• I'm quite sure that Josh Wilker is the one man on earth who could reasonably connect Johnny Wockenfuss and Snuffleupagus.
• Congrats to Tony Clark for hitting his first home run of the season -- and the 245th of his career -- yesterday. And like Elijah Dukes' first homer the other night, this one was a walk-off job.
• Speaking of which, I know last Thursday seems like forever ago, but this note about Giambi's walk-off shocked me: "[A]ccording to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time in Yankees history that a pinch-hitter hit a two-out, game-ending homer that turned a deficit into a victory."
• In yet another solid outing, Doug Glanville revisits the 2003 Cubs' stunning, Bartman-aided collapse in Game 6 of the NLCS. Of course, Glanville would know; he was there.
• I suppose Posnanski can keep Banny Log going all season, if he's stubborn or just wants to prove a point. But the latest edition, while well worth reading for Joe's take on Johnny Damon, David Copperfield, Jamie Farr, and horse racing, doesn't have a whole lot of material about, you know, Brian Bannister. Who got destroyed by the Yankees yesterday. Unfortunately, it looks like Bannister, as a player, really isn't all that interesting. Like Doug Glanville, Bannister probably won't become truly interesting until he's finished playing, and has time for more talking, and (maybe) writing. Because as smart as you might be, it's really, really hard to outsmart a game this old.
• U.S.S. Mariner agrees with Keith Law: When the M's were drafting last week, the last thing they needed with their first-round pick was a college reliever. It's funny ... upper management often is reluctant to fire their general manager before the draft, because that's not a good time for front-office turmoil ... but on the other hand, the guy who dug you into this hole just might dig a little deeper in the draft. Which seems to be exactly the case here.
• Aside from sticking it to the Man -- worth relishing in itself -- MLB's latest legal loss in the Fantasy Sports Wars is a good thing for everyone who plays fantasy sports, or might someday play fantasy sports. Essentially, MLB has argued that if you want to run a game based on players' names and statistics, you have to ask for MLB's permission (and of course pay a hefty fee). Meanwhile, the fantasy-sports companies (and others) have said, "Wait a minute. What the players do is news, and we have just as much right to that news as we have the right to report a political speech or a five-alarm fire."
Last Monday, MLB lost a sort of appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. And it's a loss not only for them, but for every other major sports league, too. Because a lot of people have been paying rights fees to the leagues. And now it appears that they don't have to. Why is that good for us? Because competition is good, and the more companies that can afford to do business, the better the competition.
• Allen Barra writes a sort of love letter to Ken Griffey Jr. Barra never really argues that Griffey might have been the greatest player ever if he hadn't been injured. But he does allow for the possibility, which I think overstates the case just a little. Griffey was obviously a great player. But I was never convinced that he was a sublimely talented center fielder in the vein of Willie Mays and Andruw Jones, and his .380 on-base percentage before he got hurt was good but not fantastic (just 24th best among his peers with at least 5,000 plate appearances). Would Griffey have become one of the 15 or 20 greatest players ever if not for the injuries? Perhaps. But even considering just the center fielders, I don't see how he'd have caught up to Mays, Cobb, and Mantle.
• The best name in high school baseball? Tommy Ghost Dog.
Rob Neyer
