Dave James

Another shaky outing tonight from a Yankee starter. Not only did Ivan Nova allow five runs, all of them earned, but he also surrendered four hits and issued five walks, all in the span of 4.1 innings. Not to mention the fact that he threw 86 pitches. That, Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea, is not going to get it done.

The McCourt embroglio seems to have ruined whatever was left of a once proud franchise. I'm no fan of the L.A. version of the Dodgers, but I'm a big fan of their history. Two of my most favorite baseball books (The Boys Of Summer and Praying For Gil Hodges) are both about the team when they were still in Brooklyn. I feel especially bad for Donnie Baseball who has to try to keep this screwed up ship on course without any charts. That's a pretty tough row to hoe for a first year skipper, especially one with so much class.

64 years ago today, April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson played his first major league game with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Just saw on the S.I. website that Tim Lincecum donated $25,000 to the fund that was set up for the guy who was beaten up the other night after the Giants Dodgers game. Pretty cool.

Looks like the Yankees need to be making plans for life without Phil Hughes. He was roughed up again in tonight's start against the Orioles. They nicked him for five runs and seven hits in just 4.1 innings. So much for any quick fixes.

Yes.

Wow. Where in the world did you find that? I love the setting. Lip-synching while perched on a stool in the middle of a gaggle of serious looking teen types. I think I still have all of Nesmith's records with the First National Band out in the garage. He was pretty good as a solo artist. His pedal steel player, O.J. "Red" Rhodes was top of the line. I always equated him to Ricky Nelson in terms of the direction his music took after he left The Monkees. Didn't his mother have something to do with the invention of white out or correction tape while working at IBM or is that just some sort of urban myth?

Nope. Born and raised in Portland, Oregon. I've never even been to Detroit. I have a twin brother and we both got into hockey big-time when the Portland Buckaroos came to town in 1960. We used to play in our basement with two sticks and a roll of electrical tape. My team was the Red Wings and my brother's, the Black Hawks. Not sure why I settled on the Wings. I know I liked their uniforms and, of course, at the time, Gordie Howe was "Mr. Hockey". In those days, there were only six teams from which to choose. My favorite players were Alex Delvecchio and Terry Sawchuk. I even taught myself to shoot left-handed since Delvecchio shot left-handed. That continued through the many years I actually played the game. Never had much of a shot since I'm a natural rightie. I love the Yankees and the Eagles, but hockey is still my favorite sport. Thought the Rangers looked pretty good last night. Too bad the Caps were able to poke in that cheap goal towards the end of the third period. New York really had them on their heels. I think that may turn out to be a pretty good series.

Guess if I'd listened to it a little longer, I might have realized this. It was a little hard on the ears. So, it's like Jo Ann Campbell's "I'm The Girl From Woverton Mountain".

No one has yet defined the operative term "corny", so I'm just going to go with Liberace.

The fact that TEPCO and the Japanese government have now reclassified this nuclear incident to Cat 7 (the highest it can go) makes me very concerned about their ability to be completely forthright when it comes to characterizing the severity of this disaster. I've had a strong sense all along that people weren't being told what they needed to know to make the right decisions. Not to mention that it makes the size of the grain of salt with which we should take any and all future announcements a major consideration. The concept of "saving face" has been discussed earlier in this thread. Someone needs to get real. There's a time and a place for that sort of thing. This is neither.

Was it The Trashmen who ripped off Wayne Curtiss or Wayne Curtiss who ripped off The Trashmen?

The first decent stereo system I ever bought back in the early 70's, was powered by a Marantz 2270. I've had that unit ever since and it still runs like a top. I had it in the shop maybe 15 years ago for some minor repairs but other than that it works as well as it did on the first day I had it. As reliable as the day is long.

I am slowly but surely weaning myself from the New York Times. A couple of times a day, I will get breaking news e-mail alerts. If you open up the link that's provided in the e-mail, does anyone know if that counts towards the 20 freebies you get in a given month?

The same as a bowling ball.

I was looking at the box score from last night's Yankees Sox game and was struck by the fact that among the starters, no fewer than 10 players were hitting below the Mendoza line (.215). Two others were all but there at .217. Derek Jeter is now clocking a .206 average and Mark Texiera, formerly known as Mr. April, is punishing the ball at a .138 clip. That's an awful lot of money to be spending on all but no production. As pathetic as the two of them have been, they don't even come close to Carl Crawford whose average is about to fall below .100.

Anyone who thinks the bobbleheads who run the Masters aren't capable of this sort of legerdemain needs to take a reality pill. These guys will do absolutely anything to make their precious and hoity toity golf club look like something out of a dream sequence. And CBS panders to that reality in a near disgusting way. That's why I make it a point to watch the tournament with the sound turned down. Every time Jim Nance opens his mouth, it sounds like he's delivering a eulogy. Just conjure up your best impression of a sonorous speech pattern and then imagine Nance as he says, "The Masters, a tradition unlike any other." I triple dog dare him to talk that way for an entire day when he's not operating on the hallowed grounds of Augusta National.

In another move that pretty much characterizes the Yankees borderline desperate pitching situation, they have just signed ex-Cub Carlos Silva to a minor league deal. If Hughes doesn't pick it up, he won't last as a starter. That means the Yanks will have to choose between Bartolo Colon, Kevin Millwood and, now, Carlos Silva to fill out their rotation. Not exactly Allie Reynolds, Ed Lopat, Tommy Byrne and Vic Raschi is it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDXOzyGlJdg&playnext=1&list=PL2DEBC66F5E14E2B9

I absolutely love this gal. Solo or with Les Bleu Stars, I don't care. She has a sort of Mildred Bailey-like little girl voice, but it's pitched at a much more aurally tolerable level, at least for me, than was MIldred's. Here's a clip from an old Jack Paar Tonight Show that shows her in top form. Subtle swing at its very best.

As a Yankee fan, I'm not seeing much that I'd call encouraging. Hughes looks like he's all but lost it, the bullpen has been good but not great and the batting averages are starting to tumble. Don't know if anyone noticed but Mark Texiera, the newly minted Mr. April, is now hitting .240 after going 0-4 today against the Sox. A-Rod's .304 leads the team and Russell Martin is next at .292. Everyone else is pretty much tanking. A Red Sox sweep this weekend is not out of the question.

Can someone briefly explain what "pinning" is?

Do manly men really eat kale? A-Rod's image takes another hit: http://www.ivillage.com/alex-rodriguezs-baked-kale-chips/3-r-335623

Sox drop to 0-6. Calling Dan Gould. Calling Dan Gould. I did a quick internet sweep of the police blotters in South Florida and nothing came up, so I'm assuming he's still with us.

The kid the Mariners pitched tonight in Texas, Mike Pineda, is supposably the next Felix Hernandez. Not a bad outing considering it was his first big league start.