=== Geoff Baker ===
Geoffy made an offhand comment, just a remark in a live chat, about the ongoing Who's Got The Biggest Blog debate. He talked a little smack, like he can learn more in 5 minutes in the clubhouse, than self-assured bloggers can in a month from watching on TV.
He didn't mean it in an absolute sense, and wasn't talking at all about the kind of analysis done on SSI. He was just flipping a little grief back at the chihuahuas who chew his ankles daily.
I shoulda known that. Sigh. I owed Baker more benefit of the doubt than that, and that put my "Five Minutes, Hunh?" post way out of line.
Thankfully, he responded graciously. He's obviously got the ability to hang around the players without being a wannabe, the ability to relate to the public without being pretentious, and is a guy who knows who he is and where he's going. His personality has been an asset for him.
............
As we've emphasized many times, Baker is himself an athlete as well as a writer, and (as you've noticed) a guy who will answer for his opinions. That commands respect.
Baker, and James, those two will say what's on their minds, and then they will stand there and own it. They don't take swipes, and then try to censor somebody who gets the better of them in an argument. I don't mind if a guy has something sharp to say, as long as he'll stay inside the ring for the finish of the bout.
Today's storyline, about the M's offense needing to settle in, that is an example. That actually is what's going on, I think - the M's offense has not yet found its Zen point.
If that's the problem, it's understandable. The lineup is a Frankenstein quilt of imports, many recently added, and many who will shortly be gone.
There's no instinct operating for the collective hive. A Yankee, or Angel, hitter might come to the plate with a certain sense of what somebody else is going to do after. The M's hitters are flying blind in that respect. When you're talking about a series of 4-3 games, the wins and losses can turn on subtle things ....
Why is Morse trying to hit a 500-foot home run, when a single would do just fine? The three kids are up behind him. How does he have any confidence in their ability to win the game if he doesn't?
Baker perceived all this, and informed his readers of what's going on. There is no blogger who could possibly perceive that (with one possible exception, LOL!). There's a reason that some of those blogs have got to work so hard to try to marginalize him. What if there IS a source of wisdom in Seattle baseball that is inaccessible to blogs? The idea is unthinkable.
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SSI has been saying, since about the third month Baker was here, that he is the third great sportswriter we've seen in Seattle in the last 30 years. (John Clayton, Frank Hughes.) I don't say it because I like him. He's that good. He needs to be doing something bigger than he's doing.
So the Times M's blog is worth $14, and the rest of the Times (to me) is worth less than a cent (not including Stone in that dismissal). I don't mean it in a snide manner; I mean it literally.
The videocasts off that blog used to draw like 7,000 viewers, and if even 1,000 of them subscribe at $14 per month, I hope the Times has a process in place for salary review.
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