Home Run Derby

Texas Rangers’ relief pitcher C.J. Wilson is headed to the Disabled List and possibly the DFA list.  Supposedly for “bone spurs in his left elbow.”

Bullshit.  It’s because Wilson’s not effective as a pitcher (recently removed from the closer’s role) and even worse - he’s disrespectful towards his manager and his team.

Last night, Wilson entered the game in the top of the eighth inning with the Rangers holding a six-run lead over the visiting New York Yankees.

Wilson threw 22 pitches … and was not impressive.  He walked Bobby Abreu, hit Alex Rodriguez, struck out Xavier Nady, walked Robinson Cano, and then, with a 0-1 count, served up Richie Sexson’s 15th Career Grand Slam.

And then it got ugly. 

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Things were looking good for the Seattle Mariners.  Top of the ninth inning, one run lead … and the Mariners’ closer, JJ Putz (the reigning AL Rolaids Relief Man of the Year) was looking to close the door.

At bat is Josh Hamilton, who struck out against Putz to end yesterday’s game.  

Mr. Soul Patch goes back to the fastball that Hamilton whiffed on the night before …

Hamilton went 2 for 5 with 2 Runs and 2 RBI.  He also made a great play in the field, saving a run when he made a over-the -shoulder basket catch at the waring tracj in the fifth inning.

Last year, the M’s were 75-0 when leading after 8 innings.  This season, they’re 1-1. 

Video courtesy of MLB.com.  They already have some bugs to work out this season with their multimedia.

I think just about everybody expected Sammy Sosa to be named in the Mitchell Report.

He wasn’t. 

I think just about everyone who opined on who would be named by Senator George Mitchell today would have had Sammy Sosa listed.  And I would have agreed with them, which would have kept my “fabulous” record of predictions intact.

But he’s not there. 

Okay, Sosa is mentioned in the report - but he’s not listed among the 86 names.  And he’s only referenced once.  His only mention comes when Senator Mitchell was detailing his attempts to contact Mark McGwire through his attorney …

I sent similar letters with specific questions to lawyers for Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa and Gary Sheffield, none of whom provided answers to my questions either.

Now mind you - just because Sosa isn’t in the Mitchell Report list of players doesn’t mean he didn’t use a performance enhancing substance.  It could just mean that Mitchell didn’t find any cancelled checks payable to Kirk Radomski from Mr. Sosa.

My eyes tell me differently. 

In 2008, the Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals are going to do something that no baseball team has done since 1991.

They’re going to break out the Powder Blue Uniforms. Mind you - they’ll be only occasionally be used as home alternate uniforms, but that’s a feat in and of itself. I don’t think anyone’s ever worn the powder blue in their home stadium before.

The Royals will be wearing blue shirts (with white pants) while the Blue Jays will go completely retro and bust out the baby blue from head to toe. The Jays will also bring back their old logo, a pullover jersey, and their old two-color cap. I have one of those hats. I love it.

There’s no word yet as to how often the Royals and Jays will do this in 2008, but the vibe is that they’ll do it enough that they petitioned MLB to add the uniforms to their regular cache of kits.

The St. Louis Cardinals have worn powder blue throwbacks in road games twice (2005 vs Tampa Bay and 2007 vs Milwaukee).

Considering that we’ve hardly seen powder blue for the last sixteen seasons (and the fact that no one under the age of 21 likely has any memory of powder blue baseball) let’s take a trip down memory lane and revisit the teams that dared … to wear blue.

Prepare yourselves for a trip when the blue wasn’t just in the azure sky over the field. And watch out for lots of polyester pullovers and stirrups.

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The first round is drawing to a close …

Let’s finish up the Critter Bracket with some mascots who were made to run.

#1 The Racing Sausages (Brewers) vs. #8 Rangers Captain (Rangers)

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