Not deterred by the court ruling against them when they tried to keep fantasy sports sites from using baseball statistics, Major League Baseball is taking yet more measures to try to kill their community of online fans:

A group of top news and sports editors is planning to meet with Major League Baseball this week to discuss a string of new restrictions on media credentials that editors contend are an unfair limitation on Web-related reporting.

The new restrictions, which take effect later this month when the 2008 season begins, include: a 72-hour limit on posting photos after games; a seven-photo limit on the number of photos posted from a game while it is in progress; a 120-second limit on video length from game-related events; and a ban on live or recorded audio and video from game-related events posted 45 minutes before the start of a game through the end.

If you’ve already heard about this, it’s probably because of the blow it is to C. Trent Rosecrans, previously of the Cincinnati Post and now of 1530 HOMER fame:

I will not be live blogging, because MLB is cracking down on giving you information. They don’t want any competition for their gamecast. I will, however, update after every half-inning. I’ll probably still write live, just delay it. It’s a battle of semantics, but I’m only doing what I’m told by my people at 1530Homer.com. I apologize. It seems MLB doesn’t feel its content is good enough to go for a straight-up competition. I’ll do what I can. And again, I’m sorry. I’ll do my best to bend the rules.

Picture by Beth Macre. See more on her blog.

My poor coworkers took the brunt of my rage after I read this news this afternoon. I’m still too angry to put my feelings about this eloquently, but I do feel like we need to do something about this.

My initial thought was to organize an email/snail mail campaign to MLB and each of the teams in the NLC to say how much we disapprove of this policy. I’ve already ditched the Reds for their behavior; it’s not an idle threat if I say I’ll start blogging football instead. The Colts rock.

Then I thought, if Congress is so willing spend their CSPAN3 air time to get involved in the steroids matter, perhaps they’d be willing to investigate whether MLB’s monopoly exemption allows them to trample on the first amendment and the entire spirit of free enterprise that we hold so dear in the United States. Maybe a petition would help.

Then I thought, hey, this might actually be illegal. Maybe the ACLU could get involved.

In any event, I’ll be writing a message to my fellow bloggers tonight to see if maybe we can get organized. If they’re willing to do this to their credentialed media, it’s only a matter of time before they’re dragging the Red Hot Mama into court to say I don’t have the right to deem anyone the NLC’s Hottest Baller without prior licensing.

I don’t usually ask for feedback because I can’t stand the silence when no one responds, but this is a time I’m willing to risk being left hanging to hear your views on the issue. Is MLB right to tell the media what they print (digitally) and when they can print it? What can we do about it?

According to STLToday, the Cardinals will be giving one Sidney Ponson an audience this week:

JUPITER, Fla. — The Cardinals will lend former pitcher Sidney Ponson a place and a mound to throw for scouts Thursday at lunchtime.

Ponson, who made 13 starts for the Cardinals in 2006, is said to have slimmed down to 245 pounds and cranked up his fastball to 91 mph.

Because he’ll be on their spring-training campus, the Cardinals will have scouts in attendance, and they are interested is seeing what he has. “Just keep an open mind,” manager Tony La Russa said.

To think that the Cardinals would overlook Kyle Lohse, Ramón Ortíz, even Eric Milton to let Ponson have a chance…this is really something special.

Welcome to round 2 of the Jason Romano Commemorative NLC’s hottest baller contest. 15 of the best-looking players on NLC (plus the newest Mariner) face off in a single-elimination tournament.

Our final match of the quarterfinal round is going to be a doozy. Matt Belisle, hottie starting rotation candidate for the Reds goes up against cult hero Bubba Crosby. Belisle has been a fan favorite at Red Hot Mama since he came up, but Crosby brought down 78% of the vote in the first round against Bronson Arroyo is the most heavily voted-in contest of the tournament so far.


Bubba Crosby
ht: 5-11 wt: 195 dob: 08/11/1976

Matt Belisle
ht: 6-3 wt: 230 dob: 06/06/1980
[poll=23]

I know we’ll hear about all this when we get our next weekly injury report here at Red Hot Mama, but the setbacks the Cubs are already suffering are just too much to ignore. The big news is that Alfonso Soriano broke his finger, of course, and will apparently be out for only five days while his magical cyborg bones stitch themselves back up. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Infielder Mark DeRosa is suffering an irregular heartbeat and had to be hospitalized. Pitcher Jose Ascanio got punched in an attempted robbery and has the bruises to prove it. Aramis “Mr. Boring” Ramirez has a sore shoulder.

But the pièce de résistance is Felix Pie’s twisted testicle. It’s the sort of injury that you know you shouldn’t laugh at but can’t stop guffawing, like the first time you saw There’s Something About Mary. I asked the Crack Technical Staff to find me a picture of the affliction, but after just a few seconds of Google searching, he refused, so we’ll just have to use our imaginations. In mine, it’s sort of like a slinky.

What do these three men have in common? If you said that all three suck, I understand. You’re probably a Cubs fan who remembers the time that Corey Patterson, Jerry Hairston, Jr., and Neifi Perez spent with the Cubs.

But no, that’s not the answer I was looking for. I’m afraid that what these three players have in common is the love and adoration of one Dusty Baker, current manager of the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds signed Hairston and Patterson to minor league contracts, no doubt due to their shortage of young, talented infielders and outfielders. Patterson will contend for the starting center field position, which is great, because the Reds have no one up and coming to take that spot.

It’s hard not to laugh, so don’t hold it in. It wouldn’t surprise me if this is just the warm-up, though. I mean, Neifi Perez is available.