Imagine no racism....

Man,

Chris Coghlan (white) retrieves an obvious double by Reyes and flings it randomly at 2nd base (was he going to get Reyes???), where nobody is covering because Gaby Sanchez (latino) lazily didn't roll to 2nd base where he was supposed to be, so Reyes makes the turn and takes 3rd.

Who does Keith Hernandez blame? Hanley Ramirez!

Where was Hanley? Exactly where he should have been, midway between Coghlan and THIRD base.

What's troubling isn't that Keith (a former 1b mind you) got it wrong. He is an idiot. He gets things wrong.

What's troubling is that it took 2 minutes of Gary convincing him he was wrong before he would hear it.

Hanley is like the 3rd best player in baseball. His team is going to win 78 games no matter what he does. Can we cut him some slack?

Is it possible this guy wasn't stoned? I guess so...

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/2010/06/09/2010-06-09_seattle_seahawks_second_round_pick_golden_tate_busted_for_trespassing_at_top_pot.html

Every Little Bit Counts

When the other team commences an intentional walk against, say, a #8 hitter, why doesn't he swing at the 3-0 pitch? What's the risk? What's the harm? You swing and its 3-1. Either the pitcher throws another intentional ball (and is a little aggrevated in the process), or he decides to pitch to you (which you probably want anyway).

At worst, the guy's thrown an extra pitch. Once in a while, he might even balk or throw a wild pitch.

No risk, all reward.

Unless your #8 hitter is Jeff Francouer, in which case he might dive across the plate to actually try to make contact.

(See how I turned this into a Francouer post? You like that don't ya!)

Kiner-ism

As a preliminary matter, I was wrong about Francoeur. At least for the week.

That's not what I am here to say, though.

Early in the game, Chip Hale held the runner at third, even though there were two outs and the Marlins were going to walk Cora and get the pitcher out.

This sparked a discussion about how great Chip Hale has been this year. That is true. He has been great.

Gary Cohen, in response to Ron Darling's comment to that effect, said: "I couldn't agree more, Chip Hale has done a great job."

Ralph Kiner chimed in with: "Yeah! Certainly much better than last year!" This was followed by the sound of crickets....

Lest we forget, Razor Shines (last year's third base coach) is still with the team (as the all important 1st base coach).

If Kiner and Shines meet in the clubhouse after the game, this could get ugly. I am betting on Kiner. Shines was off the mark so often last year, he would probably try to punch Kiner, and miss!

Solving Instant Replay and Saving Time

Here is the solution.

Each manager gets one incorrect challenge per game. The manager can challenge any call he wants, and the umps will go into the booth to look at it. If the manager is right, he still has a challenge in his pocket.

The manager's challenge can be invoked in two ways: 1) A "red flag" (like in football) is thrown out on to the field, or 2) the manager comes out of the dugout to question any judgment call, in which case the replay is immediately invoked.

There could also still be umpire driven replays on boundary calls (like there are now).

This would not slow the game down, as managers would not waste their challenge on an unimportant (or too-close-t0-call) call. Moreover, it would actually speed the game up, because managers would not come out of the dugout to argue every little thing, as he would risk the umpire raising his hand (or whatever) to indicate that the challenge had been invoked.

Also, unlike football, these decisions would be made instantaneously, because there would be no review after the next pitch, or, at the end of an inning, when the defensive team has left the field.

Problem solved. Next question?

This is a conspiracy...that's what this is!

Dave Trembley is getting fired.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5249088

Juan Samuel (the Orioles 3rd base coach) is replacing him.

Wednesday night, I flipped on the Yankee game, and happened to see Miguel Tejada get thrown out at the plate with one out in the 8th inning of a game the Orioles trailed 8-1. It was base running play that reeked of Angel Pagan-ness.

This kind of base-running stupidity is exactly the kind of thing that should get a manager fired.

The problem? Tejada was waived home by....Juan Samuel, the Orioles new manager!

Granted, the writing had been on the wall about Trembley's firing for some time. But is it possible Samuel sent Tejada to seal Trembley's fate? I hope not.

I report, you decide...

Umpiring is hard....I get it!

I was an umpire. It looks a lot easier on TV, believe me.

On day one of umpiring school, they teach you...slow the game down, wait a beat, make your call.

Gallaraga's perfect game was broken up by what is tied for the worst call of the season. The guy was out by 1/2 a step. It wasn't even close!

http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=300602106&teams=cleveland-indians-vs-detroit-tigers

Find a TV tonight, see the play. You won't believe it.

What was the upside to "kicking" a call like that? Call him out! Who would complain? Shouldn't you be leaning that way?

Miguel Cabrera almost got ejected with the ball in play while he was playing first base. I bet that would have been a first.

Jim Leyland almost got ejected from a game he had already won! That would DEFINITELY have been a first.

There was almost a riot on the field. The Tigers were literally attacking the ump.

Is it me, or has there been an outbreak of egregious umpiring lately? Joe West opining on the Yankees and Red Sox, then hiring a publicist and scheduling interviews. Hahn calling 2 balks on MarK Buehrle in the same game, then ejecting him!

Now this.

They have to be stopped.