Say the Pirates lose today, what’s worse the pain Pirates fans will feel or the pain Braves fans feel right now? Or the pain that A’s fans would feel should they lose tomorrow night. The Pirates are the Cinderella team of the 2013 playoffs. But the Braves and A’s keep making the playoffs only to get knocked out before they reach the Whirled Serious.

Last night I IM’d with an A’s fan and he said the Game 4 loss would haunt him for the rest of the winter. Unless, I said, they win Game 5.

He said, “The A’s never win Game 5.”

And what could I say to that? Other than I hope they prove him wrong.

[Photo Credit: Rob Carr/Getty Images]

Couple of Game 4’s today in the ALDS. I say the Tigers force a Game 5 and the Red Sox finish off the Rays.

Hope I’m wrong, of course, on both counts.

Never mind those nerves:

Let’s Go Base-Ball!

[Image Credit: Churchman73; Mike Sudal/WSJ]

There are 23 large iron lamps affixed to the ceiling. The tints of neon light they throw down into the indoor batting cage, a concrete room tucked deep into the guts of Yankee Stadium, vary according to when they were last smashed out by errant balls and replaced. Under these lights, largely out of sight, Bam Bam (or “Sir Bam Bam” – but we’ll get to that later) is at the pinnacle of the game that promised much, disappointed more, and then came through for him after all. Across the street, the much brighter lights under which he and all that he was supposed to be receded and then disappeared have been leveled, along with the rest of the old Yankee Stadium.

From up close, the blunt crack of a Major Leaguer striking a ball with a bat – even on a tee – will startle almost anyone every single time. Not Bam Bam. He doesn’t even flinch anymore. He watches, and then places yet another ball onto the batting tee for his latest charge to smack into the netting that encases them both.

It has been 24 years since he first arrived at Yankee Stadium; 20 since the Yankees pawned their phenom off to Japan. This is his first time back, the culmination of one of the most interesting journeys in baseball, a bridge from the place baseball was to where it seems headed. His family is in town from Curacao on one of the last days of a season long since lost, with another loss a full seven hours away. But Bam Bam, who wore World Series championship rings on both his middle fingers before changing into a pair of San Francisco Giants shorts and a T-shirt, is mending the mechanical defect in the swing of a 27-year-old backup catcher five at-bats – one hit – into his first big-league call-up.

That’s the beginning of Leander Schaerlaeckens’ fine portrait of Hensley “Bam Bam” Meulens. Head on over the SB Nation Longform and dig the rest of it.

The Dodgers are the first team to advance to the championship series. Over at ESPN, Howard Bryant has a long piece on the rebuilding of a once-proud franchise:

For Johnson, being in the ownership circle is new in baseball, but not new personally. Johnson sold both his equity stakes in Starbucks Coffee and in the Lakers at least in part to finance joining Guggenheim’s bid. Internally, Johnson did not want to be patronized, the athlete, especially the African-American athlete, who lends his name to a venture and then has little say in its operation. In one of his first meetings with Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, Johnson convinced the chain to remake its food menu at the Harlem restaurants because while the African-American clientele would purchase coffee like any other consumer, “Black people,” Johnson told Schultz, “don’t eat scones.” It was a small but shrewd example of the different lens Johnson brought to the table.

“I want to show these athletes and entertainers that we can be owners,” Johnson said. “Now, going in with Stan and Mark and Todd has been a great experience, but I want them to respect me, too. And the way you get that respect is to write a check. And not to say they wouldn’t if I didn’t, but the real respect comes from when you’ve got skin in the game. And that’s what it’s been for all my partnerships. Howard Schultz [said] if I didn’t write the check, he wasn’t going to do that deal with Starbucks. Go down the line. [Late Lakers owner] Dr. [Jerry] Buss told me, ‘Hey, I love you like a son, but you have to write a check.’

“When you have to write a $50 million check, you have to say, ‘OK, is the investment going to pay off? Is it the right move? Is it the right decision?’ ” Johnson said. “To me, your name is not enough. And I’ll say it because first of all I think that fans react different. The players act different. The players when they’re alone are saying, ‘What? Magic wrote a check?’ So they understand that, and it’s also different for me because I want to make sure I make it right, make sure it goes the way of our strategy. I want to be part of the strategy. I want to be a part of everything. I’ve never not written a check. I want to be invested in the deal. I want everyone to look at me as a real owner and not just some guy who put his name on it.”

Ray.

Rainy Monday in New York but today gives four playoff games. A’s and the Tigers up first. Then Pirates, Cards. Tonight gives the Rays trying to extend their season and later, the Dodgers try to move on to the NLCS.

Have at it, folks.

Let’s Go Base-ball.

[Photo Credit:  Jared Wickerham/Getty Images North America]

Welcome back! While you’re checking out the post season action, you can still enjoy a challenge or two of your own with the latest round of Where & When. As you know, the object is to determine where and when the picture was taken, drawn, etc. Without further ado, I give you this:

Sometimes they’re hard, sometimes they’re easy. But at least they are engaging. This one should be an easy one for the internet savvy or hardcore New Yawka from back in the day. I know that one of these features was very familiar to me growing up in the Hudson Valley, which is certainly not where this is.

Have a go at it; but since this is relatively easy, let’s try something a little different: Post your answer on the thread and any finite info you might have about this location relative to the date the picture was taken versus another period of time when the scene was or is significantly different in some way. Or, you can talk about an interesting personal experience you had there. The most interesting answer (by acclamation) will get the root beer this time, with all others with a correct answer and interesting stories or info getting cream sodas. Let’s see how this works out, and above all have fun. See you in the afternoon!

If you don’t follow It’s a Long Season, no better time to start than now.

[Photo Credit:  Justin K. Aller/Getty Images North America]

Depressing performance by David Price yesterday, beautiful game in Oakland last night.

Today gives games in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, also football, food, chores and assorted Sunday business.

“Only You Babe” (Single Edit)–Curtis Mayfield

[Photo Via: Blood and Champagne]

“Otha Fish” The Pharcyde

[Photo Via: This Isn’t Happiness]

Four games today on Funski Friday.

Have at it.

Let’s Go Base-ball!

[Photo Via: It’s a Long Season]

The beat goes on for Alex Rodriguez vs. MLB. 

Meanwhile, if you’ve never seen this legendary bit of hambone acting, you’re in for a treat.

Arthur Kirkland’s Legendary Opening Statement from gwenie on Vimeo.

Belated, but not forgotten, here’s your comedy for the week:

Ah, 2004, when the Yanks decided not to sign Carlos Beltran. It was a move we talked about over and again in this space. And so yesterday, there was Beltran, still playing well, hitting a home run against AJ Burnett, who is still doing his thing.  Burnett was a mess in Game 1 of the NLDS and while I felt bad for him and the Pirates fans I also felt relieved that he was someone else’s headache.

[Photo Credit: Elsa/Getty Images North America]

The National League plays today. Cards vs. the Pirates, Braves vs. the Dodgers.

Enjoy it, y’all and:

Let’s Go Base-ball!

[Painting by Aleksander Balos]

File Under: Figure, Go. 

I’ve never read any of Tom Clancy’s books. My step father loved them and since I spent most of my high school years locked in battle with my step father (he: Republican, me: not) I just piled Clancy on top of my hate pile. Clancy died yesterday. I liked this part of  his obituary in the Times:

Mr. Clancy said none of his success came easily, and he would remind aspiring writers of that when he spoke to them.

“I tell them you learn to write the same way you learn to play golf,” he once said. “You do it, and keep doing it until you get it right. A lot of people think something mystical happens to you, that maybe the muse kisses you on the ear. But writing isn’t divinely inspired — it’s hard work.”

Welcome back to another edition of Where & When, where we try hard not to peek at the photo credits while sleuthing for the answer to the $64 questions about New York City, past or present.  Speaking of which, I’m presently trying to bring some of these challenges to the present, but it’s not an easy thing to present.  Instead, I drag you back into a familiar era (a present for you already!) and present you with this:

Maybe some of you are familiar with this place, which still stands as it did over a hundred years ago and is surprisingly still in use, but for a lot of commercial urban crap. If you were to go there today, the remnants of this building, which served a long-defunct train line that is now used mainly by Amtrak and Conrail (clue!), are still visible.  Regarding the picture, it was taken 22 years before the train line it served closed.

So you know how this goes; you try to figure out where and when this was taken, and perhaps flash a little knowledge such as who designed the building or what was the name of the train line and where did it begin and end, or even what significant features of today are missing from the picture… or the name of a store that presently occupies the building?

Send your answers to cixposse at gmail dot com (Doggone spambots) First one to get it right gets a root beer, those following suit get a cream soda. I’ll check in with you later in the day and post the answer here and in the latest thread at or after 6pm (or earlier if you figure it out sooner).  Have fun!

I’ll be rooting for the winner of tonight’s game vs. Boston so in one way I don’t care who wins. Ideally, whichever team matches up better against the Sox, right? But Hell, I’m pulling for the Indians. Nineteen-forty-eight? C’mon. Gotta go for the Dream.

[Photo Via: Seconds from Disaster]

In Focus celebrates 123 years of Yosemite National Park. 

[Photo Credit: Ernest K. Bennett, 1952]