Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Geovany Soto is a viper


Or at least he was during the WBC:

Cubs catcher Geovany Soto tested positive for marijuana use while playing for Puerto Rico during the World Baseball Classic last March, the International Baseball Federation announced Thursday.

Soto released a statement saying he was "embarrassed by my lapse in judgment."

"While I full acknowledge my inappropriate behavior, I want to assure my fans and my family that this was an isolated incident," he said.

Soto will be banned from international play for two years, but the positive drug test does not have any impact on his major league career.

And before anyone says anything, I am 100% in favor of legalization of marijuana and not just for medical purposes. Why anyone gives a hoot and a half about an occasional joint is beyond me. As for baseball, I only care about reefer insofar as it compels a player to eat too many nachos afterwards, thus causing the guy to be out of game shape.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 3:21pm (27) Comments

Are you not entertained?


T.J. Simers doesn't get all of the Manny outrage, but he's not even pretending to be objective about it. In today's column he fields the emails of those angry at him for being a Manny apologist. He doesn't duck the charge at all. For him, it's all about the entertainment factor:

"Your idolatry of Manny is ludicrous," is the way Shirin Patel put it in an e-mail, rewriting an earlier headline in The Times, but hey, if Manny needs me to be his mule so he can keep going like he did a year ago, I'm here for him.

"Let me understand your warped logic," writes Dan Howard. "It's OK to be a cheating drug user if you are charismatic, talented and interesting like Manny."

It also helps to hit home runs.

"Now I get it," e-mails Jack Tracy. "Persecute GaryMatthews, but kiss Manny's [behind]."

It's such a satisfying feeling when people finally get it.

I like someone, I'm far more forgiving. I don't, and I'm going to treat them like Kobe.

I know what Dodgers games were like before Manny arrived, and I wouldn't wish that on any paying customer or someone obligated by employment to attend . . .

. . . "OK, I will tell you, you have it all wrong," writes DavidCook. "Manny is a drug user, a cheat, and a liar. He is laughing in the faces of all Dodger fans. Manny should be traded, or better yet, fired from the Dodgers. . . . Manny's replacement, Juan Pierre, has done an outstanding job, and all he has to show for it is a 'thanks, but now it's back to the bench so we can bring the drug cheat back.' "

Would you rather watch Juan every night, satisfying your moral outrage, or Manny?

Granted, Simers' schtick is to poke people and see what happens when they're poked, but that doesn't mean that he hasn't got a point here. It ties in with the "Comment of the Day" post from yesterday: No matter how much time some of us spend hashing out the behavior of ballplayers -- and lord knows I do -- these guys are still just entertainers. For the most part, then, the stakes are pretty low. At least if you're not expecting athletes to be role models for kids, which I don't. So when Simers says something like this:

Here's the dilemma, and I wouldn't be surprised to learn later on it led to the split of Jon & Kate: Do you continue to grill, grind and grouse about Manny's reluctance to come clean, or do you revel in the added entertainment he brings to every game? Manny has made a mistake in not appearing more repentant, in not being more forthright, and in not throwing himself on the mercy of Dodgers fans who embraced him unconditionally. But it's not going to happen, so does the grudge become more pressing than the entertainment escape his play provides?

I have to answer "no." Manny is by no means my favorite player in the world, but there's all manner of crap Ramirez could still do that wouldn't keep me from enjoying his game. And if your answer is "yes," -- if you're going to let your problems with Manny outweigh the entertainment of it all -- don't you have to ask yourself if you're really watching baseball for the right reasons in the first place?
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 2:55pm (11) Comments

Psycho Pspeaks Pstupidly


Via Sons of Steve Garvey, here's Eric Collins and Steve Lyons during last night's Dodgers-White Sox game:

Lyons: Do you follow some of the other whacked-out statistical categories that are nouveau to the game of baseball?

Collins: I do. It's —

Lyons: What are they?

Collins: Well, you got defensive — for the first time ever you have —

Lyons: The WHIP —

Collins: For the first time ever you have categories that measure defense. The UZR: Ultimate Zone Rating. It makes a difference. Everyone talked about it last year. Tampa Bay making it to the post-season because of pitching and defense. Defense matters nowadays.

Lyons: It's fictional.

That's just a taste, my friends. Read the whole transcript and ask yourself whether you would have any chance at keeping your job if you exhibited such hostility to the developments in your field. Not harmless ignorance, people, hostility.

(Thanks to Jon M. for the link)
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 1:13pm (16) Comments

Gallo’s Humor


I don't read the New York tabloids that often, so until YankeeFanLen sent me this link the other day I had never seen any of Bill Gallo's sports cartoons, at least not that I know of.

Mercy.

On one level I appreciate the effort and the artistry involved. And it certainly takes one back to newspaper days of old (really old: check out the dancing girls with the "cha cha" music playing in the background here), so good for Gallo to keep plugging away at this.

But really, can you find much if any difference between these and the "Kelly" cartoons at The Onion? The obvious labels, the obvious (hmmm . . .how should I put this . . .) elder-sensibility. It's right on the nose, isn't it?

Tuck! -- are you in the same union as Gallo? Can you mention to him that ballplayers don't go out cha-cha dancing anymore?
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 12:57pm (3) Comments

Marlon Byrd gets his supplements from Victor Conte


Rangers' outfielder Marlon Byrd is either really brave, really stupid, really trusting or some combination of the three:

Marlon Byrd wouldn’t be pulling down $3 million as a Major League baseball player without getting a second chance from an obscure community college after he nearly had a leg amputated more than a decade ago. So shrugging off Victor Conte’s reputation as a notorious steroid pusher, he says, isn’t difficult for him.

Conte has provided the Texas Rangers center fielder with a variety of pills and powders for 18 months. Not once has Byrd asked Conte whether any of it could trigger a positive drug test.

“I didn’t need to,” Byrd said. “From our conversations, there was no need to ask."

I can't imagine that Victor Conte is so stupid that he would go back to peddling designer steroids to high-profile athletes after doing federal time for that very thing. But still, if you're Marlon Byrd, is teaming up with Conte the smartest thing you've ever done? Byrd's drug tests are probably the highlight of the year back at MLB central. The Feds probably own five houses near Conte's just so they can be more comfortable during surveillance.

All of that said, the article contains all kinds of details about Byrd's relationship with Conte and the stuff he's taking, so it's interesting reading. My only other shallow observation: I don't understand the world of supplements at all, but upon reading this I can't help but wonder how much of that business is about selling confidence and the placebo effect as opposed to these outrageously complicated-sounding compounds actually making a ton of difference from a physiological perspective.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 10:45am (11) Comments

Todd Snider is basically awesome


Singer songwriter Todd Snider was on NPR last night, and though I always kind of liked him before, I really, really, like him now. Here he is talking about a song on his new record:

"America's Favorite Pastime" is a song for the unprepared. It was inspired by the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball player Doc Ellis, who, in 1970, pitched a no-hitter under the influence of LSD.

"I felt connected to that, because many times I have come to work unprepared and still done OK," Snider says. "I think Doc Ellis gives unprepared people everywhere someone to look up to. He didn't do it on purpose — he thought he was pitching the next day."

There's no moral to this story except not to judge a book by its cover.

"You don't always know who's going to be able to deliver or have the solution. You can't rule somebody out just because of what you know about them," Snider says. "You can't judge a book, and not even if you'd read it."

You can hear the whole song here. It's pretty damn spiffy.

Also, in a portion of the interview that didn't air on the program, Snider goes on a bit more about baseball. You can hear it here. Among the highlights:

  • Snider, a guy who has experienced some adversity in his life, understandably counts Steve Sax as his favorite player;


  • His favorite team is the Royals, mostly because of Kaufman Stadium, which he loves because it "feels like the 50s," and because it's always empty. I know how he feels. Maybe it's heresy, but I just love going to an empty ballpark and watching games that don't really impact the pennant races all that much;


  • Finally, whenever he's on the road, he tries to go to ballgames. He likes sitting way up high in the upper deck and looking out over strange cities, which is also something I like to do.


    • I guess what I'm saying is that, aside from the musical talent, history of drug abuse and bipolar disorder, Todd Snider and I are the basically the same person.

    But definitely listen to that song.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 8:55am (3) Comments

    And That Happened


    Marlins 5, Orioles 2: Ricky Nolasco has been a completely different pitcher since his little jaunt to New Orleans to get his pyloric valve opened or whatever the hell is was. In his four starts since his return, he's given up two earned runs, two earned runs, one earned run and last night zero earned runs. Good thing too, for if he did not find a job, he no doubt would have been arrested for vagrancy.

    White Sox 10, Dodgers 7: Randy Wolf had nada and Cory Wade's "relief" pitching was anything but. By the time they were done it was a 9-3 game that was for all practical purpose over. But this loss is morally justified. I mean, how dare the Dodgers be allowed to play when Manny Ramirez should be suspended? It's a slap in the face, that's what it is. If a kid gets suspended from school, do they not burn the building down as a lesson to others? If a soldier is caught hording rations, do the generals not summarily execute the whole platoon? I know it's in the rules that the Dodgers still get to play ballgames, but it shouldn't be. They should all have their contracts voided and be forced to sell linoleum at Color Tile or something. Won't someone think of the children?

    Mets 11, Cardinals 0: Let me get this straight: David Wright -- the guy who went 4 for 4 last night and is sitting at .356/.444/.510 is a guy Mets' fans have been complaining about for a good portion of the season? I'll never understand New York baseball. Cardinals pitchers, by the way, combined to strike out exactly zero Mets.

    Rays 7, Phillies 1: Pat Burrell's two-run homer in the second proved to be all of the offense the Rays needed, but he picked up an another RBI anyway. I'm not sure what Phillies' fans think of that, but I'd kind of like to think that they're happy that Matt Stairs is getting some playing time now, which he wouldn't be if Burrell had hung around. Who doesn't root for Matt Stairs?

    Pirates 10, Indians 6: Workers on the "Carl Pavano for Comeback Player of the Year" campaign feel today how the folks at the McCain campaign felt the day after the Katie Couric-Sarah Palin interviews aired.

    Blue Jays 8, Reds 2: Aaron Hill, Adam Lind and Vernon Wells all homered off of Bronson Arroyo in the first and Scott Richmond pitched seven strong innings in what was never really a contest.

    Red Sox 6, Nationals 4: Papi went 2-3 with a homer and 3 RBI -- including the 1000th of his career -- as the Red Sox take the second game in this home-away-from-home series (41,000+ once again, and most of 'em weren't Nats' fans). Red Sox' hitting coach Dave Magadan was ejected for arguing balls and strikes. How does that even happen? If you're Francona, don't you tell Magadan to sit down and shut up? Or was it one of those deals where Magadan just called the ump that name you're not allowed to call umps from the dugout?

    Brewers 4, Twins 3: Great moments in defensive decision-making: The Twins are ahead 3-2 in the eighth when J.J. Hardy singles and Jason Kendall hits a double scoring Hardy. Except the relay throw skipped by Joe Mauer, so Kendall went to third. Nick Blackburn was backing up Mauer, and rather than just eat the ball and face the pitcher's slot in the order, whips the ball back towards third to try and get the advancing Kendall. Ball goes wide, Kendall goes home, and that's basically the ballgame.

    Tigers 5, Cubs 3: That's six straight for Detroit, as they extend their lead to five games over the Twins. Contrary to what I said yesterday, Magglio Ordonez did get the start, and before the game he pulled a Vlad, cutting off his hair. Result: 2-4. Screw science, I say causation, not mere correlation.

    Yankees 8, Braves 4: Things were going smoothly for Atlanta until Kawakami was nailed on a comebacker off the bat of Joba Chamberlain. I missed it -- I was reading "Tip-Tip, Dig-Dig" to ShysterBoy at the time -- and I'm kind of glad I did. He was hit on the base of the neck, which as recent history has shown, is a pretty dangerous place to be hit. Jeff Francoeur hit a homer for the Braves, but don't worry, he still sucks.

    Royals 4, Astros 3: Miguel Olivo may be on pace for 168 strikeouts against six walks, but he hits a homer once in a while too, and the one he hit in the 11th inning last night won the game.

    Rangers 2, Diamondbacks 1: Danny Haren can't buy a break, as he once again pitches well with little run support. The Rangers snap their losing streak at five and remain in first place by the skin of their teeth.

    Mariners 4, Padres 3: Brandon Morrow the starter had his longest and best go of it yet (5 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 4K). Yuniesky Betancourt injured his hamstring and will be out for a while. The game story casts this a negative. I have this feeling some Mariners fans may not feel quite the same way.

    Giants 6, A's 3: The Unit, who gave up one run on six hits, struck out six and walked one in seven innings, looks pretty good sandwiched in between Lincecum and Cain these days. I don't know that the Giants have enough offense to get there, but they could be a dangerous team to face in a short series should they snag the Wild Card.

    Angels 11, Rockies 3: Just yesterday, Rob Neyer said that Jason Marquis was about to turn into a pumpkin due to his poor strikeout rate. Looks like it's midnight (3.1 IP, 9 H, 8 R). Yeah, he struck out four in those 3.1 innings, but it's probably because the Angels were coming out of the shoes to swing at that hittable stuff. Vald-the-bald, by the way: 2-5, 2B, HR, 3 RBI. Let's hear it for short hair!
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 5:43am (12) Comments