I ran into a problem putting together this week's Bless You Boys Podcast. Donner's manservant and myself have no lives, so we were available. But Allison had tickets to a game, Rob has to study for finals non-stop, Melissa had work commitments and Patrick is out on the west coast, which means we'd still be recording at midnight eastern time.
So what to do? Get a couple of special guests!
Special guest 1: Grey, best known for his @Spacemnkymafia and @Baseballin140 Twitter accounts, also a contributor to Walkoff Woodward and Detroit Tigers Scorecard.
Special guest 2: Former Bless You Boys Managing Editor Ian Casselberry (@IanCass), now blogging full time for Bleacher Report as a lead MLB writer at Horsehide Chronicles. And please, please, please like Casselbloggy on Facebook!
BYB Podcast 35 has a running time of 1:28 and features Kurt Mensching, Al Beaton, Ian Casselberry and Grey. Why so much longer than normal? We were having too much fun!
Topics:
- The Detroit Tigers are in 1st place, just as planned.
- Justin Verlander needs 131 pitches to beat the Kansas City Royals, fans have a conniption fit.
- Certain Detroit columnists play the "Mark my words, this will come back to bite the Tigers in September" card after Verlander's 131 pitch outing.
- Rick Porcello has been good.
- Max Scherzer has been bipolar.
- The Tigers' offense has been average so far. Why?
- Miguel Cabrera has been slumping, that's why.
- First half Ryan Raburn is in full effect. Live with it, because second half Ryan Raburn rakes. And he's not going to be DFA'ed.
- Brandon Inge returns, civil war breaks out in the Tigers fan base.
- Clete Thomas is claimed by the Minnesota Twins, hits a home run, fans blame Inge.
- First Jim Leyland lineup controversy involves, you guessed it, Inge. Fans blame Leyland and Inge.
- Doug Fister has a setback during injury rehab, the original timetable for a return seems to have been optimistic.
- Adam Wilk and Drew Smyly have been holding their own in Fister's absence.
- Over/under on Prince Fielder stolen bases.
- Thoughts on Pudge Rodriguez's Detroit legacy on the day he announces his retirement from baseball.
- As Ian is writing about the National League, we tell him how much we prefer the American League style of baseball. Though Ian does agree the double switch is not all that.
- @PhilCokesBrain releases his Spring 2012 Tiger Twitter Power Rankings, Tigers Twittersphere goes nuts.
- Last week we gave our favorite journalist Twitter feeds. This week we recommend our favorite baseball related (but not media related) Twitter feeds.
- Letters from listeners included a trivia question and we are asked about our favorite baseball books.
Brandon Inge mentions: There's too much Inge this week. Oh, Lord, there's too much Inge.
Blogs mentioned: Brain Matters, Horsehide Chronicles, Sweaty Men Endeavors.
Baseball related Twitter feeds recommended: @PhilCokesBrain, @AlmostHenning, @TrippingOlney, @FakeLeyland, @OldHossRadbourn, @Spacemnkymafia
Baseball books recommended: "National Pastime: Sports, Politics, and the Return of Baseball to Washington, D.C." by Barry Svrluga, "You Gotta Have Wa" by Robert Whiting, "Bless You Boys: Diary of the Detroit Tigers' 1984 Season" by Sparky Anderson and Dan Ewald, "'84: The Last of the Great Tigers--Untold Stories From an Amazing Season" by Eli Zaret, "The Natural" by Bernard Malamud, "Ball Four" by Jim Bouton
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