The subject of Steve Howe doesn't fit neatly into blog form. It's more like an indy film.

Howe complicated

1 - But Tomko throws so faaaaast! How can you dislike a pitcher who throws nothing but fastballs?

I'm thinking Gus Van Sant would direct the Steve Howe biopic.

Steve Physioc just talked about a kid in the crowd with a foul ball:

"Everybody remembers the first foul ball they've caught."

I don't. I never caught one. I don't know if one has ever come within 10 feet of me.

In 36 years of attending baseball games.

6 - I don't catch them on the fly. I've gotten four after they've bounced off people or things.

My Dad is still bitterly looking for his first.

6 - If you want to get even more technical, Physioc made one of the most common grammar errors - improper pronoun agreement. "Everybody" is singular. Therefore, Steve should be using 'he or she,' or simply could choose one of the two.

7 I've caught only one, but it was a beaut.

Sitting in the first row behind the dugout at a Texas League game... batter hits a screaming line drive that I somehow catch on the fly with my bare left hand -- while still holding in that hand the pen I was keeping score with. I got a shout out from the P.A. announcer and a standing O from the crowd.

I believe I was about 15 years old. It's been all downhill since then.

I would also add that I wish I'd been able to make plays like that when I was, you know, actually playing baseball.

The closest I came to catching a foul ball was as a child in the old blue reserve section right up front and a foul ball caromed off the rail awakening me from my peaceful slumber. Countless times since in the field and lodge have wrought nothing.

Like Jeff Weaver every five days and Cesar Izturis in every at-bat, you can time a Dodger win by the insincere set of posts that indubitably follow. Good times.

I see Piazza more as a Tinky Winky to Navarro's Po.

Question on the etiquette of foul balls - exactly how long does the "anything goes" rule apply? A friend of mine knocked down a fast-moving foul ball behind the dugout, and was in the process of picking it up off the floor (e.g. had his hand completely around the ball) when it was yanked out of his grasp by a bratty teen who walked back to his neaderthal parents. We discussed whether or not this was proper etiquette, deciding not to press the issue as either we'd get into a fight or just look like jerks trying to take a ball from a kid (who really wasn't -that- young, he was probably 16 or 17).

Who wants to talk about the Dodgers after they lose... Oh wait, no offense :)

15 -- there's at least one person that doesn't tend to show up after they lose.

14 - Incidental contact for a free ball is okay - anything more than that is uncool. I'm totally against yanking from someone's hands or out-of-control pushing or lunging.

And by the way, I am firmly in favor of adults who don't want to be obligated to give a foul ball they got to a kid. If they want to, fine. But there's nothing worse than an adult getting his first foul ball, that he has waited for all his life, and being guilted into giving it up by an ignorant crowd.

Unfortunately for your friend, the rule for foul balls appears to be that possession is nine-tenths of the law.

The evil billionaires who bankrolled Project BROTheR have now informed me that they have pulled their funding and stopped sending goods to their underground lair in a volcano in the South Pacific, and are now beginning Project GRITLE -- Get Repko In The Lineup Everyday.

17 - Yeah, that is rather annoying (the 'guilted into giving up ball to kid' scenario). I think it's one thing if it's a situation like the one a couple years back, where some guy knocked down a kid to grab the ball. But otherwise, it feels like putting unfair pressure on somebody who should be able to sit back and enjoy a special moment.

17
I've already decided that if I ever catch a foul ball, I will give it to a kid and I usually scope around my section for a child I deem worthy should the event happen.

Bob, have you got a deadline for your 1962 playoff writeup? I e-mailed you to say I was listening to the awful thing (the 9th inning) on the sidelines of a peewee football game.

Love the Wiggles comment. But I'm not sure that Jeff could beat up Greg, given that Jeff always seems to be sleeping. Wiggles and Elmo are probably the two hottest things in my house these days. vr, Xei

21

It likely won't be for a few weeks.

23 'Kay. I'll help out if I can.

24
Thanks I'm looking for printable comments.

I got some from a coworker today. They are not suitable for a family audience. They're right out of "Deadwood".

I have caught 2 foul balls and they both came in the 1974 season. I was 13. The first by Willie Crawford and second by Ron Cey. For the Willie Crawford ball I was sitting on the field level behind the visitors dugout, it was a day game in the middle of the week (I have no idea why I wasn't in school). I was there with my older brother and my grandparents. My brother though it was so cool I cought it and I loved that he though it was so cool. I still have both balls which I have given to my daughter. They are yellow and almost plastic smooth from age and being handled but you can still see faintly see where I wrote the date and where we were sitting.

I guess Lyons was right. (5 words you don't hear very often)

BOB!!!! I found one!

http://www.sun-inet.or.jp/~mlbddf/shinjo_20030220.jpg

13 - Didn't Piazza have that press conference a few years ago to put down rumors like this? --counts # of times this joke has been made already--

I caught a puck at my first Kings game. It was the last season the Kings played in the Forum. I was there with one of my best friends and we were sitting one row above the glass. A puck came whizzing over the glass at full speed and the guy next to sticks his hand out, catches it for a split second and drops it. With very little effort I bent over and picked it up. He was nursing his hand in writhing pain (I swear the NHL loge was imprinted in his palm) and I was holding the puck. This made it kind of awkward to continue to sit next to him. I turned to my friend and told him I felt bad and asked whether the right thing to do was give it to the guy cause after all if he hadn't sacrificed his hand I wouldn't have come up with the puck. My buddy says "I dunno, let me see it." I handed it to him and he promptly turned around and gave it to a little kid two rows behind us. When I asked "why did you do that." He said "if you were going to give it back to the guy that knocked it down, than you don't deserve it in the first place." The guy with the NHL hand watched it and started laughing too.

Moral of the story is "All is fair in love, war and sports souvenirs."

(Yes he is still one of my closest friends and we still laugh about it today.)

I've caught and/or collected several foul balls at Advanced A, and AA games.

My first was a ball that I found underneath my car in the parking lot at Rec Park when I was about 17. I remember the ad that would always be played after the first foul ball into the parking lot: " Whether it's at the ball park or in your driveway, call Visalia Auto Glass for windshield replacement today."

The second was more recently at Prince Georges Couny Stadium, home of the AA Bowie Baysox. A lefty hit a screaming liner off of the front of the stadium's superstructure, and the ball kicked back. It rolled under about 15 rows of seats befoer poppng out between my feet. Since I was in the front row above a walkway, there was a retaining wall in front of me. Catching that ball, was as simple as bending over and picking it up. About 2 minutes later, the people next to me mentioned that I might want to hold the ball aloft so that everyone above me would stop searching for it and start paying attention to the game again.

25 I was eleven and attending Sts. Peter and Paul in Westwood. I don't think I'd learned cusswords yet. Mostly it was disbelief that Williams walked those batters. "These are the Dodgers! They don't do dumb things like that!"

I've since learned otherwise.

29 I worked for a minor league team in Riverside (the Pilots, Cal League affiliate for the Mariners at the time). Let's just say that attendance sucked most of the time. A few foul balls were hit near our concession stand and they were easy pickings. I still have one or two of them.

I know it really doesn't count, but that's the closest I've been to actually getting a foul ball.

I am a rare exception of foul ball catchers in that I have caught 3 and thrown 3 to the crowd. I feel funny in that the 2nd foul ball I caught was in front of my 9 yr old little brother at the time who in turn at my 3rd foul ball catching(which I gave to him) decided to mock what he saw me do with my 2nd foul ball and throw it at a kid in the crowd. Only my younger brother was not as discerning with his throwing arm as I was and ended up throwing the ball at a kid who was unaware. My brother is very athletic, the receiver of the ball ended up cathcing the foul with his cheek.

Am I heartless? I laughed my tail off.

31 The attendance for the Visalia Oaks/CV Rockies was always rather poor. They seemed averaged around 500/night, with a coulple hundred more or so on the weekend. They seem to have managed to increase attendance some what as of late, but that park is tiny, so it probably drags down for the whole leauge.

That said, the intimacy of it made it a great park for getting busted bats and foul balls. And if you're in the third row of seats, you're still closer to home plate than the pitcher. And there was a low spot in the fence at the gates behind the coaches boxes where you could stand and look out onto the field without looking through the backstop. And they stopped collecting tickets after the game became official so you could walk in and stay to the end.

I got one foul ball. I was little -- maybe 6 -- on the field level most of the way down the first base line. I was sitting on the aisle and a ball came to us and the adult sitting across the aisle made a great catch. He let me look at it and I said, "if you get another one can I have it". He laughed and said sure, and then the next batter hit a ball that bounced around and then down our stairs and he grabbed it and gave it to me.

Still pretty hard to believe.

I have one other ball -- I was sitting right next to the bullpen fence in left field during an interleague game w/Seattle. Alan Mills called out to a vendor and asked him to send down a big foam finger. The vendor did and Mills was goofing around with it in the pen. (This is all before the game started.) But the vendor kept calling out to get paid and, since I'd called him over, I just paid for the thing. Someone in the pen spotted that and started to razz Mills who came over and said he would get me the money when he could (no wallet in his uni, I guess). I said I didn't want to be paid but a signed ball would be really cool, and he went and got everyone in the pen to sign a ball for me -- Mills, Borbon, Todd Hundley was there, Rick Dempsey!. Also, it was just before the AS break and Ismael Valdez was out in the pen working on his stuff (which was awesome to watch up close) so he signed too.

Same day there was a huge brawl and Dempsey and others got ejected.

I'm sure I've told both those stories here before, so apologies.

Have "caught" one foul ball in my life--1983, Shea Stadium, Mets vs. Dodgers, Walt Terrell pitching, Greg Brock batting. Brock lifted a high fly down the right field line, where I was sitting in the boxes. Me, my friend and three or four other people all put our hands out trying to catch it. The ball bounces off of everyone's hands, and no one can find it for a few seconds. Where did it go? Right into my lap!

Postscript to the story--I got only one autograph on that ball. Steve Howe!

I survived getting a Delino DeShields home run in the Wrigley bleachers in the early 90's. Despite proudly wearing my Dodger cap, Cub fans still tried to pressure me to throw the ball back to the field. I could hear muttering of "That's the guy..." as I left the bleacher area. Unreal.

When I was a kid, Rich Rodriguez -- future Padres LOOGY -- gave me two baseballs for smuggling a couple of chili dogs to him through the bullpen gate during a minor league game.

My only chance at a foul ball was after I stopped bringing my glove to the stadium (now that I was older). I figured I would use my jacket (which I had taken off) to catch the ball if it came near me. A screaming and curving liner came over my head, so I held up my improvised mitt, but I hadn't set it up properly so it just flew through, like a bull through a cape. My bad.

The closest I've come to a foul ball is a Dave Kingman pop-up by the third base dugout. It bounced off my brother's hand, hit me in the nose, then someone else got it.

May 26th, 1999, Riverfront in Cincinnati I catch (on the bounce) a HR hit by Michael Tucker off Chan Ho Park. Fueled by many adult beverages I threw the ball back onto the field where it rolled up to the pitchers mound. Mondesi was in right field, even cracked a smile as I was being booed by thousands of people.

Just great stories.

35 That's quite a postcript.

[40] these days you'd probably get ejected and possibly prosecuted for throwing things onto the field.

40 You are so right, and I was scared I would be ejected or worse. My best friends 6 year old son who was with us still hasn't forgiven me and I don't blame him.

i have yet to catch a foul ball, but i've been close a half dozen times or so.

my 5 year old son got a ball from benjie (or was it jose?) molina during pre-game activities last year, attending what was probably his 5th major league game. one of the benefits of being an angels fan in twins territory, i guess.

hey, which one of you was "honey nut ichiros" in the DT fantasy league? whoever it is changed the name now (i think to "go foulke yourself"?), but i thought that was one of the best team names i'd ever seen.

and if you're going to stick with player puns and keep changing it over the course of the season, may i suggest "halladay in cambodia"...

At The Lima Game(TM), Jim Edmonds hit a line fly way down the left field line, which took me a while to realize that it was headed...right...for...me. After a few seconds of brave introspection, I outstretched my hand to make the catch; but, alas, the ball harmlessly bounded off my hand, leaving only the impression of a row of stitches on the upper part of my palm. As I was with three friends from school, much jeering and derision followed.

Who owns the trademark for that?

47 -- the ages

45 - No one better steal my name at BTF: Strangers with Candy Maldonado.

As for catching a ball, in August '98 a B.J. Surhoff homer into the Metrodome's RF deck hit me in the little finger and bounced away. To my grave, I'll claim pass interference because I was shoved in the back as the ball came in - and the varmint who fouled me ended up with the ball. :(
The next April, I went back to Minneapolis to see Red Sox-Twins. About 40 pitches after Surhoff's homer, a Jose Offerman foul went in and out of my grasp. No excuse for that one - I just have hands of stone.

45 - BTW, Vishal, love the DKs reference.

That opening segment for the draft on ESPN was just sickening. We wonder why there are so many problems with atheletes being glorified in society. Wow.

ESPN and sickening belong in the same sentence far too often, but there it is.

51
I would be embarassed if I was one of those players.

st. reginald is the new patron of new orleans.

[50] thanks :)

First foul ball off of Garvey in 1971 at my first game. We were right behind home plate and it was sitting there under my seat. I wasn't all that thrilled, as I wanted one of of Wes Parker I think. But, hey, I forced myself to get used to it:) And my son got a ball at his first major league game too three years ago. It wasn't a foul though. A player de Los Gigantes threw it to him. I never figured out who though. They were all wearing their warm up jerseys with no names or numbers. All the white guys look the same you know. I did get another ball a year or 2 ago at a 51's game off of Kellner (?), who I think was a catcher. I got that one with one hand and it would have hit me on the head if I didn't catch it. I think it was more like self defense actually. My son has a way at 51 games though. He has gotten bats, all kinds of autographed stuff and even food and snacks from players that they get in the locker rooms. lol
iz

If I run the Houston Texans, I pick Vince Young first and trade Carr. Problems with sacks? Get an unsackable quarterback.

If I were the Texans I would have traded down to get Ferguson and get more picks.

Norm wanted Young over Leinart...interesting...

No, Norm wanted Leinart, but got overruled by the GM.

58
I heard Fisher is gone after this season. The GM and Bud Adams made this decision. They did not really care what Chow wanted.

so leinert will fall to... oakland?

"The Titans' front office is debating with the coaching staff whether to take Leinart or Young with Young being the likely pick because the scouting department believes he could be the better quarterback in the long run."

Those who can't...

61
My worst nightmare.

I'm surprised ESPN isn't peeling back the players' lips to examine their gums. Of course, it's not a slave auction when they're throwing around $30 to $50 million. But the principle is the same. This is the time of year where sports begin to wear on me. Or maybe I'm just a Suns fan.

Also, good grief. The Padres look horrible. I haven't exactly been thrilled with the Dodgers game to game, but we're not getting shut out on two hits by number-five starters.

The Padres are going to finish at the bottom of the division. I think the other four teams will be competitive all year.

[63] why's that?

i hope green bay gets a.j. hawk. i really like hawk. and oakland needs a quarterback. (i'm only marginally into nfl football, but g.b. and oakland are my teams)

65

No, I picked the Padres to finish first.

I can't be wrong! My credibility will be shot.

Andrew Walters is a better fit for our offense. Leinart lacks good arm strength and accuracy on anything past 20 yards. The Raiders are all about the vertical offense.

Not impressed with the Eric Young/Dave Roberts left field platoon?

...but are they going to hand walters the starting job?

er, walter.

I heard Walters has been really impressive in mini camp. They might start Brooks at the beginning.

The 49ers made a great pick, too - Vernon Davis is going to be great. I hope those were tears of joy and not "Oh God... I have to play on the Niners." Seems genuine.

How come no one talks about the Bills taking a QB? I would expect them to pick Leinart or Cutler, they can't be sold on Losman and Holcomb. The Raiders could take a QB too but with Brooks and Walter and their recent history of young QBs... I'd be surprised still.

Fewwwwwwww

I think NFL teams have finally realized that most quarterbacks, no matter how good in college, face a difficult and unpredictable transition to the NFL. Leinart and Cutler will drop to lower spots than they would have in the past. Remember the 2002 draft when Carr and Harrington went 1 and 3? Neither has made a huge difference and they've played for 3 seasons.

i dont know if this has been mentioned yet but billingsley has only given up 16 hits in vegas, not 26 Jon.

76 "allowing a combined 26 hits and walks"

holy crap whitner in the top 10!??!?!?! OMG

Okaaaaay..... wouldn't have seen that coming, but the Bills did need defense. I would have thought Bunkley. Hmm. Detroit's probably not going to take a QB either after signing two in the offseason. I personally hope my Broncos take a WR like Jackson (even tho they're now rumored to be interested in Leinart)... Intrigue!

Marv Levy needs to go to a retirement home.

should have been Bunkley.

this is realll interesting. the vikes might trade up for leinart, hes a perfct fit for their WCO offense.

As a Niner fan, I'm very excited about Vernon Davis. Seems like a nice kid and has tons of upside. I'm sure Alex Smith is feeling much better about this upcoming season now.

As for Leinart, if he gets picked by the Cardinals, that's gotta be painful. Could he and Denny Green actually turn that franchise around? The ESPN guys are talking about Denver being interested in drafting him -- that seems like a good pick both for them and for Leinart.

who do the lions pick now? Huff is gone! Winston Justice?

noooo!!!! i wanted sims! noooo!

So, would Leinart have slipped this much last year? He may have really cost himself a lot of money.

Leinart's on the phone.. its denny green!

It's possible Leinart would have slipped last year too, but if the 49ers had taken him he wouldn't have been better off. At least the Cardinals have some great receivers.

vikes:
17- cromartie
48- jon alston
51- kellen clemens

if im right, i am king of the world.

85 "He may have really cost himself a lot of money."

I don't see how he's cost himself any money; what's he done wrong? Houston just threw a wrench into everything by picking someone other than one of the big three.

I forgot about the Cards having Larry Fitzgerald and Andre Bolton... not to mention Edgerrin James. Wow, if they get an offensive line, that's quite an offense.

I meant by not coming out last year and being a top 3.

I think the Vikings should take Lawson. I think Lawson is absolute sav.

*is an absolute

91 Ah. Well, maybe. From what I've read he enjoyed the heck out of that senior year, what with the run at the nat'l championship and all.

vikes have erasmus james and kenechi udeze. I would love lawson but we need a LB, DB or QB!

I wish the Rams would pick Lawson.

I think Lawson can play LB. He is 6'4" and about 250. He ran a 4.4 40. I think he definitely can play linebacker.

I think CLE is going Ngata or Lawson. rams cutler.

broncos trade up!!! its cutler!

No doubt the Rams just traded for a backup placekick holder.

so bllingsley had a one hitter last night? I guess hes decent.

Wow, I'm just tickled with the Broncos trade for Cutler. All they gave up was one of their multiple 3rd rounders. I'm stoked. Hopefully they can still get a WR or TE (or a S) with the early 2nd rounder.

Man, who will sneak away with Brod. Bunkley?

Yeah, we've gotten off topic haven't we. How about that Billingsley? We should take bets on which member of the current Dodger rotation he'll replace later this year.

102 Er, and their #15 slot first rounder of course.

Why would a team draft a CB or S in the higher end of the first round? It just seems to me that drafting a DB isn't the wisest choice towards the beginning of the draft unless he is the next coming of Deion or Rod Woodson (something like that).

Then again, I'm not a big fan of NFL teams drafting based on need. I like the idea of taking the highest rated player on your board and sort everything else out later.

The Raiders have had problems at safety forever. So I am happy they possibly took care of that problem.

Huff was a great choice, he is explosive and a tackling machine.

The Rams did not need Cutler. He's comp is Mark Bulger(!)

Ngata is not going to be great in the NFL. I watched him too much at Oregon and didn't see great things.

106 I'll take your word for it. Is he a great pick at #7 given the rest of the players on the board?

On other topics, I know ESPN.com is in it to make money. The draft coverage used to be way better before they moved everything behind the insider wall.

You're supposed to say then "Ngata chance."

108
Oregon players haven't fared well in recent years.

111 Oddly, the ones that have done well are less heralded, like AJ Feeley and Reuben Droughns.

Droughns was really good at Oregon. Just with all his injuries his draft status went way down.

Big Unit gives up 5 in the first 3 innings -- 6-5 Yankees in the third. Detroit up 11-0 against Minn -- only 4 innings gone.

I look at the standings across the league and it's like Spring Training or something; certainly the real season hasn't begun. Cincinnati? Colorado? Toronto. Detroit in second? Atlanta 9-13? Lots of amazing out there.

112
Well, to some extent, being relatively unheralded may mean that you're more likely to end up with a better team than if you're relatively heralded, which in turn may mean you're more likely to succeed. Joey Harrington is a good example of a guy who probably would have been better off (from the standpoint of on-field success) if he had been picked later in the first round by a better team.

I can't see it, but on the radio they just described some goofy play in the Nationals Cardinals that was originally scored as two errors (one on guillen misplaying a ball in right and another on Vidro who I think botched a relay throw to second). Then the scorer took back the error on Vidro, with the radio announcers saying you could only have one error where the baserunner only went from first to second on the play.

I assume Bob called in on this one . . .

102 - So about this Bunkley fellow...

115 - Amen! Sounds like D4P is a Dolphins fan who suffered through the A.J. Feeley era down there.

116

Maybe my brother was in the press box to complain. I would assume that Rick Hummel of the Post-Dispatch was there and he was an official scorer for a long time. He probably straightened the guy out.

Here's a weird thing. The Cardinals-Nats game is listed as going on my cable system from 11-2. But the Cubs-Brewers game is scheduled from 11-2:30. They must anticipate a lot of scoring. And it is 3-0 Brewers after one inning.

I smell Justice for Minnesota!

vikes on the clock! cromartie come on!

Oh yeah, Vikings probably want "character" guys after last year.

What about Deangelo Williams?

118 one more (likely irrelevant data point), Nationals/Cardinals had a 15 minute or so delayed start due to (I think) am rain. Listeing to radio announcers other than Vin Scully (and chasing two kids around at the same time, to be fair), really leaves you guessing about many basic facts.

defense defense defense!

Unlike Sam, I can watch the Nationals on TV. With Bob Carpenter and Tom Paciorek calling the action.

It definitely looks like it's rained in St. Louis.

Funny thing about the 2003 Vikings 1st round blunder, is that Kevin Williams is their best player. They may have been late, but they got the right guy.

Greenway is solid. You know what you are getting.

bah, im not excited.

Yeah, he is nothing to be excited about, but definitely a Childress kind of guy. He is not strong at all though.

114 Detroit has 'the Leyland factor' and seems to be getting his guys to buy into it. They're pitching's not too shabby with Bonderman, Maroth and Rogers. They've got a few sticks in the line-up, plus speed. I see them contending this year.

wow, looks like the tigers finally figured out francisco liriano.

This is terrible. The team I hate the most (Niners) drafted the two players I liked the most.

114 "Cincinnati? Colorado? Toronto. Detroit in second? Atlanta 9-13? Lots of amazing out there."

That darn WBC screwed everything up.

Not that I really care about the NFL, but... did anybody take Mike Huff (not the ex-Dodger) and Thomas Howard yet?

134 Michael Huff went to the Raiders.

Has Indianapolis picked yet? They were supposedly going to take Howard.

Pujols hit his 14th, good for the best home run mark in April. The homer broke a 1-1 tie, off DT-favorite Gigantor

135 Nice pick by the Steelers! Santonio Holmes to fill the gaper left by Randle El.

138 Think he's worth the 3rd and 4th round picks that the Steelers used to jump up and get him?

139 I did not KNOW that. Pretty expensive, but day is da Super Bowl champs. Another target for Big Ben. I think they're gonna be okay.
As a UT fan, I am surprised by my interest in following the two USC players and how they shake out, respectively. Very excited for NO and AZ.

wow, lendale is falling. addai goes to indy at 30 with lendale still on the board.

and winston justice is still on the board.

see Hobos beat me to the punch. Gigantor got out of the inning 1-2-3. With two down in the top ninth (including a bizarre decision by Frank Robinson to let Royce Clayton hit) Isringhausen just walked the bases full.

Nick Johnson up.

Johnson first pitch swinging grounds out to Pujols. Amazing, such a patient hitter going so quickly and meekly after the pitcher just issued three straight walks, including a four-pitcher to Vidro immediately before.

141 Given Lendale's torn hammy and no appearances at either the combine or USC pro day, that's not tremendously surprising. I do think he'll be a good pick for whoever snags him, especially if he doesn't have to live up to high-first-round expectations.

Back to beisbol, we've got a 17-6 and a 13-1 game so far today. Both of those contents scored more runs than the Dodgers/Padres will get in their entire series. LOL.

In this morning's "Morning Briefing" they had an item about an NCAA Div.I switch pitcher. Does anyone know, has there ever been one in MLB. That would be pretty wild. I suppose the pitcher would tip his hand depending on which glove he used but it sure would mess with some match-ups.

the miami streak is still alive! Jennings drafted by seahawks.

144 Along with those two, you missed the 18-1 game. Lots of runs being scored today

The ball is jumping today. Detroit 18 runs, Yankees 17 runs and Brewers 13 runs.

Duh, sorry missed 144 and 147.

145 I've seen that pitcher for Creighton (my girlfriend's brother plays there). He uses a six finger glove, if i remember correctly. There was an incident about two weeks ago in a game vs. Nebraska with a switch hitter coming up to bat. They eventually let the batter decide which way he wanted to hit (see recap: http://tinyurl.com/phma8 ). What is the rule about that? I imagine that once you step in the box/on the rubber, you can't switch over, but what if no one wants to commit?

Come on Winston Justice, Max Jean Gilles, or heck even Lendale White (he seems like a Raider).

I always thought a switch hitter was free to change sides in the middle of an at bat. If so, why can't a pitcher do the same. Even if the hitter can't switch, it seems the pitcher should be permitted.

I thought that once the at bat begins, no changes are permitted, but I could be wrong.

Also, Harvard currently has a switch pitcher, but they don't use him in the same way. Typically, he'll start the front end of a doubleheader (that's the way they play in the Ivies -- twinbills on Saturday and Sunday, typically), and come in to pitch relief in the second game pitching with the opposite hand. Interesting, but seeing as how pitching uses so much leg strength, it's not like you get to pitch twice as long by switching arms.

stupid al davis and his obessession with speed. Thomas davis has the football IQ of baboon.

154 I was at the matinee opening of "Barfly" in San Francisco. It was the fall of '87. The Lumiere was packed and there were two seats left next to me. These two old-timer dice-shaking bar-drinkers took 'em and as one of them was sitting down he uttered, 'There is a God.' The other replied, 'Yeah. And his name is Al Davis.' That's all I got. I'm out.

Typical Al pick.

I believe there have been five switch pitchers in major league baseball. Four of them were pre-1900: Tony Mullane, Larry Corcoran, John Roach, and Icebox Chamberlain. Greg Harris of the Expos did it in 1995 in one inning. He had always been ambidextrous, but none of teams he played for before had ever let him do it.

155 God wears silver and black track suits?

Randy Winn just made a great leaping catch to steal a possible home run from Eric Byrnes.

Alou just hit a home run to win the game. I definitely wouldn't want to give him a high five.

158 I don't know. But I do know that VY will be handing off to Mr. Leedale White!
That's right. I said Leedale! All in the sudden, the Music City is looking h-o-t. AND humid!

160 Ya know, pee is sterile. And those eastern bloc grandmas swear by it as a restorative. Good enough for me.

162- credit to Wikipedia
"A healthy individual's urine is sterile while it is still in the bladder. However, if an individual has a bacterial infection of the urethra, there can be some transmittance of the infection to a person who drinks the urine. Even in the absence of an active infection, urine can pick up pathogens at any point after leaving the body, as there is always some amount of bacteria on skin and in the air."
You never know. I'd wear a batting glove while high fiving him or maybe I'd just give him the fist.

Lasorda and Jamie McCourt are going to the White House Correspondents' dinner, tonight. Stephen Colbert is hosting which raises my, "If the building caught fire, and all inside perished, how bad would I feel about it?" quotient by enough that I can promise not to set the building on fire, myself.

Meanwhile, owner, schmowner, the hottest story in Natsland -- was Frank Robinson sleeping during thursday night's loss to the cardinals?

http://dcbb.blogspot.com/ says "looks like it, hard to be sure." Commenter at same site says, "absolutely."

162 I think I heard Vin say that once, come to think of it.

An unrelated note: I very much look forward to Jon's write-up on Howe.

163 I meant 163, not 162. Thanks UM.

Vikings get the athletic Jackson, the QB with the best arm in the draft.

Ben Rothlisberger is at the WHC dinner, too. He's the guest of Wolf Blitzer. CSPAN's play by play guy doesn't know who any of these people are.

Antonin Scalia is in attendence, too, and he's walking around with a beer bottle. Could be for drinkin', could be for brawlin'. CSPAN's play by play guy was intimidated enough to misidentify him as Cheif Justice.

That's probably enough updating, though.

But where else can one find a WHC gameday?

Don't know who, but somebody has to be live-blogging it. Maybe it'll be somebody who knows how to spell chief, so, you know: bonus.

168

jackson has an absolute gun for an arm. His completion % was above 60 percent last year so that is good. IMO, completion % is the most important statistic when trying to forecast college qbs to the nfl.

anyways, i think they gave up too much for him.

all in all, i am slighty disappointed with my vikes first day draft.

172 With Stephen Colbert hosting that dinner, it ought to be interesting. Oh, there's another special guest, too:

http://tinyurl.com/mec3v

A certain Ambassador and his wife.

Colbert is bombing, big time. It's hard to say that he's doing worse than the Presidents did. But I'm pretty sure he is. Sad.

The Scalia greeting is good. Okay, they're tied at one good joke each. But Colbert has been talking for a while, so his rate stats are a little worse.