Not that I am condoning this means of dispute resolution, but from Japan we have an novel approach that makes Billy Martin’s tirades look rather ineffectual….from Baseballibrary.com
May 6, 2000
In a Japanese League game at the Nagoya Dome against the Yokohama BayStars, home-plate umpire Atsushi Kittaka calls a third strike on Dragons infielder Kazuyoshi Tatsunami. Tatsunami contests the call, and his teammates rush from the dugout, surrounding and wrestling the umpire. Kittaka’s uniform is left with spike marks and his ribs are fractured.
And from Garrison Keillor on the joys of ‘good neighbour’ radio via The Nation.
“The sports talk station gives you a succession of men whose absorption in a fantasy world is, to me, borderline insane. You’re grateful not to be related to any of them, and yet ten minutes of their ranting and wheezing is a real tonic that somehow makes this world, the world of trees and children and books and travel, positively tremble with vitality.”
As I type this, I see that the bullpen woes that have plagued the entire year continue. Billy Wagner blows a save by giving up a 2 run shot to Derrek Lee in the bottom of the eighth, but is about to pick up the win, since Latroy Hawkins gave it right back in the top of the ninth by trying to do a bit too much and throwing the ball away after grabbing a liner back to the mound…allowing 2 runners to score. Naturally, being absorbed in a fantasy world, and not owning either of these two gentlemen, I don’t care!!!! So the disappointing Phillies beat the disappointing Cubs….did you ever think that a team would be hungry to get Joe Borowski back?
Barry Zito goes this evening against the Yankees. I don’t know whether that is more welcome news for the latest member of the Kevin Brown all-stars (Robinson Cano? Tony Womack?) or the Yankees. Zito brings a 5.84ERA and 5 home runs allowed in 37 innings to the game. In one league I am in, a player picked up Zito specifically for this start which just goes to show the wonderful variety of ideas to be found in your local roto leagues….but honesty compels me to admit that this individual is 14 points ahead of me for the moment, so I can’t laugh that loud.
Oliver Perez takes his 7.11 ERA on the road to Arizona to face a possibly rejuvenated Javier Vazquez. Ollie is about to gain a spot on the Kevin Brown All Stars as well. Allowing a .295 Batting Average Against in combination with 6-1/2 walks a game is not the way to warm the roto owner’s heart. Oh and he’s giving up over 2 HRs a game as well. I DO have Ollie on a couple of teams so I do care. Of course his fine start the last but one against Houston sucked him backed into your lineup (it did mine), only to get pounded by that offensive juggernaut that is the San Francisco Giants. Vazquez on the other hand has been good 3 times out (but still has a 5.11 ERA which tells you where he was coming from.
Bump up your St. Louis guys if you have daily changes…going against Darrell May tonight. May occasionally resembles a pitcher, but against a decent home run team, if he is off it could get ugly quickly. I’d say Suppan is a pretty good bet for a win tonight. As ought to be Santana against the DRays and Brazelton – however the DRays are actually hitting pretty well at home .315ba, .824ops On the road? .255/.663 How’s THAT for a split?
In case you missed the news, Cantu hasn’t been playing because of a sore finger. One of the joys of having a Lou Pinella player is that such information isn’t often shared with the listening public. So you have to guess whether the player is hurt, or whether they are in Lou’s doghouse (an easy enough place for a young guy to find their way to….remember to check out the Toby Hall suite while you are there). In other Rays news, B.J. Upton went o for 4 yesterday in triple-A and was tossed arguing his fouth strikeout of the day. BUT he didn’t make an error (he has something like 12 already).
And in our final bit – Aaron “Babe” Boone was 0-3 last night to drop his average back to .118 and he struck out once. But it couldn’t have been expected that he would maintain the giddy pace of Wednesday’s 1 for 4 which lifted his average to .122. I do not understand how they can keep running him out there as he leaves, by my count, about 20 runners on base every game. My condolences to Boone owners, but the best I can say is that only 5 AL 3B eligibles have more home runs!!