Cleveland Cold, Jamie’s Journey
Not much in the news today for you. John Hickey reports it’s cold and snowing in Cleveland.
Larry Stone writes about the long journey of Jamie Burke. You want grit? This article contains 100% of your RDA of grit. Stone does not, however, ask Burke about his stellar pitching performance against the Rainiers. I think they’ve all secretly interviewed him and are saving the write-up for an even slower news day. We’ll see.
Or — Jamie! Email us! We’ll chat about your W.
Stone also handles the Notebook duties, giving us Broussard, and Ho-Ram looking forward to his start.
Matsuzaka made his debut and looked great. His home opener will be against the M’s. Media storm approaches.
Book plugging: I don’t think I mentioned this, so — I did an interview with The Hardball Times that ran on Monday. Events got away from me.
Comments
104 Responses to “Cleveland Cold, Jamie’s Journey”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I thought the interview was pretty entertaining, but I also just found a bar on Cap Hill that sells 50 cent pints of Pabst Blue Ribbon; maybe I’m an unreliable commenter.
DMZ- I couldn’t find a way to pose this question over at the ‘Cheater’s’
blog. Thinking about the K-Rod incident and how much scrutiny is on the pitcher is there any instance, you uncovered, where other fielders doctored the ball before returning it to the pitcher?
For example Buhner used to have that unsightly pine tar splotch on his pants. He could catch a routine fly, load it up, throw it back in to the infield. Assuming the ball wasn’t taken out of play, it would be returned to the pitcher and he would have a nice grease ball with out making any suspicious moves to the brim of his cap.
I’m going to be at that Dice-K/M’s game on Wednesday. I’m so excited. Fenway is going to be insane.
Actually on MLB.COM It says the Home Opener is Batista v Beckett.
Wait you meant HIS Home Opener, my bad
Did anyone see “Baseball Tonight” last night?
They talked about the K-Rod cheating episode, and mentioned that it was first spotted by “a blog, and someone who is involved with baseball.”
You could tell it pained Ravech to give any credit to a blogger…
ESPN.com has an article up right now citing the Cheaters Guide blog. DMZ’s getting a lot of PR right now. I hope it translates to book sales.
What makes the weather more of a bullcrap situation for the M’s is that this is the only time they’re in Cleveland. So if they can’t get any game in this weekend, that probably means a double header on Monday. Who made out this schedule? An early April game in Cleveland? WTH?
ESPN.com has an article up right now citing the Cheaters Guide blog. DMZ’s getting a lot of PR right now. I hope it translates to book sales.
It’s now #539 on Amazon. It was hovering in the mid-thousands last week.
on Honoring Jackie Robinson on the 15th …
oh, and a morning weather report from Cleveland …
Too bad the game’s not on TV. I mean, it’s the perfect time to turn down the sound and put in an NFL Films music CD.
I was at the Rockies’ 1994 opener. Started snowing in the sixth inning. They finished the game, though.
CSG, why would you announce that you found the greatest bar of all time and then not share its location? We’re all friends here.
50 cent pints of PBR? Why…that’s almost a good enough deal to make me want to drink PBR!
LA Times (OC version) reports in K-Rod cheating flap – “It’s only rosin” says Franky, pal Scott, and Sosh.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/ynwcb5
Man, this schedule does suck. From #11′s link, three day games after night games in a row. Looks like we’ll be seeing a lot of Mr. Burke on this road trip.
I bet small amounts of money Johjima catches at least one of those day after nighters, maybe even two.
#13, he gave the location (Capital Hill), he just didn’t give the name of the bar.
Thus more research is needed. You must visit every bar on Capital Hill and order a PBR until you find the one that only charges 50 cents.
If it’s only rosin, why doesn’t he keep it…I don’t know… in a bag out on the mound where everyone can see? What is this super-secret “rosin” that sticks to the underside of cap bills? Is this the “clear” version of rosin? Or the “cream”? Wouldn’t rosin puff out in a cloud everytime he went to the cap? I mean, assuming it’s not some kind of sticky, greasy “rosin.”
And meanwhile Meche-mania rolls on. Think this guy is going to regret statements like “Gil Meche is underpaid” and “Meche is the current leader for the title of offseason’s biggest bargain.”
Man, it’s fun when people go on the record saying things you just know are going to come back and bite them in the ass.
And while Derek may be on the record stating “Red Sox crowds are known for being ridiculously smart,” at least one of them is dragging down the average. Verducci has a more sober rejoinder:
(Tip to “Big Papi” — clearly your brain is not deserving of your nickname, and I suspect if you asked around you’d discover nothing else you’re proud of really is, either).
You must visit every bar on Capital Hill and order a PBR until you find the one that only charges 50 cents.
That sounds exactly like my 21st birthday….
and in honor of Ho-Ram’s debut, I give you:
“Bullpen makeover a relief to Braves”
a pair of radio notes:
DMZ’s “Day to day” appearance is in the 12-1:00 hour on KUOW today: “‘Cheater’s Guide’ to Baseball: Spring heralds the start of the baseball season — and the hidden tricks that come with the game. Host Noah Adams speaks with Derek Zumsteg, author of “The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball.”
and currently, over on mlb.com, you can watch or listen to “Vinny Micucci and John Marzano, open for business with Dave Check of MLB Productions, Rockies reporter Thomas Harding with the Feelin’ Good, Feelin’ Clean Report and your calls and e-mails.”
For the sake of creating goodwill amongst fellow Capitol Hill U.S.S. Mariner fans, it’s Cafe Metropolitain. 5-7 and 11-close everyday, and all day Sunday, 50 cent pints. Though I would have liked to see someone try the every bar method.
The odd scheduling of day games after night games will provide Grover with an opportunity to effectively rest regulars and use his bench. Well, at least if he, you know, wanted to do that.
And in a more related note, shouldn’t Baseball Tonight have to mention the blog/author’s name when citing it as a source? It’d be ridiculous if they said “some newspaper reports” or “the internet is reporting”, but they do essentially the same thing for a blog. It’s not as if Derek is trying to conceal his name.
As a follow up to #21 re: DMZ’s interview, you should be able to listen to it online at Day to Day’s NPR website starting around 1′ish.
DMZ just got mentioned on the Jim Rome show for the K Rod cheating thing. Well done! Waiting patiently for my Cheater’s Guide to arrive. Hopefully you just sold a few more books.
It sounds like DMZ may be “the baseball cheating expert guy” who gets called whenever something like the K-Rod incident happens.
That could be a pretty sweet gig.
Actually, IIRC, Meche seems to fare rather decently against the Red Sox and the Yankees. Looking at his splits, I’d say he does all right against ‘em. Not dominant, sure, but it always seemed to me that he seemed to handle the Yankees and Red Sox just fine. He just never should pitch vs. Texas, and especially in Arlington.
…
Heh. Nothin’ wrong with nabbin’ some publicity, as well as some business, especially at the expense of the Angels. As DMZ’s first solo project, there’s some minor victories popping up here and there. And, it seems to me that he’s handling it well, and keeping a good ‘tude about the situation. I’m sure comments are closed for a reason on the latest thread, but I will say that I like DMZ’s tact and approach thus far with this whole K-Rod controversy. Kudos to ya, Derek!
Oh, there’s a reason.
USSM has been getting some unusual publicity of late. Between K-Rodgate and the Cheater’s Guide, I’m getting intrigued by all the possible ramifications.
Derek, in particular, is learning that he has a national audience that doesn’t stop with bound copies of his book. When you combine that exposure with the fact that he is an M’s fan and an Angel hater (sic), we have some interesting issues to watch. I have to believe that this is a unique situation in the baseball universe.
When I say unique situation, I mean a celebrity (dare I say it?) fan of one team identifying the transgressions of a primary rival. Wonderful stuff. Already made my baseball year.
I love it.
Marzy is comparing Matsuzaka’s opening day with Mac Suzuki’s debut at Fenway
Heh. Figured as much.
Hey cool. I just found out my Buhner picture made Deadspin (no attribution to me, though
which is probably OK). It’s a good start to the season for the M’s blog-o-sphere.
The Cheater’s Guide site is crashing. How is celebrity working out for you Derek?
Here’s to HoRam pitching well in tonights game in Cleveland. Otherwise, I won’t be able to stomach much more of stuff like this from Jerry Crasnick:
So far, Soriano has pitched 2.1 with 0-H 0-ER.
HoRam going 6-I/5-H/2-ER would go a long way to making feel better the rest of the summer!
The Day to Day clip is up now (see #25).
CLEVELAND KOMO Radio reports there’s a snowman at second base at Jacobs Field where the Mariners are supposed to play the Cleveland Indians this afternoon.
Snow is keeping the ballpark white, although the grounds crew has been trying to keep it clear for the Indians home opener.
Seattle starter Horacio Ramirez has been tossing a few snowballs.
Current Temp: 27 degrees and snowing…looks like a PPD.
Baker has an update on his blog …
Well we knew the 2-0 start would soon be deflated. the 3-5 pitchers with be the downfall of this team. And now we have to play the Indians and the Sox on the road.
That’s our strategy for the year. We’ll pitch Felix, Washburn, and Bautista…then have a couple of days off because of snow, rain, power outage, bomb scare, etc. whatever is easiest to get the delay…then start back up with Felix again. We can let HoRam and Weaver pitch against Kansas City and Tampa. That should get us 90 wins this year!!!
We just need to coordinate our efforts a bit.
So, those thoughts of “Felix and ? and pray for, well, anything but baseball…” are coming through now.
Yesssss.
From Baker’s blog. That hilarious.
Unfortunately, I fear this is going to screw the schedule rather badly. What do they do if they miss two (or even three) games in Cleveland? Play a full series of double-headers when the Indians visit Seattle? Squeeze a series into the allstar break? Pray both teams end up in the cellars of their divisions so nobody cares?
So, when’s the USSM Reading List going to be updated? I hear there’s a pretty darn fine baseball book on cheating, from some ‘blog’ author, that’s causing quite the stir nationally these days.
I was a (bad) catcher in high school. Played an early spring scrimmage in the snow one year. I thought I was going to die. I couldn’t pick up the ball to save my life. I got hit 3-4 times in the face, a few in the chest, and had several passed balls more than usual. Youch.
Sweet. The King of Grit is making his highly anticipated debut today at SS. Perfect cold weather player.
Is Yuni currently with team? Did he make it back from testifying in Miami?
Boom Boom is starting for Yuni!
Bloomquist starting..sweet…assuming they play!
I think he was scheduled to testify today.
I laughed outloud and clapped when I read “I color coded them to match my new gay lifestyle…”
We’ll pitch Felix, Washburn, and Bautista
Hey Derek, if misspelling Pineiro and Piniella were deletable offenses, can you do the same with Batista vs. Bautista?
Come on, people. We have this guy, not this guy.
Vidro still in the 3 spot. What’s it going to take for Grover to wake up on this one.
Can we have Danny Bautista instead?
How do you know I didn’t intend to put Bautista rather than Batista? After game one…I’m ready to try anyone else!
OK, which of you jokers sent in this set-up question to Joe Morgan on his ESPN chat today?
Joe Morgan was a good ballplayer. As an analyst, color man, columnist…bleh.
Nothing like cold weather to throw the M’s into a funk. In my recollection, it seems you can count on them to play poorly in adverse conditions. That said — prove me wrong, M’s!
According to Geoff Baker, Yuni made it back on time and will be in the line-up today. Thank you snow delay!
That is… if they play. Might be a doubleheader tomorrow. Regardless, gametime is 10:00 tomorrow.
What’s the latest on the game? Is it still snowing? Is it delayed or are they stalling, trying to get it in because it’s the Indians home opener (isn’t it?), before declaring it postponed?
(This is my first ever post, queue trumpet sound)
I heard on KOMO a little while ago that Yuni had rejoined the team in Cleveland and is, in fact, in the starting lineup today. Provided we play.
The P-I is reporting that a snowman has been built at 2nd base.
The snowman is no doubt preparin to challenge Vidro to a race to third. Odds should be even, since it’s doubtful Vidro remembers how to get to third base. On second thought – 5 bucks on the snowman.
*preparing*
According to ESPN radio…the tarp is coming off the field…15 minutes to game time. They are going to play… Yay.
(20)Thinking about the K-Rod incident and how much scrutiny is on the pitcher is there any instance, you [or anyone else]uncovered, where other fielders doctored the ball before returning it to the pitcher?
Elston Howard used to do it–rub the ball on a sharpened shin guard snap–for Whitey Ford. (SUMMER OF ’49, p. 319.)
Maury Wills used to do it–scrape the ball on his belt buckle–for Sandy Koufax. (ON THE RUN – no index.)
Re: # 12 – NO TV. Good sign. Those games are better than the usual ones.
Re: # 22 – Nice going. Ever read those restaurant reviews? Whenever the reviewer notes the restaurant’s low prices, you can expect them to go up within a month. Soon: PBR pints for only 75 cents.
Re: # 47 – I just heard on KOMO that Yuni is back. (Game is supposed to begin at 1:58 PM, our time.)
Correction on # 64
SUMMER OF ’49 is wrong. It should be OCTOBER 1964.
Jim Bouton, coincidentally, also went on at length in Ball Four about Ford and his catcher (whether Yogi or Howard) scuffing the ball.
That snowman has seen 2nd base more than Vidro has.
Game’s on. It does not appear to be snowing. And Vidro is 7-11 career against Byrd.
Too bad there is no TV coverage. FSNW has much more compelling stuff to air than, say, a Mariners game.
And from Curt Schilling’s blog, the old man thinks our young guy knows how to pitch:
From highlights of other games. Ok call me on it. When someone asked me earlier about starting a team, and best young players, I totally spaced out and forget about the kid in Seattle. Felix Hernandez is twice as good as I had heard. The only guy I think I’ve ever seen dominate that much that young in a game was Dwight Gooden. He looks healthy and if he stays healthy Santana’s going to get a run for his money this year. After watching Harden’s highlights last night I’m hoping that game was scouted with the fast gun. 88-90 mph split to go with some high 90’s fastballs is a pretty nice mix of stuff to work with. The beauty of it from a pitchers vantage point is that neither of them is ‘max effort’. Both guys stay well within themselves mechanically and command their stuff through the count.
Snowing again. Vidro did not hit a ground ball.
I can’t believe this. The game is supposed to be on STO with the baseball package. With the delay, they showed women’s boxing, and never return to the game. CURSE YOU MLB EXTRA INNINGS!!!
Hey, the Cheater’s Guide has cracked the top 300 sellers on Amazon. I have no idea what’s considered good, but it’s pretty exciting to watch it climb.
2 walks in an inning man do I resent this trade!
The game is supposed to be on STO with the baseball package. With the delay, they showed women’s boxing, and never return to the game. CURSE YOU MLB EXTRA INNINGS!!!
I though this as well, but there’s simply wrong info in the program guide/schedule. The local channel in Cleveland is broadcasting today and STO has a replay at 5:30 Pacific time.
You ain’t missing much. Hit, walk, walk by Ramirez. Luckily he picked Sizemore off first base.
Throw a FREAKING strike!!!
wow…this is horrible
Baseball is not a game designed to be played in subzero weather.
Remember, there is no ‘K’ in ‘Horacio Ramirez.’
hard to blame Ramirez for that one.
Top 300 is awesome. Way to go DMZ. It’s #2 in sports!
Maybe you should send an autographed copy to F-Rod to thank him for the publicity.
Good thing there isn’t an official game thread. This just sucks. Maybe the whole game can be declared off topic. Not the discussion, the actual game…
Oh man our pitching is awesome.
Man, it’s really coming down now.
How bad?
What idiots drafted the schedule? It’d be fine for Cleveland to come to Seattle early in the season: our ballpark has a roof! Likewise, a NY/TB series in April should be played in Tampa. Playing early season games in cold-weather cities makes no sense.
Yeah, we shouldn’t play any baseball in the northern states until late May.
You can’t make a team play nothing but away games for a month.
Have they stopped play? Gametracker hasn’t updated in forever…
75
Thanks. I think I’ll get off my ledge now.
MLB.tv says “rain delay.”
The k-rod thing has made both Around the Horn and PTI. I hate ATH, so I didn’t actually leave it on the channel to watch, but I see that it’s now on the sidebar to be discussed on PTI. Pretty cool.
Temp stop due to snow…
It’s fine to play up north in Toronto, Milwaukee, Minnesota (for the moment) or Montreal (oh, wait).
Game is delayed. Simms has moved into the Cleveland radio booth and is talking about NCAA basketball with their radio guys.
THIS IS AWESOME!! Please postpone it.. pretty please. It’ll save us a loss and shelf horam!!!
The theme of the responses I’ve been reading/hearing is that it was just rosin. The ESPN guys are scoffing pretty heavily at the idea that K-Rod was cheating. I wonder what the official investigation will find.
Why would he have rosin in his hat when there’s a rosin bag behind the mound? He was cheating, he got busted, no big deal. Even if it was rosin, it’s still cheating.
Using rosin isn’t cheating. What he’s saying is that the rosin he put on his fingers from the bag accumulated on his hat because he was touching it a bunch, like a player who eventually gets pine tar all over his helmet.
I’m not saying I believe him, but that’s the story.
Beltre’s having a tough day out there. Being turned into a giant ice cube thanks to a bad pitcher can’t be helping any.
If they call the game after this inning, when it’s an official game, does Byrd still get credit for a “no-hitter”?
BTW, there’s a certain book about “Cheating” that has a whole section about delaying the game for strategic reasons….
It’s amazing how the “rosin” only accumulated on the underside of the bill of his cap.
It must be magic rosin.
In Boston, back in 1912, they rigged a Smokey Joe Wood-Walter Johnson matchup–ostensibly to please the fans, but some suspect that it was really to draw a large crowd ($).
Well, they won’t have to rig a Matsuzake-Hernandez matchup to draw a large crowd, but that match-up could happen. [And if it does...]