1. The crows complaining from the maple tree outside the window sound enough like that one row of fans in Philadelphia in 2006, Mike Lieberthal at the plate in the second game of the September 3 double-header against Atlanta, the one that isn’t the one where Ryan Howard hit three home runs. Lieberthal stands in…
Matt Klentak: “But if we can keep the rotation as good as it is or make it better and also add balance to our pitching staff, I think that’s something worth exploring. I don’t know if we’ll actually do that, but I know that we will explore it.” Matt Klen: “But if we can keep…
You are awoken in the mornings here at 6:30 by a woman with no face. There is no sunlight, because it is winter, and because your window faces west, and the blinds are unopenable. When you’re asleep, you forget that you’re not at home, so every morning at 6:30 you open your eyes confused. Then…
Roman Mosaic in the Bardo Museum Tunis, Tunisia (courtesy Wikimedia Commons) On Sunday afternoon, acclaimed classicist Emily Wilson sat in conversation with novelist Madeline Miller in The Midtown Scholar bookstore in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the same place I heard Keith Law speak two summers ago. Wilson and Miller’s subject matter was largely The Odyssey, a work…
Upon its world-wide release on April 4, 2017—just 48 hours after MLB’s opening day in the same year—Atlas’s Persona 5, the latest installment in the popular Shin Megami Tensei franchise, catapulted into popularity. At its core, Persona 5 is a role-playing game with a turn-based combat system and an emphasis on strategically cultivating social bonds…
What’s it like being Ian Kinsler? What’s it like being one of the best players in the league (but never getting the right amount of attention) for your 10-year prime through a combination of above-average (but not eye-popping) offense, above-average (but not flashy) defense, and above-average baserunning (without gaudy stolen-base totals)? What’s it like being…
During the top of the 7th inning in Saturday’s Dodgers-Brewers contest, the camera’s gaze took on an increased intensity. After Corbin Burnes walked Max Muncy and gave up singles to Manny Machado and Cody Bellinger, Jeremy Jeffress took the mound for Milwaukee. Joc Pederson served up a single. With the bases loaded and the Dodgers…
One of the things I like about being a writer is that you can always keep everything. Artists and sculptors have to mine their own souls, transfer that material into physical form, and then give it away to other people. Musicians and actors can record themselves, sure, but their performances are trapped in that moment…
The stalks of the tomato plants have turned black and grown too tall, spindly Dalí horrors visited by one kind of vegetal blight or bacteria or another. On the heels of this wet summer, the green of their leaves glows virulent, and the heirloom tomato produces softball-sized fruits that have only flirted with ripeness before…
NEW YORK—The landmark criminal case against alleged heinous serial killer Stats took a turn yesterday as United States Attorney Geoffrey Berman, taking the rare step of handling the matter himself, watched a noted sabermetrician whom he had called as a witness hand the defense a gift-wrapped package of reasonable doubt for the jury. Russell A….
By the baseball diamond, behind the bleachers and dugouts and the rusting fence, there used to be a forest. You spent a lot of time there as a kid. You picked up plants and old bones, pretended you were a wolf-person. In your memory you are always very young, and yet somehow always alone; it…
For some reason, I’ve found myself reading a lot about the 2004 World Series — specifically, the aftermath of the 2004 World Series. The way fans reacted to it, the way Boston media reacted to it, all the stuff people did to celebrate over the winter and into the beginning of the next season. Maybe…
“You know I’ll never see Wrigley Field anymore, before my eternal rest…” – Steve Goodman * * * Last weekend, I returned to Wrigley Field for the first time since 2015. In the three years since, I’ve moved to Boston, cycled through several jobs, started writing for Short Relief, and entered a relationship long enough…
On Monday morning, I’ll be at my annual optometrist appointment, trying not to blink at the little puff of air during the first stage of the glaucoma test, trying not to squint against the lights bright and brighter, trying to decide which of the two lens options really is better in the series of minute…
1. The crows complaining from the maple tree outside the window sound enough like that one row of fans in Philadelphia in 2006, Mike Lieberthal at the plate in the second game of the September 3 double-header against Atlanta, the one that isn’t the one where Ryan Howard hit three home runs. Lieberthal stands in…
My grandmother died the other day. I hadn’t spoken to her in nearly 20 years; she was not what most people would define as a “good person.” But my mom wanted to attend the burial, so we packed the kids into their car seats and drove to a sunny afternoon service of short prayers and…