Results tagged ‘ MLB ’
Clemens Responds To Piazza’s Book & It’s Vintage Stuff
In case you missed it Mike Piazza finally unveiled his book recently, titled “Long Shot” in reference to the fact the borderline Hall of Famer was drafted in the 62d round of the Major League Baseball‘s First Year Player Draft of 1988 (and even then only as a favor to his father, a childhood friend of Tommy Lasorda’s).
The thing is rather forgettable, but it did have a few interesting tidbits concerning Piazza’s well-chronicled “feud” with one Roger Clemens.
Ted Berg of USA Today talked about some of the “sillier” excerpts from this piece of fine literature about a week ago:
But perhaps the biggest – or at least the silliest – bombshell to come out of the book so far is the news that Piazza actually took karate to prepare to fight Roger Clemens on the field during their infamous beanball feud.
According to the NY Post:
Piazza tells how he mapped out a plan for revenge — taking karate lessons and visualizing the next time they would go at it.
“I would approach with my fist pulled back. I figured he’d throw his glove out for protection. I’d parry the glove and then get after it,” Piazza writes.
Parry the glove! He had his whole strategy all planned out! Outside of Izzy Alcantara, it’s hard to say any baseball player has ever put so much forethought into on-field fisticuffs.
Only when faced with Clemens in the 2000 World Series, after Clemens inexplicably threw a shard of a broken bat at Piazza’s knees, Piazza – the 6’3″, 200-pound, perpetually bearded, home-run smashing, muscle-bound stud – got cold feet.
“There were complications,” he recalls. “The least of them was the realization that Clemens was a big guy, and I stood a pretty fair chance of getting my ass kicked in front of Yankee Stadium and the world. That was a legitimate concern.”
It was a decision over which he still beats himself. “It was not only possible but — circumstances be damned — it was in order,” he said. “It was the story of the Series. I couldn’t deliver a punch.”
Say it ain’t so, Mike. You mean to tell me you were willing to risk suspension during the World Series – i.e. “circumstances be damned” – and the only thing that stopped you was that Roger Clemens was massive and terrifying and probably snorting like a bull? C’mon, guy. Why even bother learning karate?
The whole thing is just plain laughable, but I do respect the fact that Piazza was honest enough to own up to what most athletes wouldn’t have. Namely fear.
One of my better friends often asked me why people didn’t ever charge the mound on Clemens and my exact response was always “because the dude is freakin’ big man.”
But it was only a matter of time before some reporter stuck a mic in front of Clemens face in order to elicit a response to the book…
…And that time has come.
Without further ado, “The Rocket’s” response (courtesy of the Houston Chronicle) was as follows:
“He’d have to stand in line. I think there was about three guys on the Yankees that wanted a piece of me more than (he) did. He’d probably have to get in line.”
Clemens also noted that rather than martial arts training, Piazza needed speed training:
“He needs to go get with Jesse Owens or somebody on his speed, I think. He chased some dude around the spring training site one time, didn’t he, or something? …”
That was undoubtedly a direct reference to the time Piazza charged the mound on former battery-mate Guillermo Mota but wasn’t anywhere near fleet of foot enough to gt so much as within arms reach of the guy.
Any way you cut it, I feel robbed.
I’d have given vital parts of your anatomy (I reserve vital parts of my anatomy for such things as fine scotch and Wendy Peffercorn) to have seen Piazza attempt to put on his best Ralph Macchio imitation as the big ol’ Texan tried to remove his limbs one at a time.
Shocker, Ryan Braun Still Looks Dirty As F***
We ALL know where I sit on this douchenozzle Ryan Braun.
I covered it HERE.
And HERE.
I pointed out the multiple stories the clown had been selling to different parties HERE.
I chronicled how the lousy f***in’ cheat threw a hard working man under the bus just to save his name & preserve his cash right HERE.
I have covered this big old ugly mess from day one.
Hell, I even had the dynamic duo of candyasses on the Toronto Blue Jays, Jose Bautista & J.P. Arencibia, block me on Twitter because I had the audacity to state what seemed obvious.
And if it wasn’t obvious then (which you’d have to be a mental midget to see the Braun fiasco as anything more than him “O.J.-ing the system”) I just wonder what Braun’s defenders are saying now?
When news broke about Biogenesis, a now closed anti-aging clinic in Florida that had been supplying Alex Rodriguez, Melky Cabrera, Ryan Braun and a slew of other athletes with PEDs, Braun’s initial response was that he had merely worked with the lab as a consultation for his then ongoing appeal of a 50 game suspension for use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Well, now it seems that his statement is just another load of horses*** from a guy who has been dealing in that stuff for some time now.
From T.J. Quinn & Mike Fish at ESPN.com:
The list was written in April, in the hand of Biogenesis of America clinic founder Anthony Bosch. Among the names is the Milwaukee Brewers‘ Ryan Braun, and to the right of that name is a figure: $1,500.
That list, a source familiar with Bosch’s operation told “Outside the Lines,” indicates that those players received performance-enhancing drugs from Bosch and owed him money. The document, one of dozens obtained by “Outside the Lines,” suggests a closer link to Bosch and the now-shuttered clinic he ran in Coral Gables, Fla., than Braun has acknowledged.
The list is not definitive proof that Braun either received or used PEDs — either would be a suspendable offense under Major League Baseball policy — but may draw him more squarely into the spotlight as the league investigates the scandal and tries to draw the interest of law enforcement.
The Brewers outfielder was first connected to Bosch in a Yahoo! Sports report last week — citing a different document — that did not connect his name to drugs. Braun explained the report by saying he had consulted with Bosch during his successful appeal of a positive drug test a year ago. Why he consulted with Bosch, who is not a physician but presents himself as one, has not been made clear.
I am just getting kind of tired of stating the obvious and any sanctimonious “everyone is innocent until proven guilty”‘s can be checked at the door.
This is not a court of law, it is the court of public opinion and the guy is as dirty as one can get.
He used PEDs. He popped hot on a test.
He first claimed that he didn’t fail a test, but when it became obvious he did he claimed it was a false positive.
When he couldn’t make the false positive claim stick he turned the guy who administered it into the boogeyman, a guy who has nothing better to than to tamper with MLB player’s tests results for one reason or another.
And then as he sat silent his teammates came to his defense, only making the situation more of a sea of bulls*** than it already was:
[Jonathan] Lucroy said there was more to the situation than Braun has said publicly, and his explanation to teammates, Lucroy said, has been convincing.
“I’m not going to get into the details, but if you knew what we knew, people would be like, ‘Wow,’ ” Lucroy said, adding that he understood why Braun has elaborated only in private. “You’ve got to do that because it’s his prerogative. It’s up to him, it’s his choice. And honestly, if some of the things came out, it would be a lot more negative than positive. There are reasons.”
Now here we are a year later and his name once again comes up with shady dealings & PEDs.
His initial response tries to deflect the damage but very quickly it is once again quickly shown to be an over-sized load of bulls***.
I sense a pattern developing.
Word to the wise. If you want to gauge if Ryan Braun is lying just take a look and see if his lips are moving because that’s your first clue.
No People, Ryan Howard Cannot Hit Lefties
From Craig Calcaterra over at Hardball Talk comes this little observation:
I was just reading this profile on Ryan Howard over at Philly.com. It’s your standard spring optimism piece. Howard feels way better now than last year and is ready to return to form. Nothing all that notable in the story.
But midway down the story, a poll appears:
Internet polls are all pretty meaningless, especially the actual results. But this one is particularly astounding to me inasmuch as it treats something which is wholly empirical — whether or not Ryan Howard can hit lefties — as though it were a matter of opinion or belief.
Which may not seem like a big deal, but when you think about it this is the exact reason why so much sports conversation is stupid.
Sadly, this has what it has come to not only in sports, but in terms of things generally.
There is this growing resistance to things like, ya know, math.
Scientific facts, mathematical equations et al have suddenly become open to debate when they really aren’t.
Once something has been observed, the same results have been repeated successfully and the thing has gone through peer evaluations the debate is done.
The result is what the result is.
But we seem to have a great many nitwits out there who have less mental ability than a lobotomized monkey banging on a keyboard and think quantifiable things are open to “debate”.
Welcome to the “internetz”.
