Our futile but fun attempt at predicting this season’s outcomes

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Three old-timers from the 60’s and 70’s are entering a new realm. The Israel Baseball League.

Art Shamsky, Ken Holtzman, and Ron Blomberg will manage in the brand new league. Play commences June 24th.

Shamsky joked about having to learn a new language so he could argue with umpires, reading out the Hebrew translations of “Are you blind?” and “Open your eyes.”

If you’re interested in more info about this, MLB Radio Daily has a very entertaining interview with Shamsky about his new role in the IBL.

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Jered Weaver seems to be questionable these days. All tests are negative but Scioscia is “taking things slowly” with the sophomore pitcher.

He is not expected to throw off a mound for a while - perhaps about two weeks.
But Weaver downplayed any talk about the injury Saturday. He had an MRI exam a few weeks ago. “Everything came out negative,” Weaver said. “It’s just a matter of working it out.”

Hmm.. rumor is Weaver was going to go high in our rookie draft. Now? I’m not so sure. I’m sure we’ll give him a closer look. I’m always a little more wary about drafting pitchers high anyway.

(H/T Baseball Musings)

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For all you lovers out there, Happy Valentine’s Day! If you’re not so lucky, buy some cheap flowers and hand them out one by one to people you know. You might make a friend… or be accused of being a stalker.

Here in east central Illinois, we’ve been covered by a thick layer of snow thanks to a snowstorm we had the last couple days. The University of Illinois has actually closed for the last two days. I could be wrong but last time the University had closed was when I was when I was in college in 1984. Let it be known that I trudged through the snow for 12 blocks to get to work.

Now, the sun is shining, the roads (and sidewalks) are slowly being cleared and all the other people are making their way out of their abodes.

Enjoy the day.

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A lawsuit claiming that a Mother’s Day giveaway was biased against men and those under 18 was thrown out of court. The case stems from a promo by the Angels last year when they gave tote bags to all mothers on Mother’s Day (good for the Angels, I say. Mothers deserve it.)

The suit claimed that all men (and those under 18) were each entitled $4000 in damages. You gotta love the American sense of entitlement.

I’m not surprised it got thrown out. I am surprised it took 9 months to do it.

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Funny, just last night on Baseball Zealot Radio during our discussion of steriods, drugs and whatnot, we were talking about how “greenies” were common during the ’50s and 60s. Then we all reminded ourselves that they were still probably prevalent today.

Leave it to Barry to prove that to us.

Bonds has just failed an amphetamine test. Not only that, he says it was probably something he took out of a bottle from teammate Mark Sweeney’s locker.

“When first informed of the positive test, Bonds attributed it to a substance he had taken from teammate Mark Sweeney’s locker, the New York City newspaper said, citing several unnamed sources.”

I don’t know why Bonds is taking pills out of lockers that aren’t his. Nor do I know why he his bringing up Sweeney’s name in the media. If he needs to talk about it, talk to Sweeney or the manager.

Excuses, excuses.

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My last post was a bit of a rant. Here’s a story that will help restore your faith in humanity.

After a 20 year-old suffered a seizure in a NY subway tunnel and fell in the path of an oncoming subway train, a stranger jumped off the platform leaving his two small children to rescue the young man.

The only way to save the man (and himself) was to curl both of them between the tracks so the train would go over them. The train braked but the first two cars did go over them.

Both escaped with minor injuries.

In this day of sports “heroes”, it’s good to reminded of the true heroes that are out there.

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Bill Szijarto, from Port Robinson, Ontario, missed his chance to make $1 million by kicking a 50 yard field goal at a halftime event during a Roughriders/Argonauts game (that’s CFL, folks).

Ok, he’s not that old. He’s only 43. But either he lied about his age or they really age fast in Canada. Yikes.

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This afternoon I was talking baseball at a party and gave my opinion of Game 1 tonight. I felt with Verlander going against Reyes, Detroit would have a definite advantage.

Boy, was I ever wrong!

Reyes was solid through eight innings allowing only one run. When Craig Monroe banged one out in the bottom of the ninth, he was taken out. Nonetheless, a surprisingly good outing from the 25-year old. He was helped by some timely hitting by Rolen and Pujols.

Verlander allowed 7 runs in his 5 innings. To his credit, the Tigers left their gloves in the dugout committing 3 errors. Verlander did strikeout 8 and only allow only 6 hits so it was a matter of bad timing.

I’m saying the obvious here but winning the first game and winning in Detroit is big for St Louis. But it’s just one game. Fellow TBZer LeekNay observed to me that so far this postseason, the underdog has won every time. I thought about it and he’s probably right (some folks might question the A’s/Twins series but I’ll give it to him). That fact may help the Cardinals.

Or at least give them hope.

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Baseball Prospectus comes at us with a hodgepodge of interesting stats like:

-Longest Plate Appearances of the Year
-Batters reaching on Error
-Pitchers and Batters with the most 3-pitch strikeouts

… and a lot of others.

Check it out. Very cool.

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