My Other Blog

He seems pretty stoic about it but in is a major accomplishment in terms of it being very difficult to do in the age of five man rotations and complete games almost disappearing but he did it.

Labels: baseball

Posted by Roger Nusbaum at 4:40 PM | Permalink | Comments

The Portland Sea Dogs are the AA affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. They play their home games at Hadlock Field which has the pictured replica of the Green Monster from Fenway Park.

Very cool.

The only thing Prescott, the town where we live, is missing is minor league baseball.

Labels: baseball

Posted by Roger Nusbaum at 3:44 PM | Permalink | Comments

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