Sunday, April 17, 2005
Random Thoughts
I'm writing this during today's game, and I don't really have any huge ideas to write about. I just have a few random things floating around my head, so here they go:
- WHYYYYYYYYY is Hollandsworth starting today? What happened to the platoon with Dubois? Jason should be starting in the first place, but that's obviously not going to happen. The very least the Cubs could do would be to follow through with what they said they were going to do. I just e-mailed Cubs.com's Carrie Muskat to ask her about it. I don't really expect a reply, but if I do get one, I'm sure she'll respond in her usual charming way.
-How long can Neifi! keep up this charade? I'm putting the over/under at 22 hours.
-Mark Redman=Glendon Rusch
-Short book review: I finished Three Nights in August not too long ago, and it was just okay. It was nice to look back at part of that great 2003 season. It brought back some good, and in the case of 2 out of 3 games of the series covered in the book, bad memories. I guess the book could best be described as a character piece, but the man crush that writer Buzz Bissinger has on La Russa just overshadows everything. The book just makes me dislike La Russa even more. It also seems that the book was also trying to service as an antithesis to Moneyball. Good luck with that. One particularly excruciating segment was the talk of Tino Martinez and his mysterious loss of clutchness after coming to the Cardinals. It talks about the big home run he hit during the 2001 World Series as if that made Greek God of Clutch. (sorry for the pitiful attempt at reference) When he came to the Cardinals he suddenly couldn't get a big hit. Bissinger then describes a crucial part of a game with the Cubs. The bases are loaded with 1 out late in a tight game. He hits a grounder which the author describes as a ball that might make it through or could just as easily be turned into a double play. The ball gets through, runners score, Tino's clutch again, La Russo's happy he found his missing clutchness. Okay, if the grounder off Martinez's bat could admittedly go either way, then how is it clutch? Isn't that just dumb luck? Doesn't make sense to me. There's more of the same throughout the book. It's a shame too, because this could have been a really good book. There were particularly good section's about Eldred's comeback, Ankiel's meltdown, La Russa's divorce, and Kile's death (I can't even fathom the Cub's having to go through something like that). Instead the book tries overly hard to push La Russa as a sort of mad genius, but instead he just comes off as mad. I would recommend this book to Cubs and Cards fans, but no one else. I give it a C+. Next up is Cub Nation. I have a feeling that I'll like this one a little bit more.
- I have to add this in the middle cause I'm watching the game while writing this. Why pinch hit Dubois for Maddux with 2 outs and no one on. Maddux is pitching great, and he's only thrown 77 pitches. I don't get it. Maybe Maddux had a tee time he had to get to. And is there a worse way we could be using Dubois? If there is, Dusty will find it.
- That time of year is here. With the coming of the Cardinal series Wednesday, the fans from the respective teams feel the need to quarrel like 2 frat guys over who pops their collar better. It's all pretty useless in my mind. I guess it’s a fun old pastime, but it gets out of hand sometime. I've definitely been guilty of it from time to time. I've wanted to kill good friends because of this. I've found recently that the Internet fighting can get really absurd. TheBirdwatch.com felt the need to criticize TheCubReporter.com's criticism of former Card and certifiable insane Steve Kline (one thing I found out in Three Nights is that he loves to walk around naked). He not only criticized the criticism, but also the apparently weak diss (did I spell that right?). Thehardballtimes.com also ripped on Kline. Who wouldn't? I respect the fact that Kline is being honest and up front about his feelings. That's cool, but the fact that he's having these feelings is dumb. He chose to get into that situation. He chose to take a couple million more than what he could have got. He's not playing well, but his team is. He needs to get over himself and start playing well. I think he'd be happy then. But back to the point at hand. I'm going to the game on Thursday with some friends, all but one being Cardinal fan. I'm going to be a nervous wreck. There's just something about this rivalry that makes jittery and anxious. It's twice as bad when I'm there for the games. Here's hoping it goes well.
- I love Derrek Lee. He is quickly becoming my favorite position player. Thank God Dusty flipped Burnitz and Lee in the order.
- What the hell is with that picture of Jack Wilson as a pirate at PNC? I know that's the team's name, but that's just ugly and dumb.
- I hate Will and Grace.
-Did I just see Macias take a 2 out walk?
As you can see, my random thoughts are getting pretty bad so I'm going to wrap it up.
- WHYYYYYYYYY is Hollandsworth starting today? What happened to the platoon with Dubois? Jason should be starting in the first place, but that's obviously not going to happen. The very least the Cubs could do would be to follow through with what they said they were going to do. I just e-mailed Cubs.com's Carrie Muskat to ask her about it. I don't really expect a reply, but if I do get one, I'm sure she'll respond in her usual charming way.
-How long can Neifi! keep up this charade? I'm putting the over/under at 22 hours.
-Mark Redman=Glendon Rusch
-Short book review: I finished Three Nights in August not too long ago, and it was just okay. It was nice to look back at part of that great 2003 season. It brought back some good, and in the case of 2 out of 3 games of the series covered in the book, bad memories. I guess the book could best be described as a character piece, but the man crush that writer Buzz Bissinger has on La Russa just overshadows everything. The book just makes me dislike La Russa even more. It also seems that the book was also trying to service as an antithesis to Moneyball. Good luck with that. One particularly excruciating segment was the talk of Tino Martinez and his mysterious loss of clutchness after coming to the Cardinals. It talks about the big home run he hit during the 2001 World Series as if that made Greek God of Clutch. (sorry for the pitiful attempt at reference) When he came to the Cardinals he suddenly couldn't get a big hit. Bissinger then describes a crucial part of a game with the Cubs. The bases are loaded with 1 out late in a tight game. He hits a grounder which the author describes as a ball that might make it through or could just as easily be turned into a double play. The ball gets through, runners score, Tino's clutch again, La Russo's happy he found his missing clutchness. Okay, if the grounder off Martinez's bat could admittedly go either way, then how is it clutch? Isn't that just dumb luck? Doesn't make sense to me. There's more of the same throughout the book. It's a shame too, because this could have been a really good book. There were particularly good section's about Eldred's comeback, Ankiel's meltdown, La Russa's divorce, and Kile's death (I can't even fathom the Cub's having to go through something like that). Instead the book tries overly hard to push La Russa as a sort of mad genius, but instead he just comes off as mad. I would recommend this book to Cubs and Cards fans, but no one else. I give it a C+. Next up is Cub Nation. I have a feeling that I'll like this one a little bit more.
- I have to add this in the middle cause I'm watching the game while writing this. Why pinch hit Dubois for Maddux with 2 outs and no one on. Maddux is pitching great, and he's only thrown 77 pitches. I don't get it. Maybe Maddux had a tee time he had to get to. And is there a worse way we could be using Dubois? If there is, Dusty will find it.
- That time of year is here. With the coming of the Cardinal series Wednesday, the fans from the respective teams feel the need to quarrel like 2 frat guys over who pops their collar better. It's all pretty useless in my mind. I guess it’s a fun old pastime, but it gets out of hand sometime. I've definitely been guilty of it from time to time. I've wanted to kill good friends because of this. I've found recently that the Internet fighting can get really absurd. TheBirdwatch.com felt the need to criticize TheCubReporter.com's criticism of former Card and certifiable insane Steve Kline (one thing I found out in Three Nights is that he loves to walk around naked). He not only criticized the criticism, but also the apparently weak diss (did I spell that right?). Thehardballtimes.com also ripped on Kline. Who wouldn't? I respect the fact that Kline is being honest and up front about his feelings. That's cool, but the fact that he's having these feelings is dumb. He chose to get into that situation. He chose to take a couple million more than what he could have got. He's not playing well, but his team is. He needs to get over himself and start playing well. I think he'd be happy then. But back to the point at hand. I'm going to the game on Thursday with some friends, all but one being Cardinal fan. I'm going to be a nervous wreck. There's just something about this rivalry that makes jittery and anxious. It's twice as bad when I'm there for the games. Here's hoping it goes well.
- I love Derrek Lee. He is quickly becoming my favorite position player. Thank God Dusty flipped Burnitz and Lee in the order.
- What the hell is with that picture of Jack Wilson as a pirate at PNC? I know that's the team's name, but that's just ugly and dumb.
- I hate Will and Grace.
-Did I just see Macias take a 2 out walk?
As you can see, my random thoughts are getting pretty bad so I'm going to wrap it up.
# posted by Ryan @ 13:12 
