Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

The Giants make an odd move


The Giants have called up pitching prospect Madison Bumgarner. Is this evidence that (a) Brad Penny really wasn't the answer; (b) evidence that Brian Sabean thinks he has his own David Price v.2008 on his hand; (c) evidence that the Giants are throwing in the towel in an effort to get the future some innings; or (d) something else I'm simply not aware of because I don't follow the Giants too closely and have been out of town and away from the Internet for a few days? It just strikes me that he doesn't have a slot, and given how young he is, it may be best to rest his arm.

Competing theories appreciated.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 5:21pm (17) Comments

My Morning in Exile


Three day weekends screw me up for a good five days:

  • Was Shoeless Joe innocent? You won't find that answer to that question in the linked article, but you will find some dirt thrown on the "Eight Men Out" version of things.


  • Lou Gehrig: The Iron Horse's Ass. OK, not really, but that's probably how today's tabloids would have played it.


  • Tom Glavine isn't going to pitch in 2010. Try to remain calm.


  • Even if Oakland has no future as their home, the Athletics' future is bright.


  • Charlie Manuel drops some F-bombs. At least I'm assuming they were F-bombs. What else gets the [expletive] treatment these days?


  • Finally, Bobby Valentine and Chip Hale look to be the strongest candidates for the Nats' job. In other news, I'm pretty sure that there was an early-60s duo named "Bobby and Chip" who performed songs written by the Brill Building combo of "Valentine and Hale." The had some hits about teenagers and racing and necking and people dying in cars on prom night or somesuch. Good stuff, really.


    • Sorry that this post is a bit late today. I've been trying for two hours to work up a joke that ties the Eight Men Out story to my weekend visit to the old railroad town of Thurmond, West Virginia via John Sayles and "Matewan," but there were just too many moving parts.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 1:52pm (11) Comments

    Great Moments in local halls of fame


    I was reading PFT this morning and came across Carson Palmer saying that he was certain that sometime, maybe soon, a football player is going to die on the field from a collision. Then I read Florio's followup comment: "The worst-case scenario will happen when two guys moving at maximum velocity crash their bodies together at, for one of them, an angle and position that shatters the bones around the top of the spine and severs the cord that those bones protect. And, yes, at some point in the future, it will happen."

    As soon as I read that, I thought "See, this is why I've moved on from pro football. They're too fast. They're too big. They're too strong. Someone, dadgummit, is gonna get killed! This is why I like baseball!"

    Then I was reminded:

    The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame has selected the late pitcher Carl Mays for induction, 89 years after one of his pitches killed another player.

    Mays won 207 games during a 15-season career that ended in 1929 and he died 40 years ago. His accomplishments were overshadowed by the pitch on Aug. 16, 1920, that killed Indians shortstop Ray Chapman. Mays, who was pitching for the Yankees, said the beaning was unintentional.

    I'm still not a big fan of pro football, but it's worth remembering that freak crap can happen no matter what you do for a living. Heck, people die in law offices.

    Anyway, congratulations, ghost of Carl Mays.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 1:34pm (11) Comments

    Fernando Rodney avoids prison


    And gets off with a nice three-game suspension:

    Detroit Tigers pitcher Fernando Rodney has been suspended for three games and fined for throwing a ball toward the stands following a game last week.

    During a postgame celebration on the field after Detroit beat Tampa Bay 4-3 on Friday night, Rodney threw the game ball toward the seats and it ended up in the press box. No one was hit by the ball, which Rodney said he was throwing to the fans.

    If some dude had bolted in the wrong direction it could have meant jail. Based on recent precedent, however, he could have successfully fended off a lawsuit.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 12:58pm (2) Comments

    Great Moments in Tortured Analogies


    I do my best to steer as clear from politics as possible in this space. But at the risk of crossing the line, I link to an editorial that uses an extended analogy involving Major League Baseball to talk about the health care debate. The upshot: health care reform that involves a public plan would be the equivalent of Major League Baseball itself forming a team that competes with the existing 30 teams:

    The analog in baseball would be for Major League Baseball — the corporate entity that oversees the game — to field a team that competed with other MLB teams. And that this MLB-owned team could play by a different set of rules (didn’t need to support its expenses, could have losses subsidized by taxpayers, etc).

    One can imagine that such a team could hire the best players, charge less for tickets and potentially win the most games while running huge deficits. Even if the MLB-owned team was forced to play by the same financial rules, it would nevertheless send a strong message to others that it doesn’t believe that the other MLB teams were playing to their potential, and that it could do better.

    I'm kind of torn here, because while the flaming pinko inside of me would like to see some sort of public option, the idea that Bud Selig and Bob DuPuy could do better running a team than Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman is rather laughable.

    And folks: I won't tell anyone how to comment, but I'd really like to not see this turned into a serious and ugly political thread. I'm much more interested in exploring the problems, appropriateness or general absurdity of the basic analogy in baseball terms than in bringing health care politics into this space. But as is always the case, it's your thread.

    Now, onto that proposal to allow Don Fehr to address our nation's school children later today . . .
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 10:42am (23) Comments

    Programming Note


    Hey all -- sorry, but there's no ATH this morning. I got back from my weekend in WV later than I had planned last night, other stuff took precedence, and before I knew it, it was late and I just wasn't able to get to the games. Apologies.

    There will be normal blogging otherwise today, and ATH will return tomorrow. In the meantime, here is a swell picture of my son fishing in WV while wearing a Cubs hat.

    Craig
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 5:35am (7) Comments