I helped kill Borders. I'm so ashamed.

I love books.  In many ways books are my worst vice.  Worse than drinking-I rarely drink, almost always imbibe socially, and because I'm a lightweight I drink very little.  However, I do like the good stuff. It's worse than my miniature wargaming hobby/habit.  At least I'm currently living off my the stash of figures I've acquired over the last twenty or so years. It's worse than music and movies, which I dearly love, but have found ways to cut back on.  Music is merely a matter of aging and realizing the 70's were over 30+ years ago, and discovering the wonders of the library.  For movies, the answer is Netflix.  I've managed to reduce my ridiculous movie purchases by at least 90% in the past year.  But books are another story.  I have over a thousand books.  Lots of history, literature, baseball, Lewis and Clark, gaming topics are crammed into abundant bookshelf space--that are unfortunately full. It's always difficult for me to walk past a bookstore, any bookstore without checking it out.

Took me and my book problem down to the local Borders store today.  When the announcement was made last week that Borders would liquidate, I was on vacation.  I felt a certain amount of disappointment and shame the store was closing. 

When Borders opened its store in the vacated Piggly Wiggly store in Willows shopping center some 15 years ago, it was like a light shining through the darkness.  I like to think of my home community of South Hill as a cultural desert. Strip malls, chain restaurants, schools, churches, but not much else.  A nice place to live, but not a lot going on. Borders brought something special to the hill.  It was much larger and offered much wider selection than its Waldenbooks little brother across the highway in the South Hill Mall.  More than that, it was welcoming.  One could grab a book and read it in the in-house coffee shop. There were events-book events-where authors came to speak about their writing.  Children's writers like Lemony Snickett and Eoin Colfer spoke to my students about "A Series of Unfortunate Events" and  Artemis Fowl. 
 
 Borders seduced me with "Educators' Appreciation Days" and later with 40% off coupons sent to me by the magic of e-mail.  I purchased some of my favorite books there. Bill James' Baseball Abstracts, Jonathan Sumption's Trial by Battle, and kidlit galore-Roald Dahl's Danny Champion of the World and Cornelia Funke's Inkheart are books I loved and shared with my students.  I was proud to shop there, and would spend hours just looking at books. 

A few years ago my book buying habits changed.  The advent of Amazon.com, with their discounted prices, gigantic selection, and quick delivery effectively severed my relationship with my local Borders store.  With my interest in fairly obscure non-fiction topics, Amazon was the way to go.  My trips to Borders became fewer and fewer, and only with a discount coupon firmly in my grasp.  If Amazon was not a deadly enough dagger poised at Borders's heart, I also began using AbeBooks, an online seller of used books.  Initially I searched Abe for out-of-print titles, but it gradually morphed into books I wasn't interested in spending a lot on. Another nail in a trusting friend's coffin.

My trips to Borders gradually shrank to ten or so times a year, down from maybe once a week.  I probably bought something there three or four times a year.  Why bother when I could get the same items discounted, right?  So what's the problem with trading Amazon for Borders? I know they are both big corporations with CEO's and shareholders and big corporate profits.  (Well, in theory, Borders was losing their shirts for years.) One less place of light is left in my town.  It's not like there's an awesome local independent bookseller on the Hill to take its place.  If anything, South Hill has gotten even more sterile, more corporate with its Costco, two Wal-Marts, two Appleby's, and its plethora of chain drug stores.  

The saddest part is I know I am an author of Borders' destruction, with my book, movie and music orders.  My Kindle acquisition which I use occasionally is just the icing on the cake.  I'm one of Borders' willing executioners and I feel bad about it. When I walked out with my copy of The Shattered Sword: The Untold History of the Battle of Midway today (discounted 20%, of course) it was a with a salute to those about to lose their jobs, and a certain sense of shame that I'd let down an old friend. 

For another take on the destruction of Borders and literacy in general read Kevin Horrigan's column in stltoday.com

Kyle Seager: He's Got the Fire Down Below

Yesterday the Mariners promoted Kyle Seager from AAA Tacoma to the big club. Sorry, a Bob Seeger reference which has been making the rounds of sports talk radio all day. 

Kyle Seager travels to Anaheim to help the Mariners find their way out of the black hole of offensive ineptitude.

 Seager was sort of a surprise call up because he'd only spent a handful of games in Tacoma, but he tore the cover off the ball and moved from 2nd base to 3rd base.  A lot has been made of Seager's relative inexperience prior to his call up.  How Mariners G.M. Jack Zdurencik reviewed him in an interview on Kevin Calabro's ESPN 710 radio program:

"I think what you're going to get is a very mature guy – for a young kid – in terms of baseball. He has great strike zone discipline. He understands what he can do at the plate. He can drive the baseball. He can hit the gaps. Occasionally he'll show you power. But he's a hitter, and that's the reason, obviously, we called him up."

While many continue clamor for another bat either in left field or DH, and I don't think I disagree if the Mariners have any hope of not falling further behind the Rangers and Angels, Seager is a proven successful hitter in the minors.  In 1188 minor league plate appearances, Seager's slash line is .329/.402.474.  Despite his Tacoma home runs Seager is not a power hitter.  He's a line drive guy. This  year at AA Jackson, he drove  25 doubles in 299 at bats.  He's going to hit gaps with occasional power.  Less than former and future teammate Dustin Ackley.  For those troubled by his inexperience, I would remind them that Mr. Mariner, Alvin Davis, had only 852 minor league plate appearances.  Only four of those were at AAA before he was called up to replace an injured Ken Phelps in 1984. Davis virtually carried his team offensively and Seager won't do that.  Statistics from baseball-reference.com

Will he make this team better?  Absolutely.  Though he didn't play third base in professional ball, he did play a little at the hot corner as a Tarheel.  Will he be as good or better than Chone Figgins and Adam Kennedy.  Hard to say, but definitely better than Figgins who trots his hitting problems out to third with him.  He now leads the league in errors at that position with ten.  Kennedy makes the plays, but simply can't continue every day without a break down by the end of the year.  His hitting should make us forget Figgins abysmal at bats.  Will make the Mariners a winner?  Unlikely, but if he can get on base more frequently than his Figgins, and allow Kennedy to slide over to DH then the team will bet better.  Let the kid play.

Seager will bat seventh and play third base tonight as the Mariners open their very important series with the Angels.  The M's will face Jered Weaver tonight.  Welcome to the big leagues Mr. Seager.

The M's: what to do now?

In the blogosphere, on sports talk radio today there is endless discussion of what the M's should do now.  Their pitching continues to be impressive, the starters especially, but really all around. The hitting continues to be bad.  Not just bad, ridiculously sucky.  How sucky?  Geoff Baker noted the M's have scored 11 runs in their last six games, exactly the number of goals the Sounders have scored in their last six games. When everyone talks about the Mariners' record when they score four or more runs versus their record when they score fewer than four runs, I often feel like we just well may be talking about the likelihood of exploring for fossil fuels in Alpha Centauri.  It isn't happening this year.

It really settles out to two positions.  One is that the M's are trying out the kids.  Even with the trading deadline coming up, and availability of a bat or two being likely being available for a price either in increased salary or for a prospect or two.  The thinking being that the M's could make that four run per game threshold for a price in salary and/or players.  Who is available?  That's not so clear.  Would the M's make a move?  That's become a lot more muddled the past twenty four hours.  Shannon Drayer reported in her blog M's confirmed they are unlikely to spend more money.  With Erik Bedard having a fabulous year, his one year $1 million dollar salary is laden with incentives that will likely cost ownership in the range of $7 million.  Baker takes ownership to task, failing to support a historically superior pitching staff with even the effort to acquire adequate hitting talent.  The division is weak, the pitching is good, and with even a modest increase in run scoring ability, this team could win the division, and in a down year for offense, could ride its pitching a long way in the playoffs.

Erik Bedard's success on the mound has dampened owners' enthusiasm for as they watch his contracted incentive clauses pile up.  The M's owe Bedard another $6 million this year.  Pay the man; he's earned it.

The flip side of this argument was voiced by KJR's Dave Groszby on Bob and Groz today.  The kids are doing better than anyone thought they could.  Let them play and find out what we have.  Unlike past Mariners "rebuilding" efforts, the M's really have tried to build around kids up from the minor leagues. Justin Smoak has performed adequately in his first full year in the majors and given us a look at his potential, but he still is not the consistent hitter we hope he'll become.  Dustin Ackley, in his nine games has looked like the diamond we hoped he'd be-a solid hitter with speed, and not the defensive liability many feared. Michael Pineda performs like the big man he is, challenging Bedard and  Felix Hernandez for the best pitching performance of the year. Mike Carp, Greg Halman, and Carlos Peguero look like, well, rookies.  Eric Wedge says they're learning and making adjustments.  Each has made sporadic contributions to the team.  Do they have enough talent to stick? Those in this camp say we won't know unless they play regularly.  Don't deal them or other gems in the minors.  They offer the real road to success, but likely not this year.

It's early, but M's fans should cheer.  Dustin Ackley has been everything they'd hoped he would be.

I'm of a somewhat different mind, one that Dave Cameron wrote of on USS Mariner a few days ago.  There are still a few holes on this that won't be filled this year or next year from the minors.  Chief among these is left field.  I've watched enough of the Carlos Peguero show.  I'm sorry, he's not ready and he doesn't belong in the bigs.  His at bats are painful to watch and I'm afraid he's going to kill Franklin Gutierrez out there. Carp is not really a left fielder, and Safeco's left field is just too big for a 1st baseman/DH type to cover.  Move Carp to DH where he belongs, let Jack Cust quietly go, and let Carp do what he is best suited for, swing the bat from the left side. Halman could be part of a left field platoon and is fine as a fill in guy.  The other glaring hole is at 3rd base.  There was a great article by Jon Shields of ProBall NW on the likelihood that Alex Liddi is the M's answer at 3b.  The opinion of experts, while mixed, is-certainly not now if ever. While I think everyone is rooting for the young Italian born player, he still has learning to do at the plate and in the field, but he's still pretty young and probably another full season away from the majors. Adam Kennedy has had a super year, but can't play every day, which means two or three days a week of Chone Figgins.  He's struggling and it's clear the booing is getting to him.  Figgins is a utility player right now and nothing more.  A third base replacement is ideal, particularly someone who is right handed on this very left-handed team.

Ryan Ludwick is likely to be dealt from the Padres by the trade deadline?  Could he be a fit for the Mariners in left field?

Left field and third base are positions in which the M's could probably look for some help--not necessarily a big bat, just a league average bat that will help them get better and closer to those four runs per game. Cameron suggested the Padres' Ryan Ludwick, David DeJesus and other who might keep the position warm while others develop, but also have a useful bat that will improve the Mariners' offense.  Will these changes make the Mariners division winners?  Doubtful, but it might keep them from falling off the edge of the world

My Favorite Music: Born to Run

I read Tim Egan's column on the passing of Clarence Clemons in the New York Times this morning.  It was very well done.  I confess to being an Egan fan; he lives here in the Northwest and shares many of my same sensibilities.  We're also in agreement that The Big Man was the straw that stirred the drink of the E Street Band's sound, giving it a gritty, soulful feeling that really set it apart from other bands.  Other bands of any other era.  It was a Jersey sound, but it translated across all borders and regions.

Springsteen and Clemons

I cop to being a Springsteen fan.  I know, it's something those my age volunteer.  I'm not typical, however, because I came to admire him late.  I find him to be something of an acquired taste.  I've never quite found a way to love his folk/singer/songwriter/acoustic work, and his music I enjoy most has that big, loud E Street sound.  Maybe it's got something to do with growing up in the Northwest, where that sound also employed a blaring sax as an important weapon of choice. I confess to not even having heard the Boss's entire catalog.  How cheesy is that?  Favorites, definitely got to be Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, and Born in the USA.  But I'll state in front of Mark Lindsay, Paul Kantner, Jack White, Patrick Smyth, God and everybody else that Born to Run is my favorite American rock album of all time.

Born to Run remained relentlessly optimistic in contrast to Springsteen's following album Darkness on the Edge of Town.  Born in the USA took it one step further with it's portrait of an America in decay.

Lord, why would I say such things?  Springsteen is nothing if not a great storyteller. Born to Run is eight little stories from Springsteen's Jersey life.  Some, like Jungleland paint a seamy picture of life on the streets.  Others such as Born to Run and Thunder Road point to a better life ahead, if only we can look forward.  Not an inconsequential message when one considers the time the album was released.  In 1975 the country was emerging from it's Vietnam experience to find the economy rife with stagflation, it's president disgraced and saved from prison only by the words of his appointed successor, and set on a course of four years of Jimmy Carter's malaise. Yet Springsteen still found words to paint a bright future for his himself, his friends, and his fans.

Not only are the stories uplifting, but listen to the music.  It's big, it's bold and bombastic.  It announces, it broadcasts the bright future with uptempo tunes featuring Springsteens big vocals, Clemons' wailing sax, Roy Bittan's buoyant keyboards on She's the One, or Born to Run. Together with the lyrics, this music is hopeful, it is optimistic, it's fun.  It's what rock and roll should always be about. Set Born to Run into its historical context and compare it to Led Zepplin's 1975 release, Physical Graffiti.  Great album, but would you rather listen to Jungleland and Meeting Across the River, or Kashmir and In My Time of Dying with your buddies?  What about disco?  Would you rather listen to Thunder Road or Van McCoy's The Hustle, or KC and the Sunshine Band's Get Down Tonight, both big 1975 hits? Give me Springsteen's streetsmart yarns, with his relentlessly positive view of a better life.  Born to Run remains my favorite American album of all time, a statement I don't take lightly or without careful consideration.

The Immigration Debate: Jose Antonio Vargas

This is one of those rare times when I'll talk politics.  I am opposed to illegal immigration.  I believe that excessive immigration, whether legal or illegal, puts downward pressure on American wages.  So those low-paying jobs "Americans won't do," remain low-paying.  Farm labor, fast food, hotel and motel work, construction all feel the effect of too many laborers willing to work for little money.  I'd also add that employers love this.  Nothing like a xenophobic employer spewing hate out one side of his mouth while he hires his undocumented Guatemalan gardner, or Mexican construction crew under the table. For me it's a class argument.  Hypocrisy abounds

I have little patience for  the cultural arguments against immigrants.  America is and always has been a home for immigrants.  The argument that illegal immigrants will somehow change our culture, as if we ever had a single American culture is ludicrous.  The suggestions that previous immigrant groups quickly adopted English and the Great White Way is silly.  Just look at the historical record.  Every big city a hundred years ago had dozens of newspapers, many of them in a foreign language.  Yiddish, Russian, German, Chinese, you name it.  Everyone did not enter the country through Ellis Island with the magic fairy whacking them on the head and granting them the knowledge of a complicated foreign language.  They typically learned English through their children who attended school and learned the language--just like the current crop of immigrants.  We are a more diverse country today than we were a hundred years ago, chiefly because we acknowledge and embrace diversity.  The anti-immigrant haters need to get over themselves.

Which leads me to Jose Antonio Vargas, whose story appears in the New York Times today.  Vargas was sent to the United States from the Philippines when he was twelve to escape the oppressive economic conditions there.  His grandparents, living in Mountainview, CA, arranged his traverse through the immigration maze with a coyote, a fixer arranging illegal immigration to the United States.  Vargas lived a model life, excelling in school, but learning about his illegal life when he unknowingly took his phoney green card to get his driver's license and was sent home with an admonition not to return with his fake residence verification.  With the knowledge and assistance of mentors Vargas was able to work on his high school newspaper, and obtain and internship with the local weekly.  He was able to obtain a drivers license in Oregon which gave him the necessary ID to open doors to colleges and financial aid. Eventually he landed a job at the Washington Post and was part of Pulitzer Prize winning team of reporters that covered the Virginia Tech shootings in 2008. 

 Vargas made the move to Huffington Post as the demands to travel internationally became to great.  One can work from home in their jammies when writing for a net mag.  He'd never be able to produce the ID for a passport.  Finally, unwilling to continue living a double life, Vargas told his story in today's NYT.  It is a moving, courageous, compelling story.  Hopefully it will flesh out some folks' few of   who and what an illegal immigrant is or is not.  They are among us, they are hard working, contributing members of society, they are our friends and colleagues.  Though Vargas should not be here illegally, I commend him for the courage to tell his story.

Dustin Ackley arrives and what it all means

The man we all hope will shake up the Mariners offense made his big-league debut last night.  Despite his initial deer-in-the-headlights look, Dustin Ackley had a single in his first at bat, and looked good in the field.  He cleanly handled a hard Ryan Howard ground ball, and turned a tricky Figgins to Ackley to Smoak double play in the sixth inning that shortstop Brendan Ryan termed "the play of the game."  Phillies center-fielder Shane Victorino homered in the next at-bat, but with the bases empty. Ackley continued to hit well throughout the series, including a home run on Saturday that was smoked (not Smoaked,) and tripled and scored the winning run on Sunday. He also played a great second base, showing considerably more range going to his left than was expected.


Dustin Ackley tripled and scored the first run in Sunday's 2-0 win over the Phillies.


 The M's continue to be a very interesting team this year. Some aspects of their game continue to function very well.  They aren't needing to replace a struggling starting pitcher, and their bullpen is throwing very well.  Ichiro's day off seems to have paid gigantic dividends as the 37 year old right fielder had his fifth consecutive multi-hit game, and is scoring the runs the team needs. His slash line for the last seven days is .520/.538/.720 with four doubles and eight runs scored.  Ichiro only has 13 doubles and 38 runs scored for the entire season, so you can see what a difference his week has made.  Ichiro needs to remain Ichiro for the M's to stay in the chase.


Brendan Ryan congratulates Ichiro for a great play in the field.  They're also becoming quite a team at the top of the M's batting order.


Other players on the team continue to have a few days at a time that inspire confidence in a bright future.  Ryan's defense, hustle, and his periodic streaks of  clutch hitting just make me smile.  He's a dirt in the mouth player that makes big plays on defense and has driven in some big ones without once hitting a ball that's left the park.  Adam Kennedy is another player whose bat has been surprisingly potent.  I predicted that his acquisition would be  important and he has been a great role player. Justin Smoak and Miguel Olivo have both had their moments, supplying power to a team that remains sorely in need of a few big bats. Though they've both been kind of streaky, when they've been on they've really lifted the team. 

The starting pitching from one to five continues to exceed expectations.  They're not perfect.  Each of them, Felix, Pineda, Bedard, Vargas, and Fister have struggled at times.  Each of them have also had moments of brilliance.  Pineda mesmerized the Phillies on Friday with a blazing fastball, and Sunday Vargas dazzled them with great control and his usual arsenal of sliders, fastballs and off-speed pitches.  At this moment, Erik Bedard may be the most consistent of the lot.  The great thing, however, is that all of them consistently pitch deep into ball games and give their teammates an opportunity to win it, even if  scoring a run or two seems hopelessly beyond their ability.  The bullpen has been awesome, though Jamie Wright has looked a bit creaky recently.



Erik Bedard may be the M's most consistent starter at this moment in time.  They're all pretty damn good.

 The Mariners remain within a half game of the Rangers, who really appear to be struggling.  The A's seem to have righted their fortunes with Bob Melvin's replacement of Bob Geren.  The Angels are also performing better and the entire division is tightening up.  This may not be the M's year.  They've played the cards they have in their hand, and now it is time to see what they're worth.  In my view the kids have to play.  Carp should play in left or DH every day, at least against right handers.  Halman needs to play as much as possible-hitting against lefties and at least some against righties.  Adam Kennedy is hitting reasonably well with occasional power and should play 3b against right handers. My hope that Figgins will turn things around is eternal, but lord he looks bad at bat and in the field. Figgins should be a fill in guy with Jack Wilson.  Cust may be next to go if there is a bat that emerges as ready for prime-time in Tacoma.  I don't know if the M's can win their incredibly weak division this year, but it sure looks like the guys want to try.  I don't think Jack Z should sacrifice any prospect for a bat, unless it really makes sense. We live and die with who we have.

Summer Reading Lists

Three and half more days of kidlets at school.  There are moments I wonder if I'll  make it and not end up in prison for homicide.  In any case, I'd be lying if I wasn't thinking about my break and one of the things I really like to do during my summer break is get in some extra reading.  So here are some books I'm thinking about in no particular order.

 1921--Dave Demick gave me this book for my birthday last year about the 1921 baseball season.  It's Babe Ruth's coming out party and looks really good.

 A Well Paid Slave is the story of Curt Flood's fight against the reserve clause in baseball.  I confess to being a Flood fan, though I realize he wasn't a perfect human being.  Looking forward to this.

Love in the Year of Cholera is a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel.  I read A Hundred Years of Solitude last summer and loved it.  Believe it or not, even though it was on Oprah's List, this book is now out of print in English.  Bizarre.

The Quest for Glory is a biography of Union admiral John. A. Dahlgren.  Dahlgren was a terrific designer of the most reliable ordnance of the Civil War.  What he really wanted is what all sailors want-a command at sea.

 Paradise Lost by John Milton-Yes that Paradise Lost.  I've tried to read it a couple of times and never quite finished it, so I'm going to give it another go this summer. I've got it on my Kindle.

Meriwether Lewis by Thomas C. Danisi and John C. Jackson is the most recent  biography of the explorer.  It was a Christmas gift and I never tire of learning a bit more about the Lewis and Clark expedition.

The Bloody Crown of Conan is anthology two of Robert E. Howard's Conan stories published by Ballantine.  Trash, crap, a pit of burned brain cells.  God I love it so.

These are on the confirmed list, though like my beloved dog Jack, my nose may lead me far afield.  I could see Jonathan Sumptions Hundred Years War histories leading me astray, perhaps a Philip 'Dick story or two, and I have an itching to read some the Admiral, Samuel Eliot Morrison's exploration books-his Columbus biography, which I don't own, but could get easily and cheaply enough, Matthew C. Perry, which I do own, or his European Discovery of America.  There's never enough time.