Ah, baseball games on TV today, right from the moment I wake up, more or less without a break. Been some great contests so far: just been watching the second Detroit-Yankees game, which Detroit held on to win, 4-3 - the third of six games to be decided by one run. Amazing to watch Zumaya coming in and throwing 103 mph out of the bullpen, striking A-Rod out to end the eighth inning. Verlander has pretty amazing stuff too, for the Tigers. And Brian Bruney pitched a perfect ninth for New York - I still wonder what the hell happened with regard to him. Why was he so bad for us, but is now unhittable with the Yankees? Also enjoyed the Dodgers-Mets game yesterday; couldn't believe LA getting two men thrown out at the plate, on the same play.
Doubly glad Detroit won just now, since the results so far had sucked. Twins already on the edge of elimination; NL West yet to win a game. With that and the Yankees taking game one, I think that made me 0-for-5, as far as results going the way I wanted them. Let's hope the Tigers win reverses the trend, or we'll be having a Yankees-St.Louis World Series, which the Yankees will sweep. Let's not go there, shall we? For if we do, I shall be very cross for about the next four months - and you do not want me writing blog entries like a bear with a hangover from now until February, do you? I shall say no more, and move on...
I was watching the coverage on ESPN last night - it was a rain delay at Yankee Stadium - and they had Eric Byrnes on the show. Now, I'm a hardened horror movie fan, but the most disturbing thing I've seen in a long time was Byrnes in a suit. I'm fairly sure I haven't seen that before, and let's just say, it didn't look like he was in it by choice - he didn't even have the top two buttons undone. ;-) If you visualize a Siamese cat dressed up in baby clothes: not only is it just wrong, but you can imagine how the Siamese feels about it. Out of embarrassed sympathy, I turned off after a few minutes, and watched Withnail and I instead. Amusing film, horribly quotable: "Nothing to eat, freezing cold and now a madman on the prowl outside, with eels."
Levski over on DBBP posted a link to a long analysis of Brandon Webb's mechanics. It has a frame-by-frame comparison of his action in 2004, with what he does now, and suggest the changes might be the reason why his control has improved so markedly over the past two years [walking more than 60% fewer hitters]. It's a very nice article, a detailed insight into all the different pieces that go into pitching, one of the most un-natural and violent movements in all of sports.
Mrs. SnakePit and I were wandering round K-Mart late Monday night (looking for stuff for my Dad's birthday, actually) and on a whim, picked up a two-pack of "Junk Balls", reduced to clear at $2.00. Those are plastic whiffleballs, but have been doctored with the addition of ridges on one side, and an equator of holes, with a rotating strip so you can open or close them. The aim is to make it easy to throw curves, sinkers, knucklers, etc. without stressing out your elbow. I look forward to testing them out in the back yard...now if only I can train the dogs to retrieve them without biting the heck out of them...
I also saw there what, at first, I thought was a new style D'backs shirt. The font for the writing on the front was one I hadn't seen before, but it was still in purple. However, on checking when I came back, it didn't match the new ones either. So it just gets filed under the "kinda weird" category of D'backsmabilia. Still, my father will shortly be the proud owner of an er, vintage shirt. No need to tell him it was reduced to clear. ;-)
It's a good job the playoffs only last a short time, because otherwise, I think that with the combination of sloth and junk-food, I would look like Jabba the Hutt before many weeks had gone past. And with that, back to the television set I go, to watch the Cardinals-Padres game. Maybe I should order pizza?