Diamond Nuggets for 3/07/10

Spit and Vinegar:  Grizzled veteran Jamie Moyer is in Phillies camp this spring after three surgeries since the end of last season. The 47 year old went under the knife to repair three torn muscles in his groin and abdomen – injured in a late September relief outing. The $8 million man will join just 14 other players to compete in four decades. Moyer began his career in 1986 with the same Cubbies team that featured Ryne Sandberg and Ron Cey. To give some indication of his toughness, assuming an average 100 pitches per start (since I’m not counting some 60 relief appearances), Moyer has thrown 60,000-plus pitches in his career. 

Trivia Time: Which of Moyer’s teammates on that 1986 club went on to win two World Series Championships with another team?   

Swing and Miss? In the bottom of the second inning of a Cincinnati/Cleveland pre season game on Friday Redlegs right fielder Jay Bruce was called for a swinging third strike. Ordinarily that shouldn’t be a cause of dispute but Bruce’s wrists never broke and his hands hadn’t gone through the plane of the plate. But his bat did. In Bruce’s attempt to check his swing his bat broke in half and the top portion missed the pitch for strike three.  Bruce is a big kid, but I gotta believe it was the narrow bat handle that was the culprit. 

Say What? I guess the good ol days of players coining a phrase like “hit ‘em where they ain’t” or “give him some chin music” are long gone. The players are better educated than they’ve ever been and maybe the game’s gotten too sophisticated – or we have. But things may have hit a new low this week when a term best associated with Hegelian philosophy crept into the baseball lexicon. In response to a question about the growing trend of veteran players vying for a job as non-roster invitees outfielder Cory Sullivan told a USA Today scribe that it’s just part of the business now.  “It’s the zeitgeist of baseball,” he said.  Where’s Tom Hanks when you need him? 

“There’s no zeitgeist in baseball!”

Trivia Answer: Which of Moyer’s teammates on that 1986 club went on to win two World Series Championships with another team? Terry Francona, manager of the 2004 and 2007 Boston Red Sox. C’mon. You knew there’d be one Red Sox reference here didn’t you?

Spelling Bee: Friday morning’s commute featured the Sports Junkies ragging on the uniforms the Nationals wore the night before.  Bright blue with a red, white and blue interlocking “DC” on the left part of the chest were seen as “nubbins” which is Junkie-speak for horrible.  What the boys on 106.7 failed to notice is that at least it was spelled correctly.

Digital Angst: When Friday dawned I was in quite a stir about the change over to an all-digital TV signal.  Would I have reception when I returned from the office?  Would I be able to watch “The Office”?  I was relieved at 10:30 last night when I turned on the tube and found that the Nats dropped another heart-breaker.  All was normal after all.

Calling Dr. Madonna: The Yankees front office is so out of joint about A-Rod’s woeful .233 batting average that they’re rumored to be considering having him travel to London to see renowned Chakra specialist Dr. Madonna.  In a related story, Red Sox owner John Henry is urging David Ortiz to consider converting to Kabbalah.

You Can Pick Your Friends: Who was that kid who threw out the ceremonial first pitch before Wednesday night’s game vs. the Reds? Did he win a contest of some sort? He was in dress pants, shirt, tie and sporting a Nationals home white jersey on top. From about 50 feet he arched one in slow, high and inside to Nats catcher Wil Nieves.  Was it some Senator’s son?  Was he the 100,000th fan to see a Nats home game this year? Nope. It was Drew Storen of Stanford University whom the Nats drafted in the first round (a compensatory pick) on Tuesday after they snagged Stephen Strasburg. Hope he puts some zip on the ball down in the minors.

Milton Being Manny: Milton Bradley, the Cubs right fielder, pulled a Manny Ramirez stunt yesterday by tossing a caught fly ball into the stands when there were only two outs. Unlike Manny he was resoundingly booed by the Cubbie faithful. When Manny did it a couple of years ago Fenway fans merely shook their heads. Of course Manny was batting about .326 and Miltie is batting .224.Dodgers left fielder Juan Pierre is sporting the fastest feet and the slowest arm in the NL.  He leads the league in steals but can’t reach the cut off man.

 

For The Birds: Smithsonian scientists have discovered that the best way to avoid a catastrophe related to birds being sucked into jet engines — similar to what happened in New York earlier this year – is to have all large white birds near airports boxed up and shipped to Progressive Field in Cleveland. The scientist said that doing so may drive up the ERA of opposing pitchers, but it was worth it when saved lives were considered.