And That Happened: World Series

Phillies 6, Yankees 1: Cliff Lee looked like Neo on top of the building at the end of the Matrix. Like the game slowed down just for him and he could see everything in ten different ways while the Yankees were stuck in their little three dimension world. With the exception of a couple of fat pitches, CC Sabathia wasn’t bad himself, but Chase Utley deposited both of those fat pitches in the seats.

If you’re the Yankees, you can’t really worry too much about Sabathia’s fat pitches or especially what Lee just did to you. He’s good. You knew he was good. You knew that he is head and shoulders above the rest of the Phillies rotation and that losing to him is no dishonor. What you do worry about, however, is the fact that neither Phil Hughes nor David Robertson could keep it close, because Burnett and Pettitte are going to need a good bullpen behind them even more than Sabathia did, and right now that pen ain’t getting the job done.


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nate
14 years ago

Your “neither/nor” is fine, Craig.  The pairing acts as a single negative.

Craig Calcaterra
14 years ago

Nate: how it is written now is not who it was written when Chris made his comment. I had “couldn’t” instead of could in there, making it a double negative. I edited at 7:30 this morning.

MooseinOhio
14 years ago

Wake up, get to work, begin lifting the morning fog with a double espresso, start reading ATH and slide back into the nightmare of my 10th grade grammar class. 

This is not going to be a good day.

nate
14 years ago

Unless you have changed it since the post Chris made.

Jeremy
14 years ago

Cliff Lee knows there is no spoon.

g-mo
14 years ago

Sup peeps.  I never post anything here but I have to jump in to ditto what Chris Simonds says above.  It is so refreshing—rejuvenating, even—to read someone on the web who writes as well as da Shysta.  I don’t think we can complain about the availability of good writing on baseball, all things considered, but casual eloquence is rare.  (CK and Goldman have it, too, and Pete Abe if in a very different way.)

Where was I?  Oh yeah: Stay out of my booze!

“Cock back my tongue like a hammer / My head is like a nickle-plated bammer / Spit .45 caliber grammar…”

gmo

ps pete abe is a traitor

Wooden U. Lykteneau
14 years ago

@Moose – The Yankees still lost last night and Pedro is going tonight. I know it’s not 2003, but he’s not facing neither a juiced Jason Giambi nor (presumably) a ‘roided A-Rod tonight. Revel in that, if you will.

Wooden U. Lykteneau
14 years ago

(and yes, that was intentional)

Simon DelMonte
14 years ago

The game slowed down for everyone, not just Cliff Neo.  3:27?  For a pitchers duel?

Tonight will top four hours, mark my words.  I expect neither Pedro or AJ to have great stuff, and I expect both teams will come out swinging (off foul balls).

Rob²
14 years ago

Am I alone in envisioning a Leyritz-in-‘96 moment in the future for Nick Swisher?

YankeesfanLen
14 years ago

Haven’t heard a thing about whether George was there last night, but if he was the line-up today will be Jeter-Damon-Jeter-Damon-Jeter-Damon-Jeter-Damon-Jeter.

Rob²
14 years ago

Let me also add:  Dear God, please tell Girardi that you already think he’s the smartest smart manager since the dawn of Tony La Russa, Esq., and that he no longer needs to prove it to anyone by using five pitchers to get six outs.  Lord, I know that even you need to sleep, or at least start paying attention to the parts of the world where the sun is actually up.

Yes, Bruney was bad last night, but what did Girardi expect?  The kid hadn’t pitched in nearly a month.

MooseinOhio
14 years ago

@Wooden – As a Red Sox fan I certainly take pleasure in seeing the Yankees lose and almost a perverse pleasure in seeing them lose in the WS.  Having suffered several WS/one game play-ins collapses as a fan I know how painful it can be to get so close and lose and I kind of want Yankee fans to suffer the same torment I did for decades

I can still hear the 1918 taunts and cannot utter (or type) Bucky *&$@^% Dent without adding the qualifier and a part of me wants to hear Yankees fan refer to Dave Roberts the same way.  I know it is irrational, childish and less than becoming but in this one area of my life I feel more like the vengeful Inigo Montoya than a loving Gandhi. 

Is there a counselor in the house?

Adam
14 years ago

Just when I thought Cliff Lee was my worst nightmare, in came Phil Hughes.  Just when I thought Phil Hughes was my worst nightmare, in came Brian Bruney.  Just when I thought Brian Bruney was my worst nightmare, in came gerunds.

I can only hope that tonight Pedro gets hammered and tomorrow morning Craig’s grammer is as beyond reproach. 

And YankeefanLen, I believe that George was in attendance long enough to send down Phil Coke and bring up Ken Clay.

TC
14 years ago

John- Quite right. I misread. Everything is the best, right?

Rob²
14 years ago

@Adam – I think you mean “grammar”.

Jason B
14 years ago

Hereby awarded to John Willumsen: grammar rodeo, Head Buckaroo.

(Ah, the halcyon days when the Simpsons was clever and quotable…)

Jack Marshall
14 years ago

I agree completely with Wooden. And yes, it is the end of the world. Sorry.

Derek
14 years ago

Robertson wasn’t as bad as his results would indicate. The disappearance of midseason Phil Hughes is the most troubling thing for me in this postseason. What happened to that machine? Did Girardi and staff try to “improve” it?

Jeremy Fox
14 years ago

The “Cliff Lee is Neo in The Matrix” idea actually works better than maybe even Craig realized:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdLXK4cz1UQ

In this scene, Keanu Reeves is Cliff Lee, the agents are Yankees (with Hugo Weaving as A-Rod), Carrie-Anne Moss is Charlie Manuel (who sent Lee out to do battle, though presumably without kissing him on the mouth first), and Laurence Fishburn is Craig watching on tv and realizing that Cliff Lee is The One.

I’m still trying to find a role for Chase Utley. Maybe Tank?

Craig Calcaterra
14 years ago

“Carrie-Anne Moss is Charlie Manuel”

I ought to ban you for messin’ up one of my all-time great fictional character fantasy objects.

Chris Simonds
14 years ago

The construction should be “is the fact that Phil Hughes nor David Robertson could keep it close” or “is the fact that Phil Hughes and David Robertson couldn’t keep it close”. Double negative the way you have it.

Yeh, it’s 7:01 am and I am obsessing over grammar. Only because your making a mistake in regular English syntax is so rare – the intelligence revealed in your sentence construction is one of the pleasures of reading your stuff. It’s amazing as well, considering the hour at which you must usually write ATH, and that the other items must be written between the cross-eyed headaches that come from digesting legal briefs.

Your slang is also impeccable, by the standards of slang.

I will shut up now, and for the rest of the day.

grin

Craig Calcaterra
14 years ago

No need to shut up, Chris. The heads up is much appreciated.

Devon
14 years ago

Your opening line, “Cliff Lee looked like Neo on top of the building at the end of the Matrix” …is the best description yet, of what I saw last night.

TC
14 years ago

Chris: I, too, love grammar.  But more than that, I love when people make simple mistakes while correcting another’s usage.  Your/you’re, indeed.  Loves forever, of course. 

How ‘bout that Cliff Lee, though?  I especially liked the pop-up.  That was great.  More of that, less of everything else, please.

John Willumsen
14 years ago

TC: I, three, love grammar. But more than that, I love when people make simple mistakes while pointing out when people make simple mistakes while correcting another’s usage. wink I’ve parsed Chris’s sentence six times and I can’t find the your/you’re error. I assume I’m missing it. However, just in case I’m not missing it, I’m going to guess you’re referring to the bit where he says “your making a mistake in regular English syntax is so rare.” The “your” there is the correct usage; “making” is a gerund in this case, functioning as a noun and the subject of the verb “is” (“is so rare”), not a participle, as would be the case if Chris said, “CC, you’re making a mistake in English syntax.” “Your (making a mistake) is rare” functions exactly as would “Your (intelligence) is remarkable.”

Anywho, I don’t actually love grammar. What I love is bacon. And I hope we can agree on that.

Richard Dansky
14 years ago

If Cliff Lee is Neo, does that mean his next two starts are going to be meandering, self-indulgent, and ultimately pointless?