Very Superstitious

            Today’s discussion concerning the number thirteen and the bad luck in the infamous game got me thinking about the presence of superstition in the game of baseball.  Let’s look at the most recent phenomenon that has occurred in the game, Phil Humber’s perfect game.  A perfect game is possibly the most random event in all of baseball.  Great pitchers go entire careers without one and bad pitchers are remembered for nothing other than one.  All in all, there have been only twenty-one perfect games in the history of the game.

            So, let’s have some fun with the perfect game that occurred this Saturday.  It was the twenty-first perfect game ever pitched; it was the twenty-first of the month.  Humber’s record was 11 and 10 before the start- add them and you get twenty-one.  While watching the Yankees-Sox game, they gave updates on the perfect-game-in-motion during the fifth and seventh innings, finally switching over to the game in the ninth for the historical moment.  Add those inning numbers up and you get twenty-one.  Humber was born on the 21^st of a month.  And perhaps strangest of all, a good friend of mine turned 21 on that day.

            So, obviously I managed to do the same thing Delillo does in the novel, possibly pointing to the conclusion that this superstition applied following an event means absolutely nothing.  But maybe that is not what we are pointing to.  The idea of coincidence versus fate is present throughout the novel and in a way I feel that it is not just coincidence that leads to these events.  We cannot change the past, and in a strange way, that means that whatever happens is meant to be.  The story of this universe and Earth is nothing more than a long narrative in some sense.  If we accept the idea that since these things happened and we cannot change them, that they had to happen, then perhaps the constructed superstition around them had to happen as well.  And perhaps that gives the superstition actual meaning and validation.  Maybe all these things really do make sense, but since we cannot predict the future, we cannot see the pattern before it occurs (as that would be foresight as well).  The simple matter is that these constructed patterns exist in some sense, and if they exist they are real.  An event exists and the pattern exists, I can't argue with that.

Age is just a Number, Right?

Following a season of retirement, Andy Pettitte will return to the Yankees for the second time in his career.  He will be starting in the minors with the expectation that he will return to the majors shortly into the season.  Andy’s career has been defined by his time with the Yankees.  Close to a career Yankee, he notably left the organization for a brief stint with the Astros, only to return three seasons later.  The return only strengthened his appeal to fans and perhaps this is part of the management’s plan.

If we look at the Yankees starting pitching staff, there seems to be a good amount of talent.  Sebathia, Hughes, Pineda, and Nova all have respectable numbers (don’t put too much weight on Nova’s spring) and with other possible starters such as Kuroda and Garcia, there doesn’t seem to be much room for Pettitte on the roster.  But reports from training have all been alarmingly positive- Pettitte seems to be on top of his game.  He could experience a renaissance in the twilight of his career.  Honestly though, how often do you bring back a forty year old to pitch in the majors? 

While I love Pettitte as much as any Yankee fan, I cannot help but feel that this is somewhat of a publicity stunt.  Yes, there is a good chance that he can still pitch at the big league level as well as offer wisdom to younger players, but there are obvious counterpoints to both ideas.  As previously stated, the Yankees have as many talented arms as any team, and they also have leaders.  Mo has experienced as much as anybody, not to mention, they don’t exactly have a roster of rookies. 

So maybe bringing him back is an attempt to rally fans back to the stadium.  After analyzing “The Great American Novel,” it seems that anyone is cut out to play baseball.  Next to a group of amputees and little people, a forty year old returning to the game doesn’t seem the slightest bit farfetched.  And in all reality, it’s not; it’s only odd considering the amount of talent already assembled.  Ultimately, I assume Pettitte just misses the game and that he is not a Yankees’ attempt at a modern Eddie Gaedel/Bob Yamm.  Whatever the management’s intentions are, Pettitte’s are simple and pure: just a desire to play ball.  Ain’t nothing wrong with it.

Did You See That?

And now the MLB wants to extend the powers of instant replay.  Hopefully, someday, baseball will be just like football and we can halt the game and focus in on every little detail of every play to determine how to best call it.  Please, cut this out and let us just play baseball the way it was meant to be played- with bad calls. 

I guess you can call me a purist- if my sense of baseball purity is based on the rules when I was born.  The game is constantly changing, that is a fact.  Whether it is the rules, the style, the gear, the drugs, etc, the game has changed greatly since its conception.  But at some point, mustn’t a line be drawn? 

When instant replay first entered the game in 2008 I was not pleased.  It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why this is.  It’s not that I don’t want the game to be more fair- although, it doesn’t really become fairer with instant replay, everyone plays with the same umpires- but that’s not it.  No, I just want baseball to maintain its traditional spirit. 

Baseball operates outside the confines that control all other sports.  If you look at every other (popular) professional sport, there is a projectile that makes its way up and down a rectangular plane with some method of scoring at either end (with the exception of cricket (which I have no understanding of) and golf, which is a great game, but not a sport.  Nascar is neither.).  Baseball embodies America in a way these games cannot: there is no time constraint- a game can go on infinitely, a homerun literally leaves the game, the concept of “stealing” is present…there is true freedom in baseball.

The rigid rules in other sports rob the game of freedom- there is a set of laws that cannot be evaded.  In baseball, you can get lucky or unlucky with a bad call.  It is the nature of the game.  This aspect of the game gives it life, after all, that is life.  We all must deal with the chaotic power of luck and if we all love baseball because of its relationship to our lives, then why would we want to destroy that aspect?  Even if you disagree with this philosophy, you can still see how far instant replay could go; maybe one day we can replay every single pitch of every at bat.  Wouldn’t that be nice?

Does the Concept of a "Wildcard" even Allow for Two?

            It seems that the close races for the wildcard in both the American league and National league last season got the MLB a little excited.  They are now considering (if not already decided upon) establishing this extra postseason game as a standard part of the season.  How can I begin to express my disdain for this move?

            Let’s start with a look at what the wildcard is.  There are three divisions in both leagues of baseball; from each division we have one division champion.  But that means one of those teams has no one to face off against.  The wildcard was created as a way to give that unmatched team someone to play.  The wildcard is not a winner, but rather a lucky sonofabitch. 

            If we are to create this new pre-post-season, it changes the meaning of the entire postseason.  It’s no longer the best teams as the sole winners, but now there are runner-ups who can still win it all.  Granted, this is what the wildcard has always been, but this new rule would change the meaning of the wildcard.  Instead of the best team from each division and the lucky runner up, we will have the two closest runner ups duking it out for the last spot.  It eliminates that natural element of luck from the game.  If you cannot win in your division, you do not belong in the post-season; consider yourself lucky for getting the wildcard, let’s not make an official game to crown someone the “wildcard champ.”

            This element of luck I mention is what makes baseball so American.  It’s the fact that one ump is always going to call a game entirely different than another.  A pitcher can throw the exact same game and have it go in two entirely different directions.  It’s the fact that we keep the use of instant replay (which I hate in baseball) to a minimum.  Baseball isn’t football where we need to endlessly repeat footage of plays in order to make sure we made the perfect call.  Hell no, baseball is America. You can be stuck in a tough division and even if you’re a pretty good team, you just don’t make it.  It’s the myth behind the game; it’s the chaos and the odd little inconsistencies that keep us from worrying too much about whether a ball was foul.  We can always complain about an umpire’s call blowing the game; it’s never entirely our team’s fault and this translates to the race for the wildcard as well.   

            By establishing this extra game at the end of the season, I feel the MLB is merely trying to generate more interest in the sport.  I’m being generous with that statement- this move is not for the benefit of the game, but rather driven by some corporate individual figuring out this will ultimately make the MLB more money.  Hell, let’s just go the way of the NBA and let everyone into the playoffs.  That way every team could be a wildcard; it’s the same thing, eventually there would be just one champion.  The NBA playoffs are boring because of the way in which they are set up.  The same thing could happen with baseball.  Right now the system works and there is nothing wrong with it (we fixed it back in ’94 when it clearly wasn’t working).  Let’s not start down this path; let’s keep the very best teams in the postseason- not just keep the worst out.  

The Tale of Two Pitchers

That time of year has come – pitchers and catchers have reported to spring training to lose that extra weight that only those stationary players can put on.  In honor of their lackluster 2011 post-season performance, let’s focus in on the Yankees and some of the moves they have made during the off-season.  First, there must be praise to whomever you please for the successful unloading of the one and only pie-master, AJ Burnett.  We won’t miss you buddy.  In exchange for this once promising starter we received two low level prospects- and only have to pay eighteen million dollars of the thirty one million remaining on his contract.  It’s fun having money; have fun with Burnett, Pirates.  Our other big move this winter was the acquirement of Michael Pineda, the behemoth of a righty, formerly of the Seattle Mariners.  We unloaded our top prospect, Jesus Montero, the offensive powerhouse catcher, for the much needed young starter.  Though unfortunate, we have decent enough catchers and power to spare (when our team feels like hitting), so I cannot help but be happy with this trade.  As my dad likes to quote someone whose name escapes me, “pitching is 90% of baseball, and the other ten percent?  Pitching.”

            While I mostly agree with my Dad, Money Ball would beg to differ; and ironically, this is summed up perfectly when you look at Pineda’s stats last season.  This guy rocked.  Batters hit only .211 against him, he had a 3.7 era, and a 1.10 WHIP.  And that was his rookie season.  Here’s the kicker: Pineda had a losing record.  Thanks to one of the most awful offenses in the history of baseball, Pineda finished 9 and 10.  So, is pitching really 100% of baseball?  Guess not quite.

            But this bodes well for the Yankees; we have had the hitting for the past few seasons, but our pitching has been a mess.  We have the OBP we need, more than enough, and now we have the pitching to aid it.  This season we can look forward to not having to strictly overpower teams with our bats (consider our victories in the post season, both games we scored ten runs).  As the pitching staff begins to loosen up, we are constantly coming closer to the 2012 regular season.  Not too much left to say.  Twenty eight, anyone?

-I'd also like to add that Sebathia shed fifteen pounds off his three-hundred-something frame this winter; don't take that first comment too seriously pitchers and catchers.