Search PerfectPitcher.org

The Nub

   "If you don't think life imitates sports, you're not reading The Nub”

                                                                                                                      -  Bill Moyers
“Politics and baseball.  Interesting blog…called ‘The Nub’ on perfectpitcher.org.”

                                                                                         - Boston Globe

(Posted: 1/25/11)

 

Baseball and the High Court: Final Score Is Not Game’s End

 

The man whose sacrifice freed baseball players from a form of servitude would have been 73 this week.   Curt Flood’s name should rank with that of Jackie Robinson.  As a pioneering black major leaguer, Jackie faced prejudice, even hatred, in the fight for racial justice.  Flood fought a long, less dramatic battle for economic justice, and, when it was won, could not benefit from the victory.

 

Flood took his case, challenging the Cardinals’ right to trade him to another team and city, to the Supreme Court in 1972.  The Court turned Flood away, upholding baseball’s power to treat players like private property.  Much like their reaction to the High Court’s Citizens United ruling a year ago, some of the media attacked the ’72 decision as a victory for corporate rights over human rights.  The outcry, also voiced in Congress, eventually forced baseball to negotiate player-liberating reforms that led to the free-agent system.

 

Are similar reforms possible now in reaction to Citizens United?  With Team GOP in control of Congress, it’s a long shot.  But strong public support for legislation that would require corporations to show how they spend money on elections could rally enough bipartisan backing for such a “people’s” initiative.  Still another remote, but not unreal, possibility: passage of a law setting up a public financing system that would give clout to small donors.  The system in NYC is a model of what could happen nationwide.  The city matches small donations at a 6-1 ratio, making grass-roots fundraising competitive in importance to the seeking of corporate money.

 

If nothing else, greater disclosure and public financing could become potent populist   issues in the 2012 election.  

                                  -     -     -

Aftermath:  Back to Flood, who sat out the 1970 season (for which he would have earned almost $100,000) and the one in ’71 while his case moved slowly to the Supreme Court.  Without a paying job, he was nearly destitute when the legal game ended.  Flood wound up scrimping, drinking, suffering a series of marital breakups and experiencing always a sense of ostracism from the game he loved.  He couldn’t get employment with a team or even with the players union, which had financed the case. 

 

And when, at 59, Flood died of cancer – 14 years ago last Sunday – not a single active player attended his funeral.  Union reps David Cone and Tom Glavine issued a prepared statement instead, acknowledging the loss.  Brad Snyder, a Washington, D.C. lawyer, paid proper tribute to Flood.  Snyder sidelined his legal career to tell Curt’s story in a moving 2006 book called “A Well-Paid Slave.”  This is how the book ends:

 

“(Jackie) Robinson and Flood took professional athletes on an incredible journey – from racial desegregation to well-paid slavery to being free and extremely well paid.  Robinson started the revolution by putting on a uniform.  Flood finished it by taking his off.”

                                    -     -     -

Warmth for the Rays and A’s:  The Rays may have slipped as AL East title threats with the departures of Carl Crawford, Rafael Soriano, Matt Garza, Carlos Pena, etc., but they still rank high in one way in Boston, NY and elsewhere.  Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez may both be over the hill, but the excitement they bring gives the Rays at least as much fan appeal as they had with their former stars.  And, since it’s always fun for NYY fans to see old friend Hideki Matsui, the A’s should be more welcome than usual at the Stadium this year.

 

A Minnesota Chill Ahead?  The Twins as a rule are more efficient than colorful.  This season their effectiveness will depend in large part on the contributions of two returning convalescents: Justin Morneau and Joe Nathan.  The Twins were content to keep two other key performers this post-season, re-signing Carl Pavano and Nathan.  But they lost relievers Jesse Crain to the White Sox and Matt Guerrier to the Dodgers, so they could wind up skating on thin Minnesota ice.  

                                   

The Mets, we know, have their Morneau-medical-equivalent in Jason Bay.  Justin and Jason, both Canadians from British Columbia, are returning after suffering concussions. Morneau had an infield-impact incident, Bay collided with an outfield wall.  Both profess to be healthy again.  Comparing their play will be an interesting statistical sidelight this season.

                                   - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

(Posted:1/22/11)

 

Fans on Both Fields Hoping for a ‘Flip-Flop’

 

“Success is winning…All of us do better when we win.”   

 

Words of our feisty VP, Joe Biden, the man from Delaware?  Close (geographically): It was NJ-born Stan Kasten who had a weakness for winning; we know him as former president of the Atlanta Braves and, lately, of the Washington Nationals. Kasten had a long streak of successful seasons with the Braves, but his Nats finished last in five of six seasons in the NL East.  He thinks that lower-tier status is about to change for the Nationals, the Marlins, and even the Mets.  It won’t happen this season.  But Kasten said on MLB-TV the other night that 2012 could be a “flip-flop” season when age catches up to the Phillies and Braves, and the Nats, Marlins, and yes, the Mets, take the upper places in the division.

 

The suggestion may sound more hopeful than realistic, but the record book shows (one World Series title and 14 straight division wins in Atlanta) Kasten has earned the right to be taken seriously.  If nothing else, his words provide many baseball fans in the east with reason to believe their teams won’t remain also-rans much longer.  Lefty political fans should be so lucky.  Rallying cries to reverse the right-shift of the elective money-ball game have been strident and unpersuasive.  A softer pitch by The Nation’s William Greider offers quiet encouragement:

 

“I heard a grassroots leader on the radio explain that basically the Tea Party people ‘want government that works for them.’  Don’t we all?  In the next few years, both parties will try to define this sentiment.  If they adhere to the corporate agenda, they are bound to get into trouble, and the ranks of insurgent citizens will grow.”       

 

The power of the news and entertainment media to distract, discourage and sedate may expose Greider’s contingent game plan as wishful thinking.  For the moment, it is hard to imagine Americans focused enough to react to what they see as injustice; focused, for example, as are the Tunisians today.

                                      

Changing (Political) Times:  “We must not balance our budget on the backs of the poor.”  - NY Governor Mario Cuomo, 1983

 

“(Democrats)… argued that vital health-care and education spending (on which the poor are largely dependent) would be lost if the $4 billion-plus in annual revenues produced by the ‘millionaire's tax’ is allowed to expire at the end of the year…(NY Governor Andrew) Cuomo told the lawmakers he's determined to pass a rare on-time budget (with no tax hikes), and won't let a fight over the tax prevent it.”

                                                                                                                                                                - NY Post, January 20, 2011      

                                        -     -     -

Larry Bowa’s Batbag of Insights:  “Manny Ramirez would be worth picking up as a DH; he can still hit, but he’s lost his power.”  “The pitcher that has matured the most is Matt Cain.  He now is as tough as they come.”  “I’m picking the Oakland A’s to win their division.  They have so much pitching, and their offense has gotten better.”  “I look far down south to find the team I like in the National League East: The Marlins.  They’ve got a good young team.  When that kid (Mike) Stanton hits the ball, it makes a different sound.”  (As unpacked on MLB-TV) 

 

The Other Side of Mariano: Asked earlier in the week to choose the “most intimidating” active player, three baseball newsmen came up with three different names: Roy Halladay, Andrew Pujols and Mariano Rivera.  Peter Gammons, who chose Rivera, told of Mo facing Shea Hillenbrand in Boston on a night after Hillenbrand had hit a decisive home run off him. “Mariano threw two pitches that whizzed behind Hillenbrand’s back.  He’s not as easygoing as he looks.”

 

Big Deal One Year Later:  How happy is Jim Leyland a year later with the deal that brought the Tigers Austin Jackson and Phil Coke for Curtis Granderson?  Well, Jackson has established himself as one of the league’s best centerfielders and leadoff men.  And Leyland mentions reliever Coke in the same breath with ace Justin Verlander and other top starter Max Scherzer. “We have a good team,” he says, “(but the key will be if) it’s the healthiest…(We must) keep Verlander, Scherzer and Coke…healthy."  A sure sign the ex-Yank has an important part to play in Leyland’s plans.  

                                             - o -

 (The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

(Posted: 1/18/11)

 

Playing Ball and Politics: It Takes More Than Ego

 

“You’ve got to ac-cen-tu-ate the positive,” goes the old song, “e-lim-i-nate the negative…”  With pitchers and catchers less than a month away, that upbeat approach is certainly appropriate.  The thought occurred in connection with baseball’s Jermaine Dye and then, unlikely as it may seem, with the U.S. Congressional team.  The word “ego”, often used to explain why veteran Congressional players resist retirement, was used on MLB-TV to suggest it was a self-involved stance that prevented Dye from accepting a contract and playing ball last year.  

 

As seen from objective eyes in the press box, neither charge makes it to first base.  Habit and power-related perks may prompt our House reps to overstay their time on the field, But their egos are surely eroded by the grind their job entails.  Ezra Klein clarified the true picture in the Washington Post:

 

“Serving in Congress is actually a sort of crummy life: You live in a small apartment, you spend most of your time missing your family, you're constantly in airports, and when you do get home you barely have time to see your kids because you're running to meet with constituents. It's a grind. And -- this is where (we) overestimate politicians -- you're not that important. No one cares about the speech you just gave or the amendments you just proposed. The media generally doesn't pay attention unless you become part of a controversy, or say something dumb.  You have to do what your leadership tells you. You get yelled at a lot.  Most of the people who stick with the job stick with it because they believe they're doing some good in the world.”

 

Jermaine Dye likely thought he could do some team good and had proved it for a decade-and-a-half with the Braves, Athletics, Royals and, especially, with the White Sox (with whom – from ‘05 to ‘09 - he led AL outfielders in HRs and was runner-up in RBIs).  When the Sox let him go during the ’09 post-season, he figured to be a coveted member of the 2010 free-agent class.  But after a year in which Dye earned $11.5 million, he was only offered a bench-level slot with the Cubs for $3 million.  Since he considered the offer disrespectful and didn’t need the money, Dye made his decision to skip the seven-month grind.  Now, soon to be 37, he hopes to return, with a diminished, clearly ego-free, demand: he’ll only sign a major-league contract.  Chances are a team that needs an extra bat will bring him aboard before the season starts.  

Lob Lofted from Left (Political) Field:  “We have not focused at all on how the militarized rhetoric on the right is tightly connected to our national failure to enact the gun regulations that might have saved lives in Arizona.  Suggestions that (Obama’s) presidency is illegitimate are essential to the core rationale for resisting any restrictions on firearms. The conversation of American conservatism is being shaped by the assumptions of the gun lobby to a much greater degree than mainstream conservatives should wish.” – E.J. Dionne, Washington Post

                                       -     -     -

 A’s Getting Serious:  With the addition of a strong setup man in Brian Fuentes, the Oakland A’s have all but assured that the AL West will be a three-team race, not just a battle between the Rangers and Angels.  The A’s have a formidable rotation headed by Trevor Cahill, 18-8 in ’10,  Gio Gonzalez, 15-9, and Dallas (no-hit) Braden, 11-14.  Fuentes joins another late-inning man, the newly signed (former Ray) Grant Balfour, in the bullpen.  Andrew Bailey, one of the majors’ best, is the closer.  Oakland still needs more offensive punch, but deals for three oufielders, David DeJesus, Josh Willingham and Hideki Matsui (formerly of KC, the Nationals and Angels) will give the team a power-charge.                              

An AL East Surprise?  The division with the strongest potential for a two-team race - the AL East – has two teams other than the Red Sox and Yankees worth watching.  A superior group of starters could keep Tampa Bay in the competition, and a glance at the 28 players named 2010 Triple- and Double-A All Stars (as listed by Baseball America) indicates a fourth team could surprise.  The Blue Jays placed four farmhands on the list, meaning touted young reinforcements may be ready to help the team (that just signed reliever Jon Rauch) before the season is far gone.  No other team had more than two total on the two rosters.   

                                          - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

(Posted: 1/15/11)

 

Angels, Yanks and Jerry Brown Play Budget-Conscious Game

 

The California Angels and the Yankees are the two most prominent teams that haven’t been themselves this post-season.  Each has done little –Rafael Soriano to the Yanks notwithstanding - of the hot-stove dealing that has been their usual game. Owner Arte Moreno’s team has been “un-Angel”-like because he says he’s trying to maintain his ballpark’s general admission price of $19, lowest in the majors.  The “un-Yankee”-like pinstripers want to tighten their budgetary discipline.  Whatever the reason, the restraint is good news for fans in general, if not for supporters of both teams.

 

There’s even better news on the political field if you watch from the left field grandstand.  California governor Jerry Brown wants to give the people a chance to vote for a tax hike to lessen the severity of necessary cuts in public services.  It’s a way of avoiding the “taxes-are-off-the-table” game of most elected officials.  In this case, members of Brown’s legislative state team are expected to agree to put the hot potato on the ballot.  Meanwhile, in similarly hard-hit Illinois, legislators have done the unthinkable – voted a 67-percent rise in the personal income tax (and a 37-percent business-tax increase) to help keep the state fiscally in play.  Dem Skipper Pat Quinn will happily sign the hikes into law.

 

The contrast in supposedly progressive NY is striking: the state’s new Skipper Andrew Cuomo is pitching hard for tax breaks for property owners and for the wealthy; a cap would prevent any rise in the rate imposed on owners, and a temporary tax on high-income people would be allowed to expire, the state’s urgent need for revenue notwithstanding.  Team NY, which has prided itself on leadership, is now an also-ran in the 50-state gutsy-comeback competition.

 

The Yankees, by allowing the hyperactive Red Sox to make them title underdogs in the AL East, will surely attract something rare in their franchise history: sympathetic outside-NY support.  Fielding virtually the team that lost to Texas in the ALDS sets up a challenging – and broadened fan-involved – season.  Of course, chances of the Yanks standing pat, post-Soriano, are far from a sure thing.  For the moment, they can congratulate themselves on adding a formidable set-up man to Mariano Rivera in 2011 and 2012, and a closer in 2013, if Mo decides to retire.  

 

The Type-A Tradeoff:  Soriano makes the Yanks’ loss of Kerry Wood more than bearable.  The deal’s one negative is Rafael’’s status as one of three Type A free agents who rejected an arbitration offer (his from the Rays).  That means the Yanks must yield its first amateur draft pick to Tampa Bay.  Budget-conscious teams are becoming more and more reluctant to give up such highly regarded and (usually) low-salaried prospects.  Nevertheless, Soriano’s fellow Rays reliefer Grant Balfour, who is in the same category, has finally been signed - by the A’s.  Carl Pavano, third of the group, is expected to be re-signed soon by the Twins.

                                

Others in Slow Signing Lane:  The grapevine consensus is that Johnny Damon will sign with the Rays, he giving them a discount because they play near his Florida home.  There’s no such agreement on where veteran sluggers Vladimir Guerrero and Manny Ramirez will wind up.  Jim Thome, unsigned until late this week, is going back to the Twins.

 

A month from today, pitchers and catchers report at the Yankees camp in Tampa/St.Petersburg and the Red Sox camp at Fort Myers.  The Mets will welcome their battery-mates to Port St.Lucie two days later, on February 17.  Yes, it won’t be long now.

 

The Other Outdoor Sport:  Recalling the Nub rule about NFL football: It is legitimate for baseball fans to focus on pro games when they are played in December and January in open-air, frost-belt stadiums, the match-ups preferably involving cold-weather teams.  The divisional playoff games today and tomorrow make for attractive viewing within the rule: six of eight are frost-belt teams, three of four home fields are frost-belt sites.  The Packers-Falcons game will be played tonight in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome.  It would be miss-able, except that a Green Bay win is so important: it would insure elimination of sterile, studio-like conditions next week.  The dome alternative, if all goes well: we can count on watching from our living rooms a week from tomorrow as both conference title games unfold in the frost belt. 

 

One other thing: Owing to its excess of hype and usual antiseptic venue, the Super Bowl - it says here - is eminently worth ignoring.                                
                                         - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

(Posted: 1/11/11)

 

For Mets and Team Obama: ‘It Is What It Is’

 

Mets fans and those of several other teams will surely be spared falsely optimistic slogans this year: Remember “The Magic is Back”, “Your Season Has Come” and last year’s “We Believe in Comebacks”?  The slogan this year should be “Patience.”  Similarly, political progressives, once avid fans of Team Obama, know enough now not to expect any swing to the left by the skipper.  “It Is What It Is,” could be the O-team’s sign.

 

Casting a cool look over both fields, we can see, however grudgingly, some merit to what each team is doing.  We imagine new Mets GM Sandy Alderson telling Jeff Wilpon “I’d rather do nothing than pick players off the scrap heap.  We don’t have the money or the depth to compete this season.  No use trying to fool anybody about it.”  Credit for honesty is one dividend of the approach; a surprise performance by the un-puffed team could be another.  In any event, making this a spin-free season might sway fans who stay away to return as believers next year.

 

Most lefty Team Obama fans who have been booing the skipper for hitting to the right are reconciled to cheering for him next year.  If they didn’t realize how lacking in clout they were, Salon’s Glenn Greenwald provides a primer on the dynamics of their unrequited support:

“Telling politicians that you will do everything possible to work for their re-election no matter how much they scorn you, ignore your political priorities, and trample on your political values is a guaranteed ticket to irrelevance and impotence.  Any self-interested, rational politician… will ignore those who behave this way every time and instead care only about those whose support is conditional.  And they're well-advised to do exactly that. 

“It is probably the case that a lack of enthusiasm on the part of the Democratic base contributed to the Democrats' defeat in the 2010 midterm election.  But what Obama cares about is getting re-elected in 2012, and he knows full well that…(early in) that  year…most of the progressives who are now continuously complaining about him will be at the front of the line waving their Obama banners.”

                                

Amid the familiar rundown of the O-team’s game plan: the troubling sense that what’s happening on the Congressional diamond is secondary to the skipper – like the Mets’ season this year compared to 2012.

                                   

The Anger Market:  On the most troubling development in the national bailiwick - the shooting in Arizona - lefty Paul Krugman had this delivery: “ Citizens of other democracies may marvel at the American psyche, at the way efforts by mildly liberal presidents to expand health coverage are met with cries of tyranny and talk of armed resistance.  Still, that’s what happens whenever a Democrat occupies the White House, and there’s a market for anyone willing to stoke that anger.”

From the Brady Center Against Gun Violence (as reported in Salon): “10 states regulate assault weapons.  In California, for example, (Jared) Loughner could not have legally purchased a gun with a high-capacity magazine.  Arizona, though, has among the weakest gun laws in the nation.  Even if folks had seen Loughner with the gun walking up to the congresswoman, it was perfectly legal until he started firing"

                             -     -     -  

About Time?  ESPN’s Buster Olney says he’s heard the Mets may well be ready to dump both Luis Castillo and Ollie Perez before the season starts; that is, sacrifice more than $18 million in paid-for services to rid the team of what have been two festering sores.

 

More from Bowa: Larry Bowa, quoted here last time, has been an asset playing a fill-in role with MLB-TV.  He predicted the other night that outfielder Dexter Fowler would have a breakout year with the Rockies.  Bowa also joined regulars Harold Reynolds and Mitch Williams in picking Colorado to win the NL West. He said the Giants probably won’t repeat their 2010 success, in part, because they’ll be at a defensive disadvantage with Miguel Tejada at short and Pat Burrell in left.

 

Nobody Asked Us, But…we offer this free advice as MLB viewers:  Reynolds is being given too much face-time; he flirts with an “I-know-it-all” attitude that can grate. Mitch Williams risks being similarly obtrusive.  Occasional visitors like savvy ex-pros Bowa and Ron Gant don’t get sufficient time to take verbal swings.

                                  - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

(Posted: 1/8/11)

The Audacity of Truth-Telling About Your Own Team

 

Although Americans have a right to speak out, people in politics and baseball risk punishment for saying what they think…if it’s about teammates.  Ask central Florida’s Bronx-born Congressman (until this week) Alan Grayson, or former Dodgers third-base coach Larry Bowa.  Grayson, one of the last of the slugging liberals in public life, lamented what he called his (Democratic) party’s “strategy of appeasement” leading up to the midterm election.  He received lukewarm campaign support from his parent club, many of whose members said publicly they thought he was off-base – one even said Grayson’s remarks made him “cringe” - in the way he attacked both his own team and opponents.

 

A replay of a classic Grayson inside pitch:  “We as a party have spent the last six months-- the greatest minds of our party dwelling on the question, the unbelievably consuming question of how to get Olympia Snowe to vote for health care reform…Olympia Snowe has no…power…(She) represents a state with one half of one percent of America's population…America cares about health care…not…about process.”

 

Bowa lost his job with the Dodgers not long after taking team center fielder Matt Kemp to task - publicly - for lackadaisical play.  He told the Globe’s Nick Cafardo why he did what he did:

“If you can’t tell a player that he should be running out ground balls and how to play the game the right way, then why are you coaching?  You can get someone off the street to be their friend.  Sometimes you pay a price for being honest.

“He’s a five-tool player, but he’d bring you five tools on Monday and sometimes one tool on Tuesday. This kid can do anything he wants in this game. He’s got tremendous ability.  He’s not a bad kid.  It just looked like he had other things on his mind…Some people call (what I did) ‘old school.’  I just call it playing baseball the right way.  I’ve put on the uniform and played the hardest I could for as long as I could.  That’s all I ever asked of anyone else.’’

New manager Don Mattingly replaced Bowa with former KC manager Trey Hillman.  Bowa still hasn’t found a baseball job for this season.  Grayson, who lost big in the GOP landslide, hopes to back on the field in 2012.  It would be reassuring if Rahm Emanuel and Robert Gibbs were cut loose from Team Obama in D.C. because of their bench-jockeying of Dem liberals.  But we know that, unlike the publicly demoted Grayson, both Rahm and Gibbs are still close to the skipper.

 

Pressbox Takes a Double-Hit: In NY’s journalistic ballpark, two of the area’s three remaining birddog reporters have, like Grayson and Bowa, moved on.  The Village Voice sent veteran columnist Wayne Barrett packing for what it said was financial reasons.  Barrett’s equally admirable Voice teammate Tom Robbins quit in solidarity with Wayne.  The third member of the invaluable triumvirate, Jim Dwyer, is on leave from the NY Times.  For the moment - pending wrap-up Voice work by Robbins and start-up deliveries by Barrett for his new team The Nation Institute - we’re destitute of the kind of digging reportage that trio provided.

 

                                       -     -     -

Bowa Being Bowa:  Larry Bowa on MLB-TV the other night (ingratiating himself with the Rangers front office): “In that ballpark, they didn’t need another hitter (Adrian Beltre).  I would’ve gotten the team a stud pitcher…Moving Michael Young from third base; that’s not showing him the respect he deserves.”

 

On the Nationals signing Adam LaRoche:  “I love (former first baseman) Adam Dunn.  But, especially when you have a young infield, you need someone who can catch the ball wherever it is thrown.  The young guys hate to make errors, so if the first baseman doesn’t give them confidence, they aim the ball instead of just letting loose.”

 

Could Guillen Be a-Goner? The stage whispers in Chicago say White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen must “win or go home.”  Ozzie’s contract ends this season unless an option for 2012 kicks in.  But that will only happen if this year’s team wins the AL Central.  It’s a challenge Guillen may not be able to meet for two reasons: the Twins and Tigers.  The whispers further note that Ozzie is tight with Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria; he presumably could have the manager’s job in Florida if the Marlins were to miss the playoffs  with the White Sox. 

 

Cubs Getting a Rotation Upgrade:  On paper they don’t look as strong as the Reds or Cardinals, but the Cubs are getting there:  They’re sending five minor leaguers to the Rays for Matt Garza, who will join Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Demptser and probably Randy Wells as the Cubbies’ top four starters.  The NL Central might have a three-team playoff race after all.  

                                       - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

(Posted: 1/4/11)

 

Can Skipper Cuomo Be NY’s Buck Showalter?

 

The political mantra to “Do more with less” has clearly been adopted by some baseball teams: the minimally active Mets and a few other clubs - the Mariners and Twins come to mind (as, to a lesser extent, do the Yanks). The Mets’ almost-silent post-season forces fans to accept on faith that the nearly intact fourth-place team of 2010 will return to contention this year.  A real leap.

 

Faith will be needed in the political grandstand, as well.  Most state skippers around the country, including Team NY’s Andrew Cuomo, will have to settle for a promise to “do their best with lots less.”  Before becoming NY skipper 28 years ago, Mario Cuomo, Andrew’s father, told his assembled team “We’re not here for glory, but to help people.”  A struggling economy prevented him from being more than marginally successful in preventing cuts to social services, like Medicaid, that penalized the poor.  Skipper Andrew can hardly hope to match his father in that regard; not at a time when revenue is down requiring spending cuts and the need for compensating tax increases has been sent to the showers.

 

Indeed, pending an emergency swing at the state’s fiscal dropoff, the new governor’s only specific policy stance so far (other than the salary freeze for state workers and top-team pay cuts) is to cap property taxes to help the struggling middle class.  He surely knows that will leave less for society’s  scuffling players.  So the challenge will be all the greater to keep his pledge to “rebuild government” and get people - the poor in particular - to believe in it again.  If, despite the financial hole, Skipper Andrew can rally team NYS and its dejected fans, as Buck Showalter did with the Orioles, he will be a shoo-in for state manager of the year.

                                      -     -     -

What We Know in the post-season so far:  The Red Sox and Brewers have vaulted from non-playoff status in 2010 to serious contenders this season.  The Sox are favored by many to win it all; the Brewers must duke it out with the Reds and, possibly, the Cardinals.  The Phillies have solidified their dominance in the NL East and beyond with the addition of Cliff Lee.  The Nationals are poised to leap-frog the Mets, who are doing a variation of the Knicks’ vain “waiting for Lebron” number of last season.  The Yankees have held their dealing fire until now; it will be a major non-explosion if they do nothing big the rest of the winter.  ESPN’s Wallace Matthews says the team’s dealing activity depends on the play-or-not decision to be made (possibly this week) by Andy Pettitte.  He quotes a Yanks exec to that effect:

 

"Starter, reliever, a bat, it depends on what's out there.  But we gotta know what Andy is gonna do first.''

 

Humorist Dave Barry’s review of the year in the Miami Herald: “2010 was (not) all bad.  There were bright spots.  The Yankees did not even get into the World Series.”

                                      - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests.  Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

(Posted 1/1/11)

 

Skipper Urged to Execute a Steal from Fantasy Baseball

 

How do lefty fans rate Skipper Obama’s first full year in office?  At a street corner confab on the subject the other day, one said “I wish he had been as direct in support of progressive issues as he was in his rooting for the White Sox.”  Unlike the pale-Sox who faded at the end of the season, the skipper finished strong.   Nontheless, he was an also-ran when compared by knowledgable fans to the handful of recent effective presidents.  Lyndon Johnson was one, Bill Clinton another (but just barely – liberals still have reservations about him).  Ronald Reagan is the most recent all-star skipper, hailed by many Dems, including Obama himself.

 

What made former Cubs announcer “Dutch” Reagan the all-star that Obama so far is not?  Neal Gabler fielded that one in The American Prospect and threw a strike from the left side of the field:

 

“Obama may have misunderstood how the presidency has evolved since the days of Ronald Reagan so that Obama's very conception of the office is outmoded. Obama still thinks that the way to achieve his goals is to come up with the right policy and to build political support for it with logical argument.  He doesn't understand the extent to which one of the primary functions of the presidency is emotive: to provide a sense of psychological comfort to the nation that, once accomplished, might well lead to legislative achievements -- may, in fact, be the best route to those achievements -- but can also be an end in itself.  People want a president who makes them feel good…

 

“Reagan was able to find a metaphor that reshaped the entire institution of the presidency to the point where his successors could ignore his conception at their peril.  For him, the presidency was no bully pulpit, living room, salon, or fraternity.  Nor was it the college lectern that Obama seems to think it is from which he can calmly and rationally explain his policies.  It was a darkened theater in which Reagan could project a movie about the country's desires and dreams -- an American fantasy.”

 

Fantasy baseball league participants know how good putting together a dream team makes them feel.  Imagine, the skipper could say, how great it would - will - be to have a Team America that is will-balanced, prosperous and strong; a team that looks much like the revamped Red Sox.  It just might work.  

                              -     -     -

Many Away Games for Team USA:  Bad as baseball may be with its seventh-inning patriotic blather, the “honoring America” routine can’t match the NFL’s militaristic fervor.  The Giants-Packers game Sunday included a hailing on nationwide TV of “our armed forces in 175 countries.”  Only 17 more to go (according to the UN) before Team USA has the world covered.

 

Looking a Half-Year Ahead:  Joe Sheehan, who earned his creds with Baseball Prospectus, runs down a list of big-name players who may well be dealt next July, before the inter-league trade deadline.  His list in SI includes players likely to belong to teams that will be out of the running by early- or mid-summer.  Mets Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran head the list.  But an eye-opening name is Chris Carpenter, which suggests that in some quarters the Cardinals are expected to be non-contenders this year.

 

Two Reasons KC Will be More Fun to Watch in 2011:  Melky Cabrera and Jeff Franceour comprising two-thirds of the team’s outfield.

 

December 26

A baseball bat.
A deck of cards.
A science kit.
A racing car.
A catcher's mitt.
that's my list
of everything
that Santa Claus
forgot to bring.

           - Kenn Nesbitt, from “The Aliens Have Landed in Our School”  (Meadowbrook Press)

 

Let’s wish January, the post-season’s last non-baseball month, God’s speed.

                            -  o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be fournd by scrolling below.)

 

December 2010 Archive

 

(Posted: 12/21/10)

 

A Tale of Two Alleged ‘Evil Empires’

 

Thirty-six years ago this month George Steinbrenner lit the free-agent tinder that made the hot-stove season blaze.  He outbid Padres owner Ray Kroc for the services of Oakland’s Jim “Catfish” Hunter.  His agreement to pay Hunter $3.35 million over five years sparked the salary spiral that renews itself every off-season.  Steinbrenner soon added Reggie Jackson to the Yanks, paying him even more.  Before long, fellow owners were complaining that upstart George had overheated the free-agent market and needed to cool down his spending habit.  “Moderation,” they pleaded.  We know Steinbrenner’s response – long before his Yanks were called the “Evil Empire”; it contained this message: moderation is not the American game.  Not in baseball, and certainly not in politics.

 

The tax bill passed last week illustrates the extreme way the political game is played today.  Promoted as a “compromise” because it provided additional jobless benefits, the bill was a major victory for resolute players on the right.  They went to bat for the wealthy and fouled off repeated lefty pitches to get them to broaden their stance.  Rolling Stone southpaw Matt Taibbi expressed the frustration of fans along the third-base line:

 

“This tax deal…is the result of a relatively small group of already-filthy rich people successfully lobbying an even smaller group of morally spineless politicians to shift an ever-bigger share of society’s burdens to the lower and (what’s left of the) middle classes.”    

 

“Moderate your rhetoric,” the righthanders reply.  “We are not the political ‘Evil Empire.’ The majority of Americans are on our side; polls show the percentage of spread-the-wealth fans shrinking as 2012 approaches.” Under the circumstances, the Democrats should be realistic, says Team GOP, whether they’re in a moderating mode or not.  Many lefty commentators agree.  Here is the UK Guardian’s Michael Tomasky about the country’s conciliating skipper: “I can't really blame the president for not being liberal enough…I do, however, blame him for being in denial about the nature of his opposition. They want to destroy him.  He still seems to think he can seduce them.”

 

If Obama does change signals and tries to force the GOP into a more moderate stance, he’ll need help from teammate Harry Reid.  McClatchy papers report that the Senate skipper has been flummoxd by more than 100 opposition “filibusters” this session, nearly all of which effectively blocked Dem-supported legislation.  Yet none actually took place; Team GOP only had to threaten to filibuster to have its way with Reid.  McClatchy further reports that last week’s nine-hour effort by Vermont’s Independent Senator Bernie Sanders was the first real filibuster since 1992.       

                           -     -     -

Solidifiers:  The body-building term “bulking up” comes to mind when thinking of the Red Sox this post-season.  The addition of weighty Bobby Jenks and compact Dan Wheeler to Boston’s relief corps after Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford joined the offense reinforces the Sox’s status as AL gorilla going into 2011.  Both pitchers are highly credentialed journeymen, Jenks excelling as White Sox closer for much of the decade, ex-Met Wheeler a reliable middle-inning man with the Astros and Rays.  

 

Travel Talk:  The Sox’s departing third baseman Adrian Beltre looks to be a sure bet to land in Anaheim with the Angels (just as sure as the wager that Cliff Lee would wind up with the Yankees).  Both Carl Pavano and Vladimir Guerrero are holding out for three-year contracts, which neither of their latest teams, the Twins and Rangers, seems disposed to give them.                                 

 

Add Zack Greinke to the Brewers to our list of favorite post-season deals; the others: Victor Martinez to the Tigers, Jayson Werth to the Nationals, and Kerry Wood to the Cubs.  What we liked: None of the four wound up with either of the persistently dominating Red Sox, Yankees or Phillies.

                         

Mystery Man:  Orlando Hudson has bounced to a fourth team in four years; he’s signed with the Padres after playing a more-than-respectable second base for the Twins (for whom he scored 80 runs in 129 games).  Hudson put in a solid year with the Dodgers before the Twins, and was with the D-backs before the LAD’s.  He has just turned 33 and is considered a good teammate as well as a better-than-average infielder.  It could be he tends to price himself out of the market (it happened when he was with Arizona).  The Padres are paying him $11.5 million for two years, which means he should stop bouncing for awhile.

                                - o -

 

(More of The Nub, a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey,

can be found at perfectpitcher.org) 

 

The Nub is taking an end-of-the-year road trip to Red Sox Nation to sample the post-season euphoria of Sox fans.

Back in time for 2011.  Happy Holiday.

 

(Posted: 12/18/10)

 

‘The Jewish Kid’ and the President Who Knew Baseball

 

Richard Nixon, the comeback player of the year in the 1968 presidential race, is back with us, thanks to newly released tapes of comments he made as skipper.  Nixon frequently attended Mets games during his post-presidential years as a New Yorker.  “I don’t know a lot about politics,” he said during that period, “but I do know a lot about baseball.”

 

Nixon surely knew that the super-baseball star of the sixties was Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers.  From 1961 until his retirement in 1966, Koufax won 111 games, averaging close to 300 strikeouts a season.  Koufax was Jewish. “Aggressive” and “able” were two of the words Nixon used to describe Jews on the tapes.  Koufax fit that description:

 

…Leo Durocher—
the great manager of the Giants—
was asked about the best pitcher
he ever saw.

Without hesitation, he replied,
"The Jewish Kid," meaning
Sandy Koufax: a leftie
with a fastball like a falcon
snatching a dove from the sky;

a curve so wicked, sluggers
cringed to barely glimpse
it screaming at their heads,
before it dropped away,
at the last, perilous instant. 

- From “The Jewish Kid”, by Robert Cooperman

 

Arthritis forced Koufax to retire when he was 30.  The Watergate scandal - resulting from a break-in he ordered at Democratic National Committee headquarters in 1972 - forced Nixon to resign as skipper in 1974.  As seen from today, he was not a bad president: he pursued the Vietnam war too long before bringing it to a close in ’73.  But he re-established relations with China after more than a quarter of a century, and he proposed a comprehensive health insurance plan to provide protection for the millions who could not afford coverage.  Watergate and a competing plan proposed by Senator Edward Kennedy sent health care reform to the showers in the mid-‘70s…where it may return if five of the nine High Court umpires thumb ObamaCare from the game.  

                         -     -     -

Love Conquers Loot:  Cliff Lee never hid his affection for the Phillies.  When the Phils traded him to the Mariners after the 2009 season, he said he was “shocked” and sorry to leave. “They do a lot of things right,” he said then (in an interview replayed on MLB-TV).  Family comfort in Philly was clearly another factor.  John Smoltz (also on MLB) says of course liking your teammates and respecting the organization influence a player’s deciding where he wants to go: “You gotta go to work, you want to have fun.”

                            

First it was Joe Mauer who took less than he had to last year to re-sign with his home-town Twins.  Now it is Lee, who has signed for less than his market value to return to his preferred season-long home. Kerry Wood is another one; he chose less money than the White Sox offered to sign with his old team, the Cubs. Could it be a trend?  We’ll see, when Albert Pujols’ contract with the Cardinals ends after next season.   

 

It’s official: Sports Illustrated identifies two “badly run” top (financial) tier teams.  The Mets, unsurprisingly, are one.  The Cubs are keeping them company.  The Mets have a longer streak of bad management than the Cubs, who made the playoffs in 2003, ’07 and ’08, and competed with the Cardinals for NL Central dominance for much of the decade.  The Mets, attentive fans know, were run erratically by GM Steve Phillips in the pre-Jeff Wilpon era, even when they went to the World Series in 2000.                                     - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

(Posted: 12/14/10; updated)

 

How Expansionism Made an Impact in Baseball and Warfare

 

In a few days, baseball historians will celebrate the birthday of Branch Rickey, who broke the sport’s color line, and once ran the Brooklyn Dodgers.  He was born 128 years ago next Monday.  In addition to the signing of Jackie Robinson, Rickey is remembered for being the first to see the value of an extensive farm system.  The Mets are one of several teams who could use someone like him today.  Rickey made it his mission to collect “players with youth, speed and strength of arm” and provide minor league teams on which they could develop.  He set up his system for the St.Louis Cardinals in 1919 and the rest of the baseball world hurry to try to catch up. 

 

Rickey’s farm empire soon included hundreds of players – the Cardinals owned all the teams in two leagues and had affiliates elsewhere.  Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis - the baseball “Czar” - put an end to the expansionism, limiting the Cards (and other clubs) to one team in each minor league.  Limits, we know, are seldom popular with Americans in any field.  The question many fans of the political game are asking today is when will Team USA’s military expansionism be stopped?  Where Rickey controlled a dozen or more teams at one time, the U.S. today has close to 750 bases in 120 countries, not counting many under our indirect control but formally run by local governments.  Said Chalmers Johnson in “Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Empire” – “If there were an honest count, the actual size of our military empire would probably top 1,000 different bases overseas, but no one -- possibly not even the Pentagon -- knows the exact number for sure.”

 

Inevitably, this broad-based imperial force becomes involved in armed conflicts in the Muslim world - and elsewhere - that Team USA seems to know nothing about.  The McClatchy news team disclosed this week that our military “provided Saudi Arabia with satellite imagery to help direct air strikes against Shiite rebels…Collaborated with Algerian forces in 2006 and 2007 to capture militants allegedly bound for Iraq… Killed a militant Islamist leader in a 2008 air strike in Somalia.”

 

James Traub provides this further example in Foreign Policy magazine: “Cables printed by the Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar...disclose that in 2008 Lebanon asked to have American spy planes conduct surveillance of Hezbollah at a time when the Shiite group threatened to overrun the state.  But the Lebanese people would have been shocked to hear of (the) operation… and the revelation has already produced an outcry.”

 

For Islamic insurgents, those secretive games, which continue today, confirm their belief that Team USA is at war with nationalist movements everywhere in the Muslim world.  Experts agree the incidents help rally support for Al Quaida and anti-U.S, sentiment throughout Islam.

                                -     -     -

Buyers’ Market:  Grant Balfour, Jesse Crain, Octavio Dotel, Kyle Farnsworth, Pedro Feliciano, Frank Francisco, Brian Fuentes, Matt Guerrier, Trevor Hoffman, Bobby Jenks, Hideki Okajima, Arthur Rhodes, Rafael Soriano, Kerry Wood: Those are only some of the free-agent relievers still unsigned for next season.  The market is soft because so many familiar names are available.  Soriano will get the most lucrative deal, and Wood shouldn’t do badly, either…especially if he re-signs with the Yankees.

 

Given that array of available talent, Mets fans can ask why their team elected to sign D.J. Carrasco, a 33-year-old right-hander who has been with four teams in six seasons and recorded a career ERA of only 4.31?   The (likely) answer: His annual salary up to now has never reached the $1 million mark.

 

A Perhaps Premature Look Ahead:  As of now, we can anticipate two-team playoff races in four of the six divisions: AL East, Red Sox and Yankees; AL West, Rangers and Angels; NL Central, Reds and Cardinals; NL West, Giants and Dodgers.  The three-team exceptions: AL Central, where the Twins, White Sox and Tigers figure again to be fighting it out, and the NL East, where the Phillies - Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt notwithstanding - may well face a challenge from both the Braves and Marlins.

 

Stat Lesson:  Why is “innings” the most important pitching number?  David Cone suggested the obvious on YES some time ago - it’s a number that (if high) identifies work horses, pitchers whom managers can rely on to rest a tired staff.   On MLB-TV the other night, Joe Magrane amplified the point: “The innings total tells you whether the manager has confidence in a pitcher – doesn’t yank him at the first sign of trouble.” 

 

                                - o -

 

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

(Posted: 12/11/10)

 

Carl Crawford, Julian Assange and the Dark Side

 

We’ve talked before about the dark side of the jubilation when a wealthy MLB franchise adds a super-star to an already star-studded lineup: dismay on the part of fans of lower-income clubs in the division who know their teams can no longer  be competitive.  That dismay inevitably turns into apathy by the time the season is half-over.  The Red Sox’s signing of Carl Crawford on top of the trade for Adrian Gonzalez underscores the relevance of that reality.  How can the comparatively undermanned Rays, Blue Jays, or Orioles hope to keep fan interest alive with the majors’ two mega-powers (the Yanks’ signing of Cliff Lee is now a foregone conclusion) playing in the same division?  

 

The inevitable apathy brought on by baseball’s insensitivity to so many of its fans exists in the political field, as well.  The emergence of Wiki-Leak-ed documents reinforced the awareness among some observers of our political-inattentiveness problem.  Embarrassingly, it was Russia’s major newspaper Pravda that made the connection:

“What WikiLeaks has done is make people understand why so many Americans are politically apathetic … After all, the evils committed by those in power can be suffocating, and the sense of powerlessness that erupts can be paralyzing, especially when … government evildoers almost always get away with their crimes. …”

Daniel Ellsberg’s Website, which quoted the Pravda observation, went to bat afterward calling for apathy’s end:

“The American people should be outraged that their government has transformed a nation with a reputation for freedom, justice, tolerance and respect for human rights into a backwater that revels in its criminality, cover-ups, injustices and hypocrisies.  Odd, isn’t it, that it takes…Pravda… to drive home the point that the Obama administration is on the wrong side of history.  Most of our own media are demanding that WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange be hunted down — with some of the more bloodthirsty politicians calling for his murder.  The corporate-and-government dominated media are apprehensive over the challenge that WikiLeaks presents.”

Worth remembering: Assange, who should be cheered as journalistic hero (he and his colleagues perform the newspeople tasks of doing articles on what they have learned) founded WikiLeaks to offer transparency about what was happening in Team USA’s two misguided wars.  The message of much of the predominant reaction to that service is this: “You have no right, because WE DON’T WANT TO KNOW.”

                                        -     -     -

The New Superiority? “Gonzalez and Crawford join Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis as players heading into their prime years. Likewise Jacoby Ellsbury, who at 27 is hoping to put behind him a season lost to injuries. The Yankees have young veterans in Robinson Cano, Mark Teixeira, and Brett Gardner.

“But the Yankees seem to be getting old fast. Alex Rodriguez, 35, has a hip condition that may not get any better.  Derek Jeter will be 37 in June.  And the 41-year-old Mariano Rivera, though still at the top of his game, is at the stage of his career where his skills could slip in a hurry.”  - Nick Cafardo, Boston Globe

Heard at the GM’s Meeting (via MLB-TV): Buck Showalter on the deal that brought D-backs third baseman Mark Reynolds, the majors’ strikeout leader, to the Orioles for two relievers – “We believe he had the worst season he’ll ever have, and he would’ve led our club in four (positive) categories, including HRs (32) and RBIs (85)…We did our research: he fields well, and he doesn’t clog the bases.”   

Kenny Williams (White Sox GM):  “I don’t want anybody else but Ozzie (Guillen) to manage our club while I’m around…(But) we want people who want to be here.  When we heard talk of Ozzie willing to go to Miami (to manage the Marlins), we went down that road.”

Tony La Russa:  “I’m sure Albert (Pujols) will be staying with us long-term.  Whatever the money, they’ll get the contract done…Already after his rookie year in 2001, I said he was the best ballplayer I had ever seen.”

Most amusing press release of the week (The Mets, on the lawsuit seeking money from the Wilpons in connection with the Madoff investment scandal): “Regardless of the outcome of these discussions, we want to emphasize that the New York Mets will have all the necessary financial and operational resources to fully compete and win. That is our commitment to our fans and to New York.”

                                         - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

(Posted: 12/7/10)

 

WikiLeaks, the Mets and Team Obama

 

What does WikiLeaks say about Bernie Madoff’s impact on the Mets?  The team’s front-office silence this hot-stove season prompts that hypothetical question.  Fans have never gotten a straight story about Fred Wilpon’s bad (or was it good?) investment with Madoff: the decline in the Mets’ payroll this year allegedly had nothing to do with Bernie’s scam.  But there was no other explanation for the unwillingness to do the needed spending to compete with the Phillies and Braves.

 

One can imagine a leaked communication in which Wilpon instructed son Jeff to “Stonewall about why we’re not spending as much as usual.  Let them think it’s because I’m pissed - which I am - about the $18 million going to pay Ollie Perez and Luis Castillo.”  Wilpon surely knew the cover story would be a tough sell, but the issue was too trivial to warrant a serious challenge.  At the other extreme was Team Obama’s blatant attempt to cover up its support of a right-wing coup in Honduras last June that everyone, including the skipper’s ambassador, knew was illegal.   

 

A WikiLeak-ed U.S. Embassy cable at the time said “There is no doubt that (the removal of President Manuel Zelaya) constituted an illegal and unconstitutional coup against the Executive Branch…There is equally no doubt Roberto Micheletti’s assumption of power was illegitimate.”  Other leaked information clarified why the O-Team pretended the situation was too murky to intervene: the U.S. feared Zelaya’s plans for reform would push Honduras to the left, making it a less reliable ally.

 

Team Bush had been implicated in coup-attempts in Venezuela in 2002 and Bolivia in 2008 and the O-Team in Ecuador this year.  The skipper’s stance so far is the same as his predecessor’s, favoring business/elite over populist leadership.  That makes it another in a series of bad calls by a man who had given hope to progressives here and in Latin America.   WikiLeaks has made clear why the hope now is all but gone.

                           -     -     -           

Sizzling Stove: Everyone agrees that Jayson Werth’s seven-year, $126 million deal with the Nationals will inflate the market value of many free agents this post-season.  But what about the impact on the Nationals?  It is significant, and not all positive, as the Wash Post’s Adam Kilgore points out:

 

“The specter of Werth's contract will hang over the Nationals for the better part of the next decade, and not only as they hope Werth stays productive to the tune of $18 million a year as he nears his 40th birthday.  Before Ryan Zimmerman hits free agency after  2013, the Nationals will need to try to sign him to a long-term contract extension.  Zimmerman has proven to be even more valuable than Werth the past couple years, and then there's the fact that he's a homegrown fan favorite who tends to always do the right thing -- Washington's Jeter.  If Werth got $126 million, just imagine what Zimmerman could command.

“And then comes 2017, when Stephen Strasburg hits free agency…”

 The Red Sox are reportedly giving Adrian Gonzalez close to Mark Teixeira-type money ($180 million for eight years) in a seven-year deal.  Although the Sox gave up three good prospects, they held on to Jacoby Ellsbury, which means, from a fans’s standpoint, they did well. (SD fans, not so well.) The Gonzalez and Werth signings leave Adrian Beltre , Carl Crawford and Cliff Lee as the three most attractive unsigned free agents.  Where will they wind up? How’s this for a guess? Lee to the Yankees (natch), Crawford to the Angels, and Beltre to somewhere (where he may have to settle for less than the offer he spurned from Oakland).

 

No guessing about the Mets: Since the team has little money to spend this off-season, it may be the only club in the majors with an already predictable 2011 starting lineup.  Here is a likely way manager Terry Collins could bat his position players: Jose Reyes, ss, Angel Pagan, cf, Carlos Beltran, rf, David Wright, 3b. Jason Bay, lf, Ike Davis, 1b, Josh Thole, c, Luis Castillo, 2b.  As Collins has said, the sustained health of these starters is key to the team’s (problematic) competitiveness next season.  The 2011 Yankees lineup, on the other hand, will almost certainly have a new face or two.  One interesting question: Will Joe Girardi keep Derek Jeter at leadoff, or batting second, or even down in the order?                                                

                             

The Reds' refreshingly candid Joey Votto on the influence on him of Troy Tulowitzki’s seven-year deal with the Rockies: “When Tulowitzki signed that…contract… I was blown away.  I can’t imagine seeing myself (several) years from now saying: ’I want to be here.’ It’s an overwhelming thing to ask a young person like myself and say: ’Here’s a lot of money be happy with this (for a long period).’  Deal with it.”

 

                          - o -

 

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

'

(Posted: 12/4/10)

 

The Distracted Focus on Both Baseball and Politics

 

Some of us remember the first time we went to the ballpark expecting to watch pre-game batting practice only to get an unwelcome surprise: a giant electronic scoreboard imposing its videos, flashing lights, rock music, etc., all seemingly designed to distract attention from the activity on the field.  We know how dramatically the distractions have multiplied since then: the theme parks… Angel Stadium in Anaheim, the Mall-parks in NYC and elsewhere, replete with high-end emporia, upscale boutiques and fancy restaurants.  The baseball-watching experience becomes secondary in such a busy-ness setting.

 

Interest in politics has taken a hit because of distractions more miniaturized but much more powerful.  Social networking, with its Facebook, Twitter, etc., and their fraternal hand-held gadgets, is a small-ball game played in a cybernetic mega-diamond.  F-Team Skipper Mark Zuckerberg has laid down seven playing guidelines.  He expects his club to connect with the team’s many fans by reaching out in a way that is seamless, informal, immediate, personal, simple, minimal and short.

 

That style of play clashed with the disciplined approach celebrated by social strategist Marshal McLuhan. He said a savvy outlook became possible for players as well as fans with the long-ago arrival of the printing press.  Attentiveness to politics – and substance, in general – existed thanks to print until the mass-market coming of television in the middle of the last century.  Author Neal Gabler recalled on his LA Times scorecard how the new ballgame unfolded:

 

“Writing scarcely 20 years after McLuhan, in 1985, Neil Postman, in his path-breaking book ’Amusing Ourselves to Death,’ saw the handwriting — or rather the images — on the wall.  He lamented the demise of print under the onslaught of the visual, thanks largely to television.  Like McLuhan, Postman felt that print culture helped create thought that was rational, ordered and engaging, and he blamed TV for making us mindless.  Print not only welcomed ideas, it was essential to them. Television not only repelled ideas, it was inimical to them.

 

“One wonders what Postman — who died the same year Facebook's precursor went online — would have thought of Zuckerberg's Revolution.  Facebook is still typographically dependent.  Its messages are basically printed notes.  But contradicting Postman, these bits of print are no more hospitable to real ideas than the television culture Postman reviled.”

 

Social networking is obviously not the only reason our politics has become so skewed – money and the corporate media are a big part of the game.  But since members of our younger generations are playing the Facebook-type game so avidly, the prospect of a return to rationality must be considered remote.

                              -     -     -

The Gratitude Game: Last year, the Yankees thanked two of their World Series stars Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon by letting them slip away to the Angels and Tigers, respectively. This year, it’s the Giants, who couldn’t have succeeded the Yanks as champions without the heroics of Juan Uribe and Edgar Renteria.  SF has let Uribe go to the Dodgers (on a three-year deal) and made clear to Renteria there’s no room for him now.  The Giants so far have replaced the two with (almost) 37-year-old Miguel Tejada, a message, perhaps, that they think shut-down pitching lessens the need for tight defense.

 

Puzzlement:  The Yankees decided not to tender Dustin Moseley, 4-4 last season and 12-11 in his five-year career with the Angels and Yanks.  At the same time, they re-signed Sergio Mitre, 0-3 and 13-29 over seven seasons with the Cubs, Marlins and Yanks.  Both are righthanders, Mitre is 30, Moseley 29.  Mitre comes cheap (just under a million), Moseley would get a few mil more than Sergio via arbitration, but still…Even more baffling: the Mets letting Hisanori Takahashi - 10-6, and eight-for-eight in saves – go…to the Angels, who’ve signed him for two seasons at a little over $2.5 million per.  We know the Mets are counting their pennies, but that seems counterproductively frugal.

 

Backstop Banter: On MLB-TV the other night, the subject was the most attractive free-agent catcher in a year when many are available.  Joe Magrane said he would choose Miguel Olivo, who played with the Rockies.  Mitch Williams picked A.J. Piercynszki, who could have been leaving the White Sox, but didn't.  “I like Benjy Molina,” said Matt Vasgersian, of the oldest Molina brother who played with both the Giants and Rangers last season.

                                 - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

November 2010 Archive

(Posted: 11/30/10)

 

Coming Soon? We’re Number Two!

 

The awards to Canadian Joey Votto and Venezuelan Felix Hernandez – NL MVP and AL Cy Young honors - meant half of the four top 2012 individual prizes went to non-U.S.-born players. (Dominican Albert Pujols and Venezuelan Miguel Cabrera were runners-up.)  The trend toward dominance in “our” sport by foreign competitors became noticeable when twice-champion Japan made an also-ran of Team USA in the World Baseball Classics.  The Japanese defeated Cuba in the 2006 final and South Korea in 2009.

 

What’s going on?  A half-century ago, legendary Boston Celtic Bob Cousy predicted that, within a few years NBA starting fives, would be all black.  Why? Because in his (dated) words: “Negro boys are hungry.”  The hunger for sports-connected money has attracted young Latino players to pro baseball in the north; together with Asians, Australians, Canadians, etc., they comprise close to a third of all major leaguers.  The primacy of U.S.-born players remains, but their place is under increasing challenge.

 

The situation on the ball field mirrors that in global finance.  National Journal scorekeeper Ronald Brownstein reviews what happened to bring about the power shift:

“For decades after World War II, the global order revolved around American influence… But neither it nor any other competitor will likely match that influence in the coming decades. ‘Although our 'gravitational pull' is still strong, it is not so strong that others orbit around us,’ political scientists Steven Weber and Bruce Jentleson write in their dazzling recent book, The End of Arrogance… ‘Most [world leaders] no longer believe that the alternative to a U.S. world order is chaos.’

“George W. Bush responded to this shifting alignment by more forcefully insisting on American primacy… He offered a vision of American power unconstrained by international institutions or consensus that undoubtedly made a mark.  But it also left the U.S. isolated, and it demonstrated in Iraq not the length but the limits of our ability to unilaterally reshape the world.  Obama has presented an alternative vision of the U.S...still the leader, but one that leads by guiding others to operate in harmony. That approach has produced some clear successes, such as a ‘reset’ relationship with Russia and a tenuous but still functioning international consensus on how to stabilize Afghanistan and contain Iran.  But it's also painfully clear that not even this approach can entirely bend the world to American designs.”

P.S.  A frustrating rally-killer as Team USA tries to protect its lead in the global game: divisive political plays at home.  Partisanship with a deep toe-hold casts crippling doubt on Skipper Obama’s ability to win support for what he wants his and other teams to do.  Add to that the consensus pressbox verdict on what the latest WikiLeaks signals have done: “Diminish (worldwide) trust in Washington.”

                                 -     -     -

A Clint-Can Thesis: Predictions are easy to make and risk-free – who will remember if they don’t prove correct? – so let’s just call this a hunch:  Clint Hurdle will have the Pirates playing near-.500 ball, or better.  He has two young blue blue-chippers to build around: center fielder Andrew McCutchen and third baseman Pedro Alvarez.  Hurdle proved in 2007 he could work magic with a young team, leading the raw Colorado Rockies to an impossible dream – the World Series.  

Progress Report:  From Boston comes word on the Mets’ Daniel Murphy, relayed by the Globe’s Nick Cafardo: “The second base experiment with Murphy is a work-in-progress but ‘heading in the right direction,’’ according to a scout who spent a lot of time watching Murphy in the Dominican the past two weeks. ‘He’s a good enough athlete where he can pull it off,’’ said the scout, ‘but it will take time just to learn all the nuances of the position. I can see their thinking. He can hit. A sound player. This would be a nice conversion [from 1B/OF] for them at a position they need help at’.’’

                              - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

(Posted: 11/27/10)

 

Advice to Skippers in Both Fields: Never Be Nice

 

Snap quiz:  What two things do former Dodgers and Giants Skipper Leo Durocher and financier George Soros have in common?  Answer:(1) Baseball - Soros (along with partners) tried to buy the Washington Nationals in 2005.

 (2) More importantly, the two share a disdain for players who don’t go all-out to win.  It was Durocher who made it into Bartlett’s Quotations by saying “Nice guys finish last.” Leo was talking about opposing manager Mel Ott and his (1940s) Giants.    Soros had another skipper in mind when he recently expressed impatience about what he implied was timid leadership.

 

“I am used to fighting losing battles,” Soros said to a roomful of wealthy Democratic donors last week, “but I don’t like losing without a fight.”  He hinted that if Skipper Obama doesn’t challenge his hit-to-right opponents more aggressively, the donors should consider other options on the political playing field.  “If this president can’t do what we need,” Soros was quoted as saying, “it is time to start looking somewhere else.”  

 

Soros’s pitch was only one of a series of high, hard ones thrown at the skipper in the past several weeks from lefties like Frank Rich, E.J. Dionne, Bob Kuttner, Michael Tomasky, Paul Krugman, etc.  Potential erosion of media support is one thing, erosion of serious cash another: It can get a leader’s attention.  We’ll see.

 

“Give me some scratching, diving, hungry ballplayers who come to kill you…That’s the kind of guy(s) I want playing for me.” – Leo Durocher in “Nice Guys Finish Last” (Simon and Schuster)

                           -     -     -

The New Skipper.  First impressions of Terry Collins (as interviewed on MLB-TV):  Deer-in-headlights eyes, jumpy responder (understandable under circumstances); he is no smooth Jerry Manuel.  But he spared us a “We-have-a-winning-team now” spin-attempt.  He said Mets could win if the regulars stayed healthy.  A big “if.”, and therefore a fair assessment.  Not a bad start.

 

Former pitchers Dan Plesac and Mitch Williams agreed after the interview that neither Collins (nor any manager) could keep a team together and playing good baseball.  “You need a team leader, a position player, not a pitcher, to do the policing job.”  Plesac said he thought David Wright would be the logical one to step up for the Mets.  Williams, who played under Collins at Houston, said he hoped Collins had “learned something about communicating with the players,” since skippering the Astros a decade-and-a-half ago.  “He didn’t know how to do it then.  He better know now if he’s going to last.”

 

Restless Nation: News that Victor Martinez has jumped to the Tigers (for a $50 million four-year deal) may be a welcome sign to Jason Varitek that he’ll be back playing in Boston in 2011, but it has made Sox fans unhappy.  Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy speaks for them:

“Why are the Sox acting like they are a small-market team? They sell out every game. They have the second-highest-priced tickets in baseball. Their payroll is exceeded only by the Yankees’.  And now they won’t pay the going rate for their starting catcher?  How often do the Yankees lose a player they want to keep?”

                               - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

(Posted: 11/23/10)

 

Jeter and Bloomberg Differ on Term Limits

 

Who can blame Derek Jeter for opposing term limits?  He wants to decide how many more seasons he’ll continue to play; he doesn’t want the Yankees to set a cutoff point that forces him into early retirement. 

 

Derek will not get his way, as did Mike Bloomberg in the political field.  We remember that Mayor Mike managed to circumvent the will of his bosses – the voters – by using his financial clout on 29 City Council members; they helped him brush aside the two-term limit to which he (and they) were committed. 

 

The moral: money can make good things happen for whoever can put it to use.  The Yankees will get a couple of reasonably good more years out of Jeter and pay him, perhaps, for four.  It won’t be a bad deal for either side.

 

After the voters this month said a third time that a two-term limit was what they wanted, Bloomberg gave in: Two terms are right, he said, adding that his power pitch to get a third term was needed because of the city’s shaky economic shape.  Put another way, he and his financial savvy were indispensable.  Only with lots of dollars behind your delivery can you sell a play like that.

 

Dollars and an easily spun media: The Nation’s tough lefty Alexander Cockburn pitched this high, hard one on that double play and its effect on Team USA – “The corporate press is unanimous…President Obama must ‘move to the center.’  Onto the butcher block must go entitlements – Medicare, Social Security.  The sky darkens with vultures eager to pick the people’s bones.”

 

The limits question now:  Can Team Obama shelve its self-imposed punch-and-judy offense and swing hard to outscore the hitting-to-right opposition?

                                  -     -     -

Tough Time for Terry: The guess here is that the Mets now have a serviceable interim manager - Terry Collins is unlikely to lead the team into the promised playoffs-land.  By the time Sandy Alderson et al rebuild the Mets into a contender, Collins will have suffered the fate of unfairly unappreciated Jerry Manuel.  The Mets have few studs and little money to spend on strong reinforcements.  A new-era trend to watch: the percentage of Latinos signed now that Omar Minaya is gone.

 

P.S.  Only five of 17 Mets managers since 1962 (including a few brief-tenured interims) finished with winning records: Gil Hodges, Davey Johnson, Bud Harrelson, Bobby Valentine and Willie Randolph.  Hodges and Johnson skippered the Mets’ only world championship teams – 1969 and 1986.

 

Here’s to the ‘Man’: In the week Stan Musial (whom Brooklyn Dodger fans dubbed “Stan the Man”) turned 90, let us repeat this tribute that another baseball immortal, Ty Cobb, paid long ago to the recently named recipient of a Presidential Medal of Freedom:

 

“No man has ever been a perfect ballplayer.  Stan Musial, however, is the closest thing to being perfect in the game…I’ve seen greater hitters and greater runners and greater fielders, but he puts them all together like no one else…He’s my kind of ball player.”  - Life Magazine, March 17, 1952

                                  - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

(11/20/10)

 

Dual Strategic Dilemma: Go With Pragmatic Change or Tradition?

 

What are we to make of the likelihood – given the support of Bud Selig and most GMs – that baseball will add two wild card teams to the playoffs?  We have opposing views: Bad - it cheapens the achievement of making the post-season. Good - it’s a sign the sport is loosening traditional ties and becoming pragmatic.

 

A former sandlot pitcher in Venezuela – Hugo Chavez – hopes the Yanqui  team will follow baseball’s lead and look more realistically at what is happening in much of Latin America.  The countries that are hitting to left with Chavez – like Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, Paraguay, Nicaragua, etc. – are playing a catch-up game;  they’re doing it with democratically elected skippers after decades of military/elitist rule.  In most of the last century, Team USA saw Latino southpaw swings as a security risk and a signal to take the field in defense of its bailiwick in the north.

 

Today, two decades after the Soviet Union went to the showers, there is no reason, Chavez and fellow leftist leaders say, for Team Obama to continue to play hardball.  Socialism is not a threat to U.S. security as Communism was perceived to be.  The Us-against-Them tradition that persists today, they say, seems based on a resolve to protect remaining U.S. corporate interests in the region. The stance is abetted by an anti-socialist yanqui media that sees populism south of the border as a threat to Americans’ “way of life.” 

 

The constant anti-left pitches delivered by our corporate press are now almost a source of amusement in Latin America.  Said Ecuadorian Skipper Rafael Correa not long ago: “If they (the U.S. media) say something good about me, I’ll know I’m in trouble.”  Correa and progressives on both continents trust it is lack of peripheral vision at the policy plate rather than focused hostility that prompts the O-Team to go on playing the traditional game. Whether that is only wishful thinking we’ll learn in the second half of the skipper’s four-year season.

                         -     -     -

Playoffs-Plus - The Bad and Good:  The AL-NL imbalance will attract added criticism when more than a third of the AL’s 14 teams qualify for the post-season compared to just over 30 percent of the 16 in the other league.  The probable March start to the season forced by the new format could at last lead to a regular schedule of warm(er)-site early games and (it is hoped) an end to blizzard-caused postponements in northern climes. 

 

What?  “Melvin said he believes the Mets already have the talent to be a playoff contender, needing simply to rebuild their confidence and stay healthy.” – David Walstein, NY Times.  If that ingratiatingly unrealistic assessment doesn’t prompt Sandy Alderson, et al, to disqualify Bob Melvin from managerial consideration, they ought to retire from the evaluation game.

 

Familiar Sound:  “(Mike Quade)…inherits the worst situation in terms of the Cubs' roster and payroll flexibility since Don Baylor took over for Jim Riggleman 11 seasons ago.” – Phil Rogers, Chicago Tribune                     

 

                - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

(Posted: 11/16/10)

 

Strategic Decisions Being Readied in Both Fields

 

The debate on MLB-TV the other night – Would teams with roughly the same player and dollar assets be better advised to seek to sign gold-glover Carl Crawford or slugger Jayson Werth as free agents?

 

The related debate developing in the Democratic Party: Would it be better to revert to Howard Dean’s swing-for-the-fences 50-state electoral strategy, or stick to Rahm Emanuel’s more targeted small-ball approach to scoring with the voters?

 

Dean’s go-for-broke offense won big (31 House and six Senate seats) for the Dem team in 2006, Emanuel’s hit-in-the-holes game – played within a modified 50-state approach – managed to add eight House and seven Senate seats in 2008.  We know what happened to the Rahm-game this year – the likely 63-seat loss. That economy-fed disaster has led to the current discussion about which of the approaches to follow in 2012.    

 

Dean’s stance has been that competing in 50 states gives the Dem team a chance to scratch out, if not victories, close calls in red states.  Even a string of losses, he says, serves to establish the party as a player, a fact that could pay off in the long run.  Emanuel believes in taking what you can get now where you have a shot, and not expending resources in looking beyond the immediate game.  That opportunistic approach produced a victory for Senators Michael Bennet in Colorado and Patty Murray in Washington, two of the few genuine swing states left after the November 2 rout.

 

Of the two strategies, the 50-state offense needs upset victories to remain viable, wins that, in turn, depend on Dem candidates benefiting from the back-and-forth shift in voter sentiment we’ve witnessed twice in four years.  Skipper Obama clearly must help generate a third such shift - buttressed by a probable mix of both approaches - if he is to win re-election in 2012.

 

‘If’ Time:  Player shifts in the other national pastime could determine where Crawford and Werth (and other free agents) sign for next year and beyond.  If the Red Sox trade Jacoby Ellsbury (for Adrian Gonzalez?), they would likely look to replace his speed, defense and moderate power with Crawford.  If the HR-challenged Mets succeed in sending Carlos Beltran elsewhere, they could well decide to make a strong bid for Werth and his opposite-field sock.  The White Sox could be determined bidders for Werth, as well, if Paul Konerko leaves, as rumored, for the Diamondbacks.  Adding to the muddle: the consensus destination of Crawford is Anaheim and the (LA) Angels.  The obvious walkoff verdict: Well-heeled teams will pay at above-market rates to sign free agents that best fill their holes.  And the Yankees are 29-1 favorites to latch on to Cliff Lee.  

 

Uh, Oh: It’s unfair to Terry Collins for the Mets to announce that Jeff Wilpon supports his candidacy for the manager’s job.  The last thing the team’s fans want is for the boss’s son to have an influence on the personnel moves made by new GM Sandy Alderson.  Wilpon’s track record - beginning with Art Howe - suggests the Mets should have learned the lesson that Jeff must be distanced from decision-making stories, as much as possible.  Now, if Collins gets the job, he’ll have the label of a Wilpon-man to live down.

 

Familiar Faces: Former Met J.J. Putz is among the attractive free-agent relief pitchers.  He appeared in 60 games for the White Sox last season as a setup man/part-time closer.  His stats: 7-5, 2.83, 65 Ks and 15 walks in 54 innings.  Putz will be 34 next season, a few months before another prime righty setup/closer free agent, Kerry Wood.  He will probably come cheaper than Wood, whose total stats with the Indians and Yankees were less impressive than J.J.’s.  Wood went 3-4, 3.13, 49, 29 in 46 innings (47 games).

 

                           - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

(Posted: 11/13/10)

 

NY’s Skipper-Elect Under Pressure in His Own Dugout

 

Willie Randolph and Jerry Manual are both out of work.  Willie may now regret his publicized suspicions that bench coach Manual undercut him in 2008 before succeeding Randolph as manager.  He sees that Manual was undercut himself - by a poor front office that didn’t provide the players he needed to be competitive.

Manual, a Latino, was closer to the Spanish-speaking players than Willie. He saw himself as a stand-in for Willie, communicating for the good of the team.  Whether Jerry had a hidden agenda we can only guess; it is irrelevant now.

 

NY’s Skipper-elect Andrew Cuomo and his veteran Dem teammate Congressman Jerry Nadler are causing political clubhouse static similar to what occurred with the 2008 Mets. Nadler went to bat for the lefty Working Families Party, using robotic phone calls to urge voters to use the WFP, not the Democratic ballot line. The roughly 138,000 WFP votes were cast for Cuomo on Election Day. But the idea was to demonstrate the party’s vote-getting clout, and - in Nadler’s words - “send a message” to Andrew.  The WFP has endorsed the skipper-elect’s playbook to freeze public employee salaries, cap property taxes and reduce state spending.  But implicit in the message is “Don’t go too far in cutting programs beneficial to working people; you may need our support, and votes, next time at the plate.”

 

Many on the Dem team are outraged, as Willie Randolph was, by what they consider a betrayal by dugout insiders.  As one Manhattan District Leader put it: “For the voters reading (praise for WFP’s progressive policies) from respected Democratic elected and party officials, the message is clear: Democrats do not fight for the issues and values that matter.  Democrats do not care about good jobs, clean environment, better schools and public transportation.  How many disparaging (messages) from Democratic officials do you think Democratic voters can read before they begin to believe them?”

 

Cuomo has kept away from the rhubarb this early in the post-election game. His state is not the only one with a WFP challenge.  Six others – Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, Delaware, South Carolina and Oregon – have WFP teams edging on to the Dem playing field.

                              -     -    -

One Way of Looking at It: “If you watched the ALCS even casually it wasn't hard to see that Derek Jeter looked closer to 46 than 36 compared to Elvis Andrus as a shortstop.  That's not a knock on Jeter but simply praise for Andrus' eye-popping range and athleticism.” – John Harper, Daily News

Reads like a knock to us, John. 

 

Indeed, the endless speculation about how much Jeter will, and should, receive in his next contract erodes his superstar standing and hurts the Yankees’ reputation for “class”, as well.  The media have interest in making a cliffhanger out of what the Yanks offer and how their longtime superstar responds.  But any prolonging of the negotiation will serve to amplify negatives about Derek’s diminished skills, undeserved golden glove, etc. and the Yankees’ stated unwillingness to overpay their living legend of a shortstop.  Getting the deal done pronto is the way to control any further damage.  

Light at Last: If Jeff Wilpon hired Sandy Alderson, J.P. Ricciardi and Paul DePodesta for the Mets’ front office because – in Peter Gammons’ words – “he was tired of being pictured as the man manipulating chaos behind the curtain”, good for him.  That was the case, and the curtain was transparent.  This is the first hopeful sign the boss’s son has given Mets fans since Omar’s signing of Johan Santana nearly three years ago.

 

Cactus Report:  The college slugger the Seattle Mariners drafted last year right behind Steven Strasburg - infielder Dustin Ackley - has warmed up the Arizona Fall League.  Ackley is batting .444, with four HRs and 17 RBIs in 16 games for the Peoria Javelinas.  Minnesota’s fleet farmhand Ben Revere is batting .330 and has stolen 11 bases in 23 games for another Peoria team, the Saguaros

 

                              - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

(Posted: 11/9/10)

 

Latinos Making Presence Felt in Both Pastimes

 

Worth remembering: the World Series began two weeks ago with Latinos constituting eight of 16 position players in Rangers and Giants starting lineups.  Each team had four – the Rangers, Elvis Andrus, Vladimir Guerrero, Nelson Cruz and Benjy Molina, the Giants, Andres Torres, Freddy Sanchez, Juan Uribe and Edgar Renteria.  (Sanchez was the only U.S.-born member of the group.) 

 

Those regulars plus key pitchers on both teams – Feliz,  Ogando and Rapada of the Rangers, Jonathan Sanchez, Casilla, Lopez, Mota, Ramirez and Romo, of the Giants – underscore the booming importance of Latinos in the making of winning MLB teams. Latinos are also playing a decisive role on the electoral field, mainly  in support of Democratic candidates.  Latino voters, along with other minorities, helped provide the difference in the few cliffhanger Senate races where D-team players prevailed last Tuesday.  National Journal scorekeeper Ronald Brownstein reviewed the details:

“In California and Colorado, strong showings among minorities and college-educated women allowed Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer and Michael Bennet to prevail despite a surge toward their Republican opponents among other white voters, especially blue-collar white men and women, who are hurting economically and disillusioned with Obama.

“Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s surprisingly substantial victory in Nevada also showed how, in places with the right demography, the new Democratic coalition can still prevail. Republican Sharron Angle captured the white vote by a resounding 53 percent to 41 percent. But Reid overcame that advantage with a big turnout among African-Americans and especially Latinos, who were mobilized by an exhaustive campaign from the powerful Culinary Workers Union that represents employees along the Las Vegas strip.  Angle inadvertently assisted the mobilizing with a race-baiting ad attacking illegal immigrants.  In the end, Hispanics voted for Reid by 2-to-1 and cast just under 1-in-6 Nevada ballots, more than even Reid’s team anticipated…Sen. Patty Murray…in Washington (also has) this coalition to thank.”

On the opposite side of the field, Latinos in Nevada crossed party lines to help elect Republican Brian Sandoval, one of their own, governor.  They were also instrumental in electing many more members of Team GOP than Dems in diverse contests in the East.

                      -     -     -

Mind Game:  The Yankees sent this psychological message to other teams with the call to Cliff Lee’s rep at the start of the free-agent signing period: “We’re ready to spend whatever it takes to get Lee.  Don’t involve us and yourselves in a bidding war.  Neither of us will win that war, but you know we will win the battle for Lee in the end.”

 

More on the 2010 Champions: “There wasn't another team in the playoffs that wouldn't have wanted (Barry Zito) on its postseason roster.  That's how strong the Giants' pitching staff is.  (Matt) Cain is the only member of the starting rotation (Tim Lincecum, Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, Madison Bumgarner and Zito) who isn't under control for at least three more years, and he signed an extension last spring that takes him through 2012.” – Phil Rogers, Chicago Tribune

 

Among the surprising non-tendering decisions this off-season: the Diamondbacks’ snubbing of first baseman Adam LaRoche.  He hit 25 HRs and had 100 RBIs this season. His $6 million per salary is far from exorbitant. The D-backs also declined to pick up options of two ex-Mets, Aaron Heilman and Mike Hampton. Arizona hopes to bring Hampton back under current team-acceptable terms.  He didn’t yield a run in 10 September appearances after being recalled from Triple-A Reno.  It was Hampton, some remember, who pitched the NLCS clinching game the last time – in 2000 – the Mets made the World Series.  Before the game, reporters asked if he was ready to face the Cardinals: “Give me the ball,” he said.

                              - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

(Posted: 11/6/10)

 

The Politics of Regretting the Early End of Baseball

 

One reason to regret that the Rangers didn’t extend the Series at least to a sixth game: it would have provided a distraction from the election returns and their dreary significance.  As it is, we can revel in the success of what were five exciting games, ending in a silver slipper for the Cinderella Giants.

 

The Series introduced in a sustained way – to those of us in the East, anyway – emerging young stars like Buster Posey, Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz, and the already emerged likes of Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain.  And what fun to see 34-year-old Edgar Renteria assume the role played by Hideki Matsui in last year’s classic:  Heroes from Colombia (Renteria) and Japan validating the adjective “World” in the Series.

 

We considered the staging of the Series near-perfect; the single smudge the pathetic display of superfluous patriotism.  Requiring fans, players, TV audience, etc. to “honor America” in the middle of the seventh after participating earlier in the national anthem is an embarrassment: it signals insecurity rather than pride.

 

The insistence on our national preeminence is particularly problematic at election time, when much less than half of our eligible voters make the effort to take their turn at the polls.  Michael Kinsley, who consistently hits to left-center, swung away on that point in The Politico:

“The theory that Americans are better than everybody else is endorsed by an overwhelming majority of U.S. voters and approximately 100 percent of all U.S. politicians, although there is less and less evidence to support it. A recent Yahoo poll (and I resist the obvious joke here) found that 75 percent of Americans believe that the United States is “the greatest country in the world.” Does any other electorate demand such constant reassurance about how wonderful it is — and how wise? Having spent a month to a couple of years and many millions of dollars…to snooker voters, politicians  will (now) declare that they put their faith in ‘the fundamental wisdom of the American people.’

“Not me. Democracy requires me to respect the results of the elections.  It doesn’t require me to agree with them or to admire the process by which voters made up their minds.  In my view, anyone who voted for Barack Obama for president in 2008 and now… support(ed) some tea party madwoman for senator has a bit of explaining to do.”

                                   -     -     -

Baseball Commish Bud Selig will have a lot of explaining to do if he oversees the addition of two wild card teams to the current eight-team playoff arrangement.  Basketball and hockey have debased the interest-value of their playoffs through a numerical overload of qualifiers.  It’s hard enough, even for baseball addicts, to focus on the four match-ups at the start of each post-season.   Don’t let the owners go for the easy buck, Bud, and spoil the more-than-acceptable system in place.

 

So Far, So Good:  It’s disorienting to find ourselves saying something positive about the Mets.  But the hiring of former Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi to assist new GM Sandy Alderson is an encouraging development.  Ricciardi played a major role in putting together Toronto’s impressive core of young pitchers through trades and farm-system development.  If given both the authority and freedom to exercise his recruiting skills, Ricciardi can make the Wilpons’ investment in him pay off handsomely.

                                - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

(Posted: 11/2/10)

 

“Mistakes” Mar a Baseball Game and Dem Election Effort 

 

“We all make mistakes,” said Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga.  His calm response to the bad call that deprived him of a no-hitter last June won him the first “Prize for Sanity” at Jon Stewart’s march for political moderation Saturday.  The statement may well sum up the lesson of today’s election returns.  Mistakes committed by voters who go with Team GOP, we know, will have resulted in part from Team Obama’s bobbled defense of its record.   

 

Galarraga accepted the prize on a video taken at his home in Venezuela. He refrained from making a pitch on behalf of his country and its president.  It wouldn’t have been in keeping with the way the moderation game was played.  Fans know that Stewart treats politics like a humorous game, to the left of moderate, but not on Saturday.  He and Comedy-Channel teammate Stephen Colbert kept their deliveries at the massive rally non-partisan. They did, however, throw high, hard ones at a group target: broadcast news.  The pair reserved their brush-back heaters for cable-TV and network news channels, as well as National Public Radio.  All, they said, duck away from important issues, preferring to peddle provocative pap.

 

Although not an election game-changer, the pair’s on-target fastballs froze into relief the dual corporate influence on today’s midterm contests: limitless campaign cash to conservative candidates, the paid-for radical-right video messages amplified by a complaisant corporate mainstream media.  In the words of a Stewart “reporter” at the rally, the skewed playing field is the scene of a “little game called America.”

                       

The Making of a non-Ballpark Wave:  “It’s one of the characteristics of a wave -- you have a lot of people voting for anybody who is not associated with the ‘in’s’ even sometimes knowing that they are voting for a flawed candidate.  The assumption is we’re sending a message, and if the only way to send a message is to vote for a flawed candidate, I will go ahead and do it.” – Gary Jacobson, U. of California (San Diego) congressional election specialist, quoted in National Journal.

                                   -     -     -

Right Idea:  With two out, men on second and third in the seventh inning of a 0-0 game last night, Tim McCarver said Rangers manager Ron Washington should walk Edgar Renteria and take his chances with Aaron Rowand.  Washington let Cliff Lee pitch to Renteria, who hit the three-run homer that eventually made the Giants world champions.

 

Accolade:  McCarver, a former catcher (of course) on SF’s Buster Posey: “I’ve never seen a catcher with an arm like his.  His throws to second base have no loop.”

 

The Diplomat:  New Mets GM Sandy Alderson did mostly straight-talking at his intro news conference.  He did exaggerate the quality of the team’s farm system, saying it was middle-of-the-pack level.  Baseball America and other monitoring entities place the Mets’ in the bottom third of the 30 systems evaluated.  More important was Jeff Wilpon’s acknowledgment that investing in hoped-for star power at the expense of systemic depth was the wrong approach.  Bottom line: something we already knew - the 2011 team cannot be a playoff contender given existing financial constraints.   

 

Literary Note:  Author Philip Roth, whose fictional alter-ego was not particularly good as a high school player, but “knew how to conduct (himself) as a center fielder” (“Portnoy’s Complaint”), is a Mickey Mantle fan.  The NY Times Book Review reported Sunday that “Roth once watched Sandy Koufax strike out Mantle multiple times in a World Series game – ‘What a day for literature!’ he later recalled…(Roth) also gave Mantle a cameo of sorts in ‘Goodbye Columbus.’  ‘Are we going to have Mickey Mantle for dinner?’ Brenda Patimkin asks in one scene.  ‘When the Yankees win, we set an extra place for Mickey Mantle’.”

                          - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

October 2010 Archive

(Posted: 10/30/10)

 

Couple of Key Players Under Pressure at Crunch-Time

 

Tale of two embattled lefties: Cliff Lee and Russ Feingold.  Both key players in separate fields, both carrying the hopes of their teams in contests with much at stake.  Super-star Lee’s plunge to earth in the Series opener against the Giants  shook up the once-confident (now 0-2) Rangers,  the sudden fall coinciding with the last innings of the long descent of Wisconsin’s Senator Feingold against GOP challenger Ron Johnson.

 

Feingold, an unapologetic three-term liberal, is a Dems’ weathervane candidate, the always-focused Lee his equivalent with the Rangers.  Cliff will get a chance to stabilize his team Monday (assuming there’s a fifth game). By the same day, Election eve, Feingold will have had to cut down Johnson’s estimated six-point polling lead.  Pressbox observers believe that, if Feingold pulls out a victory Tuesday, it will augur well broadly, and his team will likely keep its edge in the Senate.  Should he lose, they agree, the results in purple Wisconsin could signal a big score nationally for Team GOP. 

 

Feingold is hoping to counter multi-millionaire Johnson’s better-financed campaign with a massive get-out-the-vote effort.  That’s not a good sign for the Dem team: everyone in politics knows money in hand usually outscores grass-roots-based hope.  The outlook for Lee’s team is brighter.  The Rangers know their ace will be available to pitch late-inning relief should there be a seventh game three days after his Monday start.  They know further that, from now on, Lee will have an added incentive to excel: he’ll be auditioning for the many teams eager to sign him later this fall as a free agent.

                            -     -     -

“If a major league hitter knows a fastball is coming,” said Tim McCarver Thursday night, “it’s like batting practice.”  That’s what happened in the Giants’ eighth inning of game 2.  After a Buster Posey two-out single, Rangers relievers Derek Holland and Art Lowe combined to walk in two runs.  A few pitches later, Edgar Renteria sat on a Lowe heater and singled to drive in two runs.  Michael Kirkman replaced Lowe and served fastballs that pinch-hitter Aaron Rowand hit for a triple and Andres Torres for a double.  The relievers’ implosion in professional baseball’s ultimate showcase was clearly an embarrassment to the sport as well as to the Rangers.

 

The politically correct side to root for in the Series?  It’s not as easy as it seems. Dave Zirin tells us why this week in The Nation:

 

“Seems pretty cut and dry for the political sports fan: you line up with
either San Fran or Bush Country, right? But even though it would be
great to see Dubya cry if the Rangers lose, people should resist easy
political labels for either team. The field manager for the Rangers is
Ron Washington, who could become the second African-American manager in
baseball history to lead a team to championship glory. Washington must
be as surprised as anyone to be in the World Series, let alone
employed. To the credit of the Rangers organization, they kept
Washington at the helm even after the 57-year-old manager failed a drug
test during the 2009 season and then admitted this Spring that his
drug of choice was cocaine…

 

“Also, for those sneering at the red-state owners box in Texas, remember
that the Giants ownership team is hardly the Grateful Dead.  In addition
to being the consigliere for the Microsoft Mafia, Bill Neukom's team
has gobbled $80 million in public financing for park upgrades and
untold millions in tax exemptions…Nope, there are no easy labels in this
series: just two teams looking to make their mark on baseball history
and two fan bases desperately waiting to exhale. I can't wait.”

                         - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

(Posted: 10/28/10)

 

Waiting for a Baseball-Like Miracle on the Electoral Field

 

The odds-on 2010 World Series – Yankees versus Phillies.  Few fans, at least here in the East, would have dreamed that neither would qualify for the biggest of baseball shows.  We said in a blog at the outset of the post-season that only three of the eight playoff teams had a shot at the Series – the Rangers were our outside possibility.       

 

The Yankees, the richest, most talent-laden team in the AL, and the Phillies, one of the two wealthiest, and by far the most formidable team in the NL, were a match seemingly labeled “inevitable”.  The expectations are familiar heading into the political big show this Tuesday: Team GOP is odds-on to regain control of the House, and given a chance to pull an upset in the Senate contest, as the Rangers did in the playoffs.

 

The Giants, this year’s “miracle” team so far, are the model the Dems would like to emulate.  SF trailed the Padres virtually all season but kept grinding as SD sputtered in the stretch.  Team GOP is not sputtering, but, however belatedly, Skipper Obama is rallying Dem fans, or trying to.  New Yorker’s Hendrik Hertzberg, one of those fans, likens the Skipper’s and the Dems’ situation to that when Franklin Roosevelt faced the Great Depression three years after the stock market crash of October 24, 1929.  Hertzberg calls the collapse of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008 a “rough equivalent” of the ’29 crash.  He says the difference between FDR’s three-year lead-in to his economic challenge and Obama’s third-of-a year warm-up to his has been crucial in putting a Dem defeat on deck:

“Obama is no more to blame for the Great Recession than F.D.R. was for the Great Depression.  But the longest and deepest mass suffering has occurred with Obama in the White House and Democrats holding a majority in (if not always in control of) our two national legislatures.  That—more than tea parties, more than Fox News, more than the scores of millions of anonymous corporate dollars poured into negative campaign advertising courtesy of five Justices of the Supreme Court—is why, next Tuesday, the Republican Party is overwhelmingly likely to retake the House of Representatives outright and, at the very least, to augment its share of seats in the Senate enough to make its veto power absolute…

“President Obama and the Democrats kept the Great Recession from becoming a second Great Depression. But the presence of pain is more keenly felt than the absence of agony.”

If Democrats have a single reason to cling to hope, it is this: polls show that up to a third of potential voters are undecided.  Should those fence-sitters break for the Dems, the skipper and his team could get their long-shot miracle.
                                 -     -     -

Humanizers: The Giants performed this minor miracle in the World Series opener last night: they showed that Cliff Lee was human.  Lee, who was yanked after yielding five runs in four-and-two-thirds inning, couldn’t believe what happened himself.  He was shown shaking his head in the dugout moments before the Giants broke the game open.

If East Coasters are taking the Rangers-Giants Series hard, imagine how fans are feeling in Southern California, where the Angels and Dodgers have been dominant for so many years?  LA Times columnist Bill Dwyre rubs it in to local fans, albeit, empathetically:

 

“Hey, L.A. baseball fans. We didn't see this one coming, did we?...The San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers are in the World Series.  It was supposed to be the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies again.  We could have lived with that.  We could just ignore the whole thing and chalk it up to another East Coast conspiracy.

”We could scoff at the Yankees for buying more postseason glory and further ruining whatever pretense there once was of competitive balance in the major leagues.  And we could nod grudging respect toward the Phillies and…theorize that had (ex-LAD) Jayson Werth not been hit on the wrist…the Dodgers would have kept him…and this Phillies' run might never have happened.

“We  wonder what kind of TV ratings the Giants-Rangers series will bring, especially since the entire L.A. market is likely to hit the off button on the remote.  It's Lakers season now, so we can rationalize our indifference.  (But) if we are honest, we would admit this is painful.”

                               

Primer: What are Mets fans to think of the choice of Sandy Alderson to be next GM?  They should wait until he appoints a manager before thinking anything.  If he defers to the Wilpons and names Wally Backman, he’s not the strong off-field leader the fans and the team need.  Nothing against Backman; he’d probably make a good skipper.  But appointing him would send a message: the bumblers still have interfering rights, which they intend to exercise.

                                     - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

(Posted: 10/26/10)

The Stats We Are Spared by Baseball and Team USA

 

We in the national grandstand learned the other day about suppressed stats that could challenge our acceptance of the status quo on the military battlefield.  The situation on the baseball field, although nothing like a life-and-death matter, cries out for similar exposure.

 

A missed umpiring call on a bunt that went foul set up the decisive Phillies rally in game 5 of their series with the Giants.  A day later, a missed call of a hit batsman (Nick Swisher), led to a run that enabled the Yankees to tie the Rangers in game 6 of their series.

 

Just as the military has resisted even acknowledging the existence of civilian- death numbers in Iraq, so baseball will not tell us the percentage of umpiring bad calls on close plays each season.  Surely, they have such stats; video replays are televised routinely of all close calls.  It’s time we hear how bad – or good – the umpiring truly is, verified by the technology baseball refuses to use on a regular basis.  Based on what we’ve seen in the last two post-seasons, it would be surprising for umpiring to get more than “B” grade on controversial calls – 80 percent of them found to be correct, 20 percent depressingly wrong.  With full disclosure of the stats, fans would likely conclude that baseball’s continued resistance to a broadened use of replays in umpiring is unacceptable.

 

It was WikiLeaks that divulged the existence of the stats in Iraq documenting what is euphemistically known as “collateral damage.”  Here is the basic way the UK’s  Daily Telegraph told the story, quoting the London-based team that has been monitoring civilian deaths:

 

“The latest batch of military documents released by WikiLeaks…shows that the U.S. military kept detailed records of Iraqi fatalities—even though the military denied their existence—and that many were never included in the tally. The logs show 109,032 deaths between January 2004 and last December, including 66,000 civilians…These, together with new information on combatant deaths contained in the logs, will bring the recorded death toll since March 2003 to over 150,000, roughly 80 percent of whom were civilians.”

Then there is this from yesterday’s UK Guardian: A report of "fresh evidence that US soldiers handed over detainees to a notorious Iraqi torture squad has emerged in army logs published by WikiLeaks."

Salon’s Glenn Greenwald wrote an unplanned companion piece in advance of the WikiLeaks revelations, putting the stance of Team USA’s opponents into perspective:

 

“The United States is a country with a massive military and nuclear stockpile, that invaded and has occupied two Muslim countries for almost a full decade, that regularly bombs and drones several others, that currently is threatening to attack one of the largest Muslim countries in the world, that imposed a sanctions regime that killed hundreds of thousands of Muslim children, that slaughters innocent people on a virtually daily basis, that (for decades) has interfered in and controlled countries around the world…that has spent decades arming and protecting every Israeli war with its Muslim neighbors and enabling a four-decade-long brutal occupation, and that erected a worldwide regime of torture, abduction and lawless detention, much of which still endures. Those are just facts.  (Yet)…we all agree to sit around and point over there -- hey, can you believe those primitive Muslims and how violent and extremist they are.”

                                   -     -     -

Deprivation: When the Rangers and Giants meet in SF tomorrow, it will be only the fourth time in the last 19 match-ups (in the two decades since 1991) that an East Coast team will not be involved in the World Series.  The Giants played in one of the two non-EC series in this decade – losing to the Angels in 2002.  The Cardinals played, and beat, the Tigers in 2006.  The Yankees have been in seven Series since ’91, the Braves in five, the Phillies three, the Red Sox  two.

 

Fearless Prediction: The big loser this year will be neither the Rangers, Giants (nor Yanks, Phillies).  It will be Fox-TV.  Ratings will certainly be far down in the populace East, where even rabid viewers will feel free to tune out when games drag on toward midnight.

                                

Sidelined Stars: If you didn’t notice a remarkable aspect of Skipper Bruce Bochy’s leadership of the Giants, it was this:  At crunch-time this season, Bochy had no compunction about sitting big names like Aaron Rowand, Edgar Renteria, Pablo Sandoval, etc. and using the likes of Andres Torres, Juan Uribe and Mike Fontenot instead.  Although injuries factored into his lineup decisions, Bochy

 made clear he was using the players in whom he had most confidence, based on performance, not salaries.  Of course, he couldn’t have done it without GM Brian Sabean’s support.                                 

                                 - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests.  

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

(Posted: 10/22/10, 6p, updated 12:01, 10/23/10)

 

The ‘More with Less’ Pitch Popular on Both Fields

 

The promise to “do more with less” is a political pitch designed to score with voters when times are hard.  When team owners try it out with the baseball public, fans are understandably leery.  As with public services, few teams improve when the payroll goes down.   Nolan Ryan, front-office skipper of the Texas Rangers, is the equivalent of a politician who keeps his promises.  He cut his team’s payroll from the $68 to $55 million between seasons, placing it just above the low-income Athletics, Padres and Pirates on the MLB’s financial batting order. 

 

While the Rangers made do with much less (even after dealing for Cliff Lee at mid-season), their fellow playoff finalists, the Yankees, Phillies and Giants, added substantially to their payrolls.  The Phillies took on $28 million more, the Giants $15 mil and the top-ranked Yankees, $5 million, to put them $44 million ahead of the second-place Red Sox.

 

Hard times in the country and an effective rally by conservatives have made the demand that government do more with less popular in the national political ballpark.  That the rally advances the interests of the wealthy while stranding most Americans is lost on voters, as is the concept it represents, that of economic inequality.  Washington Post scorekeeper Steven Pearlstein has monitored the setback the country is suffering:

“Income inequality has eroded any sense that we are all in this together (as well as) the political consensus necessary for effective government.  There can be no better proof of that proposition than the current election cycle in which the last of the moderates are being driven from the political process and the most likely prospect is for years of… political gridlock…(Inequality) is the unspoken issue that underlies all the others. Without a sense of shared prosperity, there can be no prosperity.”

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich amplified the message in a subsequent turn at bat: 

“An unprecedented concentration of income and wealth at the top; a record amount of secret money flooding our democracy; and a public becoming increasingly angry and cynical about a government that's raising its taxes, reducing its services, and unable to get it back to work.  We're losing our democracy to a different system.  It's called plutocracy.”    

                                 -     -     -

Something Missing: When the Yankees’ tying run in the fifth inning last night was tainted by (yet another) missed umpiring call – on a pitch that hit Nick Swisher called a wild pitch – there was a sense that the Yanks needed all the breaks they could get to beat the Rangers.  They didn’t have their usual aura of dominance – Phil Hughes couldn’t provide it, and the absence of Mark Teixeira left the lineup diminished.  Meanwhile, the Rangers confirmed that they are a team with sock and a sound rotation even without the great Cliff Lee.    

“That’s the most important bunt in the history of the Philadelphia Phillies,” said Tim McCarver on Fox (with perhaps pardonable hyperbole) Thursday night.  He was talking about Roy Halladay’s bunt with two on in the third inning that went foul but was called fair.  It triggered a wild sequence that included an aborted pickoff at third base when Pablo Sandoval missed the bag with his foot and Halladay not running to first.  Sandoval threw Halladay out, but the missed double-play led to two Phillies runs, Shane Victorino having followed with a liner that Aubrey Huff couldn’t handle at first for a crucial error.  Those two runs were the difference in the Phils’ 4-2 victory.

The Phillies are expecting their late-season “magic” (Jimmy Rollins’s term) to propel them to wins in games 6 and 7, with help from Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels.  The scrappy Giants hope that Jonathan Sanchez and, if needed in a game 7, Matt Cain, can neutralize Phillies pitching and quiet Phillies bats.   

                                         - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

(Posted: 10/21/10)

 

The Hypocrisy Game in Both Ballparks

 

Many anti-Yankees fans in the NY area agree there is a limit to how begrudging they can be of the pinstripers’ enviable success.  That limit was reached Tuesday night when the Rangers rolled to the victory that gave them a (short-lived) 3-1 lead in the pennant playoff series.  The possibility of a World Series devoid of a NY team couldn’t help but bring new fans into the Yankee fold, no matter how transitory the support.  The conversion, a welcome form of chauvinism to some Yankee fans, is disdained as rank hypocrisy by others.  “Hate us one minute, then root for us the next: that doesn’t jibe.” 

 

 Whatever its baseball-related intensity level, the hypocritical game is played on a sustained basis in the political field, especially in games involving foreign teams, like Iran:

“Iran's intelligence minister confirmed on Wednesday that two U.S. citizens detained for more than a year will face trial, news reports said…Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters on Tuesday that she had heard Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal would be tried on November 6 but she still hoped they would be released.”

Salon’s Glenn Greenwald paired this comment with the ensuing news report: “It's high time we teach those Iranians about democracy and freedom.  All civilized people know that this is how a Free and Democratic Nation treats foreign detainees.":

“The Obama administration has decided to continue to imprison without trials nearly 50 detainees at the Guantánamo Bay military prison in Cuba because a high-level task force has concluded that they are too difficult to prosecute but too dangerous to release, an administration official said on Thursday.”

Given the expanded worldwide “secret war” operations, recently announced by the skipper’s front office, we’re fortunate the Iranians aren’t playing Team USA’s type of war game.

                              -     -     -

Baseball’s misfortune - from a financial standpoint - is that a Rangers-Phillies/Giants World Series would not have nearly the drawing power as would a Yankees-Phillies/Giants match-up.   Either way, the absence of John Smoltz in the Fox broadcast booth will be a loss for viewing fans.  Smoltz and his TBS teammates Ernie Johnson and Ron Darling have done a terrific job during the AL playoffs.  It seemed redundant to have both ex-pitchers handling color to Johnson’s play-by-play.  But it worked, once they got used to playing off each other.  Darling, now a veteran in the booth, let comparative newcomer Smoltz establish himself as insightful in a fresh, spontaneous way.  On Tuesday night, for example, after explaining why an “in-the-dirt” pitch made sense to an impatient hitter, Smoltz watched the pitch repeated, and said simply “Why not?”

 

Who would have thought the Giants, led last night by rookie Buster Posey, would push the Phillies to within a game of elimination, and be closer to the World Series than their counterpart underdog, the Rangers?  A Rangers-Giants Series?  Their fans are saying “Why not?”                                         

                        

                                     - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

(Posted: 10/19/10)

 

Little Fun in Games Played Now on Either Field

 

Autumnal thoughts about the passage of joy from both pastimes:

 

Even after the Rangers’ rebound in game 2 and onesided win in game 3 behind Cliff Lee, the Yankees’ come-from-behind win in the ALCS opener seemed to confirm their status as the superior team in their league (at least).  While delighting pinstripe fans, the Yanks’ constant dominance discourages dreamers of a more equal competitive playing field. (“Of all the games played this season,” said Red Sox fan Jonathan Schwartz on WNYC, “that was the most disappointing.”) For the time being, the Rangers are proving to be more than competitive, but everyone knows it won't be easy for them to bring joy to many by taking two more from the eruptible Bombers.

 

“Who is this Carl Paladino?,” asks the e-mail of a European friend. “Is he a crackpot?” The short answer: he deserves minimal attention, having disqualified himself through word and deed as a serious candidate for NY state skipper.  The same is true of Christine O’Donnell in Delaware, Sharron Angle in Nevada, and other long-shot candidates around the country making headlines with their wild rhetorical pitches. “There aren't many more lines of taste and decorum left to be crossed,” notes the UK Guardian’s Michael Tomasky. “ It's taking a lot of the fun out of politics. Yes, politics was once fun.  Dirty, corrupt, et cetera, but also fun in its way.  Now…hatred is (spewed) every day. Depressing, really.”

 

It is a given that joylessness prevails in Pittsburgh, where the Pirates plod through a long series of losing seasons.  But what about the North Side of Chicago, where big things were expected of the big-market Cubs?  Fans there could smile, but only late in the season, after Mike Quade replaced Lou Piniella.

 

And what is the “enthusiasm gap” plaguing Team Obama and the Democrats but dismay over the inability to mount a Yankees-like comeback against the cash-flush party of no?  The related, almost-constant gridlock in Congress elicits a verbal shrug from too many fans on the left: “When the right takes contol, they’ll be blamed for what’s not happening.”  That’s more than discouragement; it’s a cover for despair.

 

Finally, the fun dissipated in Flushing by the mismanaged Mets.  For once-loyal fans, stolen summers that can’t be reclaimed.  With more ahead.

                             

Lob from Left Field on economic-inequality fallout:  “Divorce rates are a…reliable indicator of financial distress, as marriage counselors report that a high proportion of couples they see are experiencing significant financial problems…Another footprint of financial distress is long commute times, because families who are short on cash often try to make ends meet by moving to where housing is cheaper — in many cases, farther from work…  The middle-class squeeze has also reduced voters’ willingness to support even basic public services.  Rich and poor alike endure crumbling roads, weak bridges (and) an unreliable rail system.” – Cornell U. Prof. Robert Frank (in NY Times)                                                                                                          

                                -     -     -

Reliable, and Placidly So:  When Placido Polanco knocked in Roy Oswalt with the third Phillies run en route to the 6-1 victory Sunday night, Fox broadcaster Joe Buck paid tribute:  “When you need that kind of a hit, you can’t have a better man at the plate than Polanco.  You know he’ll get his bat on the ball.”  With a lineup of Victorino, Utley, Polanco, Howard, Werth, Rollins, Ibanez and Ruiz, the Phils almost match the Yanks with their hole-free batting order.  As widely predicted, the Giants, with their good pitching, just don’t measure up offensively to the defending NL champions. 

In SI, Tom Verducci notes that the Giants have played 13 straight games without scoring more than four runs.  He avoids saying that SF third baseman Mike Fontenot is choking under the playoff pressure – rather, he is playing “with a painfully noticeable lack of confidence.”  Bruce Bochy has indicated, according to Verducci, that Pablo Sandoval will replace Fontenot, and Aaron Rowand will go to center field in place of Andres Torres, who has struck out in eight of 11 ABs.   

                                  - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

(Posted: 10/16/10)

 

In the Money: Cliff Lee and Team GOP

 

Cliff Lee doesn’t say so, but he’s probably a tax-averse Republican.  Most major leaguers are.  Lee has this in common with Team GOP election candidates: big money has either arrived, or is on its way.  Observers agree that Lee can demand, and receive, at least as much as C.C. Sabathia: $24 million a year for the better part of the next decade. (He probably can’t match A-Rod’s $33 million per, however.)

 

For the GOP, the final campaign money figure won’t be in for awhile, if ever, But, counting the unlimited amounts contributed by outside groups like the Chamber of Commerce, an estimated hundreds of millions of newly allowed dollars are promoting Repub contests across the country.  Except for comparatively minimal help from labor unions, the Dems have no similar access to big bucks.

 

Thus, in the political fund-raising game, it is no contest.  The UK Guardian’s D.C.-based Michael Tomasky speaks for not enough of us when he says:

 

“Most voters don't care.  But I care, and you ought to as well, unless you think it's a good idea that a few mega-rich corporate titans can give a few million bucks to a group that has to disclose almost nothing and run ads attacking candidate X that say nothing about their real agenda for the country.”

 

It’s a pitch that can’t be thrown too often: The impact of money on the election outcome is a threat, not only to the Democrats, but – in Skipper Obama’s words – “to democracy.”  How big a threat we’ll know soon after Election Day.

 

Baseball people know Lee could single-handedly turn some teams into a championship threat.  The Yankees can win without him, but, as he pitched the other night, many of us visualized pinstripes on his Rangers uniform.  Does anyone believe the Yanks can’t have Lee in the off-season if they want him?  Although there will likely be a bidding war for his services, we know there’s only one team - a consistent winner - that won’t be outbid.

 

The ever-expanding role of money, we see, is changing both pastimes, upsetting the traditional traces of equilibrium.  A corollary threat in politics is the reported emergence this year of the largest number ever of self-funded candidates, nearly all Republican.  Could that mean future electoral contests will be mainly games for the rich?  If so, would the change be part of a prolonged slump or permanent condition?  Crucial questions as playoff time approaches.

                              -     -     -

“Oh, my” said one of the TBS announcers when Kerry Wood picked Ian Kinsler  off first with none out in the bottom of the eighth inning last night.  The Yankees offense had just forced a bullpen implosion to score five runs and take a 6-5 lead.  The pickoff with none out ended the Rangers hopes in the first game of the ALDS.  Texas fans can only hope their team’s shell shock will not carry over.  The Yanks, we know, have a way of making sure it does. 

Minority View? Going into last night's game, MLB-TV’s Billy Ripken cast an emphatic vote the other night for the Rangers to beat the Yankees for the AL pennant.  He based his argument on Texas’s success against Mariano Rivera this season.  Mariano is 0-2 for the year against Ron Washington’s team.  “Mariano doesn’t bother them like he does other teams,” said Ripken.  “They’re confident he can be had.”(P.S. Mariano got the save last night.)

 

Why Mets Fans Should (Continue to) Worry:  Jeff Wilpon’s hiring track record is flawed by repeated rookie mistakes.  He allows personal rapport, rather than hardnosed assessment, to influence his decisions.  Jeff took on Art Howe as manager in 2002 because the un-dynamic Howe interviewed well.  Then he gave new buddy Omar Minaya, architect of the 2007 team collapse, a three-year  contract extension despite evidence that  GM Omar had outlived his usefulness. We won’t talk about his appointment of other-crony Howard Johnson to be  batting coach in 2008.  The record does not instill confidence as Jeff meets and assesses a series of GM applicants.

Follow-up:  Here is Newsday’s David Lennon reporting on Sandy Alderson’s interview for the GM job:  “The big question…is how the older and more established Alderson would fit in the organization’s current decision-making hierarchy… As someone accustomed to running his own show to a certain degree, Alderson would have to adjust to being only one voice in a front office headed by principal owner Fred Wilpon , chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon and president Saul Katz… Alderson wants to be a general manager again, and Bud Selig no doubt would like to help out his friend, Fred Wilpon, in stabilizing the Mets.  But the Wilpons do not seem flexible in how they run their franchise.”

:                         - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

(Posted: 10/14/10)

 

Political Omen Favors Giants in Match-up with Phillies

 

Ever since the media’s linkage of the surprise victory of the “Miracle Mets” of 1969 and that of progressive John Lindsay as NYC mayor, baseball and liberal elective politics connect this time of year. At least, that’s the lefty conceit. The NL pennant race has come down to two non-NY teams.  But both the Giants and Phillies are from Democratic states, so the linking tradition lives on. 

 

SF and the Phils both have terrific pitching but slumping hitters.  The contests for senate and governor in both home states have featured a lot of hard hitting.  If the pre-election stats so far contain a baseball omen, it is that the Giants, linked to liberal Dem candidates, have better pennant prospects than the favored Phils in the NLCS.  

 

Why should that be?  In blue-state Pennsylvania, the left-of-center Dems, like the Phillies on their field, had an edge going into the political playoffs.  But, exploiting an error-prone economy, Team GOP’s Pat Toomey and Tom Corbett are ahead of Joe Sestak and Dan Onorato in the battle for open senate and gubernatorial seats, respectively.  Toomey is up by seven points, Corbett 10 in consensus polling scorecards.

 

In blue-state California, the favored Dems are showing the underdog Giants how to win.  A double victory could come despite the economy on the political field and economic inequality - fewer big-bucks players - on the diamond.  Incumbent Senator Barbara Boxer leads Carly Fiorina by five points and former Governor Jerry Brown has a six-point consensus margin over Meg Whitman with three weeks of play left.

 

The Phils and Giants finished their separate division series each with woeful team BA’s of .212.  The averages of Jimmy Rollins (.091) and Placido Polanco (.111) should cause Charlie Manuel particular concern.  Bruce Bochy has Jose Uribe at .071, and Freddy Sanchez and Andres Torres at .111 to worry about.

 

Cliffhanger:  Cliff Lee is scheduled to pitch Sunday.  Trouble is, his Rangers won’t be playing Sunday.  The ALCS, pitting Texas against the Yankees, opens Friday night in Arlington, with games Saturday there, then three at the Stadium starting Monday.  Ron Washington has to decide whether to use Lee Saturday, on three days rest, or Monday, on five.  Saturday is the more likely; it would insure Lee’s availability for another start.  There’s little doubt he would want to pitch sooner rather than later.

 

Lee’s teammate Ian Kinsler describes the pitcher’s competitiveness, even in a game of chess: “He whups me pretty good, and he’s not scared to let me know.  I mean, first move, he’s dominating me.  That’s just how he rolls.”

 

Farm News: The Yankees and Pirates shared the highest number of blue-chip prospects in Baseball America’s Top 20 list for the International League.  Each had three; catcher Jesus Montero, pitcher Ivan Nova and infielder Eduardo Nunez were the designated Yank farmhands from Scranton-Wilkes-Barre.  The three Pirates prospects on the list were third baseman Pedro Alvarez, pitcher Brad Lincoln and outfielder Jose Tabata from Indianapolis.  The Indians, Rays, Reds, Orioles and White Sox, each had two players on the list.  The Mets had none.  The player at the top of the list: catcher Carlos Santana of the Columbus Clippers, who played later in the season (until injured) with the Indians.   

 

                              - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

(Posted: 10/12/10)

 

Yankees and Team GOP: More Than Just a Money Game

 

The hard-hitting Chicago lefty Saul Alinsky used to say that, on the political field, “organized people” can beat “organized money.”  The Yankees are proving, with productive players as well as money, such a strategy doesn’t work in baseball. The Twins, with a new ballpark generating more revenue, became a big-market team this season.  They were able to trade for big-time relievers Matt Capps and Brian Fuentes at mid-summer.  Even with the season-ending concussion of Justin Morneau, the Twins’ personnel raised expectations going into the playoffs.  Their feeble showing against the Yanks has triggered uncharacteristic grumbling among Minnesota’s fans and media.

 

Were he still alive, Alinsky, the legendary community organizer, could serve as a valuable bench coach for Skipper Obama.  Long before this point in the midterm electoral contest, he would have had the skipper challenging Team GOP’s proposed double-switch – cutting the safety net for low-income people while at the same time cutting taxes on the wealthy that help pay for the net.  As early as 1971, Alinsky was warning progressives “If we don’t communicate with the…(working class), if we don’t encourage them to (join) us, they will move to the right.”

 

Team Obama is trying belatedly to reach those blue-collar players.  But the economy, the much-publicized “enthusiasm gap” and organized – mainly, corporate – money make the challenge as tough as that facing playoff teams positioned to face the Yankees.  An Associated Press scorecard shows how big a money lead Team GOP has taken, thanks to the unlimited outside dollars corporate supporters can now throw into the game:

 

“The (Dem) party, led by the Democratic National Committee, has outraised the Republican Party and is mounting advertising and get-out-the vote campaigns in key battlegrounds.  But Republicans have countered (via the High Court’s Citizens United ruling) with a vast array of allied groups operating outside the national party that are raising money without the legal limits imposed on the parties and the candidates.  Those groups are outspending their Democratic-leaning counterparts by about 6-1.”

As of now, clearly, the smart money is on organized money. The Dems need a huge populist rally to change the predicted outcome.

                               -     -     -

Optical Illusion:  No matter what the numbers show, we’re in a three-team playoff for the World Series.  The Yankees and Phillies have been on a collision course from the outset.  The Rangers or Rays may somehow careen into the picture, nudging the Yanks out.  No way, barring an upset in the natural order, will the Giants sidetrack the Phils in a best-of-seven drag-race.

TBS Tidbits: John Smoltz (Twins-Yankees):  “When a team falls behind, everybody can get tight.  It’s happened to the Twins.  They’re waiting for someone to break through and light a spark.”

Buck Martinez’s (Rays-Rangers) description of a pitch that moves off the plate but is called a strike: a “strike-to-ball breaking ball.”  Martinez on whether Evan Longoria’s 10-day layoff at the end of the season would hurt his timing at bat:  “Definitely.  It will take time for him to get used to hitting breaking balls again.  Fast balls won’t be a problem.”

It has to be said: TBS short-changed fans by failing to add an ex-ballplayer to the Reds-Phillies broadcasting team of Brian Anderson and Joe Simpson.  Anderson and Simpson were fine, but their offerings could have been tastier seasoned with insights from someone like ex-pitcher/White Sox color-man Steve Stone, or even Keith Hernandez.  

Intriguing caption (for Mets fans) to shot of Cincinnati’s Walt Jocketty during Reds-Phillies game: “General Manager/VP Operations”.  If the Mets gave their new GM similar dual authority, it would reassure fans that the Wilpons were distanced from key decisions regarding the team’s future.  Jeff Wilpon, we know, is the current VP for ops.  

                                                           - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

(Posted: 10/9/10)

 

Roy Halladay, George Bush and the Missing Game Plans

 

Roy Halladay’s no-hitter this week coincided with the anniversary of George Bush’s launching of our war in Afghanistan nine years ago.  The two events became linked in another way (at least by some of us) with the use of the phrase “game plan.”  Bush’s plan - aimed at sending Osama bin Laden to the showers - included “careful targeting” of aerial attacks in the hope of avoiding “war with the Afghani people.”   The plan envisaged a long war that we would permit to end only when we had achieved “victory…for the cause of freedom.”

 

There appeared to be no game plan beyond using “every necessary weapon of war” to win.  The extra innings under way in Afghanistan and Pakistan attest to the ineffectiveness of those weapons in a rugged, third-world setting.  Osama has gotten away and the Taliban remain, stronger than ever. More tellingly, the dragged-out war testifies to a flawed strategy that has led the thousands of civilian deaths – many caused by drone attacks.  So much for the concept of “careful targeting.”  In the words of a retired major general – John Batiste – “We rushed to war without designating…a main effort “ – that is, a specific, achievable goal, a realistic game plan.

 

The Baseball Connection: The early pre-Roy-Halladay Phillies finished 12 games behind the Mets in 2006, the year the NYM’s season ended in the seventh game of the NLCS.  The Phillies, less wealthy than the Mets, focused on stocking their farm system; they developed blue-chip prospects, many of whom they were able to deal for the likes of Cliff Lee, Brad Lidge, and, of course, Halladay and Roy Oswalt.  The Mets, meanwhile, gave player-development a low priority, depending mainly on the signing of name free agents – the prospects-for-Johan-Santana-trade was a rare exception.  Former Met and current SNY broadcaster Ron Darling gave NY Times-man Stuart Miller his analysis of the Mets’ mismanagement:

“What they need is a game plan….They need to teach smart baseball and good defense so when (minor leaguers) get to the big leagues, (they) know what is expected….Right now the Mets (have a choice): try to build a perennial winner in a few years (with their prospects), or…try to piecemeal it together, trying to find the elixir in the free-agent market.”

In pairing Darling with John Smoltz as color men in the Yankees-Twins series, TBS has put together a dazzling package.  The two ex-pitchers were tentative at first, getting to know each other’s moves.  But soon, helped by excellent play-by-play man Ernie Johnson, the pair pitched in perfect synch. Darling let Smoltz say more, but contributed as much.  Both agreed that Andy Pettitte’s performance Thursday night was his best ever, given the suspense about his health and the importance of the game to his team. On umpiring calls, Smoltz told Johnson he would want to see replays of controversial plays whenever decisive runs were involved, but only then.  Darling said he thought an “eye-in-the-sky” system – an ex-umpire at a replay monitor in the press box – would be preferable; a ruling would be made on any close and challenged call.  Johnson went along with Darling’s view. 

Smoltz on pitching to Lance Berkman: “You don’t want to see him lay the bat down after hitting a ball.  That means it’s going a long way.”

TBS’s other pairings have been well chosen, too.  Here is Buck Martinez (doing Rangers-Rays color) on free-swinging Vladimir Guerrero: “If the ball’s coming at him, it’s in play.”  Martinez’s play-by-play partner Don Orsillo prefaced a Rangers home run on a pitcher’s count with a prescient comment: “(James) Shields is in harm’s way.”

The savvy Bob Brenly, doing Atlanta-Giants color with Dick Stockton, on the Braves: “Bobby Cox has gotten good pitching, but he’s had problems with the team’s defense.” The Braves made two errors in the 1-0 loss to the Giants Thursday night. The single run scored when third baseman Omar Infante couldn’t handle a ground ball; it skipped by him, letting Buster Posey score from second.         

When the Reds fell apart last night, making four key errors in the Phillies’ come-from-behind victory, Brian Anderson and Joe Simpson did their usual solid, unobtrusive job.  They were similarly effective in describing the Halladay no-hitter.  TBS has made a clean broadcasting sweep of the four playoff series.  

                                 - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

(Posted: 10/07/10)

 

It’s Playoff Time in Baseball, Crunch-Time in Politics

 

Scary lineups:

 

Playoff all-stars: Jimmy Rollins, ss; Carl Crawford, lf;  Joey Votto, 1B;  Josh Hamilton, cf; Alex Rodriguez, 3b; Joe Mauer, c; Robinson Cano, 2b; Vladimir Guerrero, dh; Delmon Young, rf, C.C. Sabathia, p (starter); Mariano Rivera, p (closer).

 

Team GOP free agents:  Scientists who deny man-made climate change; Economists who support tax-cuts for the rich; Strategists who justify wars of choice; Lawyers willing to defend torture; Journalists who slant the political news in deference to the people who pay them.

 

An obvious distinction: the baseball lineup is “would-be” scary: the squad won’t be playing together.  The diverse GOP outfit (put together with the guidance of Paul Krugman) is working as a loosely knit team to win on the electoral field three-and-a-half weeks from now.

 

Two views from the left field pressbox on how that political contest will turn out:

 

Perspective 1: “The midtems are boring—boring because everyone knows, in broad strokes, what’s going to happen. The media love to imagine that some brilliant, last-minute White House strategy can save the Democrats, but in moments like this—when the public loathes Washington and Washington is controlled by one party—consultants’ tricks don’t matter. The latest pipe dream is that voters will punish the GOP for having nominated extremist weirdos like Christine O’Donnell.  Really?

 

 “In 1994, the good people of Idaho elected Congress(wo)man Helen Chenoweth, who warned that black helicopters, sent by the federal government, were menacing her state’s ranchers.  In Galveston, Texas, voters elected a formerly homeless man.  When voters are determined to punish anyone associated with political power, hailing from the political, and even social, fringe, isn’t a liability; it’s an asset.”  - Peter Beinart, The Daily Beast

 

Perspective 2: “More evidence th(at)…the Republican wave has crested, and a new dynamic in election 2010 has taken hold.   New Rasmussen and Washington Post polls each show a 7 point swing towards the Democrats in the national Congressional Generic in the past few weeks…This movement tracks similar movement seen in other polls released over the past few days, indicating that the Democrats have made substantial improvement in their position over the past month…

 

There is a clear understanding now in the political class that things have changed, but the big hedge is still on.  In the lead Washington Post story on their new poll, the 7 point Democratic gain was ’modest,’ and the 6 point Republican lead ‘significant.’…That…  shows how fundamentally invested much of DC's political class is in the September version of this story which had Democrats losing the House…and big Republican gains were already ‘baked in the cake’." - Simon Rosenberg, NDN (progressive think tank)

 

The outcome - one way or the other - will likely depend on how effective pro-GOP corporate dollars (the brunt of the estimated $5 billion to be spent in the series of contests) - will ultimately be.

                              -     -     -

Talk About Scary: How formidable are the Phillies?  Roy Halladay threw his no-hitter yesterday against the NL’s best hitting team; a walk provided the Reds with their only base-runner.  The Phils look like the team that led the majors in wins (97).    

Cliff Note: Cliff Lee proved he belonged on our hypothetical all-star team with his dominance over the Rays yesterday afternoon.  Buck Martinez on TBS said the way the Rangers handled Tampa Bay ace David Price had to drain the Rays psychologically. They know if the series goes more than three games, they’ll be facing Lee again.

 

Getting To Be a Habit: The Yankees had 48 come-from-behind victories this season.  The 49^th last night over the Twins may have been the most important.  It sent a message: “We’ve dominated you for the last few seasons and don’t think we’re going to stop now.”

A Thought About the Mets Mess:  If he would take it, Bobby Valentine would not be a bad choice for GM – yes, GM; he wouldn’t brook interference from Jeff Wilpon.  The Mets could then name Wally Backman manager and save some of the money Fred Wilpon lost to Bernie Madoff. 

 

Another Thought:  Jerry Manuel was a solid Mets manager, just not a transformative one, a la Buck Showalter.  Manuel got no help from the front office.  He pleaded through the media, last year and this, for aggressive deal-making that would provide reinforcements for his motley roster.  He was told to carry on with what he had and somehow make it all come out right.  Manuel could have been the right man had he not taken over at the wrong time.

                           - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

(Posted: 10/5/10)

 

Obama Hits Wall Street While Mets Whack Omar and Manuel

 

The investment fund player who the other day said Skipper Obama “came at me with a baseball bat” had nothing on Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya, whacked by the Mets this weekend through the media instead of man-to-man.

 

The skipper told multi-millionaire blue-chipper Anthony Scaramucci that he and fellow Wall Street players had “beat up on” Main Street people.  Scaramucci had tried to defend the many on Wall Street who were being blamed for the actions of a “few bad apples”.  Obama’s response was certainly unsympathetic, but he did it face-to-face on the TV program “Investing in America.”

 

The Mets leaked the decision to let their manager go and consign their GM to the Limbo list.  Sports Illustrated ran the story late Friday.  Art Howe and Willie Randolph, Manuel’s predecessors, lost their jobs in similar tawdry fashion.

The Mets can now change the subject from how bad their team was to whom they expect to turn the franchise around.  It will be an off-season stressing the promise of change – through hirings and name-player signings.  But a needed miraculous comeback next season is unlikely, no matter what the changes.

 

Obama can talk tough, but he can’t bring substantive change, either, to the financial field..  The recently passed legislation by his teammates, the Dem-dominated Congress didn’t do the job, as scorer Joe Nocera noted from the NY Times pressbox:

 

“The big banks aren’t being broken up, the way they were in the 1930s.  Bankers aren’t being hauled off to jail.  No serious effort has been made to rein in executive compensation – or even to claw back millions of dollars in bonuses that were based on what turned out to be illusory profits.  Most of the financial practices and products that brought us to the brink remain legal under the new Dodd-Frank legislation.”

 

Too-big-to-fail is among the financial plays that have not been thumbed from the game.  On the other hand, there will be more umpiring of efforts to clear the field for too-big-to-fail. Still, the pressbox consensus is this: Ttaxpayers have every reason to resent the “reforms” that permit Wall Street to hold on to its privileges.

                         -     -     -

Searching for Cinderella: A non-fan friend wondered aloud yesterday if the playoffs had a “Cinderella team?”  We said there were three of eight – “everyone but the Phillies in the National League.”  In winning the NL Central over the Cardinals and Cubs, the Reds qualified as an “almost Cinderella” during the regular season.  The Phillies may therefore have their hands full in advancing to the NLCS, but advance they should.

 

The Reds are the only one of the playoff teams to finish first in their league in two of three main categories – hitting and fielding.  The Giants led the NL in pitching.  In the AL, the Rangers and Twins led in hitting and fielding, respectively, the Rays in pitching.  If it is true that pitching counts in a short series especially, the Giants and Rays will be worth particular attention.

 

The Yankees, playing at cruise-control through September, apparently achieved the best possible match-up: meeting the Twins just in time to miss the return of Justin Morneau.  Except Morneau won’t be coming back later in the playoffs, after all.  The Twins only want him back at spring-training time.  More immediately, although Minnesota has home-park advantage in the best-of-five ALDS, the Yanks have shown they’re not intimidated by Target Field: they took two of three from the Twins there, and four of six overall.

                            - o -         

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

 

(Posted: 10/2/10)

 

Why Ballclubs and Team Obama Should Play Hard to the End

 

Baseball fans recognize the empty feeling when their team falls out of contention.  Some experience it early in the season, watching players who have lost their competitive spark.  For most fans, the experience becomes familiar now as the many also-ran teams hold rookie tryouts rather than play hard with their best lineups.  Checking box scores for all-star performers takes patience, name players with hiccups having been shut down.  What are essentially Triple-A games played in virtually vacant ballparks convey a sad end-of-regular-season image.   In competing for attention with football, baseball shouldn’t have fans saying “Couldn’t they at least try?”     

 

Team Obama has taken repeated hits for lack of intensity as the electoral season moves into its final month.  One of the hitters - Greg Sargent, writing in the Washington Post – suggests why the O-team should have been more responsive to lefty critics and less cautious in its game plan:

 

“They (the critics) are not merely griping because the White House failed to be as left wing as they would have liked on the public option or the big banks.  They are making the case that fighting harder for liberal priorities -- even if that battle is hopeless in some cases -- is better politics for Democrats overall, because it might leave Dems with an energized base heading into the midterms.

“From this group's point of view, it entirely misses the point when Obama supporters respond by saying: ‘Shut up, Obama got all he could, all you're doing is demoralizing Dems with your nonstop criticism.’

“Their argument is that laying down markers on core liberal priorities has a way of expanding  the field of what's politically possible.  And even if expanding that field was never realistic, they argue, Obama would be in a better position anyway if he'd fought more visibly for those core priorities, because rank and file Dems would know what it is they should go out and vote for on Election Day. These critics are rejecting the ingrained Beltway notion that you should never fight for something when you might lose.”  

                              -     -     -

Uphill Fight Falls Short: “Adrian Gonzalez is batting .416 with runners in scoring position,” said Dick Enberg (on MLB-TV) during the crucial Cubs-Padres game Thursday.  “That’s far and away the best average in the majors.”  Gonzalez came to bat in the sixth inning of a 0-0 game with men on first and second and none out.  It would be the Padres’ best - and only - opportunity to keep the team’s playoff hopes realistically alive.  Gonzalez grounded into a double play, setting the stage for the Cubs’ 1-0 victory, their third in four games in San Diego.

 

Cubs interim manager Mike Quade was not considered a serious candidate to succeed Lou Piniella on a permanent basis when he replaced Lou in mid-August.    Ryne Sandberg, Joe Girardi, Joe Torre, Bobby Valentine – those were the names of real candidates.  But the Cubs have played .647 ball (22-12) under Quade and he has become a serious contender to run the team in 2011.  It hasn’t hurt him that the players are among his boosters.  Said Ryan Dempster the other night:

 

"I hope he's managing us next year because he deserves it.  He has done everything they've asked, and everyone in here really likes him."

 

Asked what he thought of the endorsement, Quade showed he knew about diplomacy as well as managing: "I try and stay away from that," he said. "As long as my relationship with them is good, and I think it is, then I…stick to …what I have to do."

                           - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

September 2010 Archive

(Posted: 9/30/10)

 

Needed on Both Fields: A Gloom-Chasing Miracle

 

A month ago, a part-owner of the Milwaukee Brewers invited us to join him at Citi Field this week to see his team play the Mets.  We declined with thanks, confessing to insufficient interest.  When rain coincided with the start of the series, we thought of how doubly gloomy it would be to watch the out-of-it Mets and Brews under lowering skies. 

 

Worse yet, of course, is the thought of what lies ahead for the NYMs: a mediocre roster, unproductive farm system, dysfunctional front office and shorter-than-usual money supply.  It adds up - even with drastic off-season personnel changes - to a series of rebuilding years. 

 

The appropriateness of the gloom is felt by many players and fans on the left side of the political field.  Among them: the UK Guardian’s Washington-based ace Michael Tomasky, who delivered this sobering outlook on one of the rainy days.

 

“It may well be that the Reagan and Dubya years were just warm-up acts, and that the conservative movement has yet to behold its triumph. The amount of money corporate titans can now pump into politics, the level of activism, the utter inability of the media to call lies lies, the weakness of the Democrats…we may be in for a 40-year descent, until there is no Social Security and there are no environmental regulations and so on and so on, and it'll take a couple of generations for Americans to see the grim effects of that kind of country and decide that pension security and regulation weren't such horrible ideas after all, and America will have to spend 20 years, from about 2050 to 2070, rebuilding an apparatus of state that was built a century before but dismantled.”

 

Tomasky’s stint was a long-view follow-up to the message pitched by National Journal control artist Ronald Brownstein in the previous Nub.  Brownstein laid down the middle the immediate plans of Team GOP’s extremist Senate candidates: to swing out against not only what Team Obama has done, but also to challenge “the legacies of Lyndon Johnson and Franklin Roosevelt.”

 

The latest in a series of warnings to Democrats to put on their rally caps and get likeminded voters to do the same in advance of electoral playoff day, November 2.  Will it take a miracle for such a rally to occur?

                                -     -     -

Speculation Time: Our best guesstimate of playoff pairings in advance of the season’s final weekend: AL – Rangers at Rays, Yanks at Twins.  NL – Reds at Phils, Braves at Giants.  For us, the absence of Red Sox and Dodgers takes some of the zest out of the mix. And, speaking of gloom, how sad that midnight struck for the Cinderella Padres in the last week of the regular season.

 

Although the cusp-of-wild-card Braves have swept the Marlins, the Padres aren’t out of the playoff picture yet.  But SD Times-Union columnist Nick Canepa says local fans are avoiding disappointment by staying home: “This is a team that should be loved, and I wonder why it hasn’t been, why the franchise will draw only 200,000 more fans this year (around 2.1 million) than it did in 2009…In 42 seasons of Padres existence, this has been their most amazing ballclub, a $41-million wonder, a baseball equivalent of loaves and fishes and the Red Sea parting.

“But, for whatever reasons — the economy hitting at the Mendoza Line may be part of it…San Diegans have treated The Little Team That Could more like The Little Team That Might But We Don’t Think It Can So Let’s Wait And See If It Can.”

Ever Say Die: If baseball had an annual deadhead prize, this year’s would go to the Mets by a mile.  Until Tuesday night, when they rallied in the ninth to win,4-3, the Mets had been a remarkable 0-67 when trailing after eight innings.

 

                                - o -

(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments

to dickstar@aol.com are welcome, as are subscription requests. 

Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

 

(Posted: 9/28/10)

 

Political Symbolism Adding Buzz to Baseball’s Post-Season

 

Politicizing the playoffs.

 

In recent election years, the Democratic team found positive omens in the identity of the World Series winners. In 2006, the Cardinals, from then-bluish-purple Missouri, signaled the Dems regaining control of Congress. In 2008, the Phillies, from blue Pennsylvania, presaged Obama's presidential victory. 

 

Percentage-wise, the early and middle innings of the 2010 contest have produced few positive signs for the D-team.  The red-state Rangers, Rays and (purplish)Reds match the blue Phillies, Yankees and Twins as playoff sure things.  The Braves, from red-state Georgia, look to be a good bet for NL wild card, neutralizing the likely blue-California NL West winner, the Giants or Padres.

 

The one recent source of hope for the Dems has been the fading of the red-state Colorado Rockies from the playoff mix.  Colorado is symbolically significant because of its Team GOP's Senate candidate Ken Buck. A dynamic former prosecutor, Buck poses a strong threat to Dem incumbent Michael Bennet.  The National Journal's Ronald Browstein says Buck has been the top-of-rotation pitcher of a rousing GOP message.  It's a message the call-as-he-sees-it Brownstein says the Dems must take seriously or risk a more far-reaching defeat than even their pessimists fear:

 

Buck encapsulate(s) the energy, confidence, and revolutionary zeal crackling through the huge class of GOP Senate challengers now approaching the Capitol from all points on the map.  In red, blue, and purple states alike, Republicans this year have nominated deeply conservative candidates such as Buck who vow to unravel much of what President Obama and the Democratic Congress have constructed over the past two years -- and then march on to challenge the legacies of Lyndon Johnson and Franklin Roosevelt.  Polls today suggest that many of them will get the chance to try.

Unless Democrats can recover lost ground, it appears likely that the 2010 elections will produce the biggest crop of freshman Republican senators since the 11 who arrived in 1994, and possibly even the 16 who were part of Ronald Reagan's landslide in 1980. Across a wide range of issues, the potential GOP Senate class of 2010 leans right even when compared with those earlier groups -- some contenders hold positions on the far frontier of modern American politics. Next year could bring to Washington the most consistently, and even militantly, conservative class of new senators in at least the past half-century.

The D-team can, thus, thank a member of the Colorado red-state roster for sounding the GOP rallying cry that is also a wake-up call for the Dems . And they can hope the Rockies don't wake up in time to join red-state teams competing for the role of World Series champion...and omen.

                          -     -     -

What We Know in the last week of the season:  The Marlins, Cubs and D-backs are enviable also-rans, playing very meaningful games in this final week of the regular season.