Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

In betting as in investments - past performance is not indicative of future results. Looking at you Notre Dame... Heh heh... The Red Sox are down 2 games to zero to the Indians. I am saddened by the thought that there are children as old as three in New England who have never seen a Red Sox World Series win in their lifetimes... Holy crap!... If I ever met Gwyneth Paltrow - I would tell her how much I enjoyed her in Friends just to try and tick her off... Well that would explain things... Kevin Youkilis, the Greek God of Walks, saw 292 3-0 counts in his career and never swung at the next pitch... On my bucket list is to be the second Vice President to be accused of murder. A man can dream right!... Shameful confession - the first text I ever send was to place a football bet... Heh heh... I am proposing a new physics theorem - Schrodinger's Keno where your Keno numbers never appear when observed as they come up on the screen... Still amazed that John Kruk was able to turn exactly 100 MLB HR and being a slob into an ESPN announcing gig for so long...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Yesterday was John Kruk's birthday - which only served as a reminder how one man turned exactly 100 MLB HR and being a slob into a full-time ESPN gig... The surprising origin of high heels... People making the point that AL West teams feasting off the ineptitude of the Astros will really give them a leg up in the Wild Card race. The AL East may have the best teams but that only means probably only the Division Champ will make the playoffs... Inappropriate ad placements...  Brandon Webb just retired. Baseball-reference.com list Tim Lincecum and Cole Hamels as the two most similar pitchers. That should give Giants and Phillies fans something to worry about... Some rules are absolute - yoga pants are for women ONLY!...

Steve Phillips

Steve Phillips has been fired by ESPN. My first thought on hearing this was "He'll never work again."

Phillips was not a very good GM in baseball and he was worse as an analyst. Now with the image of Phillips as the guy who was banging a chubby intern seared into people's consciousness - Phillips won't get another job in baseball or broadcasting. Sad but true. What organization is going to hire a guy with his record of sexual opportunism / harassment?

Phillips and John Kruk were/are both mind-numbing on Baseball Tonight. I couldn't help but wonder if John Kruk was caught in a dalliance with a chubby intern if he too would get fired or if that would be looked at differently?

Flotsam and Jetsam - New York City Edition

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations from the Big Apple.

The New England Patriots theme song should be Mark Knopfler's "What It Is" that way when people ask what song it is you can say "It is 'What It Is'"... Velociraptors have ambitions too... The other night I was at a minor league game and for whatever reason I started wondering if people still use fungo bats? I can't recall the last time I saw someone use one. Or have infield practice for that matter. I feel like Larry King asking a question like this... Speaking of theme songs - I always thought this should be John Kruk's theme song... Later today I'll be spending time in the financial district down near Ground Zero. I'm disappointed that my schedule won't allow me time to walk the Brooklyn Bridge. I've always wanted to do that for some reason...

Red Sox / Indians ALCS Game 2 Live Blog

I have the time to do some live blogging tonight - so what the heck.

First off let me say that I was a huge Springsteen fan. I use the past tense because to be honest - he's lost his fastball. The Radio Nowhere opening just didn't have that old-time "oumph". Do you know what I mean? The Boss is teetering on become a South Park parody. I'm sorry but its true. How long before he becomes a Vegas act?

One thing I've been dwelling on today is how Josh Barfield just completely missed on his projected production this year. What is wrong? Was he lightning in a bottle last year? Was the NL West so weak last year that Barfield just projected as a better player than he was? Just strange. I thought the Indians had a steal in Barfield. It turns out that the Padres probably had the steal with Kevin Kouzmanoff and his 18 HR (the same as Casey Blake but in 100 fewer AB and Blake didn't have to play half his games at Petco Park).

8:17 - Tim McCarver just admitted he has no clue. Tim we've known that for years! Where the heck is Al Leiter? This guys spells out how I feel exactly.

8:33 - Indians go up 1-0 on Victor Martinez's double which scored Grady Sizemore. It could have been worse. The Red Sox were lucky Eric Wedge was so willing to give up an out with that bunt. Was that really James Taylor doing the Red Sox player introductions or was that Norm McDonald doing a bad James Taylor impression? Kevin Youkilis is the first base player?

8:51 - Is this really the time to be talking about Schilling being a free agent? Thank goodness that double play kept us from further subjection to that line of discussion. Schilling has a gaming company in Boston - he isn't going anywhere. He'll re-sign for $13 million with a team option for 2009. Mark it down.

9:05 - Carmona is on track to be over 100 pitches by the 5th inning. That's good for the Red Sox. Schilling is on pace to get to 100 pitches in the 7th inning. That's good for the Red Sox too (looking for silver linings here since there isn't much action and Buck and McCarver are tough to listen to).

9:20 - The over / under for this game was 8.5 runs and I had the feeling it would be a tight game but once again I did not have the conviction to put my money where my mouth is. At this pace Carmona will be toast by the end of the 5th inning.

9:32 - Manny walks and the Red Sox tie the game at 1-1. In Little League the kids would be shouting, "pitcher's blowing up, pitcher's blowing up." Carmona did not want to pitch to Manny Ramirez. The duo of Manny and Big Papi have the Indian pitchers psyched out right now. Mike Lowell comes up huge once again. Two out hit and the score is now 3-1. Tim McCarver "Lowell drove in more RBI - I mean runs this year than any other Red Sox third baseman." Umm grandpa - I think you mean Lowell had more RBI this year than any other Red Sox third baseman in the teams history. What you said is the same as saying Dustin Pedroia had more RBI this year than any Red Sox second baseman.

9:47 - Jhonny Peralta hits a 3-run dinger and the Indians re-take the lead at 4-3. Yuk!

10:05 - Pedroia strikes out again. I don't know what happened to his plate discipline. Pedroia was so hard to strikeout during the regular season. Dustin comes off as a kid with all the confidence in the world but you have to wonder if he's got a bad case of butterflies at the plate. After 4 innings - Fausto Carmona is up to 95 pitches. This game is going wicked slow. I hope it is over by the time the Patriots kick off.

10:11 - Grady Sizemore hits a HR to make it 5-3 and the bastard costs me $20 because my friend Tim has Sizemore in our HR pool. I have Manny, Hafner and Martinez. Tim has Ortiz, Sizemore and Lowell. Now I'm glad I didn't take the under on this game.

10:30 - I see those commercials where Tiger Woods is pitching razor blades and I wonder how often Tiger really needs to shave. Seriously - he looks like the type of guy who could skip a few days and nobody would really notice. Just saying.

10:36 - MANNY! MANNY! MANNY! Not only does he tie it up at 5 apiece with a 2-run bomb - he also wins my $20 back! Way to go Manny!

10:38 - Mike Lowell puts the Red Sox up 6-5 and my $20 goes back to Tim (well worth the money). Mike Lowell has to be back next year. He just has to. I hope management realizes that Sox fans would prefer 2-years of Lowell to 5-years of Alex Rodrigez.

11:07 - That was a long drawn out, sucky half-inning. Indians tie it up at 6. Meanwhile elsewhere in the world of sports LSU and Cal both lost. That means that Boston College probably moves up to 3 in the polls (I see Ohio St. #1 and I see South Florida hopping over BC to #2). Interesting time to be a sports fan in Boston - the hub of the sports universe.

11:30 - Nice job by Okijima. Now the Sox have the Giant part of the order coming up and Jonathan Papelbon waiting in the wings. I admit I'm getting a bit tired and might just veg out on the couch. Oh and once again - Tim McCarver sucks.

11:52 - Wow - Dusty Baker to manage the Reds? My sympathies to any Reds fans out there. On the bright side - at least baseball fans won't have to listen to his moronic ramblings on ESPN any more. Maybe Dusty could do us all a favor and take John Kruk with him.

12:44 - You know people complain that playoff baseball games now start too late for kids to stay up to watch them. Some of these games (this one included) go too late for most adults to stay up and watch them.

1:12 - Eric Gagne comes out of the game and every Red Sox fan watching at home breathes a sigh of relief and says "Thank God!"

1:18 - I stayed up for this? The Indians score two runs on two singles. Yuk! Sorry - three runs on three singles.

EDIT - So OK. When the flood gates opened in the 11th inning I bailed. Can you blame me?