Author Archives: errhode

Oct18

California Weather

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I’ve been having a lot of conversations lately about the weather in California, or lack thereof as it were.  It’s not really a secret that the first snow of the season is somewhat of an event for me.  As we get towards the end of October and I’ve not once thought about even wearing a sweater, it’s starting to hit home that there will be no first snow for me this year.  Oh sure, I will go home to Minnesota for the holidays and there will be snow on the ground or I could drive to Tahoe, but that’s not the same.  The first snow comes with a smell in the air the day before that puts me in a mood to bake cookies and drink cocoa.  It’s how I mark the passage of another year.  (It is probably not a coincidence that it tends to happen shortly in advance of my birthday.)

But this year…

This weather thing has already screwed me up a few times.  I nearly forgot to plan my trip home for the fair and other Minnesota summer things because it never stopped feeling like spring in San Francisco.  Baseball season is ending in a week, and I am not prepared because I see no leaves turning colors.  My roommate reminded me about Halloween and I realized that I haven’t even thought about it once… partly because we were talking about it while swimming in an outdoor pool.  Last weekend, I caught the intro to the local news and the weather promo was “Later we’ll tell you about how the temperature might change by as much as five to ten degrees next week.”  And that was said without irony.

Harvey once told me that he didn’t understand why people from Minnesota complained about the lack of weather.  His metaphor was something akin to why a person would ever want to eat a glass sandwich when they could eat steak all the time.  Well, Harvey, if all you ever eat is steak, it gets boring.  I need my seasons to remind me that life isn’t permanently on pause.

Oct14

Justin Verlander

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Justin Verlander managed to squeak out a win over the Rangers last night with 133 pitches through 7.1 innings.  While it wasn’t the dominant performance I was expecting — he gave up 8 hits, 3 walks, and 4 runs — it was effective.  I then started wondering how many times I had seen Verlander pitch and was never so thankful that I maintain a blog of such things, as I just needed to do a simple search to figure it out.

It turns out, I’ve seen him pitch three times: most recently in September when I sought him out in Oakland, once in 2008 when he got shelled by the Red Sox,  and, most interesting of all, I was at his second start ever in 2005 when he lost to the Twins in the second game of a day-night double header.  As a bonus, he was on my fantasy team in 2007, which I didn’t remember.  It’s amusing to go back and read my thoughts when Verlander was a nobody and Mauer was someone more famous to me because he was a stud high school quarterback.

Having this blog comes in handy sometimes.

Oct7

Speaking of October Baseball

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I bought something totally ridiculous.

1991 Minnesota Twins in Bobblehead form

1991 Minnesota Twins in Bobblehead form

Unfortunately, Greg Gagne’s hand is not attached to his body. But I already contacted the Twins Community Fund and they’ve agreed to send me a replacement. Not sure if I have to send the handless version back, but if I don’t… well, he is number 7. A little sideburn modification and suddenly it’s a Joe Mauer doll!

I need to figure out something to do with them other than display them on this old TV stand. I have an idea brewing, but it will take some work…

Oct7

Divisional Series Decompression

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As is probably unsurprising, what with my gushing over Justin Verlander, the Tigers are my team this post-season.  What is probably also not surprising, the New York Yankees are the one team of the eight postseason teams that I can’t stand and want to see lose and lose quickly.  Then there are the six other teams which I am mostly indifferent to.  If I had to rank them it would probably go Brewers, Diamondbacks, Rays (well, they’re already out), Rangers, Cardinals, Phillies.  But really, as long as there is good baseball played, I’m not invested in who advances out of those six teams.

And so that leaves me with one divisional series I watched every pitch of: The Evil Empire vs. the Guys From Near My Old Stomping Grounds Who Have The Best Pitcher In The Game In Their Pen And Delmon Young.  (Hmm… that is a long moniker for the Tigers.  I should shorten it to GFNMOSGWHTBPITGITPADY, although even that is longer than “The Evil Empire.”)

Game 1 got postponed after an inning and a half, ruining the Verlander vs. CC Sabathia start and turning it into an Ivan Nova vs. Doug Fister disaster on Saturday.  Game 2 featured some brilliant pitching by Max Scherzer.  Game 3 featured some not-always-brilliant-pitching-but-who-cares-because-he-won from Justin Verlander.  Game 4 was really ugly and I’ve wiped it from my memory.  Game 5 was a stressful game because even though the Tigers were never behind (and after the second batter of the game were always ahead), it was never a big lead and with the Yankees, I can really only relax when it’s a big lead.

After A-Rod struck out to end the game, I was finally able to exhale.  The combination of wanting the Tigers to win and wanting the Yankees to lose was enough to make me tense whenever I watched it — and exhilarated when the Tigers finally clinched it.  That exhilaration is why I watch baseball.  It’s certainly not for the anxiety that comes before it… but the anxiety is a necessary precursor to the joy.

For better or for worse, now that this ALDS is over, I don’t think I’ll be getting as emotionally invested in the ALCS or the World Series.  The Tigers aren’t really my team and they’ve already vanquished the team it’s fun to watch lose.  (Seriously… click the link to watch A-Rod strikeout.  It’s just so satisfying if you know anything about him — plus Avila’s glee is infectious.  If you’re unaware of why Rodriguez is a guy it’s fun to root against, let this Google image search be your primer.)  For the remainder of October, I’m going to be a lot more relaxed when I watch baseball.

But it also means I won’t be as elated when the Tigers take it all as I was tonight.

Sep29

One crazy night in baseball

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Last night was one heckuva a night for baseball.  The Red Sox finished their epic collapse while the Rays came back from 7-0 against the Yankees to snatch the AL Wild Card from the jaws of the Sox.  In the National League… same story.  The Cardinals won and just needed the Braves to lose, which took 13 innings to happen, but it happened.

And in Minnesota, in a game few people but Twins fans cared about, the Twins avoided 100 losses with a 1-0 win over the Royals on the backs of a complete game shutout by Carl Pavano and 9th inning heroics by Denard Span and Trevor Plouffe.  It was a nice farewell to John Gordon… I wasn’t listening on the radio, but I hope he missed calling a few plays just for old times sake.

Good baseball tends to bring out good writing, and Joe Posnanski has some of the best.  The entire article is worth reading, but his final paragraphs describing why it is that people love baseball is worth quoting.

Baseball, like life, revolves around anticlimax. That’s what you get most of the time. You stand in driver’s license lines, and watch Alfredo Aceves shake off signals, and sit through your children’s swim meets, and see bases loaded rallies die, and fill up your car’s tires with air and endure an inning with three pitching changes, a sacrifice bunt and an intentional walk.

But then, every now and again, something happens. Something memorable. Something magnificent. Something staggering. Your child wins the race. Your team wins in the ninth. You get pulled over for speeding. And in that moment — awesome or lousy — you are living something you will never forget, something that jumps out of the toneless roar of day-to-day life.

The Braves failed to score. Papelbon blew the lead. Longoria homered in the 12th. Elation. Sadness. Mayhem. Champagne. Sleepless fury. Never been a night like it. Funny, if I was trying to explain baseball to someone who had never heard of it, I wouldn’t tell them about Wednesday night. No, it seems to me that it isn’t Wednesday night that makes baseball great. It’s all the years you spend waiting for Wednesday night that makes baseball great.

Sep28

Giants 7, Rockies 0

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Because I didn’t feel like playing hooky for tomorrow’s day game, I opted to go to the second to last regular season game of the year tonight at AT&T Park.  And what a night it was… two homeruns, each extraordinary in their own way, Tony Bennett, a home team victory, and two foul balls in the row in front of me.  The latter events resulted in me being on TV (again), which I screen grabbed from the archived game on MLB.tv.  What makes it really impressive is that we were in the third deck.

That's me in the gray shirt behind two guys who caught foul balls tonight. We're all laughing at the guy in the red plaid shirt because he just tried to "fight" the guy on the left (with his wife) for the ball even though he already had one from two innings earlier.

But most people weren’t at the game to watch the people in front me catch foul balls. They were there to watch the Giants win a game… which they did in spectacular fashion.  Madison Bumgarner did much better than he did against the Twins (when he gave up 9 runs in the first) by pitching 7 shutout innings.  But it was the Giants offense that really shone.  In the 4th inning, Brandon Belt did something I had never seen in person — he hit a two-run splashdown homerun out of AT&T Park and into McCovey Cove, putting the Giants up.  And somehow that wasn’t even the most exciting homerun of the game.  In the 7th inning, with the Giants already up 5-0 and a runner on first, Conor Gillaspie hit a ball into the odd corner in center field known as Triples Alley.  Only he didn’t hit a triple.  He rounded third, slipped and fell, picked himself up, kept going, and still beat the throw to the plate for an inside-the-park homerun.

But the biggest celebrity at the ballpark wasn’t a ball player.  Tony Bennett, whose voice serenades AT&T Park after every Giants game singing “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” was in attendance promoting his new Duets II album.  There was also a Tony Bennett bobblehead doll giveaway, but I didn’t realize this beforehand and wasn’t even close to early enough to get one.  I did, however, get a video of Bennett singing “God Bless America” during the 7th inning stretch… so I will close my regular season baseball going experiences with that.

Sep24

Moneyball

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Aaron Sorkin, easily my favorite screenwriter, helped write a movie featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of my favorite actors, about using math to make a baseball team better.  Heck, yes, I saw it the day it came out.

First things first, no it is not 100% accurate.  Jeremy Giambi’s story is flat out wrong (he wasn’t new to the team in 2002).  The movie also completely ignores the fact that part of the reason the A’s did so well in 2002 was that they had the league MVP, Miguel Tejada, and the Cy Young award winner, Barry Zito.  If you don’t blink, you’ll see Tejada represented in the movie very briefly.  Try as I might (and maybe I blinked), I didn’t see a single mention of Zito.  It also credits the Red Sox 2004 World Series win to moneyball techniques, ignoring the fact that they were also helped by a pretty big payroll.  So, nevermind about accuracy.  As Brad Pitt as Billy Bean says near the end of the movie, “It’s hard not to romanticize baseball.”  And that’s what this movie is… a romanticized view of the 2002 Oakland A’s.  Accept that, and it’s a great flick.

There’s a classic Sorkinesque scene in the middle in which Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill are trying to trade for a Cleveland reliever (Ricardo Rincon).  It’s not quite as good as a similarly styled scene in Charlie Wilson’s War where Tom Hanks alternates between conversations in rapid succession, but Brad Pitt’s alternating conversations over the phone is still pretty funny.  The other great Sorkin-esque scene happens between Billy Bean and his ex-wife’s husband, a non-baseball fan who tries to pretend that he knows what’s going on with the A’s.

There are also some great baseball scenes surrounding the A’s record breaking 20 game win streak.  I may possibly have teared up a little, but I am a sap when it comes to dramatic baseball scenes.  I was pretty sure I knew how long the streak lasted, but for a brief second I thought I might be wrong and I got wrapped up in the drama.  Also, the mass of A’s fans in the theater were cheering.  It was an emotional moment… shut up, and stop laughing at me.

But really, the best part of this movie?  It is finally the antidote to Little Big League.

Let me explain… Little Big League remains the only movie made about the Twins.  It’s not that great of a movie, and it came out at the same time as a nearly identical movie about the Cubs (Rookie of the Year), but it was about the Twins so of course I saw it many times growing up.  I even knew a few people who were in crowd scenes.  But unlike every other baseball comedy, the Twins lose at the end of the movie.  It’s not a movie for Twins fans; it’s a movie for Mariners fans… particularly fans of Randy Johnson and Ken Griffey Jr. who are featured in the final scenes.

And so it is with Moneyball.  In the real world of 2002, the A’s lost the division series to the Twins in five games.  In the movie… same thing!  So, while the theater full of A’s fans was feeling down in the dumps when a very skinny “Eddie Guardado” pitched the final out, caught by “Corey Koskie,” I was kind of excited.  In fact, part of me wanted to clap or cheer or something… the Twins won in the post season!  And that right there made a great movie into one that will probably wind up being one of my all time favorites.

Who cares if it doesn’t get everything right?

Sep20

Oh Darling! (or, I pretend to be a rockstar for an evening)

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Since July, I’ve been going once a week to rehearse in a Blues band workshop through Blue Bear Music School in San Francisco.  As I’ve discovered, Blue Bear is one of these very San Franciscan things.  For the workshops, if you can show basic proficiency in an instrument, you sign up and they put you in a band with two guitars, a bass, a drummer, a keyboardist, and two vocalists. (If you’re me, you manage to play both vocals and keyboard.)  At the end of the session, the have a “showcase” of all the workshop bands at a local club.  Our band was called Blues Frog, named as an homage to Sad Kermit, who you should all go check out on YouTube.  As you may have figured out by now, our showcase was tonight at Cafe Du Nord.  There were even a few people in the audience we didn’t invite.  (Not that many… Monday’s a tough night to fill a club.)  Dave, who I did invite, was kind enough to record a song for me on my crappy camera… please enjoy as we attempt not to embarrass ourselves by covering the greatest band of all time.  I’m speaking of the Beatles, of course, and the song is Oh Darling!

Amal managed to give me the best compliment of the night: Value for dollar, we were better than Madonna.  (And there was a cover, so it’s not like it was nothing.)

Also, holy crap, that’s what I sound like?  I don’t sound like that in my head.

Sep18

Tigers 3, Athletics 0

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Oh, Justin Verlander, I don’t care if my sister mocks me for cheering for the Tigers, you are a stud.  Headed out to Oakland again this morning to see the A’s host the Tigers once again, but this time with Justin Verlander, a lock for the AL Cy Young and in the running for MVP, taking the mound for Detroit with 23 wins already under his belt.  Unfortunately, as mentioned previously, the good camera was left behind in Minnesota.  So instead of Verlander at 22x zoom from my seat, I give you Verlander at 3x zoom.  As you might expect, it’s not as clear… I kind of miss my good camera.

Justin Verlander pitching

Justin Verlander pitches another strike. (Maybe... I have no idea which of the 116 pitches this was.)

On the mound for Oakland was Guillermo Moscoso, who I last saw beating the Twins on July 30.  Surprisingly enough, it was actually Moscoso who had the no-hitter going through five innings and had the most strikeouts — 8 Ks for Guillermo to Justin’s 6.  But let’s be serious… I didn’t go to see Moscoso get a no-no (though it would have been cool).  I went to see Verlander get his 24th win.  And once Austin Jackson broke up the no-hit bid in the top of the 6th with a solo homerun, that was all Justin needed.  Miguel Cabrera almost hit another homerun against Moscoso at the end of the 6th, but it went just foul and he flew out to right on the next pitch instead.  The Tigers scored a second run in the 8th and a third in the 9th, but it really didn’t matter.

Thanks to a double play started by Delmon Young, of all people, and a runner caught stealing, Verlander faced the minimum number of batters through three.  (Moscoso, despite the no-no bid, actually ruined the minimum batters thing earlier by giving up a walk in the 2nd.)  He gave up a single to Coco Crisp in the 4th to ruin that streak, but the A’s didn’t build on it.  In fact, the A’s never built on anything — no Oakland runner ever got past first base.  (Insert joke here about the A’s playing like they were at a junior high dance.)  After 116 pitches, Verlander had a three-hit shut out going after 8 innings of work.  Jose Valverde, who’s actually kind of a punk (see, I’m not entirely a Tigers fan), came in with a 1-2-3 9th for the save and just like that, win number 24 was in the book.

Sep17

Tigers 3, Athletics 1

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An elephant dressed as a Jedi!

Stomper, the A's mascot, dressed as a Jedi... probably Yoda, based on the green ears.

On a last minute whim (because the Twins were busy losing to Cleveland and I didn’t feel like watching), I took the BART over to Oakland for an evening of baseball, lightsabers, malfunctioning stadium lights, and my first ever conversation with a Major League Baseball player’s wife.  Tonight the A’s were hosting the Detroit Tigers, who had a magic number of 1.  I already have plans to see the Tigers on Sunday when Justin Verlander takes the mound for a potential 24th win of the season (!), but I decided I would try to be there when they clinch the Central Division as well.  (Since the Twins shat the bed this season, the Tigers are going to be my playoffs team.  Sorry, Red Sox, I’m kind of bored with you.)  My camera is still in Minnesota, so the only pictures I got are of the poor-quality-off-the-phone variety.

As a bonus, it was another fireworks game in Oakland — making the third fireworks game I’ve attended this season.  Previous fireworks shows were Broadway and Elvis themed.  Tonight’s fireworks display was Star Wars themed, with a cameo appearance by Stormtroopers and Stomper the elephant (A’s mascot) dressed as a Jedi.  Plus I apparently missed some sort of giveaway as every little kid had an inflatable lightsaber.  One boy accidentally whacked me with his on the way out.  He was very apologetic and seemed embarrassed.  I told him not to worry, it’s not every day I get attacked by a Jedi.  This seemed to make him feel a little better.

Tigers celebrate clinching the 2011 AL Central Division Championship

The Tigers celebrate on the field after clinching the 2011 American League Central Division Championship

As for the game, sure enough, the Tigers won 3-1 and clinched the Central.  (This also could have been done if the Indians had lost to the Twins, but that would have required the Twins to actually win a game.  I’ve figured out that that doesn’t happen anymore.)  Doug Fister pitched a masterful 8 innings with five strikeouts no walks and only three hits, which included a Josh Willingham homerun in the 2nd for the A’s only run.  Meanwhile on offense, the Tigers scored two runs thanks to two triples, one from Ramon Santiago in the 3rd and one from Wilson Betemit in the 6th.  While those runs would have been enough, Don Kelly threw in a homerun in the 7th for insurance.

Speaking of Ramon Santiago, he took part in one of the most bizarre plays I’ve seen in awhile.  He was on third when former Twin Delmon Young was batting.  Young hit a grounder down the third baseline where Eric Sogard fielded it… just as Santiago ran into him.  Sogard managed to tag Santiago for the out, but the tag seemed more incidental than anything.  The umpire hesitated slightly before calling him out — I think even he was confused by what had happened.

But I’ve buried the lede… the most bizarre thing at this game happened at the top of the 4th.  The Tigers took the field and Fister took the mound to toss a few warm-up pitches when suddenly the lights turned off.  Yeah, you read that right… the Oakland Coliseum stadium lights inexplicably went out.  The scoreboard still worked and some running lights were on, but the field was dark and no one seemed to know why, including the PA announcer.  He came on and made the following announcement after a few minutes:

Ladies and gentleman, the lights are out.  I figured that one out all by myself.  Unfortunately, I have no news for you as to why, but when I get some, I’ll be sure to let you know.  In the meantime, just sit back and try to enjoy yourself while the game is paused.

In the hundreds of baseball games I’ve been too, I’ve never seen that happen before.  So, I did the only reasonable thing… I went and got a sausage and a beer.  While in line, I was making small talk with a woman who casually mentioned that she gets to a lot of games because her husband is on the team.  “Who’s your husband?” I asked.

“Coco Crisp,” she said, like it was no big deal.  I then mentioned that I used to live in Boston and was a big fan of her husband when he played for the Sox.  We chatted for awhile about the difference in the crowds at Oakland games as opposed to Red Sox games and how she really dislikes the Rays because apparently there was an on the field brawl one time and a bunch of the Rays beat up Coco.  She added that Coco doesn’t really share the same grudge because “with trades happening all the time, you never know when a guy is going to be on your team the next day.”  I really wanted to ask her why her husband is named after cereal, but I decided I didn’t want to be awkward and insulting when she was being so friendly.

Only later via a text message from my sister was I reminded of what I really should have told her: That a picture of Coco is hanging in my parents living room because he was up to bat when their 30th anniversary message flashed on the Twins scoreboard.  Oops… I’ll have to mention it the next time I run in to her!