June 2010
Ready to (All-Star) Break
Hello again and welcome back. Since I last checked in there has been a flurry of activity on the field, with myself getting quite a lot of work, the ending of the season’s first half and consequently the beginning of the second, and a ridiculous game last night that went 15 innings and included three scoreless innings by RockHound position players. I have always felt like position players should all get a chance to pitch once in a while so they know how hard it is, but we had two position players combine for three innings of one hit baseball, picking up both the win and a save and quite frankly made it look easy. So much for that thought I guess. I myself have been throwing a lot lately, which I really like. My arm always feels better the more I throw and when I’m getting into games my delivery tends to be more consistent so that has been a definite positive. My results have been up and down a bit, however. I’ve had my fair share of good outings, but I’ve also had a pretty rough one and then last night’s outing which makes me wonder if I sleepwalked under a ladder, through a black cat sanctuary and crashed into a mirror. Just couldn’t buy a break in any form and ended up giving up a run, which happens but doesn’t make it any less frustrating. Anyway, I’m pretty happy with how things have been going lately and with the all-star break starting tomorrow, hopefully I can finish off strong if I throw today and come back refreshed after the break.
Speaking of the all-star break, I have been eagerly awaiting it for a couple weeks now. My fiancé will be coming into town and it will be the first time I’ve seen her in almost two months so that obviously is a major selling point. Also, we will be taking the two days to make the three hour drive out to New Mexico to take in Carlsbad Caverns National Park. We’re going to do some back country camping the first night and then spend the next day taking in the caves and seeing the bats fly out at the end of the day before heading back to good old Midland. Other than eagerly awaiting the all-star break, I’ve spent most of my recent down time being a vegetable playing Civilizations IV and dabbling at some painting. Since I’m not that great at it, painting can get a little infuriating at times, but on the whole I find it really enjoyable so I’ll keep at it and update you on the outcome. Anyhow, I’ll call that good for now and leave you with the customary poem.
Sailing to Byzantium
by W. B. Yeats
That is no country for old men. The young
In one another’s arms, birds in the trees
–Those dying generations–at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.
An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress,
Nor is there singing school but studying
Monuments of its own magnificence;
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.
O sages standing in God’s holy fire
As in the gold mosaic of a wall,
Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,
And be the singing-masters of my soul.
Consume my heart away; sick with desire
And fastened to a dying animal
It knows not what it is; and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity.
Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.
My Back Pages
Hello again out there in cyberspace and sorry to have made my absence between blog entries so extended. It was my genuine intention to keep everything updated on a weekly basis, but as the time to post an update rolled around I was put on the disabled list and wasn’t much interested in getting on and writing about it. It has been a frustrating period of time since I last posted and I allowed myself to get bitter and didn’t really feel like talking or writing much about the experience. In any event, I’ll make it a point to get on here and post updates regularly from now until the end of the season, my midseason resolution if you will. Since I last posted my head has finally stopped spinning and I am finally pretty settled into the routine of daily events that happens everyday in the A’s organization. This has actually been harder than it would seem at first blush. Baseball players are creatures of habit and one of the most important elements of being successful is developing a consistent daily routine to follow for every day of the season. Changing organizations means a change in when and how some things are done, which means adjusting a routine I’ve done every game for the last five seasons. I’m finally getting pretty comfortable with everything though. I have also reached the point where most of the loose ends from my time in the Indians organization have been tied off and the concomitant scurrying around appears to be a thing of the past. The combination of these things has allowed me some time to get out and explore…**pause to find proper adjective**…err…warm?… Midland, TX. I haven’t really (how do I put it?)… found a whole lot yet, but hopefully with a little more poking my nose around I’ll find some points of interest (I refuse to count either he Petroleum Museum or George W. Bush childhood home). There are three national parks within four hours driving time and I am planning on taking in one of them over the all-star break. Also, in what might be the least surprising development of the decade for anyone who has read this blog before, I managed to locate the Midland Public Library and obtain my 8th different library card for those of you keeping score at home. While it certainly isn’t the Akron-Summit County Public Library (very, very few are), hopefully it will have enough reading material to keep me occupied, although the way I’ve been crushing books lately it might be close, haha. Recently I have gone through Richard Russo’s Bridge of Sighs (excellent), Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses (outstanding, but a definite chore), Jack Kerouac’s On the road (very good) and a few poetry compilations. My next undertaking is How Rome Fell, which I’ve had for a few months now and am excited to get underway with.
I think that should be sufficient for now, but be sure to check back soon for updates on the on-field action and all the off-field goings on. Until then I’ll leave you with the customary poem and an extras to help get caught up from the hiatus.
Be Drunk
by Charles Baudelaire
Translated by Louis Simpson
You have to be always drunk. That’s all there is to it–it’s the only way. So as not to feel the horrible burden of time that breaks your back and bends you to the earth, you have to be continually drunk.
But on what? Wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish. But be drunk.
And if sometimes, on the steps of a palace or the green grass of a ditch, in the mournful solitude of your room, you wake again, drunkenness already diminishing or gone, ask the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock, everything that is flying, everything that is groaning, everything that is rolling, everything that is singing, everything that is speaking. . .ask what time it is and wind, wave, star, bird, clock will answer you: “It is time to be drunk! So as not to be the martyred slaves of time, be drunk, be continually drunk! On wine, on poetry or on virtue as you wish.”
Born Late
by David Dodd Lee
A block of soap
carved to look like Pan
and that’s just what came in the mail
a volcano under those flip flops
kisses spilling off the water-wheel
Green becomes a stillness leftover in the late-born effluence
of a decade’s worth of smoke and flat beer
(I can’t get any air)
because there was no acoustic guitar
just dust scraped off an anxious moth’s wings
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