I am thrilled for New Orleans and their fans but...

Can people STOP saying "New Orleans has a reason to party"?

I've been to New Orleans. It's a great city, but they never have had trouble to find a reason to party.

It's a wonderful beautiful place, but let's face it... it is a Frat house that has a transit system.

People were out partying like it was V-J day and it was a Thursday!

There were people sleeping on the street... not homeless people. Drunk dudes who basically said "Man, I can't go any further. I'll just curl up on the corner of Bourbon and St. Louis street and rest up."

Enjoy the Super Bowl win New Orleans. And party like it is... well... Monday.

Jarrod Washburn writes an open letter to all 30 MLB Teams

Dear Owners and General Managers of the thirty Major League Baseball Teams,

It is now one week into February and I have yet to sign with a big league club. The offers haven't exactly been pouring in.

Retirement is a real possibility for me.

And I have one question for all of you.

WTF!

Seriously. Nobody will step up and offer me a contract.

First of all I am left handed, I can throw a ball sixty feet six inches and I have a pulse. Shouldn't that qualify me for lifetime employment in baseball?

For Christsake, Shawn Estes got a contract from the Nationals the other day. Yes... it's the same Shawn Estes who the Giants had back when they played in Candlestick... or 3COM... or whatever the hell they were calling it.

I wasn't even sure Estes was still alive.
Yup, he's alive and evidently can make up to a million tomatoes.

I spit my Frosted Mini Wheats all over my newspaper when I read that.

Oh and virtually every team out there is looking for pitching depth. The Mets signed Kelvim Escobar to guaranteed money.

Over the last two years he's pitched in one more game than Gloria Stuart, the old woman from Titanic.

Not to belittle her skills... but she is going to be 100 in June... when Escobar will no doubt be in the disabled list.

Meanwhile I am good for 170 innings almost every year.


OK, fine. I was crap down the stretch last year for the Tigers. Do you also sucked down the stretch for the Tigers last year? THE TIGERS! I can't be blamed for the while nose dive.

Besides, even with the lousy finish, I posted a 3.78 ERA last year. My ERA was under 3.00 until mid August. If you pitch to a "quality start" each time out (3 runs over 6 innings) you'll have a 4.50 ERA!

Yeah yeah yeah, my one Cy Young caliber season (2002) was a fluke. But are you telling me NO team needs 10 wins, decent ERA and 170-190 innings out of a left handed starter with World Series experience?

Really Texas? You are loaded with talent?

Really Mets? Last I heard you were trying to reactivate Ron Darling.

Really Brewers? You can't bring this native Wisconsin boy home?

Really A's? You bring Ben Sheets aboard even though the odds are 50/50 that his arm will snap off in spring training?

Really Nationals? You don't want any experience pitchers ready to tutor Strasberg?

Really Dodgers? Is the divorce so bad that you can't bring little ole me to fill in the hole left by Randy Wolf?

Really St. Louis? Can you imagine what magic Dave Duncan can pull with me?

Come on Angels! You lost Lackey. Can't you bring me back?

For old time's sake!

So come on. I've got a left arm that can pitch. I can't hang up my spikes yet. I am a commodity.

Don't let me walk away from the game like this.

Thank you for your attention and please send all contract offers to info@sullybaseball.com

All the best,

Jarrod Washburn

Things are just different in Japan

Please watch this ad…



I am not 100% sure what the product is. Whatever it is, the executives felt the best way to sell it is a violent surreal ad where bones break, finger nails snap off, heads bleed and batters hallucinate.

This was the baseball equivalent to the video in The Ring.

Can Boston fans endure seeing these three win within the same year?

There was an interesting article in ESPN the magazine about NFL Fans this past week.

It seems that every single fan base for every single NFL team will be rooting for the team in their team’s conference this Super Bowl. AFC fans will be pulling for the Colts. NFC fans will be cheering on the Saints.

There was one exception… New England fans are rooting for the Saints according to their survey.

Notice I said “interesting” and not “surprising.”

I know nobody wants to give Boston fans a break after the obnoxiously successful decade that transpired between Adam Vinatieri’s kick to defeat the Rams and the Celtics victory of the Lakers in 2008.

But starting in 2009, the tide suddenly turned in Boston…

Can the region of New England bear the sight of Peyton winning in less than 12 months since Kobe Bryant and Alex Rodriguez be crowned champions?

I wonder if it is better to swallow those pills all at once or have it spread out over the years.

Either way, if the Colts do indeed win, there will be some teeth grinding in sports bars between Harford and Boothbay Harbor.

Even the Mets FUTURE wants out!

It's one thing that no veterans want to play for the Mets.

Yorvit Torrealba is the latest in the parade of free agents who were rumored to go to the Mets but sign elsewhere.

But now Fernando Martinez seems to want out.

Who can blame him?

I am telling you, the Mets are going to regret not listening to my advice.
This team needs to be blown up NOW!

10 reasons why the Pirates should sign Jermaine Dye

Seriously... it makes all the sense in the world for both Dye and the Pirates.

Don't believe me? Let me list the reasons...


1. It's good for Dye because it is employment!

The options for Dye are drying up pretty fast.

The White Sox said good bye.
The crosstown Cubs went with Xavier Nady and Marlon Nyrd.
The Red Sox brought in Mike Cameron.
The Rangers signed Vlad Guerrero.
The Giants oddly avoided Johnny Damon and brought in Ryan Garko.
The Mariners traded for Milton Bradley for unknown reasons.

Spring training is starting in a few weeks... and technically the Pirates are still a big league club.



2. It's good for the Pirates because he won't be THAT expensive.

Over the past 17 seasons, the Pirates have operated with three constants:

They will draft poorly...they will trade away all their good players for little returm... and they will ALWAYS slash the payroll.

In an age where the low budget Twins have a $90 million payroll and the Marlins locked up Josh Johnson and Hanley Ramirez to deals, the Pirates remain special with their miserly way. What other team can see a $48 million payroll in 2009 and think "SLASH IT!"?

With a projected $34 million payroll going into 2010 (which is less than the combined annual salaries of Barry Zito, Vernon Wells and Luis Castillo) the Pirates can afford to offer Dye $5 million and still have a sub $40 million payroll.

Maybe don't pocket ALL the revenue sharing!!!


3. It's good for Dye because he won't be on the bench in Pittsburgh

Most of the teams still looking for outfield help are basically looking for depth and a potential DH.

The Pirates have room in the starting line up... and what better way to show your way to a better contract than proving you can start for a big league club.

(Technically, the Pirates are a big league team.)


4. It's good for the Pirates because they'll have a little bit of depth

Yeah the Garrett Jones story last year was great... but are you really expecting a career minor leaguer to keep up his torrent second half pace?

And if he does continue to hit, he could move to first... or give the Pirates depth.

Now Pirate fans younger than 25 have no idea what "depth" means. Look it up.



5. It's good for Dye because he'll probably make the All Star team.

Or at least he will have a better shot with the Pirates.

Once again coming off an All Star season, even one worthy of the Mike Sharperson Award, is good for contract negotiations.



6. It's good for the Pirates because they might have an All Star people have heard of!

One glance at the current roster doesn't bode well for picking a legit All Star.

Zach Duke is a former All Star from last year... but in the last two seasons they have jettisoned off former All Stars Freddie Sanchez, Nate McLouth, Jason Bay and Jack Wilson.

And those guys weren't exactly household names then either.




7. It's good for Dye because he gets to be the respected veteran who has walked the walk

Remember when Terry Pendleton joined a last place Braves team after the 1990 season?

The club had a lot of young players and very few experienced veterans. And they were a loser year in and year out (including 97 losses in 1990.)

Pendleton came in and was the guy who had been a winner and led by example. The other players looked up to him and followed his lead (which included a batting title.)

Stats wise, Barry Bonds had a better year statistically... but Pendelton's prescience made him the MVP.

In 1996, Pendleton's final year with the Braves, Dye made his big league debut with Atlanta.

Now I am not saying Dye will lead the Pirates to the World Series. But the Braves were an embarrassing and irrelevant team... kind of like the Pirates are now.

And I am guessing it would be cool to have an entire team looking up to you... kind of like that scene in Bull Durham when Crash Davis was describing his cup of coffee in the show.



8. It's good for the Pirates because Dye could be Crash Davis to Lastings Milledge's Nuke LaLoosh

Sorry to throw two Bull Durham references into this post, but it makes sense.

This signing would have as much to do with Milledge as it does Dye. Think of it as a chance to turn around the mindset of an immensely talented player that the Mets and Nationals gave up on... and those two teams aren't exactly brimming with young talent.

Take the multi million dollar talent with the 10 cent head Milledge and have him follow Dye 24/7.

If Milledge do what Dye says and fulfill his talent, maybe he can play for 15 seasons, make some All Star teams, get some MVP votes, win a World Series MVP and make tens of millions of dollars in the process.

And it will make Milledge even more valuable when the Pirates trade him just before he becomes a free agent.


9. It's good for Dye because he will be traded to a contender at the deadline.

It's what the Pirates do... anyone of worth has their bags packed by the end of July.






10. It's good for the Pirates because they can shed his salary in July

And as we know, shedding payroll is what the Pirates do best!

Why would the Blue Jays sign Kevin Gregg?

With all of the available free agents out there, why would Toronto give Kevin Gregg $2.75 million with the possibility for $12 million over 3 years?

Seriously, do they even look at the guy’s resume before signing him.

Yes this is the same Kevin Gregg whose post All Star break melt down torpedoed the Florida Marlins’ playoff hopes in 2008.

This is the same Kevin Gregg who was so dreadful as the Cubs closer last year that they had to take him out of the role. Only the disastrous Milton Bradley signing kept the Gregg acquisition from being the worst move the Cubs made last year.

So better make him a millionaire several times over!

Seriously, why not offer him a minor league deal with incentives?
Or spend a fraction of that on a Jamey Wright or a David Weathers?

Not that those guys are the second coming of Grover Cleveland Alexander… but at least they would be cheaper and not have the reputation of torpedoing the hopes of a team.

And with the Blue Jays in full rebuilding mold, do you REALLY want the few leads you will have in 2010 flushed down the toilet?

I warned the Cubs… they didn’t listen to me.

Now I am warning the Blue Jays.

I am becoming the Cassandra of Baseball Bloggers!

Sully Baseball searches for RED OLDHAM

I am looking for a picture of a baseball hero.
I think his face is in the group picture above.

But I am looking for a close up.

I can find many pictures on the internet. I am sure if I searched long and hard enough, I could find a picture of me writing this very blog post somewhere.

But what I CAN’T find is a picture of someone who has quickly become one of my favorite obscure figures in baseball history.

I mentioned him in my Home Grown vs. Acquired Series in the Pirates Entry.

I mentioned him in my Most Unlikely Pitchers to Clinch a World Series Entry.

He clinched one of the greatest moments in Pittsburgh Pirates history.

He had a highlight that some of the top relievers in baseball history never had: Saving the 7th game of the World Series.

He was the first person to ever clinch a series when the team was down 3-1.

His team pulled off an amazing upset and in order to finish off the series, this pitcher needed to face three future Hall of Famers. He got them out 1-2-3.

Less than a year later, he was gone from the bigs for good.

The player's name is Red Oldham.

He was a career minor leaguer with stops here and there... and was entrusted by Pirates manager Bill McKechnie to come into Game 7 of the 1925 World Series and protect a 2 run lead.

The Pirates had just rallied off of Walter Johnson of all people... and Oldham had to face Sam Rice, Bucky Harris and Goose Goslin... all future Hall of Famers.

He got all three out to clinch the World Series. He lived out my childhood fantasy of being the obscure pitcher called in to close out the Series (Mike Timlin did as well in 1992.)

I am sure he is in the picture above which was taken at a dinner to honor the World Champion Pirates.

And I know he exists in the photo below.















This is the World Series team picture and with close enough inspection I see one of the names is "Oldham."

So folks... here is the only picture of Red Oldham on the internet.




It's not much... is it.

There must be more info.
He must have descendants or family.

If anyone has info, pictures or and point of Red Oldham interest... please please PLEASE e mail me at info@sullybaseball.com

Today there would be pictures of him all over Pittsburgh striking out Goslin to clinch the series.

But now all I have is a picture zoomed in and cropped on iPhoto.

Red deserves better online.
And I am going to make sure he is better represented in cyber space.

OSCAR WINNING DIRECTORS WHO PRODUCED BEST PICTURE NOMINEES THEY DIDN'T DIRECT... An Insane Paul Sullivan Post

I can write crazy movie lists too!!!

Folks you have to bear with me… I obsess about the Academy Awards almost as much as I talk about baseball… I’ll get back to breaking down teams in the build up for Spring Training soon enough… but let me get some of my Oscar needs out.

I am sure Peter Jackson thought he was going to get an Academy Award nomination this year when he made The Lovely Bones and had it released in time for the Oscar push.

Well The Lovely Bones may have had a disappointing show in the nominations, but Peter Jackson did indeed get a nomination.

He produced the wonderful Best Picture nominee District 9, directed by Neill Blomkamp.

And that got me thinking… how many times has a filmmaker who won the Oscar for Best Director later get nominated for producing a Best Picture nominee.

And why have an idle thought like that when you can actually try to figure it out.

I have found six other instances…

Warren Beatty

Won the Best Director Oscar for Reds.

Nominated for Best Picture for Bugsy, Directed by Barry Levinson.




James L. Brooks

Won the Best Director Oscar for Terms of Endearment.

Nominated for Best Picture for Jerry Maguire, Directed by Cameron Crowe.






Mike Nichols

Won the Best Director Oscar for The Graduate.

Nominated for Best Picture for Remains of the Day, Directed by James Ivory






Anthony Minghella

Won the Best Director Oscar for The English Patient.

Nominated for Best Picture for The Reader, Directed by Stephen Daldry









Sydney Pollack

Won the Best Director Oscar for Out of Africa.

Nominated for Best Picture for Michael Clayton, Directed by Tony Gilroy
and The Reader, Directed by Stephen Daldry







Steven Spielberg

Won the Best Director Oscar for Schindler’s List
and Saving Private Ryan.

Nominated for Best Picture for Letters From Iwo Jima, Directed by Clint Eastwood




Now I hesitated about putting Francis Ford Coppola on the list and decided I would be a hard ass about it…Coppola produced the Best Picture nominee American Graffiti for George Lucas after he had made The Godfather.

But while Coppola had won the Oscar for The Godfather and the film won Best Picture, Coppola did not win the Best Director Oscar… he won that AFTER American Graffiti for The Godfather Part II.

Hey, I am a stickler for rules in my baseball lists. (Roberto Clemente is NOT in the Home Grown Pirates team because I stick to the rules.)

So why did I write this?
Well I am sure there must be a lunatic out there who wants to know this strange fact.

YOU ARE WELCOME

How did I do in my Oscar Predictions?

My predictions weren’t bad… yet a few of my predictions came up short.

Yeah Avatar, The Hurt Locker and Up in the Air were big nominees. Wow. I am a seer.

Of the 45 major nominees, I got 31 ½ right.
31 ½?

Yeah… I predicted Stanley Tucci would be nominated for the easier to digest (literally) Julie and Julia rather than for his creepy role in The Lovely Bones.

Kind of like when they nominated Dennis Hopper for Hoosiers instead of Blue Velvet.

Also I was pleasantly surprised to see Up get a Best Picture nomination.

So 31 ½ out of 45 major nominees means I got 70% of them right.

Not too shabby.

The technical categories... not so good.
22 out of 41?
53%.

Yikes.

I should stick to predicting baseball... like when I picked the A's and the Reds last year.

We interrupt one of my compulsions for another...

I am obsessed with the Oscars. Every year it rivals my love for baseball...

And no I don't get bored by the ceremony.
No I don't think it should be abolished.

I love it every year.

Often I don't agree with the results, but that's not the point. It is one of my big nights of TV watching in the year and I ALWAYS see the big nominees.

So tomorrow morning at some ungodly hour in the morning, the Oscar nominations will be announced. And almost as nuts as the early hour will be the fact that for the first time since the 1944 ceremony (when Casablanca was award the Oscar for Best Picture of 1943) there will be 10 nominations for Best Picture.

This is partly to kick start other smaller movies box office appeal... and partly to ensure that bigger grossing fare gets a big nomination, making the elitist Oscars seem less elitist.

Of course the big winner is probably going to be Avatar, which needs a boost in the box office the way the Yankees need to add payroll.

But before the new batch of Oscar nominated films are announced, I am going to make my predictions for the nominees.

These are the films I think WILL, not the ones I think SHOULD be nominated.

Let's list...

BEST PICTURE

Avatar
The Blind Side
Crazy Heart
District 9
(500) Days of Summer
Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Single Man
Up in the Air

BEST DIRECTOR

Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Neill Blomhamp - District 9
James Cameron - Avatar
Lee Daniels - Precious
Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterns

BEST ACTOR

Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
George Clooney - Up in the Air
Robert Downey Jr. - Sherlock Holmes
Colin Firth - A Single Man
Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker

BEST ACTRESS

Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side
Carey Mulligan - An Education
Helen Mirren - The Last Station
Gabourney Sidibe - Precious
Meryl Streep - Julie and Julia

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Woody Harrelson - The Messenger
Anthony Mackie - The Hurt Locker
Christopher Plummer - The Last Station
Stanley Tucci - Julie and Julia
Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Vera Farmiga - Up in the Air
Anna Kendrick - Up in the Air
Diane Kruger - Inglourious Basterds
Melanie Laurent - Inglourious Basterds
Mo'Nique - Precious

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Avatar
(500) Days of Summer
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Up

BEST SCREENPLAY ADAPTATION
Crazy Heart
An Education

Precious

A Single Man
Up in the Air

And yes because I am insane I will list out the other nominees as well.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Ponyo, Up

BEST ART DIRECTION
Avatar, District 9, Inglourious Basterds, The Lovely Bones, Nine

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, The Lovely Bones, Nine, Up in the Air

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
An Education, Inglourious Basterds, Nine, The Young Victoria, Where the Wild Things Are

BEST EDITING
Avatar, (500) Days of Summer, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Up in the Air

BEST MAKE UP
Avatar, District 9, The Road, Star Trek, Where the Wild Things Are

BEST MUSIC SCORE
Avatar, The Informant!, Sherlock Holmes, Up, Where the Wild Things Are

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Avatar, Brothers, Crazy Heart, Nine, Where the Wild Things Are

BEST SOUND
Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Nine, Public Enemies, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

BEST SOUND EFFECTS EDITING
Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Star Trek, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Up

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar, District 9, Star Trek, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, 2012


I don't know about Documentary short and feature and live action and animated short... and neither do you.

I have Avatar leading the pack with 11 nominations.
I predict that PIXAR will once again be snubbed a Best Picture nomination, this time for Up. But they'll be the odds on favorite to pick up a statue for Animated Feature.

Clint Eastwood's Invictus will be shut out totally.
Star Trek will be shut out of the major awards.

And yes, I predict Kevin O'Connell will get his 21 nomination for Best Sound. He's never won.
And seeing he will be nominated for Public Enemies and not Avatar or The Hurt Locker... he's kinda screwed.

Let's compare these predictions with the actual nominees tomorrow morning and see how I did.


And take a look at my Oscar rants from 2005 while we are at it.

The Mariners need to make one more acquisition

The frenzied off season for the Mariners continues.

Today they picked up first baseman Ryan Garko.






Then they signed Eric Byrnes for some outfield depth.











And those two join new outfielder Milton Bradley who came over from the Cubs.



Good work... now to make those players help them win the AL West, they need to make one more pick up...







They need a time machine to send them back to 2007... the last time all three were effective in the same year!

But make sure NOT to send Cliff Lee back to 2007. That's the one recent year he stunk.

Man it is tough manipulating the time space continuum for the sake of a pennant race!