Marty's Semi-Embarrassing and/or Mildly Flattering Moments of the Day (Early Afternoon Edition)

As I was standing at the urinal next to Bobby Howry this morning, wondering why I (at 5’10”) was at the tall one, and he (at 6’5”) was at the short one, a number of slightly-less-creepy thoughts crossed my mind regarding the morning's activities. Among the most prominent ones…

In order to signify the end of a drill, Alan Trammell blows a loud air horn. He also gets particular pleasure out of picking the exact moment when blowing the horn will scare the absolute living hell out of Henry Blanco. Too bad Hendry doesn’t move that fast with a bat in his hands. He might actually hit better than .210.

As good as Rich Hill is as a pitcher, I completely understand the frustration with him on the part of the coaches. The guy looks perpetually confused, and makes mental mistakes in practice like he gets paid by the brain fart. He’s like Keanu Reeves in…well, every movie Keanu Reeves has ever been in.

The Fukudome jersey I was wearing today made me an instant star with the members of the Japanese media. I guarantee that I will be featured in multiple videos throughout the greater Tokyo area. Soon I will be reaching Hasselhoffian levels of popularity among the Japanese.

My favorite exchange with the Japanese media today (NOTE: He spoke in verrrrrry broken English, but I’m not going to even try and recreate that):

Japanese Cameraman: (broken English) So how did you get jersey?
Me: My wife gave it to me for Christmas.
Japanese Cameraman: Is she fan of the Mets, too?
Me: (confused look)
Him: (smiling and hopeful)
Me: Uhh…yeah, she’s a huge fan of the Cubs.

And thus my 15 minutes of Asian fame began...


I’m going to keep it short though, because I’m sure there will be plenty from the others about the goings-on today (and its 70 degrees, so why the hell am I inside?). I’ll try to explain a little more later about some of the great phenomena I’ve seen, from the bottom-feeder 40 year old autograph hounds to “Scrappy White Guy Field.”

Until then…