News Desk

Iron Bowl:  A little late with this post, but Alabama fired the part-time PA announcer who decided to play some songs directed at Auburn quarterback Cam Newton during the Iron Bowl pregame.  Get a life - this guy is probably a douche anyway.  (ESPN)

He Gone:  Former Kentucky Wildcat DeMarcus Cousins was asked to leave practice early by coach Paul Westphal.  He didn't foul out, as you might have guessed (he averages 4.2 fouls per game).  Reasons for the dismissal were not given. (SacBee)

Tulo's Town:  The Rockies locked in their SS.  The SS, however, may have left a lot of money on the table after agreeing to a 7 year, $134 million extension through 2020 season.  That's almost $20 million a year - for a team with an $80 million payroll.  He better put some asses in the seats and some beers in those peoples' hands.  (Denver Post)

Dolphins Won the Game; Raiders Fan Won the Fight:  After Jacoby Ford ran the opening kickoff back 101 yards for a touchdown, not much went right for the Silver and Black.  I ran across this video on the internet of a mouthy Dolphins fan running his yap.  The Raiders fan who TKO'd him?  The biggest dude in the video.  FF to the 1:30 mark and wait about 4 seconds - but don't blink, or you'll miss the Dolphins fan getting laid out.

Shut out and Shutouts

I sincerely apologize to my loyal legion of followers (the three of you) for my lack of posting recently.  I have been busy with work and trying to find a new look for my blog spot.  I hope you can bear with me, I will be sure to make it up to you.

Heading over to the diamond, there has been an awful lot of shutouts lately in the MLB.  Thursday featured three (CWS 2 ATL 0 // MIL 5 MIN 0 // TOR 5 STL 0).  Wednesday night there were four (CIN 3 OAK 0 // KC 1 WSH 0 // STL 1 TOR 0 // NYM 5 DET 0).  Tuesday saw only one shutout (SEA 2 CHC 0).  That's eight shutouts in three days.  There have been 127 shutouts in the big leagues this year already, and we still have just over two weeks before the 2010 Midsummer Classic in Anaheim.

It is shaping up to be the "Year of the Pitcher".  More specifically, it's the year the NL West's pitching staffs are dominating baseball.  Four teams rank in the top 6 in shutouts - Padres and Rockies (9) lead the majors, and the Dodgers and Giants (6) are both tied for 3th. 

Breaking it down, 2009 and 2010, 1st Half statistics:
--2009 - 14 SP's with 80+ IP with ERA < 3.00
--2010 - 23 SP's with 80+ IP with ERA < 3.00

--2009 - 12 pitchers with 10+ wins pre-All-Star break.
--2010 - 23 with 8+ wins (2+ weeks before All-Star break)

--2009 - 24 pitchers with 80+ IP with WHIP < 1.20
--2010 - 30 pitchers with 80+ IP with WHIP < 1.20

--2009 - 32 hitters with 17+ HR (Albert Pujols, 32)
--2010 - 8 hitters with 17+ HR (Jose Bautista, 20)

--2009 - 16 hitters with 60+ RBI (Albert Pujols, 87)
--2010 - 1 hitter with 60+ RBI (Miguel Cabrera, 61)

Call 2010 the "Year of the Pitcher", I know it's still early, but I see no end to this dominance in sight.  The proof is in the numbers.  And with Stephen Strasburg on the scene tearing up opposing lineups like Nathan tears apart napkins, look out.

You think there's a coincidence that HR numbers are down since the Steroid Squad (McGwire, Canseco, Bonds, Sosa) stopped playing?  I think not.  Those guys are dirtbags - and not in a good way.  They ruined the way casual fans look at the game - me, I'm a professional fan.  (If there's such a thing)  These guys should get shut out of the Hall of Fame.  They're losers.  Scumbags.

Time for some dinner, gonna whip something up for LMD, Julia, and myself.  LMD is cleaning, I'm banned because all I do is get in the way.  Gonna go get some prosecco to mix with elder flower for the women, and some beers for myself.  The ladies can pretend they're high class.

Later!

Walk It Off

Monday night in the MLB featured some great games and some laughers.

We'll narrow it down to the Top 3 - all walk-off wins:

#3 - At "The Trop", the Rays got a walk-off, one out squeeze bunt from Jason Bartlett in the 11th inning, beating the Indians 4-3.  Several weeks ago the Indians go burned by the Angels on a similar play, but there were two outs when Howie Kendrick got his base hit bunt past the pitcher.  Chris Perez was complaining about it being a "stupid play" - listen man, it's the big leagues, you need to get wins when you can.  It ain't Kendricks fault your team sucks.  The Rays improved to an MLB best 27-11.  The Tribe fell to 15-21.

#2 - Aramis Ramirez raised his average all the way to .175 in this one, and hit the walk-off 2R HR in the 9th off Rockies pitcher Matt Belisle to give the Cubs a 4-2 win.  Ramirez singled in the 1st, driving in the Cubs first run of the game.  Ramirez has been on a tear lately - he's raised his average from .148 to .175 over the past 10 games.  The saddest fact is, he only has 3 multi-hit games all year - this guy makes $16.75 million a year.  What is wrong with the Cubs?  Rockies fall to 19-19, Cubs improve to 17-22.

#1 - Poor Papelbon.  Ha.  Not only did he allow A-Rod to tie the game in the 9th with a 2R HR, he allowed a 2R HR by Marcus Thames to lose the game.  After the "A-bomb from A-Rod", Cano flew out to centerfield before Cervelli got drilled in the elbow.  Thames came to the plate and wasted little time - he jumped on the 92 mph fastball and hit a line-drive into the LF seats.  Yes, he pimped it a little out of the box, but you know what, it was his first career walk-off HR.  He threw the bat, and began his sprint around the bases.  Then he got the pie face.  I stayed up for it, and was pissed when the blew the lead, but man, it's always nice walking-off on the Red Sox.  Yankees 25-13, Red Sox 19-20. 

Plenty to do today - 3,600 white folding chairs waiting for me to set them up.  Graduation season is upon us.