pure science with a splash of black cat

General manager Jack Zduriencik was talking tonight about the early days of his scouting career, and told this story on himself.

“I was at the College World Series, watching Joe Magrane pitch, and St. Louis had their scout, Hub Kittle there,” Zduriencik said. “Now Hub Kittle had been in the game 30 years by that time, and I thought I could learn a lot from him.

“Someone introduced us at the hotel that night, and I started the conversation saying something like ‘What’d you think of that Magrane kid today?

“Hub looked at me and said, ‘That big donkey? Guys like that are a dime a dozen?’ I remember thinking I probably had a lot to learn, because I’d really liked Magrane.

“Two days later, St. Louis drafted Magrane.”

brighteryellow:

White Sox general manager Ken Williams, who once joked that he should hang a Cardinals jersey in Buehrle’s locker, told reporters he’d be OK if Buehrle jetted away for a day during spring training.

“I’d give him a day off to do it,” Williams said. “I think it would be hilarious.”

This must happen.

You were waiting for it, admit it.

McGwire: See, what you want to be doing is hitting dingers.
McGwire: When you go up there, first pitch, you’re looking dead red so you can hit a dinger.
McGwire: Sometimes you’re gonna miss. That’s okay. Stick to your guns. There’s no more efficient way of scoring than hitting a dinger. That’s what we want to be doing.
McGwire: The pitcher might pick up on your strategy. Don’t worry about it. He’s more afraid of you than you are of him.
McGwire: If he throws you something offspeed, like a curveball, don’t be fooled. Just hit it for a dinger.
McGwire: Walks are good too. If the pitcher tries to get you to chase something out of the zone, don’t swing at it.
McGwire: You only want to swing at strikes. Take balls. Hit strikes for dingers.
McGwire: Now let’s break up and practice. Group A, get in there. I want to see you guys hitting dingers. Group B, practice your dinger swings.
McGwire: Who’s first in Group A? Skip? Get in there, Skip.
McGwire: Let’s see some dingers!
Schumaker:
Schumaker: Coach, I don’t
McGwire: What’re you doing over there?
McGwire: You’re standing on the wrong side of the plate. Bat righty.
McGwire: You hit dingers batting righty.

And so, everyone will be against us throughout this NLDS series. And that will give Chris Carpenter’s fastball a little more zip when he takes the mound in Chavez Ravine in Game 1. And that will cause the Dodgers to be a little bit more tight when they step up to bat in the bottom of the first. And that will cause Dodger fans to hold their hearts a little bit higher in their throats as the first game begins.

But all it takes is one swing to quiet a crowd of doubters, a nation of people rooting against us and hoping that we fail.

Let’s go, Dodgers!

Here are Pujols’s stats: 1.000/1.000/4.000/5.000. That’s right. He is batting a thousand, with a thousand OBP (naturally), and every hit has been a home run, and thus his OPS is a perfect 5.000. (Why aren’t people talking about this more? It has to be some kind of record.) He is the best baseball player in the world. Sometimes he hits without a bat just to give the other team a chance. La Russa gave him a day off last week, and he spent it with his family watching “G-Force,” and he still went 3-3. Congress just enacted a law making it illegal to watch him play without the aid of a radiation blast shield.