Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.

Friday, November 13, 2009

My Morning in Exile


Water on the moon? "The Lcross Mission" Noah Cross? Water where it should not naturally be? Forget it Jake . . .

  • Brent Mayne has the most sensible insight I've heard regarding signs since I saw the live recording of Five Man Acoustical Jam at the Trocadero. No, I wasn't there to see Tesla. I thought it was a Dead Milkmen show.


  • We all go a little mad sometimes.


  • The Nats are gonna pull a Belliard. If that doesn't work, they can try a Boeski, a Jim Brown, a Miss Daisy, two Jethros and a Leon Spinks, not to mention the biggest Ella Fitzgerald ever. Yeah, I know I've used that one before.


  • You know what would be cool? The Silver Surfer Awards. Wait, that's no good. Norrin Radd would just win it every year. Unless Torii Hunter discovers the Power Cosmic.


  • The Rangers can't afford a buck fifty for a Cherry Coke Zero, yet they want Vlad Guerrero. Whatever.


  • You're not gonna believe this, but Heyman says that Boras says that a Boras client is, like, super valuable and highly desirable. I know. I'm just as shocked as you are.


    • I don't know why those kitty cats were even nosin' around for water up there. Don't they know what happens to nosy fellows? Huh? No? Wanna guess? Huh? No?
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 1:15pm

    “The New York Mets will be facilitating activities that directly violate international law”


    If you were to tell me that a Major League team bumbled its way into an international incident, I would immediately say "The Mets. It was the Mets, right?" I mean, is there any other possible answer?
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 3:29pm

    Mr. GQ


    So, like, I was building this prototype teleportation machine, and just as I was about to test it on Derek Jeter, the Unfrozen Caveman version of Johnny Damon accidentally fell into the transport pod. Total mess.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 3:57pm

    Monday, November 16, 2009

    My Morning in Exile


    So I'm trying to decide if, upon leaving the legal job, I'm going to keep the law license active or let it slip into inactive status. On the one hand, letting it go inactive saves me several hundred dollars and about 15 hours sitting in a classroom taking continuing legal education classes between now and the end of December. On the other hand, not actually having my license active will prevent me from filing all of those nuisance lawsuits I had always envisioned slapping on people once I left the legal job. I mean sure, I could reactivate the license by filing some paperwork and paying a small fee, but that takes a few days. What happens if I get really angry and need to sue them RIGHT NOW?!

  • "He was a little poopy-pants the rest of the afternoon." This, surprisingly, is not a story about George Brett.


  • Andrew Zimbalist makes the case that the Yankees did not buy their championship. This would be a more impressive claim if it was a decade ago and people still believed everything Andrew Zimbalist says.


  • The Blue Jays traded a third baseman to the Reds a few months ago and got a third baseman in return. Now they may try to get a third baseman from the Reds. No word yet if they'll also try to get a third baseman from the Reds during spring training or at next summer's deadline. I kind of hope they do, though, because eventually they'd have to get to Sabo, right?


  • The weirdest thing about all of this is that before this morning I had no idea that Mike Ilitch's wife owned a casino. Remember back when Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle got banned from baseball for simply doing promotion crap with a casino long after they retired? The game, she is different now.


  • Rookies of the Year to be announced today. When are they gonna do the right thing and name the award after Bob Hamelin?


  • I wonder just how much GMs discount performances by NL players these days. Does everyone do this, or is it really like two or three actually running numbers? I have no clue. Anyone know how these conversations really go inside front offices?


    • Another career question: Starting in December, how am I supposed to answer when people ask me what I do for a living? It seems a little presumptuous of me to say "baseball writer." Roger Angell is a baseball writer. Joe Posnanski is a baseball writer. I snark on headlines and argue with people all day. At the same time, if I say "baseball blogger," about 97% of the people are going to respond with "that's . . .that's a job?" So many questions.

    UPDATE: Mrs. Shyster is too good to comment among you heathens, but she did just email me and suggest that I answer thusly in response to such questions. This is why I love Mrs. Shyster.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 11:25am

    Sign this petition


    I've signed way less important petitions than this one.

    To: Major League Baseball, MLB Network

    We the undersigned humbly, and with all due respect, ask the MLB Network to air the June 12, 1970 game between the San Diego Padres and the Pittsburgh Pirates. On that day the Pirates' pitcher
    Dock Phillip Ellis threw what was at the time the 3rd no-hitter in Pirates history and it was a seminal moment in baseball history. The fans would like to relive this moment and want to see it rerun on the MLB Network.

    Sincerely,

    The Undersigned

    Do your part for democracy here.

    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 1:01pm

    “The Official Major League Baseball World Series Film Collection”


    If anyone is looking for something to buy me for Christmas:

    "The Official Major League Baseball World Series Film Collection" (A&E, $229.95), a spectacular DVD set that contains 20 discs featuring extensive footage of 65 World Series from 1943 to 2008.

    It comes packaged in a thick, elongated hard-cover book that chronicles many memorable World Series moments with a forward by multi-award winning sportscaster and avid baseball fan Bob Costas. The book is great but the discs, located in pockets throughout its hefty pages, are the big attractions.

    "Thick, elongated hard"

    "Bob Costas"

    What's not to love?
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 1:27pm

    Rookies of the Year: Bailey and Coghlan


    Over at NBC I figured that Beckham and Happ would win it. I even forgot to mention Andrew Bailey in my first pass at it and had to go back and update. Shows you what my figuring is worth:

    A's right-hander Andrew Bailey's rise from Minor League obscurity to Major League limelight turned historic Monday when he was named the 2009 American League Rookie of the Year.

    and
    The franchise with a knack for producing some of the best young talent in the Major Leagues has another gem to add to its resume -- Chris Coghlan.

    That fact was evident through the rookie sensation's first season in the big leagues this year, but it was a point that was driven home on Monday afternoon - when the 24-year-old infielder-turned-outfielder took home National League Rookie of the Year honors from the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

    I'll take Hanson and Beckham over both of them over the long term, but hey, that's not what the award is about.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 2:55pm

    New Twins uniforms revealed


    New house, new duds:

    Plans for the new uniforms and logos unveiled today include:
  • Primary Home Uniform - The "Twins" script has been slightly altered and updated for 2010 and beyond.

  • Secondary Throwback Uniform - Twins players will wear a circa 1961 throwback uniform on Opening Day as well as every home Saturday during the 2010 season. The uniforms are modeled after the wool version worn during the team's first season in Minnesota.

  • Primary Road Uniform - Twins players will wear new solid grey road uniforms (no pinstripes) in 2010 featuring a "Minnesota" script inspired by the team's original "Minnesota" script found on the players jackets from 1961-1986.

    • Some pics available here. Some others here. Personally, I like the elimination of pinstripes on the road, which I think looks impossibly lame. Pinstripes = sharpness. Sharpness demands white. Pinstripes on gray looks terrible.

    I also like the near elimination of the "M" cap (it's still available in an alternate cap). The TC is one of the coolest logos around. The more of that the better. And of course, as I've mentioned many times in the past, the M logo gives me flashbacks to 1987 and 1991, and those Twins teams bummed me out pretty terribly.

    If they really wanted to be cool they would have eliminated the solid blue home alternate which never, ever, ever, ever, ever looks good. On any team. Anywhere. at any time. Solid jerseys that don't match the pants ought to be banned.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 4:28pm

    Tuesday, November 17, 2009

    My Morning in Exile


    Slow day, so I scan the news. Great (Captain Robert Falcon) Scott! Or was it Shackleton?

  • AL Cy Young today. Greinke should get it, but the writers once gave the damn thing to Jack McDowell for cryin' out loud, so who knows?


  • For relaxing times, make it Takahashi time.


  • Cancel the candlelight vigil: the ballplayers who had money with Allen Stanford aren't going to get sued.


  • The Mets want to be in the Joel Piniero business.


  • Caveat Emptor on Pedro.


  • I take a second pass at the Twins' new uniforms.


    • Roald Amundsen: the Chase Utley of explorers. Discuss.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 11:48am

    It’s Greinke


    Not a big surprise. Two writers voted King Felix first. One voted for Verlander. First place votes for Sabathia would have bothered me. Overall nothing to complain about here.

    He's getting married on Saturday too, so all in all it's a pretty good week for Zack.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 2:41pm

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