Alyssa Milano does all Dodger fans proud.

April 1 is usually a slow news day. The divide between super serious journalists and the rest of the internet that can’t get over April Fool’s Day usually means anyone with really groundbreaking content waits a day to post it. So to the middle ground we go.

Benjamin Hoffman at the NY Times blog Bats tossed a few questions at baseball ambassador Alyssa Milano, covering her new book “Safe at Home: Confessions of a Baseball Fanatic,” as well as her campaign to get the color pink off women’s athletic wear.

Hoffman does hit her with a bit of a gotcha, regarding a typo in the book where she flubs Jackie Robinson’s position on the Dodgers, but she handles it pretty well:

“Branch Rickey discovered Robinson when he was playing shortstop for the Monarchs. Jackie played first base his rookie year and then moved to second for the rest of his career. Total brain fart by not only me, but the publishing professionals that took 20 passes looking specifically for my brain farts. I apologize. Profusely. If I were to write that sentence today it would have read “…no other team could have done what his team did, which was to hire a black shortstop as its first baseman and then second baseman, and end segregation in baseball.”

I’m still not exactly sure how Milano has risen to the role she’s assumed in the past few years, but there are far worst potential house guests every time they pan the crowd at a Dodgers game, so what the hell.

Source.

Joe Blancato alyssa milano, bats, benjamin hoffman, dodgers, interview

Manny actually stole this bat from a baby.

Every now and then, the collective baseball writer hive mind shakes itself out of wondering whether eight trips to the buffet is too many and realizes something. Like every now and then, they realize despite the tremendous amount of bile they sling at Manny Ramirez, he’s actually a pretty good hitter. Perhaps this is why people put up with his shenanigans?

In a roundup of commentary from active players, we find some of the secrets to success from one of the best hitters in the game.

But Manny, from his negative move through contact — or 24/60ths of a second for a 90 mph fastball — never seems even to ruffle a dreadlock. When he completes his swing, with his long, high follow-through, his feet have hardly scraped the dirt. Slaught says that when he analyzes Manny’s mechanics, about six out of 10 swings are categorized as “perfect,” more than for any other hitter RightView Pro has studied. “The best of the rest are at about five perfect swings out of 10,” Slaught says. “Manny is just special.”

Perhaps more importantly, it’s important to support any article that doesn’t use the word “cancer.” Not once!

Source.

Rick Vaughn dodgers, espn, manny ramirez