(“hug it out, you stupid Jew bitches! Play Ball!”)
From Newsday’s Ken Davidoff :
The adulation umpire Bruce Froemming received this past week, for officiating his 5,000th major-league game, made me ill. I understand that Major League Baseball has to pretend to be happy for Froemming, their employee. But we in the media can’t be toasting Froemming, who should also be remembered for his collection of players’ and managers’ autographs – the ultimate conflict of interest – and the reprehensible, anti-Semitic, sexist message he left on a superior’s voicemail back in 2003, good for a 10-day suspension.
Perhaps Froemming deserves some slack, though. At least he didn’t request that Mel Gibson throw out the first pitch at the 5,000th game.
The Journal News’ Peter Abraham reports Carl Pavano had a successful rehab outing at AA Trenton earlier today. Even better, there are no reports of Pavano questioning the sexuality of the paying customers.
Snakes prospects Osbek Castillo and Hector Ambriz combined for a no-hitter today in Missoula’s 5-0 win over Caspar in the Pioneer League. Said performance comes 5 days after the same Osprey pitching duo hooked up to strike out 17 in a 2-hit, 3-0 victory over Great Falls. Castillo, a 33rd round pick for Arizona in the 2006 draft, lowered his ERA to 1.62 over 5 starts.
Chone Figgins’ RBI single in the bottom of the 9th capped off a comeback win for the Angels earlier today, a 3-2 decision that marked the 5th blown save of the year for Seattle’s J.J. Putz. U.S.S. Mariners’ JMB points out that even were the current losing streak to continue (11 and counting), a managerial change isn’t guaranteed.
I™d beg and plead for the losing to stop, but what™s the point? This is what Mike Hargrove does late in the year. In 2002, the Orioles were 63-63 in late August but finished the year 4-32 with losing streaks of 8, 10, and 12. 4-32. That™s not a typo. Shockingly, he didn™t lose his job until the following season.