MVN - Most Valuable Network

MLB Week 14: Rays cementing a path to playoffs; Joe Buck hates his job; Worst injuries ever

Evan Longoria (Rachel/Flickr)

Headed into the Fourth of July weekend, “The Pitch” — presented by Liveboard — celebrates the Rays’ ridiculous run to the best record in baseball by eating crow for host Brandon Rosage’s 2006 comments ridiculing Tampa Bay for changing its team name. The tribute comes a day after the Rays finished off another sweep of the Red Sox with a come-from-behind winner at home.

The guys then discuss two urgent matters facing the business of baseball: MLB’s accusations against the FBI and Joe Buck’s hatred for his job as a baseball broadcaster.

And there’s plenty of trade deadline chatter about C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Daniel Cabrera and the Mariners seeking new ownership. But none of it compares to the pain of weighing the two or three worst injuries in baseball, as outlined by host Joe Aiello. We’ll spare you descriptions here, but let’s just say Joe makes a lot of references to ailing crotches and rear-ends.

Plus, we set up a new month of the “Pick-Off” competition with a free Liveboard up for the taking. Enjoy and interact via e-mail at thepitch@mvn.com or via phone at 360-450-MVN3.

MLB Week 14: Weaver a loser in no-hit effort; Tigers making Joe eat his words; Mid-season report card

Jered Weaver (Jeffery Patch/Flickr)

With interleague play and half of the ‘08 season in the books, “The Pitch” hosts Andrew Kappes and Brandon Rosage tread into dangerous territory in a buy-or-sell report card for Major League Baseball’s hottest and coldest clubs.

The guys start in the West, where it’s tough not to sell on every team from the National League version. And even in the AL West, the 48-33 Angels are posting league lows in hitting categories. In the AL Central, the Tigers are on the prowl at 41-40, along with the Twins and White Sox through their interleague rampage. And in the East, the guys ask the question, “If we’re scared of the Rays taking the AL, shouldn’t we be scared of the Marlins grabbing the NL?”

The show also puts the spotlight on a once-in-a-lifetime anomaly where Jered Weaver was removed from a game in which he had a no-hitter through six innings, his bullpen held the no-hitter and his club still lost 1-0. How is that possible?

Props also go out to the June “Pick-Off” champion Allison Byerley, who set an all-time high score of 25 points to win a free Liveboard.

And don’t miss “The Batting Stance Guy.” Enjoy and interact via e-mail at thepitch@mvn.com or via phone at 360-450-MVN3.

MLB Week 13: Chacon assaults his Astros boss; Todd Jones does Magglio impersonation; Cheaters bats

Shawn Chacon (l_stallberg/Flickr)

The best way to describe this Thursday edition of the program might be “Violent.”

Shawn Chacon helped set the tone with his attack on Astros GM Ed Wade, justifying the incident because, “I lost my cool and I grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the ground. I jumped on top of him because at that point I wanted to beat his (butt). Words were exchanged.”

The violence continued with discussion about Major League Baseball’s reaction to the serious injuries sustained by broken maple bats. Mets manager Jerry Manuel then took center stage after his “ump bump” in which he asked for an apology from umpire Brian Runge for making contact during an argument over a ball-or-strike call.

Then it got completely out of hand when host Joe Aiello demanded that he be taken off the show’s hot seat and that nothing relevant in life happens west of the Mississippi River. It was awkward.

Enjoy these discussions and piles more during a end-of-the-week edition of The Pitch. Don’t miss the setup of June’s final “Pick-Off” competition in which listeners can win a free Liveboard bluetooth scoreboard.

And don’t miss the videos referenced in the show, including Todd Jones’ Magglio Ordonez impersonation during Wednesday’s rain delay, Kinter’s favorite ball girl catch and JB’s nod to a baffling switch hitter and switch pitcher confrontation.

Enjoy and interact via e-mail at thepitch@mvn.com or via phone at 360-450-MVN3.

MLB Week 13: Angels most underrated team? Would the Cubs survive in the AL? Best pitchers on bad teams

Angels slugger Vladimir Guerrero (deane_crilley/Flickr)

After weeks of praise for the Cubs’ amazing record at Wrigley Field and the Rays’ surprising rise in the AL East, “The Pitch” thought it was time to put the spotlight on some teams, players and statistics that are equally remarkable, but horribly overlooked.

Take for example the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, who went into Sunday boasting 46 wins and a starting rotation with the most wins in MLB (38), the second-highest total of innings pitched in the AL (478 2/3) and fourth-best ERA (3.82). And all of that is with only seven starts from John Lackey and no starts from Kelvim Escobar.

Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks are still leading the woeful NL West while their aces are stumbling and outfielders can’t find fly balls in the Metrodome, the Cardinals are on the Cubs’ heels despite injuries to Albert Pujols and Chris Carpenter and the supposedly “toxic” Mets are at .500 and 3.5 games off the NL East lead.

Perspective, people. That’s what the Monday edition of the show with Andrew Kappes and Brandon Rosage is all about.

Jump into the discussion, including a wrap-up of the weekend “Pick-Off” competition and more listener e-mails. Enjoy and interact via e-mail at thepitch@mvn.com or via phone at 360-450-MVN3.

MLB Week 12: Manager axe cuts McLaren; Mets’ Manuel is a gangster; Awful batters’ intro music

Ex-Mariners skipper John McLaren (neilparekh/Flickr)

Indeed, the copy cat instincts of Major League ballclubs have kicked in. Shortly after the Mets made it okay for everyone to cut their managers loose with a midnight firing of Willie Randolph on Tuesday, the Mariners added John McLaren to their pile of discarded managerial staff Thursday.

“The Pitch” hosts Joe Aiello and Brandon Rosage spend the Thursday edition of the show sweeping up the dust from a week of pink slips by traveling around the big league divisions, where the Angels and A’s are getting healthy, the Cubs aren’t, no one can agree on how good the Tigers are, Eric Gagne unceremoniously returns and Kevin Millar walks to the batters box to “Ice Ice Baby.”

The guys also set the “Pick-Off” for the upcoming weekend and reveal the player MLBers say is overrated and indispensable at the same time. Enjoy and interact via e-mail at thepitch@mvn.com or via phone at 360-450-MVN3.

MLB Week 12: Willie Randolph canned in his sleep; M’s cut off Bavasi; Hank prefers wussy pitchers

Willie Randolph (IconSMI)

“The Pitch” stayed up all night Monday delaying the release of the early-week edition waiting to see if Willie Randolph’s job with the Mets would survive the morning. Indeed, it did not. And hosts Andrew Kappes and Brandon Rosage pulled an all-nighter just to make sure they could deliver their spin on the news to The Pitch community.

In fact, the show hosts were so sleep-deprived that they could hardly make sense of Randolph’s firing. An announcement at 3 a.m.? After a Mets win? On a team that’s only one game under .500? The guys were baffled and pissed, as you might expect.

Also kicked to the curb was Mariners GM Bill Bavasi, who lost his job Monday after Seattle’s 24-45 start, worst in the majors, with a roster riddled with injury and underachievement.

And the program spends the better part of the hour covering every division in baseball, highlighting the return of Mark Teixeira to Texas, the resurgent Rockies, the streaking Tigers on the back of Marcus Thames, the impact of Alfonso Soriano’s injury on Chicago, Hank Steinbrenner’s argument for the DH in the National League after Chien-Ming Wang’s major injury and the Nationals’ long shot at becoming relevant.

Add a Pick-Off update and plenty of laid-back baseball banter with new-addition co-host Andrew Kappes, and you’ve got yourself a damn good show. Enjoy and interact via e-mail at thepitch@mvn.com or via phone at 360-450-MVN3.