2010 MLB Season

[Chalupa]

Whoa Brian. Remember they broadcast the post All-Star game interviews back in Atlanta.

Braves' McCann says Manuel inspired him

"It was awesome," McCann said of Manuel's pregame pep talk. "He's the best. He's a great manager. I'm fortunate to play against him all the time. He's a great hitting guy, so I like to talk to him."

[alocispepraluger102]

Whoa Brian. Remember they broadcast the post All-Star game interviews back in Atlanta.

Braves' McCann says Manuel inspired him

"It was awesome," McCann said of Manuel's pregame pep talk. "He's the best. He's a great manager. I'm fortunate to play against him all the time. He's a great hitting guy, so I like to talk to him."

george

Edited July 15, 2010 by alocispepraluger102

[Patrick]

As for Steinbrenner, I used to hate him, and he did run into a drought of a few years for going overboard....but you knew he wanted to win. And was willing to put his money where his mouth was. Billionaire owners(some who are likely richer than the Steinbrenners) like the guy who owns the Indians would rather cry poor than keep Sabathia, VMart, Cliff Lee, etc. I wonder if the Yankees and Red Sox give them money now???

And Goodspeak, owners were always greedy. Players were too, but couldn't do a damn thing about it in the past....

Prior owner of the Indians, Dick Jacobs, was willing to spend a fair amount. He overpaid young guys to get them to stay a bit longer (starting with Nagy and S Alomar)--trading some dollar security for an extra year of two. But no Indians players ever signed the gonzo free agency contracts, they all left or were traded. But at least Jacobs was willing to spend some. And the stars aligned for a glorious run (...sadly sans world championship) in the late 90s. At least they helped the Braves win one. How may of those guys will end up in hall of fame (Thome, Ramirez, Vizquel)? Jacobs bought Tribe for $35M in 1986 and sold it for $323M in 2000--perhaps not quite Steinbrennerian.

Current owner is Larry Dolan, uncle of the guy that owns the Knicks and NY Rangers. Don't know how much money Larry has, but he's definitely not spending it. I suspect that he doesn't actually have that much. Everyone in town wishes that Dan Gilbert, the Cavs owner/gilted LeBron lover, would buy the Indians, and the Browns for that matter. At least Gilbert is willing to spend his own money to improve facilities and (try to) attract talent. I believe Cavs were a top 5 payroll team (...until about a week ago).

I was always disgusted by Steinbrenner, primarily for style reasons. What an arrogant SOB. But hey George, RIP.

[WorldB3]

And the stars aligned for a glorious run (...sadly sans world championship) in the late 90s. At least they helped the Braves win one. How may of those guys will end up in hall of fame (Thome, Ramirez, Vizquel)?

Oh man those teams were loaded, maybe not HOF worthy but lets not forget Baerega, Belle and Lofton. I used to love watching those teams hit.

[Tim McG]

Umpires perfect game goes completely unnoticed

As for Steinbrenner, I used to hate him, and he did run into a drought of a few years for going overboard....but you knew he wanted to win. And was willing to put his money where his mouth was. Billionaire owners(some who are likely richer than the Steinbrenners) like the guy who owns the Indians would rather cry poor than keep Sabathia, VMart, Cliff Lee, etc. I wonder if the Yankees and Red Sox give them money now???

And Goodspeak, owners were always greedy. Players were too, but couldn't do a damn thing about it in the past....

And Steinbrenner gave them the "permission" to ruin this great game.

He is still wholly and completely responsible for crossing the line, Berigan.

[Dave James]

And Steinbrenner gave them the "permission" to ruin this great game.

He is still wholly and completely responsible for crossing the line, Berigan.

I still don't understand why you think Steinbrenner ruined the game when he was operating within the rules established by baseball itself. Are you suggesting that even though he had the resources, he shouldn't have used them?

[Quincy]

And Steinbrenner gave them the "permission" to ruin this great game.

He is still wholly and completely responsible for crossing the line, Berigan.

What about Gene Autry? His money lured Rod Carew away from Minnesota, Joe Rudi from the Mustache Gang, Bobby Grich from the O's. There were plenty more too. The difference is he wasn't as smart with his money. But if you're going to blame owners for offering more money to players than the player's home team was willing to spend, blame the Singing Cowboy too.

[Dan Gould]

Time to summarize the Goodspeak Universe:

Performance Enhancing Drugs do not enhance athletic performance. That is,increased strength cannot result in marginally longer fly balls to result in more home runs or faster pitches, nor shorter recovery times, nor can they result in a faster swing that allows for slower/later pitch recognition with the ability to still put bat on ball and hit it in fair territory.

If you are fortunate enough to "play a kid's game" for a living, you are not entitled to control who you work for or to have any influence over what you are paid. (Goodie is a proud liberal but worker's rights end at the six-figure salary level - beyond that you're just a rich, greedy bastard. No word yet on whether this applies to movie actors, who also get to play at a kid's game (who among us wasn't acting the first time they lied to their parents?), have the choice of what jobs they accept and at what pay, and make mind-boggling sums in an industry with huge revenue.

Until 1973, owners had been benign custodians of the game, wonderful humanitarians who weren't greedy, or racist, offered free parking and concessions to their hard-working fans and were working on a plan in which the World Series trophy would be shared equally by all teams (because in Goodie's world, all students are "exceptional" and so is every ball club).

Then an evil ogre named George Steinbrenner destroyed baseball (he was merciful with apple pie and motherhood because George had a bit of a weight problem, and well, despite being an asshole, he had a mom, too). The fact that George operated within the rules established by the courts and by collective bargaining between the owners and players is immaterial.

Edited July 16, 2010 by Dan Gould

[Dave James]

Dan is my new hero.

[ghost of miles]

Dave James, while watching the "Larry David as Steinbrenner" clips again, I came across this 1997 clip, which I'd never seen before--George Costanza giving batting lessons to Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams:

Jeter and Bernie on Seinfeld

[Dave James]

David,

Cool. Thanks for sharing. Is that an outtake? I sure don't remember seeing this on any of the episodes.

[ghost of miles]

Googling seems to indicate that it comes from a Season 8 episode called "The Abstinence." It's definitely got to be from near the end of the show's run, since the '96 WS is referenced.

[Chalupa]

A moment of silence please for the passing of Bob Sheppard, a legendary and iconic figure in the world of Yankee baseball. He was 99. A silkier more melliflouous voice you are unlikely to encounter.

A moment of silence and then some--glad NY won their last game before the ASB today on the heels of this news. Jeter, who was a huge Sheppard fan, will use Sheppard's taped voice to announce his All-Star at-bats.

Yankees a no-show at Sheppard's funeral

[Dan Gould]

I saw that - Bill Madden ripped them for it in the Daily News and said it happened because Steinbrenner isn't around to make sure some players were there. After all of the sniffling about it - where the hell is Jeter or Reggie? Embarrassing.

[BERIGAN]

As for Steinbrenner, I used to hate him, and he did run into a drought of a few years for going overboard....but you knew he wanted to win. And was willing to put his money where his mouth was. Billionaire owners(some who are likely richer than the Steinbrenners) like the guy who owns the Indians would rather cry poor than keep Sabathia, VMart, Cliff Lee, etc. I wonder if the Yankees and Red Sox give them money now???

And Goodspeak, owners were always greedy. Players were too, but couldn't do a damn thing about it in the past....

Prior owner of the Indians, Dick Jacobs, was willing to spend a fair amount. He overpaid young guys to get them to stay a bit longer (starting with Nagy and S Alomar)--trading some dollar security for an extra year of two. But no Indians players ever signed the gonzo free agency contracts, they all left or were traded. But at least Jacobs was willing to spend some. And the stars aligned for a glorious run (...sadly sans world championship) in the late 90s. At least they helped the Braves win one. How may of those guys will end up in hall of fame (Thome, Ramirez, Vizquel)? Jacobs bought Tribe for $35M in 1986 and sold it for $323M in 2000--perhaps not quite Steinbrennerian.

Current owner is Larry Dolan, uncle of the guy that owns the Knicks and NY Rangers. Don't know how much money Larry has, but he's definitely not spending it. I suspect that he doesn't actually have that much. Everyone in town wishes that Dan Gilbert, the Cavs owner/gilted LeBron lover, would buy the Indians, and the Browns for that matter. At least Gilbert is willing to spend his own money to improve facilities and (try to) attract talent. I believe Cavs were a top 5 payroll team (...until about a week ago).

I was always disgusted by Steinbrenner, primarily for style reasons. What an arrogant SOB. But hey George, RIP.

I had heard Larry Dolan was worth 3.3 Billion. Don't know if that's adding in his brother's wealth or not...anyway, here is a blurb from an article called the Luxury Tax conundrum, from last year....

Listed below are the names of the owner's currently worth more than Steinbrenner and the teams they are currently in charge of:

* Chicago Cubs: Thomas S. Rickets: $1.3 billion

* Texas Rangers: Thomas O. Hicks: $1.4 billion

* Detroit Tigers: Mike Illitch: $1.6 billion

* Houston Astros: Drayton McLane, Jr.: $1.6 billion

* Atlanta Braves: Liberty Media: $2.3 billion

* Cleveland Indians: Larry Dolan: $3.3 billion

* Washington Nationals: Theodore N. Lerner: $3.5 billion

* Minnesota Twins: Carl Pohlad: $3.6 billion

* Seattle Mariners: Nintendo Corporation: $257.4 billion (yes, you read that right. Nintendo owns the Mariners and the entire corporation is worth nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars).

http://www.e-sports.com/articles/2267/1/The-Luxury-Tax-conundrum/Page1.html

Now obviously, you can't say these people/companies have that sitting in the bank....still, when you consider the Pohlad family until....what, this year???? was forever crying poor, and had the richest owner in the game...that's pretty sad.

Anyway, about the Indians of today, looks like Carlos Santana is the real deal! And I heard that Matt LaPorta was injured for quite some time, and now that he's healthy, and getting a chance to play full time, he's starting to put it together...The future looks better than it did right after Lee was traded....

[Patrick]

You may be right about Dolan. I can honestly say that I've never researched it, but at the time of the purchase from Jacobs, there was no cheering in the streets that the Indians had a new sugar daddy owner. I think the general consensus at the time was that the owner was a tightwad. The wiki biography on Larry reports that he went to high school in Cleveland (the powerhouse St. Ignatius), got a law degree at Notre Dame, served for a bit in the Marines, worked in the prosecutor's office in Geagua County (NE Ohio), before going into private practice in Chardon, Ohio. How much did he inherit?

Yes, Carlos Santana is now the best player on the Indians. And they only had to trade the beard (Casey Blake) to get him. Some chatter that he should be in the ROY discussion. LaPorta has started hitting after being sent down once (or twice). He's also been battling some injuries. I try not to get too excited or too scared (Travis Hafner, anyone?). Mitch Talbot, acquired from the Rays for Kelly Shoppach, has also been a pleasant surprise. Add Jhonny Peralta to the long list of names to be shipped elsewhere (or in his case, option not exercised for next season). Santana, however, is the only one that appears to be contributing right away. Patience.

[ghost of miles]

Great, dramatic win by the Yanks tonight against Tampa Bay after the tributes to Steinbrenner and Sheppard, tying the game twice through home runs--Nick Swisher hitting one in the bottom of the 8th, and then knocking in Granderson in the bottom of the 9th to win it. Glad to get that W under our belts, as we're facing TB's top two pitchers tomorrow and Sunday.

EDIT: Dave James and other Yankees fans, the full clip of Swish's walkoff single and subsequent pie-in-the-face from A.J.:

Swish's gamewinner

Big, big emotional victory for the Yanks. The sequence in the 9th--Granderson leading off with a hit against a leftie, a great bunt by Pena, Gardner turning an 0-2 count into a walk, and then--it sure would have been perfect for Jeter to get the walkoff, but it came down to Nick Swisher, who had a hell of a night (3-5 and robbed of what would have been another homer). And Swisher's enthusiasm is contagious, just a pleasure to watch, last year and this year. Like the comeback against the Dodgers, this game makes me think this year's edition might have the grit to repeat as champs after all. God, that was a great game to listen to!

Edited July 17, 2010 by ghost of miles

[WorldB3]

A Bengie Molina Cycle with a grand slam versus the Red Sox? Thought I have seen it all.

I won't get too excited as the Mets are not a good road team but the Giants are looking pretty good. I know he won't win it but I hope Buster Posey at least gets mentioned in the NL ROTY.

Said it last year before the season started and will say it again: Nick Swisher will be a fan favorite in NY.

[ghost of miles]

Thanks to the Boston Globe's Pete Abraham for hipping readers (via Twitter) to Sam Borden's beautiful piece about last night at Yankee Stadium:

Moment of silence elicits years of memories

[Matthew]

Thanks to the Boston Globe's Pete Abraham for hipping readers (via Twitter) to Sam Borden's beautiful piece about last night at Yankee Stadium:

Moment of silence elicits years of memories

That is the most overblown piece of Yankee worship crap I've read in a long time....

[ghost of miles]

Wow--I got a lot more out of it than that, Matthew. Time, remembrance, the broad sweep of life and the way that baseball reflects it. Pete Abraham loved it, and he's a Boston Globe writer!

[Matthew]

Wow--I got a lot more out of it than that, Matthew. Time, remembrance, the broad sweep of life and the way that baseball reflects it. Pete Abraham loved it, and he's a Boston Globe writer!

I calls 'em as I see 'em

[ghost of miles]

Yer blind, ump!

[Dan Gould]

Abraham was a Yankee beat writer for years before he got the Globe job, and while he's from MA and went to school there, he's on record as saying the only New England team he cares about is the Patriots.

[Matthew]

I can't believe how thin Big Popi is looking right now... amazing.

Plus: It looks like Cliff Lee has forgotten how to pitch.

Edited July 17, 2010 by Matthew