MLB 2007

[quarter23cd]

One of my colleagues and I were grumbling about Wily Mo Pena yesterday afternoon.

Guess that paid off ...

I'm getting a little tired of the O's giving up game-winning grand slams to Boston and NY.

[quarter23cd]

Thorne:. "It was painted. Doug Mirabelli confessed up to it after. It was all for PR. Two-ball, two-strike count."

Palmer: "Yeah, that was the 2004 World Series [sic]."

Thorne: "Yeah."

They're not the best broadcasting team in business for nothing, folks.

[Analogman]

Smoltz and Braves agree on contract extension

April 26, 2007

 

ATLANTA (AP) -- John Smoltz is likely to spend his entire major league career with the Atlanta Braves after agreeing to a contract extension Thursday that could be worth $39 million.

 

Smoltz, who turns 40 next month, will be back for a 20th season in 2008 with a deal that guarantees him about $14 million.

 

The new contract also includes a $12 million option for 2009 that becomes guaranteed if Smoltz pitches 200 innings the previous season. The club has an option for 2010, at a cost of $13 million if he pitches 200 innings in '09 or $12 million if he falls short of that total.

 

Smoltz is making $8 million this season. The deal for the right-hander was announced after the Braves arrived in Denver for the start of a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies on Friday.

 

"Words can't describe how thrilled I am to have the opportunity to finish my career as an Atlanta Brave," Smoltz said in a statement. "I am thankful to the Braves organization for giving me the chance to play this long and to play out my entire career with one team."

 

Smoltz, who could have become a free agent after this season, has a 195-138 record with 154 saves and a 3.28 ERA. He is one of only two pitchers -- Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley is the other -- with at least 150 wins and 150 saves in his career.

 

"This is a significant contract, both for the Braves and for John Smoltz," general manager John Schuerholz said. "We are delighted that John will be a Brave for at least next season and hopefully well beyond that. Through an amazing stretch of success, John has been a huge part of our club, both with his pitching and his leadership. He will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer."

 

Smoltz won the NL Cy Young Award in 1996 and has nine seasons with at least 14 wins. Also, he holds postseason records for wins (15) and strikeouts (194).

 

"This is great news because John is such an important part of our ballclub," manager Bobby Cox said. "He has been a dominating pitcher and leader in this league for years and is probably pitching as good right now as he ever has."

 

Smoltz began his career as a starter, but moved to the bullpen in 2001. He spent three full seasons as the Braves closer, setting an NL record with 55 saves in 2002.

 

Since returning to the rotation in 2005, Smoltz has gone 32-17 with a 3.34 ERA in 73 starts. He was 16-9 with a 3.49 ERA and 211 strikeouts last season.

 

I hate the Braves - but this is pretty amazing in this day and age.

[cryptique]

King Kaufman's Sports Daily (Salon.com)

 

Curt Schilling's bloody sock revisited as Red Sox publicity stunt: Why aren't there standards for TV and radio announcers' reporting?

 

Apr. 27, 2007 | Don't worry, everybody. Bloody Sockgate is behind us. Our long national nightmare is over. We can all rest assured that Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling's bloody socks in the 2004 American League Championship Series and World Series really were stained with blood, not red paint or marker.

 

I think the lesson we can take from this incident, which shook Red Sox Nation -- forcing Hub fans to actually spend work time discussing it! -- is that I got into the wrong business. You get on the radio or TV, you can say whatever you want, and as long as it's not racist, you're good.

 

Feel like "reporting" a "story" based on one offhand remark made a year or two ago, with no checking on facts, no asking for comment from the person you're about to all but libel, no interviewing any of the many available witnesses or clarifying with the guy who made the offhand remark?

 

No problem.

 

That's what Baltimore Orioles TV announcer Gary Thorne did this week when he said during an Orioles-Red Sox broadcast that Schilling's bloody socks in the 2004 postseason were a hoax, a publicity stunt.

 

This sort of thing goes on all the time, mostly on talk radio, where hosts pretty much talk out their rear ends whenever the on-air light's on. Most of the time it's a matter of spouting opinions based on false assumptions or a lack of familiarity with the facts. But when it bleeds over into broadcasting bad information without even an attempt at reporting it out, or even outright plagiarism, in other words violating the most basic standards of journalism, the waters barely ripple.

 

One example: When ESPN Radio jock Colin Cowherd plagiarized a comedy bit from a blog last year, a letter about the incident was met with silence from the media professionals who frequent Jim Romenesko's forum at Poynter.org. It was only when outraged fellow bloggers made a stink that Cowherd's theft became a story.

 

Thorne's comments created not just a ripple but a very brief tsunami not because of his outrageous behavior, but because he was talking about the 2004 Boston Red Sox, and you can't say anything about the 2004 Boston Red Sox without making waves.

 

Here's the background: Schilling took the mound in Game 6 of the '04 ALCS against the New York Yankees, the Sox down three games to two after having won two straight. He had blood seeping from fresh sutures after his ankle had been surgically jury-rigged, the skin stitched to the bone to keep a tendon in place. We will now have a nausea break.

 

Alrighty. So he threw seven solid innings in what became the signature moment of the Red Sox's first championship run since 1918 and one of the great baseball stories of the young century. That was the ALCS in which the Sox fell behind the Yankees three games to none, then won four straight, an unmatched feat in big-league baseball.

 

Schilling did much the same thing in Game 2 of the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. He later said he threw the ALCS sock away, but the World Series sock is at the Hall of Fame.

 

Thorne, who really should be doing hockey right now, said on Wednesday's Mid-Atlantic Sports Network broadcast of the Red Sox-Orioles game that the bloody sock was a hoax. He said Red Sox catcher Doug Mirabelli told him in 2005 that the Sox painted the sock as a publicity stunt.

 

"The great story we were talking about the other night was that famous red stocking that he wore when they finally won, the blood on his stocking," Thorne said to broadcast partner Jim Palmer about Schilling. "Nah. It was painted. Doug Mirabelli confessed up to it after. It was all for P.R. Two-ball, two-strike count."

 

And that was pretty much it. Mirabelli hit the roof when told of Thorne's comment, calling it a "straight lie," and various other Red Sox and former Red Sox, such as current Oriole Kevin Millar, rose to Schilling's defense. Thorne discussed the matter with Mirabelli Thursday, then admitted he'd gotten it wrong.

 

"He said one thing, and I heard something else," Thorne said of his earlier conversation with Mirabelli to a thronglet of reporters before Thursday's game. "I reported what I heard and what I honestly felt was said. Having talked with him today, there's no doubt in my mind that's not what he said, that's not what he meant."

 

Mirabelli said he didn't remember the earlier conversation, but that Thorne told him that when Thorne ended a conversation by asking him about the sock, Mirabelli had said, "Yeah, we got a lot of publicity out of that."

 

"That was all that he could recall me saying," Mirabelli told reporters. "And he said that he just assumed that's what I meant, that it was all a publicity stunt. By no means was that what I meant."

 

Whatever Mirabelli meant, can you imagine a reporter for, say, the New York Times, or the Quad-City Times, or Salon, going to print with the bloody sock-as-P.R.-stunt story based on that one 2-year-old conversation? Bruno here will stand by as you clear out your desk.

 

Radio and TV announcers get a pass for things they say off the cuff. Of course you don't have time to report something out or check your facts when an issue comes up and you're expected to talk about it with no notice. Obviously an announcer in that situation is going to flub up sometimes.

 

But this was different. This was a huge sports news story if true. Thorne disingenuously claimed to have been shocked when he found his supposed throw-away had been blown into a furor, but how could he not have known that saying Schilling's bloody sock was faked would be a bombshell?

 

Thorne's no bumpkin or dumb ex-jock. He's a lawyer and a fine, veteran announcer who's done national work in two sports for ESPN and has worked in New York.

 

When I first heard about the comments, I figured it was a joke that had gotten out of hand on Thorne, who has a reputation as something of a loose cannon behind the microphone, and who has a wry sense of humor on the air. But no. His comments Thursday made it clear he'd been dead serious about the hoax story. He'd just gotten it wrong.

 

Mind-boggling. Never mind not doing the easy work of double-checking with Mirabelli and seeking comment from Schilling, Red Sox officials, the medical staff and members of the '04 team, all of whom are easy to reach for Thorne. The story doesn't even pass the giggle test.

 

The 2004 Boston Red Sox doing something as a publicity stunt? For P.R.? Are you bananas? The 2004 Red Sox were the most publicized baseball team in the history of history. They had reporters hiding in their nose hair, cameras oozing from their pores. If you piled up the books that were published about that team just by the end of that calendar year, you'd have a really tall pile of books.

 

The Red Sox, or Curt Schilling personally, doing a publicity stunt would have made about as much sense as the Beatles standing on street corners and handing out flyers advertising their Shea Stadium shows. There just wasn't a need, and that's taking into account that Schilling loves attention.

 

No standards. I gotta get into that business. Radio and TV, here I come. I've got a great story to report: That great story we were talking about two weeks ago, Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in major league baseball. He wasn't really black. Nah. Just had a really deep tan. Pee Wee Reese confessed up to it after. It was all for P.R.

[ction]

They're not the best broadcasting team in business for nothing, folks.

 

I'll say this...lazy reporting and all, Gary Thorne is light years better than this tool:

 

 

I wish the Mel Proctor/John Lowenstein team was still doing O's games. Or, hell, better yet...Chuck Thompson and Brooks Robinson.

[Sir Stewart]

[Nobody Girl]

That is excellent.

[Lammycat]

Sir S: please pm me that link if you don't mind. Fantastic!

[Sir Stewart]

Sir S: please pm me that link if you don't mind. Fantastic!

? The link to that image?

[Lammycat]

Yes. It must be passed on, stat. Is there an easier way?

[Sir Stewart]

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y1/Piney/...ourchildren.jpg

I just right clicked and copied it - somebody posted it on a blog.

 

Fuckin thing keeps shortening...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y1/Piney/Artpadderation/]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y1/Piney/Artpadderation/[/url hideyourchildren.jpg

 

Jesus

[Lammycat]

Thank you. I'll save it for Sunday. Just in case....

[Analogman]

Schilling criticizes media, offers $1 million blood bet on his blog

April 27, 2007

 

BOSTON (AP) -- Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling offered $1 million to anyone who could prove it was not blood that blotted his famous sock in the 2004 playoffs, and criticized members of the media in a blog on his personal Web site Friday.

 

The controversy over what stained Schilling's sock was reignited this week when Baltimore Orioles broadcaster Gary Thorne said Red Sox catcher Doug Mirabelli had told him it was paint, not blood, and that it was done for a publicity stunt.

 

Mirabelli called that a lie, and Thorne said Thursday he had misreported what Mirabelli said.

 

Still, Schilling blasted Thorne and the media in general Friday in his first public statement since Thorne's on-air comments.

 

Schilling was injured in Game 1 of the 2004 AL championship series against New York. Team doctors stitched a tendon in his right ankle to keep it from flopping around, and he returned to lead the Red Sox to a remarkable win in Game 6 to tie the series at 3-3. The Red Sox went on to win that series, and won the World Series for their first title since 1918.

 

"If you have ... the guts, grab an orthopedic surgeon, have them suture your ankle skin down to the tissue covering the bone in your ankle joint, then walk around for 4 hours," Schilling wrote on his Web site www.38pitches.com. "After that go find a mound, throw a hundred or so pitches, run over, cover first a few times. When you're done check that ankle and see if it bleeds."

 

Thorne did not immediately return a message Friday left with his employer, the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network.

 

Schilling offered $1 million to anyone who could prove the blood on his sock was not authentic. But it's unclear where the sock is. Schilling has said he put it in the laundry; on Friday he wrote that he suspects a Yankees clubhouse employee still has it. The pitcher donated another bloodstained sock worn in Game 2 of the World Series to the Hall of Fame.

 

"If the blood on the sock is fake, I'll donate a million dollars to that person's charity, if not they donate that amount to (Schilling's charities for ALS research)," he wrote. "Any takers?"

 

Schilling also ripped several members of the national sports media for exaggerating stories based on their own insecurities and for "rolling their eyes" when he talks about his faith in God. His recommendation: "Put them all on an island somewhere.

 

"If you haven't figured it out by now, working in the media is a pretty nice gig," the pitcher wrote. "Barring outright plagiarism or committing a crime, you don't have to be accountable if you don't want to."

[MrRain422]

I am not pleased with Joel Zumaya right now.

[bobbob1313]

I am pleased that Ryan Howard has been playing awful this year against the Marlins.

[c53x12]

The Washington Nationals are currently winning an actual Major League Baseball game. And it's in the fifth inning!

And Cordero gets his first 1-2-3 inning of the year to close out the win against the first-place Mets!

 

There ain't much to like about being a Nationals fan this year, but it's going to be fun to watch some of these kids develop.

 

Tomorrow it's Williams (0-4) against Glavine (3-1). I think Washington fans can leave the brooms in the closet. Although I do like our chances Sunday with Bergmann against Maine.

[Nobody Girl]

Last week, the A's scored 16 runs against Texas. In seven games since then, they have scored... 16 runs.

[Duck-Billed Catechist]

I wouldn't expect the A's to hit for shit. They'll have to get by on their pitching.

[bjorn_skurj]

This made me cackle with schadenfreudistic glee!

 

Heads Up, Yanks Fans: The Dolans Want to Buy Your Team

 

Posted Apr 28th 2007 11:17AM by PostmanE

Filed under: New York, Yankees, AL East, MLB Gossip, MLB Rumors

Curt Schilling might have called Jon Heyman "Joe, Jack, John ... whatever his name is Heyman," but somehow, Heyman was able to go on with his day, emotional scars notwithstanding.

 

Heyman's latest scoop is one that will likely make the ears of Yankee fans bleed: the Dolan family, the same ownership group that has turned the New York Knicks into a traveling circus (a very expensive circus at that) wants to buy the Yankees as soon as they're up for sale. (If, of course, they even go up for sale.)

 

The family has made a run at baseball's most storied -- and most valuable -- franchise in the past, and with the health of Big Boss George Steinbrenner apparently declining at a rapid pace, the Dolans' overtures are becoming even more frequent.

 

Then again, as Heyman alludes to in his last paragraph, if all that losing over at Madison Square Garden scares off Yankees fans, Steinbrenner might ignore the Dolans completely. That, at least to me, would be one small step for baseball, and one giant leap for New York fans.

[bjorn_skurj]

[Nobody Girl]

I wouldn't expect the A's to hit for shit. They'll have to get by on their pitching.

I wasn't expecting a whole lot, but watching/listening to the suckiness is annoying the crap out of me. (.654 OPS? Just... wow...) It just feels like anytime the other team scores even one or two runs the game is decided.

 

But yes, the starting pitching has been amazing, especially considering that Rich Harden is out with one of his semiannual injuries. Only three times has a starter allowed more than three runs, and only once has a starter given up more than three earned runs. The bullpen, on the other hand...

[bjorn_skurj]

 

Cardinals reliever Josh Hancock killed in car crash

Eds: INSERTS that Hancock was single, ADDS ballpark memorial in Cleveland, Auburn reax; team and police expected to make statement at 4 p.m. EDT. Moving on general news and sports services.

By R.B. FALLSTROM

AP Sports Writer

 

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Josh Hancock, a key member of the bullpen that helped the St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series last season, was killed in a car crash early Sunday.

 

The Cardinals postponed their home game Sunday night against the Chicago Cubs. It was the second time in less than five years that a St. Louis pitcher died during the season. Darryl Kile was found dead in his hotel room in 2002.

 

Police said the 29-year-old Hancock was alone in his 2007 Ford Explorer when he struck the rear of a tow truck at 12:35 a.m. The truck was in the left lane assisting another vehicle that was involved in a prior accident, officer Pete Mutter said.

 

Hancock was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the tow truck, whose name was not released by police, was in the truck at the time of the crash but was not injured. The medical examiner's office said Sunday morning that an autopsy had been scheduled.

 

"All of baseball today mourns the tragic and untimely death of St. Louis pitcher Josh Hancock," baseball commissioner Bud Selig said. "He was a fine young pitcher who played an important role on last year's World Series championship team."

 

Hancock was remembered at ballparks around the country. The Cleveland Indians observed a moment of silence before their game against the Baltimore Orioles, with Hancock's picture displayed on a giant scoreboard.

 

"It's terrible, another terrible event," said Rockies manager Clint Hurdle, who was the Colorado hitting coach when Kile was a part of the Rockies' staff in 1998 and 1999. "The young man had done so well last fall and had a promising career. It's just terrible."

 

A Cardinals-Cubs game also was postponed in June 2002 after Kile died in Chicago. The 33-year-old pitcher died of a coronary artery blockage.

 

Hancock, who pitched three innings of relief in Saturday's 8-1 loss to the Cubs, played for four major league clubs. He went 3-3 with a 4.09 ERA in 62 regular-season appearances for the Cardinals last season and pitched in three postseason games. He was 0-1 with a 3.55 ERA in eight games this season.

 

Three days before his death, the Cardinals got a scare that some teammates said reminded them of Kile's death _ Hancock overslept and showed up late for a day game in St. Louis. Hancock told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he thought the starting time was later and didn't get up until the "20th call" from anxious teammates.

 

"We were all a little nervous," closer Jason Isringhausen said earlier this week. "We don't care if you're late. That happens. We want to know that you're OK."

 

Hancock made his offseason home in St. Louis. He was the only player to attend the premiere of a DVD documenting the Cardinals' unlikely run to their 10th World Series championship after winning only 83 regular-season games.

 

Hancock, who was single, joined the Cardinals in spring training last season after the Cincinnati Reds released him for violating a weight clause in his contract. He had been a starter the previous year with Cincinnati, but missed 133 games because of groin and elbow injuries. He also pitched for Boston and Philadelphia.

 

In 1997, Hancock helped Auburn advance to the College World Series.

 

"Josh was a part of arguably the best pitching staff and arguably the best team ever to play at Auburn. It is a shame whenever anyone dies, especially someone as young as Josh, in a tragic accident," said Auburn coach Tom Slater, an assistant at the school when Hancock played there.

[bobbob1313]

That's really sad, he's so young. Hate to see a player pass during the season. It makes playing the game seem so trivial.

 

 

In less sad news, Troy Tulowitzki had a sweet unassisted Triple Play today.

[Sir Stewart]

Pretty sweet

[tongue-tied lightning]

have no fear George is here

 

 

NEW YORK (AP) -- Yankees owner George Steinbrenner backed manager Joe Torre and GM Brian Cashman on Monday, challenging players and staff "to show me and the fans what they are made of" following a start he termed "clearly not acceptable."

 

Steinbrenner previously had refused comment on his team, which went 1-5 against the Boston Red Sox the past two weekends and dropped into last place in the AL East at 9-14.

 

 

"The season is still very young, but up to now the results are clearly not acceptable to me or to Yankee fans," Steinbrenner said in a statement. "However, Brian Cashman, our general manager, Joe Torre, our manager, and our players all believe that they will turn this around quickly.

 

"I believe in them. I am here to support them in any way to help them accomplish this turnaround. It is time to put excuses and talk away. It is time to see if people are ready to step up and accept their responsibilities. It is time for all of them to show me and the fans what they are made of.

 

"Let's get going. Let's go out and win and bring a world championship back to New York. That's what I want."

 

After Sunday's 7-4 loss to Boston, Yankees captain Derek Jeter said criticism of Torre was misplaced.

 

"It's unfair," Jeter said. "There's no way he's responsible for us performing. He's not hitting for us. He's not pitching for us. He puts the best players out there on the field, gives us an opportunity to win. We're just not doing the job. That's unfair, and it should stop. ... He's doing a great job this year. We just haven't done the job on the field. That's the bottom line."