Fate is going to go all Medieval on our asses (again)

Mike:
Ah, as you might expect, Ortiz-MVP-gate continues.

 

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Doug:
Stah athlete says something regretable to the media and dog bites man! Extra, extra, read all about it.

 

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Mike:
I love this line from Edes: "Whether the controversy distracted Ortiz from the task at hand is unknown, but he grounded into a double play in his first at-bat last night before thrice flying out harmlessly to left …"

 

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Doug:
Yeah, Edes doesn't have a clue, but that isn't going to stop him from making the cause and effect inference. God how I love the hahd reporting and professionalism of the media.

 

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Mike:
"We have no evidence that David Ortiz is considering converting to Islam, but thrice your humble reporter saw him facing in the direction of Mecca during last night's game."

 

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Doug:
Speaking of thrice, I think the following loathsome threesome is inevitable: Derek Jetah gets the MVP, the Yankees win the World Series, and Johnny Damon comes out with another offseason book but this time it's titled Bride of the Yankees: How I Shed My Idiocy and Fell In Love With Mystique and Aura.

 

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Mike:
No kidding. It's going to be an offseason in which Red Sox fans resemble the poor condemned fuckers  in the third panel of Hieronymus Bosch's 'Earthly Delight' triptych.

 

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Doug:
Yep. We are going to learn there's a whole other meaning to the term "pokah face."

 

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Comments

[Jason O.]

"thrice flying out to left??" Thrice?

It's Gordon "John Donne" Edes!! There's a fine line between trying too hard and maximum effort.

[mikeya]

chin up lil buck a roos the yanks have to play and win to be the world series champs . i for one dont believe they can or will win

[h.b.]

Yeah, the thrice was something. We are witnessing the once good Gordon Edes fall apart before our eyes.

BTW the thrice bit is what led to the "3" theme today of the "loathsome threesome" and what popped "triptych" into my head.

[Dave S.]

Alternate title for Damon's new book:

"Dr. Yankee Glove: How I learned to start shaving and stop worrying about that extra $12 million I wanted"

And HB, "but thrice your humble reporter saw him facing in the direction of Mecca during last night's game" is just about the best line I've ever read. Yeah, maybe Ortiz's comments were taken just a wee bit out of context? The guy has a right to feel a little frustration...and if he stuck his foot in it a little bit, who the hell cares? This was MAYBE 10% sour grapes (again, the result of understandable frustration) and 90% taken-out-of-context-and-media-blown-up nonsense. It's a relief that blogdom is available for those who would seek rational and humorous interpretations of the news. Thanks for the daily, HB...it's really a great pleasure to enjoy this site day in and day out.

[Dave S.]

...you know, I take it back. 10% is too much. Ortiz got hacked, plain and simple.

[Kaz]

Triptych...that reminds me...

I have to get to Triple-A to pick up some Trip-tik's and maps for my car.

[Jason O.]

Just a moment mikeya:

"Will win" is always a matter for debate.

"Can win?" As in, has the capability to win it all? I think that is beyond question at this point. Just as it is for any team that makes the playoffs in any given year.

[IkeG]

I think anyone who insists that the Yankees won't win the Series this year is fooling themselves. They may not, but with the threesome of Mussina-Wang-Johnson and Wright or Lidle available out of the pen to eat up innings you have to figure they're looking good in any playoff series. They don't have the strongest bullpen but that lineup can make up the difference, I'm afraid, especially since there's really only one NL team (Mets) that look like they can compete with the AL.

Did you notice? With the Marlins and ChiSox fighting to stay in the playoff hunt and the Angels, D-Backs, and our guys on the outside looking in, we could easily see a playoff structure that excludes all of the last 5 WS winners.

[Rob in CT]

Too bad that isn't Edes with the pole up his ass in Bosch's third panel. I tire of Boston's media so quickly these days... What discourages me is that this same horse hockey would find it's way into print even if we were 19 games up in the standings and Damon's doctor held a press conference to discuss his piles.

Come to think of it, that would be quite the Post headline, "Damon 'Piles' On Over Losing Season". Guess Boston doesn't have a monopoly on sensationalist journalism. Post headline - "Papi Disses Derek." Sheesh!

Oh, and don't you just love Manny's response to reporters?

[da kine]

No way the Chokees win the WS. They won't even make it there. I say it'll be a Twins/Mets affair, with the AL pulling it out in 7.

[Kaz]

The Yankees are crazy big this year (as every year it seems)...but there's something that tightens up on a WS winning team. They're not the same clockwork mechanism that they were during the regular season. The Red Sox had it in 2004, the White Sox hit that extra gear in '05. The Angels definitely found a different stride in '02. The Marlins fought like mad in '03.

Meanwhile, the Yankees haven't seen that "different stride" since 2000. They just seem to cruise at that same high speed that keeps them going all year...but you really need to have that shift in focus for the playoffs and I just haven't seen it out of the Yankees for years now. They'll face 3-4 pitchers who just grit their teeth, bare down, and win it ... and that'll be the end of the Yankees 2006.

[yazbread]

I see Timlin got hammered last night. Anyone think that he will be back next year? Will a real offseason of rest help him?

[P.J.]

Gordon, methinks thou art a shithead thrice times ovah!

:P

[The Future]

Wishful thinking, bitches. The Yankees already won the 2006 World Series.

[Dave S.]

While I don't think that the Yanks are any kind of lock for this year, I'll disagree with you, Kaz, on the temperment of this year's Yankee team. They're relaxed and hungry in a way that they haven't been in a long time. The atmospheric quality you suggest as being necessary to a championship team (I 100% agree that it's needed) I believe exists for them this year. Again, this doesn't mean that they'll do it. Other teams that I thought had that quality haven't won it, either...I think specifically about the 1999 Mets, or the 2002 Giants, or the Red Sox of 2003. They had the "it" factor, they just didn't finish the job. I think the Yanks have the atmosphere this year; time will tell whether they execute or not. [I also happen to think that the Twins have it, too]

[jim dean]

kaz -

What you didn't see it for five games in Boston?

[Jason O.]

The health of the deadly skull is the only NYY question at this point.

Or Farnsworth could close...HAHAHAHAHA...jeez, (wipes eyes) i crack myself up.

[Rob in CT]

Jason - Ha! Actually, that would be far and away the biggest worry I'd have as a Yanks fan at this point. Torre (of course) and the NYC media have been downplaying it, but the tone always suggests whistling in the dark to me. This is no mere muscle strain.

Rivera is the key to their success as best I can tell. As mighty as their bats seem to be right now and even with Godzilla's succesful return, if you can't close it out, well....

Farnsworth. Heh.

[The Future]

Mariano Rivera will be fine, as will Mr. Farnsworth.

[Kaz]

Sorry, Sausage Man (jimmy dean), but all I saw for five games in Boston was the final collapse of a once mighty league leader while the juggernaut rolled on.

Then again, we've all seen the X-men movie...the juggernaut will get his lights put out by a crafty little girl (aka Minnesota).

[Rob in CT]

Fruit Bat may be fine in "The Future", but how far into "The Future"? Tonsils? Small Colon?

[eerie reverb] October...?

[Designated Sitter]

So - off to Camden Yards in an hour or so to watch Wake's comeback start. It's 65 degrees and overcast with almost no wind right now. Any experts know if that's good for the knuckler?

[Follower of Tito]

Wake has said in the past that he likes it on the cool side, on the dry side and with a light breeze blowing in his face (3-6 mph). Those conditions seem to really make it dance. Too much wind in any direction flattens it out, same for the humidity.

[Designated Sitter]

Thanks for that. Let's hope for some dancing tonight...

[BuckyF'nDent]

I love the "Chokees" reference. You have to be kidding right? Losing 5 straight in your own house is pretty choke-a-rific if I'm not mistaken.

[beth]

you have to know that virtually everybody now piling on ortizgate has been DESPERATE to have something to bash ortiz about. surely no one in the boston media can stand such an unfailingly likable character, one about whom they cannot make manny-esque character assassinations every season.

[Jason O.]

The physics of the knuckleball are independent of the atmospheric conditions save a heavy crosswind, b/c the ball only travels 60 ft.

Wakefield's proper delivery is over 99% of the reason that the ball moves.

It's similar to the spurious claim that warm, muggy conditions make fly balls into home runs.

Studies have been done on golf balls in humid vs. dry weather and at different temperatures (like 55 vs. 85 degrees) and the difference is something like 6-12 inches in total distance, i.e., not statistically significant.

[Dave S.]

Ortiz will be fine. His original comments were so bland, if read in total. He basically voiced his opinion: "the MVP is historically an RBI guy. Jeter's not an RBI guy. Please allow me to go out of my way to say how much I like Derek Jeter as a player, and how much I think he's having a great season, but I don't think I should be penalized for not playing a defensive position, and I knock in a hell of a lot of runs."

As much as I wouldn't want to hire Ortiz to be a performance analyst for my imagincary team's front office, it's pretty hard to get angry with a guy who's:

a) really, really good at what he does
b) thinks what he does is important
c) follows the logic of historical MVP selections in thinking that RBIs and HRs make an MVP

This is a guy who's getting burned for stating a pretty normal opinion. I don't agree with him, but certainly don't fault him his opinion, especially when he predicated his assessment with nothing but kind words for Jeter. It sucks that the media has resorted, as Beth says, to character assassination of Ortiz in order to squeeze more story out of the Red Sox this year.

[Dave S.]

Jason- I'd wager you're right that weather affects the ball physics to a nominal degree. It's more likely that, if anything, it affects the grip.

[RonF]

Is there a "restored" version of that panel anywhere. The images are a little hard to make out in that graphic.

[h.b.]

You want to see that poker face up close, eh?

:)

[MannyForMVP]

So what's Ortiz's deal? Yesterday what he said made him look like an expletive, today's quotes made him look even bigger expletive. He didn't mention Jeter? Um, I see Jeter's name right there next to a bunch of other players he named. And he didn't throw his own teammates under the bus? Sure we're all thinking it's completely out of character, but please, STFU Ortiz and his apologists, stop squirming and let it all pass away.

Meanwhile the Yanks have plenty of time to experiment with their lineups & pitchers, while the AL Central is beating each other up trying to secure a playoff spot. ChOakland (not 'Chokees,' duh) will perform its pretty preschool ballet and die in the first round as per the script, Yanks pitchers (except for Wang) keep it interesting by blowing leads throughout the playoffs, and the nation ignores yet another Subway Series. Hey it's been an interesting year anyway. Boston needs to make sure they end up ahead of Toronto, that kind of a faux pas sure would be embarassing.

[jim dean]

So that's going to be the story of the Sox this year, huh? that they just 'fell' apart?

All, I know is the Yankee team came into Boston up 1.5 games and left 6.5 games in front.

After that they've lost 4 four more games in the standings.

The team, from the front office to left field, gave up through and through. Injuries are a convenient excuse.

[jim dean]

I love the rationalization around here. The Sox are closer to oblivion than any time they have been in the last six year. Their genius GM may not make it through next season after trading away 75% of their youth movement. Their revamped rotation is either old (Schill and Wake) or headcases (Beckett and Clement). Their captain is breaking down without the juice. Their best prospect is hitting .100. Their most visible is thinking about individual awards while throwing the rest of the lineup under the bus, including the better hitter right behind him. Next season they need a CF, 3B, SS, 2B, and RF with little room for good signings.

The best thing going for them is their closer - but he's so good, he should be a closer but there's nobody else to do the job because the bullpen is empty.

Keep looking to the future. It's going to be a pattern for many years to come.

[Devine]

Thank you for being a jerk. We always appreciate that here at Soxaholix.

[harwich rich]

F'N embedded Yankee fans

[IkeG]

Shaughnessy, is that you?

[harwich rich]

More likely its BB in one of his "alter egos"

[IkeG]

Either way, it looks like somebody needs a hug.

[IkeG]

... or maybe just a little attention?