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Create-a-Caption: This is your owner, Chicago Cubs fans [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: September 2, 2010, 4:44 pm] Well, let's look at the bright side: If I would have told you that Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts was going to dress up in a ridiculous costume commonly found in the Wrigley Field stands and some fans would later be mad, you would have just assumed he'd be apologizing to Kosuke Fukudome later. Yes, it's all about small victories these days over here on the North Side. So have at it, amateur Internet copy editors of the world. How should this caption read?Follow the jump for winners from the last C-a-C, featuring Boston's owners: Red Sox owners take refuge in the Green Monster 1st — Samuel. "OMG, it's Manny's pregnancy tests!" 2nd — halls4u. "Owners scout possible locations for Damon statue."3rd — Matt. "We've got the Patriots on in the owners' lounge, come on in."HM — andrewscott448. "Well Tom, what'd you expect? We are in a recession." Does another team have a Houston-type spoiler effort in them? [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: September 2, 2010, 4:21 pm] If this were a perfect world, the Houston Astros would be entering September with a slate full of important dates against contenders like the Padres, Giants, Phillies and Braves.Instead, they're looking at a schedule full of has-been and never-were teams just like their own selves. Only the Reds stand out among the sea of Cubs, Pirates and Nats, but the recent 'Stros sweep over the St. Louis Cardinals has almost pushed that Sept. 17-19 matchup of almost being meaningless. So it looks like the Astros will have to settle for our simple praise for not rolling over when facing the Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies the past two weeks. The Astros were a perfect 7-0 against the contenders, throwing a decent-sized wrench into their playoff plans. And it looks like we'll have to look toward other basement-dwellers to give managers the sinking feeling that former Astros skip Larry Dierker recalls from his days as a contender: "I remember that feeling from my days in dugout. I was fearful about losing to the Pirates or Brewers in September. On the one hand, it was an opportunity because we had more talent. But on the other, we felt like we had to win every game against them, because the rest of our games were with better teams." So which teams out there could play big spoiler roles in the final month? I have two potential picks, one for both the American and National League.In the NL, there's the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are nine games back in the NL West and 7 1/2 behind the Phillies in the NL wild card. They might be motivated by their longshot odds and have six games apiece against the Giants, Padres and the Rockies. In the AL, the Royals have six games left against the Twins, three against the White Sox and a four-game set against Tampa Bay to end the season. Zack Greinke always has the potential to turn a series and the Royals will have plenty of guys trying to earn roles for next season. (If only Mike Moustakas were getting his call Faith in Friars: Does a 7-game losing streak signal Padres doom? [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: September 2, 2010, 3:45 pm] The San Diego Padres lost their seventh straight game Wednesday night and, even though they still lead the NL West by four games in the loss column, Joe Posnanski fears the worst for Adrian Gonzalez (helmet) and manager Bud Black. Though he praises the Friars for their solid starting pitching, their solid defense and their ridiculous lockdown bullpenitentiary, Poz is still not sure how the team with the No. 21 offense in the majors had the best record in the NL until last week.Choosing to not mince words, Posnanski went and compared the first-place Padres to a recent squad from his hometown team, the Kansas City Royals.Losing seven straight in a pennant race is bad, but there's no need for slurs, sir!Via Joe Po's Curiously Long Posts:"In 2003, the Kansas City Royals were in first place until the end of August. The thing that made it wonderful and baffling all at once is that nobody was quite sure how they were doing it. It was like a magic trick. I was watching them every single day, and I had no idea how it was done. Only, it really wasn't like a magic trick. At a Vegas magic show, when you don't know how something is done you think, 'This guy's is a great magician.' In baseball, when you don't know how something is done you think, 'Oh boy, this ain't gonna last.'"Posnanski's opinion is probably uniform with most of America, which has been waiting on the Great San Diego Collapse since May. And then June. Later, July. Into August. And everything after.Speaking of the Counting Crows, the headline of Posnanski's post — "The Padres and a Long September" — recalls one of their hits, "A Long December."But here's the thing about "A Long December": It's actually an optimistic tune. Aside from "Mr. Jones," most Counting Crows tend to be good musical companions for the apocalypse. "December," though sad-sounding, has an upbeat lyric right out of the batter's box.A long December, and there's reason to bel Mashup! Excited Japanese announcer + Nyjer Morgan fight [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: September 2, 2010, 2:26 pm] Is this real footage from a Japanese network's call of the Nyjer Morgan fight? Of course it isn't, new guys over at Awful Announcing. Still, this melding is all kinds of awesome. How do you say "clothesline" in Japanese?Big BLS H/N: @joecapmarlins In honor of 90210 day, here's Dylan McKay in a Reds uniform [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: September 2, 2010, 12:32 pm] C'mon, you knew I would find a way to work 9/02/10 day on to the Stew, didn't you? So what was Luke Perry doing at Cinergy Field on June 1, 2002? Well, it seems that Perry was on hand to read Lou Gehrig's farewell speech as part of a Project A.L.S project. He also threw a ceremonial first pitch to Ken Griffey Jr., (a mind-boggling act that would have made my 1992 self record it on my VCR for posterity). That's about all the details I have, so let's just assume he delivered Gehrig's words in a disaffected Dylan voice before talking sideburns and Social Security benefits with Johnny Bench.By the way, Jason Priestley also gave Gehrig's address in Detroit that day, but didn't wear any Tigers gear. I would've expected more from the sports editor of the Beverly Blaze, but perhaps his steroids-obsessed self was taking an early stand against PED use. (Come to think of it, he's probably also a Minnesota Twins fan.) Max St-Pierre joins the Tigers after 14 years in the minors [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: September 2, 2010, 11:26 am] The calendar has flipped to September and the annual expansion of baseball's rosters will give plenty of players a chance to make their big league debuts. Most of those players, of course, will be young guys in their early 20s as GMs, managers and scouts try to figure out the future of their teams. But a few late-season callups might be guys who are a tad older and are finally achieving their dream after years spent riding buses in the minor leagues. Jesus Feliciano, 30, got his chance with the Mets back in June. Erik Kratz was called up to the Pirates in July after nine years in the minors. Both have again been demoted, but at least they can say that their pages on Baseball-Reference are now official. They reached the major leagues. Completing the tested triumvirate is new Detroit Tigers catcher Max St-Pierre, who was called to Target Field on Wednesday after a trying 14 years of chasing his dream in the minor leagues. St. Pierre didn't get into the 2-1 Tigers loss, but he's been promised playing time by Jim Leyland. (The Tigers manager can relate as he spent 18 years in the minor leagues as a player and manager before ever seeing the big leagues himself.) St-Pierre's quest — which includes a couple of unconventional twists — is also one of the main stories in the Detroit Free Press, Detroit News and on MLB.com this morning.Among a few of the obstacles that he had to topple: • Inspired by old Expos Tim Wallach and Larry Walker, St-Pierre didn't start playing until age 10. • He grew up in French-speaking Quebec and didn't know much English when he was drafted as a 17-year-old by the Tigers in the 26th round of the 1997 draft. As a result, early communications with his pitchers were difficult and he says that some of his teammates thought he was "dumb." • St-Pierre has played 978 total games in the minors, mostly split between Double-A Erie and Triple-A Toledo. He was on-hand for the final month of the Max St. Pierre joins the Tigers after 14 years in the minors [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: September 2, 2010, 11:26 am] The calendar has flipped to September and the annual expansion of baseball's rosters will give plenty of players a chance to make their big-league debuts. Most of those players, of course, will be young guys in their early 20s as GMs, managers and scouts try to figure out the future of their teams. But a few late-season callups might be guys who are a tad older and are finally achieving their dream after years spent riding buses in the minor leagues. Jesus Feliciano, 30, got his chance with the Mets back in June. Erik Kratz was called up to the Pirates in July after nine years in the minors. Both have again been demoted, but at least they can say that their pages on Baseball-Reference are now official. They reached the major leagues. Completing the tested triumvirate is new Detroit Tigers catcher Max St. Pierre, who was called to Target Field on Wednesday after a trying 14 years of chasing his dream in the minor leagues. St. Pierre didn't get into the 2-1 Tigers loss, but he's been promised playing time by Jim Leyland. (The Tigers manager can relate as he spent 18 years in the minor leagues as a player and manager before ever seeing the big leagues himself.) St. Pierre's quest — which includes a couple of unconventional twists — is also one of the main stories in the Detroit Free Press, Detroit News and on MLB.com Thursday morning.Among a few of the obstacles that he had to topple: • Inspired by old Expos Tim Wallach and Larry Walker, St. Pierre didn't start playing until age 10. • He grew up in French-speaking Quebec and didn't know much English when he was drafted as a 17-year-old by the Tigers in the 26th round of the 1997 draft. As a result, early communications with his pitchers were difficult and he says that some of his teammates thought he was "dumb." • St. Pierre has played 978 total games in the minors, mostly split between Double-A Erie and Triple-A Toledo. He was on-hand for the final month o TBS postseason song news: Bon Jovi out, Kid Rock in [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: September 2, 2010, 9:52 am] The good news? Bon Jovi's two-year reign as the playoff song you love to hate is over.The bad? TBS is replacing those vanilla ditties with Kid Rock's "Born Free" this fall.Now, don't get me wrong. I completely admire Mr. Kid for the way he realized that his early rap-rock career had a Durst-like shelf life before transforming himself into a record-selling prince of the proletariat by draping his body and average musical skills in the flag. He's become Jimmy Buffett for those who still wear jorts, but still seems like a smart guy who I'd like to have a beer with (which, I suppose, is his exact intent). And while I plead guilty to having owned one of his CDs during college, my problem is that his voice is completely shot and resembles the wail of a dizzy alley dog. You think you're going to get sick of Conan commercials? Wait until you're hit with Kid Rock doing his poor man's Seger 86 times during a 4-1/2 hour New York Yankees playoff game.At any rate, go watch the new video/promo to get a head start on burning the tune into your head. It starts with a shot of PNC Park (you know, because plenty of postseason baseball will be played there) and has plenty of Chip Caray clips sprinkled in (though sadly no samples of "fisted"). Nyjer Morgan builds on bad reputation in brawl with Marlins [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: September 2, 2010, 8:25 am] Over the past two weeks, Washington Nationals outfielder Nyjer Morgan has transformed into an updated version of Tanner Boyle from the "Bad News Bears."In four different incidents, Morgan has exchanged hostilities of varying intensity with nearly every opponent the Nats encountered. Like the pint-sized, foul-mouthed shortstop from the great baseball film, Morgan seemingly wants to take on the entire seventh grade league.• Morgan is appealing a suspension by the league for throwing a ball into the stands that hit a fan in the face. (At least one Phillies fan has defended Morgan.) • He was benched by Jim Riggleman on Sunday for unnecessarily running over St. Louis catcher Bryan Anderson on Saturday. Morgan responded to his manager's chiding by calling it "very unacceptable" and saying he had been fooled into thinking that Anderson had the ball. • On Tuesday night, Morgan drew the ire of the Florida Marlins on by running over one of their catchers in a play at the plate that has been deemed by them to be dirty, dumb, or both. • On Wednesday, a video of Morgan possibly cursing out a Marlins fan surfaced on the DC Sports Bog. • Finally — at least we hope so, for his sake — Morgan mixed it up with the Marlins in a bench-clearing brawl on Wednesday night that featured actual fighting — a rarity in the majors — along with enough flying punches, clotheslines and post-fight posturing to satisfy the pro wrestling crowd.Honestly, it looked like something straight out of Mortal Kombat. Watch the fracas!Morgan, by at least one account, is an eccentric guy. And, even though he comes from a background in junior hockey, he doesn't have reputation for violence. Yet, recent events have the world wondering: What the heck is going on, Nyjer? Morgan, a speedy 6-foot-nothing stringbean, charged the mound in the sixth inning after 6-foot-8 right-hander Chris Volstad (hey, the first All-Answer Man fight!) th The Juice: Rookie Danny Valencia comes through again for Twins [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: September 2, 2010, 5:25 am] Gather 'round, because it's time to recap the most recent diamond doings. Roll Call starts in Minneapolis, where they can grow oranges now!Game of the Day: Twins 2, Tigers 1 (10 inn.)Fuzzy navel: A somewhat unexpected contributor to the Twins' pennant drive, rookie third baseman Danny Valencia added another great moment with a tie-breaking, game-ending single that scored Michael Cuddyer. His hit against Ryan Perry allowed Minnesota to remain four games up on the White Sox.Valencia is batting .332 with 16 doubles, two homers and 24 RBIs in 208 at-bats, one of a handful of first-year players thrust into action this season. "We need 'em. That's for sure. Especially now, with all the injuries we've had to endure in the past two months,” Cuddyer said. "For him to come up and fill in nicely is huge."O.R. scrubs: Detroit's Max Scherzer, who struck out nine over nine innings, went to a lot of trouble for a no-decision. As Twins broadcaster Dick Bremer pointed out, Scherzer found something when he returned to Triple-A Toledo. Scherzer has allowed one run or fewer in six of his past seven starts. "He’s got a tremendous mound presence right now," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. “He’s one of the better pitchers in the league."Francisco Liriano pitched just as well over seven. * * * They Also Played... White Sox 6, Indians 4: The key for the White Sox seems to be getting Manny Ramirez into the on-deck circle so someone else can hit a go-ahead three-run homer.Astros 5, Cardinals 2: The Cardinals have yet to rally from the effects of the Glenn Beck rally.Cubs 5, Pirates 3: Gotta try and play all 162, I spoze.Red Sox 9, Orioles 6: Jon Lester was due to lose to the Orioles — and he tried his darnedest, allowing five runs — but that's why you have teammates. He's now 13-0 against ‘em.Phillies 5, Dodgers 1: Where's the website that declares, "I want to go to Game 2 of the NLDS with Roy Oswalt"? You're Slumpbot .200: Cliff Lee's struggles continue down in Texas [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: September 1, 2010, 3:06 pm] Using the best technology available today, Slumpbot .200 identifies a few players who are currently having trouble and then offers solutions for recovery. Cliff Lee, Texas RangersData: 10-8, 3.37 ERA, 1.025 WHIP, 0.6 BB/9, 13.42 K/BB (2-5, 4.69 ERA with Texas)Data: Cliff Lee was rightly seen as the prize of the trade deadline, but things haven't gone quite as planned for either the Rangers or Mariners. Prized prospect Justin Smoak has hit so poorly that he's now back in Seattle's minors, and Lee gave up more earned runs in his first game with the Rangers than he'd given up in his previous two weeks as a Mariner. During his latest debacle on Tuesday night, Lee gave up seven runs and got knocked out in the fifth inning by ... drumroll, please ... the Kansas City Royals.During his abbreviated stay in Seattle, Lee only had two starts in which he gave up four earned runs or more. In his even shorter time as a Ranger, he's had seven such starts, including a current streak of five. As a Mariner, Lee never failed to pitch into the seventh or later, but in his last three starts in Texas, he hasn't made it out of the sixth. Lee still has terrific control, and his lack of walks is helping him challenge the all-time record for strikeout-to-walk ratio, but he's still giving up a ton of hits and homers, and he hasn't thrown a complete game in a month. Something clearly ain't right.Malfunction: As you might expect, our old friend BABIP can help explain at least part of the problem. Lee's BABIP as a Ranger is .314, well above his .283 BABIP as a Mariner and his career .299 mark. He still isn't walking anybody, so the only baserunners he faces are guys who put a bat on the ball, which magnifies the effect of the hit rate. Similarly worrisome are the home runs: he gave up five homers in 13 starts in Seattle, and he's given up six in his last three. His command is still among the best in baseball, but hits ar Ryan Howard beats ailing ankle, smacks first homer since July 27 [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: September 1, 2010, 11:33 am] Make no mistake: One home run isn't going to vaporize all the talk about whether Ryan Howard returned from his ankle injury too soon. But Howard's three-run blast against the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 8-4 victory on Tuesday night is certainly a good start heading into a month he has traditionally dominated. The third-inning shot by the Philadelphia Phillies first baseman was his first since July 27 and it ended his second longest homerless drought — 13 games — of the season. Unfortunately, it didn't do much to Howard's post-DL slash line since returning from his 16-game break. In the 10 games and 42 plate appearances since returning, he's hitting a sickly .125/.167/.200 with Tuesday's homer counting as his only extra-base hit.Howard says he's having the proverbial "good at-bats" and taking the swings he wants to take. Phillies fans, though, are hoping that cliche will manifest itself in Howard turning into the late season beast that he's built a reputation on.He has a giant WPA (5.31) over the last three Sept/Oct time periods and ESPN's Mark Simon says there's no one quite like Howard when the calendar flips to the final months: "Since Howard's career began with the Phillies in 2004, he hasn't just been good in September and October. He's dominated."Howard has played in exactly one season's worth of September/October baseball — 162 games. In that time he's hitting .314 and reached base nearly 43 percent of the time. He's hit 52 home runs and driven in 141 runs. His OPS is over 1.100. There's no other month in which it clears 1.000."å With the Phillies holding a 1.5-game lead over the San Francisco Giants in the wild card race, Howard will need to shake off that ankle bug and revert to his old self. Finding a cup that doesn't fall out while running the bases might help too. Reds' Chapman throws 102 mph in 1-2-3 major league debut [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: September 1, 2010, 1:30 am] Stewards Debate! Manny a shrewd move or waste of cash by Sox? [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: August 31, 2010, 5:22 pm] Every so often, the two Head Stewards — Kevin Kaduk and David Brown — like to have a little argument over IM. The result is Stewards Debate!, which brings their bickering to the masses. 'Duk: Greetings, Mr. Brown! Believe it or not, we're only one day away from the final month of the regular season. And while the season has become a slog in many cities, Chicago's South Side is getting a dreadlocked infusion of offense in the waiver-wire arrival of Manny Ramirez. He's on the ground in Cleveland and is scheduled to make his Chicago White Sox debut on Wednesday. Whether or not he'll make a difference in the AL Central race remains to be seen, but this is obviously another case of GM Kenny Williams going big before going home. My question to you is this: Do you think acquiring Manny will end up being seen as a shrewd move by Williams? Or will we view it as a waste of cash ($4.3 million, to be exact)? David Brown: Well, Señor ‘Duk, that all depends if the White Sox surpass the Minnesota Twins and make the playoffs. Like you said, there's only a month to go in the season and Chicago is four games behind as we speak. Just by inserting Manny into the lineup, does that make the Sox the favorites? Of course not. I would add this: That it took the Sox this long to address the void in their lineup (as if there were only one hole) is pretty negligent on the part of Kenny and Ozzie. Look at whom Ozzie Guillen usually uses at designated hitter: On Tuesday night, with Manny still getting acclimated to be acquired, or something, it was Mark Kotsay. Everybody knows the phrase, " ... miserable excuse for..." Well, Kotsay is about the most miserable excuse for a designated hitter one can find. His on-base percentage is .310; his slugging percentage is .388; his value as a batter on Fangraphs is -6. I don't even know what that means, exactly, much less how it's calculated, but it sounds really awful. And, having watched Kotsay be the DH th Random photos from the archive: Frank Robinson [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: August 31, 2010, 3:31 pm] Frank Robinson turns 75 today and it seems like he has an outstanding résumé bulletpoint for every one of those years. Hall of Famer. 586 career home runs. 1956 Rookie of the Year. Two-time World Series champion. Only player to win the MVP in both leagues. Fourteen-time All-Star. First black manager in MLB history. Last manager of the Montreal Expos. First manager of the Washington Nationals. And on and on. Robinson isn't viewed in the same romantic way as other Hall of Famers from his era and I suppose the reasons for that are varied. He put up his numbers in Cincinnati and Baltimore instead of New York. He didn't play to the crowd like Willie Mays or Mickey Mantle. He had a more intense personality and maybe his extended time in the spotlight as an everyday manager dimmed some of his power-hitting mystique. But those who came after his time (including yours truly) should make no mistake: Frank Robinson was an upper echelon Hall of Famer, a fearless brute who crowded the plate and could put more damage on a baseball than just about anybody. Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun shares a good Robinson story: "He was asked about hitting 600 homers; he ended with 586. He said 600 wasn't a big deal back then so retiring 14 short never entered his mind. He then said he could have easily reached 600, but his manager in Cleveland didn't play him enough because the guy thought he was washed up. That manager, by the way, was Frank Robinson."In honor of Mr. Robinson's birthday, here's our own selection of classic photos from the AP archive. For captions of the photos, visit the set on Flickr. Why the Philadelphia Phillies will make the playoffs again [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: August 31, 2010, 2:12 pm] The bits and bytes were hardly dry on Alex Remington's playoff case for the Atlanta Braves when I heard from fans of the Philadelphia Phillies who wanted to argue their team's cause. Flying the Fightins' flag on the Stew today is Pat Gallen of Phillies Nation. He has come up with a few reasons why the Phillies will see their fourth straight postseason. Funny, it used be "offense, offense, offense" with the Philadelphia Phillies, but the tides have now changed. Hell, it's the year of the pitcher anyway, so they've decided to get on board. The Phillies haven't done things the conventional way this year, and catching the Braves is no doubt a tough task. But, whether it be the wild card or division title (Charlie Manuel doesn't want to talk about the wild card!) here are a few reasons why you'll see the Phils in the postseason come October. (I'm doing my best to prove this point following Monday night's last-minute beach ball-aided escape of a no-hitter against Hiroki Kuroda and the Dodgers): The Three Wisemen of the Rotation: Roy Halladay. Cole Hamels. Roy Oswalt. H2O is what the kids call ‘em. Can you beat that? Prove it. Philly's top three is arguably the best in all of baseball, boasting a former Cy Young winner (Halladay) chomping at the bit to play meaningful fall baseball, a former World Series/NLCS MVP (Hamels) who has the necessary experience, and a former NLCS MVP (Oswalt) enjoying a rejuvenation in a new town. Manuel is going to ride these ponies and with a resurgent Joe Blanton and a respectable fifth starter in Kyle Kendrick, he'll be able to lean on this staff to get them through their struggles on offense and into the top four of the National League. Indeed, the Phillies starters have a NL-best 1.21 WHIP and also lead the league in complete games, K/BB ratio, and opponents' on-base percentage. Been There, Done That: In 2007, the Phillies fought tooth and nail until the final day Pete Rose: 'I didn't break up the Beatles, I didn't shoot JFK, OK?' [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: August 31, 2010, 12:29 pm] With the Cincinnati Reds bearing down on the playoffs and the 25th anniversary of 4,192 coming up on Sept. 11, Pete Rose is in the public eye even more than usual these days. The Hit King just did an extended interview with Graham Bensinger and you can watch all the segments via Yahoo! Video. In the session, Chuck Hustle does everything from blast Ryan Howard for his strikeout rates to saying he doesn't think Barry Bonds did anything wrong. It's all interesting stuff if you have the time to sit down and watch it. I've listed three of Rose's more notable quotes below: When asked about the public's opinion on the fact that he bet on baseball, Rose went to the well and pulled out a quote he's often used before. "Most people are like me: Get over it. It happened. There's nothing you can do to change it. I didn't break up the Beatles. I didn't shoot JFK. OK?" When asked why he bet on baseball, Rose said he was jonesin' for the adrenaline rush: "I needed something extra. I lost the edge in getting those at-bats and being competitive. So, you know, I was wrong but the best way to be competitive to me was to bet on my own team to win every night. "Finally, Rose says he was never a gambling addict, even though he still has a special TV to follow horse races when he's signing his autographs in Las Vegas. "I don't think I was an addict. I think I could control what I was doing. I just was wrong and I got caught ... I actually went to some Gamblers Anonymous classes and I sat there for three or four of them and I'm trying to figure out what I have in similarities with these other people and I could never find anything. It just seems like it wasn't the right place for me. I didn't take my last dime and go bet it. I was in control. I knew what I was doing." Manny Ramirez wigs won't be a part of White Sox's waiver claim [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: August 31, 2010, 11:05 am] TMZ had a report on Tuesday morning that said the Chicago White Sox were looking into the possibility of also taking all those novelty Manny Ramirez wigs off the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers.But Big League Stew has learned that any possible consignment arrangement between the two teams is a no-go.The wigs — which once equaled Botox and purse dogs as the most desired accessory around Los Angeles — will have to hope that the Dodgers sign Arizona Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald. Here's what White Sox marketing honcho Brooks Boyer said in an email to BLS:"We did inquire about (the wig) availability directly to the Dodgers. The catch was that the wigs were sewn into Dodger skull caps. I don't think our fans can be tricked into believing the blue cap with "L-A" is a black cap with "S-O-X". So no extra baggage charge for Manny's flight east. "We are looking at retail options for our fans, including wigs, pending on his look once he gets into games. We are on a long road trip so it gives us some time to figure out what items will work with our fans. The Manny driven items of most value to our fans if put to use would be their postseason tickets.""Pending on his look once he gets into games." Hmm, interesting. Might the White Sox have to order the wigs in a bob, beehive or Jennifer Aniston look?Or will Manny — in an attempt to curry favor for a future contract — heed the usual request of White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf that his players keep their 'cuts close and cropped?Perhaps we'll find out when the man himself arrives in Cleveland tonight. Meddlesome beach ball tries to help Phils break Kuroda's no-no [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: August 31, 2010, 10:30 am] Was a wayward beach ball responsible for Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Hiroki Kuroda losing a no-hitter in the eighth inning of a 3-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday night? Nope, that honor goes to Philly outfielder Shane Victorino, who roped a line drive to right with one out for the Fightins' only hit of the night at Dodger Stadium.But if you're the type who likes to credit bad omens, Kuroda had his rhythm interrupted a batter earlier when a beach ball came floating out of the bleachers, forcing the Dodger righty to stop and wait for the outfield to be cleared. For those of us who were watching, it seemed like the equivalent of a black cat jumping on the diamond in a jinx attempt. The Dodger faithful booed when the game was interrupted and Kuroda wheeled around with a frustrated look on his face. Even Vin Scully was upset up in his broadcast booth.Here's the legendary announcer airing his disgust (via Awful Announcing): "And time, there's a beach ball out there. You talk about bad timing ... And the crowd's annoyed. Talk about a dull feeling for the dramatic. You throw a beach ball out on the field now, in the eighth inning? Wow."In the whole scheme of things, though, it probably didn't mean much. Right after the interruption, Kuroda got the beach ball batter — Raul Ibanez — to ground into a fielder's choice. Plus, dealing with errant inflatables should be considered a hazard of pitching in southern California (kind of like how center fielders have to deal with that in-play flagpole at Minute Maid Park).Still, that didn't stop then-hopeful Phillies fans from thanking the baseball gods for a seemingly divine act. Said Matt P of The 700 Level on Twitter: "Prove you threw that beachball on the field and I'll give you a hundred dollars." Anyone want to fess up? Cardinals website/Twitter compares lifeless loss to pigeon poop [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: August 31, 2010, 9:20 am] The common lament of a pennant-race involved fan is that his team didn't give two, uh, well you knows during a particularly frustrating defeat to a lesser opponent. But rest assured, St. Louis Cardinals fans! For a brief time on Monday night, both the team's main website and official Twitter feed were busy assuring the public — probably unintentionally, but still — that Tony La Russa's boys really did give a pair of poops while being two-HIT by J.A. Happ in a 3-0 loss to the Houston Astros. The unfortunate mistakes were quickly noticed by the Cards' web staff, but not before they zoomed around the Twittersphere and were gobbled up by the snafu-loving snarks over at Joe Sports Fan. With Matt Sebek's beloved Cardinals now a season-high six games behind the Reds with 33 to play — and the team 0-3 since Tony La Russa and Albert Pujols went to pow-wow with Glenn Beck — stuff like this is the only thing keeping a smile on his face these days. |