I did not mean to make this a total press release day, but I’ve been busy with stuff at work. I’ll do links tonight and get you ready for your holiday weekend.
First, let’s remind you that voting for the All-Star Game is open until 11:59 tonight.
NEW YORK, JULY 2, 2009 – The last 72 hours of the 2009 All-Star Game Sprint Online Ballot on MLB.com have further tightened each League’s closest races and left many to be determined by the frantic final hours of exclusive online balloting. Fan voting continues at a record pace before tonight’s 11:59 (EDT) deadline, including 19.2 million votes cast on Wednesday alone.
American League All-Star Races
Will Ian Kinsler hold off Dustin Pedroia at second base? As of the last American League update, Kinsler held a lead of fewer than 7,000 votes, but over the past 72 hours of exclusive online balloting Pedroia has received 20% more votes than Kinsler.
Will Kevin Youkilis make it four straight years for a Boston first baseman to be voted the AL starter? Mark Teixeira is making a strong bid to end the Red Sox run by garnering 17% more online votes than Youkilis over the last 72 hours in hopes of closing a 40,000 vote gap.
Can Jacoby Ellsbury leapfrog three players in the scramble to earn the final starting spot in the AL outfield? The most recent update had Josh Hamilton leading the way, but over the past 72 hours of online voting Ellsbury has received at least 16% more votes than the other three challengers – Hamilton, Torii Hunter and Carl Crawford.
National League All-Star RacesWill Yadier Molina be the first National League catcher in 17 years to be voted a hometown starter? In the latest National League update, Molina was ahead of Brian McCann by just under 400,000 votes. McCann, however, is vying to make up the ground as he has recorded nearly 30% more online votes than Molina in the last 72 hours.
Has Carlos Beltran garnered enough votes to hold off the late charges from Alfonso Soriano and Shane Victorino? Among this triumvirate battling for the final starting spot in the National League outfield, Soriano trailed Beltran in the last update, but has received 11% more online votes in the past 72 hours than the other two challengers – Beltran and Victorino.
Will hometown All-Star Albert Pujols be the National League’s top vote-getter for the third time in his career? The most recent update had Pujols less than 100,000 votes ahead of last year’s National League top vote-getter, Chase Utley. Over the past 72 hours, Pujols has tried to extend the lead with 15% more online votes than Utley.
Answers to these questions will come on Sunday, July 5, when the American and National League All-Star Teams are unveiled on the 2009 MLB All-Star Selection Show, televised nationally on TBS at 1 p.m. (EDT). MLB.com will provide comprehensive coverage of the All-Star Teams, including high quality video and details of every All-Star, immediately following the announcement. MLB Network will air a special MLB Tonight All-Star Edition, simulcast on MLB.com, at 6 p.m. (EDT) with expert analysis and a look at the players on the 2009 All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote ballot.
For those of you who have the new Palm Pre, you can now download MLB.com for your phone, provided you pay for it.
Feature set includes live stats, video highlights and streaming audio broadcasts of every game
NEW YORK, July 2, 2009 – MLB.com, the official Web site of Major League Baseball, announced that MLB.com Mobile Premium, a new mobile-optimized live game product developed for the Palm® Pre™ smartphone, is available on the device via the MLB.com mobile Web site (wap.mlb.com).
Fans can stay connected to their favorite team wherever they go with these four live game components of MLB.com Mobile Premium:
- MLB.com Mobile Gameday Audio™ – Listen to live audio broadcasts of every Major League Baseball game through the final out of the 2009 World Series. Each game will offer the choice of listening to the home or away broadcasts without any blackout restrictions.
- MLB.com Gameday™ – Follow every pitch of every game with a detailed graphic presentation and live statistics.
- In-Game Video Highlights – Get real-time, high quality video highlights delivered directly to the smartphone quickly after the play happens on the field.
- Ex
panded scoreboard – View live statistical data from every MLB game, including linescores, current runners on base and other game details.MLB.com Mobile Premium on the Palm® Pre™ is available to subscribers for a one-time fee of $14.99 for the remainder of the 2009 season, including the entire postseason, or a monthly charge of $2.99.
And here’s something from Sirius XM. Former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling had this to say to Chris Russo on Tuesday about steroids.
Tuesday (June 30, 2009) on “Mad Dog Unleashed” on SIRIUS XM Radio, host Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo spoke with former major league pitcher Curt Schilling, who weighed in with his thoughts on steroid users and the Hall of Fame, Manny Ramirez and the Red Sox’ 04’ championship, and who should shoulder the blame for the steroid era.
Host, Chris Russo: “If you had a vote, if you were a writer, Curt, would you put A-Rod, [Roger] Clemens, [Barry] Bonds in the Hall of Fame?”
Curt Schilling: “No, none of them.”Russo: “Really? Nobody? How about A-Rod who’s got nine years left to recover and do a decent job?”
Schilling: “No. No.”Russo: “Manny [Ramirez]?”
Schilling: “No, no, none of them.”Russo: “What’s your take on Ramirez? You played with him, so here’s a good guy to ask. What’s your take on Manny Ramirez here in this last couple of months?”
Schilling: “In what way? What do you mean, ‘What’s my take?’”
Russo: “Are you surprised that he got caught?”
Schilling: “I’m surprised he got caught. I’m surprised anybody got caught nowadays. But no, I’m not surprised.”Russo: “Are you disappointed?”
Schilling: “Absolutely.”Russo: “Do you think it takes away a little bit from the Red Sox’ championship in ’04?”
Schilling: “Listen, if you’re going to be one of those guys who thinks there is a team in the last 15 years that has played with 25 clean guys for 162 games, you’re lying to yourself.”Schilling: “Given what we know, given the numbers, there’s no team that went through a full season and won a world championship in the last 15 years, could be 20 years, that was [totally] clean. I don’t think it takes away from our championship because using that argument, how many players on the other side of the fence were using as well? We beat a Yankee team that had how many users on it?”
Schilling: “If you’re going to cheapen one you cheapen them all. The fact of the matter is people want to make an argument about, ‘Oh, these guys were cheating. It wasn’t a level playing field.’ It was absolutely a level playing field because there were guys on every team using it. That doesn’t make it right. That doesn’t make it just. That makes it the way it was.”
Russo: “Do you blame the Players Association?”
Schilling: “No. No. Because we’re grown men! I’m tired of people making excuses for the players. The players, we chose to do it. I blame the players. I don’t blame the Players Association. The union did what it was supposed to do. The union did what any union does which is try and protect its members. The players made these stupid-ass choices to use and cheat and they’re the ones that should pay for it.”“Mad Dog Unleashed” airs nationwide every weekday (2-7pm ET) exclusively on SIRIUS XM’s Mad Dog Radio channel (SIRIUS channel 123 and XM channel 144).
I have more releases to post, but I’ll do them later.
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