Thursday, April 30, 2009
Premium Seats @ Yankee Stadium Remain Empty
[ESPN/AP] reported that there were still swaths of empty seats in the premium seating section in new Yankee Stadium.
While I was watching the Angels/ Yankees game tonight, I noticed that the entire premium seating section at new Yankee Stadium was completed gated and enclosed. It's basically it's own island sort to speak. It's pompous and disgusting that they separate the really rich fans from the rest of the stadium.
While I was watching the Angels/ Yankees game tonight, I noticed that the entire premium seating section at new Yankee Stadium was completed gated and enclosed. It's basically it's own island sort to speak. It's pompous and disgusting that they separate the really rich fans from the rest of the stadium.
Just 23 of 50 $2,500 seats in the first row between the dugouts were filled in by the top of the second inning of Thursday night's game against the Los Angeles Angels. In the third inning, the entire third row was empty in section 20 behind home plate.
What the Yankees did eliminate were the nearly empty $500 sections down each foul line. Those areas, which were nearly devoid of fans during the final five games of the opening six-game homestand, were half-filled Thursday.
Selena Roberts interview
In this SI interview, Selena Roberts goes into more detail about A-Rod tipping pitches to opposing batters in blow-outs.
SI.com: How would he tip the pitches?
Roberts: If it was a changeup, sources say, he would twist his glove hand. To indicate a slider, he would allegedly sweep the dirt in front of him, and he would bend in the direction of where the pitch was going to be, inside or outside. I don't know that it's easy to decode. You're talking about people who see a player on an every-day basis, day after day, year after year. I don't know that it would be at all obvious to people who are watching or to a television audience. These are people who would know how to detect when things don't feel right. If it happened once or twice, people might say, Let's give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe we didn't see what we thought we saw. But according to the people that I spoke with, this was a pattern of behavior.
SI.com: So if teammates noticed it, how did they handle it?
Roberts: At least one teammate in a very gentle way did say, "Hey, you might be tipping a little too soon out there." What would usually happen would be for Alex to signal the pitch to his teammates as the pitcher was in the windup; that way the batter is focused on the pitcher and not able to see the sign. However, these signs Alex would flash came before the windup and that made it more noticeable. This is the critical difference between signaling your infield as quarterback and giving away the pitch to the hitter: when you flash the sign. This was done to give the batter plenty of time to see it and figure out what to do about it.
But one player trying to be diplomatic told me that he said, "I think you're tipping a little too soon," and the response from Alex was, "What are you talking about?" I don't think Alex was irritated at the player; I think he felt that he had been scrutinized too closely, that someone else was trying to tell him how to do his job. These people who knew about it or witnessed it knew how it would play in the clubhouse if it became an issue. These were all reasons why it didn't become a bigger deal than it was, because people wanted to keep it under wraps.
Mos Def "Quiet Dog"
Motel de moka posted a new Mos Def song on its site.
I'm not impressed at all, but hey, that's Mos Def for you.
I'm not impressed at all, but hey, that's Mos Def for you.
Jewish Jordan
Update on Tamir Goodman, who was touted as the Jewish Jordan back in 1999 as a High School player.
New Wu
Raekwon, Ghostface, and Method Man rip it in this is new Wu video. Has a old school Wu beat and decent verses from the three. It was cool to see Rza in the background, despite all the internal beef surrounding their last album.
They shot this video at The Bronx strip club "Player's Club".
Chick Flick
New film from Nora Ephron, Julia & Julia. Kinda of a chick flick to me, but I'm still semi curious just because it's made by Nora Ephron. Gotta give her props for writing When Harry Met Sally.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Did A-Rod Take Steroids As A Yankee?
Selena Roberts new book alleges that A-Rod took steroids or HGH while he was playing with the Yankees, and started doing steroids as far back as high school. I can't say that I'm too surprised.
In addition, an unnamed major-leaguer is quoted as saying Rodriguez and steroid-tainted pitcher Kevin Brown were seen together with human growth hormone - HGH - in 2004.
Brown, who was named in the Mitchell Report on steroids, denied through a lawyer that he ever shared the hormone with the highest-paid player in baseball.
Two other anonymous Yankees said they believed A-Rod was using based on side effects they saw - and a clubhouse staffer said management wondered if he was using banned substances.
"No one ever asked Alex directly that I know of, but there was a lot of suspicion in house," the employee is quoted as saying.
... "Was he on steroids in high school?" he said. "I think probably so. I worked out with him when he was 18. He could lift almost as much as I could."
Rodriguez put on 25 pounds of muscle between his sophomore and junior years, and word was that his connection was a dog kennel owner.
A former high school teammate told Roberts the future No.1 MLB draft pick was on steroids and his coach knew it.
Another student said the son of coach Rich Hofman admitted he saw Rodriguez use steroids.
[Tracy Connor/ NY Daily News]
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Yankees Reduce Prices, Give Away Tickets to Season Ticket Holders
Mike Francesa announced on WFAN that the Yankees are giving away free tickets per game to all their premium season ticket holders. The value and number of tickets that each season ticket holder gets depends on how much they are paying for their seats. The Yankees choose to do it this away rather than give out refunds to current season ticket holders who have already paid the premium price.
ESPN/AP:
The reason the Yankees are giving away tickets is because they have had trouble selling out their premium seats around the home plate area.
ESPN/AP:
Those who bought $2,500 first-row season tickets in the 11 sections surrounding the plate that weren't reduced will receive an equal number of free first-row tickets for the rest of the season. Those who bought $1,250 first-row seats in the first two sections past each photo cage will receive free seats for 24 games.
Fans who bought $850 Legends Suite season tickets will get free seats in the same section for eight games and free seats in the $500 section for four games. Those who bought $600 Legends Suite season tickets will get free seats in the $500 section for 10 games, and those who bought $500 Legends Suite seats will get free seats in that section for eight games.
The reason the Yankees are giving away tickets is because they have had trouble selling out their premium seats around the home plate area.
Burning Down The House
Jim Farber/ NY Daily News "So many people were working so hard," she says. "New York is such a hard city to live in and people are so busy. But, in this case, people stopped to get behind a cause, which was incredible."
As things started to look bleak, Stein traveled with Kristal to Las Vegas to scout out possible new locations for the club - all of them on a suitably scuzzy side of town.
"He easily could have gone to Planet Hollywood or the Hard Rock Cafe, and they wanted it," she says. "Hilly had a vision of the place. He wanted the club to be in a part of town young musicians could afford."
Stein believes CBs would have ended up in Vegas had Hilly lived. Though the movie documents Kristal's sad end, it finishes on a hopeful note: with the installation of CBs' innards at the New York annex of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Craigslist Killers
This 48 Hours episode reports on the recent Boston murder of Julissa Brisman. It paints a pretty bleak picture of suspect Philip Markoff as this serial Craigslist criminal. They don't delve into the hard evidence since the case is still so new. Rather than solve the case, they just veer off into a couple of different Craigslist stories that went awry. Not one of their better episodes.
ESPN's Konami Code
At first, I thought this was some kind of joke, but apparently, ponies jump out of the screen at ESPN.com when you type in the NES Contra code.
As a couple of unicorn-loving tipsters with a thirst for sporting news have informed us, inputting the infamous Konami cheat code (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, enter) will infest the official ESPN web site with mystical ponies. And they'll keep spawning if you keep clicking. [Kotaku]
James Cameron "Avatar"
Michael Cieply/ NY Times Only a few weeks ago, Joshua Quittner, a technology writer for Time magazine, fed the frenzy when he reported feeling a strange yearning to return to the movie’s mythical planet, Pandora, the morning after he was shown just 15 minutes of the film. Mr. Cameron, Mr. Quittner wrote, theorized that the movie’s 3-D action had set off actual “memory creation.”
Questioned by telephone recently at his home in Mill Valley, Calif., Mr. Quittner said he was still reeling from the experience.
“It was like doing some kind of drug,” he said, describing a scene in which the movie’s hero, played by Sam Worthington, ran around “with this kind of hot alien chick,” was attacked by jaguarlike creatures and was sprinkled with sprites that floated down, like snowflakes.
“You feel like the little feathery things are landing on your arm,” said Mr. Quittner, who remained eager for another dose.
Questioned by telephone recently at his home in Mill Valley, Calif., Mr. Quittner said he was still reeling from the experience.
“It was like doing some kind of drug,” he said, describing a scene in which the movie’s hero, played by Sam Worthington, ran around “with this kind of hot alien chick,” was attacked by jaguarlike creatures and was sprinkled with sprites that floated down, like snowflakes.
“You feel like the little feathery things are landing on your arm,” said Mr. Quittner, who remained eager for another dose.
Whatever Works
Hollywood Elsewhere did a mini review of Woody Allen's new film "Whatever Works". It didn't get a great review, but nonetheless I'm still curious about the film just because of Larry David.
Woody Allen's Whatever Works, which opened the Tribeca Film Festival this evening, is a kind of dry farce that isn't naturalistic for a second and is basically about manner and whimsy and bile, and it certainly doesn't go for broke. But it's fairly enjoyable. It's sometimes hilarious, especially when it rips into idiocy and thoughtlessness among the populace, and particularly red-state characters and values. It contains some wonderful zingers including a beautiful anti-NRA joke -- if only Charlton Heston had lived to hear it! And a gem about automatic toilets, and another about Barack Obama and taxis.
Kobe Being Kobe
Page 6/NY Post reported that Kobe nearly killed the Spike Lee documentary at the very last minute to gain complete creative control. I expect the Lee documentary to play more like a Kobe Bryant commercial, than a serious look at one of the most famous athletes in the world.
But suddenly Bryant said he wouldn't cooperate unless he was granted creative control, sources said. Lee tried several times to call Bryant, who wouldn't accept his calls. So Lee, at the suggestion of ESPN broadcaster Stephen A. Smith, drove to Bryant's house in a gated community, where Bryant refused to see him, sources said.
"It went so far that Lee had a last-minute plan to substitute Spurs star Tim Duncan for Kobe and make the whole documentary about Duncan," said our source.
But Kobe and Spike somehow worked it out, and Lee is being a good soldier promoting the Kobe picture, which screened Saturday night at the Tribeca Film Festival.
"Spike Lee completely yielded," said one insider. "And at the start of the film, when Kobe arrives at the Staples Center and sees Spike with the camera, he gives him a big smile and thumbs up, showing he knows he won the battle."
Simona Halep's Gigantic Boobs
17 year old Simona Halep is being called by some as the next Anna Kournikova. Check out more of her flicks and video via SPORTSbyBROOKS.
Jayson Williams Is Not Doing Too Well
Former New Jersey Nets star Jayson Williams was removed from a hotel by cops and hospitalized [NY Post]. He was described as being suicidal and acting violent.
Inside the hotel, the officers confronted what sources described to The Post as "a suicidal man" who was acting "violent."
The cops called an Emergency Services Unit for help since Williams, 41, had trashed his room.
Once there, sources said, the emergency service officers used a Taser to subdue Williams, who was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital for a psychological evaluation.
The incident occurred 11 days before Williams must decide whether to accept a plea deal offer from New Jersey prosecutors in his pending manslaughter case or face re-trial, according to several sources. Williams also has a looming May 12 hearing in his divorce case filed by his estranged wife, Tanya.
Citi Field won't tolerate negative signs
Met fan gets his Fire J. Manual Sign confiscated at Citi Field [Animalnewyork]. Mets ownership are idiots. What's next? Are they going to ban booing?
Ok, this is what happened, Alex Cora (second baseman) saw the sign and started pointing towards me and told something to the security on the field and then they started looking at me and then called another security. I thought they were going to take me out of the game and asked me if I was the one with the Jerry Manuel sign and he needed to take it with him and hoped I understood the reason (they never gave me one). So i just gave it to him cause I didn’t want to get thrown out, I didn’t want to loose my $230 in tickets.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
CEO Derrick Hall gives D'Backs fans free season tickets
Derrick Hall runs the coolest fan program in all of pro sports. Since 2007, a select group of fans get free season tickets to the D'Backs games. Not only that, but they get food vouchers, free parking, + other perks.
Rick Reilly/ ESPN All told, the D-backs put 18 families on scholarship -- 41 season tickets worth nearly $100,000 -- and every one of their stories would make your knees give. There was the daughter whose softball-playing mom broke her leg sliding into second, couldn't work and is now losing her house. There was Beth Godfrey, who was fighting leukemia. She won tickets but died soon afterward. Now those tickets are being donated in her name to charity.
Business of Sports For the second year in a row, the Arizona Diamondbacks are running their “Season Ticket Scholarship Program.” I think this is one of the best initiatives that I’ve seen a professional franchise run. The basic premise is that any fans (usually previous season ticket holders) who are experiencing a financial hardship can apply for this “scholarship” by telling the club about their current situation and their love of the Diamondbacks. Then the team will go back and select a few winners who will received completely free lower-level season tickets for the upcoming season (winners may also receive parking passes and/or concessions vouchers). Fans can be nominated by a friend, or they can send self-nominations and include references.
Derrick Hall interview, by Ed Randall/ WFAN
Rick Reilly/ ESPN All told, the D-backs put 18 families on scholarship -- 41 season tickets worth nearly $100,000 -- and every one of their stories would make your knees give. There was the daughter whose softball-playing mom broke her leg sliding into second, couldn't work and is now losing her house. There was Beth Godfrey, who was fighting leukemia. She won tickets but died soon afterward. Now those tickets are being donated in her name to charity.
Business of Sports For the second year in a row, the Arizona Diamondbacks are running their “Season Ticket Scholarship Program.” I think this is one of the best initiatives that I’ve seen a professional franchise run. The basic premise is that any fans (usually previous season ticket holders) who are experiencing a financial hardship can apply for this “scholarship” by telling the club about their current situation and their love of the Diamondbacks. Then the team will go back and select a few winners who will received completely free lower-level season tickets for the upcoming season (winners may also receive parking passes and/or concessions vouchers). Fans can be nominated by a friend, or they can send self-nominations and include references.
Derrick Hall interview, by Ed Randall/ WFAN
Sunday MLB
Tyler Kepner/ NY Times Red Sox Win their 10th in a row, sweep the Yanks, sweep their homestand. Yet there was still hope for the Yankees before the game because of Pettitte’s impeccable track record. Sunday night was the 24th time in his Yankees career he started the final game of a series with the Yankees trying to avert a sweep. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Pettitte was 17-1 in those starts, including 4-0 last season.
Sox & Dawgs Ellsbury steals home.
Karen Crouse/ NY Times Which look will the Marlins show the Mets when they arrive at Citi Field on Monday for a three-game divisional series? The devil-may-care abandon that fueled the Marlins’ 11-1 start or the self-conscious strivers who have since lost six in a row, including a 13-2 demolition by the Phillies on Sunday?
Bill Madden/ Daily News He shook his head. Clearly, this is a dilemma. Manuel has threatened to yank Perez out of the rotation and quite possibly he still will, even though his next start is supposed to be Saturday against the Phillies, against whom he allowed just one run in 26 innings last year. Something about the Turnpike rivals that brought out the "Good Ollie" in him. But there's been no evidence whatsoever of that Ollie this year and we probably shouldn't be too surprised that even he has no answers for that.
Tex Winters
ESPN/AP "The assessment today is some of his faculties are coming back and he's improving," Jackson said Sunday at the Lakers' suburban practice gym.
Roland Lazenby Chip Schaefer: “Tex is a few years younger than my parents and a product of that Depression era. To say that he is frugal would be an understatement. Johnny Bach used to call him penurious. I think that’s a very apt description of him. But I think Tex in a lot of ways is the way we all should be. He doesn’t like to see things get wasted. He takes that attitude at the dinner table, too. If there’s a little bit of meat on your bone, he may just pick up your steak bone and finish it off for you… Basketball is his absolute passion in life. He’s 73 years old (87 now), and that’s what keeps him going. There’s times when he’ll look tired, and I’ll wonder if he has the energy for it. Then all of a sudden practice will start, and he’s out here barking at these guys like he’s coaching the K-State freshman team and it’s 1948. Tex has three or four real passions in life. One of them’s basketball. Certainly one of them’s food. He really enjoys his finances. He pores over the business section of the paper as intensely as he does the sports section. He’s a real joy. I hope he keeps on going.”
Roland Lazenby Chip Schaefer: “Tex is a few years younger than my parents and a product of that Depression era. To say that he is frugal would be an understatement. Johnny Bach used to call him penurious. I think that’s a very apt description of him. But I think Tex in a lot of ways is the way we all should be. He doesn’t like to see things get wasted. He takes that attitude at the dinner table, too. If there’s a little bit of meat on your bone, he may just pick up your steak bone and finish it off for you… Basketball is his absolute passion in life. He’s 73 years old (87 now), and that’s what keeps him going. There’s times when he’ll look tired, and I’ll wonder if he has the energy for it. Then all of a sudden practice will start, and he’s out here barking at these guys like he’s coaching the K-State freshman team and it’s 1948. Tex has three or four real passions in life. One of them’s basketball. Certainly one of them’s food. He really enjoys his finances. He pores over the business section of the paper as intensely as he does the sports section. He’s a real joy. I hope he keeps on going.”
Best Closing Credits The Simpsons
The Simpsons latest episode, "Father Knows Worst" S20E18 had the best closing credits. They showed video of a choir called Canvas singing Danny Elfman's Simpsons theme A Capella. Check out their website [Simpsonsacapella]
Saturday Night MLB NBA NFL
Tyler Kepner/ NY Times Yanks get smacked by the Red Sox, despite a 6-0 lead. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the six-run deficit was the largest the Red Sox have overcome in a victory over the Yankees since May 16, 1968. Saturday’s game took 4 hours 21 minutes to complete, the same duration as Friday night’s thriller. Both teams can use the extra rest before Sunday night’s series finale.
Inside The Lakers Tex Winters had a stroke. Tex Winter, the 87-year-old special consultant to Lakers coach Phil Jackson, suffered an apparent stroke while attending a reunion of the Kansas State basketball team in Manhattan, Kan.
Gene Wojciechowski/ ESPN Randy Johnson's high school scouting reports weren't very flattering. That same April of '82, another scout wrote, "Just about average [major league] velocity at the present time. Could get above-average when he gets some weight on him."
BBC Super Bowl in London? NFL is exploring the possibility. "We have had very substantive conversations with the city of London. We've got to the point of exploring the bid document," he added.
Marc Stein/ ESPN Will Shaq end up in NO next year? I have my doubts. O'Neal's interest in a return to the NBA territory closest to his LSU roots is even more genuine than we thought. Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News wrote recently that O'Neal "thinks" he's going to New Orleans in a deal headlined by Chandler. I've since heard that Shaq was not at all shy about telling Chris Paul what a great arrangement that would be when they were Western Conference teammates at All-Star Weekend.
Ric Bucher/ ESPN Billy Hunter doesn't see any need to change the current CBA. He wants the rich owners to share their wealth with the broke ones. Good luck. "One of the principle issues is that some owners are having a hard time with cash flow," Hunter said. "I don't see why that automatically means more give-backs from the players. It seems to me a new revenue-sharing plan among the owners is one of the things they have to look at. Then you wouldn't be looking to the players every time there's a shortfall."
Inside The Lakers Tex Winters had a stroke. Tex Winter, the 87-year-old special consultant to Lakers coach Phil Jackson, suffered an apparent stroke while attending a reunion of the Kansas State basketball team in Manhattan, Kan.
Gene Wojciechowski/ ESPN Randy Johnson's high school scouting reports weren't very flattering. That same April of '82, another scout wrote, "Just about average [major league] velocity at the present time. Could get above-average when he gets some weight on him."
BBC Super Bowl in London? NFL is exploring the possibility. "We have had very substantive conversations with the city of London. We've got to the point of exploring the bid document," he added.
Marc Stein/ ESPN Will Shaq end up in NO next year? I have my doubts. O'Neal's interest in a return to the NBA territory closest to his LSU roots is even more genuine than we thought. Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News wrote recently that O'Neal "thinks" he's going to New Orleans in a deal headlined by Chandler. I've since heard that Shaq was not at all shy about telling Chris Paul what a great arrangement that would be when they were Western Conference teammates at All-Star Weekend.
Ric Bucher/ ESPN Billy Hunter doesn't see any need to change the current CBA. He wants the rich owners to share their wealth with the broke ones. Good luck. "One of the principle issues is that some owners are having a hard time with cash flow," Hunter said. "I don't see why that automatically means more give-backs from the players. It seems to me a new revenue-sharing plan among the owners is one of the things they have to look at. Then you wouldn't be looking to the players every time there's a shortfall."
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Mark Malusis Late For His 1AM WFAN Show
WFAN overnight host Mark Malusis was stuck in traffic and missed his 1AM EDT Sunday morning opening monologue. Tony Paige is covering for him until Mark shows up to the station.
At 1:30AM EDT Mark called in to Tony Paige to explain his plight on air. Mark blamed it on being stuck on the Queens bound Tri-Boro Bridge, which has been renamed RFK Bridge. He mentioned that he was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic for 2 straight hours and saw cars run out of gas, guys going to the bathroom, and women looking extremely distressed.
When will Mark actually show up? My bet is that he's going to get on air at 2:25AM EDT.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Anybody got Single Game Tickets to Citi Field June - Oct?
The Mets are holding off on selling single game tickets to their June through October home games until a date to be determined. Here is an excerpt from their website:
Note: Single game tickets to June through October regular season home games (excluding the Subway Series) will go on sale at a date to be determined. Check back for details and to buy tickets.
The idea behind this policy is to strum up fan interest to their April and May games and basically force fans to commit to these early dates.
Gee, they are making some asinine decisions that sticks it to the fans. But what do they care? Cash Rules Everything Around Mets, dollar dollar bill y'all.
Note: Single game tickets to June through October regular season home games (excluding the Subway Series) will go on sale at a date to be determined. Check back for details and to buy tickets.
The idea behind this policy is to strum up fan interest to their April and May games and basically force fans to commit to these early dates.
Gee, they are making some asinine decisions that sticks it to the fans. But what do they care? Cash Rules Everything Around Mets, dollar dollar bill y'all.
Friday Night MLB
Mariano Rivera blows a save at Fenway.
Tyler Kepner/ NY Times “One pitch, that’s all it was — one pitch,” Rivera said. “If I throw that pitch where I wanted to throw it, we wouldn’t be talking about it. That’s part of the game. Jason is a guy that is a strong guy, and with one swing of the bat, he can turn the game around. That’s what he did.”
Citi Field security guards remove K signs from Promenade Level. Met fans are pissed.
Metsgrrl Halfway through the game, we see them taking the cards down. We see them moving them to the side, and then we see them gone. According to this report in Newsday, 10 SECURITY GUARDS showed up, made them take the K cards down, and confiscated them.
Mets ownership continues to be clueless when it comes to fan friendly policies. Met fans invented the K corner for Doc and the tradition should continue at Citi Field.
David Lennon/ NY Newsday"People were yelling at them [security], telling them they were ruining a tradition," Ziegelbaum said. "Everyone was supporting it."
Mets spokesman Jay Horwitz explained that Citi Field does not have a policy against signs of any kind, but in this instance, they were blocking the ribbon board.
Wang goes on the D.L with a bum hip. Damn, man.
Tyler Kepner/ NY Times “The fact is that the architecture of that foot is changed, and if you believe in that kinetic chain — I believe in that stuff — then because of the changes there, it could rear its ugly head somewhere else in the body. And now, all of a sudden, he’s off. He’s a little bit different.”
Mets (7-9) actually win a game for a change. It was kinda sad to see the Nationals (3-12) do everything they could do to lose the game and yet the Mets just barely eked by.
Jonathan Abrams/ NY Times After the Mets’ 4-3 victory over the Washington Nationals at Citi Field, Santana, the Mets’ ace and lifeline, was able to offer some jokes. Asked if he ever wondered when his team would provide him with an offensive outburst, Santana replied: “I wonder when they’re going to get a base hit. That’s what I wonder.
Blue Jays (13-5) stay red hot.
ESPN/AP "Overall, this is one of the worst games I hope I see this year," Guillen said after Chicago's most lopsided loss since a 16-3 setback on July 31, 2007, at Yankee Stadium.
You can never count out the Phillies (7-8), no matter what. The Marlins (11-5) have lost four in a row.
ESPN/AP The Marlins took a three-hitter into the ninth and were two outs from a 3-0 victory when pinch hitter Matt Stairs singled home the Phillies' first run. Lindstrom walked in a run before Victorino hit his second homer of the year on a 2-1 pitch.
The Marlins still own the best record in the NL at 11-5, but they have lost four games in a row and fell to 8-1 when they score first.
Tyler Kepner/ NY Times “One pitch, that’s all it was — one pitch,” Rivera said. “If I throw that pitch where I wanted to throw it, we wouldn’t be talking about it. That’s part of the game. Jason is a guy that is a strong guy, and with one swing of the bat, he can turn the game around. That’s what he did.”
Citi Field security guards remove K signs from Promenade Level. Met fans are pissed.
Metsgrrl Halfway through the game, we see them taking the cards down. We see them moving them to the side, and then we see them gone. According to this report in Newsday, 10 SECURITY GUARDS showed up, made them take the K cards down, and confiscated them.
Mets ownership continues to be clueless when it comes to fan friendly policies. Met fans invented the K corner for Doc and the tradition should continue at Citi Field.
David Lennon/ NY Newsday"People were yelling at them [security], telling them they were ruining a tradition," Ziegelbaum said. "Everyone was supporting it."
Mets spokesman Jay Horwitz explained that Citi Field does not have a policy against signs of any kind, but in this instance, they were blocking the ribbon board.
Wang goes on the D.L with a bum hip. Damn, man.
Tyler Kepner/ NY Times “The fact is that the architecture of that foot is changed, and if you believe in that kinetic chain — I believe in that stuff — then because of the changes there, it could rear its ugly head somewhere else in the body. And now, all of a sudden, he’s off. He’s a little bit different.”
Mets (7-9) actually win a game for a change. It was kinda sad to see the Nationals (3-12) do everything they could do to lose the game and yet the Mets just barely eked by.
Jonathan Abrams/ NY Times After the Mets’ 4-3 victory over the Washington Nationals at Citi Field, Santana, the Mets’ ace and lifeline, was able to offer some jokes. Asked if he ever wondered when his team would provide him with an offensive outburst, Santana replied: “I wonder when they’re going to get a base hit. That’s what I wonder.
Blue Jays (13-5) stay red hot.
ESPN/AP "Overall, this is one of the worst games I hope I see this year," Guillen said after Chicago's most lopsided loss since a 16-3 setback on July 31, 2007, at Yankee Stadium.
You can never count out the Phillies (7-8), no matter what. The Marlins (11-5) have lost four in a row.
ESPN/AP The Marlins took a three-hitter into the ninth and were two outs from a 3-0 victory when pinch hitter Matt Stairs singled home the Phillies' first run. Lindstrom walked in a run before Victorino hit his second homer of the year on a 2-1 pitch.
The Marlins still own the best record in the NL at 11-5, but they have lost four games in a row and fell to 8-1 when they score first.
Lakers heated practice
The news out of Laker camp is that there was a scuffle b/w Adam Morrison and Sasha Vujacic at practice. Not Kobe, Lamar, nor Phil thought it was a big deal.
Knicks Nation Today's main event at Lakers practice in Utah was Adam Morrison and Sasha Vujacic shoving one another with Morrison threatening over and over, "you grab my shirt one more time…"
"You should have seen it when I used to go at it with Shaq," Kobe Bryant said afterwards.
Lakers.com BasketBlog In white practice jerseys, you had Jordan Farmar (who broke down the matchup for us on video above), Sasha Vujacic, Luke Walton and D.J. Mbenga. In purple, it was Shannon Brown, Adam Morrison, Josh Powell and Andrew Bynum.
On paper, give me white every time - you see a playmaker on the purple team?
Sure enough, the whites that swept an at times heated best-of-five series against the purples, 3-0.
Knicks Nation Today's main event at Lakers practice in Utah was Adam Morrison and Sasha Vujacic shoving one another with Morrison threatening over and over, "you grab my shirt one more time…"
"You should have seen it when I used to go at it with Shaq," Kobe Bryant said afterwards.
Lakers.com BasketBlog In white practice jerseys, you had Jordan Farmar (who broke down the matchup for us on video above), Sasha Vujacic, Luke Walton and D.J. Mbenga. In purple, it was Shannon Brown, Adam Morrison, Josh Powell and Andrew Bynum.
On paper, give me white every time - you see a playmaker on the purple team?
Sure enough, the whites that swept an at times heated best-of-five series against the purples, 3-0.
Yet another take on the empty New Yankee Stadium
John Jeansonne/ Newsday asked sports economy experts to give their opinions on the empty seats at Yankee Stadium. Roger Noll thinks the Yankees might not be necessarily making less revenue than last year, despite thousands of empty premium seats around home plate.
"But it's not obvious that the total amount of revenue they'll take in is less than before. It's not just getting people to pay $2,500 for great seats but paying $100 for almost any seat. Given that, they may well take in more money with 5,000 fewer fans per game than last year."
With both the Yankees -- and, to a lesser extent, the Mets -- facing a reverse of the recent trend in which new stadiums guaranteed larger crowds, veteran sports and entertainment executive Doug Logan wondered if we might be witnessing the "demise of the Fat Cat" -- professional sports' decades-old concentration on high-end sales of suites and ammenities for corporate types.
"But it's not obvious that the total amount of revenue they'll take in is less than before. It's not just getting people to pay $2,500 for great seats but paying $100 for almost any seat. Given that, they may well take in more money with 5,000 fewer fans per game than last year."
With both the Yankees -- and, to a lesser extent, the Mets -- facing a reverse of the recent trend in which new stadiums guaranteed larger crowds, veteran sports and entertainment executive Doug Logan wondered if we might be witnessing the "demise of the Fat Cat" -- professional sports' decades-old concentration on high-end sales of suites and ammenities for corporate types.
NY Mess
The Mets (6-9) got swept by the Cardinals (11-5). Luckily, they've only played 15 games, which is just about 9% of the season. In the NFL, it would be the equivalent of week two, halftime. So they still got plenty of time to turn it around.
Jerry Manuel announced changes to the pitching rotation. Yesterday, it was the hitting rotation. What's his excuse after the next loss?
Surfing the Mets Manuel also mentioned bringing up an eighth reliever, but that would be difficult, since which position player would you drop? Jeremy Reed's presence is obviously needed as a defensive replacement given other shortcomings. And would the Mets really have the fortitude to pull the plug on Gary Sheffield, even if he's hitting just .111?
Metsblog.com Following today’s game, Jerry Manuel told reporters that he will use his current set of pitchers one more time through the rotation, and if things do not get better, he will make a change.
Ben Shpigel/ NY Times “We’re just not playing good baseball in general,” David Wright said. “We’re not going to start pointing fingers at one area or another. We’re not winning. When that happens, it’s very easy to start pointing fingers. But we collectively as a team need to step up and just play better baseball because we’re not very good right now.”
Mathew Cerrone/ Metsblog.com In the middle of the sixth inning, I ran a poll on MetsBlog.com, in which 96 percent of people who responded said they did not believe the Mets would come back to win the game when down four runs at the time.
Mathew Cerrone/ Metsblog MetsBlog reader Bobby K points out in an e-mail, the Mets are 0-5 in the final game of a series this season, during which they could sweep, be swept, or win the best of three.
ESPN/AP "Ticket prices start at $11. Interest in coming to games at Citi Field is strong. Sales of season tickets and ticket plans are up 8 percent over 2008. Sale of single game tickets for April and May games are double what they were for 2008," he said in an e-mail.
Wikipedia The instrumental of the original version opens and closes Met games on WFAN and is used for lineup rundowns during home games on SportsNet New York, while part of the 1984 update opens and closes WFAN's Mets Extra pre- and post-game shows. For the 2009 with the closing of Shea Stadium and opening of Citi Field the the 1984 vershion was edited by WFAN to cut to the instrumental portion just before the singer sings "Hot dogs, green grass all out at Shea, Guaranteed to have a heck of a day."
Lakers 86 Utah 88
Lakers lose a close game in Utah. Kobe missed a wild 3 point attempt with less than 2 seconds left to seal the deal.
[Inside The Lakers] Will Lakers coach Phil Jackson move center Andrew Bynum to the bench in favor of Lamar Odom for Game 4 on Saturday? Bynum played a little more than seven minutes because of foul trouble and scored only four points and grabbed two rebounds. Odom led the Lakers with 21 points and 14 rebounds in a little more than 41 minutes.
[Lakers.com BasketBlog] Confidence aside, on this night, it was only Odom’s star that shone brightly with his 21 points on 10-of-17 shooting, 14 boards (five offensive), plus a block, a steal and some terrific weakside defense. It was he who kept L.A. afloat despite 30.4 percent shooting in the first half, and who was everywhere in a 25-8 run to start the third quarter.
[J.A. Adande/ESPN] The Lakers feel this one escaped them, that they had every opportunity to lower the Jazz halfway into the grave but let them escape. They know they have to improve they have to do a better job on the boards after getting outrebounded 55-40. They figure they'll get a better shooting night from Bryant in Game 4 Saturday. And they figure to get more from Bynum, who might or might not return to the starting lineup.
[ESPN/AP] "Those guys coming off the bench really hurt us," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Wednesday MLB
Blue Jays eke by the Rangers 8-7 in their final AB in the bottom of the 11th. Blue Jays stay hot and push their record to 11-5. [ESPN/AP]
Boston (9-6) is super hot and have won their 7th game in a row, including the sweep of today's day-night double header at Fenway. [ESPN/AP]
Mets (6-8) continue to stink and lose to the Cardinals 5-2. Manuel promises lineup changes to try to shake things up. Good luck. [ESPN/ AP]
Five more HRs were hit out of Yankee Stadium today in a 9-7 Yankee win over the A's. I guess the sample size is still too small to officially call it Coors Field East. [Tyler Kepner/ NY Times]
Marlins (11-4) get swept by the Pirates (9-6). At this rate, the Marlins will finish the season with only 118 wins. [ESPN/AP]
A pair of 1-0 games, one on each coast. Giants 1, Padres 0 [ESPN/AP]. Braves 1, Nationals 0 [ESPN/AP]
Boston (9-6) is super hot and have won their 7th game in a row, including the sweep of today's day-night double header at Fenway. [ESPN/AP]
Mets (6-8) continue to stink and lose to the Cardinals 5-2. Manuel promises lineup changes to try to shake things up. Good luck. [ESPN/ AP]
Five more HRs were hit out of Yankee Stadium today in a 9-7 Yankee win over the A's. I guess the sample size is still too small to officially call it Coors Field East. [Tyler Kepner/ NY Times]
Marlins (11-4) get swept by the Pirates (9-6). At this rate, the Marlins will finish the season with only 118 wins. [ESPN/AP]
A pair of 1-0 games, one on each coast. Giants 1, Padres 0 [ESPN/AP]. Braves 1, Nationals 0 [ESPN/AP]
413 at old Yankee Stadium in 1966
Richard Sandomir /NY Times thinks the Yankees should raffle away their empty seats. At the end of his article, there's also a remarkable account of a Yankee game in 1966 that had a measly attendance of 413. I can't believe Red Barber was later fired for talking about the empty stadium.
This early season’s why-aren’t-they-selling-out situation sends us back to the end of the 1966 season. No, it’s not as bad as all that when the Yankees won 70 and finished last.
But Red Barber gazed upon the absence of humanity in the old, pre-renovation stadium and told his radio listeners, according to his recollection in one of his books: “I don’t know what the paid attendance is today — but whatever it is, it is the smallest crowd in the history of Yankee Stadium.”
By the time he moved onto the TV side, he announced the paid crowed: 413. By order of someone with the Yankees, cameramen were told not to pan around to the vast wasteland.
Barber was dismissed soon after for reporting the obvious.
This early season’s why-aren’t-they-selling-out situation sends us back to the end of the 1966 season. No, it’s not as bad as all that when the Yankees won 70 and finished last.
But Red Barber gazed upon the absence of humanity in the old, pre-renovation stadium and told his radio listeners, according to his recollection in one of his books: “I don’t know what the paid attendance is today — but whatever it is, it is the smallest crowd in the history of Yankee Stadium.”
By the time he moved onto the TV side, he announced the paid crowed: 413. By order of someone with the Yankees, cameramen were told not to pan around to the vast wasteland.
Barber was dismissed soon after for reporting the obvious.
Freddy Begging For Yankee Tickets
It's a little bit sad to hear that unofficial/ official Yankee fan mascot Freddy "Sez" Schuman has been denied free entry into the New Yankee Stadium. In the old Stadium, they used to let Freddy go in for free. Freddy is living on only $750 per month, so it's not like he's got any money to buy tickets, even the $5 obstructed bleacher seats.
On Sunday he stood outside the stadium holding his frying pan and a sign that read, "Freddy Sez, Yankees say 'I can't go in. Must buy ticket!"
"The Yankees say I am a part of the stadium. What part am I, the toilet bowl?" Schuman said. "But the fans have come through. They gave me $40, and even $100 tickets."
The uncertainty about his future presence at the stadium has given him insomnia and indigestion, Schuman said.
Yankee officials insist that shutting out their superfan was just a "miscommunication." When Schuman first told the Post he was nervous about being shut out two weeks ago, a team spokeswoman said "We love Freddy and will accommodate him."
"That's fantastic news," said Schuman, who lost his eye in a stickball injury, now lives on a fixed income of little more than $750 a month, he said.
[Jeremy Olshan/ NY Post]
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Ridiculous Met loss @ St Louis
It's hard to be a Met fan. They find the most creative ways to lose a game [ESPN/AP].
[Surfing The Mets recap]
[Metsblog.com recap]
Should Murphy continue playing left field? He's shoddy defense has already cost them two games this season. Put Tatis in left field and give Murphy another position.
[Daniel Murphy post-game via WFAN]
Should Beltran have slid in the 8th? Probably. But you can't get too unreasonably angry at him because he just ran 180 feet as fast as he could in a tense situation. His mind just wasn't thinking as fast as his legs.
[Carlos Beltran post-game via WFAN]
[Surfing The Mets recap]
[Metsblog.com recap]
Should Murphy continue playing left field? He's shoddy defense has already cost them two games this season. Put Tatis in left field and give Murphy another position.
[Daniel Murphy post-game via WFAN]
Should Beltran have slid in the 8th? Probably. But you can't get too unreasonably angry at him because he just ran 180 feet as fast as he could in a tense situation. His mind just wasn't thinking as fast as his legs.
[Carlos Beltran post-game via WFAN]
NY Baseball teams have trouble selling expensive seats
Ken Belson / NY Times offers a bleak picture of the new ballparks in NY. There are just tons of empty seats near homeplate because the tickets are just too damn expensive and remain unsold. The kicker is that many fans are getting rid of their tickets online for below face value. Ouch!
Unable to sell season-ticket plans for about 100 of their best seats, the Mets have been auctioning them off one game at a time. At least one fan took the bait, paying $7,500 for two seats behind home plate on opening night.
The Mets have suffered the indignity of watching a court-appointed trustee sell the two season tickets bought by Bernard L. Madoff, the financier who admitted to running a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that counted the team’s principal owner, Fred Wilpon, as one of its victims.
An auction for the seats concluded on eBay Tuesday night, with the winning bid coming in at $38,100, considerably below their face value.
Neither team seemed worried that some of the premium seats — any seat that comes with an amenity, like waiter service or access to a dining club — were unfilled. Some of them could have owners who simply did not show up, which hurts food, parking and merchandise sales. Other seats may be part of partial season ticket plans that did not include games played last week.
“If someone’s not there at the moment, that doesn’t mean it’s unsold,” said Dave Howard, the vice president for operations for the Mets. So far, he said, fans are spending about 60 percent more on food, beverages and merchandise than they did at Shea Stadium. “There’s a lot of circulation in the ballpark.”
Many fans with tickets are trying to recoup what they can by selling some of them online well below face value. More than 10,000 tickets (about 20 percent of the ballpark) for the Yankees’ game against the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday were available, a handful for as little as $5, according to FanSnap.com, which scans the Web sites of five dozen ticket resellers.
If I were the Mets and Yankees, I would immediately lower the prices on these tickets and refund money to all season ticket holders to make up the difference. If they lose revenue, at least they got fannies in the seats. It's an awful sight to see seas of empty seats at a brand new stadium.
Monday, April 20, 2009
New Yankee Stadium shorter in right field?
Despite claims by the Yankees that the field dimensions are exactly the same as the old Yankee Stadium, findings by Greg Rybarczyk show that the right field wall is actually 5-10 feet shorter in right field.
Rybarczyk, whose findings were first reported by the Web site WasWatching.com, studied satellite photographs of the 2008 version of the Yankee Stadium field and overlaid them on photographs of the new Yankee Stadium.
He discovered that left field is almost precisely the same (despite another scoreboard there) and center field is a bit deeper than before, but right field is significantly different. To Rybarczyk, the famed short porch is actually shorter.
The Yankees’ president, Randy Levine, declined to be interviewed about the ballpark’s design. But the club has maintained that the field is oriented in the same direction, and that the dimensions and height of the fence are exactly the same as before. That may be true in the areas listed on the fence — in the corners, in front of the bullpens and in center field — but there are no dimensions listed near the scoreboards.
[Tyler Kepner/ NY Times]
Update on Gooden graffiti-gate
At 6:45PM EDT, Steve Summers announced on WFAN that Jeff Wilpon reached out to Mike Francesa to tell him that they are going to start an Autograph Wall somewhere in the concourse area behind centerfield. They will not be erasing Gooden's autograph and will transplant it from Ebbetts Club to its new permanent position in the Mets Autograph of Fame.
Empty seats at NY baseball games
Great job by Wallace Mathews/NY Newsday in pointing out that both NY teams are having a hard time selling out their brand new ballparks. It's pretty simple really. The prices are way too expensive.
Last year, when both teams finally owned up to the fact that there would be a total of 20,000 fewer seats between the two parks, it appeared New York would be grossly underserved. Now it appears the opposite is true, and the teams have no one to blame but themselves.
Ninety miles down the turnpike, they are turning fans away at Citizens Bank Park, and in New York, at least 10,000 seats go unoccupied every game. There can be only one explanation: The tickets are too damned expensive. And something must be done about it soon.
Sunday, the Yankees hosted the Indians and the Mets hosted the Brewers. Neither place came within 5,000 seats of being sold out. Most teams would be overjoyed playing to 85-percent capacity in April, but these are not most teams and this is not any other city.
[Wallace Mathews/ NY Newsday]
Mets treat Gooden's Citi Field autograph as graffiti
Mets are unbelievably dumb when it comes to, well, just about everything.
Dwight Gooden used signed his name w/ a black marker onto a wall in the exclusive Ebbetts Club near the first base line. Turns out the Mets are not too happy with this and they decided to erase Gooden's autograph, treating it as graffiti.
"It's a brand-new building," said Jay Horwitz, the Mets' VP of media relations. "No one is supposed to write on the wall. It's going to be erased."
Lou DiBella, a Manhattan-based boxing promoter and devoted Met fan, was in the Ebbets Club on Opening Day when Gooden signed the wall, and he was there yesterday as the Mets lost 4-2 to the Brewers in the final game of a three-game series.
He's among a number of fans angry Gooden's signature likely will be gone when the team returns from a short trip to St. Louis.
"That's the same spirit that caused them to build a new ballpark that doesn't have any semblance of Mets history," DiBella said. "They charge $240 a ticket, and when your greatest pitcher tries to do something to reach out to the fans, the Mets make it seem like he did something wrong. It's so stupid."
[George Willis, NY Post]
[Flickr picture by Michael G. Baron]
Sunday MLB
The Marlins are smoking hot. Record is 11-1. [ESPN/AP]
The Blue Jays are 10-4 after an excellent outing from Ricky Romero. [ESPN/AP]
The Dodgers (10-3) win their 8th straight. [ESPN/AP]
Watch out for the Red Sox (6-6), now sporting a four game winning streak. [NY Times/ AP]
The Angels just got swept by the Twins. [NY Times/ AP]
The Blue Jays are 10-4 after an excellent outing from Ricky Romero. [ESPN/AP]
The Dodgers (10-3) win their 8th straight. [ESPN/AP]
Watch out for the Red Sox (6-6), now sporting a four game winning streak. [NY Times/ AP]
The Angels just got swept by the Twins. [NY Times/ AP]
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Skip Wang's next start?
Chien-Ming Wang has stunk up the joint in all three of his starts this year and as a result, the Yankees might skip his next turn in the rotation. Wang's next start is supposed to be against the Red Sox in Fenway.
The soft-spoken 29-year-old from Taiwan said he has compared video of his performances from this season to last year, when was 8-2 with a 4.07 ERA in 15 starts before injuring his right foot June 15, and doesn't see a difference.
"Everything is the same as last season," Wang said. "Nothing's wrong. Just keep working."
But Girardi also watched video with his staff and thinks there are several things Wang can work on.
"We looked at his hands, height of his leg kick, where his head is -- if it's out of line -- the angle of his arm. We looked at everything." Girardi said. "We had some healthy stuff that we saw. We understand that we need to make some adjustments." [ESPN/AP]
The soft-spoken 29-year-old from Taiwan said he has compared video of his performances from this season to last year, when was 8-2 with a 4.07 ERA in 15 starts before injuring his right foot June 15, and doesn't see a difference.
"Everything is the same as last season," Wang said. "Nothing's wrong. Just keep working."
But Girardi also watched video with his staff and thinks there are several things Wang can work on.
"We looked at his hands, height of his leg kick, where his head is -- if it's out of line -- the angle of his arm. We looked at everything." Girardi said. "We had some healthy stuff that we saw. We understand that we need to make some adjustments." [ESPN/AP]
Heat Captains set curfew for Atlanta series
Heat captains Wade and Haslem institute a no going-out policy while they stay in Atlanta to play games One and Two. Basically, no partying while in Atlanta during the play-offs. Not sure if it worked because they got whooped by the Hawks 90-64 [ESPN/AP].
Players won't be locked in their hotels, either. Going to dinner, relaxing a bit, that's all acceptable.
Late nights and carousing -- even though there are two full off days between Sunday's Game 1 and Wednesday's Game 2 -- won't be tolerated, Haslem said.
"Some guys will even have their family around," Haslem said. "Basically, we're going on a business trip."
Violators, Haslem warned, may face fines.
"It's not really a curfew," Haslem said. "But we've got eyes everywhere."
The Heat have seen many times before what late nights in a party scene can do to a team.
Miami has what's known around the league as the "South Beach Factor." The lure of Miami Beach is tough for some players visiting South Florida to ignore, and a late night in a club -- whether imbibing or not -- is sometimes tough to overcome when playing basketball the next day. [ESPN/AP]
Players won't be locked in their hotels, either. Going to dinner, relaxing a bit, that's all acceptable.
Late nights and carousing -- even though there are two full off days between Sunday's Game 1 and Wednesday's Game 2 -- won't be tolerated, Haslem said.
"Some guys will even have their family around," Haslem said. "Basically, we're going on a business trip."
Violators, Haslem warned, may face fines.
"It's not really a curfew," Haslem said. "But we've got eyes everywhere."
The Heat have seen many times before what late nights in a party scene can do to a team.
Miami has what's known around the league as the "South Beach Factor." The lure of Miami Beach is tough for some players visiting South Florida to ignore, and a late night in a club -- whether imbibing or not -- is sometimes tough to overcome when playing basketball the next day. [ESPN/AP]
9th Wonder beat for Nas
Let's hope Nas does something w/ this beat. Crazy dope.
I love the second guy in the video, presumably E. Jones. He plays the air piano real well and is perfectly in sync w/ 9th wonder doing the air drums.
Also got to give a shout out to the Youtube comment made by bedlam36:
Nas will turn it down, he only likes shit beats recently.
Crappy Citi Field Seats
Previouslyowned's seats are extremely obstructed. Watch the video to see for yourself.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Average innings pitched per team's starting pitchers
Ken Davidoff's Baseball Insider posted statistics about the average innings pitched per team's starting pitchers.
I called the great Bob Waterman from Elias Sports Bureau to get the info. Through Thursday's actions, here are the leaders and trailers in this category (average innings pitched per team's starting pitchers), with our local two included.
1. Angels 6.15 (Joe Saunders, pictured above, is second in the majors with 20.2 innings pitched in three starts).
2. Mariners 6.10
3. Marlins 6.04
4. (tie) Royals, Pirates, Cardinals, Rays, Blue Jays 6.0
18. Yankees 5.60 (that'll go down, after Joba Chamberlain's outing today).
21. Mets 5.52
26. Astros 4.96
27. Indians 4.87 (this will go up slightly, as Anthony Reyes pitched five innings today and left).
28. Giants 4.85
29. Nationals 4.67
30. Orioles 4.59
The major-league average is 5.60. The American League average is 5.69, and the National League average is 5.51. So the Yankees are below avearge for their league and were even with the big-league average before today, while the Mets are a tick above average for their league and below average for the majors.
I called the great Bob Waterman from Elias Sports Bureau to get the info. Through Thursday's actions, here are the leaders and trailers in this category (average innings pitched per team's starting pitchers), with our local two included.
1. Angels 6.15 (Joe Saunders, pictured above, is second in the majors with 20.2 innings pitched in three starts).
2. Mariners 6.10
3. Marlins 6.04
4. (tie) Royals, Pirates, Cardinals, Rays, Blue Jays 6.0
18. Yankees 5.60 (that'll go down, after Joba Chamberlain's outing today).
21. Mets 5.52
26. Astros 4.96
27. Indians 4.87 (this will go up slightly, as Anthony Reyes pitched five innings today and left).
28. Giants 4.85
29. Nationals 4.67
30. Orioles 4.59
The major-league average is 5.60. The American League average is 5.69, and the National League average is 5.51. So the Yankees are below avearge for their league and were even with the big-league average before today, while the Mets are a tick above average for their league and below average for the majors.
Method Man & Redman: A-Yo feat. Saukrates
Pete Rock did the beat for this new Method Man & Redman banger.
The first verse by Redman is pretty good, and the chorus by Saukrates is fresh. Rest is kinda garbage.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Friday Night MLB
Mets win a tight game over the Brewers 5-4. Sheffield hits his 500th career, 1st as a Met [Ben Shpigel NY Times].
Mariners win again. They are 8-3. Griffey continues to hit. [ESPN/AP]
Boston overcame a crazy deficit of 7 runs to beat the Orioles. [ESPN/AP]
The Padres are also 8-3. They overcame a deficit of 6 runs to defeat the Phillies. [NY Times/AP]
Marlins remain the hottest team at 9-1. The Nationals remain the coldest, 1-8. [NY Times/AP]
Mariners win again. They are 8-3. Griffey continues to hit. [ESPN/AP]
Boston overcame a crazy deficit of 7 runs to beat the Orioles. [ESPN/AP]
The Padres are also 8-3. They overcame a deficit of 6 runs to defeat the Phillies. [NY Times/AP]
Marlins remain the hottest team at 9-1. The Nationals remain the coldest, 1-8. [NY Times/AP]
Tinkering w Mets lineup
1. Castillo
2. Church
3. Reyes
4. Delgado
5. Beltran
6. Wright
7. Murphy
8. Castro
9. Pitcher
This lineup would provide more umph to the start of each game and give Church and Castillo more ABs while they are still smoldering hot.
2. Church
3. Reyes
4. Delgado
5. Beltran
6. Wright
7. Murphy
8. Castro
9. Pitcher
This lineup would provide more umph to the start of each game and give Church and Castillo more ABs while they are still smoldering hot.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Todd Marinovich article in Esquire
Mike Sager of Esquire wrote an incredible article about former NFL quarterback Todd Marinovich. It details how his life unraveled due to heavy drug use. First pot, then coke, and finally heroin. Powerful stuff.
As a consequence of his arrest, the NFL had been requiring Todd to take frequent urine tests. Todd felt he couldn't function without marijuana. "It just allowed me to be comfortable in this loud, chaotic world. Especially the world I was living in. I couldn't fathom being sober," he says. To reconcile these conflicting realities, he kept Gatorade bottles of clean urine, donated by non-pot-smoking friends, in the refrigerator at his Manhattan Beach townhouse, one block from the ocean, which he'd purchased for $900,000.
All season long, this had been his pre-test routine: Pour the refrigerated pee into a small sunscreen bottle. Go to practice. Put the bottle in a cup of coffee and leave it in his locker to warm up while attending a team meeting. Come back, stash the bottle inside his compression shorts, beneath his package. Usually he'd ask the supervisor to turn on the water in the sink to aid his shy bladder. "I got it down to a science," he says.
But now he was out of clean pee, another critical responsibility blown off — like the time at USC when he couldn't be bothered to fill out his housing paperwork and ended up a homeless scholarship athlete. Like Marv, the real world wasn't really his thing.
Luckily, on this Monday morning, one of Todd's former USC teammates was still at his house, left over from the weekend's partying. He didn't do drugs. Unbeknownst to Todd, however, he'd been drinking nonstop since his own game on Saturday.
Soon after, the Raiders got a call from the NFL: Todd's urine sample had registered a blood-alcohol level of .32 — four times the legal limit. "They're like, 'This guy is a fucking full-blown alcoholic,' " Todd says. "They made me check into Centinela Hospital in Inglewood for alcohol detox — and I hadn't even been drinking." The team left without him; he flew later. This time the Chiefs were ready for Todd. He threw four interceptions, fumbled once.
After the season the team held an intervention. Todd spent forty-five days at a rehab facility. The next season, Todd tried to stop smoking pot. Instead, for six weeks, he took LSD after every game — acid didn't show up on the tox screen. After one poor performance, coaches complained that he wasn't grasping the complex offense. Finally, he failed an NFL drug test. Strike two. Back to rehab.
... Except for a little pot, Todd was drug free for the first time in years. His roomie was Canadian. About two weeks into his stay, he asked Todd if he wanted to go with him "to check his babies."
It turned out he was growing potent BC bud. On the way home, Todd stopped at a head shop to buy a bong. There were little vials scattered everywhere on the ground. His junkie warning system sounded a shrill alarm.
Todd had arrived in his own personal land of Oz, a place were junkies bought and used heroin openly and cops only got involved if somebody OD'd. The heroin was called China White. It was infinitely more potent than the black tar Todd had used before — and relatively cheap. He got into a routine: "The day before every game, we would do a walk-through in the dome — that was my day for needle exchange. All my years of being a dope fiend, the hardest part was always getting needles. I was getting good coke and really pure heroin and combining them. That's all I wanted to do. I woke up, fixed, went to practice. Thank God I was just backing up. I was just the clipboard guy, playing the opposing quarterback in practice."
Once, during halftime at a home game, Todd retrieved a premade rig out of his locker and went to the bathroom to shoot up. Sitting on the toilet, half listening to the chalk talk, he slammed the heroin. As the team was leaving the locker room for the second half, he struggled with the screen in his glass crack pipe — he wasn't getting a good hit. Then the pipe broke, and he lacerated his left thumb. By the time he got out onto the field, his thumb wrapped in a towel, the game had already started. He took up the clipboard, his only duty. "I didn't even know what play they were calling," Todd says. "Nobody looked at the shit I wrote down anyway."
At the end of the season, the team had a party. Todd was "gowed out of my mind," meaning that he was "somewhere between a nod and full-on slumber." His weight had dropped to 176 pounds. "I was a celibate heroin monk. I would go downtown, cop, come back to my pad, and not leave till the drugs were gone," he says. "There was no furniture in my place, just a bed and a TV. I wasn't eating. I spent a lot of time in this Astro minivan I had. I'd just climb into the back and fix. My life revolved around dope and my dog."
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Pharrell Interview @ Nylon
Pharrell has an interesting opinion about the difference w/ Kanye and himself:
I ask Williams if he planned any of this. “No, I didn’t, I told you. There’s a difference between me and somebody like Kanye. He plans for it. I never do. It just happens. While I’m left feeling lucky, he’s left feeling like an architect [bizarrely, the word is used as a pejorative]. You understand? ’Cause he plans those things.” (Williams seems to have something of a fixation on West. Three days later, at the photo shoot for this story, wearing a bow tie and shirt, he will put on a pair of white sunglasses from the accessories table and mimick West singing “Love Lockdown.”) “See, I’m the opposite of Kanye,” says Williams. “Kanye always knew he was gonna be big. I can’t believe it still. I never imagined it.” He pauses. “I always had the imagination, I just never imagined it would turn into this.”
Check out Nylon for the rest of the interview.
Griffey the first to honor Jackie Robinson by wearing 42?
In the [ESPN/AP] recap of the Angels v. Mariners game tonight, Ken Griffey Jr. is believed to be the first MLBer to specifically wear #42 as a tribute to Jackie Robinson on April 15th, Jackie Robinson Day.
Griffey was believed to be the first major leaguer to wear 42 to honor Robinson in a game, 12 years ago with the Mariners. He just went up to the Mariners' equipment man weeks before the game and said he wanted to do it -- he didn't think to ask for the league's permission because no one had done it.
I think it's gotten a little ridiculous this season with every player and coach required to wear 42. It makes it pretty confusing watching the games with every single player wearing 42.
Camera obstruction behind home plate at Yankee Stadium
A big complaint about the new Yankee Stadium is that the camera angle behind home plate is obstructed by netting [NY Times].
But the Yankee Stadium angle is the most nettlesome one, which may force YES (or ESPN or Fox) to minimize their use of the camera position, no matter how important.
During the exhibition game at the stadium against the Cubs on April 4, the supporting wires and netting formed a fishnet shroud over the camera shot. It’s not as bad a view as the one spectators will get from the bleacher seats flanking the Mohegan Sun Sports Bar and bleacher cafe, but it is nonetheless a jolting shift from the unimpeded shot in the old stadium.
On replays of Mark Teixeira’s two home runs, the home plate camera was used to show the balls soar into the stands. As it zoomed in, the netting grew increasingly vivid and annoying.
The home plate view, combined with the omission of two traditional low camera positions that looked up the baselines at the old stadium, cannot produce an optimum broadcast.
To be honest, I've never been a big fan of the behind the home plate camera angle to begin with. It's still odd that the architects couldn't resolve this problem during the construction of the stadium.
But the Yankee Stadium angle is the most nettlesome one, which may force YES (or ESPN or Fox) to minimize their use of the camera position, no matter how important.
During the exhibition game at the stadium against the Cubs on April 4, the supporting wires and netting formed a fishnet shroud over the camera shot. It’s not as bad a view as the one spectators will get from the bleacher seats flanking the Mohegan Sun Sports Bar and bleacher cafe, but it is nonetheless a jolting shift from the unimpeded shot in the old stadium.
On replays of Mark Teixeira’s two home runs, the home plate camera was used to show the balls soar into the stands. As it zoomed in, the netting grew increasingly vivid and annoying.
The home plate view, combined with the omission of two traditional low camera positions that looked up the baselines at the old stadium, cannot produce an optimum broadcast.
To be honest, I've never been a big fan of the behind the home plate camera angle to begin with. It's still odd that the architects couldn't resolve this problem during the construction of the stadium.
Citi Field not selling out games
Tonight's game vs. the Padres had an attendance of 35,581, 84% capacity. Wow, that's pretty awful, when you consider it's only the 2nd regular season game ever at the Mets' new ballpark. Opening Day also did not sell out, but at least the attendance was 99% full capacity that night.
On the SNY telecast of the game, they showed a ton of empty seats behind the homeplate area.
Pelfrey over-worked in 2008?
Bob Shpigel of NY Times writes about a theory behind Pelfrey's struggles this season. I feel it's a little early in the season to tell if he has a dead arm or if it just might be that Pelfrey is over-rated.
The Sports Illustrated writer Tom Verducci developed a theory that any pitcher younger than 25 who increases his innings total by 30 or more from the previous season has a greater risk of injury or a decline in his performance. He counts Pelfrey among the 10 prime candidates for a regression this season, along with Cole Hamels (bothered by elbow problems), Jon Lester (0-2, 9.00 E.R.A.) and Tim Lincecum (0-1, 7.56 E.R.A.).
Of the 25-year-old Pelfrey, Manager Jerry Manuel said Monday night, “I haven’t seen his real good stuff yet,” then speculated that he could be going through a dead-arm period, which is rare at such an early stage of the season.
“I don’t know if that’s the case, but I just haven’t seen some of the stuff he showed last year,” Manuel said. “We’re going to sit down and see if there’s anything possibly wrong with him. We’ll watch him a little bit, maybe give him an extra day’s rest here and there. See if we can get that life back. I just haven’t seen the life in those pitches.”
Milledge back to the Minors
Lastings Milledge was sent to the Minors by the Washington Nationals. I feel kinda sad to see somebody with a first name of Lastings to leave the Big Leagues.
Man, in retrospect, Omar Minaya made a great trade when he got Schneider and Church for Milledge.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Dave Howard defends Citi Field
Dave Howard was on Mike Francesa's show today defending Citi Field and sounding like a crooked politician. He doesn't think Citi Field is an homage to the Dodgers. He ignores the serious obstruction issues in the Promenade Level. Just straight up disgusting.
Mos Def "Flowers"
Is Mos Def back? He is pimping his new album The Ecstatic that is targeted to be released June, 2009. Hopefully, there are some good songs on it.
Seinfeld comments on Citi Field
Jerry Seinfeld was talking about Citi Field on the Steve Summers show. I was disappointed to hear him say that he is tired to hear so many fan complaining about Citi Field. Understandably, Seinfeld has the best seats in the house so what does he care if thousands of fans have obstructed views? But he sounds like a pompous jackass when he rips the fans who have been voicing their complaints.
Porn in P.S.P.
A 6 year old gets a PSP as a gift from his mom and gets more than he bargained for, porn!
Like most children, Eliso Tovar loves video games. So his mom Tamatha bought a Playstation Portable for a late Christmas present at a Wal-Mart in Manatee County.
What happened next would shock the entire family. Saturday, when the 6-year-old boy turned it on for the first time, he says a naked woman appeared on the screen saver. Afraid he would be grounded, Tovar ran to his mom crying.
"I showed it to my mom, and I ran back to my room…she said I'm not in trouble," says Eliso.
Tamatha says she found a memory card inside the P.S.P. containing hundreds of pornographic pictures. She says it's not hers and it was in the P.S.P. before she opened the box. Tamatha called the store wanting to speak with a manager about the problem.
"I explained the situation and his response was, well bring the machine down and we'll let your son pick out a new game. And I was like, no I don't think you heard what I said," says Tamatha.
Tovar says she thinks someone returned the P.S.P. and left the memory chip inside.
[My Fox Tampa Bay]
Nick Swisher pitching in blowout
Super utility man Nick Swisher had to pitch the bottom of the 8th inning in a 15-5 blowout loss against the Rays. Not a bad job actually. 1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 R.
If Isiah Thomas can get hired in this economy
The Miami Herald reports that Isiah Thomas is on the verge of signing an agreement with FIU to become their next Head Coach. I guess all that great work that he did for the Knicks sure wasn't enough damage to scare away all future employers. But, I've never heard of FIU so maybe it's not such a great gig after all.
Isiah Thomas, the NBA Hall of Famer and former New York Knicks coach, is expected to be named head coach at FIU on Tuesday, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
Thomas and the school were completing details of the contract Monday night. An announcement is expected Tuesday, and Thomas is scheduled to be in Miami on Wednesday.
Avoiding the "S" topic
There's been allegations about Mike Piazza's possible steroid use in the news recently thanks to Jeff Pearlman's new book and rumors about him written in blogs. Much like Mark McGuire, it appears that Mike Piazza is just ducking away from any media attention these days, probably to avoid talking about the "S" topic. Kinda sad.
Piazza, meanwhile, was nowhere to be seen. Escorted by security, he went from the field to the stadium tunnel. His plan to avoid the news media was only briefly interrupted, by two questions from a television news reporter about the new stadium.
It was unclear if Piazza’s reluctance to talk was connected to allegations of steroid use in a recently published book, “The Rocket That Fell to Earth,” by Jeff Pearlman. The book is about Roger Clemens, but in one section Pearlman writes that Piazza confided to unidentified reporters during his career that he had used performance-enhancing drugs.
No other information in the book backed up the assertion. Since the book was published, Piazza has declined several requests for comment.
“He wasn’t looking for any attention,” Jay Horwitz, the Mets’ vice president for media relations, said when asked why Piazza did not want to talk.
“He said, ‘I’m a private person now, I have a family, I’m raising my kids, my wife’s having a baby and I want to stay in the background.’ ”
[Joshua Robinson of the NY Times]
Mets mishandling Church situation
It continues to baffle my mind why the Mets continue to so poorly handle Church's situation. Did they really need to announce to the world that Sheffield is starting on Wednesday? Now, they've created this uncomfortable situation where they are basically sitting down the Mets' best hitter so far in 2009. Bob Shpigel talked about Church's awkward situation in the NY Times.
Once again, Ryan Church is off to a spectacular start, batting .423 for the Mets and making juggling catches in right field. But he is not scheduled to be in the starting lineup Wednesday night against the San Diego Padres.
Instead, he will be benched in favor of Gary Sheffield, who did not play the outfield in spring training for Detroit because he never thought he would be asked to do so during the season, by the Mets.
Still, ready or not, Sheffield will be in right field at Citi Field, manning what could be one of the trickiest corners in baseball, with an upper-deck overhang and assorted quirky angles. And the left fielder will be Daniel Murphy, who is still learning on the job.
Add in a fly-ball starting pitcher like Oliver Perez, who is scheduled to start Wednesday, and Manager Jerry Manuel may be leaving himself open to second-guessing if the game is filled with miscues.
“You can practice, practice, practice, but eventually you have to play,” Manuel said before Monday’s game when asked why Sheffield would be playing for Church. “You have to get on the field. I do think that at this point, with him not playing a couple years in right field or any outfield, that we almost have to take it like a spring training deal.
“We have to put him out here, we have to watch him play. And if there’s a chance for us to defend for him later, we’ll do that.”
They could have avoided a lot of problems by platooning Daniel Murphy w/ Tatis or Sheffield. This way Church gets his playing time and won't unnecessarily sit out just to give Sheffield some at-bats.
Heath Bell's interview after getting 1st save at Citi Field
WFAN's Ed Coleman did a quick interview w/ Heath Bell after recording the first save in Citi Field history.
Getting the save for Bell was something that he aimed for prior to this series so it must be pretty sweet for Bell to accomplish his goal.
Is it officially over for the rest of the NBA?
The Cavs clinched best record in the NBA w/ a win over the Pacers. It's going to be hard for the Celtics or anybody else for that matter to beat Cleveland in a best of 7 series. Maybe the Lakers can do it, but that's about it.
"It's one step, however, it's a big step," James said. "When you consider all the great teams, all the great players, all the great coaches and all the great systems that are in the NBA, for us to finish with the best record is a tremendous feat. And that is something the franchise should be proud of."
With his team having clinched the top record with a game to spare, coach Mike Brown will likely make James and other key players spectators against Philadelphia -- even though it could cost the Cavs a shot at more NBA history.
A win by the Cavaliers on Wednesday would tie them for the NBA record for best home mark, 40-1, set by the Boston Celtics in 1985-86. James isn't worried about it.
"We've got to do what's best for the ring," he said. "We've got home-court advantage already. We're not fighting for breaking a record anymore. We're fighting for that ring."
And James won't call his team the favorite for it.
"It's going to be Boston," he said. "It goes like that every year. Until you knock off the NBA champs, that's the team to beat. We worked hard for the regular season to get to the point where we're at now, the home court. We must serve home in the playoffs like we did in the regular season."
[ESPN/AP]
Monday, April 13, 2009
Neil Best's Watchdog
Neil Best blogged about his experiences at the Met game today at Citi Field. One of his better blogs of late for sure.
Jerry Seinfeld bought a suite at the super-duper, extra-special, ultra-expensive Sterling Suites level, where there are only 10 of them. He still was sitting in the first row, outside the suite itself, in the ninth inning, true fan that he is.
The scene on the No. 7 platform was shockingly civil and uncrowded when I arrived about five minutes after the final out. My goal is to NEVER drive to Citi Field or new Yankee Stadium until I die or the stadiums are torn down, whichever comes first.
I saw Padres announcer and former Yankee Jerry Coleman on the F Train after the game. Always cool to see an 85-year-old announcer on the subway at 11 o'clock at night. I overheard him complaining to his family about fans standing in front of him during the game, blocking his view of the action.
Rose told me before the game he is not concerned about fans blocking his view from the home radio booth, which was a problem during the recent exhibitions against the Bosox. He said he was confident security personnel would keep the area clear.
There's been multiple dialogue regarding the poor position of the radio and TV booths. In the exhibition games, fans routinely blocked the view of the announcers. And apparently, it's still happening to 85 year old Padre announcer Jerry Coleman. I wonder why they would build it with even the possibility of fan obstruction?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)