I was going to do yesterday's post, but well... I'll just let Tobias Fünke do the talking.
On second thought, that was a terrible idea. Let's go to the baseball news instead.
- The White Sox's play-by-play announcer Hawk Harrelson is notorious for his catch phrases and blatant homerism, and the latter was on full display on Wednesday when Hawk absolutely blew up in response to White Sox pitcher Jose Quintana being ejected for "throwing at" the Rays' Ben Zobrist. It's no surprise that commissioner Bud Selig ended up having a chat with Harrelson over his words, and I bet that the conversation went something like this:
Hawk Harrelson: HELLO, THIS IS HAWK.
Bud Selig: Yes, umm, Hawk? Yeah, uh, you know those things you said, umm, on Wednesday night after the, uhh, ejection? Well, you see, that really wasn't appropriate on the, uhh, TV. We've got young fans that want to watch the game without, well, hearing that kind of language, so I'd appreciate if you cut back on the, umm, "colorful words" next time, mmmkay? That would be terrific.
Hawk: YOU'VE GOTTA BE BLEEPIN' ME! MERCY!
Yes, I wholeheartedly believe that Bud Selig talks like Bill Lumbergh. Also, if you thought that this fake conversation was lame, don't worry... I thought it was, too.
- Chalk this one up under the "bizarre" category, as the Reds' Todd Frazier homered off of Jamie Moyer last Sunday. Moyer giving up a homer isn't new, as he's been doing that for two and a half decades. No, what was interesting about Frazier's homer was that his bat slipped out of his hands as he made contact, making for an interesting visual prior to the ball landing over the left field fence. This video has a slow-mo at around 30 seconds that does a great job of showing the bat slipping out of his hands just as Frazier makes contact.
- Though it happens once in a blue moon, it's clear that celebrations can indeed be dangerous. The most recent occurrence you likely remember is Kendrys Morales breaking his leg jumping on home plate while celebrating a walk-off homer, but now you can replace that memory with this. After Johan Santana recorded the final out of his no-hitter on Friday night (congrats to Johan, by the way), his teammate Ramon Ramirez hurt his hamstring diving into the celebration pile. It was originally reported that recent call-up Elvin Ramirez was the injured party, but for his sake it wasn't, as he has yet to make an appearance in the major leagues.
- Finally, Yankees catcher Russell Martin had an interesting confrontation with home plate umpire Laz Diaz on Wednesday night. Martin was arguing balls and strikes with Diaz during the game, and as a punishment, Diaz decided that Martin would not be allowed to throw baseballs back to his pitcher after fouls or pitches in the dirt. Martin even quoted Diaz as saying that throwing the balls back to the pitcher was "a privilege he had to earn." MLB executive vice president Joe Torre said that no discipline was handed out to either Martin or Diaz, but I have to think that this is an odd thing for an umpire to say. I wonder if some umps are getting sick of the players acting like a prima donna at times, and those umps have chosen to fight back in their own ways (ejections, over-the-top actions, things like this, etc.). What do you think?
I have only 4 days left of teaching before I get to return to Target Field full-time as an usher. Well, at least as full-time as a part-time job can be. Interested in visiting me during the games? I hang out around Section 238 in right field starting Friday.