And That Happened

Diamondbacks 8, Phillies 3: At the risk of offending the sample size gods, allow me to point out the following:

In 1990, Bob Welch won 27 games; He was 4-2 through his first eight starts;

In 1972, Steve Carlton won 27 games; He was 5-3 through his first eight starts;

In 1968, Denny McLain won 31 games; He was 5-1 through his first eight starts.

These examples don't necessarily mean anything of course. As the game recaps note, John Garland was 8-0 through his first eight starts, and he ended up going 10-10 the rest of the year. Still, it's fun to talk about, no?

Marlins 7, Brewers 2: That's six straight losses for Milwaukee. Next up is a four game series against the division-leading Cardinals. Given how they're playing right now, it's entirely possible that the Brewers will be seven or eight back by Monday night. Don't you pretty much have to fire Ned Yost at that point? I mean, this team was supposed to contend this year, and it's looking up at Houston for cryin' out loud.

Red Sox 5, Tigers 1: Justin Verlander has started eight games and seven have been stink bombs, and now the Tigers have dropped six of seven. The Detroit lineup failed to draw a single walk in the game. Miguel Cabrera has an OPS of .772.

Braves 5, Padres 4: Atlanta's starter had to leave with a blister early, and then the guy who replaced him had to leave after colliding with a baserunner. As a result, the Braves had to go through seven pitchers. They also had a guy batting leadoff -- Omar Infante -- with a career OBP of .298. In other words, the Braves were making things hard on themselves. Didn't matter though, because the Padres couldn't hit yo momma. In other news, Shawn Estes threw his first pitch in a game that counts in over two years.

Rockies 9, Cardinals 3: The Cardinals are starting to get what they're paying for out of Kyle Loshe (4 IP, 8 H, 5 BB, 7 ER).

Yankees 6, Indians 3: Travis Hafner rides the pine again. The previous night's heroics from David Dellucci notwithstanding, the Indians are a team with way, way, way too many holes in the lineup to consider themselves contenders.

Rays 8, Blue Jays 3: Man, when Troy Percival decides to blow a save, he really blows a save. This one was a three-run-lead-in-the-ninth variety, wasting eight shutout innings from starter Edwin "Jekyll and Hyde" Jackson (Seriously: in four of his starts he has given up a total of two runs; in the other three has has given up 17). Dioner Navarro saves everybody's bacon with a 13th inning salami though, so the long flight back home was probably a happy one.

Orioles 4, Royals 1: Daniel Cabrera (CG, 1 ER, 7K 1BB) mowed 'em down.

Rangers 5, Mariners 0: Fisticuffsmanship! I've watched the reply several times right now, and I'm not sure what's more pathetic: that Gabbard couldn't hit a target as big as Sexson, or that Sexson charged the mound after a pitch that was essentially over the plate. Sexson might strike out 150 times this year and he'll swing at worse pitches than Gabbard's. In any event, for all of the drama, baseball players once again show that they don't know how to fight.

God, I Love Baseball

Some of the latest submissions:

Bob Cedrone, who obviously isn't familiar with some of Greg Maddux's work: "It's not just fans getting caught shouting obscenities on camera, sometimes it's the players too.

"I can't remember exactly what game it was, it might have been last Friday night- Red Sox vs Rays. Kevin Youkilis, a man who is known for taking every single AB personally, as if it were a life and death situation, strikes out, walks back to the dugout and sits down at the end of the bench, right in front of the dugout camera. The director switches to that camera just in time to catch Youk as he puts his hands on his head and shouts out a clearly audible FUCK! that was so loud my wife heard it in the other room, as did my 7 year old daughter. I've been watching this game for over 30 years and I don't ever recall seeing it happen to this extent."

Bruce Coffey, Jr., who noticed Papi workin' on something: "Saturday night, during B.P. we watched as David Ortiz took nearly every ball to left field. The first two right into the corner. The rest off the wall. He hit 2 or 3 to center. But did not pull a single ball to RF during BP. Clearly intentional. Then in the game he had 3 hits, including two doubles off the Green Monster. A thing of intentional, well-executed, well-planned, intelligent beauty and effectiveness."

While he was at it, Bruce shared a nice story he wrote a few years ago which reminded me of how charming Sox fans were back before they became so goddamn ubiquitous.

Nick L witnessed an unidentified Reds player robbing from the pathetic to give to the kids: "I caught a Giants-Reds game at AT&T on April 25. During batting practice,a ball was hit to the warning track in right-center field. A fan (who looks like he might be wearing a Reds hat, but it's hard to see) drops some sort of ball-retrieval device onto the warning track. While one(unidentified) Reds player stands near the ball trying to figure out what to do with this situation, another Red runs over, moves the cup-on-string device out of the way and grabs the ball. He pretends to run away and then throws the ball to a kid nearby.

Photos here!

Jason (the mastermind behind IIATMS) offers this one: "Derek Jeter will only be announced by Bob Sheppard (the Voice of God). Except Sheppard is in his mid 90’s and hasn’t been announcing games all year due to illness. So Jeter had Sheppard record “Now batting, shortstop, Number two, Derek Jeter, Number two” and that’s how Jeter gets introduced. Every time. That’s what I loved about the game tonight. Besides the great hang with my bro-in-law and father-in-law. Besides the great duel between Wang and Lee. Besides the super quick pace of the whole game. Besides the benefit of slipping the parking lady an extra $10 to keep me on the lowest level for a super-quick escape."

Personally, I think the Sheppard thing is a bit creepy, but I understand why a Yankee fan like Jason loves it.

Finally, Annette Gaynes offers the following Arizonian observation: "We all know Randy Johnson's reputation. He's intimidating. He's not a friendly guy. He doesn't like people much. Randy pitched against the Phillies on Tuesday night. Today, Brandon Webb pitches against the Phillies. So last night, while the Diamondbacks were out in the field, 44 year old Randy Johnson appeared to be lecturing 28 year old Brandon Webb on how to get the guys out. Hovering on Randy's other side, looking away but clearly listening in, was 20 year old Justin Upton. Sometimes, youth and inexperience mixes well with age and wisdom."

God, I love baseball.

Things Change

Chris Needham's recent decision to go emeritus on us has me thinking about blogger longevity. It's a tough business doing this every day, especially considering almost none of us gets paid. Burnout, I imagine, is a constant concern, and at some point you just run out of ways to describe your team's latest disheartening loss, stupid transaction, or insufferable announcers.

Four years ago, Josh Levin of Slate did a survey of "The Best of the Baseball Blogosphere." Setting aside the quality of his choices -- he missed an awful lot of good blogs that existed even in 2004 and some that he did include were questionable -- it's interesting to note just how much has changed in the past four years. A handfull remain. Others have moved or morphed into something else entirely. Some are simply no more. Levin's links:

Rob & Rany on the Royals: Now defunct following hiatuses of various lengths, though Rany still carries the torch;

Redbird Nation: Brian Gunn's Cardinals blog hasn't been active for years;

Big Red C: This Cubs blog has been dark for several years now. Warning: don't follow the redirect from its old blogspot location; I'm still scrubbing the trojans from my click-through to the now-NSFW landing pad;

U.S.S. Mariner: Long one of the best team-specific blogs, Zumsteg and Cameron are still going strong;

Al's Ramblings: a Brewer blog, is still humming;

Yagottabelieve: Appears to have been a Devil Rays blog, but is nowhere to be found today;

Twins Geek : Still exists, but Levin referred to it as being in-house at the Star-Tribune, which it clearly isn't anymore. Same blog, or just the same name?

Seth Speaks: Seth Stoh is still blogging the Twins;

Will Young: Also still firing away.

Aaron Gleeman: Needs no introduction here. His empire includes work at The Hardball Times, Fox Sports, USA Today, Rotoworld, Insider Baseball, and of course, NBC.

Bronx Banter: still exists, though it is now at Baseball Toaster rather than all-baseball.com (which was bought out by MVN several years ago);

Mike's Baseball Rants: Likewise at the Toaster;

Sabernomics: JC Bradbury hasn't gone anywhere, except on book tours and stuff.

Doug Pappas: Sadly, Doug passed away just over a month after Levin's article;

Scott Rex: His prospect ratings at On Deck Baseball is no more, with the URL now going to an aggregator of baseball-related commercial links;

The Transaction Guy: Still happening and, like some other former all-baseball.com sites, is now at successor company MVN;

Baseball News Blog: There's still something going by that name, but it's a very different beast than, and does not appear to be related to, the one Levin was talking about. As far as straight news aggregators go, Ballbug has displaced it in the minds of many (including me);

Score Bard: Score Bard has, like many of the others, evolved into Baseball Toaster, and obviously does far more than poetry these days.

Baseball Widow: The old site is dark. Now this is up. Same widow? I don't think so, because scanning the two sites reveals husbands with different names. Of course, if she is literally a baseball widow, that would make sense.

Management by Baseball: If you had asked me to look at Levin's list and guess which of the blogs he cites is not still humming, I would have said this one, which seeks to dispense daily business lessons based on baseball observations. Shows you what I know, though, because Jeff Angus is still doing it four years later. He has even written a book based on the idea. Of course, someone recently wrote a book adapting the lessons of a murderous dictator to business, so the bar there isn't set all that high.

Tiger Blog: Still roaring.

A mixed bag to be sure. Lessons? Well, the obvious one is that on the Internet, four years may as well be forever. Aside from that, it strikes me that quality endures, because with only one or two exceptions, the ones that are still going were simply better blogs in 2004 than the ones that are not (and the years of experience since have only enhanced that quality).

Personally, I think the baseball blogosphere is still early in its maturation process. New blogs still bloom every spring, only to peter out by Memorial Day. While the team-specific blogs have certainly settled on some established patterns (in-season game recaps, transaction analysis, and off-season historical retrospectives), the general blogs are still all over the map in terms of quality, content, and frequency of posts. There is still so much more to explore online.

And I think that's why I remain excited about doing ShysterBall, even more than a year after firing it up.

The Decapitation of Mr. Redlegs

Warning, graphic mascot violence.

Trouble for the Midnight Rambler

NYT's Michael Schmidt reports that the many loves of Roger Clemens may wind up as witnesses in the federal perjury investigation against him:

According to lawyers familiar with the matter, federal authorities will probably try to question the women to see if they can link Clemens to the use of steroids and human growth hormone.

The lawyers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to comment publicly about a continuing investigation, said it was unclear if authorities would seek to question the women immediately . . .

. . . Daniel C. Richman, a professor at Columbia Law School and a former federal prosecutor, said former girlfriends of government targets were often considered important sources of information.

“The government would try not to base its whole case on a spurned lover because the risk that they may be lying is considerable and their credibility can easily be attacked at a trial,” Richman said. “Nevertheless, they can be great sources of information that can lead investigators to others who don’t have their baggage as witnesses.”

And he thinks he's got trouble with Debbie.

Teixeira Derby

Jon Heyman handicaps the looming bidding war for the services of Mark Teixeira:

Lately, the overwhelming trend for young stars has been to sign early in their careers, to take the money and stay, so to speak.

That's what makes Braves first baseman Mark Teixeira such a rare breed. Incidentally, rare breeds don't come cheap these days. Neither do cleanup hitters, switch hitters or smooth fielders, and Teixeira is all of those things. He is also on the precipice of free agency, which is exactly where he wanted to be all along.

The mega contract awaits.

Not surprisingly, Heyman gives the Yankees and Mets the best shot at landing him, while giving the Orioles a shot as well due to Teixiera's Bawlmer roots. He also mentions Seattle, noting that "Mariners GM Bill Bavasi has an excellent working relationship with Boras," which is a backhanded compliment if I've ever heard one. Others mentioned: Braves, Red Sox, Giants.

Call me boring, but I have to favor the Yankees here. They simply need him more than the other teams and, last year's bad blood with Boras aside, they'll probably pay whatever he's asking.

Which doesn't mean it will be a bad deal. Teixeira is young for an elite free agent, and should have more productive years left in the tank than your average high-profile signing. The key, as always, will be contract length, which will prove to be the ultimate deal breaker for teams like the Braves who can't abide throwing money down a hole for bad, late-contract years like the Yankees can (Mike Hampton may have sworn them off such deals for good).

And That Happened

Pirates 3, Giants 1: Despite all of the gum-flapping, Zito went out there and pitched a perfectly respectable five innings (5 H, 2 ER, 5K). Unfortunately for him, his teammates couldn't get anything going against the Pirates. Reported attendance: 9,788, though that's probably more a function of rain in the area than the low-wattage matchup.

Reds 9, Cubs 0: I had read enough about Joey Votto's exploits by mid afternoon yesterday, so we won't dwell on it here (note: the box score indicates a 21 MPH wind, so let's not get too enthusiastic about all the homers). How about this: Edinson Volquez: 7 IP, 4 H 0 ER 10K. Yeah, he walked six guys, but he was pretty great otherwise. Here's a question: how does a game with 21 hits, 11 walks, and six pitching changes come in at under three hours? This one did somehow.

Indians 3, Yankees 0: The Cliff Lee sample size continues to grow, yet he continues to dazzle (7 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 7K, 0BB). He's now 6-0 with a 0.81 ERA and has only walked two dudes in six starts. Not bad for a "fairly sucky pitcher."

Mets 12, Dodgers 1: Talk about spreading it around: half of the Mets' RBIs came from the combined efforts of the likes of Angel Pagan, Marlon Anderson, Raul Cassanova, and John Maine. Maine pitched a little bit too (8.1 IP, 4 H, 1 ER). As for the Dodgers, you know you had a bad day when Chan Ho Park turns in your team's best pitching line (3 IP, 0 ER, 3K).

Braves 5, Padres 2: And just like that the Braves have won five straight (home series against the Reds and Padres can do that for a team), and now find themselves in a four team logjam around the top of the NL East. Worth noting: despite all the injuries and gray hair, the Braves have the best offense and, surprisingly, the best staff in the division thus far, which leads to them also having the best Pythagorean record as well. If they can get anything from John Smoltz going forward, they could be sitting pretty.

A's 6, Orioles 5: APBA Guy is no doubt smiling at the extra-inning heroics from Mark Ellis.

Marlins 6, Brewers 2: Milwaukee starts May 1-5. Ryan Braun (.762 OPS) and Prince Fielder (.769) ain't gettin' the job done, but there is plenty of blame to spread around.

Blue Jays 6, Rays 2: Shaun Marcum pitched a shutout for 109 pitches. Unfortunately for him, he threw one more, giving up an RBI double that put the kibosh on his shutout. He still won, though, so it's all good. The Rays bullpen gave up five of those six runs, which is the sort of thing a lot of people were predicting about them before the season began.

Royals 9, Angels 4: Another solid outing for Zack Greinke (7 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 8K). I'm sure Rany Jazayerli or someone has gone over this before, but I wonder how much of the action in that arm of Greinke's is attributable to that sabbatical he took in 2006 and the time he spent coming back in the bullpen in 2007? Instead of the close to 400 innings he would have pitched in his age 22 and 23 seasons had he been healthy, he instead pitched 128.1.

Twins 13, White Sox 1: Carlo Gomez hits for the cycle. Good for him, but I've always thought that if I were in his position I'd trade the requisite single for another homer.

Rangers 2, Mariners 0: Vicente Padilla makes the Mariners look foolish (7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 8K). After only scoring one of Ponson the night before, Seattle really needs to break out today, because it's really not cool to be stymied by Ranger pitching.

Rockies 4, Cardinals 3: Tony La Russa normally gets criticized for making multiple pitching changes in an inning, but he probably should have made even more than he did in the Rockies' 8th as three relievers -- Kyle McClellan, Randy Flores, and Jason Isringhausen -- combined to cough up four runs and the game to Colorado, wasting seven innings of shutout ball by Adam Wainwright.

Tigers 10, Red Sox 9: On Tuesday night, Joba Chamberlin proved fallible. Last night it was Papelbon, who gave up two runs in the ninth to blow the save. He had help, though, in the form of a Julio Lugo error and a bunch of not-all-that-hard-hit balls just goin' to the wrong place. This one took almost four hours, by the way.

Restoring the Balance

David Pinto notices that the NL is outscoring the AL and not only that, but that it's doing so in a way that puts lie to the CW that the NL is some totally inferior league that should just fold up or become AAAA or something:

Not only is the NL giving more PA to younger players, its younger players tend to be better. Note that at the ages where the NL OPS is higher, it tends to be much higher than it is at the corresponding AL age. Where the AL OPS is higher, the gap is not quite as large. Even in the 31-34 group, the NL is better except at age 34.

This bodes well for the Senior Circuit in the long term. Not only are their hitters producing at a higher rate, but their ages are in the range where we can still expect them to maintain or improve their performances. Meanwhile, AL teams keep signing older players such as Mike Lowell, Jorge Posada, Alex Rodriguez and Torii Hunter to long-term contracts. Over the next few seasons, we may see some AL clubs do what the Marlins, Diamondbacks and Rockies have done recently. Tearing teams down to watch young talent develop resulted in a high scoring National League, even without a designated hitter.

It's a good (and very detailed) article, so definitely check it out.

Also make sure to check out his blog, Baseball Musings. Some people have praised me for being prolific. Applesauce. I'm a dabbler compared to Pinto. It's just after 3PM as I'm writing this, and he has 15 posts up. He had 36 yesterday. This is not uncommon.

Capitol Punishment Goes Dark

Chris Needham is calling it quits:

It's Time.

Way back in October 2004, I started writing the blog, not really knowing what to expect, and certainly not expecting that it would get to be as big (relatively speaking) is it is, nor would it have given me some of the opportunities it has.I started for two simple reasons.

First, I wanted an outlet for my writing. My day job has me doing lots of godawful writing. Heretofores. Whereases. Convoluted clauses that wrap around themselves. It's not a particularly fun type of writing, and I wanted something that I'd enjoy more. Something a bit more conversational. I didn't want to be stuck writing that boring way for the rest of my life. I wanted an outlet.

Second, I didn't want to bore my girlfriend to tears. I didn't know a heck of a lot about the Expos. Writing about them would help me to learn, to help me discover the team. As I learn things, I want to share them. Rather than boring her with details about Brad Wilkerson and TJ Tucker, I wrote about them here.

But things change. I've done plenty of writing these last few years. Lord knows how many books I've essentially written. And finding new things to say is tough. (I'd say 'interesting' things, too, but that'd imply that half my posts were!)

It's time to move on.

I'm sad to see you go, Chris. There are a lot of people stuck in government offices who now read my scribblings because you sent them here with your generous linkage.

As We Suspected . . .

. . .the reports that Matthew Beaudoin's death was caused by an argument over baseball were wrong:

Ivonne Hernandez, 43, is accused of gunning her car into Matthew Beaudoin, 29, and his friends after what witnesses described as a barroom argument about the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry spilled outside Slade’s Food & Spirits in Nashua, N.H., early Friday.

But Beaudoin’s devastated girlfriend Donna Dionne, 29, told the Herald yesterday, “Matt was sticking up for a friend who had been punched by this woman. It had nothing to do with a big baseball rivalry. These stories are wrong.”

Dionne said Beaudoin’s friends, who witnessed the horror, told her the confrontation was sparked when Hernandez punched a female pal of Beaudoin’s outside the bar.

The story goes on to note that there were some "Yankees suck!" taunts thrown Hernandez's way just before she plowed into Beaudoin, but that seems pretty incidental to it all.

Welsh Baseball

I had never heard of British Baseball (sometimes known as Welsh baseball) until I read this story about a women's league this morning. The Wikipedia article says its more like baseball than cricket, but the rules sound far more crickety.

Anybody ever seen a game?

I Hope You Learned Your Lesson

Barry Zito's exile to the bullpen lasted just over a week, as he's been named the starter for tonight's game against the Pirates. He made no relief appearances since the demotion. This is interesting:

The timing of the announcement was intriguing, since the Giants didn't need to reinsert a fifth starter into the rotation until Saturday. Bochy said that returning Zito to the rotation Wednesday was not intended at the time of the pitcher's demotion. Zito said that he heard hints of this plan Sunday but wasn't officially told until Tuesday.

I'm going to throw out the idea that the decision to return Zito the rotation was not Bochy's. Whose was it then? Oh, I dunno. Maybe someone who stands to look totally foolish for giving hundreds of millions of dollars to a mop-up man? No, I don't have any information upon which to base that assumption, but it's a question I'd like to see someone ask.

Right Between the Eyes

Jason at IIATMS is raising a catcher. Donations in the form of bandages, ice packs, crutches, and Advil can be left just behind the backstop at the little league field.

And That Happened

Whether I'll get very far down the box scores this morning is an open question. I went to see Steve Earle and Allison Moorer in concert last night, and let's just say that there were pre and postgame libations involved. Great show, though, even if he is a Yankees fan.

White Sox 7, Twins 1: Gavin Floyd takes a no-no into the ninth. This after giving up three runs and taking the loss against these same Twins in his last start. Baseball, she is a funny game.

Red Sox 5, Tigers 0: Floyd wasn't the only one throwing bullets last night, as Wakefield blanked the Tigers for eight innings. OK, maybe it's not entirely accurate to call Wakefield's pitches "bullets." Don't look now, but the Red Sox now have the largest margin of any team in baseball at three and a half games.

Marlins 3, Brewers 0: Floyd and Wakefield weren't the only ones throwing bullets last night, as Scott Olsen blanked the Brewers for eight and two thirds. I've never seen Olsen pitch. Are they "bullets?" Probably doesn't matter against the Brewers, whose starting eight have the following batting averages: .192-.233-.267-.257-.303-.217-.226-.284.

Indians 5, Yankees 3: Joba came into the game in the eighth to do that thing he does. Instead, he came in and did that thing that, I dunno, Aaron Heilman does, coughing up the lead on a couple of walks and a home run.

Rangers 10, Mariners 1: What's got into Sidney Ponson lately? He's now 2-0 with a 1.33 ERA after going seven strong last night.

Braves 5, Padres 3: Where would the Braves be without Jair Jurrjens? He went six innings, striking out eight and giving up a single run. Chipper remains white-hot (.426/.481/.739), but it was Mark Kotsay of all people providing the spark last night (2-4, HR, 2RBI and a pretty damn good catch in center that Mac says saved at least one run).

Pirates 12, Giants 6: I think I read something like three different Nate McLouth features yesterday. He obviously let the press go to his head (3-5, 2 HR, 3RBI). On the season he's .333/.417/.652, and giving people in Pittsburgh a reason to go out to the ballpark.

Dodgers 5, Mets 4: The other day, Willie Randolph said that his team felt better on the road right now because of all of the heat the fans in Shea are giving his boys. Well, they're now 2-3 on this trip. If they drop today's game to the Dodgers, expect Friday night in New York to be quite the love-in.

Hardin Stays

Roger Clemens suffers yet another setback in his defamation case, as the judge rules that, yes, he can keep Rusty Hardin as his attorney:

A federal judge in Texas on Tuesday denied a motion to disqualify Roger Clemens’ attorney Rusty Hardin from the pitcher’s defamation suit against Brian McNamee, the trainer accusing Clemens of performance-enhancing drug use.

McNamee’s lawyer Richard Emery had argued that Hardin’s previous representation of Yankee pitcher Andy Pettitte (who will almost certainly be a witness in the case) was a conflict of interest.

A while back I wrote that while I believed Hardin had a conflict, the only person who could raise it as an issue was Andy Pettitte. The judge agreed with this view.

Pettitte -- who is now represented by counsel who doesn't think it's a great idea to stand by while his client is publicly disgraced -- hasn't made an effort to get Hardin off the case. My guess is that given how short a time Hardin represented Pettitte -- four days according to the article -- there isn't much in the way of deep dark secrets he needs to concern himself with anyway, so why incur the expense of litigation over it? After all, he already copped to using HGH and presumably spilled all there was to spill when he went before that congressional committee.

At any rate, for those scoring at home: (1) Clemens has issued a mea culpa; and (2) Hardin has prevailed on a potentially embarrassing motion. Seems like a good time to declare victory and call this all off, no?

Going Green

Eco-bragging about Nationals Park:

The DC Sports and Entertainment Commission (DCSEC) has offset 70 percent of the electricity use at Nationals Park, home of Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Washington Nationals, with its purchase of 14,600,706 kWh of renewable energy credits (RECs), from Boulder, Colo.-based Renewable Choice Energy, helping the ballpark to achieve silver-level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.

“The DC Sports and Entertainment Commission’s commitment to building a green ballpark is a great example of how organizations can help drive our nation’s renewable energy infrastructure,” said Quayle Hodek, CEO of Renewable Choice Energy. “We’re proud to play a role in Major League Baseball’s first LEED-certified building.”

I suppose I'm supposed to be impressed with this, but really, how hard is it to conserve electricity in an abandoned building?

Great Moments in Saying More Than You Intended

Dusty Baker, from the sidebar story on today's Griffey piece in the USA Today:

The Cincinnati Reds' Dusty Baker will become part of history when Ken Griffey Jr. hits his 600th home run as the first to manage three 600-home run hitters: Barry Bonds (762) with the San Francisco Giants, Sammy Sosa (609) with the Chicago Cubs and Griffey (597)."I'm a blessed man," Baker says. "Those guys are all great hitters but different. . ."

. . . Most prepared? Sosa. "He prepared longer and harder than people realized," Baker says. "Barry (Bonds) would prepare, but he just wouldn't let you see him prepare."

Gee, I wonder why?

God, I Love Baseball

From Jason D. Scott:

Watching the Dodgers-Mets, fifth inning. Blake DeWitt homers to straightaway center, his first major league home run. The camera picks him up in the dugout getting hugged and high-fived by his teammates. Vin Scully talks gently and beautifully about it being such a wonderful moment in a young man's life, how popular DeWitt is, how maybe the Dodgers don't need Andy LaRoche or Tony Abreu....nice, standard stuff.

Then, a pitch into the next at-bat, Scully asks me to watch the replay of DeWitt after the homer. "They're gonna give him the cold shoulder, at first," he explains, because DeWitt is a rookie, and sure enough, as DeWitt enters the dugout, he gets the tiniest of taps on the rear by Joe Torre who doesn't even bother making eye contact. Everyone else on the bench is silent, stoic, as DeWitt goes to the rack and takes off his helmet. You can't "hear" the silent treatment, but you can see it, and you can see DeWitt (even with his back to the camera) itching with excitement but trying to play it cool like everyone else. Scully narrates the replay, and at the exact moment ("And then...."), the players and coaches near DeWitt simultaneously start cheering and embracing him as if he had just walked into a surprise party.

A beautiful, beautiful piece of video, story by DeWitt and the Dodgers, voice by Scully, and called precisely and smoothly by whomever is directing the show for Fox Sports.

Thanks, Jason. I love the whole "cold shoulder" bit for rookie home runs too. The Braves do it really well. There are so many graybeards on that team, though, that I always worry that the rookie really does think that he's being ignored.

UPDATE: Welcome Rob Neyer readers! For those of you who are unaware, this feature is about the fun things that happen during baseball games that don't necessarily make the highlight packages the next day. The little stuff. A foul ball that wakes up everyone in the visitor's dugout. A fan shouting an obscenity so loud the TV microphones pick it up. An ump taking a few extra seconds cleaning the plate because the catcher just caught a nasty foul tip. The sorts of things that never make the highlight packages or box scores, but which cause both the viewers and the participants to laugh, sigh, or simply reflect in ways that are totally foreign to, say, a football field. Some examples can be found here.

The way it works is that you watch a game, be it on TV or in person, and email me with a description of any of those little things that catch your notice (my email can be found in the upper left-hand corner of this page). When I get a handful of them, I run 'em. It's that simple.

Radio, Radio

Well, sorta. Mike McClary of the excellent Tigers' blog The Daily Fungo interviewed me the other day for his Detroit Tigers Podcast. If you can get past my nasally voice and the unfortunate picture of me he's running alongside the audio link, you can hear Mike and I talk about blogging, the Tigers, and some other stuff for about a half hour.

Totally worth your time if I must say so myself (and believe me, I must because no one else will), and that holds true even if he did edit out my off color jokes.

Bissinger Walks Back From the Ledge

The Big Lead has landed an interview with Bissinger, and Buzz is contrite:

The initial reaction was quite positive, more than quite positive from those I immediately spoke to–fellow panelists and members of HBO with the exception of Costas (Bob was friendly but muted in his response to my performance. He is one of the most thoughtful people I know and I think he was mulling that I had gone way too far.) What I began to realize by the next afternoon is this: What the fellow panelists thought (at least the ones I spoke with) were not remotely a representative group. When I came home from New York, my wife simply told me that I had been over the top and undignified. Then I started reading emails sent to me. The majority were predictably vindictive — dickhead, horsefucker, douchebag, windbag, ugly, stupid, etc. But what struck me far more is that many of the emails were smart, not laced with personal invective, and made cogent points about sports blogs and the Internet. It was also abundantly clear that I had disappointed people who had been fans of my work. That hurt terribly. They were also right.

Check the whole thing out.

More Reds Radio Bashing

A day after I call out Brennaman, the Reds other radio guy gets called out by Reds reliever David Weathers:

You never know who might be listening to a ballgame on the radio.

On Sunday, as the Reds dropped their fifth straight game by a 14-7 score, David Weathers was one of the Reds on Radio listeners on WLW-AM. Weathers, who was spending his final day on the disabled list, had finished a workout and was driving home.

During Jeff Brantley's call of the game with Marty Brennaman, Weathers heard the following:

"I'm not including everybody but there are some guys on this team ... if they win, great. If they lose, they could care less," Brantley said.

Weathers took umbrage that Brantley implied the Reds were quitters.

"Maybe he knows more about the game than we do," Weathers told TV reporters before the Reds played the Cubs on Monday. "If he does, congratulations, maybe he should come out with a uniform on."

For what it's worth, I think Weathers and I are complaining about different things. I heard that bit from Brantley and didn't really think it was a problem. The announcers should be critical when criticism is warranted, and Brantley's comments didn't come off as particularly acidic or anything. Indeed, he was doing what Reds radio pays him to do, and that's provide some insight into the team's mindset as a former player.

Snark aside, I think Brantley does a pretty good job with that most of the time and avoids the kind of sad bitterness that has seemed to have consumed Brennaman.

Color Me Skeptical

Every few months you get a story about the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry turning to violence or death, and here's the latest example:

A woman accused of running down a man in her car after a Red Sox-Yankees argument in a bar never hit her brakes as she accelerated toward the small group he was in, a prosecutor said Monday.

"She never braked, and she accelerated at a high speed for about 200 feet. She went directly at this group of people," prosecutor Susan Morrell said of Ivonne Hernandez, who is charged with reckless second-degree murder in the death early Friday of Matthew Beaudoin, 29.

Invariably, the first reports that come out of these things play up the baseball angle, and of course, every media outlet runs with that. Also invariably, the actual thing that set everyone off -- alcohol, a girl, or other non-baseball-related idiocy -- comes to light. In light of that, I imagine that we'll soon get a statement revealing that the point of contention among these pathetic people was something other than just baseball.

Even if we don't, we should probably remember that in an alcohol-fueled burst of fan-related violence, the alcohol is approximately 75.4% responsible, underlying personality defects 24.5% responsible, with the impassioned fandom making up the remaining bits.

And That Happened

Angels 4, Royals 0: The beauty and the curse of doing daily recaps in a sport with hundreds upon hundreds of games is that it's often the case that I'll look foolish less than 24 hours after making some bold pronouncement or another. Case in point: Brett Tomko, whose arm I suggested be donated to science yesterday morning. A little over 12 hours later he pitches seven shutout innings for Kansas City. Unfortunately for him, Ervin Santana pitches nine -- with 9Ks and 0BBs -- and the KC bullpen gives up four runs in the ninth. The Royals, by the way, are on a 559-run pace for the season.

Reds 5, Cubs 3: Johnny Cueto gets a bit of his mojo back (6 IP, 3 ER, 8K). Everyone is entitled to a bad game once in a while so don't take this as me throwing blame around, but the fact that Fukudome went 0-4 with zero walks in front of Geovany Soto's 3-3, 2B, HR night probably made the difference here. Well, five unearned runs helped, but hey, this week's meme is the Cubs' lineup construction, right?

Blue Jays 1, White Sox 0: Dustin McGowan's second strong outing in a row (7.1 IP, O ER, 6K, 0BB) gives the Jays their fifth win in a row, three of which have been shutouts.

Red Sox 6, Tigers 3: At this rate, Detroit should finally have the lineup it wants by Labor Day. Matsuzaka walks eight guys in five innings yet somehow gets the win. The only way you can get away with that is by only giving up a couple of hits, which is exactly what he did.

Phillies 11, Diamondbacks 4: The Max Scherzer Experience begins with a "meh." So impressive in his debut in relief, Scherzer gives up five runs on seven hits while throwing 92 pitches in four innings. And yes, I realize that only two of those runs were earned, but (a) it's not as if three runs scored on a muffed play; he gave up a couple of hits after the Drew error; and (b) he threw a wild pitch that didn't help that inning.

Dodgers 5, Mets 1: Oliver Perez is rather feast or famine this year, no? Runs allowed in his seven starts: 0-0-6-0-5-7-5.

Mariners 7, Rangers 3: Josh Hamilton gets a night off and the Ranger bats go more or less quietly. Not that it mattered with Millwood giving up seven on nine hits in three innings.

A's 2, Orioles 1: Last week the A's scored 29 runs in two wins. That's 18 percent of their entire season's run total. You can get away with that when you get seven innings of shutout ball from the Dana Eveland's of the world on the other nights. Still, I can't think that the A's want to count on that lasting all summer.

Cleansing the Palette

I can't end the day with a political post, so I offer some sweet rhythm in the form of a link to Lawrence Ferlinghetti's Baseball Canto. Excerpt:

Watching baseball, sitting in the sun, eating popcorn,
reading Ezra Pound,
and wishing that Juan Marichal would hit a hole right through the
Anglo-Saxon tradition in the first Canto
and demolish the barbarian invaders.
When the San Francisco Giants take the field
and everybody stands up for the National Anthem,
with some Irish tenor's voice piped over the loudspeakers,
with all the players struck dead in their places
and the white umpires like Irish cops in their black suits and little
black caps pressed over their hearts,
Standing straight and still like at some funeral of a blarney bartender,
and all facing east,
as if expecting some Great White Hope or the Founding Fathers to
appear on the horizon like 1066 or 1776.

But Willie Mays appears instead,
in the bottom of the first,
and a roar goes up as he clouts the first one into the sun and takes
off, like a footrunner from Thebes . . .

Click through to read the rest. Even better, pick up a copy of the Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour episode about baseball, on which Ferlinghetti reads it himself.

The Race

McCain took in a Diamondbacks game yesterday. Seeing as though all three remaining candidates hail from someplace whose teams have at least a shot at making noise come October,* it's probably inevitable that baseball will be co-opted for political purposes this fall.

I went over the candidate's baseball bonafides last summer, so we won't rehash that again. What I would like to note is that there have been twenty-five World Series played in presidential election years, and on only four occasions have the champion and the president hailed from the same state:

• In 1920 both the Cleveland Indians and Warren Harding took home the hardware. Unfortunately, it's illegal for presidents to literally take home the hardware, so Harding was subsequently disgraced by the Teapot Dome Scandal;
  
  


• The Yankees and FDR were both in the early stages of New York-based dynasties in 1932 and 1936; and
  
  


• In 1972, California-based victory was shrouded in historic levels of ugliness. And Nixon's win over McGovern was almost as ghastly as the A's uniforms.

So, be wary Diamondbacks, Cubs, and Yankees/Mets fans. Having a presidential candidate use you in October isn't conducive to your championship chances, statistically speaking.

*Despite Clinton's historic rooting bigamy, we'll give her the Yankees. Something tells me, though, that we won't have to worry about her or them being relevant come October. And yes, I realize that Obama is a White Sox fan. He's probably my guy right now, but if he and the Cubs are both still standing in October and he panders to the North Siders, it's over. Really, I had better hear Guillenesque invective from him or else I'm voting for the Natural Law Party guy.

The Tools of Ignorance

George Vecsey on the hard knocks and constant job openings for catchers:

Catchers are always one hard foul away from inactivity. The good side is that catchers must be replaced by catchers, another example of baseball’s version of supply and demand. Both New York teams have been forced to rely on catchers who
were not expected to make the team this spring.

The rate of attrition for catchers means there is a job market for catchers, which is why Chad Moeller has played 429 games in the major leagues for six teams in nine seasons, acquiring a reputation as a heady veteran.

Someday -- and I imagine that day is coming soon -- every team will have their own slate of Molinas, which should put an end to the carnage.

Q&A With Bobby V

A short but fun little interview with Bobby Valentine:

You began your managing career with the Texas Rangers, which was partly owned by President Bush?

I got there in 1985. George Bush was the managing general partner of a group of men who owned the team from 1989 to the day I got fired.

So he was the one who fired you in 1992?

Yes.

Why didn’t he promote you to a top government position?

I thought an ambassadorship would have worked out fine. The president of the Texas Rangers, Tom Schieffer, who was also part of my firing, is the ambassador to Japan now . . .

. . . Now, as a team manager, you reportedly earn more than $2 million a year. What do you do with all that money?

I give it to my wife.

When is your contract with the Chiba Lotte Marines up?

I have a great situation with my owner. He’s talked about a lifetime contract. On the other hand, we’ve never discussed whose lifetime.

For a while there you used to hear Valentine mentioned as an MLB managerial candidate, but every time you hear from him anymore you get the strong sense that he is enjoying the hell out of life with Chiba Lotte and has no plans on leaving. Good for him.

Latin Athletes Education Fund

Ninety-five percent of the Latin players who sign professional contracts in their teens never see the show. One man, however, is making sure that a handful of them don't leave the United States empty handed. From the NYT:

A virtually unknown stockbroker from San Jose, Calif., following his Peace Corps instincts, [Don] Odermann has spent 25 years as a silent baseball benefactor. He has arranged and financed scholarships for more than 100 young players from Caribbean countries to attend colleges in the United States. Eight players — from Venezuela, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico — are currently in the program after being identified and selected in tryouts by Odermann and his growing network of graduates.

Odermann’s self-run Latin Athletes Education Fund supplements partial athletic scholarships the players receive from their colleges, filling the financial gaps that otherwise would have kept them from accepting the scholarship offers. Ten graduates of his program have played in the major leagues, including the Mets’ Moises Alou. But a vast majority never do, learning that the education Odermann helped them obtain lasts longer than any playing career.

That's the kind of story that puts a spring in your step on a Monday morning.

Andy LaRoche Sent Down

The Dodgers must think Blake DeWitt is the answer.

Roger is Sorry

Roger releases a comment on all the rogering:

Following a week in which the Daily News reported his affairs with several women, Clemens released a statement Sunday night apologizing for "mistakes in his personal life," while again denying he ever used performance-enhancing drugs.

"I need to say that I have made mistakes in my personal life for which I am sorry," Clemens said in a statement handed to the Houston Chronicle, a favorite outlet for Clemens and his lawyer Rusty Hardin.

"I have apologized to my family and apologize to my fans," Clemens said. "Like everyone, I have flaws. I have sometimes made choices which have not been right."

He doesn't say what he's going to do with the defamation suit, but this strikes me as something of a penultimate statement. The high heat, if you will, setting us up for the split finger pitch that is the dismissal and disappearance that is soon to follow.

Great Moments in Selflessness

Some players talk a big game about doing anything to help the team, but pitcher John Bale (0-3, 7.63 ERA) truly goes all out in an effort to make the Royals better:

Royals left-hander John Bale won’t be returning to active duty any time soon after breaking his pitching hand Friday night by punching a door at the team’s downtown hotel.

Bale apparently was frustrated by his slow recovery from a fatigued left shoulder. He returned early Sunday to Kansas City and is scheduled to undergo further examination Monday by club physicians.

If only Brett Tomko showed such dedication -- by, say, donating his right arm to science -- the Royals' team ERA wouldn't be third to last in the AL.

And That Happened

Braves 14, Reds 7: Mrs. Shyster came into the living room yesterday afternoon and told me that I had to fix the shelves in the garage. Her view: the screws holding the standards in the wall are hanging by a thread, and sooner or later 75 pounds of garage crap is going to fall onto her station wagon. My view: I'm the one who did the substandard job of putting those shelves up in the first place, so I'm in the unique position to know that if they haven't fallen down by now, they're probably not going to fall any time soon. Maybe. Besides: the wagon is a Volvo, and the Swedish build those things tough. Now will you please let me watch the ballgame?

Five minutes later I was in the garage with a drill in my hand listening to the Braves and Reds on the radio. This was actually OK, because my first exposure to baseball was over the radio, and I often forget how enjoyable it is to listen to a game on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, I was listening to Marty Brennaman, and that poor bastard has simply lost it. Look, we all hate to listen to homer announcers, and we all find it refreshing when the guys in the booth tell the tough truths. Brennaman, however, is long past that stage and is deep into angry and bitter disgust with the Redlegs. Sure, the seven-run second inning would be tough on anyone, but Brennaman made it sound like he was being forced to watch the commission of war crimes. He sounds like a man who truly hates his job, and truly hates the Reds. As a Braves fan enjoying the pasting I should have been reveling in just how bent out of shape he was, but I was mostly just embarrassed for him. Perhaps the most telling thing was the fact that I was actually happy when Jeff Brantley took over next inning. It was so discombobulating that I plan to blame Brennaman when the new shelves come crashing down on the Volvo next winter.

Marlins 10, Padres 3: At this rate, Greg Maddux is going to hit 350 losses first.

Yankees 8, Mariners 2: For those of you who have lost your mid-90s-Mets/2008 Yankees pitching prospect translation key, it goes something like this: (a) Phil Hughes is to Darrell Rasner as Jason Isringhausen is to Rick Reed; and (b) Ian Kennedy is to Kei Igawa as Bill Pulispher is to Brian Bohanon.

Blue Jays 4, White Sox 3: Halladay had pitched four straight complete games before this one, and had lost three of them. All of the commentary about him, as well as his own quotes after this game followed the "man, Roy hasn't been getting any help out there" meme. Thing is, two of the three complete games he lost weren't exactly gems -- he gave up 5 runs on April 23rd and 4 runs (on 11 hits) on April 17th. Know what? Maybe Halladay wouldn't have been 1-3 in his last four starts if everybody was less enamored with his toughness and durability and actually took him out when he was truly out of gas rather than let him hang on for those complete games.

Royals 2, Indians 0: The Indians -- with only four hits and no walks -- weren't going to win this one anyway, but it's worth noting that Betancourt came into the game in the ninth and promptly gave up a dinger, which means that he has given up six runs and two homers in his last two and two-thirds innings pitched. Rafael: when they told you that you had to take Borowski's place, they meant you had to pitch in the situations in which he previously pitched. They didn't mean you had to pitch like him.

Nationals 5, Pirates 2: The Nats started the season with three wins, then lost nine in a row, had a couple of three game skids, and now have won eight of eleven. They're probably going to play this kind of streaky, two steps forward, three steps back baseball all year, and it's an open question as to whether that is preferable to simply being a boring bad team who can't string anything together. I've followed both kinds of teams, and I think I like the streaky ones best, because they give you something to talk about.

Red Sox 7, Rays 3: Youkilis (3-4, 2B, HR, 4 RBI) muscles the Sox to a sweep over the Rays, returning the favor the Rays paid them last weekend in Saint Petersburg. A mere four days after all of the fun stuff about the Rays and Orioles recent good fortune, they both now find themselves three back of Boston, and I have this feeling they won't be getting much closer for the rest of the year.

Phillies 6, Giants 5: This is a very simple game. You hit the ball, you catch the ball, you throw the ball. Unfortunately, the Giants don't two at least two of those things well. What's their record? 14-18. 14-18! How did they ever win 14?

Twins 7, Tigers 6: Carlos Guillen lets a two-out groundball get through the wickets, opening up the floodgates in the seventh inning. In other news, Tigers' DH Gary Sheffield is hitting .185/.340/.309, and the best third baseman on the team is a utility guy. If only there were a solution to this problem . . .

Astros 8, Brewers 6: You're not going to believe this, but Eric Gagne allowed five baserunners in the ninth and blew the save. It had basically nothing to do with the outcome of the game, but Salomon Torres pitched a couple of scoreless innings. I always like to see him do well. Though his poor start on the final day of the 1993 season helped my Braves win the division, the guy still gets heckled by Giants' fans, and that seems way the hell out of line for something that happened so long ago. What were you doing in the fall of 1993? I was living in my first apartment and making $3.85/hr as a clerk at the supply counter of the Ohio State University Bookstore. I wasn't old enough to drink yet. I still had a head full of hair. I thought Olive Garden was a pretty nice restaurant. I went to the Indians-White Sox game the same day Torres got blown up by the Dodgers and actually got mad because someone parked too close to my Chevy Cavalier in the Municipal Stadium parking lot. In short, I would be insulted if someone judged me based on what I was like in 1993, because I'm certainly not the same person I was then, so I get mad whenever I hear about Torres still having to live down what happened on October 3rd of that year.

Angels 6, Orioles 5: Joe Saunders gives up 12 hits in 5 innings, but only gives up four runs. Attention sportscasters: you are officially authorized to use the term "scattered."

A's 3, Rangers 1: Someone must have told Jack Cust (2-3, HR, 2 RBI) that he needed to heat up or else look for a job, because he's ten for his last twenty and has raised his average nearly 100 points in the past week or so.

Rockies 7, Dodgers 2: LA's eight game winning streak is over. From the Game Notes: "Torre said the Dodgers have had the eyes of slumping Andruw Jones examined several times. 'They've checked out OK,' Torre said. 'We know his problems aren't physical ones and his hitting trouble isn't terminal.'" I hate to be a pessimist, but given how Jones has fallen completely off a cliff, how exactly do they know that this isn't the end? On what is Torre basing his hope?

Mets 5, Diamondbacks 2: The heretofore reeling Mets take 2 out of 3 from the best team in the league. People who know a thing or two say that's not good enough.

Cardinals 5, Cubs 3: Someone forgot to tell St. Louis that the NL Central was supposed to be a Brewers-Cubs race this year. Albert Pujols is hitting .358/.518/.604. Imagine what he'd be doing if he had an elbow that worked. Game highlight: listening to Morgan and Miller go out of their way to compare Fukudome to Ichiro and Matsui, despite the fact that he has very little in common with either of them apart from his nationality. Am I crazy -- or just reaching for poignancy -- if I say that based on his numbers in the NPL NPB, he's closer to being Joe Morgan than either of those two other guys, and the very man who should see that is the one reaching for race-appropriate comparisons?

Posnanski on Costas

In the wake of the Bissinger thing, Posnanski -- who has been critical of Costas' handling of it -- tells a wonderful story about how important Costas was to his career. Everyone who has a passion for something has an origin story, and this is Posnanski's (interestingly enough, mine involves Costas too, but that's not important right now).

I won't block quote -- you should read the whole thing -- but the upshot is that Costas played a critical role in the development of Joe Posnanski's career, and he did so by being decent, and supportive, and inspiring. It's really a great story.

But.

And you shouldn't read this next part until you've read Posnanski's story. I'll wait. Done? OK, good.

But, having read all that, it strikes me that the Bob Costas Joe met in 1988 is a very different Bob Costas than exists today. Today, Costas takes issue with bloggers because, in his mind, they are uncredentialed and inexperienced and unpolished and in a lot of ways really rough around the edges. They're the ones lowering the discourse, Costas argues, and because of that, they represent some sort of threat to western civilization. So he marginalizes them. He denigrates them. He brings in surrogates to attack them on his show.

Question: in what way was Joe Posnanski v.1988 any different than a blogger today? While I suppose he technically had a credential as an agate clerk, he was, by his own admission, inexperienced, and unpolished and in a lot of ways really rough around the edges. Obviously talent takes over and Posnanski would have been just fine one way or another, but the fact that Bob Costas engaged him and encouraged him made a tremendous difference in his life. He did not view Posnanski as some sort of threat, and did not dismiss him because his talent and the quality of his work was not to the level Costas was accustomed to seeing from newspaper guys.

What has changed in 20 years? The only relevant thing I can see is the technology, because there isn't a damn bit of difference between 1988 Joe Posnanski and a hungry young baseball blogger doing what he does because he loves the game and wants to make it his life. Sure, many blogs are garbage and aren't written with that level of passion and precision, but the same could be said about the work of many cub reporters in 1988 (they probably all ended up going to law school).

Where's the support now? Where's the understanding? Why are bloggers any more of a threat than a hungry young reporter was in 1988? When did Costas stop being confident enough with himself and his career that he felt he could no longer lend a supportive word to a novice?

Thankfully, the next generation has plenty of people who are serving the same purpose for them that Costas served for Posnanski. Whether it's by accident or otherwise, Posnanski may be the best example, as he is the very embodiment of the synergies that are possible when the MSM and blogosphere are combined, with his work in one medium serving to inform and elevate his work in the other.

There are others who are not afraid of technology. Who understand it or, even if they don't, realize that the technology is only incident to the writing and that the public, as always, will ultimately gravitate to the best content regardless of how it is delivered.

Thank goodness for them.

Update: Costas speaks to Aaron Barnhart, and makes it clear that, to the extent he has any animus towards blogs, it's not inspired by feeling threatened. Probably a very good point to note because, no matter how delusional bloggers are sometimes, Bob Costas is right in noting that he is not in any danger of losing his job or stature to them. Of course he does note that newspaper guys are, and despite his claims that he has no anti-blogger agenda, he has given voice to so much of that insecurity, whether he intended to or not.

I guess I'll close all this out by noting that Costas, in the interview anyway, is quickly able to cite examples of good blogs (he doesn't identify them by name, but he makes allusions to U.S.S. Mariner and Baseball Prospectus) and quickly able to articulate his view that Deadspin is where the bullies and louts play. The fact that he knew that already shows that he had an interest in putting what he felt was the worst possible face on the sports blogoshpere for the purposes of his show the other night. If he didn't, he would have had Derek Zumsteg or Christina Kahrl or someone on.

(thanks to Matt Magnone for the heads up on the Barnhart piece).

Bassman

The New York Times has a story on Billy Brewer, the former major league reliever who is now a rookie on the Bassmasters Elite Series. That's cool and all, but I don't care much about fishing. I do like stories like these, though:

An unforgiving situation on the lake can be matched with some of his experiences as a member of the bullpen for the Royals, Yankees, Athletics and Phillies and 12 minor league teams.There was the time he gave up a lead for the Royals and sat in the bullpen for a week. When he approached Manager Bob Boone to say he was ready when needed, Boone snapped at him, he said.

“I’m the manager of this team, and when you are ready to pitch, I will tell you when you are ready to pitch,” Brewer recalled Boone saying. “Now get out of my office.”

Hey, let's give this tracer the Big Book of Baseball Legends treatment!

Let's see, the only season when both Brewer was managed by Boone was 1995. Scanning his game log that year, there was only one time when he didn't pitch for a day or two after a loss or a blown lead, and that was between May 12th and May 17th.

So what happened May 12th that caused Boone to ignore him for a while? Well, Brewer walked two guys, threw a wild pitch, and gave up the winning run to the Angels in parts of the eighth and ninth. But it wasn't that bad, actually. The wild pitch ended up not mattering, as it came in the eighth, which Brewer escaped with no damage. In the ninth, he got the first two batters out, before walking Gary DiSarcina and Tony Phillips. Boone then yanked Brewer in favor of Rusty Meacham, who promptly gave up a double to Spike Owen, allowing the inherited DiSarcina to score, which made the difference. I know managers hate walks from relievers, but that does seem a bit harsh to bench Brewer for a week after such a performance, doesn't it?

But guess what? He really wasn't benched a week. For starters, the Royals only played three games between the 12th and the 17th, so Brewer is exaggerating. More significantly, though, there were plenty of reasons other than Boone being miffed at Brewer for him not pitching.

The first game he missed -- May 13th -- was a complete game victory for Kevin Appier, so it's not like he was needed. Likewise in the May 16th game, which was a rain-shortened, five-inning affair, all of which was handled by starter Chris Haney. The May 14th game was a blowout, with the Angels winning 8-1. Thus, to the extent Brewer was complaining about not pitching, he was really complaining about not pitching mop-up duty. Hey Billy: you were just coming off a pretty strong year. Maybe Boone still thought of you as a primary setup guy and was just saving you for the close games? You should have been flattered!

Upshot: If I'm Bob Boone and Brewer came up to me in the clubhouse complaining about his workload under such circumstances, I'd probably snap at him too.

Tulowitzki's Torn Tendon

The Rockies were already on the road to nowhere, but I'm pretty sure that losing Tulowitzki until at least the All Star break officially puts a stake in their National League title defense.

And That Happened

Rays 4, Orioles 2: I know it's early and no one is expecting this to last, but the Rays -- long the doormat of the American League -- are 16-12. In May of 1991, the Atlanta Braves -- long the doormat of the National League -- were 16-12. No one expected that to last either.

Rangers 2, Royals 1: If you would have told me in 2006 that one day in 2008 Zack Greinke (7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 9K) and Sidney Ponson (8 IP, 6 H, 1 ER) would engage in a closely fought pitchers' duel I would have called ya crazy. It makes me happy to see that someone who has struggled with mental illness like Greinke has come back and be effective. Less so with Ponson and donuts, but kudos to him too.

Dodgers 5, Marlins 3: The Dodgers have won six straight, and Juan Pierre (2-3, 2B, 2 RBI) may find himself an everyday player again soon (Jones rode pine). It looks like no one really wants to win the NL East.

Brewers 4, Cubs 3: Despite all of the early-season pub, and despite last night's blowout, I'm fairly certain that the Brewers aren't going to go away all season. Kerry Wood blew yet another save -- this one of those two-run-lead-in-the-ninth varieties -- wasting a strong performance from Carlos Zambrano (6.1 IP, 1 ER). In other news, the Alfonso Soriano-in-the-leadoff-spot gambit didn't work, as he went 0-4. The guy I would put there -- Fukudome -- was 4-4. The guys batting second and third -- Theroit and Lee -- were a combined 4-8 with zero RBI. Something tells me that the Cubs would have had an extra run or two if the batting order were filp-flopped. After a pretty miserable start, Ryan Braun (3-5, 2B, HR, 3 RBI) has been heating up lately.

Phillies 3, Padres 2: I realize that it's early and playing the whole "Player X is on pace to do Y" thing was played out ten minutes after ESPN.com started putting season projections up several years ago, but it's probably worth noting that Ryan Howard is on pace to put up a pretty good Three True Outcomes season (34 HR, 101 BB, 218 K or a TTO% of 52.6). Sure, there are guys who have had better TTO seasons recently, but none of them made $10M to do it.

Blue Jays 3, Red Sox 0: The Sawx have lost six of eight and have only scored 17 runs during that stretch.

Tigers 8, Yankees 4: So if Phil Hughes has a broken rib, what's Ian Kennedy's excuse? (4.2 IP, 5 H, 3 BB, 4 ER). Rickets?

Nationals 3, Pirates 2: From the looks of it, this was a well-pitched, basically well-played game. It lasted 2:04. How many dozens of stink bombs will each of these teams turn in over the course of the year that will last 3+ hours?

Indians 3, Mariners 2: Paul Byrd pitches a beaut (7.2 IP, 4 H, 0 ER), but watches Rafael Betancourt blow up for the second outing in a row before Cleveland came back to win it in 11. Richie Sexson hit his 300th career home run. Does that seem right to you? I just looked at the list of all-time home run leaders, and I was actually surprised to see that he was in the same dinger territory as guys like Greg Luzinski and Kent Hrbek. Those guys just sort of loom larger in my consciousness as home run hitters than Sexson ever has. I suppose it has to with the fact that back when they played 35 homers was a big frickin' deal.

A's 15, Angels 8: Welcome to the big leagues Nick Adenhart: 2 IP, 3 H, 5 BB, 0K 5 ER. As others have pointed out, the Angels decided to make Adenhart make his debut on three days rest. I'm guessing they'd like that decision back. By the way, Jack Cust (4-4, HR, 2 BB) is on pace for a bigger TTO season than Ryan Howard (61.5%). That is, if he gets a full season. His error in left field opened the floodgates for the Angels' big second inning and, let's face it, DH on this club is taken.

Dale Petroskey Gets a Job

Nolan Ryan hires the deposed Hall chief:

For his first prominent business-side hire, Nolan Ryan went to a place he knows
well: The National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Former Hall president Dale Petroskey will handle the Rangers' marketing and community development efforts. In other words, he'll try to build the fan base.

Petroskey resigned from the Hall in March amid allegations he "failed to exercise proper fiduciary responsibility," according to the Hall of Fame's press release.

UPDATE: Much more thorough story here.

Retro Beer

First the parks go retro, and now the beer:

To commemorate the 40th season of triple-A baseball in Des Moines, the Iowa Cubs and Court Avenue Brewing Company have teamed up this season to offer a retro ballpark ale. Iowa Oaks Ale is being pitched as "a toast to the franchise's original name in 1969."

The new brew, a "German export-style beer that is light in body and color," will start selling Tuesday, May 6, at both Court Avenue and during I-Cubs games at Principal Park - at the Bottom of the Fifth Bar in the main concourse behind home plate.

"Many of our fans enjoy a cold beverage while watching baseball on a warm summer's night," Sam Bernabe, I-Cubs president and general manager, said in a statement. "We've been good friends and neighbors with the folks at Court Avenue Brewing Company for a long time. They're great baseball fans, and they brew a great beer."

Pfft. Call me when they bring back the Ballantine Blast!

Holy Shlabotnik!

If you're anywhere near Santa Rosa, California between May 14th and November 3rd, you'll want to check this out:

Enjoy Charles Schulz’s epic baseball comics in this new exhibition featuring 66 original Peanuts baseball-themed strips at the Charles M. Schulz Museum running May 14 through November 3, 2008.

“On the surface many of Charles Schulz’s baseball strips appear to be a light-hearted look at the All-American pastime and can be enjoyed as such. However on another level, Schulz seems to be commenting on important life themes,” explains, Stephan Pastis, exhibition co-curator and cartoonist of comic strip, Pearls Before Swine. “The themes—hope, perseverance, humiliation, and leadership—can be found disguised in the Gang’s often ill-fated baseball games,” adds Pastis.

Schulz commented in an interview that when he created a sports-themed strip, he did not feel that it was dealing with sports. Instead, he said, “I use it as a springboard. Charlie Brown’s problems on the mound are emotional conflicts that everyone deals
with.”

Yeah, I know I'm just running a press release, but Peanuts was my favorite comic when I was young and, being a kid whose love of baseball far outstripped his ability to play it, I very much identified with Charlie Brown.

And now I'm bald too, so if anything, the affinity has grown.

Grienke and Bannister

Bob Nightengale profiles the Royals' yin (Brian Bannister) and yang (Zack Greinke):

Bannister loves to spend his free afternoons checking out art museums or hunting for photography equipment, just as he did Tuesday in Arlington, Texas. Greinke, when unable to find a fishing hole, is content to sit back alone and play video games, trying to be the Billy Beane of Nintendo.

Bannister, 27, appreciates cinematography and wants to make his own full-length movie, dreaming of the day he's standing on stage holding an Oscar. Greinke, 24,
declines to be part of team commercials, let alone sit in front of television cameras for an interview.

Together they are playing a game that fills one man's mind with sabermetrics and the other with demons, neutralized by medication. "We are completely different," Bannister says. "But we share a common bond and have the same goals. It's just that they're derived by different means."

Bannister has gotten most of the press recently due to his affability and affinity for sabermetrics, but for purely dramatic reasons I find Greinke to be the more compelling story. What's more, I also think that, five years from now, he's the one more likely to still be pitching in the Majors.

And That Happened

The roundup -- and the rest of the posting schedule -- is going to be a bit abbreviated today, folks. Old man law is beating me over the head and I've reached the point where sheer procrastination isn't going to work anymore. Sorry about that, but I still gotta pay the bills.

Cubs 19, Brewers 5: I usually turn games like these off, but for some reason sat and watched this train wreck. The fourth inning was particularly interesting. No, not because of Geovany Soto's second three-run home run, but because of the conversation between Dave O'Brien, Steve Phillips, and Erin Andrews about Japanese baseball players. They all agreed that there has never been a player come over from the NPB who acted like a prima donna or a head case or anything, and all I could do was shout at my TV that they were forgetting Hideki Irabu.

Dodgers 13, Marlins 1: Another ugly game. Enough has been written about Andruw Jones' struggles already, but the fact that he went 0-3 on a night when the Marlins couldn't get anyone out may be the most telling thing that's happened to him all season.

Pirates 13, Mets 1: Hey, why not one more blowout? More fun with earned/unearned runs: Yes, six of the seven runs the Pirates scored in the second inning came after what would have been out number three was dropped by Luis Castillo and were thus unearned, but at some point Oliver Perez has to get somebody out, right? Same goes for the three unearned runs in the sixth.

Tigers 6, Yankees 2: Pettitte didn't have his best stuff, but that didn't matter inasmuch the Yankees, after getting two quick runs in the first, could only muster two more hits in the next eight innings. New York put Phil Hughes on the DL with a strained oblique muscle. Query: if Hughes had strained his oblique during his start on Tuesday night, wouldn't it, you know, have been a bit more obvious at the time? Perish the thought, but isn't it possible that the Yankees sorta, you know, invented this injury so they could buy some time and not have to either (a) pitch the ineffective Hughes on his next turn; or (b) demote him to Scranton which would be pretty humiliating for everyone involved? Just askin'!

Nationals 3, Braves 2: Braves reliever Manny Acosta walked five guys, which is the sort of thing that makes me happy the Braves aren't on TBS anymore. The Braves are now 3-5 against the Nats this year despite having outscored them 31-28.

Rangers 11, Royals 9: How many more starts like these (3 IP, 7 H, 7 ER, 2 BB) until Posnanski gives up the Banny Log? Speaking of Joe, he has what is probably the best, most thoughtful take thus far on the whole Costas-Bissinger-Leitch thing.