The Pirates and Mets were rained out on Monday, giving Pittsburgh fans a little extra time to pull their Tom Gorzelanny bobblehead dolls out of their boxes and examine them closely for the first time. Fans received the bobble on Saturday as the Pirates took on the Phillies at PNC Park. Examining the craftsmanship, we see that it certainly is a handsome item, and ... hey ... is he flipping us off? Hey!
The single digit protruding from his glove certainly looks like Gorzelanny may be sending a message to the umpire, the Phillies, the entire NL, or perhaps to Pirates' fans, who may be getting frustrated with the team's 10-15, last-place start. Pirates spokesman Jim Trdinich tries to explain. Meanwhile, I would invest in one or two of the dolls over at eBay, before the price goes up. It would be a nice companion piece to this in your collection.
• Zito To Watch Games From The Outfield For A Spell. With the Giants' Barry Zito being demoted to the bullpen on Monday, it's going to be a while probably until we're able to see that "I just got rocked" expression that we've all come to know and love from our favorite $126 million starter. Fortunately, Big League Stew over at Yahoo has quite a collection of those precious moments, which they share with you here. As Stew points out, at $18 million per season, Zito is the most expensive reliever in the majors, beating out Mariano Rivera by $3 million. He is also only the third pitcher ever to start 0-6. The sad thing is that the Giants would be having a strong season if Zito were decent; at 12-15 they're hardly the '62 Mets that everyone had predicted. On Monday Matt Cain broke his 10-game winless streak, 4-0 over the Rockies; SF's fourth win in six games.
• Red Bull Gives Him Wings. Something about being back in Oakland has rendered Frank Thomas lighter than air; as nimble as a forest creature. On Monday he tripled for the first time in six years (oxygen! Medic! Cough!), collecting three hits against former teammate Jon Garland, as the Athletics took the AL West lead from the Angels with a 14-2 win.
• 'The Game Has Been Called Due To The Drought'. The Orioles could have pulled ahead in the East, but instead there is a three-way tie for first. That's due to Monday's Baltimore-Chicago game ending after 11 innings, 3-3, due to inclement weather. The game will resume at the beginning of the 12th inning later this season, but no date was set. All the statistics from Monday count, including homers by Chicago's Juan Uribe and Baltimore's Ramon Hernandez.
• Arizona Mathematically Clinches NL West. Will rest starters for playoffs beginning Wednesday.