Now I Know How Molly Ringwald Felt

Does anyone know what Sunday was? Anyone? Bueller?

Okay, I'll tell you. It was the third anniversary of the day I started One More Dying Quail. Don't feel bad - even I forgot about it until about ten minutes ago.

Hard to believe it's been three years already. Things have slowed down a lot in that time - last month was a record low for me, with one lonely post - as my writing energy has shifted elsewhere, but I still consider this my "home base", the place I can use when I need to post my thoughts about Roger Federer or Kendra Wilkinson.

Anyway, no big link posts this year (I'm not sure I had the content over the past year to support one). Just go read the new stuff at Bus Leagues so I can get rich and retire.

5-7, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 16-14

I don't get to watch much television these days. Over the past few months, since my son learned how to operate the DVD player and ask for movies, my viewing has been limited to things like Shrek, Madagascar, Cars, Meet the Robinsons...you get the point.

Somehow, though, I wrested control of the remote from the little one on Sunday morning. My wife reminded me about the Wimbledon final (via a friend's Facebook status that mentioned how great the battle was between Federer and Roddick) and I turned the channel to NBC in the fifth set with the score 10-9 in favor of Federer.

It's amazing how much Federer's entire demeanor changes when Rafael Nadal is out of the picture. At both the French Open and Wimbledon, he had the appearance of a man who knew that he was, by a longshot, the best player in the building. When Nadal is the opponent, or looming further on down the draw, Federer looks nervous, his concentration starts to crack, he begins to show emotion. He becomes...human.

Without Nadal's presence to weigh him down, Federer's win was almost a foregone conclusion. Somehow, from the time I turned the television on, I knew he was going to beat Roddick. It was the same feeling he used to conjure up in the past, the same feeling he still conjures up whenever he plays anyone except Rafael Nadal. There was just a sense that he was playing his game, looking for Roddick to make a mistake, and willing to wait as long as possible for that to happen.

Eventually, of course, it did; Federer broke Roddick's serve and held his own, which was all he needed to take home his sixth Wimbledon title in seven years. (A thought about last year's final: if memory serves, the match was delayed at least twice by rain, allowing Nadal the opportunity to briefly rest his damaged knees. What if the retractable roof, new to this year's tournament, was in place last year? Might Federer have physically outlasted Nadal for the title, and might his streak now be at seven?)

One thing I will say about Roddick: his spirit and attitude were remarkable. While Federer has always exuded an air of calm during his matches, not matter the circumstances (again, except when he faces Nadal), Roddick has never seemed able to find a consistent oncourt style. My previous most prominent memory of him was from a Grand Slam final a few years ago, maybe the 2006 U.S. Open, against Federer. Every time he won a point, Roddick stormed around the court, ranting and raving and shouting like a madman. It seemed a calculated attempt to draw the home crowd into it and perhaps throw Federer off his game (I read later that Jimmy Connors, who I think was coaching Roddick at the time, used to do the same thing during his playing days), but all it did was waste precious energy. When playing Federer, I think, you need to conserve every possible ounce of energy and use it on the court.

On Sunday, however, Roddick just went about his business. Most players would have folded far earlier, but he held on for as long as possible, even coming close to breaking Federer's serve late in the fifth set. And after the match, while clearly upset with the loss, he was gracious in defeat. My favorite moment came when Federer said in the post-match interview that he knew what Roddick was feeling because he had lost in a similar manner last year. From halfway across the court, Roddick yelled back, "Yeah, but you had already won it five times!"

Bottom line, I'm glad I got the chance to catch the end of this classic match. I even recorded the ending (only the last game, but still) and can transfer it to VHS if I want, which is more than I can say for last year's epic. That match went away when we moved and had to get a different DVR unit (although I think you can buy it from Wimbledon.org for $19.99 or something).

Conversations With My Wife

Me: Kendra Wilkinson is pregnant.

Her: Yeah.

Me: She's engaged to a football player.

Her: Yeah. If it's a girl, they're gonna name her Kaylee, because it's the first letter of her first name and her middle name. And if it's a boy, they're gonna name it Hank Baskett IV.

[pause]

Her: One step ahead of ya, babe.

Down Goes Nadal! Down Goes Nadal!

Wow.

Rafael Nadal, for the first time EVER, has lost a match at the French Open. The Legend Killer? Robin Soderling of Sweden, a 24-year-old righthander with a 177-128 career record who is ranked 25th in the world.

This is good news and bad news for Roger Federer. On one hand, he has to figure his path is now clear to win the French Open and complete that elusive career Grand Slam, thus cementing his status as the Greatest Of All Time in the eyes of many observers. On the other hand, if he does win, he won't have to go through Nadal to do it. Sometimes, you have to break rough stretches by going through your biggest rival in order for it to feel right (like the Red Sox really NEEDED to beat the Yankees in the ALCS before winning the World Series; it wouldn't have been the same if they broke through against any other team).

Either way, Federer isn't the story. Nadal is.

Wow.

Who Called Randy Johnson's Pitches In 1993?

I literally have about a dozen different things that I want to write about right now, including three that have been sitting in open tabs on my browser as reminders since Saturday. Right now, however, I figured I'd address a story that caught my eye earlier today, and attempt a little detective work to get to the bottom of things.

Every week for the last seventeen years, I have received a copy of Sports Illustrated in the mail. As it has become easier to access information online, however, my reading habits have changed. Where once I used to get the magazine a Thursday afternoon and read it by Thursday night, making sure to save Rick Reilly's column for last, I now get it on Thursday afternoon and read it...whenever I get to it, really. The reason is simple: most of what I actually read, the letters and feature stories, isn't extraordinarily time-sensitive, so I can leave it until I have a few minutes. Today, for example, I misplaced the book I had been reading, Stephen King's newest collection of short stories, so I grabbed SI.

The first thing I came to worth reading, besides the letters and a short obituary for Wayman Tisdale, was a story about Randy Johnson and his road to three hundred wins. I like baseball and have recently had conversations about The Big Unit with a couple friends, so I read it.

Near the beginning, Dave Valle told a story that I guess was supposed to highlight Johnson's dominance in the early 1990s. It went like this:

So dominant was Johnson that before a game in 1993, the home plate umpire told Mariners catcher Dave Valle, "They don't even need you with Randy pitching."

"What are you talking about?" replied Valle, who would not name the ump.

"He's so good they don't need you. Let me call the pitches tonight."

"I let him call every pitch," recalls Valle, to whom the umpire whispered pitches under his breath.

An overpowering Johnson went the distance in a Mariners victory.

Before deciding to post, I did a Google search for "Randy Johnson, umpire." Two results came up regarding this story - one from a blog that basically said, "This story HAS to be made up...right?" and another that did some of the same leg work I had also done, and will talk about in a minute. The point is, this is a pretty big deal. This is an umpire, the guy who is supposed to be an impartial arbiter, directly injecting himself into the events on the field.

This, in my opinion, is a much bigger deal than Alex Rodriguez tipping pitches to opposing middle infielders. Pitch tipping has gone on forever in baseball - I just read Peter Golenbeck's history of the Red Sox. At one point, he wrote about how when Jimmie Foxx, a well-liked player around the league was chasing Ruth's homerun record in the 1930s, pitchers would give him easy pitches to hit, trying to help him out. I'm almost positive I've never heard of an umpire trying to do something like this before (although there's this nagging feeling in the back of my head that I once read something similar. If anyone can help me out, please do so).

So I decided that this story deserved some attention. To Baseball-Reference!

1. The game was a complete game victory for Johnson.

Randy Johnson pitched ten complete games in 1993, winning seven of them. The dates and umpires for those games are as follows:

April 21 – Jim McKean
April 26 – Tim Welke
May 16 – Dale Scott
August 20 – Ken Kaiser
September 5 – Joe Brinkman
September 21 – Ed Hickox
October 1 – Drew Coble

2. The umpire said, "Let me call the pitches tonight."

It's a pretty common thing for people in baseball to refer to every game as "tonight." It's one of those little mind-melting things that comes from playing 162 games and traveling all over the country in a six month period. For the sake of the argument, however, I'm going to assume that the umpire was actually referring to a night game. If that's the case, we lose two day games and the list looks like this:

April 21 – Jim McKean
April 26 – Tim Welke
August 20 – Ken Kaiser
September 21 – Ed Hickox
October 1 – Drew Coble

3. Valle refused to name the umpire.

Most likely, Valle didn't want to name names because he realized this could become a complicated story and he didn't want to make life any more difficult than necessary for the umpire in question. Another possibility is that he didn't want to name names because the umpire in the story is still active and might be subject to some sort of censure by Major League Baseball (well, assuming MLB was willing to punish people for past sins).

There's a good chance that Valle was protecting the reputation of someone like Ken Kaiser or Drew Coble, respected umpires who would only be hurt by having their names mentioned in connection with a story of questionable ethics. I'm more inclined to believe that it's the latter, that the umpire is still active, which leaves the list looking like this:

April 26 - Tim Welke
September 21 - Ed Hickox

This is all pure speculation on my part, of course, and relies on Valle's story being truthful from the start. I hope he's exaggerating quite a bit. But if Major League Baseball cares at all about integrity, it should look into this some more and address it, even if only internally.

Conversations With My Parents

In the past, I've mentioned that my father is generally a quiet man. What I might not have made clear is that he has a terrific, albeit dry, sense of humor. Saturday night, when we visited my parents after my nephew's tenth birthday party, the following exchange took place:

My mother (talking to me): Do you realize that this year, I'll be twice as old as you?

Me: Well, yeah, it makes sense. You were thirty when I was born, and I'm thirty this year, so you'll be twice as old. It's like when Anna (my younger sister) turns 35, you'll be 70.

My father (talking to no one in particular): Holy shit.

I wish I could do a better job of explaining how perfect the timing was. No sooner was the word "seventy" out of my mouth than he responded. It's actually even funnier than you'd first think because he's almost four year older than she is. By the time she hits seventy, he'll be well on his way to - gasp! - eighty. And when my father turns eighty, I'll be...46.

Holy shit.

2009 Baseball Ejections: Wild Wild West

Nearly two years ago, I compiled a list of players, managers, and coaches who had been ejected from Major League Baseball games in 2007. It was a time-consuming process that I always assumed could be done more easily than the method I used, which involved me sitting in front of the computer, clicking on each individual box score and scrolling down to the bottom to see if anyone had been tossed. Because of the amount of time involved and the fact that last summer was, on a scale of 1-10, a 1.3 for me personally, I decided not to put another list together.

Lately, though, I got an itch. Maybe it was the Eddie Guardado ejection on April 30, when Easy Eddie was brought into the game with the bases loaded, promptly walked the first batter he faced on four pitches, was removed from the game, THEN ejected by the home plate umpire. Or maybe it was April 12, when Joe West went on a rampage, tossing three Los Angeles Angels who had the temerity to express displeasure that Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett appeared to have thrown intentionally at Bobby Abreu's head (manager Mike Scioscia joined them the next inning when he was given the heave-ho by Ed Rapuono; ironically, Beckett was the one who was later suspended for his actions).

Actually, I don't remember when I decided to put this list together again, but I remember when I knew it was a good idea: on May 16, when Angels pitcher John Lackey (angry start for the Halos, with seven ejections already) was thrown out for hitting Ian Kinsler in the ribs. The catch, of course, was that even though Kinsler had hit two homeruns the night before and was leading off the game, it was Lackey's first game of the season after spending six weeks on the disabled list. He threw two pitches. The ump who ran him was not, unfortunately, Joe West.

The current list of 2009 ejections is below. Please feel free to email or comment with any that I have missed or misidentified. And, if you stumbled upon this and find the subject reasonably interesting, you owe it to yourself to check out The Left Field Corner, home of the MLB Umpire Ejection Fantasy League. My stuff is basically found in list form - over there, they give a lot of information, with links and graphs and all sorts of cool stuff. It's pretty awesome.

(Oh, and at some point, the plan is to go back through previous years and take down that information as well. I know places like Elias and SABR keep lists of these things, but I've never been able to find them online. If they are, and my life's work is now worthless, feel free to break the bad news, gently.)

(complete through May 20, 2009)

Japan (World Baseball Classic)
March 17 – Kenji Johjima, catcher
Top 7th by home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt

Baltimore Orioles (2)
April 28 – Dave Trembly, manager
Top 7th by home plate umpire Angel Hernandez for arguing a balk call

May 3 – Dave Trembly, manager (2)
Bottom 5th by home plate umpire Chris Tiller for arguing balls and strikes

Boston Red Sox (1)
May 14 – Terry Francona, manager
Top 10th by home plate umpire Bill Miller for arguing balls and strikes

Chicago Cubs (1)
April 16 – Milton Bradley, pinch hitter
Bottom 6th by home plate umpire Larry Vanover for arguing balls and strikes

Chicago White Sox (2)
May 13 – Jermaine Dye, right field
Top 6th by home plate umpire Mike DiMuro for arguing balls and strikes

May 13 – Ozzie Guillen, manager
Top 6th by home plate umpire Mike DiMuro for arguing balls and strikes

Cincinnati Reds (2)
April 25 – Dusty Baker, manager
Bottom 4th by home plate umpire Mike Estabrook for arguing balls and strikes

April 25 – Jerry Hairston, Jr., center field
Bottom 4th by home plate umpire Mike Estabrook for arguing balls and strikes

Cleveland Indians (2)
April 27 – Eric Wedge, manager
Top 4th by home plate umpire CB Bucknor for arguing a foul ball call

May 15 – Eric Wedge, manager (2)
Top 3rd by home plate umpire Greg Gibson for arguing a play at the plate

Colorado Rockies (1)
April 13 – Clint Hurdle, manager
Mid 5th by first base umpire Tim McClelland for arguing a balk call

Detroit Tigers (1)
May 13 – Jim Leyland, manager
Top 7th by home plate umpire Paul Schrieber for arguing after Schrieber made physical contact with Detroit’s Magglio Ordonez

Florida Marlins (4)
May 15 – Fredi Gonzalez, manager
Bottom 8th by first base umpire Ed Rapuono for arguing a hit batsman call

May 15 – Dan Uggla, second base
Bottom 8th by home plate umpire Joe West for arguing balls and strikes

May 15 – Emilio Bonifacio, second base
Bottom 9th by first base umpire Ed Rapuono for arguing a call at first base

May 20 – Jeremy Hermida, left field
Bottom 10th by home plate umpire Todd Tichenor for arguing balls and strikes

Houston Astros (2)
April 25 – Ivan Rodriguez, catcher
Top 8th by home plate umpire Mike Dimuro for arguing balls and strikes

April 25 – Cecil Cooper, manager
Top 8th by home plate umpire Mike Dimuro for arguing balls and strikes

Los Angeles Angeles of Anaheim (7)
April 12 – Mickey Hatcher, hitting coach
Bottom 1st by second base umpire Joe West for arguing after Boston pitcher Josh Beckett threw at Bobby Abreu

April 12 – Torii Hunter, center field
Bottom 1st by second base umpire Joe West for arguing after Boston pitcher Josh Beckett threw at Bobby Abreu

April 12 – Justin Speier, pitcher
Bottom 1st by second base umpire Joe West for arguing after Boston pitcher Josh Beckett threw at Bobby Abreu

April 12 – Mike Scioscia, manager
Top 2nd by third base umpire Ed Rapuano for continuing to argue the previous ejections

April 21 – Mike Scioscia, manager (2)
Bottom 6th by home plate umpire Tim Timmons for arguing balls and strikes

May 6 – Mike Scioscia, manager (3)
Top 8th by home plate umpire Bill Hohn for arguing a warning

May 16 – John Lackey, pitcher
Bottom 1st by home plate umpire Bob Davidson for hitting a batter (It was Lackey’s first start of the season after spending the first six weeks on the disabled list. He threw two pitches: the first went behind Kinsler, the second hit him in the ribs.)

Minnesota Twins (1)
May 14 – Ron Gardenhire, manager
Bottom 7th by home plate umpire Paul Nauert for arguing a hit batsman

New York Mets (2)
May 7 – Jerry Manuel, manager
Top 8th by first base umpire Bill Welke for arguing an obstruction call

May 15 – Jerry Manuel, manager (2)
Top 8th by home plate umpire Doug Eddings for arguing balls and strikes

New York Yankees (3)
May 4 – Joe Girardi, manager
Bottom 5th by home plate umpire Jerry Meals for arguing balls and strikes

May 6 – Nick Swisher, right field
Bottom 7th by home plate umpire James Hoye for arguing balls and strikes

May 15 – Johnny Damon, left field
Bottom 3rd by home plate umpire Wally Bell for arguing balls and strikes

Oakland Athletics (1)
May 9 – Bob Geren, manager
Bottom 7th by home plate umpire Paul Nauert for arguing balls and strikes

Philadelphia Phillies (1)
April 25 – Charlie Manuel, manager
Top 10th by home plate umpire Ed Montague for arguing balls and strikes

San Francisco Giants (2)
May 15 – Bruce Bochy, manager
Bottom 8th by home plate umpire Doug Eddings for arguing balls and strikes

May 20 – Bruce Bochy, manager (2)
Top 8th by first base umpire Gary Cederstrom for arguing a play at first base

Tampa Bay Rays (2)
April 16 – Joe Maddon, manager
Top 6th by home plate umpire Brian Gorman for arguing a foul ball

May 2 – Jim Hickey, pitching coach
Top 7th by home plate umpire John Hirschbeck for arguing balls and strikes

Texas Rangers (2)
April 28 – Chris Davis, first base
Bottom 6th by home plate umpire Eric Cooper for arguing balls and strikes

April 30 – Eddie Guardado, pitcher
Top 7th by home plate umpire Angel Campos (“Before Matt Holliday homered in the ninth, Oakland got runs on two sacrifice flies and a bases-loaded walk issued by Eddie Guardado, who threw four balls to the only batter he faced and was ejected by umpire Angel Campos after he had already been taken out of the game.”)

Washington Nationals (2)
April 17 – Manny Acta, manager
Bottom 4th by home plate umpire Tim Timmons for arguing balls and strikes