BERIGAN

News flash: I'd root for the Cubs in that scenario. Or else I would just sit back and enjoy the games, and change who I root for with each match-up. Ellsbury at first? Steal 2nd, kid! Papi, Manny, D-Lee, Fukudome, A-Ram at the plate? Muscle up, batter! Paps or Wood on the mound? Blow it by him! But in all honesty, should the Cubs make the Series, I'd want them to win, specifically for my now ailing Father. Should the Cubs get there and lose to the Sox, there'd be a very tiny silver lining in a very dark cloud. Sorry to hear your Dad's not doing too well Dan!

Because.......

Ask the French, or the Japanese. France gets what...75-80% of their electricity from nuclear plants???

You'll be real expert on the bonus disc! I'm surprised some info came through on track 3 - I thought I'd cleaned everything up. Anyway, you know - I'm certain - the title of #4. Get yourself half a point at least MG Ok, half a point then! I thought it sounded Ellingtonish...then I heard the end and was sure...but forgot to mention that! (Perhaps that is when it sounded like someone was in our garage, that kinda distracted me! ) Then I couldn't think of the tune....knew Adelaide Hall was involved...been awhile since I heard this tune, for some reason!

As usual, read all the comments, and will pretend I didn't! (Comments will show I didn't do that, I are a jazz idiot when it's post 1950) Ok, laugh at will! Track one. Nice groove! Was hoping they might change up the tempo at some point, but still good. Soprano Sax, so it must be Sidney Bechet or John Coltrane, right???? Sounds like a fairly new recording to my ears.... New meaning 1980 or later....Guitarist sounds a bit 60's to me though. Like the drummer...no clue in any direction! 2. Organ! Man, am I good, or what??? Not Fats Waller, and doubt it's Jimmy Smith....anyone else play the sucker??? 1960s I'd guess. Man, haven't played any of my few Blue note cds in awhile...so, I am screwed in even trying a guess at this point!!! Like the Alto player! Doesn't ring any bells. Doesn't sound like a Charlie Parker disciple. That really helps me.... A british group by any chance??? Wasn't too crazy about the tenor player at first, but seems to be loosening up as the track goes forward. Must have had a shot or two. That was a fast 10 minutes, a sign of a good recording! 3. I think I am seeing some info I wasn't supposed to! Oh well, wouldn't have guessed who it was anyway! Like the beginning....will I like the rest of the track??? Stay tuned! Get the feeling I should know this Tenor player. More from the Ben Webster school, at least from a tone perspective...meanwhile Sangrey is telling everyone not only who is playing, but the reed he used and the studio it was recorded in!!! I like him, just don't know his name...well, I am sure I will once it's mentioned. 4. Man, what happened to short tracks??? Not a clue. Nice pianowork...seems to have a little New Orleans flavor. Is he playing a bass clarinet??? I thought it was just a tenor....something is "tricky" Just sounds very reedy. Almost never can go wrong with a stand up bass solo!! Well, need to listen to the rest a bit later, wanted to start making a fool of myself as soon as possible though! I'll get you back MG, next time I do a BFT, no more Mr. nice guy!!!!

He'd be a good fit though I think, don't you? ... Yet, there's something about this franchise acquiring great hitters who are past their prime (Boggs, Canseco) that makes me hesitant. I'd rather see them acquire a younger bat. ... Griffey's in a whole different category, though. What he'd bring to that clubhouse alone would probably make it a good move in the end, I think. I'm sure ownership is keeping its eye on the long view. Again, yesterday, Upton's range and speed to the ball causes confusion in the outfield and a sure-out fly ball drops between him and Gross in right-center as they both backed off at the last second. Not that it made a difference -- it was already 6-2 Marlins at that point. But as good as they are defensively, that's a bugaboo that keeps cropping up. Upton either has to take more control out there or just become more aware of the range of the fielders on either side of him. Probably doesn't help that they're platooning in right field. ... Hence, the need for an every-day right-fielder who can hit. Paps, I would not want to be the guy to make the decision! Who knows? He might just be re-energized by going to a new, young team with lots of energy. And if he draws more fans, more money to sign guys you have, and perhaps free agents in the future....but, what if he continues to hit under .250 with little power???

As an A's fan I appreciate the effort. Anything to bring the Halo's down to earth even a little bit helps. However the reality is unless the A's go on a 15-20 game win streak and play 700 ball in the next six weeks its over as they only have 20 home games left in the entire season after July 31st. I have to remind myself that this year was about the kids in the Haren and Swisher trades (both are looking like steals so far!) getting experience, rebuilding for next year and anything close to 500 ball would be a nice surprise. And what do you do with Rich Harden??? I mean, he might still have the best stuff of any starter in the game....hold on to him, and hope against hope that he's turned it around permanently, or trade him now, right now, for the best deal???? I could see holding onto him a bit longer, hoping each healthy start will mean more prospects, but.....if he gets hurt again...that might finish any chances of him getting anyone back....

Meanwhile, the Braves, after beating swept by the Phillies then the Cubs, go out to California to play the first place Angels(For the very first time) and took two of 3! We don't like to sweep though, just seems rude....That and Saunders is a Lefty, and lefties are kryptonite to the Braves.

Brad, it's going to be quite a race for 3rd place, isn't it??? Ready for Willie to be part of the past???

Paps, that is an interesting idea....Griffey...but....did you see the milestone homers on Baseball tonight??? His swing seems different now, less fluid. A hitch in his giddy-up or something. I have read he has trouble catching up to really good fastballs now. Of course, even though he played forever in the AL, spending the last several years in the NL, he might get pitched like a typical guy coming over from the NL and get nothing but breaking balls, which just might be what the doctor ordered!

Dan, Zen Archer, and the rest of the Red Sox nation...man, did you guys dodge a bullet Saturday!!! Flipped away from Cards-Phils game and saw the 8th and half the 9th of the Redsox vs. Reds game(Some sort a contractual obligation kept them from showing the bottom half) and when I saw Encarnacion hit the game tying homer off of Papelbon, I thought the game was over. But, one can never underestimate Dusty Baker's stupid in game moves(And Griffey swinging away 3-0 and grounding into a double play!) Leaving Mike Lincoln in there(never even heard of him before) to give up the 2nd homer, stupid!

Just in case people think I am making things worse than they really are with the braves, the main braves beat writer today... Next for Braves: Swarm of locusts?

Congrats! Anything that gets more baseball into one's life, is a good thing!

Well, the Braves are really going to be an.....interesting team, for the next few weeks or so. Tom Glavine, who had never been on the DL til he hurt his hammy this year, now goes back on because of an elbow "strain" Of course, now we find out he has been feeling pain their for the last month, and in the last 2 starts, he has had pain with every single pitch! Then, the 22 year old Jair Jurrjens the best starter this year til his last couple of starts(Cox wants him to be the next Steve Avery, worthless by 30, so pitches him like crazy) somehow sprained his ankle, and won't make his start today! So, people will just talk about the injuries, and not Cox....lucky Cox. Left fielder? Hurt. CF??? Hurt. Right fielder??? Hurt, but playing every single day, and hitting .250(I think they said he has left 24 runners on the last 5 games, but will be out there every day) Best hitter in baseball? Hurt, but will rush back out there to make that tear in his quad worse. Closer to start the season, Soriano??? Elbow troubles, missed most of the year, can't pitch back to back days. 8th inning guy??? Moylen out for the year, TJ surgery. Hampton has never made a start for us this year. Smoltz out for the season, and after the surgery yesterday, sounds like with Labrum issues, he career is most likely over. Yet, other guys have come out of nowhere to pitch well in relief(Will Ohman, Blaine Boyer), and as starters(Jose Campillo, Jo-Jo Reyes) Pitching isn't the problem, a complete lack of clutch hitting, guys who cannot bunt, and a manager that keeps making stupid moves like running out a pitcher (Manny Acosta) night after night, when everyone knows he can't get it done right now(most likely overuse)that is the problem. Tony LaRussa would have this team 10 games over .500.

I know it has to look bad, but if you have watched this team day in and day out for years, you would know that they haven't had a chance in hell come playoff time for years. The team really has been weak ever since Time/Warner started to cry poor. We knew the good old days of at least getting past the first round were over when Maddux accepted arbitration for the 2002 season, when they thought he'd walk. And because he did, we had to trade 18 game winner Kevin Millwood a few days later(No, they really didn't need to do that, that's just what the GM John Schuerholz was told to do) for a catcher that had never succeeded at the major league level(Johnny Estrada) Apparently, no team was willing to take on a 10 million dollar a year pitcher who had just won 18 games....ah collusion It was just dumb luck that Estrada hit, and we still made it to the playoffs for a few more years...dumb luck, and the fact the Mets and Phillies(Larry Bowa had no business being a manager, and he couldn't hit worth a crap either!) kept screwing up every year. No more. We will be lucky to finish 3rd this year, and that's sad, because on paper, it looked to be the best team they had put on the field in many a year. Smoltz and Hampton being injured isn't even close to being the biggest problems this team has. No left fielder, a center fielder that was doing pretty well, but unfortunately, he was playing for a really stupid manager that must have forgotten he has a bad back, and was running him out there every day(Or, in true Booby Cox fashion, giving a guy a day "off" then having him pinch hit in the 7th, and play in the field the next 2 innings-does that all the time with the catcher McCann as well) And our right fielder Jeff Francoeur, is hitting about .250 for the year(OBP around .300), with zero power. He seems to be getting batting tips from Andruw Jones...yeah, swing at the first pitch every time, and try to pull that low outside pitch, it's the best way to ground into double plays! I can't even tell you how many runners he left on base when the Phillies swept us over the weekend, 12-14??? A ton. Teixeira is finally hitting like a guy wanting a big contract, but just like last year when he was driving in a run a game, we still are a .500 club. Now we face the team with the best record in the NL(Cubs) then the first place Angels, no off day, a make up game in Colorado, and a series against the Rangers, who will no doubt pound the ball off of our pitchers. They are 6 1/2 games out now, if we continue with the worst record in baseball on the road, we will be out of the race in 10 days.... Pap, I really wish we had half the talent, and even more importantly, the enthusiasm your team has....it's so much fun when a team is just starting to win, and has no ceiling.....

Well, you could always drum up some talk about NL clubs! Clearly, you only watch the cubs pitchers hit, cuz everywhere I look I see a bunch of girlymen who swing like its the first time they have ever seen a baseball, and most of them can't even bunt worth a damn!

And if anyone's GM acts like they are really looking around for Relief help, but doggone it, there just isn't any out there, Bullshit! Chris Resop was DFA'ed 10 days ago by the braves, and cleared waivers, and was sent to AAA. He throws 98 MPH, and had some good games, and some bad. Until his last two outings, he hadn't given up a run in 9 of the last 10...but ol' Bobby didn't have him pitch after the 3rd of May til the 15th!!!! And he wasn't hurt...Kinda hard to stay sharp that way...

Are you really complaining about losing a game, when you were without your 2 best hitters plus Ellsbury out??? Against Felix Hernandez, who in two starts in Fenway has never given up a run there??? Watch the Braves for just one week, and you will kiss the feet of Julio Lugo! I slept thru the game tonight, but from what I read, it was about as bad a loss as they have ever had in a regular season game.... Some highlights... The second baseman[Kelly Johnson] dropped a pop fly by Chris Coste with two outs in the ninth for an error, allowing Eric Bruntlett to score the tying run from second. Johnson threw out Pedro Feliz, who tried to score from first on the play, to end the inning. Braves fans, on their feet to cheer the expected win, were too stunned to even boo. "It just didn't stick," Johnson said. "It hit the palm. That's probably the one spot in your glove it's going to pop out." Manny Acosta (3-4) lost for the second time in three days, giving up two hits and two runs while recording only one out..... The Braves didn't score after loading the bases in the third and seventh innings and botched a suicide squeeze in the sixth. "You can't try and give away a game as many times as we did tonight," said Chipper Jones of the Braves. "Bad baserunning, not executing squeezes, defense was not good at critical times. We can't do that with premier clubs." Comments from 2 guys on a braves board who are usually the most glass half full guys(hey, even after the loss, we are still just 3 games out of 1st!!!) #1. Is it just me being PO’d, or did they truly reveal tonight that they don’t have a shot in 2008? #2 Maybe the single most-disgusting loss I’ve seen in 30 years of watching this team. It’s been a LONG time since I physically wanted to be sick after a game, but I honestly think I’m going to throw up now, then go to bed. That stash of cash I have for playoffs and World Series tickets? Monday morning, I’m putting that in my IRA … no way this team goes to the playoffs if they keep giving away games like this. Actually, change that. They’ve given away games all season long, but NOTHING like this. Single-most painful, hurtful, devastating loss since Game 4 of the 2005 NLDS in Houston. Add to that, Chipper Jones is having the best season any 36 year old without steroids has ever had(.421 after 2 hits tonight) is starting to be walked more and more because Teixeira is more often than not, failing to make teams pay for this insult. He has 43 RBI's most likely because the guy in front of him has a .504 OBP!!!! 128 times he has been on base, not including fielder's choices he has reached on... He ain't worth the 20+ million one of the NY teams will pay him(I predict 25 Million myself) And the dumbest, most senile manager in baseball was given an extension thru next year...yippee! Dan, how would you feel if Buchholz pitched on 3 days rest, in mid May??? The dumb fucker did that with 22 Jair Jurrjens on May 16th, and he has had his worst starts of the year the last two times out. Or what if Papelbon pitched 1 1/3 in the first game of a double header(A game your team was leading by 6-1) then brought him back for the nightcap to save a game??? Would the Nation like to see Papelbon pitch 1 1/3rds back to back nights, then come in for the 3rd straight night???? Well, that's what Booby did to Manny Acosta, the main closer(That Smoltz, Soriano, Gonzalez bullpen never will be) and now he has stunk it up back to back nights....but he is only on pace for 75 innings, so most folks don't realize how Cox abuses pitchers. One week, and you will thank God you have the Team and Manager you have, guaranteed. And never complain again....ok, I won't go that far!

Don't know what exactly he can do long term with that talent, but still kinda cool! http://www.katu.com/home/video/11944831.ht...deo=YHI&t=a

Man, read this article on the Mariners!!!! http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/base...tml?eref=si_mlb

210 Wins, 154 Saves. HOF?? Considering it was a hitters era I think he gets in. Don't forget the 15 post season wins either....It's a shame...hitters that do well in the Post season seem to be remembered more so than pitchers...I HATE Jack Morris, but he was money when it mattered most, so I think he should be in the Hall for what he was able to do in the post season...

Yeah, was surprised about the news on Smoltz today! He threw 95 the last time out, pitching 3/4's....appears to hurt him doing everything with that arm.....If anyone can come back from whatever they find(Short of a torn rotator cuff-and he did have an MRI about a month ago) Smoltz can, even at this age...

Though, my time machine is being built for one reason, and one reason only. Hazel Brooks.

I know you and I share less than nothing in common, politically, but women wise.... she and Jane Greer show you have excellent taste!