SB Nation User Blog: ortonius

WTF is up with all of the ads on SBNation?

ortonius — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:42:14 -0000

Holy crap! I come to LSB today and there are pop-up ads freaking everywhere. Ads by SBNation that are covering up posts and fanshots and pretty much everything else. They are long or wide...and there is NO way to close them. WTF???

This sucks!

Your FanPost must be at least 75 words long.

Temperatures and blackouts

ortonius — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 13:35:27 -0000

Temperatures and blackouts

I'm scared that we are going to have blackouts or rolling blackouts over the next three or four days. We lost power twice this morning for a total of about 45 minutes. High temps: Today- 105 Sunday - 106 Monday - 107 F*&K!!!!!

More trade rumors...

ortonius — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:50:01 -0000

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/07/heymans-lates-6.html

The Twins, Giants, and Dodgers have interest in Hank Blalock, who has a $6.2MM option for '09.

Your FanPost must be at least 75 words long. Right now it's only 28 words long. If you just have a quote, link, video or photo you'd like to share with the community, try creating a FanShot instead.

Switch Pitcher???

ortonius — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:45:58 -0000

We need to trade for this guy... :)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,369826,00.html

NEW YORK — Ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte can confound hitters — and umpires — when he's on the mound.

The umps working a game Thursday night between the Class-A Staten Island Yankees and the Brooklyn Cyclones had nothing to go by when Venditte made his professional debut, less than two weeks after getting drafted in the 20th round by the Yankees.

He pitched the ninth, and after retiring two batters and allowing a single, a switch hitter stepped to the plate for Brooklyn. That's hardly unusual. But it becomes intriguing against Venditte, a switch pitcher.

Things got a tad dizzying when designated hitter Ralph Henriquez, who had taken his on-deck circle swings as a lefty, entered the batter's box from the right side.

Venditte put his specially made glove (it has six fingers, two webs and fits on both hands) on his left hand, and got ready to pitch right-handed.

Henriquez then changed his mind and switched sides of the plate, because a batter sees the ball sooner when it is thrown by a pitcher using the opposite hand.

So Venditte shifted his glove to the other hand.

Then it happened again.

And again.

Apparently unsure of how the rules handle such an oddity, the umpires didn't stop the cat-and-mouse game until Venditte walked toward the plate and said something while pointing at Henriquez. Umpires and both managers then huddled and the umps decided the batter and pitcher can both change sides one time per at-bat, and that the batter must declare first.

The ruling favored the pitcher, since he gets to declare last.

About seven minutes after he first stepped in, Henriquez struck out on four pitches as a righty against a right-handed Venditte and slammed his bat in frustration. Staten Island won, 7-2.

"It's probably been a long, long time since he's seen a right-hander as a righty," Venditte said. "I think in that situation, I had the upper hand because he wasn't used to that. It's been a long time since he'd come in the game as a switch hitter and faced a righty as a righty."

It wasn't completely new to Venditte, who went 9-3 with a 3.34 ERA and seven saves as a senior at Creighton.

"That same thing happened my sophomore year against Nebraska," he said. "But in that situation he got to hit off me right-handed, and I faced him lefty. He hit a line drive to center but it got caught, so I lucked out."

It's unclear what the MLB rule book says on the matter. While it's clear that both a batter and a pitcher are allowed to change sides once, the umpire's decision that the batter must declare first remains debatable.

"We're waiting on an official ruling on it," Staten Island media relations director John Davison said.

Pat Venditte Sr., who raised his son as ambidextrous from the age of 3, said the Missouri Valley Conference had rules in place for such a situation. There, the pitcher had to show which arm he was going to pitch with.

"My first thought was, isn't there a rule to cover that?" asked Venditte Sr., by phone from Nebraska.

Justin Klemm, executive director of the Professional Baseball Umpire Corporation, said his organization was working with major league baseball to remedy the lack of a clear rule.

"We don't want to rush to any interpretation beyond what is in our manual," Klemm said, referring to the minor league umpire manual. "Obviously what's in our manual doesn't cover every situation. We want to be as fair as possible, but we're going to do that in a timely manner."

It's all happening because Venditte Sr. decided to experiment with his son at age 3, having him first kick footballs with both feet, then punting with both, and finally throwing with both hands. He and his 3-year-old son played long toss — pitchers mound to plate — with each arm.

Because his son was home-schooled, Pat Jr. wasn't dissuaded from doing something that might have been seen as "unnatural," his father said. By the time he started playing organized baseball, his son was already better with both hands than most kids were with either.

"By the time he played at 7, people were in awe," Venditte Sr. said. "It spurred us on. He was doing things that people found unique and different."

Some scouts have noticed that Venditte throws harder from the right side — near 90 mph as opposed to about 80 from the left side — and have decided that means he's naturally a righty.

Not so fast, his father said.

"The reason he's not as fast from the left is he drops his arm from the left side to get more movement, he throws a sweeping slider," he said. "The coach at Creighton thought it was more difficult to hit. He has equal arm strength. He can stand at home plate and throw it out of the ballpark from both sides."

The Yankees have enough faith that Venditte can bring his ambidextrous pitching game to the majors to draft him not once, but twice. They drafted him in the 45th round after his junior year as well, but Venditte chose to return to Creighton.

Venditte is not the first professional pitcher to throw with both hands, although he may be the first in the modern era with the potential to regularly switch arms.

Greg A. Harris, who pitched for Cincinnati, Montreal, San Diego, Texas, Philadelphia, Boston and the Yankees from 1981-95, was a righty throughout his career. He pitched from the left side for two batters in the second-to-last game of his career.

Gregg "The Hammer" Williams on The Ticket and Drug Abuse

ortonius — Tue, 20 May 2008 02:38:24 -0000

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=6575356&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

Gregg "The Hammer" Williams on The Ticket and Drug Abuse

Red Sox' Lester throws a NO-NO!

ortonius — Tue, 20 May 2008 01:38:35 -0000

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/boxscore?gid=280519102

Yep...he did it...watched in on ESPN.

Top 1st: Kansas City

- D. DeJesus flied out to left

- M. Grudzielanek struck out swinging

- A. Gordon grounded out to second

0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors

Kansas City 0, Boston 0

Bottom 1st: Boston

- J. Ellsbury grounded out to shortstop

- D. Pedroia flied out to center

- D. Ortiz grounded out to second

0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors

Kansas City 0, Boston 0

Top 2nd: Kansas City

- J. Guillen flied out to left

- B. Butler walked

- M. Olivo grounded into fielder's choice, B. Butler out at second

- M. Olivo to second on J. Lester's throwing error

- M. Teahen grounded out to pitcher

0 runs, 0 hits, 1 errors

Kansas City 0, Boston 0

Bottom 2nd: Boston

- M. Ramirez grounded out to shortstop

- M. Lowell walked

- K. Youkilis grounded into double play third to second to first, M. Lowell out at second

0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors

Kansas City 0, Boston 0

Top 3rd: Kansas City

- E. German lined out to first

- T. Pena Jr. grounded out to shortstop

- D. DeJesus grounded out to shortstop

0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors

Kansas City 0, Boston 0

Bottom 3rd: Boston

- J.D. Drew singled to right

- J. Varitek singled to left, J.D. Drew to third

- J. Lugo grounded into double play shortstop to second to first, J.D. Drew scored, J. Varitek out at second

- J. Ellsbury tripled to deep center

- D. Pedroia walked

- D. Pedroia stole second

- D. Ortiz walked

- M. Ramirez walked, J. Ellsbury scored, D. Pedroia to third, D. Ortiz to second

- M. Lowell safe at first on second baseman M. Grudzielanek's fielding error, D. Ortiz and D. Pedroia scored, M. Ramirez to third

- K. Youkilis ground rule double to deep right center, M. Ramirez scored, M. Lowell to third

- J.D. Drew flied out to deep right

5 runs, 4 hits, 1 errors

Kansas City 0, Boston 5

Top 4th: Kansas City

- M. Grudzielanek struck out swinging

- A. Gordon flied out to center

- J. Guillen lined out to center

0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors

Kansas City 0, Boston 5

Bottom 4th: Boston

- J. Varitek struck out looking

- J. Lugo grounded out to second

- J. Ellsbury walked

- J. Ellsbury stole second

- J. Ellsbury stole third

- D. Pedroia grounded out to shortstop

0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors

Kansas City 0, Boston 5

Top 5th: Kansas City

- B. Butler struck out swinging

- M. Olivo struck out swinging

- M. Teahen grounded out to second

0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors

Kansas City 0, Boston 5

Bottom 5th: Boston

- D. Ortiz walked

- M. Ramirez flied out to deep center

- M. Lowell grounded into double play third to second to first, D. Ortiz out at second

0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors

Kansas City 0, Boston 5

Top 6th: Kansas City

- E. German struck out swinging

- T. Pena Jr. grounded out to shortstop

- D. DeJesus grounded out to second

0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors

Kansas City 0, Boston 5

Bottom 6th: Boston

- K. Youkilis grounded out to shortstop

- J.D. Drew hit by pitch

- J. Varitek homered to deep right, J.D. Drew scored

- J. Lugo struck out looking

- J. Ellsbury grounded out to second

2 runs, 1 hits, 0 errors

Kansas City 0, Boston 7

Top 7th: Kansas City

- M. Grudzielanek grounded out to pitcher

- A. Gordon flied out to left

- J. Guillen struck out swinging

0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors

Kansas City 0, Boston 7

Bottom 7th: Boston

- A. Callaspo at second

- J. Peralta relieved L. Hochevar

- D. Pedroia popped out to second

- D. Ortiz flied out to deep center

- M. Ramirez struck out swinging

0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors

Kansas City 0, Boston 7

Top 8th: Kansas City

- B. Butler struck out looking

- M. Olivo struck out swinging

- M. Teahen flied out to deep center

0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors

Kansas City 0, Boston 7

Bottom 8th: Boston

- Y. Yabuta relieved J. Peralta

- M. Lowell flied out to center

- K. Youkilis grounded out to third

- J.D. Drew struck out swinging

0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors

Kansas City 0, Boston 7

Top 9th: Kansas City

- A. Cora at shortstop

- E. German walked

- T. Pena Jr. grounded out to third, E. German to second

- D. DeJesus grounded out to first, E. German to third

- A. Callaspo struck out swinging

0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors

Kansas City 0, Boston 7

OT: Free Football MMORPG!

ortonius — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:19:52 -0000

This is pretty awesome guys! I've got a couple of players and I am training them up!

Want to create your own player, train him, negotiate contracts with team owners, or even own the team?

Welcome to Goalline Blitz.
Check it out, the hottest football game going, it's free and tons of fun.

http://goallineblitz.com/game/signup.pl?ref=3916027

This is not spam...just a Rangers fan sharing with my AL West friends!

If you need a team to sign you...let me know, I'm currently a GM.

Fail Blog: Ammo for Rangers Fans

ortonius — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 02:16:15 -0000

Seriously though...it's pretty funny.

http://failblog.wordpress.com/

Descriptive Words
This is a site for sharing all things that FAIL with the world. Gather your fail pics and email them to failpictures@gmail.com. Include your name and/or website for extra credit.

30 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 words

30 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 words words words words and more words.

OT: Free Football MMORPG! Warning: Addictive!

ortonius — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 19:02:33 -0000

Hey Mariners fans! I wanted to share this cool link with my fellow AL West fans.

Want to create your own player, train him, negotiate contracts with team owners, or even own the team?

Welcome to Goalline Blitz -- A free sports role-playing game!
Check it out, the hottest football game going, it's free and tons of fun. The game is currently in beta, so get in and get head before the game is released!

http://goallineblitz.com/game/signup.pl?ref=3916027

I'm so addicted I have 6 players now. Hope you guys have fun!

Ortonius

OT: Free Football MMORPG! Warning: Addictive!

ortonius — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 17:17:38 -0000

As a huge Trey Hillman fan, I wanted to share this with you guys.

Want to create your own player, train him, negotiate contracts with team owners, or even own the team?

Welcome to Goalline Blitz.
Check it out, the hottest football game going, it's free and tons of fun.

http://goallineblitz.com/game/signup.pl?ref=3916027

I'm so addicted I have 5 players and I'm adding a 6th today. Check it out!

SB Nation User Blog: ortonius

WTF is up with all of the ads on SBNation?

Temperatures and blackouts

Temperatures and blackouts

More trade rumors...

Switch Pitcher???

Gregg "The Hammer" Williams on The Ticket and Drug Abuse

Red Sox' Lester throws a NO-NO!

OT: Free Football MMORPG!

Fail Blog: Ammo for Rangers Fans

Descriptive Words

OT: Free Football MMORPG! Warning: Addictive!

OT: Free Football MMORPG! Warning: Addictive!