Quote of the week
Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira, on general manager Brian Cashman suddenly flying to Atlanta on Wednesday to meet with the position players about their recent poor hitting: "Sometimes you need a kick in the butt. Sometimes the principal needs to show up in the classroom when the students aren't listening to the teacher."
Fashion note of the week
Slumping Angels designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero, who had been wearing shoulder-length dreadlocks, showed up Tuesday with a crewcut. "They found the Dead Sea Scrolls in there," joked manager Mike Scioscia.
Movie news of the week
Toronto Star columnist Richard Griffin blogged about the news that a proposed film version of "Moneyball" starring Brad Pitt had been scrapped on the eve of production.
"OK, here's the script: The small-market A's are forced to compete on a budget, can't draw flies to a horrible stadium, reach the playoffs year after year and get knocked out early," he wrote. "They then trade some snazzy homegrown starting pitchers for future prospects, come back the next year and do the same thing all over again. The movie's already been made. It was called 'Groundhog Day.' Finally other organizations catch on to the philosophy and end up mixing traditional scouting and numbers better than the A's. Eventually, the A's don't even make the playoffs because what was once outside the box is now inside the box. Next!"
Big Apple traffic note of the week
First, Mets reliever Duaner Sanchez had his career derailed while in a cab accident. Tom Glavine, then with the Mets, had his two front teeth knocked out, also in a taxi incident. Then, this week, disabled shortstop Jose Reyes was on his way into Manhattan with trainer Ray Ramirez for a checkup when they were rear-ended by a fire truck on the Triborough Bridge. Fortunately, no one was injured.
Around the bases
-- Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti said he'd be happy to add a starter or a reliever before the trading deadline. "It's not like you're going to a buffet and you can pick up whatever you want," he said.
-- Last Sunday the Royals became just the ninth team in history to lose five straight games by five runs or more.
-- The Pirates are 9-1 at PNC Park when the attendance is over 20,000.
Finally
Rays manager Joe Maddon is a clever guy. So when Ben Zobrist started hitting a lot of home runs this season, Maddon started calling him Zorilla. Zobrist. Gorilla. Zorilla. Cute.
The only problem is that there actually is an animal known as a zorilla and it doesn't really conjure up the image of a swashbuckling power hitter. In fact, it resembles a skunk and is related to a weasel. Known more commonly as a striped polecat, it is also considered one of the smelliest animals on earth.
Oops.
