Realm of the Wombat

Preview of the forthcoming book Wages of Wins: Can Money Buy Love in Baseball?

For all my Polish descended readers, Happy Dyngus Day!

I need your help, o fans of Berkeley cars! I scoped this econo-box parked on campus, and in my haste to get to work, I neglected to determine its make and model. The label above the grill says “Spitfire,” but its clearly not a Triumph Spitfire. Further Google image searches were unsuccessful as well, so I’m enlisting the power of the internets. In the spirit of Jim Dandy, the first person to identify this car will receive a big big (sur)prize!

Damn Interesting is a really good blog. Today: America’s Secret Plan to Invade Canada

Looking at the standings with 5% of the season completed, who’s the best team in baseball? This season is the most excited I’ve been for Mets baseball since the ‘99 campaign, when New York sported the best defensive infield (ever?) and ended an 11 year postseason drought.

Despite questions about personnel (Julio over Bell? Hernandez over Keppinger?) and lineup construction (couldn’t we drop LoDuca to 7?), this team will go as far as the starting pitching takes them. The offense should score runs in bunches. Beltran, Delgado, Wright, and Floyd comprise the most dangerous string of hitters in the NL, and Reyes, LoDuca, and Nady are fine complementary pieces. The bullpen is reasonably solid from back to front with Wagner, Heilman, Sanchez, and Bradford. But there are concerns at all five spots in the rotation:

It would be a huge advantage if Julio or Bell developed into a reliable option in relief, so that Heilman could be moved into the rotation, if necessary, with no ill-effects on the ‘pen. However, even with these potential problems, the Mets are a serious playoff contender. The NL is quite weak outside of St. Louis, and their offense should provide enough run support to get through a rough patch here and there by the rotation.

Before the season started, I said the Mets were the best team in the league on paper, and they’re backing it up on the field. If Cliff Floyd is right that “Ain’t nothing about this phony,” then it’s going to be a great summer.

Take one SUV that gets 16-20 miles per gallon, add an energy crisis, and the approach of catastrophic climate change. What did Chevy expect when they gave people the opportunity to suggest an advertising campaign?

Even though we’ve captured bin Laden, this is no time for complacency, America! The Mario brothers are on the loose!

This just screams awesome: Life Sized Mouse Trap

And the odds are good with the high concentration of errant umbrella spokes these days.

Seriously, it’s dangerous.

Finally, someone compiled a map denoting the progress of civilization, as determined by what the inhabitants call a soft drink. I’d like to commend the people of greater St. Louis and eastern Wisconsin for holding out against the pop and Coke forces surrounding them.

Marco!

For the first time in four years, I did not attend Opening Day at the Coliseum this year. It was probably for the best, as Athletics’ fans aspirations for a championship run was tempered by the Yankees 15-run pummeling of the green and gold, sending our “ace” Barry Zito after recording only four outs. Of course, I was more interested in Game 2’s matchup, pitting New York veteran Mike Mussina against our true frontman, Rich Harden. Before the game, we were dealt a blow bigger than the previous day’s loss: SS Bobby Crosby was out with a gashed finger, forcing into the lineup Marco Scutaro, who has to fight for a roster every spring but seems to come up with key hits throughout the season.

Read the story of Game 2 and managerial analysis…

Everyone knows that soccer is football everywhere else in the world, but where did the word come from? It’s clearly not derived from “football.” According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, soccer was sometimes called association football to distinguish it from rugby football. The abbreviation “Assoc.” eventually transformed into “socca,” then “socker,” before “soccer” appeared in 1895, and it apparently stuck.

If you ask me, we should go back to “socca,” suckas!