Baseball and Beyond

This site is a collaboration between Jirty (now 11) and Sluggerbaby (parent). As you can tell, we like baseball. We'll be writing about other stuff, too. Please stop back!

posted by Sluggerbaby, December 16, 2009

Between Channel Flicker's fractured leg, MIL's brain tumor and my common cold, there's a lot of sickness in the house these days.

I feel guilty lumping mine in with theirs, but as I'm the primary caregiver, I'm dragging trying to service everyone.

You know how sometimes your body is just itching to get outside of itself? I was so sick of repetitive tasks like dishwasher-emptying and cleaning pots, pouring glasses of water, etc....that I went outside, velcro-ed the Hit-A-Way (see left) to the basketball pole, got out 3 bats (DeMarini, Mark McGwire and Brother D's special  homemade) and swung away until I was just short of a heart attack.

Boy, it felt good. That's my therapy.

Mother-in-law's therapy, as she's got something called "right side neglect," is to re-train her brain to develop visual, motor, and coordination skills on her right side. The squishy ball (see right) from a Blue Rocks minor league game is my choice of how to get her going on that.

She's already indicated to me that she doesn't want to do it (she's never been a baseball fan), so I may just end up tossing it to her unannounced, now and then. If she misses it, it's really soft.

posted by Sluggerbaby, December 10, 2009

We honor Julio Franco (left). 

We honor him because he certainly didn't get any respect on this card.

Hey, EVERYONE has days like this. I have a day like this every 5 minutes.

Memorializing it on a card? Bad move, Topps.

*     *     *     *     *  

I hate to say it, but this (Brian Morrison card, right) is a typical card from this era - 70s and 80s, before computers. But that still doesn't account for this basic error which is usually covered in Photography 101 classes.

A simple correction of letting in more light or using a flash would allow viewers to actually see detail on darker-skinned faces (such as Little Brother's).

posted by Sluggerbaby, December 10, 2009

Some Thursdays have come and gone - we've had some birthdays, some holidays, lots of doctor appointments and trying to prepare for radiation/chemo for mother-in-law, who starts Day 1 on Wednesday.

I start Day 1, as well, as I will be doing the bulk of things - driving to and from the cancer center, tending to basic needs, etc.

Photo, above, shows "da cousins" leaving after a few days here at Thanksgiving. We did our ritual g'bye, which entails endless waving and some chasing of cars, as though we worshipped them like rock stars. (We do.)

We had some nice board game times (and no one got hurt), good chat, tons of food and a park outing - frisbees, walking, b-ball, sorely-needed fresh air.

posted by Sluggerbaby, November 26, 2009

Channel Flicker cooked a tasty 15-lb. turkey despite being highly grouchy since returning home from the hospital.

He's on Oxycodone. Isn't that the active ingredient in OxyContin, the drug that Rush Limbaugh OD'ed on? Wonder if Limbaugh's spouse noticed grouchiness, too? 'Course, it might be hard to tell, with that turkey.

Here's the card of the week, with a disclaimer: MIKE IS NOT A TURKEY. He's one of my all-time top 5.

It's the card that looks like it got caught in the washing machine's rinse cycle.

See the image on the left, in the blue area about mid-thigh? Looks like some kind of Shrek character; big chin, frown...

It took much looking at to realize that it's Mike's ARM. His head (the rinse-cycle version) is above that. I dunno - just a little too much action-Jackson going on in this design, for me.

I sure would like to be at Cooperstown in a few years, when Mike is inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Maybe he won't me charge full price to sign this card.

posted by Sluggerbaby, November 22, 2009 (left: x-ray of CF's 2 broken bones and dislocated ankle; right: x-ray of surgery with metal plate and 9 screws)

"Research this: Morgan Kalman clinic. And Craig Smucker," Channel Flicker said over the phone last night. "Smucker is going to do my surgery."

"With a name like 'Smucker's,' it's gotta be good," I smirked, spinning off the old Smucker's jelly commercials on tv.

Channel Flicker is stuck in the hospital for a few days after a nasty backward fall in the woods in our slope-y yard. I did my homework, and googled the clinic. On the "Testimonials" page of the Morgan Kalman Clinic:

"Once again, I couldn't have done it without you.

Thanks,
Curt Schilling

P.S. How about a run at
the “Cy” next year!"

There were other testimonials from guys on the Phillies and the Royals, and Nancy Lopez the golfer.

It wasn't Smucker that performed any of these operations, but we figured if a clinic this reputable hired him, well...he's gotta be good, right?

I've been mentioning this quote all week, to whomever asks about the surgery...funny how that goes: I've claimed bragging rights, even though I've never been a fan of the bloody-foot pitcher blogger turned  upcoming politician (or maybe he is already; I haven't bothered to check).

posted by Sluggerbaby, November 18, 2009

Cringeworthy.

It's week #2 in Jirty's showcase of cards.

FAR LEFT: "Yes, Billy - Pedro can come out and play...right after choir practice at St. Agnes."

JUST TO THE LEFT: "Down by the station Early in the morning See the little pufferbellies All in a row..." (Tell me that Bert Blyleven didn't feel uncomfortable EVEN BACK THEN, wearing this get-up).

I hope this doesn't come off as mean-spirited...just poking fun mostly at either the fashions of the times or the graphic design "jolly good tries."

posted by Sluggerbaby, November 17, 2009

Getting rammy being housebound these days. I look forward to 2:35, when I walk down and up the big hill to meet Jirty getting off the school bus. 

When we got home today, we dumped the 20-lb. bookbag and had a catch. I was so disappointed in myself. The ball we used was rock-hard. I guess for so long we'd been using the kind that looks and feels like a hardball but maybe has a thin layer of spongy stuff under the hide. I thought THAT was the real deal, so when Jirty whizzed the RockBall to me, it almost blew my glove off.

This discomfort with Rocky is the same as when I'm fielding a hard-hit grounder or pitching to a strong batter. When we go to the park to play ball on the diamond, I wear a batter's helmet - when I'm pitching. Looks goofy. But I'm used to that.

It has to do with my face. Not that it's so terrific, but...

A few years ago, I was taking a photo of Jirty on a swing. Suddenly there was a terrific pain in my front tooth. It took a second before I realized that I'd gotten a little too close and Jirty's foot swooped with the upswing and hit the camera into my mouth. It permanently discolored the bottom half of the tooth, but worse than that - it's also made me a ball weeny. 

I recently realized that batters, catchers, plate umps and now 1st and 3rd base coaches wear head protection...but pitchers don't. The only thing worse than Jirty throwing that ball at me would be Jirty hitting that ball at me.

*     *     *     *   

Actually, my scaredy attitude came before this. An earlier episode, almost the same. I was leaning into the trunk of my old car, trying to bungee something. My arm was stretched way out. Suddenly there was a terrific pain in my front teeth. It took a second before I realized that the bungee cord had snapped out of my grasp and the metal hook whacked me good. Worse than wearing an Adolph You-Know-Who mustache all week at work, that may be when my ball weeny-ness really started.

posted by Sluggerbaby, Friday the November 13, 2009

When I was a kid, Boog Powell was The Man.

The large man manning 1st base during the Orioles' heyday, he was (for a short time) the Babe Ruth that stayed in Baltimore.

His ballplaying years are long over, and kids in that region know him - if they know him at all - as the guy who popularized the trend of ex-players opening up food stands at stadiums. Boog's Bar-B-Q is famous at Camden Yards.

I challenge anyone to watch an entire major or minor league game in person WITHOUT eating a morsel. You may pay more than you would on a week's worth of groceries. But it's part of spectator culture - people willingly miss key game plays by standing in really long lines waiting for rock-hard smashed pretzels with glue-y salt, lukewarm burgers with cheap buns that stick to your fingers, and a $3.50 cup of ice blocks with a half-shot of Coke in it.

But ballpark cuisine has really evolved from the hot dogs & peanuts of older days, and there's a lot more to choose from. Depending on which park you're at, you might find sushi, clam chowder, pierogies, reubens, jerk chicken, crab cakes, baby back ribs or Cuban sandwiches.

Look how many terms of the game refer to food and eating...If you think of more, serve it up.

HOT STOVE LEAGUE          HOME PLATE          THE DISH          PICKLE          FORKBALL          BEANED       

DOUBLE-DIP          CUP OF COFFEE          CAN OF CORN          MUSTARD          PEPPER          CHOKE

DONUT          MEATBALL          SANDWICH PICK          GOOSE EGG

posted by Sluggerbaby, November 12, 2009

Jirty and Little Brother have amassed quite a lot of baseball trading cards. The collections aren't the greatest, but they are comprehensive.

The BC Collectibles where we used to live was owned by this cool, slightly eccentric guy who would periodically box up a random assortment of old duds, pricey individual cards that weren't selling, and current packs. $5 for a box of about 200.

So the kids have a unique combination of currents and recents (Barry, Chase, Pronk, Manny, and yes, Jorge) along with a ton of unheard-ofs from the 70s and 80s, with their weirdly colorful polyester sausage-casing uniforms and funky glasses.

At Jirty's suggestion, we'll showcase 1-2 each week. At right,  "Jones," trapped in a overly graphic designed web of eastern buffet restaurant wall art and matchstick game. At left, just bad, bad composition and a guy who apparently stepped over some really hot coals to get back to first base.

posted by Sluggerbaby, VETERAN'S DAY (THANKS FOR SERVING, DAD!) November 11, 2009

Dad mentioned at dinner tonight that Ken Griffey is No. 5 on the career home run list with 630. Dad dislikes most organized sports but has a phenomenal memory, so he's actually a great conversationalist on all things baseball. He remembers everything he ever read. I can't even remember what tv show I'm watching when the commercials run.

Hard to believe that Junior will be 40 this month. Many sportswriters think that he (the young he) is the most talented baseball player they've seen, and had it not been for his many injuries in recent years, Mr. Happy Go Lucky would be higher on that list, perhaps even beating the asterisk.

I have long wanted to try my hand at baseball art. This is the best of the sketches (drawn from photos in Sports Illustrated). Hopefully you can guess who it is. The one at right is the worst - flat, overly conscious, muddy. Can't seem to be consistent - my handstrokes tighten up with each illustration.

*     *     *    *   
Thank you to all the Veterans of War who fought for our freedom, including Dad, my brother R, my Uncles and Preston M.

posted by Sluggerbaby, November 9, 2009

On Halloween, we scuttled the kids around in their scary costumes until they'd gotten enough candy to give them stomach aches and turn my cavities into real root canals. Then the children played in the basement while the adults gathered in the cozy living room of our friends' house. 

It's nice watching games there; the lighting is subdued and the sofas are so generously cushioned you could sink in and hibernate there all winter. In fact, there may be people from their last party in there already.

During the game, the all-Phillie fan club gloated continuously and rah-rahed their heroes.

After the third inning and a key play, I said, "I guess now's not a good time to tell you that Jorge Posada is my favorite active player." 

One woman, a serious fan of Chase Utley (quite respectably holding the record of getting on base in 26 consecutive post-season games AND tying Reggie Jackson for most home runs in a World Series), turned her head and said, "What is it you like about him?" (Or maybe she said "What is it you like about him?" Or maybe both.)

"I like his ethic. He's a workhorse. He's a switch hitter. I can watch him on every play, 'cause he's behind the plate." I also think he has tremendous baseball smarts and is a strong presence among the guys in the clubhouse. Say what you want about his "weak arm" or his "poor offensive skills." Jorge's got ball.

Here's my mini-tribute:

Top left: CRYSTAL JORGE.

Top right: FUZZY JORGE.

Middle: LEGACY JORGE.

Lower left: $226 JORGE.

Lower right: BUBBLE GUM JORGE.

Dad, if you're reading this, I'm not apologizing - you already know I'm crazy. Just know: I did not buy any of this...

*     *     *    *    *   

Jirty saw me writing tonight and said "Why do you always write stuff about Hor-hay Posada?" He grabbed the mouse and started typing away. I'm verklempt; I've been waiting over a year for him to post. Jirty, unedited:

One team player  even though I am a Yankees fan  was Chase Utley, he hit 5 home-runs in the world series alone, now thats some hitting. Also in one Sports Illustrated issue it said that there would be a home run derby between RYAN HOWARD and A-ROD, well let me just tell you that it didn't happen that way, what did happen though is that       (that's how it ends; I'll see if I can get him to finish it sometime)

posted by Sluggerbaby, November 8, 2009

It's over.

I wanted to watch the tickertape parade in NYC, but there was too much going on at home this week.

 This blog will continue throughout the off-season, though. It keeps me sane.

This is a personal entry today...my mother-in-law has recently been diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer (Teddy Kennedy's kind). She has moved in with us indefinitely and will be getting surgery on Tuesday. Within a few weeks she'll begin the routines of radiation, chemotherapy and an occasional cyber-knife treatment.

I am her primary caregiver; I'll be administering medicines, taking her to the hospital daily for 6-8 weeks, feeding and hygiene-ing (my made-up word, a la George Carlin) her. So I may not be posting as often...or I may be posting a lot more (the sanity thing). We've had a lot of help with her family these past 2 weeks, but everyone lives far away and of course must return to their own lives & families.

So...it's over.

And it's just begun.

posted by Sluggerbaby, November 6, 2009

Was it any surprise the Yankees were gonna win?

Really?

I was hoping for a 7th game, just for the sake of it. Apparently Shane Victorino was, too. The last Philllie at bat, and he just couldn't let it go. Even with his severely bruised hand he kept shaving and slicing away, foul balls left and right.

GRIT. That's what the Phillies are made of. Well done, Phillies team!

The Yankees? What is there to say? You love 'em or you hate 'em. 

They're calling them the "core four" now - Jorge Posada, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte. Except for Andy's short defection to Texas a few years ago, they've all been Yankees forever. COMBINED TOTAL: 20 WORLD SERIES RINGS.

A lot has been said about them, ad nauseum, but the thing I find most interesting is one that is rarely talked about. Amidst all the talk earlier this year about building clubs around super-young superstars and up-and-comers, and ESPECIALLY the nasty blogging about how Posada and others are "too old and decrepit" to be playing at their positions...they've challenged and defeated everyone - in a big way. And these two weeks, the Phils played well. The Yankees just played better.

Here's to Jorge (38 and still able to bend those knees WAY down - talk about "tools of ignorance"!)...Mariano (40 in a few days, and the best closer in the game)...Andy (still in his pitching prime at 37) and Derek (supreme staying power at 35 - captain of his team since his rookie year; that speaks volumes).

Oh, and all the rest of the guys...almost forgot about them.

posted by Sluggerbaby, October 28, 2009

This household is an odd lot.

Jirty is anti-Phil simply because they're archrivals of the Mets.

Little Brother likes the Phillies because he has a Pat Burrell Phils shirt (now historic) and because his old kindergarten class was Phanatic.

Channel Flicker? Hates the Yankees because they're "a bunch of arrogant overpaid stars." 

I like 'em both...though I have to go with NYY.

Boy, are the Phillies performing beautifully tonight. It's the bottom of the 8th, and this game is over. I know the Yanks are capable of a great rally - they have many times. But it just isn't in the cards tonight.

Chase Utley - 2 homers! Cliff Lee - shutout, plus 2 casual on-the-mound catches, one behind his back! They're just too good tonight.

posted by Sluggerbaby, October 28, 2009 (photo taken at spring CAA All Stars game)

Waiting mode, between the playoffs and the World Series (which starts in 7 hours). Here's the challenge:

Can you come up with any more types of pitches, other than the ones listed on the MLB Gameday website? http://www.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/ , mentioned in my post from 9/14/09. Respond to the "Guestbook" page above, if you think of any...

The following list covers 4 general types of pitching - FASTBALLS, BREAKING BALLS, OFFSPEED, and the last 2 are NEUTRAL:

• fastball                                   
• 4-seam
• 2-seam
• cutter
• splitter
• forkball
• sinker
• slider                      
• curveball
• knuckle curve
• screwball
• gyroball
• changeup                                 
• knuckleball
• intentional ball             
• pitchout

The only one I've heard of that isn't on this list is a SPLIT-FINGER ball (maybe it's another name for one of these?).

posted by Sluggerbaby, October 25-6, 2009

Pretty close to the stroke of midnight, it was determined:

 The Yanks are  going to the       World Series.    

Now, to bed. It's been a long day.

posted by Mom's Sluggerbaby, October 25, 2009 (pictures: Mom's watercolor; shirt made for Jirty's "Babe Ruth" book report; great artist Jean-Michel Basquait)

Scrolling back, I see that this time last year was the time I gave up on this blog.

It had all gotten too much - working in a job that I simply was not capable of doing well, some challenges at home, and the loss of so many traditions that gave me much pleasure when Mom was alive.

This morning Dad and I went to the cemetery. I was a crab for the rest of the day. Grievances 'R' Us.

Tonight's Game 6, ALCS, is in the Big Apple. I love that city - the mystery and complexity of it all. You never know who you're standing next to in the art store (the next Jean-Michel Basquait?) or what you'll encounter on the next block.

Speaking of apples, I found this lovely sketch - just a study in watercolor, actually - in one of my Mom's canvas artist bags recently. She would probably have considered it a "nothing, really" piece. But to me, it has the mystery and complexity of good art.

"Very painterly" (as she once told me), Mom!

posted by Sluggerbaby, October 24, 2009

This is so NOT my Mom. No one I know has a mom like this.

And the punchline - I've heard people say this about the New Yankee Stadium, lots of times. Only it wasn't funny when they said it.

So why do I love this cartoon? Beats me, but I do.

If you're ever waiting in a doctor's office and you see issues of The New Yorker in the magazine rack, pick one up.. It's the best thing going for single-panel cartoons.

Game 6 (ALCS) has been postponed due to rain. It's reschuled for tomorrow, Oct. 25 - my Mom's birthday. Rain - befitting the gloom in my mind.

I miss you Mom - thank you for not being that kind of Mom. ♥ ♥ ♥

posted by Sluggerbaby, October 23, 2009

Those tenacious, persevering, clingy Angels.

They're like a piece of lint that you try to get off your pants on a static electricity-filled winter day. You pick it off, shake your hand, and that's the end of it, you think.

Danged if that piece of fuzz doesn't come back to haunt you. You try to toss it on the ground a few times. You try exchanging it with your other hand. You even wipe it back to your pants, hoping for better luck the 2nd time around. The more you try to get rid of it, the more it wants to hang around. The thing has cling.

I'm convinced that the Angels wouldn't have gotten this far, but for their fallen teammate Nick Adenhart. A few hours after pitching six scoreless innings on a day in April (his first MLB outing), rookie Adenhart was killed (along with 2 others) by a guy who ran a red light - a repeat offender with a suspended license.

This close-knit, mostly young team has grown even tighter throughout the season as they continually pay tribute to him.

From the black "34" patches on their uniforms to the gigantic photo of Adenhart on their outfield wall which they trot out and touch periodically, these guys show their respect. They keep a locker for him at every stadium they play in. They look to the sky and tell him "this is for you, Nick." They really, really want to win this for him as well as themselves.

It's hard to root against a team like that. Good luck to the Yankees, trying to deal with all that static cling. 

posted by Sluggerbaby, October 22, 2009

GAME 5, ALCS: Muy dramatico. UP, down, UP, down. Currently the Angels are back on top. Who needs this stress?

Speaking of stress, there's a lot going on at home: sick child, Channel Flicker's demanding job, a burning back problem, and most importantly, mother-in-law seriously ill. Poor Channel Flicker; the hospital called here at 3 a.m. and again at 6 a.m. He's got a lot on his shoulders right now. If you know mother-in-law, please keep her in your thoughts.

*   *   *   *

Jirty jumped in the car after his team ballgame tonight and shouted, "That was the best game!"  What he meant was that it's the first time he was invited to pitch in this new league. He pitched 1 inning nicely. Plus he got a strong line drive - a power hit that started a rally, and he was the winning run.

Yea-o, Jirt! It's been a frustrating season for him, I think - erratic at the plate, with lots of called strikes and more than a few strikeouts. It was a bright spot in an otherwise crappy day.

Pictured at left: Little Brother perked up for a little bit while watching Jirty's game, but after 15 minutes, we had to sit in the car. He's been waking up a lot - feverish, seeing things that aren't there, super-scared. Hopefully the medicines will kick in soon.

Oct 22: Happy birthday, sister-in-law K, if you're reading this. Hope you had a nice day.

Jirty and Little Brother have going nuts with "electronics" these days. My rules have gotten very lax since the beginning of summer.

It had gotten overwhelming to hear that I was too strict, a broken record, mean, and a person with dumb ideas. Tantrums, whining, screaming, the whole bit. And that was just from Channel Flicker.

Kidding aside - now that I've indulged them, it seems all they want to do is sprawl on the sofa or sit in front of the computer, while I get them to blink every 15 minutes so their tear ducts don't clog.

That's why I've just started "making" them play ball after school. We stopped doing this mid-summer, when it got really hot. We've all gotten lazy. I've gained about 40 pounds (not really, but it feels like I'm wearing one of those little kid bathing suits with the rubber tire around the waist). When I bend over, there's this...THING in the way. It's not even a roll - it's a freakin' massive BLOB. How easy it would be to take a scissors and just cut it off, if it weren't for the pain and chance of infection.

This "tire" is partially why a lot of balls escape my reach. I simply can't bend over very well. So I need this as much as they do. I hope this warm weather keeps up.

Oh, and if you hadn't heard,  THE PHILLIES ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES AGAIN.

posted by Sluggerbaby, October 20, 2009; artwork by Jirty

If you're a baseball fan, I don't need to tell you the standings.

If you're not a baseball fan, I don't need to tell you the standings.

Oh, what the heck: Current standings of each League Championship Series (best of 7): 

AMERICAN LEAGUE: NYY ahead of LAA 3-1 games

NATIONAL LEAGUE:  PHILA ahead of LAD 3-1 games

The Yankees-Angels game starts in about 20 minutes. My personal opinion is that the playoffs are usually much more exciting than the World Series (in recent years). This year,  the playoffs have been mixed; some are thrilling until the last second; others are...well, how exciting can it be to watch a 11-0 game?

My guess for some time has been that the World Series would be Philly vs New York. I think that will be an evenly matched series (hmmm, I won't know who to root for - of course I have to go with Jorge, but the Phils have a great, snappy bunch of players). GO TEAMS!

Of course, it's almost painful to watch those guys play in this East Coast coming-into-winter weather. I get deep bone chill just watching the pitchers blow into their stiff curled fingers. Some of those guys had their long sleeves pulled up - in a wind chill factor of 41 degrees. Sheesh. I guess it's machismo. Or madness. Or nervousness. Or maybe their woolen long-johns were itchy.

posted by Sluggerbaby, October 20, 2009

You know how you can get totally sidetracked into something terribly time-wasting and kinda dumb?

That was me, watching a "Flip & Get Rich" infomercial on the Comcast Sportsnet channel. And I'm totally buying it, you know? (The sincerity, not the product. Yet.) I'm this close to knowing that it's not the real estate market that's bad, it's the banking industry that's bad. And it's interrupted just like that, by a news "ALERT."

The "ALERT" was a press conference with Charlie Manual, the Phillies' manager. Of course, they dramatically won last night's game against the Halos, with a Jimmy Rollins' triple in the bottom of the 9th, 2 outs. But their next game isn't until tomorrow night.

So what's the point of the interruption?

It was eerily similar to a presidential press conference. An introduction, then a cutaway to Charlie in his red windbreaker and cap, taking topical questions from the press such as "Take us through your emotions during that 9th inning" and "Are you able to enjoy the moments as they come up, like right now in mid-October, or do you have to save it until the end?"

No doubt Charlie is a great manager. Sportscasters are starting to refer to the "dynasty" of today's Phillies. I think the questions got answered, amid the meandering and "everthangs" and "guys that was eager" phrasings.

But really - this is ALERT news?

posted by Sluggerbaby, October 11, 2009, 10:30 p.m. EST

My kids are in bed. But someone's kid (young man) is going berserk in the Metrodome, running across the field. By the time he climbed the outfield wall, he was caught and handcuffed.

They don't call 'em "crazed fans" for nuthin.'

posted by Sluggerbaby, October 11, 2009, 10:15 p.m. EST

Wow, that's some tat' that Twins pitcher has on his neck. The game is still on, painfully so. Oh, the dejected looks of the fans. So sad.

I actually was torn, and rooting for Minnesota earlier to win this one game, just so the season could be extended (because it'll be a long six months). Then...Jorge gets a tie-breaker home run.

As I'm saying, "Jorge! Oh..." (you gotta know he's my favorite player - and as I type, he just drove in another run in the 9th), Jirty is yelling "What are you saying! You are the worst fan for a team!"

I'm rambling, so I'll quit now. I think the handwriting is on the wall, anyway.

posted by Sluggerbaby, October 11, 2009

If you're a fan this postseason, you already know what's going on. And if not, you probably don't care that the St. Louis is out, the Red Sox are history, both victims of 3 straight losses.

When Mike Piazza was a catcher for the Mets, he was interviewed during the end of a long, long season . Can't remember his words, exactly, but they gave a lasting image of a tired ballplayer soaking his worn-out body in the whirlpool. He implied that he was so weary, the end of the season wouldn't have been the worst thing to happen. I think of that every time another team folds.

I also think in a few moments Minnesota is going to be the next team to go. It's 10:00 p.m. EST. We'll see how the next few minutes unfold.

posted by Sluggerbaby, October 9, 2009 (great photo taken from newspaper article at Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum)

When verifying the exact name of the Hall of Fame for an article about Cooperstown (good thing I checked; it's National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum), I saw a press release for their 4th annual Baseball Film Festival. My descriptions, in 10 words or less...

"Holy Land Hardball" - Boston bagelmaker tries to create pro baseball league in Israel.

"Road to the Big Leagues" - Examines why the Dominican Republic produces so many superstars. 

"Signs of the Time" - Richard Dreyfuss narrates inspiring/controversial stories about baseball hand signals.

"Major Leagues?" -  Women playing the game in Cuba.

"We Believe" - Chicago loves their Cubbies! Entertaining story of exhilaration/heartbreak/tradition.

"The Farm Team" - Challenges of grounds crew of minor league team in Alabama. 

"A Braves New World" - How the "Miracle in Milwaukee" Braves expanded baseball westward.

"She's Baseball Mad!" - Did women save MLB in Seattle?

"A Shortstop in China" - Cal Ripkin shares baseball, in role as public diplomacy envoy. (Hey, I remember this! See my posting, waaaayyyy below)

"El Play" - Aspiring Dominican Republic ballplayer balances signing hopes with improbable realities.

"Ghost Player" -  Lively misadventures of an unlikely team of middle-aged Iowa ballplayers.

"The Lost Son of Havana" - Exiled Luis Tiant returns to Cuba; encounters unexpected demons and gifts.

"Girls of Summer" - Women who've competed since 1850s. Girls vs. boys in nationals. 

What's with all the girl movies? Three! I guess it speaks to the baseball-watching population, which I heard somewhere is something like 40%. Some of these aren't feature films - at 12 and 25 minutes long, who would pay? But I hope they throw them all on a giant DVD sometime.

Oh, I've got company coming a half-hour before the Yankees-Twins game tonight. 6:07 est pm, to be precise. Gametime, that is. Well - maybe we'll all have to do tv dinners...(then again, they're Orioles fans).

posted by Sluggerbaby, October 2, 2009

Talk about eternal optimism: the logo is already designed and on the Braves' home page. 

Still. Condolences go out to my brother D and family. Spring is just around the corner. Well, a long bitterly cold corner.

With any luck (& skill), my nephews will be playing on the Braves in a few years. That is the dream of the Brother D household. MAY YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE! And save us some free tickeets.

To my little guy Jirty - so sorry about the Mets. They got some really bad breaks (literally - ask David Wright). At least Jirty's beloved Jose Reyes will be getting some needed hamstring surgery, and hopefully will be better than new, come 2010...when we can start believing in the Mets, too. In fact, didn't the Braves update that slogan from the 1969 "Ya gotta believe" Metsies?

I grew up passionate about the Orioles, stopped following for a long while, switched to the Braves, then to the Mets, now to Yankees. I'm not a true fan, though...my allegiance is more with individual players rather than host cities. I have to say I like a lot of lineups: Phils, Mets, Rays, Rockies, Dodgers - heck, I'd probably like 'em all if I knew them all. How's that for team loyalty?

posted by Sluggerbaby, October 2, 2009

I'm getting to that stage of life where it's increasingly harder to get off my bum during commercials. (I'm double-tasking by being on the computer during most games, but still...) To justify this, I try to stave off Oldtimer's disease by keeping the brain active - by deeply analyzing tv commercials.

Not even going to mention (except to mention it) those "This is Bob!" commercials - you know what I'm talking about if you've watched just 1 game this year. Bob, the nerd with the eternally goofy Botoxed grin, who takes a job as a creepy Santa Claus so a bunch of equally goofy grinning women can sit on his lap. Ewww.

Here's another: the Snugglie, a monk-like apparel that anyone in the family can wear, including Dad (I think this guy's smile might be Botoxed, too). Yeah, right. Make sure you go to the bathroom before you get into that get-up, which appears to have to be put on like a dry cleaner baggie over a clean suit. It looks like it's made of stylish 100% polyester, so hopefully you won't mind all the static electricity shocks.

Some of the ads are terrific - the "Forever Young" remake (and far better) of an old Bob Dylan song, contrasting old baseball clips with new...the "Beyond Baseball" series showing snippets of various players growing up...most ESPN commercials.

I could go on...Jirty and I love to memorize the good ones as much as we can. You should see him do the Geico cavemen.

posted by Sluggerbaby, October 1, 2009

Hate to say it, but it was kind of anti-climatic (for me) to see the Yanks win AL East division. But only because Jorge wasn't playing, and it was kind of expected - if not that game, then the next, or the next. With a win-loss record of 102-57, they're currently a full 10 games ahead of #2 Red Sox (AL Wild Card winners), and 20 games behind 3rd place Tampa Bay.

For an idea of how good that is, take, i.e., AL Central: Detroit is 2 games ahead of the Twins, and  8 games past the White Sox.

The lowest-placed team in MLB is the Washington Nationals. But today I heard one of the players commenting on how grateful the team was to have such supportive fans, and what a pleasure it was to play for them. Hey, even if the guy was lying - what a classy thing to do.

The Phils clinched the AL East last night. Again, not much of a nail-biter at 10-3, though fun to watch the fans go gaga the last half-inning. I've never been to Citizens Bank Park, but Jirty and Channel Flicker said it's really nice. So I was wondering whazzup with the cheap-o plastic draped around the locker room. Oh, -duh. I guess in the olden days all that champagne squirting and pouring made for one heck of a cleaning bill. The poor GM and interviewer - I get uncomfy seeing grown men cry. Some of the players got smart and wore swim goggles. They looked surprisingly good. It might be just the thing to wear during those rainy-day games. 

posted by Sluggerbaby, September 23, 2009

I MISS ASSISTANT COACHING!

We moved in the spring, about a half hour away from CAA league. I was willing to do the long drive, but Channel Flicker feels we need to make more of an attempt to meet people here.

At Jirty's game on his new team this weekend, I did see someone that I'd previously met at a baseball camp Jirty attended. But I was restless. Little Brother was antsy, too; we had a couple of pitch-and-catch sessions but mostly he wanted to leave. As sometimes-bat boy for the Marlins, he knew the old gang well, too.

I know it's a transition, but I miss my coaching buddies...the other parents...the kids. It was "all good stuff," as Coach B would say. I miss being at first base, yelling "Go! Go!"...seeing Li'l B's bulldoggedness behind the plate...checking out how long G's hair has grown...looking for A's Dad behind the backstop between his smokes...talking biz with an ump now and then.

Yeah, maybe Jirty will learn more in this league. It's competitive. CAA was not; its mission statement states that its "sole purpose is to teach our children the fundamentals of baseball and the importance of true sportsmanship." We had a lot of green kids each year, and admittedly it's hard for the experienced kids to fully grow when half the team has to be taught the basics.

The new league segments kids into one of three divisions - the really good players, the pretty okay kids, and the beginners. Jirty is in the middle one. We'll see how it goes.

That's  Coach C , at top left. He's recovering from long-overdue back surgery. For 3 years, he's instructed by pointing with his cane, which he needed because of a slip on wet stuff at work. He's one of the few people I know who can yell "Whaddya DOIN', ya knucklehead!" in the same breath as he gives an affectionate hug and a back rub.

Coach C's wife  Lady J , lower left, is scorekeeper, den mother, equipment lugger, drink supplier, first aid lady and everyday saint. She's "good people."

Fellow  Assistant Coach B , at right, serves as pitcher during batting practice, and base coach during games. He also composes and plays piano music in his spare time, and is overdue for a visit to us so we can hear his new stuff. 

Oy vey; I'm so not good with change...

posted by Sluggerbaby, September 22, 2009

I reluctantly schlepped our boogie boards and skimboards up to the attic. Still hoping for a really hot weekend to go to the beach, but as September clicks by it's not looking good.

The pennant race is hot, though. Who are you rooting for?

I'm using the internet tracker thingie (mentioned in my 9/14 post) to witness another probable Yankees loss. I'm impressed with some of the teams that are not in the running - how well they perform against the Bronx Bombers.

How's this for a statistic? According to Sports Illustrated (4/6/09 issue), the Florida Marlins' ROSTER makes less (salary) than Alex Rodriguez! Something is seriously wrong with this picture. It's disgusting that these players are making so much money when there are so many ills in this country that need to be addressed, but the funding isn't there. There, off my soapbox now!

*     *     *    *    

From the archives: Found this washed-out photo recently of Little Brother running the bases on an empty field. HE LOVES THE GAME. We've been playing pitch and catch now that it's cooler outside. He's got a killer "fastball." No control whatsoever. About every 4th pitch comes right at me, and I'm guessing by the time he's nine I may not be able to catch him.

Most of my time is spent digging wild pitches out of our ultra-weird "lawn-a fauna" - random piles of hard spongy greens that have itchy spikes and a massive root system remniscent of a New York subway map. The ugly stuff is so thick that we've lost at least baker's dozen of balls in there.

The kid is very into the mannerisms and tries them all out. At times, his pre-delivery is to stand like a statue with his face completely turned the opposite direction. His head spins around at the last second a la Linda Blair in The Exorcist.

I have this terrible habit of congratulating him on every good pitch, and consoling him on the bad ones. But I just read somewhere that this is the wrong thing to do, for reasons that now seem obvious. Well, shut my mouth - for REAL.

posted by Sluggerbaby, September 21, 2009

 AT LEFT:  The cover of Junior Baseball, a national publication with a niche audience (well, 3 audiences): parents of kids playing ball, young kids starting to play, and older kids who know the game and are looking for specific refinement.

It's a meaty publication with tons of great tips from Major and Minor Leaguers.

This copy is from our local library.

 AT RIGHT:  Inside the back page of the Sept/Oct issue, my article  (named by the editor). It's actually my 2nd "byline" article (meaning my name is visible as the author). I did have a few snippets published in a local arts newsletter many years ago.

But this was my first acceptance during my quest to be a freelance writer. I'd better get moving; it's been two months since I wrote this...or anything (except this blog).

posted by Sluggerbaby, September 20, 2009

There's something fascinating about stadium lights. During fall ball in our old league (hopefully not our ex-league), which didn't have working lights, we could only squeeze in about 3 innings between late starts and too-dark endings.

I like photographing these beamers; they look like cool high-tech UFOs.

*      *      *      *

Ya gotta spend money to make money. Did I get that right?

Channel Flicker bought a used MacBook laptop from eBay. Hopefully it will motivate me to learn Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, which just may help with the job search. I've signed up for a several tutorials at the local Apple store (not for these programs, unfortunately). Get my slow engine warmed up.

Does anyone need a catalog copywriter? I would really like to do that, from home...or write people-oriented "content" for a website or newsletter, magazine, whatever. People, I need money!

*     *     *     *    

Not sure why Jorge Posada initiated a bench-clearing brawl last week during a Yankees-Blue Jays game. Long story long: The Yankees pitcher hit two guys in previous innings. Then Toronto reliever Jesse Carlson threw a ball behind at-bat Posada. It didn't hit him, just went to the right of his rear end. Posada took a few steps toward the mound, saying "You don't want to do that."

Posada walked, and upon being driven home he brushed elbows with Carlson, who was standing along the 3rd base line. Carlson cussed at him as the home plate ump immediately ejected Posada.

Posada then charged back toward Carlson, and in the time it takes for a dog to lick your meaty fingers under the kitchen table, both dugouts cleared as the men poured out and acted like little kids at the playground. I thought about the week before when, twice, Posada forgot his pitch count...and wondered if something was awry in his family, to make him act so...well, OFF, of late.

Interestingly, I found this quote online, just now:

"He was just right there on the line to the dugout. We got carried away and hopefully that's the end of it," the 38-year-old Posada said. "I don't want my kids to see that. ... Fight in the middle of the field, benches clearing - that's a bad example."

They, along with a 3rd player who apparently just liked getting in on the punch-fest, were suspended for 3 games.

posted by Sluggerbaby, September 14, 2009

Here's a neat website...click on this link:  http://www.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/

When the main page opens, click on "Standings" at the top. Then look up whatever team you want to know about, and look at the right side, under "Next Game." If the game is going on, it'll say "Live" - click on that, and you can find all kinds of stats that only a baseball fan would love.

It tells who's pitching, who's up (with their photos), who's in the hole, etc. - speed and type of every pitch, with a simple graphic of a guy batting, and the trajectory of the pitch. You can see the lineup, which links to every player's stat page on mlb.com.

Coolest of all, you can twirl the batter guy around so you can see him and the pitches from anyone's perspective - the pitcher's, the Goodyear blimp guy's, a mosquito's, a pimple on the batter's shoulder. It's kinda fun to toggle it around.

You have to pay extra to see live video, but if you're a fan of freebies and the game is not playing on your FIOS or radio, this is the next best thing.

*    *    *    *    *   

Just flippin' thru the 2009 Blue Rocks yearbook...check out this list of players now in the show, who once graced our little town in the minors:

• Johnny Damon
• Carlos Beltran
• Sal Fasano (google "Sal Fasano  Reader's Digest article" - what a story)
• Jacoby Ellsbury
• Jon Lieber
• Chad Durbin
• Clay Buchholz

Okay, so you probably never heard of half of them...there may be other big-name players, but I'm not that familiar with teams beyond the east coast. And this team is a Kansas City affiliate.

Jirty starts his fall ball season with team practice today, on the "new" league where we now live. He still wants to play with his old team (1/2 hour away) so we're awaiting the schedule to see if this can be done.

Here's my open apology for dissing my spouse and kids, below - healthy eating is one of my big concerns, and for the past year or two we seem to be on a downward spiral with it. Sorry for raggin' on ya, my good gang.

   *   *   *   *   *   *

 3 of my nephews are now in college...we're all hoping nephew S gets back into ice hockey, which he's grown up playing (he's even certified to referee games, which gave him a little pocket dough a few years back). S, we're rootin' for ya to COME BACK.

C is freshman in-state (not ours), and after 3 weeks has already acquired several dozen good friends and has probably been to as many parties. He was recruited by the baseball team, and is trying to make the main squad this year which is quite hard for a freshman. But he's a very confident guy, and that has translated well to his performance on the field. GO C-MAN.

J, the one mentioned periodically here, is now a junior. He was placed in a summer league in Virginia but had to leave prematurely to rest/rehab his arm at home. It's been over a year since his Tommy John surgery, but he's still experiencing pain. No one is sure about his future as a pitcher. According to my brother and sister-in-law, J is a really good rightfielder. He may even prefer that, as he'd get to play 9 innings, every game. He was terrific as a DH in the spring (.356 for the season). A toast to your complete recovery, J.

posted by Sluggerbaby, September 12, 2009 

See the Blue Rocks minor league game, in Jirty's sunglasses?

That's about all I saw of the Star Wars-themed game on Saturday, in between all the "I'm hungry!"s and "When are the fireworks?"

Knowing that Channel Flicker and the kids are 24/7 grazers, I packed about a week's worth (for a normal family) of edibles in my expandable backpack. How dumb. The entire 14 pounds' worth, gone by the bottom of the 2nd!

I know I can be a un-fun, rigid parent. The meanest parent in the word, I've been told. One mistake was trying to ration everyone's goodies. I ended up zipping and unzipping my backpack several hundred times.  After several trips for hot dogs, Cokes, Dip'n'Dots, cotton candy and funnel cakes...we had to stop at Burger King on the way home because everyone was starving. It wasn't even a double-header.

The one-legged pitcher was very good, though the Blue Rocks lost.

posted by Sluggerbaby, September 12, 2009 

Go, man!

Bottom of the 8th, Yanks trailing 2-1, Jorge off the bench to pinch hit. 3-run homer. Suits up to catch in the 9th. Yea! Nothing wrong with Molina; he's good people. I'm just a Posada fan.

A big "told'ja so" to all those naysayers who said Posada and Jeter were washed up. Jorge's having a good go of it offensively. Jete just surpassed Lou Gehrig's record of "number of hits as a Yankee" (kinda hard for anyone to have a record like that nowadays - P & J are two of a handful of players who spend the majority of their careers in one city). 2,723 hits, if you're counting.

"Ha!" to those that boo-hoo-ed about Joe Girardi being a terrible choice as Joe Torre's replacement. Last season the general public's Respect-O-Meter had Girardi about on par with, oh, Squeaky Fromm. I think he's got a good managerial style (doesn't ride his players) and he's made some smart moves as far as filtering in the young guys without fading out the oldies. Many days he plays Alex Rodriguez and Jorge every other game, to give them plenty of rest time, especially as both are coming off relatively recent surgeries.

Yankees are currently a full 10 wins ahead of the Red Sox, and are playing excellent ball (except for this dreadful smearing by the formerly-dreadful Orioles this weekend - and I say that with all due respect as a former Birds superfan).

It's AAAHHHLive...

Yes, this blog is crawling back to life. Will post more in a few.

Don't ask me what a few is. Hopefully a few hours, but with MIL moving in today, it may be a few half-days.  Back to cleaning those bathrooms.

Here's a visual diary of what Jirty and Little Brother were up to this summer:

posted by Sluggerbaby, July 2, 2009

500    500    500    500 

Mariano Rivera - 500 saves, wow. 2nd person to do so. Love watching the Rivera/Posada combo. And that little foot tremor thing that Mariano does. Wonder what makes him do that? You can google all kinds of quirky pitching habits on youtube. Personally, I think normalcy is way overrated. (Don't mention this to Channel Flicker - we haven't even agreed to disagree on this.)

The Yankees have a lot to laugh about this season (and it's refreshing to see anyone doing this during gametime) - only one of which was Marino's ribbie during his at-bat that game. He was unintentionally walked, bringing in a forced run. He was credited with an RBI - his 1st in 20 years. (Well, I think he only ever batted twice, or something. Still.) 

posted by Sluggerbaby, June 16, 2009

The White Sox are #1: yea. I can't really shout too loudly about it, as we can't take much credit. Little Brother has only attended about half the games, for various but legitimate reasons.

We even missed the first hour of the final playoff game, as we'd misunderstood when it was supposed to start. I feel we let the coach down more than once. 

Little Brother is oblivious - he likes the whole show: putting on the team outfits, pounding the glove and swinging the bat, manning the water cooler and jostling with his teammates. If he doesn't get an at-bat, he's cool with it. Not so at home, but that's a different story.  

Out for pizza after the game, courtesy of the coach who is now employed after losing his job last August. He riveted the parents with his story of the store he's now managing being robbed by 150 teenagers. He said the 911 receptionist didn't believe the story when the emergency call was made. By the time the police arrived, the store was "wiped clean." Sheez!

posted by Sluggerbaby, June 15, 2009

Oh, bittersweet. Jirty and his classmates celebrated their graduation from elementary school with an Aloha Celebration that was both moving and funny (at least for Jirty, Channel Flicker and me).  For Dad? He's sat thru more than a few of these, and he's not so riveted, but he doesn't know any of "the players" except for the ones who invited him.

Jirty was quite nostalgic, and for days said things like, "I won't ever eat lunch with all my friends again." And I said something lame like "You never know; you might all get together years from now."

I want so badly for that to be true, for him. But of course it isn't likely, and it's even more complicated now that Jirty will be in a different school district. He really has a fun posse of kids, and we got some great photos of them to preserve the moments. 

I've volunteered at his school for years, and am on a friendly basis with a lot of the students and staff, so I was verklempt - in my mind, anyway. There have been so many changes lately - moving from the house that Channel Flicker built for us, leaving the daycare that we'd been at for 10 years, being laid off from my long-time employer, and now this. And of course I'm still dealing(reeling) with the absence of my Mom - wandering, drifting, questioning. It's so overwhelming I think I've turned myself off.

Jirty won a handful of awards and certificates - very gratifying for all his years of hard work. Jirty, you're a very special kid and I love you lots!

Baseball becomes legend as the past morphs into the future. Or something like that.

Baseball, here, is everywhere. Yes, even in the bathroom. I was very fortunate to be invited here, in a suburb north of Atlanta, for an extended getaway weekend of baseball and fun.

This baseball hall is the home of my brother's family, and it's every bit of good as the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame -just diff'rent, is all.

*    *    *    *   

Thanks to the coolest baseball mom in the world, we've inherited 2 sets of catcher's gear (that were destined for some lucky Goodwill shopper) from Jirty's cousin "C." Boy do the kids love wearing this stuff - it was worth having to catch a later flight because it had to be baggage-checked.

Little Brother has always been into dressing up (see his umpire get-up, a few posts below) so he's constantly buckling up and strutting around barking orders in an artifically deep voice: "Dad: second base!" and "Yo: throw it here!" while doing this commando kind of clapping.

He's a character. One thing's for sure - he loves baseball. He wants you to play with him 24/7 (though he thinks mom can miraculously have a catch, clean the house and cook dinner simultaneously).

*   *   *   *

Speaking of cousin "C": His weekend game was canceled due to unfortunate circumstances, which means I've never seen him play baseball - EVER. I've seen him playing soccer (in the defensive line, swinging hands with a fellow player at age 4) and shooting hoops in a rec league, but... 

"C" was named Offensive Player of the Year in his final year of high school, despite the season being marred by knee surgery. He was recruited by several competitive colleges but has accepted a baseball scholarship to an in-state university with a great Division II program. Maybe we'll be lucky enough to catch him catching there. "C" is a very popular and easygoing guy, and no doubt he'll become BMOC (meant in the nicest sense). CONGRATULATIONS, GRAD!

posted by Sluggerbaby, June 13, 2009

#1 nephew (that's the number on his uniform) came to baseball thru the back door.

After years of being witness to his 2 older brothers' games - and boy, were there plenty - he decided that football was his passion.

He was pretty darned good, from what we hear. Surely his team was at a loss when he was rammed by two bruisers who broke his arm in two places.

Worse, the injury left him with nerve damage. The cool skeletal-pulley device here allowed #1 nephew's fingers to unfurl after closing them to grab something.  And it was definitely a conversation-starter at school.

The arm healed after a year - or so it was thought. A week after resuming football, he re-broke his arm.

So after an absence of several years, #1 is back to baseball. He decided he wanted to take it easy, not get too committed, so he joined a rec league.

But sports have a way of pulling you in. Between the games, the practices, the weekend tournaments and the possibility of joining the high school team, #1 is feeling the intensity.

He's coming along fine, though he's tough on himself - remembering the bobbles more than the base hits. Not that he has many bobbles.

I thought I'd taken these two shots in sequence - but what happened to the infield ump and the baserunner? Hmmm. Well, at least one of these swings was good for a base hit.

#1 is currently at a weeklong baseball clinic given by the high school coach. Hopefully he's surviving and thriving in that Georgia heat. Wishing you success, #1.

posted by Sluggerbaby, June 4, 2009

If you know a little Braves history, you know how significant it is that Tom Glavine was released by the organization yesterday.

Or maybe it isn't.

Perhaps still stinging from the defection of John Smoltz and maybe even of Greg Maddux, members of the team have been shown in sound bites on the sports channels today, commenting how valuable Tom was in advising teammates how to react in situations, how to think on the mound, how to refine technique, etc.

There is always that consideration: If someone is beyond their prime, what is their true worth in the clubhouse? For morale, espirit de corps? For helping unleash potential in younger ballplayers?

On the other hand, one of my family members commented a few months ago that Mr. Glavine got "old and fat." (Ouch. Aren't we all, or at least heading in that direction...) And even though you might still be able to pitch when old and fat, I knew what he was implying.

Bobby Cox said that when Greg Maddux was being honored at a function, he credited Tom Glavine with teaching him something extremely valuable: how to pitch with pain. Maybe they'll be honored together at the Hall of Fame five years from now. Or maybe Tom Glavine still has a few change-ups left in him.

posted by Sluggerbaby, June 3, 2009

Photos taken during last week's gametime:

Photo 1: Sitting on the job - but at least it's with the boss's approval. 

Photo 2: Throw it to me! No, me! No, me! No wonder it gets confusing.

Photo 3: Gettin' jiggy wit it (I made it to 1st base, yeah!)

Photo 4: I know that ball is somewhere...

They must be doing something right. Little Brother's team is in 1st place.

posted by Sluggerbaby, June 2, 2009

Sorry to brag; I don't do it often, but: did you ever see a tinier catcher? Such a peanut. Little Brother didn't catch a single ball, but who cares? It's not like he had to give the pitcher something to aim for.

The balls would be hard to catch anyway. This division uses a pitching machine. A really old, really temperamental one. I guess it mimics pitchers if this age group had them, because the balls go everywhere. 

Kudos to the kids; they actually get a lot of good hits. 

posted by Sluggerbaby, June 2, 2009

Our new neighborhood is extremely hilly and there's no place to have a decent catch. Little Brother (6) wanted to show me his fastball yesterday (while pitching in his umpire suit, see post below).

Of course his throws were so sizzling hot that I couldn't catch them, so we spent more time whacking out stickerbushes to get the ball after it kept rolling down to the woods than we did playing.

The first time we played ball here, we walked around the house a few times before finding an awkward space in the front yard. Jirty and I didn't throw more than 10 times before I missed a catch.

The ball rolled down our Mt. Everest street, then up the next hill, CROSSED the street and rolled right into the drain gutter. How come we can't hit bowling pins in a 6' straightaway, but that danged baseball goes into a slot 700 feet away?

*    *    *    *    *   

At our old house, Channel Flicker created this cool batter's box to help Jirty refine his pitching. It's "green" (all recycled materials): 2 garden stakes, some old string and careful measuring.

Note the plastic tables in the background, which caught the pitches we couldn't. Good thing our only neighbors didn't mind the startlingly attractive  set-up.

posted by Sluggerbaby, June 1, 2009 (Photo of Jorge Posada spraying Mariano Rivera with some fine bug stuff during Game 2, AL Division Series, 2007 by GREGORY SHAMUS / Getty Images)

Can someone please tell the Yankees' launderer to not to put the team uniforms on "high heat" dryer setting?

I am watching my man Jorge right now, and he's doing an awful lot of grabbing and hoisting, and stretching his arms way up like his sleeves are too tight. Maybe the threads shrunk and are twisting up the fabric? He's not the only one doing this - Nick was Swishing around, too...and others. Of course, those evil annoying bugs (a type of midge, an insect related to mosquitoes) from the '07 AL Division Series are back , so maybe they're causing the itchypants.

Whazzup with that city Cleveland? A flock of seagulls trumped the midges in tonight's game, when they pranced across the field in formation that would make collegiate cheerleaders sick with envy. Unfortunately, they didn't bring their gloves so they were unable to suit up.

posted by Sluggerbaby, June 1, 2009

Conversation with Channel Flicker a half-hour ago:

Me: Darn, I forgot to crop out Little Brother's head from this photo.

CF: What are you talking about?

Me: I try not to show close-ups of faces on the blog - for privacy purposes. Except for major league players and Blue Rocks. But everyone else.

CF: You don't have any pictures on your blog.

Me: What? Don't you even look at my blog?

CF: I've seen it. How do you think I know what you call me: Channel Switcher.

Me: Channel FLICKER. Look here - see, all the cropped heads? The photos still look good, though, don't you think? I have tons of pictures on here. Hmmm, I love my blog.

CF: So why don'tcha make some money off of it?

Me: (annoyed, intrigued) Well how do I do that?

CF: Write something somebody wants to read.

Me: (sigh) This is the best I can do.

If you're curious about the photo, these are the duds Little Brother changed into when he got home from school. He said he wanted to change to go play with his new buddy across the street. "Wow, you look sharp! Why are you all dressed up?" I asked.

"I'm not all dressed up! I don't have a belt on." He picked up a baseball and after a pause, said with a sly smile, "I look like an umpire, don't I?"

posted by Sluggerbaby, May 17, 2009

Jirty fell last weekend and jammed his thumb. It's swollen, black and blue around the main joint. So he's banned from pitching until it heals.

He did try an inning catching, for the first time. Little B (who usually catches) was pitching.  They were a smooth-running machine. All our pitchers were pretty good that night, but our offense was not enough to get us the win.

Channel Flicker was upset that I let Jirty catch; he wanted Jirty stuck in the outfield where (presumably) he wouldn't get a lick of action so his tender thumb could stay on its trajectory of healing. It does make sense. I shoulda thoughta that; sometimes my head is in a fog.

posted by Sluggerbaby, May 14, 2009 (Top photo: Coach Chris, Jirty's team; bottom photo: Coach Tom, Little Brother's team)

TV as an instructional tool for kids playing baseball?

Here's my idea: if someone could edit the entertainment out of some of these baseball channels (no, I'm not advocating to change it for tv viewing) to create a DVD of all the batting tips, pitching insights, offensive strategy, etc., and have the kids watch it before each practice and game...

It's all good stuff: Hearing Barry Bonds compare the hip rotation of 2 batters and explain why one is batting .351 and the other isn't. Seeing Tim "The Freak" Lincecum describe his windup. Watching the comedy of errors from defensive players not "calling" a fly ball. Listening to the bickering among the analysts, many of whom are former players.

If the kids would only pay attention, that is.

On Jirty's team last fall, the 9-11 year olds waiting for their at-bats each inning were climbing the fence of the dugout, throwing balls at the catcher's shin guards (when they were on him), giving each other headlocks and nougies, pouring water on each other...anything but listening to the coaches, whose primary shout was "Cut it out, you guys/nuckleheads! Pay attention to the game!" "Nuckleheads" being said with affection, of course.

On Little Brother's team, ages 6-8, it's a free-for-all. I give Coach Tom a ton of credit for being both a great humanitarian and an excellent babysitter. He's a cool guy and knows his baseball. Hopefully some of it will be absorbed by the kids. I'm pretty sure they all heard every word when Coach Tom said, "You guys did a h*%! of a job out there, so I'm treating you all to ice cream even though I said I'd only do it if you won!"

posted by Sluggerbaby, May 13, 2009

Saw my pal Sawul at Jirty's school yesterday. Sawul, if that's how you spell it, is in 3rd grade Specials class. His limp did not stop him from keeping up with his classmates walking single file out of the building.

"HI SAWUL!" I yelled, waving my hand vigorously. He just looked at me.

"HI SAWUL!" I repeated, waving even harder. I heard his teacher say, "Sawul, aren't you going to say 'hi'?"

I like to think he suddenly recognized me, rather than just responded to the instructor's request. His face, always slightly tilted, bloomed. He smiled hugely and his eyes behind his glasses became sleepy moon crescents, just like my nephew J's did when he was a kid.

I'm not sure what it is about Sawul that has so captured my heart. I've never met his teacher, and the other teachers don't know much about him. We've never had a conversation. He's only spoken one word to me. I recognized it as Spanish, and my Dad later said it meant "explosion" or "toppling over" which fit perfectly with what we were doing at the time - stacking pennies and knocking them down. 

We'd been messing around with coins because that's what Sawul wanted to do during bingo a few months ago. All the schoolkids were assembled in the cafeteria to play, but Sawul kept sliding his coins off the bingo card. After placing them back on a few times, I realized that he just wasn't into bingo, or didn't understand it. I stacked some of his coins. With his good hand (his other one was permanently bent at the wrist and part of a long scar peeked out from his hoodie sleeve) he flicked them over and grinned mischievously.  

So we stacked and knocked and exploded those coins. He laughed and smiled in that funny way of his and he made me want to build him the most gigantic penny tower ever. I reached over and mussed his short hair, aware that it may not have been policy to touch students.

On another day, I got Sawul into trouble. It was lunchtime and he was sitting with a long table of girls. When I asked, a teacher said that the girls are his mother hens, always protecting and helping him. His posse was gabbing amongst themselves. Sawul was half sitting, half lying down. Maybe he was tired, or just bored.

Was Sawul autistic, perhaps? I remembered having read a book that challenged caregivers to enter the world of the autistic child, rather than trying to pull him/her out into our world.  I walked to the lunch line, grabbed some straws and sat down next to him. He sat up and stared.

"Hi Sawul! How are you doing? Do you remember me from bingo day?" He looked at me mistrustfully.

"Sawul, watch this," I said. I peeled off one of the straw's wrappers and shot it low, across the table. I swear his eyes got bigger, but he otherwise remained motionless.

I did the same, with a 2nd straw. Then a 3rd. I handed the last straw to him. "Here, you try it."

He tugged off the top of the paper wrap and put the straw to his lips. He hesitated for a second, then turned slightly and shot a zinger that gently hit a girl's arm before puffing away onto the table. The girl turned and laughed.

Then her friends started to laugh. Sawul started to laugh! I reloaded his straw and he shot someone at the next table. The boys there started shouting, "Sawul, hit me!" "No, Hit ME!" "Over here!" Three long tables were in an uproar.

The look on Sawul's face was indescribable. But maybe in your mind you can picture it. It's what compelled me to get another handful of straws and encourage him to shoot several more...Including a final one RIGHT AFTER a male teacher came running up and reprimanded Sawul for starting the incident. "You know you're not supposed to do that here!" Yes, RIGHT AFTER I had apologized and explained that it was my fault.

So why did I get Sawul to do one more RIGHT AFTER the teacher walked away? My justifications are this:

- the teacher went far enough away that I thought he wouldn't notice

- that look on Sawul's face

- to have Sawul be the hero of the moment

This incident probably ruined any chance of me getting a job in the public school system. Needless to say, when Sawul shot that final straw, the teacher came running back and yelled at him all over again.

Maybe THAT is what Sawul remembered, when he first saw me yesterday.

I'm sorry, Sawul! I hope I can make it up to you sometime.

posted by Sluggerbaby, May 11, 2009

Just as I was going to blog about Jason Werth (Phillies) stealing 3 bases in one game, the guy steals home. I turned on the TV when he was already on 1st, so I don't know how he got there. But he stole 2nd, then 3rd, then... Must be a thing lately. The Phils hadn't stolen home base in 2 years. He made it look so routine - they weren't even very dramatic plays.

I haven't seen the logo of my former company behind home plate this year, on tv - or maybe I have, and just have selective memory because they canned me. Last year they ran a banner at Yankee Stadium. Tonight the Phillies have SPONGETECH.com, America's Cleaning Company. Whaaa...? Who wrote that slogan - Squidward?

posted by Sluggerbaby, May 11, 2009(photo 1: Blue Rocks player tags base; 2: Little Brother swings big; 3: long shot of nephew J at his college stadium; 4: photo of our tv during the final game at Yankee Stadium, 9/08)

1 - We actually know people who attended that game (see 4/27 blog), the one with 7 home runs, including 2 grand slams. Friends of friends celebrated their anniversary at wife's (how rare is that) suggestion to forego dinner and gifts for a day at the ballpark. Happy anniversary, honey! Crack!

2 - We've not had a game in weeks. 6 rainouts so far. Tonight there was a rescheduled game but the kiddies have piano lessons (don't tell me, talk to Channel Flicker about it!). That's Little Brother (right) during a game 2 weeks ago. He didn't miss by a mile; that's just a ball on the ground. Today, when I told him he had a make-up game, there was silence, then a quiet voice: "Do I have to wear makeup?"

3 - Jorge is on the DL! Dang! Out for a month - hamstring. He was batting well; he seems to like starting rallies. He was doing okay catching, too - a few "incidents" but not necessarily his fault. One was a cringe-worthy stolen home base by Jacoby Ellsbury (arch-rivals Red Sox) which had the Bostonians rising out of their seats in glee for several minutes, it seemed. Apparently Jorge had gone to the mound and warned pitcher Andy Pettitte to keep an eye on Ellsbury, 'cause he might steal home. One google source said that Andy should not have done a full windup on that next pitch. By the time the ball came past the plate, there was no time to tag Ellsbury out. It was a great steal on his part. Of course, Baahstin will be bragging about that one all season. Yanks will be plotting their revenge.

4 - Looks like nephew J broke his nose. It was his final play in the last game of his season at college. We'd gotten overheated and left the game early, but I kept in contact with my brother throughout the game. He said J slid headfirst into home and his nose and shoulder caught the catcher's shin guard. OUCH. Well, it's not like you can put that nose in a little sling. So it'll just be another battle scar.

5 - A good friend wrote snail mail today - said she'd been keeping up with this blog, and wanted to know whatever happened to the (full) moving boxes Channel Flicker had threatened to throw out. Well, PD, don't tell, but I periodically re-arrange the boxes in the garage tighter and tighter, so it looks like I'm tossing a lot of stuff out. Thanks for reading.

6 - Alicia  - ? oh, I forget her name - she played the little girl brat on "Who's the Boss?" TV show, and has done a pimple commercial of late...she loves baseball and has a Dodgers blog that's sponsored by MLB and gets about a hundred thousand times more traffic than mine does. Maybe a million times more. I read some of it last year. She grew up in New York and her family was very religious about the cult of baseball. Sometimes she goes to games with her unfamous brother - just like a regular person! She had a funny post about people interrupting her via texting and phone, while she was blogging about the fact that the Dodgers had acquired Manny Ramirez. I wonder what she has to say about Manny's new news.

7 - A-Rod hit a homer on his very first pitch, as he stepped off the DL into the '09 season last week. Like him or hate him (I can't say I do either, he just doesn't rank high on my "thought list"), you have to admit - that is tres cool.

8 - Jorge Posada hit the very first home run in the new Yankee Stadium, which everybody hates because it's so freakin' expensive. Some of the seats cost as much as a trip to Cancun. On WFAN NY radio, they said the Yankees have already sold enough tickets to make a profit, even though a lot of the seats in the tv camera views (especially behind home plate) are empty, game after game.

9 - Brother D gave us some excellent coaching advice - details to be revealed in a future posting. Thanks, D! I can't wait to run this by the other Marlins coaches. Maybe I'll pass the brilliance off as my own - tee hee! Nah, you know I wouldn't do that...

10 - For someone who professes to be so disinterested in sports, my Dad sure knows a lot about baseball. I find that when I dispute a statement he makes about some baseball fact, he's always right. I think he does like the history of baseball - he just doesn't like to watch the game. In fact, he's mentioned many times about one of the most boring days of his life - when my Mom's Dad took him to see an Orioles doubleheader, 50 years ago. The time between the games was most interminable. In fact, he  always describes it as such: "ARRGGGHH!"

posted by Sluggerbaby, May 10, 2009

Mother's Day - UGH. Waiting for it to be over. The cemetery is pretty, the weather is gorgeous. It's the last place I want to be.

Major League Baseball is really getting into the cause of fighting breast cancer. Today it's pink bats, pink armbands, pink shoelaces, pink ribbons. ESPN is running blurbs of players holding pink bats and saying "Happy Mother's Day!" Great cause.

Maybe there should be one color for "all cancer" - because I do feel just a tad (unwarranted, but I think it's only human) envious that pink has so much exposure and research funding. Pancreas cancer is the overlooked one - highest death rate, lowest gov't funding. People don't even remember the name.

And what about lung cancer? In a few weeks, my sister-in-law will painfully experience the 20th anniversary of her Mom being gone. Her Mom was only a year older than me when she got sick.

For that matter, how about heart disease? And...well, it's a never-ending list, isn't it? I wish there could be one gigantic cure for everything that ails us. Only it can't be a shot or IV - Jirty has an intense hatred of those, and is known to fret about an upcoming needle for weeks.

MOMS OUT THERE, WE MISS YOU! 

posted by Sluggerbaby, April 28, 2009

I love this understated commercial. Never saw it on tv, just found it by googling around. Maybe it ran in the New York markets. It's quick; enlarge it to full screen before viewing it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWYaJmO5plw

 Here's a funny one with Jorge and David Ortiz:

onehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUwJAkVbAHA 

I'm still unemployed (heck, I don't have time for a job anymore)- and keep myself company in the daytime with FIOS's sports channels. Seems like some of the shows repeat every half-hour, but no matter. I like the sound of baseball, the look of the field and the glorious plays of the guys in uniform. I don't actually sit there and watch unless it's lunchtime, but I like to peek at it while I'm doing work around the house.

I think this is why my Mom would sometimes have baseball on tv when I was growing up. It probably made her feel closer to her home, her Mom, and her Dad, who was an Orioles fanatic. We lived an hour away from her parents, in the days when that was a huge distance. She didn't drive and was in charge of 4 kids and a dog, and did not get back to her hometown all that much.

Too tired to write more...hope you like the snippet. Hip Hip...

posted by Sluggerbaby, April 27, 2009 (photo at left: Little Brother with Phillie Phanatic at J's college game; photo at right: Jirty's cousin J takes a cut - and gets a single - during a game this Sunday)

 Did anyone get a chance to see the Phillies/Nationals game tonight? Whoever attended that game sure got their money's worth. When was the last time that FIVE HOME RUNS by one team wasn't enough? Talk about exciting from both sides. The homers were overshadowed by 2 grand slams by Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez, allowing the Phillies to take it 13-11.

I'm baaaack. The move is over, and though I'm still not sure why we did it, we're here for now. Still unpacking, but there's no real deadline for that, except for the exasperated ones that Channel Flicker mentions now and then ("These boxes better be out of the garage by the end of the month or I'm taking them to the dump!")

Jirty's team practices have been going well. About half the team is the "old gang" so it's good to seem them again. Jirty is still pitching, though lately he's been asking if he can catch, which is surprising as he's never before expressed interest. His hitting is quite strong. It will be interesting to see how he does against other teams. He had highs and lows last year, batting, and over the winter Channel Flicker took him to get glasses. The ophthalmologist said he had no depth perception in one eye (not the one I hit with a hardball two years ago). But he doesn't want to wear the sports glasses. He says they're too tight and it's hard to see except directly ahead. Though he hasn't said, I think he also considers them kind of geeky.

As one of 2 assistant coaches, I'm getting my share of hitting to the little guys (no girls on the team this year), and having a catch now and then. If we show up on time, I sometimes catch for the other assistant who hits to the kids. It's something I really enjoy. Keeps me from feeling as old as I've been feeling these days (which is about 100 years above my not-exactly-spring-chicken actual age). Our 30-ish coach is really good, but the poor guy hobbles about on a cane due to an accident at work two years ago. The 3 of us get along great.

This weekend was total baseball. Saturday was Grand Opening day for Jirty ("majors" league) and Little Brother (his first game EVER). Little Brother is the smallest kid on his "minors" team but he holds his own at the plate. Unfortunately, I don't get to see much of his action as it conflicts so much with Jirty's schedule. But over the years, the little guy has developed a pretty strong and sometimes accurate throw. He'll need to work on his fielding, but there's time - hey, he's only six.

Jirty pitched well, and struck out six batters. This is a non-competitive league, so there are always a few players in every game who have never played, and others who would not make any kind of Babe Ruth league tryouts. But there is a beauty, at least from a coach's perspective, in watching a kid blossom in baseball. Going from "really not good" to "hey, not so bad" to "okay" to hopefully "pretty decent" in one or two seasons...that's cool. Jirty doesn't see it that way, though. He'd rather have all the really good kids on his team.

The day was long and hot. I won the fundraising raffle, so that was quite nice. I had to spend $50 per kid on the tickets, but it definitely paid off. Earlier in the week I'd complained to the coach that they should just funnel that money straight to the league, and not "waste" it on dumb overpriced raffle winnings.

On Sunday, my nephew J was playing the final two games of his sophomore year. For all but a few games, he was banned from playing defense as he is still recovering from last May's Tommy John surgery. This season he's primarily been a designated hitter, and boy is he ever. As of 4/19, stats compiled by his school listed his average as .373, the highest on the team. His school won the doubleheader.

It's fun to make a family day of J's college games...Dad attends, and it's so good to see my brother and sister-in-law (see below, "World's Best Baseball Mom"), even though it's for such a short time. Good thing my brother works for an airline and his family can travel gratis. They use the planes like most people use taxicabs, Dad says. 

We're moving. Pack, pack. Lots to take care of. Lots of baseball to talk about; looking forward to having a little more time to do so after the move. See you then!

posted by Sluggerbaby, February 1, 2009

Pete Rose. See post below. Did'ja get it? Who would have guessed, back then, that Charlie Hustle would really be, um, Charlie Hustle?

Not that I sit around thinking of the Steinbrenners a whole lot, but there's a question that's been bugging me since last season, with all the controversy over the old vs. young, injured vs. blaise, good vs. suck, yin and yang (NOT!) on the '08 team.

What does a George Steinbrenner aspire to?

TEAM POPULARITY? Judging from the number of NYY hats we see, no matter where we travel, it seems they already have it.  Though I've heard that the Cubs are the most watched team on tv, world-wide.

# OF TICKET SALES? Don't they sell out every year, or something?

MOST OVERALL PROFIT? Branded goods, tickets, parking, tv audience, etc.

BRAGGING RIGHTS? As in consecutive World Series wins...

If the Yankees were in the World Series and lost, but the profit (however they determine that) was 10x greater than the previous year, would that satisfy them?

Seriously. Riches - they've got it. Fame - yes. Titles - plenty, but no one can have them ALL. What would be the fun of that? The caliber of the thrill would be similar to that of watching the 35th Serena vs. Venus tennis title. (Sorry tennis buffs - I like the sisters; just don't see a great, riveting rivalry between the two, after all these years).

So. I really would like to know. Maybe I should've watched those "Seinfeld" episodes more closely - the ones with George Costanza working for the front office. Maybe the answer is buried in there.

posted by Sluggerbaby, February 1, 2009

Each year, The Lou Gehrig Memorial Award is given to a player "who best exempllifies Lou Gehrig's character and integrity both on and off the field."

Any guesses on whose nameplate Jirty is pointing to, on the plaque in The Baseball Hall of Fame Museum?

HINT:  1969.

ANOTHER HINT:  (If you're old enough and regional enough to remember this commercial from the Philly market area..."Wawa!"

Answer on next post. Or you can google it.

*     *     *     *    

Q U E E N:   T H E   K I N G   O F   S P O R T S   A N T H E M S

Haven't listened to music for years but I've rediscovered Queen these past few weeks. Seems I'm re-joining the listening world slowly, through people who are no longer with us (last month it was Laura Nyro). They existed in an earlier time, when things were better in my world - certainly sounds Freudian or Jungian or something, and it certifies publicly that I'm a weirdo.

Funny that Queen, for all its campy theatricality, intellectual demeanor, falsettos and crescendos, is best known to the general public for its almost-primal anthems now in the sports world ("We Are The Champions," "We Will Rock You"). I wonder if Freddie Mercury would have authorized Walmart's use of their song in their current Superbowl tv spot?

I dare you to google "youtube queen don't stop me now," listen once or twice, and not start singing to it. This song is one of their more pop tunes, but it was rated in a survey in England as "the world's best song to drive to." Jirty and Little Brother have both been open to all kinds of music; they love this stuff. It's not just us; this song got almost 12 million hits; amazing for a video 31 years old. I love this guy's pipes - listen to those last few notes...

posted by Sluggerbaby, January 26, 2009

There's a sidebar in every Sports Illustrated magazine called "They Said It," featuring a profound (or profoundly unprofound) quote of the week.  

This, from a not-so-recent issue:

Hopefully my co-workers knew that it was the absurdity of the remark, not the situation itself, which prompted me to tape the clipping up in my cubicle at work. But maybe that's why I don't have a cubicle anymore.

posted early a.m. by Sluggerbaby, January 11, 2009

Up before the kids today. Happens a lot these days: I'm awakened very early by something - usually Channel Flicker's restless arms and legs - and then lie there for what seems like hours, repetitively thinking about extremely idiotic things. Last week I kept wondering if Gretchen on reality show "Housewives of OC County," whose fiance has serious leukemia, was really messing around with Tamra's tattoo-addicted son (both mom and son are reputedly up for roles in the gender-bending remake of "Dumb and Dumber") - like I know these people! 

This morning I worried that my twitching finger was Parkinson's, and that Monday's CT scan will show the same cancer my Mom had. Why can't I lie there thinking about my kids' accomplishments, or how I don't have to write my corporate goals anymore?

No, it can't be that easy.

*     *     *    

What's the most interesting Hot Stove news for you, this month? Is it:

-CC Sabathia, to  NYY

-Mark Teixeira, same place

-Jason Giambi, heading west

-Manny Ramirez: you have to admit (even if you hate the guy and admit grudgingly) that he really sparked the Dodgers late in '08. It was exciting baseball. Will he stay or will he go? Nothing about Manny is worth speculating about - one thing he's not is predictable.

-John Smoltz: this is probably low on a lot of people's HOT news but Smoltz leaving the Braves!?!?!?! I never thunk it. ..'course, I didn't think The Professor would defect, nor did I see Glavine leaving to join the Mets, back when. (And didn't he make some snide comment recently about Smoltz's leaving?) I still think of the 3 of them as Atlanta's finest (just like when I think of the Orioles I think of Boog/Davey/Mark Belanger/Brooks&Frank/Paul Blair, Don Buford, Etch and Palmer - Mom used to do that jiggly-eye gesture when he was on the mound; she was a true Baltimore lady).

I've always like Smoltzie - (see MLB press release photo at right; he looks incredibly limber after his latest surgery) - at 41, he's seen better days, but he's still got stuff.

Guess I'm just "old school" and don't totally understand why there's no team loyalty these days, why it's just about chasing the money. Geez, some of these signing deals - how many islands can one guy own, anyway?

The burning question around here is, what's going to happen with Pat Burrell....

posted by Sluggerbaby, January 10, 2009

I let Jirty watch "Bad News Bears." He was not impressed. Not only was there a profusion of cuss words and too many scenes of Walter Matthau lurching around with a beer can in his hand, Jirty said it wasn't funny and it wasn't good. I thought it was a kid's movie! Jirty didn't even want to finish watching it, which is rare. On the plus side, Vic Morrow played the opposing coach. "Sarge" from "Combat." I liked that guy.

"Bull Durham" is still sitting here - Jirty needs to show me how to activate the DVD player...a few wires in the back need to be re-routed. Oh, electronics! Sometimes I miss the old days, pre-Wii and all that. But then again, a world without computers? That would be worse.

I wish Mom were here to see how computers have evolved. She had one but it was pretty slow by today's standards. She was so "hip" for someone her age. She got a scanner a year before computer-junkie Channel Flicker did. I remember opening an e-mail from her one day, and my baby photo (the one with me and my 3 chins) was under her message. And I thought: how did she figure out how to do that?

As long as I am reminiscing, I also remember years ago when she gave two of my brothers Sony Walkmans. They were turning them over and around, and saying "What ARE these?" I love that memory. Mom so cool; whew I miss you.

posted by Sluggerbaby, January 8, 2009

Just found out from Dad that my little brother JA has been "let go" from his company. It's not a huge surprise, as the project he was working on was shut down by the company who'd hired JA's firm to work on it.

Dad reminded me that "3 out of 4 of you are unemployed" - oh, yeah! My older brother R was a 20-year Air Force man who then worked the same job as a civilian....he was given the axe in October, and decided to just retire completely.

As for my brother D: GOOD LUCK, MAN! His airline company just merged with another, so it looks like they're holding their own for now.

Now that I have some time, I rented baseball movies from the library. Just on a quest-exploration of a Really Great One. I checked out "The Bad News Bears" - the original one with Walter Matthau - I didn't realize it was so old (1976). And "Bull Durham" which I saw once and didn't care for, but I'm going to watch it again to see why it's on every sports classics list.

It's one of my "secret" fantasies to write a family-friendly funny (yet-at-times-touching, of course) script. "Sandlot" meets "Napoleon Dynamite" meets "The Wonder Years" meets "My Life As A Dog." That's as far as I've gotten...figuring out what movies I'd like to imitate. Maybe in another ten years I'll have my characters picked out.

Okay, back to work. Oh, that's right - I don't work. Well, I do...you know.

posted by Sluggerbaby, January 6, 2009

My former boss's boss's boss's BOSS (I think; I was never good with hierarchy) called me on a day off in December and told me to clear out my desk by the end of the week. My co-worker, who was also given the goodbye notice, reminded me to cash in my "Spirit Points." These are points (redeemable for goods) given to employees for a worthy effort or accomplishment, but are sometimes given en masse. Don't guess which mine were, ok?

I'd been saving for a "baseball fantasy day camp" in July '09 - a 1/2-day meeting with some old pros in the ballpark (Phils or Os were the choices), and having lunch there. Yes, out-of-shape, dumpy, middle-aged-and-living-in-a-fantasy-world me, hangin' with the old-timers. Eww, I'm really not a groupie. I just want to pick up some really good tips for Jirty's spring season, and stand on the field of a professional stadium.

But unemployment obviously nixed this option. So I poked around on the Spirit website and saw hundreds of 2009 game tickets! I checked the Mets and Yankees first - we could never afford to pay for tickets there, especially in the new stadiums. But I didn't have enough points.

Then I checked those teams' away games. I checked the stadiums within 100 miles of us, and I scanned the Braves' games, close to where my brother's family lives.

Oh crap. I was only a few points away from many of the offers, even the Yankees' ones. But the Spirit site would not accept any cash difference, so I settled - REALLY settled - for a handful of exercise DVDs and a pocket tape recorder, which I'm using quite frequently. The recorder, not the DVDs.

What the heck...we'll just have to watch the games on the tube. But we'll all be watching a la hi-def, right? Not a bad deal, considering parking fees in NYC probably equal the price of a month's worth of cable tv.

posted by Sluggerbaby, January 1, 2009

Hello, after a long hibernation.

I stopped writing just before the World Series (sorry, Phils & Rays) - it was almost too big, too important for amateur me to blog about.

And I was discouraged by the lack of hits. Not in the game. For me, on this blog. I thought I didn't care if anyone read it, but - turns out I did!

Now that I've been canned from my job (no sympathy please - I'd checked out mentally, years ago), I have to kick-start myself. I've been talking the "I wanna be a writer" talk for a while now, so I really need to step up to the plate and do it, because no one is going to start throwing money at me. Daily writing - even this blog - is a huge step for me.

Oh, and a grateful "THANKS SO MUCH, M!" to my beloved reader. I miss you!

posted by Sluggerbaby, October 21, 2008

Half the household occupants are gearing up for the Phillies, 25% for the Devil Rays, and the other 25% wants to see some great baseball.

posted by Sluggerbaby, October 19, 2008

Ok, here is the 5-minute Boston tour...I'll 'splain later why I'm showing it. These are from our 2-hour Boston experience this summer:

PIC 1: Part of a street in downtown Boston. These gold visuals were embedded into the concrete...squashed veggies, smashed fruit baskets, old newspapers...I guess it's a representation of the old streets when pushcart vendors and horsedrawn carts were the thing.

PIC 2: We came upon a rather well-off merchant who owned the city's 5 And Dime. In 1790 or so.

PIC 3: Real cobblestone streets, modern city skyline.

Okay, there's your Boston-in-5. Therefore, you don't have to see ANY MORE BOSTON! DEVIL RAYS GO! Tee hee.

posted by Sluggerbaby, October 17, 2008

The champagne was on ice! BUT: how about that comeback in the 7th inning, eh?

That's what I get for wishing there was a little spice to what appeared to be a somewhat ho-hum game! (Yes, it's all about moi, isn't it?)

It LOOKED like the final game of the series...Devil Rays 7-0 against the deflated BoSox in the 7th. The 7th! Heck, Publix was probably selling "American League Champions" shirts in Tampa already.

Too bad for those Sox fans who left the stadium early. THAT was a game to tell your grandkids about - if you weren't already there with your grandchild. Boston will be talking about it for the next hundred years, give or take a decade.

However, as much as I like Beckett and Papelbon, Youkilis and Big Papi, I'm hoping those young whippersnappers from Flor-a-dee collect the championship rings.

Meanwhile, folks around here are patiently waiting for next week. We even received an e-mail from Jirty's school telling us to make sure the kids wear their Phillies red next Wednesday.

And in Little Brother's kindergarten cubby this morning, there were photos of some of the kids wearing their Howard/Utley/Burrell jerseys. We don't even live in Pennsylvania. At least people are finally getting excited about baseball around here.

UPDATE on Jirty's fall ball season: At practice Wed., the kids looked good! Assistant coach Big B hit fungoes while the kids fielded and worked on their throwing. Then I had them run the bases, stop and start, overrun first base - they were lovin' it. Not sure what happened between Sunday and Wed.; you never know whazzup with kids. Hey, you never know with grownups, either - my head sometimes hurts when I part my hair in a different place.

posted by Sluggerbaby, October 15, 2008

Jirty's team is in the playoffs! So there are only 3 fall teams in this level, and they're all in the playoffs. At least we're in 3rd place - isn't that a bronze medal in the Olympics?

They were a mite discouraged toward the end of a 3-game loss last weekend. No, that's a lie - they were restless, distracted, complain-y, demanding, ready to give up by the 1st INNING of the FIRST GAME.

Can someone please let me know how to instill a "can do" attitude in kids when the chips are down? Or in this case, when the 1st inning goes on forever in favor of the other team? Charlie Hustle, are you out there?

Actually, there are those kids who "do their job," play to have fun, and don't give up easily. They tend to be the quieter ones on our team.

Practice is tonight. As one of the assistant coaches, I have several private goals in mind:

- not to think "Bad News Bears" in my mind

- try to remember everyone's name

- bring extra clothing for Dad

Poor faithful Dad. He listens to me. He shouldn't.  I advise him to wear a sweatshirt, and it turns out to be Sahara Desert Day. I tell him it's going to be hot...the temp drops 20 degrees in an hour and we can't wrap enough sandy beach towels around him.

Last weekend it was so uncomfortably hot that I went into the port-a-potty and changed OUT of my COACH shirt, and made Dad change INTO it. I was afraid he was going to have heat stroke.

Speaking of "heat," here's hoping we get some tonight...on the ball, on the team. Go KIDS!

posted by Sluggerbaby, October 15, 2008

Quick, we'd better post this before Boston is out of the picture!

Who would'a thunk those hot little Devil Rays would take the lead 3-1 in the ALCS? Wow.

Little Brother's daycare gave out pumpkins last year for everyone to decorate. For some reason, he chose to create David Ortiz (well, Big Papi IS a likeable guy, even though no one in this house is a true Red Sox fan).

We liked Big Papi Pumpkin so much that we kept him around for at least 3 more holiday seasons, until he started getting a little moldy under his baseball cap.

 HAPPY PREMATURE HALLOWEEN, EVERYONE.

posted by Sluggerbaby, October 9, 2008

Walmart's got more racks of Phillies jerseys than usual. Our main tv channels in this state are Philadelphia ones, so we've seen more than our share of 11:00 news with rowdy people in bars screaming their love.

Tomorrow at work is "dress down/team logo" day. I'll be wearing my NYM shirt and hat to keep things lively. With most everyone working from home these days, there won't be many voices of dissent.

Cole Hamels pitched a sweet game (ouch, I felt that rotten tomato, fellow Mets fan!). They reminded me of Jirty's team - taking several innings to start the motor. But then: back-to-back home runs! Yea Pat Burrell, coming out of his long, um, dormancy. Sorry Manny - ya did what ya could. GAME 1: 3-2 Phils.

Little Brother is a Ryan Howard fan - he likes that big swing. Fortunately he hasn't done his imitation thing lately. He used to watch the game with a bat in his hand, waiting for the pitch. It got a little hard to walk around him in the living room, and he swatted a few things by accident, which was a little distracting when it happened to be someone's human seat cushion.

I thought Jirty liked the Phils, but he's rooting for the Dodgers just so he can see Manny beat the socks off the Sox (assuming they win). The clash of the titans, or something of that nature.

* * * UPDATE on the dress-down day at work: I was the ONLY person wearing a baseball shirt. I don't want to mention the f-word (Jirty, if you're reading this - I'm talking about the word that starts with "foo"), but if I see another Eagles jersey I'm gonna punt someone.

posted by Sluggerbaby, October 6, 2008 (photo taken at Hall of Fame Museum in Cooperstown NY)

Finding it hard to get back into the groove again, after attending Preston’s viewing two weeks ago (post below).

Where does the Grand Game of Baseball fit into the grand cosmos of life? It’s hard to make sense of it sometimes.

Yet that is the reason this blog continues. Concentrating on writing pushes against the sadness that has blanketed me since my Mom got sick. Baseball is light, non-serious, and it’s easier to be a little sad that Jorge Posada is not behind the plate than it is to be a whole lot sad because you’re missing your very special someone.

Up until 1:00 last night watching the 17-inning Boston – Angels game, until the Angels squeaked out a run to finally win. It was like watching a very long arm-wrestling match – both teams were trying so hard. Great effort. Go Angels.

Now that both New York teams are out, Jirty and I are trolling for some other teams to root for.

Me: Angels - keep squeaking, please. (It’s currently a tense 8^th inning in the 4^th game.) Boston’s had their time, although I do think that Kevin Youkilis is a fascinating player – and watch him wiggle at the plate.  Phils - they’re local (but frankly, I was rooting for the other guys, ‘cause I wanted to see a best-of-5 show.) Cubs – Chicago is a whole lotta fun city, and what the heck – they’ve waited for, like, a hundred years. White Sox – except that Channel-Flicker lived in the Windy City for a number of years and informed me that I couldn’t root for both Cubs and White Sox, that White Sox are the south side of Chicago, and that if you root for one, you’re not allowed to root for the other. I reminded him that I like both the Mets and the Yankees. Jirty piped up, “but you don’t LIVE there.” OhHHhh.

Jirty: Red Sox – who knows why? They've got the best starter/closer combo around (Josh Beckett/Jonathan Papelbon). Phils - 'cause we're familiar with them.

This game is tense (Red Sox – Angels). I think the Red Sox are the stronger team, and their pitching staff is the best in both leagues. Gotta hand it to those scrappy, tenacious bulldogs Angels – they rock.

AW MAN – Boston just won. Shoot.

Well, at least we can get some sleep tonight. The games didn’t end until 1:00 last night, and then I spent the remaining hours on Jirty’s upper bunk bed. The one with wooden slats that you can feel right through the foam rubber mattress. Of course, it’s probably not meant to support someone over 13, but it is nice and high…so maybe the mouse that I saw scrabbling across the floor in our bedroom will not come in Jirty’s room and disturb us.

I have a mouse phobia – must be on the same scaredy-gene that my Mom had. Irrational paralysis by fright. Channel-Flicker is insisting that I come back to bed and not let mice rule my life. But the thought of that creepy rodent crawling around the bedsheets at 3 a.m. just makes me want to go stay at Dad’s house.

Jirty told me last year, “You’re afraid of more things than anyone I know.” Ya got that right.

posted by Sluggerbaby, September 23, 2008 (military plane photo taken by Jirty)

posted by Sluggerbaby, September 15, 2008

There's a Philadelphia radio station that the drivers on my commuter bus sometimes play...their morning mantra is "This is a NO REPEAT workday!"

The Mets may need to borrow that line.

Please, Metsies: no repeatan, por favor! Not that there was a 7-game lead to blow, this year...

posted by Sluggerbaby, September 15, 2008; artwork is clipart and is copyright-free

posted by Sluggerbaby, September 13, 2008

Haven't been able to find any key MLB games on tv this week. Maybe we're just looking on the wrong days. I think the Mets have clinched it. You never know, though.

2 games into Majors fall ball (10-12 yr. olds) - Jirty is performing well. He pitched (the first game ever) almost 2 innings the 1st game, and 2 in the 2nd game. He has a nice style and pitched 7 strkeouts, 5 bases on balls thus far. Time, patience and persistence will smooth the rough edges of all our pitchers. 

Jirty tends to fall to a sidearm throw, which sends the ball higher...the coaches will work on this with him. He's really liking pitching...hopefully that will not change when batters actually start hitting the ball.

As this is an instructional league and it's the first year they've offered fall ball, the rules are made up as we go along.

It was decided that because games are after dinner hours, there would be only 4 innings. So far, both were called at 3 due to darkness. However, an inning could easily go thru the lineup.

A typical inning might be:

•  Batter #1: walk, steals the next pitch
•  Batter #2: walk
•  Batters #1 & 2: steal, steal, steal
•  Batter #3: called out but runs anyway, steals the next pitch
•  Batter #4: gets hit by errant pitch, shakes it off, steals the next pitch
•  and so on

Our team is way behind the 8-ball on steals...partly due to me - the newbie assistant coach at 1st base. I didn't realize there is a whole unique coaching strategy specific to the rules of this league. If players are instructed not to throw to bases (the risk of overthowing is worse than the steal), then why not send every kid on 1st, to 2nd and to 3rd? NOW I know. Watch out, next Wednesday...I'm sending 'em all, right away.

Our pitchers (3 so far; more are interested) have been doing quite well, considering they've never done it before. The delivery might be a little awkward or the ball might clear the ump's head, but that's okay. There is beauty in the learning - we see progress in our kids EVERY GAME & EVERY PRACTICE. They are eager, and though we are 0-2, the kids were high-fiving and laughing as they ended the last game.

Jirty really likes his teammates, and was so excited to get to the 2nd game that he wanted to skip dinner and go directly to the field to warm up - a first, as usually nothing comes between Jirty and his meals.

posted by Sluggerbaby, um, okay, it's September 9, 2008

Caught the wrap-up game in The Battle of the Ball, Sunday night. Well, the first half - until we were all too pooped to party after a long day at the beach (we treated ourselves to this respite after being cooped up all Saturday with the fizzled-out remains of Hurricane Hanna).

The Mets and the Phillies have been neck-and-neck for weeks; currently the Mets are at the throat, the Phils are around the Adam's apple. It's not that the Phillies are the only game in town, but they are the only game we get regularly on tv.

Saw lots of everything, including homers (2 for Met Carlos Delgado, 1 for Ryan Howard - his 3rd consecutive season reaching the 40-homer mark), awesome fielding/throws and oddball mistakes.

And ejections: Charlie Manuel got auf'd early on, ump-sparring a little too long. Not 5 minutes later, the stand-in manager was out on the field arguing (more respectfully) another call.

Granted, there was likely an off call between the two...but some of these managers could benefit from a little training in non-verbal communication. As a graduate of a 1-hour body-language class years ago, I predicted within 3 seconds the moment that Manager Manuel received the omnipotent thumb-jerk.

The other Manuel (Jerry) is doing a great job with his Metsies. I had mixed feelings after Willie Randolph was told to take a hike in June. I didn't think he was all that bad. Maybe the Mets can sustain, this year.

Oh, I'm such a flip-flopper. When the Phillies are 3 games out from first, I start feeling sorry for them, and secretly root for Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley (Channel-Flicker's new player-to-watch) and Cole Hamels (cool pitcher) and quiet engine Pat Burrell to WIN. After all, I saw Wild Thang Mitch Williams back when...the Phils have been waiting a  L O N G   T I M E .

But when they catch up, I'm back to the Mets. Where the heck is my team allegiance? Did it leave with Mike Piazza...? I'll have to explore my brain crevices to figure it out.

Looking forward to the final games of the season...and on a smaller scale, the start of Jirty's fall ball season. Game 1, tomorrow. Jirty pitched 2 innings at Friday's practice (his first time ever!); we iced him afterward per Coach's instructions. Hopefully he won't need Tommy John surgery anytime soon.

posted by Sluggerbaby, August 33, 2008; photo taken at Baseball Hall of Fame Museum

Everyone should find their own Happy Zone, don't you think?

I think Channel-Flicker is in the Happy Zone, listening to the Republican convention in the other room. I'm half-expecting Roger Clemens to make an appearance. Or maybe he's not necessarily Republican, he's just Bush-ican.

Anyway, the real Happy Zone, according to the Grand Guru of Baseball Science - Ted Williams - is the area in the strike zone where a batter can hit a higher percentage of pitches. It's a personal thing, different for each player.

Picture Ted standing to the left of this photo, facing us. His Happy Zone: the .400 red balls in the middle. Not too shabby in some of the other zones, either.

He advocated that all hitters get to know their own strike zone, which he estimated is 7 balls wide.

And he calculated that if a batter swings at pitches just 2 inches outside of the strike zone, the pitcher's target will increase about 37%! Wow, talk about abdicating your power.

Ted also encouraged batters to use "proper thinking" - a combo of knowing your pitcher's (and your) history, analyzing the game situation, and anticipating the pitch.

He guarantees more effective hitting if you follow his principles. And it makes sense, as they are the principles of law & nature & science.

It might take a while to find your Happy Zone, but as they say, good things take time.

posted by Sluggerbaby, August 32, 2008 (I refuse to let August end)

Jirty and his good buddy M.M. sang on the JumboTron today!

They were among 15 kids selected from the stands to sing "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" (which incidentally was written by a guy who never attended a game) during the 7th inning stretch at a minor league Blue Rocks game (see July 26 post).

Jirty and I selected our "rising stars;" look for these guys in MLB in '09-'10: Jeff Bianchi, Brad Correll, Jeff Howell, Josh Johnson, Chris McConnell, Paulo Orlando, Derrick Robinson, Anthony Seratelli. 

Jirty's friend met some of the Blue Rocks earlier this summer in a kids' baseball clinic.  M.M. was spot on in his color commentating (i.e. "This guy's their bunter. He's a good base-stealer, too."). Never question the memory of a 10-year old regarding a subject they love.

Maybe the opposing Potomac Nationals were super-energized by the robust singing, as they picked up 3 runs in the 9th inning to tie it 5-5...and 4 more in the 10th to put that baby to bed.

Oh well, the Blue Rocks are already slated for a post-season playoff game next Friday; maybe Paulo Orlando will get another triple - in the clutch.

As it was "FANdemonium Day," there were fans lined up at the dugout fence to get autographs. The first seven or so players got their gear and walked right by, either ignoring us or shaking their head "no."

Just as the adults in the crowd were looking at each other and wondering what was so FANdemonium about that, another group of guys stopped at length to sign. Some gave out their trading cards. We were grateful and thanked them profusely for their effort. Jirty and M.M. got about seven signatures each, though you really can't read them.  

Title of this post comes from a hard-hit foul ball, and the cry of a guy in the audience to the kid selling pretzels...

(At right: nice guys Paulo Orlando and Anthony Seratelli satisfying their fans)

posted by Sluggerbaby, August 31, 2008

Just poking around on the internet tonight, trying to figure out exactly how much of a chance is left for the Yankees to do something, anything, post-season...

People in our area are mostly Phillies supporters (if they like baseball at all; it's easier to find football followers here). Yeah, we know we have a rep - it's a tough market; the fans are "loud & rude."

Judging from the replies to various NY and Yankees blogs and articles, "doze guys" could rival us any day. From a site called blogs/nypost, which somehow I keep landing on:

"Let's face it the Yankees are stuck with AROD. All he cares about is looking pretty and chewing his bubble gum. He swings at bad pitches and won't work the pitcher...For the most parts his stats are meaningless. The only way he will wear a World Series ring is borrow one from Jeter." -Fred

"Bobby Abreu..tip toeing to the wall....like it had radiation." - Dave

"Aaaannnndddd Giambi homers when they're 9 runs down!!! And you guys said he wasn't a clutch hitter...." -Bryan

"A-Rod plays like a scared girl. Jeter couldn't lead preschool children to the lunchroom. Abreu plays a horrible right field and Damon's right arm scares nobody (not even the rats). And Girardi would rather play passive-aggressive with umpires instead of laying into them when they shrink the size of the strike zone to that of a Cheez-It. Grow some Cahones Girardi and kick some dirt..." - Chris

"This is a fundamentally horrible group of players....when is the last time you saw a Yankee come off the field with dirt on his uniform??? I am a die-hard Yankee fan and right now I am dying hard." - Rick

"He is Young and dumb..he'll grow." - Jim

"bonified loser" and "pre-madonnas" (and no, the writer wasn't referring to A-Rod) - Anonymous (not really, but I didn't want to name the poor guy).

posted by Sluggerbaby, August 30, 2008

My cousin's Dad used to live behind the Baseball Hall of Fame Museum; his 150-year old barn marked the right-field foul line of Doubleday Field.

So whenever I thought of Cooperstown, I pictured a baseball building, an old green barn, a desolate field...and nothing else.

Never envisioned a lively, bright Main Street with gigantic flowerballs hanging on the street corners and a hundred shops paying reverence to our national pasttime (please do not talk to me about football). 

There was a whole lotta lovin' going on last Saturday, according to most everyone's t-shirts, hats, even hair (see Kevin, age 9, whose Mom said they got a lot of requests to take photos of Kevin's cranium). Everything from chess sets with baseball player men to the gumballs in bubble gum machines with seam-stitching printed on them.

Between the fans and the merchandise, there seemed to be a 4-way lovefest between the Mets, Yankees, Red Sox and Everyone Else. The competitive vibe wasn't so noticeable here...whether you are a Mets or a Phillie fan, Yanks or Sox, you're here because you love & respect the game (unless of course you were simply dragged along by a loved one).

In Cooperstown, "the game" is mostly one that was already played. It's a place where you can get a warm fuzzy just standing next to someone talking in holy tones about the '96 playoffs, or giving a yelp of recognition -  "Hey - Johnny Bench!" - when flipping through the photo books.

Some of the shops were just crammed with stuff; others were pricier and more artfully designed. Wow, this store (right) was a beauty.

More about the Museum in a later post.

posted by Sluggerbaby, August 28, 2008

Across the daycare playground today I spy Jirty's little brother in his classic batter's pose - squatting, intense. Terri, one of the afternoon caregivers, is doing an impressive Cole Hamels imitation (this is, largely, Phillies land). The kindergarten kiddies are lined up for their turn at bat. One boy is the sole outfielder.

Terri releases the pitch. Little brother whacks it and runs like mad. He has "a thing" about shoes; today he's wearing hard leather tie-ups, and watching him gallop like a colt with those skinny nut-brown legs and the big shoes - hard to describe, but it's a thing of beauty.

The outfielder holds him to 3rd base (a wooden post). Little brother leans against it, jerking with excitement, while the fielder stands about 6' in front of him, directly on the base path.

Though the ball has technically been out of play for 10 seconds, the boy keeps reaching his arm out and jiggling the ball. My kid can stand it no longer.

"LOOK! AN ELEPHANT!" my kid cries, pointing toward 1st base. The boy jerks his head around, and little brother arcs around him toward home, jumping a final SPLAT on home plate.

Home run!

As Vince Lombardi said, "If winning isn't everything, why do they keep score?"

posted by Sluggerbaby, August 25, 2008

LOVE YOU, MOM. MISS YOU MORE THAN WORDS CAN SAY.

posted by Sluggerbaby, August 24, 2008

 She is strong, though she feels she isn't.

She is extremely generous and a good listener - and gets taken advantage of at times.

She is entirely capable, but I don't think she knows it.

She is beautiful but if you tell her, she'll only point out what she thinks are her flaws.

She loves her kids. And THAT, she knows she is great at.

Her family's sports schedule is usually more organized than the house is - and that's okay. It's the priority of the majority. The complexity of maintaining sports schedules in her family is equivalent to the demands of an air traffic controller at O'Hare.

She's an independent thinker, a friend in great demand, interesting to talk with, and in chronic pain from some bone issues. 

Her sisters treasure her; she is a motherless/fatherless daughter and still mourning despite the many years that have gone by.

This woman has faithfully lugged gear, chauffeured kids, delivered team snacks, carpooled other kids, bought countless spikes, sport bags, protective cups and lost items. She's forked over massive amounts of league deposit money and lived for 20 years in a household dominated by baseball activity.

As the family matured, she's stayed at hotels in different states and arranged complicated trips combining ballgames with visiting relatives. Who knows how many hours she bore in the southern sun,  drizzle or biting wind, just sitting...watching...extra innings, sluggish slumps, one eye on the other kiddies.

All over a sport she couldn't have cared less about, had she not married into it. She didn't grow up with baseball. And she has her own sport which involves a ball but the clothing is more fashion-forward.

I can't recall ever hearing her complain about this. (Unlike me; when I feel "put upon" you'll end up knowing it, one immature way or another.)

My Mets hat is off to you, my sister-in-law. You are the best. I love you lots.

posted by Sluggerbaby, August 21, 2008

In New England this week:

-Funny kid Brendan, 7. Typical dialogue: "Brendan, are you from Massachusetts?" "Uh, I don't know. I'm from '____' " (said in a very Bostonian accent - asked him twice to repeat it). "I'm pretty sure it's in the USA, though." I'd have taken this cool kid home with us, but unfortunately he already has parents.

- Returning to hotel every night to WATCH THE OLYMPICS

- The kids finding serendipity skipping stones at a gloomy bay near P'town

- Using live lobsters as personal playtoys in restaurant's Please Touch tank

- Meeting people for an instant...like The Family That Hurls (Irish sport similar to jai alai)

- Trying not to flip overboard on yacht ride in Maine

- Jirty's ample knowledge of history in Paul Revere house, Boston

- Going all the way to Plymouth Rock, to find it's "under construction"

- Biking thru the woods with tons of beach gear, in severe thunderstorm...2 1/4 miles in between Cape Cod and our car. Poor little brother, shaking with cold & fear.

Met some NYC baseball fans at the pool. The 30-something guy wearing blue & orange swim trunks with a gigantic Mets logo was thrilled that Jirty is a Jose Reyes fan. The tanned gent with long gray hair was adamant that the Yankees brass should have hired "a Lou Pinella" to replace Joe Torre - someone with more experience, who knows what to do to get the job done. Tan Man knew his baseball, and was pure NYC entertainment.

Would have liked to jaw with the guy longer but as usual on this trip, we gotta run.

Reflections of the past - posted by Sluggerbaby, August 17, 2008

February 2001. The Twin Towers still hummed with financial activity. Reality TV was in its infancy and Michael Phelps’s Olympic gold was only in his dreams.

My aunt was in a hospital bed in Jensen Beach, Florida, after collapsing one day. She’d been out late with some gal pals, then made morning deliveries to her Meals on Wheels pals.

She assured me in her usual fashion that she’d be ready for our visit in two weeks. “Yeah okay. C’mahn down, don’t worry about me.”

We were to arrive by plane on Jirty’s birthday. Aunt Dottie had purchased tickets for us all to see a Mets spring training game. She didn’t care about baseball. She wanted us to visit, and I’d joked that we’d visit her if she ordered us Mets tickets.

But as it turned out, we arrived a week earlier. Waiting at the airport was one of Dottie’s good friends. My parents and cousins K & C greeted us at Dottie’s condo.

More family arrived, and we had a very special funeral service for Aunt Dottie.

Mets game day arrived, and after much angst we decided to go. My heart was not in it. Baseball seemed horribly trivial.

The park was clean and the air was tropical - a perfect evening, ordinarily. Players trotted out solo or in clumps, and didn’t pay a speck of attention to the hollering fans coagulated near the entrance hallway.

We were in the stands looking for our main Mets man, Mike Piazza. But we’d take anyone.

Finally, we saw him. Whaddya know, he was the ONLY player who stopped to sign.

I schlepped Jirty down the steps as I folded back the program guide. Maybe it was okay that my son have a good memory amidst the sadness of this trip.

I nudged him in front of me so Mike Piazza could see that he was the one desiring an autograph. I was practically the only adult in the yearning, stretching line along the barrier. There were an awful lot of young teenaged girls.

My arms are long and my hand was the farthest one out there so I pulled it back just a little. I was feeling guilty for possibly depriving some little short-limbed kid of an autograph, and for being here in the first place.

Mike came down the row. Something was wrong - what? Studying him, I realized – he looked just as sad as I. He dutifully signed each piece of paper, baseball, shirt or hand presented to him, handing back the autograph and pen gently. I never saw him look up, not once.

It would be ridiculous to think that he was sad because of my Aunt Dottie! Surely he didn’t haunt the same thrift stores and yard sales that she did.

But somehow, just for the moment, I felt connected to the man, through sadness and pain, by a measurable loss of some sort.

Mike Piazza took my Sharpie marker, signed Jirty’s program guide, gently returned the marker to my aged hand, and continued down the line.

posted by Sluggerbaby, August 15, 2008

Leaving work early to get Jirty's leg checked out. He's been feeling hip or muscle pain for a week. No obvious reason; he didn't fall or twist. It seemed to go away.

But this morning, Channel-Flicker said, "Jirty is hobbling around using his TubeMissile Launcher as a cane." Sure enough, Jirty was in pain and had trouble going up & down stairs.

Not to panic, but after seeing Dusty (see August 13 post), going thru Dad's medical scare, and having a pal approach me this morning with the news that she has cancer - all in one week - the mind drifts to dark places.

Jirty won't be going to baseball practice tonight. He's had a busy 8 days, anyway - sort of like what "da cousins" have been doing for years. Baseball...karate...golf...camp...bowling...skating, even piano practice.

Whew. Maybe his hip is just rebelling from all the activity.

*  *                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          UPDATE: UPDATE: 2 x-rays, 3 vials of blood, an ultrasound, an IV line and 6 hours later, Jirty is released with a smile and a wave, crutches and a prescription of over-the-counter motrin. Diagnosis: toxic synovitis (inflamed hip)...and a follow-up in 2 weeks for results of Lyme's disease test.

posted by Sluggerbaby, August 14, 2008; old artwork by Jirty

Fall ball practice started Tuesday.

I dislike ANYTHING interrupting my Olympics-watching time. But once Jirty and I arrived, it was ok - and we could make it home in time for the PHELPSWIM.

Coach gave the initial speech, told what the team would be concentrating on (and now that I think of it, I can't think of it).

The kids were rusty, as hardly anyone played over the summer. They paired off for catches, and there were lots of stray throws and ball-fetching.

I paired up with a kid who arrived late, but after 10 minutes he was whisked away by his parents. He is new to the game this year, so I think he'd had enough for one day. I asked him if he missed baseball over the summer. "No!" he chirped. Oh well.

After much thought this summer, I decided to offer my services as an assistant. I did my Hip Hip Jorge Posada imitation (a poor one, but good enough for now) behind the plate, catching for B, another parental helper. We made a highly effective duo - improbable me, and B using a catcher's mitt to pitch. The kids each had a turn hitting. We quit early for the night.

Jirty has expressed an interest in pitching...but NOT in the beginning, he said. Too much pressure? I asked him. "Yeah," he answered.

Fortunately Little B announced he wanted to pitch, "but not the whole game." Hopefully the two of them will be In Sync, and make a mean duo.

posted by Sluggerbaby, August 13, 2008

While visiting a very special friend this weekend, my friend's niece Dusty showed up. Her name's not Dusty but I nicknamed her that because of her "Dust in the Wind" tattoo.

Dusty is 23 and works through a contractor for a large company, auditing the accounting. She says she's very good at it and saves the company tons of money, but hates it. Writing and history are her real passions.

She's gone through a lot to get to where she is today: self-sufficient, living on her own. "Life is good," she said, when I asked her how she was doing. Camera in hand, she flitted about the entire day taking little videos of whatever caught her interest.

My friend would like see her walk on two legs again. Dusty is not sure she wants that. At age 4, Dusty was diagnosed with bone cancer. Doctors at Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center amputated her right leg below the thigh.

After successful chemotherapy, Dusty was fitted with an artificial leg and wore one until about 4 years ago, when the amputation site kept breaking open and bleeding. She lived with this for months while the condition worsened. Though she wore a gel lining in between her skin and the prosthesis (she would go through about one lining a month) the constant pressure and pull on the limb caused the nerve endings to form a ball at the "stump." Surgery was needed to remove this jumble and repair the area.

Dusty later told my friend that it was good to wake up in the morning and not feel pain. She had felt "normal" with her leg on and would wear it from morning until bedtime. She had always experienced pain, and thought that was the way it was supposed to be. She announced to her family that she didn't want to go back to that again; she'd rather stick with crutches.

Besides, a new leg at that time cost between $60,000 (metal showing) and $80,000 (looking like skin). Many insurance plans don't cover this. There's also the rehab process - it's time-consuming and expensive, and though she's now employed, who knows if her employer would be accommodating?

In thinking about today's posting, I researched baseball players who were also "challenged" - none were to the extent of Dusty's, certainly. But there were obstacles to overcome.

William "Dummy" Hoy (unfortunately a common word used during the 1880s, but said with affection in his case) was short in stature - 5'4".  Contracting meningitis around age 2 left him unable to hear, so he never spoke. According to baseballhistorian.com he was an "accomplished" centerfielder and extremely fast, stealing 594 bases over 14 seasons, which were a lot shorter back then.

Though lefty Jim Abbott pitched inconsistently throughout his 10-season MLB career, he won 18 winning games in 1991 for the Angels. A year after being traded to the Yankees, he pitched a no-hitter. Jim was born without a right hand and is currently a motivational speaker. Check out the link to his site. He even has a Q&A section for kids doing book reports.

Hopefully Dusty will find the opportunity to get a leg that fits, looks natural, and doesn't hurt (thus inspiring her to want one). Even though she gets by just fine on crutches, she likes to carry around her camera and her chihuahua Bebo - and the "free hand" that most of us take for granted would be a big help.

And if you do, Dusty, I'm going to put a mitt in that free hand and have a catch with you - even if you're not a big baseball fan.

posted by Sluggerbaby, August 12, 2008

Everyone, please lay off Manny!

The fact that he exited stage left (or was it right?) during a game at Fenway Park, and again with the Dodgers, well...

What if he has IBS, or something? Maybe he's making a joke of it because he doesn't want people to know (not that it's anyone's business). If that's the case, it's not such a stretch for him to be joke-y. Manny's an entertainer and he draws the crowds, wee break or no.

Which leads to today's topic.

Hall-of-Famer SS Cal Ripkin made an appearance again at our company. Addressing an audience of about 1,000, he was asked to comment on the good and not-so-good changes he's seen throughout his career.

He said, "It's almost the same thing." The game used to be "more sport, less entertainment." Far fewer games were nationally televised, and ballplayers' lives off the field weren't scrutinized nearly as much.

The value of a player on the field - that was the most important thing. Cal sees more celebrity status now, and says that some of the attitude of thinking of oneself as an entertainer instead of a sportsman takes away from the sport a bit.

On the plus side, the kids get to see the snazzy acrobatic plays of guys like Jose Reyes and Ozzie Smith, and emulate that. Fans get a chance to become familiar with all players, not just the ones in their home state.

Asked about Earl Weaver, he said, "Earl didn't care who liked him, he knew which points to push to get what he wanted out of [his players]." Cal liked Earl, but the comment left me wondering who didn't...

Cal was selected by the Department of State to be a special Sports Envoy, a role designed to boost the USA's image overseas. He works with children in various nations, using baseball as a tool to capture interest (though a little look-see of baseball bloggers showed varying reactions to the purpose of this Condoleeza-appointed post.)

He also helped establish the Cal Ripken Jr./Lou Gehrig ALS Research Fund at Johns Hopkins University, which will hopefully find a cure or treatment for this horrific neuromuscular disease.

Mr. Ripkin is a measured and thoughtful spokeman. And most entertaining - though he has a right to be: he's not playing anymore! 

Unfortunately, I arrived at Cal's talk late, and missed his entire motivational speech (only heard the Q&A session). I was trying to time it so that I missed the stuff that was probably very important and vital to our business. Sorry again, boss! I needed to budget my time to accompany Dad and SIL to a doctor's appt.

Speaking of which, my Dad may be okay - antibiotics and 2 weeks' time will tell. Keep up the swimming, Dad - and give Michael Phelps a run for his mega-money...

posted by Sluggerbaby, August 10, 2008

I thought I might stay away from the Olympics this year - for those reasons.

But I can't. All those sports, all the drama. I like it all: the swimming, the track & field, the swimming, the gymnastics, the swimming, the diving...and the everything else. Even the obscure ones.

In fact, this is the time when I don't want to see the superstars. Please go away, Federer. Scram, NBA guys.

These 2 weeks are for the athletes who work REALLY hard for their fleeting moment as an Olympian - and that is the ultimate goal they aspire to. It's not just a pit stop on their jam-packed schedule of tournaments, playoffs, endorsement appearances and such. Most will never become famous outside of their home towns. And they'll probably end up having to make a regular living just like us working schlubs.

Michael Phelps is one of the exceptions. Sports Illustrated recently detailed how much $$ he stands to make on endorsements. Whoo-whee! No wonder Mom Phelps is looking a little anxious up there in the stands. Aw, just kidding about that - he seems to have a close relationship with his Mom, and that is a very good thing to see. What Mom wouldn't be biting her lip before the start buzzer?

This is the last Olympics for baseball. Apparently the reason is because only a handful of countries submit teams. It's considered primarily a USA sport.

When poking around on an official Olympics website (except I can't find the page now), I found a tally of medals the US won prior to this year:

swimming - 458 medals

athletics - 714 medals

baseball - 2 medals

tug of war - 4 medals

It's been a few years - like, about 70 - since tug of war was on the schedule of events, but still! 4 compared with 2?

Actually, baseball was only granted official status (elevated from an exhibition sport) in 1992, Barcelona Olympics. Doesn't seem like it had much of a chance. Oh well, there's plenty of other baseball on TV.

So, back to the late-night Olympics telecast. See ya. Boy, will I be tired tomorrow. Sorry, boss!

posted by Sluggerbaby, August 8, 2008; bone photo from Dr. Jobe's website; use link below.

My Dad used to play a joke on my brothers and me when we were little. 

He'd stretch out his arm so it was about 2 inches from your upper body. Then he'd rub his elbow with little circular motions. "Abracadabra!" he'd pronounce, reaching out again...only this time, his arm had magically grown enough to reach your shoulder with ease. Wow, Dad!

Similar arm miracles are performed by Dr. James Andrews, surgeon to superstars of the pitching world...and to one of "da cousins," my nephew J, who spent his summer break rehabbing after Tommy John surgery. On one hand, J is a great pitcher. On the other hand, he would like to play every game and have the chance to bat regularly. So no matter how rehab goes, he will play baseball again.

Tommy John surgery (named for the first pitcher to receive the career-saving surgery from Dr. Frank Jobe in 1974), is a lot easier to remember than its real name: ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction. The main ligament on the inside of the elbow - which prevents it from moving abnormally from side to side - can become torn, frayed or stretched. The operation involves replacing the ligament with a tendon from another part of the body, usually the wrist or hamstring, woven in a figure-8 pattern.

Prior to this, Dr. Jobe had done ligament replacements on polio patients but only in hands, to support joints that didn't have muscles. The elbow surgery was so experimental that the conscientious doctor waited 2 years, until Tommy John was fully rehabbed, before performing the operation on a 2nd patient.

5 years ago it was determined that out of all the pitchers in the MLB over 2 seasons ('02-'03), an astounding 1 out of 9 had had the surgery. No doubt that number is higher today.

What a record Sandy Koufax would have had if Dr. Jobe had visualized his technique just a few years earlier.

Have a successful back-to-school season, J.

posted by Sluggerbaby, August 6, 2008

Last week I was standing right in front of Sandy Koufax!

Felt like it, anyway. He was part a series of pictures by a photographer named George Brace (the portraits range from the 1920s to early 1990s - what a span!). They are so amazingly crisp; you can see the pores of a 5 o'clock shadow.

It's not like I hadn't seen photos of these guys before (a very young, very lanky Ted Williams is another standout), but these images are mesmerizing. It's hard to stop staring.

These and other pieces of baseball art are part of Bank of America's private collection, showing through August 29 at the Bank's location in Delaware.

Called "Art of the Game," the show features sculptures of players, other photographers' works, paintings and prints. It was sparsely visited, the guard said, perhaps because the exhibit is on the floor above the teller area and people don't necessarily know it's there. Plus there are guards stationed inside the entrance of the building. Maybe a little intimidating, though they're quite nice if you talk with them.

The show is free and open during bank hours. Hopefully more people will venture in to take a look.

It's no surprise to me that so many artists choose baseball as a subject. The rhythms of the game (slow periods, tense stretches, pinpoints of explosive activity)...facial expressions...the posturing of the batters...late afternoon sun and shadows...the brilliant green field and colorful audience. There is so much rich context to choose from. Baseball is beautiful. (So cornball...)

posted by Sluggerbaby, August 5, 2008

  B A L L   1 :   When Jirty was 3, we attended a NY Mets spring training game in Port St. Lucie. He nearly ruined his lungs yelling for Mike Piazza & the gang. 

A couple kept eyeballing us and finally spoke - not exactly to us, but it wafted through the Florida breeze to our ears - something about kids...being loud. I completely understood. The screams were earsplitting. But I didn't have the heart to tell the little guy to be quiet at a ball game.

A gentleman a few rows ahead turned around a few times and smiled. Later he tossed us an MLB practice ball and introduced himself as the guy who provided the Mets' uniforms.

A player had just been added to the roster; our new Bronx friend had customized an outfit for him and was flown down by the Mets that day, to hand-deliver the goods.

  s t r i k e   1 :    This is my uglee ball. Yeah, it's that color. Purchased at a re-gifting party, it's "hand-sewn of the finest Italian drum-dyed leather" and advertises itself as a collector's item. I had to buy something; it was either this or a briefcase of BBQ utensils.

  B A L L   2 :    NCAA Championship ball, given to Jirty and his little brother by an ump at one of the games Cousin J1 pitched.

  B A L L   3 :    Someone gave an acquaintance of ours an MLB All Star ball (Atlanta, 2000) that was on display in his workplace.

He knew of Jirty's love of the game, and one day plucked it off the shelf and forked it over. We keep forgetting it's a collectible, and occasionally I find it stuck in the bushes.

  s t e  e  e  -  r i k e   2 :     "Confusion-maker!" This ball was printed with a color key for fastball, curve and forkball. We were so confused about which FINGER to put on WHICH colored dot that we started making our own dots, thinking that would make it easier. Now it just looks like a ridiculous clown ball. Maybe it's just annoying that it says "Righty" and I'm not.

  B A L L   4 :      THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL BALL!  It's glossy, classy and artsy. Don't pay any attention to that bat coming down on Ryan Howard's head...it has nothing to do with real life. Turkey Hill sponsored a special event for kids; my nephew J got to help out and meet Ryan. Even though J has allegiances to another team, he said it was "cool."

Ball 4, take a walk!

posted by Sluggerbaby, August 4, 2008

Where is the summer going?

My Georgia nephews go back to school next week. Whazzupwidat? Used'ta be every schoolkid in the USA got to play until after Labor Day weekend.

Does it seem like the MLB pennant races are more closely watched this year than ever, at this point in the season? Maybe it's just because we're watching a lot more ESPN.

Future MLBers Jirty and little brother had a catch with Channel-Flicker and me yesterday, inspired by the team BBQ and the slight dip in temp. Apparently there was no dip for those MLB guys playing in Texas last week (probably in other southern locations, too)...95+ degrees, even at night. 

I'd like to see the "inside" of a major league ballpark. Are the dugouts air-conditioned? Do they have refrigerated towels to wipe their faces? Are there really rooms full of batting tees? These and 100s of other questions I'd like answers to, if anyone's offering a free tour. 

Summertime is also bug-time. Who can forget, if you saw it, that freak insect attack in Cleveland last year during the AL Division Series? Surreal, the scenes of Jorge Posada spraying insecticide on Mariano Rivera's head, and the Yankees' trainer dousing Joba Chamberlain. There were so many trillions of gnats that the spray didn't seem to make a dent (unless you count the human brain cells damaged from that nasty stuff).

According to a New York Times article last year:

"...Yankees’ Doug Mientkiewicz repeatedly stepping out of the box and slashing the air with his hands before grounding out.

It was 81 degrees and humid at game time, and when a breeze died down in the eighth inning, Mientkiewicz said, the bugs came out in force.

“During my at-bat, I had them in my nose,” he said. “I chased a foul ball after that and I ate about four of them on my way down. It was very strange. Joba had them all over his back and all over his neck and all over everywhere.”

Chamberlain was immediately distracted during warm-ups, twitching and shaking his head, trying in vain to scare off the pests. He walked two, threw two wild pitches and hit a batter in the fateful eighth..."

But...summer is summer. It's SUPPOSED to be hot...and sticky...and buggy (well, maybe not Cleveland-buggy). Summer has many sweet rewards, and I don't want to rush the ending.

posted by Sluggerbaby, August 3, 2008

Dang, I broke my camera! I was uploading the photo below at midnight and forgot the thing was on my lap. When I got up, it sprung across the floor like a line drive, and was yanked back by the cord to the computer. Well, enjoy the $300 posting. Note to self: do not upload when burnt.

Saw part of the Yankees-Angels game today. It's hard watching tv with someone who's a channel-flicker. Just when things get going, there's a car dirt-jumping on the screen. No offense to the X-Games, but I kinda like to watch the ballgames without having to say "Can you pleeease turn it back?" every 2 minutes.

I didn't always get my way, because Channel-Flicker was rooting for the Angels.

The Yankees came from behind (0-5) to win 14-9. From what I could see, there were quite a lot of Angel errors; kinda felt sorry for them. Then, after trolling around some Yankee blogs, I start feeling sorry for them - as much as you can feel sorry for super-famous, super-rich superstars that date/marry supermodels.

So much negativity around the online horn - "trade this guy, he stinks" and "he's the worst player in the league" and "I coulda done a better DP than him." One newpaper blog had over 1200 replies to 1 article, and almost every post was a spinoff of the 3 examples mentioned above. Am I just overly cranky these days, or has the world gotten a little - um, harsh?

I sometimes think: What if, when I went to my job, people sat there watching me...and whenever I made a mistake (a tally more astronomical than the amount of the national deficit), people were catcalling me? Man, I couldn't get nuttin' done!

Of course, I don't have people CHEERING for me when I have a good moment. And my paycheck is - well, we just sold my 1994 Corolla that didn't have working A/C for the past six years.

Here's how I see it: every man out there is somebody's son, brother, even husband or dad. There are a lot of cut-offs on the long road to making it to the MLB. If your cousin made it even to the minors 15 years ago, you'd still brag about it, wouldn't you?

I have my likes and dislikes, too. Just don't think it's right to boo someone in person (a la Andruw Jones) or rag on them via the internet - unless, of course, they spit in the ump's face or something.

posted by Sluggerbaby, midnight August 2, 2008; artwork by Jirty

Some of the hot dogs were charred but weren't nearly as burnt as we are right now.

The whole family pitched in to clean and prepare for Jirty's team (MARLINS) cookout/swim/backyard ballgame. The game never materialized, unless you count a wiffleball free-for-all, but the kids seemed to have a blast and conversation among the adults flowed nicely.

 It was good to see the little baseball buddies again - they've grown in 2 months. Coach gave out medals he'd purchased himself, just to thank the kids for working so hard in spring ball.

I didn't know some of the parents all that well, but as the dynamics are different (we aren't sitting in a row facing the diamond), we got to know each other a little better. Who would've guessed that Coach's wife was a walking encyclopedia of animal science...and that her dad travels the world as director of photography for a Smithsonian museum? And that A & D's parents were so in tune with their 401Ks (inspiring me to take another look at mine)? BB Jr played some cool jazzy bluesy music that he penned himself.

Most gratifying to me was seeing Dad almost like his old self - interacting with people, interested in the topics. It was a nice group of people.

In mid-August, most of the team will be moving up from the pitching machine division to the Majors, which has real pitching. Jirty has really jelled with this team, as he's played with many of them for two years.

The Marlins are a scrappy little group that sometimes started a game a bit shaky, then kicked in hard around the 3rd or 4th inning.  They played with gusto and learned a lot under the excellent guidance of Coach, who has trained & supported them very well without too much coddling (harder than you might think when coming from coaching t-ball).

Although they came in 2nd in the season, they won the playoffs, making them #1 Minors in CAA. YEA team. Most of the players were in the All Star game, which they also won. 

Hopefully they'll understand that being in the new division means a repeat performance is unlikely, as they'll be greenies with a significant learning curve ahead. We hope they continue to be just as eager to learn.

Sluggerbaby still worries about the high percentage of wild pitches. What if Jirty:

 -  doesn't react fast enough?

 - gets beaned in the face?

 - gets hit on the ankle...accidently steps on the ball after it hits the ground...slides hard & fast on his back...gets the air knocked out of him...makes him think he's dying? (Wait, that already happened in baseball camp, so I guess I can strike that off the Worry List.)

What if...? Oh, get over it, Sluggerbaby!

posted by Sluggerbaby, can'tbelieveit'sAugust 1, 2008

The context of baseball within history and culture (or would that be the culture within the history of baseball, or history in...oh, never mind) is brilliantly blueprinted (Jirty's word - cool, huh?) in filmmaker Ken Burns' documentary "Baseball." At least, the parts I've seen of it - it's long, and it's on my "to see" list.

Here is a pathetic attempt to extract the history and culture of Jirty's and our family's lives, within the context of our baseball clothing collection. A sampling of the tee-shirts currently hanging in the closets (from top to bottom, left to right):

Smoltz-Grissom Wood Bat Classic - nephew "C" won 2nd place in 2001 at this annual Atlanta event co-hosted by Braves pitcher John Smoltz and Giants OF Marquis Grissom

Say No To Tobacco - Blue Rocks minor league game giveaway

Mets - found in a thrift shop (with Aunt Dottie, Queen of Yard Sales) years ago: now hole-y, peeling & stained but a CLASSIC

Pat Burrell Phillies - Mom gave this to Jirty; I'll never throw it away

Cardinals - Mother-in-law got stuck in St. Louis airport overnight - blackout during a snowstorm - and went on a shopping spree in the boutiques

CAA All Stars - one of Jirty's many team shirts

"Designed" - the perfect shirt for me; I've always thought of Baseball as Art

"Baseball" - rash guard (cross-sporting)

Blue shirt - nothing special; sale at Target

Mark McGwire - one of a million hand-me-downs from the cousins; will it be worth something, someday?

Take A Seat! - A week after Jirty said he had "ENOUGH baseball shirts!" I bought this while he was at baseball camp. The color was intense, it was $2; large enough for me. Jirty claimed it at first sight.

Baby shirt - Jirty's very 1st ball shirt; currently in little brother's closet

Baseball PJs - okay, they're tight even on little brother, but it's hard to give up a good thing.

Wear your baseball proudly.

posted by Sluggerbaby, July 31, 2008

Whenever my 90+ year-old grandmother-in-law would hear something that astonished her - good or bad - she'd slap her good hand on the table and pronounce, "Whooo-WHEE!" 

That's the first word that came to mind when surfing the 'net today to find out that not only have the Yanks traded for Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez (AND he's supposed to be in the lineup tonight), Jorge Posada has ALREADY HAD his surgery. I didn't see the first one coming. And didn't expect the second one so soon.

Good for Jorge - getting a jump on rehab. I don't know what to think about the last-minute trade. I like Pudge, but I don't want any squeeze-out for the catcher's position, come Opening Day '09.

Pudge was traded for late-inning pitcher Kyle Farnsworth, who by several accounts had been performing "tremendously" recently. 

Excerpt from Kat O'Brien's July 31 article in Newsday.com:  

"Farnsworth was teary after hearing the news, and [[Yankees' GM Brian]] Cashman said it was one of the more difficult trade conversations he's had.
"Farnsy did a h**l of a job for us," Cashman said. "We are robbing Peter to pay Paul here, so I hope it works out."

What else is there to say? Except "Whooo-WHEE!"

posted by Sluggerbaby, July 30, 2008

Sports are a big part of our lives, and it's easy to see where that came from.

Mom was into physical fitness. I don't remember all the names, but there was an assortment of early-morning exercise instructors on tv, before the word "aerobics" was used. Mom would pull up a chair, or whatever prop they were using that day, and start her workout.

Even in her later years, she would no sooner wake up than start her foot circles and stretches in bed. Mom was super-modest; the only thing I ever heard her boast about (and jokingly at that) was her "thighs of steel" from walking and exercising regularly. She would hit her leg lightly with her fist - and boy, they were tight.

A beautiful sight, to see my Mom and Dad swirling around the living room practicing their dance steps - pretzel spins, dips. They did that for years. I first learned of zydeco music through her. She danced like a crazy cat with her grandkids when they were toddlers, to Buckwheat's zippy rhythms.

I wish I didn't, but I now have her water weights for pool aerobics.

Growing up, my brothers and I became the popular kids on the block once word got out that Dad installed used parallel bars in our backyard (he'd purchased them from the Y). He's always liked to challenge himself athletically. He could climb a rope up to the top of the school gym without using his legs.

There was homemade fitness stuff all around the house. Dad still has some of his stilts: from stringed tuna fish cans filled with concrete to the wooden poles with 3' high foot platforms. Old broom handles were converted into weight lifters, newspapers became crumpling devices for superior finger workouts.

He even recycled an old telephone pole cable (the steel kind that supported the pole) and strung it through 2 trees, creating a tightrope. We still marvel at Mom's resiliency after falling on the wire and receiving a grapefruit-sized mark and indentation that lasted for years.

The neighborhood parents peeking out from their living room curtains may have thought my father was a little wacky - one day riding down the street on his unicycle, the next out on the lawn juggling plastic bowling pins.

 Tres cool, Mom and Dad. Thank you so much for being you.

Dang, winter. Such a cheerless chunk of time, and it always takes forever to get lost. Summer is like watching one stroke in a tennis match. Winter is like watching someone's fingernails grow.

And now I gotta suffer through another one before seeing Yankees catcher Jorge Posada play again. I'm BUMMED. Watching the games on tv this summer won't be the same, though they've not been the same for a while now. Seems he's agreed to surgery sometime in the near future instead of waiting post-season.

I will not be listening to the naysayers, the uninformed, the kick-a-man-when-he's-down pseudo fan, or the great unwashed. Or even the good doctor's early reports.

I will just wait impatiently until spring training '09 to see how the repair of the torn labrum on that right shoulder plays out. I'm BUMMED. But I'm confident that we'll see him behind the plate again. If ever there was a determined person, it's Jorge Posada. He's all about baseball, and he's a very hard worker. Hoping for a most successful winter rehab.
But sheezzz. It's gonna be a long wait.

posted by Sluggerbaby, July 28, 2008; artwork by Jirty

My fabulous Aunt Dottie was a huge celebrity seeker. She just couldn't help herself, growing up in Frank Sinatra's backyard (if he had one back then)...and later, in Bruce's front yard (no last names necessary if you were from Jersey City or surrounds). One of the perks of her Port Authority/Newark Airport job was to escort folks from their private planes to someplace else private. You should see the pictures!

Her "big bruddah," my Dad, dislikes idol worship. That's why he'll be shaking his head at this post - well not really, but you'll be thinking it, right, Dad? I guess all those years of hearing Aunt Dottie's stories and driving past famous people's houses rubbed off on me somewhat. Though my fascination with people I'll never meet (as I don't work anywhere near a tarmac) lies strictly with baseball players, Aunt Dottie would be proud of my current selections - and she'd no doubt offer to take me to a Yankees / Mets game if she were still here.

On a team crammed with superstars, determined workhorse Jorge Posada powers on (at least until recently), low-key but intensely focused. Don't know the man personally, but it's clear he gives 100% to each game. He's got great athletic discipline, a healthy mental attitude and his game-calling knowledge is vastly under-rated. He seems to be both well-liked and a great boost to the Yankees in ways beyond physically playing.

Disappointing to see the furious blogging last week which showed  plenty of disagreement on this topic, in light of his ongoing shoulder troubles which have hindered his throws and his batting.  Blogs and posts smacked with "I told you so" superiority, as though it was predictable that Jorge would succumb to injury and age after signing his sweet 4-yr. $52.4 M deal last November.

Seems kind of quiet on the internet this week, as Posada has yet to announce a definite decision. Will he remain as a designated hitter for the season? Will he opt for surgery now? He seems to be leaning toward playing out '08. Surely it's a complicated decision for him, and one that we fans don't have enough information on to even speculate about. Either way, here's to great health and a speedy return to his catcher duties - he surely is missed.

posted by Sluggerbaby, July 27, 2008

Jirty and I purchased a Souvenir Yearbook at the Blue Rocks game last night (see post below); we like analyzing the players and choosing the future stars.

Humbly speaking, I did predict a few years ago that Carlos Beltran (1st card, top row) would rise up from the Blue Rocks in a big way...though I didn't really see that for Johnny Damon (top row, 4th card). We got these collectibles a few years ago, on "card night." The cards came in sheets of 9 and we cut them out with scissors. Phillie Chad Durbin is here, too (bottom right).

Jirty's little brother "signed" Beltran's card by accident, so it won't be worth anything. But that's okay. Maybe little brother's signature will be just as valuable someday - he's quite the tiny ballplayer.

posted by Sluggerbaby, July 26, 2008

Jirty and I went to see a Blue Rocks game tonight. The Rocks are a professional minor league team, Class A Affiliate of the Kansas City Royals.

As Jirty gets older, he is able to concentrate more on the actual game instead of just diversions like whirly pink hairdos on a paper stick (cotton candy), $5.50 ice cream cups and the colorful odd-nut cast of entertainers like Mr. Celery.

This ballclub is a class act; hometown fans are very proud. Beautiful stadium, great attendance. And the guys are good sports. Where else could you see players and even umps synchronized dancing with uber-nerd Myron Noodleman between innings?

Jirty got our tickets for free by fundraising for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. We exchanged them and paid extra for close-up seats right near home plate. Ideal view, comfy seats. But not one of the dozens of foul balls landed near us. Jirty tired of holding his glove ready, so we moved to the cheap seating area, which he had determined was a better place to catch a pop-up.

W as it our imagination, or was the bench seat tipped slightly forward? We felt like we were slowly sliding off, and were constantly re-adjusting our posteriors. Of course, once we moved into the new neighborhood, the foul balls started landing across the way. Isn't that the way it goes, in life...

The Blue Rocks pulled ahead 2-0; Cleveland's Kinston Indians tied it a few innings later. The Rocks rallied to make the final score 5-2. There is promising talent on both teams.

The night was capped off with fireworks. And during the long wait for the parking lot to thin out, we had a catch in the semi-darkness, the ball visible only by the grace of the stadium lights.

It was good hanging out with Jirty. He was lively and funny, providing excellent commentary on the players and the game.

Thank you, Jirty, for the catch, and the evening.

posted by Sluggerbaby, July 24, 2008

Jirty's heading to the (kid) Majors! This division relies on real pitchers instead of a pitching machine. It'll be Jirty's first experience doing that (except for backyard baseball). Hopefully he'll have the good sense to line his uniform with bubble wrap, in preparation for Opening Day.

 We've heard that the games will be all about the steals in this division, until the pitchers settle down and gain control. From the little we glimpsed of these games, it looked like an awful lot of pressure on the catchers. In the MLB, isn't it the pitcher (not the catcher) who assumes the burden of the steals? But here in the "little majors" it's a whole new ball game. 

When asked how we could get Jirty mentally prepared for this kind of play, the Assistant Coach said, "Pick an afternoon and get him out on home plate. Bring a bag of balls, stand fairly close and throw the balls at him; not too hard but hard enough. It's the best way to toughen him up. And get some ice packs ready for when you get home; he's gonna be a little black and blue."

 Sluggerbaby is not ready for this just yet, even if Jirty is.

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