The Nub

(politics and baseball, baseball and politics – 7/31/07)

Journalism 101.

The Spitzer scandal story has short legs.  The separate B & B scandals – involving Barry Bonds and the NY State Senate’s Republican leader Joe Bruno – will drag on into extra innings.  Why the difference?  Elementary: Spitzer has done himself political damage.  Bruno and Bonds may have broken the law.  The Republicans can – and will – stretch out their strategic summer-doldrums game to embarrass the governor as long as they can through probes, hearings, etc.  But with no lawlessness in the bottom line, the story will fade. 

As long as federal investigations continue into Bonds’ alleged use of illegal drugs and Bruno’s alleged illegal financial dealings, journalists will have a peg on which to revisit the stories.  “Porpoises,” such stories can be called (and are in some news rooms); they surface, then disappear, and resurface at varying intervals.  Prepare to be reading about Bonds’ off-the-field habits and Bruno’s suspect profit-making well into next year.
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The deal for Mark Teixeira confirms the Braves’ standing as legitimate contenders for the  NL East pennant.  The significance of the deal, as seen from a NY observation point, is this: Atlanta had attractive minor league prospects – along with young catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia – a commodity the Mets can't match.  Nevertheless, to his credit, Omar Minaya was able to obtain second baseman Luis Castillo from the Twins for a couple of the Mets' few tradable - and expendable - minor league chips.

“I feel sore.  I feel tight.  I can’t swing.  I can’t run.”  What else can Carlos Beltran tell us about his condition?  He is clearly DL-list bound at a bad time.  It’s bad enough he’ll be missing in the third spot in the batting order against Milwaukee and the Cubs; worse will be his absence in center field  The Mets don’t have a replacement center fielder except for Endy Chavez and Carlos Gomez, both on the DL.  And with defense-challenged Moises Alou in left and Shawn Green in right, the Mets have a big outfield handicap on this six-day road trip. 
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An added Perfect Pitch lob from Left field on the Clinton-Obama name-calling:  Both Hillary and Barack are falling into a Bush Administration trap with regard to Latin America.  The Republican mind-set, dating back to the CIA-directed overthrow of Guatemala’s Jacobo Arbenz more than a half-century ago, has been to consider any Latin country with tendencies toward social justice and nationalization of industries as anti-U.S.  That may have had some validity during the cold war.  But today, to lump Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Cuba’s Fidel Castro with adversarial leaders in the Middle and Far East, is wrongheaded, especially for self-styled “progressive” Democrats.
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Hard to believe the Yankees seriously think raw rookie Joba Chamberlain could provide the boost their relief corps needs for the pressure-filled stretch run.  A more likely scenario has the Yanks bandying Chamberlain’s name to strengthen their bargaining position (“We’re not desperate”) as they seek a deal for a tested reliever.
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(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments
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(politics and baseball, baseball and politics – 7/30/07)

Barry Bonds didn’t know he was taking steroids, if indeed he did.  Eliot Spitzer didn’t know that his aides were cutting corners to try to “get” Joe Bruno.  Both are resorting to use of a defensive weapon wielded in politics and sports, and many other fields: deniability.  “I don’t want to hear anything about it,” is a familiar phrase in executive suites at all levels of American business, and in homes and locker rooms, too. 

“Because I am zealous, generally, my aides were overzealous in this case,” seems to be the thrust of Spitzer’s latest effort at damage control, as reported by Patrick Healy in yesterday’s Times.  The effort might have been persuasive had the governor claimed not to know – there it is again - about supporters’ concerns that he was more involved in the scandal than he’s admitted.  For a man who has built a reputation for being on top of things, this repetitive out-of-the loop image doesn’t fly.   

The best thing Spitzer has going for him now is the people’s memory, given the publicized glee of Wall Street execs, whom the then-attorney general targeted in fraud cases.  The public cheered the crackdown on moguls like Home Depot founder Kenneth Langone.   Complaints by him and others of what they call Spitzer’s heavy-handedness can serve as a reminder that average New Yorkers owe the governor some slack.  Bonds is benefiting from support expressed by many fellow ballplayers.  Even a lukewarm vote of confidence – as when Tom Glavine said he had mixed feelings about how to view Bonds – helps the controversial slugger.   

Meanwhile, the biggest beneficiary of the NY political ruckus is Bruno; his potentially indictable financial dealings have been forgotten, at least for the moment.             
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Next time you have occasion to see Scott Rolen running the bases, pay close attention.  Red Sox manager Terry Francona says the Cardinal third baseman is an “unbelievable” base-runner (as distinguished from a base-stealer).  Francona told the Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo in the same conversation that J.D. Drew was the best Bosox player running the bases.

That Rolen and Card manager Tony La Russa don’t get along is well known.  Less noticed are some of La Russa’s predictable strategic moves.  The other day, Yanks broadcaster Joe Girardi, who played briefly under La Russa, said Tony doesn’t like to order intentional walks.  He feels they risk insulting the next batter who will bear down all the harder when he comes to the plate.  La Russa prefers to “pitch around” a dangerous hitter, Girardi says, and not stir up sensitivities in whoever is on deck. 
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Lob from Left field:  The Nub’s sponsor Perfect Pitch is neither working for nor has it endorsed a presidential candidate.   Herewith, however, is some advice for Hillary Clinton:  In the name-calling exchange with Barack Obama, do not lump Presidents Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro with the Syrian, Iranian and North Korean leaders as people you would be wary of meeting.  Remember that Chavez is democratically elected and has launched an ambitious program dedicated to social justice for the Venezuelan people.  He continually says disrespectful things about George W. Bush, but that should not make him an enemy of the U.S.   Our grievance with Castro dates from the Cold War and is no longer relevant.  Our attitude toward him and Cuba, as you well know, is driven by domestic politics designed to win electoral support from the Cuban exile community.  In either case, meetings are not the real issue; attitude is.  Your present attitude toward Chavez and Castro is not “Bush-Cheney lite”, but it needs revision. 
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Keith Hernandez, on SNY, before the Phils lost Chase Utley with a broken hand but nevertheless swept the Pirates over the weekend:  “I think the Phillies are the team the Mets need to worry about.”  As attentive fans know, the Phils have won eight of their last nine, to move a game ahead of the Braves into second place in the NL East.  While the Mets play six away games with the Brewers and the Cubs, starting tomorrow, the Phils will play seven away with the same teams - the Cubs(4) and the Brewers (3), starting tonight (on ESPN).
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(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments to
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(politics and baseball, baseball and politics – 7/27/07)

Dust from the local political playing field:

The size of the scandal-made hole in the Teflon dome encasing Spitzer Stadium has yet to be measured, but it is clearly large enough to allow elements to dampen the governor’s activities for a long while.  Indeed, as has been widely suggested, Eliot’s aura of hard-hitting probity may have been destroyed for good.   The damage to his rep with fans will be compounded if he persists in stonewalling a slo-mo replay of his team’s effort to “get” Joe Bruno.    

The imbroglio has given umpire Andrew Cuomo the chance to show he’s willing to “call it as he sees it.”  And it points up the contrast between the flunky role played by Bush’s Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and that of our AG Andrew vis-à-vis Spitzer.  An intriguing sidelight to the chain of events is a prescient phrase imputed to one of Andrew’s aides.  He reportedly said in late spring that the AG was waiting for the governor to “implode.”

There’s much milling and some batting practice in the NYC electoral ballpark.  Although in general it is too early to know who will be playing and in which 2009 citywide race, two competitors have emerged in one contest.  Civil liberties lawyer Norman Siegel has announced he will go to bat a third time to win election as public advocate.  Queens Councilmember Erio Gioia has all but announced that he will take the field against Siegel and anyone else who enters the race.  The office will be vacated by term-limited incumbent Betsy Gotbaum.

Siegel has an advantage in citywide recognition; Gioia is recognized as a muscular fundraiser.  For decades, Siegel (with whom Perfect Pitch worked in his first campaign) has built a reputation as a people’s advocate.  The comparatively youthful Gioia has reportedly served his constituents well and built a multi-borough network of supporters.  Siegel, a Mets fan, says there will be no “wait ‘til next year” if he doesn’t win this time.

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New crunch time this year for the Mets:  For the week-and-a-half beginning next Tuesday (7/31), they’ll be playing nine games – three apiece – with the Brewers, Cubs, and Braves.  It is likely that trio plus the Mets will be in the homestretch scramble for three of the four NL playoff spots - the Eastern and Central Division titles and the wild card.     

The stress of the tight pennant race with an injury-prone team must be getting to Willie Randolph.  His impatience over Carlos Beltran’s newly strained stomach muscle showed when reporters asked about it.  Instead of saying the usual “we’ll have to wait and see” or “day to day,” Willie said “there’s always a chance” Carlos will go on the DL.  Beltran has made clear he wanted to rest, needed a break, all season.  Suspected translation of “there’s always a chance”:  “There he goes again.”    

Oh, and what are we to make of Willie’s downplaying the gleeful fuss over Tom Glavine’s imminent 300^th victory?  For the manager to say that reporters “are probably making a bigger deal of it than it is” can be attributed, generously, to his not thinking straight.  Either that, or something’s amiss between him and Glavine.  Let’s call it stress and leave it at that.

The Yankees refuse to leave off winning; going into last night’s game, they’d taken 17 of their last 22, a 773 percentage.  Although Andy Pettitte is, on paper, only a .500 pitcher ( 6-6), he is tops in the major leagues by a long shot in one category: pick-off move.   Of 464 ML players polled by Sports Illustrated, 55 percent said Andy was the best picker-offer.  Milwaukee’s Chris Capuano was a distant second with 17 percent; Detroit’s Kenny Rogers third with 8 percent.

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(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments to
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(politics and baseball, baseball and politics – 7/26/07)

Pedro Martinez has been suffering from “mental fatigue.”  Who can blame him?

The mystery of why the Mets’ once-and-would-be ace interrupted his rehab training to go home for two weeks to the Dominican Republic was finally solved with word from the team that Pedro was tired, mentally, not physically. 
 

If Pedro reads the same newspapers and watches the same TV we do, he can hardly avoid the confusion that breeds exhaustion of the spirit.  The world’s first democracy, founded on the rule of law, has a president who says he’s above the law and can override its Constitution.  Many Americans are indignant, even apoplectic; there is much ferment but no decisive action.

Some ask why the Democratically-controlled Congress doesn’t do something.  Here is how Salon columnist Glen Greenwald put it the other day:

“It has been six months since the Democrats took over Congress. Yes, they have commenced some investigations and highlighted some wrongdoing. But that is but the first step, not the ultimate step, which we desperately need. Where are the real confrontations needed to vindicate the rule of law and restore constitutional order? No reasonable person can dispute that in the absence of genuine compulsion (and perhaps even then), the administration will continue to treat "the law" as something optional, and their power as absolute. Their wrongdoing is extreme, and only equally extreme corrective measures will.”

But the White House won’t let Congress take “corrective measures”.  It has barred the Justice Department from cooperating with a Senate effort to challenge several of the executive privilege claims.  The best Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy can do now is say “an independent review is probably in order.”  But any action such a review, if it happens, deems appropriate would have to go through the courts.  The predominantly conservative judiciary would almost certainly support Bush.  As for a resort to impeachment, the Democrats don’t have the votes to make that a realistic possibility.   

That leaves the people - a massive popular protest, the way it’s done in France, might force Bush to budge, if not back all the way down.  But such an outpouring is precluded by the inability of major organizers to get together.  In France, the labor unions do the organizing.  In the U.S., we depend on organizations like United for Peace and Justice UPJ), ANSWER – Act Now to Stop War and End Racism – and, as of recently, Troops Home Now.  But NYC-based UPJ won’t work with DC-based ANSWER, which is perceived by Jewish activists, in particular, to have a pro-Palestinian bias.  And where ANSWER is calling for a protest march in DC September 15, Troops Home Now has identified September 29 as the date for its rally.  UPJ is silent.  The possibility of a popular impact?  Zero.

Pedro may well think: “I’m living in a crazy, mixed-up country.  The irrationality is seeping into my head.  It’s hard in such a mess to get in shape to return to the Mets.”

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You will not read trade rumors here.  The Nub disagrees with the many media people and fans who consider the pre-July 31 deadline period the best time of the baseball season.  In reality, it’s a time when the wealthy teams can compound their advantages by obtaining big-ticket players the already disadvantaged poorer teams can’t afford.  San Diego ($58 million payroll), for example, will be hard put to keep pace with the Dodgers ($108 million), if LA decides to splurge on a big-time bat or reliever.  The same is true for Milwaukee ($70 million) vis-à-vis the Cubs ($99 million) and Cleveland ($61 million) when trying to keep up with Detroit ($95 million). 

The Yankees ($189 million) will almost certainly grab a playoff-insurance gamer before next Tuesday; it’s what they can afford to do, and so make it an annual practice.  As for the Mets, The Nub concedes they have a chance to make the playoffs, but unless Omar Minaya reverts to being the kind of trader who plucked John Maine from the Orioles, Duaner Sanchez from the Dodgers and Paul Lo Duca from the Marlins, they will not be playing deep into October.
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(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments to
dickstar@aol.com are welcome.  Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)

(politics and baseball, baseball and politics – 7/25/07)

Why should the name of an old-time ballplayer surface during the Democratic presidential debate on CNN/YouTube Monday night?  First the name: Luke Hamlin, a   20-game winner for Brooklyn way back in 1939 and part of the pennant-winning Dodgers of 1941.  Hamlin’s nickname was “Hot Potato”, which was how the connection popped into the head of one viewer.  Like a hot potato was the way the candidates treated at least two of the many questions posed during the two-hour-plus session.

“Did he die in vain?” asked the father of a son killed in Iraq.  Nobody was comfortable with that one.  “No…he did his duty” was the thrust of the answers from Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards.  How do you tell a parent that a son or daughter wasted his life while dying as a soldier?  Nearly all of us now recognize that soldiers have died in vain during most of the wars waged through the years.  But you can’t say that’s the case in Iraq, not if you aspire to become the nation’s commander-in-chief.  And you can’t say you favor a military draft if you hope to win the support of middle-income Americans who don’t want to see their children taken off to war.  So, all candidates responding to a question about the desirability of selective service said “no way.”  (To his credit, Mike Gravel alone elaborated on his demurral:  “I don’t want Bush to have any more boots with which to go into Iran.”)   

The major flaw in these “debates” is the facility with which the candidates are able to segue into their talking points, otherwise known as talking around a question, so as not to fall into the trap of saying something that offends somebody.

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The Mets have succeeded in talking around – all right, denying - the rumor of a rift between Omar Minaya and Willie Randolph.  But it may not be as unfounded as they are saying.  The clue: Willie’s downplaying the value of the now-departed Julio Franco, saying the 49-year-old’s clubhouse presence was overrated.  Franco wasn’t producing, Randolph said.  His words hinted at impatience with the general manager for keeping Julio around as long as he did (a season-and-a-half).  Franco is now Braves manager Bobby Cox’s problem.

Omar has taken a number of hits here in recent days.  It’s time to give him credit for a recent move (in addition to getting rid of Franco): re-signing Marlon Anderson, who got away last season when the Nationals lured him to D.C. with a two-year contract.

Alex Rodriguez’s miraculous year notwithstanding, there are still some of us who consider Derek Jeter the Yankees’ MVP.  Here are comparative stats that indicate we may be wrong:

                    G    R    H    BA   RBI  HR  OBP   A     E           

Jeter             96   65  133 .330  49    7     .398   270  13
Rodriguez     96   94  114 .313  100  34   .414   171    6

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(The Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments to
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 (baseball and politics, politics and baseball – 7/24/07)  

Journalism 101.

Many years ago, social scientist/political journalist Irving Kristol (father of the Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol) talked about the degrees of credibility found in newspapers.  The writers whose words we most accept, he said, are foreign correspondents and professional experts like doctors and lawyers.  The foreign correspondents are in places we know little or nothing about; we are therefore disposed to take what they say as accurate.  Similarly, we presume that doctors, lawyers, etc. know their fields of expertise, which we don’t.  We tend not to question their advice or analyses.

Kristol said sports writers have the biggest credibility problem: readers know as much as they do about baseball, for example.  So today, when writers covering the Mets relay optimistic team reports about Pedro Martinez’s rehab, most fans can read between the lines and know the truth: Pedro is in no rush to return to work.  He is unlikely to be the team’s savior this fall (much less this late summer).       

In political journalism it is hard to know what degree of believability to assign to reportage.  Reporters covering particular candidates can develop personal biases – pro or con – so readers must factor in that possibility as they follow a candidate through the eyes of a single correspondent.   The surest way to get a credible fix on a candidacy is to read a report from a reputable source from abroad.  One such appeared this week – on Democratic long-shot John Edwards - in the London-based Economist.  Here are some excerpts: “(Edwards) has positioned himself as the voice of his party's left wing. He renounced his support for the Iraq war in 2005 and has been a powerful critic since. He has steeped himself in progressive causes, particularly the battle against poverty…

“The combination of bold goals and mainstream means is evident in two… Edwards plans: health care and energy reform. And it is why his campaign, regardless of its electoral fortunes, is shaping the Democratic race. Unable to dismiss his proposals as crazy radicalism, the other candidates have to be both bolder and more detailed than they would like…

“(Edwards’) strategy depends on doing well in the first-off Iowa caucuses, and at present he leads the pack in polls there, though Mrs Clinton is closing in fast. Nationally, Mr Edwards trails far behind Mrs Clinton and Mr Obama, both in polls and the race for cash. He raised only $9m between April and June, compared with Mr Obama's $32.5m.

“…Mr Edwards's brand of populism seems to appeal to Republicans. When pitted against Republican candidates in polls, he scores better than the other Democratic front-runners. But it is the primaries that matter, and there Mr Edwards must hope for one of the others to stumble.”

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Baseball’s Stumble Central is the Bay Area, where the Athletics have lost 11 of 13 (going intoe last night’s game) and the only interest the Giants can offer is Barry Bonds’ home run-record pursuit.  Bonds may break Hank Aaron’s 755-homer mark in SF this week, with or without Commissioner Bud Selig in attendance.  SF Chronicle columnist Geoff Jenkins has some doleful thoughts about Selig and Bonds and the upcoming week, in general:

“I hope Selig doesn't come to San Francisco…because it will silence all the posturing moralists who claim he absolutely has to be there. You know what? He doesn't. His absence will "diminish" the achievement? Malarkey. Only your own steroid-related suspicions can do that, if they exist at all.  Selig's presence is a complete non-issue. Is that why we attend that game, to see how the commissioner handles it? Even if Selig embraced the record, his appearance and public statements would be a bumbling embarrassment, because that's how Selig always comes off. "Get him off the field!" There's your sentiment. No, the occasion of 756 will be all about the reaction of fans, teammates and media, to say nothing of the sorry aftermath, when the Giants become irrelevant.”    

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(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments to
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(politics and baseball, baseball and politics – 7/23/07)

New York baseball fans cut Yankees and the Mets slack on most of what they do – making a bad trade or not signing a prize free agent are exceptions.  But few fans, it says here, support the taking of public parkland to build a new stadium.  But that we know is what has happened in the Bronx: 22 acres of recreation space in Macombs Dam and Mullaly Park, near the present Stadium, have been turned over to the Yankees.  The deal, done in stealth, involved hurried votes by state and city lawmakers and no public hearings.

The Nub has covered the story before (see the posting of 4/25 at perfectpitcher.org).  But a report published over the weekend by Good Jobs New York (www.goodjobsny.org) describes it in detail, under the title “How Current and Former Public Officials Pitched a Community Shutout for the New York Yankees.”  The report names the officials who took part in the “secretive, undemocratic” process.  Here are some of them – MVP’s in this baseball-related Hall of Shame:  former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Deputy Mayor Randy Levine, former Bronx Assembly member Roberto Ramirez, former Police Commissioner Howard Safir, Bronx Assembly member Carmen Arroyo and Queens Senate member Frank Padavan, Bronx City Council members Joel Rivera and Helen Foster(who later tried to undo her betrayal), Bronx Borough President Alberto Carrion.  Complicit indirectly were Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver, who could have stopped the project by preventing a vote in Albany, and State Supreme Court Justice Herman Cahn, who ruled against a community suit to stop the parkland takeover.  The sellout by the Bronx pols – of precious space in their community - is particularly odious.

Mayor Bloomberg doesn’t look good, either, since he presumably gave his approval to much or all of the half-billion dollars of development subsidies associated with the project.  Still to be learned: the full background to the giveaway of land for the Mets’ Citi Stadium, under construction in Flushing

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(The  Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick Starkey.  Comments to
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(baseball and politics, politics and baseball – 7/20/07)

How is the surge going?  The one in New York is a big success – the pinstripe Yanks have won 11 of 15.   In Iraq, the khaki-clad Yanks are suffering setbacks; the record in their surge is 8-10, eight tests passed in “satisfactory” fashion, according to the National Security Council, 10 in which they’ve bobbled or fumbled the ball.  The AP expects the people running the operation to give the team more time to make the surge work.  It predicts the 200,000 in uniform will be kept on the job at least until next spring.

The Yankees of Joe Torre hope their surge stretches through the summer, and with pitching reinforcements due to arrive soon in the persons of Phil Hughes and Jeff Karstens, there is reason for optimism.  The team’s starting pitching is already pretty solid, and its offense and defense are clicking.  Except for shaky middle relief, the Yanks seem to be in prime shape for a playoff run.  Yesterday’s one-run loss notwithstanding, they certainly have a winning aura now.  Said broadcaster Joe Girardi on Wednesday night, with Toronto leading 1-0, “You get the feeling in a close game like this the Yanks are going to win.” Which they did, 6-1, with a late rally.

And what is there to say about the Mets?  A clue to the organization’s deficiencies may be the saga of would-be savior Pedro Martinez.  Originally expected to be back with the team next month,” Pedro and his rehabilitation efforts in Florida have been the source of a series of optimistic reports about his progress, hard work, etc.  But some weeks ago, the team changed the “in August” date for his return to “mid-August.” Then, last week, the Mets announced Pedro had taken a break from his training and gone home to the Dominican Republic.  No word on when he will, or if he has, come back to Florida.  There’s a suspicion here that Pedro needs work on his work ethic.  Other injured and healing-resistant Mets include reliever Duaner Sanchez, hurt in a taxi accident over a year ago and originally due back in mid-spring;  Endy Chavez, out since early last month and, like Sanchez,  apparently nowhere near better, and, of course, Moises Alou, injured on May 14 and now playing gingerly in rehab games in hopes of returning before August 1.  All of this suggests the Mets may have an oversight problem other than the specious one that ensnared hitting coach Rick Down.      
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More on the question posed by New Yorker writer Louis Menand, and cited here yesterday: whether liberty is more important than equality?  In Norway, they seem to have both advantages, as well as lots of oil.  Garrison Keillor wrote this in Salon about the comparison between the U.S. and that enviable Scandinavian nation:

“Our oil profits go to robber barons who give it to their wastrel children to subsidize lives of insane narcissism, but Norwegian oil profits go mostly to the Norwegian people and subsidize the little villages and the roads and rails needed to connect them… and also go to the largest pension fund in Europe, $300 billion… American Norwegians (must live with the knowledge that) their ancestors took a wrong turn. They had no idea America would fall into the hands of a failed oilman who would waste the country's pension money on a war for oil while Norway, the world's most peaceful country, enjoys a very sensible prosperity.”

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

 (baseball and politics, politics and baseball – 7/19/07)

Real revenue-sharing in baseball?  A look at the standings in both leagues indicates why it is not going to happen soon: 12 of the 15 top-spending teams are still in the pennant/wild card races.  Less than half of the 15 lower-spending teams can make a similar claim.  Much as many of us would like to see a more financially level playing field in the great American game, we can understand why owners like George Steinbrenner want to hold on to the monetary advantages their investments are yielding.

In this respect, baseball is a microcosm of the tense political game being played throughout the Americas:  Harvard professor Louis Menand put it this way in last week’s New Yorker:  “Many policy decisions…involve values that are deeply contested (including)…whether liberty is more important than equality.”   Elsewhere in the article, Menand suggests the answer to the liberty/equality question: “People...like the status quo,” he says, “and tend to regard it as a norm.”   He goes on to suggest that, although many middle- and upper-class Americans like the idea of egalitarianism, if, allowed to choose, they would opt to protect themselves – and their money - from the unpredictability of change.  What Menand doesn’t say is that corporate money could be expected to do what Steinbrenner and his upper-tier colleagues are doing: mount a determined defense of market - rather than social - democracy.  

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The Cleveland Indians, 23d on the 30-team payroll lineup, are looking more and more like the team, along with Tigers, the Yankees will have to reckon with to make the playoffs.  That the Indians are for real is attested to by their resiliency:  28 come-from-behind victories, 15 of them in their final at-bat. Also by their power: Cleveland leads the AL in home runs with 115 in 94 games.

Lob from Left field:  UK Guardian correspondent Robert Fisk on U.S. Mideast policy, including the effort to shore up Fatah in Palestine and exclude democratically elected Hamas from proposed peace talks –

 “Those pesky Middle Easterners vote for the wrong people, support the wrong people, love the wrong people, don’t behave like us civilized Westerners.

One way of expressing why the Mets can’t get it together with consistency: "He was competing tonight   He had a look in his eye like he was going to buckle down."   - Paul Lo Duca on Orlando Hernandez Tuesday night (quoted by Newsday’s David Lennon).                                                

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

 (politics and baseball, baseball and politics – 7/18/07)

   Perhaps the most significant score recorded over the last few days went largely unnoticed.  It is this: George W. Bush 33, Congress 24. 

   An AP poll showed spectator satisfaction with the House and Senate teams dropped 11 points since May while Bush’s approval rating stayed level.  The poll’s message: the White House team is winning the PR contest about the president’s right to set the rules concerning what he can do and can’t. So-far ineffectual Congressional efforts to challenge Bush’s assertion of executive privilege are seen by Republicans as obstructionism and by Democrats as signs of weakness.  Nearly everybody in the national ballpark is fed up with the bickering.  It is long past time for managers Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi to find a way to turn the game around.    

In this hot-under-the-collar season, even cool, calm Joe Torre has taken a couple of verbal hits.  The flap caused by Gary Sheffield’s racial swipe at Torre got more play than than the expression of discontent with the DC political game.  Such attention is a measure of how seldom non-handout news seeps into the baseball sports pages.  Sheffield’s record as a malcontent is well known; he grumbled his way through stops at Milwaukee, Los Angeles, Atlanta, New York, and now Detroit in an oft-brilliant career.  That he should have resented the nuances of Torre’s treatment of Yankee players is no big surprise.  Nor should Kenny Lofton’s support of Sheffield’s charges raise any eyebrows.  Lofton never concealed his unhappiness with the lack of playing time Torre gave him as a Yankee.  Hilarious comment by Joe Morgan on ESPN Sunday night: “I want to hear what people in the clubhouse have to say (before venturing an opinion about the situation).”  As if current team members would say anything negative about their manager. 

Why a fan who doesn’t know as much as he thinks he does should love listening to Joe Girardi at the Yankees broadcast mike:  On Kei Igawa – “A starter needs to have more than two pitches; otherwise guess hitters will catch up to him.  Igawa doesn’t seem to have confidence in his third pitch.”  On base-running: “You’re supposed to keep your hands up when you slide.  I was never able to do that.”

More downbeat Mets news from David Lennon in yesterday’s Newsday:  “Jose Valentin is really dragging this offense down with him. Valentin's batting average slipped to .236 last night and currently is in a 4-for-42 skid with 0 homers and 1 RBI over that span. The 2006 magic is gone with Valentin… Carlos Beltran was another repeat offender.  With the Mets down, 2-1, in the fifth inning(Monday night), Beltran came up with runners at second and third with two outs. But he grounded meekly to second base, dropping his average to .121 (4-for-33) in those two-out scoring chances.

The Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo on the endurability of baseball records:”Two things I just can't envision: someone breaking Hank Aaron's RBI record of 2,297 (I'll concede that Alex Rodriguez has an outside shot) and a 300-game winner after Tom Glavine and Randy Johnson.”  Surprising omissions: Cal Ripken’s 2,131 straight games and Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak.  For NYC-based statman Scott Swanay, the least likely record to be matched or broken is Johnny Vander Meer’s back-to-back no-hitters, recorded on June 11^th and 15^th, 1938.  Swanay computes the odds of tying the record at 2.8 million-to-one and at surpassing it – three-straight no, no’s – at 4.6 billion to one. 

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(baseball and politics, politics and baseball – 7/17/07)

   Where would baseball – and its fans – be without the wild card?   And where would the early presidential race be without Iowa and New Hampshire?   Because some division runner-up can qualify for the playoffs, at least half of the 30 major league teams can still realistically hope to make the post-season final eight in October.  And because of the early “bounce” that victory in Iowa or New Hampshire can provide, eight candidates rather than just the two poll leaders – Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani – can dream of a late rally that will take them to the political world championship.

In the presidential lineup, Republican John McCain is the latest player – another John on the Dems’ side, John Edwards did it earlier - to publicly say he is concentrating on winning the early contests and not dispersing precious resources in a hitting-to-all-fields approach to the primaries.  Edwards has targeted Iowa, where he is ahead in the polls.  McCain, doing fairly well in South Carolina, has included that state in his sights, along with Iowa and NH.  

Republican pollster Frank Luntz offers what may constitute a glimmer of hope for McCain.  In an LA Times article laying out a “GOP Comeback Strategy”, Luntz says a Republican candidate who best plays the “authenticity” card could, if the ball bounces his way, pull an upset in November of next year.  McCain, unafraid to take positions unpopular with conservatives – on immigration and campaign finance reform, for example – would certainly score high as an authentic with the general public.  Whether that aspect of his persona produces enough votes to win an early GOP contest or two is the key question surrounding his candidacy.
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Baseball question: Who are the outfielders with arms that runners respect and third-base coaches fear most?  Some years ago, a Perfect Pitcher had a chance to ask that one of Cincinnati Reds third-base coach Joe Sparks.   His answer was a bit of a surprise: “Tony Gwynn: it’s not his arm; it’s how well he gets rid of the ball.”  Orange County (CA) Register columnist Mark Whicker put the same question the other day to LA Angels third-base coach Dino Ebel.  Ebel’s answer: “The Delmon Young kid in Tampa Bay, the right fielder, he’s got a great arm… And, of course, Ichiro (Suzuki) in Seattle is one of the constants, no matter where he’s playing. Michael Young of the Rangers is one of the better throwers among cutoff men.”  ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick named Young and Ichiro as the two top-throwing outfielders after talking to several coaches.  He learned that the two best arms among NL outfielders belong to Jeff Francoeur of the the Braves and Shane Victorino, of the Phillies.  Crasnick summed up the coaching consenus on the Mets’ Carlos Beltran this way: “He's very fluid and has all the tools, but doesn't bring his "A'' game to the park each night.”

The Yankees still must play a long string of winning hands to earn the wild card, and the Mets know if they lose their narrow NL East lead their wild card chances will be no better than the Yanks’.  So New York fans have a lot to fret about.  But things could be much worse.  Imagine being a baseball fan in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Here is what it’s like, according columnist Ray Ratto in yesterday’s SF Chronicle:

“The Giants are 12 1/2 games behind the division-leading Dodgers.  The Athletics are 11 1/2 games behind the division-leading Angels. These two facts mean only one thing.  It's Time for Something Else Season.   It doesn't matter what something else you're mentioning.  It's simply that This isn't working worth a teenager's dental-hygiene habits.  The Giants have lost 17 of their last 25, the A's 16 of their last 21, and if you see signs of life in either team, you are a mortician's dream intern.”
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(politics and baseball, baseball and politics – 7/16/07)

   Post-All-Star break musings:

Charlie Rangel is obviously not a baseball fan.  Somebody on Air Force One not long ago tried to engage the House Ways and Means Committee chair in talk about the Texas Rangers.  “I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about,” Rangel told the Washington Post.  The “he” was President Bush, who used to be part-owner of the Rangers and is probably glad he isn’t now.  At the season’s halfway point, Texas is one of a half-dozen teams vying for the worst record in the majors.

Incidentally, having been assured twice by Rangel that Alberto Gonzales was a-goner as Attorney General, many of his Upper Manhattan constituents can say, with due respect, “What the hell was Charlie talking about?”

Early this month, the New York Times documented what some of us have noticed: the disappearance of stickball from New York City streets.  Stickball – with hitters swinging at slow, bouncing Spaldeens, self-hitting (as in parts of the Bronx) or played on a balls-and-strikes basis – has certainly been hurt by the onset of video games.  But another big contributor to its demise has been the proliferation of cars, trucks, SUV’s, etc.  Heavy traffic plus packed-in parking on side streets eliminates any chance for a “two-sewer” hitter to develop in our neighborhoods.  Stickball sentimentalists can only hope that congestion pricing, if it comes, will keep enough vehicles in garages and out of the city to encourage a renaissance of their beloved game.

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Om-are-you-kidding?  Mets GM Minaya says he felt a change was needed to prod the Met-iocres (pace, SI’s Art Heyman) out of their doldrums.  So he fingers widely respected hitting coach Rick Down to take the fall.  Whom does he choose as Down’s replacement?  Only Howard Johnson, one of the great strikeout artists in Met history.  Fans with midterm memories will remember HoJo’s roundhouse swing, his occasional home runs, and his frequent inability to get his bat on the ball.  This seems a classic case of what sociologists refer to as the “downside of change.”

Off his record as a player, Johnson is hardly the type of batting coach David Wright needs.  Howie Rose noted on the Mets radio broadcast Saturday night that the All-Star third baseman has slipped on to an undistinguished list: ninth among NL strikeout leaders. 

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Advice for dealing with indignation fatigue from Garrison Keillor, on Salon:

“When politics gets mean and dumb, you can cheer yourself up by walking into a public library, one of the nobler expressions of democracy.  Candidates don't mention libraries -- they're more likely to talk about putting people behind bars and no coddling or shilly-shallying with appeals and that judicial nonsense, just throw them in the dungeon and stick their heads in the toilet and do what you gotta do -- and yet when I walk into the library near my house and see a couple hundred teenagers studying…I see the old cheerful America that Washington has lost touch with, the land of opportunity.”

Talk of libraries leads logically to thoughts of favorite books.  Best baseball book (it says here): “False Spring”, by Pat Jordan.  Memoir of the pursuit of a dream in the minor leagues.   Best political book:  “President Kennedy”, by Richard Reeves.  The view from the (JFK) center of power.   Best sports book:  “Life on the Run”, by Bill Bradley, the saga of a pro athlete with politics in his future.
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(baseball and politics, politics and baseball – 7/6/07)

Thoughts while zapping the middle-of-the-seventh patriotic excess at Yankee Stadium:  What other irrationalities do we know about major league baseball?

The payroll disparities that permit one team, the Yankees, to spend $189 million on players while another, Tampa Bay, spends just over one-eighth as much - $24 million.

The resistance to using instant replay on disputed umpire calls.

The scheduling of important post-season games at a time when millions of fans can’t stay awake to watch late innings.

Many people believe that our country’s love affair with guns and the lack of curbs on their availability is an irrational aspect of American life.  And most would – do - agree  that our clinging to a dysfunctional health care system is the ultimate national irrationality.

Our health care debacle is receiving renewed scrutiny in Michael Moore’s movie “Sicko.” People he interviewed in Canada, Cuba, England and France (as well as sick Americans who participated in the making of the film) enable viewers to see our profit-driven system through the rolling eyes of others.  

Interviewed on PBS, Moore was asked to respond to critics who say, among other things, that if the public sector in France is so great, why are there so many mass protests?

If the French government does something wrong, he said, the people take to the streets.  “In France, the government fears the people.  In our country, the people fear the government.”  It is probably more accurate to say Americans tend to be apathetic about government.  Even with an unpopular war, mass protests in the U.S. have been rare and gotten no results.  The French have the organizing benefit of powerful labor unions, and something else: a tradition of worker solidarity. The principle of national solidarite – call it “one for all and all for one” - is proclaimed in the first article of the French Code of Social Security.  Every demonstration against an unpopular government action has its basis in that principle.  In the U.S., we pay an immobilizing price for our “every man for himself” ethos.

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Omar, what do we do now?  Jason Vargas is decidedly not part of an answer to the Mets’ pitching problems.  Mike Pelfrey can’t seem to get it together.  Jorge Sosa and Oliver Perez have nagging injuries.  We never know which Orlando Hernandez and yes, even Tom Glavine, are going to show up.  Are there any inside-the-organization options?  Dave Williams, 5-4 and 6+ ERA with the Reds and Mets last season, apparently will come off the DL to pitch Sunday in Houston.  He’s a 28-year-old journeyman who didn’t make it with Pittsburgh, where he pitched for four years, or at Cincinnati, where he began the 2006 season.  His glaring weakness: the gopher ball.  He gave up a home run for every five innings pitched – 14 in 69, to be exact - last year.  If Williams isn’t the answer, either, there are two other options:  Philip Humber, 9-5, and Brian Lawrence, 6-4, both at New Orleans.  Humber has a 4.42 ERA and won seven of his last nine decisions.  His strikeout-to-walk ratio is better than three-to-one but he doesn’t blow people away.  Lawrence has a 5.03 ERA and won six of his last eight, with a better than four-to-one SO/BB ratio.  Humber, 24, is in his first minor league season; Lawrence, 31, is a major league veteran, having pitched with some success for the San Diego Padres.  On the basis of experience, Lawrence will probably succeed Williams when next the Mets need an emergency addition to their shaky staff.  That’s if general manager Minaya doesn’t decide to go the trade route.   

The Yankees have already tried several in-house options: Colter Bean, Chris Britton, Tyler Clippard, Matt De Salvo, Sean Henn and Chase Wright.  De Salvo has the best record back at triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre – 6-1, with a 2.33 ERA and more than a strikeout an inning.  Philip Hughes is the one they’re waiting for, and he is due back soon after the All-Star break. Among S/WB personnel, it should also be noted that former major leaguer Jim Brower, 34, is earning another shot in the bigs as a reliever.  He’s 4-1, with a 2.55 ERA, and has a nearly 4-1 SO/BB ratio.  Best of all, perhaps: he has given up zero home runs in 35 innings 

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(politics and baseball, baseball and politics – 7/5/07)

   Scooter Phil Rizzuto was kidded as a Yankee broadcaster for heading home to New Jersey early to beat the traffic.  Scooter Lewis Libby is staying home, spared heading for prison by George W. Bush.  Lefty slugger Glen Greenwald of Salon knows the Libby case is no kidding matter:

“The most significant disease highlighted by the Libby travesty is also the most obvious one. We have decided to be a country in which our highest Republican political officials can break the law freely, without any real consequence. In the United States, the law does not apply to the President and his closest aides…

“We have a radical and lawless government that has run rampant over the last six years precisely because the institutions designed to stop that abuse have not only stood idly by, but have actively defended and participated in it. We actually have a press corps that holds, as its central belief, that our highest government officials should be free of investigation and accountability. In every country ruled by a lawless government and a corrupt political and media elite, powerful political officials do not go to prison for crimes. That is why convicted felon Lewis Libby will remain free.”
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As of July 4 (afternoon), the traditional date for identifying pennant-winners – first-place teams as of yesterday are supposed to be there at the end of the season – here is how the gullible among us should expect the playoff lineup to look in October:

NL – Mets, Brewers, Padres; wild card Dodgers
AL – Red Sox, Indians, Angels; wild card Tigers

The Red Sox look to be the only safe bet of the group.  The Mets, without a reliable ace. can be overtaken by Atlanta, Philadelphia or even Florida in the NL East.  The Yankees, without solid middle relief, will be hard-put to climb over four or five other teams for wild card spot.

San Diego is at the low end of the spending lineup, the Padres’ payroll of $50 million, only a little more than a third of Boston’s $143 million payout.  If a high level of investment in players often portends success, the Cubs, with a $99.5 million payroll, should be taken seriously.  In the cost-effective race, here are the standings of the leading eight teams in reverse order of payroll totals (in millions):

San Diego, $50.1; Cleveland, 61.6; Milwaukee, 70.9;
Detroit, 95.1; LA Dodgers, 108.4; LA Angels, 109.2; Mets, 115.2; Boston, 143.0.

The top-spending-tier teams getting the least bang for their bucks – the Yankees ($189.6), of course, and the White Sox ($108.6).  Although their payrolls can be remotely compared, one of the two teams – Chicago’s 2005 champions – are out of the running, while even Yankee-haters believe the pinstripers still have a shot.

Not long before July 4^th last year, the Mets lost two key players, both of whom they miss in 2007.  Duaner Sanchez was a set-up man extraordinaire.  The taxi accident that sidelined him for a year-plus also meant the trading of Xavier Nady (for Roberto Hernandez and throw-in Oliver Perez).  While Nady’s replacement Shawn Green has been slipping – from the 320’s early on to the 270’s now -  Nady has come on strong with the Pirates.  The comparison going into yesterday’s games:
                                  AB       RBI        HR         BA

Green       247       27           7            .271
Nady       260        46           13          .277

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 (baseball and politics, politics and baseball – 7/3/07)

   It was more than three decades ago that two ambitious business men began to change the dynamics of baseball and U.S. journalism.  George Steinbrenner headed a group of investors that bought the Yankees in January 1973; Rupert Murdoch, an Australian, extended his international holdings that same year by buying a Texas newspaper, The San Antonio Express-News.

Steinbrenner soon began buying up established stars – Jim (Catfish) Hunter, Reggie  Jackson were two of his early acquisitions – that raised the financial bar in a business that had been run on a comparatively modest, cost-conscious basis.  Despite early denunciations from within the game, Steinbrenner’s practice of spending big money to get players who “put fannies in the seats” became something of a norm.  Murdoch bought the New York Post in 1976.  His practice of slanting political news coverage, discarding the traditional journalistic policy of objectivity, enabled him to ingratiate himself with people in power, and to prosper.  More damagingly, the practice has caught on in television and radio as well as in newspapers.  Accounts containing “attitude” rather than straight reporting are now commonplace in all the media. 

Steinbrenner, at 77, is slipping away from his accustomed seat of baseball notoriety; he is reportedly sick, as is his team (at least, for the moment).  Murdoch, at 76, is still active and, to those who care about the state of communications in this country and the world, more dangerous than ever.  He is in the process of buying the Wall Street Journal from the Bancroft family, which prompted this comment from Bill Moyers on PBS:

“Rupert Murdoch has told the Bancrofts he’ll not meddle with the reporting. But he’s accustomed to using journalism as a personal spittoon. In the months leading up to the invasion of Iraq, he turned the dogs of war loose in the newsrooms of his empire and they howled for blood.” 

   In the NY Times last Friday, columnist Paul Krugman suggested that “public pressure could help avert a Murdoch takeover ( of the WSJ) .”  Perhaps knowing how unlikely is exertion of popular pressure, Krugman wonders whether Congress could see its way clear to holding hearings on the implications of Murdoch owning “one of America’s two serious national newspapers.”  

Just as Steinbrenner couldn’t be stopped for long in changing the way baseball businesses were conducted, it is doubtful that Murdoch’s designs on the Journal will end in failure.  The only ray of hope:  he still doesn’t have a deal.
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The Oakland A’s (3-10 on their recent eastern swing) need to beef up their offense if they are to make a second-half run for an AL playoff spot.  They could use Mike Piazza’s bat; he’s been ready to resume DH-ing for the past two weeks.  Oakland may resort to using defensively challenged Jack Cust, the regular DH, in right field every day to get Piazza - on the DL since early May - back in the lineup.  It would be a miracle if Mike could produce as Cust has; Piazza is batting .282 after 103 AB’s, but has only hit one home run.  Cust has 14 homers in 156 AB’s, one for every 11 official trips to the plate. 

An exception to the flood of bad news that has engulfed the Texas Rangers this year is the emergence of 6’7” righthander Kameron Loe.  Loe (5-6) has won his last four starts, allowing only six earned runs.  He’s a control pitcher who walked an average of two in those games while striking out 13 in 27-plus innings.

Today’s Spanish-language lesson, courtesy of Newsday’s David Lennon and the Mets’ Joe Smith and Carlos Beltran:  When the Phillies’ Jose Mesa hit Carlos Gomez in a Saturday game, Willie Randolph thought it might have been on purpose: Gomez has a tendency to be a “hot dog.”  Smith asked Carlos Beltran how to say “hot dog” in Spanish.  He was told “perro caliente.”  Wrote Lennon: “Gomez seemed to like the new nickname.”
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(politics and baseball, baseball and politics – 7/2/07)

   For a Manhattan-based Mets fan, the trip to Shea Stadium on the #7 train can be one of the better parts of the going-to-the-ballgame outing.   The ride above the streets and rooftops of Long Island City, Woodside, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst and Corona is a scenic treat.  It suggests this question to at least one Manhattanite: “Why would anyone want to drive into the city if he or she could take the number seven?”

Taking sides in the congestion pricing contest is easy if you live in Manhattan (and even easier if you don’t own a car).  It doesn’t seem to be a problem for the Mets or the Yankees, either.  Shea and the Stadium are well outside the proposed pay-to-enter limits.  And Fred Wilpon and George Steinbrenner have every reason to be supportive of the Bloomberg Administration, which is subsidizing construction of their new ballparks.  Furthermore, Congressman Joe Crowley, who represents parts of both Queens and the Bronx, has come out in favor of the plan, providing additional government endorsement.

The g-word seems to be one sticking point.  Lots of people in Queens, and to a greater or lesser extent in Staten Island, Brooklyn and the Bronx, resent government intrusion on their lives.   They resent it, unless such interference is clearly benign, like, say, upgrading subway and bus service.   When an initiative is going to cost money and cause inconvenience – unrestricted car use is a coveted way of life for many “other-borough” residents - it will trigger much popular opposition.  That’s exactly what is happening with congestion pricing.  The predictable result: This game is going into extra innings.
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Will somebody please get the Daily News off Paul Lo Duca’s case.  “LO DUCA’S MET DAYS NUMBERED” by Adam Rubin yesterday was the latest in a series of published attacks on a player who has been everything a Mets fan could desire in a first-string catcher.  So he’s emotional and overly vocal at times.  He’s good defensively and probably the most reliable hitter on the team, in terms of consistently getting the bat on the ball.  The most disturbing sentence in what some of us hope is an exaggeratedly dire prediction is “The front office never fully embraced” Omar Minaya’s dealing for Lo Duca two winters ago.  Wait a minute: the Wilpons promised not to interfere with Omar’s decisions – that should include second-guessing as well as overruling.  The Mets should re-sign Lo Duca.  Omar, you’ve made some mistakes, but this is one of your better moves.  Don’t let them get rid of Paulie! 

Two weeks from today, the Mets meet the San Diego Padres for the first time this season.  They play three with the Padres, then three with the Dodgers (July 16-21) on the West Coast.  Mark Whicker, savvy columnist for the Orange County Sentinel, laid out in yesterday’s paper why the Padres are going to be tough to beat and the obstacles their NL West rivals the Dodgers face in trying to do the job:

“With the Padres’ pitching staff leading the league in (deep breath) ERA, fewest walks, WHIP (walks-hits per inning pitched), fewest homers, lowest slugging percentage, lowest on-base average, lowest batting average and fewest pitches per inning, the Dodgers must be(come) more productive…

“The Dodgers’ problem (is)…dependence on (Rafael) Furcal and (Juan) Pierre (when) neither is exactly himself.  Furcal tore up an ankle in a Vero Beach collision with Jason Repko. He has tried only 11 steals this year, eight successfully. His previous low in steal attempts for a season is 35.  Last year he tried 50. He’s hitting .274, a 26-point drop from ’06…’I don’t think he’s 100 percent’, (Grady) Little said  ‘I don’t know if he will get to 100 percent, but he gives us everything he has out there, and (if) he doesn’t think it’ll get better he comes out of the lineup.’

“Pierreis 69th in N.L. on-base, behind three catchers. Furcal is 46th, sixth among N.L. shortstops.  That’s why the Dodgers’ entire second half might be conducted on that dusty saloon floor, where grown men scratch and claw.”
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