Duke Snider, the legendary Dodgers center fielder, passed away. I'd love to hear thoughts from those of you who saw him play.
A swift outfielder, a slick fielder and a No. 3 hitter with reliable power in the clutch, he hit 40 or more home runs in five consecutive seasons, something neither Mays nor Mantle ever achieved, and a feat matched by only two other National Leaguers: Ralph Kiner and Barry Bonds.
Ivan Nova took a strong first step towards becoming 2011's Gritty Gutty, the player rookie who got a cup of coffee and a lot of desperate hype then succeeded anyways. I'm not a Nova believer, but I'd be happy to be wrong. A busy weekend kept me from seeing any baseball yet, other than a couple innings of the YES Encore yesterday, but Travis gave you a good breakdown of the important performances.
Ben Shpigel at the New York Times works an interesting portrait of Nova into his game recap. He's an easy guy to root for.
Andrew Brackman could be pitching again on Wednesday, provided no more surprises.
Mat Kovach wonders at the Hardball Times about pitchers being "improved" by Tommy John surgery. Considering the high success rate and the usual uptick on the fastball that most TJ recipients report, I'm surprised that we don't hear about more elective TJ surgeries. So far as I know, Carl Pavano's was the closest there's been.
George Vecsey relects on the birth of the Phillies-Yankees rivalry. I want to see another couple World Series match ups before I call it a rivalry. Anything less would be unfair to the Dodgers and the Duke.