Cup of Coffee

December 1, 2023: Theater

29 Comments

A local grocery chain has taken to hiring security guards in very black clothing and posting them at the door. Far as I can tell their main duty is checking their phones.

29 thoughts on “December 1, 2023: Theater”

  1. Estrellas did not play yesterday.

    Caribes had a double header with Zulia. In the first game, a six-run first carried Caribes to an 11-1 victory. Williams Astudillo was 2-for-5. Tomas Telis was 3-for-4 with a triple. Victor Reyes was 2-for-3 with a double. Balbino Fuenmayor and Edgardo Fermin were also 2-for-3. Kevin Vicuna was 2-for-4 with a triple. Niuman Romero was also 2-for-4. David Richardson (1-1) struck out seven in five innings, giving up one run on four hits and four walks, to get the win.

    Caribes dropped the nightcap, losing to Zulia 9-3. It was 4-3 through five, but a five-run sixth put it out of reach. Willians Astudillo was 2-for-3. Jose Azocar was 2-for-4. Omar Alfonzo hit a home run. Harold Arauz (0-2) took the loss, allowing four runs on four hits and a walk and striking out one in 3.2 innings.

    1. Apparently I’ve forgotten how to share X posts, but per Gleeman, Provus is taking over for Bremer and Atteberry will become main radio PBP.

      1. I prefer Atteberry in smaller doses, so not sure how much I'll be switching the audio channel to the radio feed. However it will nice to hear Cory with the younger voices they've been bringing in lately.

        1. My hope is that maybe Atteberry will relax more when he's in the big chair. He always seemed like he was trying too hard when he had limited opportunities. But Rhu_Ru is right--I listen to a lot of teams' announcers, and there are far worse options.

          2. There might be worse options, but that doesn't mean we should abide this bad option. Atteberry is awful, and when he's with former players his is beyond awful. You will never have any idea what is actually happening in a game. Ever. It will be 3 hours (even though the game is 2:30) of him asking former players inane questions about a hotel they stayed at when visiting Texas in the early 90's, and then he'll name drop that the reason for the question is because some other washed up player once told him something about that hotel.

    1. I wish the Twins had something like that Wolves howl DPWY has been flashing! Maybe just a TWINS BASEBALL!!!!! will suffice.

    1. Came back to the basement to make sure this post was shared. Just a great all around article!

      1. Evening sports anchors here in StL are constantly talking up "future HOF no-doubter" Yadi, but unless Joe goes in, I don't see it, particularly the "no-doubt" part

          1. Maybe, but in that case, why not Posada? I think the issue with HOF voters is less the rings and more the lack of counting statistics at a position where you typically only play ~130 games a year for 10 years or so.

            For instance, you make a case for Dave Winfield by chanting 3,000 hits over and over and over again, but no catcher has 3,000 hits, and only one catcher has 400 HR. There are 17 right fielders with more RBI than any catcher, ever.

            So we wind up with catcher being way underrepresented. So underrepresented that you have me perversely arguing that two Yankees at the position have been snubbed.

        2. Forget Yadi, if Mauer doesn't make it, then I don't even know if you can justify Posey.

          The low-IQ voters (which is not all of them) can't deal with positions where it's hard to reach the big, round numbers like 500 HR or whatever. There are only 16 catchers in the Hall, but 28 RF, 21 LF, and 24 1B. 3B is another position where they can't bring themselves to care about defensive contributions and only have 16 HOFers at that position.

          Hell, there are 20 2B in the HOF and we pretty much agree that second basemen are middle infielders who aren't good enough to be shortstops.

          Looking at other catchers that seemingly got hosed, first I come to Thurman Monson. 7x All-Star, 3x GG, plus he won an MVP award in '76. Short career because, surprise, surprise, playing catcher chews up your body. I really wonder what the arguments against him were, other than not hitting big career totals in counting stats. I guess because he was contemporaries with Fisk and Bench?

          Gene Tenace is interesting. 13th-best JAWS all-time, but very, very low on Black Ink and Gray Ink -- just 1 All-Star appearance, no GG, no top-10 MVP finishes. He had a better WAR than at least one of the catcher All-Stars in '73 (Fisk, Freehan), '74 (Sundberg, Porter, Herrmann, and Fisk), '76 (Wynegar), '77 (Stearns), '78 (Bench, Pocoroba), and maybe more years -- I only have patience to check for '73 to '78. So arguably, he should have been an All-Star for 6+ seasons. I suppose, like Munson, he just had the misfortune of playing at the same time as Fisk, Bench, and Munson (and Simmons, to a degree), and they took awards/praise off of one another.

          And Bill Freehan? 11-time AS, 5-time GG winner, finished top-3 in MVP voting twice. Seems like he'd be easy enough to argue for induction.

          Jorge Posada arguably had a better career than Yadi, and I wouldn't necessarily fight a case against either of them.

          Catchers. So underrated.

          2. Tenace was not noted for his defense, to put it mildly. But he was an on-base machine. Led the league twice in BBs. Who does that as a catcher?

            (Tbf, he had more games at 1b than C in 1974 when he did it with Oak).

  6. Random, but I still remember this. The TV broadcast was coming back from break a few years back. I can't recall if there were a few words before it or not, but Dick didn't know the mics were on and was telling someone, "You know, tomorrow isn't promised to any of us, [Guy's Name]". And there was what seemed to be a hint of menace in his voice. Like, there was a bit of threat behind it. Sorry, completely random, but that's never left my memory for some reason.

  8. Ubes's righteous rant about catchers (not) in the HOF resulted in me thinking about 3bs, and Sal Bando in particular. But also Graig Nettles. Two outstanding defensive 3bs.

    Bando had some very, very good offensive years and was the captain of those great A's clubs of the early/mid 1970s. He and Bert Campaneris anchored that infield. Had the misfortune of playing his best years when Brooks Robinson was still a star. (And the rule in those days was that every team had to have at least one All Star representative. So Dave Chalk, career rWAR of 8.5, made the team in 1974 and 1975).

    Nettles was Bando's contemporary, although he had a much longer career (albeit not great years the last 5 or so). Much better offensively than I had remembered.

    1. Standing up for HOF 3Bs is also righteous. Beltre will be a deserving inductee, but the current bar for a HOF 3B is unreasonably high.

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