Rappers Do Not Follow Baseball

If you're like me, you constantly ask yourself things like, "I wonder if awful, mainstream, wanna-be hip hop artists are good at keeping up with the national sports scene..."

Don't lie. You've thought of that word-for-word. You can admit it. I don't judge.

Above is a screenshot of the new video for Shawty is a 10, by flavor of the month The Dream. These dudes obviously don't watch baseball.*

Dude on the right is lookin' fly in his pinstripe Hotlanta Braves lid cocked ever so slightly to the right. Only problem is that the Braves finished the season with a record of 84-78 (.519), putting them 5 games behind the Phillies in the division and 5.5 games back in the wild card. Sure, they made a splash by picking up Teixeira, but they couldn't keep up with the NL top-feeders. No playoffs...no respect from PSaMP.

Fatty on the left did a little better by riding the Phillies bandwagon. At least his choice made it into October. His pea-soup-green Phillies hat, also cocked (with more emphasis than his Braves-loving boy) to the right, says that he don't mess around with no non-playoffs teams' hats. Philly was 89-73 (.549), which magically won the East. Once they got to October, the Phillies were owned by the Colorado "Used To Employ Dante Bichette" Rockies. In game 1, Philly got straight worked by Jeff Francis. John Madden has dropped Brett Favre cliches that are older than Francis looks. Plus, the hat is pea-soup-green! In a black-and-white shot! How the hell did he do that?

The combined winning percentage of these two teams represented is 173-151 (.534). In the National League, that winning percentage is only better than one NL playoff team, the Cubbies (.525). For those who forget, the Cubbies won the Central, possibly the worst division in baseball. The Cubbies also got swept.

Without the nearly unprecedented Mets collapse, we are talking about two non-playoffs teams with a combined winning percentage that barely eclipses the cursed Cubs.

But I guess if we're supposed to look at the bright side, they weren't supporting the Nats and Reds (or...dare I say...the Pirates),

Great choice of headgear. I'm certain your music will have a shelf-life of more than 15 minutes.








*Me being stupid. I don't need the hatemail from people defending these tools who are probably reppin' fo they hoods. Sorry.

Pirates Kick Steve-O Wilson To The Curb, Trade For Izturis

July 19th. Designated "All-Pittsburgh-Teams-Must-Sign-Someone" Day.

Apparently, the Pirates are buyers. And Shawon Dunston was not involved.

Not to be outdone by the Steelers signing LaMarr Woodley and the Pens signing Ty Conklin, the Pirates showed that they can make a splash as well, trading for shortstop Cesar Izturis. The Buccos gave up the dreaded "player to be named later."

Finally, the team showed a little bit of motivation, and might not be putting up with Jack Wilson's bs anymore. Wilson, a one time All-Star (because he somehow had 200+ hits that year. How did that happen?), is currently batting a mediocre .256.

Izturis, 27, was batting .246 with 11 doubles and eight RBIs in 65 games while sharing shortstop duties with Ryan Theriot in Chicago. Previously, he was an All-Star under manager Jim Tracy with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2005.

Both Wilson and Izturis are one time All-Stars who are batting around .250. However, Izturis was splitting time in Chicago, while J-Wil is the primary shortstop in the 'Burgh.

But here's the kicker. Wilson is int the final two years of his deal, and he is still owed $14 mil, making him the team's highest paid player. Batting .256 for that money is not acceptable. This sounds a little Jason Kendall-esque.

Move Wilson's salary. Pronto. I don't care how good he is defensively, his offense sucks. And last time we got rid of a crappy defensive/good offensive player, Aramis Ramirez went to the Cubs. That hasn't worked out well for us at all. Wilson's time in black and gold (and sometimes red) should be up.

Its the Beard

Jose Bautista is currently rockin' the perfectly-trimmed ADD Laroche beard (Swell pic of the ADD beard here). ADD has been swinging a hot bat, recently blasting 3 homers in 2 games and raising his batting average to a more-respectable .237. I guess Jose thinks the power is in the beard.

The Buccos are up 3-2 over the Cubbies in the 7th. Shane Youman continued the impressive start to his big league career, allowing only 2 runs in 6 innings, and keeping a calm demeanour throughout the game. Jason Bay hit a 2-run shot in the 4th, his first since June 22nd.

Due to shoddy cell phone graphics, beard analysis is below.

Bucs Win In 15

Although they have already won a game in 16 innings this season, the Bucs were out to prove that winning long games is no fluke. Jack Wilson admitted that the game was the worst in his career, but his bat atoned for a throwing error in last night's 4-3 win over the Cubbies. The game took 15 innings to complete.

Jonah Bayliss (3-2) pitched 3 strong scoreless innings to get his 3rd win of the season. Bayliss needed a strong outing, after struggling over the past week and a half.

Jack Wilson committed a fielding error in the 7th, allowing Cesar Izturis to reach first. Daryle Ward delivered a pinch-hit single, and Alfonso Soriano drove in Izturis for a 3-2 Cubs lead. Ward looked to be out at 2nd, and Jim Tracy was ejected for arguing the call. Wilson was able to make up for the costly error by delivering a sac fly in the 9th off Ryan Dempster to score Nate McLouth. After unsuccessful attempts to drive in baserunners in the 11th and 12th, Wilson hit another sac fly, which scored the decisive run in the game.

Ian Snell pitched an alright game. He went 8 innings, and struck out 5. However, he allowed 10 Chicago hits. He luckily only gave up 2 earned runs over those 10 hits. No walks issued by Ian, so his control seems to be in the right place.

Tonight's game pits Tom Gorzelanny (4-1 2.97 ERA) against Jason Marquis (4-1 2.09 ERA). Both pitchers have started the season as well as they could have hoped. Marquis has won his last 4 starts, and Gorzo recorded wins in 3 of his past 4 starts. Gorzo or Marquis could tie the league lead with their 5th win tonight.

Matt Capps Suspended, Prince Fielder Babied

Reliever Matt Capps was suspended 4 games for his actions against the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday. Capps plunked Prince Fielder on the elbow, and was immediately ejected by home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez. Jim Tracy was not happy at the time. Neither was Capps.

Sure, Capps had just given up a homer to J.J. Hardy, only the 2nd run he's allowed this year. He plunked Fielder, the next batter, on a rising inside fastball that caught the 1st baseman on the elbow. The ball looked like it could be going towards Fielder's head, but was deflected when Prince raised his arm.

I was perturbed with how quickly Capps was ejected from the game. I'm no fan of the "I'm gonna warn both benches" tactic, and if an ump is going to warn a team, it means he thinks they are in the wrong. Ejections are a much better way to deal with intentional hits.

With that being said, an ejection and 4 game suspension plus an undisclosed fine was a little overboard for the hit on Fielder's elbow. Capps had just given up a home run, and needed to reestablish his control over the inside of the plate. Sure, the ball was high and inside, but it wouldn't have hit Fielder's head. The only reason it hit Fielder's elbow was because Prince flailed his elbow out when he saw the ball coming inside. Fielder is a smart player. The guys in the booth couldn't stop talking about that fact for the entire series. He was shown paying attention to the littlest of details, and we were all treated to his superior knowledge of how the game is supposed to be played (blah, blah, blah). Any batter coming up after an "insurance" home run knows that the pitcher is probably going to come inside with the next few pitches. As soon as Fielder saw the the pitch coming, his elbow went up, and he dramatically spun around to the ground, staring at Capps.

Marquez wasted no time, and ejected an obviously heated Capps. Jim Tracy seemed upset with the swift ejection, and Capps ran his mouth the whole way to the dugout. Here's Capps' take on the situation:

I had him 0-and-1," Capps said. "So he had a quick hook. Obviously, stuff
like that is a judgmental call on his part, and I'm not going to question what
he did. I have to show him I can pitch inside. If they don't like it, that's
their problem. I'm going to continue to throw the ball on the inside part of the
plate.

The Pirates look to Ian Snell to help the team get back on track tonight versus the Cubs. Snell is following up his worst performance of the season from this past Wednesday, when he allowed 4 runs on 4 hits. He also walked 4, threw a wild pitch, and hit a batter (and wasn't suspended for 4 games). The Buccos face Ted Lilly, who the Pirates touched up for 5 runs and 9 hits over 5 1/3 innings on May 1st.

Well That Was a Bummer

The Pirates fell to the Cubs twice yesterday. Chicago held on to win the rain-delayed game 8-6, and touched Ian Snell for four runs in five innings in the ensuing, "real" game. The Bucs also lost that contest, 7-1. Ryan Doumit homered, and that was about it. 3 other hits were spread over the game by your awesome Bucs offense.

So after managing to hang on to a .500 record due to postponement, the Bucs suffered 2 divisional losses on the same day, and now sit at 12-14. The Brew Crew (18-9) sent the Redbirds (10-16) to their 5th straight loss, and lead the Central by a full 5 games over Cincinnati (13-14), and 5.5 over Pittsburgh(12-14) and Chicago (also 12-14). Houston (11-15), is only one game ahead of that World Champion bottom-feeding team from St. Louis.

The Brewers have won 4 in a row, so it is only fitting that the Pirates should start a series with them tonight. The Cubs entered this past series on a 4 game win streak of their own, and were able to take 3 of 4 against Pittsburgh. The Pirates send Tom Gorzelanny (3-1, 3.06 ERA) out to face Dave Bush (2-2, 6.23 ERA). Here's an extremely long post about Gorzo, which I first read via Mondesi's House. Nice to see he's getting some love.

Uncool Rain Suspends Game, Relieves Bullpen

Tony Armas Jr. provided a second straight quality start, but the much-lauded (by me) bullpen gave up 4 runs. The Cubbies lead, 6-5 in the 7th, as both teams endured a 2 hour 18 minute rain delay.

The rains were pretty strong at times, so strong that they forced 2 birds into my parents' basement. My dad advanced upon the frightened creatures with a broom, and I countered with a mop. The basement ceilings are only about 7 feet tall, so the birds started nervously flying around at human-head level. My dad pinned one against the rafters in a bucket, and while he held the bucket to the ceiling, the other made a kamikazee move to Dad's head. It missed, and we released the first bird outside. I stood in the doorway to the attached furnace room as the 2nd bird approached, and proceeded to block it's path with the mop, causing it to land and hold on to the mop head as I held the handle. I then ran to the door and shook the mop outside, while hiding on the other side of the door (I didn't want that flying demon to turn around and make a last dive at me. I've seen that happen, only it was at college, and a lacrosse stick took the place of the mop, and it was a bat instead of a bird...and the bat didn't turn at the person, but at a brick wall. Okay so its not the same, but it made me think about that).

Oh, yeah...the game. After all the praise I've given the bullpen, John Grabow and Jonah Bayliss both gave up 2 runs each. Cliff Floyd crushed a ball that found its way into the Allegheny (bounced). Alfonso Soriano also started the game with a solo shot, which was his first of the year. More important, is that it was the 33rd leadoff homer of his career. Not as impressive as Rickey Henderson's record of 81 leadoff smashes (for which he hit a leadoff homer for 9 different teams), but it allows Soriano to creep closer to Craig Biggio at number 2 with 50 homers of the like.

The game will be finished at 12:35 today, and the regularly-scheduled game will be played a half hour after this one finishes.

Buccos Look To Get Back To .500 Tonight

Continuing the roller coaster season, the Pirates are currently on a 2 game losing streak. After taking the first game in the series against the Reds behind a great outing by Ian Snell, Pirate's pitching imploded in the next 2, causing the team's current slide.

Zach Duke is on the mound tonight, and the Pirates can't be pleased with Duke's efforts so far. ZD didn't record a strikeout in 4 of his first 5 starts. That's not a good sign, especially with Rich Hill, who is 1-0 with a 1.26 ERA in 2 career starts against the Bucs, starting for Larry Appleton and Cousin Balki's favorite team tonight.

11-12 is where the Buccos currently stand. I'll update my Reasons to Keep Watching the Bucs This Season list after the Pirates pick up a couple more wins.

The Cubs are currently riding a 4 game winning streak, after winning convincingly against the Cardinals on Friday and Saturday, and the series finale being postponed on Sunday.