"The Anthropology of Sports" is another beat or serial I've been tossing around in my head for a while now. (See here.) "Anthropology" here as akin to how Anne Carson uses it in "The Anthropology of Water" (which I wrote about here) or Joan Didion does in A Book of Common Prayer (where she talks about the uselessness of it...in a very loving way), rather than any serious place for academic writing. If we are able to view anthropology as a style of art as well as an academic profession (and a hands-on-in-the-field backlash towards that very academic backdrop called "applied anthropology," which I think of as really just a natural result of any research to be done in the discipline), then I would place myself firmly in the former position. Interested in it in so much as it provides for my art (and I guess in the way that it is different than my art, for my life). Now I'll get on with the piece...
Showing posts with label sports sunday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sports sunday. Show all posts
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Scott van Pelt recalls the Tonight Show fiasco.
SportsCenter does these dj mixes of the month that play around with a lot of soundbites. They also did a recent "things they should trademark" segment. I was thinking about the NBC craziness with Leno and Conan and thought I would write a little remembrance up using quotes. Then I realized this was the perfect time to have an extended use of hyperlinks--it's a new type of reading really. So I hope this isn't too unbearable to get through. It's not very good, but it's the thought that counts, right? (Wrong.)
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Spectrum
Anthropology is a discipline that relies a lot on redefining terminology with more streamlined meanings. Retooled, recycled words become jargon. Which is probably a complaint for a lot of people, but is something I truly enjoy about the field. Language is important, but communication is more important, so doing a little dirty work and blowing up quite a few connotatively bloated phrases and words seems useful, pertinent, and fun. Either I enjoy defining terms myself, and this is one of the similarities that I found with anthropology upon choosing it as my major or I am simply influenced by my enthusiasm for the field--whatever the initiating factor, I have found myself time and time again lately creating personal definitions for terms. Ultimately, one might feel this useful for poetry, adding a personal bit to the poem that stands in front of the reader as an enigma that can only be solved by something outside of the poem. It's obviously a ton of fun to be reading a poem and realize the poet is talking about some biographical fact that you actually know, but the mystery that not knowing causes leaves the writer with what is not always a net positive. But moving back from that side-note...
Sunday, August 9, 2009
"You're killing us, Youkilis!"
You know, even though I’ve been a fairly involved Rays fan since last season and a moderate follower since they came to Tampa in 1998 and my father has always been a Yankee fan, I never really had anything against the Red Sox. I rooted for them against the Rockies in ’07 and these days I like them more than any other team in our division, although this spot might be sometimes contested by the Toronto Blue Jays. My last post, “yesterday,” in this fictionally presented “blogaday” (as the label reads), for the month of August, talked about the irrationalities of baseball and how these are all embodied in the intentional hit by pitch.
Now as anyone reading this blog would know, I’ve obviously slacked off to a regularity by this point in the month, but I can somewhat excuse my course of action in this case (that is for this post), and although my excuse doesn’t really amount to much of anything, it is an interesting situation to be in. But before I move on to that discussion, I’d like to add a little color commentary on the blogging itself. Brad Sucks, a one-man band consisting of Brad Turcotte, has invented, to some extent, the persona of being in love with unpopularity. His band name, slogan (“a one man band with no fans”), and even debut album title (I Don’t Know What I’m Doing), all work on this level. This is a sort of style that I’ve tried out in various horrid introductions to even more horrible writings, but usually knowing the fact that no one will in fact read them. If I do pick up the style here, I guess any readers will just have to bear with me.
If this post had been made on Sunday, half a week ago, now, I would not have been able to bring up the current story of Kevin Youkilis’s storming of the mound at Fenway last night. Youkilis has garnered himself a five game suspension and also one for rookie pitcher Rick Porcello of the Detroit Tigers, who is currently high in the standing for AL Rookie of the Year, and may now see his chances quickly diminish, in response to this.
As I cited earlier (on Saturday, August 8th), I’m no fan of pitchers throwing at hitters, but there are way too many misreads in the major leagues. If you are a major league hitter, you should be able to tell if a pitch is thrown intentionally to hit you. Boston fans will, I’m sure, cite Porcello’s inside pitches to Victor Martinez in the previous inning, as Youkilis himself might point out, as proof that Porcello was paying back the BoSox for an earlier Detroit hit batsman.
This sort of comment is comically incorrect, since Porcello’s pitches against Martinez were brilliant examples of what the inside pitch can allow a pitcher to do. Porcello was able to later on in the at bat strike out Martinez on an outside pitch. By backing him off the plate, Rick was able to pick up the k and even more importantly, the out. The Tigers were up three to nothing when Porcello was pitching and this is a team that is very much in the heat of a division race of its own.
The Tigers currently lead what is debatably the worst division in the American League, ahead of the White Sox who have a pitcher in Mark Buerhle who has thrown a perfect game this season and another potential pitching threat in the inevitable return of their trade deadline acquisition, Jake Peavy, and also ahead of the Twins, who have quietly acquired Karl Pavano from Cleveland, a pitcher who has looked better than his former teammate Cliff Lee, at least while the two played together in Cleveland (as Lee is now pitching dominatingly in the National League, another Indian toss-off this season).
In other words, Porcello has every right to be pitching competitively, and when an inside pitch is direct set-up for an outside strike-out, there is no doubt in my mind that the pitch was intentional for that reason, and not to actually hit Martinez. Following his strike-out of Martinez, and returning to the mound in the next inning, Porcello does have a pitch get away from him. And this isn’t my expert opinion, since my opinion is obviously not expert, it’s the opinion of “Wild Thing” Mitch Williams, and various others on the MLB Network staff. And if anyone knows about pitches getting away from you it’s Mitch.
That said, Kevin Youkilis got hit by a pitch, and was in line to collect his tenth HBP awarded base of this season—I think we have to allow him some slack, you’re going to be angry when in two thirds of a season you’ve been hit a number of times in the double digits. But what Youk then did was to throw his helmet towards the mound and storm Porcello. Awkwardly, Rick stepped back, both hands raised, in a “Why are you coming after me?” stance, and continued to retreat, but Kevin wouldn’t run out of steam.
In my opinion, the man on the right side won in this battle, however, when Youk’s attempted tackle of Porcello ended in Rick throwing him to the ground. No matter how much slack you want to give to Kevin Youkilis, the main question I have to ask is “What the hell were you thinking?”
The whole idea of hitting a batter is to diminish the opposing team’s greatest hitter. If I were to think that Porcello had been after Youk and Martinez, this rule of thumb would hold true. Although he might have great respect amongst the Boston crowd, Big Papi, David Ortiz, has not been dependable this year, and a team that at one point had what many say as an “overabundance of pitching,” has been able to blame a lot of its failings on lackluster offense. In fact that is what actually sparked the acquiring of Victor Martinez in the first place. But one person you couldn’t blame for lackluster playing of any sort was Youkilis, who quickly became one of the most feared in this year’s Boston line-up, a position he has been in before. Now, as Boston’s pitching has begun to unravel, their offense is even more needed.
Kevin Youkilis, in running to the mound, tossing his helmet, and just generally acting like a hooligan in some pick up baseball game had to know that he was going to get himself tossed out of the line-up for a while. In fact, I find MLB’s disciplining weak and one-sided. I could see a fine towards Porcello, but he does not need to be suspended, and I don’t think Youkilis should be hitting again until September. In his storming of the mound, he has truly showed himself as a bush league ballplayer. Compare him to Gary Sheffield, who just a few days ago basically asked a pitcher to avoid his head, while accepting the fact that a pitch was coming at him.
No matter what it comes down to, the inside pitch and the intentional HBP (two different things in my opinion) are very much a part of baseball. The Red Sox’s fate during his suspension was apparently not on Youkilis’s mind when he gave in to rage.
[May it be said that the Red Sox would come back from a 3-0 deficit to win this game, mostly due to the play of Mike Lowell, who would replace Youkilis at third base. Boston is a very deep team, and with Youkilis only gone for five games, it is totally possible that they will suffer through his suspension only minimally.]
5:38PM Wed 8/12/09
Def: 2.5 pp
Now as anyone reading this blog would know, I’ve obviously slacked off to a regularity by this point in the month, but I can somewhat excuse my course of action in this case (that is for this post), and although my excuse doesn’t really amount to much of anything, it is an interesting situation to be in. But before I move on to that discussion, I’d like to add a little color commentary on the blogging itself. Brad Sucks, a one-man band consisting of Brad Turcotte, has invented, to some extent, the persona of being in love with unpopularity. His band name, slogan (“a one man band with no fans”), and even debut album title (I Don’t Know What I’m Doing), all work on this level. This is a sort of style that I’ve tried out in various horrid introductions to even more horrible writings, but usually knowing the fact that no one will in fact read them. If I do pick up the style here, I guess any readers will just have to bear with me.
If this post had been made on Sunday, half a week ago, now, I would not have been able to bring up the current story of Kevin Youkilis’s storming of the mound at Fenway last night. Youkilis has garnered himself a five game suspension and also one for rookie pitcher Rick Porcello of the Detroit Tigers, who is currently high in the standing for AL Rookie of the Year, and may now see his chances quickly diminish, in response to this.
As I cited earlier (on Saturday, August 8th), I’m no fan of pitchers throwing at hitters, but there are way too many misreads in the major leagues. If you are a major league hitter, you should be able to tell if a pitch is thrown intentionally to hit you. Boston fans will, I’m sure, cite Porcello’s inside pitches to Victor Martinez in the previous inning, as Youkilis himself might point out, as proof that Porcello was paying back the BoSox for an earlier Detroit hit batsman.
This sort of comment is comically incorrect, since Porcello’s pitches against Martinez were brilliant examples of what the inside pitch can allow a pitcher to do. Porcello was able to later on in the at bat strike out Martinez on an outside pitch. By backing him off the plate, Rick was able to pick up the k and even more importantly, the out. The Tigers were up three to nothing when Porcello was pitching and this is a team that is very much in the heat of a division race of its own.
The Tigers currently lead what is debatably the worst division in the American League, ahead of the White Sox who have a pitcher in Mark Buerhle who has thrown a perfect game this season and another potential pitching threat in the inevitable return of their trade deadline acquisition, Jake Peavy, and also ahead of the Twins, who have quietly acquired Karl Pavano from Cleveland, a pitcher who has looked better than his former teammate Cliff Lee, at least while the two played together in Cleveland (as Lee is now pitching dominatingly in the National League, another Indian toss-off this season).
In other words, Porcello has every right to be pitching competitively, and when an inside pitch is direct set-up for an outside strike-out, there is no doubt in my mind that the pitch was intentional for that reason, and not to actually hit Martinez. Following his strike-out of Martinez, and returning to the mound in the next inning, Porcello does have a pitch get away from him. And this isn’t my expert opinion, since my opinion is obviously not expert, it’s the opinion of “Wild Thing” Mitch Williams, and various others on the MLB Network staff. And if anyone knows about pitches getting away from you it’s Mitch.
That said, Kevin Youkilis got hit by a pitch, and was in line to collect his tenth HBP awarded base of this season—I think we have to allow him some slack, you’re going to be angry when in two thirds of a season you’ve been hit a number of times in the double digits. But what Youk then did was to throw his helmet towards the mound and storm Porcello. Awkwardly, Rick stepped back, both hands raised, in a “Why are you coming after me?” stance, and continued to retreat, but Kevin wouldn’t run out of steam.
In my opinion, the man on the right side won in this battle, however, when Youk’s attempted tackle of Porcello ended in Rick throwing him to the ground. No matter how much slack you want to give to Kevin Youkilis, the main question I have to ask is “What the hell were you thinking?”
The whole idea of hitting a batter is to diminish the opposing team’s greatest hitter. If I were to think that Porcello had been after Youk and Martinez, this rule of thumb would hold true. Although he might have great respect amongst the Boston crowd, Big Papi, David Ortiz, has not been dependable this year, and a team that at one point had what many say as an “overabundance of pitching,” has been able to blame a lot of its failings on lackluster offense. In fact that is what actually sparked the acquiring of Victor Martinez in the first place. But one person you couldn’t blame for lackluster playing of any sort was Youkilis, who quickly became one of the most feared in this year’s Boston line-up, a position he has been in before. Now, as Boston’s pitching has begun to unravel, their offense is even more needed.
Kevin Youkilis, in running to the mound, tossing his helmet, and just generally acting like a hooligan in some pick up baseball game had to know that he was going to get himself tossed out of the line-up for a while. In fact, I find MLB’s disciplining weak and one-sided. I could see a fine towards Porcello, but he does not need to be suspended, and I don’t think Youkilis should be hitting again until September. In his storming of the mound, he has truly showed himself as a bush league ballplayer. Compare him to Gary Sheffield, who just a few days ago basically asked a pitcher to avoid his head, while accepting the fact that a pitch was coming at him.
No matter what it comes down to, the inside pitch and the intentional HBP (two different things in my opinion) are very much a part of baseball. The Red Sox’s fate during his suspension was apparently not on Youkilis’s mind when he gave in to rage.
[May it be said that the Red Sox would come back from a 3-0 deficit to win this game, mostly due to the play of Mike Lowell, who would replace Youkilis at third base. Boston is a very deep team, and with Youkilis only gone for five games, it is totally possible that they will suffer through his suspension only minimally.]
5:38PM Wed 8/12/09
Def: 2.5 pp
Saturday, August 8, 2009
"Well, when you put it that way..."
[Note: This is not a Sunday post, but is a post about something that perturbs me in baseball, so other than creating a whole new label, I've just maintained "Sports Sunday." I do plan on posting Sunday's post at some point in the next 24 hours, but I can't help but add something like "knock on wood" to saying that, since I still see this as a large undertaking.]
I know tomorrow is the day I’ve designated for sports related affairs, but I don’t think I can put this post there. I’d like to somehow come off as the sports analyst that you see on TV now and then in those posts and this is just going to be a rant for all intensive purposes.
You know how they say that basketball is a non-contact sport and how that’s turned into as much an in-joke as any really comment to be made about the game? Well, in my opinion, baseball truly is about as close as you get to non-contact and that’s pretty much the way it should be. I understand the moves running the bases—sliding into the second baseman to break up a double play or the catcher in an attempt to score—but watching a batter get hit by a pitch, especially when it appears to be intentional, this kind of thing just rubs me the wrong way. It is one of those things that put everything into perspective and it really makes the whole sport look quite silly.
A man steps up to a plate with a club to defend himself from another guy who’s going to throw a hard ball at him that will probably come reasonably close to three digits in MPH. That sort of thing is just purely irrational. And what bothers me about it is that it is considered a respected part of the game.
I caution now that I am no pitcher and I watch enough MLB Network to understand that you have to pitch to a batter inside to throw him off track, you have to be able to throw things that he can’t predict, and you have to be able to keep him on his toes. And the unintentional hit by pitch is something I understand, something that doesn’t bother me for the most part. But a lot of these pitches are thrown blatantly at a batter and for no other reason than to hit him.
The other day, what was it? Friday? I’m watching MLB Network waiting for the Rays’ game to come on, since they’re playing in the northwest and puts their starting times near 10:00PM for the most part, or it might have been Thursday, their day off, when I see Vicente Padilla, a starter for the Rangers (who was recently designated for assignment, I’m pleased to add), hit Kurt Suzuki, because in a near-quote from Mitch Williams, “he gave up a home run earlier.” This kind of senseless violence is just the sort of narcissism that team sports are supposed to evaporate from our youth. And yet, stupidly and stubbornly, here they have held on.
Consider this: the pitcher is an even more removed character than the quarterback is in football. In the American League, the Junior Circuit, the one that includes the Texas Rangers and Oakland Athletics (the ones unfortunate to become the vented upon victims of someone like Padilla), the pitchers don’t even hit unless some traumatic course of action has forced them into the batters’ box. I’m never going to be a hitter in any sort of baseball game other than the one where a few people get together to play a few innings and even then I’d undoubtedly get picked last, but I think I can imagine the kind of fear you must feel coming up to the plate knowing the ball could be coming at you at any moment.
This Padilla to Suzuki (ironically the catcher for the As) HBP of course brought about the Oakland response in the form of hitting Texas star third baseman and starting All-Star (due to an infected cut in the hand of Evan Longoria, if I heard it right) Michael Young. What this brought about, in the long run, for someone like me, was vindication, in the form of a Suzuki home-run against Padilla after the Athletics’ retaliation forced warnings from the home plate umpire about the possibility of hitting batters and all but retired the inside pitch for the night.
This is, however, no isolated incident, and, sadly in my opinion, a very respected and continued part of the game of baseball. Even in the National League, where I think the pitchers who do hit people intentionally should be the ones to get pelted back, this same soreness leaks in quickly.
I think it was the day before when Manny Ramirez, the star player in Los Angeles, the one I would contend to say does not mean as much to the Dodgers as most people think, got hit by a pitch that it seemed like everyone, even Manny, saw as an innocent mistake by the pitcher. Well, maybe not so innocent, but an inside pitch that wasn’t meant to hit him. Like I’ve said, I’m more than willing to give you the benefit the doubt here, if you’re on the mound in a situation like this.
Guillermo Mota is the one who pissed me off in this game. Coming in the ninth inning of this smashing of the Milwaukee Brewers (the Dodgers lead at this time was by a score of something like 17-4), he hits one of Milwaukee’s star players (and one of the biggest guys in baseball), current Home Run Derby champion Prince Fielder in the foot. This was completely uncalled for and Prince showed himself to be heated at the time.
The story to hit SportsCenter was, of course, Fielder’s later attempt, after the game, to get into the Dodgers’ club house and get at Mota. To do what exactly, I’m not sure. Perhaps I am biased by a personal liking toward Fielder and the current Milwaukee team, but I can’t seem him beating Mota senseless. However, I can feel his hatred to some extent. It would seem like such an irrational play would strum up more than just personal anger toward the pitcher but also some disillusionment toward the game itself. Bobby Jenks, the Chicago White Sox closer who openly admitted to throwing behind a batter intentionally was fined a reported $750. Chump change to professional sports players in America, no matter what they play these days. And similar cases that have followed have done little to elevate this slap on the wrist.
And finally, on a somewhat more personal note, I would like to discuss the tale of Winston Abreu and the Cleveland Indians. The first bad taste from the Indians that I got this year was I believe game three of the four game series against the Rays at the Trop, here in Tampa. Kerry Wood, the relatively recent addition to Cleveland, a man with enough control to have struck out twenty batters in one game, was brought in with the apparent intention of hitting BJ Upton and no other goals in mind. Good luck for the Rays came in the form of two inside pitches that both barely missed their center fielder and the anger I felt for my team was obviously multiplied on the face of their manager, Joe Maddon, who was shown in uncharacteristic fashion, cursing from the dugout back towards the umpire.
This left a sour taste in my mouth in strict contrast with what was otherwise a very solid series, the Rays taking three of four from Cleveland. My team would fair much worse later on in Cleveland where they would get swept in four games, but the story I have to tell has to do with current Rays’ minor leaguer Winston Abreu.
Abreu was brought up only once, in my knowledge, by Tampa Bay, and would find his way to Cleveland. Remembering their earlier incident with Wood and Upton, consider my chagrin upon hearing that Abreu was fined and suspended (I think it was both), by MLB for throwing at a batter. Shortly thereafter Abreu was sent down to the minors by the Indians and was able to find his way back here to St. Petersburg, the part of the Tampa Bay area where the Rays play. Now, of course, he’s pitching with the Triple-A team in Durham, but please grant me poetic license.
And I got to thinking—that has to be a horrible life, strolling around the minor leagues, never being good enough to be kept around by a major league team, and only being called up to hit batters because you’re expendable. Playing a sport you love in a way that you’d most certainly hate.
I know tomorrow is the day I’ve designated for sports related affairs, but I don’t think I can put this post there. I’d like to somehow come off as the sports analyst that you see on TV now and then in those posts and this is just going to be a rant for all intensive purposes.
You know how they say that basketball is a non-contact sport and how that’s turned into as much an in-joke as any really comment to be made about the game? Well, in my opinion, baseball truly is about as close as you get to non-contact and that’s pretty much the way it should be. I understand the moves running the bases—sliding into the second baseman to break up a double play or the catcher in an attempt to score—but watching a batter get hit by a pitch, especially when it appears to be intentional, this kind of thing just rubs me the wrong way. It is one of those things that put everything into perspective and it really makes the whole sport look quite silly.
A man steps up to a plate with a club to defend himself from another guy who’s going to throw a hard ball at him that will probably come reasonably close to three digits in MPH. That sort of thing is just purely irrational. And what bothers me about it is that it is considered a respected part of the game.
I caution now that I am no pitcher and I watch enough MLB Network to understand that you have to pitch to a batter inside to throw him off track, you have to be able to throw things that he can’t predict, and you have to be able to keep him on his toes. And the unintentional hit by pitch is something I understand, something that doesn’t bother me for the most part. But a lot of these pitches are thrown blatantly at a batter and for no other reason than to hit him.
The other day, what was it? Friday? I’m watching MLB Network waiting for the Rays’ game to come on, since they’re playing in the northwest and puts their starting times near 10:00PM for the most part, or it might have been Thursday, their day off, when I see Vicente Padilla, a starter for the Rangers (who was recently designated for assignment, I’m pleased to add), hit Kurt Suzuki, because in a near-quote from Mitch Williams, “he gave up a home run earlier.” This kind of senseless violence is just the sort of narcissism that team sports are supposed to evaporate from our youth. And yet, stupidly and stubbornly, here they have held on.
Consider this: the pitcher is an even more removed character than the quarterback is in football. In the American League, the Junior Circuit, the one that includes the Texas Rangers and Oakland Athletics (the ones unfortunate to become the vented upon victims of someone like Padilla), the pitchers don’t even hit unless some traumatic course of action has forced them into the batters’ box. I’m never going to be a hitter in any sort of baseball game other than the one where a few people get together to play a few innings and even then I’d undoubtedly get picked last, but I think I can imagine the kind of fear you must feel coming up to the plate knowing the ball could be coming at you at any moment.
This Padilla to Suzuki (ironically the catcher for the As) HBP of course brought about the Oakland response in the form of hitting Texas star third baseman and starting All-Star (due to an infected cut in the hand of Evan Longoria, if I heard it right) Michael Young. What this brought about, in the long run, for someone like me, was vindication, in the form of a Suzuki home-run against Padilla after the Athletics’ retaliation forced warnings from the home plate umpire about the possibility of hitting batters and all but retired the inside pitch for the night.
This is, however, no isolated incident, and, sadly in my opinion, a very respected and continued part of the game of baseball. Even in the National League, where I think the pitchers who do hit people intentionally should be the ones to get pelted back, this same soreness leaks in quickly.
I think it was the day before when Manny Ramirez, the star player in Los Angeles, the one I would contend to say does not mean as much to the Dodgers as most people think, got hit by a pitch that it seemed like everyone, even Manny, saw as an innocent mistake by the pitcher. Well, maybe not so innocent, but an inside pitch that wasn’t meant to hit him. Like I’ve said, I’m more than willing to give you the benefit the doubt here, if you’re on the mound in a situation like this.
Guillermo Mota is the one who pissed me off in this game. Coming in the ninth inning of this smashing of the Milwaukee Brewers (the Dodgers lead at this time was by a score of something like 17-4), he hits one of Milwaukee’s star players (and one of the biggest guys in baseball), current Home Run Derby champion Prince Fielder in the foot. This was completely uncalled for and Prince showed himself to be heated at the time.
The story to hit SportsCenter was, of course, Fielder’s later attempt, after the game, to get into the Dodgers’ club house and get at Mota. To do what exactly, I’m not sure. Perhaps I am biased by a personal liking toward Fielder and the current Milwaukee team, but I can’t seem him beating Mota senseless. However, I can feel his hatred to some extent. It would seem like such an irrational play would strum up more than just personal anger toward the pitcher but also some disillusionment toward the game itself. Bobby Jenks, the Chicago White Sox closer who openly admitted to throwing behind a batter intentionally was fined a reported $750. Chump change to professional sports players in America, no matter what they play these days. And similar cases that have followed have done little to elevate this slap on the wrist.
And finally, on a somewhat more personal note, I would like to discuss the tale of Winston Abreu and the Cleveland Indians. The first bad taste from the Indians that I got this year was I believe game three of the four game series against the Rays at the Trop, here in Tampa. Kerry Wood, the relatively recent addition to Cleveland, a man with enough control to have struck out twenty batters in one game, was brought in with the apparent intention of hitting BJ Upton and no other goals in mind. Good luck for the Rays came in the form of two inside pitches that both barely missed their center fielder and the anger I felt for my team was obviously multiplied on the face of their manager, Joe Maddon, who was shown in uncharacteristic fashion, cursing from the dugout back towards the umpire.
This left a sour taste in my mouth in strict contrast with what was otherwise a very solid series, the Rays taking three of four from Cleveland. My team would fair much worse later on in Cleveland where they would get swept in four games, but the story I have to tell has to do with current Rays’ minor leaguer Winston Abreu.
Abreu was brought up only once, in my knowledge, by Tampa Bay, and would find his way to Cleveland. Remembering their earlier incident with Wood and Upton, consider my chagrin upon hearing that Abreu was fined and suspended (I think it was both), by MLB for throwing at a batter. Shortly thereafter Abreu was sent down to the minors by the Indians and was able to find his way back here to St. Petersburg, the part of the Tampa Bay area where the Rays play. Now, of course, he’s pitching with the Triple-A team in Durham, but please grant me poetic license.
And I got to thinking—that has to be a horrible life, strolling around the minor leagues, never being good enough to be kept around by a major league team, and only being called up to hit batters because you’re expendable. Playing a sport you love in a way that you’d most certainly hate.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
"Trading Places"
The biggest story in baseball for at least the next week I’d say is the trades made before the deadline of 4PM last Friday. The Pittsburgh Pirates butchered their line up in an attempt to show that they are set to start over in the next few years. This from a team that hasn’t had a winning season in more than the past decade and a half, and if you ask me, is going to go at least a score of years before they can win 82 games in a year. As a fan of the former Tampa Bay Devil Rays, I guess I can’t help but push the story of how bad Pittsburgh teams of late have been, their tale offers some sort of excuse as to the Devil Rays own horrid beginnings, a team who themselves had not won more than seventy games in a year until they took “Devil” out of their name and powered their way into the World Series last year. But enough has obviously been written about Tampa’s Cinderella Season in 2008, I should get back to the trading deadline.
One guy who has really gotten around in the past two weeks began his routes with the above mentioned infamous Pirates playing along with his brother as both a respected hitter and a strong first baseman. Adam LaRoche has to have some mixed feelings over his recent road trip from Pennsylvania into Massachusetts and then down south to Georgia. The interesting thing with this story, in my opinion, is just that LaRoche has different reasons to be at any of these three teams. In Pittsburgh, as a part of a losing line-up, he at least got to play along with his brother Andy, and they’ve helped the team compile the most Baseball Tonight “Web Gems” this season so far. As for Boston, I think any player would enjoy playing for the team that I’d still pick as the best in the AL East and the likeliest to win that division. Even though I’m probably in the minority in thinking Boston will finish ahead of the Yankees at the end of the year, they are the leading team for the AL Wild Card, and LaRoche would have to be psyched to have a chance at October baseball, wouldn’t he? But the funny thing is that he was with Boston for about a week before he got traded to Atlanta. The Braves, in a way, for LaRoche have to be homecoming of sorts, since he played his first three major league seasons in Atlanta, but this has to be a step down from the Red Sox.
Moving on from Pittsburgh, the inevitable segue has to be made to the Indians, who’ve also mined the cores of their line-up this year. Cliff Lee, last year’s AL Cy Young winner has been sent to the Phillies, which makes it back to back years that Cleveland has not only had that particular award winner, but has dealt him to the National League. Now Cleveland has been taking a lot of heat for this trade in particular, which few say seemed like an even swap, but I’m willing to give that some time. What is amazing though, is Lee’s debut in Philadelphia, where he pitched a complete game and got the 5-1 win. In my opinion, people saying that the Phillies have all but clinched the NL Pennant are definitely early in their predictions, but this is a major addition for the defending MLB champs. Philadelphia might be almost assured their division title with Lee in their rotation, but the Dodgers have to be considered a potential roadblock in the post season as well as whoever wins the NL Central, since the tight battle there will probably force some really strong baseball in the last sixty games (and even the Giants, my personal pick for NL Wild Card, and the team I’d most like to see the NL Pennant).
Following the movement of Lee, Cleveland gave up Victor MartÃnez to the Boston Red Sox in other trade that I see as more even sided. Justin Masterson, a respected right-handed relief pitcher who has made some starts in place of “Dice-K” Matsuzaka. Masterson’s impact in Cleveland is yet to be seen, but what I really think is interesting is that the Red Sox are so involved in these trading moves. Both the Red Sox and the Yankees of this year (and to be frank, of most years) have been listed consistently as the two best teams of the American League. Yet, my team, the pesky Tampa Bay Rays, are the team to be almost uninvolved in the trading game. I mean, the Red Sox picked up Victor, a catcher/first baseman, while having a catcher already who is the team captain (Jason Varitek) and three different players who play first base either primarily or secondarily. They then traded newly acquired Adam LaRoche, a move that made sense because of his status as a first baseman, for Casey Kotchman, a move that made no sense, since he is also a player of the same position.
I guess the point I’m trying to make is that I support my home team for not dealing players willy nilly. Although MartÃnez is most definitely happy to be in Boston, with a team leaps and bounds above the basement dwelling Indians, he had hoped to be a franchise player, and to finish his career in the place it started. This is not a common mindset among baseball players these days, and even though it is refreshing to see it, it is also understandable that players have to see the game as a business, since it is their job. Regardless of this, however, the fans’ standpoint has to be to hold onto the players that they like to watch play. (In Tampa, the name that comes to mind is Edwin Jackson.) Many people have criticized the Rays for not making more moves on the trade market, but I for one am glad that they didn’t, since it would be difficult to see anyone go. Looking at sports as some sort of warless nationalism, it makes easy sense why fans would be attached to players to such an extent.
An idea I may get back to in a week or two connects around this idea that my team is good the way it is. I’ve heard critiques of lack of an “established closer,” but see J. P. Howell as a relief pitcher who is establishing himself in that role. Even Mariano Rivera didn’t begin pitching games in the ninth inning, and it just seems like the Rays’ way to grow a player for a position than go out and get one (perhaps a side effect of the not unlimited pay roll of the club, but also an ingrained part of the team’s cultural history). I really think that most baseball commentators are not as up on the game as they should be. Perhaps I am just an angry fan in this thought, but I think I can throw some evidence together to support my process.
As for now, I can’t much throw together grammatically correct sentences anymore, so I guess this’ll be the end of this one. Against the suggestions of Radiohead, this time I’m going to stop whispering before I start shouting.
One guy who has really gotten around in the past two weeks began his routes with the above mentioned infamous Pirates playing along with his brother as both a respected hitter and a strong first baseman. Adam LaRoche has to have some mixed feelings over his recent road trip from Pennsylvania into Massachusetts and then down south to Georgia. The interesting thing with this story, in my opinion, is just that LaRoche has different reasons to be at any of these three teams. In Pittsburgh, as a part of a losing line-up, he at least got to play along with his brother Andy, and they’ve helped the team compile the most Baseball Tonight “Web Gems” this season so far. As for Boston, I think any player would enjoy playing for the team that I’d still pick as the best in the AL East and the likeliest to win that division. Even though I’m probably in the minority in thinking Boston will finish ahead of the Yankees at the end of the year, they are the leading team for the AL Wild Card, and LaRoche would have to be psyched to have a chance at October baseball, wouldn’t he? But the funny thing is that he was with Boston for about a week before he got traded to Atlanta. The Braves, in a way, for LaRoche have to be homecoming of sorts, since he played his first three major league seasons in Atlanta, but this has to be a step down from the Red Sox.
Moving on from Pittsburgh, the inevitable segue has to be made to the Indians, who’ve also mined the cores of their line-up this year. Cliff Lee, last year’s AL Cy Young winner has been sent to the Phillies, which makes it back to back years that Cleveland has not only had that particular award winner, but has dealt him to the National League. Now Cleveland has been taking a lot of heat for this trade in particular, which few say seemed like an even swap, but I’m willing to give that some time. What is amazing though, is Lee’s debut in Philadelphia, where he pitched a complete game and got the 5-1 win. In my opinion, people saying that the Phillies have all but clinched the NL Pennant are definitely early in their predictions, but this is a major addition for the defending MLB champs. Philadelphia might be almost assured their division title with Lee in their rotation, but the Dodgers have to be considered a potential roadblock in the post season as well as whoever wins the NL Central, since the tight battle there will probably force some really strong baseball in the last sixty games (and even the Giants, my personal pick for NL Wild Card, and the team I’d most like to see the NL Pennant).
Following the movement of Lee, Cleveland gave up Victor MartÃnez to the Boston Red Sox in other trade that I see as more even sided. Justin Masterson, a respected right-handed relief pitcher who has made some starts in place of “Dice-K” Matsuzaka. Masterson’s impact in Cleveland is yet to be seen, but what I really think is interesting is that the Red Sox are so involved in these trading moves. Both the Red Sox and the Yankees of this year (and to be frank, of most years) have been listed consistently as the two best teams of the American League. Yet, my team, the pesky Tampa Bay Rays, are the team to be almost uninvolved in the trading game. I mean, the Red Sox picked up Victor, a catcher/first baseman, while having a catcher already who is the team captain (Jason Varitek) and three different players who play first base either primarily or secondarily. They then traded newly acquired Adam LaRoche, a move that made sense because of his status as a first baseman, for Casey Kotchman, a move that made no sense, since he is also a player of the same position.
I guess the point I’m trying to make is that I support my home team for not dealing players willy nilly. Although MartÃnez is most definitely happy to be in Boston, with a team leaps and bounds above the basement dwelling Indians, he had hoped to be a franchise player, and to finish his career in the place it started. This is not a common mindset among baseball players these days, and even though it is refreshing to see it, it is also understandable that players have to see the game as a business, since it is their job. Regardless of this, however, the fans’ standpoint has to be to hold onto the players that they like to watch play. (In Tampa, the name that comes to mind is Edwin Jackson.) Many people have criticized the Rays for not making more moves on the trade market, but I for one am glad that they didn’t, since it would be difficult to see anyone go. Looking at sports as some sort of warless nationalism, it makes easy sense why fans would be attached to players to such an extent.
An idea I may get back to in a week or two connects around this idea that my team is good the way it is. I’ve heard critiques of lack of an “established closer,” but see J. P. Howell as a relief pitcher who is establishing himself in that role. Even Mariano Rivera didn’t begin pitching games in the ninth inning, and it just seems like the Rays’ way to grow a player for a position than go out and get one (perhaps a side effect of the not unlimited pay roll of the club, but also an ingrained part of the team’s cultural history). I really think that most baseball commentators are not as up on the game as they should be. Perhaps I am just an angry fan in this thought, but I think I can throw some evidence together to support my process.
As for now, I can’t much throw together grammatically correct sentences anymore, so I guess this’ll be the end of this one. Against the suggestions of Radiohead, this time I’m going to stop whispering before I start shouting.
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