July 07, 2004

Participants in the ASG Homerun Derby announced.: One more from each league will be picked. Looks good so far, but who is missing? Is Giambi even going to be healthy enough? Does Bonds not take part?

posted by jerseygirl to baseball at 09:45 AM - 43 comments

SF Outfielder probably needs to negotiate his own terms of participation.

posted by rocketman at 10:17 AM on July 07, 2004

giambi should be healthy enough. he's been back in the lineup as DH. didn't see his at bats yesterday but i was at monday's game when he went 2 for 3. he had a couple monster shots that were just foul. he looks a lot better at the plate than he did last thursday so he should be fine for next week.

posted by goddam at 10:19 AM on July 07, 2004

I'm surprised Pujols wasn't picked. He would have won last year if he hadn't tired himself out by hitting 14 in the semifinals.

posted by holden at 10:33 AM on July 07, 2004

There's still a 4th slot open for each league, holden. As an aside, how did Rafael get picked over Hank Blalock? Hank's on the record as saying he'll participate if asked, although lately, Teixiera has been on one hell of a hot streak.

posted by Ufez Jones at 10:38 AM on July 07, 2004

I'm excited Ortiz is going to be in it. We haven't had Red Sox HR Derby representation in a long while. giambi should be healthy enough. he's been back in the lineup as DH. didn't see his at bats yesterday but i was at monday's game when he went 2 for 3. he had a couple monster shots that were just foul. he looks a lot better at the plate than he did last thursday so he should be fine for next week. ah, didn't know he was back in limited capacity. Been too busy being with the Red Sox to pay too much attention to NY, honestly. Giambi looked awful physically last week, just awful. Thin, sickly, weird colored. Anyone figure out how this parasite is spread? Giambi's wife has it (which makes obvious sense), but Kevin Brown does too (which doesn't make such obvious sense to me). Maybe Pujols will be the 4th man for the NL. Definitely Pujols over Bonds.

posted by jerseygirl at 10:42 AM on July 07, 2004

Been too busy being with the Red Sox to pay too much attention to NY, honestly. Inadvertantly, that sounds very sexual. I meant I've been paying close attention to. Ah, the hell with it.

posted by jerseygirl at 10:43 AM on July 07, 2004

Why bother putting Barry in that competition? He would just get walked. tee hee I can't believe that I'm actually looking forward to the All-Star game again. I hate to sound like a cliche, but the strike of '94 really put me off the game. However, the Cubs' run at the pennant last year really sucked me back into the game. I actually watch non-Cubs games now!

posted by NoMich at 10:45 AM on July 07, 2004

Rafael is on there because he's part of the 500 club. it's the first time a non-member of the all-star roster will participate. the parasite thing is still a mystery. there's some speculation that they picked it up in japan but who knows. i'm just happy to see giambi looking better. i felt bad for him that they really had no choice but to use him last week.

posted by goddam at 10:48 AM on July 07, 2004

If you ask me, Giambi and Sheff should both take a break and rest instead of going to this game and messing around in a HR derby... the last thing the Yankees need is to wear Giambi out more, or encourage bad habits like trying to pull everything deep... he's been bad enough with that this year even when healthy.

posted by Bernreuther at 11:05 AM on July 07, 2004

We haven't had Red Sox HR Derby representation in a long while. Nomar, Carl Everett and Manny don't count?

posted by yerfatma at 11:21 AM on July 07, 2004

Weird. I must have imagined Manny in the Derby. Previous rosters.

posted by yerfatma at 11:23 AM on July 07, 2004

Manny doesn't participate in the HR Derby because it messes with his swing. Like I said, been a while.

posted by jerseygirl at 11:34 AM on July 07, 2004

ah, didn't know he was back in limited capacity. Been too busy being with the Red Sox to pay too much attention to NY, honestly. Giambi looked awful physically last week, just awful. Thin, sickly, weird colored. Anyone figure out how this parasite is spread? Giambi's wife has it (which makes obvious sense), but Kevin Brown does too (which doesn't make such obvious sense to me). Well, actually, I think that human parasites are, for the most part, not sexually transmitted, or not transmitted by any kind of direct human-to-human contact. A lot of them are food-chain things, where the parasite gets passed along by humans consuming meat from an infected animal (trichina, for example), or otherwise ingesting a parasite that's been excreted by another human or animal (giardia, for example). No one likes to think about fecal contamination, but it flows with the water. Parasites in cyst form can live in the water, get mixed in with food or water that a human ingests, and then go to town in the nice warm dark GI tract. So, at a guess, it didn't go from Giambi to his wife or vice versa, or from either of them to Kevin Brown: they all picked it up separately from somewhere else (maybe the same meal at the same restaurant). Based on how sick I got when I picked up a couple of different nasties on a trip to Nepal, I'd say Giambi shouldn't be doing anything for the next little while.

posted by lil_brown_bat at 11:47 AM on July 07, 2004

runs to nearest porcelain bowl to egest lunch.

posted by garfield at 12:16 PM on July 07, 2004

they suspect it's giardia, which can be sexually transmitted.

posted by goddam at 12:50 PM on July 07, 2004

they suspect it's giardia, which can be sexually transmitted. If you consider fecal-to-oral transmission to be "sexually transmitted", then 'tis so; however, it's also a prime example of why the phrase "sexually transmitted" is unspecific to the point of uselessness. There's an awful lot that can fall under the general heading of "sexual activity", that would fall into quite different categories where disease transmission is concerned. And when disease guys talk about "fecal-to-oral transmission, they can mean a pretty long and indirect chain of events: infected person poops beside the path, big rainstorm that night, rainstorm washes it into the river, parasite flows downstream, water gets scooped up and dumped on the spinach, spinach gets served in the restaurant, voila! Fecal-to-oral transmission.

In the case of giardia, I think the parasite rarely, if ever, moves directly from host to host. Giardia has evolved a pretty effective mechanism that makes that unnecessary: giardia cysts can survive outside the host's body pretty much indefinitely, usually in water. It's known as "beaver fever" because beaver with the parasite pass it on to the water, where other animals, including humans, ingest the cysts by drinking the contaminated water. A week or more to incubate, and bam, you're on a major weight-loss program. It's not known as a restaurant disease, but I suppose it's possible. Without hazarding any guesses as to what they do in bed, I'd bet the ranch that it wasn't transmitted between Giambi and his wife, but that they both picked it up from the same contaminated source.

Beware that crisp, clear mountain stream -- it's probably got giardia in it, no lie.

posted by lil_brown_bat at 01:12 PM on July 07, 2004

they suspect it's giardia, which can be sexually transmitted. If you consider fecal-to-oral transmission to be "sexually transmitted", then 'tis so;... If you're Chuck Berry it is. *crickets*

posted by NoMich at 01:28 PM on July 07, 2004

This all fits with my picture of the Yankee clubhouse, to be honest.

posted by yerfatma at 01:51 PM on July 07, 2004

Beware that crisp, clear mountain stream -- it's probably got giardia in it, no lie. Now you tell me.

posted by filthyboy at 02:00 PM on July 07, 2004

This all fits with my picture of the Yankee clubhouse, to be honest. now, when you say picture you mean fantasy, right? :-) i had read somewhere that oral-genital contact could also transmit it. i'm not saying that's how it was transmitted between the giambi's, however i can be passed from person to person.

posted by goddam at 02:02 PM on July 07, 2004

i can be passed from person to person Slut!

posted by dusted at 02:04 PM on July 07, 2004

doh!

posted by goddam at 02:16 PM on July 07, 2004

at least i'm not the only one around here.

posted by goddam at 02:17 PM on July 07, 2004

hee hee!

posted by dusted at 02:23 PM on July 07, 2004

Ain't no lady like a SpoFi lady...

posted by Ufez Jones at 02:39 PM on July 07, 2004

and here i wander into the thread thinking there is some hot HR hitting discussion occuring.

posted by gspm at 02:47 PM on July 07, 2004

i can be passed from person to person Been too busy being with the Red Sox to pay too much attention to NY, honestly. We're girls who love their teams! So...!? :D

posted by jerseygirl at 03:00 PM on July 07, 2004

Thank you Jason Giambi. Why? Because today I learned all about fecal-to-oral parasitic ingestion on my favorite sports-related website. Speaking of Giardia, didn't he play second base for the Yankees in the 1950s and then do some radio? Hell of a glove.

posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 03:45 PM on July 07, 2004

So really, I think the take-away we can all go home with is: "People, just don't eat poop. Okay?" If only someone got to Giambi and Brown in time... *sigh*

posted by jerseygirl at 03:49 PM on July 07, 2004

The parasite speaks. Some of Page 2's best content ever.

posted by Bernreuther at 03:55 PM on July 07, 2004

I had beaver-fever (that's what the good doctor called it) when I was a kid. I ate some contaminated snow during a cub scout camp. It looked clean, but it wasn't, apparently. The doctor made me put wax paper across the mouth of the toilet in order to 'capture' samples to be scooped into little plastic jars for testing. It sucked. I also ate Christmas dinner at the top of lovely Bo Phut beach on Koh Samui. A week later I spent all of New Years Eve in Shizuoka running from bed to the bathroom. Never really figured out the culprit. Worst night ever.

posted by garfield at 04:17 PM on July 07, 2004

The amazing thing here is there's no corresponding Ted Nugent song that I know of.

posted by yerfatma at 05:03 PM on July 07, 2004

now, when you say picture you mean fantasy, right? :-) None of the Yankee slash I've ever written has involved felching. A girl has to have standards.

posted by yerfatma at 05:38 PM on July 07, 2004

bernreuther: wow. you weren't kidding. Great, great link. (In a related but more artistic vein/tract, I recommend fray's 'the worm within.')

posted by tieguy at 05:45 PM on July 07, 2004

So! Anybody else see Josh Phelps' grand slam into the 500-level seats at SkyDome last night?

posted by DrJohnEvans at 07:49 AM on July 08, 2004

bonds and blalock took the final 2 spots today.

posted by goddam at 09:37 PM on July 08, 2004

Bah Bonds! Yay Blalock though.

posted by jerseygirl at 09:45 PM on July 08, 2004

Yay Blalock though? No, no... BLALOCK! Tex should get shot too. 7 HRs in 10 games? Done.

posted by Ufez Jones at 01:30 AM on July 09, 2004

Yes, I like Blalock. Don't want him to win the Derby, but I like him.

posted by jerseygirl at 06:26 AM on July 09, 2004

Hank Blalock has the coolest name ever. Say out loud. "Hank Blalock." I want to name any sons I might have Hank Blalock. He should be elected president of the US, so we can refer to "President Blalock." Damn that's a cool name.

posted by rocketman at 12:26 PM on July 09, 2004

It's even cooler when you add "Homerin' " to it. Homerin' Hank Blalock. Much better than fucking Coco Crisp.

posted by Ufez Jones at 01:47 PM on July 09, 2004

Hey man, Coco "Butterscotch" Crisp has been tearing it up.

posted by dusted at 03:30 PM on July 09, 2004

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