Guess what? John Rocker is still an idiot. For those of you not in the know, Rocker is a contestant on the current season of Survivor. I will assume even those who don't watch it pretty much know how it works. To breakdown last night's episode, Rocker, after admitting right in front of all of his teammates that he was trying to help a guy on the opposing team, becomes a huge target to be voted out. He even knows this. But, he has an immunity idol, so he has his safety right in his pocket.


And, it remained there, after he was voted out, without using the idol.



Idiot.


At least he has decent choice in women, as his girlfriend is pretty hot.

That's the thing about journalism now, or what passes for it.  Folks have learned that the masses tend to not hold guys to any kind of high standard when it comes to the accuracy or viability of their reports.  As such, it is not uncommon for folks to put stuff out like the Kershaw item.  While on one hand it is kind of hair brained, on the other, it is so out there, that people would read and notice.


As for the rest of your post, maybe we could package Ethier and Mattingly to a team that needs a manger, and a "name" but IMO "lesser than" OF guy.  Maybe to the Astros, for any promising catching prospect they may have in the low minors now.

I would do it.

I heard a rumor that he told people he was John Wetteland or something too. i think the wife records it so i will have to watch the end of it.

The more I think about this, the more I like this idea. That said, the All Star game weekend is already pretty full.

But still, as a contrast to the home run derby, how about a race around the bases? Invite guys like Billy Hamilton and Terrance Gore, in Gores case a guy who would not otherwise be involved in the festivities.

Have them stand in the batters box. It could start with bat in hand and in a batting stance or not. At GO, the guy would be clocked to see how fast he could run back home.

It's quick and easy, unlike the H.R derby.

Anyone?

Its way too much but in a similar fashion, I would love to see 3 things:

1) Swing at a lob from a pitcher and get to first as fast as you can.
2) I love stolen bases, so I would love to see that incorparated somehow
3) In the honor of the NBA slam dunk, you could judge different slides into 2nd

Some proof, in slideshow form, that bad manager moves don't always doom their teams to fail or lose.

www.sportingnews.com/mlb/story/2014-10-08/mlb-playoffs-2014-manager-mistakes-fire-mattingly-ausmus-williams-hurdle-yost-sc

Holy shit BigD. How does Kershaw lose 2 games in a best of 5??

Feel your pain brother. Those damn redbirds

Salvador Perez like to mess with Lorenzo Cain. A LOT. I hope the videos in this link work for you, as they did not for me.

sports.yahoo.com/news/the-story-behind-the-19-hysterical-instagram-videos-featuring-two-royals-135838412.html

With info that should surprise no one, the O's just announced that it will be Chris Tillman that will start ALCS game # 1 tomorrow opposite James Shields.

Have a great evening Zig.  And, if I don't see you tomorrow, have a wonderful weekend.

Probably not as wonderful as mine, as I get Columbus day off paid on Monday, which is sweet.

I root hard for every single one of these guys. Baseball always needs more knuckleballers!

Interesting story here from Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca about Dan Johnson, who has been on the fringes of the major leagues for the past few seasons as a position player/designated hitter. Now 35 years old, he has begun to think about his baseball mortality. Part of his plan to stick around? The knuckleball.

Yes, Johnson is trying to develop a knuckleball in order to be a “two-way” player. This isn’t exactly a new thing for him. Johnson has messed around with the pitch for years, but he began thinking about it more seriously in 2013 when he was with the Yankees organization and threw it regularly during side sessions. He was in spring training with the Blue Jays (and R.A. Dickey) this year, but a cracked fingernail prevented him from throwing his knuckleball until later in the year. Still, he continues to work on the pitch and believes that it could help his case for a roster spot.

“My hope was to ultimately become a guy that could do both,” he said. “Essentially if you needed a bat or position player I could do that, and if you’ve got a game that’s maybe getting out of hand, instead of burning up a whole bullpen, being able to go out and throw 70 or 80 pitches and suck up innings.”

“I don’t want to do it as a sideshow. If I’m going to do it, I want to do it right.”
Johnson is a free agent right now, but here’s hoping he gets a spring training invite somewhere and a real chance to show what he can do with the knuckler. This could be a lot of fun.

In case you are keeping track, here is a list of all the guys that had Tommy John surgery this year.

www.sportsgrid.com/mlb/the-unreal-list-of-mlb-tommy-john-surgery-victims-for-2014/

A list of each team, and their all time winning percentages. I think the numbers will surprise some folks.

www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/24745899/the-all-time-mlb-standings

Pretty interesting. Several surprises but I am not surprised that it is 1) Yankees 2) Giants and 3) Dodgers.

Happy to see that the Tigers are over .500, although by very little.

I'd like to see where the Orioles are as "just the Orioles" since 1954. Same goes for the Braves since they left Boston for Milwaukee in 1953.

The Boston Braves were godawful. The St. Louis Browns were probably even worse.