June 18th, 2007 → 12:16 pm @ Seth Mnookin
Quick thoughts on this weekend’s Giants series, of which I attended games two and three:
* Saturday was most definitely not Dice-K’s best game of the season; it was, however, an illustration of one of my favorite themes: the need to consider process vs. results. At points he had trouble locating his curve; he went to three balls a number of times; and only threw seven frames of zeros because of a gift-wrapped strike zone. The sixth inning, in particular, was a classic example of what we’ve seen when Matsuzaka struggles: with Bonds up third, he walked a batter and gave up a hard single before K-ing Barry. Another hard hit liner by one of the Flying Molina Brothers was, fortunately, aimed directly at short. After that gift, Dice-K hit Nate Schierholtz — who has now amassed a total of 41 big league at bats — loading the bases. He then proceeded to walk in a run in a 1-0 game…or would have, anyway, if home plate umpire Charlie Reliford had had his eyes checked before the game. That’s not to say I didn’t like what I saw…but this game might have been a blowout had the Sox been playing an AL team.
* Terry Francona finally seems to have realized that you never want to pitch Mike Timlin in any game in which the Sox are winning or losing by less than five runs. (I pray I’m right on this one…)
* Manny’s two home runs were great to see, but even better was the authority with which he was swinging the bat. He was back to the showing off perhaps the most beautiful swing in the game. Historically, when he finds that swing, he doesn’t lose it for a while. Ortiz, on the other hand, still looks like he’s swinging from his heels too much, and he’s also beginning to look over anxious. Yesterday’s two ground-rule doubles were great, don’t get me wrong…but they weren’t the kind of majestic drives we’ve come to expect from Papi.
* JDD continues to miss badly on some pitches, but the balls he is hitting, he’s hit squarely and with authority. All season I’ve been a guy who’s preached patience with Drew; you don’t put up the kind of track record he does and suddenly forget how to play ball. Coco looks much more confident at the plate too, and he continues to play good-to-great center field. (Lugo is a whole other story; he looked desperate and confused.)
* Following Murray Chass’s logic, the fact that the Sox gained a game on the Yankees this weekend means they’ll end the season 35 games up. That, of course, won’t happen. It’s not out of the realm of possibility to think Boston’s lead will stay within the 5-9 game range through September, but it’s also not out of the realm of possibility to think it’s going to get much tighter down the line. Both of these teams are good. New York’s not half as bad as they were playing in May, and Boston’s not the historically great outfit their record indicated. If both teams stay healthy, it’s going to be an interesting — and hopefully fun — summer.
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Want to hear me talk about all of this, and more? (And whatever else you want to know?) This is your lucky week: I have a series of readings/signings/q&a’s in Boston this week: tomorrow night (at the Boston Public Library, 6pm), Wednesday lunch hour (12:30, downtown Borders), Thursday night (Winchester’s Bookends, 7 pm), and Friday night (Porter Square Books, 7 pm). Don’t miss out.
Post Categories: Daisuke Matsuzaka & J.D. Drew & Manny Ramirez & Mike Timlin & Oblique references to the Byrds & Yankees
June 14th, 2007 → 10:55 am @ Seth Mnookin
Several readers have written in to ask me why I haven’t used Tuesday’s typically ill-informed Murray Chass column as an excuse to take some more swings at my favorite punching bag. The story, “A Chance of Yankee Thunder at Boston,” posited that the Yankees could overtake the Sox before the All-Star break: “At the rate at which the Yankees are slashing into Boston’s lead in the American League East, they will pass the Red Sox in the standings by July 4.” To give you a bit of perspective of just how stupid a comment like this is, the Yankees were cutting into the Sox’s lead during a stretch in which they were undefeated and the Sox were playing below .500. That’s like saying after a night after a Devil Rays victory that Tampa should be projected to win every single game from there on out.
But logic has never been Murray’s strong point…and, indeed, after dropping another game at Fenway last night, even the natives are getting restless. The Sox are 5-7 in May, while the Yankees are 10-2, and are winners of eight straight. That seemingly impregnable 14.5 games is at 8.5 games; a hearty figure that would be cause for celebration any other season but now seems like reason enough to start gnawing those fingernails. And, indeed, expect to see plenty of stories (and hear plenty of the-end-is-nigh segments on the radio) in the days to come. (An aside: how is it that sportswriters are never forced to explain why they proclaim a team invincible and deeply flawed within a period of several weeks…when nothing has changed except for the vagaries of a long season? But I digress.)
So here’s a short list of reasons not to worry…
* Just as Okajima was not going to finish the season with a .0001 ERA, the Yankees pitchers are not going to keep on performing this consistently well. I remain convinced that Clemens is a #3 AL starter, and nothing in his first start made me think any differently. Pettitte has been pitching above his level, and I’d expect Mussina to resemble the 5-inning mediocrity much more than I’d expect him to keep on looking like an ace, as he did last night.
* There are several trends that are unlikely to be sustained. Posada isn’t going to end the season looking like Ted Williams (just as Alex Cora wasn’t going to hit .400 all year…and Pedroia wasn’t going to end up at .200). Manny isn’t going to end the year having remade himself as a singles hitter. And JDD — who’s been among the MLB power leaders for the last half-decade — isn’t going to look this anemic all year, either. (By the same token, I’m assuming Abreu has actually turned a corner.)
* Even Boston’s pitching staff falters a bit — and they will — the rotation looks to be strong and deep enough to end the year pretty near the top of the heap.
* Even the worst teams go on tears. Three years ago, the Devil Rays won 12 in a row. (Granted, 11 of those were against the AAAA-NL, but still.) The Yankees are better than they looked for the first third of the season; they’re not this good. Their rotation is too old; too many key players are scuffed up (Damon) or about to enter exile (Giambi). The next three-and-a-half months aren’t going to be a cakewalk. But this isn’t going to be 1978 all over again, either.
So gnaw those fingernails. Just don’t reserve a spot on the Tobin. You’re much more likely to need to keep October free…
***
Want to hear me discuss this, and much, much more? Head down to NYC’s Professor Thoms tonight, where I’ll be reading, talking, signing books, and encouraging copious consumption of alcohol in the hopes that that’ll spur book sales…
Post Categories: 2007 Season & Feeding the Monster Readings & Red Sox & Red Sox Fans & Yankees
June 11th, 2007 → 8:32 am @ Seth Mnookin
All you NYC Sox fans: Don’t forget this Thursday’s Feeding the Monster reading/book signing/discussion/heckling at Professor Thoms, the East Village’s Red Sox bar extraordinaire. Thoms is at 219 2nd Ave, and has a 41-foot bar and an 100-foot projection screen, so there’ll be plenty of distractions. And, of course, the bar plays every Sox game, all-year round. Here’s your chance to get your FTM paperback (also available from Amazon for only $10.20 — cheap!) personally scribbled on by me. And all while the Sox sit atop the AL East. Yay!
(Boston-area Sox fans shouldn’t despair: there’s full slate of Dirty Water readings scheduled for next week.
Post Categories: Washington Post
June 11th, 2007 → 8:21 am @ Seth Mnookin
From today’s David Carr column on sorting through medical information on the web:
“Derek Lowe, a research scientist who has worked for pharmaceutical companies, writes a blog, In the Pipeline. ‘It is falling into a fairly predictable template, in part because we have had a number of drug safety issues and scares, so this story ends up getting slotted into the same mold as Vioxx on parts of the Web,’ he said in an interview. ‘So we end up reading about the evil mustache twirlers in Big Pharma who knew it was toxic and marketed it anyway.'”
He went on to explain the physics behind the sinker and also discussed the subtleties of sports psychology.
Post Categories: Derek Lowe
June 11th, 2007 → 8:05 am @ Seth Mnookin
In what must be some kind of record, it only took 177 words of this morning’s Times story on Random House for the paper to muff the spelling of Kurt Andersen’s last name…and they did it in the same paragraph in which they spelled his name correctly:
“Random House is also expected to announce today that Kurt Andersen, the author and the host of “Studio 360,” has been named editor at large, where he will suggest new nonfiction books. Last week, Random House, which published Mr. Anderson’s best-selling novel, ‘Heyday,’ announced a two-book deal with him.”
Thank god the Times has new public editor to keep the paper in line. I don’t have the energy to keep at it for much longer.
Post Categories: Kurt Andersen & New York Times
June 5th, 2007 → 10:46 am @ Seth Mnookin
(Warning: The links contained in this post are most definitely not safe for work. Unless you work at home.)
It was only a matter of time: the Playboy photos of supposed A-Rod paramour/definite stripper have surfaced. (Link via Fleshbot via Deadspin via the New York Post.) One of the amusing aftershocks of this whole, um, affair has been the media’s tut-tutting at all the coverage; anyone who watched Sunday night’s national ESPN broadcast was treated to what seemed like hours of Joe Morgan telling Jon Miller that athletes just want — and deserve to — be left alone. The most unintentionally hilarious part of the discourse was when Morgan (whose knowledge of modern day celebrity culture is apparently on par with his understanding of baseball) explained that athletes just want to be left to do their jobs out of the glare of public scrutiny. Now it all makes so much sense.
Post Categories: A-Rod & Joe Morgan & strippers
June 3rd, 2007 → 10:44 pm @ Seth Mnookin
Sadly, I’m not talking about a Police reunion show. (I saw the Synchronicty tour way back in ’84. My dad fell asleep and I didn’t impress Suzanne Connors enough to get a kiss. It was still a great show.) I want to be next to all of you, and thankfully, I’ll be getting a chance in the coming weeks, with readings scheduled in New York, Boston, Cambridge, and Winchester. Check out the appearances page for all the down and dirty details; here’s you chance to get an honest-to-goodness signed copy of Feeding the Monster. And seriously, what could possibly be better beach reading during a summer like this? (If you can’t make it, you can still order the hardcover from Amazon for only $17.16 (cheap!), or, starting on Tuesday, the paperback from Amazon for only $10.20 (cheaper!). And, of course, free signed and personalized bookplates are still here for the asking. They’re really nice. Seriously: ask anyone you know who has one.)
Post Categories: Feeding the Monster Readings
