Seattle Mariners Trade Ichiro to New York Yankees

Yeah, this is a baseball post, but this is too wild to not write about. Today the Seattle Mariners traded their former leadoff hitter Ichiro Suzuki to the New York Yankees for two right-handed pitchers they’ll probably never get anything out of. The Yankees are in town tonight to play the Mariners, but it’s unclear whether or not Ichiro will be playing for the Yankees tonight. My limited baseball knowledge tells me that batting .261 with a .288 on-base percentage is not good, and at 38 it’s not going to get much better. The chances are Ichiro will be a bit player for a team leading their division, and maybe the Mariners just want Ichiro to get a World Series ring since they sure as hell aren’t going for another millennium or so.

Wow. I’m not used to seeing the Mariners without Ichiro, and now the staple of their franchise has gone to the biggest one in all of baseball. It’s not a shock, because Ichiro has been moved around in the batting order so he could ground-out in different positions, but he’s pretty much the only recognizable fielding player on the team. He’s probably the greatest Mariner of all-time and 2001, his first year in the majors, was an instant success for himself and for the team (they won 116 games). Even through the bad periods he’s always been Mr. Consistency as the dependable leadoff hitter, but now they’re bad and he’s bad, so something had to give. I’m sure the Mariners fanbase and Seattle sports fans greatly appreciate everything he’s done for the city and all he’s accomplished despite being on one of the worst teams in the league for so long.

This probably will clear the way for the Mariners to improve their offense by trading for 150 more pitchers and overpaying for guys from the LA area (ahem)Beltre and Figgins(ahem).

That’s enough baseball out of me, go on with your day.

VIDEO: DeWayne Wise Drops Fly Ball, Umpire Calls it a Clean Catch Anyway

Yes, this is a baseball post. It’s incompetent umpire time! The New York Yankees hosted the Cleveland Indians tonight and in the top of the 7th with two outs, a difficult fly ball heading into the stands was dropped by left fielder DeWayne Wise. An out was called by umpire Mike DiMuro. Inning over. Wait what?

That’s right. Wise clearly doesn’t catch the ball upon replay but DiMuro calls an out anyway thinking he did catch it. What this video doesn’t show you is the guy in the red shirt who not only picks up the ball right in front of security, but proudly holds it up with DiMuro soon coming towards Wise to see if he did indeed catch it. DiMuro never asked to see the ball and pretty much figured it was a catch because Wise clutched his glove into a position where he made it seem as if he had the ball in his hand.

You would think the very first thing they tell you in umpire school in these situations is to actually see the item in question. NOPE! Mr. Umpire here is convinced enough from Wise’s empty (but folded!) glove and the top of the 7th is complete. It was probably inconsequential since it was a foul ball and the Indians lost 6-4 anyway, but holy crap is that gross incompetence. DiMuro should be suspended just for making such an obvious boo-boo.

I now leave you with our red-shirted friend on the far left of this screenshot. There was no second ball, he just caught the one DiMuro believed was in Wise’s glove.

Out.

Jose Canseco Thinks Al Gore is Dead For Some Reason

Former baseball great, known steroid user, and all-around wacky man Jose Canseco has built up a good history of saying crazy things. Hell, just the other day he wanted to fight Shaquille O’Neal in a mixed martial arts match! Well I think he’s topped that, and anything involving his steroids intake with this actual tweet where he declares former Vice President Al Gore dead.

Wow. I’ve read his other tweets in his profile and there appears to be no context at all for him to defend that genius statement. He went on a half-coherent rant about global warming earlier today and capped it off with the false killing of Mr. Gore. Predictably this gem has spread all over the internet and should be in the news in no time.

Other things Canseco believes include:

- Tupac was never shot.
- The Patriots won Super Bowl XLVI.
- All of the maple syrup in Canada has dried up.
- Gas prices are at an all-time low.
- Jose Canseco is a sane human being.

 

RIP Al Gore. This is an inconvenient truth indeed.

AUDIO OF THE DAY: David Freese’s Home Run as Called on BBC Radio

The Seahawks lost badly again yesterday. It was another unremarkable week of ugly football in what’s becoming a slowly unwatchable season (thank you lockout!). So here’s another baseball post from me, a clip of BBC Five Live Sports Extra’s Simon Brotherton calling David Freese’s game 6 clinching home run in the World Series. Yes, British people commentate on baseball and it’s fantastic to hear the actual commentary.

View it after the jump……

The St. Louis Cardinals Win the World Series

After last night did anyone expect anything else? Sure Texas jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 1st inning but it didn’t even last to the top of the 2nd. The Rangers’ pitching imploded and gave up two unearned runs tonight on a bases-loaded walk and a bases-loaded HBP. Chris Carpenter on three-days rest outpitched Matt Harrison and then in the bullpen….well….did I mention the two unearned runs? It was almost anticlimactic after the drama that was game 6.

What a resilient team. What a fantastic World Series. St. Louis is a worthy champion. Tony LaRussa getting an 83 win Cardinals team to win the World Series in 2006 was special, but to rally from as much as 10.5 games down in the wild card chase and then knock off the Phillies and Brewers (clinching both on the road) and then toppling the Rangers the way they did is miraculous.

There’s no point in me putting up a video that will get taken down by Major League Baseball because they really want you to go to their website, so here’s something different.

The Thrill of Victory (Viva El Birdos)

The Agony of Defeat (Lone Star Ball)

And all of this reaction can be traced back to Series MVP David Freese’s two-out, two-strike, 9th inning triple to tie the game at 7-7, followed two innings later by Freese’s walk-off solo home-run to win it 10-9.

Congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals on their 11th World Series title, and probably their most improbable one.

This is definitely the year for resilient champions. Green Bay needed to win three road games to get to the Super Bowl. The Dallas Mavericks had THREE double-digit comebacks against the LA Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Miami Heat respectively to fuel their run towards their first NBA championship. The Boston Bruins won three game 7s including in Vancouver to win the Stanley Cup. Japan’s women’s soccer team upset the host nation Germany and then the heavily favored United States in the final to claim their first ever World Cup.

What a year it’s been for sports, and tonight is a perfect example of how crazy and unpredictable it is.

Baseball Gods Continue to Mess With Texas by Unleashing David Freese

I’d like to have a high-quality video of virtually any highlight from last night’s incredible game 6 of the World Series, but MLB is stuck in the 19th century when it comes to showing their footage on Youtube. David Freese saved the St. Louis Cardinals’ season with a two-out, two-strike, two-RBI triple to tie the game up at 7-7 in the bottom of the 9th. After Texas took the lead back in the top of the 10th at 9-7 on a Josh Hamilton home-run, St. Louis wrecked the Rangers in the bottom half of the inning and with the score at 9-8, AGAIN down to their final strike, Lance Berkman’s base-hit sent the city into mass hysteria again by keeping their World Series alive and forcing an 11th inning. The Rangers offense went limp in the top of the 11th, which set the stage for Freese to write himself into the history books with one of the greatest clutch performances to ever occur in the World Series.

In a year where we saw the drama of the final day of the regular season (which is why St. Louis is still here), it’s fitting we get another crazy comeback that non-baseball fans like me can’t stop talking about. I hate to say it but now I don’t want the Rangers to win this thing. They’ve never won the World Series before and last night they had two golden opportunities and couldn’t close the deal. St. Louis is officially the better story of this MLB post-season. This team will not go away and rallying to pass the Braves in the wild card chase, winning game 5 of the NLDS in Philadelphia, game 6 of the NLCS in Milwaukee, and now last night make these Cardinals one of the most resilient sports teams in recent memory.

I really cannot wait for game 7 tonight and this is probably the first time in years I’ve gone out of my way to watch a baseball game. There’s nothing better in sports than a decisive game for the championship, especially when an asinine rule about the All-Star Game decides home-field advantage!

Oh, and KDFW has some explaining to do…..