Mexicutioner no longer.

Let’s go straight to Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star:

It came as a request sent out on his Twitter account that asked – asked not demanded – that everyone stop referring to him as the Mexicutioner:

“How about we change my nickname to something positive? In support to Mexico to stop all the violence!!!”

Soria, 26, has always been proud of his Mexican heritage. It marked a proud moment in his career, which includes two All-Star selections, when he became the all-time leader in saves by a Mexican-born player.

Of course, I can totally understand where Soria is coming from here. One’s cultural heritage can be very close to one’s heart, and given the dark gang and drug related violence seen in Mexico recently, it’s clear why Soria would like separate the idea of an executioner from his own Mexican heritage.

On the other hand, the nickname “Mexicutioner” is really, really awesome.

So, there are two options. Maybe we could try and find a new nickname for Soria, but I can’t imagine anything can top Mexicutioner. If you have any ideas, I’d love to hear them, but I’m drawing blanks (I don’t think I watch the Royals enough to capture something that their fans would identify with).

The other option, as Soria suggests later in the above-linked Star article, is that we could just call him by his name. At this point, Soria has established himself as one of the best closers in the game, and maybe, just maybe, he doesn’t even need a nickname. Who else in baseball has earned the first-name Joakim as an identifying mark? I think Soria is more than good enough to warrant the first name treatment, and the Mexicutioner nickname can be honorably retired.

For the most part, baseball manages to avoid bad weather.  Other sports might tough it out through a monsoon but baseball politely tips it’s cap and says “another day, mother nature.” There is one type of less-than-ideal weather that players and fan do have to tolerate, and that is butt-numbing cold. Last year, Twins fans showed up for opening day and probably came to the horrifying realization that they were about to witness their first outdoor Twins game in 28 years. In April. In Minnesota. Thankfully the temperature was a kind 65 that day, but that isn’t always the case in some baseball towns. Here is a chart of the average temperatures in the colder baseball locales in the opening weeks of baseball, and their percentage of capacity filled during that time (indoor stadiums don’t count, wusses!!!!)

Normally you see a pretty steady trend upwards in attendance as the weather warms up, though there are other factors involved in that trend, such as basketball ending.

Yesterday, Albert Lyu and Carson Cistulli were overzealous about the prologue of colleague Jonah Keri’s forthcoming book, The Extra 2%.

In today’s edition, they’re overzealous about chapter one.

Albert: So today, we take on chapter one, in which the author discusses… some very business-y, government-related, big-picture earth-shattering franchise stuff. As a baseball fan, I know that the Marlins and Rockies were 1993 expansion teams and that the Diamondbacks and Devil Rays were 1998 expansion teams. However, I was either (a) much too young to remember the expansion era (as in the first case, 1993), or (b) much too young to understand anything about that era (as in the second case, 1998). So it’s nice for Jonah to take me on his time-machine portal thingamabob back to those years when several cities were lusting after MLB teams.

The whole St. Petersburg lobbying and dying for a baseball team reminds me, just a very, very, very little bit, of reading about the secret meetings Brooklyn Dodgers’ owner Walter O’Malley had with Los Angeles representatives. Carson, as a (much) older man than me, how were those expansion years in the 90’s for you as a baseball fan? Was it exhilarating and thrilling? As in, history-in-the-making thrilling?

Cistulli: While, as you kindly note, I’m a very old person, I was actually only — what? — 13 when the Marlins and Rockies were introduced to the league. And though, as you might imagine, I was very mature for my age and possessed no little affection for the men’s fashion best described as “business casual,” my thoughts on the matter weren’t particularly nuanced, basically amounting to:

1. They’re just allowed to make new teams? Who knew!

and

2. Those are dumb colors for baseball teams.

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I actually can’t confirm officially that the look on Mr. Dirk Hayhurst’s face is one indicating mischief. What I can confirm is that the photo in question (a) is pretty funny and (b) comes to us courtesy the very amiable Mr. Hayhurst himself via his Twitter feed.

What I can also confirm is that, owing the fact that this photo is a tall, rectangular shape, it’s now incumbent upon me to supply, like, two more inches of text. Let’s do so with a quote from either Samuel Johnson or Ben Jonson (the internet can’t quite decide), as follows:

“Let them call it mischief; Then it is past and prosper’d, ’twill be virtue.”

And how here’s that same quote in much bigger letters:

Today, we herald a single member of the baseballing canon.

Life: Though he played for sometime in the Dodger and Phillie organizations, Sparky Anderson is most well known for his long managerial career, which includes World Series titles with the 1975 and ’76 Reds, and then the Tigers in 1984. He’s also known for having looked about 75 years old for the greater part of his life.

Ritual: To recognize the life of Sparky the Eldest, yell at someone to turn their rippity-rap music down. Or describe what life was like in the Great Depressions. One or the other.

Prayer

You were called Sparky
not, as history maintains,
for your spirited play
as a minor leaguer
but because
much like African American superhero
Black Lightning
you were born with the ability
to generate and magnify
external localized
electromagnetic phenomena —
a power you used to great effect
when creating from inorganic compounds
winner of the 1984 Cy Young Award
Willie Hernandez.

Jason Kendall rules the indie scene.

In case you missed it, Jason Kendall had one of the oddest meltdowns in Spring Training interview history on Monday. Will McDonald, as always, breaks it down in expert fashion over at Royals Review, which you should definitely check out. The money moment comes when Jason Kendall implores Nick Wright, who was interviewing hot prospect Mike Moustakas, to “rewind yourself.”

As I was reading the comments section at said Royals Review piece, I couldn’t help but be inspired by the suggestion by a few people that “rewind yourself” would make a fantastic album title. And thus, the album cover above was born. Check out the track listing, too:
1. Leader
2. The Ballad of Dave Kerwin
3. Grit
4. All The Adders
5. Scrap
6. Ground Out
7. No Rest For The Bad (At Baseball)
8. Ground Out (Reprise)

With such a monster track list on his very first foray into the music business, there’s no question that Jason will have a long career in the music industry after his playing days are over.

Did you know that Major League Baseball 2K10 is available for the PSP game console?

In case you did not, I’m here to help. What follows will be an exhaustive, penetrating review of this gaming product. It will be rich in tech-speak, measured and sober in its appraisals and free from any whiff of mixed motive. If there’s one thing on earth I take seriously, it’s my ability to provide expert guidance when it comes to gaming, gaming machines, and the gamers who game them. If games and gaming are your River Styx, then I am your Charon, and I propel and steer our ferry not with a mere boatman’s pole, but rather with something long and electronic and related to playing video games. Otherwise the metaphor wouldn’t work. Anyhow, without further throat-clearing, please enjoy this REVIEW among reviews.

First, the packaging. It’s sensible, adequate and even charming in its tethered exuberance — early adopters like us won’t be surprised that the modest bifold laminate sheathing evokes a Hockney painting glimpsed in the gauzy half-light of late morning —

Actually, no. Nope. Nope. Nope. No, I’m not going to review this product because I’ve never played it. I don’t play video games. Putting me at the switch of the contemporary video game would be much like watching a howler monkey trying to open a coconut.

No, all of this strained and affected video-game talk on my part has been nothing more than tidy baseball-y rationale to post this: some guy who batters, deep-fries and then tries to eat a PSP …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E81j9M64Ssc&feature=player_embedded

And the people say: apropos of nothing!

Continuing our series of email interviews with some of our favorite writers around the web, we move to Matthew Leach of MLB.com. Leach, as he points out below, has wandered a meandering path that has led him to covering the Cardinals beat. Thanks to a great writer for being willing to sit down with us – although it’s obvious from his twitter feed that he’s pretty much ready to talk baseball with anyone.

Eno Sarris: Where did you grow up and go to school? Did you always want to be a writer growing up?

Matthew Leach: I’m a north Florida native — born in Jacksonville and grew up in Tallahassee, attended Leon County public schools, and I’m very much a product of the area. It’s still what I think of as my hometown, still where my family is.

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On the one hand, it’s a fact: writing a 14-part review of a colleague’s book in the very same publication for which both of you work — it’s entirely indecent. And yet, that’s what Albert Lyu and I propose to do here for our colleague Jonah Keri’s The Extra 2%.

What’s more, we appear to be experiencing absolutely nothing in the way of moral distress over our decision.

Why? I don’t know exactly. But my guess is it involves some combination of the following five reasons:

1. It’s exciting, in a general way, when a friend writes a book. It’s natural to want to discuss it.

2. Albert and I are too naive to realize that we’re toiling thanklessly merely to augment Jonah Keri’s already substantial personal wealth.

3. The Extra 2% happens to address, like, a thousand topics entirely within the scope of FanGraphs’ own interests.

4. Writing a multi-part review in dialogue form allows Albert and I to experiment a little, and hopefully to amuse both ourselves and readers.

5. We’re bad people.

I invite the reader to mix and match these possibilities in whichever way is most pleasing.

In any case, here are the facts: Albert and I each own a copy of Keri’s book, which goes on sale March 8th. We’re going to read a chapter each weekday and then gather at an undisclosed virtual location to discuss said chapter. Sometimes we’ll provide close readings of the day’s passage. Other times, likely, we’ll stray far and/or wide from our assigned topic.

Mostly, as I say, the idea is to have some fun.

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In my mind, there exists a Baseball Bloggers Hall of Fame. Because the good Lord above knows we’re not getting into Cooperstown. Nobody knows exactly where it — the Baseball Bloggers Hall Of Fame — is located. It could be anywhere; that’s the anonymous beauty of it.

The magical Baseball Bloggers Hall of Fame is, of course, a basement, and only a basement. A team of elderly mothers and grandmothers operate the joint. They lead you downstairs, and serve you free orange and apple juice. Sometimes, when they’re extra surly, they leave the refreshments at the top of the stairs. Visiting is an authentic experience.

Keyboards hang from the ceiling. In some cases, entire workstations have been preserved. It’s the goal of the Baseball Bloggers Hall of Fame to showcase, for the entire world to see, the baseball blogger’s natural habitat.

A committee of nine — David Appelman, Dave Cameron, Carson Cistulli, Joe Posnanski, Kevin Kaduk, Joe Posnanski, Rob Neyer, Craig Calcaterra, and Keith Law — are judge and jury. They hold the keys to the Baseball Bloggers Hall of Fame, and decide the fate of the millions upon millions of baseball blogs that exist today.

Up for induction in 2011: The Fightins. May the blog rest in peace.

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