Archive for October, 2009
Young needs to be traded,
The Minnesota Twins hope this man can light the way to the postseason as they take on the Detroit Tigers in a winner-take-all for the American League Central Division title. He’s the subject of our POTD. The Tigers will look to Rick Porcello, a contender for the A.L. Rookie of the Year award. He’s been 5-2 since August with a 3.19 ERA and is 14-9 on the season. At the Metrodome, he has struggled by going 0-2 but his last two starts against the Twins in September were quality efforts even though they didn’t result in a win. The Twins were just 70-70 when they left the Rogers Centre last month after taking just two of four against the Blue Jays but they won 16 out of their last 20 games to force today’s tie-breaker. The Twins managed to get by probable Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke to complete a three game sweep of the Kansas City Royals at the Metrodome. Minnesota experienced a 163rd game of the season last year when they lost 1-0 to the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field for the Central Division flag. Will their experience of a year ago prove to be beneficial this time around? How about the Tigers and their state of mind? They managed to blow a 7 game lead to the Twins from September 6th, which included a split of a four game series against the Jays in Motown. They only got the split thanks to a rare off night by Marco Scutaro with the glove as Detroit escaped with a walk-off win in extra innings. The Tigers also had to deal with the distraction of a weekend altercation between Miguel Cabrera and his wife which resulted in no charges being laid. However, a game-saving catch by Curtis Granderson in the eighth inning on Sunday helped Justin Verlander and company avoid a sweep by the Chicago White Sox as they held on for a 5-3 win at Comerica Park. They hope that momentum will carry over to today’s game. So, Bauxites? Who do you like in this one? I predict a 4-3 win for the Twins. Baker gets the win by going six solid innings, Joe Nathan gets the save and Michael Cuddyer, stepping up for the injured Canadian Justin Morneau, knocks home the winning run. I think the Metrodome will see more playoff baseball before giving way to the new Target Field in 2010. .
Scott Baker gets the ball for the Twins against the Tigers Rick Porcello at 5:07 p.m. EDT today at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. Baker saved the day for Minnesota the last time they faced the Tigers. He earned the win by giving up just one unearned run over five innings as the Twins salvaged a split of their four game series with an 8-3 win last Thursday at Comerica Park. Had the Twins lost that day, the Tigers would have won the A.L. Central flag. After missing the start of the season with a shoulder injury, Baker overcame a 2-6 start by winning 13 of his last 16 decisions. He’s 1-1 with a 6.75 ERA against the Tigers in 2009.
I wonder how this will effect the rest of the team.
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I wonder how Wells’s fans feel,
“We’re agreed, are we not, that the first 41 games of the season didn’t count - that the team (and the players) rolled up some impressive numbers against the inferior competition in the Al Central and West…
So how did everybody do in the last 121 games? Let’s have a look. Players are sorted, as always when it’s up to me, by Runs Created per 27 outs:
AB R H TB 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS SH SF HBP GDP BAVG OBP SLG RC RC/27 Ruiz 115 25 36 73 7 0 10 17 10 35 1 1 0 1 4 6 .313 .385 .635 25 8.06Lind 435 68 130 246 32 0 28 79 39 80 1 1 0 4 5 11 .299 .360 .566 86 7.09Overbay 330 44 89 151 27 1 11 45 57 79 0 0 0 1 0 6 .270 .376 .458 59 6.23Rolen 343 54 103 155 26 1 8 52 33 45 3 4 0 7 5 4 .300 .363 .452 57 5.93Scutaro 419 64 118 164 25 0 7 40 55 56 11 3 3 5 3 7 .282 .365 .391 64 5.26Snider 145 22 35 63 8 1 6 17 22 54 0 1 0 1 3 3 .241 .351 .434 23 5.19Hill 505 73 133 239 31 0 25 74 31 71 4 1 1 2 4 9 .263 .310 .473 72 4.90Encarnacion 154 25 37 68 5 1 8 23 13 29 1 0 0 3 3 2 .240 .306 .442 22 4.58Inglett 89 11 25 31 4 1 0 6 8 21 3 1 1 0 1 0 .281 .347 .348 12 4.56Rios 266 29 70 113 16 0 9 41 17 48 16 3 0 3 3 8 .263 .311 .425 34 4.42Bautista 263 39 57 108 9 3 12 34 41 65 1 0 3 2 3 7 .217 .327 .411 36 4.39Wells 460 57 120 181 27 2 10 45 33 69 11 4 0 4 1 11 .261 .309 .393 54 4.03Chavez 130 9 34 48 8 0 2 13 6 21 1 1 2 0 0 2 .262 .294 .369 13 3.51McDonald 134 15 35 54 7 0 4 13 1 16 0 2 1 1 2 1 .261 .275 .403 14 3.49Phillips 18 1 5 8 3 0 0 2 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 .278 .278 .444 2 3.43Millar 184 19 36 60 9 0 5 16 27 39 0 0 0 0 1 5 .196 .302 .326 18 3.18Barajas 316 29 62 118 8 0 16 49 14 60 1 0 1 3 0 4 .196 .228 .373 26 2.61Barrett 18 3 3 6 0 0 1 2 1 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 .167 .211 .333 1 2.21Adams 20 2 4 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .200 .238 .200 1 1.59Dellucci 25 2 1 2 1 0 0 2 3 7 0 0 0 0 1 2 .040 .172 .080 0 0.33
And the pitchers:
G GS GF CG W L SV BSv Hld IP H R ER BB SO HR HBP ERA BF BAVG OBP SLG Halladay 23 23 0 8 9 9 171.0 171 59 53 27 151 17 3 2.79 694 .261 .290 .388Romero 26 26 0 0 11 9 157.0 173 84 81 75 128 17 9 4.64 690 .288 .374 .432Tallet 27 19 1 0 5 8 118.1 136 76 73 51 89 13 5 5.55 533 .289 .360 .448Richmond 19 16 1 0 4 9 91.2 103 69 66 42 79 21 0 6.48 410 .281 .354 .527Cecil 15 14 1 0 5 4 73.1 99 54 51 34 54 15 2 6.26 342 .326 .395 .559Rzepczynski 11 11 0 0 2 4 61.1 51 27 25 30 60 7 1 3.67 261 .225 .317 .366Purcey 4 4 0 0 1 1 22.1 26 13 13 12 13 2 0 5.24 103 .292 .376 .416Mills 2 2 0 0 0 1 7.2 14 12 12 6 9 4 0 14.09 42 .400 .476 .800Ray 1 1 0 0 0 1 4.1 6 5 4 1 4 1 0 8.31 21 .300 .333 .550Camp 46 0 12 0 2 5 1 0 4 64.2 57 28 24 22 51 5 4 3.34 267 .238 .312 .364League 51 0 13 0 2 5 0 1 8 56.2 56 31 29 13 63 7 6 4.61 239 .259 .319 .426Carlson 52 0 9 0 0 4 0 1 7 46.2 50 29 27 15 39 5 1 5.21 204 .273 .324 .448Frasor 45 0 31 0 3 3 10 2 2 43.2 34 16 15 15 47 4 2 3.09 178 .215 .288 .310Janssen 21 5 5 0 2 4 1 0 2 40.0 59 29 26 14 24 5 2 5.85 192 .341 .393 .538Downs 30 0 14 0 1 3 4 4 7 27.1 33 13 12 11 21 3 1 3.95 124 .300 .363 .473Accardo 26 0 5 0 0 0 1 0 4 24.2 23 8 7 17 18 2 2 2.55 107 .267 .393 .372Hayhurst 15 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 22.2 23 7 7 9 13 2 2 2.78 97 .274 .351 .417Roenicke 13 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 17.2 19 15 14 12 19 2 1 7.13 84 .271 .381 .386Ryan 18 0 5 0 0 1 0 0 2 14.0 14 8 8 11 7 3 0 5.14 63 .280 .403 .540Wolfe 12 0 8 0 1 2 0 1 0 12.1 22 14 13 7 8 5 1 9.49 65 .400 .469 .727
A few related observations, why not….
It’s nothing short of astonishing that the team went 48-73 while scoring and allowing roughly the same amount of runs (591-597). That’s very hard to do.
One hitter of consequence was significantly better in the secondportion of the year. That would be Travis Snider, of course, who wassimply awful over the first quarter. Still, despite the low BAVG andthe stupendous number of strikeouts, he was a little better than leagueaverage when he came back. McDonald and Chavez were also better in thesecond part, but neither had enough plate appearances over the firstquarter for it to mean anything. And neither was much good anyway.
Three hitters performed at basically the same level in both parts of the season: Lyle Overbay, Alex Rios, and Vernon Wells. Overbay’s RC/27 was 6.09 in the first part of the year, 6.23 in the second. The optimistic point of view in mid-May was that while Lind and Hill and Scutaro were certain to cool off, Rios and Wells were certain to heat up. Rios and Wells did no such thing, of course - both tailed off slightly from their depressing getaways - Rios started out at 4.66 RC/27 and dropped off to 4.42 the rest of the way; Wells went from 4.34 to 4.03.
If Rod Barajas goes elsewhere… who cares?
Randy Ruiz, obviously, isn’t really that good. He’ll be 32 years old in a couple of weeks, and he didn’t hit this well in his 11 years in the minors. Plus he’s blocked by Adam Lind, Lyle Overbay, and Travis Snider. But all of those guys are LH batters, so Ruiz may be able to claim some platoon at bats. But a regular outfield of Lind, Wells, and Snider is out of the question - it would possibly be the worst defensive outfield in the major leagues.
I thought the offense would score 800 runs. They didn’t - they scored 798.
On the mound, two pitchers performed at roughly the same level in both parts of the season: Roy Halladay, thanks to an extremely impressive burst in the final month, and Brandon League. Halladay’s ERAs were 2.78 and 2.79, League’s were 4.50 and 4.61 with generally similar peripherals in both parts of the season (League also sharply reduced his BBs allowed in the second part.)
The team went into the season with two more or less established starting pitchers and a whole bunch of rookies. While this was obviously a situation fraught with The Peril, in every crisis looms an opportunity. I reasoned that if just one of the kids stepped up, it would be enough - barely - to keep the staff above water. And one of the kids, Ricky Romero, did step up and do a solid job in the rotation pretty much all season long. Alas, one of the two established starters went out for the year in the second week of the season, which pretty much cancelled out the good effect.
And pretty well all the rookies ran out of gas. Or something. After the middle of August, Romero went 3-4, 5.59; Cecil went 2-3, 8.22; Richmond went 2-5, 8.73 (Richmond also missed six weeks in the middle of the year.)
And the bullpen, with the exceptions of Frasor and Camp, pretty much went to hell.
So…what to do with this bunch?
Well, they scored 74 fewer runs than the Red Sox. And they allowed 35 more. Do you want to find a way to make up the 109 runs difference? Or do you want to give up? Boston and New York have money and brains. In this millennium, the Rays slipped ahead of both of them once; the Blue Jays beat out Boston once.
Well, I figure you still have to try.
“
what do you think?This might be shocking news for Wells fans, but there are those of you who will say that you saw it coming from a long way away. I can’t say I’m all that surprised though. Wells is great, I really hope this doesn’t affect the season.
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Manny Ramirez and JIM THOME celebrated after Los Angeles locked up the National League West on the eve of the season’s final day. Meanwhile 162 games may not be enough to settle the AL Central.
The Dodgers kept things interesting down the stretch in the NL West with an untimely five-game losing streak. However all that is forgotten after last night’s division clinching 5-0 win over Colorado. That leaves the Rockies as the NL Wild Card, meaning they’ll begin the playoffs in Philadelphia on Wednesday. The Dodgers will travel to host St. Louis in the other NLDS series.
With one day left in the regular season the Minnesota Twins have pulled even with the reeling Detroit Tigers in the AL Central. In somewhat related news, Miggy Cabrera may or may not have engaged in a scuffle with a large dog. Also he went 0-4 in last night’s most recent loss. The Tigers have Justin Verlander on the mound this afternoon going against John Danks and the White Sox.
Michael Cuddyer’s 8th inning home run lifted the Twins to another crucial win. They’ll face the Kansas City Royals about an hour after the Tigers and Sox take the field. If the teams can’t break their tie they’ll meet for a single game to determine who wins the division and moves on to the playoffs.
Because holy shit, baseball season isn’t long enough as it is.
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I have always been a big fan of Cabrera, but I have to say, seeing news like this gives me mixed feelings.This will be shocking news for Cabrera fans, but there are those of you who will say that you saw it coming from a mile away. I’m pretty surprised. Cabrera is fantastic, I hope this doesn’t affect the season.
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I wonder how Harris’s serious fans feel:
“
Mason held on for the game’s first touchdown despite landing on his head. However fellow Raven Jared Gaither was not as fortunate. The tackle was carted off the field after suffering an apparent neck injury.
Gaither was able to move his limbs, so hopefully the injury isn’t too serious. As for the game, the Patriots have taken a 17-7 lead over Baltimore. Tom Brady and Sammy Morris have both rushed for scores.
-Tampa Bay leads Washington 10-3 in the second half, because God hates me, personally. The Jason Campbell bandwagon is all but empty, and the Fire Zorn (#FireZorn) movement is heating up. It could actually be significantly worse. Fortunately Mike Nugent has kept things close by missing a pair of field goals.
UPDATE: WOOO! Jason Campbell remembered Chris Cooley was on the field. They hooked up for what should have been a game tying touchdown. Then Ronde Barber blocked the extra point. Of course he did.
-Congratulations if you picked Jacksonville in your suicide pool. They opened up a 27-3 lead over Tennessee by halftime. Silky Garrard has been as smooth as ever, while Kerry Collins looks awful. Come on, give Vince a shot, it’ll be fun.
-Houston is handling the Raiders, they currently lead 20-6. JaMarcus Russell started 4/5, he’s since gone 3/13. Steve Slaton owners can stop bitching, he has two touchdowns so far (and only one fumble!).
-Chicago and Detroit are engaged in the day’s most exciting game so far. Johnny Knox recently returned a kickoff 102 yards for a touchdown to give the Bears a 28-21 lead. Jay Cutler has sulked his way to three touchdowns (1 rushing).
-Cleveland’s offense has shown a little bit of life with Derek Anderson and Jerome Harrison in the lineup. However it’s the Bengals that lead 14-7. Chad Ochocinco has one of the scores for Cincinnati, unfortunately a teammate held him back from jumping into the Dawg Pound.
-The Colts and Giants are cruising past the Seahawks and the Chiefs respectively.
-And now, an email from a concerned fantasy player who hopes Drew is having a better day than he is.
Deadspin,
No one in my ESPN league could log in to their account this morning,
so I called 1-888-549-ESPN (the fantasy hotline). Turns out that the
log in function is down so we were all locked out from changing our
starters. ESPN hasn’t posted anything about this on their fantasy
site, but the WWL is fucking over every one of their fantasy players
right now.
Hope Drew has fun in Minnesota,
Brooks
Never get in between a man and his fantasy team.
“
what do you think?How do you think this news about Harris will affect the rest of the team this season?
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Haha, I can’t believe this guy -
It figures, doesn’t it? In this season that has made very little sense since Opening Day?
Sam Fuld, who has actually had a fairly productive rookie season, finishing just short of .300 (29-for-97, .299) and with an OPS of .821, came within two at-bats of becoming only the fifth player in major league history with as many plate appearances as he had this year (112 coming into today) with zero RBI — and three of those were pitchers. Here is the complete list, not including today’s game.
Instead, “Little Sam Fuld”, as Vin Scully called him when he made that diving catch in Dodger Stadium in August, took advantage of a west wind howling out to right field and launched a fly ball that made it into the first row of the right-field bleachers for his first major league home run and RBI. Later, Sam drove in the Cubs‘ second run of the day with a groundout. (The wind also blew over my Super Big Gulp, nearly full, only five minutes after the gates opened. In past years spilling this drink has been considered by us as “good luck” for a Cubs win. Silly superstition, yes — but it didn’t portend the right thing today.)
That would have made for a great story if those had been the only two runs of the game; unfortunately, Fuld wasn’t the only player taking advantage of the wind. The Diamondbacks‘ Chris Young, who has made a career of hitting homers at Wrigley Field, hit his fifth lifetime home run at Wrigley off Ryan Dempster with two men on base in the fourth inning, and that was the difference in the Cubs’ season-ending 5-2 loss to Arizona, leaving the season record at 83-78, seven and a half games behind the Cardinals, who also lost today (and who enter the postseason, ominously, on a losing note — they lost eight of their last ten regular season games).
Curiosities abounded today — in addition to Fuld’s feats, Dempster struck out ten, tying his season high and giving him the club leadership for the 2009 season at 172, one more than Rich Harden. One of the K’s allowed Gerardo Parra to reach base on a wild pitch. That allowed Dempster to register four strikeouts in the fifth inning. That’s the 52nd time in baseball history that a pitcher has done that; Dempster becomes the fifth Cub to do it. Here is the complete list of those who have accomplished this feat; the last Cub to do it was Kerry Wood in the second game of a doubleheader on September 2, 2002. That one was notable because in the fourth inning of that game, when Wood registered four K’s, there was an out recorded other than a strikeout; Wood wild-pitched two runners on base.
Also, apart from the delayed 2001 regular season, which ended on October 7 due to the one-week suspension after the 9/11 attacks, this is the latest regular season date ever at Wrigley Field.
Dempster finishes the year with a 3.65 ERA, higher than he would have liked, I’m sure, but still within range of the 2.96 he recorded a year ago. He did manage to post a 200-inning season, something he’d been shooting for, and overall I think he had a very good year given the problems his daughter had after she was born on April 1. Dempster might have had an easier time today and maybe gotten a win, had So Taguchi not dropped Chad Tracy’s popup in short left field. While it was not an easy play with the wind, Taguchi had it in his glove and then dropped it — 3B umpire Ed Rapuano had even signaled “out” before the other umpires realized Taguchi had dropped it. That helped lead to the first two Arizona runs and after Young’s homer, Lou played spring training rules with the bullpen, using four relievers to mop up for an inning each. They did all right, giving up only two hits and striking out six.
The Cubs went down meekly in the lat two innings and that, as they say, was that. Leaving the ballpark for the final time of a season that goes no further than the regular schedule is always sad, even on a day like today when the weather was sunny and decent for most of the afternoon. Jim Hendry has much work to do and as I noted this morning, he may have already begun. As noted in eths’ FanShot, Von Joshua has already been dismissed as hitting coach, no real surprise, as his work didn’t seem to produce any real results, and hitting coaches are often the designated management scapegoat.
We await changes and positive developments for 2010, and we go into this offseason with hope, as ever, that “next year is THE year”. BCB isn’t going anywhere, of course; we’ll be here all offseason with updates, fun stuff and new things, so stick around. In the meantime, I leave this season as I do every season, with this quote from the late A. Bartlett Giamatti’s The Green Fields of the Mind:
It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.
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I wonder how this will effect the rest of the team!
Take a look at a video of Young doing his thing:
Tulane Baseball 1986 (Part 2)
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Look who is making news again: young! Could There Be a Problem With the Oakland Raiders? Nfl. To make things easier:
Weird! Journeyman quarterback Jeff Garcia—usually so reticent to speak his mind—is criticizing his former team, the Raiders of Oakland, California!
Garcia was cut from the Eagles last month, weeks after he asked to be released by the Raiders, and while he waits for Tampa Bay to call him again, he is just out giving interviews about how promising young Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell sucks and none of the Raiders wanted to win as much as Jeff Garcia did.
“It was to a point where I felt like guys who walked through those doors that just were there to collect a check and not really interested in putting everything that they had within themselves on to the football field,” he said. “And that was the frustrating thing for me to see.
“There were a lot of good young guys in that locker room who really want to do whatever it takes to win, but unfortunately it’s not everybody,” Garcia added. “In order to compete at this level in this game, everybody needs to be on board.”
“Maybe it’s because how things have been for a number of years now out there and they just don’t see the hope,” he said.
Garcia said the idea of spending an entire season in Oakland backing up Russell “broke my heart.” After his release from the Buccaneers, Seahawks, Redskins, and the Los Angeles Vikings, Garcia is expected to lead the Calgary Stampeders to the 2013 division semifinals.
News of poor morale in the Raiders locker room should stun observers of that storied franchise. Reached for comment, owner Al Davis said “up, up, and away, in my wicked doom balloon!”
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This will be shocking news for young fans, but some of you who will say that you saw it coming. I’m pretty surprised though. young is awesome, I hope this doesn’t affect the rest of the team.
Take a peek at a vid of young:
Young Ryan Howard @ 11 Yrs Old
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young is in the news:
I like to support small business, and Marshall Stack, the tavern directly opposite my apartment building, is no exception. But a few weeks ago the “Stack,” as regulars call it, received a visit from a truly exceptional man.
It was the former professional basketball player Jayson Williams, and it made me reflect on America’s dangerous fetishization of the “regular.”
First, some background: liberals love to moan about how the Lower East Side has “gentrified” such that they have been priced out all the way to Brooklyn, but any local can tell you the area is still rife with rent control riffraff. My front stoop serves as a gathering place for erstwhile squeegee men of numerous “disadvantaged” ethnicities and from the more squalid unrenovated apartments in my building house I can hear bitter fights underway in many dialects of arguments of Chinese.
Marshall Stack, however, has somehow remained largely the domain of mostly self-sufficient, hardworking but solidly middle-class Americans in the 25-45 age group.
So although I was not particularly alert when he stepped through the entrance and did not recognize his face, it was hard not to notice Jayson Williams. He was, among other things, impeccably dressed in a three-piece suit and an elegant watch. And I am told he asked for a pricey brand of tequila, although when the bartender informed him no hard liquors are served at the Marshall Stack, he politely made do with a glass of wine and began talking to two women who had gathered nearby.
The bartender later informed me that the women had confessed to not knowing who he was, but sensed the ineffable presence of fame around his being.
There was some talk, the bartender tells me, of Williams desiring to drive himself home, and the bartender says he attempted to assuage his fears that his car might be broken into and take a cab.
Hopefully in agreement, Williams produced a money clip fat with hundred dollar bills and asked where he might obtain vodka or tequila, and the bartender pointed him across Allen Street at a nearby bar. Williams left a thirty dollar tip on an eight dollar glass of wine and was last seen walking in the direction of Lucky Jack’s.
His female companions apparently elected not to join him. My bartender — an indisputably bighearted man who extends the utmost courtesy and warmth even with the rowdiest, most inebriated Murray Hill residents, but had radiated palpable unease in the presence of Williams — appeared relieved when he exited.
Later upon being informed of our curious visitor’s identity, I read about his recent suicide attempts and filled with regret over the less-than-welcoming treatment he had encountered in my ostensibly “diverse” neighborhood.
Here was a man in pain — pain not unlike that drove Larry Kudlow and Rush Limbaugh to abuse similar substances; pain so complex and multifaceted it apparently drove him to draft multiple suicide notes.
And is it any wonder? It’s not P.C. these days to earn more than a “regular” amount. Just ask Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, who has been counseling employees to rein in so-called “conspicuous” consumption in response to vicious attacks from the liberal media. It’s probably not unwise — like Williams before them, Wall Street is being hounded by some of the most overzealous prosecutors since those young gentlemen from Duke — but it is damaging to the American spirit, and it’s time someone said so.
In an age marked by populist rage and encroaching socialism, we expect the rich to hide their wealth — or stay inside. But now we’ve officially gone too far. When the economy is hurting — and unemployed “regulars” like myself expecting every other ale free — shouldn’t we all be welcoming he with the odds to odd 375% tip? Let’s call off this silly “Rich Hunt” for good, America.
Maureen Tkacik is the author of Sweatshop Equity: How the Global Sneaker Giants Developed The Economies Of Thailand, Indonesia, And A New Generation Of Unbeatable High School Basketball Teams and a former staffer to former Congressman Bob Ney.
This actually happened in late August, although she again relayed the events from the perspective of Kathryn Jean Lopez because A.J. gets off on your antipathy.
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What do you think?
Shop for great seating options, and great prices on baseball tickets - at TicketsNow! Going to a Major League game shouldn’t cost you a fortune, so shop smart and compare lots of different tickets, all guaranteed to be 100% authentic and delivered before game time.
young is at it once again,
When Chad Pennington dislocated his shoulder the other day, we lost one of The Elders of football and the quarterbacking arts.
We’ve been losing a lot of them lately: Marc Bulger, Donovan McNabb, Matt Hasselbeck, Daunte Culpepper. “The stars seem to be going out one by one,” said Trent Dilfer at Pennington’s press conference.
Everyone there knew we’d suddenly lost one of the great ones, the Elders, and there is lately a sense of a changing of the guard.
***
Who are the Elders? They set the standards. They hand down the lore. They’re the oldest and wisest. By proceeding through the huddle each Sunday with dignity and humanity, they show the young what it is that should be emulated. They’re the tribal chieftains. This role has probably existed since Shrovetide football days, because people need guidance and encouragement, they need to be heartened by examples of endurance. They need to be inspired.
We are in a generational shift in the NFL, and new Elders are rising. They’re running the two-minute drills, they own the lines of scrimmage, they anchor the offenses. What is their job?
It’s to do what the Elders have always done, but now more than ever.
***
Daunte Culpepper was at home late last August, hurriedly walking back and forth, worrying on the coming season, when he stubbed his toe on the carpet, necessitating six stitches.
This is why, I think, so many people-I include, literally, every person I know, from all walks of life, and all ages-are worried that our old quarterbacks are not safe, that this overheated era will end in some injurious play or plays.
Stop reading this and ask whoever’s nearby, “Do you find yourself worrying about Kurt Warner’s safety?” I do not think you are going to get, “No.”
***
Some linebackers feel umbrage when this is said. “The offensive line equates pressure with violence in order to squelch defense.” In some cases that of course will be true. But this isn’t football, it’s more like incitement. And it comes from both offense and defense.
Football cannot healthily endure without free and unfettered passing. It’s our job to watch, critique and question, and, being us, to do it in colorful terms.
But knowing where the line is, matters. Seeing clearly the lay of the land, knowing the facts of the team and your teammates, matters.
Now the new Elders must do the job they once did. Some of them will think they can’t, that the old ones were too big. But it always looks that way. Who thought Thomas Brady of Michigan would become Dan Fouts, only maybe more influential? Who would have thought Marc Bulger, refugee from the New Orleans Saints, could fill the shoes of Vince Ferragamo? But he did, and more.
Everything has changed since the old ones came up-new penalties, new ways of managing the clock. Everyone takes snaps now, from the rookie running back to the anonymous drunk on the practice squad.
But it’s still possible to set an example, encourage the helpful, stand for the good, pass on the lore, take responsibility.
***
At Brett Favre’s retirement memorial service in 2007, I worked on President Reagan’s speech. And this is what Ronald Reagan said of Brett Favre, on a warm dark night on the floodlit field of Lambeau
“It always seemed to me that he was a man of the most interesting contradictions, very American contradictions. We know from his many friends and teammates, we know in part from the Wrangler commercials available on YouTube, that he was both self-deprecating and proud, a kid out there and a gunslinger, highly aware of all the fun to be had yet utterly at home with running thirty yards down the field to throw a meaningless illegal block, once again like a kid out there.
“Everything we saw him do seemed to show a huge enjoyment of life; he seemed to grasp from the beginning that life is one fast-moving train, and you have to jump aboard and hold on to your hat and relish the sweep of the wind as it rushes by. You have to enjoy the journey, it’s unthankful not to. I think that’s how his team remembers him, in his joy.
“And when he retired, when that comet disappeared over the state of Wisconsin, a whole nation grieved and would not forget. A tailor in New York put a sign on the door: ‘Closed due to a retirement in the family.’ The sadness was not confined to us. ‘They cried the rain down that night,’ said a journalist in Europe. They put his picture up in huts in Brazil and tents in the Congo, in offices in Dublin and Danzig. That was one of the things he did for his country, for when they honored him they were honoring someone essentially, quintessentially, completely American.”
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A reader asks: “Peggy, what are your thoughts on ‘Jay Cutler: is he the next Tom Brady?‘ Thank you in advance.”
Jay Cutler reminds me of America. He is strong, and symmetrical. I think, sometimes, of Jay Cutler-and perhaps you do, too-that he is too young to know what it is to be a Franchise Quarterback. But, then, Marino was once young, once, too.
I like to imagine a strong, quiet quarterback, crouching behind center, steely-eyed and reserved, but taking it all in. Weighing, in one hand, the defensive alignment, and in the other hand, the play clock and how many timeouts he has, and, carefully, but determinedly, continuing to weigh, until the ball is snapped. I wonder, sometimes, if Cutler can do this. I fear the answer is no.
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Thomas Brady was only 25 when 9/11 happened. I wonder. Did he watch it on television? It was, I imagine, much like it must’ve been for Bart Starr to witness the assassination of President Kennedy.
Brady is, we’re told, beautiful, like a fawn. I worry about fawns in professional football. When I was a girl, a professional quarterback was supposed to look like your father, only uglier. It seemed more appropriate, more real. The great mass of Americans, the big center, they don’t want to see a fawn get sacked for a loss of yards. It reminds me of something Arthur Schlessinger once wrote about Fran Tarkenton.
Thomas Brady is a great American. And I pray, for football, and for America, that Jay Cutler can become one.
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Any thoughts on Is Jay Cutler The Next Tom Brady? Declarations?
Here’s a video of young doing his best work:
T206 1909-1911 Cy Young Ghost Baseball Card The Holy Grail
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My vote for MVP this year goes to Wells,
Dave van Dyck writes in the Tribune that Aaron Miles is “confident” he can bounce back next year:
The only trouble is that Miles has been buried on the bench by manager Lou Piniella and booed by Wrigley Field fans when he has appeared.
“The fans can be won back pretty quickly,” he said. “I’ve had a tough year. I definitely feel (management) gave me a good chance, but the injuries have gotten in the way. I’ve had a tough year personally off the field too (with a divorce).”
I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. Injuries? Then stay on the DL until they’re fixed. Off the field problems? Leave ‘em there. I don’t want to hear excuses. It’s not Miles’ fault that Jim Hendry gave him a ridiculous contract when no one else was bidding for his services. It’s on Hendry to fix this problem, and I think the most likely solution is to fold him into whatever deal he makes for Milton Bradley (as I suggested yesterday, perhaps Miles and Bradley could be sent to the Giants for Aaron Rowand).
One player who also wants to come back is Bobby Scales, writes Gordon Wittenmyer:
Scales made an impact more as a pinch hitter, going 7-for-13 with two home runs and five RBI in that role. In 50 games, he is hitting .244 with three homers and 15 RBI, playing mostly in the outfield since his last call-up. “There’s some satisfaction in what I’ve done, but I’m always harder on myself than anyone,” he said. “The goal is to stay here and help this team. I want to get better because if you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse, and in this game, if you’re getting worse, you’re gone.”
Scales will turn 32 tomorrow. He’s been a nice feel-good story, but I think the Cubs need to do better if they are going to be a serious contender in 2010.
Meanwhile, according to Bruce Miles, “most” of the coaching staff should return next year, including Larry Rothschild. Larry’s a punching bag at times when the pitching staff doesn’t do well. This year, the pitching was in general pretty good, particularly the starters. My opinion: I don’t think Larry has much impact. When the staff does poorly, I don’t believe it’s his fault; but when they do well, it’s not because of him, either. One thing I do believe: Ryne Sandberg should be added to the major league coaching staff next year.
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NOTE: Daniel Cabrera’s stats below are with the Diamondbacks only. See the pitcher box above for his full-season stats.
Daniel Cabrera was released by the Nationals earlier this year, signed by Arizona to a minor league deal, and recalled after September 1. He was once a top prospect of the Orioles and you’ll notice when you see him today that he’s a big dude (listed at 6-7, 230). He has never faced the Cubs; the only Cub who could play today who has seen him for more than a couple of AB is Reed Johnson (3-for-16). No one seems to have taken a photo of Cabrera as a Diamondback, so you get the above scowling image of him in a Nationals cap.
Randy Wells needs to throw 3.2 innings today to get on the “qualified” list for the ERA leaders; of course, we’d like to see him throw more than that and do well, since his last start wasn’t so good. This will be his first career appearance against the Diamondbacks.
Today’s game is on WGN and FSN Arizona. For other games today see the MLB.com Mediacenter.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Please visit our SB Nation Diamondbacks site AZ Snakepit.
Overflow comment threads will post today at 1 pm and 2 pm CDT.
Discuss amongst yourselves.
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Any response to More Hints Of 2010: Cubs vs. Diamondbacks Preview, Saturday 10/3, 12:05 CT?
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