I want to preface this by saying I'm not, um, a regular or even occasional visitor to MySpace.com, especially the purported MySpace pages of Giants players. But a female co-worker and fellow Giants fan mentioned she had seen Noah Lowry make some pretty intense comments on his MySpace page about Jason Schmidt leaving for the Dodgers, so I went to check it out.

All loyalty gone

I have been a baseball fan nearly my entire life, and I like to think of my self as a "purist". One thing that doesnt surprise me anymore is the lack of loyalty left in the major leagues. It's sad that this doesnt surprise me anymore, but being around the game makes one jaded. And this lack of loyalty comes from all sides. Management, ownership, the players.....all parties, for the most part, are guilty. Wednesday was a brutal reminder of this, as Jason Schmidt left the Giants to sign a contract with the Dodgers. Now, as a major league ball player, you grow accustomed to watching teammates and friends leave. It's part of the game. Whether through trade or via free agency, this is just something that you get used to. But, for whatever reason, this was different. See, back in 2005, management was actively shopping Jason. This was no secret in the clubhouse, and the media was all over it. Days before the deadline, a deal was all but done that would have sent Jason to the Chicago White Sox for a package of players. Jason went to management after being told about the deal, and asked to stay. He told the front office that this was where he wanted to be. Jason came to several players on the team, myself included and basically poured his heart out, asking us to go to bat for him. We did that. When all was said and done, Jason was a Giant come August. This past season, we all heard the rumors that Jason was considering leaving to play in Seattle once the season was over. We were hurt, because of what had happened with the White Sox deal, but I think everyone could deal with the fact that J wanted to go home to finish his career. Before I say anything else, I want to say that Jason his been a huge part of my success. Especially this past season when I was going through my rehab. So the off season hits, and all of a sudden the rumors start flying across the ESPN ticker.....Chicago....St Louis.....Dodgers. What happened to Seattle? As it turned out, Jason was looking to get paid. Hey, I understand that this is a business and Jason has a family to feed. But we are trying to win, and when Jason asked the front office not to deal him for a package of guys that could have no doubt helped this team, we all assumed he wanted to be a part of that winning. I think I speak for more than a few in that clubhouse, especially a few guys that will be reporting with the catchers on August 15th, when I say that I feel betrayed. Congratulations Jason, you got your pay day. But when you step into that batters box at AT&T this coming season, I wouldnt crowd the plate if I were you.

I'm assuming this is actually an authentic Noah Lowry blog entry (even though he mentions pitchers and catchers reporting on August 15th instead of February 15th)and I don't think I'd seen any other McCoven (tk, BVCE or any male posters with a healthy Lowry man-crush) mention this, so I figured I'd throw it out there for public consumption and comments.