled the crowd roared. But they werent mocking the dry Red Sox offence; they were trying to spurn them on. As Pedroias at-bat played out, a hearty “Lets Go Red Sox” chant filled Fenway. Give the fans an inch and theyll attempt to take the mile, or at the very least remind the local heroes who has their backs. Scherzer worked a clean seventh, the score was still 5-1, and his night was finished. Cue the eighth, which proved to be the return of the Tigers not-so-vaunted bullpen. The four-headed monster of Joaquin Benoit, Drew Smyly, Jose Veras and Al Alburquerque did a fine job in Game 1. Sunday evening, not so much. Veras started the inning getting Stephen Drew on a ground out. But then, Will Middlebrooks doubled. Tigers manager Jim Leyland went into matchup mode, calling for the left-handed Smyly to deal with the left-handed Jacoby Ellsbury. Except, in what was the pivotal at-bat in the inning before the heroics, Smyly walked Bostons centrefielder. Alburquerque was summoned and struck out Shane Victorino but then allowed a single to Pedroia, loading the bases with two outs for Ortiz. Leyland had left-hander Phil Coke, who hadnt pitched in a big league game since September 18, and his closer, the right-hander Benoit, warming in the bullpen. Leyland elected Benoit. Benoits first pitch to Ortiz, a changeup, was sent on a line over the right-centerfield wall and into the Red Soxs bullpen. Ortizs good friend, Tigers right fielder Torii Hunter, launched himself over the short fence in an attempt to make the catch, but to no avail. The game was tied 5-5. The crowd erupted. Many more of them, and much louder, than had bellowed during batting practice when Brady launched his game-winning touchdown pass. Ortiz had authored yet another moment in his sparkling Red Sox career, cemented an inning later when Jarrod Saltalamacchias walk off single scored Jonny Gomes with the winning run. Again, pandemonium. After everything, boil it down and the series is tied at a game apiece with the venue shifting to Comerica Park on Tuesday afternoon. Much has been made of this first-ever playoff matchup between two of baseballs iconic franchises, these Red Sox and Tigers. Buckle up, its just getting started. Looks like the first times a charm. 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