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November 23, 2009
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Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.Friday, April 10, 2009Martinez UpdateEarlier today the Chronicle was reporting that Joe Martinez only had a concussion, but apparently there are some broken bones too: Further tests revealed three hairline fractures in the skull of Giants rookie Joe Martinez, who was struck by a Mike Cameron liner in the ninth inning of Thursday's 7-1 victory against Milwaukee. The fractures were not apparent last night, when Martinez was diagnosed with a concussion. Given how bad it looked when it happened, it's a relief that his injuries, while certainly serious, are relatively minor. Maz’s WallEarlier this week I took shots at ballclubs and architects for manufacturing history and nostaliga in the service of their new ballparks. I'll probably never be a fan of that. Real history, however? That's another story altogether: Mazeroski Way now leads to Bill Mazeroski's wall at PNC Park. See, that's cool. Unfortunately, the era in which most structural history of that vintage could have been preserved -- the 60s and 70s -- coincided with a time when no one gave much thought to such a thing. Madoff’s seatsI recall seeing a couple of weeks ago that Bernie Madoff's seats were going to be sold off, but I didn't realize that they were going on eBay: The two tickets for Monday's Citi Field opener owned by Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities were bid up to $1,925 by noon EDT Friday on eBay. Seats 5-6 in the eighth row in section 11, just to the home plate side of the New York Mets' dugout, are being sold by the trustee overseeing the liquidation of Madoff's businesses. I'll fly if you buy. Big League ClubzSchlotzsky's is still around? Do you know anyone who has eaten at one in like five years? Consumers seeking more bang for their dining-out buck need look no farther than participating Schlotzsky's restaurants. Between now and May 31, the bases are loaded with three rookie players from the newly formed, highly stacked Big League Clubz line-up . . . Seriously, I represented Schlotzksy's in a giant arbitration against its franchisees eight or nine years ago. We got creamed, and probably deserved it, that operation was in such bad shape. If you would have told me that company would still be around in 2009, I would have called you crazy. But hey, maybe they got "lotz better." Cubs fans, real and phonyAfter the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, it became apparent that there was a serious schism in Red Sox Nation, with old timers who were around -- or who at least claimed to be around -- back in the bad old days and who wore their suffering on their sleeve on the one hand, and newbie, pink-hat-wearing, in-Boston-for-college-only Sox fans on the other. The antagonism between these two groups -- which is a separate thing than the acrimony between the entirety of Red Sox Nation and non-Sox fans at large -- still brews, though it has died down a bit since the second championship and years of elite play have lowered the stakes as to who can claim what. Apparently Cubs fans have the same sort of dynamic about them: The real Cubs fans, the ones who could cite the hometowns of all the players involved in the Lou Brock trade or Charlie Grimm's 1931 on-base percentage, are some of the best fans on the planet for not only putting up with, but for somehow taking pleasure in, everything thrown their way. The chronic losing. The owners who raked in the cash but refused to spend it on talent because Wrigley Field is a tourist destination that draws no matter the state of the team. Wrigley itself, a place where reality shatters mythology once the discomfort from everything common to a 95-year-old building sets in. Those are the people who aren't oblivious to such obstacles toward their enjoyment, but accept them as reality because, darn it, the Cubs are their team, always have been and always will be because any day is a beautiful day to play two. I guess the only difference here is that the rest of the country is learning about the sectarian nature of Cubs' fandom before they win a championship rather than after. (thanks to Lar, who's going to see the Brewers-Cubs game today -- for the link) My Morning in ExileAs I've mentioned a couple of times, I'm now contributing to a group blog over at NBC in addition to my Shysterbally duties. We're still working the kinks out, but as of today there's five days worth of content under our belts, and it's starting to feel a bit more normal. The THT folks have been really nice about accomodating my bloggy polygamy, and I'm grateful for that. In exchange, I've made a point to try and keep kosher and not over-pollute this space with linkbacks to the other space, because in a lot of ways they are different worlds. That said, going forward I'm going to put up one post a day -- which I'm tentatively titling "My Morning in Exile" -- with links to my NBC stuff so you Calcaterra completists out there don't have to go clicking all over creation. Thanks for indulging me. I had one more post about how Bob Costas, John Madden, Tina Fey, Matt Lauer, Lorne Michaels and Brian Williams were communists intent on undermining our Republic, but the editors spiked it for some reason. Total ripoff if you ask me, but that's what happens when you work for The Man. 2009 SalariesToday your installment of sports business porn is supplied by Maury Brown, who has gathered all of the salary info for 2009. Included is average salary per League and division, some top 10 lists, etc. Insert your "but they're playing a game" complaint in the comments. Comment of the DayThis comes in response to Wednesday's grouchy mocking of the Todd Stottlemyre-funded Twitter/day-trading venture, StockTwits.com: As a fan of both Twitter and StockTwits (though I know one of the founders…), I have to step up to defend StockTwits. It’s a bit unfair to condemn it… Twitter, when used properly, becomes an amazingly useful information and communications tool. And That HappenedBlue Jays 6, Tigers 2: The Rick Porcello era gets off to a somewhat rocky start (5 IP, 9 H, 4 ER). But don't worry: the Tim Lincecum Era began with five runs on five hits in four and a third. Wait, maybe you should worry, because before I found Lincecum's bad first performance I searched through about six or seven other elite pitchers' first outings, and couldn't find another one as bad as Porcello's. Heck, just look across the diamond for a better debut: Rickey Romero (W, 6 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 5K). Reds 8, Mets 6: Wait, I thought I read over the offseason that Oliver Perez was the greatest lefthander since Koufax or something. How then did he give up eight runs in four innings? I do hope that the author of that report wasn't engaging in puffery and ballyhoo! Royals 2, White Sox 1: Where does Kyle Davies get off throwing seven shutout innings? I mean, yeah, it was against what is shaping up to be a pretty anemic White Sox offense, but this is Kyle Davies we're talking about here, and he hasn't been able to get anyone out for a good long while. Another reason why I love Ozzie Guillen so much: in yesterday's Chicago Sun-Times he was quoted as saying that he doesn't care what anyone thinks, DeWayne Wise was his leadoff hitter. A few hours later, Wise in penciled in eighth in the order. You can't buy that kind of crazy on the open market. Yankees 11, Orioles 2: Nick Swisher provides a constructive F.U. to whoever it was decided that he wasn't a starter for this team, by going 3-5 with a double, a homer and 5 RBI. A.J. Burnett was effective enough for five innings and picked up the win, and Mark Teixeira hit a homer, so New York can probably stop freaking out now. At least until tomorrow. Rangers 12, Indians 8: Your washed-update for today: Andruw Jones rising (3-5, 2B RBI, inexplicably batting cleanup for the scariest offensive team in baseball) and Carl Pavano falling (1 IP, 6 H, 9 ER, leading the charge for a rotation that probably wishes it didn't start the year in Texas). Rays 4, Red Sox 3: Fun stats: "In all, the Rays have won 13 of their last 19 games against the Red Sox . . ." and "Tampa Bay heads to Baltimore to play the Orioles, a team the Rays have beaten 12 straight times." It hadn't occurred to me to even imagine that the Rays could just dominate this division, but it could happen. If, say, they jump out to a comfortable lead while the older teams take a while to get going? I think that would probably be the story of 2009 if they did that, and the only way to top 2008 in terms of WTF factor. Padres 4, Dodgers 3: Lots of "we're not going anywhere, we're young, we're hungry" talk coming from the Padres after this one. It's so heart warming to see that kind of thing every year. The Nats were like that a couple of years ago. Indeed lots of teams have played this role in Aprils past. Such optimism! Such pluck! Such confidence despite the fact that everyone who knows anything about this game knows that the long grind of the Major League season leaves nowhere for a thin, under-talented team to hide. It's noble, even, like a brave stand of an outgunned opponent against superior forces. The valiant bearing of an army that, while ultimately doomed, holds strong, with its face turned into the sun, awaiting its doom but confident that it will be remembered with honor. Cardinals 2, Pirates 1: Rob Neyer, on Wednesday: "I can't see the Cards making much noise without an ace, and I don't see any aces except for maybe [Carpenter]." It's just the Pirates, but maybe Carpenter (7 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 7K) is the ace they're looking for. Mariners 2, Twins 0: Jarrod Washburn was fantastic (8 IP, 5 H, 0 ER). Washburn only went eight innings in two starts all last year, neither of which were as good as this start. Giants 7, Brewers 1: Joe Martinez was nailed in the head by a Mike Cameron line drive in the ninth. Martinez seems OK, but according to the game story, Cameron was beside himself after the incident: He grimaced, looked away and slowed while running to first base. Not to be insensitive, but it appears he wasn't so distraught that he didn't take second base on the play, right? Or is that an automatic double or something? I'm really not sure. Angels-A's, postponed: Godspeed, Nick Adenhart. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
