Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.

Friday, May 15, 2009

“On the Road” was really about splits


The guy who wrote this:

They danced down the streets like dingledodies, and I shambled after as I've been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn...

Was really into fantasy baseball. Sort of. Just read it.

(thanks to John Walsh for the heads up)
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 9:27pm (3) Comments

My Morning in Exile


A comment I received to one of my NBC posts this morning:

Craig, I understand that you are an MSNBC employee, but this isn't a "News Event" piece. It's an "Opinion" piece. An opinion I largely share, incidentally, but listing this as news instead of opinion seems to be ethically murky, particularly by a professional.

So there you have it; blogs can't offer opinion. I hope that guy doesn't go reading my archives from the past two years or else I'll be in real trouble. Anyway:

  • A profoundly unscientific and unserious look at how A-Rod performs when coming back from controversy.


  • Milton Bradley gives good quote.


  • Cal Ripken will take your money to come speak at your banquet, but if you think he's going to eat with you or talk to you, you have another thing coming.


  • The Red Sox are almost done with the west coast for the season. Screw that, let's bring back the balanced schedule.


  • Finally, Ken Burns tips off where his upcoming "10th Inning" sequel to "Baseball" will be coming from. Hint: less sepia, more Winstrol.


    • And once again I have to aplogize to you, dear readers. I have a huge brief that has to be filed today, and I'm nowehere near done with it. That means that I have to pry myself away from the blog this afternoon.

    I promise sanity and more regular posting will resume on Monday.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 11:57am (7) Comments

    The Feds are still on Clemens’ case


    Just in case you were wondering if the feds had given up on Roger Clemens:

    Federal agents recently questioned a longtime associate of Jose Canseco and Roger Clemens as the Justice Department continues its investigation into whether the seven-time Cy Young Award winner lied when he testified under oath before a congressional committee that he never used performance-enhancing drugs.

    The agents interviewed Glenn Dunn, Canseco's Coral Park (Miami) High School baseball coach and a friend of Clemens since the 1990s, on three occasions in the last two months.

    From the sounds of things, this Dunn guy does more to muck things up than to clarify anything, with his testimony backing Jose Canseco's regarding that famous barbecue Roger may or may not have attended. McNamee says he was there. Many others with looser ties to Clemens and little incentive to lie corroborate McNamee's account.

    Those of us concerned that our government isn't focusing on the important issues in the world are tearing our hair out that federal agents have spent a year tracking down the attendance list of an 11 year-old barbecue.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 10:12am (3) Comments

    “Am I in trouble?”


    Manny Ramirez is acting all shy and embarassed and is sending mixed signals as to whether he's going to meet up with the Dodgers when they arrive in Miami today. Some insight into his mindsent can be found here.

    (link via IIATMS)
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 9:18am (4) Comments

    The Secret of the Curve Ball


    Curveballs: they're not just for junkballers anymore:

    The three best visual illusions in the world were chosen at a gathering last weekend of neuroscientists and psychologists at the Naples Philharmonic Center for the Arts in Florida. The winning entry, from a Bucknell University professor, may help explain why curve balls in baseball are so tricky to hit.

    A properly thrown curve ball spins in a way that makes the air on one side move faster than on the other. This causes the ball to move along a gradual curve. From the point of view of a batter standing on home plate, though, curve balls seem to "break," or move suddenly in a new direction. This year's winning illusion, created by Arthur Shapiro of Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, may explain this phenomena. His animation shows a spinning ball that, when watched directly, moves in a straight line. When seen out of the corner of the eye, however, the spin of the ball fools the brain into thinking that the ball is curving.

    Click through for the animation, which is pretty spiffy.

    After watching it, though, I can't help but wonder: if the key to slowing down the perceived break of a curveball is to view it head-on instead of with peripheral vision, why didn't Tony Batista hit better than he did?

    (Thanks to The Diabolical Sara K for the link)
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 8:55am (4) Comments

    And That Happened


    Angels 5, Red Sox 4: The stories today will all be about David Ortiz's 0-7, 12 LOB performance. Which they probably should be. Pedroia was on base in front of him five times alone. Give the man a day off. Move him down in the order. Something. As for Anaheim, Ervin Santana made his season debut, but wasn't a big factor (5 IP, 7 H, 3 ER). Torii Hunter had three hits and three RBIs and now sits at .320/.384/.623. It's early, but he's an MVP candidate, ain't he?

    Cardinals 5, Pirates 1: St. Louis salvages one. I see that only 12,000 attended. I can't do it justice in this space, but an odd little personal quirk of mine is that I really, really like going to baseball games in half-empty stadiums when games mean very little. It's relaxing and comfy and gets at the essence of all I love about baseball. Cincinnati and Cleveland draw too well to replicate the experience I'm after properly, so since it's only three hours away, I think one of the first things I do once someone pays me to write about baseball full time is to buy a half-season package at PNC and spend every other home series there or something.

    Rangers 3, Mariners 2: All three Ranger runs come in the bottom of the ninth off of Brandon Morrow. Take a bow, Brandon! The game took 2:10. Can you say "getaway day?"

    Astros 5, Rockies 3: Where are the Astros without Wandy Rodriguez? (7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 11K, 0 BB). In other news, stealing home is the new black, with Michael Bourn doing it yesterday. It was a double steal though, so it was nowhere near as impressive as Ellsbury's or Werth's. The whole concept is getting old, though. Let's try something new. How about this: challenging the old maxim and see if someone can't steal first. Be honest: brilliant, or really, really brilliant?

    Cubs 11, Padres 3: Game story: "Scalesie is swinging the bat," manager Lou Piniella said. "He wants some playing time. He's taking advantage of it. It's a nice story." Look Lou, the man spent 11 years in the minors while dudes with way less talent than him became millionaires. He's now enjoying what is likely to be an all-too-brief moment in the sun. Don't freakin' ruin it by saddling him with "Scalesie." How about "Red"? You know, like from Shawshank? The man who, despite all reasonable expectations, never became institutionalized. Never resigned himself to a life inside -- or in his case the minors -- even when he had every excuse to do so. OK, maybe that's dumb, but it beats the living hell out of "Scalesie."

    Twins 6, Tigers 5: Justin Verlander deserved a heck of a lot better than what he got (6.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 13K). Game story: "The Twins improved to 2-7 in day games this season, worst in the majors." When you play in the Metrodome, how is a day game any different than a night game?

    Dodgers 5, Phillies 3: Nice duel between Billingsley and Hamels for seven innings before it was taken over by the pens. After the game, The Dodgers called up Eric Milton, who will start on Saturday in place of Jeff Weaver, which is really a case of jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.

    Brewers 5, Marlins 3: Ken Macha on Dave Bush: "It's not a lot of bling for him. He just goes out there, and it's workmanlike." It's cute when guys pushing 60 use 10 year-old slang.

    Indians 11, Rays 7: Just an ugly game all around for the Rays. The fifth inning in particular was a defensive apocalypse. Iwamura booted what would have been out number three. Then Victor Martinez hit a double to centerfield that would have been caught if Upton wasn't playing so shallow. Then Choo hit a double to left that would have been caught if Zobrist wasn't playing so shallow. Then Longoria let a ball play him on a grounder to third that allowed DeRosa to reach. The last one didn't result in any runs being scored, but it just underscored how ugly an evening it was out there. For the Indians: Asdrubal Cabrera: 4-5, 2 RBI, 4 R and a sick range into the hole/jump-throw in the fifth that probably relegate Jhonny Peralta to third base for the rest of his career.

    Yankees 3, Blue Jays 2: We now appear to have reached the portion of the season in which CC Sabathia ceases to suck. It began about this time last year, with a nice performance on May 9th and a shutout against the A's on May 14th. As for today: 8 IP, 5 H, 2 ER and the win. He'll take it, as will Yankees fans.

    Orioles 9, Royals 5: Six straight losses for the suddenly human Kansas City Royals.

    Mets 7, Giants 4: What were the odds that the Mets would set a team stolen base record -- seven swipes -- while Jose Reyes was sitting on the bench? Certainly longer than the odds that Brian Wilson would blow up in the ninth, because he does that from time to time.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 4:56am (4) Comments