All posts in Baseball

Scott Stapp Sure Likes the Marlins A Lot

By | August 1, 2011 | Bad calls, Baseball | 7 Comments

Hey, you guys. Watch this.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

*breathes*

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

No seriously.  Here’s hoping and dreaming that you will soar.

*snort*

Oh God, my stomach hurts.

The part where he said “a diving catch, a stolen base” is the closest I have ever come to an actual ROFLCOPTER.

I’m learning all of the words to this and making it my new karaoke song.

The only way to get that out of your head is to go watch these.

Or at least just this.

Oh, man. I’m sorry. You probably all hate me now. Well what do you want me to do about it? I can’t know these songs alone.  Knowing you just heard it lessens my pain. Suck it up. At least it is almost football season.

311 – I am ready to fight!

I do not like Creed, but I am constantly entertained by Scott Stapp. Keep singing Scott! I could not make this stuff up on my own.

Oh wait. I forgot. Bonus footage of the actual songwriting session for this actual song. Scott is apparently so enraptured by the Marlins that he forgot his shirt and wore his special track pants for the occasion. He’s like the ghost of baseball Christmas past, or something.

*You are all so lucky I shared this with you. I know that’s what you’re thinking. You don’t have to tell me.

Keep hoping. Keep dreaming. I’m pretty sure you’ll soar.

When An Umpire Becomes a Hashtag

By | July 29, 2011 | Bad calls, Baseball, MLB | 2 Comments

Jim Joyce. Don Denkinger. How many umpires or referees can you name? I’ll bet you only know their names because of a famous bad call. Add Jerry Meals to that list.

In case you were not up at 2:30 am Wednesday watching the Pirates and Braves, here’s what happened. The game was in the bottom of the 19th, (yes, you read that right, the NINETEENTH inning) six and a half hours after the game began, with the score tied 3-3. Julio Lugo was on third. Braves’ pitcher Scott Proctor hit a ground ball that was fielded by Pedro Alvarez, who threw to Michael “The Fort” McKenry. The throw arrived in McKenry’s glove well ahead of Lugo and well in front of the plate. Umpire Jerry Meals was in a great position to make the easy call.

Except he called Lugo safe.

Needless to say, all hell broke loose at Turner Field. See for yourself.

And that’s what the Atlanta TV guys had to say.

My twitter stream exploded, though I’m betting that was nothing compared to what was being said the Pirates’ locker room. And in the morning, the hashtag #jerrymealssaysitssafe was trending.

It continued on all day and shows little sign of going away any time soon, at least not in Pittsburgh.

As for the Pirates, Manager Clint Hurdle encouraged his players to express their frustration, but public comment has been limited. Frank Coonelly’s statement says it all on behalf of the team.

Later in the day, Jerry Meals made the following statement:

Pertaining to the play that ended the game as last night, as [Scott] Proctor hit the groundball to [third baseman Pedro] Alvarez…as he fielded the ball and threw home, I got into position to make the call. [Catcher Michael] McKenry caught the ball, made a swipe tag attempt at Lugo sliding. I did not see any tag After that, I ruled him safe.

After coming into the locker room, I reviewed the incident through our videos that we have in here and after seeing a few of them, on one particular replay, I was able to see that Lugo’s pant leg moved ever so slightly when the swipe tag was attempted by McKenry. That’s telling me that I was incorrect in my decision and that he should have been ruled out and not safe.

It takes guts to admit you’re wrong. He’s never gonna be my favorite ump but he’s human. He made a mistake. He admitted it. Moving on. That’s exactly what I expect Clint Hurdle is encouraging his players to do.

[source]

Let’s Go Bucs

By | July 15, 2011 | Baseball, MLB | 2 Comments

After 18 consecutive losing seasons, the formerly hapless Pittsburgh Pirates headed into the All-Star break four games over .500 and exactly ONE game out of the division lead. The local TV guys were speculating last Sunday afternoon about a possible run for the division during the second half of the season, or at least the wildcard. Just getting to .500 used to be the elusive dream and (ZOMG) now we’re talking playoffs!

The statistics are staggering for this 2011 edition of the Buccos.

Last year, win #45 came on September 3. This year? July 6. They matched last year’s road win total (17) on June 1.

The last time they sent three players to the All-Star game? 1990.

Closer Joel Hanrahan gives a whole new meaning to HammerTime. He’s 26 for 26 in save opportunities this season. Only one reliever in the majors, Craig Kimbrel, has more saves and he’s only got one more than Hanrahan.

All this from an opening day payroll of $46 million. That makes the Pirates 27th out of 30 MLB teams in payroll. For comparison, the Yankees were over $201 million on opening day.

Despite a high number of injuries, resulting in a roster heavy with minor league call-ups, the team is playing better than it has in YEARS. Both starting catchers went down the same week, and the top minor-league prospect was also injured. The team went shopping and snagged the Red Sox AAA catcher, Mike McKenry, who happened to be grocery shopping in Pawtucket when he got the call. He’s a wall behind the plate, A WALL, and finally got the bat going last Friday night with his first major league home run to win the game. Someone really needs to get on making a Fort McKenry shirt. I’ll be first in line to buy one.

Speaking of shirts, I’m not afraid to buy a shirt with a player’s name and number on it anymore. The Pirates were sure to sell or trade their best players in August, usually the guy whose name was on the shirt I just bought. Eleanor is still sporting a Freddie Sanchez. This year, the Pirates look to be buyers, not sellers, as the trade deadline approaches.

Most of all, and if you’ve ever seen Bull Durham or Major League you know what I’m talking about, the players and coaches are having an absolute blast. Anyone who saw the Pirates’ dugout under John Russell’s leadership saw a team having absolutely.no.fun.at.all.thank.you.very.much. Clint Hurdle is in a whole other much happier universe. He actually remembers baseball is a GAME. For Clint, winning two in a three game series isn’t a problem, it’s a “Meatloaf series” because two out of three ain’t bad.

I’m gushing, I know, but these Pirates are totally gush-worthy. I’m wishing I could be at the ballpark every night. (It’s always been a really beautiful park, even when the team sucked.) The city is responding and sell-outs are regular happenings, rather than noteworthy events.

The national media is taking notice, too. Andrew McCutchen was interviewed during coverage of the home run derby. The big guns are mentioning Pittsburgh and saying really nice things, not making jokes. I just wish they would stop sounding so surprised all the time.

Raise the jolly roger, dammit. LET’S GO BUCS!

ClumberKim has lived in Pittsburgh over 13 years. An earlier version of this appeared on clumberkim.com. She cranked up the gush in this version.

Liar Liar Pants On…Oh, Wait. Maybe Not

By | July 14, 2011 | Baseball, Breaking News, Celebrity Athletes, Crazy People, Dain Bramage, MLB, Politics in Sports?, Talking Trash, Unsportmanlike Conduct | Comments Off

Roger Clemens used steroids. Allegedly. Then, Roger Clemens lied about it to Congress. Allegedly. I don’t know if y’all know this, but the U.S. Congress only likes to lie to you, they really don’t appreciate it when you lie to them. Um, allegedly.

Hence, a federal obstruction charge leveled on one, rather beefy Mr. Clemens. A trial which has just ended in a mistrial. Yay for wasted tax dollars!

Roger Clemens, testing the tensile strength of the fabric of his suit, and looking snazzy with his manpurse full of roids stylish satchel, his attorney who firmly believes that three-ring binders make one look more official and some dude in a blue tie, arriving in court on Wednesday.

Why the mistrial, you ask? Apparently, while discussing a matter of instructions, away from the jury, one of the attorneys left a video playing in the courtroom. Now, this video wasn’t Spongebob, Real Housewives of East Bumblefart or even a little harmless porn. This was a video that clearly displayed written statements by Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md) questioning the legitimacy and the credibility of one of the key witnesses in Clemens’ defense. These statements were made in the Congressional hearing in 2008, where Clemens denied any use of steroids or other performance enhancing drugs.Um, oops.

“Sadly, I have reached this conclusion,”said presiding justice, U.S. District Judge Reggie  Walton.

An earlier ruling was at issue, where no prior testimony was being allowed into evidence, including testimony from Clemens’ former teammate, Andy Pettitte.

“We’ll never know what impact that will have on how this jury decides this case, when we have a man’s liberty’s at stake. I am troubled by this. The government should have been more cautious.” Said Walton

He added, “I don’t see how I unring the bell” and keep the jury from considering what was on the video screen.

“In my view, Mr. Pettitte’s testimony is going to be critical as to whether this man goes to prison, and I can’t in good faith leave this case where a man’s liberty is at risk when the government should have assured we are not in this situation.”

Photo credit and source

Coke. Cotton Candy. Lemonade.

By | May 11, 2011 | Baseball, Football, Hockey | 3 Comments

If you had the opportunity to see Twitter trending topics for Pittsburgh earlier today, you would have seen stuff like “#cottoncandy,” “#cokehere” and, most importantly, “#kenny.”

If you don’t live in Pittsburgh, you might have been concerned about our sugar consumption (and probably with good reason).

But if you live in town, you immediately knew what all those tweets were about. And you likely had a brief, sinking feeling in your stomach, just as if someone in your family had died.

Because someone had.

“Kenny” is Ken Geidel, a wiry old Yinzer who worked as a vendor at most of the Penguins, Pirates and Steelers home games since sometime in the mid 1980s. He died on Monday at age 64.

If you were sitting within a few sections of Kenny’s territory, you couldn’t miss him; his high-pitched voice cut through crowd noise or a blaring PA system like a steak knife. I’m not completely certain whether I first encountered Kenny in the Civic Arena at a Pens game or at Three Rivers Stadium for a Reds-Pirates series that served as my first weekend-long date with the eventual Mrs. Crappy, but I will never forget the voice. I remember being startled. I also remember that the future Mrs. Crappy said something like “We like him. He’s been selling stuff at games forever.”

It’s not too much of a stretch to describe Kenny as the perfect Pittsburgher — connected with the city’s teams, tireless work ethic, intent on his task but still willing to take a moment, however brief, to talk with his customers. I read an old story in the Tribune-Review today where a much younger usher said Kenny regularly outworked guys 40 years his junior, humping huge trays of Coke, lemonade or other snacks up and down the steps at whatever arena or stadium he was working that day.

I think we admired Kenny for what he accomplished, yes. But the bigger thing — the reason that Pittsburgh literally stopped on Tuesday, when his death became public knowledge, to honor a stadium vendor — has to do with our deep connection to our teams and their histories. We find all manner of things — people, games, seats, sights, smells, — that connect us with the arc of sports history, from the games we vaguely remember watching on the old black-and-white TV to the hockey playoffs just a couple weeks ago.

I don’t know if this happens in other cities. Someone who lives in Cleveland might be able to say whether there are guys who are held in the same esteem at what used to be called Jacobs Field. Maybe a fan in Los Angeles might know of a dude who slings Dodger Dogs better than anyone else at Chavez Ravine. I could be wrong, but I have to think that Kenny is unique to Pittsburgh, where our determination to honor the past can make guys like him a icon.

And with a career that spanned at least 25 years, Kenny is an icon to a whole bunch of people.

—

Photo courtesy of the fabulous Burgh Baby.

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