Typically, at this point in the day – at this point in the week – I’d introduce a column in which I offer ten thoughts on some of the newsier items around baseball. I like doing it because, well, I really like baseball, and I really like sharing what I think about baseball. In this sense, it’s not surprising that occasionally my thoughts will admittedly drift toward becoming self-indulgent.

In fact, the whole premise of offering up my thoughts as something that...

The Getting Blanked podcast for a Friday! We grab the old standings and decide, definitely, which teams playoff chances are dead and which are still alive. It’s very scientific and totally binding. As for the sock? You have to wait for that one.

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The languid pace of these slightly bizarre Rockies marketing videos is almost refreshing. Though, without any actual game footage to lean on, what else was the ad company going to use to sell the team? Ummm, rocks! And height! And the height of rocks! It’s all deadly, really.

Just think about creating a similar piece now. It would be all smash cuts and WUBWUBWUB dubstep beats and that infernal dinosaur making children cry and haunting the dreams of young and...

Video: Rays reunite military family

“I was really excited and then I felt like it was a dream”

This is nothing if not incredible. A heart-warming reunion between a US service member and his adolescent daughter. Delightful. Enjoy and then hug somebody who matters to you.

…And just like that, your browser collapsed. Here’s your roundup of GIFs from around Major League Baseball (and Taiwan). Ian Kinsler leads off this slide heavy edition with a bit of misjudged attempt at diving headfirst into third base. We can only applaud.

MOAR GIFs after the jump

The curious case of Daniel Murphy’s disappearing double

…And you will know his name is Juan Lagares

Mike Trout’s longform slide

Jeremy Guthrie’s awful night part I

Jeremy Guthrie’s awful night part...

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It was bound to happen eventually. Even with the Nationals’ natitudinal meddling, Stephen Strasburg is simply too talented to go his entire career without pitching eight complete innings. He’s a power pitcher and a strikeout guy who racks up big pitch counts, which simply doesn’t gel with the Nationals persistent fear that one day he might just fall apart before their eyes.

After 53 starts, over which he amassed more than 360 strikeouts, Stephen...

Way back in 2002, when Jason Giambi was in his first season with the Yankees after signing (for the time) a huge free agent contract, people doubted him. Filling the Super-Big Shoes of Tino Martinez is a bid deal; a core Yankee and close personal friend of Derek Jeter, after all.

Giambi got off to a slow start in New York in that first season. Well, “slow” being a relative term. Giambi was hitting “only” .282/.378/.456 (126 wRC+) at...

make sure you check out bigpapi.com to help raise money for the boston marathon victims #PapiLovesBoston twitter.com/davidortiz/sta…

— David Ortiz (@davidortiz) May 16, 2013

Well, those weren’t his exact words but that is the sentiment, an awesome one indeed. David Ortiz is kind of a little bit the best and he is running a promotion on his website bigpapi.com benefiting victims of the Boston Marathon bombing.

A $500 donation to The One Fundearns you an autographed custom red, white,...

It is tough to establish new ground when discussing Tim Lincecum. The two-time Cy Young award winner has been analyzed, dissected, and scrutinized to within an inch of his life over the past three years. What is wrong with Tim Lincecum? What will become of Tim Lincecum?

While he isn’t the pitcher he was in years past, he is still a very good and very exciting starter. Only four other qualified startersmanage his strikeout, ground ball, and swinging strike...

Sometimes, finding nothing is interesting. It’s obviously not exciting as finding *something*, but it’s not a waste of time.

For example, Blake Murphy went looking for an expected walk rate for pitchersgiven different plate discipline peripherals. You’d think, if given a pitcher’s percentage of pitches in the zone, and batters’ propensity to reach (and miss) for pitches outside the zone, you might be able to get a sense of their future walk rate. After all, not walking a guy...

At the weekend, the Mexican League had its Juego de Estrellas–its All-Star Game–in Oaxaca de Juárez, the capital of the state of Oaxaca. It’s around 290 miles southeast of Mexico City where I live; six hours or so on a bus. I’ve never been to a Major League All-Star Game before, I’ve barely watched one all the way through, frankly; but I have a friend in Oaxaca, so it seemed like a good chance to see how Mexico does these...

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First, he came for our third baseman. Then, Vernon Wells came for our souls. The former dead money contract is now one of the best offensive contributors in baseball as we near the first quarter pole. Vernon Wells, inexplicably, owns a .387 wOBA and 10 home runs, hitting another in last night’s 12-2 loss to the Mariners.

He also owns a new notch in his infielder’s belt, as recovering five tool stud Vernon...

Podcastery! Talking about the Melkpocalypse, the Orioles defiance of God’s will, and the thoroughly excellent Rangers. FUN STUFF, Y’ALL!

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Some (underlined) Mint Musical Interludes courtesy of The Constantines and Arts & Crafts...

There are bat flips and then there are Bat Flips. This is both. This is everything. This is all that a bat flip video needs to be. It is story. A saga of human achievement. The heights of euphoria and the depths of despair.

It is also encoded to prevent embedding. So we shall embark together on a journey. A journey to the very core of our own humanity. We will learn of both the agency of a man...

The Philadelphia Phillies have signed free agent right-hander Carlos Zambrano to a minor league deal, Ken Rosenthal reports. As it was reported yesterday, Zambrano walked away from an agreement with the Long Island Ducks of the Independent Atlantic League in an effort to concentrate on landing a deal with a Major League team. A sound decision from Big Z’s camp, if he can crack the roster.

Zambrano bounced between the starting rotation and bullpen with the Miami Marlins last...

To his eternal credit, Jeremy Guthrie is having a very unusual season. Unusual for Jeremy Guthrie in that he’s pitched very well and Jeremy Guthrie is the human embodiment of serviceable. He has a very low ERA and a sparkling 5-1 won/loss record. Before last night, it was a 5-0 record.

Last night, Jeremy Guthrie posted one of the weirdest pitching lines you’ll ever see. It was the anti-FIP start for the ages. And that was tip of Guthrie’s weirdness...

They call it a language “barrier” for a reason. It seems very easy for words and thoughts to be twisted, misconstrued or even misrepresented when passed through the many channels and filters required to turn one set of words into another.

Last night in Toronto, Melky Cabrerafaced his former team for the first time since he was suspended 50 games for failing a drug test. Melky’s departure from San Francisco was an odd one, as he simply vanished from...

Well if this isn’t just too cute I don’t even know what is. Something about Ryu brings out the best in people, be they K-Pop stars or little kids named Deuce.

This kid has quite an arm, I’m sure this clip will play well in his 2028 NL Rookie of the Year video montage.

Hat tip to Joe of Bleed Blue Crew

Forgive us for coming at you so late in the day, but the Getting Blanked podcast is here. We talked about the struggling Los Angels of Anaheim and the death of Scioscialism, and the great Bryce Harper-Mike Trout-Manny Machado discussion. Hit us up with your earholes.

Listen to the podcast directly here.

Subscribe to Getting Blanked on iTunesto ensure the podcast, daily video show and other life-changing materials goes straight to your device of choice each week. Or,...

Now we know for sure that Matt Harvey has arrived…in 1988, when the print edition of Sports Illustrated dominated the sports media landscape!

But seriously, it’s pretty cool that Matt Harvey gets the full Verducci treatment here. Hit the jump for a good sized image of the man at work.

Ed. Note: MORE LIKE LOST ANGELES, AMIRITE? Poor Riley.

The Week That Was

LAA

WHAT : 3-4

LAD

THE HELL? : 2-4

Southern California’s Burgeoning Pissing Contest: The Leader In The Clubhouse

Cal State Fullerton? They’re 41-8 and ranked No. 5 in the nation. I’d almost rather drop $15 to watch Rick Vanderhook’s squad bunt and grit and grind their way to wins en route to Omaha than dump a hundred bucks (for parking, tickets, food and beer) to...

Multiple reports from last week indicated that Carlos Zambrano had signed a contract with the Long Island Ducks of the Independent Atlantic League. According to a Danny Knobler piece at CBS Sports, Zambrano has decided not to sign with the club, and will continue to pursue a deal with a Major League team.

Zambrano pitched for the Miami Marlins last season after he was acquired from the Chicago Cubs. The Marlins agreed to pay $2.5 million of the $18...

Joe Blanton is not off to a good start to his Los Angeles Angels career. Most of that stems directly from the fact that, well, Joe Blanton isn’t an especially good pitcher. He’s serviceable, or was, before the start of 2013. In his eight starts for the Halos, Blanton has been very bad.

He was especially bad last night. He was quintessentially 2013 Joe Blanton bad. He didn’t give up a home run, which tends to be a Joe Blanton...

The Cubs made their first baseman Anthony Rizzo a rich man on Sunday night, signing the oft-traded slugger to a seven-year contract extension which includes two additional options. The first seven years of this deal are worth $41 million, with the two options valued at $14.5 million each, as per breaker of news and destroyer of souls Ken Rosenthal.

The deal was met with universal praise, as Dave Cameron of Fangraphs calls it“another steal” for the Cubs, who...