Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Trousers and Hot Tubs


I won't link to the original source because there's some arguably not safe for work stuff there, but the website sportsimproper.com has Brian McNamee making the whole Clemens affair sound even seedier than it already did:

One of the needles I gave the government was used to inject Clemens with steroids in either July or August of 2001," McNamee was quoted as saying by sportsimproper.com in an item posted Wednesday. "The place was his high-rise apartment, which is located off the corner of 90th Street and First Avenue in Manhattan.

"That day, he laid out the drugs, dropped his trousers and I did as he asked, that is, inject him with steroids. Afterwards, he told me to get rid of the needle. I went into the kitchen and found an empty Miller Lite can in a wastebasket under the sink. I put the used needle into the can because it was actually hazardous material at that point and I didn't want anyone to get hurt by sticking themselves. He told me to throw it away but I kept it instead". . .

. . . McNamee previously described injecting Clemens at the pitcher's apartment to baseball investigator George Mitchell. In addition, he told the Web site: "Sometimes it was in the Jacuzzi at Yankee Stadium."

Can someone please put a gag order on everyone who has ever been within 15 feet of Roger Clemens? Because I really don't think I can handle much more of this.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 1:05pm (21) Comments

Deep Thought


If everyone saying that the Yankees will be better off without Alex Rodriguez is right, why didn't the absence of Albatross-Rod cause Team Dominican Republic to breeze past the Dutch?

Edit: Beat to the albatross reference by nearly a week.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 11:32am (8) Comments

Quote of the Day


The Tacoma News-Tribune catches up with Lou Piniella and gets him reminiscing about his says in Seattle:

“We had Randy (Johnson), Junior, Alex (Rodriguez), Edgar (Martinez), (Jay) Buhner to name a few. That’s a pretty impressive array of talent,” Piniella said, adding quickly: “I didn’t screw it up.”
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 10:00am (7) Comments

Waiting to Whitewash Wahoo


The only thing worse than having the racist visage of Chief Wahoo staring down at you as you drive around the Indians' spring training facility is having the racist visage of Chief Wahoo staring down at you as you drive around what is no longer the Indians' spring training facility:

The face of Chief Wahoo, a symbol of the departed Cleveland Indians baseball team, will continue to smile down on Winter Haven - at least for the remainder of the city's current budget year.

Money to paint over the Chief Wahoo image, which is stamped into the city water tower at U.S. Highway 17 South and Post Avenue, S.W., won't be available until at least Oct. 1, the start of the city's 2009-2010 fiscal year.

City of Winter Haven spokeswoman Joy Townsend said painting a water tower is an expensive undertaking.

"Repainting the one in southwest Winter Haven is not budgeted at this time," Townsend said Tuesday.

Put this in the "causes I'd donate money to if I were rich" pile.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 9:15am (26) Comments

Recusal


Attorney General Eric Holder and the guy he and Obama have chosen to head up the Criminal Division of the DOJ are recusing/will be recusing themselves from the Roger Clemens investigation and any potential prosecution:

Attorney general Eric Holder has cited a conflict of interest in recusing himself from any legal matters involving Roger Clemens, the Daily News reported Tuesday.

Prior to his appointment by the Obama administration, Holder's law firm represented Clemens during last year's congressional probe into steroid use in baseball. Holder was a partner at Covington and Burling, a Washington D.C. firm that also employed Lanny Breuer, who was retained by Clemens.

Breuer has also been nominated for a top Justice Department post, and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told the News that Breuer will likely offer his own recusal if he is confirmed.

Just to clarify: Clemens at one point had two highly respected attorneys at his disposal, but chose to go all-in with Rusty Hardin. And they call Kenny Rogers the Gambler.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 8:45am (5) Comments

Petco: it’s where the taxpayers’ money goes.


The Padres have been spoiled, er, I mean lucky enough to have the the city of San Diego footing the bill for much of the cost of Petco Park. Now San Diego, like every other city, is strapped for cash, and has had to look for help to make the debt payments on the ballpark bonds:

San Diego's downtown redevelopment agency will shoulder debt payments for Petco Park for the next five years, relieving the city of one financial burden as it struggles with ongoing deficits and budget cuts. Under a deal approved by the City Council yesterday, the Centre City Development Corp. will cover the $11.3 million annual debt payment through 2013 . . .

. . . In the past, San Diego used its general fund – which pays for parks, libraries, fire and police services – to make debt payments . . . Representatives from the Downtown San Diego Partnership and San Diego Downtown Residents Group spoke in favor of having the CCDC pick up the debt payments, but they also cautioned that the city should not continually raid the agency's funds to balance its own budget.

They fear that the CCDC will not have enough money left to fund fire stations, parks and other amenities for downtown residents. About 30,000 people live downtown, but the population is expected to triple by 2030.

No biggie. It's not like San Diego needs fire stations or anything.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 8:15am (1) Comments

The best laid plans of God and men . . .


Here's the kicker of that Dominican Republic-Netherlands elimination game I linked this morning. Manager Felipe Alou started David Ortiz at first base -- a position he hasn't played in the Majors since 2007, and hasn't played well since God knows when -- because he wanted extra offense. The result: Ortiz goes 1-4 and the D.R. goes scoreless through 10 innings. Hey, that happens. Since it's a taut 0-0 game, however, Alou pulls Ortiz for Willie Aybar. I mean really, let no man say that David Ortiz's glove cost the team a chance to advance, right? The result:

The Netherlands' miracle occurred with the help of a fielding error by first baseman Willy Aybar that allowed the Netherlands to score the game-winner in the bottom of the 11th inning.

Aybar was unable to field a sharply hit ground ball by Yurrendell de Caster, allowing Eugene Kingsale to race home from third base.

Like Bart said: this game's designed to break your heart.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 7:30am (7) Comments

Today at THT


Things to read while you realize that anything can happen in this crazy game:

  • Dave Studeman and Mike Webber were tasked with finding little statistical nuggets for inclusion in Bill James' new Gold Mine book. Bill axed a bunch of them, even though they were pretty darn good. He's Bill James. He can do that. The ones that didn't make the cut (or, um, were themselves cut) are here. If these are the rejects, you're definitely going to want the finished product.


  • Brian Borawski has the week's business rundown. Included is a note about the Tigers extending their affiliation with the Toledo Mud Hens. Though it's been over 20 years, when I think of a Tiger guy being sent down, I still think "well, he's heading down to Evansville." What a drag it is getting old.


  • Finally, over at Fantasy Focus, Chirs Neault gives the medical background and the medical and fantasy baseball prognosis for Alex Rodriguez and his hip. Meanwhile, Eriq Gardner helps A-Rod fantasy owners to cope with the injury. I don't see what the big deal is. Everything I've read this week suggests that you should actually be much better off with him gone.


    • Attention Cubs fans: no need to worry. I'm sure Carlos Marmol will be much more effective against Pujols, Berkman, and Braun this season than he was against Gene Kingsale. I mean, you really can't hope to contain Kingsale.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 5:48am (4) Comments