Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.

Friday, July 03, 2009

My Morning in Exile

And That Happened

Thursday, July 02, 2009

Tiger Stadium Snuff Film

Rany is banned by the Royals (NOW WITH UPDATE)

Meet Selena Roberts (and an actually worthy person too)

Gelf's Varsity Letters sports reading series returns on Thursday, July 2, at 7:30 p.m., with a night dedicated to baseball. At this free monthly event in DUMBO, Brooklyn, hosted by Gelf and Jan Larsen Art, Scott Price, Selena Roberts, and members of the New York Daily News sports investigative team will read from and talk about their work, and take questions. Price has the wrenching tale of the life and death of [Mike Coolbaugh]. Roberts will speak about her controversial biography of Alex Rodriguez. And the Daily News team will discuss its exposé of Roger Clemens and steroids in baseball.

Hicks in hock

Amid increased internet chatter Wednesday that Tom Hicks’ sports group - Hicks Sports Group - financial woes are deepening and that the club has borrowed money from MLB’s rainy-day fund, team officials took a strange approach.

They went silent.

The chatter arose Wednesday after a local blog reported hearing on a national radio broadcast the team had borrowed $15 million from MLB to make its most recent payroll obligations and to fund ongoing operations. Asked about the reports, Hicks referred questions to team spokesman John Blake, who said the team would have no comment on the financial situation.

Jason Bay to become a U.S. Citizen

Red Sox left fielder Jason Bay has long played America's pastime and will now be able to call himself an American. The 30-year-old player from Canada becomes a U.S. citizen Thursday afternoon in a ceremony at Boston's historic Faneuil Hall. Bay is from British Columbia and is the first Red Sox player to be naturalized since Dominican-born David Ortiz was sworn in last summer in Fenway Park.

Jim Leyritz continues to impress

Former major leaguer Jim Leyritz was arrested Thursday in South Florida on charges of domestic battery against his ex-wife, just two months before his trial on a DUI manslaughter charge was set to begin.

Leyritz, 45, was arrested at his home in Davie, a Fort Lauderdale suburb, a police report said. He was being held in the Broward County Jail.

Leyritz's ex-wife, Karrie, gave conflicting reports of what happened, according to a police officer who responded to a domestic disturbance at the house. She first told police they were arguing over child support when he struck her twice in the face and pushed her to the ground for writing a check without his permission. She later said her ex-husband dragged her out of bed and pushed her against the wall.

Minnesota Ice

Joe Mauer is from Minnesota. He is white. He plays Major League Baseball. He is considered something of a pretty boy. None of these four things outlaws him from practicing his secret hobby. All of them combined into one 6-foot-5, sideburn-wearing, .400-flirting catcher, however, makes for the unlikeliest rapper in the history of rap.

“We know he loves it,” Minnesota Twins closer Joe Nathan says.

“He does it in a studio in his house,” Twins outfielder Michael Cuddyer says.

“I’ve heard stories,” outfielder Denard Span says. “I’ve heard he buries himself in the studio. But never heard the finished product with my own ears. Looking at him right now, I’m guessing it’s a cross between Vanilla Ice and Cypress Hill.”

My Morning in Exile

And That Happened

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Just shut him down now

Indians All-Star center fielder Grady Sizemore will likely undergo postseason surgery on his inflamed left elbow, trainer Lonnie Soloff said Tuesday.

Soloff said "there's a high index of suspicion" that Sizemore will need an operation at some point. Soloff, speaking before the last-place Indians hosted the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night, said Sizemore will have to play with soreness in his elbow for the remainder of the season.

Sizemore would likely have an arthroscopic procedure on his elbow, which has bothered him since spring training. Sizemore has synovitis, an inflammation of the joint lining.

Mariano the Tiger

Let's say that trade goes through and Rivera becomes a Tiger in 1995. Other than altering the course of NY Yankees history, what does it do for the Tigers? For Rivera?

I started to jump to conclusions i.e., no way Rivera reaches 500 saves, it makes no difference to the Tigers who suffered from poor pitching, hitting and defense in addition to closer issues (although Todd Jones was more than serviceable in his better years), they would have screwed it up and traded Rivera in 1999 for Sterling Hitchcock, so why bother etc.

However, I thought that I would pull a few numbers to see what I could make of it.

My Morning in Exile

Because Clemens tried to defend himself against the claims of Mcnamee that makes him stupid according to this clown Calcaterra? What a dumb article written by a complete idiot and this isnt the first one he's written thats been this bad either. I ask the writer of this BS, how would you like him to defend himself? Mcnamee should be responsible for what he said and should not get any kind of protection by the feds, yet more proof the legal system is a joke.

Jack Clark taunts the Mets

“I wanted to let them know I wasn’t glad to be there with them and their teammate, didn’t want to be on any team or be a teammate with them, and we were going to battle.

"[He] talked his way more into the Hall of Fame than deserving it . . . [it was] pretty sickening and disgusting to everybody else."

“That just goes to show those guys were trying to cheat and, you know, it didn’t end up working for them anyhow. So if his was corked, I’m sure a few other guys’ over there were corked, also.”

New and improved IIATMS

And That Happened

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Why I can’t stand Tony La Russa

The Cardinals purchased the contract of 24-year-old righty Clayton Mortensen from Triple-A Memphis. That move restores pitching staff to 13 after one day with a dozen following the acquisition of Mark DeRosa from the Indians.

Faster than the speed of Wikipedia

Nyjer Jamid Morgan (born July 2, 1980, in San Francisco, California) is an American Major League Baseball outfielder with the Washington Nationals Organization . . . On June 30, 2009 Morgan Was Officially Traded To the Washington Nationals For Outfielder Lastings Milledge. Morgan occasionally refers to himself as "Tony Plush", which he says is his gentleman's name.

Deep Thoughts

Great Moments in Selection Bias

Your team wants Carlos Zambrano? Go ahead, take him.

That's what I proposed after Zambrano turned in another knuckleheaded performance on Sunday at U.S. Cellular Field. I suggested Cubs GM Jim Hendry put him on waivers and essentially give him away if any team would take on his salary.

It struck many as a radical idea, but not most.

To my great surprise, I am in the majority on this one. The Tribune received more than 11,000 responses to a reader poll, and 57.2 percent of you agreed with me.

My Morning in Exile

Great Moments in Bloggy Ethics

The list is obviously in Divisional order going from East to West, AL to NL - but testing was reportedly random, a few players at a time, and over the course of the season. So tests would be stored either in the order they were tested or in some other easily sortable data model - like alphabetical ordering, or something that made any empirical sense. This list is a guy who went through the rosters of each team, picked out the names he thought sounded good, and pruned it down to the number he wanted. And there aren't NEARLY enough fringe players here - we've heard repeatedly that the pressure is for people to take drugs to make the leap to the show.

you shouldn't have to be a lawyer to have a little sense of prudence.

And That Happened

Monday, June 29, 2009

Even more self-promotion

Programming Note

More Self Promotion

My Morning in Exile

Mystery

And That Happened

Friday, June 26, 2009

Great Moments in Self-Promotion

Sidney Ponson the victim of a cruel hoax

Kansas City Royals pitcher Sidney Ponson tested positive for a stimulant during the World Baseball Classic and has been banned from international competition for two years.

Major League Baseball will not suspend Ponson. Under the drug rules, he will be treated as a first-time offender and is subject to a medical review and fine.

The 32-year-old Ponson pitched well for the Netherlands last March in the WBC and later signed with Kansas City. He is 1-5 with a 7.27 ERA for the Royals, and is currently on the disabled list because of a strained right elbow.

The International Baseball Federation said Ponson tested positive for Phentermine, a stimulant and appetite suppressant.

Great Moments in Notes Columns

Albert Pujols, for all his heroics this year, has one hit with a RISP and two outs (1 for 14, with 15 BB and 10 IBB), and as Joel Sherman of the New York Post (and SI.com) pointed out, Mets' youngster Nick Evan passed Pujols with two in two days vs. Pujols' Cardinals.

Dead Center Camera

There are also television folk who believe that the offset shot is simply better. Tom Adza, who directs Oakland A's telecasts for Fox Sports Bay Area, says the old-fashioned viewpoint offers a more intimate view of the game. "When ESPN started doing [the dead-center shot], the distance from the top of the pitcher's head to the plate was fairly great sometimes," he says. "It was a really wide shot with a lot of dead space. As a viewer, you're kind of looking at it going, I feel the need to be closer. The offset shot is more compact and fits the screen beautifully."

My Morning in Exile

MLB on Jackson

The year was 1976.

Farrah Fawcett had the poster that was on walls everywhere.

Michael Jackson was fronting "The Jacksons" -- as the band started off on its own a year after leaving Motown.

Johnny Bench and Cincinnati's Big Red Machine repeated as World Series champs, and this time it wasn't even close -- a powerhouse sweep of the Yankees, following a three-game sweep of the Phillies for the National League pennant.

American icons.

Farrah is gone now. She passed away Thursday from cancer.

Michael is gone now. He passed away at almost the same time due to cardiac arrest.

Sparky Anderson's team was one of the mightiest in Major League Baseball history, arguably in the top five, loaded with legends and a Hall of Fame manager.

She was a symbol of beauty and then courage for so many. He was the King of Pop, fallen from this decade but nonetheless an icon for countless millions who always held hope he would find a graceful comeback, somehow, that would make us watch him again. You remembered or you were looking it up on Thursday, as hearts ached.

Nationals center fielder Willie Harris' heart ached. He was the reason that Michael Jackson's music filled Nationals Park throughout his team's 9-3 victory over Boston Thursday night. It was a somber and sad celebration, just as there will be Michael music during the Dodgers' Friday Night Fireworks event.

And That Happened

Is Milwaukee, with its rich industrial legacy, however small it is compared to its heyday, headed toward a manufacturing heavy Detroit, a financial services hub that Minneapolis is, or something altogether different? Bill Bonifas, an executive vice president with The Polacheck Co. Inc., says the answer to that question illustrates two points: Why Milwaukee is different than Detroit and Minneapolis and where the city’s headed.

“You can’t say Milwaukee is going in the direction Detroit is because to begin with Detroit has a more spatial dynamic whereas the money is located in Milwaukee.

“Though I think our momentum matches that of Minneapolis, I don’t think we’ll end up like that city either because that’s such a regional center for finance that Milwaukee is, and will have to be, a combination of the two.”

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Geovany Soto is a viper

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.

Are you not entertained?

"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?

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?

Psycho Pspeaks Pstupidly

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.

Gallo’s Humor

Marlon Byrd gets his supplements from Victor Conte

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."

Todd Snider is basically awesome

"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."

And That Happened

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Even more Manny outrage

Manny Ramirez playing for the triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes is as weird as the word "isotope." . . . When Manny Ramirez is old and gray and sitting outside the locked doors of Cooperstown, he might reflect on this summer as the best 50 games of his career. Or is it 42 games? Or, really, was he ever gone? It's all Isotopes to me.

During the suspension, Ramirez had reaped all the rewards of being a Dodger without any of the responsibilities.

He has been allowed clubhouse and training room and field access without ever explaining how and why and when he violated baseball's drug policy. The Dodgers have taken care of his every need -- from cough syrup to batting-practice baseballs -- without once asking him to be accountable to the community that they once considered a priority.

The Dodgers so value Ramirez's comfort above all else that they actually sent employees to Albuquerque to help him and protect him from the unwashed masses who would dare bother the great man during his courageous comeback from a female fertility drug.

I guess that's cheaper than hiring a midwife.

Comment of the Day

I agree that Manny doesn’t deserve adulation or admiration. Neither does A-Rod (for cheating on his wife, etc.) But this brings us to a difficult question regarding entertainment. Can we divorce entertainment from the men and women who play the role of entertainer? Can we like Woody Allen movies and still disapprove of his conduct towards his wife and one-time step-daughter? Can we watch and enjoy Roman Polanski films? Can we listen to Chris Brown’s music? Michael Jackson’s?

I, for one, find it difficult to enjoy the products of people that I know are less than admirable. I had always been a staunch A-Rod supporter until the issues with his wife arose. Now it’s harder for me to watch him bat. And yet, I enjoy baseball and am a Yankees fan. So when he gets a big hit, it’s hard for me not to feel some satisfaction. I happen to enjoy Woody Allen films, but am definitely not completely comfortable watching them. I think Manny Ramirez is not worthy of cheers. But I think that people have the right to want the Dodgers to win, and he’s going to be a part of that and in that capacity—baseball player, hitter, part of a winning team—he’s going to be cheered. It’s a complicated situation, with definite gray areas. The people who send comments to blogs that read “Manny Manny Manny,” are probably morons. But they’re probably morons for reasons other than and in addition to their love of Manny Ramirez. In my opinion rooting for Manny Ramirez, while not something I would do, does not necessarily make you a bad person. Trying to excuse domestic abuse, well that does. I’m not sure it’s fair to equate those two actions.

Marlins-Yanks

Eric Wedge on the firing line

With the Indians stuck in last place in the AL Central, Wedge's status is becoming a daily topic of discussion among the team's fans. Of more concern to Wedge, general manager Mark Shapiro is expected to talk about Wedge with Indians president Paul Dolan and team owner Larry Dolan, if he already hasn't, in the next few days.

Meet the new boss. Not the same as the old boss.

Every week, [Michael] Weiner and his trademark blue jeans stride down to his basement classroom and teach Sunday school to one of the few congregations less orderly than major league baseball owners . . . An anchor role in baseball’s often nasty pastime-or-business identity crisis will almost certainly test Weiner’s reputation for being a stunningly regular guy. He wears blue jeans and Chuck Taylor All-Stars to all but the most solemn of affairs. He is the son of a New Jersey construction worker. He suspects that the last time he combed his unruly and increasingly occasional hair was before his sister’s 1998 wedding.

But just as Weiner’s contemporaries smile at his quirks, they emphasize that he also may be the smartest person they have ever known. It is this duality that makes Weiner, the union’s general counsel, so popular among the players he represents and the management side he negotiates with; whether it resonates with fans will be learned after he is elected and has to call a news conference someday, perhaps to deliver bad news — up to and including a strike.

Attention Baseball: put up more nets

Turner Field is the second ballpark the Yankees have seen this season with protective netting that extends beyond the norm. Every stadium has a tall screen behind the plate to protect the fans from hard-hit foul balls. Here in Atlanta, the Braves also have a shorter screen, maybe eight feet off the ground, running in front of the seats behind the on-deck circles on either side of the plate . . . Such safety measures make sense, and should be in place at every ballpark.

Manny Ramirez enters halfway house

Ramirez, easing back into playing shape after a 50-game drug suspension, suited up for the Albuquerque Isotopes as they beat Nashville 1-0. Ramirez wore No. 99 for the Dodgers’ top farm club. He played four innings and was hitless in two at-bats. The capacity crowd of 15,321 was the largest in Albuquerque’s baseball history.

Fans lined the walkway from the clubhouse as Ramirez entered the field. They gathered near the dugout, clustering for autographs, and they seemed ready to forgive Ramirez for violating baseball’s drug rules.

“People love me everywhere I go,” Ramirez said before the game. “I’m excited to bring a lot of joy to a lot of people here. I feel good. I’m happy that I’m here.”

If someone goes to jail for 50 days, they don't get released 10 days early so they can get used to the outside again. They have to adjust after their full sentence is completed. I know baseball and jail aren't exactly similar, but the metaphor fits.

Boxee to Baseball

Software start-up Boxee has gained attention as much for its contretemps with Hulu as for its well-received platform for watching online video programs on a television set. This evening, though, the company made news for all the right reasons. It announced a deal with Major League Baseball to integrate the league's online game broadcasts into its software, giving Boxee users an easy, elegant way to tune in online games from distant ballparks on their living-room TVs . . . Its software aggregates online video sites and brings them under a common user interface, enabling people to navigate their offerings with an ordinary TV remote control instead of a keyboard and mouse . . .

. . . For MLB.tv's subscriber-only service, Ronen said, Boxee customized the site's player to eliminate a number of user-interface features that relied on the keyboard-mouse combo. It also integrated the technology from Swarmcast that adjusts the picture quality of the broadcasts to match the viewer's Internet connection. Most important, he said, the company worked with the MLB.tv to optimize its look for the "10-foot experience" -- in other words, the view from the couch, not the desk. "I think it's a work in progress," Ronen added, with many features still to come.

Joey Votto Returns

The 25-year-old Votto revealed publicly that he was battling depression, anxiety attacks and issues that finally came to the surface several months after the sudden death of his 52-year-old father, Joseph, in August. Those issues led to some panicky moments and two hospital stays.

"They were overwhelming me to the point where I needed to go to the hospital on two separate occasions -- once in San Diego and once that nobody had been told about, I went to the hospital in Cincinnati when the team was on the road [in early June]," Votto explained. "It was a very, very scary and crazy night where I had to call 911 at three or four in the morning. It was probably the scariest moment I ever had dealt with in my life, and I went to the hospital that night . . . There were nights that I couldn't be alone," Votto said. "The one night I was alone, the very first night I was alone, was when I went to the hospital. I couldn't take it. It just got to the point where I felt I was going to die, really."

And That Happened

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

As newspapers turn . . .

The Newport (R.I.) Daily News will now charge $145 annually to a newspaper subscriber, $245 if a subscriber wants the paper and access to the paper’s web site—and, here’s the key figure, $345 if the subscriber only wants the web site. Yes, you’re reading correctly; this means someone has to pay an extra $100 not to get the newspaper.

Sandberg on Sosa

Sandberg and Sosa were Cubs teammates from 1992 to '94 and from '96 to '97.

"I was around Sammy for about five years before I retired, and there wasn't anything going on then," Sandberg said. "I did admire the hard work he put in. He was one of the first guys down to the batting cage, hitting extra. I figured he was working out hard in the offseason to get bigger. It was just happening throughout the game, that even myself was blinded by what was really happening, maybe starting in the '98 season.

MetaPiece Theater

I think Girardi is very lucky that George Steinbrenner is no longer at the helm. I was thinking this week that losing 2 out of 3 to the Nationals would have triggered a legendary Steinbrenner explosion. I could envision post-game tirades and savage quotes in headlines in the New york tabloids. That performance coupled with their record against the Sox might have lead to Joe looking for work. In his heyday, George certainly fired people for less.

And that happened, bub, boy howdy!

But Johnson's sweeping arm was a half speed off today, for he was inviting runners onto the sacks at an appalling rate. Les Burke singled off him to begin the Tiger 6th, was bunted to second by Wells, and scored on a Lu Blue double to close the score to 6-5. Two walks and two bloop singles the next inning then re-tied the game, and both starters fought their way out of subsequent pickles until Burke got his third straight single to open the bottom of the 9th. The Train retired the next two men but them Manush lined his fourth hit, a single between McNeely and RIce, to send Burke to third.

Up stepped Cobb, hands grinding into his bat handle, spikes gouging the batter box earth. Johnson peered into Bennie Tate, got the sign and twirled. Cobb swung fiercely, stroked the sphere over the head of Harris and Burke skipped home with the winner.

Great Moments in Hydrology

Baseball Infographics

My Morning in Exile

And That Happened

Monday, June 22, 2009

Fehr to step down

Don Fehr is stepping down as executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, a position he's held since the mid-1980s, a source tells ESPN.

Fehr will be replaced by general counsel Michael Weiner, pending board approval, the source said. An announcement is expected to be made later on Monday afternoon.

Fehr, who will turn 61 in July, was voted in to lead the players' union in December 1985.

San Jose punts the A’s for another year

San Jose officials have decided not to seek voter approval of a new A's baseball stadium in November, after the team's co-owner said he'd rather wait for baseball officials to indicate whether the A's would be allowed to move to the South Bay.

Given the uncertainty over when that decision might come, Mayor Chuck Reed now says he would ask voters to weigh in no sooner than March 2010 — which is also when neighboring Santa Clara could be voting on a San Francisco 49ers stadium deal.

Ringolsby is mad at Manny’s rehab stint

Manny Ramirez was handed a 50-game suspension for violating baseball's drug policy.

What a farce.

While Ramirez is not eligible to rejoin the Dodgers until July 3, baseball found a loophole. On Tuesday he will join the Dodgers' Triple-A Albuquerque affiliate. He is allowed 10 games in the minor leagues to make sure he is ready to play the day the suspension ends . . . why should Ramirez be given the privilege of getting to play in minor league games before he has served his full suspension?

As if my man-crush wasn’t big enough

After opening the third inning with a fly out, Pujols returned to the Cardinals clubhouse to review video. There he predicted to assistant hitting coach Mike Aldrete that his next at-bat would ricochet off the yet-to-open Royals Hall of Fame behind the visitors bullpen in left field. “He didn’t say he might hit the Hall of Fame. He said he would hit the Hall of Fame,” Aldrete recalled . . . When Meche finally threw the pitch, Pujols swatted it some 423 feet off a Hall of Fame window.

My Morning in Exile

Moneyball movie won’t go into production

Just days away from the start of shooting, Columbia has taken Steven Soderbergh's baseball drama "Moneyball" starring Brad Pitt off the field.

Pulling the plug this close to production is extremely rare for studios but sources said Columbia's president of production Amy Pascal wasn't comfortable with the script, which had changed considerably since the movie was greenlit.

The decision, which was made Friday, mystified many since the picture was crewed up and scheduled to start shooting this week, with some wondering how issues with the script could give a studio cold feet so late in the game.

And That Happened

Friday, June 19, 2009

A coda to the Ibanez-Morris-Baker business

Dusty Ryan called up

Sources close to Dusty Ryan are reporting that The Tigers have called up the young backstop from Toledo to presumably replace Dane Sardinha as the backup catcher.

Looking back at the Trop

"There are some unusual features. The dome roof is sloped and is made of translucent material. Neither is expected to affect play.

The roof slopes from 225 feet high at its peak over second base to 85 feet at the centerfield wall. It was designed that way to reduce heating and cooling costs, and designers are confident balls will not bounce off it."

Barajas

Aaron Boone singled to shallow leftfield. Jayson Werth fielded it cleanly and fired home, where Ramirez was out by at least 20 feet. Except Barajas chose to rise instead of block the plate. Ramirez slid under the tag. Home plate umpire Tim Timmons called Ramirez safe; tie game.

Barajas went ballistic. He got ejected. Manuel soon followed.

Replays convinced Manuel of Timmons' correctness, though.

"Ninety-nine times out of a hundred they're going to call that guy out," Manuel
said.

Barajas believes he should have gotten the call.

"I didn't see anything conclusive," Barajas said.

He didn't see the big deal, either, concerning his tagging technique.

"I wasn't sure what [Ramirez] was going to do," Barajas said. "I didn't want to be down low and give him a good shot at me, maybe knock the ball loose."

Manuel seethed over the mental miscues.

"Those are mistakes that you don't make," he said.

Barajas' take: "Since we won the game, we can look back and laugh at some of those plays."

My Morning in Exile

And That Happened

Thursday, June 18, 2009

“The President George W. Bush Owners Suite”

The Rangers are renaming the owner's suite at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington after President George W. Bush.

Bush, the 43rd president of the United States, was the Rangers' managing general partner from 1989-94 before becoming Governor of Texas. The suite, located directly behind home plate, will be named the "President George W. Bush Owners Suite."

Bush was the head of an ownership group that bought the team from Eddie Chiles in 1989 and eventually sold the team to Hicks in 1998. Bush was elected president in 2000 and did not return to the Ballpark until he threw the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day this season.

Reminder

My Morning in Exile

And That Happened

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Great Moments in Rain Delays

During a lengthy rain delay at Tuesday night’s Cincinnati Reds game, two men jumped from the stands onto the field – one of them flopping onto the tarp covering the infield and sliding on his belly. Cory Allen, 20, of Columbus and Casey Allen, 25, of Hilliard, Ohio, are facing charges of criminal trespassing and obstructing official business. If they are related was not clear. About 8 p.m., one of the men ran onto the field, reports said. He executed the belly flop to loud applause and tried to run away, but slipped on the wet outfield grass and was apprehended. He was led away in handcuffs. The other man ran onto the field, jumped back into the stands, but later ran on the field again. He again jumped back in the stands, but was surrounded and apprehended.

Each man faces up to 120 days in jail if convicted.

Quote of the Day

Ibanez and others should say out loud that as far as they're concerned, cheating should not be tolerated. Insist that the drug-testing penalties be given sharper teeth. Demand that one positive test means a voided contract and a year out of baseball, and a second strike means a lifetime ban.

Comment and response

[Sosa] said "To be clear, I have never taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs." He said "I have never injected myself or had anyone inject me with anything." He said "I have not broken the laws of the United States or the laws of the Dominican Republic. I have been tested as recently as 2004, and I am clean." All of those statements allow for the possibility that he used substances that were legal in the Dominican Republic that would have been illegal to use in the United States.

I've said in the past that, contrary to the naysayings of others, Sosa was well-advised to have used an interpreter during his Congressional testimony. In light of yesterday's news, this is even more true, because it now appears that he needed to thread a very tiny needle to keep himself out of legal jeopardy. From what I can see, he threaded it brilliantly, and as a fellow shyster, my hat is off to whoever advised Sammy back in 2005 for pulling off what I can only call a work of legal art.

A point and a question, Craig.

The point is that Sosa’s statement at the hearing was so obviously threading a rhetorical and legal needle that it was one of the main reasons people (like me) became convinced that Sosa was a user and a liar. That’s legal art only if you are the kind of analyst who thinks “it depends what the meaning of ‘is’ is” is a slam-dunk rebuttal. Sure, it avoids perjury—-so does taking the 5th on the stand. But they both make you look guilty as hell. (Sosa’s statement is also deceit—-making a statement that is literally true but designed to deceive casual listeners into thinking it means something very different from what it really does mean. This is, as I’m sure you know, specifically designated as ethical misconduct for a lawyer in Rule 8.4 of the Rules of Professional Conduct if a lawyer does it personally. It is a form of dishonesty.)

Now the question: has anyone ever explained WHY a steroid user would take that 2003 test? To find out if the test works? If that was the point, then the union was actively attempting to assist players in cheating. Maybe a player was unsure if he was using steroids? No, even Manny isn’t THAT stupid. To make sure one’s name was on a list that was sure to end up in the hands of the Feds if the union didn’t destroy it seconds after it was compiled? The fact that there were “only” 104 players who volunteered for this only indicates to me that there were 104 morons using steroids, and the non-morons had the sense to take a pass.

My Morning in Exile

The Sosa connection, or lack thereof

I've always followed the steroid story as something of an epidemic. It often follows the same models, centering around hubs and nodes. The hubs are players like Jose Canseco or Bill Romanowski in the NFL who were evangelists for the substances, but the nodes are usually the drug distributors. The Bay Area had BALCO, Baltimore had their "star", and Dallas had their Hollywood connection, while the NFL had doctors in Pittsburgh and Charlotte, among others, who were willing to supply. Chicago, however, doesn't have this issue or at least hasn't. Looking at the Cubs roster in 2003 and a year previous, there's *no one* that tested positive or that has even had much speculation surrounding their production. It will be interesting to see if the 2003 list shows such a cluster existed or if Sosa was one of few singular users.

Geoff Baker Redux

Here's a primer on U.S. libel law and how it relates to blogging, in case you're interested. It should be required reading for any blogger in this country.

If you get sued for libel, your defense can be "the truth -- that what you wrote is true -- or that, even if what you wrote was false, you did not act with malice. In Canada, where I began my career, the law is much tougher and states that your stuff had better be true, or you're in hot water. It's a bit more lax here in the U.S. with the whole "malice thing.

The U.S. Supreme Court has defined malice as publishing something with "either knowledge of falsity or in reckless disregard for its truth or falsity.''

Now, this may seem like the same thing to a lot of you, but there are important differences. The most obvious is that no individual was singled out. Believe me, this was intentional. There are ways to approach topics like this, to hint at stuff that may or may not have been going on, but it requires subtlety, not a sledgehammer.

What I wrote still gives every player on that 2004 team an "out'' in which they can say: "It wasn't me he was talking about.''

Some of you have asked why I -- and my colleagues -- failed to denounce Rick Reilly for publishing similar things about ballplayers that Morris did. Well, the first answer is, many of my colleagues did denounce Reilly several years back when he challenged Sammy Sosa to take a drug test. Many thought he was unfairly singling Sosa out.

My second answer would be: Jerod Morris is not Rick Reilly.

I've had people write in to ask me about my so-called "White Jays'' series of three stories written for the Toronto Star six years ago. What those stories were supposed to be about was how the Blue Jays, after years of pipelining talent from Latin America, had suddenly become a team with the fewest amount of minority players in baseball. At a time when the number of Latin Americans in the game was exploding.

But the reasons behind that story were lost because of a terrible "White Jays'' headline, substituted at the last minute as a front page teaser to the stories, without my consent, or input, or that of the editors working closest with the story.

And That Happened

Marty: Hello, you're on Reds radio!

Caller: Hey Marty, being from North Carolina, could you tell us who your favorite professional wrestler is?

Marty: Well, I um, er . . .

Brantley [interrupting, with extreme urgency and certainty]: No question about it, my favorite wrestler was The Million Dollar Man, Ted Di-Bi-ase. He was absolutely the best.

Marty and Caller: stunned silence.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Report: Sosa tested positive in 2003

Sammy Sosa, who joined with Mark McGwire in 1998 in a celebrated pursuit of baseball’s single-season home run record, is among the players who tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug in 2003, according to lawyers with knowledge of the drug-testing results from that year . . .

. . . Sosa, who is sixth on Major League Baseball’s career home run list and last played in 2007, had long been suspected of using performance-enhancing drugs but until now had never been publicly linked to a positive test.

Wilstein nominated for Hall

Steve Wilstein, the reporter who broke the story of Mark McGwire’s drug use, might be in the Baseball Hall of Fame before the 12-time All-Star.

The retired sportswriter was among those nominated for the Hall of Fame’s J.G. Taylor Spink Award, 11 years after noticing the supplement androstenedione in McGwire’s locker and getting him to acknowledge his use of the product, which already had been banned in Olympic sports.

Wilstein confirmed yesterday he was nominated by the Seattle chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and will be up for consideration for the award that recognizes “meritorious contributions to baseball writing.”

Smoltz looks beyond 2009

The reason I had surgery was not to just come back for one year. Having surgery certainly quality of life was part of it, but I could have waited to have that. To have surgery at this point, when I did, and not try to milk anymore of the rest of that season, the reason I did that was to pitch well beyond.

The Rangers downsize

Despite being in first place and having increased attendance at the ballpark this year, the Texas Rangers cut several staff members from their front office on Monday.

Team spokesman John Blake said the job reductions were less than 10 percent of its staff and that affected employees were offered a severance package. Before the job cuts, the Rangers had about 275 employees in their organization, not including the baseball team.

Salt-n-Hammer

The Sox have agreed to terms with Wilson and two other picks, director of amateur scouting Jason McLeod said: fifth-round choice Seth Schwindenhammer, a high school outfielder from Illinois, and eighth-round pick William Wilkerson, an outfielder from Augusta State. The players need to pass physicals and drug tests before the deals become official.

The Red Sox are oft mentioned as potential trade partners with the Rangers to get Jarrod Saltalamacchia . . . Wouldn't it be cool to someday have both him and Schwindenhammer on the same team? Would the folks who put the names the uniforms negotiate a 'per letter' contract to get more money? What team has been fielded with the most letters or syllable in their names? The least? How badly would Harry Caray butcher their names?

My Morning in Exile

And That Happened

Monday, June 15, 2009

Max Patkin v2.0 to retire

For 35 years, Ted Giannoulas has jumped and run — and flattened Barney — at ballparks across America, climbing into a feathered costume to go to work as the San Diego Chicken.

“It’s the one magic elixir that keeps me young,” he says.

Yet the bumps and bruises on Giannoulas don’t heal nearly as quickly as they used to. He is in the twilight of a long and lucrative career playing to audiences large and small, and acknowledged that this could be the San Diego Chicken’s final season. The gigs aren’t there like they used to be. Nearly every team in the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB have their own licensed mascots — a trend inspired in part by the San Diego Chicken’s popularity so many years ago — and Giannoulas has cut back his schedule in recent years. Down from a high of about 250 games each year in his heyday, Giannoulas said he’ll leave his San Diego home for just 50 appearances this summer.

“At the end of this season I’ll make a determination if I think I can go another season. I can’t say for certain. I’ll just see how my body feels, what my energy level might be going forward,” Giannoulas said. “The fun and energy is still at the ballpark. I still get a charge out of it.”

For Dad

With only seven days remaining until Father's Day, Yankees-Steiner Collectibles, the exclusive provider of game-used memorabilia from the original and current Yankee Stadium, introduced a second lot of unique and iconic pieces of baseball history in the "Yankee Stadium Legends" online auction. People can now find once-in-a-lifetime gifts, perfect for sports-enthusiast Dads. The newest additions to the auction include:

Official lockers of current Yankees superstars, including Alex Rodriguez, Andy Pettitte and Hideki Matsui;

World Championship carpeting removed from the front offices at the original ballpark. Every unique piece of carpet displays a different year of each of the franchise's 26 World Championships.

The Nats = the 1962 Mets

Sunday's loss to the Rays completed a series sweep by Tampa Bay and dropped the Nationals to 16-45, the exact same record the '62 Mets had after 61 games.

Valentine to the Nats?

Manny Acta appears to be on his way out as Nationals manager, and while respected ex-big league manager Jim Riggleman reportedly will be installed as the interim manager, team higher-ups also have begun internal discussions about permanent candidates. One of those candidates to replace Acta, according to National League sources, is Bobby Valentine, who is currently in his seventh season as manager of the Chiba Lotte Mariners in Japan.

Wrigley: Shrine, dump, or false dichotomy?

What's your take on Wrigley: shrine or dump? Is it an enjoyable place to watch a game? Would you like to see it modernized with a Jumbotron, an automated scoreboard and more family-friendly features that would make it easier to bring the kids? How would you rate it compared to other big-league ballparks, such as the Cell?

Taking everything into consideration, what's your vote on Wrigley Field: thumbs up or thumbs down?

“Satchel”

How fast could Satchel Paige throw a baseball? It’s hard to know because there were no radar guns to measure ball velocity when Leroy Paige, better known as Satchel, became a pitching star of the Negro Leagues in the 1930s. In his discerning, empathetic and hype-free new Paige biography, Larry Tye cites the eyewitness account of one of the white reporters who finally began paying attention to Paige in 1934: “All you can see is something like a thin line of pipe smoke" . . . Mr. Tye’s willingness to come to these or any other level-headed conclusions about his subject is made remarkable by the elusiveness of hard facts . . .

. . . radiates an obvious affection for Mr. Paige, but his is not a fan’s unquestioning love. He sees the aloofness beneath the crowd-pleasing charm, the caginess behind the exaggerated sang-froid and the selfishness behind the self-promotion. “Satchel” succeeds in putting these attributes into perspective. “Why did Satchel feel the need to inflate?” Mr. Tye asks about all those apocryphal Paige stories. “He did it because reshaping history was intoxicating and empowering.”

My Morning in Exile

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