fat EMO kid baseball blog

What is going on this year?  Another big name player has suddenly come down with a case of the “I’m sad about stuff”’s.  Justin Duscherer of the A’s, due back soon from arm surgery, is going to miss the rest of the season because of clinical depression.  Until this year, I had never heard of this in professional sports, and even if it was around, would never be admitted.  Are baseball players getting in touch with their feelings?  Are they getting soft?  Is coming down from steroid cycles throwing their hormones into overdrive?  Who knows.  Duscherer could have found himself on a contender, but instead will spend the rest of the season laying on a couch and popping pills.  Seriously though, hope he recovers quickly, it’s all fun and games until something serious happens. 

In other news, the Yankees pounded the Red Sox tonight, 20-11, in what had to be one of the worst-played games this season.  More interesting news was made off the field, as the Red Sox have supposedly claimed Billy Wagner from the Mets.  This of course, means the Yankees wont get him, which would have been a great fit.  Hopefully the Mets do the right thing and don’t let him go to Boston, but it was good to see him back on the mound, throwing 95, on Thursday night. 

Also, if you saw the game on YES tonight, or maybe even read the news, you’d heard a story about Jim Rice bad-mouthing Derek Jeter.  Rice lumped Jeter in with A-Rod and Manny, as guys who only care about money.  There are so many things wrong with that, but I wont get into it all right now.  I am as big a Jeter supporter as you will find, but it surpised me that the Yankee announcers were so outraged by this.  Did they miss this?

Pedro Martinez is back in the big leagues, starting tonight against the Cubs.  He was given a gift, matched up against rookie Jeff Samazijdoifdzia who should be catching passes in the NFL.  Pedro still looks like a shell of his former self, but has been able to hit 92 on the radar gun a few teams, and still has the ability to get a call on anything within a foot of the plate.  I don’t think he will be a difference-maker for the Phillies, but he can’t be any worse than Jamie Moyer, who is taking his demotion like an 8 year old girl, has been.  It’s low risk, high reward for the Phils, but isn’t that what Boston said about John Smoltz?

EDIT:  despite what Rick Sutcliffe (the biggest drama-queen in the history of annoucing)  would have you believe, Pedro’s stuff was good for about two innings.  He’s completely done now and it’s only the fifth, if it wasn’t 12-3, he’d be gone by now.

A Cubs fan just threw a cup of beer on Shane Victorino, what is this, fenway?

The Brewers landed David Weathers from the Reds. Nice trade for the Reds, unloading a 39 year old reliever for their choice of minor leaguers from Milwauke. Fully expect the Reds to make the worst choice possible. I still can’t figure out if the Brewers think they can win or not, seems like no matter what they do, they aren’t getting any better.

The title says it all, Sergio Meat-tray is very frustrating to watch. This guy has great stuff, just doesn’t seem to have any idea where it’s going. Maybe he should talk to the opposing hitters, they seem to be figuring it out just fine. Oh, and these fans dressed up like umpires, again? It was funny for about 5 minutes. I’m just glad I didn’t pay $2500 for the seats behind them.

The Yankees need another starter – I am now officially the last person on earth to write about this. Names to keep in mind? Not much. Jon Garland, Doug Davis, Livan Hernandez? Who knows, suddenly the Yankees are payroll-conscious, so maybe we wont get to enjoy this year’s version of Cecil Fielder or Jose Canseco.

Another big Boston/New York series this weekend. If you need a cheap win for your fantasy team, I recommend you pick up John Smoltz, who I’m sure will have no trouble striking out about 12 Yanks, in a 13-4. Or so it seems to go this season.

I didn’t post at the trade deadline because, well, if you are reading my blog for your trade deadline news, then it might be time to turn off the PC. Anyway, still trying to make sense out of this Scott Rolen to the Reds trade. I have never liked Edwin Encarnacion, but getting him and two other young guys? You have to like this from the Blue Jays side, considering Rolen didn’t want to be there anyway. Encarnacion is a bum, but still, he might be somebody someday.

Finally, since I promised I would…

You may or may not have seen the news recently about the disasterous train wreck in Indiana. In case you missed it,
here is an image that describes the horror much better than words ever could.

Congratulations Artie Lange, I think the torch has been passed.

Read more here..

I think the only surprise is that people seemed to be surprised by this. I’ll send Vito out to collect those 2004 World Series rings ASAP.