Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Bit dramatic, ain’t it?


I'd like to think that the announcement by Bugs & Cranks' Dave Chalk that he is quitting the baseball blogging business is dry humor, and that his leaving B&C is occasioned by another offer or a lack of free time or something as opposed to truly being disgusted with the sport. If not, it's simply baffling. He's been blogging about baseball for less than three years. None of the factors he cites -- high payroll teams having advantages, steroids -- came onto the scene anew during that period.

If he is being straight-up about it, it just reinforces what I've always told people who ask me about blogging: I don't care if it's baseball or politics or tech or sitcoms or the self-indulgent, overrated novels of Susan Sontag. If you're going to seriously blog about something, you had better love the subject matter or at the very least find your peace with its flaws, because you're going to be living and breathing it.

Good luck with whatever you're moving on to, David.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 2:08pm (18) Comments

Judge to Jamie McCourt: No you can not have your job back


Not yours:

A court commissioner has denied Jamie McCourt's bid to be reinstated as the chief executive of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Superior Court Commissioner Scott Gordon ruled Thursday in Los Angeles there is no state law to support her bid.

I hate it when judges cite B.S. reasons for ruling against you. Stuff like "there's no state law to support your arguments" and "your pleading was a month late" and "you're not wearing any pants, Mr. Calcaterra, please cover yourself before I throw you in jail, you utter disgrace of an attorney."

You know, just by way of example.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 1:43pm (7) Comments

My Morning in Exile


Not sure why I'm writing this -- I'm guessing most readers are off work today for Guy Fawkes Day and everything -- but for those of you in essential services . . .

  • Did the Yankees buy their championship? You may not be surprised to learn that this one has sparked quite a debate among economically illiterate people over at the Blue Network!


  • Jimmy Rollins thinks the Phillies are still the better team. If you don't believe him, he has a bunch of video evidence -- all on Beta -- to back it up!


  • A trip around the blogosphere for morning after reactions. Not surprisingly there are disparate opinions about all of this. Abortions for some, miniature American flags for others!


  • The goggles! They do . . . something!


  • The McCourts go to court. They didn't ask me, but if I were Jamie's shyster, I'd move for a bad court thingee the moment Frank opened his mouth.


    • Glad the series ended last night. If it had gone to Game 7, I'd have a living room half full of baseball fans and half full of people commemorating the unravelling of the Gunpowder Plot! AWK-ward!
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 12:35pm (14) Comments

    The Yankees and the DUI checkpoint


    This story is mostly about Joe Girardi helping an accident victim on his way home from the ballpark last night, but this is all kinds of fun:

    Police were in the area conducting a driving while intoxicated checkpoint on the parkway. In fact, about 15 minutes earlier, Girardi had passed through a driving while intoxicated checkpoint on the parkway. Cristiano, who was working the checkpoint, congratulated him on his first win as a manager and waved him through. He hadn't been the only Yankees member to pass by the checkpoint. Pitcher Andy Pettitte also passed through earlier.

    "He came through with a smile," Cristiano said.

    Cristiano, a self-described huge Yankees fan, said she hadn't expect to see either one of them again.

    Of course it makes perfect sense that Girardi and Pettitte were waved through with a smile. I mean, it's not like there was any video of them drowning in booze from less than two hours prior . . .
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 11:47am (7) Comments

    And That Happened: World Series


    Yankees 7, Phillies 3: Champs. You saw it, so no need for me to describe it. I'll just offer some observations:

  • Andy Pettitte was gutsy and successful.


  • Pedro, while unsuccessful, was just as gutsy. He certainly knew before anyone -- and probably well before the game started -- that he had nothing last night. He's Pedro, though, and he did his best to figure out a way to work around it. It's weird: for a Hall of Fame pitcher, I've always thought that Pedro's character as a pitcher was better defined by his losses than his wins. In the 2003 ALCS, last night, and many other times, I've come away strangely more impressed by him when he leaves a game in defeat, and I'm not sure why that is.


  • Matsui. What can you really say? For a guy who often looks like he's in pain when he's hitting, he made it look rather easy last night. He was as good an MVP choice as anyone else.


  • Factoid I found on ESPN: "Wednesday's clincher marked the sixth time New York has defeated the defending champ in the World Series." I'm not going to look it up, but I'll say the Phillies last night, the Braves in 1996, the Braves in 1958, the Dodgers in 1956, Cardinals in 1943, and I have no idea before that. Anyone?


  • Nine years ago is when Jeter, Posada, Rivera and Pettitte last won it all. I know that beyond them there has been massive roster turnover since 1996, but I'm struggling to come up with an example of a team with at least a handful of core players winning World Series outside the context of a continuing dynasty. This would be like Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford hanging around to win one with the 1971 Yankees, or Chipper, Maddux and Smoltz doing it in 2004. I suppose this is mostly a function of them being so young when they were winning them back in the 90s, but it is kind of odd to think about it.


    • I suppose I could go on all day. And really, there won't be much other news happening, so I probably will. For now, congratulations to the 2009 New York Yankees, champions of baseball.

    151 days until Opening Day.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 4:40am (29) Comments