Patrick

Glad to read the injury appears to be healing well. Gotta ask whether this episode will have any effect on the next tune title in the "Clay Yo Hands", "Stomp Yo Feets" line...

Berigan, thanks for posting that. I've never waded deep into the sabermetrics, but enjoy reading Neyer when the price is right.

Please. It's a regular season award. Sabathia had a slightly better regular season. If your complaint is only about the margin of victory, then count that up to the scoring system. Don't know what Neyer said about it today because I refuse to pay to be an Insider. I thought Stark had a decent grumbling about it toward the end of the regular season, but can't seem to locate it now, though here's at least one version of it [dated September 30]: Maybe I'd also put less importance on the "versus aces" numbers, but it's still tough to beat Johan Santana (15-13, 3.33 ERA, 5 of those losses against Cleveland--3 to CC, 2 to Fausto) even if the Twins weren't great this year. Maybe Beckett has a similarly impressive list of aces he beat during the regular season, but I haven't heard about it. How often did Beckett pitch at least seven innings, give up 2 runs or less, and not get a win? Twice, earning losses against Toronto and Cleveland. How often did Sabathia pitch at least seven innings, give up 2 runs or less, and not get a win? Six times, resulting in two losses and 4 no decisions. Would you still complain if Sabathia had say two more wins? Say what you want about how tough it is to pitch in Fenway, Beckett benefitted from pitching for a team with a more prolific offense (home and away). And doesn't quantity of high quality starts/innings get some consideration here? And yes, I think it's obvious to everyone that just about everyone (including Beckett and Sabathia) would prefer a championship ring instead of an individual honor like the Cy Young. Congratulations to Beckett for his awesome post-season. He and his teammates rose to the occaision.

Perhaps only folks in Ohio will recognize the name, but one of the current all-time greats for basketball radio play-by-play is Joe Tait. Legitimately in the same category as Chick Hearn and Johnny Most (...just in a much smaller market with much less NBA success). Initially recommended to ownership by original Cleveland Cavaliers coach Bill Fitch. After the '80-'81 season, was fired by the all-time worst owner in any team sport, Ted Stepien (RIP). Returned to announce Cavaliers games two seasons later (after working for the Nets and then Bulls), and is still doing games today. Tait works by himself and tells you everything you need to know about the game, and little else. If you turn on a game midstream, you will know the score very quickly and how the teams are performing with no guesswork. It's unfortunate that the radio and television feeds are not in sync. After listening to both, you have great reason to believe that this incongruence is on purpose (...so that folks will actually listen to the tv guys). Great Joe Tait calls

My Damn Ovaries

On Borowski, I think it was a team option and Shapiro exercised it. They think he's recovered medically. I see the point regarding Manny if it's specifically about discipline in preparing to hit--he'd be a good example for that. Like Albert Belle was. If one can rely on the other vets for the other stuff, then maybe MC would improve in Boston.

And in much smaller news, Tribe picks up one year options on three of their potentially available pitchers: Joe Borowski ($4M), Aaron Fultz ($1.5M), and Paul Byrd ($8M). Given the HGH mess, the last is a bit of a surprise given MLB hasn't informed Byrd/Tribe what, if anything, will happen to him. Byrd is a 4-5 guy in a good rotation, and that's probably a reasonable price (or a little rich) for him if he's not suspended for 50 games. Borowski is overrated/underachieving, but appears not to be a headcase like Wickman was (so hopefully, Betancourt, Perez or someone else can ease into closing and Borowski can become a 6th inning guy. Come on Wedgie, thinkabout it... ). Fultz is a decent lefty matchup guy, and inexpensive. Main goal for Tribe is to find a powerhitting leftfielder, most likely via trade. One possibility suggested by the Plain Dealer's Terry Pluto is Jason Bay in Pittsburgh. Some knee problems, but a reasonable contract. And another ex-Indians man in the front office there (Neal Huntington). And if someone else signs Kenny Lofton, Tribe will be entitled to a sandwich pick in the draft. Come on down! Your ticket to the postseason! Sign Kenny up for your team TODAY! Interesting about Miguel Cabrera. Have no idea what it would take or (more importantly for the present conversation) what I'd be willing to see the Tribe surrender. The Ortiz/Ramirez influence in Beantown might be helpful, or not... Does Manny really lead in that clubhouse, by example (?) or otherwise? He always struck me as this amazing hitter who was a bit deficient in other categories (including giving enough attention to anything not hitting-related), and even shy. I think Ortiz has been helpful to Manny outside the batter's box. Not sure if that would also work with MC. Maybe it would.

So there's your confirmation that Coco has some appeal despite his recent hitting struggles. I would think the Yanks would jump at a Crede-for-Damon swap since the salaries are quite uneven and I don't think they'd do any better than Crede. ...And confirmation that his price is a leading attribute. Funny, no mention of glove...

Cool. Thanks, David

David, Nice show--fun/good for me to get educated a bit about Sun Ra. Do you intend to provide a playlist link (I found this useful for the Lighthouse All-Stars program)?

(May have missed a mention of) Maxine Roach

At the very least Coco matches Hunter defensively, and would probably get a significant boost as a speedster hitting on artificial turf. He's also highly affordable, locked up for something like three years and 18 million or so. Hansen remains only 23 years old and could very well replace the Twins closer in a year, since Nathan is the next one to leave for greener pastures. Manny Delcarmen is also regarded as having the best "pure stuff" on the entire Red Sox staff, and Masterson happens to be someone that Tony Gwynn coached at San Diego State and regards as a future ace. Its hardly offering table scraps for Santana. And where were you when your team unloaded Renteria for a couple of prospects? I am a Coco fan, but Crisp's best attribute is his current salary. Not sure how great his arm is compared to Hunter--stats suggest he has similar or better range in the field, but he is a much much weaker power hitter. Not sure that moving from Fenway to Minnesota will help his SLG, or that his BA won't diminish when he's not part of that stacked Bosox lineup. Coco worked on a new higher arm slot last spring and it definitely seemed to help this season - on the other hand, I've never really thought about Hunter when it comes to his arm, I imagine it is better than Coco's (or Jacoby's for that matter) but I would say in playmaking skill, Coco and Torri are equivalent. Moving to Minnesota could help his slugging to the extent that he gets more groundballs through the hole that he turns into doubles and line drives in the gap that skip past the defense because of the turf and go for triples. Plus the overall dimensions are smaller - Coco hitting righty could turn around a fastball and hit out in Minny what would likely be a double at Fenway. And I really don't understand why you think his BA was artificially elevated in the Boston lineup. Beyond the fact that he hit eighth or ninth most of the year, since when does BA get effected by lineups? I thought things like RBIs, runs scored, maybe OBP are effected by lineup, but BA??? BA is about the only truly "personal" statistic a batter has. Perhaps Coco would benefit from the turf and will get a few more doubles/triples. I'm not predicting that Coco's BA will definitely decline somewhere else, or that he faces more favorable pitching batting seventh (in front of those sultans named Varitek and Lugo ) but come on, you yourself were explaining how Youkilis benefits from his spot in the stacked Boston lineup. Didn't they try Coco batting first or second for awhile, and would batting first or second in Minnesota be comparable? How about Youkilis batting third in Kansas City?

At the very least Coco matches Hunter defensively, and would probably get a significant boost as a speedster hitting on artificial turf. He's also highly affordable, locked up for something like three years and 18 million or so. Hansen remains only 23 years old and could very well replace the Twins closer in a year, since Nathan is the next one to leave for greener pastures. Manny Delcarmen is also regarded as having the best "pure stuff" on the entire Red Sox staff, and Masterson happens to be someone that Tony Gwynn coached at San Diego State and regards as a future ace. Its hardly offering table scraps for Santana. And where were you when your team unloaded Renteria for a couple of prospects? I am a Coco fan, but Crisp's best attribute is his current salary. Not sure how great his arm is compared to Hunter--stats suggest he has similar or better range in the field, but he is a much much weaker power hitter. Not sure that moving from Fenway to Minnesota will help his SLG, or that his BA won't diminish when he's not part of that stacked Bosox lineup.

Hey Hoppy, I was there at the DC show as well, and enjoyed it. Jason personalized it some by playing a taped interview of him explaining how he first heard some of the Monk recordings being played by his folks at home--apparently one such instance was when his parents had something like Crepuscule on while the television (sound turned down) presented coverage of the death of a revered local politician. In at least two places, Moran had headphones on and was apparently playing with the Town Hall recording, but we only heard his piano part. Later in the presentation, all musicians put headphones on and started to play--presumably this was each of them playing along/improvising with the same tune, but not listening to the other members of the live ensemble. An interesting brew. Definitely historically based, but as you say, absent of cliche. Did you stick around for Bad Plus after the break? In about an hour they managed to squeeze in (among a handful of originals) "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," "Tom Sawyer" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (or whatever that tune is). While a fan of their first two Columbia albums, I was a bit underwhelmed. At least it is obvious that BP drummer Dave King really enjoys percussing. Gotta say, really lame presentation by Washington Performing Arts Society. Don't know if the Moran show was added at the last minute, but no programs and a lame set of announcements that dragged on at the beginning. Hopefully the Sonny Rollins show in the spring will not suffer these inadequacies.

Thanks everybody! Rachel, very tempting, indeed. Is this deal only available when Organissimo is there to provide the music? Kept it pretty simple this year. After a weekend of dance and music (Martha Graham Dance, Greg Osby, Jason Moran/Bad Plus, friend's halloween party), stayed home with the spouse and the Ledo Pizza she brought home (thick cut pepperoni, pastry-like crust--it's not Giordano's, but very good in its own mid-Atlantic way). Yum.

Count me among the non-Renteria fans, and count me a fan of Jurrjens. Still quite a bit of uncertainty with a young starter, but JJ pitched well in limited action this year. To me, this is a steal by the Braves. If I recall correctly, Guillen would only give up short if he was replaced by a gold glover. And to think he would have been the Indians shortstop if Omar Vizquel hadn't flunked a physical in Seattle. (...so the Tribe had to deal Eduardo Perez (nice in a suit, and almost content-free on ESPN) for Asdrubal Cabrera ).

Friday Night: Martha Graham Dance Company at George Mason University. Was reminded that Copeland composed "Appalachian Spring" for Graham and titled it "Ballet for Martha". Saturday Night: Greg Osby Five at Kennedy Center. Adam Birnbaum, p, Christopher Tordini, b, Reggie Quinerly, dr, and Sara Serpa (mostly wordless) vocals. First official gig for this ensemble--mix of Ornette, Monk, and original tunes. Sunday night: double bill of Jason Moran (presenting a multi-media Monk-inspired piece), and the Bad Plus (not trying to be ironic) at George Washington University.

I'll take the under, and be happy for Lester's return.

Park effects and a DH may explain small parts of it (and it's a tiny sample of games), but for the 2007 postseason, it looks like the Red Sox have the pitching AND the hitting. Red Sox/Beckett had a dominant game 1 win against Tribe in a series that went 7, after Tribe took game 2 at Fenway. I agree that this is pretty much must-win territory for Rockies.

Who does? Julian Tavarez is a horse's ass and a certifiable nutburger. Gagne has playoff experience. Makes more sense. Good call on Francona's part, IMHO. Makes less sense. Julian Tavarez has much more playoff experience Eric Gagne (...it's not even close): Tavarez: 31 games, 30.2 innings, 12 ER, 12 DS games, 12 CS games, 7 WS games Gagne: 6 games, 6.1 innings, 3 ER, 3 DS games, 3 CS games, 0 WS games

We probably don't disagree much about Manny. You've likely watched a lot more of Manny in left at Fenway then I have, and yes he made a nice throw to second. Good job Manny. But the guy gets replaced defensively after his last AB in many games. My reaction was mainly to the foaming at the mouth coming from McCarver. The guy is adequate, if that. Let's not call him a great player if he's a space case or worse on the bases (a real detriment, to me Lowell was being extremely diplomatic), and adequate/mediocre at best in left. And he looked a bit lost in left at the Jake, a not too challenging left field to play. He's an awesome hitter. Let's call him that. On the fan arrogance point, I should have been clearer at the end of a long post. I'm not complaining about current behavior or making any generalizations. All teams have some knucklehead fans. As you note, successful teams may have a few more of the frontrunner variety, and like you, I'd happily deal with them while witnessing continued success of my beloved team. I saw a little of it walking to the Jake, but I'm not complaining about it. In small doses it can even be amusing (hey, look at that complete knucklehead in the Beckett t-shirt). The initial post was speculating about what it might possibly be like in the upcoming offseason. My mother grew up in RI, so I know, and am happy for, a lot of reasonable Sawx fans. Yes, Youk was especially tough in ALCS. Some of that likely comes from batting in front of Ortiz and Manny rather than behind them, but if I had to choose between Lowell and Youk at third (and the other player pinch hits) I think I'd go for Youk. Of course, this is coming from a fan that watched Youkilis really swat against the Tribe (Lowell had some nice hits as well, but KY, man...). I haven't been paying attention to much of the WS hype. Any chance Beckett is set up to start 3 times? Looks like that would require pitching on 3 days rest in both games 4 and 7 if there is no offday in Denver. Then Dice and Wake pitch only once each, and Schilling twice (but on 5 days rest).

I adore the soundtrack to North By Northwest. I really should buy that someday. Me too. Surprised it took 3 pages of posts to mention this one by name. Perhaps my favorite film as well. Signature Hitchcock sound!

First post back home after a fun and exciting week visiting the folks in Cleveland, Ohio, and catching ALCS games 3, 4, and 5 at the Jake. Pardon the long post. I haven’t read any of the past week of this thread (…maybe later, ...maybe not). First off, congratulations to the Boston Red Sox for making it through the tough AL to the World Series. Throughout the season, the Bosox had an impressive collection of talent, and but for a surge by the Yankees that occurred at the same time as a Red Sox stumble, they would/could/should have run away with the East and the best record in baseball. Combination of high priced talent (Ramirez, Ortiz, Drew, Schilling, Varitek, Lowell, Lugo) and some impressive young players (Youkilis, Pedroia, Ellsbury, Papelbon). Kind of unfair for the rest of us. Early on, the Red Sox were vulnerable in the ALCS because the only starter that did much was Beckett (but he was awesome) and the only hitters that contributed were Youkilis, Ortiz, and Ramirez. Ultimately, the rest of the offense woke up and the rest of the rotation made some contribution (modest in some instances). While all but one of the games ended up with blowout scores, most of the games were quite competitive late into the game, and game 2 qualifies as a classic. For the Tribe, they got to a game 7 with close to no contribution from the strength of their ballclub (Sabathia and Carmona). Based on the extremely small sample of the ALCS, one would have to conclude that Westbrook and Byrd pitched as well as Schilling, Matsuzaka, and Wakefield. They just get a lot less pub (…though Byrd appears to be getting some now…). Hafner’s brutal postseason obviously didn’t help. Sizemore also underperformed. Some quick hits on each of the games (apologies since y’all’ve probably discussed to death already). Game 1. Absolutely wretched for everyone but members of Red Sox Nation. An initial thought was that Sabathia was a bit too amped up in ALDS game 1. This performance suggested that perhaps he was out of gas. About the only positive for the Tribe was Casey Blake finding his bat. I adapted the Pettitte statement following ALDS game 1-- hope they (here, the Red Sox) get all that scoring out of their system before game 2. Game 2. Mediocre performance by Carmona (…whatever Sabathia has may be contagious?), but what a game! Francona said it was one of the best played games that he has ever been involved with. Once Papelbon came on, only chance for Tribe was to outlast him, ...and they did. Tribe bullpen matches Boston’s inning for inning, until Gagne comes out. Sweet to deal against a high priced, underachieving reliever that was supposed to seal the deal for the Red Sox. Staying up to 1:30am sitting in my parents living room (moved into their home 30+ years ago) with my brother and my mother (father conked out in inning 6 or 7), high-fiving, hoping, and encouraging the Indians infielders… Talking ‘bout the home team (rather than hospital visits/health/aging issues). Nothing better. Game 3. First at the Jake. Beautiful evening for baseball (…all of them were in Cleveland) instead of the rain/snow that I feared. Westbrook getting it done. Just a mistake to Varitek late. Thought that Francona left Dice out there a bit too long (but easy to Monday morning quarterback, and to be paranoid about all starters not named Beckett). The Lofton home run was awesome! So much love there for Kenny, call it K-Love! Screaming and yelling for Kenny--made me feel like I was 12 again (never mind that I’m about the same age as Lofton). Reasonable crowd cheering loudly for the home team and booing just a few Red Sox. Sat next to a couple of Red Sox fans who were well behaved throughout. Great night. Game 4. Another 7 run inning! Byrd pitches well enough. Again, thought Francona left Wake out there a bit too long. Before the scoring, couple of Indians had really hard swats at some of that Wakefield junk. A few obnoxious Red Sox fans, but at least most of them left early. Up 3 games to 1, obviously thought the Tribe had a great chance to eliminate the Nation (after taking care of the Evil Empire), but knew that recent Sabathia and Carmona performances did not instill a great deal of confidence, and that Beckett was going to be tough. Game 5. Beckett was tough. Sabathia wasn’t. That’s probably the series right there. Lofton may be a bit of a prima donna with the bat flip, but Beckett should just shut up, at least as long as he’s wearing the same uniform as Manny. Manny is a tremendous hitter, apparently making several Indian pitchers wet their pants (esp with bases loaded), but he is not a tremendous player. Tremendous players run the bases and field their position well (Just ask Lowell how he appreciates the double play opportunity with Manny on first instead of an RBI opportunity with him on second). Despite Buck/McCarver assertions to the contrary, Manny neither runs nor fields well. Game 6. Still a chance for the Tribe if Carmona can return to the form he had against NYY in ALDS. Unfortunately for Tribe fans, he doesn’t. Worse, Red Sox are now getting contributions from elsewhere in the order. Schilling significantly better than in Game 2. Game 7. Still a chance for the Tribe (…stop for a moment and think about that y’all!). Westbrook pretty good. Dice K about the same. Tribe cannot capitalize much on their opportunities, Red Sox do, and then blow it wide open late. McCarver/Buck totally wrong about Ramirez throwing out Lofton at second. If any other Sawk is in left (Ellsbury, Crisp, Drew, Kielty, Yastrzemski), I don’t think Lofton even tries for second. Manny’s out there and Lofton goes for it, beats the throw, but gets called out. Manny is still a mediocre leftfielder (Albert Belle was similarly skilled ). Ultimately, it appears that Sabathia, Carmona, and Raphael Perez just ran out of gas at the end of the series. Sabathia didn’t contribute in the postseason, while Carmona and Perez were huge against NYY but then nothing in ALCS. CC and Fausto had career high IPs this season. Wasn’t sure how I’d feel about coming so close, especially with the prospect of facing the Rockies. Given the small payroll, gotta carpe diem when your team has a chance. Obviously a bit disappointed, but not really that frustrated or irritated by it. Wedge went with his strength (Sabathia and Carmona) and they didn’t deliver. I was more frustrated in ’95 and especially ’97 when the Tribe was the team stacked with talent that didn’t bring home the big prize. There is reason to be optimistic (though 2008 may be Sabathia’s last in Cleveland). Hopefully Red Sox Nation will remember that they got pushed to the limit by one of those teams in the Central, and it wasn’t due to an inordinate amount of Wahoo luck. And if they do not remember, it’ll be a bit irritating listening to the arrogance (present company not implicated), but maybe the Tribe will be able to continue to fly a bit under the radar next season. WS will be interesting if the Rockies can keep their mojo going, or it could be a quick 4 and out. Haven’t made up my mind yet, but I think I’ll be rooting for the former because they’re the fresher faces, lower payroll, and better story. And maybe I'll catch Jason Moran and Bad Plus at George Washington Univ on Saturday rather than game 3. Looks like Rockies tix are still available...

Call us (...or at least our butts) smug rather than explain your logic, or how we've misinterpreted it. I gently try to understand the supposed logic, or even what point you're trying to make, and this is all you can offer? Silence on the NL parity point, and some name calling. Pretty weak. Why bother trying to discuss any of the offered wisdom... Yes I'm a fan of an AL team that is still alive in the 2007 postseason, and apparently you're an "NL guy". Kumbaya.

If Torre is done, it's because King George wants a change, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Torre is still a fine (if not invincible) manager. Giambi and Mussina on the payroll at big $ is a bigger problem than the limping manager.