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Text of the page (random words):
erited from a gnarled aunt whose favorite pastime was collecting stamped envelopes from places others had been of which she could only imagine the worst calamities befalling her if she d ever set foot outside her two room apartment triple locks on her front door i couldn t say i blamed her james didn t answer the door at first he never did apparently allergic to the light even in a refracted nightmare of a town like ours asthmatic james finally cracked the door open stretched and yawned in his undershorts and without a word allowed me to enter his darkened sanctuary he coughed as he pointed to a pile of papers on a desk on the edge of a shallow kitchen it was a story he and i d been working on but it wasn t coming together like our story he and i would soon go our separate ways connected only by the fiction that friendship lasted forever so what did you think i asked although i already knew the answer james sighed a lot only my dad sighed more often there were levels to his sighs small sigh meant things were typically o k but never would be great medium sigh shorter in duration but more intense meant he had actually given the subject some thought and predictably wasn t impressed long sighs followed by a trip to the refrigerator for a glass of milk indicated categorical failure on your part from which there might be no return what followed was a long sigh followed by a trip to the bathroom that was a new one and i wasn t sure what to make of it but i knew it couldn t be good good times with james only happened more or less by accident now a friendship formed between a pair of fourteen year old loners in a catholic high school populated by medieval nuns creepy lay teachers and sadistic jocks was a friendship defined under duress in the trench warfare of adolescence now that we d been freed from the petty tyranny of our education our bond had begun to dissipate though neither of us had the guts to completely face up to it getting on each other s nerves was about all we had left when he emerged from the bathroom several minutes later dressed in blue jeans and a pink floyd tee shirt i chose not to ask for specific feedback on my portion of the story it would be a hopeless and depressing waste of time so i pulled the glove out of my duffle bag and tossed it over to james he briefly examined it without surprise or excitement where the hell d you get a left handers mitt he asked because i was right handed babe ruth s fucking grave what the hell difference does it make babe ruth s grave in gate of heaven cemetery photo credit wikipedia without a word and to my everlasting astonishment james led the way outdoors to the mostly empty parking lot around the back of his apartment building only a lone 76 nova stood in the way of the spot where we last played nearly a year ago luckily it had its parking brake off and with the driver s side window smashed in it wasn t too difficult to manipulate the abandoned vehicle out of our way if you were careful about the broken glass i started off with a split fingered fastball the way bruce sutter used to do it that pissed james off cause he wasn t expecting it so he fired a two seamer back at me which nearly ripped the webbing of the glove i d had since sixth grade and still have today i smiled which i think was the first time either of us had smiled that day asshole i called out to him the echo reverberating off the silent brick buildings i threw him my best change up which never fooled anyone i ever threw it to that all you got he shot back a faint hint of a smile nearly creasing his lips no wonder you never got laid in high school with those amazons christ even the nuns looked better donna would ve let you at least touch her he was getting comfortable now his arm angle the familiar three quarters i remembered from the high school ball field yeah with your dick i called back a pretty standard unoriginal response expected by both parties in a conversation such as this got one for you he warned but i knew what was coming a tight curveball small but perceptible break to it creased the march breeze and smacked into my tan george a reach co mitt it felt like home not the one i actually lived in but the place i imagined must be just around the corner from the park where kids played in actual sunshine on real grass home a middle aged black man came down and sat on a stoop just watching us for several minutes followed by a pair of young twin sisters with pink barrettes in their hair james and i had nothing more to say to each other but i like to think the sound of baseball the final game of catch we ever played yet reverberates off silent walls in a crumbling forgotten part of town accessible only through faulty imperfect memory posted in baseball baseball memories and tagged babe ruth baseball bridgeport catholic school friendship game of catch 17 jul 2015 the great game is in good hands here s an excellent write up of the all star game and of baseball s most recent youth movement on sports and life a note to readers both of next week s scheduled posts will be delayed by one day thank you as always for your continued support tuesday night began with an extended tribute to the great game s glorious past the midsummer classic major league baseball s all star game always includes an element of nostalgia at a minimum fans are treated to the sight of an aging but still beloved hero a former star for the franchise that calls that year s venue home striding to the mound to throw out the ceremonial first pitch in recent years it was george brett in kansas city in 2012 rod carew in anaheim in 2010 and a quartet of former yankees at the stadium in 2008 all have taken their turn waving and smiling as thunderous cheers rolled down from the stands and washed over them like a sea foam of adulation at times the center of attention view original post 960 more words posted in uncategorized leave a comment 06 jul 2015 22 comments all time home run leaders for every team mlb once in a while i like to take a look at how each of the franchises in major league baseball stack up against each other in various ways home runs are to baseball what fireworks are to the 4th of july so i thought this would be a good time to explore each team s all time home run leaders for a career i broke it down by league and then by division while many of the all time leaders were predictable there were for me a couple of surprises on this list let me know what you think note in some cases the number of home runs a player hit with a single franchise will not necessarily match their career totals home run totals do not include the post season an asterisk after a player s home run total indicates they are still active national league east 1 braves h aaron 733 2 marlins g stanton 181 3 mets d strawberry 252 4 nationals expos r zimmerman 189 v guerrerro 234 5 phillies m schmidt 548 national league central 1 brewers r yount 251 2 cardinals s musial 475 3 cubs s sosa 545 4 pirates w stargell 475 5 reds j bench 389 national league west 1 diamondbacks l gonzalez 224 2 dodgers d snider 389 3 giants w mays 646 4 padres n colbert 163 5 rockies t helton 369 american league east 1 blue jays c delgado 336 2 orioles c ripkin jr 431 3 rays e longoria 192 4 red sox t williams 521 5 yankees b ruth 659 american league central 1 indians j thome 337 2 royals g brett 317 3 tigers a kaline 399 4 twins h killebrew 559 5 white sox f thomas 448 american league west 1 a s m mcgwire 363 2 angels t salmon 299 3 astros j bagwell 449 4 mariners k griffey jr 417 5 rangers j gonzalez 372 some thoughts about this list two of the three currently active players on this list giancarlo stanton and ryan zimmerman are each currently on their respective team s disabled list aaron s total is still ridiculous and awesome have the mets ever produced another home run hitter aside from strawberry stanton is a monster just 25 years old and he s already pushing 200 homers it would be kind of cool if zimmerman could someday tie guerrerro for the franchise record for what are essentially two different teams yount was better than many of us probably remember musial and stargell tied within their division that s pretty cool how weird is it that sosa has been almost totally disregarded altogether in our collective baseball memory my first guess for all time cubs leader was ernie banks though i am quite aware of sosa s accomplishments bench is the only catcher on this list though delgado started out as one with the blue jays perhaps unfairly luis gonzalez probably a very likable guy seemed to me the most random name on this list given all the great players in their history it s strange in a way that no dodgers player ever reached the 400 homer plateau for that franchise good to see mays not bonds still holding the giants career record what s up with the padres as a franchise they re like that guy who shows up on draft day for your fantasy league draft then you never see or hear from him again all season except they ve been doing this for about a half century if todd helton isn t someday elected to the hall of fame rockies fans should riot interesting that ruth and delgado are the only two players on the a l east list that didn t spend their careers with just one team as for ripkin i wonder how many homers manny machado will hit before he s done if williams was still alive today he could probably recall what pitch he hit off of each pitcher for every one of his 521 homers jim thome slugged 612 homers in his career when was the last time you heard anyone mention jim thome we don t normally think of brett as a power hitter but no royal ever hit more home runs you have to wonder if al kaline or tim salmon ever wake up in the dead of night thinking of that one more career homer that would have made for a nice round number tim salmon never appeared in a single all star game in a pretty good era for pitchers killebrew topped 40 homers eight times i m not sure you or i could name five better right handed hitters in baseball history than frank thomas for oakland mcgwire first led the a l in home runs as a rookie at age 23 with 49 in 1987 nine years later he led the a l in homers for the second time at age 32 with 52 in 1996 in between he apparently discovered the fountain of youth if you include defense and base running as well as the ability to hit for both average and power i m not sure there s a first baseman in baseball history i d pick ahead of jeff bagwell not only were ken griffey jr and stan musial both born in the company town of donora pennsylvania they were both born on november 21st 49 years apart while we re on the subject bagwell and thomas were born on the same day may 27 1968 juan gonzalez s career is like that rock band you were once so impressed with but now look back on with a tinge of embarrassment you re careful to never mention to your friends that you used to own one of their lp cassette cd full disclosure i once owned a bay city rollers record have at me boys and girls posted in baseball baseball statistics and tagged all time home run leaders american league american league central american league east american league west donora major league baseball more stats you can live without national league east national league west 29 jun 2015 23 comments meet the matz yesterday afternoon in queens new york starting pitcher steve matz making his major league debut against the cincinnati reds watched as the first batter he ever faced brandon phillips smacked a lead off homer over the left field wall the home crowd of 29 635 could never have guessed what would happen next matz apparently had the reds right where he wanted them the long island lefty who grew up a mets fan quickly recovered his composure and shut down the reds the rest of the way other than a todd frazier solo homer in the 4th on two runs and five hits through seven and two thirds innings pitched matz fanned six while walking three of his 110 pitches he threw 72 for strikes that manager terry collins let matz go out and start the eighth inning after matz had already thrown 90 pitches through seven innings had as much to do with the mets tired bullpen as it did matz fine performance or maybe it was matz s bat that collins did not want removed from the game matz became the first pitcher in the past hundred years to produce three hits and four runs batted in during his major league debut his double in the second inning over the outstretched glove of billy hamilton plated the mets first two runs of the game matz also singled in the fifth inning then lashed another single to center in the sixth inning driving in yet two more runs neither matz hitting nor his pitching performances in this game can easily be written off as flukes before his call up matz was batting 304 in triple a las vegas and his earned run average through 14 starts this year was 2 19 with 94 strikeouts in 90 innings said vegas manager wally backman matz is just bored down here just a few years ago however yesterday s amazing performance was not an event that anyone would have readily predicted in 2010 matz underwent what these days seems to be the inevitable tommy john surgery it took him nearly two years to fully recover while many pitchers tend to recover and return to full health surgery on a young arm is surgery and no two cases will ever turn out exactly the same way so it was with great joy yesterday for his family and friends in attendance as well as for mets fan everywhere that all of matz s hard work over the past few years has paid off with such unexpected dividends the mets who now enjoy one of baseball s finest young rotations if not the best of matt harvey noah syndergaard jacob degrom and now steve matz as well as veteran lefty jon niese and jabba the bartolo colon along with the currently recovering from t j surgery zack wheeler have mets fans everywhere giddy over what the future may hold for new york s senior circuit franchise while it is obvious that the mets need to go out and get a bat in the meantime no one could blame manager terry collins if he is tempted to use steve matz as a pinch hitter that the 40 37 mets who have now won four home games in a row after enduring a terrible road seven game losing streak are still in the playoff hunt nearly halfway through the season is a testament primarily to their fine pitching historically this has nearly always been the case with the mets when times are good steve matz and his mates in the rotation could take this team further than anyone including this writer would have predicted at the beginning of this season this might not be 69 or 73 all over again but god knows it s not 1963 1981 or 2014 either that matz was born and raised less than fifty miles from and shares a birthday with this writer only makes me want to root that much more for this 24 year old phenom the only question is what could he possibly do for an encore posted in baseball baseball commentary baseball players and 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