the gnome lives!

The amazing Ryan Howard Garden Gnome is back! Not the one pictured here, which was handed out last August at a Reading Phillies' game, but a new version. V.2 features Howard in his black R-Phils' uni and will be given to the first 3500 fans on April 14, opening night, in Reading. That night will kick off a four-day weekend of events planned to celebrate the $10 million renovation done over the winter to the Reading ballpark. Last summer's gnome earned the fulminations of Keith Olberman. I think the R-Phil general manager actually made #1 on his 'Worst Person in the World' list. Too bad Olberman got sacked last week or we could have a Worst Person redux in April.

warm thoughts on a cold day

It's crab season and here are some from the Sea of Japan, steamed and flavored with salt.

Dried persimmons at a street fair in Wakayama, "rich in carotene and delicious".

These photos, taken earlier this month, arrived today in a packet from old friend Uomi Zenjiro in Obama, on the Sea of Japan. He and his wife run a pension there. Crabs are a winter delicacy in that part of Japan and Uomi wrote that the guests thoroughly approved of the ones shown here. Dried persimmons are another seasonal treat and could be my favorite dried fruit. I used to string them up like this and dry them myself when I lived in Tono.

The brilliant oranges of both photos warmed the day. Snow has again been falling for hours now.

digital ballparks

An early morning bird at the feeder yesterday morning. When the neighbor came down yesterday evening to clear the driveway, he kindly made a path to the feeder as well. Sweet guy.

The Phillies winter banquet was held yesterday in the Lehigh Valley. Prominent among the guests was new IronPigs' manager Ryne Sandberg, who said that before accepting the job he did some research on the 'Pigs on the "good old Internet". What he saw about the franchise, Coca-Cola Park, and the fans impressed him.

Sandberg's comment led me to wonder if the folks at Digital Ballparks had finally visited the park. They had and they have an insightful, in-depth review (in need of editing) about the IronPigs, the park, and the history of professional baseball in the Lehigh Valley.

They tie it all together with an interesting look at not only the success of the 'Pigs but also what that success shows about Triple-A baseball and its growing popularity. In an admittedly 'apples to oranges' comparison, they note that in 2010 the IronPigs, with a max seating capacity around 10,000, drew more fans than all but two (Redskins and Cowboys) NFL teams. And that Triple-A baseball draws two-thirds of the fans that the NBA and NHL do. http://www.digitalballparks.com/International/IronPigs.html

bird tracks

Birds left a cryptic message on the back porch early this morning.

everything mozart

Happy Birthday, Amadeus! We had lots of snow starting yesterday morning, then lots more overnight. With Mozart non-stop on the radio, it's a perfect day to be snowed in.

What I learned from the radio this morning is that it was snowing today in Salzburg and that there is always snow on the ground in January in Salzburg. That means there was snow on the ground when Mozart was born there.

Shortly before 11, one of the hosts on the morning show managed to work the Phillies' rotation into his comments about Mozart!

ho-hum, ho-hum

The prayer flags were blowing in the wind and snow this morning.

It's that time of the offseason when nothing is nothing and nothing is all. Sabermetrically-minded fans are chasing their tails, Mets' fans are telling the world that their line-up is better than the Phillies', when they should be thinking about how their team can finish ahead of the Nationals, and many other fans are obsessing over, well, nothing.

So it was a welcome (sort of) sign of the season to hear yesterday that the Yankee pimp mobile was already out and rolling. According to the #1 Yankee fan on the FAN, the Yankees have, not one, two, or three pitching prospects at the double- and triple-A levels this year but TEN. Not only that but also every one is a starter and several project to be top of the rotation in the majors. What if the Yankees' current starting rotation is less than compelling? No worry, the arms are in place---for a trade for a real top-of-the-rotation guy come mid-season. Meanwhile, let the hype begin.

Some in New York speculate that GM Brian Cashman, in the last year of his contract, may decide to leave the Yankees. If Cashman does leave, I wonder if he would go to the Nationals, an up-and-coming team with a rich owner who has an itch to spend? Could be interesting.

It's getting almost dizzying to follow all the moves being made by the Blue Jays. The latest were somehow getting the Angels to take on Vernon Wells and his bloated contract for catcher Mike Napoli and outfielder Juan Rivera. Days later they traded Napoli to the Rangers for reliever Frank Francisco. Good luck to the Jays! They may have a way to go in the AL East but they are certainly being active and creative.

Why would the A's trade Gio Gonzalez to the Yankees?

Marcus Hayes has an interesting article this morning at philly.com about Jimmy Rollins' career bankrolling music. Called J-Roll goes platinum, the piece indicates that Rollins is not only a passionate, intelligent baseball player but also a cool, and savvy, entrepreneur.

At the Zozone, MLB writer Todd Zolecki has a good piece on the price paid for the Phillies' rotation. It lists the 13 prospects who went in the trades for Lee in 2009, then Halladay, then Oswalt and how the young ones are faring with their new teams.

glory

Jozef Bajus sent beautiful images of a recent series of his called Glory. It takes its name from the movie about the heroics of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, a company of African-American men who fought in the Civil War. Led by young Captain Robert G. Shaw, most of the company perished in a bloody battle at Fort Wagner in 1863.

end of arbitration

The Phillies today signed RHP Kyle Kendrick to a one-year contract worth $2.45 million dollars. Kendrick, who still has options, will probably be the fifth starter in the likely event that Joe Blanton is dealt. Should Kendrick be edged out by rookie Vance Worley, he would end up at Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The bullpen is another possibility, for Kendrick or Worley.

On Saturday, the Phillies signed outfielder Ben Francisco to a one-year $1.175 million deal. Francisco will likely be part of a right field platoon to start the year.

With today's signing, the Phillies have no more arbitration-eligible cases remaining. Coincidentally, both Francisco and Kendrick got married during the off-season.

ex libris at adam baumgold

Cyrilla Mozenter, Problems of Art, paperback book, hazelnuts, handmade paper.

Cyrilla Mozenter is one of 28 artists in Ex Libris, at the Adam Baumgold Gallery, 60 East 66th Street, New York, NY, from January 26 to February 26. www.adambaumgoldgallery.com

martin luther king, jr. day

Forecasts for dicey weather made me decide to skip going to Philadelphia to see the MLK Day game between the Sixers and the Bobcats so I watched it on TV. The Sixers' slack jump-shooting game in the first half drove me batty and I kept switching to an ESPN interview between Dick Schaap and Buck O'Neill, about the Negro Leagues.

O'Neill told a great story about how he heard that Jackie Robinson had been signed to play organized baseball. At the time O'Neill was boatswain stationed in Subic Bay, in the Philippines. Around 10:30 at night, when most of the sailors were asleep in their bunks, he was paged by the captain to report to him ASAP. When he did so, the captain told him that the news had just come across that Branch Rickey had signed Jackie Robinson to a contract to play organized baseball. O'Neill, a Negro Leagues player who went on to have a career in the majors, started whooping, then commandeered the P.A. system and announced the signing to all. Then everyone started whooping and hollering.

The Sixers did better in the third quarter but in the fourth went back to playing a slack game, coughing up a 12-point lead, then just managing to tie the game and send it to overtime. I by then was switching back and forth between the game and an MLBN Studio 42 interview filmed last May between Bob Costas and Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard. Somewhere near the end of the interview, Costas referenced an a cappella rendition Rollins and Howard had done of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game". Awesome. Hilarious. Totally original. It should be shown at ballparks everywhere.

The Sixers went ahead in overtime on an Andre Iguodala shot, rookie Evan Turner made four key free-throw shots, and the spark plug all game long was of course Lou Williams. It shouldn't have been so hard but in the end the Sixers won 96-92.

skating in central park

Last night the Flyers played the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, which is usually a good show between intense rivals. But the highlight for me turned out to be the account of the Flyers' practice the day before in Central Park. Things were a bit stacked at Madison Square Garden this weekend and a Sunday morning skate-around was not possible. Coach Peter Laviolette decided instead to give his guys an outdoor bonding experience in mid-season. Saturday's weather was brilliant and Manhattan made a fabulous backdrop. The Flyers divided into two teams, orange and white, for their practice. An adjacent public rink was filled with ordinary people enjoying their own ice time. The guys on the team seemed to be having great fun, as well. One of them came off the ice crooning, "Put me in coach, I'm ready to play today..."

In last night's game the Flyers took a 3-0 lead, then hung on for a 3-2 win. And speaking of being ready to play, pitchers and catchers now report in less than a month.

phillies vs. braves in 2011 civil rights game

The 2011 and 2012 Civil Rights Games will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, which was a center of the Civil Rights movement. This year's game, the fifth since 2007, will feature the Phillies vs. the Braves at Turner Field. This is a welcome bit of exciting news. Both teams will wear throwback unis of the old Negro Leagues. A showing of a documentary about Hank Aaron will be part of the five-day events associated with the game.

falling water

Detail of Falling Water, a paper cut work backed with silk by Pittsburgh artist Bovey Lee. This is another favorite work from Rock, Paper, Scissors, the three-venue show curated by Jill Larson of Fe Gallery and held last spring in Pittsburgh. Lee, a native of Hong Kong, uses digital templates for her sensational paper work but cuts them all by hand. The piece of course references the famous house, located not far from the city, by Frank Lloyd Wright.

escalona for cartwright

Reliever Sergio Escalona, designated for assignment over the weekend, has been traded to the Houston Astros for second baseman Albert Cartwright. Escalona spent much of last season at double-A Reading but never got on track. Cartwright impressed in his single-A stint but flamed out last year in double-A. He will not be on the 40-man roster.

galeria x

I found this flyer for a 2006 exhibit at Galeria X, an innovative little gallery in Bratislava, in a folder from a trip to Slovakia and Hungary that year. I hear from Silvia Fedorova, one of the founders of the 20-year-old gallery, that this spring it will finally close. For more than a decade the space has been under threat of losing its lease and it is now going to happen.

dark day

As the news of the shooting in Tucson, Arizona, of Representative Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others started to spread, yesterday turned into one of those dark, tragic days. You knew it would only get worse once the details of all of the victims started to become known. This morning we learned that the nine-year-old girl reported killed yesterday was Christina-Taylor Green, the granddaughter of Dallas Green, former manager, now executive, with the Phillies. Born on September 11, 2001, Christina-Taylor was reportedly an active, passionate, caring child who already knew that, like Gabrielle Giffords, she wanted to be a force for good. What a devastating, heartbreaking day.

end of the holidays

Yesterday was Russian Christmas and all of the Christmas decorations will now come down. Time for some New Year rabbits, some Mozart, and some Valentines.

prayer flags flying

These are the prayer flags I made last year. This time I borrowed the clothes line out back to lend some stability to the rope I braided for hanging them. I took the bottom photo this morning shortly after the snow stopped and the top one in the afternoon when the sun had come out. Timing was everything. About an hour later the neighbor came down with his snowblower to clear the driveway, saw the flags blowing, and thoughtfully created a path out to the line.

red-and-green prayer flag

Last year I made a ton of prayer flags, which in fact turned out to be too heavy for the rope I made to hold them. At the end of the year I made a single version, using a Hmong embroidery I picked up years ago in Laos and a piece of green fabric left over from having a futon made years ago in Kyoto. Red and green: my favorite color combination.

The Hall of Fame announcements were made yesterday. Roberto Alomar was no surprise. He should have been voted in last year. Bert Blyleven also made it in, proving that longevity has its place in the game.

balk

This online zine called Balk! was in a Christmas packet from Priscilla. I still don't know where she learned about it but this first issue, put out in April 2009, is hysterically funny. The cover led me to assume that it was about the Phillies and I started leafing through the pages, all of which featured wacko baseball cards, plus commentary, of players past.

After a couple of pages, I got the point: All players were wearing glasses, most of them truly hideous, too. When I finally went back to read the intro, it all made sense. It was written by the great bespectacled one himself, Kent Tekulve.

According to the publisher's note, upcoming issues were to feature players with unique haircuts and facial hair, and more bad baseball cards, but the first issue seems to have been the last. The zine's site (www.balkmag.wordpress.com) is a dead-end. Too bad. The first issue was great fun and informative, too.

happy birthday, charlie manuel

It's Charlie Manuel's 67th! Congrats to the skipper. If the pitching rotation holds up to projections, every day will be a holiday for Chuck.

mlb's 20 greatest games

On my way to watching a bit of the Sixers last night, I tuned into MLBN and ended up entranced by Game 20 in the network's countdown of the 20 greatest games in the sport. The game took place May 17, 1979 at Wrigley Field between the Phillies and the Cubs. I've often heard about the game, which featured 45 runs and 50 hits, on a sunny afternoon in Chicago.

Larry Bowa, Phillies' shortstop in the game, provided commentary, along with Bog Costas and Tom Verducci. The in-game play-by-play was supplied, for the most part, by Ed Brickhouse of the Cubs. The Phillies scored seven runs in the first and seemed to be on the way to a laugher, but the Cubs came back with six of their own in the bottom of the inning. Both teams went to relievers in that first inning. With a cushion in the fifth, the Phillies brought in closer Tug McGraw, who promptly gave up seven runs. By the sixth inning the score was 21-19, with the Phillies still on top.

In the eighth, though, Dave Kingman hit his third homer of the game. All were mammoth shots but this one went across Waveland Avenue and bounced off the porch of the third house on a side street. The Cubs ended up tying the game. In the 10th, Mike Schmidt, who had homered in the first, homered again to put the Phillies up 23-22 and that's where the game ended. For the Cubs and their fans, it was, as Brickhouse noted, a 'flat' and 'sad' end to one of the greatest games ever played. Not so much for the Phillies.

Larry Bowa referenced Pete Rose's play in the game again and again. In 1979, Rose was 38 and in his first year with the Phillies. But it's true, as Bowa said, he played with the energy and passion of a 22-year-old, even when the game seemed ludicrously, lopsidedly in favor of the Phillies. No wonder Bowa is often impatient with today's ballplayers.

Cub reliever Willie Hernandez's only at-bat was an ignominious and hysterically funny strike-out. Has to be seen to be believed.

triple play

PostMuse sent this card, an illustration (looks like a New Yorker cover to me) by Bruce McCall called Triple Play. She wrote that she is not really a baseball fan but thinking about baseball at this time of the year reminds her that spring will come, that winter will not last forever. The card arrived just before the weekend and it, plus a glimpse on TV of Catfish Hunter, prompted me to get out a CD of baseball songs. One of the best, sexiest, and saddest ever has got to be Bob Dylan's eponymous tribute to that pitcher.

happy new year

The IronPigs are counting on new manager Ryne Sandberg to make it a happy new year for the club. Let's get it started in 2011!