In Our Day
I’m lying in bed Saturday morning, minding my own business. I’m scrolling through Twitter, as I am wont to do. And then I come across this beauty: "That's all for now folks, see you next week on This Week In Baseball" ~ Mel Allen (1985) #TWIB #MLB #History pic.twitter.com/Q7ftJ91gOD — Baseball by BSmile (@BSmile) November…
Green Fields and the Stories That We Tell
The baseball season ended on Sunday, October 28th. I knew the end was nigh, so even when Manny Machado succumbed to Chris Sale’s slider, it had, at most, three more days and two more games. But the ending is always abrupt. I awoke Monday morning to a final Baseball Tonight podcast. My “friends” Buster and Josh,…
Three Plays – Two Losses – One Player
If the World Series was going according to plan, it would be tied at one game apiece, and we would staring down the barrel of a five-game series starting Friday afternoon in Los Angeles. As it stands – as you all know – the Dodgers find themselves in an 0-2 hole trying to get fat…
Torn Between Two Lovers (2018 Edition)
Anyone who has ever read this site, or walked into my office, or seen me out and about on weekends, knows that I am a die-hard Red Sox fan. Although I was born in Southern California, our family moved to Connecticut when I was a toddler. That, alone, didn’t make me a BoSox fan. It…
The Demons Are Gone
October 16, 2003, bottom of the 11th inning of Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, Tim Wakefield on the mound for his second inning of work. We all know what happened next. That night, as we recall, the Red Sox held a three-run lead with six outs to go to advance to the…
The Call
There was a blood red moon – fitting he thought – which brightened the sky and symbolized this glorious moment. The road ahead – as far as the eye could see – was straight and dark. The hum of the tires could not drown out the cacophony in his head. Just a little while ago,…
It’s Better to Be Lucky Than Good (or Smart)
The Dodgers and the Astros are two of the most analytically-driven organizations operating in baseball today. Andrew Friedman has a background in finance, and ran the low-budget Rays for years on a diet of limited dollars and copious spreadsheets. Jeff Luhnow came to the Astros (from the Cardinals) in 2011, armed with degrees in Economics…
Game 5: A Long Day’s Journey Into Morning
At about 11pm Eastern time on Saturday night, as the Dodgers wrapped up Game 4, my wife asked me the following question: “Do you want to go to the game tomorrow night?” I dismissed the idea out of hand; but she was already fingers-deep into Travelocity, attempting to change flights out of Florida and into…
Glass House of Emotion
When I coached my son’s baseball team, the kids would often have “big league” moments – trying to do it like the pros. Whenever I saw it, I would tell the player: “Just show me your professional contract, and you can do that. Until then, you have to do it my way”. The inference, of…
One Pitch
The Astros won the AL pennant on Saturday night. A clean 4-0 victory over the one-season-too-soon Baby Bombers. However, one pitch could have changed it all. If you checked Sportscenter Friday night, you would have seen that the Astros beat the Yankees 7-1 in Game 6 of the ALCS. “Wow”, you would have thought, “the Astros got their…