Monday, July 07, 2008



Joe Posnanski writes about Curt Schilling's chances for the Hall of Fame, or rather rants about comparisons between Schilling and Jack Morris. I did like the results of the poll that asked "in his prime, who do you have to start Game 7?" - 37% said Pedro, 23% said Koufax, and 21% said Bob Gibson. Which I think reflects accurately who were the best pitchers in their prime - rather than any hoo-ha about "big game" pitchers.

Side question: why does Kansas City produce so many good baseball writers?




No surprise that the Rays are legit - from the moment I saw Evan Longoria swing the bat I figured they would be that good. But man, the Sox splitting the series with the Yankees - when they had the Yankees
by the throat - is really galling.


Monday, June 23, 2008



Ack, I don't know what happened to my previous Celtics posts. But what an amazing run. And Game 6 was a clinic in defense. I can't find the games on iTunes (unlike last year's World Series), so it looks like I'll have to find some way to get the DVD sent over to these shores.


Wednesday, May 21, 2008



What a game, and what a story. To think it all started with what in retrospect was a lucky car crash. The no-hitter was one of those 'true' no-hitters - KC looked overmatched, and Lester looked like he could throw any one of his pitches anywhere he wanted, in any count.

Four no-hitters in the 2000s. What a run Varitek has caught. And here's to the youth movement. Congrats to Lester.


Wednesday, May 07, 2008



Meanwhile, I thought this quote from Cynthia Rodriguez, on A-Rod passing out when his first child was born, was funny:
“As tough and big as he seems, he is real wimpy around doctors or any type of medical situation,” Cynthia Rodriguez said. “I don’t know why I thought the birth of our child would be different.”
Tough and big? Um, there's a reason A-Rod gets referred to as "Slappy".




That was the best Wakefield start I've seen for a while. Nice for the team to get the shutout on a day that Paps and Okajima weren't available in all likelihood.


Saturday, May 03, 2008



The Wall Street Journal (of all papers) explores creative usage in baseball this season - I had noted the game in which Girardi elected not to start Ian Kennedy in case of rain, but missed Chris Resop playing both pitcher and LF in the same game, which sounded like a great move, even if it didn't pan out in this instance.

Now that Micah Owings has a 1.044 career OPS - only around the same level as, oh, Babe Ruth and Ted Williams - it will be really interesting to see what happens in interleague if he's scheduled to pitch. Do they choose to DH for another player? And in his regular NL games, does he stay at the bottom of the lineup?




Finally, crooked numbers for the Sox; finally, runs. That Moss homer to straightaway centre was beautiful (I love those homers to dead center). One of my favourite moments in the game, though, was Buchholz's 3 straight Ks to get himself out of that 2-on, no-out jam. That curveball was making some of the Rays hitters look silly.


Friday, May 02, 2008



I'm loving the starting pitching, but not loving the offense. 5 great starts: Masterson, Beckett, Lester, Dice-K, and Wakefield, and yet the only wins in that span belong to a certain J. Papelbon. Um, the older J. Papelbon, that is. I'm wondering what the Fenway park factor looks like this season - surely it'll look depressed by a woeful offense and masterful starting pitching?


Wednesday, April 30, 2008



What a great win today, following a frustrating series of losses. For once a great pitching performance from a Sox starter wasn't wasted. Amazing work from Lester... sorry, Doc Halladay.

Meanwhile, is it just schadenfreude that makes one happy that the NY Daily News seems to be alleging that Clemens is an ephebophile? Sure, I can't say the Daily News is a paragon of great reporting (when I was in New York in 2001, I met a guy who was a stringer for them, and his job was to camp outside Gracie Mansion trying to see what he could find out about Rudy Giuliani). But still. All that, and I got to actually use the word "ephebophile" in a sentence.


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