Nohawks

The Rays honored a kid who got suspended from school for sporting a mohawk, a fashion that a number of players on the Rays have been wearing this year.

It's ridiculous that the boy got suspended from school in the first place, considering his school district's dress code states: "students shall keep their clothes, bodies and hair clean and well groomed." As long as the little guy is washing his hair, is a mohawk that disorderly? Please.

The boy was soon to be switching schools prior to the mohawk incident, and the new school district is cool with any kind of hairdo. He'll feel right at home.

Do you really have to ask?

Steve Melewski of MASN asks:

We start games all year at 7:05 p.m., so why does MLB and the networks insist on start times of 8:00 and 8:30 in the playoffs. And its hard to ask any fan to sit through any game in any sport at any time that last 5 ½ hours.

Actually, that's a question in statement form, Steve, and you'd think someone representing a cable outlet like MASN would get it that baseball is trying to raise ratings by getting the games on television while a bulk of the US audience (four time zones) is in prime time. That just makes sense, no?

Maybe Steve's just complaining because he's on the East coast, and he expects everything to be regionalized for his viewing pleasure. I'm guessing Steve, even if he's a Boston fan, has a New Yorker hanging on his wall. There's more than the East out there, pal. 5 1/2 hours ain't a problem for die-hards, if that's what you really are.

Cal Ripken for a day

Jeff Conine completed the Ironman triathlon today with a time of 14 hours, 43 minutes and 45 seconds.

Manny, just be you

L.A. Batchelor says the media and Tim McCarver must get off Manny Ramirez's back. This is nothing new, but Batchelor brings up the McCarver-Deion Sanders saga of yesteryear, and you have to wonder if Manny could get mad enough to enact a little payback himself.

Didn't McCarver not learn from ripping Deion Sanders back in 1992 when he called him selfish for playing in the NFL and MLB and got a champagne shower when Deion finally had to see this judgmental coward?

Where does he get the audacity to criticize Manny Ramirez for the last two months in Boston and accuse him of dogging it and faking injuries. Was he in the clubhouse with Manny?

I had a friend who covered the Boston Red Sox when Nomar left. My buddy called Nomar a "cancer" in Boston's clubhouse. Similar things were said about Manny this year, but the Dodgers certainly experienced a resurrection once he arrived in Chavez Ravine. I say more power to Manny. He's had a very good year, if not a great one. I'm not sure why this has happened a couple times now with the BoSox and their star players, and I'm guessing we never get the whole story on either player.

Hitting from one side

Ryan Theriot is on the Tim McCarver show tonight. He said his path to the majors was a complicated journey, complete with a failed attempt at switch hitting.

"I think it slowed me down," Theriot said, "but one thing it did do, is it showed me how to fail -- how to effect the game in another way. I learned to come out the next at bat or the next day and make an impact."

Theriot said he had never even considered to switch hit until it was proposed to him in the low minors. He said he didn't want to say no to the proposal as he wanted to do everything to make it to the big leagues. Theriot feels he might've mad it to the majors sooner if he hadn't dabbled with batting from the left side.

I'd say Theriot figured things out from the right side alright. He hit .307 in his second full season with the Cubs.

Big Dodgers win for everyone but Philly

Certainly a good win for the Dodgers tonight, who blow by the Phillies 7-2 for a must-win game three victory. The Phillies might be up 2-1 in the series, but Los Angeles has the next two at home, and the Dodgers looked strong at home.

Jaime Moyer's regular season magic vanished in just 1 1/3 innings. He gives up six runs, all of them earned, as the Phillies never stood a chance. Blake Dewitt's two-out, three-run triple blew the game open in the first. Moyer only lasted for two batters in the second, watching Rafael Furcal lead things off with a home run.

This Dodger win might matter most for the American League champion, whomever that may be. With the ALCS tied at a game apiece, the Phillies could've clinched as early as Monday night with a win. That would've set their pitching staff up nicely for the World Series. Instead, the Dodgers can now even the series at two-up.

Benches clear responsibly

It is rare in baseball to see benches clear and then cooler heads prevail. That was the case Sunday night in game three of the NLDS. After Jaime Moyer hit Russell Martin in the first, Clay Condrey fired one up and in on Martin in the second.

The Dodgers retaliated with Hiroki Kuroda lifting a fastball up over Shane Victorino's noggin in the third. Victorino shouted at Kuroda, telling the Dodger starter to hit him in the body if he had to hit him, not to hit him in the head. Victorino grounded out to end the inning, and with Kuroda covering first the two started jawing again. The benches cleared, with Manny Ramirez appearing as animated as anyone. Nobody lost their cool, however, and the game played on rather calmly the rest of the way.

Afterward Victorino said he would "squash" the dust up, and it wouldn't be a factor for the remainder of the season. Martin said Kuroda acted on his own after the game, but he seemed to think it was the right course of action to retaliate. "The passion causes the emotions," Joe Torre said. "I don't look at it as bad blood."

It's hard to blame Martin for his feelings. It was good to see no ejections in such a big game. Torre mentioned in his postgame comments that baseball's had a history of policing itself in these sorts of incidents. In this case, it worked.

Cleaning up after the Cubs

This has been documented elsewhere, including their own blog, but after last week's Cubs debacle it deserves another play. When the Cubs win a World Series might be the best punk rock song ever dedicated to the Chicago National League ball club. This hits it on the head.

Free Agents

MLB Trade Rumors has an updated list of 2009 free agents available. I think Ken Griffey, Jr. will be too expensive for the White Sox to retain.

Rays win game two

Forget about the Rays heading to Boston down 0-2. In a classic test of will, Tampa Bay got a shallow sacrafice fly out of B.J. Upton to score a speedy Fernando Perez in the bottom of the 11th. Tampa wins 9-8 at 1:35 a.m. to send the series to Boston knotted at 1-1.

If the Rays had lost, things would've looked really bad.

Tampa Bay's devastating double

A loss for Tampa Bay tonight might be devastating. If it happens, forget all the stats you'll hear about a team dropping the first two games at home and then attempting to come back to win an ALCS and just hear this. For the Rays, losing at home is something they simply don't do, and falling in the first two at Tropicana Field would have to shake the team's confidence considerably.

Tampa hasn't dropped back-to-back games at the Trop since losing their first two of three to the Yankees on September first and second. Those two losses provided the Rays with their first losing series in St. Pete since falling in two of three against Houston from June 20-22. Prior to that, you have to go back to a three-game set with the White Sox from April 18-20 to find the last time the Rays fell in a home series. The last time they lost two in a row at home prior to the Yankees "twin" wins in September? It was a pair of losses to the Yankees back on April 14 and 15, which was part of an overarching slide that saw Tampa Bay fall six times in nine games.

If the Rays lose games one and two, they'll fall into near unprecedented territory. It might put major chinks in a young team's confidence. After losing those first two of their series against the Yankees in early September, the Rays got game three. Then they turned around and lost three straight on the road in Toronto. The good news? Tampa next visited Boston, and after the BoSox took game one to make it four straight road losses for the Rays, Tampa took the next two.

Down (a bit) on Upton's defense

B.J. Upton appears to be a very good defensive center fielder. He threw out 16 runners in 2008, almost double the number of any other center fielder. He appears to have a lot of range. His range rating (2.84) was third in baseball this year for his position, behind only the speedy Carlos Gomez (3.15) and the somewhat surprising Aaron Rowand (2.95). Upton's speed allows him to play shallow and get to a number of balls other player couldn't reach.

That said, he might be lacking in a single area. I think he plays too shallow. Maybe the Rays encourage this, thinking Upton can make up ground behind him with his impressive speed, but it doesn't seem to do so in actuality. Two cases in point - I've seen Upton now have no chance on what would've been potentially routine fly balls this postseason, because he was playing too shallow. The first came against the White Sox, the second came tonight with a Coco Crisp ground-rule double in the ninth of game two in the ALDS. Upton also carries a below average zone rating for center fielders. That means he's not getting to a number of balls considered to be hit to his area.

Are the balls he struggles to get hit mostly over his head? Baseball should follow this stat (balls hit over outfielders head) to help us determine how often a fielder tends to be in position. There could also be stats kept on balls that get past fielders to their left and right. We'd get a pretty good idea of which players overplay in certain directions versus other fielders. Tendencies of incorrectly overplaying fielders could be examined regarding how teams position their players for certain batters, pitchers, etc. Just a thought.

Update: Upton just ran one down at the track - another ball that almost got over his head.

Not even seeing about Seattle

Buster Olney says Athletics assistant general manager David Forst will not interview with Mariners officials regarding their GM opening.

"There's going to be plenty of room for growth for David in the Oakland organization," said Billy Beane, the Oakland general manager, on Friday. "He wants to stay here and be a part of what we've started."

I'm shocked he would flatly turn down the opportunity. Does that mean the Marniners organization is not attractive? I can't believe staying in small-market Oakland as second in command could beat running a team in Seattle.

San Francisco steamin'

I guess San Francisco can't get over its hatred for Tommy Lasorda and the Dodgers. This is ridiculous.

Tommy Lasorda has withdrawn as grand marshal of Sunday's Italian Heritage Parade due to public stink about his selection and because organizers couldn't assure that he would get to Los Angeles in time to see his beloved Dodgers play Game 3 of the National League Championship Series.

San Francisco Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier threatened to introduce a resolution calling for Lasorda's ouster from the parade because of the Dodgers-Giants rivalry. Alioto-Pier called the former Dodgers manager "enemy No. 1" in San Francisco. She never introduced the measure.

"I'm not going to go. They made a big thing out of it," Lasorda said today as he watched the Dodgers' batting practice in preparation for their game against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Alioto-Pier's resolution also called Dodger fans "boastful and smug."

Asked if the episode bothered him, Lasorda said, "Sure it did, putting up a resolution to get me not to be the grand marshal. How would you feel?

"I wanted to do it because I love San Francisco, I really do. I love the city. We have a rivalry there. What the hell? That's the way it is."

Never should something like this be "the way it is." This is insane. The guy was already booked for the parade; then they raise the stink?

Enemy no. 1? I'm sure San Francisco can do better than Tommy Lasorda for their most hated enemy. How about fault lines or obscene cost of living?

Dodger Blues

Dodgers turning into Cubs? Bill Plaschke thinks so.

Who is this team that, one week after boldly sweeping the Chicago Cubs, is timidly collecting at the same dust pan after losing the first two games of the National League Championship Series to the Philadelphia Phillies?

The final score here in Friday's Game 2 Phillies' victory was 8-5, but it wasn't that close, because the Dodgers just weren't that good.

Who is this manager who allowed his starting pitcher to wilt for a second consecutive game? What happened to the great Joe Torre?

Who is this outfielder who has one bloop hit in seven at-bats, zero hits in five chances with men on base and one big center-field boot? Where is the likable Matt Kemp?

What about the leadoff hitter who has one hit in nine at-bats, a game-changing wild throw, and all sorts of uncomfortable grimaces? Who took the beloved Rafael Furcal?

The Dodgers didn't just leave Citizens Bank Park field Friday, they were thrown out by a Phillies team that pushed them to the door just before snatching their swagger.

My sentiments, exactly.

Canseco caught with illegal drugs

The Jose Canseco saga enters a new chapter of his troubling life as the former slugger is caught trying to smuggle fertility drugs across the border from Mexico.

Canceco was detained at San Diego's San Ysidro border crossing Thursday after agents searched his vehicle and said they found human chorionic gonadotropin, which is illegal without a prescription, said his attorney, Gregory Emerson.

Emerson declined to say if Canseco -- who admitted to using steroids in a 2005 book that also alleged steroid use by other baseball players -- had the drug, which is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency for use in males. The drug helps restore production of testosterone lost in steroid users.

This would appear to be the desperate move of a desperate man.

Manny being Manny, Phillies being World Series bound

Back-to-back four-run innings push the Phillies past the Dodgers, 8-5. Chad Billingsley, the young Dodger ace who looked unflappable at Wrigley last week, got slapped hard by the men in red. The Phillies nickel and dimed him to death for seven earned runs charged to Billingsley in just 2 1/3 innings of work. Shane Victorino's two-run triple in the third capped off the barrage of scoring. It was over after three.

Manny Ramirez did pull three runs back in the fourth with his third home run of the postseason, but it wasn't nearly enough. A sloppy Brett Myers gives up five earned in five innings, and still gets the win.

Up 2-0, the Phillies are in the driver's seat. LA probably needs to win all three at home starting Sunday.

Dice rolls

Very impressed watching Daisuke Matsuzaka tonight. The Boston ace went seven strong innings, striking out nine and not allowing a run. Thanks to timely-enough hitting, Boston squeezed out a couple of runs to beat Tampa Bay, 2-0. That puts all the pressure on the young Rays in game two.

Conine going extra

162 games of baseball is often referred to be like a marathon. Jeff Conine wanted to see if he could push things a bit further. The former MLB player will participate in his first Ironman triathlon in Hawaii Saturday.

Conine, a member of the Marlins' two World Series championship teams, must swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and run 26.2 miles in 17 hours to claim Ironman status.

''There's nothing that I've done that will come close to this,'' Conine, 42, said Wednesday by phone from Hawaii. ``I'm nervous. I'm anxious. I'm fearful because I've never done all three [disciplines] in one day at this distance. You don't know how your body will react and how you will get through it.''

For the first time, I might actually check out the results of a triathlon this weekend.

Manuel's mother passes

Charlie Manuel's mother passed away. Manuel will still manage game two of the Phillies-Dodgers NLCS. The Phillies manager is one of ten surviving children.

June Manuel, who was 87, reportedly suffered a heart attack on Wednesday and died Friday at Roanoke Memorial Hospital in Virginia. She lived in Buena Vista, Va.

What a difficult moment for the Phillies and Manuel. He'll certainly have the support of his team and the tough Philly crowd after this. All the best to Charlie.