Coping

So how are we all doing today?

We've had about 16 hours to recover from last night's debacle and I guess I'm about ready to go for tonight.

I know it hurts too much to keep looking at that photo of CC that tops my most-recent post, so if nothing else, this piece will serve to knock that one down on the Web page a little so you can't see it as readily.

I checked out the Boston Globe today to see what was up when I came across this little annoying item. "Foulke planning comeback" That's right. Mr no-show, Mr. I'll-blow-you-off-after-it's-too late-to-spend-your-money-on-someone-else has been working out and plans to come out of "retirement" for next season.

The Globe quotes Foulke's agent Danny Horwits as saying Foulke "is definitely going to play next year. He just needed to get healthy."


Foulke was placed on the voluntarily retired list by Cleveland and will be a free agent.

Here's my favorite part of the story:

Foulke is already working out and is watching the ALCS, according to the agent. "He still has friends on the Red Sox and is rooting for them," Horwits said.

Horowits followed up with this:

"He also absolutely wishes the best for the Indians, for the way they treated him."

Gee! Thanks alot Mr. Foulke!! You %^*@@#-ing jerk!

THE ROCK SAYS THERE'S NO CURSE

I came across this item in Friday's Globe too late to include it in my pre-series post.


At least we still have "The Rock" - Rocky Colavito - in our corner.

In a personal profile on the 50s-60s slugger - one of the most popular Indians of all time and the man after which one of my fantasy baseball teams is named - Colavito says he never put a curse on the Indians for trading him to the Tigers just before the start of the 1960 season.


"I never put the evil eye on 'em," he says. "It's not like in the old country in Italy where one of those old grandmothers drops oil into water and if it doesn't spread, the curse is on. No. Anyway, I never put a curse on the Indians."

But there was bad blood between Lane and Colavito over the slugger's salary. Colavito says he wanted a $3,000 raise to $15,000 in 1957, and Lane refused. Colavito worked a second job on a mushroom farm.

Can anyone see A-Rod working on a mushroom farm in the off-season?

The Rock also said he's rooting for the Tribe in the ALCS:

"I'm a little partial to Cleveland; it's a great city," he says. "It's a wonderful city. Boston has more stars, but Cleveland has some up-and-coming kids and they are hungry. I like [Grady] Sizemore. Both have good pitching. It's gonna be about the bullpen."

And he says he's not too fond of the modern-day player, and singled out Manny Ramirez in particular:

"Manny [Ramírez] is a really good hitter, no doubt about it," says Colavito. "[But] I see him make a miscue in the field and I see a grin on his face. In our day, if you grinned, they might boot your [posterior] to the minor leagues. They wouldn't tolerate it and you might get disciplined by your peers."

Anyway. The idea of the curse was highlighted in a 1994 book by the Plain Dealer's Terry Pluto, who argues that the Indians three-and-a-half decades of ineptitude started in 1960 with the Colavito trade.
Pluto has written many great books, but the one on Colavito and his 1999 book "Our Tribe" are my favorites. They make great off-season reading. If you've never read them, put them on your Christmas wish list.

Over at the New York Times long-time columnist Murray Chass offers some advice for Indians fans on the ledge today. -- Just chill.

The Times also has a nice little profile of Kenny Lofton, who just keeps popping up in the post season every year.

I have a long-standing engagement tonight and won't be around to watch Game 2. I'll TIVO it and may check it out when I get in, but I'm not sure I'll be blogging on tonight's game. If not look for something sometime tomorrow afternoon.

Enjoy the game. It's gonna feel better after tonight. I think.