Rico Brogna, Good Fit (and other ex-Met updates)

[Guest Edgy DC]

Vance Gets His Chance (Detroit News)

So Does Perlozzo (But He'll Miss HIs Mazz) (Fox Sports)

[url=http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20050806&content_id=1160530&vkey=news_phi&fext=.jsp&c_id=phi]More PT for Pratt, Also[/url] (MLB.com)

Good Time to be Dan Wheeler, I Tell You What (Warwick [RI] Beacon)

Long, interesting, but mostly un-Metly article from the Philadelphia CityPaper with a lot of good Del Unser material about two thirds of the way down

Athletics Push Scutaro to Outfield (San Francisco Chronicle)

[Guest Edgy DC]

Catching up with the Dudester (not much from the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, but still)

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

The Del Unser article was excellent (not for the Del-ness).

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Jay Payton's 3-run home run was the difference in Oakland's 5-2 victory over Minnesota, a win that keeps the A's in a first place tie with the Angels.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Matt Watson is back in the majors, coming up while Oakland puts Nick Swisher on the bereavement list due to his grandmother's death.

[Guest MFS62]

Did I miss in anther thread that old pal Wilson Delgado tested positive for steroids for the second time this year in the minors?
He is the first to swallow the 30 game suspension pill.

Later

[Guest Rotblatt]

Scotty Strickland's finally pitching again! I had stopped checking out Round Rock's stats for a while, since he had apparently tweaked something, but he's now thrown 11 innings and is looking pretty dominant:

11 IP, 2.45 ERA, 0.73 WHIP, 13 K, 2 BB, 2 HR, 10.64 K/9, 1.64 BB/9, 1.63 HR/9.

I'm done being pissed about letting him go, since it looks like he was injured when we kicked him to the curb, but I'm happy to see him back and contributing.

[Guest seawolf17]

If Scott Strickland and Dan Wheeler help the Astros ice down a playoff spot in September, I'm going to be sad.

[Guest seawolf17]

Former Met-turned-movie magnate Todd Zeile stopped by Shea Stadium on Tuesday, promoting his soon-to-be-released movie, "Dirty Deeds."

The teen movie co-stars Milo Ventimiglia (Gilmore Girls, Bedford Diaries) and Zoe Saldana (Drum Line, Pirates of the Caribbean) -- both of whom were also at Shea -- and is slated for an Aug. 26 release. The first venture of Zeile's Green Diamond Entertainment company, "Dirty Deeds" was funded with the help of former teammates Mike Piazza, Cliff Floyd, Tom Glavine, Robin Ventura, Al Leiter and Jason Giambi.

As for Zeile, who has a small role in the film as a street bum named "Mullet" -- the scene was filmed during the Mets' visit to Los Angeles last year -- he is enjoying his post-retirement life away from baseball and maintaining his distance.

"I don't follow it a whole lot, as far as the individual themes," Zeile said. "I miss the three hours on the field."

[url]http://www.dirtydeedsthemovie.net[/url]

[Guest MFS62]

Another esample of a player not knowing what he was taking?

Todd Hundley:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/chi-0508160239aug16,1,2087946.story?coll=chi-sportscubs-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

Later

[Guest TheOldMole]

Individual themes???? or individual teams???

[Guest seawolf17]

[url=http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2136760]Davey[/url]'s back in the dugout, managing the team of minor leaguers that will represent the United States in the 2005 IBAF World Cup in The Netherlands beginning Sept. 2.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Gibbons ♥ Wilson.

[url=http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20050818&content_id=1174931&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb]Gus Bell and his Descendency[/url].

[Guest MFS62]

Alberto Castillo had second thoughts about signing with Norfolk and has signed with the Oakland organization.

Later

[Guest seawolf17]

[url=http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3213764]Ty Wigginton[/url] is back, replacing the injured Jose Castillo.

Wigs was recently named the International League's Batter of the Week for the period of Aug. 15-21. He hit .519 (14-for-27) with three homers, eight RBI, 11 runs and a .926 slugging percentage during the week.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Timo's ganny panties

from the Chicago Tribune:


This (superstitious) behavior came to mind Sunday, when White Sox outfielder Timo Perez went to unusual lengths to try to help the team end a season-worst seven-game losing streak.

Perez decided to hang a pair of women's black panties�"extra wide" black panties�in the Sox's clubhouse at U.S. Cellular Field. The Sox went out and ended their streak with a 6-2 victory over the Yankees.

Perez wasn't around to discuss the, well � unmentionables, but teammate Aaron Rowand did.

"We had the 'Rally Panties' up today," Rowand said. "A woman's undergarment�a large undergarment�was our rallying flag."

So while the Angels had their "Rally Monkey" in their 2002 World Series championship season, the innovative Sox offer up "Rally Panties." Whatever works, I suppose.

[Guest MFS62]

After game 1 of the Y2K world Series, Mets fans would have hung Timo.

Later

[Guest metirish]

Gooden in trouble again
Former Mets, Yanks pitcher wanted after leaving scene of traffic stop for drunk driving

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

August 23, 2005, 12:56 PM EDT


TAMPA, Fla. -- Former baseball star Dwight Gooden was being sought by police Tuesday on a felony warrant after he allegedly drove away from an officer who stopped him on suspicion of drunken driving.

Gooden, 41, left the scene of the traffic stop early Monday after refusing to get out his 2004 BMW to take a field sobriety test, police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said.

The officer stopped Gooden's car because he was weaving in traffic near downtown Tampa, McElroy said. Gooden, a Tampa native and resident, has a history of drug abuse and is awaiting trial on a domestic violence charge.

"The officer pulls over the car and immediately notices that the driver is under the influence," she said. "He has bloodshot, glassy eyes, his speech his slurred and he has a strong odor of alcohol."

Gooden handed the officer his driver's license but refused two requests to get out of the car, McElroy said. He then drove off with the officer still holding his license.

Police chose not pursue for safety reasons, McElroy said, but went to his two known addresses to look for him. They also contacted his most recent employer, the New York Yankees, and his mother, she said.

Yankees spokesman Howard Grosswirth said Tuesday that Gooden hasn't worked for the team as a special adviser since April and officials don't know his whereabouts.

Gooden, who was out of jail on bail after a March domestic violence arrest, is wanted on felony charges of DUI and fleeing police, and a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest without violence.

"At this point he is in a lot of trouble, and the only way he can help himself is to come forward and take responsibility for his actions," McElroy said.

Gooden, the 1984 Rookie of the Year and the 1985 NL Cy Young Award winner while with the New York Mets, went 194-112 with a 3.51 ERA before retiring in 2001. He also pitched for the Yankees, Cleveland Indians, Houston Astros and Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Gooden was arrested by Tampa police in 2002 on a drunken driving charge, but later pleaded guilty to reckless driving and received a year probation. He was arrested in March and charged with hitting his live-in girlfriend in the face during an argument. He was charged with misdemeanor domestic battery, and the case is pending.

A call to Peter Hobson, the attorney representing Gooden in the domestic violence case, was not immediately returned Tuesday.

During his playing days, Gooden was suspended for 60 days in 1994 for testing positive for cocaine while with the Mets. He tested positive for cocaine again while on suspension and was sidelined for the 1995 season.

Earlier this month his son, Dwight Gooden Jr., 19, was jailed for violating his probation for cocaine possession. Police said they found marijuana and bullets in the younger Gooden's vehicle parked outside a nightclub.

Gooden's disappearance is reminiscent of the 2001 disappearance of his friend and former teammate Darryl Strawberry, who was missing for four days after he walked away from a drug treatment center where he was under house arrest.

[Guest DocTee]

Jeff Kent revealed to be Yankee stadium usher in past life....Milton Bradley accuses him of being insensitive to persons of color.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2141482

[Guest Valadius]

Two hotheads clashing... that was inevitable.

[Guest MFS62]

On today's radio show, Michael Kay said there have been stories of Kent being a hothead and not liked by teammates.
But my view is that so far the only two clashes he has had, that we know about, have been with Bradley and Bonds - two players who don't get along with anybody.

The jury on Kent is still out in my mind.

Later

Edit: Typos

[Guest DocTee]

In Kent's defense... any guy who supports womens college athletics ($100 per HR to UC Berkeley softball during his time with the Giants) is OK in my book

[Guest Valadius]

Scott Kazmir got knocked out of the game tonight after only 2.1 innings, giving up 8 hits and 8 earned runs.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Rusty F. Greer stumbles into a doping story.

These are more fun with long-lost guys like Greer, but...

Tiberius Wigginton named International League Player of the Week.

Preston Wilson profiled in The Washington Post.

[Guest Rotblatt]

Strickland's thrown another 7 innings in the last 14 days and he last pitched on August 28. Over that time, he's posted the following line: 3.00 ERA, 0.71 WHIP, 6 K, 1 BB, 0 HR.

His new Round Rock totals: 2.50 ERA, 0.72 WHIP, 9.5 K/9, 1.5 BB/9, 6.33 K/BB, 1.0 HR/9. And he's got 10 saves.

He has to get called up by the end of the day tomorrow to make the post-season roster. He'd probably be better than Burns or Wandy Rodriguez but they need Rodriguez to start, I think, and Burns is younger with some upsied, although he's sucked this month. They have a pretty tight pen over there and I wouldn't be too surprised if he didn't get called up until the rosters expand.

Too bad. I'm rooting for him to get back to the bigs . . .

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Valadius wrote: Scott Kazmir got knocked out of the game tonight after only 2.1 innings, giving up 8 hits and 8 earned runs.

The only reason the Devil Rays keep starting him is to try to justify the Victor Zambrano trade to their fans.

[Guest Willets Point]

Kazmir pitches again tonight.

BTW, every time I see this thread it makes me miss Swan Swan H (aka gf21212212121). Where is he now?

[Guest Rotblatt]

Huber, who won the MVP Award in the Futures Game this year, is batting .277/.364/.500/.864 in 94 AAA at bats after going .339/.426/.565/.991 OPS in 336 AA at bats. He is expected to receive a September call-up and displace Joe McEwing (.585 OPS) at first base for the Royals.

Psst. Hey, Sal! Complaining about losing Huber might get you farther than Wiggy!

[Guest Rotblatt]

Duplicate Post. While I'm at it, though, here are Petersons numbers so far for the Altoona Curve (AA)

10-9, 5.79 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 135.1 IP, 152 H, 100 R, 86 ER, 19 HR, 72 BB, 81 K.

He's actually been pitching better recently, however--his ERA was at 7.00 on June 2.

[Guest Willets Point]

John Olerud has two home runs and all five runs batted in for the Red Sox in their 5-4 lead over Tampa Bay tonight.