Zumaya to Astros - You Walk My World

Yesterday afternoon, my childhood died. I remember a while back one of my aunties telling me about the time she was watching MTV, back when they did those spring break shows with a bunch of almost nekkid crazy almost drunk 20 year olds, and she looked at the TV and said - this is SOOOOOOO stupid. And in that second, she realized she was actually an adult, that it wasn't that she had made any conscious decision, but she found out she had just somehow changed and was seeing the world with adult eyes. I guess i got hit the same way yesterday, when Michael Jackson died. I was just a toddler when "Billie Jean" first came out and really smashed the MTV barrier to African-American artists, just a small child when he hit a homer offn Pedro '99 a good 600' over the CF fence with his Moonwalk on the 25 year Motown special, too young to really remember the release of The Thrillah, the first ever MTVideo movie. But the album got a lot of play in our house, my brothers taught me to moonwalk and I even had a sequined Glove and a Michael hat, and when "Bad" was released, I danced around with my brother singing "WHO'S BAD???" Michael sort of did a reverse steroids thingy over his career, changing himself from a cute skinny Black guy with an endearing smile singing happy-sounding upbeat songs to, well, an, um, shall we say, "Off The Wall" freak. By the time that "Rock My World" was released in, what, 01, he had lost his dance moves, innate grace, his figure (check out the paunch), his color and his entire face. He appeared to have, while alive, turned into one of the zombies from "Thriller" - I couldn't understand why on earth the Girl in the video, upon seeing Michael's absence of face, didn't scream like Ola Ray and run away. Of course, by that time, I was far too preoccupied with other things (such as my Husband) and other musicians to do anything but shudder. It was painfully obvious that Michael had long since lost his talent, his moves and his mind (last good song was "Blood On The Dance Floor" and even then, he was hardly moving at all), but I kind of just dismissed it and him, shaking my head sadly, much as baseball fans must have done back in '73, watching what used to be Willie Mays try to play baseball. sigh Yesterday, BET, MTV and VH1 were all running the old Michael Jackson/Jackson 5 videos. Sort of reminds me of a HOF baseball career - rookie year (Off The Wall) to a stupendous, unrepeatable MVP year (Thriller) to HOF career (Bad) to unexpected peak-fluke year (Black Or White video) complicated by, uh, ahem - "roid suspiscions" (its original BIZARRE ending) to late career fluctuations (the videos from HIStory - especially "Scream") to last gasp respectable year ("Blood On The Dance Floor") to just flat out Frank Thomas 2008 Clogging The Bases (Ghosts/Rock My World.) I hear older folks (ballplayers, TV announcers, fans) mourn the loss of "The Golden Age Of Baseball" which, I guess, was during the perfect 50s when there were only 16 teams and the center of the Universe was where it belonged, in NYC, where all the money and good players resided, and The Game was perfect (hey, Mickey Mantle was sac-bunting, along with the pitchers) and every pitcher threw 150-200 pitch complete games every 4th day and ended up with 300 innings and there were no Designated Inning Specialists. smile If you actually bother to watch any of those old games, the few that were televised and the tapes kept, you will see that most guys couldn't hit for spit, almost nobody took pitches, the game moved a LOT more quickly, as hitters weren't allowed to Derek Jeter prolong the AB and pitchers worked quickly. The pace was better, but the pitching and hitting weren't. Just like watching Michael's old videos - like Willie's catch at the Wall and throw - Billie Jean is dated, but unrepeatably great; Reggie's 3 homer game in the WS was a Thrillah. But like watching crappy banjo hitter after crappy banjo hitter. Michael's moves became unoriginal, repetitive and boring (especially the signature crotch grab.) But, he certainly ushered in The Golden Age Of Videos and maintained it for 12 years, a bonafide HOF career. (And being an Old Person my own self, getting on the bandwagon about how things were so much better Back In The Good Old Days, I sure miss MTV and VH1 actually showing videos all day instead of the horrible boring cheap crap "reality" stuff they poison the airwaves with all day long...) So, in honor of Michael Jackson and The Good Old Days, I am going to have Michael Jackson Week in which I am going to tag every single game with a MJJ video. to the game: Wandy are you OKAre you OK WandyWandy are you OKAre you OK Wandy You been hit byYou been hit byASmooooth Criminal Meaning that the HP ump was NOT giving the same strike zone to Wandy as he did to Verlander. But Wandy kept Clemens Cool, adjusting and walking guys if necessary to avoid hits. He hung a curve to Miggy Cabrera who hit it out, and Polanco hit a good pitch,- a FB at the knees, outer third for a 3 run homer. And Wandy shrugged it off and shut them down the rest of the way, including inducing a nice inning ending GIDP after an IF single and another single (play not made by Keppinger - who by the way, should NOT be hitting in the 2-hole.) Arias, Byrdak and Sampson wedged the door SHUT and LaTroy locked it DOWN. Verlander wasn't his usual super-ace self - gave up 7 hits, walked 4 and gave up 3 runs. He SHOULD have given up more, but he overpowered Hunter Pence with 3 FB down the middle to end a bases loaded threat in the first. Actually, the Tigers pitchers are proof of the old saying - it ain't the speed, it's the motion. No matter HOW fast that baseball is going, ML hitters will usually hit it if it is down the middle and has no motion to it. Joel Zumaya throws 100 MPH, but he walked 3, gave up a hit to Matsui on a 101 MPH pitch down the middle, and allowed the GW RBI to Tejada. Bourn snapped his ofer 10 failure to get on base streak and went 2fer 3 with 2 walks - and both of those walks were 8 pitch jobs and he didn't swing at a single pitch outside the strike zone. Berkman singled and walked 3 times, but unfortunately didn't score once. Carlos Lee had a bad game, coming to the plate each time with at least 1 man on and not driging in a single run. Pence also had a tough night, driving in only 1 and stranding the other 5. Astros pinch hitters actually came through, with Kata singling in a run and Erstad restraining from swinging at pitches outside the strike zone and getting a walk. Meanwhile, Maysonet was perfecting his high-5s, after Cooper told the media that he wasn't up here to play, the veterans were. Tonight Paulino is pitching his first start since coming off the DL. I STILL have absolutely NO idea why the Astros Organization decided that no matter what, he WAS, like Zeke Astacio a few years back, Designated For Pitching In The Bigs. I keep waiting, and so far, his stuff has most DEFINITELY not impressed me in the least. And unlike a whole lot of people, I am not real too influenced in my judgement of "stuff" by the speed the baseball travels. I really REALLY hope and I keep hoping Paulino proves me wrong. The Astros have, of course, DFA'd Backe, who was used sporadically, and didn't do well. I wouldn't be that surprised if he gets picked up by another ballclub and all I can say is that I hope he doesn't turn into Fernando Nieve, who is pitching lights out with the Mets, looking as good as he did when he first came up in 2006 (and, by the way, he's already beaten the Yankees, the Rays and the Cardinals, giving up a couple hits and walks over 6-ish IP each outing...)