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":
