Welcome to the first Humpday version of The Grind podcast. Please make a note of the schedule change. You'll find the similarities between the new schedule and the Thursday show uncanny except for the fact that it happens one day earlier. This will no doubt infuriate our 10's of listeners but we've concluded that Thursday is just too damn close to Friday and if we're expected to show up for work sober(ish), drastic measures needed to be implemented. Now that we've managed to beat this dead horse in to a glue-stick, let's check out the menu for today's podcasting topics du jour.

keep losing as manager Joe Maddon plays the fiddle while Rome burns (yeah, we know you're impressed with our historical metaphors). The mentality in the club house from the skipper down to the ball boy seems to be one joint short of a Cheech and Chong flick. It was nice when Evan Longoria got up in the grill of BJ Upton but Merlot Joe managed to water that down by "benching" the slacker but only after insisting it was for a regularly scheduled resting period he enforces on all his players. So we ask the question the rest of the press will never dare:

"Are you guys stoned?"

Seriously, not all of you. But BJ, we've heard the rumors. Fess up. When you got picked off the other day, were you dreaming of chocolate rivers and gumdrop falls? Did your walk-up music sound particularly "groovy" when you went 0 for 9 in front of your family? When Longoria approached you, did you think he was a nark? Are these attacks on your lack of hustle "major uncool?" When you look at your hand, is it awesome? These are just simple questions, BJ? Unless you're baked.

This article appears in Jun 24-30, 2010.