King George: Who is this cloven-hooved Rogers fellow? I like the cut of his jib.

(apologies to Charles Montgomery Burns)

http://tinyurl.com/ympc3y

Obviously there are a lot of differences between the two, but the quality of Kenny's answers last night reminded me of Roger in 2000.

Steinbrenner, when Cashman tells him that Rogers isn't available to pitch for the Yankees, will tell Cashman ...
"well then get me his non-Union Mexican equivalent"

(more apologies to Monty Burns)

(Further apologies to CMB, none to the Gambler - I'd rather Jeff Weaver get a Serious ring at this point.)

Paul Lukas of UniWatch seems to suggest that Rogers' cap might be of more concern than his hand.

i also read one theory that larussa didn't have the umpires search rogers because he didn't want his own pitchers under such scrutiny... a glass house kind of situation.

anyone have any better ideas as to why he didn't have the umpires give kenny the airport security treatment?

(i don't buy the whole "tony and jim are friends" story. they both want to win this thing.)

If Rogers wanted to cheat, why would he use highly-visible brown gunk? There's no sticky clear gunk in the world?

Baseball players can pick up the spin on a pitch within a fraction of a second - hell, they can even see a balk when it happens. But the players, coaches and managers on two teams didn't see brown stains on the pitcher's hand, brown smudges on the baseball? Especially when Kenny Rogers is getting them out for the first time ever?

So I'm not taking it for granted that he was cheating. But if he was, well, he's just dipping into a time-honored bag of tricks. Never mind Gaylord Perry, for whom it was a mind game; Whitey Ford wouldn't have made the Hall of Fame without doctoring baseballs.

Why not? Seems acceptable to me that the two men are friends and have the utmost respect for each other. I imagine LaRussa and Leyland are attempting to trust each other to monitor their own players...

that is what finally had me thinking he was junking up the ball. it just seems too coincidental otherwise.

that aside, he only gave up one other hit in the subsequent 7 innings.

...the jerk.

maybe this was just a way to get in hitters' heads. (using such a visible gunk on his hand.)

regardless the ancient one had a great night after the mark was gone, too.

(so does the cap hold the key to his postseason dominance?)

perhaps i am a terrible friend.

(this truly is a possibility.)

i take it all back. perhaps their relationship transcends the rules of the game.

here is an excerpt from the following URL:
http://www.baseballbookshelf.com/2006/10/larussa_leyland_in_literature.html

John Feinstein writes in Chapter 11: "Leyland and LaRussa" in Play Ball:

Now, the Load [ed: one of LaRussa's nicknames for his air of importance] was focused clearly on a game taking place two hundred miles away in Chicago, where the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs were locked in a 2-2 tie. Both managers had been LaRussa coaches: Jim Lefebvre of the Cubs remains a friend; Jim Leyland of the Pirates is LaRussa's soul mate. They talk about situations they have faced and decisions they have to make.

Whose soul mate isn't a chain-smoking older gentleman who enjoys wearing baseball spikes? The chapter goes on to read:

They were a strange-looking couple: LaRussa, tall and dark with the law school background; Leyland, shorter, his hair gone gray, with a tendency to fracture the language. Clearly, though, they spoke the same dialect when the topic was baseball. In a sport where machismo is considered at least as important as hitting a curveball, they weren't afraid to say they loved one another.

"...I can talk about Jim Leyland for hours, but there's only one thing that really matters: He's the best there is. Absolutely, the best," [said LaRussa}. "He's a perfect manager and a better guy. Now, if someone wants to make fun of that, let 'em."

(regardless, i would've checked rogers... he's kenny rogers, not johan santana... those numbers.... i am at a loss...)

This Series goes 7 games, and ends in a tie, with both managers walking off in each others' arms.

i love the drama.

i have not been able to locate any video to confirm this.

26
a great (and simultaneously sad) point.

My point is that maybe they did not make a bigger deal about it because several of the pitchers do it and Kenny was just too blatant (ESPN showed other games where the stain was there, just not as bad). After the TV cameras had spotted it, LaRussa just felt they could get into Kenny's head by making him wash his hand. But getting him tossed would open up a can of worms for both sides.

Why else would the umps just say "Kenny, wash that dirt off your hand". I suspect they knew what it was and did not want to have to eject him for it since others do the same thing.

Even John Kruk said that he did not care if pitchers used pine tar, because he felt like it would keep batters from getting hit. Maybe it is more common than we think to use pine tar or at least some kind of sticky substance (maybe others use something clear as pointed out earlier) to help with their grip during cold weather.

again, i don't know why.

30 So many interesting questions. Do all pitchers do this in the postseason? Do the umps look the other way only if the game is outside in the cold? How cold does it have to be? Has Mo done this all these years? When did this start? Why hasn't this come up before? Why isn't this getting more play in the national media? Is some plucky investigative reporter looking into this, hoping to get a Pulitzer and a best-selling book out of it? Is Jones just an attention-mongering doofus? Isn't there a special mud applied to all balls, before the game, to help the pitchers grip the ball better? And isn't this cheating, much like, say, taking PEDs is cheating?

Of course, I've never figured out why they have different jerseys for BP, either...

Anybody have an HD Fox-super-zoom broadcast of the perfect game he threw in 1994? Better go back and check that one out too, wouldn't want anybody to get away with anything...

"3.09 Players in uniform shall not address or mingle with spectators, nor sit in the stands before, during, or after a game. No manager, coach or player shall address any spectator before or during a game. Players of opposing teams shall not fraternize at any time while in uniform."

I remember reading it years ago and thinking it was strange that they did not let the players "fraternize" while in uniform. I guess the BP jerseys allow the players and coaches to talk to the opposition on the field before the game since they are not in uniform.

I'm not a fan of the alternate jerseys, road caps, etc. Pick a uniform and stick with it. It's things like this which make me appreciate the Yankees even more.

I kind of like the Yankees BP jersey, too. It looks nice, and it's more subtle than the pinstripes or the road grays.

It's crazy how many uniforms some teams have. The Pirates have a million of them. I always wonder how their players remember what uniform to wear when. And they've got those vest-style jerseys with the glittery undershirts they wear sometimes. The undershirts probably look nice in person, but you get a distracting moire effect on TV with those.

http://tinyurl.com/y8hef9

BTW, he was on the radio show again today and said that he would "neither confirm nor deny" that Kenny was using pine tar. He did reiterate that a lot of pitchers use pine tar during cold weather and it is overlooked due to "professional courtesy" and the fact that it prevents the batters from being hit more often.

That sounds like a G-rated version what most Yankee fans would say about Weaver.

Shaun, I really respect your opinions and enjoy your posts and that's why I just wanted to give you my take on Todd. From the countless interviews I've heard (and from people who know him personally) he really is more of the "aww-shucks" kind of guy that you read in the Sporting News column. He might even agree with you about the "doofus" part (especially after some of his public relations blunders). But I don't think he wants the attention and from all accounts he is really a likable guy.

Some people even unfairly compared Todd to John Rocker after his Colorado comments (speaking of "attention-mongering doofuses"). As you know the media seems to run with anything negative that they can to make headlines (ask A-Rod) and most of the good stuff that these guys do gets overlooked.

I guess being from the South sometimes causes people to paint us with a broad brush and I am a little sensitive to that. So please forgive me if I seem a little defensive.

E@%$ and FOX are not quite happy with the matchup this year. Not that it really makes a difference because all ratings for the past sevral years have been lower than expected. So what happens? Somebody gets a little "dirt" on himself and BAM! Instant controversy (no pun intended)... people are buzzing about it and wondering why the umpires did nothing about it. Why? If they did, there'd be a short story about how someone very few people liked got his just desserts, but his team went on to win anyway.

With the possibility of good ol' fashioned cheating, something we haven't seen since Sammy loaded his BP bat with Superballs and thought no one would notice, it diverts our attention from what may be the real issue... is Rogers juiced? Somebody's making money hand over fist. Which controversy would Bud Selig rather have in the World Series right now?

Or, as Kenny Boy would likely say, Who are you gonna trust, me or your lyin' eyes?

You know, I never even heard of the word "dumbass" until my sister went to Texas A&M.

Aggie joke:

Texas A&M was playing Princeton, so an Aggie was wandering around the Princeton campus, looking for the football field. Finally, he stops a passing Princeton student and asks, "Where's the game at?"

The Princeton guy replies, "Don't you know you're not supposed end a sentence with a preposition?"

"Okay. Where's the game at, dumbass?"