Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Pearlman on McGwire


Jeff Pearlman brings the Mark McGwire sanctimony:

Worst of all, however, McGwire was a baseball thief. At the very moment his 341-foot home run landed behind the outfield fence, he robbed Roger Maris of the most important record in professional sports. He robbed the Maris family of future income from 61-related merchandising and events. He robbed the Hall of Fame -- which swooped up McGwire memorabilia as if it were free Twinkies -- of its credibility, he robbed those fans who spent hundreds of dollars for a ticket in order to witness history and he robbed thousands upon thousands of kids of a seemingly genuine role model.

If the baseball record book is the sport's Holy Bible, than McGwire is a 3-year old armed with a permanent marker. The damage is not merely done -- it is un-erasable. (Of course, along by such analogous measures, Barry Bonds is a 3-year-old with a permanent marker, a torch and a vat of gasoline).

Pearlman often writes how disgusted he is with what baseball has become. I can't help but think that if he hadn't had such a ridiculously idealistic notion of what it was in the first place, he never would have crashed so hard to begin with.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 2:56pm (41) Comments

Great Moments in Niche Blogging


Reader and Dodger fan Josh Fisher has found his bloggy calling. It's called Dodger Divorce. But allow Josh to explain it:

Greetings, Dodger fans, and a pleasant afternoon to you, wherever you may be. Welcome to Dodger Divorce, a blog designed to be your one-stop shop for news and insight into the McCourt divorce and how it will affect the Boys in Blue.

If you're a Dodger fan, I presume that you'll want this blog to run out of content as soon as possible. Based on what we've seen in the last week, however, I see no danger of that happening.

Good luck, Josh!
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 1:58pm (2) Comments

My Morning in Exile


As brushes with celebrity go, this is pretty good. Not as good as that time I was at the urinal next to a totally wasted Marshall Faulk at the Bellagio during the Rams' bye-week in the 2001-02 playoffs, put pretty good.

  • Yankee Stadium has been quiet . . . too quiet [arrow flies into back; keels over dead in front of his second in command; rest of calvary unnerved]


  • Jeter calls his two-strike bunt attempt "dumb." If my experience is any guide, Jeter fans are really going to let Jeter have it for criticizing Jeter like that.


  • Great ratings so far. And an exciting Series for pitchingphiles like me.


  • I think the Red Sox are putting on some Kabuki theater when it comes to the Jason Bay negotiations.


  • Leave A-Rod alone.


  • Some more bad calls last night. Though to be fair, neither of which would have been noticed if it weren't for the really bad ones earlier in the postseason. Bonus: I use a different permutation of the hacky "Empire Strikes Back" thing in the headline. I'm so damn clever I ought to be made King Clever, ruler of all of Cleverland.


    • The next night, also at the Bellagio, I saw Fred Schneider of the B52s dining alone at Circo. If you made a list of 1000 celebrities who you'd expect to see dining alone, would Fred Schneider ever be on it? I figured that the "Love Shack" video was one of his home movies.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 11:19am (13) Comments

    And That Happened: World Series


    Yankees 3, Phillies 1: The Empire Strikes Back. Sorry, that was totally hacky. I haven't looked, but I'm guessing that line is being used by no less than two dozen outlets this morning. Anyone that can find them and make a note of it in the comments gets bonus points. Anyway:

    In the copious back and forth I had with Phillies fans in my "it's not time to panic yet, Yankees" post, almost everyone said that Burnett would get lit up last night because, well, I don't know exactly why. Yes, the guy was a bit erratic down the stretch, but he was still an above average pitcher this season, totally capable of dropping a nice performance like this one last night. Teixeira and Matsui shaking off the cobwebs was welcome too. And for the "good outcomes don't mean good decisions were made" file, how about Molina picking off Werth and Posada hitting that pinch hit RBI? I bet Burnett still has good stuff and wins last night even if Posada was behind the plate, but with it breaking down the way it did, Girardi will probably get some genius points today, for whatever they're worth.

    Ah, Pedro. I love the guy. Like I said over at NBC, I hoped like hell that he would be able to catch some 1999 lightning in a bottle. He didn't quite do that -- who could? -- but he gave a solid and gutsy performance, showing all of the smarts and guile he's always had, even if he doesn't have the velocity anymore. But really, if you had told anyone before the game that he'd throw over 100 pitches, lasting into the seventh and giving up only two runs before his exit, you would have assumed a Philly win, right? He was just met with a better performance by his counterpart. That happens.

    I can't tell you how much I've been enjoying this World Series so far. I'm a pitching guy, and we're four for four in solid starting pitching performances. Here's hoping it keeps up.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 5:38am (31) Comments

    Thursday, October 29, 2009

    Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails


    You may remember The Baseball Project, which was a supergroup of sorts (R.E.M.'s Peter Buck being the biggest name) that put out an album of baseball-related songs last year called "Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails." I had it in my "must acquire and listen to" file but lost track of it. MooseinOhio had his ears on last night and heard it featured on NPR's World Cafe last night. Interviews with the principals and some of the music.

    A good time killer before tonight's game.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 3:12pm (10) Comments

    Phillies trying to end World Series drought


    Ya gotta believe:

    The last time the Philadelphia Phillies brought a World Series title back to the City of Brotherly Love, the nation’s financial sector was in complete ruin, the cost of a gallon of milk was only $2.74, fans watched the Fall Classic while huddled around their slightly-less-streamlined high-definition television sets, and Philadelphia slugger Ryan Howard was just 28 years old.

    This week Howard, 29, hopes to lead the Phillies to their first World Series championship in more than 360 long days and end a title drought that has been punctuated by several embarrassing losses, including a 2009 opening-day defeat by the Atlanta Braves and a June loss to the Atlanta Braves. During its infamous dry spell, the team has also come up short twice, winning both an NLDS and an NLCS title but having absolutely no World Series ring to show for it.

    To put into perspective just how long the Phillies have gone without a championship, the earth has almost made one full orbit of the sun since the franchise last paraded through downtown Philadelphia holding the famed Commissioner’s Trophy.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 3:01pm (11) Comments

    Great Moments in World Series History


    A 5-0 Phillies lead has Mayor Bloomberg snoozing, Bernie Williams happy.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 1:50pm (6) Comments

    22 milliseconds = $850K


    A big products liability award for the family of a dead American Legion pitcher and against the maker of an aluminum bat company:

    Attorneys for Hillerich & Bradsby Co. argued any other bat would not have hit the ball differently; in fact, they said, most bats on the market at the time would have struck the ball harder. Patch’s death was a tragic accident, they said. The defense lawyers declined comment after the verdict was read.

    Baseballs hit with aluminum bats, such as the one used in that American Legion game, only give pitchers milliseconds to respond in a defensive stance, the plaintiffs said. Plaintiff’s attorney Joe White said the average time needed by a pitcher to defend a batted ball is 400 milliseconds. Patch had 378 milliseconds to respond, he said.

    I've never read the pleadings in this case and I'm not a products lawyer, so I have no idea if this is a crazy verdict or not. I will say, however, that I'm pretty dubious about such claims in general. And I say that even though I'm generally anti-aluminum bat.

    UPDATE: to clarify: my general position on this is that aluminum bats are either inherently safe with proper use or inherently unsafe and are incapable of proper use that won't cause injury. The presence or absence of a warning, or a milisecond difference between reaction times off of various aluminum bats does not seem like it would render the bat either safe or unsafe to use. As such, these kinds of bats should either be banned, or else we should accept comebackers to the mound as accidents, however unfortunate they might be.

    (link via BTF)
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 12:47pm (26) Comments

    My Morning in Exile


    Columbus, Ohio has the highly annoying habit of scheduling trick-or-treating on nights other than Halloween. They call it "beggar's night" and after 18 years in this town, I've still never heard an adequate explanation for why kids can't go door-to-door on the 31st. Some have suggested non-interference with high school or college football, but they move it even when Halloween falls on a Monday-Thursday. Some have claimed that, many years ago, Columbus held some city-wide Halloween party on the 31st and they wanted people to be able to do both, but no such beast exists today. There's really no good explanation. My suburb actually does it on the 31st most years, but this year they're falling in with Columbus. So we go trick-or-treating with the kids tonight, 6pm-8pm, followed by a good hour of trying to bring my children down from their sugar highs before bed.

    So I guess what I'm saying is, no one email me with mid-game spoilers, because I'm going to be DVRing that bad boy and watching it late. In the meantime:

  • The post in which I write "don't panic" in large friendly letters on the cover.


  • Pedro is probably going to get shelled tonight.


  • I can't decide if I'm more surprised that FOX did nothing to make me angry last night or more angry that I have nothing to be angry about today.


  • ESPN's Howard Bryant has no sense of decency, sir. At long last he has no sense of decency.


  • Tim Hudson is about to agree to a three-year extension with the Braves. Frank Wren trades the wrong superfluous starter in 3 . . .2 . . .1


  • Omar Minaya is a dead man walking.


    • And if anyone cares, my daughter is dressing up like a witch, my son is dressing up like a construction worker, and my wife and I are dressing up like two suburban parents carrying travel mugs filled with liquor around the neighborhood while hoping nobody notices.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 11:57am (33) Comments

    Now that’s a game story


    Those of you who recall an era when game strories weren't mere regurgitations of the box score will enjoy Josh Levin's game story over at Slate:

    On this night, the slim Phillie's casual brilliance outshines the grunting effort of his hefty ex-Indians teammate CC Sabathia. Despite a recurrent inability to spot his pitches, the Yankees starter kept every Phillie off the scoreboard excepting the brilliant, lefty-hitting second baseman Chase Utley. Down to his last strike in each of his first three plate appearances, Utley coaxed a walk and yanked two solo home runs. Utley's first shot comes with his left hand off the bat, a looping parabola that drops over Yankee Stadium's short right field porch. The second, which extends the Phillies' lead to 2-0, gets half as high off the ground and travels seemingly twice as far to deep right-center, leaving grunts and gasps in its wake.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 9:50am (9) Comments

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