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      Tempers flare between Indians, Rays in Tampa this weekend

      May 17, 2009 /

      Cleveland Indians C/1B Victor Martinez has one simple rule for opposing pitchers that throw inside on him during an at-bat: If you throw at his head, he will go after you. And evidently his pitching staff also has his back, as Tribe closer Kerry Wood threw two inside pitches on Tampa Bay Rays OF B.J. Upton that began a brief scrum in the bottom of the eighth inning of Sunday’s game.

      The beanball war began on Friday night, as Martinez thought Rays lefthander J.P. Howell was purposely throwing at his head. After ducking away from a high and tight fastball, Martinez began yelling (click here to see video) at Howell before home-plate umpire Greg Gibson stepped in to calm the situation.

      After the game, Martinez explains his side of the incident:

      “I don’t like that, throwing at my head,” Martinez said. “If you want to hit somebody, [throw at] a different spot. But don’t throw at the head.”
      Howell shrugged off the whole incident.
      “I was just pitching, man, playing ball,” he said. “I mean, whatever. I threw a pitch in. Whatever. Where the ball was, if his face was in that area, you make up your own mind what you think. I just threw a pitch barely in, a little up. And whatever. He didn’t like it. I don’t know what that is.”

      After the first two pitches went behind and inside to Upton, Rays manager Joe Maddon got into a shouting match with Martinez before both benches emptied. Maddon felt Wood was intentionally throwing at his player in retaliation to the incident in Friday’s game. The Indians have denied the accusation.

      These two teams meet again in Cleveland for a four-game series beginning on May 25. Stay tuned!

      MLB

      Fan catches Chris Coghlan’s first home run. Fan receives arm, demands leg.

      May 17, 2009 /

      SPORTSbyBROOKS has a great piece up about Nick Yohanek and his adventures with the Florida Marlins’ Chris Coghlan. Apparently, there’s a great start-up business here: Selling home run balls back to the guys who hit them out. After Coghlan hit his first in the majors, he was approached by Yohanek (who had caught the ball) after the game. Upon giving the fan a signed game bat and photo-op, Coghlan was surprised to learn that that just wouldn’t be enough to get Yohanek to fork over his ball (the identity of the preceding pronoun is anybody’s guess). Let’s hear from Yohanek and Brooks now:

      Yohanek, not surprisingly, has a different view of things. We’re a little more suspicious of his version of the facts, mainly because he’s got far more reason to lie and even in his quotes, he comes off as an unholy prick:

      “I explained that ballhawking is my hobby and that what I was asking in return was fair,” Yohanek said Thursday, in an e-mail to the Associated Press. “I told him I make $50,000 a year working in law enforcement and that I didn’t feel like I was asking for too much. He responded, ‘Good for you.’ Real classy. Way to respect law enforcement. Way to respect a fan.”

      Yes, exactly. Clearly his tone was indicative of a disrespect for law enforcement and fans, and in no way affected by annoyance when a grown man makes demands for what should be a treasured keepsake. Real classy, Yohanek.

      I can’t help but agree with my esteemed colleague on this one. While it is true that modern athletes make an exorbitant amount of money, it’s simply a matter of capitalism: if someone’s willing to pay that amount, then make them pay it, right? Supply and demand and such…Wait a sec, I may have just agreed with Yohanek here.

      Continue reading »

      Bullz-Eye Sports Channel, Fantasy Baseball, General Sports, Humor, MLB, Rumors & Gossip

      What’s most important about Zimmerman’s streak…

      May 17, 2009 /

      maggio

      …is that it reminds us how phenomenal Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak really was. Legendary reporter Art Spander has written a nice column for Real Clear Sports looking closely at Zimmerman’s streak, DiMaggio’s record, and how fans respond to these hitting achievements.

      The best part is we may understand how good Ryan Zimmerman is going to be. The second-best part is we may again understand how good Joe DiMaggio was.

      Zimmerman, the kid from the Washington Nationals, caught our attention there for a month. He hit in 30 consecutive games.

      The streak ended Wednesday against the Giants. The streak ended with a standing ovation. From fans of the visiting team.

      The streak ended with greater appreciation for Joe DiMaggio.

      We don’t know much very about Joltin’ Joe these days. He came before ESPN and CNN and Twitter. He retired 58 years ago. But Ryan Zimmerman, age 24, knows all he needs to know about DiMaggio.

      Watching from the press box Wednesday was 85-year-old Charlie Silveria, who grew up here, who as a 10-year-old watched DiMaggio, then with the San Francisco Seals, hit in a Pacific Coast League record 61 straight games in 1933.

      Silveria joined Joe on the Yankees in the late 1940s and was Yogi Berra’s backup catcher. They talked about the old days. They didn’t talk much about streaks. “He was private,” reminded Silveria.

      We never learned what DiMaggio thought of hitting in 56 straight major league games. We did learn what Ryan Zimmerman thought of hitting in 30.

      Personally, I don’t think DiMaggio’s streak will ever be broken. When the Yankee Clipper hit for 56 straight games in 1941, the complexion of Major League Baseball was much different. Nowadays, hitters may face three or different pitchers in a game. When DiMaggio played, it was common that a team would only use one or two different pitchers. This makes it much harder on a hitter to make the proper adjustments after “studying” a pitcher from a previous at-bat. Even more so, rosters are much larger and contain many more pitchers than they did in the ’40s. Thus, it’s tougher for hitters to get a feel for pitchers over time since they really may not face them all that often in the grand scheme of things. On top of that, players are bigger babies than they were back when DiMaggio was around. Team management is so quick to act on a precautionary measure rather than have their guys man up and take the field. It’s also rare that a guy even plays 56 games in a row. I really like ballplayers like Zimmerman, Longoria, and Utley because they are multi-talented athletes that remind me of DiMaggio. Still, Joltin’ Joe was simply that much better than those guys. They just don’t make ’em like him anymore and even if they did, it would be hard for DiMaggio to eclipse his own record if he played in these times.

      MLB

      Federer sends a message

      May 17, 2009 /

      fed

      Earlier today, Roger Federer ended Rafael Nadal’s 33-match clay winning streak when he beat the Spaniard in the finals at the Madrid Open. The victory should serve as a huge confidence boost for Federer who many predict will face Nadal once again at the French Open next week. Nadal has won that Grand Slam four years in a row.

      The second-ranked Federer broke a sluggish Nadal once in both sets before firing his sixth ace to win his 15th Masters Series title on the second match point. Federer also won here in 2006 when the event was played indoors on a hard court.

      “There are no positives, there is little to analyze,” said Nadal, the 2005 champion. “He broke and broke and I went home.”

      It was only the second victory Federer has on clay against his top rival, with the other coming at the Hamburg final two years ago. The win also ended Federer’s five-match losing streak to Nadal, a stretch that included losses in the finals at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and Australia.

      Federer called his first win over Nadal since the 2007 Masters Cup “very satisfying.” Especially after being left in tears in February following his defeat to Nadal at Melbourne.

      Federer, who is also the only top-10 player to have ever beaten Nadal on clay, saved two Nadal break chances before converting his first try in the ninth game.

      While this is a big win for Federer, I wouldn’t read too much into this if you’re expecting Nadal to flounder at the French Open. Nadal played a grueling four-hour match yesterday in the semifinals against Novak Djokovic and has been bothered by pain in his knees. Like Federer at Wimbledon, Nadal understands the surface at Roland Garros better than any tennis player. Barring any unforeseen injury, I’d count on Nadal to nab his fifth consecutive title at Roland Garros and second Grand Slam of the 2009 ATP calendar.

      Tennis

      Kobe Bryant and Lakers finish off Rockets in Game 7, look to Denver

      May 17, 2009 /

      http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2009/0505/nba_g_kobe01_576.jpg

      Well, the Lakers finally made it out of the Western Conference semi-finals. Certainly took them long enough. Arash Markazi from Inside the NBA at Sports Illustrated had an interesting quote after the game:

      When Kobe Bryant was asked what he learned about the Lakers after a grueling seven-game Western Conference semifinal series against the Rockets that culminated with an 89-70 win Sunday, he didn’t hesitate before answering.

      “That we’re bipolar,” Bryant said with a straight face.

      Ya think? While I still whole-heartedly feel the Lakers are the best team in the West, it makes the upcoming series against the Nuggets seem like less of a sure-fire thing. The Lakers, and Kobe Bryant especially, really need to get their act together, take the proper meds or whatever, and regain some consistency.

      Their general level of play is high enough that most teams can’t touch them even on an off night, but the Denver Nuggets have a lot of fire in their eyes. Their games haven’t been as well publicized as any of the other potential conference finalists. But as any Detroit fan can tell you, with Chauncey Billups leading them anything could happen when he meets the Lakers.

      If Los Angeles can come into their next game on Tuesday with the same level of desire they showed against Houston today, they’ll get past the Nuggets handily. But with even the star-player admitting the team is mentally out of control, it’s anybody’s guess who will show up. If only this kind of wild variety made for more interesting basketball! The Houston/LA series was defined by a succession of surprise blowouts, something pretty boring for a neutral and bad for TV. I’m hoping the Nuggets can keep the Lakers on their toes.

      Bullz-Eye Sports Channel, Fantasy Basketball, NBA, Rumors & Gossip

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