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Book 61 (of 52) – Retreat

Retreat – Krysten Ritter and Lindsay Jamieson

When a con-woman finds that things are getting a little hot in Chicago, she jumps at the chance to take a job in Mexico as a way to escape for a while.  She takes over the identity of her employer, thinking that she and her husband have been killed, she tries to stay a step ahead until the husband’s body washes up on a local beach.  When the second body turns out to be the husband’s mistress and not the wife, she starts to realize that she may be in over her head.

After eight long years, actress Krysten Ritter returns with her second novel, Retreat.  Along with co-writer Lindsay Jamieson, Ritter puts together another interesting tale.  Here’s hoping that it won’t be another long wait before we hear from her, in a non-acting way, again.

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Fitbit XI – Week 45

After three down weeks, I found myself back on the plus side of 30,000 steps thanks to a week off of work.  The week got off to a decent start on Sunday thanks to a trip to a not-so-local grocery store which left me 9 steps shy of 4600.  Monday was just about the same, wrapping up with 4500 steps.  A visit to Ricobene’s and Rate Field on Tuesday ended up as the best day of the week, needing 38 additional steps to reach 5300.  Another trip to the same far-off grocery store to pick up turkeys on Wednesday left me a single step shy of 4400.  The Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday wrapped up 10 steps away from 3600.  A lazy Friday left me 23 steps from 4200.  A day-long snowstorm on Saturday ended the week 17 steps away from 3900.

Total steps: 30,433

Daily average: 4347.6

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Red Sox All Time Leaders – Through 2025

To paraphrase from a famous movie, the one constant through all the years has been baseball.  With the winter meetings on the horizon, we continue our look at the all-time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams. Today, we take a deeper dive into the Boston Red Sox.

One of the American League’s eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Boston in 1901 and took on the Red Sox nickname in 1908.  I’ve seen 198 players don the Red Sox uniforms in the 39 games I’ve seen them play, first in 1985 for the home opener at Comiskey Park, through the first two games of the 2005 ALDS at US Cellular Field, and most recently at Rate Field this past April.

Home Runs

Name Total
David Ortiz 6
Mike Lowell 4
Jarrod Saltalamacchia 3
Kevin Youkilis 3
Jason Varitek 3
Manny Ramirez 3
Jackie Bradley Jr. 3

Hits

Name Total
David Ortiz 22
Mike Lowell 17
Kevin Youkilis 15

Runs

Name Total
David Ortiz 16
Dustin Pedroia 9
Mike Lowell 8
Kevin Youkilis 8
Jacoby Ellsbury 8

RBI

Name Total
David Ortiz 19
Mike Lowell 13
Kevin Youkilis 12

Doubles

Name Total
David Ortiz 6
Manny Ramirez 4
Mookie Betts 4

Triples Continue reading →

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Book 60 (of 52) – Horror Movie

Horror Movie – Paul Tremblay

Nobody is quite sure what to make of the last remaining cast member from a 30-year-old underground, cult horror film that never actually got released as he works to get the Hollywood reboot off the ground.  Recollecting the original shoot, and all of the horrors that went along with it, he starts to once again inhabit the mindset of his character, bad news for all involved.

Much like Jeneva Rose’s Home Is Where the Bodies Are, Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay shows once again that a good way to draw me towards your book is to feature a VHS cassette on the cover.  This story had an interesting premise, but, for me, went off the rails in the third act.  I don’t know if I will want to go back to the Tremblay well any time soon, but we will see.

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Fitbit XI – Week 44

Another down week despite the return of fall temperatures.  The week got off to a decent start on Sunday, wrapping up with 4300 steps.  A small decline on Monday left me 21 steps shy of 4100.  Tuesday ended up as the best day of the week, needing just another 2 steps to reach 4700.  Things dropped considerably o Wednesday, coming 5 steps shy of 2700.  Thursday saw an improvement, going back up to 3500.  Another small improvement on Friday pushed me up to 3800 steps.  A nice-ish day on Saturday ended the week with 4400 steps.

Total steps: 27,580

Daily average: 3940

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Book 59 (of 52) – No Good Deeds

No Good Deeds – Laura Lippman

When Crow brings home a young hooligan tangentially related to the murder of an assistant US Attorney, he sets in motion a series of events that put Tess’s freedom, and his own life, at risk.  While the Feds go after Tess, Crow goes on the run, hoping to keep his new project alive.  Can the two of them manage to figure out what is going on before the net closes on them completely?

In No Good Deeds, the ninth entry in Laura Lippman’s Tess Monaghan series, the action focuses more on Crow, who has gone on the lam to try and make up for the sins of his ancestors.  With only three more entries to go in the series, we are heading towards the end and should wrap things up next year.

 

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A Changing Landscape

The national and streaming television landscape for Major League Baseball will be changing for 2026 as the league prepares to overhaul its approach starting in 2029.  This past February, ESPN opted out of the final three years of its deal with the league that would have paid MLB $550 million per year.  Those rights will be split up three ways for the next three seasons, with chunks going to ESPN, Netflix, and NBC/Peacock.  Between the three, MLB is expected to get $750 million per year in total over the next three seasons.

ESPN will receive a national 30-game package throughout the season available exclusively on ESPN’s television networks and streaming app.  They will also continue to carry the Little League Classic and will stream over 150 out-of-market games, one per day, via the ESPN app.  In addition, they will take over control of the out-of-market streaming capabilities available today through MLB.tv.  Details on how that will work were not made available at this time.

Netflix will get exclusive rights to the standalone Opening Day game in prime time, the Home Run Derby and the Field of Dreams game.  No word yet on if they will produce these events in house and, if so, who the broadcasters may be.

NBC and its streaming app Peacock will become the new home of Sunday Night Baseball and the Wild Card round of the postseason.  The network will also take over the Sunday Leadoff game, a package that premiered on Peacock but has aired on Roku for the past two seasons.

The rest of the national agreements, with FOX, TBS, and Apple TV, will continue as is through 2028.  At that point, all of MLB’s television rights will be coming up together at the same time.  Commissioner Rob Manfred would like the league to control the local rights for all teams by that point, hoping a singular package will generate the most revenue.  Teams that have ownership stakes in their own local RSNs, like the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, and Cubs, may not be aligned with this approach.

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2026 Hall Of Fame Ballot – The Newcomers

Last Monday, the BBWAA released their ballot for the Hall of Fame class of 2026, with the results of the vote are due to be revealed on January 20th, and induction taking place July 26th.  With CC Sabathia, Ichiro Suzuki, and Billy Wagner as the electees last year, the new ballot contains fifteen holdovers along with a dozen newcomers.

On Wednesday, we looked at the returning candidates.  Today, it’s time to look at the newcomers, all of whom saw their last MLB action during the weirdness that was the 2020 season, and see who may be thankful come January.

Ryan Braun

The long-time Brewer had a fine career, minus his 2013 suspension for PEDs, but has no real shot at enshrinement.

Shin-Soo Choo

Choo left MLB as the record holder for most career home runs hit by an Asian-born player, but that isn’t going to get him much support.

Edwin Encarnación

424 career home runs was good, but good enough to push him over the top.

Gio González

A perfectly serviceable pitcher who has no real chance of getting a vote, let alone sticking around for a second election.

Alex Gordon

Again, not likely to get much support.

Cole Hamels

The 2008 World Series MVP will need to buy a ticket if he wants to get into the Hall.

Matt Kemp

A perfectly decent career, just not one that leads to enshrinement.

Howie Kendrick Continue reading →

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Prolific Authors – 19 Books

It is time once again to take a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  This year, I’m once again on pace to set a new record for books read in a year, so I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through August of this year. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 1xx books, so there should be some movement over the past two years.  Without further ado, it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much over the years.  We continue today with the lone author I’ve read 19 times, starting in 2018.

Karin Slaughter

In March of 2018, I was flying to Las Vegas for the IBM Think conference and I clicked open Pretty Girls, a standalone work by Karin Slaughter, which had been on the Kindle for a while. Little did I know that I would average close to three books per year for the next seven years.

After That Night – Karin Slaughter

The following year, I jumped into her Will Trent series, accidentally starting with the eighth entry The Kept Woman.  I worked my way through that series, becoming current in 2023.  That summer, I went back to her older Grant County series, having some familiarity with characters who had crossed over.  Earlier this year, I knocked off Pieces of Her, which was adapted by Netflix for a show in 2022 and has a sequel waiting for me.  On top of all that, she has a new series which started in August.  I imagine she may take the top spot next time I run through this list.