Yesterday, after the final event of the big Rydberg-Gibbons wedding weekend, I laid down on the couch ready to watch the Rays and relax away the rest of Memorial Day. One problem, the Rays didn’t start until 6:40. Isn’t there a rule somewhere that big American Holidays have to be coupled with day baseball?  If  [ Read More ]

Yesterday, a local lawyer enjoyed his 15 minutes by telling any media outlet that would listen that he was ejected from the Rays’ last home game for wearing a T-Shirt that says “Yankees S*ck.” Here is a link to the story in the St. Pete Times. Brendan takes the point this week and tells the  [ Read More ]

Brendan, you lowest-common-denominator, fart-joke writing, hack.  That guy deserved to be tossed from the Trop for lots of reasons, chief among them, his shirt is lazy. Aren’t you a comedian?  Shouldn’t you know a lazy gag when you see one?  Wearing a “Yankees S*ck” t-shirt is the baseball equivalent of opening your standup act with  [ Read More ]

By Brendan Gleason Mark, you rule loving, “just-the-facts-maʼam” saying, Bronxian prude. Sure, Bronxian is underlined in red right now, but iʼm pretty sure itʼs a proper adjective. Iʼm not sure how you could side with the Tropicana Field staff on this one. But it makes me think that you side with other ridiculous decisions, like  [ Read More ]

Last night, the Mrs. and I were quickly changing channels between the American Idol finale and our new favorite hockey team (well “new favorite” is inexact because we didn’t have a favorite before then, we just didn’t watch hockey).  Both things – Hockey and American Idol – are new to me making me the quintessential  [ Read More ]

Yesterday afternoon, R.J. Anderson wrote a nice – albeit depressing – piece about the Rays’ playoff odds.  Despite the Rays’ early season success, Baseball Prospectus’ complex-sounding projection system still gives the Rays only a 1-in-5 shot at the postseason. R.J. sets out the reasons that prediction makes sense but it shouldn’t really surprise anyone that  [ Read More ]

Tommy Rancel has been writing a lot recently about “pitching backwards” or “pitching 2.0.” Yesterday, he wrote a great piece for ESPN 1040 breaking down James Shields’ Sunday afternoon gem. The concept is fascinating in its simplicity. Basically, Rancel has observed that Shields (and now Hellickson too) are taking advantage of basic hitting psychology by  [ Read More ]

By Chris Glover Perhaps it’s not a great idea to title a column the same as one of the most beloved pieces of American literature ofthe 20th century [I totally had to Google 'On The Road.' I am embarrassed that Chris learned more about American literature in the UK than I learned, you know, in  [ Read More ]

By Brendan Gleason Mark you purist, elitist, baseball snob. The game has changed, and having interleague games sprinkled throughout the season is one of the better changes. I donʼt know why people get so up-in-arms about interleague play, but donʼt seem to care about any of the other modifications that have graced baseball since invention.  [ Read More ]

Brendan.  You new age, Enya-loving, everyone-gets-a-trophy hipster.  Interleague play is a gimmick.  A dumb gimmick.  And I am firmly opposed to all gimmicks from a new class on Saved by the Bell to 3D movies. Baseball is built on tradition.  Longstanding tradition.  Tradition is the one thing that sets baseball apart from all the other  [ Read More ]