Some Memes You May Enjoy

Many a truth is said in jest,

- I admit - I laughed.

- Never used to like sea gulls but harder not to now.

- This may be old but new to me.

- No matter your politics this is funny

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

Very Cool - Single A team shows fans that there's more to Jamie Moyer than they know

Interesting recap of all the killings in Season 3 of Justified

Arctic ice caps are melting! Well now that we look at the data - not so much

The Dalai Lama loves George W. Bush. World leaders keep saying great things about George W. Bush. Do you think it will be the same for Barack Obama once he's out of office?

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I wanted to watch the John Wayne classic The Quiet Man for Saint Patrick's Day but surprisingly Netflix doesn't have it. So I watched Green Lantern instead... How a particle accelerator works explained with donuts and Kit-Kats... Who knew? According to Mental Floss - "Temple was founded in 1884 as a night school and its students were called 'night owls' - thus the Owl nickname"... Good Las Vegas bet - man bets $120 on Norfolk State money line at 45-1 and wins $5,520... What is the potential upside to the Yankees signing the soon to be 40-year old Andy Pettitte? Well consider that when Jamie Moyer was 40-years old he went 21-7 with a 3.27 ERA for the Mariners... Bad Las Vegas bet - man bets $2,800 on Duke trying to win $280. Say goodbye to the $2,800... I was in three NCAA pools giving me 6 teams. All 6 teams were out by the time it struck midnight on Saint Patrick's Day... Because stretching is important...

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

Springtime humor

Major US Airport To Evict TSA Screeners. Good for Orlando! I hope other airports follow suit.

Holy crap - the double barrel pistol. America is slipping - this bad boy is made in Italy

Jamie Moyer really may pull this thing off. How can you not root for Jamie Moyer?

 Awesome old video of Sean Casey "interviewing" David Ortiz about his favorite movies

The Vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis, lit. "vampire squid from Hell") is a fascinating creature

Wow, volcano and aurora porn together. These photos are incredible! 

How Jason Varitek Came to Town

Alex Speier has an excellent look back at the trade that brought Jason Varitek and Derek Lowe to Boston. Great insight into how that trade came to be. I found it most interesting that the deal ended up being a compromise - the Red Sox actually wanted pitcher Ken Cloude for Heathcliff Slocumb but "settled" for Varitek and Lowe.

Whenever this great robbery of a trade is brought up by a Red Sox fan - I always like to remind people that Boston also traded Jamie Moyer to Seattle for Darren Bragg. Moyer went on to win 133 games over the next 10 seasons for the Mariners.

While we are looking back at the career of Varitek - here is something I wrote the day after he smushed his mitt in A-Rod's face.

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

Even if Jamie Moyer gets to 300 wins - does that make him a Hall of Famer? His ERA will most likely be north of 4.22. I know he'll be a very sentimental choice but Bert Blyleven was a better pitcher and he's been kept out... Surprising - no team in the AL has more hits than the Kansas City Royals (786). That's 15 more hits than the Rangers and 16 more than the Red Sox... Things are so bad for Joba Chamberlain that even Yankees fans are making meth jokes about his mom... Before the season started I made 2 bets with a Yankees fan buddy of mine. First that John Lackey would have more wins than AJ Burnett and secondly that Lackey would have a better ERA. I'm ahead in both bets but both players have pretty much sucked... I was fooled by Casey Kotchman. I thought he'd have a breakout season for the Mariners instead he's hit just .187 with a measly 3 HR... Dear Manny Delcarmen and Ramon Ramirez - would you mind if the Red Sox paid you in gum?

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

From Sons of Sam Horn - three days after Jamie Moyer's major league debut the Olsen twins were born... Could I get a matching couch in this material?... On a sadder note - three days after Jamie Moyer's debut - Len Bias died of an overdose... So we had one President saying that oral sex didn't count as sex and now one saying that kicking someone's ass is OK? Really? If a kid in any school in Massachusetts walked the hallways talking about kicking someone's ass they would be suspended. I'm not even going to touch the oral sex outbreak among teenagers today. We've come a long way since "Ask not what your country can do for you" and I wouldn't call it progress... I would love for ESPN to try and get Mike & Mike to call a World Cup match just for the comedy factor...

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

The Yankees open the season with a 9 game road trip. That's the longest season-opening road trip in franchise history. I wonder if this was done on purpose by the scheduling folks just in case there was a couple of things about the new Yankee Stadium that needed time to fix before the first regular season game.... Today's Mariners game will not be broadcast on TV up in Seattle. It's one of three games this season that won't be on TV. This boggles this Red Sox fan's mind. If a Red Sox game was not broadcast there would be a complete uproar. People would be complaining that their civil rights were being violated... I'll be curious to watch how the Pirate's pitching staff does this season. Joe Kerrigan has joined the team as the pitching coach. I have loads of respect for Kerrigan as a pitching coach and the Pirates have some talented young starters who seem to be all over the map in terms of performance... Jamie Moyer is already in the top 50 all-time in strikeouts and wins. With another 50 innings pitched - he'll be in the top 50 all-time in that category too. Among non-active players - only Jack Morris, Jim Kaat and Tommy John are in the top 50 in all three categories and NOT in the Hall of Fame. Just tossing that out there... I'd like to sponsor the David Wells page on Baseball-reference.com and just have the words (in bold) "GET IN MY BELLY!"... The Yankees are the only team in baseball yet to make an error. Derek Jeter will fix that... Happy 37th birthday to Jason Varitek.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I'm hoping Jamie Moyer pitches until he's 50-years old. I think that would be awesome and I also think the advertising opportunities for Moyer would make it worth his while. He could represent AARP, Advil, Grecian Formula and a whole host of older guys products and services.... The Yankees signed CC Sabathia and that got lots of media noise but don't forget that Tampa Bay will be adding David Price to their rotation next year for the full season. That move by the Rays may have just as much impact... Sometimes the mind plays tricks on you. Last week the Phillies signed Christopher Walker to a minor league deal but my mind kept on seeing it as Christopher Walken. I guess I just wanted that to be true... Nice article on Mayor Lou Merloni. I've been on the Lou Merloni bandwagon for years... The Celtics lost to the Lakers yesterday and in hindsight it's something you easily could have seen coming (I wish hindsight was available when I put my bet in).... Yesterday would have been Humphrey Bogart's 109th birthday. It still blows my mind that Ronald Reagan was the original choice to play Rick Blaine in the classic Casablanca... Tonight Central Michigan plays Florida Atlantic in the Motor City Bowl. This is basically a home game for Central Michigan and I expect them to win despite the number of times the announcers will note that Howard Schnellenberger has never lost a bowl game as a coach (5-0). I think the Chippewas cover the 7 points. I'm not so sure about the over/under. The game will be a shootout but over 68 points? I'll have to think about that one...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations for a Tuesday morning.

Doug in Hillsboro, NH is right. When I was speaking about Rajon Rondo and Dustin Pedroia being small in stature but large of heart and courage - I should have put Wes Welker of the Patriots in the same group. Nobody is more fearless going over the middle than Welker and now he's in elite company becoming just the 8th receiver in NFL history to have back-to-back 100 plus reception seasons... I have to agree with Charles Barkley - Turner Gill's resume is more impressive than Gene Chizik's. I don't know if race played a part in the choice but I really can't understand how Turner Gill hasn't been snapped up by a big program yet... Jamie Moyer was given a 2-year contract by the Phillies. Most of the reaction has focused on Moyer's age. What seems to be lost is the fact is that Moyer went 16-7 with a 3.71 ERA last year. Without Moyer the Phillies may have not made the playoffs last year and never have gotten the chance to win the World Series.

Mariners All-timers vs. Red Sox All-timers

I get a kick out of comparing the all-time list of different franchises. Here's a quick look at how the Seattle Mariners compare to the Boston Red Sox.

In terms of hitting - Edgar Martinez is the all-time leader for the Mariners in AB, R, H, 2B, RBI, TB, and BB.

If Martinez played for the Sox instead - he'd be 5th in AB, 5th in R, 5th in H, 3rd in 2B, 5th in RBI, 5th in TB and 4th in BB.

Junior Griffey is the all-time leader in HR with 398. That would be good for 3rd on the Red Sox all-time list behind Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski.

In terms of pitching - Jamie Moyer is the all-time leader for Seattle in wins with 145. That would be good for fourth for the Red Sox behind Cy Young (192), Roger Clemens (192) and Tim Wakefield (157 and counting). Randy Johnson has the club record for K's for the M's with 2162 - that would be behind only Roger Clemens' 2590 for Boston. Surprisingly - Mike Moore is the all-time leader for the Mariners in complete games with 56. That would be good for only a tie for 32nd place with the Red Sox. Cy Young had 275 complete games for the Red Sox.

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

Many people in Boston bring up the Red Sox trading away of Josh Bard when they talk about the lack of depth in the organization behind Jason Varitek at catcher. To me though - the big loss was Kelly Stoppach who was traded to Cleveland in the Coco Crisp deal. Stoppach is the perfect back-up for Cleveland and he would have been perfect in Boston too... You have to be rooting for Doug Davis as he makes his first start of the season against the Reds today. Davis will make his first two starts and then begin treatment for thyroid cancer... I'm also rooting for Jamie Moyer. I just like Jamie Moyer. I hope he gets at least 11 wins this season. He already has 230 and if he gets 11 wins then he'll pass fellow lefties Whitey Ford (236), David Wells (239), Frank Tanana (240) and Herb Pennock (240) and take over 53rd place on the all-time list. And speaking of 53rd place on the all-time list - Moyer needs just 25 K's to pass Dennis Martinez for 53rd place on the all-time list for strikeouts... Baseball fans in Worcester were all happy to see Wes Helms get designated for assignment by the Phillies. It's not that we dislike Helms its just that the other likely candidate to be dropped to make room for Rudy Seanez was Worcester's Tim Lahey who was a rule 5 pickup by Philadelphia.

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

I'd expect that the Orioles are not done dealing. I'd guess that the front office has feelers already out on Brian Roberts (is that Cubs deal ever going to happen?), catcher Ramon Hernandez, outfielder Jay Payton and DH Aubrey Huff. Giving Melvin Mora a no-trade clause is perhaps the worst front office move I can remember. Say hello to the 100-loss season this year Oriole fans... Khalil Greene could be the clean-up hitter for the Padres this season. I'm wondering if there are any other teams in baseball with their shortstop hitting in the four hole. Troy Tulowitzki, Hanley Ramirez and Jimmy Rollins are all better hitters than Greene so I'm guessing that Greene hitting clean-up for the Padres is more of a reflection of how weak the Padres line-up is. However, Greene getting all those RBI opportunities could make Greene more valuable for fantasy baseball players.... The Padres are basically banking on old guys (Jim Edmonds and Brian Giles) and guys coming off injuries (Randy Wolf and Mark Prior) to be able to compete in the NL West this season. Now I'm no highly paid GM but that doesn't seem like the recipe to success to me... Strange as it may seem but 45-year old Jamie Moyer could be the key to who wins the NL East this year. If Moyer can give the Phillies 200 IP and an ERA of about 4.50 then he can help keep the Phillies in enough games and keep the bullpen fresh enough to compete with the better starting rotations of the Braves and Mets. If Moyer is able to manage a 15 win season - then he can move into the top 50 in wins on the all-time list. Moyer also needs just 120 strikeouts to tie Tommy John for 47th place on the all-time list. I'd be willing to bet that if Moyer is able to manage those two accomplishments (making the top 50 in wins and tying Tommy John in K's) then the Phillies will have won the NL East...

Red Sox Magic Number - 50

The Red Sox magic number is now down to 50.

The number 50 also happens to be the number lefty Jamie Moyer wore for the Red Sox in 1996. Of course Moyer did not last long in Boston because then manager Kevin Kennedy liked fireballer pitchers and Moyer pitched with his head and not his balls. So the Red Sox traded Moyer for Darren Bragg - a player who didn't have much talent but sure got dirty playing. Kevin Kennedy's type of player.

Since leaving the Red Sox - Jamie Moyer has won 166 games.

These days the Red Sox embrace crafty lefty pitchers like Kason Gabbard and Jon Lester. And Kevin Kennedy hasn't been able to get a big league managing job since being fired by the Red Sox.

The Red Sox have 58 games left. If they just went .500 for the rest of the season - then the Yankees would have to go 38-20 just to tie. That's a .655 winning percentage. I think Yankee fans should just accept the fact that they are not catching the Red Sox.