Sports Writing

Having had time to digest the draft a bit more… I still don’t know anything! :) And that’s the way it is I guess in baseball, unlike say basketball. Found this site which has a bit more coverage.

Seeing as I was waiting at a hospital with nowt to do but write in my Palm, there’s a deluge of postings today… here’s my thoughts on the draft. Who knew Weaver and Drew would drop as far down as 12 and 15? But then if you’re holding out for $5 million or whatever ludicrous amount Boras wanted lots of people won’t take you. $5 million got the Sox 1 year of 2003-vintage Ortiz, and while you could argue that there was no way of knowing he’d be as phenomenal as he was last year, there was a lot less uncertainty than with draft picks. (Sox salaries here - is Cesar Crespo even worth the $309,500?) Still seems unfair that the Angels had a pick as high as #12 though, given their World Series win.

Interleague starts tomorrow. Even though they are in first place, I can’t get excited about the Padres. There’s no shared history, no storylines. Somehow NL teams don’t interest me that much, and even the NL players that intrigue me tend to be former American Leaguers - Clemens, Griffey. I know Pujols is destined for greatness, I think Prior-Wood-Zambrano-Clement-Maddux is one heck of a lineup, I know Dontrelle has an exciting delivery - but the words are “know”, “think”. When I watch the NL it’s all head not heart.

Where does a 240-lb first baseman plant his foot? Anywhere he wants… Seriously, even looking at it now, the Grimsley-Harvey collision makes me wince. The Sox deserved to win, but winning via injury is somewhat sour. Still, not as scary as Johnny Damon-Damian Jackson. Incidentally, Damon’s merciless against his former team, no? (Where did the idea that Jesus - the real person, not Johnny D - was full-bearded come from?)

5-3. Both the scoring for a routine groundout and the score for last night’s game, yeah. D-Lowe now has a .500 W-L percentage (5-5), which is amazing for a pitcher whose ERA is closer to 7 than it is to 6. Maybe some people are just born lucky. Now if he’d only recognise that instead of giving that hangdog look…

YEAH! I love the two-run homer. As do the Sox, apparently, and I’m stoked that three of my favourites (Ortiz, Bellhorn, Youklis) hit the launchpad. Losing streak’s over, Yankees have a chance to start a losing streak of their own, this Sunday morning is beautiful.

Okay, that’s the last time I try putting up pre-game wishes online. Why oh why was Bellhorn going? The Manny fly-out would’ve been a sac fly. And Mirabelli was pinched on strikes.

To whomever placed this humble little site in the listings of fan sites at dKosopedia… many thanks. Especially since I love Daily Kos. Didn’t even know dKosopedia had non-political content.

I thought this quote from ESPN’s recap of the Oakland-Toronto game was quite funny: Eric Byrnes believes all of Oakland’s close games are great training for how to win the tight ones late in the season that matter even more.

And what will it take for the Orioles to win a game against the Y*nkees? Contreras was losing it on the mound, Tanyon Sturtze was pitching, and still the Os rolled over and played dead. TANYON STURTZE! That’s not even a real name! That’s one of those fake spammers’ names, one of those people trying to sell you c1al!s and v1agRa! Man. To quote Homer (Simpson, not the author of the Iliad), “I’ve seen teams suck before, but they were the suckiest bunch of sucks who ever sucked!”. Maybe we could do a straight-up swap, Contreras for Lowe. Like for like. You want baserunners? We got baserunners!

On the one hand, Pedro was quite mortal. ERA at 4+ - ugh. Time to become a superhero, Pedro Parker. On the other hand, it did seem that you could’ve flung anything at Vlad and he would’ve hit it. He was Motown yesterday - nothing but a hit machine. He could have sung like William Hung and it would be a hit. I’m just glad he didn’t sign with the Y*nkees. And on the third hand (hey, I’m just extending the Spiderman analogy), who the hell does David Eckstein think he is? Of course, he’s the only major leaguer who’s my height. Thus was I consigned by my genetics to a non-sporting life. Well, that, and I have no workout ethic. Speaking of short pro athletes, Muggsy Bogues’ sons have formed a group, 3 on 3. I don’t know why that piece of trivia amuses me so much, but it does. And finally, YOOOOOOOOOOKILIS! Thank you Pokey and Yook, for giving me those little moments of joy in last night’s game. Sometimes one needs drops of joy in an ocean of tears. Ah, sports. How they bring out the maudlin.

Bleah, bleah, bleah. Angels beat Arroyo, the Yankees are up in the top of the 9th with Rivera on the mound, and now the Angels are up 2 on Pedro. I’ll chalk that last part up to the usual first-inning issues (what’s Pedro’s ERA after inning uno?), but still, bleah. Only piece of good news is that Contreras stunk up the joint again tonight. 1ER in 2/3IP, and 5 runs overall. Funny that wins take unearned runs into account, but not ERA.

Bleah. Bleah. Bloody thumb, bloody loss. Lowe was okay for the first few innings - RoLo was gold, but I held out hopes that we could chase him out and get to the bullpen. And then the moment we all knew was coming but hoped valiantly wouldn’t happen… To watch Lowe pitch this year is to watch a grown man crumble, to watch $500,000 of his contract go down the tubes with each pitch. You know the implosion is coming; you know that, despite Reese ranging and the swirl of infielders valiantly pursuing the balls in play, it’ll all end in tears. All I want is to see is anger. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Man… even major league players don’t know the infield fly rule. With one out, Mike Sweeney popped up with the bases loaded. Doug Mientkiewicz dropped the ball in short right, but umpires already had called out Sweeney on the infield fly rule.

Tomo Ohka, he of the Pawtucket Perfect Game (pre-Bronson Arroyo), batted 8th today. While it didn’t work, I always wondered about why that strategy hasn’t been employed as an occasional shake-up tool in the NL - you could always put two speedsters or on-base machines at #9 and #1…

I can’t remember a year where I ended up so closely scrutinising the PawSox, but this year it seems half the team will make its way up to Fenway to play. Yay Andy, yay Nasty Martinez. Youkilis seems ready to stay in the majors. And big up to Tito for actually letting McCarty hit on 3-0. Amazing. You’d think all the Sox opponents know the green light’s on by now, but apparently not. Go “Mr Harvard”.

Ick. I saw the ground-rule double that could’ve, should’ve scored Bellhorn and was mortified. Sometimes, you see one moment and you know it’s not meant to be. Ah well. And Lenny “No, I wasn’t the guy in Titanic” DiNardo’s a lefty specialist now? He seemed capable of more.

Bronson, Bronson, Bronson. On the ridiculous-to-tough scale of Bronsoness i.e. Bronson Pinchot vs Charles Bronson, Mr Arroyo verged dangerously close to being Balki Bartokomous today. Oh well, a no. 5 starter can’t win them all… and I guess I’d rather he just melts down every now and then while otherwise being solid otherwise. One bad start following a mediocre start does not a panic make.

Great game today. The box score line of the first four hitters in the lineup says it all: AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG J Damon CF 6 2 3 0 0 0 3 .293

So Nomar says he wants to stay in Boston. Loves that dirty water, he does. I hope he stays. For one, my personal obsessive-compulsive nature (full details upon request) feels a warm tingly sense of recognition when Nomar adjusts his gloves. Plus, it was cool that he held the fifth Nomar Bowl. (I love bowling. Have my own ball and everything.) Actually, the Nomar contract negotiations are starting to resemble his batting approach. Adjust. Adjust. Fiddle. Adjust.