What's Eating David Ortiz?

Its almost the end of April, and "Big Papi" is beginning to look more like "Big Poopie". Fantasy players around the country are struggling to decide whether to keep many in the lineup, or replace him with a more productive option, Miguel Cairo.

Before "breaking out" against the Rangers the other day (Ortiz had a 2 hit game, including a grand slam) Ortiz had only one home run and four runs batted in. Not much production out of the four hole there.

To put Papi's numbers in perspective, guys like Mark DeRosa, Emil Brown, and Angel Pagan had (up until Papi's outburst) more than doubled Ortiz's rbi production.

Ask yourself this, do you walk DeRosa to pitch to Papi?

We began to wonder; "What is the source of Papi's troubles?" His swing looks the same as before, and it's not like he's facing anyone new so far this season (Sox have played Yankees, Cleveland, Detroit, and Toronto, teams they finished up against at the end of last season).

The answer came to us last night, while watching television. Papi has a new baseball cleat that he's advertising.

Its got to be the shoes!

Everyone talks about not messing with a guys hands (while he's at the plate) or checking his eyes to see if he's not seeing the ball. No one ever talks about the importance of comfortable shoes while trying to hit a 95 mph fastball.

What you put on your feet will determine the comfort level for the rest of your body. Your feet are the foundation for everything you do in life; walk, stand, sit, swing a bat, etc. If you're not comfortable at the base, everything else is out of whack.

Some one needs to get to Ortiz, and tell him its time to stop shilling a pair of s#*t cleats and get back to his comfort zone. No product endorsement is worth shaving off two hundred points off your batting average.

Until his feet come to his senses, Papi will continue to be "Poopie".

Best Sports Site You May Never Heard Of

Wake up, rub eyes, open laptop, log onto ESPN.com, search for glasses, rub eyes again (this time in disbelief; Swisher can't be doing that bad again...).

Such is the morning routine of this 108 Red Stitches contributing author. If ESPN.com is void of any interest, I'll mosey on over to Rotowire.com, or if I'm looking for propaganda articles, I'll click over to MLB.com.

Not anymore. I'm a proud, card-carrying member of the best sports site you may have never heard of.

Crowdpicks.com.

For the record, I am not getting any compensation for writing this, there's no tricky links in this post that will benefit myself if you click on them. This is a simple, Grade-A, wholesome, genuine, perfectly legit, good-old recommendation.

This site is a blend of facebook, myspace, vegas gambling sites (without the money transactions), and youtube, all designed for the sports fan in mind.

Crowdpicks.com advertises itself as the only sports website where you'll have to prove your worth.

Oh, is it worth it.

Members consistently comment on articles that you write or post (there's a blogging feature and a news story linking feature) and you can even embed youtube videos for others to watch.

There is a profit sharing system in place, similar to Revver.com's, but in my honest opinion, the money making aspect to the site is the least of all the features.

You can try to predict game day scores, and you're given trophies to display on your homepage if you become a successful member of crowdpicks.com. They give you tools to promote yourself throughout the internet such as the snazzy looking crowdpick badge, located at the top right portion of this blog.

Fans on this site range from your everyday baseball fanatic to your lovable beer guzzling Nascar fans. There's even a section for the more refined golf addicts.

College sports, pro sports, you take your pick. Try out the site, you'll love it.

Return to Sender

ESPN's Fantasy Department recently ran an article explaining how and why washup and never drafted Aubrey Huff will outperform a rising star and over paid for Evan Longoria. While the evidence is there, we don't totally agree with Huff outperforming Longoria, but we do have our own list of overbid and underpaid:

Nick Swisher vs. Andre Ethier

Swisher has been slow to perform this season (fantasy wise) batting a sub par .268. Not the greatest batting average for a lead off hitter. He's been extremely streaky (2-12 in one stretch followed by a 4-10 current stretch) and his power isn't there just yet. Sure he's scored a bunch of runs (11) because he's hitting in the lead off spot, but lets be honest, I didn't draft Swisher because he scores a lot. Note; he is still Selective Swisher, walking 12 times so far this season.
Here's a fun stat: Percentage of Fantasy Leagues With a Team That Owns Nick Swisher: 100%

Andre Ethier, on the other hand, is only owned in 80% of the same leagues (ESPN Fantasy) and is outperforming Swisher; .308 BA, 2 HR, 11 RBI, and has a stolen base.

Are we saying that Ethier is a better player than Swisher? No, not really. We're just pointing out the oddity of dissimilar players putting up similar numbers and being drafted on opposite ends of the board.

Frustrating is the life of a fantasy league team owner. He carefully selects a player he hopes will bat third or fourth in a semi-potent White Sox lineup, only to find out Swisher will be batting leadoff, and some other owner gets lucky by drafting a fourth string outfielder who supplants Juan Pierre in the Dodger batting order.

Jackie Robinson Day Around the Big Leagues

Today is Jackie Robinson day, and to celebrate, ESPN Research writer Mark Kelly put together this fascinating look (by the numbers) at Jackie Robinson's career and life. Here are the first 10, and if you want to see the rest, click here.

By Mark Kelly, ESPN Research

1 MVP award and Rookie of the Year award won.

2 Number of World Series HRs

3 Number of ABs in his first game

4 Number of sports lettered in at

UCLA

5 The youngest of 5 children

6 Number of World Series appearances

7 Number of seasons he scored 99 or more runs Inning that he stole home in
Game 1 of 1955 WS

8 More runs than strikeouts in World Series career

9 Number of times he was hit by a pitch in rookie season

10 Number of seasons in MLB.

To continue reading this list, click here.

Boston Fan, Construction Worker, To Be Burried In Cement

A construction worker at the new Yankee Stadium, tried to place a curse on the new field, by burying a David Ortiz jersey deep in a concrete pillar.

An excerpt from the ESPN.com article:

NEW YORK -- A construction worker's bid to curse the Yankees by planting a Red Sox jersey in their new stadium was foiled Sunday when the team removed the offending shirt from its burial spot in the ballpark.

After locating the shirt in a service corridor behind what will be a restaurant in the new Yankee Stadium, construction workers jackhammered through the remaining concrete Sunday and pulled it out.

The team learned that a Sox-rooting construction worker had buried a shirt in the stadium from a report in the New York Post on Friday, team officials said.

Yankees President Randy Levine said the team at first considered leaving the shirt.

"The first thought was, you know, it's never a good thing to be buried in cement when you're in New York," Levine said. "But then we decided, 'Why reward somebody who had really bad motives and was trying to do a really bad thing?'"

The Associated Press first reported the story, which can be found here.

Should Bonds Be Punished By Major League Baseball?

I'll be the first to admit that I do not like Barry Bonds.

I never liked him when he was a Pirate, I never liked him when he played for the Giants, and I sure as hell didn't like him whenever he floated the idea of becoming a Yankee.

As far as punishing Bonds, Major League Baseball has no right in punishing the "new home run king". Legally at least.

You see, Bonds is a crafty man, or so he thought. By opting out of the players union, Bonds became a one man marketing dream.

If you want Bonds in a video game (approved by Major League Baseball and the Players Union) you have to negotiate with him directly. If you want him to appear on your baseball card, contact Bonds' agent, not the Players Union. If you want to film a public service announcement with Bonds and one hundred other ball players, you'll get the ball players, but you'll have to pay for Bonds.

But, by opting out of the Players Union, Major League Baseball will never have to worry about punishing Bonds.

He punished himself.

Companies like 2kSports and EA Games refuse to deal with Bonds, and pay unrealistic sums of money to use his likeness in their baseball franchises. Instead, gamers have to deal with a forty year old white guy who bats and throws right handed, and who answers to the name of John Dowd. All his stats are set to zero, and there is no record of the all-time home run leader throughout any aspect of the games. If you play with the San Fransisco Giants, you're basically left with a forty year old rookie, making eighteen million dollars.

Bonds punished himself by making it almost impossible to remember him. Baseball card companies, already strapped for cash (dying industry) have a hard time justifying negotiations with Bonds and company.

By opting out of the Players Union, Bonds punished himself. He doesn't have the backing of one of the most powerful unions in the United States when he appears before court. Any deal Major League Baseball strikes with the government, leaves Bonds out in the cold. His arrogance and foolishness could lead to his eventual imprisonment.

So, you ask again, should Major League Baseball punish Barry Bonds?

No. I think he's done enough.

Rhett and Link: Genius on Film

Enter to win a chance to sing at the 2008 All-Star Game? Last chance to sing at Yankee Stadium? I'm convinced. Here's Rhett and Link, with a little inspiration to get you going.