Good for ball, bad or ball

by Salmanpour

Here's how it works: Pitchers who can swing it are Good For Ball. Guys such as Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals (batting .281 through Thursday), Chris Capuano of the Brew Crew (.280), Brad Penny of the Dodgers (.250 with three doubles) and Carlos Zambrano of the Cubs, (.250 with two homers) routinely help their own cause.

Pitchers who look like they aren't even trying to hit, however, are Bad For Ball. If you're a pitcher with a batting average below .100, you should be slapped on the back of the neck with a wet banana leaf every time you even think of grousing about lack of run support.

It works outside of baseball, too. Jon Cryer of "Two And A Half Men" getting an Emmy Award nomination, for instance, is Good For Ball. That whole show is Good For Ball, come to think of it -- right down to the chubby little slacker.

"Friday Night Lights" getting an Emmy stiff-arm, however, is Bad For Ball. If you've watched it once, you're hooked. That should count for something.

It's simple, really. Everything in life can be labeled in one of two ways: Good For Ball or Bad For Ball. With that rule in mind, let's take a spin around this great -- and sometimes not too great -- game of ours and break it all down.

A must in Manhattan: If you're one of those fans who likes to build your summer vacations around visits to various big-league ballparks around the country, hopefully you've already visited Yankee Stadium. If not, start planning now. It'll be gone after next season.

And when you're in New York, do yourself a favor and head to Foley's NY Pub and Restaurant for a postgame pop or two, and then introduce yourself to the man who's turned the place into a memorable baseball experience in and of itself, Shaun Clancy.

Along the left side of the wall, you'll find more than 600 baseballs signed by Hall of Fame players to journeymen, with the occasional boxing, football, basketball or entertainment stars mixed in. Clancy, an Irishman who lives and breathes the game, is the caretaker of this priceless homage to baseball history, and he can spin a mean yarn or two while you dine.

Be sure to ask him about Bobby Cox, too. It seems the Braves skipper was so taken with the massive and elegant urinals -- taken from the old Waldorf-Astoria Bar, by the way -- that upon to returning to his hotel room one night, he had to wake his wife up to share his excitement.

Check this place out. Great vibe, great people, great food. And while you're there, you stand a pretty good chance of running into one of the visiting ballplayers, coaches or umpires in town to take on the Mets or Yanks. Good For Ball.

Covering for Sheets: Poor Brew Crew. Relevant for the first time in recent memory, they suffered a huge blow this week when it was announced that ace Ben Sheets will be out for up to six weeks with a finger issue.

Fortunately, there's time to go out and get someone such as Giants righty Matt Morris, who should be available and might be a suitable replacement. Milwaukee's long-suffering fans deserve an active front office right now.

And sure, Sheets only works every fifth day when he's healthy, but every team that fancies itself a legitimate playoff contender needs a horse such as Sheets that gives everyone in the dugout a sense of impending victory when he's on the hill.

Without Sheets, there could be a sense of impending doom. Bad For Ball.

Good player, great guy: Good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. That's just the way life works sometimes. But every once in a while, something good happens to a good person to balance things out, and that's what's happening in Tampa Bay right now with Carlos Pena.

Pena, one of the nicest people you'll ever meet, has had a lot of bad things happen to him. In the span of seven years, he went from being a top prospect who won American League Rookie of the Month honors in April 2002 to such an afterthought that all he could do was land a Minor League deal with the Devil Rays this spring.

Yet throughout, Pena maintained a very simple mantra: Keep it positive.

"I've been so blessed," he said last month. "Everybody has struggles in life. Why should I be any different?"

But Pena is different. He has the kind of perspective we wish every professional athlete had. And while he's absolutely killing the ball for the Rays, leading the team in homers and RBIs with an on-base percentage over .400 and a batting average near .300, his perspective hasn't changed.

"I have a beautiful wife and a beautiful baby girl," he said this week. "Isn't that what really matters? Like I said, I'm blessed."

And extremely Good For Ball.

Speed round : Sports Illustrated's Rick Reilly is a tremendous writer who has used his influence to make the world a better place at times, but his vendetta against Barry Bonds is Bad For Ball. We get it, Rick. You don't like him. We got it the first 1,200 times that you mentioned it, too. ... The Pepsi ads featuring Johnny Damon and Joe Mauer, chit-chatting while frozen in time before a close play at the plate is more than a little freaky, but it's funny and Good For Ball. ... Bonds gets a Bad For Ball for his profanity-laced tirade on Sunday. He basically said to reporters, "I'm an embarrassment to this uniform. Now go away!" Accountability is great, but no need to go over the top. ... Zambrano is back to being a beast in a good way, and the Cubs are back in the race. Coincidence? Or course not. And Good For Ball. ... Gary Sheffield is talking again. And more often than not these days, that's Bad For Ball. Assailing the character of Yankees manager Joe Torre is ridiculous, and that Kenny Lofton agrees with Sheffield actually weakens Sheff's case. ... New Mets coach Rickey Henderson wants to help Jose Reyes steal 100 bags in a season. Good For Ball. Say what you want about Henderson, but the man is pure entertainment. ... A Japanese journalist got his credential revoked for asking Roger Clemens for an autograph. Rules are rules, but come on. Couldn't a warning have been issued or something before the right to work is yanked? Bad For Ball. ... And finally, the Rangers are playing some very good baseball these days, and in doing so, they're taking a lot of heat off rookie skipper Ron Washington. Washington waited patiently for years to break down some old-school walls and secure a managing job. That it looks like he'll be keeping it for a while is Good For Ball.