Daily Archives: December 16, 2009

The Yankees Top Ten Prospects according to Baseball America.

From A.O. Scott’s review of the new Jeff Bridges movie:

“Crazy Heart,” written and directed by Scott Cooper, is a small movie perfectly scaled to the big performance at its center. It offers some picturesque views of out-of-the-way parts of the American West, but the dominant feature of its landscape is Bad Blake, a wayward, aging country singer played by Jeff Bridges.

Those last four words should be sufficient recommendation. Some of Mr. Bridges’s peers may have burned more intensely in their prime, but very few American actors over the past 35 years have flickered and smoldered with such craft and resilience. Neither blandly likable nor operatically emotional, this actor has a sly kind of charisma and a casual intelligence. You suspect that he may be smarter than some of the characters he plays — the lounge musician in “The Fabulous Baker Boys,” the deadbeat bowler in “The Big Lebowski,” the egotistical author in “The Door in the Floor,” to take just a few examples — but also that he knows every corner and shadow of each one’s mind.

Well said. This one looks worth checking out.

Marty Appel hipped me to this boss collection of Italian-American baseball cards.

Yogi

Bye Bye Balboni

The Barber

Don Mossi

Dig it.

Johnny Damon wants more than the Yanks are willing to offer…

News at eleven.

Meanwhile, dig this Hideki Matsui appreciation from Sweeny “Eisenhower” Murti:

Matsui’s English was limited. He used a translator (the very able Rogelio “Roger” Kahlon) for all seven of his years as a Yankee. Still, Matsui was comfortable enough to have brief, cordial conversations (“Hi, Hideki…how are you? Fine, Sweeny…how are you?) That’s more than I get from some players who speak perfect English.

And even though it wasn’t always easy to break through the language barrier, Matsui had as fine a sense of humor as anyone. I recall the day in 2004 when I asked his opinion of the rookie-hazing costumes. At that moment, Ruben Sierra walked by both of us wearing one of his typically loud suits complete with fedora, which prompted Matsui to turn to me and ask, “Is he rookie?” As I started to howl with laughter Matsui followed up with, “Every day he’s rookie!”