The Pine Tar Incident turns 25

25 years ago Yankee manager and rascally rabble-rouser Billy Martin got the umpires to disallow a two-run, top-of-the ninth homer George Brett had hit to put the Royals up 5-4 because the pine-tar on his bat exceeded 18-inches and was in violation of baseball rules. (As one commentator stated, Brett became the first player in baseball history to hit a game losing home run.)

Called out, Brett then charged from of the dugout angrier than any man in the history of anger.


Upon protest by the Royals, the American League office reversed the umpire's decision, deciding "the spirit of the game" hadn't been violated. Three weeks later the ninth from the point of Brett's homer was replayed and the Royals won.

It was quite difficult to track the video of the incident down, but I finally found it in all of its glory.

Along the way I came across two funny dramatizations of the incident, one by a few guys in the snow and one by Johnny Bench. Both fitting tributes to one of the classic moments in baseball history.

Opening days are upon us

After a bizarre mid-preseason jaunt to Japan, and yesterday's festivities at the Nationals' new ballpark, today is baseball's opening day version 3.0. Nature thinks there should only be one opening day and also hates that stupid decimal point. Thus we have rain all over the country.

Here are my predictions for 08, in order of finish. (I'm going to toot my own horn, my 07 predictions were really, really good.)

American League East
Boston Still the class of baseball, even with injury concerns in the starting rotation.
Toronto Not a lot of big names other than Roy Halladay and the ghost of Frank Thomas, but the Jays are solid everywhere.
Yankees In bomberland, the ownership just got a lot younger. Now the starting rotation needs to do the same.
Tampa Bay The endless supply of talent continues -- and they still have nothing to show for it.
Baltimore Nationals' new stadium can't be good for the hapless Orioles.

American League Central
Detroit Look for Miguel Cabrera to contend for the triple crown.
Cleveland The bullpen will let them down.
White Sox Team should mash, but shaky pitching will lead Ozzie Guillen to many a well-publicized hysterics.
Minnesota There has always been a spit and bubblegum aspect to the Twins success, and now they have lost a couple rare bricks in Santana and Hunter.
Kansas City Currently the worst franchise in American sports.

American League West
Seattle NL-styled team could be really special if Felix Hernandez and Erik Bedard perform to their potential.
Anaheim (WC) Have been slowly adding parts over the last few years.
Oakland The players change, but the decrepit ballpark remains the same.
Texas Since they are both on my fantasy team, I like their middle infield.

National League East
Mets So much talent. If they fade again, many heads will roll.
Philadelphia (WC) Philly will battle for Detroit for the best offense in baseball -- and maybe baseball history.
Atlanta With Glavine back in the mix, is Terry Pendleton far behind?
Washington Lots of buzz about the team (in Washington) but I'm just not seeing any pitching.
Florida The fact that this disgracefully run franchise has managed two World Series titles is a cruel indictment of the rest of the teams in National League East, for whom World Series wins don't come easy.

National League Central
Chicago Cubs have a Pie in center and a Fukudome in right.
Houston Look for Miguel Tejada to have a big year.
Milwaukee Prince Fielder is 23 and Ryan Braun 24.
St. Louis The Pujols elbow injury is so scary I passed up the opportunity to draft him in the second round of my fantasy draft.
Cincinnati Griffey to get to 600 home run at age 37. Would easily be going for 700 if not for an inordinate number of injuries.
Pittsburgh The only thing the Pirates have going for them is not being the Royals.

National League West
Arizona If their young hitters make the next step -- and I think they will -- watch out.
Los Angeles Since he has some talent in LA, Joe Torre's legacy will depend somewhat on how the Dodgers perform over the next few years.
Colorado The thin air should help elevate Troy Tulowitzki to the level of the other great NL shortstops.
San Diego Petco Park is where hitters careers go to die.
San Fransisco Bonds hangover will be long and painful.

AL MVP
Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Only the buffet table can keep Cabrera away from 150 RBIs.
AL Cy Young
J.J.Putz, Seattle There aren't a lot of good starters in American League these days, so I'm seeing the dreaded relief pitcher as Cy Young scenario.

NL MVP
Alfonso Soriano, Cubs 40/40 on a team that could win 100 games.
NL Cy Young
Roy Oswalt, Houston Ultimate grinder was pretty lights out in the last half of 2007.

World Series
Arizona over Detroit Coming out of the bullpen, Randy Johnson wins game seven.

More Mitchell

Here is something I worked on yesterday for the new topical humor site 236.com.

Don't switch the blade on a guy in shades

Over the weekend I added Corey Hart, a second year outfielder for the Milwaukee Brewers, to my fantasy squad.

Hart offers the kind of five-category consistency that would be an asset to any fantasy baseball team -- which is why I was pleasantly surprised to find him on the waiver wire. Although that is nothing compared to the continuous amusement I gleam from his name: Corey Hart

I'm going to let Mr. and Mrs. Hart of Bowling Green, Kentucky off the hook here by pointing out Corey was born in 1982, a full year before Canadian singer Corey Hart took the world by storm with a brooding ode to nocturnal eye wear titled Sunglasses At Night.

Little did Mr. and Mrs. Hart know the already Corey Hart, by way of his so-cool-the-sun-always- shines-on-me pose, would become so popular he would be offered, despite his lack of acting experience, Michael J. Fox's eventual role as Marty McFly in Back to the Future. (Two casting decisions which remind us for a brief flicker in time Canadians were, stunningly, all the rage.)

"Corey Hart" is hardly the only name to have been rendered amusing by a pop singer. How many Michael Jacksons -- surely once one of the most common first and surname combos in the English speaking world -- became Mike Jackson when the throngs started asking them "where's the white glove?" And the brilliant inclusion of a character named "George Michael" made Arrested Development, a very funny sitcom, that much more funny.

But baseball's Corey Hart is dealing with it at a whole different level. Not only has the other Corey Hart's master work graduated, through unintended absurdity and a catchy "I wear my sunglasses at night" refrain, to a permanent fixture in the cannon of unkillable 80's songs, but young Corey Hart happens to be known for doing one of the few jobs around where wearing or not wearing sunglasses has any relevancy.

Since he's on my fantasy team, I'm going to be pulling hard for Hart to speed and power his way to a 30/30 season. But every time I see him field a fly ball with his sunglasses flipped down I'm going to also have to indulge my inner Chris Berman and wonder if now the center fielder is able to "keep track of the visions in his eyes."

I'll hardly be the only one pondering this silliness, and it's going to take a bunch of 30/30 seasons before poor Corey Hart breaks out of the epic shadow of the other Corey Hart's shades.

10,000 losses and one Steve Jeltz

Yesterday the Philadelphia Phillies became the first sport franchise in the recorded history of the universe to lose 10,000 games. It's a feat of longevity, more than anything else. Although there are a handful of other baseball teams that have been around for as long or longer than the Phillies, so ineptitude can't be ruled out completely.

As a Phillies' fan who has borne witness to a good chunk of this longevity and ineptitude, I can honestly say I feel fine. The Phillies have brought me many good memories. OK, they have brought me some good memories. OK, I actually do remember when the Phillies won their only World Series in 1980. Granted I was quite young, and I didn't appreciate it the way I would have had it happened a couple years later.

But really, when I reflect back upon 15 years of waking up early so I could check the morning box score before school and, after that, walking out in the middle of many a conversations because I just got the sudden urge to go check the Internet to see how the Phillies were doing, it doesn't come back as an endless parade of losses and disappointment.

Instead I remember all the interesting people my Phillies' fandom has exposed me to. Like Steve Jeltz. Jeltz was relatively slick-fielding, absolutely no-hitting shortstop who started for the Phillies between 1985-1989, and who, along with Juan Samuel, made up the jheri curliest* middle infield of the National League.

For reasons never properly explained, Steve Jeltz was born in Paris, France. While Jeltz's last name was typically pronounced how it spelled, I preferred to refer to him as Steve yeltz. I did so either as a nod to his almost-Iberian place of birth, or because anyone so light hitting needed to be denied the hard J. I can't remember which. Maybe it was both.

Now I do remember the time Steve Jeltz, who hit exactly five home runs in his eight year major league career, managed to smack two homers in one game . . . after entering as a pinch hitter. . . hitting one from each side of the plate . . . leading the Phillies to victory in a game they had fallen behind 10-0 in the first inning!

That was exciting. There is good memory.

Losses come and go, and by the time they accumulate to 10,000 the very concept of being defeated loses its meaning. But Steve Jeltz's shockingly big day . . . that sticks around forever.

*The double play tandem's matching locks were so overwhelmingly distracting that Samuel's picture appears on Jeltz's 1988 Donruss trading card.

Baseball Preview

Big day for sports, with opening day coinciding with the NCAA basketball championship. I'm joining the crowd and taking the Gators tonight. Here are my predictions for the upcoming Big League season, in order of finish:

American League East
Boston They could all flop or blow their arms out, but the upsides of Schilling, Beckett, Dice-K and Papelbon (either starting or in the pen) are spectacular. And if they split the difference, the Sox still have enough offense to be really good.
Yankees (WC) Look for second basemen Robinson Cano to have a breakout season and add to the parade of stars in the Bronx -- which will make the Yankees's next playoff swoon that much more unforgivable.
Toronto The Jays can hit with any team in baseball, have a lights-out closer and top-tier number one starter, but there is not enough pitching here to keep up with the big-market bullies.
Tampa Bay A lot of young talent in Tampa. Unfortunately they all play the same couple positions and occasionally throw bats at umpires.
Baltimore Peter Angelos and Daniel Synder are locked in a Baltimore-Washington parkway showdown to prove how much money they can make for themselves by denigrating their respective sports franchises.

American League Central
Cleveland The Indians took a step back last year, but in 2007 Sizemore, Hafner and company make up for it.
Minnesota Their patented second half charge falls short this time.
White Sox Ozzie Guilen's transformation from breath-of-fresh-air to the manager-who-beat-a-reporter-over-the-head-with-a-clipboard will be complete by season's end.
Detroit I don't trust their young pitching staff at all. 2006 smells like a fluke.
Kansas City If you don't have anything nice to say . . .

American League West
Angles The Halos have to overcome the bad karma of the terrible huge money signing of Gary Mathews Jr. -- who was a stadium-aided one-year anomaly even before he was a known HGH user.
Oakland It's amazing how the A's keep their heads above water despite losing significant talent every year. Although I'm sure the fans in Oakland are plenty sick of moral victories.
Seattle Ichiro: Will he stay or will he go?
Texas The Rangers seem to struggle when they are not basking in the euphoria of jettisoning A-Rod.

National League East
Mets What a starting lineup. A big question mark of a pitching staff -- especially if Pedro doesn't come back as Pedro.
Philadelphia (WC) With Howard, Rollins, Utely, Myers and Hamels locked up for the rest of the decade, the Phillies will be contenders for a long time.
Atlanta Should be back in the mix, especially if Chipper Jones can turn back the clock like he did in the second half of last year. A real threat to New York and Philly.
Florida If Florida didn't have the misfortune of playing in the stacked NL East, the young Marlins would challenge for the playoffs again.
Washington It will get very, very ugly.

National League Central
Houston The Astros bullpen reverts to form and leads them back to the top of the Central. The 'Stros still have a good chance of snagging Clemens for the second half, especially if they are winning.
St. Louis They miss out on repeating not because they slipped, but because the National League gets a little better.
Chicago Even with Soriano, the Cubbies lineup is thin. And the not-quite ghosts of Prior and Woods will haunt Wrigley like that silly goat and Bartman already do.
Cincinnati They will probably hit a lot of home runs.
Milwaukee Watch for Prince Fielder to start producing like his dad did.
Pittsburgh Jason Bay must feel like he's back in his Canadian homeland, because he has nobody around him.

National League West
Dodgers The Dodgers pitching and speed suits their mammoth ballpark.
San Diego Ditto for the Padres -- if you switch speed for defense
San Fransisco Bonds will take Aaron down this year. That used to really bother me. It's funny how having Bonds on your fantasy team changes your perspective
Arizona A team that could surprise. A nice core of young players, and an ace in Brandon Webb. Colorado High altitude baseball probably wasn't the world's greatest idea.

AL MVP
Manny Ramirez, Boston Unless he quits mid-season -- to pursue archery or solve the crisis in the Middle East -- Manny, who's been dutifully protecting Ortiz all these years, finally has a guy behind him who will force pitchers to throw him the occasional fastball.
AL Cy Young
Johan Santana, Minnesota Only arm problems can stop him.
AL Rookie of the Year
Daisuke Matsuzaka, Boston I hate the rule too, but technically he is a rookie

NL MVP
Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia The Phillies new team emphasis on stolen bases, and a home park suited to the slick fielding shortstop's power swing, will allow Rollins to go 30/50 this year, and back that up with 140 runs and close to a 100 RBI's. If you don't believe me check out how close he was, despite a brutally slow start, to those numbers last year.
NL Cy Young
Carlos Zambrano, Chicago Cubs With a nasty demeanor and a nastier sinker Zambrano, who's a lot younger than you think he is, is playing for a contract extension this season.
NL Rookie of the Year I'm not going to even pretend I know.

World Series: Boston over Philadelphia
The people of Boston need to accept that they are now the Northern chapter of the Evil Empire.

It was either him or famous dolphin Jason Taylor

Lefthander Dontrelle Willis's career has been impressive. He blasted onto the scene in 2003 and led his tiny market, underdog Marlins to an improbable World Series victory over the mighty Yankees -- winning the Rookie of the Year along the way.

He was even better in 2005, topping the Major Leagues in wins and posting the third lowest earned run average among qualified starters.

Willis's sky-high leg kick makes him one of the most recognizable players in baseball, and his affable demeanor makes him one of the more popular figures in sports. But Dontrelle Willis has never been featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Until this week. Until SI decided to tackle the pressing topic of sports and global warming.

When the globe warms the stadiums will flood with water. And Dontrelle Willis is a Marlin. And a Marlin is a fish. And a fish's natural habitat is the very water that will flood our stadiums.

So Willis, who didn't even know he was so honored until a reporter showed him a copy of the magazine, has finally made the cover of Sports Illustrated. Because he is a fish.

Just the way he dreamt it when he was a boy.

Is baseball cheating a family affair?

The three active baseball players named as part of the criminal investigation into a pharmacy accused of making illegal shipments of human growth hormones have something in common.

Gary Mathews Jr., David Bell and Jerry Hairston Jr. are all Major League legacy. Bell and Hairston Jr.* are the rare third generation ball players.

Of course baseball's most famous alleged HGH and steroid user, Barry Bonds, plays for the same team his all-star father did.

Coincidence? By the late Ken Caminti's "80 percent of big leaguers use" standard, it is just a fluke of who is getting caught. But by retired closer and HGH suspect John Rocker's recent assertion that it is only 10 to 15 percent, it can't be a fluke.

The real number is likely somewhere in between, and that still leaves a correlation that is hard to dismiss as mere coincidence.

Is it because the sons and of big leaguers feel added pressure to follow in their father's daunting footsteps? That might be part of it.

Or is it also because their family ties have taught them that baseball players will do anything -- corked bats, scuffed baseballs, sign stealing, "greenie" amphetamines-- to get ahead? And that "cheating" is part of the game.

Really, does a player who takes HGH pervert statistics that much more than a ground crew watering down the infield when the home team has a sinkerballer on the mound?

Granted performance enhancing substances have more potential health risks than an emory board, and this might be one of those rare occasions where the athlete as a role model card rings true. But taking steroids or HGH certainly isn't, relative to the history of the game, extraordinary or abhorrent behavior.

Just ask the players who would know that history best.

*Hairston, unlike the other two, vehemently denies involvement.

Ryan Howard reminds us what a mess we are in

755, 714, 660, 586, 573. I memorized those numbers when I was kid. Any serious baseball fan over the age of twelve knows what they represent.

Between 1976 and 2001 Aaron, Ruth, Mays, Robinson and Killebrew held the top spots on the all-time home run list with those frozen totals. During the late eighties Reggie Jackson and Mike Schmidt were poised to challenge the top five but both retired just short -- it seemed out of a respect for the magical numbers they chased.

In 2001, Mark McGwire ended the 26 year reign of 755, 714, 660, 586, 573 and etched his name in the top five. Barry Bonds soon followed and eventually Sammy Sosa joined the all-time party. Along the way the three sluggers also wreaked havoc with two even more mythical numbers that had stood for even longer -- 61 and 60.

These men didn't just break the single season home run record, they obliterated it. Multiple times. Like the 38 years it stood were a joke.

Bonds, McGwire, Sosa and their bulbous heads are also the poster-children for the steroid age.

The statistical playing field between different baseball eras has never been level due to segregation, the height of the mound, different sized ballparks, expansion and the emergence of the Latin player, among other things. But there is something particularly insidious about the steroid era.

It wasn't so much that a great slugger like Bonds hit 73 home runs, it was that a slap hitter like Luis Gonzalez hit 57.

Now that Ryan Howard is making his charge up the all-time single season home run list there is a debate over whether baseball should acknowledge him if he passes 61.

I'm pulling for Howard to hit as many home runs as he can, but it will be hard for me to get too excited if he gets to 62 because I won't know what it means.

In the public discussion about Howard, Bonds, 73, 61 and steroids everyone agrees that Howard at 62 would be significant, but I still haven't heard a satisfactory explanation as to why. It is telling that in this age of know-at-all sports punditry nobody even pretends to have an answer to this riddle.

Numbers are the life-blood of baseball, connecting everybody who has ever played the game. They are what makes baseball by far the most interesting professional sport for a fan. Especially a long-time fan.

The steroid era has made these numbers, once so meaningful and clear, into something profoundly confusing. It is always sad when this happens. Even sadder when an event like Ryan Howard's incredible second season --which should be celebrated -- is what ends up driving that point home.

Bobby Abreu is not a swinger

New York baseball fans will soon learn what has become painfully obvious to the long-suffering baseball fans of Philadelphia: Brand-new Yankee and slugger-with-a-.430-slugging-percentage Bobby Abreu likes to take a pitch.

He takes a lot of pitches, leading the majors in walks this year despite hitting in front of the National League's top power hitter and behind its hit leader.

What makes Abreu unique, when compared to other patient middle-of-the-line-up hitters such as Jason Giambi and Barry Bonds, is when Abreu spots a ball coming towards the middle of his strike-zone he doesn't pounce on it and try to drive it out of the park. Rather he takes it in hopes the next pitch will be a ball, bringing him closer to drawing another of his cherished walks.

So steady is he in this approach he refuses to let having two strikes alter it.

I learned something today about Abreu that gets to the stunning depths of his passive nature. Abreu was once engaged to 1996's Miss Universe, who hails from his native Venezuela. The engagement was called off last year when his beauty queen fiancee was cast in a Mexican reality television show and promptly had sex with a greasy, pony-tailed man not named Bobby Abreu in front of a large TV audience.

While some have pointed out Abreu did go on a bit of power surge right after it happened, it was brief and he quickly returned to being the pitch taking machine he's always been.

Getting on with your life is probably a good idea after being the victim of such an egregious infidelity. But video of the illicit copulation now lives in internet infamy.

This clip* alone has been viewed a couple hundred thousand times since February. It is one of many.

One might think this never-ending humiliation would drive Abreu to take his aggression out on that little white ball, often thrown in his direction without the deceptive curve or blistering pace the other major leaguers are forced to grapple with.

But no.

Yankee fans who assume a move to pinstripes will impart in Abreu a hostility towards the ball, when the booing fans of Philadelphia and his then-fiancee riding some guy all over the internet weren't able to, are fooling themselves.

Just remember, "A walk is as good as a hit."

If you keep repeating this mantra, like Bobby does, you too can believe it is true.

*The clip contains PG-13, soap opera-like, sheet obscured sex. Only it's real sex and it involves Bobby Abreu's ex-fiancee, a former Miss Universe.

What's in a name?

Despite being the lead vote getter for last night's All-Star game, Boston Red Sox slugger Manny Ramirez was a non-participant. Last week Ramirez cited a sore left knee for why he wouldn't be able to make it to Pittsburgh for the festivities.

When that same left knee lasted a 19 inning marathon with the White Sox Sunday, debate ensued.

Ramirez is not the first athlete to skip out on an all-star game because of a suspicious injury. He won't be the last. But he is the first player whose true motive can be neatly reduced to a phrase that while catchy, is technically meaningless.

"Manny being Manny" also explains (but isn't limited to explaining) taking unforeseen angles towards fly balls, not running out ground balls, poor number of outs awareness, the "borrowing" of teammates uniforms, seasonal grouchiness, sick days spent drinking with rival Yankees and keeping squalid living conditions.

Manny makes up for his Manniness by being the best run-producer of his generation.

But that isn't the only factor at play here. There is clearly something sonically pleasing about the phrase "Manny being Manny."

Was it pleasing from the start, or was it the familiarity bred by repetition that made it so? Such questions of the chicken-or-the-egg variety can not be answered on this space.

Nevertheless, if Manny stopped being Manny, there would no longer be a reason to articulate Manny being Manny.

Those continuing to do so would eventually be labeled as "off."

It is entirely possible we have a generation of sportswriters and Red Sox fans who encourage Rameriz's eccentric behavior just to indulge their vocal chords.

Then there is David Ortiz, the big loser in this sordid affair. Do you think it's fun to always have to be the jolly, "baseball-has-been-so-good-to-me" Dominican in the middle of the Red Sox's line up?

Does not a moody, unpredictable fire also burn in Ortiz's Latin heart?

Wisely, Ortiz knows David being David lacks that certain Je-ne-sais-quoi.

Poetry is like stealing money (if you're getting paid)

Since Curt Schilling is on my fantasy baseball team, I spent the evening watching the Red Sox-Mets game he started.

With two outs in the top of the fifth of a scoreless tie, Schilling picked the ancient Julio Franco off second base. As Franco remained on the ground, and the Red Sox players all moved towards the dugout, I starting thinking about how lonely Franco must feel, still out there. Suddenly, I was overwhelmed with an urge to immortalize the scene in verse.

I chose the "haiku" because a haiku is not supposed to rhyme. Although it does require you follow a certain syllabic code. The haiku also has its own society. Here is my poetry debut:

Off, the fielders jog
He wanted that extra step
A rally is dead

Temper, temper

The manager of the Ashville Tourists, a Colorado Rockies Single A affiliate, has received a great deal of attention for a fit he pitched over the weekend. Some commentators were amused, while others questioned whether a man willing to flaunt such a complete lack of self-control should be left in charge of 18 to 20 year olds.

What I think is Joe Mikulik has spent too much time studying his Martin, his Weaver, his Pinella and his McClendon,* and not enough time developing his own moves. Despite the unusual length of the tantrum we don't see anything we haven't seen before -- besides that I-have-no-cartilage-left-in-my-knee dive into second base -- which I doubt will inspire imitators.

I thought he might be on to something when he dumped water on home plate. Mud-castles? Or even a mudball, which would give him something else to throw or spike. But he ends up using the water to wash away the dirt he had kicked on home plate. Which could be defined as helpful.

Mikulik's lack of originality is not all his fault. Managers and umpires have been feuding for over a century and there is a finite number of behaviors, short of physical contact or producing a firearm, that can be displayed in such a situation.

Sure, I'd like to see a disgruntled manager unroll the tarp, climb the foul pole or beat himself in the head with his own shoe, but Mikulik just wasn't the guy to introduce a new innovation. He's an A-ball manager, through and through.

On the other hand, the umpires handled themselves like big leaguers. There is no doubt Mikulik was saying it and spraying it, yet the umps had the discipline to stand there like they were on palace duty.

Contrast this to the excitable referees at the "word's greatest sporting" event, whose hands would spasm to their whistles if the ball boy tripped over his own shoelaces.

*I was prepared to link to videos of Billy screaming, Earl kicking dirt, Sweat Lou stomping and Crazy Lloyd McClendon trying to make off with third base but, it turns out, youtube hates old-school baseball managers. It's the first time its ever let me down.

Needs to be said

The purpose of JSB is not to embrace what the "cool kids" refer to as fanboy sports geekdom.*

Nor is it to post items at 12:18 on a Saturday night. (It's raining really hard.)

I am not a Boston Red Sox fan.

Jonathan Papelbon is not on my fantasy baseball team.

But something has come to my attention that I can not, not acknowledge.

Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon has a 0.24 ERA.

We've all seen the 0.00 ERA. It shows up at least 30 times on opening day.

I also know the record for consecutive scoreless innings is 59. Whereas Papelbon has already given up a run in 38 innings pitched.

Nevertheless, have the numbers zero two and four ever appeared consecutively and followed by the acronym for earned run average in the known history of all things?

That question is for The Elias Sports Bureau.

For now, color this disinterested party impressed.

*Those not acquainted with the Chris Berman/You're-With-Me-Leather incident/sensation need to do themselves a favor and acquaint.

Maybe not the greatest catch of all time

As some were saying yesterday. But certainly one of the most memorable and ballsiest. Here is the video.

Today, Rowand is resting comfortably.

A stint on the disabled list is fifteen days, the free drinks in the Greater Philadelphia area will last forever.