A baking and gardening journal. Mostly.
By Blaidd Drwg
The Dodgers are giving Cuban defector, Yasil Puig, a seven year 42 million dollar contract. Granted, Puig, is only 21 (supposedly) but this contract does not make sense in terms of years. Considering that most Cuban defectors have flamed out after just a season or two, why give the guy a 7-year contract?
By Blaidd Drwg
Amazing. Just absolutely amazing. If you told me the score of yesterday’s Italy-Germany match in the Euro 2012 semis was 2-1, I would have just assumed that Germany won the game. Italy, shocking everyone, pulled it out in one of the best games I have seen in a long time. If you have not watched this game, watch it. It is the perfect example of why soccer is called the beautiful game.
Italy played brilliantly – they attacked, they were patient and they spread the German defense by working the ball in and then passing it back out. The first Italian goal was one of the best goals I have seen in a long time – Italy works it in to the top of the box, have nothing, send it back out to midfield, long pass to the left wing (who was open) splits the defense and crosses to the middle, header in the net. The score of that game should really have been something like 5-1, but Italy missed 3 goals in the last 15 minutes when Germany was pushing their entire defense up and Italy was just lobbing it down the field to wide open players.
The result was a surprise since Italy has not looked good lately. They limped into Euro 2012 with a ton of uncertainty and very young players. The tied Spain 1-1, and looked pretty good there, but then they tied Croatia by getting too conservative at the end of the game (and nearly losing in the process). They did beat Ireland, but Ireland is the worst team in Euro 2012, so it is not saying much.
On to the quarterfinals, they beat England in penalty kicks, but it should not have been that close. They outshot England something like 35-6 (with 16 shots on goal) and really did dominate but could not convert their chances. Beating England was not really a big deal – England was the “winner” of the weakest group in Euro and were probably the worst remaining team in the tournament.
Italy came out full of fire in the game against Germany, a fire that I have not seen since they played in the World Cup final in 2006. The missed goals were alarming and they need to take advantage of those types of opportunities if they want to beat Spain. Until then, Forza Azzuri.
Good signs if you’re not a fan of the Thunder:
Westbrook went 4-20 in the final game, and there’s an ongoing question as to how good a fit he is with Durant. An ESPN column that I read today suggested that the Thunder may try Westbrook at shooting guard. That would make him a short (6′-3″) shooting guard, and negate some of the physical advantage that he enjoys against the little guys. But if he can’t or won’t prioritize Durant then a change may need to be made.
Allen Iverson Playoff Statistics: 29.7 ppg, 6.0 apg, 3.8 rpg, 3.1 TOpg
Russell Westbrook Playoff Statistics: 23.0 ppg, 6.1 apg, 5.5 rpg, 3.2 TOpg
I’m just sayin’… of course, Iverson wasn’t expected to share the rock.
Harden and Ibaka have contracts coming up, and the Thunder can likely only keep one of them. Ideally Harden would have gone gangbusters and gotten really expensive, but it didn’t happen. He may wind up being expensive anyway. My feeling about Harden coming out of college was that he lacked the athleticism to create his own shot in the NBA.. even in college he relied upon “old guy moves” to score. He couldn’t get away with the old guy moves against the Heat, and that’s why he was largely a nonfactor. Still, some team may still think he’s an answer and overpay, it only takes one smitten GM to make him an offer he can’t refuse.
Perkins only played 20 minutes a game and groused about playing time. Unless the Thunder are playing against a true center Perkins is a liability at times on the court — he can’t guard a quick pick and roll. That’s why he sat this series. He also has shaky knees, which isn’t good for his long term mobility.
The Heat are as likely as any team to get back to the finals next year. Durant has shown that he can’t physically hang with big bangers like LeBron — the Thunder stuck Harden on LeBron a lot of the time, and it was no contest. Unless Durant gains a bunch of muscle he’s always going to struggle against LeBron, both on offense and defense. The Thunder (and basically everybody else) really don’t have an answer for LeBron.
So there’s that.
By Blaidd Drwg
Scott Downs is the closer for the Angels. This is not really news. The Angles have about 5 guys they can mix and match in the 7th, 8th and 9th innings of a game they have the lead in, but Downs is the only left handed reliever of the bunch.
In the sweep of the Mariner recently, Downs picked up 2 saves in 3 appearances, which is also not news. What is news is how Mike Scioscia used Scott Downs, particularly in the appearance where he did not have a save.
In the Friday game, the Mariners blew a 4-3 lead in the top of the 9th, so naturally the closer comes in for the bottom of the 9th and shuts the door. Game over and a pretty common use for the closer. Sunday was pretty similar with Downs pitching in the 9th with a 4-2 lead and closing it out.
Saturday is where it gets interesting. The Angels have a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the 7th. The Mariners used a very lefty-heavy lineup that game. Jordan Walden starts the inning and walks lefty Mike Carp, strikes out righty Brendan Ryan (Carp stole 2nd during the AB) and lefty Dustin Ackley. At this point, Scioscia makes a move which was shocking – he brings in Scott Downs to face Ichiro. I don’t know if Scioscia is playing the percentages here (Ichiro was 2-3 career against Waldon and 5-17 career against Downs, but I know, sample size), or just didn’t have Downs ready to face Ackley (Ackley has a career OPS that is about 150 points lower against lefties that righties), but it worked, Ichiro bounced out to the pitcher and ended the inning.
Downs then came back out to pitch the 8th, giving up a single to Kyle Seager before retiring Smoak and Jaso. That brought up everybody’s favorite Miguel Olivo. Once again playing the percentages, Scioscia replaced the lefty Downs with righty Ernesto Frieri (who has been extraordinarily lights out since a trade to LA – 12 IP, 0 hits allowed, 25 strikeouts- no that is not a misprint). Frieri made Olivo look bad in striking him out to end the inning. Frieri blew through the M’s lineup in the 9th to end the game.
When was the last time that a manager had the sense to bring in the guy he considered his best reliever for the situation (Downs), who happened to be the closer, in a clutch situation in the 7th inning? It is something the Yankees did with Goose Gossage in the 1970’s and I seem to remember a few instances with the Royals doing it with Dan Quisenberry in the 1980’s, but that is about it.
The thing is, Scioscia did it again against the Yankees – he brought Downs in with a runner on 1st in the 8th inning with a 4-1 lead. The Yankees had Cano (Lefty), Texeiria (Switch Hitter) and Ibanez (Lefty) due up. Downs got out of the inning and was going to start the 9th when the Yankees pinch hit right handed hitter Jason Nix for lefty Eric Chavez. Downs was replaced with Ernesto Frieri in the 9th, when the Yankees had 2 right handed hitters following Nix and no other left handed bat on the bench. Frieri managed to load up the bases but got out of the jam to save the game.
Say what you want about Scioscia, I give him credit for using the pitcher he perceived to be best for the situation instead of leaving his closer on the bench for the 9th inning and potentially losing the game.
By Blaidd Drwg
Boston mayor, Tom Menino has been in office since I was in college (let’s just say that it was in the early years starting with 199), and he is a lifelong Boston resident, so he has at least a passing familiarity with the Boston sports scene. Mayor Mumbles as he is not so affectionately known around Boston is also well known for “misspeaking”, especially when it comes to people’s names.
He recently had this wonderful screw-up talking about the Celtics:
“There’s a lot of heart in this team, let me just tell you,” Menino told reporters, before adding, “KJ is great but Hondo is really the inspiration. Hondo drives that team.”
He was referring to Kevin Garnett (KG not KJ) and Rajan Rondo. Then again, he could have been referring to Kevin Johnson, former NBA great and now Sacramento California’s mayor and Frank Howard, the burly slugger who played with the Dodgers and Senators in the 1950’s and 1960’s (Hondo was also John Havlicek’s nickname, but it would give him too much credit for referring to a former Celtic great).
Some of his other great “mis-speaks”:
He’s right that this is far from the first sports head-slapper Menino has been guilty of. When discussing the New England Patriots’ chances in the playoffs against the Denver Broncos earlier this season, Menino talked about Tom Brady’s weapons “Grabowski” (Rob Gronkowski) and “Wes Weckler” (Welker).
Menino’s most infamous reference came in 2010 during the dedication of a statue to Bruins legend Bobby Orr’s “ionic” goal to win the 1970 Stanley Cup. In discussing some of the best moments in Boston sports, Menino said it was Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek who “split the uprights” to win the Patriots’ first Super Bowl in 2002. He was, of course, referring to kicker Adam Vinatieri.
Yet he is still mayor. Go figure.
By Blaidd Drwg
It appears there was a report somewhere the Steinbrenners might be considering selling the Yankees, which, of course, they are denying. Brian Cashman, like a good company man, chimed in on this:
“It’s highly unlikely the family would consider selling,” he said to ESPNNewYork.com. “Every impression I have gotten from Hal leads me to beleive they plan to be involved in this for generations to come and pass it on to their children.”
The Steinbrenners are worth a lot of money without owing the Yankees, thanks to the family shipbuilding business. I don’t think you will see the family own the team forever, and I can see them selling the team for a number with a lot of 0’s in it in the next few years. It is strange though – a team that had a reputation for having a revolving door at manager for so long actually has had the longest running ownership group in baseball, since 1973. Only 3 other teams currently have the same owners for longer than 20 years – White Sox and Phillies (both owners bought the team in 1981) and the Twins (purchased in 1984).
My favorite line in the article (the bold part specifically, added by me):
The Daily News, citing anonymous sources, said that the market for premier teams, the departure of key Yankees veterans and the fact that Hal Steinbrenner is frustrated by baseball’s bloated salaries have conspired to make the family explore the possibility of selling the team.
Steinbrenner is frustrated by the system that his father created which has allowed them to make billions and has made the Yankees one of the most recognizable brand names on the planet? Really?
by A.J. Coltrane
The San Antonio Spurs now lead the Thunder two games to none in the Western Conference Finals.
Naturally, I’m rooting for the Spurs to win, but it’s more than just vindictive in this case.
The Spurs have now won 20 in a row, and they’re doing it the “right way”, at least from a “basketball purist” perspective: They share the rock. They play almost without ego when it comes to “who’s getting how many shots”. It’s a very international way of doing things, which makes sense, since Parker and Ginobili are both European, and Duncan grew up in the Virgin Islands.
To quote Thunder coach Scott Brooks:
“They spread you out,” Brooks said. “They put some tough decisions on the floor that you have to guard their bigs rolling, and you’ve got to protect their 40 percent 3-point shooters and you’ve got to handle the ball and looks and attack …
“They pass the ball well. Very rarely do they take one extra dribble. If a man is open, they pass.”
Emphasis mine. By contrast, the Thunder play like the AAU kids that they were growing up. Everybody pounds the ball and tries to create offense by going 1-on-1.
Tony Parker carved up the Thunder in game two using pick and rolls. Westbrook decided he had to look like a man and keep up, so he wound up jacking up a bunch of low percentage shots on isolation plays. The Spurs won simply because they shots they took were more makeable as a group.
Game 3 is Thursday. I’m going to guess that the Thunder will “get some help” and will shoot at least 7 more free throws than the Spurs. We’ll see.
I’d highly recommend watching the Spurs. The way they’re playing they may beat the Heat too. That would give Tim Duncan five championships, the same number as Kobe, and only one fewer than MJ. He’s that good.
By Blaidd Drwg
I wrote recently about missing out on seeing Derek Lowe’s no hitter in 2002. I actually wrote that piece over a month ago, before April 21st happened. What is so special about April 21st? It happens to be the day the Philip Humber of the Chicago White Sox threw the 21st perfect game in MLB history against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field. It was a day game, so the person who has the tickets in the seats next to mine only needed one of her tickets and asked me if I knew anyone who wanted the other one. My wife’s sister, a big Mariners fan, was interested and joined us – and I am sure that it was something that she won’t regret, ever.
In the 400 or so baseball games I have witnessed, I have seen several no-hitters get broken up with 2 outs in the 8th inning and two get broken up in the ninth. Sitting through a no-hitter, let alone a perfect game, is tough since it could end with one bad bounce, especially if the pitcher throwing the no-no is on the opposing team. I have seen triple plays, 3 home run games, players hitting for the cycle, Ichiro setting the single season hit record, and Rafael Palmeiro’s 3000th hit but never a 9 inning no hitter.
My rule is this – if there is a no-hitter at the start of the 8th inning, you start rooting for that pitcher, regardless of who he plays for, which is exactly what I did on April 21st. It was pretty obvious looking at the scoreboard that Humber had not given up a hit, but I am not sure how many of the 22,000 fans at the game realized that he had not given up anything. He was cruising; his pitch count was in the low 70’s going into the 8th inning and he really looked dominating. The Mariners, not exactly sporting a lineup that would remind anyone of Murder’s Row, sent Smoak, Seager and Montero up to bat in the 8th. Humber retired the side on 11 pitches. You could almost cut the tension with a knife.
I believe the Mariners did something in the top of the 9th (I can’t prove it) that I thought was a little unsportsmanlike – with Steve Delabar on the mound, they seemed to take a huge amount of time between pitches. Like I said, I can’t prove it, but it seemed that way and I wonder if Wedge was trying to leave Humber on the bench longer to get into his head. It actually almost worked.
Humber came out in the 9th and looked shaky – he went 3-0 on Michael Saunders before striking him out. At this point, my stomach was in knots. Most people were pulling for Humber at this point, and you would hate to see him lose the perfect game because his control deserted him all of a sudden. He looked better on Jaso, getting him to fly out on 3 pitches. That left Brendan Ryan as the only thing between Humber and a perfect game. It was an ugly at bat, one that made me hold my breath on every pitch. Humber got ahead of Ryan 1-2. Just one more strike. If I was Ryan, I would have been swinging at anything close, just because I wouldn’t want to be the last out in a perfect game. The next 2 pitches missed badly and all of a sudden, we are sitting with a full count, 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th inning. No pressure on Humber there. Ryan fouled the next pitch off. The tension was incredible. Then Humber threw an ugly breaking ball in the dirt that Ryan checked his swing on. The home plate umpire ruled he went around (from my vantage point behind home plate, it looked like he checked the swing) and the ball went past AJ Pierzynski to the backstop. At this point I am yelling “throw it to first”. Pierzynski is not exactly a fast man but fortunately for Humber, Ryan took 2 steps toward first and then turned back to argue with the umpire. Had he run, he would have easily beaten the throw to first, breaking up the perfect game and leaving the no hitter intact with Chone Figgins on deck. I firmly believe that if Figgins had come up, the baseball gods would have conspired to end Humber’s no hit bid.
So instead of a potentially heartbreaking situation, or at least one of the most bizarre ways that a perfect game would have been broken up, we got to witness perfection, even if it may have been questionably so.
By Blaidd Drwg
vin scully: “I don’t trust my memory.”
me: “I DO. PLEASE GO ON.”
That tweet is from Sean Ahmed, who was listening to a Dodgers broadcast a few days ago. I can only assume that Vin Scully was either trying to remember the last time something happened that was similar to what he was seeing in the game he was broadcasting or was telling a story and couldn’t remember the exact details. I have said it before, Scully is far and away the best announcer in baseball and I have to agree 100% with Ahmed’s statement – Mr. Scully, please continue what you were saying.
by A.J. Coltrane
First off, a fun animated look at Doc Ellis’ “chemically altered” no-hitter. Thanks to M for the link.
Next, we have a guy who gets *very* upset on day one of the Diablo 3 launch. So upset, that he tries to jam his collectors item Soulstone into his head at the end. Almost 700,000 views in 3 days! The language is NSFW.
I’m not buying D3. It has DRM, which for me is a nonstarter. And you have to be connected at all times to Blizzard’s server to play — if you get disconnected, tough nuts, you’re redoing the content. Part of the reason for the “online only” is because they’re doing a real-money auction house and keeping a significant part of the sale price. (Like 30% in some instances from what I’ve heard.) In theory the “online only” will allow them to avoid dupes (which would make all in-game items worthless from a money standpoint, can’t have that). Of course, I’m not one of those people, so to my mind they completely missed the mark. The best part of D2 was hooking a couple (or more) computers together and playing with friends. Not. An. Option. The other “best part” was the random loot drops. Every kill had the potential to be “Christmas”. The auction house (the “gold-you-get-from-drops” one, not the “real money” one) has made it so that players can use in-game gold to buy better gear than they might find as drops, completely negating that aspect of the gameplay. Keeping my money, thanks.
Finally, a bonus animal picture!
FlatbreadGarden 