ahem.

Today is June 26.

One June 24, David Ortiz hit a walk off home run that inspired me to write - asking the question, "Is David Ortiz the greatest clutch hitter of all time?" to which I concluded yes.

Well today, on June 26, Ortiz decided to cement that idea with another game winning hit. It's the bottom of the twelfth and there are two outs, Mark Loretta is up. This is not a slight against Loretta, but you have got to give your firstborn to science before you give Loretta a free trip down to first. Poor Clay Condrey (evidently) wasn't aware of the heinously large man standing on deck and walked Loretta. This brough Papi to the plate. Here's the scenario - and the facts.

- if there is a runner in scoring position and Papi is at the plate, that runner will score.
- if the game is on the line, Papi will come through.

So Condrey is faced with a scenario in which there is a runner in scoring position and the game is on the line. Two will's exist to make even Tom Cruise cringe with doubt. Well those will's exist for a reason, and as expected Condrey payed dearly. Ortiz laced a single into center and Youkilis scored from second to end the game and end the series with a Boston sweep.

The moral of the story is: David Ortiz is as clutch as Larry's steal, Horry's threes, Squintz' kiss, the '84-'85 Villanova Wildcats, the Flutie-Phalen connection, every Viniateri field goal, Laettner's shot, Joe Carter, Kirk Gibson, Michael, Dwyane, and Henry Rowengartner's floater all rolled into one.

of course i'm westley (the dread pirate roberts)

Which Princess Bride Character are You?
this quiz was made by inigo montoya

i like it when you call me big papi.

What a played out title. Oh well, Notorious R.I.P.

So, has there ever been a hitter who was better in the clutch that the great David Ortiz. (I wanted to come up with some nickname for him, you know like Sultan of Swat, Colossus of Clout - and then I realized the Sandlot wasted all of those nicknames on the Pinstriping prostitute - Babe Ruth.) The Sox were opposed in Fenway by the Phil...uhh...I mean the Ryan Howards. And, to augment the Philadelphian problem, their star pitcher and the guy who pitched last night decided to assault his wife and spend some time in the slammer to warm up for his outing.

A few notes for Mr. Brett Myers:

1) You look like a child molester. Let's not perpetuate the image by walloping your wife in public in Boston.

2) The best way to warm up for facing the best offensive team in the bigs is not to spend a few days breaking bread with guys named "Rock" and "Kamikaze." (and by breaking bread, you know what I mean)

*I realize the South Side (Chicago) Steroids are putting up pretty haughty O-stats, but we don't recognize them as a team. The other Sox winning the World Series simply falls into the same category as having no champion in the strike shortened season of 1994.

Now, back to last night. Brett Myers pitched decently given the circumstances. He went 5 innings and gave up 3 runs. However Schilling gave up 3 also and that led to extras. Then in the bottom of the tenth, "The Purveyor of Power" strode up to the plate. He recieved a few pitches from Flash Gordon and then decided to deposit one in the centerfield bleachers.

My real qualm with writing this piece is "why?" Why should I write about something that is as regular an occurence as Aaron Carter showing up on Vh1's "Most Awesomely Bad Songs" list? I debate this and then I think about the other side of the coin. The Peyton Manning, the Karl Malone/John Stockton, the "Can't win the big one" plague. In that light David Ortiz becomes surreal and superhuman - which is a very real possibility. And frankly, I just want to write about the superhuman happenings in the world before the GhostBusters intervene.

Just to prove the outerworldly gift "The Polypheme of Pith" has; he has belted eight walk offs since joining the Red Sox in 2003. Eight! and that is not including all of the walk off basehits he's gotten i.e. the single that won the 14 inning, game 5 of the 2004 ALCS. Trot Nixon, who has been playing since the Sox were the Boston Pilgrims had this to say about Papi, "It's unique, just what he's done in his time here. The big clutch hits he's had here. It doesn't surprise me anymore." I suppose you could compare this to Robert Horry - no wait you can't. Robert Horry is a clutch shooter from three when the game is on the line. However what Ortiz does, well he doesn't hit a jumper. He's hitting triple teamed fadeaways from half court as time expires. Now when Dwyane Wade starts doing that, we'll have a comparison.

So what does this mean for the Sox? Well, the most important aspect of Ortiz's late inning ability is that the Sox always have a great opportunity to win the close, or tied games; especially this year with the addition of Jonathan Papelbon, who has assumed the "best closer in the game" title from Mariano Rivera. Both the best late inning pitcher and late inning hitter are on the same team. Perhaps, the Red Sox are not the best 1-6 inning team, but if they keep it close, they have the advantage in the 7-? innings over any team in baseball. If Keith Foulke comes back from injury and couples with developing star Craig Hansen and Mike Timlin to set up Jonathan "the grim reaper" Papelbon -- no one will score on the bullpen. That will give the Sox time enough to bat around until Papi strides to the dish and routinely disposes of the oppositions pitch amongst the Fenway faithful.

So, as for The Power of Papi, and his penchant for walk off home runs. He will go down into the record books as the most clutch hitter in baseball history. Eight walk off's in 2.5 seasons is unheard of, oh and by the way, he's only 30 - and that is a 30 with no history of injuries.

Albert Epstein?

To redeem myself after writing a full article on soccer, I'll have to sanitize myself by writing an article on baseball. While I'm here, I'll say that UNC is the most dominant NCAA tournament baseball team I have ever seen. This season they have Andrew Miller (the best pitcher in college baseball) and then they have Robert Woodward who fired a 3 hit shutout against Clemson at Omaha and Daniel Bard who was the 28th overall pick in the amateur draft. Oh yea, and he was throwing 97 in the 7th inning yesterday. For a best of three format, I'm not sure they could be situated any better.

::

The genius of Theo Epstein has taken four years, a abrupt resignation, a walk from Fenway to his car in a gorilla costume, a time of soul searching and a reintoduction to the Sox Nation. Through all of this there has never been any hesitation on the part of Epstein to call the shots. He's a confident young manager who has an uncanny ability to weigh the future ramifications of present moves. This has allowed him to trade away some crops down on the farm and put together a championship caliber ball club, while not selling the farm and having nothing left in the tank for the next couple years. This is the first year, that the farm system is really bringing life to the Boston Red Sox, and therefore is the first year that the fullness of Epstein's genius is obvious.

The "youth movement" is underway in baseball. Stars such as Jose Reyes and David Wright anchor the Mets, then there are the young pitchers in Verlander and Liriano. The most obvious case of this youth is in Florida. The Marlins and Rays are both incredibly youthful teams who have a huge ceiling. The Red Sox are a club that is in the race year in and year out and therefore cannot invest too much in youth, however this makes the development in the minors of utmost importance.

One of Theo Epstein's main goals upon taking the GM job of the Sox was to strengthen the farm system. However, in doing so he has never lost sight of the present and given up on a season. With this combination of short and long term vision Epstein was able to lead the Sox to a world championship in 2004. However, the teams that Epstein continues to put together are getting progressively better. Yes, the 2006 Red Sox are better than the 2004 Red Sox. The first place to look is at first base.

Kevin Youkilis has been the sparkplug for the offense. Kevin Millar was a great clubhouse presence, but his presence on the field is not nearly what Youk has provided this season. He boasts a .319 batting average and a .433 on base percentage to go along with 9 home runs. Perhaps the most telling snippit about Youkilis so far is that he has a Web Gem at three different positions. His play at first base as anchored an offense that lost its leadoff man for a majority of the season thus far. Many fans were calling for Youkilis last year, but with nowhere to play him on an every day basis Theo kept him down at Pawtucket allowing him to get playing time every day. That playing time and experience coupled with an opportunity to make a splash on the major league level has manifested itself in a way that the management could have only dreamed about.

Two acquisitions that flew under the radar this offseason was that of Mike Lowell and Mark Loretta. Loretta was acquired from the Padres for Doug Mirabelli because Loretta was coming off a thumb injury. After a slow start he is picking up his offensive numbers and although he'll never regain his 2003 All Star form he is most definitely an upgrade over the Todd Walker/Mark Bellhorn combo that patrolled the post for the past few years. The Lowell trade is a little different as the aging All Star was a throw in with Josh Beckett from the Marlins. Who knows whether Theo saw that Lowell would have a resurgence or whether Beckett was alluring enough to make Epstein shoulder Lowell's contract. Either way, with Lowell reverting back to the offfensive form that he exhibited in an outstanding 2004 campaign and with year-in-year-out gold glove defense Lowell is making Epstein look brilliant.

Alex Gonzalez plays short and there is nothing really to say about him other than that he is the best defensive shortstop in baseball. That is without reservation. He is abysmal offensively and draws the ire from fans at times, but he has sured up a team defense that was near the bottom in fielding percentage last year and they are now leading the majors in fewest errors. His defense is a considerable upgrade over the disastrous year Renteria had last season.

The outfield is pretty stable with Nixon and ManRam patrolling Peske's Pole and the Green Monster respectively. The new face is Coco Crisp. He was a budding star in Cleveland and yet the route to acquiring him was basically through the losing of Edgar Renteria. Renteria is a tough player to trade based on last year, and therefore Crisp is in a bit of a tough situation. He has to live up to the trade and his predecessor, cult hero Johnny Damon. As of yet, he hasn't lived up to his billing, but that is in large part because of injuries. When Crisp starts swinging again, it will be interesting to see the boost the Sox take from his speed.

(The moves of the offseason:

• The Sox traded (SP) Anibal Sanchez, (SS) Hanley Ramirez, (SP) Harvey Garcia and (SP) Jesus Delgado to the Marlins for (3B) Mike Lowell, (SP) Josh Beckett and (RP) Guillermo Mota.
• (SS) Renteria and cash considerations to Atlanta for (3B) Andy Marte.
• (C) Doug Mirabelli to San Diego for (2B) Mark Loretta.
• Guillermo Mota, Andy Marte, (C) Kelly Shoppach to Cleveland for (RP) David Riske, (C) Josh Bard, and (CF) Coco Crisp.
• Josh Bard to San Diego for Doug Mirabelli
  

The Cleveland/Sox trade came down to swapping relief pitchers and catchers; Mota for Riske, Shoppach for Bard, and then Marte for Coco. Marte was acquired from the Braves for Renteria. Therefore the dispensing of Renteria effectively brought the centerpiece (Marte) for the trade that landed Coco.)


All of these positional moves have been outstanding. Damon is probably better than Crisp, but Crisp has more good years left. Other than that every other position is the same or an upgrade over the previous years. However, none of this can compare to the development job and juggling of the pitching staff that Sox management has done this year.

Schilling, Beckett, and Wakefield are a lethal 1-2-3 punch, but in baseball a fourth and sometimes fifth starter are needed. The Sox had this in David Wells and Matt Clement. Unfortunately Wells has been out with bad knees all year and Clement has struggled mightily all year. This has left two rotation spots open and what could have been disastrous turned into a brilliant display of managerial prowess.

Everyone in Red Sox nation was calling for the arrival of Jon Lester when Wells went down, however Epstein called up a little known AA pitcher, David Pauley to make a few starts. Pauley fared decently, and in the biggest start of his life he controlled the Yankees in New York for two ER over seven innings. There was a stretch when there was no fifth starter needed, and this made Pauley expendable. He is still on the roster but has been moved to the 'pen. In the next start when the Sox needed a fifth up came phenom Jon Lester. Although conditions were not enviable (start of game delayed four hours) he fared decently in earning a no decision in Arlington. Then Clement went down and Lester was inserted to the four hole. He pitched a gem at Atlanta holding the Braves to one run over five innings.

Then the real juggling act was put on display. A day before they needed a fifth starter the Sox picked up Kyle Snyder off waivers from the Royals. He has a hideous track record and hadn't won since 2003, but pitched a whale of a game and the Sox ended up getting the win. Following Snyder's start came Lester's next turn and it was his home debut. He decided to warm the Fenway faithful to him by pitching a one run, three hit, ten strikeout game over the Nationals. Then a day after that, Epstein picked up Jason Johnson from the Indians. Johnson, a veteran, with another ugly track record is a player that can fill the void left by the two pitchers on the DL. This allows Kyle Snyder and David Pauley to move back down and get some quality developmental starts at AAA.

The juggling act of picking the pitcher who will keep the Sox in the game and always knowing when to use whom has been a thing of pure genius. I have no idea how a GM can predict who is ready for a breakout and who isn't but I know I'm glad Theo doesn't have a team in my fantasy league.

the Clint Mathis factor

So today is a new day, and as the adage will tell, the turning of a new leaf. However, it seems that the United States national futball team has decided to stay hidden under its perennial cellar dwelling leaf again this year. The fact that the United States has not gotten serious about soccer til recenty is indesputable. But, the display of this year's team fell way below the precedent set four years ago in the far east.

In three games the U.S. looked like three different teams. The first game against the Czech Republic the U.S. looked like children playing against their fathers. Pavel Nedved led a Czech team that looked more like a pefectly aged wine than a moldy slice of bread. The ineptness of the Americans was exposed in the ninth minute and then again routinely throughout the match. They shaped up against Italy, and should have won. Unfortunately they ended with a tie. However, somehow they came out flat once again against the Black Stars of Ghana. They were outplayed at midfield and except for one or two dazzling chances really mounted no formidable attack.

Now, it must be mentioned that there were a great deal of uncontrollable circumstances that led to the U.S.'s demise. Namely, John O'Brien who is a brilliant midfielder was out for the duration of the WC. Also, the absence of Eddie Pope and Pablo Mastroeni for the Ghana game were huge losses. However, none of these reasons suffice to explain the U.S. difficulties.

Eric Wynalda, an ESPN anchor made the acute observation that Bruce Arena's 4-5-1 deserves a great deal of blame for the anemic offense that the U.S. displayed. Now, there are all sorts of questions surrounding Arena's juggling of his lineup: perhaps, Eddie Johnson should have been in more, perhaps he should have changed up the formation to put more forwards up. All of these what if's surround the team and their disappointing meltdown in Germany.

No matter what the questions are; there are a few observations that are undeniable. In 2002, when the U.S. made their great run Landon Donovan was explosive. He had room to make runs and get in behind the defense. The reason he was able to do so was because of the Clint Mathis factor. Mathis was an instrumental player for the '02 Cup run as he was the leg. He had the cannon that kept defenses honest. Opposing defenses simply could not jam in the 18, because Clint could bury the hatchet from well beyond the goal box. This year's team had no "strikers." Our only forward was McBride who is a great player, but whose forte happens to be his aerial ability. Every successful team has a player, or players who keep defenses honest by unloading shots from outside. The United States did not have that player and this allowed defenses to scrunch in and jam up running lanes - cutting off Donovan, Convey, Beasley, Dempsey and Lewis from playing the type of games they are accustomed to playing.

This is not a hard concept. It is also not a foreign concept to Americans. Think about the effect of a three point shooter in basketball, a deep threat WR in football. All of these are vital parts to a team so that they can stretch out the defense and create room to make plays. the likelihood of a "deep threat" scoring is rather slim, but they open the field for plays to be made. That is the Clint Mathis effect, and that is one reason the United States struggled so mightily in this World Cup.

Another factor that is a little more difficult to diagnose is the service from the midfield. Many soccer fans hail Claudio Reyna as an American hero, which in many ways, he is. However this world cup, the United States struggled mightily in the midfield. They most definitely held their own against Italy in what was an inspired match. However, it is now obvious that as the midfield goes, so goes the U.S. team. Much like the Clint Mathis factor there is a midfield factor that was absent for this year's national team. Midfield is the most important position on the field because they control the ball for the majority of the game. The midfield is very much the offensive line in football. The team that wins the battle of the trenches (the battle of midfield) usually will win the game. Unfortunately for the U.S. the battle of the trenches includes sending attacking crosses from flanks, making smart challenges, and making crisp passes -- all of which the U.S. was unable to do.

This midfield issue is one that needs to be addressed. However, the players are there. The real issue is the one of who plays up front. Brazil has Kaka, who can shoot from anywhere on the field, England has Beckham. These are the players who open creases for great on-ball, or aerial players. Unfortunately Clint Mathis is gone from the U.S. team and there are no explosive shooters on the roster.

ads

there aren't many ads that beat the Nike commercial where Tiger Woods juggles the golf ball on the face of his wedge and then out of midair hits a perfect shot. However, Nike has outdone themselves with this.

WC.

The Croats. (I think Croatians should call themselves Croats).

The Croatian soccer team wears amazing jerseys. Most countries sport traditional solid colors with perhaps a stripe or two. The Croats decided to wear tacky Italian Restaurant tablecloths while competing against the soccer world powers.

Dado Prso and Darijo Srna are both Croatian soccer players who have un-pronouncable names, it is one of the greatest and funniest feelings in the world to see someone running down the pitch (which in soccer language means field) with a last name that is absolutely impossible to say.

The last great thing about the Croats is their fans. First they also wear the Italian tablecloths. So when the camera pans over the Croatian fans it looks like God is sitting down for a large Italian feast. However this image is stopped when the fans begin to light bonfires. Yes, in the stadium, in the seats the Croatians light up bonfires to help spur on the team. At one point a commentator said, "this would never happen in America," and he is absolutely right; things like that are illegal here in the states.

The Croatians so far are my favorite thing going on over in Gelsenkirchen Germany. The main reason is that I've been trying to come up with mascots for all the teams and the Croatians make it very easy ...The Croatian Fightin' Pyromanical Tacky Italian Tablecloths.


thing number two ---

Ronaldinho, sure he might be the best soccer player in the world, but where was he when they were casting Beetlejuice?

thing number three ---

Mexico's coach Ricardo Lavolpe. Why do I like Lavolpe, well he sits on the bench and chain smokes. Soccer is a sport where a bunch of 160 pound men run for a 90 minutes and those men, well they are coached by a chain smoking, goateed man who looks like a bad guy from a James Bond movie.




(TBC) possibly

verbage

i have decided, effective this post, that i will henceforth disregard correct capitalization and punctuation...i will also make up words

one only needs look at this world, this world of blogdom to cast a glance into the heart's intrigue in language. the bookstores, the coffeeshops, the authors, the english teachers, the classics. there are very little things that can stand the test of time and literature/language is one of them.

this intrigue in language is greeted rather rudely by a vast expanse of grammapolitics (words and syntax and rules) that stretch from our diminutive understanding and stretch into the dredges of human thought. this breadth and depth is immeasurable as it stretches from what we know physically to what we dream subconsciously. it stretches from what i am thinking and simplifies down into what i say, however language stretches further than our thoughts and statements. however because we are so inequipped lingually we are unaware of this "second leg" of the language's body and therefore many times we are completely and wholly unable to express ourselves.

this lack of understanding is most easily identifiable in our inability to grasp and run with the fullness of a word. the fullness of words is something that we will never fully understand. we will never fully know the meaning of a given word --- say, love.

love is an easy word to point out because it has such an intriguing and convoluted emotionality. this emotionality is interconnected with the four letters which create this very simple word. this word has such a deep and rich emotional quality and yet it abides in such a small and simple word. words with such capacity for emotion would seemingly live inside of words that can match the grandeur...words like onomatopoeia. but it doesn't.

::

there are many quotes by intelligent people that fall along the lines of "what you do is infinitely more important than what you say." why? why is what we say, is of very little importance? it is because even when we say things, we still don't understand. we don't know what those combinations of words might mean. we simply don't know how certain words strike others and never can be fully content with our communication, outside of our physical actions revealing the truth in our words.

so back to the word and world of love. this is a word that is thrown into conversations rather haphazardly. perhaps with a family member the final thing you say could be, "love you bye" really quickly. my guess is that such a phrase explodes out of your mouth like a busta rhymes lyric. this is oxymoronic - this is why there is such disparity between our actions and our words. love cannot rush from the tip of our tongue into the cochlea of our communicatee and evaporate without striking the neural connections of our brain.

love....love has to be a word that drips like a leaky faucet. the emotional context has to build and build and build and then become so heavy that the droplet falls effortlessly to the sink - rippling what once was serene, standing water. love has to be a word that simply drips off the end of our tongue because we simply cannot keep those four letters out of the air. it has to. it simply does.

words are meaningless, if we use them in situations where their true characters are not allowed to shine. "love you bye" busta rhymes style means nothing more than "bye" because the love you is not a genuine drop of language, but a forced correct formulation of letters. i don't want to hear an "i love you" that snaps like a kit kat bar. i want all of my "i love you's" to cluster and drip like molasses, intoxicating the air with the truth: truth of the emotionality behind my language and the the truth that can only come with the correct usage of the word.

image-jury

sulty air swims through my hair
and the stench of dry tobacco wafts through the rafters
the windows aren't opened but air still seeps through
and washes the clean room with a dusty wind
the wood floors creek and the i beams whimper
we sit together on the weather beaten sofa
and you hold my hand in yours
and a cigarette in your other.
you ash off my finger as you kiss your cigarette
and the swirl of gray smoke swirls out toward the back door
the moment etches itself into my brain
as my aperture finally blinks and
i inhale the warm summer air

memory.

People will always say that life flies by. People in high school bestow wisdom upon their younger siblings of how quickly their childhood will be gone. Similarly as we get to high school we look back on the glimpse of time spent in high school and it all seems like such a blink in time. However, these are the moments that we love, the moments that we are so happy to remember.

Somehow, however, there are moments that seem like they last ages and that they have just now been completed. There are portions of our lives that simply do not fade from memory. These are the things that we would rather not look back on. For some reason, the things we remember most vividly are the things that we would like nothing more than to forget and move on.

Why, is it that we are so quick to move on and barely pay any attention to the passing greatness that we will so soon forget, however when that road is marred with rough spots we can't shake those moments from our mind?