Category Archives: ALDLAND

The Ghost of Grantland Past

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grantland

ESPN reports:

Effective immediately we are suspending the publication of Grantland.  After careful consideration, we have decided to direct our time and energy going forward to projects that we believe will have a broader and more significant impact across our enterprise.

Grantland distinguished itself with quality writing, smart ideas, original thinking and fun.  We are grateful to those who made it so.  Bill Simmons was passionately committed to the site and proved to be an outstanding editor with a real eye for talent.  Thanks to all the other writers, editors and staff who worked very hard to create content with an identifiable sensibility and consistent intelligence and quality. We also extend our thanks to Chris Connelly who stepped in to help us maintain the site these past five months as he returns to his prior role.

Despite this change, the legacy of smart long-form sports story-telling and innovative short form video content will continue, finding a home on many of our other ESPN platforms.

Certainly not the Halloween surprise anyone who has enjoyed the talented collection of writing, podcasting, and video production that site has produced since it launched in 2011 wanted to see.

Johnny Cueto vs. Daniel Murphy: World Series, Game 2

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Last night, Johnny Cueto returned to the confident, successful form the Kansas City Royals expected when they traded for him earlier this season, allowing just one run and two hits (both soft singles by Lucas Duda) in the course of completing a 122-pitch complete game victory.

Early on, home-plate umpire Mark Carlson seemed to be calling a fairly large strike zone, which appeared to tighten as the game progressed. No Mets hitter looked to be more frustrated by Carlson’s calls than the suddenly homer-starved Daniel Murphy, who struck out twice and walked twice, failing to register a hit (or put the ball in play) for the first time this postseason.

What follows is a quick look at each of Murphy’s four plate appearances last night, with the goal of determining whether he or Cueto received any benefit from Carlson’s as-called strike zone.   Continue reading →

MLB fan safety lawsuit update

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The latest on Payne v. MLB, about which I previously wrote, is the subject of my most recent post at TechGraphs. The league has moved to dismiss the lawsuit, which seeks increased safety netting at ballparks. Separately, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has made public comments on the subject that suggest that changes may be coming next season.

The full post is available here.

Injury Report Jam

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It was a tough week on the health front for a couple folks we keep track of here at ALDLAND. First, Phil Lesh, best known as the bass player for the Grateful Dead, announced that he has bladder cancer. Lesh previously was forced to undergo a liver transplant due to a hepatitis C infection, so word of a new, serious condition was worrisome. The good news is that Phil’s cancer is “non aggressive,” and it sounds like he plans to make a full recovery soon.

Three days later, new Detroit Tigers pitcher Daniel Norris revealed that he’d been battling thyroid cancer this season. Norris’ cancer is malignant, and he will be undergoing treatment in the offseason.

For this week’s Jam, here’s Phil doing his warbly best with the Grateful Dead, twenty years ago in Memphis:

The Baseball 88

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Today, Banished to the Pen hosted a remembrance of the 1988 baseball season, to which I contributed a review of the movie Bull Durham, which was released that year. The ’88 season was a big one for baseball: lights at Wrigley Field, Kirk Gibson’s famous World Series home run, and Jose Canseco becoming the first player ever to hit forty homers and steal forty bases in the same season.

The full post is available here.

Yogi Berra, by the numbers

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The most famous Yankee catcher, a veteran of twenty-one World Series and one World War, died yesterday at the age of ninety. It’s a testament to the power of Yogi Berra’s personality, which remains his strongest legacy, that it casts a shadow longer than the remarkable numbers that attempt to illustrate his baseball achievements. What follows is a sampling of those numbers:

If you’re not going to know nothing about baseball, these are some pretty good things to know. Now get on to Yogi’s funeral, or else he won’t come to yours.