Rumors for April, 2010
PRO Rumors: Roku Player is a Hit
Posted by: | CommentsSo the wait is finally over and I am now able to use my Roku player to watch MLB games on my TV. I purchased the Roku player earlier in the year, mainly for this purpose, although it has other channels and can play movies from my Netflix account. It was originally scheduled to be ready for Opening Day but didn’t become available until this week.
The Roku Digital Video Player accesses content over the internet and displays in High Definition via an HDMI cable. It comes with a remote and when paired with a MLB Premium subscription gives you access to all out of market baseball games.
The player performs better than expected. It displays in High Def, although for short periods you’re able to tell that the video is being streamed over the internet. You can choose an inning to jump to, start from beginning, or go to live and have dvr capability. The player runs circles around using the computer to watch games by negating log in and having more consistent video play.
As for the negatives the DVR forward and reverse does not have on-screen viewing so you blindly have to scroll to find what you’re looking for which can be bothersome. Games will freeze occasionally although on a much less frequent basis than when I was using a computer with the same network connection. Commercials are also not played between innings which could be a bonus for some people but bothers me.
The player I use is available from Roku for $99 and they have two other models available. I don’t trust wireless for streaming so I use an Ethernet cable. You must have a subscription to MLB Premium to use the Roku player which runs $24.95 a month or $119.95 for a yearly subscription.
What if the Red Sox acquired A-Rod?
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Peter Gammons of MLB.com reminds us that it
was a little more than six years ago that GM Theo Epstein and the Boston Red Sox had Alex Rodriguez on his way from Texas to Boston until the contract and the Player’s Association got involved.
For those that don’t remember, in the winter of 2003-2004 the Red Sox agreed to send Manny Ramirez and Jon Lester to the Texas Rangers for Rodriguez. The Red Sox were then going to send Nomar Garciaparra to the White Sox for Magglio Ordonez and Brandon McCarthy. A-Rod was so ready to get out of Texas that he was willing to lose part of his contract in order to get to Boston. The Player’s Association was not too happy with that, and the sides could not renegotiate the contract and the whole thing “blew up.”
The Yankees eventually umped in to grab A-Rod because Aaron Boone messed up his knee playing basketball that off-season.
It turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the Red Sox. They won the World Series in 2004 and then again in 2007, but it’s hard to ignore what could have happened if the team had gotten A-Rod. Could there have been more titles in Boston? What would an A-Rod, David Ortiz and Ordonez 3-4-5 combo do for the team? Would the Sox have won the 2007 title without Lester? Did the distractions from Manny help or hurt the team? PRO Rumors Nation – what do you think?
Hey Cal Ripken! Your streak may be in jeopardy
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Congratulations to Hanshin Tigers outfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto for playing 1,492 consecutive games without missing an inning. Last week, The Daily Yomiuri tells us that Kanemoto had his streak end when he was not in the lineup due to a sore hamstring. He later pinch hit in the eighth inning to keep his consecutive game streak going.
Kanemoto has a consecutive game streak of 1,638, a 994 game difference from Cal Ripken’s streak of 2,632.
Many people forget that Ripken had a 903 consecutive game streak without missing an inning – a record that Kanemoto has surpassed.
Teams in the Nippon Professional Baseball League play 144 regular season games per year. If Kanemoto continues his pace, he’ll break the record at the beginning of the 2017 season at the age of 49. Good luck!
(Information from Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe was used in this article.)
PRO Rumors TV – Sunday, Apr 25 at 7:30pm
Posted by: | CommentsPlease join PRO Rumors TV this Sunday, April 25 at 7:30pm PST with special guest Jeffrey August of Athletics Nation. He’ll join us to talk about the Oakland A’s, the AL West and all things baseball. You can watch at http://www.prorumors.com or http://blog.prorumors.com. Please note the new time for this show.
Cubs fan falls 14 feet from Milwaukee's Miller Park stands
Posted by: | CommentsIs Miller Park cursed?
According to the Associated Press, a Chicago Cubs fan fell 14 feet from the left field stands while the Chicago Cubs took batting practice before their game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.
The man, in his 20’s, was trying to reach for a foul ball on Sunday when he tumbled headfirst over the rail and onto the hard dirt below.
“He was observed by fans after the fall moving all his extremities,” Brewers spokesman Tyler Barnes said.
The team could not reveal his identity citing privacy laws.
The fall delayed the Cubs’ batting practice for about 10 minutes as several team members rushed over to the man after he fell.
This is not the first time an injury took place at Milwaukee’s Miller Park, in 2004, a 48-year-old man feel 17 feet from the escalators which resulted in his death. In 1999 before the park opened, three ironworkers were killed when a crane collapsed because of high winds.
What is the Philly sports fans' all-time low?
Posted by: | CommentsIn the wake of Matthew Clemmens’ horrendous act of vomiting on an 11 year old girl, the Philadelphia Daily News conducted a survey asking readers, “What is the Philly sports fans’ all-time low?” Vomit guy Clemmens trumped everybody:
It’s interesting to note that the battery incident with J.D. Drew only drew 4.3% of the vote. You may recall fans threw batteries in 1999 when Drew made his first appearance in Philadelphia after he chose to not sign with the team after they drafted him in 1997. He was loudly booed throughout the game, and two fans threw “D” batteries.
What's your fantasy baseball team name? – Evil Empire? Cobra Kai? Jobu?
Posted by: | CommentsSlightly off-topic, but it’s Sunday.
CBSSports.com (via The Wall Street Journal) did a random sampling of 100,000 fantasy team names and they came up with some interesting patters. Nine of the most common names come from moves of the 1980’s including Cobra Kai (the evil dojo in Karate Kid), Jobu (the voodoo doll in Major League) and Sexual Chocolate (the band in Coming to America).
So what’s the number 1 team name? Evil Empire
As for me, you can find me managing The Flying Elvis’s from the 1990’s movie Honeymoon in Vegas.
Here’s are some of the more popular fantasy-baseball team names:
PRO Rumors: Jeff Samardzija, Chipper Jones, Vicente Padilla, Josh Reddick
Posted by: | Comments
Here are your Sunday morning PRO Rumors to have with your waffles and maple syrup:
Jeff Samardzija of the Chicago Cubs has been sent to Triple-A Iowa to make room for Ted Lilly who was activated from the disabled list. (Carrie Muskat, MLB.com)
The Braves Chipper Jones felt a pop in his right hip during his first at-bat on Saturday. He will miss “more than just one or two days.” (D.J. Short, HardballTalk)
The Dodgers Vicente Padilla is headed for the 15-day disabled list because of soreness in his forearm. The Dodgers plan to recall Jon Link from Triple-A Albuquerque. (Los Angeles TimesIan Browne of MLB.com says that the Red Sox traded for Jonathan Van Every rather than call up Josh Reddick was because the team wants Reddick to get more at-bats in the Minor Leagues.
Video of linedrive hit to Jakubauskas head by Astros Lance Berkman
Posted by: | CommentsPittsburgh’s right-handed pitcher Chris Jakubauskas got drilled in the head today by a linedrive off of Lance Berkman’s bat. The pitcher immediately went down in pain and started to flail his legs. You can see it here:
The pitcher was taken off the field on a medical cart and rushed to a Houston hospital. He did give a thumbs up to the crowd as he left the field. He’ll be kept overnight for observation.
Teixeira's collision with Wilson – was it an act of revenge?
Posted by: | CommentsFor those that missed last night’s collision of Mark Teixeira of the Yankees and Bobby Wilson of the Angels check it out here:
As seen in the video, Teixeira clearly had an open lane to slide in and be safe, but he chose to pummel Wilson in an unnecessary act.
“The plate was open — I think he could have slid in and been safe just sliding in,” Torii Hunter said of Teixeira. “You can look at the tape over and over and say the play was clean or it was not right. It’s baseball.”
According to Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times said that pitcher Ervin Santana thought the collision may have been an act of revenge after the pitcher earlier hit Teixeira with a fastball.
Wilson suffered a concussion and an ankle injury. He was taken to the hospital and the team placed him on the 15-day disabled list. Ryan Budde was called up to take Wilson’s spot on the roster.
After the game, Teixeira said he “felt terrible,” and that it “makes me sick” to know he injured Wilson. He tried calling the Angels catcher Friday night, but “he was on the way back [from the hospital] the first time,” Teixeira said. “The second time, he was busy in the trainers’ room. I sent over about five messages with five different people letting him know I hope he’s all right.”
