FanHouse Yardbarker

John Lackey, he of Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim fame, recently started writing a blog over at Yardbarker. I had the chance to interview him through e-mail over the weekend about his foray into the blogosphere, his recent commercial shoot with Derek Jeter, if he's ever met fellow Abilene,Texas native Jessica Simpson and what he thinks of A.J. Pierzynski.

Here it is for you:

You recently blogged about your experience on that new Gatorade commercial with Derek Jeter and Harvey Keitel -- can you talk a little about what that was like?

"The commercial was a cool experience. I've never really done anything like that. It was weird the first time I saw it on TV, I had to take a double-take. It's amazing how much time it takes to shoot such a short commercial."

In addition to baseball, you also played basketball and football in high school. What positions did you play and ever wish you were still on the hardwood or gridiron?

"I played quarterback in football and was a power forward in hoops. Speaking of hoops, that dunk by Baron Davis on (Andrei) Kirilenko (Friday) night was sick. One of the best dunks I've seen, especially in the playoffs. All the guys in the clubhouse were talking about it (Saturday morning). Wow."

Some other pitchers, namely Curt Schilling, have gotten into the blogging game this season. What do you like about the experience and do you see a point in the future where a majority of players are blogging?

"The blogging experience has been fun. I've really enjoyed seeing the fan base grow and seeing how people respond. It's nice to give the fans some insight to my life, not only as a player, but a person as well. Thanks to all of you who have been reading the blog. I do think more athletes will be getting involved with blogs. It seems like it the newest trend in sports. From Schilling to Arenas, big names are getting involved on the blog scene."

We can add another pitcher to the growing list of baseball players with blogs. John Lackey of the Angels has started his own blog on Yardbarker.

It doesn't seem to be as personal as Curt Shilling's blog, but it does add some valuable insight into the way things work inside a baseball team.

We have Detroit in town for a two game set starting tonight. To prepare, our entire pitching staff meets together before the start of every series to go through the lineup we're about to face. We just finished our meeting about the Tigers. They have a tough lineup from top to bottom. Guillen, Polanco, Ordonez and Sheffield are always tough outs. We have a meeting room, it's like a board room with a big table in the middle. Our pitching coach, Mike Butcher, sits at the head of the table and leads the discussion. We go through every player on the roster, watch video of them and talk about their tendencies and strengths. While the video is playing, Mike reads the scouting report. These meetings usually last around 30 minutes.

Nothing groundbreaking, but interesting none the less. Of course, my personal favorite of the three entries Lackey has written so far have to do with playing in cold weather and against the Indians in Milwaukee.

I'm fired up to be back on the west coast. It's been a brutal trip. The weather was crappy back east and we've been getting our butts kicked. It's just been a crappy trip. We had to go to Milwaukee last week to play Cleveland. I've never heard of anything like that. It was snowing in Milwaukee too, a lot. I'm a Texas guy. I've never seen it come down like that.

Somebody buy John a thesaurus. There are so many other words for crappy. Poopy. Sucktastic. Execrable. These are just a few, there's a whole world of fun and exciting new words for you, John!

(A sexually harassing pat on the butt to Babes Love Baseball)