You can tune into KFAN radio at around eight o'clock this morning to hear me talk Twins and other baseball stuff on "The Power Trip Morning Show" with Mike Morris. Or you can listen online. Also, if you missed it yesterday, my quarterly call for reader-submitted questions is still open.
Congrats to friend of AG.com and all-around good guy Seth Stohs on five years of blogging.
As the saying goes, close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and Elisha Cuthbertphotos.
Amazingly, Carey's predictably forgettable performance still made her look like Joe Nathan compared to Cincinnati mayor Mark Mallory's historic effort at a Reds game last season:
Eric Davis' reaction to Mallory's "pitch" is one of my favorite things in the history of the world.
Rays pitcher Andy Sonnanstine is a self-described "professional man of leisure," which has always been my goal, if only for the business card possibilities.
Sure, Carlos Guillen will make $10 million this year and gets to play baseball for a living, but he also has a job that encourages his boss to literally alert the media when "he's got hemorrhoids so bad." That was my favorite part of manager Jim Leyland's quote Tuesday when explaining why Guillen was limited to designated hitter duties, and he added that the Tigers' third baseman "has been playing with hemorrhoids that probably need to be lanced" and "can hardly move."
Wait, it gets better. Explaining why Guillen was benched altogether Wednesday, Leyland noted that he planned to "stand him for two days," because of course sitting him wouldn't be very helpful. Aside from professional athlete, is there another job where having medical problems like hemorrhoids (Guillen) or anal fissures (Kaz Matsui) more or less requires a person's employer to give daily status updates to reporters? If so, hopefully that gig pays $10 million too.
In the best argument yet for bloggers benefiting from access, Michael David Smith of AOL Fanhouse conducted a video interview about mixed martial arts with Jenna Jameson. Seriously.
On a related note, I've never tried this particular style of combat before, but it sounds pretty effective.
I'm such a huge Joe Posnanski fan that I'm willing to forgive his suggestion that Ron Gardenhire "is the best manager in baseball." (Although not before chiming in with some thoughts about his sanity.)
Speaking of Posnanski, he recently chatted about being a blogger after years as a columnist, loving Duane Kuiper, keeping dirt off the grave of newspapers, making sense of Joe Morgan, his aversion to doing television and radio, and a bunch of other interesting topics during a highly enjoyable interview at The Big Lead. As if talking with Posnanski wasn't more than enough for one week, The Big Lead also interviewed another of my all-time favorite writers, Tony Kornheiser.
Next time someone tries to convince you that "chemistry" is the driving force behind a successful baseball team, point them to this.
Continuing to make his new blog a must-read, Padres front-office staffer Paul DePodesta recently broke down his team's trade for Cha-Seung Baek by quoting Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) and linking to my co-creation, The Hardball Times.
Having spent a huge amount of time and energy managing a pair of Diamond-Mind keeper-league teams for the past five years, this news makes me very sad.
If this actually happens, then I'm officially done being emotionally invested in the Timberwolves until a general manager with some semblance of a clue regarding the draft begins running the team. There are three players in the draft pool this year who most people seem to agree possess star potential in the NBA and the Timberwolves pick third, but you can be fairly certain that the Kevin McHale math won't be quite so simple. Prove me wrong, Ostrich!
Finally, in honor of Morris' nickname and what will hopefully be a fun in-studio appearance on his show, this week's AG.com-approved music video (sort of) is Lauryn Hillsinging "Superstar":
Once you're done here, check out my latest "Daily Dose" column over at Rotoworld.
