Rob Neyer

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Friday, May 10
 

ROB'S QUICK HITS
Did you see that?

May 9
Even when the sacrifice bunt "works," how often does it really work? In tonight's Mariners-Jays game, Ruben Sierra led off the bottom of the seventh with a double. The score was 3-3, so Lou Piniella told Bret Boone to bunt, and he did. The next batter was John Olerud, who doubled to plate Sierra with the lead run. Of course, Olerud's double would have scored Sierra from second base anyway.

More to the point, you don't play for one run in the seventh inning of a baseball game in 2002, even in Safeco Field. That one run was all the M's scored, but the Jays scored four runs in the eighth inning to take a 7-4 lead. The M's wound up winning, of course, but it might have been a bit easier if they hadn't given away a valuable out for no apparent reason.


May 9
Baseball broadcasters say stupid things all the time. It's not their fault, really. It's just a hazard of the trade; you say enough things, and some of them aren't going to make any sense, I don't care who you are. What's more, Cubs broadcaster Joe Carter is generally articulate and occasionally insightful.

Today, however, he said the most ridiculous thing that any human being has ever said in the broadcast booth. Dawn Wells was in the booth promoting "The Vagina Monologues," in which she's appearing in Chicago. Wells, of course, is known for one thing and for one thing only: she played Mary Ann on Gilligan's Island. And so Carter, ever the gracious host, gushed that Gilligan's Island "changed the country."

Yes, even more than Mr. Ed and The Brady Bunch.

Talkin' baseball

Rob's chat wrap: Friday, May 3

Rob on the radio: ESPN Radio, Monday at 9:26 p.m. PT (that's 12:26 a.m. on the East Coast)

Four down, four problems
The Rockies, Tigers, Royals and Brewers have all canned managers. Rob argues that while there is hope in Colorado and Detroit, the Royals and Brewers are in a heap of trouble. Complete column

From the Archives
August 28, 2000: When you think of a "baseball museum," you probably think of The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown. Now, my favorite thing in Cooperstown is the artifacts: the old gloves, the old baseballs, the old watches presented to old ballplayers for meritorious achievement ... you know what I mean.

Well, there's very little of this in the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, presumably because nobody saved anything. Complete column


RECENT COLUMNS
May 2: When Robinson speaks, players listen
April 29: Good riddance, Tony Muser

  • 2002 Archive


    WHAT ROB IS READING
    Wrigleyville: A Magical History Tour of the Chicago Cubs
    Author Peter Golenbock is the undisputed king of baseball oral histories, and this book, published in 1996, figures to be a treasure trove of stuff for the Cubs chapter in my next book.

    The Power Broker (Robert Caro's Pulitzer Prize-winning, 1,200-page biography of Robert Moses, the most powerful man in the history of New York City and State)


    LINK OF THE WEEK
    Friends of Tiger Stadium: http://www.tigerstadium.org/home.html

    I don't know if I favor preserving classic ballparks as museums, but I do think that if they can be preserved as working ballparks, they most certainly should be. And Tiger Stadium is the greatest living ballpark.

    HISTORY LESSON FROM THE BOARD
    None of baseball's original 16 teams can match the futility of the Philadelphia Phillies. A recent book helped Rob understand why the franchise was so bad, for so long.

    Complete column

    May 3
    I realize that this is partly an effect of the additional BB, but it is worth noting that the Expos are in first not only because they are leading the league in walks -- they are also second in average, fourth in slugging, and first in OPS. Needless to say, these are all substantial improvements. -- dabrawnzz





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     More from ESPN...

    AUDIO/VIDEO
     GameNight
    ESPN.com's Rob Neyer expresses some strong views concerning former Royals skipper Tony Muser.
    RealAudio

     'A very good pitcher for a very long time'
    V Show: Rob Neyer talks about timeless Jesse Orosco with Bob Valvano
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