If you yearn for a playoff atmosphere in June, there’s not much for you in MLB or the Bus Leagues. Fortunately, we have college baseball, which starts the season in the frigid months so it can coincide with kids actually being in school instead of on beaches somewhere. Friend of the site Brian Foley has been running the highly successful College Baseball Blog for a couple of years now, and he and his staff...
Any time I read about some intrepid soul venturing out to see as many baseball games as possible, I get a little bit jealous. But when I read about an RV that will be hitting 60+ minor-league ballparks across the United States, and also chowing on pancakes, I just have to write about it. It seems that the International House of Pancakes will be celebrating a 50th anniversary soon. To share the wealth, they’ve...
The Z-meter tracks the story arcs of 25 top prospects (or players we just like) on their way to the bigs. It is named after current Washington Nationals star Ryan Zimmerman, who made the transition from anchoring the University of Virginia to starring in MLB in one year. Promoted: Evan Longoria, 3B, Durham (AAA) to Tampa Bay Rays (MLB) Luke Hochevar, RHP, Omaha (AAA) to Kansas City Royals (MLB) Max Scherzer, RHP, Tucson (AAA)...
If you read the Z-meter, you’ve probably noticed that St. Louis prospect Colby Rasmus is one of the few triple-A denizens of the meter not to have a red-hot stat line yet this season. Despite being a guest of the parent club during spring training, Rasmus has struggled since being sent back to the Memphis Redbirds for a few more reps. Why? Hard to say. But reader Bruce, a Redbirds fan, sent us an...
Wow, quite a week for our friend NaturalMevs over at Diamond Hoggers. First he wins the Jay Bruce nickname contest, then he gets to see The Deal’s first official at-bat as a major leaguer. Since we’re in full-on worship mode, we’d be remiss if we didn’t direct you to this excellent recounting of the big event: The last thing in the world I ever expected to see was Bruce, before the biggest game of...
I spent part of my Memorial Day weekend at the ballpark, thanks to fellow blogger Marco (seen with beer above), who wanted to see the Washington Nationals’ new home, and invited me to meet him there. Marco, OMDQ and I all are part of the Channel Four News Team that once upon a time filled the pages of Awful Announcing with live-blogs to shake the very foundations of the earth. We’ve scattered a bit...
The internet is a fickle place. As of this posting, our request for a new nickname for superstud Jay Bruce has been our most popular entry to date, snagging over 3,000 views. Of those, the post garnered 42 comments (at least eight of those came from me or OMDQ) and about 12 proposed nicknames. We narrowed that down to five finalists and put up a poll, which has picked up…. 9 votes in three...
Jack from the New Jersey Jackals is either color-blind, or he is a good guy who wants to cure breast cancer. Either way, it’s nice of him to pitch in around the clubhouse: Jack the Jackal Does the Laundry from New Jersey Jackals on Vimeo. Thanks to reader Will for sending this along – there are a few more where this one came from!
The Z-meter tracks the story arcs of 25 top prospects (or players we just like) on their way to the bigs. It is named after current Washington Nationals star Ryan Zimmerman, who made the transition from anchoring the University of Virginia to starring in MLB in one year. Promoted: Evan Longoria, 3B, Durham (AAA) to Tampa Bay Rays (MLB) Luke Hochevar, RHP, Omaha (AAA) to Kansas City Royals (MLB) Max Scherzer, RHP, Tucson (AAA)...
This nickname thing is harder than it looks. Everyone I asked liked a different name best. I did, however, manage to narrow the list down to five top vote-getters that appeared on multiple ballots, so I’m going to turn it over to you all to settle things with a good old fashioned polling. Vote on Jay Bruce’s Nickname here Just so’s you know how we narrowed things down, here is the saga of how...
2012 05 14 Scranton Wilks Barre/ Empire State Yankees vs Pawtucket Red Sox
