Daily Archives: July 27, 2010

Josh Tomlin will make his major league debut tonight by starting for the Indians. Talk about being thrown into the fire. He starts his big league career by facing the defending champs and his new team’s former Cy Young award winning ace, and could end the evening as the answer to a trivia question about a milestone home run.

Tomlin is a 25-year-old righty who was drafted out of Texas Tech in the 19th round of the 2006 draft and has bounced between starting and relieving in his five minor league seasons. He’s a strike-thrower (career 1.9 BB/9 in the minors), but despite good results for Triple-A Columbus this year (8-4, 2.68 ERA), his walks have been up (2.8 BB/9) and his strikeouts have been down (6.7 K/9, which likely translates to a below average strikeout rate in the majors).

I don’t know much more about him other than he and two members of the Double-A Akron Aeros were charged with felonious assault (later reduced to disorderly conduct) for allegedly beating up a bouncer at an Akron bar on June 3.

Outfielder Michael Brantley has been optioned to Columbus to make room for Tomlin on the roster. Juan Miranda will play first base and bat eighth against the righty Tomlin. Mark Teixeira gets a half-day off at DH. Everyone else is in their usual place.

The Piano Lesson, By Henri Matisse (1916)

Nice  job by Mike Lupica remembering Vic Ziegel.

Thanks to my man Greg Prince for the link.

I mean you’re not going to put Charlie Parker in with the Rock n Roll, are you?

Rump-shakin’, mind-bending, smile why don’t ya?

I know, I know, we featured grilled corn a few weeks back. But it’s summer, don’t ya know, and I just can’t wait to have some good corn, man.

The Times has the article; Serious Eats takes the flicks.

Just Don’t Touch My Records…Ever.

I’m a great fan of Barry Levinson’s directorial debut, Diner. Love all the talking, all those actors (how Paul Reiser practically steals the movie in a small role).

Here’s one of my favorite scenes, about a young couple that don’t really understand each other. What I really like about it is that you can appreciate where both the husband and the wife are coming from, how deep the divide is between them. Doesn’t hurt that Daniel Stern and Ellen Barkin are in top form.

Man, I love this movie.

Man, I never knew that Mitch Albom was so unpopular in the press box. I’m not surprised but still… But Mr. Albom took it on the chin last week–from Dave Kindred and Charlie Pierce, Tommy Craggs and even the diplomatic Joe Posnanski. You guys read about this? At the very least it’s an entertaining diversion.