Seeing Red

Winston-Salem, NC -- I'm sure many of you are eager for me to plunge the baseball blogs and move forward with my latest rumblings in the football world. Those posts will arrive shortly, but there's plenty of news to still muse over in the baseball world.

The Dodgers have had back-to-back nationally televised games on ESPN this week. For a "large market" team, they don't receive as much publicity as the East Coast teams. However, they've made plenty asplash this season with the hiring of Joe Torre, their reluctance to trade rookies, and their botched free agent signings. Frank McCourt, their over-aggressive team owner was an avid Red Sox fan before buying the Dodgers in 2004. Watching the Dodgers on TV is like watching a Red Sox reunion team. I can't believe how many ex-Soxers have worn a Dodgers' jersey since McCourt has taken over control of this team:

• Manny Ramirez, LF
• Derek Lowe, SP
• Nomar Garciaparra, IF
• Shea Hillenbrand, IF
• Grady Little, Mgr.
• David Wells, SP
• Bill Mueller, 3B
• Hideo Nomo, SP

2006, 2005 and earlier

Note: J.D. Drew and Julio Lugo both fled the Dodgers during the 2006-2007 offseason for the Red Sox. McCourt didn't mind.

The Dodgers are a prime case of why teams should only be sold to local ownership. It doesn't augment the situation either that McCourt is a "hands on" owner, constantly meddling in contract negotiations and trades (nixing a proposed deal for CC Sabathia). His dumbfounded move of firing Paul DePodesta (the unheralded star of the book, Moneyball) after his 2-year stint, and subsequently replacing him with the incompentent, former Giants rival, Asst. GM Ned Coletti, ranks as one of the stupidest moves in the 21st century. It's shown its repercussions already in the free agent world -- Andruw Jones, Juan Pierre, Nomar Garciaparra, etc. McCourt, please don't ruin this storied franchise with your meddlesome ways. If you have to, sell the team and become a minority owner of the Red Sox. Word out of Boston is that Larry Lucchino will be departing (to San Diego?) at season's end because he cannot coexist with GM Theo Epstein. The spot vacated could be yours, Frankie.

Maryland Bound

Winston-Salem, NC -- I'll be taking a few days off from blogging and such to return to "one of my homes" this weekend -- Maryland! Hopefully, I'll be able to hit up the Nats' game tomorrow night against the Rockies. I know that the Nats suck, but it's baseball, and it's a new ballpark. I read today that one MLB scout noted that half of the Nationals' roster shouldn't be in the major leagues right now. We all thought that last year's team was supposed to be this bad. The ground beneath Bowden must be getting warmer by the day. If you're around this weekend, feel free to ping me.

A crab feast on the Chesapeake Bay will ensue on Saturday. Hope to see all of you Maryland readers/fans at some point during the next three days.

In the meantime, answer this:

B's Bistro asks...

What's the best thing that you've ever gotten out of a gum ball machine?
a) Superball
b) Jewelry
c) Puffy Sticker
d) Joy Buzzer

Keeping Score

FROM Thurs., 8.7.2008, Greensboro, NC – Littered behind home plate of Newbridge Bank Ballpark in Greensboro tonight were packs of scouts from different baseball teams clocking and charting the two starting pitchers and subsequent relievers of the Grasshoppers-Sand Gnats game. The scene is nothing new to minor league parks, but sitting next to a rookie baseball fan, Kaylin Murphy, it shed some new light. Not to overwhelm a rookie fan with the metrics that scouts chart and why, I started with the basics; scorekeeping. IMO, I believe that there are standard ways of scoring a game, a la a grounder to short should read “6-3” in the book. But everyone has their own method of scoring beyond the standard 5-4-3 double play.

I’ve seen fans use highlighters, draw diagonal lines, use colored pens, and their own lettering system for recording outs. Some of my personal favorites include a grounder to first, “3U,” as my dad showed me that one two years ago. My other personal favorite is the “backwards K” for a strikeout looking. While working for the Frederick Keys during two summers, the scoreboard operator, Stan the Man, always had the sharpest pencils. But, he wrote the lineup card as such: right-handed batters would be in blue; left-handed batters would be in red. I record a flyout to right as “F9.” Others may write, “FO-9” or “F/9.” Do you distinguish between a lineout and a flyout to the outfield like me? “L7” vs. “F7.”

To the readers: do you have a personal method of scorekeeping or do you do one quirky thing out of the ordinary in your scorekeeping? I’d be interested to find out some new methods.

Sports Talk from last week

FROM 8.5.2008, Greensboro, NC – I had to take a rain check for this past weekend’s NFL Hall of Fame induction ceremony and game. I’ve been on the road for the past several weeks and I’ll be in the Delmarva area next weekend, then up to New York/New Jersey for Labor Day weekend. A 7 hour drive to Canton in the span of 24 hours would not have been a good economic choice.

I caught Art Monk’s homily to the Lord, er… Hall of Fame speech. I missed Darrell Green’s words though. Can any of the readers – I’m looking at you closet reader Monty – fill me in on some Canton tidbits that we would not have obtained from reading Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback?

Speaking of Peter King, in his recent postcard from Redskins’ camp, he mentioned that Jason Campbell has looked very sharp in this West Coast offense. He showed just that in the Hall of Fame game by tossing a fluid TD pass to Randle El in the first quarter. King’s prediction for the Redskins… he has no idea; they could finish anywhere from 1st to 4th in the four team division.

Quick thoughts on the baseball trading deadline. Manny Ramirez is a loser. Whoever pays this clown $12M/year this offseason for 2-3 years is a fool. You’re bound to receive one good year out of him at best. Yes, the Sox had to surrender 2 prospects to obtain Jason Bay, but it’s a great move for them. Bay can rake when he’s healthy. Something else that nobody picked up on… the Rays didn’t make a move at the deadline. But, they have ex-Vandy star LHP David Price who’s dominating Double A and former All-Star OF Rocco Baldelli coming off the DL. Now that’s two huge boosts for the team that currently mans 1st place in the tough AL East. I was glad to see the Braves get something (Casey Kotchman and a future relief pitcher) for Tex. You just never know with draft picks these days.

I’ve started Is This A Great Game, Or What? by Bethesda, MD native Tim Kurkjian. It’s been tough to put the book down at night… review to follow soon.

The Chefs Fight Back

Greensboro, NC – I would apologize for the lack of blogs recently, but there’s nothing that I can really do about it. I’ve taken a new position within my company, following our downsize, that requires me to pick up the slack of two other people. Coupled with Kaylin’s parents being out of town, there’s been no time to hit up B’s Bistro.

I did see this hilarious clip last week on You Tube where the visitor chef on some boring talk show actually fights back! Sam The Cooking Guy was a guest on The Today Show and he was demonstrating how to make some gourmet dish. Well, after incessantly peppering chef with worthless questions (no pun intended), Mrs. Regis received a vociferous mouthful from the chef (again, no pun intended). Take a look at this clip and decide for yourself.

Ok, Kathy, if you’re going to interject and be obnoxious, at least be funny. Bringing a chef or some type of cook onto a show, whether it be a talk show, the morning news, or The Food Network is “the new thing” because everyone is trying to eat healthy nowadays. David Letterman even brought food preparers on his show and he would purposely mess up the ingredients and instructions. It’s funny when Letterman does it, but not when you have Kathy dispensing useless fodder while Sam The Cooking Guy is attempting to explain his gourmet dish. I bet all of the television chefs around America stood up and applauded when they saw this clip.