Handicapping the field

...you thought this was about baseball, but it's actually a great blog posting re who will be the next sportscaster fired for sexual harrassment:

http://www.deadspin.com/sports/top/cultural-oddsmaker-who-will-be-the-next-broadcaster-hit-with-sexual-harassment-190547.php



At 3-1, I think Kevin Kennedy is an overlay (no pun intended).

ButtF*ckingMando!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blogger was temporarily down, as a huge throng of bloggers from No. Cal. tried to log on to vent about our so-called Closer.

He f*cking sucks. No ifs, ands, or butts! (well, actually one big butt!)

His whole attitude sucks, he's a prima donna on the mound, but has nothing to back it up. Even if they didn't score the two runs the way they did, they could have done it in a multitude of other ways, including Soriano's blast that was just foul.

Mando is just foul. Who's left to trade for? Borowski?? Sure, anyone will do. Just eat Butt-man's contract, and send him packing.

ARRGGGHHH!!!!

Stretch Run

Rarely does it begin in mid-July, but with SD in town, and no one else in the NL West stepping up, it began last night. A 9-3 drubbing that was neither that close (9-0 entering the 9th), nor that much of a blowout (3 pitchers into the 9th, Buttmando Boonitez was warming up) was a great start.

Dr. Tailgate kindly took me to Section 109 for the up-close inspection. Here's what we saw:

1) Breakout game for Chad Santos (two sterling defensive stops and his first MLB HR--with 12 family members in the stands--most from Hawaii, we found out later). Anyone have some extra rooms to keep them in town through Sunday?)

2) Back-to-back-to-back HR's by Bonds (after Piazza did his leaning tower of Pisa immitation and gave him a second life), Ray-Ray, who might go by this nickname because his head has grown by a factor of 2x (Doc Tailgate calls HGH Head Growth Hormone), and a classic, meaningless dong by Peter Happy to close out the carnage.

3) Noah's renaissance. Never broke 88 on the gun, but Piazza went 0-5, with 5 harmless, weak fly outs to right. Josh Barfield (he of the league leading .369 BA on the road, was also reduced to sawdust). After 121 pitches, he had to be yanked, just two pitches from a complete game. What do you call that? How about Siyanoah?

Prospects look just fine from 1.5 games out now and 3 more with the Friars in town through Sunday. Get your ducats boys!

Did you know? Since 6/24, Ray-Ray is leading the Majors with 10 Big-Big Fly-Flies!

Beer and baseball...a marriage made in heaven

Is there anything finer than an ice cold India Pale Ale at Mays Field? For those who insist on garlic fries, ales are a must. For those looking to survive the all too hot day games, or the all too cold night games, ales are a must.

Here are some other beer and baseball highlights from around the country:

1) Beer festival at Asbury Park minor league game:

http://app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060609/ISLANDER/606090467

2) Andy Musser, former announcer of the Phils, and sometime promoter of Anchor Steam beer is written up in a great article here:

http://www.allaboutbeer.com/beertravel/trips/andy.html

I will never, ever, ever trade Ryan Howard......again

...because he just hit the hardest and furthest ball I've ever seen in my life, including at least 50% of the Bonds dongs, and some mid-late 60's McCovey shots.

Next time you're at the ballyard, check out where the Ford Logo is in right-center--he hit it like a rocket off that spot, and if the wall were not there, would have gone 500 feet--regardless what anyone else might say.

However, if you throw him offspeed stuff from the portside (like Noah did earlier) he's pitchable.

Still....what a basher, and he's still a baby!

Splash this, Steel City!

Just released logo for '07 All-Star Game--pretty cool graphics. First 20K in attendance tonight get the stadium giveaway logo pin--will be first in line.

Dodger Blues...

You gotta read this one--first game back from the All-Star break, 14th inning.

As they say in "Avenue Q" ...Sucks to be you.


http://www.dodgerblues.com/content/news.html

Majewski and Bray and pray for.....

..too stunned to finish this one.

Why didn't the Reds GM just survey any NL ONLY roti playing rookie GM about this trade? Kearns and Lopez for two middle relievers!??!!!

This has to be the worst team a contending team has ever made. You could have gotten a Majewski and Bray for just one of those two studs, not both!

Oh, I forgot, the Reds did get Royce Clayton back in return, too, so that 'splains it....

Wisdom from another Roti league player

Copied, word for word from another site:

Bailing season is upon the Roto world. The key points to remember are
Trade players who automatically return to the 2007 draft pool.
Acquire cheap keeper(s) for those players
If you do not have out-of-time players, deal fully-priced ones but "charge" for the possibility of them being protected by the acquiring team or
Being dealt by the acquiring team for something of value i.e. a minor league draft pick/player
Points three and four are often ignored by poorly run teams.
A $33 Juan Pierre may not be a great keeper but 50 SB will attract some value. So Jeremy Hermida for Pierre is actually Hermida for Pierre/minor league pick or whatever else is acquired for Pierre after you deal him.
The goal of bailing is to win the trade on the last day of the season. This is another way of stating (1). No matter what, an out-of-time player for a keeper is a winner for the bailing team on the last day of the season because the bailing team then has a keeper and the other team has nothing.
This rationale will also mitigate whatever bad feelings are engendered by the bail trade - and all bail trades engender bad feelings.

Scary Movie, Part II

Original Scary Movie for the Giants....Buttmando, hands down (despite his virgin save last night vs. LA)

Scary Movie, II? ..... Pedro. Let us down with man on 2nd and 3rd earlier in the game with tied score and G-men with momentum.

Then, after Ray Ray made a rare out (these days) who strolls up to the plate but our last chance, tying run, Mr. Curve Ball agnostic himself. I knew right away that the game was over. Saito made him look like a fool with the "Here comes King Charles; Martin is set up off the plate for it, so no surprises" hooking so far out of the strike zone that a little leaguer would have laid off. Not our Petey.

You can take all your arguments about how his 60 RBI's are a huge improvement, blah, blah, blah, blah. Same ol' choke artist that NONE of us ever want to see with a game on the line.

No "Time" left for you...

never owned him, never had any respect for his anctics, so maybe this is the appropriate adeiu:

"Dontrelle Willis hit a grand slam and picked up a win after holding the Mets to three runs in 7 1/3 innings of work on Friday.The homer came off Mets starter Jose Lima. If it had come off a real major leaguer, it would have been the first grand slam by a pitcher since Robert Person in 2002. Jul. 7 - 10:33 pm et"

hasta la vista, baby--don't forget to pick up your pension on your way out the door.

Back from the East Coast...to the saner side of Winter

cool breeze, cold fog, warm sun. Isn't that why we're all here in the first place? let me tell you, Phila and NY were absolutely brutal last week with humidity, heat, and torrential rains. 14 people died in the Del. River region from the floods. Third time in 2 years that the Del. has ravaged the countryside.

Got an email from my buddy Brad in IA, (who also plays in an NL ONLY Keeper league) asking me how I survived the AL attack on my NL pitching staff these past few weeks. Like most of us...not very well. I cut bait on the wrong Mets Pitcher (El Duque) and got lit up for 16 ER in 4 IP with Soler, between his two abbreviated starts vs. Bosox and Yanquis.

Of course, El Duque, chip firmly on his shoulder, (after a rough patch vs. Bosox) had a quality outing vs. his old team, Yanquis (7 IP, 2ER) and tonight vs. the feeble Bucs, shut them out for 7 innings. The Busch Master of course, snagged him from the waver wire, while the rest of the league must not believe that the Mets (or El Duque) is for real.

Like I said, just glad to be back in Sf, where the weather and microbrews are fine....just fine!