Chin music - Padres unplugged
without Young
Major League Baseball properly recognized umpire
Bruce Froemming on the occasion of his 5,000th game on Wednesday. MLB let another
quality umpire walk away without fanfare.
Joe Brinkman, who began his major league
career with the American League in 1973, has gone into retirement. Injuries prevented
Brinkman from being able to complete the season.
Brinkman's quintessential
moment came in 1983, when he outfoxed Billy Martin.
Brinkman was the crew
chief for the infamous pine-tar game, in which plate umpire Tim McClelland disallowed
George Brett's potential game-winning two-run homer in the ninth inning because
of excessive pine tar on the bat. AL president Lee MacPhail upheld Kansas City's
protest and ordered the game replayed from the point of Brett's homer.
When
the teams met again, with a different umpiring crew in charge, Martin immediately
protested that U.L. Washington and Brett had not touched the bases on the homer.
Crew chief Dave Phillips pulled out a signed affidavit from Brinkman saying Brett
and Washington had touched the bases. A beaten Martin slinked back to the dugout.
ANGELOS
READIES WALLET
Baltimore could be a player on the free-agent market again
this winter.
The Orioles are the last team other than the New York Yankees
to lead the majors in payroll. That happened in 1998, when Baltimore had a payroll
of $70.41 million.
Owner Peter Angelos has since pulled back, in part because
of bad local-media contracts brought on by the arrival of the Washington Nationals.
Angelos recently settled the issues, receiving what appear to be more favorable
deals that will increase revenue.
The first sign of the new muscle could
come with the pursuit of right-hander Mike Mussina, who began his career with
the Orioles. Mussina's departure to the New York Yankees as a free agent after
the 2000 season was a key moment in the Orioles' decline. Baltimore is headed
to its ninth consecutive losing season, the franchise's longest drought since
1946-56.
ON DECK
When the Rangers open a series at Tampa Bay on Monday,
they will be facing a split-personality team.
The Devil Rays have lost 15
of their last 16 road games and are 18-45 on the road overall. At Tropicana Field,
Tampa Bay is a different team.
The Rays began Saturday's play with a 30-27
home record. The 240-point difference in home and road winning percentages (.526-.286)
was second-largest in the majors behind Pittsburgh at 279 points.
Tampa
Bay is a better offensive team at home. The Rays have averaged 3.98 runs per game
on the road and 4.74 runs at home.
