Frayed Knot

Or maybe Fiore Gino Tennaci who used to play for the A's. You may have known him as Gene Tenace. With a name like that even I would have been OK if he were an Italian ringer - even though born in Russelton, PA

I doubt there'll be too many baseball ramifications for this season. Where it could come into play baseball-wise would be for the contract after this one.

Q: Is Galante retarded for starting Reyes over Tejada?

DirecTV is "still in negotiations" over carrying the new channel by itself ... but I'm assuming that being part of the MLB package thing is almost automatic for a cable station isn't it?

I doubt you'll be paying a direct fee for them adding the channel (assuming your supplier ever gets around to adding it of course). During the YES/Cablevision spat it pretty much got established that the provider didn't have the right to force a channel onto a pay tier. Of course you will eventually see something the next time the rates are adjusted as sports channels are generally more expensive than most others so the price of the whole package gets bumped up (in effect, the non-sports fan cable subscriber winds up funding the sports jones for the rest of us). In other words; even though you won't see a specific increase tied to the new channel itself, I am boldly predicting that your rates will rise in the future.

Edgy DC wrote: So, who was the writer who said something about a consensus of knowledgable baseball guys being surprised the Mets were foolish enough to go for Milledge and not eventual Yankee pick Eric Duncan? (Never mind that at least 14 of those men subsequently passed on Duncan also before the Yankees went for him.) It was The Daily News's Bill Madden in what was one of several columns where he trashed the accomplishments (or lack thereof) of former NYM minor league director (or whatever the title was) Gary LaRoque. I have no reason to go to bat for LaRoque but I did think it odd at the time in that big city writers rarely even bother with guys on LoRoque's rung on the ladder much less do so several times. It almost made it look like there was some sort of personal beef. Then what made things look even worse was that some of the "facts" didn't pass the smell test. IIRC, his claim was along the lines of: 'people all over baseball were stunned' when the Mets selected Milledge over Duncan; implying that Milledge was some kind of illogical "reach" as a 12th overall pick. Except, as pointed out, not only did another 12-15 teams also pass on Duncan but Milledge went right around where he was projected pre-draft. In fact, BA just ran an updated article on "the class of '03", essentially revisiting that year's top HS players to see how they fared; Milledge was listed as their 2nd best prospect of that group (behind Delmon Young) while Duncan was nowhere on the list. If anything, it was Duncan who was the reach. What essentially happened was that Duncan - drafted somewhere in the mid/late 20's - signed almost immediately and had himself a good first half-year. Milledge, on the other hand, didn't sign until the year was practically over and then got a late start the next year when he broke a finger during ST, all of which gave Duncan nearly a year's jump on young Lastings and temporarily seem ahead of him at that point. But that doesn't justify going back and revising history to make some kind of point. Add in the fact that Madden - who's also been tough on the Yank's farm system over the last few years - has many connections within the NYY hierarchy to the point where he's been accused in the past of being a conduit for their viewpoints, makes one wonder who or what was the impetus for those articles. Plus, he would have kept his credibility a bit higher if he hadn't screwed up the kid's name by calling him Chris - rather than Eric - Duncan.

The Canal-tenders take a 4-2 lead over the Communist Cigar-makers after 6.

]did he break any MLB rules? Not at the time Well yeah he did. The steroids that are named in this story have been banned in MLB for over a decade now. The only part that's new in the last few years is the agrrement that the league could pro-actively seek out the users. Again, I think the main problem with taking action based on these "new" revelations is that they really amount to only a preponderous of evidence: the ex-girlfriend's rants, trainer Anderson's supplying patterns, etc.; rather than hand-in-the-cookie-jar proof as spelled out in baseball 'Basic Agreement'. btw, anyone else get a kick out of the fact that one of the authors has the mouthful of a name of: Mark Fainaru-Wada when WADA is also the acronym for World Anti-Doping Agency?

="MFS62"]Its not the "word" of the authors. Their book is based on evidence and testimony presented in various courts of law, and accepted by those courts. The authors can make it public if challenged as to veracity. I'm certain the Law Department of the publishing company looked into this before the book was scheduled for release, lest they risk lawsuits. That's fine. None of this means that MLB shouldn't believe what the book says, only that it's tough to legally use it as "proof". MLB and the Player's Assoc took a shit-load of time crafting a policy which states how & when a player will be tested, what he will be tested for, and what the specific punsihments will be for a positive test. For Selig and his boys to turn around and try to say; 'yeah, you passed all those hurdles with flying colors but we're going to make up a penalty for you anyway' would be more than a little tough to pull off, particularly against the PA who they tend to beat in court about once every 4th decade.

]but why can't they punish him for something he did in the past? He did it while it was illegal and against the rules of baseball Is MLB prepared to tackle the legal morass of trying to punish Bonds based solely on the words of outsiders (the authors)? You know Barry's just going to deny that everything they claim is accurate and so long as he continues to pass baseball's mandated testing procedure then I'm not sure there's a lot they can do.

Anyone remember Brian Harper? I only sort of do even though he was the starting catcher for the Twins 1991 WS team. Anyway, he's the father of Met 1B prospect Brett -- one of those sent down yesterday. From Adam Rubin's NYDN column: First baseman Brett Harper, whose father Brian lockered next to Kirby Puckett while playing for the Twins from 1988-93, fondly remembered hanging around the Hall of Famer at the Metrodome. Puckett used to fool around taking ground balls at shortstop, and he ultimately gave the infield glove to Harper as a gift. "I used that glove for three years when I was a little guy, when I was in Little League," Harper said. "I used that glove every day. It was my favorite glove in the world. I remember it had '34 Puck' on it. It was my second-base glove."

Pitchers Philip Humber, Matt Lindstrom, Rafael Cova, Jeremy Hill and Jason Scobie; Catchers Jesus Flores, Drew Butera, Andy Wilson and Aaron Hathaway; & Infielder Brett Harper all sent to minor league camp.

Steroids have been prohibited in baseball for some time now (early '90s I believe or maybe earlier) so that one's not gonna fly. The only thing that's new in the last few years is the permission to pre-emptively test for them and a sense of urgency to even try. I bet ESPN is real ashamed now of their association with Barry and this reality show they've got him doing. Well, they would be if they actually had any sense of shame.

I suspect that in a fair fight (ie; no distant relatives allowed) Australia would likely beat Italy; they've produced a handful of ballplayers and prospective ones of late. But, unfortunately for the Aussies, their country is even younger than this one and they don't have a big enough population to have sent a significant number of emigrees here.

Assuming this book is filled with as many details as implied, what it's going to do is make it real tough for any remaining Barry-apologists out there to claim that it was really just a case a hard work and vitamins, or that there's no proof so the rest of us should all keep quiet. I suppose that details of the length & depth of his use could also take a few H-o-F votes away -- although most will still probably justify a yea vote by figuring that he was a slam-dunk even before becoming a pharmacology student. What I would like to see is any record-breaking HRs he gets this year get met by a whole lotta silence ... or worse!, even though that'll only likely happen if/when he's on the road. I suspect San-Fran-Fans will still treat him as the hometown hero.

I think Puckett was a borderline H-o-Fer and was quite possibly was put over the top by his "winning personality" and also the "tragic" way his career ended prematurely. We'll never know, but I suspect if the sordid stories of his off-field life had come to light a year or so before they did (ie; before his induction) it may have been enough to swing the vote against him. When Kirby's name is brought up the argument always blooms from Yanqui fans (it's probably doing so all over talk radio today) about 'Why not Mattingly?'. The lifetime stats of the two are very similar but there are some differences: * Puckett's two WS wins. It's not Mattingly's fault that he never got there but it is to Kirby's advantage that he did and he SHINED while he was on that stage * Despite the similar overall stats, Puckett put up his in about a dozen real good seasons while Donny-boy had 5 or 6 great ones followed by 5 or 6 mediocrities. Advantage Puckett * and the biggest one MFY fans want to ignore: when you've got similar offensive stats from a GG 1Bman (9 times I believe) and a GG CFer (6 times); give a BIG edge to the CFer. Mattingly was a very good 1st baseman but that only takes you so far.

"That's fine but why friggin' Milwaukee?" BEER

Friggin Zambrano getting lit up. I can't believe he was traded for ... Oh it's Carlos! Nevermind.

Glaucoma & obesity are never good things when trying to avoid strokes and live long. RiP to an outwardly happy guy whose smile may have been hiding a few demons; and to a seemingly blessed life that was thrown a couple of nasty curves later on. Weird that he may have been the youngest living HoFer. Off the top of my head Rizzuto may be the oldest. I do know that Feller is the longest serving.

It was a big deal at the time - and I don't mean to imply it was a bad movie - but I think part of it's bigness and the boatload of awards it won that year was that the sort of role reversal side issues of divorce it dealt with: women in careers vs nuturing fathers, were kind of new at the time. But now that those issues seem somewhat trite we're left with a couple of good performances from a pair of seasoned pros but a somewhat sappy movie which is rapidly fading into obscurity. I can't remember the last time I've even seen where this flick was aired despite the multitude of cable channels which seem to exist for the purpose of running movies from that era into the ground. Not exactly the legacy you'd think a major Oscar winner would leave.

It's not. In fact, I think if you've got an idea for really stupid TV, SPIKE will get around to showing it before long.

"I'm willing to bet that two/three years from now, everyone will have completely forgotten about this movie."Otherwise known as the 'Kramer vs Kramer' syndrome.Not that that movie was forgotten necessarily, but it seemed kinda lightweight and pretty much dated fairly quickly. Certainly not a flick that's grown in stature over the years.

Not many details as of yet.

We might see the ball-boys before it's all over since it's like a "triple-split" squad. Between the actual split squad who are playing the Dodgers somewhere and the fact that half the team is over in the PR dugout, we've got about 1/3 the team available. Pretty decent starting lineup though so it must be the LA game that's getting all the scrubs.

Sign at the stadium in Yankee camp in Tampa: "Thank you for expressing your concerns. We are sorry that certain players will not be present for portions of spring training. There players have elected to participate in the World Baseball Classic ... The New York Yankess [sic] did not vote to support this event. Any comments you have regarding the World Baseball Classic should be directed to the commissioner of Major League Baseball or the Major League Baseball Players Association." Wah fuckin' Wah! I mentioned a while ago that I suspect that George is at least as concerned over a potential loss in his precious ST attendance as he is about the possiblity of injuries. This note says at least as much about how the Yanx get pissed off when MLB doesn't act like a satellite revolving around the Yanquis (something which is the proper order of things from the NYY vantage point) as it does about their spelling skills. The Yanx, btw, did NOT vote against the WBC (as has been widely reported), rather they abstained in the vote - giving themselves the out of claiming they didn't vote against it in case this thing is a success. They did the abstain thing during the last collective bargaining agreement vote also.