No Light
It's terrible to watch, of course, and I was sitting around last night thinking about why. And I think I know. One is the clear toll it's taking on the boys to be playing like this. We saw beautiful, happy faces in May and now those same faces are faces of doom. There is nothing worse than the appearance of effort, of pressing. And when that pressing leads to failure, it's pretty excruciating.
The other aspect of this that turns my stomach are those braying idiots who go on and on about how this team sucks (have sucked, might suck now, will suck any day now, sucks and blows) like they get some enjoyment out of it. Tweeting Wilner and Stoeten when they were playing well, saying "this is an illusion!!!" and now that they are struggling, these idiots get to say "I knew it. This team isn't a first place team." I'm sorry, but if a team is in sole possession of first place for 42 straight days, it's a first place team. The first place team is a first place team.
I'll give you a moment because I just blew your mind. First place team is first place team.
Like I was saying, I don't know what is going on except injuries to Lind, Bautista, Encarnacion and Lawrie derailed this thing, and everyone is pressing. The earlier success wasn't a fluke. The guys that were playing well had all done similar things in their careers before (save maybe Francisco. But he probably has always had stupid power.) The key was everyone was doing it at the same time.
The American press fawning over Mark Buehrle has died down, but I honestly don't think he's pitching terribly. He's pitching like himself. Yes, he is giving up homers but when this team is clicking, homers (particularly solo ones) get erased pretty quickly.
Dickey has been a little frustrating, but I've written about this before. It's a trick pitch. He's been a fine #3. Dickey's rough edges would be a lot less rough with a bit of offense. Thole is not the anchor everyone seems to think he is (he is more useful than Mirabelli was catching Wakefield- who won two World Series with Boston. It's possible, people.) Mostly what annoys me about Dickey pitching is the pointless chatter about how AA screwed it all up. Dickey gives up a run and people want to shoot themselves.
Hutchison has shown flashes of brilliance and Stroman makes my heart sing. Happ....well, he's there, too.
I don't know the solution to this, other than to ride it out. And try not to cry. You'll get dehydrated and alarm your pets.
Daniel Norris, my favourite Jesus lovin' hippie surfing pitcher kid, has been named by Baseball America as the 25th best prospect. I want to keep this one, Alex. He lives in his VW bus and doesn't want money to "change" him. He also lives in a Terrence Malick film.
I've finally gotten around to reading Dirk Hayhurst's latest book about his time with the Blue Jays. His struggles with mental illness and he reluctance to take anti-depressants (while nightly chasing oxycodone with beer) says a lot about the stigma and misunderstanding surrounding mental illness. The bits about Jays clubhouse were interesting, and rather irritating. These guys were a lot more like 13 year old girls than I imagined.
I just started a new job and part of my training was this anti- workplace bullying workshop. It was basically a workshop on how not to be an asshole. Many people in this book (and in life) need this workshop.
I was reading the Paris Review and there was a blog post about this series of early 20th century books about a baseball player named Joe. The series, Baseball Joe, followed the adventures of pretty much the greatest baseball player ever to play. Ever. His baseball skills are so overwhelmingly awesome, he saves lives with them. And thrashes his enemies. And single-handedly wins pennants. My favourite description was of one of the later books Baseball Joe, Champion of the League, or, The Record That Was Worth While.
Joe Matson sets out to lead the league in home runs, batting average, stolen bases, pitcher's strikeouts, and ERA, while leading the Giants to records for consecutive victories and games won in one season.Awesome.
In this installment's subplot, shameless confidence men try to get Joe to throw the pennant, arguing that Pittsburgh or Chicago deserves a flag once in a while. When Joe turns them down, the con men commission a mad scientist to invent a ray gun that will drain the power from Joe's pitching arm. Fortunately, Joe begins the novel by saving the scientist's wife from a burning building, and once it's made clear that our hero was her deliverer, the scientist repents. The con men are foiled, and thrashed for their pains. Joe goes back to pitching no-hitters, starting triple plays, and scoring from first on singles to win the pennant.
Finally, I'm participating on Pitch Talks #5 with other baseball types, including Bob Elliot, who is in the Hall of Fame. Which is ok, I guess. If he doesn't lead the league in home runs, batting average, stolen bases, pitcher's strikeouts and ERA, it's just not as impressive.
So come on out on July 17th and see me try to be informative and witty about baseball. Use the code "HumandChuck" and get $5 off.
The $5 can be exchanged for beer.