In an open letter to Red Sox skipper Terry Francona (”hopefully the sports-talk radio heathens in Boston are giving you a break for being in second place”), the Journal News’ Peter Abraham suggests the Boston manager select the greatest reliever of his generation — who narrowly escaped a blown save yesterday afternoon —- to start July 15’s Midsummer Classic. Hey, if everything was up to Tito, he’d do well to move A-Rod back to shortstop, too.
Yes, we know, Mariano Rivera is a closer. But he also has been the best pitcher in the American League for more than a decade now. Here is an opportunity for his greatness to be recognized at his home ballpark in front of a worldwide audience.
Stay with us, Terry. Cliff Lee of the Indians has been terrific this season. But he’s not even the best starter on his own team. Do we really want to see him throw the first pitch of the All-Star Game? Joe Saunders of the Angels has a compelling case. But it would be nice if the starting pitcher was somebody people actually recognized. Justin Duchscherer? John Danks? No and no. Felix Hernandez will get his chance some other time. Even you have to admit that Josh Beckett has stumbled more than you would have liked.
Rivera has a 1.17 ERA and has converted all 23 of his save opportunities this season. Have you seen his stats? He has allowed 22 hits in 38 1/3 innings and struck out 44. He has walked three. Start him, it’s 1-2-3, and you send the offense up to the plate. You’re guaranteed a good start.
But this goes beyond strategy. For all he has done in baseball, Rivera curiously has been left out at awards time. He has not won the MVP Award or Cy Young Award, and he was the World Series MVP only once in the four times the Yankees have won the title during his tenure. He has won a few of those Rolaids Relief Awards, but nobody gets too excited about that. This could be his last chance to get some real recognition. We’re talking about one of the best players in the history of the game, the best relief pitcher ever. Has any professional athlete ever been better at his job?
Al Leiter would personally like to congratulate Mr. Abraham for not touting Scott Kazmir’s candidacy.
Larry Harmon, aka Bozo the Clown, inspiration for Dan Castalanetta’s Krusty the Klown on The Simpsons, passed away on July 3rd in Los Angeles, at age 83. I got to see Bozo’s Circus live once when I was 7. My mom put our family on the waiting list, and three years later we got tickets. My little sister got picked to play the Grand Prize Game – wherein you have to toss a ping pong ball into six buckets lined up in a row, the sixth and furthest away being the grand prize. Anyway, she was too nervous to do it, but we got front row seats. My only contact with Harmon was when he walked past us during a commercial break. He looked at my brother, who has curly hair, and said, “You’re curly.” Then he looked at me and said, “And you’re squirrley!” Bozo, along with Ray Rayner and Friends and Frazier Thomas’ Garfield Goose show, was one of a trio of great live shows for kids you could see every week day on WGN. Slowly but surely all those shows faded away to be replaced by reruns and then WGN as a WB Network (?) affiliate. The only thing left from that era are live Cub games and possibly Orion Samuelson’s farm reports. Are they still on WGN? I guess Tommy Skilling’s weather reports on WGN count. Skilling that is, as in Jeff Skilling, the convicted Enron executive and Tommy’s brother. The Bozo show lasted the longest of all of the kid shows. I was saddened when it was canceled (not that I had thought about it in years). The pain was numbed somewhat by Billy Corgan leading the Bozo band in its last episode, which made it more of a mercy killing. The clowns on the show included Cooke (Roy Brown) and Whizzo the Wizard (Marshall Brodean, inventor of TV Magic Cards). At 6, I remember laughing hilariously the day Harmon referred to a hamburger as a “hang-e-booger.” I laughed just as hard in my 20s when my friend Jim Zulevic told me about Harmon backstage at Chicagofest. Harmon waited for the emcee to bring him on, in his clown suit, smoking, then bitching when the emcee basically said, “And now, Bozo the Clown!” Harmon dropped the cigarette, stepped on it with his big clown shoe, and said “You call that a fucking intro?” He then did his big trademark clown laugh as he walked out. Well so long Bozo, you clown. I am sad to know you’re gone. Yr pal, Squirrely.
Illuminating stuff for our German and English friends. Or, perhaps for Hank Steinbrenner. Video culled from Neville Hobson.com (via Repoz and Baseball Think Factory)
Said acquisition would seem to grease the skids for the release of Stephon Marbury, with the NY Times’ Howard Beck claiming “in their brief time with the franchise, Walsh and Mike D’Antoni have learned how incredibly unpopular Marbury is with his teammates.” Keep in mind, Walsh supposedly was unaware of just how unpopular Isiah Thomas was with Knicks fans until he’d had a few weeks on the job. How can this sort of thing be considered common knowledge around the league to nearly everyone but the club’s GM? I look foward to a story next October in which Walsh reveals he’s just learned Jerome James actually weighs more than 300 pounds and Nate Robinson is allergic to passing.
For all the near meaningless outcome of the Sox/Cubs sweeps last month, this weekend’s Cubs/Cards series matters. Tony La Genius’ pissy welcome home of the guy he traded, who put him in a World Series, Jim Edmonds, gives some hint of the tension. WGN’s Lead-Off Man show, ie, the ten minutes of Len and Bob time we get each game, has one feature I like, which is having the various beat reporters, including some non-Tribune Co reporters, up to the booth. Yesterday they welcomed a Trib writer, Paul Sullivan, for a recounting of the La Russa-Edmonds bitchfest. Apparently, even though the Cards dumped Edmonds, La Russa still wants Edmonds to show some respect. Sullivan, btw, was giddy he could report this on Edmonds, who apparently did not invite him to his homecoming 4th bash. Apparently, Sully has been complaining too much about Edmonds “hot dogging” for the Cubs. My only question from the following — did Edmonds really say “sissy?”
ST. LOUIS — The first volley of the Cubs-Cardinals showdown was sent Friday afternoon at Busch Stadium when Jim Edmonds ripped former manager Tony La Russa for suggesting Edmonds wanted to bury his Cardinals past.
“I think we ought to follow his lead,” La Russa said. “His quote was roughly, within a couple of words, ‘I’ve had enough of people asking me about the Cardinals. I’m a Cub now.’
“So I would treat him like he never played here. I would wait until the end of his career and I would remember he was a Cardinal. I would ignore the fact that he was ever here because that’s what he wants. I would honor his request. Forget the Cardinal days until his career his over.”
Edmonds responded Friday afternoon by calling the comments “asinine” and “ridiculous.”
“For someone to say I don’t want to be affiliated with the Cardinals couldn’t be further from the truth, and could be the most asinine thing I ever heard,” Edmonds said. “I was just trying to be respectful to the situation and respectful to the organization I’m in now.”
Edmonds said he never said anything that implied he didn’t want to be associated with the Cardinals.
“Why would I say that?” he said. “This topic never, ever came up, never. It’s the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. Today was the first time I ever heard it, when I saw his comment … I was like ‘Where did that come from.’ I was shocked.”
Asked if he would talk to La Russa before the game because he was so upset, Edmonds said: “He said the same kind of [stuff] when I played here. That doesn’t bother me. He got bad information, and he reacted to it. I mean, we all do … he’s in control. It’s his show, and that’s the way it should be. He’s the manager. He doesn’t want anyone upstaging his team. I’m not trying to do that. I’m here to play, and that’s it.”
La Russa told the media he would shake Edmonds hand if he sees him. When told of that, Edmonds replied: “He’s a [sissy] if he doesn’t.”
Edmonds and La Russa had a strange relationship in their eight years together in St. Louis, fighting at times through the media.
“He not only was what he was to me, but he also was my boss,” he said. “I know he likes to have the ultimate say. That’s obvious. This isn’t about me or the team or the coaching staff. It’s not about any individual. It’s just about history, coming back to play against the team you played for. I’ve played with plenty of guys who went to other cities the first time, and no one made a big deal out of it.
“I did as much as I could for this organization, and however they see that, so be it.”
Will Edmonds be booed Friday night?
“I can’t see why anyone would boo, other than me wearing a blue jersey,” he said. “This shirt doesn’t make me who I am. I’m still the same person. My name hasn’t changed. I still have the same family. This color doesn’t change the person I am, the way I feel about the city, the money I’ve given back, the restaurant I’ve opened, the house I still have here.
“It doesn’t change. … I mean, if I was wearing pink or purple, what’s the difference?”
As Donald Rumsfeld once said, you go to the AL Central with the team you have, not the team you wish you had, or might want. While it’s true that the ex-CEO and Cub fan was long on jaw-dropping bullshit and short on troop armor, the White Sox had no such equipment shortcomings yesterday. Unfortunately, the July 4th camouflage uniforms did a better job at turning the Sox into sad cheerleaders for a fading empire than help in the struggle to stay on top of the division.
Oakland continued their suppression of LHP Mark Buehrle (L, 6-7 4R, 10H 3BB 5 2/3), making the outing his 11th career loss in 14 against the yellow and green. Despite assurances of shock and awe, Sox pitching coughed up an astonishing 17 hits in the debacle, leading to a 7-1 loss and cutting the Sox lead in the division to one game above Minnesota.
Meanwhile, the Twins capitalized on the Sox’ stumble by beating up horrifically on a visibly crushed Cleveland squad 11-3. The loss wasn’t the only bad news for the Tribe on Friday; 45-saves-in-07 Joe Borowski was placed on assignment in what may be the last chapter in his struggle with a strained triceps. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that those pierogi are heavy, and the buffet table isn’t going anywhere Joe.
The Tigers remain an enigma. Stalled at .500, they nonetheless field more talent (or at least have bigger canceled checks on file) than the Twins on their best day, and as Pudge Rodriguez will tell you, God is on their side. If true, He did not accompany the T’s on their road trip; they opened their series with the hapless Mariners with a 4-1 loss.
There’s one more team in the division, but I forget who they are.
….though auteur Nick Stevens did add in a later post, “May the Sox continue to force Joe Girardi into drinking Xanax milkshakes with his Prozac burgers, and may you GFY!”
However, he did manage to hook up with a club that has a much cooler name than “Rangers” ; ie. the Russian Super League’s Avangard Omsk, of whom Jaromir Jagr already played for during the NHL’s lockout year of ‘04/05. The Rangers yesterday signed former Canucks C Markus Naslund — he of the dramatically decreasing offensive production —effectively ending Jarg’s 4 year tenure on Broadway. TSN is reporting Jagr has inked a 3 year, $35 million tax-free pact with Omsk, far more than Glen Sather would’ve paid to keep the 5 time Art Ross Trophy winner.
I’m struggling to think of the last time another NY superstar took his services outside of North America, but given the likelihood of Stephon Marbury playing in Italy (or Carlos Delgado taking his game to Japan and/or outer space), this could would well be the start of a fantastic trend.
I’m not sure any staffer at CSTB can really get behind a full-on “Jesse Helms RIP” headline, but the 86-year old former Senator from North Carolina died early this morning, offering another reason for freedom-loving Americans who don’t necessarily think it’s cool to build a career on appeals to bigotry and an irrational unwillingness to compromise to blow off a couple of roman candles/fingers tonight.
My friend Dan, who once interned for Sen. Paul Wellstone in DC, once wound up getting buttonholed by Helms on the weird secret Congressional subway that connects the Capitol Building and the Congressional Office Buildings. He expected Helms to be some sort of evil Rumplestiltskin-with-an-accent type, and instead found the Senator — maybe not surprisingly — courtly, pleasant, extremely charming and full of all kinds of did-you-know arcana about the Congressional subway and Congress in general. Of course, Dan wasn’t running for re-election against Mr. Helms, isn’t a homosexual or a Democratic judicial nominee or a minority. So, you know, of course.
Anyway, goodbye to one of the last true sons of bitches in American public life.
Consider the following : a throwing error by Jose Reyes — a ball at least one broadcaster thought Carlos Delgado should’ve caught — made no impact whatsoever on the outcome of the Mets’ 3-1 win over the Yankees last Sunday afternoon. An equally poor toss by Derek Jeter — albeit while avoiding the sliding J.D. Drew — had a direct impact on the outcome of the Yankees’ 7-0 defeat to the visiting Red Sox last night.
Guess which New York shortstop caught more heat? The New York Post’s Bart Hubbach reports the glove-slamming Reyes sought an audience with one of his more vocal critics — at 30,000 feet (link swiped from Repoz and Baseball Think Factory)
Jose Reyes and Keith Hernandez had to be separated on the Mets’ charter plane Sunday night after a tense confrontation over Hernandez’s critical comments about the All-Star shortstop.
A team source described the situation aboard the plane as “very heated.” One player told The Post that he thought Reyes and the popular former Met - now an analyst for the club’s SNY TV network - were close to exchanging punches until others stepped in.
Reyes said yesterday he was angry at Hernandez after numerous friends and relatives told him Hernandez accused the Mets of “babying” Reyes during the broadcast of Sunday’s 3-1 win over the Yankees at Shea Stadium.
“He got his point [across] and I got mine,” Reyes, when asked to describe the confrontation, told The Post before he drove in three runs in the Mets’ 11-1 victory over the Cardinals last night. “I’m not too happy with the way he’s been talking.”
According to one account, strongly denied by both Reyes and Hernandez, what set Reyes off during the flight was when Hernandez allegedly responded to Reyes’ concerns by saying: “I was just doing my job - you should do yours.”
“I was mad at myself because I make an error in that situation. It makes me mad, because [Hernandez] played the game, too. He knows it is not an easy game. And he knows when you make an error, you are supposed to feel bad.”
Reyes and Hernandez emphatically denied they nearly came to blows, with Hernandez insisting testily that it be described as “a conversation” instead.
“I wouldn’t say ‘confronted,’ ” Hernandez said brusquely when approached in the team’s broadcast booth at Busch Stadium last night. “We had a conversation. ‘Confront’ is not the word.”
I was in the Bronx last night for Jon Lester’s gem against the Yanks, and lost track of how many “18-1″ tees the locals were wearing. It’s cool they’ve got football season to look forward to, and I do hope the vendor flogging “Big Papi Has A Tiny Pee-Pee” shirts is willing to donate one for a time capsule.
Those who think Chicago sports might have an inflated sense of itself may have a point. The following headline appears in today’s Sun-Times. While I think splitting a double-header with the Cards is noteworthy, and a Cub going 0-10 in DC is pretty bad, I’m not sure I’d equate them with one of the more graceful farewells in American history:
Gehrig’s lucky, but Lee’s not
July 4, 1939 | Lou Gehrig makes his famous ‘’Luckiest man on the face of the Earth'’ speech at Yankee Stadium, two months after his debilitating disease caused him to retire after playing a record 2,130 consecutive games. The Cubs split a doubleheader against St. Louis.
2007 | Cubs slugger Derrek Lee goes 0-for-4 in his final game at Washington’s RFK Stadium, making him 0-for-10 during the Cubs’ series there. ‘’I don’t know if I’ve ever gotten a hit here in Washington,'’ Lee says. He actually had one hit there in 2005 (1-for-28 lifetime). The Nationals moved to a new ballpark in 2008 (Lee went 3-for-9 there in April).
Not to make light of a serious situation, but surely an organization like NASCAR cannot be too surprised to learn an employee named David Duke has been accused of doing something highly inappropriate. I know, it’s a different guy, but this is sort of like hiring someone named Steve Hitler. You hope against hope things will work out, don’t-judge-a-book etc., but a month into the gig he’s whipping it out right in the middle of the cafeteria.
With Jeff Francoeur bound for Richmond and first baseman Mark Teixeira (above) supposedly being shopped, “it’s time for us to let go and face reality,” Shysterball’s Craig Calcatarra writes. “Mark Teixeira is not going to be a part of the next good Braves team. Jeff Francoeur probably isn’t going to ever be a part of a good team.” On the other hand, can you imagine how fucked Atlanta would be if they were currently trying to dump Andruw Jones?
The Francoeur move may be a case of closing the barn door after the horses have already run off. He’s been in the Majors for three years now, and has shown no signs of maturation whatsoever. Francoeur seems to be a hopeless case right now. He needed more time in the minors, but once he got off to that hot start in 2005 no one had the guts to send him down again. Since then he has been a team poster boy, a notorious man-about-town, and has shown neither the willingness nor the ability to figure out what the heck he’s supposed to be doing in the little white box in front of the umpire. How he has remained so clueless when Chipper Jones — a perfectly good role model — has been hanging around the whole time is beyond me, but hopeless he has remained, and his utter lack of production, more than just about everything, is why the Braves are floundering.
Sending out feelers on Teixeira is also a good move. The guy turned down 8 years and $140M from the Rangers last year, and there’s no way the Braves come close to offering that. Heck, there’s no way the Braves even come close to offering the college town discount to that which, it should be noted, Teixeira has shown no indication of being interested in in the first place. The guy is walking, either to the Bronx, Queens, or to Baltimore, and that’s pretty much that. Moreover, given the way the Braves got burned when the offered Maddux arbitration before the 2003 season (the sumbitch accepted it!) my suspicion is that they wouldn’t offer it to Teixeira either, thus negating the “keep him around and take the draft picks when he walks” argument. You don’t get those picks unless you offer arbitration. I’m pretty bad at valuing trades, so I have no sense of what Atlanta could expect to get for Teixeira, but it seems that something is better than nothing, and Teixeira’s bat won’t really be missed in the epic battle for third place which looms in the Braves’ future.
I’ve been wondering today which scenario is least likely ; Atlanta trading Teixeira within the division or the Mets eating what’s left of Carlos Delgado’s 2008 salary. But as much as I’ve repeated the mantra “the Mets were build to win this year”, there’s something slightly comforting about the notion Teixeira and Ryan Howard might both be leaving the NL East this winter.
Though they botched the title of their no.1 selection, Hooped Up’s list of preferred basketball movies is much like anything else, a matter of personal sensibilities. I wouldn’t rate “White Men Can’t Jump” in my own Top 5, but inspired by H.D.’s survey, I’ll instead rank the 5 Worst :
5 ) “One On One” (1978)
Though I was awfully impressed with Annette O’Toole (I was 14 at the time), in retrospect, Robbie Benson’s harsh journey thru the world of Division One athletics was not nearly as provocative as the writer/actor’s “Ice Castles”.
4) “Blue Chips” (1994)
Nick Nolte’s one-note Bobby Knight impersonation was slightly more nuanced than Shaquille O’Neal’s portrayal of a 7-foot center. Bonus points for Ed O’Neil as a pseudo-Shaughnessey type.
I know, you’re saying “Tony Scott’s loud and dopey tale of a faux Barry Bonds (Wesley Snipes) meeting his own personal Mark David Chapman (a phoning-it-in Bob DeNiro) is a baseball flick.” And you’d be correct. But I’m proposing “The Fan” is so very fucking awful, it manages to be the worst baseball and the worst basketball movie ever made, without featuing one single second of basketball. Beat that, MCA.
I keep reading that Clay Bennett is great friends with David Stern, and it kind of baffles me. It’s not that I don’t think a suspiciously tan Jewish authoritarian commissioner guy and an ultra-crude Bush Ranger Oklahoman with a head that looks like a boiled ham wouldn’t have anything in common, but…I mean, what do they have in common? Do they just raise jewel-encrusted goblets in toasts to avarice and new arenas? Discuss literature?
Anyway, it’s academic: Stern did nothing to stop Bennett’s heist of Seattle’s basketball franchise, and after Bennett cut a $45 million check (and may have to pay another $30 million later) to the city of Seattle yesterday, the SuperSonics are officially bailing to Oklahoma City ASAP. They’ll leave behind the team colors and name, which means at least the WNBA team in Seattle (which is staying) will get to play in green-themed jerseys in an arena with a Spencer Haywood jersey in the rafters. It’s not really something anyone other than Clay and his homeboys — and presumably the people in OKC who approved a $121 million sales tax hike earlier this year in order to help expedite the move — is excited about. A couple of current and several former Sonics go on record saying as much in The Bellingham Herald — “I’m really, really mad,” Damien Wilkins says, “I’m disappointed for the city of Seattle” — and it’s not difficult to find opinion columnists saying similar things in the Seattle area papers.
But I live in New York and have visited Seattle all of once, and it pisses me off. What’s my problem? (Generally, the answer is: “a vast array of smaller problems”) In this instance, I think TrueHoop’s Henry Abbott, in a rare editorializing moment, gets it pretty much exactly right:
It was never, in my mind, an Oklahoma City vs. Seattle thing. It’s an owner vs. fans thing.
Sports operate in a bizarre realm. The fans, who are the paying customers, provide the revenue, passion, and love that make any league worthwhile. But those same fans who are such an essential part of the franchise have no legal standing at all. They have no signed agreements. The team has no obligation to them at all.
So fans are, legally, vulnerable. And although everyone acknowledges they are central to the enterprise, they can be trampled by owners, who pay for the right to do what they would like with a team. I’m from the school of thought that says just because you have the tiger by the tail doesn’t mean you must yank. I’m for respecting the people involved, even if you can get away with hurting them. That’s character.
…In most cases, I believe a business is really nothing more than the people who work on behalf of that business. But in the case of a local NBA team, it’s more than that. It’s also a region’s lone outpost for the best of basketball. Anyone who loves the sport is prone to following the NBA.
That’s what the NBA is entrusted with protecting. And that’s what the NBA did not, in my estimation, protect in this case.
It’s a testament to the power of the sport that fans who have been scorned by one owner will later embrace another…The earth keeps spinning.
But that doesn’t make it any less reprehensible to mislead the public in a cheap manner to separate a team from its devoted fans, while pledging the opposite. Even if the fans are legally powerless, it is certainly correct to honor their meaningful role and to treat them with dignity.
Having German great-grandparents is sufficient heritage for the German national basketball squad to invite the Clippers’ Chris Kaman to play alongside his Dirkness in their attempt to qualify for the Beijing Olympics. Had the Fatherland’s hoops powerbrokers seen the above clip, featuring the reporting prowess of Eli “I’m Bringing” Sechback, however, the invitation would’ve come so much sooner.
Tim Colishaw argues in favor of the NL instituting the designated hitter in Thursday’s edition of the Dallas Morning News, and who amongst us dare argue with his motivations —- the Senior Circuit is routinely getting its collective ass kicked in the all-important All-Star Game, and the DH rule has extended the career of such baseball legends as…Milton Bradley.
There is no good reason for the NL to be clinging to the past, and other than Arizona’s Micah Owings, there’s just nothing pretty about watching pitchers try to hit.
When you add the DH to the game, you increase run production. That in itself increases attendance. That increases revenues and provides the funds to go out and better your team, whether it’s through spending on free agents, foreign scouting or player development.
The DH rule allows teams to save their players. Rangers manager Ron Washington has gotten maximum value out of Milton Bradley this season. Bradley suffered a knee injury in the final week of 2007 while playing for the San Diego Padres.
Had he remained a Padre, he probably wouldn’t have been a regular in the lineup until mid-May because of the wear and tear of playing the outfield every day. With the Rangers, Bradley has served as the DH 51 times and is bound to be an All-Star for the first time with his league-leading on-base production.
For the most part in the modern game, “small ball” has become small-minded. I don’t have any problems with teams bunting runners over to third in the eighth inning of a tie game. Makes sense.
Bunting in the first four or five innings to try to scratch out a run? Nonsense.
Small ball made sense when NL teams played in Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium, Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium, Houston’s cavernous Astrodome, San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium and the old Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
Those have all been replaced by parks that favor hitters and home runs. There’s no reason for NL teams to play a game no longer suited to their surroundings.
No reason whatsoever, besides applying a rule that never should’ve been broken in the first place. If increased offense is such a tremendous boon to the game, why not lower the pitching mound and increase the number of outs per inning to 5?
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Michael Cunningham considers the nature of manager/umpire squabbles, writing “in no other major sports league are coaches allowed to enter the field and interrupt play to dispute calls. In baseball, you have the manager, dressed in his team’s uniform, sprinting out to engage in spirited arguments that often lead nowhere and rarely result in a changed call.” Come to think of it, that might be really be the thing to get me to start watching NASCAR.
The goals for umpires are to maintain order and keep the game moving while not accepting personal ridicule or abuse. Some of the limits to arguing are covered by the rules.
Making contact with an umpire is grounds for automatic ejection. So is leaving your position to argue balls and strikes or failing to leave the field after being instructed to do so.
Other restrictions have developed through tradition. Technically it’s against the rules to use profanity with an umpire, but in practice managers usually can curse with the exception of two particularly vulgar (and unprintable) words.
“I love that,” said Jim Evans, an American League umpire for 25 years who now runs a professional umpire school in Kissimmee. “That makes my job easy. You just threw yourself out of the game. [Managers] know that.”
A manager who slams his hat on the ground or kicks dirt, even if not in the direction of the ump, usually is gone. Umpires won’t allow anyone to draw a line in the dirt off the plate to show the location of a pitch.
Mentioning plays from earlier in the game while arguing the current call can get a manager tossed. Accusing an umpire of trying to get calls wrong for personal reasons doesn’t go over well, and neither does mentioning television replays.
“I have told [umps], ‘I will go look at it on video.’ They don’t like that,” said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel.
Even in the Can-Am League, umpires generally don’t look kindly on efforts to walk away with stadium fixtures.
…she’s been linked to a public figure even lamer than her husband. Seemingly untroubled, The Third Baseman hit his career HR no. 535 to pass Jimmy Foxx on the All-Time list in the Yankees’ 18-7 demolition of Texas. The Aruban Assassin came back to earth after last Friday’s mastery of the Mets, allowing 7 earned runs in 5 IP, including 6th inning HR’s to recent teammates Milton Bradley and Chris Davis. Earlier in the day, Bradley denied having made critical comments about Ponson “having issues”, so never let it be said The Ticking Time Bomb is unaware of how these things appear in print.
After concluding a 7-6 home defeat of Boston last night on an unsuccessful hit & run attempt by the visitors, the Tampa Bay Rays have extended their lead in the AL East to 3 1/2 games. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to claim this week’s sweep of the Red Sox represents the most important 72 hours in franchise history…an achievement slightly diminshed by WFAN’s Chris Russo wearing a Rays cap throughout Wednesdy afternoon’s broadcast.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Lori Nickel asked Green Bay’s probable starting QB Aaron Rogers to clarify some curious remarks in the latest issue of Sports Illustrated.
The magazine asked Rodgers “whether he feels pressure to connect with the fans the way (Brett) Favre did.”
“I don’t feel I need to sell myself to the fans,” Rodgers responded. “They need to get on board now or keep their mouths shut.”
At a time when some fans are still mourning the retirement of Favre (or hoping he will change his mind), Rodgers’ comments might sting Packers backers all the more.
Reached by telephone Tuesday afternoon, Rodgers wanted to immediately clear up any misunderstanding with the team’s fans.
“I do care deeply about the fans and I think anybody who has been to training camp sees a lot of times I’m the last one out signing autographs. I care about the fans; I care about their opinions,” Rodgers said. “Everybody wants the fans to care for them and to pull for them and I am no different.
“I think my record, as far as the time I spend with the fans, and more importantly the stuff I do in the community, kind of speaks for itself.”
Perhaps, but that doesn’t even come close to explaining what Rogers was trying to say. Rather than disavow a ridiculous answer to a ridiculous question, perhaps Rodgers will be allowed 30 minutes a day in which he’s not reminded he’s never gonna be Brett Favre. While Rodger’s isn’t doing himself any favors by dissing Pack shareholders, we’re not even in the presason and he’s got Favre’s ghost holding a pillow over his face.
From Tirico Suave’s visual salute to One News Now. Lord knows how the latter will cope if the Brockton Rox’s Clyde Fuckensuck ever makes it to the show.
FOX’s national voice for Baseball openly admitted to not enjoying the game he covers, cramming for weekend matchups, thinking that the games are too long and that the game just isn’t the same. Unbelievable. You’re getting paid millions of dollars for watching a game three hours. Cry me a river! What’s even worse than that was the fact that he was on for another 4 or 5 minutes talking about a Cubs-Red Sox World Series. Are you kidding me?! - Awful Announcing, 7/02/08
Indeed, it’s inexcusable. Buck should represent Fox Sports by building interest for a Cardinals-Red Sox World Series.
But in all seriousness, Buck’s continued employment as the face/voice of the former National Pastime is something of a mystery in that you’ll struggle to find one person who actually enjoys his work. Given that Fox’s studio show has now added Rob Dibble to the Doofus Duo of K-Squared and Jeanne Zelasko, it’s now possible to watch a full 3-4 hours of NewsCorp baseball programing without hearing one commentator you’ve not fantasized about beating to death with a ballpeen hammer.
With Alexei Ramirez’ game-tying tenth-inning blast setting the table for the White Sox’s Tuesday night 3-2 victory over Cleveland, the talk of the Windy City continues to be about an infielder named Ramirez. But confusion reigns! As it turns out, one media-darling ballclub also has an A. Ramirez on the field. Obviously, the multitudes need some help in keeping the attention where it belongs. CSTB readers, too. So clip n’ save this handy table and wonder no longer who the real A. Ramirez of Chicago is.
Another outstanding move by Ken Holland & Company. As great a move as it is, it took the co-operation of Marian Hossa to forego a huge sum of money from many teams offering multi-year contracts. Hossa gets to play for a Cup once again this season and then can hit the jackpot next July 1st for a long-term deal. For his sake, I hope he gets insured against injury this season.
The Wings also signed backup goaltender Ty Conklin away from the Penguins for a mere 750K.
The usually cynical Bill Plaschke calls yesterday “the most glorious July Tuesday in franchise history” for the Los Angeles Clippers, their stunning acquisition of PG Baron Davis perhaps giving the club more credibility they’ve seen since Larry Brown grabbed the coaching reigns in 1992. Clipper Blog’s Kevin Arnovitz puts the Davis’ 5-year, $65 million signing in further historical perspective.
In the summer of 2005, free agent Cuttino Mobley signed a contract worth 5 years and $42M with the Clippers. It was the kind of mid-range deal that goes off without much fanfare during the league’s summer slumber. Sure, Mobley was a 17 ppg guy and a reputable defender, but he was a rung below the elite shooting guards of that free agent class, which included Ray Allen, Joe Johnson, and Michael Redd. For the Clippers, though, it was a huge acquisition. Mobley was the first free agent of any stature who willfully chose the Clippers as his destination. And it’s likely that Mobley was one of the first free agents of any stature whom the Clippers didn’t lowball or outright ignore. Whatever you thought of Mobley’s game or the length and size of his contract, signing him was another milestone. It proved that the Clippers were a franchise that a solid NBA starter in the prime of his career might, you know, want to play for.
But Baron Davis exists in an entirely different orbit. He’s a premier, image-conscious athlete who is militantly protective of his brand, which makes his choice of the Clippers all the more remarkable. I don’t think Davis-Mobley-Thornton-Brand-Kaman with a thin bench puts the Clippers on par with the very best teams of the West, but it makes them competitive almost every night, a playoff team [if they stay healthy], and infinitely more fun to watch.
More than anything, the Davis signing would reverse the downward trajectory the franchise has been charting the past 18 months, and would guarantee that Elton Brand plays another five years for a franchise in need of some totems.
The Cubs have so far split their series with the Giants in SF, dropping a game by the Bay tonight, 2-1. The 9th left two Cubs on base and pinch hitter Ryan Theriot striking out in one of those moments in this Historic Season where I expected a Cub to pull it out in the bottom of the 9th. Let me repeat that, I expected to win. Can’t get more once in a lifetime than that.
Most of the news out of the Cubs locker room tonight is not about the Giants, but the near and slightly less near future. Paul Sullivan details the Cubs’ interest in a July pitching pick-up, and the impressive depth of our rotation’s medocrity, here. Sullivan doesn’t name any of the new pitchers we could get, like AJ Burnett or CC Sabathia, but Zambrano is looking forward to some help. The more immediate news is that by Friday in St. Louis, Reed Johnson, Aramis Ramirez (whose on three days leave for “family matters”), and Zambrano will be in the line-up. Piniella is going slide-rule to slide with the Calculator himself, as revealed in these comments to Bruce Miles of The Daily Herald:
Rotation roulette: Lou Piniella said all systems are go for Carlos Zambrano to start Friday’s series opener in St. Louis.
“He threw today, and he threw very well,” Piniella said.
The manager then added that he’d follow Zambrano with lefties Sean Marshall and Ted Lilly, in either order, to face the Cardinals. That would push righty Jason Marquis into next week against the Reds.
“You look a the Cardinals, and they’re 11 games over (. 500) against right-handers and 1 game over against lefties,” Piniella said. “That leaves me to believe we have a better chance with left-handers. It remains to be seen. But just looking at the numbers, and we go by numbers here, plus we go on how a guy’s throwing. Really, Marshall threw the ball really well against the White Sox the other day.”
Yes, Sox fans, he said that, and he goes by the numbers … Rich Hill is now Project: Hopeless in Arizona, where he apparently throws at cacti and roadrunners when not beaning hitters. The Cubs are openly discussing shutting him down so he can “get his head together.” The problem is considered mental, as Piniella told The Daily Herald’s Bruce Miles: “They’ve actually discussed that; it might be just best to shut him down totally,” Piniella said. “I don’t know if that’s going to happen, but it’s been discussed, yes. It’s a shame, it really is. This came out of nowhere this spring and fed on itself. The amazing thing is about it is I never even realized he had a problem. I just saw him last year, and he pitched so well. Last spring, he never walked a hitter.” The Trib’s Paul Sullivan, who I assume covered the same press briefing, has a slightly reworded and more cryptic comment from Piniella thrown in: “I just saw him last year, and he pitched so well. Heck, last spring (in 2007) he didn’t walk a hitter. So I never knew that there was a problem from the past. I didn’t know it until it surfaced in the spring.” So, uh, what problem from the past? Did he get off brain steroids or something? And how come the Cubs NEVER KNEW ABOUT IT?
Besides the fact that he sported a mustache that would make Jeff Kent flip his snowmobile in jealousy, Derek Bell’s yacht-bound life of debauched luxury — immortalized in this space via an amazing-if-unsubstantiated anecdote from Sam Frank — was easily the most interesting thing about his up-and-down career. His sole full season as a Met had its good and bad moments, but knowing that he was retiring every night to his floating home in aquatic Queens always made Bell that much more likable. Or creepy. Depending on whether you’re Sam’s friend or not, I guess.
Anyway, I have no idea what Derek Bell is up to now. I imagine he’s still getting paid by the Pirates, somehow. But a recent article at MSNBC.com about the scourge of shipwrecks in Queens’ Jamaica Bay — which I found via the resolutely non-sporty Greenbuildingsnyc — made me wonder whether Derek hadn’t simply consigned his old homeboat — don’t call it a houseboat, please, it cheapens it — to Davey Johnson’s Jones’ locker after signing that absurd deal with Pittsburgh in 2001.
At any time, scores of discarded boats — dinghies, rowboats, runabouts, even the occasional barge — litter the shores and lie submerged in its shallow water. It’s a nautical junkyard, one more worry for ecologists in an area of the Gateway National Recreation Area where delicate marshes already are imperiled by rising water.
National Park Service officials say many of the boats are dumped by owners who simply don’t want to deal with the hassle and cost of taking them to salvage yards. Others have simply drifted in after breaking away from their slips.
…They may pose threats to the environment, to navigation, or simply spoil the experience for visitors. Some derelict craft have become hangouts for drug users, and those with engines can leak oil onto beaches or into the water, especially during storm surges, he said.
All pretty bad, I agree. But with the departure of Paul LoDuca, at least Mets fans can rest assured the deserted boats aren’t used for assignations with MySpace pop stars.
It may start with something small … like Carlos Delgado reminding John Maine how to execute the perfect pickoff throw. Or Maine politely telling Luis Castillo that he shouldn’t get his fielding fundamentals from the Ron Hextall Defensive Drills tape.
Or it might start with Snoop Manuel going “gangster” and actually cutting Jose Reyes. Or Reyes throwing his glove at Carlos Delgado’s head. Or Tony Bernazard invading a players only meeting with numchuks, wondering why nobody can hit Kyle Lohse (who it bears mentioning is 10 and freakin’ 2). But when it happens, it’s going to be huge. And make no mistake, when you pour an underachieving team into a pot and mix it with a bitter fan base and let a relentless media horde turn up the heat to about 450, it’s going to happen. Only question is when. Maybe after this Cardinals series, which … with Tony Armas Jr. starting tomorrow, and the unhittable albatross from last September Joel Piniero … is already shaping up to be a disaster.
No chance of Billy Wagner threatening to show Bob Klapsich southwestern Virginia? While we’re on the subject of clubhouse harmony, how many of those baseball etiquette experts bemoaning Jose Reyes’ Sunday afternoon glove-tossing mini tantrum were as quick to criticize Tom Glavine for showing up the defensively challenged Roger Cedeno a few years ago? For weeks we’ve heard the Mets’ TV and radio crews disparage Carlos Delgado’s glovework ; presumably, these mature professionals need no assistance from the likes of Reyes.
New Orleans and Oklahoma are tied at 1 after an inning tonight, as the former attempt to halt a nine game skid. You can’t deny a ballclub the services of Fernando Tatis for so long without expecting some ramifications.
While big name forwards like Penguins sniper Marian Hossa and Maple Leafs center Mats Sundin remain on the market, most of the premier living defensemen in the NHL free agent pool have been snapped up. The biggest deal went to former Shark and Sabre Brian Campbell, who parlayed
“Take the fucking picture”
“May I Play Your Game?”
