My Morning in Exile

Anyone know if there’s a scientific term for that particularly longing one gets to live in California while watching Angles, Dodgers, Padres, Giants or A’s games? It usually only comes up in those contexts. Even the most beautifully shot beach, vineyard, mountain or desert secenes don’t do it for me, but cut to a California ballpark, and I’m ready to put Rosasharn in the jalopy and make west . . .

  • The Yankees winning their protest of the Marlins game could actually hurt them.
  • I’m having trouble getting worked up over A-Rod being out late with his girlfriend.
  • The post in which I complain about official scorers’ error rulings for the 1,259th time this year.
  • Roger Clemens to write the Great American Novel. Or not.
  • High water rising, six inches above my head; coffins dropping in the street like balloons made out of lead.
  • If Eric Wedge’s got to go, it’s all right. But if Eric Wedge’s got to go, he should go now, or else he’s gotta stay all night.
  • I suppose that was one Dylan bridge too far, huh? Eh, it’s Monday.


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    Ben
    14 years ago

    If I could get Dylan allusions mixed into my baseball bloggage every day, my life would be complete.

    YankeesfanLen
    14 years ago

    Is it me or did the Blue Network just add email alerts for CTB?  I’m no longer on my own, with no direction home.

    Craig Calcaterra
    14 years ago

    Re: email alerts: No idea. They never tell me anything.

    Put differently: It ain’t me, babe.

    Ron
    14 years ago

    Having to listen to the speculation about getting fired every day must be embarrassing to Wedge.

    But it has to be much more embarrassing knowing he’s going to get fired before Hillman.

    That’s just cruel.

    Jack Marshall
    14 years ago

    I’m embarrassed to have to ask this, but does anyone know when the double-switch became a standard tactic? I’ve been looking through my old scorecards from the pre-DH AL, and it doesn’t seem to have been common at all—-and I can’t recall the term being used then, either. It looks like there wasn’t quite the reluctance to let pitchers bat that there is now, for one thing, and there were more pinch-hitting “specialists.”

    APBA Guy
    14 years ago

    Believe me, if we were making $ 25M per year guaranteed for the next 10 years and could date Hollywood actresses, we’d do it too. 2:30, as Craig points out, isn’t that late for these guys, especially when you know you aren’t playing.

    Esteban Loiaza crashed his Ferrari in East Bay at 4:00 am the night before he was supposed to pitch for the A’s. He was cited for DUI. Now that’s wrong. The A’s cut him shortly thereafter, eating most of his remaining salary (about $9M that year, a Beane mistake you don’t hear much about.)

    Nobody in Norcal complained when he was cut.

    Craig, as to living here, unemployment just passed 10.5, heading North. You have a lot of free time to enjoy the ballparks (tough to choose among the SoCal venues, my personal preference is Petco), but really, part of my man love for the A’s is how unbelievably delightful it is inside the Mausoleum during day games. AT&T is gorgeous, but the “fans” on their cell phones all game long kind of ruins it.

    Craig Calcaterra
    14 years ago

    APBA: unemployment in Ohio is 10.8, plus we have humidity, no oceans, no skiing to speak of, no decent produce in the winter, people who say “pop” instead of “soda,” casseroles with potato chips on top of them, and we don’t get to see the west coast scores until the next morning.

    I’ve been there enough and have enough friends and family to know that California is no paradise, but man, it has to beat Ohio.

    Rob²
    14 years ago

    I’m curious just which rule Girardi thinks was broken in the protested game, and what he thinks the accommodation ought to be.  Seems to me that the umpires got it right once the error was pointed out.

    Drew
    14 years ago

    Re: errors

    As I understand it, a lot of the new fielding metrics take into account fielding zones, where players at a given position are expected to make a play, vs plays out of zone, and all of that jazz.  Has anyone done any work on retroactively applying these sort of rules to games after the fact, rating “errors” as plays that should have been made but were not, as opposed to just plays where a fielder dropped a ball out of his glove or threw one into the stands?  If we could fix that, and then somehow fix the unearned run rule in a way that made sense, we might be able to approach something a little closer to what the ERA is actually trying to get at.  Because as Craig points out, it’s a pretty goofy system as it stands today.

    Chris Simonds
    14 years ago

    I don’t know if there is a scientific term for the longing you express, but all Fox News references to you can now follow the formula:

    Craig Calcaterra, notorious left(coast) – leaning baseball commentator……

    The Rabbit
    14 years ago

    Jack,
    A group of us had this same discussion over the weekend.
    Our conclusion was that it had to do with the utilization of pitchers in that era, i.e, unless they truly sucked, they were in the game until the 8th or 9th.
    A starter going 6 innings, 2 setup men, and a closer? Continual Left hander-right hander matchups? 
    Don’t remember it in the 60’s and early 70’s but I could be getting senile.
    Overutilization of pitchers was somewhat the norm too…just look at 1964 Phillies season ending pennant race. It still kills those of us originally from Philly.

    APBA Guy
    14 years ago

    Sorry, typo on the CA unemployment. It’s 11.5.
    Too early for me today.

    And yes, CA along the coast is nicer than Ohio.

    Mike
    14 years ago

    SNL should do a “Da Bears”-esque skit with Yankee fans talking about skewed probability arguments. The Jeter worship, etc. would be a goldmine for dorks like us.

    kardo
    14 years ago

    I love this comment:

    =====
    Maybe so, but I believe the Yankees have the best record in the majors for come from behind wins in the later innings. I can’t remember the exact stat at the moment… but I believe I’m right, and if so, it skews your “probability” argument.
    =====