Gameus Interruptus..

April 12, 2008

Huey Lewis is a bloated corporate windbag. But I bet he’s pretty rich. Richer than me.

Why is it that, when conservatives scream and yell about personal responsibility, they mean for the little people, and they never mean for the corporate class?

Anthony Michael Hall turns 40 on Monday. I say that only to make people my age clutch their chest and moan.

Someday, I have to think, I will be told just what the hell is going on. I look forward to that day.

Interesting stories from George Schultz and William Perry of the Nuclear Security Project about how close we came to launching nuclear missles, several different times, because of false alarms, during the Cold War. Potential nuclear holocaust..cheery stuff. I will leave as an exercise for the reader whether or not the prevention of this was a net positive.

Baseball traditionalists see the retirement of noted jeans salesman Jeremy Brown as a way to condemn the entire Beane/Moneyball method, notes the Baseball Zealot podcast. Well, firstly, Billy Beane didn’t write Moneyball. Michael Lewis did. Second of all, Moneyball, if it is anything, isn’t one particular stat or method. It is a process of identifying patterns, underlying shifts in what assets are undervalued and can be obtained cheaply. Since it involves swimming against the grain, it will always ruffle feathers, to some degree or another, but the failure of one player does not prove anything.

Powerful Bill Moyers Journal, as always, about hunger in America. Why do we have so much money to blow up kitchens in Baghdad and so little to fill them with food in the Bronx? It is a literal obscenity-an obscene statement-that there are hungry people in this country. They should work harder, the right wingers would say.

John C. Dvorak says on Cranky Geeks that most Americans have “no clue” about the digital TV switch. I don’t know how can that possibly be true. I see tons of PSAs and news segments about it on TV now-if you’re watching TV now, you have to know about it.

It’s almost game time- Game The Twelfth of the 2008 Boston Red Sox Season.
Romans vs. Christians
Athens vs. Sparta
Cats vs. Dogs
Michigan vs. Ohio State
Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees
Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts


Josh “The Other Becks” Beckett vs. Mike “Moose” Mussina

After a scoreless Yankee first, Boston gets two runners on with none out, then squanders it-Big Papi gets caught on an “excuse me” swing and grounds into a double play, then Manny pops out to end it.

It sounds like Mussina has NOTHING today. It also seems like Papi is still hurting from his knee problem. Hopefully he’s just struggling and will soon come out of it.

Boston Second -Youk DRILLS one up the middle off of Mussina. There seems to be no reason why we can’t hammer this guy. Drew NAILS another one, but it’s right at Cano, and he turns it into a DP. Dammit. Varitek crushes one into right center, but Abreu picks it up and guns him down sliding into second for the third out. Wow. Mussina is a lucky duck so far.

Boston third-we really oughta get a run here. Two routine outs, then a deep drive to center that Cabrera runs down. COME ON, GUYS!!

Boston fourth- Manny Ramirez, the Bad Man, finally GETS ONE, slamming a home run over the Volvo sign for a 1-0 advantage.

New York Fif-Josh is really mowing people down. He appears to have good velocity and command, putting nearly every pitch where it needs to be. Couldn’t be a better sign.

Boston Fif-It’s kind of sad to see Mike Mussina, who has been a great pitcher for more than a decade, reduced to this. But not that sad. Mussina escapes again, another hard hit ball to center turned into an out.

New York Sixth-A couple of Yankee singles moved over by a bunt-second and third, one out. Sacrifice fly to center by Cabrera, and Molina II trots home to tie the game at one. Sigh. Then the Attorney General darts home on a wild pitch for a 2-1 deficit. Cheap ass runs, but they count the same as real runs. Abreu, a real pest, battles to 3-2 and strikes out to end it.

Boston Sixth-Lugo grounds out to the Attorney General. We really can’t lose this game. If the Yankees steal this game, and we let them, we have no one to blame but ourselves.
But Ellsbury singles and Pedroia, who some Yankee bloggers call Scrappy McHustle because of all the praise he gets, doubles, sending Papi to the plate. A long hit here would really work nicely, silencing the doubters and, more importantly, getting the lead back. But Papi strikes out, tipping the last pitch into the mitt. Girardi to the mound-does he pull Mussina? We need these runs, let’s hope not. Mussina stays on. Do they walk Manny? Manny lines the first pitch into the gap in right center for a 2 run double, pulling our bacon out of the fire. Why did they pitch to him, Dave O’Brien asks, and it’s a good question. Now Girardi, perhaps one batter too late, pulls Mussina in favor of Brian Bruney. That’s got to drive the Yankee supporters crazy. That was a gut check, there, and I say he didn’t pass. He made the move Torre would have made, and it burned him. I wish I could read what the livebloggers on Replacement Level had to say about this.
Phew. Big sigh of relief here. Our Man Youk is on now. He knocks in ManRam for a 4-2 lead, then the side is retired.

New York Seven-ARod reaches, then the Giambino hits into a DP. Posada singles, then advances to second on a wild pitch. This team is still dangerous, no matter what. Cano doubles off of the Wall, closing the gap to 4-3. Gulp. Now Francona comes to get Beckett. A fine effort by Beckett, all things considered. MDC is coming on now.

George Strait has had 60 number one hits? Really? I haven’t heard a single one of them, I don’t think. They must be country number ones.

MDC comes on with the strikeout to hold the lead at 4-3. Way to go, Metropolitan District Commission!

XM keeps running spots with Tony Kornheiser saying that Pizza Hut is “terrible”. I guess pizza is a personal choice, I suppose, so I can’t really criticize him for his own choice in pizza. But I don’t see how you can say that-Pizza Hut is bad for you, sure, but it’s obviously popular, and I have always enjoyed the taste. No accounting for taste, I suppose.

Boston Seven-Bruney still on. Varitek grounds out. Sean “The Mayor” Casey, who played for Brewster in the Cape Cod League, walks. But Lugo strikes out, so Jacoby Ellsbury comes on. I have to think Manny will come up in the 8th, then Crisp will come on to play the field. Ellsbury draws a walk. But the inning ends without scoring.

New York Eight-Okeydoke on. Hard shot to Lugo, but he throws to first in time for the out. Damon lacerates a ball to right, but Drew makes a sliding catch for the out. Walk to Cabrera, then a smoking base hit by Abreu. Whoops. 1st and 2nd, 2 out. Here comes Francona, up comes ARod, and here comes Papelbon.

I swear to God, these games are NOT good for my cardiac health.

IIRC, ARod jacked Pap last year at Fenway-not a game winner, I don’t think.

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!Rain delay! They are going to wait forever to resume this one. If they call it, Yankee fans are going to scream bloody murder. But they won’t. Sigh.

Back to the IPod for a while, I guess.

Unreal. In a weird, back and forth game, the very summit of dramatic tension, on comes the rain.

BS Report first, and the best segment ever, “Johnny, Are You Worried Yet?”. Bill has got to be having kittens over this rain delay. They’re also going to talk about the 20th anniversary show of the Real World. The Real World has a 20th Anniversary? Are you serious?

They’re asking who Scully’s partner was during the 1986 World Series, and it was Tony Kubek, I’m almost positive. They also mentioned Joe Garagiola, who has a relatively new book out that I might enjoy. Tim McCarver has one, too.

The rain continues to fall.......

We're back.

STRIKE THREE!!!!!PAPELBON GETS HIM!!!!!!!YES!!!!!!!!!!!!

After Boston does not score, Papelbon now back for the ninth.

Pap BLOWS away Giambi for the first out. One down.

Now Posada.

Strike one.

Strike two on the split.

Kids banging on the Bobs Store signs......

Fouled back by Posada.......

The tension is mounting.......


Fastball way too high, ball one.

Split in the dirt, ball two.

Expectant New England faces....

SWINGING STRIKE THREE!!!! TWO OUT!!!!!!

Now Cano.....Or Can't O, as some Yankee bloggers call him.....

Ball, then Swing and a miss in the dirt......

1-1

Fastball way too high....2-1......

Fouled back.....2-2.......

Split in the dirt.....3-2.........

FOuled behind first on the slider.....3-2.......

Come on, Pap...................

Outside fastball lined HARD off the third base stands.......

Another foul ball......boy, this Cano is pesky...........

Jesus!!!!

They started the race on FOX, so they made everyone switch to FX....

Shades of Heidi, the NFL playoff game that was cut off in 1969 so that NBC could start the Movie of the Week on time.

After some frantic flipping, I finally found it, in time to see Cano ground out weakly to second to END THE GAME.

Phew!

Wow. That game should not have been that close. We should have hammered Mussina much worse than we did.

But we won, and a win is a win is a win.

Have to go take my blood pressure pills now.

Dang.

What a game.