our infielders

watching saturday's game, from vilnius,...i saw four of our five infielders mess up on defense in the first inning, to put us in a two-run hole, right off the bat -- two guys misplayed the first pitch of the game

as for the other infielder,...i couldn't believe what i saw him do -- in the bottom half of the inning, he actually ran out an infield grounder -- and to the pitcher, at that -- i wondered if something had happened to him -- or maybe it's me, for noticing too much, when he doesn't

the miracle season

okay -- here's what's going to happen

the indians won't lose another game, for the rest of the season

then they're going to get swept in the first round of the playoffs

but then there's a great outcry from all over the world -- because during their three-month winning streak, they'd become the darlings of baseball -- of the whole country,...and beyond -- making cleveland the cinderella city -- it was like in the movie 'a field of dreams' -- people came from all over the world, to witness this...miracle -- so, a great uproar...descended on major league baseball, from sports fans, from all over the world -- this miracle cannot end like this -- it was a tsunami,...beyond the capacity of any force to resist

so baseball decided to let the indians play the loser of the other series -- they did, and they won the rest of the games, and became champions

they made a federal case of it -- all the losers -- protested to major league baseball -- then to the legal courts -- the case went all the way up to the supreme court -- the conservatives on the court decided that the rules could not be changed, in the middle of the game -- the liberals said it isn't fair -- it isn't fair that there's only one champion -- everybody should be a champion -- all should get a trophy

but as the court was divided, 4-4, it was a hung jury -- indians win

first sign of spring: tito, talking baseball

terry francona -- interviewed, today, on cleveland's 92.3 the fan

'in a year that has been sooo improbable,...the impossible has happened'

nobody like vinnie -- in a class by himself

i was directed to this video, in an e-mail list, in which the quiz question was...how many seconds does vinnie stay quiet, after gibbie's homer

and look at all those old-timers -- and former indians, too -- davey,...in his usual spot -- hassey, behind the plate -- i didn't know that -- and joe garagiola keeps putting his name, first -- scioscia,...in the dugout, next to orel -- another manager-to-be,...in the oakland dugout -- don baylor -- i think that's steve henderson, in the home-plate celebration -- and, for sure, that's bill buckner, there, too

and, oh my god -- i forgot eck

tito: gotta love this guy

baseball, a la bourn

very nice interview with indians centerfielder michael bourn, on the basics of baseball -- the long haul -- the grind

vinnie's indians stories

from tonight's broadcast -- actually,...just from the first three innings

vin scully went over the various names the cleveland baseball team has been called -- spiders, blues, forest cities, then, finally, in 1901, they were a charter member of the new american league, and they were called the indians, and they've been called that, ever since

hey, wait a minute, i said -- what about the naps

then he added, there was another name -- it was a sarcastic name -- there was a great second baseman, named napoleon lajoie -- he was player-manager for the team -- well, people started calling 'em the naps, because they 'folded' -- like a napkin

the next inning, he continued -- speaking of that sarcastic name, one of my favorite lines is from frank robinson, who said that a pennant-fever in cleveland usually turns out to be a forty-eight-hour virus

the season after the indians won their last championship, they were eliminated -- bill veeck wasn't going to take that, lying down -- so he organized a funeral ceremony -- they played the funeral dirge -- he called out all the players, coaches, fans -- they went out to the flag-pole and brought down the championship flag -- they folded it, put it into a casket -- pine, i think -- they brought out a hearse -- put the casket in the hearse -- veeck rode atop the hearse, like he was leading a funeral procession,...with everybody following the hearse -- they went out to center-field -- it was a big center-field -- maybe this was beyond the fence -- and they buried the flag

then there's one of my favorite indians stories -- the best baseball player i've ever seen...played with the indians -- his name was jackie price -- he only played in seven games

i saw him in 1946 -- in yankee stadium -- i think it was bob feller against...i forgot the name of the yankees pitcher -- a pretty famous one

jackie price would stand on his head and play catch

then they brought out this rig -- and jackie price was hung, upside down, from the rig -- his head was three feet above home plate -- they gave him a bat -- and then they threw pitches to him -- he hit ropes, all over the place

he went out to the mound -- he had two balls, and he threw them both -- one pitch was a fastball; the other, a curve

then they brought out a jeep -- jackie price drove the jeep in the outfield -- a guy working with him...hit balls from home plate -- jackie patrolled the outfield, in the jeep -- he would drive around, and catch the ball -- with one hand on the steering wheel, driving the jeep, and, with the other hand, he caught the ball

i'm not making this up -- i swear to you

he continued, the next inning -- one more thing about jackie price, and then i'll shut up

jackie price never wore a belt -- instead, he wore a snake

one time on the train with the indians, he let the snake loose -- they asked who did it -- price said, boudreau

too bad i couldn't hear vinnie, when the indians pulled off a...7-2-4 triple-play in the fourth -- with two replay challenges -- maybe, after the cleveland broadcast

cardinals baseball: a legacy of greatness

at the mechanic's shop the other day, i picked up a new sports illustrated, with the cover story on the st. louis cardinals organization, including old friend jake westbrook (at the end of the row...of their rotation)

the picture on the right...is on the contents page -- a cover from 1968...of that year's cardinals

the surprising thing for me, is the hair on roger maris (the first guy) -- i thought he lost it all, chasing the babe

i only got to read...the first...paragraph or two, but...here's the punch line

“Their 11 championships have been well distributed. No son or daughter of St Louis born since 1902 has reached the age of 25 without having lived through at least one victory parade.”

i'm moving