HBT Weekend Wrap

While in West Virginia over the weekend I took the kids to a couple of scenic places in the New River Gorge and had a couple of nice meals. But this was easily the highlight of the trip. Found it in my wife’s childhood bedroom. Still in the wrapper, just waiting to be made into a righteous mix-tape. It obviously was never used for its intended purpose, so the question remains: would it have been meant to be a breakup mix tape (first song: “Pictures of You” by the Cure) or a new relationship mix-tape (first song: “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel)? All I know is that it would have sounded great seeing as though it would have been made on that sweet silver-front stereo system in the background.

Anyway, here’s what else happened over the weekend:

Davey Johnson. I’ll be damned.
And he could be there for a while.
The Rangers are scouting Yu Darvish. I have this feeling things won’t end well for him over here.
Rafael Furcal could be moved to second base. One theory: Dee Gordon is so awesome he’s forcing the change. Competing theory: it’s simply way easier to find an extra second baseman for Furcal’s inevitable trip to the disabled list. Which should be coming any minute now.
James Shields says that deal with the Devil is not the most fair document he’s ever signed, but he does like the certainty it provides.
Ryan Madson: uncomfortably numb [cue righteous three minute guitar solo].
Shin-Soo Choo is out at least six weeks with a broken thumb. At this point I’m thinking his year would have been better spent in the Korean army.
Throw it to first! They’ll never expect it!
Derek Jeter swung off a tee. Took 30 hacks. Only 27 of them bounced harmlessly to short, so he’s improving.
The most depressing story of the weekend.
The most horrifying story of the weekend. No, it has nothing to do with baseball, but I had to work this in there somewhere.
Steve Soboroff resigns as Frank McCourt’s propagandist-in-chief.
Roy Oswalt will be out for a while with a bulging disc. Note: there are few written phrases more needing of manual proofreading than “bulging disc.”
Kerry Wood: “I’ve got blisters on my fingers!”
The Giants may be interested in Yorvit Torrealba. What, there are no spare Molinas floating around?
Keith Olbermann lost his Old Timers Day job at Yankee Stadium. I for one am shocked — shocked! — that he alienated someone and was forced to leave employment earlier than anticipated. It’s so unlike him.

Now watch as I hit [play/record] and [play] at the exact same time …

Ichiro Suzuki is now a Mariners employee and, as such, he’s not allowed to sit in the dugout during a game. That’s for coaches and players only.

He knows that, too. Indeed, on the day Ichiro announced his sorta-retirement, he talked about how it was going to be hard not to be down on the field with the other players. He even made a ridiculous joke about how, “[he] can’t say for certain that maybe [he] won’t put on a beard and glasses and be like Bobby Valentine and be in the dugout.”

In related news, this mysterious stranger was seen by an Associated Press photographer in the Mariners dugout during the first couple of innings of the M’s-Yankees game:

No beard, but I guess that joke was not very ridiculous after all. Either way, by the end of the second inning — poof — he was gone.

Obviously, when something interesting like this happens you mustache an expert for their opinion on the matter. To that end, the Associated Press reached Bobby Valentine, who famously did the same thing after an ejection way back in 1999, for comment:

“He was perfect. I never would have known it was him.”

Valentine was suspended for two games and fined $5,000. I’m assuming Ichiro won’t get hit quite as hard given that he wasn’t defying an umpire’s authority, but even if he does have to pay a fine, he’ll likely do so willingly.

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