Home Run Derby

During the World Series celebration (riot) in Philadelphia last night, some shirtless moron decided to make himself the center of attention by climbing up a traffic light on Broad Street.

And Philly fans (rioters) let him have it … with a bottle … to the head.
Fall down, go Boom.

The loud *CLINK* you hear is not edited.

Holy crap. That wasn’t a beer bottle either. That looked like one of those expensive vodka bottles.

Don’t people watch videos from the Preakness infield or stuff like that to know if you make yourself an open target … you’re gonna get your skull cracked?

And this was Philly. Guy should have known better.
Dumbass.

At least he can dream of the Bodypainted Phillies Fan (NSFW) while he’s in his coma. Or the Philly Phan who Phlashed the Crowd.

By the way, how damning is it of our society that the guy filming it is all geeked that he got it on tape?

Hat Tip: Busted Coverage, who says it was Grey Goose.

Update: We found video of some Phillies Fan falling out of a truck too …

I have been accused by my good friends at the Nationals Enquirer of being a “pathological Nats-hater” but I must say that the Nationals are my second favorite team.  Well, at least for this weekend anyway.  They get the honor of filling in the blank of my regular quip:

“My two favorite teams are the White Sox and whoever is playing the Cubs”

Of course, not expecting any chance of a win this weekend at Wrigley for the Worst Team in Baseball, I must say I was pleasantly surprised to see this team clobbering the Cubs 10-5 in the 9th.

No wait, 13-5!!!  And to make it even better, ex-White Sox Willie Harris (you know the man who scored the final run of Game 4 in the 2005 World Series) jacked 2 Home Runs and knocked in 6 runs.  Wooo Hoo!!!  Go Nats.

Wait…Willie Harris has 12 Home Runs this year. Tied for the TEAM lead.  OK, it is official.  The Nats are not only the Worst Team in Baseball…They are the Worst. Team.  EVER.  Willie Harris leads the team in Home Runs.  You got to be kidding me. 

Yet, It’s a final…they just be the Cubs!

Well, if we always post 3 Home Run Nights for players, we definitely should recognize a more rare achievement, 4 consecutive Home Runs by the White Sox (Jim Thome, Paul Konerko, Alexei Ramirez, Juan Uribe).  To give you a bit of scale, a single player has hit 3 Home Runs in a game 480 times.  However, a team has hit 4 consecutive Home Runs in a game only 6 times.

Funny thing is, it happened once the past three seasons (Dodgers in ‘06, Red Sox in ‘07, White Sox in ‘08), but apparently these things come in threes, because the first three occurences took place in a four year span (Braves in ‘61, Indians in ‘63, Twins in ‘64).  Again for scale, 3 Home Run Games occurred 19 times the past three years.

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During last night’s Orioles-Yankees game, the O’s put on the right field shift for Jason Giambi.

Baltimore Centerfielder Brian Roberts shifted towards Right Field to cut down on the lefty Giambi’s chances at getting a big hit (it worked earlier in the game) … and Giambi puts one through anyway.

And then, Giambi playfully lets Roberts know what he thinks of the shift.

Now if someone would do that after hitting a Home Run following an intentional walk, that’d be great.

Hat tip: Big League Stew

It’s not like we don’t enjoy pointing out each other’s bonehead statements (we do), but I take particular joy in pointing out that Richie was much too quick to to lump Mark into the “not so great after the fat contract” category.

Yes, Buehrle was mediocre at best through May 8th when Richie penned his observation, even his next three starts after Richie’s post fell into that Mediocre blah.   But come the beginning of June,  things have changed and Mark is earning his paycheck.

Since June 1, Mark has had 10 starts, 9 of them quality starts.  He failed to go 7 innings only twice and pitched 8 innings 4 straight games.  He gave up more than 3 ER once.

His June stats: 6 Starts, 4-0, 1.60 ERA, 45 IP (out of 54 total innings for those 6 games, the bullpen thanks you Mark), 1.02 WHIP. His July stats:2-2, 2.63 ERA, 27.1 IP (out of 36 possible), 1.17 WHIP

So put that in your pipe and smoke it, Richie

FYI…Nick the Greek is headed to our Northern Neighbors for a two week vacation with very little access to the internet. So I will disappear again for a while.

I know the Twins are a good team, but anyone who thinks they have a shot at the AL Central is insane, and it has nothing to do with four of their starting pitchers never pitching 200 innings in a season (Blackburn, Baker, Perkins, Slowey - Hell, Baker is the only one with 100 IP in the Bigs prior to this season). 

Nope, like most things in this country, you can blame the Republicans.

Check out the Twins’ Schedule from August 21st – September 21st.  It is a nut buster. 

Starting August 21st, they go on the road for 15 straight in 16 days (LA, Oak, Sea, Tor) because of the GOP convention (Sept 1-4), then get to come home for 6 games (Det, KC) before heading out for another 10 games on the road in 10 days (Bal, Cle, TB).  That is 25 road games in a span of 33 days with only two days off with six days at home.

So blame the Republicans, Twins fans. 

Unless you are up 5-6 games by August 21st, chances of holding the division will be poor.  This team (like most) is below .500 on the road.

Everybody remember that old SNL feature back in the 90’s, Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey.  My favorite went something like…”I think it would be funny that if you were skydiving and your parachute didn’t open that you pretend that you were swimming.”

Anyway, since it seems like I don’t have the time to be too creative or lengthy in my posts, I figure I could at least put a thought or two down for people to ponder.

As a follow up to my Washington N-ASS-ionals post from Thursday, This week’s ESPN’s Power Rankings hit the nail on the head when they ranked Washington dead last.

“Here’s all you need to know about the Nats: Austin Kearns is hitting cleanup, with a .297 slugging percentage.”

Yep, that confirms it, the Nationals suck.

Nick the Greek is taking sometime away from his new job to take a look at an old hobby.  Life gets busy sometimes, but that doesn’t mean we should take some time for baseball, right?  We are at the halfway point of the season (well technically a little more than halfway), and before I blink, the rest of the season might be over and I will have missed my chance to say so many things.

Anyway, Home Run Derby got some fan mail the other day, and it basically beckoned me to return.  HRD reader Ted writes:

“Hey guys, how about an update about your prediction that the Nationals would be the worst team in baseball. It’s the All-Star break and guess what? They are the worst! Let their fans know it.”

Well, Ted…ask and you shall receive.  Not that this shocks anyone,  well except the delusional Nats Fans that were pissed by my prediction of them being the worst team in baseball, but the Washington Nationals are exactly that.  THE. WORST. TEAM. IN. BASEBALL.  Before going to the stats, let’s review the Greek’s preseason prediction for the Washington Nationals.

Reader’s Digest Version of my predictions: The line-up stinks; the pitching sucks; the team will win 65 games; Elijah Dukes will outperform Home Run expectations, Austin Kearns will underperform them and my personal  favorite, the team will go 0-18 vs the Mets.

Well starting at the end, the have 4 wins against the Mets so far with 9 more games to play.  So much for bold predictions.  Austin Kearns? 4 HR in in 185 ABs. Check.  Elijah Dukes? not much better 6 HR in 172 ABs.  Injuries kept out the entire month of April and he is now again on the DL. Missed that one.

Now to the meat and potatoes.  65 Wins.  At 36-60, the Nationals are on a torrid pace for 61 wins.  Ugh. 61 Wins.    While the MLB record of futility is safe, there is a real chance this team won’t win 60 games.

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If you know the name of this blog, you’ll know that we here at Home Run Derby LOVE the Home Run Derby.  It’s the most wonderful day of the year.

• The best thing about the MLB Home Run Derby is that it’s all just fun. 
  No pretentiousness about the sanctity of the game. 
• No forced urgency about home-field advantage during the World Series. 
• Heck, even the incoherent ramblings of Chris Berman and Joe Morgan on ESPN can’t ruin Home Run Derby for me.

But if you can’t stand the ESPN telecast… maybe you need a little something to take the edge off … like Home Run Derby’s Second Annual Home Run Derby Drinking Game!! 

We did this last year for the Home Run Derby in San Francisco and it was so much fun I had to call in sick the next day.  My arm hurt from raising my glass so much. 

I’m always in need of a day off from work … so let’s do it again !! 

Short Version

• Put 911 on speed dial
• Take a drink every time Chris Berman says “Back” as in “Back-Back-Back”
• Take a drink every time Joe Morgan says something stupid.
• Wake up next week

Longer (and more fun) version

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