Perhaps our uptight friends on the left slide of the ‘gosphere need a Joe Torre to help them lighten up a bit. From Jim Baumbach at Yankees spring training:
Position players had to report to the main field at 11:08 to “run the bases” in a drill run by Joe Torre, which should have been their first clue (Torre usually oversees drills). Anyway, Torre told them they were running races from home to second, with one player running the first-base line and the other player sprinting up the third-base line.
The first two contestants were Doug Mientkiewicz and speedy youngster Brett Gardner. But once they took off, the rest of the players headed toward the dugout laughing. By the time Gardner and Mientkiewicz reached second, they turned back and saw no one at home plate, and they immediately realized they were fooled. As they walked off the field, there was laughter coming from the players at the dugout.
I even heard Larry Bowa yell, “You got punked!”
Then again, Joe Torre is “dead man managing,” the same tired line every hour on the hour. So is Markos.
