November 2nd, 2009

One More for the Money; Also Facial Hair

My writeup of last night’s game is up at the Banter.

In other vitally important news (via Rob Neyer), I am quite pleased to see that Diamondbacks reliever Clay Zaveda – who also has a fine baseball name – has won the American Mustache Institute’s coveted “Robert Goulet Memorial Mustached American of the Year.” It is well deserved. The Phillies and, especially, the Cardinals, among other teams, could learn a lot from this guy about proper facial hair technique. (Last night a friend of mine expressed the opinion, unprompted by me, that Jayson Werth “looks like a human rattail”).

To summarize:

This is how it’s done.

No.

No.

Absolutely not.

A THOUSAND TIMES NO.

Posted by Emma | 4 Comments »

October 31st, 2009

Baseball Player Names of the Week

Today’s names come courtesy of valued commenter Unmoderated:

Mutz and Jewel Ens, brothers out of St. Louis, MO.

Mutz made it to the White Sox for all of 5 days in 1912, where he had zero hits and no walks in 6 plate appearances, giving him a lifetime OPS+ of -100. He also made two errors at first base, just for good measure.

His brother Jewel, younger by two years, played with Pittsburgh for parts of four seasons – 47 games in 1922, but only 3 by 1925. His batting average was .290, but his OBP was just .323, and he hit one home run in his career. The internet doesn’t tell us much more than that about the Ens brothers, except that Mutz’s real name was Anton, and that Jewel’s middle name was… (drumroll):

Winklemeyer.

Posted by Emma | 4 Comments »

October 30th, 2009

At Least It’s a More Creative Chant Than "Phillies Suck"

My writeup of last night’s game, which perhaps predictably half-turned into an essay on Pedro Martinez, is up at the Banter.

This seems like too short of a post to put up all by itself, so: bonus dog photo.

Hopefully I’ll get a Name of the Week post up later.

Posted by Emma | 4 Comments »

October 29th, 2009

The Cliff Lee Affair

There’s not much point in urging fans to relax, to not freak out so much about one bad game… after all, isn’t irrationally investing our emotions sort of the point of baseball fandom? There’s nothing logical about the enterprise to begin with.

Still, it’s always a little startling how quickly one game can flip the general fan mood (as measured, highly unscientifically, by talking to a few friends, reading a bunch of blog comments, and checking in with the huge Yankees fan who works the late shift at the deli on the corner). Cliff Lee’s performance last night – which was not only great, but also just so Steve McQueen cool – seems to have flipped the consensus from “Yankees in 6″ to “Phillies in 4 and I just hope a Yankee hits the ball out of the infield again, some day.”

If Pedro, of all people, wins tonight’s Game 2, it ain’t gonna be pretty.

Posted by Emma | 1 Comment »

October 23rd, 2009

Sad Dogs and Englishmen

I’m too tired even to take a cute picture of my dog, so here’s a random photo of a sad dog from the internet reacting to last night’s game:


Meanwhile my post on last night’s roller coaster is up at the Banter; I found kinda the perfect quote for that game:

It was the best of games, it was the worst of games, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way…

As I wrote in my Banter post, now that they’ve rescheduled Saturday’s Game 6 for the evening, I may have to miss at least a chunk of it – I’m going to a dinner party that night. Aaargh! But it’s at the apartment of a good friend who has known me a long time… so I’m assuming she’ll forgive me for checking the score during the meal.

Posted by Emma | 1 Comment »

October 21st, 2009

Banter, Bugs, and Further Animal Exploitation

So I wrote up last night’s Yankee win at the Banter, and posted a little something about the umpiring shenanigans at Bugs & Cranks.

Meanwhile, following yesterday’s successful debut of Pearl as the official Eephus Pitch mascot, I give you my dog’s reaction to the blown fifth-inning call at third:

Yes, Pearl wants instant replay in the playoffs. Instant replay, and maybe a peanut butter treat.

Posted by Emma | 4 Comments »

October 20th, 2009

New Crush

If he keeps calmly and sensibly taking apart Chip Caray, as he has been throughout this postseason, I’m going to develope a serious crush on Richard Sandomir.


Call me Richard. We’ll spend cozy evenings in, ordering Thai and methodically trashing inept sports broadcasting.

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October 20th, 2009

Now on Sale at the Stadium Store, Pitchforks and Torches

You know how some sports blogs try to attract traffic with photos of hot chicks in bikinis? Well, I’m going to try a slightly different, but related, approach: the cute animal photo. Herewith, the expression on my dog’s face when Joe Girardi took Dave Robertson out of the game in the 11th inning, with two outs and nobody on, and brought in Alfredo Aceves:

Pearl, official Eephus Pitch mascot

I hope to make this a regular feature.

Anyway, this is one of those days I’m just glad I’m not a manager, especially not a New York manager. I like Joe Girardi, and I think he’s done a very good this year on the whole, but… yeah… it may be time for him to take it down a notch.

I’ll be writing up tonight’s game over at the Banter. Make Pearl happy, CC.

Posted by Emma | 2 Comments »

October 19th, 2009

The Final Word on My Jeopardy! Appearance:

As usual, Weird Al says it best. (Yes: from T.S. Eliot to Weird Al in less than 24 hours. Liberal arts education, ladies and gentlemen. “Let us go then, you and I,/ When the evening is spread out against the sky/ Like a patient etherised upon a table; We been spending most our lives living in an Amish paradise.”)

Bonus Weird Al video:

Posted by Emma | 3 Comments »

October 15th, 2009

Onwards to the Stony Rubbish

I’ve got a new post up on Bugs & Cranks about last night’s epic Angels-Yankees error-off, and the upcoming three-game jaunt into the Wastelands of Anaheim. (I have never been to Anaheim, but I do generally imagine it as A heap of broken images, where the sun beats/ And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief/ And the dry stone no sound of water.)

Meanwhile the Yankees doing something fan-friendly for once and opening up the Stadium for anyone who wants to watch Game 3 in Anaheim. That sounds pretty neat, and though I’m sure they’ll still make a tidy profit on concessions, in a refreshing departure from their usual squeeze-out-every-penny approach they will not be charging admission. If I have time maybe I’ll head up there.

Posted by Emma | 1 Comment »

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