It All Comes Down To This

As most of the regular readers of this blog know, baseball is not our bread and butter. Clement knows the Yanks inside and out and follows the season from start to finish. I know the Cubs and follow them closely until the July 31 trade deadline when they "build for the future". Sum is a Red Sox fan because he was born in Boston and lived there for all of three months. Armin's favorite baseball team is ... the Washington Redskins.

My point is that baseball is not our forte. However, seeing red flags and citing high levels of annoyance is part of our skill set.

First, the Reds hired Dusty Baker as manager earlier this week. Here's my note to staff ace Aaron Harang and pitching prospect Homer Bailey. When the skipper asks you to pitch more than 125 pitches during the stretch run, demand a trade. Your career is not worth one stretch run. Don't believe me? Just ask Mark Prior and Kerry Wood. Regardless of what happens, I expect heavy scrutiny placed on the pitch counts of Reds starters due to what transpired in 2003 and beyond for the Cubs.

Second, I didn't think I fully understood annoyance until the postseason promos with Dane Cook (baseball's only logical spokesman for baseball) went full stream. I now do and appreciate Saturday Night Live's response to these ridiculous ads.