Category Archives: Baseball

September 30, 2012 · 23:35

What to do Wednesday: Debate or Baseball? Let’s go O’s!

Nate McLouth hits a lead off Home Run to lead the Orioles to victory over the Red Sox to clinch a Wild Card Berth 

There are three days remaining before the first Presidential debate and the end of the regular Major League Baseball season.

On Wednesday Barak Obama and Mitt Romney will go head to head in the first televised debate of the 2012 general election but as important as this event is in the political debate of 2012 I really couldn’t give a shit because I know how it is going to turn out. Romney is going to say really bad things about Obama, make himself look like an ass in the process and even if he does reasonably well in the debate will still end up looking like a pompous ass.  Obama is not going to say a whole lot except look nicer and more presidential than Romney and that will be it. Both sides will spin the results and make sound bites that fire up their base but I really don’t expect the debates to change the race that much. Obama will have to implode and Romney will have to actually come across as a human being that has a real plan that respects all Americans in order to win.

No matter what the profession soothsayers of political punditry say that is the real deal. Most people’s minds are pretty much made up and unfortunately Mitt Romney is no Ronald Reagan. If it attempts to “zing” President Obama it will make him look like Wile E Romney, or perhaps George Costanza of Seinfeld when he tried to get the one line zinger in at work.  Romney’s supporters talk about how well he did in the GOP primary debates when supposedly his “back was against the wall” he is facing Barak Obama, not Rick Perry, Herman Cain or Newt Gingrich.

So since I already know how that will go down there are just three games left in the regular season. The Orioles and Yankees are tied atop the AL East with both teams clinching a wild card berth with the A’s still hanging on. With three games left the Orioles travel to Tampa to play the Rays and the Yankees will play at home against their traditional blood rivals the Boston Red Sox.

The Orioles I think are the better bet. The Red Sox have sucked this season by I expect that they wouldn’t mind torpedoing the Yankees in the last series of the season. The Rays expected more this year but I think that the O’s will take two of three in Tampa.

Wednesday will matter more for baseball than for either the Romney or Obama campaigns.  The electorate is so helplessly divided that no-one is going to listen to what the opposing candidate says anyway. Peoples minds are made up and unless Obama actually admits to being a White Supremacist and comes out as a member of the KKK or Romney admits that he is a Gay Kenyan Socialist who masturbates to music the 1980s British Punk Rock group the Sex Pistols nothing is going to change much.  And even if they did their partisans would look for a way to exploit their candidate’s gaff to their advantage.

However baseball is another matter.  No matter if it is the AL East, AL West or the NL Wild Card race Wednesday will matter.  The Orioles, Yankees, Rays, Rangers, Athletics, Cardinals, Angels, Tigers, White Sox and Dodgers are still in the playoff mix. That is a lot of America, probably more than the voters that are still supposedly undecided.

So on Wednesday if the debate is still going when the Orioles are done playing I might tune in. But I know what really matters. Baseball will be here a lot longer than either Mitt Romney or Barak Obama.

Peace

Padre Steve+

4 Comments

Filed under Baseball, Batlimore Orioles, News and current events, Political Commentary

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , ,

September 29, 2012 · 23:52

Improbable, Unexpected but not Impossible: Four Games remaining and Orioles now Tied with Yankees in AL East

Manny Machado singles in a run on Saturday night as the Orioles Defeat the Red Sox to gain a share of First Place in the AL East (Patrick Semansky / AP)

“No matter how good you are, you’re going to lose one-third of your games.  No matter how bad you are you’re going to win one-third of your games.  It’s the other third that makes the difference.” Tommy Lasorda

Four games are left in the regular season and the Baltimore Orioles are tied with the perennial AL East favorite New York Yankees for the division. Last year at this time the Orioles were in last place but ruining the chances of the Red Sox but now they are tied for first with the Yankees.

What a night to do it as the Orioles honored Hall of Fame 3rd Baseman and Orioles legend Brooks Robinson before the game.

No expert would have predicted this but this but the plucky and determined Baltimore Orioles are threatening the Yankees in a very real way after 158 games. Today the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Yankees and the Orioles defeated the Red Sox. With identical records of 91-67 the Birds and the Bombers are tied atop the American League East in a manner that no-one expected.

The Orioles are now within a game of clinching a spot in the Wild Card Playoff and are even money to take the East against the Yankees. If the Orioles win tomorrow regardless of what happens with the Yankees they will clinch a spot as a Wild Card team.

Who would have expected it? Name the players that have really came on to get the Orioles where they are? Most people can’t. Manny Machado? Last year I was watching him lead the Frederick Keys to the Advanced Single A Carolina League title in Kinston against the Indians. Chris Tillman? Last year not called up in September despite being on the 40 man roster. Nate McLouth, in Pittsburgh. Jim Thome? In Cleveland in order to get his 600th home run where so much of his career was made. Chris Davis? In AAA Norfolk. The list goes on and on. They are a real life version of the movie Major League Cleveland Indians.

There is a great line in that movie uttered by the Indians Manager Lou Brown played by James Gammon: “Every newspaper in the country has picked us to finish last. The local press seems to think we’d save everyone a lot of time and trouble if we just went out and shot ourselves. Me, I’m for wasting sports writers’ time. So, I’d like to hang around and see if we can give ’em all a nice big shitburger to eat.” 

Personally I would love to see everyone that predicted the Orioles to finish last again eat a shitburger and for the Orioles to win it all.

The Orioles are 72-0 when leading after 7 innings. They are 28-9 in one run games and have won 16 straight extra inning games. That is something that makes the Orioles something special, a tam that will defy the odds to win. Yes anything can happen but I think that this season is one that people will remember for a long time to come. The Orioles have not have a playoff appearance or winning season since 1997 and were predicted by most experts to finish last or next to last in  the AL East this year. I have never bought that line. I thought back in April and May that this was a special team. It is a team on a mission, a team fixed on the next 9 innings.

I think that is a sure fire way to win this thing. God this is fun.

Peace

Padre Steve+

1 Comment

Filed under Baseball, Batlimore Orioles

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

September 28, 2012 · 23:09

Seven: Homer Bailey of Reds Pitches 7th MLB No-Hitter of 2012

Sometimes records are broken, sometimes they are not, and sometimes they are tied. Tonight, Homer Bailey of the Cincinnati Reds became the 7th pitcher of 2012 to pitch a no-hitter tying the record of no-hitters pitched in a season shutting down the Pittsburgh Pirates 1-0. The no-hitter ties a modern record set in 1990 and 1991. It was the first no-no pitched by a Red’s pitcher in over 24 years, the last being on September 16th 1988 by Tom Browning.

Bailey who has been with the Reds throughout his Major League career walked just one batter and struck out ten Pirates. He joined Matt Cain of the Giants, Felix Hernandez of the Mariners, Phil Humber of the White Sox, Jared Weaver of the Anglers, Johan Santana of the Mets and six pitchers of the Mariners who combined on a no-hitter.  Cain Hernandez and Humber all pitched perfect games.

With the win the Reds improved to 95-62 and the Pirates (76-81) continued their death spiral guaranteeing themselves of their 20th straight non-winning season after being 16 games above .500 on August when they were 63-47 and leading the NL Central.

The 2012 season continues to surprise and pitching has been a big part of it. Will there be yet another no-hitter in the last 5 games of the season? Who knows, but whatever it will be exciting.

Peace

Padre Steve+

1 Comment

Filed under Baseball

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

September 28, 2012 · 22:29

Real Life Major League? We Have a Pennant Race in the American League East and the Orioles are in It

Who would have thought that with 157 games played that the the New York Yankees would not be battling the Boston Red Sox or Tampa Bay Rays for the AL East championship. Instead they are battling Buck Showalter’s Baltimore Orioles.

I think that this season began on the final day of the 2011 season when the Orioles knocked off the Red Sox on a walk-off at Camden Yards to end the Red Sox season. That was their 69th win of the season, but it was like a World Series win, a celebration that Baltimore had not seen at the end of a season in years.The plucky Orioles are a game behind the Yankees with 5 games left in the regular season and have a magic number of three to at the least be one of the two American League Wild Card teams. The O’s are 8-2 in their last ten games and are now 90-67 for the season. Since they failed to win 70 games last year and most experts predicted that they would have yet another losing season in 2012, this is pretty big news.

 

Tonight Chris Tillman again showed his metal pitching a one hit game through 8 innings allowing only one unearned run. Tillman is now 9-2 after being called back up from from AAA Norfolk in July.

The Orioles bats came alive early as they took a 6-1 lead in the first inning after Ryan Flaherty hit a 2 out Grand Slam home run in the bottom of the first inning. The Orioles are not a typical playoff contender, they have few big name stars, their starting pitching staff has been makeshift for most of the year and they have used 50 players so far this year.

That being said the Orioles know how to win. They win consistently in extra innings and one run games, especially when they are leading after the 7th inning. Their bullpen has been stellar and they get the game winning hits when they need them.

There is something special about this team. It is possible that they could very well be the real life Cleveland Indians of the movie Major League.

This could be really fun. Let’s go O’s!

Peace

Padre Steve+

1 Comment

Filed under Baseball, Batlimore Orioles

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

September 13, 2012 · 22:39

81: First Place Orioles Ensured of First Non-Losing Season Since 1997

The Baltimore Orioles Celebrate Sweeping the Tampa Bay Rays on rookie Manny Machado’s walk off single in the 14th inning. (Rob Carr, Getty Images / September 13, 2012)

There is something magical and enduring about baseball that makes it such an important part of the American experience. Saul Steinberg said that “Baseball is an allegorical play about America, a poetic, complex, and subtle play of courage, fear, good luck, mistakes, patience about fate, and sober self-esteem.”

Today the Baltimore Orioles reminded us of that fact. The plucky O’s under Manager Buck Showalter using a roster that  has now included 50 players during the season have defied all predictions. They are determined contenders. They have won 13 consecutive extra inning games and are 27-7 in one run games. Their bullpen is stellar. They are 64-0 when leading after the 7th inning. They may not have the raw talent and the certain Hall of Fame players that the Yankees have but they can win the close games.

The Baltimore Orioles are perched atop the American League East duking it out with the New York Yankees. The Orioles completed a sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays today in a 14 inning 3-2 walk off win after splitting a four game series with the Yankees at Camden Yards.

The win ensures that they will not have a losing season for the first time since 1997 when they won 98 games and were the AL East Champions. There is a real possibility that the Orioles will win 90 or more games this year. No one predicted that, although I predicted that they would break .500 this year and be a factor in the American League East at the beginning of the season.

The Orioles will now embark on a six game West Coast road trip where the will play the equally surprising Oakland Athletics and the Seattle Mariners.

The interesting thing about the weekend series between the O’s and the A’s is that it is a pivotal series. It actually matters and could be a series that determines where they and their competitors end up in the post season. It is as if the gods of baseball scheduling looked out over the season and said “no one thinks that the O’s and A’s are any good so let’s screw with the experts.” The A’s are just three games behind the Texas Rangers and lead the AL Wild Card race.

Things like this are what make baseball such a magical game. I guess what makes me love baseball so much is that small market teams like the O’s and the A’s can contend even without the big name players and obscene payrolls of the big market teams.  It is funny because the NFL season is just a week old and games are being sold as “do or die” or “must win.” When I hear that kind of talk I realize that football despite its popularity lacks the real human drama of the 162 game Major League Baseball season. If a team’s season is determined by the second game then it is not all that exciting if you ask me. Yes there is some drama in football and it is a good game, but it is not baseball, it is just a game.

My dream at the end of the season is to hear the phrases American League East Champion Baltimore Orioles and American League West Champion Oakland Athletics. I get chills thinking about the possibility.

Peace

Padre Steve+

 

1 Comment

Filed under Baseball, Batlimore Orioles, sports and life

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

September 6, 2012 · 22:10

The Triumph of Durability: Cal Ripken Jr., Lou Gehrig and the “Unbreakable” Record

“Whether your name is (Lou) Gehrig or (Cal) Ripken, (Joe) DiMaggio or (Jackie) Robinson, or that of some youngster who picks up his bat or puts on his glove, you are challenged by the game of baseball to do your very best day in and day out. That’s all I’ve ever tried to do.” Cal Ripken Jr. 

Before the Orioles and Yankees began their game tonight the Orioles honored Cal Ripken Jr. on the anniversary of the night in 1995 when he broke the record that most thought would never be broken. On September 6th 1995 Ripken played his 2131st consecutive game, eclipsing the record of the legendary Yankees First Baseman Lou Gehrig. Ripken’s consecutive game streak finally ended and 2632 games on September 20th 1998 when he took himself out before a game against the Yankees.

The record is likely to remain for many years as it would take any current player at least 16 years playing every game of the 162 game season to break it. However records are made to be broken and in 1939 no one thought that anyone would break the record set by baseball’s Iron Horse, the great Lou Gehrig.

On April 30th 1939 Lou Gehrig played his final game after playing in 2130 consecutive games. That day he went hitless against the Washington Senators and was obviously struggling. The team travelled to Detroit to begin a series against the Tigers and on May 2nd the Iron Man benched himself.  He had played every day since coming up as a pinch hitter on June 1st 1925 and at the age of 36 Gehrig had still had a respectable year in 1938, even though he felt that something was wrong with him during the last half of the season.

It was a shock to Americans and the baseball world. Gehrig remained with the team but his wife Eleanor contacted Dr. Charles Mayo of the Mayo Clinic. He was examined by Mayo and endured 6 days of arduous medical tests before he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Eleanor instructed the physicians to withhold the full devastating impacts of the disease and while he knew that his playing days were over he thought that he might “need a cane in 10 or 15 years.”

However Gehrig knew that his days were numbered and on the 21st the Yankees announced his retirement. July 4th was proclaimed Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day by the Yankees and a ceremony was held between games of a double header against the Senators that day. His teammates and former teammates gathered with a crowd of over 61,000 fans while numerous dignitaries spoke in his honor. His number was retired and when the the speeches and presentations were complete Big Lou spoke.

The speech is one that will not be forgotten. I remember reading it as a kid when I read a biography about Gehrig in 3rd Grade. I would later see the video of the speech and when I watch it today I am filled with awe and deep emotions, sometimes I even cry. That speech by a dying man is not one of pity but of gratefulness despite the adversity that Gehrig faced.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SKyfGK9brs

Lou Gehrig’s “Luckiest Man” Speech 

“Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans. 

“Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn’t consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure, I’m lucky. Who wouldn’t consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball’s greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I’m lucky. 

“When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift – that’s something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies – that’s something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter – that’s something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body – it’s a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed – that’s the finest I know.

“So I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I’ve got an awful lot to live for.”

Gehrig kept as active as his condition permitted, serving as a Parole Commissioner for the City of New York until he resigned about a month before his death due to his now greatly deteriorating health. On June 2nd 1941, 16 years to the day that he replaced Wally Pip at 1st Base in the Yankees starting lineup the Iron Horse died at his home. Mayor LaGuardia ordered the flags be lowered to half-staff in the city.

For 56 years Gehrig’s record remained unbroken, but 17 years ago tonight the unbreakable record was broken by Cal Ripken Jr. at Camden Yards against the California Angels.

Ripken’s record of 2632 games will probably not be broken in the next couple of decades if at all. Ripken’s record, as well as Gehrig’s before him are rare. Only seven players in the history of Major League Baseball have played in more than 1000 consecutive games.  The two men forever linked by their extraordinary abilities and durability to withstand the brutal grind of the long and arduous baseball season need to remembered in this day when durability, consistency and stamina are not as appreciated by our society. Now it seems that many are more enamored with flash, glitter and the quick fame or infamy of men and women whose only claim to fame is their ignorance, arrogance and lack of talent.

It is also a night to remember that both Gehrig and Ripken also gave credit to their families, coaches and teammates. In an age when some want to say that they did it all by themselves Gehrig’s words about those that helped him are timeless. I know I know that I haven’t gotten where I am all by myself. I guess that is why I really appreciate both of these men.

Tonight is a night to reflect on long term excellence and to remember both Cal Ripken Jr and Lou Gehrig.

Peace

Padre Steve+

3 Comments

Filed under Baseball, Batlimore Orioles, sports and life

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

September 5, 2012 · 22:25

Un-American Activities and Such…

Note: I always recommend that anyone who writes anything look at it before they go final. I took Molly for a walk after I wrote and i realized that this post is pretty much a throw away that decided to keep.  I meant to write something serious tonight but got sidetracked on the way to doing it. This is the result. 

I am engaged in un-American subversive behavior tonight. That’s right, I am not being a patriotic American. I am neither watching the NFL opener between the New York Non-Baseball Giants and the Dallas Cowboys nor the Democratic National Convention. No I was watching South Park. I won’t be watching most of the DNC for the same reasons that I didn’t watch the RNC last week, unless I decide to tune in to watch former President Bill Clinton.  However, even in non-election years I have a hard time watching football, while I observe the high holy days of the MLB pennant race. If that makes me un-American I will wear the label with pride but this does not make me a Commie.

Now I didn’t plan this, I simply forgot to switch the channel from John Stewart to the MLB channel and got sucked into a really funny South Park episode. It is the one where the South Park boys meet Jared Fogel of Subway Sandwich fame and that Stan makes the astute observation that “Yeah, it’s only in America that somebody can become famous just because they go from being a big fatass to not being a big fatass.”

Now as soon as the episode was over I switched to watch baseball on the MLB channel. Maybe later I will turn the channel to watch Bill Clinton speak at the DNC. People love my Clinton impersonation, and some find it scary.  During the 2000 election fiasco I tormented my battalion’s intelligence officer by doing my Clinton impersonation while we were deployed in Okinawa. Besides I could use some new Clinton material.

While I was stuck in traffic leaving work today I was doing my own Clinton DNC speech writing, except it was in my head because I had nothing to write with. I realized then that I need to become more sophisticated and learn to do You Tube comedy videos. However if I do the video thing I will have to get a Clinton wig since my bald scalp won’t do the trick.

That being said what Stan of South Park said is dead on right. Whether it is someone becoming famous because they were once a fatass and now are not a fatass, or because they are some other kind of uncouth reality TV slob with no redeeming qualities whatsoever there is no place like the good old USA. The South Park kids may be among the most foul on television but their satire of American culture is often more spot on than the perfidious political pundits, politicians and preachers that prostitute themselves for the big bucks by pontificating on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC and countless “news” organizations. But I digress…

Back to the baseball games and my other un-American activities. But before I go I have to say that I am not a Commie and if your mommy is a Commie you’ve got a Commie mommy and you better turn your Commie mommy in.

That my friends is how one can take a throw away post and turn it into patriotic jibber-jabber. Don’t forget it. God bless America.

Peace

Padre Steve+

1 Comment

Filed under Baseball, football, Just for fun, Political Commentary

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

September 4, 2012 · 23:09

Orioles Tie Yankees for First in the AL East: There is a Political Convention Going On?

Zach Britton pitches against the Blue Jays  (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Aaron Vincent Elkaim)

“With those who don’t give a damn about baseball, I can only sympathize.  I do not resent them.  I am even willing to concede that many of them are physically clean, good to their mothers and in favor of world peace.  But while the game is on, I can’t think of anything to say to them.” Art Hill

Thank God for baseball, especially the Baltimore Orioles because I have pretty had my fill of the 2012 Presidential campaign.  But then since the campaign started the day after Barak Obama defeated John McCain in 2008 I guess I have good reason to feel this way. You see I like politics and I follow politics, sometimes if for no other reason than I find it interesting. Because of this I have been paying attention to the antics of both the Republicans and the Democrats and I think I am finally worn out by it.

So tonight with the Democratic National Convention going on in Charlotte I am tuned in to the Major League Baseball channel. I did the same last week with the Republican Convention and even though I agree more with the Democrats on many issues now than I do the Republicans I just cannot stomach night after night of partisan politics even if I agree more with some of these partisans the the partisans of the other side.

The really big important thing that happened tonight was the not the DNC. The big story was that Baltimore Orioles are are now tied for first place with the New York Yankees in the American League East. The Orioles have been coming on strong and are making believers out of baseball experts. Tonight they crushed the Toronto Blue Jays 12-0 with Zach Britton, who I know from his time at Norfolk won his fourth straight start, pitching 7 innings allowing no runs on 4 hits. Mark Reynolds went 3-4 with four RBI. The Orioles, who have one of the worst run differentials in the league pounded out 18 hits, a season high. Meanwhile in Tampa the Yankees lost again to Tampa after the Orioles took two of three in the Bronx. I find this much more  interesting and probably more important than anything that any political candidate or surrogate can say this week because it symbolizes the America that I believe in. That is the America were the scrappy journeymen can give the big guys a run for their money. I believe in the America of Field of Dreams, where deep inside, the good in baseball inspires people to better things.

“The one constant through all the years has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good, and what could be again.”

I guess that is why tonight on the opening night of the DNC I am watching baseball.

Peace

Padre Steve+

 

 

1 Comment

Filed under Baseball, Political Commentary

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , ,

September 2, 2012 · 17:53

September Surprises: O’s and A’s Shake up the American League

“The season is still young but this year I think is the year the Orioles become a real force in the AL East and the League.” Padre Steve May 2nd 2012

The pennant races in the American League are getting really interesting. They are not what anyone expected at the beginning of the season. In the West the Rangers and Angels were supposed to be duking it out matching power and pitching against power and pitching. In the Central the Tigers were supposed to be on top with little threat expected from anyone else in the division while in the East the Yankees were the prohibitive favorites to take the division, with the Rays their strongest competitors.

No one expected the “rebuilding A’s” or the “inexperienced O’s” to be more than speed bumps in their respective divisions. That was at the beginning of the season and every month that the two teams have remained in the hunt experts have been talking them down. However, the Orioles and the Athletics have each become real factors in the American League. Made up of young players, journeymen veterans and rising stars the two teams under excellent management of GM’s Billy Beane and Dan Duquette have surprised everyone and are now finally being taken seriously as contenders.

It is now September 2nd and A’s trail the Rangers by just three games. The Orioles trail the Yankees by just two games and the White Sox are one up on the Tigers. The O’s and A’s lead the Wild Card race and with only about 30 games left in the regular season the American League is anybody’s guess as to what teams will make the playoffs.

The O’s took two of three from the Yankees in Yankee Stadium this weekend, and probably should have swept the series, losing a game Saturday that was theirs to win. The A’s are about to sweep the now hapless and floundering Boston Red Sox while the White Sox have lost three in a row giving the Tigers a change to make up some ground.

The Orioles are a team that knows how to win. They do not have the depth or “star power” of the Yankees, Rays, Rangers or Angels but under Buck Showalter they are a team that knows how to win. They dominate in one run (24-7) and extra innings (12-2) games and in Yankee Stadium which has been their very own Valley of Armageddon for years, the O’s won 6 of 9 games outscoring the Yankees 42-14 in their home park. Manager Showalter has been a steady presence in guiding this young team into contention. Chris Tillman and Zach Britton have been splendid late season starters and closer Jim Johnson is among the best in the majors.

A big key to the Orioles season has been the solid pitching out of their bullpen and a defense that found itself in the second half of the season.

The A’s under Bob Melvin have come on strong and have won 8 in a row, and will make that 9 in a row if they complete the sweep of the Red Sox in Oakland this afternoon. They set the stage on Friday by pummeling the Sox 20-2 and Saturday 7-1.

It should be a September to remember and I expect that the Orioles, Athletics and White Sox are going to really make things interesting. In my dreams I want to see the Orioles and Athletics to win their divisions and leave the Rangers and Yankees battling for the Wild Card spots. That would be sweet.

Peace

Padre Steve+

2 Comments

Filed under Baseball, Batlimore Orioles

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

August 28, 2012 · 19:00

TV Tonight: Orioles vs. White Sox or GOP Convention?

 

 

Walt Whitman said “I see great things in baseball.  It’s our game – the American game.  It will take our people out-of-doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism.  Tend to relieve us from being a nervous, dyspeptic set.  Repair these losses, and be a blessing to us.”  I agree wholeheartedly with Whitman on this opening night of the political convention season.

I think I have picked up a summer cold or perhaps am suffering from allergies related to all the mold in the air from all the rain that has inundated us over the past month. I have had a sinus headache since last night and thankfully I was able to take off a bit early to go home, lay down and try to clean out my sinuses.

Regardless of what the malady is I am deciding what to watch on television tonight. The MLB Channel features the Baltimore Orioles against the Chicago White Sox while the Republican National Convention and other reality TV dominates the airwaves elsewhere. I’ll have a similar choice when the Democrats have their convention next week though it may not be the Orioles playing.

The problem is that I love baseball, I am thrilled that for the first time in years and years the Orioles are in playoff contention in late August but I also am fascinated by politics in the same way that I am by shark attacks and train wrecks. I began watching political conventions and debates 1968 when I was just 8 years old. I worked for the campaign of Gerald Ford as a volunteer in 1976 and I have watched campaigns and conventions ever since. However this year it is different. I thought it might be gutter quality of the campaign and the absolute polarization of the parties or the unwillingness of the uber-partisans on both sides to actually work together for anything that might be the cause of my lack of interest this year.  However that is not the case, other elections in my life have been nasty and partisan.

Unlike other election years there is no drama. Neither party’s convention packs any drama this year. Obama was an unchallenged incumbent and Romney destroyed his fragmented conservative opponents by carpet bombing them when they started to gain traction. There will be no surprises. The nominees have been set for months, the VP picks are chosen, the platforms offer nothing really new. Gone are the days of tension waiting to find out the VP nominee of a close role call vote or an insurgent candidate that is allowed, unlike Ron Paul to speak at the convention. Even protestors, who are a staple of the American political drama are being cordoned off by massive police and security forces a half mile away from the convention site. What happens in Tampa will be followed next week by the same show under a different name in Charlotte.  It is as if the conventions of both parties are completely in the thrall of the special interests and that nothing unscripted can be allowed to interrupt the show.

The speakers will do their best to fire up their respective electoral base by demonizing the opposing party and at the same time will do their best to make their candidate look good. The pundits and preachers have all chosen sides and smelled armpits while the advertising barrages of both campaigns and their allied Super-PACs and mega-donors are spending hundreds of millions of dollars in mostly negative advertisements. I get no respite from this since where I am stationed and where my home is are both swing states. Thus I and millions of others have to suffer through an unending bombardment of negativity, lies and distortion.

The one issue that really matters to me, that of what is happening to our military serving in harm’s way in Afghanistan will scarcely be addressed. There will be short tributes to “the troops” at both conventions but it will for the most part be bumper sticker patriotism devoid of any real depth, passion or empathy. But the fact is the vast majority of the country is not involved in the war and many don’t even know that there is a war going on or that we are on the verge of being sucked into other wars. Everyone is happy to “support the troops” especially if it doesn’t cost them anything. So for me that huge displays of red white and blue decorations and Old Glory flying over these conventions is somewhat askew with the reality that I see. It is cheap patriotism, except for the diamond, ruby and sapphire studded 24k gold pendants and American flag pins adorning the faithful. Those are expensive.

Please know that I recognize the profound differences between the parties and the choice that the voters of this nation will have to make in November. I just think that this year the conventions are lacking in drama, lacking in real passion and for that matter are simply places where the most partisan elements of both parties gather, surrounded by the big money people and treated as a new aristocracy by the media.

Streakers would make either convention more interesting

Because of this, and the availability of all the convention coverage by a multiplicity of sources from all sides of the American political-media spectrum as well as overseas media I don’t need to watch either convention. I might watch Mitt Romney and Barack Obama make their acceptance speeches but I am not going to trouble myself with the rest of it, unless a hoard Ron Paul of streakers make a dash through the convention, Paul Ryan converts to Islam, Chris Christie makes the case for himself in 2016 or if Joe Biden shows up in Tampa and steals the GOP nomination. That would make it interesting. It would take similar events at next week’s Democratic Party convention to make me watch it.

So tonight it is baseball. The Orioles are having a magical year. They are three and a half games behind the Yankees in the American League East and tied for the lead in the American League Wild Card race. They have already won more games this year than they did all of last season. They have won 13 straight one run games and no-one, with the possible exception of me and maybe Buck Showalter thought that they would be in this race right now. With just over a month left in the regular season the Orioles matter. That my friends is drama, that is inspirational, that is worth watching. So to Mitt and the GOP faithful this week and President Obama and the Democrat faithful next week, I have better things to do than watch you. I have baseball.

Peace

Padre Steve+

2 Comments

Filed under Baseball, Batlimore Orioles, News and current events, Political Commentary

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,