Rays vs. White Sox (11:29 pm Update)

Posted: October 2nd, 2008 | Filed under: Playoffs | 16 Comments »

So we’ll try something new here based on a few brilliant reader suggestions. We’ll put up open-ended posts for the four playoff series and try to add little tidbits throughout the weekend.

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You can’t get any better than this: The brilliant Marty Fennelly interviews Tampa skipper Joe Maddon about, among other things, his favorite Godfather character and how to propose to your girl in a liquor store parking lot. Maddon seems like pretty much the most awesome guy in the world though he does do the ultimate guy thing, which is to credit Mark Twain for a quote he may or may not have said. The “Dance Like No One Is Watching” quote he mentions has been credited to many people, including Twain (of course) and also Satchel Paige. Remember the rule: If you like a quote, credit it to Twain, Abe Lincoln, Confucius, Satchel Paige or Yogi Berra.

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I’m thinking more and more that if Evan Longoria had not gotten hurt, he might very well have become the third man — after Ichiro in 2001 and Fred Lynn in 1975* — to win the Rookie of the Year Award and the MVP in the same season. Look: I think there is no runaway candidate this year, and voters would have bent over backward to give the award to somebody from the best story in baseball. Plus, as we saw tonight, Longoria is a really good player.

*I forgot to the add this Pozterisk last night, but you already knew what it was going to say … Did I mention I’m writing a book about the 1975 Cincinnati Reds?

16 Comments on “Rays vs. White Sox (11:29 pm Update)”

  1. 1: Vardibidian said at 7:07 am on October 2nd, 2008:

    Unless there’s a ipod involved. Then it’s Stephen Fry.

    Thanks,
    -V.

  2. 2: Oddibe Kerfeld said at 7:21 am on October 2nd, 2008:

    My favorite Godfather character is Tom Hagen, played of course by the great Robery Duval. Joe, maybe there’s another poll question for you?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Hagen

  3. 3: Jonathan said at 9:00 am on October 2nd, 2008:

    Also Calvin Coolidge

  4. 4: Bill C. said at 10:48 am on October 2nd, 2008:

    You have to add Ben Franklin to that list of people to attribute quotes to.

    My personal favorite of Ben’s: “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”

  5. 5: Enrique said at 12:43 pm on October 2nd, 2008:

    And if you need a female, Marilyn Monroe. Didn’t know MM imparted so much wisdom before she left the planet much too soon.

  6. 6: Nope, Still Not Friday Reading | umpbump.com said at 1:43 pm on October 2nd, 2008:

    [...] doing a sort of “bloglounge” in which he puts up open-ended posts like this one and plans to add to them throughout this ALDS weekend. BYO leisure [...]

  7. 7: SMK said at 1:55 pm on October 2nd, 2008:

    or Oscar Wilde. When one of those Bloomsbury cats said something witty, Wilde said “I wish I’d said that,” and the first cat said “You will, Oscar, you will.” You don’t get that kind of drollery these day.

    Also, Evan Longoria, great googly-moogly.

  8. 8: Joe M. said at 1:58 pm on October 2nd, 2008:

    If it’s written and clever, it’s George Carlin.

  9. 9: KCJoe said at 2:25 pm on October 2nd, 2008:

    2 words:

    Luca Brazzi

  10. 10: KCJoe said at 2:25 pm on October 2nd, 2008:

    “And may your first grandchild, be a masculine grandchild”

    LB

  11. 11: Adam said at 4:47 pm on October 2nd, 2008:

    I want to trade cecil cooper and kolby clemens for joe maddon.

  12. 12: Ben said at 12:53 am on October 3rd, 2008:

    So is “Fred Lynn in 1975*” a Phantom Posterisk, or is it an Implicit Posterisk, given that we all know that the Posterisk was going to refer to a mention of the Reds book?

  13. 13: Speedbird said at 3:53 am on October 3rd, 2008:

    Just a quick correction: Longoria would be the third player in the league… Ichiro Suzuki won the MVP and the Rookie of the Year in 2001.

  14. 14: Brian said at 2:14 pm on October 3rd, 2008:

    KCJOE – not to be pedantic, but that’s Luca Brasi, to you. I should know – I played in a band by that name. Why name ourselves after him? Because we aspired to musically be what he was – big and scary.

    BTW- his character is much better developed in the book than in the movie, and he was truly horrifying.

  15. 15: Johnny said at 3:02 pm on October 3rd, 2008:

    ===(((((Maddon: Boulder, Colorado. In 1975, I played for the Boulder Collegians. When we were playing the Rockies a few years ago, she came out and we drove to Boulder. I looked for the old baseball field, Scotty Carpenter Field. I couldn’t remember where it was at night. I took her to the Dark Horse, which was our hangout – real smelly beer bar, loud music. We had burgers, fries and a couple of beers. Then we went to the Base Line Liquor Store, right near Bauldie Moschetti’s old office, I used to work there.)))))====

    Wow. I was a fourteen year old kid then, living in Boulder, and even attended a Collegians game once, at Scott Carpenter Field on Arapahoe. I probably saw Joe play and didn’t know it. When I was 16, I tried -unsuccessfully- to buy 3.2 beer at Baseline Liquors with my fake I.D… The first time I got drunk in a bar was at the Dark Horse.

    Now I live in St. Pete and root for Joe and the Rays, indeed the best story in baseball, and the funnest team I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching.

    But I’m not stalking the guy or anything.

  16. 16: Hitandrun said at 12:18 pm on October 5th, 2008:

    Frankie Pentangele who “No manga in Miami, con Hyman Roth.” and eventually took Tom Hagen’s advice and opened a vein.

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