I often wonder what went on in big-league press boxes before there was a such a thing as the Internet. From what I’m told the press box was a lot more animated and adversarial.
As if that’s not the case now.
Perhaps without the Internet, the public relations staff would be busier looking up stats and trends and that kind of stuff, but these days it’s all a mouse click away. So with a second weekend of day-night action, the scribes are about to visit their Facebook pages while simultaneously keeping an eye on their Fantasy Football matchups.
It should be noted that my team is beating all that is holy out of the team owned by Marcus Hayes. However, Marcus has DeSean Jackson and Wes Parker remaining in order to make up the 40-point deficit. I’m fresh out of players after benefitting from a stellar outing by a guy named E. Graham of Tampa Bay.
Nope, I don’t pretend to be an expert.
Meanwhile, bulldog scribe Mike Radano of the Courier Post just handed out the cards for the no-hitter pool. What happens is whenever a pitcher carries a no-no past the third inning, Mike hands out specific cards to 10 people for $5 apiece. If a card matches with the corresponding spot in the lineup of the player who busts up the no-hitter, the card holder takes home the loot.
If a pitcher goes on to toss the no-hitter, the person holding the King is the big winner.
For the record, Ken Mandel of Phillies.com won when Kevin Millwood threw his no-hitter.
OK… here comes the jinx – Brett Myers has a no-hitter through three innings. In the third he walked Craig Counsell to start the inning, but quickly erased him by coaxing a 6-4-3 double play. Jeff Suppan grounded out to end the inning.
Myers has thrown 30 pitches without a strikeout to get his goose eggs.
Soeaking of goose eggs, the Phillies just posted their first one of the game in the third. However, Ryan Howard kept the grounded-into-double-play streak alive for a third inning in a row.
Phillies 4, Brewers 0
Marcus Hayes
September 15, 2008
Third inning: Shhhhh! Don't jinx it
I often wonder what went on in big-league press boxes before there was a such a thing as the Internet. From what I’m told the press box was a lot more animated and adversarial.
As if that’s not the case now.
Perhaps without the Internet, the public relations staff would be busier looking up stats and trends and that kind of stuff, but these days it’s all a mouse click away. So with a second weekend of day-night action, the scribes are about to visit their Facebook pages while simultaneously keeping an eye on their Fantasy Football matchups.
It should be noted that my team is beating all that is holy out of the team owned by Marcus Hayes. However, Marcus has DeSean Jackson and Wes Parker remaining in order to make up the 40-point deficit. I’m fresh out of players after benefitting from a stellar outing by a guy named E. Graham of Tampa Bay.
Nope, I don’t pretend to be an expert.
Meanwhile, bulldog scribe Mike Radano of the Courier Post just handed out the cards for the no-hitter pool. What happens is whenever a pitcher carries a no-no past the third inning, Mike hands out specific cards to 10 people for $5 apiece. If a card matches with the corresponding spot in the lineup of the player who busts up the no-hitter, the card holder takes home the loot.
If a pitcher goes on to toss the no-hitter, the person holding the King is the big winner.
For the record, Ken Mandel of Phillies.com won when Kevin Millwood threw his no-hitter.
OK… here comes the jinx – Brett Myers has a no-hitter through three innings. In the third he walked Craig Counsell to start the inning, but quickly erased him by coaxing a 6-4-3 double play. Jeff Suppan grounded out to end the inning.
Myers has thrown 30 pitches without a strikeout to get his goose eggs.
Soeaking of goose eggs, the Phillies just posted their first one of the game in the third. However, Ryan Howard kept the grounded-into-double-play streak alive for a third inning in a row.
Phillies 4, Brewers 0
August 10, 2008
Nothing to see here except for everything
August 06, 2008
All Brett, all the time
I have a theory. No, it's not the one where I offered that everyone, at one point or another, has dined on a loogie at a restaurant. This new theory is totally different and much less solid than my other theory.
This one has to do with Brett Favre and ESPN, which based on the recent wall-to-wall coverage of all things Favre and the Packers, is almost like eating a loogie in a TV viewing sense.
Anyway, my theory is since the Olympics are set to begin and NBC has decided to devote 23 ½ hours of its programming per day to Olympics coverage, the so-called World Wide Leader is going to the dance without a date... so to speak. ESPN/ABC cannot show the Olympics - they can only attend and cover it like everyone else. So to turn away heads from the biggest sporting event in the world this year, ESPN has barraged the sports-viewing public with "All Brett, All the Time."
No, I don't think it's anything as sinister as choosing to report a less important story. After all, the Olympics haven't even started yet. However, a lot of newspapers have sent teams of writers to China to cover one of the more mystifying and intriguing set of Games in a long time. From what I recall, there was no such intrigue regarding the Olympics in Seoul, Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney or Athens.
China, to those of us in the West, is still mysterious. That's especially the case when one takes in account the political, social, environmental and human rights concerns. For Americans it's kind of odd that we actually have someone to look down upon in those regards, but there China is, anchoring an entire continent with its sprawling landscape that is becoming more and more developed by the day.
Think oil prices are high now? Wait until the Chinese citizens in the outer provinces put down the bikes and get cars.
So with the writers heading for the Far East, the MLB season entering the so-called dog days and the football season still a month away, why wouldn't ESPN try a little misdirection? It's as if they are screaming, "Hey, don't look at the biggest sporting event in the world - you know, the one where we are not the rights' holders. Look over here - to Wisconsin, U.S.A. That's where the real story is. Come watch."
And like the Chinese government, ESPN adds, "If you choose not to, we will make you."
OK, it's just a theory. There are more holes in this argument than Swiss cheese, but it's out there nonetheless.
Speaking of out there, my friend and all-around swell guy (and ex-Phillies writer), Marcus Hayes, is in China for the Olympics. He arrived Tuesday at 2 p.m., which was 2 a.m. Tuesday morning here on the East Coast... or 2 a.m. tomorrow -- time zones always mess me up. Chances are he's pretty jet lagged.
Nevertheless, Marcus will be updating a blog (do people even use that word anymore... seems outdated to me) for the Daily News and I suggest everyone read it.
OR ELSE!
Seriously, it might be the second or third place I go when I make my rounds through the Internets every morning. Meanwhile, I had hoped to do one of those Slate.com-esque e-mail exchange columns with Marcus and the Inquirer's Phil Sheridan, but it seems as if they are going to be too busy.
Instead I'll just tune in to the 23 ½ hours of daily coverage and write about it here.
In the meantime, Marcus reported that he made it to Beijing after a 14-hour flight. In response to an e-mail where I told him I was envious that he got to go to the Olympics and I get to go to Citizens Bank Park, our hero wrote, "You wouldn't be so envious if you just spent 4 hours sitting across from a smelly Latvian with 4 spiked hairs."
See, Beijing isn't all that different than Philadelphia.
He also reported that he cannot read his own site because it has been blocked by the Chinese government.
Anyway, I told Marcus that it would not surprise me if he went to China and an international incident occurred. Marcus Hayes in China just screams "international incident."
Better yet, remember Christopher Walken's character in The Deer Hunter? You know, he went to Vietnam and never made it back because he went AWOL from a hospital in Saigon in order to play Russian roulette for money... for some reason I foresee a similar fate for Marcus.
OK, back to the Brett Barrage, which is kind of like Russian Roulette but only brain cells are in danger.
Read: Marcus Hayes' Olympic Proportions site
May 23, 2006
Tuesday, May 23 - "Hey Marcus Hayes, the Phillies suck."
During the late innings of Friday night's game against the Red Sox, two young men walked past the press box and, upon recognizing Marcus Hayes from his court-appointed community service work, as well as contributions to literacy in the tri-state area, decided to shout at him.Hey, it's what people do.
Anyway, one of the fellows yelled: "Hey Marcus Hayes, the Phillies suck."
Well, there's not much one can say to that. However, no one has ever really asked Marcus what he thinks sucks. I didn't either, but by some sort of divine intervention, I channelled the spirit of Marcus, sat down with him and asked him what he thought sucked.
Here's the list of suckitude we came up with (in no particular order):
I think I'm missing a few things.
Todd spent the offday staring at the wall in his house. Eight hours later, he got up and wrote this little off-day thang about Ryan Howard. Todd thinks YOU suck.
Marcus doesn't think Cole Hamels sucks so he decided to write his off-day story about the rookie lefty.
Also in the Inquirer, a writer went to Venezuela to get an update on Ugueth Urbina as he waits in jail for his attempted-murder trial.
Midway through Ken's off-day story about Chris Coste, the term "reach around" enters one's mind. At least that's what I'm told... I didn't read it.
On his way up to Shea, Mike Radano wrote that the series against the Mets is very, very meaningful. Very meaningful.
Meanwhile, smirking columnist Kevin Roberts wrote that streaks... well, they can mean anything.
On the other hand, grinning columnist Jack McCaffery went to RFK and wrote about Delaware County homeboy Taylor Buchholz and his strong season with the Houston Astros.
Also in the Delco Daily Times, Dennis chatted with media gadfly Cory Lidle who told him that the Mets ain't won nuthin yet. Bitch.
On the slowest-loading web site this side of a dialup 56K modem, PhillyBurbs' Randarino wrote about the "Showdown at Shea." They might even have t-shirts printed up already.
Scott Lauber was a busy little guy on his day off, writing about Chris Coste's long-awaited call to the Majors as well as Shane Victorino's strong showing while filling in for Aaron Rowand. Lauber's dateline even says New York, which means he's already there. Or maybe he's making it up... in that regard, perhaps he could have gone to Walla Walla or even taken a Carnivale Cruise or something.
Finger wrote about a horse, of course, for his weekly column that is full of overwritten imagery and other bullshit, while his intern handled the baseball stuff and wrote something about Chris Coste.
Here's the Transaction analysis thing from Baseball Prospectus:
Announced the retirement of INF-R Alex Gonzalez; recalled 1B/3B/C-R Chris Coste from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. [5/21]
It's been a long, long, long road for Coste to the big leagues, but he's always hit, he's not embarrassingly bad at either infield corner or behind the plate, and how can you not root for a guy whose big break was four years as a star on the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks, contending against the evil empire St. Paul Saints in the Northern League? The guy played with Darryl Motley of the '85 Royals, human fire hydrant Brian Traxler, the ageless Jeff Bittiger, famous sibling Ozzie Canseco, and the always-wandering Blaise Ilsley. Anybody else remember the too-large Mike Busch playing third for the Dodgers? He washed up in Fargo too.
Anyway, Coste has been through a lot, but he was being scouted, getting a first shot courtesy of the Pirates, and then finally sticking with the Indians' organization. He's basically someone to root for, proof positive that the Indy leagues have done more than give us the occasional pitching find, they've also given us guys good enough to stick in the upper levels of affiliated farm systems, and even crack The Show.
As for Gonzalez, while he's certainly the not-so-secret beneficiary of the Bartman incident, and although he was always seen as somewhat disappointing, he did turn out to be a pretty useful ballplayer. If he wasn't one of the American League's trinity at shortstop, he was a good glove, a hitter with modest pop and modest patience. He could bunt, and that's the sort of thing that might get Buster Olney lathered up and tingly. Because A-Gonz arrived young yet ready, a lot of us were quick to expect that he'd blossom into something more, but that's our fault, not his.
Here's an interesting one that has nothing to do with baseball -- In The New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell writes that Allen Iverson probably isn't so good. On another note, is it possible that Gladwell and Iverson have the same hair stylist?Meanwhile, in Budapest researchers learned that wine keeps apes feelin' fine all the time. You ought to see what it does to Mandel.
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