Rush to Injure
It only took Angel OF Josh Hamilton and Dodger LHP Zack Greinke less than an inning for both to pull a calf muscle. Usually players pull hamstrings early on in spring training and the start of the season. Perhaps this is the new vogue and 2014 will become the year of the calf. Personally I think Greinke didn’t want to take the long flight to Australia and pitch the opening game. ((An evening game is scheduled for Saturday, March 22).
What Eye Exam?
In August of last year the Angels discovered that their poorly hitting catcher, Chris Ianetta, had visual problems. You don’t need to be a genius to realize this presents a serious problem for a catcher who daily gets hit with everything but the kitchen sink. Also, it just might have affected Ianetta’s hitting since you have to see the ball to hit it! As you might expect, Ianetta’s hitting improved significantly with his new contacts. I sort of remember that in medical school we were taught that vision checks are part of the physical examination. After paying the salaries of Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton, there was little money left over for petty cash to buy an eye chart.
The Celebrity Awards
Since Newport Beach and Hollywood are closely linked at the navel, it is no surprise that many of us watched the Academy Awards whether we like them or not (or admit it). The show was crisp, moved right along, and Ellen Degeneres did her usual good job. If anything, the show was underplayed which is just fine with me in this era of daily reports of sufferings, torture and death. One refinement they might make is to move the number of films nominated for Best Picture back to five. Although they got it right this year, this many films (nine) being nominated can split the vote in funny ways. For example, what would happen if each of eight films receive 11 percent of the vote with the ninth getting 12 percent? Although, unlikely, some weird things could happen. Maybe that’s why they sometimes call it Hollyweird. Well, that’s all folks.
Michael Arnold Glueck, Newport Beach, was too occupied to write a long column this week. He was oiling his really old “Trappers” baseball mitt just in case Big Albert gets hurt at first base.
