St. Louis Cardinals Making Noise

Posted on October 11, 2011 by rightoffthebatbook

Natural, life-affirming logo of the St. Louis Cardinals. Unusually, their road grays feature the same logo.

The Cardinals have tied the Milwaukee Brewers at one game apiece and are heading home to St. Louis. These are tough birds indeed. The probability of being in this position was slim. Although the Cardinals are the hardest-hitting team in the National League, at the beginning of September they were way out of the race. The New York Mets defeated them in an important late-season game. But Tony LaRussa’s men are tenacious. Pitching great Chris Carpenter ought to be making an appearance, by my calculation, for this all-important Game 3. The Cardinals storied franchise has an unusual position in Major League Baseball, second (with 10) to the New York Yankees’s 27 championships, and involved in some of the most memorable World Series ever (1926, 1944, 1964, 1975, 2004). For many years, they (and the old St. Louis Browns of the American League) were the farthermost-western club in the United States. To make things juicier still, it is reported the Cardinals and Brewers hate each other, with all sorts of accusations flying (What else for a Cardinal?) back and forth. This is some kind of series.

Posted in Baseball, Yankees | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Trial and (Deliberate) Error

Posted on October 11, 2011 by rightoffthebatbook

The trial of the men allegedly behind the match- and spot-fixing scandal that threatened to derail the Test and one-day series between England and Pakistan in 2010 has finally come to pass, and seedy revelation is being piled on seedy revelation, like Mount Pelion upon Mount Ossa. One allegation is that the Australian team were apparent masters of the art of spot-fixing (making something happen in the course of the game at exactly the time punters have betted that that thing will happen), an accusation that the Australian authorities have (naturally) denied. One thing is clear, though: vast sums of money can be made by players and others through betting on the games. It’s a scandal that’s only going to go away if players are punished severely, and (in the case of poorer countries’ cricketers) paid well enough that the temptation of easy money is reduced.

Posted in Australia, Cricket, England, Pakistan | Leave a comment

The Semiotics of Baseball

Posted on October 9, 2011 by rightoffthebatbook

Managing brain Tony LaRussa always has a plan.

The game-within-the-game dictates the passing of signs from the dugout to the field, and sometimes from dugout to dugout. This game of chess is covered in Right Off the Bat, and is a factor in the ongoing NLCS between the Brewers and the Cardinals. The Brewers had a phenomenal record of 57-24 at home this year, which fuels suspicion of some form of cheating or “advantage gaining” in the stealing of signs at cozy Miller Park. Some stadiums are almost built for the telegraphing of signs. This would be a conveying from the outfield (say by mascot Bernie Brewer, which is not to make an irresponsible accusation) of signs picked up from the opposing catcher. Batters so tipped off have a large advantage knowing which pitch is coming. It is reported that Tony LaRussa, manager of the Cardinals, has gone to an elaborate system of signals to throw off any sign-stealing in Milwaukee. Another Italian, Umberto Eco, would certainly find the semiotics of baseball to be of interest.

Posted in Baseball, Right Off the Bat Book | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ron Washington, Interesting Manager of the Texas Rangers

Posted on October 9, 2011 by rightoffthebatbook

Ron Washington: In the driver's seat

Ron Washington has had an interesting career. He and I (Evander) are less than a year apart. There are few African American managers in the history of Major League Baseball, and their successes, for a variety of factors, are spotty. Washington, a journeyman infielder during his major-league-playing days, which began with a cup of coffee with the National League Champion Los Angeles Dodgers in 1977, has worked his way up the coaching ladder to the pinnacle. It has not been easy. Washington has admitted to using cocaine: not a complete shock for a baseball (or any) member of his generation. He publicly feuded with Mark Teixeira before trading Teixeira to the Atlanta Braves. (Of course, MT ultimately landed with the Yankees.) Last season, Washington and his Rangers got to the World Series only to be outplayed by the San Francisco Giants. Now, the 2011 Rangers have taken an important one-to-nothing lead over Justin Verlander, the aspirin-tablet-throwing best pitcher in baseball, and the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS. Things for Mr. Washington promise to be quite (here comes that word again) interesting.

Posted in Baseball, Yankees | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

An Unusual Rematch

Posted on October 8, 2011 by rightoffthebatbook

Beautiful ballpark of the Milwaukee Brewers

I (Evander) had not immediately thought of this, but the NLCS pitting the Milwaukee Brewers against the St. Louis Cardinals is a rematch of the 1982 World Series. How? The Brewers were then in the American League. In fact, championship-starved Milwaukee (the Super Bowl-winning Green Bay Packers aside; the Brewers lost the 1982 Series in seven games) hasn’t seen a champion Major League Baseball team since 1957!

Posted in Baseball | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Remembering Hideki Irabu

Posted on October 8, 2011 by rightoffthebatbook

Enigmatic Hideki Irabu: A sad case

The American Mental Health Foundation offers a retrospective look at the suicide of Hideki Irabu.

Posted in Baseball, Right Off the Bat Website, Yankees | Tagged | 2 Comments

Yankees Chewed up and Spit out by the Detroit Tigers

Posted on October 7, 2011 by rightoffthebatbook

A-Rod's walk-off strikeout ends the Yankees season

Ultimately, Papa Hemingway was right: I (Evander) fear the Tigers of Detroit. In spite of my various conniptions and positions on the sofa last night, radio on and off, TV sound off and on, doing anything short of standing on my head (which I would have done if I were more athletic) to bring good luck and two extra runners home for the Yankees, they turned this five-game ALDS into one reminiscent of the 1960 World Series. To remind anyone that needs reminding, the Yankees blew away the Pittsburgh Pirates in three games, but lost four by tight and (except for Game 7) low scores. Ultimately, and I am going against conventional wisdom since it would indicate the offense tightened up, it was lack of starting pitching that would doom the Yankees. Freddy Garcia is an excellent pitcher. But to start Game 2? Game 5 in the hands of raw youth Ivan Nova?…Congratulations from Right Off the Bat HQ to Jim Leyland and the Detroit Tigers!

Posted in Baseball, Right Off the Bat Website, Yankees | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Passage to India

Posted on October 7, 2011 by rightoffthebatbook

While the baseball post-season continues, the world of cricket is quiescent. Only the utterly meaningless Twenty20 competition between the best Twenty20 domestic teams in the world provides any form of interest to those into big-league cricket. By “domestic” I mean teams that aren’t national, but regional. Except that, in this contest, the teams aren’t regional or even national—thus the meaninglessness.

Taking a leaf out of the Indian Premier League, the teams in the Twenty20 competition are packed full of international superstars that not only don’t play consistently for the clubs they’re being paid handsomely to turn out for in this competition. They are, in some cases, even playing against teams from their own nation! The result, frankly, is just another money-making endeavor—full of Big Shots and “big shots”—with little bearing on anything.

What everyone in India is waiting for is the arrival of England—and a chance to avenge the drubbing the world champion one-day team received at the hands of the English this summer. India failed to win a single game in any format (Test, one-day, or Twenty20), and the Indian fans have not only expressed their disapproval, but have rubbed their hands together at the prospect of giving England a taste of their own medicine in the one-day series that the teams will contest. The England team has made plenty of changes to their squad, bringing in lots of young talent, and the bench-strength is formidable. But playing cricket in hot, humid conditions before thousands of screaming Indian fans in Mumbai is a lot different from cricket in cool, damp weather before thousands of screaming Indian fans in Durham (yes, the Indian fans make more noise than the English!).

One superstar will be missing: Sachin Tendulkar has been injured since the summer, and everyone who loves cricket will just have to wait that little bit longer to see The Little Master score his hundredth international hundred.

Posted in Cricket, England, India, One-Day Cricket, T20 Cricket | Tagged | 4 Comments

Yankees and Tigers Take a Day Off

Posted on October 6, 2011 by rightoffthebatbook

A. J. Burnett (who did his job), looking something like John Byner's "Mr. Fossodiddi."

The New York City weather forecast is positive for tomorrow night as the Yankees and Tigers square off, winner-take-all….At this writing, congratulations go to Nolan Ryan and the Texas Rangers for once again crushing the Tampa Bay Rays. The wily St. Louis Cardinals have done the next-to-impossible by tying the Philadelphia Phillies. The Diamondbacks, with their proverbial backs to the wall, are playing the Milwaukee Brewers as this blog goes live.

Posted in Baseball, Yankees | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A. J. Burnett Tries to Save Yankees Season

Posted on October 4, 2011 by rightoffthebatbook

A. J. Burnett looking like Harrison Ford. I hope he pitches more like Whitey Ford.

I (Evander) hope the message tonight from Detroit is not “Yanqui Go Home!” The Yankees’s season rests on the shoulders and strong right arm of A. J. Burnett. The offense has sputtered. Those home runs the Yankees hit at their new stadium are merely loud outs at Comerica. The secrets of Yankees greatness in the past were: Pitching, Defense, and a stadium so difficult to hit dingers in that most of the players, certainly the right-handed batters from Joe DiMaggio on down, couldn’t wait to go on the road, especially in big series. (Opposing batters were on their own with “Death Valley” in left field.) The Yankees defense so far has been solid. Even A-Rod and Mark Teixeira, with their offensive woes to date, are doing it on the field. But pitching! Success in the old days came from Reynolds, Raschi, Lopat, and Ford. Later, it was Guidry, Hunter, Torrez, Figueora. More recently: Clemens, Pettitte, Wells, El Duque.

Posted in Baseball, Yankees | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment