Dave James

Wow. Raphael Soriano had as bad a line tonight against the Twins as I can remember seeing. 2/3'rds of an inning, 1 hit, 4 runs, 4 earned runs and three walks. I'm not sure it can get much worse than that. He'd better be better than that in the long run. RIght now, he's clocking an ERA over 13.00.

I'm out as well. I feel like I'm pushing a peanut up a hill with my nose. We'll just need to agree to disagree. I'm OK with that.

I'm just spitballin' here, but when you say, "I haven't the foggiest notion what is in those shots. The shots do not contain steriods", some might find that inconsistent or even contradictory. On the other hand, if you had said, "I happen to know they don't include steroids, but I'm not sure what else is in them", no problem, Maybe you should read what you write.

I was going to leave that inconsistency alone, but as long as you brought it up....

I hate to be the one to break the news, but there's about a 99% chance that your allergy medications contain steroids. My advice to you would be that you ask no further questions. I mean, why would anyone want to know what someone was shooting into their body...especially if the person administering the injections wasn't a physician or even a medical professional? If Bonds didn't ask those questions, then they should drop the perjury charges immediately and arrest him for stupidity.

I suppose they could always claim they didn't know what they were taking.

When someone comes of age in the sort of family environment that surrounded Brian Wilson, there are bound to be some lasting effects. The wounds he incurred at the hands of his father could not help but manifest themselves in his music. On the other hand, some of his primary influences, notably, the Four Freshmen, traded in their own fair share of introspective songs since those are the ones that tend to lend themselves to their particular vocal style. So, while it's clear that there is some heavy emotional baggage reflected in a lot of Brian's more contemplative work, I would question TTK's assertion that even the Beach Boy's "happy" tunes have an undercurrent of sadness. The early car and surfing songs, at least to these old ears, are as unabashedly upbeat as anything I can imagine. Finding even a scintilla of sadness in something like "409" or "Be True To Your School" or "Shutdown" or "Surfin' Surfari" exceeds my capacity. While I won't argue that there are some upbeat B.B. songs that have downbeat themes ("Help Me Rhonda" comes to mind) even a tune like that has such a bouncy and uplifting vibe that you'd be hard pressed to sense any sort of truly melancholic overtone.

The Yanks knew full well what they were getting. That's why they signed him for what, in their world, amounts to peanuts. Mark my words, if Cashman had chosen his more wisely and substituted "misused" for "abused", this wouldn't even have been a story. "Abused" is one of those trigger words in today's society that causes people to sit up and take notice. This isn't anything more or less than the long standing tradition of firing a shot across the bow of a crosstown rival. A tempest in a teapot.

Wow, both Phil Hughes and Bartolo Colon got clocked in the snot locker today. Not good.

John Lackey, picking up this season right where he left off in 2010. After today's outing, he's got a little league-like ERA of 22.09. Thank God they're only paying him $15.25 million a year until 2014.

Encouraging start from A.J. Burnett today. Of course, when the Yankees are beating the Tigers like a red headed step-child, it probably takes a little of the pressure off, but I'm sure he's not complaining. New York is going to need a good season out of A.J. to have any kind of shot. Also like the fact that the bats are really alive, especially Texiera's. It would be nice to see him get out of the gates a little quicker this year.

Very worried about the Red Wings. That 10-3 shellacking they took at the hands of the St. Louis Blues the other night was nothing other than a microcosm of their entire season. Poor defense and bad goaltending coming to a head right at the wrong time. I know they've had injuries and not having Datsyuk in the lineup of late hurts their offense and their defense, but there's just something wrong here. There are certainly reasons to believe that Ken Holland no longer walks on water and you have to wonder if maybe Babcock's message is no longer getting over with the team. Whatever the reason, this could very easily wind up being a first round, one and done exit for my boys. For a team that put up 100 points during the regular season, that's unacceptable. Mark my words, Wing fans will rue the day the Islanders screwed them out of Evgeni Nabokov.

Well, it's pretty clear to me you're asking us to believe that Bonds didn't knowingly take steroids. Seems to me, more and more evidence is accumulating every day that undermines your position, so I'm curious; if Bonds is eventually convicted, will you then claim it's a miscarriage of justice or is there a point in the process where you will concede that he was, indeed, aware of what he was doing?

So you're asking us to believe that Bonds was getting regularly injected like he was some kind of pin cushion, he undergoes all these physical and emotional changes and at no point does he stop to ask, "oh, by the way, what is that stuff?" Please.

Going to see the Dark Star Orchestra tomorrow night at the Crystal Ballroom here in Portland. I've never seen them before, but I checked out some video and they look/sound pretty tight. Looking forward to it.

Repurposing an old thread. Came across this one in my YouTube travels today. Genuinely peculiar...especially the animated part in the middle. All a good way.

Release the hounds!

Received an e-mail from Amazon this morning touting their "cloud". If you go on their website, there's an introductory letter from Jeff Bezos with a link to more information. Anyone know much about this? Is it just hype or something worth thinking about?

I can see him rearranging his crotch ala MIchael Jackson. Just like he was always rearranging his tie.

I think I saw that PBS show. It's the one with the early clip of him on an airplane with Hitler (who you never see) sitting in the seat next to him. That skit tugged on all his comic gifts, not the least of which were his wonderful facial reactions. If I understand correctly, before he hit it big, Newhart was an accountant. Seems about right. That last scene from his second show is, at least in my mind, the best wrap in the history of television. It was suggested by Newhart's wife at a party.

More proof. How long can GoodSpeak hold out? http://satiricalpolitical.com/2009/02/05/barry-bonds-giant-head-qualifies-for-tarp-funds/

No way anyone can question Shatner's musical credentials after watching this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvQwXOCKNLY&feature=related

Still in denial? http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6266163

When I was growing up, Mickey Mantle was like a deity. He was the reason I became a Yankee fan. Here's an interesting story I came across in the L.A. Times about the Mick at the beginning. Man. those were the days. http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-0326-mickey-mantle-20110326,0,5398006.story

She has a very large belly button ring! Reminds me of what ailed Art Pepper during his final few years. I hope she's O.K.