FanHouse Bob Uecker

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.

Oakland Athletics (51-46) at New York Yankees (52-45) - 1:05 PM ET

In case yesterday's Yankee starter Joba Chamberlain needs a role model to help him make a more seamless transition from reliever to starter, he need look no further than across the diamond at today's Oakland starter, Justin Duchscherer. "Duke" is 10-5 with a 1.82 ERA after making the transition, and has been keeping the Athletics in the race even after guys like Rich Harden and Joe Blanton were sent packing. But with Duchscherer looking for a long term deal, could he be the next to go? Just as Duchscherer would be looking to cash in on his best season, Billy Beane may be looking to cash in as well, as Duchscherer is a free agent after this season.

But in the meantime, Duchscherer will try like heck to prevent a Yankee sweep as he goes up against Andy Pettitte.

The Detroit Tigers may be playing their best baseball of the season right now, winning eleven of their last fourteen games to move withing six games of the White Sox, but closer Todd Jones and his teammates have something else on their minds right now: San Francisco Chronicle Giants beat reporter Henry Schulman.

While the Tigers were in San Francisco last week, Schulman wrote a column in which he referred to Ryan Raburn as a "scrub" after Raburn hit a home run off of Jonathan Sanchez. Well, Jones writes a column for the Detroit Free Press, and in his latest effort he explains why he and his teammates do not appreciate such remarks.

When we read that, we lost our collective minds.

Henry Schulman just called one of our teammates a scrub.

Isn't that a little harsh? I can't think of anybody who has ever played in the major leagues as a scrub -- not even Bob Uecker.

I just noticed Will's post at Deadspin today pointing out that today is the ten year anniversary of Harry Caray's death, and it got me thinking about one of the saddest developments in sports these days, the disappearance of the old time baseball announcer. With TV the way it is, there's no room for characters like Jack Buck or Caray these days, and we're left with polished, homogeneous announcers like their sons, who work for either the teams themselves or a network and just don't elicit the same emotional reaction that a someone like Caray or Bob Prince or Ernie Harwell can. We've still got Vin Scully and Bob Uecker, but they won't be around forever, either.

Anyways, in memory of Caray today, I've got one of my favorite YouTube videos posted above of Harry leading Wrigley Field in a "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." If you're looking for more, Home Run Derby's got a great post up about a random phone call to Caray. If there's one thing we can all learn from these recent steroid developments, it's that baseball takes itself way too seriously and could use some more characters like Caray.

NOTE: In October 2006 Ms. Ladd's stalking charges had been dismissed by a Wisconsin court.

If you weren't aware, Brewers announcer Bob Uecker does indeed have a fan once charged with stalking. And no, it's not that lovely lady pictured with Uecker there. That's Chelsea Cooley, former Miss USA -- a stalker I'm sure Uecker would welcome with open arms.

Mr. Belvedere's bud took out a restraining order on the overzealous fan back in June and a court ordered her to stay 500 feet (or 1,000, depending on your news source) away from Uecker. She was also banned from attending Brewers games. Or so we all thought. Bum, bum, bum.

The baseball team notified the Phoenix police that Ann E. Ladd was at Monday's game, Police Sgt. Joel Tranter said Tuesday. A restraining order issued in September bars Ladd from games Uecker is announcing and requires her to stay at least 500 feet away from him.

Uecker was not announcing the Brewers' game against the Cubs. The Brewers would not say whether he was at the ballpark in Phoenix.

Ladd voluntarily left the game when asked, Tranter said.

"She was peaceful and had a ticket to the game," he said. "We were asked to escort her away. She's no longer welcome back."

Ladd received a trespass warning and was told that could be be arrested if she returned, Tranter said. Assistant district attorney Philip Arieff said his office is monitoring the situation.

Why Ladd thinks Uecker is worthy of all this attention is beyond me. Although, this is coming from a guy who once followed NSYNC's tour bus across three states until I ran out of gas, so I might not be the best frame of reference for this one.

I love you guys!