The Morning Wood - 10/05/2006

Stud: Carlos Delgado
After 13 years in the majors without as much as a sniff of the playoffs, Delgado (Spanish for "of or from the gado") made the most of his postseason debut, going 4-5 with a homer (God, I can't wait for the Celtics), as the Mets took game 1, 6-5. The Dodgers made a solid effort to come back, but Grady Little's decision to toss Brad Penny in an inning of relief - while he's scheduled to start game 4 - backfired. I actually think that Little's a pretty good manager, but maybe he should leave the pitching decisions to someone else from now on. Luckily, the Dodgers have 25-year-old rookie Hong-Chih Kuo starting game 2 for them. This might not be pretty, but it sure will be Asian.

Dud: Koren Robinson
Now, I don't consider addiction to be a humorous thing, but this guy's a real shitshow. What I don't get is why the judge is going to allow him finish the season before he serves his hard time. If you threw me on a team with Brett Favre, it would take every ounce of willpower I had to stay away from the bottle. Imagine how hard it's going to be for ol'Koren.

Talk Around the Cooler:
Seriously, who is the Dodgers' third base coach? Jenny Finch? I'm guessing you all saw the play where two runners get tagged out at home, consecutively. I guess it would be one thing if Jeff Kent, the first runner, had been in a tight play - maybe he could have trucked the catcher, giving J.D. Drew a clear path - but Kent was hosed by a good 25 feet. What would possess you to send the second guy? No excuse.

So I was flippin' around the ol'tube yesterday, and NBAtv is showing 2-hour episodes of teams' preseason practices. While it might seem boring to some, I think the dynamic is really worth checking out. Coaches do their best to motivate the guys, but you can tell that they all have that, "I'll work sort of hard, but know that I'm bankin' $8mil more than you" look in their eye. I caught the Wiz in action last night, and here were my favorite highlights: Calvin Booth, for a guy who really sucks, doesn't work hard at all; Antionio Daniels practices in a long-sleeved shirt; Eddie Jordan continuously makes jokes about Gilbert Arenas pulling up from just over half-court - funny, but he probably cries himself to sleep at night thinking aobut the same thing; and finally, Michael Ruffin, unfortunately, still looks like this.

Quick Hits:
Consipracy Alert: MLB wants old-man Mike Mussina to have a good start. Phil, that soulpatch is all the hip you need. Which side do I hate more in this arguement? Check out the Loaiza quote. If spilling coffee on someone isn't baseball, then I don't know what is.