Sports, Games and Competitions – Page 11

One Day Later – Clemens Not Savior

Well, at least not a savior for the bullpen:

Although injuries have forced Clemens to miss only a few starts the past few seasons — a pesky groin has troubled him occasionally since his days with the Yankees — he has become a five- or six-inning pitcher. Despite often breezing through National League lineups, Clemens pitched into the seventh inning only six times in 19 starts last season and has not thrown into an eighth inning since August 2005. Manager Joe Torre will still need three or four innings from his increasingly worn relievers to preserve the leads Clemens may bequeath.

So why not spend the twenty-odd million you are spending for twenty odd six game starts on four pretty good or better relievers. I only say this to ensure the impending debacle does not tarnish me. Remember, if you are not part of the problem you are the enemy…or the terrorists win…or something like that.

Rogers Clemens Becomes A Yankee Again

I think to be fair, it will be good to see him pitch again – even if Clemens is a Yankee [Ed.: pittuie!] – but there are a number of aspects to this move to sign the great elder statesman, an athlete who is…my age.

1. He is a Mercenary. Clemens is not a teammate in this situation. Between starts he is not on the bench, he isn’t even in New York. The deal is he stays at home in Texas when he feels like it.
2. Clemens’s return is not the Second Coming. The Yankees are as poor as they have ever been in my recollection. Beyond the injuries, some players just have not panned out as promised and the bullpen is simply weak. Clemens shuttling in every fix or six days will not change that.
3. We don’t need no Roger Clemens. Even though the Red Sox probably offered him about ten million less, where would Roger fit in? He is not as good now as the Sox #2 pitcher, Beckett who is 6-0 with a 2.72 ERA on May 7th. Realistically, what with the Dice-K deal, Clemens would be a #4. And even if the fifth starter Tavarez (who I have underestimated before) falters, Okajima could be the fifth starter for the Sox by the fall.
4. Greater Disruptions may be ahead. Forget last year’s soap opera between Jeter and A-Rod. The Yankees are the team of many fragile egos from the interventionist owner to the young pitchers being pushed too early. A number of missteps have placed them in this position. Clemens may serve as a negative, a disruption due to the attention, and soon if the team does not somehow become what it has not been to date so far in 2007.

Sure, I will be excited when he likely makes his debut against the Red Sox in early June and if he wins he wins. It’ll be fun. He may even single handedly add three to five wins that the Yankees would not otherwise have. But they are already five and a half back. Will Rivera regain his form as civilization’s greatest closer? And will he make Damon bat over .240 or Mientkiewicz hit .200? Doubt it. Maybe.

Bulletpoints For The First of May

The shift from snow to having a lawn to mow is startling. I may already be behind.

Update: Scots election chaos.
Please note two key differences between me and Mike.
I decided this May Day would be the day we should thank a great unheralded socialist of the past. The socialist dream we all benefit from in our day to day life is entirely due to the dreams and efforts of Victor L. Berger, US Congressman from Wisconsin – that is when he wasn’t barred from taking his seat for being against WWI. Looking back, is there any of us who is not against WWI? Thanks Vic.
Speaking of obscurities of the past, I came across this chart of blow-hards and their opinions in relation to the Great Depression. My favorite is “Gentleman, you have come sixty days too late. The depression is over” by Herbert Hoover, 1930.
I set up an account on Twitter to see what all the fun is. In the past, I set up an anonymous blogger blog and did nothing with it as I soon realized such things are sad. I also have a MySpace out there somewhere but it is in German so I don’t understand it. As Rob points out, Ontario has now banned Facebook in the public workspace which is fine as these sorts of things are really private hobby activities anyway. But play with the Twitter thing to see if it does anything. Herbert Hoover I am sure would approve as there are great days ahead. If you need to set up a new email account to play with it, I have about 200 of them to give away.
Good news out of Afghanistan and as positive a flip-flop as the Harper government might flop-flip:

Afghanistan, in what amounts to a tacit admission that its security forces may be compromised by torture, has accepted that Canadian monitors be allowed to interview transferred detainees privately. In effect, the secret police colonel — who may terrify a hapless captive — can be turfed out of the cell by Canadian monitors. That provision alone is a measure of just how far Afghanistan was willing to go to accommodate Canada’s newfound need for a landmark pact.

So there was something wrong, there was likely the need to monitor and control movement of people who had come into Canadian detention and now it is up to our leaders to make sure they are handled properly by those into whose trust they are passed. Sounds all grown up and planned.
Fabulous news out of baseball with the 13th one man triple play in the history of the game’s top level:

To put it in perspective with the game’s other great rarity, there have been 17 perfect games pitched, including Don Larsen’s in the 1956 World Series. Even the “natural cycle,” hitting a single, double, triple and home run in order in one game is more common, having occurred 14 times in the big leagues.

If I had had it on the TV, my head would have been in the fridge at the time.

And on a personal note, I will not as it turns out be going to my undergrad reunion after all. Instead, I will enjoy the enhanced cost of my new roof shingles later this summer. The purveyors of ales and seafood of Halifax and the Maritimes will have to live another year without me. But fear not as instead of six or seven nights of hotels we are investing in Sea Dogs tickies and Boston Chocolates instead as I’ll will be reporting from Maine later in the month. I understand there will be parades on Memorial Day. Parades are excellent. As are Boston Chocolates.

Canadianism

Jay poached the photo so I don’t have to. Aside from his sad lapse into phoney baloney snide conclusion, it really points out a very interesting fact – Canadians like the Stanley Cup more than canoes, more than a Tim Hortons outlet located in a Canadian Tire – more than even the NHL who only hold it in trust, more than hockey or the flag.

Update: Not only does he acknowledge the Cup as a national icon, he also confirms that honesty is a great trait of a great man. Good for General Hillier.

The Bloq Of New Liberaltarian Progressive Democratic Conservatives

How to get one party rule? Don’t fight the power! Share a big hug over a nothing issue. Make it all bland and, like, righteous so that everyone wants the same thing because its all about what is right and it is never right to say bad things…especially when it’s based on made-up stuff.

In Russia, Mr. Doan again denied making a cultural slur Tuesday, saying he takes pride in being a role model and would never have made the comments attributed to him. He previously launched a lawsuit against Denis Coderre, a Liberal MP who criticized him. Coderre has counter-sued.

Sue them all, Doan. Sue them for being stuffed, bloated pompoustatrons.

Tra-la, It’s May!

Comments in the morning. I just had this flashback to four years ago and my newbie blogging reactions over how nice I thought it was getting up in the morning to a bunch of stuff to read. Even though the stats are still sort of collapsing (everyone seemingly migrating to the beer blog ever so slowly), the comments are far more important at Gen X at 40 as I now and for some time have had no real expectations for this organ of mine other than being a place of pleasant if vigorous and unexpected.

You see things have changed. Last month I got about 105,000 visits from 57,207 unique visitors. While that latter number is the highest ever, I think the visits peaked in August 2005 at 338,790 but I only had 30516 uniques in that month. So I think we can see that I have gone from a 1/11 to less than 1/2. I used to kid myself that you were coming back 11 times a day. Can you say “spam filters”? It is indicative of it all, of course. Where once we thought these blogs were going to be newspapers, we are just pen pals. And that is more than good enough.

I have to give particular thanks for one particular reader this morning. Chris Taylor was good enough to share baseball tickets he could not use. I had it in my head they were for Toronto and Detroit and they enter the weekend’s mid-table letter pile. And, as it is for a Thursday, I think 5 hours driving for a 3 hour event will be a pass and I ask if I can pass them on again to someone who is going to use them and the ever kind Chris says sure. So I give the tickets away, come home to find them, end up having to dig through the recycling box to find the envelope and there it is – and it is not for the Jays against the Tigers…it’s for the Thursday night game next week against the Sox! I am so there. Six rows back of the visitor’s dugout screaming my love for Manny. I think I will go early to get some photos. My daugther is already planning the poster referencing Gerry Remy and portland.

What is the superlative of “woot”? “Most wooty”?

Watertown Update

Interesting doings across the river in Watertown according to WWNY, though their choice of illustrating the story with a photo of half a Bulgarian nuclear reactor from 1968 is some what curious:

The Town of Watertown’s first two domes aren’t even off the drawing board yet, and already there is talk of a third dome. At a town board meeting Monday night, town supervisor Joel Bartlett disclosed that a group of private investors are considering a $25 million theme park in the town. The theme park would have its own dome.

News of the possible investment comes as Bartlett and other town officials consider whether the town should raise $10 milion to build two domes of its own. One dome would be the “event” dome, seating 6,000 people for sporting events, concerts and conventions. The other would be a smaller dome that would replace the town’s west side fire station. The cost is pegged at no more than $10 million, with the money coming from grants and taxes other than property taxes.

“It’s a big investment we’re asking folks to consider, and we want to do our ‘due diligence,'” Bartlett said. Town officials said a “board of managers” would ovedrsee the domes. The town board will get more details at its next meeting.

Good – no plan that the contractors to be chosen will be Uzblkinovokinov + Concretovi…though a glowing green blob on the horizon would certainly make finding it on the drive over easy enough. We like going over – as is obvious – but in winter a shorter hop is better than always putting six or eight hours of driving into a weekend so the prospect of new things to do so close is pretty nice. The expansion of Fort Drum is obviously creating an economic boom over in Jefferson County as the main drag seems to have had a new mall area pop up over the last few months.

Have a look around yourself as the season opener for the Wizards is now officially a Gen X at 40 sanctioned event:

The Watertown Wizards open the 2007 New York Collegiate Baseball League season on Friday, June 8th, at Alex T. Duffy Fairgrounds, against the Glens Falls Golden Eagles. Game time is 7:00 PM.

Glens Falls! Pttuie!!! At least we are not playing the Diamond Miners. More info on the Wizards here.

Four In A Row

First sweep of the Yankees at Fenway in 17 years, fifth time in history that any team hits four homers in a row. To be fair, it was also rookie Chase Wright’s, the pitcher, second game.

Without getting into a blow by blow, it was a bit funny when Wily Mo Pena, the fifth batter, did not hit a home run:

Only one other pitcher, Paul Foytack of the 1963 Los Angeles Angels, had ever allowed homers to four consecutive batters. But Foytack, at least, was pulled after the fourth home run. With Colter Bean just starting to loosen in the Yankees’ bullpen, Wright stayed in to face Wily Mo Pena with the ballpark buzzing. The fans gasped as Pena dribbled a foul grounder — what, not a home run? — and Wright finally ended the barrage with a strikeout.

And it was nice to see Varitek pound the fourth one, giving rise to A-Rod’s “holy-mo-lee-toe” grimmace caught in this picture as the last of the four home run hitters ran past his spot at third base.

Fantabulastictasity

Christmas colours

Was last night’s 7-6 defeat of the Yankees by the Red Sox the best game I have ever seen? No, as my only trip to Fenway was when I was ten and I saw the Yankees lose something like 10-9 live from the bleachers. And there was that gutting of the former Highlanders by the Bostonians in 2004. But this one was up there.

First, the starting pitching was fairly string not the greatest. Andy Pettitte was better than Schilling, who was not as bad as his awful first outing but no where near his last two starts. Rivera sucked and Okajima, the pitcher many think is in the bullpen to give Dice-K someone to talk to, came out and was as effective a closer as I have ever seen. A-Rod started to walk towards first at one point during his final at bat, failing to notice that he had just been eviscerated by a wicked good curve that dropped exactly where and when it needed to drop.

And the offense was all upside-down, too. Ortiz stretched a single into a double. Variteck homered. Manny was quiet but worked in a walk after being 0-2 in the count when we needed it. And Coco came back to life last night. Out-playing his counterpart and shadow Johnny “hugs money” Damon [Ed.: pittui!] he beat out a ugly throw from A-Rod in his third at bat and in his last, ripped one into the corner just skimming past first base to tie the game. The Boston Herald called him an “offensive stud“.

We are off to Yankee land today with a trip to the zoo and maybe supper out at Sackets Harbor. Day tripping with today’s 4 pm start on the radio.

Morton Loses…But Named Champions Anyway!

My people – my pale, pale people.

It is all coming together. For those in the pool, the answer is 6(a). See, the Morton lost today but so did Stirling. So that leaves Morton top of the league with two games to go. Automatic promotion. Respect: Stirling’s the town where I learned about ska in 1980 at Dad’s pal’s house (aka “me auntie’s”) care of Dad’s pal’s late teen daughter (aka “me auntie’s kid”) and that Specials 7 inch ep she controlled. And Stirling was the scene of “the epic bender” in 1986. Entered a pub and the bartender shouts “yes, the Canadians are going for it!” Entered the next pub and there is the shorter guy hitchhiking out of town at the end of Gregory’s Girl. I also realized Scots kids tucked in their wool sweaters on that trip…like, in their pants.

Anyway, the Greenock Morton actually advance to the First Division – which is the second division – for next season. Playing with the almost big boys. Woot. Photos above from an excellent set at Inverclyde Now in which the photographer does a great job not only of capturing the emotion of the visiting Greenock supporters but also gets a great range of the various jerseys sported by the fans – I love the blue tartan one. A great set by a thoughtful photographer turning his back on one story for another. I think we have about eight Morton jerseys in the house, two or three scarves, a pennant – and a few pins, many old programs and those cloth badges. And books…I have books…and away socks. And programs and a Jimmy Cowan cigarette card from around 1948. And other stuff.

Big big day. A wee dram of the good stuff in my Greenock Golf Club 1890-1990 tumbler tonight. More championship Morton chat at greenockmorton.net and from The Greenock Telegraph. Grannie would be proud.