Peace to reader A.J. Travis for suggesting Wright Thompson's ESPN story, "Shadow Boxing": The old man opens the door and shuffles into a familiar room. The air smells of stale beer and discount brand cigarette smoke. The tables are taken by men with no names. They are all friends. They are all strangers. A different journey brought each of them here, to the pool hall on NW Second Avenue, but that doesn't matter anymore. Their journeys are over. Most don't share the details, not even their last names. Some don't remember the year, or how long they've been coming here. They have no past. The old man walks clumsily to a table. He has a story. The act of telling it, of having people hear it, keeps him from disappearing forever. One night, he says, he foug…
Mike Trout’s greatness is all-encompassing and unrelenting. There are no holes to be poked in it, and no complaints to be made about how he chooses to deploy his skills every day. If you were, however, some kind of sick freak who believes that Trout could be doing more to help his team win, you might say that he should be stealing more bases. Trout would tend to agree. After leading the league with 49 steals in 2012, his stolen base numbers went on a steady yearly decline, all the way down to 11 in 2015. He vowed to swipe more bags at the start of the 2016 season and mostly followed through, taking 30. Last year, he managed to steal 22 in 114 games. So far this season, he’s maintained his commitment to reinvesting in his speed. He’s got 10 steals so far, and shouldn’t have much …