WCBS 880 in-game radio spots....enough already!

Whether you love John Sterling & Suzyn Waldman or detest them, there is one part of their shtick that has become noticeably more pervasive over the last few years....in-game radio spots.

Some of them blend in really well (the "Land Rover Drive of the Game") while others stand out stupidly (That was the 15th pitch of the game, and Geico wants to remind you that you can save 15% or more on your car insurance).

But I heard a new one tonight that, in my opinion, lowers the bar lower worse than ever before.

After A-Rod crushed a 2-run homer, Sterling said "A-Rod and Teixeira ran around the bases safely, and New York Life wants you to keep your loved ones safe with a new insurance policy...."

I understand that in-game (as opposed to commercial break) advertising is super valuable to the companies buying ad time, but certain ads just don't blend in properly. Not everything can! Obviously, AT&T's "Call to the Bullpen" makes perfect sense. But law firms and life insurance companies do not! So enough is enough.

There's nothing we can do about it but roll our eyes and groan, but as a contributor to this blog, I had 2 goals in mind with this post: A) to rant about something that really annoys me, and B) to find out whether this annoys anyone else. I know you're out there. Chime in if you think WCBS sucks for allowing this crap on air.

More on the Mets 1-0 Win Today

This from Baseball Musings:



"Yovani Gallardo lost to Mike Pelfrey and the Mets Wednesday afternoon by the lowest victory scored, 1-0. It's the fourth time this season Gallardo was involved in a 1-0 game, and the first time he allowed a run in one. The Brewers are 2-2 in those starts. His start on 4/29 against the Pirates resulted in Gallardo winning the game with a solo home run."



Wow...that's nuts. Mets also need to find a way to get more offense:



"The Mets offense still isn't working, however, as they've scored 13 runs in the last six games."





(On the Blackberry currently, but here's the link: http://baseballmusings.com/?p=36707)





-Andrew

Hallelujah, Cano Is Not Batting 5th

Hallelujah! Joe Girardi decided to stop using the autofill button. Cano dropped to 6th and Posada up to 5th (according to Peter Abraham). This only makes ALL THE SENSE IN THE WORLD.

A Rare Metropolitan Victory

Mets win! Mets win!

The New York Mets finally got one in the win column, winning today 1-0 behind Mike Pelfry. The last time they had a 1-0 win started by a guy other than Johan Santana was June 23, 2007 when Livan Hernandez' brother, El Duque, beat the Oakland Athletics.

That was before the Mets knew about September collapses.

Amazingly, the Yankees are yet to record a 1-0 win this season.

New York Rangers, I Give Up

Here's a list of players the New York Rangers have signed in the past 10 years (via Rick Carpiniello over at Rangers Report) : Theo Fleury, Val Kamensky, Sylvain Lefebvre, Stephane Quintal, Kirk McLean, Tim Taylor, Ray Ferraro, Bruce Driver, John MacLean, Bobby Holik, Darius Kasparaitis, Wade Redden, Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, Brendan Shanahan, Martin Rucinsky, Steve Rucchin, Vladimir Malakhov, Mark Messier (the sequel), Aaron Voros, Markus Naslund, Martin Straka, Jason Strudwick, Alex Gusarov, Dave Karpa, Matt Cullen, Dan Girardi, Marek Malik, Michael Nylander, Michal Rozsival, Aaron Ward, Jason Ward, Kevin Weekes, Greg DeVries, Chris Simon, Ted Donato, Zdeno Ciger, Barrett  Heisten, Steve McKenna, Igor Ulanov. Ugh

That's not a good list of players. At all. And Rangers' General Manager Glen Sather has done a horrendous job himself of signing free agents and managing the cap.

So I was very, very happy to see that the Broadway Blue Shirts, as Steve Zipay of Newsday notes, traded away Scott Gomez yesterday in a salary dump move which also brought back a New York native with a ton of potential (Chris Higgins). Although Gomez was not a "disaster", as Larry Brooks from the New York Post calls him, he was never going to be the #1 center they paid him to be because, well, he was never supposed to be a #1 center. He's a really good player and in the right system will thrive, but he wasn't going to be a 110 point, 30 goal guy in Tom Renney's system. Just wasn't going to happen. So trading him away was a great move to clear salary space to sign a real scorer. I was excited for today.

Ugh...ok...some background for those non-NHL fans. Donald Brashear is the worst of goons. His one job on the ice is to hit people and injure them. He was suspended for 6 games in the Rangers-Washington Capitals series this past Stanley Cup playoffs because he tried to knock out Blair Betts for the rest of the playoffs to get rid of his the Rangers best penalty killer and best defensive center. Betts suffered an orbital eye socket fracture and Brashear was able to return the next series.

Ugh...so imagine my surprise to see these updates on Rangers Report:

THIS JUST  IN: The Rangers are really about to sign Donald Brashear. 
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Brashear signing is completely official now.

——————————
The Brashear numbers, according to TSN: Two years, $1.4 million per. So why the heck not just keep Colton Orr for $1 M per???? Brashear can’t play, is hated by Rangers fans, and violated the Rangers in the playoffs. Makes no sense to me.

This makes no sense to me either. Orr seemed to be liked in the clubhouse and was a useful player who would have made LESS money. Instead, they bring on this goon who had a hand in knocking the Rangers out of the playoffs last year (literally and figuratively). I give up. Just an awful, awful move and another bonehead decision in a long line of boneheaded decisions by Glen Sather. Ugh

 

 

The Best Of Times (Yankees) and the Worst of Times (Red Sox)

I sat at the Yankees game last night live at NYS and watched the Yankees slowly take the lead against the Seattle Mariners as the Boston Red Sox coughed it up against the Baltimore Orioles. Every time I looked at the out-of-town scoreboard, the Red Sox would be up by more runs: 2-0, 4-2, 9-1, 10-1. And so I stopped watching that scoreboard and watched the game on the field.

The Yankees, who have to lead the league in ugly wins, won ugly again last night. Robinson Cano should not be hitting in the 5th slot in the order anymore. It just makes no sense. Cano is a great hitter with no one on base and can't seem to buy a hit with runners on. Peter Abraham pointed out that it's since June 17th. I think this problem has been there for a good part of the past month and really for the whole season. Cano is a good average hitter with some pop. He is not, under any circumstances, a #5 hitter right now.

Joba Chamberlain is not the same starter at home as he is on the road (he is also not the same starter after a rain delay). Too afraid to give up home runs, he loses guys way too much on counts that start out 0-2 or 1-2. He nibbles at the corners when he has the stuff to blow by guys. Where was that slider he had that no one could check their swing against? Or the fastball he could blow by people upstairs? Or the knee-buckling curveball that he could spin off? They all seem to be gone from his repertoire at times when he's at home. Which is awful and something he needs to work on. A.J. Burnett needs to sit him down and show him how it's done.

Joe Girardi continues to curiously use his bullpen. I said to Jay at the Stadium last night that I thought that he should have left Phil Hughes in after Hughes dominated the previous inning against the heart of the Mariners order. But Girardi has slots for guys and can't seem to find his way out of them which is awful. Hughes could have used the innings and the Yankees could have used his dominance. I know it was a long inning, but the right thing to do was to use Hughes there and Bruney blew the lead. But after a leadoff it was Melky to the rescue once again for the Yankees after a double for Matsui and a surprise--and greatly executed--bunt base hit from Nick Swisher. Melky has been clutch late in games for the Yankees at times this season despite looking lost at the plate at times earlier in games. Derek Jeter followed Melky's double with a single of his own, giving the Yankees a big three run cushion. Then it was the Great Mariano Rivera for his 501st save (two ground balls and a K to end it). Ben sent me a message that Mo had pitched a complete game and Tyler Kepner also writes how the win began and ended with Rivera. On a side note, it was awesome seeing him throw out the first pitch. Although this is unconventional, this was a great honor for a great player and well done by the Yankees.

Blogging Bombers thinks that Hughes should have definitely stayed in (so does Ken Davidoff and Pete Abe and a lot of other people) and also makes this good point about Joba's starting: "Say what you want about Joba Chamberlain, but the Yankees are 10-5 in his starts. The name of the game is winning, and the Yankees do that a lot when this guy pitches." Davidoff writes: "Joba Chamberlain delivered another up-and-down outing, yet he almost always manages to keep the Yankees in the game. He's still 23 years old. It's all right if he's a work in progress." And how clutch is Melky? "Of Melky Cabrera’s 29 RBI this season, 12 of them have either tied the game or given the Yankees the lead in the seventh inning or later". And A-Rod's bomb was the talk of the Stadium for a while last night and Tyler Kepner points out that as A-Rod goes, so do the Yankees. And A-Rod has shown a lot more energy the past 6 games and so have the Yanks.

While this comeback was all going on, I heard Jay said "here come the Orioles! It's 10-3!" We laughed, knowing that very few people come back against that Boston bullpen. But the O's chipped away and made it 10-6 and had 2 runners on for Aubrey Huff. Although they didn't score there, they had the Red Sox backpedaling and Jay and I waiting for the next score update. I'll let Big League Stew give the recap (though I'm excited to see what Jayson Stark has to say about this epic game):

Roll Call starts at Camden Yards, where the Red Sox collectively lost track of one of baseball's basic rules and then forgot how to protect what should have been a safe lead. Instead, it was only a prelude to the biggest Orioles' comeback since ... ever.

Game of the Day
Orioles Magic 11, Red Sox 10

Funny peculiar: The Red Sox laughed it up after realizing the entire infield forgot how many outs there were in the sixth inning; Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Jason Varitek, et al, came off the field when only two Orioles had been retired. They could afford to laugh; the AL East leaders had a huge lead and appeared on their way to their ninth-straight victory against the last-place Birds (VIDEO).

Wipeout: Trailing 10-1 with nine outs to go, the O's staged a rally for the ages, putting up five runs in the seventh and five more in the eighth. The go-ahead run, scoring on Nick Markakis' RBI double with Teflon-coated Jonathan Papelbund on the mound, capped the biggest comeback in Baltimore's franchise history (VIDEO).

"When you talk about playing all 27 outs," O's manager Dave Trembley said, "that's tonight."

All 27 outs, Red Sox. Not 26. Twenty-seven.

Sometimes a monkey: Oscar Salazar hit a three-run homer in the seventh — one of seven hits the O's had in the inning against the Boston bullpen — to help get his team closer. Markakis (VIDEO) had been 0-for-7 with four strikeouts against Papelbon (who came in 20-for-20 in save opportunities against the Orioles) before he lined a two-run double off the left-field wall. Pinch-runner Jeremy Guthrie, a pitcher, scored the tying run.

Oft times, a passionate speech will inspire a comeback. Other times, a team will rely on a Rally Monkey. Some places let loose the Kraken. In Baltimore, when they have no other option, the local baseball wizards perform a little Orioles Magic.

"It happened real fast. We beat them up pretty good and then they beat us up pretty good," Pedroia said.

Disbelief: The night appeared to belong to another comeback kid, John Smoltz, who pitched well for four innings in his second start for the Red Sox that had followed a rough debut. But a 71-minute rain delay cut his outing short, and the O's resurgence really put a damper on things.

"No one would have ever dreamed it would play out the way it did," said the 42-year-old Smoltz, who was seeking his first victory in 438 days. "It's one of those games when you shake your head and can't believe what you just saw."

Trust me, those of us at the Yankees game, watching the out-of-town scoreboard, couldn't believe it either...

On This Date In Baseball History

Moving on in our "on this date in baseball history" segment, we have July 1, 1990 from RealClearSports:

Andy Hawkins allows four runs on no hits in complete game, July 1, 1990: Andy Hawkins of the New York Yankees allows four runs on no hits in a complete game, losing to the White Sox in Chicago, 4-0. The runs scored in the eighth inning, thanks to an infield error, two walks, and two outfield fly balls dropped for two-base errors. Hawkins actually lost his no-hitter twice, the second time when baseball's Committee for Statistical Accuracy declared in September 1991 that it would only recognize no-hitters in which the pitcher goes nine innings. Hawkins only pitched eight, because the White Sox didn't bat in the bottom of the ninth.

Scoring rules and statistical accuracy in Major League Baseball is a bit ridiculous. Talking about Joe Girardi's much-second-guessed and very curious decision to take out Phil Hughes last night for Brian Bruney, Rob Neyer pointed out: It's easy to second-guess him because Brian Bruney came in and blew the lead -- and got the win; nice scoring rules, MLB!

You can pitch a complete game but not be eligible for a no-hitter, yet you can blew a two run lead and get a win without pitching again in the game. That's MLB statistics for you.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

A man called 911 because he was stoned and wanted a police escort or a helicopter to a Lil Wayne concert. Although he was smoking weed, this man was not Michael Phelps, Geovany Soto, or Donte' Stallworth. Amazingly, Donte' Stallworth will get 30 days in jail (if that, as Jay discussed) for killing a man with his car while drunk and high, and this guy will probably get more of a punishment for just being a pot-smoking idiot.

You can't make this stuff up!

 

Quote of the Night

"You can’t teach stupid and 0-2 hits are stupid." - Brian Bruney (via Blogging Bombers)

Maybe Dave Eiland can sit Bruney and Joba Chamberlain down and tell them that once they get to 0-2, they should stop nibbling and use their natural talents to strike these guys out. Too much messing around last night with a team that didn't deserve to have 16 base runners. It's bad news when you're walking a guy (Jose Lopez) with a .288 OBP.

 

Back with more later

 

Putting Drew Rosenhaus To Work For You

From loyal reader, Eric:

According to Sporting News Today Florida Panthers FANS have hired Drew Rosenhaus to renegotiate ticket prices for next season.  I guess with finances being what they are, and players getting lower salaries, agents have to turn to new forms of revenue!! 

Actually, it's pretty smart by the fans of the Panthers.  I just wonder if they are going to blow all their savings on Rosenhaus' services.

Inspired by this, I've inspired Scott Boras to help me with my job search.