Baseball: Business vs Family

16 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by Richard in Family and Friends, Go Sox

Tags

baseball, Family, Loyalty, Nationals, Red Sox, Tyler Clippard, Values, Winning, Yunel Escobar

10480070_10152715876599776_4831979598159836562_o

My post yesterday, Nats: Terrible, Terrible Decision, reminded me of what most bothers me about baseball, a game I’ve loved for as long as I can remember (at least six and a half decades).

There were a number of articles and posts (and I assume there was similar coverage on TV and radio) about how the Nats’ fans reacted to the loss of one of their favorites, Tyler Clippard (hint: not well). Particularly striking was the reaction from young people, kids whose first baseball experience has been with the Nats and who have come to love Tyler Clippard.

Lots of tears. Lots of disbelief. Lots of not understanding (How could you trade a player who was so important to your team?).

Parents had difficulty explaining to their kids that baseball is a business, and in business the ‘rules’ are different than what we teach our kids. Or at least the values are different.

Nats: Terrible, Terrible Decision

15 Thursday Jan 2015

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

"Tu ere maricon", "You are a faggot", baseball, MLB, Nats, Tyler Clippard, Washington Nationals, Yunel Escobar

Boston Red Sox v Toronto Blue Jays

“Tue ere maricon” – “You are a faggot” – Just a joke? Some of his best friends are gay!

I read last night as the story was developing about the Nats trading Tyler Clippard for Yunel Escobar.

I understand that baseball is a business.

I understand there are problems with the Nats at second base.

I understand that Ian Desmond has only one year left on his contract and could go elsewhere. I understand Escobar could play second base this year and move to shortstop next year if that’s necessary.

I understand Escobar’s hitting has averaged .276 over his career, (tho only .258 in 2014) and he has averaged 145 games a season over that career.

I understand Escobar “has a team-friendly contract that will pay him $5 million in 2015 and $7 million in 2016…(and) the Nationals hold a $7 million club option for 2017.”

I understand the trade “saves the Nationals somewhere between $3 million and $4 million, depending on Clippard’s arbitration process.

I understand that this is Tyler Clippard’s last year of arbitration before being eligible for free agency and that there are “”young arms behind him” in the Nats’ organization.

However,

2015 Baseball Contests – Help Needed

08 Thursday Jan 2015

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

2015 MLB Baseball, baseball, MillersTime Baseball Contests

Hus-on-first by: JamieD 9/3/10, Total ProSports.com. (If you’ve never seen, or want to see the Abbott-Costello piece Who’s on 1st: http://bit.ly/1mV1fyH)

Baseball Fans:

Now that it is officially 2015, and we are all freezing, my thoughts naturally turn to the upcoming baseball season and the annual MillersTime Baseball Contests.

And I’m asking for some help.

Why the Nats’ Season Is Over

08 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

2014 NLDS Playoffs, baseball, San Francisco Giants, Washington Nationals

Why did they lose three out of four games to the Giants after having the most wins in the National League in 2014?

It wasn’t their pitching. (Nat’s ERA – 1.23, Giants – 1.60)

It wasn’t their fielding. (Each team made one costly miscue -Nats’ Fielding Pct. – .993, Giants – .994)

It wasn’t the managing (Despite what you read or think about Game 2 & 4).

Here’s why:

Why You Need to Read the MillersTime/GoSox Blog

01 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

"Sluggers' Slump: What's Going on Here", baseball, Batters, GoSox Blog, John Branch, MLB, NYTimes, Pitchers

Why?

Beyond the obvious — you think you can win one of the MillersTime Baseball Contests, you’re going to see me in a few days and don’t want to be embarrassed when I refer to something I wrote, you’re looking for free tickets to a Nats’ game, you’re a member of my family and want to humor me — there is the possibility that once or twice a year I might have something useful to say about baseball.

I was reminded of this last reason this morning (Wed.) when I saw on the front page of the NYTimes the headline, “Many Strikeouts, Fewer Runs/As Pitchers Gain Upper Hand.” Having written a post on this very topic, Sluggers’ Slump: What’s Going on Here? I was curious to see if the author of the Times’ piece, John Branch, had anything new to say (or anything I didn’t say).

Announcing Three 2014 MillersTime Baseball Contests Winners

01 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

2104 MillersTime Baseball Contests, baseball, Contest Winners, Nats' Playoff Tickets

With the end of the regular 2014 MLB season and the beginning of the playoffs (wasn’t that a terrific game at KC last night?), I can announce three winners of this year’s MillersTime Baseball Contests. The remaining three contest winners, #1, 3, & 6, will not be chosen until the end of the playoffs.

Final At Bats……and Much More: Ted Williams & Derek Jeter

29 Monday Sep 2014

Posted by Richard in Articles of Interest, Go Sox

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

" J.R. Moehringer, "Derek Jeter Plays Last Game at Yankee Stadium", "Hub Fans Bid Kid ADieu", baseball, Boston Red Sox, Derek Jeter, Fenway Park, John Updike, New York Yankees, Ted Williams, Yankee Stadium

On September 28, 1960, for his final at bat in Fenway Park, Ted Williams hit a home run in the 8th inning of a game the Sox eventually won. Fifty-four years later, for his final at bat at Yankee Stadium, Derek Jeter hit a single, driving in the winning run for the Yankees in the bottom of the 9th.

Neither of those at bats could change disappointing seasons for the Sox or the Yankees.

Yet both of those at bats will long be remembered.

John Updike, a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist, described what happened in Fenway in his superb Hub Fans Bids Kid Adieu. If you’ve never read this piece, you’re in for a treat. If you have read it and chose to reread it, you’re also in for a treat.

And although there has been massive coverage of Derek Jeter’s final Yankee Stadium at bat and retirement in general, I offer an equally wonderful and worthy essay about Jeter, The Final Walk Off, written by another Pulitzer Prize winning author, J.R. Moehringer, that was published just a few days ago by ESPN.

This Is Discouraging…Unless You’re an O’s Fan

20 Saturday Sep 2014

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

2014 Millers Time Baseball Contests, Baltimore Orioles, baseball, Chris Eacho, Predictions, Washington Nationals

2007.-WS.photo_-539x210

Last night I was looking through the submissions for the 2014 MillersTime Baseball Contests (I really need to get a life) and came across these predictions, sent in on Feb. 25, 2014 by someone named Chris Eacho:

#1 – Red Sox in last at the AS break and trade 4 of their opening day starters at the deadline.

#2 – Orioles 103-59, World Series Champs

#3 – Nationals 92-70, lose to Os in WS

#4 – Yankees 66-95, Red Sox 65-96, series split 8-8. 19th game is rained out and not made up

#5 – Chris Davis .287, 119 RBI, 43 HR

#6 – Orioles over Nats in 6 games; Chris Tillman MVP with 2 complete game shutouts

Actually, I think I know the individual who submitted these outrageous and amazingly prescient (lucky?) predictions. He’s an Orioles’ fan (obviously), a Sox and Yankee hater, and belongs to the millennial generation (I think). I hope he’s wrong about the WS, but he seems to know something the rest of us don’t.

Harumph.

Sluggers’ Slump: What’s Going on Here?

18 Thursday Sep 2014

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ Leave a Comment

Tags

"The Atlantic", baseball, Brian Mills, Doc Ellis, Hitting, MLB, No-Hitter, Pirates, Pitch f/x, Pitching, Strike Zone, Umpires

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(Jacob deGrom Ties MLB Record, Strikes Out 8 Straight. Pix-USA Today)

Have you noticed how it seems hitting has been trumped by pitching in baseball, not only this year but for a number of years now?

With Red Sox in last place, 26 games behind the AL East winner Orioles, I have had a good deal of time to think about more than just my beloved team and their miseries. While I have enjoyed the Nats’ good season, it’s not the same as rooting for Boston.

Looking at some box scores a few weeks ago, I was struck by what seemed to me to be low batting averages, even of the best players for the best teams in baseball. In fact, when I looked at the six leading teams in all the MLB Divisions, only two clubs had anyone hitting over .300 (one of those two teams just had one player hitting .301, and he is now below .300).

I began looking at other statistics, going back as far as 2000. Here are just some of the things I found when I looked at every year from 2000-2014 (being retired and having a losing baseball team allows for spending time on such matters):

Three Dilemmas. Please Advise.

17 Wednesday Sep 2014

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

Baltimore Orioles, baseball, Dilemmas, Las Vegas Bets, Red Sox, Washington Nationals, World Series

unnamed (Not shown: Multiple Red Sox tickets to win the 2014 Pennant & World Series.)

Dilemma #1:

The Facts: The Washington Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles secured playoff positions last night in their respective MLB Divisions (NL East and AL East). Thus both have a shot at winning the 2014 World Series. I have been a Nats’ fan (a distant second, of course, to being a Red Sox fan) since they arrived in DC. I have rooted against the O’s for years, except when they play the Yankees. I hold two Las Vegas $10 bets. One for the Nats (payoff $110) and one for the O’s (payoff $260).

The Dilemma: Whom do I cheer for to win the World Series?

(Note: I also hold three $10 tickets for the Nats to win the 2014 Pennant. Total payoff for the three tickets, $145.)

Dilemma #2:

The Facts: On my Orioles’ WS ticket, I have written the name “Nelson” in the upper right hand corner of the ticket. Nelson is a friend who roots for the O’s and rubs it in when they beat the Sox. Nelson does not know I bought this ticket with him in mind.

The Dilemma: Do I inform Nelson I have the ticket, and do I give it to him?

Dilemma #3:

The Facts: I also bought a bunch (I’m embarrassed to say how many) of Sox tickets for them to win the 2014 Pennant and World Series. (If either the Nats’ or the O’s win the World Series, I can recoup the cost of most of my foolish Sox bets.)

The Dilemma: What do I do with all my useless Sox 2014 tickets.

Please advise.

September Nats’ Tickets…On the Way to the Playoffs?

29 Friday Aug 2014

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

baseball, Nats' Games, Washington Nationals

Empty seat I have a few September Washington Nationals tickets available, all at no cost to you, other than perhaps buying me some peanuts at the game (if it is a game we are seeing together):

The available dates:

Stepping Back from the Precipice…for the Moment.

01 Friday Aug 2014

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Andrew MIller, baseball, Ben Cherington, Bill Beane, Boston Red Sox, John Lackey, John Lester, Red Sox, Sox, Yoenis Cespedis

sox

Twenty-four hours ago I asked my wife Ellen to lock up all the sharp knives and put a barrier across the stairs to the third floor.

It was clear to me that the Sox were about to explode, that GM Ben Cherington was about to cast off, minimally, our two top pitchers and one of our top relievers.

For what? A bunch of prospects?

My well being was threatened, and I needed protection from acting impulsively.

This morning I told Ellen she could unlock the knives and take down the barrier to the third floor.

For the moment at least, things didn’t seem so dire.

“How like a winter hath my absence been from thee…”

19 Wednesday Mar 2014

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

"Winter in Fenway", baseball, Boston Red Sox, DGA Productions, Fenway, Shakespeare, Sonnet 97, Spring, Vimeo, Winter

In Shakespeare’s 97th Sonnet, the narrator writes about his separation from his lover: “How like a winter hath my absence been/From thee…”

For some of us, this winter has been a particularly difficult absence from our love.

I speak, of course, of baseball.

But now we are closing in on Opening Day.

Check out the DGV Productions Winter in Fenway below for 2:59 seconds of merging winter, baseball, and Shakespeare.

It’s lovely.

2014 MillersTime Baseball Contests

23 Sunday Feb 2014

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

2014 Baseball Contests, 2014 MLB, baseball, MillersTime Baseball Contests

2007. WS.photo

3/21 – DEADLINE EXTENDED: Contrary to the information at the end of this post, the deadline for submissions has been extended until the first pitch is thrown on Opening Day, March 31, in the US (as opposed to the two games early opening day games in Australia between the Dodgers and Diamondbacks). For individuals who have submitted their picks in a timely fashion, you are welcome to amend any or all of what you’ve submitted. For those of you who are slaggards, your procrastination/careless reading of the previously announced deadline has been ‘rewarded’. However, in case of a tie in any of the contests, the individual who first submitted the prediction will be declared the winner.

Contest #1:

Who Said “You Can’t Teach An Old Dog New Tricks?”

14 Friday Feb 2014

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

2014 MillersTime Baseball Contests, baseball, Boston Red Sox, Contests, GoSox

An updated version of this wonderful picture will be posted following my family’s attendance at the 2014 Opening Day at Fenway in April.

The title of this post is perhaps slightly misleading, but then it may have gotten you at least to get this far into today’s post.

It’s about that wonderful time of the year when football, basketball, and most of those other minor sports are either off the front of the sporting news or are tiresome, and folks who understand the fascination of baseball are beginning to get revved. After all, truck day has come and gone, most pitchers and catchers have reported, full squad practices are beginning, and we will have a year without A-Rod disgracing our blessed game.

What more could we ask?

The point of this post, you ask?

I am ‘working’ on the 2014 MillersTime Baseball Contests and need a bit of your help.