The Drubbing

I want you, not the guy next to you, you. Stop acting like one of the Night at the Roxbury guys and get out here

Near the end of my last column on the pitchers I have been tracking since before the season, I wrote the following about Ramon Troncoso:

“In the article before the season, I said that Ramon’s worst enemy was Joe Torre. I worried that he might blow out his arm. Currently, he has pitched 53 innings in 82 Dodger games. That’s on pace for more than 100 innings. Here is my prediction: Either Troncoso gets injured in August or he gives up a devastating hit in the Division Series because his arm is shot. Write it down, its a lock.”

After writing that, I got to thinking about whether or not Joe Torre was bad on relief pitchers. Everyone seems to say that he is, and as you know all to well now, once I start thinking about something I have to know if it is true. So, once again, lets start with an explanation, show you a chart, and then talk about what it might mean.
Continue reading “Does Joe Torre ruin relief pitchers?” →

The festivities outside Toronto's Rogers Centre

Saturday, June 6th Rodney, Nate and myself all took in a Blue Jays vs. Royals game at the lovely Rogers Centre (formerly the SkyDome).  Yes, that is Centre with an “re” not an “er”.  Let me first say that for the most part, Canadians are very nice.  Throw in a french accent and its downright joyful to talk to the locals.  The stadium itself is right downtown near the lake.  There were a lot of festivities going on outside, and since the weather was in the mid 80′s and sunny, we got to enjoy the dome roof being open.  All and all a great day to catch a game (would have been better if we were not so hung over, but that is for another post).

The stadium itself is very nice, and extremely clean.  Since the Royals and Jays do not exactly have a huge following we were able to get tickets the day of, and sat about 20 rows directly back of home plate.  Good times all around.  I purchased an old school Blue Jays hat to add to my collection of hats from stadiums visited (its up to 9 stadiums and 8 hats.  Sorry old Yankee stadium, i think an NYY hat will burn in my hands if i purchase it) and we then hit up the food vendors.
Continue reading “Toronto, where even the polite heckle at Baseball games” →

Recent weeks haven’t been kind to the celbrity ranks. There was Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Steve McNair and most recently Walter Cronkite. Last week boxing lost one of it’s own, Arturo “Thunder” Gatti. Aside from a brief mention on SportsCenter and the replay of some of his matches on ESPN Classic, it appeared that despite the odd circumstances of his passing, the death of Arturo Gatti went largely unnoticed. Much of the sports world was steel reeling from the untimely death of Steve McNair. And the average sports fan may have never heard of Arturo Gatti.
Continue reading “Farewell to Arturo Gattii, a boxing great” →

Weekly poll recap:

What is your favorite fantasy sport to play?

60% of you liked Fantasy Football, while baseball and basketball each got 20%.

Now on to the links:

If a WNBA player gets a DUI, and no one pays attention to the league does it still matter?  Also, what is “extreme DUI” ?

Hey Kobe, besides no meaning no, what will never happen at one of your camps?

Go ahead, make your jokes, Mr. Jokey… Joke-maker. But let me hit you with some knowledge. Quit now. Save yourself the embarrassment of losing with these losers in Las Vegas, La Fleur.

Looks like Antoine Walker’s 3point shot wasn’t the only thing that is suspect.

Your Weekly Chuck Norris Fact:

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* Please note that Chuck Norris is in no way affiliated with The Drubbing or its writers. If he did find out we were using his name in a gimmick he would roundhouse kick all of us to death.

A couple of weeks ago, I looked back at the article I wrote about last year’s rookie hitters. So for today’s treat, we’ll check in with those rookie pitcher’s from last year that I previewed before the year. If you missed last year’s article, you can find it here. So without further ado, here we go first with the chart I included in the first article, followed by the chart showing this year’s stats:
Continue reading “Last year’s rookie pitchers revisited” →

While most people either took a night off from sports, or watched the Home Run Derby on mute (Berman, Morgan, McCarver, Buck…yikes a quad of annoyance).  I DVR’ed the derby and strolled down a few blocks from my Chicago condo to see a new Gatorade commercial.  It was actually pretty cool.  The setting is an old run down basketball court underneath the El tracks (that is the elevated train tracks to you non-Chicago-ans).  There were about a thousand Gatorade bottles arranged to display Michael Jordan doing his split legged dunk.  They used different flavored bottles to project a different color.  When a train passed from overhead, the producers got the crowd clapping and cheering, as the crew that assembled the picture jumped up and down and congratulated each other.

See the attached pictures below which i captured with my iPhone.  They lit up the lights when the train passed by, which really made the outline of MJ pop out:

The cycling world, and those following the action to see what Lance Armstrong does, have been treated to some great racing through the first eight stages of this years Tour de France. Armstrong riding with team Astana is currently in third place after stage 8 which concluded today in Saint Girons in Southern France. Armstrong’s rival, and teammate, Alberto Contador is two seconds ahead in second place.
Continue reading “Tour update – Armstrong not in yellow, yet” →

Weekly poll recap:

Given the chance which race would you participate in?

80% said the Sausage race, 20% the Triatholon, and the Boston Marathon got zero love.

Now on to the links:

This is BIG news, regarding the World Cup.  But what i want to know is, who at the AP did the numeric write-up? We got dollars per hr, week and month all compared to each other as well as a wage increase of 13% compared to a 65%.

Last weekend was the anniversary of one of the greatest baseball speeches ever.  The original iron man.

One of the Drubbing’s favorite Eastern European tennis players has undergone some reduction surgery.  To quote Seth from Superbad, “That’s like slapping God across the face for giving you a beautiful gift.”

Anthony Kim hits a 1 and a million shot.

Vote for Pablo.  Not just because he is on my fantasy baseball team, but its a great video.

Your Weekly Chuck Norris Fact:

Chuck Norris’s blood type is D.O.A.

* Please note that Chuck Norris is in no way affiliated with The Drubbing or its writers. If he did find out we were using his name in a gimmick he would roundhouse kick all of us to death.

May 2010 “Mr. Torre, it looks like you broke another one”.

A couple of weeks ago, I looked back at the article I wrote about last year’s rookie hitters. So for today’s treat, we’ll check in with those rookie pitcher’s from last year that I previewed before the year. If you missed last year’s article, you can find it

here. So without further ado, here we go first with the chart I included in the first article, followed by the chart showing this year’s stats:

Continue reading “A look back at the rookie pitchers we previewed before the season” →

Nope, this show isn’t on Fox, nor is it on the World Wide Leader.  Now that the TNT Crew is hibernating until the start of he next NBA season, the best show on TV is the MLB channel’s MLB tonight trifecta – Batting Practice, 1st and 3rd, and Round Tripper.  I am not a spokesman for Direct TV, but if you are a sports fan and you have the option, there is no reason you shouldn’t get the Dish.  It is worth it for the NFL package alone, but the addition of MLB TV makes the service that much more enjoyable.

I won’t lie, i enjoyed Baseball tonight on the World Wide Leader back when they had Karl, Kruk and Harold “motorboating” Reynolds.  John Kruk would have Harold laughing so hard with his commentary that good ole Ravech would have to use fillers until Harold got control of himself to add in a few comments.  A few weeks ago after work i stumbled upon the MLB channel and instantly fell in love.  The format is priceless.  There are 3 shows.  Essentially all are the same, showing highlights of the nights action, adding in some commentary, live look-ins, plays of the night and even some baseball tips.  But what makes the format so great, is that because this is basically 3+ hours of just updates it can get very boaring and old if you had the same people talking.  MLB uses 3 different lineups of commentators, so they come at you in waves, each fresh and ready to just talk baseball.  The lineup includes such former players as Billy Ripken, Mitch Williams, Harold “motorboating” Reynolds, Sean Casey, Barry Larkin and others.

Now, to tell you the truth, this is the only thing i knew about good ole Billy Ripken.  And man alive did i try to collect that sucker when i was younger.  Apparently Billy has a lot more to offer than an infamous baseball card, he is actually pretty entertaining and knowledgeable.  The other night i watched Billy root on as 2 managers got tossed out of their respective games.  It was great.

I have no rooting interest in the Phillies, but it is nice to see Mitch Williams alive.  I felt bad for the guy after game 6. A few nights ago Mitch was showing how to throw a knuckleball, and he was tossing perfect, no-spin balls in the studio.  Key to remember boys and girls, do not follow through like you would a fast ball.

Lastly, I now understand why everyone in baseball likes Sean “The Mayor” Casey.  The guy is hysterical.  On the show it looks like he has an IV of Red Bull, as he is bouncing off the walls.  A few nights ago the Marlins were playing and during the highlights they showed a fan in the outfield stands wearing a full on Chewbacca outfit.  Showing that fan multiple times like they did made me chuckle, having Sean Casey mimic Chewy’s roar every time they showed the fan had me crying with laughter.

Easy Harold, no means no.

So i implore you to switch to Direct TV if only for the MLB Channel.  Whats not to like about great commentary from former baseball players who are excited to be on the air and know what they are talking about? Nothing.  So as long as the network can keep Harold away from Hazel Mae, they should be in good shape.