The Nub
- Bill
Moyers
“Politics
and
baseball. Interesting blog…called ‘The
Nub’ on perfectpitcher.org.”
-
Boston
Globe
(Posted: 1/25/11)
Baseball and the High Court: Final Score Is Not Game’s End
The man whose sacrifice freed baseball players from a form of servitude would have been 73 this week. Curt Flood’s name should rank with that of Jackie Robinson. As a pioneering black major leaguer, Jackie faced prejudice, even hatred, in the fight for racial justice. Flood fought a long, less dramatic battle for economic justice, and, when it was won, could not benefit from the victory.
Flood took his case, challenging the Cardinals’ right to trade him to another team and city, to the Supreme Court in 1972. The Court turned Flood away, upholding baseball’s power to treat players like private property. Much like their reaction to the High Court’s Citizens United ruling a year ago, some of the media attacked the ’72 decision as a victory for corporate rights over human rights. The outcry, also voiced in Congress, eventually forced baseball to negotiate player-liberating reforms that led to the free-agent system.
Are similar reforms possible now in reaction to Citizens United? With Team GOP in control of Congress, it’s a long shot. But strong public support for legislation that would require corporations to show how they spend money on elections could rally enough bipartisan backing for such a “people’s” initiative. Still another remote, but not unreal, possibility: passage of a law setting up a public financing system that would give clout to small donors. The system in NYC is a model of what could happen nationwide. The city matches small donations at a 6-1 ratio, making grass-roots fundraising competitive in importance to the seeking of corporate money.
If nothing else, greater disclosure and public financing could become potent populist issues in the 2012 election.
- - -
Aftermath: Back to Flood, who sat out the 1970 season (for which he would have earned almost $100,000) and the one in ’71 while his case moved slowly to the Supreme Court. Without a paying job, he was nearly destitute when the legal game ended. Flood wound up scrimping, drinking, suffering a series of marital breakups and experiencing always a sense of ostracism from the game he loved. He couldn’t get employment with a team or even with the players union, which had financed the case.
And when, at 59, Flood died of cancer – 14 years ago last Sunday – not a single active player attended his funeral. Union reps David Cone and Tom Glavine issued a prepared statement instead, acknowledging the loss. Brad Snyder, a Washington, D.C. lawyer, paid proper tribute to Flood. Snyder sidelined his legal career to tell Curt’s story in a moving 2006 book called “A Well-Paid Slave.” This is how the book ends:
“(Jackie) Robinson and Flood took professional athletes on an incredible journey – from racial desegregation to well-paid slavery to being free and extremely well paid. Robinson started the revolution by putting on a uniform. Flood finished it by taking his off.”
- - -
Warmth for the Rays and A’s: The Rays may have slipped as AL East title threats with the departures of Carl Crawford, Rafael Soriano, Matt Garza, Carlos Pena, etc., but they still rank high in one way in Boston, NY and elsewhere. Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez may both be over the hill, but the excitement they bring gives the Rays at least as much fan appeal as they had with their former stars. And, since it’s always fun for NYY fans to see old friend Hideki Matsui, the A’s should be more welcome than usual at the Stadium this year.
A Minnesota Chill Ahead? The Twins as a rule are more efficient than colorful. This season their effectiveness will depend in large part on the contributions of two returning convalescents: Justin Morneau and Joe Nathan. The Twins were content to keep two other key performers this post-season, re-signing Carl Pavano and Nathan. But they lost relievers Jesse Crain to the White Sox and Matt Guerrier to the Dodgers, so they could wind up skating on thin Minnesota ice.
The Mets, we know, have their Morneau-medical-equivalent in Jason Bay. Justin and Jason, both Canadians from British Columbia, are returning after suffering concussions. Morneau had an infield-impact incident, Bay collided with an outfield wall. Both profess to be healthy again. Comparing their play will be an interesting statistical sidelight this season.
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(The Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey. Comments
to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted:1/22/11)
Fans on Both Fields Hoping for a ‘Flip-Flop’
“Success is winning…All of us do better when we win.”
Words of our feisty VP, Joe Biden, the man from Delaware? Close (geographically): It was NJ-born Stan Kasten who had a weakness for winning; we know him as former president of the Atlanta Braves and, lately, of the Washington Nationals. Kasten had a long streak of successful seasons with the Braves, but his Nats finished last in five of six seasons in the NL East. He thinks that lower-tier status is about to change for the Nationals, the Marlins, and even the Mets. It won’t happen this season. But Kasten said on MLB-TV the other night that 2012 could be a “flip-flop” season when age catches up to the Phillies and Braves, and the Nats, Marlins, and yes, the Mets, take the upper places in the division.
The suggestion may sound more hopeful than realistic, but the record book shows (one World Series title and 14 straight division wins in Atlanta) Kasten has earned the right to be taken seriously. If nothing else, his words provide many baseball fans in the east with reason to believe their teams won’t remain also-rans much longer. Lefty political fans should be so lucky. Rallying cries to reverse the right-shift of the elective money-ball game have been strident and unpersuasive. A softer pitch by The Nation’s William Greider offers quiet encouragement:
“I heard a grassroots leader on the radio explain that basically the Tea Party people ‘want government that works for them.’ Don’t we all? In the next few years, both parties will try to define this sentiment. If they adhere to the corporate agenda, they are bound to get into trouble, and the ranks of insurgent citizens will grow.”
The power of the news and entertainment media to distract, discourage and sedate may expose Greider’s contingent game plan as wishful thinking. For the moment, it is hard to imagine Americans focused enough to react to what they see as injustice; focused, for example, as are the Tunisians today.
Changing (Political) Times: “We must not balance our budget on the backs of the poor.” - NY Governor Mario Cuomo, 1983
“(Democrats)… argued that vital health-care and education spending (on which the poor are largely dependent) would be lost if the $4 billion-plus in annual revenues produced by the ‘millionaire's tax’ is allowed to expire at the end of the year…(NY Governor Andrew) Cuomo told the lawmakers he's determined to pass a rare on-time budget (with no tax hikes), and won't let a fight over the tax prevent it.”
- NY Post, January 20,
2011
- - -
Larry Bowa’s Batbag of Insights: “Manny Ramirez would be worth picking up as a DH; he can still hit, but he’s lost his power.” “The pitcher that has matured the most is Matt Cain. He now is as tough as they come.” “I’m picking the Oakland A’s to win their division. They have so much pitching, and their offense has gotten better.” “I look far down south to find the team I like in the National League East: The Marlins. They’ve got a good young team. When that kid (Mike) Stanton hits the ball, it makes a different sound.” (As unpacked on MLB-TV)
The Other Side of Mariano: Asked earlier in the week to choose the “most intimidating” active player, three baseball newsmen came up with three different names: Roy Halladay, Andrew Pujols and Mariano Rivera. Peter Gammons, who chose Rivera, told of Mo facing Shea Hillenbrand in Boston on a night after Hillenbrand had hit a decisive home run off him. “Mariano threw two pitches that whizzed behind Hillenbrand’s back. He’s not as easygoing as he looks.”
Big Deal One Year Later: How happy is Jim Leyland a year later with the deal that brought the Tigers Austin Jackson and Phil Coke for Curtis Granderson? Well, Jackson has established himself as one of the league’s best centerfielders and leadoff men. And Leyland mentions reliever Coke in the same breath with ace Justin Verlander and other top starter Max Scherzer. “We have a good team,” he says, “(but the key will be if) it’s the healthiest…(We must) keep Verlander, Scherzer and Coke…healthy." A sure sign the ex-Yank has an important part to play in Leyland’s plans.
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(The Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey. Comments
to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 1/18/11)
Playing Ball and Politics: It Takes More Than Ego
“You’ve got to ac-cen-tu-ate the positive,” goes the old song, “e-lim-i-nate the negative…” With pitchers and catchers less than a month away, that upbeat approach is certainly appropriate. The thought occurred in connection with baseball’s Jermaine Dye and then, unlikely as it may seem, with the U.S. Congressional team. The word “ego”, often used to explain why veteran Congressional players resist retirement, was used on MLB-TV to suggest it was a self-involved stance that prevented Dye from accepting a contract and playing ball last year.
As seen from objective eyes in the press box, neither charge makes it to first base. Habit and power-related perks may prompt our House reps to overstay their time on the field, But their egos are surely eroded by the grind their job entails. Ezra Klein clarified the true picture in the Washington Post:
“Serving in Congress is actually a sort of crummy life: You live in a small apartment, you spend most of your time missing your family, you're constantly in airports, and when you do get home you barely have time to see your kids because you're running to meet with constituents. It's a grind. And -- this is where (we) overestimate politicians -- you're not that important. No one cares about the speech you just gave or the amendments you just proposed. The media generally doesn't pay attention unless you become part of a controversy, or say something dumb. You have to do what your leadership tells you. You get yelled at a lot. Most of the people who stick with the job stick with it because they believe they're doing some good in the world.”
Jermaine Dye likely thought he could do some team good and had proved it for a decade-and-a-half with the Braves, Athletics, Royals and, especially, with the White Sox (with whom – from ‘05 to ‘09 - he led AL outfielders in HRs and was runner-up in RBIs). When the Sox let him go during the ’09 post-season, he figured to be a coveted member of the 2010 free-agent class. But after a year in which Dye earned $11.5 million, he was only offered a bench-level slot with the Cubs for $3 million. Since he considered the offer disrespectful and didn’t need the money, Dye made his decision to skip the seven-month grind. Now, soon to be 37, he hopes to return, with a diminished, clearly ego-free, demand: he’ll only sign a major-league contract. Chances are a team that needs an extra bat will bring him aboard before the season starts.
Lob Lofted from Left (Political) Field: “We have not focused at all on how the militarized rhetoric on the right is tightly connected to our national failure to enact the gun regulations that might have saved lives in Arizona. Suggestions that (Obama’s) presidency is illegitimate are essential to the core rationale for resisting any restrictions on firearms. The conversation of American conservatism is being shaped by the assumptions of the gun lobby to a much greater degree than mainstream conservatives should wish.” – E.J. Dionne, Washington Post
- - -
A’s Getting Serious: With the addition of a strong setup man in Brian Fuentes, the Oakland A’s have all but assured that the AL West will be a three-team race, not just a battle between the Rangers and Angels. The A’s have a formidable rotation headed by Trevor Cahill, 18-8 in ’10, Gio Gonzalez, 15-9, and Dallas (no-hit) Braden, 11-14. Fuentes joins another late-inning man, the newly signed (former Ray) Grant Balfour, in the bullpen. Andrew Bailey, one of the majors’ best, is the closer. Oakland still needs more offensive punch, but deals for three oufielders, David DeJesus, Josh Willingham and Hideki Matsui (formerly of KC, the Nationals and Angels) will give the team a power-charge.
An AL East Surprise? The division with the strongest potential for a two-team race - the AL East – has two teams other than the Red Sox and Yankees worth watching. A superior group of starters could keep Tampa Bay in the competition, and a glance at the 28 players named 2010 Triple- and Double-A All Stars (as listed by Baseball America) indicates a fourth team could surprise. The Blue Jays placed four farmhands on the list, meaning touted young reinforcements may be ready to help the team (that just signed reliever Jon Rauch) before the season is far gone. No other team had more than two total on the two rosters.
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(The Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey. Comments
to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 1/15/11)
Angels, Yanks and Jerry Brown Play Budget-Conscious Game
The California Angels and the Yankees are the two most prominent teams that haven’t been themselves this post-season. Each has done little –Rafael Soriano to the Yanks notwithstanding - of the hot-stove dealing that has been their usual game. Owner Arte Moreno’s team has been “un-Angel”-like because he says he’s trying to maintain his ballpark’s general admission price of $19, lowest in the majors. The “un-Yankee”-like pinstripers want to tighten their budgetary discipline. Whatever the reason, the restraint is good news for fans in general, if not for supporters of both teams.
There’s even better news on the political field if you watch from the left field grandstand. California governor Jerry Brown wants to give the people a chance to vote for a tax hike to lessen the severity of necessary cuts in public services. It’s a way of avoiding the “taxes-are-off-the-table” game of most elected officials. In this case, members of Brown’s legislative state team are expected to agree to put the hot potato on the ballot. Meanwhile, in similarly hard-hit Illinois, legislators have done the unthinkable – voted a 67-percent rise in the personal income tax (and a 37-percent business-tax increase) to help keep the state fiscally in play. Dem Skipper Pat Quinn will happily sign the hikes into law.
The contrast in supposedly progressive NY is striking: the state’s new Skipper Andrew Cuomo is pitching hard for tax breaks for property owners and for the wealthy; a cap would prevent any rise in the rate imposed on owners, and a temporary tax on high-income people would be allowed to expire, the state’s urgent need for revenue notwithstanding. Team NY, which has prided itself on leadership, is now an also-ran in the 50-state gutsy-comeback competition.
The Yankees, by allowing the hyperactive Red Sox to make them title underdogs in the AL East, will surely attract something rare in their franchise history: sympathetic outside-NY support. Fielding virtually the team that lost to Texas in the ALDS sets up a challenging – and broadened fan-involved – season. Of course, chances of the Yanks standing pat, post-Soriano, are far from a sure thing. For the moment, they can congratulate themselves on adding a formidable set-up man to Mariano Rivera in 2011 and 2012, and a closer in 2013, if Mo decides to retire.
The Type-A Tradeoff: Soriano makes the Yanks’ loss of Kerry Wood more than bearable. The deal’s one negative is Rafael’’s status as one of three Type A free agents who rejected an arbitration offer (his from the Rays). That means the Yanks must yield its first amateur draft pick to Tampa Bay. Budget-conscious teams are becoming more and more reluctant to give up such highly regarded and (usually) low-salaried prospects. Nevertheless, Soriano’s fellow Rays reliefer Grant Balfour, who is in the same category, has finally been signed - by the A’s. Carl Pavano, third of the group, is expected to be re-signed soon by the Twins.
Others in Slow Signing Lane: The grapevine consensus is that Johnny Damon will sign with the Rays, he giving them a discount because they play near his Florida home. There’s no such agreement on where veteran sluggers Vladimir Guerrero and Manny Ramirez will wind up. Jim Thome, unsigned until late this week, is going back to the Twins.
A month from today, pitchers and catchers report at the Yankees camp in Tampa/St.Petersburg and the Red Sox camp at Fort Myers. The Mets will welcome their battery-mates to Port St.Lucie two days later, on February 17. Yes, it won’t be long now.
The Other Outdoor Sport: Recalling the Nub rule about NFL football: It is legitimate for baseball fans to focus on pro games when they are played in December and January in open-air, frost-belt stadiums, the match-ups preferably involving cold-weather teams. The divisional playoff games today and tomorrow make for attractive viewing within the rule: six of eight are frost-belt teams, three of four home fields are frost-belt sites. The Packers-Falcons game will be played tonight in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome. It would be miss-able, except that a Green Bay win is so important: it would insure elimination of sterile, studio-like conditions next week. The dome alternative, if all goes well: we can count on watching from our living rooms a week from tomorrow as both conference title games unfold in the frost belt.
One other thing: Owing to its excess of hype
and usual
antiseptic venue, the Super Bowl - it says here - is eminently worth
ignoring.
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(The Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey. Comments
to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 1/11/11)
For Mets and Team Obama: ‘It Is What It Is’
Mets fans and those of several other teams will surely be spared falsely optimistic slogans this year: Remember “The Magic is Back”, “Your Season Has Come” and last year’s “We Believe in Comebacks”? The slogan this year should be “Patience.” Similarly, political progressives, once avid fans of Team Obama, know enough now not to expect any swing to the left by the skipper. “It Is What It Is,” could be the O-team’s sign.
Casting a cool look over both fields, we can see, however grudgingly, some merit to what each team is doing. We imagine new Mets GM Sandy Alderson telling Jeff Wilpon “I’d rather do nothing than pick players off the scrap heap. We don’t have the money or the depth to compete this season. No use trying to fool anybody about it.” Credit for honesty is one dividend of the approach; a surprise performance by the un-puffed team could be another. In any event, making this a spin-free season might sway fans who stay away to return as believers next year.
Most lefty Team Obama fans who have been booing the skipper for hitting to the right are reconciled to cheering for him next year. If they didn’t realize how lacking in clout they were, Salon’s Glenn Greenwald provides a primer on the dynamics of their unrequited support:
“Telling
politicians
that
you
will
do everything possible to work for their
re-election no matter how much they scorn you, ignore your political
priorities, and trample on your political values is a guaranteed ticket
to
irrelevance and impotence. Any self-interested, rational
politician… will
ignore those who behave this way every time and instead care only about
those
whose support is conditional. And they're well-advised to do
exactly
that.
“It
is probably the case that a lack of enthusiasm on the part of the
Democratic
base contributed to the Democrats' defeat in the 2010 midterm election.
But what Obama cares about is getting re-elected in 2012, and he
knows
full well that…(early in) that year…most
of the progressives who are now continuously complaining about him will
be at
the front of the line waving their Obama banners.”
Amid the familiar rundown of the O-team’s game plan: the troubling sense that what’s happening on the Congressional diamond is secondary to the skipper – like the Mets’ season this year compared to 2012.
The Anger Market: On the most troubling development in the national bailiwick - the shooting in Arizona - lefty Paul Krugman had this delivery: “ Citizens of other democracies may marvel at the American psyche, at the way efforts by mildly liberal presidents to expand health coverage are met with cries of tyranny and talk of armed resistance. Still, that’s what happens whenever a Democrat occupies the White House, and there’s a market for anyone willing to stoke that anger.”
From the Brady Center
Against Gun Violence (as reported in Salon): “10 states
regulate assault weapons. In California,
for example, (Jared) Loughner could not have legally purchased a gun
with a
high-capacity magazine. Arizona, though,
has among the weakest gun laws in the nation.
Even if folks had seen Loughner with the gun walking up to the
congresswoman, it was perfectly legal until he started firing"
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About Time? ESPN’s Buster Olney says he’s heard the Mets may well be ready to dump both Luis Castillo and Ollie Perez before the season starts; that is, sacrifice more than $18 million in paid-for services to rid the team of what have been two festering sores.
More from Bowa: Larry Bowa, quoted here last time, has been an asset playing a fill-in role with MLB-TV. He predicted the other night that outfielder Dexter Fowler would have a breakout year with the Rockies. Bowa also joined regulars Harold Reynolds and Mitch Williams in picking Colorado to win the NL West. He said the Giants probably won’t repeat their 2010 success, in part, because they’ll be at a defensive disadvantage with Miguel Tejada at short and Pat Burrell in left.
Nobody Asked Us, But…we offer this free advice as MLB viewers: Reynolds is being given too much face-time; he flirts with an “I-know-it-all” attitude that can grate. Mitch Williams risks being similarly obtrusive. Occasional visitors like savvy ex-pros Bowa and Ron Gant don’t get sufficient time to take verbal swings.
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(The Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey. Comments
to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 1/8/11)
The
Audacity of Truth-Telling About Your Own Team
Although Americans have a right to speak out, people in politics and baseball risk punishment for saying what they think…if it’s about teammates. Ask central Florida’s Bronx-born Congressman (until this week) Alan Grayson, or former Dodgers third-base coach Larry Bowa. Grayson, one of the last of the slugging liberals in public life, lamented what he called his (Democratic) party’s “strategy of appeasement” leading up to the midterm election. He received lukewarm campaign support from his parent club, many of whose members said publicly they thought he was off-base – one even said Grayson’s remarks made him “cringe” - in the way he attacked both his own team and opponents.
A replay of a classic Grayson inside pitch: “We as a party have spent the last six months-- the greatest minds of our party dwelling on the question, the unbelievably consuming question of how to get Olympia Snowe to vote for health care reform…Olympia Snowe has no…power…(She) represents a state with one half of one percent of America's population…America cares about health care…not…about process.”
Bowa lost his job with the Dodgers not long after taking team center fielder Matt Kemp to task - publicly - for lackadaisical play. He told the Globe’s Nick Cafardo why he did what he did:
“If you can’t tell a player that he should be
running out ground balls and how to play the game the right way, then
why are
you coaching? You can get someone off
the street to be their friend. Sometimes
you pay a price for being honest.
“He’s a five-tool player, but he’d bring you
five tools on Monday and sometimes one tool on Tuesday. This kid can do
anything he wants in this game. He’s got tremendous ability. He’s not a bad kid. It
just
looked
like
he
had
other things on
his mind…Some people call (what I did) ‘old school.’
I just call it playing baseball the right
way. I’ve put on the uniform and played
the hardest I could for as long as I could. That’s
all
I
ever
asked
of
anyone else.’’
New manager Don Mattingly
replaced Bowa with former KC manager Trey Hillman.
Bowa still hasn’t found a baseball job for
this season. Grayson, who lost big in
the GOP landslide, hopes to back on the field in 2012.
It would be reassuring if Rahm Emanuel and
Robert Gibbs were cut loose from Team Obama in D.C. because of their
bench-jockeying of Dem liberals. But we
know that, unlike the publicly demoted Grayson, both Rahm and Gibbs are
still
close to the skipper.
Pressbox Takes a Double-Hit: In NY’s journalistic ballpark, two of the area’s three remaining birddog reporters have, like Grayson and Bowa, moved on. The Village Voice sent veteran columnist Wayne Barrett packing for what it said was financial reasons. Barrett’s equally admirable Voice teammate Tom Robbins quit in solidarity with Wayne. The third member of the invaluable triumvirate, Jim Dwyer, is on leave from the NY Times. For the moment - pending wrap-up Voice work by Robbins and start-up deliveries by Barrett for his new team The Nation Institute - we’re destitute of the kind of digging reportage that trio provided.
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Bowa Being Bowa: Larry Bowa on MLB-TV the other night (ingratiating himself with the Rangers front office): “In that ballpark, they didn’t need another hitter (Adrian Beltre). I would’ve gotten the team a stud pitcher…Moving Michael Young from third base; that’s not showing him the respect he deserves.”
On the Nationals signing Adam LaRoche: “I love (former first baseman) Adam Dunn. But, especially when you have a young infield, you need someone who can catch the ball wherever it is thrown. The young guys hate to make errors, so if the first baseman doesn’t give them confidence, they aim the ball instead of just letting loose.”
Could Guillen Be a-Goner? The stage whispers in Chicago say White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen must “win or go home.” Ozzie’s contract ends this season unless an option for 2012 kicks in. But that will only happen if this year’s team wins the AL Central. It’s a challenge Guillen may not be able to meet for two reasons: the Twins and Tigers. The whispers further note that Ozzie is tight with Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria; he presumably could have the manager’s job in Florida if the Marlins were to miss the playoffs with the White Sox.
Cubs Getting a Rotation Upgrade: On paper they don’t look as strong as the Reds or Cardinals, but the Cubs are getting there: They’re sending five minor leaguers to the Rays for Matt Garza, who will join Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Demptser and probably Randy Wells as the Cubbies’ top four starters. The NL Central might have a three-team playoff race after all.
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(The Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey. Comments
to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 1/4/11)
Can Skipper Cuomo Be NY’s Buck Showalter?
The political mantra to “Do more with less” has clearly been adopted by some baseball teams: the minimally active Mets and a few other clubs - the Mariners and Twins come to mind (as, to a lesser extent, do the Yanks). The Mets’ almost-silent post-season forces fans to accept on faith that the nearly intact fourth-place team of 2010 will return to contention this year. A real leap.
Faith will be needed in the political grandstand, as well. Most state skippers around the country, including Team NY’s Andrew Cuomo, will have to settle for a promise to “do their best with lots less.” Before becoming NY skipper 28 years ago, Mario Cuomo, Andrew’s father, told his assembled team “We’re not here for glory, but to help people.” A struggling economy prevented him from being more than marginally successful in preventing cuts to social services, like Medicaid, that penalized the poor. Skipper Andrew can hardly hope to match his father in that regard; not at a time when revenue is down requiring spending cuts and the need for compensating tax increases has been sent to the showers.
Indeed, pending an emergency swing at the state’s fiscal dropoff, the new governor’s only specific policy stance so far (other than the salary freeze for state workers and top-team pay cuts) is to cap property taxes to help the struggling middle class. He surely knows that will leave less for society’s scuffling players. So the challenge will be all the greater to keep his pledge to “rebuild government” and get people - the poor in particular - to believe in it again. If, despite the financial hole, Skipper Andrew can rally team NYS and its dejected fans, as Buck Showalter did with the Orioles, he will be a shoo-in for state manager of the year.
- - -
What We Know in the post-season so far: The Red Sox and Brewers have vaulted from non-playoff status in 2010 to serious contenders this season. The Sox are favored by many to win it all; the Brewers must duke it out with the Reds and, possibly, the Cardinals. The Phillies have solidified their dominance in the NL East and beyond with the addition of Cliff Lee. The Nationals are poised to leap-frog the Mets, who are doing a variation of the Knicks’ vain “waiting for Lebron” number of last season. The Yankees have held their dealing fire until now; it will be a major non-explosion if they do nothing big the rest of the winter. ESPN’s Wallace Matthews says the team’s dealing activity depends on the play-or-not decision to be made (possibly this week) by Andy Pettitte. He quotes a Yanks exec to that effect:
"Starter, reliever, a bat, it depends on what's out there. But we gotta know what Andy is gonna do first.''
Humorist Dave Barry’s review of the year in the Miami Herald: “2010 was (not) all bad. There were bright spots. The Yankees did not even get into the World Series.”
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(The Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey. Comments to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted 1/1/11)
Skipper Urged to Execute a Steal from Fantasy Baseball
How do lefty fans rate Skipper Obama’s first full year in office? At a street corner confab on the subject the other day, one said “I wish he had been as direct in support of progressive issues as he was in his rooting for the White Sox.” Unlike the pale-Sox who faded at the end of the season, the skipper finished strong. Nontheless, he was an also-ran when compared by knowledgable fans to the handful of recent effective presidents. Lyndon Johnson was one, Bill Clinton another (but just barely – liberals still have reservations about him). Ronald Reagan is the most recent all-star skipper, hailed by many Dems, including Obama himself.
What made former Cubs announcer “Dutch” Reagan the all-star that Obama so far is not? Neal Gabler fielded that one in The American Prospect and threw a strike from the left side of the field:
“Obama may have misunderstood how the presidency has evolved since the days of Ronald Reagan so that Obama's very conception of the office is outmoded. Obama still thinks that the way to achieve his goals is to come up with the right policy and to build political support for it with logical argument. He doesn't understand the extent to which one of the primary functions of the presidency is emotive: to provide a sense of psychological comfort to the nation that, once accomplished, might well lead to legislative achievements -- may, in fact, be the best route to those achievements -- but can also be an end in itself. People want a president who makes them feel good…
“Reagan was able to find a metaphor that reshaped the entire institution of the presidency to the point where his successors could ignore his conception at their peril. For him, the presidency was no bully pulpit, living room, salon, or fraternity. Nor was it the college lectern that Obama seems to think it is from which he can calmly and rationally explain his policies. It was a darkened theater in which Reagan could project a movie about the country's desires and dreams -- an American fantasy.”
Fantasy baseball league participants know how good putting together a dream team makes them feel. Imagine, the skipper could say, how great it would - will - be to have a Team America that is will-balanced, prosperous and strong; a team that looks much like the revamped Red Sox. It just might work.
- - -
Many Away Games for Team USA: Bad as baseball may be with its seventh-inning patriotic blather, the “honoring America” routine can’t match the NFL’s militaristic fervor. The Giants-Packers game Sunday included a hailing on nationwide TV of “our armed forces in 175 countries.” Only 17 more to go (according to the UN) before Team USA has the world covered.
Looking a Half-Year Ahead: Joe Sheehan, who earned his creds with Baseball Prospectus, runs down a list of big-name players who may well be dealt next July, before the inter-league trade deadline. His list in SI includes players likely to belong to teams that will be out of the running by early- or mid-summer. Mets Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran head the list. But an eye-opening name is Chris Carpenter, which suggests that in some quarters the Cardinals are expected to be non-contenders this year.
Two Reasons KC Will be More Fun to Watch in 2011: Melky Cabrera and Jeff Franceour comprising two-thirds of the team’s outfield.
December 26
A baseball
bat.
A deck of cards.
A science kit.
A racing car.
A catcher's mitt.
that's my list
of everything
that Santa Claus
forgot to bring.
- Kenn Nesbitt, from “The Aliens Have Landed in Our School” (Meadowbrook Press)
Let’s wish January, the post-season’s last non-baseball month, God’s speed.
- o -
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Previous Nubs can be fournd by scrolling below.)
December 2010 Archive
(Posted: 12/21/10)
A Tale of Two Alleged ‘Evil Empires’
Thirty-six years ago this month George Steinbrenner lit the free-agent tinder that made the hot-stove season blaze. He outbid Padres owner Ray Kroc for the services of Oakland’s Jim “Catfish” Hunter. His agreement to pay Hunter $3.35 million over five years sparked the salary spiral that renews itself every off-season. Steinbrenner soon added Reggie Jackson to the Yanks, paying him even more. Before long, fellow owners were complaining that upstart George had overheated the free-agent market and needed to cool down his spending habit. “Moderation,” they pleaded. We know Steinbrenner’s response – long before his Yanks were called the “Evil Empire”; it contained this message: moderation is not the American game. Not in baseball, and certainly not in politics.
The tax bill passed last week illustrates the extreme way the political game is played today. Promoted as a “compromise” because it provided additional jobless benefits, the bill was a major victory for resolute players on the right. They went to bat for the wealthy and fouled off repeated lefty pitches to get them to broaden their stance. Rolling Stone southpaw Matt Taibbi expressed the frustration of fans along the third-base line:
“This tax deal…is the result of a relatively small group of already-filthy rich people successfully lobbying an even smaller group of morally spineless politicians to shift an ever-bigger share of society’s burdens to the lower and (what’s left of the) middle classes.”
“Moderate your rhetoric,” the righthanders reply. “We are not the political ‘Evil Empire.’ The majority of Americans are on our side; polls show the percentage of spread-the-wealth fans shrinking as 2012 approaches.” Under the circumstances, the Democrats should be realistic, says Team GOP, whether they’re in a moderating mode or not. Many lefty commentators agree. Here is the UK Guardian’s Michael Tomasky about the country’s conciliating skipper: “I can't really blame the president for not being liberal enough…I do, however, blame him for being in denial about the nature of his opposition. They want to destroy him. He still seems to think he can seduce them.”
If Obama does change signals and tries to force the GOP into a more moderate stance, he’ll need help from teammate Harry Reid. McClatchy papers report that the Senate skipper has been flummoxd by more than 100 opposition “filibusters” this session, nearly all of which effectively blocked Dem-supported legislation. Yet none actually took place; Team GOP only had to threaten to filibuster to have its way with Reid. McClatchy further reports that last week’s nine-hour effort by Vermont’s Independent Senator Bernie Sanders was the first real filibuster since 1992.
- - -
Solidifiers: The body-building term “bulking up” comes to mind when thinking of the Red Sox this post-season. The addition of weighty Bobby Jenks and compact Dan Wheeler to Boston’s relief corps after Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford joined the offense reinforces the Sox’s status as AL gorilla going into 2011. Both pitchers are highly credentialed journeymen, Jenks excelling as White Sox closer for much of the decade, ex-Met Wheeler a reliable middle-inning man with the Astros and Rays.
Travel Talk: The Sox’s departing third baseman Adrian Beltre looks to be a sure bet to land in Anaheim with the Angels (just as sure as the wager that Cliff Lee would wind up with the Yankees). Both Carl Pavano and Vladimir Guerrero are holding out for three-year contracts, which neither of their latest teams, the Twins and Rangers, seems disposed to give them.
Add Zack Greinke to the Brewers to our list of favorite post-season deals; the others: Victor Martinez to the Tigers, Jayson Werth to the Nationals, and Kerry Wood to the Cubs. What we liked: None of the four wound up with either of the persistently dominating Red Sox, Yankees or Phillies.
Mystery Man: Orlando Hudson has bounced to a fourth team in four years; he’s signed with the Padres after playing a more-than-respectable second base for the Twins (for whom he scored 80 runs in 129 games). Hudson put in a solid year with the Dodgers before the Twins, and was with the D-backs before the LAD’s. He has just turned 33 and is considered a good teammate as well as a better-than-average infielder. It could be he tends to price himself out of the market (it happened when he was with Arizona). The Padres are paying him $11.5 million for two years, which means he should stop bouncing for awhile.
- o -
(More of The Nub, a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey,
can be found at perfectpitcher.org)
The Nub is taking an end-of-the-year road trip to Red Sox Nation to sample the post-season euphoria of Sox fans.
Back in time for 2011. Happy Holiday.
(Posted: 12/18/10)
‘The Jewish Kid’ and the President Who Knew Baseball
Richard Nixon, the comeback player of the year in the 1968 presidential race, is back with us, thanks to newly released tapes of comments he made as skipper. Nixon frequently attended Mets games during his post-presidential years as a New Yorker. “I don’t know a lot about politics,” he said during that period, “but I do know a lot about baseball.”
Nixon surely knew that the super-baseball star of the sixties was Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers. From 1961 until his retirement in 1966, Koufax won 111 games, averaging close to 300 strikeouts a season. Koufax was Jewish. “Aggressive” and “able” were two of the words Nixon used to describe Jews on the tapes. Koufax fit that description:
…Leo Durocher—
the great manager of the Giants—
was asked about the best pitcher
he ever saw.
Without hesitation, he replied,
"The Jewish Kid," meaning
Sandy Koufax: a leftie
with a fastball like a falcon
snatching a dove from the sky;
a curve so wicked, sluggers
cringed to barely glimpse
it screaming at their heads,
before it dropped away,
at the last, perilous instant.
- From “The Jewish Kid”, by Robert Cooperman
Arthritis forced Koufax to retire when he was 30. The Watergate scandal - resulting from a break-in he ordered at Democratic National Committee headquarters in 1972 - forced Nixon to resign as skipper in 1974. As seen from today, he was not a bad president: he pursued the Vietnam war too long before bringing it to a close in ’73. But he re-established relations with China after more than a quarter of a century, and he proposed a comprehensive health insurance plan to provide protection for the millions who could not afford coverage. Watergate and a competing plan proposed by Senator Edward Kennedy sent health care reform to the showers in the mid-‘70s…where it may return if five of the nine High Court umpires thumb ObamaCare from the game.
- - -
Love Conquers Loot: Cliff Lee never hid his affection for the Phillies. When the Phils traded him to the Mariners after the 2009 season, he said he was “shocked” and sorry to leave. “They do a lot of things right,” he said then (in an interview replayed on MLB-TV). Family comfort in Philly was clearly another factor. John Smoltz (also on MLB) says of course liking your teammates and respecting the organization influence a player’s deciding where he wants to go: “You gotta go to work, you want to have fun.”
First it was Joe Mauer who took less than he had to last year to re-sign with his home-town Twins. Now it is Lee, who has signed for less than his market value to return to his preferred season-long home. Kerry Wood is another one; he chose less money than the White Sox offered to sign with his old team, the Cubs. Could it be a trend? We’ll see, when Albert Pujols’ contract with the Cardinals ends after next season.
It’s official: Sports Illustrated identifies two “badly run” top (financial) tier teams. The Mets, unsurprisingly, are one. The Cubs are keeping them company. The Mets have a longer streak of bad management than the Cubs, who made the playoffs in 2003, ’07 and ’08, and competed with the Cardinals for NL Central dominance for much of the decade. The Mets, attentive fans know, were run erratically by GM Steve Phillips in the pre-Jeff Wilpon era, even when they went to the World Series in 2000. - o -
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Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 12/14/10; updated)
How Expansionism Made an Impact in Baseball and Warfare
In a few days, baseball historians will celebrate the birthday of Branch Rickey, who broke the sport’s color line, and once ran the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was born 128 years ago next Monday. In addition to the signing of Jackie Robinson, Rickey is remembered for being the first to see the value of an extensive farm system. The Mets are one of several teams who could use someone like him today. Rickey made it his mission to collect “players with youth, speed and strength of arm” and provide minor league teams on which they could develop. He set up his system for the St.Louis Cardinals in 1919 and the rest of the baseball world hurry to try to catch up.
Rickey’s farm empire soon included hundreds of players – the Cardinals owned all the teams in two leagues and had affiliates elsewhere. Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis - the baseball “Czar” - put an end to the expansionism, limiting the Cards (and other clubs) to one team in each minor league. Limits, we know, are seldom popular with Americans in any field. The question many fans of the political game are asking today is when will Team USA’s military expansionism be stopped? Where Rickey controlled a dozen or more teams at one time, the U.S. today has close to 750 bases in 120 countries, not counting many under our indirect control but formally run by local governments. Said Chalmers Johnson in “Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Empire” – “If there were an honest count, the actual size of our military empire would probably top 1,000 different bases overseas, but no one -- possibly not even the Pentagon -- knows the exact number for sure.”
Inevitably, this broad-based imperial force becomes involved in armed conflicts in the Muslim world - and elsewhere - that Team USA seems to know nothing about. The McClatchy news team disclosed this week that our military “provided Saudi Arabia with satellite imagery to help direct air strikes against Shiite rebels…Collaborated with Algerian forces in 2006 and 2007 to capture militants allegedly bound for Iraq… Killed a militant Islamist leader in a 2008 air strike in Somalia.”
James Traub provides this further example in Foreign Policy magazine: “Cables printed by the Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar...disclose that in 2008 Lebanon asked to have American spy planes conduct surveillance of Hezbollah at a time when the Shiite group threatened to overrun the state. But the Lebanese people would have been shocked to hear of (the) operation… and the revelation has already produced an outcry.”
For Islamic insurgents, those secretive games, which continue today, confirm their belief that Team USA is at war with nationalist movements everywhere in the Muslim world. Experts agree the incidents help rally support for Al Quaida and anti-U.S, sentiment throughout Islam.
- - -
Buyers’ Market: Grant Balfour, Jesse Crain, Octavio Dotel, Kyle Farnsworth, Pedro Feliciano, Frank Francisco, Brian Fuentes, Matt Guerrier, Trevor Hoffman, Bobby Jenks, Hideki Okajima, Arthur Rhodes, Rafael Soriano, Kerry Wood: Those are only some of the free-agent relievers still unsigned for next season. The market is soft because so many familiar names are available. Soriano will get the most lucrative deal, and Wood shouldn’t do badly, either…especially if he re-signs with the Yankees.
Given that array of available talent, Mets fans can ask why their team elected to sign D.J. Carrasco, a 33-year-old right-hander who has been with four teams in six seasons and recorded a career ERA of only 4.31? The (likely) answer: His annual salary up to now has never reached the $1 million mark.
A Perhaps Premature Look Ahead: As of now, we can anticipate two-team playoff races in four of the six divisions: AL East, Red Sox and Yankees; AL West, Rangers and Angels; NL Central, Reds and Cardinals; NL West, Giants and Dodgers. The three-team exceptions: AL Central, where the Twins, White Sox and Tigers figure again to be fighting it out, and the NL East, where the Phillies - Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt notwithstanding - may well face a challenge from both the Braves and Marlins.
Stat Lesson: Why is “innings” the most important pitching number? David Cone suggested the obvious on YES some time ago - it’s a number that (if high) identifies work horses, pitchers whom managers can rely on to rest a tired staff. On MLB-TV the other night, Joe Magrane amplified the point: “The innings total tells you whether the manager has confidence in a pitcher – doesn’t yank him at the first sign of trouble.”
- o -
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(Posted: 12/11/10)
Carl Crawford, Julian Assange and the Dark Side
We’ve talked before about the dark side of the jubilation when a wealthy MLB franchise adds a super-star to an already star-studded lineup: dismay on the part of fans of lower-income clubs in the division who know their teams can no longer be competitive. That dismay inevitably turns into apathy by the time the season is half-over. The Red Sox’s signing of Carl Crawford on top of the trade for Adrian Gonzalez underscores the relevance of that reality. How can the comparatively undermanned Rays, Blue Jays, or Orioles hope to keep fan interest alive with the majors’ two mega-powers (the Yanks’ signing of Cliff Lee is now a foregone conclusion) playing in the same division?
The inevitable apathy brought on by baseball’s insensitivity to so many of its fans exists in the political field, as well. The emergence of Wiki-Leak-ed documents reinforced the awareness among some observers of our political-inattentiveness problem. Embarrassingly, it was Russia’s major newspaper Pravda that made the connection:
“What WikiLeaks has done is make people understand why so many
Americans are politically apathetic … After all, the evils committed by
those
in power can be suffocating, and the sense of powerlessness that erupts
can be
paralyzing, especially when … government evildoers almost always get
away with
their crimes. …”
Daniel Ellsberg’s Website, which
quoted the Pravda observation, went to bat afterward calling for
apathy’s end:
“The American people should be outraged that their
government has
transformed a nation with a reputation for freedom, justice, tolerance
and
respect for human rights into a backwater that revels in its
criminality,
cover-ups, injustices and hypocrisies.
Odd, isn’t it, that it takes…Pravda… to drive home the point
that the
Obama administration is on the wrong side of history.
Most of our own media are demanding that
WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange be hunted down — with some of the more
bloodthirsty politicians calling for his murder. The
corporate-and-government
dominated
media
are
apprehensive
over
the
challenge
that
WikiLeaks
presents.”
Worth
remembering: Assange, who should be cheered as journalistic hero (he
and his
colleagues perform the newspeople tasks of doing articles on what they
have
learned) founded WikiLeaks to offer transparency about what was
happening in
Team USA’s two misguided wars. The
message of much of the predominant reaction to that service is this:
“You have
no right, because WE DON’T WANT TO KNOW.”
- - -
The New Superiority? “Gonzalez and Crawford join Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis as players heading into their prime years. Likewise Jacoby Ellsbury, who at 27 is hoping to put behind him a season lost to injuries. The Yankees have young veterans in Robinson Cano, Mark Teixeira, and Brett Gardner.
“But the Yankees seem to be getting old fast.
Alex Rodriguez, 35, has a hip condition that may not get any better. Derek Jeter will be 37 in June. And
the
41-year-old
Mariano
Rivera,
though
still
at
the
top
of
his
game,
is
at
the
stage
of
his
career
where
his
skills
could
slip in a hurry.” - Nick Cafardo, Boston Globe
Heard at the GM’s Meeting (via MLB-TV):
Buck Showalter on the deal that brought
D-backs third baseman Mark Reynolds, the majors’ strikeout leader, to
the
Orioles for two relievers – “We believe he had the worst season he’ll
ever
have, and he would’ve led our club in four (positive) categories,
including HRs
(32) and RBIs (85)…We did our research: he fields well, and he doesn’t
clog the
bases.”
Kenny Williams (White Sox GM): “I
don’t want anybody else but Ozzie (Guillen)
to manage our club while I’m around…(But) we want people who want to be
here. When we heard talk of Ozzie willing
to go to Miami
(to manage the Marlins), we went down that road.”
Tony La Russa: “I’m sure Albert
(Pujols) will be staying
with us long-term. Whatever the money,
they’ll get the contract done…Already after his rookie year in 2001, I
said he
was the best ballplayer I had ever seen.”
Most amusing press release of the week (The Mets, on the
lawsuit seeking money from the Wilpons in connection with the Madoff
investment
scandal): “Regardless
of
the
outcome
of
these
discussions,
we
want
to
emphasize
that
the
New
York
Mets
will
have
all
the
necessary
financial
and
operational
resources to fully compete and win. That is
our
commitment to our fans and to New York.”
- o -
(The Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey. Comments
to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 12/7/10)
WikiLeaks, the Mets and Team Obama
What does WikiLeaks say about Bernie Madoff’s impact on the Mets? The team’s front-office silence this hot-stove season prompts that hypothetical question. Fans have never gotten a straight story about Fred Wilpon’s bad (or was it good?) investment with Madoff: the decline in the Mets’ payroll this year allegedly had nothing to do with Bernie’s scam. But there was no other explanation for the unwillingness to do the needed spending to compete with the Phillies and Braves.
One can imagine a leaked communication in which Wilpon instructed son Jeff to “Stonewall about why we’re not spending as much as usual. Let them think it’s because I’m pissed - which I am - about the $18 million going to pay Ollie Perez and Luis Castillo.” Wilpon surely knew the cover story would be a tough sell, but the issue was too trivial to warrant a serious challenge. At the other extreme was Team Obama’s blatant attempt to cover up its support of a right-wing coup in Honduras last June that everyone, including the skipper’s ambassador, knew was illegal.
A WikiLeak-ed U.S. Embassy cable at the time said “There is no doubt that (the removal of President Manuel Zelaya) constituted an illegal and unconstitutional coup against the Executive Branch…There is equally no doubt Roberto Micheletti’s assumption of power was illegitimate.” Other leaked information clarified why the O-Team pretended the situation was too murky to intervene: the U.S. feared Zelaya’s plans for reform would push Honduras to the left, making it a less reliable ally.
Team Bush had been implicated in coup-attempts in Venezuela in 2002 and Bolivia in 2008 and the O-Team in Ecuador this year. The skipper’s stance so far is the same as his predecessor’s, favoring business/elite over populist leadership. That makes it another in a series of bad calls by a man who had given hope to progressives here and in Latin America. WikiLeaks has made clear why the hope now is all but gone.
- - -
Sizzling Stove: Everyone agrees that Jayson Werth’s seven-year, $126 million deal with the Nationals will inflate the market value of many free agents this post-season. But what about the impact on the Nationals? It is significant, and not all positive, as the Wash Post’s Adam Kilgore points out:
“The specter of Werth's contract will hang over the Nationals for the better part of the next decade, and not only as they hope Werth stays productive to the tune of $18 million a year as he nears his 40th birthday. Before Ryan Zimmerman hits free agency after 2013, the Nationals will need to try to sign him to a long-term contract extension. Zimmerman has proven to be even more valuable than Werth the past couple years, and then there's the fact that he's a homegrown fan favorite who tends to always do the right thing -- Washington's Jeter. If Werth got $126 million, just imagine what Zimmerman could command.
“And then comes 2017, when Stephen Strasburg hits free agency…”
The Red Sox are reportedly giving Adrian Gonzalez close to Mark Teixeira-type money ($180 million for eight years) in a seven-year deal. Although the Sox gave up three good prospects, they held on to Jacoby Ellsbury, which means, from a fans’s standpoint, they did well. (SD fans, not so well.) The Gonzalez and Werth signings leave Adrian Beltre , Carl Crawford and Cliff Lee as the three most attractive unsigned free agents. Where will they wind up? How’s this for a guess? Lee to the Yankees (natch), Crawford to the Angels, and Beltre to somewhere (where he may have to settle for less than the offer he spurned from Oakland).
No guessing about the Mets: Since the team has little money to spend this off-season, it may be the only club in the majors with an already predictable 2011 starting lineup. Here is a likely way manager Terry Collins could bat his position players: Jose Reyes, ss, Angel Pagan, cf, Carlos Beltran, rf, David Wright, 3b. Jason Bay, lf, Ike Davis, 1b, Josh Thole, c, Luis Castillo, 2b. As Collins has said, the sustained health of these starters is key to the team’s (problematic) competitiveness next season. The 2011 Yankees lineup, on the other hand, will almost certainly have a new face or two. One interesting question: Will Joe Girardi keep Derek Jeter at leadoff, or batting second, or even down in the order?
The Reds' refreshingly candid Joey Votto on the influence on him of Troy Tulowitzki’s seven-year deal with the Rockies: “When Tulowitzki signed that…contract… I was blown away. I can’t imagine seeing myself (several) years from now saying: ’I want to be here.’ It’s an overwhelming thing to ask a young person like myself and say: ’Here’s a lot of money be happy with this (for a long period).’ Deal with it.”
- o -
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'
(Posted: 12/4/10)
The Distracted Focus on Both Baseball and Politics
Some of us remember the first time we went to the ballpark expecting to watch pre-game batting practice only to get an unwelcome surprise: a giant electronic scoreboard imposing its videos, flashing lights, rock music, etc., all seemingly designed to distract attention from the activity on the field. We know how dramatically the distractions have multiplied since then: the theme parks… Angel Stadium in Anaheim, the Mall-parks in NYC and elsewhere, replete with high-end emporia, upscale boutiques and fancy restaurants. The baseball-watching experience becomes secondary in such a busy-ness setting.
Interest in politics has taken a hit because of distractions more miniaturized but much more powerful. Social networking, with its Facebook, Twitter, etc., and their fraternal hand-held gadgets, is a small-ball game played in a cybernetic mega-diamond. F-Team Skipper Mark Zuckerberg has laid down seven playing guidelines. He expects his club to connect with the team’s many fans by reaching out in a way that is seamless, informal, immediate, personal, simple, minimal and short.
That style of play clashed with the disciplined approach celebrated by social strategist Marshal McLuhan. He said a savvy outlook became possible for players as well as fans with the long-ago arrival of the printing press. Attentiveness to politics – and substance, in general – existed thanks to print until the mass-market coming of television in the middle of the last century. Author Neal Gabler recalled on his LA Times scorecard how the new ballgame unfolded:
“Writing scarcely 20 years after McLuhan, in 1985, Neil Postman, in his path-breaking book ’Amusing Ourselves to Death,’ saw the handwriting — or rather the images — on the wall. He lamented the demise of print under the onslaught of the visual, thanks largely to television. Like McLuhan, Postman felt that print culture helped create thought that was rational, ordered and engaging, and he blamed TV for making us mindless. Print not only welcomed ideas, it was essential to them. Television not only repelled ideas, it was inimical to them.
“One wonders what Postman — who died the same year Facebook's precursor went online — would have thought of Zuckerberg's Revolution. Facebook is still typographically dependent. Its messages are basically printed notes. But contradicting Postman, these bits of print are no more hospitable to real ideas than the television culture Postman reviled.”
Social networking is obviously not the only reason our politics has become so skewed – money and the corporate media are a big part of the game. But since members of our younger generations are playing the Facebook-type game so avidly, the prospect of a return to rationality must be considered remote.
- - -
The Gratitude Game: Last year, the Yankees thanked two of their World Series stars Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon by letting them slip away to the Angels and Tigers, respectively. This year, it’s the Giants, who couldn’t have succeeded the Yanks as champions without the heroics of Juan Uribe and Edgar Renteria. SF has let Uribe go to the Dodgers (on a three-year deal) and made clear to Renteria there’s no room for him now. The Giants so far have replaced the two with (almost) 37-year-old Miguel Tejada, a message, perhaps, that they think shut-down pitching lessens the need for tight defense.
Puzzlement: The Yankees decided not to tender Dustin Moseley, 4-4 last season and 12-11 in his five-year career with the Angels and Yanks. At the same time, they re-signed Sergio Mitre, 0-3 and 13-29 over seven seasons with the Cubs, Marlins and Yanks. Both are righthanders, Mitre is 30, Moseley 29. Mitre comes cheap (just under a million), Moseley would get a few mil more than Sergio via arbitration, but still…Even more baffling: the Mets letting Hisanori Takahashi - 10-6, and eight-for-eight in saves – go…to the Angels, who’ve signed him for two seasons at a little over $2.5 million per. We know the Mets are counting their pennies, but that seems counterproductively frugal.
Backstop Banter: On MLB-TV the other night, the subject was the most attractive free-agent catcher in a year when many are available. Joe Magrane said he would choose Miguel Olivo, who played with the Rockies. Mitch Williams picked A.J. Piercynszki, who could have been leaving the White Sox, but didn't. “I like Benjy Molina,” said Matt Vasgersian, of the oldest Molina brother who played with both the Giants and Rangers last season.
- o -
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Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
November
2010
Archive
(Posted: 11/30/10)
Coming Soon? We’re Number Two!
The awards to Canadian Joey Votto and Venezuelan Felix Hernandez – NL MVP and AL Cy Young honors - meant half of the four top 2012 individual prizes went to non-U.S.-born players. (Dominican Albert Pujols and Venezuelan Miguel Cabrera were runners-up.) The trend toward dominance in “our” sport by foreign competitors became noticeable when twice-champion Japan made an also-ran of Team USA in the World Baseball Classics. The Japanese defeated Cuba in the 2006 final and South Korea in 2009.
What’s going on? A half-century ago, legendary Boston Celtic Bob Cousy predicted that, within a few years NBA starting fives, would be all black. Why? Because in his (dated) words: “Negro boys are hungry.” The hunger for sports-connected money has attracted young Latino players to pro baseball in the north; together with Asians, Australians, Canadians, etc., they comprise close to a third of all major leaguers. The primacy of U.S.-born players remains, but their place is under increasing challenge.
The situation on the ball field mirrors that in global finance. National Journal scorekeeper Ronald Brownstein reviews what happened to bring about the power shift:
“For decades after World War II, the global order revolved around American influence… But neither it nor any other competitor will likely match that influence in the coming decades. ‘Although our 'gravitational pull' is still strong, it is not so strong that others orbit around us,’ political scientists Steven Weber and Bruce Jentleson write in their dazzling recent book, The End of Arrogance… ‘Most [world leaders] no longer believe that the alternative to a U.S. world order is chaos.’
“George W. Bush responded to this shifting alignment by more forcefully insisting on American primacy… He offered a vision of American power unconstrained by international institutions or consensus that undoubtedly made a mark. But it also left the U.S. isolated, and it demonstrated in Iraq not the length but the limits of our ability to unilaterally reshape the world. Obama has presented an alternative vision of the U.S...still the leader, but one that leads by guiding others to operate in harmony. That approach has produced some clear successes, such as a ‘reset’ relationship with Russia and a tenuous but still functioning international consensus on how to stabilize Afghanistan and contain Iran. But it's also painfully clear that not even this approach can entirely bend the world to American designs.”
P.S. A frustrating rally-killer as Team USA tries to protect its lead in the global game: divisive political plays at home. Partisanship with a deep toe-hold casts crippling doubt on Skipper Obama’s ability to win support for what he wants his and other teams to do. Add to that the consensus pressbox verdict on what the latest WikiLeaks signals have done: “Diminish (worldwide) trust in Washington.”
- - -
A Clint-Can Thesis: Predictions are easy to make and risk-free – who will remember if they don’t prove correct? – so let’s just call this a hunch: Clint Hurdle will have the Pirates playing near-.500 ball, or better. He has two young blue blue-chippers to build around: center fielder Andrew McCutchen and third baseman Pedro Alvarez. Hurdle proved in 2007 he could work magic with a young team, leading the raw Colorado Rockies to an impossible dream – the World Series.
Progress
Report: From Boston comes word on the
Mets’ Daniel Murphy,
relayed by the Globe’s Nick Cafardo: “The
second base experiment with Murphy is a work-in-progress but ‘heading
in the right direction,’’ according to a scout who spent a lot of time
watching
Murphy in the Dominican the past two weeks. ‘He’s a good enough athlete
where
he can pull it off,’’ said the scout, ‘but it will take time just to
learn all
the nuances of the position. I can see their thinking. He can hit. A
sound
player. This would be a nice conversion [from 1B/OF] for them at a
position
they need help at’.’’
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(Posted: 11/27/10)
Advice to Skippers in Both Fields: Never Be Nice
Snap quiz: What two things do former Dodgers and Giants Skipper Leo Durocher and financier George Soros have in common? Answer:(1) Baseball - Soros (along with partners) tried to buy the Washington Nationals in 2005.
(2) More importantly, the two share a disdain for players who don’t go all-out to win. It was Durocher who made it into Bartlett’s Quotations by saying “Nice guys finish last.” Leo was talking about opposing manager Mel Ott and his (1940s) Giants. Soros had another skipper in mind when he recently expressed impatience about what he implied was timid leadership.
“I am used to fighting losing battles,” Soros said to a roomful of wealthy Democratic donors last week, “but I don’t like losing without a fight.” He hinted that if Skipper Obama doesn’t challenge his hit-to-right opponents more aggressively, the donors should consider other options on the political playing field. “If this president can’t do what we need,” Soros was quoted as saying, “it is time to start looking somewhere else.”
Soros’s pitch was only one of a series of high, hard ones thrown at the skipper in the past several weeks from lefties like Frank Rich, E.J. Dionne, Bob Kuttner, Michael Tomasky, Paul Krugman, etc. Potential erosion of media support is one thing, erosion of serious cash another: It can get a leader’s attention. We’ll see.
“Give me some scratching, diving, hungry ballplayers who come to kill you…That’s the kind of guy(s) I want playing for me.” – Leo Durocher in “Nice Guys Finish Last” (Simon and Schuster)
- - -
The New Skipper. First impressions of Terry Collins (as interviewed on MLB-TV): Deer-in-headlights eyes, jumpy responder (understandable under circumstances); he is no smooth Jerry Manuel. But he spared us a “We-have-a-winning-team now” spin-attempt. He said Mets could win if the regulars stayed healthy. A big “if.”, and therefore a fair assessment. Not a bad start.
Former pitchers Dan Plesac and Mitch Williams agreed after the interview that neither Collins (nor any manager) could keep a team together and playing good baseball. “You need a team leader, a position player, not a pitcher, to do the policing job.” Plesac said he thought David Wright would be the logical one to step up for the Mets. Williams, who played under Collins at Houston, said he hoped Collins had “learned something about communicating with the players,” since skippering the Astros a decade-and-a-half ago. “He didn’t know how to do it then. He better know now if he’s going to last.”
Restless Nation: News that Victor Martinez has jumped to the Tigers (for a $50 million four-year deal) may be a welcome sign to Jason Varitek that he’ll be back playing in Boston in 2011, but it has made Sox fans unhappy. Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy speaks for them:
“Why are the
Sox acting like they are a small-market team? They sell out
every game. They have the second-highest-priced tickets in baseball.
Their
payroll is exceeded only by the Yankees’. And
now
they
won’t
pay
the
going
rate
for
their
starting
catcher?
How often do the
Yankees lose a player they want to keep?”
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(Posted: 11/23/10)
Jeter and Bloomberg Differ on Term Limits
Who can blame Derek Jeter for opposing term limits? He wants to decide how many more seasons he’ll continue to play; he doesn’t want the Yankees to set a cutoff point that forces him into early retirement.
Derek will not get his way, as did Mike Bloomberg in the political field. We remember that Mayor Mike managed to circumvent the will of his bosses – the voters – by using his financial clout on 29 City Council members; they helped him brush aside the two-term limit to which he (and they) were committed.
The moral: money can make good things happen for whoever can put it to use. The Yankees will get a couple of reasonably good more years out of Jeter and pay him, perhaps, for four. It won’t be a bad deal for either side.
After the voters this month said a third time that a two-term limit was what they wanted, Bloomberg gave in: Two terms are right, he said, adding that his power pitch to get a third term was needed because of the city’s shaky economic shape. Put another way, he and his financial savvy were indispensable. Only with lots of dollars behind your delivery can you sell a play like that.
Dollars and an easily spun media: The Nation’s tough lefty Alexander Cockburn pitched this high, hard one on that double play and its effect on Team USA – “The corporate press is unanimous…President Obama must ‘move to the center.’ Onto the butcher block must go entitlements – Medicare, Social Security. The sky darkens with vultures eager to pick the people’s bones.”
The limits question now: Can Team Obama shelve its self-imposed punch-and-judy offense and swing hard to outscore the hitting-to-right opposition?
- - -
Tough Time for Terry: The guess here is that the Mets now have a serviceable interim manager - Terry Collins is unlikely to lead the team into the promised playoffs-land. By the time Sandy Alderson et al rebuild the Mets into a contender, Collins will have suffered the fate of unfairly unappreciated Jerry Manuel. The Mets have few studs and little money to spend on strong reinforcements. A new-era trend to watch: the percentage of Latinos signed now that Omar Minaya is gone.
P.S. Only five of 17 Mets managers since 1962 (including a few brief-tenured interims) finished with winning records: Gil Hodges, Davey Johnson, Bud Harrelson, Bobby Valentine and Willie Randolph. Hodges and Johnson skippered the Mets’ only world championship teams – 1969 and 1986.
Here’s to the ‘Man’: In the week Stan Musial (whom Brooklyn Dodger fans dubbed “Stan the Man”) turned 90, let us repeat this tribute that another baseball immortal, Ty Cobb, paid long ago to the recently named recipient of a Presidential Medal of Freedom:
“No man has ever been a perfect ballplayer. Stan Musial, however, is the closest thing to being perfect in the game…I’ve seen greater hitters and greater runners and greater fielders, but he puts them all together like no one else…He’s my kind of ball player.” - Life Magazine, March 17, 1952
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(11/20/10)
Dual Strategic Dilemma: Go With Pragmatic Change or Tradition?
What are we to make of the likelihood – given the support of Bud Selig and most GMs – that baseball will add two wild card teams to the playoffs? We have opposing views: Bad - it cheapens the achievement of making the post-season. Good - it’s a sign the sport is loosening traditional ties and becoming pragmatic.
A former sandlot pitcher in Venezuela – Hugo Chavez – hopes the Yanqui team will follow baseball’s lead and look more realistically at what is happening in much of Latin America. The countries that are hitting to left with Chavez – like Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, Paraguay, Nicaragua, etc. – are playing a catch-up game; they’re doing it with democratically elected skippers after decades of military/elitist rule. In most of the last century, Team USA saw Latino southpaw swings as a security risk and a signal to take the field in defense of its bailiwick in the north.
Today, two decades after the Soviet Union went to the showers, there is no reason, Chavez and fellow leftist leaders say, for Team Obama to continue to play hardball. Socialism is not a threat to U.S. security as Communism was perceived to be. The Us-against-Them tradition that persists today, they say, seems based on a resolve to protect remaining U.S. corporate interests in the region. The stance is abetted by an anti-socialist yanqui media that sees populism south of the border as a threat to Americans’ “way of life.”
The constant anti-left pitches delivered by our corporate press are now almost a source of amusement in Latin America. Said Ecuadorian Skipper Rafael Correa not long ago: “If they (the U.S. media) say something good about me, I’ll know I’m in trouble.” Correa and progressives on both continents trust it is lack of peripheral vision at the policy plate rather than focused hostility that prompts the O-Team to go on playing the traditional game. Whether that is only wishful thinking we’ll learn in the second half of the skipper’s four-year season.
- - -
Playoffs-Plus - The Bad and Good: The AL-NL imbalance will attract added criticism when more than a third of the AL’s 14 teams qualify for the post-season compared to just over 30 percent of the 16 in the other league. The probable March start to the season forced by the new format could at last lead to a regular schedule of warm(er)-site early games and (it is hoped) an end to blizzard-caused postponements in northern climes.
What? “Melvin said he believes the Mets already have the talent to be a playoff contender, needing simply to rebuild their confidence and stay healthy.” – David Walstein, NY Times. If that ingratiatingly unrealistic assessment doesn’t prompt Sandy Alderson, et al, to disqualify Bob Melvin from managerial consideration, they ought to retire from the evaluation game.
Familiar Sound: “(Mike Quade)…inherits the worst situation in terms of the Cubs' roster and payroll flexibility since Don Baylor took over for Jim Riggleman 11 seasons ago.” – Phil Rogers, Chicago Tribune
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(Posted: 11/16/10)
Strategic Decisions Being Readied in Both Fields
The debate on MLB-TV the other night – Would teams with roughly the same player and dollar assets be better advised to seek to sign gold-glover Carl Crawford or slugger Jayson Werth as free agents?
The related debate developing in the Democratic Party: Would it be better to revert to Howard Dean’s swing-for-the-fences 50-state electoral strategy, or stick to Rahm Emanuel’s more targeted small-ball approach to scoring with the voters?
Dean’s go-for-broke offense won big (31 House and six Senate seats) for the Dem team in 2006, Emanuel’s hit-in-the-holes game – played within a modified 50-state approach – managed to add eight House and seven Senate seats in 2008. We know what happened to the Rahm-game this year – the likely 63-seat loss. That economy-fed disaster has led to the current discussion about which of the approaches to follow in 2012.
Dean’s stance has been that competing in 50 states gives the Dem team a chance to scratch out, if not victories, close calls in red states. Even a string of losses, he says, serves to establish the party as a player, a fact that could pay off in the long run. Emanuel believes in taking what you can get now where you have a shot, and not expending resources in looking beyond the immediate game. That opportunistic approach produced a victory for Senators Michael Bennet in Colorado and Patty Murray in Washington, two of the few genuine swing states left after the November 2 rout.
Of the two strategies, the 50-state offense needs upset victories to remain viable, wins that, in turn, depend on Dem candidates benefiting from the back-and-forth shift in voter sentiment we’ve witnessed twice in four years. Skipper Obama clearly must help generate a third such shift - buttressed by a probable mix of both approaches - if he is to win re-election in 2012.
‘If’ Time: Player shifts in the other national pastime could determine where Crawford and Werth (and other free agents) sign for next year and beyond. If the Red Sox trade Jacoby Ellsbury (for Adrian Gonzalez?), they would likely look to replace his speed, defense and moderate power with Crawford. If the HR-challenged Mets succeed in sending Carlos Beltran elsewhere, they could well decide to make a strong bid for Werth and his opposite-field sock. The White Sox could be determined bidders for Werth, as well, if Paul Konerko leaves, as rumored, for the Diamondbacks. Adding to the muddle: the consensus destination of Crawford is Anaheim and the (LA) Angels. The obvious walkoff verdict: Well-heeled teams will pay at above-market rates to sign free agents that best fill their holes. And the Yankees are 29-1 favorites to latch on to Cliff Lee.
Uh, Oh: It’s unfair to Terry Collins for the Mets to announce that Jeff Wilpon supports his candidacy for the manager’s job. The last thing the team’s fans want is for the boss’s son to have an influence on the personnel moves made by new GM Sandy Alderson. Wilpon’s track record - beginning with Art Howe - suggests the Mets should have learned the lesson that Jeff must be distanced from decision-making stories, as much as possible. Now, if Collins gets the job, he’ll have the label of a Wilpon-man to live down.
Familiar Faces: Former Met J.J. Putz is among the attractive free-agent relief pitchers. He appeared in 60 games for the White Sox last season as a setup man/part-time closer. His stats: 7-5, 2.83, 65 Ks and 15 walks in 54 innings. Putz will be 34 next season, a few months before another prime righty setup/closer free agent, Kerry Wood. He will probably come cheaper than Wood, whose total stats with the Indians and Yankees were less impressive than J.J.’s. Wood went 3-4, 3.13, 49, 29 in 46 innings (47 games).
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(Posted: 11/13/10)
NY’s Skipper-Elect Under Pressure in His Own Dugout
Willie Randolph and Jerry Manual are both out of work. Willie may now regret his publicized suspicions that bench coach Manual undercut him in 2008 before succeeding Randolph as manager. He sees that Manual was undercut himself - by a poor front office that didn’t provide the players he needed to be competitive.
Manual, a Latino, was closer to the Spanish-speaking players than Willie. He saw himself as a stand-in for Willie, communicating for the good of the team. Whether Jerry had a hidden agenda we can only guess; it is irrelevant now.
NY’s Skipper-elect Andrew Cuomo and his veteran Dem teammate Congressman Jerry Nadler are causing political clubhouse static similar to what occurred with the 2008 Mets. Nadler went to bat for the lefty Working Families Party, using robotic phone calls to urge voters to use the WFP, not the Democratic ballot line. The roughly 138,000 WFP votes were cast for Cuomo on Election Day. But the idea was to demonstrate the party’s vote-getting clout, and - in Nadler’s words - “send a message” to Andrew. The WFP has endorsed the skipper-elect’s playbook to freeze public employee salaries, cap property taxes and reduce state spending. But implicit in the message is “Don’t go too far in cutting programs beneficial to working people; you may need our support, and votes, next time at the plate.”
Many on the Dem team are outraged, as Willie Randolph was, by what they consider a betrayal by dugout insiders. As one Manhattan District Leader put it: “For the voters reading (praise for WFP’s progressive policies) from respected Democratic elected and party officials, the message is clear: Democrats do not fight for the issues and values that matter. Democrats do not care about good jobs, clean environment, better schools and public transportation. How many disparaging (messages) from Democratic officials do you think Democratic voters can read before they begin to believe them?”
Cuomo has kept away from the rhubarb this early in the post-election game. His state is not the only one with a WFP challenge. Six others – Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, Delaware, South Carolina and Oregon – have WFP teams edging on to the Dem playing field.
- - -
One Way of Looking at It: “If you watched the ALCS even casually it wasn't hard to see that Derek Jeter looked closer to 46 than 36 compared to Elvis Andrus as a shortstop. That's not a knock on Jeter but simply praise for Andrus' eye-popping range and athleticism.” – John Harper, Daily News
Reads like a knock to us, John.
Indeed, the endless speculation about how much Jeter will, and should, receive in his next contract erodes his superstar standing and hurts the Yankees’ reputation for “class”, as well. The media have interest in making a cliffhanger out of what the Yanks offer and how their longtime superstar responds. But any prolonging of the negotiation will serve to amplify negatives about Derek’s diminished skills, undeserved golden glove, etc. and the Yankees’ stated unwillingness to overpay their living legend of a shortstop. Getting the deal done pronto is the way to control any further damage.
Light
at Last: If Jeff Wilpon hired Sandy Alderson, J.P.
Ricciardi and
Paul DePodesta for the Mets’ front office because – in Peter Gammons’
words –
“he was tired of being pictured as the man manipulating chaos behind
the
curtain”, good for him. That was the case,
and the curtain was transparent. This is
the first hopeful sign the boss’s son has given Mets fans since Omar’s
signing
of Johan Santana nearly three years ago.
Cactus Report: The college slugger the Seattle Mariners drafted last year right behind Steven Strasburg - infielder Dustin Ackley - has warmed up the Arizona Fall League. Ackley is batting .444, with four HRs and 17 RBIs in 16 games for the Peoria Javelinas. Minnesota’s fleet farmhand Ben Revere is batting .330 and has stolen 11 bases in 23 games for another Peoria team, the Saguaros
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(Posted: 11/9/10)
Latinos Making Presence Felt in Both Pastimes
Worth remembering: the World Series began two weeks ago with Latinos constituting eight of 16 position players in Rangers and Giants starting lineups. Each team had four – the Rangers, Elvis Andrus, Vladimir Guerrero, Nelson Cruz and Benjy Molina, the Giants, Andres Torres, Freddy Sanchez, Juan Uribe and Edgar Renteria. (Sanchez was the only U.S.-born member of the group.)
Those regulars plus key pitchers on both teams – Feliz, Ogando and Rapada of the Rangers, Jonathan Sanchez, Casilla, Lopez, Mota, Ramirez and Romo, of the Giants – underscore the booming importance of Latinos in the making of winning MLB teams. Latinos are also playing a decisive role on the electoral field, mainly in support of Democratic candidates. Latino voters, along with other minorities, helped provide the difference in the few cliffhanger Senate races where D-team players prevailed last Tuesday. National Journal scorekeeper Ronald Brownstein reviewed the details:
“In California and Colorado, strong showings among minorities and college-educated women allowed Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer and Michael Bennet to prevail despite a surge toward their Republican opponents among other white voters, especially blue-collar white men and women, who are hurting economically and disillusioned with Obama.
“Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s surprisingly substantial victory in Nevada also showed how, in places with the right demography, the new Democratic coalition can still prevail. Republican Sharron Angle captured the white vote by a resounding 53 percent to 41 percent. But Reid overcame that advantage with a big turnout among African-Americans and especially Latinos, who were mobilized by an exhaustive campaign from the powerful Culinary Workers Union that represents employees along the Las Vegas strip. Angle inadvertently assisted the mobilizing with a race-baiting ad attacking illegal immigrants. In the end, Hispanics voted for Reid by 2-to-1 and cast just under 1-in-6 Nevada ballots, more than even Reid’s team anticipated…Sen. Patty Murray…in Washington (also has) this coalition to thank.”
On the opposite side of the field, Latinos in Nevada crossed party lines to help elect Republican Brian Sandoval, one of their own, governor. They were also instrumental in electing many more members of Team GOP than Dems in diverse contests in the East.
- - -
Mind Game: The Yankees sent this psychological message to other teams with the call to Cliff Lee’s rep at the start of the free-agent signing period: “We’re ready to spend whatever it takes to get Lee. Don’t involve us and yourselves in a bidding war. Neither of us will win that war, but you know we will win the battle for Lee in the end.”
More on the 2010 Champions: “There wasn't another team in the playoffs that wouldn't have wanted (Barry Zito) on its postseason roster. That's how strong the Giants' pitching staff is. (Matt) Cain is the only member of the starting rotation (Tim Lincecum, Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, Madison Bumgarner and Zito) who isn't under control for at least three more years, and he signed an extension last spring that takes him through 2012.” – Phil Rogers, Chicago Tribune
Among the surprising non-tendering decisions this off-season: the Diamondbacks’ snubbing of first baseman Adam LaRoche. He hit 25 HRs and had 100 RBIs this season. His $6 million per salary is far from exorbitant. The D-backs also declined to pick up options of two ex-Mets, Aaron Heilman and Mike Hampton. Arizona hopes to bring Hampton back under current team-acceptable terms. He didn’t yield a run in 10 September appearances after being recalled from Triple-A Reno. It was Hampton, some remember, who pitched the NLCS clinching game the last time – in 2000 – the Mets made the World Series. Before the game, reporters asked if he was ready to face the Cardinals: “Give me the ball,” he said.
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(Posted: 11/6/10)
The Politics of Regretting the Early End of Baseball
One reason to regret that the Rangers didn’t extend the Series at least to a sixth game: it would have provided a distraction from the election returns and their dreary significance. As it is, we can revel in the success of what were five exciting games, ending in a silver slipper for the Cinderella Giants.
The Series introduced in a sustained way – to those of us in the East, anyway – emerging young stars like Buster Posey, Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz, and the already emerged likes of Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain. And what fun to see 34-year-old Edgar Renteria assume the role played by Hideki Matsui in last year’s classic: Heroes from Colombia (Renteria) and Japan validating the adjective “World” in the Series.
We considered the staging of the Series near-perfect; the single smudge the pathetic display of superfluous patriotism. Requiring fans, players, TV audience, etc. to “honor America” in the middle of the seventh after participating earlier in the national anthem is an embarrassment: it signals insecurity rather than pride.
The insistence on our national preeminence is particularly problematic at election time, when much less than half of our eligible voters make the effort to take their turn at the polls. Michael Kinsley, who consistently hits to left-center, swung away on that point in The Politico:
“The theory that
Americans are better than everybody else is endorsed by an overwhelming
majority of U.S. voters and
approximately 100 percent of all U.S. politicians, although there is
less and less evidence to support it. A recent Yahoo poll (and I resist
the
obvious joke here) found that 75 percent of Americans believe that the
United States
is “the greatest country in the world.” Does any other electorate
demand such
constant reassurance about how wonderful it is — and how wise? Having
spent a
month to a couple of years and many millions of dollars…to snooker
voters,
politicians will (now) declare that they
put their faith in ‘the fundamental wisdom of the American people.’
“Not me. Democracy requires me to respect the results of the elections. It doesn’t require me to agree with them or to admire the process by which voters made up their minds. In my view, anyone who voted for Barack Obama for president in 2008 and now… support(ed) some tea party madwoman for senator has a bit of explaining to do.”
- - -
Baseball Commish Bud Selig will have a lot of explaining to do if he oversees the addition of two wild card teams to the current eight-team playoff arrangement. Basketball and hockey have debased the interest-value of their playoffs through a numerical overload of qualifiers. It’s hard enough, even for baseball addicts, to focus on the four match-ups at the start of each post-season. Don’t let the owners go for the easy buck, Bud, and spoil the more-than-acceptable system in place.
So Far, So Good: It’s disorienting to find ourselves saying something positive about the Mets. But the hiring of former Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi to assist new GM Sandy Alderson is an encouraging development. Ricciardi played a major role in putting together Toronto’s impressive core of young pitchers through trades and farm-system development. If given both the authority and freedom to exercise his recruiting skills, Ricciardi can make the Wilpons’ investment in him pay off handsomely.
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(Posted: 11/2/10)
“Mistakes” Mar a Baseball Game and Dem Election Effort
“We all make mistakes,” said Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga. His calm response to the bad call that deprived him of a no-hitter last June won him the first “Prize for Sanity” at Jon Stewart’s march for political moderation Saturday. The statement may well sum up the lesson of today’s election returns. Mistakes committed by voters who go with Team GOP, we know, will have resulted in part from Team Obama’s bobbled defense of its record.
Galarraga accepted the prize on a video taken at his home in Venezuela. He refrained from making a pitch on behalf of his country and its president. It wouldn’t have been in keeping with the way the moderation game was played. Fans know that Stewart treats politics like a humorous game, to the left of moderate, but not on Saturday. He and Comedy-Channel teammate Stephen Colbert kept their deliveries at the massive rally non-partisan. They did, however, throw high, hard ones at a group target: broadcast news. The pair reserved their brush-back heaters for cable-TV and network news channels, as well as National Public Radio. All, they said, duck away from important issues, preferring to peddle provocative pap.
Although not an election game-changer, the pair’s on-target fastballs froze into relief the dual corporate influence on today’s midterm contests: limitless campaign cash to conservative candidates, the paid-for radical-right video messages amplified by a complaisant corporate mainstream media. In the words of a Stewart “reporter” at the rally, the skewed playing field is the scene of a “little game called America.”
The Making of a non-Ballpark Wave: “It’s one of the characteristics of a wave -- you have a lot of people voting for anybody who is not associated with the ‘in’s’ even sometimes knowing that they are voting for a flawed candidate. The assumption is we’re sending a message, and if the only way to send a message is to vote for a flawed candidate, I will go ahead and do it.” – Gary Jacobson, U. of California (San Diego) congressional election specialist, quoted in National Journal.
- - -
Right Idea: With two out, men on second and third in the seventh inning of a 0-0 game last night, Tim McCarver said Rangers manager Ron Washington should walk Edgar Renteria and take his chances with Aaron Rowand. Washington let Cliff Lee pitch to Renteria, who hit the three-run homer that eventually made the Giants world champions.
Accolade: McCarver, a former catcher (of course) on SF’s Buster Posey: “I’ve never seen a catcher with an arm like his. His throws to second base have no loop.”
The Diplomat: New Mets GM Sandy Alderson did mostly straight-talking at his intro news conference. He did exaggerate the quality of the team’s farm system, saying it was middle-of-the-pack level. Baseball America and other monitoring entities place the Mets’ in the bottom third of the 30 systems evaluated. More important was Jeff Wilpon’s acknowledgment that investing in hoped-for star power at the expense of systemic depth was the wrong approach. Bottom line: something we already knew - the 2011 team cannot be a playoff contender given existing financial constraints.
Literary Note: Author Philip Roth, whose fictional alter-ego was not particularly good as a high school player, but “knew how to conduct (himself) as a center fielder” (“Portnoy’s Complaint”), is a Mickey Mantle fan. The NY Times Book Review reported Sunday that “Roth once watched Sandy Koufax strike out Mantle multiple times in a World Series game – ‘What a day for literature!’ he later recalled…(Roth) also gave Mantle a cameo of sorts in ‘Goodbye Columbus.’ ‘Are we going to have Mickey Mantle for dinner?’ Brenda Patimkin asks in one scene. ‘When the Yankees win, we set an extra place for Mickey Mantle’.”
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October 2010 Archive
(Posted: 10/30/10)
Couple of Key Players Under Pressure at Crunch-Time
Tale of two embattled lefties: Cliff Lee and Russ Feingold. Both key players in separate fields, both carrying the hopes of their teams in contests with much at stake. Super-star Lee’s plunge to earth in the Series opener against the Giants shook up the once-confident (now 0-2) Rangers, the sudden fall coinciding with the last innings of the long descent of Wisconsin’s Senator Feingold against GOP challenger Ron Johnson.
Feingold, an unapologetic three-term liberal, is a Dems’ weathervane candidate, the always-focused Lee his equivalent with the Rangers. Cliff will get a chance to stabilize his team Monday (assuming there’s a fifth game). By the same day, Election eve, Feingold will have had to cut down Johnson’s estimated six-point polling lead. Pressbox observers believe that, if Feingold pulls out a victory Tuesday, it will augur well broadly, and his team will likely keep its edge in the Senate. Should he lose, they agree, the results in purple Wisconsin could signal a big score nationally for Team GOP.
Feingold is hoping to counter multi-millionaire Johnson’s better-financed campaign with a massive get-out-the-vote effort. That’s not a good sign for the Dem team: everyone in politics knows money in hand usually outscores grass-roots-based hope. The outlook for Lee’s team is brighter. The Rangers know their ace will be available to pitch late-inning relief should there be a seventh game three days after his Monday start. They know further that, from now on, Lee will have an added incentive to excel: he’ll be auditioning for the many teams eager to sign him later this fall as a free agent.
- - -
“If a major league hitter knows a fastball is coming,” said Tim McCarver Thursday night, “it’s like batting practice.” That’s what happened in the Giants’ eighth inning of game 2. After a Buster Posey two-out single, Rangers relievers Derek Holland and Art Lowe combined to walk in two runs. A few pitches later, Edgar Renteria sat on a Lowe heater and singled to drive in two runs. Michael Kirkman replaced Lowe and served fastballs that pinch-hitter Aaron Rowand hit for a triple and Andres Torres for a double. The relievers’ implosion in professional baseball’s ultimate showcase was clearly an embarrassment to the sport as well as to the Rangers.
The politically correct side to root for in the Series? It’s not as easy as it seems. Dave Zirin tells us why this week in The Nation:
“Seems
pretty cut and dry for the political sports fan: you
line up with
either San Fran or Bush Country, right? But even though it would be
great to see Dubya cry if the Rangers lose, people should resist easy
political labels for either team. The field manager for the Rangers is
Ron Washington, who could become the second African-American manager in
baseball history to lead a team to championship glory. Washington must
be as surprised as anyone to be in the World Series, let alone
employed. To the credit of the Rangers organization, they kept
Washington at
the helm even after the 57-year-old manager failed a drug
test during the 2009 season and then admitted this Spring that his
drug of choice was cocaine…
“Also,
for those sneering at the red-state owners box in Texas, remember
that the Giants ownership team is hardly the Grateful Dead. In addition
to being the consigliere for the Microsoft Mafia, Bill Neukom's team
has gobbled $80 million in public financing for park upgrades and
untold millions in tax exemptions…Nope, there are no easy labels in
this
series: just two teams looking to make their mark on baseball history
and two fan bases desperately waiting to exhale. I can't wait.”
- o -
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(Posted: 10/28/10)
Waiting for a Baseball-Like Miracle on the Electoral Field
The odds-on 2010 World Series – Yankees versus Phillies. Few fans, at least here in the East, would have dreamed that neither would qualify for the biggest of baseball shows. We said in a blog at the outset of the post-season that only three of the eight playoff teams had a shot at the Series – the Rangers were our outside possibility.
The Yankees, the richest, most talent-laden team in the AL, and the Phillies, one of the two wealthiest, and by far the most formidable team in the NL, were a match seemingly labeled “inevitable”. The expectations are familiar heading into the political big show this Tuesday: Team GOP is odds-on to regain control of the House, and given a chance to pull an upset in the Senate contest, as the Rangers did in the playoffs.
The Giants, this year’s “miracle” team so far, are the model the Dems would like to emulate. SF trailed the Padres virtually all season but kept grinding as SD sputtered in the stretch. Team GOP is not sputtering, but, however belatedly, Skipper Obama is rallying Dem fans, or trying to. New Yorker’s Hendrik Hertzberg, one of those fans, likens the Skipper’s and the Dems’ situation to that when Franklin Roosevelt faced the Great Depression three years after the stock market crash of October 24, 1929. Hertzberg calls the collapse of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008 a “rough equivalent” of the ’29 crash. He says the difference between FDR’s three-year lead-in to his economic challenge and Obama’s third-of-a year warm-up to his has been crucial in putting a Dem defeat on deck:
“Obama
is
no
more
to
blame
for
the
Great
Recession
than
F.D.R.
was
for
the
Great
Depression.
But the longest and
deepest mass suffering has occurred with Obama in the White House and
Democrats
holding a majority in (if not always in control of) our two national
legislatures. That—more than tea
parties, more than Fox News, more than the scores of millions of
anonymous
corporate dollars poured into negative campaign advertising courtesy of
five
Justices of the Supreme Court—is why, next Tuesday, the Republican
Party is
overwhelmingly likely to retake the House of Representatives outright
and, at
the very least, to augment its share of seats in the Senate enough to
make its
veto power absolute…
“President Obama and the Democrats
kept the Great Recession from becoming a second Great Depression. But
the
presence of pain is more keenly felt than the absence of agony.”
If Democrats have a single reason
to cling to hope, it is this: polls show that up to a third of
potential voters
are undecided. Should those
fence-sitters break for the Dems, the skipper and his team could get
their
long-shot miracle.
-
- -
Humanizers: The Giants performed this minor miracle in the World Series opener last night: they showed that Cliff Lee was human. Lee, who was yanked after yielding five runs in four-and-two-thirds inning, couldn’t believe what happened himself. He was shown shaking his head in the dugout moments before the Giants broke the game open.
If East Coasters
are taking the Rangers-Giants Series hard, imagine how fans are feeling
in Southern California, where the Angels and Dodgers have
been dominant for so many years? LA
Times columnist Bill Dwyre rubs it in to local fans, albeit,
empathetically:
“Hey,
L.A. baseball fans. We didn't see this one
coming, did we?...The San Francisco Giants and
the Texas
Rangers are in the World Series. It was
supposed to be the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies
again. We could have lived with that. We could just ignore the whole thing and chalk
it up to another East Coast conspiracy.
”We could scoff at the Yankees for buying more postseason glory and
further
ruining whatever pretense there once was of competitive balance in the
major
leagues. And we could nod grudging
respect toward the Phillies and…theorize that had (ex-LAD) Jayson Werth
not
been hit on the wrist…the Dodgers would have kept him…and this
Phillies' run
might never have happened.
“We wonder what kind of TV ratings the Giants-Rangers series will bring, especially since the entire L.A. market is likely to hit the off button on the remote. It's Lakers season now, so we can rationalize our indifference. (But) if we are honest, we would admit this is painful.”
Primer: What are Mets fans to think of the choice of Sandy Alderson to be next GM? They should wait until he appoints a manager before thinking anything. If he defers to the Wilpons and names Wally Backman, he’s not the strong off-field leader the fans and the team need. Nothing against Backman; he’d probably make a good skipper. But appointing him would send a message: the bumblers still have interfering rights, which they intend to exercise.
- o -
(The Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey. Comments
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Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted:
10/26/10)
The Stats We Are Spared by Baseball and Team USA
We in the national grandstand learned the other day about suppressed stats that could challenge our acceptance of the status quo on the military battlefield. The situation on the baseball field, although nothing like a life-and-death matter, cries out for similar exposure.
A missed umpiring call on a bunt that went foul set up the decisive Phillies rally in game 5 of their series with the Giants. A day later, a missed call of a hit batsman (Nick Swisher), led to a run that enabled the Yankees to tie the Rangers in game 6 of their series.
Just as the military has resisted even acknowledging the existence of civilian- death numbers in Iraq, so baseball will not tell us the percentage of umpiring bad calls on close plays each season. Surely, they have such stats; video replays are televised routinely of all close calls. It’s time we hear how bad – or good – the umpiring truly is, verified by the technology baseball refuses to use on a regular basis. Based on what we’ve seen in the last two post-seasons, it would be surprising for umpiring to get more than “B” grade on controversial calls – 80 percent of them found to be correct, 20 percent depressingly wrong. With full disclosure of the stats, fans would likely conclude that baseball’s continued resistance to a broadened use of replays in umpiring is unacceptable.
It was WikiLeaks that divulged the existence of the stats in Iraq documenting what is euphemistically known as “collateral damage.” Here is the basic way the UK’s Daily Telegraph told the story, quoting the London-based team that has been monitoring civilian deaths:
“The latest batch of military documents released by WikiLeaks…shows that the U.S. military kept detailed records of Iraqi fatalities—even though the military denied their existence—and that many were never included in the tally. The logs show 109,032 deaths between January 2004 and last December, including 66,000 civilians…These, together with new information on combatant deaths contained in the logs, will bring the recorded death toll since March 2003 to over 150,000, roughly 80 percent of whom were civilians.”
Then there is this from yesterday’s UK Guardian: A report of "fresh
evidence
that
US
soldiers
handed
over
detainees to a notorious Iraqi torture
squad has emerged in
army logs published by WikiLeaks."
Salon’s Glenn Greenwald wrote an unplanned companion piece
in advance of the WikiLeaks revelations, putting the stance of Team
USA’s opponents
into perspective:
“The United States is a country with a massive military and nuclear stockpile, that invaded and has occupied two Muslim countries for almost a full decade, that regularly bombs and drones several others, that currently is threatening to attack one of the largest Muslim countries in the world, that imposed a sanctions regime that killed hundreds of thousands of Muslim children, that slaughters innocent people on a virtually daily basis, that (for decades) has interfered in and controlled countries around the world…that has spent decades arming and protecting every Israeli war with its Muslim neighbors and enabling a four-decade-long brutal occupation, and that erected a worldwide regime of torture, abduction and lawless detention, much of which still endures. Those are just facts. (Yet)…we all agree to sit around and point over there -- hey, can you believe those primitive Muslims and how violent and extremist they are.”
- - -
Deprivation: When the Rangers and Giants meet in SF tomorrow, it will be only the fourth time in the last 19 match-ups (in the two decades since 1991) that an East Coast team will not be involved in the World Series. The Giants played in one of the two non-EC series in this decade – losing to the Angels in 2002. The Cardinals played, and beat, the Tigers in 2006. The Yankees have been in seven Series since ’91, the Braves in five, the Phillies three, the Red Sox two.
Fearless Prediction: The big loser this year will be neither the Rangers, Giants (nor Yanks, Phillies). It will be Fox-TV. Ratings will certainly be far down in the populace East, where even rabid viewers will feel free to tune out when games drag on toward midnight.
Sidelined Stars: If you didn’t notice a remarkable aspect of Skipper Bruce Bochy’s leadership of the Giants, it was this: At crunch-time this season, Bochy had no compunction about sitting big names like Aaron Rowand, Edgar Renteria, Pablo Sandoval, etc. and using the likes of Andres Torres, Juan Uribe and Mike Fontenot instead. Although injuries factored into his lineup decisions, Bochy
made clear he was using the players in whom he had most confidence, based on performance, not salaries. Of course, he couldn’t have done it without GM Brian Sabean’s support.
- o -
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(Posted:
10/22/10, 6p, updated 12:01, 10/23/10)
The ‘More with Less’ Pitch Popular on Both Fields
The promise to “do more with less” is a political pitch designed to score with voters when times are hard. When team owners try it out with the baseball public, fans are understandably leery. As with public services, few teams improve when the payroll goes down. Nolan Ryan, front-office skipper of the Texas Rangers, is the equivalent of a politician who keeps his promises. He cut his team’s payroll from the $68 to $55 million between seasons, placing it just above the low-income Athletics, Padres and Pirates on the MLB’s financial batting order.
While the Rangers made do with much less (even after dealing for Cliff Lee at mid-season), their fellow playoff finalists, the Yankees, Phillies and Giants, added substantially to their payrolls. The Phillies took on $28 million more, the Giants $15 mil and the top-ranked Yankees, $5 million, to put them $44 million ahead of the second-place Red Sox.
Hard times in the country and an effective rally by conservatives have made the demand that government do more with less popular in the national political ballpark. That the rally advances the interests of the wealthy while stranding most Americans is lost on voters, as is the concept it represents, that of economic inequality. Washington Post scorekeeper Steven Pearlstein has monitored the setback the country is suffering:
“Income inequality has eroded any sense that we are
all in this together (as well as) the political consensus necessary for
effective government. There can be no
better proof of that proposition than the current election cycle in
which the
last of the moderates are being driven from the political process and
the most
likely prospect is for years of… political gridlock…(Inequality) is the
unspoken issue that underlies all the others. Without a sense of shared
prosperity, there can be no prosperity.”
Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich amplified the message in
a subsequent turn at bat:
“An
unprecedented concentration of income and wealth at the top; a record
amount of
secret money flooding our democracy; and a public becoming increasingly
angry
and cynical about a government that's raising its taxes, reducing its
services,
and unable to get it back to work. We're
losing our democracy to a different system. It's
called
plutocracy.”
- - -
Something
Missing:
When
the Yankees’ tying run in the fifth inning last night was tainted by
(yet
another) missed umpiring call – on a pitch that hit Nick Swisher called
a wild
pitch – there was a sense that the Yanks needed all the breaks they
could get
to beat the Rangers. They didn’t have
their usual aura of dominance – Phil Hughes couldn’t provide it, and
the
absence of Mark Teixeira left the lineup diminished. Meanwhile,
the
Rangers
confirmed
that
they
are
a
team
with
sock
and
a
sound
rotation
even
without
the
great
Cliff
Lee.
“That’s
the most important bunt in the history of the Philadelphia Phillies,”
said Tim
McCarver on Fox (with perhaps pardonable hyperbole) Thursday night. He was talking about Roy Halladay’s bunt with
two on in the third inning that went foul but was called fair. It triggered a wild sequence that included an
aborted pickoff at third base when Pablo Sandoval missed the bag with
his foot
and Halladay not running to first.
Sandoval threw Halladay out, but the missed double-play led to
two
Phillies runs, Shane Victorino having followed with a liner that Aubrey
Huff
couldn’t handle at first for a crucial error.
Those two runs were the difference in the Phils’ 4-2 victory.
The
Phillies are expecting their late-season “magic” (Jimmy Rollins’s term)
to
propel them to wins in games 6 and 7, with help from Roy Oswalt and
Cole
Hamels. The scrappy Giants hope that
Jonathan
Sanchez and, if needed in a game 7, Matt Cain, can neutralize Phillies
pitching
and quiet Phillies bats.
- o -
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(Posted: 10/21/10)
The Hypocrisy Game in Both Ballparks
Many anti-Yankees fans in the NY area agree there is a limit to how begrudging they can be of the pinstripers’ enviable success. That limit was reached Tuesday night when the Rangers rolled to the victory that gave them a (short-lived) 3-1 lead in the pennant playoff series. The possibility of a World Series devoid of a NY team couldn’t help but bring new fans into the Yankee fold, no matter how transitory the support. The conversion, a welcome form of chauvinism to some Yankee fans, is disdained as rank hypocrisy by others. “Hate us one minute, then root for us the next: that doesn’t jibe.”
Whatever its baseball-related intensity level, the hypocritical game is played on a sustained basis in the political field, especially in games involving foreign teams, like Iran:
“Iran's intelligence minister confirmed on Wednesday that two U.S. citizens detained for more than a year will face trial, news reports said…Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters on Tuesday that she had heard Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal would be tried on November 6 but she still hoped they would be released.”
Salon’s Glenn Greenwald paired this comment with the ensuing news report: “It's high time we teach those Iranians about democracy and freedom. All civilized people know that this is how a Free and Democratic Nation treats foreign detainees.":
“The Obama administration has decided to continue to imprison without trials nearly 50 detainees at the Guantánamo Bay military prison in Cuba because a high-level task force has concluded that they are too difficult to prosecute but too dangerous to release, an administration official said on Thursday.”
Given the expanded worldwide “secret war” operations, recently announced by the skipper’s front office, we’re fortunate the Iranians aren’t playing Team USA’s type of war game.
- - -
Baseball’s misfortune - from a financial standpoint - is that a Rangers-Phillies/Giants World Series would not have nearly the drawing power as would a Yankees-Phillies/Giants match-up. Either way, the absence of John Smoltz in the Fox broadcast booth will be a loss for viewing fans. Smoltz and his TBS teammates Ernie Johnson and Ron Darling have done a terrific job during the AL playoffs. It seemed redundant to have both ex-pitchers handling color to Johnson’s play-by-play. But it worked, once they got used to playing off each other. Darling, now a veteran in the booth, let comparative newcomer Smoltz establish himself as insightful in a fresh, spontaneous way. On Tuesday night, for example, after explaining why an “in-the-dirt” pitch made sense to an impatient hitter, Smoltz watched the pitch repeated, and said simply “Why not?”
Who would have thought the Giants, led last night by rookie Buster Posey, would push the Phillies to within a game of elimination, and be closer to the World Series than their counterpart underdog, the Rangers? A Rangers-Giants Series? Their fans are saying “Why not?”
- o -
(The Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey. Comments
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Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 10/19/10)
Little Fun in Games Played Now on Either Field
Autumnal thoughts about the passage of joy from both pastimes:
Even after the Rangers’ rebound in game 2 and
onesided win in game 3
behind Cliff Lee, the Yankees’ come-from-behind win in the
ALCS
opener seemed to confirm their status as the superior team in
their
league (at
least). While delighting pinstripe fans,
the Yanks’ constant dominance discourages dreamers of a more equal
competitive
playing field. (“Of all the games played this season,” said Red Sox fan
Jonathan Schwartz on WNYC, “that was the most disappointing.”) For the
time being, the Rangers are proving to be more than competitive, but
everyone knows it won't be easy for them to bring joy to many by taking
two more from the eruptible Bombers.
“Who is this Carl Paladino?,” asks the e-mail of a European friend. “Is he a crackpot?” The short answer: he deserves minimal attention, having disqualified himself through word and deed as a serious candidate for NY state skipper. The same is true of Christine O’Donnell in Delaware, Sharron Angle in Nevada, and other long-shot candidates around the country making headlines with their wild rhetorical pitches. “There aren't many more lines of taste and decorum left to be crossed,” notes the UK Guardian’s Michael Tomasky. “ It's taking a lot of the fun out of politics. Yes, politics was once fun. Dirty, corrupt, et cetera, but also fun in its way. Now…hatred is (spewed) every day. Depressing, really.”
It is a given that joylessness prevails in Pittsburgh, where the Pirates plod through a long series of losing seasons. But what about the North Side of Chicago, where big things were expected of the big-market Cubs? Fans there could smile, but only late in the season, after Mike Quade replaced Lou Piniella.
And what is the “enthusiasm gap” plaguing Team Obama and the Democrats but dismay over the inability to mount a Yankees-like comeback against the cash-flush party of no? The related, almost-constant gridlock in Congress elicits a verbal shrug from too many fans on the left: “When the right takes contol, they’ll be blamed for what’s not happening.” That’s more than discouragement; it’s a cover for despair.
Finally, the fun dissipated in Flushing by the mismanaged Mets. For once-loyal fans, stolen summers that can’t be reclaimed. With more ahead.
Lob
from Left Field on economic-inequality fallout:
“Divorce
rates are a…reliable indicator of financial distress, as marriage
counselors
report that a high proportion of couples they see are experiencing
significant
financial problems…Another footprint of financial distress is long
commute
times, because families who are short on cash often try to make ends
meet by
moving to where housing is cheaper — in many cases, farther from work… The middle-class squeeze has also reduced
voters’ willingness to support even basic public services.
Rich and poor alike endure crumbling roads,
weak bridges (and) an unreliable rail system.” – Cornell U. Prof. Robert Frank (in NY Times)
- - -
Reliable, and Placidly So: When Placido Polanco knocked in Roy Oswalt with the third Phillies run en route to the 6-1 victory Sunday night, Fox broadcaster Joe Buck paid tribute: “When you need that kind of a hit, you can’t have a better man at the plate than Polanco. You know he’ll get his bat on the ball.” With a lineup of Victorino, Utley, Polanco, Howard, Werth, Rollins, Ibanez and Ruiz, the Phils almost match the Yanks with their hole-free batting order. As widely predicted, the Giants, with their good pitching, just don’t measure up offensively to the defending NL champions.
In SI, Tom Verducci notes that the Giants have played 13 straight games without scoring more than four runs. He avoids saying that SF third baseman Mike Fontenot is choking under the playoff pressure – rather, he is playing “with a painfully noticeable lack of confidence.” Bruce Bochy has indicated, according to Verducci, that Pablo Sandoval will replace Fontenot, and Aaron Rowand will go to center field in place of Andres Torres, who has struck out in eight of 11 ABs.
- o -
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(Posted: 10/16/10)
In the Money: Cliff Lee and Team GOP
Cliff Lee doesn’t say so, but he’s probably a tax-averse Republican. Most major leaguers are. Lee has this in common with Team GOP election candidates: big money has either arrived, or is on its way. Observers agree that Lee can demand, and receive, at least as much as C.C. Sabathia: $24 million a year for the better part of the next decade. (He probably can’t match A-Rod’s $33 million per, however.)
For the GOP, the final campaign money figure won’t be in for awhile, if ever, But, counting the unlimited amounts contributed by outside groups like the Chamber of Commerce, an estimated hundreds of millions of newly allowed dollars are promoting Repub contests across the country. Except for comparatively minimal help from labor unions, the Dems have no similar access to big bucks.
Thus, in the political fund-raising game, it is no contest. The UK Guardian’s D.C.-based Michael Tomasky speaks for not enough of us when he says:
“Most voters don't care. But I care, and you ought to as well, unless you think it's a good idea that a few mega-rich corporate titans can give a few million bucks to a group that has to disclose almost nothing and run ads attacking candidate X that say nothing about their real agenda for the country.”
It’s a pitch that can’t be thrown too often: The impact of money on the election outcome is a threat, not only to the Democrats, but – in Skipper Obama’s words – “to democracy.” How big a threat we’ll know soon after Election Day.
Baseball people know Lee could single-handedly turn some teams into a championship threat. The Yankees can win without him, but, as he pitched the other night, many of us visualized pinstripes on his Rangers uniform. Does anyone believe the Yanks can’t have Lee in the off-season if they want him? Although there will likely be a bidding war for his services, we know there’s only one team - a consistent winner - that won’t be outbid.
The ever-expanding role of money, we see, is changing both pastimes, upsetting the traditional traces of equilibrium. A corollary threat in politics is the reported emergence this year of the largest number ever of self-funded candidates, nearly all Republican. Could that mean future electoral contests will be mainly games for the rich? If so, would the change be part of a prolonged slump or permanent condition? Crucial questions as playoff time approaches.
- - -
“Oh, my” said one of the TBS announcers when Kerry Wood picked Ian Kinsler off first with none out in the bottom of the eighth inning last night. The Yankees offense had just forced a bullpen implosion to score five runs and take a 6-5 lead. The pickoff with none out ended the Rangers hopes in the first game of the ALDS. Texas fans can only hope their team’s shell shock will not carry over. The Yanks, we know, have a way of making sure it does.
Minority
View? Going into last night's
game, MLB-TV’s
Billy Ripken cast an emphatic vote the other night for the Rangers to
beat the
Yankees for the AL pennant. He based his
argument on Texas’s
success against Mariano Rivera this season.
Mariano is 0-2 for the year against Ron Washington’s team. “Mariano doesn’t bother them like he does
other teams,” said Ripken. “They’re
confident he can be had.”(P.S. Mariano got the save last night.)
Why Mets Fans Should (Continue to) Worry: Jeff Wilpon’s hiring track record is flawed by repeated rookie mistakes. He allows personal rapport, rather than hardnosed assessment, to influence his decisions. Jeff took on Art Howe as manager in 2002 because the un-dynamic Howe interviewed well. Then he gave new buddy Omar Minaya, architect of the 2007 team collapse, a three-year contract extension despite evidence that GM Omar had outlived his usefulness. We won’t talk about his appointment of other-crony Howard Johnson to be batting coach in 2008. The record does not instill confidence as Jeff meets and assesses a series of GM applicants.
Follow-up: Here is Newsday’s David
Lennon reporting on
Sandy Alderson’s interview for the GM job:
“The big
question…is how the older and more established Alderson would
fit in the organization’s current decision-making hierarchy… As someone accustomed
to running his own show to a certain degree,
Alderson would have to adjust to being only one voice in a front office
headed
by principal owner Fred Wilpon , chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon
and
president Saul Katz… Alderson wants to be a
general
manager again, and Bud Selig no doubt would like to help out his
friend, Fred
Wilpon, in stabilizing the Mets. But the
Wilpons do not seem flexible in how they run their franchise.”
: - o -
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(Posted: 10/14/10)
Political Omen Favors Giants in Match-up with Phillies
Ever since the media’s linkage of the surprise victory of the “Miracle Mets” of 1969 and that of progressive John Lindsay as NYC mayor, baseball and liberal elective politics connect this time of year. At least, that’s the lefty conceit. The NL pennant race has come down to two non-NY teams. But both the Giants and Phillies are from Democratic states, so the linking tradition lives on.
SF and the Phils both have terrific pitching but slumping hitters. The contests for senate and governor in both home states have featured a lot of hard hitting. If the pre-election stats so far contain a baseball omen, it is that the Giants, linked to liberal Dem candidates, have better pennant prospects than the favored Phils in the NLCS.
Why should that be? In blue-state Pennsylvania, the left-of-center Dems, like the Phillies on their field, had an edge going into the political playoffs. But, exploiting an error-prone economy, Team GOP’s Pat Toomey and Tom Corbett are ahead of Joe Sestak and Dan Onorato in the battle for open senate and gubernatorial seats, respectively. Toomey is up by seven points, Corbett 10 in consensus polling scorecards.
In blue-state California, the favored Dems are showing the underdog Giants how to win. A double victory could come despite the economy on the political field and economic inequality - fewer big-bucks players - on the diamond. Incumbent Senator Barbara Boxer leads Carly Fiorina by five points and former Governor Jerry Brown has a six-point consensus margin over Meg Whitman with three weeks of play left.
The Phils and Giants finished their separate division series each with woeful team BA’s of .212. The averages of Jimmy Rollins (.091) and Placido Polanco (.111) should cause Charlie Manuel particular concern. Bruce Bochy has Jose Uribe at .071, and Freddy Sanchez and Andres Torres at .111 to worry about.
Cliffhanger: Cliff Lee is scheduled to pitch Sunday. Trouble is, his Rangers won’t be playing Sunday. The ALCS, pitting Texas against the Yankees, opens Friday night in Arlington, with games Saturday there, then three at the Stadium starting Monday. Ron Washington has to decide whether to use Lee Saturday, on three days rest, or Monday, on five. Saturday is the more likely; it would insure Lee’s availability for another start. There’s little doubt he would want to pitch sooner rather than later.
Lee’s teammate Ian Kinsler describes the pitcher’s competitiveness, even in a game of chess: “He whups me pretty good, and he’s not scared to let me know. I mean, first move, he’s dominating me. That’s just how he rolls.”
Farm News: The Yankees and Pirates shared the highest number of blue-chip prospects in Baseball America’s Top 20 list for the International League. Each had three; catcher Jesus Montero, pitcher Ivan Nova and infielder Eduardo Nunez were the designated Yank farmhands from Scranton-Wilkes-Barre. The three Pirates prospects on the list were third baseman Pedro Alvarez, pitcher Brad Lincoln and outfielder Jose Tabata from Indianapolis. The Indians, Rays, Reds, Orioles and White Sox, each had two players on the list. The Mets had none. The player at the top of the list: catcher Carlos Santana of the Columbus Clippers, who played later in the season (until injured) with the Indians.
- o -
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(Posted: 10/12/10)
Yankees and Team GOP: More Than Just a Money Game
The hard-hitting Chicago lefty Saul Alinsky used to say that, on the political field, “organized people” can beat “organized money.” The Yankees are proving, with productive players as well as money, such a strategy doesn’t work in baseball. The Twins, with a new ballpark generating more revenue, became a big-market team this season. They were able to trade for big-time relievers Matt Capps and Brian Fuentes at mid-summer. Even with the season-ending concussion of Justin Morneau, the Twins’ personnel raised expectations going into the playoffs. Their feeble showing against the Yanks has triggered uncharacteristic grumbling among Minnesota’s fans and media.
Were he still alive, Alinsky, the legendary community organizer, could serve as a valuable bench coach for Skipper Obama. Long before this point in the midterm electoral contest, he would have had the skipper challenging Team GOP’s proposed double-switch – cutting the safety net for low-income people while at the same time cutting taxes on the wealthy that help pay for the net. As early as 1971, Alinsky was warning progressives “If we don’t communicate with the…(working class), if we don’t encourage them to (join) us, they will move to the right.”
Team Obama is trying belatedly to reach those blue-collar players. But the economy, the much-publicized “enthusiasm gap” and organized – mainly, corporate – money make the challenge as tough as that facing playoff teams positioned to face the Yankees. An Associated Press scorecard shows how big a money lead Team GOP has taken, thanks to the unlimited outside dollars corporate supporters can now throw into the game:
“The (Dem) party, led by the Democratic National Committee, has outraised the Republican Party and is mounting advertising and get-out-the vote campaigns in key battlegrounds. But Republicans have countered (via the High Court’s Citizens United ruling) with a vast array of allied groups operating outside the national party that are raising money without the legal limits imposed on the parties and the candidates. Those groups are outspending their Democratic-leaning counterparts by about 6-1.”
As of now, clearly, the smart money is on organized money. The Dems need a huge populist rally to change the predicted outcome.
- - -
Optical Illusion: No matter what the numbers show, we’re in a three-team playoff for the World Series. The Yankees and Phillies have been on a collision course from the outset. The Rangers or Rays may somehow careen into the picture, nudging the Yanks out. No way, barring an upset in the natural order, will the Giants sidetrack the Phils in a best-of-seven drag-race.
TBS Tidbits: John Smoltz (Twins-Yankees): “When
a
team
falls
behind,
everybody
can
get
tight. It’s happened to the Twins. They’re waiting for someone to break through
and light a spark.”
Buck Martinez’s (Rays-Rangers) description
of a pitch that moves off the plate but is called a strike: a
“strike-to-ball
breaking ball.” Martinez on whether Evan
Longoria’s 10-day
layoff at the end of the season would hurt his timing at bat: “Definitely.
It will take time for him to get used to hitting breaking balls
again. Fast balls won’t be a problem.”
It has to be said: TBS
short-changed fans by failing to add an ex-ballplayer to the
Reds-Phillies
broadcasting team of Brian Anderson and Joe Simpson.
Anderson and Simpson were fine, but their
offerings could have been tastier seasoned with insights from someone
like
ex-pitcher/White Sox color-man Steve Stone, or even Keith Hernandez.
Intriguing caption (for Mets
fans) to shot of Cincinnati’s
Walt Jocketty during Reds-Phillies game: “General
Manager/VP Operations”. If the Mets
gave their new GM similar dual authority, it would reassure fans that
the
Wilpons were distanced from key decisions regarding the team’s future. Jeff Wilpon, we know, is the current VP for
ops.
- o -
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to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 10/9/10)
Roy Halladay, George Bush and the Missing Game Plans
Roy Halladay’s no-hitter this week coincided with the anniversary of George Bush’s launching of our war in Afghanistan nine years ago. The two events became linked in another way (at least by some of us) with the use of the phrase “game plan.” Bush’s plan - aimed at sending Osama bin Laden to the showers - included “careful targeting” of aerial attacks in the hope of avoiding “war with the Afghani people.” The plan envisaged a long war that we would permit to end only when we had achieved “victory…for the cause of freedom.”
There appeared to be no game plan beyond using “every necessary weapon of war” to win. The extra innings under way in Afghanistan and Pakistan attest to the ineffectiveness of those weapons in a rugged, third-world setting. Osama has gotten away and the Taliban remain, stronger than ever. More tellingly, the dragged-out war testifies to a flawed strategy that has led the thousands of civilian deaths – many caused by drone attacks. So much for the concept of “careful targeting.” In the words of a retired major general – John Batiste – “We rushed to war without designating…a main effort “ – that is, a specific, achievable goal, a realistic game plan.
The Baseball Connection: The early pre-Roy-Halladay Phillies finished 12 games behind the Mets in 2006, the year the NYM’s season ended in the seventh game of the NLCS. The Phillies, less wealthy than the Mets, focused on stocking their farm system; they developed blue-chip prospects, many of whom they were able to deal for the likes of Cliff Lee, Brad Lidge, and, of course, Halladay and Roy Oswalt. The Mets, meanwhile, gave player-development a low priority, depending mainly on the signing of name free agents – the prospects-for-Johan-Santana-trade was a rare exception. Former Met and current SNY broadcaster Ron Darling gave NY Times-man Stuart Miller his analysis of the Mets’ mismanagement:
“What they need is a game plan….They need to teach smart
baseball and good defense so when (minor leaguers) get to the big
leagues, (they)
know what is expected….Right now the Mets (have a choice): try to build
a
perennial winner in a few years (with their prospects), or…try to
piecemeal it
together, trying to find the elixir in the free-agent market.”
In pairing Darling with John Smoltz as color men
in the Yankees-Twins series, TBS has put together a dazzling package. The two ex-pitchers were tentative at first,
getting to know each other’s moves. But
soon, helped by excellent play-by-play man Ernie Johnson, the pair
pitched in
perfect synch. Darling let Smoltz say more, but contributed as much. Both agreed that Andy Pettitte’s performance
Thursday night was his best ever, given the suspense about his health
and the
importance of the game to his team. On umpiring calls, Smoltz told
Johnson he
would want to see replays of controversial plays whenever decisive runs
were
involved, but only then. Darling said he
thought an “eye-in-the-sky” system – an ex-umpire at a replay monitor
in the
press box – would be preferable; a ruling would be made on any close
and challenged call. Johnson went along
with Darling’s view.
Smoltz on pitching to Lance Berkman: “You don’t
want to see him lay the bat down after hitting a ball.
That means it’s going a long way.”
TBS’s other pairings have been well chosen,
too. Here is Buck Martinez (doing
Rangers-Rays color) on free-swinging Vladimir Guerrero: “If the ball’s
coming
at him, it’s in play.” Martinez’s
play-by-play partner Don Orsillo
prefaced a Rangers home run on a pitcher’s count with a prescient
comment: “(James)
Shields is in harm’s way.”
The savvy Bob Brenly, doing Atlanta-Giants color
with Dick Stockton, on the Braves: “Bobby Cox has gotten good pitching,
but he’s
had problems with the team’s defense.” The Braves made two errors in
the 1-0
loss to the Giants Thursday night. The single run scored when third
baseman
Omar Infante couldn’t handle a ground ball; it skipped by him, letting
Buster
Posey score from second.
When the Reds fell apart last night, making four
key errors in the Phillies’ come-from-behind victory, Brian Anderson
and Joe
Simpson did their usual solid, unobtrusive job. They
were
similarly
effective
in
describing
the
Halladay
no-hitter.
TBS has made a
clean broadcasting sweep of the four playoff series.
- o -
(The Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey. Comments
to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 10/07/10)
It’s Playoff Time in Baseball, Crunch-Time in Politics
Scary lineups:
Playoff all-stars: Jimmy Rollins, ss; Carl Crawford, lf; Joey Votto, 1B; Josh Hamilton, cf; Alex Rodriguez, 3b; Joe Mauer, c; Robinson Cano, 2b; Vladimir Guerrero, dh; Delmon Young, rf, C.C. Sabathia, p (starter); Mariano Rivera, p (closer).
Team GOP free agents: Scientists who deny man-made climate change; Economists who support tax-cuts for the rich; Strategists who justify wars of choice; Lawyers willing to defend torture; Journalists who slant the political news in deference to the people who pay them.
An obvious distinction: the baseball lineup is “would-be” scary: the squad won’t be playing together. The diverse GOP outfit (put together with the guidance of Paul Krugman) is working as a loosely knit team to win on the electoral field three-and-a-half weeks from now.
Two views from the left field pressbox on how that political contest will turn out:
Perspective 1: “The midtems are boring—boring because everyone knows, in broad strokes, what’s going to happen. The media love to imagine that some brilliant, last-minute White House strategy can save the Democrats, but in moments like this—when the public loathes Washington and Washington is controlled by one party—consultants’ tricks don’t matter. The latest pipe dream is that voters will punish the GOP for having nominated extremist weirdos like Christine O’Donnell. Really?
“In 1994, the good people of Idaho elected Congress(wo)man Helen Chenoweth, who warned that black helicopters, sent by the federal government, were menacing her state’s ranchers. In Galveston, Texas, voters elected a formerly homeless man. When voters are determined to punish anyone associated with political power, hailing from the political, and even social, fringe, isn’t a liability; it’s an asset.” - Peter Beinart, The Daily Beast
Perspective 2: “More evidence th(at)…the Republican wave has crested, and a new dynamic in election 2010 has taken hold. New Rasmussen and Washington Post polls each show a 7 point swing towards the Democrats in the national Congressional Generic in the past few weeks…This movement tracks similar movement seen in other polls released over the past few days, indicating that the Democrats have made substantial improvement in their position over the past month…
There is a clear understanding now in the political class that things have changed, but the big hedge is still on. In the lead Washington Post story on their new poll, the 7 point Democratic gain was ’modest,’ and the 6 point Republican lead ‘significant.’…That… shows how fundamentally invested much of DC's political class is in the September version of this story which had Democrats losing the House…and big Republican gains were already ‘baked in the cake’." - Simon Rosenberg, NDN (progressive think tank)
The outcome - one way or the other - will likely depend on how effective pro-GOP corporate dollars (the brunt of the estimated $5 billion to be spent in the series of contests) - will ultimately be.
- - -
Talk About Scary: How formidable are the Phillies? Roy Halladay threw his no-hitter yesterday against the NL’s best hitting team; a walk provided the Reds with their only base-runner. The Phils look like the team that led the majors in wins (97).
Cliff Note: Cliff Lee proved he belonged on our hypothetical all-star team with his dominance over the Rays yesterday afternoon. Buck Martinez on TBS said the way the Rangers handled Tampa Bay ace David Price had to drain the Rays psychologically. They know if the series goes more than three games, they’ll be facing Lee again.
Getting To Be a Habit: The Yankees had 48 come-from-behind victories this season. The 49th last night over the Twins may have been the most important. It sent a message: “We’ve dominated you for the last few seasons and don’t think we’re going to stop now.”
A Thought About the Mets Mess: If he would take it, Bobby Valentine would not be a bad choice for GM – yes, GM; he wouldn’t brook interference from Jeff Wilpon. The Mets could then name Wally Backman manager and save some of the money Fred Wilpon lost to Bernie Madoff.
Another Thought: Jerry Manuel was a solid Mets manager, just not a transformative one, a la Buck Showalter. Manuel got no help from the front office. He pleaded through the media, last year and this, for aggressive deal-making that would provide reinforcements for his motley roster. He was told to carry on with what he had and somehow make it all come out right. Manuel could have been the right man had he not taken over at the wrong time.
- o -
(The Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey. Comments
to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 10/5/10)
Obama Hits Wall Street While Mets Whack Omar and Manuel
The investment fund player who the other day said Skipper Obama “came at me with a baseball bat” had nothing on Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya, whacked by the Mets this weekend through the media instead of man-to-man.
The skipper told multi-millionaire blue-chipper Anthony Scaramucci that he and fellow Wall Street players had “beat up on” Main Street people. Scaramucci had tried to defend the many on Wall Street who were being blamed for the actions of a “few bad apples”. Obama’s response was certainly unsympathetic, but he did it face-to-face on the TV program “Investing in America.”
The Mets leaked the decision to let their manager go and consign their GM to the Limbo list. Sports Illustrated ran the story late Friday. Art Howe and Willie Randolph, Manuel’s predecessors, lost their jobs in similar tawdry fashion.
The Mets can now change the subject from how bad their team was to whom they expect to turn the franchise around. It will be an off-season stressing the promise of change – through hirings and name-player signings. But a needed miraculous comeback next season is unlikely, no matter what the changes.
Obama can talk tough, but he can’t bring substantive change, either, to the financial field.. The recently passed legislation by his teammates, the Dem-dominated Congress didn’t do the job, as scorer Joe Nocera noted from the NY Times pressbox:
“The big banks aren’t being broken up, the way they were in the 1930s. Bankers aren’t being hauled off to jail. No serious effort has been made to rein in executive compensation – or even to claw back millions of dollars in bonuses that were based on what turned out to be illusory profits. Most of the financial practices and products that brought us to the brink remain legal under the new Dodd-Frank legislation.”
Too-big-to-fail is among the financial plays that have not been thumbed from the game. On the other hand, there will be more umpiring of efforts to clear the field for too-big-to-fail. Still, the pressbox consensus is this: Ttaxpayers have every reason to resent the “reforms” that permit Wall Street to hold on to its privileges.
- - -
Searching for Cinderella: A non-fan friend wondered aloud yesterday if the playoffs had a “Cinderella team?” We said there were three of eight – “everyone but the Phillies in the National League.” In winning the NL Central over the Cardinals and Cubs, the Reds qualified as an “almost Cinderella” during the regular season. The Phillies may therefore have their hands full in advancing to the NLCS, but advance they should.
The Reds are the only one of the playoff teams to finish first in their league in two of three main categories – hitting and fielding. The Giants led the NL in pitching. In the AL, the Rangers and Twins led in hitting and fielding, respectively, the Rays in pitching. If it is true that pitching counts in a short series especially, the Giants and Rays will be worth particular attention.
The Yankees, playing at cruise-control through September, apparently achieved the best possible match-up: meeting the Twins just in time to miss the return of Justin Morneau. Except Morneau won’t be coming back later in the playoffs, after all. The Twins only want him back at spring-training time. More immediately, although Minnesota has home-park advantage in the best-of-five ALDS, the Yanks have shown they’re not intimidated by Target Field: they took two of three from the Twins there, and four of six overall.
- o -
(The Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey. Comments
to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 10/2/10)
Why Ballclubs and Team Obama Should Play Hard to the End
Baseball fans recognize the empty feeling when their team falls out of contention. Some experience it early in the season, watching players who have lost their competitive spark. For most fans, the experience becomes familiar now as the many also-ran teams hold rookie tryouts rather than play hard with their best lineups. Checking box scores for all-star performers takes patience, name players with hiccups having been shut down. What are essentially Triple-A games played in virtually vacant ballparks convey a sad end-of-regular-season image. In competing for attention with football, baseball shouldn’t have fans saying “Couldn’t they at least try?”
Team Obama has taken repeated hits for lack of intensity as the electoral season moves into its final month. One of the hitters - Greg Sargent, writing in the Washington Post – suggests why the O-team should have been more responsive to lefty critics and less cautious in its game plan:
“They (the critics) are not merely griping because the White House failed to be as left wing as they would have liked on the public option or the big banks. They are making the case that fighting harder for liberal priorities -- even if that battle is hopeless in some cases -- is better politics for Democrats overall, because it might leave Dems with an energized base heading into the midterms.
“From this group's point of view, it entirely misses the point when Obama supporters respond by saying: ‘Shut up, Obama got all he could, all you're doing is demoralizing Dems with your nonstop criticism.’
“Their argument is that laying down markers on core liberal priorities has a way of expanding the field of what's politically possible. And even if expanding that field was never realistic, they argue, Obama would be in a better position anyway if he'd fought more visibly for those core priorities, because rank and file Dems would know what it is they should go out and vote for on Election Day. These critics are rejecting the ingrained Beltway notion that you should never fight for something when you might lose.”
- - -
Uphill Fight Falls Short: “Adrian Gonzalez is batting .416 with runners in scoring position,” said Dick Enberg (on MLB-TV) during the crucial Cubs-Padres game Thursday. “That’s far and away the best average in the majors.” Gonzalez came to bat in the sixth inning of a 0-0 game with men on first and second and none out. It would be the Padres’ best - and only - opportunity to keep the team’s playoff hopes realistically alive. Gonzalez grounded into a double play, setting the stage for the Cubs’ 1-0 victory, their third in four games in San Diego.
Cubs interim manager Mike Quade was not considered a serious candidate to succeed Lou Piniella on a permanent basis when he replaced Lou in mid-August. Ryne Sandberg, Joe Girardi, Joe Torre, Bobby Valentine – those were the names of real candidates. But the Cubs have played .647 ball (22-12) under Quade and he has become a serious contender to run the team in 2011. It hasn’t hurt him that the players are among his boosters. Said Ryan Dempster the other night:
"I hope he's managing us next year because he deserves it. He has done everything they've asked, and everyone in here really likes him."
Asked what he thought of the endorsement, Quade showed he knew about diplomacy as well as managing: "I try and stay away from that," he said. "As long as my relationship with them is good, and I think it is, then I…stick to …what I have to do."
- o -
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September 2010 Archive
(Posted: 9/30/10)
Needed on Both Fields: A Gloom-Chasing Miracle
A month ago, a part-owner of the Milwaukee Brewers invited us to join him at Citi Field this week to see his team play the Mets. We declined with thanks, confessing to insufficient interest. When rain coincided with the start of the series, we thought of how doubly gloomy it would be to watch the out-of-it Mets and Brews under lowering skies.
Worse yet, of course, is the thought of what lies ahead for the NYMs: a mediocre roster, unproductive farm system, dysfunctional front office and shorter-than-usual money supply. It adds up - even with drastic off-season personnel changes - to a series of rebuilding years.
The appropriateness of the gloom is felt by many players and fans on the left side of the political field. Among them: the UK Guardian’s Washington-based ace Michael Tomasky, who delivered this sobering outlook on one of the rainy days.
“It may well be that the Reagan and Dubya years were just warm-up acts, and that the conservative movement has yet to behold its triumph. The amount of money corporate titans can now pump into politics, the level of activism, the utter inability of the media to call lies lies, the weakness of the Democrats…we may be in for a 40-year descent, until there is no Social Security and there are no environmental regulations and so on and so on, and it'll take a couple of generations for Americans to see the grim effects of that kind of country and decide that pension security and regulation weren't such horrible ideas after all, and America will have to spend 20 years, from about 2050 to 2070, rebuilding an apparatus of state that was built a century before but dismantled.”
Tomasky’s stint was a long-view follow-up to the message pitched by National Journal control artist Ronald Brownstein in the previous Nub. Brownstein laid down the middle the immediate plans of Team GOP’s extremist Senate candidates: to swing out against not only what Team Obama has done, but also to challenge “the legacies of Lyndon Johnson and Franklin Roosevelt.”
The latest in a series of warnings to Democrats to put on their rally caps and get likeminded voters to do the same in advance of electoral playoff day, November 2. Will it take a miracle for such a rally to occur?
- - -
Speculation Time: Our best guesstimate of playoff pairings in advance of the season’s final weekend: AL – Rangers at Rays, Yanks at Twins. NL – Reds at Phils, Braves at Giants. For us, the absence of Red Sox and Dodgers takes some of the zest out of the mix. And, speaking of gloom, how sad that midnight struck for the Cinderella Padres in the last week of the regular season.
Although the cusp-of-wild-card Braves have swept the Marlins, the Padres aren’t out of the playoff picture yet. But SD Times-Union columnist Nick Canepa says local fans are avoiding disappointment by staying home: “This is a team that should be loved, and I wonder why it hasn’t been, why the franchise will draw only 200,000 more fans this year (around 2.1 million) than it did in 2009…In 42 seasons of Padres existence, this has been their most amazing ballclub, a $41-million wonder, a baseball equivalent of loaves and fishes and the Red Sea parting.
“But, for whatever reasons — the economy hitting at the
Mendoza Line may be part of it…San Diegans have treated The Little Team
That
Could more like The Little Team That Might But We Don’t Think It Can So
Let’s
Wait And See If It Can.”
Ever Say Die: If baseball had an annual deadhead prize, this
year’s
would go to the Mets by a mile. Until
Tuesday night, when they rallied in the ninth to win,4-3, the Mets had
been a
remarkable 0-67 when trailing after eight innings.
- o -
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(Posted: 9/28/10)
Political Symbolism Adding Buzz to Baseball’s Post-Season
Politicizing the playoffs.
In recent election years, the Democratic team found positive omens in the identity of the World Series winners. In 2006, the Cardinals, from then-bluish-purple Missouri, signaled the Dems regaining control of Congress. In 2008, the Phillies, from blue Pennsylvania, presaged Obama's presidential victory.
Percentage-wise, the early and middle innings of the 2010 contest have produced few positive signs for the D-team. The red-state Rangers, Rays and (purplish)Reds match the blue Phillies, Yankees and Twins as playoff sure things. The Braves, from red-state Georgia, look to be a good bet for NL wild card, neutralizing the likely blue-California NL West winner, the Giants or Padres.
The one recent source of hope for the Dems has been the fading of the red-state Colorado Rockies from the playoff mix. Colorado is symbolically significant because of its Team GOP's Senate candidate Ken Buck. A dynamic former prosecutor, Buck poses a strong threat to Dem incumbent Michael Bennet. The National Journal's Ronald Browstein says Buck has been the top-of-rotation pitcher of a rousing GOP message. It's a message the call-as-he-sees-it Brownstein says the Dems must take seriously or risk a more far-reaching defeat than even their pessimists fear:
Buck encapsulate(s) the energy, confidence, and revolutionary zeal crackling through the huge class of GOP Senate challengers now approaching the Capitol from all points on the map. In red, blue, and purple states alike, Republicans this year have nominated deeply conservative candidates such as Buck who vow to unravel much of what President Obama and the Democratic Congress have constructed over the past two years -- and then march on to challenge the legacies of Lyndon Johnson and Franklin Roosevelt. Polls today suggest that many of them will get the chance to try.
Unless Democrats can recover lost ground, it appears likely
that the 2010 elections will produce the biggest crop of freshman
Republican
senators since the 11 who arrived in 1994, and possibly even the 16 who
were
part of Ronald Reagan's landslide in 1980. Across a wide range of
issues, the
potential GOP Senate class of 2010 leans right even when compared with
those
earlier groups -- some contenders hold positions on the far frontier of
modern
American politics. Next year could bring to Washington the most
consistently, and even
militantly, conservative class of new senators in at least the past
half-century.
The D-team can, thus, thank a member of the
Colorado red-state roster for sounding
the GOP rallying cry that is also a wake-up call for the
Dems . And
they can hope the Rockies don't wake up in
time to join red-state teams competing for the role of World Series
champion...and omen.
- - -
What We Know in the last week of the season: The Marlins, Cubs and D-backs are enviable also-rans, playing very meaningful games in this final week of the regular season. Each can do fatal damage in the NL West and wild card races. The Marlins, playing in Atlanta without injured studs Josh Johnson and Harley Ramirez, could compromise the Braves’ wild card hopes by contriving to win two of three games. Last night, with a Triple-A lineup, they came up short, losing in 11 innings, 2-1. The Cubs can complicate the Padres’ two-lane itinerary to either playoff destination by taking two of four in San Diego. They took the opener from the Pods last night, 1-0. The D-backs can flummox the Giants, by taking two of three in San Francisco, starting tonight. In the best of possible baseball worlds, the Padres and Giants will be close enough this weekend to make their wind-up series decisive while the Braves are in a similar situation against the Phils at home.
Reading Between the Lines: Man Making Pitch to be Mets GM: “While he could be a candidate for the Mets GM job if the Wilpon family reassigns Omar Minaya, (former D-backs GM Josh) Byrnes said, ‘My background is in pro and amateur scouting, which is the foundation of any organization, and that’s where I would have interest.’ Byrnes’s advice was sought by a few teams at the trade deadline, and he was able to provide input.” – Nick Cafardo in Boston Globe
Signing the 40-year-old Byrnes as GM would be good news on one level – signaling overdue emphasis on developing a productive farm system, but bad news on another: Byrnes does not have the stature to demand, and receive, autonomy from Jeff Wilpon. To be effective, the new GM must be free to run the show without Wilpon’s kibitzing.
- o -
(The Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey. Comments
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Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(9/25-26/10)
Some Baseball Advice for NY’s Would-Be Skipper
Andrew Cuomo, son of a former professional ball player, could learn from one of the game’s great combatants. Cuomo, we know, has a Carl Paladino problem. Paladino, Team GOP’s candidate for NY skipper, throws verbal bean balls: a sure-fire way to bring a roar from the crowd. The press loves Paladino for his entertainment value. Cuomo can’t match Paladino as an entertainer, nor should he try. His goal should be to develop a lighter, less tightly wound approach. He can do that by emulating the one MLB skipper with an open rhetorical stance: White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen.
Ozzie is a master at redirecting media attention when it strays from him and his team. Unlike his fellow skippers, he avoids clichés and says what’s on his mind. A Guillen sampler: “You know what's tough; when I'm driving here and I think, 'God, I have to be myself today and I don't feel like it, ... I have to show up… put a smile on my face and…joke around when I'm dying inside.’ That's not easy.” /“I don't want to talk about how I feel about my team because I might say something…my team don't want to hear.”/“I never, ever said we were going to win this thing easy.”
Cuomo could note that Guillen wastes little time bantering about opponents; he airs his feelings and focuses on his own and his team’s performances. The media know Ozzie can occasionally say something embarrassing. That’s an added reason why he keeps them and the fans laughing (while causing Agita to owner Jerry Reinsdorf and GM Kenny Williams.).
Andrew can’t be expected to do what his power-hitting father did, swatting away criticism with humor. But he can relax, discard his anger and be more of a happy warrior. He has a lot to be happy about: his record as AG attests to his successful playing of hardball as a savvy, resilient political major leaguer. His Buffalo-based opponent, by contrast, is a rookie, fresh from the minors. Cuomo knows most rookies fade as the season progresses, a process he can assist by engaging Paladino playfully. “Tell that Triple-A jerk to start throwing strikes.”
- - -
Guessing Who Gets the Wild Card: Charlie Manuel may well turn out to be the NL’s wild-card decider. His Phillies play the Braves in a season-windup series next weekend. By then the Phils should have clinched their playoff berth. If Manuel decides to rest his Halladay-Oswalt-Hamels big three and other regulars, the Braves will have a big edge in the WL race. They play three with the last-place Nationals away and three at home with the hurting Marlins before the Phils come for the Atlanta close-out.
The Padres and Giants, meanwhile, will be finishing with each other in SF and the suddenly crumbling Rockies wrapping up with the Cardinals in St.Louis.
As of now, the NL playoff lineup looks to be Phils, Reds, Giants and Braves (with the Padres an outside possibility), while the Yanks, Twins, Rangers and Rays are the all-but-certain AL foursome.
Skipper of the Year? SI’s Joe Posnanski has a nomination: “I think Ron Gardenhire is the best manager in baseball. I think that not based on what we see but what we can’t see. I base this not on what I think a manager should do but on success. I base this not on individual moves but on the basis that the Twins are there on top one more time.
“Someone
close
to
the
Twins…insists
that
the
Twins
win
DESPITE
Gardy,
not
BECAUSE
of
Gardy.
And you know what? It could be
true. But you know what else? They sure
do keep on winning despite him. So if
nothing else, Gardy is the best I’ve ever seen at minimizing the damage
he can
cause and keeping his own deficiencies from ruining the story. It’s a
lesson
all of us could probably learn.
- o -
(The Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey. Comments
to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 9/23/10)
Teed-Off Parties Making Presence Felt in Both Pastimes
A baseball T-party.
It’s been happening the last few nights at Citizens Bank Park, Phillies fans waving towels to urge on the playoff-bound home team.
In NYC, we’ve had the equivalent of a baseball-provoking tea party. Resentment toward the Mets has flared in the form of empty seats at Citi Field. Meanwhile, the vehemence of noisy negative feeling toward those running the team matches that expressed at political tea parties. One example (from a Nubbite): “To call the Wilpons ‘clueless’ is to insult people who are legitimately harmless.”
The success of the Yankees, of course, has raised the intensity of the Metsian tea-thing. Envious Mets fans have always rooted against the cross-town rivals. But a second year of seeing their team mired in their own Queens quicksand while the Yanks speed toward a second straight World Series has triggered the nationally familiar outrage.
“What can you expect,” say the anti-Yankee complainers, “they have the money to make good things happen.” National tea party fans and players are focused on money, too – the size of Team Obama’s treasury, which they want to see cut back. Mainly, though, they resent the O-team’s power to set America’s agenda. Author and political scientist Frances Fox Piven is wary of the tea party agenda:
“It is a media concoction, an expression of white nationalism, a cry of resentment, and so on. But it also reflects a well-funded campaign by the right that singles out (anti-poverty, union and environmental) groups…to disable not only the left… but the Democratic Party.”
One respected pressbox observer - the Times’
free-agent polling expert Nate Silver - sees the upstart tea-party
style of
play as potentially effective during the electoral season: “The tea party…may
help (the GOP) facilitate large
electoral gains...in November in spite of a party brand which is badly
damaged.
Although it may have done harm to
Republicans in a few specific races, like Delaware, this may be
outweighed by the good
it has done them elsewhere in the country.”
Two signs of tea-party effectiveness,
according to Silver: Sharon Angle and Ron Johnson running neck-and-neck
races
with Dem incumbents Harry Reid and Russ Feingold in Nevada
and Wisconsin. Angle is a regular on the
tea-party team,
Johnson a player who got into the game because of the party.
- - -
It will be surprising if the Yanks do not make the Series, and equally so if their opponent is not the Phillies, clearly the class of the NL. Mets fans, meanwhile, have the departures of Jerry Manuel and (likely) Omar Minaya to look forward to. That will leave underqualified Jeff Wilpon (aka “The Mets”) to choose a new manager. The last one he chose (seconded by Jim Duquette) was Art Howe, the first in a long series of bad decisions. (Minaya was prime chooser of unfortunate Willie Randolph.)
Former owner Peter O’Malley says Frank McCourt
should sell the Dodgers for the good of the franchise.
That’s an urgent matter, but no more so than
the need for new ownership in Queens if the
Mets are to retrieve the support of their fan base.
Hide the Scoreboard: The bane
of teams still in the pennant
race this late in the season is scoreboard-watching. Padres manager Bud
Black
told Orange County Register columnist Mark Whicker what can be done to
deal
with the problem: “Make
sure you're farther east than the team against whom you are ‘racing.’ That way, your score goes up first.
And since peeking at the scoreboard is
unavoidable in most places, do so. Just
keep it to yourself. ‘If you're in the
cage, you take a swing, look at the board, then swing, look at the
board,’ said
Black…’Guys don't talk about it.’…
“Right around the sixth inning Tuesday night, the board flashed an ‘F’ beside the Giants 1, Cubs 0 score. By then the Padres were too absorbed in their own (winning game against LA) to care.” - o -
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(Posted:
9/21/10)
Baseball and Politics Get Religion
Baseball and the Jewish Day of Atonement: could any two subjects be more dissimilar? The Atonement game plan last Saturday included traditional pitches for art, science, music and intellectual striving – but, strangely, not for baseball. That omission didn’t stop about a dozen Jewish players in the MLB - including Ryan Braun, Kevin Youklis, Brad Ausmas, Ian Kinsler, Scott Feldman, Jason Marquis, Gabe Kapler, John Grabow, Ike Davis, and Danny Valencia - from playing the game well enough to earn a good living.
The Atonement message to them - and to those of us who aren’t living badly: play hard but don’t spike others to reach third base and beyond. The political relevance needs no belaboring: the anti-government team on the right side of the diamond is pitching to get the deficit reduced and taxes cut. That strategy means fewer public services and social programs for people who have to struggle more than most of us. It amounts to what the Atonement message calls “exploitation” of the other.
Cornell U. Prof. Robert Frank takes a simple pragmatic swing against the exploitation embedded in our unlevel economic playing field. His remedy - progressive tax reform now: “Tax systems that transfer income from rich to poor...reflect the costs and benefits of different rungs on the social ladder. They help make stable, diverse societies possible.” Times southpaw Paul Krugman puts a sting in his delivery: “If you want to find real political rage…you’ll find it…among the very privileged, people who don’t have to worry about losing their jobs, their homes, or their health insurance, but who are outraged, outraged, at the thought of paying modestly higher taxes.”
Lob from Left Field about an effort to counter extremist rage in our society:
“I think Jon Stewart is one of the most incisive and effective commentators in the country, and he reaches an audience that would otherwise be politically disengaged. I don't have any objection if he really wants to hold a rally (Oct.30) in favor of rhetorical moderation, and it's also fine if, as seems to be the case, he's eager to target rhetorical excesses on both the left and right in order to demonstrate his non-ideological centrism. But the example he chose to prove that the left is guilty, too -- the proposition that Bush is a ’war criminal’ -- is an extremely poor one given that the General in charge of formally investigating detainee abuse (Maj.Gen. Antonio Taguba) has declared this to be the case….(Thus,) the claim has ample basis, and it's deeply irresponsible to try to declare this discussion off-limits, or lump it in with a whole slew of baseless right-wing accusatory rhetoric, in order to establish one's centrist bona fides.” - Glenn Greenwald, Salon
- - -
What We Know after the weekend: Fresh from extending their wild card lead by a game-and-a-half - to two-and-a-half games – over the embattled Padres, the Braves look poised to win the NL wild card if the can split their last six games with the Phillies. Following the current series at Citizens Bank Park, Atlanta has three away with the Nationals, then three at home with the Marlins before closing out the season hosting the same Phils on October 1, 2 and 3.
The Giants have a tougher sked – three away with the Cubs, who are 17-7 under new manager Mike Quade, then three with the Rockies in Denver, before finishing at home against the Diamondbacks and Padres. Having lost three of four to the Cardinals, the Pods now must play four games with the same Cubs at home after a perilous three-day stop in LA against the Dodgers. The Reds will follow the Cubs into San Diego, meaning the Padres will be lucky if they still have a shot during a season-ending three games with the Giants in SF. The Rockies have three in Arizona with the D-backs, then they’ll meet the Giants and Dodgers for six last games at home. The season for them will likely to come down to their four final games. Where? Alas for the Rockies, in St.Louis, against the Cardinals.
Lots of nail-biting baseball ahead. Too bad for those of us in the East that most of the key games will be played in Western and Mountain time zones.
- o -
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(Posted: 9/17-18/10)
Does Anyone in Either Field Play by the Rules?
A candidate for NY state skipper who “does not play by the usual rules.” So? A Yankees captain who play-acts to deceive umpires about being hit by a pitch. Wait a minute.
Carl Paladino, Team GOP’s wild swinger, is playing a familiar political game – doing what it takes to win, even if it means outrageous bench-jockeying and unsportsmanlike behavior, in general. But Derek Jeter swiveling out of character, which he did against the Rays Wednesday night, was a different story. Remember, he pretended a pitch that struck the knob of his bat hit him in the wrist. Watching Jeter pirouette in apparent pain and then seeing a replay show clearly what happened was somehow jarring. “Gamesmanship,” YES broadcaster Kenny Singleton called it. Many of us, perhaps naively, didn’t think Derek played the game that way. He has always been an authentic stand-up guy, the antithesis of an actor.
Paladino warns that his spikes-high attempt to cut Andrew Cuomo down “won’t be clean.” He knows the press likes the Gas House Gang game and welcomes any sign that a front-running team is flummoxed, aced with a challenge. The Buffalo multi-millionaire will get broad state and national coverage with his provocative approach. His verbal aim for the fences could make for a lively campaign and, at the same time, make the AG a better candidate. Paladino has already targeted Andrew’s air of entitlement, his dependence on staff to insulate him from the people. We shouldn’t be surprised if, thanks to his opponent, Cuomo adopts a new, regular-guy stance as the contest moves through its early innings.
Chances are television, which benefits “hot” performers for a short while, could in time make Paladino a victim of over-exposure. By the middle innings, the video replays may well confirm signs of his unreadiness for high political office. In the other field, we know Jeter’s willingness to let his integrity be tainted for the team would have been unnecessary had baseball done the inevitable: initiate a full-scale use of the technology to help umpires get calls right.
- - -
Lob from Left Field: “In case anyone thought Obama was starting to ‘’get’ that America wants a president who will stand up to the economic royalists and do the right thing, White House insiders indicated Wednesday night that he has decided against appointing Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Instead, Obama is expected to appoint the hero of reformers to an advisory post where she will report to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner…(reportedly) a behind-the-scenes opponent of her appointment.” – John Nichols, The Nation
- - -
And Then There Were…You may have noticed that Central Division races in both leagues all but ended Wednesday night: that’s when the Reds and Twins both moved eight games ahead of the Cardinals and Twins, respectively, with 16 and 17 games left. Then there’s the NL East, where the Phillies took a commanding three-game lead over the Braves, commanding because the Phils have Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, and Cole Hamels at the top of their rotation. As of mid-Friday, the Braves were tied for the wild card lead with the Giants, one of three teams - the Padres and Rockies are others - involved in the most competitive division race, the NL West. The AL East, we know, is in a class by itself – both the Rays and Yanks assured of no worse than a wild-card berth and therefore as concerned with putting together the best possible playoff roster as of winning the division.
The Mets, buried in the NL East and under all kinds of criticism for mismanagement, received an additional jab the other night from SNY’s Bobby Ojeda. The Mets front office, Ojeda said, did Carlos Beltran and the team a “disservice” by rushing Beltran back into action after he only played in rehab games at the Class A level. “They should have had him play in Triple-A. There’s too big a difference between Class A and the big leagues, the ball moves differently…” Ojeda said bridging that gap slowed Beltran’s return to form, “which he is only rounding into now.”
- o -
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v
(Posted:
9/16/10)
What We Shouldn’t Believe in Both Pastimes
The lies we tell ourselves: “The best part about baseball is that, theoretically, a game can go on forever.” “We were perfectly justified in attacking Afghanistan soon after 9/11.”
Rabid fans or not, we know ballgames can go on too long. There’s just so much energy we can devote to watching inning after inning of little happening. And over in the political ballpark, anyone who remembers our massive response to Osama’s presence in Afghanistan knows it alienated much of the populace there, costing countless innocent lives. And it failed in its main mission: to get the man behind anti-U.S. terrorism.
The New Yorker’s Roger Angell summed up the problem of overlong games when he wrote about a 20-inning affair he covered some years ago: “All around me in our section I could see the same look of resignation and boredom and pleasure that now showed on my own face, I knew — the look of longtime fans who understand that one can never leave a very long close game, no matter how much inconvenience and exasperation it imposes on us. The difficulty of baseball is imperious.”
It is a sobering fact that our Mideast wars, dating from nine years ago, have become sources of “resignation and boredom” here at home. The late historian Howard Zinn anticipated the malaise that would result from the war game in Afghanistan. This is what he wrote (in The Progressive) in December 2001 soon after Team USA’s first hit:
“Voices across the
political spectrum, including many on the left, have
described this as a ‘just war.’ One
longtime advocate of peace, Richard Falk, wrote in The
Nation that this is ‘the first truly just war since World
War II.’ Robert
Kuttner,
another
consistent
supporter
of
social
justice,
declared
in
The
American Prospect that only people on the extreme left could
believe
this is not a just war.
“I have puzzled over this. How
can a war be truly just when it involves the daily killing of
civilians, when
it causes hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children to leave
their homes
to escape the bombs, when it may not find those who planned the
September 11
attacks, and when it will multiply the ranks of people who are angry
enough at
this country to become terrorists themselves?
This war amounts to a gross violation of human rights, and it
will
produce the exact opposite of what is wanted: It will not end
terrorism; it
will proliferate terrorism.”
The description of what lay ahead
sounds depressingly familiar nine years later.
- - -
The Long View: When Joe Girardi shrugged in the 10th inning, some of the fun went out of the Yanks-Rays fight for first Monday night. Chad Gaudin had issued a two-out walk to load the bases in the 0-0 game. He seemed shaky and in need of help from someone more reliable, say Marian Rivera or even David Robertson. Instead, Girardi responded to a questioning signal with a gesture that spoke volumes: it said “Let’s see if Gaudin has what it takes to make the playoff roster.” When Joe called on Sergio Mitre to pitch the 11th (and ultimately yield the winning home run), his September strategy was clear – make this a tryout-camp period for marginal players who might, or might not, be useful in the post-season. Whether the Yanks win the division or settle for the wild card is of secondary importance. (“Losing the battle but winning the war,” David Eiland calls it.) That obviously diminishes the attractiveness of once-“crucial” games.
As of now, the AL wild-card team will draw the Twins in the first playoff round, the AL Division winner with the best W-L record (i.e., the Yanks or Rays) will meet the Rangers. The prospect of facing Cliff Lee perhaps twice in a best-of-five series could make playing Texas the more daunting challenge.
Rare
Time for Torre: How
does consistent playoff manager Joe Torre feel with his team the
Dodgers out of
the pennant race? He “hate(s) to say
it,” but “it’s relaxing.” Torre added this, in a conversation with
Giants
writers in SF: “We're in a position now
that other clubs have been…against us. We're
trying
to
impact
the
pennant
race
by
playing
havoc
with
the
teams
that
are
in
it.
That's our job." Ten of the LAD’s
last 16 games are with the three NL West contenders.
They’ll play one final game with the Giants
tonight (Thurs.), three with the Padres next week, and six with the
Rockies – three this weekend and three the last week of
the season. Joe will have lots of
havoc-causing
possibilities.
- o -
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(Posted: 9/14/10)
The
Bane of Overkill in Baseball and Politics
Thoughts
triggered by a call-up
rookie stealing home the other day to give the
First, there’s the oft-cited disparity of money – a team like the Yankees able to afford a $200 million payroll, while small-market teams feel they must make do spending a quarter of that amount. Then, at the end of the season, there’s a player disparity – some teams willing to strip their farm teams on September 1 while others take a more conservative approach. Baseball is hurting itself, just as our political system is, by allowing for overkill on the part of one group at the expense of another.
In politics, a Supreme Court ruling in 1976 started to skew that playing field. The decision in Buckley v. Valeo that the use of money in elections was free speech gave wealthy players a big edge over the middlin’ ones. Then, this year, we remember that the High Court in the Citizens United case gave the big biz machine the right to wield as much financial clout as it wants in electoral campaigns. That further shifted power to the already advantaged on the right side of the political diamond. Skipper Obama and the Dem team in Congress talked of a legislative rally to blunt the impact of the decision.
In promising to
lead it, the
skipper threw a warning pitch. “Special interests and their lobbyists”,
he
said, would have “more power (than they already had) in
SI’s Tom Verducci details the unevenness caused by baseball’s late-season roster-expansion policy, which he wants modified, if not eliminated:
“Beginning
Sept.
1,
teams
can
call
up
as
many
players
as
they
wish
from
their
40-man
roster.
What
all
year
was
25-vs.-25
becomes
33-vs.-29
or
35-vs.-32
or
.
.
.
you
get
the
point.
It's
illogical…Multiple
catchers,
pinch-runners,
left-handed
relievers,
etc.
change
how
the
game
is
played
and
managed…Baseball
needs
to
end
this
folly
of
teams
playing
with
different
sized
rosters
at the most important part of the year.”
- -
-
A Realistic Mets-Rescue
Scenario? The hiring of a GM with
stature, smarts, and, most of all, the gumption to quit when Jeff
Wilpon
meddles (as he did once Omar Minaya began to misfire). A Kevin
Towers-type would be a good choice because, unlike Omar, he would
presumably
focus as much on the farm system as the main club.
That focus could insure whoever the new
manager is would have player-ready backup when needed.
The new GM’s ‘must’ attribute can’t be
over-emphasized: it’s the willingness to walk away from the clueless
Wilpons.
- o -
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(Posted: 9/11/10)
How
Baseball and Most of Us Feel About Our Wars
Raise your hand if, after hearing the reason, you reproach Luis Castillo for skipping the Mets’ visit to Walter Reed Army hospital the other day. Castillo said he was squeamish about seeing soldiers who had lost their limbs “fight(ing) for us.” What he could have added: the fact that the vets had suffered their severe injuries in a questionable cause made it even harder to visit them.
No major league
baseball players
have done what pro football’s Pat Tillman did – sign up to serve (and
give his
life) in Afghanistan. MLB owners make a
big thing of “God Bless
Coincidentally, this related message arrived
from Mets
legend Ron Swoboda in
Post-Labor
Day
Lob
from
Left
Field
(3):
We’ve
been watching
organized Labor lose here at
home for more than a half-a-century.
Insufficiently noticed is what it has cost us in economic
security and
quality of life. In
-
- -
Shaky
Investment:
Fans hoping the Padres will make the playoffs for
underdog-admiring reasons, need a reality-check. It
comes
in
the
form
of
the
Pods’
homestretch
schedule. The NL West leaders had 23
games remaining, as of their meeting last
night with the Giants. Four of the six
teams they’ll be playing - the
Unlike the
Padres, the Reds, the
NL’s other Cinderella team, have a favorable schedule on paper to help
them to
the finish line. Five of the six teams
Cincy will play in its last 21 games have sub-500 records.
Among the five, however, are the Houston
Astros, who have been the NL’s winningest team since the All-Star break. The Reds have six games left with the Astros,
as well as the three in SD with the Padres.
Another Reds-advantage: the rival Cardinals have eight of their
last 23
games with the Padres and
Question
That
Answers
Itself:
“It is
tempting,”
says Chicago Trib’s Phil Rogers, “to see
if Joe Girardi really wants to leave the Yankees to come home to the
- o -
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(Posted: 9/9/10)
Rangel,
Derek
and
Retiring
With
‘Dignity’
The careers of Charlie Rangel and Derek Jeter have reached differing but related crossroads. Their playing time in Congress and with the Yankees is coming to an end. How they are facing the dramatic professional change in their lives – in Jeter’s case, how he will face it – provides a field day for spectators of the two pastimes.
Rangel is 80, long past retirement age, except for political players who have swung with power in their day. They’ll cling to vestiges of that power even if ethical lapses prompt teammates and, yes, his skipper to suggest it’s time to leave the game. Rangel will let his long-time Harlem-district fans decide whether to keep him in the Congressional lineup and hope he performs in his field as well as White Sox super-veteran Omar Vizquel does in his. Because none of Charlie’s primary opponents - with the possible exception of Times-endorsed Joyce Johnson - shows enough strength so far to overcome the status his longevity has conferred, Rangel will likely be swinging away for two more years.
Jeter, now an “old” shortstop of
36, has status going for himself, as well – the status of a living,
playing
baseball immortal. He may no longer hit
with the power he once had, or field with his range of a few years ago. But the power of his presence in pinstripes
accumulated during a consistently competitive decade and a half means
he will
be allowed to decide how long to stay where he is.
And at what mutually agreeable price. The
guess
here
is
that
an
intervening
injury
in
the
next
few
years
will
make
it
possible
for
Derek
to
assume
a
lesser
role;
and
to
do
it
with
the
“dignity”
Rangel
is
denying
himself.
State Senator Eric Schneiderman seems to be the front-runner in the
contest
to become NY AG. But Assemblyman Richard
Brodsky has earned the affection - and maybe even the votes - of many
baseball
fans. It was Brodsky, virtually alone
among pols, who challenged the hundreds of millions in public subsidies
for the
new Yankee Stadium. And Brodsky said
bluntly in a candidates debate what we all have known: “The Mets
stink.”
Post-Labor Day Lob from Left Field
(2): “When unions represented over 33 percent of all private
workers in the
1940s (instead of 7 percent now), they drove wage increases for
everyone --
non-union firms had to compete for good workers. Now,
unions
struggle
just
to
defend
their
members'
wages
and
benefits…
Unions
face
constant
attacks
from
corporations
and
conservatives.
The
most
recent
campaign
--
designed
as
always
to
divide
workers
from
one
another
--
assails
the
pay
and
particularly
the
pensions
of
public
employees.
Why
should
they
have
pensions,
when
many
workers
have
lost
theirs
and
get,
at
best,
a
retirement
savings
plan
at
work?
In
fact,
in
a
civilized
society,
we
would
ask
the
reverse question. How do we create pensions
-- beyond
Social Security -- for workers across the economy…?"
- Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Nation
- - -
Lucky Westerners: Oh, to live on
the West Coast, watching from up-close the three-team division race
involving
the Padres, Giants and
More on Derek: As indicated here the other day, we see the most
telling sign of Jeter’s apparent decline in the way he looks at the
plate – a
little less sure and comfortable than in previous years.
His occasional lunging at pitches out of the
strike zone is particularly un-Jeter-like.
Derek is hitting .262 (five for his last 36), more than 50
points below
his career BA and more than 70 points under what he batted last year. He has grounded into more double plays -
20 -
than any other Yankee or any other regular MLB shortstop.
On the other hand, Derek has made among the
fewest errors - six - of regular MLB shortstops.
Coach Minaya: Reports that the Mets have Omar Minaya flying coach in this lame-duck phase of the team’s season suggest that the GM may at last be on the way out. Wholesale changes will surely be made, but we know nothing substantive will change until Fred Wilpon either sells the club or finds other work for the key exec out of his depth, son Jeff.
- o -
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(Posted: 9/7/10)
‘Big
Stick’ Offense Is No Longer Working
A hundred years
ago this week,
“big stick” became a Team USA rallying cry, thanks to a scrappy Dustin
Pedroia-like assistant skipper named Teddy Roosevelt.
The idea then behind the strategy of going
for the long ball in tight situations was this: our war-clubs would
warn
European teams away from trying to bring minor-league Latin American
clubs into
their farm systems. The stance has
remained
a staple of the
The string of
big-stick military
successes ended farther afield – in
Baseball stats
make the case
clearly on that field.
Teddy
Roosevelt’s call for Team
Post-Labor Day Lob
from Left Field: “I look forward to a Labor Day where every worker
has a job,
every worker has a pension, every worker has paid vacations, and every
worker
has the health care to enjoy life. My
opponents
call
that
- - -
What
We Know after the Labor Day weekend: The
NL
West
is
now
a
three-team
race;
it
looks
as
though
the
Padres
will
be
hard
put
to
stave
off
the
Giants,
and
both
may
be
overrun
by
the
The
Showalter Factor: Although
Buck Showalter's late-season leadership has given a shot in the arm to
Caveat: A
part-owner of the
Brewers told us over the weekend he doubted that
- o -
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(Posted: 9/2/10)
Here’s
to
the
Losers
in
both
Pastimes
The start of baseball’s September stretch: what could be better? A dozen teams still in playoff contention Crucial series galore on tap. Of course, 18 teams are on the sidelines, the role of possible spoilers all that’s left. The Mets played their last meaningful game on August 1 (when the downtrodden D-backs beat them, 14-1). The Tigers became de-clawed at about the same time.
The Democratic
donkeys have been
hurting all summer. But their stats are worse now in the electoral late
innings. The most recent Gallup Poll of
fan preferences in the Congressional league shows Team GOP with a 51-41
(pct.)
lead over the Dems. The record book says
that’s the largest such club-vs-club margin in
Those figures could change after Skipper Obama’s
“There are few more
bitter ironies than watching the Republican Party -- controlled at
its
core by the very business interests responsible for the country's vast
and growing
inequality; responsible for massive transfers of wealth to the richest;
and
which presided over and enabled the economic collapse -- now become the
beneficiaries of middle-class and lower-middle-class economic
insecurity.
But the Democratic Party's failure/refusal/inability to be anything
other than
the Party of Tim Geithner -- continuing America's endless, draining
Wars while
plotting to cut Social Security, one of the few remaining guarantors of
a
humane standard of living -- renders them unable to offer answers to
angry,
anxious, resentful Americans.
“As has happened
countless times in countless places, those answers are now being
provided
instead by a group of self-serving, hateful extremist leaders eager to
exploit
that anger for their own twisted financial and political ends.
And it
seems to be working…(thanks to a) potent mix of economic
oppression and
the aggressive fanning of racial and ethnic resentments.”
Greenwald’s lineup-card of anti-Dem complaints suggests the obvious - why the left has not rallied around Team Obama to reverse the pro-GOP polling trend.
Taking a gentler approach, Globe clutch hitter Dan
Shaughnessy choked up on the rhetorical bat handle as he swung out in
frustration
with the 2010 Red Sox:: ”It’s
disappointing
because
postseason
baseball
has
been
an
autumn
staple
here
since
2003.
The
Sox
have
qualified
for the tournament in
six of the last seven seasons. They have spoiled us.
But the lost weekend in
“The Yankees and Rays are on 99-win paces.
They are in a great race and have no reason to let up.
- -
-
Snap Quiz: What is the tell-tale,
talent-gauging stat that identifies a playoff-caliber team? A – Minimal length of losing streak(s). On that basis, the Yankees, the lone team in
either league to have avoided losing more than three in a row, are the
clearest
sure bet to make the post-season.
The Cardinals, 4-13, since mid-August (including a
third-straight loss Wednesday to the Astros) , and the Padres, losers
of six
straight before Wednesday, are clouding the field of NL contenders in a
negative
way. The complaint in St.Louis is
similar to the one voiced about the Mets – insufficient farm-system
reinforcements at crunch-time. The
concern in
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The Nub will be off
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returning on Tuesday.
August 2010 Archive
(Posted: 8/31/10)
An
Opening for
Of all contending teams hoping to add a
difference-maker when
rosters expand tomorrow, the Cincinnati Reds have most reason to be
optimistic. They will add Cuban phenom Aroldis Chapman, who spent
the
season at Triple-A Louisville, learning to control his 105-mph fastball.
There's
hopeful Cuba-related news in the political field, too. Team
It is
understandable, too, that our view of
"
It’s a question that pertains to the
plight of poor people – whether benched
- -
-
What
We Know after the
weekend:
A Braves/Phils, Yanks/Rays
division/wild card tandem looks increasingly likely. The
Braves
scored
their
40th come-from-behind
and 23d ninth-inning victory in beating the Marlins, 7-6, Sunday. That kind of resiliency reinforces the
sureness of their making the playoffs.
The Phillies swept the Padres to
“It’s a big game
for…” is an
overused cliché. But when ESPN’s
Joe
Morgan said it Sunday night about the importance of the Red Sox-Rays
game to
the Sox, the cliché connected. The
Sox
went six-and-a-half back in both the division and wild card, and what
is that
phrase in “September Song,” about the “days dwindl(ing) down”? The coming of Manny Ramirez may give the White
Sox a shot at overtaking the Twins. It’s
a long one, though, dependent on Manny getting hot.
While the Rangers play three with KC,
The New Manny Watch: Chicago Trib’s Phil Rogers has advice for fans
and goes behind the White Sox decision to add Manny Ramirez (scheduled
to play
with his new team Tuesday night in Cleveland):
“The Sox are rolling the
dice that Ramirez
will turn into a stone killer playing for his contract, as he did after
the Red
Sox traded him to the Dodgers two years ago. He
put
on
a
show
in
2008
but
otherwise
hasn't
had
more
than
13
RBIs
in
September
since
2005.
Don't worry too much about
Ramirez's dreadlocks and what he does or doesn't do in the clubhouse. He has historically been a non-factor off the
field — although, sure, it would be nice if he kept his uniform on
until the
end of games, something he might not have always done in Los Angeles.
“Here's
the snap. Go deep. The
Sox
are
so
desperate,
they're
calling
the
hail-Manny
play.”
- o -
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(Posted: 8/27-28/10)
A
Down Year for the Angels, etc. and Team
It’s been a
disappointing year for
the Angels, Brewers, Cubs, Dodgers, Mariners, Marlins, (even the) Mets,
and
Tigers – all of whom hoped to be in playoff contention now. Baseball as a whole has taken a hit,
too. But it is Team
The MLB
standings attest to the
also-ran status of the eight clubs listed above. And
polls
identifying
World
education’s official scorers
note that the double-play pitfall of soaring low-income student dropout
rates
and ever-higher college costs helped knock the
Disproportionate
team earnings, we
know, make for baseball’s economic (and competitive) inequality, a main
source
of fan discouragement. Lack of a
sufficient spread of money - for scholarships and such programs as
dropout-prevention - is also at the base of Team
- - -
It was a social midweek for contending teams, no one getting too uppity: the standings going into Friday’s games remaining much the way they were after the weekend.
Rundown:
The Yankees did
fall into a tie with the Rays, losing two of three to
Bull
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(Posted:
8/25-26/10)
Underhanded
Play
on
the
Political
Field,
and
in
Baseball,
Too
Snap quiz: How does the latest inning of the WikiLeaks-Pentagon contest connect to baseball’s “shot heard round the world’? Answer: The connection is deceit, something we’ve come to expect in politics, but, now, thanks to a book about Bobby Thomson’s pennant-winning home run in 1951, we know existed in baseball long before the recent steroids scandal.
The record book
shows that late
last month WikiLeaks posted thousands of secret Pentagon documents on
the
internet, many of them exposing lies about Team USA’s conduct of the
war in
Afghanistan. The Defense Department
accused the WL team skipper, Australian Julian Assange, of endangering
American
lives. He was wrongly charged with rape
in
The
record
book
also
shows
that
this
is
what
John
Kerry,
chair
of
the
Senate
Foreign
Relations
Committee,
said
the
day
of
the
WL
postings:
"However illegally these
documents came to light, they raise serious questions about the reality
of
Kerry changed signals a
couple of days later, presumably after hearing from the Pentagon, which
was
found to have covered up widespread U.S. killings of Afghan civilians. Given the DOD’s credibility problem, it is
hard not to be rooting for the continued success of Assange and his
team.
On
the possibility of Team USA filing criminal charges against the WL
team,
Salon’s Glenn Greenwald is dismissive: “The
insistence
that
WikiLeaks
editors
are
‘criminal’
by
virtue
of
their
disobedience
of
Pentagon
secrecy
orders
--
even
though
they're
not
American
citizens
and
are
not
physically
present
in
the
U.S.
--
appears
driven
by
the
belief
that
the
U.S.
Government
has
the
right
to
extend
its
authority
to
the
entire
world…
(In
other
words,)
anyone who defies the Pentagon is
a criminal:
(that
is)
warped
beyond
belief.”
Although comparatively
trivial, the confirmation in Joshua Prager’s “The Echoing Green” that
the NY
Giants used a centerfield telescope to steal signals at the Polo
Grounds over
the last 10 weeks of the ’51 season, is a crusher to Brooklyn Dodger
fans of
that era. Without admitting he knew what
Ralph Branca would throw, Thomson said to his questioner: “I don’t like
to
think of something taking away from (my hit).” Despite the evidence of
his
team’s deceit, all but diehard old Dodger fans will give Bobby, who
died last
week, the benefit of the doubt.
-
- -
“Sighs-ing”
Up Sox Pitching:
The Red Sox could sigh with relief Wednesday when they got six
good
innings from struggling Josh Beckett. White
Sox
sighs
are
anxious:
key
relievers
Matt
Thornton
and
J.J.
Putz
are
newly
on
the
DL
when
most
needed.
Staff health
and performance will determine if either contending Sox team makes the
playoffs.
No More Manny
in the Offing? Respected Orange County (CA)
Register columnist Mark
Whicker sees this as Manny Ramirez’s last season. He
doubts
any
team
will
want
mercurial,
much-injured
Manny
in
2011. (Whicker
doesn’t realize how desperate at least one East Coast team can be.)
What Hitting
Coach Change in
Wait Your Turn: We like to think Timesman William Rhoden is a
baseball fan,
who resents pro football excess – and media exposure – in August. Why? Because he wrote this: “The NFL
perpetrates (an) annual fraud…against the
American public…to make the league a multibillion-dollar
enterprise….(It)is
preseason football, those empty, glamorized scrimmages that teams force
on
season-ticket holders as parts of the regular-season package.”
- o -
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(Posted: 8/23-24/10)
On
Risky Investments in Baseball and War
“It’s always
difficult when the
high-priced players don’t live up to their contracts,’’ (said
First, a quick
look at a few of
the pricey players who haven't matched what teams saw as their
potential.
Team
“The
millions of American
soldiers who passed through
“Iraq(‘s)…suicide
bombers…turned
America's soldiers from men who fight to men who hide.
Anyway, they are busy re-writing the
narrative now. Up to a million Iraqis
are dead. (Tony) Blair cares nothing
about them…Nor do most of the American soldiers. They came. They saw. They
lost. And now they say they've won. How the Arabs, surviving on six hours of
electricity a day in their bleak country, must be hoping for no more
victories
like this one.”
-
- -
What
We Know after the
weekend: Three of eight playoff-bound
teams are sure things a month and a week before the regular season
ends: the
Yanks, Braves and Phillies. The Rangers
are in the almost-sure category. Mike
Scioscia and the Angels are not quite ready to be counted out. The Rays and Red Sox are either/or sure (and
won’t it be fun to watch them duke it out, and sad when one is
eliminated?)
Vin Scully, doing
Reds-Dodgers
Sunday, said Joey Votto “may well be the National League’s most
valuable
player.” Accolades don’t come much
higher.
Joe Girardi
foresaw Robinson Cano’s
bright future while doing Yankees color on YES two years ago: “He’s a
little
unfocused now, but that should change.” Cano
gets
our
vote
for
team
MVP
(at
least).
Laugh
of the Week: The
suggestion that Joe Torre could be lured to manage the Mets next season. Mrs. Torre didn’t raise son Joey to mix with
jerks.
- o -
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(8/20-21/10)
Obama
and
Jeter:
Not
So
Clutch
Anymore
A few days after
Skipper Obama
backed away from his strong stance on the Lower Manhattan mosque, Derek
Jeter
fidgeted in the Stadium batter’s box with the game against
Obama, we remember, said a week ago that, as Americans enjoying freedom of religion, Muslims had a right to go ahead with their building plan. He stepped up in the clutch and hit a rhetorical home run. But then, unaccountably, the skipper didn’t round the bases. Instead, he asked for time to explain what he had been aiming for – to support a people’s right to freedom of religion, “not (to) comment on the wisdom of…(where) to put (the) mosque.”
Jeter, now 36, can be forgiven for looking less relaxed at the plate than in previous years. His flair for almost-automatic clutch hits couldn’t last forever. But his fans expect Obama, only in his sophomore season, to come through when the concept of fairness needs to be driven home. One of them, CUNY’s Peter Beinart, recalls Barack, the presidential candidate, two years ago:
“He
promised that if he won,
Democrats would no longer consult polls to decide what they believed…he
(would
do) what he thought was right…His initial statement in support of the
mosque
was laudable; his subsequent efforts to deny that that’s what he meant
have
been pathetic. Yes, the polling is bad; standing up for a religious
minority
being made to feel like a pariah…might cost Obama a few approval
points. So what. Core
convictions
are
worth
losing
approval
points
over.
At least that’s what Obama
(used to) believe…”
Obama has Harry Reid, Anthony Weiner and Howard Dean, among other Dems, on his hit-with-the-wind team. On the other side of the field, Mike Bloomberg has, in comparison, seldom looked so good.
- - -
Although Jeter’s
BA has fallen off
drastically – from .334 in 2009 to .276 so far this season – he owns a
good
statistical year otherwise. He has
already driven in 55 runs in 118 games; last year his RBI total was
only 66 in
153 games. His range
may
have
inevitably
narrowed,
but
Derek
has
made
the
fewest
errors
–
five
–
of
any
regular
shortstop
in
either
league. A tell-tale negative stat: he
has hit into the highest number of double plays - 17 - of any
19-28-16: Those Josh Beckett numbers - 19 runs, 28 hits in his last 16 innings (over three games) - are ominous for the Red Sox as they try not to be the odd team out in the AL East. It’s hard not to wallow in regret that all three mega-talented contenders in that division, the Sox, Yanks and Rays, can’t qualify for the playoffs.
Not a Pretty Picture: “Two dead teams” is how the Daily News’ Andy Martino described the Mets and Astros, playing toward “a slow conclusion” the other night. On Yes Thursday afternoon, Paul O’Neill said players on teams out of contention this time of year “don’t look forward to going to the ballpark.” And when they get there, “It becomes a personal, not a team thing: ‘How are my numbers going to look at the end of the season, how much money will I be worth at contract-time’?” The exception, said O’Neill, is when an out-of-contention club has a series with a team like the Yankees: “You perk up when the games count.” How has the Mets’ offense “perked” since the All Star break? A team BA of .211.
- o -
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(Posted: 8/19/10)
Yankees
and
Right-Wing
Political
Team
Taking
No
Chances
Two strong, well-heeled teams, heading toward the homestretch of their baseball and political seasons, are taking no chances. Both the Yankees and the political squad playing for Team GOP are consensus favorites in their races. Yet, both are involved in a late surge of spending to try to guarantee success.
The Yankees, we know, just added a few million to their more than $200 million payroll by dealing for Lance Berkman, Austin Kearns and Kerry Wood. The Yanks call the trio reinforcements; opponents cry overkill. Team GOP considers a late financial rally staged by supporting players cautionary; the Dem team fears the rally will deal a death-blow to its chances of retaining control of Congress.
The hit-to-right club was permitted to swing in support of the GOPers by the Supreme Court’s recent 5-4 ruling in the Citizens United case. It gave corporations the right to spend unlimited amounts to elect or defeat anyone they want. The GOP pinch-hitters will unleash their media-driven offensive against the Dem team next week. This LA Times report of what’s in store does little to reassure the Dems:
“A conservative advocacy group
Monday will kick off a huge ad campaign in 11 states and two dozen of
the most
competitive congressional races, slamming ’wasteful federal spending’. The (script of the) $4.1-million ad buy from
the Americans for Prosperity Foundation attacks Washington policies,
describing
the economic stimulus program as a failure and declaring that ‘wasteful
spending must stop’. The ads -- part of
a midterm election likely to be the most expensive on record -- will
run in 27
media markets through August. Democrats hold all but one of the 24
House seats
in question, including 17 incumbents seeking reelection.”
The Washington Monthly’s Steve Benen notes that
viewers won’t know where the ads are coming from or whether their
pitches have
merit. But they willl be noticed, he
says, and are surely “going to affect public
opinion.” Benen adds that there
will be many
more of these anti-Dem ads over the next two-and-a-half months, “with
business interests gearing up to crush as many Democratic
candidates as possible.”
Thus, the aftermath of the Citizens United outcome could begin tilting
elections to the right as early as the next few weeks.
- -
-
2-2-2
and
3-2-1: Those are
the number of first-place competitors, division by division, as the
regular season
moves into its last month-and-a-half. In
the NL, it’s Braves/Phils in the East, Reds/Cards in the Central,
Padres/Giants
in the West. Yanks, Rays and Red Sox are the threesome in the AL East;
Twins
and White Sox are left in the Central, and only the Rangers in the West. If asked to pick one other team in either
league with a chance to creep back into contention, we’d take
Then again, the
Rangers, losers of
three straight to the Rays, are showing signs of vulnerability that
could let
the Angels back into the AL West race. The other night on MLB-TV,
Mitch
Williams picked apart the team’s defensive play as
Concussion
Repercussions:
Justin Morneau has been lost to the Twins
since July 7, when he suffered a
concussion while making contact on a slide into second base. He isn’t expected back until next month,
leaving a big hole in
.
The success of the Morneau-less Twins up to now attests both to the depth of the Minnesota organization and the resourcefulness of manager Ron Gardenhire. And, oh, yes, the determined play of a spirited team.
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(Posted: 8/17/10)
The
‘Selfish Game’ in the Minors and in
The words of
Giants' rookie
catcher Buster Posey and the 75th anniversary of Social Security
coincided last
week. For that reason, Posey's pitch resonated more than it might
have. Posey spoke to Timesman Tyler Kepner
about
his career up the baseball ladder: "(In
college)," he said, "everybody
had
one
common
goal,
and
that
was
to
win.
You
get
into
the
minor
leagues,
and
whether
it’s
right
or
wrong,
it’s
a
selfish
game.
Everybody’s
trying
to
get
(to
the
majors).
It’s
nice
to be here now and feel like it’s
back to the way it should be.”
For fans who came
of age around
mid-century, the sense of people as a team was "the way it should
be." That feeling was fed not only by Social Security - a sign
that
government cared about the elderly - but also by the
"we're-all-in-this-together" spirit rallied by World War Two.
The guns-and-butter double play hit into by government at the time of
the Great
Society and Vietnam cleared the field for shifting-to-right
reforms and the
comparatively "selfish game" we see today: lots of chatter about
“freedom”. "markets", "tax cuts" and "deficits";
all that, and little patience for support of the safety
net put in place when Team
Some years before
9/11, a French
president predicted that Americans would soon change their stance and
emulate
- -
-
The Baltimore
Orioles were playing
like minor leaguers until Buck Showalter took over two weeks ago. The O’s have won nine of 13 games over that
span. What’s Showalter’s secret? Pitcher Jeremy Guthrie blows Buck’s cover: “He hasn’t
done anything…different to make us win games, but we
know what he expects.”
What
We Know after the
weekend: Twins, Padres and Reds composed
the three top stories with a combined eight key victories out of nine. The Twins’ sweep of
The opposite of
home-team
resilience was on display at Citi Field this week.
A Philadelphia-native Nubbite who attended
the Saturday night game sent this report of what he saw: “One could
understand the lack of hitting against someone of (
“The
stadium was not full. Phillies fans seemed in the
majority, with red-clad boosters overwhelming some sections. On
the walk
down the left field ramp after the game, there were hordes of Phillies
fans and
a smattering of seemingly out of place, dejected Mets fans who could
not
counter the boisterous cheering of the fans from Philly. Too bad.
The Mets are a sorry lot. No spark. No life. No
consistency.”
The Mets managed a total of
two runs in 27 innings over the weekend (2.8 per game since the
All-Star break). Bob Klapisch of the (
- o
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(Posted: 8/13-14/10)
Missing:
Baseball
Fans
and
Political
Sense
in
“What’s the
Matter With Kansas?”
the political question posed in the 2004 book by author Thomas Frank,
has a
baseball-related equivalent - “What’s the Matter with
Despite Frank’s
effective populist
delivery,
17,875 fans a game compared to the Indians’ 17,637. The Rays, with a 22,617 average, are in the bottom third in attendance while trying to compete with the Yankees, 46,358, and the Red Sox, 37,625.
Those stat
sheets tell Democrats
that something is clearly wrong in working-class
Consensus poll results show that Crist, for all his shaky stances as governor, is a shoo-in to win the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Mel Martinez. Crist is running as an independent.
- - -
How fans in the Tampa-St.Pete area can resist flocking to Rays games is a continuing mystery. The team has been slowed by injuries to first baseman Carlos Pena, and pitchers Wade Davis and Jeff Niemann, but David Price, Matt Garza and James Shields head a still-solid rotation. Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford are two near-super-stars among position players. Going into the weekend. the Rays were wild-card leaders by four games and two behind the Yankees. The Marlins are long shots to get back into the NL East mix, but they are traditionally fast finishers. And they have the best ERA pitcher in the majors in Josh Johnson (1.97), an All-Star shortstop in Hanley Ramirez, and a slugging rookie in Mike Stanton, who has hit 12 HRs in 53 games, nine of them since July 6th.
Who will it be, the Braves or the Phillies in the NL East? The season-ending injury to Chipper Jones this week tilts the advantage to the Phillies. That’s especially true since the Phils expect Chase Utley back by early next month. Whichever way it goes, chances are the division runner-up will be the wild card. Only the Giants, a game ahead in that race, stand in the way, as of now.
In Friday’s
Daily News, SNY’s
Bobby Ojeda (quoted by Bob Raissman) all but said the Mets should fire
Jerry
Manuel now: “If you don’t make (the
change), you accept that bad
things are going to happen.” But we know bad things have already happened
to the hitting-challenged Mets…and batting coach Howard Johnson still
survives.
Support
the
Safety
Net:
The Rays, Marlins, Rangers and Padres (in
that order) were in the bottom (20-30) echelon of 2010 team payrolls. Fans whose favorite teams are out of
contention and who appreciate clubs that do more with less, have an
obvious one
to support: the Padres.
- -
-
Mailbag: “Your mention of
political ‘high, hard ones’ last time failed to note that politicians
tend to
resort to low pitches that break left or right – almost never down the
middle. – R. Ohlhausen,
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(Posted: 8/12/10)
Players,
Politicians
and
Avoidance
of
‘the
High,
Hard
One’
On a crucial, bases-loaded at-bat against Daniel Bard the other afternoon, Derek Jeter swung at a 0-and-2 fastball at the shoulders. It was an un-Jeter-like moment, because the Yankee captain didn’t have a chance: Bard, the Red Sox’s closer-in-waiting, was throwing 98-miles-an-hour.
There is growing sentiment, especially among pitchers, that a high fastball down the middle, now an automatic ball, should be called a strike. The pitch would be a little lower than the one Jeter swung at. The revised strike zone proposed would run from “just below the shoulders to just above the knees,” what it was until 1988, when the zone dipped with baseball’s blessing. Now supporters of the change say it would respond to baseball’s desire to speed up the game (through fewer walks) and make the crowd-pleasing “high, hard one” an exciting feature of the game.
Batters resist the idea of the zone change the way nearly all Americans object to suggestions that they face the political high, hard one: more taxes. Yet, with reports of streetlights turned off, roads returned to gravel and school programs cut, it is clear the country is taking a punishing hit from the lack of public money.
“We’re told that we
have no choice,” says Timesman Paul Krugman, “that basic
government functions – essential services…provided for generations –
are no
longer affordable…But (we) wouldn’t be quite as cash-strapped
if…politicians
were willing to consider at least some tax increases.”
Krugman says
Republicans and
“centrist” Democrats have led a campaign to reduce the deficit through
reduced
spending, while at the same time fighting against new taxes and for
preservation of tax cuts for the rich.
The “campaign has always
been phrased in opposition to waste
and fraud,” he notes. “But those were
myths…And now that
the campaign has reached fruition, we’re seeing (the disappearance of)
services
that everyone except the very rich need, services that government must
provide
or no one else will, like lighted streets, drivable roads and decent
schooling
for the public as a whole.”
The question the current crisis poses: how long can we keep ducking away from the high, hard one?
- - -
ESPN’s Orel Hersheiser, a leader of the high-strike rally, gave viewers an illustrated lesson in how pitchers like he once was carve up home plate in their mind’s eye. “The plate is 17 inches wide,” he said, “we make it 18 inches to simplify things. There’s six inches on either side, six inches down the middle. The middle belongs to the batter, the sides belong to us.” As to how most pitchers try to get an out, Hersheiser said it depends on three things: his command, the situation, and who is swinging the bat.
Making a Statement: The Cardinals began a three-game series at
Wash Post-man Tom Boswell, after
Nats’ phenom Stephen Strasburg got hammered by the Marlins in his
return from
the DL: “For six months,
Strasburg has fulfilled every Nationals
dream - and more. But his last two
nights at
Stat
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(Posted: 8/10/10)
Once-Popular Political Exuberance Lives Anew in Baseball
The days of
irrational exuberance
have come and gone on Wall Street and in Democratic politics, but the
feeling
endures in baseball.
Many of
us remember the dreams of Hope and Change fostered by Team Obama in 2008.
New manager Buck Showalter is the
reason for such dreams now in
The O’s won the
first five of six
games under Showalter (three against the defending AL West champion
Angels),
much as did the O-team in the 2008 primaries.
The record book shows that Showalter, like Obama, had - has - a
shiny
career: his Yankees team had the best record in baseball when the
players
strike ended the 1994 season; a year after he left the Yankees and then
the
D-backs, those teams, molded by him, went to the World Series. He was voted manager of the year in
Showalter believed in having experienced coaches around him; since he was smarter than the owners, he remained loyal to those coaches in the face of the bosses’ dissatisfaction. Timesman Frank Rich could have been relating Buck-like behavior to the skipper in his piece on Eric Alter’s “The Promise” in a recent New York Review of Books:
“If
(Obama is) so smart, and so sane, why has he fallen
short of his spectacular potential so far? That shortfall is most
conspicuously
measured by his escalation of a war held hostage by the mercurial and
corrupt
Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai; a woefully inadequate record on job
creation; and the widespread conviction that the White House tilts
toward Wall
Street over those who have suffered most in the Great Recession. Alter doesn’t soft-peddle these criticisms.
‘’Even
by late 2009, when every major bank except Citigroup had paid back its TARP money’, he writes, ‘the impression of a
colossal
injustice remained—that fabulously wealthy bankers would be made whole,
but
ordinary Americans would not’.”
Just as the impression of colossal underachieving will undercut the skipper in the midterm election, inevitable dismay awaits fans of Showalter. When they face the the reality that even he cannot push the Orioles to compete winningly in a division that includes the Yanks, Red Sox and Rays, disillusionment could again curtail the tenure of an indisputably top-notch manager.
-
- -
It is expecting too much of Jerry Manuel that he emulate Showalter and refuse to allow the release by the Mets of Alex Cora. Players, fans and media people alike know that Cora was a spirited clubhouse presence as well as valuable utility infielder. The Wilpons’ order that he be cut came at a time when his playing in 18 more games would have qualified him for a $2 million option for next year. That decision is more than just further evidence of Madoff damage to the franchise; it is disgracefully cheap. The move makes clear that Manuel is finished when his contract ends this season. If he had more money owed him, as does Omar Minaya, he’d be kept on. We can look for a new, cheaper manager to be hired this fall.
What
We Know after the weekend:
In only one of six divisions – the
Those are the big questions whose answers we can guess at, but know not.
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(Posted: 8/6-7/10)
Santana
and
Schumer:
Their
Pitches
‘Aren’t
Doing
Anything’
The other night on MLB-TV, Joe Magrane was watching Johan Santana during a “look-in” of the Mets-Braves game. “His pitches weren’t doing anything,” Magrane said to his colleagues afterward. Fans and media people have noticed what Magrane saw: Santana’s breaking-ball doesn’t have the same movement it once had, and his velocity is down: He is not the ace lefty the Mets signed three years ago.
Santana has a
political
counterpart in Chuck Schumer. NY Dem
fans have noticed Schumer is not the lefty ace they thought their
Senate team
was getting 12 years ago. His political
pitches, like Johan’s, aren’t doing anything these days.
They’re almost non-existent when it comes to
financial reform. But close observers
know his sudden silences are nothing new. They detected early that
Schumer
could talk a good game; he was big on showmanship, but never a standup
performer. (No opposition to war powers for George Bush, never a
negative word
on the invasion of
Now, Chuck’s
careful approach to
the political game has been analyzed from outside the liberal
Democratic
ballpark. Straight-down-the-middle
hitter Jeffrey Toobin notes in the August 2 New Yorker that “the stereotype of
Schumer as a big-government liberal does not square
with his legislative record…He is an incrementalist, whose legislative
passions… run to ideas of…limited ambition… He talks incessantly about
delivering what middle-class voters want…His references to the poor, or
to the
broader problems of poverty are sparing.”
Toobin recalls that Schumer resisted Team Obama’s push for health care reform on pragmatic grounds: “(He) pointed out that while 30 million Americans were uninsured, only about 11 percent of them were voters – a small group to merit such a large investment of Democrats’ political capital.” That stance, so lacking in concern for needy outsiders, can most charitably be described as inside-out.
But, if Toobin
does not score Schumer high as a lefty, he does admire the NY Senator
for his
“political dexterity.” As head of the
Dems’ Senate Campaign Committee in 2006, Chuck “recruited
candidates who could win rather than those with particular beliefs,”
Toobin says. He adds that Schumer
raised
the
campaign
money
needed
to
insure
victory,
thanks
in
great
part
to
his
close
relationship
with
Wall
Street. Intent
on
retaining
those
ties
amid
the
current
crackdown
on
Street
practices,
Chuck
told
Toobin
he objects to any “piling on” of the banks, but recognizes the
validity
of public opposition to “leaving them alone.”
Schumer’s pursuit of electoral success has made him a sure winner at home and an invaluable guide to the party – coaching Dems to keep their eyes on the electoral ball. So, although Chuck’s lack of lefty focus and his frequent passes on key issues are dismaying to progressive voters, Toobin has this implicit message for them: “Get over it.”
- - -
Going into the
weekend, 13 of 30 teams
realistically have a chance to win their divisions: the Padres, Giants,
Rockies
and Dodgers in the NL West, the Yankees, Rays and Red Sox in AL East,
the
Braves and Phillies in the NL East, the White Sox and Twins in the AL
Central,
the Reds and Cardinals in the NL Central. A
fair
guess
would
be
that
the
wild
cards
will
come
from
the
most
competitive
divisions
(where
winning
intensity
will
be
highest)
–
the
NL
West
and
AL
East. The
one weekend matchup that can alter the outlook is
One reason Buck Showalter went three-for-three in his first three games as Orioles manager: “He knows a player when he sees one.” MLB-TV’s John Hart made that point when Showalter got the job. Hart’s MLB teammate Harold Reynolds reminded viewers of the great players – Derek Jeter, Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling, Alex Rodriguez, etc. - Showalter had managed with the Yankees, D-backs, Rangers. The sweep by Showalter’s O’s put an exclamation point on the Angels’ departure from AL West contention, just as the four-of-six the D-backs and Braves took from the Mets put a closing stamp on the NYM’s playoff pretensions.
The Mets may be moribund, with no reason to think a 2011 renaissance is in the offing. But ESPN’s Adam Rubin has found something praiseworthy about Jeff Wilpon. The team’s deer-in-the-headlights COO is credited with resurrecting the career of Wally Backman, now managing the Class A Brooklyn Cyclones. Rubin sees Backman as a likely successor to Jerry Manuel, not necessarily because he’d be better. Backman would manage for peanuts, Rubin says, out of gratitude for being given a second chance. (He lost a managerial job with the D-backs a few years ago when a domestic violence case surfaced.)
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(Posted: 8/5/10)
Bonds,
Clemens,
Rangel,
Waters:
the
Defiant
Four
The symmetry is too strong to be ignored: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Charlie Rangel, Maxine Waters. All four - two in each pastime - stand accused of playing their separate games in unlawful or unethical ways. Bonds and Clemens are fighting charges of using illegal substances and lying about it; NYC’s Rangel and LA’s Waters of letting personal considerations influence their use of Congressional clout.
Bonds is under the most serious imminent challenge. He could go to jail if found guilty of perjury in a federal court trial scheduled for next March. Clemens faces possible indictment when federal investigators complete assembling the case against him. Clemens seems more vulnerable than Bonds in the long run: Roger’s personal trainer Brian McNamee would likely be a key prosecution witness should the Rocket go to trial. Bonds’ personal trainer Greg Anderson, also a would-be key witness, has refused to cooperate with prosecutors – even doing more than a year’s jail time for contempt. The case against Barry may thus be bound for the showers.
Rangel and Waters are under party pressure to concede ethical errors – in Rangel’s case, (among other things) pushing through a tax loophole for a contributor to an education center set up in his name; in Waters’, helping a bank in which her husband holds stock receive bailout money. Both could say they were sorry for lapses and accept reprimands. But each is prepared to face an ethics trial that could cause them further pain and do further damage to Democratic chances in this fall’s mid-term election.
Rangel and Waters, as political people, have accumulated much personal good will through the years. That suggests an accommodation will be reached before serious play begins in court. Bonds and Clemens do not have those Andy Pettitte-like personal advantages. The media have depicted both as arrogant stonewallers.
In fairness, however, we know that both former players must be presumed innocent. And, despite gut prejudices, fans should acknowledge that the two - indeed, all four competitors - have earned at least grudging respect. The resolute defense of their reputations at this stage of the game may be seen by many as quixotic. But their defiant stances are, if nothing else, examples of impressive pride and determination.
- - -
Dodgers GM Ned Colletti traded for Lilly, the Royals’ Scott
Podsednik, the
Pirates’ Octavio Dotel and Lilly’s Cubs teammate Ryan Theriot just
before the
deadline. He made similar deals that
paid off in 2008 and 2009, when the Dodgers made the NLCS.
He explained his philosophy to SI’s Tom
Verducci this way: "I
always believe that if you have a team capable of reaching the
postseason you owe
it to your players to do everything you can to make it happen. Any time you can upgrade an area even by an
nth degree you try to take a shot at doing it."
August, baseball’s first real meaningful-games month, is
also the
time when meaningless pro football stories crowd into the sports pages. Training-camp trivia desecrated more than 30
percent of the Daily News sports section yesterday.
The pro grid game must produce as much ad
money as the right-wing does during the political campaign period.
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(Posted:
8/3/10)
Baseball
and
Political
Deals
Hurting
Many
Fans
"It's an empty
feeling,"
Red Sox GM Theo Epstein said as the inter-league
At mid-summer deadline time,
especially, there is a striking correspondence
"The
annual incomes of the bottom
90 per cent of US families have been essentially flat since 1973 –
having risen
by only 10 per cent in real terms over the past 37 years. That means
most
Americans have been treading water for more than a generation. Over the
same
period the incomes of the top 1 per cent have tripled. In 1973, chief
executives were on average paid 26 times the median income. Now the
multiple
is above 300. The trend
has only
been getting stronger."
The
trend can be tracked on the political field: instead of swinging hard
in
support of the need to strengthen safety-net programs like social
security,
jobless benefits, Medicare, and also unions, Congressional hitters
swipe to the
right. Their aim is to find ways to cut
back
on “entitlements” to contain the deficit.
Harvard statman Larry Katz describes how big a brush-back this
is to the
average American, and does it in vivid terms:
“Think of the
American economy as a large apartment
block. A century ago - even 30 years ago
- it was the object of envy. But in the
last generation its character has changed. The penthouses at the top
keep
getting larger and larger. The apartments in the middle are feeling
more and
more squeezed and the basement has flooded. To
round
it
off,
the
elevator
is
no
longer
working.
That
broken
elevator
is
what
gets
people
down
the
most.”
Apologists of
baseball's
persistent inequitable system point to occasional examples of
Since
that’s so, why does baseball allow the inequality to widen with two
months left
in the regular season? The Reds and
Marlins are two small-market teams very much in the mix in their
division
races. They couldn’t afford to take on
more salary now, as did their respective competitors, the better-healed
Cardinals
and Braves and Phils. It will clearly be
tougher for Cincy and the Fish to hang in there. The
system
is
particularly
unfair
to
their
fans
in
- -
-
What We Know after the weekend: the
Rockies, whom we said last week would have a hard time getting back
into the NL
West mix, are back(what do we know?). Big
stakes in the current Padres-Dodgers series:
E-mail from
- Ron Swoboda
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July 2010 Archive
(Posted: 7/30/31)
Team
Managers and the Military: Making the Rounds
Weekend snap quiz: Baseball, Wall Street and Team Obama frequently use what piece of equipment? Answer: a revolving door.
Exhibit A: Manny Acta.
Both the Indians and Astros liked Manny’s managerial act. He skippered the Nationals through three
losing (two last-place) seasons. But Acta
had his choice of jobs in Cleveland and Houston. Most
major-league
managers
–
Tito
Francona,
Jerry
Manuel,
Jim
Tracy,
Bruce
Bochy,
Ken
Macha,
Ned
Yost,
even
Joe
Torre,
to
name
a
few
–
failed
before
being
rehired
by
another
team.
The feeling in
The team owners’ play-it-safe inside game is no different from the way Wall Street and other corporate squads choose skippers. It’s their choice, one they must justify to investing fans. When Team Obama makes a similar recall move, as it did in letting Tim Geithner and Larry Summers return to play moneyball, then we, the public, have a right to boo. The O-team’s military rotation play is another crucial example of the retread problem. The same players at different positions have been part of a series of war-related setbacks. The International Herald Trib’s official scorer William Pfaff has watched the deadly game long enough to foresee a bad outcome:
“Failure
is merely a stepping-stone to success in the American military and
political systems.
No one accepts responsibility. The war will go on until it is extended to
As the O-team
campaigns to
divert attention from WikiLeaks evidence that the war is not going as
well as
the military says, the website’s Australian founder Julian Assange says
more
documentation is coming. He told Amy
Goodman on “Democracy Now” that the UK Guardian and
- - -
What
We Know as we enter the trade-deadline/beginning-of-August
weekend: the Phillies’ addition of Roy
Oswalt confirms that the Braves will have to wage an underdog battle to
stop
the defending league champions in the NL East.
Miguel Tejada may be the more important pickup; he gives the
Padres a
sorely needed bat to go with their pitching.
It will be tough for the
Yankees/Rays/Red Sox – we know the AL East will be a great three-team show, with or without deadline deals. Matt Capps makes the Twins at least an even bet to outrun the White Sox in the AL Central. The Tigers are bleeding. In their weekend series with the Angels, the Rangers can confirm the sense that they are the MLB’s only sure division winner.
The Yankees and Mets would be wise to stand pat for different reasons: the Yanks because they already have enough to make the playoffs (at least), the Mets because they can’t advance no matter who they add and can’t spare the prospects they’d have to give up in a futile cause.
Watch
Out for the Brooms: .Sweeps can be lethal as the season moves
into August. It’s unlikely either the
Yanks or Rays will take three at the Trop this weekend.
The Mets, fighting to keep fans interested,
would love to sweep the visiting D-backs (as payback for what happened
last
week in
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(Posted: 7/29/10)
No
Boos, Please, for the Next Muslim Major Leaguer
Watching the Mariners’ magnificent Ichiro stealing a White Sox home run the other night (thanks to MLB-TV) was a reminder of the boon the Japanese have been to major league baseball. The popularity of players - like Hideo Nomo, the first to switch permanently from competing in Japan to the U.S. (with the Dodgers in 1995); Hideki Matsui, a seven-year Yankee, now with the Angels, Daisuke Matsuzaka, the Red Sox’s mercurial pitching import, and Ichiro, now in his 10th season - offers a striking history lesson.
Through much of
the last century,
the Japanese were treated like outcasts in the
The lesson is that people who
don’t look and act like “regular” Americans one day can be golden-glove
outfielders the next. We’ll surely have
a standout Muslim major leaguer one day. (A utility infielder who was
Muslim -
Sam Khalifa - played for the Pirates in ’85-87.) In
the
meantime,
members
of
the
Islamic
team
find
NYC
to
be
a
rough
playing
field.
Over the last few years they’ve encountered: opposition to an
Arabic-language
public school in Brooklyn; rejection of a plan to convert a vacant
Catholic
church in
Haberman’s
teammate Robert Wright makes a cogent case for the wrongheadedness of
the
effort to stop the Islamic center:
“(Osama) bin
Laden would love to be able to say that in
- -
-
It’s a rare
year, we know, when Ichiro
isn’t leading in some department. This
season, as usual, he’s first in the
No one, least of all himself, would
describe the Mets’ Fernando Tatis as a great player.
But the 35-year-old Tatis owns a major league
record unlikely to be matched. On April
23, 1999, he hit two grand slams in one inning while playing for the
Cardinals
against the LA Dodgers. Appearing at El Museo in NYC the other night,
Tatis had
a simple explanation when asked how he did what he did: “I
know
how
I
did
it:
I
see
it
and
I
hit
it
hard!” The
Mets,
we
know,
could
use
a
hard
hitter
these
days. But Tatis is on the 60-day DL with
a bad shoulder.
Attention-worthy: The Phillies, with six straight wins going
into last night’s games, and the
It may be
September before the Red Sox get
back Dustin Pedroia. Can they remain in
close pursuit of the Yankees and Rays ‘til then is the nail-chewing
question in
Sox Nation. The q and a in AL West: Is
the Rangers’ runaway an accomplished fact?
Answer: It looks like it.
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“I’ve
been
reading
The
Nub with much delight, and learning from it.”
- Bill Moyers
(Posted: 7/27/10)
Where
Has Baseball Attendance and the
Observers told
baseball to cheer
up last year - that box office receipts could be
said Team
The
stats: baseball attendance off by more than half-a-million at the
season's
halfway point. The shortfall in state budgets up $90 billion from
last
year. Forty-six of 50 states are deep in the red. The Mets
have
lost 300,000 in attendance since '09, to lead both leagues in that
dubious
category. The figure is based on
slightly more than half the scheduled home games – 46 games in which
fans could
see them as playoff contenders. Since
that likely won’t be the case for the rest of the season, an attendance
falloff
of at least a million is a reasonable estimate.
Baseball, we
know, began upscaling
its product in response to growing attendance
“Our
contemporary
faith
in
“the
market”
rigorously
tracks…the
unquestioning
belief
in
necessity,
progress,
and
History…
So
“The
thrall
in
which
an
ideology
holds
a
people
is
best
measured
by
their
collective
inability
to
imagine
alternatives.
We know perfectly
well that untrammeled faith in unregulated markets kills…In vulnerable
developing countries (the) emphasis on tight fiscal policy,
privatization, low
tariffs, and deregulation—has destroyed millions of livelihoods… But in
Margaret Thatcher’s deathless phrase, ’there is no alternative’.”
Judt
says that an alternative can be found among “regulated market variants
of
liberal capitalism.” It remains for
political and economic players to agree on a variant; then, he says,
they must go
to bat freed of the need to swing to the right, looking instead to the
other
field, toward the direction of disciplined markets.
- -
-
“BETTER SEATS LOWER PRICES” says a predictable Mets ad after the team’s 2-9 road-trip debacle on the West Coast. Logically, the Mets should give up on attendance-building and take advantage of the trading deadline to exchange pricey name players with value for prospects. Frankie Rodriguez, whose $37 million contract runs through next year (with an option), could be useful to a lot of contenders. Carlos Beltran, who has $20 million coming on the last year of his contract in 2011, is another who might draw interest despite his faltering return from surgery and the DL. Jeff Francoeur has only a one-year, $5 million deal. So, trading him would add little to the team’s Madoff-reduced treasury.
“If we continue playing the way we’re playing…I could get Cy Young and Mariano Rivera, and it wouldn’t matter.” The Mets’ Omar Minaya? No. Phillies GM Ruben Amaro (before his team won five straight).
The AL Central races continues to be a fascinating tangle of injured contenders: the first-place White Sox are playing without starter Jake Peavy, the second-place Twins without their best hitter Justin Morneau, the Tigers without two key offensive players, Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Guillen. Peavy is out for the season, Ordonez for four-to-six weeks, Morneau for an indefinite period, owing to after-effects of a concussion. Only Guillen is expected back in less than two weeks.
No Angelic White Flag: The deal sending D-backs ace Dan Haren to the Angels is significant because it says the LAAs are not giving up…even though they are almost as far behind in their division as the Mets are in theirs.
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(Posted: 7/23-24)
The
Dashed Hopes of Deep Summer
Deep summer is high season for huge hopes – in baseball, politics, life. It’s a time when doldrums spawn “gotta-get-better” thoughts, not only about the weather and our future. More to the point here, fan expectations concern a favorite ball club or political team. Among NY area baseball fans, the Mets provide a case study of how hype can raise hopes to unrealistic levels.
The Mets’ spin went like this: Once we get our regulars back – after roughly a season and a half – we’ll be a contending team again. If we can stay close until the All-Star break, we’ll surely be in the playoff mix. What’s happened, we know, is that the revivified Mets have all but dropped out of the mix, losing seven of eight since the break (with their one win the result of a bad umpiring call).
In politics, Team Obama premised its pitch on the belief that booing over the slow economic recovery would subside; then execution of the reform double play - health care and financial reg – would clear the bases of broad fan opposition and set up a progressive winning streak. The skipper had his personal pollster take a look at how the strategy was working. The results surely gave him a shock. By a score of 48(%) to 43, fans surveyed said the O-Team had made the economy worse, not better. Furthermore, in the contest pitting tax cuts for business against more stimulus spending, they sided with the tax-cutters by a whopping 54-32 margin.
Completion of
the rout came when
fans chose between two takes on
corporations. Are they "the backbone of the
-
- -
The new pitch the Mets hope fans will buy is that, in the
“weak” NL East,
anything is possible. But
Who After Lou? The
expectation
in
much
of
“Joe Torre would
be a short-term guy. Sandberg
could be a long-term guy. But something
tells me Hendry is not going to roll the dice on a guy with no
big-league track
record -- that a Fredi Gonzalez would
be a favorite over Sandberg.
”(My) guess…Sandberg winds up in
Former D-backs manager Bob Brenly is also a candidate for the Cubs’ job. His hiring would be a loss to fans who follow the team on TV. Brenly and Steve Stone, who does White Sox color, give Chicago fans two of the best, most knowledgeable baseball-announcing voices. Vin Scully, with the Dodgers, heads the “best” list. Gary Thorne, who does play-by-play for the Orioles, is on it, too. Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez get special mention; they are out of the competition because they don’t work all Mets games.
-
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-
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(Posted: 7/22/10)
Baseball
Playing
America’s
Insider
Game
How could the bankrupt Texas Rangers pull off a mid-season steal – the purchase of priceless Cliff Lee? That was the mystery. It has now been solved: the team had a friend in baseball’s highest office. That friend, Commissioner Bud Selig, helped arrange a $40 million MLB loan the team used as it snapped up Lee.
The clubby arrangement confirms something we’ve long known: personal ties with the powerful are a big part of the American success game. A day after the NY Times told how the Rangers’ exec partners Nolan Ryan and Chuck Greenberg were tight with Selig, the paper listed the names of children of financial players chosen to be summer interns at NY’s City Hall.
These young people had the connections – through their parents – we’d all like to have: They were (as Times slugger Jim Dwyer put it) “mostly white, many quite wealthy, coming from private high schools and Ivy League colleges.” So, they represent the privileged side of the country’s class playing field. So what? Well, if nothing else, the name of Lloyd Blankfein’s son among those on the list is a reminder of the elder Blankfein’s profitable connections. His ties as skipper of Goldman Sachs with the likes of Henry Paulson, Tim Geithner and Larry Summers helped his team make out remarkably well in the deal-making that resulted from the market rout of 2008.
Selig has made clear that Ryan and Greenberg are favored buyers of the Rangers, despite the fact their bid does not match those submitted by others, including Houston businessman Jim Crane, In response to protests about the insider game being played, Selig is dismissive: Baseball has always “ha(d) the right to select ownership,” he says. The courts will decide if he’s made the proper call.
In the broader,
political
ballpark. money is the clean-up hitter of the connecting game. It can make outlier financial players
insiders,
giving them access to influence lawmaking strategy in
Who were the two elected gold glovers who fielded most financial-sector dollar drives this year and last? Let’s look at the box score posted by the Center for Responsive Politics: Senators Charles Schumer, D-NY, $4,080,089, and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, $1,838,800, were one-two. Fans could only dream of such cash-producing connections.
- - -
Stat city: Only one team has four healthy starters in the top 60 listing of major league pitchers: the Minnesota Twins, with Carl Pavano, Kevin Slowey, Scott Baker and Nick Blackburn. The Yankees would have four – C.C. Sabathia, Phil Hughes, Andy Pettitte and A.J. Burnett – if Pettitte wasn’t newly on the DL
The Phillies
have three starters -
Roy Halladay, Jamie Moyer and Cole Hamels – among the 60.
The grapevine says GM Ruben Amaro is hopeful
of landing
As of early last night, the Carlos Beltran-reinforced Mets had averaged two runs a game since the All-Star break. The team is 20th in team batting. Another team a few slots lower than the Mets, the Astros, fired hitting coach Sean Berry last week, replacing him with Jeff Bagwell. We’ve suggested often that memorably undisciplined batsman Howard Johnson should not be the Mets hitting coach. Jeff Wilpon - it says here – ought to find his buddy Howard another job and get somebody new to help the Mets develop a consistent offense.
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Posted 7/20/10)
The
Predictability Plague in Both Baseball and Politics
If you
are a NY-oriented fan of either pastime, it has been a season plagued
by
predictablilty. Everybody foresaw the Yankees making the playoffs
and
Andrew Cuomo winning the contest for governor.
At midseason, does anyone doubt either eventuality (Andy
Pettitte’s
injury, notwithstanding)? Predictable, too, to a lesser degree,
is the
plight of the scuffling Mets. That they still have a chance of
playing
meaningful games as late as mid-August, is a pleasant surprise for
still-invested fans.
At a political
league-wide level,
the dismal outcome for lefthanders of the mid-term House contest is no
longer
in doubt, despite a positive Team Dem scoring record.
Washington
Post press box observer Ezra Klein explains why in the simplest of
terms:
"Democrats
won
their
massive
majority
because
of
an
economic
collapse.
They've
passed
so
much
legislation
because
they
have
a
massive
majority
based
on
an
economic
collapse.
But
the
economic
collapse
isn't
over.
And having
a lot more seats than the other party means 1) voters blame you for the
condition of the country, and 2) you have a lot of seats to lose. What
the bad
economy and the huge majority giveth, the bad economy and the huge
majority
taketh away."
It has been an
enigmatic rather
than a predictable year for Team Obama's skipper.
Who could have
foresaw his
leadership bringing so many victories while so many fans
feel so let
down? Mother
Jones scout Kevin Drum provides the plus-and-minus pieces
of the O-enigma:
"Here's
the good news: this record
of progressive accomplishment officially makes
Obama the
most successful domestic
Democratic president of the last 40 years.
And
here's the bad news: this shoddy
collection of centrist, watered down, corporatist
sellout
legislation was all it took to
make Obama the most successful domestic
Democratic
president
of
the
last
40
years.
Take your pick."
- -
-
Wild
Card Watch: Let’s concede division victories (a risky move,
we know) to
two teams - the Yanks and Braves; that leaves 16 (other) wild card
possibilities here in late July, seven in the AL, nine in the NL. Put down the Rays, Red Sox, White Sox,
Tigers, Twins, Rangers and Angels in the
Walking
wounded:
The
Red Sox will be reinforced with the return this weekend of would-be ace
Josh
Beckett. The man the team most misses,
Dustin Pedroia, is still on crutches.
The Mets are not the same without a healthy Jose Reyes
(right-quad
injury); and although he’s playing on and off (ineffectively), he’s
proving to
be, as ever, a slow healer. The Twins
must operate with much lost fire-power while Justin Morneau sits. He’ll be on the DL until the end of the
month, recovering from a contact-caused concussion while base-running. The Yankees, we know, have enough hitting to
minimize the effect of Andy Pettitte’s month-long groin-injury-caused
absence.
- o -
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(Posted: 7/9-10/10)
Two Teams Whose Fans Are Finding It Hard To Be Hopeful
At a party the other day involving fans of both pastimes, a man confided “I am hopeful about the Mets.” Then he added: “And I haven’t given up on Obama.” Clear-eyed fans know hope is poorly invested in the plucky-but-punchless Mets. And the suspicion grows stronger each day that Team Obama will not turn its losing streak around before the November playoffs.
Latest consensus polls give Team GOP an even chance of pulling a double play – winning back control of both the Senate and House. The skipper could help turn things around by being more forceful with his team and stronger in his appeal to skeptical spectators. But southpaw supporters, like Bob Kuttner in the Huffington Post, have all but despaired of its happening:
“Despite
our
hopes,
Barack
Obama
is
unlikely
to
offer
bolder
policies
or
give
tougher
speeches
any
time
soon,
even
as
threats
of
a
double-dip
recession
and
an
electoral
blowout
in
November
loom.
This
is
just
not who he is. If
the
worst
economic
crisis
in
eight
decades
were
going
to
change
his
assumptions
about
how
to
govern
and
how
to
lead,
it
would have done so by now.”
There is similar lefty booing of the
the skipper’s
strategy away from home, particularly in the game in
“The
Americans
who
elected
Obama…
were
counting
on
him
to
bring
to
the
White
House
an
enlightened
moral
sensibility:
He
would
govern
differently
not
only
because
he
was
smarter
than
his
predecessor
but
because
he
responded
to
a
different—and
truer—inner
compass.
“Events
have
demolished
such
expectations. Today, when they look at
Democrats,
whether
hitting
left,
right
or
straight
away,
have reason to fear that their
skipper’s “cool, dispassionate” stance signals a devastating DP in the
making.
-
- -
Even with the imminent return of
Carlos Beltran, it is
only diehards who take the Mets’ playoff prospects seriously. The Boston Globe’s veteran baseball writer
Nick Cafardo surveys major-league teams with an experienced, objective
eye. He identifies 10 teams at the
All-Star break with valid world championship potential: the Yanks,
Rays, Red
Sox, Twins, White Sox, Angels, Braves, Phillies, Cardinals and Dodgers. Add the Tigers, Rangers, Reds,
The emergence of the Reds and Rangers
as serious
contenders in their divisions is the year’s most exciting
double-development so
far. We knew the Braves were going to be
good and know it’s risky to discount the Padres. But
Another surprise:
Little Doubt About
Lee’s Eventual Home:
If the Twins are willing to give up their blue-chip catcher Wilson
Ramos
to rent Cliff Lee, and that short-term deal goes through, here’s an
easy
question: Which team figures to snap the ace lefthander up in the
post-season for
the long-term? The Yanks don’t need Lee
now. But Yankee fans have every reason
to envision him in pinstripes. Would
that be a good thing for baseball? A
question for another time.
- o -
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The Nub will take its
regular
All-Star break over the next week.
(Posted: 7/8/10)
Team
Obama Must Face a Mariano-Like Court Stopper
If almost
everyone agrees the AL
East is the strongest of baseball’s six divisions, it’s fair to
envision an
ALCS involving the Yankees and either
The Yankees are
the only
LA Times birddog David Savage lays out some of the rutted terrain Team Obama must try to play around:
“Already, the
healthcare overhaul law, Obama's signal achievement,
is under attack in the courts. Republican
attorneys general from 20 states
have sued, insisting the law and its mandate to buy health insurance
exceed
Congress' power and trample on states' rights.
Two weeks ago, a federal judge in
”On another front, the administration says it will soon go to court in
Phoenix
seeking to block Arizona's controversial immigration law, which is due
to take
effect July 29. Republican Gov. Jan Brewer said Arizona would go to the
Supreme
Court, if necessary, to preserve the law.
As chief justice, Roberts has steered the court on a
conservative
course, one that often has tilted toward business. For example, the
justices
have made it much harder for investors or pension funds to sue
companies for
stock fraud.”
Skipper Obama can hope that, just as Rivera has proved himself to be (infrequently) human, failing in two of 21 save opportunities this season and giving up a little over a run (1.08) every nine innings, Team Roberts can somehow be scored upon successfully. It does, however, appear to be as long a shot as getting a hit off Mariano with an 0-and-2 count.
- - -
What
Makes Mariano Special?
In 1995, Rivera’s rookie year, he was asked to pitch a total of
five-and-a-half innings in the division series against the Seattle
Mariners. He did so without yielding a
run. NY Times writer James Traub asked
fabled stopper Goose Gossage about watching Mariano in the series: “Gossage
took notice when Rivera came on in the decisive fifth game
(which the Yankees went on to lose) and got out of a bases-loaded jam
with a
strikeout. ‘I just sat there,’ the
not-easily-impressed Goose says. ‘Oh, my
God – the coolness’.”
Traub also sought the opinion of veteran Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek: “Varitek described Rivera’s success with a catcher’s dispassionate appreciation. ‘You see guys with sometimes even better stuff unable to make quality pitches when the game is on the line,’ he said. Rivera, with his easy delivery and simplicity of moving parts, had the gift of execution. ‘The ability to repeat,’ Varitek said, ’ ‘is both mental and mechanical’.” And, he might have added, the result of an almost mystical composure.
Snap Quiz: Teams in one of the six divisions finished the last week and a half without a losing record. Which division was it? The AL Central, featuring a close three-team race that all but eliminates any possibility of the league’s wild card coming from the Midwest.
Stat
city: MLB leader in outfield assists:
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(Posted:
7/6/10)
A
Salute to Ballplayers Unafraid of the Political Game
As we
say goodbye to the holiday weekend, let's salute the baseball players
independent - and patriotic - enough to express their political views
publicly.
Former players Curt Schilling and Al Leiter were never shy about
their support of George W. Bush. The Cardinals' Jeff Suppan
openly
backed local Republican causes. The Rays' David Price and Carl
Crawford
made known their allegiance to Barack Obama before his election,
as did
the D-backs' Edwin Jackson and
Playing
the political game in a democratic society in a way that goes beyond
voting is
as rare as it is admirable. Most people settle for expressing
patriotic
attitudes - as baseball loves to do in frequent seventh-inning support
of the
military. The idea of Team
“Our
citizenry
has
been
brought
up
to
see
our
nation
as
different
from
others,
an
exception
in
the
world,
uniquely
moral,
expanding
into
other
lands
in
order
to
bring
civilization,
liberty,
democracy…We
see
in
Iraq
that
our
soldiers
are
not
different.
They have,
perhaps against their better nature, killed thousands of
“One
of
the
effects
of
nationalist
thinking
is
a
loss
of
a
sense
of
proportion.
The
killing
of
2,300
people
at
Pearl
Harbor
becomes
the
justification
for
killing
240,000
in
“…We
need
to
refute
the
idea
that
our
nation
is
different
from,
morally
superior
to,
the
other
imperial
powers
of
world
history….We
need
to
assert
our
allegiance
to
the
human
race,
and
not
to
any
one
nation.”
-
- -
.Snap quiz: Who has
the biggest post-July 4 lead in the majors?
The surprising Padres, who finished the
weekend four games ahead of the Dodgers in the NL West.
The Rangers lead by most games in the
Stat city: David Wright has a 64-62 edge
over Alex Rodriguez in RBIs as of this morning. Wright
leads
the
NL
in
that
department,
A-Rod
is
only
third
in
the
- o -
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(Posted: 7/2/3/10)
Braves
and
Waterboarding:
the
Benefits
of
Home
Field
The home-field advantage of the Atlanta Braves – 28 wins in 37 games (going into the weekend), the best domestic record in the majors – has been more than matched in the field of political journalism. A newly released Harvard study finds that, for our four largest newspapers, waterboarding, when practiced by the home team, is “enhanced interrogation”, arguably a win, but when done by others “torture”, certainly a loss.
Harvard kept a
scorebook on the
performance of the NY Times, the LA Times, the Wall Street Journal and
USA
Today. From the early 30’s to the most
recent decade – a neutral-field period - the papers uniformly called
waterboarding torture, or scored it as such – the NY Times in 44 of 54
chances,
the LA Times in 26 of 27. But
as
of
the
start
of
a
whole
new
ballgame,
the
2002
run-up
to
Predictably, the papers had no problem labeling waterboarding torture when the practitioners played for foreign teams. Over 85 percent of such articles in the NYT and 91 percent of those in the LAT made the foreign-torture connection.
Salon’s Glenn
Greenwald notes how
quickly our media – including the Washington Post and NPR - gives the
home-field advantage to Team
“(They)
explicitly adopted
policies to ban the use of the (pejorative) word…once government
officials
announced (waterboarding) should not be called ‘torture.’
We don't need a state-run media because
our media outlets volunteer for the task.”
The most cogent
theory as to why
General Stanley McChrystal used such impolitic terms while talking
about
civilian teammates in
- - -
The Mets,
Rangers and Yankees are
thriving at home almost as much as the Braves.
The NYMs and
Where the hurtin’ leaves us: The rash of injuries to the Red Sox and Phillies has
given
two
teams
reasons
to
wear
collective
smiles. The Rays, who had been slipping,
now have a legitimate shot to remain in the AL East playoff hunt. And
On
Cliff Lee: Surprising unofficial word out of
How are our
favorite five
now-departed, recent former Yanks and Mets doing at this point of the
season? Some better than others. Johnny Damon is having an off-year with the
Tigers; he’s batting .261 with three home runs and only 20 RBIs in 71
games. Hideki Matsui is batting .256
with the Angels, but has 10 HRs and 46 RBIs in 76 games. Melky Cabrera
has hit
.257 with the Braves – two HRs and 23 RBIs in 76 games. Teammate Billy
Wagner
has been lights-out as closer with
- o -
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June 2010 Archive
(Posted:
7/1/10)
Team
Obama and the
The White Sox
fan in the White
House could learn a lot from Ozzie Guillen.
Ozzie was - is - a lefty hitter, but he doesn’t like Fidel
Castro’s
politics and he’ll bat away any talk of how his president Hugo Chavez
runs Team
Guillen, a loyal
Venezuelan but
not anti-Yanqui,,
surely wishes Team Obama would turn
its Latin American fortunes around the way he did the White Sox. Why?
Because the gringo policy has led to a recent losing streak for
the
“On April 13, 2002, an
event occurred…which was as world-historical for South America as the
fall of
the
“The failure…to overthrow
President Chavez…sent a powerful new signal about the limits of the
ability of
the United States to thwart popular democracy in the region…Following
the
reversal…a succession of presidents were elected across South America
promising
to reverse the disastrous economic policies promoted by Washington…The
story of
this dramatic transformation has been largely untold in the United
States. Our major corporate media are
largely
uninterested in the freedom narrative of South America, because it's a
narrative of freedom from control by
So far, Team Obama has blown
away any hope that, Guillen-like, it would change the Bush approach in
-
- -
No sad songs for Sox: Josh Beckett, Dustin Pedroia, Victor
Martinez, Clay Buchholz, Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Lowell, Jeremy Hermida:
an
injury list that matches any a would-be contender has had to endure in
recent
years. Yet the Red Sox keep winning,
with a minimum of the “woe-is-us” bleats heard in
The Phillies have
just taken a key double-injury hit, losing Chase Utley and Placido
Polanco, at
least until after the All-Star break.
They join catcher Carlos Ruiz, and relievers Chad Durbin, Ryan
Madson
and J.A. Happ on the DL. The Phils in
depleted condition have four games with the Pirates, three with the
Braves and
three with the Reds before the break.
A.J. Burnett’s
problems are the only obvious kink in the Yankees’ purring machine. But, as Al Leiter noted on YES the other
night, the late-emerging effectiveness of Javy Vazquez has made
Burnett’s
laboring easier to absorb. Less obvious,
but in need of watching: the mysterious disappearance of two
miles-per-hour in
Phil Hughes’ velocity. “Throwing at 91
instead of 93 is a big difference,” Leiter and Michael Kay agreed as
the
Mariners clobbered Hughes Tuesday night.
Same old story: “It
always
comes
down
to
pitching.”
–
Joe Torre on the NL West
outlook. “If
a
team
can
pitch,
it
has
a
chance
every
night.”
-
Terry
Francona
(paraphrased
by
the
Globe’s
Nick
Cafardo)
on
the
AL
East
outlook.
- o -
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(Posted: 6/24/10)
Crash!...Go
the Astros, Orioles, Pirates and Economic Team
Say what you will about inter-league baseball, the games tell teams where they fit in the broader scheme of the sport. The Astros, Orioles and Pirates, for example, now know that they really, truly suck. Together (up to last night’s games), they had won six and lost 26 – Houston, 2-10, Baltimore, 2-8, Pittsburgh, 2-8.
In the same way,
Team
In his report,
published in the latest
Johnson says Team
- - -
What We’ve Learned over the last several days: Streaks by Texas (nine straight and 12 of 13) and the White Sox (seven straight and 11 of 12) all but confirm that the Rangers and Angels will duke it out in the AL West, the Sox, Twins and Tigers in the AL Central. Less sure, but possible: the Padres will hang in to make it a four-team donnybrook – Dodgers, Giants, Rockies and SD –in the NL West.
Hard to believe
the Rays - 10 wins in 26 games through Tuesday - are fading in the AL
East, but both the Yankees and Red Sox are looking strong now, and both
have deal-making power should their teams sputter. How
hot
are
the
Bosox?
At
36-20
(up
to
last
night),
Query: Which teams among the 20-plus still in playoff contention most need, and have the resources, to rent Cliff Lee? Answer (It says here): 1) Phillies, 2) Dodgers, 3) Mets, 4) Angels, 5) Yankees, 6) Red Sox, (7) Cardinals.
- o -
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(6/22/10)
Will Team
Thanks to MLB-TV, attentive baseball fans know the meaning of the term “economic inequality.” The channel does “look-ins” of games around the majors each night. And what viewers see, more often than not, is crowds clustered in corporate-box sections of the grandstands and yawning swaths of empty seats elsewhere.
Nubbite Frank Macchiarola is certainly attentive to baseball (and may even watch MLB-TV). But he e-mailed an objection to the pitch launched here last time that progressive taxation hitting the rich on down in a proportional way would begin to narrow the income gap. “The simple fact is,” he wrote, “that governments which tax at higher rates inhibit economic growth. Governments which tax at lower rates promote that growth and hence jobs.” The record book shows Brooklynite Macchiarola to be a heavy hitter in the financial field. And national polls show his support of tax-restraint is seconded strongly by most Americans, including elected officials like Andrew Cuomo, and the corporate media.
But polls consistently show something else that is seldom publicized: Even in hard times, people have no problem investing in public services through taxation if a condition is met. The taxes, if imposed on income, must be seen as fair, in keeping with what a person can reasonably spare.. Why, then, with most new jobs on the menial/service roster, has progressive reform of the tax code been low-bridged in NY and around the economically unequal nation? The Macchiarola stance amplified by an anti-tax offensive in the right-side media is one explanation. Despair or exhaustion is another:
“In a two-party
system,” wrote the late historian Howard Zinn, “if both parties ignore
public opinion, there is no place voters can turn.”
The scorecard confirms Zinn’s reference: Team
GOP
had
its
opponent
as
accomplice
in
skewing
the
American
political
game. Repubs and Dems came together after the 1976
Supreme Court decision that allowed unlimited amounts of money to be
used in political races. Lefty author William Greider notes that “the moneyed elite
first began to win big in 1978 with the Democratic party fully in power
well before Ronald Reagan came to
A sign as to whether the shift will at last be reversed nationally may be flashed in the inheritance tax contest. There’s a chance Congress will reduce instead of ratcheting up taxes on heirs to mega-million-dollar estates. That would deprive the economy of billions-a-year in income-gap-narrowing revenues. But Dems may well join with GOP players to hit to right and move the cut into scoring position.
- - -
Weekend Overview: By
taking
two
of
three
from
the
Mets
while
the
Rays
lost
two
of
three
to
the
Marlins,
the
Yankees
gained
both
first
place
alone
in
the
AL
East
and
the
best
record
in
the
majors. But it was the
Red Sox, only a game behind the Yanks, the White Sox, on a six-game
tear, and the Rangers, who’ve won eight straight, who swept in the
The Rays had been atop their division since
April 22, but they’ve won only 10 of the last 25 games.
The Inter-league won-loss record was 42-42
after the first weekend. Since then
On ESPN’s Sunday night game,
On Manny Ramirez, Schilling said “No one I ever played with worked harder.” But Manny had a tendency to loaf, he added, “and after he let a ball drop in front of him when I was pitching, I wanted to discuss it with him. But I was told to leave him alone.” Schilling didn’t mention Tito Francona by name, but implied he didn’t approve of the manager’s kid-glove treatment of Manny.
Updating (with apology) an item by the
Chicago Tribune’s Phil Rogers: “Look out for CC
Sabathia. His victor(ies) over Roy
Halladay…(and Johan Santana) reminded us that we have arrived at his
time of the year. The Yankees' ace has gone 29-6 from mid-June until
the end of the season the last two seasons.”
- o -
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(Posted: 6/15/10)
Unpredictable
Cuomo Takes Ballplayers’ Stance on Taxes
If Andrew Cuomo had followed his father into professional baseball – Mario Cuomo was a highly regarded Pittsburgh Pirates farmhand – his stance on taxes would make sense: ballplayers hate anything, even the sport’s minimally close-shaving luxury tax, that might brush back their income.
But
A journalistic exception is the Village Voice’s Wayne Barrett, who consistently hits the telling long ball in the political-coverage game. After cheering much of candidate Andrew’s reform-Albany offensive strategy, Barrett swings out against his approach to taxes:
“’God helps those whom
God has helped’ was Mario Cuomo’s (wry) refrain about tax cuts for the
rich. Now his son, the man who exposed the
gargantuan bonuses Wall Street continues to pay, is against taxing
them…..Cuomo’s
“Indeed, Andrew Cuomo’s
(program) contain(s) a crisp statement of his core beliefs, and they
are resoundingly liberal…but the list does not include any commitment
to progressive tax policies or even to maintaining the temporary
restructuring of the state income tax…(which) raised state taxes on the
wealthiest.”
Why would Andrew
resort to a small-ball, hit-to-right strategy when he doesn’t have to
for success in the gubernatorial game? Barrett
notes a “Clintonian triangulation” stance, a sign the younger Cuomo may
already be looking beyond
- -
-
Re: Baseball’s luxury tax: Only two of 30 teams have payrolls in excess of this year’s spending limit, $170 million – the Yankees, of course, and the Red Sox.
Weekend Wrap:
Six of the 28 teams involved in the three-game inter-league
series swept: the Yanks, Tigers and Angels in the
Dusty Baker invited second-guessing when he chose to rest red-hot Scott Rolen against KC’s Zack Greinke on a day another hot hitter, Brandon Phillips, couldn’t play. Result: the Reds lost the rubber-game of the series and a chance to extend their lead over the Cardinals in the NL Central. Rolen had gone six-for-10, Phillips five-for-eight (including a HR) in the first two games.
Final weekend (W-L) tally: AL 23, NL 19.
“I’m not trying to hype this guy,” said TBS play-by-play man Dick Stockton about Stephen Strasburg Sunday. Too late to express restraint: Stockton’s TV colleagues Dennis Eckersley and Buck Martinez had already likened the rookie to Nolan Ryan, Sandy Koufax, Josh Beckett, Ubaldo Jimenez and Justin Verlander.
- o -
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A minor medical problem
will put The Nub on the DL for about a week.
(Posted: 6/12/10)
Baseball, Team
It’s no secret why baseball is celebrating the exploits of rookies Stephen Strasburg, Jason Heyward and even Ike Davis: the sport needs heroes. And what about war? If we wage it in the future primarily using drones – that is, in hero-less fashion, by remote control – how can our skippers hope to get the people’s support for devastation done in their name?
These thoughts
were triggered by a pair of messages in the e-mailbag. One,
from
Seth,
of
It was Rolf, of
- - -
Why Reds could
well be for real: As weekend began, more than a
third of
Praise for
the Padres: After splitting their six games
with
While the Padres were taking three of seven from the Phils and Mets on the road, the Dodgers took five of seven at home from the Braves and Cardinals. In so doing, LA leapfrogged SD into first place in the NL West.
Open for
business:
- o -
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(Posted: 6/10/10)
Big Changes Seen in Baseball and the Waging of War
Momentous changes in baseball and politics
may be just ahead: former managers Buck Showalter and Bobby
Valentine, and Ron Swoboda, key member of the ’69 World Champion Mets,
all see expanded use of video replays during games as inevitable. Boston
Globe
columnist
James
Carroll
sees
a
similar
but
sinister
change
occurring
in
the
political
field
–
the
outcome
of
our
conducting
a
remote-control
war
in
the
“We can’t let baseball become archaic,”
Showalter said while appearing with Valentine on ESPN. Swoboda,
who
spent
two
decades
as
a
TV
sportscaster,
predicted
that
baseball
“would
have
to
concede
to
the
camera’s
eye.” Speaking
by
phone
from
his
home
in
Carroll calls the use of pilot-less drone
aircraft a “military
revolution…No
one
can
predict
the
consequences
for the meaning of war of
this
total
removal of one combatant from the field of battle on which
the other is met. War’s mainly personal character
has, until now, been its only check. The
video-screen pilot in
A propos: Helen
Thomas (newly retired Hearst White House correspondent) epitomized what
young journalists should be taught: that
reporters ought not take sides, except on the side of life. That
is, they should challenge any rationale for visiting death on people.
That idea informed much of her questioning of presidents through the
years.
- -
-
Stat city: The disparity in AL-NL offensive stats is striking: going into last night’s games, the top BA in the AL was .370 (Robinson Cano) compared to .325 in the NL (Martin Prado); in home runs, the margin at the top was 18 (Jose Bautista) to 15 (Corey Hart); RBIs 52 (Miguel Cabrera) to 35 (Troy Glaus and Casey McGehee); stolen bases, 23 (Rajai Davis) to 19 (Michael Bourn).
(The Mariners’ Cliff Lee has the mlb’s best strikeout-walk ratio, by far: In 61.2 innings, Lee has struck out 57 and walked only four.
Swoboda, remembering the ’69 Mets:
There was an anti-Vietnam war consensus among attentive members
of the team. “(Tom) Seaver even said
publicly ‘If the Mets can win the World Series, we should be able to
get out of
Former Texas Rangers scout Frankie Piliere monitored the amateur draft for FanHouse earlier in the week. Here are squibs from his report:
“By getting Kolbrin Vitek,
Bryce Brentz, and Anthony Ranaudo, the (Red Sox) netted three of
the best college players in the country and three guys that aren't that
far away from the big leagues… If they can sign all these guys, it was
a tremendous day for the Sox.”
“Hats off to the Mets. There
were
some
questions
about
their
willingness
to
spend
on
the
draft,
and
by
taking
Matt
Harvey,
it
sure
looks
like
they
are
willing
to
go
above
slot.
(He)…
is
one
of
the
few
college
arms
in
the
class
to
show
front-of-the-rotation
upside.”
“The…Yankees had a
player they really wanted, regardless of where he was in the draft, and
that was Cito Culver, who they picked 32nd overall…Culver… got stellar
grades from the MLB Scouting Bureau this spring, grades that could have
pushed him into the top 25.”
- o -
(The Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey. Comments
to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 6/8/10)
Why Can’t
Both Pastimes ‘Have It Both Ways’?
“You can’t have it both ways,” said Steve Stone to Hawk Harrelson on WGN-TV. “You can’t keep the human element in baseball and resort to using video replays.” The subject came up during a White Sox broadcast after the missed call last week at the end of Armando Galarraga’s perfect game.
Stone is one of the best baseball analysts on the air. But
he
knows
that
baseball games offer as much
individual spontaneity as does any sport; that’s true, whether or not
umpires are involved in a play.
Indeed, having
it both ways is the American way. That’s certainly
the case in politics. Louisiana Governor Bobby
Jindal is a current example. He wants Team Obama to
get the spilled oil out of the
We
know
that
Team
USA,
as
the
world’s
preeminent
power
hitter,
felt
entitled
through
the
years
to
have
it
both
ways. Possessor
of
the
largest
arsenal
of
nuclear
weapons,
it
has
sought
to keep other
nations from going similarly to bat on even a modest scale.
We know, too, that while encouraging democratic elections, it
reserves the right to oppose winners who decline to play ball with our
home team. An unwillingness to take any stance in a
contest is another strategy designed to have it both ways. Robert
Fisk
of
the
UK
Independent
cites
an
Israeli-Palestinian
case
in
point:
“The
Goldstone
report…found
that
Israeli
troops
(as
well
as
Hamas)
committed
war
crimes
in
Gaza,
but
this
was
condemned
as
anti-Semitic
-
poor
old
honorable
(Richard)
Goldstone,
himself
a
prominent
Jewish
jurist
from
South
Africa,
slandered
as
‘an
evil
man’
by
the
raving
Al
Dershowitz
of
Harvard
-
and
was
called
‘controversial’
by
the
brave
Obama
administration.
‘Controversial’, by the way,
basically means ‘fuck you’.”
The
“both-ways”
list
includes
a
“Baseball has always wanted the human element involved. That means
you’re not always going to get the call right. The
techno-geeks will argue that in the 21st century, why not utilize
instant replay? Why not use technology?
But if you’re going to do that, then why not remove the umpires
altogether and have a guy in the press box watch each play and make a
ruling, then push a button.”
-
- -
Few weekend
brooms: In only two of the 15 weekend series
did teams sweep: the Mets took three from the Marlins (partial revenge
on the four
The Yankees
gained another reassuringly solid performance by Javier Vazquez but
might have lost a third straight to the Jays Sunday were it not for a
puzzling strategic mistake by
The weekend results left little changed anywhere except in the AL West, where the streaking Angels (five straight and eight of 10) look poised to take command yet again. Either the Braves or Dodgers could have lost momentum in their four-game set, but neither did with the split. It seems certain both will be around at September crunch-time.
- o -
(The Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey. Comments
to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 6/5/10)
Selig Should
Follow Obama’s Lead on Reversing Crucial Calls
Time for Bud Selig to reconsider – and do for the missed call in Wednesday’s perfect game what the national umpire-in-chief did on the oil-spill call: try to undo the political damage. Selig has the authority to reverse Jim Joyce’ s two-out “safe” call that ruined Armando Galarraga’s unblemished no-hitter. Since Joyce conceded he made a mistake after seeing a video replay, the reversal (media traditionalists notwithstanding) will elicit universal public approval.
Chief Obama, we
know, originally justified the decision to let BP, as the “responsible”
party, clean up the mess. Belatedly he saw the
error: BP was to blame, Team
“What
we're
witnessing
is
not
merely
a
human
and
environmental
horror,
but
also
an
appalling
deterioration
in
our
nation's
governance.
Just
as
we
saw
in
Wall
Street's
devastating
economic
disaster
and
in
Massey
Energy's
murderous explosion inside its Upper Big Branch coal mine, the
nastiness in the gulf is baring an ugly truth that We the People must
finally face: We are living under de facto corporate rule that has
rendered our government impotent.
“Thirty years of laissez-faire, ideological nonsense (pushed upon us
with a vengeance in the past decade) has transformed government into a
subsidiary of corporate power. Wall Street, Massey, BP and its partners
— all were allowed to become their own "regulators" and officially
encouraged to put their short-term profit interests over the public
interest.”
(Common Dreams)
Hightower only
hints at the most troubling part of the indictment: Mega-corporations
like BP and Goldman Sachs can at least match many governments in
resources – money, connections, power, legal expertise, etc.
Team
Unlike Obama, Selig knows he has the technology to insure against any recurrence of the mistake made in his baseball bailiwick. He hints that he will broaden the use of video replays; He should do it soon, insuring at last that baseball is getting controversial calls right.
- - -
Who would have
guessed that, going into the first weekend of June, three games would
be the largest margin a first-place team would have in any of the six
divisions? The single team with such a margin: the
Epitaph for
Dave Trembley: The newly-fired Orioles manager
sounded like he knew the boot was coming with this complaint about his
team in late April: "It's time to dial it
up and get this thing going in a positive direction and quit accepting
it and saying, 'It's OK.’ It's not OK. It's
not
OK
at
all. And I'm tired of covering for them.
I get questions point blank, and I feel like I'm a damn presidential
press secretary sometimes. Instead of telling them
how it is, I have to smooth it over. I ain't
smoothing it over anymore.”
Interim manager Juan Samuel has the “smoothing-it-over” job now
- o -
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to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 6/3/10)
Why Can’t
Baseball Play a Whole New Political Game?
It’s hard to boo
the way baseball observed Memorial Day this year, but let’s try: the
“Welcome Back Veterans” motif and the idea of raising money to address
their needs was fine. The men and women who have
served in our two endless wars deserve all the help baseball can offer.
But the flag-waving associated with the observance – the selling
of “Stars and Stripes” caps – is another, too familiar story:
It equates wars and patriotism, something baseball has done
slavishly since 1898 and our intervention in
If
One such approach might go like this: “Welcome Back Veterans…to a Whole New Ballgame - Playing for Peace.” Elaborating the theme would be an expression of hope that military conflicts could be brought to an expeditious, and permanent, halt. And, more pertinently, that the deaths of so many – allegedly “not in vain” – would come to an end.
The Globe’s heavy thinking James Carroll could have had baseball in mind when he launched this Memorial Day pitch:
“Just because we necessarily make something noble of war, by thinking
gratefully of those who served to the point of death, does not remove
the indictment of what killed them. War is a crime. Among its victims
are its heroes. Yet in the modern era, they have been vastly
outnumbered by men, women, and children for whom war was only
catastrophic, in no
way valorous.”
Through the centuries there may have been a few “good wars”.
Historians count World War II as one. In his
book “Days of Sadness, Years of Triumph”, Geoffrey Perrett says that
war did more than just defeat Hitler. It produced
“the closest thing to a real social revolution” in the
History thus shows that good things can ensue if a war perceived as
“good” unifies a country. We’re a long way from
that national stance today, seemingly stranded on a torn-up political
playing field.
-
- -
In the
third month of the season, three teams are running on a winning habit
developed in May: the Dodgers have won 18 of 22, the Braves 18 of 23
and the Red Sox 12 of 15. Then there are the Reds,
who have 18 come-from-behind victories as they battle the Cardinals for
the NL Central lead. The consensus on MLB-TV the
other night was that St.Louis had too many weapons - pitching and
hitting – for
Role models: “There’s ‘being in the
major leagues’ and ‘major leaguers.’ Major
leaguers are ready to play every day or night, and play hard, no matter
what the standings show.” – Astros first baseman Lance
Berkman, interviewed on MLB-TV Tuesday night.
The Reds’ Johnny Gomes on the lessons major leaguer Scott Rolen offers
the team: “He
doesn’t argue with the umpires, he runs every single ball out, he makes
great plays, he makes routine plays, he gets the runner in when he
needs to get him in, he gets the runner over when he needs to get him
over. He just plays the game exactly how it should
be played.” (Quoted by Tyler
Kepner in NY Times)
Bobby Valentine is to ESPN what Mike Lowell is to the Red Sox: an edgy
designated hitter, waiting for a chance to move on. Valentine,
owner
Jeffrey
Loria’s
choice
to
replace
Marlins
manager
Fredi
Gonzalez
(should
it
come
to
that),
is
called
on
to
pinch-hit
as
well
as
to
make
regular
appearances
on
Baseball
Tonight. The other
night he was asked to fill in as co-anchor when the Phillies-Braves
game was rain-delayed. Valentine took the occasion
to lecture the Tigers front office about reducing the team’s stock of
starting pitchers. “They gave Nate Robertson away
to the Marlins and now (Dontrelle) Willis has been let go to the
Diamondbacks. They better watch out; they’re
starting to fall behind in their division.”
Valentine mixed an impressive array of stats into an overview of the
pennant races; he had prepped well, it seemed, for his turn at the TV
plate. But then he erred on an identification play,
referring to Yankee outfielder Kevin Russo as “Romano.” A
tell-tale
sign,
perhaps,
that
he’s
looking
ahead
to
returning
to
what
he
really
wants
to
do.
- o -
(The Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey. Comments
to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
May
2010 Archive
(Posted: 5/27/10)
Anti-Incumbent
Fervor
Felt
on
Political
Field
as
in
Baseball
The sharply hit
message of a New Yorker cartoon made an impact this week on both
political and baseball fields: A spouse, leaving with bags packed, says
to her husband: “There’s
nothing
wrong
with
you,
Steve
–
it’s
just
you’re
the
incumbent.”
What’s stopping Loria is similar to what’s causing Arkansas Dems to hesitate before giving incumbent Senator Blanche Lincoln her outright release (which could happen in a June 8 playoff with lefty Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter): the Marlins are above-.500 and very much in the hunt in NL East; as for Lincoln, the state’s Dems know that, although she hits too much to right, she swings up-the-middle enough to appeal to a broad section of voters.
Loria, who has
allowed the Marlins’ payroll to more than double since 2008 – from $21
to $57 million (40 percent of which is paid to shortstop Hanley Ramirez
and pitcher Josh Johnson – says he expects the team to make the
playoffs this year. Until they completed a
four-game sweep of the Mets a week-and-a-half ago, the Marlins had
been, for the most part, a sub-.500 team. Gonzalez,
vulnerable only because Valentine is available, could still be shown
the dugout door if
On the political field, a recent National Journal poll found that more than 80 percent of those questioned gave Congress either poor or “only fair” marks. The negative hits went to both – Dem and GOP – sides of the diamond. Journal columnist Ronald Brownstein says incumbents out of touch with unhappy constituents is just one aspect of what is happening:
“The common longer-term
development is the enhanced ability of insurgents to harvest that
discontent. Party leaders once controlled a
disproportionate share of money and resources, but the Internet now
makes it easier than ever for compelling challengers to construct a
powerful, even nationwide, network of supporters. (Paul, for instance,
raised more than three-fourths of his money outside
Which team is more vulnerable as November approaches? The one beginning with “D” that numerically has more to lose.
-
- -
May is the month it all came together for the Red Sox. They were 15-9 for May and won seven of eight going into last night’s game with the Rays. Superb starting pitching and timely hitting spurred by revitalized David Ortiz get much of the credit. But Marco Scutaro was singled out on MLB-TV the other night for helping to keep the team loose. Prior to game-time, the camera caught him saying something that had several players in stitches. “Fans can’t imagine how important stuff like that is,” said one of the panel that included former players Dan Plesac and Sean Casey. Incidentally, the AL East, with the Rays, Yanks and Jays ahead of the Sox, are the only division with four above-.500 teams.
With the Memorial Day weekend milestone approaching, it may be time to take the low-budget Padres seriously. They’ve stayed around, or in first place (as they are now) in the NL West for virtually the entire first quarter of the season.
Larry Dierker pitched for 14 years, managed the Houston Astros for five (making the playoffs in four of them). He then wrote one of the best baseball books extant, “It Ain’t Brain Surgery,” about his career. In an article the other day, Dierker mused about how hard it must be for Trevor Hoffman and Ken Griffey, Jr. to be close to the end of their careers:
“No
one
will
tell
you
when
to
quit.
Yet,
some
demigod
will
have
to
tell
even
the
most
exalted
players
to
clear
out
their
lockers.
Hoffman
and
Griffey
may
be
incapable
of
making
that
decision.
Their
mindsets
as
players,
indeed
the
essence
of
their
greatness,
does
not
allow
the
thought
of
quitting…The
only
ones
who
told
me
it
was
time
to
hang
them
up
were
the
hitters.
They
spoke
so
loud
and
clear
that
I
could
not
ignore
them.”
- o -
(The Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey. Comments
to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
The Nub will be away on
a holiday road trip, returning next Thursday.
(Posted: 5/25/10)
About
Ellsbury, Braun, Kinsler, Youklis…Netanyahu
Add the Red Sox’s reactivated Jacoby Ellsbury to the list of prominent Jewish players in daily lineups, a list that includes Ryan Braun of the Brewers, the Rangers’ Ian Kinsler, the Mets’ Ike Davis and Ellsbury’s teammate Kevin Youklis. All, with the exception of Youklis, are under 30, and, thanks to Ellsbury, offer a new composite of speed as well as power.
The play of
American Jews on the political field is changing, too. In
going
to
bat
for
“Yes,
How
has
the
belligerent
use
of
such
power
by
Team
Netanyahu
affected
Beinart’s
Of
course,
a
similar
charge
can
be
leveled
against
most
of
the
expanded
roster
of
Team
- -
-
The
Latest Mets stunner: “If
(Jerry) Manuel goes, the blood letting will be massive, says one
industry source, who indicated the coaching staff will be dismissed, as
well. The only possible exception would be hitting instructor Howard
Johnson, whose ties to David Wright have, until now, granted him
immunity from front office scrutiny.” - Bob Klapisch, The Record of
Wright
has
struck
out
38
percent
of
the
time
this
season
(60
Ks
for
157
ABs).
He is second in NL in that dubious category; Mark Reynolds of
the D-backs is first (62 for 156).
Here
is
what
a
Red
Sox
non-player
told
the
Globe’s
Nick
Cafardo
about
the
team’s
take
on
Hanley
Ramirez
(whom
the
Sox
traded
to
the
Marlins
in
the
Josh
Beckett/Mike
Lowell
deal)
:
“We
had
to
get
on
him
all
the
time
about
that
(loafing)…Unfortunately,
what
happened
here
in
Boston
is
that
Manny
Ramirez
took the kid under his
wing, and while Manny helped him as a hitter, he also took up some of
Manny’s more unflattering aspects, like not hustling at times. Hanley
is
a
terrific
player
who
will
have
a
long
career
and
be
very
successful.
We always felt immaturity was an issue
that he would eventually grow out of. But maybe it
hasn’t quite taken hold yet.’’
- o -
(The Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey. Comments
to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 5/22/10)
An Imperfect
Press Tracks Player Errors in Both Fields
Here’s an easy one: What do Marlins shortstop Hanley Ramirez and Connecticut AG Richard Blumenthal have in common? Yes, they both committed on-field blunders – Ramirez by loafing after a ball he kicked into the outfield, Blumenthal by exaggerating in speeches the military service he did during the Vietnam War. But those mistakes were minor compared to the follow-up error both made: In refusing to apologize - in effect, saying what they did was not worthy of attention, they triggered an anti-stonewalling frenzy. Few miscues spur media relentlessness more than when a prominent player caught screwing up says “I don’t know what the fuss is about.”
The Marlins finally prevailed upon Ramirez to do the expected thing – say he was sorry to each of his teammates. And Blumenthal took responsibility, if not apologizing, for misspeaking. Both players have been tarnished: Super-star Ramirez is already being called the “non-Jeter;” Blumenthal, running for the U.S. Senate, has given his Republican opponent enough campaign ammunition to turn a sure thing into a neck-and-neck race.
Baseball and
politics can be unforgiving games, as is journalism. Media
in
the
The Times keyed
its expose last Tuesday to a speech Blumenthal gave in March 2008.
The story quoted him as saying “We have learned something
important since the days that I served in
But the campaign of Blumenthal’s Republican opponent Linda McMahon originally claimed to have fed the story to The Times. And, despite a retraction, there’s little reason to doubt that was so; it’s the way the campaign game is played. All of this suggests that, at the very least, The Times - currently touting its investigative reporting in advertisements - has done some misrepresenting itself.
Here is a
follow-up to Perfect Pitch partner Bob Sullivan’s dismissal of the
Rasmussen polls in the previous Nub. It’s from the
UK Guardian blog posted by Michael Tomasky: “Look at …
Rasmussen's results on the generic Dem-Rep ballot question vs. everyone
else. You'll see two things:
1. The majority of other polls show a Dem advantage, while every single
Ras poll for the last 10 months has shown a GOP edge.
2. Ras has polled almost as often itself as all other pollsters
combined. In other words, Ras leans Republican, and
- this is the crucial point - since it goes in the field so much more
often, it pushes the aggregate numbers in the GOP direction.”
- - -
The two big stories at the start of inter-league play: the Dodgers and the Rays. LA has won 10 of 11, playing much of the time without its best hitter Andre Ethier. The Rays demonstrated to the Yankees this week that their best-by-far MLB record is no fluke. Meanwhile, back in the NL, the Reds have established themselves as a genuine wild card threat – that’s if they don’t outrun St.Louis in their division. What else? Don’t look now, but the AL West is fast becoming a two-team race between the Rangers and Angels.
Managerial
Plank: The consensus on the East Coast is that
either Dave Trembley or Jerry Manuel will be the first casualty of
2010. Since there were higher hopes in
The two managers
who took over new teams in 2010 – Brad Mills in
How bad are things with the Astros? Here is
the take of the Houston Chronicle’s Richard Justice: “It’s time to
see the Astros for what they are. That is, they’re going to lose 100
games and be remembered as one of the worst teams in franchise history.”
Correction: Charlie Rangel’s
campaign fund-raiser at Citi Field is scheduled for tomorrow, Sunday,
not yesterday, as reported here earlier in the week. The
spate
of
the
Congressman’s
supporters
should
help
boost
attendance
figures,
something
the
hurting
Mets
will
certainly
welcome.
- o -
(The Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey. Comments
to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 5/20/10)
Whose Side Are the National Pastimes On?
Just as fans are showing with their feet that they don’t feel baseball cares enough about keeping them happy, so signs - including some key election returns Tuesday - say that plain citizens have no sense government is on their side.
The fans see
that, although the baseball season is still young, those in charge of
underachieving teams are impatient. Lou Piniella
says his high-priced Cubbies aren’t producing; there is talk of White
Sox stars being traded away, and similar rumbling has started in
In the world
beyond baseball, the excitement has been far from fan-pleasing: The
mine safety failure linked to the deaths of 25 in
Warren is cautiously optimistic - she told the BBC - that Congress will be able to overcome the din on its playing field caused by the “noise” of powerful lobbyists’ - the “talk, talk, talk” that makes it difficult for legislators to hear what the public is saying. It is up to Team Obama - especially the skipper - to clear away the noise, permitting the people to recognize in government its traditional role as friend. So that when the question arises “Whose side is it on?” the answer will no longer be in doubt.
- - -
It took a long while for Alex Rodriguez to win over NY fans. But after his game-tying two-run homer against the Red Sox Monday night, the doubts about him have disappeared. Joe Girardi gave a good reason afterward why that’s the case:
“He’s
a
weapon.
Every time he steps up to the plate,
everyone is in scoring position.’’
A team that wins almost half (10 of 23) of its games in the last at-bat
has to be taken seriously. That’s the Cincinnati
Reds, touted in pre-season on MLB-TV as a team to watch. The
other
night
on
the
same
channel,
Dan
Plesac
said
he
considers
Word Play: If words betray attitude, as they often do, ESPN’s Adam
Rubin doesn’t care much for Mets COO Jeff Wilpon (from whom he sought
advice about a job in baseball last year). The
basis for that surmise? A single word in the
following account by Rubin of Wilpon’s surprise visit to
Jerry Manuel apparently shares doubts expressed here about Howard
Johnson’s effectiveness as Mets hitting coach. SI’s
Jon Heyman says he heard that Manuel wanted to bring back the team’s
ex- hitting coach Rick Down, but was turned down, at least in part
because HoHo is “entrenched” in Down’s former job. A
problem,
almost
surely,
but
not
as
big
for
the
Mets
as
that
of
ownership
entrenchment.
- o -
(The Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.
Comments to dickstar@aol.com
are welcome,
as are subscription requests. Previous Nubs can be
found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 5/18/10)
The Ollie
Perez Factor in the Political Field
The most credible poll available - attendance figures - has confirmed what we all know: the Mets don’t have what it takes to draw fans. After 22 home games, the team registered the largest attendance decline in the majors.
More conventional polls – done by mainly by telephone - show political fans to be unhappy with Team Obama. Where floundering $36 million pitcher Ollie Perez is the poster boy of the Mets’ poor organizational judgment, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and the skipper’s economic coach Larry Summers epitomize what the public dislikes about the O-Team. Poll participants identify the “economy” as the main reason they may well vote Republican this November. But underlying that view is the broad resentment of bank-bailout architects Geithner and Summers. Most striking about the resentment is its expression by fans in both left and right fields.
The Mets have finally removed Perez from their rotation. But it may be too late for fans forced to endure the team’s fruitlessly sticking with him since the start of last season. Geithner and Summers will eventually leave Team Obama, but the skipper has indicated he will let it be on their terms. Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter says in his new book “The Promise” that had Barack been more managerial with the pair and insisted they attach strings to the bailout, “he might have pre-empted a brewing populist revolt.”
Follow-up to
previous Nub on polling and
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”Nevertheless,
this
does
not
mean
that
the
results
in
Lots of batting averages soared over the weekend. But the prize for the biggest gain among regulars goes to Jorge Posada. Counting Thursday’s game against the Twins, Posada went eight-for-11, lifting his BA 44 points from .282 to .326. Detroit's Magglio Ordonez didn’t do badly, either, going 10-for-17, including Thursday. That amounted to a 37-point gain, from .276 to .313.
On MLB-TV the other night, the subject was the rigors of travel as a
major leaguer. Barry Larkin and Harold Reynolds
were two of the former players who agreed
Congressman Charlie Rangel is holding a re-election campaign
fund-raiser at Citi Field Friday night. When his
office notified us, we suggested he try somehow to distance himself
from the Mets, who have let their fans down.
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(Posted: 5/15/10)
Politics and
Baseball Mixing It Up in
How much
political clout does baseball have with the public-at-large?
To judge by what has happened in
Possibly
emboldened by the poll results, Bud Selig announced, in effect,
Thursday that baseball has no plans to move the 2011 All-Star game
scheduled for
The corporate media and polling firms are an effective double-play
combination: in
The skewing caused by the misperceptions slips into poll results
published daily. Those results amplified in press reports nationally
will make it difficult for non-corporate baseball – the players and
fans – to make a difference in the anti-immigration rhubarb. There
is
a
slim
hope
of
effective
baseball-based
action,
however.
Embodied in San Diego Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, it
rests on the possibility that Latino All-Star players like Albert
Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, Mariano Rivera, Felix Hernandez, etc. will
follow his lead and boycott the game in
By the numbers: The nationality
breakdown of the 27 percent of Latino players in the majors, as
reported by MLB:
-
- -
Ahead 4-3 in the
seventh inning of the Twins-Yankees game last night, Ron Gardenhire
elected to walk Mark Teixeira to load the bases with one out.
He chose to have reliever Mark Guerrier pitch Alex Rodriguez.
“Has Gardenhire checked the match-ups?” asked YES’s Michael Kay.
“A-Rod has gone for four-for-six against Guerrier, including two
home runs.” Moments later, A-Rod hit a grand slam to set up the Yanks’
8-4 victory.
Ollie Perez only
walked three men in his latest outing, but it lasted only 3.1 innings.
The rest of his line: seven runs, nine hits, four home runs.
Omar Minaya has not wanted Jerry Manuel to give up on his
embarrassing $36 million investment. But after
Ollie’s performance in
Tough loss for the Reds who could have jumped ahead of the Cardinals in
the NL Central last night. St.Louis had a 4-0 lead
after five innings, but come-from-behind
SI’s Joe
Posnanski on the mistake
On WCBS Radio, John Sterling quoted Rangers GM Jon Daniels on the
Angels’ slow start in the AL West: “Mike Scioscia
is playing rope-a-dope with us.”
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(Posted: 5/13/10)
The Scotus and Baseball Scouting Game
USA Today asked veteran Florida Marlins scout
Mickey White how the job of birddog has changed between the time he
started out decades ago and now. His answer:
“We are
completely inundated with information (without) the ability to discern
between good information and disinformation.”
White watched in the late ‘80’s and early ‘90’s as the scouting process changed from sight-based evaluation to sabermetrics; that is, from recommending a player for what eyeballing him says he can become, to a review of his stats which tell what he has done. As the evolving technology helped statistical records expand, the info available on young players multiplied. So, amid myriad positive and negative reports, it’s become more challenging for baseball people to get a clear picture of a prospect’s potential.
Scouts in the political game face a similar
challenge in sizing up Supreme Court prospect Elena Kagan. Skipper
Obama
decided
he
wanted
to
add
her
to
the
court
lineup
after
watching
her
play
at
the
“Kagan is…
an accommodator. Like Obama, she is a consensus
builder, not a hard-line activist: She’s pro-abortion rights but also
pro-death penalty; she hates DADT (‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’), but has
expressed support for the Defense of Marriage Act…”
That is the stance of a switch-hitter who prefers to bat from the left side of the plate. Kagan doesn’t inside-out or pull the ball but likes to hit straight away. Her tendency is to choke up on the handle rather than swing for the fences. Kagan’s practice of playing a careful game frustrates many observers, but it should hinder opponents from calling her out when she takes her turn under the Senate dome. Ron Klain, assistant to the skipper’s top coach Joe Biden, confirmed that she’d be watching her step: "You will see before the committee that she walks that line in a very appropriate way. She will be forthcoming with the committee. It will be a robust and engaging conversation about the law, but she will obviously also respect the conventions about how far a nominee should or shouldn’t go in answering about specific legal questions."
Opponents are expected to try to drive her off the plate because she’s never had the challenge of judicial playing experience. She’ll hang in and get a hit, say supporters, and come around to score.
- - -
ESPN’s Buster Olney notes that David Wright
is on a pace to strike out well over 200 times this season, compared to
140 last year. Here is what he says is what
happened: “It's as if all
National League teams now are working from the same book when pitching
to David Wright. Early in a game, or early in a
count, pitchers are busting him inside with fastballs to knock him off
the plate, to make him uncomfortable. And then they spin breaking balls
away, or come back inside with fastballs.
“Clearly, he is not comfortable at the plate; scouts are noticing that
he is flinching at breaking pitches, a tendency that they believe
started after Wright was beaned last summer in a game against the
Giants.”
MLB apparently feels there’s enough substance
to complaints the Phillies bullpen coach is stealing signs that they
have put umpires on “full alert” to watch for it happening. The
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(Posted: 5/11/10)
Eco-Ball
Reality: It’s Better to be an Angel Than a Greek
Snap quiz: What
do the LA Angels and the state of
MLB-TV’s Bob Costas and the Times’ Paul Krugman unknowingly set up the connection late last week.
While doing
play-by-play of an Angels-Red Sox game, Costas mused about the plight
of the two teams. The Angels were doing much worse
than the .500-playing Red Sox, he noted, having lost six straight and
falling six games under .500. But of the two you
knew, he said, that the Angels would get back into the pennant race.
The Sox’s future was problematic. The differing outlook resulted
from where the two teams were playing in the baseball universe:
In his column,
Krugman pointed out that
Although many
Californians may consider themselves anti-government, their state will
ride out the bad stretch thanks to aid from what they perceive as the
enemy. Krugman elaborates: “Much of the money
spent in
“What this means…is
that California’s budget woes won’t keep the state from sharing in a
broader U.S. economic recovery…If Greece had its own currency, it could
try to engineer such a recovery by devaluing that currency, increasing
its export competitiveness. But
A worrisome
caveat: Unless or until European Union nations make good their promise
of hundreds of billions in aid, the danger persists that
- - -
ESPN’s Orel Hersheiser noted Sunday night that the Yankees could weather a rash of injuries better than most teams “because they can afford to have major leaguers on the bench…Randy Winn could be playing regularly almost anywhere.”
Stat city: After the weekend, three teams – the Tigers, Yankees and Twins –
accounted for
the top six places in the
Someone had to take the fall for the performance of the last-place (in the AL West) Mariners. Just before the team broke an eight-game losing streak Sunday, it fired hitting coach Alan Cockrell.
In that context, one hates to point fingers, but…After Mets hitters struck out a total of 23 times over Saturday and Sunday – that is, the Ks amounted to more than a third of their 60 outs – we were reminded of the record of the team’s batting coach: Howard Johnson fanned well over 20 percent of the time during his 14 years in the bigs. We considered the memorably wild-swinging HoJo an odd choice for the job of teaching people like David Wright how to cut down on his swings and misses. It seems odder than ever these days.
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(Posted: 5/8/10)
Barack and the Other Black Center Fielders
When the names of young African-American center fielders are reeled off – Michael Bourn, Dexter Fowler, Curtis Granderson, Austin Jackson, Matt Kemp, Cameron Maybin, Andrew McCutchen, Denard Span. – there’s an obvious political-field equivalent: the heavily scouted skipper Barack Obama.
Center fielders, we know, have to range to their left and right as well as cover the broad swath in the middle of the outfield. The reliability of their performance is taken for granted; they wouldn’t be there if they weren’t adroit. On the rare occasions when we hear about them they’ve screwed up.
Unlike Carlos Beltran, say, who had to cover expanses of left and right field when Daniel Murphy and Fernando Tatis were stationed there with him last season, Obama does well to steer clear of drifting from his regular position. He has disappointed liberals and intensified the hostility of conservatives when swinging far in either opposite direction. (He managed to move both ways on health care reform and coastal drilling, antagonizing left and right.)
We know from the skipper’s record book that in center is where he has always wanted to be. He’s beleaguered even there now because of the laid-back game he plays faced with political long balls: oil pollution, curbs on Wall Street, domestic terrorism, etc. His cautious approach in fielding the barrage has brought forth boos from the press box. Discussing David Remnick’s “The Bridge” in the NY Review of Books, Joseph Lelyfeld notes how the skipper set himself up for ever-broader opposition:
“The very qualities of
thoughtfulness and patience that made Obama’s election seem such a
hopeful harbinger now make him vulnerable to charges of weakness from
both flanks of the political divide…And in the short term at least, it
doesn’t play conspicuously well in the media echo chamber, which is
always spoiling for a fight, doesn’t reward prudence, and has no time
for ambiguity.”
The good center fielders know how to adjust to new challenges. Democrats know the urgency of the answer to this question: Is the skipper, so at home in his position, up to making the adjustment?
- - -
Stat city: It’s been no contest so far between the Yanks and Red Sox in the AL Leaders category. Going into Friday night, Robinson Cano was third in hitting with a .362 and tied for third in HRs with nine. A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte and C.C. Sabathia were fifth, sixth and 11th among the top 20 in the league’s ERA category. The lone Red Sox player on either list: Clay Buchholz, 14th in ERA.
The Giants, backed by the division’s best starting threesome, are asserting themselves early in the NL West. As the weekend opened, SF had won nine of 12 and inched into first ahead of the Padres. The Giants’ 17-10 record put them on a 102-60 pace. The three-game series with the Mets will be their only regular-season appearance in NY. Tim Lincecum pitches Sunday. The Mets will be spared having to face Barry Zito and Matt Cain.
One reason SF’s cross-bay rival
From the e-mailbag: “I'm tired of all of
this grousing about the Yankee payroll. For almost
50 years the Mets have had access to the same fan base as the Yankees.
By extension they have had access to the same financing from
that fan base. In fact, their payroll has been in the top five of all
major league teams for much of the last ten years. Yet, what do they
have to show for it?” – Gary M,
“I don't remember your
being so critical when the Yanks were not doing too well even given
they had the same leadership (Cashman & the Steinbrenners) and lots
of money.” - Earl R,
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(Posted: 5/6/10)
Targeting the
Wall Street of Baseball, the Yankees of Finance
Why is it that, in the field of financial reform, the status of the Yankees comes to a baseball fan’s mind? It might be because the Yanks are the Wall Street of the sport. Or that both the mayor of NYC and the NY governor could have been speaking of the NYYs when they recently defended Wall Street. Said Mayor Bloomberg: Wall Street accounts for “40 percent” of the city’s tax proceeds. Said Governor David Paterson: Wall Street accounts for “22 percent” of state revenue.
Banks and investment firms around the country exert similar financial clout in their bailiwicks. We know the Yanks, meanwhile, are the only team extant to pay a luxury tax to help other franchises; and, furthermore, they contribute the most to baseball’s separate revenue-sharing arrangement. Under the circumstances, why shouldn’t we be happy to let the Yankees and Wall Street alone?
There is the question of fairness, some people say. But we know how far-fetched it is to think a fair financial playing field will ever be laid out in baseball. It may be more likely to happen on Wall Street. Newsweek columnist Ezra Klein explains why:
“The
market's
rules
are
these:
you
make
as
much
money
as
you
can
without
actually
going
to
jail.
This
is
a
world
in
which
people
are
applauded
for
‘blowing
up
the
customer’—that
is
to
say,
offloading
a
crap
product
on
a
dim
investor. But it's not the world the rest
of us live in. And if Wall Street doesn't realize
that quick, financial regulation might turn out
very badly for them…
“This brings us to a word that's very important to most people but not
very important to Wall Street: fairness… The (bank) bailout might have
been necessary to save our economy, but all of it is deeply unfair.
Americans were punished for Wall Street's sins and they want
reform that will bring this industry more into line with their
values…As partial owners and continual backstoppers, they want to
remake the business into something they feel comfortable insuring.
Fair's fair. “
The
skipper is shifting his feet as he stands at the plate now on this very
issue. Gestures aside, no one knows for sure what
his final stance will be.
- - -
Fair-Guess Future Divisional Winners (after first month of season): AL East: Yanks and Rays (one gets wild card); AL Central: ? AL West: ? NL East: Phillies; NL Central: Cardinals; NL West: ? NL Wild Card: ?
Is it premature to presume that four of eight playoff spots will be filled by teams thus tabbed? We think not. (Sorry about that, Red Sox fans.)
The Sox are said
to
More on Johnny Damon: In 16 years in the bigs, he has been on the DL a grand total of once. (Per MLB-TV)
Stat city:
Two off-the-radar names in the eastern half of the country are
among league leaders in separate categories.
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(Posted: 5/4/10)
On Baseball
Going to Bat Against
What are the
chances of baseball intervening in the rhubarb over
So, we should be
able to dismiss talk of shifting next year’s All-Star game away from
But, if the
Arizona Diamondbacks take a hit because people stay away from their
games, both at home and away - that is, if one of the brotherhood of
owners is winged economically – then baseball may well go to bat
against the law. Straight-talking White Sox manager
Ozzie Guillen gave Bud Selig and co. a populist rationale for such a
move: “This country could not
survive without…the Latinos. They cannot live
without us. A lot of (Americans)…( a)re very
lazy. They want to be on the computer and sending
e-mail, and we do the hard work…to make this country better.”
You’d find little argument with that in our major cities. But people in smaller communities seem to feel differently, according to polls.
Team Obama has the clout to chase the law from the field, but it needs both major political clubs to come together to use its power. Team GOP is playing a hard-nosed game, which National Journal’s Ronald Brownstein says is putting it and everyone at risk:
“The hardening…position
could
expose
the
GOP
to
long-term
political
danger.
Although
Hispanics are now one-sixth of the
- - -
Re: The Night the Magic Stopped: For Mets fans, the final game of the first series with the Phillies, so freighted with significance, started so well and ended so badly. But the outcome had this benefit: it should have disabused the fans of even thinking their team could compete with the defending NL champions. They can relax now, and, if they are wise, resist dreaming another impossible dream: winning the wild card.
The Globe’s Nick
Cafardo noted the other day the three-team, multi-player deal in which
the Tigers sent Curtis Granderson to the Yankees for Austin Jackson has
worked out well for Detroit.
A month into the
season, only one of six divisions has daylight between its first-and
second-place teams: it’s the NL Central, with the Cardinals five games
ahead of the runner-up Cubs, after last night’s victory over
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(Posted: 5/1/10)
Pitching
Populism in Politics and at the Yankees
“Everybody hates the Yankees,” Skipper Obama said (in so many words) at the White House the other day. (After a sassy Yankee exec told him that, as a White Sox fan, he was as close to the World Series trophy as he could hope to get.)
The skipper was
responding to an expression of arrogance that non-pinstripe fans
associate with the Bombers. It was, in effect, a
populist response to the privileged status the Yanks have attained
owing, in large part, to money. Attentive fans
know, for example, that the Yankees can outbid any other team seeking
the services of Carl Crawford after his
Progressives wonder why Obama doesn’t pitch the same populist fireballs at Team GOP for its Yankees-like traits: a fan base that is well-off, a policy of preventing the opposition from taking positive action. In the health care reform game, we’ve seen the GOP-ers stop enactment of a public option, just as in the financial regs contest they may well succeed in keeping a consumer protection initiative off the field.
The skipper has made warm-up tosses aimed at calling attention to the elitism Team GOP represents. But American Prospect’s Bob Kuttner says Barack can score with the public if he emulates Harry Truman, who was in the same pickle more than half-a-century ago:
“Populism turned out to be winning politics
for Truman, not because it was cheap demagoguery but because there were
real differences between the parties and major public issues at stake
whose resolution one way or the other would benefit different classes
of voters. Billionaire Warren Buffett once quipped
that there is class warfare in
“To be a conservative Republican is to believe that markets function
just fine, people mostly get what they deserve, and government
typically screws things up. To be a liberal
Democrat is to believe that market forces are often cruel and
inefficient; that the powerful take advantage of the powerless; and
that there are whole areas of economic life, from health care to
employment, where we need activist government. Obama
needs
to
be
more
ideological,
in
the
best
sense
of
the
word.”
A familiar argument, yes; but Dems are waiting to see if the follow-through will be another half-swing by the skipper?
- - -
ERA Leaders: Let’s see, there’s the
Mets’ Mike Pelfrey (0.69),
The Red Sox have recalled 40-year-old Alan Embree from Triple-A
Pawtucket. Embree hadn’t been in the minors in
almost 20 years. He told the Globe’s Amalie
Benjamin that the experience “invigorated” him, but it wasn’t easy: “Pitching
in
the
cold,
pitching
with
different
baseballs,
flat
mounds
—
not
the
best
situation
to
pitch
in.
You
find
out
how
spoiled
you
are
up
here.
“You do learn a new appreciation… The facilities aren’t quite as nice,
training room’s not quite as nice, food’s not quite as nice. You can go
down the list. The travel. I was probably the only
guy in that (International) league this year that will have used a
heating pad on a bus.’’
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April 2010 Archive
(Posted: 4/29/10)
Team Obama and Baseball Seen as Turning
Off Young People
The youthquake behind recent Gallup Poll results suggesting dismay with political business-as-usual surely resonated with Team Obama. The young-oriented message should shake baseball, too, after a reminder of how badly its business looks with reforms buried back in the clubhouse.
The poll showed that young people have lost interest in voting Democratic, clearly because they’ve seen very little change they can believe in. As to baseball, the digital-savvy younger generation can only scorn a sport that refuses to enter the technetronic age and rid itself of crucially erroneous umpiring calls.
There have been many amazingly bad umpiring
calls already this season, but few, if any, could match the one in the
Braves-Cardinals game the other night. An
We’ll know how seriously the streaking Mets
should be taken after the three-game weekend set at
Joe Torre, asked by SNY’s Kevin Burkhardt how
he would like to remembered 10 years from now: “For fairness. Guys
wanted
to
play
for
me
because
they
knew
I
was
fair.”
Johnny Damon spent the first week of the season with his new team batting .177 (3-for-23). He’s now the Tigers’ second leading hitter among regulars (after Miguel Cabrera).
Going into last night’s game with the Twins, Damon was batting .329 (24-for-73).
Orioles manager Dave Trembley knows he can’t
last if his worst-in-the-majors last-place - team doesn’t start winning
with some consistency. So he apparently figures he
has nothing to lose by expressing frustration about what’s been
happening. Asked in an interview shown on TV about
his porous bullpen, he gave this remarkable answer: "There is no closer
right now for me. Who wants it? Somebody
take
it. There is no setup guy. Who wants it? Somebody
take
it." Alfredo Simon, just up from
Triple-A Norfolk, looks like the closer. For now.
Coincidental or cause-related? Both the Phils and the Dodgers have gone into mini-tailspins since Jimmy Rollins and Manny Ramirez went on the DL.
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(Posted: 4/27/10)
When Political and Baseball Fans Call for
Action
In politics and baseball, as with most pastimes, the people in charge know how to respond to public demands for action when the pressure is on: if you can’t act, appear to do SOMETHING. Current examples in both fields have to do with competitive balance.
Team Obama worries that
International Herald Trib bench jockey
William Pfaff sees something ominously familiar in the way Team Obama
is responding to
“Robert
Gates is reported to have sent a secret letter to…Obama last January
reviewing the military options available if diplomacy…fail(s) to
produce the desired halt in
”Once more the threat is a polemical invention, intended to frighten
American, Israeli (and European) voters, and prompt a preemptive attack
on Iran. The reason Mr. Gates reports his uncertainties to the
president is that he too recognizes that the conflict with Iran is
constructed from fictions – which, as with the lies about Iraq, may
turn into another war, whose consequences are sure to be worse for all
concerned than the (earlier) fiasco.”
How far Team Obama is prepared to go - after
this retroactive something - will depend, in part, on whether the
skipper considers real or fictional the Iranian nuclear threat feared
by
In baseball, Bud Selig put together a
practice-hitting front-office group and asked it to take swings at
improving balance among mlb teams. (Improve it,
that is, without touching the financial disparities.) Uncomfortable
in
the
clutch
situation,
the
group
launched
the
idea
of
a
“floating”
option
for
teams. The plan would allow particular
clubs to switch divisions for a season or more. Small-market
but
formidable
That resulting pop-up seemed to be an out before it left the pitcher’s hand. But the effort was dutifully reported by the media: it therefore amounted to something. And as yet, it has not been officially ruled a non-starter.
Tim Wakefield has become a non-starter with
the Red Sox. Tito Francona took the veteran
knuckleballer out of the rotation when Daisuke Matsuzaka returned to
the team from the DL. It’s been hard for
The Sox
have other obvious problems. Victor Martinez threw
out one of three steal-attempting Orioles over the weekend.
That modest achievement was worth a celebration.
The Mets are playing the Dodgers and Phillies this week, which may well mean they will be sub-500 again by Saturday night. But their achievement of exceeding .500, as of Sunday night, was notable. We confess that we never thought it would happen. Jerry Manuel deserves much credit, Omar Minaya and Jeff Wilpon some. The Mets may exceed our expectations and turn out to be a .500 team, after all.
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(Posted: 4/24/10)
A Twin Search
for the Elusive Even Playing Field
Incumbent legislators in NY state are like fans of the incumbent World Series champions: they surely believe in the idea of an even playing field, but not as it pertains to their privileged turf.
A team headed by former NYC Mayor Ed Koch and including former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Governor Mario Cuomo wants the legislators to swing behind a change in the setup of their political ballparks, the districts that have given them home-field advantage in the electoral game. The rearranging sought by Team Koch would be done by unaffiliated outsiders instead of legislative players themselves. If done right, this new redistricting stance would end the practice of laying out a field tailored to the hitting team. With that accomplished, the goal of the even playing field would be within reach.
Team Koch has already enlisted the support of three key GOP players, candidates for governor Rick Lazio, Steve Levy and Carl Paladino, and of the likely Dem choice Andrew Cuomo. The legislators have not yet come to the plate. If they stay in the dugout it’s because they like a practice that, in the words of Citizens Union Skipper Dick Dadey, “allows the legislators to choose their voters before the voters choose them.”
Most Yankee followers would choose to describe themselves as baseball fans first. But they contradict that claim when they duck away from the recurring pitch for reform of a system that gives their team a huge edge over its competitors. The latest report from Forbes magazine has the Yankees taking in more than $170 million more than their nearest revenue-stream competitor, the Mets, and $285 million more than their nearest on-field competitor, the Rays.
SI’s Joe Posnanski runs down the ramifications of the Yankees’ financial edge:
“The
Yankees' revenue stream is so enormous, it will give them a gigantic
competitive advantage that should make them the favorites to win
every... single... year. True, they won't win every single year because
of baseball's quirks…. (But) since the 1994-95 strike, the
Yankee fans are to be envied for their team’s success – baseball gives them comfort while it gives Mets fans Agita. But for the fair-minded among them there is a downside – the awareness that their team is winning as much because of money as for merit.
Stat city: One reason the Washington Nats are off to a better-than-expected start is that, for the moment, they have baseball’s most successful closer. He’s Matt Capps, who, going into last night’s game, had saved seven of seven – all but one of the team’s victory total (8).
Shortly before
spring training, MLB-TV’s Dan Plesac evaluated five free agent pitchers
still available at the time. He picked one from
among the group - Pedro Martinez, Joel Piniero, Ben Sheets, John Smoltz
and Jarrod Washburn – as most worth signing: It was
Piniero, who has a 2-1, 1.77 ERA with the Angels after 20 innings of
work. His strikeout-to-walk ratio is 13-3.
Sheets is not doing badly for
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(Posted: 4/22/10)
‘Perfect
Storms’ Sweeping Baseball and Political Fields
“Perfect storm” has become an all-purpose phrase applicable to baseball and politics as well as meteorology. We know it means something like hitting into a triple play – the term first used to describe three storm fronts forming a powerful nor’easter in 1991 that snuffed out lives and homes along the east coast.
Despite sporadic
signs of clearing, Mets fans think a perfect storm has hit their team.
One, Keith Weber of
Over on the political field, there it was again
– a
The National Journal’s Ronald Brownstein says
leading liberal players worry that the skipper has lost control of the
economic contest with Team GOP: “The(y)
fear the
White
House
is
suffering
from
what
could
be
called
a
’narrative
gap.’
By
which
they
mean
that the White House has inadvertently allowed
Republicans to shift public discontent from business to government by
not working more doggedly to link President George W. Bush's
anti-regulation, tax-cutting policies not only to the 2008 meltdown but
also to the economy's meager performance over his entire tenure.
Brownstein
says
the
skipper
is
insufficiently
aggressive
at
executing
what
a
Yale
professor
calls
"’the
authority
to
repudiate’…the
effort,
employed
by…Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, to build support by portraying
their agenda as the remedy for their predecessors' failures.”
The hope among fans is that the skipper will start a repudiation rally when he steps to the plate at Cooper Union today.
- - -
Fans exhaling
early-season blahs in
Injuries: they
are “part of baseball,” as the saying goes. Their
impact, we know, depends on the depth of the team affected.
A club like the Phillies can absorb a few weeks’ loss of Jimmy
Rollins. Some teams, however – like the Orioles,
who have lost Brian Roberts and Miguel Tejada - don’t have capable
replacements when a key player goes down. Mets TV
announcer Gary Cohen flagged the case of Giants center fielder Aaron
Rowand, put on the DL after suffering facial fractures last Friday
night when hit by Dodgers pitcher Vincente Padilla. “I
feel
bad
for
the
Giants,”
Cohen
said. “They are
going to miss Rowand’s bat.” Without Rowand in the lineup, SF lost
three in a row this week, 2-1, 3-2, and 1-0, before yesterday’s game in
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(Posted: 4/20/10)
Yanks, Phils and Team GOP Showing
Competitive Confidence
Slow-starters in both pastimes have a hopeful saying this time of year - “It’s a long season.” The Yankees, Phillies and Republicans can respond with a smug smile. The numbers in wins and losses on one field, and polling results on the other, give all three confidence they can stay ahead for the long haul.
Seldom have two favored teams demonstrated their superiority so convincingly so early as the Yanks and Phils have done in the past two weeks. Who doubts that they will win their respective divisions? Team GOP needs to add at least 40 members to its Congressional lineup in the fall to win control of the House. Few press-box observers would bet against that happening. One of the most respected of that group - Charlie Cook – suspects the Repubs will win but doesn’t see it as a Yankees-and Phillies-like sure thing:
“Combining its own race-by-race calculations with the results of
national polls, The Cook Political Report officially
projects a Republican gain of 30 to 40 seats. I suspect that the GOP
will do even better if the trend over the past seven months continues…
“The views of other experts vary… Most political scientists who have
weighed in tend to think that Democrats will suffer serious losses but
retain control. Analysts who look at individual races and then add
’macro’ national dynamics to the mix, however, largely expect Democrats
to have real trouble hanging on.”
Cook says that, if it loses, the Democratic team can find solace in the
likelihood that Skipper Obama himself will benefit from having to share
power with the opposition: he will then be able to share the blame for
plays that backfire, which should give him a cold-comfort edge in the
2012 presidential contest.
For awhile many of us wouldn’t have been surprised to see the Yankees
remain in first place in the AL East for the rest of the season. But
“Home plate is on roller skates”: That’s what players say, according to
ESPN’s Orel Hersheiser, when the umpire calling balls and strikes is
inconsistent. In the third inning of the Rays-Red
Sox game yesterday, Angel Campos called Ben Zobrist out after two of
John Lackey’s pitches were clearly way outside of the plate.
When, on a 3-and-1 pitch, Zobrist tossed his
bat aside and started for first, NESN’s Jerry Remy warned that “umpires
hate that.” Zobrist couldn’t hear him, of course,
and when he did it again,
The so-far short season has sent attendance-shock-waves through front
offices in
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(Posted: 4/17/10)
Inequality in
NYC Exists for Ball Teams as Well as People
Economic
inequality in the
Although Judt
does not allude to them by name, he wonders why there are no Tea
Parties of the left. Pointing out the holes in
right field and then doing nothing about them, he says, won’t trigger a
successful left rally: “The
irresponsible
rhetorical
grandstanding
of
decades
past,”
he
notes,
“did
not
(get
the
job
done).”
Intimidated by
the Yankees’ willingness to spend for baseball’s big name players, the
Mets tried to match them in such signings. They
emphasized the need to have proven stars in the lineup, but in their
spending sacrificed the resources needed to pay for a solid supporting
cast. Thus, $100 million of the current $126 mil
payroll goes for eight players – Johan Santana, Carlos Beltran, Frankie
Rodriguez, Oliver Perez, David Wright,
On a YES Yankees
telecast the other day, Al Leiter got in a puzzling plug for a former
team of his, the Toronto Blue Jays. Noting the
Jays’ fast start in the AL East, he said the three-team deal in which
they sent Roy Halladay to the Phillies for prospects was working out
well for
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(Posted: 4/15/10)
Who in the
As with many Americans, there is unhappiness on this tax day in baseball. Owners of small- and middle-market teams are complaining – not about a sport-related tax they, in theory, are obliged to pay, but about the money they’re supposed to receive from the big-spending teams. The levy in question - the competitive-balance, or luxury tax – has yielded disappointingly little to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Florida Marlins, etc.
Polls indicate anti-tax sentiment in the country grows stronger every year. A recent Rasmussen survey found that 66 percent of those questioned felt Americans are overtaxed (81 percent of Republicans felt that way). The conservative argument that the government’s taking of people’s money is confiscatory – “you’ve earned it have a right to spend it as you see fit” – has simplistic appeal. The twist in baseball is that smaller-market teams believe their comparatively modest revenues justify they’re getting luxury tax money from several big-market teams, not just the Yankees.
As it is, this
year only the Yanks will go over the $170 million threshold established
for luxury tax purposes. (The NYYs have paid $175 mil in lux taxes over
the seven years of the system’s existence; the Red Sox paid a total of
$14 mil over four years of that period;
Globe op-ed columnist James Carroll does not believe the poll-driven wisdom that people see taxes as unfair. The resentment he says is simply a temporary reflex:
“Many
officials
mistake
our
mid-April
grimace
for
a
signal
that
the
broad
citizenry
has
itself
broken
faith
with
the
principle
of
commonwealth.
It
is
not
true.
We
may
dislike
the
tax
bite,
but
we
loathe
the
destruction
of
civic
pillars
and
the
deliberate
unraveling
of
safety
nets.
Citizens long for leaders who will remind us
that what we do this week has nobility in it. And if we have to do more
of it — pay higher taxes — so that teachers and librarians, and those
they serve, are not humiliated but enriched, we will.”
Whether more big-market mlb teams will agree to a lower luxury tax threshold possibly requiring them to chip in should be tested next year. That’s when terms of a new arrangement are to be worked out. Baseball’s Exec VP Rob Manfred says that, given the economy, he thinks the small-market teams have a persuasive argument.
The warm
greeting Hideki Matsui received from the Yanks on his return to NY
should be duplicated when the team’s other departed ’09 hero Johnny
Damon comes back as a member of the Tigers. But
that won’t happen until August 16,
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(Posted: 4/13/10)
Barack Became National Skipper as Baseball
Was Regaining Blacks
Coincidental with the emergence of Barack Obama as a serious presidential contender, the number of blacks in baseball rose from a low of 8 percent in 2007 back into double digits, now about 10 pct. (The percentage of blacks in MLB was 17 percent in 1997). Braves rookie Jason Heyward is the 2010 poster boy of the resurgence, but interest among blacks – and recruitment of them - began to rebound, thanks to the arrival of African-American standouts several years earlier.
Skipper Obama has certainly been a source of pride for blacks and people of color generally. But polls indicate his gaining of broad acceptance has been as slow and sporadic in the political field as the backing and filling of blacks in baseball. Signs of racist attitudes among tea-party participants suggest that the president and his leadership are a long way from winning over opponents in the South.
A sampling of that opposition – dating from November 2008 - was provided the other day by Michael Tomasky of the UK Guardian. He checked the white vote (through exit polls) for Obama in four northern states, including Massachusetts, where he won with over 50 percent of the vote and in four conservative non-southern red states, including Arizona, where he lost but scored in the 40-percent range. In three deep-South states, the white-vote percentages for Obama were dramatically different, attesting to the apparent persistence of anti-black bias:
It is clear that, if those numbers have moved in the last year-and-a-half, the trend has been away from the skipper and his team.
Among the young black baseball standouts who
triggered the turnaround in the sport: Jimmy
Rollins, who debuted at shortstop with the Phillies a decade ago.
C.C. Sabathia came along next, joining the Indians in 2001 (and
going 17-5 in his rookie year); Carl Crawford was called up by
Back on the political field, there is some question – even among supporters – about the staying power of Obama as national skipper. Author Gary Wills, who shifted from batting right to left early in his career, has urged Barack to stop his centrist compromising and take the strong, unpopular stands – like leaving Afghanistan – that risk making him a one-term president. Here is how Wills put it in his review of a book on Obama (David Remnick’s “The Bridge” ) in the Sunday NY Times:
“(Obama) may
have…believ(ed) that his election could of itself usher in a
post-racial, post-partisan, post-red-state and blue-state era.
That is a change no one should ever have believed in.
The price of winningness can be losing; and that, in this scary
time, is enough to break the heart of hope.”
- - -
The overall batting leaders after the weekend
were
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(Posted 4/10/10)
Baseball, Hedge Funds and the Futile Search for Fairness
“Stop whining,” said Yankees president Randy Levine to the Milwaukee Brewers owner who complained about the financial inequities in baseball.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Rupert Murdoch (in effect) when asked at the National Press Club about the political bias of Fox News. “We have both sides…Democrats and Republicans.”
Both statements, dismissive of the dream of fairness, have gone essentially unchallenged.
The Yankees’ team payroll for 2010 is $125 million more than that of the Brewers ($206 to $81 mil). The Yanks are spending $44 million more than their nearest moneyed competitor, the Red Sox ($162 mil).
Murdoch is said to be worth $4 billion, Fox News an estimated $700 million-a-year net. Rupert’s inability to think of the name of any Fox Democrat was considered minimally newsworthy. Like banks that are too big to fail, Murdoch is too big in wealth and political/communications power to be publicly embarrassed.
That Murdoch could buy and sell everyone at the Press Club made it easy for him to avoid a rhubarb. That the star-splashed Yankees lineup attracts fans in other cities, spreading box-office largesse, inhibits any needed effort to even the sport’s playing field. SI’s Frank Deford is the latest to underscore the urgency of that need:
“Come on, let's admit
it. Baseball is the national pastime only if hedge funds are the
national livelihood. If one needs proof, a British survey just revealed
that the Yankees pay their players, on average, more than any other
team in the world. Even more significant: The
Just as the Yankees have the Red Sox for distant company, Murdoch has NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg as a power-hitting teammate on his billionaire’s team. Bloomberg, we know, was able to buy a second re-election, using his wealth to override the anti-third-term wishes of the city’s voters.
There may be no hope – especially given the recent Supreme Court decision expanding the reach of corporate money in elections – of reforming the country’s skewed political system. In baseball, however, there is reason for less fatalism: although far-fetched, the Yankees could hit hard times and lose some of their financial edge just as the Mets have done - the suddenly strapped NYM’s dropped from second to fifth in payroll this year (down $15 million, from $149 in ’09 to $134 mil in ’10) and saw the value of their franchise fall as well. A twin killing, executed by mismanagement and (as rumor has it) Fred Wilpon playing with Bernie Madoff.
- - -
As the season entered its first weekend, only
one of 30 teams had avoided defeat: the Giants, with a 3-0 record.
Playing its home opener against
In a rare, talkative moment at a racetrack
near
During the Cubs-Braves game on the MLB Network Thursday night, viewers were reminded that, owing to injuries, Lou Piniella was only able to field his first-string lineup for three games in 2009. Nevertheless, the team stayed close to the Cardinals until the end, finishing second in the NL Central with an 83-78 record. We remember that the Mets, much noisier about their injury jinx, could only manage a fourth-place 70-92 mark. And, by the way, does anyone believe the return of Jose Reyes today and Carlos Beltran in a few weeks will lift the Mets into NL East contention? Not a chance, with a rotation of Johan and the four non-Santanas – John, Jonathan, Mike and Oliver.
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(Posted: 4/8/10)
Hot Media Air Afflicting Baseball and the Military Game
As spring training neared an end, someone asked MLB-TV’s Matt Vasgersian about the challenge of filling time talking about pre-season baseball. “It’s a lot of hot air,” he said, adding “you try to minimize it.”
After almost a decade of war, the American
people should be aware of the toxic air being emitted from war zones by
The verdict in baseball coverage is business
as usual rather than disgrace. Peter Gammons, a
legitimate baseball-writing superstar, shills for the sport, but has
the skill to do it persuasively. Typical of his
approach is this take on the new season: “Somehow, no matter
what leaks out about the steroids era… every April baseball renews
itself. (Derek) Jeter vs. Josh Beckett. Again.”
The man who heads the Arabian-peninsula-based
news team whose straight-talking has alienated the
“We in the Arab world
are between…two (leadership generations)… The Obama administration
should embrace this transformation. They should not take sides…against
the people or with this party (or government)…We look at
“Taliban influence is
growing… And I think (it)…is changing, learning, developing…Direct
dialogue between the Americans and Taliban is necessary, because…they
are there. And they represent…tribes (and)
cultures. You cannot eliminate them…Bombing and
killing will always increase the anger and frustration against the
Americans, and it will always…favor (the) Taliban or… any other
movement in the
- -
-
It’s much too early to gloat, but the Giants
have reason to celebrate the start of the top three members of their
rotation: Tim Lincecum, Barry Zito and Matt Cain gave up a total of one
run in 18 innings against
Michael Kay and Kenny Singleton were
second-guessing Joe Girardi Tuesday night about starting Marcus Thames
in left field instead of Brett Gardner. “
NYC-based statman Scott Swanay, the Fantasy
Baseball Sherpa, has weighed in with his predictions for the season.
Swanay has had a high BA - never less than .500 - in previous
years’ division picks. His surprise selection this
year is
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(Posted: 4/6/10)
Of Barack and
Derek and a Third Birthday
With the two players still prominent, we offer a still-pertinent re-play on this, our third anniversary post: Team Nub’s lead-off item, dating from April 5, 2007 (the last presidential pre-primary period) :
“If Barack Obama
regains his early campaign momentum, one reason is likely to be the
Derek Jeter factor. That Barack and Jeter share
similar multi-cultural backgrounds will surely seep into the broader
voter consciousness as the baseball season unfolds. The
racial
comparison
will
likely
lead
many
even
casual
observers
of
the
sport
to
connect
Jeter’s
attributes
with
those
of
Obama. Jeter
has
earned
the
admiration
of
fans
throughout
the
country
and
world
for
his
skills and conduct. Obama can benefit from a
transfer of that admiration if he handles himself in the political
field with the same unruffled assurance that Jeter exhibits when he
steps to the plate or corrals a difficult ground ball.”
There were no polls confirming that the
Jeter factor came into play in Obama’s rally. But
we know that, Derek-like, he found a way to win. A little more than a
year into his stint as skipper, Barack’s composure has been ruffled by
bench-jockeying opponents. Nevertheless, he seems
to be developing a Yankee-captain-like confidence in running his team
and the country. As his tenure approaches middle
innings, we can hope he will concentrate on his team’s play abroad, the
questionable military-related decisions for which he is responsible in
the Middle East and
Derek, in a much-lesser league than
Barack, has maintained a focus that enabled him to keep his personal
life and political views (if any) private. That
intensity has helped him keep his professional skills sharp.
(He’s batting .400 so far after one game.) The expectations that
his play would show signs of age as he approached 35 last season, are
all but absent this year. Andy Pettitte, who has
been watching Jeter for years as a teammate, told ESPN why there is no
slippage in one aspect of the Yankee captain’s game: "Derek is the best. I
can honestly say I've never seen him give away an at-bat. Never. Not
any." And here is Rangers
scout Tom Giordano on Jeter’s defense (as told to the Globe’s Dan
Shaughnessy): “You’ve got to take the whole ballplayer… Last year they said
Jeter was slowing down. Well, sure, his arm in the hole is not what it
used to be, but I’ll still take him every time.”
Everyone
agrees
that
Obama’s
main
challenge
now
is
the
economy. On
Sunday, the 42d anniversary of Martin Luther King, Junior’s
assassination, King’s 1967 speech linking the economy and war was
memorialized on public TV and at church services. The
speech,
connecting
the
“poor”
–
described
more
often
now
as
“jobless”
–
and
Vietnam
contained
a
message
relevant
today
that
the
president
might
do
well
to
heed:
“I come…tonight to make a passionate plea to my beloved nation…A few
years ago there was a shining moment… It seemed as if there was a real
promise of hope for the poor… There were experiments, hopes, new
beginnings. Then came the (military) buildup…and I
watched…a society gone mad on war, and I knew that America would never
invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor…
so long as (such) adventures continued to draw men and skills and money
like some demonic destructive suction tube.”
- - -
Predictions abound as the season starts. In the six divisions only one team seems to be the unanimous choice of acknowledged experts. The Phillies in the NL East. All dozen or so regulars or semi-regulars on to MLB-TV picked the Phils. On an MLB panel the other night, Harold Reynolds predicted the addition of closer Billy Wagner would be the key to making Atlanta a threat to the Phils. Bobby Valentine, a new addition at ESPN, wasn’t shy about looking ahead to season’s end: he said the Cubs would meet Tampa Bay in the World Series.
First impressions: Although the Yanks have more fire power than the Red
Sox, the two teams seem even in starting pitching and defense.
And the Sox have a decided edge in relief pitching. So
it
will
be
fun
watching
those
two
well-matched
teams
go
at
it
into
the
fall. Early test-time: The Yanks go to Tampa Bay
after Boston, then come home to open against the Angels next week.
Times columnist George Vecsey called the Mets “irrelevant” on
Sunday. We’ll wait until late spring or early summer to use that term
here. In the meantime, the positive for the Mets is
the absence of pressure: there are no great expectations - any
sustained
winning
they
do
will
be
a
pleasant
surprise.
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(Posted: 4/3/10)
Bracing for a Cruel Baseball and Political
Month
April – a cause for celebration for many of
us, but a potentially cruel month for particular baseball and political
teams. Fans in
The Mets, whose second, third and fourth
starters have run-yielding disabilities, must make do without their
best position player Carlos Beltran until May. Team GOP, which hopes a
pitch to repeal health reform leads to a win in November, could have to
settle for less, too, from its game plan.
The alternative GOP strategy, Gawande says
(in the New Yorker) is “to strip out the
critical but less…appealing elements of reform – (the provision)…of
subsidies to make sure that (uncovered individuals) can afford
policies; (the imposition) of significant new taxes on household
incomes over $250,000 – thereby gut(ting) coverage for the uninsured.”
Team Obama
surely knows that the alternative strategy could work. A
recent
Lefty Greg Sargent, who delivers a Plum Line blog daily, looked behind
the results and produced this logical explanation: “Th(ey) suggest…the
claim by …conservatives that Dems were going to ‘ram’ the bill through
Congress via dictatorial fiat really succeeded in riling people up —
even though Republicans repeatedly used the reconciliation tactic
themselves to pass ambitious legislation.”
The poll results thus reinforce a suspicion that the familiar “nation
of sheep” charge is not all that far-fetched. The
charge is especially credible, given that Fox News is an influential
guardian of the sheep in question. Added reason why the coming season
will be a time of challenge for the O-Team.
- - -
At least four top-rated division teams face
bullpen challenges: the Phillies have lost closer Brad Lidge to injury
for a few weeks,
Few teams can match the Mets for overall
pitching disarray. SNY’s Gary Cohen noted Thursday
that John Maine finished the pre-season with an 8.4 ERA. “That
is
emblematic,”
he
said,
“of
the
entire
rotation.” Well,
not
quite: Johan Santana finished at 6.75 after being knocked around by
the Class AAA Memphis Cardinals the other day. Santana,
the
surgically
treated
ace,
showed
nothing
this
spring;
he
did
seem
healthy,
however. And the Mets can only hope he
reverts to pre-surgical form when he opens the season against
Oliver Perez, high man in salary, has the highest ERA – 8.66. His $12 million take is nearly a third of the Mets’ entire ($38 million) rotation payroll. We can guess that bill prompted Jeff Wilpon to veto bidding for upper-tier free agents. And we can presume that, owing to the shaky pitching staff, the Mets will have to produce a miracle to get the fast start Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel may need to keep their jobs.
A key figure in the Yankees-Red Sox opener
tomorrow night, and to
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March 2010 Archive
(Posted: 3/27/10)
A Winning Month for Baseball and Team Obama
March, the month of promise, will be missed by baseball fans: Stephen Strasburg, confirming his super-phenom status; Jason Heyward emerging as Atlanta’s new Chipper Jones, Curtis Granderson the Yankees’ new energizer, and new veteran Jose Reyes returning to provide the Mets with early hope.
For Team Obama and its roster of Democrats ,
March marked the end of a long losing streak, and, perhaps, more
confident play as the season unfolds. The
game-changer, of course, was health reform. Globe
columnist James Carroll sees its enactment as both a lesson and
season-enhancer: “To
remember
that
there
are
cycles
in
every
realm
—
economic
cycles,
political
cycles,
even
news
cycles
—
is
to
refuse
to
allow
present
conditions
of
discouragement
the
permanence
they
presume
to
claim.
Spring
overrides
winter,
and
that
rule
of
time
has
meaning
across
experience…News
from
At
least one respected observer (SI’s Joe Posnanski) tabbed
Before
Wednesday, the NY Times had been lukewarm in its opposition to the
market-oriented, anti-social attitude that had swept the country and
Congress over the past 40-plus years. That changed
with the lead story on the paper’s front page by David Leonhardt. “The
bill
that
President
Obama
signed
on
Tuesday,” he
said in his lead paragraph, “is
the
federal
government’s
biggest
attack
on
economic
inequality
since
inequality
began
rising(in
the
1970’s).
Over most
of that period, government policy and market forces have been moving in
the same direction, both increasing inequality…Nearly every major
aspect of the health bill pushes in the other direction.”
In
mid-windup, Leonhardt cautiously looked ahead:
“Much about health reform remains unknown. Maybe
it
will
deliver
Congress
to
the
Republicans
this
fall,
or
maybe
it
will
help
the
Democrats
keep
power…But
the
ways
in
which
the
bill
attacks
the
inequality
of
the
Reagan
era
—
whether
you
love
them
or
hate
them
—
will
probably
be
around
for
a
long
time.”
- -
-
Buried under the phenom
stories are sagas like that of 37-year-old Garret Anderson, trying to
catch on with the Dodgers. He made $12.6 million
two years ago with the Angels, $2.5 mil last year with the Braves. He’ll
make
$550,000
if
he
makes
the
LAD
team.
Five-tool player Garrison
Keillor - humorist, novelist, radio host, singer, political commentator
– is among Twins fans looking forward to the opening of the team’s new
outdoor ballpark Target Field. The Twins will host
the Cardinals there next Friday in a pre-season game scheduled to begin
at 5:10. It may be a little warmer for official
opening day, April 12, when
“We
Minnesotans
have
been
watching
baseball
in
a
basement
for
28
years,
under
a
fabric
dome
on
a
plastic
field
designed
for
football,
and
come
April,
we'll
be
sitting
in
sunlight,
or
under
the
stars,
with
the
handsome
towers
of
downtown
Minneapolis
just
beyond
center
field,
and
we'll
mill
on
the
great
concourse
just
behind
the
loge
seats
and
eyeball
the
game
while
ordering
a
steak
sandwich
or
an
old-fashioned
Schweigert
hot
dog.
Hallelujah.
Wowser.
“That
this
beauty
was
accomplished
through
public
financing
--
$392
million
of
the
$544
million
total
paid
through
a
sales
tax
approved
by
the
Legislature
--
is
some
sort
of
triumph,
and
to
an
old
Democrat
like
me,
who
believes
that
government
can
indeed
do
some
good
things
right
and
is
not
a
blight
upon
the
land,
this
ballpark
is
an
enormous
pleasure,..And
so
I(‘m)
head(ing)
to
my
favorite
medical
clinic
to
make
sure
I…live
until
Opening
Day.”
- o -
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(Posted: 3/23/10)
Girardi and
Cuomo: the ‘Must-Win’ Boys
As intense as the the pressure to win it all was on Joe Girardi last year, it’s nothing like what he’ll be under this season. Only in NY’s political field is there a heavier - and more pressurized - favorite: AG Andrew Cuomo is considered such a hard-hitting shoo-in for governor, the Republicans competing to run against him are seen as comparative minor leaguers; Rick Lazio and Steve Levy have yet to prove they belong in the same ballpark with Andrew.
In addition to
an overwhelming media consensus,
“Andrew Cuomo
has done very well politically, as attorney general, by holding himself
apart from the
“Can a
Governor Cuomo be…”
Nearly
everyone
agrees
Cuomo
cannot
be
beaten
by
either
Lazio
of
Levy.
A tested electoral player, Andrew won’t give either an opening
through rookie mistakes. But there’s a long-shot
chance he can be upset by the Scott Brown syndrome. It
was
Levy
who
invoked
Brown’s
surprise
victory
in
the
special
Nate
Silver,
stat
man
for
Baseball
Prospectus,
sees
simultaneous
physical
decline
as
the
Yankees’
Achilles
heel
this
year. He
notes that the Yanks’ homegrown “core four” of Derek Jeter, Jorge
Posada, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera have an age average of 38.
Silver says his research indicates all four should experience a
production falloff this year. As cited by the
Village Voice’s Allen Barra, here are the Silver stats:
“Jeter from a 2009
batting average of .334 to .286 this year, a drop in home runs from 18
to 11, and in stolen bases from 30 to 10. Posada from a .285 BA to
.263, home runs from 22 to 12. Pettitte from 14-8 and an ERA of 4.06 to
10-11 and 4.70. Scariest of all, Rivera from 44 saves to 22, and and
ERA the moves from 1.76 to 3.53.
Of course, even should that worst-case scenario develop, the talent-rich Yanks have in C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano, Curtis Granderson, etc. the passel of younger players whose contributions can keep Girardi’s stress level under control.
On MLB-TV the other night, SI’s Tom Verducci
noted an overlooked Yankee advantage over most other teams: the
financial
ability,
not
only
to
sign
top
free
agents,
but
to
hold
on
to
core
players
like
Jeter,
Rivera,
et
al.
MLB panelists seldom say a discouraging word
about anyone in baseball, incessant hype being the cable network’s
built-in handicap. So, it was refreshing when
former Cleveland GM John Hart looked over possible replacements to the
Twins’ injured closer Joe Nathan. After reviewing
the list of relievers already on the
Except for Minnesotans, no one’s happier than
non-NY fans that Joe Mauer has signed an eight-year-$184 million deal
with the Twins. Here is a typical comment, this by
Dave Sheinin in the Washington Post: “We all
tend to get cynical about the ugly business side of baseball. I'm as
guilty as anyone of putting economics first. But
sometimes it's nice to remember how good we all have it. There's
baseball in
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(Posted: 3/20/10)
If the hit-and-run play involving “crisis” and “opportunity”
can be executed successfully, baseball and Team Obama each have a
chance to score in separate challenges facing them. Baseball
reopened
the
bad-calls
crisis
last
week
when
it
announced
the
firing
of
three
supervisors
of
the
umpires
who
made
the
calls
during
the
2009
playoffs. The O-team had a crisis thrown at it by
The three umpiring supervisors were clearly let go in response to the growing media insistence on minimizing through technology the chance of human error skewing the outcome of a game. Although the three super-umps penalized did not make the most glaring calls, they helped select the umpires who did; that would be Phil Cuzzi and Tim McClelland, who butchered plays in the ALCS. The jobs of both were spared, presumably because of union protection.
Protection is a key issue pushing Skipper Obama to confront Benjamin
Netanyahu on the settlements; the protection the president seeks is a
political safeguard for American forces in the region. Foreign
Policy
magazine
reported
recently
that
both
Joint
Chiefs
Chair
Admiral
Mike
Mullen
and
Army
central
commander
General
David
Petraeus
gave
the
same
message
to
the
skipper:
“
The chief obstacle to expanding baseball’s
use of instant replay – it’s now only employed on controversial
home-run calls – is Commissioner Bud Selig. If he
doesn’t succumb soon to the mounting pressure, his retirement in two
years will almost certainly signal the sensible change – replays of all
controversial plays – most fans want to see. The change in Skipper
Obama’s stance toward Team Netanyahu is occurring haltingly, no
surprise given the clout of pro-Israel lobbies in
"There are important and powerful lobbies in
-
- -
Rotation Reliables: A couple of years ago, Curt Schilling called attention to a baseball axiom validated by the record book: Most teams reaching the post-season do so because their starting rotations stay healthy and pitch in more games than rival staffs do.
SI’s Jon Heyman checked out the starting fives of the 30 teams this
year and concluded that one had the deepest, most reliable rotation.
No, it wasn’t the Yankees or the Red Sox, but the LA Angels.
Mike Scioscia boasts a still impressive one-through-five,
despite the absence of John Lackey: Jered Weaver,
Ervin Santana, Joe Saunders, Scott Kazmir and Joel Piniero.
The Yankees have a reliable foursome in C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte and Javier Vazquez, but the fifth slot likely to go to Joba Chamberlain is iffy. The White Sox boast an almost equally a solid starting quartet of Mark Buehrle, Jack Peavy, John Danks and Gavin Floyd. Heyman rates only three Red Sox starters as reliable - Josh Beckett, Lackey and Jon Lester. The Mariners win the top- twosome prize with Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee; the Cardinals’ duo of Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright are deemed a close second; the Diamondbacks’ Brandon Webb and Dan Haren (once Webb returns from the DL sometime next month) and the Phillies’ Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels runner-ups.
There are lots of outstanding individual starters – Zack Greinke , Tim Lincecum, Johan Santana (who had a second spotty outing yesterday), Josh Johnson, Tommy Hanson, etc. But unless they are reliably reinforced, their teams - according to the Schilling formula - will not get far.
-
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(Posted: 3/16/10)
High-Flying Banks and Yanks Causing
Anti-NY Resentment
If you’re a Yankee fan, you’ve got to like
the consensus 2010 baseball predictions: they show the Yankees winning
the AL East, and make the defending World Series champions a good bet
to repeat. If you’re a
On the other hand…anti-NYC people now have
two reasons to resent the city for the clout money helps give it:
The Yanks can – and do – outspend all other teams in collecting
free-agent talent (often conveniently overlooked: they’re good, as
well, in developing homegrown players). NY-based
banking
outfits
have
spurred
the
city
to
overtake
–
and
tie
–
the
The latest 2010 baseball projection comes
from a mathematical model devised by a college professor that has had a
high rate of accuracy over the past decade. It
predicts this season’s competitive races in five mlb divisions: the
Phillies, Cardinals and Dodgers projected to win in the NL, with the
Braves taking the wild card, and an unpredictable scramble foreseen in
the AL West. But in the AL East, the model says the
Yanks should “blow away” the competition. (Sorry about that, Red Sox
and Rays, although one of you, the model says, should win the
The success of the NY banking team attests to how little the financial
playing field in the
The baseball math model produced its findings before injury put
An indication why, for most
of us, banking is in another ballpark.
-
- -
How about the NY team in a
different league – and organizational universe – from the Yankees?
A clue to the 2010 outlook for the Mets can be found in these
two quotations:
Jerry Manuel, June 2009: “If we can stay around .500 until the
All-Star break when our regulars come back, we’ll be all right.”
Omar Minaya, March 2010: "We
need
to
play
good
baseball
and
fight
through
the
first
couple
of
months,
and
by
July,
we
could
be
a
pretty
interesting
team."
Then there is this bit of truth-telling from Keith Hernandez, during
Cardinals-Mets game on SNY yesterday: “(Johan) Santana can’t pitch every
day. The Met still aren’t sure how
good
their
numbers
two,
three,
four
and
five
guys
are
going
to
be.”
Spring training has been comfortably uneventful so far for most teams,
but not all. Here is how we see the season’s three
stories with most impact-potential:
1 – The Twins’ diminished playoff chances owing to Nathan’s injury; 2 –
The likelihood of a slow D-backs’ start with ace Brandon Webb on the
DL; 3 – Ditto the Mets, who’ll have Jose Reyes
joining Carlos Beltran on the sidelines in the early going.
- o -
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(Posted: 3/13/10)
The Chancy Expectations Game in Baseball
and Politics
It’s early, too early to be nervous,
but…Johan Santana looked like a humpty in his first pro game since
surgery. And
Joe Biden, reputedly a wild swinger, has tightened his stance.
His warning in
“Rahm Emanuel… and Obama tried hard to kick-start an arrangement that
would get some sizzle by forcing the Israelis to stop all new
settlement construction in the
The cover story out of
Despite
- - -
No use belaboring the obvious – that the
Mets’ overall health again looks shaky. Santana’s
elbow may be fine, but will his arm have its pre-surgical zip? Jose
Reyes’ thyroid problem could compromise his level of play after keeping
him sidelined for several weeks; Kelvim Escobar will almost certainly
start the season on the DL with Carlos Beltran, etc. But
the
team
in
first
place
in
the
health-problems
league
is
There is serious talk in
Tony La Russa may have been thinking of the
Nathan situation when he gave this baseball-simplified lesson to the
Globe’s Bob Ryan: “I really had
little idea about pitching, but from (Dave Duncan) I learned that the
first thing you need to do as a ball club was stop the other team.”
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(Posted: 3/9/10)
Dem Fans and Many in Baseball Becoming
Reconciled to Defeat
“Mets’ High Hopes Always Fade Fast,” said a NY Post headline the other day. “What high hopes?” would be a legitimate rejoinder. We know that Mets fans, like those of the Astros, Brewers, Jays, Nats, Orioles, Padres, Pirates, Reds, Royals, etc., should have reconciled themselves before now (hype-hopes, notwithstanding) to a long season of non-contention.
Dem fans are wondering if they, too, should concede that Skipper Obama and his team are out of the running on health care reform. It is by no means clear that the Obama-ites will stage a health-reform rally to score in the part of the Congressional game called reconciliation.
Reconciliation, a set play dating from 1974, allows bills to be revised and adjusted if the effort is designed to cut costs. Team GOP says the Dems would be off-base by resorting to reconciliation; it’s “little-used,” and “controversial,” they say, and would be a discredit to the team using it.
But a one-two punch of Paul Blumenthal,
swinging for the Sunlight Foundation, and NY Times-produced stats
showed that the r-game has been used in the Senate 15 times since 1980.
Nearly two-thirds of those times, the plays were triggered by
Team GOP. Why the Democrats don’t make more of this
record is a mystery (unless it has something to do with campaign
contributions). UK Guardian lefty Michael Tomasky
fires away in frustration, including some name-calling in his pitch: “I can write
(the history of reconciliation), which is all well and good. But
modest
suggestion:
How
about,
y'know,
Harry
Reid
and
Chuck
Schumer
and
other
Democratic
senators
saying
it?”
As many of his NY constituents have noticed, Schumer seems to disappear from the field when crunch issues, like those challenging corporate interests, are in play. On the other hand, if an initiative doesn’t have a chance, like health reform’s public option, “Where’s Charlie?” is loudly front and center.
- - -
How would you like to be Omar Minaya, hanging by a thread with the Mets, after reading this assessment of the deal he orchestrated with the Mariners and Indians before last season? The Globe’s Nick Cafardo focuses his critique on ex-Indian Franklin Gutierrez; Omar knows that’s cold comfort for Fred and Jeff Wilpon. Here’s Cafardo’s take:
“Seattle
put
a
nickel
in
the
slot
machine
and
hit
the
jackpot
in
that
Dec.
11,
2008,
three-team
deal
that
brought
Gutierrez
from
the
Indians,
plus
outfielder
Endy
Chavez,
lefthanded pitcher Jason Vargas,
reliever
Aaron
Heilman (later
flipped
for
pitcher
Garrett
Olson),
first
baseman
Mike
Carp,
outfielder
Ezequiel
Carrera,
and pitcher Maikel Cleto from the Mets. In
exchange,
More unsettling news for Minaya from the Chi
Tribune’s Phil Rogers: “The Cubs shrug off the
Mets' late signing of reliever Kiko Calero. They
were close to adding him to a thin bullpen but backed off after
thoroughly exploring the health of his arm. He could be this year's J.J.
Putz for the Mets — minus the horribly one-sided trade that
obtained Putz from the Mariners.”
- o -
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(Posted: 3/6/10)
Will Team Obama Heed Bunning’s Warning Pitch?
Jim Bunning was known as a chin-music pitcher, who
warned batters early not to ignore his sizzling signal and try to crowd
the plate. Through the years as he went from a Hall
of Fame baseball career to the political game in
Bunning made headlines by refusing to give a pass to the Senate’s stopgap extension of unemployment benefits. He hung in there against criticism from members of his own GOP team and the Dems. The media understandably played up his hard-headedness, but there was more than that to Bunning’s game. Just as he opposed the quick-pitch bank bailout, which caused the deficit to spiral without bringing relief to plain people, he wanted to insure a more controlled - and responsible - delivery of jobless benefits. In true conservative fashion, he demanded to know where the money was coming from (a pitch he finally gave up on).
Lefty hitter Robert Scheer (of TruthDig.com) says the role of the
bailout was overlooked in the criticism of Bunning: “The
senator
was
made
to
look
the
dangerous
fool
in
media
accounts
while
many
of
those
who
enabled
the
financial
catastrophe
continue
to
be
treated
as
reasonable
experts
after
being
rewarded
for
their
folly
with
the
highest
posts
in
both
the
Bush
and
Obama
administrations…
A familiar mainstream message from the right side of the diamond that
Skipper Obama and the Dem team would do well to heed.
-
- -
The Mets front office has
endured many damaging lessons over the last few years. NY Postman Joel
Sherman suggests those lessons have gone unheeded. He
says
the
recent
fingerpointing
at
ex-VP
Tony
Bernazard
is
the
tipoff:
“Scapegoating
the
recently
dismissed
is
an
art
form
around
the
Mets.
It
was
not long ago when everything that had gone wrong was Steve Phillips’
fault
or
Jim
Duquette’s
or
Art
Howe’s
or
.
.
.
“Fred Wilpon showed up earlier in this camp to say the baseball
operations department picked the players who tanked in 2009, not
ownership. Of course, ownership hired all the executives who picked
players, including Bernazard. That lack of
accountability is so 2009, and makes me wonder if it already has bled
into 2010. Are we nearing when Omar Minaya
and Jerry Manuel
will get the Bernazard treatment, losing their jobs and being blamed
for everything wrong as a shield against ownership ever taking full
responsibility for how this franchise operates?”
The spring training hype is hard to
bear in these early weeks before injuries begin cropping up and reality
starts to set in. Future stars are in the
pre-fizzle stage, emerging everywhere. (One,
however, Jason Heyward of the Braves, seen on SNY the other day, looks
to be authentic.)
Two veteran players recently
signed by the Dodgers and Mets are worth noting in a positive vein
despite our abhorrence of the seasonal oversell: Garret Anderson
figures to be an asset to the Dodgers as a reserve outfielder.
He put up respectable stats with the Braves last year - .268, 13
HRs, 61 RBIs in 135 games. Kiko Calero pitched well
in relief for the ’09 Marlins – 2-2, 1.95 ERA, striking out 69 in 60
innings while walking only 30. It will be a
surprise if he doesn’t bolster the Mets’ bullpen.
- o -
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(Posted: 3/2/10)
Hidden Deals Are Hurting Both National Pastimes
Back-room deals are the bane of baseball and politics. Ball fans continue to puzzle over why in one division – the NL Central – teams have a 16 percent chance of winning, while in the AL West they have a 25 percent chance? Many Americans wonder why, despite the apparent decision of the Dem team to swing out alone in support of health care reform, the public option seems to have no chance of winning enactment in Congress.
The answer in both cases: front-office
arrangements made without consulting fans in the respective fields.
To avoid complicating the six-division scheduling process,
baseball’s decision-makers agreed among themselves to saddle the NL
Central with six teams, and the AL West with only four. The
idea
of
shifting
an
NLC
team
like
In a much more crucial play, Team Obama apparently
sacrificed the public option last summer to advance the interest of the
insurance industry in the health reform effort. Firedoglake.com
fireballer
Jane
Hamsher
tossed
this
sizzler
at
the
home
team:
“The
idea
that the
(Democrats woul)d even try to pass (the bill) using reconciliation
without a public option, after months of insisting they couldn’t
include a public option because gosh darn it there just weren’t 60
votes in the Senate, is insane…
“The public option is substantially more popular than the Senate/White House bill. Now that only 50 votes are needed, there is no good argument to be made for even trying to pass a bill without one — it’s simply a way to pay off Rahm Emanuel’s back room deals.”
Even avid supporters concede that the public option is of symbolic rather than substantive importance. It would set up federal-supported competition to the insurance companies but be available only to a miniscule fraction of the national client pool. Nevertheless, a public option would be a spikehold in what has been an exploitative private fiefdom.
The LA Angels have dominated the three other teams in the AL West the way insurance outfits have controlled the national health care field. The Angels were division winners in five of the last six years, and they won a world championship in 2002. A fifth team would not immediately change the balance of power, but it would let air into, and enliven, what has been a constricted division.
- - -
Chad Moeller, who has played with seven teams as a
backup catcher (mostly) over a 10-year career, has a future as author
of an inside-baseball book. How do we know?
Timesman Tyler Kepner picked Moeller’s brain at the Orioles’
Brandon Webb (D-backs): “I was always amazed at
what (he) could make a (fast)ball do. He’d say ‘I
just grabbed the ball like this. It just does it.’ I’m
like,
‘Seriously,
Curt Schilling: “Curt wanted
information. If I saw something, he wanted to know
it. From the first day on he respected my opinion,
and for a catcher, that was outstanding. He
expected a lot out of you… but it was fun…He wanted someone who cared
as much about what happened…as he did.”
Mariano Rivera (Yankees): “Easiest guy I’ve ever
caught. You know where the ball’s going to be every
time. And it’s just amazing that everybody knows
what’s coming and nobody’s going to square it up. He’s
thrown
the
same
pitch over and over,
and nobody’s done anything with it yet.”
Add to our list of ex-NY players – Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Billy Wagner – we miss: Melky Cabrera (now, like Wagner, with the Braves), J.J. Putz (White Sox).
- o -
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February 2010 Archive
(Posted:
2/27/10)
Billy Beane’s and Team Obama’s ‘Revenue
Stream’ Problem
<!--[if
!supportLineBreakNewLine]--><!--[if
!supportLineBreakNewLine]-->Before he persuaded oft-injured Ben
Sheets to take $10 million to sign with the A’s, GM Billy Beane
wondered “if anyone wants to play here (in
Skipper Obama and his Democratic team are facing a similar problem on
the political field: the Dems are losing key players like Evan Bayh and
seeing their fan base erode, in part, because government doesn’t have
the financial (or promotional) clout it once had. And
that
has
hurt
performance
at
all
playing
levels.
For Billy Beane and core Democrats, and for the good of baseball and
government, the team approach has long been seen as the way the game
should be played. On the other side of the field,
team owners and most Republicans have successfully argued that we
individuals should be in the catbird seat, entitled to keep what we’ve
earned. Thus baseball, the quintessential family
sport, cannot get agreement to make all teams competitive for the
benefit of fans, young and old. And government has
to resort to small ball to improve the well-being of its national
family.
Earlier this week, NY Times slugger Paul Krugman swung out against the
squeeze-play strategy employed on the political diamond: “Rather than propos(e)
unpopular spending cuts, Republicans…push through popular tax cuts with
the deliberate intention of worsening the government’s fiscal position.
Spending cuts (are) then sold as a necessity…the only way to
eliminate a…budget deficit.” How far toward the
right-field corner has the game turned? Well,
according to the IRS, the country’s top 400 earners in 2007 - averaging
about $345 million – paid 16.6 percent in income taxes. That
compares
with
a
tax
rate
of
91
percent paid by top
earners in the 1950’s. It was a rare period
of broad affluence, with few complaints in the political field about
the Eisenhower-era economy. Baseball fans then had
more reason to be unhappy about inequality than they are today: the
Yankees played in eight of the decade’s 10 World Series, winning six of
them!
<!--[endif]-->
Team Obama would like to see the top tax rate curve sharply upward. But it’s a tough pitch to make: any talk of investment in, or a “revenue stream” to provide public services and other improvements – another name for taxes – is sent to the showers, by many Dems as well as Repubs..
- - -
Seven players in the
SI’s Joe Posnanski loves spring training because of the hype associated with it. The KC Royals have provided him with this early puff of what he considers unreality:
“They're trying to make
(Kyle) Farnsworth into a starter…It's the perfect spring training
story. Farnsworth comes into camp with a brand new
change-up -- and the Royals are AMAZED by how advanced that change-up
looks. ‘I couldn't believe it,’ pitching coach Bob McClure says. Farnsworth
comes
into
camp
enthused
--
he
LOVES
the
opportunity
to
start
again
for
the
first
time
in
10
years.
And
the
Royals
talk
on
and
on
about
how
this
makes
perfect
sense. Farnsworth still has the
great arm! He might be reborn as a starter!
“Of course, it has
about a 1.3% chance of working -- that's on the high end. Kyle
Farnsworth will be a 34-year-old pitcher with a career (4.47) ERA+ and
a strong tendency to not get people out when he's throwing 98 mph --
hard to see how he's going to get people out throwing 92.
“But it's February.
It's spring training. It's that time to hope
for the impossible. And, so, I love this story.
Can Kyle Farnsworth become a successful starter? Hey,
crazier
things
have
happened!
Though,
I
must
admit,
none
immediately
comes
to
mind.”
- o -
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Bracing for Bad Calls by Judicial as Well as Baseball Umpires
It’s the 25th-anniversary season of the worst umpiring call
in baseball history. The “safe” call by Don
Denkinger in the bottom of the ninth of the sixth game of the 1985
Cardinals-Royals World Series helped change the final outcome:
Instead of St.Louis winning in six games – the Cards were ahead
1-0 when the blown call occurred – the Royals went on to win in seven.
No one ever accused Denkinger of being involved in a fix, but judicial
umpires - elected judges in districts throughout the country - will
surely not be so lucky. A recent Supreme Court
ruling by a 5-4 score opens the judicial field to possible corruption:
it gives corporate teams the right to support candidates for the bench,
putting those teams in position to get the robed umpires on their side.
As for the judges, if they win thanks to the clout of business
cash, they’ll be on the spot: should they decide cases favorably for
their well-heeled benefactors, how could the public not suspect a fix?
More crucially, the infamous 5-4 decision compromises the cause
of justice. That’s a call no one can dispute.
As scrutinized on Bill Moyers Journal last weekend, the case in
question, known as Citizens United, constituted a drastic departure
from the High Court’s normal practice of following precedent.
The player widely believed to have started the activist ball
rolling was the Chief Justice himself John Roberts. It
was
the
same
Roberts
who
at
his
confirmation
hearing
four-and-a-half
years
ago
renounced
judicial
activism
in
baseball
terms:
"I'm
just like a baseball umpire,” he said. “I
don't make the rules, I just call balls and strikes. “Nobody ever went to the game to see the
umpire,” Roberts added. “Judges have to have the humility to recognize
that they operate within a system of precedent shaped by other judges
equally striving to live up to the judicial oath.”
An expert scorekeeper of High Court games, author and New Yorker
staffer Jeffrey Toobin predicts that pitch by Roberts “will
live in infamy…I think (he believes) that…entire areas of the law…need
to be changed…fixed and…improved.” The chief justice “is
acting more like (a)…baseball (czar) than an umpire,” Toobin noted on the Moyers Journal.
Who is going to stop Roberts and his core teammates from driving such
decisive hits to extreme right field? Congress
hopes for the moment that proposed legislation requiring full
disclosure of corporate and labor contributors will lessen the impact
of the Citizens United ruling. But the effect of
such a law on low-visibility judicial contests will surely be minimal.
Or, in the disquieting words of scorekeeper Toobin: “Judicial
elections are really a national scandal that few people… know about.”
Perhaps,
thanks
to
Moyers,
a
few
more
know
now,
and
the
word
will
get
around.
The mini-scandal of bad baseball calls - like the many made during the
2009 playoffs (and exposed by TV replays) - is at last being addressed
by the commissioner’s office.
- -
-
Nub-bites:
It says here the signing of Johnny Damon edges the Tigers on to the top
layer of the AL Central mix. We know JD’s alternate
name is“W-i-n-n-e-r.”
The Red Sox seem to be overly hopeful of what Mike Cameron can add to
the team. At 37, Cameron can’t be much of an
improvement – if any – over Jacoby Ellsbury in center field.
And Mike hasn’t repaired the mechanics that have made him a
strikeout machine: he has k’d in well over 30
percent of his career AB’s. Last year with
The news from Mets owner Fred Wilpon’s press conference in
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(Posted: 2/20/10)
Will NY Skipper
Three Times pitchers yesterday delivered a three-column front-pager
whose 59 paragraphs covered an entire inside page (along with two
photos, one of which low-bridged the state skipper) about how “remote”
the NY governor has become. Two days earlier, you
may remember, there was a more egregious play: the paper filled four of
six columns at the top of its first page with a vaguely
sinister-looking photo of Paterson and a “confidant.” The story below
the pic ran 54 columns with a jump to an inside page and involved six
reporters; it examined in minute detail the checkered background of the
confidential aide, David Johnson. There was more than
enough to suggest questionable judgment on
As attentive political fans know, the stories mattered little; the
photos – four all told, two of which showed
Delgado has plenty of company on the free-agent remainder list.
Former Met teammate and recent Phillies starter Pedro Martinez
is among still-available pitchers, as are John Smoltz and Jarrod
Washburn; all can presumably be had at bargain rates. Brett
Tomko
and
Chan
Ho
Park
are
two
other
marginally
successful
’09
pitchers
looking
for
work.
Position
players
of
note
still
unsigned
include
outfielders
Jermaine
Dye,
Garret
Anderson,
and
Rocco
Baldelli;
first
baseman
Hank
Blalock;
infielders
Joe
Crede,
Rich
Aureilia
and
Nomar
Garciaparra,
and
catcher
Rod
Barajas.
All
those,
and
the
most
prominent
-
and
potentially
expensive
-
available
prize
of
the
bunch:
Johnny
Damon.
SI’s Joe Posnanski says what we all know, that the Phillies are
the best team in the NL. As for the
How is baseball doing in
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(Posted: 2/2/10)
Laid-Back Mets and Team Obama Looking for Leadership
After a season of Mets’ misreadings – the amount needed for a number 2
starter, first-string catcher, etc. – the team (but not the rest of us)
could find solace in a remarkable strategic bobble by the people’s
skipper. President Obama confessed to Time magazine that he had
“overestimated” his ability to persuade the Israelis and Palestinians
to play ball together. The admission suggests lack
of focus on a crucial game. It preceded the part of
the skipper’s State of the
The Mets likely blew their chances for minimal competitiveness when,
with nobody taking charge, they let Randy Wolf, Joel Piniero and Bengie
Molina get away. We know they did complete a good
(for the moment), multi-year corporate play when they signed
When the skipper contrasted Team GOP’s short-term political game to
leadership, he left the ball over the plate. On the
foreign affairs field, he not only failed to be leaderly when Team
Netanyahu took liberties in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, he
allowed a right-wing outfit to overthrow a democratically elected
president in
- -
-
How about misreadings between the Yankees and Johnny Damon? The
Globe’s
Bob
Ryan
almost
wishes
they
had
gotten
together
on
a
contract.
Almost:
“The…divorce is a tremendously welcome development in the rivalry.
(It) is, without question, the most foolish split in recent
baseball history. The farther Johnny Damon is from
the Yankees, the better things will be for the Red Sox and their fans.
The Yankees need Johnny Damon and Johnny Damon needs the
Yankees. They may think they'll be just fine with
Nick (Ming Vase) Johnson replacing Damon in the No. 2 spot in the
batting order, but that's a laughable delusion. Yes, Johnson is an OBP
guy. But he ain't Johnny Damon, who had developed a
swing for the new Yankee Stadium that guaranteed him 20-25 homers as
long as he remained a Yankee or turned 45, whichever came first.
“But
what
exactly
is
the
matter
with
Damon?
Does
he
think
he
will
ever
again
be
able
to
bat
in
a
comparable
batting
order
in
which
he
hits
behind
Derek
Jeter
and
in
front
of
Mark
Teixeira
and
A-Rod?...
Hey,
that's
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January 2010
Archive
(Posted: 1/30/10)
High Court Backs a Hit at Hillary as it Did a Swing Against Flood
-
- -
Lob from Left Field on a subject the Skipper avoided Wednesday
night:
-
- -
Repercussions of the Flood decision led within a few years to free
agency for players. Whether there will be
unintended consequences of the Hillary ruling remains to be seen. The
skipper made clear Wednesday night that he hopes so. Chairman
Barney
Frank
of
the
House
Finance
Committee
suggested
on
MSNBC
a
few
days
earlier
that
Congress
might
well
require
corporations
to
seek
shareholders’
permission
before
spending
what
is
their
-
the
investors’
-
money
on
candidates.
To press his case, with union help, he had to give up his livelihood.
A black man from a modest
When we asked the great former players union chief Marvin Miller about
the poor treatment Flood received in his last years - he died in 1997
at the age of 59 – Miller disputed that the union didn’t do enough.
The evidence – as set forth in lawyer/author Brad Snyder’s
meticulously researched “A Well-Paid Slave” (Plume Books) – indicates
otherwise. The union helped Flood wage his legal
fight, but it failed to get its members still active in the game to
publicly support him. The players he had fought for
seemed afraid to be associated with the man their bosses deplored as a
troublemaker. Not a single one agreed to testify in
the reserve-clause case.
Those same owners have been generous in celebrating the professional
lives of the likes of Jackie Robinson and Ted Williams, players who had
been their property. The players union has yet to
insist that mlb do right by Flood, the man who completed the baseball
revolution that started when Robinson put on a uniform. Flood
finished
it
–
in
the
words
of
Brad
Snyder
–
“by
taking
his
off.”
Not the Mets Again! Last week it was Joel
Piniero and Bengie Molina, this week the Mets lost Ben Sheets and Jon
Garland. Well, there’s still Eric Bedard, John
Smoltz and Jarrod Washburn among free-agent pitchers Jeff Wilpon could
settle for. The boss’s son is being blamed for not
dealing promptly for the best available players. We
can hear him saying “You’d be slow to move, too, if your GM had
committed a total of $18 million this season alone for Oliver Perez and
Luis Castillo.” The obvious reason GM Omar Minaya
hasn’t been moved…out…is that his three-year contract worth about $6
million has just kicked in. A further sign money is
short: Fernando Tatis is back
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(Posted: 1/26/10)
Team GOP Now Like the Yankees, Only More So
By midsummer last season, 40 percent of major league teams had no
realistic chance to make the playoffs. By midsummer
this electoral season, the Democrats will be lucky if only 40 percent
of their Congressional candidates are clearly on their way to defeat.
The Supreme Court has cleared the way for the top-heavy corporate
hitters like Exxon-Mobil, Wal-Mart, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and General
Electric (Fortune 500’s first five) to spend the candidates they
support to victory. The nine-judge team, by a 5-4
margin, said corporate lineups have a free-speech right to hit with as
many dollars as they want behind selected players. The
danger
of
the
decision
resulting
in
a
damaging
political
double
play
-
a
rise
in
one-sided
contests
and
a
decline
in
voter
participation
-
is
real.
The newly allowed money will give Team GOP a Yanks-like edge in adding
to its Congressional roster. Fans in the left field
see decisive support for players with an anti-government agenda skewing
the electoral field. Fans in right field, like the
NY Times’ David Brooks, don’t like the ruling for a different reason.
Here is the pitch Brooks delivered on the PBS Newshour:
“I think it is a bad decision. I do -- I think it will have a poisonous
effect on political atmosphere…What do corporations want when they go
to
In baseball, the outlook remains bleak for the Mom-and-Pop equivalents
in small markets, and the hopes for broader competition. Peter
Gammons
laid
out
aspects
of
the
problem
on
the
MLB
Network:
“The
economy
in
Doubts about the long-term viability
of
Other ballgames: The
run-up
to
the
Jets-Colts
game
reminded
us
of
the
run-up
to
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(Posted: 1/23/10)
Had Barack Obama heeded George Steinbrenner, his first year as skipper
might have been different. “You measure the value
of a ballplayer,” Steinbrenner said years ago, “by how many fannies he
puts in the seats.”
From a political standpoint, the game is only in the bottom of the
third inning. The skipper’s task now, observers on
the left agree, is to return to what brought him early success –
winning the fannies back with a tough, hard-hitting game that takes out
GOP opponents who get in the way. The first order
of business: a pep talk. Lefty tactician William
Greider, of the Nation, suggests what the skipper should say:
“Obama's turn-around speech would declare--honestly--that he misjudged
the situation. The damage is far worse than he
originally realized. Some deeper structural changes are required. The
political
opposition
is
more
than
ever
blindly
resistant…
But
now
Obama
can
promise
to
govern
nose-to-nose
against
the
political
forces
blocking
everything
he
attempts.
He
may
not
prevail,
he
concedes.
But
he
is
going
to
throw
himself
at
them
and
he
asks
the
people
to
join
him
in
the
fight.”
That Obama had hard-nosed Paul Volcker and not Tim Geithner with him
Thursday when he took on the big banks reinforced the sense that the
skipper has already adopted a tougher political stance. If
he
carries
through,
he
could
recapture
the
magnetic
you-can-believe
aura
that
surrounded
him
in
spring
training
a
short
while
ago.
His fans did believe and were sure he would bring dramatic
change when the season started. His challenge
now is to prove, however belatedly, that they weren’t wrong.
The fannies wait in the wings and fingers are crossed.
- -
-
The Mets front office must have thought its mishandling of the Carlos
Beltran-surgery story was as bad as week could get. That
was
last
week;
Omar
Minaya
and
Jeff
Wilpon
learned
this
week
that
they
waited
too
long
to
sign
two
of
the
last
free
agents
with
more
than
marginal
value
–
catcher Bengie Molina and pitcher
Joel Piniero. The pair were snapped up by the
Giants and Angels, respectively. That leaves the
Mets without a credible catcher or capable number two starter.
They are adding a decent backup to Beltran in Gary Matthews,
Jr., obtained from the Angels. But pitching and
catching is the pressing need. We’re betting the
team’s crack PR man Jay Horwitz will contrive to generate interest
despite the roster shortcomings. Whether his work
will lure a sufficient number of fans to the Citi Field seats is
another story.
-
o
-
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(Posted: 1/19/10)
The Missing Player on NY’s Progressive Political Team
Branch Rickey, the man who desegregated baseball, called them
“anesthetic” players. They were name players who
had stopped producing but still made teams feel good having them in the
lineup. Rickey would get rid of those players just
before or soon after they fell into the feel-good-but stage of their
careers.
Chuck, a supposed lefty, has disappeared in the game to make Wall
Street more accountable to taxpayers. Some see a
connection between that absence and his fund-raising scorecard:
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Schumer’s been on the
receiving end of more than $2 million in contributions from financial,
insurance and real estate industries during his current term.
Chuck did go to bat for private equity and hedge-fund firms
before the housing bubble burst, however. He came
out swinging against the proposed closing of a multi-billion-dollar tax
loophole those firms enjoyed. Thanks, in great part
to Schumer, it’s a perk they are still benefiting from.
It was Chuck, we remember, who saw in the Team Bush appointment of
Alberto Gonzales as attorney general a positive step, and sponsored the
candidacy of another torture-supporter, Michael Mukasey, as Homeland
Security chief. And how can anyone forget Schumer’s
support of war-powers for Bush and his silence on the decision to
invade
In fairness, NY’s senior senator has been an effective party insider,
an astute national campaign organizer. And he has
said the right things on health care reform and the need for a public
option. But you’ll be hard put in checking his
website to find any stances on tough issues: announcements of grants,
programs, proposed legislation and calls for improved security, yes.
His ability to take safe stands, say the right things and
attract media coverage have all but assured his re-election.
But
- -
-
The hot stove baseball season has been dotted with deals involving
post-anesthetic players – those who have demonstrated that they’ve
declined from even their feel-good, unproductive
days. Two former Mets are in that category – lefty
Bruce Chen, now with
Sports Illustrated’s Tim Marchman believes the Reds made a risky
six-year, $30-million investment in untried Cuban-exile fireballer
Arnoldis Chapman. But that doesn’t mean he thinks
Farnsworth, another post-anesthetic type, will be returning to
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(Posted: 1/16/10)
A Guilt-Tinged Cheer for ‘Game Change’
We were among the (apparently) few fans turned off by the Mark
McGwire-Sammy Sosa race for the mlb home run record late in 1998. And
the steroid suspicions were only part of the story. It
was
infuriating
at
the
time
that
no
one
seemed
to
care
about
the
pennant
races;
you
couldn’t
get
game-day
team
scores,
only
whether
Mark
or
Sammy
hit
one.
We wish we felt the same dismay over another tainted distraction, this
in the political field. The book “Game Change”,
another example of the media’s failure to keep its eye on the ball,
sucked us in; its mix of cheap head-hunting and dirty take-outs too
tasty to ignore. There’s nothing like petty sideline action to take a
fan’s mind off what’s really going on in the political game.
The media made it easy for fans and non-fans alike to become mesmerized
by the mano-a-mano
heroics of McGwire and Sosa. But the account of a pre-game warmup to a
key political one-on-one contest in “Game Change” received surprisingly
minimum play. Co-author
John
Heileman
talked
of
the
incident
the
other
night
while
defending
the
book
to
Comedy
Central’s
Stephen
Colbert.
He
said the disclosure that, in 2006, Majority Leader Harry Reid urged
then-freshman Senator Barack Obama to challenge Hillary Clinton for the
presidency was an important historical footnote. In
retrospect, it does suggest the depth and strength of the party’s
desire to find an alternative to Hillary in 2008.
Still, most of the book is bush-league stuff, says Salon’s Glenn
Greenwald. He says those of us seduced by “Game
Change” fail to see its demeaning significance:
-
- -
We know that the Mets, as
constituted, were going nowhere with or without Carlos Beltran early in
the season. His absence while recovering from knee
surgery may affect attendance and make it a bit
harder for the team to achieve third place in the NL East.
The injury
could also jeopardize Beltran’s earning potential when his Mets
contract runs out after next season. At 34 then,
with brittleness in his history, he’ll be unlikely to get the $17
million-per deal he received from the Mets five years ago. What
else
did
we
see
confirmed
in
the
Beltran
rhubarb? That
the Mets front-office is in much worse disarray than the team.
Post-season deals may have left baseball with potential adjustments in
divisional balance, but there’s been little in the way of true “game
change.” As we’ve noted, the Yankees and Red Sox
figure to repeat in the AL East, the Phillies and Cardinals ditto in
the NL East, Central. The Mariners, with recruits
Cliff Lee and Chone Figgins, come as close as any team to possessing a
roster of potential game-changers. The NL West mix,
as we saw last time, can be expected to include the Giants, the AL
Central the usual three (or more) - team donnybrook. The
outlook,
all
and
all,
is
for
a
2010
season
devoid
of upstart-caused
drama. Old money will play a major role, as usual.
That won’t stop us from poring over the daily box scores.
Extra-Inning Lob from Left Field: “If you
care about fiscal responsibility, you have to favor raising taxes.
But whose taxes? The truth is that we've had a large income and
wealth shift in the
“Moving the tax burden toward the financial sector is thus a matter of
both justice and political necessity. The best
thing that could happen to Obama would be for him to have a fight or
two with Wall Street and the big banks on behalf of balancing the
budget. It is precisely the way to shake off both
ends of the (charge he is a) Wall Street Liberal.” – E.J. Dionne, New Republic
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(Posted: 1/12/10)
Who Will Be NY State’s Designated Political Hitter?
Get ready for baseball metaphors as NY state politics approaches a
meaningful moment this May. That’s when the
Democratic team will decide whether to let David Paterson stay
on
as
its
designated
hitter
in
the
contest
for
governor
or
send
its
player
with
better
stats,
Andrew
Cuomo,
to
the
plate
instead.
That’s a big “if.” But
- -
-
All-stars switching teams have provided hot stove highlights so far.
With pitchers and catchers just a month away, it’s time to assess the
possible changes in divisional balance as a result of star-sprinkled
post-season transactions. In two of six
divisions – both in the West - there could be new big guys on the block.
The Mariners, by adding Cliff Lee to a rotation headed by Felix
Hernandez, plus Chone Figgins and (to a lesser extent) Casey Kotchman,
are likely to be competitive with the Angels. The LAAs lost Figgins and
John Lackey while adding only Hideki Matsui. The Rangers, meanwhile
reinforced by Rich Harden and Vladimir Guerrero, can’t be counted out.
The Giants, with reserve strength already on hand(see below), picked up
the versatile Mark DeRosa, just one more complement to a strong
rotation headed by Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Barry Zito. The
Dodgers
and
Boston’s key acquisitions – John Lackey, Marco Scutaro, Adrian Beltre
and Mike Cameron – almost assure that the Sox will be battling the
Yankees and new pinstripers Curtis
Granderson, Javier Vazquez and Nick Johnson, again in 2010.
Jeff Wilpon is the Mets’ chief operating officer. He
is
in
charge
of
how
his
owner-father’s
money
is
spent. As
such,
he is the team’s day-to-day decision-maker. A
measure of how short-sighted his (and Omar Minaya’s) investment in the
Mets’ scouting and player-development operations has been can be found
on the list of players and affiliates in minor league all star teams of
the past three seasons. Those teams are composed of
18 position players and 10 pitchers, primarily from the triple- and
double-A levels, listed by Baseball
- o -
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(Posted: 1/9/10)
Fantasy League 2010 - Politics as Well as Baseball
Most of us are not good at keeping New Year’s resolutions, but we make
them anyway. What we’re good at is suggesting what others
should resolve to do. There’s no shortage of such
nudging in baseball and politics this year, most of them pitches to
front-office decision-makers that key people be cut. Frank
Coonelly
and
Fred
Wilpon,
presidents
of
the
Pirates
and
Mets,
have
been
ducking
away
from
a
barrage
of
fan
frustration
about
the
way
their
teams
are
being
run. And the man who runs Team
“The path that Obama is on, unless he alters it fast, will lead to
prolonged economic stagnation and Republican champagne next November. If
you
think
a
lunatic-fringe
Republican
party
is
any
protection,
look
at
the
blowout victory of
Pat Robertson protégé Bob McConnell in the
“Tim Geithner, who was in charge of relations with Congress for Obama
as the House deliberated the financial reform bill, weighed in mostly
on the wrong side. If Obama is truly to signal a
change of course and mean it, one constructive sign would be
replacements for Summers and Geithner.”
Geithner and Summers are, of course, familiar players on progressives’
wish-they-were-released lineup. We could add the
names of the skipper’s center-right fielder, his Chief-of-Staff Rahm
Emanuel, and his extreme-right-fielder, the State Department’s
Assistant for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon, a Bush
holdover.
Yesterday in the Times, Paul Krugman launched this follow-up laser to
colleague Kuttner’s warning blast: “There’s a
populist rage building…and President Obama’s kid-gloves treatment of
the bankers has put Democrats on the wrong side of this rage.
If Congressional Democrats don’t (get) tough…with the banks in
the months ahead, they will pay a big price in November.”
Pirates fans have given Coonelly’s choice for GM Neal Huntington almost
two-and-a-half years to, if not turn the small-market franchise around,
at least offer them reason for hope. That hasn’t
happened. Over the last two seasons, he has traded
away, among others, Xavier Nady, Damaso Marte,
Mets fans know it is unrealistic to think Fred Wilpon will acknowledge
son Jeff has screwed up the franchise and deserves to be fired.
But many of them know, too, that if they stay away from Citi
Field in numbers this unpromising season, Fred might relent.
It is clear that only with on-the-job trainee Jeff Wilpon sent
away can the Mets develop an efficient operation and return as serious
playoff contenders.
Jason
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Can Baseball Ease Our Tense Political Game With
Two years ago, the Venezuelan ambassador in
A front-page story about baseball and
The story notes that Bailey is lionized by many fans and has won the
admiration of
The sense here is that little positive will happen until Team Obama
signals a change in the game plan it inherited: a plan that included in
2002 abetting an anti-Chavez coup. Team Bush at that moment made a
second mistake: it approvingly acknowledged Hugo’s ouster, then watched
his supporters return him to power.
- -
-
The Daily News’ Mark Feinsand reports that Orlando (El Duque)
Hernandez, who last played in the majors in 2007 for the Mets, is also
pitching in
While our focus has been on the roster-filling of
teams in the east, like the Red Sox and Mets, there’s been a big
personnel story in LA, involving the Dodgers. Orange
County
Register
columnist
Mark
Whicker
ticks
off
the
team’s
many
contractual
challenges: “All the
(Dodgers) have to do is deal with (arbitration-eligibles) Andre Ethier,
Matt Kemp, Jonathan Broxton, Russell Martin, George Sherrill, Hong-Chih
Kuo and
A Bank-Shrinking Game Plan (first espoused on CNN by Arianna
Huffington): “When
I
recently
told
a
few
friends
that
my
wife,
Joy,
and
I
had
decided
to
close
our
little
account
at
Bank
of
America
and
move
our
money
to
a
local
bank
that
has
behaved
more
responsibly,
I
was
amazed
at
the
response.
Religious
leaders…
around
the
country
called
to
say
that
they,
too,
were
ready
to
take
their
money
out
of
the
big
banks
that
have
shown
such
shameful
morality
and
instead
invest
according
to
their
values,
by
putting
money
into
more
local
and
community-based
institutions.
“So we've decided not
just to remove our own money, but to invite other Christians, Jews and
Muslims to do the same. Already we are hearing reports of whole
congregations… from
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(Posted: 1/2/10)
Enough of Seventh-Inning-Stretch Patriotism
Just over 60 years ago, Jackie Robinson had a dilemma many of us face
today: Do we embrace or reject the patriotism forced upon us by both
national policies and the national pastime? Because
he was a baseball star who broke the game’s color barrier, Robinson was
asked to refute before Congress what had been said by Paul Robeson, the
great actor, singer, All American football player and anti-war activist.
Robeson, an African-American like Robinson, had questioned black
loyalty to a racist society. To many that was a
fiercely unpatriotic sentiment.
Robinson agreed to go to bat, but he did so from both sides of the
plate: he said blacks would fight for
If we disregard its militaristic aspect (or try to), there is another
take on the flag-waving game that connects to what Robinson said about
our investment in our nation and the sport. It was
expressed back in the ‘70’s in an essay by author Philip Roth entitled
“My Baseball Years.” Roth recalled being the last
man cut from tryouts for his high school baseball team in
“Playing baseball was not what the Jewish boys of our
lower-middle-class neighborhood were expected to do in later life to
make a living. Had I been cut from the high school
itself…there would have been hell to pay in my house, and much
confusion…As it was, my family took my chagrin in stride. They
probably
would
have
been
shocked
if
I
made
the
team.
“Maybe I would have been too. Surely it would have
put me on a somewhat different footing with this game that I loved with
all my heart, not simply for the fun of playing it, but for the
mythic…dimension that it gave to an American boy’s life – particularly
to one whose grandparents hardly spoke English. For
someone whose roots in America were…, only inches deep and had no
experience, such as a Catholic child might, of an awesome
hierarchy…baseball was a kind of secular church that reached into every
class and region of the nation and bound millions upon millions of us
together in common concerns…Baseball made me understand what patriotism
was about, at its best.”
Whether the baseball brand is patriotism at its best or worst, it is
surely time to say of the intrusive stars-and-stripes stretch: “Enough.”
- -
-
On MLB-TV the other night, Dan Plesac, who pitched for 18 years in the
major with six different clubs, rated five of the most interesting
free-agent hurlers still on the market: Joel Piniero, Ben Sheets, Pedro
Martinez, John Smoltz and Jon Garland. He said if
he were a GM, he would sign only one of the five without reservation:
Piniero. “He learned a lot in St.Louis,” Plesac
said. “He’s strong and a good bet to give you
innings.” Plesac said
We hate it when working-stiff sports writers presume to tell teams how
to spend millions of their dollars. But we can’t
resist suggesting to the Mets a solution to their first-base problem:
Xavier Nady, who played first as well as the outfield when he joined
the Mets before 2006 (in a deal with SD for Mike Cameron). We’d guess
that Nady, who has been overlooked so far, could be snapped up for a
reasonable $5 million or so per season.
On cue, the Mets have signed the big-ticket player selected to lure
their understandably glum fans to Citi Field next season.
January is here with what we know is its major attribute - the last
between-seasons month without baseball.
- o -
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December
2009
Archive
(Posted: 12/22/09)
The compromising done by the Dem team in the Senate
in an effort to get the health reform bill baffled observers and
dismayed progressives. Washington Post columnist
Eugene Robinson takes a Nubbian approach in his comment, quoting Casey
Stengel’s 1962 lament about the Mets: “Can’t anybody here play this
game?” He says Ben Nelson, Joe Lieberman and Mary Landrieu know how to
play on the political field. “The Republican leaders in both the House and the
Senate can play, too. At this point, 11 months
since Obama took office, it's striking how successful Republicans have
been in presenting a united front against virtually everything the
president and the Democratic congressional majorities are trying to do…”
2. Ending denial of coverage because of catastrophic illness.
3. Ending insurers' dumping of some beneficiaries for technical reasons
4. Preventing insurers from varying rates regionally and
demographically
5. Ending lifetime caps that limit what insurers must pay
6. Ending annual caps on what insurers must pay
7. Requiring insurers to pay more for preventive care and immunizations
8. Keeping young adults on parents' insurance plans into their mid-20s.
9. Banning coverage discrimination against employers based on salary
“That
won't
put
them
on
the
Phillies'
level.
I'm
not sure (Jason) Bay would, either. The Phillies
are an exceptional team.”
One of the few brighteners on a
dreary hot-stove baseball week: Chicago Tribune columnist Phil Rogers’
take on the Cubs’ Milton Bradley for Mariners’ Carlos Silva
deal: ”It's a
trade of one of the worst Cubs ever for the best batting practice
pitcher in the game.”
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The Nub is off on a holiday road trip. Back next week. Merry Christmas everybody.
(Posted: 12/19/09)
The ‘Truth’ in
Can
any
fans
be
happier
than
those
in
-
o -
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(`12/15/09)
“(Since he has attracted a) deeper
emotional commitment than many politicians receive…he could retain his
popularity - and, with it, political clout on Capitol Hill - because of
his (and his family's) celebrity coverage and appeal.”
Or the emotional
commitment may be explained in a related way, as columnist Glenn
Greenwald did on Salon over the weekend: “(Much) reaction
to Obama is dominated by (a) view of him as an inspiring, kind,
sophisticated, soothing and mature intellectual. These are
personality types bolstered with sophisticated marketing techniques,
not policies, governing approaches or ideologies.”
The Mets know they must
attract a name player - one with celebrity potential - if they are to
stem the erosion of fan support caused by last year’s revealing
collapse. The Phillies’ in-process deal for Roy
Halladay only underlines what the Mets are up against. How critical is
their situation (if anyone has missed its reality) can be gleaned from
comments made on WEEI,
“You
could be in some markets where people just go, huh, who cares? The
Bay, offered $60
million for four years by the Sox, is now unlikely to wind up in Boston
because of the expense of the pending John Lackey deal. So
the
Mets
seem
to
have
a
genuine
shot
at
signing
him. The
one
caveat: if another team offers Bay close to what the Mets agree to
pay, he might take the lower number to avoid involvement with a
dysfunctional franchise. The suspicion here -
before the Lackey-to-Fenway development - was that the closest thing to
a celebrity playing for the Citi Field home team would be old friend
Carlos Delgado. That still may be a good guess.
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(Posted: 12/12/09)
- -
-
The groans over the Granderson deal are being heard throughout the AL
East, especially in
The Mets are near the top of teams that can ill afford to do
nothing. Desperation to bring fans back to Citi
Field figures to drive them to sign at least one of the three elite
free agents –
Our Less-Than-Nobel Laureate: “Obama
puts
a
pretty,
intellectual,
liberal
face
on
some
ugly
and
decidedly
illiberal
polices.
Just
as
George
Bush's
Christian-based
moralizing
let
conservatives
feel
good
about
America
regardless
of
what
it
does,
Obama's
complex
and
elegiac
rhetoric
lets
many
liberals
do
the
same…(The
neocon
consensus:)
”If even this
Democratic President, beloved by liberals, announces to the world
that we have the unilateral right to wage war and that doing so
creates Peace and crushes Evil, and does so at a Nobel Peace
Prize ceremony of all places, doesn't that end the argument for good?”
-
Glenn Greenwald, Salon
-
o -
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(Posted: 12/8/09)
-
o
-
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(Posted: 12/5/09)
-
- -
It will be a surprise if there isn’t just a two-team contest to add the
Jays’ Roy Halladay this winter: the Yankees and Red
Sox will likely go mano-a-mano
to deal for the
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(Posted: 12/1/09)
If
Skipper
Obama’s
double
clutch
on
-
- -
The just-completed Arizona Fall League, which in ’08 helped catapult
Tommy Hanson to
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November 2009
Archive
(Posted: 11/21/09)
- -
-
For Congressional Dems the issue is whether they’ll retain an edge,
however reduced, or lose their majority. For the
Mets, it is whether they can maintain enough marginal competitiveness
to keep fans coming to Citi Field. There is no
question now of the team winning its division. One
familiar reason: lack of the type of farm system that (pre-Jeff Wilpon)
produced Jose Reyes and David Wright. Fernando
Martinez, until recently the system’s lone standout prospect, has lost
his luster: Marty Noble, of mlb.com, reminds us of
why: “(
How badly do the Red Sox want
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(Posted:
11/17/09)
We know the Yankees will never have to surrender their financial edge; the players union won’t accept any management proposal that would cut into members’ earnings. And would it be fair to blame them for that?
- -
-
Desert stars: The Nationals, Marlins and
-
o
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(Posted: 11/14/09)
Washington Post-man E.J. Dionne noted that the
anti-tax attempt was “part of a laboratory experiment pushed by the
Beltway Right.” The outcome therefore was something
progressives could point to and possibly build on. He
adds,
though,
that
leadership
is
needed,
which
raises
a
familiar
question:
“Will President Obama and his party take the
lesson and go on offense against the simple-minded anti-government
screeds now getting so much play?”
Experienced official
scorers are calling Team Obama’s swinging bunt concerning its Afghan
ambassador a hit; that is, the handout (disguised as a leak) describing
the envoy’s doubts about a troop buildup advances the running story
cleanly and provides protection for the skipper. Fans
will
not
now
be
shocked
when
Barack
pulls
back
from
giving
General
Stanley
McChrystal
the
large
number
of
additional
armed
players
he
requested. Or if the “leak” does produce an outcry,
Team Obama can change its strategy accordingly.
The cheer expressed here
for ratings-beleaguered CNN had scarcely subsided when the cable
network’s Wolf Blitzer made the support a source of embarrassment.
Here is how Blitzer asked Nidal Hasan’s military lawyer –
Ret.Col John Galligan – about his taking the case involving the
BLITZER: “A lot of
folks, when they heard I was interviewing you, they asked me how could
a retired
GALLIGAN: “Wolf, I
will tell you what I have told consistently anyone who asks that same
question, and that is…I fully appreciate the importance of ensuring
that everybody has a fair trial.”
He might have added “And you should, too, Wolf.”
- -
-
Although nothing happened at mlb’s
post-season meeting in
“My
sense
of
the
situation
it
is
that
the
final
standings
in
the
National
League
East
accurately
represent
the
relative
strengths
of
the
2009
teams
and
are
likely
to
serve
the
purpose
for
the
2010
season
--
even
if
the
Mets
acquire
a
quality
starting
pitcher.
Adding
a
power
hitter
who
plays
the
outfield
well…
and
a
quality
starter
would
close
the
gap.
“But
the
catching
situation
is
an
enormous
issue
that
seemingly
has
been
camouflaged
by
the
need
for
pitching
and
power.”
Time to talk about the marginal-interest sports of
baseball fans, specifically today, pro football. Our
recommended
focus
each
year
is
on
frost-belt
football
played
outdoors
in
December
and
particularly
in
the
January
playoffs.
(So
much
fun
to
watch
from
a
warm
living
room.)
We
therefore
hope
the
Eagles
or
Giants
overtake
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(Posted: 11/10/09)
“A.
Everyone knows the Yankees spend much more money than any other team to
win games.
B. Because everyone knows it, people have been
complaining about it for many years.
C. Because people have complained about it for many
years, everybody is sick of hearing about it.
D. Because everyone is sick of hearing about it,
nobody really listens.
E. Because nobody really listens, people don’t talk
about the Yankees spending much more money than any other team to win
games….
“The
Yankees have a pat hand…(Nevertheless) many of us keep (watching)
because we love baseball and there’s enough randomness in the game
itself and enough volatility in the playoffs to distract us from the
lunacy of having the game so ridiculously tilted toward one team.”
A modest proposal for ending the lunacy - split
the Yankees into two teams, the way you split an overvalued stock:
creation of, let’s say, the NY Clippers would help the AL
establish 16-team balance with the NL and again make NYC the three-team
town it was before the Dodgers and Giants abandoned it. (No charge for
the consultation.)
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(Posted: 11/7/09)
Bloomberg
will
be
a
good
mayor,
as
Thompson
might
well
have
been
had
Team
Obama
saw
fit
to
go
to
bat
for
him. Obama has been
letting his fans down on a number of plays – as he and we have been
hearing for some time. Washington Postman E.J.
Dionne takes a warning post-election hack at the skipper and his
coaches. He sees “a spirit far different than the buoyant
confidence Barack Obama inspired a year ago. And
the Obama change-agents, particularly the young, were notably absent
from the voting booths this week. In
“That is
the fact from this week that Democrats would be fools to ignore. It's
not a resurgent right wing that should trouble Obama's party. Indeed,
the
stronger
the
right's
role
in
shaping
the
Republican
message,
the
harder
it
will
be
for
middle-of-the-road
voters
to
use
the
Republicans
to
express
their
discontent.
But for the moment,
the thrill is gone from politics, and that is very dangerous for the
mainstream progressive movement that Obama promised to build.”
- -
-
The on-the-job training of Jeff Wilpon as in-loco-parentis boss of the
Mets began six years ago. Shortly before then, former co-owner Nelson
Doubleday told the Newark Star-Ledger he saw trouble brewing for the
team: “Mr.
Jeff Wilpon has decided that he’s going to learn how to run a baseball
team and take over at the end of the year… Run for the hills,
boys. I think…baseball people will bail… Jeff sits there by
himself like he’s King Tut waiting for his camel.”
“The
Yankees
have
missed
the
postseason
exactly
once
since
1993.
Apparently,
their
front
office has been nothing but wise since then. I'm
sure
Carl Pavano thinks they're brilliant.
“Care
about
the
More, pro and con,
about the political correctness of “imbalance” in the next Nub.
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(11/5/09)
- -
-
Auld Lang Syne: One hates to see the season
end. But the finale had a lot going for it,
especially if you were Yankee fan. SI’s Tom
Verducci put it this way:
It was a heartbreaking bedtime story
for Phillies fans, who got a taste of what Mets fans went through when
Pedro pitched for their team. Tim McCarver said at
the start that Pedro had no fast ball. And just
before Hideki Matsui knocked in his third and fourth runs, Joe Buck
said “Pedro’s not fooling Matsui.”
-
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(Posted: 11/3/09)
-
- -
It’s Not Over Yet, But…In retrospect, Charlie Manuel tipped us
off to his starting-pitcher problems and the disadvantage under which
the Phils were playing. His choice of Pedro
Martinez to pitch the second WS game said clearly he had lost
confidence in Cole Hamels. Having no starter with
“lights-out” potential after Cliff Lee meant the Phils were overmatched
against C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte. The
team
could
hit
a
ton,
but
so
could
the
Yanks. Victory
for the NYYs was - is - therefore predictable. But we’re not
saying it here; at least, not this time.
“Before,
I
used
to
just
try
to
go
inside,
inside,
inside
and
occasionally
I
went
outside. Now I use the whole plate. I use the
outside corner, the inside corner and up and down. When you make those
adjustments, the hitters will tell you if you have to make any
(further) adjustments… But that’s what I’ve done, I’m using the whole
plate.”
Not exactly news, perhaps. But when a great one talks about his craft, he or she is worth quoting.
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October 2009 Archive
(Posted 10/31/09)
-
- -
In the sixth inning Thursday night, Joe Buck was guilty of a surprising
oversight. He said Pedro Martinez would be facing
the heart of the Yankee batting order, emphasizing only the challenges
posed by Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez. “Don’t
forget Hideki,” one viewer (at least) said to the TV screen.
Matsui has been as timely a hitter as anyone in the NYY lineup.
Hideki’s home run may have caught Buck by surprise, but not fans
who follow the team daily.
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(Posted: 10/29/09)
Herbert is asking for the equivalent of a walkoff home run against Mariano Rivera in a seventh World Series game. The down economy and what one NY political scientist has called the “crisis of democracy” have left people, old as well as young, too discouraged to activate themselves.
- -
-
On a night when Cliff Lee and Chase Utley would be the dominating
forces, the Yankees earlier got the World Series off to an inauspicious
start. Their usual super-patriotic excess marred
the pre-game activities (and, later, the seventh inning “God Bless
(Posted 10/27/09)
- -
-
A dream World Series for some, a nightmare match-up for others.
Imagine how anti-Yankee Mets fans feel: the big guy on the NY
block is nearly back on top. A horrendous thought.
On the other hand, the Phillies are so smug in their anti-Mets
superiority. A pox on them, too. One
thing
we
suspect:
If
Bud
Selig
could
choose,
he’d
want
the
Yafile:///C:/Users/dickstar/Downloads/Documents/PerfectPitch%20blog/the_nub.htmlnkees
to
win
to
defend
against
talk
of
a
Phillies
dynasty. Better
to
be
able to boast of (even a dubious) parity and a different champion
each year.
“A telling conversation
last year during the World Series with Fox President Ed Goren.
The conversation was about the good old days when they played
the World Series during the day, when kids could watch, when there was
a sense of connection to baseball's vintage time.
”Goren told the reporter that he was amenable, that he could see the
attraction to that. He also said that it was his
understanding that Commissioner Bud Selig kind of liked that thought.
Of course, Goren told the reporter, day games get much lower
ratings than night games, so Fox would certainly have to reduce the
rights fees it pays to MLB.
”We all know how that day-game-for-the-kids turned out.”
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(Posted: 10/24/09)
Fox is fortunate to have Buck, who pitches down the middle, on its team. That’s especially true at a time when its prime affiliate Fox Cable News has been accused by Team Obama of excessive hitting to right. Fans like Fox’s bias so it has every reason to stay with its swing, just as MSNBC can justify its pulling to left. What’s useful - it says here - about the Obama-ignited rhubarb is its instructional value. Most, but not all, cable-TV watchers, know they’re getting propaganda curves mixed in with straight informational fast balls. For a small percentage of those fans, however, the built-in bias will be news. They will have learned that to get straight-down-the-middle reporting they must look elsewhere.
Salon’s Glenn Greenwald has a more up-to-date description of what
Fox is doing that distinguishes it from conventional news teams: “Fox
has
taken
on
a
political
role
that
is
very
rare…
for
a
large
American
news
organization.
Its
news
coverage
is
not
merely
biased
or
opinionated;
there'd
be
nothing
unusual
about
that.
Instead,
it
is
a
major
participant
--
the
leading
participant
--
in
organizing,
promoting
and
fueling
protests,
including
street
protests,
against
the government…
Fox
has
every
right
to
do
that,
but
the
pretense
that
it
is
a
news
organization
is
ludicrous.”
- -
-
In retrospect, “ludicrous” is an apt word to describe the once-widely
held opinion that the Mets could have competed successfully against the
Phillies had they not lost their “core” to injuries. Not
only
did
the
Phils
have
a
tough
core
of
their
own,
they
had
a
more
solid
bench
plus
three
attractive
prospects
to
deal
for
Cliff
Lee,
the
clinching
piece
to
their
World
Series-bound
team.
The replay procedure in pro football is too cumbersome and time-consuming, he said. But with a supervisory umpire watching “from upstairs”, the controversial calls could be reversed or confirmed without disrupting the flow of the game. From his lips to Bud Selig’s ears.
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(Posted 10/22/09)
“Well…
first
of
all,
we
have…
limited
sway
other
than
moral
suasion
with
some
of
these
--
a
lot
of
these
institutions.”
STEPHANOPOULOS: “They are
getting an awful lot of money from the Fed.”
AXELROD: “They
ought to think through what they're doing, and they ought to understand
that, a year ago, a lot of these institutions were teetering on the
brink. The
The scorebook shows
three “oughts” in four sentences. It indicates this
final outcome: “moral suasion” making noise but producing “ought.”
Congresswoman Marcy
Kaptur, Democrat of Ohio, sees one thing that Skipper Obama can do – a
move that would dispel some of the disillusionment with him and his
team: get rid of Treasury Department albatrosses Tim Geithner and Larry
Summers. Here is how she put it in response to a
direct question from Bill Moyers on his “Journal”:
BILL MOYERS: “Should
Geithner be fired? And Summers be fired?”
MARCY KAPTUR: “I don't
think that any individuals who had their hands on creating this mess
should be in charge of cleaning it up. I honestly
don't think they're capable of it.”
The special inspector
general of the bank bailouts program yesterday reinforced criticism of
how it was handled. The IG said the favored
treatment to Goldman Sachs and eight others and the failure to make
banks accountable for how they used bailout money has fed
anti-government sentiment in the
Since the record book
indicates Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig doesn’t even try to exert
moral suasion on team owners, Pirates owner Robert Nutting must act on
his own, undertaking a spending initiative if the Bucs are to respond
to the fans’ clamor. He has the added incentive,
presumably, of wishing to end his team’s record-long series of 17
straight losing seasons.
-
- -
After Jayson Werth hit a three-run homer off Vincente Padilla in the
first inning last night, the Phillies - in Ron Darling’s phrase -
“never looked back” on their way to the NL pennant-clinching victory.
The Phillies had too much offense for the Dodgers, no surprise.
The surprise was the effectiveness of their much-maligned
bullpen. The expected Phils-Yankees World Series
matchup should feature offensive fireworks of a highly explosive
order.
More on betrayals:
If ever an umpire’s call betrayed the need for replay overrule,
we know it was Tim McClelland’s on Nick Swisher’s tag-up at third base
in the fifth inning of Yanks-LA game 4. McClelland
ruled that Swisher had left third before Torii Hunter made a catch in
center. But Tim McCarver pointed out during a
replay what viewers could see clearly: McClelland was watching Hunter,
not Swisher, when the play occurred. Obvious
lesson: umpires can’t be expected to see two things at once.
And another on betrayals
- this of us ticket-buyers - from the Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy:
“I’ll
never
understand
why
it’s
OK
for
(teams)
to
go
into
business
with
companies
that
sell
tickets
at
elevated
prices.
I
realize this is tapping into the ‘secondary market,’ but didn’t we used
to call that ‘scalping’?”
How optimistic are
Angels fans that they can bounce back to win the ALCS? LA
Timesman
Bill
Dwyre
gives
us
a
good
(already
partially
outdated)
idea:
“The World Series will
open in the American
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(Posted: 10/20/09)
-
- -
When Alex Rodriguez ignored a stop sign at third base in ALCS game one
and barreled home into Angels catcher Jeff Mathis, Fox’s Tim McCarver
made this interesting observation: “In a play like that the
runner tags himself out. The umpire can’t tell if
the catcher actually touches him with the ball. But
if the catcher still has the ball after impact, the umpire will call
the runner out.” In game two, McCarver
remained puzzlingly silent when Derek Jeter was called out at the end
of a key Angels double-play. Joe
Buck
said
Jeter
looked
safe,
and
re-plays
showed
that
clearly
to
be
the
case.
McCarver
said,
in
effect,
“no
comment.” Mathis,
incidentally,
made
three
crucial
blocks
of
wild
pitches
after
he
entered
yesterday’s
game
three, then later hit a leadoff double in the
11th before scoring the winning run. “He’s
quite
a
player,”
said
McCarver.
“The game
doesn’t speed up for him.” – Joe Torre
“(He has an)
extraordinary ability to take a deep breath
and deliver rather than yield to a rapid heartbeat in October.” -
gist
of
baseball
execs’
comments
summarized
by
Shaikin
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(Posted: 10/17/09)
Author Neal Gabler, writing in the
Boston Globe, sees a “greatest-country-in-the-world” and
“last-best-hope-of-mankind” syndrome at work. It’s
a worrisome self-delusion, he says, particularly at play in our
away-from-home record:
“A
country
that
believes
it
is
the
greatest
in
the
world
is
also
less
likely
to
be
constrained
by
that
world.
One
could
argue
that
the
“There
is
something
bizarre
about
(such)
a
country…but
that
describes
- -
-
“Bizarre” is an apt description
of post-season baseball, being played in 40-degree temperatures at
night and important games starting at times that insure the finish will
come long after many fans have gone to bed. Our
first Phillies-LA game-watcher gave up in the bottom of the eighth,
minutes before midnight Thursday. It was an
exciting game, flattened out by the TBS broadcast team. Ron Darling and
Buck Martinez are two solid color men, but each makes the other
redundant. Given the media flak he has taken, the
choice of Chip Caray to do play-by-play is odd, if not bizarre,
Jaramillo’s name, brought up by Michael Kay on ESPN radio, led to a discussion of the Mets’ front-office situation. Kay said to guest/colleague Peter Gammons that Mets GM Omar Minaya likes Jaramillo. Gammons’ response: “Omar isn’t the general manager, Jeff Wilpon is…Omar’s the one out there to take the heat.” When Jeff signed Minaya in 2004, he agreed – or so he said – to give Omar total control over baseball decisions; no meddling. Amid the dismal Mets’ outlook, the most discouraging development is the return of “decider” Jeff Wilpon.
.
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file:///C:/Users/dickstar/Downloads/Documents/PerfectPitch%20blog/the_nub.html
(Posted: 10/15/09)
Coincidentally,
there’s
a
connection
that
can
be
made
between
the
soft
education
system
this
lack
of
awareness
suggests
and
the
2009
Mets:
“A
stunning
lack
of
fundamentals”
says
MLB.com’s
Marty
Noble
about
the
team. He
adds:
“flawed
performance
and
lack
of
concentration
(is)
seemingly…tolerated.”
- -
-
Nubby oddsmakers make the Yankees an even bet to emerge from the final
four with the World Series championship. We
wouldn’t take the numerically attractive bet against the Yanks for five
major reasons: (in alphabetical order) Derek Jeter,
Mariano Rivera, Alex Rodriguez, C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira.
In the NLCS, the edge goes to the Dodgers because of
”In 29 games in nine playoff series since 2002, Figgins is batting .182
(18 for 99) with a .214 on-base percentage, 11 runs, four stolen bases,
five runs batted in, 32 strikeouts and only three walks….For the Angels
to beat the powerful Yankees in the best-of-seven ALCS and advance to
the World Series, they're going to need Figgins to provide more of a
spark.
’"I know I need to get on base,’ Figgins said after Tuesday's workout
in Angel Stadium. ‘I will get on base’.” Obviously,
a
lot
will
rest
on
whether
he
makes
good
on
the
promise.
At a political meeting he hosted last night at
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(Posted: 10/13/09)
-
- -
Pennant race finales:
Depending on LCS results, we know we could have a Turnpike
Series on the northeast corridor, or a Freeway Series in the LA area.
Or a mix and match. Jorge Posada may be the
key - one way or the other - as the Yanks try to beat down the
energizer Angels.
Ron Gardenhire summarized the Twins’ sweep by the
Yankees with “We had our chances.” Then he paid
this tribute to the Yanks: “That’s a
great baseball team over there. You have to tip
your hat to them…They’ve got the whole deal, and some of the classiest
players in the league out on the field. A lot of
things are said about their payroll and all that
stuff. But the bottom line is they’re great
baseball players and they deserve the money they make.”
Boston Herald columnist Steve Buckley referenced the
Mets (of ’86) indirectly when he wrote this epitaph to the Sox’s
playoff elimination:
“The
Red
Sox
are
going
home
because
they
couldn’t
touch
Angels
starters
John
Lackey
and
Jered
Weaver
in
Games
1
and
2,
respectively.
They
are
going
home
because
Jon
Lester
didn’t
have
great
stuff
in
Game
1
and
Josh
Beckett
petered
out
in
Game
2.
They
are
going
home
because,
with
Halloween
approaching,
Jonathan
Papelbon
has
already
decided
he’s
going
to
the
party
as
Calvin
Schiraldi.”
- o -
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(Posted: 10/10/09)
-
- -
Joe Torre’s Dodgers and his former team are on track to meet in the
series – and won’t that be something? But the
anticipated curtain-raiser between the Yanks and Red Sox is not on
schedule. The Sox have some serious sustained
winning to do if we are to have a climactic drama before the season’s
championship culmination.
“The
Mets'
problems
begin
and
end
with
accountability,
and
that
begins and ends with ownership. The Wilpons have
yet to take real responsibility for anything, from building the wrong
ballpark to overvaluing their tickets to overrating their team's
vaunted ‘core.’ Really, the Mets are rotten to
their core, which extends deeper than the clubhouse. Still, the men
responsible for it all speak no truth and pay no consequences. No one
of any importance pays for Jeff Wilpon's mistakes.
“No
one
but
the…fans.”
TBS playoff broadcasting teams have provided a nice change from their ESPN counterparts. It may be the effect of season-long over-familiarity, but most ESPNers have an annoying self-assurance about their baseball savvy. They’d be better off more sensitive to their viewers, who know almost as much as they. The star of the TBS galaxy is Bob Brenly, doing color in the Cardinals-Dodgers series. Brenly, currently a Cubs broadcaster who managed the World Series champion Diamondbacks in 2001, and was a Giants catcher for most of the 80’s, gives you the goods: “Furcal wants a fast ball; he doesn’t like breaking stuff.” “Catchers have a rule: with a three-and-two count, never signal for a high breaking ball.”
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(Posted: 10/8/09)
Why It Is Easy to Root Against the
Yanks and Bloomberg
-
- -
Win or (probably) lose, the
- o -
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(Posted: 10/6/09)
|
Senator |
|
|
2008 Insurance Sector |
Career Insurance Sector |
|
MAX BAUCUS
(D-MT) |
|
|
$285,850.00 |
$1,170,313.00 |
|
JOHN D.
ROCKEFELLER IV (D-WV) |
|
|
$107,874.00 |
$394,074.00 |
|
KENT CONRAD
(D-ND) |
|
|
$56,650.00 |
$821,187.00 |
|
JEFF BINGAMAN
(D-NM) |
|
|
$1,500.00 |
$160,875.00 |
|
JOHN F. KERRY
(D-MA) |
|
|
$90,250.00 |
$1,397,367.00 |
|
BLANCHE L.
LINCOLN (D-AR) |
|
|
$49,500.00 |
$440,033.00 |
|
RON WYDEN
(D-OR) |
|
|
$45,999.00 |
$229,173.00 |
|
CHARLES E.
SCHUMER (D-NY) |
|
|
$3,000.00 |
$946,400.00 |
|
DEBBIE
STABENOW (D-MI) |
|
|
$40,800.00 |
$246,750.00 |
|
MARIA CANTWELL
(D-WA) |
|
|
$12,300.00 |
$80,850.00 |
|
BILL NELSON
(D-FL) |
|
|
$22,500.00 |
$520,016.00 |
|
ROBERT
MENENDEZ (D-NJ) |
|
|
$67,450.00 |
$458,679.00 |
|
THOMAS CARPER
(D-DE) |
|
|
$28,700.00 |
$447,984.00 |
|
Senator |
|
|
2008 Insurance Sector |
Career Insurance Sector |
|
CHUCK GRASSLEY
(IA) |
|
|
$72,200.00 |
$858,224.00 |
|
ORRIN G. HATCH
(UT) |
|
|
$24,880.00 |
$659,307.00 |
|
|
|
|
$5,000.00 |
$408,490.00 |
|
JON KYL (AZ) |
|
|
$2,000.00 |
$533,044.00 |
|
JIM BUNNING
(KY) |
|
|
$45,100.00 |
$769,016.00 |
|
MIKE CRAPO (ID) |
|
|
$63,750.00 |
$360,932.00 |
|
PAT ROBERTS
(KS) |
|
|
$157,900.00 |
$296,342.00 |
|
JOHN ENSIGN
(NV) |
|
|
$19,150.00 |
$580,690.00 |
|
MIKE ENZI (WY) |
|
|
$84,250.00 |
$240,953.00 |
|
JOHN CORNYN
(TX) |
|
|
$289,069.00 |
$568,253.00 |
Progressive columnist Murray Kempton said it all, shortly before he died a dozen years ago: “When I was a young reporter elected officials responded to their constituents. Now I am an old reporter and elected officials respond to their contributors.”
Why is the way the Senate Finance team swings so
important to the future of health care reform game? Because
Skipper
Obama
made
cost
the
key
to
what
he
would
consider
an
acceptable
bill. The Nation’s Alexander Coburn recalled the
scene last month when Barack went to bat before a Congressional
audience on behalf of fiscal austerity: “The
president
reached
the
apex
of
lunatic
effrontery
when
he
caused
the
assembled
legislators
to
leap
to
their
feet
in
stormy
applause
by
pledging
that
‘I
will
not
sign
a
plan
that
adds
one
dime
to
our
deficits.’ This is the same president, these
are the same legislators, who are committing billions in red ink for
the war in
-
-
-
The Mets haven’t disclosed the depth of the hole in their ’09
attendance numbers. But those figures – whatever
they turn out to be – have them bracing for a lean 2010: witness
announcement of reduced seat prices of as much as 20 percent in some
categories.
Newsday’s Ken Davidoff is among the
first to say the inevitable – that Jerry Manuel should have managed his
miserable team better and wouldn’t be missed were the Mets to
fire him before next season: “Although
no
one
would
be
so
foolish
as
to
blame
Manuel
for
the
team's
stunning
rash
of
injuries
and
appalling
lack
of
roster
depth,
that
doesn't
mean
he
gets
a
free
pass,
either…The
Mets…lost
41
of
their
last
59
games,
a
woeful
.305
percentage.
That
can't
be
attributed
solely
to
a
talent
disadvantage.
That screams, ‘White flag’…
-
o
-
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(Posted: 10/1/09)
Pujols is signed through the 2011
season so DeWitt can concentrate on locking up Holliday. Obama
can’t
wait
if
he
wants
to
assure
passage
of
a
meaningful
health
care
reform
bill. He has to rally his would-be
Congressional allies, as LBJ famously did – “Lyndon told me to,”
explained a senator who switched from opposing to voting for Medicare.”
-
- -
How potent is the Pujols/Holliday punch in the Cardinals’ lineup? After
last night, they’d combined for 60 home runs (Pujols 47 in 156 games,
Holliday 13 in 56 games) and 167 RBI’s (a remarkable 51 for Holliday).
Pujols’ BA was .330, Holliday’s .350.
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September 2009 Archive
(Posted
9/29/09)
Cracks in the Mets'
big-ticket-player facade exposed widespread organizational
rot. Hopes of a new positive start were dashed when oft-disengaged
owner Fred Wilpon said he intends to keep control of the club and leave
son Jeff in charge. Jeff Wilpon is overseeing removal
but not (so far) replacement of people connected with the team's
farm-system failure. Un-replaced is the departed
staffers’ boss, GM Omar Minaya. The Mets will enter the
off-season with holes everywhere.
Skipper Obama
has most of his squad in place, but the rules of the managerial
game have changed owing to power plays that occurred before and
post-9/11. Historian Gary Wills traces in the NY Review
of Books the changes and their effect on the skipper and his team:
“Some were
dismayed to see how quickly the Obama people grabbed at the powers, the
secrecy, the unaccountability that had led Bush into such
opprobrium…(But) it should come as no surprise that turning around the
huge secret empire built by the
“On January 25, 2002,
White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales signed a memo written by David
Addington that called the
-
- -
Looking at the schedule, it’s hard not to foresee the Braves (now only
two games behind) overtaking the
-
o
-
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(Posted 9/26/09)
Nitpicking Look at the Baseball
and Political Playoffs
- -
-
Despite the late-August addition of Scott Kazmir, the Angels have erred
in not doing more to solidify their pitching. The
LAA staff ranks 22d out of 30 in pitching stats; through Thursday the
team had given up as many ERs and more hits than the miserable Mets.
The Dodgers, Cardinals and Phillies, in that order, have the
best pitching records going into the NL playoffs; the Red Sox, Tigers
and Yankees are lined up, stat-wise, in the AL.
The deal that brought Adam LaRoche from
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(Posted: 9/24/09)
Polls say the American public is passive at best about pursuing the
war in
The equally lefty Michael Tomasky, of the UK Guardian, stresses
fundamentals in what amounts to an answer from the other side of the
field: “In the United
States’ history as a world power, it has been attacked on its mainland
soil exactly once. Neither mighty
“How
do
you
justify
running
the
risk
of
letting
the
only
people
who
have
ever
successfully
attacked
the
American
mainland
regain
power?
That
they
could
attack
again
is
not
merely
theoretical.
It
happened. So it could happen again.”
The president clearly agrees with the Tomasky view.
He has termed
-
- -
KC’s Zack Greinke, on the difficulty of maintaining a low -
2.08 - ERA: “It’s
kind
of
like
watching
Joe
Mauer
hit,
where
he’ll
get
a
hit
[in
a
game]
and
his
batting
average
will
go
down. You’re like,
‘That’s unbelievable’.” (quoted by the Globe’s Adam Kilgore)
The suddenly inarticulate
Terry Francona on Greinke’s 5-1, two-hitter against the Red Sox Tuesday
night: “
Who said: “Overall,
we lacked depth. When we had to reach down ... (it wasn't there)."
Although it sounds Metsian, the speaker (quoted by SI's Jon Heyman) was
not Omar Minaya, but Brewers GM Doug Melvin.
<!--[if
!supportLineBreakNewLine]-->
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(Posted: 9/22/09)
-
- -
With the Red Sox surging and the Yankees sputtering - and a three-game
series between the two on tap in a few days - the wild-card Sox are
thinking the unthinkable: overtaking the Yanks.
Lob from
the green grass of center field: "Every
time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of
the human race." -
H.G.
Wells
-
o
-
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(Posted: 9/17/09)
Lots of Congressional impatience with
ACORN, the community organizing group caught in a compromising position
by conservative sting teams. The House has voted to
end federal funding - $3.1 million a year – to the group. Salon’s
Glenn
Greenwald
puts
the
events
into
perspective:
“Nobody
is
apologizing
for
(ACORN)
or
suggesting
that
they've
done
nothing
wrong.
Any
group
that
large
will
have
individuals
in
it
who
do
bad
things. The
issue
is
one
of
proportion.
If
someone
ostensibly
opposes
government
waste
and
unfairness
in
tax
policy
yet
spends
most
of
their
time
focusing
on
a
tiny
group that
helps the poor and receives a miniscule amount of government money --
all while ignoring or even revering the enormous, omnipotent industries
which eat up trillions in taxpayer waste and dwarf the impact of ACORN
by many, many magnitudes -- then any rational person would question
what the real motives are. “
- -
-
The Phillies have inched past the Cardinals, setting up for the moment
a St.Louis-LA Dodgers playoff first round while the Phils
get the wild-card opponent, probably the
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(Posted 9/17/09)
- -
-
What’s left of regular-season baseball fun is in the West, where the
- o -
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(Posted 9/15/09)
- -
-
Regular-season newsworthiness? Yes, even
though eight mlb teams - Yanks, Red Sox, Tigers, Angels, Phillies,
Cardinals, Dodgers, Rockies - are virtual playoff locks, there are a
couple of marginally interesting cliffhangers to watch over the final
two weeks. By taking three of four from the Mets
over the weekend while the Cardinals were losing three to the Braves,
the Phillies moved to within a game of St.Louis (as of early last
night). Should the Phils pass the Cards in W-L
pct., they will get to play the (likely) wild-card
-
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(Posted: 9/12/09)
“The letter was in part
an…assault on partisanship in a time of deep crisis, and Obama's point
was that Kennedy, no matter how political an animal he was, knew when
it was time to put differences aside and stop bickering. If
we
don't,
Obama
said,
then
‘we
lose
something
essential
about
ourselves’
and
about
’the
character
of
our
country’."
- - -
Although the Dodgers’ at-the-wire deals for Jon Garland and Jim Thome
will give them a stronger playoff roster, the new pitcher and
pinch-hitter may not provide enough of a boost to stop destiny’s team
the
-
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August 2009
Archive
(Posted: 8/29/09)
-
- -
A week ago, all Mets fans had left was Billy Wagner. To
know
the
electric,
irrepressible,
outspoken
reliever
was
still
on
the
team
gave
them
reason
to
keep
following
the
NY
Bisons. The
departure
of
Wagner
to
the
Red
Sox
reinforces
the
growing
sense of the
Mets’ financial desperation. The Globe’s Tony
Massarotti uses the Wagner deal to note indirectly the difference in
spending attitudes between the Sox and the Mets: “So
why
did
the
Sox
make
this
move?
Because
even
with
5
miles
per
hour
shaved
from
his
fastball,
Wagner
still
throws
harder
than
the
majority
of
lefthanded
relievers
in
the
major
leagues. Because
he
gives
the
Red
Sox
another
potential
weapon. Because
the Red Sox are a big-market team that can spend $3.5 million on a
player for six weeks of service and be none the worse for wear.”
Fearless end-of-August
playoff projections: AL - Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers,
Angels. (Caveats: the AL Central is always
unpredictable.) NL - Phillies, Cardinals, Dodgers,
- o -
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(Posted: 8/27/09)
For many of us, however, the most compelling argument for each of the decisions was the probable alternative. Instead of Bernanke, the new Fed chair could have been Larry Summers – he, who with Tim Geithner and Hank Paulson, was a key behind-the-scenes player in the bank bailout. The way that game ended has reinforced popular mistrust of government evident in the health care reform rhubarb.
-
o
-
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(Posted: 8/25/09)
The front-page headline in yesterday’s NY Times could have been about
the Mets. But the team in question was Obama’s.
Both roster-light outfits are losing ground, the Mets in the
standings, Team Obama in the polls.
-
- -
Why such a Colorado Rockies high? Because the NL
wild card-leading Rocks believe a legitimate ace has emerged in their
pitching staff. Twenty-five-year-old Ubaldo Jiminez
outdueled SF’s super-ace Tim Linceum Sunday to win his fifth straight
this month He has a1.63 ERA over those
starts, and an arsenal that includes a 99 mph fastball.
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(Post: 8/22/09)
AW: I’ve asked
you three times. What is their value? What are they bringing to the
deal?
JS: Again… I’m
astounded by your question. It sounds like you’re suggesting that
there’s no need to have a country that’s run on free market principles.
AW: Time out.
Let’s focus on one thing at a time. This isn’t a commodity, Joe.
Health care isn’t a commodity.
JS: You’re
saying that health care is different than everything else.
-
- -
Thoughts re the Mets spending several million less than the 29 other
teams on first 10-rounders in the draft: 1) It
suggests the rumors of Fred Wilpon having lost $700 million in the
Madoff scam were right on; 2) That Rudy Terrasas (Rudy who?), not Omar
Minaya had to take the fall before the media, suggests that Omar either
asked to be spared any more Agita, or he is indeed on the way out.
“Take
a
good
look
at
the
first-place
Yankees
this
weekend.
From
Robinson
Cano
to
Phil
Hughes
to
Joba
Chamberlain
to
Melky
Cabrera,
they
have
the
kind
of
home-grown
talent
that
makes
them
far
more
competitive
with
the
Red
Sox
in
that
area
than
most
anyone
ever
acknowledges…
“‘I
just
can’t
get…concerned
with
that,
because
if
something
special
is
going
to
happen,
you
have
to
have
a
little
bit
of
everything,’’
general
manager
Brian
Cashman
said
when
asked
if
the
Yankees
get
enough
credit
for
their
player
development.
‘I just don’t pay
attention to it. I do know that we have a lot of
good young talent. I don’t think we have the best
farm system in baseball, but I do think we have one of the better
ones’.’’
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(Posted: 8/20/09)
Nader could well have meant those words as a challenge…to the old as well as the young: All of us on the public-option team must be willing to line up together in DC, where the nation is sure to see.
“It took another 30
years, but in 2006, Macombs Dam was finally plowed under after Rivera,
then the leader of the
- -
-
Baseball’s most glamorous name this week belongs to someone who has
never played in the majors. He’s
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(Posted: 8/18/09)
"They
came in their thousands, queuing through the night to secure one of the
coveted wristbands offering entry into a strange parallel universe
where medical care is a free and basic right and not an expensive
luxury. Some of these Americans had walked miles
simply to have their blood pressure checked, some had slept in their
cars in the hope of getting an eye-test or a mammogram, others
had
brought
their
children
for
immunizations
that
could
end
up
saving
their
life.
In the week that Britain's National
Health Service was held aloft by Republicans as an 'evil and Orwellian'
example of everything that is wrong with free healthcare, these
extraordinary scenes in Inglewood, California… provided a sobering
reminder of exactly why President Barack Obama is trying to reform the
US system."
That the program was
run by a humane outfit called Remote Area Medical, which often offers
services in underdeveloped countries, is not lost on the Brits.
It only underlines how bad things are health-wise for many
Americans and how badly hurt Team Obama will be if real health reform
is not achieved.
- -
-
We mentioned last week Orel Hersheiser’s suggestion that some players
might see their numbers go into free-fall concurrent with baseball’s
latest crackdown on drug use. The Globe’s Nick
Cafardo spotted two-plus examples almost immediately without
speculating whether having to play drug-free was responsible for the
declines in performance:
“Chris
Young, CF,
Diamondbacks - There are a lot of guys in Young’s boat this year - guys
who were once good (J.J. Hardy)
but
are
having
inexplicably
bad
seasons.
The
first
rookie
in
major
league
history
with
32
homers
and
27
steals
in
2007,
Young
was
optioned
to
Triple
A
“Bill
Hall, INF,
Brewers - Designated for assignment, the versatile Hall has had a
terrible season after hitting 35 homers in 2006, but might be a nice
piece for a contending team. He can play multiple positions, steal a
base, and add some pop. Hall, owed $10.5 million by the Brewers, is
still only 29 years old. While
Among notable playoff-related weekend results:
the Rays ending a five-game losing streak by taking two of three from
the Blue Jays. That bounce-back kept Tampa Bay in
the wild card hunt, three games behind Boston and (going into of last
night’s Minnesota-Texas game) three-and-a-half behind the Rangers.
The Cardinals sweeping
-
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(Posted: 8/15/09)
Omar’s strategy - fielding a star-studded first string with waiver-wire, bargain-basement backups - provided no insurance against key injuries. He should be let go. Our guess is that, because of budgetary considerations, Minaya will be granted a year to reverse the team’s fortunes. And, given the alternative suggested by the News’ Adam Rubin - Assistant GM John Ricco, an administrative type, taking over for Omar and depending on the player-evaluations of “deputies” - Minaya remaining would be preferable.
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(Posted: 8/13/09)
Lob from Left Field…unloaded by former NY Timesman Chris Hedges, who refuses to avert his gaze from the game Team Obama is playing:
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(Posted 8/11/09)
Ichiro, we know, is
Japanese and has been playing for nearly a decade with the
Liu is one of a strong
four-player Democratic field in the contest for comptroller.
For those of us who
believe one's position on anti-democratic power plays to be
decisive, the choice between the two nay-ers and yea-ers is
clear. Liu has an edge over Weprin, it says here, because he,
more than his fellow
- -
-
Going into last night’s games, Ichiro was hitting .363, two points
behind
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(Posted: 8/8/09)
The pennant races still have a long way to go. But,
as of the start of the second week of the next-to-last month of the
season, there look to be three sure-things in the eight-team playoff
picture: the Yankees, Angels and Dodgers. The
temporary absence of
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(Posted 8/6/09)
The remark – more proposition than statement - prompted a quick response. “That’s exactly right,” said a nationally prominent former office-holder. “And I don’t know if he can do anything about it.”
-
- -
Baseball
Callis cites two other puzzlers - he says the Indians should have
resisted dealing Cliff Lee to the Phillies and Victor Martinez to the
Red Sox: “Lee ($9 million) and
Martinez ($7 million) both had very reasonable club options for 2010,
and saving $16 million isn't going to make the Indians major players
for off-season free agents and trades. The American League Central
lacks anything close to a powerhouse, so
And while it
was a buyer's market, the Indians sent Lee to the Phillies and Martinez
to the Red
Sox without getting any of either club's premium young
players…Justin Masterson (however) could be a No. 3 starter after he
transitions back from relieving for the Red Sox.”
Stat city: the majors’ top three pitchers,
according to mlb.com, have a surprise in the number 1 spot.
- o -
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(Posted: 8/4/09)
- -
-
The Pirates may be on their way to a 17th straight losing
season, but, depleted roster and all, they are still trying.
The same cannot be said of the Baltimore Orioles. The
O’s
have
lost
12
of
16
since
the
All-Star
break,
managing
only
a
single
win
in
nine
games
against
the
division-rival
Red
Sox
and
Yanks.
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(Posted: 8/1/09)
The center-right has seized on the costs of proposed substantive changes in our health care system to signal stop. Meanwhile, defense spending rises with little complaint from both sides of the Congressional playing field. Chalmers Johnson, author of “Sorrows of Empire,” has some eye-opening stats on our world-wide military investments:
“According to the 2008 official Pentagon inventory of our
military bases around the world, our empire consists of 865 facilities
in more than 40 countries and overseas
“These
massive
concentrations
of
American
military
power
outside
the
- -
-
The Nub has never liked the non-waiver deadline deals that occur each
season and, in general, benefit the wealthier teams while consigning
the less wealthy to wait another year. Nevertheless,
key
trades
that
have
been
completed
require
acknowledgment.
We rate them this way:
Anything can happen – Mark DeRosa
(Indians and Julio Lugo (Red Sox) to Cardinals; John Grabow (Pirates)
to Cubs (Both teams now look to have an edge on
Brewers in NL Central).
Staying alive – Orlando Cabrera (A’s) to Twins.
(
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July 2009 Archive
(Posted: 7/30/09)
“The growing opinion in Europe is that
States
In
supported by a responsible Communist state in
government in
“Unlike
the Viet Cong, the Taliban are not a disciplined force
acting under some government’s orders, and have neither the intention
nor means to attack anybody outside
by nationalism, today focused against the
desire to propagate their form of Islam.
”In that respect it’s a war of ideas, which the
theory about how to ’win.’ There is no way to make the Taliban
surrender. At most they will temporarily fade away when
NATO forces begin to fade away, and fight again another day. There
is no Taliban government to bomb. And there is no way to ‘make’
- -
-
Nobody asked us, but…Amid their complaints about Dice-K and his
criticisms of their training regimen, the Red Sox can’t resist latching
on to many teams’ preferred (but insubstantial) explanation for certain
disappointing performances this year: participation in the World
Baseball Classic (WBC). We repeat our fervent
hope that the quadrennial classis is here to stay.
-
o
-
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(Posted
7/28/09)
Strasburg could
command a $15 million bonus - a record for a college player - to sign
with the Nats. The reward DeMint seeks is credit for leading
a Conservative effort in a game seen as crucial to Team Obama's
hopes for season-long success. Money, much more than $15 million,
has a position to play in the health care contest, as well.
"Sportswriters
and
radio
guys
delight
in
reminding
fans
that
every
time
a
team
acquires
an
expensive
player
the
cost
of
everything
goes
up.
But
that's
just
not
the
way
economics
works.
It
certainly
seems
as
if
...
prices...go
up
after
they
sign
that
new
guy
or
build
that
new
ballpark
(always
with
a
large
chunk
of
taxpayer
money).
But
that
isn't
because
the
owners
of
sports
team
are
greedy.
They
are
greedy,
but
that's
not
the
point.
"The
point is that prices go up because the owners think that's what you're
willing to pay. If you are willing to pay, the price stays high.
If you aren't -- or at least if enough of you aren't -- then the price
will come back down. It's that simple."
We know that what's simple in the
current health care field is the lack of clout we consumers possess
over prices; drug companies know that we'll be willing to pay
whatever they charge for a simple reason: the prescribed
medication is likely to be essential to our well-being, even our
life. Only in the rare cases when a generic alternative is
available do we have a choice. Congress has decreed
that not even the government can buy cheap drugs from
DeMint has gone to bat for the idea that scoring
political runs against Obama is more important than, in effect, whether
we can more easily keep from feeling sick. He
believes that by stretching out the game, his side, helped by insurance
and drug-industry positioning, will make a twin killing – keeping
excellent health care as it is, for the Stephen Strasburgs, and denying
the president even a modest policy win. Fans have
between now and the end of the season to get into the game, or sit back
and see how it turns out.
- -
-
Nobody seemed to like Mets player-development VP Tony Bernazard except
Jeff Wilpon. GM Omar Minaya can’t like his
departure, however. Now Omar alone is on the spot
for the team’s moribund farm system. Bernazard
joins a rogues gallery of ex-Met execs that includes Al Goldis and Bill
Singer, whom Wilpon hired as special assistants after the Mets lost 95
games in 2003. The pair were supposed to evaluate
young talent, but left in short order, however, with little recruited
talent to show. Bernazard stuck around, but had the
same result.
How should Sox fans feel about their team’s domination of the Yankees, who are beating everybody else in sight? Newsday’s Wallace Matthews says Red Sox Nation has a special reason to be grateful: “Of all the improbable things that have happened in this baseball season…nothing seems quite so unlikely as the Yankees going 0-for-8 against the Red Sox, by a combined score of 55-31…(It turns out that) by losing those games, the Yankees are keeping the Red Sox in the race. Measured against the rest of baseball, there is no question which is the better team.”
A numbers squeeze after dealing for Adam LaRoche forced the Red Sox to release reserve outfielder/first baseman Mark Kotsay. The Mets could have signed him cheaply over the winter as protection against injuries. As it is, there’s little chance Kotsay would accept an offer from the Mets now…not with contenders in both leagues surely on his trail.
The Yankees may not regret letting Bobby Abreu get
away last winter, but the LA Angels are happy they signed him (and at a
bargain rate, at that). The Globe’s Nick Cafardo
and Bill Chuck explain why with these stats: “Abreu has
stolen at least 20 bases for 11 straight years, the longest streak of
any active player. Rickey
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(Posted: 7/25/09)
Money – the mayor’s willingness to spend tens of millions to make his
case, and the Yanks’ big-ticket purchases of key players who are
performing as hoped – have taken the suspense out of the summer for
many of us. Oh, the Red Sox are still a factor, but
there’s little doubt the Yanks will make the playoffs, at least.
- -
-
Two months ago, when the Houston Astros were 18-25, owner Drayton
McLane had to fend off queries about the possible firing of manager
Cecil Cooper. Since then the Astros have gone 31-19
(as of the start of last night’s game) and are contending both for the
NL Central and Wild Card leads. The Astros and
Wild-Card-leading Colorado Rockies are the team comeback stories of the
year so far.
“I call
up my mother while driving, which is exciting for her since she is 94
and remembers when phones were attached to the wall and you talked on
them while standing still. ‘Is that safe?’ she says.
“No, it's
not, but neither is life itself. Animal fats, ultraviolet rays, unknown
persons trying to get you to carry things aboard an aircraft, Argentine
women trying to lure you down to Buenos Aires -- it's a minefield out
there. “
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(Posted: 7/23/09)
abandonment of the social concerns previously expected from business,
and
demanded
from corporations the highest possible profits.
”It advocated minimal taxation and (reduced) political regulation, so
as to produce the highest stockholder earnings possible. It
said
that
a
rationally
perfected
industrial
economy
must
be
based
on
maximized
pursuit
of
self-interest,
and
would
then
automatically
bring
the
greatest
possible
efficiency
and
return.”
“The New Deal, that great spasm of political initiative,
arose out of a national agony: 25 percent of Americans were unemployed,
and with absolutely no safety net to catch them. There is plenty of
agony now, but it is not as deep nor as wide, in part because of the
programs of the New Deal, including unemployment insurance. President
Roosevelt
had
the
advantage
of
an
angry
citizenry
who
wanted
him
to
do
anything
to
rescue
them.
Obama
has
the
disadvantage
of
a
passive
citizenry
that,
frankly,
may
never
hurt
enough
to
demand
what
might
finally
cure
what
ails
them.” - Neal Gabler in
Speaking of
helplessness, the Mets are in a money-enforced bind: they can’t fire
Omar Minaya because he has three years coming on a pricey new contract.
Owner Fred Wilpon can’t fire son Jeff – well, he could, and
probably should. But Jeff does serve a useful
purpose: his persistent bad judgment as VP, operations (like
overextending Omar) distracts attention from the man ultimately
responsible for the current mess, his father.
Terry Francona talked to
the Globe’s Amalie Benjamin about a member of the Yankees he’d
obviously like to have back. The context was the
Red Sox search for a competent lead-off hitter: “The
first
hitter
of
the
game,
you’re
the
first
guy
seeing
somebody…
you
don’t
want
(him)
to…swing
at
the
first
pitch,
make
an
out,
then
everybody’s
like,
‘Hey,
how’s
his
breaking
ball?’
and
then
you
don’t
know.
Johnny Damon was the best.
He’d come back and give you a whole scouting report because he
usually saw about 10 pitches. It does help.”
Stat city:
Caught-stealing leaders among catchers (as of game-time yesterday):
E-Mailbag:
Thanks to
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(Posted 7/21/09)
undercuts Team
This country's mainstream media pays scant
attention to Latin America, where long-standing
"When the
coup occurred on 28 June, the first statement that came out of the
White House was a major blunder. Although the US
and international press gave Obama a pass, the diplomatic community
could hardly help noticing that the White House issued the only
official statement in the world that didn't have a bad word to say
about the coup when it happened.
"This
position shifted as events moved forward, and Obama himself even went
so far as to say: "We believe that the coup was not legal and that
President (Manuel) Zelaya remains the president of
Team Obama has
been hitting from both sides of the plate during the ongoing stall in
talks between Zelaya and the coup-installed government about his
possible return to power. Obama, on the one hand,
has cut back military aid to
-
- -
Daily News columnist Mike Lupica is playing catch-up on the Mets’ story.
Here’s his take on that organizational disgrace: “The Mets
had American Legion players behind their stars when their stars went
down. And…they don't seem to have any future
replacements coming over the hill from the farm system. (Why
that's
so
is)
what
the
owners
need
to
be
asking
Omar
Minaya,
their
general
manager. The injuries to the big guys
are completely out of Minaya's control. Their
replacements, however, are hardly out of his control.
His farm system isn't out of his control. His
scouts
aren't…
“If
…the
last
two
Septembers
d(id)n't
happen
the
way
they
d(id)…everybody
(would
be)
willing
to
cut
Minaya
some
slack. Only
the
Mets…went
down
two
straight
(times)
and
there
is
no grace period
for Minaya anymore.”
Amid the Mets’
self-pitying sobs about their long injury list, the LA Angels provide a
reminder that good teams overcome DL adversity. The
Angels have had to play much of the season without two top starters
Kelvim Escobar and Ervin Santana. They’ve seen their most formidable
slugger Vladimir Guerrero spend separate stretches on the DL, where he
is now with the Angels’ star centerfielder Torii Hunter. Yet
the
LAAs
shed
few
tears
for
themselves;
they
hang
tough
instead,
and
find
a
way
with
capable
subs
to
reach
their
familiar
place
atop
the
AL
West.
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(Posted 9/11/09)
- -
-
We reported last time that, according to Baseball
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The Nub, taking its customary All-Star
break, will return a week from Tuesday.
(Posted: 7/9/09)
Farm director Bernazard,
shifting the blame for the mess to Manuel? Can the
Wilpons be dumb enough to swallow that? Anything
seems possible in the
Added reason to take the wild-card-leading Giants and AL West-contending Rangers seriously the rest of the season: each has two prospects on Baseball America’s top 10 list of minor leaguers considered ready to reinforce their parent teams in a “high impact” way. The mag says the Orioles, Phils, Twins, Reds, Angels and Braves each have a single potential stud on deck.
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(Posted: 7/7/09)
Bloomberg and other veteran political players may
not entertain but they are constantly performing. Their
personalities
become
familiar;
voters
offer
support
because
they
know
them,
not
because
of
a
stance
on
issues. Council
Speaker Christine Quinn (with whom we worked in her pre-leadership
days) exemplifies an elected official benefiting from high recognition
who should have attracted negative attention: we believe she betrayed
the public last year by serving as an enabler for Bloomberg on term
limits.
Daily News columnist Errol Louis sees it as hopeful
that Quinn apparently faces a strong challenge as she seeks a third
term: “Civil
rights attorney Yetta Kurland…is hammering Quinn for ramming through
the law overturning term limits. ’This is not an issue of term limits,
it's an issue of democracy,’
“That's putting it
mildly. In 2007, Quinn said: ‘I am today taking a
firm and final position. I will not support the
repeal or change of term limits through any mechanism, and I will
oppose aggressively any attempt by anyone to make any changes in the
term limits law.’ Quinn changed her tune (just) a
few months later…”
-
- -
During the Toronto-Yankees game on YES yesterday, Michael Kay quoted
Johnny Damon on the wind currents at the new Stadium. Damon
said
fly
balls
to
left,
whether
hit
by
lefty
or
righty
batters,
veer
toward
center
field. That means an internal wind
pushes many flies to right into a record-building number of home runs.
Kay noted that the quirks of hits to left - opposite-field flies
normally curve toward the foul line - give the Yankees a home-field
advantage until visiting teams figure out the Stadium’s foibles.
A poem excerpt for Mets fans:
the world and time will
have their way
and weep we must…
- from “Advice to a Pregnant Daughter-in-Law” by Charles
Darling
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(Posted: 7/2/09)
“The
Unmentioned in the mainstream
media, which has played up Zelaya’s dealings with Hugo Chavez (but not
his corporate elite background), was a letter the Honduran president
sent to Obama early in the year. According to
Nikolas Kozloff of Counterpunch, “(It) accused
the
The
letter
may
be
one
reason
Obama
did
not
see
fit
to
meet
with
Zelaya
in
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June 2009
Archive
Posted: 6/30/09)
Get me Sam Levene.
Get me a young Sam Levene.
Who is Sam Levene?
-
- -
Of the four weekend sweepers - the Yanks, Rays, Angels and
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(Posted: 6/27/09)
Bloomberg.com’s
Al
Hunt
calls
Obama
a
skilled
“explainer
in
chief…Think
(Jack)
Kennedy after the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion ,
or (Ronald) Reagan after the Iran-Contra debacle.
“That’s the league this president plays in.”
But Barack has yet to bring his A-game to the show. He’s nibbling at the corners instead of raring back and playing country hardball. He should reach for 94 mph, as Smoltz did in his first outing. The president’s caution has potential members of his team, and even fans, hanging back. Smoltz, whose old boss Stan Kasten calls “the most determined and competitive human being” he’s ever met, exudes confidence that eliminates defeat as an option: “I feel I can accomplish anything I want to accomplish…After (a few) starts, you’ll see why I feel the way I do.”
Obama might consider slipping down to
- -
-
Postscript to Smoltz’s loss to
The biggest free-agent bust of 2009? SI’s
Tim
Marchman
suggests
the
prize
belongs
to
someone
to
whom
Mets
GM
Omar
Minaya
paid
an
outrageous
amount
of
Fred
Wilpon’s
money: “The king disaster… has
been left-handed pitcher Oliver Perez, who signed for
three years and $36 million, walked more than a man per inning in three
of his first five starts, and then went on the disabled list with a
mysterious knee injury.
“Whether or
not he has been the worst signing in the game, his April implosion
should remind fans and executives not to expect players to be something
other than what they demonstrably are. Counted on
and paid as a No. 2 starter, Perez led the league in walks last year
and entered the season with a career ERA below league average.
When you sign a lousy pitcher, you get ... a lousy pitcher.”
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(Posted: 6/25/09)
invented in
the good cheer and sly jazz the chance
of failure is everybody's right.”
- from Endpoint and Other
Poems
“On this
particular morning…(Stone) was battling…Dr. Morris Fishbein…(then)…the
most famous doctor in America…and editor of The Journal of the
American Medical Association…He was the person that the medical
and pharmaceutical industries put up to oppose…national health
insurance. He…coined the phrase ‘socialized
medicine’…(and) described the proposals for national health insurance
as a step on the road to communism. And so, Stone
said to him, ‘Dr. Fishbein, given that President Truman has already
spoken out in favor of national health insurance, do you think that
that makes him a dangerous communist or just a deluded fellow
traveler?’
“That was the
last time I.F. Stone was ever on Meet the Press, and…he
wasn’t again allowed to be on national television for eighteen years. He
became
a
kind
of
disappeared
person…”
- -
-
On the New England Sports Network (NESN) the other night, Josh Beckett
was asked whether he could tell before a game he was not going to be
sharp as usual. His answer was strikingly candid:
“You can’t tell. But if you go out there
and, say, batters aren’t swinging at your first two pitches – well, it
can make a difference.”
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(Posted: 6/18/09)
-
- -
The Yanks are drawing better than some of us hoped they would at their
new, publicly subsidized (with dollars and parkland) stadium.
But how much better could it have been if, instead of reduced to
an unsightly husk across the way, the old stadium, spruced to the max,
had been saved, as was
It
looks
as
though
Manny
Acta,
a
Mets
front-office
favorite,
will
soon
be
the
ex-manager
in
“Whom will the
"’It's going to be me,’ said Acta…He was poking his finger into his chest, his face animated with the kind of pride you know must be in him…. ‘It's going to be me,’ he repeated, not hostile but defiant. ‘Watch.’ With that, he walked toward the field at Yankee Stadium where his Nats lost (again).”
Stat
city
(mlb
leaders):
Innings
-
“the
most
important
pitching
statistic”(David
Cone)
-
Roy
Halladay,
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(Posted: 6/16/09)
Reich says Skipper
Obama can’t play small ball with its public-option offense: the option
has to be “national in scale and combines its bargaining
power with Medicare, and is allowed to negotiate lower drug prices and
lower doctor and hospital fees. And that's
precisely what Pharma and Insurance (and the doctors) detest, for
exactly the same reason.”
The UK Guardian’s Michael Tomasky brings
a realistic perspective to the ballgame: “The
powerful lobbies…(seem) resigned to
the idea that some kind of healthcare bill will pass, so they might as
well play ball and make it something they could live with. But will
they stay resigned or decide they have a little fight in them after
all? I'd put money on the latter…
-
- -
Six of the 14 weekend inter-league match-ups ended in three-game sweeps.
The Colorado Rockies deserve star billing: they won their ninth,
10th and 11th straight against
The second-place Angels moved to within
two-and-a-half games of first in the AL West, the second-place Giants
to within seven and the
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(Posted: 6/13/09)
-
- -
Errors, injuries – all kinds of misfortune – are piling on the Mets,
last night’s
heartbreaking loss to the Yanks the latest example. The
Yanks
are
the
least
of
the Mets’ worries, however…
Tim Redding’s tribute to the Phillies Thursday night - “You can’t keep that team down for long” - was a not-so-subtle acknowledgment that the Mets can’t expect to catch the defending champions this year. The wild card is a (remote) possibility if Jerry Manuel’s hope that his decimated team can stay above .500 until his injured regulars return (dates unknown) is realized.
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(Posted: 6/11/09)
“These Mets
lay down -- for everyone. They play with little gusto, and less
aggressiveness. They rarely hit in the clutch, and make lackluster
opposing pitchers appear to be the second coming of Steve Carlton.
When the Yankees suffer through a conga line of injuries, the
organization never offers up the maladies as an excuse. The
Mets,
on
the
other
hand,
all
but
seek
out
injuries
to
cite
to
the
media.
If only we had Delgado. If
only
we
had
Reyes.
If only ...
“The future has been
written for the 2009
Although the Red Sox have dominated the Yankees so far, attentive
residents of Sox Nation have no illusions about their team leaving the
pinstripers behind. The Boston Herald’s Gerry
Callahan cites a key reason the Yanks will be around at the end:
“We don’t know
yet if the Yankees finally bought themselves a World Series, but we
know this: the Yankees bought themselves first place… primarily with
one move. After years of foolish free agent
signings from Kevin Brown to Carl Pavano to Jason Giambi to Kei Igawa,
(Brian) Cashman and the Yankees got one very right this year.
“Hey, they
were due. In (Mark)Teixeira, they got a 29-year-old
player who hits like A-Rod but acts like Jeter, a
buttoned-down professional... unfazed by the bright lights and big
expectations of
"The whole game of baseball is predicated on the fastball,
keeping it located.”
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(Posted: 6/9/09)
When the media people look ahead to the gubernatorial playoffs, they see Andrew Cuomo, like the Phillies, to be a virtual sure thing.
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(Posted: 6/6/09)
-
“I hate unions,” we overheard a young working woman say not long ago, while watching coverage of a labor dispute on TV. “I wish I had a union.”
Lob from Left Field (on Team Obama’s ties
with
“Identically, if Israel wants to be free of what it and some
of its U.S. supporters call ‘interference’ from the Obama
administration, that’s very easy to achieve: Israel can stop
asking for tens of billions of
dollars of American taxpayer money, huge amounts of military
and
weapons
supplies
for
its
various
wars, and unyielding
American
diplomatic
protection
at the U.N. But as long as Israel remains dependent on the U.S…,
then Obama… has the obligation to demand that Israel cease activities
which harm U.S. interests.” - Glenn Greenwald
in Salon
-
- -
You’re Fred Wilpon. Your Mets are reeling again
from injuries. Last year, it was Moises Alou and
Billy Wagner, this year Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes, J.J. Putz, etc.
You know that injuries are part of the game, that good teams find players on the bench or in their system to help them stay competitive. You could see this past week the Mets were not up to the challenge. Your team has always been short on good back-ups, hoping instead for quick get-backs. You have to wonder about your GM’s strategy; about his emphasis on pricey free-agent signings and deals for older players; and ask yourself, too, why Omar’s and Tony Bernazard’s farm system is so unhelpful? You must have seen in the Houston Chronicle what a fellow owner in your situation has decided:
“(The Astros’ Drayton McLane) spoke of the importance of scouting and player development, of getting younger and of being patient. He seemed to understand th(e)… need to…rebuil(d), and this time he wants to do it the right way. Yes, he sees the same things you see.” - Richard Justice
The Rays may be defending AL champions and only five games out of
first in the East (as of early last night), but in NY and Boston
they’re chopped liver. The media in both cities see
the Sox and Yanks finishing in the top two spots this time.
Here’s a sample from the Boston Herald’s Michael Silverman: “The AL
West-leading Rangers ar(e) at Fenway… and they will be followed by the
Yankees, who figure to be neck-and-neck with the Red Sox in the AL East
for quite some time.”
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(Posted 6/4/09)
The
UK
Independent’s
Robert
Fisk
saw
the
game
from
a
similar
perspective:
“
I
suspect
that
what
the
Arab
world
wants
to
hear
-
not
their
leaders,
of
course,
all
of
whom
would
like
to
have
a
spanking
new
US
air
base
on
their
property
-
is
that
Obama
will
take
all
his
soldiers
out
of
Muslim
lands
and
leave
them
alone…But
for
obvious
reasons,
Obama
can’t
say
that.”
- -
-
Stat city oddity: Two Zacs – Zack Greinke
of KC and Zach Duke of
Edes reminds us that “Posada played just 50 games last season because of a shoulder injury, and the Yankees missed the postseason for the first time in 13 years.” Another reminder from Joe about a member of his old team: “You lose Alex [Rodriguez] like the Yankees did this year, you get so accustomed to the numbers he puts up that you don’t realize until he’s gone how much you miss him.” What’s obvious now: When A-Rod, then Jorge returned to the lineup, the Yankee offense became just plain scary.
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“As Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda disappeared into
the rugged mountains on the Afghan/Pakistan border, the Pentagon
increasingly relied on bounty hunters.
“Tens of
thousands of leaflets promising ’enough money to take care of your
family and your village for the rest of your life’ were dropped by
psychological ops teams.
(A Witness):
‘Where is
Arab? Where is Arab? Where is Arab? Thousand dollar
for one Arab. Thirty thousand, forty
thousand,
sixty thousand.’
“Any Arab
in the region was at risk of being turned in as a terrorist (by local
warlords).”
Colin Powell’s chief
of staff, seen in the documentary, suggests roundups like that one were
part of a Team Bush effort to find somebody who, in the run-up to the
Team Obama has a tough
sell trying to put this dark chapter in our history behind us.
Its effect on the American psyche clearly will not soon go away.
-
- -
"We're getting to the point where we're 50 games into the season.
I think the numbers start meaning something.” - Red Sox manager Terry Francona
ESPN’s Peter Gammons saluted Tigers
owner Mike Ilitch last week for ignoring Bud Selig’s attempt to limit
the amount paid in bonuses to highly regarded drafted amateur players.
Ilitch signed pitcher Rick Porcello out of the
-
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May 2009 Archive
(Posted 5/30/09)
-
- -
ESPN’s Peter Gammons saluted Tigers owner Mike Ilitch this week for
ignoring Bud Selig’s attempt to limit the amount paid in bonuses to
highly regarded drafted players. Ilitch signed
pitcher Rick Porcello out of the
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(Posted 5/28/09)
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(Posted 5/21/09)
“The…
problem is that we (can’t) start…from scratch. We have historically a
tradition of employer-based health care. And
although there are a lot of people who are not satisfied with their
health care, the truth is that the vast majority of people currently
get health care from their employers and you've got this system that's
already in place. We don't want a huge disruption as we go into health
care reform where suddenly we're trying to completely reinvent
one-sixth of the economy.
“So what
I've said is, let's set up a system where if you already have health
care through your employer and you're happy with it, you don't have to
change doctors, you don't have to change plans -- nothing changes. If
you
don't
have
health
care
or
you're
highly
unsatisfied
with
your
health
care,
then
let's
give
you
choices,
let's
give
you
options,
including
a
public
plan
that
you
could
enroll
in
and
sign
up
for.
That's
been
my
proposal.”
The key question: How
soon will that pitch, however slow in delivery, reach the Congress and
be put into play?
-
- -
Injuries have put the Mets in deep trouble; ask Jerry Manual.
The manager doesn’t like to be associated with a “challenging”
situation for which he is not to blame. The
media-savvy Manual is politic enough to avoid pointing fingers at his
superiors. But once in awhile his annoyance with
them surfaces. “It would be nice,” he said the
other day if there was some young talent in the farm system that could
help him compensate for the loss of Carlos Delgado. But
there’s
not. “And whose fault is that?”Manual did
not say. But the implication was clear.
And don’t think Omar Minaya and Tony Bernazard didn’t wince when
they heard what the manager said.
Stat city: Entering last
night’s games, the runaway Dodgers in the NL West led both leagues in
team pitching. The LAD’s were tops in ERA (3.64)
and fewest runs yielded (158 in 42 games).
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(Posted: 5/21/09)
Socialism a Bugaboo
for GOP and Baseball
“I think
that baseball, at its core, is the purest form of capitalism… There is
no favoritism… and that's the way it should be.” - Detroit Tigers coach Andy
Van Slyke
Andy Van Slyke was a
player’s player in the 80’s and 90’s – a gold glove center fielder for
the Cardinals and then the Pirates who earned respect for the way he carried
himself. His conservative views – probably
representative of how most major leaguers feel – are quotable because
this week members of the Republican National Committee are taking a
similar line in attacking the Democrats. A
resolution passed at an RNC meeting near
Van Slyke made clear how
he feels about our Democratic president and socialism when he said if
Obama were baseball commissioner, “he might
be trying to spread 25 points of batting average to somebody else so
that they can have a better arbitration case.” Most Republicans see “spreading the wealth” as
socialistic; it’s what happens in their view when the government
invests tax dollars in “entitlements” - safety-net programs like Social
Security and Medicare.
Polls show that most
Americans like the safety-net approach, whatever it’s called. They
may
grumble
about
paying
taxes
but
more
and
more
of
them
sense
that
progressive
taxation
leads
to
greater
fairness
in
society. What
they
may
not
understand
yet
is
the
connection
between
taxation
and
happiness. A global study has found that the people
in three northern European countries -
”Danes pay
about two-thirds of their income in taxes. Why be so happy about that? It
all
comes
down
to
what
you
get
in
return…” Danes
are
protected, Kostigen says, from every wild pitch life can throw –
affecting health, job loss, family support, old age, etc. He adds
what’s obvious: Danes have no doubt they’re getting – or will get –
what they’ve paid for. The contrast in the
“ Taxes
in the U.S. have taken on a pejorative association because, well, we
are never really quite sure of what we get in return for paying them,
other than the world's biggest military. Healthcare
and other such social services aren't built into our system. That means
we have to worry more about paying for things ourselves. Worrying
doesn't
equate
to
happiness.”
-
- -
A year ago, the reeling Mets were unhappy about the loss of Moises Alou
– if injury to his brittle body hadn’t ended his season, ‘twas said, their
lineup
wouldn’t
have
such
a
gaping
hole
in
it. Now
it’s another heavily counted-upon veteran – Carlos Delgado – down for
what may be the season. Again, there’s a hole with
no one to fill it. Fred Wilpon must be getting
tired of the Omar Minaya/Tony Bernazard act. Omar
invests big bucks in injury-prone vets; when they break down, there’s
no remotely ready replacement in Bernazard’s farm system. So
the
Mets
will
limp
along
offensively
and
hope
that
their
shaky
front-line
pitching
will
somehow
keep
them
competitive.
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At a meeting yesterday sponsored by Manhattan Media, Weiner was asked whether Thompson’s non-traction so far was building pressure on the reticent congressman to provide voters with another - perhaps more viable - alternative to the mayor? He said he was sensitive to the situation, but that his higher priority was to concentrate on issues coming before the House at this ”critical time for the country.” He indicated that he would circulate petitions next month to qualify as a candidate but would probably not decide whether to run in earnest until later in the summer. The consensus of the political observers on hand: Bloomberg himself is the only one who, through a major error, can beat the incumbent mayor in his third-term bid – an increasingly unlikely scenario.
- -
-
Every team in both leagues has problems, but the Red Sox seem to have
more than their share. They’ve been playing without
clean-up man Kevin Youklis, a hitting and fielding loss, and Dice-K
Matsuzaka, their number 2 starter; both are injured, Youk with muscle
strain, Dice K with arm fatigue. Healthy players
are also causing problems for the Sox. A power
slump has benched David Ortiz; then there’s the headache at shortstop,
described by the Globe’s Amalie Benjamin:
Stat city:
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(Posted: 5/16/09)
-
- -
NY’s two celebrity shortstops have endured
a week of sniping. First, SI’s Tim Marchman
suggested that Derek Jeter was fading as his 35th birthday
approaches. Then the Daily News’ John Harper said,
in so many words, that the Mets should recognize Jose Reyes is a
“bonehead” and wasn’t going to change: Therefore
they “may have
to seriously consider…whether Reyes’ penchant for costly mistakes
outweighs his game-changing ability. (In the end,) trading Reyes may be
the best way to remake a ballclub that leads the world in exasperating
its fan base.” Harper quotes a rival GM as saying the Mets
could get an “impact hitter” or even a “front-end starter” for Reyes
and then easily get a “heady” shortstop like Orlando Cabrera to give
the team “what you want” in that position.
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(Posted: 5/14/09)
Merloni elaborated in a separate broadcast interview: "I'm
in
spring
training…(at
a)
meeting.
There's
a
doctor
up
there
and
he's
talking
about
steroids…He…says,
'You
know
what,
if
you
take
steroids
and
sit
on
the
couch
all
winter
long,
you
can
actually
get
stronger
than
someone
who
works
out
clean. If you're going
to take steroids, one cycle won't hurt you; abusing it will’.”
Merloni emphasized that the
doctor was “in no way…encouraging us” to use steroids. Nevertheless,
it
would
be
hard
to
blame
players
who
took
what
the
doctor
said
as
encouragement.
The American Spectator renewed
this week a defense-of-waterboarding tradition that has been prevalent
in the right-wing media since the public learned several years ago that
the practice was sanctioned by Team Bush. The
Spectator described waterboarding in the benign detail long used by
apologists: “The New York Times… labeled
it ‘gruesome,’ ‘shocking,’ and ‘near-drowning.’
In fact, it is none of the three… In waterboarding, the
‘individual is bound securely to an inclined bench.… A cloth is placed
over the forehead and eyes. Water is then applied
to the cloth in a controlled manner… (as) the cloth is lowered until it
covers both the nose and mouth.’ While performing
this technique ‘air flow is slightly restricted for 20 to 40 seconds. .
. (creating) the perception of drowning’."
National Review amplified a typical, unattributed
official view in a 2007 article: “Though clearly
uncomfortable, waterboarding loosens lips without causing permanent
physical injuries… There is nothing ‘repugnant’ about waterboarding…It
is something of which every American should be proud.”
If such propaganda did not make us proud, it did
prompt many of us to take a purposeful pass on the matter. Columnist
Richard
Cohen
referred
to
what
he
called
the
“hard,
hard
question”
in
the
Washington
Post
this
week:
“Is
it more immoral to
torture than it is to fail to prevent the deaths of thousands?”
-
- -
A sore quad is just the latest sign of Derek
Jeter showing his age; he’ll be 35 next month. Sports
Illustrated’s
Tim
Marchman
includes
Jeter
in
his
list
of
aging
stars
who
seem
to
be
fading:
“
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(5/12.09)
“When
you
sit
down
and
talk
about
some
fundamental
reform
of
these
financial
institutions…
so
that
folks
facing
mortgage
foreclosure
have
a
final
chance
to
maybe
save
their
homes…
basically
the
banks
are
going
to
have
the
last
word.
It's counterintuitive. The people
who brought this crisis to us are the ones that are dictating
policy….The banking industry… fought me all the way…Even though the
mortgage foreclosure crisis is getting progressively worse in this
country, and is at the heart, I think, of our economic weakness…the
banks were unwilling to step up and really participate in finding a
solution…There are some leaders in this industry who really don't
accept a corporate responsibility for the good of this nation.”
Durbin didn’t name names, but executives
of JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo have been mentioned
as playing both sides of the field – expressing a willingness to
compromise while letting their lobbying team rally votes in opposition
to the bill. The apparent switch-hitters: Jamie
Diman, chairman and CEO of Morgan Chase; Kenny Lewis, Bank of America’s
president and CEO; and John Stumpf, CEO of Wells
Fargo.
- -
-
Should Mets fans be excited by the overdue sign of life in their team?
Newsday’s Wallace Matthews offers caveats, but gives a main
reason why the answer is yes:
“They still have some holes - there is still an infielder playing
leftfield, and a guy who can't hit lefties playing right, and some
problems in the bullpen, notably Sean Green, who has great potential to
be the new (Aaron)Heilman - but the one hole the Mets seem to have
filled is the one where their killer instinct was supposed to be.”
Stat city: Guess
who
has
most
pitchers
among
the
Strange skedding: The
Red
Sox
will
come
home
from
- o -
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(Posted: 5/9/09)
-
- -
The newest member of baseball’s community of banned-drug users has
shaken the sport in ways that even revelations about Barry Bonds, Roger
Clemens and A-Rod failed to do. Why? Because
Manny
was
lovable
in
his
eccentric
way…and
man,
could
he
hit!
ESPN’s Buster Olney has an insightful take on the game’s latest
stain:
“The
sad
part
is
that…
crime
within
baseball
pays
in
a
big
way,
as
Ramirez
has
demonstrated,
and
A-Rod
and
others
demonstrated
before
him.
Manny
is
a
certified
user
of
a
banned
substance,
but
he's
going
to
giggle
his
way
all
the
way
to
the
bank,
and
he
and
others
can
continue
to
do
so
unless
Major
League
Baseball
takes
what
should
be
viewed
as
the
last
necessary
step
in
its
battle
against
PEDs
and
institute
a
zero-tolerance
policy.
“After
forcing his way out of the eight-year, $160 million deal he signed with
the Red Sox -- and now, of course, all that he has accomplished will be
cast into question, in the same way that the feats of Barry Bonds and
Roger Clemens are in question -- Ramirez agreed to a two-year, $45
million deal with the Dodgers this past offseason.
“It's up to
Manny whether he wants to walk away from the contract after this
season, but let's just hazard an early guess on this point: There is no
way he will walk away, because starting today he is an outfielder who
will turn 37 later this month and now is connected with the use of
performance-enhancing drugs, and no team with any sanity is going to
match the money that Ramirez stands to make in the second year of his
deal. If you thought Ramirez was a pariah after the way he dogged his
way out of
We disagree in part on the last point: Manny will
be welcomed back in LA, possibly as the potential savior he was seen as
last summer. And if he hits at close to his
drugged-up level, someone will propose naming a candy bar after him.
- o -
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(Posted: 5/7/09)
3 - Open-ended military commitment in Iraq (indefinite long-term timetable); 4 - Expanded war in Afghanistan; 5 - Drone attacks taking innocent lives in Pakistan; 6 - Refusal to act to ease limits on labor organizing; 6 - Dismissal of single-payer health care consideration; 7 - Against prosecution of Team Bush war crimes (including torture); 8 - No to dismantling Bush secrecy laws or restoring habeas corpus.
- -
-
How badly will the Yankees miss Jorge Posada, hamstrunged out for two
to three weeks? Said Michael Kay on YES: “When
A-Rod returns, he won’t be adding to the team. He’ll
just
be
replacing
Posada…” Jorge had been on a
tear: 20 rbi’s in 23 games. Six doubles and five
HRs among his 24 hits, and a .312 BA.
- Dustin Pedroia (to
the
Globe’s
Dan
Shaughnessy
Tuesday
night)
- o -
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(Posted: 5/5/09)
A month into the season it is clear the Mets have
neither the pitching nor enough timely-hitting talent to remain in
contention as they are. That NL East competitors
will have problems of their own seems the team’s only hope.
The reality of the Mets’ plight could become evident as early as
the next few weeks. They come home from
In 2009, this spring,, a
different kind of sustained protest movement may be getting under way:
against the banks for predatory treatment of struggling homeowners.
Labor unions organized demonstrations outside Bank of America
offices in 75 cities last week. And Bill Moyers
Journal last week covered an ongoing anti-bank community action in
-
- -
Baseball
- o -
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(Posted: 5/2/09)
Jonathan
Weisman,
Wall
Street
Journal: You
are
currently
the
chief
shareholder
of
a
couple
of
very
large
mortgage
giants...And
I'm
wondering,
what
kind
of
shareholder
are
you
going
to
be?
What
is
the
government's
role
as
the
keeper
of
public
trust
?
Obama: Well,
I
think
our
first
role
should
be
shareholders
that
are
looking
to
get
out.
You
know,
I
don't
want
to…run
banks.
I've
got
two
wars
I've
got
to
run
already.
I've
got
more
than
enough
to
do. So
the sooner we can get out of that business, the better off we're going
to be. We are in unique circumstances. You had the
potential collapse of the financial system, which would have decimated
our economy, and so we had to step in.
As
I've
said
before,
I
don't
agree
with
every
decision
that
was
made
by
the
previous
administration
when
it
came
to
(the
first
bailout),
but
the
need
for
significant
intervention
was
there,
and
it
was
appropriate
that
we
moved
in.
What Obama
did was to finesse the bailout subject, engaging in the equivalent of
fouling off pitches he didn’t want to handle. It
was an implicit defense of Geithner’s insider-influenced strategy,
containing not a word of sympathy for the taxpayers burdened by that
strategy. The question the response raises: how
long will the president be able to duck away from that keenly felt
concern? A separate question: Why has Congress been
so complicit in the giveaways? An answer given by
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin on a
- -
-
A source of concern to the Red Sox is the travail of their ace Josh
Beckett. He is exhibiting the Chien-Ming Wang-type
symptom – loss of location. The Globe’s Adam
Kilgore filed a face-to-face report on what Beckett is going through:
“In
four
starts
since
his
Opening
Day
masterpiece,
Beckett
is
1-2
with
a
9.14
ERA.
His
last
two
starts
have
yielded
15
runs,
20
hits,
and
7
walks
in
9
2/3
innings. Beckett says he feels ’real
good’ physically, and ‘that's part of the frustration… It's a lot of
things. I just got to make adjustments’.” When asked precisely what he had in
mind, Beckett answered in three words: “I don’t
know.”
-
o
-
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April 2009
Archive
(Posted: 4/30/09)
- From The Penguin History of the Second World War
(reissue 1999)
-
- -
From the e-mailbag, re baseball’s racist history (previous Nub): “The
disgrace to MLB is the failure to honor Commisioner Albert ("Happy")
Chandler's role in causing the color line to be broken. The
vote
to
dishonor
the
Dodgers'
contract
with
Jackie
Robinson
was
15-to-1
with
all
owners
--
apart
from
the
Dodgers
-- voting
against.
David Schechter,
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(Posted: 4/28/09)
”International law and American treaty obligations were defied, as were
established American law on the conduct of war and the treatment of
prisoners, constitutional protections, and the surveillance of citizens.
All of this occurred without meeting serious, or at least
successful, Congressional or judicial challenge, with little or no
objection from the national…media….
Out of
the lost weekend at Fenway came a sense that the Yankees will find
themselves and be all right. One reason: Hideki
Matsui is healthy enough to have reclaimed his stroke. Another:
the
oft-mentioned
possibility
that
Alex
Rodriguez
will
be
back
in
the
lineup
sometime
next
week. A-Rod-added punch or
not, the Yanks may well have to settle for the wild card. The
Red
Sox
confirmed
that
they
are
extremely
deep,
thanks
to
an
impressive
farm
system
that
keeps
producing
young
arms
like
Hunter
Jones
and
Michael
Bowden
(not
to
mention
Jon
Lester,
Justin
Masterson,
etc.)
When
Globe
reporter
Adam
Kilgore
suggested
to
Tito
Francona
that
the
farm
system
might
give
him
the
equivalent
of
a
14-man
pitching
staff,
the
manager
said,
“Or 18 or 20.”
-
o
-
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(Posted: 4/25/09)
- - -
It seemed to us early on that, from a pitching standpoint, Omar Minaya
was like the man who jumped out the window, hoping he - and the Mets
-were on the first floor. He took the chance that
his starters after Johan Santana would come around; he took it even
though Mike Pelfrey, Oliver Perez and John Maine were clearly an iffy
trio. Now the Mets are plunging toward the
basement, and, although Jerry Manuel says he’s prepared to “address”
his pitching problem, his implicit message to Minaya (through the
media) is:
“Get me help!” Mark Mulder would surely be worth a shot from Manuel’s standpoint. No Pedro Martinez, thank you. And, please, no more Nelson Figueroa-types.
The Washington Post’s Tom Boswell
offers some D.C. perspective on
-
o
-
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(Posted: 4/23/09)
- -
-
If Edgar Allan Poe were alive today, he could entitle a story about the
2009 Mets “The Tell-Tale Lack of Heart.” Going into
last night’s game in St.Louis, six of seven Mets defeats occurred in
contests in which opponents had overtaken them. When
a
lead
evaporates,
Jerry
Manuel’s
team
seems
to
lose
the
spunk
needed
to
persevere
to
victory. It’s a failing the Metsies
displayed a year ago as well, under Willie Randolph.
- o -
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(Posted: 4/21/09)
And, despite the skipper’s smiles and words, two
change-averse Team Bush holdover advisors (Jeffrey Davidow, Thomas
Shannon) are obstructing the sight of where Obama’s going in
“A growing number of Obama enthusiasts are starting to
entertain the possibility that their man is not, in fact, going to save
the world if we all just hope really hard.
“This is a good thing. If the superfan culture that brought
Obama to power is going to transform itself into an independent
political movement, one fierce enough to produce programs capable of
meeting the current crises, we are all going to have to stop hoping and
start demanding…
“Hope
was
a
fine
slogan
when
rooting
for
a
long-shot
presidential
candidate.
But
as
a
posture
toward
the president of the most powerful nation on earth,
it is dangerously deferential. The task as we move
forward (as Obama likes to say) is not to abandon hope but to find more
appropriate homes for it…”
Klein urges
small-ball activism rather than waiting for the skipper, remote in the
stately white dugout, to push the buttons that make good things happen.
- - -
Sunday at the new Stadium, 9,000 no-shows. YES
camera coverage showing, mainly, on-field action and wide shots of the
43,000 in attendance. Then, in the bottom of the
seventh, during the replay interruption of the Yanks-Indians game,
viewers were shown a friendly front-of-dugout chat between Joe Girardi
and Derek Jeter. In the background: rows and rows
of empty premium seats. True
fans could see plainly on this perfect weekend afternoon how little the
big spenders cared and how the game had moved away from what they
remembered it to be.
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Will Obama Change Stance Toward Team Chavez?
Late last year, a reporter asked White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen who was the toughest man he knew. “Fidel Castro,” he said. “Everybody’s against him, and he still survives, has power. Still has a country behind him. Everywhere he goes they roll out the red carpet. I don’t admire his philosophy. I admire him.”
Guillen, a proud Venezuelan, has never claimed to be a supporter of
his country’s president Hugo Chavez. But Chavez
could easily be his choice as second toughest. After all, Guillen
watched as Chavez led a failed left-wing coup against a rightist
The big question at the Latin American Summit in Trinidad/Tobago is
how
“(The)
left
turn
that
started
with
Chávez's
1998
election
as
“Love
Chávez
or
hate
him,
he
is
recognized
as
a
legitimate
leader
by
all
Latin
American countries
and is a close ally to many. For eight years, a Bush administration
policy of driving a wedge between the rest of the region and the
Venezuelan proved a dismal failure, except when it came to increasing
the outflow of
The wfile:///C:/Users/dickstar/Downloads/Documents/PerfectPitch%20blog/the_nub.htmlelcome
Team
Obama
gave
the
conciliatory
words
of
Raul
Castro
yesterday
might
be
a
sign
the
president
is
in
a
let-bygones-be-bygones
mood
at
the
Latin
American
Summit. But everyone recognizes that
a teaming up of the
- -
-
With nearly two weeks in the books, it’s
time to take one team seriously: the Florida Marlins. Yes,
the
Marlins,
the
team
with
the
lowest
payroll
in
the
majors
-
$37
million
(just
$4
million
more
than
Alex
Rodriguez)
-
have
the
best
record
in
either
league. Florida’s rotation,
featuring Ricky Nolasco, Josh Johnson, Chris Volstad and Anibal
Sanchez, strengthens the sense the Marlins will make the NL East a
four-team race.
-
o
-
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(Posted: 4/16/09)
The embargo remains in place and newly permitted
travel on the island will be restricted to Cuban-Americans.
But it is a start that should be welcomed by the majority of
Americans who feel no animosity toward
-
- -
After winning their opening home game, 15-5, the Rays brought out the
best in the Yankees. Both A.J. Burnett and Andy
Pettitte pitched into the eight inning in 7-2 and 5-4 victories.
The Yanks saw Xavier Nady go down with an injury that may keep
him out for a long while. But hot-hitting Nick
Swisher is on hand to take his place.
An E-mailbag message from NYC statman Scott
Swanay, the Fantasy Baseball Sherpa, that may cheer up Mets fans.
He says when it comes to lack of solid starters, the NYMs have
company: “As down
as Mets' fans might be on their team's rotation, I think they match up
well with the Phillies' rotation. Hamels is more of an injury
risk than Santana, Myers is at least as
inconsistent as Ollie, I'll take
-
o
-
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(Posted: 4/14/09)
-
- -
Daniel Murphy seems safely ensconced as the Mets’ number two hitter,
despite his Agita-causing on-the-job learning as a leftfielder.
His welcome presence in the lineup points up a glaring Mets
absence in recent years – that of other home-grown position-player
prospects. Jose Reyes broke in six years ago this
June, David Wright five years ago this July. The
dry spell since then attests to the oft-noted deficiency in the team’s
player-development operation.
-
o
-
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(Posted: 4/11/09)
- -
-
Amid predictable signs that the non-Santana part of the Mets’ rotation
is shaky comes a first-hand report from SI’s Jon Heyman on starters for
the Braves and Marlins: “Beyond (Derek) Lowe
the Braves aren't bad… Javier Vazquez wasn’t great for the White Sox,
but he's generally been better in the National League, and maybe the
switch will do him good. Throw in Jair Jurrjens and
the Braves have the makings of a very nice rotation…
- o -
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(Posted: 4/9/09)
– J. Mindich,
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><!--[endif]-->
The “few stitches” image paints the black because of Obama’s
bruise-free involvement in policies linked to
torture. In one of his first acts in January, the
new president elected not to outlaw the practice of rendition – picking
up suspected terrorists and sending them to a third country for
questioning. Although he stipulated that “harsh
interrogation techniques” were not to be used, there have been numerous
reports of torture in rendition sites in Eastern Europe and the
- -
-
Jeter may have looked his vintage self, batting leadoff in
Says here
that’s a big “if” because of the team’s soft starter-rotation
underbelly: Mike Pelfrey, and Oliver Perez and John Maine, in
particular. We know what bookends Johan Santana and
Livan Hernandez can and will do: Santana will win at least as many – 16
– as he did last year, and Hernandez will manage at least 12 (and lose
almost as many). But games Perez and
-
o
-
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(Posted: 4/7/09)
“Geithner
is…covering
up.
Just like (former Treasury
Secretary Henry) Paulson did before him. Geithner is publicly saying
that it's going to take…$2 trillion taxpayer dollars to deal with this
(financial collapse) problem. But they're allowing
all the banks to report that they're not only solvent, but fully
capitalized. Both statements can't be true. It
can't
be
that
they
need
$2
trillion,
because
they
have
massive
losses,
and
that
they're
fine.
“These
are
all
people
who
have
failed. Paulson failed, Geithner
failed. (He)… was one of our nation's top
regulators, during the entire subprime scandal,..He took absolutely no
effective action. He may be right (to claim)that he
never regulated, but his job was to regulate. That
was his mission statement…as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of
Black says the bank bailouts have
involved outright lawbreaking; he calls inaction on the part of
government a “scandal.” There’s a reason for the
inaction, says Nicholas Lemann in the New Yorker: nationalizing
instead
of
bailing
out
the
banks
“would
drive
the
stock
market
down
and
increase
the
agita
of
people
with
401(k)
plans”
plus
“soften
(Congressional
Dem)
support
for
(Obama)
legislation.” Therein
lies
a
clue
as
to
why
the
mainstream
media
can’t
seem
to
make
a
coherent
case
for
outrage
over
the
scandal.
Newsday’s Wallace Matthews sums up the
record book on Sheffield this way: “In
his
21
major-league
seasons,
”He has ripped Latin players and players who didn't conform to his
image of racial purity, such as Derek Jeter He
couldn't
get
along
with
Joe
Torre,
a man who could
find common ground with Mahmoud Ahmadineiad. And
just about every place Sheff has landed, he has found occasion to level
a charge of racism at somebody.”
Can Sheff make himself over
for the Mets? The team’s fans - it says here -
should pray for a miracle, which is what it will take. Still,
the
deal
so
far
goes
down
as
a
good
one.
Reliable NYC statman
Scott Swanay, the Fantasy Baseball Sherpa, has passed along his annual
regular-season predictions as games are starting to count
“
The Sherpa knows we
all have our own gut-estimates as to how the season-long games will end.
There will surely be comments from the Nubby cheap seats in due
course.
E-Mailbag re new ball
parks: “Has there
been any talk of an active organized boycott of games at the new
stadiums? I tried to push my son into leading the
charge but he doesn't sense the injustice yet (he may get a better
appreciation as the months go by). I can't wait to see pictures
of a half filled stadium or for the opportunity to buy tickets at below
face value on stubhub.” – Jeremy.M.,
“Your
article, which accurately focused on all the excesses, left out the
most important fact for Yankee lovers, the big palace is still in the
down home
-
o
-
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(Posted 4/4/09)
It may be wet-blanket-y to suggest - even to hope
- that the dank and drizzly “opening night” at NYC’s new stadiums was
an omen of financially dismal days ahead for the Yankees and Mets.
Yet, weeks of puffery notwithstanding, the ballparks have earned
at least as many boos as cheers…on merit. The
record book, we know, shows hundreds of millions in public subsidies
granted both private ventures, 22 acres of parkland sacrificed to make
room for the stadium in the