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Shyster's Daily Circuit


Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Yankees > Giants


Baseball is my sport, but NBC pays me, so I'm torn:

In a television matchup of New York sports teams, baseball’s Yankees were more popular than football’s Giants.

The Yankees earned an 11.4 rating for their Game 6 victory last night over the Los Angeles Angels in the American League Championship Series, shown on News Corp.’s Fox. The rating is based on the U.S.’s top-56 metered markets. The Yankees advanced to the World Series for the first time since 2003.

The Giants, who lost to the Arizona Cardinals 24-17 last night at Giants Stadium, drew 10.4 million viewers on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” broadcast, NBC Sports spokesman Adam Freifeld said in an e-mail.

But with all due respect to my NBC overlords, anyone watching the Giants and the Cardinals over the Yankees-Angels who wasn't being paid to do so needs their head examined.

Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 2:55pm (9) Comments

Silver Chalice Ventures


I've written in the past about Fenway Sports Group and its not-subject-to-revenue-sharing money. The Red Sox are not the only team getting in on the act:

The Chicago White Sox are stepping up to the plate in the digital media arena.

Silver Chalice Ventures, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Major League Baseball team, is working with customers to boost business online and via mobile platforms by helping clients offer such services as the ability check scores on cell phones.

The revenue raised by Silver Chalice will not be subject to baseball's revenue-sharing rules, meaning everything generated by Silver Chalice belongs 100 percent to the team, said Brooks Boyer, White Sox chief marketing officer and CEO of the new venture.

If David Glass were serious about making the Royals a winner he'd rebrand the pharmacies and sporting goods sections of every Wal-Mart store "Royal-Mart" and give Dayton Moore a billion dollars to play with every year.

Well, not the Dayton Moore part.

Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 2:21pm (7) Comments

The World Series and the pols


NPR's Ken Rudin has a story on politicians riding on the coattails of baseball teams. After rolling his eyes at Bloomberg being an attention whore in the Yankees' locker room last night, Rudin asks an intriguing question: what do the people running for Governor of New Jersey do about the World Series? What plays in Camden doesn't necessarily play in Hoboken! And Game 5 is scheduled for the night before the election . . .


Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 2:07pm (9) Comments

My Morning in Exile


I got 99 problems but delaying the first pitch ain't one:

  • When the Mets' gravity fails, negativity will pull them through (hat tip to Jay for putting "Tom Thumb's Blues" in my head)


  • According to Heyman, Joe Girardi is one of "October's Disasters." I agree that good outcomes don't validate bad decisions, but c'mon.


  • The Curse of Larry Dierker strikes again.


  • As alluded to earlier, my two takes on McGwire becoming the Cardinals' hitting coach: Serious take and not-so-serious take. Maybe I'll go for some emotional ambiguity later.


  • Did A-Rod get jobbed out of the ALCS MVP?

    Finally, though I didn't weigh in on it in a formal post, I am struck by the notion that three nights of bad judgment as a playa did for Steve Phillips what five years of bad judgment as an analyst couldn't do: get him fired. There's probably a lesson in there somewhere, but I'm too busy planning a rendezvous with my portly mistress to think too hard about it . . .

    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 11:58am (17) Comments

    Coach Mark McGwire, 2010


    I handled the McGwire story seriously here, so now let's have some fun with it:

    [scene: Cardinals-Cubs game, summer 2010. Yadier Molina just struck out on four pitches and goes to talk to the hitting coach]

    Molina: Hey Mac, Zambrano got me with the changeup last time. So I was looking changeup, and he busted me with the fastball. Did it look like I was cheating changeup?

    McGwire: I'm not here to talk about the past. I'm here to be positive about this subject. You took a good hack at that last one.

    Molina: Um, sure, but I need some help with my approach here. I feel lost up there today. Should I move back in the box a bit?

    McGwire: Asking me or anyone else to answer questions about where to stand in the box will not solve the problem. If I answer 'No,' he will just come with the changeup again and you'll be further out in front. If I answer 'Yes,' you risk public scorn and endless second guessing when you wait too long to react to the pitch.

    Molina: Jesus, coach, you got anything for me?

    McGwire: My lawyers have advised me that I cannot answer these questions without jeopardizing my friends, my family, and myself. I will say, however, that it remains a fact in this country that a man, any man, should look at more film before facing a crafty veteran like Carlos Zambrano.

    Molina: Uh, thanks, coach.

    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 11:25am (6) Comments

    And That Happened: ALCS


    Yankees 5, Angels 2: "At times we played good baseball. At times we shot ourselves in the foot," Mike Scioscia said after the game. Someone's gonna have to point out the good for me, because I missed most of it. Eight errors in the series. Saunders walked five guys last night. Scioscia made baffling move after baffling move. Guerrero getting doubled off first base on that shallow fly ball. Just a lot of ugly baseball from a team that's alleged to be fundamentally sound.

    But like the Phillies over the Dodgers, this is the case of the better team winning, not some default job. It was like old times seeing Pettitte and Rivera taking care of business. It was like an alternate universe seeing A-Rod repeatedly come up strong in the postseason (I love me some CC, but I really think Rodriguez deserved the MVP). Based on how my postseason predictions have gone it'll make Philly fans happy to hear that I think the Yankees are gonna take this thing, but this time I don't think even my prognostication will prove poor. Here's hoping the weather holds up.

    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 5:47am (12) Comments