winter haiku

tono mochi
feeding crows in
wassergass

j. d. salinger

Do middle school kids these days argue about books? I vividly recall arguments in the cafeteria with 8th-grade friends about The Catcher in the Rye, between those of us who identified with Holden Caulfield and those who couldn't stand him. But it was Salinger's Nine Stories that soon became my literary bible. Then there was Franny and Zooey. But, again, Nine Stories is the book that continues to resonate. Was I more surprised yesterday to read that J.D. Salinger had died or that he had died at 91?

bushel of blueclaws

This postcard arrived yesterday. Can spring be that far off? It took about two minutes for the new BlueClaws logo (crab with ball) to catch on over the old one (crab with bat). I guess it's all a 10-year cycle---and always a reason to sell more goods.

baseball by the stats

Bill James projects that J.A. Happ (12-4 with a 2.93 ERA in 2009) will finish the 2010 season 10-11 and a 4.43 ERA. Al Leiter, who says he loves Happ, predicts a 16-5 season for him. Who will be right? Who will remember or check come October?

carlos ruiz: three years, $8.85 million

Yay, Chooch! The Phillies have signed hard-working catcher Carlos Ruiz to a three-year deal worth $8.85 million. I've been a Chooch fan since his days with Double-A Reading; others have been wowed by his post-season performances. This deal takes Ruiz through his remaining years of arbitration.

With seven regulars and four starting pitchers signed through 2011, the Phillies have now pretty much reached cost certainty for the next two years. The one elephant in the room remains Jayson Werth--- and his expiring contract. How much are we going to hear about that this coming season?

Matt Stairs, minus some 30 pounds, has signed a one-year minor league deal with the Padres. His legend is, of course, safe in Philadelphia.

jose contreras on one-year deal and what about werth?

The Phillies have reportedly signed RHP Jose Contreras to a one-year deal, pending a physical. It took some time but you had to know Amaro would sign an ageing vet. At 38, Contreras qualifies. (Speaking of which, how is Jamie Moyer doing?) At a reported $1 million for the year, it sounds like one of those low-risk, high-reward deals Ruben's been preaching. This GM keeps rolling.

It was odd to see Victorino with hair, but that was the offseason look he was sporting at his press conference. And speaking of hair, how likely is it now that the Phillies will be able to extend super-stud Jayson Werth? In the last year of a two-year deal, Werth is poised to become a superstar. And he may be the first of this immensely popular group of guys to leave on his own.

Megabucks loom for the talented outfielder but the Phillies have pretty much maxed out their revenue streams. Several high-priced teams are no doubt already thinking about him in their outfield. After yesterday's presser for Victorino, Ruben Amaro, Jr. talked about the impossibility of having $15 million players at each position. This all goes to point up the fact that as great a job as Ruben's done, his biggest challenges are yet to come.

shane victorino: three years, $22 million

The Phillies have extended center field energizer Shane Victorino to a three-year deal worth $22 million. A noon press conference was held to announce the deal. Ruben Amaro, Jr. called Victorino, who was twice a Rule Five player, a "classic over-achiever" who has " become a core player" with the Phillies. It's true, too. Victorino has made himself as much a part of the core as Rollins, Utley, and Howard.

Amaro and Victorino both mentioned that they hoped to be celebrating another such contract in future. Victorino said that for his part he wanted to finish his career in Philadelphia, that he loved the city, the fans, the organization, and loved his team. Like Joe Blanton yesterday, he said that money and security were good but really it was the chance to win that was essential. He thinks that the Phillies have that chance for at least the next three years and, he hopes, for many more to follow.

Asked how the Phillies became interested in Victorino in the first place, Amaro said they had seen him with the Dodgers but he really got on their radar playing winter ball down in Maracaibo, Venezuela, one year. Tomas (the pieman) Perez played with Victorino and recommended him to Amaro's father.

Victorino, who got married this offseason, is headed for the Cayman Islands, where Jimmy Rollins will get married tomorrow.

joe blanton: three years, $24 million

The Phillies today signed steady righthanded pitcher Joe Blanton to a three-year extension worth $24 million. I've just caught the presser on Comcast (and MLBN).

Asked when he decided that Philadelphia would be a place to stay, Blanton replied that it happened in steps, starting with his first introduction to the team, which occurred at a Miami hotel after his trade from Oakland in 2008. He happened to arrive at the hotel, from Oakland, just as the team was coming in from a game and, he said, just about to man everyone came over, shook his hand, and gave him a welcome. That, he said, was something special. Then after three or four games he understood how good this team was, and it went from there.

Blanton talked about the family atmosphere (undeniable) of the Phillies and how much a part of it he and his wife felt. He also said that money and security are good but that winning is what makes a ballplayer happy. Players, he said, want to go where they can win. Philadelphia was just that kind of place and, for him, he was already there. Signing an extension was a no-brainer.

Ruben Amaro, Jr., quipped, "We paid him $24 million to say that." Everyone laughed and the presser ended. There was lots more, of course. Blanton, a quiet type, was almost loquacious with his answers. His baby daughter could be heard gurgling in the background. It was all very sweet. More to the point, Blanton has been a rock-solid competitor since coming over to the Phillies. For large parts of last season, he held the rotation together. Way to go, Joe!

With the signing, the Phillies now have four of their starting pitchers--Halladay, Hamels, Blanton, and Happ-- signed through 2012.

hey, an a's sighting

Baseball America ranks outfielder Michael Taylor as the #2 prospect in the A's system, with infielder Adrian Cardenas ranked at #9. Both are highly-touted former Phillie farmhands. Taylor, who was part of the Halladay trade last December, was immediately traded by the Blue Jays to the A's; Cardenas was part of the package in the Joe Blanton trade a couple of years ago. Good luck to both. I never saw Cardenas but read a lot about him. The last time was this summer, when the A's zine commemorating Ricky Henderson's HOF induction had an interview with the young man.

Reports are that the Phillies are working on multi-year extensions with their three remaining arbitration-eligible players: Shane Victorino, Carlos Ruiz, and Joe Blanton.

scottie reynolds at fingerfood

I don't follow college sports but do pay attention from afar to the Philadelphia college basketball scene. That's in large part because the city has a wonderful collection of coaches, whom I've often seen and heard speak. Charismatic John Chaney is now gone but Jay Wright, Fran Dunphy, Phil Martelli and their brethren carry on superbly. And it's easy to pay attention to a team (see Villanova and Temple) when it's winning. Which brings me to the excellent Scottie Reynolds, a guard on the Villanova team. John Finger has a good piece on Reynolds, and a super photo, on today's blog: www.fingerfood.typepad.com

In other news, the Phillies avoided arbitration with reliever Chad Durbin, who signed to a one-year deal worth $2.125 million.

After yesterday's dispiriting Sixer loss in Minneapolis, Samuel Dalembert flew back to Haiti to check on his family and to see what needs to be done. He is scheduled to rejoin the team tomorrow in Philadelphia.

sixers and 'wolves on mlk day

The Sixers are playing their annual Martin Luther King Day in Minneapolis this year. The game plays in the background, with the Sixers up by 17 in the 2nd quarter. They're getting better but are still the prototypical good-start-bad-finish kind of team. Allen Iverson, however, is turning into the unselfish player, passing the ball more often than not, that many wanted him to be. As Iverson has pointed out, however, more guys on this team are able to score than on his other Sixer teams. He doesn't have to do it all.

Speaking of former players, RHP Brandon Duckworth has signed a minor league contract with the Phillies. That means we should be seeing him with the IronPigs this season. Maybe quacks will mingle with the oinks that often fill the park.

Four Phillies--Shane Victorino, Carlos Ruiz, Joe Blanton, and Chad Durbin--have filed for arbitration. Tomorrow is the date for teams to exchange figures with their arbitration-eligible players. Last year the Phillies had 11 such players and avoided arbitration with all.

sheep to shawl competition

By 2:30 most of the seats in the sales arena were filled for the Sheep to Shawl competition, which started at 3 p.m and ended at 5:30.

Five teams took part in this year's competition. They had two and a half hours to produce a shawl, 78 by 22 inches, starting with shearing the sheep, then carding the yarn, spinning it, and weaving the shawl. Here a shearer readies his sheep for the start of the event.

Each team has name for itself. Five teams took part this year: Friends thru Fiber, Treadlers thru Time, Time Warp, Dream Weavers, and Butler County Pedalers. Treadlers thru Time won the shearing award.

Wool was sold during the competition.

The Treadlers thru Time members finish off the shawl once it was removed from the loom.

The Sheep to Shawl competition, which has run for 31 years, is one of the high points of the Pennsylvania Farm Show. PCN, the Pennsylvania cable network, has excellent coverage of the event, which is hosted by Tom Knisely, a teacher at the Manning School of Weaving. It's impossible in person to get the close-up looks and explanations that cable coverage affords but it was nonetheless fascinating. The shearing of the sheep, the most dramatic part of the event, is quickly over, but many in the audience stayed till the end of the two and a half hours of the competition, which ran until 5:30, then stuck around till 6 pm to hear who had won.

Teams are judged on shearing, fleece, spinning, weaving, design, and speed. First to finish? The Time Warp team from Montour County. In the end, they won the event with a beautiful shawl in shades of tans, browns, grays, and black. Each team designs its shawl around an theme, which is also used in a team display. Time Warp based its design on the striking colors and patterns found in the state bird, the Ruffed Grouse. The fleece for the weft wool was provided by Bear, a Shetland wether and five-year veteran of the competition.

I had been rooting for Treadlers thru Time, the team that was working almost in front of us. Their shawl was based on Pennsylvania skies, incorporating hand-dyed warp threads in soft shades of blue. Both colors and weave were lovely. The Treadlers won awards for shearing and carding and over-all team but came in second. When I saw the finished shawls, though, I had to give it to the Time Warp team.

nice going, sammy

The Sixers collected just over $30,000 in donations from fans at last night's game with the Sacramento Kings. Haiti-native Samuel Dalembert, still missing relatives in the aftermath of the earthquake, will match that total, in addition to his own initial donation of $100,000 to relief efforts.

samuel dalembert and aid for haiti

On the way home from the Farm Show last night, I tuned into to the Sixers' game with the Knicks. I wanted to hear the game and also wanted to hear about Samuel Dalembert, who was born in Port-au-Prince and has many relatives there. No doubt playing with a heavy heart, Dalembert was able to put aside the horror going on in his native country and had a good night, with 21 rebounds and 12 points, on 6-for-8 shooting.

At Friday night's game, he will make an initial donation of $100,000 to help relief efforts in Haiti. UNICEF representatives will also be on hand to take donations from fans. For more information or to donate, go to www.dalembertfoundation.org or www.unicefusa.org/hidden/the-nba-supports-unicef-relief-in-Haiti.html. Or call 1.877.AID-HAITI.

pennsylvania farm show 2010

The Pennsylvania Farm Show, held each January in Harrisburg, is the biggest indoor farm show in the United States. I've seen it lots on TV, thanks to the great job done by PCN (Pennsylvania Cable Network), but yesterday was the first time I actually went to it. We arrived, in a snail line of cars, before noon. By then the main lots were filled and we were funneled to offsite parking. Shuttle buses, though, were plentiful and quick and we didn't have to wait at all in the cold. One of the first displays I saw on entering the main hall was this one for 4-H. I used to have a notebook of pressed leaves much like the one on display!

This display of canned fruit looked like a huge, colorful wedding cake.

Pennsylvania is dairy country and there were lots of big beautiful cows at the farm show. The sculpted butter display paid tribute to the state's main agricultural industry.

The cows were gorgeous but the poultry hall was an audio blast, with non-stop quacks, clucks, screeches, and cock-a-doodle-dos. I never made it to see the horses, pigs, sheep, goats, and others. Lots of people were taking photos. If I had the time, I'd go back today to take lots more.

Here's a closer view of the handsome boy that attracted the photographer above.

I bought some tasty horseradish, hemp, and honey mustard and a jar of raspberry/hemp jam at Natalie's, "working to free the hemp seed since 1998" and bring hemp growing back to Pennsylvania. I also sampled their Hempzels (hemp pretzels), but passed because I'd just bought my fave spelt pretzels. The friendly guy running the stand said that Natalie's is now selling at a co-op on Main Street in Easton. I'll have to check it out when I want more pretzels.

xiang yang in shanghai

Chinese-born artist Xiang Yang, who lives and works in New York, sent this photo from Shanghai. He is there with his family for the installation of the gigantic piece, shown behind him, for Shanghai EXPO 2010. If you look closely, you'll see that this stunning work, which measures 30' x 18', is made of innumerable silk threads stretched taut. Wow! I've just been reading The Quantum and the Lotus and this creation somehow ties in with that remarkable book, a series of conversations between Mathieu Ricard, a French scientist turned Buddhist monk, and Trinh Xuan Thuan, a Vietnamese Buddhist who became an American astrophysicist.

I wish I could see this piece in person but am happy Xiang thought to send the image. This June he will have a solo show at Art base 798 Beijing. I'd say he's off to a roaring Year of the Tiger. www.xiang-yang.org

please go away!

Oh, so Mark McGwire has suddenly decided to confess to using steroids and HGH off and on for 10 years. And he's sorry. Will McGwire and all his ilk please shut up and go away! Didn't have the guts to own up years ago but now that he is back in baseball is compelled to clear things up. I guess we are now supposed to indulge in a festival of forgiveness--or is that forgetfulness--so that he can get into the Hall of Fame. So put him and the other admitted or outed users into a wing of their own.

two books

Santa Fe artist Lauren Camp sent this fabric postcard a couple of years ago. Another Camp piece, Loudest Noise, showing Thelonius Monk, is used on the cover of Ask Me Now, Conversations on Jazz & Literature, edited by Sascha Feinstein, a poet and English professor. The book is a series of interviews Feinstein did with 20 writers, poets, record producers, and others, all with a visceral connection with the music and the men and women who make it. I started making a list of favorite interviews: Dan Morgenstern, John Sinclair, Sonya Sanchez, Philip Levine, Gary Giddins, Haki R. Madhubuti---then realized that I had learned something wonderful from each and every one of them. For the serious and casual jazz lover, this is a great book and one that can be read over and over.

Another book I turn to again and again is The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz, a brilliant writer and Polish Jew who was shot by the Nazis in 1942. A collection of autobiographical short stories loosely stitched together, the book is about the 'private' world of Schulz's boyhood in the Polish town of Drogobych. In language that is poetic, imaginative, and immediate, Schulz describes how his shopkeeper father slowly descends into madness, hatching rare birds in the attic, talking with tailors' dummies, and becoming obsessed with cockroaches, while his mother withdraws into indifference. Like the Street of Crocodiles itself, though, nothing in the book is quite what it seems. Once home to dark, exotic cinnamon and spice shops, the street becomes a tawdry thoroughfare of cheap pleasures. Sleepy, provincial Drogobych, meanwhile, takes on the sudden, swirling urgency of van Gogh's Starry Night. A marvelous blend of memory and fantasy, Street of Crocodiles brings to life a world that was in transition and was soon to be no more.

bits and pieces

Brett Myers signed this week with the Astros, adding to the growing list of ex-Phillies (Michael Bourn, Pedro Feliz, etc.) who have found a home in Houston. Maybe it's a good place for Myers, who had hip surgery last summer, to restart his career. One thing we know, he's sure to come back to beat up his old team, too. The Astros always seem to have the Phillies' number.

Jamie Moyer is still battling a blood infection, which is delaying the procedure on his knee. That means that Moyer will not be ready for opening day. So, who will be the fifth starter?

Righty reliever Clay Condrey has signed with Minnesota. Another cog in the bullpen gone. Speaking of the bullpen, who is going to step it up this year?

Reliever Chad Durbin has signed a one-year deal. That leaves Carlos Ruiz, Shane Victorino, and Joe Blanton on the arbitration-eligible list.

For one night at least, the Sixers held on in Detroit last night to reverse their dismal trend of building big leads early in games and blowing them late.

happy 1st to mlbn

Snow last night and more snow this morning, of the slow, lazy kind.

Lost in the many things happening early this year was the first anniversary of MLBN, which has proved to be a total boon for baseball lovers. It's simply amazing how good the network has become in almost no time at all. Till now the folks there have deftly avoided bludgeoning us, a la ESPN, with Yankees-Red Sox, Yankees-Red Sox, Yankees-Red Sox. Let's hope that the addition of Peter Gammons does not change that.

I was out when the HOF announcement was made and only caught it on the fly. I kept waiting for Roberto Alomar's name to appear, would have thought he was a shoo-in. It only goes to show that baseball writers too veer down the same path as fans, turning selections into popularity contests.

farewell, scott eyre

Word is that lefty reliever Scott Eyre has announced his retirement. He came over to the Phillies from the Cubs in August 2008 and was a key part of the bullpen in both runs to the World Series. So our last image of him shall be in tears at the end of the 2009 World Series, saying that if he did not retire, he would pitch one more year for the Phillies but nowhere else. He seemed like a loose, goofy kind of guy who came in, did his job, played through pain, and never complained.

Eyre fit right into the Phillies' bullpen and appeared to appreciate every moment he was there. His comments about Bud Selig after the suspended game of the 2008 World Series were unforgettable. He will definitely be missed and should get a warm welcome whenever he comes back to the ballpark for old-timers' weekends and such.

belated birthday greetings and we all scream

It's frigid here in the Northeast and to me it's great weather to be at the ocean. No chance, though, of going this month.

Belated birthday greetings to Charlie Manuel, who yesterday turned 66. That, however, is not what made me scream yesterday. While watching MLBN's 30 in 30 segment on the Phillies, both Harold Reynolds and Tom Verducci agreed that Roy Halladay could win 25 games this year. My first reaction was to scream. I did, I did, not that predictions have any bearing on actuality.

What makes these predictions interesting, though, is that Reynolds and Verducci came at them from opposite extremes. Reynolds judges players by looking at how they perform on the field while Verducci is a sabremetrics/numbers kind of guy. Both, however, came to the same conclusion about our new boy Roy.

how much longer

Yesterday I watched Game 5 of the World Series on MLBN, wished it were Game 1, and could not bear to watch Game 6. In between I switched to Comcast for an old interview with Chase Utley, who is as dishy as he is good. (That would be superlatives for both.)

The only Phillies news over the holidays was the reported signing of reliever Danys Baez, someone who's been on the Phillies' wish list for a couple of years. I guess the signing means Chan Ho Park, still said to be pursuing a starting position, is gone. Too bad, really; he was good in his role as reliever.

Can spring training come soon enough?

horse tree

Here we keep Christmas decorations up until January 6. The horse tree, with lots of straw and corn husk horses from Tono (Iwate, Japan), plus other folk horses from around the world, has found a holiday home upstairs in the back hall. It's tempting to take away the candy canes and leave the tree up till summer.

baby, it's cold out there

This Brandywine critter, about 15 inches tall, stood between two of the Christmas trees displayed at the Brandywine River Museum. It's a great beaver but, really, why not a groundhog?

Yesterday on the radio preview to the Winter Classic, I heard Jim Jackson, the TV play-by-play guy for the Flyers, talking about playing, watching, and announcing games in the cold. Jackson also does the pre- and postgame shows for the Phillies and was with the team during the postseason.

When the Phillies played the Rockies in Denver on a bitterly cold day there, Scott Franzke, the radio play-by-play guy, insisted that the windows of the radio booth be open in order to get the feel of the cold. And that's how they all did the game.

I love this story. Scott Franzke, in almost no time at all, has become an outstanding baseball broadcaster. Still in his mid-30's, he joined the Phillies broadcasting team about three years ago. With three post-season appearances in that time, he's already had a good run. You've got to wonder, though, if he will stay in Philadelphia for his entire career. Or has the age of the long-time baseball announcer, too, gone by the boards.

day one

What a beautiful day the first day of the new year turned out to be. Here we have snow everywhere but a couple of miles away, as in this image, it was more like a dusting of confectioner's sugar. The day's temperatures climbed only to about 38F or so, but after the recent cold that felt almost like spring. Despite the clouds, everything felt airy and light. I came home from getting gasoline to watch some of the Winter Classic up in Fenway Park. The WC has quickly become hockey's shining moment. Too bad that the intermissions were the same tired old things.

We can now say spring training starts next month!

garlic and olive oil for all

I made this New Year's card yesterday for Jessie Foyle, aka Mrs. October, who will soon be 95. This morning The Morning Call had a short piece on Joe Paterno, 83, who has been the head football coach at Penn State since 1966. I don't follow college football but the headline on the story intrigued: Paterno's secret: 'A lot of garlic, a lot of olive oil'. In the piece, Paterno credits his coaching longevity to garlic and olive oil. It started, he said, when he was a boy. Whenever he felt listless, his mother would put him in a tub of hot water, rub olive oil on his head, and shove garlic down his throat until he said he felt fine.

Happy 2010 to all! And don't forget to eat your garlic and olive oil.