Bookworm

Poem/Poet I Like

Table
~ Richard Tillinghast

A man filled with the gladness of living
Put his keys on the table,
Put flowers in a copper bowl there.
He put his eggs and milk on the table.
He put there the light that came in through the window,
Sounds of a bicycle, sound of a spinning wheel.

Read the whole thing and tell me what you think . . .

Wall Street Journal Free for Five Days

WSJ.com will grant free access to its content for five days, beginning November 8, 2004. This article hypothesizes that perhaps the Journal is considering moving to an ad-supported model like the Times uses rather than its current subscriber-only model. [C|net News.com]

Yankees Post-Mortem, Rumors, etc.

"There was a breakdown in the cosmic order Wednesday night. . . After 26 championships, after years of George Steinbrenner's outspending everyone, after decades of Yankees fans' taunting Boston with chants of "1918," wasn't it finally someone else's turn?. . . And there were other morals to be drawn from the narrative. This is what happens when you don't cherish a home-grown star like Andy Pettitte and let him go. This is what happens when you chase after All-Stars like Kevin Brown, Alex Rodriguez, Kenny Lofton and Gary Sheffield, who are hardly true-blue, pinstriped Yankees. This is what happens when you think you can buy a championship team and strip-mine your farm system. This is what happens when you have the hubris not to correct obvious flaws on the pitching staff, like not having any ace left-handers. " [NY Times]

"For the Boston Red Sox, winning Game 7 of the American League Championship Series on Wednesday night was the greatest moment of 86 tortured seasons. For the Yankees, it was a colossal flop, the kind they had somehow avoided through decades of charmed Octobers. "If we're there all the time,'' Manager Joe Torre said yesterday, "why shouldn't it happen to us?'' But why did it? How could it? Who would have envisioned a scenario in which the Red Sox became the first team in baseball history to win a series after trailing by three games to none, and did it against their lordly rival?. . . Two hours after Game 7 ended, the Yankees' principal owner, George Steinbrenner, told General Manager Brian Cashman that he would not be fired as a result of the team's collapse. . . " [NY Times]

"Steinbrenner did not address Cashman's status in a statement issued through his publicist, Howard Rubenstein. "I congratulate the Boston Red Sox on their great victory, and I want to thank our loyal fans for their enormous support," the statement said. "Of course I am disappointed, because I wanted a championship for them and for our city. You can be assured we will get to work and produce a great team next year." Asked what the Yankees would emphasize, Cashman did not hesitate: "It's pitching, pitching, pitching. You can never have enough." [NY Times]

". . . [O]ne baseball official with knowledge of the Yankees' plans said the team was planning to explore at least one interesting way to open a spot in the starting rotation. That official said the team would make every effort to rid itself of Kevin Brown, even if that meant paying his entire $15 million salary for next season. . . When Steinbrenner does convene the organizational meetings in Tampa this week, the first topic of conversation is expected to be manager Joe Torre's coaching staff. Should bench coach Willie Randolph get the job as Mets manager, and should pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre retire, there would be two prominent vacancies on the staff. Former Yankees catcher and current YES Network broadcaster Joe Girardi would be a candidate for the bench coach, and Triple-A pitching coach Neil Allen and former Yankees great Ron Guidry would be candidates for the pitching coach. " [New Jersey Star-Ledger]

"Willie Randolph is still under contract with the Yankees, but while speaking yesterday about the possibility of managing the Mets, he used a couple of revealing personal pronouns. Referring to the Mets as "we" and "us" on multiple occasions, Randolph, 50, sounded as if he expected to be the club's next manager. . . Randolph's optimism was striking, given that he has been interviewed without success for managerial positions about a dozen times. He can no longer remember the exact number. He was interviewed by the Mets in 2003, but he did not impress team officials, who gave the job to Art Howe." [NY Times]

". . . when asked about Vazquez, Cashman indicated that he would stay. "He's definitely in our plans," Cashman said. "I guess no one is untouchable, but he's in our plans." [NY Times]

"Steinbrenner has told associates that he wants the staff to be younger, although he could easily be enticed by big-name veteran free agents like Pedro Martínez, David Wells or Al Leiter, who has a mutual option for $10 million on his Mets contract. The return of Roger Clemens is unlikely; Clemens will probably stay in Houston if he keeps pitching. . . The best of the younger free-agent group is probably Carl Pavano, a right-hander for the Florida Marlins who was a contender for the National League Cy Young award this year. Pavano's agent, Scott Shapiro, has said he believes both New York teams are strong possibilities." [AP/NY Times]

"New York is expected to pursue outfielder Carlos Beltran after he becomes a free agent and to add pitchers. Former Yankees minor leaguer Eric Milton, and Florida right-hander Carl Pavano are among those available. Pedro Martinez, the winning pitcher in Game 3 of the World Series on Tuesday night, will also be a free agent. There is some concern about the large number of innings the Boston Red Sox right-hander has thrown during his career. The Yankees are expected to give serious consideration to resuming talks with Arizona about acquiring left-hander Randy Johnson." [AP/NY Times]

"Many baseball officials believe only the Yankees can afford the deal centerfielder Carlos Beltran will be seeking, likely seven years at $100 million-plus. But an alternative to signing Beltran could be to bring back Alfonso Soriano from the Rangers, who would like to move him, and put him in centerfield. Soriano is arbitration eligible and likely will receive around $8 million. Last offseason, Cashman originally wanted to sign Kaz Matsui to play second base and move Soriano to center." [Newsday]

Boston Red Sox: World Series Champions

The Boston Red Sox defeated the St. Louis Cardinals last night 3-0, winning the 2004 World Series in four straight games. I'll leave the opinions and analysis to those who actually watched all the games from start to finish. I watched here and there; I am a fan of baseball, not just the one team I follow.

Congratulations to the Red Sox and their long-suffering fans. Enjoy it.

MLB.com: "The entire culture of the Boston Red Sox changed Wednesday night at Busch Stadium, as the tradition-laden franchise carted home its sixth World Series championship, but first since 1918. . . They capped it with Derek Lowe (seven innings, three hits, one walk, four strikeouts) pitching a phenomenal game, just like the one he spun against the Yankees in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series. In fact, Lowe, who earned the victory in relief of Game 3 of the Division Series, was the winning pitcher in all three of Boston's postseason clinchers. . . How thorough a conquest was this for the Red Sox? The Cardinals didn't even take a single lead in this Fall Classic. The Red Sox became the fourth team in history to never trail during the World Series, becoming the first to do so since the 1989 Oakland Athletics."

Link to Boston Globe front page image

Boston Herald: "Just three outs away from being swept by the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series 10 days earlier, the Sox accomplished the impossible and strung together an eight-game winning streak - the longest ever in a single postseason - to claim the franchise's first World Series title since 1918. Up above, beyond a thick Midwestern overcast, the first lunar eclipse ever to take place during a World Series methodically passed through its stages, making our fathers and grandfathers prophetic. They were the ones, after all, who professed that the stars would have to be aligned just right for the Sox to win another title."

Bambino's Curse: "And just like that it's all gone: No more Curse; No more 1918; No more getting the rock almost to the top of the hill only to have it roll back down and crush us… The subject line in an email I received from my since boyhood friend and diehard Sox fan, Mike says it all: "Now I can get on with the rest of my life." Hallelujah! Sweet relief."

2004 World Series: Boston Red Sox vs. St. Louis Cardinals

I can't believe the Cardinals haven't won a game. I can't believe Boston committed eight errors in the first two games and still won both games. I can't believe Curt Schilling pitched again this postseason and effectively, too. I can't believe the Red Sox are one win away from winning the Series. Probably half of Boston can't believe it either.

Game Three: Boston 4, St. Louis 1 recap | box score

Game Two: Boston 6, St. Louis 2 recap | box score

Game One: Boston 11, St. Louis 9 recap | box score

Vote Kerry/Edwards: Post #16

Vote for a candidate who thinks hundreds of tons of explosives going missing is a big deal.

"Yesterday we got two peeks under [the Administration's] shroud [of secrecy]. One was The Times's report about what the International Atomic Energy Agency calls "the greatest explosives bonanza in history." Ignoring the agency's warnings, administration officials failed to secure the weapons site, Al Qaqaa, in Iraq, allowing 377 tons of deadly high explosives to be looted, presumably by insurgents. The administration is trying to play down the importance of this loss, arguing that because Iraq was awash in munitions, a few hundred more tons don't make much difference. . . Informed sources quoted by the influential Nelson Report say explosives from Al Qaqaa are the "primary source" of the roadside and car bombs that have killed and wounded so many U.S. soldiers. . . . Administration officials have known about the looting of Al Qaqaa for at least six months . . . But they didn't let the I.A.E.A. inspect the site after the war, and pressured the Iraqis not to inform the agency about the loss. They now say that they didn't want our enemies - that is, the people who stole the stuff - to know it was missing. The real reason, obviously, was that they wanted the news kept under wraps until after Nov. 2." [NY Times; emphasis mine]

Vote Kerry/Edwards: Post #15

Here are links to posts of mine from the past year or so which raise issues pertinent to this campaign.

The Rich Get Richer

The Economy: Strong or Weak?

New Regulations Weaken Endangered Species Act, Threaten Wildlife

Ballooning Budget Deficit

What We Eat

It's Pronounced New-klee-ur, Mr. President

Bush Policy to Allow More Logging in Alaska Forest

Can't Take the Heat?

Reasons Not to Invade Iraq, by George Herbert Walker Bush

Thanks For the Dirty Air, Dubya!

Sam's Letters to Jennifer by James Patterson

Sam's Letters to Jennifer is a mix of simple prose and more complex cultural and scientific references, like chocolate chips scattered through a cookie.

"For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin -- real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life." Father Alfred D'Souza (pg. 74; 2004 hardcover edition)

"The entire sky was in motion, and as the undulating curtain passed right over us, bright points of light swirled like pinwheels. Doc said that the aurora was actually a stream of electrons powered by the solar wind, colliding with atoms of gas. "The impact causes the gas to emit light. The color of the light depends on the type of gas. The green and red lights are oxygen, blue and purple are hydrogen and helium. Sodium is yellow. It's like neon lighting without the tules," Doc said. "It's neon in the wild." (168).

Remember the "big rocks" forwarded email that went around the Internet a few times. I'm not sure if that originally came from a book, but doesn't this passage remind you of that forwarded email? "You finally figured out that the way to fit in the best of your haul was to put the big rocks into the jar first. After that, the pebbles and snail shells would sift down into the spaces between the rocks. When the jar looked filled to the brim, you could still get in a few lids of sand. And finally, when there didn't seem to be room for another thing, you dunked your jar in the lake and topped off your "beach" with water." (pg. 88)

Vote Kerry/Edwards: Post #14

The New Yorker magazine has endorsed John Kerry for President, the first time in its history that the magazine's editors have endorsed a Presidential candidate. They write:

"The Bush Administration has had success in carrying out its policies and implementing its intentions, aided by majorities—political and, apparently, ideological—in both Houses of Congress. Substantively, however, its record has been one of failure, arrogance, and—strikingly for a team that prided itself on crisp professionalism—incompetence. . . In January, 2001, just after Bush’s inauguration, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office published its budget outlook for the coming decade. It showed a cumulative surplus of more than five trillion dollars. . . Last year’s federal deficit was three hundred and seventy-five billion dollars; this year’s will top four hundred billion. According to the C.B.O., which came out with its latest projection in September, the period from 2005 to 2014 will see a cumulative shortfall of $2.3 trillion. . . Bush will likely be the first chief executive since Hoover to preside over a net loss of American jobs. . . . Bush signalled his approach toward the environment a few weeks into his term, when he reneged on a campaign pledge to regulate carbon-dioxide emissions, the primary cause of global warming. His record since then has been dictated, sometimes literally, by the industries affected." [The New Yorker; emphasis mine] Read the entire article, seriously.

Who's Your Daddy?

"In coming to expect a Yankees championship every year, fans and much of the city flaunted the brash, cocksure aspect of the New York personality. But this swagger overshadowed another trait: that of the striver, the underdog, the guy selling pretzels from a cart so that one day he might own a small diner. Not that the Boston Red Sox perfectly represent David to the Yankees' Goliath. They are no strangers to arrogance, or to spending large toward glory's purchase. If they win the World Series - and for the love of Johnny Pesky, let them - the psychic wound they have nurtured for so long will have healed, denying them their precious martyr status and freeing the rest of us to say, finally and without guilt: Go away." [NY Times]

I am so sick of the Red Sox. I'm sure there are many baseball fans who feel the same way about my team and, this being a free country, they are entitled to their opinion. 19 games in the regular season is too many for me and the additional seven of the ALCS was total overkill. Yeah, yeah, I know how it came out. Here's my working theory: If the Red Sox actually win the World Series, then they have to quit whining about the "Curse". From thereon out, if the Yankees beat them, it's because they played better or had better luck.