I've stated before that the key to co-existing is to accept the idiosyncrasies of our fellows as they accept ours. In practice, this is an outstanding method, yet, in the philosophical context human endeavor, it is simply a the coach and the bag of potato chips. Whether the other person (friend, parent, wife, whatever) doesn't return messages, fails to fulfill commitments, cannot make use of logic or runs his mouth when he's had a few, allowing these tendencies to continue just encourages each of us to expect less of everyone. As I grew, I held myself to very high standards and applied the same standard to those around me. These days, having experienced so much disappointment from those around me, I find myself unable to hold myself to any level of excellence whatsoever. With each forgiveness that I gave, each flaw that I shrugged off, I became less and less worthwhile. Now, I forgive everything. Bobby won't give me a straight answer to any question? That's fine. He has other redeeming qualities. That's something that I would never do, but I have other imperfections. It doesn't matter. It all balances out in the end. The boundaries have become indistinct. If, when I get up in the morning, I don't do what I am supposed to, don't contribute in the ways that I am expected to, I don't hold it against myself. I feel no guilt. It's just part of the human condition. Whatever I do is ok. I'm not killing anyone or mistreating a child, so who the fuck cares? How do I make myself care about any of this shit? I'd like to sit here and reject everything about the world around me. A wise man once told me to stop whining about the unwashed masses around me, suggesting that I do something about them instead. Unfortunately, I can't talk to them. We do not speak the same language. I cannot lead them, they desire slovenly idiocy for their respect. I cannot ignore them, they permeate every instant of my life. I cannot serve them, they don't deserve it and I am simply too tired to want to. There are plenty of morons to do that. Does this mean they won? Sure, fine, take it. I'm going to play a different game. We'll see how that goes. As of right now, I am letting go. If anyone out there needs me to do anything, let me know. I can do pretty much anything. Except care about petty, banal bullshit.
Maybe Kurt said it best...
Cheers
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Pretty Girl 07.27.11 - Dilshad Vadsaria
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
A Quest Called Tribe
It is difficult to chastise the guy whose solo home run accounted for exactly all of the Indians' runs scored, but, yes, I am going to do that. I am sick of Matt LaPorta, utterly disgusted with him. Yeah, Matty's first home run since June 2nd was great, it gave us hope, but it does not forgive his other 3 at-bats. In the second inning, with a man on, he popped out to short on a 3-1 pitch, not putting anything vaguely resembling a good swing on the ball. With two on in the 4th, he flied out to center. The STO boys tried to make it sound as if LaPorta (.238) had come up just short of a home run. The ball did not even reach the track. Then, the ninth, oh mon dieu, the ninth. I was poised to write the complete antithesis of this paragraph, highlighted by the sentence "Every time I am about to completely give up on Matt LaPorta, he does something that compels me to give him another chance." While it was a great at-bat to work the count full, Amy Winehouse could have put a better swing on the 3-2 pitch. To compound the problem, Matt put himself so badly out of position with his attempt that he was doubled up at first. C'mon man!
Do you thing I am done ranting on this one? Not. Even. Close. It may be that Manny Acta is outstanding at bringing young talent along, at transitioning them into successful big league pros. What he is rarely proficient at is making in-game decisions. Sure, there were a few well-played situations earlier in the year, particularly involving the squeeze play, but, over the past month, Manny has hurt more than he has helped. Tonight was one of the worst, as he made not one, but two unconscionable calls. First and worst came in the third inning. With Jason Kipnis on third, Ezequiel Carrera on first and Michael Brantley at the dish with one out, Acta chose NOT to put Carrera in motion. Let me be perfectly clear, Zeke is fast (35/39 SB's at Columbus). The only tool that propelled him into the big leagues was his speed. Kipnis, who does have above average speed (9 AAA 3B), is smart on the base paths (12/13 AAA SB's). On the first pitch to Brantley, you put on the take (the lineup took pitch 1 all night anyway) and send Carrera. Hmmm, what might happen? A) Jeff Mathis holds the ball and you have two runners in scoring position. B) He throws through and Kipnis comes home with the game's first run against a guy with a 1.84 ERA. C) Maybe Zeke is even safe and the inning rolls right along. What is the worst case scenario? I guess it is that one of the middle infielders cuts the ball and gets Kip at home. That would take two great throws in quick succession plus the intelligence and awareness to make the return play. Unforgivable. Even if I could give Acta the benefit of the doubt for that blunder (which I cannot), he gaffed again in the all-important top of 7. He asked Josh Tomlin, who had thrown just 18 pitches out of the zone to that point, to throw four wide to Howie Kendrick. Although, I get the logic, Mark Trumbo had looked clueless in his first two AB's, the decision to break the rhythm of a man who had allowed 3 base runners all night is just plain stupid. Sure, the pitch selection to Trumbo could have been better. Still, let the your horse do his job, do not take the ball out his hand and give him time to think about what is going on around him. If Acta cannot recognize that this something that one absolutely cannot do, especially to a young pitcher, perhaps he is not as good at player development as some would have us think.
I feel a bit better now. Allow me to give Josh Tomlin his props. In a game where the pressure to be perfect must have been immense, Josh (11-5, 4.01) showed up for the challenge. Pitching a full 8 innings for the first time this season, and only the second of his career, he threw first pitch strikes to 25 of 28 hitters (including the IBB) and delivered five 1-2-3 innings. Tomlin has said recently that his cutter had been flat of late and somewhat difficult to control. It did not show tonight. That may have been because he threw more curveballs than normal, which worked well for the most part, until, sadly, he left one up against Trumbo. This was a great outing from Tomlin and what did he get, what did we get? A loss. Thanks, Manny and thank you, Matt LaPorta.
Enough.
Here's to not having to decide whether to watch the game tomorrow. It is not televised. ;-j
Cheers.
Clip Joint Perfection
This was Gemano's first win of the season at any level. Since joining the Clippers' rotation on July 6, he has not only limited opponents to a .196 batting average, but he has not walked a batter over 26 innings.
The sluggish Columbus offense put up all three of their runs early in support of Justin, with Tim Fedroff driving in a pair and Cord Phelps (.294) adding the third. Fedroff (.277) and Paul Phillips (.233) each had 3 hits.
In case any of you are wondering, I beat literally everyone with this report, including STO and the official Clippers twitter feed. Nice.
We are going to let this one stand on its own tonight.
Cheers
Clip Joint Not Playin the Hits
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| Mitch Talbot |
Last night's only run came on Beau Mills' first AAA hit/RBI/long ball, in the 8th inning. Corey Kluber (4-7, 6.05) delivered a typical performance (5 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K) in taking the loss and CC Lee (4-1, 1.99 overall) allowed his first AAA run. Mitch Talbot, though, showed up with an excellent outing. Talbot (0-1, 3.07) pitched the last 2.2 innings scoreless, while allowing 2 hits and a walk. As mentioned previously, I do expect that we will see Mitch back with the big club in August out of the 'pen.
Sunday featured absolutely nothing worth mentioning, as the Clips mustered but 2 hits. Saturday, at least, saw an impressive outing from LHP Nick Hagadone (5-2, 2.75 overall) as he threw 2 perfect frames featuring three strikeouts. Nick Has settled in now and he will make the trip to the NC should a trade deadline deal involve Tony Sipp or Rafael Perez. Zach McAllister started that game and it might be that he is feeling somewhat of a hangover after David Huff got the call for last week's double header and the subsequent rotation spot. McAllister was passable (5 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K), but has not lately been nearly as sharp as he was early in the season. His last 4 starts have seen an 0-1 record with a 4.13 ERA and a .298 OBA. Zach remains 8-3 with a 3.11, even though he has won just once since May 20th. He, too, is a possible chip in a coming deal.
Columbus hit .141 (13-for-92) as a team over the last three games. This is what happens when an organization calls up all of the talent to the bigs and does not make the corresponding moves deeper in the system.
Other Minor Points of Interest --
It seems as if Adam Miller (1-3, 5.45 overall) has hit a wall in Akron. Last night, Miller took the loss after giving up 5 earned on 5 hits and 2 walks in an inning and a third. He has now thrown 34.2 innings this season, the most he has pitched since 2007. In the last 8.2 of those innings, he has allowed 11 runs (12.07 ERA) on 13 hits (.362 OBA). I would not be surprised to see Adam hit the DL soon with a "tired arm."
Drew Pomeranz started for the Aeros yesterday and lasted just 4.1 due to a strict pitch count. Pom (3-3, 1.98 overall) surrendered 2 runs on 4 hits with 3 walks and 6 K's. Drew's numbers have been remarkably similar between High-A Kinston and his current stop with his OBA (.202 vs .200), BB/9 (3.74 vs 3.86), and K/9 (11.10 vs 10.93) almost identical. He still needs to stretch himself beyond 5 innings (91 IP in 18 starts), but, otherwise, Pomeranz is right on track. Oh, he will not be traded. Write it down.
The recently promoted Felix Sterling made an outstanding first appearance for the Lake Country Captains. Sterling earned the W in Sunday's 6-1 victory. Felix (3-3, 3.62 overall) allowed 3 hits and 3 walks, while fanning 2. Still just 18, expect Sterling to make waves at the A+/AA level next season.
RHP Jake Sisco, the Tribe's 2011 3rd round pick, got shelled in the AZL. Sisco (0-2, 2.95) allowed 4 earned on 4 hits, 2 walk and 2 punch outs as he got tagged with loss #2. It was Jake's first poor outing as a professional. He came into the game with a 1.42 ERA and .246 OBA.
Despite allowing a run, friend of the blog Tyler Tufts picked up his 4th AA save on Sunday. Ty (4-1, 2.05, 7 SV overall) has compiled all four of those saves over the past month as he has taken on a more prominent role out of the Rough Riders bullpen. According to sources familiar with the situation, the organization has finally taken notice of Tyler, a 32nd round pick in 2008. While the Rangers have a bevy of relief talent in the high minors, he was supposedly told that, if he continues to produce for Frisco, he could very well skip AAA and go straight to the bigs. As much as I hope this is true, the promotion of a AA relief pitcher to the majors, when he is not on the 40-man roster, is highly unlikely.
Cheers.
Pretty Girl Update! - Taylor Momsen
Monday, July 25, 2011
A Quest Called Tribe
While the walk-off was a joy, it was far from the only story tonight. How about Fausto Carmona? Whatever they did to Fausto over the break, can we please bag it and give him a intravenous feed? Carmona before the break (4-10, 5.78, 1.41 WHIP) versus after (1-0, 1.50, 1.17 WHIP) is like beef tenderloin after Dinty Moore. Again, he seemed to be talking to himself (tonight amidst a torrent of his own perspiration). I would like to believe that this is a method of slowing the game down for a guy who is fanatically emotional. Regardless, he produced tonight (6 IP, 4 H, 3 BB, 3 K) and if he can pitch similarly down the stretch, the Indians chances are much improved.
I fondly recall the days of Vinnie Pestano being nothing but nasty. Such has not been the case recently. Since July 2nd (the day he was the de facto closer and converted his first MLB save) Pestano has posted a 9.82 ERA and allowed opponents a .925 OPS. He seems to be struggling with his control. While his pitches continue to show the same filthy movement as in the season's first 3 months, their location has become erratic as he has left far too many over the fat part of the plate. Vinnie has just 43 innings of major league baseball under his belt, he will learn consistency. Joe Smith is a great example as he has put up numbers far exceeding expectation based not on better stuff, but on improved command. Wouldn't it have been nice if he had been able to pitch 2 innings?
Alex White pitched a simulated game this afternoon, throwing his full compliment of pitches. White experienced some mild soreness in his injured finger following the outing, but that is to be expected with an injury of this kind. Earlier today, it was announced that White would pitch "multiple innings" out of the bullpen upon his return. The rational is that after sitting on the shelf for 10 weeks, the time needed to build his arm strength back to a starter's endurance would preclude him from being of any help in the playoff run. If Alex's arm feels good tomorrow, he will likely begin a rehab assignment next week.
Combine White's status with the news that Mitch Talbot will also be working out of the 'pen following his own rehab stint and I deem it exceptionally likely that one of the Bullpen Mafia departs as part of a trade deadline deal. For those of you wondering, possible targets for the Tribe include starters Aaron Harang and Hiroki Kuroda and outfielders Ryan Ludwick and BJ Upton. Personally, I am hoping for Upton. Maybe we can unload Matt LaPorta on someone. He sucks.
Here's to not seeing Danny Haren against the Indians until after the apocalypse.
Cheers.
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