Baseball

"New York would have torn down and rebuilt this stadium at a cost of $800 million to $1.5 billion so that Bernie Madoff and his ilk would feel adequately pampered in their box seats behind home plate. At $250 million, Kansas City's new remodel was by no means cheap but the result is a far better, more crowd-pleasing ballpark than either the new Yankees or Mets stadiums we've heard so much about." - Bill Sodeman via Bookmarklet

I love the stadium now. Going to another game on the 25th. Can't wait. Kingvision rocks. - Ben Hanten

The stadium looks great on TV... but I always thought Kauffman was a nice park. KC did this renovation right. - Bill Sodeman

"Why does Major League Baseball use an outdated, misleading camera angle to show the batter and pitcher?" - Brad Williamson via Bookmarklet

Good question. The strike zone boxes that ESPN and FOX use are a help, but the dead center angle works nicely, especially in HD. Split the screen, and use the other parts to show a baserunner or the batter in profile. - Bill Sodeman

I'll have to watch the next Rays-Red Sox game on NESN, just to see the dead center camera angle. - Bill Sodeman

"Just in the past two years, Dykstra has been the subject of at least 24 legal actions, including 18 since November. Three suits hit the courts on Jan. 29. He's been sued by publishers and print companies, by three different groups of pilots and by a Maryland-based financial and litigation consulting firm that offered expert testimony on his behalf in an earlier lawsuit. He's even been sued by a die-hard Mets fan who was the best man at his wedding 20-some years ago, though that New York investor claims there is no bad blood." - Brad Williamson via Bookmarklet

Brad, I'm not upset at all - I just added the link from April when I realized "hey, I read that article before..." No harm, no foul! :) - Bill Sodeman

"For the past several years, furries have been holding their annual convention in Pittsburgh. And that led to a positively surreal exchange between Mets broadcasters Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez during yesterday’s Mets/Pirates game. It all started when the camera lingered for a moment on the Pirates’ mascot." - Bill Sodeman via Bookmarklet

It was a happy Canada Day for the Jays, who took the rubber match of the 3-game series with the Rays 5-0. - Bill Sodeman via Bookmarklet

"Yesterday we posted Sony's take on why Moneyball, the Soderbergh/Pitt film based on Michael Lewis' book, died five days before shooting was to start. Now someone close to the project has provided us with a different version of events. First, let's briefly recap what we and others have reported so far: The film was set to begin shooting last week. Five days before the start of shooting, director Steven Soderbergh turned in a rewrite of the original script, which was written by Steven Zaillian, that Sony executives, led by co-Chairman Amy Pascal, did not like. The studio felt that Soderbergh, who was insistent that every event in the film had to have taken place in real life, was taking the film in an "artsy" direction that they weren't willing to gamble $58-million dollars on, so they killed it. That's the short version of events according to Amy Pascal anyway. Since then a few more details about the project emerged." - Brad Williamson via Bookmarklet

Big baseball fan, but that movie sounded totally uninteresting from the get go - Steve C

"The Angels have ranked as the most fan-friendly baseball team for six consecutive years in the annual ESPN study, but this is the first time the Angels have ranked No. 1 among all the teams in the four major North American sports leagues. The Lakers ranked No. 51. The Clippers ranked last, at No. 122." - Steve C via Bookmarklet

It's not all that bad. It's still at the Staples Center - Rodfather

"Yet this season there have been four straight steals of home and amazingly, it happened twice on Sunday: Chris Getz did it on a combined botched suicide squeeze and wild pitch that was ruled a stolen base against the Cubs, and Gary Matthews Jr. swiped home on a straight steal against the Diamondbacks after getting the green light from manager Mike Scioscia. "I figured I could give it a shot," said Matthews Jr." - Bill Sodeman via Bookmarklet

Congratulations Rays on the accomplishment - Russ Jackson via Bookmarklet

""Nights like (Tuesday) night [hosting the Phillies] give us pause, and make us question how quickly we can get this ramped up," Silverman said Wednesday. "It makes us question whether we have the firepower we need to keep this team compelling and competitive." Silverman was careful to say he was not criticizing the team's fans. His remarks, he said, were directed at the market's viability." - Bill Sodeman via Bookmarklet

"The Tampa Bay Rays became the fastest team to reach 100 homers and 100 steals by the All-Star break when B.J. Upton homered in the third of inning of Sunday's game against Florida. Upton's solo homer on the first pitch in the bottom of the third off Andrew Miller was the Rays' 100th this season. Tampa Bay, which started Sunday with 116 stolen bases, accomplished the feat in 77 games. The previous fastest were Cincinnati (1977) and Cleveland (1994), who both did it in 84 games according to Stats LLC. The only other two teams to reach that mark by the All-Star break since 1954 were the Marlins (2003) and the Blue Jays (1998)." - Bill Sodeman via Bookmarklet

"The man accused of drunken driving in the crash that killed Angel pitcher Nick Adenhart and two others ordered his injured stepbrother to flee the crash scene, according to testimony in court records made public today. The more than 200 pages of grand jury transcripts in the case of Andrew Thomas Gallo, 22, of San Gabriel, shed light into the details of the crash." - Bill Sodeman via Bookmarklet

"The Supreme Court could decide as early as Monday whether it will hear the case, which involves American Needle Inc.'s challenge to the league's exclusive contract for selling headwear such as caps and hats with team logos on them. American Needle of Buffalo Grove, Ill., is also urging high court review. Football team owners hope the high court will issue a broader decision that would insulate the NFL against what they contend are costly, frivolous antitrust lawsuits. At the heart of the matter is whether the NFL's teams constitute 32 distinct businesses or a single entity that can act collectively without violating antitrust law. The case is important to other professional sports besides football. The National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League both filed friend-of-the-court briefs siding with the NFL." - Bill Sodeman via Bookmarklet

Rays win. Woo hoo - Russ Jackson via Bookmarklet

"Last night, on June 23, Avner Ronen, the founder and chief executive of Boxee—the open-source software platform that reinvents the living room by bringing all kinds of Web content onto your TV screen—announced that Major League Baseball will be the first premium content provider to stream live, subscription-based video through the Boxee software. According to Mr. Ronen, the MLB.tv deal is a "holy grail" of sports content—with thousands of ball games, available live and on-demand. MLB.tv's premium package also offers DVR-like features so users can pause and rewind a live game. Users will dole out a $89.95 yearly fee so they can watch MLB games streaming on their PCs. (Peanuts compared to box seats!)" - Brad Williamson via Bookmarklet

This will definitely spike usage of Boxee. Hardcore fans love them some baseball. - Brad Williamson

I'm already an mlb.tv premium subscriber. This definitely takes me from "I should move my mini to the living room with the big tv sometime" to "I'll have to find some time to move the mini this weekend." - Marty

Ichiro hasn't gone hitless in consecutive games all year. - Mike Reynolds via Bookmarklet

"Last night the Brooklyn Cyclones, a minor league affiliate of the New York Mets, transformed into the "Baracklyn Cyclones" to honor Barack Obama in "a night of patriotic partying at the ballpark." Some Cyclone fans were not pleased. To celebrate the occasion, the team wore special red, white and blue jerseys, invited Amber Lee Ettinger, the Obama Girl, to the throw out the first pitch, distributed Obama bobbleheads to fans, offered "universal health care" to fans in the form of free Band-Aids, gave free admission to anyone named "Barack," admitted any plumbers named Joe in for free—I think you get the picture here—The whole thing was a bit over the top, but most of the fans seemed to enjoy it. But of course, as with all things, some did not enjoy the evening, and a tipster whose husband has knowledge of the team said in an email that there's been a bit of a backlash from some of their Obama-hating fans." - Brad Williamson via Bookmarklet

That sucks - Rodfather

"“He didn’t say he might hit the Hall of Fame,” Aldrete said. “He said he would hit the Hall of Fame.”  And that is exactly what Pujols did in the 4th inning. Pujols launched a grand slam off a Gil Meche 3-2 pitch." - Mike Reynolds via Bookmarklet

Cubs get 10 hits but score no runs. - Mike Reynolds via Bookmarklet

Woo hoo now that's great news. - Russ Jackson

"While Ramirez is not eligible to rejoin the Dodgers until July 3, baseball found a loophole. On Tuesday he will join the Dodgers' Triple-A Albuquerque affiliate. He is allowed 10 games in the minor leagues to make sure he is ready to play the day the suspension ends." - Steve C via Bookmarklet

How ridiculous Manny gets to come play in the Minor, though he's suspended from baseball. - Steve C

Makes a case for the juicers. - Mike Doeff via Bookmarklet