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Sunday, October 20, 2002 |
Dan Gillmor on Mitch Kapor's 'Crazy' Software Plan
I've written Mitch Kapor (whom I've never met) an email asking if I can help with the Chandler project. Here's Dan Gillmor's usual on-target assessment of what Kapor and his team are up to.
They're using all my favorite technologies, including Zope for the ODB side of things. This is going to be fun even if it isn't hot.
11:57:09 PM 
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Amusing Animation: Tom Lehrer's 'The Elements'
Stumbled across this on a NetNewsWire Lite feed via Daypop Top 40. If you like Lehrer's absurdity, you'll probably get a kick out of this.
11:53:04 PM
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One Offensive Outing
I predicted a high-scoring, close game with the Angels winning. Three
for three. Maybe I should think about heading to Las Vegas?
There were so many highlights (or lowlights, depending on your
perspective) in this one that it's going to be challenging to write a
succinct summary of the game. If I were back in my old sportswriter's
garb, I'd be writing something like this:
There were so many balls flying around and so many runners scurriying
about that Edison Field resembled nothing so much as the backdrop for
one of those time-lapse photographs you see on TV sometimes where
everything is a blur. When the insanity was over, the Anaheim Angels had
squared the 2002 World Series at a game apiece by eking out a
nail-biting 11-10 victory over the San Francisco Giants. The Series now
heads fo San Francisco for Game 3 on Tuesday.
Now, as a Giants fan, I want to say that I am really disappointed in
Jeff Kent. He's not doing his free-agent stock much good in this
post-season. If he were, we might even be up 2-0 in the Series.
As it is, however, the Giants got a split, which is a very good thing in
a 7-game set. And that's going to be good enough for them to win this
thing. It'll take six, I still think, but meanwhile, wait up for Game 3.
9:20:20 PM
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Top of Ninth
Well, this has certainly been an exciting game. And we have our best
hitters coming to the plate, but they have their amazing closer, Troy
Percival, taking over on the mound. Nail-biting time.
While I'm blogging, one of my readers chimed in on AIM to tell me he has
an SRO ticket for Game 5 for $275. Wish I had the money, I'd grab that
sucker. If you read this and you want it, email me.
Aurilia gives the ball a ride, but it drops into the left fielder's
glove. One out.
Kent up. Percival gets ahead of him 0-2. Flies out to left. One out left
and it's Barry.
Gotta pitch to him, so he gets his second round-tripper of the series!
No real harm done, though. Giants 10, Angels 11.
Santiago gets a shot now. Pops out to right. Game over.
Giants 10, Angels 11
Exactly as I predicted: high-scoring and close.
Great ball game if you like offense!
9:06:30 PM
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Bottom of Eighth
Kennedy leads off. F-Rod blows heat by him on the first two pitches.
Into the right-field corner. Foul. Just what my buddy Wally Aron calls
a "loud strike." Easy fly out to center. One gone.
Eckstein comes up. Soft single to right-center.
Erstad comes to the plate, works F-Rod to a full count. Soft fly out to
Bonds in left. Two gone.
Salmon up next. He's been impossible all night. Shit. Two-run shot,
Angles up 11-9.
Crap. I was just about to write, "They ought to seriously think about
walking this guy."
Popout ends it, but too late for the Giants. 2-3-4 coming up in the
ninth for our last shot.
Gians 9, Angels 11
8:57:00 PM
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Top of Eighth
David Bell leading off against the phenom. Pops out to center for the
seventh straight out by Rodriguez.
Dunston fouls out on first pitch. Two gone.
Lofton gets first two strikes quickly. Slapper back to the mound. Inning
over.
Giants 9, Angels 9
8:33:08 PM
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Bottom of Seventh
We counter with our own version of F Rodriguez.
F-Rod lets the leadoff guy, Gaus, get to 3-0 (though I thought his first
pitch was actually a strike and looked a lot like his fourth, which was
called a strike). High popout behind second.
Fullmer swinging for the fences. F-Rod gets the first two strikes on
him and then toys around to a full count. How often have seen that by
F-Rod this year? Too many times. Ends up losing him on a walk. That kind
of stuff just frosts my butt. A major league pitcher who gets out front
0-2 should never walk the guy.
Spiezio gives Giants fans a bit of a scare with a long, long out.
Fly out to right, game still tied.
Giants 9, Angels 9
8:27:20 PM
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Top of Seventh
Santiago leads off against Francisco Rodriguez. Strikes out ugly. This
Rodriguez has the meanest slider I've seen, even better than Nen's.
Snow up. My gosh, this guy Rodriguez makes everyone look stupid. Snow
grounds harmlessly to first.
Sanders back up. We need baserunners, guys!
Three straight strikes. Never even got a smell.
Giants 9, Angels 9
8:08:59 PM
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Bottom of Sixth
Leadoff guy is out but here comes the X-Factor, Mr. Eckstein.
OK, groundout short to first. Erstad up with two out and nobody on.
Zerbe is looking really, really solid. If he can finish this inning and
maybe take a guy or two in the 7th, then we're into our real
pitchers.
Ah, shit. No sooner said than a double down the line by Ersted ends Mr.
Zerbe's solid outing. Nice job, Chad.
Time for Witasick. Good call by the Bake.
The TV graphic reminds us the Angels are a come-from-behind kind of
club. As if we didn't already know that.
Witasick just has to focus on getting Salmon, who's been a very tough
out for the Giants in two games. Full count, runner will be moving on
the pitch with two out. Terrible pitch walks him.
Aaron Fultz coming in to get Garrett Anderson, lefty on lefty. Playing
the odds.
RBI single to right, nice cutoff play gets the second runner, but Erstad
scores on the play.
Giants 9, Angels 9
8:02:01 PM
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Top of Sixth
The 20-year-old hotshot Francisco Rodriguez in to pitch for the Angels.
Whew. Pretty tough pitching against Aurilia. One down.
Kent up, Bonds on deck. Geez, that's a great slider that guy throws,
especially for such a youngster.
Kent is gone swinging.
Now do they pitch to Barry?
They do. Bonds is out on one pitch.
Giants 9, Angels 8
7:42:59 PM
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Bottom of Fifth
You have the feeling this one's not over yet. This has been an
amazing offensive outburst tonight. Sixteen runs at the halfway point.
The Angels are supposed to be the scrappy team, but the Giants are
showing a lot of no-quit tonight, aren't they?
As Buck is pointing out as I type this, I was clearly wrong about Zerbe.
He has stepped up in a big way and done far better than I would have
anticipated. Great job.
Ouch. Leadoff base hit that also bumps the ankle of the pitcher.
This would be a great time for a double play. Zerbe's been getting them
to hit the ball on the ground. Even their two singles off him were
grounders.
Lofton misplayed that ball as well. He couldn't have caught up with it,
but he fumbles the switch to his throwing hand. Sheesh. Runners at the
corners with nobody out. As I said, not over yet. But that's the first
fly-ball Zerbe's allowed and it was a little flare (what we used to call
a Texas Leaguer).
Spiezio at the plate. Sac fly RBI brings in Glaus. Giants 9, Angels 8
Molina works Zerbe to a full count. Grounds into a 5-4-3 double play
even though Fullmer was running. So the Angels score an unearned run.
I think Dusty should yank Lofton and put Shinjo in as a defensive maneuver.
Giants 9, Angels 8
7:37:25 PM
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Top of Fifth
Something wrong with the network or servers or something, so my blog
isn't updating at all. The email's not getting out, and I can't reach
any Web sites. So the problem is obviously on my side of the wall. I'll
keep on blogging, though; not many people reading in real time, I suspect.
Aurilia starts out with a bloop double.
Kent takes a called third strike. Great pitch.
Intentionally walking the tying run. That ought to piss of Santiago
enough to keep this inning alive.
Pitching change. Weber comes in. Good move all the way around for the
Angels. Tying run on, go-ahead run at the plate. Neener-neener-neener.
Santiago singles but not deep enough to score Aurilia.
JT Snow has the chance here to tie this game with a single. My wife is
sitting next to me and she just predicted a gand slam. 3-0 count, no
place to put him, so he has to get a pitch to hit.
Single to right, tie game! Great hitting, JT!
Sanders has a chance to put us ahead even with a deep fly out. Good guy
to have at the plate in this situation, I think. Oh, well, he strikes out.
Up steps David Bell. Will the two-out charm hold or will Ben Weber get
out of the jam?
Infield single by Bell, Giants take the lead! Wow. What a bang-bang
play. Giants 8, Angels 7
That was a very close play at second. Only fitting after we took two
bad calls at second last night.
Snow scores on Dunston's seeing-eye single through the left side of the
infield. Giants 9, Angels 7.
Lofton is the ninth hitter of the inning. Grounds out second to first.
Four-run inning to take the lead!
Giants 9, Angels 7
7:24:53 PM
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Bottom of Fourth
Great play by Bell at third on Eckstein. Then Erstad crushes one to him
as well. Now you know why they call it The Hot Corner.
Salmon gets his third hit of the night. The Oldest Angel is getting on
my nerves.
My Weblog appears to be unstuck, at least mostly. The problem appears to
be on my end. I've recycled my DSL modem and may have to do it again.
Performance on my machine is dog-slow.
OK, nice play by Kent ends the inning.
Giants 5, Angels 7
7:03:12 PM
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Top of Fourth
Sanders leads off with a solid single to left.
Wow, first hit off either bulllpen in nine innings of the World Series,
says Tim McCarver. Pretty impressive.
Whoa, stolen base for Reggie Sanders but what a great leaping grab by
David Kennedy. Amazing.
Bell swings at ball four and ends up doing nothing. Great effort,
proving nothing.
Dunston, DH, up with one out and a runner in scoring position. Bad
base-running again. Sanders is caught in a run-down, so Dunston gets a
fielder's choice.
(My Weblog is caught up now. Must have been a transient glitch.)
Lofton flies out. Giants fail to capitalize when they needed to thanks
to bad baserunning.
Giants 5, Angels 7
6:54:13 PM
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Top of Fourth
Sanders leads off with a solid single to left.
Wow, first hit off either bulllpen in nine innings of the World Series,
says Tim McCarver. Pretty impressive.
Whoa, stolen base for Reggie Sanders but what a great leaping grab by
David Kennedy. Amazing.
Bell swings at ball four and ends up doing nothing. Great effort,
proving nothing.
Dunston, DH, up with one out and a runner in scoring position. Bad
base-running again. Sanders is caught in a run-down, so Dunston gets a
fielder's choice.
(My Weblog is caught up now. Must have been a transient glitch.)
Lofton flies out. Giants fail to capitalize when they needed to thanks
to bad baserunning.
Giants 5, Angels 7
6:54:04 PM
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Top of Fourth
Sanders leads off with a solid single to left.
Wow, first hit off either bulllpen in nine innings of the World Series,
says Tim McCarver. Pretty impressive.
Whoa, stolen base for Reggie Sanders but what a great leaping grab by
David Kennedy. Amazing.
Bell swings at ball four and ends up doing nothing. Great effort,
proving nothing.
Dunston, DH, up with one out and a runner in scoring position. Bad
base-running again. Sanders is caught in a run-down, so Dunston gets a
fielder's choice.
(My Weblog is caught up now. Must have been a transient glitch.)
Lofton flies out. Giants fail to capitalize when they needed to thanks
to bad baserunning.
Giants 5, Angels 7
6:52:19 PM
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Bottom of Third
For some reason, my Web log isn't updating via email at the moment. I'm
going to keep posting but the more real time flavor here may be gone for
a moment or two.
Lead-off man is out. Two quick outs. That's not how this game is played! :-)
The 0-2 pitch to Kennedy was a strike. Man, that's frustrating. The same
pitch gets called a ball one time and a strike the next.
Skipper back to the mound, Angels down in order.
Giants 5, Angels 7
6:35:37 PM
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Top of Third
This game is an hour and 10 minutes old and it seems longer. I do like the
Apple "switch" ads that are running during the World Series, though.
Superman homers! About time he got untracked. Yippee!!!!!!
Bonds walks. Again.
Appier sits. Both starters out before three innings are in the books. High
scoring and close, just as I predicted. Not that that was such a reach!
John Lackey on the mound now. Line-drive double play. McCarver's right; Bonds
shouldn't be running on that ball unless the hit-and-run was on.
Snow flies out to end it.
Giants 5, Angels 7
6:28:22 PM
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Bottom of Second
Eckstein bunts his way on. I love it when guys do that, but my wife and some
of my friends don't get it at all.
The announcers are already talking about how long Ortiz can last. Probably
appropriate. I don't know what his first-inning pitch count was but it was
huge.
The second pitch to Salmon was as good as or better than a half dozen pitches
that Appier got as strikes. This is getting ridiculous.
Salmon crushes it into the corner, Anaheim 7, SF 4. The commentators were
just talking about his HR record (francise leader and all). Sometimes that
stuff feels like self-fulfilling prophecy.
Pop to JT, two gone.
Glaus smashes a double to center. Lofton has been unimpressive tonight. He's
misplayed two balls.
Ortiz is done. Zerbe isn't the right move, either, I don't think. He didn't
get much warmup time and he's not impressed me the few times I've seen him
pitch. This is feeling butt-ugly.
So finally the agony...er inning...is over.
Giants 4, Angels 7
6:18:12 PM
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Top of Second
Well, at least Bonds will get a pitch to hit in this situation, presumably.
I've noticed in this Series, Bonds has swung at bad pitches more than he
did most of the season. I guess that could be nerves, anxiety. Well, even
the fourth ball was close, but Bonds draws a walk.
Another aspect of Bonds' frequent walks that doesn't get talked about much
is the fact that no starting pitcher is as effective from the stretch as
from a full windup. You can't get as much power on the ball, and you tend
to over-throw to compensate, thus getting a bit wilder.
Santiago flies routinely to center.
Snow singles sharply to right, Bonds running on the pitch gets to third easily.
Woohoo! Sanders clubs a homer for the second game in a row. No doubt about
it. Gone! Giants 3, Angels 5.
"High strike," indeed. This umpire is all over the damn place. Bell says,
"Who cares?" and pulls the Giants within one. Once again, maybe I gave up
too early. (I tend to do that. Ask my friends Dick and Sandi Golden!)
Nice play by Kennedy nails Dunston at first. Two gone. Now, the Giants have
done a lot of their damage with two out, so what happens now?
Lofton starts the next stage of a rally here with a soft single to center.
Yeesh. Richie coming to bat.
Geez, that first pitch to Aurilia wasn't even close to a strike. What's with
this guy behind the plate?
It's been 50 minutes since the first pitch and we're not through the third
half-inning. Amazing.
You see Aurilia swing at a pitch that's badly outside. He has to do that
to protect the plate with two strikes, at lesat one of which he shouldn't
have.
Giants 4, Angels 5
5:58:45 PM
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Bottom of First
If this plate umpire gives Russ the corners like he did Appier, deep counts
may not be all that common.
Ouch. Quick single to right by Eckstein. There goes the perfect game. ;-)
Erstad doubles into the alley in right-center, Angels score, up 1-0. Russ
does not look sharp.
Salmon singles to right. Three hits to right/right-center already. Runners
at the corners and nobody out. They are really making contact against Ortiz.
Rags goes out to the mound. Ortiz often starts with rough first innings,
so it's not panic time yet, but let's get someone out here, OK?
Now if the Angels are smart, they won't swing until Russ proves he can throw
a strike.
Wow. Single through the right side, run scores, Angels up 2-0. Nobody out
yet. A very rocky start.
Up steps Troy Glauss who had two homers here last night. Finally an out,
but letting the runner advance to third was lazy defense.
They are just clubbing Ortiz at this point. Another mistake out over the
plate. 3-0 Angels.
Spiezio drops a single into right, another Angel scores. TIme to get a reliefer
warming up, Dusty, before this one's completely out of reach. Russ has nothing
tonight. Zip. Angles 4, Giants 0.
Geez, a double steal and we get caught in it? Weak. Angles up 5-0.
Two out finally. Sixth run 90 feet away. This is so discouraging.
The 1-0 pitch to Kennedy looked like a strike to me. I don't think Ortiz
has been close to the corners much anyway, but to have the umpire be inconsistent
this early isn't a good sign.
Weird ending. Kennedy ducks away from a terrible pitch and the ball dribbles
fair. He's out but Russ didn't get a single hitter out easily this inning.
It's going to be a loooooooong night!
5:37:54 PM
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<h4>Top of First</h4>
First pitch: 5:06 p.m.
With the count 2-2 on Lofton, he holds up on a swing and the Angels appeal.
There's been entirely too much of that crap from all teams this year, IMNSHO.
It wasn't even close and it often hasn't been this year. That called third
strike was a shit call. Low and inside.
Nice play by Eckstein. For a little guy, he covers a lot of ground out there.
Aurilia grounds out short to first. Two gone.
Three up, three down for the Giants.
Giants 0, Angels coming to bat.
5:14:31 PM
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Before the Game
Fox shortened the World Series pre-game coverage to finish up the
Cowboys-Cardinals yawner. Sometimes these sports TV execs just confuse
me. Not a big deal, but senseless, really.
The bit they did at the opening about the "game plan" for getting to the
ballpark was,well, idiotic.
Tim McCarver says Kevin Appier will be wild low, Ortiz wild high, and
neither pitcher will be ahead of the hitters much tonight. That spells
high scoring.
Fasten your seat belts! Here goes Game 2 of the 2002 World Series!
5:05:12 PM
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Game Two of the World Series
Russ Ortiz will try to give the Giants a 2-0 lead in the World Series
tonight. I suspect that the Angels will win this one. If they don't,
color this Series black and orange.
I expect a higher scoring contest tonight, with a close outcome as I
will anticipate in all of these games.
I'll be blogging again.
4:34:01 PM
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© Copyright 2002 Dan Shafer.
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