07.28.05
Posted in Baseball, Radio
at 5:24 pm
(noted surrealist Dave Niehaus)
Writes Tim Cook :
I was glad to see the Giants in 2nd (NL, behind Vin Scully), who I especially like because they’re really funny. One example is Krukow referring to excessive, redundant relief pitcher warm-ups as “dry humps,” a term probably invented to describe Dusty Baker’s managerial style.
Taking a full measure of this list, however, I can see that it is crap. That is, they ranked the Oakland guys as 2nd place AL, and I hate listening to them. The Mariners’ broadcasters are so cornball, robotic, errant or cliched, with insights apropos of nothing, save perhaps for Dave Niehaus’ involuntary and at times surreal outbursts providing a listener some ear-arresting NOISE to listen for should the team ever return to significance.
I have a hard time imagining all the other teams’ play-by-play guys really being worse.
With all due respect to Mr. Cook, he didn’t hear Ron Santo discussing his favorite childhood sandwiches (in detail) during the Cubs’ 6-0 loss to the Diamondbacks today.
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Posted in Baseball
at 12:35 pm
From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s John Hickey :
The New York Yankees have been considered the presumptive winners of efforts to get Randy Winn (above) from the Mariners.
It might not be as simple as that.
A confidant of Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Winn isn’t necessarily at the top of the Yankees’ wish list.
“Winn’s a nice player, but they just haven’t been convinced he can play center field for them,” the source said.
That said, there aren’t many options anywhere for the Yankees, who are looking to upgrade in center with Bernie Williams on the downside of his career.
Sources also are saying that, in contrast to some speculation, the Mariners have not offered starting pitcher Gil Meche to the Yankees. And there have been no discussions that would send Williams from the Bronx to Safeco Field.
Yankees starter Carl Pavano, suggested to be part of a Winn-to-New York deal, isn’t a factor in trade talks, either.
Pavano wasn’t going to be available to Seattle unless the Yankees got more pitching in return from the Mariners, but it hardly matters because Pavano is on the disabled list and can’t be traded.
The Yankees are currently leading the Twins, 3-0, courtesy of a 3 run HR by Gary Sheffield off Joe Mays in the first.
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Posted in Hockey
at 11:35 am
When Richie Phillips is laughing at you for poor leadership, well, it’s time to try something else.
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Posted in Fashion
at 11:29 am
If there weren’t enough problems in the state of Washington already, something needs to be done on behalf of the Class A Everett Aquasox.
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Posted in Gridiron
at 10:37 am
Following last week’s announcement that the recovering Tedy Bruschi would miss the 2005 season, New England’s training camp was rocked this morning with the news that inside LB Ted Johnson (above), having suffered multiple concussions, is calling it quits.
A 3 time Super Bowl champ, 10 year vet, former Colorado Buffalo and mainstay of New England’s run defense, Johnson’s departure might present a new challenge for Mike Vrabel and rookie Ryan Claridge, among others. Could this mean the return of Roman Pfiefer? Roman Polanski is out of the question and I don’t think he could play for Bill Belichick, anyway.
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Posted in Baseball
at 10:24 am
From the Tampa Bay Tribune’s Carter Gaddis and Bruce Lowitt :
Although Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella (above) won’t discuss the latest round of potshots taken at him by a veteran Red Sox starter, Rays bench coach John McLaren — whose experience on Piniella’s staff dates to the early 1990s in Cincinnati — spoke Wednesday out of loyalty to his longtime boss and friend.
“First of all, I think if David Wells and Curt Schilling ever pitched for Lou Piniella, they would love him,” McLaren said. “Because one thing Lou brings to the ballpark every night is a desire to win, a passion to win that is unbelievable.”
Boston manager Terry Francona apologized Tuesday to Piniella for Wells’ disparaging comments after Monday’s game. What Wells said boiled down to an indictment of Piniella’s ability to handle young players.
That’s a misconception, McLaren said.
“The thing about the young players, Lou likes to challenge players and they know he’s demanding,” McLaren said. “I’ve always told young players and other coaches have told young players, ‘Son, stand your ground with Lou, and you’ll never have a problem with him.’
“He wears his emotions on his sleeve. We know that. I think some of the shots he’s been taking, I think it’s uncalled for. I think his record speaks for itself.”
Piniella’s record as Devil Rays manager is 169-256.
While we’re judging track records, I’m having trouble determining which Chuck LaMar is for real and which isn’t.
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Posted in Football
at 10:02 am
Painfully low wages, “crowds” in the low triple digits, wins as rare as solar eclipses. The 2005 Tampa Bay Devil Rays? Nope, try East Stirlingshire F.C., the subject of Jeff Connor’s “Pointless : A Season With Britain’s Worst Football Team”, excerpted in today’s Guardian (link courtesy Jesper Eklow)
By the time I arrived at Firs Park, in the wake of the club’s worst season ever – eight points from 32 games – the relationship between Mackin and the hardcore East Stirlingshire support had reached an all-time low. The “Shire” fans hated the chairman; the chairman despised the fans. The fear of Shire fans was that Mackin and the board would simply sell up, walk away, and allow the club to join the ranks of other vanished Scottish football institutions such as Third Lanark, Clydebank and Airdrieonians. They felt the board – based on Mackin’s infamous decision in the summer of 2002 to set a wage cap of £10 a week and his lack of investment in Firs Park – was deliberately setting the club out to be uncompetitive. Mackin’s famous wage cut had made national news, along with what amounted to a mass walkout of senior players.
The warfare was brutal at times. Some fans alleged that Mackin, during one of his famously rare appearances at a game, had used binoculars to spy on them. Or maybe he was just counting them. If Mackin wasn’t going to dip in his own pocket, more money certainly wasn’t going to come from the turnstiles: the average home gate was about 200
Inured to the suffering that goes with being a Shire supporter, many have turned their side’s haplessness into a positive. A mordant sense of humour comes with the territory; travelling to see their team lose every week has become like a medal of honour. At one of their early matches, with the Shire still embedded in a dreadful losing run, I was seated in the Firs Park stand when a 10-year-old, face almost invisible under a black and white scarf, turned to his father and asked: “Dad, can I clap when we score?” “Yes, son, but you’ll be waiting a long time,” replied his father. On another occasion, 4-0 down against Stenhousemuir at Ochil View, one Shire fan shouted from the terraces: “Come on Shire, 5-4 will do.”
Home matches were invariably enlivened by four or five teenagers, quick-witted and sarcastic in the manner of Scottish youth, who always sat in the stand directly above the home dugout, a homemade Shire flag draped over the railing in front of them. The Dead End Kids, as I christened them, had a great line in patter and already possessed the sense of the absurd that goes with supporting the Shire. No one was safe.
“Pretend the ball’s a pie,” they would chorus at striker Ross Donaldson (above, middle). Once, when the Tony “The Cat” Mitchell went down at the feet of an opposing centre forward and took a blow to the head, one of them called: “Get the vet to put him down, he’s still moving,” as the poor goalie writhed on the turf.
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Posted in Baseball
at 9:41 am
Mets 9, Rockies 3
Ladies and Gentlemen, which was the bigger What The Fuck moment at Coors Wednesday evening?
a) Mets 1B Doug Mintkiewicz getting himself tossed inbetween innings — with his club ahead by 8 runs.
b) Rockies CF Cory Sullivan stealing 2nd with two out in the 5th — and his club trailing by 8 runs.
c) The New Bash Brothers, Marlon Anderson and Ramon Castro, going back-to-back off Colorado starter Jamey Wright.
The New York Times’ Lee Jenkins reports that Steve Trachsel will be making his 3rd rehab start on Saturday, this one on behalf of the Eastern League’s Binghamton. Trachsel threw 3 innings for St. Lucie (FSL) last Sunday — since said stint was completed in less than 2 hours, Trachsel clearly isn’t in midseason form yet.
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Posted in Baseball
at 9:23 am
A terrific performance by knuckleballer extraordinaire Tim Wakefield (above) was pushed to the background yesterday by the alleged selfishness of Manny Ramirez. With Trot Nixon unable to take the field against Tampa Bay, we’re led to believe that Manny refused to relinquish a day off (Kevin Millar would ultimately start in left). The condemnations begin with the Boston Herald’s Tony Massarotti :
Twenty million a year clearly is not what it used to be, because it cannot buy you even a hint of compassion, pride, sacrifice or dedication. All it seems to get you is blank stares and apathy, along, of course, with an annual request to be traded.
With their roster in a state of physical decay, the Red Sox took the field at Tropicana Field yesterday for the finale of a seven-game road trip. The Sox claimed a 4-1 victory without Matt Clement and Trot Nixon, each of whom was injured in Tuesday night’s extra-inning win. And they also won without Manny Ramirez, who apparently decided that a day off outweighed any responsibility to the team, even in a time of need.
Star players have received the kid-glove treatment for a long time in Boston, where the squeaky wheel gets more grease than fried calamari, Rhode Island style. Red Sox officials – and Francona, in particular – may take more than their share of grief for acquiescing to their adolescent left fielder, but here’s the problem:
If they do not give Ramirez what he wants, he is liable to quit on them at the most important time of the year, offering only further proof that he has positively no regard for their interests.
So, really, what are team officials to do? You want the home runs and RBI, you get the teenage behavior, too. With Ramirez, it is all part of the deal. The Red Sox won a World Series last year and Ramirez was a very big part of that, and the unfortunate reality is that the Red Sox need Ramirez more than he needs them.
Echoes the Boston Globe’s Gordon Edes :
Because he is the team’s cleanup hitter, has Hall of Fame ability, and possesses a contract, the second-richest in the game, that makes him unmovable, Ramirez is rarely held accountable. ”Manny being Manny” has become as much a part of the New England lexicon as pahking the cah in Hahvahd Yahd. One day someone from within the Sox clubhouse or in the Yawkey Way offices will rise up and condemn him for his selfish indifference.
That day has yet to come, mainly because his bosses and his teammates feel like Ramirez is, in essence, holding the team hostage. Speak out against him, and the fear is that Ramirez will withdraw like a petulant child and go into a three-year pout. Let it slide, and you have a man with the potential of repeating as the World Series MVP.
So the Sox mostly look the other way, though there were plenty of people angry that Francona ran out an outfield yesterday that had Kevin Millar making just his fifth start in left field and rookie Adam Stern making his first start in right. Maybe they did so because they’ve been through this drill before — think Labor Day 2003 in Philadelphia, when Ramirez refused to pinch hit, and last July in Anaheim, Calif., when he begged out because of a supposed hamstring injury that didn’t keep him from playing in the All-Star Game just days earlier. One Sox veteran blamed the media. ”You guys never hold him accountable,” he said. ”I’ve never seen a guy get such a free pass. You all think it’s a joke, ‘Manny being Manny.’ What is ‘Manny being Manny?’ Him disrespecting the game?”
Then there are the oddball demands to be traded, another annual event. Sports Illustrated’s highly respected Tom Verducci said Ramirez asked to be traded because he had no privacy in Boston. This from a guy who recently allowed the Globe Magazine to run a spread on his son’s bedroom
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