Today's links could have been all about Tim McClelland, except he seems like a nice enough fellow so I'll cut him some slack ... after I'm finished ripping him!
My biggest problem with The Worst Call of All Time isn't that McClelland blew it. Even the best umpires miss one occasionally, and McClelland was up-front about everything after the game. My problem is that nobody corrected him. OK, so maybe McClelland was screened by Jorge Posada and couldn't see Mike Napoli tagging Robinson Cano. What about plate umpire Jerry Layne? What about left-field umpire Laz Diaz? Nobody saw it ... except everyone else watching? Major League Baseball should use that play in their training program ... Oh, except they don't really have training program. Now everything's starting to make a bit more sense ...
In fairness, Layne's having a great series. After correctly ruling in Game 2 that Erick Aybar didn't touch second base, he got a couple of close plays at the plate exactly right in Game 4. Good for him.
Remember those stories last summer about the Mets' owners supposedly losing so much money with Bernie Madoff that they might have to sell the franchise? Umm, no.
So, anyway, these guys have come up with a computer program that writes game stories ... and I have to admit that it seems to work reasonably well. Granted, it's not exactly High Art ... but then, have you read many game stories lately? Especially the sort that are churned out quickly on a tight deadline? I certainly wouldn't suggest that beat writers should be discarded; enough of them have met that sad fate already. But they might wind up being freed by automation to work on more substantive stories.
This is the sort of job I like to think I would have, if I'd studied harder in school, or been graded more fairly.
Boy, five years later and Curt Schilling is still trying to convince people that that was real blood? The nerve of some guys ...
Good news for the Diamondbacks, as they're going to save a few million bucks on Mark Reynolds' salary next year. The Giants weren't nearly as lucky (or smart) with Tim Lincecum, though, which is going to cost them many millions.
wezen-ball goes to a great deal of trouble to conclude the same thing I did (after nary a thought) last week, when a radio host asked me about Tony La Russa: there's really nothing particularly notable about La Russa's postseason failures. Plenty of (supposedly) great managers have had troubles in October.
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ABOUT THIS BLOG
Rob Neyer
Neyer is a senior writer at ESPN.com. He began his career with legendary baseball author (and now Red Sox executive) Bill James, then joined Stats Inc. and wrote about MLB, the NFL and the NBA. Neyer joined ESPN.com in 1996, and it's believed that he's written more words for the site than anybody.
Neyer moved to Kansas City in 1976, just in time for the Royals' first division title, and fell in love almost immediately. He attended the University of Kansas the same four years as Danny Manning, and is now happy to wait another 20 years for the Jayhawks' next championship.