tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10962865461489432232024-03-19T05:06:57.519-07:00Deep Left Field(wherein a series of seemingly unrelated thoughts coalesce into a series of mostly unrelated blog entries)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096286546148943223.post-49362819073635487672016-12-23T14:10:00.002-08:002016-12-23T14:12:05.044-08:00Andruw.Edmonds in a single image<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKkxeN6I3nyLrPXefd1HYK_tTQw-OQdRe4OodWqNLYQo8fl8UCSnrPoJd4Bjkd7OKlEMnahlxxyGAgW3u2CIHhiVbnnod-_D4iJjw92RpAknoCieLW-8eUN_vo7qn0zdABDWqPKAb0vA/s1600/Edmonds.Andruw.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKkxeN6I3nyLrPXefd1HYK_tTQw-OQdRe4OodWqNLYQo8fl8UCSnrPoJd4Bjkd7OKlEMnahlxxyGAgW3u2CIHhiVbnnod-_D4iJjw92RpAknoCieLW-8eUN_vo7qn0zdABDWqPKAb0vA/s400/Edmonds.Andruw.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096286546148943223.post-77923365209322048752013-08-21T15:12:00.000-07:002013-08-21T15:13:58.068-07:00BBTF Softball 2013, Part 3Until such time as I feel witty again, make up your own captions.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb_ePkIaR_qwUjgEKJ0itXBNKR8jrh8PmvnjKeGd-cT7eonFXhwdfebF_djruPRqc49AKAJWwkIf15Nt1GQK9vBsb-q-Y9O2839VFgqrQGmxdhDcxBHqiIuvXa-4utv-tL5zDKtwEecA/s1600/All+Jemile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb_ePkIaR_qwUjgEKJ0itXBNKR8jrh8PmvnjKeGd-cT7eonFXhwdfebF_djruPRqc49AKAJWwkIf15Nt1GQK9vBsb-q-Y9O2839VFgqrQGmxdhDcxBHqiIuvXa-4utv-tL5zDKtwEecA/s320/All+Jemile.jpg" width="258" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hit and run, boys. It's a simple game.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJyp7Sj8FWw6rjleMcBoOdvQXYxVPNXtfADEI-txfofvfOgyHkK9vXsZT5io6GUkb-D0Fo6j9_3EpW3KSiN_SEgCHmJ030OhlbELyKQJzABcnD_9IEuX9EWxKaoiKewSU_HemRTTsquA/s1600/Pretty+Tired.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJyp7Sj8FWw6rjleMcBoOdvQXYxVPNXtfADEI-txfofvfOgyHkK9vXsZT5io6GUkb-D0Fo6j9_3EpW3KSiN_SEgCHmJ030OhlbELyKQJzABcnD_9IEuX9EWxKaoiKewSU_HemRTTsquA/s320/Pretty+Tired.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Running is foreign to us.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLlT8_mD91ocLYUAsWeCCiabXBgf4o-_x6qK6-szh5TkVmQrdEw0Ah0FEDpUHC56-mitgwZdH6tL9QmF9vWQeWiG5UE-hAw32snj3acCSPbwtiLw3nj19ihZBYV-Tr9TL5_lDuttHmGA/s1600/Jemile+Action+Audience.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLlT8_mD91ocLYUAsWeCCiabXBgf4o-_x6qK6-szh5TkVmQrdEw0Ah0FEDpUHC56-mitgwZdH6tL9QmF9vWQeWiG5UE-hAw32snj3acCSPbwtiLw3nj19ihZBYV-Tr9TL5_lDuttHmGA/s320/Jemile+Action+Audience.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The same two photos, as one. MAGIC!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNCBBNl8Fae4VHCx_LnRXd0W2vRN3t362B0-GpuxZVtEaG6FYkkO6eqkeScbyIJjTy-BfS_6at9q6yHsbihTO-jDRXKCQd_oQVTLDBMo3OJFZhigMHsrCgX6AqE6IxbVE7gSUetR1-8Q/s1600/Blue+Sky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNCBBNl8Fae4VHCx_LnRXd0W2vRN3t362B0-GpuxZVtEaG6FYkkO6eqkeScbyIJjTy-BfS_6at9q6yHsbihTO-jDRXKCQd_oQVTLDBMo3OJFZhigMHsrCgX6AqE6IxbVE7gSUetR1-8Q/s320/Blue+Sky.jpg" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Putting Hutcheson at SS was a bad idea.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBbYFghdzK5H51DynZdPCW_vMvLNaZ26Y_S9gnQ_cN2Hw90OpYabN_YGyhwZ89JGsQOfcrpQVe0OHEGydqK4Cl5YwF2XXj2AC3-hSq19NDWwp8-qeOugQdnN4KSWfIMKY5mjgI5yXgRg/s1600/Yo,+who+wants+some_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBbYFghdzK5H51DynZdPCW_vMvLNaZ26Y_S9gnQ_cN2Hw90OpYabN_YGyhwZ89JGsQOfcrpQVe0OHEGydqK4Cl5YwF2XXj2AC3-hSq19NDWwp8-qeOugQdnN4KSWfIMKY5mjgI5yXgRg/s320/Yo,+who+wants+some_.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Where's the base?!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5MFZiM25Qs3nYxdzERoJDiB6JcBBPMb921GWWjslFlX-TAIeGuwXz9s86-ixVBYGVnEPwOt351bFPGcq-fWp8RBDMVYekljHBJKfCyvIzwHddfo7L3tfE3Q36GX4yj41wlbrVeiDYwQ/s1600/Snapper+full+speed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5MFZiM25Qs3nYxdzERoJDiB6JcBBPMb921GWWjslFlX-TAIeGuwXz9s86-ixVBYGVnEPwOt351bFPGcq-fWp8RBDMVYekljHBJKfCyvIzwHddfo7L3tfE3Q36GX4yj41wlbrVeiDYwQ/s320/Snapper+full+speed.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's not that I'm evil, it's just that I believe in traditional base placement values. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQutrkiml1VlflSxggtsRD-k3QES0OEhsS-hxz6XRwt8u6wbHaI9ZoN2GMXrD_tJ8enovn8vBPMUfW3C0tTQcPkYWU-nlYSCBIP_yhVXFAhxl1w-NhQ1mkN10l90pyhDz8KP5IGtqKbA/s1600/Teixiera-Wilson+Redux.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQutrkiml1VlflSxggtsRD-k3QES0OEhsS-hxz6XRwt8u6wbHaI9ZoN2GMXrD_tJ8enovn8vBPMUfW3C0tTQcPkYWU-nlYSCBIP_yhVXFAhxl1w-NhQ1mkN10l90pyhDz8KP5IGtqKbA/s320/Teixiera-Wilson+Redux.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This play would have been better if Karl had dropped the hammer on him. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWxLDVsVhcQAphusUjZ-CORQnx-Ddym8MiVnk8GcjWZ8BIrvfoxANWczKdlSJWbwFaaIdsKRgbcaqtD9yo8AjMyZ_vp0S9xtUfRwKcDZfMjUcqMkjLZaZh-DdbT-7YeVBU0Ll8pMl5nQ/s1600/Tufts+watches+three-run+homer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWxLDVsVhcQAphusUjZ-CORQnx-Ddym8MiVnk8GcjWZ8BIrvfoxANWczKdlSJWbwFaaIdsKRgbcaqtD9yo8AjMyZ_vp0S9xtUfRwKcDZfMjUcqMkjLZaZh-DdbT-7YeVBU0Ll8pMl5nQ/s320/Tufts+watches+three-run+homer.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And somehow we're back to the set of Lassus' HR. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1w_6oSr4ix3ty7o2gUJtiI05P1YqKTfcF_3Mmv6fvLG17LAeGRslEZSnodJlDCbZrA-Hvi53oeBsUn0hG7m-M-NYn9bhYRZ_b3H4QaTT5kp2ktC7YXlYfk5_IYUt7HUXC0ZYAEEUPcg/s1600/Youngsters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1w_6oSr4ix3ty7o2gUJtiI05P1YqKTfcF_3Mmv6fvLG17LAeGRslEZSnodJlDCbZrA-Hvi53oeBsUn0hG7m-M-NYn9bhYRZ_b3H4QaTT5kp2ktC7YXlYfk5_IYUt7HUXC0ZYAEEUPcg/s320/Youngsters.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You never really think about cartilage until it's gone.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5fxvrWn8MGRMfnclvtpvUMAww2urmTZpfzHHIYcDk_7pPS5vHRG5tfwnp5ZJ88QorA9V6TOoGnz1scgvQSBt4ScD5MS22kBQE0ENiECRmU7I7RubFOgPbmGgKiVfjRsl3SZaBjnngyw/s1600/Children+Taken+Away.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5fxvrWn8MGRMfnclvtpvUMAww2urmTZpfzHHIYcDk_7pPS5vHRG5tfwnp5ZJ88QorA9V6TOoGnz1scgvQSBt4ScD5MS22kBQE0ENiECRmU7I7RubFOgPbmGgKiVfjRsl3SZaBjnngyw/s320/Children+Taken+Away.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hugs at second. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-od1WxyY7OEsEehpHmq8QFuxVPv1Xt1kjX1Cv-wuxzLrmwYzjEMeNE02mSe68DKghdbj1Pdtm4IwRzYpNICfqDYZlm4VWGEG3l1XmTkmn56zG_Q8YoExJ86x5e1BMDxytWTSZc2I0mQ/s1600/Down+and+Out.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-od1WxyY7OEsEehpHmq8QFuxVPv1Xt1kjX1Cv-wuxzLrmwYzjEMeNE02mSe68DKghdbj1Pdtm4IwRzYpNICfqDYZlm4VWGEG3l1XmTkmn56zG_Q8YoExJ86x5e1BMDxytWTSZc2I0mQ/s320/Down+and+Out.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There's no crawling in baseball. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib2hDzADWmAJSY3w3UGQ0gj4R5EnMWtGUqEwjUnfb1mvAFzp9apUwXhCfLjCFz4NRsb8zuyzA-y25M-2ldWk8B0J0E6M0NWs-tLBlSlpGSMB_rdeM6JS-7eheHp5-7Ev2AUxdh1Wosvw/s1600/Hysterical+action+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib2hDzADWmAJSY3w3UGQ0gj4R5EnMWtGUqEwjUnfb1mvAFzp9apUwXhCfLjCFz4NRsb8zuyzA-y25M-2ldWk8B0J0E6M0NWs-tLBlSlpGSMB_rdeM6JS-7eheHp5-7Ev2AUxdh1Wosvw/s320/Hysterical+action+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trust the arm.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifhY2cK3K2MMED4DafU0vYB-4ZyD71OeeMv5B_VPEUWDQujBLw9uCA5eW00Snuflu1OtGJZ6NSKdj5SQcav0skU7Q0JkT-JRH3GW57jVpG2sXtcZHDUqm3yheONltHpdzJtoiRzutppA/s1600/Will+Hysterical+Beat+Throw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifhY2cK3K2MMED4DafU0vYB-4ZyD71OeeMv5B_VPEUWDQujBLw9uCA5eW00Snuflu1OtGJZ6NSKdj5SQcav0skU7Q0JkT-JRH3GW57jVpG2sXtcZHDUqm3yheONltHpdzJtoiRzutppA/s320/Will+Hysterical+Beat+Throw.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trust the arm.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Qd7XYJzhLeyClcPd-MoB_RJDDIcU-LPumNRbnblYm1bw1r_GqfXE4-wZPsNR-577PEhc76uJ0YXfAY5L2b9fz_k7VMZWhljqdNNLyBpVbUff5ct8rmdHKVMmVTKCC2PLY4jaTteASw/s1600/McCoy+stretch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Qd7XYJzhLeyClcPd-MoB_RJDDIcU-LPumNRbnblYm1bw1r_GqfXE4-wZPsNR-577PEhc76uJ0YXfAY5L2b9fz_k7VMZWhljqdNNLyBpVbUff5ct8rmdHKVMmVTKCC2PLY4jaTteASw/s320/McCoy+stretch.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trust the arm.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixpno4mx8nJm6GV-s8kbfxudVvkmDuc26gaFYOkyDeRVyn6iUuwdM5p7dmWIb4iKVCuH0qFSFFUf1fIKtJDrDvZhhEXc5-EkptJgKzIdobeyjjHfTxtewrtvkOBMuMK3jcd6dqTJ1yWA/s1600/Umpire+Calls+Safe+Hutcheson+Combusts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixpno4mx8nJm6GV-s8kbfxudVvkmDuc26gaFYOkyDeRVyn6iUuwdM5p7dmWIb4iKVCuH0qFSFFUf1fIKtJDrDvZhhEXc5-EkptJgKzIdobeyjjHfTxtewrtvkOBMuMK3jcd6dqTJ1yWA/s320/Umpire+Calls+Safe+Hutcheson+Combusts.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trust. The. Arm.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnjuFSh-e1MEMw4macG2dt6MpJAdLJpwEd5hjsWrdz-KAN-Uk6dfw9u0EgnKVcHv3dbcsTr6LnNh_xTp2fd22GmqD06hPeaD6xJ2U-lJlfaQgzGtdXIa8muZzatGFf5z0OWUPd02SisA/s1600/McCoy+is+not+Impressed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnjuFSh-e1MEMw4macG2dt6MpJAdLJpwEd5hjsWrdz-KAN-Uk6dfw9u0EgnKVcHv3dbcsTr6LnNh_xTp2fd22GmqD06hPeaD6xJ2U-lJlfaQgzGtdXIa8muZzatGFf5z0OWUPd02SisA/s320/McCoy+is+not+Impressed.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He was totally out. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsggI-HJw4ppNRRSN-kzHWamsLMZM8vOANET0CtjonvG77fhB5EB40hU0f4fWZ0fXVq5uVZgZjFLwu3ygDtAdF2eICAoCS1DZ34cc3P2-LZYd9V7-k6XDSSnu7SiS_IdxGD_XryPQIsQ/s1600/Lefty+Power.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsggI-HJw4ppNRRSN-kzHWamsLMZM8vOANET0CtjonvG77fhB5EB40hU0f4fWZ0fXVq5uVZgZjFLwu3ygDtAdF2eICAoCS1DZ34cc3P2-LZYd9V7-k6XDSSnu7SiS_IdxGD_XryPQIsQ/s320/Lefty+Power.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Good contact.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3NUp8kPueXUoza33k-uqznE4VabXmnlVG0M2yekoX2arMBEvFCtQSw4fjo7eP8d5axGufllq4Y8Tv2xi4sJ-aO6l0qJcGIgaBkfQsgdAPA0gwO8myPy-h2wwgrLxCsLGbREXXMFCUOw/s1600/Not+Quite+Solid+Contact.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3NUp8kPueXUoza33k-uqznE4VabXmnlVG0M2yekoX2arMBEvFCtQSw4fjo7eP8d5axGufllq4Y8Tv2xi4sJ-aO6l0qJcGIgaBkfQsgdAPA0gwO8myPy-h2wwgrLxCsLGbREXXMFCUOw/s320/Not+Quite+Solid+Contact.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bad contact.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYEEvBwnJZI0xaTD6WpKtG7-MnJuXFnqEBnNVS4A0w2GLlkbzVoq10g4qXwKssRvcJNci8e3m5x-cggg_oIvSGBIQd8Ga1okPknMDngtT29TYLXedBNWTuW3NI2mZFM3Wi8rKZ5jho4w/s1600/McCoy+Caught+in+Rundown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYEEvBwnJZI0xaTD6WpKtG7-MnJuXFnqEBnNVS4A0w2GLlkbzVoq10g4qXwKssRvcJNci8e3m5x-cggg_oIvSGBIQd8Ga1okPknMDngtT29TYLXedBNWTuW3NI2mZFM3Wi8rKZ5jho4w/s320/McCoy+Caught+in+Rundown.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inappropriate contact.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzqVSkKXkbtOL_0r8Cwp_vU3Gn58FERiXQ5D4jyreMa9lkfYFd_zPgVg9fWkYEI7knjR2F4C0DnwICHR3Ip3cyIeZxVs0W4DbwgCsaYJKehErHSX20pDv7tctMf3-y600sX7EDbYORHA/s1600/Running+from+Death+Panels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzqVSkKXkbtOL_0r8Cwp_vU3Gn58FERiXQ5D4jyreMa9lkfYFd_zPgVg9fWkYEI7knjR2F4C0DnwICHR3Ip3cyIeZxVs0W4DbwgCsaYJKehErHSX20pDv7tctMf3-y600sX7EDbYORHA/s320/Running+from+Death+Panels.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The guy in blue on the other field is actually a tax collector.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096286546148943223.post-28263278768578941292013-08-21T12:51:00.000-07:002013-08-21T12:51:30.495-07:00BBTF Softball 2013, Part 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
More shots of action and carnage...<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaaN1ZNmXJWmd_MUs47Ozq-jP6ltmvj4_fz9qIwL4r28Rccx-kUEMTe_Xf6BCtb6ue_En_RPt3nx7Dia0MK0Pq75-DEv2zN0uL1YkH8B9R9iMoMMm4C8hh-nLFMHBxX6odR24s7SA-GA/s1600/ball+on+ground+by+snapper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaaN1ZNmXJWmd_MUs47Ozq-jP6ltmvj4_fz9qIwL4r28Rccx-kUEMTe_Xf6BCtb6ue_En_RPt3nx7Dia0MK0Pq75-DEv2zN0uL1YkH8B9R9iMoMMm4C8hh-nLFMHBxX6odR24s7SA-GA/s320/ball+on+ground+by+snapper.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You should probably pick that up...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3cUaw0rXay1iPQ1En3gYtW6qWytBhijdEaGUJY0PlZkIHn4r9M3HE6VYqJRHAtiwh29-nQZj2_5IP_Z1eqRYqE6WXIXLnMgN9Uy7_x0ysZrLDYGV7uoQNECgWnGAhQQXyAzus1kE5HQ/s1600/Brooks+Uncorks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3cUaw0rXay1iPQ1En3gYtW6qWytBhijdEaGUJY0PlZkIHn4r9M3HE6VYqJRHAtiwh29-nQZj2_5IP_Z1eqRYqE6WXIXLnMgN9Uy7_x0ysZrLDYGV7uoQNECgWnGAhQQXyAzus1kE5HQ/s320/Brooks+Uncorks.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wherein Edmundo earns the title "Brooks"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT0XSu3mtdYhNPZ68v7PNjukBRU4i2ALgsniLDLoSzsU2VzBI3gkDcncxv2MaxpBSmHvlgCni_vH680PddYYNEwIhMWxEKDxnTWfJdN0bD3j076JhGv9aPBFCi2ZNF83kuZfHmbmRcag/s1600/Line+Drive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT0XSu3mtdYhNPZ68v7PNjukBRU4i2ALgsniLDLoSzsU2VzBI3gkDcncxv2MaxpBSmHvlgCni_vH680PddYYNEwIhMWxEKDxnTWfJdN0bD3j076JhGv9aPBFCi2ZNF83kuZfHmbmRcag/s320/Line+Drive.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not a bad swing for a choirboy.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW_OuF-BLuj84f6mghQTz-BbdmUXIzzngFo3N4ZIN6aeXfymGJRwJWyHPocfr6tLqVEuArGUFzII4M8CcKyDg4lxEBxrHuTzxvk5iab3HN7JzLaxeUfBmnSX5U4dqkYrGpLfJytdX-IQ/s1600/Major+League.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW_OuF-BLuj84f6mghQTz-BbdmUXIzzngFo3N4ZIN6aeXfymGJRwJWyHPocfr6tLqVEuArGUFzII4M8CcKyDg4lxEBxrHuTzxvk5iab3HN7JzLaxeUfBmnSX5U4dqkYrGpLfJytdX-IQ/s320/Major+League.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of these people was a Major Leaguer. <br />The other two are winded from standing upright.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvMOnT_gyWP8GULXaGxwODYfW8ST6h5-ShE82D9JW9PvlixMnZv3SRQf5Kh8-nRjcg8i1OvNnIbNHB0Szgn29kUkoBn18rmAxdBqNCV5SM4IdhbuKLiB8mAyplnwmUrKCsCp7wA8IDPg/s1600/Sam+pops+up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvMOnT_gyWP8GULXaGxwODYfW8ST6h5-ShE82D9JW9PvlixMnZv3SRQf5Kh8-nRjcg8i1OvNnIbNHB0Szgn29kUkoBn18rmAxdBqNCV5SM4IdhbuKLiB8mAyplnwmUrKCsCp7wA8IDPg/s320/Sam+pops+up.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The problems with this swing are legion...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXltC4976dFoaqRw0gS4HBHUK8VTpsLNuKnEUPD3yPtMvrimvzWvgDn-RwXJpPnVEtwg03RG5YNL-a3xWa6J2HGcoKN-pIoaGgD6vGa6KBRM-TNi3rIYA_mw2uya8BS_7NRvyrJrBFjA/s1600/Shooty+Action.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXltC4976dFoaqRw0gS4HBHUK8VTpsLNuKnEUPD3yPtMvrimvzWvgDn-RwXJpPnVEtwg03RG5YNL-a3xWa6J2HGcoKN-pIoaGgD6vGa6KBRM-TNi3rIYA_mw2uya8BS_7NRvyrJrBFjA/s320/Shooty+Action.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Posing is hard work!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI9Q5ArM-rYsLwrkMTcSnSj38wu6jBcYu1UEOw_3ngti8MaUOwOHfwHBQZw-w9mLKnG_FMDo1kxzBDjKjwK1Vqu1dquo4k-O7OX6B2VN0LmqdcYsQy8AZMggSA-Qo1QYJkQ9COR3kOvw/s1600/Any+Tufts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI9Q5ArM-rYsLwrkMTcSnSj38wu6jBcYu1UEOw_3ngti8MaUOwOHfwHBQZw-w9mLKnG_FMDo1kxzBDjKjwK1Vqu1dquo4k-O7OX6B2VN0LmqdcYsQy8AZMggSA-Qo1QYJkQ9COR3kOvw/s320/Any+Tufts.jpg" width="244" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"How hard is it to throw the ball to my glove and not my knees?!"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiZyr0m9H6ilR1LQkHf0t5k3DwmfceNzkZcxFh0K_U4gh7RfqmudMnNdr1MKeKev1h6LS3UwdkLC8CJAgi562XQeMQjCPNmyU6cbCjCLuYrb28CXEmpM0l8-eG2byi61-wRDudE5tc8w/s1600/Tufts+laughs+at+fielders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiZyr0m9H6ilR1LQkHf0t5k3DwmfceNzkZcxFh0K_U4gh7RfqmudMnNdr1MKeKev1h6LS3UwdkLC8CJAgi562XQeMQjCPNmyU6cbCjCLuYrb28CXEmpM0l8-eG2byi61-wRDudE5tc8w/s320/Tufts+laughs+at+fielders.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">At least we were entertaining.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiR8AIIC5MM_QBRrKIZVmizxG8WClkIRMOP4JTmfDuBPcIiUSHTihOA4PE9tFocXUyfnIpOZ0KRWOPqojDwNeW4EDsmBfxGjCRsJZrC64KiTKPnT4k4w6Z_bk3YP7NVyGC9nmmkA8CcQ/s1600/Edmundo+Action.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiR8AIIC5MM_QBRrKIZVmizxG8WClkIRMOP4JTmfDuBPcIiUSHTihOA4PE9tFocXUyfnIpOZ0KRWOPqojDwNeW4EDsmBfxGjCRsJZrC64KiTKPnT4k4w6Z_bk3YP7NVyGC9nmmkA8CcQ/s320/Edmundo+Action.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Edmundo taunts the gods of bad knees.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBDO4DesHLS1-miCJHo-YN9z4Mq88HSqxC-i_medjdAFF9nPwDlEvgWAlc1r8gHrkGzXsDjFeTyv_4CTQjfTjSzyfsaDzaEKNJmKc_yT5nTkS14FMgmDjtOG_8y1D_a1Rch3JNbOHQFQ/s1600/Epstien+Admires.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBDO4DesHLS1-miCJHo-YN9z4Mq88HSqxC-i_medjdAFF9nPwDlEvgWAlc1r8gHrkGzXsDjFeTyv_4CTQjfTjSzyfsaDzaEKNJmKc_yT5nTkS14FMgmDjtOG_8y1D_a1Rch3JNbOHQFQ/s320/Epstien+Admires.jpg" width="294" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At this exact moment Shooty is thinking "what would a valid<br />transfer fee for Erik Lamela actually be?" </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO7gq2rVdyBd7UJPU00A6D_7w2uTdodfcBzwEzy71iU2ZW74Zb7H2BrUdYBFqdouyF-QHxpgcRNmJnp9UKV1ANYZ6adwHOaSurobBFsy61orptZstGPhZ-pOWkRfdv6BZAa4mPei6sgA/s1600/Epstein+Ortiz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO7gq2rVdyBd7UJPU00A6D_7w2uTdodfcBzwEzy71iU2ZW74Zb7H2BrUdYBFqdouyF-QHxpgcRNmJnp9UKV1ANYZ6adwHOaSurobBFsy61orptZstGPhZ-pOWkRfdv6BZAa4mPei6sgA/s320/Epstein+Ortiz.jpg" width="228" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">He loves it when you call him Big Papi.<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid_4TwYyhZq5EEZhRMd85Xl20XK2Ypv6RaND_r_UnSB6ZbbJbiBiUXHjHc_GaooyA_-x6GMrUViNtsrx-i1jjVUw3bCD3cfds7WzmUyoTyTMMoVAIFt39Xgy9KOMQinIifeBuQML9Q6Q/s1600/Run+like+Huffington+Post+Chasing+You.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid_4TwYyhZq5EEZhRMd85Xl20XK2Ypv6RaND_r_UnSB6ZbbJbiBiUXHjHc_GaooyA_-x6GMrUViNtsrx-i1jjVUw3bCD3cfds7WzmUyoTyTMMoVAIFt39Xgy9KOMQinIifeBuQML9Q6Q/s320/Run+like+Huffington+Post+Chasing+You.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hey, is that Ariana Huffington in the RF stands?!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU3L2Z_uVqELZPt4Skr9axm25Xk2-cQZ8aUCIVAe_Wh3k5oXQAm59gU2zUOqdfm2bJX3bwJ3zDD8VamWc09BC_pAhCU3cKTAQfV1y97PLTBb8BM3OO9Dbj3eE8kxCgZeE7d7y4N3v1OQ/s1600/Jemile+Action.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU3L2Z_uVqELZPt4Skr9axm25Xk2-cQZ8aUCIVAe_Wh3k5oXQAm59gU2zUOqdfm2bJX3bwJ3zDD8VamWc09BC_pAhCU3cKTAQfV1y97PLTBb8BM3OO9Dbj3eE8kxCgZeE7d7y4N3v1OQ/s320/Jemile+Action.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I may not be super fast, but I'm faster than these old turds. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Mj2YcZ68mJEyb_i4HGdiLqCSyBjTEf8q-w5VqtC8za-jbsxtAQ94FsAGNXBMJluAg1qjw-cu555WgJZ9AlF0-n_fdymCIw3klNUSm_2tgdNPp9nyvZzEer7TJC4r5Ui_2VTmpVPHYg/s1600/Hysterical+batting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Mj2YcZ68mJEyb_i4HGdiLqCSyBjTEf8q-w5VqtC8za-jbsxtAQ94FsAGNXBMJluAg1qjw-cu555WgJZ9AlF0-n_fdymCIw3klNUSm_2tgdNPp9nyvZzEer7TJC4r5Ui_2VTmpVPHYg/s320/Hysterical+batting.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Hysterical and rally time!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvCxtDpn2Ym_Z7OPCKtL7MoIAM9GBy5bCHQ8N6aYxe8XMLraR4k4pfcaSvx1DhQoQkQmpIZ9YpBsCVflRAnxJ1g-lYKQd99msmcHOEZwjoS5BvlqB0_Z2jZ1taCIBJiGp_Cg2gQ-gLlA/s1600/Tufts+Eye+of+Tiger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvCxtDpn2Ym_Z7OPCKtL7MoIAM9GBy5bCHQ8N6aYxe8XMLraR4k4pfcaSvx1DhQoQkQmpIZ9YpBsCVflRAnxJ1g-lYKQd99msmcHOEZwjoS5BvlqB0_Z2jZ1taCIBJiGp_Cg2gQ-gLlA/s320/Tufts+Eye+of+Tiger.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We got something working here....</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN_tVlDOTYv75s4gp_JzBJAa7uFVQvtTVvjr9DtqPhyyutMY1N0oQ-T9bzoJ6w_nW_HPvgxDrhNI49QEteeg5iOamRnx6-tFsF_P21XKN0K7ZEdIDr8lJI16BbQyGvl6O8d4BaM2Hixw/s1600/Edmundo+Action+Dock+Background.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN_tVlDOTYv75s4gp_JzBJAa7uFVQvtTVvjr9DtqPhyyutMY1N0oQ-T9bzoJ6w_nW_HPvgxDrhNI49QEteeg5iOamRnx6-tFsF_P21XKN0K7ZEdIDr8lJI16BbQyGvl6O8d4BaM2Hixw/s320/Edmundo+Action+Dock+Background.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Snared on the hot corner! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDBEspAKASdZi5UKWsCBZHHditQxfV6XfR42NUui_rgJOBRyEqJLaW9ZFaYlmneRf_0_cFLfExHoD_jrVZ9CDUnn_wlwzwaGTWGdLXyXKedYK1AL5E40Ib3dAKmWbDk5fxxDxmgTEeuA/s1600/Shooty+Rundown+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDBEspAKASdZi5UKWsCBZHHditQxfV6XfR42NUui_rgJOBRyEqJLaW9ZFaYlmneRf_0_cFLfExHoD_jrVZ9CDUnn_wlwzwaGTWGdLXyXKedYK1AL5E40Ib3dAKmWbDk5fxxDxmgTEeuA/s320/Shooty+Rundown+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What are you doing trying to advance?! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhptz6AJwbGtUfvq8ZoSGUpOSUmzKHwqaugfTSQv42BzTWyT5vMh9x5HW23vxHHUBoRRgC-jH98mKjPdoFkxdT8Ov7mct0PC_1feEdMFTOythUUEjhSgxps3MpV2Kdsj-LsQl6D_imbKQ/s1600/Shooty+Rundown+2+-+Revenge+of+Edmundo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhptz6AJwbGtUfvq8ZoSGUpOSUmzKHwqaugfTSQv42BzTWyT5vMh9x5HW23vxHHUBoRRgC-jH98mKjPdoFkxdT8Ov7mct0PC_1feEdMFTOythUUEjhSgxps3MpV2Kdsj-LsQl6D_imbKQ/s320/Shooty+Rundown+2+-+Revenge+of+Edmundo.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Fall down play dead" will not help you, sir. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7oR9ODe1KLcDZorPDbqB13ECb673B_sreP9kxg_nh0_RIwSntvwps8hFAHG-jF_0cbo7jVyMx4wvVKORvp3fhkltj6ZjhfRa-alcK_g7a8VJX7odG_-mfwaZRGmBxAxbupVZOQ4Pv9Q/s1600/Shooty+rundown+3+-+inning+over.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7oR9ODe1KLcDZorPDbqB13ECb673B_sreP9kxg_nh0_RIwSntvwps8hFAHG-jF_0cbo7jVyMx4wvVKORvp3fhkltj6ZjhfRa-alcK_g7a8VJX7odG_-mfwaZRGmBxAxbupVZOQ4Pv9Q/s320/Shooty+rundown+3+-+inning+over.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seriously, have you ever even watched this game before? </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgztuS2eqyPOqXgpBwFED4AFzYO5EIJplJrIqIOvVWG39NpthCUZc3w2zPFhrh-KJD5O48Rot7aDJ5kJuc9v9VC9KfROdurwHrepV3RvXGnSs27o1WWHVC9Zx1nEZsXLAFYuvYs9GlctA/s1600/One+out+of+three+ready.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgztuS2eqyPOqXgpBwFED4AFzYO5EIJplJrIqIOvVWG39NpthCUZc3w2zPFhrh-KJD5O48Rot7aDJ5kJuc9v9VC9KfROdurwHrepV3RvXGnSs27o1WWHVC9Zx1nEZsXLAFYuvYs9GlctA/s320/One+out+of+three+ready.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No, seriously? We're back in the field because of that?!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju2x-Et1G5xX8vCyWkn8He1uF9mbsfJLIgTIwLjsWoh9lEqvYPyoASFv6Hpsodk3tXKJxC9S85GuUuozu3jFQkBjc8gDPBcAJzGl1Sj2ILc8LO-ArPHzsQ9GhGtOjeVi_eRyUAjQBnBA/s1600/Hysterical+movement.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju2x-Et1G5xX8vCyWkn8He1uF9mbsfJLIgTIwLjsWoh9lEqvYPyoASFv6Hpsodk3tXKJxC9S85GuUuozu3jFQkBjc8gDPBcAJzGl1Sj2ILc8LO-ArPHzsQ9GhGtOjeVi_eRyUAjQBnBA/s320/Hysterical+movement.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Do not test my arm, RB.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgljJxMprzacReXkPTTJFAzc1bXto-wBCc2rXuEJWm4Z-uOKlmPuRah0Fyh9HMthpYywrFDwGzMiSe1mF_Tg3QgX9gUYrdWj7GK3G-1fah3AxkDDWC_Aqn0aQ9c_kPBAv1zaAvRDgl4ng/s1600/Karl+from+NY+-+Obo+on+deck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgljJxMprzacReXkPTTJFAzc1bXto-wBCc2rXuEJWm4Z-uOKlmPuRah0Fyh9HMthpYywrFDwGzMiSe1mF_Tg3QgX9gUYrdWj7GK3G-1fah3AxkDDWC_Aqn0aQ9c_kPBAv1zaAvRDgl4ng/s320/Karl+from+NY+-+Obo+on+deck.jpg" width="223" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I am Karl! From New York!! You shall not field my hits! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilq7KB_q8MhvUPCm4aYHamDX8L6OwuYDuNKQpnMW8nU-H309LzgZuPjm-j0tvBKIXWsws04MxGeKL5j8FBnc36_zAC0tzdISxUYKE9VuR3moGoRlXE3iMZefO7C_566Qij6d_tA3Ga5g/s1600/Tufts+and+the+Tuftette.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilq7KB_q8MhvUPCm4aYHamDX8L6OwuYDuNKQpnMW8nU-H309LzgZuPjm-j0tvBKIXWsws04MxGeKL5j8FBnc36_zAC0tzdISxUYKE9VuR3moGoRlXE3iMZefO7C_566Qij6d_tA3Ga5g/s320/Tufts+and+the+Tuftette.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hustling?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYY8e8FalEHG3YvwmhaF-SbKDBlHKQORz8mC56OyaHpNcFABTUDPMbmW0FDue2Xqumtnyxp6AEtO7wgQZs3nkXxi8lLk1sYEWUQ9F_jNQEQOUUOyUCP0gBm8Ddq1NfUKTxNuVyeXzGQQ/s1600/Pulling+in+to+2nd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYY8e8FalEHG3YvwmhaF-SbKDBlHKQORz8mC56OyaHpNcFABTUDPMbmW0FDue2Xqumtnyxp6AEtO7wgQZs3nkXxi8lLk1sYEWUQ9F_jNQEQOUUOyUCP0gBm8Ddq1NfUKTxNuVyeXzGQQ/s320/Pulling+in+to+2nd.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Okay, maybe comparatively speaking to the center fielder you were "hustling."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzylY2Ffs-aQuWruGcucySk8zV7yG9gtsmkb9hKlZVSnCMY5ia9_0g07VWVR2L3OQ6rNuxvgCa0Pk6yhPyzE2fT-oOdhmKzgF0L9QH5f3z8ZvGn1dblAD92TCslWvNogV28dFUGxmBMQ/s1600/Seriously+that+was+Pavement's+best+album.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzylY2Ffs-aQuWruGcucySk8zV7yG9gtsmkb9hKlZVSnCMY5ia9_0g07VWVR2L3OQ6rNuxvgCa0Pk6yhPyzE2fT-oOdhmKzgF0L9QH5f3z8ZvGn1dblAD92TCslWvNogV28dFUGxmBMQ/s320/Seriously+that+was+Pavement's+best+album.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seriously. "Slanted and Enchanted" is by far the best Pavement album, dude.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSruHPIoHiUTJ-FvQHctn5wzN4ZJZjG4mDnKWxQG0B1AS7id_YfSu0UtCnHpy1a_N5Rriq67Y2QpfcIL1cTQ5CMxt14yQfAaUrs48vhKmnnDd1SBaUXL4D-WbnZleWZxqXVu9vx5K5lg/s1600/Conservative+Crusher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSruHPIoHiUTJ-FvQHctn5wzN4ZJZjG4mDnKWxQG0B1AS7id_YfSu0UtCnHpy1a_N5Rriq67Y2QpfcIL1cTQ5CMxt14yQfAaUrs48vhKmnnDd1SBaUXL4D-WbnZleWZxqXVu9vx5K5lg/s320/Conservative+Crusher.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm telling you, it's obviously Crooked Rain!!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3lc4j1VS7N5idYWUSSfGNMfPJkLKJrVVSBO4wIqHAtOmVKqg3TcZM0WFiPDGBNXNBspkMSiq4jULATaX1Jg0U7HAUzkS05tYQZv7afRs4aoYQl7nYBOZtHH4Bryic4i-g5PkHkuTBlA/s1600/Modern+Liberal+Masher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3lc4j1VS7N5idYWUSSfGNMfPJkLKJrVVSBO4wIqHAtOmVKqg3TcZM0WFiPDGBNXNBspkMSiq4jULATaX1Jg0U7HAUzkS05tYQZv7afRs4aoYQl7nYBOZtHH4Bryic4i-g5PkHkuTBlA/s320/Modern+Liberal+Masher.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red Kross rules!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIpF3tiecKv1_0uLsB2z_stnVHfMpbzqWBGvK5CWUUGJ1nuquqZ3v4uzbHPv8psWlHaYjVDq6Eo0Vlk-I9RDOLZOT8vsKjw1IG_bMX5vzZ6vsYo7gEkAdMU1ks2XFFXmRegJGmhLnCXQ/s1600/Advancing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIpF3tiecKv1_0uLsB2z_stnVHfMpbzqWBGvK5CWUUGJ1nuquqZ3v4uzbHPv8psWlHaYjVDq6Eo0Vlk-I9RDOLZOT8vsKjw1IG_bMX5vzZ6vsYo7gEkAdMU1ks2XFFXmRegJGmhLnCXQ/s320/Advancing.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I should have worn real shoes."</td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096286546148943223.post-78785634235184515362013-08-18T16:28:00.003-07:002013-08-18T19:12:04.204-07:00BBTF Softball 2013<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
BBTF Softball - Central Park, NYC, Aug 17 2013</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjnHmGGGlBiRFlgBgwa69Rkc1RdihRSTeC-vAzBmKaayLHMdOF_N6G9WAmwuYpmATCCInz-gCB_lUzDlHDjPeTsm0a1use5GXrZ9Oa2HWn_npu3wYjx3XMWzfM-xM6ts5UZ_lpgK8T_Q/s1600/better+group.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjnHmGGGlBiRFlgBgwa69Rkc1RdihRSTeC-vAzBmKaayLHMdOF_N6G9WAmwuYpmATCCInz-gCB_lUzDlHDjPeTsm0a1use5GXrZ9Oa2HWn_npu3wYjx3XMWzfM-xM6ts5UZ_lpgK8T_Q/s320/better+group.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The gauntlet is thrown, Chicago...</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: #edeff4; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">Top: Obo (Rob), Doris from Rego Park, Edmundo, JE (Jason Epstein), Bob Tufts, Rickey (Sam Hutcheson), snapper (Arthur), RB (Richard), Karl from NY (uh, Karl, from New York), catomi01, Ray DiPerna.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #edeff4; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #edeff4; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">Bottom: unnamed friend of McCoy, McCoy (Sean), Dock Ellis, billyshears, Lassus (Tim), How to lose a guy in Jemile Weeks (Mike), Blastin (Justin), Hysterical & Useless, Shooty (Chad).<br /><br />Folks with no parenthetical names can be assumed to have been called "Mike."</span><br />
<br />
UPDATED! (now with action shots)<br />
UPDATED AGAIN! (more action shots)<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJBvgPHUkfZcFdn_DAYzmnM96M2hXN1_HKceb2eUS_5IWWBLCy9rrCBwWl972PnWjg1_1sN4c1B0p1NCNHnRlq-6I_GaWV1BTf0_JOWT4jVpdhpo-KqXg-fQxQJjX_GqGBQXxV56BOZA/s1600/LassusMcCoy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJBvgPHUkfZcFdn_DAYzmnM96M2hXN1_HKceb2eUS_5IWWBLCy9rrCBwWl972PnWjg1_1sN4c1B0p1NCNHnRlq-6I_GaWV1BTf0_JOWT4jVpdhpo-KqXg-fQxQJjX_GqGBQXxV56BOZA/s320/LassusMcCoy.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lassus and Shooty discuss exactly how far apart infielders should play.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuQZayatUiVov28lp1vFoICBSoHBEcYZN7599QxjE5mHQnss4beirW5_q6_UAdqPwPacTH41tYscq-Hz0izE1UEuPhrpgC8HRI8srBByncUePXmhyphenhyphen_cYKNZbqbWuYl9QfPAvDYSS0ZoQ/s1600/ShootyTeachesBoyInfieldFlyRule.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuQZayatUiVov28lp1vFoICBSoHBEcYZN7599QxjE5mHQnss4beirW5_q6_UAdqPwPacTH41tYscq-Hz0izE1UEuPhrpgC8HRI8srBByncUePXmhyphenhyphen_cYKNZbqbWuYl9QfPAvDYSS0ZoQ/s320/ShootyTeachesBoyInfieldFlyRule.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shooty helpfully walks a young fan through the infield fly rule.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh891YUyy1v_bmh9HPy2wv_UDAAuo94jyICjMYe2kKc5gm370wL_Uu4CIh89P2AclfcjadfOPKZTkOY-wy8DcWfAhBnU3j7HeCKv-rWxKxeOdYaHg2uhLCoB9jeXFL_KaitIth2vt8f8g/s1600/DorisBP1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh891YUyy1v_bmh9HPy2wv_UDAAuo94jyICjMYe2kKc5gm370wL_Uu4CIh89P2AclfcjadfOPKZTkOY-wy8DcWfAhBnU3j7HeCKv-rWxKxeOdYaHg2uhLCoB9jeXFL_KaitIth2vt8f8g/s320/DorisBP1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Doris From Rego Park waits on an offspeed pitch...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWlOz2kxanmQ1V9SuXmBZvvp9GA2Y8CgRPwj8vfTw7917tQZu-m_85NGyPwVbLip-NpUHn-ixvfN6iIoTOay_oNBevUjraYfqg6J5zMQeyjjm4qFv5cd5zCmizOSBxJlKLSn9a73OzKA/s1600/DorisBP2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWlOz2kxanmQ1V9SuXmBZvvp9GA2Y8CgRPwj8vfTw7917tQZu-m_85NGyPwVbLip-NpUHn-ixvfN6iIoTOay_oNBevUjraYfqg6J5zMQeyjjm4qFv5cd5zCmizOSBxJlKLSn9a73OzKA/s320/DorisBP2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gets the front foot down... Weight shift may be a little early...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpNh-z4JAKJj-lVle0utAHGR632VH4h742z69G90dF7X00a56rhbnVxw902fbh9l824U-i7wGvJESiYJPObwIDDDKujpe5h3AXFXZ7xRhzpyMmpzVto1iATKjFvSATPiUx8Pl_YnLF5g/s1600/DorisBP3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpNh-z4JAKJj-lVle0utAHGR632VH4h742z69G90dF7X00a56rhbnVxw902fbh9l824U-i7wGvJESiYJPObwIDDDKujpe5h3AXFXZ7xRhzpyMmpzVto1iATKjFvSATPiUx8Pl_YnLF5g/s320/DorisBP3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">But he stays back and drives it oppo!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPQKmtoAZWRfUvm1A1M17J5FA-lha9bAj9f8n_SLTLIdXcb722u_FtX2D3kYOMe813MpdlI6dHebq1VzmjtKhA9Xdr3Q0xx-sMuS5LmG_ClL4evwRfPPTlXab_7BsVauO4t1tRL0br_w/s1600/DorisWatchesLassusBeingSoriano.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPQKmtoAZWRfUvm1A1M17J5FA-lha9bAj9f8n_SLTLIdXcb722u_FtX2D3kYOMe813MpdlI6dHebq1VzmjtKhA9Xdr3Q0xx-sMuS5LmG_ClL4evwRfPPTlXab_7BsVauO4t1tRL0br_w/s320/DorisWatchesLassusBeingSoriano.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lassus, not so much with the staying back. <br />
More with the Andruw Jones flailing at a slider away.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Nz_7I2VYueLkGxWQmRkO-snvMv9JzFwuz7AF4-_3DDSqMPZ7b7lc7766KWYjYqEMHcGBi0eBG938ow2hz4TLcoWzz1Fjx1SUCYYOV8uWLUzcyRmBGSAybpEAptPy6xBQyAQ6BFS4GA/s1600/SamKnocksInLassus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Nz_7I2VYueLkGxWQmRkO-snvMv9JzFwuz7AF4-_3DDSqMPZ7b7lc7766KWYjYqEMHcGBi0eBG938ow2hz4TLcoWzz1Fjx1SUCYYOV8uWLUzcyRmBGSAybpEAptPy6xBQyAQ6BFS4GA/s320/SamKnocksInLassus.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yet somehow he's on third. Hutcheson with RBI single.<br />
Fundamental baseball, kids. Get 'em on, run until they tag you,<br />
poke a weak single up the middle...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdvu4sH6tlYUTW45oea2fDMIL5eldDNpEMfoehdqQuiEMAu9CxZLxmcCCWfy73o_QXPQepeQgxD7nUCH2fNJBHtH9VZirEtquMzjRxyuvw8b3KA5HO7JQuU10IOSZep9urN9P_SK_Qfw/s1600/goofyRunning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdvu4sH6tlYUTW45oea2fDMIL5eldDNpEMfoehdqQuiEMAu9CxZLxmcCCWfy73o_QXPQepeQgxD7nUCH2fNJBHtH9VZirEtquMzjRxyuvw8b3KA5HO7JQuU10IOSZep9urN9P_SK_Qfw/s320/goofyRunning.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hutcheson jogs casually to first while Lassus scores the run.<br />
(Hey, if you want more you-centric action shots, bring your own <br />
personal photographer!)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHY-Tw5ewu0iEBDbUOYEdku-h3hJ8NqhlytWeDWPjDv6qHhXA514etvBb2iIrWt0eWM9iit6i_fDcfjPmXD_-7iJ9-PRwU8roPj0So3R5Gq0uReW_k_LbAKQ2CffpC7MwHWQ7C7W0iNw/s1600/JemileCheersSnapper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHY-Tw5ewu0iEBDbUOYEdku-h3hJ8NqhlytWeDWPjDv6qHhXA514etvBb2iIrWt0eWM9iit6i_fDcfjPmXD_-7iJ9-PRwU8roPj0So3R5Gq0uReW_k_LbAKQ2CffpC7MwHWQ7C7W0iNw/s320/JemileCheersSnapper.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In non-Lassus related news, Jemile Weeks cheers Snapper for<br />
being able to stand on first and wait for a throw...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoPyixihr-QrOkfi0El1CiVIL_IABscWFCTphTUoP1f3OKwEGDMPEvLHhwZOa4J0ou6pzm-UjaQYOU4K-9tp4BGJrYgi0StfseXcRtBj3smb-7pdOZzwiWCXEg0zO66iGIV9siHKGSkA/s1600/CHASE+IT+LOSERS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoPyixihr-QrOkfi0El1CiVIL_IABscWFCTphTUoP1f3OKwEGDMPEvLHhwZOa4J0ou6pzm-UjaQYOU4K-9tp4BGJrYgi0StfseXcRtBj3smb-7pdOZzwiWCXEg0zO66iGIV9siHKGSkA/s320/CHASE+IT+LOSERS.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...that never comes. While Lassus legs out a round tripper.<br />
(Official scoring: 2B with a two base error.)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkXk9gJw2WKRJy6CfjonCRvG2O1kI_KPTjvdmVLpXk1Z6r-E85oWFiLbLgjdl11d92i_dxiPpgo4cA7mnDlRVMr9hc_UMWDVm6uv6Nuw4qq-vQV5B2gLurY7NV-KcYgljfjy_XF0yi1g/s1600/JemileDorisAction.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkXk9gJw2WKRJy6CfjonCRvG2O1kI_KPTjvdmVLpXk1Z6r-E85oWFiLbLgjdl11d92i_dxiPpgo4cA7mnDlRVMr9hc_UMWDVm6uv6Nuw4qq-vQV5B2gLurY7NV-KcYgljfjy_XF0yi1g/s320/JemileDorisAction.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jemile in full stride, rounding the bag at 2B.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh97HfLvSXSwhf_RcWeHMJYIzHr7-fTCqvW3_Hoi87QIauNTq5BdrjnR1-AVwHj_G9yy0Nk42BYS0k0RW4cUQYLR1t334ixPy_TvM1-Pq-zy2vEy-Fnml5OOXDAwPAFIs1VCZQmqAwImA/s1600/I+got+it.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh97HfLvSXSwhf_RcWeHMJYIzHr7-fTCqvW3_Hoi87QIauNTq5BdrjnR1-AVwHj_G9yy0Nk42BYS0k0RW4cUQYLR1t334ixPy_TvM1-Pq-zy2vEy-Fnml5OOXDAwPAFIs1VCZQmqAwImA/s320/I+got+it.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lassus, Shooty and billyshears converge on a pop-up near 2B.<br />
Karl From NY (not pictured) was safe at 1B on the play.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho0jGpUDFPKpinfQfboQ3bwE1KOQjK8ZePk2jZQBwq0thGKwDvtCsYMDlB_QuzFYH2TshIFKVWPV6aHFdyy7cZLKBuaTfkyBijZxhw43dSbq1CBlwLg13xCWv8IrydYVdPKMJ63UFvEg/s1600/better+group.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho0jGpUDFPKpinfQfboQ3bwE1KOQjK8ZePk2jZQBwq0thGKwDvtCsYMDlB_QuzFYH2TshIFKVWPV6aHFdyy7cZLKBuaTfkyBijZxhw43dSbq1CBlwLg13xCWv8IrydYVdPKMJ63UFvEg/s320/better+group.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One more group shot for posterity...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqkKijoNlrEu4PALCzyIjDHxBY8QCousaYIvROQE-c_3QtXXIeW1gZwKdrVw5J3Y5f_n-7z_S63Yxnk2UUhr-vXMACb6rXLbo9UfSHxxIniO0yi7vmNxOuF5psKfniwAmro1bcHeV0ow/s1600/aftermath2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqkKijoNlrEu4PALCzyIjDHxBY8QCousaYIvROQE-c_3QtXXIeW1gZwKdrVw5J3Y5f_n-7z_S63Yxnk2UUhr-vXMACb6rXLbo9UfSHxxIniO0yi7vmNxOuF5psKfniwAmro1bcHeV0ow/s320/aftermath2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And then "where's the beer?!"<br />
(billyshears wants to know if you're looking at him?! Blastin'<br />
just wants to get out of the sun after running 17+ miles prior<br />
to the game.)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUCqMmE35PJV-AdFeKKjIsp3GK9_XGfyRcITpIBT6D6GN43xszDuuioTUpfWoAICN8wqK-kZNKpfm9TYkNiEOGMPYkEFlSJGAkjTDSf92X4ygR8qHe_z8qN4xmLUYJVJ_c4PW_Ugg4EA/s1600/aftermath.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUCqMmE35PJV-AdFeKKjIsp3GK9_XGfyRcITpIBT6D6GN43xszDuuioTUpfWoAICN8wqK-kZNKpfm9TYkNiEOGMPYkEFlSJGAkjTDSf92X4ygR8qHe_z8qN4xmLUYJVJ_c4PW_Ugg4EA/s320/aftermath.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No, seriously. Where's the beer?</td></tr>
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<div>
More later arriving shots:<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCx7kMJH51k4eDQnYydmEn3LR8mHq081aKJp8uhk1D9ZFfD7d1qnWVV7m1LcbtP4MIyjk45S4cXpS0PgXz8fH6v7TdYgy48_hxvZR9vNTPUFgifDgAj63LVuoFIl9aHhnKH6V7U8MWew/s1600/McCoyBackstop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCx7kMJH51k4eDQnYydmEn3LR8mHq081aKJp8uhk1D9ZFfD7d1qnWVV7m1LcbtP4MIyjk45S4cXpS0PgXz8fH6v7TdYgy48_hxvZR9vNTPUFgifDgAj63LVuoFIl9aHhnKH6V7U8MWew/s320/McCoyBackstop.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bob Tufts ends his motion with perfect defensive form. Hutcheson<br />seems flatfooted at 2B, perhaps stunned that McCoy hit the ball.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_9zjz67OMSlB4gqLOfzSdjOmwJtqjK6lJQSGlRYS6SpU1i0ksgMYRFKxjuWP3Sf5AnCK_zdGNV9iuOIf_v7oKAXyTnJKhVX0SNxI0v-IIVGSqhCQTmbRlygqxYwqa5JJH3jcN_RimQ/s1600/LeftyBacktoTufts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_9zjz67OMSlB4gqLOfzSdjOmwJtqjK6lJQSGlRYS6SpU1i0ksgMYRFKxjuWP3Sf5AnCK_zdGNV9iuOIf_v7oKAXyTnJKhVX0SNxI0v-IIVGSqhCQTmbRlygqxYwqa5JJH3jcN_RimQ/s320/LeftyBacktoTufts.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The lefty RB grounds into the force but beats the relay to first.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrAvmH7cRai0Ys4z4vvQjSki9mUzAcFu8ox9_hN2ViQZvDbIoxuO9iWSPE8j9x9bOm9tpp6rQlod03e0S5FXKgUU3uxl7TB-Zj4NHYhbsjkJT3e3Fc3mTj-Tn7s_WxA09yZUd7-sJIvw/s1600/DorisBackstop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrAvmH7cRai0Ys4z4vvQjSki9mUzAcFu8ox9_hN2ViQZvDbIoxuO9iWSPE8j9x9bOm9tpp6rQlod03e0S5FXKgUU3uxl7TB-Zj4NHYhbsjkJT3e3Fc3mTj-Tn7s_WxA09yZUd7-sJIvw/s320/DorisBackstop.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">But Doris From Rego Park picks him up with the poke to RF.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgdr-mLbF6bdn80hOCdSvLVElWBErd6ZiiZGz-fYKSkqNSQQSscK5VCK0XNNiiO65FwnJfHw4SdzRmgDBI6Q9qWD7E7l6rKTRNHDRKq_p9Yt6KnozzOF9JgbFb-bsMNQ0kK2fZt9uhHQ/s1600/RunDorisRun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgdr-mLbF6bdn80hOCdSvLVElWBErd6ZiiZGz-fYKSkqNSQQSscK5VCK0XNNiiO65FwnJfHw4SdzRmgDBI6Q9qWD7E7l6rKTRNHDRKq_p9Yt6KnozzOF9JgbFb-bsMNQ0kK2fZt9uhHQ/s320/RunDorisRun.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Run, Doris! Run!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMQuI8K6ZUUqWIiJAu7gEGAzTIT_vXhOaz2lRx0I7sQThawLuWYTNhKzuo2XucaKW_cy5NSmYqAxFSZwWtiGk8Xb1vp7yWIpzrmrIpE0WVgO4oKbCoS5YQvTP2y98F-C6pYaOvV_ZFEQ/s1600/FourPeopleMoving.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMQuI8K6ZUUqWIiJAu7gEGAzTIT_vXhOaz2lRx0I7sQThawLuWYTNhKzuo2XucaKW_cy5NSmYqAxFSZwWtiGk8Xb1vp7yWIpzrmrIpE0WVgO4oKbCoS5YQvTP2y98F-C6pYaOvV_ZFEQ/s320/FourPeopleMoving.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Four defenders moving on the play. No outs recorded.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVU_W2O5q3fTwX5IaKxaeYK2qsu3eMnyN0FSPirb7RWRSZQmT-etIYWnbAS9kcPTgZFTJjihh1Szu8I5FClOnctON4Xwyqmk5UVrKY1AJnRrBHESp2sYea78fXhexRh5hczoD2plcIZQ/s1600/RBHeadingToThird.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVU_W2O5q3fTwX5IaKxaeYK2qsu3eMnyN0FSPirb7RWRSZQmT-etIYWnbAS9kcPTgZFTJjihh1Szu8I5FClOnctON4Xwyqmk5UVrKY1AJnRrBHESp2sYea78fXhexRh5hczoD2plcIZQ/s320/RBHeadingToThird.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And the runner takes third on the throw!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfC3TcfSnvJuLsLAYzASNOGhH8qEQZ9xXpAMU8CMk1_9agCuw4b3JXP3TxA7BfouOIqHM0ci8JatFqtwwDoXyVdQ3z8PW2ItW7ug6SGI2J9qJXSISeBjKnNR3hkC8-O-1jfzw-EGtqzw/s1600/RB+Rounding+Third.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfC3TcfSnvJuLsLAYzASNOGhH8qEQZ9xXpAMU8CMk1_9agCuw4b3JXP3TxA7BfouOIqHM0ci8JatFqtwwDoXyVdQ3z8PW2ItW7ug6SGI2J9qJXSISeBjKnNR3hkC8-O-1jfzw-EGtqzw/s320/RB+Rounding+Third.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rounds the bag... (Might have considered a 3B coach there.)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ8nuFFWKNa0Yuml3_9I8ZevLdaD0sUYKk15T5NQ5ACWpf0HGHy4xdecqu97Rv4wo_kf8j58VAgZy7uY08weZlPcFIBddbXpHpqZU3O38LSp6YOuOLHtJ6tpdmUTso2O0IZxvxq95-iw/s1600/Tufts+Faces+Down+Epstein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ8nuFFWKNa0Yuml3_9I8ZevLdaD0sUYKk15T5NQ5ACWpf0HGHy4xdecqu97Rv4wo_kf8j58VAgZy7uY08weZlPcFIBddbXpHpqZU3O38LSp6YOuOLHtJ6tpdmUTso2O0IZxvxq95-iw/s320/Tufts+Faces+Down+Epstein.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Later, Epstein faces down Tufts. Surprisingly, he swings righty...</td></tr>
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<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096286546148943223.post-79807257750237927312012-06-08T21:35:00.000-07:002012-06-08T21:43:39.799-07:00Speaking of the glove...Let me state upfront that there is no amount of defensive improvement at 3B that could justify continuing to play Jose Constanza over Chipper Jones, and the Braves will rightly return Prado to LF when Chipper returns from his rehab stint in Rome Monday. But <a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2012_06_08_tormlb_atlmlb_1&mode=video" target="_blank">there are two highlight reel plays</a> in this sequence that show Prado's skill with the leather. The first is a reaction play, with Prado positioned way over into the SS hole while the Braves play a shifted infield. Chipper makes that play too I think. He's still got the twitch instincts of a natural third baseman.<br />
<br />
The second play, maybe not. It's a classic "chopper to Chipper" scenario that takes a really awkward bounce on the final hop, kicking way off at an angle toward the 3B line. Prado, who was fielding the ball with his glove until it spun off sideways barehands it instead and laser beams the throw to first. That is somewhat the sort of play that Chipper has excelled at defensively his entire career, but Chipper is far more adept at barehanding the slow roller off the grass and making that throw. I'm not sure he makes the reaction grab while changing direction on the fly.<br />
<br />
Again, none of which is to say the Braves should even think about continuing with Constanza in LF and Prado at 3B, because Chipper's bat over Constanza's is far more valuable than the plus defense you get at both positions with Chipper on the bench. But it's worth noting that defensively, Martin Prado is far more valuable at the hot corner than the Hall of Famer he will replace* there next year.<br />
<br />
*Juan Francisco has quickly played himself out of any consideration for that slot going forward. Expect the Braves to <a href="http://atlanta.sbnation.com/atlanta-braves/2012/6/8/3073604/jorge-soler-rumors-atlanta-braves" target="_blank">look for a new left fielder in 2013</a> with the money they're saving from Chipper's retirement, Derek Lowe's contract finally ending, and Jair Jurrjens' mysterious disappearance from the face of Planet Earth.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096286546148943223.post-28323479417756626212012-06-08T10:43:00.003-07:002012-06-08T10:55:06.722-07:00Smell the glove!<b>Or, how to magically create better pitchers without changing any of your pitchers...</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2012_06_07_atlmlb_miamlb_1&mode=wrap#gid=2012_06_07_atlmlb_miamlb_1&mode=video" target="_blank">This is a link</a> to the highlights of last night's 8-2 Braves win over the Marlins. The sixth video in the sequence is titled "Simmons turns two."<br />
<br />
From Opening Day until his demotion last week, former Braves SS Tyler Pastornicky accrued an abysmal -11 bRAR (runs above/below replacement, via Baseball-Reference.com.) Since that demotion, and the call-up of Andrelton Simmons that went with it, Simmons has already accrued a bRAR of 3.<br />
<br />
Negative 11.<br />
<br />
Plus 3.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2012&month=0&season1=2012&ind=0&team=16&rost=0&age=0&players=0&sort=12,d" target="_blank">This is another link</a>, this time to FanGraphs.com's stats reports for Braves pitching, sorted by ground ball percentages.<br />
<br />
Simmons has been touted as a defensive wizard since becoming a full time position player. His performance to date is in line with expectations and scouting reports. (His early bat has been an unexpected plus.) In the next few months, expect the guys at the top of that list to benefit significantly from going from a terrible defensive SS to a true defensive asset in that hole. Note that in addition to infamous sinker-baller Tim Hudson, all three of the shut-down relievers in the pen - Kimbrel, Venters and O'Flaherty - induce grounders when they're not striking batters out.<br />
<br />
Note also that the other two pitchers who induce ground balls at a 50/50 clip or higher are Randall Delgado and Kris Medlen (currently stretching out as a starter in AAA.) Compare to the last guy on the list, Mike Minor, who is decidedly <i>not </i>a ground ball pitcher. In the battle for the final rotation spot, Delgado and Minor are "pitching for the slot," and in addition to simply out performing Minor to date, Delgado should benefit dramatically from having Simmons making plays behind him on the infield, while Minor will continue to rely on his outfielders to chase down fly balls when they can.<br />
<br />
Welcome back to Gwinnett, Mike.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096286546148943223.post-34239612528672940932012-04-05T09:45:00.001-07:002012-04-05T09:46:09.746-07:00Dear JimDear Jim,<div><br /></div><div>Go punch the damned chimp and wake his ass up.</div><div><br /></div><div>xoxo,</div><div><br /></div><div>s/</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096286546148943223.post-45933307686895889292012-02-26T08:12:00.005-08:002012-02-26T08:17:33.622-08:00Axiomatic Learnings - A Series1. Subtlety is overrated. (cf Squid Poley, circa 1997)<br /><br />2. Brutality is its own reward. (circa 1997)<br /><br />3. Truth is mercurial. (It is literally like mercury. Extremely hard to grasp, tending to flee from the attempt, and causing rank insanity if you ever do manage to pin it down.) (circa 2000)<br /><br />4. A man who reads poetry can't be trusted with your daughter(1). A man who doesn't read poetry can't be trusted at all.<br /><br />(1) Wife, spouse, partner, significant other, lover, and quite likely your dog.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096286546148943223.post-60398383146383964402012-02-23T18:30:00.003-08:002012-02-23T18:38:34.544-08:00<i><b>Ask the things we shouldn't miss<br />Tape hiss and the modern man<br />Cold war and card catalogs<br />To come and join us if they can</b></i><br /><br />The simple fact of the matter is this; I hate modernity. At heart, I am a pre-modern man with a post-modern education. The upper edges of my monkey brain are trained to ignore modernity as a barbaric throw-back to medieval stupidity. My reptile brain asks, without fail, of every situation presented to it, "What would Achilles do?" All of the strum und drang between and betwixt is a sad attempt to balance these two primal, functional impulses in some way. So there you have it. My brain is a teeter-totter desperately seeking to balance the yin of Homer with the Yang of Delueze and Guittari, on the fulcrum of the Enlightenment.<br /><br />Yeah.<br /><br />Fuck you.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096286546148943223.post-20964963717553342042011-12-29T11:40:00.000-08:002011-12-29T11:55:23.382-08:00End of Year Lists are so passe'This is what my critical writing process has devolved into:<br /><br /><ol><li>Spend most of October and November track listing the EOY compilation CD.</li><li>Begin distribution of said EOY CD at Snake Whacking Day (typically the first weekend of December.)</li><li>Have at least one conversation with Paul that includes the phrase "you didn't review any of these for us this year."</li><li>Receive Paul's annual "hey guys, if you have a end of year list type thing, send it over to us before Dec 31 and we'll post it" email.</li><li>Spend the next two weeks thinking about, but failing to compile an end of year list type thing.</li><li>Disappear for Christmas.</li><li>Return from Christmas and throw together a draft-quality end of year list type thing and email it to Paul and Tracy.</li><li>Think to myself "I should write up some of these, a blurb or something at least, and send it over too."</li><li>Fail to do so.</li><li>Get sucked into the Primer Lounge's annual "best music of the year" voting, which requires that I put random list type thing into an ordered ballot of at least 10 releases.</li></ol>With that said, I present to you, dear reader, Sam's best of 2011 ballot, as submitted to the Lounge. When Paul gets the other version of the List Type Thing uploaded at <a href="http://www.evilsponge.org">The 'Sponge</a> I'll link out to that as well.<br /><br />Perhaps at some point I'll even write up some blurb about why I like these things more than most. Or not. I'm really lazy sometimes.<br /><br /><p>1. Say Hi, “Um, Uh Oh”<br />2. Ghost Heart, “The Tunnel”<br />3. Bird of Youth, “Defender”<br />4. Frank Turner, “England Keep My Bones”<br />5. White Wives, “Happeners”<br />6. The Generationals, “Actor-Caster”<br />7. Manchester Orchestra, “Simple Math”<br />8. The Rural Alberta Advantage, “Departing”<br />9. Ravishers, “Ravishers”<br />10. Jolie Holland, “Pint of Blood”</p><p>Honorable Mentions: Fucked Up, “David Comes To Life”; Elbow, “Build a Rocket Boys!”; True Loves, “Hooray For Earth”; The Wombats, “This Modern Glitch”; Larry and His Flask, “All That We Know”; Damion Suomi & The Minor Prophets, “Go And Sell Your Things”; Ha Ha Tonka, “Death of a Decade”; The Dodos, “No Color”</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096286546148943223.post-49406301393670312102011-10-18T03:50:00.000-07:002011-10-18T04:14:39.310-07:00Memorializing the living seems weirdBut sometimes the weird is the necessary, I suppose.<div><br /></div><div>Most Braves fans have probably heard that <a href="http://www.bravesjournal.com/?p=7469">Mac, the rightly knighted "OG blogger"</a> of all Braves-related internet fora, is continuing his on-going battles with cancer, and the big C seems to have gained the upper hand of late. This, quite obviously, sucks. Cancer, quite notably, never produced a series of YouTube bits detailing the various ways in which Mike Hampton repeatedly disabled himself, after all.</div><div><br /></div><div>All relevant speakers have, quite rightly again, thrown out the internet love and best wishes. I figured I might as well brush off the DLF dust and add a bit of mumble to the chorus. Even though it seems a bit odd, eulogizing a guy that's still kicking around over there, right? I mean, I sort of have this image of Mac raising his head up from the cart and saying "I'm not dead yet." But hey, shit gets weird on the webs and you roll with the punches.</div><div><br /></div><div>My Google-fu is as rusty as this blog is dusty, and Google Groups is notoriously bad at archiving old Usenet shit, but regardless, this is<a href="http://groups.google.com/group/alt.sports.baseball.atlanta-braves/browse_thread/thread/59af8d4337123d9d/43a1572d81dddc31"> the earliest conversation that I can quickly find that includes myself and Mac.</a> It's from alt.sports.baseball.atlanta-braves. From 1998. It's about Javy Lopez and his relationship to the Braves' starting rotation. I had sort of assumed it would be about Bret Boone.</div><div><br /></div><div>My first thought upon digging that up was "my god, I've known these people for 15 years." My second thought was "what the hell happened to Billy (KeyHit) and Gregg Rosenberg?!"<br /><br />It doesn't look like Mac really needs me to tell him to keep fighting or whatnot. I'm pretty sure he knows as much as all that already. So I'll confine it to this. </div><div><br /></div><div>Dude. It's been a good run. I particularly thought the Mike Hampton videos were better than the Road from Bristol bit, but that's just me. I appreciate you putting up with my shit over the years. So... Chin up. Fight the good fight. All that jazz.</div><div><br /></div><div>Oh, and I really like Calcaterra's suggestion that you kick its ass and name your kid after where it lives, a la Chipper and Shea, but that would be really weird if it were like, in your spleen. I mean, who names their kid "Spleen?"</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096286546148943223.post-67279780385630737612011-09-28T15:28:00.000-07:002011-09-28T15:28:02.920-07:00It's late September. Must be time to try to figure out what the hell to do with this damned blog again.<br />
<br />
s/Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096286546148943223.post-76989054141472492552011-07-22T08:02:00.000-07:002011-07-22T08:05:03.160-07:00Archers of what?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">Credit where due. It was a brilliant idea. The three of us, presented with the happy magic of a reunited Archers of Loaf would walk through the back catalogue, explicating the titans of our misspent youth as we went. This was our sweet spot, and when P emailed the suggestion I was in, no questions asked. The opportunity, all gift wrapped in gutter punk glory and the dulcet tones of Big E in full croak, to relive the past in anticipation of next month's back to back shows at The EARL. It was fantastic. It was a brilliant idea. Of course I flaked.</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">It seems most of my contributions these days bear introductions built around why my homework is late. This is no exception. The question at hand being “how could you flake on the Archers?” It's a meatwad, thigh-high fastball on the inner half, with little to no movement. It's the perfect pitch, dead red center of your wheelhouse. How on earth could you whiff on that? It's the freakin' Archers, for God's sake.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">The best I can come up with – and I have considered this somewhat thoroughly – is timing. Or more precisely, timeline. Or more, more precisely, the disconnect between the actual timeline of Archers releases and the timeline of Archers-related memory mining from the base of my thick skull. The idea was to walk through the discography chronologically. Icky Mettle to vs Greatest of All Time to <span class="il" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Vee</span> <span class="il" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Vee</span> to Speed of Cattle, so on and so forth. That makes all sorts of sense, of course. The problem is it completely crashes my mental edifice of all things Archers. I think, for me to properly do this thing, I have to walk through the exercise on the personal timeline rather than the official arc of history. That is to say, I have to start in the middle. Specifically it all has to start with <span class="il" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Vee</span> <span class="il" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Vee</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">It's summer, 1995. P and I are wandering the seemingly endless bins of used and new merch at Eat More Records, up in Norcross, in a run-down strip mall off of Jimmy Carter Blvd, a few miles east of 85. Eat More is maybe the best used record/CD shop in the Atlanta metro, with rack after rack of the utterly unknowable snaking out through a bland space that might have once been a Dollar General. The Fat Man – that's all I ever knew him by, for the record – that owns and operates the place is a force of legend. A trip to Eat More, or one of the few other used record shops in the city, is to us what Mass must be to Catholics. We'll usually traipse out every couple of weeks or so and sift through the wares. Our own little ritualistic dance. Scan the bins. Flip the discs. Never sure what the hell we might find.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">It's summer, 1995. I pretty sure I've heard the Archers a few times on Album 88. Memory is fickle even at the best of times, and this is the High Period of Categorical Insobriety, so take it for what it is. But I'm pretty sure I've heard the Archers a couple of times before. I may have seen them open for Weezer. Or maybe someone else did and I'm blurring stories told a hundred times into false memories of my own. Who knows? Does it matter? Isn't that how communities worth living in are made? It's summer, '95, and I'm pretty sure I've heard “Harnessed in Slums,” or maybe “Might,” on the radio once or twice. P and I are sifting through Eat More at our own paces, and somewhere in the Ar-As bin I stumble upon </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/30/Vee_Vee.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(28, 81, 168); ">this.</a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">I suspect it will take too long to explain, in this age of digital downloads, iTunes, lossless audio, etc, et al, how it makes such perfect sense to have the cover art be the kicker that makes the decision between “meh, not today” and “I need this.” Such are the pains of the aging hipster, I suppose. This is how I took <span class="il" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Vee</span> <span class="il" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Vee</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "> home with me. $5.99 used, promo copy. Still has the “not for resale” imprint on the cover. This is how I heard Archers for the first time. Not chronologically. I'm pretty sure I'd heard singles on the radio. Might have seen them open for another show, even. But this is the first true listening. Because this is the first time we put the disc in the tray, put on the headphones, and lose the world to the sound.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">So, that's the excuse. Archers, for me, don't start with the “Might” single released prior to Icky Mettle in '94. Archers, for me, starts with <span class="il" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Vee</span> <span class="il" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Vee</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">. Archers, for me, start with “Step Into the Light.”</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">How does one do this without becoming <b>that guy?</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "> How does one do this without boring the audience by being the old man ranting about how much better it was when he was young? I honestly don't know. I honestly don't know how to convey to non-believers the hook. It's like trying to explain heroine to a straight-edger. How could you even begin to do that? There's that kick/snare, and the simple walking guitar, all starting at once. There's the weird, broken, post-punk doo-wop chorus - “ooooooooo, ooooo” - as the bass and second guitar slides in. Then there's that weird tweaking, half plucked, warped out, deconstructed lead line from Big E. There's the low slung, perfect tone of Little E's rhythm work. And it just...builds. Without building. It just walks into and out of the shadows. Until, two minutes and 40 seconds into, Bachmann side-saunters in, as tweaked, and half-plucked, and warped out and deconstructed as the his guitar work. Trampled. Destroyed. Beyond repair or salvation.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdzDxDCcfCQ" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(28, 81, 168); ">“<span style="font-size: 10pt; ">Step into the light; I'm tired of being in the dark and all alone. Step into the light.” </span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">Repeat. And then Little E and the backing vocals. As if you can call that backup. Around the 3:06 mark. There are so few moments of recorded music of which I can truly say this, but I promise you, if you can ever come to understand this moment of this song – where Little E comes in screeching “STEP INTO THE LIIIIIIIIIIIIGHHHTTT” off mic in the background as the bigger Eric half croons through his lead dirge, you will understand the healing power of rock and roll.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">And as far as it goes, constructively speaking, that's it. That's the song. And it's fucking brilliant. And it fades. And then you're </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25ymumzyWMU" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(28, 81, 168); ">hit in the teeth with the boot heel of “Harnessed in Slums.”</a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">I'm going to assume that if you're reading an off-the-beaten-path indie rock webzine's writeup of the Archers of Loaf's back catalogue you have heard “Harnessed in Slums” once or twice. I will assume you can shout it out loud. That said, I'll leave you to it, noting only two things. First, there's Little E again, at the 45 second mark, again off mic. “I WANT WASTE! WE WANT WASTE!” Crescendoing. Building. Teetering uncontrollably towards the song's pitch perfect pivot. Which, for the record, in case you're interested, is a single plucked, out of tune guitar string at the 1:37 mark.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">I promise.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">Slide into <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYTFRCuyTmY" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(28, 81, 168); ">“Nevermind the Enemy.”</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "> Note the strategic use of the “truck backing up reverse siren warning sound” in the guitar lick. Note that sampling was not a new endeavor for Eric Bachmann when he moved to his solo work with Crooked Fingers. “Nevermind your friends. We'll make a joke of them.” Trust me on this one, okay? And oh, for the love of God, don't miss the line about halfway through that pushes full throttle into track four and previews the album's entire thematic structure. “Let's tack their earlobes to the radio.” I swear.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">And that brings us to track four. “The Greatest of All Time.” I could literally write six or seven pages about this one song. I won't, because that would bore most people to tears. In fact, I think I'll just try to sum up as quickly as possible. “The Greatest of All Time” is the best track Archers of Loaf ever recorded. “The Greatest of All Time” is one of the top five songs recorded in the 1990s. “The Greatest of All Time” is the early-90s slacker-culture's gestalt answer to Don McLean's “American Pie.” It can not be understood without reference, in some way, to Ben Folds' (ironic) breakthrough hit “Underground.” If you can listen to this song and not howl along with the chorus - “Toasting to their heroes; toasting to their heroes; a toast to the dead heroes” - you were not alive and conscious for the better parts of my youth.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">I swear.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">So yeah, maybe I'm already that guy. Maybe there's not out to this trap. I'm probably alright with that, now that I think about it. I could continue with the track list, but if you're listening along, you should have it at this point. Everything forward harkens back to this moment. “The underground, is overcrowded.” Underdogs of Nipoma. Right there. “Scraping over matches and a microbrew.” “Since you're better at me than this...” All right there in GOAT. “The underground, is overcrowded.” Don't say we didn't see the tsunami of “indie rock” of the 2000s coming. We did. It's all right there. “Fabricoh's the favorite sound around. Watch the wholesale slaughter of the whole damned town.” Let The Loser Melt. “Underachievers, attack at your leisure.” The Worst Is Yet To Come.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">Don't say we didn't warn you.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096286546148943223.post-37644333329052023762011-07-13T20:06:00.000-07:002011-07-13T20:17:43.317-07:00"Radical"<i>This post was inspired by <a href="http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/newsstand/discussion/sources_astros_would_switch_in_realignment/">this conversation</a> at BaseballThinkFactory.org, and <a href="http://bigbadbaseball.blogspot.com/2011/06/jubilee-year-for-baseballand-double.html">this pos</a>t from the always brilliant Don Malcolm of BigBadBaseball.</i> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">There's been a lot of talk recently about realignment in Major League Baseball. Much of that talk includes the term “radical” as a descriptor of proposed schemes. The so-called “radical” realignment scenarios usually involve a complete tear down of the existing American League/National League distinctions, to be replaced with a more holistic “Major League Baseball” aligned by geography. Much as the old American Football League was subsumed, becoming a conference in the NFL, the old AL/NL distinctions would become mere divisional semantics of the greater, realigned MLB concept.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">There are a few very good reasons for realignment. Primarily, it is a problem of math. There are 30 major league teams. 14 play in the American League. 16 play in the National League. Each league is divided into three divisions. The NL Central has six teams (the other two divisions have five each.) The AL West has four teams (the other two divisions have five each.) The entire point of so-called “radical realignment is to move one of those NL teams to the American League in order to create six divisions (three per league) of five teams each. The problem with that theory is that in order to do that, you have to schedule and interleague game <b>every day of the season</b>, in order to make the math work for a 30 team league. And having interleague every day pretty much means you don't actually have two “leagues,” an AL and a NL. You have one league, with six divisions. This is what they call “radical.”</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">I hate the misuse of terms. I also hate small minded solutions that cower in the face of the actual problem. The problem isn't that MLB needs to move a team from the NL to the AL. The problem is that MLB has too few teams. The obvious solution isn't to create some sort of wonky 6x5 league with “interleague” play every day. The obvious solution is to add at least two teams.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">At BTF, I suggested a team in Salt Lake City and another in Newark, NJ. Both would go into the AL, creating two leagues with 16 teams each. The basic layout of the leagues was thus:</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">AL EAST - BOS, NYY, BAL, <b>NWK</b><br />AL CENT - CLE, DET, TOR, TBR<br />AL MIDW - CHW, KCR, TEX, MIN<br />AL WEST - SEA, <b>SLC</b>, OAK, LAA<br /><br />NL EAST - NYM, PHI, WAS, PIT<br />NL SOUT - ATL, MIA, CIN, HOU<br />NL CENT - CHC, MIL, STL, COL<br />NL WEST - LAD, SFG, SDP, ARI</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">This alignment is the <i><span style="text-decoration: none">least radical </span></i><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none">possible. It literally solves the problem in the fewest steps, without switching franchises from their traditional leagues. Put a new team in Newark, playing in the AL East. Put a new team in Salt Lake, playing in the AL West. Play baseball. Simple. Easy. Not radical. The hardest part of this strategy would be to carve out a new franchise in existing New York Yankees territory, a problem I'd suggest be solved by eliminating the “luxury tax” system, wherein the Yankees, after crossing a certain threshold of payroll, have to pay other teams a “tax” from their coffers. A team in Newark cuts into the Yankees' gigantic market (as well as that of the Mets) so there's no reason to double penalize them for being, well, the Yankees. </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none">This seems like a straight forward solution to me. But for some reason, the powers that be in MLB refuse to even consider expansion. I blame Bob Costas.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none">Regardless, after putting this together, I got to thinking about what a true “radical” plan might entail. Now, granted, as a former card-carrying radical of the radical school of radicality, I might have different ideas as to what plans could honestly use that moniker, but hey, it's my blog.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none">Going through the thought experiment, starting with a few grounding assumptions.</span></span></p> <ol><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none">The proper direction is out, not in. MLB should be </span></span><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><b>growing it's product, </b></span></span><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">not shuffling pieces around the board with no real future-oriented strategy in mind.</span></span></span></p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">The smallest market in baseball, currently, is the Milwaukee metro, with just under 1.7 mil people in its Combined Statistical Area. Rounding a bit, a million and a half is the smallest market size that would likely support a ML baseball team.</span></span></span></p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">There are eleven (11!) markets in the United States larger than Milwaukee that lack a MLB team.</span></span></span></p> </li></ol> <ul><li><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Orlando</span></span></span></li><li> <span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Sacramento</span></span></span></li><li> <span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Charlotte</span></span></span></li><li> <span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Indianapolis</span></span></span></li><li> <span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Columbus, OH</span></span></span></li><li> <span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Las Vegas</span></span></span></li><li> <span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Austin</span></span></span></li><li> <span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Raleigh-Durham</span></span></span></li><li> <span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Salt Lake City</span></span></span></li><li> <span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Nashville</span></span></span></li><li> <span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Greensboro, NC</span></span></span> </li></ul> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span style="text-decoration: none"> </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Eleven markets! Eleven new potential baseball teams! Think of the radical possibilities. But wait. Let's balance our crazy with some realism. We're not 20-somethings with an irrational hatred of corporate coffee shops any more. Orlando, while over 2 million strong, is very close to Tampa and the Rays. And the Rays are having a hard enough time drawing customers as it is. Orlando's off the list.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Columbus, OH is actually a bit larger than Cleveland these days, and growing rather than shrinking, but Cleveland already has the stadium and the team. Columbus is too close to the Indians, so they're off the list too. </span></span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Three of the markets are in North Carolina. While NC is booming, I don't think it's ready to go from zero to three franchises over night. We'll leave Charlotte on the list, but remove the Raleigh-Durham Triangle and Greensboro from consideration. Marking those off as well, we're left with only seven potential expansion sites.</span></span></span></p> <ul><li><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Sacramento</span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Charlotte</span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Indianapolis</span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Las Vegas</span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Austin</span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Salt Lake City</span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Nashville</span></span></span> </li></ul> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">You've got enough markets to bring in the two new American League teams, PLUS another division entirely. But you can't have a single, orphaned four- or five-team division off by itself. You need at least eight ne2 teams, in addition to the two new AL teams, to </span></span></span><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><b>really</b></span></span><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal"> expand. Luckily, we haven't even begun to exhaust the potential markets.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">As I said earlier, the smallest market in MLB is Milwaukee, with just over 1.5 million people in it's Combined Statistical Area. The vast majority of MLB franchises operate within CSA markets of 1.5-6 million residents. BUT, there are a few notable exceptions. New York, as previously noted, has 22 million people, but only two teams. If we assume the City splits evenly (and there's no reason to gut punch Mets fans at this particular moment, so why not) that's 11 million per franchise. Clearly, the NYC metro can take another team. In fact, if we use the same math from above, wherein 1.5 mil people creates a metro-market to sustain an MLB franchise, NYC could support 14 franchises. FOURTEEN!</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><i><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">(Dear Yankees fans, if you want to know how it feels to be a Pirates or Royals fan watching your payroll eclipse theirs by factors of ten, think about having more than 14 competing teams in the metro area.)</span></span></i><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal"> </span></span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Now, I'm a reasonable man. I don't think we should break the NYC metro up between 14 different teams. That's just silly. Assuming that some New Yorkers don't even like baseball at all, I'm fine with doubling the market size needed to support a single-franchise city for the multiple franchise model. You only need 1.5 mil or so to support a single team, but to support two teams you probably need 5 or 6 mil. Which is fine. Instead of 11 NYC teams, we'll only assign them with two expansion teams – one in Newark, NJ; another in Brooklyn. That's 5+ million citizens – or roughly the size of the entire Atlanta-Marietta-Sandy Springs metro area, per team. We now have an additional two franchises!</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">But there's no reason to single NYC out for the slice and dice. Los Angeles has just under 19 million people. Again, we'll be generous and just add a third franchise to the LA basin.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Chicago has 9-10 mil, but we've already added a new franchise to Indianapolis, which abuts South Chicago more or less, so we'll keep ChiTown as a two team city. But Boston has nearly 8 million people. No reason not to add a new NL team to Beantown.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">At this point, we slide into the “just over 6 mil in population” cities. Dallas. Philly. Houston. Dallas, at near 7 mil and growing, could probably take a second team. We'll draw the line at Philly's 6.2 mil, unless we desperately need a final franchise to balance things out.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">At this point we've added eleven new MLB teams.</span></span></span></p> <ul><li><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Sacramento</span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Charlotte</span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Indianapolis</span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Las Vegas</span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Austin</span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Salt Lake City</span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Nashville</span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Brooklyn</span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Newark</span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Boston NL</span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Dallas NL</span></span></span> </li></ul> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Imagine that league for a moment. Every major city in the country has a major league baseball team. Every franchise has a roughly equal market from which to draw fans. Sure, the historically manifest brands will maintain their position of dominance – not every Yankee fan in Jersey is going to burn his Cap'n Jetes jersey the day the Newark Sopranos open shop. But the field is a lot more even. And being that there are a ton more teams, you can cut the regular season drastically, have distinct leagues without interleague play, AND have a playoff structure that includes like, twenty friggin' teams. What could a Selig not love about this plan? </span></span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">But wait. We're not done. There are some rather notable markets outside of the US boundaries, currently unserved by MLB. Let's assume you need 2-3 million unAmerican fans to support America's past time.</span></span></span></p> <ul><li> Mexico City, Mexico (22 m)</li><li> Guadalajara, Mexico (4.5 m)</li><li> Monterrey, Mexico (4 m)</li><li><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Puebla, Mexico (2.6 m)</span></span></span></li><li> Juarez-El Paso, aka The Borderplex, Mexico/Texas (2.5 m)</li><li><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">Montreal, Canada (3.8 m)</span></span></span></li><li> Vancouver, Canada (2.3 m)</li><li><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">San Juan, Puerto Rico (2.6 m)</span></span></span></li><li> Havana, Cuba (2.1 m) </li></ul> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none"> Okay, fine. Is it too radical to put a team in Castro's Cuba? Even considering the possibility of the “natural rivalry” between the Miami Marlins and the Havana Your-Family-Goes-To-Prison-If-We-Lose? Fine. Pussy. Call it another eight potential teams.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none"> 30 + 11 + 8 (with a second Philly team, and/or Havana in the wings) = 49. Forty-nine potential teams! Radical realignment.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;"> AL EAST - BOS, NYY, BAL, <b>NEWARK</b><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">AL CENT - CLE, DET, TBR, <b>INDIANAPOLIS</b><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">AL TEXAS - TEX, HOU, <b>AUSTIN, EL PASO</b><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">AL MIDW - CHW, KCR, MIN, <b>NASHVILLE</b><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">AL WEST - SEA, OAK, LAA, <b>VANCOUVER</b><br /><br />NL EAST - NYM, PHI, WAS, <b>BROOKLYN</b><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">NL SOUT - ATL, CIN, MIA, <b>CHARLOTTE</b><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none">NL CENT - CHC, MIL, STL, PIT</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;"> NL MTN – COL, <b>SLC, VEGAS, </b>ARI<br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none">NL WEST - LAD, SFG, SDP, <b>SACRAMENTO/LA3</b></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">IL NORTH – TOR, </span></span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>MONTREAL, BOSTON-2, SAN JUAN</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal">IL SOUTH – </span></span></span><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><b>MEXICO CITY, GUADALAJARA, MONTERREY, DALLAS-2</b></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">There you go. A 48 team super league. 12 divisions of four teams each. And for you traditionalists out there, I've maintained both the Red Sox-Yankees and Cubs-Cards rivalries.<br /></span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"> Win your division, go to the playoffs. Period. End of story. Scheduling to accommodate travel and balanced competition. No need for Mexico City to play the Yankees, so long as Mexico City and Monterrey play the same schedule. The MLB playoffs become a true </span></span><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><b>World Series,</b></span></span><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"> a North American championship to put all other international competitions to shame. Hell, when it's all done and you have the champion challenge the Japanese and Korean leagues to play each other so that the winner would fly over and face off for global bragging rights.<br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none">Grow baseball. Level market access around the league. You know. </span></span><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="text-decoration: none"><b>Radicalism.</b></span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096286546148943223.post-6358323520857247162011-04-12T19:39:00.000-07:002011-04-13T05:30:04.043-07:00Math rock is hardThis story, like all stories worth telling, begins with Charlie Brown. Specifically it begins with "A Charlie Brown Christmas."<br /><br />Last December the 'Sponge crowd and assorted hangers on tripped over to The EARL to partake in Atlanta's most hep-cat Christmas party - Jeffrey Butzer's annual performance of Vince Guaraldi's masterpiece, "A Charlie Brown Christmas." Hipsters and indie-rockers soaking up the modern jazz and totally dancing non-ironically to the Christmastide joy. With the Peanuts! It doesn't get much more cred-tastic than that, kids. Plus you get to do the Snoopy dance in public.<br /><br />The 2010 show was opened by a local math-rock outfit called Sorry No Ferrari performing The Ventures' Christmas album (brilliantly titled "The Ventures' Christmas Album.") Going in I had heard neither the Ventures' Christmas album nor Sorry No Ferrari, so I was quite pleasantly surprised to completely lose myself in the surf-rock Yuletide. Yay, beaches! Yay, Christmas!<br /><br />Between sets the lot of us were talking and socializing, as we are want to do. The subject of Sorry No Ferrari's latest album, 2010's "Ternary," came up. Christmas spirit. Excellent show just played. "Sure man, I'll review it! Send me the download link!" This is where it all goes wrong.<br /><br />Now, all things considered, you wouldn't think it too hard to write up a CD, would you? I mean, give it an honest listen or three, open up a notepad and knock out a few paragraphs. Bang, bang, your done. It's April. Ain't no procrastination like a 'Sponge-man procrastination, my friend.<br /><br />I was originally a little off-put by "Ternary." I came into the band blind, no experience or expectations other than the Christmas show. Did I expect a track list of holiday tunes in classic surf-rock style? Well, no. But I'm not sure I was really teed up properly for the mathy McMatherson mathematics of the math-rock either. Maybe that's why I never managed to spin it up properly and write the damned review. Yeah, that's it. Contrary expectations totally stole my homework.<br /><br />Coming back to the disc a few months later, and knowing what to expect a little more going in, I'm far more grooved into the sound now. Sorry No Ferrari do straight up instrumental math-rock. (Have I mentioned the math yet?) Some other sites call them "heavy progressive," and I guess I can see that. They're certainly proggy, that's for sure. A lot of their riffs could be dropped into a Kings X or Rush song with little editing required. I'm not sure they qualify for what I would call "heavy" - I mean, I spent the darker days of last winter listening to GREYMACHINE, right? But still, I can see the descriptor as apt.<br /><br />Now, being a music nerd from Atlanta and hearing a dueling-guitar, prime-numbers driven time signature instrumental math/prog band going full on at the craft, I can't help but compare SNF to local godfathers The Purkinje Shift. No, the youth doesn't match up quite yet. Who could? I'm not sure I'll ever see a drummer the likes of Scott Robbins again. But these guys are no slouches. They know their counting, and their time changes, and their intricate fret work. And the percussion adds in backbone - there's some double kicks in there, which is maybe where the "heavy prog" thing comes in - what it lacks for Robbins' percussive genius.<br /><br />Listening to the disc is best done without reference to track breaks or track names. There's no real reason to try to note where "Ternary I" slides into "Ternary II," or where "Ternary III" melds into "Ashar" for that matter. The albums is a singular set, meant to be taken as a totality. There are no radio singles here. And that's good. It suits the genre.<br /><br />Having finally come back to it, I'm pretty impressed with the disc and even more so with the band. "Ternary" is a solid five-sponge offering. Fans of the genre should love it, but it remains accessible and listenable to non-devotee ears. Sorry No Ferrari are an excellent set of musicians, and their ability to slide from their preferred style to spot-on renditions of surf-rock holiday standards speaks highly of their tastes and their ability. I shouldn't have put off listening so long.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096286546148943223.post-71888119986821680022011-02-25T16:34:00.000-08:002011-02-25T17:05:41.966-08:00The inevitable battle for second placeLet's be honest, right? The Braves are playing for second place and the Wild Card. When the Phils went out and signed Cliff Lee to join "H2O" smart money just went ahead and penciled them into the World Series. <span style="font-style: italic;">In ink.</span> The rest of us should be happy that our teams are allowed to be beaten mercilessly by our new Philadelphian Overlords. Not since the Mets brought in Johan Santana to team with Pedro Martinez and Mike Pelfrey has such an unstoppable juggernaut been unleashed in the NL.<br /><br />Oh, but our passions are deep, and it is spring. Perhaps we can at least dream to one day hope. In this spirit that I present part one of <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">A Series of Datum with Commentary In Tabular Format</span>.<br /><br /><table cols="3" frame="VOID" rules="NONE" border="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="18" width="121" align="LEFT"><br /></td> <td width="100" align="CENTER"><b>2010 WAR</b></td> <td width="383" align="CENTER"><b>Commentary</b></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="18" align="LEFT"><br /></td> <td align="CENTER"><br /></td> <td align="CENTER"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="19" align="LEFT">Roy Halladay</td> <td align="CENTER">6.9</td> <td align="LEFT">Roy Halladay is really damned good.</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="19" align="LEFT">Tim Hudson</td> <td align="CENTER">5.4</td> <td align="LEFT">Tim Hudson is better than the rest of the Phillies' rotation.</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="19" align="LEFT">Roy Oswalt</td> <td align="CENTER">5.1</td> <td align="LEFT">Oswalt posted two straight years of 3ish WARs and was on track to do that again, until he went insane after the trade to Philly. He won't be insane again in 2011. He's 3-4 WAR pitcher.</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="19" align="LEFT">Cole Hamels</td> <td align="CENTER">4.7</td> <td align="LEFT">Hamels is really good and young enough to still improve. He's Philadelphia's second best starter.</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="18" align="LEFT">Cliff Lee</td> <td align="CENTER">4.3</td> <td align="LEFT">Very good, yet still extremely overrated.</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="19" align="LEFT">Tommy Hanson</td> <td align="CENTER">2.5</td> <td align="LEFT">It doesn't take a Braves partisan to suspect that Hanson is primed, after two years of 2.5ish WARs, to move into the league of Hamels and Lee. He's 24.</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="19" align="LEFT">Derek Lowe</td> <td align="CENTER">1.7</td> <td align="LEFT">For fun, I call Derek Lowe “The White Man's Kenshin Kawakami.” Outside of Joe Blanton Lowe is the most likely to just go whammo and suck completely in 2011. He's 38.</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="19" align="LEFT">Jair Jurrjens</td> <td align="CENTER">0.0</td> <td align="LEFT">Jurrjens had an injury plagued 2010. In 2009 he posted a 5+ WAR. There's no reason to think he can't do that again when healthy for 2011.</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="18" align="LEFT">Joe Blanton</td> <td align="CENTER">-0.7</td> <td align="LEFT">Aging mediocrity.</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="18" align="LEFT">Mike Minor</td> <td align="CENTER">-0.7</td> <td align="LEFT">Up and coming #3.</td> </tr> </tbody> </table><br />Halladay sets himself apart from the rest of the field. That's obvious. And the Phils are more likely to get good pitching from their #4 guy (Oswalt) than the Braves (Lowe.) But Mike Minor is just as likely to out-pitch Joe Blanton.<br /><br />The doom, it is overstated.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096286546148943223.post-18028803036183231142011-02-18T08:19:00.000-08:002011-02-18T09:43:43.365-08:00Pettitte Crimes and Miss DemeanorsSo yesterday we unveiled <a href="http://playdeeper.blogspot.com/2011/02/keltner-schmeltner-pettitte-scones.html">The Pettitte List</a> to a rousing chorus of soused crickets. At the <span style="font-style: italic;">exact same moment</span> Joe Posnanski was turning out <a href="http://joeposnanski.si.com/2011/02/17/messing-with-numbers/">some 7000 words on the best players of his lifetime</a>, which you'd think would be enough, but was actually merely the <span style="font-style: italic;">intro bit</span> for his thoughts on Gary Sheffield and the HOF. It's like synchronicity or something, wherein "synchronicity" means nothing remotely like what it's been used for in any real world language game to date.<br /><br />Now Joe, as everyone knows, is the most beloved man in all of sports-writing. Some attribute this to his passion, encyclopedic knowledge of virtually every American game, intellectual honesty and mastery of the writer's craft. I personally attribute it to voodoo, but then again I tend to attribute pretty much everything to voodoo given the slightest option. Joe Posnanski, voodoo priest. Works for me.<br /><br />Anywho, as these things go, The Pettitte List post generated like, twelve comments over at BTF, which is a new record for one of my bits not directly related to physical violence or <a href="http://playdeeper.blogspot.com/2010/02/last-week-chris-jaffe-wrote-column-at.html">Dan Szymborski's sub-basements.</a> As such, we shall continue to ride this tiger. Because, dude, it's spring and I'm thinking about baseball again.<br /><br />The Pettitte List: Gary Sheffield<br /><br />1. Q: Does <strike>Andy Pettitte</strike> Gary Sheffield deserve to be inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame? A: No.<br /><br />2. Q: Would anyone other than mindless Yankee fanboys, paid Yankee media shills or <strike>Andy Pettitte's</strike> Gary Sheffield's immediate family honestly believe... A: Wait! How close to me is Gary Sheffield standing? Because if he's within say, oh, sixty feet and six inches of my skull and he's waggling that bat around like he did and he's glaring at me the way he glared at pitchers, I want to change my vote.<br /><br />2a. Q: You can't change your vote. You already answered the first question. A: But Gary Sheffield could hurt me if I say no. I once saw him almost nutsack a defender on a damned short hop line drive to <span style="font-style: italic;">left field.</span> He was the terror of every third base coach that ever lived. Even the ones that died before he started Little League!<br /><br />2b. Q: You've made your bed, now lie in it. A: He was Doc Gooden's cousin, too. Don Sutton told me so. Like, every single at bat for all of 2002-2003. Sometimes twice per at bat.<br /><br />2c. Q: Does Sheffield's attitude or inclusion in the Mitchell Report alter the likelihood of you voting for Gary Sheffield for the HOF? A: No. The only thing that matters is how close he is to me physically and whether or not he is doing that bat waggle thing. Bat waggle at my head = "Yes." No bat waggle = "No."<br /><br />3. Q: If <strike>Andy Pettitte</strike> Gary Sheffield gets elected to the MLB Hall of Fame, what would be the general reaction? A: I suspect the entire state of Milwaukee might disappear into a cataclysmic sink hole, which admittedly would be another reason to vote for the man.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096286546148943223.post-41237081296422650952011-02-17T11:35:00.000-08:002011-02-17T12:13:58.443-08:00Keltner Schmeltner, Pettitte SconesWay back in pre-history, before the internet and talking super-computer proto-gods, Bill James published the 1985 <em>Baseball Abstract</em>. The <em>Abstract</em> was a running publication where internet dorks talked about statistics before the internet even existed. It was printed on mule-skin with ink condensed by stomping the fruit of thistleberries into a fine pulp. Notably, this had to be done while the thistleberries were still living and attached to the thistles, because it only makes ink if the berries scream for their lives as you stomp.<br /><br />Anyway, in the '85 <em>Abstract </em>James published one of his more famous pieces - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keltner_list">The Keltner List.</a> The Keltner List was a simple, non-mathematical series of 15 questions fans could ask about any given player to determine whether or not he was worthy of enshrinement in MLB's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. It's still quite popular even today, 25 years after first publication, usually as a conversation starter for recently retired borderline players (Javy Lopez, Gary Sheffield, etc.) The list is also still useful for its original purpose from 1985, which was to ask in a somewhat obtuse way the question "Seriously, some nutters actually thought Ken Keltner was worthy of a HOF vote??"<br /><br />Alas, 25 years is a long on passing time, and our current Twitter-driven dialogue is short on attention span. It seems the list might be in need of some updating. In the spirit of brevity, concision and open handed giving, I humbly suggest Keltner be replaced with my new list of fewer, less difficult questions. I call it The Pettitte List.<br /><br />1. Q: Does Andy Pettitte deserve to be inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame? A: No.<br /><br />Much simpler, no?<br /><br />If required, The Pettitte List may be expanded into Facebook posts as follows.<br /><br />2. Q: Would anyone other than mindless Yankee fanboys, paid Yankee media shills or Andy Pettitte's immediate family honestly believe Andy Pettitte deserves to be inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame? A: No, and his wife wouldn't vote for him either if it were a secret ballot.<br /><br />3. Q: If Andy Pettitte gets elected to the MLB Hall of Fame, what would be the general reaction? A: Murray Chass.<br /><br />Consider this an opportunity for education and advancement.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096286546148943223.post-19743727948055432002011-02-14T14:19:00.000-08:002011-02-14T14:36:17.693-08:005 million BCE, drop out of the canopies. Better and more varied food sources. Discovery of wanderlust.<br /><br />A million years later, bipedal motion. Extended hunting ranges. The ability to carry goods long distances. Grasping thumbs.<br /><br />Two million years gone. Discovery of fire and the eating of meat. Brain size jumps from 700cc to 1300cc. The first stone tools, migration out of Africa and eventually, inexorably, internal combustion engines.<br /><br />Monday, February 14, 2011 CE. Easy off of Howell Mill. Straight shot down the on-ramp through Northside. Kick to 4th before you even hit the interstate proper. 70-something and the throttle isn't halfway spun.<br /><br />Grasping hands. Bipedal motion.<br /><br />The waters part. Moses out of Egypt on I75. Whatever. Arrow straight slash across six lanes. All in for 6th before you hit the deceleration zone heading into the pivot.<br /><br />60 degrees. No clouds. No humidity. Modern man and his machines. The fool has said in his heart there is no G*d. Oh, poor Guanilo, you sad sack medieval bastard. You had no idea.<br /><br />Stomp back down to 4 for the turn. 200-odd degrees south to north. The pure, unadulterated laws of physics as holy texts. In on the high line. Flash the knee into the lean. Drag the toe. Boot on asphalt, the burdens of consciousness a distant dream. Read and react. Apex. Throttle. Kick. Throttle. Kick.<br /><br />I am Jack's existential forgetting. I am Jack's unrepentant childish glee.<br /><br />Just shy 6 million years of evolution, this little Japanese machine you've named after a fictional mercenary's favorite weapon and the chaos of weather systems too complex to conceive combine in this moment of pure Buddha-under-the-tree mindful emptiness. The fool has said in his heart. Poor, sad Guanilo. If only for a fleeting moment, the world is right and true.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096286546148943223.post-74747454875947300932011-01-07T17:01:00.000-08:002011-01-07T17:16:15.317-08:00Juliet, Naked - Day 7Well, I haven't read any further. I've done work (good.) I've posted to Facebook (meh.) I've blathered about politics (pointless.) Mostly I've engaged in rancorous debate - no, that's not right. "Debate" is too formal a word. Mostly, I've argued like fighting pit-bulls with people on baseball sites who think steroids should disqualify players from the Hall of Fame (utterly, moronically pointless.)<br /><br />I'll try to read more over the weekend, though I am currently devoting most of my free time to final mix of (yet) another CD. Which seems a reasonable anecdote to tell. At last year's Snake Whacking Day (another story altogether) I presented Paul with a special mix that I put together for his 40th birthday. Every year Paul mixes everyone a birthday CD, and way back in 1992 it was Paul who sort of set me off on this weird little "document your life by embedding secret, mostly impossible to discern messages to yourself into mix tapes of other people's art" project. My first mix tape made for public consumption - that is to say "not for a girl I was infatuated with" - was titled "I Am Paul's Dog." (That's a reference to a comic book from the early 90s, if you care.)<br /><br />Anywho, I made Paul a 40th birthday mix and I gave it to him at Snake Whacking Day. At which point Squid, who I have also known nigh unto forever, asked "where's my birthday mix?" Now who feels like an ass? No, more than usual. So I have set about over the last month to mix Squid a CD, because he has a point. I'm currently running final track listings for that CD. (Yeah, see. I spend HOURS on track orders, blending the run time from one song to the next, maintaining some undercurrent or theme. I'm a complete OCD fucktard about that sort of thing.) When it's done, I'll write that up separately.<br /><br />But that's why I haven't read any further in Juilet, Naked. I can't read about music geeks and their amazingly fucked up emotional and psychological compulsions because of my own music geekery and psychological compulsions. Yeah. I'm like that sometimes.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096286546148943223.post-36238496430671724352011-01-05T07:11:00.000-08:002011-01-05T07:42:48.946-08:00Divination in the time of choleraWhat's a gaming system without an expansion pack? Nothing, I tell you. Nothing! Just think of how quickly you'd get bored if all you ever did was wander around slaughtering kobolds all day. (The kobolds are not unlike the Irish that way.)<br /><br /><a href="http://playdeeper.blogspot.com/2010/12/left-to-his-own-devices-dork-will.html">Previously on Buffy</a> we defined our dice-based text selection algorithm, to no small applause from the audience. Today we proudly announce our first expansion pack, in which we add a couple more rolls - dude, just roll the dice a couple more times and sort it out; this ain't rocket surgery - and move past mere text selection straight on into full-fledged bibliomancy.<br /><br />Bibliomancy. Oh Christ, look it up. Wiki is your friend.<br /><br />Unable as we are to settle a singular "holy text" we have set our divinatory range to include the entire library. Initial rolls to select a given text for a given day are identical to previously-on-Buffy text selection. Once a text is chosen - or chooses us... MWHUHHAHAHAHA!!! Um...<br /><br />Once a text is chosen, another set of multiple 20-sides choose a page, and a 6-, 8- or 12-side selects a paragraph. As required, one can add a final roll for sentence if so desired.<br /><br />Today's Random Koan of Destiny comes from...<br /><br />Zone 4 (Philosophy & and other hubristic texts), Shelf 3, Book 44 (<em>The Pig That Wants To Be Eaten - 100 Experiments For The Armchair Philosopher</em>), page 38, paragraph 6. (Beginning the count at the first full paragraphs actually takes us to the first paragraph of page 39, which is just fine by me. The Lord works in mysterious ways, and so apparently do my dice.)<br /><blockquote>"So when Mary sees colour for the first time, the world will appear a new way for her. But is it true to say she will know anything new about it? It may seem natural to say she now 'knows' what red looks like. But sometimes our ordinary ways of talking can blind us to the subtler distinctions a philosopher should take care to make."<br /></blockquote>Initial Cogitations and Ruminations:<br /><ol><li>Damn, this might actually be functional! I'm a genius.</li><li>Squid's First Axiom (The Document of POPGUN; self-published 1997) - "Subtlety is overrated."</li><li>Sam's First Corallary to Squid's First Axiom (POPGUN Hadith and Commentaries, unpublished) - "Brutality is it's own reward."</li></ol><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096286546148943223.post-16118850066963229592011-01-02T18:24:00.000-08:002011-01-03T09:13:20.928-08:00Juliet, Naked - Day 2There are three authors that, when I read them, both enchant and dismay me in equal parts. They are, in no particular order, Chuck Palahniuk, Chuck Klosterman and Nick Hornby. All three of those guys hit me in a very particular way. All three fascinate and disturb me in an all-encompassing, soul-shattering sort of way, usually at the same time. (The fascination and disturbing, not all three authors at the same time.)<br /><br />On the one hand, each of them resonates with me at the deepest level. Each have the ability to turn out sentences and phrases and entire paragraph blocks that scan as if they were simply running dictation from my subconscious. Each seems to write from a place where I have lived some not insignificant portion of my adult life. (That place is probably most readily summed up as "indie rock scenesters from the '90s.) The overwhelming reaction when reading their novels and essays is identification-at-a-distance, and a sort of pride that someone is capturing this part of the world, this part of *my* world so elegantly, wittily and effectively. Reading either always provides a jolt of vicarious pride. "Yes! This is right. This is it. This is what we were about!"<br /><br />At the same time, I am equally repulsed by the experience. If Nick Hornby, who lives in England and probably never set foot in any of the clubs or loved any of the bands I sweated and swore for, can effectively convey, with near perfect tone the fact of being there, and sweating and swearing for them nonetheless, that sort of explodes the idea that the experience itself was notably authentic. It suggests that the experience, absent the particulars - that my *life*, absent the particulars - rather than being spun up organically from cause and circumstance undeniably my own, was actually pretty close to "of a form." It suggests that my life probably has more in common with the "mass produced in China," "lowest common denominator" lives I so detest in say, Oasis fans, than I would ever want to acknowledge or believe. It drives a nagging suspicion deep into the gut, a little demon voice in the ear repeating over and over "the only difference between you and 'N Sync fans was that you tuned the radio dial into lower bandwidths; mere form, not function."<br /><br />Which is to say, it tells me that I am no a beautiful and unique snowflake, and that makes me want to go destroy something beautiful.<br /><br />All of which is a rambling attempt to frame my state of mind when reading the first few chapters of "Juliet, Naked." (In my first sitting I've made it through the first listen to Naked on the beach.) On the one hand, I already *heart* this novel, in the same way I just more or less man-crush on anything Hornby writes. I know these people already. I've known them for decades, even though I just learned their names last night. I know them, and I am them. These are my people, my tribe. Obscurantist musical obsessives. Occultist devotees to the healing and destructive powers of rock and roll. Socially awkward misfits whose strongest connections to other human beings often occur via chat rooms, BBS and "social networks." Yes. I know these people. Fuck me, how I know these people.<br /><br />On the other hand, I want to pike Nick Hornby's head, burn his bones and salt the ground we sink him into while chanting the Latin equivalent of "get out of my head, you limey bastard; get out of my fucking head!"<br /><br />With that said, the term "Croweologist" is fantastic. Even more so if you've ever spent three months attempting to explain to a sweet little strawberry blond with the most perfect Savannah-area lilt exactly why Superchunk's "Foolish" is the greatest break-up album ever recorded.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096286546148943223.post-29778372628608380732010-12-31T19:20:00.001-08:002010-12-31T19:46:21.981-08:00Left to his own devices, the dork will always outI was supposed to be in Rome, GA tonight, spending the New Year's Eve with family in anticipation of a "Resolution Run" 5K tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, the lovely missus was taken down by some nasty congestion/coughing thing, so those plans are kaput. Which is probably just as well, considering that a band of tornado spinning storms are due to hit the area about the time said 5K was due to kick off. So we'll be ringing in 2011 from Ye Olde Loftstead in the city.<br /><br />Which means I have a lot of time on my hands. And a lot of time on my hands means schemes. Mad schemes. Like a fish to water, baby. It's sort of what I do.<br /><br />One thing I'd like to do more of next year is read books. I had a bad year for reading in 2010. When I did get a chance to read, I tended to get sidetracked by ugly political arguments instead. I'm looking to ratchet that down a little in 2011, and I hope to devote my regained time to reading more. I have an assload* of texts in the house, and I'll inevitably buy more as the year goes on, so my first requirement if I'm going to carry through on this resolution is to define some sort of system to keep me focused. To that end, let me share with you my new library selection methodology.<br /><br />Step 1: Dig your old D&D dice out of the closet. (Please, do not try me with that 'I don't have D&D dice, those were for dorks!' gambit. Just get the damned dice and stop pretending.)<br /><br />Step 2: Devise your system. Break your library into six zones, to be associated with a 6-sided standard die. Each zone should have no more than 20 individual shelves. (If your library is large enough that this is a problem, you may expand your six-sided "zone" die to an 8-, 10- or 12- sided solution.) Standard shelves will hold between 40 and 50 books. I have selected two 20-sided + one 10-sided die for book selection. Of course, if you want to go three 20-sided that's perfectly feasible too.<br /><br />Step 3: Roll to hit.<br /><br />Okay. You're good to go. From your 6-sided die, find your zone. From your first 20-sided roll, choose a shelf. From your 50-60-sided rolls find your book. I simply count left to right, personally, what with my not being of Hebrew or Arabic lineage. Of course, should you be a right to left reader, feel free. Just don't touch the Torah, dude. Seven years bad luck, that.<br /><br />And the winner is...<br /><br />Nick Hornby; Juliet, Naked.<br /><br />Yes. I really did just create a more or less random text selection algorithm using old gaming dice. What? Did you think I had suddenly become something other than a dork while you weren't looking?<br /><br />I think I shall blog this experience all year.<br /><br />s/Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096286546148943223.post-90020524812275390532010-07-08T12:14:00.000-07:002010-07-08T12:22:47.227-07:00Not to be greedy, but...If the managerial style of Bobby Cox can be summed up in one pithy phrase, it is this: "win the series." He, and his teams, figure if you take 2 out of 3 more often than not, you're going to be in the running for the title at the end of it all. He is, of course, absolutely correct. I very rarely find issue to argue with Cox' managerial tendencies. Even the bullpen usage. But for the next three games, I will suggest that the "win the series" strategy is good, but not optimal.<br /><br />After today's travel day, the Braves open the final series of the "first half" in New York. Three against the second place Mets and then the All-Star break to rest up and recuperate a bit. In the absolute worst of case, the Braves get swept in Citi and go into the break tied for first in the NL East. Lose 2 of 3 and they take a one game lead into the break. Win 2 of 3 and the lead is 4.<br /><br />But if they sweep the Mets...<br /><br />Six games up on the second place team, be it the Mets alone or the Mets and Phillies (if the Reds get swept by PHL) is a commanding lead to open the second half. Make it so.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096286546148943223.post-39887598628249050172010-03-30T14:12:00.000-07:002010-03-30T14:28:00.787-07:00Where to sit at Turner FieldThis is a public service announcement. This is only a public service announcement.<br /><br />This is Turner Field:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicoy-tokXEQjmBCilA8RVyAiPJyx8CSCBpu8Izfubyp11l9PM1I9V2nei3CGfB6R3sTBDW9AloOlnS1mtfyhaqiPDih_ac4L7JAntbyDVTWxgUuD8IOzZUPjCTa7SuQSYghbJFYdLikw/s1600/turnerfield.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454538608378683266" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 290px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicoy-tokXEQjmBCilA8RVyAiPJyx8CSCBpu8Izfubyp11l9PM1I9V2nei3CGfB6R3sTBDW9AloOlnS1mtfyhaqiPDih_ac4L7JAntbyDVTWxgUuD8IOzZUPjCTa7SuQSYghbJFYdLikw/s320/turnerfield.gif" border="0" /></a><br />The main gates to Turner Field are located on the north side of the stadium, leading into the plaza that abuts the outfield <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">pavillion</span> seats. Secondary gates are located along the north-eastern and north-western facades.<br /><br />The best seats are located in the red (Dugout Level) or black (Field Level or <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Pavillion</span> Level.) Ticket prices increase as you move closer to home plate.<br /><br />Any seat in the lower levels along the 1B or 3B lines will have perfect sight lines of the field of play. Sections 108-107 (around the curve of home plate) are protected by netting. This can slightly obscure views if you're *really* into perfect sight lines.<br /><br />Seats in the outfield <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Pavillion</span> areas are slightly blocked by the "moat" that separates the field of play (and the OF wall) from the stands. The moat is about three feet wide and prevents yahoos from interfering with the games. Yankee Stadium could have taken the hint.<br /><br />Seats in the terrace and club levels provide shade. This is not to be scoffed upon during Georgian summers.<br /><br />Seats in the upper decks are cheap for a reason. You're WAY far away from the baseball up there.<br /><br />The best seats for the buck, IMHO, are in the outfield <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Pavilion</span>. I will not tell you the precise section number, for fear that you will buy my seats. That would be sad and make me cry.<br /><br />Parking, should you drive, is available in multiple lots to the north and east of the stadium. There are smaller, non-official lots to the south and west of the stadium, but the further you go in that direction, the more likely it is that your stereo will not be waiting for you when you return.<br /><br /><br />This has been a public service announcement.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com