Some soreness, the Admiral comes through, stories, which fish to shoot in a thimble next, erstwhile buddy, Museum of Fine Arts, baseball notes

Tuesday 7/22/25

Woke up with sore calves for a couple days in a row. How sore? I don't know how to gauge these things. Normally I'm not ever sore. When I am something--sore or sick--it usually doesn't change anything. On I go--to look at me would be to see what you'd always see, I think. But sore enough that I had little in my legs--juice--in the Monument on Sunday. I did five circuits again, but the pace wasn't brisk. Not that I dawdled much. A large man seeing me going past him again said, "Oh, so you're a lunatic." A woman said, "You are a beast, sir." Another woman with her husband or boyfriend said, "We're just amateurs, you're the pro," when I asked if I could squeeze by. It's one of those days were people were nice and there was nothing unpleasant to deal with.

Then I walked another two miles, bringing the day's total to five miles. I haven't been doing a good job of late with my push-ups but I'll set about rectifying that today. Looking at the forecasts, it would seem that the Monument is going to be closed almost certainly one day this week and quite likely two days. I'll make sure to stretch today, too. There's a lot of room for improvement in all areas and I can do much better than I have to date. Got a little burned, I think.

The Admiral who had had COVID for a couple weeks had to go to the hospital and was supposed to have surgery Sunday to remove his gall bladder but it was pushed to yesterday. So he hasn't been having the greatest July. The Captain has been sending me updates. I offered to go with her Sunday (she is a worrier and if she was in a waiting room I thought maybe she wouldn't want to be alone) but she said the Admiral preferred not to have visitors, which I understand.

He had the surgery yesterday morning and went home later in the day which I'm sure was a big relief to him. The Captain was one of those people I had sent "Friendship Bracelet" to who said nothing (the same thing happened with "Best Present Ever," which I actually printed out and gave to them at their house at Christmas in 2022, and "Thank You, Human," which I sent them at Christmas last year). She and the Admiral do a lot for me, though, and would help me with anything I need and are among the very few people--I mean, it's like five--who care about me at all, so I put something like that aside, as much as it hurts and upsets me.

When my sister Kerrin died, my mom was consumed with anger. The kind of hurt she felt. I mean in the days after. Everyone sees me as the strong one. A person of more than god-like strength. Which means things can be taken out on me, because people sense I can take it. I can always take on more. Which isn't true. Right now, each day is a battle not to kill myself. I could say that to someone, and I'm not sure they could be able to believe it. I think if I was gone, they might not even believe it then.

Anyway, I made my way to Chicago after Kerrin died. From O'Hare I took a train, then a cab. It was hard with my mom. I'm not blaming her at all. It was so horrible for her. It still is. Things were ugly, and I felt trapped. The Admiral and the Captain showed up right when things were at their worse. And I remember the Admiral saying, "Thick sick." They helped. My mom. Me.

My mom babysat the kids the other night. It's a little concerning that Amelia typically sounds, well, kind of mean. She's five and a half now and that kind of thing becomes less cute. Her sister is so sweet and her brother is a good kid. He'll just say to Amelia that she's being ridiculous.

Thought I'd be done with "Still Good" yesterday morning, but I'm not. I probably made twelve or fifteen changes. Maybe today. This is as strong as anything. Another major work. And another major work with practical application as far as the world goes. A needed story. A story that serves humankind. Which no one is going to see when it is done, or perhaps ever.

I've looked around, thinking, okay, do a prose off or two, and I see this ridiculous twaddle in all of these journals and magazines--New England Review, Granta, The New Yorker, The Paris Review--and it's more cases of shooting fish in a thimble, and comes down to what crap you decide to copy and paste into the entry. It's all godawful and meaningless. And inept. There's no quality control, and you can tell the editors aren't even going over this shit. Just slapping it in there because of who it came from and what they represent to them. And the near total absence of any variety. It's almost all the same. Bad in the same ways, too. But I'll get to it.

Then I worked on another story that I've been revising, and just like that, between the two, seven hours had passed. I couldn't look at any more, so I got out of here and walked the Museum of Fine Arts, where I spent my time with works by Fairfield Porter, ancient seals of the Near East, and the Winslow Homer and Fitz Henry Lane canvases that I always make sure to visit.

Walked another five miles. Tomorrow I can get back in the Monument. Right now, at quarter past five in the morning, it's 57 degrees. That's the temperature you're looking for. That might be the ideal temperature, in my view.

Downloaded a number of sets: three volumes of material from the Mississippi Sheiks, a couple of Ernest Tubb Bear Family boxes, Planxty, live Metallica.

The Red Sox got a needed win Sunday against the Cubs to avoid being swept in Chicago. It was 1-0 Cubs with the game getting late when Wilyer Abreau golfed a two-run homer to right, putting the Sox in front. Alex Bregman, who wasn't supposed to play, had a surprise pinch-hit appearance and jacked an even more surprising three-run homer. Abreau added a second shot, too. That's 20 homers on the season for Abreau. Can he get to 30? Didn't really see him as a 30 home run guy, but he's on pace.

The Sox had Yoshida in the outfield for what I believe was the first time since 2023. Duran collided with him on a routine fly that was Yoshida's ball all the way, but the catch was made. Duran has little clue what he's doing out there. That he was a finalist for a Gold Glove last year just tells you--as if you still needed telling--that no one can tell anything. People think he's a good outfielder because they see him run fast. He has no sense of space. Or which way to go.

But as usual when he starts, a big part of the story of the game was Garrett Crochet. I don't think he's had a bad start. Every time out he's been very good, great, or pretty damn solid or simply what he needed to be. Didn't have his best stuff yesterday, giving up eight hits and two walks in six innings, but the guy competes. Only allowed the one run. His ERA is now 2.19.

People talk like the Cy Young is a forgone conclusion in the AL, with the award going to Skubal of the Tigers (and he was excellent himself Sunday), but I don't see why Crochet can't win it and I wouldn't be surprised in the least if he does. I'd even say that Crochet deserves MVP votes. He's been a godsend for the Sox.

The Cy Young talk bothers me quite a bit because it's yet another example of how there's nothing save ignorance out there. Skubal and Crochet are really close in stats. Crochet has one more win; their ERAs are the same unless you go more than two numbers out on the right side of the decimal point. Crochet has more innings pitched. But an idea takes hold, and then no other idea can gain entry in the tiny minds of people, where thinking never happens.

Walker Buehler got the start for the Sox last night in Philadelphia, and you figure he's going to get rocked, but maybe the offense can put up seven, which is unlikely given the Sox' recent trouble with scoring runs. Then they get this great start out of nowhere from Buehler who went seven and gave up one earned, and end up losing 3-2 in ten.

The Sox were facing Zack Wheeler, who has been awesome this year, so it was going to be a challenge to muster offense. You think, "Oh, well, tough loss, what can you do?"

Not so fast. The Red Sox struck out 16 times. Put the damn ball in play. Also: The Sox are so bad at these extra innings things here in the regular season with the ghost runner set-up. And it makes perfect sense why they'd be so bad: They suck at the fundamentals. Getting that runner home from second is all about fundamentals. Situational baseball. Don't strike out. Don't pop up. Put the ball in play to the right side. Grounder to second, grounder to second, and you have yourself a run.

Too often they can't even do that. And yes, I know, you're not playing for the one run and you really want to score twice, given how easy it is--in theory--for your opposition to tie the game in the bottom half of the inning when you're playing on the road like this. But if you don't score, you're probably cooked. This is when bunting can also be a factor. A team that can bunt will almost always score that run if they wanted to do it that way.

But getting walked off on catcher's interference is even worse. Carlos Narvaez needs to get his head out of his ass. He did the same thing in Chicago against the Cubs on Friday, only obviously not in as big a spot, in what I described as one of the worst game of his career to date. There's no excuse for this. Take your head back outside.

The Brewers just won their eleventh in a row and now lead the Cubs by a game. They have the best record in baseball and are the only team in the majors with a .600 winning percentage, which is their exact number. That is highly unusual. You have a lot of mediocrity and no great teams. The very good teams aren't even what very good teams usually are. In the National League, you have one .300 hitter, and that's someone who barely has the minimum number of plate appearances needed to quality for placement in those rankings.

Someone could actually win the batting title this year hitting .296, which would be mind blowing to me, though I doubt anyone else would notice or care. Aaron Judge is already up to 351 career home runs. Feels like he got there sneaky fast. You thought of him as missing all of this time, and as recently as a couple of seasons ago he did, but when he's in the line-up it's like he's always hitting home runs. He needs to win a World Series. If he does, he can go down as an inner circle all-time Yankee.

You still see so many people claiming Ohtani is better. It's not close. There's quite a bit of separation between these two players. No hitter in the game is on Judge's level. And the other guy is a DH. I feel like they're indulging him with the pitching thing at this point and I bet the Dodgers would be pleased if he came to them and said he doesn't want to do it anymore, though I could be wrong. That kind of arm is certainly an asset, but I believe he's only thrown nine innings this year and you wonder when a proper start in which he can go six innings or throw 100 pitches will be on the table. Is he making starts in the playoffs this year? That would be neat to see.