Quincy

Argh...having been to a multiple birthday party last night, all I can say is drinking a lot of whiskey after wine is not the best idea! Hope you have a great birthday and wiser night than I had.

So you're the reason why we're celebrating all of the Steve Wilson/Opeth/KC reissue stuff. Cool! Happy B-day to ya Tex in LA!

A very happy presidential birthday!

Not very many are whining about Aybar's bunt on Verlander. I see no problem with it whatsoever. I'm very disappointed with Guillen's antics as he's been a favorite of mine. He dealt with TB (the disease, not the team) as a Mariner and was just getting on track when they traded him to the Tigers (for zip) whereupon he had 3 all-star seasons. I've liked the way he's willing to play different positions for the sake of the team. But the way he faces Weaver when beginning the trot is such showboating. So I actually like the dusting by Weaver, at least in terms of "old school" baseball. Weaver is very much in control of his pitches this year and this pitch illustrates it. It's a classic riser. I'm sure he could spot it within an 1/8 of an inch of anywhere he wants it with the season he's having. (In fact he's only hit 1 batter in 2 years!) The batter neither froze nor hit the dirt (he's probably expecting it, and rightly so), so I'm inclined to think it's not as close to the head as some think it is. However Weaver also should have known that the immediate satisfaction would result in him missing his next scheduled start. So he should have just entered this into his little black book and dusted Guillen next year. Given that Carlos is injury prone and they have only one 4 game series (and two 3) perhaps he thought they might not meet again. Although I don't think Weaver was thinking at all about the long term.

I don't know I have any feeling left. I like the trade with Boston more than the one with Detroit, though mid-season trades with Boston haven't gone so well in the past (Varitek & Lowe for Slocumb.) The offense is so bad. So very bad, and it's not just the big ballpark. So it's a good thing to be taking a chance on 3 different OF prospects as surely one of them will stick. Right? To me Bedard is a coin flip given the health issues so I'll take my chances with Trayvon, the prospect the BoSox grabbed from the Dodgers to make the trade. Some sources make it sound like his bat/speed would be sorta like Marquis Grissom, others say he's more far more raw than that and may not even hit .230. Chih-Hsien Chiang sure has been having a fine season for Portland and might be developing more patience at the plate. I suppose he could be a late call up but I get the feeling we'll see what's up next spring training. Normally Casper Wells wouldn't excite me at all. Well, I'm not really "excited" by him, but the OF has been so weak that a .250 hitter with slightly above average pop will be welcome. But he'll be 27 in Nov. so unless he's a late bloomer (and that does happen) I really don't expect much out of him. The optimist hopes there's some of that 2010 season where he hit .323 & slugged .538 in 93 AB in him. He's been .250 & less than .450 since in his short career. Still, that's an improvement around here! The other parts I still need to read up on. As far as losing Fister he may get better as he's a big guy and sometimes it takes longer for a tall pitcher to get it together. But he isn't a strikeout pitcher, and so as bad the offense is what the hell, I'll take the chances with the bats over him being more than a 3rd or 4th rotation guy. He was an ideal pick up for Detroit as he's cheap.

I bet it's the day he fought zombies!

Big Unit & Shilling did alright in 2001, even with a flakey closer.

It's been a flurry! I know a couple of Astro fans in person and then we have Aggie here - boy, I feel for you guys. Oh man, that's sad, having a Mariner fan "feel for you." Sorry about that. I am curious to check the depth chart to see who's in the OF and what the batting order will be. It's wild to see the Pirates adding as Berigan referred to earlier. I love it though - such a great history in the franchise and they have one of the more beautiful views for fans of the bridges & city, yet they've never had a good team since the park (I'm blanking on the name - can we just call it 3 Rivers 2? ) was built. It'd be fun to see it on the TV come playoff time (unless you're a Brewer fan.) The M's send Fister to Detroit & Bedard to Boston, and the rookie Pineda will likely be shut down soon. So days like what's happening versus Tampa (7-0 thru 6) will just keep comin'. Ah well, keep on rebuilding, fire another manager, rebuild again, fire the manager...

It's great to see them adding this time of year rather than selling. While not featuring the best records both Central divisions have the most interesting races.

Yup. It added to the uniqueness of the insult, as it sounded like it had gone through a computer translator & back.

He could be blowing smoke (or deeply inhaling some), but Mets manager Collins claims Beltran can play CF. I guess it wouldn't take too many games to see if that's more adventure than a club wants or not. Maybe he can do so adequately.

Thanks for pulling out the Electric Eden rec by Bev. Our library has it on order and I'm now #5 in the queue.

The 3 disc Motion set arrived in a timely fashion, safely wrapped and with a protective digi-pac sleeve included too. Thank you very much Kevin. This is a set that has been high on my want list for some time. There was a stretch where it was very hard to find (or to win on eBay) and I think I removed it from my hunting list as it was too frustrating. So I'm very much looking forward to hearing it.

If you were buying Hendrix albums in the '70s or early '80s you'd be reminded of Hendrix's age of death on the inner sleeve of his Reprise albums. Each LP came with a kitty too! The cat is 9 years old and just like 9 year old human boys, she's fascinated by the clothes and the rock mythology of dying young. And so as the '60s exploration continues you come along to The Doors and at sometime when reading about Rev. Jim's "poetry" and whipping it out, being a smelly drunk and so on, what do you know, 27 pops up again. Later you somehow stay awake during the Woodstock movie and see Janis. It also helps as they all died relatively close together. For me though 27 got burned into the brain from playing Hendrix LPs, and I think it likely did for many others.

It's been fun! Great for checking out those bonus tracks for albums that you didn't want to rebuy again. Too cheap to put up the bucks for The Who's re-re-repackaging of Live At Leeds but you wanted to hear the the Hull 1970 show? It's on there. (That was sweet revenge.) The Neil Young archives are too (nothing like listening to an audiophile set in low-res ) I've noticed many ECM albums smartly make a few tracks unavailable, lest one think "oh I can live with that in mp3 form." It's becoming a regular thing now to play an album as I go thru the morning coffee and paper/computer. It really taps into the childhood part of the brain that dreamed of "god games" and having all of the music available at one's fingertips. It's also a little scary to realize that Barry Manilow is now in the house, or at least a few keystrokes away.

199 for Wakefield! 15 for the mighty M's. On to New York! *Oh, and nice jinx work Dan.

For the same reason all baseball parks are not the same in dimension and why there is not time limit on games. It is what it is. No, he was asking why and Jim provided the answer. Once upon a time runners ran around the bases clockwise. If this was still the case in '75 it may not have been George Foster throwing out Denny Doyle at the plate. For a time there weren't walks, then it was 3 pitches for a walk. 60 feet 6 inches didn't just come out of the blue. Some people are curious and would like to know the answer to things. "It is what it is" isn't a very interesting answer to something that has an answer.

Nope, Keith knew his limits. Referring to that he once said "I never turned blue in somebody else's bathroom."

Thanks for pointing this one out. I thought I should wait awhile before buying another cello suite set, but the videos got me and since she's playing viola it doesn't count regarding my cello moratorium. And now that Spotify is in the US, it's on there too if one can't wait for a CD copy in the mail. Like you said, wow.

I think the key to that game stat is that it was 1945. The war years produced some funky stuff. Deception and working the count are ancient concepts that started as soon as the game was invented. Trying to get batters to chase bad pitches lead to bases on balls being introduced. In the game's beginning (1860s) for a time it was considered more manly to get a hit than a walk. A guy like Youk would be called "a waiter at the bat." By 1876 taking a walk had gone from "moral cowardice to the epitome of courage." [p 84, A Game Of Inches - Peter Morris] Also very early on pitchers and managers paid attention to how a batter's feet were positioned as a sign of what type of pitch he was expecting. Observation and keeping a book on hitters didn't need no stinkin' computer or vidya recorder 'n' such. Pitch counts [p.366 same book] date back to the 1860s but they were kept by scorekeepers and not much was done with them. Robin Roberts say Paul Richards kept track of them in the 1950s with Baltimore. Roger Angell in 1971 also noted that "one team limits its youngsters to maximum of 100 pitches per game." That said, the widespread severely anal adherence didn't happen until the '90s.

Unfortunately for Felix it takes 3-4 games combined for the offense to score "a run or two."

Don't discount the value of a healthy & especially historic enemy in sports. For now you might relish the thought of the Dodgers in the cellar for years to come, but will will Western titles really be as satisfying if LA stinks? Oh I'm sure they will at first, but unless you're a sadist eventually you might strangely find yourself missing the old hated competitor. Plus it will make failure to win the division all the more painful, losing out the new teams of AZ, CO & SD. Yeah, I still consider the Padres to be a newcomer.

PM sent on the Lee Konitz, “Motion” (Verve).

(Facebook mode)

While I'm extremely disappointed the series is ending, at least the Season 2 finale acted as finale for the series as long as you don't mind a bow not being put on it. It's easy enough to imagine simultaneous struggle & satisfaction for Terry and all of them. I mean, you didn't really want or need to see a wedding for Terry did you? But coming one day after the Friday Night Lights finale...I guess I have more time for reading now.