Ron Washington deserves to lose the World Series

Down 2-0 in the bottom of the 8th, bases loaded, 2 outs. Who do you want pitching? Your flame-throwing closer who had 71 Ks and a 2.73 ERA this season or a mediocre swingman who has just walked two batters and has yet to throw a strike?

Keep in mind, there's a day off on Friday and Feliz has already had 5 days of rest, so keeping him rested isn't an issue.

Well, the batter is a lefty and so is swingman Derek Holland. But Feliz has a reverse-platoon split. Career #s vs LHB:

Holland - .246/.318./.377, 39 K, 19 BB

Feliz - .136/.216/.233, 58 K, 13 BB

Did I already mention that Holland has just thrown 8 straight balls? AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Of course, Holland walks the batter on 5 pitches. 3-0 Giants.

Okay, the game's still within reach. Definitely time to take out Holland. Who does Washington bring in from the pen?

Mark Lowe.

Mark Lowe!?! Mark Lowe pitched a total of 3 innings for the Rangers this season. And he pitched poorly in those innings, with a 12.00 ERA. He pitched for the first time in the postseason on Wednesday and allowed 3 runs in 2/3 of an inning.

Basically, this decision says that Washington has given up on the game and doesn't mind going down two games to none.

Lowe walks a batter. 4-0.

Lowe gives up a single. 6-0.

FOX showed a shot of GM Jon Daniels and Joe Buck said "and Daniels wonders what's happened to his talented bullpen."

What happened is that your talented closer is sitting on his ass in the bullpen while some guy who pitched 3 innings for you all season blew the game.

You know the steelo, from New York to Puerto Rico You'll tell me bro... yeah, I'm Kool Keith chief You been out two weeks (or is it Chuck Berry?)

Disgusting Fast Food Ads

Who's hungry?

Yankee Schadenfreude

 I watched Game 6 of the A.L.C.S. with an old friend of mine who was a Met fan when we were children. He went to college in Boston and during the height of the nouveau rivalry became a Yankee fan. Thus, I couldn't draw much pleasure from Friday's epic denouement. The next morning, like a kid on Christmas morn, I awoke early at 8 to seek out the New York Post to revel in the Yankee misery. I would have no satisfaction. I ask you, why publish a same-day Post out here and charge $2 for it if you can't report on a game that ended around 8:30 PM P.S.T.?? It's all so very hollow anyway, what with last year's triumph. True, last year's Series win provides little comfort for most Yankee fans, but it certainly dulls the revelry of Yankee-haters like myself. And any excitement us haters feel must surely be tempered by the fact that Cliff Lee and Carl Crawford could be sporting pinstripes by the New Year. So I ask ya, what is there to really celebrate? There's one team that could unite New York as one and that's the Knicks. Peter Vecsey put them in their place with his Sunday column zinging, "They are two All-Stars away from being a contender."
Sincerely,
Debbie Downer

Russia, Belgium/Netherlands, Spain/Portugal and England Compete to Host the 2018 Fifa World Cup

 

I've got a column up at Epl Talk discussing the candidates to host the 2018 World Cup. USA in 2022!

I'm Not A Sucka So I Don't Need A Bodyguard, or I Hate Fake MCs

Gang Starr "Suckas Need Bodyguards."

or

Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock "It takes two."

Famous Footballing Brothers

Got a new piece up at EPL Talk discussing some famous and not-so-famous football-playing brothers.

CLIFF LEE

A Vision in White

The sun beat down unmercifully. The water provided no respite. Around me, the uncouth, unwashed teeming masses. Then. He appeared. A vision in white. The care in making sure the socks are pulled up high whilst the shawts hangg low. The white kicks that seemed to hover above the earf. The carefree, yet careful, saunter. The mystery beverage in the black plastic bag. Black/White. Huggz and Poundz 4 all. Ball till U Fall.

Hype Williams: Do Roids and Kill e'rything

Superswaggg aka the new hotness.

No, it's not the genius Hype Williams behind the classic, "Belly." Beautifully executed opening scene, plus booba-clot madness.

Nah, it's some next-shit dude from Germany or England or wherevs dropping bombs like this one, called "Do Roids and Kill e-rything," a dj-screwed up version of Drake's "Over."


Also, this following clip is trippy as fuck. Wait for the reveal, better than Inception.

Los Angeles Stickball Playoffs

We're starting a 6-man stickball tournament hopefully this Saturday. Here's the crest I made for the league.

You Can Get With This; or You Can Get With That

Some odds and ends from the vaults.

Honus Wagner's first solo album, featuring the controversial single "Ho, No. Hold This (It's Honus)."

 A highly qualified investigative reporter spent years under cover to report this story.

 A creeptastic ad from the back pages of LA Weekly.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Red Sox Buying Liverpool but Were too Bored to Ask

 I've got a summary here at Epl Talk.

Any Muther-Fuckin Squadron But The Muther-Fuckin' Yankees; Also, is John Tesh the Devil?; and Fran Healy is a Singer

 Peeping the Rangers croooz past the Rays makes me wonder if the Yanks lucked, as usual, by finishing second in the A.L. East. Instead of facing the Rangers and Cliff Lee and Vlad in a short series, they face the short-handed Twinkies who they own more than the Miz owns me in sticks. -le sigh-.
-----
This panel is from Marvel: Mythos, a boring retelling of the Ghost Rider origin which is nonetheless beautifully painted/drawn by Paolo Rivera. This is from the scene where Johnny Blaze meets the devil to bargain for his soul. But is it The Devil------or John Tesh???(cue Triumph pronouncing "Teshie.")

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Apparantly, Fran Healy not only admirably hosts the Halls of Fame on MSG, but he is also a Britpop singer and former frontman for the band Travis. And bringing it full circle, Fran Healy the singer looks like Andy.

Baseball Playoffs. Yawn.

 Major League Baseball once had the most meritorious playoff system in the land. Win your league. Even after the split to two divisions, it was fairly fair. Now? It's a mess. Tiny divisions mean that many years non-playoff teams in strong divisions have better records than teams that qualify. The rule that a division winner cannot play the wild card in the first round is arbitrary and asinine. What is the rationale? The league that gave us the wild-card, the NFL, doesn't have this rule. A few years ago the football Giants and Eagles played each other in the last game of the season and finished 1-2 in the NFC East. They promptly played each other the next week in the first round of the playoffs. The world still ate their buffalo wings in peace.
Am I bitter because I think the Rays have a better shot of beating the Yanks in a short 5-game series? Mayhaps.
--
Yankees over Twins (what a suprise! fucking worthless Twins wasting a playoff spot every year).
Rangers over Rays (just to make it easier for the Yankees to advance)
Yankees over Rangers (a 3-man rotation for the Yanks. Of course it will work)
--
Giants over Braves (a vicious rematch of the 2002 NLDS)
Phillies over Reds (zzzzzzzzzzzz)
Giants over Phils (only because the playoffs can't go exactly the way everyone says?)
--
Yankees over Giants, How Ya Doin?
--
Those are my 2-cents, what are yours?

ALL-CAPS versus lower case lettering for New York City street signs.

New York City will spend $27 million to replace every one of its street signs, more than 250,000 for the purposes of replacing its current ALL CAPS lettering style with signs bearing lower-case lettering.
For font-nerds, N.Y.C. will also be using Clearview, a federally-approved font for highway lettering.
In a time of great governmental fiscal crisis, it hardly seems the time to undertake such a project. Especially as it comes on the heels of the supremely wasteful switch from "Triboro Bridge" to "R.F.K. Bridge."
Some, however, cheer the move to lower-case lettering on aesthetic grounds.  I just got back from San Francisco, still sticking to their unique street-sign style.