If you’ve spent more than five minutes with my mother, you likely have been told that she’s from Brooklyn. She’s not shy about telling you, whether you are someone she meets at church, a friend of my sister or mine, or a complete stranger that had walked into the Subway wallpapered with New York subway maps that she used to own. So when 42 was first announced, I knew that I would want to see it with her. And see it with her I did.

One of the very well-done posters for 42.

When Jackie Robinson broke into the majors, my mom — who recently turned 70 — was the tender age of 4, so she doesn’t remember his debut. Growing up, I never really asked my mom too much about Robinson. I knew who he was, and I knew that she knew who he was and that she appreciated what he meant to baseball and this country in general, but that was about as far as it went. The only thing that my mother always volunteered about the Dodgers was that her time as a sports fan abruptly ended when the team tucked tail and moved to Los Angeles.

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HIROKI KURODA
Complete game shutout for Kuroda. This definitely means he is over his injury concerns. Well, it probably means that. We don’t actually know. Use him next time out, definitely, unless you have a reason not to.

JOSH HAMILTON
A 3-for-4 day from Hamilton, with a home run. Does this mean he is over his slump? Yes. Yes it does. Unless it doesn’t. Hopefully he can carry this one-game hot streak forward to the next game, and then the game after that.

JARROD PARKER
Parker struggled mightily again. Will he turn it around? He didn’t yesterday. So the signs are pointing in a negative direction. Unless they aren’t. There are other pitchers in the Oakland system, so he should watch out, because one of them may be chosen to start instead of him, at some point. We’re on top of this developing story.

ANIBAL SANCHEZ
Sanchez did it again. He hasn’t permitted more than two runs in any start this season. Will that continue? It might. Will it continue forever? It may. It may not. Is he a pitcher? He is. Can we read box scores? We can.

JUSTIN SMOAK
One-for-three with a double. Any hit for Smoak is something worth noting, as we note every hit by everyone. Does it mean anything? It means his batting average went up. Will it mean anything in the future? It might.

STEPHEN PRYOR
Pryor left Sunday’s game with an injury. He will be evaluated by the people who evaluate those things, and then we will report the news to you, at exactly the same time as everyone else will report that news. Look out for our update, which will come as soon as we have one.

MIKE TROUT
Trout hit his first home run. Will it be his last? Not if other games are like this one. But yes, if other games are like the ones before this one. This will either be the start of something big for Trout, the exception to a disappointing season, or something in between. Thank our investigative reporter for that scintillating analysis.

TIM LINCECUM
Lincecum left the game. Was it because of performance or injury? We’re looking into it. Does anyone have an MLB.TV account we can borrow? Did you know Lincecum’s first name is Tim? This means something for your fantasy team, unless it doesn’t. You should drop Lincecum if there are better players on the free agent list, but you should keep him if there aren’t.

JOHNNY CUETO
Our insiders at the Associated Press are telling us that Johnny Cueto is being placed on the disabled list. Fantasy owners, this means you can put him on your disabled list, if your league has one. He will be back the next time he pitches, and not before that. Will he be fully recovered? You would hope so.

More breaking news and analysis as it happens.

NOTE: I’ve titled this “A Movie Review” because this is most certainly just one man’s perspective. Readers are free to disagree.

Synopsis of this review: This was the master’s clay in the dropout’s hands. A whimpering disappointment, 42 exchanges the impact of a complex truth for the cheap thrills of rapidfire sentimentality. But hopefully, to the uninitiated, the film’s slight glimmer of the real Jackie Robinson will be enough to transmit the epic trials of a man worthy of remembering and generate interest in the history of baseball’s most important man.

Rating: 2 stolen bases out of 5 attempts.

Review in full: I love the story of Jackie Robinson. I love the person and legacy of Jackie Robinson. I wanted to love 42, but I also love art. I love art because I love truth, and art — even when employing fictive devices — aims to communicate truth. Deeper truths. Any truths. Art, good art, gives us the tools to understand and conceptualize the world around us.

I recently watched three documentaries on North Korea. Who isn’t a little nervous, curious about the Hermit Kingdom? The first documentary was a National Geographic hidden camera expose of life and medical technology in North Korea — Inside North Korea. It created in me a sense of awe, a distanced but very real sensation of intrigue and astonishment at this cult of Kim, at this thug government, at this bizarre universe so far from my own.
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“April 15 approaches,” I said. “That is Jackie Robinson Day!”

“It is no such thing,” sniffed Cistulli. “It is Tax Day. Tax Day is when monies are seized for purposes of providing Al Qaeda with fresh breast milk and access to Head Start Programs. It is good that this is done because I prefer Al Qaeda to Jackie Robinson. Hail Satan. Praise be to Al Qaeda.”

“But, Cistulli,” I implored. “Jackie Robinson was a man of immense courage, dignity and historical import. How can you say such things?!”

“He was not,” Cistulli sniffed. “He was scarcely a man. I am a man. Look at this enemy-combatant chest hair ‘neath my radical’s tunic. Quislings unite! Jackie Robinson is someone I actively disrespect!”

“Cistulli, I must object–”

Then he ravished me.

But I — I! — created a NotGraphs category called “Cistulli. F__k that guy.”

Happy Jackie Robinson Day, everyone but Cistulli.

Pirates right-hander Phil Irwin’s very first major-league inning wasn’t what anyone would call “ideal” — on account, that is, of the two walks and two hits and two runs conceded.

What that same inning also featured, though, was Phil Irwin’s very first swinging strike — not surprisingly by way of his curveball, which has been known to provoke religious experiences even in the steeliest non-believers.

Here’s that inaugural swinging strike, to Cincinnati’s Todd Frazier:

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First:

some strange modern dance bit at first base there

— Harry Pavlidis (@harrypav) April 13, 2013

To Wit:

The following was hastily crafted and designed poorly and is only relevant for about an hour following its publication. Other than that, though, it has been time and energy well allocated by the author.

The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are more than just the AA affiliate for the Kansas City Royals; they are also perhaps the finest source of boyfriend material in the Ozarks.

Today, the Naturals present two sensuous and aptly named young men for the consideration of area singles: Sugar Ray Marimon (who starts tonight’s games vs. Midland), a native of Cartagena, Colombia, and Brooks Pounders, a right-handed reliever from Temecula, California.

First, let’s get to know Sugar Ray…

Ellos no me llaman “Sugar Ray” sin razón, muchachas. 😉

On his ideal first date:

Me? I like pizza. It makes a first date easy because everyone likes pizza. When you are eating pizza, you cannot be false, you show your real person without thinking about it. Pizza is really hard to be bad, too. Even bad cooks make okay pizza, so you will not be disappointed with your meal on a first date. Or maybe, if the pizza is really really bad, you can say with your date, “This is amazingly bad pizza. I never had pizza this bad. I didn’t think it could happen.” Then, smooch smooch.

On his ideal partner: Read the rest of this entry »

FREE hot chocolate and coffee for fans at tonight’s game!!!

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) April 12, 2013

As the tweet embedded here suggests, the Minnesota Twins — owing to the frigid weather hovering above their home ballpark — will be giving away free coffee and hot chocolate to attendees at tonight’s game versus the New York Mets.

What that same tweet neglects to note, however, are some other things that (a) are free, and which might (b) also appeal to ticketholders for this evening’s contest.

Like these three things, for example:

North–Central American English
Are you a professional linguist? Have you ever referred to yourself, in passing, as an “Armchair phonologist”? Are you interested in studying an /oʊ/ sound that is sometimes monophthongal and sometimes features a lengthening from [o] to [o:]? If that’s the case, consider attending tonight’s Minnesota Twins game, where the North–Central American English dialect will be ubiquitous — and free of charge.

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Every so often, I hit a moment where I wonder if it was such a great idea to turn something I love so much into my work. There are minutae associated with work that can drag the topic down into the doldrums. Living bare to the world on a daily basis can be exhausting. Turning on a game because you have to is a strange feeling.

Similarly (maybe), Chris Tillman may have had times where he wondered if it was going to work, and if it was all a good idea to begin with. But then he might have had one of those reaffirming moments on his second pitch to Dustin Pedroia in the fifth inning yesterday. Not a big deal, just a yakker for a strike, but it was a beauty.

And watching it spin by, over and over again in my Photoshop, I felt like yeah, yeah, this is fun. Phew.