Home Run Derby

On Monday, The Cincinnati Reds announced Dusty Baker as their manager for the 2008 season and beyond.  During his introductory press conference,  Baker had the following to say …

“I can attract players to come here” 

“… a number of players … called me about coming to Cincinnati.”

Okay, I’ll bite … WHO?  

Who called Dusty between the leak of his hiring on Sunday and the press conerence on Monday afternoon?  Who might have Johnnie B Baker’s digits programmed into the old cell phone? 

Who could make a big impact on the Reds?  We were about to scroll down the list of potential free agents and trade candidates … but one name jumped out at us before we even did any research … BARRY BONDS

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It amazes me how completely clueless Baseball Executives can be sometimes.

The Cincinnati Reds hired Dusty Baker to manage their ballclub.

Apparently, GM Wayne Krivsky didn’t do research into Baker’s tenures as a manager or watch ESPN while Dusty was taking up space in the broadcast booth.

To Baker’s credit, he seems to have his best effect on a team in his first year - but his track record plummets after that. We’ll explore three jobs that Baker has had coaching in the Bigs.

• Hitting Coach of the San Francisco Giants (1989-1992)
• Manager of the San Francisco Giants (1993-2002)
• Manager of the Chicago Cubs (2003-2006)

So let’s do some of that, shall we?

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So before yesterday’s Reds-Brewers contest in Milwaukee, Cincinnati pitching coach Dick Pole was reading the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. And came up with the line of the year …

Dick Pole comes up … and he has the Milwaukee paper in his hand. “Do you know this guy?” as he points at a picture of Milwaukee columnist Michael Hunt. No, we answer.

“His parents weren’t thinking any better than mine where when they named him.”

I wonder if Dick Pole ever met Pete LaCock?

Other stuff that happened this week

• Alyssa Milano scores a reporting gig with MLB.com for the MLB Playoffs.
• Sooze from Babes Love Baseball won third place in the Win a Date with Alyssa Milano contest.
• OMDQ scored an interview with NESN reporter Tina Cervasio. No word on any scoring after the interview.
• Some Blue Jays fans threw virtual beanballs at A-Rod and made Joe Torre mad. The Jays won’t let that happen again.
• Early reports say Mr. Met was elected to the Mascot Hall of Fame. He’ll be up soon in Mascot Brackets
• Ozzie Guillen got his contract extended even though his team is in last place (South Side Sox).  Happens in the business world all the time.
• Twins GM Terry Ryan called it quits (Twins Geek) Imagine what he’ll do when he lands with a club that spends money.
• Nobody’s going to Marlins games anymore (Nationals Enquirer)
• Fenway Franks can’t be called Hot Dogs anymore (Call of the Green Monster)
• Red Sox fans continue to drink weird stuff. First Mustard, now Salsa. (Red Sox Monster)
• MLB announced that there will be 10-foot tall bobbleheads during the playoffs.
• Bugs and Cranks give you 40 Reasons to hate the Cardinals.

We’ve reached the MLB Mascot Bracket halfway point … of the first round.  Good God, there’s at least 25 more of these posts to go …

Anyhow, let’s move on … watching this Furrie matchup with interest is the #1 Seeded Phillie Phanatic, who will be watching to see which of his blatant rip-offs from Ohio he slaughters in the next round …

#4 Gapper (Cincinnati Reds) vs #5 Slider (Cleveland Indians)

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Time for another Mascot Matchup! Let’s go to the Primate Division …

#4 Rally Monkey (Anaheim Angels) vs. #5 Mr. Red (Cincinnati Reds)

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Joe Morgan loves Barry Bonds.

He makes this abundantly clear every time he announces a Giants game. He always has a new interview for that special time before the game when he “catches up” with Barry (it seems more like stalking to me).

Now, there is nothing wrong with this on the surface. It’s fine that Joe has a standing play date every time he’s in San Francisco and that Barry has found a member of the media he doesn’t wish would die a fiery death.

Barry might want to think about this, though, because Joe has gotten quite close to another prominent baseball figure in the past, and that player went on to get banned from baseball. I’m talking, of course, about Joe’s graceful aftershave conversation with Pete Rose in this classic 1979 Aqua Velva commercial.

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