Fastball Fans

Here’s Johnny Damon in a spot for Puma…

Part One

Part Two

The retrospective from one of the most famous catches in not only in baseball history, but all of sports history comes to you today via Ken Burn’s wonderful documentary “Baseball”.

Well, it looks like the Mets’ finally got another catcher they needed, and they rid themselves of gifted, but troubled, Lastings Milledge. The Washington Nationals rid themselves of two players who they felt struggled…

From ESPN: The New York Mets have dealt outfielder Lastings Milledge to the Washington Nationals for catcher Brian Schneider and outfielder Ryan Church, multiple media outlets reported Friday.

The Nationals announced they would hold a news teleconference at 3 p.m. ET to announce a trade.

Milledge, in parts of two seasons with the Mets, has a career .257 batting average (90 for 350) with 40 extra-base hits and 51 runs batted in.

Church, in 144 games last season, hit .272, one point higher than his career average in four seasons with the Expos-Nationals franchise. Last season, he had 128 hits, including 43 doubles — tied for the team lead with Ryan Zimmerman — and 15 home runs, and 70 RBIs.

An eight-year veteran, Schneider hit .235 with 21 doubles in 2007. In the field he had 53 assists, six errors and a .992 fielding percentage. He has a career .252 batting average in 757 major league games.

I am going to be blunt — The Nationals stole Milledge.

Why Minaya would trade him, I don’t know; however, some fans in Washington are going to be devastated as two fan favorites are gone.

Both Schneider and Church are near 30, and Schneider despite his catching prowess struggled at the plate. Meanwhile, Church who did put up decent numbers in ‘07, could not be regarded any more than an average outfielder, perhaps even a 4th outfielder on some teams.

Alas, if Milledge takes off in Washington, he’s solved the outfield issue and plus they’ve got a power bat for cheap and next to nothing.

To learn more about Washington D.C., click here; for New York, click here…

For more opinions about baseball, check out my personal blog, the Oriole Post…

Here’s quick rundown as to what has happened in the world of baseball this morning, or at least since last night…

* The Gambler, Kenny Rogers decided on Friday to end his free agency and return to the Tigers for a third season. He agreed to a one-year deal with Detroit, with the terms and amount unspecified

* Spurned by the Mets, catcher Yorvit Torrealba is staying in themile high air in Colorado, agreeing Thursday to a two-year deal worth about $7 million with a mutual option for 2010.

* According to CNNsi.com, Johan Santana has company on the trade market. According to league sources, the A’s, within the past couple days, have begun calling teams to seek interest in star pitcher Dan Haren, one of the better right-handers in the American League.

For more opinions about baseball, check out my personal blog, the Oriole Post…

In another incredible meltdown, yet another manager finds himself ejected from a game…

Well, Jeff Gordon completely makes a fool of himself when singing “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” at Wrigley Field. His first mistake was when he called Wrigley Field, Wrigley Stadium and then it goes downhill from there and he’s booed without mercy.

This a Nike commercial starring Ken Griffey Jr. of then of the Seattle Mariners, and he’s hitting the ball to a fan that is carrying a homemade target.

Well, here’s one of those ‘SportsCenter’ spots — this one with the Rally Monkey being fired…

Interesting video I found of Sparky Anderson from the 1990’s when he’s being interviewed in Baltimore.

One of my favorite managers ever…

Well, it looks like business is about to pick up for Barry Bonds, whether he likes it or not.

According to the AP, HBO Films is planning to turn a best selling book about the home run king’s alleged steroid use and the federal government’s wide-ranging probe into performance enhancing drug use in sports into a movie, one of the book’s authors said Thursday.

As we are into the Hot Stove & the week before the Winter Meetings, we chatted about latest and greatest in Major League Baseball.

* The Death of Joe Kennedy and Sean Taylor
* Santana: The Players, Let’s Make A Deal?
* The Contracts Signed So Far…
* Torii Hunter & the Angels
* Hot Stove Report
* More Contract Talk

Give us a listen, take a whirl, and let me know what you think! We’re on Blog Talk Radio and MVN every Wednesday night at 7PM EST

For more opinions about baseball, check out my personal blog, the Oriole Post…

* Jorge Posada and the New York Yankees finalized their $52.4 million, four-year contract on Thursday, more than two weeks after the All-Star catcher and the team reached a preliminary agreement on the deal.

* Francisco Cordero and the Reds finalized a four-year, $46 million contract.

* Reliever Yasuhiko Yabuta has agreed to a two-year, $6 million contract with the Kansas City Royals. A 34-year-old right-hander, Yabuta spent 12 seasons with the Pacific League’s Chiba Lotte Marines, who are managed by Bobby Valentine.

* Jon Lester, who came back from a cancer diagnosis in 2006 to win this year’s World Series clincher for Boston, was honored Wednesday with the Tony Conigliaro Award for overcoming adversity through spirit, determination and courage.

* Sources say that 38-year old Troy Percival, who is on the comeback trail after a decent year with the St. Louis Cardinals, is close to completing a multiyear contract with the Rays.

With the talk of Santana being traded, as well Joe Nathan, and the departure of Torii Hunter, the Minnesota Twins & Tampa Bay Rays made a blockbuster trade last night featuring two up-and-coming young players as the centerpiece.

The Rays exchanged Delmon Young for Twins’ hurler Matt Garza as the centerpiece of the trade.

The Twins needs offense and an outfielder, and Tampa sorely needs pitching.

From ESPN:

‘The Minnesota Twins weren’t worried about Delmon Young’s troubled past. They wanted his bat, and they wanted it badly.

Young was traded by Tampa Bay to Minnesota on Wednesday night as part of a six-player deal that sent right-hander Matt Garza to the Rays.

In a swap of promising youngsters that’s been discussed for weeks, the Twins also gave up starting shortstop Jason Bartlett and minor league pitcher Eduardo Morlan while acquiring shortstop Brendan Harris and minor league outfielder Jason Pridie.

The move obviously fills the needs for both teams; however, I cannot understand why Tampa would move Delmon Young considering what he in ‘07, and his contract status right now.

Buster Olney in his blog raises this crucial point…

‘While Young’s talent is extraordinary — on Wednesday evening, one AL East executive compared his ability to make consistently hard contact to a young Vladimir Guerrero — the Rays had to wonder, internally, about whether Young was ever going to grow as a hitter and make necessary adjustments while with Tampa Bay. Maybe he will learn to be a more selective hitter in Minnesota, while taking batting practice daily with Joe Mauer, but in Tampa Bay, he was surrounded by other very young players, the kind of structure that wasn’t going to nudge him to change…’

We shall see what happens, but both teams needed to make to fill up some holes. I see Tampa’s pitching greatly improving and they having a core of young starters growing together and they getting some more established talent. However, I think Minnesota, in the long run will be the big winners of the trade as they get a good young player in Young, who could be something close to a franchise star if he improves.

I saw enough of the Rays in Baltimore to know that their pitching, both starting and relief were weak, if not woeful. I think if they can improve their pitching and perhaps loosen the financial purse strings a little, Tampa is a team to watch out for.

To learn more about Minneapolis, click here…

For more opinions about baseball, check out my personal blog, the Oriole Post…

You all remember this — a 2003 game between the Red Sox and Yankees where Pedro throws Don Zimmer to the ground.

Dennis Miller Interviews Jose Canseco On Versus - Click here for more home videos

Here’s a brief clip of Jose Canseco being interviewed by Dennis Miller on “Sports Unfiltered with Dennis Miller” that appears on the Versus network. The two men talk about steroids in baseball and Canseco’s book, “Juiced”…