I was in the subway last night when a double rainbow graced New York. But Inga Sarda-Sorensen was in central park and took this cool picture.
Yanks-Cubs again this afternoon in Chicago.
Brett Gardner LF
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Russell Martin C
Eduardo Nunez SS
A.J. Burnett RHP
Never mind the cleverness:
Let’s Go Yank-ees!
I know interleague play isn't terribly popular, but I love watching the Yanks play the Cubs and I especially love watching them play at Wrigley. After leaving the NYC suburbs as a young boy (where I became a Yanks fan), I grew up in the tiny coastal town of Waveland, MS. The cable network WGN was one of the few channels that showed baseball regularly, and I spent many evenings watching Andre Dawson, Ryan Sandberg, and the crew aim for Waveland Avenue. From the Waveland Little League diamond it was an impossible shot to get one onto our own Waveland Avenue, which was a good 650 feet from home plate. But it didn't stop us from dreaming of copying the feat of those epic Cubs' hitters. Here's hoping we get to see the Yanks put one on Waveland Avenue this afternoon.
One loss against this wretched Cubs team is enough
I agree with the two of youse!
Come A-Rod. Ducks on the pond.
Who could havd predicted?
Figures.
Hoo boy. I may have to start drinking early.
[5] No one. Because you just can't predict baseball.
[7] Sounds like a plan.
hey, where's everyone at?
fuck fox. i have the braves game here. our game isn't on wgn, either. i guess it's good, as i have a boatload of songs to chart before my gig tonite...
GO YANKS!!!
[7] have one for me! got an email from my friend in Berlin today...
2-1. Hit and run? Something.
i really hate the NL/pitchers batting thing...
pitcher pitch, hitters hit.
Don't feel to bad about not scoring there, it was the bottom of the order. The first inning, no excuse.
[13] Gotta disagree with you on this one. Nine guys in the field, same nine guys bat. Simple, elegant, and morally virtuous!
Ah, young shortstops. Ya' never know what you are going to get.
[15] i think you need to drink more! ; )
To Baseball!!!
[16] Frankie Cervelli Throwing Fever...It's Catching!
tex-ass with the double steal here in atlanta. elvis stole home. though, i think he's never been to spain...
Dumpster's thrown over 50 pitches in 2+ innings. 3 walks. and we still have ZERO runs.
hey Score Truck:
BEEP BEEP!!!
i'd like to see Grandy steal 3rd here...
Ahh, third inning and FOX announcers are already talking about another sport. Yes, Congratulations Darrell Waltrip.
[18] Make two bad throws to centerfield and call me in the morning.
Enough with the fucking sea gulls already. They're rather disgusting.
Yay, Robbie!
ripper!
now, let's cash these other 2...
hit with a RISP! I approve.
Yay Score Truck!! Where you been at?
Beep Beep!
2-nil
Good, morally upright baseball by Swish!
I don't know where Joe Morgan is right now but Timmy should be keeping him company.
Come on Nuñez, at least turn the lineup over.
a healthy martin, is a good thing for this club.
aj threw a wild pitch? huh. how 'bout that...
fuck you, do me!
As I posted yesterday, Brett Gardner sure seems to get a lot of high strikes called against him.
there's nothing morally virtuous about that...
Crud.
rain delay in atlanta. yanks game now on fox. but i can barely watch. too much work to do... : /
Morally virtuous strikeout. And now pitcher gets to lead off the next inning.
aj has 8 k's in 4 innings.
Is it me or are the Yankees playing kinda stooopid the last few games?
11 baserunners in 5 innings, and we only have 2 runs?
6 hits and 6 walks in five innings, yet the score is tied.
[41] Hey, cut that out!
[41] Look on the bright side: fortunately they are not relying on HRs.
[40] it's almost like they don't know where their collective head is at.
[44] Because home runs are morally ambiguous?
[46] There's no ambiguity about it. They are selfish and, as we have learned from the likes of Michael Kay all season, you definitely don't want to be too dependent on them.
Nicely turned
nice flip, robbie!
NIce touch by showing that historic Eric Karros HR in grainy black-and-white. Ruth, Karros, Dempster...this is what makes interleague play so great!
Dammit...if Burnett had busted it down the line he would have been safe.
I don't mind A.J. being out in that situation.
[52] Yeah, I see what you mean, but I'd rather have the out back. In fact, had he gotten on, I would have been tempted to PR for him and go for the gusto this inning. In any case, "mute."
Gardner's gonna send Dempster from the game one way or another.
Jeepers.
OK, send Gardner with Nuñez on 3B? Or let Granderson do his thing with no funny business?
[53] Hadn't thought of a p.r. but I think A.J.s pitching too well to take him out now.
[56] No plays.
thisclose
[57] I agree in general. But had he made it on base I would have been tempted to pull him for a PR given how hard runs have been to come by. Probably doesn't make sense, though.
Yay, Grandy. Good, clean, upright baseball.
Good god.
Yay, more brain dead base running!
It's as if the spirit of Po has possessed half the team. Damn you Jorge, or should I call you Legion?
I think it's time to face the fact that Nunez sucks.
Grrr...
damn, son. nunez really sucks with the glove.
[64] Sucks? Yes. But sad? No way.
Mo almighty. Make the play would ya, kid!
What the fuck is up with this team lately?
[64] hey. where were you at?
[69] Regularly starting some subset of Jones, Nuñez, Peña and Cevelli is at least a partial answer.
boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Can't anybody play this game?
[70] Doin' stuff.
Robbie too?
I think this team needs to go back to spring training.
{72] [73] Hm..I am on MLB.tv, still in commercial break. I have an ominous feeling that bad news is coming from the future.
If only Wade or AJ had been able to induce a double play ball, we'd be out of this inning.
Oh, wait.
hell fuckin' YEAH!!!
Two reasons why I love listening to John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman.
1, Suzyn Waldman says that their "favorite Supreme Court Justice" -- Sonia Sotomayor -- is in the booth.
2. John Sterling says that the Yankees are running the bases as if they'd "stopped off and had a few drinks on their way to the stadium."
What the deuce! This game is nutso.
Wow. So, yes, somebody can still play the game. Two of 'em, in fact.
Yes, nice to see that the Yankees aren't the only team making base running blunders.
Gardy! What a play on both ends!
Ahhh, but I reloaded in time to see Gardner gun down Peña!
BTW, I still hate the crush the catcher play. If you are out by 20 feet, you should not be allowed to slam into the catcher (IMO).
[79] Aha! Is there a keg at third base?
MP,
6:48 "You just can't predict baseball"
-John Sterling
Some things are quite predictable. : )
[86] Wow, how ironic!
Wait, so is Buck trying to tell me that starters can throw harder as relievers?
[88] I have it muted, so I couldn't tell you.
[89] me, too.
[88] [89] Oh, sorry, I meant, "I muted it". "Have it muted" isn't exactly passive voice, is it? Maybe middle voice, if English has such a thing.
[89] Well, as best as I can tell, Carpenter is being groomed for the "possible future closer" role, otherwise known as the EIGHTH INNING GUY (or, sometimes the seventh inning guy). In other words, the most important player on the team.
[91] I think the construction is related to the causative have/get.
[92] I bet when Carpenter won the Cy Young, he was thinking, "Now maybe everyone will notice me and some day I can be an EIG!"
[93] No doubt. But 'muted' is the past participle. It has the feel of the passive voice.
I feel this past month demonstrates why it's stupid to pay a lot of money for a non-Mo relief pitcher, by the way.
[94] Well, as Buck and McCarver exclaimed, he did hit 100 MPH ON THE RADAR GUN as a reliever:
http://tinyurl.com/6fb8y5g
[95] Most causative have/get constructions are passive-y: "I got my car fixed" (by whom?). But in this case you were clearly the agent.
Also remember, while the English past participle is passive (as it is in Latin), it can be used to make active voice past tense verbs. So worry not!
The Chessmaster.
Would you consider walking Posada just to get him on the basepaths?
[99] I am joking. Sort of.
Hmmm...Perhaps Mike Quade is also a Chessmaster?
[97] Good, that's it. (But as I have argued, it's just a mistake to think that the passive voice invariably obscures agency.)
Is the pitcher for the Cubs the former ND WR? I lost track of him once he went into the MiL.
[101] If so, he's playing right into our hands, bwah hah hah hah!
[102] It ALWAYS obscures agency, by its very nature. The only way to avoid this is by adding an instrumental construction (X was done by Y), or when the context is extremely suggestive. This is less often than one thinks. Trust me, I read a few hundred undergrad papers a year.
That's it, I just thought of who Russell Martin looks like! It's been bugging me.
Ray Liotta!
[105] Ah, so it always obscures agency except when it doesn't!
I agree.
Hm. Granderson didn't try to hit a HR and just made contact (good), but he managed only a short fly ball and failed to get the runner in from third with less than two outs (bad). Where does that rate on the Baseball Morality Scale?
Of course we don't score.
[107] That's not what I said. The construction ALWAYS obscures agency because the agent is not part of the sentence. It necessitates outside constructions to indicate agency. This is not the case with active voice constructions with MUST include the agent (subject).
[108] Oh, it was definitely a moral victory.
Is it moral to waste all these scoring opportunities?
[111] Phew. That's good!
[110] No, that's false. You explained yourself how the agent is often denoted inside the sentence. And this is incredibly common in English. "The agent was included by monkeypants."
It is also not true that active voice must include the agent. For example, "The patient is having an operation."
[112] Irrelevant. What matters is the approach.
I love the look on D-Rob's face.
Tuscaloosa!
[103] yes, it is him.
[106] i can kinda see that.
Yes, sit down, you slob. Awesome. Better than beaning him.
lester gave up 2 solo homers in the top of the 1st (weeks & hart, 2 players i dig).
i guess that means the shit sox will win 174-2.
[118] I know, it's not super-close. Somewhat idiosyncratic, probably. (My sister is here and she agreed, although she could not think of who he looked like until I screamed "Ray Liotta!")
[119] easy now.
[114] is monkeypants a supervisory special agent? or, perhaps just a drying agent? we can use one of those here in rainlanta.
[121] turns out i have a 1st cousin that is halfway thru a certain ivy league school in your state...
[122] D-Rob gets me psyched up.
dammit. i would really like some geico runs here...
[123] Could be -- his academic mission in Germany is just a cover, maybe...
[124] No way! I, uh... might know this person.
[125] understandable.
[114] Nope. The passive construction by itself requires no agent: X was Yed. The active construction on the other hand requires an agent: X Yed.
In order to show agency, then, you need to add another construction to the passive sentence. Thus, the passive voice inherently obscures agency.
Now you are correct that many writers and speakers compensate by adding additional instrumental constructions (as you do in your example), but this only underscores the built-in obscurity of the passive voice. So wordy and clunky. Why write the" The agent was included by monkeypants" when "Monkeypants included the agent" does the job more crisply? (That was a rhetorical question...a topic for another day!)
Your counter example also is flawed: the patient is the agent. He is the one having the operation. Now, if you wish to emphasize the surgeon, you need to change the verb: The surgeon operated on the patient. But that's a different sentence altogether. However, it is granted (ooh, note how I obscured my own concession by using an impersonal construction) that the causative have/get construction (and related have/get uses) are weaker active voice constructions.
That was hysterical.
Oh, you're not watching, thelarmis, right?
Rob doubled through a flock of sea gulls. Very surreal.
[127] yes, it's true. i'm not a huge fan. i saw his parents & sister at my nephew's bar mitzvah in queens last week. i guess he's my 1st cousin, once removed. his mom is my 1st cousin...
last time i saw him was a little over 2 years ago for my grandpa's funeral. i was a mess. i guess he started school soon thereafter. his dad, who married into the family and is cool, is an alum of this certain educational institution that is named after a crappy color...
[123][127] Well, I could tell you my real mission, but then you would have to be killed (in the passive voice).
[129] i am working on a lot of instrumental constructions. i've recently released an album's worth of material and will finish up another pretty soon. the rest is still being constructed...
[130] not at the moment, no. i had it "muted/on mute/no sound/moot" before, with my back turned to the screen, whilst charting songs. now, i'm rushing thru dinner in the kitchen (no tv), so i can get to my gig on time and change my heads. following online. i could run into the den if something cool happens. game's still on in there...
Geico.
Nice.
Yay! (even with an out on the bases).
damn you, Henry Hill!
wait. what? it said martin fouled out. now, it's a commercial break. still 3-1.
of course, the goddman fucking shit sox tied the game. bollocks.
wha happened w/ us?!
[129] The passive construction does not require an agent, but that's not what you said. You said the agent is not part of the sentence. But that's false. Sometimes the agent appears in a passive voice sentence.
As to active construction: you are mistaking agency, which is a feature of the world, for something that is a feature of a sentence. When a patient has an operation, the patient is not an agent. (That's why we use the word 'patient'!) The patient was unconscious when he had the operation, so he was definitely not an agent. (Compare "My Mustang was in the shop having it's oil changed." I hope you won't seriously claim that my Mustang is an agent.)
There are often good reasons to prefer a passive construction. For one thing, passive construction often highlights agency. E.g., "The patient was murdered by his own doctor!"
And sometimes it's almost unavoidable. E.g., "Each cub scout was congratulated by his mother." An active voice equivalent would be very awkward.
Now the catching spirit of Po has possessed Martin!
[139] Martin did foul out, but then Nunez looped one in the gap. Swish was thrown out trying to score from first.
ok, nunez got a hit. swish thrown out.
i'm caught up now.
Mo please!
motherfucking FOX. i go to the den to watch Mo. late for gig, be damned.
and it's back to the damn braves game.
argh!!!
Yikes.
Don't like this.
lester gives up another solo shot...and the lead.
i guess the shit sox will have to win 781-3.
Fuck off Joe, you nearly gave me a heart attack.
oh no. maybe it's good i can't see it live.
good thing for the geico run...
c'mon Mr. Mo!!!
Don't like this more.
Thelarmis, you missed Buck inform us that Reed Johnson had tied the game with his solo homer.
jesus. if sori steals his 1st base of the year now, i'm gonna...
[140] Of course there are times when, stylistically, the passive voice is preferred. But more often than not this is not the case. And in my experience, the construction very often obscures agency, and not infrequently on purpose.
Meanwhile, Mo is getting hit.
Awesome.
Now I feel much, much better.
[150] wishful thinking for that no-good little fucker. i wish he'd sit out, with the football season...
[152] He is getting hit by the Cubs.
[150] Yeah, Buck was really, really excited there for a moment. But then a little sad when someone reminded him that the score was 4-3.
Fuck yes.
WAHOO!!!
night all. see youze tomorrow, at.
[155] I didn't say that!
Yes. Phew. Yankees win!
[154] Wishful thinking plus stupidity plus general obliviousness.
[156] A little sad -- I bet he was thinking about Jeter. I know I was.
Why was Girardi jawing with the ump? Maybe he was seeing if he was OK after Mo's first pitch?
[161] Nuñez made me sad today, but then he made me happy by driving in the (eventual) winning run. Jeter just makes me sad.
[163] Nuñez doesn't make me too sad, because his tilde looks like a little mustache, and it's funny.
[164] Excellent point. Little mustaches are always funny! Well, nearly always funny---maybe not so much here in Germany. Nevertheless, another sharp observation on your part!
OK, it's super-late here and I have to get up early tomorrow. G'night all.
Gute nacht.
Wow, Lester is getting pounded. I'm going to watch that.