Reading books at a baseball game?

Last night as I was watching the Rays demolish the Red Sox, TBS showed a shot of Stephen King. He was reading a book at a baseball game.
It is OK here though because the Red Sox were getting blown out. Reading a book is better than leaving the stadium altogether, I guess.

Florida school enforces Floridians hatred of baseball

A middle schooler in Florida has been suspended for "offensive hair". This is his hair style:
His hairdo is in support of the Rays.

That hairdo is not offensive, but a team with one of the best records in the league pulls only a few thousand to late season games is offensive. Where are all of their fans? Playing golf? Cleaning their dentures? Come on!

Save the champagne!

It is ridiculous how much champagne is wasted during celebrations in the MLB. They pop champagne for clinching, LDS, LCS, and World Series. I can understand it for the World Series but really? Celebrate getting in to the playoffs only to be swept and out of the playoffs 4 days later makes it all the more funny. This epidemic is getting out of hand. Think of how many bum's days they could brighten up with all of this.

We won the wildcard! Let's celebrate!

Gotsta Hate It: Frank TV

If you have watched any amount of playoff baseball on TBS you know where I'm coming from. Frank TV needs to go away. I don't think that there is a commercial on TBS that is not a Frank TV commercial. Within the last day, I have seen 50 Frank TV commercials and that is not a stretch. I don't know about you but I want to watch it less after seeing those commercials over and over.

I do have to admit he does a mean Charles Barkley and Jim Rome though.

Near record day for MLB rainouts

Yesterday there were 6 rainouts or drizzle outs (Tigers-White Sox) in the MLB. I found this to be amazing amount. Obviously Hurricane Ike played a role in that number. Does anyone know the record on this. The 6 postponements are second to April 12, 1997 when there were 8 games that were postponed.

Fattest team in baseball power rankings

1. White Sox- 222.6 lbs
Most Valuable Fatty: Bobby Jenks (275 lbs)
2. Dodgers- 216.8 lbs
Most Valuable Fatty: Jonathan Broxton (290 lbs)
3. Rangers- 215.6 lbs Most
Valuable Fatty: Marlon Byrd (245 lbs)
4. Brewers- 215.4 lbs
Most Valuable Fatty: CC Sabathia (290 lbs)
5. Yankees- 213.6 lbs
Most Valuable Fatty: Chris Britton (275 lbs)
6. Diamondbacks- 213 lbs
Most Valuable Fatty: Jon Rauch (290 lbs)
7. Twins- 212.8 lbs
Most Valuable Fatty: Dennys Reyes (250 lbs)
8. Reds- 212.6 lbs
Most Valuable Fatty: Adam Dunn (275 lbs)
9. Nationals- 211.6 lbs
Most Valuable Fatty: Joel Hanrahan (250 lbs) (Dimitri Young and Willy Mo Pena on DL and not counted)
10. Cardinals- 211.6 lbs
Most Valuable Fatty: Ron Villone (245 lbs)

Who is the fattest team in baseball? NL standings

NL

East
1. Nationals

Most Valuable Fatty: Joel Hanrahan (250 lbs) (Dimitri Young and Willy Mo Pena on DL and not counted)

Dimitri Young

2. Marlins

Most Valuable Fatty: Kevin Gregg and Mark Hendrickson (240 lbs)

3. Mets

Most Valuable Fatty: Eddie Kunz and Carlos Delgado (265 lbs)

4. Phillies

Most Valuable Fatty: Joe Blanton and Ryan Howard (255 lbs)
5. Braves

Most Valuable Fatty: Vladimir Nunez (240 lbs)

Central

1. Brewers

Most Valuable Fatty: CC Sabathia ( 290 lbs)

2. Reds

Most Valuable Fatty: Adam Dunn (275 lbs)

3. Cardinals
Most Valuable Fatty: Ron Villone (245 lbs)

4. Cubs

Most Valuable Fatty: Carlos Zambrano (355 lbs)

5. Pirates

Most Valuable Fatty: Tyler Yates (240 lbs)
6. Astros
Most Valuable Fatty: Jose Valverde (255 lbs)

West

1. Dodgers

Most Valuable Fatty: Jonathan Broxton (290 lbs)

Jonathan Broxton

2. Diamondbacks

Most Valuable Fatty: Jon Rauch (290 lbs)

T3. Rockies

Most Valuable Fatty: Matt Holliday (235 lbs)
T3. Padres
Most Valuable Fatty: Chris Young (280 lbs)

5. Giants

Most Valuable Fatty: Tyler Walker (275 lbs)

Does Homerun Derby Really Effect Swings?

With the All-Star game only days away now, there is more and more speculation to whether it tampers with the player's swing for the rest of the season. With all of this speculation, year after year we see terrific players take a pass on the Homerun Derby. So, does it really matter?

2005 HRD
Bobby Abreu
Ivan Rodriguez
Carlos Lee
David Ortiz
Hee-Seop Choi
Andruw Jones
Mark Teixeira
Jason Bay

First Half HR SO BA SLG
Bobby Abreu 18 65 .307 .526
Ivan Rodriguez 6 59 .292 .456
Carlos Lee 22 50 .268 .528
David Ortiz 21 62 .314 .585
Hee-Seop Choi 13 51 .236 .458
Andruw Jones 27 64 .272 .578
Mark Teixeira 25 62 .290 .568
Jason Bay 16 79 .299 .546
Second Half HR SO BA SLG
Bobby Abreu 6 69 .260 .411
Ivan Rodriguez 8 34 .252 .427
Carlos Lee 10 37 .262 .437
David Ortiz 26 62 .282 .626
Hee-Seop Choi 2 29 .288 .422
Andruw Jones 24 48 .251 .571
Mark Teixeira 18 62 .315 .582
Jason Bay 16 63 .314 .576

Average Change HR SO BA SLG
-4.75 -11 -.07 -.02

Homeruns and strikeouts are down but the other two changes are miniscule. Maybe the derby does't have a negative effect after all.

Are the Blue Jays kidding me?

As I was watching ESPN, I saw at the bottom of the screen that the Jays fired their manager which was no surprise. Following that though was also the firings of the hitting coach, 1st base coach, and 3rd base coach. What? I can understand the hitting coach too but not firing both the first and third base coach. Is that really necessary? Were they fired for not waving their arms vigorously enough. Or perhaps they didn't stay inside the coaches box. I really don't get it. With all of them fired except basically the bench coach there was something really wrong that we don't know about.