Barry Bonds offers to play for free.:
My opinion on Bonds is no secret, however I noticed this tidbit in the paper yesterday and have been meaning to post about it. Barry Bonds' agent has offered his services to all 30 teams, at a pro-rated salary of the league minimum (at this point, about $200,000 total), even offering to play for free by donating that salary to buying tickets for the game; his trial date isn't until next March, so he would not be prevented from playing.

Despite this, apparently Barry's agent has received no interest, bolstering claims that the league is colluding to prevent him being hired.

posted by hincandenza to baseball at 09:32 PM - 78 comments

Seattle Mariners (finally) fire GM Bill Bavasi.: For weeks the indisputable worst team in the majors, the $117M Seattle Mariners have finally made a major personnel change by firing General Manager Bill Bavasi today. Many in the media predicted such a shakeup should the Washington Nationals, who came into Seattle with worst record in the NL, complete the sweep of the Mariners in Seattle this weekend.

In his 5 years as Seattle GM including 2008, Bill Bavasi guided the Mariners to a last-place finish in every single year but 2007, where the 88-74 Mariners finished 2nd. The fervent Mariner blog community, who have demanded front office firings for a long time now, are already advocating for his replacement.

posted by hincandenza to baseball at 08:44 PM - 5 comments

Patriots advance to their 4th Superbowl in 7 years. : Despite his second worst QB rating of the season, Tom Brady and the Patriots advance to the Superbowl thanks to a second half running game and a defense that held the Chargers to only 4 field goals on the afternoon. The Patriots take their 17-1 unprecedented 18-0 record to Arizona in two weeks, facing the Ravens winner of the Packers/Giants game, in the hopes of completing a truly historic season.

posted by hincandenza to football at 05:25 PM - 131 comments

Seattle edges Dallas in a wild, wild 4th quarter:
One of the most nail-biting fourth quarters I've ever seen! Dallas looked poised to waltz into the end zone for an easy 2 or 6 point win in the final two minutes of the game, until an incredible goal line stop by Tatupu and an improbable drop of a FG snap led to a wild finish to Saturday's football action.

posted by hincandenza to football at 10:28 PM - 75 comments

For the second time in 87 years, the two Sox franchises won back-to-back championships in the same number of games:
In 1917, the Chicago White Sox defeated the NY Giants 4 games to 2; in 1918 the Red Sox defeated the Chicago Cubs 4 games to 2. Both teams then endured nearly 9 decades of futility... until tonight, when the Chicago White Sox rode great pitching to a Series Sweep of the Houston Astros, one year after the Red Sox did the same to the St. Louis Cardinals.

posted by hincandenza to baseball at 11:13 PM - 52 comments

Astros win 18-inning epic battle in breathless fashion,to advance to the NLCS.: If you missed this one- sweet jesus, what you missed! The longest post season game in history, 18 innings and nearly 6 hours in length. One of the great games I've ever seen: the Braves lead early, holding a 6-1 lead going into the bottom of the 8th at Houston and appearing to be cruising to a deciding game 5. A Berkmann grand slam brought the Astros to 6-5 in the bottom 8th, and a two-out solo shot in the bottom of the 9th by Ausmus sent this roller coaster ride into extra innings.
     A whole second game ensued, 9 more innings of two depleted teams throwing every player they could to pull this one out. Relievers put up 0's across the board for 8 1/2 innings, as we stayed knotted 6-6 until the bottom of the 18th. The Astros had used 23 players, a record (only the absent Pettite and last night's starter, Oswalt, didn't appear), forced to use Clemens- the only pitcher left- for a 3 inning stint to get the win. Chris Burke, a pinch runner used much earlier in the game, was the hero today by smacking a 338 foot homerun to finally put an end to it all.

posted by hincandenza to baseball at 06:35 PM - 38 comments

Dallas Maverick's center Shawn Bradley to retire after 12 years in the game.:
7' 6" Dallas Mavericks center Shawn Bradley will call it quits after 12 years. Many in the game may question this long-fabled warrior's decision to bow out of the game, on the precipice of immortality. Bradley retires just 31,635 points shy of Jabbar's scoring record, and a mere 18,656 rebounds shy of Chamberlain's long-standing record.

posted by hincandenza to basketball at 10:26 AM - 37 comments

Patriots taste revenge against the Steelers.: In a dominating performance- albeit with a nail-biting New England defensive lapse through much of the 3rd quarter that allowed the Steelers to get back in it- the New England Patriots earned their 3rd trip to the Superbowl in 4 years, facing the Eagles on February 8th. This was the second time in those 4 years the Patriots defeated through the Steelers in the AFC Championship game.

posted by hincandenza to football at 09:30 PM - 62 comments

Boston. New York. Game 5: Can't believe no thread's been started and we're in the third. Enjoy! Go Sox!

posted by hincandenza to baseball at 05:16 PM - 174 comments

HOU/STL Game 2 thread: For those watching- this is a pretty good game so far!

posted by hincandenza to baseball at 09:12 PM - 21 comments

BOS/NYY Game 2, and HOU/STL 1, thread post. Chat away: Also, for those who've never used it, the Gamecast applet is a useful way to "watch" the game when you can't get a video/audio feed or live broadcast. It shows pitch-by-pitch updates, or summary view, and has the full game log and running box score, as well as player profiles, nicely embedded in an easy layout.

posted by hincandenza to baseball at 08:03 PM - 37 comments

Meanwhile, a champion was crowned tonight...: Congratulations to the 2004 WNBA champions, who won in convincing fashion in the deciding game of the series (spoiler inside).

posted by hincandenza to basketball at 10:47 PM - 13 comments

If you haven't been watching the M's and Ichiro... you're missing out.
: Ichiro Suzuki, barely noticeable on the dead- from- the- ankles- up Mariners with all the playoff run excitement around the league, is nevertheless a bright spot to watch this September. Since the All-Star break, he is hitting an unreal .463 and has raised his average to .371, all but assuring another batting title. He had 56 hits in all of August, the most since 1936, but August was also the third month so far he's had 50 hits. No one else in history has ever had 50-hit months more than twice.

Ichiro enters September needing 46 hits in the final 31 games to break George Sisler's 84-year-old record of 257 hits in a single season. His current season pace would put him at 262.

posted by hincandenza to baseball at 12:04 PM - 24 comments

Since someone has to, : Pistons gut out another one. LA looked to be in it, but unraveled near the end as Detroit pulled away, and LA couldn't tie the series. Discuss.

posted by hincandenza to basketball at 11:45 PM - 26 comments

Anyone see this? Is this the real reason Andy Pettitte is in Houston right now?:
Okay, first, major apologies for posting pure gossip, not to mention gossip from (I'm so ashamed!) Fox News. Nevertheless... well, read [more] inside.

posted by hincandenza to baseball at 01:11 AM - 13 comments

Red Sox putting Manny Ramirez on irrevocable waivers?: The baseballprimer website links to a leak posted on the "Sons of Sam Horn" Red Sox forum by Art Martone of the Providence Journal. Martone, in Drudge-like fashion, claims that a story that may hit the NYT tomorrow reports that the Red Sox have put Manny Ramirez on "irrevocable waivers" Thursday. Unlike traditional waivers, if another team claims someone on irrevocable waivers, the current team can't yank that player back. Speculation is rampant as to why the Sox are (reportedly) making this move, and what it means for Manny and the Sox in 2004.

posted by hincandenza to baseball at 01:43 AM - 55 comments

Good news for Sox fans in the 200th World Series.: "Most will be rooting against the team viewed as baseball's Evil Empire, the dynasty that has won the "World Series'' more times than anyone else, the franchise whose very name has come to mean global domination. The Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox ended their own "World Series'' curse in 2035 when center fielder Johnny Damon-Affleck and Jennifer Hamm-Garciaparra, the major league's first woman All-Star, arrived in Boston. Of course, the Sox dynasty truly began when they acquired exclusive rights to the celebrated Ted Williams DNA. Fielding an entire team of clones each season, the Sox have won 58 of the past 84 championships."

posted by hincandenza to baseball at 02:01 PM - 6 comments

The game that's changed the way millions of men go to the toilet... : ... and is poised to sweep the globe in 2003! No-one knows when or where the sport of Peeball began. What is clear however, is that the growth of the beverage industry and the invention of the modern day urinal in 1891 sent the popularity of the once aristocratic game of Peeball soaring.
Do I smell some local SpoFi Peeball(tm) Tournies in the air? Armed with my finesse and style, I'm sure I could take out an unskilled, 'brute force' wizzer like vito90! Or perhaps an online rotisserie league over at Yahoo- with legendary Gunther Bürsht in my stable, I'd be sure to win in a cake walk!

posted by hincandenza to extreme at 03:36 PM - 5 comments

Who is the greatest pitcher of all time?: This is a question I've been scratching out ideas and thoughts on and off for the last few days, in hopes of having a user submitted column ready for SpoFi for the event of Roger Clemens' bid for his 300th victory (airs Monday, 10am PST, 1pm EST, on ESPN). In the meantime, ESPN's Rob Neyer has, unsurprisingly, written a short column on this very subject.

posted by hincandenza to baseball at 12:58 AM - 24 comments

Kevin Millwood of the Phillies throws a no-hitter!: On the exact one-year anniversary no less of Derek Lowe's no-hitter against the Devil Rays, Philadelphia's "new guy" Kevin Millwood throws a 10K no-hitter... against the NL-leading San Francisco Giants. Wow! I'm sure you'll see a little something about this mentioned on the sports news tonight. :)

posted by hincandenza to baseball at 05:17 PM - 26 comments

Sosa hits 500th homerun: Since no one else posted it, I may as well. How... anticlimactic. You barely hear anyone mentioning it. Has the homerun being thoroughly devalued- is 500 what 400 once was, a great feat, but not quite historic? Personally, I don't think so, but maybe I'm in the minority- Ralph Wiley of ESPN's Page 2 weighs in on how the great fortune of fans to live in a new golden age of baseball has made us numb to the greatness of some of these players.

posted by hincandenza to baseball at 08:16 PM - 5 comments

"Beane's departure to be 'a foregone conclusion.'", may be be heading to BoSox. :
Just a few days after the Red Sox announced that Sabremetric pioneer Bill James would become part of the Red Sox front office, the A's have announced that GM extraordinaire Billy Beane is free to talk to other teams- and they fully expect him to leave. Boston is considered the most most likely club for Beane, and he's currently engaged in talks with Beantown.
Could this actually be happening? Is the often mis-managed franchise finally setting itself up to be the smartest-run franchise in baseball, and putting the pieces together for an Impossible Dream Season? Will a Beane GM-ship mean that payroll (tho' sadly not ticket prices) might actually decrease a little as money is spent more intelligently? What's next for John Henry- finagling a deal to put Barry Bonds out by the green monster and A-Rod at short?!? :)

posted by hincandenza to baseball at 02:28 PM - 16 comments

Congratulations, Anaheim Angels, 2002 World Champions!:

Much like my own New England Patriots this January, the Angels completed an Impossible Dream season by downing the Giants 4-1 in the deciding Game 7 of the World Series to win their first ever World Series. The Angels have shocked the world by not only beating out the heavily favored M's in the AL West this season, but going further than anyone outside of the Anaheim thought possible.

The Giants had the championship in their grasp last night, but let it slip away needing only 6 outs to take the crown. After that heartbreak on Saturday, they never really showed up to play tonight, and it's a shame the Big Guy didn't get a ring in what was probably his best and only chance to get that elusive championship- although he should have put to rest any doubts about his ability to perform on the biggest stage.

posted by hincandenza to baseball at 10:19 PM - 21 comments

Managerial shuffle: : In the midst of a nailbiting World Series, it sounds like it's been decided: Lou Piniella will leave Seattle for his home in Tampa Bay (wow, it really was about playing closer to home), while A's manager Art Howe will head for the Big Apple to manage the Mets. Who will replace these men in their respective cities- and would even a World Series championship not be enough to heal the rift between Dusty Baker and Peter MacGowan?

posted by hincandenza to baseball at 10:21 AM - 3 comments

Barry Easily Outslugs the Babe: "Babe Ruth played before integration. It has always bothered me that, given the obvious impact of African-American and Latino ballplayers, we somehow manage to place pre-integration major-leaguers on the same accomplishment platforms as the post-Jackie Robinson players. Babe, Ty Cobb, Josh Gibson and all the rest don't deserve it.... Barry rules the world. Babe ruled White America."

It's nice to see someone, at ESPN no less (even if it's on Page 2), finally stepping off the Babe Ruth bandwagon and acknowledging a point I've been trying to make for years...

posted by hincandenza to baseball at 12:28 PM - 5 comments