Wednesday, April 21, 2021

GIMME THAT OLD TIME RELIGION...

 **Anyone who is at all interested in baseball should read Phil Mushnick's column in the April 17th edition of the NY Post. Baseball players and managers should be made to memorize it.

 https://nypost.com/2021/04/17/true-winning-baseball-goes-against-everything-mlb-practices/

Among the many current baseball practices he discusses are these little gems

*You wanna play the shift against us? Knock yourselves out. We have been drilled to beat the shift with ‘other way’ swings.

*Hustle? We will not be out-hustled. If a guy jogs when he should be running, if he home-plate-poses a double or triple into a single, he will immediately be pulled. 

*Our designated hitter, especially with two strikes, will be tasked with putting the ball in play, not striking out trying to hit the ball 500 feet. 

He discusses these items and more in detail and with a sarcastic sense of humor that befits the topic. I'd like to meet him someday and buy a beer...or 5 or 6. Lord knows he deserves it.

**It's interesting that in the last two days (Monday & Tuesday), I've read that two teams known for power hitting aren't hitting for two different reasons. The Cubs can't hit fastballs and the Yankees can't hit breaking balls. Maybe they should switch leagues.

**I haven't heard that Angel Hernandez has blown any calls lately. It can't be because he hasn't missed any, Maybe everyone is so used to it that it's not news anymore.

**MLB is is investigating baseballs thrown by Trevor Bauer to see if they have been doctored, First of all, why just Trevor Bauer? If he can do it, why not others? Secondly, they should keep in mind that they never really caught Gaylord Perry.

**Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim is adding a second son, Former Cornell player Jimmy Boeheim to the team. I'm trying to confirm the rumor that his wife Julie is joining the cheerleading squad. 

**North Texas softball pitcher Hope Trautwein faced the minimum 21 batters against Arkansas Pine-Bluff on April 11 — and struck out all 21, a first in NCAA Division I history. That's better than a game I saw back in the 60's when a pitcher (Richie Pelow) for Oswego High, my high school team, threw a no-hitter against our cross town rivals, Oswego Catholic. The first batter flew out to center field, the last twenty struck out.

**Uh-oh. Brian Cashman has given Yankee manager Aaron Boone a vote of confidence over the teams recent struggles. Isn't that what they normally do before firing a manager? 

I just read an article by Ben Lindbergh about the surprising long-term friendship between Brian Cashman and Billy Bean. It stems from their shared belief in the sabermetrics put forth by Bill James, but they practice it from different angles. Interesting article - "Moneyball with Money" by Lindbergh

***THEY SAID IT***

"Friend just told me a great story about someone saying of COVID-19 vaccine “I won’t put anything in my body where I don’t know what’s in it.” And they got the response “You eat hot dogs don’t you?”  -- Janice Hough 

 "MLB hired former WWE "sizzle planner" Brian Stedman for league strategy and development. Soon, instead of a manager sitting a pitcher down, he'll come out and hit him with a chair"  -- RJ Currie.

"President Biden says he will not throw out the first pitch at the Washington Nationals home opener. So it you want to see a 79 year old pitcher, you'll have to watch the Baltimore Orioles."  Brad Dickson

"A fan in Anaheim threw an inflatable trash can onto the field during an Astros-Angels game.Three players on the Houston bench immediately yelled, “Pitch-out!”  -- Dwight Perry

"The good news is I picked the Bulldogs and the Bears in my finals. The bad news is that it was Georgia and Cal."  -- Alex Kaseberg

 "After Thursday’s MLB games, the first-place teams in the American League today are the Boston Red Sox, Kansas City Royals and Seattle Mariners, just like everyone thought it would be. -- Jeff Passan

"World champion boxer Floyd Mayweather fought Connor McGregor, a guy who had never been in a boxing match in his life.  I am surprised that it was not arranged for the winner here to face 65-year-old Hulk Hogan in a Steel Cage Texas Chain Saw Death Match."  -- Jack Finarelli

"If basketball players were confections, I'm thinking Kevin Durant would be brittle."  -- RJ Currie

"I'm not looking forward to Zach Wilson’s possible NFL-draft destiny. The Jets are to quarterbacks what Larry King was to marriage."  -- Doug Robinson 

"When Marc Leishman suddenly was one back in the Masters, we were told he was playing “under the radar.” Whose radar? That was another way of saying that CBS hadn’t much bothered to pay him much attention."  -- Phil Mushnick 

Chad Picasner 








 

 

 UH-oh

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