The New York Mets are on the brink of collapse:

Leading by three games just a week ago, they are now a game-and-a half behind the first place Phillies and without a drastic change, the Mets could be shut out of the playoffs altogether.

This historic collapse is seen by some as warranting a government bailout of the Mets … before things get worse.

The collapse brings to mind the epic catastrophe last year where the Mets were seven games up with just two weeks left in the season and then went on to lose game after game and finally falling out of the playoffs with a loss on the last game of the year.

But now the Mets are petitioning the federal government for funds to hire relief pitchers. “If we collapse and don’t make the playoffs again, thousands of hearts will be broken. Think of the children,” said one Mets front office executive. “Think of the seniors who’ve been waiting over twenty years for us to win the World Series.”

How could Washington (excluding, of course, the Nationals) help?

The Mets have asked the federal government to either see its way clear to pony up a few million so the Mets could hire a relief pitcher that doesn’t give up a home run every third pitch or just assign a decent reliever to the Mets. If that proves impossible, some are speculating that the government could temporarily reward the Mets four outs during their turn at bat so they could score more runs.

Baseball purists are saying that it violates every foundational principle of competitive sport to bail out the Mets. However, realists say that this is not a time for ideology but action. Something has to be done, and when something must be done a blank check from the government is the only answer.

Indeed.

(Via Jonah Goldberg.)

My brother used to mock one of the NFL teams, might have been the Cardinals, maybe the Seahawks, for their bird logo: “clenched beak,” he called it.

Wonder what he’ll think of this:

This is one of the three new logos of the Oklahoma City RedHawks, announced Monday to accompany the insertion of “City” into the official name of the team. I’d say this bird looks, um, peevish, and you probably shouldn’t say “Bite me” in his presence.

Actually, game 4 of the PCL championship series was rained out yesterday, making this title at least somewhat irrelevant, but it was sunny at the Brick today, and Sacramento beat the Oklahoma [City] RedHawks 4-2, winning the series 3-1 and going on to the Triple A championship (ironically, at the Brick) against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre of the International League.

McGehee will be so pleased.

By general agreement, the Oklahoma City Thunder NBA squad is at least a couple of years away, maybe more, from being a serious title contender.

Meanwhile, if you absolutely, positively have to have the thought of playoffs to motivate you, the RedHawks are already there, having beaten Iowa’s Cubs three games to two; the Pacific Coast League championship begins tonight, with Oklahoma (which next year, we are told, will be relabeled “Oklahoma City”) visiting Sacramento for two nights. The playoffs move to the Brick for the third and any subsequent games.

This year’s ‘Hawks went 76-68, winning the PCL American South by 7½ games over the Albuquerque Isotopes. Oklahoma City hasn’t won a PCL title since 1965, though this is at least partly because the local club (then the 89ers) played in the American Association for most of those years and won two championships (1992 and 1996). When the Association disbanded in 1997, the ‘Hawks returned to the PCL.

Probably not, but it’s inarguably pretty bad. Oakland over Baltimore, 11-2; but merely stating the score ignores the real ignominy of it all:

The Athletics crossed the plate eight times in the eighth inning Friday night, and they did it with only one hit: a grand slam by Rajai Davis that sealed an 11-2 victory.

Three Baltimore pitchers issued six walks — four with the bases loaded — and hit a batter in the eighth before the fourth reliever, Randor Bierd, served up Davis’ first career grand slam.

“I’ve never seen an inning like that,” opined Oriole manager Dave Trembley.

Noting that Tulsa wants $60 million to build a new park for the Class AA Drillers, Michael Bates asks: “How much should a ballpark cost?”

The answer appears to be “Not that much”:

As of 2004, 62% of National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues-affiliated minor league ballparks in Classes AAA, AA, High A, and Low A were built after 1990. Of those post-1990 parks, AA stadium construction averaged $1806 per seat in 1990 dollars.

Adjusted for inflation, this works out to about $3000 a seat. Tulsa wants 6000 seats; divide that into sixty million and you get $10,000 a seat. What gives? Taxpayers, apparently:

You’ve been told that $60 million is needed to build a new downtown ballpark. The truth is that nearly half that money will be used by a public trust, controlled by the major donors to the ballpark, to buy up and control the land around the ballpark, using the City’s power of condemnation if necessary.

Should anyone be curious, the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City was completed in 1998 for $34 million, or about $45 million in 2008 dollars. It seats 13,066 ($3400 a seat).

This sure is a lot of ideas for a guy from New Jersey:

The Trenton Thunder, the Double A affiliate of the New York Yankees, have announced a special promotion designed to “ease the pain” for fans of the NBA’s Seattle Supersonics, who will move to Oklahoma City for the upcoming season. According to Oklahoma City media outlet, KOCO-TV, the city’s relocated NBA team will be named the Oklahoma City Thunder for the 2008-09 season.

The Trenton Thunder are now offering a complimentary ticket to any Seattle Supersonic fan. To receive a free ticket, fans must stop by the box office at Waterfront Park and be wearing their Seattle Supersonic hat, jersey, t-shirt or other merchandise. Each Seattle fan will receive one free ticket based on availability.

“We just want to help ease the pain for Sonics fans worldwide and offer them a night of fun with the Thunder here in Trenton,” said Thunder General Manager Brad Taylor. “We can’t blame Oklahoma City for choosing the best nickname in all of sports and certainly wish them well.”

Okay, I laughed. And why wouldn’t I?

(I note with amusement that the Thunder play at Samuel J. Plumeri Field at Mercer County Waterfront Park, One Thunder Road, Trenton. Robert Mitchum would have been pleased.)

(Via TrueHoop.)

Say what you will about George Steinbrenner, he would never have come up with something as cretinous as Hank did here:

“My only message is simple. The National League needs to join the 21st century,” Steinbrenner said in Tampa, Fla. “They need to grow up and join the 21st century.”

The designated-hitter rule was adopted in 1973, making it an artifact of the 20th century, and not the last quarter of the 20th century either.

“Am I (mad) about it? Yes,” Steinbrenner added. “I’ve got my pitchers running the bases, and one of them gets hurt. He’s going to be out. I don’t like that, and it’s about time they address it. That was a rule from the 1800s.”

Making a rare appearance on the bases at an NL park, [Chien-Ming] Wang pulled up rounding third and hobbled home on Derek Jeter’s single. Wang doubled over after scoring, pointed toward his right foot and was helped off the field.

Under the rules of interleague play, pitchers will bat during a game at a National League park; use of the DH is optional in an American League park.

Now I’m persuaded that the DH is an abomination unto the Lord, and when the Pacific Coast League sought to implement it in 1961, the Lord smote them. (Current PCL practice is to allow the DH except when two clubs affiliated with NL teams meet and the clubs agree to let the pitchers bat; my hometown club is a farm club of the AL Texas Rangers, so they always have a DH.)

Bud Selig once came up with the idea of using the DH if the visiting team is in the American League, or not using it if they’re in the National League. This went over about as well as you think it would.

And Jeff Brokaw’s analysis seems spot-on:

The AL game, with the DH, has evolved into a game with two players (out of the starting nine) who have limited skills: the DH, who is nearly always old, fat, and slow, and the pitcher, who can’t be bothered with running bases to stay in shape, or taking BP twice a week so that they can drop a bunt once in a while or hit a mistake into the gap now and again.

As evolution goes, this falls clearly on the side of “undesired mutation.”

It’s hard to add anything to this:

The Sioux Falls Canaries and Dakota Provisions are teaming up this summer to bring Fowl Balls to concession stands at the Birdcage. The venture makes Sioux Falls Stadium the first sports venue in the country to offer their fans a chance to enjoy turkey testicles.

Fat chance, say I. Says Rocket Jones:

The local poultry processor has some 32,000 extra Tom-bits left over at the end of each day, and someone became a marketing legend by convincing folks who should know better that nothing says baseball quite like a piping hot basket of Fowl Balls.

It would take an awful lot of Cracker Jack^® and brewskis to wash that down.

At Chicago’s U.S. Cellular Field, it better be:

Two signs on the doors leading from the visitors’ clubhouse at U.S. Cellular Field to the first-base dugout read, “NO BOTTLED WATER ON THE BENCH.”

What’s this? Athletes can’t drink water? Even in the humid Chicago summers?

Nope. There are contracts involved:

Gatorade is Major League Baseball’s “official sports drink.” So instructions were sent that no player could be seen drinking anything but Gatorade in the dugout. Not even Aquafina, which is the “official water” of MLB. Not even bottles of water with the labels removed.

Next step: Brawndo. After all, it’s got electrolytes!

(Via Mark Hemingway.)

The Casper Rockies, Rookie League affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, have decided that the merchandising take would be better with a more distinctive name, and will play next season as the Casper Ghosts.

Team owner Kevin Haughian says the change will help create an identity for the team beyond just being a Colorado farm club:

The Casper Rockies brand never really took off, unfortunately. If folks wanted to buy merchandise they were going to buy Colorado merchandise, not Casper. The appeal was limited to our die-hard fans in town. We think with the new name, the new look, the new logo, that it’s not only going to be popular here in Casper, but nationally and internationally.

There is precedent: the former Albuquerque Dukes, taking a lead from The Simpsons, are now the Isotopes.

I’m wondering if Wendy, the Good Little Witch, will show up as a, you should pardon the expression, batgirl.

(Via McGehee.)

The old Wichita Aeros never made much headway in the American Association, and when they moved to Buffalo in the middle 1980s to become the Bison, a name which seems at least slightly redundant, scarcely anyone mourned. A new Texas League club, the Pilots, later the Wranglers, was assembled, but they’re moving to Springdale, Arkansas for next season.

There’s a contest to pick the name for the new new team — you can participate here if you’re so inclined — but Wichita Eagle sportswriter Bob Lutz has a better idea.

Were it up to me, and be glad it isn’t, I’d christen them the Wichita Linemen.

Rangers 30, Orioles 3. Two things I feel compelled to note:

• The Orioles actually led 3-0 after three innings.

• Travis Metcalf, who hit a grand slam in the 8th (the Rangers’ 17th through 20th runs), had been called up from the Triple-A Oklahoma RedHawks that very day.

And I appreciate Rangers manager Ron Washington’s explanation for how it happened:

“Tonight there were some balls thrown across the plate and we put them in play.”

Says it all.

On the subject of Barry Bonds’ 756th, from the man who first hit 755:

[Hank] Aaron … said all along he had no interest in being there whenever and wherever his record was broken. He was true to his word, but he did offer a taped message of congratulations that played on the stadium’s video board during a 10-minute, in-game tribute.

“It is a great accomplishment which required skill, longevity and determination,” he said.

“Throughout the past century, the home run has held a special place in baseball and I have been privileged to hold this record for 33 of those years. I move over now and offer my best wishes to Barry and his family on this historic achievement. My hope today, as it was on that April evening in 1974, is that the achievement of this record will inspire others to chase their own dreams.”

I like that.

(Seen at Outside the Beltway.)

Regular readers will recall that I have been a registered Democrat for thirty-five years, and while I have had substantial differences with some of the party’s stated goals recently, it has never quite occurred to me to bolt for the door.

But this analysis of the Designated Hitter rule [link to PDF file] makes me wonder:

[W]e find that self-identified Democratic Party members are more likely to support the DH rule than are either independents or Republicans; the odds ratio of 1.90 suggests that, on average, Democrats are 90 percent more likely to support the rule than are independents.

And why is this?

Social-psychological studies of political conservatism note that one of the central principles of that philosophy is reverence for tradition and a corresponding resistance to change. Conversely, those on the political left are typically more accepting — even welcoming — of change, particularly when those changes can be shown (or are believed) to yield tangible benefits. This line of reasoning suggests that those on the political right will be less likely to favor the DH rule, while those on the left will be more likely to support it.

Reinforcing our change-based rationale for the right’s opposition to the DH rule is its effect (actual or perceived) on the culture of the game. Opponents of the DH often make the claim that the practice seems to condone a lack of personal responsibility from the very players who play a pivotal (if not the pivotal) role in the game — pitchers and sluggers. One of the bedrock Judeo-Christian values woven through American history and society, they argue, is the notion that individuals take responsibility for their own actions and fulfill their obligations to community and country. By allowing pitchers to avoid hitting, and some batters to avoid fielding, the DH rule is suggestive of a larger-scale decline in the culture of personal responsibility in America over the past several decades. To the extent that political conservatives are more likely than liberals to be receptive to this line of reasoning (cf. Feldman and Zaller 1922), it reinforces our expectation that it is political conservatives — including individuals who identify with the Republican party — who most strongly oppose the rule.

And what are these “tangible results”?

In nearly all circumstances, teams substitute pitchers — who, lacking the motivation to practice batting, are often notoriously poor hitters — with individuals who excel at the plate but who may be lacking in defensive skills. This means that, since 1973, teams in the American League have sent roughly 12.5 percent more true hitters to the plate (Freeman 2004, 94).

I must point out here that it’s not how many hitters you have: it’s how many runs you score.

Still, if ever I decide to become a one-issue voter, this is the issue.

(Via Rodger Payne at The Duck of Minerva.)

“Would you rather be a Yankee starting pitcher or the drummer for Spinal Tap?”

Oh, woe is San Diego:

It’s the only team in major league baseball — the only team in any of North America’s four major professional sports — with a Hispanic surname.

At a time when baseball celebrates itself as a model of ethnic diversity and internationalism — more than 30 percent of major leaguers are Hispanic, including many of its superstars — the Padres’ 25-man roster includes only two Latino players.

You think that’s a shame? Not one of the San Francisco Giants is over six-foot-five. Talk about unrepresentative.

(Via John Rosenberg.)

By some probably-not-all-that-coincidental coincidence, the first RedHawks home game of the season is scheduled for the same night (Friday the 13th, yet) as the last Hornets home game in Oklahoma City. I have to figure that this took some doing, since the ‘Hawks are on the road for their first eight — four at Memphis, four at Nashville — before coming home and playing four more against the Redbirds. I may have to stay home with a blanket over my head. On the upside, Bobby Jones is back as manager, which can’t be bad.

New ticket prices, if there are new ticket prices, haven’t been posted yet: last year, general admission was six bucks, field boxes ran $11, and club level was a mere $15.

Last week I said something about the Mets’ new park, to be called CitiField.

Well, technically it isn’t. It’s two separate words: Citi Field.

For some reason, this called to mind an early episode of Futurama in which the Planet Express crew warn the Mayor of New New York that a giant ball of spaceborne garbage (sent into orbit from the old New York 948 years before) is heading straight for the city.

The building where the Mayor has his office has a sign that looks something like this:

Yes, I do miss that show. Why do you ask?

The Baseball Crank is okay with “CitiField” as the name for the Mets’ new digs:

You get a new stadium, you get a new name. Let’s have none of this “New Shea”/”Old Shea” nonsense. Shea Stadium is a place with its own identity and its own place in the history of the game and the hearts of Mets fans. You tear it down to build a new stadium, you get a new name.

Which the Chicago White Sox should have done with the “new” Comiskey, now the stirringly unresonant “U. S. Cellular Field.” Not that there’s anything particularly wrong with corporate names:

I don’t, in principle, have a problem with corporate stadium names (ballparks have been named after companies, egomaniacal owners, or some combination of the two — see “Wrigley Field” and “Turner Field” for examples — as long as there have been ballparks). $20 million a year can make the Mets more competitive, and that is a good thing.

So long as the name stays put, anyway:

[W]ere I negotiating a stadium deal, I would add in a substantial premium and an escape clause for renaming rights. That’s my big issue with naming stadiums after banks and phone companies, as well as new and unstable companies (see: “Enron Field”). But the First National City Bank of New York has been known as “City Bank” or Citibank for decades, and given its size and brand equity, should be for the forseeable future.

Southwestern Bell SBC AT&T Bricktown Ballpark please note.

On New Year’s Day, I issued a batch of predictions. For the Oklahoma Redhawks of the Pacific Coast League, I projected the following:

Actual results:

Considering the fact that the ‘Hawks got off to a 9-18 start, 74-70 doesn’t sound all that bad, and nobody came close to Round Rock this season anyway. (The Express finished at 85-59, 11 games in front.)

Still, the 8-ball is a tad cloudier than I’d prefer.