Wait, I definitely recognize one of them. Maybe that other guy seems vaguely familiar.
Buried in the Minneapolis Star Tribune story titled “Ex-Twins Dickey, Slowey scale Mount Kilimanjaro” is this nugget:
While Mets management tried to discourage Dickey from the arduous pursuit, the Rockies were fine with Slowey going ahead.
“Nama biru” is Japanese for “draft beer.”
Go to Jingu Stadium in Tokyo for a game — it’ll cost you half as much as the Tokyo Dome, and you’ll get to see the same game.
You know what will stick with you? The little things. You see, they have baseball in Tokyo, but they don’t call it that. They call it basebaru. Same thing, but a little different. Maybe it’s the metric system, or maybe it’s just society.
The beer experience fits right in — baseball with a little dash of shoyu.
The Josh Reddick of my mind has been very busy. First, he was all optimistic. Then he was all pessimistic. And he’s still in there knocking around.
What he’s done to cope is this: change up his styling. Each look represents how he’s feeling at the moment. Each look plays with line, texture and depth. Each look is a snowflake. Each look has a motto.
‘Tis the season for resolutions, so let’s perceive of ourselves as better people for just a second. No worries about the sex of the title, these will work for fans of any gender. As you’ll see, these resolutions represent a two-pronged approach to this whole betterment thing. A little for the body, a little for the heart, and a little for the mind.
* I resolve to run more often … so that I can eat and drink as poorly as I want at the game.
* I resolve to put down my computer, phone and book so that I pay complete attention … to the game.
* I resolve to be more thrifty and spend less, perhaps by brewing more of my beer at home … so that I can afford to go to more games.
* I resolve to read more and fully research everything … that could make be a better fantasy player.
* I resolve to tell the people I love that I love them more often … so they don’t mind when I ask for the television for the game later.
* I resolve to learn something new … about baseball.
* I resolve to help others … dominate fantasy leagues I’m not in.
* I resolve to get organized … gotta get all those baseball cards in the right order.
* I resolve to spend as much time as possible with my son (due in early April) … and, of course, put the ball in his left hand as much as possible. Even LOOGYs get paid.
Cognitive dissonance is a heck of a thing.
Like, I like Frank Thomas. He got a little sanctimonious at times, and his head was kind of misshapen, but he also was on the front of the first $20+ card I ever got in a pack (1990 Stadium Club, now on sale for $1), and for like seven years at the beginning of the 1990s he was like straight fire unleashed on the league. For those seven years he had a .330/.452/.604 line… 835 walks to 528 strikeouts…
Louis demonstrates his lefty-handed circle-change.
Comedy giant Louis C.K. did an AMA thread on reddit, which would be familiar to non-reddit readers as an All Questions Answered thread, more or less.
It might have been as awesome as reddit is a horror to read. It’s like going back in time ten years on the internet, which is like going back in time a hundred years in real life. Something about the format promotes boredom. Or at least, that’s my excuse for almost missing this gem, buried in the thread:
Young Yu Darvish doesn’t know what all the fuss is about.
Young Yu Darvish lost his hemp necklace that time he was caught reading some poems he wrote to Kumiko in Yoyogi Park and they had to run away from her aunt. He went back to look for it, but only found her underwear.
Young Yu Darvish once did get caught that time he was smoking cigarettes in the pachinko parlor with Keiko. But he knew that all it would take to get excused without incident were some furrowed eyebrows and a firm “Su-Me-Ma-Sen.” He’s nothing if not polite.
He’s never seen a gyroball, but he’s thrown a gyrocutter before.
Young Yu Darvish was never the same as the other kids, but that’s on them.
Young Yu Darvish’s chain says “love” in Japanese. He has one that says “hate” in Persian that he wears sometimes when he’s feeling a little different. He tells people they both say “love.”
When John Legend says “This ain’t a movie no / No fairy tale conclusion y’all,” young Yu Darvish knows what he’s saying. Like, deep down in his soul. Also, he thinks it’s a great thing to say to girls in English when he’s breaking up with them.
Young Yu Darvish has only been learning the guitar for three days but can do a great “Sunbeam” already. One time he was playing it in Harajuku and a girl just slipped him her number and ran away giggling. He plans to keep playing guitar, but worries about his fingernails. He needs them for that knuckler that he’s working on.
A teacher once told young Yu Darvish that he had an old soul. Once everyone left the room, she also gave him his first kiss.
He once played hockey, for kicks, for a couple of years. They won a county championship. Young Yu Darvish then quit because he didn’t like the way the pads chafed.
Young Yu Darvish wonders what’s out there.
Fun Baseball Armadillo Facts:
* Armadillos are members of the same family as anteaters and sloths. As is the case with most members of that superorder, they have low body temperatures and a slow metabolism. That helps them get through doubleheaders without needing a snack in between.
* Armadillos have poor vision, but large eyes. This makes them excellent candidates for umpiring once their playing careers are over.
* Armadillos are covered in relatively small, overlapping epidermal scales called “scutes”, composed of bone with a covering of horn. In most species, rigid shields cover the shoulders and hips, with a number of bands separated by flexible skin cover the back and flanks. Basically, catchers.
* The North American nine-banded armadillo often jumps straight up into the air when surprised, which can then send them straight into the bottom of your car. Kinda like when a slugger is trying to avoid the tight fastball and brings his hands right into the pitch.
* Armadillos are solitary animals that do not share their burrows with other adults. So don’t go try to hang out with him down there at the end of the bench.
* Armadillos have been consistently expanding their range in North America over the last century due to a lack of natural predators, and have been found as far north as southern Illinois and Indiana. Bandwagon fan.
* There’s a Pink Fairy Armadillo. It is pink, but not very fairy like, so he can startle. Sorta like when I showed my wife a picture of Corey Hart.
John Autin over at High Heat Stats Blog pointed out that the length of the average save is dwindling. Watch it disappear:
Manny in his younger days.
The San Francisco Chronicle recently reprinted a nearly fifty year old piece about Manny the Noodle and a supposed conspiracy to get the Dodgers into the World Series by slipping a mickey into a certain Giant’s outfielder’s oatmeal. A notable quote from the bookie incredulously asked “So baseball is different from everything else? Honest or something? Money wins every time, kid. You ride with the money or you’re dead.”
If only to enjoy more elite-level wordsmithing, we caught up with Manny, now fast approaching the century mark and enjoying his lime rickeys in Vero Beach. He had a few more revelations for us.