Totally Random

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Tis the season ... for baseball books.

With spring training a few days away, there are the usual odes to that time of year, first-person accounts of time spent in the game and, naturally, the much-discussed Joe Torre tome.

Then there’s “101 Reasons to Love the Phillies.” (I’m guessing ‘101 Reasons to Hate the Yankees’ would be an even bigger seller.)

In any event, author Ron Green Jr. provides an entertaining history lesson about the 2008 World Series champions. Reason No. 1: 10,000 Losses

“It’s a perverse point of pride among Phillies fans — being the first and, so far, only major league team to lose 10,000 games — but it’s part of what made the franchise beloved by so many.”

Add Phillies

And, speaking of perverse Phillies’ lore, Reason No. 40 truly fits that description: Alice Roth’s Tough Day.

She was the wife of the Philadelphia Bulletin sports editor and she was hit twice by foul balls (minutes apart by Richie Ashburn) at a game Aug. 17, 1957, suffering a broken nose and then getting hit in the face again as she was being carried out of the ballpark on a stretcher.

Can just envision that headline — Roth’s ERA: Emergency Room Appointment.

Trivia time

Philadelphia and San Diego played a rain-plagued doubleheader that resulted in the latest finish ever. Where and what year was the game played?

Warring Warriors?

This will come as a huge surprise to Clippers’ fans, but Corey Maggette apparently has upset his new teammates at Golden State with his selfish play. (Yes, that was meant to be sarcastic.)

Marcus Thompson of the Contra Costa Times wrote that during the Warriors’ overtime loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Monday, Maggette and Jamal Crawford had a “heated exchange,” according to a source, and Crawford got on Maggette about his selfish play.

Crawford responded when reached via e-mail: “Don’t want to talk about it. We’ll keep that in house.”

Always like a creative way of saying no comment.

And I’m wondering whether Maggette is longing for the Clippers days of old when he watched hours and hours of film.

Trivia answer

At Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium in 1993. The Padres won the opener, 5-2, and the Phillies took the second, 6-5 in 10 innings.
It ended at 4:40 a.m. Too bad no one was blogging in those days.

And finally

The Dodgers’ Torre appeared on “Live With Regis and Kelly” and was asked by Regis Philbin about having managed Manny Ramirez last season.

“I had [Nomar] Garciaparra, I had Derek Lowe and I had Manny, and it was so nice to have the other manager worry about getting him out,” Torre said.

-- Lisa Dillman