Fouled-Off Bunts: This Afternoon's The Afternoon Edition

I'm not the only one who put "Dick Cheney Event" on their office calendar, am I? I'm excited, that's for sure! No matter what has happened, or what will happen, it's going to be great sitting in the stands watching baseball on a warm spring afternoon. I've got my red shirt, and my scorepad. I'm ready to go!

Despite my excitement, the WaPo throws a wet blanket on the fire, bringing some reality to the bread and circuses today's game represents. Key stat, ticket renewals are at about 85%. They had been hoping for 90%.

This article notes that they've sold only 16,400 full-season equivilents, which is about 5,000 less than last year. That's about 400,000 fewer fans just on season tickets alone. Thankfully the Yankees, Orioles and Cubs should fill the park.

Naming rights may be on their way. Didn't we hear this last year?

Cristian Guzman is within a week or so of knowing whether he'll need surgery. I suspect that even if he forgoes it, he'll wind up having it by the end of the year anyway.

The City Paper (surprise) hates Barry Svrluga's book. I haven't read the book yet, but this reviews characterization of Svrluga as a wide-eyed amateur who says "Awwww Shucks!" as he's wowed by the pros is a bit much. The reviewer's upset that the book doesn't fight the stadium funding, more or less. He does say, though, that Svrulga doesn't go very hard after Bowden, which is always the problem with these sorts of books. They're easier to write with some distance, or by someone who's more of an outsider.

The Times says that RFK's better than ever! (Ever being defined as last season). They address some of the ticket snafus, but only superficially. I wish someone would look into what the problems where and why they keep happening. Was the front office pressured to change ticket providers because of MLB's ownership of tickets.com, effectively sucking even more pennies out of Nats fans wallets? One of the BPG forum guys mentioned that he got a call from his ticket agent about his 41-game plan. Apparently they sold a few of his seats as single-game tickets, so they'll need to move him around the stadium a few times. No matter how few resources they have, that's not an excuse; that's just gross incompetence.

Brad Wilkerson stinks. And it's probably because of his shoulder. He says he needs surgery in the offseason. Interestingly, the Rangers DID MRI him before the trade, and it just showed minor inflamation.

Cool Standings, which simulates the schedule 1 million times using current runs scored/allowed figures, says we should just give up now.

Dodgers Thoughts, too, is sick of seeing their manager fritter away outs on stupid hit-and-runs. He beautifully explains why it's a foolish play more often than not:

One of my oldest complaints on this site is about managers who think you can order the hit-and-run off the menu as simply as "Would you like fries with that?" It's actually a complex skill that requires speed, coordination, precision and timing, and you can't just will it to happen any more than you can will your team to hit the ball over the fence.

The hit-and-run, done well, can put the defense on the defensive, so to speak. Done poorly, it can implode what's left of your offense.

There are certainly a couple of Dodgers who seem like viable hit-and-run participants. But overall, it's important to remember that the hit-and-run is something that good offensive teams do well, not something power-deficient offensive teams can turn to as a crutch.

Our friends (by friends, I mean dreaded enemies) at MetsGeek have a look at the pitching matchups from their perspective. Forgive them for the drool oozing out of the corner of their mouth -- a strange combination of delight at facing Ramon Ortiz and the natural saliva-dripping tendency of the typical slack-jawed Mets fan.

And as if there wasn't enough reason to hate David Wright, the second best third baseman in the division (and no, Chipper's third, jerk), he's now honing in on my turf. So grab your bottles, break them across the bar, we're gonna have ourselves a fight!