scott pianowskiVerified account

Throwaway from '87 Shaughnessy Sunday column: “The Twins have been accused of technological sign-stealing at home, and there will be much scripting of Minnesota’s workplace when the playoffs come to town.” Coincidence or not, Twins went 10-1 in home playoff games for 1987/1991.

The Boston Globe dispatched Dan Shaughnessy to cover late-season Detroit-Toronto games. No paper would ever do that now. The gamers were beautiful, part game record and part column. He's a lot like Rick Reilly; the second half of the career obscures that he used to be excellent.

Most seamheads remember Doyle Alexander's ridiculous run in Detroit (unfortunately, it only cost them John Smoltz). But Mike Flanagan had a cool seven-start renaissance in Toronto (2.37 ERA). Went 11 innings in the penultimate game; guile, soft-tossing junk, figuring a way.

It's a shame the 1987 Tigers went nowhere in the playoffs, because the AL East race that year was insane. Toronto-Detroit played seven of final 11 games together, and ALL of them were one-run games, including a 12- and a 13-inning game. What theatre.

Molly Lambert's Mad Men recaps.https://twitter.com/redford/status/1255330066151718912 …

It's all about small victories these days. Today's was "a nice person I don't even know made me an understated, comfortable mask."

Sandy Hook was a sad tipping point. When a large part of the country could shrug over a massacre of young schoolchildren - or pathetically imply it was a hoax - you knew we were in trouble.https://twitter.com/thosefields/status/1256378760426733568 …

I would like an acceptable answer as to why the United States accepts a gun violence epidemic and no other country lives this way. What are we valuing here?

If you want to own a gun, fine. There's no reason a common citizen needs an assault rifle. If you can't see this distinction, I worry about you.https://twitter.com/ajplus/status/1256247758840872960 …

A couple of Silly Little Drafts are in the can; one about a rock band, one about a sporting subject everyone will have an opinion about. I'll give a shout when they're live.

Assuming presidents don't count, Ralph Cifaretto.https://twitter.com/RottenTomatoes/status/1255625148582866944 …

Seems like french fries are always incredible or disgusting.

SCIENCE!https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1255611768258387973 …

You know you're obsessed with a show - like I am with The Sopranos - when you become obsessed/familiar with the individual writers and directors. I skip the Sopranos intro on my rewatches (heard it enough), but I then back up 10 seconds to note the creative credits.

Paul Molitor’s 39 gamer: .415/.495/.683, 43 runs, 7 HR, 33 RBIs. Pete Rose’s 44 gamer: .385/.421/.462, 30 runs, 0 HR, 11 RBIs. And about a million bunts. Yeah, 1987 was pinball, Molly was in AL, and Rose's was really cool, too. But still, Molitor’s streak is underappreciated.

I've seen some criticisms of Sopranos Season 4, centered around how some plots and characters show up, go away, and resurface. I think that's actually a feature, not a bug. Matthew Weiner learned that Chase trick; keep rotating the characters, you never get sick of anyone. Savvy.

This episode won a ton of Emmys, so very well deserved. Edie Falco in particular is amazing for those 75 minutes. There isn't a Sopranos season that's less than great, but Whitecaps shows the peak of nuanced characterization and the harvest of its continued subtlety.

I need to mention Bruce Altman, perfectly cast as the guest-star jerk attorney who faces off with Tony. And the episode ends with one of my favorite comic turns from a show that was so often hilarious.