Fly With The RockTwit

According to an article published in the Daily News, you can do just that.

The "Sports I-Team", the same investigative group who put together "American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America's Pastime" are reporting that Roger Clemens is now on Twitter, dropping gems like this one:

Like a courtroom? Sounds like The Rocket, I guess...

As someone who has been fooled by a fake Twitter account in the past, color me skeptical. In the article, the News quoted a "spokesperson who requested anonymity". Think about that for a second. A spokesperson who requested anonymity. I would be embarrassed to say I had anything to do with Clemens' PR as of late, but it sounds pretty dubious.

The account isn't verified and despite being around since June 17th, it only has 478 followers as of 1:00PM on 9/19/09.

Looking through his 134 tweets, none are to other well known people. Wouldn't the real Rocket be talking to some of his ex-teammates or celebrity friends who also have Twitter accounts? Does he just not have any friends anymore? Or is it a fake person who would have their cover blown by trying to talk to someone Clemens actually knows?

Could the "Sports I-Team" really fuck up this badly? Is this a shrewd move by the Clemens camp to feed the Daily News false information as a way of discrediting them? Could they be that calculating? Could the News be that lazy not to verify this with multiple sources? Maybe they just don't understand Twitter.

Who is the real "ASS CLOWN" here?

They're Not Saying "Bruuuuuuuuuu-ney"

Did you ever play on a youth sports team where the coach would play their child outside of the order of merit? The kid might have been a shitty goalie or quarterback or shortstop, but the coach kept running him out there hoping against hope that they would succeed.

That's how I feel every time Joe Girardi calls for Brian Bruney out of the bullpen. Everyone else in the 'pen seems to have the innings they work determined by their performance in recent outings. Except Brian Bruney.

As Matt mentioned in the recap, Bruney has been pulled from his last 8 outings in the middle of an inning. It's not becase Girardi is getting all match up happy and using him as a ROOGY, either. Bruney has allowed at least one baserunner in 7 of those outings including six walks. Ten of the 22 batters he's faced have reached base. He's thrown just 50% of his pitches for strikes and only 4 of the outs he's recorded over that time have come either on the ground or via strikeout.

But for some reason, Girardi keeps trotting him out there in big spots, four of the eight times with a lead of two runs or fewer, in the 8th inning or later.

In a way, it makes sense that Girardi is giving him every chance to succeed by putting him into tight games, hoping that he'll come around. At the same time though, by pulling him mid-inning every time, it's clear that Girardi isn't giving him a chance to really fail, either. That saftey net is okay when the rosters are expanded, but when they contract back to 25 for the postseason, you can't afford to have someone that unreliable pitching in any sort of important situation if you are going to keep him on such a short leash.

It seems that Joe G's goal in running Bruney out again and again is trying to prep him for the playoffs regardless of the results. Nevermind that if David Roberston or Damaso Marte had a stretch anything like this, they would have been relegated to mop of duty and been an afterthought when October rolled around.

So what is it with Girardi and Bruney? I guess it's the fact that Bruney had a 1.83 ERA in 34 1/3 IP last year for him. That's fantastic, but that was a year ago, he still walked a batter every other inning and he didn't pitch at any point between April and August. That's not a very big sample size.

This year he has one 12 1/3 inning stretch in April when he only gave up 2 runs and walked 4 while striking out 16. He briefly appeared to back on track in the middle of August. But he also misled the team in regards to the severity of the injury he suffered back in April only to go back on the DL after one inning in the middle of May. His ERA this year is 4.36 and FIP is 5.33. He's just not very good.

The unfortunate reality of Brian Bruney is that the good stretches he's had are the anomalies. He's a pitcher who has walked 6.4/9IP and with an 4.35 ERA throughout his career, which is almost exactly what he's done this year. He's only 27 years old, so perhaps he could improve down the line, and I'm not suggesting they give up on him completely.

I just don't want to see the guy on the postseason roster, barring an injury to someone else. He's no better than 12th on my pitching depth chart at the moment.

1. Sabathia
2. Burnett
3. Pettitte
4. Chamberlain
5. Rivera
6. Hughes
7. Aceves
8. Coke
9. Marte
10. Robertson
11. Gaudin
12. Bruney

Any objections?

Recycling A Thirty-Six Year Old Bad Idea

Except this one somehow worked out...

Something referred to as "Brett Tomko" allegedly threw a complete game, 5 hit shutout last night. Against the Rangers. In Texas, knocking the Rangers 4.5 behind the Red Sox in the Wild Card. Multiple sources have confirmed this outlandish tale, however I remain skeptical and will be reviewing the game via MLB.tv shortly for anything suspicious.

Since picked up by the A's, The Artist has gone 4-1 with a 2.95 ERA in 6 starts with only one poor outing, striking out 22 while walking 6. I guess he had a right to be all bitchy about not being "given a fair shot".

It was his 100th career win, which might be somewhat impressive if he didn't have 102 losses.

Just to review, Tomko gave up 12 earned runs in 20.2 innings (5.23 ERA) with the Yankees, mostly in relief, which is theoretically easier than starting and had a tiny BABIP of .230. But since moving to Oakland and pitching solely in the rotation, 36 year old Brett Tomko, owner of a 92 career ERA+ has also given up 12 runs, but in 36.2 IP for an ERA two and a quarter runs lower. He's won 4 games for a team that has gone 13-13 over that time. Damn you Billy Beane!

If I was John Sterling, I'd say "I'll tell you what, that's why you just can't predict baseball!!11!" but instead I'll just pose the rhetorical question, "What the fuck?".

Like, No, SRSLY!1!!!

WTF?