Friday, July 23, 2010

Hodge Podge

Here are a few things I found interesting and wanted to share:

--Yanks Goin' Yard!
  • Brett Gardner got tossed in the Yankees 10-6 victory over the Angels Wednesday after arguing a called strike two, no worries though. The speedy center fielder knew exactly what he was doing. Rookie Collin Curtis promptly stepped up to the plate down 0-2, worked the count to 3-2, then parked one in the short porch in right at Yankee Stadium, his first Major League round-tripper & first curtain call (watch here). Watch towards the end of the video as an employee gets the HR ball from the lucky fan who caught it... Yankees.com reported that in return for the souvenir, Curtis had to trade Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez autographs, each of which he had to get from the future Hall of Famers himself!
"It worked out perfect," Gardner said. "Shoot I was up there trying to get the guy in from third. He went up there and hit a three-run homer."
--Oswalt Offering has Odd Twist
  • Roy Oswalt has wanted to be traded to a contender all season, however now he's only concentrating on winning another one for his Houston Astros. In ten seasons with the 'stros he has accumulated 143 wins, good for second best on the club's all-time wins list behind Joe Niekro who threw for the team from 1975-1985. Oswalt asked manager Brad Mills to get him two starts before the July 31 trade deadline, according to astros.com, in order to give him an extra outing to tie Niekro. He will go for victory number 144 Saturday vs. Cincinnati. In 33 career games against the NL Central rival Reds, Oswalt is 23-2 with a 2.62 ERA, 1.127 WHIP, .237 BA against, and a 3.13 K/BB ratio (source: baseball-reference.com). Rumors suggest Oswalt will be dealt to either the Cardinals or Phillies, I'm praying he leaves the Central for reasons listed previously. We're talking a .920 win pct. versus my boys!!
  • Although there's never a deadline, trading in the fantasy world is also getting juicy around this time. Empathize with Yahoo!'s Andy Behrens about all your roto trade woes, I guarantee there's at least one of these guys in your league as well! (Thanks to Andy for the heads up on this entertaining article)
--Drawing Blood
  • Bud Selig announced Major League Baseball will begin testing for human growth hormone, starting in the minors, by taking blood samples from players. This from nytimes.com:
    Olympic athletes have been subject to blood testing for many years, but baseball's decision marks the first time that a professional league in North America will test its players' blood for signs of doping.
--Record-Breaking Rose Bat Goes for $158,776
Lastly, I'll end on a happier note -- happier, that is, for everyone except these guys (found this vid via Mo Egger's blog, check it out):



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