Minutes after Jake Arrieta completed his first career no-hitter against the Dodgers on Sunday night, he showed up to his press conference in onesie pajamas covered in mustaches.
Earlier this season, Cubs manager Joe Maddon brought in a magician to perform for his team after they had been swept by the Cardinals. The Cubs then won five of six.
The Pittsburgh Pirates have taken to dancing in the dugout before games. Some players keep the beat, some dance to it.
I have to catch a Pirates game soon! Lol https://t.co/NgfKhZwF97
— Joshua Harris (@JoshHarris25) August 27, 2015
Here’s another example to watch if you’re in a festive mood.
Pregame dance party is still our favorite. pic.twitter.com/0GxPuCvlKg
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) August 30, 2015
The Pirates have the third-best record in all of baseball behind only the Cardinals and Royals. The Cubs have the fourth-best record in all of baseball. What if ... and I don’t intend to upset anyone here or or be intentionally controversial or threaten the destruction of America’s pastime ... but what if having fun makes teams play better baseball? I know it sounds crazy, but what if? Could you imagine? It seems illogical, having fun while playing a game, I know. But maybe spending energy throwing at people and getting upset about bat flips and perceived slights and the like is actually ... counterproductive? Maybe.
Granted, this could be a fun chicken before the egg scenario. The Pirates and Cubs are both good. Ergo, they are having fun. Maybe it’s just easier to have fun when you’re winning. The Phillies and Marlins aren’t dancing and wearing PJs. But I don’t know. Maybe the Marlins and Phillies would play better if they shimmied and jammied away their sorrows. It couldn’t hurt.
Maybe this philosophy has legs. Dancing legs that are pulled into long underwear. Maybe baseball can be ... gulp ... fun.
Again, I did not mean carelessly provocative by mentioning baseball and fun together. I hope I did not offend anyone.
Quote of the Week
“Don’t they know someone almost got killed for that here?” - an unnamed Cubs player, referencing Steve Bartman after a fan attempted to reach onto the field to catch a ball at Wrigley Field this week.
You know the Cubs are close to contending for a championship again when there’s talk of a fan’s life being destroyed forever for daring to touch a baseball.
Stat of the Week
6 – Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius had 6 RBI in New York’s 15-4 win over the Braves Friday night, tying the franchise record for the most runs batted in by a shortstop in a single game. Interestingly, Gregorius tied former Yankees shortstops Roy Smalley, Lyn Lary and Everett Scott for the record – but not Derek Jeter, whose career-high was 5 RBI in a game. And let’s not forget A-Rod’s 10 RBI game in 2005, which set the Yankees’ single-game record by a shortstop who was not allowed to play shortstop because of Derek Jeter’s refusal to move for the good of the team.
This Week’s Horrible Fantasy Team That Crushed Your Team
Kevin Kiermaier, OF, Rays - 10-for-20, HR, 3 RBI, 3 SB
Stephen Piscotty, OF, Cardinals - 12-for-24, 2 HR, 10 RBI
Franklin Gutierrez, OF, Mariners - 6-for-13, 3 HR, 7 RBI
Didi Gregorius, SS, Yankees - 8-for-22, 2 HR, 9 RBI
Bryan Shaw, P, Indians - 4 innings, 3 strikeouts, 2 wins, 0.00 ERA
JA Happ, P, Pirates - 11.2 innings, 8 strikeouts, 2 wins, 0.77 ERA
Reader Twitter Question of the Week
@DJGalloEtc why are the bases run counterclockwise?
— Mike Lyons (@dsurprise007) August 30, 2015
I did some research and no one seems to know for sure. But the best guess is that as the early game evolved, it was determined that – since most people throw right-handed – setting the bases up counter-clockwise made the most sense because then infielders wouldn’t have to pivot their bodies all the time to throw to a “first” base that is where the current third base is located. And so, left-handed baseball players were doomed to a lifetime of being outfielders, first baseman or grossly overpaid pitchers.
Phillies-ness of the Week
I warned you, Phillies. Months ago. I told you to go for 100 losses. Or 110. Or the all-time record of 120. Anything that would guarantee Ruben Amaro’s dismissal from the organization, which the one thing that must occur if the Phillies will ever get close to contending again. But you had to go and play with pride and win a few games and show some improvement. And now there is very real talk about the Phillies extending Amaro’s contract. Don’t do this, Phillies. Don’t get duped by Amaro. Being slightly less terrible is still terrible. He is not turning your franchise around. He’s just steering it off another cliff a little bit farther down the road.
Chicago Cubs World Series odds: holding steady
After their West Coast road trip ended Sunday night, the Cubs worse pajamas and onesies on their flight from Los Angeles to Chicago.
— pedro strop (@pstrop46) August 30, 2015
Notice that on the TV behind those major league players in children’s pajamas is a Little League game featuring players forced to act with a level of maturity far beyond their years. But if those Little Leaguers keep working hard, maybe one day they will make the majors and get to act like kids, too.
A-Rod-ness of the week
The Yankees scored 38 runs in a three-game series over the weekend in Atlanta, but Rodriguez only got two plate appearances. Manager Joe Girardi has mostly sat him this year when the Yankees play on the road in National League parks. But this practice raises this question: What if the Yankees make the World Series? Won’t they have to play Rodriguez in the field when they go into the NL champion’s stadium? They can’t risk losing A-Rod’s bat in the World Series.
Yes, I just said that the Yankees can’t risk losing A-Rod’s bat in the World Series. And I wasn’t trying to make a joke. What an amazing season.
Ten Things I’d Think They’d Think We’d Think
1) Teams always want newer and better stadiums, and they always want those newer and better stadiums to be financed by taxpayers. The standard argument against this is that public money shouldn’t go to build palaces for a highly profitable industry when schools, local infrastructure projects, the arts and so on and so forth are desperate for funding. That is a good and sound argument, yet it hasn’t stopped teams from getting blank checks. Maybe this highlight can be enough to forever shut off the flow of public money to baseball teams.
This Rays outfielder is really scared of the baseball. https://t.co/pmDTmUdR4e
— SportsPickle (@sportspickle) August 29, 2015
2) If there’s one team in baseball that needs a new stadium, it’s the Tampa Bay Rays. Tropicana Field has no atmosphere, the roof doesn’t open and there are catwalks that balls in play can strike. Seven years ago, the Rays proposed a new stadium. If they had gotten that stadium, the play above never would have occurred. The ball would have flown through a majestic, free and open sky and over the fence. Instead, it hit a catwalk on its intended home run path and made Tampa outfielder Kevin Kiermaier look like an idiot. Dilapidated stadiums make for entertaining and unexpected baseball. Vote no on new stadium financing.
3) The Cardinals, Pirates and Cubs have the first, third and fourth-best records in all of baseball, respectively. Their fellow NL Central members, the Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds, however, have two of the worst records in baseball. With college football set to begin, it occurred to me that Brewers and Reds fans could adopt the longtime approach of lousy SEC team fanbases and pretend their teams are good by chanting “NL Central! NL Central! NL Central!” during games. Give it a try!
4) Chase Utley has been on the Dodgers for nine games and the team has been no-hit twice in that time. And now the Dodgers have to play the Giants and Madison Bumgarner. They should have traded for a legitimate bat at the deadline. Someone like Madison Bumgarner.
5) Seattle rapper Macklemore had former Mariners star Ken Griffey Jr recreate his 1989 Upper Deck rookie card for his new video. Credit Griffey for still going through with it when he showed up and realized that the shoot wasn’t to support the new career of former Mariners infielder Mark McLemore.
6) Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal took three days’ paternity leave for the birth of his second child, a move some felt was wrong considering his team is in a pennant chase. Putting aside the odd viewpoint that playing baseball (and pitching one inning on nights your team is already winning) is more important than actual life, this is a Cardinals player we’re talking about. They lose star players to injury all the time and just keep winning more. There is nothing that can stop them. The guy they brought up to replace him will probably develop into a great player. In fact, Rosenthal’s new baby could probably strike out the side if they needed it to.
7) “Play the game the right way!” “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” That was the yelled exchange between Yankees manager Girardi and Astros outfielder Carlos Gomez in a game last week when Gomez flipped his bat after flying out with a nine-run lead, causing the benches to clear. After the game, Gomez said that if the Yankees didn’t like his behavior, they could “just go home and cry.” And so ended the latest battle in the Baseball Code Wars, fought by brave men armed with little more than the schoolyard insults of seven-year olds. What heroes.
8) ESPN removed analyst Curt Schilling from the Little League World Series and the most recent edition of Sunday Night Baseball for his tweet comparing Muslims and Nazi Germany. It would be nice if Twitter would also force Schilling to change his handle from something that doesn’t reference Lou Gehrig.
I understand and accept my suspension. 100% my fault. Bad choices have bad consequences and this was a bad decision in every way on my part.
— Curt Schilling (@gehrig38) August 25, 2015
By all accounts, Gehrig was a nice and intelligent man. By most accounts, Schilling is not. Gehrig’s name shouldn’t be tainted by being linked to an angry buffoon. If we can’t get the Twitter name changed, maybe we can all agree to refer to people who lack all critical thinking skills as being afflicted with Curt Schilling’s Disease.
9) Vin Scully has announced he will return for the 2016 season and there has been universal celebration across baseball. For good reason. At 87, he remains the greatest baseball voice working today. But it’s not just Scully’s skill in calling a game and telling a story and providing context and nuance to a broadcast that makes him so beloved. It’s also because, whether by design or because of the long ago age he came up in, we know almost nothing about him. Vin Scully doesn’t have a social media presence. He doesn’t overshare about his personal life. He doesn’t feel the need to offer strong takes on any and everything in sports and politics and culture. He never sought to be an “influencer” or a “brand.” We know nothing of his political leanings or who he might, or might not, think is like the Nazis. He just talks about baseball, beautifully, and everyone loves him for it. He will be missed when he is gone, because he is Vin Scully. And because there is no one left in sports media like him.
10) If you liked my take on Vin Scully, please share it on social media and help me build my #brand. Thanks.
