September 22nd, 2006 → 11:48 am @ Seth Mnookin
Yesterday afternoon, I took advantage of the fact that I’m in Boston for a few days to catch up with some folks at Fenway. The conversation, as it naturally does, ended up on David Ortiz; I expressed some concern for how he’d fare against Johan Santana, a.k.a. the left-handed Pedro Martinez, circa 1999. (Going into last night’s game, Ortiz was 0-6 with 3 Ks against JS.) Not to worry, I was told: Papi has gotten so good at recongizing change-ups — and not swinging at them — that he’ll just lay off those and wait for something he can hit.
He got that something with the first pitch he saw, showing once again the extent to which Ortiz has become a smart hitter and not just a good one. He’s almost Williams-esque in his desire to wait for his pitch. (OK, fine: not quite Williams-esque. But very good.) He’s Bird-esque is his ability to rise to the moment. And he remains a stone-cold pimp; when talking with the guy who caught his #51, he inquired as to whether the dude was married. Told he was not, Ortiz said he’d soon have two girlfriends. At least.
As an aside, the at-bat that resulted in Ortiz’s second homer of the night — in the seventh inning, off of Matt Guerrier — reminded me a little of the at-bat in the 14th inning of Game 5 of the ’04 ALCS…you know, the one where he had a walk-off single off of Esteban Loaiza. Loaiza got ahead of Ortiz early on, while Guerrier started Ortiz off with three balls, but after swinging through on 3-0, Ortiz fouled off four straight pitches before launching his rocket to deep center. In one game, we got to witness history and also were given a clinic in the ways in which Papi has improved as a hitter: he can handle lefties and he can spoil pitches until he gets one he can handle.
The frenzied adulation of last night is why Fenway’s remaining five games will be electric and exciting: every night (or afternoon), fans have a chance to witness history. (And to compute the chances you’ll get a free, personalized copy of Feeding the Monster by winning the Big Papi prediction contest. Ortiz’s HR+RBI total is currently 184, and there are nine games left…) Even the Boston media is treating the games themselves as if they’re sideshows; in today’s Globe writeup, the game is barely described; Ortiz, needless to say, is given plenty of ink.
(Speaking of games getting short shrift, Josh Beckett has seen two of his better pitching performances of the year be relegated to second fiddle status: his 7 innings of 2-run ball against the Mets was overshadowed by Pedro’s return to Fenway, and last night’s 8-inning shutout was more or less ignored b/c of Ortiz.)
Post Categories: David Ortiz & Josh Beckett
September 21st, 2006 → 11:42 am @ Seth Mnookin
In case you missed it, last night David Ortiz hit his 50th home run of the season, equaling Jimmie Foxx’s club record, set in 1938. Amalie Benjamin has a nice line in her write up in the Globe:
“They stood, as the ball from the hand of Boof Bonser — what a name for that footnote — lifted off Ortiz’s bat with two outs in the sixth inning, a home run that in its flight, in its landing in the center-field seats to the right of the yellow line, did more than equal a Red Sox record. It did exactly what it should have, breaking a 1-1 tie, though the Twins went on to an 8-2 victory.
Because that is who David Ortiz is. And that is what David Ortiz does.”
I know this has been repeated ad infinitum, but here are some of the Red Sox players who never hit 50 home runs:
* Ted Williams (career best 43, 1949)
* Carl Yastrzemski (44, 1967)
* Jim Rice (46, 1978)
* Mo Vaughn (44, 1996)
* Manny Ramirez (45, 2005)
* Jerry Remy (2, 1978)
To further honor the greatest clutch hitter in the history of the Red Sox…
Here’s an outtake from the book on how the Sox ended up with Ortiz in the first place.
Here’s an excerpt on Papi’s breakout ’03 season.
If you go to the bottom of this page, there’s an audio link to my reading about Ortiz’s game-winning single off of Esteban Loaiza in the 14th inning of Game 5 in the 2004 ALCS. (As Joe Buck memorably said on national TV, “Damon coming to the plate, he can keep on running to New York. Game 6, tomorrow night!”)
Here’s a photographic recap of Papi’s 50 homers (courtesy of the Globe).
And here’s a gallery of Ortiz’ walk-offs (also courtesy of the Globe).
Enjoy.
Post Categories: David Ortiz
September 21st, 2006 → 11:17 am @ Seth Mnookin
…(insert memory from high school here). After last night’s lovely reading in Providence — lovely if you cut out the tangled thicket of interweaving on-off ramps for 95 and 195 that surround the city — it’s back to my hometown for tonight’s event at the Newton Free Library. That means if you come out tonight, you’ll not only hear all about the the book (and the Sox more generally), but you’ll also get a chance to meet old high school teachers/siblings of ex-girlfriends/etc. And who’d want to miss that?
Post Categories: Feeding the Monster Readings
September 21st, 2006 → 11:05 am @ Seth Mnookin
I know some of you think I’m Ahab to Murray Chass’s Dick. That’s not the first time I’ve been accused of white whaling a guy: former Times editor Howell Raines was convinced my coverage of the disastrous consequences of his nightmarish tenure stemmed from some made-up grudge. And there’s Dan Brown, the well-known composer of soft-rock paeans to phone sex operators: I’ve intermittently covered a case in which he’s been accused of plagiarism since 2003, first at Newsweek, more recently at Vanity Fair; Brown’s publisher, agent, and lawyer have all intimated I have it out for the guy. (If anything, I think there should be more songs about phone sex.)
The crux of that case is this: Lewis Perdue, author of Daughter of God and Da Vinci Legacy (among other thrillers), thought Brown had cribbed The Da Vinci Code from his work. When I read the two books, I thought Perdue had a point; unlike the laughably preposterous Holy Blood, Holy Grail case (which was brought to trial in London), Perdue’s book and Brown’s book were remarkably similar, at least to my eyes (which admittedly haven’t spent a lot of time reading religious-themed page-turners). It’s a weird, complicated case, which Perdue eventually lost — a pretty resounding defeat, actually — and to get the full rundown you’ll probably need to read the VF story.
There is some new news in the case, and, since I always find it weird when people make a big deal out of stories and then never follow up, here it is. After Perdue lost his case in Federal Court, Random House asked for approximately $300,000 in attorney’s fees, an amount which would more or less bankrupt Perdue (but wouldn’t add much to the hundreds of millions of dollars Brown and Random House have made off Da Vinci Code). On August 30, a court-appointed magistrate recommended against attorney’s fees being awarded; last week, the federal judge in the case — the same one that had ruled against Perdue — agreed. This is interesting for a couple of reasons:
1. It means that, while Perdue may have spent a couple of years of his life devoted to this, he won’t risk losing his house.
2. The federally appointed magistrate, in his carefully worded ruling, appeared to come close to disagreeing with the judge’s initial decision. (Without getting into specifics of summary and declaratory judgments, the initial decision essentially ruled that Perdue didn’t even have the right to have his claim heard before a jury because there was no way he’d win.) To wit: “Although it is true that, after a thorough review of each of the factors described above the court determined that an average lay observer would conclude that The Da Vinci Code ‘is simply a different story than that told by Daughter of God,’ Perdue proffered e-mail he received from ‘lay observers,’ who claimed Brown had ‘plagiarized’ Perdue’s work. In addition, a forensic linguist also supported Perdue’s claims. Moreover, the Court notes that, although the August 4 Opinion is a sweeping rejection of all Perdue’s allegations of similarity, the court neither characterized Perdue’s claims as frivolous nor stated that they were close to frivolous. Therefore, the Court finds that Perdue’s counterclaims were objectively reasonable.” (Caveat emptor: I’m no lawyer, and often find the legal world through-the-looking-glass weird. For example, I thought it strange that the judge in the case borrowed huge sections, word-for-word, from the Random House/Brown brief in his ruling in favor of Random House/Brown; in journalism (or academia), that’s the kind of thing that would get you, you know, fired. But apparently this is not out of the ordinary in rulings. Go figure.)
3. It’s always amusing when a request for $300,000 gets knocked down to $256.13, which is what the judge eventually ruled for.
At this point, the case is pretty much over…although in August, Perdue did ask the Supreme Court to look at the case, which is the only way he can get it reexamined. All of those details — and many, many more — are available on one of the several sites Perdue maintains devoted to the case. (Speaking of white whales…)
Post Categories: Dan Brown & Plagiarism & The Da Vinci Code
September 20th, 2006 → 9:48 am @ Seth Mnookin
(But only if “this here land” is defined as New England.) That’s right, folks: tonight begins the last leg of the great 2006 Feeding the Monster Tour, with stops tonight in Providence, tomorrow in Newton (home of the Tigers!), and Friday in Burlington, MA. There’ll be selected dates here and there through the end of the year — October in Brattleboro, November in Springfield — but besides that, this week your last chance to ask me about trades, non-trades, NASCAR, long-term strategies, Kevin Millar’s obsession with Manny Ramirez’s anatomy, or anything else having to do with last year, this year, or next year.* After that, it’s spring break for me. It’s my favorite holiday. Nothing gets me more excited.
Hope to see you all down the road…
*If you work for a large (or even medium sized company) based in either New York or Boston and want me to come speak/read to you, get in touch: I have done a bunch of private-ish readings for groups, which I’m almost always happy to do. Especially if said group has a lot of folks that want to buy books. One warning: my rider for those events stipulates unlimited juice.
Post Categories: Feeding the Monster Readings & Oblique references to Arrested Development
September 20th, 2006 → 9:47 am @ Seth Mnookin
I recognize the irony in my asking why there are people in the world who’ve been burned by their dumb-ass comments before and still make egregiously misguided statements to the press.
Like A-Rod. It’s been five-plus years since he permanently alienated Derek Jeter with his “he’s never had to lead” comments to Esquire. In the current SI, Tom Verducci has a bunch of juicy quotes in his magnificent, 5,000-word piece on Rodriguez’s struggles with the Yankees, titled “The A-Rod Agonistes.”
A quick read reveals this as perhaps the most incendiary quote: “Mussina doesn’t get hammered at all. He’s making a boatload of money. Giambi’s making ($20.4 million), which is fine and dandy, but it seems those guys get a pass. When people write (bad things) about me, I don’t know if it’s (because) I’m good-looking, I’m biracial, I make the most money, I play on the most popular team.” (That quote is eerily reminiscent of the manner in which Kevin Millar anonymously slammed Curt Schilling last year; I recount the whole incident in the book. Suffice to say there are plenty of corners of the Sox’s clubhouse that don’t miss Mr. Cowboy Up.) A-Rod also says, “I can’t help that I’m a bright person. I know that’s not a great quote to give, but I can’t pretend to play dumb and stupid.” Which begs the question: if you’re so smart, why are you giving quotes you know will cause problems?
Sure, Jason Giambi’s quotes in the piece are more revealing — Giambi tells the extent to which the team was frustrated with A-Rod and describes his asking Torre to toughen up on the Yankees’ maligned third baseman — but Giambi is one of the more popular members on the team. Alex is not.
(The NY sports media is, predictably, all over this. I can’t imagine the story will disappear in the next few days.
The Times: “As Yankees March On, a Reminder of Rodriguez’s Summertime Swoon”
The Post: “Spoiled Rotton”
The Daily News: “Giambi Told Torre to Get Tough on Alex“)
Post Categories: A-Rod
September 20th, 2006 → 9:09 am @ Seth Mnookin
Yesterday, Peter Gammons posted his first ESPN column since suffering a brain aneurysm earlier this summer (or, as Gammons would surely say, earlier this season). (Article available to ESPN Insider subscribers only.)
Peter was without question the nicest, smartest, most knowledgeable reporter I met while working on FTM. There were folks who wanted to know what some punk was doing wandering around Fenway and getting unfettered access to everyone in the organization, folks who felt any new reporter should spend a year or two proving his mettle, and folks who just ignored me. (There were also many more folks who were lovely and nice and generous with their time.) Peter was the polar opposite (of the first group, not the second). From the night I had dinner with him in spring training, he constantly shared his time and insights, and watching games with him from his seats behind home plate was one of the joys of the last year.
Gammons’s return will certainly give Sox fans plenty to talk about. In his first column, he gives an obligatory tip of the cap to the Yankees’ acquisition of Abreu; he also writes that “no races turned in July or August on the transaction page”…which should provoke some debate among those members of RSN convinced that this or that trade would have catapulted the Sox into the playoffs. (Gammons also addresses a topic I think will become an increasing source of discussion among fans: the extent to which the new economics of baseball effect the free-agent market: “‘The story of the trading deadline and the last couple of free-agent classes should be titled, Revenue-sharing is working,’ says one baseball executive,” Gammons writes. More on this in a future post.)
Tonight, Gammons will be broadcasting live from Fenway for both the 6 pm edition of Sports Center and the 7 pm edition of Baseball Tonight. That’s great news for everyone. Welcome back, commissioner.
Post Categories: Peter Gammons
