LEFTOVERS: Former 51s skipper puts on a show
While guiding the 51s to their first winning season in five years in 2012, former Las Vegas manager Marty Brown couldn’t be accused of lying down on the job.
But that’s exactly what Brown did Sunday while managing Triple-A Buffalo.
After arguing a noncall on what appeared to be runner interference at second base in the second inning of a game against Norfolk, Brown broke out one of the more creative performances by a manager who has been ejected.
In something akin to a 1960s-style sit-in, Brown protested by planting himself on the infield grass — where he tossed aside his batting helmet, put his arms back and crossed his legs, kicking back as if working on his tan.
When he was rested and ready, Brown got up and kicked his helmet toward the dugout before flipping it up in the air with his foot and catching it.
We tip our cap to the laid-back Brown for his entertaining performance. The Bisons should host a Marty Brown beach chair night in his honor.
■ SEEDY SCANDAL — Fantasy baseball owners aren’t the only ones upset with Oakland Athletics outfielder Josh Reddick, who is batting .177 with one home run and 17 RBIs.
An Astros employee alleges that Reddick intentionally hit her in the face with sunflower seeds while she was tossing free T-shirts into the crowd during a recent game at Houston’s Minute Maid Park.
Reddick since has apologized for his role in the seedy incident.
“All I was trying to do was have fun with the mascot,” he wrote on Twitter. “I flip seeds in every stadium at the mascot. It was just unfortunate that I hit an employee throwing t-shirts. I am deeply sorry for what I’ve done. It will not happen again.”
The unidentified Astros employee wrote in a long letter to A’s public relations director Bob Rose that she was “shocked” by the incident with the “rough player.”
“They are supposed to be role models,” she wrote. “With that being said, I am sure that hundreds of kids witnessed Josh hitting me in the face with sunflower seeds, and that makes me more upset than anything.”
She went on to write that the baseball “is now tarnished for me. After over 200 games, Sunday was the first time that I wasn’t excited walking into Minute Maid Stadium for the game. I dreaded it.”
She should consider herself lucky. It typically takes only a few innings for Astros fans to dread their next trip to the ballpark.
■ STOP AND POPO — We finally might have discovered why San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is so surly. People have been calling him by the wrong name for more than 40 years.
A copy of Popovich’s 1970 Air Force Academy yearbook entry that recently surfaced online reveals that his nickname is “Popo” — not “Pop,” as he’s long been referred to.
A young Popovich wrote that “His future plans include happiness” — not sideline interviews, which he abhors. Hopefully, someone asks him about the yearbook during the NBA Finals: “Are you happy, Popo?”
COMPILED BY TODD DEWEY
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
