Month

People ask what makes the Rays the Rays. Well, a large part of it is Joe Maddon. Very few managers in the game are as proactive in shaping the social structure of a team as Maddon is, and he does in multiple ways (a multiple tool social structure manager?). The way he...

Carlos Villanueva has one of the best swing and miss rates in baseball (thank you Jonah Keri) so if you’re wondering whether he’s another Alvarez, he ain’t. Swing and Miss stuff is like Obtanium (or whatever that crap was they wanted in the movie Avatar)....

Kelly Johnson doesn’t have a lot of fans. But that’s mainly because you see the 6 million next to his numbers and your eyebrow’s knit angrily. A gap like his $ to output tends to draw the ire of the blue collar fan. Yes, he getting paid more than his production...

Well, I said that Matt Moore would run the table against the Jays tonight, and I was wrong. Mind you, I said it because the last 3 years he’s started out cold and heated steadily as the season progressed, including starting with a 7+ era in the minors and going on to lead...

Well, my tenure as a broadcaster with Rogers is almost up. The last show of Baseball Central will air September 6th, and then I’ll hop a CRV back to Ohio. Some of you might be sad to see me go. Some of you might be glad to be rid of me. Most of you will just be like,...

Shame on you, Marcus Stroman. Shame on you. Am I the only one that is tired of hearing about players testing positive, only to go on and use an excuse that they have no business using? “I’m sorry,” they say, their eyes moving steadily across the pre-recorded...

The Question Series #6 Killer Sheep. An inordinate amount of my friends are in the ministry. I however, am not. I’m like most people, just a person that tries to mess up my faith as little as possible based on the very limited understanding I have of my role in it and this...

(Each question series starts with a story,  then builds into a conversation about a real, pressing, religious or moral topic. The included authors below are friends I grew up with who have gone on to become pastors and master students in churches and divinity programs. We talk...

The Implosion Factor. For a team no longer in contention, there comes a point in the season when it starts to divide due to a lack of a unifying force. Typically this force is a real chance at a major team victory. When this chance/incentive is longer ahead of the team and the...

The Question Series #4 The Bigger Evil I bought a beer for a homeless man a few days ago. It’s an odd story. I didn’t notice him holding a sign that said he needed fed, or a beer, or even that he needed money. In fact, he didn’t even have a sign. He just had a...