Matt Holliday cracks some jokes after his moth meeting

Given that Matt Holliday wasn't immediately available for comment following his uncomfortable run-in with a moth on Monday night, it seems only right to revisit the story and see what the St. Louis Cardinals slugger had to say about the incident on Tuesday.

Here's some of his comments from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. To Holliday's credit, he kept a remarkable sense of humor about the whole episode.

On what happened: "I was just standing there and all of a sudden there's a moth fluttering in my ear like crazy. I started shaking my head, like you do when you have water in your ear but I said, 'That's not working.' I don't think my glove was on for one pitch because I was trying to get it out ...�But it was like, 'I can't handle this.' That's when I called time out."

On if he felt pain: "It wasn't killing me, but if you can imagine something that far in your ear fluttering the whole time, it's not comfortable."

On if he was worried the mouth would do some real damage : "That was my concern ? that it would eat through my brain. But Dr. (George) Paletta assured me that that was not possible."

On how the moth died: "There was so much wisdom that was passed on to him that he died of the overflow of wisdom from being inside my head."

On if he'll be OK going forward: "As long as there's no larvae remaining. As long as they didn't lay babies while it was in there, I'll be OK, I think."

On why he saved the moth's corpse and put it in his locker: "I figure we're friends. We've bonded."

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Matt-Holliday-cracks-some-jokes-after-his-moth-m?urn=mlb-wp17003

Logan Morrison Daniel Murphy Donnie Murphy Xavier Nady

Smith homers, Rockies snap 17-game losing streak on Sundays

The Colorado Rockies insufferable Sunday sabbatical is over. For the first time since April 17 ? a record streak of 17 Sundays ? Rockies fans can celebrate victory on the day that comes between Saturday and Monday.

Securing that elusive victory wasn't easy for the Rockies. In fact, it was looking like another typical Sunday when they batted in the bottom of the seventh inning trailing by a run. As has been the case often, the offense went stagnant against Los Angeles Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley, going without a hit after Carlos Gonzalez's first-inning two-run homer.

But thanks to another surprisingly effective outing from recently signed Kevin Millwood, the Rockies were only one big swing away from grabbing the lead. The swing came from Seth Smith, who after Jason Giambi led the seventh off with with a walk, launched a titanic 458-foot go-ahead homer into the second deck in right-center field.

Watch Seth Smith's moonshot

Troy Tulowitzki added a little insurance with a sacrifice fly in the eighth, and fill-in closer Rafael Betancourt pitched a scoreless ninth to lock up a 5-3 victory, officially ending the longest Sunday losing streak of baseball's modern era.

Thank goodness, Tulo said.

"The worst part was talking about it all the time," said Tulowitzki. "Then you start to think about it. Obviously, we're out there playing and it's in the back of our heads. But it's over with now, and the biggest thing we can look forward to is, we won another series and we'll keep on trying to win more. That's all we can do right now."

Keep winning series, and hope the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants keep getting swept. Since, you know, the Rockies are still eight games under .500 and 9 1/2 games back in the uninspiring NL West. But hey, they've had a couple of decent Septembers in recent seasons, so maybe the stage will be set for something similar this season.

The mountain wouldn't be so high to climb, Jason Giambi said, if only the team hadn't been so bad on that one day of the week.

"If we had just played .500 ball on Sundays, we would be right there in contention," Giambi said.

He'll to have to get over it, but he does make a good point. If the Rockies ? who won their first two Sunday games of the season ? had played .500 ball on Sunday rather than .150, they could be 67-61 right now, and only 2 1/2 games back.

I said "could," because it's impossible to predict how differently things would have played out if even one of those Sunday decisions were altered. But the mere thought of where they could stand, compared to where they are, has to be difficult for them to digest.

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Smith-homers-Rockies-snap-17-game-losing-streak?urn=mlb-wp16697

Brian Bocock Reid Brignac Emmanuel Burriss Asdrubal Cabrera

Video: New York earthquake shakes up MLB.com fantasy guys

In a video clip that goes from nerdy, to eerie, to hilarious, watch as the hosts of MLB.com's "Fantasy 411" experience the earthquake that recently stunned the East Coast.

At first, watching three guys freak out on TV because their building in New York City was shaking made me uncomfortable, especially with the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 coming up. But once you realize that everyone would be OK ? and that soon they'd return to analyzing the meaning of Jason Kubel's home-road OPS split ? the creepiness melts away.

In fact, watching Mike Siano, Jeremy Brisiel (the super-freaked-out host in the middle) and Cory Schwartz try to make sense of what's going on is quite amusing.

(Warning: Includes two expletives that start with "holy"):

That's almost like something out of Ron Burgundy's b-roll. Now, the question is, what are the best lines uttered in the moments of near-panic?

There are many candidates, such as: "Is there a building shaking?" by Brisiel. Or, "Should we ... go somewhere?" also by Brisiel.

Schwartz tries to mount a comeback with: "Dude, that's an earthquake. ... I've been in two ? that's an earthquake. ... This is what an earthquake is, guys."

Meanwhile, Siano keeps mostly silent, finally asking Brisiel "Are we good?"

As if he knows!

But this exchange wins:

Schwartz: "Did you know that most of Manhattan is built on landfill, not on granite?"

Brisiel: "Yes, I do know that."

Schwartz: "And if there were, like, an 8.0 earthquake, that parts of Manhattan would just disintegrate?"

Brisiel: "I did. I'd like to not ... worry about that right now."

Gallows humor is the best. Thankfully, nobody was hurt. Physically, anyway.

Big BLS h/t: Brobible

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Video-New-York-earthquake-shakes-up-MLB-com-fan?urn=mlb-wp17190

Jeff Keppinger Felipe López Jed Lowrie Julio Lugo

Wright field: Astros? reliever pitches, plays outfield, pitches again

I couldn't tell if I was watching another Little League World Series game or a Major League Baseball game Tuesday night.

To be honest, I was wondering that well before Houston Astros skipper Brad Mills utilized a strategy that wouldn't seem out of place in Williamsport, but is very rarely used in the big leagues. His decision to go that route was simply the capper to a game filled with too many mental and physical errors to list and explain without taking up your whole afternoon.

The first step of Mills' strategy, which played out in the eighth inning of Houston's eventual 8-6 loss to the Colorado Rockies, was to bring in left-handed reliever Wesley Wright to start the frame against Carlos Gonzalez. Wright made that work, retiring his man on a foul out.

With right-handed slugger Troy Tulowitzki due next, Mills elected to bring in David Carpenter to pitch and sent his lefty reliever to right field, replacing Brian Bogusevic. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, with that move to right field, Wright became the first Houston Astros pitcher to play another position in the same game he pitched.

But he wasn't staying there long. After Carpenter got Tulowitzki to ground out weakly to shortshop, Mills had another move to make. Left-handers Todd Helton and Seth Smith ?�who cracked a 478-foot home run earlier in the game ?�were the next scheduled hitters, so Mills walked to the mound again and made the call to right field. Wright trotted back to the hill, with J.B. Shuck taking his spot in the outfield.

The whole scheme worked out perfectly. Wright would strike out Helton on a 3-2 pitch, and the unusual 1-2-3 inning was complete.

If you were scoring this game at home, you're probably in need of some assistance I'm not certified to provide for you. I'm sorry. But I can give you Mills' explanation for messing with your scorecard.

From MLB.com:

"We just wanted to use one lefthander in that situation," Mills said. "He's played the outfield, probably, somewhere down the road. He said he had. Those guys shag the ball every day in batting practice."

Wright confirmed that he played a little outfield back in high school, but that was eight years ago, and that experience was nothing like playing right field at Coors Field.

"I was really trying to have fun and focus on the pitch and make sure I got a good jump if the ball actually did come to me, because the last thing you want to do is miss it. So I was just trying to stay focused and make sure if it came to me, I caught it."

While new to the Astros, this isn't the first time this particular strategy has been used in Major League Baseball. The most recent case�was in 2009 when Lou Piniella, then manager of the Chicago Cubs, moved his left-handed reliever Sean Marshall to left field for one batter. The strategy worked then, too.

But despite the recent successes, it's not difficult to understand why managers don't employ the strategy more often. Who wants to be the one that gambles and has it backfire? Not many are willing to take that risk or face that potential backlash. Mills might feel the same way under normal circumstances, but with Houston having been mathematically eliminated from the playoff race on Monday, he didn't have a whole lot to lose rolling the dice this time.

Follow Mark on Twitter ? @Townie813 ? and engage the Stew on Facebook

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Wright-field-Astros-reliever-pitches-plays-ou?urn=mlb-wp16906

David Ortiz Lyle Overbay Steve Pearce Carlos Peña

The Juice: Already? Astros officially eliminated from postseason

Nine innings and nine items to get you going. Ladies and gentleman of the Stew, take a sip of morning Juice.

1. Be gone with you! We're not even within a week of the calendar flipping to September, but the Houston Astros have already tumbled into an early grave. A 9-5 loss to the Colorado Rockies, combined with Milwaukee's doubleheader split in Pittsburgh earned Brad Mills' bunch a mathematical elimination from the 2011 playoff chase.

And all while we can still wear white to summer picnics! For shame.

The Astros are currently 42-86 and on pace for 109 losses. That'd be the most in baseball since the 2004 Arizona Diamondbacks lost 111 games. In case you're wondering who's next to get the assured go-ahead for booking tee times, the Baltimore Orioles' elimination number is nine, while the Florida Marlins' measures at 11.

2. Slumping snakes: �Speaking of the D'Backs, this isn't how you unseat a defending champion. Despite San Francisco's recent woes, Arizona is managing to do them one worse. A 4-1 loss to the Washington Nationals on Monday night brought the team's loss streak to six, though they still own a one-game lead in the NL West over the Giants. They've scored only seven runs in their last six games.

3. V is for Victory: ... and also Justin Verlander, who became the first 19-game winner in the majors by going seven solid innings in Detroit's 5-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. He's won his last seven starts and now has a chance to notch his first 20-win season before Sept. 1.

"Do I know where I'm at?" Verlander said. "Of course I do, but I've said time and time again, those things, totals, season stats, are meant to be looked at at the end of the season."

OK, that's fine. But can we take off the blinders and note that ...

4. Growing throne: �... the Tigers' lead in the AL Central now measures at a season-high 5.5 games? An off day from the Chicago White Sox and a 3-2 loss by the Cleveland Indians to the Seattle Mariners gives them that edge with just 35 games to play.

5. That's amore!: A three-run homer by Mike Napoli in the sixth inning keyed the Texas Rangers to a 4-0 win over the Boston Red Sox. �As has been mentioned a few times this season, think the Angels lineup misses Napoli this year? His Fangraphs' WAR stands at a career-high 3.6 so far and the Halos, who were off on Monday, sit 4.5 games behind the Rangers.

6. Sittin' Starlin: See if this makes sense: Mike Quade gave Starlin Castro a "mental day off" on Monday for the mental day off he took on Sunday. Coming up with a PC term for getting your butt benched is taking this all a little too far, no? At any rate, the rest of the Chicago Cubs' offense just took a plain, old day off, stranding 15 runners in a 3-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves. Fredi Gonzalez's crew has won five straight.

7. Bruised birds: There's going to be a lot of second-guessing of Tony La Russa in St. Louis this Tuesday morning. The Cards' skipper yanked a dominant Chris Carpenter after he hit the Dodgers' Juan Rivera to start the top of the ninth and then Aaron Miles tied the game with a triple off Fernando Salas. He later scored the winning run in a�2-1 comeback triumph for Los Angeles.

8. Smooth sailing?: Though the Brewers won their 13th straight game over the Pirates in the day's first game at PNC Park, they couldn't extend the streak to 14 and dropped the nightcap by a score of 9-2. No matter. That Cardinals collapse�put St. Louis nine games behind the Brewers in the NL Central, which gives them the biggest lead in any division.

9. An A for August: Not a bad month for Cliff Lee. He's 4-0 with a 0.58 ERA this month after pitching seven scoreless innings in Philly's 10-0 win over the New York Mets.

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/The-Juice-Already-Astros-officially-eliminated?urn=mlb-wp16815

Jack Wilson Josh Wilson Brandon Wood Chris Woodward

Betting is a way of life for Dan Gilbert, owner of Moyenne Corniche | Will Hayler

Professional punter is planning a tilt at the Melbourne Cup with horse who won him �130,000 at York on Saturday

When he reached the point of having 10 horses in training, Dan Gilbert decided enough was enough and resolved to cut back on a hobby that represented "financial suicide" compared to the income from his successful punting. Now he has 19 and is not quite sure how it happened.

Judging by the way he is already looking forward to the next auction, the bank account might be about to take another hit. Fortunately, his share of the �130,000 prize for winning the Ebor last Saturday will cushion the blow.

Bought by Gilbert for �31,500 at a sale last October, Moyenne Corniche beat 19 rivals to take one of Europe's most valuable handicap prizes and may now be aimed at the Melbourne Cup.

Even after the Ebor, Moyenne Corniche may not be sufficiently highly rated to make the cut for that race. But Gilbert and his trainer, Brian Ellison, have identified another handicap at Flemington, the Lexus Stakes, in which victory would guarantee a place in the final Cup field. It is just four days before the big race itself.

"Is he the sort of horse that could take two races in four days?" Gilbert muses. "I don't know, but it'll cost us about �40,000 to get him out there, where we could be racing for A$3m [�1.9m] in prize money, so those are the odds we've got to think about."

Getting the maths right has never been a problem for Gilbert, though it took him time to become a successful punter. "I tried everything on Betfair at first," says the 32-year-old. "I tried systems, momentum trading, tipping lines, I was just desperate to make it pay.

"Then I started off punting in-running, laying horses that I thought would find nothing, trying to use my knowledge of the jumps horses, and I was winning a few quid.

"Nowadays I rarely play in-running. I very nearly went skint one or two times and I just didn't have the discipline and the patient mindset. I used to go to the exchange shop at Cardiff and another in Bristol and, if you were having a bad day and you had your headphones on, you'd just end up simmering and chasing losses. I'd rather try and get my money in before the race now and if I'm wrong, I'm wrong.

"It started when I went to university and took a job in a bookmaker's, which, in those days, was my dream job, as it meant I got to sit and watch racing all day. After I dropped out, I became a relief manager and I worked in all the quietest shops where nobody else wanted to work so that I could study the form in the morning.

"One year, in February, I was getting a bit more successful and I realised that I wanted to be at Cheltenham rather than working, so I quit, and that helped. I always thought if you really can crack this game, you only need to be making a few percent to be winning a fair amount of money. If I can keep it going like this for the next 10 years, I'll be happy."

Gilbert had a "reasonable" bet on Moyenne Corniche, although it was only half of what he asked William Hill to lay him, and much less than he had backed the horse to win when mid-division in the John Smith's Cup on his previous start.

"We learned something about how to ride him that day but a lot of the last few years have been a learning curve," he admits.

His co-owners in Moyenne Corniche are Mark Lawrence and Andrew Bruce, who work as odds compilers in Hong Kong. He met them while watching the Australian Open in Melbourne.

"When I buy these horses, anyone who wants a share in them can have one really, it's nice to get people involved. It makes it a bit cheaper, too.

"I like to give Brian good horses. When the sales come along, I just get too tempted not to buy them. I like Brian to see the horse and often he can spot one with a problem straight away and, if we can get that problem sorted out, then we're in business.

"The first horse I bought a share in was Film Festival, with Kristian Strangeway [Ellison's stepson] after we had got talking on the Betfair forum.

"When that went well, I got such a buzz off it that I thought I'd like one for myself and decided to claim one. I didn't have a clue how to go about it, so I rang Brian and that's how it began.

"He did so well with that horse, Elite Land, in the first year, that when I wanted another one the following year, I wouldn't have dreamed of going anywhere else."

• Horse racing

Will Hayler

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/aug/24/dan-gilbert-professional-punter

Brandon Snyder Eric Sogard Matt Stairs Ian Stewart

Earmoths! Matt Holliday leaves game after bug invades ear

Of all the various afflictions that have sidelined big league ballplayers this season, there isn't one that will leave you more squeamish than what happened to Matt Holliday on Monday night.

Watch Holliday's exit

The St. Louis Cardinals outfielder was just minding his own business in Busch Stadium's left field when a moth flew into his right ear and refused to come back out. �The inner-ear invasion left Holliday in pain and he immediately left the field under the care of a trainer.

Say, where's Fredbird when you really need him?

From the AP:

Holliday was taken into a dark room and a light was put to his ear, trying to lure the moth out, Cardinals spokesman Brian Bartow said. When that didn't work, an instrument was used to pry the live moth out of Holliday's ear.

Holliday was not available for comment but appeared to be OK, Bartow said.

"He had a moth fly into his ear, deep into his ear. I don't even know what happened to it," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said.

So what was more embarrassing for Holliday? That he had to leave the game on account of a moth? Or that the rest of us can make jokes about there being enough room between his ears for that little sucker to make himself at home for a spell?

No matter the answer, the fact that Holliday elected to save the moth for posterity is more than amusing. Anyone know if Cooperstown keeps an entomologist on staff?

UPDATE: We've just obtained a proposal of the Cardinals' plans to prevent anything like this from happening in the future. Not bad, though we wish old Busch Stadium was still around so it could be converted into a giant citronella candle.

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Earmoths-Matt-Holliday-leaves-game-after-bug-in?urn=mlb-wp16823

Miguel Cairo Jorge Cantú Mike Carp Chris Carter