My Summer of Baseball

Get Your Geek On

Earlier this week, Stephen Dubner - of Freakonomics fame - wrote about his ideas for making baseball more interesting.

He complains (though I'm not sure I agree) that if you've watched enough baseball, you pretty much know what's going to happen in most situations...making it less interesting to watch. Then he shares links to other articles, like this, with creative new things being tried.

But most interesting, I think, was a follow-up post today that included this very cool chart by data visualization expert Ben Fry. It shows all 30 MLB teams ranked by day-to-day standings and by 2008 salary. It's an interactive chart and you can drag a bar at the top to cut the data by date.

Great design, fascinating data. In fact, my inner geek went crazy when I saw it - the perfect combination of design, statistics and baseball. What more could a girl ask for.

The Joy of Beating the Cubs

There's just really no way to sum it up, is there? It's always fun to win, but so much more fun when it's against the Cubs.

And doubly so when they have to suffer through a loss at Wrigley with all their fans freezing and booing away.

Yea Brewers! Welcome Cameron! And wahoo for a good offensive game for a change.

Don't Get Fragile With Me, Buddy

In 99.9% of things, I'm anti macho. Don't like bullies, I'm not into arrogant and I find posturing to be a bore.

But when it comes to sports heroes, I kinda think you can't be too tough. And this weekend two moments really reinforced that opinion.

The first was in Saturday night's game. Now, I'll admit it was cold. I was actually shivering and drinking hot chocolate. But when the Marlins pitcher had someone run his sweater out to where he was standing on base, I thought: Wimp!

I know pitchers need to keep the arm warm and all. But isn't looking tough part of the job too? How can you psych out the batters in the next inning if they think you can't hack five minutes on base in 50 degree weather? WIMP!

When he put on the sweater, I knew we'd win. And we did.

Then there's Turnbow, today. I thought Bob Uecker summed it up perfectly when Turnbow started falling apart. He said: "The crowd's giving a lot of feedback, and that's not good for the sensitive Turnbow."

The sensitive Turnbow. Call me old fashioned, but I think ball players ought to act infallible and unrufflable, even when they are failing and ruffled. Turnbow can't do that...which is partly why he can't deliver a win.

And all this leads to Prince, who was featured in today's New York Times:

“Fans last year were yelling at me, ‘Hey Prince, eat a salad!’ ” Fielder said during dinner at a Milwaukee restaurant last Tuesday. “This year they’re saying, ‘Eat a steak!’ I feel like going: ‘Keep yelling, buddy. You’re still in the stands.’”

See? Confident, yet clever. Now THAT'S a sports hero.

Happy, But Zombified

Last night's game was awesome. Good pitching. Yea Prince on another homer. And Gagne didn't screw up. It was great!

But it was also sold out....meaning that when I got there at 6:59 after working all day, I had to park practically at the lakefront. I'm pretty sure I walked 10 miles to the stadium.

By the time I got back to my car after the game, I was beat. I mean really beat. Zombie beat. So I called it an early night with no blogging...sorry!

But speaking of zombies, I did have this fun test to share, which has absolutely nothing to do with baseball but is sure to please you apocalypse-fearing friends out there. You know who you are.

Difference, Not Indifference

Tonight's game introduced a new term to my baseball lexicon: defensive indifference.

I didn't even need my Baseball for Dummies book to understand it. It's pretty obvious when the bad guys think they're in such good shape, they don't even have to react when you steal.

It was a tough game, and a tougher loss. I'm sure people will blame Mota for giving up the three runs in the top of the 10th. But me, I'm calling it offensive indifference. We had a leadoff runner in seven of the first eight innings...and achieved nothing.

In the post-game interview, Yost said it was simply great pitching by the Marlins. I'm not convinced. Here's hoping tomorrow we see the Brewers difference, not the indifference.

First Missed Game

Thursday I missed my first game. Had to choose between work and baseball, and decided work had to win out this time.

I felt pretty bad about missing the game, and about Pete having to go alone for the first time, and especially about the ugly loss.

But then it occurred to me that even with the missed game, my average was still .900. And I figured: geez, not too bad.

Scoring Runs, Meeting Neighbors

What a game! Screamed myself hoarse. Cheered Stetter. Bit my nails through Turnbow. And, of course, went crazy for Prince. Two wins isn't a streak yet...but it sure feels good.

But what I liked best about baseball today happened before I even got to the ballpark.

I was late, late, late. Hadn't even crossed the line into Milwaukee County when Prince nailed his two-run homer in the 1st.

I stopped a couple minutes later at McDonald's and as I got out of the car, watched a guy in a Fielder shirt walk out of the building.

Now, this guy was big. Huge. Scowling and kind of scary looking. But he was holding the hand of a tiny, adorable little girl, maybe two years old. So I spoke up.   

"Fielder just hit a two-run homer."

The guy's face split into the friendliest grin in the world, and we ended standing around talking.

And that's what I like: Baseball makes everybody neighborly. I suppose that's true about every sport. But it's baseball that gets me talking.

I headed into the restaurant. The big guy grumbled good-naturedly that the Brewers were winning but he'd be listening to his daughter's princess songs all the way home.

We waved goodbye like old friends.

All about the Gabes

First: Welcome back Gabe Kapler. (I've been waiting to write that for so long....and I hope you too are hearing the "Welcome Back Kotter" theme music in your head right now.)

Second: I can't believe I spent almost 5 hours at the ballpark today, but had to hear from my mother-in-law that Gross got traded after the game. You'd think they could have mentioned that on the post-game show or something.

Third: I'll miss Gabe Gross. I get that he doesn't fit in the lineup anymore, but he seemed like a good guy and a team player. That said: Thank goodness we're keeping Kapler.

And, finally, if you didn't see it, hope you'll enjoy Curt's comment on game eight, here. Sums up my feelings on the game, too.

Multi-tasking Misunderstood

The upside of being self-employed is you can give yourself the flexibility to do what you love...like watch baseball.

The downside is that your boss has all your own worst qualities. In my case, that means I work a lot and, when in the middle of a project, fret a lot too.

This is why I found myself today at Miller Park, laptop firmly on lap, working through the entire game. I got to see the great parts. I got to see the horrifying parts. I got a lot of work done.

But it wasn't the usual great baseball experience. All those studies that say multi-tasking doesn't work have a point: You can't focus completely on anything, so everything gets the half-assed version of you.

Then again, if it weren't for the chance to multi-task, I would have had to choose between baseball or work...and either way something important to me wouldn't have happened.

I guess it's really a glass-half-full / glass-half-empty thing. Multi-tasking (and baseball) is what you make of it. I'm choosing to see today half-full. I'm not sure they really "won," but the Brewers didn't lose. I had to work, but I got to cheer through 12 innings while I did it.

Works for me.

Home Game Seven

Here's what I hated about the game today - losing. Surrounded by Cardinals fans. Can't they just stay home and watch the game on TV like everyone else? The entire stadium was full of red.

I also hated seeing Corey not only drop a ball but run at the wrong time. I count on him to be the one steady thing.

Here's what I liked: Chatting during the game with the guys over at Brew Crew Ball. It's like getting the running TV commentary, only on the laptop. And funnier. And much more sarcastic.

My qualms about booing came up again, too. But I was on the other side this time: I would have happily booed Turnbow. If I hadn't been drowned out by the Cards who were cheering that he was in.

The whole thing is fascinating and frustrating. Have I mentioned: I love my summer of baseball.