Brandon Phillips: Certified Badass
Given that the Cincinnati Reds are in the National League Central – and particularly because they are leading the NL Central – you’ll not hear me doting on them too much this year. But when a player does something awesome, we’ve all got to recognize. And Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips did something awesome.
On Monday, Phillips told Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News:
“I hate the Cardinals. All they do is bitch and moan about everything, all of them, they’re little bitches, all of ‘em. I really hate the Cardinals. Compared to the Cardinals, I love the Chicago Cubs. Let me make this clear: I hate the Cardinals.”
Nicely done, Brandon. I think we can all relate.
This, of course, led to a LaRussa-like retort from Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa – you know, one where he acts like he’s above it, and then subsequently enters the fray. He said, “We win the right way and we lose the right way. We’ve received a lot of compliments over the years that when we lose we tip our caps and when we win we keep our mouths shut. That’s my comment.”
But then he said, “I don’t think that will go over well in his own clubhouse. Phillips is ripping his teammates — Scott Rolen, Miguel Cairo, Russ Springer, Jim Edmonds — all the ex-Cardinals over there. He isn’t talking about this year. He is talking about the way we’ve always played and those guys are old Cardinals. Tell him he’s ripping his own teammates because they are all old Cardinals.”
Of course, all of this spirited volleying was ignored by the clubs, who are playing this week, and everyone had a good time. They are, after all, professionals.
I’m just kidding. They brawled.
Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina started jawing at Phillips when Phillips first came to bat, and it was on. Benches cleared, Johnny Cueto kicked, Scott Rolen went after former teammate Chris Carpenter, both managers were ejected.
The Cubs may be miserable this year, but at least we can all enjoy moments like this.
Mark Prior Is Actually Going to Play Some Baseball
I needn’t go over the sad, shattered history of Mark Prior. The former Chicago Cubs employee has had a long way back to professional baseball after shoulder looseness and amorphous elbow issues robbed him of his effectiveness more than three years ago. But he’s going to get a shot to pitch again, this time with the independent Golden Baseball League.
Prior, a former first-round Draft pick who has had a career plagued with injuries, signed with the Orange County Flyers of the independent Golden Baseball League on Tuesday. Prior spent last season working back to health in San Diego’s organization and is hoping to pitch his way into position for another chance at the Majors.
Prior, the second overall selection in the 2001 First-Year Player Draft, shot through the Minor Leagues and attained star status virtually immediately upon his promotion to the Cubs. The right-hander finished third in the National League’s Cy Young balloting in ’03, thanks to an 18-9 record and a 2.43 ERA in 30 starts.
Unfortunately, that was the last time he pitched a complete season. Prior missed two months with an Achilles tendon injury in ’04, and he missed time due to a compression fracture in his pitching elbow in ’05. Prior missed another two months in ’06 with a strained shoulder, and he hasn’t been able to make it back to the Majors since.
Prior underwent shoulder surgery and missed the entire ’07 season, and after signing with the Padres, he re-aggravated his shoulder condition toward the end of his rehabilitation period. Prior had a season-ending surgery again in ’08, and he spent last season with the Padres on a Minor League contract. cubs.com.
Prior is expected to pitch out of the bullpen before crumpling in a heap of despair, and lifting a homemade sign that reads, “Cautionary Tale: Stephen Strasburg, Invest Wisely.”
The Milwaukee Brewers Are Collectively a Douche
Not but three years ago, if you asked an average Chicago Cubs fan what teams he hated, you’d invariably hear “Cardinals” and “White Sox” uttered unnaturally through clenched teeth while rage welled up in the speaker’s eyes. Sure, you might hear a smattering of other teams – Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Astros, Reds, among others – but those were the two big baddies.
Recently, a third has entered the mix as a “hated” club, albeit one still less so than the Cardinals or White Sox. It’s official: f the Brewers.
The Brewers asked for a scoring change in the ninth inning of Monday night’s 18-1 win over the Cubs that would’ve given Milwaukee 27 hits instead of 26. One more hit would’ve set a new record for Cubs pitchers, who had last given up 26 hits in a game in 1957.
It happened with two outs in the ninth, when Casey McGehee hit a grounder up the middle that shortstop Starlin Castro fielded and made a wild flip to Blake DeWitt at second for at attempted forceout of Prince Fielder.
After watching the replay, official scorer Bob Rosenberg called it a fielders choice and an error for Castro. The Cubs p.r. staff had just announced that a Cubs’ franchise record for hits allowed in a game had been tied when Fielder knocked out the 26th hit.
Everyone in the press box knew history was hanging in the balance when Rosenberg made his call. The Brewers promptly called and asked Rosenberg to change it to a hit, requesting that he review the tape. As of Tuesday afternoon, no scoring change had been made. Chicago Breaking Sports.
Sure, it was probably only one staffer or two that asked for the scoring change. But if this doesn’t demonstrate the culture of the Brewers, I don’t know what does.
Obsessive Ted Lilly Trade Watch: Might Have to Cross Phillies Off the List
Late yesterday, a rumor started circulating that the Cubs and Phillies had agreed to swap lefties Ted Lilly and JA Happ, but it seems to have died on the vine. Whether it was because of Ted Lilly’s partial no-trade clause (which includes the Phillies), or because there wasn’t anything to the rumor in the first place, we might never know.
That’s because the Phillies are on the verge of landing Roy Oswalt.
Major League baseball sources told FOX 26 Sports the Houston Astros have a deal in place to trade pitcher Roy Oswalt to the Philadelphia Phillies if Oswalt agrees to waive his no-trade clause.
Sources told FOX 26 the Astros have approached Oswalt. He is aware of the deal that is on the table and the club is waiting for his response.
MLB sources told FOX 26 the Astros and Phillies have agreed on the amount of money Houston will take back in the deal and the two teams have agreed on the players Philadelphia will be sending. Fox Houston.
Can you tell that writer was really excited to have “sources”?
If the Phillies manage to land Oswalt, they’ll obviously no longer have a need for Lilly, and the Cubs will have to turn their attention back to the Mets, Dodgers, and Twins.
Laughing Because it isn’t the Cubs: The Brewers’ Feelings, and Butts are Hurt
Tee hee.
Milwaukee Brewers manager Ken Macha says he has complained to a baseball official about his batters being hit too often by pitches.
Macha says action needs to be taken to protect the Brewers, who have been hit by 47 pitches, the most in the majors.
Macha says he spoke with Bruce Froemming, a former umpire and current special assistant for Major League Baseball’s umpiring department.
Atlanta pitchers hit Prince Fielder in consecutive games on Friday and Saturday. On Fielder’s first at-bat after hitting a homer Saturday night, Atlanta’s Jonny Venters threw a pitch over Fielder’s head. Venters was ejected after he hit Fielder on the next pitch. ESPN.
If there’s anything that says throw at us less, it’s whining to MLB about being thrown at. Smooth.
That said, the Fielder thing was a bit ridiculous – the Braves threw at him, missed, and then threw at him again. If you throw at a guy and miss, that’s that.
So, Joey Votto’s Kind of a Douche
Marlon Byrd was the unsung (well, he was a little sung) hero of Tuesday’s National League All-Star Game win. He battled in a long 7th inning at bat, which led to a walk, extended the inning, and eventually yielded the winning runs.
Then, in the 9th inning, protecting a two run lead, Byrd made a tremendous play in right field – where he does not regularly play – taking a bloop fly ball on the hop, wheeling, and firing a one-bounce strike to second base to cut down David Ortiz. Who was coming from first.
You’d think everyone on the NL All-Star team would be grateful for Byrd’s performance, particularly those players who are on teams that actually have a chance to make the World Series, where Byrd had just helped win them home field advantage.
But nope. Not Joey Votto.
“I don’t like the Cubs,” Votto said. “And I’m not going to pat anybody with a Cubs uniform on the back. But because he made that really cool play, it turned out to be a really cool experience. I’m really glad we got the win today.” ESPN Chicago.
What the hell was Votto thinking? I get that the Cubs are a division rival, but when you’re on an All-Star team, working together to win for your league – for the first time in 15 years, mind you – it’s ridiculous to think of your teammates as the enemy.
He’s either monumentally stupid or a monumental douche. Votto’s huge 2010 season following a 2009 season where he struggled with anxiety issues had been one of the better stories this year. Now, he can floss my butt.
UPDATE: According to Paul Sullivan, Marlon Byrd says he talked to Votto more than anyone else during the All-Star weekend, and believes that Votto was just kidding. Hard to tell without hearing the tone – if he was kidding, feel free to take a dump on ESPN Chicago’s Bruce Levine for not picking up on the joke.
Scott Rolen Knows Why the Cubs Always Lose
Scott Rolen has played the Chicago Cubs many, many times in his long career. He’s played a whole lot of games at Wrigley Field, and so when he speaks of playing there, he does speak with at least a small air of authority. Even if he is a hated rival.
Rolen says, after spending so much time at Wrigley, he thinks he knows why the Cubs keep losing.
“The Cubs are very limited facility-wise and that dramatically limits the work the players can do day to day,” he said. “The clubhouse and weight room are significantly below par. They play a different schedule than everybody else in baseball. The day games are very hard to deal with day after day. Plus, when you have so many different starting times from 1:20 to 12:05 to 7:05 then play mostly all night games when you go on the road, I think the Cubs have their back against the wall.
“In Cincinnati we have a track to get loose on and three batting cages that a pinch hitter can use before he comes up to hit. (The Cubs) don’t have anywhere for a pinch hitter to get swings in before he hits.”
Rolen also told us that he believes that to win the Cubs need a younger team because of the grind of day games.
“However, with young players in a great city like Chicago, you have to make sure that you have guys who are committed to winning because the night life in Chicago can keep a player from performing at his very best,” he said. chicagotribune.com.
These are, of course, all points we’ve heard before. That doesn’t mean they’re right – but they probably are. Fortunately, the facilities are in the process of being upgraded, though not all of the new stuff will be on site at Wrigley. Some may end up across the street.
I also don’t think these are *the reasons* the Cubs haven’t won in so long. They may be reasons that it’s been more difficult for the Cubs, but there are reasons – beyond our mere mortal understanding – for the statistical anomaly that is 102 years of futility.
Dusty Baker: I Regularly Had to Talk to Carlos Zambrano About His Anger
Dusty Baker managed the Chicago Cubs from 2003 to 2006, which coincided with the early years of Carlos Zambrano’s nascent career. Zambrano was a bundle full of energy back then, too, and Baker says he regularly had to reign Zambrano in when he was bursting into anger flames.
The manager who had Carlos Zambrano through his best major-league seasons had more closed-door sit-downs with the emotional pitcher than the public ever knew and seemed less surprised than disheartened by the latest blowup.
”It saddens me. He’s a good guy,” said Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker, who had Zambrano through the pitcher’s first four full seasons as a starter, through 2006.
”Hey, man, I know where he’s coming from because I fought most of my adolescent life [with my temper,'' he said. ''My dad cut me three times -- my own dad cut me from my Little League team three times because of my temper. He said, 'If you can channel that into a positive direction, you can be something. Until then, you're going to get cut again.'''
Baker hauled Zambrano into his office numerous times early in a career marked repeatedly by incidents involving showing up teammates with angry displays.
''We had quite a few conversations about things,'' Baker said, ''contrary to everybody thinking 'Dusty's so easy-going.'
''[Anger] was always there, but he was channeling it to win. Carlos hates to lose. This guy is a competitor, big-time.” CHICAGO SUN-TIMES.
No surprises, I suppose, as we all saw how Z was in those days (and these days). A bit surprising that Dusty, who’s always regarded as a “player’s manager,” and usually goes out of his way to avoid saying anything concrete about any players, was willing to lay it out there.
Still, it is interesting to hear that “anger” has been an issue for so many years. Maybe anger management really will end up a good thing for Zambrano, after all.
