If you thought the robotic beer launcher was a cool item to have, you might like this one too. For only forty bucks over at redenvelope.com, you can own the USB Beer Cooler. It’s simple to use. Just plug it into your USB port on your computer and put your favorite frosty beverage in. A must have for a late night at the office.
Thanks to my dad for the tip.
Here is a look at some of the news from around spring training on this lovely New England morning.
The Astros’ pitchers not only can pitch, but they can hit too.
Indians’ second baseman, Jesse Barfield was born to play baseball.
The Blue Jays hope that their bats help win games for them this season.
One giant step for Pedro, one giant leap for the Giants.
Rangers’ manager, Ron Washington, thinks Ian Kinsler is gonna be special.
Francisco Cordero is healthier this spring training than last years.
Leo Mazzone is happy with his top 3 pitchers.
In 2004, the Chicago Cubs had the best rotation in baseball on paper.
The Red Sox bullpen is very fragile right now.
Alex Sanchez is trying to get back in the big leagues with the Florida Marlins.
The Red Sox made a few roster cuts on Friday sending pitchers Edgar Martinez, David Pauley, and infielders Luis Jimenez, Chad Spann, and outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury back to minor league camp. The first full workout for Sox minor leaguers is on Sunday.
Mike Timlin has been scratched from his appearance on Saturday against the Tigers because there are concerns about his strained oblique muscle. It had been rumored that the Sox were going to make him the closer if no one emerged. This is not good news for us Sox fans because Timlin is being counted to fill a big role in the bullpen this season no matter if he is the closer or not. He does have the most experience as a closer out of the candidates. I would have to think that Theo Epstein is burning up the phone lines now to try and find a closer. I really hope that they reconsider putting Jonathan Papelbon in the rotation and put him back in the bullpen where he is really needed.
On Thursday, DirecTV and MLB announced that their 7 year $700 million deal is done. It still needs the approval of the owners but more than likely those greedy bastards will approve it.
The deal includes provisions to allow InDemand and the Dish Network to remain providers for a certain cost. Bob DuPuy, MLB COO had this to say about the situation:
“In response to those concerns of our fans, baseball has negotiated with DirecTV to offer the package to the incumbents,†DuPuy said. “I hope that those fans who have been directing their concerns to us over the last several weeks will now encourage their cable carriers to in fact enlist for this package.â€
Just another way for big brother to rape the cable companies. I personally think the whole deal is ridiculous. It is just MLB’s way of controlling who gets to see out-of-market games. I’d much rather subscribe to MLB.com and watch the games on the internet. To me, the deal is similar to what the NFL is doing with the NFL Network. Another thing is I don’t see the point of offering it to the previous providers and also hosting it on DirecTV. Why not leave the deal the way it was? I’d like to know where this $700 million is going to go.
Nice article in the Boston Herald about how Matsuzaka is learning English quickly.
Yesterday morning at City of Palms Park, new Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell was jogging with the team’s phenom-in-training, Daisuke Matsuzaka.
And, as jogging buddies will do, Farrell and Matsuzaka talked as they underwent their daily cardio workout.
Not much news value in that, right? But check this out: Nowhere was there an interpreter huffing and puffing with pitcher and coach, turning Japanese into English, English into Japanese.
While it should come as no surprise to those familiar with Matsuzaka’s work ethic, Red Sox fans will be comforted to know that the Dice Man is taking very seriously his quest to learn English.
“He’s been talking about progressing in English,†said Yoshihisa Miura, who is covering the Red Sox for Jiji Press, a Japanese news service. “He’s working very hard at it.â€
Farrell noted that it probably helps that Matsuzaka’s wife, Tomoyo, a Japanese television personality, is conversational in English
“I think he’s getting a fairly good grasp of the English language,†said Farrell. “There’s more repetition that he’s had, compared with Hideki Okajima.
“We have had the ability to speak in English, and it’s surprising. We’re working to bridge the gap and I’m working on my understanding of Japanese and the use of the language. While it’s limited – I can talk about body parts, I can talk about on-field situations – it’s helping him reach a middle ground.
“We did not have a lot of firsthand interaction with him prior to spring training,†added Farrell, “so there was the thought that his (English) comprehension and his use of the language was very minimal. But it’s been more than I had anticipated.â€
This is good news for Red Sox Nation. As we all know, communication is essential between a pitcher and catcher. Jorge Posada of the Yankees said he would call Matsui in from the outfield if he needed to have a conversation with their Japanese pitcher, Kei Igawa. The Red Sox do not have this luxury. When Dice-K was on the mound against the Marlins, Varitek had to go to the mound to talk to him. Like any pitcher would do, Dice-K covered his mouth when he was talking to Varitek. An odd behavior for someone who speaks little English. He was more worried about someone lip reading.
The more English that Dice-K learns the better for the Red Sox. Hopefully he doesn’t pull a Manny and pretend not to speak English. The less they have to rely on the translator, the better it will be for them as the season goes on.
Here is a look at the news and happenings of 10 random spring training camps.
Very sad day for the Phillies as they lose one of their long time coaches to cancer. You can also see Curt Schillings thoughts about John Vukovich here.
The Chicago White Sox’s 5th spot in the rotation is still not decided.
The D-Train, Dontrelle Willis, is pitching like it is midseason right now.
Former New Haven Raven Dave Bush started out as a catcher before becoming a pitcher.
Kerry Wood gave up a grand slam on Thursday but says his stuff was better this time out.
Johan Santana hopes to resign with the Twins providing they resign the the core players.
After returning from Tommy John surgery, Braves pitcher Mike Hampton will miss at least a month after hurting himself swinging a bat.
Tony Womack took his release from the Nationals like a true professional.
Scott Kazmir is shaking off the rust of not pitching and was more proud of his bat on Thursday.
Chris Spielman was at Indians camp on Thursday and he was in a NFL Indians uniform.
If you hadn’t heard, Curt Schilling has his own blog now, 38 Pitches, and over there he talks about his start on Thursday against the Twins.
First inning and I start Castillo off ball one, 1-0 change up and he pops out to shallow right. One change up in and I have an out, holy crap! Bartlett gets behind in the count and we go to an unconventional pitch choice which I hang in the middle of the plate, kick save and we have out #2. I can tell my fastball has more life but in every one I threw in the first inning was more guided than thrown and the bats are spelling it out for me. Mauer gets a curve ball for strike one, then I throw a split, plate wise it’s in a great spot, height wise it isn’t. He proves, once again, why he’s so damn good. The balls too high, coming in around his thighs, and instead of making the mistake most big league hitters make and trying to pull that pitch, he stays back and punches it into left center, just missing a double. I get Tori down 0-1 by horribly hanging a first pitch slider that he fouls off, then I go fastball away 0-2. Tori can hit fastballs poorly located. He crushes a high fastball on the outer half to deep right center and it’s a 1-0 game. The next kid, playing 1st base, big left handed hitter, hits an 0-0 fastball in to deep right center. This pitch alone tells me I am not getting ‘after it’ when throwing my fastball. Starting someone off on the inner half with a good fastball is a pitch that rarely, if ever, gets hit well if there’s something on it. I know as I am walking off the mound that I need to start throwing my fastball and stop aiming it.
How often do you get that kind of analysis about a pitcher’s thoughts on his performances? Not too often. I think it’s great that Curt is doing this. Being around baseball for 10 years at one point in my life, I was able to listen to the pitchers and hitters talk. I’d really love Curt have a hitter on there talk about what he has seen while he is at the plate. It really does give you a great idea of what is going on in his mind during the game. The Sox ended up losing the game 1-0. The Mayor’s Cup records are now: Red Sox 1-1-1 Twins 1-1-1.
Kyle Snyder had a rough outing on Thursday against the Blue Jays. He gave up 2 runs on 5 hits in 2 1/3 innings. With him being out of options, he is going to have to pitch better to make the roster. It is still early though in spring training and hopefully he can bounce back from this poor outing.
Instead of pitching after Tim Wakefield in the game against the Yankees on Monday night, Jonathan Papelbon will throw a simulated game at camp. Papelbon will make his next Grapefruit League start wearing the green uniforms against the Cincinnati Reds. Wakefield will then pitch the following day. It is that time of spring training where they start to set up the rotation for the upcoming season. Right now as it stands, the rotation is Schilling, Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Papelbon and Wakefield. So for me that means, that I will get to see Beckett pitch on opening day at Fenway unless there are any games postponed at the beginning of the season.
Craig Hansen and Mike Timlin will finally make their spring training debuts this weekend. Hansen will pitch an inning on Friday and Timlin an inning on Saturday. It will be nice to see these two back on the mound. Given the state of the closer’s race right now, it will be nice to see some fresh face’s vie for the spot. I still really think that if Jon Lester is healthy enough to start the season and has a good spring training, he will make the Red Sox rethink their thoughts of putting Papelbon in the rotation. Peter over at Peter’s Red Sox Forever shares my thoughts on this as well.
Last but not least, I want to point out a great read on the blogosphere. If you are an Orioles fan or just a baseball fan that knows a little about Brooks Robinson, I highly recommend you check out Anthony from The Oriole Post‘s interview with him. Kudos to Anthony on getting this interview.
LSU Coach Pokey Chatman resigned on Wednesday due to allegations of a relationship with a former player. At the time of her resignation, it was thought that she would stay on and coach the team in the NCAA tournament. But on Thursday, she decided to step down completely so that she wouldn’t be a distraction to the team.
Pokey Chatman resigned as the head women’s basketball coach at Louisiana State University on Wednesday after the university became aware of an alleged inappropriate sexual relationship between Chatman and a former player on Chatman’s team, sources told ESPN.com. The university, the sources said, learned of the relationship from an employee within the basketball program.
So is this a love triangle go wrong? Is this one lover being jealous of another? Or is this someone in the basketball program that has their own agenda and wants to be coach? The main question at hand is this for me. Did she have a relationship with this “former” player while the player was playing at the school? Because if she did, then that would be the only thing she did wrong. If she has chosen to have a relationship with a player who used to play but is no longer playing, then I don’t see what she has done wrong.
We will probably never know the whole truth of the story. Right now, LSU has closed their practices and the media isn’t allowed to speak to the players. She resigned immediately as to not be a distraction from the program, but I think no matter what, this is going to be a huge distraction. Hopefully, the media respects the players and keeps the questions limited to the tournament and not their former coach’s actions.
It’s about time America. You got something right. You finally voted off Antonella Barba because of her poor singing. I have to wonder, will she take up Hugh Hefner’s offer to appear in Playboy or the Girls Gone Wild offer to co-host a show.
Antonella listening to the judges on last night’s show.
A few shots of her singing after getting the axe.
If published reports are true, “Golden Boy” Tom Brady may have knocked up Gisele Bundchen as well. According to a Brazilian website, Bundchen has reportedly told family and friends that she is about 2 months pregnant.
If this is true, at least his kids will always have play dates. This is going to make one big awkward mess for Brady if Bundchen is pregnant. He is already having one child with Bridget Moynahan and now may have another one on the way.