Archive for the 'Baseball' Category



29
Aug
08

Two Very Different Ways to Get a Ball at the Park

You go to a baseball game and you always hope that your seat will be the lucky spot. The game winning homer comes right to you. Six foul balls in a row, all from your favorite player come miraculously to right where you are. Rarely does that actually happen though. Instead, if you want to get a ball you need to be creative. Here are two different gentleman, going about very different means in order to get that coveted baseball.

If you’re an adult, this is one way to go about it, but you better have the expert hand-eye coordination to corral that ball into your cup, and then you need to be willing to finish your beer whilst the mud and dirt on the ball invades. But still, impressive and classy.


Or if beer drinking isn’t your thing, you can always opt, like this Mets fan, to find yourself a way onto the field. Sure you might get hurt in the process, but isn’t having the Big Pelf, Mike Pelfrey, come to your rescue reward enough? I just hope for the kid’s sake that Pelf’s mouthguard wasn’t in, that could be terrifying to have a giant drooling slurring man try and aid you after falling off a wall…

Vodpod videos no longer available.

28
Aug
08

Red Sox Nation Eagerly Welcomes Kotsay

Despite hitting a double in his first at-bat with the Red Sox, I would say Red Sox nation is at most ambivalent to the recent arrival of Mark Kotsay. However, those of us who follow baseball closely ARE excited for one major aspect of the addition of Kotsay to the team, that would be the addition of Jamie Kotsay to the Red Sox family. Welcome Jamie! For those of you who are unfamiliar with Jamie, let us explain why we are so excited (she’s the one on the left):

Then there is this photo that launched her into the dreams of many:

Jamie, who works as a model when she isn’t participating in team wife baseball games, is a very very welcome addition to the Red Sox and hopefully Theo will sign her to a very long-term deal. Mark on the other hand…

Anyway welcome to the city Jamie, welcome to the Olde Towne Team and, by all means, feel free to leave your husband for any of the one bloggers on this site.

(Oh, and for anyone wondering, in any group shot Jamie is always on the left side of the photo, I guess that’s her good side, although I haven’t found a side I dislike yet…)

28
Aug
08

Joe Torre Loves to Screw With Relievers

Tanyon Sturtze, who previously was abused by Joe Torre’s bullpen mismanaging in New York was informed by his manager Wednesday afternoon that he was being designated for assignment. As he sat by his then-former locker, packing his things and saying goodbye to teammates, Torre came back up to Sturtze a few minutes later and informed him that they were NOT releasing him at that moment. When reporters asked Torre for Sturtze’s reaction, Torre responded saying, “He’s not OK.” Gee, you think?We’ve seen Torre be completely inept at the handling of a modern bullpen, (I’m still convinced that Scott Proctor must have nailed Torre’s wife or something for the sheer amount of abuse that Torre heaps on his arm) but usually he only is unable to manage them on the field, now it turns out he is inept in the locker room as well.

Sure, Sturtze is a scrub and has only appeared in 3 games this season for the Dodgers, but he is also a 12 year veteran and no one deserves to be treated like that. Torre’s justification? “He knew [when he was called up two weeks ago] it was on a temporary basis.” In the meantime, Cory Wade, for whom Sturtze’s roster spot was to be used is still unready to come off the DL and so Sturtze, for the moment, remains a Dodger. I’d say when Sturtze eventually does get released that anything less than the complete trashing and possibly setting on fire of Torre’s office is a missed opportunity.

27
Aug
08

Look What I Found in the Mail

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Stealing can be fun but in the modern age it never ceases to amaze me that people don’t get that you shouldn’t sell the things you steal right away on eBay. I mean, you don’t rob a Picasso from a museum and then two days later walk around to art galleries and offer it to them right? You gotta space these things out, wait some time, let the heat die down. Doesn’t anyone pay attention to heist movies anymore? Clearly Richard Trofatter Jr. (left), a mail-carrier in Maine has no idea as to how these things work.

mathewson-christy-1915-cracker-jackThat’s because he swiped a rare 1915 Christy Mathewson Cracker Jacks card that someone else had purchased on eBay. When the buyer never received the package, he contacted the seller, who had purchased $655 in insurance on the package. The seller then contacted the USPS who launched an investigation into the disappearance of the package. What they were able to find was that the exact same card had been sold on eBay, from Maine, for $1,211 and the seller was one, Richard Trofatter Jr. Smooth dude!

If you’re going to steal, be smart about it. Scams can be, and are, quite fun, but only if you’re smart about it. Continue reading ‘Look What I Found in the Mail’

20
Aug
08

He Better Have Ordered the Frog Legs

The fine folk over at With Malice have a great story about former Yankee, and Rangers pitcher Hideki Irabu who hasn’t been active in baseball circles since retiring from the Hanshin Tigers in 2005; certainly his major league career was nothing worthwhile, finishing with an era of 5.15 and a grand total of 34 wins in 80 starts. Well, never fear, he’s still keeping himself busy, for example he briefly owned a Udon restaurant, although that was unfortunately shut down only a few months ago. Oh, he also lives with his mom, so he’s got that going for him.

Then, the other night in Osaka, while out to dinner with a friend, Irabu, 39, opted to pay for their meal with a credit card, which apparently in Japan is not always an accepted practice. When the manager informed Irabu that that his card was rejected, Irabu freaked out and grabbed the manager by the hair and threw him into a wall and other violence followed. Irabu was subsequently able to pay with a different card, and then was later arrested by the gendarmes; he is now out on bail. It’s good to see that he is finding active ways to occupy his time, and that the competitive edge still burns within. You know, he might be a perfect fit for the Yankees rotation now, he HAS to be better than Carl Pavano right?

[With Malice]

20
Aug
08

Get Well Soon!

Carl Yastrzemski was taken to the hospital for triple bypass surgery on Tuesday. The surgery reportedly went well and he’s resting and on his way to recovery now. Take it easy Yaz and get well.

15
Aug
08

Manny Ramirez, Still a Prick

As soon as Manny joined the Dodgers, manager Joe Torre mentioned to him that he wanted Manny to cut his dreads to conform to Joe’s antiquated ideas of how players should look. Now, I’m not going to go into whether or not Torre should be concerning himself as the look of his players rather than their production on the field–he shouldn’t be, get over it Joe, these are adults and it isn’t 1950, people aren’t wearing derby hats in the stands, let the players look they way they want–so Manny, the consummate teammate and order follower finally listened to Torre and cut his dreads. He had them cut all of an inch at most. What an asshole! I mean, I love it, because why not tweak Joe Torre, but still, that is one of the most petulant things Manny has done, is he going to start flicking Joe’s ears on the bus next? Start kicking Joe’s seat on the team plane? This is just such a ridiculously childish thing for Manny to do, that I’m almost in shock. I get that Manny has no idea what is going on in the world, hell, he’s probably borderline autistic, but Scott Boras should know better and tell Manny that this is NOT the way to go about getting that insane contract that he wants to get.

While I don’t think he’s getting 100 million from anyone, it is possible he could get like 60 million or so from someone, but if he keeps doing little shit like this, essentially just to piss off his manager and employer than he might find his options even more limited.

14
Aug
08

For the Royals He Isn’t Half Bad

There are sometimes some very silly bobblehead giveaways, for example, the other night the Dodgers gave out a Joe Beimel bobblehead. Beimel, best known previously for getting drunk before the 2006 playoffs and getting hurt in a bar, thus ending his team’s hopes in the playoffs, was voted to get a bobblehead even before such actual stars like Matt Kemp or Chad Billingsley. These things are all politics.

Sometimes, teams plan bobblehead promotions too far in advance, for example, when the Toronto Blue Jays cut Frank Thomas only days in advance of his bobblehead day, or the Kansas City Royals, who planned a Tony Pena Jr. bobblehead night in the beginning of the season. Only problem is, now, Pena is hitting a robust .160 and lost his starting job long ago to rookie “sensation” Mike Aviles. Because they already planned the night and had the bobbleheads made, the Royals are going through with the promotion which will be held on September 6.

Who knows, maybe between now and then the slick-fielding Pena will suddenly learn to hit and become an unstoppable offensive force, propelling the Royals to AL Central glory, and thus making him worthy of a bobblehead. Or he could languish on the bench for the rest of the season as a defensive replacement and then fade off to obscurity. If I were him, I’d grab a couple of those bobbleheads, methinks there won’t ever be another Tony Pena Jr. day in the big leagues.

“The decision to have a Tony bobblehead promotion was made back in February and March,” Royals vice president of sales and marketing Mark Tilson said, “When you think about the Royals situation back then, Tony was coming off a very good year and was regarded around the league as one of the top defensive shortstops in baseball. There was really no way of anticipating that he wouldn’t be the regular starter now. And when we plan these promotions and carry them out, it’s not really performance based.” Which means that the promotional staff and the scouting staff work off the same idea! Yes! Nailed it!

14
Aug
08

Erin Andrews Doesn’t Like Competition

The gents over at Home Run Derby came up with this picture from the Red Sox game last night where ESPN’s resident hottie Erin Andrews and NESN’s own hottie Heidi Watney were both stationed in the same photographers well. While Watney was on-air talking about something, Erin was behind her and, as we’ve seen with the men at Fenway, Heidi Watney’s ass just needs to be stared at. Far be it from Erin to ignore such a great sight. Although it appears like Erin doesn’t like what she sees, could Erin be threatened or does she simply find Watney’s backside unimpressive?
[Home Run Derby]

13
Aug
08

Chalk Up Another Fine Presidential Moment

Continuing his tour of the US Olympic athletes, here is Cheerleader-in-Chief Bush visiting with the softball team since, like most men, he LOVES Jenny Finch. Laura Berg, the team’s resident prankster was the one who got the chalk handprint on his back. I’m just disgusted that she wanted to touch him, look at that shirt, he has totally sweat through that entire thing and you want to put your hand on a 60 year old’s sweat? Gross. Oh yeah, and now the leader of the free world looks like the nerdy kid in gym class. Look at us world, we’re a city on a hill!

[Sports by Brooks]

13
Aug
08

No Love Out There For the Men in Blue

The other night during one of the Little League World Series games the home plate umpire was knocked to the ground whilst the catcher went after a pop foul. Unable to apparently control his feet, the umpire took a few steps to get out of the way and then tripped over himself, remaining on the ground for way too long to not look foolish. Fortunately, he admitted right away that he was clumsy and out of shape and the game moved on.

But our umpires story doesn’t end there, it seems that a NJ man, probably having seen this video on television was feeling very angry towards umpires, and children in general and wanted to defend the honor of adults everwhere. After all, how dare that Little Leaguer cause an older man to fall over embarrassingly! So, when watching his son and the other 8-10 year olds playing in a Cal Ripken baseball league game in New Jersey, Thomas Lambert, a parole officer, started banging on a sign, yelling aggressive things like, “You suck!” and “Go back to umpire school!” at that umpire. When the 14 year old umpire asked Lambert to leave, and on-lookers mentioned calling the police, Lambert yelled, “I am the fucking police, and now who the fuck are you gonna call?” The umpire then came near the fencing and Lambert punched the young umpire in the face through the mesh fence.

It turns out though, that the ump’s dad is ALSO a cop, and it turns out THAT’s who they fucking called. Lambert is now facing an assault charge and is being investigated now by his work at the parole office as well. The best part of this story is the awful “reporting” done by the shitacular local Fox reporter guy who hounds Lambert to get zero quotes and then inexplicably decides to show the same stupid uninformative shots twice, that’s some real fine reporting you’re doing.

11
Aug
08

Just Moyer Being Moyer

Vodpod videos no longer available.

How come when Manny Ramirez pushes down a 60 year old man everyone gets all up in his grill but when Jamie Moyer does it it’s fine? In case you missed it yesterday, here is the video of Phillies geriatric pitcher Moyer running the bases after an attempted sacrifice bunt turned into a two base error and ended with him up at third. There was no wondering if Moyer was running hard down the line though; he took out umpire Randy Marsh with a clean forearm shiver as he rounded first. Since Moyer, at 45, is the oldest player in the MLB that’s gotta be pretty embarassing for Marsh. Then again, Marsh is 60 years old so maybe Moyer should be the one embarrassed. Regardless, I have a feeling that it would be wise for Moyer to go apologize before the next time Marsh is behind the plate for one of his games…

[Fan IQ]




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