Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Goin’ to California


The missus and I are going to San Francisco/Napa for a few days. There's supposedly a wedding we're to attend, but this is our first real trip anywhere without the kids, so it could be a lead pencil symposium and I'd be happy. I really need a few days off, and the Bay Area does not suck.

I'm not taking the computer. In fact, in the interests of detoxing, I'm not even going to look at a computer while I'm gone, email included, and I may throw my cell phone in one of those contraband bins at the airport. Anyone who truly needs to get a hold of me knows how to reach me via carrier pigeon or whatever. Upshot: if you email me and I don't respond it's not because I'm rude. It's because I'm checked out.

Please do your best to make fun of poor baseball teams and reference questionable 1980s movies without me for a few days. I'll be back and blogging on Wednesday.

Take care,

Craig
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 1:30pm (18) Comments

My Morning in Exile


Stuff I wrote while realizing that my rant yesterday is going to result in like 10 people getting me the Bob Dylan Christmas album as a gift this year:

  • Aaron Crow signs. Thank God he avoided that train wreck of an organization in Washington and got more money to boot. What? He signed with the Royals? And for half a million less than the Nats offered? Well played, Aaron!


  • Joe, you haven't worked in New York for a few years now. And you manage in Los Angeles. Ixnay on the Ankeesyay-Edray Oxsay ivalryray, OK?


  • DiMaggio was an arrogant jerk; Whitey Ford doctored the ball, says wife-swapper.


  • Framing the pitch: it's not just for Paul Bako and Charlie O'Brien anymore.


  • Remember back when the Rangers were going to trade spare catchers for Greinke and Buchholz and Porcello and eternal life and all of that? Yeah, well Pudge is OK too.


  • One of the things I've always found hardest to understand about humans is their habit of continuously stating and repeating the very very obvious, as in "It's a nice day, or "You're very tall", or "Oh dear you seem to have fallen down a thirty-foot well, are you all right?"


    • Bob Dylan Christmas: still better than Kings of Leon.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 12:44pm (7) Comments

    And That Happened


    Royals 9, Tigers 2: Five shutout innings by Greinke lowers his ERA to 2.14. No starter has been that low to finish the season since Clemens in 2005. No non-jackass starter has had one that low since Pedro in 2000. Someone please explain to me again the basis for not giving this man the Cy Young award.

    Reds 3, Marlins 2: A first inning Darnell McDonald homer and a bases loaded single by Jay Bruce held up all night. Random game story goodness: "Reds RHP Aaron Harang bought a souped-up golf cart as a gift to clubhouse attendants, to help them transport equipment and players around the ballpark." Word on the street is that it's got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant, it's got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks and it's a model made before catalytic converters so it'll run good on regular gas.

    Brewers 7, Cubs 4: Prince Fielder hit a triple to lead off the fifth. I'm as shocked as you are, but it's not like this sort of thing wasn't predicted. Note: scroll down to read the lefthand column before reading the portion that appears at the top of the page.

    Angels 4, Red Sox 3: Brian Fuentes bounces back and holds the lead in the ninth after his compadres break a tie in the top of the ninth. I guess the umps were timid or scared last night like they were on Wednesday.

    Rays 3, Orioles 0: Wade Davis was destroyed by the Red Sox in his second career start, but dismantled Baltimore in his third (CG SHO 4 H 10K). He three 124 pitches, but struck out the side in the ninth, so either he wasn't tired of the Orioles gave the hell up.

    Phillies 4, Nationals 2: Cole Hamels was perfect into the sixth inning and finished with ten strikeouts and one earned run over eight innings. Manuel allowed Lidge to pitch in a save situation. He got the save, but still gave up a run on a triple and a fielder's choice. If the Phillies bats are alive in the playoffs they're my choice to win the NL. If they play a lot of close games that are decided late, well, forget it.

    Mariners 4, White Sox 3: Jon Danks only gave up one run over eight innings, but ended up getting hosed out of the win after this baby went 14. A 14 inning game, by the way, that was eight minutes shorter than Wednesday night's nine-inning Red Sox-Angels affair.

    Braves 7, Mets 3: The Braves have won seven straight. The Mets have lost nine of their last 10. These are things that will keep me warm all winter even in the very likely event that the Braves fall short of the playoffs.

    Athletics 5, Indians 2: "We're going through a tough stretch right now," Indians manager Eric Wedge said after the game. We know. It began in early April.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 5:35am (50) Comments