The pink bats of Mother’s Day baseball

May 11th, 2008 by Kendall

Another Mother’s Day and more pink bats. I love the tradition that MLB and the Susan G. Komen for the Cure started two years ago to raise awareness and money for breast cancer research and awareness. On this Mother’s Day, I also wanted to send love out to my Mom. I love you, thanks for encouraging my love of sports.

Lieber gets rocked instead of Hill

May 7th, 2008 by Kendall

So tell me again why Rich Hill was pulled from the rotation? I know that he’s been pounded this year, but I think I’d rather have him in the rotation and take his lumps and save Jon Lieber in the bullpen. He’s been successful in that role all season.

Lou, get Rich Hill back in the rotation, he’s the franchise.

The Bears should cut drunk, disorderly and bad Cedric Benson

May 4th, 2008 by Kendall

CBSSports.com reports:

Chicago Bears running back Cedric Benson failed a sobriety test while operating a 30-foot boat, then resisted arrest before being hit with pepper spray and dragged ashore by officers.

Cut him. Cut him now. Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith should cut their losses on this guy. He’s only been trouble since the Bears drafted him and now they have a legitimate exit plan. Cut him.

Should the Bears cut Cedric Benson?

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My, Oh My! Richie Sexson hits 100th homer with the Mariners

May 2nd, 2008 by Kendall

For all of the crap that Richie Sexson gets here in Seattle, Thursday’s home run was his sixth of the season and 100th since becoming a Mariner. Richie hit the century mark in 463 games, that’s the fastest in team history. Alex Rodriguez reached 100 Mariner home runs in 470 games. I am a huge fan of Big Sexy, but I never thought I’d say that Richie was a more successful Mariner than A-Rod in any category. Nice work Richie, forget about the boos, and the strike outs, and just bask in the glow of 100. But not for too long. Your team needs you. And remember Richie, don’t swing at sliders in the dirt… they eat you up.

iPhone score tracker MyMobileScores launches

April 24th, 2008 by Kendall

Are you looking for a fast, easy way to track baseball scores on your phone? So was I. So I created one. It’s called MyMobileScores and it launched Wednesday. I’m blogging about it’s development, new features and general other stuff at my professional blog over at http://www.k3ndall.com.

It’s not full-featured yet and there is work to be done to make it better and easier to use. But it’s up, and it works. I’d love your feedback.

The site currently works with iPhone and iPod touch (for sure), Windows Mobile (I think). Support for the Palm Treo is in the works, but just haven’t gotten there yet.

The Seahawks cut Alexander unconditionally. Perhaps worth a look for the Bears?

April 23rd, 2008 by Kendall

Shaun Alexander wore out his welcome here in Seattle and was cut by the Seahawks Tuesday in a move that surprised no one. He was just 2 years into an 8 year contract worth $62 million. Because he’s a football player that money is not guaranteed so Alexander out a hefty chunk of change. But after his performance the last couple of years, it seems about right. He’s been hurt and ineffective when healthy. Part of that has to do with the departure of Steve Hutchinson from Seattle, and other offensive line woes for the Seahawks.

Which partially answers my initial question about whether the Bears should take a flier on Alexander and see if he does have anything left in the tank? The Bears offensive line is actually worse than the Seahawks and unless that gets fixed, nobody’s gonna be successful running the ball.

But let’s pretend. Let’s pretend that Olin Kreutz miraculously finds offensive line mates who can block someone (anyone). Then would it make sense?

The question that underlies all questions of this nature are “Is this move going to help win a Super Bowl?” Would signing Shaun Alexander help the Bears get back to the Super Bowl?

Would signing Shaun Alexander help the Chicago Bears win a Super Bowl?

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Watching Felix Pie was fun?

April 22nd, 2008 by Kendall

Last night Felix Pie came up in the 8th inning with 2 men on, and I whole-heartedly expected him to strike out. It’s what he’s been best at in his major league career.

I know that he has been working with Lou Piniella (and most recently with minor league hitting coordinator Dave Keller) trying to straighten out his swing and get everything figured out, but he just hasn’t produced. Until last night. His home run barely cleared the basket in right field, but it may as well have been onto Sheffield Avenue. The ‘fun’ came with Pie’s huge smile and first-pumping rounding of the bases showed that he was making progress and starting to see results. If Pie can become the 5-tool threat that he’s been advertised as, the Cubs have their leadoff hitter and centerfielder for a long time. An outfield of Soriano, Pie and Fukudome for the next couple years, sounds pretty good.

Congratulations on your progress Felix, but let’s not call Cooperstown yet.

Brian Kersey/AP
Brian Kersey/AP

The Bronx might be burning again * Update *

April 21st, 2008 by Kendall

So Hank Steinbrenner tells the New York Times that he thinks that Joba Chamberlain should be in the starting rotation.

The Yankees GM Brian Cashman says Chamberlain will stay in the bullpen.

I just have to wonder what the guy who is actually responsible for making those decisions, manager Joe Girardi thinks about all this. He hasn’t been one to hold his tongue so this might just turn into something very interesting. Apparently Hank Steinbrenner is just as much of a meddling douche as his dad.

*** Update ***

Apparently the honorable Hank Steinbrenner has retracted his statements, changing his statement about Joba Chamberlain being in the bullpen. “You have to be an idiot to do that.” He said talking about keeping a guy with a 100mph fastball in the bullpen. Later in the day Monday he slowed his roll a bit by saying “sooner or later it would be nice if he was a starter.”

Hank must have realized that this is not what the Yankees need right now. They sit at 10-10 on the year and are in third place. Maybe he thought the team needed a spark with their best player, Alex Rodriguez, on the bench with a tweaky quad.

I for one wouldn’t be too upset to see them never climb higher than third place, but with the new blood on top, it’s sure proving to be an interesting ride for New Yorkers.

Carlos Silva is proving to be a better addition to the Mariners than Erik Bedard

April 18th, 2008 by Kendall

And we only had to part with $48 million. Not the top prospect in the farm system who is already batting .260 at the Major League level. Not to mention delivering late in games. Something it seems like the Mariners might be able to use. I have no qualms with the Mariners pitching staff. It’s just the fact that there is not one bat in the lineup that opposing clubs need to plan around (save an occasional hot streak from Rauuuuul).

Mike Morse needs to get out of right field

April 14th, 2008 by Kendall

Mike Morse, the Mariners right fielder Sunday, has played all over the diamond in his 4 years with the M’s. Yesterday, he proved that right field is not his home on a major league field. He misjudged or misplayed 3 fly balls in right that led to 7 runs. On the last play he hurt his shoulder diving for a ball that he should have had an easy play on. On the previous 2 bone-headed plays that led to runs, he either didn’t see the ball off the bat, or just didn’t react properly.

If the guy makes one bad play in the field, you can give him some slack, but 3 in one game, that lead to runs, that’s unacceptable at the Major League level. Morse’s poor outing in the field put spot starter Cha Seung Baek in a really bad spot. Baek actually pitched pretty well. He got into some jams, and had more base runners than you’d like, but he definitely didn’t pitch badly.

Now for Erik Bedard. It’s not serious, I know. But he’s been scratched twice already this season. I see a problem brewing. I still think Bill Bavasi made a good trade, but I’d just like to see my ace pitcher actually take the mound on his scheduled days.