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There's too much blood in my alcohol
Nov. 3rd, 2007 11:59 pm
Currently at Toronto Pearson: 4. High today: 14.
Now that it's November, October has arrived. I've seen yellow day lillies, in two different places, blooming again in the last week. They've decided winter didn't happen and now it's next eyar.
Yes, I said "eyar". It's NaDruWriNi, kids. And I'm on my fourth or fifth glass of port. And I've been sitting on the couch for the last four hours reading No Country For Old Men, while![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tetsab has been tying up the internet.
(Yes,tetsab is here! It's a banner night.)
Don't confuse me. The rules say I can't edit anything. So, don't confuse me.
As I was saying: I have been sitting on the couch and reading No Country For Old Men. YOU WANT TO MAKE SOMETHING OF IT?
(Yeah. You.)
I think I'm going to need more port.
***
One of the things you learn, as a kid, if you're into learning about baseball and how to play it, is that you can identify a slider by the red dot. The way the ball spins, on its way from the pitcher's hand, the seams make a red dot. Every dkid how knows about baseball knows this. But here's the thing: there's not a kid in the world who can throw a slider well enough to make a red dot. Well, maybe there is, but what are the chances you'll ever see it, as a kid?
And here's the other thing. There's not akid in the world who could pick out that red dot and be able to do anything about it. Most major-leaguers, they pick out that red dot, and they can't do anythinga bout it. Foul it off, maybe--but you're looking fastball, and now you see slider, and, unless you're TOny Gwynn, it's pretty much too late to adjust.
The ball is out of his hand. There are some hitters, yo uknow, get them to two strikes, and the slider down and away will kill them every time. Maybe this guy is one of them, maybe he isn't. He hasn't been around long enough to tell. The catcher doesn't know, the pitcher doesn't know, the charts don't say. They might throw a fastball away. In the old days, that didn't happen. You didn't throw fastballs away. You threw fastballs in, breaking balls away. Nowadays, pitchers want to "pitch to contact", economize; they don't [itch the innings they used to. Hitters want to pull everything over the fence. So, you throw a fastball away, the guy tries to pull it, you've got a good chance of a ground ball, a good chance of an out.
Out of his hand, the ball is heading away. If it's a fastball it's on the corner and if it's a slider it's not. This guy's not Tony Gwynn; he's got to swing. He's oh for four today. Its the eighth inning, it's the middle of May, it's his second year in the majors. He didn't make it until he was 32. Not many guys kick around in the minors that long, but some do--chcaracter guys, catchers, usually. You get called up that late, you don't get many chances. This guy, he's used up most of his. Being a cheap veteran only gets you so far, even on a lousy team. It's hard to be a leader, a mentor to thekids when you're barely hitting your weight. When the season ends and they can't find any better options, they might hope you can do a bitt better, you can get off to a hot start. You're cheap,a fter all. So if you hit well in the first couple of months, they got a bargain, and if they have to cut you loose in May, it doesn't look bad on them.
But this guy, he didn't hit well in April, and when it flipped oever to May he thought, as they all do, new month, fresh start--and then one ganme, two games, five games, seven games without a hit. Then a bloop double one night, one hit on three line drives the next day, and another oh for thirteen after that. And oh for four today.
There are always many ways to get where you are. There are always an infinite number of ways to get where you are. And there are walways an infinte number of ways to get somewhere else. Pic k any one of those at-bats in the last six weeks where he didn't get a hit, any one of those pitches in those at-bats, where he guessed wrong, or guessed right and was a split-seond two quick because he guessed right: any of the very many little accidents that could have got him a hit on any of those pitches, if they'd got him a hit, he wouldn't be where is now.
Two outs in the eighth inning. A lot of the time, it isn't that you don't get hits, but when you don't get hits. A manager will defend your indefensible stats for a long time if you get a coupleof late hits that win a couple of ballgames. Never mind that if you'd gotten a couple of hits earlier in those games, no one would've needed to win them late--those games, and a lot fo other games, besides.
Two outs in the eighth inning, guys on teh corners, you're down by one. Everybody knows the probabilities. You'll probably make an out, your team probably won't sacore. You'll go into the ninth down a run, and you'll probably lose. But what every fan is thinking, everybody wo wants this team to win, they're thinking, just a little poke. Doesn't tkake much! Hardly takes anything. Getting ahit, just a hit, it could happen so easily. Roll one through the infield. When it happens, it looks like the seasiest thing in teh world. It can happen. Why not now? Why not this guy? He can get the bat on the ball, he can. You get the bat on the ball, you've got a chance, anything can heappen. As long as he gets the bat on the gall.
If he gets the bat on the ball he's got a chance. He'll probably still make the out, he'll probably still be the guy who made the out that ended the last best chance to tie the game. He'll probably still be the guy they talk about on the radio, he's the gy they've been talking about on the radio for the last two weeks, they guy who's got to go. He'll probably still be gone. Nobody knows it yet. THe manage r doensn't know it yet, the general mangager doesn't know it yet, but if he makes that out, he'll be gone before the post-game buffet is cold. If he gets tha bat on the ball, he'll probably make that out--but he's got a chance. He's got a chance to have a chance to bloopo two more doubles tomorrow. He's got a chance that that kid in triple-A will sprain his ankle, thorow a bat at an umpire, who knows awhat. Who knows what.
But if that pitch is a slider, he's got no chance, because he's already committed, he's started to swing and if he sees that red dot, all teh good it will do him is to tell him he's got no chance.
***
Now that it's November, October has arrived. I've seen yellow day lillies, in two different places, blooming again in the last week. They've decided winter didn't happen and now it's next eyar.
Yes, I said "eyar". It's NaDruWriNi, kids. And I'm on my fourth or fifth glass of port. And I've been sitting on the couch for the last four hours reading No Country For Old Men, while
tetsab has been tying up the internet.(Yes,
tetsab is here! It's a banner night.)Don't confuse me. The rules say I can't edit anything. So, don't confuse me.
As I was saying: I have been sitting on the couch and reading No Country For Old Men. YOU WANT TO MAKE SOMETHING OF IT?
(Yeah. You.)
I think I'm going to need more port.
***
One of the things you learn, as a kid, if you're into learning about baseball and how to play it, is that you can identify a slider by the red dot. The way the ball spins, on its way from the pitcher's hand, the seams make a red dot. Every dkid how knows about baseball knows this. But here's the thing: there's not a kid in the world who can throw a slider well enough to make a red dot. Well, maybe there is, but what are the chances you'll ever see it, as a kid?
And here's the other thing. There's not akid in the world who could pick out that red dot and be able to do anything about it. Most major-leaguers, they pick out that red dot, and they can't do anythinga bout it. Foul it off, maybe--but you're looking fastball, and now you see slider, and, unless you're TOny Gwynn, it's pretty much too late to adjust.
The ball is out of his hand. There are some hitters, yo uknow, get them to two strikes, and the slider down and away will kill them every time. Maybe this guy is one of them, maybe he isn't. He hasn't been around long enough to tell. The catcher doesn't know, the pitcher doesn't know, the charts don't say. They might throw a fastball away. In the old days, that didn't happen. You didn't throw fastballs away. You threw fastballs in, breaking balls away. Nowadays, pitchers want to "pitch to contact", economize; they don't [itch the innings they used to. Hitters want to pull everything over the fence. So, you throw a fastball away, the guy tries to pull it, you've got a good chance of a ground ball, a good chance of an out.
Out of his hand, the ball is heading away. If it's a fastball it's on the corner and if it's a slider it's not. This guy's not Tony Gwynn; he's got to swing. He's oh for four today. Its the eighth inning, it's the middle of May, it's his second year in the majors. He didn't make it until he was 32. Not many guys kick around in the minors that long, but some do--chcaracter guys, catchers, usually. You get called up that late, you don't get many chances. This guy, he's used up most of his. Being a cheap veteran only gets you so far, even on a lousy team. It's hard to be a leader, a mentor to thekids when you're barely hitting your weight. When the season ends and they can't find any better options, they might hope you can do a bitt better, you can get off to a hot start. You're cheap,a fter all. So if you hit well in the first couple of months, they got a bargain, and if they have to cut you loose in May, it doesn't look bad on them.
But this guy, he didn't hit well in April, and when it flipped oever to May he thought, as they all do, new month, fresh start--and then one ganme, two games, five games, seven games without a hit. Then a bloop double one night, one hit on three line drives the next day, and another oh for thirteen after that. And oh for four today.
There are always many ways to get where you are. There are always an infinite number of ways to get where you are. And there are walways an infinte number of ways to get somewhere else. Pic k any one of those at-bats in the last six weeks where he didn't get a hit, any one of those pitches in those at-bats, where he guessed wrong, or guessed right and was a split-seond two quick because he guessed right: any of the very many little accidents that could have got him a hit on any of those pitches, if they'd got him a hit, he wouldn't be where is now.
Two outs in the eighth inning. A lot of the time, it isn't that you don't get hits, but when you don't get hits. A manager will defend your indefensible stats for a long time if you get a coupleof late hits that win a couple of ballgames. Never mind that if you'd gotten a couple of hits earlier in those games, no one would've needed to win them late--those games, and a lot fo other games, besides.
Two outs in the eighth inning, guys on teh corners, you're down by one. Everybody knows the probabilities. You'll probably make an out, your team probably won't sacore. You'll go into the ninth down a run, and you'll probably lose. But what every fan is thinking, everybody wo wants this team to win, they're thinking, just a little poke. Doesn't tkake much! Hardly takes anything. Getting ahit, just a hit, it could happen so easily. Roll one through the infield. When it happens, it looks like the seasiest thing in teh world. It can happen. Why not now? Why not this guy? He can get the bat on the ball, he can. You get the bat on the ball, you've got a chance, anything can heappen. As long as he gets the bat on the gall.
If he gets the bat on the ball he's got a chance. He'll probably still make the out, he'll probably still be the guy who made the out that ended the last best chance to tie the game. He'll probably still be the guy they talk about on the radio, he's the gy they've been talking about on the radio for the last two weeks, they guy who's got to go. He'll probably still be gone. Nobody knows it yet. THe manage r doensn't know it yet, the general mangager doesn't know it yet, but if he makes that out, he'll be gone before the post-game buffet is cold. If he gets tha bat on the ball, he'll probably make that out--but he's got a chance. He's got a chance to have a chance to bloopo two more doubles tomorrow. He's got a chance that that kid in triple-A will sprain his ankle, thorow a bat at an umpire, who knows awhat. Who knows what.
But if that pitch is a slider, he's got no chance, because he's already committed, he's started to swing and if he sees that red dot, all teh good it will do him is to tell him he's got no chance.
***
