A tied NLCS, the Astros take the lead in the ALCS, the Guardians payroll, two fired hitting coaches, GOP sickos, the JFK assassination, British actors, and a cool human trick
I had forgotten that Clemens was an Astro (though of course not that he is an ass). Though for the record, I don't abhor him because he probably used steroids, but because of other, far more distasteful things.
Meanwhile, let's hear it for Verlander. As much as I am annoyed at Mets fans who think the team wasted its money on Scherzer, when you see Verlander still doing this sort of thing deep into October, it does make sense that we (and Dodgers fans last year) expected the same of Max. But some guys simply get old better than the rest. And maybe Verlander is simply the best pitcher of this generation.
Speaking of the Mets, apparently a lot of Mets fans don't want the team backing a dumptruck of money up to Jacob deGrom's house. Indeed, many have decided he isn't worth it anymore, that he doesn't want to be a Met anyway, and that we should just cut bait. From the best pitcher we've seen in the past 20 years in Mets blue. From the one guy who gave it his all in the playoff series. I get maybe not wanting to overpay (not that it's our money). But there are times I wonder what is wrong with my fellow Mets fans.
I am not much on the JFK assassination culture either. I read one book on the subject - Case Closed by Gerald Posner - and decided "ok, it was Oswald" and left it at that. But the interesting thing is that there are two other works of fiction about the assassination where the writers tried to come at the evidence with fresh eyes and came to the same conclusion about Oswald. First there was Quantum Leap Classic - has anyone tried the new version, by the way? - and Donald Bellisario (who actually served in the Marines with Oswald) did his homework and concluded there was no conspiracy. (I consider that episode a series highlight). And then Stephen King and his researcher also approached things with an attempt at fresh eyes, and 11/22/63 also concludes that it was entirely Oswald (and also that Dallas in 1963 was as toxic a place as you could find). If anyone would be open to exploring a fantastical conspiracy, it would be King, whose books have a few such things. But nope. So we got two good works of fiction but also nice re-examinations of the facts that came to the same conclusion.
i think if you compare say deGrom to Seaver - i know, unfair - Seaver seemed to bleed Met blue until M Donald Grant drained it out of him in '77. deGrom while an amazing pitcher seemed at times to not want to be there. Yeah, despite that, generally pitched amazingly, but as they say, attitude is 50% of things, right? If he doesn't want to be in NY, he can go put on his shit kickers and go lasso a Clemens or two deep in the heart. Did he ever kiss his jersey like Judge did? (maybe deGrom doesn't watch Premier League)
I want to believe in JFK cover ups and conspiracies and in fact, 11/22/63 by Stephen King is one of my favorite things ever (strikes the perfect balance between historical, fiction and the King-world terror along with time travel - many of my fav things rolled into one). When i first saw JFK the Ollie Stone thang I enjoyed it but was more or less confused by how the heck we ended up in N'awlins. If there was nothing "there" wouldn't stuff have been released...
Will the Mets back the dump truck up for a few years of Verlander though... that's the question.
re: British TV - besides a Doctor Who fan (although i haven't really been into the Jodi Whitaker incarnation) I was a huge fan of Life on Mars UK and to a much lesser extend, Ashes to Ashes. And All Creatures on PBS (i guess that counts). There is so much, way too much, great British TV out there to catch up on in addition to the meh American TV. I have yet to spring for BritBox.
One semi-insider comment on New Orleans and "JFK": my wife's family is from there, and she had a very well connected aunt and uncle who were lawyers for a long time. The uncle never had any use for Garrison and the conspiracy stuff only cemented that. Make of that what you will.
I absolutely loved 11/22/63 as well. I've read a ton of King, and it was such a neat bit of difference to his regular stuff because of its historical base that it really caught me off guard (probably why I liked it so much).
what i really loved is the ending (no spoilers) and the horror that unfolded from it. it is typical king - a lot like shawshank - it doesn't play as horror but the results of the story create something horror-ific in a king-like way.
It's a long trip, but King clearly enjoyed doing a much deeper dive into history than he usually does (and was also clearly looking to do less full on horror and fantasy since this was around the time of his Mister Mercedes series). I haven't read a ton of recent King, but this might be his last great book.
I would say it is, and that’s not a knock against his latest work. Fairy Tale isn’t as good as 11/22/63 IMHO, but it’s good enough that I wouldn’t be shocked if he has another really great book in him.
I liked The Institute but it covered very familiar ground for King, and I read it in the past two years and wasn't entirely in the mood for heroic cops.
DeGrom will be 35 next year and last threw 100 innings in 2019. Forget about the money; how much do you want to count on him being available to take the mound even semi regularly?
I would be willing to take the risk, but only if the Mets find a way to shuck some of the back end of the rotation in order to get younger. I really think his drop off at the end of the season was just a function of being off the field for so long, and that he still has a couple of great years left in him. Also, I think he will adapt and start being craftier.
My wild-ass guess is that he tests the market and - unless the Angels do what they always do and give him a 3-year bazillion dollar contract, during which he will start 13 games - no one is willing to bite and he resigns with the Mets on a shorter, high-value deal.
There is this whole "deGrom is from Florida and wants to be closer to home" thing, but the Marlins and Rays don't sign free agents of his caliber, and the Barves just re-signed Morton, which was pretty much the only slot Jake could have slid into easily on an otherwise well stocked team. Not that the Barves can't decide that you never have enough starting pitching, but that seems less likely that it did a year ago.
The only other kind of team I can see signing him is one that is super confident in their 'pen; you could basically tell him we need 5-6 innings every 5 days and let him eat.
5-6 innings every 5 days is nearly the top end range for anyone. That would be around 175 IP or near top 10 in the league.
...
I can see a Carlos Correa like deal with huge dollars for a 3 year deal with opt outs each season. If the Twins could do that in 22, who is to say that the Guardians or Red Sox or about 15 other teams won’t in 23?
You're right - I was thinking 30 starts for about 150IP, allowing for the occasional early exit or skipping a start. I also wonder if he is a candidate for a late-career Smoltzing to the pen.
I don't get the "closer to home" theory. He's from the Daytona area. That's a 6.5 hour drive from Atlanta. He's not going to be hanging around with his high school buddies after a game. And if he wants to visit his mom on an off-day, it will require a flight, as it would if he did it from NY.
I think some of that is just the negative Mets fans finding reasons to be negative beyond "free agency can be surprising." Frankly, if he joins the Barves, it's because they gave him $$$ and he thinks he can win there when he couldn't here. Maybe the "closer to home" thing is just a way to pretend he wouldn't be leaving in a way that would slight the Mets? Who knows?
It's been speculated he prefers the simpler life -- doesn't like big city New York. He doesn't like the scrutiny and bright lights of New York media. He's a private, reserved person.
6.5 hours Cobb County to Daytona? I wish. My youngest kid lives in Orlando. I’m driving down and back tomorrow.
I do remember when ATL signed Tim Hudson. He was from Columbus GA. His agent, who wasn’t from the area, tried getting the Braves to pay for a private jet in between starts. But from the Ted to a private airport then the flight then the ride from the Columbus airport to home would be longer than the ~90 miles drive down I85 and I185. I think they ended up agreeing to a semi regular limo service to and from home.
Atlanta won’t be in the bidding. But with Morton’s age, Soroka’s Achilles, Strider a former Tommy John, and Wright’s pre 22 performance they have plenty of room for a 15-25 start pitcher like deGrom.
Agreed. He just put up a 5-win season at age 37 despite missing some time. Yes, he had a bad post-season start, but so was Verlander's first start. Fans have unrealistic expectations for old pitchers.
Libra is another great work of fiction with a JFK backdrop. It really is fertile soil.
My personal beliefs is that it is extremely eyebrow raising for a guy to defect to the USSR, be allowed back into the US, pal around with known intelligence assets like de Mohrenschildt and then supposedly come up with a plan to assassinate a president who was at odds with the intelligence community completely independently.
So weird that the JFK assassination captured the public's and conspiracist imagination for so long. Probably because it WAS just was it seemed so speculating is fun and not scary. Unlike anything involving Trump.
I think a lot of the factors that have made it such a persistent bugaboo have been washed away by time, so it seems like a quaint fixation rather than a live wire.
However, in the context of the 60s, it makes a lot more sense. There was a wave of high profile political assassinations. The intelligence agencies *were* up to evil stuff - including Bay of Pigs, which JFK refused to support, embarrassing the agency.
It's probably best to let deGrom go. He was a great pitcher but he's injured all the time.
I also think it's funny that the Astros pulled Clemens to throw the first pitch when he spent most of his career with the Yankees and won his WS with them. Like the Guardians asking Keith Hernandez to throw the first pitch.
Shout out to the Nola boys’ dad, who was interviewed during the game yesterday (they didn’t talk to mom) - He was wearing both Phillies and Padres gear, while she went completely neutral. The awkward thing was that they kept cutting back to them any time one of the two Nolas did anything (especially when Austin got an RBI single off of Aaron), and dad stood there stock-still as if he knew he was on camera and didn’t want to show any favoritism, while mom clapped politely regardless.
My favorite part was the revelation that mom wants the series to be over in five games because she doesn’t want the jet lag of coming back to San Diego from Philadelphia without an off day. Moms know what’s up.
In mild defense of that guy, I think "the MLB" was just a typo and it was likely supposed to read "Friendly reminder that MLB should..."
I do that kind of typo all the time, where it's not a matter of hitting an adjacent key, it's a brain fart where you substitute one commonly used word for another.
And we have to account for intentional usage too, right? I say “the MLB” often, specifically as a way to mock the organization. Same thing with the Facebook and the Twitter.
Oh, I think you need to keep the minimum salary; otherwise, you'd end up with long-time AAA guys getting called up and only earning, say, $50,000 per year. It would become a race to the bottom - why have a back-end reliever earning $500,000, when I could call up a guy just happy for the opportunity and pay him 10% of that?
Have the minimum salary, but not locked in and a player can say, no pay me more. Point is to not have Spencer strider and Michael Harris be underpaid (I know bad examples from this year as is Julio Rodriguez)
I’d love to read a deep dive on sibling ball payers. Baby brother Aaron who gets down ballot CYA support as a top pitcher, big brother Austin who barely hangs on as a part time catcher. Aaron with over $40,000,000 in career earnings vs Austin with about $2m. Do they compete over Xmas presents for mom and dad?
Do relationships work better when the players are similar like Bret and Aaron Boone or where there is a star and a scrub like Hank and Tommy Aaron or Greg and Mike Maddux? Or how about multiple good players but one clearly better like Brian and Marcus Giles? And what can we say about all timer Joe, minor star Dom and, well at least he made the show Vince DiMaggio?
Dollars to donuts, Alcantarra wins this year and that at least one of Fried, Gallen, and Rondon finish ahead of Nola. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is behind all five as well as possibly Wheeler or Wright. Combine that with a prior high of a 3rd place a few years back and that is definitionally down ballot support.
We can argue about where he *should* rank in voting but not top ten in wins or ERA and a distant second in rWAR tells me he won’t win regardless of what you or I think.
Agreed. I would put him second behind Alcantarra, but could easily see the arguments for Nola to be first. The dude seems perennially underrated, perhaps because he doesn't light up the radar gun.
I also wonder about pairs like the brothers Kieboom, who came up in the same (Nats) organization … Spencer had a very brief cup of coffee as a backup catcher and is now out of the league, while Carter has been a deeply disappointing so far third base prospect. (He was going to replace Anthony Rendon!)
Then there are the multi generational players from the Griffeys and Bondses to the Berras and Willses. Or my favorite, Casey Candaele and his mom, former AAGPBL Helen Callaghan.
My favorite sports siblings are Steph and Seth Curry. Seth Curry is a really, really good three point shooter, but lives in the shadow of the greatest three pointer shooter of all time and around basketball god. The games of HORSE at family get-togethers must be epic. (Never mind that they have a brother in law who plays for the Suns, and of course their dad, Dell Curry, was a great shooter in his own right.)
Ramon, Pedro and Jesus Martinez. Vlad and Wilton Guerrero, Jose and Ozzie Canseco, Orlando and (sorta) Livan Hernandez, Eddie and Johnny O’Brien. Rick and Dave (?) reuschel, Ken and George Brett, Ken and (?) Forsch. Dizzy and Daffy Dean.
Aaron and Bret Boone, who are third generation players. Hank and Tommy Aaron, who have the most home runs by two brothers. The DiMaggios, and I am pretty sure Dom and Joe were not friendly rivals in the heyday of the first Yanks-Red Sox rivalry.
I took advantage of the free gift subscription that Craig sent out. I did change the auto generated personal message. Which was “I subscribe to Cup of Coffee by Craig Calcaterra and I think you'd really like it.”
I changed the end to “and I think you won’t hate it”
I have to say I enjoy watching Craig the salesman twist in the wind a bit. He’s absolutely confident in everything except his own product. But listen Craig, you’re great and you’re not running a scam, no matter how much it feels like it. It’s a great newsletter and it is absolutely worth the price.
I hope it makes you very wealthy and you can’t sleep at night because you are crushed by guilt from benefitting from the capitalist system.
So on the Clemens thing, are the Astros intentionally embracing the bad guy thing, à la professional wrestling, or is their front office just clueless? Since their front office is known to be very good, at least in baseball matters, maybe they really are doing it on purpose.
And like Craig I kind of have to respect the move at that level.
Clemens is not some universally beloved former Astro player. The FO is really smart when it comes to player development but they're terrible at PR (e.g., Brandon Taubman and their response). No idea what they were thinking with this one.
Is there anywhere Clemens is still liked? The Red Sox fans moved on from him the day he moved to the Bronx, and the Blue Jays fans probably don't remember him by now. So that leaves fans of the team he won three World Series rings with. But I have zero idea how Yankees fans feel about him, aside from "throwing out the first pitch for the Astros is just trolling us."
Yankees have enough "icons" and he was only there for a few years so he kind of gets lost in mix. If you start rattling off players from those late 90s/early 2000s Yankee teams maybe he's the 8th or 9th guy listed. But no, I dont think he's particularly "liked" by any fanbase.
Yankees fans are idiots. They don't have a WS dynasty without Clemens but they pretend he never happened, while they love equally roided yet nowhere near as good Andy Pettitte.
The Rocket is definitely not a fan favorite (I don’t think you can even get his jersey at the team store), however he is an Astros fan, which may play into the decision.
He also *is* a fan favorite of Longhorn fans of which a significant number are also Astros fans.
This is how I know he’s an Astros fan, because I’d see him around town when his sons were playing at UT and he would always be wearing Astros gear.
It is testament to Kevin Costner's range as an actor that he could play a character who uttered the words "I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone" (Crash Davis, who do make speeches) and later play Jim Garrison.
As for the post-season this year, as a Nats fan, I'm a bit torn as to which former Nat to root for. The Phillies have Bryce Harper, who much like local NHLer Tom Wilson is much better appreciated when he's on your team than when he's not (and Kyle Schwarber, whose four months here were incandescent), the Padres have Juan Soto, gone too soon as a sacrifice to start restocking the depleted farm system (and Josh Bell, a good guy whose pet cause is getting kids to read more), and the Astros have Dusty Baker, who I think got a raw deal here in not having his contract renewed.
Because the NL East isn't the SEC, I can't root for the Phillies, no matter how much I'd like to see Harper win a ring.
I wish Juan Soto all the success in the world, but he's young and will have many more chances to win a ring, just like Dan Marino did after Super Bowl XIX.
As for the Astros, I know I'm supposed to hold a permanent grudge against them for their cheating ways, but my Nats beat them in 2019 despite the cheating, so I personally don't feel cheated, and since I'm closer in age to Dusty than I am to any of the players mentioned above, I guess I'm gonna quietly pull for the Astros.
(I expect my subscription to be canceled on general principles before anyone can react to this comment.)
I will always love Dusty for pulling Russ Ortiz in Game 6. And trotting Bonds into LF constantly. He can have a WS as a treat. But I'd really rather see the Padres take it.
I don’t fall there. I like the Yankees winning because if they don’t, why hate them? I think they need to be an evil empire and that means they have to win in the second act.
Bonus, I want teams to spend on players.
None of this is to say I hate the astros. Great logo, good current spending. Awful PR from 2016-2020, bad practices from 2010-2017. They seem like they will be OK with tanking again, so I don’t like them as much as the Yankees.
I think Crane is too smart to tank again. He has a stranglehold on Houston’s pro sports dollars since the other teams stink and I don’t think he’ll want to give that up.
His GM decision after this season will be telling in this regard I suppose.
The story wasn't that the Yankees struck out a bazillion times. The story is that the Astros struck out only twice. I can't remember the last time I saw such a low K number, especially in a playoff game.
I have conditionally pardoned the Astros. Mostly because they're playing the Evil Empire. But also because that game, and a ton of their games this playoff, was tremendously exciting. I like baseball and that was a great baseball game. One can sit around and mope about trash cans or one can move on. I choose the latter.
The pardon is effective for the ALCS, subject to renewal if it's a 'Stros-Phils World Series.
The Astros didn't win because they cheated. They won because they were and are good. It's the team equivalent of Bonds and Clemens. There was a violation of some code. There was no need to violate that code.
See, I’m not sure about that. They totally cheated. They probably knew they were cheating, but they thought everyone else was cheating too so NBD. They were wrong about that and they got (some of) what they deserved in response.
But whatever. It’s 2022 and they’re playing really exciting games vs a team I really don’t like. It’s sports and sports is entertainment. To answer Russell Crowe’s question: yes, I am entertained.
They did think everyone was and they escalated. Which is bad.
But but but, all evidence points to they being worse (overall) with the banging scheme in place. Sure there were games where they got it right and took advantage, but it seems when they were wrong or didn’t have information to pass along, the hitters were worse
Very much so. It actually had an overall negative effect on the Astros, as far as the data shows (though, obviously, it helped them in some games). https://signstealingscandal.com/
Agree in part with your JFK take, though I have some quibbles. I'll share the one of them that's most relevant: That there's never been a proper accounting of the assassination is probably as much of a contributor to our degradation of societal trust as any other single cause. After all, a large majority of people have always believed that the official story is bunk (https://news.gallup.com/poll/165893/majority-believe-jfk-killed-conspiracy.aspx), and the next logical step from there is an understanding that our government (and all the structures that buttress and support it) is in many ways illegitimate. So even if you're not a "JFK truther" like me, there is I think immense value in getting closer to the actual truth.
This is a very silly counterargument. None of the beliefs you mention a) have anywhere near the same popular purchase (here's one that has the faked moon landing at 11%: https://www.statista.com/statistics/959480/belief-that-the-moon-landing-was-faked/), or b) the mounds of actual evidence supporting the theory. All that citing "conspiracies" like these serves to do is to minimize/cast doubt on actual, documented conspiracies.
I thought it was obvious that my point was only that the existence of believers in something has no bearing on whether it is true, responding to a claim that so many people believe something so it is worth considering. I chose examples that are objectively false because many people believe in those anyway. I did not opine what the truth is about 11/22/63. And I think the numbers are higher than you think.
My point was not that it's true because people believe it. The point was that the large discrepancy between the official story and the story that most people believe (and the implications of that disconnect) is corrosive to our collective trust as a society. Getting close to a shared understanding of the truth (whatever that may be) is the way to repair this.
"Every slightest effort at opening up new areas of thought, every attempt to perceive new aspects of truth, or just a little truth, is of inestimable value in preparing the way for the light we cannot see."
I don't think that very many people believe that Israel was behind 9/11. The Saudis? Yeah. The CIA, yeah. There are plenty of people who believe in those theories (with some very uncomfortable evidence suggesting that the Saudis were more involved than anyone would like to think) but, outside of some quacks, there's no real contingent of people who think Israel did 9/11.
There are enough that I have heard several waxing eloquently in our very nice golf community. And yes they are quacks... They are all over the place--did you miss how many were denying the value of vaccines?
I'd say it's the combination of two factors: the idealization of JFK (even when he was alive), combined with just how easy it was (and with so little motive) to kill him. It couldn't have been that simple, so therefore it must have been a conspiracy!
Second point is a good one. We all want to believe that events that change the world substantially are the work of meticulous planning and with the coordination of a Swiss watch, because something that important SHOULDN'T be easy to do. And yet a single person or small group of clowns with the planning ability of a toddler with a box of crayons is capable of impacting history in a major way. It goes against a weird sense of fairness.
The only think I have ever read that seemed remotely pause=blue to me as a reason to doubt the official story and keep the documents classified is that one of the shots that hit Kennedy came from a secret service gun that misfired as they were hoping on back of the car.
It is one of those things that I will not care if I go to my grave not knowing. It bugs me more that I won’t experience high speed rail.
After having visited Dealy Plaza a few years back, it seemed obvious to me that it was nearly impossible for the assassination to happen they way the Warren report stated.
For Oswald to NOT take a shot as JFK was basically stopped right in front of him as the limo made the 300• + turn onto Elm, but instead shoots at him as he was speeding away on a downward slope strains credulity.
I have no credible theories as to what may have actually happened, I just don’t think the official explanation holds water.
Yeah, The Split is a thoroughly enjoyable tv show. I'm not positive that's what the still of Nicola Walker is from. But unless and until I start watching her various police/legal procedurals, she'll remain Hannah Stern for me. UK shows do middle-aged women so much better than we do.
They DO do middle-aged women better, don't they? I also feel like many non-American shows just have a lot more...how to say this without sounding mean...non supermodel looking actors. Like they just look like PEOPLE.
I agree completely and it makes it hard to enjoy a lot of TV shows sometimes. It becomes such a distorted view of what human beings look like when every guy is trim and jacked and every woman is young and skinny.
Low payroll vs high payroll: something else that I think is interesting about the Guardians is that, whether by design or happenstance, they have accomplished what they have accomplished without tanking (maybe a little in 2009-2012, but I don’t remember the story on those teams). They just swap out pieces and parts on the fly every year and keep going. It’s never been quite enough to get them all the way there, but they’re always competitive in their division, at least.
I don’t know enough to put forward a definitive theory on how they have done this, but I guess you have to give the front office some credit (although not too much: among other things, their trade deadline deals in recent years have not been stellar). Somewhere in the organization there must be a great system for developing pitching, especially starting pitching, because over and over again they have traded away or failed to re-sign their best starters, but someone else in the pipeline has always been there to step up.
They got a lot of attention this year for playing hard and being extremely sound on fundamentals, and creating some runs while not giving many away surely helps. I have wondered over the years what would happen if a good team played deadball-style ball , and played it well, while everyone else was playing three-true-outcomes. Among other things, it would probably annoy the heck out of the other teams, and the Guardians seem to have done that this season.
Traditionally, a lot of the credit for sound, heads-up play would go to the manager and coaching staff. Given the results, I would have to think that Terry Francona must be about as good as a manager can be nowadays, even if he shouldn’t have started Civale on Tuesday!
Anyway, they’ve been an enjoyable team to follow the last ten years, and, this being Cleveland, that’s no small thing.
The Indians have taken a similar approach to the Rays in recent years. Both have traded away their best players years before free-agency. They haven't signed players to big deals, aside from Jose Ramirez and Wander Franco -- which were considered kind of a team-friendly deals. They've focused on pitching being the strength of their teams.
I think that pitching really is the key, along with good defense, because, if you’re not going to score a lot of runs yourself, you need to be able to stop the other team from scoring more. I guess the thing I don’t understand is why more teams aren’t able, or don’t try, to do this.
You hit on most of it, but it also really helps to have KC & DET in there with them. Even when the Guards “bottom out”, they are still the third best team in the division.
I think that’s right, although, just eyeballing the W-L the last ten years or so, the Guards have been more steady than anybody else in their division, including the Twins and the White Sox, and, within the last ten years, the Tigers and Royals have both had strong runs that they, so far, have not repeated. I don’t think any of these teams labor under greater disadvantages than the Guards, although the Sox and Tigers may suffer from excessively meddlesome owners. From the standpoint of a Guardians fan, it’s been pretty sweet because, man oh man, it hasn’t always been that way.
In grad school back in the early 90s we did our HR Mgmt. research project on the impact of salary on MLB performance. We were looking for evidence that players that signed big (for the time) contracts performed better, or worse, due to the increased expectations. We found no causative effect at all. We even got to interview Phil Neikro as one of my partners for the project had a connection to him through their parents country club. Phil's take was that baseball players play for the love of the game, and that those few that make real money aren't impacted by it since it's not the reason they play in the first place.
There is a small two lane road basically in the middle of nowhere in the north Atlanta exurbs that is the Phil Niekro memorial highway. I’m not sure if that is better or worse than the six lane stop and go off of Hwy 400 in front of a shopping mall in Alpharetta that is named for John Smoltz.
Niekro’ a career started well before free agency and lasted long after the Seitz decision. If there was a change in human nature from ball player wealth, he would have seen it. But also his career ended when good players had a comfortable retirement with a couple of million in the bank while now that same level player has multi generational wealth. A McMansion on the lake vs an actual mansion in Palm Beach.
Neikro was managing the Richmond Braves when we talked to him - so he was spending his day with 25 guys - 23 of whom were playing for poverty wages and two were probably on MLB contracts trying to get back to the show. Given the conditions in the minors, it's either love of the game, or maybe inability to do anything else, or delusion that you will make it to the top. Probably a mix of both in most cases.
AAA ball is probably the worst place to be. It's so close the show, but so few will ever get more than, ahem, a cup of coffee on top.
I lived in that area when they built Northside Mall, I think that was the name. It was super upscale and ritzy. My Mom is still in the area - in Cumming.
Thank your mom for me. Her Forsyth County property taxes pay my wife’s school teacher salary. We live at the southeast corner of the county.
The Smoltz highway runs by a newer Mall, The Avalon. He has an undistinguished ~5 mile stretch of Highway 120 from 400 towards Milton nowhere close to either the old or new ballparks.
Actually, in GA I think senior citizens can apply for a homestead tax exemption that mostly wipes out their tax due, so she probably isn't doing much for the tax base in Forsyth!
It was super upscale and ritzy. So there was a lotta debate about that mall because a MARTA Train stop was to be built along with the mall. The residents worried about all the "renters" from the city using MARTA to come shop at this wonderful mall and into their neighborhoods. I will let you figure out what word renters was code for.
Yep - even way back in 89-98 when I lived in Alpharetta, Peachtree Corners, and then Woodstock white folks were terrified that people from the city would find their way to the suburbs.
For the last 5 years we've lived in Richmond VA in neighborhoods where whites are the minority. The lack of idiots shooting off fireworks in their yard on the 4th makes living around non-whites a win all by itself.
Please tell me the Phil Niekro Memorial Highway is filled with unpredictable and unprecedented twists and turns, moving cars like knuckleballs through the night.
I think fewer pros are in it entirely for the love of the game, especially in the NFL. And there are occasionally players who get paid and stop producing (ask me about the Knicks' Julius Randle). But if it's not love of the game, it can love of the adulation and a desire to prove you are the best, or to prove naysayers wrong about your oversized contract. (And since almost no one in the NFL has a guaranteed contract, no one there can afford to slack off.)
My wife has watched all 20+ series of Midsomer Murders in the last year. There's something to be said for comfort TV. I would sit and watch occasionally along with her. The referenced article really gives acceptance to my feelings when I watched. Every other scene I stopped and wondered, "Where have I seen them before?" And then retreated to IMDB like everyone else to verify my thoughts. Same thing happens though when I rewatch Star Trek: TNG. So many "It's that person!" actors.
We watch a lot of Bitish stuff around here. Like, a lot. I’ll never forget the time I rewatched Notting Hill and saw Downton Abbey’s Lord Grantham as a young man! This year when we watched Julia on Netflix, we noted that we’d seen the lead on a couple of episodes of Doctor Who and as the lead in Last Tango in Halifax. These actors can’t stop, won’t stop. (Shout out to all of the Taylor Swift fans who are losing their minds waiting for the new album to drop tonight.)
She stars in the best of the BBC detective procedurals -- we highly recommend "Unforgotten" (2 of the 4 seasons are as good as television gets the other 2 are just excellent). Ms. Walker ("Last Tango in Halifax") appears in several BBC productions and we never feel thrown by seeing her in a different role. ["Hey, that can't be Bourne, it's Will Hunting!"]
The bride offers that we see more recurring actors in the BBC shows we frequent b/c the British don't age out women actors the way the U.S. studios do; they craft new series for them.
Our evening routine (me with a whiskey or bourbon, including last night as the Yankees were striking out) has us IFO the huge set with the dogs and BBC procedurals.
We've covered about 50 of them (some French or Nordic) and just finished the excellent "Shetland."
I've mentioned "Vera" (Brenda Blethyn) to you guys b/c it's a "Columbo" homage, and there are really too many other great ones to list (but I could).
Overall these detective tales are less U.S. lowest common denominator (few car chases and shootouts) and more Sherlock-like thoughtful. If you are looking for a one-off starter, try "Collateral" written by David Hare, a quick 4-episode story that will let you know if this is your cup of tea. Starring Carey Mulligan, again, a female lead.
One BritCom series that might always be relevant is "Yes, Minister" (and it's sequel, "Yes, Prime Minister". Paul Eddington plays Jim Hacker, a minor politician who, thanks to his steadfast party loyalty, gets tapped to head the Ministry of Administrative Affairs - and clashes head-on with the immovable object that is the Civil Service. The writers built the episodes around actual real-life things that they'd been tipped off to (in strictest confidence) from actual civil servants and government officials. It's how the government actually works, and what *not* to do.
I remember that one fondly, though when Hacker "fell up" to 10 Downing, it just couldn't be as funny once he was dealing with things that had at least the patina of being Very Important. (I suspect that present day Brits who might be watching that are either aghast at how close it is to reality, or longing for a man like Hacker.) But the original show was a hoot and had some great dialogue. (I haven't seen The Thick of It, but I suspect this was kind of a PG-rated ancestor of some of that.) The lead civil servant was played by Nigel Hawthorne (The Madness of King George), and one of its co-creators was Jonathan Lynn, who would do the original Clue move and My Cousin Vinny.
I had forgotten that Clemens was an Astro (though of course not that he is an ass). Though for the record, I don't abhor him because he probably used steroids, but because of other, far more distasteful things.
Meanwhile, let's hear it for Verlander. As much as I am annoyed at Mets fans who think the team wasted its money on Scherzer, when you see Verlander still doing this sort of thing deep into October, it does make sense that we (and Dodgers fans last year) expected the same of Max. But some guys simply get old better than the rest. And maybe Verlander is simply the best pitcher of this generation.
Speaking of the Mets, apparently a lot of Mets fans don't want the team backing a dumptruck of money up to Jacob deGrom's house. Indeed, many have decided he isn't worth it anymore, that he doesn't want to be a Met anyway, and that we should just cut bait. From the best pitcher we've seen in the past 20 years in Mets blue. From the one guy who gave it his all in the playoff series. I get maybe not wanting to overpay (not that it's our money). But there are times I wonder what is wrong with my fellow Mets fans.
I am not much on the JFK assassination culture either. I read one book on the subject - Case Closed by Gerald Posner - and decided "ok, it was Oswald" and left it at that. But the interesting thing is that there are two other works of fiction about the assassination where the writers tried to come at the evidence with fresh eyes and came to the same conclusion about Oswald. First there was Quantum Leap Classic - has anyone tried the new version, by the way? - and Donald Bellisario (who actually served in the Marines with Oswald) did his homework and concluded there was no conspiracy. (I consider that episode a series highlight). And then Stephen King and his researcher also approached things with an attempt at fresh eyes, and 11/22/63 also concludes that it was entirely Oswald (and also that Dallas in 1963 was as toxic a place as you could find). If anyone would be open to exploring a fantastical conspiracy, it would be King, whose books have a few such things. But nope. So we got two good works of fiction but also nice re-examinations of the facts that came to the same conclusion.
i think if you compare say deGrom to Seaver - i know, unfair - Seaver seemed to bleed Met blue until M Donald Grant drained it out of him in '77. deGrom while an amazing pitcher seemed at times to not want to be there. Yeah, despite that, generally pitched amazingly, but as they say, attitude is 50% of things, right? If he doesn't want to be in NY, he can go put on his shit kickers and go lasso a Clemens or two deep in the heart. Did he ever kiss his jersey like Judge did? (maybe deGrom doesn't watch Premier League)
I want to believe in JFK cover ups and conspiracies and in fact, 11/22/63 by Stephen King is one of my favorite things ever (strikes the perfect balance between historical, fiction and the King-world terror along with time travel - many of my fav things rolled into one). When i first saw JFK the Ollie Stone thang I enjoyed it but was more or less confused by how the heck we ended up in N'awlins. If there was nothing "there" wouldn't stuff have been released...
Will the Mets back the dump truck up for a few years of Verlander though... that's the question.
re: British TV - besides a Doctor Who fan (although i haven't really been into the Jodi Whitaker incarnation) I was a huge fan of Life on Mars UK and to a much lesser extend, Ashes to Ashes. And All Creatures on PBS (i guess that counts). There is so much, way too much, great British TV out there to catch up on in addition to the meh American TV. I have yet to spring for BritBox.
One semi-insider comment on New Orleans and "JFK": my wife's family is from there, and she had a very well connected aunt and uncle who were lawyers for a long time. The uncle never had any use for Garrison and the conspiracy stuff only cemented that. Make of that what you will.
I absolutely loved 11/22/63 as well. I've read a ton of King, and it was such a neat bit of difference to his regular stuff because of its historical base that it really caught me off guard (probably why I liked it so much).
what i really loved is the ending (no spoilers) and the horror that unfolded from it. it is typical king - a lot like shawshank - it doesn't play as horror but the results of the story create something horror-ific in a king-like way.
It's a long trip, but King clearly enjoyed doing a much deeper dive into history than he usually does (and was also clearly looking to do less full on horror and fantasy since this was around the time of his Mister Mercedes series). I haven't read a ton of recent King, but this might be his last great book.
I would say it is, and that’s not a knock against his latest work. Fairy Tale isn’t as good as 11/22/63 IMHO, but it’s good enough that I wouldn’t be shocked if he has another really great book in him.
Wrong. The Institute, Later, and Billy Summers were all vintage King and more straight fiction than horror/fantasy.
I liked The Institute but it covered very familiar ground for King, and I read it in the past two years and wasn't entirely in the mood for heroic cops.
DeGrom will be 35 next year and last threw 100 innings in 2019. Forget about the money; how much do you want to count on him being available to take the mound even semi regularly?
I wouldn't bet on any of that. i'd rather bet on Verlander, honestly, to deliver more of a Nolan Ryan-esque experience at this point of his career.
Who is this generation’s Robin Ventura?
It's gotta be Donaldson, doesn't it?
Didn't most of Ventura's teammates actually like him though?
I would be willing to take the risk, but only if the Mets find a way to shuck some of the back end of the rotation in order to get younger. I really think his drop off at the end of the season was just a function of being off the field for so long, and that he still has a couple of great years left in him. Also, I think he will adapt and start being craftier.
I agree. Better stick him on a team with a six-man rotation.
My wild-ass guess is that he tests the market and - unless the Angels do what they always do and give him a 3-year bazillion dollar contract, during which he will start 13 games - no one is willing to bite and he resigns with the Mets on a shorter, high-value deal.
There is this whole "deGrom is from Florida and wants to be closer to home" thing, but the Marlins and Rays don't sign free agents of his caliber, and the Barves just re-signed Morton, which was pretty much the only slot Jake could have slid into easily on an otherwise well stocked team. Not that the Barves can't decide that you never have enough starting pitching, but that seems less likely that it did a year ago.
The only other kind of team I can see signing him is one that is super confident in their 'pen; you could basically tell him we need 5-6 innings every 5 days and let him eat.
NB I have no idea who that is.
5-6 innings every 5 days is nearly the top end range for anyone. That would be around 175 IP or near top 10 in the league.
...
I can see a Carlos Correa like deal with huge dollars for a 3 year deal with opt outs each season. If the Twins could do that in 22, who is to say that the Guardians or Red Sox or about 15 other teams won’t in 23?
You're right - I was thinking 30 starts for about 150IP, allowing for the occasional early exit or skipping a start. I also wonder if he is a candidate for a late-career Smoltzing to the pen.
I don't get the "closer to home" theory. He's from the Daytona area. That's a 6.5 hour drive from Atlanta. He's not going to be hanging around with his high school buddies after a game. And if he wants to visit his mom on an off-day, it will require a flight, as it would if he did it from NY.
I think some of that is just the negative Mets fans finding reasons to be negative beyond "free agency can be surprising." Frankly, if he joins the Barves, it's because they gave him $$$ and he thinks he can win there when he couldn't here. Maybe the "closer to home" thing is just a way to pretend he wouldn't be leaving in a way that would slight the Mets? Who knows?
See also Mike Hampton lauding the Denver school system.
Great moments in education! (I wonder if Russell Wilson said the same thing.)
It's been speculated he prefers the simpler life -- doesn't like big city New York. He doesn't like the scrutiny and bright lights of New York media. He's a private, reserved person.
On the Carl Pavano Scale, he's doing really well. Besides, he's in Queens. We're practically in the suburbs here!
If he wants a competitive team in a small market that is willing to spend $40M a year on him, that's a pretty tough set of interlocking criteria.
6.5 hours Cobb County to Daytona? I wish. My youngest kid lives in Orlando. I’m driving down and back tomorrow.
I do remember when ATL signed Tim Hudson. He was from Columbus GA. His agent, who wasn’t from the area, tried getting the Braves to pay for a private jet in between starts. But from the Ted to a private airport then the flight then the ride from the Columbus airport to home would be longer than the ~90 miles drive down I85 and I185. I think they ended up agreeing to a semi regular limo service to and from home.
Atlanta won’t be in the bidding. But with Morton’s age, Soroka’s Achilles, Strider a former Tommy John, and Wright’s pre 22 performance they have plenty of room for a 15-25 start pitcher like deGrom.
Is there any 2022 contender that couldn't find room for a deGrom if they wanted? Like I said, you never have enough starting pitching.
It's probably the most likely scenario given the answer to these two questions:
Who needs starting pitching the most? (Mets, who are losing 4 of their 5 starters)
Who has the most money they are willing to spend? (Seems likely the Mets, based on recent history)
Though the most likely scenario still doesn't mean it;s likely. There are 29 other teams out there as options.
Scherzer is actually getting old far better than most guys. Just not quite as well as Verlander.
Is he aging worse than Verlander? The former teammate missed almost all of the last two seasons.
True, but needing Tommy John surgery isn't really an age thing. Young guys need it too. But point taken.
<thinks about Scherzer and Verlander>
<cries in Detroit Tigers fan>
Agreed. He just put up a 5-win season at age 37 despite missing some time. Yes, he had a bad post-season start, but so was Verlander's first start. Fans have unrealistic expectations for old pitchers.
Libra is another great work of fiction with a JFK backdrop. It really is fertile soil.
My personal beliefs is that it is extremely eyebrow raising for a guy to defect to the USSR, be allowed back into the US, pal around with known intelligence assets like de Mohrenschildt and then supposedly come up with a plan to assassinate a president who was at odds with the intelligence community completely independently.
So weird that the JFK assassination captured the public's and conspiracist imagination for so long. Probably because it WAS just was it seemed so speculating is fun and not scary. Unlike anything involving Trump.
I think a lot of the factors that have made it such a persistent bugaboo have been washed away by time, so it seems like a quaint fixation rather than a live wire.
However, in the context of the 60s, it makes a lot more sense. There was a wave of high profile political assassinations. The intelligence agencies *were* up to evil stuff - including Bay of Pigs, which JFK refused to support, embarrassing the agency.
It's probably best to let deGrom go. He was a great pitcher but he's injured all the time.
I also think it's funny that the Astros pulled Clemens to throw the first pitch when he spent most of his career with the Yankees and won his WS with them. Like the Guardians asking Keith Hernandez to throw the first pitch.
Um, Clemens spent 13 of his 24 total seasons with the Red Sox. I think you know that so perhaps I'm just being pedantic.
Shout out to the Nola boys’ dad, who was interviewed during the game yesterday (they didn’t talk to mom) - He was wearing both Phillies and Padres gear, while she went completely neutral. The awkward thing was that they kept cutting back to them any time one of the two Nolas did anything (especially when Austin got an RBI single off of Aaron), and dad stood there stock-still as if he knew he was on camera and didn’t want to show any favoritism, while mom clapped politely regardless.
My favorite part was the revelation that mom wants the series to be over in five games because she doesn’t want the jet lag of coming back to San Diego from Philadelphia without an off day. Moms know what’s up.
I saw something where their mom declined to be interviewed... apparently she was too nervous.
That's probably right. It's too bad because Dad was not the best interview, either ;)
It's got to be so weird psychologically in their situation!
Man they (rightly) dragged Salary Cap Guy in the replies
In mild defense of that guy, I think "the MLB" was just a typo and it was likely supposed to read "Friendly reminder that MLB should..."
I do that kind of typo all the time, where it's not a matter of hitting an adjacent key, it's a brain fart where you substitute one commonly used word for another.
And we have to account for intentional usage too, right? I say “the MLB” often, specifically as a way to mock the organization. Same thing with the Facebook and the Twitter.
I am OK with a salary cap if the draft and minimum salaries and service time are abolished.
Oh, I think you need to keep the minimum salary; otherwise, you'd end up with long-time AAA guys getting called up and only earning, say, $50,000 per year. It would become a race to the bottom - why have a back-end reliever earning $500,000, when I could call up a guy just happy for the opportunity and pay him 10% of that?
Yes yes. That is not what I meant.
Have the minimum salary, but not locked in and a player can say, no pay me more. Point is to not have Spencer strider and Michael Harris be underpaid (I know bad examples from this year as is Julio Rodriguez)
I’d love to read a deep dive on sibling ball payers. Baby brother Aaron who gets down ballot CYA support as a top pitcher, big brother Austin who barely hangs on as a part time catcher. Aaron with over $40,000,000 in career earnings vs Austin with about $2m. Do they compete over Xmas presents for mom and dad?
Do relationships work better when the players are similar like Bret and Aaron Boone or where there is a star and a scrub like Hank and Tommy Aaron or Greg and Mike Maddux? Or how about multiple good players but one clearly better like Brian and Marcus Giles? And what can we say about all timer Joe, minor star Dom and, well at least he made the show Vince DiMaggio?
Dollars to donuts, Alcantarra wins this year and that at least one of Fried, Gallen, and Rondon finish ahead of Nola. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is behind all five as well as possibly Wheeler or Wright. Combine that with a prior high of a 3rd place a few years back and that is definitionally down ballot support.
We can argue about where he *should* rank in voting but not top ten in wins or ERA and a distant second in rWAR tells me he won’t win regardless of what you or I think.
Also, remember that “down ballot” with the CYA is 3/4/5…which is still pretty good. Not like people getting thrown a courtesy 9th place vote for MVP.
Agreed. I would put him second behind Alcantarra, but could easily see the arguments for Nola to be first. The dude seems perennially underrated, perhaps because he doesn't light up the radar gun.
Jesus, Felipe and Matty Alou say ¡Hola!
I also wonder about pairs like the brothers Kieboom, who came up in the same (Nats) organization … Spencer had a very brief cup of coffee as a backup catcher and is now out of the league, while Carter has been a deeply disappointing so far third base prospect. (He was going to replace Anthony Rendon!)
At least they both made it to the show, right?
Then there are the multi generational players from the Griffeys and Bondses to the Berras and Willses. Or my favorite, Casey Candaele and his mom, former AAGPBL Helen Callaghan.
are Molinas born with catchers masks on?
And tattooed?
My favorite sports siblings are Steph and Seth Curry. Seth Curry is a really, really good three point shooter, but lives in the shadow of the greatest three pointer shooter of all time and around basketball god. The games of HORSE at family get-togethers must be epic. (Never mind that they have a brother in law who plays for the Suns, and of course their dad, Dell Curry, was a great shooter in his own right.)
My favorite is Travis and Jason Kelce. I don't want to be on the other team for Thanksgiving family football games.
And the Watt brothers probably just sit around comparing injuries. Though this year, JJ wins.
Speaking of strained Thanksgiving and football, how about Aaron and Jordan Rogers?
Bruce Matthews and Clay Jr. And then all of their many, many kids.
Ramon, Pedro and Jesus Martinez. Vlad and Wilton Guerrero, Jose and Ozzie Canseco, Orlando and (sorta) Livan Hernandez, Eddie and Johnny O’Brien. Rick and Dave (?) reuschel, Ken and George Brett, Ken and (?) Forsch. Dizzy and Daffy Dean.
Bob is the other Forsch and Paul the other Reuschel.
How about Cup of Coffee star Larry Yount, Rich Murray or Billy Ripken and their Hall of Fame brothers.
Remembering guys is such a fun game
Aaron and Bret Boone, who are third generation players. Hank and Tommy Aaron, who have the most home runs by two brothers. The DiMaggios, and I am pretty sure Dom and Joe were not friendly rivals in the heyday of the first Yanks-Red Sox rivalry.
Or like the Manning brothers, where the third never even plays professionally. It must be hard being Cooper.
OTOH, it's his son who will be the one to carry on the family name in the NFL. I suspect he is going to enjoy that.
I took advantage of the free gift subscription that Craig sent out. I did change the auto generated personal message. Which was “I subscribe to Cup of Coffee by Craig Calcaterra and I think you'd really like it.”
I changed the end to “and I think you won’t hate it”
I have to say I enjoy watching Craig the salesman twist in the wind a bit. He’s absolutely confident in everything except his own product. But listen Craig, you’re great and you’re not running a scam, no matter how much it feels like it. It’s a great newsletter and it is absolutely worth the price.
I hope it makes you very wealthy and you can’t sleep at night because you are crushed by guilt from benefitting from the capitalist system.
So on the Clemens thing, are the Astros intentionally embracing the bad guy thing, à la professional wrestling, or is their front office just clueless? Since their front office is known to be very good, at least in baseball matters, maybe they really are doing it on purpose.
And like Craig I kind of have to respect the move at that level.
The Blue Jays have already missed their chance, alas. And the Red Sox never had the chance.
"And now to throw out the first pitch... Bah Gawd! That's Roger Clemens' music!"
Clemens is not some universally beloved former Astro player. The FO is really smart when it comes to player development but they're terrible at PR (e.g., Brandon Taubman and their response). No idea what they were thinking with this one.
Is there anywhere Clemens is still liked? The Red Sox fans moved on from him the day he moved to the Bronx, and the Blue Jays fans probably don't remember him by now. So that leaves fans of the team he won three World Series rings with. But I have zero idea how Yankees fans feel about him, aside from "throwing out the first pitch for the Astros is just trolling us."
Yankees have enough "icons" and he was only there for a few years so he kind of gets lost in mix. If you start rattling off players from those late 90s/early 2000s Yankee teams maybe he's the 8th or 9th guy listed. But no, I dont think he's particularly "liked" by any fanbase.
Yankees fans are idiots. They don't have a WS dynasty without Clemens but they pretend he never happened, while they love equally roided yet nowhere near as good Andy Pettitte.
It's just easier to love a man with four Ts in his name. And let's all pretend he never pitched for Houston.
Yankees fans rarely seem to accept their mercenary acquisitions. Maybe because they're very sensitive to complaints of "buying a ring."
The Rocket is definitely not a fan favorite (I don’t think you can even get his jersey at the team store), however he is an Astros fan, which may play into the decision.
He also *is* a fan favorite of Longhorn fans of which a significant number are also Astros fans.
This is how I know he’s an Astros fan, because I’d see him around town when his sons were playing at UT and he would always be wearing Astros gear.
It is testament to Kevin Costner's range as an actor that he could play a character who uttered the words "I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone" (Crash Davis, who do make speeches) and later play Jim Garrison.
As for the post-season this year, as a Nats fan, I'm a bit torn as to which former Nat to root for. The Phillies have Bryce Harper, who much like local NHLer Tom Wilson is much better appreciated when he's on your team than when he's not (and Kyle Schwarber, whose four months here were incandescent), the Padres have Juan Soto, gone too soon as a sacrifice to start restocking the depleted farm system (and Josh Bell, a good guy whose pet cause is getting kids to read more), and the Astros have Dusty Baker, who I think got a raw deal here in not having his contract renewed.
Because the NL East isn't the SEC, I can't root for the Phillies, no matter how much I'd like to see Harper win a ring.
I wish Juan Soto all the success in the world, but he's young and will have many more chances to win a ring, just like Dan Marino did after Super Bowl XIX.
As for the Astros, I know I'm supposed to hold a permanent grudge against them for their cheating ways, but my Nats beat them in 2019 despite the cheating, so I personally don't feel cheated, and since I'm closer in age to Dusty than I am to any of the players mentioned above, I guess I'm gonna quietly pull for the Astros.
(I expect my subscription to be canceled on general principles before anyone can react to this comment.)
there really should be a Dusty exception for Astros hate. Hard not to pull for the guy while hating every one of his 2017-still-there players.
Henceforth there shall be such an exception, which I will use to justify my rooting interest this year.
I never have to justify rooting against the Yankees.
AND ignoring the fact that the Yankees were ALSO busted for a sign-stealing scheme that they'd done in 2015-2016.....
I will always love Dusty for pulling Russ Ortiz in Game 6. And trotting Bonds into LF constantly. He can have a WS as a treat. But I'd really rather see the Padres take it.
I'll bite...
Where else could Dusty have played Bonds if not LF? First base?
In Anaheim, he could have been DH. Bonds misplayed a ball badly that was a big part of the Angels' Game 6 rally.
It would be cool to see Dusty finally win the big one.
Way too much over-analysis on this one. The correct answer (when your own team is unavailable) is always “Anyone but the Yankees”.
Yep. Go Astros!
I don’t fall there. I like the Yankees winning because if they don’t, why hate them? I think they need to be an evil empire and that means they have to win in the second act.
Bonus, I want teams to spend on players.
None of this is to say I hate the astros. Great logo, good current spending. Awful PR from 2016-2020, bad practices from 2010-2017. They seem like they will be OK with tanking again, so I don’t like them as much as the Yankees.
I think Crane is too smart to tank again. He has a stranglehold on Houston’s pro sports dollars since the other teams stink and I don’t think he’ll want to give that up.
His GM decision after this season will be telling in this regard I suppose.
"Josh Bell, a good guy whose pet cause is getting kids to read more"
Clearly a groomer ... of child minds.
Still looking for company for Game 2 here in Houston. Didn't go yesterday but definitely will tonight. Anyone care to join me?
The story wasn't that the Yankees struck out a bazillion times. The story is that the Astros struck out only twice. I can't remember the last time I saw such a low K number, especially in a playoff game.
I have conditionally pardoned the Astros. Mostly because they're playing the Evil Empire. But also because that game, and a ton of their games this playoff, was tremendously exciting. I like baseball and that was a great baseball game. One can sit around and mope about trash cans or one can move on. I choose the latter.
The pardon is effective for the ALCS, subject to renewal if it's a 'Stros-Phils World Series.
The Astros didn't win because they cheated. They won because they were and are good. It's the team equivalent of Bonds and Clemens. There was a violation of some code. There was no need to violate that code.
See, I’m not sure about that. They totally cheated. They probably knew they were cheating, but they thought everyone else was cheating too so NBD. They were wrong about that and they got (some of) what they deserved in response.
But whatever. It’s 2022 and they’re playing really exciting games vs a team I really don’t like. It’s sports and sports is entertainment. To answer Russell Crowe’s question: yes, I am entertained.
They did think everyone was and they escalated. Which is bad.
But but but, all evidence points to they being worse (overall) with the banging scheme in place. Sure there were games where they got it right and took advantage, but it seems when they were wrong or didn’t have information to pass along, the hitters were worse
Very much so. It actually had an overall negative effect on the Astros, as far as the data shows (though, obviously, it helped them in some games). https://signstealingscandal.com/
The Arizona story has many amazing/awful parts. My favorites are:
1. The cop's reaction. "Seriously?"
2. Dude claiming he was just "out buying rebar."
Looking forward to "buying rebar" entering the lexicon as a euphemism for masturbation.
You mean it wasn’t already IN the lexicon?
What, he needed an insert to help?
Agree in part with your JFK take, though I have some quibbles. I'll share the one of them that's most relevant: That there's never been a proper accounting of the assassination is probably as much of a contributor to our degradation of societal trust as any other single cause. After all, a large majority of people have always believed that the official story is bunk (https://news.gallup.com/poll/165893/majority-believe-jfk-killed-conspiracy.aspx), and the next logical step from there is an understanding that our government (and all the structures that buttress and support it) is in many ways illegitimate. So even if you're not a "JFK truther" like me, there is I think immense value in getting closer to the actual truth.
PS. Ironically, Oliver Stone did a really good doc on this recently: https://www.sho.com/titles/3507963/jfk-revisited-through-the-looking-glass
A large number of people believe the earth is flat, that Apollo was faked, that Israel was behind 9/11, and that Trump really won.
Which is more likely: that these people's beliefs give credence to those ideas? Or that those people are...well...simply stupid?
They hired Kubrick to fake the moon landings, but he insisted on making it look real, so they had to film on the Moon.
This is a very silly counterargument. None of the beliefs you mention a) have anywhere near the same popular purchase (here's one that has the faked moon landing at 11%: https://www.statista.com/statistics/959480/belief-that-the-moon-landing-was-faked/), or b) the mounds of actual evidence supporting the theory. All that citing "conspiracies" like these serves to do is to minimize/cast doubt on actual, documented conspiracies.
I thought it was obvious that my point was only that the existence of believers in something has no bearing on whether it is true, responding to a claim that so many people believe something so it is worth considering. I chose examples that are objectively false because many people believe in those anyway. I did not opine what the truth is about 11/22/63. And I think the numbers are higher than you think.
My point was not that it's true because people believe it. The point was that the large discrepancy between the official story and the story that most people believe (and the implications of that disconnect) is corrosive to our collective trust as a society. Getting close to a shared understanding of the truth (whatever that may be) is the way to repair this.
"Every slightest effort at opening up new areas of thought, every attempt to perceive new aspects of truth, or just a little truth, is of inestimable value in preparing the way for the light we cannot see."
-Thomas Merton
I don't think that very many people believe that Israel was behind 9/11. The Saudis? Yeah. The CIA, yeah. There are plenty of people who believe in those theories (with some very uncomfortable evidence suggesting that the Saudis were more involved than anyone would like to think) but, outside of some quacks, there's no real contingent of people who think Israel did 9/11.
There are enough that I have heard several waxing eloquently in our very nice golf community. And yes they are quacks... They are all over the place--did you miss how many were denying the value of vaccines?
I'd say it's the combination of two factors: the idealization of JFK (even when he was alive), combined with just how easy it was (and with so little motive) to kill him. It couldn't have been that simple, so therefore it must have been a conspiracy!
Second point is a good one. We all want to believe that events that change the world substantially are the work of meticulous planning and with the coordination of a Swiss watch, because something that important SHOULDN'T be easy to do. And yet a single person or small group of clowns with the planning ability of a toddler with a box of crayons is capable of impacting history in a major way. It goes against a weird sense of fairness.
The only think I have ever read that seemed remotely pause=blue to me as a reason to doubt the official story and keep the documents classified is that one of the shots that hit Kennedy came from a secret service gun that misfired as they were hoping on back of the car.
It is one of those things that I will not care if I go to my grave not knowing. It bugs me more that I won’t experience high speed rail.
After having visited Dealy Plaza a few years back, it seemed obvious to me that it was nearly impossible for the assassination to happen they way the Warren report stated.
For Oswald to NOT take a shot as JFK was basically stopped right in front of him as the limo made the 300• + turn onto Elm, but instead shoots at him as he was speeding away on a downward slope strains credulity.
I have no credible theories as to what may have actually happened, I just don’t think the official explanation holds water.
Yeah, The Split is a thoroughly enjoyable tv show. I'm not positive that's what the still of Nicola Walker is from. But unless and until I start watching her various police/legal procedurals, she'll remain Hannah Stern for me. UK shows do middle-aged women so much better than we do.
They DO do middle-aged women better, don't they? I also feel like many non-American shows just have a lot more...how to say this without sounding mean...non supermodel looking actors. Like they just look like PEOPLE.
I agree completely and it makes it hard to enjoy a lot of TV shows sometimes. It becomes such a distorted view of what human beings look like when every guy is trim and jacked and every woman is young and skinny.
And all of their teeth are absolutely perfect.
Low payroll vs high payroll: something else that I think is interesting about the Guardians is that, whether by design or happenstance, they have accomplished what they have accomplished without tanking (maybe a little in 2009-2012, but I don’t remember the story on those teams). They just swap out pieces and parts on the fly every year and keep going. It’s never been quite enough to get them all the way there, but they’re always competitive in their division, at least.
I don’t know enough to put forward a definitive theory on how they have done this, but I guess you have to give the front office some credit (although not too much: among other things, their trade deadline deals in recent years have not been stellar). Somewhere in the organization there must be a great system for developing pitching, especially starting pitching, because over and over again they have traded away or failed to re-sign their best starters, but someone else in the pipeline has always been there to step up.
They got a lot of attention this year for playing hard and being extremely sound on fundamentals, and creating some runs while not giving many away surely helps. I have wondered over the years what would happen if a good team played deadball-style ball , and played it well, while everyone else was playing three-true-outcomes. Among other things, it would probably annoy the heck out of the other teams, and the Guardians seem to have done that this season.
Traditionally, a lot of the credit for sound, heads-up play would go to the manager and coaching staff. Given the results, I would have to think that Terry Francona must be about as good as a manager can be nowadays, even if he shouldn’t have started Civale on Tuesday!
Anyway, they’ve been an enjoyable team to follow the last ten years, and, this being Cleveland, that’s no small thing.
The Indians have taken a similar approach to the Rays in recent years. Both have traded away their best players years before free-agency. They haven't signed players to big deals, aside from Jose Ramirez and Wander Franco -- which were considered kind of a team-friendly deals. They've focused on pitching being the strength of their teams.
I think that pitching really is the key, along with good defense, because, if you’re not going to score a lot of runs yourself, you need to be able to stop the other team from scoring more. I guess the thing I don’t understand is why more teams aren’t able, or don’t try, to do this.
You hit on most of it, but it also really helps to have KC & DET in there with them. Even when the Guards “bottom out”, they are still the third best team in the division.
I think that’s right, although, just eyeballing the W-L the last ten years or so, the Guards have been more steady than anybody else in their division, including the Twins and the White Sox, and, within the last ten years, the Tigers and Royals have both had strong runs that they, so far, have not repeated. I don’t think any of these teams labor under greater disadvantages than the Guards, although the Sox and Tigers may suffer from excessively meddlesome owners. From the standpoint of a Guardians fan, it’s been pretty sweet because, man oh man, it hasn’t always been that way.
In grad school back in the early 90s we did our HR Mgmt. research project on the impact of salary on MLB performance. We were looking for evidence that players that signed big (for the time) contracts performed better, or worse, due to the increased expectations. We found no causative effect at all. We even got to interview Phil Neikro as one of my partners for the project had a connection to him through their parents country club. Phil's take was that baseball players play for the love of the game, and that those few that make real money aren't impacted by it since it's not the reason they play in the first place.
There is a small two lane road basically in the middle of nowhere in the north Atlanta exurbs that is the Phil Niekro memorial highway. I’m not sure if that is better or worse than the six lane stop and go off of Hwy 400 in front of a shopping mall in Alpharetta that is named for John Smoltz.
Niekro’ a career started well before free agency and lasted long after the Seitz decision. If there was a change in human nature from ball player wealth, he would have seen it. But also his career ended when good players had a comfortable retirement with a couple of million in the bank while now that same level player has multi generational wealth. A McMansion on the lake vs an actual mansion in Palm Beach.
Neikro was managing the Richmond Braves when we talked to him - so he was spending his day with 25 guys - 23 of whom were playing for poverty wages and two were probably on MLB contracts trying to get back to the show. Given the conditions in the minors, it's either love of the game, or maybe inability to do anything else, or delusion that you will make it to the top. Probably a mix of both in most cases.
AAA ball is probably the worst place to be. It's so close the show, but so few will ever get more than, ahem, a cup of coffee on top.
I lived in that area when they built Northside Mall, I think that was the name. It was super upscale and ritzy. My Mom is still in the area - in Cumming.
Thank your mom for me. Her Forsyth County property taxes pay my wife’s school teacher salary. We live at the southeast corner of the county.
The Smoltz highway runs by a newer Mall, The Avalon. He has an undistinguished ~5 mile stretch of Highway 120 from 400 towards Milton nowhere close to either the old or new ballparks.
Actually, in GA I think senior citizens can apply for a homestead tax exemption that mostly wipes out their tax due, so she probably isn't doing much for the tax base in Forsyth!
It was super upscale and ritzy. So there was a lotta debate about that mall because a MARTA Train stop was to be built along with the mall. The residents worried about all the "renters" from the city using MARTA to come shop at this wonderful mall and into their neighborhoods. I will let you figure out what word renters was code for.
The racist joke about MARTA: Moving Africans Rapidly Through Atlanta. Public transit here stinks in no small part because of a long history of NIMBY.
Yep - even way back in 89-98 when I lived in Alpharetta, Peachtree Corners, and then Woodstock white folks were terrified that people from the city would find their way to the suburbs.
For the last 5 years we've lived in Richmond VA in neighborhoods where whites are the minority. The lack of idiots shooting off fireworks in their yard on the 4th makes living around non-whites a win all by itself.
Anti fireworks?
Please tell me the Phil Niekro Memorial Highway is filled with unpredictable and unprecedented twists and turns, moving cars like knuckleballs through the night.
I think fewer pros are in it entirely for the love of the game, especially in the NFL. And there are occasionally players who get paid and stop producing (ask me about the Knicks' Julius Randle). But if it's not love of the game, it can love of the adulation and a desire to prove you are the best, or to prove naysayers wrong about your oversized contract. (And since almost no one in the NFL has a guaranteed contract, no one there can afford to slack off.)
What a cool project!
My wife has watched all 20+ series of Midsomer Murders in the last year. There's something to be said for comfort TV. I would sit and watch occasionally along with her. The referenced article really gives acceptance to my feelings when I watched. Every other scene I stopped and wondered, "Where have I seen them before?" And then retreated to IMDB like everyone else to verify my thoughts. Same thing happens though when I rewatch Star Trek: TNG. So many "It's that person!" actors.
We watch a lot of Bitish stuff around here. Like, a lot. I’ll never forget the time I rewatched Notting Hill and saw Downton Abbey’s Lord Grantham as a young man! This year when we watched Julia on Netflix, we noted that we’d seen the lead on a couple of episodes of Doctor Who and as the lead in Last Tango in Halifax. These actors can’t stop, won’t stop. (Shout out to all of the Taylor Swift fans who are losing their minds waiting for the new album to drop tonight.)
Do I know you?? Yes, I *know* Nicola Walker!!
She stars in the best of the BBC detective procedurals -- we highly recommend "Unforgotten" (2 of the 4 seasons are as good as television gets the other 2 are just excellent). Ms. Walker ("Last Tango in Halifax") appears in several BBC productions and we never feel thrown by seeing her in a different role. ["Hey, that can't be Bourne, it's Will Hunting!"]
The bride offers that we see more recurring actors in the BBC shows we frequent b/c the British don't age out women actors the way the U.S. studios do; they craft new series for them.
Our evening routine (me with a whiskey or bourbon, including last night as the Yankees were striking out) has us IFO the huge set with the dogs and BBC procedurals.
We've covered about 50 of them (some French or Nordic) and just finished the excellent "Shetland."
I've mentioned "Vera" (Brenda Blethyn) to you guys b/c it's a "Columbo" homage, and there are really too many other great ones to list (but I could).
Overall these detective tales are less U.S. lowest common denominator (few car chases and shootouts) and more Sherlock-like thoughtful. If you are looking for a one-off starter, try "Collateral" written by David Hare, a quick 4-episode story that will let you know if this is your cup of tea. Starring Carey Mulligan, again, a female lead.
Thank you so much! I loved Shetland and will happily look into the rest.
let me know if you need recommends on 1 or 2 (or 10) more!!
Nicola Walker is fabulous.
First saw her in MI5 (Spooks) and she was captivating.
Then in River - she's not the lead, but what a great role. The scenes of them singing in the car are exhilarating
And Unforgotten is superb
"River"!! Makes one feel guilty for enjoying it so much given the overriding theme and plot!
(speaking of an actor from "Good Will Hunting")
One BritCom series that might always be relevant is "Yes, Minister" (and it's sequel, "Yes, Prime Minister". Paul Eddington plays Jim Hacker, a minor politician who, thanks to his steadfast party loyalty, gets tapped to head the Ministry of Administrative Affairs - and clashes head-on with the immovable object that is the Civil Service. The writers built the episodes around actual real-life things that they'd been tipped off to (in strictest confidence) from actual civil servants and government officials. It's how the government actually works, and what *not* to do.
I remember that one fondly, though when Hacker "fell up" to 10 Downing, it just couldn't be as funny once he was dealing with things that had at least the patina of being Very Important. (I suspect that present day Brits who might be watching that are either aghast at how close it is to reality, or longing for a man like Hacker.) But the original show was a hoot and had some great dialogue. (I haven't seen The Thick of It, but I suspect this was kind of a PG-rated ancestor of some of that.) The lead civil servant was played by Nigel Hawthorne (The Madness of King George), and one of its co-creators was Jonathan Lynn, who would do the original Clue move and My Cousin Vinny.