Hit by a Pitch

Rumor has it that the Detroit Tigers are interested in Rockies’ pitcher Brian Fuentes and that the Rockies are interested in Yankees’ pitcher Kyle Farnsworth (or pr0FF3ss0r_F4rnsw0rth as he’s known on The Dugout).

A couple months ago, this would have sent me off on a rant about how getting rid of Brian Fuentes, All-Star closer, would be the stupidest thing the Rockies could do. Since then, however, Fuentes sort of imploded, sat out the All-Star game, and went on the DL, leaving young gun Manny Corpas to take over closing duties. Corpas is as hot as, well, Denver in July. I like the kid and hell, we all knew Fuentes was on the way out after this year anyway — maybe making Habeas Corpas the closer now isn’t such a big deal.

Meanwhile, teams are circling the White Sox, hoping to snag a tasty morsel from the decaying carcass of lost hope my team has become. I know the Sox need to make some changes. Although I like him, I can live with getting rid of DYE!!! if it will get someone with an ERA under, say, 972 for the bullpen.

What I can’t live with is the idea that the hottest man in baseball might get traded to the Jankees. I don’t want to be one of those women who writes about sexy athletes and all that shit, but holy hell Jon Garland is smokin’ hot. He’s also, with the exception of a couple rough games, a really good pitcher. Hey guys, the bullpen is for shit, so maybe messing with starting pitching isn’t a good idea. He just needs to do some yoga to fix that knot in his shoulder and he’ll be fine.

Mike Coolbaugh, a 35-year-old first base coach with the AA Tulsa Drillers, was killed yesterday after being hit in the head by a line drive. He’d been with the team, an affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, since July 3. Coolbaugh was knocked unconscious by the foul ball. CPR was administered, but Coolbaugh stopped breathing in the ambulance.

Coolbaugh’s baseball career included 10 years in the minors, 39 games with the Milwaukee Brewers, and five games with the St. Louis Cardinals. He is survived by his wife Amanda and two sons. Amanda is pregnant with their third child, who is due in October.

We are approaching the greatest milestone the sports world will see in 2007 — Jose Mesa’s 1,000th game as an MLB pitcher. Okay, maybe only Jose Mesa and I feel that way, but it’s nice to have something to get excited about considering all the crap that’s been going on in sports lately.

Jose Mesa pitched in his 998th game yesterday as the Phillies beat the Padres. While scoping out the internet for recent articles about our main man Joe Table, I found something interesting.

According to Jose’s bio, he was born on May 22, 1966, and he and his wife Mirla had their first child on June 29, 1979. Jose Mesa was 13 years old on June 29, 1979. That’s possible, but kind of odd, right?

Well, maybe it’s not true. According to Jose’s Wikipedia entry:

On June 10, 2007 sportscaster John Clark of NBC10 Philadelphia reported on the TV show Sports Final that he had uncovered documents indicating that Mesa was in fact 47 years old. This would make Mesa one of the oldest active players currently in baseball and the oldest active pitcher today.

Also, Jose’s bio says that his daughter Yamely was born on January 15, 1984. A previous version listed her birthday as January 15, 1974. Was 1974 a typo? Does anybody out there know Yamely Mesa?

I’ll try to unravel the mystery of Jose Mesa’s age. I’d also welcome suggestions for fun ways to celebrate his 1,000th game — maybe I could bake a cake shaped like Omar Vizquel and have everybody throw scoops of ice cream at it.

Tim Donaghy is the NBA referee being investigated.

Background information:

Donaghy’s betting profile

Bill Simmons comments on Donaghy’s officiating during a Suns/Spurs game

Rasheed Wallace run in

Allegedly, an NBA referee has been betting on games over the past two seasons, including games he refereed, and might have made calls that affected the point spread in games on which he wagered. (Full story here.) The referee, who is referred to as a “veteran” and “he” in the article, also has alleged ties to organized crime.

NBA referee statistics are here. I don’t really know how to interpret this, but apparently the Jess Kersey numbers are interesting. He has a bit of a flair for the dramatic, not that ejecting the Spurs’ mascot from a game means he’s a dirty ref. He also was indicted on tax evasion charges in 1997 and pled guilty several days into his trial.

I’m curious to learn more about this, especially who the ref is and, hopefully, what games were affected. It’s not surprising news — I’ve had serious doubts about the quality of NBA officiating this past year, especially after that Nuggets playoff game I attended in April.

One bad ref doesn’t mean the NBA is dead, but if the allegations are true, it’s another symptom of serious illness. I hope David Stern makes a real effort to fix this, instead of giving us his usual bullshit.

ETA: In other NBA news, it looks like Joey Crawford was reinstated.