SPORTS-(PIRATES)
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Fuck Your Yankee Blue Jeans
June 20, 2007-
Inter-league play has swept through again and fans are bitching again. Some may point to the
relative absurdity of a series between the Mariners and Pirates, or the Rockies and Yankees. I have
to dissect that a bit and wonder: where would the appeal be of a series between the Yankees and Mariners, or
Rockies and Pirates? People like to moan and complain about the "natural, geographic inter-league rivals", but I seriously
doubt that the Nationals are excited about playing their beltway buddies, the Orioles. Howabout Mets vs. Yankees, isn't
that a BIG DEAL? The Yankees were so far back in the standings that taking 2 of 3 from the Mets meant about as much
getting a free ride on the Staten Island Ferry.
I'm still a proponent of inter-league play, simply because I dig baseball, yet live in a City With a Shitty Team (Denver).
So every year when I see my annual ticket menu, a series against clowns like the Devil Rays or Royals seems more appetizing
than a game against the Padres or Reds. Simply because it's different.
The Rockies themselves don't wanna' drop interleague. But for completely different reasons.
I work two blocks from Coors Field. Typically, parking rates at my garage range from 6- to 10 bucks, depending on night of the week. This week, for the mid-week Yankees series, it's 25 bucks.
The Rockies also introduced a special "Yankees Price" to their ticket schedules this year. So, in order of cheapest to most-expensive, they have: "Value", "Classic", "Premium" and "Yankee" games.
They've been marketing the Yankee series all season long. Despite the fact that the HOME TEAM finally got over .500 last week. Fans don't seem to give a shit, as the Yankee games are all sellouts, or close to sellouts.
No way the Rockies have more than 25,000 in the stands for any game of their Phillies series in two weeks. Even if the Rockies stay over .500. I'd say the same for the Mets series, but it's over July 2-4 and those are fireworks games. It's discouraging that
even though the Rockies are finally playing well (not good...well), the local media is out performing fellatio for the
Yankees.
I've always maintained that the Yankees ARE baseball, and you have to appreciate them for that. But to base your entire
advertising campaign around a mid-week series against a team hovering around .500 while jacking up prices to your
park is ludicrous. They should be running in-game promos for the next "player t-shirt night" or showing highlights of
the team's recent success. But as soon as they Yankees leave town, the Rockies will pump up "Fireworks Night". All while
ignoring the actual product they're promoting. Rockies have sucked for years, so when they have any measure of success,
the PR department needs to advertise that.
More Rockies Junk
Went to the Rockies-Astros game on June 6. In the seventh inning, the
Rockies' Kaz Matsui hit a home run. Next batter, next pitch, Astros' Woody Williams throws at Matt Holliday. Umpire ejects him and awards Holliday first base, even though it appeared that the pitch didn't hit Holliday. Catcher Brad Ausmus goes apeshit, Phil Garner comes out of the dugout and Pandemonium (tm, Gorilla Monsoon) breaks loose.
Anyways, I'm watching this from above the bullpen railing. Two old schmucks come up, see the replay and begin PREACHING. "There's NO place for that in sports! He shouldn't be throwing at him! That's unprofessional! That manager should be suspended for arguing! Look at the Astros, high-fiving that pitcher in the dugout! They should be ashamed"
Well, there IS a place for that in baseball, asshole. What Williams did was 100% normal and not out of line at all. Your guy gets ejected, it's expected that the manager should storm out there. The preaching douche then said: "look at that umpire: he's writing down that pitcher's name! This won't be tolerated". Again, writing down a name of the ejected player is standard protocol, dumbfuck.
I was talking to some college kid from Cleveland. He understood all of this. The two of us were trying to explain this to the preachers. They were obviously from Denver, and had no clue of what was going on. They stormed out of there (presumably to drink more beer and yell at more TVs). More reasons why this will never be a baseball town.
I'm sure the preaching douche has Yankees tickets this week.
Yes, but is he amphibious?
Watched the pre-game show for the Dodgers-Mets game on June 6. Kevin Kennedy, who draws a paycheck as an "analyst" mentioned that "Jose Reyes has 31 stolen bases this season, from both sides of the plate".
He's a switch-stealer?! Awesome.
Seeing Eye Singles
..||..Justin Verlander tossed a no-hitter on June 12. Against the Brewers. I didn't see the broadcast, but I'm really interested in hearing if the Brewers announcers acknowledged anything Verlander did. "JJ Hardy's just not hitting tonight".
..||..
Another fun note: Verlander's no-no was exactly 37 years after Dock Ellis threw his famous no-hitter against the Padres. Famous because, later on, Ellis claimed that he was high on LSD during the game.
..||..
I watched the San Diego feed of the Pirates/Padres a few weeks back. Significant, because for the past few years San Diego broadcasts have been excluded from the MLB Extra Innings package, through some loophole. All the commercials were blacked out, though. Philadelphia broadcasts were excluded last year, so I'll look to see if they've returned. I should get around to watching
a Phillies game sometime in December.
..||..
The Padres announcers were okay. They actually complimented the opposing team and would discuss the Pirates' strategy at times.
A team in first place actually did some home work on the shitty team they were playing. They got a fun zinger, when they mentioned
Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson was a "Steve-O lookalike". Heh... he is! Which might explain some of the dumb stunts that
Wilson tries to perform on the field.
..||..It looks like the AFLAC billy goat ad has replaced Yogi Berra's ad. It has a guy who resembles Peter
from "Office Space" and a goat constantly muttering "nah, nah, nah". Not nearly as good as:
"and they give ya' cash, which is just as good as money". The Yogi spot was getting old, but that
line's never not funny to me.
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