The Baseball Chick

So I guess it’s no longer “Lima Time.”

Right-handed pitcher, Jose Lima, who was a 20-game winner and an All-Star during a 13-year major league career, died Sunday. He was 37.  Lima died of an apparent heart attack, according to the Aguilas Cibaenas, a winter ball team Lima had played for in the Dominican Republic.  Lima posted his best season in 1999 when he was selected to the All-Star game as a Houston Astro.

In 13 major league seasons, he had a 5.26 ERA. He hadn’t pitched in the major leagues since a four-game stop with the New York Mets in 2006.

“He was a man full of life, without apparent physical problems and with many plans and projects on the agenda,” his wife, Dorca Astacio, told ESPNdeportes.com.

On this past Friday night, he attended a game at Dodger Stadium, where he was introduced between innings and received an ovation from the crowd.  With the Dodgers in 2004 and 2005, Lima had a record of 13-5, with a 4.07 ERA.

“He would sign autographs all the time and ask the kids, ‘What time is it?’ They would answer ‘Lima Time!’ I can see it right now.” said Guillermo Mota, now a Giants reliever. “He had so much energy. I used to play catch with him and I’d be laughing on every throw.”

So sad.  I will always remember when he dyed his hair blond.  That was so ridiculous.  My thoughts go out to his family, friends, and fans.

(Hanley Ramirez. Hey Hanley, Don't Point To God, He Doesn't Like You Either)

It’s a sad, shitty world we live in where self-aggrandizing little jerkoffs like Hanley Ramirez can continue to live, make bank, and play well only when they feel like it, while great men like Roberto Clemente die in plane crashes while on their way to help earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

Maybe Hanley should save the attitude for when he actually brings a team to the playoffs.   He sounds like he’s quickly becoming one of those players that coaches and teammates call a “cancer to the team.”  Winning teams don’t bring cancers into their clubhouses. Enjoy your career with the Marlins/Nationals/Mariners/Indians/Rangers/Royals/Pirates, buddy.

According to Sports Illustrated:

… after Ramirez failed to hustle after a ball he accidentally kicked into the left-field corner as two runners scored in a 5-1 Diamondbacks victory and then failed to apologize, Gonzalez made no excuses for Ramirez.He took a couple public potshots at his manager and one at his less talented teammates, who also are said in the past to have resisted revealing their negative feelings regarding the team’s best player. According to other Marlins people, Gonzalez was especially incensed about Ramirez’s attacks on the teammates, characterizing the situation to other people as Ramirez “throwing his teammates under the bus.”

Ramirez bolted out of the clubhouse on Monday. But the next day, in response to whether he intended to apologize for failing to hustle, Ramirez said to Marlins writers, “For what? We’ve got a lot of people dogging it after ground balls, and they don’t apologize.”

Things worsened from there, believe it or not, as he issued what seemed to be a sarcastic challenge to the rest of the team. An apology now may require a lot more time, as Ramirez appeared to suggest that his teammates are not in his league. True or not, that’s not something a good teammate should say aloud.

Playing off Gonzalez’s remark from a day earlier about the Marlins having “24 (other) guys busting their butt,” Ramirez told Marlins writers, “We’ve got 24 more guys out there. Hopefully, they can do the same things I do.”

(Ken Macha)

According to Yahoo!Sports, Ken Macha, the manager of the Milwaukee Brewers, is one of the managers on the hot seat already this season.  Seeing as the Brewers are well below .500 and have lost six in a row, I cannot say I am surprised.  However, it is a sure thing that the Brewers will be mediocre year-in and year-out.  I don’t know how it happens, since any team with Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun shouldn’t be so damn average, but they make sure they finish around third or fourth in the NL Central almost every year.  Few things are so constant.  The sky is blue, water is wet, and the Brewers don’t win.

And well, this season is no different, thanks to pitching staff second only to the Diamondbacks in overall horrendous-ness.  I fail to see why any of the pitchers below can still get work in the majors.  Trevor Hoffman has a 11.08 ERA,  LaTroy Hawkins has a 9.26 ERA and Doug Davis has a 7.56 ERA.  Willie Randolph will be the manager by the All Star break, or sooner.

Now, who the fuck is going to the store to pick me up a case of Pabst?  A six pack is not near enough to carry me through a full night of postseason hockey mayhem. 

Jarrod Saltalamacchia is batting .343 in 18 games for Oklahoma City with five doubles, three homers, and an on-base percentage of .400.

Saltalamacchia hit the disabled list with a back injury just two games into the season.  Now he’s ready to come back, but Saltalamacchia is struggling with his throws back to the pitcher’s mound. In Salty’s last game, 12 of his throws back to the pitcher landed either short of the mound or in center field. He had five errant throws in the first inning alone.

“He’s just got to keep playing until he gets it right,” RedHawks manager Bobby Jones said. “I don’t know what else to do. It’s a shame. It’s definitely what’s keeping him here. He’s blocking the ball well and swinging the bat well. He’s just got to figure it out. It’s a shame.”

Easy.  He just needs to memorize the details of the Victoria’s Secret catalog.  But I think he has bigger problems on his hands.  What’s he going to do about the circa 1998 Justin Timberlake hair???

(Delonte West, the worst friend/teammate on the planet)

LeBron James’ teammate, Delonte West, is sleeping with LeBron’s mother, Gloria James.  According to TerezOwens.com:

My source explains the following.  “My uncle is the general contractor at the Q and has been for the last 7 years.  He’s good friends with a lot of guys at the Q, including some of the bigger boys in the organization and knows Dan Gilbert personally.  My uncle has been told that Delonte has been banging Gloria James (LeBron’s Mom) for some time now.  Somehow LeBron found out before Game Four and it destroyed their chemistry and divided the team.  I am not making this up, I wish it wasn’t try but it happened.”  With Delone West’s checkered past, LeBron can be none too pleased with his teammate and good friend hanging with his Mother.

It was obvious that LeBron James was acting disengaged and distant during the games. In huddles he often looked at the ceiling or into the distance.  People have been guessing as to what the problem was, but little did anyone guess that it was one of his teammates boning his Mom!!!  The mental image is, well, disturbing to say the least.  At least LeBron has another reason to get the hell out of Cleveland.  The only people that live in Cleveland are people that hate themselves.

(Dumbass No. 1 To Run On Field)

(Dumbass No. 2 On Field The Following Night)

There were incidents on consecutive nights in Philadelphia during the home series against the St. Louis Cardinals this week wherein two high-IQed individuals ran onto the field while the Cardinals were at-bat.  The first was 17 years old, and the second was seven months pregnant and clearly very hungry.  Forget tasering these people, has anyone considered waterboarding?

(Eric Byrnes, Currently No MLB Affiliation)

The Seattle Mariners released outfielder Eric Byrnes this weekend, two days after a late-game gaffe and bizarre exit from the clubhouse on a bicycle. Seattle signed Byrnes in January after the Diamondbacks released him. He was batting .094 in 15 games, including a strike out looking on three pitches with the bases loaded Sunday.

On Friday night, he inexplicably pulled his bat back on a botched suicide squeeze. Ichiro Suzuki was tagged out on the play. Byrnes then rode this beach cruiser bicycle out the front door of the clubhouse minutes after the game ended. He made a right turn down a tunnel and then made a 90-degree left turn around the approaching Mariners GM.  Okay, I clearly would rather get a bikini wax then watch the Mariners play baseball, but according to ESPN, this is what happened:

With one out, the game tied 0-0 in the 11th inning and Ichiro Suzuki on third base, Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu called for a squeeze. Byrnes offered at the pitch but for some reason pulled his bat back and left Ichiro out to dry. Worse yet, Byrnes apparently realized his mistake and weakly attempted to bunt again after the pitch had already crossed home plate!

The whole thing was so astounding that Texas manager Ron Washington got ejected for arguing that the pitch should have been a strike because Byrnes had tried to bunt. When the umpire told him that Byrnes had pulled back the bat, Washington refused to believe him and continued to argue. He said that in all his years in baseball he had never seen anyone pull back the bat on a squeeze. He said he couldn’t even fathom it. It was impossible. So he continued arguing and was ejected.

When Eric Byrnes was in Arizona, this guy was such a jagoff blow hard that he even had “The Eric Byrnes Show” on Fox Sports Arizona.  I turned it on once to find out that he had put on a fashion show in Scottsdale for his new clothing line.  Everything looked like horrendous Ed Hardy and Affliction rip offs.  The audacity of this guy to be a glorified, good-for-nothing fourth outfielder and think that people would actually want to dress like him, or buy anything even affiliated with his name. Eric Byrnes should just get a tattoo on his face that says DOUCHEBAG.  I bet if I cut him open he would be full of nothing but water and vinegar.