Podcasting from JustSON World Headquarters

We've done it again! Dylan Kitzan and I have recorded our second JustSON Podcast for your listening enjoyment.

You can download it here.

Topics this time are:

1. Is baseball in trouble?
2. How much have movies changed in the past 20 years?
3. Is golf a sport?
4. Do you want a low-character guy like Michael Vick playing for your team?
5. Discussing fan bases of certain teams (Dallas Cowboys, LA Lakers, San Francisco 49ers, Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the New York Yankees)

Enjoy!

I'm not going to be one to complain about the Red Sox, but...

I'm not the smartest baseball fan in the world, in fact last night I couldn't finish scoring a Spokane Indians game in my game program because I forgot to move over my marks to the corresponding inning, but...

I know that when your team leads 10-1 in the bottom of the seventh, there's a good chance they're going to win the game.

Unless you're the Boston Red Sox, which dropped a nine-run lead to lose to the Baltimore last night in the biggest comeback in Orioles team history. Ever. Recorded. By Man.

"It was a weird game, a terrible loss for us," Dustin Pedroia said. "That's upsetting. Things just kind of spiraled on us."

Previously, the biggest comeback in Orioles history was Sept. 2, 1956, when Baltimore rallied from an eight-run deficit at Boston. In this one, the Orioles got 13 of their 16 hits in the seventh and eighth innings.

"We just had no answer," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "We went through everybody. Nothing we did worked."

Way to sugar coat it guys.

Now I'm not going to sit hear and tear apart the team for one stinking loss, but as my buddy Dylan Kitzan said "You can't lose games like this."

With the Yankees playing better and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays showing signs of life, the Boston Red Sox can't be throwing away victories like A-rod does marriages.

And just to recap last nights baseball games: Red Sox lost. New York won (against the Mariners) and the Spokane Indians lost their six straight.

Somebody on the Yankees better have woke up today with an STD otherwise Tuesday was a pretty crummy day.

JustSON Question: Is Tropicana Field the new cathedral for baseball?

Well, at least Tampa Bay's stadium doesn't have any wind current problems and I'm pretty sure the seats behind home plate are less expansive then a down payment on a new Mercedes. The turfed-catwalked-domed stadium apparently has been giving the Red Sox some problems as they dropped their second game in a row yesterday at the Trop.

Going from grass to turf has to be tough and unnatural. I would have to imagine that with the stadium being so... different (read... craptastic)... from other ballparks, wouldn't the warehouse-ish Tropicana Field lend a certain aura of home field advantage?

Do the Tampa Bay Rays now have a better homefield advantage than the New York Yankees?

(and I'm not talking fans as I'm pretty sure more Red Sox fans show up to Rays games than actual Rays fans.)

I had to shave my chin because of Kevin Youkilis

So at the start of the season, Dylan Kitzan and I had sworn to not shave our rather wispy goatees until Kevin Youkilis had his batting average dip below .400. Well that happen today in a 13-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Youkilis went 0-2 and now has an average of .395.

And my goatee was doing such a good job of covering my second chin...

Good God! Is that Felix Hernandez's music?

Felix Hernandez and I are the same age. The only difference between us is he can pitch seven scoreless innings and allow only four hits whereas I can finish a Meat Lover's Skillet at Sherry's in about three minutes.

We're now 16 games in of the "The Improbable Dream" and the Mariners keep winning games. Coming off a drubbing to the Tampa Bay Rays last night - Hernandez manned up today, scratch that, he put the Mariners on his jock and carried them to victory.

Seattle committed three errors, THREE, and a team that in renowned for manufacturing runs out of nothing could not cross home plate.

Brandon Morrow, despite looking like he was losing control of his bowel functions out on the mound, picked up his fifth save of the season. If I were a Mariners fan, I can't decide if I would be terrified to death that Morrow had the ball in tight situations or confident. You just don't know what you'll get with him.

By the way, keep winning M's, by all means beat every team in the AL East you can except for the Red Sox.

Washburn's performance last night

Something stuck in my mind last night during the Mariners' 4-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays last night about Jarrod Washburn's pitching performance. Now I've been the Randy Quaid in Major League 2 of the M's since they started the season off hot. All the talk about Griffey and how they could bounce back and blah, blah, blah.

Well I'm not wrong on Griffey... he's hitting .184 and the biggest impact he's had on the team so far is getting the 20,000 or so fans at Safeco Field on their feet before every one of his at-bats - and then striking out to silence them. 

However, Jarrod Washburn's start last night was electric. I already posted the stat line because and if the Mariners can keep getting starts like from their pitchers, they may have a legitimate shot at the division title.

Now that being said, Jarrod's start was like step 4 of a 56-step process. It's kind of like if you're an alcoholic and you've just switched to light beer in the process of becoming sober. 

Promising, but the Mariners aren't there yet.

Jarrod was good. My family by default are Mariners fans, and they were over last night taking in the game on FSN (Which apparently has the Mariners, replays Sounders FC games and then re-re-replays the 4A State basektball high school championship game, that's it), and that's what they've been doing for most of the season so far. And judging from their reaction, Jarrod is really good.

First, there's my grandpa who curses at Griffey and everyone else that screws up. Also, in an unrelated topic, he can't stand Derek Jeter and I have yet to uncover the orgin of this hatred - but that's cool with me. He was practically on his feet dancing after every Washburn strike out.

Then my parents usually sit their quietly and behave themselves. Washburn's start was different. I thought the neighbors were going to call with noise complaints because they were cheering so loudly. And this is on television, mind you. And it's funny when a player does such a good job you start talking to him from your living room and refering to him in first person as if you're having some sort of Mufasa in the clouds talking to Simba effect going on.

"Come on Jarrod, come on Jarrod..." 

And yes, being the Red Sox fan of the family, I caught some trash for proclaiming that the Mariners just won't be able to keep it up. Oh well. 

We'll see, plenty of season left, but if we keep seeing Washburn doing things like that - there just might be some hope in Seattle after all.

Epic Photo: Does he have a clump of dirt on his hand?

Even the Detroit Tigers and their sludge-ball throwing ways couldn't stop the Mariners, who won last night 6-3 to continue their hot start in the major leagues. If this continues, we're going to have to come up with some sort of tagline for the season. Here's what I was thinking:

"The Season of Over achievement"
"Trust us, we're not the 2008 Tampa Bay Devil Rays"
"Refuse to Lose... 100 games this year"
"The not really conceivable dream"
"The Amazing M's"
"The season that Griffey built... by batting .200"

Any suggestions?

MLB Morning: Thanks man for not blowing this save

The Seattle Mariners got back to .500 yesterday (2-2) with a 2-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins, and what was more promising was that reliever Brandon Morrow didn't blow the lead as his did two nights ago against the Twins in a 6-5 loss. That's why he gets a man-hug.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, the Red Sox continued their woes against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays losing their second straight 4-3, but their bats showed some pop and an ability to come back in the bottom of the ninth. After a great start by Beckett, Lester and Dice-K have looked pedestrian - not the sucking black vortex that is the overpaid Yankees pitching staff - but not fantastic out on the mound.

There's not much you can get worked up over this early in the season unless your team takes a total dive. Luckily, comments by Yankee fans left on ESPN.com always give me a reason to get heated up. Take this comment for example, which I have broken down in chunks so I can make this Yankee fan look like a douchebag:

you guys are comedians.. ur like the little brother who could never get enuff attention. u guys played the RAYS... the RAYS, yet every comment mentions the Yanks.

The same Rays that made the World Series last year and finished ahead of the Yankees in the AL East standings along with the Red Sox. Yes those Rays.

U guys pay more attention to us than we do to u. U guys know more Yankee history than we care to know about the SOx.

It's because other than the die-hards most Yankee fans don't even know the team's in New York. Say what you will about Red Sox Nation, but 7 times out of ten if you see a guy with a Yankees hat on, he's going to say he's wearing it because it looks cool. This comment just proves my point. I'm glad Sox fans know more about Yankees fan.

In the basball world.. u guys are like Canada..same colors too..lol.. always comparing yourself to the super power next door with all the money and the history of overshadowing ur petty few accomplishments.

Nothing like putting down an entire country.

ITS OPENING DAY.. what do u say if u lose the next two.. do u pack in the season.. stop being morons and start being baseball fans.. ur embarassing urself...the season starts 50 - 60 games in.. till then, only the idiots on bar stools at noon can pretend to know whats gonna happen.

Last time I checked the season is 162 games, but apparently even your starting rotation thinks the season starts 50-60 games into the season - so enjoy trying to come back in the standings against the Sox and Rays this year, you meatball eating, toupee wearing, mom's basement sitting Yankee fan.

Alright, I'm done.

It's day 2 and all is pretty much right in the world

I know there's 161 more games to go for the Red Sox, but you've got to start somewhere, like today's opening 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Beckett pitched nicely, striking out ten and giving up only one earned run. However, the real star of the game... this guy...

God bless Dustin Pedroia, who hit a homer in the first. The baseball player formerly known as Jason Varitek also went yard against the Devil Rays. Great start for Sox fans - even though they have a long ways to go.

Now you may wonder why I have a picture of the New York Yankees on this blog... well buckaroos, yesterday in their season opener, the $161 million dollar man CC Sabathia sucked it up on the mound in his first outing for the pinstripes. He didn't get through five innings, gave up six runs and didn't record a single strikeout. Marky Mark, or better known as Mark Teixeria went 0-for-4 and stranded five runners. In the end, the Yanks lost 10-5 to the Baltimore Orioles.

And the best part about it is I'm pretty sure somebody robbed the Yankees team bus of their tires and left the thing on cinder blocks. That's the kind of wonderful town that Baltimore is. As my buddy Colin (who went to school at the University of Maryland) would say "there are apartments in Baltimore that only have three walls, you do the math. Yeah it's a dump."

And this? This is a photo of your 2009 Seattle Mariners blowing a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the ninth. Somebody please bring back Heathcliff Slocumb.