Surprise, surprise, Joe Buck has no sense of humor.
Sarah Silverman supports the use of LSD by pitchers, and gets bleeped by Fox for using the term “Masshole” twice.
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His name is Osborne Earl Smith but to baseball fans everywhere, he’s simply known as “The Wizard.”
In an era when the shortstop was known as being the best defender on the field, Ozzie Smith was the best of the best. For 19 seasons he strengthened the middle of the diamond for the Padres and the Cardinals, making 15 trips to the All-Star Game and winning an astonishing 13 Gold Glove Awards. Before he hung up his cleats in 1996, he helped the Cardinals win a World Series championship in 1982 and was the 1985 NLCS MVP. The Cardinals retired his No. 1 jersey in order to pay homage to the man who thrilled crowds with his dazzling defensive heroics and of course, his entertaining back flips in between innings.
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Ozzie, which was a great pleasure to someone who has always cherished the game of baseball. He’s currently assisting Holiday Inn with their “Pay it Forward” program, which is encouraging people to show each other a little extra kindness every day to benefit Major League Baseball’s Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) youth initiative. Ozzie spoke about the program and his involvement, as well as how people can be entered to win an all-expense paid trip for two to the 2011 All-Star Game in Phoenix, Arizona just by sharing their “pay it forward” stories.
Of course, Ozzie was gracious enough to field some questions about baseball as well, including what current players impress him and what his secret was to always being in the right position to come up big defensively. He also gave his take on whether or not Albert Pujols will return to St. Louis next year and what he thinks of the ever-evolving shortstop position.
For more information on Holiday Inn’s “Pay it Forward” program, including how you could win a trip for two to the 2011 All-Star Game, check out Holiday Inn’s Facebook page.
Ozzie Smith: Hey Anthony!
The Scores Report: Ozzie, how are you?
OS: Doing real good, how are you?
TSR: Excellent! As a fan and big admirer of the game, it’s a pleasure to speak with you today.
OS: Oh, no problem – no problem at all.
TSR: How did you get involved with Holiday Inn and their “Pay it Forward” program?
OS: Well, I’ve always been associated with Major League Baseball and now I’m teaming up with Holiday Inn to encourage people to “pay it forward” by showing each other a little extra kindness every day to benefit baseball’s connection with the inner cities. We’ve lost so many youth to different sports and many programs have been eliminated. Holiday Inn is about celebrating the everyday hero and this program encourages people to act heroically every day, from holding doors open, to giving up your seat on the bus, to buying a friend a cup of coffee. It’s small acts of kindness that make a difference day-to-day, and for each person who shares their story at Facebook.com/HolidayInnHotels, in turn, Holiday Inn will give tickets to Major League baseball games to children participating in RBI. The people who post their stories will be entered to win an all-expense paid trip to the 2011 All-Star Game. It’s a great way to do something good, make yourself feel good, and make someone else feel good, too.
Buster Olney tweets that Derek Jeter’s comments in which he “essentially exonerated” teammate Jorge Posada of any wrongdoing has apparently angered his Yankee bosses.
Following this weekend’s shenanigans in which Posada removed himself from the Yankees’ lineup because manager Joe Girardi was making him bat ninth (oh, the horror!), Jeter said: “Everybody’s struggled. And if that’s the reason why he came out, then he doesn’t need to apologize. If it’s something else, then yeah, but not for that.”
If Olney’s report is accurate and the Yankees are upset over Jeter’s comments, then they need to get a clue. Jeter is still the captain of their team and he’s not going to make a situation worse by scolding one of his long-time teammates via the media. And quite frankly, his comments were rather innocent. He’s been around long enough to know that a situation like Posada’s will eventually get ironed out without him having to say much on the topic. The Yankees’ “bosses” should just let the situation die out.
What would the Yankees have rather had Jeter say? That Posada was being a selfish, stubborn player and should have acted more professional? Even if that’s what Jeter thought, saying something like that would have fueled the situation even more and caused there to be a rift in the clubhouse (which is something the struggling Yankees don’t need right now, especially after they were just swept by their most hated rivals).
I get that the Yankees don’t want Jeter “exonerating” Posada’s mistake. Posada was definitely in the wrong here, which is why he apologized. But he did apologize and that should be the end of the situation. There’s no reason to make a mountain out of a molehill and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Yankees came out and denied Olney’s report, because they look rather silly right now.
It wouldn’t be a Cardinals-Reds series if somebody wasn’t yelling at somebody by the end of it.
On Sunday, Francisco Cordero was the recipient of some backlash from the Cardinals’ dugout after he hit slugger Albert Pujols with a pitch during an 0-2 count in the ninth inning. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, St. Louis backup catcher Gerald Laird was mainly doing the barking at Cordero.
“Just a little fun,” Cordero said. “I think it was because I hit Pujols 0-2, Gerald Laird was all loud in the dugout. He was yelling at me and pointing at me and saying a whole bunch of stuff.
“Out of all the guys that are great hitters, great players, Gerald Laird doesn’t even play. He’s the one yelling at me because I hit Pujols 0-2. 0-2! I wasn’t trying to hit him. I’ve got to face (Matt) Holliday next, who can take the lead with one swing, and he’s yelling at me.
“All I know is he was loud, so I said something back to him.”
I don’t blame Laird or any other member of the Cardinals for being upset about Cordero hitting Pujols. Brandon Phillips was the one who threw gasoline on the fire last year by calling the Cardinals “little bitches” so now St. Louis always has its guard up.
But Laird has to realize the situation. Cordero isn’t going to hit Pujols on purpose when he has him down 0-2 in the count. To put the tying run on base with Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman coming up just doesn’t make sense. One could argue that Cordero chose that moment to hit Pujols because he would have the perfect excuse to claim it was accidental. But even Pujols admitted after the game that he didn’t think Cordero did it on purpose.
“I’m pretty sure Francisco didn’t try to do that on purpose,” Pujols told the St. Louis Post Dispatch. “He doesn’t want to bring the winning run to the plate with two big hitters, Matt and Berkman (coming up next). It’s probably something that slipped. You turn the page and get ready for tomorrow.”
What has to be more frustrating for the Cardinals than the situation with Cordero is the fact that they were swept by the Reds. St. Louis went into the weekend with a small lead in the NL Central and came out of it looking up at Cincinnati in the standings.
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