Monday, October 31, 2011

The Texas Rangers let it slip through their hands. I think that is the main lesson to be learned. They had the Cards pinned - a few times- let them up, let them breath and let them win. Yes, I am loathe to offer any congratulations, despite begrudgingly admitting that they "earned" them, to LaRussa and his squad. But they came back home loose and ready and never said die. There was some pretty intense baseball and if you missed it, well, your loss.

The Yankees will announce Brian Cashman's new contract as GM today; yesterday they picked up the 2012 options on Robinson Cano (duh) and on Nick Swisher. The latter a little on the fence as Swish's failures year in and year out in the post-season had some of us wondering the New York team would let him go. But the ink is signed and I approve although wouldn't be shocked if the Yanks traded him this Winter; his play and numbers make $10M a "bargain" in today's economic baseball world.

Oh, so I  had applauded the set designer of "Moneyball" for the Strummer poster in Billy Beane's office and for the wonderful Bill Gallo cartoon of Thurman Munson in Art Howe's office. Turns out Howe, who can't really be pleased in how he comes off in the movie, never had that piece of art in his private space, but it at least made him look good in my eyes.

Time to turn toward the hot-stove league and a long Winter's worth of words, whiskey and hopefully equal doses of that other lovely W-word...

I'll save some foodie restaurant reviews of Heidi's, Barbette, Moto-I and Muddy Waters for some other time, but I can fully endorse each and every one of them, so that will have to suffice for now.

Out biking while it was snowing in Brooklyn is kind of sweet; much like East Coast kids who have Halloween off from school for an early snow day.

Enjoy it!
Brian

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

At some point during Game 5 it actually hit me: this is a rather pivotal game between Texas and St. Louis and it's late and it's so close that a blunder or a break here or there could make all the difference in who hoists the trophy and who waits 'til next year. And seeing that the blunders committed seemingly most egregiously by Misters LaRussa and Pujols were all the breaks the Rangers needed.

Now up 3-2 in games and heading back to St. Louis requiring but one more win for Texas' first world championship it's pretty much all do or die from this point forward. And I am hoping I get a chance to see a chunk of those games but I have my brother coming to visit from Brooklyn and he doesn't take the world seriously...

 Seems like the cool old punk guys and the recovering addicts (perhaps all one in the same) tend to work at bike shops. Pretty great guys at Recovery in the Nordeast, but went and met and got some work done at Sunrise Cyclery in Uptown - they fixed the rear tube issue which Recovery did not, but I won't hold that against those guys ... much.

And it's probably the waning days of warmish and easy bike riding so I will be getting out on the Schwinn today and cruise around the lakes.

Last night's meeting about Batting for Punto was postponed again; this time not by me, but I must admit I was beat and wasn't totally feeling it myself, but would have gone and met. But I have an idea for an MC (instead of me and other writer/partner) and would like to move that forward, get some other commitments and set a date for November and keep it. Now, that has to work around a week long trip back East, but such is life interrupting art.

Need to see what is happening with the Rose book cover; plans for Modus Locus involve having the book-release, reading/selling/signing there as well are all waiting on having the actual book to have to hold and to sell fer chrissakes...

Okay, I am going to get out into the sun and try not to spend $50 as I do so.

Cheers,
Brian

Monday, October 24, 2011

Well, okay -- I admit it: it's a World Series after all, although when the Yankees are not involved I do think that for baseball fans and even for the televising network's benefit reducing the thing to the best of 3 (or even 5, I guess) like it has become is the way to go. Now, I am interested; hadn't really been much before that. Could also really just be the sleep-deprivation talking there; plopped out in front of the TV for much of the weekend was about all I had in me.

But the Cards, with a little assist from an umpire (and bully for Mr. Torre for coming down on the "pool reporter" (I like how they didn't name the guy although he named the ump and his hometown)) and a blown call and an error by Texas' catcher playing first helped toward a Saturday night blowout; more like a football game. And yes, Alberta (still smarting from so much bad press for bailing after less than stellar play in game 2) did hit 3 homeruns in a WS in a row but to compare him to Reggie? Nah, I don't think so. Game 3 heroics in the bandbox that is Arlington is not in the same ballpark as Mr. October doing it in a Game 6 and on three swings in a row. Yeah, I am biased but still... Pujols is just looking for the payday.

As will CJ Wilson, the Rangers' ace who has not pitched like one in the post-season, who knows he could not only leave his team in a hole with a bad outing, but he could also cost himself a lot of money. Yes, the Yankees will be going after the free-agent-to-be lefty starter, but NY is a team built with the important Fall games in mind but he's got to step it up.

Fan favorite (and one of mine since he was an Athletic) Nick Swisher may find himself on that very same bubble: impressive during regular season, non-existent during the post-season. If the Yankees jettison Swish due his lack of hitting in October, it may be hard to spend the money on a starting pitcher who can't help the team over the hump.

The hot-stove league doesn't get going until after the World Series and I guess there will be plenty of time for those discussions then, so for now-- let's watch the last few games of the season. February when pitchers and catchers report is still a far, far off land...

Thanks
Brian

Friday, October 21, 2011

Well, if you're coming here -- and why would you -- for World Series news all I can say is: why would you? I know at some point I will watch some of it (why would I?) and have something to say. So far the most interesting tidbit to come my way is the fact that 400 year old Arthur Rhodes, who has one of those records for appearances without one of them coming in the Fall Classic (until this year), is double-dipping his chip. As part of the Texas Rangers until his release in August, the old reliever gets a ring no matter what -- win or lose -- as the Rangers have voted him a share in Texas as well as his due for coming out of the Card bullpen.


So, I took my favorite 10 year old to the movies yesterday and while I will say that "Dolphin Tale" is pretty good family fare it was rated PG and I wish someone had guided me a little; without getting into too much detail let's just say that neither she or I expected the movie to take us to a VA Hospital while her folks were at the VA Hospital. It's bad enough that my life imitates my art; I didn't expect that to be contagious, but there you are...

I have "committed" myself to another Nanowrimo; did I say that last time? All I have at present is a title: "Warm Button Issues." Perhaps it's SciFi, but I don't really think so. And yeah, I keep writing books that I don't do much with and barely let people read, but it just dawned on me that I probably wrote ten scripts to learn, then hone my craft without any real driving need to have anyone read them. Some stuff is to stock the drawer, right?

And I am near about to ask a new friend who actually seems to enjoy such endeavors to be the MC for Batting for Punto; of course no one including my co-conspirator in the writers salon knows of my plan. I guess you do now too, but you are awful quiet. Sometimes I doubt you have hands or mouth...

Okay, I'm going to run along a lake before it freezes...

Cheers,
Brian

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

First blog scribbled in the new place. Thurman locked in the bathroom being far too quiet for my comfort as the landlady's handyman/husband puts door closers on my front door. I had started to ask someone what a door closer was and found myself about to ask how frequently the Weekly World News comes out or when Saturday Night Live is on (although if you asked my opinion I'd say it went off the air twenty years ago). But that's what's happening as I write this.

And I can write this as I finally installed my internet and wireless. And yes, it had been activated last night and I did attempt to install, but doing so in the dark (literally as I haven't got much in the way of anything outside of "mood lighting") and having had some whiskey with a visiting friend (I am so central that friends keep stopping by and as long as they bring whiskey and beer and stuff it will be great for winter) I apparently was trying to put the phone Jack into the Jill -- if you catch my drift.

But even with the still very spartan surroundings -- and I don't plan on taking it that much past that -- I have a good spot from which to type: facing doors, facing windows out to the street all bode well. But, in two weeks I also move my desk into the downtown loft space and expect to have some good and quiet writing ahead of me there. It does coincide well with the start of Nanowrimo (www.nanowrimo.org) and even though I have nothing I want to write (outside of the Cave Girl movie) but I guess I have a week or two to come up with something resembling a plot...


Okay, okay - yes I am aware that the World Series starts tomorrow. And I suspect that I will watch some of it, but rooting for the Texas Rangers has very little appeal; I would rather Ron Washington touch that trophy than goddamn LaRussa but it's only the lesser of two evils. And the Rangers winning it all may embolden Nolan Ryan into not only trying to keep CJ Wilson (who, really is going to cost himself a lot of potential Yankee cash if he doesn't pitch well in the Series) and into going after CC, should he opt-out of his contract.

Cheers,
Brian

Thursday, October 13, 2011

I missed much of yesterday's games having a social life. Sorry. Hope you watched; I wouldn't have been happy with either result; the ALCS game was tied late the last I had looked. Oh well. Instead of the sought-after Mid-West battle it's starting to look an awful lot like a St. Louis vs. Texas World Series is in the cards; I would have to root for the Rangers by default, but I doubt I'll seek out watching much of it. When's the Super Bowl?

Things are getting uglier and uglier in Boston after Francona was sacked and Theo Epstein was permitted to leave to the Cubs. Guess the thinking in Chicago is if he could break their curse he can break their's too; I'd call that unlikely-- at best.

Indian Summer looks like it's met its trail of tears. Cold, gray, windy and rainy and that's just 'til the snows come. I'm hoping I'm covered for that. Well, not covered by snow... not totally.

I feel a big rant coming on. It won't be today of that I am certain, but it's bubbling up and this may be the only forum on which I may let it fly. You'll be the first to know and mind you-- it ain't baseball related. Nope.

Okay, that's it for today. Need to get back to packing I suppose although that activity is feeling awfully familiar...

Thanks,
B.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

So much for my baseball predictions. Alberta answered Tony Plush so loud it's probably still ringing in Nyjer Morgan's ears and the Cards made the Brew Crew look very beatable especially heading to St. Louis for the next three games.

Meanwhile, Texas came back against Detroit, forced extra innings and Nelson Cruz became the first in MLB post-season history to hit a walk-off, grand slam. The Tigers are ailing, but need to turn it on as the ALCS shifts to the Motor City.

In the world of the New York Yankees there are conflicting reports of whether Brian Cashman will return as GM. His 3-year contract expires at the end of the month and while he is still on the job, and initially word had hit the NY papers that a contract was in the works, but Cash' told the same papers that that simply is not true.  He claims that there has been no communication and no progress either forward or back. I am not sure whether re-signing Cashman is the way to go or not.

In some ways being the GM of the Yankees is the best and easiest job in the biz: you have all the money and the prestige behind you, but in other ways it's always a losing proposition unless you win the World Series each and every year. Other teams use the Yanks as a negotiating tactic, agents and the players they represent do the same thing.

And I do give great respect to Cash' for what he pulled off this year. In the Yankee brain, we "lost" both Andy Pettitte and Cliff Lee in the off-season; they were both "supposed" to be in Pinstripes in 2011 and despite all the great efforts of Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia (who Cash' signed off garbage heaps and they helped the Yanks to the division and the best record in the AL) and the other castoffs that wound up filling the bullpen; a bullpen that wound up being the best in the league DESPITE getting nothing from Feliciano and Marte and injury-plagued seasons from Joba and Soriano. And he did that while being saddled with some huge contracts (including Soriano for 3 years which the GM was quite opposed to, but he did sign the lame Feliciano so... a push at best?) and plucking guys who came to the Bronx hungry and performed above all expectations. I'm talking about Ayala, Wade and that other guy here in case you're wondering.

Hmm... I maybe just talked myself into backing Brian Cashman into re-signing the GM. It's not like Billy Beane would work in NY. By the way, hadn't read "Moneyball," but enjoyed the movie far more than I expected to; I can really recommend it and it's rare that that happens...

Ok, I've got boxes to fill and emails to wordsmith to potential muses; better than a gub at the back of your head.

Cheers,
Brian

Monday, October 10, 2011

Well, now that the baseball season is officially over (Yes, I know the playoffs are going and Yes, I have watched quite a bit of even though the online package is essentially done-with (Yes, I do have the Tigers/Rangers game on the online radio. And if I had my way it would be an all Mid-West World Series, and No, I don't mean the Cards and LaRussa. Rooting for Tigers vs. Brewers in the Fall Classic and for Tony Freakin' Plush and the new Brew Crew to hoist the trophy if someone has to...) and you're probably wondering how I spend my time during the off-season.

I have a cave by a lake all picked out and it seems as if the sun is playing along. Could be that it's a gloomy-ish day, but Thurman was just requesting dinner more than an hour before dinnertime. I tried to explain how the digital clock on the stove works to him with less than stellar results.

Skipped out on the second rain-delay in game 1 of the ALCS; went to a party and spent a great portion of the evening in a hidden away hot-tub with a lovely, free-spirited young woman. Who won the game? Texas? Oh... Okay.

Meanwhile I was dog-sitting for some friends and despite a real fear of the seizures one of the pups was having we had only one real scare, but he was only "playing dead." No, I didn't kick him...

Tonight I'm going to try out the best local brewery's new release Surly Wet along with some food pairings, some cooked with the brewery's beer.

And I got to take a spin in a dear friend's brand-spanking new-fangled ulta-high-tech wheelchair; it's one of the kinds that can go up hills, lift up, stop on a dime et al. Goes about 6mph on the straightaway (perfect for TTITD) and can spin you around in a circle. I tried to break it, but only wound up stuck in a cut-out in the pavement and spinning my wheels in the leaves on the ground...

Okay, I'm going back to the baseball game...

Cheers,
Brian

Friday, October 7, 2011

Well, that's that- the Yankee season came to a grinding halt last night in the Bronx. It was win or go home and the Bombers did just that and they are going home. And although that old adage of "good pitching beats good hitting" very well may be true, but the Yanks were a hit here or there from taking the series and failed. Do I blame A-Rod? To some degree although sitting here there's no way to tell how healthy and ready for the series he actually was. But from that same seat, when A-Rod looked like he had nothing in the clean-up spot (he got 3 rbi early on but none from hits; his only 2 were late in a blow out game) and although I didn't have George's Ghost tweet it or write it here, I was privately calling for his benching and substituting the lefty Eric Chavez at third especially against the Tigers all right-handed starting staff.

I didn't hear one other commentator call for that. And feh, it probably would have been easier had AJ just been his inconsistent self; the Tigers would not have had the chance to celebrate on our field- first time at the new Yankee Stadium coincidentally.

And as the Yanks are built to take the ring, this is now 5 times in the last decade that they've been bounced in the first round. Cashman's contract is up and while there's talk that it will just be extended, this could be the chance to look around and see if there's anyone out there more up to the task of supplying this team with the tools (ARMS!) that they need to get the ring.

We're going to be saddled with A-Rod's albatross on a contract and after he most likely opts out so that he may opt right back in with an extra year and some extra money CC will most likely not be the same pitcher he's been four, five years down the line.

But this off-season one would have to imagine beside re-signing CC (and you have to figure the bosox will attempt to pry him away or, at the very least, drive up his price; it's the off-field battles between NY and Boston clubs that have maintained the animosity; one could say the sox owe the Yanks one for Crawford) that the Yankee GM will go very hard after Texas lefty CJ Wilson. A 2012 starting rotation of: CC, Nova, AJ, Hughes and CJ Wilson is a nice mix of righty/lefty and youth/experience. The bullpen was rock steady this year and hopefully will get something out of the oft-injured parts of the pen we haven't seen.

Anyway, I will leave the hot-stove stuff until the season is officially over. Now? Now I root for an all Mid-West World Series -- and I don't mean the Cards, although I'd be fine with them knocking out the Phillies but to a lesser degree since the Yanks, sadly, won't get to face either.

So yeah, let's go Brew Crew and yeah, I'll root for the Tigers now. WI vs. MI has a nice ring to it and at least the games will be in my time zone. Sadly that's all that's left...

Brian

Monday, October 3, 2011

Well... Batting for Punto: A Salon is officially postponed yet again. The silver lining is that when it does happen -- and it will -- we won't be going off half-cocked, so there's that. November, if it's not snowing, seems a much better month to sit inside and hear people talk about baseball and apple pie; I don't know if there's really any good season to talk about Mom...

But speaking of baseball it was a good thing that I decided to forego HSBG this year as the music would have been in direct conflict with the Yankee post-season ALDS schedule. So I got to see Freddy Garcia have just enough to lose to the Tigers yesterday and the bats finally wake up against the Tiger bullpen in the 9th which turned out to be just about enough to lose interestingly. You can't complain too much when you're able to bring the tying run to the plate in the 9th in the big bat of Robinson Cano; interestingly enough, Detroit skipper Jim Leyland actually considered walking Cano, putting the tying runs in scoring position and taking their chances with A-Rod still in the clean-up spot.

But Cano grounded out to second to end the game.

The upside of Friday night's rain-out was getting the tough Verlander out of there setting up this crucial "re-match" tonight between he and CC Sabathia for the Yankees. And I'd bet that the big lefthander has the same thing on his mind that I do: the loss of the off-day for travel means that AJ Burnett gets the ball and the start in tomorrow's game 4. It's bad enough for the team, the fans and my liver that Burnett gets to pitch; if the Yanks are down 2-1 the season rests in AJ's rather unstable hands and head. I expect CC to stand up like the #1 he is and make things really tough on the Tigers. The Yankee bats need to continue what they started in the Bronx and make Verlander throw a lot of pitches and get into their pen. That is the formula.


In script news, at least I am getting some interest on a few projects. "Crawlspace Charlie" has been passed upstairs at one production company and just went out to another. I have a sample scene to submit for a horror movie work-for-hire that would be just what the doctor ordered should I get the gig. "Head On" also went out as a sample today in a attempt to secure another gig for a company with a decent sized upcoming slate. Keep 'em crossed for me...

Okay, go read a book and then watch some baseball.

Cheers,
Brian

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Apparently no one asked Mother Nature for her predictions for the ALDS. Rain washed away the first inning and a half of game 1 of the Yankees/Tigers series and with it the big question of how the Bronx Bombers would do against Cy Young-to be Justin Verlander, potentially twice in the series. The inclement weather denied the answer to how perennial Cy Young-also ran CC Sabathia would match up against the youngster.

So tonight we get Ivan Nova vs. Doug Fister; not quite the marquee match-up we were all expecting, but them's the breaks. Nova, who has shown remarkable poise throughout the season, gets the shot to put the Yanks up tonight should Mother Nature let them play. The absolute worst part of the whole weather debacle (and another rain-out could, potentially change this again) is that it almost assuredly forced Joe Girardi's hand into starting AJ "Pass me the Scotch" Burnett in Game 3. If the Yanks are up 2-0 it's okay, but...

Yeah

But if Matt Moore the surprise rookie starter of the Rays could tame the Rangers, who says Nova -- or even AJ -- cannot as well?

As for the NL serieses. I think I want them all to lose but the Brew Crew.

Yeah, that's all I got this morning. Lots of baseball to watch...

B