MLB: Discipline Ortiz

29 Monday Jul 2013

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davidortiz.1

David Ortiz, the best Designated Hitter in baseball, deserves to be disciplined.

Ortiz simply lost control the other night in Baltimore and had a tantrum that fortunately did not result in any damage, other than to the bullpen phone box and to his own reputation.

He should be fined or suspended, whatever MLB determines is proper for similar, previous situations.

Apparently, Ortiz was most incensed by the umpire’s unwillingness to admit he had made a mistake in the call and is reported to have said something like, “we all make mistakes, but we need to admit when we do. That’s all.”

Will Ortiz apply that to himself?

I hope so.

The Death of a Parent

29 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by Richard in Family and Friends

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Scott Simon, The Death of a Parent, Twitter

Update: 7/29/8:52 PM: See below Scott Simon’s last four tweets about his mother’s death.

* * * * *

I suspect most readers of MillersTime are not ‘on’ Twitter, do not know much about it, or perhaps are disdainful of what they might believe is a waste of time or of a self-indulgence in which they do not wish to participate.

Perhaps.

But I have been drawn to something on Twitter over the past few days that I want to mention and that reminds me of something from my own recent life, experience, and learning.

Scott Simon, journalist and host of NPR’s Saturday’s Weekend Edition, has been live tweeting the last days of his mother’s life. He is doing so from her ICU hospital room (see pix above).

A MillersTime Baseball Contest Winner

24 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

2013 All Star Game, 2013 MillersTime Baseball Contest, Tiffany Lopez, Tim Malieckal

AL Wins 2013 All Star Game, 3-0 (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

As I posted earlier, no one correctly chose the answers to all three questions in the MillersTime Baseball Contest #3 (Winner of All Star Game, Score, MVP). In fact, no one even predicted two of the three correctly.

There were a few creative suggestions on what I should do to choose from those who had some of the answers and/or were close on some of the questions.

Previous multiple winner Tiffany Lopez had a terrific suggestion, saying I resort to the time tested ‘rock-paper-scissor’ means of dispute resolution. Tim Malieckal suggested I chose the person who had Cabrera as the MVP because he scored the first run in the 3-0 AL win. And several contestants said I should choose the person who was closest to the final score since no one correctly got the Rivera as the MVP.

Buchholz: What Gives?

23 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Boston Red Sox, Clay Buchholz, John Farrell

: (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

I’m generally critical of Boston sports’ writers who ‘go after’ Sox players, but I’ve been wondering about something for several weeks now.

Let me start with the admission that I do not know the details of the issue I’m about to discuss. Other than what I read in the media, which includes various blogs and social media outlets, I have no inside knowledge.

Nevertheless, to me, something seems wrong with the Clay Buchholz, “I won’t pitch until I’m 100%.”

For those of you who may not be as obsessed as I about the Red Sox, a quick update. Buchholz started the season going 9-0 with an ERA of 1.71. He was as good as any pitcher in the Majors, probably the best.

Then around June 8, Buchholz apparently felt stiffness in his neck area and shut himself down, saying he didn’t want to risk more serious damage. That seemed to make sense.

Grilled Avocado? Try It

23 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Food52, Grilled Avocado

avocado.photo

Usually, when I post about anything food related, i write about a restaurant or some place we’ve been on one of our trips. And if I’ve written about a place in DC or say Scotland, I know many of you will never have a chance to see if I know what I’m talking about.

So today, something a bit different, something you can try yourself and see if I’m ‘food reliable’ – one dish: Grilled Avocados.

When Ellen said yesterday she was going to grill avocados, I was skeptical. Hot avocados? Aren’t they always supposed to be cold or at least at room temp?

“Fruitvale Station” – A Very Good Film

22 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

"Fruitvale Station", Michael B. Jordan, Octavia Spencer, Oscar Grant, President Obama, Ryan Coogle

102475_gal

Fruitvale Station **** 1/2

If you are a frequent reader of MillersTime, it may seem that I like every film I see.

Not so.

Usually, I only post about films (and books too) that I have particularly enjoyed and rated 4-4 ½-5 stars. The films that don’t fall into that category, I simply refrain from reviewing here.

Also, you may have noticed that I am partial to small films, documentaries, and particularly ones that are often based upon ‘true stories,’ tho that phrase leaves a lot of room for abuse. It’s probably something about my lack of imagination and more about my interest in what has actually occurred. (I made a rough calculation this morning of the books in my wonderful library and at least half of them are non-fiction.) So there is some consistency in my approach to literature and film.

Anyway, my wife and I recently saw Fruitvale Station, a recounting of a particularly tragic day in the life of Oscar Grant, a young black man, in Oakland, a mostly accurate one from what I have been able to discover.

JK Rowling – Now a Writer of Detective Novel(s)

19 Friday Jul 2013

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

"The Casual Vacancy, "The Cuckoo's Calling", Harry Potter, JK Rowling

Reuters

(Reuters photo)

If you haven’t heard, JK Rowling, of Harry Potter fame, has been ‘outed’ (see details) as the author of a new book, The Cuckoo’s Calling, a mystery about a private detective’s investigation of a supposed suicide.

Publish in April 2013 under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, Rowling apparently hoped to have the book evaluated on its merits and not because of her fame.

Indeed, those who reviewed it believing it was a first book by Galbraith gave it quite positive reviews. But The Cuckoo’s Calling only sold between 500-1500 copies (exact number is unclear) until last week when The Sunday Times revealed that Rowlings was the author.

The book immediately became an Amazon’s best seller (via its Kindle sales) and is now undergoing new printings. It will be at the top of all the fiction best seller lists shortly, if it has not already there.

My wife Ellen ordered it under my account (“by mistake,” she said), and in my on going efforts to keep MillersTime readers well informed, I read it immediately.

The All Star’s All Star, (Plus Who Deserves to Win the MillersTime Baseball Contest #3?)

17 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

2013 All Star Game, Mariano Rivera, MillersTime Baseball Contest, MVP

MARIANO RIVERA

MVP

Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

No matter your team loyalty, you’ve gotta respect this guy and what he’s done.

* * * * * *

No one in the 2013 MillersTime Baseball Contests got all the correct answers to Question #3 (Who will win the All Star game, what will the score be, and who will be the MVP).

Overall, however, a majority of you picked the AL to win (56-44%), tho no one got even close on the score.

And no one foresaw Rivera being named the MVP.

So what to do?

“The Attack”

15 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Mohammed Moulessehoul, The Attack, Yasmina Khadra, Ziad Doueiri

MV5BMTYxODIyMTQzMF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNTk4OTU0OQ@@._V1_SY317_CR2,0,214,317_

The Attack ****

It’s difficult to review a film after one has read the book first.

Or maybe it’s more accurate to say that I have a hard time doing so.

Know that my prejudice is that most often a book is better than a movie taken from the book. I can’t think of more than a handful of movies that I thought were equal to or better than the book.

Probably reading a book first significantly changes how one experiences the film. Not only does one know how the book presented its story and its outcome, but the viewer is also constantly comparing the two, rather than approaching the movie with an open mind.

Thus, my conundrum in discussing Ziad Doueiri’s film, The Attack.

Something Every Woman Knows

12 Friday Jul 2013

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

"Tootsie", Dustin Hoffman, Something All Women Know

If you have three minutes and 11 seconds, click on the arrow in the middle of the picture below.

I usually don’t pass on YouTube videos, but here is one that was sent around the other day on various social media sites, and one that has stuck with me.

A Question From a 4 1/2 Year Old

10 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by Richard in Family and Friends, Go Sox

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Grandson, Losing, Nats, Red Sox, Winning

noname

I was playing the card game “Go Fish” with my four and a half-year-old grandson the other day when he said, “It’s OK not to win, isn’t it?”

That was a bit of a surprise, as in the last six months or so he’s found a way to turn every possible kind of play into a game that has a score and a winner. Plus, he’s been quite skilled at setting the rules, and resetting them, to favor himself.

So clearly I was surprised when he came up with the question about not having to win.

Was some part of his parental unit trying to teach him about winning and losing? Has a teacher or a coach said something to him? Just what was going on here.?

And what should I tell him?

“Hannah Arendt”

09 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ Leave a Comment

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"France Ha", "Hannah Arendt", "Renoir", Barbara Sukowa, Christa Theret, Greta Gerwig, Margrethe von Trotta

MV5BMjIyMDM2NTUyNF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTQ2NzAzOQ@@._V1_SX214_

Hannah Arendt ****

One of the marks of a good film for me is when I leave the theater wanting to know more about something I have just seen.

Margarethe von Trotta’s Hannah Arendt definitely meets that criteria.

I think I had been vaguely aware of Arendt, at least some recollection of the controversy about her coverage for The New Yorker of the Eichmann trial in Israel. But I had not read any of her writings.

Now I know more. Certainly much more about that period in her life but also about this writer, thinker, and political theorist.

Seeing the film sent me on a quest to find out more (see this link for a brief, 2500 word overview of her writing and her life). And I suspect I will read more about her and at least one of her books.

This film largely focuses on one period in Arendt’s life, although there are flashbacks to earlier periods and references to other parts of her biography.

Barbara Sukowa is simply superb in her portrayal of Arendt, similar, I think, in the way that Daniel Day-Lewis was able to capture Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’s film.

I suppose someone who knows more about Arendt and her writing might not be as enthusiastic as I am about this film or might have some questions about von Trotta’s depiction of Arendt. But for a film about ideas to hold an audience almost spellbound for close to two hours is an achievement.

(My wife Ellen, who loves movies and is a pretty good judge of films, thought this one was the best film she’s seen this year.)

* * * * * *

We also saw two other films over the long holiday weekend, neither of which makes it into my top categories (4-5 stars). Frances Ha tells the story of a 27 year old NYC single woman who is trying to find her place in the world. The best part of this film is the performance of the lead actress Greta Gerwig. And I wanted to like Renoir but ultimately felt it did not do what Hannah Arendt did (make me want to know more about the title character). But there is a good performance by Christa Theret as Renoir’s model.

Looking for Summer Reading Ideas?

07 Sunday Jul 2013

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ Leave a Comment

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"MillersTime" Readers Favorit Reads in 2012, 2009, 2010, 2011

Ursula Klawitter/Corbis

For those of you who may be looking for books to add to your summer ‘to read’ lists, I’m reposting links to the books MillersTime readers have said they enjoyed the most in the past few years.

Many of you have contributed to these lists and have mentioned their value. Today’s post is to make going back to those lists easy to do.

For those of you who don’t know about the lists, every year I ask MillersTime readers to send in the titles and a sentence or two about the books they’ve most enjoyed reading over the past year. The resulting lists have been a terrific source of ideas for others.

Take a look. Or a relook:

1. The Books Most Enjoyed by MillersTime Readers in 2012

2. The Books Most Enjoyed by MillersTime Readers in 2011

3. The Books Most Enjoyed by MillersTime Readers in 2010

4. The Books Most Enjoyed by MillersTime Readers in 2009

(PS – I hope folks are keeping a list somewhere of what you’ve enjoyed in 2013. After several years of trying to reconstruct my own ‘favorites’ for a year, I know my memory is beginning to make that task more difficult.)

Best Films I’ve Seen in 2013 (so far)

03 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Best Films in 2013

I thought I’d list all in one place the films I’ve seen and rated (4, 4 1/2, or 5 stars) since the beginning of 2013. If you click on the film, that will take you to my mini review.

Four Stars

Four & a Half Stars

Five Stars

(Please forgive the underlining. I can’t seem to remove it.)

If you’ve seen other films in 2013 that you’ve particularly enjoyed, please post their titles in the Comment section of this post.

So What’s with the Nats?

01 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ Leave a Comment

Tags

Atlanta Braves, NL East, Washington Nationals, World Series

Team	Won	Lost	PCT	GB
Atlanta	48	34	.585	–	–
Washington	41	40	.506	6.5
Philadelphia	39	44	.470	9.5
NY Mets	33	45	.423	13.0
Miami	29	51	.363	18.0

Preseason predictions were for the Nats to win their Division. The only National League team with better Las Vegas odds to win the World Series were the Dodgers

So, what’s going on?

Expectations too high for the Nats?

Harper out for a month?

Strasburg not winning?

Failure to win close games like they did last year?

Bullpen problems?

Yours truly, who earlier thought the Nats would not win 98 games and might not even make the playoffs again, has looked at the first half of the season, and here’s what the numbers show.

The Nats’ record at the half way mark of the season is primarily due to poor hitting. They are 13th of 15 teams in the NL, scoring only 295 runs. Only the Marlins (259 runs) and the Dodgers (294) have scored fewer runs. The team BA is .236, and other than Rendon, no position players is hitting close to .300.

Their pitching hasn’t been all that bad. They are 5th in the NL with an ERA of 3.54 and have done about as well as any other team converting 23/31 save opportunities.

And their fielding hasn’t helped at all. They are dead last in the NL and have made 59 errors (only the Dodgers have made more, 60). The Nats have given up 31 unearned runs compared to the Braves 20.

To be a bit more specific, if we look at Runs Scored vs Runs Given Up, The Braves are + 68, the Nats -20, and the Phillies -46.

And, unlike what I predicted, their weak showing has not been particularly a result of losing close games. They are 24-24 in games won or lost by two or less runs (16-13 in one run games). Last year at this time, they were 21-23 in games decided by two or less runs (15-10 in one run games).

Their Division is a tougher, as everyone expected, with the Braves starting off in spectacular fashion, tho they haven’t maintained the pace they had in April (.645).

Certainly not having Harper for the month of June has hurt the Nats, but perhaps not as seriously as some might think. In April and May, when the young phenom was playing, the Nats were 28-27. Without him in June, they were 13-13.

Yes. The season is only half over, but if the Nats don’t start scoring a lot more runs than they give up, all those ‘fans’ who thought a WS playoff was a near certainty, are going to (continue) to be disappointed.