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Jeff Fletcher | November 20, 2009
In case anyone out there is still checking my blog, now that the Travelogue is done, how bout a little baseball?
Yeterday’s NL Cy Young voting stirred quite a bit of debate. While I don’t think there was any truly wrong answer (well, Wainwright would have been wrong), I have written a story over at FanHouse about why I would have voted for Carpenter.
Jeff Fletcher | November 6, 2009
It was actually over yesterday. Thanks to the Yankees finishing off the Phillies on Wednesday night, I got on a JetBlue flight on Thursday morning and flew nonstop back to Oakland. Today was the first real day of the offseason, which still figures to be busy because of all the player-movement news I’m going to try to chase, starting with the GM Meetings on Monday in Chicago. (Yes, back on the road, but only a three-day quick trip.)
Anyway, overall I’d say it was a pretty cool experience to go running around covering the playoffs for a month. It’s funny, because when it was over I looked back at some of the early parts, like that Dodgers-Cardinals series, and it seems like it was months ago.
Jeff Fletcher | November 4, 2009
This morning I decided to take a little walk from my hotel over to Central Park, which is about five blocks, and then eventually find someplace to have a late breakfast. What happened is another example of my eating disorder. We’ll get back to that, though.
First, although I didn’t feel like going anywhere far to do anything to interesting, I didn’t want to spend the morning sitting in the smallest hotel room in the world. I walked over to Central Park. On the way I saw The Plaza hotel. No sign of Eloise.
Jeff Fletcher | November 3, 2009
Woke up this morning and took the Amtrak (there’s a plug) back from Philadelphia to New York. Once again, it was super easy and convenient. Then jumped in a cab and it was about a $12 ride to my hotel.
I have decided that this is the most compact hotel I’ve ever been in. It’s as if there was a little crack between two buildings, so they poured a hotel into there. The entire building is probably 50 feet wide. The lobby is tiny. The elevators are tiny. The rooms are really tiny. I have never stayed in a smaller hotel room in my life.
Jeff Fletcher | November 2, 2009
After two days of little but sleeping, eating and going to the ballpark in Philadelphia, I decided I should get out and see something. Turns out that my hotel is just about eight blocks away from the birthplace of our nation. How bout that!
For starters, it’s hard to believe that I voluntarily went to see a historical site (and more than one). Growing up as the son of a history professor, I spent much of my childhood complaining about going to see boring forts and museums and other relics that meant nothing whatsoever to me. So today, when I was looking at all of the written exhibits (well, some of them) on the way to the Liberty Bell, and seeing all these school-kids just running by so they could get it over with, I decided that education is wasted on the young.
Jeff Fletcher | November 1, 2009
Thanks to about a 90 minute rain delay and the standard three and a half hour ballgame, plus a 20 minute search for a cab home, I didn’t get back to my hotel room till about 3 am (which became 2 am, thanks to the time change). Bottom line, I slept till almost noon today, which left me just enough time to get to lunch and come to the ballpark. Me and two other writers walked to Chinatown and got some, uh, Chinese food. Then we took the subway to the ballpark.
The Philadelphia subway seems pretty convenient. Similar to New York. Not quite as squeaky clean as we’re used in the Bay Area with BART, but it does the trick. It’s also cheaper.
Anyway, now I’m at the ballpark, so there’s not a whole lot to report from today. I am planning to wake up early on Monday and go see some stuff in Philadelphia. Maybe the Liberty Bell. Maybe Constitution Hall. I did want to go to the Mint and see how they make money, but apparently you can’t bring cell phones or cameras into there. I can’t be without my cell phone.
