the_nub_july2009.html
July 2009 Archive
(Posted: 7/30/09)
The More-of-the-Same
Mets and Team USA
The story of two skippers: Last
February, Jerry Manuel began
his first full season leading the Mets; a month earlier, Barack Obama
began his
first season directing Team USA. Both
talked
of
change
in
the
way
their
teams
would
be
run. Yet both have
operated much as their predecessors did.
Manuel sent his stars out day after day
- true, he had no
bench – but he clearly wore down Carlos Beltran, who made warning
noises about
his aches throughout the spring. Carlos
Delgado and Jose Reyes were a different matter, but in retrospect they
certainly could have used rest, something Willie Randolph didn’t give
them,
either. Obama used Bush-like bank
bailouts to deal with the sub-prime mortgage crisis and has kept most
anti-terrorism tactics in place (including the possibility of torture
at
rendition sites); more pressingly, his games in Afghanistan
and vis-à-vis Russia
and Latin America look to be taken
from George W’s foreign-policy
playbook.
Manuel can blame boss of personnel Omar
Minaya for his
predicament. Who can skipper Obama blame
when dugout coach Joe Biden makes a provocative pledge to support the
adversarial states on Russia’s
borders? Or when Hillary Clinton calls
ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya “reckless” for trying to return
to his
country and now is unwilling to refer to what happened to him as a coup?
Is it owing to Bill Gates that Team
Obama is sending 21,000
more troops into a contest that looks as dubious as the one in Iraq? That would be Afghanistan, at the top of
the
A-list of Barack’s bobbles. How
misguided is the situation there?
International Herald Tribune’s William Pfaff offers this
perspective:
“The growing opinion in Europe is that Afghanistan is the United
States’s ‘new Vietnam.’ The
truth
is
that
it
is
worse
than
Vietnam.
In Vietnam the United States had a clearly identified
enemy,
supported by a responsible Communist state in North Vietnam with its
government in Hanoi…
“Unlike
the Viet Cong,
the Taliban are not a disciplined force
acting under some government’s orders, and have neither the intention
nor means to attack anybody outside Central Asia.
They
are
motivated
by nationalism, today focused against the United States, and by a
desire to propagate their form of Islam.
”In that respect it’s a war of ideas, which the United States
has no
theory about how to ’win.’ There is no way to make the Taliban
surrender. At most they will temporarily fade away when U.S.
and
NATO forces begin to fade away, and fight again another day. There
is no Taliban government to bomb. And there is no way to ‘make’
Afghanistan a
democratic
ally of the United
States.
The ‘no’s’ have it.”
Early in his first season it was
fair to attribute Obama’s errors to inexperience or to having too many
balls in
the air. It is fair now to hold him
accountable on foreign policy/anti-terrorism, as the mainstream media
seems reluctant
to do.
- -
-
Nobody asked us, but…Amid
their complaints about Dice-K and his criticisms of their training
regimen, the
Red Sox can’t resist latching on to many teams’ preferred (but
insubstantial) explanation
for certain disappointing performances this year: participation in the
World
Baseball Classic (WBC). We repeat our fervent
hope that the quadrennial classis is here to stay.
The Phils’
deal for Cleveland’s
Cliff
Lee
should
put
to
rest
any
delirious
thoughts
that
the
Mets
might
have
been
competitive
with
the
defending
champs,
even
if
their
core
regulars
had
remained
healthy.
Of all the
crackling media
responses to the Mets’ Bernazard-firing circus, Newsday’s Wallace
Matthews
generated the most sparks. Here is part
of what he wrote:
“(The
Mets) are the
only group currently known to harbor not one but two people who
actually claim
to have liked and respected Tony Bernazard.
Unfortunately for those who care about the club those two would
be Jeff Wilpon
and Omar Minaya. And they appear to be
the only individuals in major league baseball who (didn’t know) that
Bernazard
is a foul-mouthed, ill-tempered little cuss with a Napoleon complex and
two
last-place minor league clubs on his resume.
“Mets
fans
your
future
is
secure. Jeff Wilpon and Omar Minaya
are a matched set, equal in ignorance, arrogance, incompetence and
vindictiveness. And as long as they
remain together – the idiot son of the rich owner and clueless general
manager
content to serve as his dummy – the Mets will continue to stink out
their shiny
new ballpark.
And
they
will
remain
together,
because
what
other
respected
baseball
man
would
work
for
a
cipher
like
the
Son
of
Wilponstein?”
-
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
7/28/09)
The High Price of One Pitcher and
Many Medications
The names Stephen Strasburg and
Jim DeMint made the mainstream media lineup last week.
Most of us know
Strasburg is the pitching phenom from San Diego Statewho
has
been
drafted
by
the
Washington
Nationals.
DeMint
is
the
Republican
Senatorfrom
South Carolina
who has drafted himself to
pitch against health care reform.
Strasburg could
command a $15
million bonus - a record for a college player - to sign with the
Nats.
The reward DeMint seeks is credit for leading a Conservative
effort in a
game seen as crucial to Team Obama's hopes for season-long
success. Money,
much more than $15 million, has a position to play in the health care
contest,
as well.
The
implications of money in both
encounters are staggering. Observers like Allen Barra in the
Wall Street Journal suggest that, if Strasburg gets
close to his
asking price, ticket and food prices will inevitably rise at the
Nationals' ballpark. Here's
the way Barra puts it:
"Sportswriters
and
radio
guys
delight
in
reminding
fans
that
every
time
a
team
acquires
an
expensive
player
the
cost
of
everything
goes
up.
But
that's
just
not
the
way
economics
works.
It
certainly
seems
as
if
...
prices...go
up
after
they
sign
that
new
guy
or
build
that
new
ballpark
(always
with
a
large
chunk
of
taxpayer
money).
But
that
isn't because the
owners
of sports team are greedy. They are greedy, but that's not the point.
"The
point is that prices go up because the owners think that's what you're
willing
to pay. If you are willing to pay, the price stays high. If you
aren't --
or at least if enough of you aren't -- then the price will come back
down. It's that simple."
We know that what's simple in the
current health
care field is the lack of clout we consumers possess over
prices; drug
companies know that we'll be willing to pay whatever they
charge for a
simple reason: the prescribed medication is likely to be essential to
our
well-being, even our life. Only in the rare cases when a generic
alternative
is available do we have a choice.
Congress has decreed that not even the government can buy cheap
drugs
from Canada
for domestic distribution.
DeMint has gone to bat for the idea that scoring
political runs against Obama is more important than, in effect, whether
we can
more easily keep from feeling sick. He
believes that by stretching out the game, his side, helped by insurance
and
drug-industry positioning, will make a twin killing – keeping excellent
health
care as it is, for the Stephen Strasburgs, and denying the president
even a
modest policy win. Fans have between now
and the end of the season to get into the game, or sit back and see how
it
turns out.
-
- -
Nobody seemed to like Mets player-development VP Tony
Bernazard except Jeff Wilpon. GM Omar
Minaya can’t like his departure, however.
Now Omar alone is on the spot for the team’s moribund farm
system. Bernazard joins a rogues gallery
of ex-Met
execs that includes Al Goldis and Bill Singer, whom Wilpon hired as
special
assistants after the Mets lost 95 games in 2003. The
pair
were
supposed
to
evaluate
young
talent,
but
left
in
short
order,
however,
with
little
recruited
talent
to
show.
Bernazard stuck around, but had the same
result.
How should Sox fans feel
about their team’s domination
of the Yankees, who are beating everybody else in sight?
Newsday’s Wallace Matthews says Red Sox
Nation has a special reason to be grateful:
“Of
all
the
improbable
things
that
have
happened
in
this
baseball
season…nothing
seems
quite
so
unlikely
as
the
Yankees
going
0-for-8
against
the
Red
Sox,
by
a
combined
score
of
55-31…(It
turns
out
that)
by
losing
those
games,
the
Yankees
are
keeping
the
Red
Sox
in
the
race.
Measured against the rest of baseball, there is no question
which is the
better team.”
A numbers squeeze after
dealing for Adam LaRoche forced
the Red Sox to release reserve outfielder/first baseman Mark Kotsay. The Mets could have signed him cheaply over
the winter as protection against injuries. As
it
is,
there’s
little
chance
Kotsay
would accept an offer from the Mets
now…not with contenders in both leagues surely on his trail.
The Yankees may not regret
letting Bobby Abreu get away last winter, but the LA Angels are happy
they
signed him (and at a bargain rate, at that).
The Globe’s Nick Cafardo and Bill Chuck explain why with these
stats: “Abreu has
stolen at least 20
bases for 11 straight years, the longest streak of any active player. Rickey Henderson
holds the record with 23. When Abreu hits his 250th home run (he has
248) he
will join Bonds, Craig Biggio, Joe Morgan,
Henderson,
and
Willie
Mays
as the only players in
major league history with 250 homers, 2,000 hits, 1,000 runs, 1,000
RBIs, 1,000
walks, and 300 stolen bases.”
- 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: 7/25/09)
Who Turned Off the
Political and Pennant-Race Heat?
New Yorkers should be glued to
deep-summer dogfights in politics
and baseball; it’s a local-election year, after all, and a fever-hot
time for
pennant races.
Not this year. The
incredible
shrinking
Mets
have
sunk
out
of
the
sight
while
the
Yankees
and
Mayor
Bloomberg
appear
to
be
sure
bets
in
their
respective
contests
Money – the mayor’s willingness to spend tens of millions to
make his case, and the Yanks’ big-ticket purchases of key players who
are
performing as hoped – have taken the suspense out of the summer for
many of
us. Oh, the Red Sox are still a factor,
but there’s little doubt the Yanks will make the playoffs, at least.
The doldrums extend to the field in Washington,
where the health care reform
game is being played badly from a spectator’s standpoint. Fans down the left-field line saw single-payer
absent from the starting lineup. They
thought public option - a competitive government-run entrant - would
get into
the game, but there was a sign at Skipper Obama’s news conference
Wednesday
night that wasn’t happening, either.
Public option disappeared from the
field of discussion early
this month when Obama’s bench coach Rahm Emanuel reportedly said
importing
cheap drugs from Canada
would NOT be part of the final health care package.
Not one of the 10 mainstream media people
scheduled to be in the skipper’s starting news conference lineup
slapped out a
public-option question. The issue would
have gone unaddressed had McClatchy’s Steve Thomma not raised it
without being
called on.
While paying lip-service to the public
option’s potential,
the president sent a signal that improved “insurance regulation” would
be a
compromise substitute for what he earlier hoped would be a government
plan “to
help keep the insurance companies honest.”
In hinting at the compromise, Obama was, in effect,
acknowledging the
resistance of Congressional centrists like House Democrat Charlie
Melancon of Louisiana,
who
fears
that
public
option
would
become
a
“big
government
entitlement
program.”
Then there is Republican Senator Olympia Snow
of Maine who says she would only vote for the public option “as a last
resort.” The option looks as dead as the
Mets and passage
of a watered-down reform bill as slow to happen as infield grass to
grow.
The health care presser scorecard
showed a significant stat:
the president threw out the word “deficit” 16 times.
He mentioned inheriting a $1.3 trillion
deficit from the Bush Administration and said he “understands why the
American
people are queasy about the huge deficits.”
Deficits linked to defense spending maybe. But
polls
say
deficits
that
help
pay
for
quality
health
care
would
be
more
than
acceptable
to
most
Americans.
- -
-
Two months ago, when the Houston Astros were 18-25, owner Drayton
McLane had to fend off queries about the possible firing of manager
Cecil
Cooper. Since then the Astros have gone
31-19 (as of the start of last night’s game) and are contending both
for the NL
Central and Wild Card leads. The Astros
and Wild-Card-leading Colorado Rockies are the team comeback stories of
the
year so far.
At the other end of the field…the
talk around the Mets is
that volatile player-development VP Tony Bernazard will survive his
series of
embarrassing incidents because of his close ties to Jeff Wilpon, boss
Fred’s
son. It was Jeff who thought Art Howe
was the perfect choice to succeed Bobby Valentine as manager early in
the
decade, and that he and newly named GM Jim Duquette could run the team
despite
minimal experience. It all led to a
disastrous few years. If Fred Wilpon
leaves decision-making power to Jeff, there may be a lot more disaster
in
store.
How badly have the streaking Yankees
spooked Red Sox Nation? The Globe’s Nick
Cafardo gives us a clue on
the subject of the Yanks” apparent disinterest in dealing for Roy
Halladay: “The
louder
the
Yankees
scream
they
won’t
give
up
the
franchise
for
Halladay,
the
more
you
think
they’re
in
it.”
Health
again: The story the other day about the high incidence of
cellphone-related
highway deaths surely influenced this riff by Salon’s Garrison Keillor:
“I call
up my mother
while driving, which is exciting for her since she is 94 and remembers
when
phones were attached to the wall and you talked on them while standing
still. ‘Is
that safe?’ she says.
“No, it's
not, but
neither is life itself. Animal fats, ultraviolet rays, unknown persons
trying
to get you to carry things aboard an aircraft, Argentine women trying
to lure
you down to Buenos Aires -- it's a minefield out there. “
- 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: 7/23/09)
Yanks Exemplify Team
USA’s Money-Is-Power Offense
The AP says Yanks head man Hal
Steinbrenner is “interested”
in the availability of Toronto
ace Roy Halladay. “If we need
something,” Steinbrenner is quoted as saying, “we look at all
possibilities.” The Yankees don’t
need
Halladay to make the playoffs; he would be icing on their already
expensive
($206 million) cake. But they have the
resources, everybody knows, to get the best pitcher in baseball, if
they want
him.
That the Yankees are rich is hardly
news. What’s more apparent now is how
their money
has isolated them from every team in the AL,
maybe even including the Red Sox. It’s
an isolation found in the non-baseball world among investment bankers
and
too-big-to-fail corporate executives. The drive to acquire rather than share wealth,
the latter a brief post-World War II phenomena, began to make headway
soon
after George Steinbrenner took control of the Yankees in the early 70’s. International Herald Tribune columnist
William Pfaff tracks how the rich-getting-richer trend started:
“At some
point a
consensus emerged…on a new business model. This demanded
abandonment of the social concerns previously expected from business,
and
demanded
from
corporations the highest possible profits.
”It advocated minimal taxation and (reduced) political regulation, so
as to produce
the highest stockholder earnings possible. It
said
that
a
rationally
perfected
industrial
economy
must
be
based
on
maximized
pursuit
of
self-interest,
and
would
then
automatically
bring
the
greatest
possible
efficiency
and
return.”
Afield these days, the Yankees are
certainly getting a great efficiency and return on their investment. They’re attracting fewer customers than
expected to their new ballpark. But what
business isn’t experiencing similar disappointment?
More broadly, minimal taxation and less political
regulation seem to have led Team USA into, among other
things, an
impasse on health care reform.
Lob
from Left Field:
“How
has
it
come
to
pass
that
the
most
powerful
(and
most
self-confident)
nation
in
the
world
now
seems
helpless?
The
short
answer
is
that
political
action
is
a
function
of
political
will
-
the
public's
more
than
the
politicians'
-
and
that
ours
has
been
steadily
sapped.
Rahm
Emanuel,
the
president's
chief
of
staff,
has
said
that
crisis
creates
opportunity,
but he is only partly right.
Crisis
creates pain. It is the pain that
creates the opportunity.
“The
New
Deal,
that
great
spasm
of
political
initiative,
arose
out
of
a
national
agony:
25
percent
of
Americans
were
unemployed,
and
with
absolutely
no
safety
net
to
catch
them.
There
is
plenty
of
agony
now,
but
it
is
not
as
deep
nor
as
wide,
in
part
because
of
the
programs
of
the
New
Deal,
including
unemployment
insurance.
President
Roosevelt had the advantage of an angry citizenry who wanted him to do
anything
to rescue them. Obama has the disadvantage of a passive citizenry that,
frankly, may never hurt enough to demand what might finally cure what
ails
them.” - Neal Gabler in Boston Globe
Speaking of
helplessness, the Mets
are in a money-enforced bind: they can’t fire Omar Minaya because he
has three
years coming on a pricey new contract.
Owner Fred Wilpon can’t fire son Jeff – well, he could, and
probably
should. But Jeff does serve a useful
purpose: his persistent bad judgment as VP, operations (like
overextending
Omar) distracts attention from the man ultimately responsible for the
current
mess, his father.
Then there
is the case of Tony
Bernazard, who, as player-development exec, has every right to feel
insecure,
his and Omar’s farm system being an ongoing grim joke.
But to allow his anxieties to surface in the
forms of a reported yelling outburst at Citi Field and a fisticuff
threat
against Double-A farmhands speaks of instability. Only
a
dysfunctional
club
could
keep
someone
like
that
-
who
has
proved
unproductive
at
his
job
anyway
-
around.
Terry Francona talked to the
Globe’s Amalie Benjamin about a member of the Yankees he’d obviously
like to
have back. The context was the Red Sox
search for a competent lead-off hitter: “The
first
hitter
of
the
game,
you’re
the
first
guy
seeing
somebody…
you
don’t
want
(him)
to…swing
at
the
first
pitch,
make
an
out,
then
everybody’s
like,
‘Hey,
how’s
his
breaking
ball?’
and
then
you
don’t
know.
Johnny Damon was
the best. He’d come back and give you a
whole scouting report because he usually saw about 10 pitches. It does help.”
Stat
city: Caught-stealing leaders among catchers (as of game-time
yesterday): Detroit’s
Gerald
Laird,
44
pct.,
Philadelphia’s
Carlos
Ruiz,
36.6
pct. Holds leaders
among relief pitchers: Carlos Marmol, Cubs, 21; Bobby Seay, Detroit, 20;
Jeremy Affeldt, Giants, 20.
E-Mailbag: Thanks to
Jimmy O’H, of Woodhaven, Queens for catching an error in the
Nub before last.
He caught us in a vapor-lock, calling
M.Mussina “Mark” instead of “Mike.” Letting that
one get by really stung.
- 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 7/21/09)
The Fibbing Game in Baseball and
Politics
Baseball
fans are familiar with
the fibbing that goes on through the season - teams say an injured star has
“tweaked his hamstring” and is "day
to day" when he winds up on the 60-day DL; a pitcher
is said to be sidelined because of "mechanical problems" when he's really a head case.
In politics, fibbing can become a
serious matter, an original bobble stretched into an outright lie. And
that lie can be an effort to conceal a dubious policy that
undercuts Team USA's standing in the
international
league. We're seeing such a chain of errors play out in Latin America, thanks to early misplays
committed as
a deadly game unfolded in Honduras.
This country's mainstream media
pays scant attention to Latin America, where long-standing U.S. policy has been business-sympathetic, favorable
to the
privileged and mistrustful of any populist
trends. When Team Obama took the field there seemed reason to
hope it would join a lineup hitting in a
different direction, a lineup that includes Brazil, Argentina and Chile
as well as Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador,
Uruguay, Paraguay
and Nicaragua. Then came our stance on the contest in Honduras.
An
article
in
the
UK
Guardian
by
Mark
Weisbrot
scored
the
series of fibs-turned-lies pitched by Team Obama:
"When the
coup occurred on 28
June, the first statement that came out of the White House was a major
blunder.
Although the US and international press
gave Obama a pass, the diplomatic community could hardly help noticing
that the
White House issued the only official statement in the world that didn't
have a
bad word to say about the coup when it happened.
"This
position shifted as events moved forward, and
Obama himself even went so far as to say: "We believe that the coup was
not legal and that President (Manuel) Zelaya remains the president of Honduras."
But
then
his
secretary
of
state,
Hillary
Clinton,
seemed
to
contradict
him.
Twice
she
was
asked
by
the
press
whether
restoring
the
democratic
order
in
Honduras
meant
restoring
the
elected
president,
and
twice
she
declined
to
answer...Others
in
the
administration
(appear
to)
be
content
to
let
the
coup
government
stall
out
the
remaining
months
of
Zelaya's
term."
Team
Obama has been hitting from both sides of the plate during the ongoing
stall in
talks between Zelaya and the coup-installed government about his
possible
return to power. Obama, on the one hand,
has cut back military aid to Honduras;
on
the
other,
he
has
permitted
continued
training
of
Honduran
officers
at
what
was
formerly
known
as
the
(hard-right)
School
for
the
Americas
in Georgia.
- -
-
Daily News columnist Mike Lupica is playing
catch-up on the Mets’ story. Here’s his
take on that organizational disgrace: “The Mets
had American Legion
players behind their stars when their stars went down.
And…they don't seem to have any future
replacements coming over the hill from the farm system.
(Why that's so is) what the owners need to be
asking Omar Minaya, their general manager.
The injuries to the big guys are completely out of Minaya's
control. Their replacements, however,
are hardly out of his control. His
farm
system isn't out of his control. His
scouts aren't…
“If …the
last two
Septembers d(id)n't happen the way they d(id)…everybody (would be)
willing to
cut Minaya some slack. Only the
Mets…went
down two straight (times) and there is no grace period for Minaya
anymore.”
Amid the Mets’
self-pitying sobs
about their long injury list, the LA Angels provide a reminder that
good teams
overcome DL adversity. The Angels have
had to play much of the season without two top starters Kelvim Escobar
and
Ervin Santana. They’ve seen their most formidable slugger Vladimir
Guerrero
spend separate stretches on the DL, where he is now with the Angels’
star
centerfielder Torii Hunter. Yet the LAAs
shed few tears for themselves; they hang tough instead, and find a way
with capable
subs to reach their familiar place atop the AL West.
Stat city: David Cone says the most important mound
statistic is IP (innings pitched). On
that basis, Dan Haren of the Arizona
D-backs has doubly excelled so far this season.
He leads the major in IP - 138 in 19 games - and ERA, 1.96. Oh, yes, Haren is third in strikeouts (137)
behind Tim Linecum of the Giants (159) and Detroit’s Justin Verlander (155).
- 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 9/11/09)
Fantasy-League Action
on the Political Field
You’re Joe Girardi and
you have a fantastic
dilemma: Mike Mussina wants to un-retire and he’s ready to fill in for
injured
starter Chien-Ming Wang. But Phil Hughes
is ready, too, after a successful stint in the bullpen.
Who does Joe go with – the veteran whose
brilliant career may earn him a trip to Cooperstown,
or
the
comparative
newcomer
who
has
shown
so
much
promise?
This
playful
scenario
came
to
mind
after
sitting
in
the
stands
at
a
late-week
renewal
of
the
Democratic
Public
Advocate
campaign. The four candidates in the
liveliest of the
three citywide primary contests – Council members Bill de Blasio and
Eric
Gioia, former Public Advocate Mark Green and civil liberties lawyer
Norman
Siegel - met at the CUNY Graduate bailiwick under the auspices of
Manhattan
Media.
De Blasio, assuming the here-assigned
Hughes role, challenged
Green’s readiness to return to the diamond: he had been away too long.
“Why
were you silent on important city matters over the past eight years,”
de Blasio
said, looking at Mark, “why weren’t you involved?” The veteran reminded
the journeyman
of what he had accomplished over 11 years as a public player – pitching
with
success against racial profiling, the targeting of tobacco advertising
to
children, etc. - while the younger man was on the sidelines. “I’ve been Bill de Blasio, out of public
office; that is, I’ve been what you were then.”
The signs at this stage of the game put
the early-innings
squabble into perspective: they suggest
Green (Mussina) to be the front-runner, with de Blasio (Hughes) his
closest
pursuer. But the voters, who will
preempt Girardi, could decide to go for different types of talent – a
political
Jonathan Papelbon, for example, embodied by the energetic Gioia, or the
reliable stopper Trevor Hoffman, who is a baseball equivalent of Siegel. It’s been clear from the start that any of
the four will make an excellent on-deck hitter to the mayor.
The scoreboard on primary day,
September 15, will have to
show the winner with at least 40 percent of the vote.
Otherwise, there’ll be a two-team playoff
over the following week to 10 days (the final outcome keeping the
baseball
connection by coinciding with the final week of the regular season).
- -
-
We reported last time that, according to Baseball America,
the
Giants
and
Rangers
each
have
two
potentially
“high
impact”
farmhands
ready
to
move
up
to
the
majors
for
the
homestretch.
The mag has published an expanded list of top 25 prospects. Only one team has as many as three: Tampa Bay. The
Giants
and
Rangers,
each
with
two
top
prospects,
have
plenty
of
company
–
the
Braves,
Marlins,
Indians,
Orioles
and
Phillies. One player from the Yankees’
system made the list: Triple-A catcher Jesus Montero, ranked third
overall. Surprisingly, the Red Sox and
Dodgers were blanked; unsurprisingly, so were the Mets.
Reasons for (non-Mets) fans in the
northeast to feel upbeat
as the post-All-Star season gets crunchy:
A three-way battle for two playoff spots involving the Yanks,
Red Sox
and defending league champion Rays in the AL East.
A very possible WS rendezvous with the
Dodgers in late October. Lots
of
fun
ahead
while
NYM
fans
are
spared
their
usual
sad
September
song.
-
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.)
The Nub, taking its customary All-Star
break, will return a week from Tuesday.
(Posted: 7/9/09)
Don’t Say the Mets
Are Quitting Like Sarah Palin
Let’s play pepper around the E-mailbag: “Some say Sarah Palin
was not a
good sport to quit her job. But maybe
the Mets should consider the idea. Oh,
sorry – they already have.” -
Keith W., Manhattan
Palin is resigning as governor,
apparently for opportunistic
reasons. She’s quitting because she has
political potential – or so she believes – that can better be exploited
as a
free agent. The Mets have no potential –
“They have nothing in their system,” a scout was quoted as saying
Monday
in the Daily News. It’s a talent-less
team that isn’t quitting, just trying in vain.
“Do you perceive a
tension between
your disapproval of Mayor Bloomberg’s legal term -limits extension and
that of
the erstwhile president of Honduras
who sought an extra term entirely extra-legally?” – Frank
M., Fire Island
President Zelaya did not seek a
third term directly. He sought to ask the electorate if it agreed
he
could include the term-extension item in a referendum. He was not
going
to override the wishes of the people. It is true that the
business elite
had successfully stacked the courts against populist initiatives, so he
probably would have lost in the end. But his initiative was
clearly not
anti-democratic, as was Bloomberg's.
“Your
rant about the
Mets’ lack of organizational depth has gotten repetitious.
There are other teams to talk about. – Tony
K, NYU faculty
Guilty, as
charged. Before moving on, however, we’re
going to
turn that particular ranting role over to pinch-hitter Bill Madden of
the News:
“The Mets
are presently a depleted mess, plagued not only by this
unfathomable rash of injuries to their most important players, but by
the same
inner turmoil that eventually led to Willie Randolph's demise. I'm told
that
assistant GM Tony Bernazard, whom Randolph
found to be an intrusive influence in the clubhouse, especially with
the Latin
players, has been no less undermining with Jerry Manuel. For
whatever
reason,
Bernazard
seems
to
have
the
Wilpons'
ears,
even
more
so
than
Minaya,
and
in
organization
meetings
he's
never
reticent
to
suggest
areas
where
the
manager
might
be
doing
a
better
job.
I'm also told the Met high
command ordered
Manuel to tone down the not-so-subtle pleas for help…and his periodic
candor
about his team's deficiencies.”
Farm director Bernazard,
shifting the
blame for the mess to Manuel? Can the
Wilpons be dumb enough to swallow that?
Anything seems possible in the Queens
quagmire.
Added reason to take
the wild-card-leading Giants and AL West-contending Rangers seriously
the rest
of the season: each has two prospects on Baseball America’s top 10 list
of
minor leaguers considered ready to reinforce their parent teams in a
“high
impact” way. The
mag
says
the
Orioles,
Phils,
Twins,
Reds,
Angels
and
Braves
each
have
a
single
potential
stud
on
deck.
- 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: 7/7/09)
Who Cares About
Steroids or Political Squeeze Plays?
Not long ago, a former top coach on
Team Bloomberg suggested
to us why Mayor Mike would get away with extending term limits without
a public
referendum. “The people don’t care about
process,” he said. “If they care about
anything, it’s performance.” Baseball fans have made clear they could
care less
about the test results, suspensions, etc. that are part of the sport’s
drug-control process. It’s how offenders
play the game that matters.
There’s hardly any doubt Bloomberg will
be re-elected
despite his safety squeeze against the public will.
He has been a crowd-pleasing NYC skipper,
mainly because his personal wealth gave him the perception of
independence from
vested interests. That wealth is poised
to win over voters in record numbers despite the dangerous precedent
skipper Mike
personifies: money relegating democracy to the bench.
Any sense of shame associated with
steroids-using has been
sent to the showers in baseball; Manny Ramirez is the latest example. The Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy was in San Diego over
the
weekend to see how Manny would be received by fans and the media after
his
50-game suspension. Here’s how he
described that reception, first from his fellow media people:
“Here
are
some
of
the
questions
Manny
was
asked
at
his
comeback
news
conference:
’How
emotional
has
this
all
been
for
you?
.
.
.
How
tough
was
it
for
you
to
sit
out
50
games?
.
.
.
How
bad
was
this
for
you?’
The theme is obvious. Manny didn’t do anything bad. Something
bad was
done to him and now he is overcoming the obstacles and returning to his
craft.
“Fans
simply
love
their
ballplayer
heroes
and
don’t
care
about
steroids.
Pre-Mitchell, post-Mitchell, Andrea
Mitchell, it doesn’t matter. The longer this goes on, the more it seems
that
the only people who care about steroids are Hall of Fame voters, a
handful of
baseball purists, and perhaps those players who have not cheated and
now feel
like suckers…
“What
do
you
say,
Joe
(Torre)
?
Think
fans
care
about
steroids?
‘I think people care, but they come to the
park to be entertained (and that takes priority)’.’’
Bloomberg and other veteran political
players may not entertain but they are constantly performing. Their personalities become familiar; voters
offer
support because they know them, not because of a stance on issues. Council Speaker Christine Quinn (with whom we
worked in her pre-leadership days) exemplifies an elected official
benefiting
from high recognition who should have attracted negative attention: we
believe she
betrayed the public last year by serving as an enabler for Bloomberg on
term
limits.
Daily News columnist Errol Louis
sees it as hopeful that Quinn apparently faces a strong challenge as
she seeks
a third term: “Civil
rights attorney Yetta Kurland…is
hammering Quinn for ramming through the law overturning term limits.
’This is
not an issue of term limits, it's an issue of democracy,’ Kurland told me. ‘The
people in this district feel it is a fundamental breach of
public trust.’
“That's putting it
mildly. In 2007, Quinn said: ‘I am today
taking a firm
and final position. I will not support
the repeal or change of term limits through any mechanism, and I will
oppose
aggressively any attempt by anyone to make any changes in the term
limits law.’
Quinn changed her tune (just) a few
months later…”
- -
-
During the Toronto-Yankees game on
YES yesterday, Michael Kay quoted Johnny Damon on the wind currents at
the new
Stadium. Damon said fly balls to left,
whether hit by lefty or righty batters, veer toward center field. That means an internal wind pushes many flies
to right into a record-building number of home runs.
Kay noted that the quirks of hits to left - opposite-field
flies normally curve toward the foul line - give the Yankees a
home-field
advantage until visiting teams figure out the Stadium’s foibles.
A poem excerpt for
Mets fans:
Avoid
all
tears
–
(but)
the world and time will
have their way
and weep we must…
-
from “Advice to a Pregnant Daughter-in-Law” by Charles Darling
- 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: 7/2/09)
Team Obama and the
Mets Performing on Replay
Someone has pushed a
replay button showing two teams - one
in baseball, the other in politics – performing in a throwback mode. The 2009 Mets are playing like the 1962
Amazin’s. That team prompted manager
Casey Stengel to utter the memorable lament “Can’t anybody play this
game?” In the case of the coup that
overthrew Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, Team Obama is looking
suspiciously
like the USA
outfits of yore:
teams that played ball with military juntas in Latin
America whenever local right-wing fans wanted a populist
skipper removed
from the game.
For his part, President Obama has
talked a good game,
condemning what happened to the democratically elected Zelaya. But the stance of his dugout deputies has
been less persuasive: Hillary Clinton said the U.S.
would not call the coup by its rightful name because that would
automatically
cut off our aid to Honduras. But the leverage that aid gives us - and went
unused – supports charges Team Obama was playing on the anti-Zelaya
side. Author
Jeremy Scahill put it this way on Common Dreams:
“The
US
could have flexed its tremendous economic muscle before the coup and
told the
military coup plotters to stand down. The US ties to the Honduran
military
and political establishment run far too deep for all of this to have
gone down
without at least (our) tacit support.”
Unmentioned in
the mainstream media, which has played up Zelaya’s dealings with Hugo
Chavez
(but not his corporate elite background), was a letter the Honduran
president
sent to Obama early in the year.
According to Nikolas Kozloff of Counterpunch, “(It) accused
the
U.S.
of ‘interventionism’ and called on the new administration in Washington to
respect the principle of
non-interference in the political affairs of other nations.”
The
letter
may
be
one
reason
Obama
did
not
see
fit
to
meet
with
Zelaya
in
Washington
on the eve of the ousted president’s planned return home today. As the game unfolds, Barack will have other
chances to bat as well as pitch: to swing in strong, unconditional
terms in support
of Zelaya’s return. Such a decisive turn
at the plate will show that, despite contrary off-field signals,
Barack’s new
Team USA is no
longer
hitting reflexively to right in Latin America.
Amid the many pre-season predictions
that the Mets were
playoff-bound, a few observers thought otherwise. They
pointed
to,
among
other
things,
the
lack
of
both
a
solid
bench
and
capable
minor-league
back-ups
That
meant
the Mets were operating without fail-safe players serious teams
need to stay
in contention. To call the current Mets a
“below-average team”, as Jerry Manuel has done, hardly does justice to
the
team’s deficiencies. Who could imagine
that Damian Easley would be so badly missed?
With not a single sure return date for the missing regulars, on
thing is sure: a long, lugubrious summer lies
ahead for the Mets and their fans. And
neither a stopgap trade for someone like Nick Johnson, nor the
scattered return
of Reyes, Beltran, et al, figures to change that grim outlook.
Stat city: Tim
Linecum
of
the
Giants
and
the
Braves’
Javier
Vazquez
are
the
mlb’s
top
two
strikeout
artists
(among
pitchers
who
have
thrown
100
innings
or
more).
Linecum has recorded 132 k’s in 114 innings,
Vazquez 125 in 106.2. The pair lead in
strike-walk ratio, as well: Linecum having issued 28 passes, Vazquez
only 23. There’s a disparity in W-L
department,
however: Linecum is 8-2, Vazquez 5-7.
- 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.)
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