The Gun From The Rising Son

My thoughts on the Sawx acquisition of Daisuke Matsuzaka, or rather my rambles, at TWT.

Difficulties

I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that I probably won't reach the 50 in 52 mark...unless, I account creatively. Hey, Ezra says it's ok:

I find actually listing the books I read throughout a year a troublesome enterprise. So many of them end up half-finished, somewhat-skimmed, or otherwise partially absorbed that I'm generally left with a fairly small number of books read, and a somewhat overwhelming mass of books somewhat read.

Indeed. I mean if I add together fractional books read, I think I'm probably over the hump. As it is, should I force myself to finish a book that kinda and/or totally sucks just to meet some arbitrary goal?

In my defense I had just finished reading this which I enjoyed immensely, and thought to myself "if I like a 'rivalry' book so much when the author hates my squad, it would be even better to read one where I'm with the Good Guys." Except that Blythe's book is well-written and original, whereas the Sox-Yankees book is reheated, rehashed and probably a staple on many remainder racks at this point.

So I may not reach 50 individual books completed, but will have read the equivalent of 50 full books by the end of the year. This strikes me as a plausible interpretation* of my resolution.

P.S. If you are a hoops guy, I thoroughly recommend "To Hate Like This..." One of my top five or so for the year, and certainly in the top two for sports (along with "Fantasyland" which I still hope to blog about at TWT prior to the New Year")


* It's true, The Law has destroyed what little shred of soul which may have survived the first 29+ years o'life. I'm legalistic parsing my own new year's resolution. This does not end well...

My Mantra

Tim asks:

Pooh,

Your public is waiting for you to weigh in on this JD Drew to the Sawx business.

Five year grace period...five year grace period...five year grace per, aw screw it.

WHAT THE F@*&, THEO?

I stick up for you, if you no sign Matsuzaka now...

J.D. Drew for $70mil? (ok, Julio Lugo is an upgrade at short...but then wouldn't Hanley Ramirez do just as well if not better? It's not like he's proven himself at the Major League lev...what's that? RoY? PigF****r...) To continue with a theme, he has talent but he has no...MARBLES. We think MannyBeingManny is flaky, but you never really feel like he doesn't give a crap, just that he goes about things the wrong way. J.D. Drew does not, in fact, give much of a crap. That's a good fit with the Boston media. But at least we have the Japanese John Halama on board.

I was telling PapaPooh the other day that if we don't close the deal on Matsuzaka, this will have been a disastrous off-season. Isiah Thomas bad. Matt Millen bad. Don Rumsf...no, that's too far.

Five year grace period...five year grace period...five year grace period...

Are the MFY's Neocons?

I'm with Drezner, Best. Op-Ed. Ever.:

TRADE A-Rod’s continued failure to deliver in the clutch is diverting critical resources and dividing our team. He must go. We need to move on, now!

KEEP Trading A-Rod would lead to a disaster in the American League East. It would embolden other teams and threaten future Yankee clubs. To cut and run is not an option.

TRADE Neither is “Stay the course.”

KEEP Not once has the Yankee brass said, “Stay the course.” That’s never been the plan!

. . .

TRADE We’re sending our kids to fight an endless war in Boston, when it’s Detroit that attacked us. After we swept the Red Sox in August, you hung out your Mission Accomplished banner, but nothing has been accomplished.

KEEP The Yankees never said it was over. The news media said it was over. And I acknowledge the challenges. We must adapt. We must heed the experts. Joe Torre and his coaches have said they believe A-Rod should come back. We must listen to them.

TRADE Those are the same “experts” that batted A-Rod eighth!

KEEP You would stoop so low as to attack Joe Torre? Have you no shame? Have you no shame!

RTWT

In other news, Pasta Diving ("and another one pastadivingJeter") won his third straight gold glove. Dreams do come true.

Quick Baseball Predictions

Twins over A's in 5: Twins can take 1 of 3 when Johan isn't pitching.

Yankees over Tigers in 3: Young team, in a tailspin, gets hypnotized by the 45 minute 7th inning stretch at the stadium (which includes everything short of Disney on Ice, these days...)

Padres over Cardinals in 4: La Russa probably pinch runs for Pujols, which ends up costing them the deciding game. If there's a baseball equivalent of the basketball "Look! I'm coaching!" timeout, it's Tony La Russa doing pretty much anything. This is still a really good book, though.

Mets over Dodgers in 4, before the lack of Pedro derails them. (It's almost as if one could have predicted that Pedro would be very good for a year or two after he left the Sawx, and then his arm would fall off. Almost.)

Let's Go Twins

GGOW? Not So Much...

Via, Andrew Sullivan of all people, apparently the Greek God of Walks, Kevin Youkilis, isn't, er, Greek.

Not sure how I feel about getting my Sawx news from a Brit, but I'll live.

(Read/watch the whole thing...suck it Mel Gibson)

NOW Stick a Fork in Them

I was hasty before, but I don't think I am being premature to say, after today's debacle - blown save by Papelbon, and the almost inevitable walk-off surrendered by Julian Tavarez (why can't he break his hand punching a wall again so we can put him out of our misery for the year...)

Worst of all, the Twins may never lose again (and are now tied for the Wild Card with the Sawx...if it keeps up this way, I will never, ever, ever here the end of it from these guys.)

Stick a For in Th....GET BACK LORETTA!

Still reeling from The Heist*, as well as Chien-Ming Wang throwing the wickedest googlies since this guy and 'Tek going under the knife thislong after the trade deadline, I was fully prepared to give up on the Sawx for the year. I was even composing the 'stick a fork in them' post in my head. Down 5-4 in the 8th after Timlin gives up a two-run bomb? D-O-N-E, done, not even Papi can will this team to victory day after day. But then...Mark Loretta...Supahstar!

As one M. Corleone was once quoted as saying, "everytime I think I'm out, they pull me back in."


*see also Jayson Stark today:

Over and over in the last few days, people from all walks of baseball have been asking: That's all the Phillies got for Bobby Abreu? And the answer is: You've got it.

"I keep asking myself, 'Is there something I don't know about Bobby Abreu that they know?' " said a high-ranking official of a team that would have loved to add Abreu in a less complicated, dollar-signed world. "I'm just baffled that they could not get anything back for a guy this good. And they paid him $1.5 million to waive his no-trade clause. And they just tossed in Cory Lidle -- tossed him in. I know for a fact there were teams that offered better prospects for Lidle alone. I don't get it."

GAH!

I Want Pat Gillick in My Fantasy League

Anger...RISING!

You ever play in a fantasy sports "keeper" league where certain owners always seem to be 'building for the future,' 'stockpiling' ''prospects'' for the 'future?' (Which leads to such things as trading, oh, say, Albert Pujols for David Wright and Scott Kazmir...actually, that trade would be Gillick's best day...) Well luckily for the duct-taped together Yankees, so do they...Seriously, the best you could get for a borderline All-Star (well, not this year, but still) and a decent starters were a few minor-leaguers (not really even prospects, just some random minor leaguers, it seems.) Did Cashman have to throw in a few cases of beer, a few jock-straps and a bucket of BP fungoes to make the numbers work?

What it comes down to, of course, is money. Because the Yanks can eat the remaining two-years and gazillion dollars on Abreu's contract...GAH! I can't go on...

(But there is good news. After Kris Benson was traded by the Mets, Abreu fills a certain void recently lacking in tabloid-saturated NYC...)

((And the worst part of it is, if the Sawx had taken care of business and been 7-10 games up like they should have been, considering the Yankees injuries, it probably wouldn't have mattered...PigF****r.))

Sawx Weekend Pilgrimage: 1-2. Worse, No Papelbon

A few more or less random observations from the Seattle-BoSox weekend.

1. Ichiro is absolutely unique as a baseball player. I'm not sure the sheer oddness of his hitting style comes through on TV, but it is unquestionably effective. It seems like he went about 17 for 13 over the weekend. I know that's not possible, but like Chuck Norris or Jack Bauer he bends reality to his whims.

2. Speaking of the Norris/Bauer debate, the new Roadhouse DVD is worth renting just for the Kevin Smith/Scott Mosier commentary track, where they gleefully praise the awfulness of the film, mixing in similar observations: "Dalton doesn't go hunting because 'hunting' implies the possibility of failure. Dalton goes killing." This is a trend I heartily support - commentary tracks devoted to carving the movie to pieces, almost MST3K style.

3. Downtown Seattle has a distinct urine smell when the temperature rises abouve 90. Yech. There are also a lot of hills. It's not fun to walk up hills in 95+ degree heat after drinking beers at an Englishman's pace for the entirety of a ball game. (During the second game, I was seated next to a Briton, wearing a canary yellow Arsenal jersey no less and we chatted about sports, European and American for the whole game while buying each other massively overpriced MGD's. Good times. Except...)

4. Julian Tavarez and Rudy Seanez are awful. Tavarez came in and immediately a pretty decent debut outing from Young Kason Gabbard on Saturday.

5. I may have found the coolest store ever, near Safeco field: Ebbets Field Flannels, authentic throwbacks to all kinds of long forgotten teams - the '65 Alakska Goldpanners, the 1892 Lebanon Pretzel Eaters(!) and, the truly awsome 1939 New York Knights, check the right sleeve...

Some pretty sweet stuff, I must say. (Minnesotans, perhaps the Minneapolis Millers might catch your fancy.)

6. Varitek's homerun of J.J. Putz with 2 out in the 9th might be the farthest I've ever seen a ball hit in person. They said 398, but hogwash, it hit the facing above the cafe in right field, having just stopped rising.

7. Getting beat by the awful Adrian Beltre and Richie Sexson sucks - I've never seen a walkoff homerun in person, and it's not a lot of fun as an opposing fan. (Speaking of, I'd wager that the support was 60-40 or 65-35 in favor of the Mariners all three games. Red Sox Nation was in force)

8. Worst part about the middle relief sucking in every game was no Papelbon. I even got asked by confused Mariner fans "who the hell is Papelbon" as I trudged out of Safeco with #58 on my back.

I Speel Goot

So dashing off a post on the way to the airport leads to funny things. Like inventing words. Pilgrimamge? WTF? It also leads to the dreaded Bad Travel Karma. The shortest route from Anchorage to Seattle is, at least according to Alaska Airlines, via Fairbanks.

If that doesn't seem like it makes that much sense, let me tell you

It doesn't. (For the truly geographically challenged, Seattle is south-east of that green area some of us like to describe alternatively as Canadia, Hockeyland, Eh? or simply the 51st state.)

But that only works if you sit in the wonderful Fairbanks 'International' (too where, exactly?) Airport, which was built in approximate 1895, and hasn't changed any of the air filters since that time, as my sinuses can attest.

At that point, you may witness what I like to call The Dumbest Thing ever - while waiting on the jetway just outside the plane, (since the gate agent wants us to get on the plane and out of her hair as much as we do, she's not bothering with that boarding by rows thing. If you need extra time or are travelling with small children, tough shit) a guy starts cutting in line. On the jetway. Repeatedly. (Later, I realise this same...gentleman...is sitting directly behind me when I am startled to discover his face leaning over my shoulder to watch my DVD player along with me.)

TDE is then nearly repeated when another, not obviously related (though possibly equally drunk) gentlemen attemps to jump the strangely mamoth cab queue in Seattle. After strangling him with my headphones*, throwing the body in the trunk and telling the cabbie "Downtown, and step on it!" I just miss my anticipated 5:30 arrival time by checking in at 11:30.

Thankfully, my good mood was restored as they replayed Slappy von Chokenstein airmailing a throw home approximately 15 and 20 times on the late Sportscenter. It's Zen-like, the ability of comical Yankees plays to calm me.

So, off to Safeco. Ridiculous the amount of Sawx gear in downtown Seattle today. The Nation, on the march. As my only pregame comment, I note that it's a bad sign when your starting pitcher is wearing a Royals cap in the media shot.

Yikes. I mean "GO, KYLE SNYDER!"



* This may or may not have actually occurred. As anyone who has travelled with a head cold will tell you, reality was a bit more of a fluid concept than usual.

Pilgrimamge, Part One

Off to Seattle to see the Sawx play three, posting may be light. If it helps you get through the day, pretend I said witty things and laugh appropriately.

While I've Been Away Watching Too Much Soccer

So, during the extended dance mix of World Cup '06, it appears one or two things have popped off in the opposable-thumb using world. Some may be worthy of fuller blogging, some may not, but...

• The Sawx have won 11 straight. During the streak Papi has 3 walkoff's. Or one more than the number of goals the U.S. team scoredacquired during that same period. Pedro got cheered, got shelled, got gone. Thanks for the memories Petey. If we see you in October, there's more where that came from, buddy.
• The NBA had it's Draft. FreeDarko, per usual, killed it.
• Speaking of FD, Kaiser and friends have gone similarly all grad-studenty on the Minnesota Twins - it's Tuesday's With Torii.
• For the last sports related tidbit, Fletch is not best pleased (or especially impressed) with the Weekly Standard's anti-soccer missive, which truth be told, sucks enormously - consider the central conceit:

  Soccer is the perfect game for the post-modern world. It's the quintessential expression of the nihilism that prevails in many cultures, which doubtlessly accounts for its wild popularity in Europe. Soccer is truly Seinfeldesque, a game about nothing, sport as sensation.

  More cringe-worthy than an Italian 'earning' a penalty.
• Ezra Klein says not nice things about The West Wing (and here). It hurts because it's a little true.
• And finally in unquestionably good news, SCOTUS reversed then Judge Roberts' ruling in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. Apparently, laws matter again. Not only laws, but legal and legislative process matter as well:

  nothing in Hamdan means that the President is constitutionally forbidden from doing what he wants to do. What the Court has done, rather is use the democratic process as a lever to discipline and constrain the President's possible overreaching. Given this Administration's history, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

  In other words, as I, among others have said all along, if the administration thinks it is too constrained by the Law, as written, go through the proper process and get it changed. All that said, though, at 177 pages of opinion, the decision does raise many of the concerns about the inaccessability of Court pronouncement voiced by Publius (and here). I'm sure to have more to say about this later, but right now, all I can say is 'score one for law and democracy'.

I (Silently) Told You So

Ok, I could have sworn that I claimed to be optimistic about what Mike Lowell would bring to the Sawx this season. The closest I can find is an allusion to the pretty obvious 'Roid suspicions involved in his precipitous dropoff from '04 to '05. But seriously, I was happy about it - we could afford the salary (especially as part of the Beckett deal), it was for two years, and at very least he was going to play Gold Glove 3rd base. Well, he's played superbly in the field...and is hitting .333 while remaining one of the Major League Leaders in extra-base hits.

Wily Mo is starting to make a believer out of me, perhaps CF is his best position. And he just rakes the ball. Plus, he's both huge, and slightly expendable - which will come in handy for the inevitable brawl with the Yankees. (I say we send him after Robinson Cano...)

And, more good new on the way with one Covelli Crisp returning soon (btw: ouch!:

Crisp, meanwhile, is not much more than a week away from rejoining the Sox, his rehab stalled two weeks ago by a debilitating bout with kidney stones.

TMI!) and Big Boomer Wells to return on Friday...

I don't want to get too jacked up and jinx the whole thing, but this could turn out to be a pretty special team - deep starting rotation; a lock-down closer; great infield defense; depth (two out of Crisp, Nixon and Pena for the non-Manny outfield spots) another murderous top-to-bottom lineup, featuring Kevin Youkilis, the Greek God of Walks as one of the emerging leadoff hitters in the game (with the glaring hole being the Gonzales-Cora-Pedroia Axis of Feeble at short); and a two of the most feared hitters in the game as our anchors in Manny and Papi...

I feel a tremendous sense of trepidation even posting this but...

Asshole of the Week: Hair formerly Like Jesus, Arm Like Mary

The Unfrozen Caveman Centerfielder.

I have no compelling reason for this. But then, I don't need one, do I?

I was okay when he left - the Yankees overpaid for him. We are fine in the Centerfield deparment - CoCo Crisp is a pretty solid replacement who is both a decade younger and costs much less [assuming he doesn't break his finger. Oh wait, damnit] and Adam Stern has performed pretty well on D in Crisp's absence. Plus, Damon still throws like a girl. Perhaps even moreso. It's as if just sharing a locker room with Slappy and Posada (the one I really, really hate) has made him into an even bigger wuss.

But Damon, wearing Yankee stripes, sans beard and hair just reminds us why the Yankees are the Empire and everyone else, Sawx especially (yes, yes, I know, they are more 'Empire-Lite' in reality, but allow me to have one moment of unnuanced partisanship, damn you), are the plucky, scruffy Rebellion.

Plus, who doesn't love a stirring round of "Yankees Suck!" cheers?

Controversy!

Sawx Win! But, Ye Olde Towne Marketing Engine being what it is, we can't just win. Looking inside the boxscore we see:

Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	PC-ST	ERA
J Beckett (W, 1-0)	7.0	7	1	1	1	5	0	109-75	1.29
M Timlin	1.0	2	0	0	1	0	0	21-11	0.00
J Papelbon (S, 1)	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	0	11-8	0.00

Note that it was a 2-1 game...3 games into the season, and Foulke has already lost his closers job. To which I say "good". He had nothing, nothing on opening day after having less than that last year. He was huge in the World Series run, but it may have killed his arm.

It's always a tough spot in sports (or in any endeavor, really) to draw the line between where you give someone the 'respect' that their contributions have 'earned' and this continued indulgence becomes harmful to the whole enterprise. But having a closer who can't, you know, close is nowhere near that line. Especially when you have a hoss like this:

waiting in the wings.

And of course the Sawx being the Sawx, the speculation will run rampant as to how this will affect Foulke's confidence or the Bosmos team chemistry, or the player's faith in Francona (Watch this space [free reg req] for the inevitable Shaughnessy column on one or more of said topics.) That being said, the Sox cognescenti at SOSH unleased a collective combination of "duh" and "well done Tito" at the move.

Oh yeah, MFY's lose, A-Fraud K's with man on 2nd, 1 out in the 8th with the score tied at 4. The data points continue to mount...

Update 4/6/06: That didn't take long. I ask, CHB delivers.

SawxBlogging

J.T. Snow 1 year. $2mil. Is he going to play CF or SS? Meh. (though potentially a decent platoon at 1B with Snow and Greek God of Walks.)

And Manny thinks he's staying put. Good. If we can just pick up a non-replacement level CF (Jeremy Reed?), I think I can live with a no-hit SS, since its not like we will struggle to score runs with the meat of the order being Papi-Manny-Tek-Lowell.

Pooh's KwanzmakuhYear's Day Airing of Grievances

John Cole has the wonderful idea of getting everything off your chest now so you can start the new year fresh.

So, here goes.

1) Dubya. I could go of on a long-winded diatribe, but it's all been said. Often. Really, all I can add is "try harder".

2) Shills of all shape and size. Be yee Kos, PowerLine or just what Steve H. might call "PajoompaLoompas". I'll echo the "try harder" bit from above. Try harder to think for yourself. Try harder to think before you talk. Try harder to listen. Try harder to be as skeptical of things said by those you agree with as you are of those you don't. Accept being wrong. It happens to the rest of you from time to time...

3) Larry Luchinno. Jackass. You won, once, and are in full Huizenga scorched-earth mode now. Well done.

4) Sony and the RIAA. Putting the (my) "comp"(uter) in your incompetence. Whatever happened to 'you break it, you buy it?' And the RIAA, thanks for running creativity in main-stream music into the ground. I might just start having to listen to techno, just to hear some variety. Thanks for Ashleeeeeeeeeigh Simpson too.

5) Kaiser. You're a dumbass. (Edit: apparently people thought this was a bit strong. Fair enough. I accept your grievance that I am an asshole in my list of grievances. But since I've aired it now, I can let it go in one week and never grieve about it again.)

6) The producers of Lost. You have no idea where you are going and you are dragging me down with you. Stop it.

7) The Religious WrongRight. Practice what you preach. Or call on god to smite Dover, same thing right? And how was it that the gays and liberals caused 9/11Katrina again? Thanks for NutraScience^Tm as well. What do you mean some of the ingredients may rot my faculties and cause me to be outsourced?

8) Adam Morrison. Why oh why bring the sleaze-stache back? Other than that, keep doin' what you doin.

9) David Stern. Why institute a racist dress code and then let them wear pajamas on the court?

10) Blogging. Taking up all my time. At least when I was playing poker I was getting paid for it...

Unfrozen Caveman MFY

Yeah, yeah, yeah the Evil Empire signed Johnny Damon. $4 years, $13 mil per. I think this is the rare deal that hurts everyone involved. The Sawx obviously need a CF, and I'm guessing the price for, say, Jeremy Reed just went up. The Yankees overpaid for an aging CF with no throwing harm to, er, replace their aging CF with no throwing arm (who the re-signed anyway.) Johnny has to cut his hair, and be buttoned-down corporate-whore guy. That worked out pretty well for the last 'free-spirit' they signed. Aside from the whole Balco thing. Oh and the almost dying from an intestinal parasite thing.

I'm Just Saying (Baseball Edition)

Sawx to Rocket: Let's Talk