Redstate Sports

Posted at 8:37pm on May 22, 2008 Just for Dan

By Darin H

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Posted at 1:17pm on Feb. 1, 2007 Barry Bonds is collecting footnotes

By Mark Kilmer

There's always Barry Bonds, almost. He had taken the requisite medication and passed his physical, and he was ready to sign a one-year, $15.8-million contract with his San Francisco Giants, the one with The Indictment Clause. The clause would allow the Giants to terminate Bonds's contract if he is indicted, under two sections of the Uniform Player Contract:

Under 7(b)(1), a team may terminate a contract if the player shall "fail, refuse or neglect to conform his personal conduct to the standards of good citizenship and good sportsmanship or to keep himself in first-class physical condition or to obey the club's training rules."

Section 7(b)(3) gives the team the right to end the deal if a player shall "fail, refuse or neglect to render his services hereunder or in any manner materially breach this contract."

One would think he could have been terminated under 7(b)(1) many times in the past, but his personal conduct is open to interpretation, and I am sure the club measures it against his box office draw.

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Posted at 2:11pm on Nov. 3, 2006 MLB Plans For China

By California Yankee

Major League Baseball plans to open office in China within a month to help promote the game among the 1.3 billion Chinese.

Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer, said there are plans to open a regular season in Beijing, probably prior to the 2008 Olympics:

"Nothing has been discussed or formulated yet," he said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "It depends upon facility preparedness, sponsor availability, government (China) support, industry (club) support, MLBPA support, television interest and a lot of things falling into place."

Half a century after Chairman Mao banned baseball in China, calling it a bourgeois indulgence of the rich, we could have another billion baseball fans to help complain about America's pastime.

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Posted at 7:53pm on Sep. 27, 2006 The Best no 9 hitter...

By Mark Kilmer

in the history of baseball. John Sterling, who regularly reads the RedState Sports blog I'm sure, has called it. The name is Robinson Cano: .343/ 14 HR/ 75 RBI in only 118 games. Torre bats the man ninth, after Posada.

Chien-Ming Wang will start the first playoff game next Tuesday, followed by Mike Mussina, Unit, then probably Jaret Wright if necessary. RJ's a bad back, so Cory Lidle could fit in their somewhere.

They're beginning to peak. They have Jeter, Abreu, Matsui, Sheffield, Damon, Cano, Posada, and A-Rod on the same field with the same team.

And the other side is that it would be sweet for a team, a real team, to knock them off.

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Posted at 6:55am on Sep. 26, 2006 Nats Derailed

By California Yankee

It has just been that kind of a year for the Washington Nationals. The team is firmly ensconced in the National League West East basement. Twenty-four games behind the New York Mets, even after beating the Mets 7-3 on Monday.

The charter train carrying the Nationals back to Washington derailed in Delaware early Tuesday. No one was injured in the "minor derailment." All of the cars remained upright when the last set of wheels of the engine derailed around 1:30 a.m. in Wilmington.

Nationals broadcaster Dave Jageler said it could have been worse:

"The fortunate thing is we were coming into the station in Wilmington, Del.," Jageler says. "The trains have to slow down to go by the station. What was indicated to us was that since we were going very slowly, they were able to bring the train to a complete stop. If we had been going more quickly, it could have been a more serious situation. All in all, I think we're very fortunate."

The poor Nats can't even generate excitement with a train wreck.

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Posted at 7:40pm on Sep. 23, 2006 Carl Pavano: Superstar

By Mark Kilmer

Joe Torre has forced the always-injured Carl Pavano to visit with his teammates in the Yankees clubhouse. The Yankees who'd speak to him cracked jokes in his face, including Manager Joe Torre and pitching coach Ron Guidry.

Pavano is making about $10-million/year in a four-year deal, but "fired his last agent, Scott Shapiro, after learning that the total value of his Yankees contract was $39.95 million, not $40 million." For nothing.

But baseball is a funny thing, and contracts are contracts.

Because he has been on the disabled list all year, the Yankees must award him a full postseason share, which could be more than $300,000 if they win the World Series.

So if Mariano is back to 100%, Carl Pavano will be $300,000 richer this year. He fired his agent over $5,000.

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Posted at 12:35am on Sep. 23, 2006 Bonds Ties Aaron's NL Home Run Record

By California Yankee

Barry Bonds hit his 733rd home run Friday night and tied Hank Aaron's National League's home run record.

Bonds' homer was his 25th of the season, leaving the slugger 22 homers short of Aaron's record of 755.

Bond's performance over the last month or so, hitting homers, running down balls, and even mentoring teammates, makes it more likely the Giants will bring Bonds back next season.

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Posted at 10:27am on Sep. 21, 2006 Ballgame over. Yankees win.

By Mark Kilmer

The Yankees clinched. That's nine straight AL East crowns, and someone soon might begin talking dynasty, but that dynasty has to begin here. They've lost the other one.

And they lost the game last night, 3-2 to the 3rd place Jays. I flipped my XM to hear Torii Hunter, Jason Morneau, and the Twins bash Boston at the end of their 8-2 victory. Then back to the Yanks celebrating the division on WCBS/Gameday Audio.

Hideki Matsui, Gary Sheffield, Robbie Cano… major injuries, but the Yankees persevered. They've the best record in the AL and are but one loss behind the Mets if you want to look at the MLB best.

Interesting to note: 1B Jason Giambi might need another cortisone shot for his wrist, but Gary Sheffield is back. He's been working with the batting coach, former Yankees first baseman Don Mattingly, on that position, and he'll do that a lot next week. If Bob Horner could make the transition in Atlanta twenty years ago – note that I did not use Aaron as a comparison – Sheff can handle it.

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Posted at 1:31pm on Aug. 29, 2006 Yanks' hurler Pavano tells team he broke ribs. Two weeks ago.

By Mark Kilmer

RHP Carl Pavano, making $10-million/year to sit idly, was to start at the Stadium Thursday against Detroit, but he told the team he broke his ribs in a car crash two weeks ago.

Carl Pavano:

The Boston Red Sox drafted himin 1994, and three years later, traded him to the Montreal Expos for Pedro Martinez. That's big stuff, and Pavano went 18-8 for the Florida Marlins -- where he had been shipped -- in 2004. That December, he signed as a free agent for the New York Yankees – four years/ $39.95-million.

"The Yanks' staff should look pretty good when Pavano is healthy" has long since been replaced by "If Pavano gets off the DL." Right now, I figure it's awfully close to: "Carl Pavano will probably never again throw off a mound wearing Pinstripes."

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Posted at 11:27am on Aug. 21, 2006 Wisdom from the manager

By Mark Kilmer

Pittsburgh Pirates (47-77) manager Jim Tracy speculated on whether the Bucs would re-sign utility man Jose Hernandez. Sportswriter Paul Meyer captured the manager's priceless words of wisdom for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Sunday:

"I think it's fairly safe to say there's probably an opportunity for a continuation," Tracy said. "I'm hopeful of that. Does he continue to make sense for this ballclub? I would like to think that at the moment the answer to that is yes.

"Whether it will be done is a completely different issue. But do you like what you've gotten from the player and do you like what he brings to the table from the standpoint of a bench player? Very definitely."

We might need Stirling Newberry to translate.

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Posted at 2:23pm on Aug. 19, 2006 Johnny Damon is...

By Mark Kilmer

Yankees manager Joe Torre was interviewed by FOX Sports before this afternoon's game, and he was asked about a comment by Jason Giambia, that Yankees centerfielder Johnny Damon had "changed the nature of a clubhouse." Torre agreed and was asked why:

"Well, he's slightly crazy. And that's good."

It's good, he said, with all the tension from the New York market and the expectations.

It struck me that Damon truly is a World Champion and he'll probably get another ring this year. (Yeah, I'm doing some serious knocking on some serious wood. Seriously.)

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Posted at 12:55am on Aug. 19, 2006 The Yanks Sweep Friday's Double-Header At Fenway

By Horatius

Red Sox starter Jason Johnson pitched himself out of a job today. Literally. Theo Epstein designated him for assignment to make room for Keith Foulke after he gave up the first four runs in a 12-4 route. Meanwhile, Theo must be wondering why he hasn’t been designated for assignment after watching the centerfielder he let away come back to town to play such inspired baseball. In the first two games, Johnny Damon had six hits in 12 trips to the plate. He went yard twice, drove in seven runs, and earned himself a web gem with a sliding catch in left-center during the first game. He played like a man possessed.

The Yanks got another quality start from Chien-Ming Wang—yes, he pitched the needed six innings—who earned his 14th win on three runs and seven hits. Torre used Mike Myers, Scott Proctor, and T.J. Beam in relief to close the game out. The Yankee hitters simply exhausted the Red Sox pitching core. At one point, late in the game when Rudy Seanez was on something like his 41st pitch, the ESPN crew said that the Yanks had forced upwards of 200 pitches. And then when the announcers suggested that a position player might need to be brought in to get the remaining outs (where is Jose Canseco when you need him?) without further crippling the bullpen, a Red Sox fan reached out and stole a foul pop up from Gabe Kapler. I thought Rudy Seanez was going to cry.

Read on...

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Posted at 12:20am on Aug. 18, 2006 The Rivalry Continues: The Yanks Head to Fenway For The Weekend

By Horatius

The Yanks certainly did not make it easy on themselves by losing a home series to the Orioles, heading into a weekend at Fenway Park. The team now gets set for a rare, five-game series in four days with the Red Sox with only 1.5 games separating the two teams. It should be a great weekend of baseball in Boston.

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Posted at 9:02pm on Aug. 17, 2006 The Yanks Are Messing with Hallowed Ground

By Horatius

George Steinbrenner is now building a new stadium in the Bronx and will soon be tearing down New York’s cathedral of baseball, the current Yankee Stadium. Yankee fans should mourn that fact. Mark Kilmer assures us that the franchise will take all of its rich history with it into the new park. I’m not so sure. It’s never very wise to mess with hallowed ground.

When a franchise this rich in history, which has known so much success in its home arena over a period of decades, moves to a new home, it risks losing the mystique and awe that ground a home-field advantage in something more than say good fans, the way the lawn is mowed, or the dimensions of center field. It risks losing its ghosts. We remember Derek Jeter telling Aaron Boone this three years ago before the latter hit one of the biggest home runs anyone can ever hit.

“I told him magical things happen here in the Stadium," said Jeter, standing in the middle of a champagne-drenched Yankee dressing room after the Bombers pinned a 6-5 loss on the Red Sox on Boone's homer to start the 11th. "And I told him ghosts come out in October.”

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Posted at 6:56pm on Aug. 16, 2006 Yankee Stadium '09

By Mark Kilmer

The New York Yankees broke ground today, the 58th anniversary of the death of the Babe, for their new stadium in the Bronx.

The new Yankee Stadium will open in 2009, replacing the third-oldest stadium in the Major Leagues. Yankee Stadium has held up for 84 years, surpassed only by Fenway Park and Wrigley Field.

"This new stadium will present new comforts, new features and be state-of-the-art in every way," Yankees president Randy Levine said. "It will be the most spectacular fan-friendly stadium ever built."

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