ghost of miles

Joe Girardi will be new Phillies manager So happy to see him back at the helm of a team.

Peter Botte @PeterBotte The Astros say reports of them losing the first two games at home are "misleading and completely irresponsible." 11:03 PM · Oct 23, 2019·Twitter for iPhone 2.7K Retweets 13.4K Likes David Moore @d_g_moore · 12h Replying to @PeterBotte and @Dan_Shaughnessy What we really don’t know is the intent behind the pitches that got hit. We may never know that because the person who threw them and the batters who hit them, at least up to this point, have different perspectives (last tweet is a parody of yet *another* ridiculous statement made by an Astros exec on Wednesday. Honestly, at this point from a PR point of view they’d be better off just shutting up) Yep, and though Nats are sitting pretty right now, it’s already been pointed out that several teams have lost the first two WS games at home and come back to win. (1996 Yankees being one of them!) I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see Greinke turn in a solid performance and the Astros get back on track. If they *do* drop game 3, do they then bullpen game 4, or start Cole on short rest? I think both Verlander and Cole may be running out of steam a bit, as much as they’ve already pitched this year. This is where Houston’s really gotta be missing Lance McCullers.

Another baseball friend and fan writes: >>I also read today that Cole and Verlander are the first pair of 20-game winners to lose games 1 and 2 of the WS ever.<<

This game has certainly turned into a who’s-gonna-blink-first pitching duel after that outburst of runs in the first.

Setting the hot stove on pre-heat, via the MassLive blog--Brandon Taubman, potential Red Sox GM candidate, now unhireable after clubhouse outburst >>Before the incident, Taubman likely checked many of the boxes the Sox are looking for in their next GM or president of baseball operations. The club is known to prefer someone from outside the organization, is trying to align its front office more on the analytical side and is likely considering organizational No. 2s after striking out in their attempts for top dogs like Theo Epstein, Andrew Friedman, Derek Falvey and Mike Hazen. Taubman even has familiarity with Sox manager Alex Cora, who was Houston’s bench coach in 2017. But there’s absolutely no chance he’ll be considered now, by the Red Sox or any other club. Somewhere in the offices of 4 Jersey St., Sox president Sam Kennedy is crossing Taubman’s name off a whiteboard, much like ownership groups in 28 other cities. The incident should also give other organizations pause when it comes to poaching anyone else from the Astros, who have handled themselves as poorly as possible in the aftermath of Apstein’s report. Only manager A.J. Hinch, who himself might have front-office aspirations someday, has stood out as a classy, respectful voice in a chorus of denials, non-apologies and P.R. mishaps.<< Astros blogger CKuno has a clear take as well, over at the SB Nation Crawfish Boxes website for Houston fans: The Brandon Taubman controversy is a PR disaster of the Houston Astros' own making The Astros front office had several chances to get out in front of this story and maybe display that they were an organization aware of the seriousness of the issue. Instead they were unnecessarily reactionary and aggressive, placing themselves and the team firmly in a spot they did not need to be in. As a fan of this team, I cannot see any way that this process could have played out worse, especially on the eve of the biggest series the Astros have played in since 2017. Please, do what you say Astros, and be better. Incredible to think that the O's had *four* 20-game winners just several years later in what, 1971? That's something that almost certainly will never happen again.

I wasn't yet a year old, so no memories of this series obviously, but I've read about it, and yeah, for 20th-century series that was an amazing matchup of pitchers. That Dodgers staff was insane. How about that indeed?!

I picked this up used at Landlocked a couple of days ago. It's actually a very good one-disc overview drawn from Marsalis' Columbia albums:

Interesting WS comparison from Red Sox beat writer Ian Brown in his reply to a fan’s query: When was the last time the World Series pitching matchups were this good? You have two former Cy Young Award winners, and also this year’s probable Cy Young Award winners in both leagues. And they are all pitching well. -- Mike O. Great point. The Astros have Gerrit Cole, Justin Verlander and Zack Greinke. The Nats have Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin. I looked up every World Series in the 21st century. The only Fall Classic that matches this one in terms of the caliber of starting pitchers on both sides is 2001. The Yankees had Roger Clemens (that year’s American League Cy Young Award winner), and also Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte. The D-backs had Randy Johnson (that year’s National League Cy Young Award winner) and Curt Schilling (who was the second-best pitcher in the league after Johnson). That series lived up to the hype and more, going seven games, with Arizona coming out on top. Let’s hope this year’s matchup lives up to it.

Really psyched for the new one—even though I enjoyed The Last Jedi a lot more than much of the SW fanbase seemed to, I’m glad J.J. Abrams is back at the helm for the conclusion of this trilogy: I love stuff like this—audience reaction in Chicago this year when the first trailer premiered and the title was revealed:

Huh? I know this is Jsngry sarcasm, but point is that an African-American quarterback whose “offense” is to kneel instead of stand during the national anthem because of police violence against people of color is effectively blackballed from playing for years, while dudes who clock their girlfriends or wives get a suspension and then are often welcomed back. That is fucked up, whatever the clever sarcastic point is. This whole Astros Osuna issue blew up because of Taubman and then the team’s initial f’d up response... it wasn’t on the radar at all until Taubman started carrying on in the clubhouse. Don’t see anything wrong with the reporter tweeting DV hotline numbers. This is a huge issue that goes far beyond highly-paid star athletes and professional sports franchises, obviously. Anything that raises awareness of ways to get help is good in my book. I hope she does resume. And Kaepernick’s still a lot better than a lot of other QBs floating around the NFL these days. In my backyard the Colts sure could have used him after Andrew Luck announced his sudden retirement. Yeah, his “offense” isn’t comparable because it doesn’t involve physically assaulting someone. It’s a statement *against* violence, and it got him run out of the NFL. I was already done with professional football or football of *any* sort, given that an essential element of the game involves beating the stuffing out of other players, but the treatment of Kaepernick sealed my undone-deal with football. See ya on the hot-stove thread, whenever it starts after the WS ends. Going to be an interesting winter for our Yanks and Bosox.

Talked to Scott yesterday, who described the Herman set as “snakebit” (not in terms of quality, but rather all of the weird manufacturing and packaging snafus they’ve hit with it), and he thinks both the Herman and the Mobley will be landing on our doorsteps by the end of the first week of November.

Osuna’s right to play baseball again has not been questioned by anybody in this thread—that’s a whole ‘nother issue, and the Yankees have dealt with this too, obviously. They originally picked up Chapman after his own DV incodent made him non gratis in Cincinnati and reduced his trade-market value, much like Houston and Osuna. Their best starting pitcher this year, Domingo German, missed the postseason and may miss much more time because of his own DV incident. So believe me, plenty of windows in my particular baseball glass house. There were plenty of Yankee and Astros fans who were not happy about their team’s respective acquisitions in this regard. From my perspective, the thing to do is to put these guys through some pretty intense therapy and psychological reconditioning and give them a second chance. Best-case scenario, they flip the script and become spokesmen against DV. I gotta say Osuna has seemed the least contrite of any player involved in DV, and I’ve read much less innocuous accounts of what happened in his case and the aftermath of it. But whatever—dude should be allowed to play wherever a team will hire him. The topic here is a most-likely-drunk Astros executive being an asshat to women reporters and singling out one in particular who’s an outspoken advocate against DV. And then the Astros, instead of simply apologizing (yeah, apologizing, which simply means you fucking apologize without any b.s. ifs, ands and buts) on his behalf, put out a dumpster-fire of a statement that has all the hallmarks of a utter bullshit Trumpian media attack. Also, Osuna, Chapman etc all got second chances and are playing in MLB. Colin Kaepernick, a very talented QB still in his prime, can’t get a gig *anywhere* in the NFL because he kneels rather than stands during the national anthem. How fucked up is that? Yeah, baseball and football, like all sports, are a business. Says a lot about how fucked up things are that it’s considered less risky business to sign a DV perpetrator than it is a guy who kneels for the national anthem. And speaking of “national”... go Nats!

Some good comments here: Baseball fans react to Astros’ front-office debacle And Sean Doolittle conducting an interview with a lightsaber after the Nats won the NLCS: Obi-Sean Kenobi May the Force be with you, Nats!

From the NPR story that posted last night... how very, er, Trumpian! In a formal statement, the Astros defended Taubman aggressively, calling Apstein's column "misleading and completely irresponsible" and saying the executive was just supporting a player. The team said it was "extremely disappointed in Sports Illustrated's attempt to fabricate a story where one does not exist." The Astros have had a rocky relationship with the media in the recent past. The club tossed a reporter from the Detroit Free Press out of the team's locker room after star pitcher Justin Verlander didn't want to take his questions. The team barred another reporter from the hometown Houston Chronicle. "It's just arrogance. That is what the organizational philosophy with the Houston Astros is," ESPN baseball columnist Jeff Passan said on Outside the Lines. "The Astros always, when they are attacked, will attack back. And that's what this was, despite the fact that we're on Day 1 of the World Series ... talking about this and not Gerrit Cole versus Max Scherzer." Astros executive’s rant at reporters draws firestorm on eve of series On a much groovier note, another friend hipped me to the good vibes that emanate from Nats reliever Sean Doolittle and his wife (who calls herself “the only goth among baseball WAGS): “I wanted to feel the energy that was in the stadium so that it wouldn’t catch me off guard when I did finally come into the game.” Sean Doolittle WS postgame interview Dude, in your spare time you’re a herbalist who plays in an indie rock band, right?! And his wife does indeed sound like a cool character herself, especially for her LGBT advocacy: Eireann Dolan Go Nats!!

I know some 'Mats fans don't care for this album, but for me it's the perfect coda to the band's discography:

Dude, that initial Astros statement isn't even worthy of "corporate rush job." What they put out *today* fits that phrase. Their initial statement is the same kind of Trumpian "No puppet! YOU'RE THE PUPPET" up-is-downism that has hit new heights of prominence in today's Makeitupland otherwise known as America and points beyond. I have no illusions about the principles of *any* corporate suites in professional sports (or collegiate sports, for that matter), but the 'Stros really showed their ass to the world on this one. Anyways, of course you're still going to root for Houston! I was going to root for the Nats anyway. Can't see many viable ways for them to avoid defeat at the hands of the Astros, but hopefully it's a good series, if nothing else. Yep. The more that comes out about it, the uglier it sounds.

Did you read the first statement they put out?! It wasn’t even an attempt at an apology, let alone a “sincere” one—it basically said the whole story was b.s. Just about every aspect of it proved to be false. This isn’t about shame shaming, it’s about an organization having the stones to be accountable for how its employees behave. Taubman had complained about one of the women reporters before because she’s spoken up about domestic violence before. There’s nothing that gets me more ornery than this continual Trumpian bullying-force attack against reporters for reporting stories and then blaming people who are upset by said stories and telling *them* the proper way to react. So excuse me if I issue a loud “F-U” to the Houston organization right now, with the exception of A.J. Hinch, who’s the only member of said organization so far to offer a sincere and clear-headed rebuke of what went down. Astros have only themselves to blame for the way this has played out today. OWN YOUR SHIT. It’s simple, really. The nuances of apology etiquette are much less relevant when an actual apology is made, instead of attacking the messenger. Here’s Houston’s initial response after they declined to talk with the Sports Illustrated writer before she published her story: Soon after her story published, the Astros issued a statement suggesting Taubman was supporting Osuna while he was being asked questions during “a difficult time.” The statement went on to say, “His comments had everything to do with the game situation that just occurred and nothing else — they were also not directed toward any specific reporters. We are extremely disappointed in Sports Illustrated’s attempt to fabricate a story where one does not exist.” All of that is false.

NBC baseball writer Craig Calcaterra on Twitter: “Any competent and ethical business would fire someone who did what Brandon Taubman did. That the Astros’ first move was to close ranks around him and attack the press for reporting what he did speaks volumes about their ethics and their competence.” Yep, especially since just about every statement in their first public response has proven to be false.

This story has gotten worse as the day has progressed, aided in part by the Astros’ f’d up attempts to respond to it. I’ll be curious to hear or read Brandon Taubman’s extended report on NPR, but Houston really needs to terminate Taubman: Taubman was targeting reporter who wears DV bracelet As a baseball fan & friend texted me earlier today after Houston put out its first statements, >>Apology dont’s: don’t tell people they made it up. Don’t apologize for peoples reactions or feelings to your words. Don’t point to charity to distract. Don’t use “if.” Don’t apologize for something other than what you are supposed to fucking apologize for. This is so bad.<<

Contemptible asshole, and not impressed by Houston’s initial response and b.s. followup either: “After clinching the AL pennant, an Astros staffer shouted “Thank God we got Osuna! I’m so f------ glad we got Osuna!” at a group of female reporters.” Astros’ assistant GM taunts women reporters about Osuna Agree with both statements. Nats can match Astros’ starters but nowhere else, really. Hoping for a 1990-Reds scenario, though.

Would love to hear that--please post online if you do!

❤️❤️❤️ Right now:

Thanks for this recommendation, Larry. I've always enjoyed Ashby's playing on the later-period Ellington records.