Excellent read examining the great variation in contemporary defensive metrics.
Colin Wyers on defensive metrics
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Author Archives: Ted Berg
Last night’s sandwich
A small upside to Beltranzaa beginning on the West Coast last night was that, thanks to time zones DVR, I was able to take in the band CAKE in Connecticut and still catch the entire Mets game without first finding out what happened.
The show was at a gorgeous outdoor venue called the Ives, so the wife and I packed sandwiches and got there a little early to sit outside and enjoy them, the pleasant weather, and the bevy of hippies performing in various styles of equilibristics.
The sandwich I ordered: A modified version of the Berg’s Pepper Barge, my signature sandwich at the deli where I used to work: Pepper ham, pepper turkey, hot soppresata, fresh mozzarella, and oil and balsamic vinegar dressing on a hard roll. While the O.G. Berg’s Pepper Barge came from DeBono’s in Rockville Centre, I ordered this one from an A&S, which has various locations in the New York Metro area.
The sandwich I received: Pepper turkey, hot soppresata and fresh mozzarella on a whole wheat roll (they were out of regular rolls).
Important background information: Last night made me realize how important the human element is in sandwich rating. Unless you’re frequenting an eatery pretty often, there’s no way to know if you’re getting a true sandwich artist or a poser, or even some guy just working there for the paycheck with no distinct love of sandwiches. And heck, maybe the dude who made my sandwich at A&S last night is generally excellent and just had a bad day — or maybe made one anomalously bad sandwich. Even Albert Pujols strikes out sometimes.
I like to think I was a great and consistent deli man back in my day, but for all I know I screwed up people’s sandwiches with some regularity and never found out about it. How many times have you gotten the slightly wrong order someplace, and how many times have you actually taken it back? I was a half hour away by the time I realized I got the wrong sandwich last night.
What it looks like:
How it tastes: Too dry. As you can see from the photo, there’s a ton of meat on there. And I know the instinct is to say that a ton of meat is necessarily a good thing, but again, I can’t stress the importance of sandwich balance enough. And that the bulk of the meat was turkey left this sandwich begging for moisture.
That’s why the sandwich, as conceived, had oil and vinegar on it, not to mention pepper ham. Ham is a moister, fattier deli meat than turkey, so it alone would have cut the dryness by replacing some of the turkey’s volume. Also, pepper ham is a wildly underrated deli meat — it’s crusted in black pepper, which looks almost ridiculous and too peppery from the outside but works perfectly when it’s sliced nice and thin.
The mozzarella and soppresata ensured that the sandwich was still decent. Fresh mozzarella, if it’s good, is straight-up unbelievable on just about anything, and A&S makes it as well as anywhere. And hot soppresata is a spicy, fatty, flavorful meat that guarantees a sandwich will not be bland.
But as I ate it, I yearned for some sort of sauce, something to dip it in so it wouldn’t parch my mouth. Even without the ham a little oil and vinegar would have added a ton of flavor and much-needed wetness to the thing. But alas, it was not to be.
What it’s worth: $9 is steep for a sandwich that’s not what you wanted. Since the A&S is extremely close to my house and was essentially on the way to the concert venue, there wasn’t a lot of other costs though. Still, if I didn’t want the pepper ham I could have gone elsewhere and gotten a sandwich for less.
The rating: 42 out of 100. Above replacement level, but not what I hoped for and nowhere close to matching its potential. Elements of an excellent sandwich, but missing too many crucial aspects of greatness. Jeff Francoeur.
First night of Beltranzaa brings few gifts
Here’s Carlos Beltran’s first hit of the 2010 season:
Nice to see and good for Beltran for getting off the schneid in only his second at-bat. His later plate appearances were less impressive, but it’s hard to look good when facing Tim Lincecum.
The part that stung was the caught stealing, a few pitches after that hit. Ike Davis swung on the pitch, so I’m not sure if it was a botched hit and run or Beltran taking advantage of his perpetual green light. Jerry Manuel said before the game that he wouldn’t be sending Beltran anywhere, so I guess it was the latter.
Carlos Beltran — the Carlos Beltran we love and appreciate — never gets caught stealing. Beltran is a historically great base-stealer. Even last year, hobbled as he was, Beltran only got thrown out once in 12 attempts.
And yeah, maybe it’s just an unfortunate coincidence that this year’s first caught stealing should come in his first game back. Buster Posey made a great throw, after all.
But, well, I don’t know. It was a little bit sad, is all. Like the time Donny didn’t bowl a strike, right before his untimely death in The Big Lebowski. And for it to come at the hands of Posey, a player heralded as part of the next crop of Major League stars, seemed devastatingly perfect. Carlos Beltran’s run of being one of the very best baseball players in the world is probably over.
Not because of one caught stealing, mind you. Because he’s now 33 years old with an irreparable bone-on-bone condition in his right knee. Some things are just too heavy for Superman to lift. The march of time is a real bitch.
Maybe I’m wrong. I hope I’m wrong. Baseball players have certainly remained exceptional deeper into their 30s. And Beltran, even if he’s not the player he used to be, will likely still be a very good player whenever he’s healthy.
I just get a feeling we’re never going to see the player he used to be again, and that’s a difficult thing to bear. It was such a sight to see, that minimalist art thing he did. And even though I know having him back is best for the Mets, I hate the idea of new images of a lesser Beltran clouding my memory of such a wonderful ballplayer.
Greatness is fleeting, is all. And fragile. And that sucks.
Sandwich Week moves to the suburbs
I’m working from home today, so I took the excuse to enjoy a reasonably nearby deli recommended by Twitterer @kde3183, who goes by Kimberly and from now on, also, “hero.”
The sandwich: The Fed Ex from Firehouse Deli, 265 Mill St., Greenwich, Conn.
The construction: A soft, round roll — this is important, because it wasn’t like the typical “hard roll” you find at most delis, it was closer to a challah roll — with chicken cutlet, bacon, cheddar and barbecue sauce. I’m pretty sure it was Open Pit, which is a tangy, tomato-based barbecue sauce that is wildly underrated.
Important background information: To get to Greenwich I had to drive through Port Chester, which appears to entirely consist of delicious-looking South American restaurants, plus at least one chili place. Remind me to go back there to try one of the Brazilian places. Also, do Brazilians have sandwiches?
Anyway, it was lunchtime and I was hungry, so this Sandwich Week entry required a triumphant feat of perseverance. I wanted to stop so many different places, but I soldiered on to Firehouse Deli because it had been recommended to me and because, after a series of adventurous sandwiches, I yearned for something a little more familiar.
And I want to say, everything about the Firehouse Deli experience was excellent. I hear “Greenwich” and I think one thing, but this was not that thing. It was no-frills not in the pretentious Lower Manhattan sense, but in the good, old-school deli that’s probably been there and been popular forever sense. The walls were lined with menu boards listing various delicious-sounding sandwiches and the employees were clearly knowledgeable and skilled sandwich artisans.
What it looks like:
How it tastes: Oh, lordy. I knew this was going to be good when I saw the guy drop several strips of chicken cutlet into the fryer after I ordered. That’s just tremendous, for a couple reasons. First, fresh-fried chicken, or fresh-fried anything, for that matter, is always going to be better than something that’s been sitting under a lamp in a chaffing dish all day, and it is an exceptionally rare deli that fries its chicken cutlets to order.
Second, the fact that the cutlet was cut into strips instead of one big piece was really promising. I’ve been saying this all week and longer: Surface area. Really can’t stress that enough.
I ate half the thing in the car because I didn’t want to waste the opportunity to eat such freshly fried chicken, but the thing was still steaming hot. It took me about 20 minutes to get home, but the sandwich was still warm and delicious by the time I got here.
The cheddar cheese was cheddar cheese, now melted from the heat of the chicken. The barbecue sauce, as mentioned, was the tangy, delicious too-red sort with a peppery kick to it, the type I like best. My only minor quibble is that the bacon, for some reason, didn’t really stand out. It was adequately crispy and definitely there, but I guess it was overwhelmed by all the other flavors. Still, it was bacon. That shouldn’t be overlooked.
What it’s worth: More than $6 and a half hour in the car, which is all it cost me. I’m not willing to call this sandwich “life-changing” because I’ve had bacon, cheddar and chicken sandwiches before, and the combination — even with the barbecue sauce — is hardly original. But the Fed Ex delivered (I apologize).
While it’s hard to mess up a sandwich with those elements, Firehouse Deli knocked their version out of the park. I can’t compare it to the Full Bird because my fond memories of that sandwich cloud my judgment, but the Fed Ex was comfortably as good as any fried chicken, bacon and cheese sandwich I’ve ever had. And I have had so, so many fried chicken, bacon and cheese sandwiches. Like more than you could even conceive.
The rating: 92 out of 100. I can’t say for certain that this was better than the Sloppy Bao — they’re such wildly different things — so I gave them the same grade. The Fed Ex is not flashy or even particularly original, but it is nonetheless remarkable and should be celebrated. Staid in its execution, broad in its appeal, and undeniably excellent, it is the David Wright of sandwiches.
Mike Tyson turns off the crazy for a night, enjoys a pleasant Indian meal
Tyson, notorious for biting a chunk off Evander Holyfield’s ear in the ring in 1997, also abstained from alcohol and washed his meal down with tea with honey.
Mr Choudhury said: ‘He was here for a long time. He’s a very nice man and just wanted a nice curry.
‘I created these six dishes for him because he is a vegan and he must have liked them as the plates all came back clean.
‘They were very, very spicy. We made all different varieties for him.
“He’s a wonderful chap and very pleasant. He paid the bill and everyone was happy. We’ve had some wonderful celebrities here but he was the best one.’
– Georgina Littlejohn, Daily Mail.
Words not typically used to describe Mike Tyson: “nice” “pleasant” “chap.”
Also, looks like Iron Mike has lost a ton of weight:
Who knows? Maybe he has pulled it together or made peace with himself or something. If so, good for him. The only things I can say for sure about Tyson is that he’s not dumb and he’s not boring. Also, he definitely still has a huge facial tattoo.
Hat tip to Tom Boorstein for the link.
Carlos Beltran playing baseball
Here is, as per GilbertP’s request, Carlos Beltran hitting a grand slam off Kevin Gregg from 2008. This was actually the day after my nephew C.J. was born. Carlos Beltran knows how to welcome a young Mets fan into the world.
I couldn’t find the Sept. 2, 2006 catch that Jake requested. For some reason we didn’t cut any highlights that night — not sure what happened. Anyway, here’s a play Beltran made a few days later, on Sept. 8.
This is, for whatever reason, the play that always comes to my mind when I think of Beltran playing center. Obviously it’s a nice catch, but the impressive part, I think, is how quickly he closes on the ball and how much ground he covers so effortlessly. By the time the ball’s coming down the catch looks almost routine. But look at him in the pursuit. Amazing:
Sadly, I don’t think we’ll ever see that Beltran again. The guy who played center field for the Mets last year hit the crap out of the ball and was still a great baseball player, but by all objective and subjective reports he didn’t cover the same amount of ground in the outfield and his once-phenomenal baserunning slipped a bit, too. The bone-on-bone grinding in Beltran’s knee was probably taking its toll, and surgery or no, I imagine that knee will continue to hamper him a bit going forward.
But it will take a lot more than a bum knee to prevent Carlos Beltran from being better than Jeff Francoeur, the man he’s essentially replacing in the Mets’ outfield. That’s the good news. Outside of his fluky, injury-riddled 2005, it’s been a long, long time since Beltran played anything short of excellent baseball. He may no longer be the best defensive center fielder and best baserunner in the game, but in all likelihood he’ll still be awesome.
Scouting the Giants with Grant Brisbee
Grant’s from the excellent McCoveyChronicles.com. Also, I wonder if he’s Australian. Grant Brisbee sounds Australian, right? Not his voice, just his name.
Last night’s sandwich
Alex Belth tipped me off to the Oxtail Sliders at La Fonda del Sol, right near Grand Central. From clicking around online I knew the place would be a bit swankier than the haunts I usually seek out for sandwiches, but there was something enticing about the fact that the Oxtail Sliders were only available through yesterday, in honor of the running of the bulls in Pamplona). Exclusive, limited edition sandwiches. I like the sound of that.
(Incidentally, the running of the bulls strikes me as one of the dumbest things imaginable. I mean, I get that it’s probably some kind of rush to flee an angry animal, but if that’s how you get your jollies, why do you have to do it with all those other people around, potentially making your path out of the bull’s way more complicated? You can piss off and subsequently run from an aggressive animal in so many places. Why travel to Spain for it?
Also, while I find highlights of the running of the bulls endlessly entertaining, I don’t really see how it would be similarly entertaining to be on the ground, nor do I feel any sympathy for anyone who gets aced by a bull. One of the great things about contemporary living is that, in most places, we do not have to reasonably fear animal attacks. Our ancestors worked really hard to get us to this point. If you get messed up by a bull you’ve angered or a crocodile you’re screwing with or a tiger you’re whipping on stage [looking at you, Roy], don’t expect me to get all broken up. If you don’t want to get hurt, don’t mess with animals that can easily destroy you.)
Anyway, La Fonda del Sol was packed — go figure, at 6 p.m. at a place that’s attached to Grand Central Station — and they said it would be 20 minutes before I could sit anywhere. So I bailed and went to check out another midtown eatery recommended by SeriousEats.com, where, it turns out, every week is Sandwich Week.
The sandwich: Spicy sausage lafa from Olympic Pita, 58 W. 38th st. in Manhattan.
The construction: Lafa — a big, soft flatbread similar to naan — with, hmm, lots of stuff. There was some merguez sausage (or something similar), but also lettuce and carrots, french fries, hummus, tahini and hot sauce. Basically the guy put the sausage on the lafa and then kept pointing to things and asking me if I wanted them on the sandwich, and I kept saying yes until he got to the onions. No onions for me.
Important background information: I love sausage, don’t get me wrong, but I think sausage might be a tiny bit overrated. Great sausage is as good as anything in the world, but there’s simply too much variance in sausage ingredients to expect any sort of consistency. You can’t just order anything called sausage and assume it will be good, like you can with bacon.
Generally, I like spicy Italian sausage, Texas-style cheddar-jalapeno sausage and straight-up breakfast sausage the best. Also, I don’t know why breakfast sausage needs to be exclusively for breakfast. Someone made a bad decision when they named that sausage. They should have called it “timeless sausage” or “perpetual sausage.”
What it looks like:
(Sorry, the lighting was bad and this thing did not photograph well.)
How it tastes: Well, meh. The ratio of ingredients was all off, which actually wound up working in my favor because the lafa was the best part and there was an overwhelming amount of it. It was a bit chewy, but it really worked with the hummus, tahini and hot sauce.
I’m very particular about hummus. If it’s ground really fine, almost liquidy, I love it. If it’s grainier or you can still see the lumps of chickpeas, I’m no fan. Olympic Pita makes precisely the type of hummus I enjoy. Really good stuff. In fact, I might even go back there just to get the hummus, and maybe some lafa to dip in the hummus.
I wouldn’t get the spicy sausage sandwich again, though. What little sausage there was didn’t taste all that great — plus it was just really unappetizing to look at, for whatever reason. The french fries added nothing, and something in there left my stomach hurting hours after I finished.
What it’s worth: That’s the other thing — they charged me $11 something for a huge piece of flatbread with a nominal amount of unimpressive sausage, some french fries, lettuce, and various sauces. It came with a salad, but whatever. That’s a lot of money for mostly bread, hummus, tahini and hot sauce.
The rating: 50 out of 100. The excellent lafa and delicious hummus saved this from dropping below replacement-level. It was still worthwhile on the strength of certain attributes, but extremely limited and lacking punch. The Luis Castillo of sandwiches.
ALERT: The goatsucker emerges
OK, I apologize for going heavy on non-sports posts the last few days but this is super f@#$ing important cryptozoological breaking news that just happened to hit during Sandwich Week:
An animal control officer in Hood County, Texas, may have killed a Chupacabra this week. Well, he definitely killed something, and it may have been a Chupacabra, the elusive goatsucker that’s been terrorizing Texans and Mexicans for years.
And that’s not all! Another Chupacabra was shot just a few miles away by a rancher this same week.
Also, Chupacabras apparently look a lot like really ugly dogs, like maybe dogs with some sort of disease or something. And in fact, a witness described the supposed Chupacabra as acting “like the neighbor’s dog.”
So, you know, good thing they shot it. Gotta play it safe with friendly animals no one’s ever seen before. Sure, he’s cozying up to you now, bringing you the ball and begging you to play, but next thing you know that little bastard’s going to be draining your goat’s blood.
Luckily, Texas scientists are doing DNA tests on the dead carcasses to determine if they were actually Chupacabras. Because, you know, we have some way to identify Chupacabra DNA.
Watch the video. Also note that if you click “Playlist” you’ll find an entire playlist devoted to wacky animal stories, which means the chances of me getting anything done today just plummeted. “Wayward moose ransacks grocery store.”
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Islanders forging new ground in hockey team/cupcake relations
The New York Islanders announced today the addition of a new corporate partner in the unique sponsorship category of cupcakes. The Islanders have signed an agreement to designate Cupcake Gourmet, Inc. as the official cupcake supplier of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and the New York Islanders Hockey Club.
“To be the official cupcake supplier of the Islanders and Nassau Coliseum is huge to me,” Amy Brady, Owner of Cupcake Gourmet, Inc. said. “I fell in love with the team when I moved to Long Island 15 years ago and to be a part of their world feels great.”
Justin Johnson, Senior Vice President of Corporate Partnerships & Marketing for the Islanders said: “We are thrilled to launch this partnership with Amy and Cupcake Gourmet as we continually enhance the everyday menu board for our fans.”
– New York Islanders press release.
Tedquarters 