It is perhaps easier to say who the NY Mets didn’t fire: manager Carlos Mendoza.
Out:
- Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner
- Hitting coaches Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes
- Bench coach John Gibbons
- Third base coach Mike Sarbaugh
Mendoza!
October 3rd, 2025Obit watch: October 3, 2025.
October 3rd, 2025Patricia Routledge, noted British actress. She was 96.
…from the beginning she was a stage performer, and an acclaimed one.
Ms. Routledge won a Tony for her 1968 Broadway appearance in the musical “Darling of the Day” (a tie with Leslie Uggams, for “Hallelujah, Baby!”) and its British equivalent, the Laurence Olivier Award, as the Old Lady in a 1988 production of “Candide” at the Old Vic.
…
Many of Ms. Routledge’s biggest fans, from “Appearances” and from “Hetty Wainthropp Investigates,” the detective series she starred in afterward (1996-98), may never have even known about her time with the Royal Shakespeare Company or her stage roles on the West End.
She was the temperamental character actress Dotty Otley and a harried housekeeper in the farce “Noises Off” (1982), the imperious Lady Bracknell in “The Importance of Being Earnest” (1999), the title character in “Little Mary Sunshine” (1962), Madame Ranevskaya in “The Cherry Orchard” (1975), Queen Margaret in “Richard III” (1984), the confused Mrs. Malaprop in “The Rivals” (1976), the earthy Nettie Fowler in “Carousel” (1992) and a religious fanatic in “And a Nightingale Sang” (1979).
…
Other American stage appearances included the 1980 Shakespeare in the Park production of “The Pirates of Penzance,” with Kevin Kline, as Ruth the pirate maid; and the London comedy “How’s the World Treating You?” (her Broadway debut, in 1966), as a frumpy 1940s mom.None of her Broadway shows had long runs. In 1968, “Love Match” (her second time portraying Queen Victoria) never opened, because of a disappointing Los Angeles run.
Her most notable flop was the Broadway production of Leonard Bernstein’s “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” in which she played a series of American first ladies. It opened on May 4, 1976, and closed on May 8. She looked back on the experience as a composer-lyricist mismatch, telling the London newspaper The Telegraph in 2007, “I think Alan Jay Lerner was frightened of Lenny.”
…
IMDB.
She was best known as “Hyacinth Bucket” (pronounced by the character “Bouquet”) on “Keeping Up Appearances”, a show (and a character) beloved by many people in my family.
One of those family members sent me this, which I rather like:
I’ll be turning 95 this coming Monday. In my younger years, I was often filled with worry — worry that I wasn’t quite good enough, that no one would cast me again, that I wouldn’t live up to my mother’s hopes. But these days begin in peace, and end in gratitude.
My life didn’t quite take shape until my forties. I had worked steadily — on provincial stages, in radio plays, in West End productions — but I often felt adrift, as though I was searching for a home within myself that I hadn’t quite found.
At 50, I accepted a television role that many would later associate me with — Hyacinth Bucket, of Keeping Up Appearances. I thought it would be a small part in a little series. I never imagined that it would take me into people’s living rooms and hearts around the world. And truthfully, that role taught me to accept my own quirks. It healed something in me.
At 60, I began learning Italian — not for work, but so I could sing opera in its native language. I also learned how to live alone without feeling lonely. I read poetry aloud each evening, not to perfect my diction, but to quiet my soul.
At 70, I returned to the Shakespearean stage — something I once believed I had aged out of. But this time, I had nothing to prove. I stood on those boards with stillness, and audiences felt that. I was no longer performing. I was simply being.
At 80, I took up watercolor painting. I painted flowers from my garden, old hats from my youth, and faces I remembered from the London Underground. Each painting was a quiet memory made visible.
Now, at 95, I write letters by hand. I’m learning to bake rye bread. I still breathe deeply every morning. I still adore laughter — though I no longer try to make anyone laugh. I love the quiet more than ever.
I’m writing this to tell you something simple:
Growing older is not the closing act. It can be the most exquisite chapter — if you let yourself bloom again.
Let these years ahead be your *treasure years*.
You don’t need to be famous. You don’t need to be flawless.
You only need to show up — fully — for the life that is still yours.
With love and gentleness,
— Patricia Routledge
Obit watch: October 2, 2025.
October 2nd, 2025Lt. Colonel George Hardy (USAF – ret.). He was 100.
Colonel Hardy, a Philadelphia native, was 19 and had never even driven a car when he began aviation cadet training in September 1944 at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama. By early the next year, in the closing months of the war in Europe, then-Second Lieutenant Hardy was assigned to an Army Air Forces base in Italy, from which he flew 21 missions accompanying bombers to their targets over southern Germany in early 1945.
In addition to those high-altitude missions in P-51 Mustang aircraft, he made strafing runs on German trains, trucks or river barges and was once struck by small-arms fire. He knew he was hit, he recalled to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, when he saw a flash of light coming through the cockpit floor, which was usually dark.
He also flew 45 missions during the Korean War, and 70 during the Vietnam War.
Wikipedia says he was the last surviving member of the Tuskegee Airmen who saw combat during WWII.
Updated NYT obit for Jane Goodall. This includes corrections that were added today.
Marilyn Knowlden, child actress. She was 99. IMDB.
…Ms. Knowlden’s parents did not even take her to see her own films, fearful that she would develop a titanic ego. Her father, who managed her career, refused to let her be bound by a studio contract.
As a result, “I was always a freelance actor, so I had complete freedom to choose my roles,” she told Mr. Thomas. “If you were under contract like Judy Garland or Shirley Temple, you went to a studio school and really lost your ordinary life. I went to public school, had a very normal life, and then occasionally would go off and make a film.”
Firings watch.
October 1st, 2025Brian Snitker is out as manager of the Atlanta Braves.
This is questionably a “firing”, as the team says he’s moving into an “advisory role”. He’s been around the organization for 49 years, and won the World Series in 2021.
But Atlanta was 76-87 this season, which seems to have made the retirefiring decision easier.
(I apologize for the ESPN link, but the AJC is unreadable without a subscription. And my attempt to archive the story resulted in garbage.)
Bill Schmidt out as general manager of the Colorado Rockies. That’s the 119 loss Colorado Rockies, for those of you keeping track at home.
Obit watch: October 1, 2025.
October 1st, 2025Jane Goodall has passed away. She was 91.
It goes against my usual policy, but here’s a NYT obit from today that seems pretty comprehensive. I’ll try to post an updated version tomorrow if it is justified.
NYT obit for Thomas Perry. Fun fact I didn’t know: he and his wife worked as TV writers and producers. Credits include “Simon and Simon”, “Snoops”, and a spin-off of a minor SF TV series from the 1960s.
Viv Prince, drummer for the Pretty Things. I’d never heard of the Pretty Things (pigpen51?) but the paper of record describes them as a “ruder, cruder version of the Rolling Stones”. And the obit is entertaining, especially if you’re a fan of Spinal Tap.
An appreciation published in The Guardian after his death unearthed a 1965 interview with Mr. Prince from Record Mirror, the British music newspaper, in which he was grilled about his antics with the band during a scorched-earth tour of New Zealand that year.
In the interview, Mr. Prince denied lighting fires onstage but did admit to sabotaging a performance by the teen idol Eden Kane by laying carpet onstage while Mr. Kane was performing. “Everyone was digging it,” Mr. Prince said.
And he addressed news accounts that he had released live crayfish in an airport lounge. “The fish were dead when we bought them,” he said. “They always are. How on earth can dead fish run around?”
Firings watch.
September 30th, 2025Ron Washington out as manager of the Los Angeles Angels.
Mr. Washington had medical issues that caused him to miss a large part of the season. ESPN quotes him as saying this wasn’t based on health, but on performance. He was 99-137 in two seasons.
Somewhat related: the City of Anaheim gets $2 for every ticket the Angels sell above the 2.6 million ticket mark.
The city’s cut this year? $31,012.
…
And the city has a $64 million budget deficit.
Your NFL loser update: week 4, 2025.
September 30th, 2025NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-17:
NY Jets
Tennessee
New Orleans
The worthless Bills are 4-0.
The New York Football Giants actually beat the worthless Chargers?
And the Packers and Cowboys tied? Not just a tie, but it was also a Scorigami.
In other news, the firings will continue until morale improves. Bruce Bochy out as manager of the Texas Rangers. This is being spun as “by mutual agreement”, but I always wonder how much “mutual” there is in these.
That was over three years: the team was 81-81 this year.
Update.
September 29th, 2025I know I said on Friday I’d try to address the Yogurt Shop Murders after today’s press conference.
I didn’t get a chance to watch the press conference today due to continuous meetings. I’m sure there’s a recording somewhere that I will try to watch.
My other issue is that yesterday was a rough day for me, and I haven’t had time to do much with the murder story because I’m trying to clean up from that.
I drove down to Kyle yesterday since it was a kind of off day for my regular church, and I thought I’d visit a friend at her church.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to connect with her, but that was okay. That also wasn’t the issue.
On my way back from Kyle, one of my car tires catastrophically failed on the Southwest Parkway.
Then I had an appointment at 4 PM at the Apple Store in Barton Creek Mall to get my iPhone battery replaced. I made the appointment and waited around for about 90 minutes while they replaced the battery. Everyone was very nice (the Apple employee who checked me in was especially awesome), and I got my phone, got in my car, started driving out of the parking lot, decided to call home and see if I needed to pick up food…
…and nobody could hear me. I checked with a couple of other people, and it wasn’t just one phone. It seems that, when they replaced the battery, Apple broke the microphone on my phone, so I can’t make calls. (Well, technically, I can make calls: I just can’t talk to anybody.)
So now I need to get in touch with Apple and figure out the next steps to get the microphone fixed. This is complicated by the fact that I have 2FA software on my phone that I need for work, so I can’t be without it for more than a few hours.
I just bought a new Dick Tracy two-way wrist radio with some of my bonus money, and enabled cell service on it. I’ve tested, and in a pinch, I can use that to make voice calls. But it isn’t an ideal solution.
I did manage to get an appointment today with Discount Tire to get my tire replaced. They were efficient and nice…
…and it turns out they don’t have the Michelin tires I want. They thought they had one in stock, and told me I could come back in a day or two for the second one. Then it turned out they couldn’t find the one, either.
So they slapped a loaner tire on my car, and I get to come back in a few days to get the two tires done.
There were, however, two redeeming points. The tire that failed was under warranty, so they’re replacing it for free. They suggested I might want to get a second tire done, since it had more wear on it than the other three. I kind of resisted that at first. But then I asked about doing something to replace the doughnut spare on the car, which I’ve put some wear on and no longer trust.
Discount offered me a spare full-size wheel at a reasonable price, and offered to take the more worn – but still good – tire off, replace it with a new tire, and mount the old tire on the new wheel. Thus giving me a non-doughnut spare, which I think is swell, as I hate driving on those.
But I still have to go back to Discount once they get everything together, which is more time out of my schedule. Good thing this isn’t one of my busy weeks.
I’ll try to have some commentary up about the murders in the next few days. In the meantime, “New DNA technology key to solving 1991 Austin yogurt shop murders” from KXAN. It looks like the new technique is Y-STR DNA testing. As I’ve said before, I wish I knew more about DNA testing than I do, and I can’t really comment on the soundness of the methodology. The article also states that there is ballistic evidence which ties these murders to a case in Kentucky and several other crimes.
The connection of the suspect to Texas remains unclear to me. And I hate to be cynical, because the reports are making this sound like good police work.
However, if this turns out wrong, it wouldn’t be the first time. Four other men were convicted in 1999, but were cleared in 2009 after Y-STR profiling excluded them. It could be that they have the right guy this time. It could be that they’re clearing a cold case by playing “pin the tail on the dead guy”. At the moment, I’m leaning more in the direction of this being the right guy, but I can understand the cynicism some people in my circle have expressed.
Firings watch.
September 29th, 2025The MLB regular season is over. Time for the baseball version of “Bloody Monday”.
Rocco Baldelli out as manager of the Minnesota Twins. 70-92 this season.
ESPN.
Bob Melvin out as manager of the San Francisco Giants.
…
He was 161-163 in two seasons with San Francisco.
ESPN.
Miscellany.
September 29th, 2025Another quote for your pleasure:
I don’t have room for this elsewhere, so: my thanks to SP RN and Bones. I finished Metzger’s Dog over the weekend, and their recommendations were right on target.
Your loser update: September 29, 2025.
September 29th, 2025The NFL portion of the loser update has to wait until tomorrow. The 0-3 Jets play the 0-3 Dolphins tonight. I’m sure this will be an exciting game, if you’re a big fan of fiascos.
The major league baseball regular season ended yesterday, though.
It delights me to be able to report that Cleveland clinched their division (AL Central) and Detroit clinched a playoff berth (also in the AL Central). I will be happy if either team goes to the big show.
But I know that’s not what you are wondering about.
The White Sox finshed 60-102, for a .370 winning percentage. That’s bad, but it doesn’t even make Wikipedia’s list for the modern era.
And the Rockies? Well, I was half right. They did get swept by Seattle (who won their division: the AL West).
But they also got swept by San Francisco. I had figured they’d win one game in SF, but they managed to put together a six game losing streak.
Their final record? 43-119, for a .265 winning percentage. So, so close to a record.
As it is, they are fourth on the Wikipedia list for losses (tied with the 2003 Tigers, and ahead of the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics). If you sort by winning percentage, they come in eighth, tied again with the 2003 Tigers and just ahead of the 1952 Pittsburgh Pirates. (For the record, the 2024 White Sox were .253, for fifth place on the list. The modern era record for worst winning percentage is still the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics, at .235 over 153 games.)
Quotes.
September 27th, 2025A few quotes I’ve run across recently that amused me:
…“Michael, anybody that eats chocolate cake alone is an a–hole.”
“You ain’t gotta get real technical to dish out death sometimes.”
By way of Mike the Musicologist. He didn’t provide me with a link, but the context is a woman commenting on how hard it is to carry concealed while wearing a dress:
Edited to add: Link added.