Monday, November 29, 2010

Excuses, excuses

Yeah, I know I said a while back that I was going to start a series of posts on major league ballparks I’ve visited.  I still intend to do that, as I’ve collected a lot of links and associated information to put into the reports.  It’s a matter of getting off my duff and doing it.  I suppose we’ll have to call it a hot stove series rather than an end-of-season one.

Aside from my infinite capacity for wasting time, there’s also the matter of the 2010 election.  Like someone who can’t keep his eyes off a highway accident scene, I followed the daily play-by-play of the US Senate race here in Washington.  For just a moment, there seemed to be the possibility that it might follow the trajectory of the 2004 gubernatorial election, but it quickly became apparent that Patty Murray would send that sleazy, slimy real estate speculator Dino Rossi to his third defeat in six years.  Is this the end of his career?  Though I continued collecting county data right up until the final numbers were reported last week, I only wrote DailyKos reports about the election on November 3, November 4, and (after Rossi conceded) November 5.  I’ll probably do a summation soon, though I might wait until King County publishes its precinct-level results.

What else?  Well, there was our extraordinarily early snow and hard freeze early last week—a few inches of the white stuff, and Seattle collapses completely.  Actually, it was merited this time, as we experienced whiteout conditions with high winds.  That was followed by just enough thawing to result in glare ice on the streets when the thermometer plunged again.  But we didn’t let the weather spoil a Thanksgiving feast with 13 of us gorging ourselves and then playing word games long into the night.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

As if there was ever a question...

For:

• Patty Murray, United States Senate (WA)
• Jim McDermott, United States House of Representatives (WA-07)
• Ed Murray, Washington Senate (LD43)
• Jamie Pedersen, Washington House of Representatives (LD43, Position 1)
• Frank Chopp, Washington House of Representatives (LD43, Position 2)
• Charlie Wiggins, Washington Supreme Court (Position 6)
• Referendum 52, Health Schools for Washington
• Initiative 1098, income tax on high earners

Against:

• Initiative 1082, privatizing workers’ compensation (and putting $$ in the pockets of Big Insurance and the BIAW)
• Initiative 1053, requiring 2/3 majority to pass tax legislation (Tim Eyman’s latest scam)
• Initiative 1100, privatizing hard liquor sales (Costco version)
• Initiative 1105, privatizing hard liquor sales (non-Costco version)
• Initiative 1107, negating a tax on soda and candy ("yes" entirely funded by soft drink lobby)

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The ex-Cub (non)factor

Although it was popularized by the late, great Chicago sports columnist Mike Royko (see the October 5, 1993 column in this collection), the ex-Cub factor was first noted as far back as 1981.  Originally hypothesized as the proposition that any team in the World Series with at least three former members of the Chicago Cubs on its playing roster will lose, it has since been generalized to the simpler idea that:

Whichever club has the most ex-Cubs will lose

Over the years, it’s been a surprisingly strong indicator of postseason failure.  Of course, it hasn’t been nearly as powerful a measure as is the current-Cub factor, AKA the Curse of the Billy Goat, but the laughably-futile Cubbies aren’t the subject of interest at the moment.  Even though it’s been 65 years since they made it to the Series, and even though they haven’t won one in over a century (1908, to be precise).

With Texas—never previously in the World Series—and San Francisco—last there in 2002, last won in 1954—about to open this year’s championship series, what does the ex-Cub factor predict for this year?

Turns out that it’s completely non-committal.  Each club’s 25-man roster for the World Series includes only a single ex-Cub.  While that may help to explain how they got here (though I haven’t checked the rosters of the other postseason participants to count up their ex-Cubs), it’s no help for predicting the outcome of the Series.

The sole ex-Cub on the Giants is infielder Mike Fontenot.  He’d been a career-long Cubbie until this August.  Not a particularly good hitter, and a middling fielder at 2B, 3B, and SS, Fontenot has played more often than expected, due to the offensive collapse of putative Giant 3B Pablo Sandoval.  He started one game in the Division Series against Atlanta and two more against the Phillies in the NLCS.  Most of Fontenot’s appearance in the Series are likely to come in a pinch-hitting role, though he could also see some action on the field as part of a double-switch.

For the Rangers, the only ex-Cub on the World Series roster is backup infielder Andres Blanco.  Originally with the Royals, he was a minor-league free agent when the Cubbies signed him for the 2009 season.  After a not-very-good year there, he ended up as a not-very-good Ranger in 2010.  With Ian Kinsler, Elvis Andrus, and Michael Young around their infield, it’s no surprise that Blanco didn’t play in either the ALDS or the ALCS.  It’s unlikely that he’ll see much action in the World Series either, though it would be nice of manager Ron Washington if he could find a way to get Blanco into a box score somewhere along the line.  Maybe as a pinch-runner or something like that?

Without the ex-Cub factor to rely on, I’m going with my underlying, lifelong, National League preference.  Yes, they beat my Phillies, but I’m still going to be pulling for the Giants this year.

Wednesday, October 06, 2010

That was *some* debut!

Roy Halladay is a great pitcher.  He won the American League Cy Young Award in 2003, when he went 22-7 with a 3.25 ERA.  Halladay finished second for the AL Cy Young in 2008 and third in 2006.  As a Blue Jay until this season, he led the AL in innings three times, complete games five times, and shutouts three times.

In the 2009-2010 offseason, Halladay was dealt to the Phillies.  In his National League debut season, he led his new league in wins, innings, complete games, and shutouts.  On May 29, he threw a perfect game against the Marlins in Miami.  In all likelihood, he’ll be named the 2010 National League Cy Young Award winner a few weeks from now.

With all of those accomplishments, Halladay had never appeared in a postseason game until today.  Spending 12 years in Toronto, in the same division as the Yankees, Red Sox, and (in recent years) the Rays, he’d never been on either a champion or a wildcard club.

So today, opening the NL Division Series for the NL East champion Philadelphia Phillies, Roy Halladay made his very first appearance in the postseason.  And all he did was throw the second postseason no-hitter ever! 

Only a 5th-inning walk to Cincinnati’s Jay Bruce stood between Doc and matching the perfect game thrown by Yankee Don Larsen in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series.  Had he retired Bruce, he would have become the only pitcher in history to throw two perfect games in his career (in Halladay’s case, it would have been two in the same year).  So close!

So I offer the heartiest of congratulations to Roy Halladay.  In the big picture, the Phils lead their NLDS battle 1-0, with Roy Oswalt ready for Game 2 on Friday and Cole Hamels due to take the mound for Game 3 on Sunday.

LET’S GO, PHILS!!!

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Out of my prime

Today’s the day. 

Today, I leave my prime and move into a state of major divisibility.

Which is to say that today I have left the age of 59, a prime number (divisible only by 1 and itself), behind me.  At 60, my age is one of the most divisible milestones in the human lifespan ... not only by 1 and itself, but also by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, and 30.

I’ve heard it said (thought it was George Carlin, but I’ve never been able to confirm that) that everybody has one of those round-number birthdays that really hits them hard ... but until it knocks you flat, you don’t know which one it’s going to be.  For me, it was definitely 40, the start of a hellish half-decade or so.  Turning 50 was just another average day in the life, as is 60 ... not even a big enough deal to earn “not a big deal” status.  Really, the fact that today is Saturday is of far more import than the turn of a new decade of my life.

As for leaving my prime behind, not to worry.  I’ll be right back in my prime exactly one year from now, the day I turn 61.