Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share,

- Good question

- Rumsfeld's Snowflake Poetry. I love Donald Rumsfeld.

- It is worthwhile to (re)read President Reagan's remarks on the tragedy of the Challenger disaster.

- I'm thinking Patriots fans may be better received in Minnesota than Eagles fans

- I am 100% on team Francona on this one. Gabe Kapler has lost a lot of respect in my eyes.

- How Jon Bon Jovi became a Patriots super fan

- Heh heh

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Kids today probably think that mustard gas is something that happens to you the day after eating a pastrami sandwich... 22 cast members and one almost cast members describe how their auditions for SNL went... I wonder if the people who now know they will be losing their healthcare because of Obamacare were allowed to change their vote if it would have been enough to elect Mitt Romney... Gabe Kapler has a great take on the PED guessing game...  I wonder who would win an MMA fight in the octagon - Joe Rogan or Jay Glazer... After hearing of Elmore Leonard's death I re-watched the first season of Justified and the Tarantino flick Jackie Brown. I have come to think that Robert DeNiro's best role was as Louis Gara the pot smoking criminal...

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Holy crap - talk about wild weather

- How can you not root for a guy like Chris Colabello? And not just because he's a Worcester guy.

- Understanding Lars Anderson - a study in baseball make-up. Gabe Kapler is a pretty impressive writer.

- Ray Donovan executive producer tied to gambling ring / Russian mob

- Heh heh - Internet Explorer vs Murder Rates

- Sam Simon is dying but wants to make impact after he's dead

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

It's not so much that Detroit is 0-6 to start the season. It's that they are already 4 games back in the standings... Many Red Sox fans are frustrated with Coco Crisp and would like to see him traded already. But Terry Francona has shown an ability to get bench players their at bats and Coco at the least makes the best late inning defensive replacement in the game (moving Ellsbury to left for Manny Ramirez). However, the frustration Red Sox fans have with Crisp's situation must be nothing compared to how the Dodgers fans must be feeling about Juan Pierre. Both Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier deserve to start and both of those players make the Dodgers a better team than what Pierre brings to the table. Yet there's Pierre continually trotted out to take up valuable AB from Ethier and Kemp. Here's the catch - both Crisp and Pierre are light hitting defensive specialists but Pierre has $36.5 million left on his contract that runs through the 2011 season and the contract includes a limited no-trade clause. Meanwhile Crisp is a better defensive player and his contract calls for only $4.75 million in '08, $5.75 million in '09, with a $8 million club option in 2010. My guess is that it will be very tough for Ned Colletti to trade Pierre for any sort of value while Coco Crisp is also available on the market... It very could be that Derek Lowe will be the best free agent pitcher available after this season. Lowe has had two real solid starts to begin the season. It could also very well be that Lowe ends up trade bait for the Dodger since the Dodgers are pretty deep at starter if Estaban Loaiza remains steady and Jason Schmidt comes back healthy. Lowe could be traded mid-season for the simple fact that Scott Boras is his agent and Lowe will probably be going to the highest bidder at the end of the year... The season is less than 10 games in and already Oakland's Joe Blanton has two 2-1 losses on his record. I feel bad for the guy... My early season fascination with David Murphy continues as the ex-Red Sox farmhand had another 2 hits last night and is now hitting .409 on the season... The Colorado Rockies have only scored 10 runs so far this season and are only hitting .209 as a team. Yet it is the Cubs fans you hear complaining... Who knew? Gabe Kapler (2) now has more HR than either Manny Ramirez (1) or David Ortiz (1). I guess that year off really helped. Just the same - I wouldn't rush out to pick up Kapler for your fantasy baseball team nor would I drop either Manny or Big Papi from your line-up... John Smoltz just needs 19 more strikeouts for 3,000 in his career. Smoltz should be a first year selection for the Hall of Fame when he's done....

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

Interesting - the Royals have never lost a regular season game in March. With their victory Monday over the Tigers they are now 3-0 in their history of March matchups... The Red Sox duo of David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez is regarded as perhaps the best 1-2 punch in baseball but the Brewers Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun may give them a run for their money. I've long said that the lack of someone to protect Vlade Guererro in the Angels line-up is the major reason they won't be able to win it all... Gabe Kapler is supposed to start today for the Brewers. Last season he was a minor league manager for the Red Sox. His comeback will be an interesting situation to watch. I wish him well... The Nationals have had 6 different centerfielders the past 6 Opening Days. The Angels have also used 6 different centerfielders the past 6 years.... What? Chan Ho Park didn't have one? Interesting tidbit:

The Rangers have gone 193 games since they had a starting pitcher throw a complete game. If Jennings doesn't go the distance on Wednesday, the Rangers will tie the Major League record held by the Tampa Bay Rays

Manny Ramirez is tied with Goose Goslin for 27th place in RBI with 1609. Next up on the list for Manny - Harold Baines with 1628... It will be interesting to watch Greg Maddux this season. He needs just 8 wins to pass Roger Clemens for 8th place on the all-time list. Maddux has 347 wins and after Clemens - he has a shot at Kid Nichols in 7th place with 361...