Wow! Today is an exciting day at Behind the Dish Blog!
It’s moving day! Behind the Dish Blog is now…. (drum roll please!)
Randy Johnson Death Stare. This more accuartely reflects Behind the Dish Blog’s emphasis, which has moved away from MLB news, to reflect Behind the Dish Blog’s regional location and support of the Seattle Mariners. Thank you for following Behind the Dish Blog and be sure to continue following at Randy Johnson Death Stare.
Thank you for your support!
Robert B. Sullivan
By Ed Achorn, author of “Fifty-nine in ’84: Old Hoss Radbourn,
Barehanded Baseball and the Greatest Season a Pitcher Ever Had”
(HarperCollins)
In the age of pampered $50 million arms and strictly enforced pitch counts,
imagine a pitcher winning 59 major-league games in a single season, starting
73 games and completing all of them, throwing 678 innings, and then winning
all three games of the World Series — with no other performance-enhancing
drugs to sustain him than a quart of whiskey a day. It may seem unbelievable
that any human could do it, but it really happened, and you can read all
about it in my new book, “Fifty-nine in ’84: Old Hoss Radbourn,
Barehanded Baseball and the Greatest Season a Pitcher Ever Had”
(HarperCollins).
This account of the brutal world of early big-league
baseball — played barehanded, by violent, crafty and ill-educated men –
has been hailed by the Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, New York Post,
Dallas Morning News, Baseball America and more. To buy it cheap go here:
http://amzn.to/cez5Tv
or check out my Web site at http://www.OldHoss.com
David Aardsma picks up the save as the M’s win 4-3.
In the post-game interview Mike Sweeney credits Ken Griffey Jr. for the Mariners recent turn around, and says that Junior is the heart and soul of the Mariners. I don’t understand the slack Sweeney has gotten for sticking up for Griffey and the club in the Mariners clubhouse. Sweeney is to the 2010 Mariners what Jay Buhner was to the 1995 Mariners, a leader.
M’s designated hitter Mike Sweeney homered for the second time in as many days. His bat has began to heat up since challenging the two unnamed players to come forth in the Mariners clubhouse.
Sweeney also has a single and stolen base in this evening’s game. It also marks the second consecutive game for Seattle with at least 3 homeruns.
Mike Sweeney is once again starting at DH against a RHP, leaving Griffey on the bench. Griffey has seen limited action since the Larry LaRue/Napgate story broke.
The question concerning this: is manager Don Wakamatsu feeling the heat? Despite Griffey’s struggles, Wakamatsu had been playing Griffey at DH against right-handers. Is the front office controlling his moves regarding Griffey, knowing that a release of Junior with five Griffey promotional days in the first half would be disastrous?
Off to a 13-21 start, one has to wonder if the axe will soon fall on Wakamatsu as it did in Kansas City’s firing of manager Trey Hillman.
Franklin Guiterrez has gotten the M’s off to quick 2-0 lead against the Tampa Bay Rays. You can follow the game live on FSN or http://seattlemariners.com
Jamie Moyer and this 1963 Chevrolet Impala (about the same age as the pitcher, Moyer was born Nov. 18, 1962) have some parallels. Continue reading
Yesterday “Napgate” took an interesting turn with Ken Griffey Jr.’s agent Brian Goldberg throwing a lifeline to Larry LaRue and the staff of the Tacoma News Tribune. However, the T.N.T. staff wants to stand up and puff out their chests, a la Mike Sweeney. Darrine Beene, T.N.T. sports team leader denied the Goldberg report yesterday. John McGrath is in on the “deny, deny, deny” tactic now as well, with this headline: “Griffey has clairvoyant for agent”. From that, here is McGrath’s best impersonation of Sweeney:
“Personally? By Thursday morning, I wanted to let this topical storm take its natural course and dissipate into the yonder. I wanted the focus to return to the game on the field, and the ways (if any) the Mariners can prevent their descent into baseball-standings oblivion.”–John McGrath
I’d also like the opportunity to suggest Jeff’s Mariners blog: http://jeffsmariners.com
Brian Goldberg, agent to Ken Griffey Jr. spoke up today for a Bill Swartz story on mynorthwest.com. Goldberg went on the record saying that LaRue published the story on accident… oops! I applaud Ken Griffey Jr. and Brian Goldberg who have stepped up and been the bigger men in this “Napgate” fiasco, while there is still nothing out of the LaRue camp.
Larry, Brian Goldberg threw you a lifeline and you don’t want to take it? You can’t own up to poor judgement? Bad reporting? Name your sources? Can you make a statement of your own?
The Mariners bats have been showing some life as of late, but homeruns by Ichiro, Michael Saunders and DH Mike Sweeney were not enough to pull out a victory against the Baltimore Orioles in today’s matinee.
Felix Hernandez gave 7 solid innings and was lifted with a 5-1 lead. Brandon League, who hadn’t allowed a run in nearly six innings surrendered five runs to even his record at 3-3 on the year.
