November 2011
October 2011
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Tony La Russa Retires: Cardinals Manager Goes Out... →
And in the end, La Russa even removed himself for a situational lefty.
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Old Fashioned Pranking
Probably the largest deterrent for my plans for worldwide domination stems from the fact that most prisons don’t allow access to MLB.tv. Which is why I feel so bad for Ilan Grapel who was recently released from an Egyptian prison and was told by Rep. Gary Ackerman that his beloved New York Mets had won the World Series:
“In a news conference in Tel Aviv following his release, the...
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The Five Year Anniversary
(Image via Boston Dirt Dogs)
Never forget that it was only five years ago that Theo Epstein had to sneak out of Fenway Park in a gorilla suit during his first aborted attempt at escaping Boston. Now that he’s in Chicago and he’s looted the front offices of about half the teams in baseball, I wonder what he’s got up his sleeve this Halloween? Perhaps a billy goat or ironic...
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World Series Riot
“The dizziest, maddest, wildest, and most exciting World Series game played in recent years began with a seven-run batting rally in the third inning that gave the Cardinals the championship of the world for 1934, was interrupted by one of the wildest riots ever seen in a ball park in the sixth inning and wound up, of all things, with the spectators engaging in an old-fashioned pillow fight...
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Cardinals Add Jewel to Midwestern Crown, Rangers...
(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
After the epic game six that will go down as one of the strangest and most exhilarating, if not most well-played, games in postseason history, the elimination contest didn’t stand a chance of living up to its predecessor. Unless the game featured a quadruple reverse comeback or a pitcher hurled balls to the plate using the powers of telekinesis, some fans...
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Baseball is dead
Long live baseball!
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Phrases I Never Need to Hear After Listening to...
While it’s rare to find a decent commercial on television, I don’t know if I’ve ever heard one that passes for bearable on the radio. Even worse are the ads that air during baseball games as each one must remind you that the copywriter once saw a few minutes of Field of Dreams and thought it was “okay.”
After listening to a few innings of the World Series on my...
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The Greatest, Worst Game Ever Played
Let’s forget about the first six innings, just throw them away. Forget about the errors, the walks, the bad throws, and the mismanaged rosters, because they don’t matter. They simply existed, the way the first half of a bad novel exists solely to get you to the juicy bits.
While we’re at it, let’s think no more about Ron Washington and Tony La Russa, too. Why waste...
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“Since baseball time is measured only in outs, all you have to do is succeed...”
– Roger Angell, apparently writing about tonight.
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Nick Punto and the Walk of Destiny
With the bases loaded and the Cardinals down by one, Nick Punto drew a walk against Alexi Ogando (2.29 BB/9 during the regular season), to tie the game at four (Silly me, I forgot Matt Holliday had been picked off at third, so it was merely a very nice walk). Considering that Punto is a career .249/.325/.327 hitter, you would have thought Ogando could have put some fastball, any fastball, really,...
zanderpants asked: If the Rangers win tonight, is Nolan Ryan putting anyone into a headlock?
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“I guess I’m going to lie back on the couch like a big, fat pig and watch a...”
– Lance Berkman discusses tonight’s World Series rainout. Who says baseball players aren’t athletes? (via sportscentr)
Am I still not allowed to call him Fat Elvis?
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MLB Network To Televise All Five Taiwan All-Star...
(House of David barnstorming team image via Upnorth Memories)
Are you the type of discerning baseball viewer who, once November hits, will watch The Benchwarmers and the Bad News Bears remake simply for the resemblance they bear to the sport? Assuming you have a cable package that carries MLB Network, you’re in luck as the channel will be showing all five games of the Taiwan...
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Pitching on 3 Days Rest (Updated)
fungraphs:
Updated due to World Series postponement. Hopefully we’ll see Chris Carpenter on the mound tomorrow.
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“First person to ask about my health, all the interviews are over. We good?...”
– Josh Hamilton is the man.
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Where are they now?
While tonight’s rain delay extends the 2012 season for at least one more night, I can’t help but feel the hard, heavy weight of a cold winter without baseball coming down on me. Given the nature of the game and the feeling of transience that a finished season leaves in its wake, I thought it best to ruminate on potential future project that today’s players might undertake in...
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In a column on MLB.com, Pater Gammons covers the recent movements of now Cubs President Theo Epstein and new Red Sox GM Ben Cherington. It’s a solid piece if reporting if you want to catch up on that saga, but if you’re interested in the more lurid story lines behind the plot, look no further than the section where Gammons reveals that Epstein had a stalker.
Full disclosure: I worked...
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Game Six Postponed
While normally a rain out is something to be mourned (as it usually means a squandered evening), at least now the baseball season will extend one day further. That also means we’ll have one more day of “Is Tony La Russa insane/old/a genius?” discussions, Ron Washington .gifs to send around, and photos of Derek Holland’s mustache to pore over. And that’s never a bad...
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John Axford To Attend 'Stache Bash in Chicago
Axford may have lost the inaugural Old Time Family Baseball Fashion Awards, but he’s still in the running to win something nearly as prestigious: The Robert Goulet Memorial Mustached American of the Year Award handed out by the American Mustache Institute. The award will be handed out this Friday Night at ‘Stache Bash in Chicago, which in addition to being the most important facial...
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Frank McCourt Withdrew $189 Million Dollars From...
That’s the word from new MLB filings in Bill Shaikin’s new article:
“The league alleged McCourt had broken 10 MLB rules — any of them grounds for termination of his franchise — including what MLB termed the “siphoning” of team revenue for non-baseball use. “The Dodgers are in bankruptcy because McCourt has taken almost $190 million out of the club...
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BFF: Selections from Mike Scioscia and Jeff...
INT. The Scioscia Manor.
The children run along outside and Mike Scioscia’s wife putters about, alternating between the kitchen and a novel she’s reading in the other room. MIKE SCIOSCIA and JEFF MATHIS, best bros for life, share beer and corn chips while watching the game.
Scioscia: Nothing quite like the Fall Classic to soothe the savage mind.
Mathis: Who said that?
Scioscia:...
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Expert Lip Reading
After retiring Mike Napoli on a deep fly out to end the sixth inning, Chris Carpenter had a few words for himself. Warning, language is very, very NSFW:
Somebody get that guy into the CIA where he can put his lip reading skills to real use.
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“I saw Lynn and was ‘OK, what are you doing here?”
– Tony LaRussa’s thoughts when he saw Lance Lynn warming up in the bullpen.
The master tactician himself failed to account for the greatest danger of all: human error.
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Surprise, Surprise! Tony La Russa on Pace to...
While Tony La Russa is known for his quick hook and penchant for playing with matchups, you can hardly deny him in his bullpen usage this postseason as his starters have gone kablooey after a fine regular season. La Russa’s reputation may be greatly exaggerated, he will now have added incentive to fiddle with his scorecard as he attempts to break the record for most hooks in a single...
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Jim Thome May Return...If Someone Wants Him
As if someone wouldn’t want the strongest man with a smile that washes dishes on their team. From the Associated Press:
“I’ll keep playing. I just need teams to call me. I can’t go play in the backyard by myself. I don’t know the demand for a 41-year-old DH, but my passion is I want to continue to play.”
Thome had considered just throwing a tennis ball...
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“When I came off the field my arm hair was sticking up—not like I have much.”
– Derek Holland on last night’s start. So his entire body is follicly challenged then? Interesting…
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