About last night:
The Indians dropped the series opener to Detroit 6-4, after digging themselves too big a hole (John Axford held the shovel) for home runs by Asdrubal Cabrera and Carlos Santana to get them out of. I'm ready to be done with watching Axford in critical moments for a while. Francona probably isn't done using him in those moments though, so I guess I'll just have to change the channel or something.
I missed the game after locking myself out of my apartment.
At least Michael Brantley was able to pinch hit (and collect a bloop single), and should be back in the starting lineup this evening.
Other Tribe items:
Omar Vizquel (who is now a coach with Detroit, because every great Indian has to end up with the Tigers, White Sox,Red Sox, or Yankees at some point) will be inducted into the Indians Hall of Fame in a ceremony before tonight's game.
Vizquel spoke at length during a press conference yesterday, including a discussion of his relationship with Jose Mesa,which was strong when they were teammates, but took a bad turn when Vizquel wrote critically about Mesa's performance in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series, which led to Mesa beaning him three times later in their careers.
Do you remember the 1982 Indians? I don't, because I was just a toddler back then, already into Star Wars at that point (if old family photos can be believed), but unfamiliar with Toby Harrah, Rick Sutcliffe, and Andre Thornton. I still enjoyed this breakdown of a 27-minute highlight video the team put together that season, found at Vice.com.
Brad Ricca at Belt Magazine writes about the largely unknown history of Chief Wahoo. The image was officially created in 1947, when new owner Bill Veeck hired a guy to create a new logo, but the character (well, a very, very similar character) had already been in use by the Plain Dealer for 15 years at that point. The name was already in common usage too, but for a player.
Ryan Romano at Beyond the Box Score looks at a number of different pitchers who seem to be unlucky. In one of the three sections, Corey Kluber and Zach McAllister show up as the only pair of teammates in baseball history to both have such a large difference between their runs-allowed WAR and their FIP WAR.
Around MLB:
At Sports on Earth, former MLB pitcher Dirk Hayhurst writes about what being on the trading block or moving on as a free agent is like for players, including the differences between what is said publicly and what is said in the clubhouse.
Cee Angi says Major League Baseball still doesn't understand women. We don't seem to have many female commenters here, but I'd be interested to know what you think of the way MLB markets to women (pinks hats, sparkly shirts, manicures available at the ballpark on Ladies Night, etc.).
Ubaldo Jimenez wanted #31, but it belonged to Kevin Gausman, so Ubaldo bought him a Rolex. Clearly the uniform number is doing wonders for Jimenez, who easily leads MLB with 5.62 walks per 9 innings this season.
This week's off-topic topic:
'Jersey Boys' hit theaters this weekend. I haven't seen the musical and don't intend to see the film, but it did get me thinking about my favorite moves about real people. For what it's worth, I am not including movies that take real people/situations and create new characters for fictionalized versions of them (such as Citizen Kane, The Great Escape, and Dog Day Afternoon), though I realize many of the movies about real people aren't entirely accurate either.
It's late and I don't have the energy for ranking (and I'm also pretty sure I'm missing a couple a really like, but perhaps someone else will think of them for me), but here are ten I like very much, in order of when they were released:
- Raging Bull
- The Right Stuff
- The Untouchables
- A River Runs Through It
- Apollo 13
- Braveheart
- Catch Me If You Can
- The Aviator
- Zodiac
- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
How about you, what are your favorites?