Matt Sosnick Interview

A couple of weeks ago, Jason at It IS About the Money, Stupid touched base with Josh Hamilton's former agent, Matt Sosnick. People noticed.

Today, IIATMS has a full-blown interview with Sosnick, and it's pretty awesome. Lots of good frank dish from a guy on the inside about the day-to-day workings of the ten-percenter racket (it's actually only 5%) as well as some of the cutthroat garbage that goes down as agents fight to sign the big names. Plus, you always sorta knew that Scott Boras was full of crap, but Sosnick gives us a concrete example. And of course there's more on the Josh Hamilton defection.

Great stuff from Sosnick and a great "get" for Jason. By all means, check it out.

And That Happened

Tigers 5, Padres 3: Because I was an 11 year-old obsessed Tigers fan in 1984, I have always thought of the Padres and Tigers as rivals. It makes no sense, really, because they share pretty much nothing apart from that one lopsided, forgone conclusion of a World Series. They have not had an uncommon number of common players, and there have been no further notable matchups. As of now, it's just another random interleague series, the sort of which become less and less special as the years go on.

Or is it? Longtime ShysterBall reader and Michigan native Luke Himebaugh reports from Saturday night's Tigers-Padres tilt:

TONS of Tigers fans. TONS. I don't think, other than a close rivalry, I've ever seen so many visiting team logos around. I know a bunch of us out here are transplanted Michiganders, but it was insane! I swear during the 7th inning stretch, you heard more "root, root, root for the TIGERS" than anything.

On that note, I completely missed the Padres half of the 7th. Why? Because two drunk jackholes (one a Padres fan, one a Tigers fan) got into a fight . . . punching. Seriously. My first thought was "uh, aren't these two sub-.500 teams in the two worst divisions in baseball? What's there to fight about?" I mean, is the Padres fan holding a grudge from 1984 (he looked old enough to do so)? Or, is it a grudge from 2003, when the Tigers were one of the historically bad teams and they came into San Diego and took two of three en route to their 43-win season? Detroit has visited San Diego exactly 3 times in the 40-year history of the Padres. It's not like there's a lot of historic rivalry built up. Really, I was amazed by the amount of Tigers fans there. The amount of Old English D's on clothing.

I called my San Diego-residing and, unlike me, still-Tiger-faithful brother last night to confirm he wasn't in the fight (we worry about him sometimes). I got his voicemail. Maybe he's still in the drunk tank. Maybe he's on the lam. If anyone saw the fight, he was probably the one wearing a Wings jersey, Dickeys dungarees, and purple Dr. Marten boots.

Angels 3, Phillies 2: The second best division leader in the NL is swept by the second best division leader in the AL. That pretty much sums up this league disparity thing. Which kills an NL guy like me, but there's no sense continuing to rail against the obvious.

Royals 11, Giants 10: The second to the worst team in the NL loses two of three to the second to the worst team in the AL. That pretty much sums up this league disparity thing. Which kills an NL guy like me, but there's no sense continuing to rail against the obvious.

Red Sox 5, Cardinals 3: I don't get to watch much baseball on the weekends. That's my big time with the kids, and when I'm not playing with them there are too many things that need to be done around the house. Sometimes, though, I plot and plan in order to get a little bit of baseball watching in. I embark on some project that can be done in the basement where, it just so happens, I have a TV set up. Or I get the kids really involved in some self-sufficient activity like building a cushion fort while I sit on the lounger and catch a few innings. This may sound pathetic to a lot of you, but the married-with-kids guys understand.

Yesterday was a pretty full damn day, but at some point in the middle of the afternoon my wife went to the grocery store, my daughter went to her room to play with her Polly Pockets, and my son decided to chase one of the cats. I knew it wasn't the biggest of windows, but I jumped for the remote and turned the Sox and Cards on. Wouldn't you know it: rain delay. And it went on for like 45 minutes. Just as play was resuming, my wife came home, my daughter came downstairs, my son gave up on the cat, and I was back in family time. It's OK -- I get enough baseball in during the week -- but man, those lost opportunities really stink.

Mets 3, Rockies 1: The Mets wrap up a nice, calm, and uneventful 4-2 road trip.

Yankees 4, Reds 1: Andy Pettitte plays stopper again, winning his fifth straight decision and preventing the sweep. Ever since he beat John Smoltz 1-0 in Game Five of the 1996 World Series, I've really wanted to hate this guy. To hate his low brim. His slick pickoff move. His stuff that, while crisp enough, looks like it should be more hittable than it is. I've tried hard to hate him or, at the very least, to root against him over the years because he always seemed to be giving guys I like better than him hell. But you know what? I just can't do it. To my knowledge he's never had a jerk spell off the field. He's always been ready to take the ball. He always seems to start a game with a plan and with the right mix of caution and confidence, no matter how well or how poorly he's pitched in recent games. The HGH stuff is irrelevant to my assessment of him, but even if you disagree, you have to admit that he handled it all about as well as anyone could have handled it. I've even come to like that low brim, slick pickoff move, and stuff that, while crisp enough, looks like it should be more hittable than it is. I don't like the Yankees much and I've never liked the Astros, but man, I have to admit that I have nothing but respect and admiration for Andy Pettitte.

Rangers 5, Nats 3: Following up on Friday's advice column post, Charles Kitchen has written in to report on his conduct:

I did not boo until extra innings on Friday night. The game just would not end and I let my frustration get the better of me. I did not boo the next two games.

Good for you, Charles. And you're excused for booing Friday night's game. For those who don't follow the Nats and Rangers closely (i.e. all of you as far as I know, with the exception of Charles, Needham and Royce), the 14 inning affair meant that after-game fireworks were canceled and fans were subjected to two of Washington's shamelessly derivative Presidents races.

Braves 8, Mariners 3: Teixeira hits three dingers as Atlanta wins in a laugher. The good Tim Hudson showed up. The bad Jeff Francoeur -- which is the only Jeff Francoeur -- was on the bench. As Mac notes, it's probably no coincidence that an offensive outburst for Atlanta coincided with Frenchy's absence from the lineup. In other news, the Mariners first three games under Riggleman all featured Ichiro in right field as opposed to center, which just about everyone on the planet has noted is a poor utilization of resources. Given how bad the Mariners' season has gone I suppose anything Riggleman does is basically rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, but you'd think that at least that egregious McLaren error would have been immediately rectified.

Astros 3, Rays 2: A team playing about the worst baseball in the game waltzes into the stadium of one of the best home teams in the game and takes two of three. Go figure.

Dodgers 4, Indians 3: Paul Byrd has definitely been the weak link of the Indians' rotation this season. No, I suppose four runs over seven innings isn't terrible, but when they all come in the first inning, it really changes the game, ya know?

Brewers 7, Orioles 3: Prince Fielder ( 3-4, 2B, 2 HR, 3 RBI) continues his torrid June during which he has raised his OPS around .100 points. The Brewers are still behind St. Louis, but right now they're my favorite to win the Wild Card.

A's 7, Marlins 1: Justin Duchscherer lowers his ERA to 1.99. He's now 4-0 in June and will probably go to the All-Star game in Yankee Stadium. I'm guessing that exactly 3 baseball writers in the New York Metropolitan area have any idea who he is. Marchman is one because he knows everything. The other ones were the two beat reporters who drew the short straws and had to stay for the whole June 11th game when Duscherer beat the Yankees (everyone else was watching Erin Andrews' yellow dress that night).

Twins 5, Diamondbacks 3: Look, none of us are proud about those "can Webb win 30?" conversations from last month, so let's all just pretend they never happened and never speak of it again, OK?

Cubs 7, White Sox 1: A pretty dominating sweep of the Chisox makes for fourteen wins in a row at Wrigley for the Cubbies. Like the Celtics, the Cubs may play in the inferior league/conference, but they are clearly the best team in the game. If you don't think so, ask yourself: before the season, if someone would have told you that the Cubs were going to lose Soriano and Zambrano to injuries, how many wins would you have put them down for?

Blue Jays 5, Indians 3: Jimmy Key scatters six hits and three runs over nine innings and George Bell and Lloyd Moseby go deep as Cito Gaston gets his first win as Blue Jays' manager. Meanwhile in West Virginia, a young Shyster has his heart broken via a note informing him that his sophomore crush likes him, but doesn't like-like him. He keeps his composure, however, and vows to redouble his efforts at attaining her like-like once he gets his driver's license in July.

Daryl Thompson and Wayne Krivisky Will Have Their Revenge On The Kearns Trade Haters

Bleacher Report said:

Did anyone know who Daryl Thompson was before today's game against the New York Yankees? I don't think so.

Well, I beg to differ. Here's me over a year ago:

Daryl Thompson: This guy looks interesting. Despite being injured for much of his rookie league season, he's currently overpowering the competition in low-A ball less than six months after his 21st birthday: 4 starts, 23 innings pitched, 19 strikeouts, 1 walk, an ERA of 0.39, and a 4-0 record. Small sample size? Sure, but his K/BB ratio was pretty sweet in limited play last year as well. I haven't seen him pitch, which is inexcusable given that his home park is only about an hour away from Chez Shyster, but he smells legit to me. He needs to be promoted, like yesterday, and assuming he continues to mow them down in Sarasota, he should end the season in AA. Depending on how he does there, he could potentially compete for a slot in the rotation as early as next year, though more likely in 2009. Unless it's all smoke and mirrors, he alone could tip the trade ridiculously in the Reds' favor.

As you can tell from the context, that was from a post in which I rehashed the Kearns/Lopez trade from 2006. I and my designees have done that a lot actually, and it usually goes down like this:

Me: You know, the Austin Kearns trade wasn't the disaster everyone makes it out to be.

Everyone else in the world: No, it was awful! The Reds needed bullpen help for a playoff run, and that blew up terribly! Plus Krivsky could have gotten eleventy-seven blue chip prospects for Kearns because he's, like, so dreamy!

Me: Fine, but you have to close the book at some point, right? You have to take a look at the talent that was actually exchanged, and see if, original intent aside, it was a good deal or a bad one, don't you?

Everyone else: Lalalalalalalala! We can't hear you!! Lalalalalalala!

I usually shut up at that point, because sometimes you're just not going to win.

But I'm not shutting up this evening because Daryl Thompson made his Major League debut today and shut the New York Yankees out over five innings. No, it wasn't the best performance ever -- he walked four guys and threw 96 pitches in those five innings -- but it's better than anything Austin Kearns or Felipe Lopez have contributed to the Nats recently.

Oh, and Bill Bray -- also a part of that deal -- relieved Thompson and picked up the win. Bray has an ERA+ of 176 in 21 innings for the Reds this year. Probably also worth noting that Gary Majewski has only given up two earned runs in seven innings as well. If Royce Clayton takes a job cleaning the clubhouse or something, the trade becomes a landslide in the Reds' favor, doesn't it?

Does any of this mean that Wayne Krivsky was some kind of visionary? No, at least not unless he can prove that he really wanted Thompson instead of lucking into him (and even then, Thompson would have to, you know, keep it up). But it does mean that (a) Daryl Thompson didn't just appear out of thin air around lunchtime today; (b) people should stop claiming that the Kearns trade was a disaster; and (c) all of those Mets fans citing the trade as they worry about their team hiring Krivsky today should relax a bit.

The City That Knew How

Robert O'Brien of the San Francisco Chronicle recounts an article -- first published in 1948 -- by an old-timer remembering the San Francisco baseball fields which preceded Seals Stadium (which preceded Candlestick, which preceded AT&T, but you knew that, right?). And of course, the "70s" and "80s" refer to the 19th century:

Recreation Park closed down, Hanley said, "and for one or two seasons in the late '70s or early '80s, the teams played across the bay in Alameda, opposite the Terrace Baths. Then they came back to the city to Central Park, which was on the southeast corner of Market and Eighth streets. It was a good park but had a poor right field; the heavy hitters were all the time batting the ball over the fence and into Eighth Street."

The players of the late '80s usually wound up at a saloon at Ellis and Steiner streets on Saturday nights, either to drink to their afternoon victory or to drown their chagrin over a defeat. Hanley's paper route took him past this tavern. "Many a Saturday night," he recalled, "I used to see Mike Finn, one of the managers, collar his players at the bar and take them home to sober up so they could play their Sunday game."

Baseball hasn't changed much. If you replace "Mike Finn" with "Ron Washington" and "his players" with "Sidney Ponson" you wouldn't know the difference.

Cito Gaston's Second Coming

Gibbons is out in Toronto. Cito is back!

The Toronto Blue Jays became the third team this week to fire their manager, relieving John Gibbons of his duties along with coaches Marty Pevey, Ernie Whitt and Gary Denbo, the team said Friday.

Former Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston, who led the team to back-to-back World Series champiopnships in 1992 -93, will take over as manager . . . Gaston was manager of the Blue Jays from 1989-97 and led the team to four postseason appearances, starting with a pair of AL East titles in 1989 and 1991.

And if they can just bring back the 1993 versions of Olerud, Molitor, and Alomar, the Jays might be goin' places!

(Thanks to Jason at IIATMS for the link)

The IBL's Second Coming

Last month it was reported that the Israel Baseball League was no more. Apparently it was just mostly dead:

Israel's professional baseball league is coming back for a second season after a tumultuous inaugural campaign that left it on the brink of collapse.

The Israel Baseball League said Thursday it would begin play on July 27, about a month behind its original schedule and in abbreviated form. The league will consist of four teams, down from six last year, and the length of the season is cut in half to 20 games . . .

. . . "The goal of having a three-week season this summer is to keep the momentum going, build on the fan base that was created last summer ... and bring back the high level of talent," he said. "We hope that all of this will lay the groundwork for a 45-game season in 2009 and beyond."

Three weeks? Sounds undead to me.

And that, my lord, is how we know the Earth to be banana-shaped

Professor Tracy Ringolsby on .400 hitters [fourth item]:

Night games have been a blessing for attendance. But they present a challenge for players. No matter how good the lighting, it's not the same as natural sunshine.

There hasn't been a .400 hitter since night games became a baseball staple. In 1941, the year Ted Williams became the last to hit .400 for a season, only five AL ballparks had been host to a night game. And night games were an event, not a regular part of the schedule. Boston didn't play its first night game at Fenway Park until 1947.

Interesting . . . I've seen other studies that use the same sort of rigorous methodology.

And before you comment, yes, I'm aware that there is data showing that day games generally boost offense. None of that data can be found in Ringolsby's pronouncement, however, and more importantly, none of it supports the notion that the prevalence of night games plays a significant role in the lack of .400 hitters, let alone the causal role Ringolsby implies.

Schilling is Probably Done

The bad news: Curt Schilling's pitching career is likely over. He was a true great on the mound, vastly underrated during the early portions of his career, and simply dominant during large stretches of his prime.

The worse news: There is now nothing standing in the way of Curt Schilling's broadcasting and/or political careers.

Now He's In For It

It's one thing to have jackass bloggers mad at you, but now Buzz "defender of Letters" Bissinger has composition professors after him too.

UPDATE: Buzz responds to Sara Kniffen's letter. It's quite a civil exchange, actually. Check it out. Of note from Buzz:

I do appreciate very much the thoughtfulness of your email. I am trying to be
more open-minded and may well start writing an online column for the New York
Times. We shall see of course if I can practice what I have been preaching.

I have this feeling that there will be plenty of people watching to make sure he does just that.

Executive Power

Fainaru-Wada and Quinn are reporting that the feds have been putting the screws to Greg Anderson's wife in an effort to coerce him into testifying against Barry Bonds:

For more than a year, Barry Bonds' personal trainer sat inside a federal prison in Dublin, Calif., refusing to testify about his knowledge of performance-enhancing drug use by his superstar client. Finally, on Nov. 15, 2007 -- the day Bonds was initially indicted on perjury charges -- Greg Anderson was set free, seemingly ending a major squeeze play by local prosecutors.

Instead, even as Anderson was released, the government made a move on another member of his family. Within days of the trainer's release, his wife, Nicole Gestas, received a letter from federal prosecutors informing her that she is the target of a grand jury investigation, four people with knowledge of the BALCO steroids case told ESPN.

The sources asked not to be quoted by name because of the ongoing investigation. Since the initial target letter went out, two of the sources, both lawyers, say they have learned that the government's interest in Gestas stems from tax-related issues. The Internal Revenue Service has been the lead investigative agency in the BALCO case, and the sources said they believe the pressure on Gestas -- and possibly other family members -- is directed at finally getting Anderson to cooperate against Bonds.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a renegade, a wannabe militia member or even all that much of an anti-establishment guy. I pay my taxes. I put my hand over my heart when I say the pledge. Sure, I have my radical moments, but for the most part I'm just your average shlubby white suburban guy who is usually content enough with the bread and circuses to not really complain about the government.

That said, the level of overreaching, coercion, and out-and-out intimidation I have seen from federal agents in recent years has been shocking, both in this case and in many others. Is it legitimate for the feds to exert pressure on someone in order to get someone else to do something else? Sure, in the abstract. It's actually pretty effective law enforcement. But such tactics are easily abused, and in the instance of Anderson, Gestas, and Bonds, I believe power is being abused.

The resources put into the Bonds prosecution have been staggering and the amount of gusto put into going after him has been extreme. Greg Anderson -- at worst a low-level drug peddler -- was incarcerated for over a year, and now his family is under the microscope. While I will not join with those who categorically oppose the Bonds prosecution -- perjury before a grand jury is a problem and should be deterred -- notions of deterrence have long since been abandoned in this case.

While some may say that the pressure is justified if, indeed, Gestas has tax problems, I submit to you that all of us, on some level, would be in trouble if an IRS agent armed with virtually unchecked power decided to make our lives his priority. And make no mistake, they are making Gestas a priority here. I have been a part of these kinds of offshoot investigations (i.e. clients subjected to federal scrutiny as agents try to build a case against someone else), and you'd be surprised at just how intense the spotlight becomes. IRS agents are human, and they don't like dead ends. When they find some fertile ground in the form of a third party witness, the primary target of the investigation is virtually forgotten and the subsidiary case quickly becomes the main focus.

If Barry Bonds lied to the grand jury, he should be punished for it. I do not believe, however, that the witnesses against him -- and their families -- should be punished on orders of magnitude more.

Ask Shyster

Reader Charles Kitchen writes in with an ethical dilemma:

I loved Josh Hamilton. I loved the story, loved the struggle, loved the triumph. And then this stuff with the agent came out, most of which I saw at ShysterBall. Now, I am going to see all three Texas games this weekend in D.C. and I had been planning on putting my Nationals fandom aside and cheering for him. However, I now think I should boo him. So, the question is: boo, cheer, or ambivalent silence?

Charles, you have done the right thing by writing in to me, because if there's one thing I do well, it's telling people what to do.

But first allow me to say that whatever I have written about Josh Hamilton's agent issues -- you'll recall that he recently dumped agent Matt Sosnick just as it became clear that a big payday was in the offing because, he claimed, he wanted to go with "Christian representation" -- it has only been derivative. The real work on that has been by Jason over at It IS About the Money, Stupid, who has written more about it than anyone and has even spoken with Sosnick about the situation (note: you're gonna wanna check out IIATMS early next week for much, much more on this, so bookmark it now). Now, on to your question:

I say you don't boo Hamilton. I don't know what you do for a living, Charles, but I'm sure that in the course of an employee evaluation, a company picnic, or a conversation with a coworker, you've done and said things you weren't particularly proud of. Still, you've managed to make the sales or deliver the packages, or fabricate the widgets, or cure the sick or whatever it is you do with aplomb, haven't you? Do you want people judging you based on your backroom or off-hour shenanigans? Of course not, so unless we find out that Hamilton is actually a bad person to his very core -- and I really don't think we will -- let's not judge him too harshly on this.

A more practical reason not to boo is that someone is going to ask you why you're booing him, and in my book, if you can't explain that in a couple of shouted words like "because he's a bum!" or "wife beater!" or something like that, you're probably dealing with a situation in which the player's character is too ethically complicated and nuanced to justify your scorn. What's more, if you try to explain this one quickly -- "bum dumped his agent because he wasn't a Christian!" you're robbing the fact pattern of a couple of the key facts -- like the timing and Hamilton's background -- which, in this case, are what actually make it seem unseemly. What if the guy in the seat in front of you is himself a devout Christian? He's going to think you're booing his religion. Next thing you know his nacho cheese "accidentally" finds its way into your beer. And given what he knows about it all, that wouldn't necessarily be unjustified.

Finally, let us remember that no matter how interesting the off-the-field business can be, it should be left behind when you go to the ballpark. The game still rules, and Hamilton is really, really good at this game. That doesn't change, and he certainly remains an inspiring story regardless of this instance of his somewhat questionable interpersonal skills. So my verdict is no, do not boo Josh Hamilton, and if you can't bring yourself to cheer, do no more than sit on your hands.

Besides, Milton Bradley plays for the Rangers, and as everyone knows, he's the real manifestation of true evil, so save your boos for him.


Shyster is a syndicated advice columnist whose regular column, Ask Shyster, is featured in over 250 newspapers nationwide.

And That Happened

Twins 9, Nationals 3: For complicated reasons that involve a well-worn yet really superficial Scholastic biography of Harmon Killebrew that I owned as a child, I am probably the only person under the age of 65 who still thinks of the Twins as some upstart offshoot of the Senators, and for that reason I viewed this as something of a natural rivalry series.

Rangers 5, Braves 4: I got into a baseball conversation with someone at the office yesterday. This person doesn't know me very well, so a lot of it involved me explaining how I came to be a Braves fan. I've had this conversation a hundred times before, and almost every time it has ended with the other person saying something along the lines of "well, at least it's been a lot of fun to root for Atlanta over the past few years!" Yesterday, for the first time in my adult life the conversation ended with "man, it's gotta be hard to root for those guys, huh?" I obviously could not disagree with him when he said this, but I almost felt like a deep dark family secret had gotten out. Sure, there have been several times over the past three years where people in the know have accurately pointed out the challenges facing the Braves, but this truly is the first time that some casual, almost non-fan has identified the Braves as something other than a class organization and perpetual contender. The brand has been diluted; the public perception changed.

As for this game, Chipper went 0-4, the Braves use seven pitchers -- a couple of which I had never heard of -- to give up five runs and just like that, the quest for .400 seems to be as over as the Braves' season is.

Yankees 2, Padres 1: Joba still needs to work on the efficiency thing -- 100 pitches in 5.2 ain't gonna cut it all season, and at this rate he's never going to get a win as a starter -- but New York will take the nine strikeouts and one earned run. The Yankees have won seven straight to pull within five games of Boston and 2.5 of Tampa Bay. During that run, A-Rod is 12-25 with four homers and nine RBI. Last week I opined that there really isn't a favorite for the MVP in the American League right now. If the Yankees surge continues, how can it be anyone but A-Rod?

Dodgers 7, Reds 4: You know, of all of the things Reds fans thought they had to worry about before the season started, Aaron Harang was not one of them. After yet another flaming stink pickle of a performance (5 IP, 10 H, 5 ER) one has to wonder if he's healthy, because big strikeout throwin' hosses like him don't tend to lose it like he has this year without a medical reason.

Brewers 8, Blue Jays 7: The next time Dave Bush goes out to the bars with his Brewer buddies, he has carte blanche to drunkenly tell the ladies that his teammates all have wives or herpes or something because they almost ruined everything for him last night. Bush had a no hitter into the eighth inning, and still left the game with a 8-1 lead, only to watch his bullpen give up six in the ninth to make it way more interesting than it needed to be. Oh, and to all of you old ladies in Wisconsin picking up broken knickknacks from your parlor floor: that wasn't an earthquake. Prince Fielder just hit another inside the park home run.

Royals 4, Cardinals 1: Five straight wins. Break up the Royals! After a couple of pretty bad starts Zach Greinke has returned to the form he flashed in April, and has now given up a single run in his last 14 innings.

White Sox 13, Pirates 8: How do two teams combine for 21 runs, 25 hits and still complete the game in under three hours? This one was 2:55. And only about 16 minutes of it involved decent pitching.

Rays 8, Cubs 3: Chicago is swept for the first time this year, and they lost Zambrano for at least a start during the sweeping. I'm no Cubs fan, but I have sort of picked them as my favorite to win the pennant, so I have been following them a bit closer than I normally would this year. Last night I even went so far as to wade into the game threads over at the estimable Bleed Cubbie Blue. Just to lurk, mind you. The takeaway: Cubs fans are a little scary. Great fans, mind you. Knowledgeable as all get-out. But scary in the lets-analyze-a-groundout-from-15-directions kind of way. I have had some people ask me why I don't link to more team-specific blogs. Nothing personal or particular to BCB, but I think that live-or-die on every pitch dynamic has something to do with it. I'm pretty obsessed, but I just can't get that passionate or involved in the moment-by-moment like those guys do.

Orioles 7, Astros 5: The Astros have lost 17 of 20. Now that McLaren is gone, is Cooper next?

Diamondbacks 2, A's 1: The A's outscored the Dbacks 17-14 in this series, but dropped two of three. Bow before the great Pythagoras!

Rockies 6, Indians 3: The Rockies sweep Cleveland. Someone must have forgotten to tell Colorado that they were in the National League.

Remembering George Lederer

Rich Lederer remembers his dad, George Lederer, the longtime Dodgers beat writer and Director of Public Relations and Promotions for the Angels. No block quotes. You hafta read it all.

And if you don't get misty while you read it, you have no heart.

Great Moments In Ignorant Hyperbole

The Boston Phoenix has yet another blogger/Bissinger story. They're kind of old hat and boring now -- Bissinger has walked back from his Costas rant and now claims to be distinguishing between good and bad blogs -- but this little quote is worth a block:

“You have blogs that proudly parade around saying, ‘We don’t need no stinking credibility or stinking information — it doesn’t matter what you say or do if you know how to write.’ They cover themselves under the mantle of the First Amendment. But if John Adams and Thomas Jefferson had any idea what the First Amendment would have wrought, they would have canceled it.”

Congratulations, Buzz. You are now disqualified from any serious discussion about, well, pretty much anything from here on out.

Neal Gets It

I don't follow the Pirates as closely as I follow some other teams, but whenever I read something about Neal Huntington, I'm optimisitic that he's doing the right things for the Pittsburgh organization. Like this:

If the Pirates' management decides to keep its current roster intact all season, rather than trading key pieces for young talent, it will not be because of a wish to finish .500 or better and break the franchise's 15-year losing streak.

So spoke general manager Neal Huntington yesterday, in no uncertain terms.

"The only time we hope to get to .500 is on our way past it," Huntington said. "It is not an end result. It is not a goal. If we have this club in place and we reach 82 wins en route to our higher destination, then so be it. But I will never be the general manager of a club that has a focus on winning 82 games."

In other words, there will be no 2008 version of the Matt Morris trade or the illusion of rebuilding if he can't get decent value for his putative trade chits.

It seems so obvious to those of us who have read Bill James and Baseball Prospectus and everything, but there is nothing close to a universal appreciation of things like the success cycle among general baseball fandom. Sure, most fans know that a team is old or young, rebuilding or not, but there are just as many out there who view every move a team makes in the shortest of terms. That may be especially true in Pittsburgh, as Pirate fans have been told that their team was rebuilding so many times in the past 15 years that they can be forgiven if they don't believe such a thing exists anymore.

Huntington, it seems, is setting the right tone here by signalling to fans that he has a long term plan. That mere contention -- and 82 wins has counted for contention in the NL Central in recent years, even if it may not this year -- is not a goal. That he's trying to build a foundation for long term success as opposed to hoping for a mirage season like 1997.

Darth Bernazard

Tony Bernazard may or may not be the Antichrist, but if you're going to claim he is -- like Newsday's Ken Davidoff does this morning -- it seems that you have to do better than anonymous hearsay from admittedly ignorant people:

The truth, however, is that Bernazard's reputation has taken a pummeling. Take this for what it's worth, but Wednesday, I received two phone calls from industry contacts -- the first, a longtime friend of many Hispanic players, and the second, a scout from an American League team. Both, unsolicited, brought up Bernazard, both professed to not know him and both offered the same sentiment: "I hear he's a really bad guy."

Further evidence cited by Davidoff for Bernazard's evil: he hangs around the clubhouse a lot and is friends with Manny Acta. While it's possible that those things could mean that Mets' players and well-respected managers actually like Bernazard, Davidoff chooses to spin it as Bernazard "creating the perception that he served as a sympathetic ear to players who didn't like Randolph," and "creating the perception that Bernazard wished that Acta was managing the Mets." Question to Davidoff: who's really doing the creating here?

Maybe Bernazard is evil. Maybe he worked tirelessly to undermine Willie Randolph and foment disharmony on the Mets. Maybe he's responsible for high gas prices, those bad tomatoes, and the turgid, lazy, and disappointing storyline of the new Indiana Jones movie. Unfortunately, we can't tell any of those things from Davidoff's peice because he can't point to a single thing that Bernazard did, said, or put in motion that justifies the title of "bad, bad, guy."

And they say bloggers are irresponsible bomb-throwers.

A Good Way To Waste Your Morning

Reader/blogger themarksmith forwarded me a link to this game that lets you try to hit balls from a very close pitching machine because he hates me and wants me to get fired from my job due to lack of productivity.

Fun: you get to pretend to be Chipper Jones.

Not fun: I think the thing is rigged, because I went 0 for my first 40, so in my case it was more like pretending to be Matt Diaz.

Post your best score in the comments. Remember: we're all gentlemen (and few ladies) here, so I'll trust that you are being entirely honest.

I Can't Watch . . . But I Can't Look Away

Nomar started his rehab assignment in Las Vegas on Tuesday. According to this story (second item down), he played four innings at (gulp!) shortstop.

If that means what I think it means -- Nomar turning two at Dodger Stadium after a three-year layoff from short -- this is not going to end well.

The Lighter Side of Injuries

Yeah, those pulled groins and trick elbows may wreak havoc on a big league roster, but they're something of a boon down on the farm:

When the Angels decided to cut Erick Aybar's minor league rehab assignment a day short and reactivate the infielder Wednesday, the reverberations were felt in the clubhouse of the Angels' Class-A affiliate in Rancho Cucamonga. That's because every time a big league player goes down to the minors to work through an injury, he's expected to buy the postgame spread, replacing takeout burgers, pizza or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with something more substantial . . .

. . . Aybar was the sixth Angel to play there this spring. But none, Sipes said, was more generous than pitcher John Lackey, who sprung for a half-dozen $500 meals from local restaurants during his three-game rehab assignment.

It's easy to forget that, a couple of bonus babies aside, most low minor teams are full of players living in a practical state of poverty during the season.

That Happened, But I Missed It

It's been an unusually frustrating week for your humble blogger. A trial that no one thought would happen happened anyway. Children who usually sleep until 7 have woken up at 5:30. A normally reliable and sturdy digestive system decided to betray me in the most uncomfortable of ways. As a result of all of this, I was whipped last night. As I turned off the Cubs-Rays game, I knew there was no way I was going to be able to read box scores and recaps and come up with pithy little things to say about them. Instead, I picked up my well-worn copy of The Great Shark Hunt, read about three-fourths of "Strange Rumblings in Aztlan" and fell asleep with my glasses on my nose.

I'm still moving a bit slowly this morning, so I'm going to give the recaps a rest for the day (They take more mental energy than you might think). I'm not taking the day off, though, and blogging will resume shortly and be pretty normal for the rest of the day.