July 2005
It is a poor musician who blames his instrument
Luis Matos apparently believes berating his bat will somehow "will" it into making more consistent contact.
Yakkety ak … don’t trade back
Pirates intend to use an "AK-47" at 3rd next year?
Chris Kahrl, in her Transaction Analysis column over on "Baseball Prospectus", on the Pirates trade of triple-A catcher David Ross for infielder J.J. Furmaniak:
"Furmaniak can play second, short or third, he’s 25, and he has almost two years of experience in Triple-A. …As a possible utility infielder, he’ll be going up against Freddy Sanchez in camp next year, although it’s always possible that Sanchez might win the job at third. I’d rather have one of them win a platoon job sharing the hot corner with Rob Mackowiak next season …"
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I can see it now … the "IAK" platoon! 
(with apologies to Billy Joel)
Littlefield sits by his front office door
Saving his pennies for some day
Mr. McClendon left a note on the door
He said "GM move David for something"
Ah but Ross for J.J. can give you
MACKOWIAK FURMANIAK, ack
You ought-a know by now
Who needs a catcher down in Indy, mack?
Is that all you get for your money?
And it seems such a waste of time
If that’s what it’s all about
Mama if that’s movin up then I’m Dizzy Trout
Mm I’m Dizzy Trout, mm oo oo uh huh mm hm
Hideo(us) Nomo the new(est) Yankee savior?
Paging Ed Whitson … Ed Whitson, please report to Yankee Stadium … stat.
Through their first 98 games, the Yankees have already used 12 different starting pitchers, as follows
NAME GS
Randy Johnson 22
Mike Mussina 21
Carl Pavano 17
Kevin Brown 13
C. Wang 12
Jaret Wright 4
Sean Henn 3
Al Leiter 2
T. Sturtze 1
Aaron Small 1
Darrell May 1
Tim Redding 1
Roger renders batters slugless
Roger Clemens is on his way to setting a rather amazing record. His current .254 opponent’s slugging percentage (helped by allowing a mere 23 XBH, including only 5 homers) through his first 135 innings is on pace for the 3rd lowest figure in the last 33 seasons. And, if you exclude the strike-shortened 1972 and 1981 seasons, he would have the BEST figure since at least 1972.
Here are the starting pitchers who have allowed less than a .260 slugging percentage in a full season since 1972.
NAME TEAM YEAR SLG
Nolan Ryan HOU 1981 .216
Nolan Ryan CAL 1972 .246
Roger Clemens HOU 2005 .254
Nolan Ryan CAL 1977 .256
Greg Maddux ATL 1995 .258
Pedro Martinez BOS 2000 .259
Greg Maddux ATL 1994 .259
Dave Righetti NYA 1981 .259
The Great American Ball Dark
"A power outage at Great American Ball Park delayed Friday night’s game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Cincinnati Reds for 25 minutes in the top of the seventh inning.
The Reds, who were leading 7-3, were warming up before the start of the inning when several of the lights stands went off. A couple of minutes later, the rest also went off, leaving only security lights and the scoreboards functioning.
The Reds said a blown transformer in the area caused the temporary loss of power."
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Danny Graves denied any responsibility for the outage, while Kenny Rogers also denied responsibility, after mishearing of an "outrage" at the park.
Astros conquering their fear of the road?
Historical road woes history now?
"The surging Houston Astros put a six-game winning streak on the line Saturday when they take on the Washington Nationals.
All six wins have come on the road, including Friday’s 14-1 rout in which the Astros recorded season highs in runs and hits (19)."
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Not bad for a team that started out 9-27 on the road, averaging less than 3 runs per game on the road.
Hit by cupid’s pitch
Pitcher: Do you think he knows how I really feel about him now?
Catcher: If you were interested in him, you should have hit ON him.
meanwhile …
Baserunner: Now why did he have to go and do that? …
Coach: Not quite sure, but before the game, he DID give me this note to give to you.
The right to bare/bear forearms
Members of the Cleveland Indians have apparently taken the "team unity" thing a bit too seriously.
I know why the caged scorekeeper sings
Scoreboard keeper plots his escape from the fenced in area, until Kevin Mench interrupts …
The sum-o all parts
The Twins Matt LeCroy adapts his portly body type to a "Yokozuna" batting stance.
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