Home Run Derby

Standings are updated.

Congratulations to our June winner  …

FLASH CARDS (77 HR)

Last night, Flash Cards scored 7 HR and literally came out of nowhere to knock Komodos (74 HR) off the top of the June leaderboard.   And take the $50 prize.

For almost all of  June, a certain lizard sat atop the monthly standings in out fair Home Run Derby contest.  But the Komodos learned the hard way that it’s only that last day that matters. 

Going into last night’s action, the Komodos had 72 Home Runs and a 2-HR lead over Flash Cards, RDRR, and Fletch.  The problem was that those three teams all had Albert Pujols and his two home runs … and Komodos didn’t.

RDRR finished second in June with 76 HR.  More on him later.

At the end of June … your First Half Leaderboard looks a lot like it did the rest of the month.

Seriously. 

Will someone knock these three off the leaderboard?  There are twelve days left in the First Half for someone to rise up and show some nards and win this thing.

Anyway, David Wright can Bite Me leads with 242 HR.  he’s followed by Aural Sects with 24 HR and Heavy Hitters with 239 HR.

And now we head into July … and guess who’s coming back? 

That’s right.  Manny.  And he’ll have the hopes and dreams of nearly 90 Derby teams on his back.  Not to mention the weight of that 50-game suspension monkey. 

Suddenly, thre are a lot of teams who will have a shot at the July monthly prize and the 2nd half Prize.  And a few teams who have done pretty well without Manny … and could be considered favorites to crash the leaderboard in the near future. 

The best team with Manny?  Gotta be ChiTownKaz ?  Tied for 8th Place overall right now with 226 HR.  And he’s getting Manny back.

Remember RDRR?  He’s in a 10th place tie with 225 HR.  Just missed out on the July prize by one Home Run.  And he did it with 14 players.

Earlier this year, I wondered how Brewers fans would react to Jeff Suppan Bobblehead day on August 30, 2009.

Yes, that Jeff Suppan … the Brewers pitcher who surrendered three Home Runs in three innings to the Phialdelphia Phillies in Game 4 of the 2008 NLDS. 

I didn’t have to wait until late August to find out.  Because Brewers fans would like to sell Suppan. With a Starting bid on eBay of a penny.

The seller will throw in Bill Hall for free.  What a bargain.

Gosh.  I wonder how much Brewers fans would pay someone to take David Bush off their hands.

UPDATE:  Bidding made it to $20.50 before eBay pulled it.

I wonder when Cubs fans will try this with Milton Bradley.

So I opened my mail last night … and there he was.

Bucky Dent.  Or if you’re from Red Sox Nation, Bucky F-ing Dent.

Well, at least a three and a half inch cardboard facsimile of him in near-Mint condition.

This is cool.  I like it.  But wait … WTF?

Dent showed up in a plain white envelope addressed with a computer-generated label … but no return address.  Postmarked from New York City on June 25th.  

Hmmmm.  NYC?  My first thought was that I had cheesed off some Yankee fan (who thought I was a Red Sox fan) in some post or another.  But that couldn’t be.  Because I haven’t written anything about the Yanks in a while – heck I haven’t posted at all in two weeks.  And besides, pissed off blog readers voice their displeasure immediately in the comments section – not via envelopes with mail-merged labels.

I bet other bloggers had Bucky Dent in their mailbox.  It had to be a publicity stunt.

I was right.

• Purple Row and Bronx Banter and Was Watching got a Dent card.  
• Dave Pinto at Baseball Musings and Rich Lederer at Baseball Analysts got George Scott cards.
• Will Carroll of ESPN got a Steve Swisher card. 
• Craig Calcaterra at Shysterball also got a Dent card … and led the charge to find out who else got them and who sent them.
  And to his credit – he figured it out.

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Standings have been updated … finally

With two days left in June, David Wright can Bite me has regained the First Half Lead with 236 Home Runs. 

Mind you, The Heavy Hitters (235 HR) and Aural Sects (233 HR) are right on his tail. 

The Komodos lead the June leaderboard with72 HR. 

Fletch and RDRR have a shot to take the June prize – they’re only back two Homers at 70.

Standings are updated.

We’ve got a tie at the top of the 1st Half leaderboard with 205 HR. 

Aural Sects and David Wright can Bite Me share the top spot.  They’re followed by the Heavy Hitters with 202 HR, BackBackBackBack and Sir Isaac Lime II with 201 HR, and Eat My Kosuke Fukudome Hot Dog with 200 HR.

And that ends the list of teams with two spins. 

On to June …

The June Swoon hasn’t affected four teams who all have a piece of the monthly lead. 

Eat My Kosuke Fukudome Hot Dog, It’s a New Century, Komodos and Fiesta all have 39 HR in June. 

Jason Kubel’s been the man for Fiesta.  That will end.

And it begins again. 

The Cubs and White Sox renew their Black and Blue rivalry with a three game interleague showdown at Wrigley Field.  Followed by a three game set at US Cellular Field in 11 days.

Growing up a big baseball fan in Northern Indiana, I had always openly rooted for both teams – they played in different leagues and never played each other.  My family would make trips into Chicago and watch whatever team was in town.  I was a Harry Caray fan – which meant I watched both Sox and Cubs broadcasts in the early 80’s. 

I never fully “got” the Cubs-Sox rivalry until I went to college in Chicago – when my dorm-mates made me choose Cubs or Sox.  Right then.  Right there. 

Being the new roommate of a die-hard White Sox fan, I did what had to be done … and after making him think I was a Sox fan … shouted “GO CUBS!” just to piss him off.  A friendly rivalry which lasts to this day was born.

Just for fun, here’s a look at some of the more memorable commercials Chicago-area merchants have aired to show off the Rivalry.

Here’s a bumper from Miller Lite  for a Cubs-Sox broadcast on Fox.

Okay, that was lame.

McDonalds has been getting in on the Cubs-Sox rivalry.  With pranks that would rival those my roommate and I played on each other.

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Standings have been updated

Holy Schneikes!!

The Home Run Derby contest leaderboard is hoppin’ right now … with a three way tie for first.

 David Wright can Bite Me, Aural Sects, and Heavy Hitters top all Derby competitors with 196 Home Runs apiece. 

Heavy Hitters and Aural Sects were the respective winners of the April and May Monthly Prizes, with DWCBM just missing out on the May Prize. 

I’m starting to think these three teams will be in the hunt all season long.  And that the REAL David Wright will find a way to bite David Wright Can Bite me.

Looking at the June leaderboard … it’s a familiar, if not lucky, face leading the pack. 

The Komodos (who belong to HRD’s own webmaster extraordinaire) have 33 Home Runs in June. 

He’s followed by It’s a New Century (32 HR) and Fiesta (31 HR). 

Here’s an interesting tidbit – on the Overall Leaderboard, Fiesta is in last place with a pathetic 134 HR.  But there he is competing in June.  Fiesta’s good showing is reason why you should always check the standings.

Back in college, I knew someone who landed a gig working on the Wrigley Field grounds crew. 

He used to always tell me how much work went on after the game to clean up after the crowd because there would literally be tons of trash to sweep up. 

Especially out in the bleachers.

Millions of peanut shells, thousands of cups and wrappers, gallons of spilled beer and soda, half eaten food, vomit-soaked shirts (ewww – but real), beaten-up Cardinals fans, you name it. 

And things I won’t mention at this family-based website.  Oh what the heck  …. soiled prophylactics.

Anyone else wonder if seeing all that trash will keep people from naming their kids after Wrigley Field?

I had no reason to disbelieve him … but I never realized it was this bad.  Here’s some pics of the cleanup effort.

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The Washington Nationals have gotten a lot of flack for their misspelling snafus lately (Natinals, anyone?) … but they aren’t the only Beltway team that can’t spell their own team’s name.

Check this out.   From the Baltimore Orioles’ Twitter page. 

On the left side …

Does that say Oriloes.com? 

Oriloes?  Seriously?  Is there something in the water over there that causes baseball people to lose their ability to spell?

I would like to offer my services as a proofreader to any and all MLB teams who don’t want to look stupid anymore.

[Update - They fixed it.  We get results.]

H/T:  Uniwatch

Hey Beltway Baseball fans – be sure to check out the best Nationals jersey you’ll ever see.

You can buy cool “Natinals” shirts here.