Hey Brewer

The Giambino…well…I’ll just let the NY Post tell you:

May 16, 2008 –

Baseball players are legendary for their superstitions, but Jason Giambi’s technique for snapping a batting slump may rank among the strangest : He puts on a gold lame, tiger-striped thong.

“I only put it on when I’m desperate to get out of a big slump,” he told Portfolio.com.

Giambi has shared his slump-breaker with other Yankees New York Yankees , including Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Johnny Damon Johnny Damon , Robin Ventura and Robinson Cano.

“All of them wore it and got hits,” he said. “The thong works every time.”

Clearly, Giambi could use a little help from the golden thong about now. As the Yankees continue to sputter heading into their Subway Series against the equally sluggish Mets New York Mets , Giambi is hitting .188.

But Giambi, in the final season of a seven-year, $120 million contract, said he doesn’t listen to booing by the crowds at Yankee Stadium.

“I never hear the boos because I’m too busy booing myself,” he told Portfolio.com. “No critic is worse on me than me. I can beat myself up pretty good.”

Alex Rodriguez continues to demonstrate why he is not a cool person. At least he seems uncool. Perhaps in person he is a really nice dude. But if one of my friends passed out like a woman from 1830 you can rest assured I’d be busting his balls about it.

I’m still recovering from yesterdays all day baseball-fest as Opening Day hit most of the stadiums across the States. I was on my couch for so long I started to develop hypostasis in my arse and legs. The highlights of the day include:

The Bucs avoiding a 2 out, shouldda been game ending fly ball as if it had been dipped in the plague, allowing the tying runs to score capping off a 5 run bottom of the 9th inning for the Braves. The Bucs did come back and win on the back of X-Man’s 2nd HR.

Johan absolutely dominated the hapless Marlins while Fukudome and Wood make their marks on the North Side and the Cubbies promptly lose.

Needless to say the Bucs, Royals, DRays, and Nats all winning did wonders for El Doctor’s bank account. Don’t worry though, I will end this on the plus side with the bookie…or lose my son. Despite this, here are my official predictions for the upcoming season. Should you find yourself in Las Vegas (or in front of a computer) feel free to heed my advice and win some hard earned money. Continue Reading »

Well, believe it or not, the Yankees released Billy Crystal today. In a not surprising move, they elected not to keep the inexperienced infielder/designated hitter after his short lived, yet highly famous strikeout. I must admit, after reviewing the at bat, I was actually a slightly impressed he made any contact with the ball whatsoever, managing to foul a couple of 50mph pitches off the end of his bat. Although, at the same time, I think I have faced more wicked pitching in the softball cage at Family Fun Center.

Billy’s first, and last, at bat:

Billy Crystal was signed to a minor league contract, for a day, by the NY Yankees. Yesterday he got to live out his dream and get an official Yankee AB. He promptly struck out. Some sports columnist said this was a ‘mockery of the game’ and ruined the great tradition of the Yankees. Others have said this is not a big deal and it is all in fun.

I’m not sure I know how I fall on this matter. In the interest of full disclosure I must state that I loathe the Yankees and I’ve never found Billy Crystal particularly funny (excluding his cameo as Miracle Max in The Princess Bride which was brilliant):

I think overall it is a fun gimmick and I have no problem with it.  Other celebs have done similar things in Spring Training such as Garth Brooks.  My only reservation is that it becomes a thing ‘to do’ for celebrities. Billy Crystal is well known as a huge Yankee fan, he even made a pretty awful movie about Maris’ 61 HR year. But I fear the day when we’ll see Justin Timberlake in a Cubs uniform or Kid Rock in a Tigers uniform or Bill Gates in a Mariners uniform. People whose amount of money and popularity is inversely related to their talent and contributions to American culture should not be given access to play baseball just because they want it. If this comes to pass, then my hatred of the Yankees and Bud Selig will only grow and we can look back at Billy Crystal and curse him for what he has done.

Or none of this will happen and this story will be forgotten by May.

A few links to look at while not doing work at your real job today:

An interesting story about 1/4 of the Cuban soccer team defecting so that they can tryout to play for MLS or USL teams. Political ideologies aside, you have to admire the guts it takes to walk away from your family, friends, and teammates to chase the dream of playing soccer (or baseball, whatever) professionally. Sadly, it appears they were horribly misinformed about the quality of soccer in the MLS.

Joe Girardi might miss the Yanks season opener due to a suspension from the ‘fight’ recently.

Baseball has been trying to expand to new markets, particularly in Asia. This continues again this year with exhibition games set to be played by the Dodgers and Padres in China this weekend and the regular season opening in Japan with Oakland taking on the Sawks. While baseball has taken off in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, there has been much less success in China.

Apparently a lot of Men’s Hoops teams hopes died yesterday. It would be a lie for me to say I gave two deuces but I know many of you do.  Baseball can’t start quick enough for me.

In a spring training match between the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, a brutal play at the plate in which the Yankees catchers wrist was broken, put into motion a tit for tat exchange that ultimately ended in a bench clearing brawl between the two teams. To follow that up, a Devil Ray player was beaned, and the pitcher was ejected. Later in the game, Yankee 2nd baseman Shelley Duncan, son of hard-core pitching coach Dave Duncan, dropped a groin high testicle teaser (Ty Cobb style) slide into 2nd base. While it didn’t seriously injure the Devil Ray player, it looked as though it might leave him in a bed next to our man Felix Pie, commiserating over their tandem testicular troubles. Watch the series of plays that set it off here (video quality is mediocre at best, but worth watching):

Oh serious? There’s a shocker!! Headline should have been “Rikers Island Signs Clemens to 5 Year Deal, Offer to Include Fine, Sloppy Joes and Laundry Duty”

I posted some thoughs about Spatial Aggregate Fielding Evaluation a few weeks back. This new study was basically showing that Derek Jeter was not a Gold Glove shortstop.

As expected, Derek Jeter and a large number of baseball purists came forward claiming that this study was flawed.

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The illustrious, time-honored (since 1998) pantheon known as the The Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center is removing Roger Clemens’ jersey from its display honoring the 1996-2000 Yankees championship teams. According to David Kaplan, the director of the museum, “It was the fact that there are a lot of unresolved issues involving Roger and it was difficult for us to give answers to the kids coming through the museum.” Oh sure, David. You did it for the kids. Does anyone else find it funny that Yogi berra has a learning center?

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