My Other Blog

This morning I saw on my FaceBook page where one of my fraternity brothers and his son went to a Mariners game his son got a ball from one of the bullpen coaches (John Wetteland, interestingly enough).

On Saturday I was chatting with a friend who recently bought an investment property for her daughter, daughter's husband and their children to rent. My friend was telling me how her husband has been doing some the work on the house with the grandkids, sort of teaching them a little about how to do certain types of handiwork.

Both are great stories because as adults (and presumably sports fans in the one case) we know that the kids in these stories will remember getting the ball and working and learning from their grandfather forever.

When I was twelve I got a baseball at a game, still have that ball and remember just about everything from that day. The game was at Fenway, the Sox were playing the Royals and a bunch of kids were down the third base line before the game and there was a ball on the ground and collectively we asked a female photographer to toss the ball to us. She did and I happened to be the one to catch it. Earlier Al Hrabosky was sitting in the first or second row signing autographs for (mostly) kids while I didn't want an autograph (even then I was not an autograph guy) I did ask him if I could shake his hand he gave me an enthusiastic alright and a hearty handshake.

As I was saying; memories.

While I do not know who said this first, you all have heard it before; it is about the journey not the destination and the stories from my fraternity brother and friend are both great reminders of this.

Labels: philosophy

Posted by Roger Nusbaum at 9:58 AM | Permalink | Comments

The misery continues for David Ortiz as he went 0-7 and left 11 runners on base.

No one seems to know what is wrong. There have been comments on various telecasts by various announcers about not doing the right thing with hands or not driving the ball both of which imply he never got better after his injury last year.

The question I have is how much time does a manager give a player who has delivered more than his fair share in the past to get it all sorted out?

Manager Terry Francona has earned the benefit of the doubt in my estimation on anything baseball related so I will not second guess him. But how much time is right? The team has played just over 1/4 of its games. We are coming up on interleague play and so Papi can sit those games instead of playing first base, or not.

Does he get 54 games to work it out or maybe 81 or the entire season? Do his past deeds mean he should get as long as it takes?

One thing is certain it is much more difficult for an American League team to succeed if its DH is struggling with the Mendoza Line.

Labels: baseball

Posted by Roger Nusbaum at 4:52 PM | Permalink | Comments

There was a little bit of a hullabaloo a few days ago when White Sox relief pitcher Bobby Jenks threw behind Ian Kinsler at about rear end level after six White Sox hitters had been hit by Rangers pitching.

The fine for Jenks came down from MLB offices at a whopping $750. I did not take the time to do the math but this is far less than he makes per pitch.

Labels: baseball

Posted by Roger Nusbaum at 6:58 PM | Permalink | Comments

Dom DiMaggio passed away this morning.

I have always known he was a pretty good player and Joe's brother but in watching the NESN coverage today he had, like many players in his day, an interesting story.

I am intrigued by the players who interrupted their careers to serve in WWII. I've not heard of any players doing so since the Korean War. The way society and the military have evolved it is not surprising--I am not being critical as I never considered joining the military but more making a comment on what these guys were made of and I find it admirable.

Labels: baseball

Posted by Roger Nusbaum at 4:28 PM | Permalink | Comments

Man Ram got popped for a banned substance and is out for 50 games. The suspension will cost him about $7 million in forgone salary.

As is always the case there is some ambiguity about what the real story is; was there something in a prescription that he did not know about, did he willfully do the wrong thing or is the answer somewhere in the middle?

Regardless of what the truth may be, unlikely we ever get the truth, this is inexplicable. If there was something in a prescription (assuming the most benign possible explanation) how is there not someone watching his back to find out what is in the prescription and whether it is banned or not.

If you assume the most malignant reason then how, with they way the testing is supposedly done, could he think he would be able pull a fast one?

While he has always been able to hit you have to wonder where the common sense has gone or if ever had any to begin with.

Labels: baseball

Posted by Roger Nusbaum at 5:58 PM | Permalink | Comments

Dennis Eckersley filled in for Jerry Remy last night and tonight do the color analysis for the Red Sox broadcast.

He has been one of the studio guys for the Sox for a while now but I'm not sure how long. I'd never heard him do a game before and I thought he was very good.

As I mentioned the other day a hall of famer with rings (or a ring anyway) has the credibility to say just about anything. He was more comfortable tonight so he had more to say. First, I would mention that I have never heard a color analyst who was less prepared in terms of knowing the players' back stories. There was very little effort there.

That said his baseball insight combined with his to the point manner were fantastic. Jose Molina came up in the 6th inning with a chance to knock in Nick Swisher from third base to tie the game with two outs and Eckersley commented from the mindset that Josh Beckett should have had at this point. "This guy is an out, he just needs to go take it, he is an out. If he (Molina) knocks a run in Beckett deserves to lose."

Wow.

In the top of the fifth when Joba Chamberlain hit Jason Bay with a pitch Eck said he didn't like that at all. He said that since the first he's been pitching well in the game and that he didn't suddenly lose it, he added that enough guys in the Red Sox club house don't like him and repeated that he did not like that.

All in all, pretty good stuff Eck.

Labels: announcers, baseball

Posted by Roger Nusbaum at 8:11 PM | Permalink | Comments

My brother and I had a conversation today about baseball announcers and how bad most of them are these days. I mentioned that I liked Joe Morgan who does the Sunday night games for ESPN. A lot of people do not like Joe Morgan for some reason but I am not sure why.

The way I view it, a guy in the hall of fame with championship rings can say anything he wants about his sport and be credible. Obviously lesser players can be great announcers too, I'm very fond of Jerry Remy of the Red Sox and Kuiper and Krukow who do the Giants games but the credibility of hall of fame and rings makes that someone I want to listen to.

The above also applies to Bill Walton and basketball, you probably forgot he was on the Clippers at one point.

Labels: announcers

Posted by Roger Nusbaum at 5:22 PM | Permalink | Comments