According to this Dead Spin item, via Gordon Edes, after Joe West made himself the story in a recent White Sox-Indians game, his publicist sent out a press release announcing that he would be umpiring in Boston this weekend. This, not surprisingly, is unfuckingheard of in baseball “for security reasons.” I would like to add MLB doesn’t announce who’s umpiring which series because it shouldn’t fucking matter. The thinking here is that Joe West, not satisfied with being the biggest umpire in MLB (physically speaking), also needs to be the biggest asshole in the league. Or that he wants to promote his shitty country music career by behaving like an asshole. Somebody needs to stop this guy.
Throwing a perfect game does not make Dallas Braden less of a douche bag, and I will not take back any of the bad things I said about him. But I will insult his grandmother. Braden, it seems, come from classy stock. After the perfect game, his grandmother, according to various reports, said “Stick it, A-Rod.” This is exactly how I would want my grandmother to celebrate my perfect game, by bringing up my fake beef with Alex Rodriguez.
Stay classy, Stockton, California.
Dallas Braden is now only five games under .500 for his career.
I’m a Yankee fan. Obviously. So I root for my team and the guys who play on that team, and so I’ve long been a defender of Alex Rodriguez. Yeah, he’s a steroid guy, a bit of a head-case, the kind of guy who’s always putting his foot in his mouth, but what he is most of all is a fucking righteous baseball player. And so I’m chagrined and confused as to when exactly Dallas Braden became the end-all-be-all arbiter of baseball’s unwritten rules, and why the fuck he can’t shut up about the fact that A-Rod ran across the pitcher’s mound when they faced the Oakland A’s last month.
“There are things that are going to have to happen,” Braden told CSN Bay Area on Wednesday. “Out of respect to my teammates, out of respect to the game. I think he’s probably garnered a new respect for the unwritten rules and the people who hold them close to their game. But I think you’re right, we don’t do much talking in the 209.”
Apparently macho douche baggery by Major Leaguers who are terrible at baseball is running rampant this season, but seriously… Dallas Braden? This guy is 17-23 in his career — he isn’t good enough to carry ARod’s luggage, never mind have anyone pay attention to a word that comes out of his douche bag, chin-bearded mouth. He plays for an awful team that hasn’t mattered since Money Ball came out, and he should shut the fuck up about how tough he is. If he wants to drill ARod, then fine, drill him, but for a guy who claims that “the 209″ doesn’t do much talking, he sure has a lot of shit to say.
I have some mixed feelings about this item from ESPN. The piece is an informal sampling of opinion from a bunch of players, league officials and managers on the 17-year-old Phillies fan who was recently Tasered (Tased?) after he ran out onto the playing field. Let’s start with a notion we can all agree with:
“I think it’s important that the players are protected out there,” Houston manager Brad Mills said. “You never know what’s going to happen. So many times we’ve had guys run on tennis courts with knives or whatever, we just have to make sure that’s taken care of.”
Absolutely. Ballplayers are exposed when they’re on the field, and there’s no excuse for a fan to be on the diamond when a game is in progress, especially since loner whacko-ism, at least anecdotally, is on the rise, and players need to be secure when they’re at work.
Now on to the part I’m not impressed with. The piece quotes a number of players from Cliff Lee to Laynce-with-a-”Y” Nix, and they come off as out of touch assholes.
Check this gem from Nix:
“You never know what kinds of crazies are out there, but I don’t feel threatened,” Nix said. “To be honest, I kind of wish somebody would come out for me. I would take pleasure in taking care of him, but I feel safe with the security.”
Um, fuck you, Laynce. If you feel safe with security, or your own self-defense capabilities, then fine, but to bait “the crazies” to come after you is to act a macho schmuck, and now if someone does come after you, you have no one but yourself to blame. And, frankly, given your .176 batting average, 1 HR and anemic .567 OPS, I wouldn’t be surprised if a crazy Reds fan does come out for you. Dick.
In honor of this, a Top 10 of fan altercations. From Canada!
ESPN.com is reporting, through Buster Olney, that Milton Bradley has asked the team for psychological help.
“Milton Bradley, baseball’s self-described bad guy, has asked his Seattle Mariners for help in dealing with what manager Don Wakamatsu says is “emotional stress” from personal issues.” – ESPN.com
We all know that Bradley has had what would be described as “issues.” We remember him throwing balls, bats and Gatorade bottles onto the field, screaming at his manager, screaming at umpires, etc. These tantrums have not only embarassed Bradley but they have resulted in stints on the DL. Bradley is now 32 years old and at least attempting to mature into the player that everyone once though he could be.
This could be the start of something. It could also be the end of something. I would rather view it as the beginning. Zach Grienke had serious anxiety disorders and overcame them to win the Cy Young award in 2009. Too many players end up like Jim Leyritz or Chuck Knoblauch. It would be nice to see Milton Bradley be a real heartwarming story of the 2010 season. Although we will all miss his freakouts.
2010 Has not been the comeback Ortiz was hoping for.
David Ortiz may be singing one of Pearl Jam’s best songs, “Release Me” as he drives home from the ballpark. If he isn’t singing it, his numbers are.
This season Ortiz has had 75 Plate appearances, is hitting .149, .240 OBP, 3 (solo) HR and 6 RBI. After last season’s slow start, the Red Sox may be fed up with Ortiz. Ortiz is slugging a miniscule .358. Those are not acceptable DH numbers. In his defense Ortiz had a similarly slow start last year came on late in the season. Ortiz finished up with 28 HR, only 11 behind the AL lead.
The bottom line is that the Red Sox are missing a power hitter in the middle of their lineup. Without one (Adrian Gonzalez?) it seems like they aren’t going to score enough runs to keep up with anyone but the Orioles. With Ortiz not looking like great trade bait (makes over $13M), he may find himself being paid to stay home the rest of the season.
Yesterday, May 4, 2010, Baseball had to put another living legend into the history books. Ernie Harwell, the long time Tiger announcer, passed away at the age of 92. Ernie spent 55 long years in the booth, 42 with the Tigers. Throughout his career Ernie helped millions of people understand and love baseball. He will be missed. As Manager Jim Leyland suggested, let’s celebrate his life.
As Ernie would say, “goodbyes are sad. I would rather say hello. So hello to a new adventure.”
The Washington Capitals first round loss is not really a surprise. An offensive team with shaky goaltending should not inspire any confidence in a deep cup run. Sure there may be some excellent offensive players on this team but there isn’t any quality veteran leadership to take them to the next level.
The Caps are like the Red Wings of the early 1990′s. The Wings had some great offensive talent…Stevie Y and Sergei Fedorov at their offensive peaks…yet couldn’t win a damn in the playoffs.
1994….the year of the Rangers cup….The Wings were the highly touted team….only to be knocked out by the San Jose Sharks in a momentous upset….one that saw the Sharks win their first postseason series in their first attempt….and sent a young Chris Osgood home literally crying.
1995….Wings go to the Stanley Cup finals….all offense…and get spanked in 4 games by the New Jersey Devils….the Devils created the trap and set hockey back to the dark ages….eternal curses on to the Devils for ruining hockey.
1996….the Wings set an all time record for standings points in a season….only to lose in the conference finals to the Avalanche.
1997…Wings win cup
1998…Wings repeat and win again.
So what is this all mean for the Caps today? Everything. Ovie, Backstrom and Semin are the new-age Stevie Y and Sergei….All they care about is offense. The Wings brought in legendary coach Scotty Bowman and made Yzerman and Fedorov play defense. They may have complained about it then but sacrificing ten goals a season off their stats made them better and complete players (Fedorov even won the Selke trophy as leagues best defensive forward).
The ethic and systems placed by Bowman and the defense first play of Fedorov and Yzerman changed the Red Wings…
Who since 1997 have won four Stanley Cups, lost in the conference finals once and lost in game 7 of the finals last year.
Don’t get me wrong Ovie is awesome to watch…but until he plays on both sides of the puck for real…this is going to be a repeat occurence for the Caps….
The Caps had it right last year. They had none other than Sergei Fedorov on their team. He only played forward, defense AND scored the game winner in game 7 against the Rangers. The Caps let Sergei walk in the off season to chase cash in the KHL. They did bring in veteran um…Jeff Halpern and traded their captain mid-season.
These are not the moves of a team with winning Cups in mind. It was proven when a team that gets outscored in soccer matches, the Canadiens, embarrassed them by playing defense.
Unless things change, Ovechkin may replace our friend Dino Ciccarelli as the best player to never win a cup.
On espn.com, Ian O’Connor revives the ghost of Ed Whitson to talk about tough times under the bright lights of Yankee Stadium as an object lesson for Javi Vazquez, who has struggled mightily in the first month of the 2010 baseball season. Whitson recounts the horror stories of being booed, hated and threatened throughout the piece in what O’Connor says is the first interview the pitcher has given to a New York reporter since he left the Apple in the mid-1980s. The first thing that came to my mind was, “Of course this is his first interview with a New York reporter in 2o years, because this is the first time in 20 years a New York reporter has asked him for an interview,” but that’s probably not fair.
Here’s Whitson’s advice to Javi:
“I would tell Vazquez I’ve been there,” Whitson said. “I’d tell him to forget about everything people are saying and just throw the damn ball like you threw it in Atlanta. I’d tell him you can’t make every pitch perfect, because only God himself can do that.”
I’m sorry, but Ed Whitson, who was a deer in the headlights during his time in New York, should not be giving anyone advice on how to hack it in the Bronx. The bigger issue here is the Vazquez deal. I didn’t like the signing in the first place, and Javi’s first month hasn’t changed my mind. Didn’t we already know that Vazquez couldn’t pitch either under pressure/or in New York (which is always under pressure)?
Anyone remember Johnny Damon’s at bat against Vazquez in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS? The shortest at bat in Major League history? To me, re-signing Vazquez in New York (15-10 last year or not) would be like America re-electing George W. Bush president in 2012. We already know these men are incapable of performing these jobs adequately…
Bob Uecker, the famed announcer, catcher and star of the movie Major League, is undergoing open heart surgery today. We wish him all the best and hope for his hilarious return to baseball as soon as possible.
