July 6 - Crazy Lou's Tampa Experiment

It is being reported this morning that Lou Pinella is planning on doing something that I have long thought was an interesting idea. Rather then “start” his starting pitcher, Lou intends to start a middle reliever and pitch him for a couple innings before coming in with his “starter” to begin pitching the third or fourth. I suspect Lou is going to catch some hell for this and many will think Sweet Lou has finally lost it, but I think the idea merits a look. At the very least, Lou’s idea may shake up the opposing team’s plans, causing it to re-think its starting lineup. After all, if a manager wants to stack his lefties against the right-hander Lou plans to pitch after the second, he may run the risk that his lefties will meet a lefty in those early innings. In other words, Lou may be able to lock in some favorable matchups early in the game that he would not be able to get in later innings when the opposing manager is more willing to use his bench. Moreover, this move may take some of the pressure off Lou’s middle relievers who clearly have proven they cannot pitch under the pressure of holding a lead. Perhaps it would be smarter to let these guys pitch with a clean slate. It may not end up making a difference when Travis Harper throws, but its worth a shot to let guys like Harper lead off rather then anchor. With the Rays season going nowhere quickly, Lou’s experiment is worth a look.

I think the happiest people in the world right now are the folks at Fox News who must be ecstatic that the French had the olympics stolen out from under their nose by the English. Bashing the French is a cornerstone of that network, making today's news on the Olympic selection a gift from god for Ruppert and his minnions. How long will it be before Fox starts suggesting that the Olympics were awarded to London because of England's support for the Iraq war? As I write, Brit and Bill are probably lining up guests to confirm their vacuous speculation on this subject. Now the French are screaming bloody murder over today's snub, but in my mind, even this gift for England doesn't make the two countries even. After all, who do the French think were protecting their left flank back in 1915. I should point out that this is not the first time in history the British scored a big victory over the French in the fifth year of a a century. After all, who can forget 1805 when Lord Nelson pitched a shutout against the French at the Battle of Trafalgar.

I find it very interesting that the New York tabloids have been silent on this story that ESPN’s Chad Ford has been reporting. According to Chad, the Knicks are trying to overhaul their roster and that includes finding a new home for Steve Marbury. While the NBA is on life support in New York, this story still qualifies as news so long as it is directionally correct. After all, Steve is a local kid and he’s the one player that has some cache in the Big Apple. With that said, where are the New York Post and the Daily News on this story? If Ford is right on this one, the tabs are absolutely getting body slammed in their own backyard. I figure one of three things has happened here. First, Ford has it right and the tabs are too embarrassed by the scoop to report the story until it breaks more publicly. This is a pretty juvenile strategy but both the News and the Post have never been mistaken as stand-up papers. The second possibility is Ford has been misled and his story is wrong, but if this were the case, I suspect the News and the Post would be running vengeful “gotcha” stories claiming ESPN messed this one up. A third option is that the tabs have been unable to confirm – one way or the other – whether Ford’s story is correct, and with no clue of what is happening in their own living room, the Tabs have chosen to stay silent. I suspect the prize goes to option three and that is a disgrace for a couple of papers that specialize in hawking gossip.

There may not be a colder team in baseball right now then the Baltimore Orioles. They have run into some hot teams, but that is no excuse for this recent swoon. All of a sudden, this team’s offense is sputtering and its shaky staff is shivering to death. It all adds up to a 2-12 record since the Birds finished off the Rockies on June 19th. The poster child for the collapse is Sammy Sosa who is now moping after being demoted to part-time DH. Sammy has just nine bombs this year and is now hitting under .200 against right-handers. There is now talk that Sosa – who will be a free agent this winter - will not survive in baseball long enough to hit his 600th home run. Such talk was unfathomable last winter when most assumed that Sammy was going to take huge advantage of the jet flow that runs out to right center at Camden. For all that bluster, Sammy has hit exactly two home runs at home. Now Sammy did miss home series against KC and Philly, but that does not fully explain his power outage in Maryland.

Yankee Yoddle: Well, the Yanks won their fourth straight yesterday as Randy Johnson came back on three days rest to shut down the ailing O’s. So let me get this straight, Randy complains about pitching on long rest but has nothing critical to say when his “routine” is upset and he is forced to go early? I hope the New York beat reporters remember this when Randy complains that a five-minute delay led him to give up two first inning bombs. What is wrong with AROD? In case you haven’t been watching, and most Yankees fans haven’t, the gayest of the gay has been largely silent for the last six weeks. Sure, he hit a meaningless bomb yesterday – what else is new – but take a look at his stats since May 27th. Since that date, Gayrod has only four bombs and 18 RBI in 132 at bats. That basically translates into a 20/80 year. I guess Alex doesn’t like hitting in that four hole since his slide basically coincides with his move up the order. By the way, he’s 3 for his last 27, but help is on the way as Cleveland comes in for four and he has a nice resume against a bunch of Indian hurlers. Based on a limited sampling, I get the feeling Yankee fans are a bit concerned that Manny Ramirez will soon erase Lou Gehrig’s grand slam record. Manny hit his 20th slam last night and he now trails The Horse by only three atomic bombs. Unless Manny wakes up tomorrow with ALS, that record is gone by the end of 2006. For some insane reason, I think the loss of this record is going to sting some Yankee fans even though most couldn’t tell the difference between Lou Gehrig and Lou Grant. And God help Yankee fans if Johnny Damon keeps this hitting streak going for another month because that could push some over the edge. Just imagine JD taking out Mr. Coffee. I think it bugs Yankee fans that the only untouchable record in baseball resides in Boston.