Freaky.

Does Weaver have a secretary named Lincoln and Eaton have a secretary named Kennedy?

Hi all. I'm sorry for the off-topic intervention, but I just ran across this, from Twins blogger Batgirl. Classic. Be sure you have your speakers on - it's Must See HTTP:

http://tinyurl.com/63hjz

How come none of us are this creative? I'm thinking a spoof on "Tradition" with Bill Plascke as Tevya, singing his heart out about the value of tradition, as his dream team loses 162 in a row to DePo's MoneyBallers...

Now, back to the spirit-o-the-blog, these data from Jon are actually strangely comforting. Eaton had 4 good games, 1 OK game, and 1 bad game agin' us last year. That's gotta be better than his distribution against the league, but it's far from the image I'd built up in my head of "he owns us." That Peavy may be their best pitcher against everyone else, but not against the Blue.

That said, past history really can't be much of a guide to future performance. This Dodger team is just too different. Even the stadium and the laundry have changed, and didn't someone say this will be throwback night, to boot? With any luck, Eaton won't even recognize the opponent as the Dodgers...

OK, what the hell, inspired by Suffering Bruin, I am going to foist a new Steve Schmoll fact upon this site periodically while he's on the team. I doubt I'll be as consistent in doing every day as SB is, but I'll do it whenever I get a chance, or until I run out of facts.

It's a Schmoll World, April 14:

In the world of major league relief pitching, many pitchers have found it to their advantage to use their physical appearance to intimidate and/or psych out the competition. This can include growing a goatee or fu manchu mustache, sporting bizarre sideburns like ex-Dodger Mike James, or just looking like a mean SOB in general (see Benitez, Armando).

As the following photograph attests, Steve Schmoll is not one of these pitchers:

http://www.agnr.umd.edu/users/Bioreng/schmoll.gif

Um, Steve Schmoll looks really young and is skinny in a Tim Hudson-like way.

Man, that batgirl cartoon is wonderful.

Schmoll looks like a summer intern at Goldman Sachs.

I wish there was a game tonight. I'm bored.

So anyone see that dude "hit" Sheff in the Boston game?

No, but I saw Flutie catch that foul ball (over and over and over again).

Off Topic

Gary Sheffield just got into a confrontation with a fan in Boston. It was pretty minor but I'm amazed the ESPN announcers are not giving ANY blame to Sheff. A triple down the line was rolling along the wall, fans were reaching down to get the ball, one apparently touched Sheffield, he shoved the fan also knocking down the woman next to him. Sheffield then threw the ball in and went back to confront the fan but luckily a security guard jumped in and it ended there. Maybe I'm carrying a chip on my shoulder for Milton but I think if it had been him the announcers would have a different opinion. It'll be interesting to see if there's any fallout.

I thought for a few seconds too, Langhorne, but then I remembered that Sheffield isn't one of the more likeable dudes either.

I thought you could never touch a fan no matter what that fan did. It looks to me like Sheff touched the fan. However I am on Sheff's side on this because it looks like another fan took the opportunity to throw some beer on him.

Yeah, I agree with joekings...there is no excuse for a fan getting involved with the players in a physical wall (or, of course, a ball in play). Total lack of class and common sense. Iblame it on kids born from parents under the influence of disco.

I love the fact these guys faced each other six times last season. Great piece of information.

Eric, good luck with the Schmoll fact of the day. I'm looking forward to it. A little advice--do not go for the everyday thing. Try to do it once a game--that's what I"m doing even though I started before the season--and try to take it as a personal challenge. Ignore family members and loved ones who say there must be something better to do with your time.

Yeah, I'll check out the Sheffield thang but I tire of ESPN's baseball coverage being about two teams: the Yankees and the not-Yankees a.k.a. the Red Sox (apologies to TBogg for theft of line).

Speaking of matchups... anybody know for sure who is going tomorrow (Friday)? I see Lowe listed on the Dodger site but other sites have Dessens (followed by Erickson and Weaver). Can't find any other news.

No, Sheffield knocked the beer out of the hand of the woman next to the guy. The fan was ejected but not arrested. I know it's an immediate reaction by the player and I don't think that will ever change but you've got try. As long as we're content that it's a normal reaction to take a swing at someone who touches you it won't change. I don't really care about the guy who got in Sheffield's way but if you condone his reaction than you condone a possible injury to innocent bystanders. That woman easily could have been hurt.

Langhorne--and everybody who saw it, I guess--according to ESPN, a fan threw a short uppercut at Sheff? I mean, WTF?

I haven't seen it yet because the TV is being held hostage. Did a fan really throw an uppercut?

He didn't really mean to hit Sheff, he was going after the ball and when he swipped for it he grazed Sheff. Sheff grabbed the ball took the time to push the guy and then turned around and threw the ball in.

Hey Jim, I saw you posting over at McCovey Chronicles again. You aren't Dodger Thoughts are you?

I must admit, though, it is fun reading the comments over there after a Dodger victory over the Giants. A little schadenfreude perhaps.

"leaving Dodger Thoughts"

joekings, I believe you but it would be nice if ESPN took into account that it wasn't a purposeful act by the fan. Here's a graf from the ESPN take:

"Sheffield was fielding Jason Varitek's two-run triple along the right-field fence in the eighth inning when a fan swung a short uppercut in his direction and appeared to graze the side of the slugger's face with his right arm." (ESPN--boldface is mine)

I take it back. ESPN just showed a different angle. A man on the other side of the woman did either throw or spill his beer. It doesn't change my mind that a player should never throw a punch at a fan whether that fan deserves it or not.

Not a chance, Doug. This is home. I just checked in to watch them wallow in their grimness. And then one guy said he hated Vinnie...

Sportscaster on KFWB today called the Pads the `Friars'. Ouch.

I hear you Jim. I saw that comment about Vin. The nerve of that guy.

I agree Dodger Thoughts is home - a wonderful refuge from all of the Giants talk up here.

Sticking with the Cheers theme from earlier, perhaps we can have some sort of competition between Dodger Thoughts and McCovey Chronicles ala Chees vs. Gary's Tavern.

The six matchups of the same pitchers in one season was the most since Lew Burdette and Robin Roberts faced off seven times in 1959.

I'm sure some of you will know the answer to this question..

What's the deal with the Stadium Club? I (actually, my brother) bought tickets on Dodgers.com through the season ticket exchange thing and apparently, we get to go to the Stadium Club as well. Obviously, I've never been.

Has anyone heard how Penny felt when he woke up this morning?

I heard he wanted coffee.

Does he take cream and sugar, Bob?

bob, i gotta ask: that tidbit about robin roberts and lew burdette -- where'd you get that? is that just from your head, or did you read it somewhere, or (fingers crossed) is there some kind of web-based database with which you can search for obscure facts like that one?

I am Cliff Claven and Frasier is my brother separated at birth. For evidence, I refer you all to post #28.

I asked that question on SABR-L last year after Weaver-Eaton, Round 6. Somebody told me it was a "Did You Know?" on SportsCenter.

No sense in looking something up if you can get somebody to tell you the answer.....

But the good folks at http://www.retrosheet.org can provide a lot of info.

The chances of Eaton and Weaver meeting so many times again this year are much less because of the new schedulers for baseball. Last year, the Dodgers played the Padres in six different series. Each time the two teams met, the Dodgers would then play Colorado while the Padres would play San Francisco. So the teams always stayed on the same rotation. And the Weaver-Eaton matchup never varied.

But this year, there is a little more variety. Although 5 of the Dodgers' first 7 games have been against the Giants, the schedule gets more variation. So after the Padres, the Dodgers go to Milwaukee, then to San Diego and Colorado, then back home for Arizona, Colorado, and Washington.

There are some weird things in the schedule. The Pirates don't visit L.A. for the first time until 9/23. By then, the Dodgers and Giants won't face each other anymore.

Brad Penny actually had a decaf cappucino with a dash of cinnamon. Soy milk too.
(Hey, I'm supposed to be Frasier).

Re Sheffield. It's Year 2 with the Yankees. The Sheffield cancer will infect the clubhouse.

Posted this over at BTF, but since it's become a topic of discussion here, too, what the hey:

1. That the fan made contact with Sheffield was clearly unintentional. This, in my view, is beyond dispute. Not only was he not looking in the right direction, but did you see how surprised he looked when it happened? No way he's trying to hit Sheffield. No way in the world.

2. What he WAS trying to do is less clear. There are two plausible options. One is that he was going for the ball, and was either too drunk to come close, or was not leaning over far enough to see that the ball was on the ground and not in the air. The other possibility is that he started to reach for the ball and changed his mind when he saw it was unreachable. At first I thought maybe he was trying to knock Sheffield's hat off, but this is impossible because, as previously stated, he wasn't looking the right way. I think he was really just too drunk to know which way was up.

3. Despite not intentionally hitting Sheffield, the fan's ejection was proper because he attempted to interfere with a ball in play. I don't know if he was arrested, but he shouldn't have been.

4. Sheffield should also have been ejected; the umpires blew this one big time. No matter what the provocation, you don't throw a punch at a fan, period. End of story. Sheffield was not defending himself; he was retaliating. There's a difference. Sheffield should be suspended for a few games, probably 3-5 would be appropriate.

5. Security-dude needs a raise.

6. Teams are only asking for trouble like this when they fail to consistently enforce the rules and eject fans who interfere with the ball.

7. Sheffield had no way of knowing the fan's actions were unintentional. Still, this does not excuse the punch.

8. Throw the ball in first, THEN start punching people, ya moron!

9. The official scorer should have charged Sheffield with an error, as Varitek doesn't make it to third if Sheffield doesn't confront the fan. Shoulda been a double and advances to third on E-9.

But Ortiz was going to score anyway.

# 31.  by Bob Timmermann

"I heard he wanted coffee. "

I'm guessing you discarded two other responses before you wrote that one.

This is a family site, gotta keep it clean.

Speaking of which, I was wondering the other day who the youngest poster here is. Do we actually have any juveniles lurking about?

Eric, I think your take is spot on. I waited in vain for just one of the ESPN guys to say that maybe, just maybe the fan didn't intend to hit Sheffield.

I would add that it's pretty clear the other fan didn't "toss" a beer onto Sheffield but instead was bumped by the woman next to him.

I remember some years ago Kenny Easley in a UCLA football game--I think against Ohio State--made a spectacular play breaking up a pass. His momentum carried him across the sideline and he started showboating. One of the older OSU fans gave him a shove. Easley shoved back and got kicked out.

"Was he provoked?", asked Terry Donahue.

"Doesn't matter," replied the referee.

My wife will tell you I'm quite juvenile but I suppose your talking about literal age.

I think Jon did a quick survey a couple of weeks back. I recall one of the posters was in his early teens but I forget the exact age.

I disagree with some of Eric E's analysis of the Sheffield thing. I just watched it about 20 times. I agree that the fan hit Sheff unintentionally. But the act that led to the contact was intentional - he got in the way. Personally, I think all stadiums should be changed so that fans have no hope of reaching over walls to grab balls off the field, but that's for a different day. But whether the contact with Sheff was intentional or not, put yourself in Sheffield's shoes. He has no idea - he's concentrating on the ball, and suddenly gets hit in the face, IN BOSTON, probably after days of profane abuse. In my mind, his reaction was natural, and very restrained. It probably scared the bejeezus out of him. He didn't throw a punch - he kind of shoved the guy, as if to say "get out of the way!". He didn't go up into the stands, or throw anything. He just yelled at the guy after the initial shove. I think the fan is totally to blame, even if his intent wasn't malicious. It's just a good thing that Boston was winning. Were they losing, the fans might have been a little more surly. Now, raise the darn walls!

"Mr. Henry, build a bigger wall!"

It would sound better if the Gipper were saying it.

I have relatively little sympathy for either Sheffield or the fan, actually. Even if Sheffield thought he was genuinely under attack, all he has to do is step back.

Is it just me, or are teams generally a lot more forgiving in the area of interfering with balls in play than they used to be? When I was a kid that would have been an immediate ejection, no questions asked. Now it seems like it's merely winked at, unless it changes the outcome of the game (a la Jeffrey Maier).

My theory -- and it may be complete BS -- is that as the prices of front-row seats have gone up exponentially, teams are more reluctant to anger their wealthier fans by ejecting them.

Everytime I've seen a fan at Dodger Stadium reach over and touch a ball in play, the fan gets kicked out.

I don't know how the new seats will affect that. From my looks at them, they are close to the foul lines, but the way they are angled makes it less likely that a ball will roll alongside of them. Part of the new seats have ad boards in front of them, so it's harder to reach over I think.

Of course once the ball reaches the corner, you're facing the same situation that Sheffield faced in Boston. Low fence and ample opportunities for the fans to lean over.

Same thing can happen in the RF corner in Anaheim. And Reggie Sanders can tell you whether or not those Thunder Stix hurt.

Was it last year, or maybe 2 years ago, when they made the fence a little higher so that the folks in fair territory the RF and LF corners at Dodger Stadium couldn't reach over and grab the ball anymore? Anyway, that was a good idea.

I don't think the little fence in the corners is appreciably higher. It was only something like 3 1/2 feet high to begin with.

The outfield corner seats of the field level are actually a pretty hairy area to sit in. People buy those seats (which are usually not sold to season ticket holders) because they want to do some heckling (to put it politely). I won't sit over there. But if you give that section a lot of beer, a bad play in the outfield (like Milton Bradley dropping a fly ball), and a long game, and you've got a recipe for trouble.

Does anyone know if the new seats along the field level have waiter service? Or is that just in the seats behind home plate?

"I don't think the little fence in the corners is appreciably higher. It was only something like 3 1/2 feet high to begin with."
----

Yeah, but a couple of years ago they put that cement step underneath it, making it about a foot higher. And that one foot made a lot of difference as far as people reaching onto the field.

I haven't paid attention yet to what they did with it this year.

I was waiting for someone to reference Sanders. To his credit he continued with the play at least. I agree that Sheffield deserved an error for allowing the ruuner to get to third. The fan actually didn't interfere with the ball, he only tried to as did at least thirty other people sitting along the fence. The guy is lucky he didn't touch the ball. If he had it's a ground rule double and Ortiz doesn't score. It ended up not to matter but at the time the guy might have had more people to worry about than Sheffield. Torre said "a guy like that shouldn't be on the streets, let alone at a ballgame." Others said the same type of thing. That's a bit over the top. It's not like the guy who grabbed Kreuter's cap in Chicago. I think it's pretty obvious that this guy did not intend to make contact with Sheffield. I do think Sheffield deserves some sort of reprimand. His actions could have injured someone and going back and arguing with the fans could have incited others. We're lucky nothing else happened.

#43
My theory -- and it may be complete BS -- is that as the prices of front-row seats have gone up exponentially, teams are more reluctant to anger their wealthier fans by ejecting them.
----------------

I agree Eric. I felt bad for the poor slob who had to go into the witness protection program after he interfered with the Cubs shot at the world series. Then I got over it. Idiot!

I have ALOT more sympathy for anyone on the field than for any fan. Consider Tom Gamboa. The umpires, coaches and players are sitting ducks, and have no idea if someone on the field or close to it has any intention of harm. I think if a fan is on the field he is fair game, short of death.

What will happen is they'll go into a little homeland security kind of thing at the stadium now. They'll put more uniformed cops out there for a while make the place look like L.A. during the riots...and then, hopefully go back to normal, hopefully sooner than later.

There has always been tons of security at Dodger Stadium, but they do a pretty good job at being unobtrusive. Makes a lot of difference in the overall atmosphere, in my mind.

Langhorne, good lawyerin' there. You're absolutely right that disciplining is in order for Sheffield.

Well -- I'll put this here, though it may be lost in the early morning shuffle. But wanted to report that the best part of the Nationals home opener last night was:

1. NOT the gem thrown by Livian Hernandez, taking a 1-hit shutout into the Ninth, with basically nothing out of the infield all game til he ran out of gas after a 10-pitch walk to Luis Gonzalez.

2. NOT Vinny Castilla's almost cycle, where he came up needing just a single, got a standing O from the crowd, and was immediately plunked on the first pitch by Lance Cormier.

3. NOT the F-16 flyover, NOT the ceremonial medallion, NOT the Presidential First Pitch

4 NO -- THE BEST THING was looking down in my souveneir program and finding a crisp, fun feature by our own Eric Enders describing eight key team moves in baseball history. (Sorry, don't have the title with me.) Nice job and congrats Eric. (And the very best part of all that was I got to say to my boss and companions, "Hey, I know that guy. Well, I mean, I don't exactly know him. It's from the internet. Wel, no there's nothing wierd about it. Well nothing too wierd . . .") You've now armed me to start referring to the Orioles as the ex-Brewers, which will really irk some of my pals.

Thanks, Sam, I appreciate that.

Nice to see someone in D.C. with a true sense of humor, Sam.

Hey! Nice green and red no fly warning lights (visions of the the seagulls in `The Birds' homing in on them).

" I think if a fan is on the field he is fair game, short of death. "

No kisses from Morgana for you, Sushirabbit!

Hey, whatever happenned to Morganna, anyway?

Does she at least have a daughter who can continue the legacy? ;)

Found the answer.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/baseball/30657_morganna10.shtml

I owe her an apology for misspelling her name. A woman of that magnitude deserves both of the N's.

That's awesome, Eric. Congrats. In the future, you have permission to use any of my interesting and insightful quotes. Like this gem from lastnight...

"I wish there was a game tonight. I'm bored."

Hey Eric,
Sounds like an interesting piece. Since the rest of us weren't at that game, and since you are, after all, the author, would you mind posting it, or at least highlights of it, here? Like I said, it sounds like a good read.

One especially great thing about Eric's article is the pitcher of rookie Catfish Hunter. He looks about 14. It's quite something. Makes Steve Schmoll look grizzled.

This from the article Eric pointed out:

After reading a P-I profile of herself on Friday, Morganna Roberts Cottrell left a message at the newspaper the next day.

------------------

The word `profile' was exactly the right one to use...

Hey Sam,

How's the atmosphere at RFK? Good place to see a ballgame?

Dan, while I'd love to post the article here, I think the people who paid me well for it would not be very happy if I posted it on a public message board.

However, anyone who would like me to e-mail them a copy (unfortunately in MS Word, without all the cool pictures) can drop me a msg at enders((AT))aol.com.

Smirk -- we'll know a lot more in a few weeks when the hoopla has settled down. I mean, any 45K stadium is real fun for a ballgame when it's packed and the crowd is so into the game that they're cheering when the pitcher throws a sharp strike two.

There were an incredible number of glitches last night. Folks waited to get past the metal detectors for 40 minutes to an hour. Most concession stands had long periods where they were out of food -- "Hot Dogs'll be ready in 7 minutes". Some crculating vendors (e.g., in my section) had warm plasti-bottles of beer. Scoreboard was loopy -- wrong balls and strikes or no balls or strikes posted at all. Some scoreboards said 6-0 when in fact it was 5-0. Then some actually went up to 11 literally -- they posted the score 11-3 Nationals in the Ninth. Some key tunnels down to field level seats were locked, bottlenecking traffic.

BUT it just didn't matter at all. The field was beautiful, the ballpark feels relatively cozy for such a big place. I wasn't in the upper deck, but I've been there for soccer and it's not too distant from the field. They've got a lot of $10 and $7 seats. I like it.

One oddity -- the whole outfield from pole to pole is just a low fence and then a tall green wall with upper deck seats on top. It's attractive from the infield, and batter have said it's a great backdrop. But no fan can catch a home run unless it's like 475 or more feet. That's a little too bad. Although it looks like what they're going to do is, every time there's a Nationals home run, they pick a random fan who gets a ball autographed by the player who hit it. Nice idea.

regarding the eaton/weaver matchups, is it just me or did burt hooton always matchup againt jr richard back in the day? i think burt even complained about it once.

Eric -- anyway just to link to a shot of L'il Catfish?

I wish that shot was on the Web, Sam, but I don't think it is.

BTW, I notice from the "to do" list on the sidebar that Ken Arneson is working on allowing html and links inside comments... really looking forward to that.

Not to make too much out of this, but if anyone's interest is really piqued by all this (Catfish Hunter's mom lurking out there somewhere, perhaps?) the program is available for $9.99 at mlb.com, just go shopping and put in Nationals program.

Thanks, DC. Sounds cozier than I imagined it to be. On tv, the outfield seats you referred to make the whole stadium feel spacey and distant from the action. Glad to hear it was fun. The fans sure seemed pleased.

Something I noticed, I was listening on NPR this morning and they were doing a piece on the Nationals game. They played tape of the PA announcer saying "Ok, Washington, here it is. You've waited 34 years for this. etc.." It was weird, because the announcer's voice had no excitement. It sounded like he was trying to sound excited, but even more like he was trying to tell the fans "you better be excited, Washington, this is a big deal." Like he was talking to a bunch of children.

NPR hosts all sound like the chew on Xanax all day--unless they're trying to raise money.

I hate to continue the off-topic debate over the Sheffield incident, but since I have a slightly different view of it I'll throw in my 2 cents. I agree with the ridiculousness of Torre and the ESPN crew's analysis. Take a look at the replay, the guy may have been trying to interfere, but he wasn't trying to hit Sheffield. I used to enjoy ESPN's Baseball Tonight, but I have to admit it's really getting tiresome. I know others on here came to that conclusion long ago, but with the addition of Bowa and some pathetic attempts at "game reenactments" a la the Best Damn Sports Show Period it has really plummeted off the cliff this season. Their analysis of this incident only makes that more obvious.

Anyway, besides the fallacious comments, the only thing that bothers me about this incident is Sheffield's self-congratulatory remarks about how he restrained himself. He's talking like the guy took a swing at him with a pipe wrench for God sake, when it looks like he probably only grazed his hat. If I was the fan in question, I might sue the Yankees for slander (just for fun of course); every report out there this morning is repeating that the guy "hit" Sheffield. From the replays that I've seen, I would say that's questionable.

So I have more of a problem with Sheffield's post-game reaction, than his reaction during the actual incident. To respond with a push in a situation like that is a pretty natural reaction. He probably should've walked away after the play was over, but since the situation didn't escalate I won't fault him that. I also agree with the raise for the security guard, just the simple act of getting in between people goes along way in helping diffuse a potentially ugly incident.

Maybe that was 3 cents.

I am going to finish every one of my posts with my plea for Jon's permission to be Harry the Con Man. I have a 2 year old in my house, so I know how to be persistent.

From the Times, on the parking problems:

"On opening day, more than 1,500 Dodger employees were instructed to park on nearby residential streets and at Elysian Park, or take public transportation to alleviate the problem, Dodger Vice President John Olguin said."

I hope they reimbursed them if they took public transporation.

Jon,

Regarding your original post... This is a result of the unbalanced schedule, which is starting to bother. For all its benefits--games down the home stretch between the contenders and throughout the season for traditional rivalries--by the end of the season, I'm pretty sick of seeing Adam Eaton, not to mention Craig Counsell, Marquis Grissom, Preston Wilson, Ryan Klesko, Mike Koplove, Neifi Perez, Jamey Wright....

Smirk was talking about the P.A. announcer, DzzrtRat, not the NPR broadcasters :)

Yes the guy was swinging inches below Sheffield's head accidentally. The fact that he's a Red Sox fan, at home, playing the Yankees gives him absolutely no motivation to take a pop at Sheffield. Nero Wolfe strikes again! I would have thought otherwise from what I've seen over and over on TV and from what I've heard about Red Sox fans, but he probably had no other motive than to swing at the air when Sheffield's head happens to be very close.

Unless I'm mistaken, I think two people have asked to be Harry. I will cast the first one who can tell me why Harry was jealous of people from Arizona.

"This in my view is beyond dispute."

That and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee.

Dodgerkid,

Since were dropping esoteric references, I will dismiss your Kantian intention and raise you one theory of Mill's utilitarianism. I don't much care what the guy's motivation was, I just care about the result. From the replays I have seen, he didn't hit Sheffield. End of story.

As for Harry, I don't think two people asked, I think it was just me asking twice.

Since motivation is an integral part of sentencing in the law, I'm afraid I'll see your utilitarianism and raise you a Kierkegaardian leap of faith. This is what separates first degree murder from manslaughter. I wish it were otherwise, but it's the way we've been doing things for several hundred years now.

Remember the issue is whether this fan broke the law. We know that he illegally reached over while the ball was in play when an opposing player was near the ball. So already he's in trouble. The only room for debate is whether he did it on purpose, or whether he fell forward accidentally, drawn by an unseen force. He may have been intoxicated and fell at the exact same moment an outfielder of a hated rival team was near him. Or he may have swung at Sheffield. We need to determine which because that's what will be used if he's found guilty to determine the harshness of his punishment. The mass media is labelling it a punch, probably the local prosecutor will as well, so it's up to us in Tivo land to run down to the courthouse and contend otherwise.

Damn, not a Kierkegaard reference. I knew blowing off that week of Existentialism 101 would come back to bite me at some time.

Your legal reference would be true if this incident rose to the level of legal violation, but I doubt that it does (partially confirmed by the fact that the guy was ejected but not arrested). What are they going to charge the guy with - attempted dislodgement off a right fielder's hat?

Just because someone isn't charged doesn't mean it wasn't illegal. If a tree falls in the forest etc. I haven't read anything that says that he wasn't charged but it wouldn't surprise me considering the person involved was a Yankee named Gary Sheffield. The cops probably bought the guy a beer. They could charge him with assault, trespass, attempted murder, drunken disorderly, etc. ad nauseum. It's really up to a prosecutor. Haven't you read any Grisham?!?!

https://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/164887.html#comments

# 42. by Sam DC
Well, I've always aspired to be Harry and since he's unclaimed, I'm taking him until hooted off the board for doing so.

A Grisham reference. I thought this was a high-brow organization :-). The Client is the only book I've literally thrown against a wall in disgust.

Actually, I think there's a few of us would-be Harrys floating around. But on Arizona I'm flat out guessing: Harry is jealous of people from Arizona because they don't have to change their clocks for Daylight Savings Time.

Any fan that hits a player on the field while he's trying to make a play deserves to get popped in the mouth and arrested. Whether or not it was intentional is completely irrelevant. Sheffield thought he got hit in the mouth by fans that were probably screaming obsenities at him all game. I think he did a great job of restraining himself after the initial reaction. That fan should feel lucky that he's waking up this morning without a broken jaw.

I somehow managed to skim right over DC Sam's request. And I have to admit the time stamp proves his request came in first. But for what it's worth, I would look much better in a derby and suspenders.

I believe we have been doing color- and looks- and gender-blind casting, so don't know if your suspenders help you, Jonny.

But Sam's guess was incorrect. Care to take a stab?

Sheffield "thought" he got hit in the mouth? Well, did he get hit in the mouth or didn't he? I "thought" I remembered to place a $1,000 bet for the Marlins to beat the Yankees in the 2003 World Series. Alas, my bookie disagreed. I am still trying to collect my winnings. It's terribly unfair for anyone to disagree with what I thought.

He said it felt like his lip was busted.

Also I meant that Sheffield thought that the guy took a swing at him, which didn't happen.

Must admit, I don't have a clue about the Arizona question. Lack of snow seems too obvious and not offbeat enough. Because he wants to visit Biosphere II? Can't think of many reasons to be jealous of Arizonans.

Okay, the answer was:

Because they have good sinuses.

Second-chance question. This should be easier. Two possible answers. From the same episode:

Why did Coach scratch his nose?

(phone rings)

Coach: Hello? (to everyone in the bar)
Hey, is there an Ernie Pantusso here?

Sam: Coach, that's you.

Nose-scratch - an old baseball sign, no? Maybe pressed into some new service but it's very fuzzy. I would say that I can't remember because I'm old and run down, but I'm basically the exact same age as Jon, so that might be taken the wrong way.

Answers:

1) "Because it itches."

2) It was an old baseball sign that Harry had Coach use to defeat the other con artist they were playing poker with.