Rick Sutcliffe....Genius

Sox/Tigers game from 6/3/09. Your boy Rick Sutcliffe on color commentary. Beckett working on a no-no. Sutcliffe and his partner (not sure who) start waxing poetic on Jason Varitek's "intangibles" and "grit." They even go so far as to say, "Beckett and Varitek take a no-hitter into the seventh inning!!"
Tek's next at-bat. Sutcliffe starts worshipping at the altar of intangibilty. ESPN shows the famous clip from 2004 when Tek scuffled with A-Rod after Arroyo plunked him.
Sutcliffe (paraphrased): "You see here, A-Rod wants to get to Arroyo, and Varitek is saying "No." Varitek is not letting it happen. And..when you stop and think about it; the Yankees have not been to a World Series since."

Far be it from me to argue with someone who is paid to bring me their informed opinion. Especially a man who got drunk during a live baseball broadcast and started talking about George Clooney and the war in Iraq. But I think there may be OTHER reasons for the Yankees failure to reach a World Series since then. Objective reasons. Reasons that can be backed up with statistical evidence. But hey, I may be wrong. Maybe Jason Varitek scrapping with Alex Rodriguez IS the reason the Yankees have failed to reach the World Series lately. In fact, there have been some other things that have happened since 2004 that may have factored in.
In 2004, Ken Griffey Jr. joined the 500 HR club. Greg Maddux "won" his 300th game. I also got a job at Bloomingdale's in Manhattan working in the luxury linens department. One other thing happened...no World Series for the Yankees.
In 2005, Chone Figgins led the AL in stolen bases. The Houston Astros led the NL in Hits Allowed and still made it to the World Series. The Taiwanese government called on 1 million Taiwanese to demonstrate in Taipei, in opposition to the Anti-Secession Law of the People's Republic of China. Between 200,000 and 300,000 attended the walk. And Lo! there were no Yankees in the World Series that year!
In 2006, Kevin Bacon passed on "Hollow Man 2." Do you remember seeing the Yankees in the World Series that year?
In 2007, some other stuff happened, and the Yankees didn't make it to the World Series that year either!
In 2008, Charlton Heston died. One day I was walking around Manhattan, thought about buying a copy of that month's GQ, but didn't. I think everyone knows who didn't make it to the World Series that year!
In 2009, ?
So...maybe Rick Sutcliffe is on to something. Maybe there is some correlation between Tek mushing Arod's face and the Yanks not reaching the Fall Classic. Maybe it has more to do with subjective garbage and ghosts and curses and grit. And maybe it has less to do with the Yankee's joke of a bullpen the last few years, a collection of aging players and some unfortunate injuries. Maybe...Rick Sutcliffe IS a genius...

I hear that guy sucks anyway...

From MSNBC's homepage:

Report: Mets not interested in Manny Rodriguez

The MLB Network

The MLB Network is going to be a goldmine for us there at TBIC. Our favorite sport finally given its very own network. A brand new forum for Harold Reynolds to bless us with his intricate knowledge of the game.

One of the sleek features of the MLB Network is a sports ticker at the bottom of the screen that is constantly updating itself with news, player movement, and manager's opinions of their own teams bullpens.

Yeah, that last part is true.

The other day, the ticker was rattling off some news about players who had been offered minor-league contracts. Standard, mildly interesting stuff. For instance, a guy like Rob Mackowiak (sp?) was offered a minor league contract by the Mets, and the MLB ticker is where I saw that first. Being a big fantasy baseball fan, I know who Rob Mackowiak is and when I saw the news I said "Hah" quietly but out loud, because he kind of sucks but whatever. This wasn't the point of myt post. Back to the ticker.

The ticker broke the "news" that Jim Leyland, "has high hopes for Detroit's bullpen." This was actually on the ticker. There was no follow-up quote, no list of the players who will make up Detroit's bullpen this year, or anything else having to do with Detroit. The boys over at MLBN just wanted their viewers to know how Jim Leyland felt about his own bullpen. Actually, they just wanted to tell us how hopeful he was about said bullpen.

Now, is there a manager in baseball who doesn't have "high hopes" for his bullpen? I doubt it. I just don't think this little tidbit was newsworthy, call me crazy. However, if the MLBN continues down this path, that is, giving us manager's opinions on their own teams and players, here are some of the quotes that I'd like to see:

Charlie Manuel thinks Phillies will be good.

Joe Torre hopes Dodgers will win some games this year.

Joe Girardi assumes Yankees will play the Blue Jays at some point this year.

Terry Francona thinks Dustin Pedroia is a pussy.

Bobby Cox thinks Terry Francona is a pussy.

Mike Scoscia doesn't give a fuck what happens to the Angels this year.

Lou Piniella on Cubs' chances this year, "I've got a better chance of getting my dick caught in a toaster oven than us winning a playoff game this year."

Ozzie Guillen.......

Ron Washington on the Rangers, "Being the manager of the Texas Rangers is unequivocally the worst job in the world."

Ron Gardehire thinks Twins will suck this year.

Cold Hard FACTS!

On another exciting edition of Cold Hard Facts on ESPN. Senior ESPN Never Played A Sport In My Life Analyst John 'Mr. Pennybags' Clayton was asked for the Cold Hard Facts. I only saw question 4, 5, and 6. Its a six-pack of questions though; sponsored by Coors. Bare in mind, he's giving Facts, Cold and Hard.

4 - What is the liklihood of Terrell Owens being a Cowboy next year?

5 - What is the liklihood of Brett Favre being a Jet next year?

6 - What is the liklihood of Ladanian Tomlinson being a Charger next year?

I have to mention as well that I can only bare ESPN on mute, so I don't know the answers. My point of this being: this is a segment about someone giving Cold Hard Facts. How can someone possibly give Cold Hard Factual information to these 3 utterly fucking 'no one cares 8 months from next season' questions? ESPN, burn down the studios, fold as a company altogether, or change the name of the segment. How about: Coors Light Tastes Like Piss Water, Here Are The Only Things We Can Come Up With Rather Than Show Highlights.

PROOF...

that baseball is twice the sport football is. Even professional analysts are powerless to stop baseball analogies from creeping into their pointless musings. Phil Simms, CBS pregame, on Ed Reed: "He's the best centerfielder in football. He takes a lot of doubles, and makes them singles."

The New York Yankees

No meta-commentary here, just a little rant about the New York Yankees, who in the wake of signing Tex have now spent around 345 billion dollars in the last 2 weeks on 3 players.

And I know, they were just replacing money that was coming off the books, but who gives a shit really.

They'll find a way to blow it again this year.

Nevermind, I just heard Evan Roberts say that signing Tex improves their "clubhouse presence."

No you red-headed idiot, signing Mark Texiera improves their HR, SLG and OBP. He also claims that this move now makes the Yankees "The Team to Beat" in the AL. I've always hated this expression when it is thrown around professional sports. In the last few years we have seen huge amounts of parity in baseball. There have been different WS winners every year for what seems like a decade now (BoSox excluded). And there have been countless feel-good stories about teams who have made the playoffs who don't have high payrolls.
(Bill Plaschke's note: "Said feel-good teams have all done this with hard work, bunting, and eating dinner together every night. Also sharing cabs after the game. And showering together alot.")
I'll use the 2008 Rays as an example because they are fresh in everyone's mind to make my point;which is EVERY team is the team to beat in baseball. The Yankees payroll has consistently been the highest in baseball every year, and they STILL find new and exciting ways to fuck up. I'm sure they will find a way this year. Their lineup, while stacked and nausea-inducing, is really not that much different than what they've been running out there for close to ten years now. So for Mr. Roberts to say emphatically, "NOW THE YANKEES ARE THE TEAM TO BEAT," reeks of nonsense.

So so stupid

On NFL live, they went to Suzy Kolber. She was all bundled up, freezing at Soldier Field in Chicago. She was talking about some stat where under Lovey Smith, the Bears have won 9 straight when the temperature is under 32 degrees F. Despite the fact that is such a non-stat, that's not what is so so stupid. After Suzy was done blabbing her mouth about things no one cares about, she segued into: "Lets go to Michelle Tafoya with a report on the Green Bay Packers." Here's the fucking stupid part. Michelle Tafoya is on the other side of the same freezing fucking cold Soldier Field!!!!! She's doing a report on the team that's playing the team Suzy Kolber was just reporting on, at the same place, 45 yards away!!! Why oh why? Someone enlighten me as to why that was necessary for ESPN to do, why?

It just goes to show...

Your take on Blagojevich-gate i saw this at cnn.com today. Just proving that in all forms of journalism, you just add '-gate' to something and it makes it important.

holy fuck

I swear

If I hear a sportscaster, or a journalist, say or write: "Lets see if he can get it done on the 'Big Stage'." I'm gonna fucking kill someone. There is no such thing. Its playing a sport; as a paid professional. Its not a fucking stage, to break down the literal meaning. Its a fucking sport, its players performing at a high level. No matter what state or stadium or part of the season they are fucking in. Enough!!!!!

Michael......Francesa.......

Today, listening to Mike, in what one of the most exciting days for a Mets fan in recent memory, I can't help but become furious at this guy's insistance that the Mets need to change their lineup.
He is throwing around the words "clutch", and "choke" and "hit in a big spot" around and blaming the Mets failure to get a "clutch hit" in the last week of the season as the reason they missed the playoffs.

He is saying "now you can't use the bullpen as an excuse, and if you bring back this same mess (meaning the Mets lineup) you will have the same thing happen as last year."

Mike, as usual, is wrong.

If J.J. Putz is setting up K-Rod last year the Mets win 100 games, Johan wins 23 games (and the Cy Young) and you can argue they would have hat a great shot at winning the World Series.

You're not going find a better NL lineup, top to bottom, than the one the New York Mets currently have. Maybe the Phillies, but that's about it. Everyone who wasn't a moron told Mike that the idea of trading David Wright was ludicrous, but Mike still thinks the Mets are "gaggers."

I am here to say that the Mets "collapse" as people like to put it, last year, was 100 percent due to the bullpen. 100 fucking percent. It had NOTHING to do with David Wright's dozen or so shitty ABs the last couple of days of the season. To put a microscope on that sample size and to basically question David Wright's "clutchness" as a result of wildly irresponsible and stupid. The ineptitude of the Mets bullpen last year was HISTORIC. If they were even half-competent, the Mets would have had that division locked up by the end of August.

Now Mike is about to bring on Darryl Strawberry from 2-5. That's 3 fucking hours with Strawberry? Why?