Baseball is Poop

You Wouldn't Like Big Z When He's Angry
On June 1, Carlos Zambrano got into a dugout scuffle with his catcher Michael Barrett after a five-run inning. Since then Zambrano has made three starts, all with Koyie (Coy) Hill behind the plate. In those three starts, Big Z is 2-1 with a 1.14 ERA, allowing 3 runs and only 10 hits in 23 2/3 innings.

And Don't Piss Off A-Rod Either
Since the Toronto series when he was photgraphed with his stripper friend and when he called off a Toronto player on a popup, A-Rod is batting .390. He has 8 homers and 28 RBI in those 17 games, of which the Yankees have won 13.

Maybe Someone Pissed Off Chone Figgins
Chone (Shawn) Figgins had one of the worst starts in recent memory, on May 28 he was batting .133 in 90 at bats. He had 10 runs scored and 3 RBI. Since then he is batting .458 (38-83), with 17 runs and 13 RBI. In those 18 games, he has 12 multiple hit games, 5 of 3 or more including a 6 for 6 on Monday. Quite a turnaround.



We Know They're Pissed Off
The Cubs and Padres staged a memorable fight after Chris Young hit Derrek Lee with a pitch. While walking to first base Lee and Young exchanged words, then awkward missed punches. Both guys are tall (Lee is 6'6" and Young is 6'10") and have long arms so the punches took a while to come around. There was some other action, some good pushing and shoving which led to Lou Piniella get toppled over. I enjoy a good baseball fight, much better than an NBA brawl.






Thanks But No Thanks
Mike Piazza is so washed up that the Oakland A's are essentially paying him $8.5 million not to play for them. He won't make the trip to Shea Stadium this weekend even though he is now healthy (at least healthy enough to hit), because his replacement at DH Jack Cust is doing better than they think Piazza can do. Cust is batting .267. The A's are saying they want him to catch for them, and that his shoulder is not strong enough to catch yet.

Joe D is Safe
Minor leaguer Brandon Watson had his hitting streak snapped at 43 games. The streak was the longest in the International League (AAA), but shorter than in some other leagues, including the Pacific Coast League record of 61 games, held by Joe DiMaggio. Watson plays for the Columbus Clippers, which is now an affiliate of the Washington Nationals, after breaking ties with the Yankees in the great affiliate shuffle of 2006. Watson was the leadoff hitter for the Nationals on Opening Day last year against the Mets.



The One Thing Not Made Easier By the Internet
I try to read the box scores of all the games every day, but you have to click 15 teams, once between each game. With the newspaper, all the boxscores are laid out in front of you (except the late night west coast games), and in one easy movement of your head you can uncover all the information that unfolded on the baseball fields across the land the night before.