MLB Mlb Satire

Reading the Top 10 on the Late Show with David Letterman is truly an honor, yada-yada-yada. Well, thing is, if you pull off something awesome in the sports world -- winning the British Open, throwing a perfect game -- you'll probably get to appear on television and read some Top 10 list related to your accomplishment. Mark Buehrle, fresh off a perfect game, did just that recently, with a pretty funny list (it made him laugh while reading it, so clearly he practiced) of "Things That Went Through Mark Buehrle's Mind During His Perfect Game."

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

The most remarkable thing about this season as we hit the not-halfway halfway point of the All-Star break isn't Albert Pujols' RBI total. Or Zack Greinke's ERA. Or the PED suspension of one of the game's biggest stars.

It's the standings. And they not only reflect the season so far, they give us a clue as to the weeks head leading up to the non-waiver trade deadline.

The Phillies and Dodgers are the only first-place team with a lead of more than 2 1/2 games. And 21 of the 30 teams are within 7 1/2 games of a playoff spot: nine of 14 in the AL and 12 of 16 in the NL.

NEW YORK – The Yankees and their memorabilia partner, Steiner Sports, on Tuesday announced plans to sell artifacts from the old Yankee Stadium.

See if you can pick out the actual items for sale and those we just made up:

• Piece of live sod: $120 for 1x1 foot; $280 for 2x2 feet

• 17 partially eaten Babe Ruth hot-dog buns: $3,333 each

• Pair of stadium seats: $1,499.99

• Yogi Berra's unfinished Master's thesis in English: $8,000

• The bat rack from the Yankees dugout: auction item

If you are an avid reader of either baseball blogs or the Dayton Daily News, you've likely seen this gem of an anecdote from Hal McCoy's story about the Reds' loss to the Astros last night:

As Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker talked to the media after Tuesday's 8-3 loss to the Houston Astros, a member of the media relations department laid a copy of the stat pack on his desk - a box score, play-by-play and up-to-date statistics.

Without looking at it, Baker wadded it into the size of an official baseball and fired it hard into his trash basket.

For some reason, McCoy's designation of the wad of paper being not just the size of a baseball, but the size of "an official" baseball cracks me up. But really, this post is about Dusty Baker. More after the jump.

Although I have been hearing for a while that the best-selling book Moneyball" was going to be made into a movie, I never really believed it until seeing on Tuesday that they continue to add actors. I had always assumed that, somewhere along the line, some studio executive would look at that book and say "Uh, that doesn't sound like a very interesting movie to me."

"The whole concept to me is just surreal at this point," former A's assistant GM Paul DePodesta told FanHouse. "Maybe I'll feel different once I see it. It's hard for me to believe this is actually happening. I've been in denial for the past five years. I told Billy that when the movie comes out and people say 'It's not as good as the book,' they are going to be talking about our real lives."

It was a great book, one that all seam-heads like me thoroughly enjoyed. However, there doesn't seem to be much to attract the other 99 percent of the movie-going public.

So, here are my Top 10 Ways To Make Moneyball A More Interesting Movie...

The Daily Jolt is a dose of baseball reality every weekday morning.

Has there even been a more wild night in Major League Baseball than Tuesday? Just in case you missed it all, after the jump you can enjoy a quick recap of all the crazy things that went down on the most shocking day in baseball history.

The dream came crashing to an end on Tuesday evening in Toronto when the evil Communists from Venezuela cheated defeated Italy 10-1 and eliminated them from the World Baseball Classic. It was the second time in a matter of days that the Venezuelans bested the Italians (the first game was a 7-0 "victory"), no doubt because Hugo Chavez bribed the umpires with free gasoline.

It's really a shame too, but not just because of the promise shown by Italy when it sent Canada home after only two games on Monday. No, it's a shame because none of this ever had to happen. The Italians could have beaten Venezuela.

All they needed was me.