This must be love, fits like a glove.  Well it must be love, it must be love – fits like a glove – fits like a glove.  -Kiss

Shhhhh.  It’s around the corner.  Baseball’s around the corner.  Smell it?  Hooray baseball!  I love baseball.  I’m Like Carl Yastrzemski:  “I think about baseball when I wake up in the morning.   I think about it all day and I dream about it at night.  The only time I don’t think about it is when I’m playing it.”  And considering I don’t play much of it anymore, I’m thinking about it all the time.  Today I’m thinking about the best defensive players in the game today.  What’s glove got to do with it, got to do with it?  Everything.  Always has.  Always will. Read More »

Okay, if knowledge is the key then just show me the lock. Got the scrawny legs but I move just like Lou Brock. With speed, I’m agile plus I’m worth your while. One hundred percent intelligent black child. -Tribe Called Quest

Here it comes.  Here comes baseball.  Like my main man Joe DiMaggio always says:  “You look forward to it like a birthday party when you’re a kid.  You think something wonderful is going to happen.”  I’m looking forward to it.  I think something wonderful is going to happen.  I live for this!  What’s crack-a-lacking sports fans?  I loved Lou Brock.  Put you in shock.  Stealing bases around the clock.  A virtuoso like my main man Johan Sebastian Bach.  I loved Willie Wilson.  Looking good in those baby blues.  Faster than Deja Vu.  Quicker than any cheetah in any zoo.   I loved Rickey Henderson.  Probably the best lead-off hitter I’ve ever seen.  The best base stealer there’s ever been.  I loved Tommy Harper, Rock Raines, Firecracker Vince Coleman.  I loved them all, they’re the stolen base kings of the game we call baseball.  Joe Morgan once said:  “A good base stealer should make the whole infield jumpy.”   So that’s what we want to know.  Who in 2011 makes the whole infield jumpy?         Read More »

What does it take to be number one?  Two is not a winner and three nobody remembers.  What does it take to be number one?  Hey hey hey hey..  -Nelly

Opening day is just two weeks away.  Ahhhh, baseball.  The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball.  America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers.  It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again.  But baseball has marked the time.  I know it’s a little early.  I know what Bill Veeck said.  I know he said, “This is a game to be savored, not gulped.  There’s time to discuss everything between pitches or between innings.”  I don’t care.  I want it all.  I want it now.  I want to know what the Big Fundamental wants to know.  “Good, better, best.  Never let it rest.  Until your good is better and your better is best.”  Who’s good?  Who’s the best?  Today we will discuss who’s the best.  We’ll discuss who’s the worst.  And we’ll discuss everything in between.  So, without further ado, let’s hand out the hardware:          Read More »

Hey now, you’re an All Star, get your game on, go play.  Hey now, you’re a rock star, get the show on, get paid.  And all that glitters is gold.  Only shooting stars break the mold.  -Smash Mouth

Public Service Announcement:  Ok, here we go!  I know it’s early.  I know we’re not even at the All-Star break yet.  I know these things.  I’m smart!  Not like everybody says.  Like dumb.  I’m smart and I want respect!  Today ends the voting for the 81st MLB All Star Game.  I got your ballot.  I got your ballot right here.  I got your ballot right here for my All So-Far Team:             Read More »

Most illingest b-boy, I got that feeling.  “Cause I am most ill and I’m rhymin’ and stealin’.  -Beastie Boys

Public Service Announcement:  Ok, here we go!  The Tampa Bay Devil Rays.  The toasts of the town.  See me walking around, I’m the boy about town that you heard of.  Just so many good stories to choose from.  So many good stories you can’t lose from.    Stories like phenom Evan Longoria.  Tower of power.  I’ll devour.  Hitting the ball a country mile.  Stories like a pitching staff with four starters who all throw in the nineties.  Who all throw with consistency.  Stories like Sports Illustrated picking them over my beloved Red Sox in The American League Beast.  And then there’s Carl Crawford.  That old compromisin’, enterprisin’, anything but tranquilizing, right on Carl!       Read More »

Now you can’t catch me.  No, baby, you can’t catch me.  ‘Cause if you get too close, you know I’m gone like a cool breeze.  -Chuck Berry

Public Service Announcement:  OK, here we go!  Like the late great Harry Caray always says:  “Hello again, everybody.  It’s a bee-yooo-tiful day for baseball.”  Defense, defense.  Hold tight.  Defense, defense.  Fight!  Fight!  Fight!  Flashing the old leather.  That’s what here to talk about today.  The web gems.  What’s glove got to do with it, got to do with it?  Everything.                Read More »

The tip’s get clocked, baby.  The bond’s get stocked.  My style gets rocked.  Just like doors get knocked.  With legendary status, like my name’s Lou Brock.  -Everlast

Public Service Announcement:  OK here we go!  Here it comes.  Here comes baseball.  Like my main man Joe DiMaggio always says:  “You look forward to it like a birthday party when you’re a kid.  You think something wonderful is going to happen.”  I’m looking forward to it.  I think something wonderful is going to happen.  I live for this! Read More »

Hey now you’re an All Star, get your game on, go play.  Hey now you’re a rock star, get the show on get paid.  And all that glitters is gold.  Only shooting stars break the mold.  -Smashmouth

Public Service Announcement:  Ok, here we go! Seventy-seven games in the books.  Time to do this.  Like we always knew this.  I do the Smurf, the Popeye, and the Jerry Lewis.  I also hand out awards.  Midseason awards.  If you pleasin’ awards.  Grade A guaranteesin’ awards.  Today I’m handing out the All So Far Awards.  That’s right, the All So Far Team.  Who’s been simply the best?  Who’s been better than all the rest?  Who’s been better than anyone, anyone I’ve ever met?  Take a peek after the jump to find out:     Read More »

Most illingest b-boy, I got that feeling;  ’cause I am most ill and I’m rhymin’ and stealin’.  -Beastie Boys

Public Service Announcement: Ok, here we go!  Just a little quickie.  As quickie as Bobby Orr with a hockey sticky.  If you read this space with any any regularity, you know I love me some Carl Crawford.   If you read this space with any any regularity, you also know I love me some Rickey Henderson.  Put ‘em together and waddya got?  You got this:  Yesterday, Carl Crawford had neither a hit nor a stolen base in the Rays’ loss to the Twins.  It doesn’t matter.  It doesn’t matter because he posted forty-three hits and twenty-one steals during the month of May.  Yowza!  It doesn’t matter because he just became the first player with at least forty hits and twenty or more stolen bases in a single calendar month since, yup, you guessed it, Rickey Henderson, back in June of ’85.  How about that?   

Peace out homies.  Six two and Even!

What are these dopes cheering about?  Down goes Crawford!  Down goes Longoria!  Well, it was a nice little run while it lasted.  A cute little run while it lasted.  It’s over now.  All over now.  He gets it out deep and Havlicek steals it!  Over to Sam Jones!  Havlicek stole the ball!  It’s all over…It’s all over! Johnny Havlicek stole the ball.  Just like the Yankees playoff run is over.  Ha ha ha!  Roll Sox, roll!

Peace out homies!  Six two and Even!