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Here’s an interesting article about the M’s centerfielder, Franklin Gutierrez.  He’s having a great season.  Quickly becoming one of the best players in the game.  USSMariner takes a deeper look.

What we’ve seen is the combination of a great defender playing at the absolute peak of his abilities for six months. If Gutierrez actually could sustain this level of run saving range, he’d go down as the best defensive outfielder in the history of baseball.

A little bit of Sabermetric analysis.  Hard to believe that some people still think statistics are irrelevant in sports.

The Hot Stone League – Jim Parque: Why I Juiced

Larry Stone’s latest post discusses an article printed in yesterday’s Chicago Sun-Times.  Jim Parque was a former major league pitcher named in the Mitchell Report.  He was accused of taking HGH during his comeback from rotator cuff surgery while playing in the Seattle Mariner system.

Larry Stone outlines the latest article and provides links to other blog posts at the time of the Mitchell Report release, including an initial denial by Parque.

Parque now runs a baseball academy in Auburn, WA, where I went to high school.

It’s worth reading Stone’s post as well as Parque’s confession in the Chicago Sun-Times and Geoff Baker’s article in the Seattle Times.

PETA Targets Fish Toss At Pike Place Market

PETA has taken a stand against one of the most popular tourist attractions in Seattle – the fish market at the Pike Place Market that tosses salmon.

PETA heard that the American Veterinary Medical Association planned a Pike Place Fish Market demonstration at next month’s convention at the convention center.

PETA sent a letter to the association saying people who care about animals are appalled fish would be treated as toys. A spokeswoman for PETA in Norfolk, Va., Lindsay Rajt, says veterinarians should show compassion.

PETA hasn’t heard from the veterinarians.

An assistant manager at the Pike Place Fish Market, Justin Hall, says workers there respect fish because it’s their livelihood and they take pride in having the best seafood.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=beernight/080604

When Grieve hit his second home run in the fourth inning, he had not yet rounded third base when a man — entirely naked — ran onto the field and slid into second, probably getting dirt in places unsuitable for speculation. In the fifth inning, two men in the outfield got into the act, jumping the wall and mooning the Rangers’ outfielders.

Interest in the game itself peaked in the fourth inning, when Indians batter Leron Lee swatted a line drive back to Rangers pitcher Fergie Jenkins. Jenkins could not get out of the way and caught the ball with his stomach. As he writhed in pain, the fans began to clap. A chant began:

“Hit him again, harder!”

In 1974, it did not occur to the Indians organization to request an additional police presence at the ballpark for their beer-fueled promotion. If any municipal police were in the stadium that night, they were off duty and quite possibly as drunk as anyone else.

Martin and his team stormed the diamond, infielders filling out their ranks. When they reached the outfield, the Rangers found Burroughs flustered but unharmed. More worrisome was the effect of their charge on the assembly: The jovial, frolicking nudists had disappeared. The mob that replaced them kept its clothes on and brandished an arsenal that made Martin’s Louisville Slugger look like a child’s toy. The Rangers manager spotted people wielding chains, knives and clubs fashioned from pieces of stadium seats.

At least they’re not Detrot… they’re not Detroit.

From the same article:

Any rumination on Cleveland’s fortunes in the ’70s must include the woeful state of the Cuyahoga River, which ran a winding course through downtown. In 1952, it caught fire for the ninth time. Years and years of absorbing liberal amounts of industrial waste had turned the Cuyahoga into something more than just a waterway. The fetid river burned with Stygian fury, destroying $1.5 million in property. Despite the significance of the incident, it didn’t attract much national news coverage. But in 1969, when the Cuyahoga caught fire again, flames reached five stories in height and burned for almost a half-hour. Still, they did little more than scorch a rail bridge, and the damage cost just $50,000 to repair. In Cleveland, this was viewed as improvement. Between ‘52 and ‘69, however, the national attitude toward flammable bodies of water had changed.

And a song about it, Burn On, by Randy Newman: