Cranes, Cubs, Yankees, and DL Notes

I'm back from a brief hiatus. I hope you all enjoyed the Birthday posts - I thought the last one was good enough to carry me through a rough Wednesday off the blog. So, I've taken my vacation and I'm back. Sorry. As for the rest of the night, I'll lay out what I have because it's a lot. First, I've actually cut out the first part of this post in the interest of length. Basically, I didn't like it as much and so I decided to get it out of here. It can be found in Part I. There, we'll explore the dynamics of hitting a fastball, followed with a quick analysis of Detroit at Oakland - which will actually turn out to be more like Esteban Loaiza's Biography, The Fernando Rodney Prophecy, and why Barry Zito plays for Oakland.

Back to this post, we go over the Miller Park Crane Disaster, followed by the Mike McClary Podcast. After that, we'll explore the Chicago Cubs Universe, which is rapidly shifting away from the Red as it implodes, with a special emphasis on Magician Larry Rothschild and holograms Mark Prior and Kerry Wood. But, we'll also touch on Scott Eyre, possibly 2003 Marlins' Fan inside man, who was the replacement for the Bartman ball, which Cubs fans managed to wrest from 2003 Marlins Fan by blowing up. Never mind the fact that baseball is not voodoo. After this, we'll hit on the Yankees. Then, we'll take a look at some interesting DL Notes.

Miller Park Construction
I was watching the History Channel last night and they showed what happened when some giant crane (right) collapsed on Miller Park as it was being constructed. How did I not hear about this? A crane twice as high as the Statue of Liberty just came crashing down on Miller Park, killing three. I don't remember this. In 2000, the county courthouse decided the operators of the crane were 97% liable. The manufacturer of the crane was found 3% liable. Does it matter? I just felt I had to include this because, not only was I oblivious to the fact that they made cranes that high, but I assumed that if they did, they would be running them on a pretty tight ship. Not allowing them to blow over while lifting up a section of the roof "twice as large as your average housing lot, in an average development," as some guy from OSHA described it. For those of you fortunate enough not to have worked in the retail business, OSHA are basically the dudes that get after your boss when he does something bad.

Mike McClary's Podcast
Also, Mike McClary over at the Daily Fungo has just released his first Podcast. Check it out, I listened to it and it's good stuff. This is kind of what Kevin and I are shooting to launch in about a month, but there will obviously be two of us.

Chicago Cubs
And Cubs Fans are probably ready to jump ship. Now, recall that I previously ragged on the Cubs for their dealings with Mark Prior and Kerry Wood - not exactly old news. I also cracked on Dusty Baker for being incompetent when given control of the two. For a quick recap, Baker should not be allowed near any young arms, and any order he issues regarding a pitcher should be put through pitching coach Larry Rothschild before being acted upon. Now, Rothschild is about the 2nd to last person I would trust with an arm, right before Baker. But it's an improvement. My beef with Rothschild lies in the fact that he's running a magical information force field around Wood and Prior. It's almost as if the two pitchers held Rothschild's hand as he jumped into an alternate dimension. Apparently, the three are hanging out in Arizona chucking practice pitches - despite the fact that it's nearly May, and despite the fact that they allegedly have no injuries. Now, Larry isn't going to let you get the wrong idea with this - "It will be more than a bullpen session - we'll keep counts and outs, stuff like that," he said regarding Wood's then-upcoming bullpen session. But back to the injury question - what's wrong with these two guys in the first place? If you ask the Cubs if Prior is always in trouble because of his elbow, they'll tell you he has no elbow injury. If you respond by asking why he's on the DL, they'll tell you he has a shoulder injury, not an elbow injury. Ask him what brought on this shoulder injury, and they'll tell you he had a virus in the offseason, and that set him back in his Spring Training preparation, but that he should still be ready for opening day. Anyone see a hole in this reasoning? A little strange that you suspect an elbow problem, but by the time you're done with the Chicago Ministry of Information, you think that Prior suffers from a mysterious shoulder injury caused by a mysterious virus that will mysteriously allow him to pitch a game 2 weeks in the past, despite the fact that he is - mysteriously - not with the team.

Anyway, the Cubs resemble the Bad News Bears in more than the obvious ways. You see, something truly spectacular happened the other night. Derrek Lee - All-Star and team leader - and last-reliever-standing Scott Eyre were both injured. In the same week? Yes. Same game? Yes. Same inning? Yes. Same play? Yes. One thing if they did it to each other, but they didn't. Imagine having nearly a quarter of your players on the field go down within seconds. If that's not a bad omen, I don't know what is - I mean, besides not blowing up the Bartman ball. See, Eyre tried to flip a bunt to Lee, but instead ending up flopping down in front of the ball. This resulted in a 'flip' that, had Lee been 13 feet tall, would've been over his head. Not realizing the enormity of Eyre's Error, Lee tries to back up a little, oblivious to the fact that it won't make a difference, and certainly not realizing that Rafael Furcal is about .5 seconds away from occupying the same piece of real estate. The two collide, fracturing two bones in Lee's hand. Well, he's out 2-3 months, and that puts you in... July when your best player returns. Eyre, apparently, will be ok. Not that it matters, because The Saboteur won't have too many leads to preserve for Ryan Dempster after that. See you next year.

New York Yankees
In Yankee News, Mike Mussina can still pitch, and he's really smart (Stanford,) as well. Last night's 3-1 victory over the Jays was a big deal, because it was the first time everything clicked. That is, we got solid pitching, solid defense, and solid hitting all in one game. We didn't need to score 13 runs to bail out the pitching, and that's a big deal. Right now, the Yankees are 7-7. Of those 14 games, 3 have been at home. And critics will tell you that those 3 games don't matter, because they were against the Royals - and we won all three. In any case, once the schedule evens out, we'll be back on top. I did a detailed breakdown of the Yankees and Red Sox stats thus far on Tuesday, so you can look at that if you want.

DL News
You see, the Disabled List is a bit of a misnomer. There is no actual list of disabled players, at least not one that I've seen. It would be interesting to have that list, because there are some splendid treasures to be found. Here are a couple 'highlights.'

• D. Lee was placed on the D.L. with his previously mentioned busted hand.
• The Rangers transferred Adam Eaton to the 60-day DL while he continues to recover from a broken finger. This is bad for the Rangers, as Chris Young is better than Adam Eaton's broken finger, but they made the trade anyway. The Rangers still need pitching.
• On April 18th, Greatest Play of All Time participant (in the role of in-the-park home run hitter,) David Newhan was placed on the DL by the Orioles.
• On April 17th, Ken Griffey Jr. was placed on the DL for the 29th time in 3 seasons - that's right, he still plays. This time, it was his fault, because on the day of the injury he told us all about how happy he was to be healthy.
• The Marlins placed OF Jeremy Hermida on the DL. An early exit for the supposed Rookie of the Year. This move probably drops the Marlins from last place in the NL East to last place in the NL East.
• On April 16th, the Royals brought Mark "The Cavalry" Redman off the DL. Redman hopes to rescue Mark "We won't be a bad team this year, but if we are, we're gonna battle all season long" Grudzielanek from losing the battle of his life. There are few situations where the phrase "too little too late" can be applied in week 3 of the season, but this is one.
• Ben Sheets was brought off the DL. I am still waiting for him to strike out 3 guys on 9 pitches again.
• On April 12th, David Wells was activated from the DL. On April 15th, David Wells was placed on the DL, retroactive to April 13th. In other words, the Red Sox brought a guy of the DL, then put him back on the DL the very next day.
• Also on April 15th, the Pirates had an awful day. Sean Casey was placed on the DL with 'lower back fractures,' which is a nasty-sounding ailment. Former good pitcher Kip Wells was transferred to the 60-day DL with another injury - surgery to replace his axillary artery. The surgery, performed over a month ago, will allow blood to flow through Well's arm again.
• On April 14th, The Dodgers activated Kenny Lofton from the DL. Surprisingly, they have not reversed this move yet, as Lofton remains uninjured. Former Savior Yhency Brozaban also joined former Savior Eric Gagne on the DL. Unsurprisingly, the McCourt's continue to run the Dodgers.
• In Minor League Notes, the Toledo Mud Hens - the Tiger's AAA Affaliate - lost Don Kelly for a couple days after he was hit with a throw. Thinking the throw was heading home, Kelly had his back to right fielder Ryan Ludwick - and everybody knows you don't turn your back to Ryan Ludwick. Unless you want to get hit in the back of the head by a relay throw, which is what happened to Kelly. I learned this in little league - don't throw to a guy who isn't looking at you.

We've added Australia, Switzerland, Norway, and China to the visitor list. Thanks for checking in, and if I don't start seeing some more comments, I'm going to get pissed. Jeremy, I've seen your Lasko commercials. I thought about including those in the list, but they're just bad, not funny. Unfortunately, those are the only comments I have to talk about right now. I'm going to go ahead and assume that BHGM's readers are just as busy as BHGM's owner. Does that mean I'm granting you a free pass? No. Until I see five (5) comments, I'll remain upset. People, five is a really small number. Despite the fact that no posts were made on Wednesday or Thursday (so far,) we received 211 hits. And one comment. Pathetic.