NEWS AND NOTES

--Soak in this sentence for a minute:

"Prized prospect Andrew McCutchen made a splashy major-league debut with a 3-for-5 showing that included three runs, an RBI and a stolen base as a leadoff batter."

Pirates 11, Mets 6. Nate McWho?

--After tweaking his knee yesterday, Large Ben returned to practice today. You can get down from the ledge. [Trib]

--A Pens fan got an octopus in the mail from a Wings fan, then promptly sent it back after giving it an official Primanti's treatment. Because as you know, Primanti's sandwiches are the only thing we eat in Pittsburgh. [WPXI]

--Hopefully Dan Byslma will eat a lucky burrito from Qdoba today [96.1 Kiss Freak Show]

--Here's your chance to buy a true piece of baseball history: it's an auction for the ball thrown by Baba Booey at his infamous first-pitch disaster against the Pirates. And you get his worn jersey too! [Charity Buzz]

--Bob Smizik calls the McLouth trade a "bold gamble worth taking". This follows yesterday's column, "Pirates give up on present by trading McLouth". I'm confused. [Bob Smizik Blog]

--ESPN 1250's next Lunch with a Legend has been announced: you can dine in the presence of James Farrior and Deshea Townsend at Morton's on June 10. [ESPN 1250]

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BABA BOOEY BOTCHES THE FIRST PITCH

If the Pirates' play hasn't been bad enough (losing 12 of 13), now even the ceremonial first pitches have gone south. But at least this one came on enemy turf.

Howard Stern's longtime producer, Gary "Baba Booey" Dell'Abate, was scheduled to throw out the first pitch for Saturday's game between the Buccos and the Mets. For weeks, Dell'Abate was nothing short of terrified about the event, going to the lengths of hiring a pitching coach to practice with. And guess what? He had every reason to fear the worst.

As you can see in the video above, Dell'Abate nearly takes out the home plate umpire, which wouldn't have been so bad except for the fact that he wasn't yet behind home plate. For Dell'Abate, this would definitely qualify as "worst-case scenario". Expect the Booey-razzing to come early and often when the Stern Show resumes on Monday.

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Mondesi Manages Against Baba Booey & Curt Schilling

A few weeks ago, I briefly mentioned my involvement in an upcoming Sporting News Strat-o-Matic Baseball League recreating the 1986 season. I was honored to be asked as the "Celebrity Manager" of the Pittsburgh Pirates, a team that went 64-98 "for real" that year. It's going to be a tall order to turn this squad around, but I thought it would be a lot of fun.

Today, I logged in to see who I'd be competing against. Needless to say, I was blown away by the field that The Sporting News has assembled. Managing the '86 Red Sox? None other than Curt Schilling, noted baseball historian, bloody sock wearer, and blogger when not pitching for said Red Sox.

But even more exciting than that was the manager of the 1986 Mets. It's Howard Stern's longtime right-hand man and die-hard Mets fan Baba Booey (Gary Dell'Abate). Dell'Abate takes the Mets so seriously that he was popping Tums to ease his sick stomach during the Mets' collapse last month.

Inspiration for many a prank phone calls, it's Baba Booey

Not only will Baba Booey be in the league, but he's in my division (remember, this is 1986, so there's no realignment). I'll also be facing off against the St. Louis Cardinals, headed by Deadspin creator Will Leitch; former major leaguer Doug Glanville, running the Phillies; Dan Shanoff, creator of ESPN.com's "Daily Quickie" and author of the very popular danshanoff.com; and Bernie Hou, creator of Strat-o-Matic Baseball online.

The league has another Pittsburgh connection: Jon Hein, creator of jumptheshark.com and host of Howard Stern's daily wrapup show. Jon was disappointed that his hometown 64-win Pirates were already spoken for, so he agreed to manage Nolan Ryan and the 96-66 Houston Astros. Nice consolation prize.

Jon Hein, the 2007 version of Hal Lanier

The rest of the league is populated with many famous sports personalities, bloggers, and contributors, including Bill Daughtry, broacaster for the MSG Network (Yankees), Sean Forman, creator of Baseball-reference.com (Tigers), Brooks Melchior of the world-renowed Sports By Brooks (Royals), Jon Bois, founder of The Dugout (Braves), David Pinto of Baseball Musings (Dodgers), and a host of others.

The Sporting News will chronicle the entire season, which kicks off on Monday, November 5. Likewise, I will post regular updates of how the team is doing. We open with Baba Booey and the Mets on November 6 at Three Rivers. As for an opening day starter, I'm feeling Rick Rhoden. He was 15-12 with a 2.84 ERA on a team that lost 98 games. I'm sure he can take down Dr. K.

1986: Take Two (The Sporting News)