Battah, Battah, (flash) Swing Battah...

This is pretty funny. Hat tip to friend, Jerry for forwarding. Pay close attention to the gal behind the plate.

Twitter Lists and the Winter Meetings

Here's one way to keep up with the latest tidbits, signings, and rumors from baseball's annual Winter Meetings: Create or follow a Twitter List of plugged-in MLB reporters.

This list from user @ConorGlassey--@conorglassey/winter-meetings--is one of the first ones I stumbled on, and it's a good one. Conor's collection aggregates tweets from the likes of @GordonEdes, former longtime Globie and now Red Sox beat reporter for ESPNBoston.com; @IanMBrowne, who covers the Sox for MLB.com; @SI_JonHeyman from Sports Illustrated; and FOX's @Ken_Rosenthal.

Any tricks you're using to satisfy your Hot Stove fix? As always, informative and entertaining suggestions are encouraged in the comments section.

AL Stars P0wn NL's Best... Again!

Growing up, I remember watching nearly every MLB All Star game and if my recollection serves me properly, the games weren't scheduled to fit Fox or ABC's "Prime Time" schedule so I was able to stay up for the entire thing. Back then, I had my heart broken nearly every year because as a fan of the Red Sox, I was an "AL" guy. Yup, you know what I'm talking about. Between 1950-1987 (I was born in 1968), the NL won 33 of 42 times with one tie. That's A LOT of dominating.

Now it seems like the AL is equally dominating having not lost since 1996. And the good news is that the game now means something since it determines home field advantage for the Fall Classic. That didn't help the Rays last year but certainly helped the Red Sox in 2007 and 2004. If the Sox can hold on and have a shot at the World Series this year, it's a HUGE advantage to them to be able to play games one and two in Fenway.

So what's the deal withe recent AL domination? Is the AL really that much better than the NL? Does good hitting actually trump good pitching and defense? Inquiring minds want to know!

Baseball Summer Reading

Looking to get more up to date on baseball? Here are some "must reads" by two big baseball brains...

Tim Walker says, "Possibly the three best books ever written about baseball":

• The Glory of Their Times, by Lawrence Ritter
• Ball Four, by Jim Bouton
• Moneyball, by Michael Lewis (this is one of my -- Aaron Strout's -- personal faves)

Other excellent reads Tim recommends:

• The Bill James Historical Abstract of Baseball (This is a book to put on the nightstand and graze from.)
• The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams
• Nine Innings, by Daniel Okrent
• Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy, by Jules Tygiel (*Outstanding* social history treatment of baseball’s integration.)

And from Kyle Flaherty:

• The Teammates by David Halberstam
• The Long Ball by Tom Adelman
• Past Time: Baseball as History by Jules Tygiel.