September 3, 2010

Link-O-Rama

• I'm not going to write anything about last night's game, because it was gross to watch and Fridays are for linking, but feel free to read my real-time commentary on Twitter to re-live the magic in reverse-chronological order. It works best if you take a shot between each tweet.

UPDATE: OK, so I lied about not writing something on the game. Read it at your own risk.

• The only thing worse than a 48-year-old 354-game winner with frosted tips is the mugshot of a 48-year-old 354-game winner with frosted tips.

• In equally likely news, I want to marry Diora Baird after I divorce Mila Kunis.

• My mom has a new favorite Twins player.

• This seems about right, at least before last night's disaster.

• I obviously could never play for Bruce Bochy.

• As a fellow fatso I empathize with James Toney, but I bet against him and it was the easiest money I've ever made. He never even threw a punch.

Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com wrote an outstanding article about concussions in baseball, with Justin Morneau and Corey Koskie both prominently featured.

• As a devoted Gmail user who's absolutely awful about promptly replying to e-mails, I'm really hoping this will help.

• I wrote quite a bit about Rob Dibble this week, first suggesting that bone-headed comments about Stephen Strasburg are hardly his biggest fault and then explaining why he ain't exactly Howard Stern. And then ... he got fired.

• Photo-shopping the stars of Mad Men is sort of like giving me a coupon to a buffet. They don't need the help.

• Aside from seeing Christina Hendricks on the red carpet Ricky Gervais' appearance was my favorite part of the Emmys. Of course, I'm such a huge Gervais fan that I'd enjoy just watching him laugh for five straight minutes. Seriously:

• I'm in a fantasy football league with the Rotoworld and NBCSports.com baseball writers, and Adam Levitan wrote a column analyzing our picks without knowing the identity of each team. See if you can guess mine just by the players selected.

John Ourand of Sports Business Journal made five predictions for the impending Comcast and NBC merger, and I'm just happy none of them involve me being out of a gig.

• I posed a couple of interesting (to me, at least) questions on Hardball Talk this week. First, is Albert Pujols the greatest right-handed hitter of all time? And second, was Wednesday night's Rays outfield the fastest in baseball history?

• For some reason Mike Wise attempted to catch bloggers in a "gotcha" moment, but instead got himself suspended for a month by the Washington Post.

Jessica Alba, making a comeback six years after losing Official Fantasy Girl of AG.com status?

• Twins fans and mainstream columnists would like to believe otherwise, but Manny Ramirez is hardly washed up.

Rex Ryan and the Jets read Pro Football Talk. Something tells me HBO will never catch Ron Gardenhire on Hardball Talk.

• When he was pitching for the Twins, would anyone have bet on Livan Hernandez getting a guaranteed contract for 2011?

• His brother, on the other hand, will not be joining him in Washington.

• New podcast to check out: The Lavender Hour with Natasha Leggero and Duncan Trussell.

• I'm not really much of a Cameron Diaz fan, but some of you will surely appreciate this picture of her posing next to a bust of Harry Caray (and after having lunch with Alex Rodriguez).

David Brauer of MinnPost has the latest on local radio ratings, which somehow fascinate me despite the fact that I'll often go weeks without listening to any radio whatsoever.

• Just a reminder: I'm still taking questions via Twitter for a mailbag entry here next week.

• Happy birthday to my uncle Jon Gallop, who's without question the person most responsible for my love of baseball. So, blame him for all of this.

• Here are some highlights from my NBCSports.com blogging this week:

- After hitting 102.7 mph in debut, Aroldis Chapman throws 103.9 mph in second appearance
- Cliff Lee avoids another loss, but struggles again for Rangers
- Royals top prospect Mike Moustakas has 3-homer, 11-RBI game at Triple-A
- Brandon Wood to play in the Arizona Fall League at age 25
- C.J. Wilson's transition from bullpen to rotation has been huge for the Rangers
- Angels rookie Jordan Walden throws really, really hard
- Cole Hamels' win-loss record doesn't show it, but he's having a great season
- Something strange is going on between Tony La Russa and Colby Rasmus
- Jim Edmonds says "I'm leaning toward shutting it down and being a family man again"

• Finally, this week's AG.com-approved music video is Bruno Mars and Travie McCoy singing a live, acoustic version of "Billionaire":

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