David Wells gives hope to fat guys everywhere

Sunday night I saw a sight I thought I’d never see — David Wells legging out a bunt single.

The 44-year-old big-boned pitcher was making his first start for the Los Angeles Dodgers and helped his own cause when he bunted and ran surprisingly not that slow to first base. More hilarity came when he had to run the bases and score — when he got back in the dugout he looked tired and like he was going to pass out. Wells has to be the most unlikely NL starting pitcher ever to have a bunt single, and has to be the most fun to watch hit one.

It was only nine years ago that Wells through a perfect game (pictured above) and he’s had a great career even without that game.

Boomer pitched five innings and allowed only two runs during the Dodgers’ 6-2 win over the Mets. Wells is already better than Brett Tomko, who he replaces in the rotation. Here’s to Wells playing great down the stretch and possibly beating his old team (the Padres) for the wild card.

Links of the Day: Throw it Down!

The only way I would ever watch chess on TV is if Bill Walton were one of the analysts. This post sums up how he might do it quite nicely. I actually like listening to Bill Walton, but only in small doses. Too much and my head explodes. (The Hype Guy)

Mickey Mantle has some great memories of Yankee Stadium, including one you wouldn’t expect him to have admitted to anyone. (Larry Brown Sports)

A review of Keith Olbermann’s first appearance on NBC’s NFL broadcast. (Either Relevant or True)

Five reasons why the NFL doesn’t care about its fans. (Deuce of Davenport)

Not all USC football players live in houses bought by agents or in luxury apartments paid for by others. The rest complain about living in dorms. (Lion in Oil)

The best video game of all-time: Baseball Stars

Editor’s Note: For those of you bored by video games, my Monday sports preview is below this post.

I recently had a discussion with a friend about the video games we played when we were younger. Classics like Tecmo Bowl, NBA Jam, Goldeneye, and Mario Kart came up.

For me, my favorite was Baseball Stars on NES. I spent several summers as a kid making my own teams, my own leagues, creating players and earning money to make them better. You can still play Baseball Stars today on your computer if you download an NES emulator and the rom for Baseball Stars.

Keep in mind . It was one of the first games that saved memory. (Baseball Stars not only saved wins and losses, but player stats and user-created teams and players.) The game play was incredibly simple (and addicting), and for that time, the gameplay and graphics were great. The best part of the game was making your own team and watching it grow. Baseball stars comes with eight teams they created, none of which are real-life MLB teams. All of them have their charm.

American Dreams — The players are all named after U.S. greats. Pete, Babe, Joe, Hank and Willie, and on the mound they have Sandie and Cy. You baseball fans can all figure out who they are named after. This is by far the best team in the game.

Ninja Blacksox — The players themselves aren’t noteworthy for the most part, but any team name that combines Ninjas and the Blacksox scandal has to be interesting. Weirdly, this team has one woman player (Kuno) and the rest are men (more on gender in Baseball Stars later).

Brave Warriors — Boring, but a strong name and another cool team name.

Japan Robins — Several players named after Japan’s best. Oh (probably named after Saddaru Oh) bats third for this team.

World Powers — A team with players named after random famous historical people. Wilbur, Orville, Hulk, Plato, Caesar, Brutus, Zeus, Gengis and Watson. Nice touch having Caesar and Brutus on the same team. Somehow, this team isn’t very good.

Ghastly Monsters — A team whose players are named after, well, monsters. Cyclop, Lenny, Medusa, Jekyl, Zombie, Mummy, Freddy, Hacker and Creepy.

Lovely Ladies — A team of all women! And they all wear pink! This team is actually quite good at pitching and defense, but can’t hit at all.

SNK Crushers — A team probably made up of the employees who made the game (the company who made it is SNK). And they’re all horrible. You would think the makers of the game would make themselves good, like they do in EA Sports games. Not here.

There were only eight different computer-made teams to play, but like I said earlier, you get to make your own teams. And that’s what keeps you playing the game forever. You can make up to six user-created teams and mold them in your liking. You can make a team loaded with superstars, a pitching-heavy team, a power-heavy team, or whatever your heart desires.

You can name all of your players whatever you want pick your team’s logo. As you beat teams, your team gets money, which you can spend on to improve your team’s players. So what usually ends up happening when you create a team is you play against the SNK Crushers and Lovely Ladies first, and work your way up to good teams, eventually beating the American Dreams.

And best of all — the memory was saved (usually). This is the NES era, remember, not like today’s games. Being able to save progress on a team back then was incredible.

Other random things that made Baseball Stars the best game ever:

The gameplay was ridiculously easy to learn, but took time to master — Pitching was just pressing ‘A’ and holding down for a fastball, up for a slowball, left for a ball that curves to the left, and right for a ball that curves to the right. Not complicated. Hitting was just pressing ‘A’ at the right time, or tapping ‘A’ for a bunt. Again, not complicated.

The pace of the game — You could easily play nine-inning games in 10-20 minutes. For video gamers (people with small attention spans) this was great.

Home runs — Whenever a home run was hit, the crowd would go into a massive celebration, the same traditional music would play, and the scoreboard would say “HOME RUN” with a shot of the pitcher pounding the dirt and hitter rounding the bases, pumping his fist in the air. That never got old.

This game did have a lot of details that didn’t happen often but could make the game great.

* There was mercy rule, meaning if you were up by 10 runs at the end of an inning, it’s over. No use in making a slaughter take forever.

* When trying to rob a home run, you could make an 0utfielder fall over the wall. Again, that never got old.

* When you pitched a ball that hit a female batter, she’d fall to the ground and cry. Very sexist, but funny, especially at a younger age.

Don’t just take my word for it. Here’s some other great reviews about Baseball Stars from around the Web:

Wikipedia
Video Game Reviews
I-Mockery
Mobygames
GameFAQs

Monday sports preview: Races heating up

GAME OF THE DAY: LA Angels at Seattle Mariners, 7 p.m. Of course, ESPN chose Yankees-Tigers over this game for Monday Night Baseball, so no national TV.

The teams enter this three-game series with the Angels holding a two-game lead in the division, so add that with me being an Angels homer, and of course I’m picking this one as my Game of the Day.

While Seattle’s been blessed with good health this season, the Angels haven’t been, but have played great anyway. Lookout Landing is reminding people not to overreact after one Mariner loss.

OTHER BIG MLB GAMES:

New York Yankees at Detroit Tigers, nationally televised on ESPN2, 4 p.m. Can you believe that both of these teams wouldn’t be in the playoffs based on today’s standings? Babes Love Baseball has an excellent interview with Magglio Ordonez. Also, Detroit’s Jair Jurrjens is now on the DL — check out Bless You Boys for a great reaction.

New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies, 4 p.m. The Mets somehow let a 44-year old fat guy get an infield hit against them on Sunday in a loss to the Dodgers. But the Mets still have a six-game lead over the Phillies in the NL East.

Minnesota Twins at Cleveland Indians, 4 p.m. The Twins have won five in a row, but remain 5.5 games behind the Indians in the AL Central. So this is kind of a big series for them.

Arizona Diamondbacks at San Diego Padres, 7 p.m. The top-two teams in the NL West go at it (AZ has a three-game lead). Despite losing yesterday, the Padres still hold a three-game lead in the NL Wild Card, and their fans still seem to like Milton Bradley.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Chicago White Sox, 11 a.m. I mention this dreadful game only because it’s nationally televised on WGN. White Sox fans aren’t happy this season, and shouldn’t be.

OTHER SPORTS:

NFL Preseason, Cincinnati Bengals at Atlanta Falcons, 5 p.m., nationally televised on ESPN.

International Basketball: USA vs. Mexico, 8 p.m., nationally televised on ESPN2. This is the first game of the 2nd round.