A-Rod Flips Cashman The Bird

Today, finally some good news coming out of the Bronx for us Yankee haters. Alex Rodriguez will not negotiate a contract extension with the Yanks during the season. As much as I dislike the Yankees, I like A-Rod, and I always have. He's a fantastic all-around player and he's taking the right stance in this situation. Especially when you consider other pending Yankee Free Agents Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera. If A-Rod wasn't on the insane pace he is, the Yanks wouldn't even be considering this move. And his failure to cooperate with the is a win for the baseball fan who's tired of hearing about his lack of "true pinstripes". In honor of A-Rod's likely departure from underachieving cash machine I've cooked up a few other things I wouldn't mind seeing happen to the Bronx Bombers.

- The Yankees are eliminated from playoff contention by mid-August forcing the WWL to give up on the "can they still make it" Fact or Fiction segments.

- Johnny Damon is caught cross-dressing in Hoboken, finally explaining why he throws like a girl.

- Derek Jeter is photographed with a Transsexual entering his car outside a nightclub in Tampa Bay. It immediately hits "wwtdd.com" Ala the Beverly Hills Mayor on Entourage. The NY faithful simultaneously throw up.

- Carl Pavano finds health and returns to the rotation. He posts a 1-13 record with a 12.45 ERA before being traded to the Dodgers where he gets it together and closes 5-0 with a .67 ERA. And leads the Dodgers into the World Series, Jeff Weaver blushes.

- Chien-Ming Wang demands to be traded.

- It turns out Bobby Abreu is actually 49 years old. Julio Franco is absolutely devastated.

- George Steinbrenner finally fires a few people. Becky, formerly of marketing files a lawsuit claiming Cashman touched her.

- Jason Giambi names Brian Cashman as his supplier in his interview with George Mitchell.

To be honest I wouldn't necessarily like to see all or any of this happen. But, maybe it it did ESPN would quit shoving the Yanks and their playoff chances down our throats. Okay, fine. I'd like to see most of this happen. Maybe I am that much of an ass-hole. Or maybe I'm annoyed? Who knows.

MLB Survivor: Weeks 12 and 13

For a rundown on the rules click here

Another twofer this week as I had a long busy weekend and was unable to post last week's knockouts. Anyhow, we're sticking with the status quo here, NL followed by AL.

Eliminations Thus Far:
BD
Washington
Seattle
San Francisco
Kansas City
St. Louis
Toronto
Houston
Florida
Baltimore
Cincinnati
New York (AL)
Ted
Kansas City
Pittsburgh
Baltimore
Colorado
Texas
Cincinnati
Tampa Bay
Chicago (AL)
Chicago (NL)
Oakland
San Francisco

Leaving The Diamond: Atlanta Braves
Reasoning: While they're only sitting 2 games behind the Mets at the break. The Braves just don't have it this year. Andruw Jones is having potentially the worst walk-year in the history of free agency. And the rest of the team develops Xylophobia when Chipper Jones is out of the lineup. Not a good sign, considering Chipper Jones is to the DL as Jeff Francoeur is to the whiff. John Smoltz' recurring shoulder issues this season are another concern as well, seeing as outside of Tim Hudson consistency isn't much of a theme in the rotation.

Next season, maybe Atlnta gets another streak going, who knows? They've got some fantastic young players for the future. Unfortunately, the cornerstones of the team are brittle or amazing horrible (I'm looking at you Andruw). Leaving these Braves out in the cold for the second consecutive year. -BD

Leaving The Diamond: Philadelphia Phillies
Reasoning: This is a controversial one, because the Phillies do legitimately have a chance to win the NL East, especially when you consider how the Mets have been playing of late. Here's my logic on the matter: the Phillies' entire season jumped the shark in that whole rain delay / tarp debacle right before the All-Star Game. What do I mean? Well, that provided the seminal visual images of the Phillies' season to date - it wasn't some Ryan Howard blast, or some Chae Utley walk-off double, or some Freddy Garcia 10 K performance. No. It was a bunch of dudes trying to hold down a tarp in an otherwise meaningless game. The Phillies are doomed; they've hit their high point as of mid-July. Nothing they do past this point will amuse or entertain people any more than that. Plus, this whole 10,000 losses thing is going to affect their psyche, and let's be honest - when's the last time this team got through an entire September without screwing absolutely everything to the wall? I'm going to boot them now in an effort to look like a genius. I may just end up lookin' like a moron. It's cool, though. I'm used to it. -Ted

Leaving The Diamond: New York Yankees
Reasoning: Brandon did this right before the All-Star Break, which I suppose takes a moderate amount of wind out of the sails of a New York product (that's me!) kicking his beloved Yankees (read: I haven't rooted for them in years, although I did scream out my living room window when that foul ball nestled in Charlie Hayes' glove) off the MLB island. Nothing is going right for this team: it took them until June 22nd to get a full five-day swing through the pitchers they want to constitute every five days. They begin their post-Break game set with the Devil Rays, and Clemens is pitching Friday night. At any other time in my life as a sports fan, I would have picked a sweep for the Bombers, with a definite win Friday and a potential loss Sunday if they let their guard down. Right now? I'm calling 2 out of 3 to Tampa, including one 11-3 absolute massacre where Carl Crawford has five steals. And you think these guys can catch the Red Sox? Not a chance - unless the Sox have to play the Indians and Tigers for the entire rest of the season. -Ted

Leaving The Diamond: Texas Rangers
Reasoning: The Rangers have been about as bad as possible so far this season. They still have no quality starting pitchers to speak of. And even some of their hitters haven't quite been up to par so far this season. Leading to one of the worst records in all of baseball. Don't even get me started on Sosa, who may be the most overrated "big name" player I've ever seen. All in all It's been a pretty horrible summer deep in the south so far, and it doesn't look like things are going to be getting better anytime soon. Especially when you consider they may be trading some of their most reliable players. Those most wanted fella's just all happen to be middle relievers. And the only guys who can keep the ball in the ballpark. I'd say it's safe to say that when Gagne and Otsuka head for greener pastures, offense will pick up even more in Arlington. In related news, Ron Washington's heart attack odds are expected to hit 4-1 by the trade deadline. -BD

MLB "Survivor" Challenge: Week 10 and 11

For a rundown on the rules click here.

Ted and I got our signals crossed a bit over the last couple weeks so you get two for one this week. As usual it'll be NL followed by the AL.

Eliminations Thus Far:
BD
Washington
Seattle
San Francisco
Kansas City
St. Louis
Toronto
Houston
Florida
Baltimore
Ted
Kansas City
Pittsburgh
Baltimore
Colorado
Texas
Cincinnati
Tampa Bay
Chicago (AL)
Chicago (NL)

Leaving The Diamond: Cincinnati Reds
Reasoning: I hate that the Reds suck every year. Not so much because of the Reds but because of Ken Griffey Jr. Especially this year as the Reds forced him to move to RF from CF where he's accumulated 10 Gold Glove's. Griffey was one the best defensive CF's of is era and maybe all-time. He personified greatness for me growing up, especially when he said he'd "retire" if he was traded to the Yankees.

As far as the rest of the team goes, Homer Bailey's looked good so far and Edwin Encarnacion could be a great hitter if he can get his head out of his ass long enough. Outside of those two I don't see a lot of potential. You've gotta like Ryan Freel as he plays nearly every position on the diamond and often finds himself on the DL because he's never met a wall that liked him. Honestly, their's not much to be said of the Reds outside of those two. They're mostly old and bad and I can only hope Dunn and Griffey can escape before the trade deadline. -BD

Leaving The Diamond: San Francisco Giants
Reasoning: The sorry arse element of the Giants right now (by the way - are any teams nicknamed "the Giants" any good outside of maybe Japanese teams? Tom Coughlin is a friggin' joke!) is that they are always in the news because of Mr. Bonds, and starting roughly now, since B-Squared is five off the Hammer, we're going to have to see the Giants on national TV constantly. That's depressing, because it's July, all we have is baseball, and I don't want to see craptacular beisbol, I want to see something good. The Jints, though - they are friggin' awful. What's gonna happen is, Bonds is gonna hit it, and then no one is going to discuss or see the Giants for the remainder of the season. It's kind of like what happened with that random "Tori" girlfriend that Zach had on Saved by the Bell. She was there, and super-relevant, and guys were feuding over her, and then she just disappeared and suddenly Zach is taking Kelly to his senior prom? WTF? Anyhoo, the Giants suck. They've been voted off already, but here we go again. -Ted


Leaving The Diamond: Oakland A's
Reasoning: Ah, another Bay Area team. I don't think we've knocked off the A's yet, but it may be time. As of now, they are 9.5 games back of a red-hot Angels team that will probably clear 100 wins on the season, I fear for Nick Swisher's life everytime he plays a series on the East Coast (I imagine he shows up to batting practice in his underwear with handcuffs on), their pitching has been inconsistent and injured, and let's face it: you can never really put the A's over the Angels, because while the Angels have R. Monkey, what do the A's have? That seal? What is that friggin' thing anyway? It can dance up a storm, but so can most fat guys if you give em weed and beer and put them in a 10,000 degree suit in northern California (please - like you haven't done it). The A's are becoming irrelevant faster than Billy Beane's fomer minor league outfield mates Lenny Dystrka and Darryl Strawberry did, and as a result, we're kicking 'em off this thing. -Ted

Leaving The Diamond: New York Yankees
Reasoning: Let's be honest here, this is not the team everyone thought it would be heading into the season. While the pitching has been predictably bad it's been the hitting that's let this team down more often then not. While Alex Rodriguez has been off the charts in every category he's gotten limited help on a day-to-day basis. Derek Jetter and Jorge Posada have been the only two guys A-Rod's had hitting alongside him. While Bobby Abreu has been atrocious for the most part hitting .247 this season with a measly .342 OBP and just 4 home runs. On top of Abreu, Robinson Cano and Johnny Damon haven't been hitting either leaving the Yankees offense at the top of the disappointing list this season.

The pitching as I said has been bad, but that was predictable coming into the year. Even with Roger Clemens they haven't improved at all as they rack up one short outing after another. Leaving the bullpen worn down already and it's only going to get worse for those guys. While the Yankees could still get hot enough to steal the wild card. They won't be ending that World Series drought this season I'll guarantee you that. I'd say their's a better chance Scott Proctor sets the Stadium ablaze.

For a Yankee hater such as myself this is fantastic. Couldn't be any happier to bid them adieu this season. Now for A-Rod to opt on and head elsewhere and all will be well with the world. -BD

THE YANKEES ARE COMING, THE YANKEES ARE COMING!!!!!!

Based on the coverage of the Yankees on the WWL (among other outlets), you'd think it was a similar situation to the British. It however, is not. As those Yankees are still 8 games out as of this morning. And despite finally playing up to their potential their only the 4th best team in the American League AT BEST. In reality they're probably closer to 6th.

Anyhow....

I've grown to expect the over-coverage of the Yankees and even the Red Sox for that matter. But generally they've been atop the AL East or at the very least, within 5 games or so. Yet as soon as they'd won 4 in a row according to "expert" (I use that as loosely as possible) Steve Phillips, the Tigers should be worried, as the current leader of the wild card. This to me is an absolute joke. Were about 70 games into the season and you think teams should be worried about who's behind them in the standings? Are you serious? Baseball is a game of ups and downs, they plays 162 games for a reason. To offset such slumps and so on. To make sure, in the end, the best teams make the playoffs. Not the team who gets hot for a month and contends when they'll get destroyed come playoff time (I'm looking at you Mariners).

I understand that New York and Boston are bigger markets than Detroit, Cleveland, Oakland etc. And that ratings make the world go 'round. But at some point the top teams outside of those two places deserve to lead Baseball Tonight and SC without one of their pitchers having to toss a no-no.

I guess I'm just tired of it. Until the Yanks are within a game or two I'd rather it wasn't discussed at all. I don't hear the WWL talking about how many games out the Twins are in the Central. Let alone how close the A's are in the West. And Steve Phillips isn't telling the Mets to worry about the Phillies. Or the Brewers to worry about..uh.. well, you get the point.

I've gone and forgotten exactly where I was going with all of this but the point is: it needs to stop. The glorification of second place is a joke. And the over-coverage of everything Yankees is exactly why so many of us hate them. So knock it off, dammit!

Otherwise flash this at the beginning of BT each night:

MLB Survivor Challenge: Week 9

For a rundown on the rules click here.

Eliminations thus far:
BD
Washington
Seattle
San Francisco
Kansas City
St. Louis
Toronto
Houston
Florida
Ted
Kansas City
Pittsburgh
Baltimore
Colorado
Texas
Cincinnati
Tampa Bay
Chicago (AL)

Ted's up first with the NL and I'll follow with the AL as usual.

Leaving The Diamond: Chicago Cubs
Reasoning: This whole 'Survivor' thing is starting to get tough (ironically, avoiding the song "Eye of the Tiger" by the band of the same name when working out is equally tough, although if you download the song "Tourist" by Athlete - from the Gilbert Arenas "Impossible is Nothing" ad - you have a pretty handy way to do it).

This week, we're bouncing a team who is currently second in their division. WHAT? We're bouncing a second place team in mid-June? Uh huh, you heard me right. (Who the eff am I talking to, by the way?). The reason is, this just isn't any second-place team: it's the Chicago Cubs. The North Siders are 5.5 games back of the generally superior Brewers, who have the two best "young players" in baseball (Hardy and Fielder) according to a recent Sporting News poll.

As for the Cubbies, in this month alone they've seen a clubhouse implosion (Barrett and Zambrano), an on-field shite show (Sweet Lou), multiple media sources confirming them as "sellers" as opposed to "buyers" (despite the 300 million they've already spent), and the annual summer ritual at Wrigley of "the experience" utterly transcending "the game itself."

And as noted, it's mid-June.

Here's the one problem with this: by eliminating the Cubs, we've officially conceded the NL Central to Milwaukee as of now, having already bounced every other team in the division best referred to as "Comedy Central." This might not be the best idea considering the Brewers were no-hit earlier this week by Verlander, but we have faith in Bernie (Mr. Brewer) and the gang.

Leaving The Diamond: Baltimore Orioles
Reasoning: Let's be honest with ourselves here, The Orioles are horrible, that's h-o-r-r-i-b-l-e! It's almost unbelievable at times how bad the O's are. Sure they occasionally have a good game but so do the Royals and Nationals, which is about on the level they are. In fact, they may be WORSE than the Nationals. Something I'd have never thought possible before the season started. The Nats just swept the O's in the alleged "rivalry series". That one was just as one-sided as that World Series re-match was.

The O's are one of few teams that have almost no players I'd be encouraged about going forward. The exception to that in Baltimore is Nick Markakis who has been absolutely killing the ball of late. And should be the best player on the team once Tejada finally leaves town. This is of course, as long as Tejada doesn't go giving him any B12's as he's heading out the door.

As far as pitching goes Erik Bedard is as good as it gets for the O's, he strikes out batters in bunches he just can't get any offense to go with all those K's. Adam Loewen everyone seems to think will be good. I haven't seen enough of him just yet to disagree and he's been out with a stress fracture in his elbow since May 1st. Chris Ray appears to have gone from damn good one year, to god awful the next. It's gotten to the point that O's fans are shrieking when he trots in from the bullpen. Probably the most interesting of the O's pitchers is Daniel Cabrera, the hard throwing righty who can't ever seem to find the strike zone on a regular basis. He lead the league in walks last season with an insane 104 free passes. This year he's got 45 thus far and climbing, though I don't think he'll catch up to that personal worst of 104. Cabrera is great when he's on, he actually hays somewhat similar stuff to Justin Verlander. The guy who tossed a no-no in Detroit on Tuesday. I can't help but wonder what Cabrera might be if he found some control, though at this point I'd say that's unlikely.

With that the greater D.C. area can move on to Redskins talk. At that letdown is a few months away.

I Could Never Even Begin To Quantify My Experience Last Night

My View

It's funny, just last week my friend and I were discussing no-hitters after Shannon Stewart ruined Schillings bid in the bottom of the ninth. I vaguely remember mentioning how much I would love to be in attendance for one. Regardless of who's tossing it. As unimaginable as that was just a week ago. It's become a reality, as my favorite pitcher in the big's put on one hell of a show last night.

Even funnier to me now is this. The day I didn't get to see Verlander pitch because it was "too cold" here in Detroit. Until yesterday, I still hadn't seen him pitch, in person that is. But yesterday, I not only got seen him pitch. I got to see him etch his name into the history books, at just 24 years old (though older than I).

Now I'm going to attempt to re-hash what went on inside Comerica Park yesterday. To the best of my ability.

We arrived at the Park about 5 o'clock. Just in time for the gates to open as batting practice took place out on the field. It was a nice day, as many have been of late around here. But it didn't seem any nicer than Saturday was.

We scoped out our seating area and took a few pictures before heading down to the first baseline. To hopefully get a ball. No such luck though. We grabbed a little alcohol and headed for our seats. About 7 rows off the field behind Magglio Ordonez in right field. For $20 these were absolutely fantastic seats.

It was a pitchers duel early as both Suppan and Verlander started off well. Before Suppan surrendered a solo shot to Brandon Inge in the bottom of the third. Soon after, one of my friends and I hit a couple of concession stands as Verlander sat down Prince with a knee-buckling curve.
(Speaking of Prince, he was a big part of why I wanted to see the Brewers. Being Cecil's son and all I wanted to catch him live. We purchased the tickets a month and a half ago so Verlander taking the hill was just a bonus.)

We returned to our seats and of course, ate. But not long after (5th), one of my friends asked the other two of us if "we were aware of what was going on?" We both gave a nod and a "yeah," as we watched Verlander sit down one Brewer after another.

It wasn't until the 7th inning that I'd say any of us believed it might happen. After Verlander snapped Prince's one-hopper out of the air and Magglio made one of the sweetest catches I've ever seen live. It was beginning to feel like it was meant to happen, rather than might.

(Magglio's catch, by the way was absolutely amazing from my vantage point. I honestly didn't think he had a shot at it. But this is probably one of many reason I don't play baseball for a living.)

In the 8th, I've never been so happy in my life to have Neifi Perez in the lineup. Carlos Guillen doesn't make that play. Let alone the stop to begin with. As much as I love Guillen his defense tends to leave a lot to be desired. Anyway, the little Neifi flip to Polanco who finished the double play was one of those plays where you can just feel it. I've never been so nervous at a baseball game in my life. Especially one that I had absolutely no "real" control over.

(I actually complained when I seen Neifi was playing instead of Omar Infante. But, he's not making that play either. Score one for the defensive specialist. Who's bat is still in a FedEx warehouse somewhere.)

As Verlander took the mound in the ninth everyone in the building was on their feet. Watching in awe as he struck out Craig Counsell and Tony Graffanino again. The latter couldn't have looked worse at the plate all day, racking up an Andruw Jones like 4K effort.

J.J. Hardy was it, he was all that stood between the Tigers young "ace" and history. After hitting 102MPH on the gun in the NINTH inning. Verlander got Hardy to fly out to right. Directly in front of where we were sitting to give every one of us something to remember.

I'll never be able to truly explain what went on inside Comerica Park last night. But, my chest still hurts from my heart pounding through those last few outs. And I'm pushing 24 hours after heading to work after the game. But, I can say this.... I shared an experience with 33,555 last night that I'll certainly never forget. And I don't think they will either.

Note: Pictures are coming, my camera died after taking a few during BP and I'm waiting for one of my friends to upload them.

Visiting Fans Aren't All Bad

This past Saturday I descended upon downtown Detroit for a bachelor party, that included a baseball game, among other things. It was the second game of a three game set between my Tigers and the other team from New York, the Mets.

My friends and I decided to make the game a little more interesting. How you ask? Gambling, of course! The expiring bachelor's Uncle taught us a little game we could play called "Got 'Em." In which the participants rotate batters, on BOTH teams, predicting whether or not said batter will get a hit. HBP's, walks, and errors are pushes and no money changes hands. A single earns you a $1, a double $2, triple $3, and $4 for a big fly. The risk in this game however, lies in saying "Don't Got 'Em" and watching said player launch a home run into the left field seats. As you must then pay every participant in the game $4, and hate yourself the at least the next seven minutes. With the bases loaded it gets even better as for every guy on when a ball goes over the fence you add a dollar (i.e. bases loaded = 8 bucks a piece). The more players the more thought provoking each decision may be.

During the bottom of the second inning a contingent of Mets fans (5) sat down directly to my right. The most noticeable being the one women in the bunch who was an absolute rod-inducing stunner. Soon after a couple of my friends and I headed toward the Comerica Bar as it's $6.25 for a Jack N' Coke while it's 8.50 for a beer. Considering the Jack N' Coke is about 80% Jack I'll take that deal, every time.

When returned to our seats the stunner had swapped seats with one of the other Mets fans and was now sitting next to me. I sat down and immediately began chatting her up. Explaining our little game of "Got 'Em" among other things. Soon she joined the game, as did another of her Mets compatriots and our participants total had risen to seven. And I found myself debating Hanley Ramirez against Jose Reyes with both the stunner as well as what turned out to be her fiance. As, while my friends are sports fans they hardly engulf themselves in it as I do. And as these fans clearly did as well.

As the game wore on us Tigers fan were winning both the game and the "game" within it as the stunner's fiance asked if I wanted to put money on the outcome. With Todd Jones preparing to come in for the top of the 9th. I was weary but he immediately offered me 2-1 and I jumped at that. As the Tigers were leading 8-7 and Todd was bound to have a good outing at some point.

Sure enough, my faith was rewarded as Todd Jones picked up the save and I collected my $40 as promised.

While they're were plenty of ass-hole Met fans in attendance on Saturday, heckling as the Mets got off to a 1-0 start in the first. These fans were not any of them as they were fans of the game just as much as they were fans of the Mets. They were exactly the kind of fan's you'd like to meet at a game, especially considering they were from New York (Flushing) rather than Detroiters who had jumped on other bandwagons.

Interestingly I took a couple of Peanuts to the back and head from my fellow Tigers fans who were aiming for those Met fans. Which made me understand exactly how it must feel to go into a visiting stadium like this guy did.

Here's hoping the Mets can rectify last year's finish and meet these Tigers in the World Series like they should have.

Anyone else have a positive experience with some out-of-state Fans at your home park?

(Image: Newsday.com)

MLB Surivvor Challenge: Week 8

For a rundown on the rules click here

Eliminations Thus Far:
BD
Washington
Seattle
San Francisco
Kansas City
St. Louis
Toronto
Houston
Ted
Kansas City
Pittsburgh
Baltimore
Colorado
Texas
Cincinnati
Tampa Bay

Ted's busy this weekend and in all his confusion sent me another AL elimination. No big deal though as he'll be picking up NL duties the next two weeks as I do the same over in the AL. As usual it's NL up first and then the AL.

Leaving The Diamond: Florida Marlins
Reasoning: While the Marlins are only a half game back of the Phillies for 3rd in the NL East they've got no shot at all to win the whole damn thing this year. While Hanley Ramirez and Miguel Cabrerra are fantastic and likely always will be the rest of the team is far to inconsistent to count on. The pitching especially.

I've always had a fond place in my heart for the Marlins after watching them knock of the Indians in 1997 and then the Yanks in 2003. But since then they've traded away the team only Ramirez has lived up to his potential on a consistent basis. The rest have been up and down, some just down.

While the pitching staff has been ok thus far it's likely to get a whole lot worse as these young guys add to their innings totals. I'd venture to say that with the way the Nats are playing lately the Marlins could fall into last place out east before this season is all said and done. Something most people wouldn't have even considered possible before the season.

I'd like to see Dontrelle Willis pitch a little better though. As the leader of the staff he needs to set an example for those untested behind him. Regardless, these fish are now "sleeping with the fishes" as far as this guys concerned. (Apologies for the very general reasoning on this one. I'm a little out of it tonight.)

Leaving The Diamond: Chicago White Sox
Reasoning: This was a tough one for me. I really wanted to do the Yankees, but then they had to go and start playing well. You might find it funny that I'm reluctant to do the Yankees when I'm currently picking a team who is just 1 game worse than them, and actually closer within their division than the Bombers are.

Here's my logic: the Sox got the Yankees this week at a rough time for the organization. Sure, they had come off a walk-off HR on Sunday night by A-Rod against their arch-rival, but the Clemens start was delayed and momentum seemed to be seeping out of the Bronx balloon yet again. Advantage, Chi-Sox - and they took it, winning the first game of the series, 6-4. Then, they proceeded to get utterly pounded the next two nights.

This follows a disturbing trend of the White Sox, currently fourth in the AL Central, not being able to close the deal. In the first Interleague series go-round, they dropped 2 of 3 to the Cubs (the Cubs!!!). Last week, they were SWEPT by the Twins (a division rival, naitch) and beaten pillar to post by the Blue Jays. They even SPLIT with the D-Rays. When you're splitting with Tampa Bay only 2 years removed from the World Championship, that's fairly sorry ass.

Look, the Sox have enough talent to probably win 85 games or so. Unfortunately, that's going to do nothing the way the Tigers and Indians are likely to finish, and with what the Twins are capable of if they get hot. So, Ozzie and company, see you back on the South Side... in '08.

Schilling Has Blue Ball Experience

All the blood was rushing threw his body he could feel it, he was almost there. And then.... Shannon Stewart lined a fastball into left field and it was gone. At 40 years old Curt Schilling almost tossed a no-hitter. He almost had the second biggest orgasm of his career (outside of the world series of course). In the end he was left with nothing but a stinging pain in in abdomen as one of baseballs greatest feats was snatched from him in the bottom of the ninth with two outs.


*Curt had agreed pre-game to let Sports Show On Mute mic him. Irony I'd call it, as I got the post-game conversation between he and catcher/captain Jason Varitek.

Varitek: Well that sucked. Sorry buddy.

Schilling: My groin hurts.

Varitek: Gettin' a little old for 9 innings are ya?

Schilling: I was almost there Jason, I almost... finished.

Varitek: What do you mean, finished?

Schilling: You know what I mean.

Varitek: Yeah, I guess. You almost got the no-no I get it, Curt. But we got the win at least. You pitched a hell of a game today. Wh- Why are you limping?

Schilling: IT hurts.

Varitek: What hurts?

Schilling: IT!

Varitek: I'll get the trainer...

Schilling: NO! There's a first time for everything. It's weird though. It almost feels.. as if Jessica Alba was giving.. (Varitek interrupts)

Varitek: Where are you going with this?

Schilling: Just go with it... she was giving me a beejer and she knew I was almost there and she just.. stopped. And walked away.

Varitek: Guess you shouldn't have shaken off that slider eh?

Schilling: I'm talking Alba, and IT! And your talking about sliders??

(Varitek walks away shaking his head)

Schilling: (clutching IT!) Where's CHB when I might actually need him?

*This is all completely false. As you all should have figured in the first place.

(Photo: MSNBC)

The MLB "Survivor" Challenge: Week 7

For a rundown on the rules click here.

Eliminations So Far:
BD
Washington
Seattle
San Francisco
Kansas City
St. Louis
Toronto
Ted
Kansas City
Pittsburgh
Baltimore
Colorado
Texas
Cincinnati

As usual the NL is up first, that's me this week. Followed by Ted with the AL.

Leaving The Diamond: Houston Astros
Reasoning: I've toyed with the idea of knocking out the Astros ever since Roger Clemens decided to go back to Jeter's house. They start every year slow and then rebound to make the playoffs. Or at least get close ala last year. But this year that won't be happening, with Pettitte and now Clemens the Houston pitching staff is absolutely brutal. Outside of Roy Oswalt and maybe, and I mean MAYBE Jason Jennings I wouldn't trust any of those guys. Not to mention that awesome bullpen they run out there. What was it seven runs they surrendered in the ninth last night? SEVEN!!? That's ridiculous, it went from 1-1 to 8-1 in one inning and with that anemic offense the Astros have that one was over and everyone knew it.

Speaking of the offense, wasn't Carlos Lee supposed to solve a lot of their problems? They certainly paid him to. Yet the little he has done is far from enough. The Astros recently dropped 10 games in a row to fall even further back in the NL Central. A division that arguably no one is ever out of, the Astros may have taken themselves out already. Lance Berkman snapped his 19-game homer-less streak in the game that spanned the skid, coincidence? I don't think so. Berkman has been mediocre at best this season while Carlos Lee has more or less took over his production from last year. The Astros offense believe it or not may be worse. Recently called-up Hunter Pence has been fantastic though, stringing together two-hit games in bunches. He's already hitting 4-5 in the lineup most of the time. While he's been great he's not ready to be that guy just yet. And the Astros are going to continue to struggle.

Also worth mentioning, Roy Oswalt appears to have inherited Clemens problem this season. As the Astros just cannot score when he starts. Last night was an example of this as Oswalt went 7, giving up only one run and got the no decision as his bullpen blew it. Oswalt in my opinion, is one of the best pitcher in the game today. And I'd love to see him get out of Houston before the little run support he does get dries up all together.

So long Houston, here's hoping Matt Shaub can avoid linebackers with the moxie of David Carr.

Leaving The Diamond: Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Reasoning: It's funny that it took so long for this to happen, don'tcha think?

The reason, quite simply, is this: Elijah Dukes threatened.... OK, OK. I won't go there. The actual reason is thus: it's not 2012. See, come 2012, the Rays might last in this type of challenge (and knowing how my life is going right now, I may well be doing this type of challenge then) until early September. If they keep their current nucleus together and gain some pitchers along the way, they'll have a tremendous group.

Unfortunately, right now it's 2007, and here's the most interesting thing about the D-Rays to me: by being as bad as they will end up being, they will prevent the Yankees from finishing dead last in the AL East. I think that's something everyone outside of New York has been waiting for on the order of 17 years, and the damn D-Rays are going to stop it from happening. As such, I need to get them out of here right now. Behind Scott Kazmir, there's next to nothing in that rotation.

Stay tuned, though. See, BD and I go back and forth here, so I've got the AL again in two weeks (roughly June 12th). If the Yanks are playing the way then that they are now, I'm completely and utterly willing to knock them off the Sports Show on Mute island BEFORE THE ALL-STAR BREAK. Who woulda ever thought that was possible? (Note well: once I do that, they will unquestionably win the '07 World Series, probably over the Nationals, which is the first team we bounced).

The Hop Must Stop

A week or so ago I watched as Sammy Sosa sent #598 into the seats and then proceeded with his post-watch-HR-fly-over-wall hop. He then, of course rounded the bases. Sammy's little hop is quite possibly the worst HR strut in the history of the game. Not to mention all those pesky steroids and now HGH he's Slammin' Sammy all over again. Just once I'd love to see a pitcher clothesline Sammy mid-hop, put an elbow to his throat and then drag him off of the diamond. Aware that he has not been forgiven, that he is and forever will be a one dimensional player who needed steroids (allegedly) to nail down that dimension in the first place. Anyhow, Sammy's feminine hop got me thinking.

Who, in the game today, has the best HR strut? I've managed to narrow it down to my top five. Though some bias has been inserted I tried to be reasonable. I've included only those who came to mind when the idea first surfaced. No one else. No research what-so-ever. So here ya go... my top five..

5) Magglio Ordonez
This one I obviously have to explain -- I'll never forget where I was when Ordonez sent the Tigers to the World Series with one swing of the bat last October. Nor will I ever forget what it felt like after watching the Tigers play sub .500 ball for my entire life. While Ordonez doesn't have the greatest of struts and he won't come to many of your minds when asked: Who's strut is the best? His nonchalant post HR approach puts him in my top 5. And that October jack definitely helped. Embedding was disabled on the only good video I could find. So click the link to watch Maggs tiptoe towards first as the ball flies over the fence. It's almost as if this wasn't the biggest swing of his career.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLVdWgDjMjM


4) Albert Pujols



3) David Ortiz
The Ortiz slamming starts at about the 0:50 second mark.



2) Barry Bonds
Undeniable... refer to the first :45 of the above video for a few Bonds shots.

1) Ken Griffey Jr.
The Junior strut is undeniably the greatest HR strut in all of the land. Without a shadow of a doubt Junior has cornered this market. Now if only he hadn't been injured to damn much.

The below video kicks off with the best capture of Griffey's strut I've seen. Animation or not. The video also features many other struts. Including the dreaded hop.



So, Who's got the best strut for your money? If it Junior? Or is it someone I haven't even mentioned here?

The MLB "Survivor" Challenge Weeks 5 and 6

Those wondering what this is all about, click here.

Well work became a problem last week (damn responsibility) and despite Ted getting his entry to me early. I failed to post it at all. So this week you get a dual elimination from us both. As usual here are the knockouts thus far for both of us.

BD
Washington
Seattle
San Francisco
Kansas City
Ted
Kansas City
Pittsburgh
Baltimore
Colorado

Per usual we'll lead it off with the NL.... I'm up first and then Ted.

Leaving The Diamond: St. Louis Cardinals
Reasoning: Fall anyone? It really is amazing how bad the Cardinals have been this season. Though let's be honest no one thought they were better than the Tigers last season either. They just happened to be for a little over a week to win the whole damn thing. Those very Tigers swept the Cards over the weekend. And watching the majority of all three games all I can say is... wow. The Cardinals couldn't hit a beach ball if it blew out of the stands. Let alone something much smaller and less colorful.

I knew they couldn't hit but I hadn't seen it for myself until now and that put the stamp on this one. Though I even toyed with the idea when I sent the Giants into oblivion two weeks ago. This is a great joy for sure. As an avid Cardinal hater for as long as I can remember (I even rooted for Boston in 2004, and I surely am not a Sox fan). I must say this is a great pleasure.

While Pujols was solid over the weekend he's off to a slow start this year and has virtually no protection with Scott Rolen stealing money behind him. Not to mention their pitching staff is comprised of two of last year's relief guys (Wainwright and Looper) who have struggled for the most part. And Chris Carpenter is still in limbo following an early season injury. The Cards, despite that horrendous division are going nowhere this season and I couldn't be happier.

Good bye, and good riddance. Albert can't complain about the MVP this season.

Leaving The Diamond: Cincinnati Reds
Reasoning: This is a tough one for me in some respects. See, just like my earlier elimination of the Orioles (a team personally dear to my own heart), the Reds are the favorite team of one of my good friends / college roommates, Peter. He checks out most Reds vs. Nationals series, as he's a DC resident these days, and that's kinda the jumping off point for this elimination.

See, the Reds beat the Nationals this past Monday night - the game was in Cincinnati, so I doubt Peter was there - on a Javier Valentin knock in the 8th inning. The more and more I thought about that game, I kept thinking that legitimately, I would probably be inclined to watch Problem Child 2 more than any given three-inning stretch of it. It's sad, because that victory might be one of the most exciting the Reds have this year - and it only brought them to "a little closer to third" in the NL Central.

The Reds right now aren't a team you follow; they're a collection of players who are interesting for various reasons. Ken Griffey Jr is looking hot right now, although he'll probably stab himself with a spork within a few weeks and be done for the season; Adam Dunn might be legitimately the most awesome power hitter in MLB right now just in terms of sheer distance; Ryan Freel is a star in the making, and a total freak who has imaginary friends north of 25; and Josh Hamilton's story is inspirational. It's also nice to know Scott Hatterberg still has a job.

However, baseball is a team game, and the Reds, as a team, are a total friggin' joke. Bye bye, Cincinnati. We'll see you on the flip side.

Moving over to the AL Ted kicks us off, while I'm hitting cleanup to wrap this dual week Survivor up.

Leaving The Diamond: Texas Rangers
Reasoning: Unlike my main man BD, I can't do a repeat - it would just be too easy to eliminate the Royals every time I have the AL; legitimately, that team has a chance to get no hit every time they play - so I'll go with Texas here.

As of Sunday, the Rangers are a pedestrian 9-9 at home, 4-6 in their past 10, and are getting owned by the Angels, logically the class of the division. Here's what's probably most troubling: take a gander at their depth chart. Their No. 1 pitcher is listed as Vicente Padilla; their CF is Kenny Lofton, who may be older than Frank Robinson; and Brad Wilkerson - who, good catch last weekend aside, might be one of the most underwhelming baseball players with potential in history - rocks out in left.

The Rangers infield is very good and legitimate - Teixeria, Kinsler, Young, and Blalock. Unfortunately, their pitching is mostly a bunch of ass clowns and former steroid abusers, and the A's and Angels are both significantly better than them. We're voting them off the island this week, and in so doing, we're hoping that Sammy Sosa fades into obscurity along with the squad as a whole. Seeing that home run bop now is like watching old Mel Gibson movies after you learned he's an alcoholic bigot. It just makes you sad.

Leaving The Diamond: Toronto Blue Jays
Reasoning: That's right Tampa Bay lives to see another day, despite Elijah Dukes and his karma. The Blue Jays as I fight the repeat then become the casualty. Currently sitting in a tie with the Yankees 10.5 back of what is probably baseball's best team, the Boston Red Sox. The Jays just cannot find a reliable starter outside of Roy and A.J. and with those two injuries are a constant concern. The worst part about this for me is that the AL East will once again feature a NY/BOS (well, Boston) winner and Vernon Wells still isn't going to get his shot on the big stage. Much like Carlos Delgado never did up there in free health care land.

The Jays have got to feel good about Jeremy Accardo's emergence at the back of the bullpen. Though I think he could have probably closed games last year. B.J. Ryan's injury has given him his time to shine and that may open up Toronto to moving Ryan and his massive contract is Accardo can keep this up all year. Casey Janssen has also turned into quite the reliable set-up guy after having a roller-coaster of a ride in the rotation the past two years or so.

All in all Toronto has a solid nucleus of talent but to compete in the east, better yet the AL they're going to need better pitching. At the very least three consistent, and reliable starters. A.J.'s been solid so far this year and so has Roy when he's not having an appendectomy. The rest of those guys, however, have been brutal and I'd anticipate that continuing. The lineup has been struggling as well with Alex Rios leading the team in BA (.282) and HR (9) while Aaron Hill leads in RBI (25). More or less, nothing is working. Which illustrates just how bad the Yankees have been so far this year (which is fantastic by the way).

Adios Canada, it's just to bad your favorite sport is almost over as well.

The MLB "Survivor" Challenge: Week 4

It's now time for Ted and I to each knock off a 4th team, all be it a little later in the week than usual. Click here for a rules refresher, otherwise let's get to the eliminations.

Eliminations So Far:
BD
Washington
Seattle
San Francisco
Ted
Kansas City
Pittsburgh
Baltimore

Ted's NL knock out leads us off..

Leaving The Diamond: Colorado Rockies
Reasoning: Right now, my roommate has a 101 fever, and is pretty much laying in bed, moaning, and checking the Internet. He appeared briefly earlier tonight when I was flipping from "National Lampoon's Vacation" (the original, WallyWorld one) to Rangers vs. Yankees. My argument, at the time, was that the Rangers were the least relevant team in MLB history. Given how long they've been around, and the lack of things they've accomplished - and yea, yea, I know all about the whole Nolan Ryan period - I think my theory holds water.

He says to me, under fever, "What about the Rockies?"

My rebuttal: "Sure, the Rockies are irrelevant, but bear in mind, about 3-4 years into their existence, they made the playoffs." Indeed. Bichette, Walker, and Castilla. I have absolutely no idea who pitched for them then, and am too lazy to check at this point in my evening.

The thing is, they ain't making the playoffs this year, and as such, they're off the island this week in the Sports Show on Mute MLB Survivor Kinda Sorta Challenge. In so doing, I'd like to propose a new element of pop culture: the Sports Illustrated middle of the book jinx. A few weeks ago, SI ran an article on Matt Holliday and Garrett Akins (roughly around page 52), and since then, all the Rockies have done is slide further and further into the doldrums of a competitive NL West, despite having a crapload of individual talent.

Here's the thing, and let's not blame Sports Illustrated in the process (although it would be easy to): they have absolutely no pitching. And if they did have pitching - if this team got Brandon Webb, and John Smoltz, and Josh Beckett, and Jeff Suppan - they'd still be doomed. You know why? THEM BALLS FLY OUT OF COORS! There's no way this team is winning anything close to putting them near relevance in the next few years. It's a joke to still have them around in this competition. Good night, sweet prince.

And my AL pick..

Leaving The Diamond: The Kansas City Royals
Reasoning: Well I tried not to but I have to pull our first repeat yet. Having watched all three games of the Royals-Tigers series this past week I realized just how brutal they are. No matter what they did in each game the Tigers found a way to counter and come out on top with a series sweep. While the Royals deserve some credit for knowing Gil Meche was just suffering from "horrible pitching coach" disease up in Seattle (the same thing Weaver has now). And Alex Gordon and Billy Butler appear as though they'll both be good players down the road. The rest of the team is brutal. Okay, not everyone, Soria (Rule 5 Pick), Teahan and DeJesus are solid players.

Yet even with these few guys the Royals will still probably lose 100 games this season. They've got to happy they're not as bad as the Nats but that's hardly an accomplishment. I no longer think the Royals will suck forever. But I could be wrong as it wouldn't surprise me to see Gordon and Butler walk once they hit free agency a few years down the road.

Gordon the alleged wave of the future continues to struggle in the early going this season (.173/.312/.269). While I think he'll eventually figure it out and become a good player if not a great one. Right now he's acting as nothing more than an anchor and potentially just hurting himself with all his unsuccessful plate appearances. While I don't like the Royals at all, only the Yankees deserve to be bad. And hopefully they'll figure all this stuff out eventually.

A Litte Over One Month In

So we're a little more than one month into the MLB season and a lot of interesting things have already happened, and will certainly happen. Here are a few observations, and approximations strait from the realm of idiocy I dwell in.

- The NL West is going to be contested down to the wire. The Dodgers and Padres are both as good, if not better than last year. While Arizona, San Francisco and Colorado have all been competitive. The D-Backs and Rockies both have a bunch of young, only going to get better talent. The Giants may end up the worst of the bunch once Barry breaks the record and the rest of the team start to show their age. As they will go long stretches without being able to score. Never a good thing. But they've got to feel good about the young arms of Cain and Lincecum.

- The Yankees may very well miss the playoffs for the first time since 1993. Boston is playing very well in the early going and while they will slump at some point. I'm just not sure it'll be a big enough slump for NY to overtake them. This is also under the assumption that the wild card comes from the Central. Where there are at least two teams better than the Yanks in my opinion.

- Ryan Howard's got some competition in the "best young first basemen" category, his name is Adrian Gonzalez. Gonzalez is tied for second in the NL in HR's (10), and RBI (30) for the West's second place team. He's been on fire, and I fully expect him to continue to get better. Nice move by SD, inking him to an arguably cheap 4-year extension April 1st. As this future star could have certainly gotten a lot more.

- The Milwaukee Brewers are pretty good. My issue with making the claim they'll win the brutal NL Central is the youth. As you never know when it might all come crashing down. This was also my issue with Detroit last year, though. As the Tigers relied heavily on 3 young players (Granderson, Zumaya, and Verlander). The Brewers rely on a lot more than just three. That said the Cardinals suck and just barely edged out the Giants in the challenge last week. The Astros really needed Clemens as Oswalt can't do it alone. They're done if Oswalt catches whatever Brad Lidge's got. No one else in the central should really contend. Unless Griffey hits 74 HR's, that is. Oh, wait. The Cubs appear to be decent.

- Joel Zumaya's injury might just cost the Tigers the AL Central, and the post-season all-together. I know he's just a setup man but even a lights out Fernando Rodney can't get the ball to Todd Jones every night by himself. While most of the other guys have been solid so far. I'm not buying until they've done it for three months. So if Detroit's out, and Minny's struggling who's in? Cleveland for sure, Chicago? Possibly.

- What the point of the Rule 5 draft? Is it so one team can prove they have a better development system than another? A few names that have changed cities via Rule 5 draft: Dan Uggla, Shane Victorino, Derek Turnbow, Joakim Soria, and of course Johan Santana. While I get that this gives guys whose teams don't have room for them an opportunity to play at the MLB level. It also robs those who have consistently drafted well and I think it should be abolished.

The MLB "Survivor" Challenge: Week 3

Week 3 has arrived in the "survivor" challenge and Ted and I are ready to end two more teams season early. This week I'll be making my 2nd NL elimination while Ted takes care of the AL. For a refresher on the rules click here.

Here are the teams we've each eliminated thus far:
BD
Washington
Seattle
Ted
Kansas City
Pittsburgh

Now onto this week's eliminations.

Leaving The Diamond: San Francisco Giants
Reasoning: Looking at the Giants and Barry Bonds it's hard to imagine how they've fallen. Bonds is the poster child for steroids while the Giants as a whole are the poster children for Life Alert. Every season they seem to get older and every season they suck. Every time Ray Durham gets up from a slid the dugout let's out a collective sigh of relief. As he didn't break his hip.

As I child I was a big time Bonds fan, growing up seeing the man he is off the field has done nothing but make me sick. Whether or not Bonds used steroids I still wouldn't want him to break Hank's record. He's a prick and seeing guys like him succeed is never really a good thing.

This past off-season the Giants gave Barry Zito a massive contract, almost as if to say they were willing to pay big to win. Yet that singing will make little difference this season as the lineup remains mostly intact. I like Matt Cain a lot and I think he'll be great in another uniform in a few years, as it's unlikely he stays in SF for good. Cain is the youngest Giant by 2 years over reliever Jon Sanchez. While playing with all of these veterans will teach Cain about Viagra, Life Alert and many other geriatric necessities. It won't help he and Zito win games. So it is with an ecstatic middle finger in Bonds' direction that I send these Giants into 2007 obscurity.

And now Ted's AL elimination.

Leaving The Diamond: Baltimore Orioles
Reasoning: This one hurts a bit. I went to college in DC pre-Nationals, so my friends and I took in quite a few games in the "friendly confines" of Camden. I once screamed at Kenny Lofton enough - the glorious summer of 2002, when he was with the White Sox (I think? He might have been on 10 teams that summer) - that he actually reacted. As such, I became a kinda sorta Orioles "fan," in the sense that I have an Orioles hat and a Brian Roberts poster, and I display them both frequently enough to vaguely be associated with the organization.

I also once had a multiple e-mail exchange with Jim Beattie.

Anyway, I digress. The Orioles looked good early, but now they look too much like the normal Orioles. As of Wednesday morning, they've lost 3 in a row, are 2-8 in their last 10, had a chance to rumble with the Tigers this week - when the defending AL Champions wanna fight, goddamn it you fight - and instead "fagged out" and no punches were thrown, and bright spots like Daniel Cabrera are beginning to become eyesores. Cabrera looked good in that same Tigers game, then walked six and threw 2 wild pitches. It's cool if you throw 98, bro, but get it under control, joo know?

Even though the Yankees suck right now and everything under the sun bad is happening to them, they'll recover. The D-Rays won't win the division, but they have enough young talent to not get eliminated by BD or I for a little while. The Red Sox might be headed towards another '04. But the Orioles? No chance, not this year. Goodbye, sweet prince.

The MLB "Survivor" Challenge: Week 2

After each eliminating one team last week Ted and I have set our sights on the opposite league. As this week I take on the AL while Ted pencils in the latitude and longitude of an NL team. And preps to send that WMD right on over. While here in the early going the list of teams who likely won't be winning anything is long its still amusing to pretend they're no longer playing at all. Kaufman stadium is a figment of every one's imagination from this point forward. If your looking for the rules you can click here. Otherwise let's get to the eliminations.

Ted's up first this week with his National League cast off.

Leaving The Diamond: The Pittsburgh Pirates

Reasoning: Look, it's not like the Buckos are bad - alright, alright, they are bad, but so is the entirety of the NL Central - it's that this season, their futility (with the Warriors making the playoffs, they have basically the longest postseason drought of a long-standing professional franchise) is serving as a backdrop to other items of baseball relevance.

For example, Bonds this season? Not one, but two homers in a single game against his former club. Saturday night? Pittsburgh falls prey to a Russell Martin walk off grand slam in the bottom of the 10th at Chavez Ravine, serving as a footnote to Martin's ascension as a top NL catcher and the Dodgers "we're old, but we're good" last ditch effort to make Grady Little slightly more than a guy who waited too long with one pitcher.

Even the Pirates landmark wins this season - over the Astros, right at the beginning - have proved a joke, because the Astros are now running with Milwaukee for first in the division; and even Pittsburgh's acquisition of record - Adam LaRoche - hasn't been great. As of me writing this, he's got 3 HR (cool), 7 RBI (eh), a .281 slugging percentage (blech), and a .105 average (I just threw up in my mouth a smidge).

For all these reasons, Pittsburgh is now off the island. It's alright, though: Steelers are only what, 17 weeks away?

And now my American League sacrifice. And ironically enough it's an all Superbowl 50 edition.

Leaving the Diamond: The Seattle Mariners
Reasoning: Well lets see, the best pitcher they have is on the DL for the next two weeks. Adrian Beltre is still horrible if you consider his contract post steroids (allegedly). Richie Sexson has exactly five more hits than he has HR's. FIVE! Considering he has only 3 HR's you see why I'm astonished this guy is the 10th highest paid player in the entire league. Sexson's average so far this season is an amazing .160 in 15 games. That's absolutely brutal. Looking at how bad Seattle is you'd never think they had the 7th highest payroll in the MLB. Not to mention that it tops 100 millions and they can't even hang with the Marlins.

It has to hurt knowing that the highlight of their season was Felix out dueling "The Monster" (Dice-K) at Fenway two weeks ago. And that Ichiro who's contract expires at season's end will likely head to greener pastures. Or at least you would think. Fan's in the pacific northwest can't help but shed a tear as they watch A-Rod, a former Mariner, decimate the competition after leaving Seattle. He obviously wasn't too expensive if you consider what the Mariners are getting out of their highest paid guys. A-Rod can do what they've both done this season all by himself.

So much like Pittsburgh's fans, Seattle's will be looking toward the fall sooner, rather than later.

The MLB "Survivor" Challenge

In watching the opening two weeks of the MLB season I find myself already wanting to eliminate teams from playoff contention. The Royals and Nationals of the world might just as well hang up their cleats and look forward to 2010 when the young talent they do have might be able to carry the rest of a mediocre roster into the playoffs. Enough rambling, the idea here is that Ted from APABR and I are going to eliminate teams on a weekly basis from the MLB. Officially ending their seasons before they're even really over. In the end we'll each have one team left standing and if one of us manages to pick the team that wins the whole damn thing I'm sure they'll get some kind of prize. Such as a shiny penny with the year of their birth as commemoration for their contribution to this blog.

Here are the general rules:
-We must alternate leagues. If one goes AL, the other eliminates NL that week etc. except ONCE. As the NL has 16 to the AL's 14 teams
-1 team per week for 20 weeks.
-2 teams per week for the final 4 weeks.
-The Final elimination during the playoffs opening week.
-With each elimination we will provide a reason. Said reason does not at all have to be a well thought out, valid and insightful one.

Here in the first week I've got the National League while Ted will be taking the American League to tribal council.

Leaving The Diamond: The Washington Nationals
Reason: The obvious pick for the first National League team who's season is already over the Nationals are arguably a AAA team masquerading as a Major League team. The only player on the Nats entire roster I'd want on my team is Ryan Zimmerman. The promising young third basemen is surely to compete with David Wright as the best third basemen of the league for years to come. A fantastic defensive player as well as a solid offensive contributor Zimmerman just missed out on last season's rookie of the year award. He's likely going to leaving Washington whenever he becomes eligible for Free Agency a few years from now.

While I would attend a Nationals game if I lived in the DC are and someone gave me tickets I doubt I'd pay more than 5 dollars to go to a game. I feel sorry for any die hard baseball fan who lives in the DC area as the alternative (Baltimore) isn't a whole lot better than these guys are.

Moving forward one can only hope the Nats can figure out what the hell they're doing in the front office. Not trading Alfonso Soriano last season was one of the worst decisions I can remember by a front office at the trade deadline. Especially considering the Nats knew for a fact they weren't going to be able to resign their best player. The Nats do not currently employ even one pitcher I'd trust to take the mound for my team.


Onto the AL where Ted will cast off his first team.

Leaving The Diamond: The Kansas City Royals
Reason: My logic? Simple. Even with a relatively hearty performance from Zach Greinke, and an overall Royals team that beat the Red Sox on Opening Day, KC is still the worst team in baseball through the first two weeks, with the Nationals victory Monday night. The team has promise: Alex Gordon, if he stays, will be a stud; Mark Teahen will, as well; and Emil Brown is the best player you've never heard of not named David DeJesus. You also have to figure (hope?) that Dayton Moore knows something about running a baseball team, considering that: a) he studied at the foot of John Schuerholz, and b) he could have had the Boston job in '05.

As a final piece of workable logic, there's this: my friend invited me to a Royals game this summer. It's a friend I haven't seen in a while, and it's summer baseball, and it's bad summer baseball, which to me is a little slice of heaven (doesn't matter how drunk you get, now does it?). I still declined. I told him we could meet up at the new Busch instead, which involves a great deal more logistics. I just can't sit in the sun at Kauffman and not cry. This team is that bad.

And that concludes week one of as Ted called it "the Sports Show on Mute Kinda-Like-Survivor MLB Challenge." If any of you other bloggers out there would like to join the challenge just leave a comment or send me an e-mail at sportsshowonmute(at)gmail(dot)com with your blog name and your first two eliminations. One from each league to be posted next week alongside Ted and I's second elimination.

Streaming Thoughts: Suck On That, Derek!

First of all, I'll admit I'm a little late on this but as I near the end of the semester at school things have become a little more chaotic. In 3-4 weeks when the semester finally does end, expect me to update more often than I ever have. Moving on the actual subject of this post.

The WWL has been experimenting with the possibility of implanting chips into the brains of the biggest athletes on the planet. Then streaming all of their thoughts on the .com or across the bottom of the screen should they be competing on one of their networks. The initial attempt (or BETA) was on Alex Rodriguez, the New York Yankees third basemen. Below are a collection of A-rod's most amusing thoughts over the first week of the baseball season.

April 2nd, 2007
- Dammit Jorge, that should have been your ball. Here come the boo's and it's only the first inning of the first game.

- (Approaching the plate in the 8th) I suppose I should hit one out now. Put this game away.

- A curtain call? For me?? Wow!!

April 5th, 2007
- Snow?? This is ridiculous, I'm cold.

- Need to get this over with. If we lose, we lose. I'm just going to pop one up here and get back into the heat of the dugout. (Bases were loaded)

April 6, 2007
- (As the game winds to a close and A-rod sits alone in at the end of the bench.) Why doesn't he want to have sleep overs anymore? At least one night during the off-season we should get together and watch movies all night. Maybe even talk about boys women. If he doesn't appreciate me than I think it may be time to take New York from him. That's it! If Justin can Bring Sexy Back. The surely I can take NYC back, right? Why am I asking myself questions?

- (Driving home) Maybe I should just hit 81 HR's this year. Make steroid Bonds look like a school boy and expose everyone else who doesn't try every single plate appearance. Nah! Too taxing.

April 7, 2007
- Let's get this started. I'll put one in the seats now and try to put this game outta reach early.

- That's it, draw a walk Derek. Force someone else to pick up the slack.

- Bases loaded, bottom of the ninth, and all I need is a single? To hell with that this one's going into the black seats.

- Whooo! Suck on that, Derek!!

April 8, 2007
- Might as well start another game with a long ball. It never gets old watching the ball fly into the seats.

April 9, 2007
-Ponson's pitching today? HA! Someones guaranteed a souvenir tonight. That guy sucks.

April 10th, 2007
- (Sigh...) Might as well start this one off with the long ball as well. Oh... and there it goes..!

- What to do that's even better than Homering almost every day? I've got it! I think I'll steal home in the bottom of the ninth, in a tie game, when the Mets come to the Stadium in June. We'll see if Derek's still the king of New York after that.

A-rod's first week in thoughts has certainly been interesting. Will he take New York from DJ? I doubt it. But he can dream, right?

Once a week, if not bi-weekly I'll be "Streaming Thoughts" here at the Mute network. Anyone who's head you like to have checked out? Leave a comment or email me at sportsshowonmute(at)gmail(dot)com

Too Cold?????

Since when is it "Too Cold" for baseball? If it were November and the wind chill was 16 Degrees as it was today the players would have taken the field as if it were any other playoff game. Yet, today baseball in Detroit was canceled. The first game I'm able to get out to this season didn't happen. I was finally going to see Justin Verlander pitch in person, but of course not. Now when I go to this particular game on September 10th it'll likely be Chad Durbin, Zach Miner or some other ass-hole never been who doesn't deserve his rotation spot toeing the rubber.

I'm even more unhappy about this because I made the 45 minute, or so trip down to Comerica Park. Despite listening to SPORTS RADIO during this entire 45+ minutes the cancellation was never mentioned. The local news channels that I was watching before leaving for the ballpark also failed to mention to this. So allow me to thank you local media. Yes, THANK YOU for wasting a quarter tank of my three dollar a gallon gas. Too Cold??? What a load of shit crap!

EVEN WORSE the damn Yankees played in the snow. The YANKEES! The most overpaid manicured bunch in the majors played in cold, snowy New York. Yet, TIGERS cannot? Why don't we call them the paper Tigers from now on and I'll buy this.

Let's be honest with ourselves here. This game was canceled because the Tigers knew that only 1-3,000 people were going to show up. Thus, they're not making any money. God forbid the rich don't get any richer. To think, I was excited to see a snow game. I should have figured Verlander couldn't pitch without any nice warm sand in his v........

Obvious Conclusions After Opening Day

Now that opening day has come to a close it's pretty clear what's going to happen this season. From HR totals to CY Young winners. Here you go.

-Adam Dunn will hit 324 HR's (Renteria will get hurt and miss 20 games falling 40 HR's behind Dunn.)

-Miguel Cabrera will hit .750 with 648 RBI and 162 HR's and an .833 OBP

-Hanley Ramirez will score 648 runs and steal 324 bases to go along with 648 hits.

-Chris Burke will "leg out" 324 doubles.

-Tony Pena Jr. will put up just as many triples.

-Craig Monroe, Adam LaRoche, and Willy Taveras will each strike out 648 times.

-Ben Sheets and Gil Meche will win the CY Young's in their respective league's.

-Jose Contreras' 63.00 ERA will cause Ozzie Guillen to choke him.

-Solomon Torres will save 162 games for the Pirates.

-Carlos Zambrano will allow 324 HR's, 50 of them to Adam Dunn.

-Felix Hernandez will strike out 420 batters.

-The Tigers will return to the AL Central cellar as the Royals in an uplifting story win 100 games.

-The Red Sox will finish dead last in the AL East as the Yankees make it 10 strait.

-The Pirates will compete for a playoff spot.

-The Indians will put up a combined 2106 hits.

If Opening day really told us anything, Gil Meche would have probably already won a Cy Young.