Can’t Stop The Bleeding » 2005 » April

04.30.05

Lima Time (Out)

Posted in The Marketplace at 11:10 pm

from the BBC’s Hannah Hennessy :

A Chilean airline promotional video allegedly depicting Lima as a pigsty has sparked a row between Peru and its Latin American neighbour.

Peru’s government says it is suing a unit of the Chilean airliner LAN over the material which it says misrepresents the capital Lima.

This latest spat appears to have revived old grievances.


(on the left, a genuine pigsty. on the right, renowned supermodel Adriana Lima)

Peru will also protest to Santiago over alleged armed sales to Ecuador in the 1990s when the two nations were at war.

The main newspapers in Peru on Saturday expressed their outrage with headlines such as “Protest” and “Chile Must Explain Itself”.

The Peruvian government says it is filing a lawsuit against LAN Peru, which is Peru’s top airline and a unit of the Chilean flag carrier LAN.

It is angry at an in-flight video about Peru which included old images of a man urinating in the street and gutters filled with litter.

Members of congress complained that the video, which was intended to promote adventure tourism, showed Peru as a pigsty.

The airline has apologised and withdrawn the film and three of its senior executives have resigned.

But this was not enough to stop angry Peruvians smashing the windows of one of its offices.

Have You Seen This Man?

Posted in Basketball at 10:40 pm

If so, please get in touch with Jeff Van Gundy. He was last seen on the hardwood at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas for the first 3 quarters of today’s Mavs/Rockets game.

I don’t wanna be a snitch, but going toe to toe with Pete Rose and Mike Tyson wasn’t nearly enough preperation for Jim Gray’s interview with Carmelo Anthony’s mom.

Bud’s New ‘Roid Rage

Posted in Baseball at 10:27 pm

The New York Times’ Jack Curry on Bud Selig’s bold new plan to rid baseball of the scourge of (some) illegal substances.

Commissioner Bud Selig wants major league players to adopt a stricter policy against performance-enhancing substances that would include a 50-game suspension for a first offense and a permanent ban after a third offense, as well as a prohibition on amphetamines.

In a letter sent Monday to Donald Fehr, the executive director of the players union, Selig outlined stricter policies he hoped would be adopted in their drug-testing agreement. Selig’s letter, a copy of which was provided by a Major League Baseball official, seeks a 100-game suspension for the second offense.

Under the current policies, which went into effect in March, a first-time offender receives a 10-game suspension, a second-timer 30 games and a third-timer 60. A fourth-time offender is out for one year, and a player who tests positive a fifth time is punished at the commissioner’s discretion. Selig called his proposal a “three strikes and you are out” plan.

“I recognize the need for progressive discipline,” Selig wrote, “but a third-time offender has no place in the game. Steroid users cheat the game. After three offenses, they have no place in it.”

In addition, Selig said that amphetamines should be included as part of banned performance-enhancing substances. While amphetamines are banned in the minor leagues, baseball has no punishment for amphetamine use by players on 40-man rosters in the majors.

The proposal drew a mixed reaction among players.

“That would get it out of the game, in a heartbeat,” Kansas City Royals pitcher Brian Anderson told the Associated Press.

Jason Phillips, the Dodgers’ catcher and a former Met, was skeptical. “Put me on the record as saying that’s ridiculous – I mean, until they come up with a list of banned substances,” he told The Associated Press. “They still don’t know what you can buy over the counter and what you can’t buy.”

By making these proposals to Fehr six weeks after both men were pressured at a Congressional hearing investigating steroids, Selig is shifting some of the onus of strengthening testing to the players.

Yeah, no kidding. No mention of any sort of punative action against teams or owners who have reaped the rewards (in the standings or at the box office) of their players’ superhuman strength.

Lenny Dykstra will bet any one of you $20K that this will never get past the Players Association.

Zeke Has Coaching Candidate By The Neck

Posted in Basketball at 2:59 pm

Is Isiah Thomas putting a little mustard on the head-hunt? The Newark Star Ledger’s David Waldstein on the latest name to enter the Knicks’ coaching search, former Seton Hall fixture P.J. Carlesimo.

Spurs general manager R.C. Buford gave a strong endorsement of P.J. Carlesimo, the assistant coach of the Spurs under serious consideration for the Knicks head coaching job.

As The Star-Ledger reported Wednesday, Knicks president Isiah Thomas recently contacted Carlesimo (above) about the job — in fact, ESPN Radio reported yesterday that the two met in San Antonio after Thomas met with Phil Jackson in Los Angeles — and Carlesimo is developing into a legitimate candidate for the Knicks head coaching job.

Although this is his 26th year of coaching, including stops at Seton Hall, the Trail Blazers and Warriors, Carlesimo has been linked in recent years to the ugly incident in 1999 in which he was attacked and choked by Latrell Sprewell when the two were at Golden State.

But Buford said that one incident should not tarnish Carlesimo, especially if Sprewell was able to move on from it. Carlesimo was fired by Golden State later that year, and has never had another head coaching offer.

McMullen On The Celtics’ Inability To Keep Pace

Posted in Basketball at 2:43 pm

The Boston Globe’s Jackie McMullen is never lovelier nor smarter than when she’s agreeing with me.

This shouldn’t be happening.

If I were Doc Rivers, that’s what I’d be telling my basketball team this morning. I’d pull out the stat sheet and go down the Indiana Pacers’ roster, player by player, and explain to the Celtics in explicit terms just who they are trailing, 2-1, in this first-round playoff series.

Start with point guard Anthony Johnson, a career backup who cheerfully concedes he will always be a backup, and is just keeping the seat warm in case Jamaal Tinsley (injured foot) ever gets well. Johnson dished out eight assists in Thursday’s Pacers win in Game 3. He’s killing the Celtics by dictating tempo. That simply defies logic.

There’s All-Star Jermaine O’Neal, whose shoulder was so painful after Game 3 he couldn’t lift his hand above his waist. O’Neal also had his right ankle checked by the medical staff after the game, but was mum on the reason. O’Neal is encased in ice after every game, a nifty impersonation of Nolan Ryan after throwing nine innings of fastballs. It was a wise strategy to make Indiana’s big fella pay with hard fouls every time he ventured inside, but even that backfired when Antoine Walker took it one step too far and got himself tossed. Advantage, O’Neal.

The mercurial Stephen Jackson, the only player in this series who has a championship ring (he snagged his with San Antonio two seasons ago), played 33 minutes on a balky left knee that made it darn near impossible to keep up with Paul Pierce in the opening half. Pierce wisely took advantage of the mismatch — for a while. But when Boston closed within 7 and needed a big basket from its captain, why take a three against a guy who is having issues with mobility? Take him to the hole. Make it hurt. Make the kid work.

Junior Burns While Rome Fiddles

Posted in Baseball at 8:33 am

Though he’s unlikely to go Jim Everett on Jim Rome’s ass anytime soon, Ken Griffey Jr. bristles at criticism from the radio/tv yackmeister writes the Dayton Daily News’ Sean McCelland.

“The sooner you shut it down, the sooner you get to Cooperstown,” went Rome’s TV take.

Rome has bashed Griffey through the years. Griffey thinks it’s because he has refused several invitations to appear on his nationally syndicated radio show.

“I’m not one of his little clonies,” Griffey said. “I should retire just because I haven’t hit a ball out of the park? He should retire.”

“Have you ever seen him at the ballpark?” Griffey wondered. “It’s all because I won’t go on his show. The only people I have to answer to is my family. Anybody else can say what they want.”

Caddy Cops To Cumming On Cue

Posted in Golf at 2:58 am

From the Associated Press :

Miami — A former caddie for LPGA golfer Jackie Gallagher-Smith is suing her, saying she seduced him in order to get pregnant.

Gary Robinson says Gallagher-Smith, who is married, used him as “an unwitting sperm donor.” He is suing for an unspecified sum, claiming fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress. No hearing date has been set for the suit, filed in circuit court this week in West Palm Beach.

A message for Gallagher-Smith’s attorney, Edwin Belz, was not immediately returned.

Earlier, he told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that the suit was, “an attempt at extortion.”

The suit says Gallagher-Smith, 37, gave birth last month, but Florida law says a child born into a marriage is deemed to be a result of the marriage. A DNA test can’t be forced and Robinson has no legal claim to the child, said Cathy Lively, Robinson’s attorney.

Robinson said he has been affected professionally. He is currently out of work as a caddie and is pursuing a career as a professional golfer.

“The likelihood that I will ever get another caddying job, especially in the LPGA, is very, very unlikely,” he said.

He’s probably right, though a lucrative new career as a gigolo beckons.

Oklahoma Suspends Cochell

Posted in Baseball at 12:59 am

From the Dallas Morning News’ Brian Davis.

Oklahoma baseball coach Larry Cochell was removed from his position indefinitely Friday after school officials learned that he used racially derogatory language during two separate interviews with ESPN announcers.

OU athletic director Joe Castiglione issued a statement Friday night that Sunny Golloway will be the team’s interim head coach until the matter is resolved.

“This university is a place where everyone is respected,” Castiglione said in a statement. “Clearly, if these comments were made, they run contrary to the core values of this institution and we will treat them very seriously.”

Cochell (above) made the comments before Tuesday’s game at Wichita State, according to ESPN announcers Gary Thorne and Kyle Peterson.

Thorne said he was talking with Cochell before the game in the dugout. Cochell summoned Joseph Dunigan, a 19-year-old black athlete from Chicago, to the dugout and complimented the freshman outfielder on his schoolwork.

After Dunigan walked away, Thorne said Cochell made a racial slur. According to the network, which first reported the incident on its 5 p.m. edition of SportsCenter, Cochell said: “There’s no [racial epithet] in him.”

Cochell, who is white, was speaking with ESPN analyst Kyle Peterson sometime later before the game. The two began talking about Dunigan.

ESPN reported that Cochell said to Peterson: “There are honkies and white people. And there are [racial epithet] and black people. Dunigan is a good black kid.”

Josh Krulewitz, ESPN’s director of media relations, said both interviews were considered on-the-record because the announcers were gathering information to be used during the broadcast. However, Cochell was not on camera. OU labeled the encounters as “a private meeting.”

I’ve been watching a lot of Big 12 baseball this year and have noticed there aren’t a ton of black players. And in addition to all the things we’re always hearing about other sports being more popular pursuits for African-American athletes, perhaps the climate isn’t so welcoming if characters like Cochell feel comfortable making those sort of remarks.

No truth to the rumor, by the way, that Cochell has been offered a position with the Long Island Ducks.

Princess Rodriguez Ends Relationship With Autograph Hawker

Posted in Baseball at 12:25 am

“When someone does something without my consent and my permission, to me it’s the wrong thing to do,” he said. “Because of that, I’ve taken immediate action.”

This is what you might call a p.r. exercise on A-Rod’s part. If he had a problem with bleeding the adoring public dry, Rodriguez wouldn’t participate in events like the one below.

04.29.05

Pats Sign Diminutive Backup QB

Posted in Gridiron at 3:29 pm

In a move designed to cheer sentimentalists and yack-radio screamers alike, the New England Patriots have signed 42 year old Doug Flutie to a one-year deal to serve as their insurance policy in case Tom Brady contracts a deadly STD.

Said deal wipes out any hopes of the NY Giants to reunite Flutie with General Tom Coughlin, his former offensive coordinator / QB coach during the former’s salad days at BC. When Bill Belichick is the happy personality by comparison, you know you’ve got problems.

Framingham, MA city planners immediately announced that the shopping mall access road Flutie Pass would henceforth be known as “Flutie Clipboard”.

Rumors that the Celtics plan to active Marvin Barnes in time for Game 4 of their first round playoff series with the Pacers, are unfounded.

Reunited And It Feels Like Shit

Posted in Baseball at 8:54 am

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Joe Rutter on the long awaited reunion of former teammates Jose Mesa and Omar Vizquel.

Aware that he could encounter his nemesis for the first time in three years, Omar Vizquel is bringing extra protection to PNC Park this weekend.

Not protection in the form of a beefy security guard or police escort.

Vizquel, the San Francisco Giants shortstop, is bringing protective uniform equipment in case he has to step into the batters box while Pirates closer Jose Mesa (above) is pitching.

That includes a double-flap batting helmet.

“I’m going to wear some extra padding because I’m not going to take any chances,” Vizquel said. “If he hits me, I’ll be ready. He still throws hard.”

The next phase of a mostly one-sided feud between Mesa and Vizquel could play out during this upcoming three-game series. Mesa, though, said he has no intention of escalating his grudge with his former Cleveland Indians teammate.

He insists he has no plan of hitting Vizquel in the head, back or any other body part.

“He’s a professional. I’m a professional,” Mesa said. “He’s going to play his game, and I’m going to pitch my game. What happened is in the past. It’s over.”

Two years ago, Mesa made national headlines when he told a Philadelphia reporter he wanted to kill Vizquel over an excerpt in the shortstops autobiography. He interpreted a passage as Vizquel saying Mesa choked during Game 7 of the 1997 World Series when he failed to protect a ninth-inning lead against the Florida Marlins.

This week, Mesa said his threats toward Vizquel were blowing out of proportion.

“I’m not that type of person,” he said. “I’m not stupid enough to try to kill somebody and then go to jail.”

Still, Mesa said he has no interest in renewing his friendship with Vizquel.

“I don’t talk to him,” he said. “I have nothing to say to him, and I hope he has nothing to say to me.”

The relationship began to sour in 1998 when Vizquel homered off Mesa during an intrasquad spring training game and did a cartwheel as he crossed home plate. An angered Mesa vowed to hit Vizquel the next time he faced him.

It’s Peter Vescey’s Friday Morning…

Posted in Basketball at 8:27 am

…and we’re just getting newsprint all over our hands. From today’s NY Post.

The Knicks did the right thing by reaching out to Phil Jackson, doing it on the up and up at the appropriate time as instructed. Now it’s up to him to do the right thing: Climb out of his Think Tank and make a command decision.

Sources say Jackson was spotted late yesterday huddled with biographer Charley Rosen rolling into an upstate vented mountain retreat. If we see the chimney emitting black smoke, that means nothing has been decided.

Stephen A. Smith tells me Jackson indeed is coming back next season. He’s just waiting for Dan Gilbert to pass him a note about which team to coach.

If it turns out players under 20 are prohibited from playing in the NBA, new owners should be required to spend at least two years in the National Basketball Developmental League until they have a grasp on how to run a team.

Following his 1-for-16 misadventure in Game 1 against the Sonics, Mike Bibby, desperate to figure out his shooting problem, drove to the nearest Wendy’s to see if its employees could put their finger on it.

Rocker Sucks In Ducks Debut

Posted in Baseball at 8:16 am

John Rocker’s journey down the comeback trail hit a speed bump Thursday night, the racist reliever walking 4 in the 9th inning of Bridgeport’s 4-3 win over Long Island, the Atlantic League opener for both clubs.

On the bright side, Rocker might be just as competent a closer for the Braves at this point as Danny Kolb.

04.28.05

Great News For Both NY Clubs, Gwynn Censored

Posted in Baseball at 10:03 pm

For Mets fans, the real Peter Gammons (and not the one blogging away at BBTN’s Yard Work) made the helpful prediction that RF Victor Diaz would be a .300 hitter for the duration of the season. Well, yeah, if he’s hit by a truck tomorrow.

(on the same broadcast, SS Jose Reyes was cited as one of April’s statistical freaks ; 0 BB in 96 at bats. Ouch. )

For Yankee rooters, Kevin Brown (above) had something aproaching a quality start this evening againt the Angels. Certainly, John Lackey’s performance was of a much higher quality, but I’m trying to sound encouraging.

Our thoughts go out to Tony Gwynn, who learned this week much the way Free Expression Pioneer Maggie Gyllenhaal did, there is a price to be paid for speaking one’s mind in the tough town called America.

Dying At The Plate, Dye At SS

Posted in Baseball at 3:48 pm

As if his ice-cold April wasn’t harsh enough, the White Sox’s Jermaine Dye found himself in an unfamiliar position, writes the Contra Costa Times’ Rick Hurd.

To get the proper perspective on what Dye could’ve been contributing to the A’s and didn’t, you had to have wandered into McAfee Coliseum during the late stages of the A’s 2-1 win over the Chicago White Sox, Dye’s new team, on Wednesday. That, or you had to have taken a healthy dose of No Doz before witnessing another riveting day by the home team’s offense.

You had to have witnessed the ninth inning. Because there, standing on a patch of dirt between second and third base stood …

Jermaine Dye? Chico Carrasquel, Luis Aparicio, Don Kessinger, Ozzie Guillen …

And Jermaine Dye? “Now, we can add your name to the list,” Guillen, now the White Sox’s manager, said, putting his arm around Dye and taking a swig from a beer after the game. “Lots of great shortstops for this franchise.”

Hey, maybe he’s on to something. Dye hasn’t exactly distinguished himself in his first 31/2 weeks with his new team. He departed Oakland hitting a cool .171, and until the ninth inning, his most notable moment during his three-game visit here was dropping a fly ball that helped the A’s rally for a 9-7 win on Tuesday.

But Guillen (above) was tossed by home-plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt in the final frame after Wendelstedt ruled shortstop Joe Crede had stuck his right elbow into a pitch thrown by A’s reliever Justin Duchscherer. One pitch later, Crede was tossed when he threw his bat angrily after popping out to end a White Sox threat.

And all that did was leave the White Sox’s infield as empty as the upper deck, because middle infielders Juan Uribe, Tadahito Iguchi and Pablo Ozuna all were nursing various ailments and weren’t available.

And all that did was lead Joey Cora, Guillen’s bench replacement, to do what all good innovators do. He told Dye to get his infielder’s glove.

Who knew he even had one? “It just happened so fast,” Dye said. “As (reliever) Dustin Hermanson came in (to replace reliever Damaso Marte), I talked to Wash, and he was giving me the same hints he always used to give me. Use my feet, basic stuff.”

Ah yes, Wash. For the uninitiated, that would be Ron Washington, the A’s third base coach and instructor supreme for the novice infielder. Prospective infielders work like honey bees for Wash during the early days of spring training, a time of year when there’s nothing but time if you want to go to work.

Wash is so good that a certain Gold Glove right fielder decided last season that he could use some work on the infield. He was a third baseman at Will C. Wood High School-Vacaville, and the Kansas City Royals drafted him in 1992 with the idea Dye would play the position someday.

But shortstop? Maybe it happened in Little League, Dye said.

“I looked over there at short, and he was as happy as can be,” Washington said, his infectious smile taking over. “And I’m over there waiting for the first ground ball to be hit to him.”

It never did come. The most notable action Dye received came when he retrieved Erubiel Durazo’s leadoff fly ball that fell for a hit when center fielder Aaron Rowand lost it in the sun. The only grounders that went his way came courtesy of first baseman Paul Konerko’s soft tosses before the inning.

“He handled them,” Washington joked.

Carrasquel, Aparicio, Kessinger and Guillen couldn’t have done it any better.

We Don’t Need That Fascist Groove Thing

Posted in Free Expression, Lower Education at 12:28 pm


(two sexually repressed Boston area teens discuss moving to Rhode Island)

The Boston Globe’s Tracy Jan on the latest in educators’ attempts to quash dirty dancing.

Boston-area high school administrators, worried about students’ increasingly vulgar music tastes, have been delivering a pointed message to DJs: Keep it clean, or we keep the paycheck.

As teens gravitate to hip-hop hits like ”Candy Shop,” ”Magic Stick” and ”Get Low,” which are loaded with sexually explicit lyrics, school administrators say they are facing more pressure from parents to police the playlist for next month’s proms.

In the past three years, principals have been pulling disc jockeys aside before school dances and warning them to avoid vulgar songs or play the less explicit radio versions, DJs and principals say. DJs say parents are more knowledgeable about the music being played, and principals are listening more to parents’ concerns.

A Cambridge high school administrator said she carried through on a threat last year and withheld pay after a DJ played a raunchy song at the senior prom.

At Marlborough High, student dance organizers hire the DJs and submit a playlist ahead of time. Administrators rely on the DJs to filter out the vulgar or sexually suggestive songs because the DJs are more familiar with the lyrics, said Paul Kamataris, assistant principal at the school for 25 years.

”If things aren’t going right, we’re going to shut down the dance,” Kamataris said. ”They’re aware of their responsibilities. They know what’s appropriate. I control the purse strings, and you’re going to play the music I want or you’re not getting paid.”

Ken Cosco, the chief entertainment officer of A Touch of Class DJ’s in Marlborough, which entertains at hundreds of school dances, graduation parties, and other teen-oriented events every year, has a do-not-play list — topped, he said, by rapper 50 Cent’s ”Candy Shop.” The song makes thinly veiled references to oral sex by using a lollipop as a metaphor for the male sexual organ.

At Brookline High, radio versions of most songs usually pass muster, but not ”Candy Shop,” said Gretchen Tucker-Underwood, the dean of students.

”Don’t tell me he’s only talking about lollipops,” Tucker-Underwood said. ”I don’t want to have to go through the double-entendres.”

No, god, please. Anything but that.

Not Quite Pat O’Brien In Rehab…

Posted in Baseball, Blogged Down at 10:32 am

….but a close second in the laff-riot sweepstakes, is the not exactly 4-real Baseball Tonight blog.

CSTB’s Early Interest In Field Hockey Rekindled

Posted in Hot Fads at 1:46 am

From the Associated Press, proof that you don’t need the directorial skills of Todd Phillips to party in style.

Frostburg, Md. — Six female field hockey players hazed their new college teammates by urging them to drink so much beer and liquor that one 18-year-old was hospitalized with a blood-alcohol level more than four times the legal limit, police say.

The Frostburg State University freshmen also were pelted with flour, ice and eggs, and made to sit in their own vomit and urine, according to charges filed by police in Allegany County Court.

Five of the women were charged with second-degree assault and hazing, police said Wednesday. Charges were pending against the sixth, they said.

The documents also named six victims, including an 18-year-old whom police saw being carried, unconscious, by her boyfriend along a street.

Her blood-alcohol content was measured at a hospital at 0.365; the legal limit for drivers in Maryland is 0.08.

The “secret buddy Christmas party” is thrown annually by senior team members to initiate new members, according to a police report.

Glavine Stares, Glares, Barely Cares

Posted in Baseball at 1:15 am

In the wake of Atlanta taking two of three from the Mets (and 4 of 6 this season), count Newsday’s Mark Herrman as one observer who thinks the New Mets aren’t new enough.

the Braves left Shea the way they practically always do — smiling and leaving a trail of manager Bobby Cox’s cigar smoke and a litany of praise for the team they had just waxed. Eddie Perez, the Braves’ backup catcher who plays one game a week but who nonetheless went 2-for-4 with a home run in an 8-4 win, said of the Mets: “They’re one of the best teams in baseball right now and you have to play well against them.”

How gracious, from a club that has won the season series against the Mets in 12 of the past 14 years. How familiar it is, from a team that had just beaten the Mets’ two top pitchers in successive games and made these “New Mets” sound like the old Mets: “How do we beat the Braves?”

What the Braves showed yesterday and the night before, despite having played without top hitter Chipper Jones and despite having lost the opener of a three-game series Monday, is that they still are the Braves.

“Until they lose the division, they’re the king. That’s it,” said Cliff Floyd, whose two-run homer in the fourth made the score 4-3 and made the game interesting for a couple of minutes.

“You cannot tell me that with the amount of guys they lost the last couple of years, that you would say they would win the division,” Floyd said. “They lost J.D. Drew, Gary Sheffield, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Javy Lopez. If you had told me they would win after they lost that type of guy, I’d probably tell you that you were crazy. But they found a way to do it, so you’ve got to give them their due.”

Cliff Floyd is off to a terrific start and I’m almost sorry I made so many remarks about how he could barely walk let alone run. But his GM credentials are suspect. John Schuerholz and Bobby Cox clearly knew that certain players were expendable, especially considering the costs of keeping them (hello, Jared Wright).

The jury is still out on moving John Smoltz back to the rotation and the Braves’ addition of Danny Kolb. Kolb’s meltdown on Tuesday night was nearly of nuclear proportions until Cox wisely pulled the latter from the game. Gary Cohen pointed out earlier in the evening that Kolb has barely half a season’s experience closing games and strikes out a mere 2 hitters per every 9 innings ; perhaps “pitching to contact” isn’t the way to go in situations that allow so little margin for error.

And speaking of pitching to contact, Tom Glavine might be writing a book on the subject. Though the ball is also making contact with the bleachers, the left field wall, etc. With two out in the 3rd, Glavine faced Raul Mondesi with Brian Jordan on third and Andruw Jones on 2nd. With first base open, Glavine chose to pitch to Mondesi rather than walk the veteran and face Eddie Perez (hitting .207 at the time). Mondesi promptly singled home both Jordan and Jones on the first pitch of the at bat. Then again, Perez homered later in the game.


(Willie consoles Tom Terrible by telling him he’s looking more like William H. Macy with each passing day)

Glavine is hardly the big name starter who is struggling this year — Barry Zito, Kevin Brown, Mike Mussina and Curt Schilling all come to mind. But Glavine’s underachievement in a Mets uniform is begining to reach George Foster-levels of desperation. If New York offered Glavine straight up for Bruce Chen, would the Orioles bite? Paul Byrd? Jose Lima? Forget it. Unless the Mets are willing to add another faded star to the list of players they’ve paid to play for someone else (ie. Bobby Bonilla, Roger Cedeno), they’re stuck with Glavine until the day his deal expires.

Bellamy To Shearer : U SUK

Posted in Football at 12:33 am


(”…and you’re boring, too.”)

Newcastle exile Craig Bellamy, who scored over the weekend for Celtic in the Old Firm derby, saved his most impresive performance in recent memory for his mobile phone. From Brian McNally and Euan Stretch in last Sunday’s Mirror.

Soccer bad boy Craig Bellamy sent a series of abusive text messages to his old Newcastle captain Alan Shearer after going on a bender at a charity golf tournament.

Ex-England striker Shearer, 34, was left “visibly shaken” and “seething” after being taunted by former team-mate Bellamy, 25.

Shearer got the messages just minutes after his team’s 4-1 defeat against Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final last Sunday. They included insults: “Your legs are gone. You’re too old. You’re too slow.”

Another – which made him “turn purple with rage” – reportedly read: “You couldn’t even kiss my a**e.”

Yesterday a source close to Newcastle Utd said: “Shearer walked into the dressing room and switched on his phone.

“He looked distraught as he checked his messages.

“Bellamy was clearly delighted that Newcastle had been knocked out of the cup.

“He also sent texts to several other players and Kenneth Shepherd, son of the Newcastle chairman.

“But it is the final one to Shearer that has enraged the players – and I don’t think Newcastle fans will be happy about it either.”

The source added: “Shearer is worshipped as a god in Tyneside.

“There is no way Bellamy could show his face around these parts after what he texted.”

It is not the first time fiery Welsh international Bellamy has sent abusive text messages to Shearer. He has also targeted other fellow professionals and managers.

Earlier this year he left an offensive voicemail message on Shearer’s phone and sent him a text calling him “F****** goody two shoes.”

And he sent abusive texts to Newcastle manager Graham Souness and chairman Freddy Shepherd when they tried to sell him to Birmingham for £6million. It read: “I am Craig Bellamy and I don’t sign for s*** football clubs.”

04.27.05

Schilling, Sour Lou In Pissing Match

Posted in Baseball at 11:45 pm

Curt Schilling went on the 15 day DL yesterday (as did SF’s Armando Benitez and the Cardinals’ Jason Isringhausen), but the Boston starter’s mouth remains in peak condition, as does that of Lou Piniella.

From the Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo.

Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella reacted angrily to comments made by Curt Schilling on the “Dennis and Callahan” WEEI radio program yesterday morning.

After the Devil Rays lost to the Blue Jays in Toronto, 7-5, Piniella told the St. Petersburg Times that the Red Sox pitcher should be more concerned about his tough start this season than blaming Piniella for the two bench-clearing incidents in Tampa Sunday.

“I think he should just concern himself with pitching and not worry about what other managers do or don’t do,” said Piniella. “I don’t think I’ve forgotten how to play the game. I know exactly how the game should be played, and why. Quite frankly, I’m disappointed in his comments, very disappointed in his comments.”

On the WEEI program, Schilling said, “When you’re playing a team with a manager who somehow forgot how the game is played, there’s problems. This should have been over a little bit ago. Lou’s trying to make his team be a bunch of tough guys, and the telling sign is when the players on that team are saying, `This is why we lose a hundred games a year, because this idiot makes us do stuff like this.’ They were saying this on the field.”

In response, Piniella said, “Go talk to the players. I don’t think they’d say that. I know you wouldn’t get one to say that.”

Though only two players were hit by pitches in Sunday’s game — both by Boston’s Bronson Arroyo — the benches cleared twice, once when a pitch by Tampa Bay’s Lance Carter went toward the head of David Ortiz. In the first two games of the series, Tampa Bay pitchers hit three batters and Boston pitchers two. “I can assure you that we’re not throwing at anybody’s head or anybody’s ear,” Piniella said last night. “We just want to play baseball, whether it’s against Boston or any other team.

“Our problem here is that I’ve got a lot of young pitchers. And even though you can make excuses for them — and that’s not what I’m trying to do — they’re a little more prone.”

I think we’ve all seen the replays of Carter’s attempted beaning of Ortiz — if the former wasn’t throwing with intent, he’s a menace to public safety.

Hasil Adkins, RIP

Posted in Rock Und Roll at 9:56 pm

from the Associated Press’ John Raby (forwarded, courtesy Mark Ohe) :

Rock-a-billy artist Hasil Adkins, a one-man band whose screaming vocals
and freestyle approach to rhythm landed a cult following, has died at
67.

Adkins’ body was found Tuesday at his Madison home, where he lived
alone. The cause of death has not been determined but it does not appear
to be suspicious. The body has been sent to the state medical examiner’s
office, Boone County Sheriff’s Deputy J.M. Thompson said Wednesday.

“Someone had gone to check on him and had found him,” Thompson said.

Guitar. Harmonica. Drums. Foot-rhythm instruments. Adkins played them
all – often while singing. A yodel, screaming and a high-pitched
female’s lark were some of his many voices.

The son of a coal miner, Adkins learned to played guitar before he was
10. He claimed the only time he practiced his songs was on stage.

Known to his fans as The Haze, Adkins struggled for decades to get
noticed. In a 2002 interview, he said he mailed out thousands of tapes
and records over a 30-year period while fishing for a record deal.

Even Richard Nixon got one, courtesy of U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd,
D-W.Va. The president’s reply to Adkins came on White House stationery
in 1970: “I am very pleased by your thoughtfulness in bringing these
particular selections to my attention.”

“Hasil was one of a handful of artists I think (who) are truly unique
and truly individual. There aren’t very many people whose music you can
identify in seconds. But he was one of them,” said Michael Lipton, a
Charleston musician and writer who wrote stories about Adkins for
newspapers and magazines and later became friends with Adkins.

“And like those kinds of singular artists, they have good nights and bad
nights, on a good night it was the most rhythmic, primal music I think
I’ve ever heard,” Lipton said Wednesday.

“On a bad night, it was still good.”

Adkins was the original star of Norton Records, a label built around the
primal recordings Adkins produced in his mountain home, beginning in the
Eisenhower era.

“People told me they wondered how I could stick with it, so many
heartaches and letdowns. I had ‘em by the hundreds, millions I guess,”
Adkins said. “I said, well, I didn’t start to quit.”

Adkins, who claimed to have written more than 7,000 songs, first emerged
hooting and wailing in the 1950s, only to disappear again. European fans
kept the rock-a-billy rage alive, and when the Cramps did an early 1980s
remake of Adkins’ “She Said,” his records suddenly became hot again.

What Adkins sang about was just as unique as his delivery, which was
fueled by a 2-gallon-a-day coffee habit.

New York-based Norton Records combined new and previous recordings to
release “Poultry in Motion,” a collection of 15 Adkins songs about
chicken from 1955 to 1999.

His “Chicken Walk” and “The Hunch” became two short-lived dance fads.

Server Maintaince Severs CSTB’s Ties To Your Psyche

Posted in Internal Affairs at 5:38 pm

Dear Friends,

Do not worry. I have not actually started doing real work in lieu of finding more fetching photographs of Maggie Gyllenhaal. At some point yesterday afternoon, CSTB’s lovely hosting company moved this site from one server to another. The good news is that said moves will enable the hosting company to maximize their profits. The bad news is that most of Tuesday’s content is, to quote Gary Cohen, “outta here”.

Knowing the strong likelyhood of such an occurance, I did make text copies of yesterday’s entries…all which were lost when a Powerbook hard drive decided to make like Barrett Robins and start Fucking Shit Up. A tough break. I’m told the 42,000 jpgs of Maggie Gyllenhaal have also been lost.

Anyhow, I’m doing my best to cope with these troubling events and I hope you are too. Regular actvity will resume shortly.

GC

04.26.05

Dickhead With Bad Rug Reaches Out To Kaz

Posted in Baseball at 4:26 pm

The New York Daily News’ Peter Botte reports that germphobic con artist Donald Trump and Mets 2B Kaz Matsui have a special bond. And no, it has nothing to do with Trump bunting against orders.

Donald Trump said in a television interview last year that the one major-league player he’d want to slap with his infamous catch-phrase would be Mets second baseman Kaz Matsui. But Trump didn’t say “You’re fired” when he talked briefly with Matsui while filming an episode for the next season of “The Apprentice” yesterday at Shea.

Instead, Matsui said the mogul only encouraged him during their brief encounter on the infield dirt.

“He just told me good luck with the season and that I’m looking pretty well right now,” Matsui said through his interpreter before last night’s game against the Braves. “I think I’ve seen the program before, but obviously I don’t really understand it.”

Trump had taken shots at Matsui during a June 2004 segment of the ESPN’s “The Hot Seat,” saying “I would certainly say Kaz Matsui of the Mets has been a bust. There’s no doubt about that.”

Kaz shouldn’t worry about it. I’ve seen “The Appentice”, too, and I don’t understand it, either.

Is there some sort of legal action pending against Aaron Heilman in the State of New York that requires the Mets to put an imposter on the mound at Shea each time the Notre Dame graduate’s turn in the rotation comes up?

The Bergen Record’s Bob Klapisch previews tonight’s Pedro Martinez/John Smoltz matchup.

Every so often baseball delivers a scheduling gift to its loyalists – a matchup so compelling it makes you forget these are the early, chilly weeks of the season. When Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz go one-on-one tonight, everything else will come to a halt at Shea. Even April’s gusts will cooperate and feel like a soft, August flutter.

Think these two power pitchers aren’t already surging on adrenaline? The last time Pedro and Smoltz collided, they combined for 24 strikeouts, flattening everyone in their path. No wonder Braves manager Bobby Cox likened the encore to “[Sandy] Koufax against [Juan] Marichal.”

“It’s a good old National League matchup, like [Gaylord] Perry against [Don] Drysdale,” Cox was saying Monday night. “People love matchups. They’re fun.”

They’re irresistible, actually, especially this one. The Mets have the National League’s hottest pitcher in Pedro, averaging almost 12 strikeouts a game, keeping opponents to a ridiculous .119 average.

Smoltz’s numbers are almost as gripping. Since an opening-day meltdown against the Marlins, the right-hander has surrendered just five earned runs in his last 211/3 innings, striking out 24.

It’s inevitable Pedro and Smoltz will go deep into the game again tonight. The at-bats will be over in a hurry, the innings turning into a blur. The hitters will be helpless bystanders to a much larger struggle between two future Hall of Famers.

It’s the kind of matchup that makes the Mets’ ticket office breathe heavily, but in the clubhouse, there are other, longer-range dividends being considered, too.

Willie Randolph is imagining facing Smoltz in the heat of the pennant race, when the 80-something-win Mets will be trying to make a wild-card fantasy come true.

If they can beat Smoltz twice in the first month of the season, that memory could last all summer. Remember, the Mets are like a baby chick emerging from its shell, fragile and impressionable. That’s why they treat Pedro like their guardian every fifth day, especially tonight.

It may not be as apocalyptic as Game 7 in the 2003 AL Championship Series, at least not to Pedro, but he knows these are all late-summer moments for the Mets.

To them, facing Smoltz represents a trip up Mount Olympus. Even in April, it’s an irresistible journey.

How Much For Cardinal Law’s Rookie Card?

Posted in Religion at 3:20 pm

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If Topps can manage to include a bubble gum-flavored cracker, they’ll really be onto something.

Glasgow Rangers Paging Dusty Baker

Posted in Football at 3:06 pm

from the Guardian’s Fiver :

If God really exists, you’d think he’d have more important things on his plate than footballers’ injuries. Eradicating HIV or world poverty, perhaps. Or healing triple-jumper Jonathan Edwards of his I’m-going-to-heaven-me sanctimoniousness. But no. Instead, God seems to have spent April ensuring Rangers defender Marvin Andrews’ safe return for the fag-end of his club’s fruitless Scottish Premierleague campaign. Well, God does move in mysterious ways, etc and so on.

Andrews’ story is a strange one, mind. Last month, the Trinidad and Tobago international suffered a cruciate knee ligament injury against Dundee and was told he needed an operation. Instead Andrews, a devout Christian and faith healer, decided to trust in the power of prayer. Fast forward a month, and – stone the Eileen Drewerys! – the defender (above) was back for Sunday’s Old Firm derby. And today his manager Alex McLeish was hailing a modern miracle.

“Unless something untoward happens, he is available to me again,” halleluiahed McLeish. “Some people have criticised the big fellow for not getting an operation, but you have to applaud his faith.” Meanwhile Marvin’s healer, Joe Nwokoye, of the Zion Praise Centre International in Kirkcaldy, isn’t sure what the fuss is about. “If Jesus can raise himself from the dead, he can heal a knee,” he scoffed. “In Nigeria, people are raised from the dead all the time. It’s about time people started believing in the word of God.” If Rangers can pull back a five-point SPL deficit they just might start doing so.

AC Milan defeated PSV Eindhoven, 2-0, in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final, said match marking the debut of Setanta Sport’s new US subscription channel. The home side’s Andriy Schevchenko tapped one past Heurelho Gomes in the 21st minute. Tomorrow’s Chelsea/Liverpool semi-final from Stamford Bridge will be shown live on ESPN2 at 2:30 pm EST.

Bowden’s Short DC Tenure

Posted in Baseball at 1:33 pm

When new ownership took over the Oakland A’s recently, GM Billy Beane was given a minority stake in the club as part of his contract extension. When Sandy Alderson’s recent hiring in San Diego was announced, he too, was reported to have received a share of the Padres.

Nationals GM Jim Bowden should not expect a similiar windfall, reports the Washington Post’s Barry Svrluga.

Jim Bowden (above), whose contract will expires Saturday, is still without a deal for the rest of the season, though team president Tony Tavares said last night he expects a resolution this week. “I’ve told Jim I’ll take care of him,” Tavares said. “He’s not worried about it. I’m not worried about it.”

Though Tavares has the authority to determine Bowden’s salary – Bowden likely will get a raise from the $300,000 he would earn annually at his current pay scale – he must get approval from Major League Baseball, which owns the team, on the length of the contract. A source said MLB is reluctant to sign Bowden beyond this year, given that it would like to sell the team during this season.

Tavares wouldn’t comment on the length of how long a new contract would extend, but expressed a desire to take care of Bowden, who declined to address his status.

“Why should he be made the sufferer?” Tavares said. “Why should there be all this uncertainty around him? He’s done a good job.

Dan Gilbert Vs. Stephen A.

Posted in Basketball at 12:52 pm

Looks like Stephen A. Smith will have to go somewhere other than Quicken Loans if he wants a mortgage. From the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Branson Wright.

Q: What’s the long-term plan for LeBron James? There have been rumors James will leave for the New York Knicks.

A: The “LeBron is disgruntled/is leaving stories” did not come from LeBron or anyone else in his camp.

It came from short-term thinkers and media entertainers posing as journalists. These people want to boost ratings, sell more newspapers or believe the west and east coast cities are in some way superior to places like “Cleveland” or “Detroit” and can’t figure out why anyone (with a big name) would want to stay there. They are dead wrong and we will prove them wrong.

Q: Why did you fire coach Paul Silas and do you have any second thoughts about firing him with 18 games left in the season?

A: No second thoughts at all. None. The team was in a nosedive at the time Silas was let go. We had lost nine out of 12 games (including a six-game losing streak). We looked horrible in nearly all of the losses and even two of the three wins. There was little to no communication going on with the players. In some cases none at all. We were 34-30.

There was no openness to listening to the assistant coaches or GM. For some reason, still unknown to me, Paul had decided he “wanted out.” He told several people around him that he “wanted out” including some reporters. It was a surprise to me because Paul and I did not even talk more than four to five times during the three weeks we owned the team and he was coach. We never had a negative exchange during those conversations. We never told Paul who to play or when to play anyone. That silly nonsense [reports he was passing notes to Silas during games] was simply started by TV or newspaper entertainers who should really stick to fiction writing and not present themselves as sports journalists.

Q: Is it true that you passed notes to Silas during a game asking him to play certain players? Why have rumors persisted about you as a meddlesome owner?

A: Obviously, that is completely false. Can you imagine an owner doing that? It is so absurd, you have to laugh at it. Then again, the “ESPN Entertainer” who said it is the same guy who made up the story about “Jim Paxson being fired within 48 hours” when it was completely untrue and never even discussed here at all. He is also the same guy who made up stories about “LeBron’s mother not liking the new ownership team.” This guy, lets call him “John A. Doe” is an entertainer, not a journalist. Most people who know basketball realize what a phony this guy is and how he primarily blurts out fantasy on a daily basis. Unfortunately, the Internet has sprung up a bunch of these lazy characters that just read each other’s nonsense and rewrite the same story with a few new adjectives. They don’t do any real work. They never called me or anyone else for comment. They never asked me if any of this BS was true or not.

Sooner or later, enough of their garbage is written that you become labeled a “meddlesome owner” or a “spoiled rich kid” or your team is now “Dan’s house of horrors.”

At first, I became angry at it. Now I just laugh it off. I am too focused on the real job of building the Cavaliers into a championship organization than to spend my time paying attention to these muckrakers.

Thank heavens a news organization like ESPN is able to keep things balanced by having a truly unbiased commentator like Greg Anthony sitting alongside Stephen A. Smith. And what a shame it is for Dan Gilbert that all basketball studio shows don’t prominently feature the wit and wisdom of his hand-picked advisors / potential employees.

Dusty Denies Getting Creepy With Coed

Posted in Baseball at 12:38 pm

From the Chicago Sun Times’ Mike Kiley.

Cubs manager Dusty Baker was aghast and upset at a titillating gossip item Monday in the New York Post that made its way across the Internet. The brief note implied that Baker had been flirtatious with a young female student when he spoke at Yale University on a day off April 14.

The item read: “We hear … that Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker – at Yale the other day talking about the sports business – gave his cell-phone number to a young lady and volunteered to get her a job in baseball. ‘Remind me you’re the cute one [when you call],’ Dusty told her.’’

Baker had been asked to Yale by Dr. William Sledge, who is with the school’s Calhoun College Masters Office. They attended an informal dinner after the talk, and Baker recalled four or five female students and three or four male students were there. He said that he gave out his cell-phone number to all of them but that his intentions were strictly to help the students if their postgraduate endeavors centered on jobs in baseball.

“I don’t remember saying that,’’ Baker said of the “cute’’ remark. “I talked to Dr. Sledge today, and he said if you need somebody to clear it up … you can call him. How does this get started? That’s terrible. It’s like you can’t even help people now. I was upset about it when I heard it.’’

Sledge couldn’t be reached at his office after hours Monday.

“He was right there with his wife,’’ Baker said. “It was a special dinner afterward with six or seven students. [Sledge] said all the kids want to get into baseball. I was asking him why, and he told me boom-boom-boom, and I say, ‘Hey, I’ve got some connections. If you guys need some contacts for whatever it is, call me.’

“And I handed out, like, three cards or whatever I had and gave them my office number and cell number. He was standing right next to me. I can’t see her saying that. Dr. Sledge asked me, ‘How did that get out?’ I said, ‘I don’t know, Doc.’ Somebody in the room told somebody something.’’

Told that the Post item raised the specter of sexual innuendo, Baker was angry at the suggestion.

“That’s wrong,’’ he said. “How could I have sexual innuendo when she’s younger than my daughter? I was just trying to help young people get a job in baseball. I was going to make some calls. One of the kids called today, a senior at Yale. He’s a guy. Is that sexual innuendo, too?’’

The Dusty-leering-at-college-girls isn’t the most shocking part of the story, by the way. Why is Yale University inviting Baker to address their undergrads? Is Yale offering courses in faith healing? Studies in how to ruin pitching arms? Advanced Wearing Of Oversized Wristbands?

And yeah, it is crazy that this item “made its way across the internet”, as though the New York Post is tiny publication no one reads.

Dolphis Sign Dopey QB

Posted in Gridiron at 2:03 am

Brock Berlin, (above) starting QB at the University of Miami the past two seasons, has signed with the Miami Dolphins. Berlin is expected to rank 4th on the Dolphins depth chart behind AJ Feeley, Gus Frerotte and Sage Rosenfels. If you’re curious why Berlin wasn’t drafted this past weekend, perhaps it has something to do with his performance on the Wonderlic intelligence test, scoring a reputed 13 out of 50 (the lowest mark of any of the quarterbacks tested).

Berlin shouldn’t feel too bad about this. Anyone who knows how the real world works will acknowledge that aptitude tests are culturally biased against minorities. And what segment of the population could be a smaller minority than aspiring QB’s named Brock?

Courageous Firefighters Are Putting In Overtime…

Posted in Free Expression at 1:29 am

…sending hate messages to a Maggie Gyllenhaal fan site.


(above, public enemy no. 1)

If you’re like me, not a day goes by that you aren’t filled with gratitude that these selfless, death-defying heroes are doing everything humanly possible to shout down the political observations of young actresses. Why , I wonder, haven’t other public servants, done their share? What is the NYPD doing to silence Zooey Deschanel? Are the paramedics and EMT’s even aware of what Jena Malone might be thinking of saying? Can the nation’s letter carriers take just a few minutes to devise ways to harrass Sarah Polley (who, by the way, is Canadian)?

04.25.05

T-Mac Tortures Mavs

Posted in Basketball at 11:58 pm

After watching Tracy McGrady dissect Dallas for 34 and 28 points in games 1 and 2 of the Rockets’ first round series with the Mavericks, all I can say is, it’s nice that someone other than Jose Reyes and Nick Swisher could own Tuesday morning’s highlights. Jeff Van Gundy seemed to have trouble earlier in the season defining T-Mac’s role, but it is becoming clear that the rest of the Rockets have learned theirs —- get McGrady the ball and then get out of the way.

That said, Yao Ming (13 of 14 from the field) had an awesome first half, Bob Sura continues to show why he was such a valuable addition (a combined 8 for 11 with the gutty Jon Barry)….and who isn’t dying to see to the quote machine Van Gundy brothers facing each other in the finals?

How soon do the posters of T-Mac slaughtering Shawn Bradley go on sale?

Ming wasn’t called for a moving pick on the Rockets’ final possession. But rather than blame the officials for Dallas looking at an 0-2 deficit, let’s give some of the credit to Keith Van Horn, who at this very minute might be deciding just when and if he should bother guarding McGrady closely with the game on the line. The results of this decision should be available online sometime in the next several hours.

ESPN’s Ric Bucher was on the idiot box this evening claiming that Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson are meeting later in the week, presumably to discuss the Lakers’ coaching vacancy. Bucher says that L.A. want to wait until the new collective bargaining agreement is signed prior to hiring the Zen Master, for fear they might be paying Phil somc sick money to do nothing in the event of a work stoppage. This could present a window of opportunity for the Knicks, were they to guarantee Phil’s salary, lockout or not. Jim Dolan is already paying Don Chaney, Lenny Wilkens and Herb Williams, what’s one more big check?

No sign of Stephen A. Smith on “NBA Fastbreak”, perhaps because he’s researching which other dead-for-a-half-decade Houston DJ’s he can send ’round to Michael Corcoran’s house first thing in the morning.

Kruk : See No Evil

Posted in Baseball at 10:27 pm

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jim Salisbury speaks with nutrition/fitness buff John Kruk.

John Kruk admits that the 1993 Phillies swung for the fences when it came to partying.

But steroids?

“If someone was using steroids on that team, they were awfully quiet about it,” the former Macho Row stalwart said by telephone today, a day after the Los Angeles Times reported allegations of steroid use and baseball-related gambling activity by former teammate Lenny Dykstra.

“If someone was using steroids, they hid it really well. I never heard it spoken about and I never saw it.

“Let me tell you, we partied hard on that team. You’d have a couple drinks and, what’s that saying, ‘Loose lips sink ships?’ You’d think someone might have said something if they were doing something, but nothing was ever brought up. And we talked about everything on that club. That’s how close we were. Nothing was ever brought up, and that tells me that nothing happened.

“If someone had been doing it, they’d have no reason to lie to me, and I wouldn’t lie about it now. What’s it, 12 years ago? It’s not like it’s going to ruin someone’s career.”

Dykstra has had a falling out with his longtime friend and business partner, Lindsay Jones. A suit filed in California by Jones contains a sworn statement from Jeff Scott, a Florida man who claims to have provided and injected the former Phillie with steroids.

The Times story quoted Bobby Habeeb, a friend of Scott’s, as saying that Scott “hung out with half the team.”

Well, did he?

“I never heard of the guy, never saw anybody like that,” Kruk said.

Does Habeeb’s claim bother Kruk?

“Not at all,” the former first baseman said. “If you listened to everything people said about us, you’d think we were all alcoholics, drug addicts and steroid users. I wish we had that much fun.”

“One year he weighed next to nothing and the next he was all bulked up,” Kruk said. “I heard reporters wondering what he was on, so I asked him. I said, ‘What did you do?’ He said, ‘I just worked hard.’ I believed him. I had no reason not to believe him. He’d never lied to me before, and I knew he was big into weight lifting.

“You know, so many guys were getting big at that time from weights. When I first came in the league, I thought Jack Clark and Steve Garvey were big. Then all of sudden it seemed like everyone was that big. To me, Lenny was no different.”

Jays Fire Hitting Coach

Posted in Baseball at 5:05 pm

If Vernon Wells doesn’t get off to a slow start and/or Carlos Delgado sticks around, does Mike Barnett still lose his job?

Kim Continues To Light Fires In Colorado

Posted in Baseball at 3:59 pm

The Rocky Mountain News’ Tracy Ringolsby on the former Arizona/Boston closer, whom the Rockies inexplicably are using in games that actually count.

Former Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver once told general manager Hank Peters he would rather have a 24-man roster than take an extra player he didn’t want.

“If he’s in uniform,” Weaver said, “I’ll wind up using him, and then we’re all in trouble.”

Kind of like the Colorado Rockies with Byung-Hyun Kim.

Right in the midst of a feel-good weekend, Kim entered the scene against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday afternoon at Coors Field. The next thing the Rockies knew, their visions of a weekend sweep of the National League West-leading Dodgers had been wiped out by

Ostensibly, when the Rockies felt the urge the final week of spring training to allow Boston to dump the unwanted Kim on them, they had visions of a quick fix for the one-time closer in Arizona. Kim is only 26 but his career crumbled with the Red Sox.

Kim had problems with Coors Field when he was good – a 6.50 career earned-run average during his days with the Diamondbacks. So it should be no surprise that while he has lost 6 or 7 mph off his fastball and can’t command the ball down in the strike zone, he has given up six runs in 4 1/3 innings at Coors Field this year.

He didn’t even get an out Sunday.

Hurdle wanted to take advantage of matchups, and he brought left-hander Brian Fuentes into the game in the seventh. The thought was Fuentes would face left-handed-hitting J.D. Drew in the eighth, then give way to Kim. Fuentes got through the seventh untouched, but he hit Drew with an 0-2 pitch to open the eighth.

On came Kim, and on went the Dodgers. First, Kim hit Jeff Kent with a 1-2 pitch. Then he gave up a double to Milton Bradley. A single by Olmedo Saenz followed and the Dodgers were on their way to a winning five-run rally after a 5-3 Rockies lead.

Hurdle deflected questions about Kim.

“We need somebody to step forward, a couple guys to step forward,” Hurdle said, referring to the bullpen. . . . We are going to give them a chance to make an impact until we get to the point where they are not giving us anything to hold onto. We have to see growth. We have to see positive growth.”

There have been no tangible signs of growth from Kim. He is supposed to be able to throw strikes but that hasn’t been the case with Colorado. He has allowed only six hits in 9 1/3 innings but he has given up 10 runs, primarily because he has walked 11 batters and hit two others.

There Goes The Neighborhood

Posted in Sports Journalism at 1:31 pm

A week after comparing Stephen A. Smith to Eddie Murphy’s character in “Trading Places”, the Austin American-Statesman’s Michael Corcoran continues to show great cultural sensitivity with his “Game On” column.

I set aside Saturday — all of Saturday — to watch the NFL draft in undisturbed bliss. But when some crunkhead on the next block popped his trunk o’ bass and turned the neighborhood into a disco, I ended up having as long an afternoon as Aaron Rodgers, though I didn’t curse Ryan Leaf under my breath.

I finally dialed 3-1-1. An hour later, DJ Screw was still at it, making my dishes dance in the sink, so I called the cops again.

“They’re all out on higher-priority calls,” the dispatcher said. “You know, armed robbery, domestic disputes, stuff like that.”

For more than four hours my house shook like Kirstie Alley was doing jumping jacks on the roof, but APD, out fighting all that real crime in Austin on a Saturday afternoon, never showed.

If 9-1-1 is a joke, 3-1-1 is an HBO comedy special.

Corcoran may or may not be aware that Robert Davis Jr., aka DJ Screw (above) died in 2000.

When Smallball Is Just Too Small

Posted in Baseball at 1:11 pm

From the New York Daily News’ Peter Botte :

When is bunting for a base hit with runners on base a good idea? When it works, of course.

Take these two isolated incidents during the Mets’ 11-4 loss yesterday to Washington:

First-year manager Willie Randolph had no problem with $119 million slugger Carlos Beltran successfully dropping a bunt to set up Mike Piazza’s three-run double in the first inning. But he took issue with Kaz Matsui attempting to lay one down with two runners on in a 3-3 tie in the second, getting pitcher Victor Zambrano forced out at third base.

“Probably not a good idea,” Randolph said. “I didn’t put it on, but (Matsui) probably thought he could beat it for a hit. We’ve been asking him to do that more, but that was probably not the right time to do it. … But if he gets it down, we’re probably not even talking about it.”

Tigers/Twins Matinee

Posted in Baseball at 12:57 pm

Detroit are leading Minnesota, 3-0 in the 2nd inning today at Comerica Park, where remarkably, it is not snowing.

Today’s rain-check special isn’t being carried by the cable or broadcast outlets for either team, so the only way to pay witness to this somewhat secret affair (there appear to be no more than a few dozen fans in attendence) is via MLB.com’s exclusive webcast. Let’s just the the production values aren’t quite major league ; there is only one camera in use, seemingly positioned somewhere in front of the press box. An interesting perspective from which to watch the pitcher’s delivery….if you’re at the game. On the laptop, however, it doesn’t really work. The play by play feed is coming from Detroit’s WXYT.

I’ve seen a couple of Division III college baseball games this year where the players and groundskeepers outnumbered the fans. I’ve been to county cricket matches in England where the paid attendence barely nudges triple digits…but I have never seen a (supposedly) big time sporting event take place in front of so many empty seats. Though Inter’s first few home matches in the Champions League next year should come close.

UPDATE : if you missed the Ivan Rodriguez / J.C. Romero shoving match, Batgirl has pictures and accounts of said event.

Fascist Creep Disses Wannabes

Posted in Hate Fuck Radio at 10:08 am

From the New York Post’s Richard Johnson.

Rabid radio host Michael Savage is whining that he has been banned from the Fox News Channel after he dissed Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity.
The controversial conservative — who was fired by MSNBC in 2003 after referring to a caller to his show as “a sodomite” who should “get AIDS and die” — recently burned more bridges by calling O’Reilly a “Leper-Con who poses as a conservative” and Hannity another Republican bootlicker who began as a Rush [Limbaugh] understudy”” on his “Savage Nation” radio show.

Savage claims that he’s been bumped off four scheduled appearances on Fox News Channel in the wake of his caustic comments.

“These two are now acting the way the mainstream media has been acting for decades, thinking they are the gatekeepers of who shall be heard in the conservative world,” Savage sputtered in a statement.

“Both are jealous of my audience and are trying to silence me because they do not want the competition.”

Savage boasted that the supposed “ban” has not affected sales of his new book, “Liberalism Is a Mental Disorder,” which debuts at No. 6 on the New York Times best-seller list next week.

Bidding War Alert, Pt. VIII

Posted in The World Of Entertainment at 9:39 am

Writes Doug Mosurock,

This has been sent my way and you might need to check these guys out. If you don’t, they might “ninja” you.

Ben Schwartz On The Cubs

Posted in Baseball at 1:41 am

Ben writes :

Saturday’s loss is Dusty and Hendry’s incomprehensible off-season maneuvering come home to roost: a) don’t spend money, b) trade away bats like Alou and Sosa (who needs’m with Nomar around?) because they have attitude problems, and c) don’t sign a closer. Personally, I don’t believe Joe Borowski is an actual ballplayer, but that his spot on the roster is a mob no-show job. That the Chubs are playing .500 ball shows how far they could go had some needed and obvious changes been made. I still think they can still produce a respectable winning season as is, but Peter Gammons prediction that the Cubs are the likely NL wild card feels like a distant longshot. Btw, I don’t blame LaTroy one bit. Dusty put him in a position that everyone already knew he couldn’t handle. Imo, he should be a Cub set-up man or an American Leaguer.

As for the new Cubs announcers, it’s hard to forgive anyone using the phrase “boo-birds” in the beloved ‘GN booth.

04.24.05

Scary Kerry : Fate Fucks With Cubs (Again)

Posted in Baseball at 11:18 pm


(Cubs SS Nefi Perez ushers in the era of trashing Nomar’s rep with a 2nd inning HR off Dave Williams)

The Chicago Tribune’s Dave van Dyck on the latest bit of misfortune to behalf the great healer Dusty Baker and his snakebitten Cubs.

We’ll know for sure in another six days if Kerry Wood can’t make his next scheduled start Saturday in Houston.

Right now, plans are for him to start.

But Wood is back to nursing tendinitis in his valuable right shoulder. That didn’t stop him from going five innings Sunday in a 5-2 Cubs victory over the Pirates. But it did keep him from going further despite throwing only 76 pitches.

“There’s nothing wrong with him, he just has a little tendinitis,” Cubs manager Dusty Baker said. “We thought it best, to calm it down, to throw a designated amount of innings. We think he’s OK, doctors think he’s OK. He’s still kind of in spring training (conditioning-wise) and that happens a lot.”

In real spring training, Wood was limited to three official games and nine innings because of the same tightness in the same area, which forced him back to Chicago for tests.

The soreness “was gone for a while. It was just a little cranky [Sunday],” Wood said. “It was the coldest day I pitched in so far this year and we made the decision [five innings] was enough and to get ready for my next one in five or six days.”

So he’ll make his next start Saturday?

“Yeah, we hope so,” Baker said. “We think so.”

Will his pitches be limited again?

“It all depends on how it calms down between now and then,” Baker said. “We’re just trying to get it calmed down and get rid of it completely. There’s always something with everybody, it’s just a matter to what degree.”

The only way Dusty can end baseless speculation as to the source of Wood’s arm woes is by hinting to Bob Ryan that Kerry’s been looking awfully muscular lately.

Nats Punish Zambrano, CSTB Ignores The Wreckage

Posted in Baseball at 10:12 pm

Though Mike Piazza was hitless for the 3 game series with Washington prior to this afternoon’s finale, Gary Cohen cited the catcher’s “excellent defence” as of late. Right as if on cue, the Nationals stole four bases off the Mets in their 11-4 victory, the enigmatic Victor Zambrano (above) walking 3, hitting two batters and allowing 8 runs in 3 innings of work. The New York Times’ Lee Jenkins reports that Willie Randolph has forged a fast friendship with Herb Williams, though Randolph will have enough opportunities to learn about losing with diginity without any tips from the (current) Knicks head coach.

I don’t know how long Brad Wilkerson can keep up his Brian Roberts impersonation, but hopefully not much longer.

Since events at Shea are too depressing to detail, I’ll instead remain mesmerized by Sunday’s Norfolk/Durham box score, which shows the Tides’ Brian Daubauch going 2 for 5 with 6 RBI’s via a pair of three run HR’s in a 12-1 victory. Eric Junge (above, showing the good looks that served him so well in the Phillies organization) struck out 11 in 5 shutout innings, allowing just 3 hits.

Just to prove to Don Smith that I have no bias towards DC’s new (though ultitmately doomed) franchise, much credit is due to former Expos P Sun Woo Kim (above), who struck out 5 and allowed 3 hits in 6 scoreless innings, leading the PCL’s New Orleans Zephyrs to a 7-0 win over the Round Rock Express. Along with Kim’s sharp performance, the nearly comatose Round Rock patrons have been graced with the play of such one-time major league standouts as Joe McEwing, Ben Grieve and Dave Burba over the past two weeks. While local fans cope with the realization that the Astros’ hottest prospects are probably learning their craft with the Texas League’s Corpus Christi Hooks, surely the star power of the above names and others coming in and out of Houston’s taxi squad will be enough to dazzle the paying customers. If not, there’s always the WiFi access. A trip to the ballpark just isn’t the same if you can’t check out Byron Crawford.com every few innings.

MLB Extends Iron Grip To Blogdom

Posted in Baseball, The Internet at 7:01 pm

If you’ve always wanted to start a blog called They Saved Bud Selig’s Cock, there’s finally a cheap, user-friendly way to do so that also fills the coffers of MLB Advanced Media.

BoSox Beer Bonanza

Posted in Baseball at 5:18 pm


(Chris Singleton and Jason Varitek contest the centuries-old “less filling/tastes great” debate)

Though I am still waiting for a press release from Tom Werner, John Henry or Larry Lucchino declaring that “enough is enough” after losing two straight to Tampa Bay prior to today’s 11-3 ejection fest at Tropicana Field, perhaps we should just hold out for more stern pronouncements about fan behavior in light of Andrea Estes’ report that sudsy sales are up, up and away at Fenway Park. From Sunday’s Boston Globe.

The new owners of the Boston Red Sox have greatly expanded alcohol sales at Fenway Park, adding at least 16 new stands where beer is sold since taking over in 2001, according to the city licensing board. The team has also increased by a third the size of beer cups, from 12 ounces to 16 ounces.

The volume of beer sold at Fenway last year jumped roughly 20 percent from the year before, according to information provided by the Red Sox. Two employees of Aramark, the company that manages Fenway concessions, and a beer salesman who supplies the ballpark said they believe that since the new owners took over beer sales have increased significantly more than 20 percent.

Concerns over alcohol consumption at the ballpark have triggered complaints from some fans and Fenway neighborhood activists who say home games have become marred by rowdy behavior. The recent altercation between a fan and New York Yankees right fielder Gary Sheffield has drawn attention to a problem that some say has grown worse in recent years. Boston’s Licensing Board has scheduled a hearing with Red Sox officials May 10 to investigate alcohol-related complaints.

”I have had a number of complaints from individuals and from families who have said they were in the stands and, ‘My God, we couldn’t wait for them to shut off the beer,’ ” said Michael Connolly, a licensing board member. ”They were rowdy and the profanities were going.”

Red Sox officials denied that alcohol problems have increased at Fenway. The officials said the team expanded points of sale for beer in order to reduce the time fans have to wait in line and said that the number of beers sold dropped in 2004, to 3.1 million, despite an increase in the number of fans attending games. They conceded that with larger cup sizes the volume of alcohol being sold might be higher.

LeBron Vs. Ralph Nadar

Posted in Basketball at 11:17 am

I was hoping the “Unsafe At Any Speed” author would use his valuable time to go after Sprite for ripping off the ‘Lil Penny character, but I guess that’s not really part of his agenda. From the Boston Globe’s Peter May.

Not that LeBron James needed anything more to tie up his time, but the Cavaliers’ sensation is now in the crosshairs of one Ralph Nader.

The longtime consumer advocate wants James to push for child marketing curbs in his supposed new endorsement deals with McDonald’s and Coca-Cola. In a letter to James, Nader reminded the Cavs’ star that he was asked two years ago to address the issue of sweatshop labor and Nike. Didn’t happen, according to Ralph.

Now, Nader said, “We would like to extend our hope that, prior to signing [these deals], you will do something positive for the many children whose health and well-being are put at risk by the marketing practices of these junk-food giants.”

Nader closed by saying, “We wish you continued success in your professional career and look forward to your response, unlike two years ago when your agent recommended that you not have the courtesy to reply to our first letter.”

Efforts by the Globe to reach James’s agent, Aaron Goodwin, were unsuccessful.

Ichiro Bobblehead Looks Like Edgar

Posted in Baseball at 8:01 am

From the Oregonian’s John Hunt.

Ichiro Suzuki checked out his “likeness,” the latest Ichiro bobblehead doll, given away Friday night at Safeco Field.

As the doll, commemorating Suzuki’s 262-hit season of 2004, bobbled, Suzuki inspected its hair and smiled.

Then he gave the doll a sideways flick.

“No, no, no, no,” he said.

Despite Suzuki’s unfavorable review, others were impressed with the doll’s hair — and its uncanny resemblance to that of retired designated hitter Edgar Martinez.

Nails Accused Of Baseball Gambling, Steriod Use

Posted in Baseball at 7:13 am

Former Mets/Phillies OF Lenny Dykstra (above) is facing allegations from a partner in his “Taj Mahal Of Car Washes” business that he bet on baseball and engaged in steroid use in the early ’90’s. From the LA Times’ Lance Pugmire.

A longtime friend and business partner is suing Dykstra in Ventura County, seeking to regain an interest in their lucrative Southern California car wash business. In the suit, Lindsay Jones, 42, of Irvine, alleges that Dykstra advised him to bet thousands of dollars with a bookmaker on selected Phillie games in 1993.

Jones said in a sworn statement that his baseball wagers were a form of payment to him, made “on the basis that Lenny would cover all losses, and I would use the winnings to live on.”

Dykstra’s lawyer, Daniel Petrocelli, said the three-time All-Star “absolutely denies” the allegation, calling it “unsubstantiated” and “a fabricated story from a disgruntled partner.”

The suit includes a sworn declaration from a Florida bodybuilder — a convicted drug dealer — who said Dykstra paid him $20,000 plus “special perks” during their eight-year association to “bulk up” the once-slight ballplayer. In an interview, Jeff Scott said he injected Dykstra with steroids “more times than I can count,” and that Dykstra stepped up his steroid use in spring training of 1993 because “it was a contract year.”

Petrocelli, citing Scott’s criminal past, said the steroid allegation was not “reliable or credible,” and called the former bodybuilder “biased and aligned with Jones.” In the past, Dykstra has denied using steroids.

Petrocelli said the allegations by Jones and Scott are an effort to sensationalize the lawsuit and pressure Dykstra into a settlement. “It’s not appropriate that they are using this lawsuit to advance these arguments in an effort to collect money,” the attorney said.

Scott said he served as a “middleman” in Dykstra’s steroid purchases, obtaining the drugs from friends at Clearwater workout spots.

Scott said he injected Dykstra either at Scott’s residence or Dykstra’s various spring training homes: a penthouse at a resort known as Altamar, the Safety Harbor House and the Bayou Club in nearby Largo.

cott said he provided nutritional guidance and “spotted and packed the weights” during Dykstra’s gym visits. Scott said Dykstra took five types of steroids in 1993, two in tablet form and three as liquid injected into his buttocks.

The tablets were Anadrol and Dianabol; the injectibles were Sustanon 250, Parabolin and Deca-Durabolin, Scott said. After 1993, he added, Dykstra began taking testosterone and human growth hormone injections.

Scott said Dykstra paid him $100 for each injection, telling him, “You give shots better than my nurse.”

To baseball observers, Dykstra appeared far more muscular than he had as a 160-pound leadoff man for the 1986 Mets, who won the World Series.

ESPN reporter Jayson Stark told the Chicago Tribune last month about a 1993 clubhouse meeting with a shirtless Dykstra.

“I said, ‘Look at you. What did you do?’ ” Stark recalled. “[Dykstra] said, ‘I took some real good vitamins.’ ”

Scott said Dykstra used human growth hormone and steroids, while trying to rehabilitate his back. He said he injected human growth hormone into the fatty tissue on Dykstra’s midsection.

Erin Scott, the trainer’s ex-wife, a Florida schoolteacher, said she witnessed several of Dykstra’s visits to her home for injections in 1997 and 1998.

“[Dykstra] came over a lot after his spring training games, sometimes just to get the shot,” Erin Scott said. ” … It was pretty obvious. Sometimes, they’d even leave the bathroom door open. I remember Lenny walking out of there holding his butt … he said, ‘Ooh, that hurt.’ ”

In 1993, Jones alleged, Dykstra was advising him on baseball bets.

“Lenny would instruct me to bet on baseball games in 1993 at an average bet of $2,000 per game,” Jones said in a sworn statement. “Together, we won 11 straight Phillies’ games in a row before being cut off by the bookmaker who was convinced that I had inside information.”

Jones does not allege that Dykstra, his friend since their days growing up in Garden Grove, ever recommended betting against the Phillies. He declined to elaborate on his sworn statements, citing a gag order from the lawsuit arbitrator.

Hawkins Fails Again

Posted in Baseball at 1:23 am

With the crosstown White Sox off to the hottest start in their history, the Cubs marked Saturday with LaTroy Hawkins’ 2nd blown save of the year. The Chicago Tribune’s Dave Van Dyck isn’t promising that he won’t blow a third, but claims it won’t come as Dusty’s closer.

If you think the weather was cold Saturday, you should have seen the icy treatment the Wrigley Field crowd gave LaTroy Hawkins.

He lost the save, lost the game and apparently lost his job as the Cubs’ closer during a brutally cold and bitterly disappointing 4-3 loss to Pittsburgh.

About the only thing Hawkins didn’t lose was his cool as he answered questions afterward.

“It’s frustrating,” he said. “But you have to get back out there and right the ship.”

It may to be too late for him to do that because manager Dusty Baker appears to be taking applications for his role.

“We have go back to the drawing board on something else, that’s what we have to do,” a subdued Baker said. “It seems like he hasn’t been good with one-run leads. I can’t figure it out. He has the stuff. I can’t figure it out right now.”

In his two seasons as a Cub, Hawkins has blown 10 of 16 one-run leads, including 2 of 4 this season. Saturday’s came on a home run against the wind and a walk.

Why?

“Oh, boy,” Baker said, “at this point I’m lost for words.”

The options?

“Oh, boy,” Baker said, “I’ll think about it tonight.”

The logical options right now are Chad Fox, who has had the job with two other teams; Mike Remlinger, who saved 12 games for the Braves in 2000; or Michael Wuertz, who saved 19 games at Triple-A Iowa last season.

The Financially Successful Devil Rays

Posted in Baseball at 12:22 am

We’ve had a couple of items in the past week concerning Tampa Bay’s low payroll and Lou Piniella’s alleged dissatisfaction. Would it surprise anyone to learn that Devil Rays figurehead Vince Naimoli is well on his way to establishing himself as the Donald Sterling of Major League Baseball? From this past Wednesday’s Tampa Tribune and Alan Snel.

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays may have one of the worst records and lowest player payrolls in Major League Baseball, but their financial picture apparently is strong.
In fact, the team is among the most profitable teams in baseball, booking $27.2 million in operating income in 2004, according to new financial analysis by Forbes magazine.

The Rays had a higher operating income – earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization – than any other team in the major leagues last year except the Baltimore Orioles, according to an estimate published in the latest edition of the magazine. The Orioles, Forbes estimated, had operating income of $34 million. The Cleveland Indians matched the Rays at an estimated $27.2 million in operating income, Forbes said.

The rosy financial picture for the Rays, which drew an average turnstile crowd of 10,570 fans a game in 2004, was aided by a $20 million subsidy the team received under an MLB revenue-sharing program.

Vince Naimoli, the team’s managing general partner, declined to comment Tuesday on the Forbes analysis and ranking. Devil Rays spokesman Rick Vaughn, though, said the magazine is historically inaccurate.

“It’s recognized through baseball that those numbers are not accurate,” Vaughn .

04.23.05

Mr. Tabitha Soren Tackles ‘Roids

Posted in Baseball at 9:30 pm

While many of us eagerly await the May arrival of Will Carroll’s “The Juice” in finer bookstores, “Moneyball” author Michael Lewis shines some light on the subject and its impact on player development in tomorrow’s New York Times Magazine section.

Another piece of evidence that steroids work is the reluctance of the players to part with their drugs. A few weeks ago, not long after after Major League Baseball’s public humiliation before Congress, the commissioner’s office released the names of 41 minor-league players who failed spring-training drug tests. The players came from just 10 of the 13 major-league organizations tested so far. Given the public outrage over steroid use during the off-season, you might think that the minor leaguers would have arrived in camp prepared. (They needn’t stop taking steroids altogether; to avoid being caught they only had to stop taking them a few weeks before the test.) And yet an average of more than three players per organization appeared to be unwilling to play clean.

Perhaps all this means nothing. Perhaps minor leaguers are deluded about the importance of the drugs. On the other hand, they might be right that they need them — that steroids are so helpful in today’s game that a 15-game suspension and a reputation as a steroid user is a small price to pay for the benefits. The evidence is unlikely ever to be anything but inconclusive. There are too many alternative explanations for the power surge: players have altered their swings (though most swings are still idiosyncratically personal affairs); players have grown naturally stronger (but have they?); some hitters, like Barry Bonds, have switched from ash to maple bats (though most hitters haven’t); pitchers aren’t as good (though there is no hard evidence of this); ballparks are smaller (though a few are actually bigger).

But the ambiguity of steroids’ effects may have, in an odd way, increased their grip on the game. Unable to parse the statistics and separate natural power from steroid power, the people who evaluate baseball players for a living have no choice but to ignore the distinction. They’ve come to view the increase in the number of young players without power who become older players with power as a new eternal truth about the game. ”Good hitters become power hitters, power hitters don’t become good hitters” has become a kind of cliche for baseball’s more statistically minded general managers. Power is now understood as less an innate gift than a gettable skill — more like speaking French than being 6-foot-3. Which is to say that steroids may have changed not only the way the game is played but also the way the game is understood. They have given birth to a big, beefy idea from whose side-effects no player is immune.

Sam Frank (Hearts) The Thug

Posted in The Internet, The Law at 9:09 pm

Writes Sam,

I just caught up with Steven Seagal’s Eskimo masterpiece “On Deadly Ground” last night, and the mysterious Thug makes a cameo, postering a door that’s kicked in or something. Seagal, it must be said, was definitely not the Thug’s model–too puffy, too much ponytail. Totally unrelated but just as awful, sent to a friend who works in tech human resources. I hope your sound is on. Unless you have ears.

A Different Kind Of Moneyball

Posted in Football at 8:43 pm


(memo to Doug Garber: you might wanna sell this man an MLS franchise before the Washington Nationals end up on his shopping list. Trust us, he’s good for the money.)

The Guardian’s Michael Walker catches up with the infamous rogue trader Nick Leeson.

The sun struggled through the clouds over Galway Bay yesterday morning. As foreign students made for the language schools of the west of Ireland city and tourists headed for the Aran Islands, amid the gentle throng a man called Nick Leeson completed his first week’s work for a decade. It is the same Nick Leeson who was, briefly, the most wanted man on the planet. Leeson is now the commercial director of Galway United.

“There was an advert in one of the local papers,” he said, matter of fact. “There are a lot of businesses that wouldn’t touch me. I didn’t think I’d have the precise skills for the job but it combined an interest of mine – football – with a chance to get some structure back into my life.”
Football has had its fair share of reckless speculators down the years but none on Leeson’s scale. Ten years ago last month his rogue trading in Singapore’s stock exchange brought down the oldest merchant bank in the world, Barings of London. Leeson, then 28, had gambled and lost £862m, which is even more than Peter Ridsdale splurged at Leeds United. Barings could not sustain the losses and collapsed.

Leeson ran away. He was eventually caught in Frankfurt. Extradited back to Singapore, he spent four years and four months inside Changi prison. He lost his marriage to Lisa while inside and discovered he had the same form of cancer that had killed his mother, Anne. On release he returned to England, studied for a psychology degree and met an Irishwoman named Leona. He followed her to Galway where, remarried, clear of cancer and with an eight-month baby boy, Leeson has been for the past 2 years. And now he has a job again.

Galway United inhabit the second tier of the League of Ireland, a semi-professional outfit he compared in scale to St Albans or Hayes, clubs with whom the Watford-born Leeson has connections. As of last Monday his role is to find sponsors for things such as the match ball at Galway’s Terryland Park. It is a long way from Raffles Hotel.

“Galway United would admit they are in a transitional period,” he said, sitting in an Asian restaurant by Wolfe Tone Bridge. “But they have a five-year plan: they want to win the Premier League and challenge for Europe. If you look at it, all the board members are successful individually; they want to get the management right. There are a lot of clubs in England who have been successful for a while but have then succumbed to chronic mismanagement. Leeds United are a good example.”

Early Frustrations For Junior, Rocket

Posted in Baseball at 3:34 pm

Ken Griffey Jr. went hitless in 4 trips to the plate Saturday in Cincy’s 4-2 loss to Florida, the Marlins staying a game ahead of the Mets in the NL East. . With a chance to drive in the tying runs against Guillermo Mota in the bottom of the 9th, Junior struck out. In 51 AB’s in 2005, Griffey has just 3 RBI’s, no home runs and is hitting .200.

It’s a different sort of frustration for Houston’s Roger Clemens (above) , who extended his season’s scoreless innings streak to 23 against the Cardinals today. The Astros, however, have continued to provide their ace no support whatsoever ; the game is currently tied 0-0 in the top of the 9th, Clemens having been relieved by Chad Qualls after 7 innings (6 K’s, 4 walks, 4 hits). Mark Mulder is working on a 3 hitter, striking out 5 over 7 innings.

UPDATE : Cards 1, Astros 0. St. Louis wins it on Larry Walker’s ground rule double in the bottom of the 10th ; Mulder going all the way for the Cardinals (10 IP, 4 hits, 0 BB).

Steve Phillips predicted at the end of Spring Training that Los Angeles and Houston were the two teams most likely to disappoint in ‘05. Thus far, the former Mets G.M. appears to have been incorrect about the Dodgers, but might prove right where the aging Astros are concerned. If there are any Lance Berkman sightings in Round Rock this weekend, CSTB will be the 9th or 10th fastest place to get you the scoop.

Mets Humbling Nationals

Posted in Baseball at 2:22 pm

Last Sunday, I suggested the Mets would struggle to score runs. Since making that claim, they’ve scored 10 runs in three of their last five games (currently leading 10-0 against DC today at Shea), and a player I characterized as a “spare part”, RF Victor Diaz, has been a major contributor throughout.

As the NL’s pitchers get to see Diaz (above) for a 2nd and 3rd time, I have a hard time imagining him continuing to produce at his current rate, but for the time being, the Mets are getting a lot more out of the 8th spot in the batting order than we’d have any right to expect. And I don’t think anyone would’ve presumed the same kind of performance from Mike Cameron this April.

Cliff Floyd’s terrific first month is another reason why the Mets have rebounded from their miserable 0-5 start ; not only is Floyd hitting the ball with authority, but he stole 2nd twice in the second inning against Al Leiter and Paul Lo Duca Thursday night, doing so without the benefit of crutches, a Rascal or unicycle. If Floyd can somehow manage to play in 140 or so games this season, New York will be ver grateful there were no takers for the left fielder over the winter.

UPDATE : Mets 10, Nationals 5. NY starter Jae Won Seo was a last minute call-up from Norfolk folliwng Kaz Ishii’s placement on the 15 day DL and had one his finest days as a Met, holding the Nats to one run over 6 innings. Carlos Barega, incredibly still employed by a major league club, had a nightmarish 5th inning at 3rd base, the sort that you’d associate with someone playing in the wrong position (if not the wrong decade).