Twas the night before spring training trip
and all through the house
we were tired of packing
and starting to grouse.

Just 6 hours till we rouse the family and head off to the airport for our flight to Sarasota. I look forward to posting from Florida tomorrow evening. Maybe we’ll even have some photos, assuming, of course, we can find room in the luggage for the camera.

Tonight on the podcast we talk to a Red Hot Mama favorite, Bellyscratcher (aka Rebecca). Tonight it wasn’t about the smack talk, though, just some friendly discussion of how the St. Louis team is looking for 2008. On this episode we discuss:

• The antics of Tony LaRussa, Scott Spezio, and Rick Ankiel
• The future of the outfield without Jim Edmonds and So Taguchi
• The impact of injuries. Will anyone really notice Chris Carpenter being out?

You’ll have to listen to find out.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Poor Prince Fielder: the arbitration system really is so very unfair. By the time he’s on the open market, his Skinny Bitch diet may have already made him too skinny to play.

Which may be why he’s complaining about his contract. From SI.com:

The Milwaukee Brewers renewed the slugger’s contract for $670,000 on Sunday after he finished third in NL MVP voting last season, when he made $415,000.

“I’m not happy about it at all,” Fielder said. “The fact I’ve had to be renewed two years in a row, I’m not happy about it because there’s a lot of guys who have the same amount of time that I do who have done a lot less and are getting paid a lot more.

“But my time is going to come. It’s going to come quick, too.”

The first baseman will be eligible for arbitration after this season.

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.