Purveyors of the knuckly arts are, above all else, survivors: Scott Baker’s Opening Night assignment has been called off. And so has the Philip Humber-R.A. Dickey roster competition. The right-hander was placed on the disabled list today after he experienced some stiffness in his right shoulder while pitching against Class AAA Norfolk on Wednesday. Baker […]

Last year the San Francisco Chronicle’s Bruce Jenkins ran a two-part piece in which he argued that teams should put more thought into their pitch counts, developing evaluation systems and protocols to determine when a pitcher is truly getting tired rather than simply impose a hard number of pitches on everyone. That’s actually a pretty […]

Not everyone appreciates my little geek-out in response to the Evan Longoria news. Well, actually, no one does, but this guy appreciates it less than others: section 34 said… I can’t believe I wasted 5 minutes of my life here. What are you suggesting—that the US forfeit? In the semifinals? Because a couple players have […]

So there’s this part in “LOTR: Return of the King” where Denethor, who has descended into madness over the death of his eldest son Boromir , demands that his younger son, Farimir ride off in a suicide mission to retake Osgiliath, which has been overrun by the orc army. Or, um, that’s what some geek […]

Davy Johnson said that he’d rather forfeit the WBC than play someone out of position at catcher, fearing that such a thing risks injury. Why then did he have no problem playing my team’s catcher out of position in left field? Yes, I will grant that it’s easier to get hurt catching than it is […]

No longer A-Rod free, but STILL every Thursday!

Ian O’Connor thinks it might be wonderful that the Yankees are going to be without the second best player in baseball for an extended period: And yet this is no cause for the mass hysteria that greeted Y2K. The team could lose its most feared and productive hitter, and yet the sky isn’t falling on […]

Teams that made the playoffs despite losing one of their best players.

If only changing one’s luck were as easy as changing one’s name.

If you believe in signs and portents, it’s going to be a long year for Braden Looper: The Milwaukee right-hander was scratched from his Cactus League debut after feeling tightness in his left oblique muscle near the end of his bullpen warm-up. Looper, signed as a free agent just before the start of spring training, […]