On the fateful day REM announced their breakup, it feels a tad churlish to nudge Atlanta fan Mike Mills with a post that questions the ethics of his beloved Braves. However, since Hardball Talk’s Craig Calcaterra made the huge personal sacrifice of actually listening to Steve Phillips’ radio program on Sirius’ You’ll All Be Fired Soon Mad Dog Radio channel, the least I can do is share former Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone’s remarks about the New York (Football) Giants faking injuries.
Leo Mazzone: “Well, I don’t see anything wrong with it myself. I watch football a lot, too, and I know that’s been going on for a while to slow a team down, it stops their momentum. In baseball, as you well know, it’s been going on a long time. I know that in my little ball bag I had firm grip and all kinds of goodies to take care of a baseball to get a little more movement on it. (laughs)”
Evan Cohen: “So that’s why the Braves kicked the Mets ass for all these years?”
Steve Phillips: “Wait a minute! How come our pitchers were pitching with nice bright white shiny baseballs and your guys had pine tar and scuffs all over them?”
Mazzone: “Well, you had pine tar, that’s for sure, because when you were in the postseason and it got called, one time Smoltzy had it on his shoes and I said, ‘John, you can’t keep bending over and touching your shoes all the time. Let’s put it someplace else!’ (laughs)”