Dave James

My sources, which, of course I cannot reveal, indicate that the Yanks have no interest in Oswalt. Darvish - yes. Wilson - yes. They've also cut ties with former first round pick Andrew Brackman who, with the exception of Stephen Strasberg, is the most expensive draft choice ever.

It will be interesting to see where Roy Oswalt lands. I'd think quite a number of teams might be interested in him if the money and duration are right. I'd love to see the Yankees bring him in and then win the Yu Darvish sweepstakes.

A logical progression after the concept of tribute albums was bled dry. There was a time several years ago when it seemed like a solid 60% of all the music released was an homage to some long gone jazz great. To me, conjuring someone else's persona is just a cheap date... another mile marker along the road that leads away from individuality, originality and creativity.

Do you recall when a bunch of Cowboy players had cocaine problems and they were known as 'South Americas team'? That still makes me laugh. Never heard that one, but I like it. That must've been back in the days of Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson.

Any time the Cowboys lose, it's cause for celebration. When they lose to my Eagles who, this past Sunday, knocked them down and took their lunch money, it's even better. Dallas isn't going anywhere until Jerry Jones realizes he's an owner, not a general manager. Good thing he lives in Texas, since it's the only state in the union big enough to accommodate his ego. "America's Team". Please.

There's either a joke in there or an oxymoron... OK you guys, that's enough of that. What's the definition of an optimist? A trombone player with a beeper.

Wow, I'm surprised someone actually knew who this was. I go back to the early '70's when it comes to Bradley. We used to see him at the old White Eagle when he was fronting Steve Bradley & The Rhythm Tones. Then later at places like Frankenstein's or the Rock Creek Tavern when he was with The Sleazy Pieces. That was a great bar band. I used to see Mesi with Brown Sugar, a group that included two other local legends, Lloyd Jones and Paul DeLay. Never saw the surf show. I stopped going to clubs many years ago when the smoking was out of hand, so I missed a lot of local musicians and bands over the years. Now that smoking is banned in all public places in Oregon, I'm starting to get out a little more. Mesi is a monster on guitar. Crazy good.

Several years ago I got a Yamaha alto saxophone for Christmas. I took a series of lessons from a Julliard graduate who taught music in the Portland Public School System. He was big on learning to read music which, frankly, I never got. I also practiced way too much, thinking that it would get me where I wanted to go faster. As it turned out, I pretty much burned myself out. That and the fact that you could put my affinity for the horn in a thimble and still have plenty of room for your thumb. I never got the breathing part down very well or the idea of sound projection. I guess I was at this for about four months and then just gave up. I still have the horn. In May of this year, I won a really nice Gibson SG electric in an auction for tsunami relief in Japan. I'd been thinking about taking guitar lessons anyway, so my winning this just put things that were already percolating on the front burner. I've been taking lessons from one of Portland's resident guitar gods, a guy by the name of Steve Bradley, since June. I'm doing reasonably well (certainly better than i did with the saxophone) but making it a point not to practice too much. Of course, then the question becomes how much is too much and how little is not enough. My teacher has what people in the business call "magic hands", I mean he is incredibly good. He's into roots rock from the '50's and early '60's, so we work on tunes like "Honky Tonk" and "Can I Get A Witness", although we did dabble with "Song For My Father" a bit since he plays this at his gigs and it's one of my favorite songs. I've also been pulling a lot of stuff off the internet that I work on independently and I also play with my brother and another friend of our's every week or so. Now that I"m retired, I can devote as much time to this as I choose without it getting in he way of other things. I'm having fun and learning a few things, so it's all good. Not sure where I'll be a year from now, but that's part of the fun.

C.C. Sabathia announced that he has agreed to a contract extension with the Yankees. The announcement comes via the left-hander's Twitter account and on Zoodig.com. ESPN's Buster Olney says it's a one-year extension worth $25MM on top of the four years and $92MM remaining on Sabathia's original deal. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports adds that there is a vesting option worth $25MM with a $5MM buyout. The 31-year-old left-hander could have opted out of the remaining four years of his original seven-year, $161MM with New York by midnight tonight.

I'm no fan of LaRussa, but I give him credit for knowing when to call for the check. I've heard talk this morning about Dave Duncan (who has already said he has no interest) and also of Mark McGwire. Not sure if he's ready. Frankly, I was always surprised that MLB let McGwire back in the house. He certainly brought shame upon the game much in the manner of Pete Rose, who, needless to says, continues to be treated as a non-entity by Bud and his boys.

In light of Chewy's recent "pick-em" post on Jackie McLean's Blue Note or Prestige recordings, I thought McLean fans might enjoy this half-hour video that Marc Myers recently posted on his JazzWax website. Maybe more than you wanted to know about Jackie Mac, but interesting nonetheless.

For what's it worth, Clear Channel could outsource their programming to India and broadcast in Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Meitei, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and/or Urdu and I wouldn't give a rat's ass. Anyone who listens to any of this pre-programmed bull dinky is so musically inert they probably wouldn't notice the difference.

Amen to that.

Whew! That's a load off my mind.

Not only that, but what if it fell between 13 and 19? It would be awfully hard to take numbers seriously anymore. That could have far reaching implications.

I'm a Yankee fan and I'd like to see him not win- he always seemed so damn smug. He can hit, though. LaRussa is another I can't take a liking to- he acts like he invented baseball and the sporting media genuflect whenever he speaks. If any other manager caught a DUI they'd be calling for his heaf, but LaRussa slides. Begging the question on the lips of Yankee fans everywhere, "Where was this version of Lance Berkman when he was in New York?" He looked for all the world last year like a guy who was just playing out the string. Maybe they should have let him play right field.

Mobile phone alert sent out at 11:33 last night by Dallas TV station KDFW. Sort of like the digital equivalent of "Dewey Defeats Truman". Between this and the squirrel, it's no wonder we're looking at a 7th game.

I've not seen Cruz play all that much, but there was post-game talk on several fronts last night about his Bobby Abreu-like defensive skill-set, i.e. not getting along all that well with outfield walls. If he was hurt in a manner that effected his mobility, he should have said something to Washington. I know he's a gamer, but sometimes taking one for the team is the best move a guy can make. FWIW, it looked to me like he had a pretty good angle on the ball and went hard after it, but for some reason just slowed down when he got to the warning track...right when it looked like he had things under control.

And for the Rangers, finding a right fielder who doesn't play the ball like it's live ammunition.

Agreed. As far as exciting goes, you can't beat this one. As far as key hits at key times goes, you can't beat this one. As far as there being no quit in either team, you can't beat this one. But, you're right. It was not well-played defensively and the pitching was terrible.

I remember the 6th game of the 1975 series like it was yesterday. Every other game I've ever seen is measured against that one. It's the gold standard. Was this one better? I'm going to need some time to think about that. Jim - Don't forget it's not over 'til the fat lady sings.

HOLY SHIT!

Not only that, but LaRussa pulls Furcal in the top of the 9th. What am I missing here?

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to be Lance Lynn.