A cloudy morning in Phoenix is a godsend, don’t ever let anyone tell you differently. Some things I have noticed or thought about in the last few hours include:

• TNT’s Chip Caray is just getting crushed for his performance in last night’s one game playoff between the Tigers and Twins. It’s primarily about this play, but it’s not like his detractors don’t have years of history from which to draw.
• Tiger manager Jim Leyland was getting ripped on local sports radio this morning for not bringing Justin Verlander on in relief in the 12th. Well, consider this:
  • Verlander’s not a reliever;
  • He had just pitched 7.2 innings and thrown 120 pitches on Sunday;
  • Yes, Fernando Rodney had thrown 46 pitches before Alexi Casilla’s game-winning hit. But he had retired the Twins 1-2-3 on nine pitches in the 11th, given up a soft single to lead off the 12th, then got a groundout and had intentionally walked Delmon Young. It’s not like they were crushing the guy; and
  • It doesn’t appear like the Detroit media is questioning the non-move this morning, that I can see, anyway.

  It’s classic second-guessing by sports talk show hosts who need controversy. As to the notion that Leyland was saving Verlander to start Game 1 against the Yankees today so he could potentially pitch twice against New York, I think it might have been a stretch for him to come back on two days’ rest to start Game 1 anyway, don’t you?

• I watched the first installment of ESPN’s 30 for 30 last night. “Kings Ransom,” about the 1988 trade of Wayne Gretzky from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings, was good. Not great, but good. At 30 minutes (30 for 30? In 30?) it probably would have been really good. But it dragged a bit and director Peter Berg got a bit too clever in spots (including the extended discussion with Gretzky at a driving range, which seemed to be a bit too much “look at me, I can talk to Wayne Gretzky on a golf course!”) By about the 15 minute mark, you got it - Edmonton loved Wayne Gretzky. Okay, move on. The trade was traumatic for Canadians. But I didn’t learn a whole lot that I didn’t already know, and I should. Still, I’ll watch most of the rest of the series, especially the one on the USFL.
• This Sunday at 4pm ET, you can see me on the Big Ten Network. Chris Doran and I call Michigan State/Wisconsin in men’s soccer in a must-win game for both teams.

Tags: baseball, Big Ten Network, hockey, NHL, the joys of living in Phoenix, things people say, Work

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 9:25 am and is filed under Miscellaneous, Work, soccer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.