Both the Yanks and the Reds are in Texas today. (Which means 8pm starts - mutter, grumble.) The Yanks play Texas, the Reds are at Houston.
Bronx Banter takes on the "should Torre be fired" issue. Among other things, the article suggests that the secret of Torre's success was his bench coach, Don Zimmer. Interesting idea. In-game tactics are certainly not Torre's strength. I also hadn't realize that Zimmer blames Cashman for the Yanks' failure.
The LA Times has an article about the lengths to which baseball players are willing to go to improve their sight. I recall hearing once that the average MLB player has 20-15 vision (they can see from 20 feet what someone with "perfect" 20-20 vision can see from 15 feet). They are doing everything from having Lasik surgery to wearing tinted contacts to doing six hours of eye exercises a day. Even if there's nothing wrong with their vision. The weirdest: "ocular machines," that pitch tennis balls at 150mph. There are words on the balls, and you're supposed read them as they fly by. This presumably improves your ability to quickly focus on a pitch.
AP ran another story today about the Cory Lidle plane crash. There's still a lot of mystery about it - and this point, it doesn't look like any of the mysteries will be solved. But lawsuits have been filed, by Lidle's widow, against the MLB insurance company, and by one of the residents of the building the plane hit, against the Lidle estate.
And it's starting to look like the Josh Hancock crash involved alcohol. What a senseless tragedy.
The Dugout says goodbye to Josh Hancock in their own inimitable way. I was afraid it was going to be tacky, but it's actually kind of sweet.
The Bat are playing in Ottawa tonight. Bubba is traveling with the team, but he's not quite ready to be back in the lineup yet.
On Saturday, the Bats radio announcers talked about the Virginia Tech hat auction. They named the top three; Bubba was #3. Bellhorn, as previously mentioned, was first at $510. Homer Bailey's hat went for $355. And Bubba's hat got the third-highest bid, at $160. (And no, for those of you who are wondering, it wasn't me who placed that bid. Too rich for my blood!)
