Friday Morning Fracas: 10-31-08

It's Halloween. If you haven't already assembled your costume and readied your candy, shame on you. Not to worry, I haven't either, but that's because I'm going to hand out granola bars in my bathrobe, the one that has a "corn-cob pipe" in it. While the thought of that is both tricky and a treat, we've actually got a few things to address later in the day, so we'll keep this one nice and easy. "Nice and easy," by the way, is another way of saying full of vaultage for the pole.

A guy by the name of Old No. 7 once told me, "If you're not going to With Leather on a daily basis, you're doing yourself a disservice." That comment of course didn't suck, nor does the fact that they've linked to pbase today, and said pbase has what I like to call a tantalizing collection of photos of Leryn Franco, the stunning javelin thrower from Argentina.

Well, go on. Have a look. Just keep your pants on. Unless you're Mike Singletary, then it's a-okay.

As if we haven't gratuitously whored ourselves for Big Daddy Drew enough this week: this week's Jamboroo at Deadspin, with Jim Gaffigan footage. Win. Win.

In things of the loss-loss scenario, The Big Lead (vis-a-vis The Big Picture) has the skinny on some kid's big game. Sounds like the high-school version of Tony Gonzalez.

Lastly, The Smoking Section has an interview with Andre Royo, a.k.a. "Bubbles" from The Wire. Your homework: Go read it now. Absolutely phenomenal.
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Let's Play 163: Rockies-Padres Preview

While the boys are warming up and getting ready to play this one-game eliminator at Coors, we'll answer a few questions.

Who has the "momentum" in this game? This is a trick question, as I've long been a critic of the theory that "momentum" exists in big-time sports. Look at football, where you take a week off between games and long stretches off between plays. There's no "momentum" that carries over, you either make plays or you don't.

In baseball, however, the routines are so pervasive that a positive (or negative) vibe can be sustained from game to game. If this is the case, than Colorado has the clear edge. They've lost only one game in the last two weeks and won two games they absolutely had to over the weekend. Meanwhile, San Diego needed only one win on Saturday or Sunday to make the whole point moot and failed to do so.

Where can I find this game? The TV broadcast is slated for TBS, which has the entire first round of the playoffs and the NLCS. I heard that Don Orsillo, who normally calls Red Sox games for NESN, will handle the play-by-play for this match, so we're in capable hands. Also, if you have the DirecTV HD package you can enjoy the broadcast in high-def on channel 247. XM carries it on 184, but no word on whether the Rockies crew or San Diego's Hall of Famer Jerry Cramer ("Whoah, Doctor!") will appear there.

Which uniforms will the teams wear tonight? I don't know yet, but the only acceptable choices for me are the home white pinstripes for the Rockies and the sand-colored road threads for the Padres. If Colorado comes out in those purple tops or the black vest/black T-shirt combo, I predict bad things. Although if we could somehow get the Rox to go all purple and the Pads to roll with the camo fatigues, I'm sure Paul Lukas would blow a gasket.

Is "The Dragon-Slayer" the gayest nickname you've ever heard? Yes, yes it is. That's what Matt Holliday has tabbed Rockies starter Josh Fogg for his propensity to knock off other team's aces. I prefer "The Peavy Penetroder," but what do I know?

They're about to start, we'll answer more questions as the night goes on... Read more