{"id":7745,"date":"2010-05-01T11:37:30","date_gmt":"2010-05-01T10:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=7745"},"modified":"2010-05-02T17:37:10","modified_gmt":"2010-05-02T16:37:10","slug":"out-of-left-field-vote-early-and-vote-often","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=7745","title":{"rendered":"Out of Left Field: Vote early and vote often!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MlbHlSq\"This column, whilst still relatively young and sprightly, has quickly descended into a series of odd references and\u00c2\u00a0 in-jokes that even your loyal correspondent doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really find funny. And so, in this election week, Out of Left Field, asks you, dear reader to vote for your favourite. Legions of vote counters will work around the clock tallying the votes until we have a winner. Or, more likely, a coalition will be formed. Yes, things will just stay the same with me wittering on about funky pitches, silly outfits and ACTS OF HEROISM, as normal.<\/p>\n

But, why not play along with this hackneyed device, and choose YOUR favourite.<\/p>\n

Vote fashion corner!<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Joe Maddon hoodie saga<\/a> continues. After being told last week by MLB that hejust wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t smart enough wearing his old hoodie, the Tampa Bay Rays manager got a gift in the post. New England Patriots coach, Bill Belichick sent in the mail a brand new, personalised Patriots hoodie<\/a> for Maddon. I like to think that as this story progresses there will soon be a union of managers across the land refusing to smarten up, a rag-bag army of coaches wandering around looking like they just got out of bed, mumbling under their breath that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll wear what they goddamn like and what is goddamn comfortable. As coach of BaseballGB\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s finest fantasy side, the mighty Pretzel Vendors<\/a>, I am making sure I am fully on-trend with a relaxed look of shorts and ill-fitting sweatshirt. I look quite a treat. So, fashion tip of the week for all you aspiring coaches and managers out there – keep it casual guys!<\/p>\n

Vote booze!<\/strong><\/p>\n

We must stop this kind of horrible wastage<\/a> from happening ever again. I have no idea why there were smiling faces after that incident. No idea whatsoever.<\/p>\n

Vote Ozzie Guillen!<\/strong><\/p>\n

A massive sigh of relief from me this week, when I discovered that the new MLB Twitter policy, or “strongly worded suggestion”, that MLB personnel do not tweet about non-baseball related matters<\/a>, does not apply to White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen<\/a>. This is the kind of leadership we need to see from MLB. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to hear what some schmuck had for breakfast, but I do want a full and complete account of Ozzie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life<\/a>. Stephen Fry has got nothing on our Ozzie.<\/p>\n

Vote stupid merchandise!<\/strong><\/p>\n

MLB have truly excelled themselves this week, by signing a deal with the Craftsman brand, a division of Sears, for MLB branded tools. Yes, soon you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be able to pick up hand tools, power tools, tool storage and lawn and garden tools and equipment, all branded with your favourite team<\/a>. Or if your job is shifting manure all day, perhaps you could get a shovel branded with your least favourite team. Which brings me to\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Vote least favourite team!<\/strong><\/p>\n

But who is the most hated team in baseball? The Evil Empire<\/a>, surely? No, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s none other than the Cleveland Indians, according to a survey conducted by Nielsen Co<\/a>. I find it hard to believe there is that much passion surrounding the Indians. Sometimes I forget they even exist. I think Nielson need to look at those figures again. But if Sears reports a run on Cleveland Indians Shit Shovels, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll know why\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Vote bizarre stats!<\/strong><\/p>\n

BaseballGB favourite, Wezen-Ball<\/a>, is timing each and every home run trot around the bases<\/a>. I have no idea why he is doing this, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see the point, but I have to say that I think it is wonderful. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly much more fun that some of the esoteric brain-busting stats being collated out there. I hope it catches on and the players get competitive about who can be the fastest and who can be the slowest. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like that.<\/p>\n

Vote Carlos Silva!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Carlos Silva is really, really good!<\/a> Remember, you heard it here first<\/a>. Well, sort of.<\/p>\n

Vote ACTS OF HEROISM!<\/strong><\/p>\n

This week, nodody in baseball has averted a terrorist attack, manhandled a mugger or saved 500 orphans from a burning building. Frankly, baseball has been lazy and needs to take a long hard look at itself.<\/p>\n

Vote knuckleball!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Andy Pettitte used to throw a knuckeball<\/a>. They even called him \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcKnucksie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. Then his coaches told him to lay off the pitch. How can the Yankees not be the most hated in team in baseball when they have deprived us of another knuckleballer? Life isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fair.<\/p>\n

Well, there you have it. Your candidates for this week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Out of Left Field election. Your vote matters!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This column, whilst still relatively young and sprightly, has quickly descended into a series of odd references and\u00c2\u00a0 in-jokes that even your loyal correspondent doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really find funny. And so, in this election week, Out of Left Field, asks you, dear reader to vote for your favourite. Legions of vote counters will work around the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[113,98,102],"class_list":["post-7745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlb-2","tag-cleveland-indians","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-tampa-bay-rays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7745"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7767,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7745\/revisions\/7767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}