Thursday, March 5, 2009

Hustle (The B.o.t.O. Link Dump - March Edition)


There's no real reason for me to post that picture (via the always excellent Uniwatch, from a few days ago) except its sheer beauty. I was talking with a friend recently about the A-Rod noise, and I told him my theory: Rose got the shaft because Giamiatti thought baseball still had a pristine image which it couldn't afford to see sullied. That shit happens today, people shrug their shoulders and forget about it the next day. Especially now, times being what they are. Most likely reaction: "I could use the coin, too. Excellent idea, Pete!" Now imagine Rodriguez coming out with his admission twenty or thirty years ago. You think he'd still have a job? Nevermind, of course, the ethics of all this attention being paid to the results of an anonymous test... Buh.

Anyway, forgive me while I discharge all the stuff I haven't had time to mention for the last week or so...


Props Where Due


Ridiculously overdue respect to Lloyd for the abundant science he dropped on the manner in which we're being played. I know they have me over a barrel, and yet I do nothing to free myself from these chains. So who's really to blame?


What Is Not But Could Be If


I don't want to give the impression that I was in favour of the rumoured pursuit of Orlando Cabrera, because I wudn't, no sir. But I was already looking at potential upsides: it would've given me a chance to run another post in my "series" (if one post does a series make, that is) entitled My Brush With a Blue Jay, for you see I once spent an overlong rain delay in the Ottawa Lynx dugout with Orlando and his brother Jolbert Cabrera. Orlando borrowed my raincoat to make a point. He put it on and shouted in the direction of the owner, "I'm ready to play!" Unfortunately for you, the Oakland A's have robbed you of your chance to hear that story. So sad.


Amateur Night at Uniwatch

So yeah, like I said up there, I like me some Uniwatch. And I love me some baseball jerseys. So a couple of things here. One, I dig the new O's road jerseys, but look closely there... the inset image of the sleeve patch clearly says BALTIMORE ORIOLES, while the patch actually on the sleeve says ORIOLES BASEBALL. What gives? This was probably covered on Uniwatch one day that I didn't read (and really, who can be bothered searching?), but I'm curious to see which one will actually grace the onfield unis. Second, I've made no secret of my fascination with the ill-fated Seattle Pilots (1969-1969), and I love this graphic (via Uniwatch, of course) which shows how the Pilots' uniforms were quickly re-purposed when they suddenly became the Brewers in 1970. I've got a replica (actually a Mariners throwback) of the cream home jersey in the upper-left corner, and I'd always wondered if the ball-with-wings patch was actually white on the originals (as it is on mine), or if somebody at Majestic simply screwed up. Nice to finally know.

Uh, yeah. You still awake?


Like a Contagion

The Tao's got it, and yeah, alright, so do I. I'm actually into the WBC. I was up early for an unrelated reason this morning and I watched China-Japan from about the fourth inning on (Ichiro, 0-for-5: what?). And here's the thing: I truly wished I'd been up earlier to see the start of the game. I've got tickets to Sunday night's game (winner of US-CAN vs. winner of Venezuela vs. Italy, but let's be honest here, I'll be seeing the US vs. Venezuela) at Rogers Centre, and I'm a little bit giddy. What'll I wear?

Related: Yu Darvish looks like an anime character made flesh. I mean, you know, actual flesh, not drawn or rendered flesh.

Related (2): Is there any doubt that China will be mopping the floor with all of us in a couple of decades' time? Their future baseball domination will result from the same stuff as their near complete control of the global manufacturing game: desire to prove they can do it, and limitless resources. They look a bit sloppy now, but I don't think anybody will be laughing for very long.

Unrelated: Fantasy draft day tomorrow. Anybody have an opinion on how high to draft a catcher?

5 comments:

Drew said...

Leave V-Mart be, you don't need that in your life.

What were you doing in the dugout?

Tao of Stieb said...

Echoing Lloyd...VMart is better left as someone else's problem. He's like a bad girlfriend that we keep going back to, no matter how bad we get treated.

Go high end (McCann or Mauer within the first 50 picks, or Martin somewhere before 75), or look for a guy who gets lots of ABs and doesn't kill your rate states (Doumit, Benji Molina).

But what do we know, we got KILLED in all of our leagues last year.

Also, good call on Darvish. That dude is a little creepy looking, but we'd kill to have him in a Jays uni.

(Oh, and Go Voyageurs!)

Tao of Stieb said...

Rate STATS is what we meant.

AGF said...

Thanks, y'all. Believe me when I say that V-Mart never once entered my mind. I scooped Mauer in the third round. I'm pretty happy with that. All hail Chairman Mauer!

And yeah, thanks Tao for reminding me that I meant to address the refuse-to-die baseball situation in Ottawa. Go V's, indeed. Not a bad name, all in all. I'm not in O-town anymore, but I do believe I'll make time for a game or two when visiting friends and family this summer.

AGF said...

Oh, in the dugout because a girl I was with had a press pass and her mother was Columbian (like the Cabreras) and she spoke Spanish. As the rain delay dragged on she wandered down to the dugout, started talking to them, and then waved me down. There ensued much cultural awkwardness.