Blog Feed: Soxlosophy

The Faster Times dot com: "Baseball and Philosophy"

Published on 2009-07-10 01:50:00

Feel like you just haven't read enough philosophical baseball analysis lately? or maybe an insufficient quantity of baseballical philosophy analysis? well then, have i got news for you.thursday at 3pm, a brand new online newspaper "launched." (i'm no > read more

Bearly Stirring

Published on 2009-05-16 01:11:00

First, thanks so much to all y'all who have inquired as to when I will resume posting here at Soxlosophy; bloggers get paid in caring, as best I can tell. In a recession, even.Second, not posting does not entail not being angry at events/processes su > read more

Peace in the A.L. East

Published on 2008-10-20 23:40:00

When the Soviet Union fell, the United States was left without a rival; it stood alone as the world's sole superpower. With alternative forms of government seemingly vanquished, some even proclaimed the end of history. But history has a way of return > read more

No Hollywood Ending

Published on 2008-10-20 00:04:00

If Mystique and Aura are just dancers at a nightclub, as Curt Schilling once quipped, then perhaps History and Inevitability are just spoken word poets. History doesn't repeat itself all by itself, and victory is never inevitable. It is not a given t > read more

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!; ALCS Game 5

Published on 2008-10-17 00:02:00

An agnostic doesn't believe in God due to lack of evidence. I don't believe what the Boston Red Sox did Thursday night, despite all the evidence that could possibly be. A greater leap of faith is required than I am capable of. The Sox dropped a heart > read more

Palling Around with Zobrist

Published on 2008-10-16 01:36:00

During his discussion of the presidential debate Wednesday night, Charlie Rose asked historian and Sox fan Doris Kearns Goodwin whether McCain or the Red Sox had a better chance of coming back from their respective deficits. Goodwin laughed, saying s > read more

Easier Done Than Said

Published on 2008-10-13 23:57:00

In Moneyball, a big deal is made of the ineffectiveness of traditional small ball strategies, and the hypothesis is floated that managers bunt, hit and run and steal because the familiarity of these strategies will save the manager from public humili > read more

Conjuris Doctor; ALCS Game 1

Published on 2008-10-10 23:55:00

It is clear by this point that Dice-K is magic. But I don't like magic. Magic is inexplicable, and not law-governed. Its utterly and completely random. I like reasons and explanations.Consequently, I spend a lot of time being angry at Dice-K. Make mo > read more

Outs Don't Grow On Trees Young Man; ALDS Game 4

Published on 2008-10-07 00:01:00

One of the knocks against small ball is that it doesn't appreciate the value of an out; sac bunts are frowned upon not because they advance a runner, of course, but because that out is more valuable than that base. Mike Scioscia is pretty liberal wit > read more

Lesterranean particle collidor; ALDS Game 1

Published on 2008-10-02 02:28:00

If Jon Lester were any more of a force physicists would try to unify him.Lester decided all those lopsided anaheim regular season wins were irrelevant. Ellsbury decided only the guy who hit .360 in last year's postseason would show up, adding 3 hits, > read more

Between Heads and Tails There's Guts...

Published on 2008-09-29 23:10:00

It's not easy to determine how much of the universe is relevant to a given event, a pitch, an at bat. The event appears local; a pitcher on a hill of dirt, a batter 60 feet away. But every hitter and pitcher brings with them the mark of every hit and pitch from everywhere they've been, the stuff of prediction and maneuver.Many psychological states are metaphorically described as physically concrete and tangible; a hitter may carry a burden, or the weight of the world into the batters box. These [..] > read more