Go 2009

We're only 15 days into the new year and I've already got two nominees for best new discovery of the year: Zune Pass and the newly launched MLB Network. Seriously, baseball 24/7 and all-you-can-eat music for $15 a month (you even get to keep 10 tracks...that was the kicker that finally won me over). Sign me up!

Irresistable Force Meets Immovable Object

Switch Hitter meet....Switch Pitcher. This may be my new favorite baseball clip ever. The real fun kicks in at about 1:20.

Prince Fielder: Vegetarian

Just saw that Prince Fielder is now a vegetarian! Welcome to the good squad Prince, we needed a power-hitting first baseman! Any guesses on what book he read that made him switch? For me it was The Jungle that did the trick.

BTW, if you can't tell I'm pining for opening day and some real baseball news.

2008 Mariners Commercials

W00t! The new M's commercials are out and as funny as they've been in a long time. Me gusto the mustaches.

Previously
2007
2006

Rex Hudler

Q: Is Angels announcer Rex Hudler the most annoying broadcaster in baseball?
A: Yes. Yes he is. Angels fans, how can you live with this guy?

Mayne Mariner

Saw Kenny Mayne on my way to my seats at the M's game tonight. Who knew he was a Washingtonian? He was easy to identify because he was (still?) wearing his All-Star Celebrity Softball jersey. No joke. Anyways, just thought I'd share. This ain't L.A. so this is about as close to a celebrity sighting as we get around here.

I-C-H-I-R-O

What a night. After a great All-Star game in which he hits the first in-the-park HR in All-Star history and wins the MVP award, we find out that Ichiro is on the verge of signing a new 5-year extension to stay here in Seattle. The only way I could be more excited is if Brian Roberts hadn't flubbed J.J's chance for a 1-2-3 save.

"It's like he does whatever he wants to do at the plate. It's almost like he's playing around." -- Justin Morneau

"Obviously, I would love for him to beat it and get to the National League" -- Michael Young

"He's an artist with that bat" -- Tony LaRussa

Counting Crows & Home Run Derby

Congrats to my boy Big Bad Vlad on his Home Run Derby win. Nicely done sir.

In case you missed it the Counting Crows opened the show with a rousing rendition of
"Accidently In Love", not their best song but still pretty cool to see them...it's been awhile. A review of their quick set can be found here including a link to stream the video.

Baseball Between The Numbers

Book #17 of my '07 reading list was Baseball Between the Numbers: Why Everything You Know About the Game is Wrong by the Baseball Prospectus folks.

Pure candy for the mathematically inclined fan of the game, Baseball Between the Numbers provides a great summary of the latest thinking in sabermetrics. With chapter titles like 'Is David Ortiz a Clutch Hitter?' (not really) and 'Why Was Kevin Maas a Bust?" (he had old player skills) each section takes on a different topic, proposes a way to study the issue and then breaks down the statistics that either back up or refute the original hypothesis. Geeky Bill James style goodness.

What is Baseball Between the Numbers?
USS Mariner review

Baseball Between The Numbers - Jonah Keri

The Cheater's Guide to Baseball

Book #15 on my '07 reading list was The Cheater's Guide to Baseball by USS Mariner's Derek Zumsteg.

Funny and well-researched, The Cheater's Guide is an interesting look into the lines between cheating and competing and how cheaters have changed the face of America's past-time. Particularly interesting to me were stories about how early innovations like the hit-and-run stretched the limits of the rules at the time and were considered to be unfair by some. Zumsteg also points out some of the hypocrisy around cheating like how we openly accept thing like framing pitches, not sliding into the bag during a double play, or manipulating the field to play to the home team's advantage, while we work ourselves into a rage when we find a smudge on Kenny Rogers' pitching hand.

Some of the content starts to feel like filler towards the end of the book, but on the whole this is an enjoyable, quick read which any baseball fan should enjoy.

Book blog
Salon article
Zumsteg on NPR with Noah Adams
Interview with the Hardball Times
New York Times review
Excerpt from intro

Extra Innings

Extra Innings is back baby! W00t w00t.

Fantasy Baseball 2007

Thanks to The Affable American, I'm playing Fantasy Baseball again! It's a 12-team semi-keeper match-up league with 7 offensive and 7 pitching stat categories. We had the draft last night leaving me with this team which I'm cautiously optimistic about:

C Kenji Jojhima
1B Lyle Overbay
2B Freddy Sanchez
SS Jose Reyes
3B Alex Rodriguez
IF Derek Jeter
OF Jason Bay
OF Rauuuuuuul Ibanez
OF Brad Hawpe
UTIL Travis Hafner

SP Jeremy Bonderman
SP Dan Haren
SP Curt Schilling
SP Dave Bush
SP Kelvim Escobar
RP Billy Wagner
RP Todd Jones
P Jake Westbrook

BENCH
Mike Piazza
Chris Burke
B.J. Upton
Chris Young
Troy Tulowitzki
Dustin Hermanson
Jonathan Broxton

2007 Mariners Commercials

The 2007 Mariners Commerical are posted. They aren't as funny as previous years, but they're still pretty good. My favorite at the moment is 'Double Play Twins' but 'Rauuuuul' is pretty good too.

Minor League Manager Tirade

This video of Asheville Tourists manager Joe Mikulik doing his best Lou Pinella impression is most excellent. There are several versions up on YouTube, but I like the goofy annoucer's play-by-play on this version.

Nintendo Fan Network

At Mariners FanFest this weekend Nintendo had a booth set up to demo their new "Nintendo Fan Network". Starting this season, fans watching the games at Safeco Field will now be able to bring their Nintendo DS and connect to the NFN. Once on the network you can order food, watch live video, peruse through player stats, keep up with scores in other games, and play baseball trivia games.

I'm pretty excited as I've been waiting for something like this to be developed (though I always thought it would be cell phone based). From playing with it briefly the implementation looks pretty slick, so I'm tempted to get a DS now just to check it out (nice marketing Nintendo).

On the downside, the price point that they're currently floating is $8 per game. That seems pretty steep (I can get a Safeco beer for that price), especially over the course of the 16-20 games I usually manage to make it out to. Somewhere in the range of $3 per game seems more like the sweet spot. The Nintendo Guy I spoke with did mention that they may do a $1 a game deal for full-season ticket holders, so if that offer gets extended to everyone it means roughly $80 will net you a season pass. Pretty tempting...especially since with a DS I could play Super Mario during all of those pitching changes we're going to have to sit through this year.

You make the call: Mario or Edgar?

Say It Ain't So

Dear Major League Baseball,

It has come to my attention that you are currently contemplating a move to an NFL-like deal with DirectTV to hand over exlusive rights to broadcast MLB Extra Innings. Please, please, please re-consider. For those of us who do not currently have DirectTV this is a terrible deal that will greatly curtail our ability to watch the game we love. Is the nearly $200 I'm giving you a year truly not enough? Do you really expect me to change my cable provider now just so I can continue to have the "privilege" of paying for this package? Say it ain't so.

Yours truly,

A Baseball Fan (and Comcast subscriber)

Gavin Dickey Update

Former Gators Quarterback Gavin Dickey who was selected by the Seattle Mariners in the June draft is now officially signed and well into the start of his professional career with the Everett AquaSox. I haven't made it up to see him play in person yet, but it looks like he's off to a bit of a slow start batting only .225. On the bright side he's getting a ton of playing time, is second on the team in stolen bases and has shown some power. A good article on Dickey and his transition from Gator QB to the minor leagues can be found here.

"It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Not too many guys get to run out of the tunnel to 95,000 people screaming. Playing in the Swamp is one of those things you can't explain." -- Gavin Dickey on playing football at UF

Hometown Heroes

At today's Mariners' game we picked up ballots for Hometown Heroes, a new fan voting based list of the most outstanding players from each Major League baseball team. Here are my American League votes (I'll post my National League choices soon), as well as the one change per team I would make if I were writing the ballot (with special thanks to Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Lineups which came in quite handy in remembering other potential candidates).

American League

Baltimore Orioles
Selection: Cal Ripken Jr.
Change: None

Boston Red Sox
Selection: Ted Williams
Change: Drop Jim Rice add Wade Boggs

Chicago White Sox
Selection: Luke Appling
Change: Drop Minnie Minoso add Eddie Collins

Cleveland Indians
Selection: Nap Lajoie
Change: Drop Larry Doby add Jim Thome

Detroit Tigers
Selection: Ty Cobb
Change: None

Kansas City Royals
Selection: George Brett
Change: None

California/LA/Anaheim Angels
Selection: Nolan Ryan
Change: Drop Jim Abbott add Nolan Ryan

Minnesota Twins
Selection: Harmon Killebrew
Change: None

New York Yankees
Selection: Babe Ruth
Change: None

Oakland A's
Selection: Rickey Henderson
Change: Remove Catfish Hunter add Mark McGwire

Seattle Mariners
Selection: Ken Griffey Jr.
Change: Drop Jay Buhner add Randy Johnson

Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Selection: Aubrey Huff (sadly)
Change: Drop Wade Boggs (he only played two years). Add Delmon Young...err make that Randy Winn?

Texas Rangers
Selection: Ivan Rodriguez
Changes: This one needs at least two. Drop Jim Sundberg & Rusty Greer, add Rafael Palmeiro and Charlie Hough

Toronto Blue Jays
Selection: Joe Carter
Changes: Drop Pat Hentgen add George Bell, while you're at it drop Tony Fernandez and add Carlos Delgado

Mariners Draft Gators

Day 2 of the 2006 MLB Draft ended today. Most Mariners fans (well the ones who follow this kind of stuff anyways) are busy debating the team's first round selection (#5 overall) of Cal pitcher Brandon Marrow over UNC hurler Andrew Miller. I on the other hand am thrilled as the Mariners netted two Gators! The M's picked CF Gavin Dickey in the 12th round and P Brian Ball in the 27th. I'm particularly excited about Dickey who's a former QB on the Gator football team (and who notably guided my XBox NCAA Football version of the Gators to an undefeated National Championship). Welcome to the squad boys.

You can find the full list of the Mariners draft picks in Baseball America's Draft Database.

Tony Batista Fight

I saw Tony Batista get plunked by Barry Zito in the Twins vs. A's game today and remembered this gem of a video clip from Batista's time in Japan. Hands down one of the funniest baseball clips I've seen.

BTW, I'm pretty sure that's now Mariners' catcher Kenji Johjima laughing at the pitcher from the dugout.