Quincy

CDU sent me an email with a photo & description of the Jimmy Scott album yet alerted me that it was a new Jimmy Smith album.

It's a good story, but that's all it is. It's "The Dreamsicle" story that's been used on Redford, Nicholson, etc. Sorry to be a poop.

I'm not disagreeing with you, just pointing out that that's exactly what the Red Sox did in '75 when they moved Tiant to 6 and pushed Bill Lee to 7. I remember this because Bill Lee still complains to this day. There were a few days of rain though which allowed the rescheduling. I suppose if both starters still get adequate rest the thinking is that the better pitcher is more likely to take care of business in game 6 so in game 7 there will be more arms for the "everybody pitches" scenario. It didn't work so well in '75 however.

Congrats J.H.! Fine looking team. Utley, Rollins & Howard get so much attention but that outfield is so solid! Game 1 is a week from today. So Cole goes again in 1? Nice to have the problem of will the players be rusted or well rested.

Who says irony is dead? Any arrogance from the side of Red Sox fans had a basis in reality, that reality being the most successful team of the decade. The arrogance coming from Rays fans is based on a single season in which they've, by way of a couple of fluke victories, won anything only once. Oh for crying out loud. (Or just crying.) They've never won in their history, they have every right to have fun with it. And at least way out here on the West Coast I've heard nor read nothing about Rays fans that approaches the whining know-it-all "aren't we so wonderful" fucked up arrogance of the bandwagon Red Sox "Nation." To see the perfect Patriots lose a Super Bowl in such heart-breaking fashion followed by their post-Brady fall, and now to see a Tampa team that has done it right by building on homegrown talent and a terrific trade all while on a budget...well, it just doesn't get any better. GO RAYS! (And as long as your team doesn't go to Timlin, you're still in the thing.)

The "visuals" of putting the surfer kid Weaver into the game in extra inning relief to save your season was classic. Uh, I guess classic SoCal. Jered still looks like an overgrown 15 year old to me. So Dodgers-Phils in the NLCS. I was going to say it makes me feel 30 years younger but I suppose it should make me feel only 25 years younger as I always forget about '83. I remember the SI cover of Rose, Perez & Morgan though as it sure looked strange seeing all those Reds with "P's" on their caps.

Some knock Piniella in the NW because of the way pitchers were handled. Some also feel he should have won more with the talent he had. Personally I enjoyed his time in Seattle a great deal and was sorry to see him go. Had there been a wild card in '86 the Yanks would have won it. And he did a hell of a job with the Reds. Darrell was '75. It was McNamara in '86.

He's on the roster but isn't starting. Pierre is on the roster as well. Some fans are already getting ahead of themselves saying he'll DH. Kent is on the roster but Torre has said he's only available to PH. I probably read too much into Torre's tone, but I heard it as "I don't care if you think you can field, I'm not giving up another 2 runs a game because you can't move or bend over." Andruw Jones is not on the playoff roster.

They have Furcal for the first time since May as well, but the other key for the Dodgers was those experienced older players getting injured. The Dodgers scuffled when they were playing Andruw Jones, Nomar, Kent and Pierre. Notice that none of those old fogies are starting now. Adding Manny of course has helped immensely but having Ethier, Kemp, and Looney not have their at bats taken away by those other bums has made them a much better team. Hell, with Andruw in the lineup it was like batting 2 pitchers. Getting Kent off the field mean has improved the pitching so much you can easily afford a less powerful bat there. It was Kent who suggested a war between the older vs. younger players when Grady Little was managing. Had Little been so lucky to have had a similar rash of injuries with those older farts he may had better success.

In Billy Bragg's "Waiting For The Great Leaps Forwards" he sings: In the Cheese Pavilion and the only noise I hear Is the sound of someone stacking chairs And mopping up spilt beer Here's that show.

That is something. He had some 1 out saves, but the less than 1 inning outings also reflect blown saves and losses. Francisco "I hate his nickname" Rodriguez's game log

It's real!

And its depressing the hell out of me. 5 game series are a bitch. A couple of moderately hopeful things to cling to. The Dodgers have never faced Harden. Not even in interleague play when he was with Oakland. (On the other hand Manny has and is 3 for 11 lifetime. All 3 hits were home runs. And game 3 starter Kuroda has pitched terrifically since August.) The other mildly positive thing for the Cubs is the Dodgers didn't face Ted Lilly this year. (Manny has faced him 46 times and slugs .619 against him.) Both have been pitching well post-All-Star break. So I don't rule out the Cubs winning the next 2. But should they do that, Game 5 will be unbearably tense.

HIGH FIVE! Or to quote Marv Albert, "YES!"

Just for fun I sometimes file this box under Shorter. Though I haven't done it since I joined this board, as now there are too many discs in-between to move around.

Whadya know, I misremembered, I indecisively did pick the Cubs to make the playoffs (as wild card) not the Phils. Sorry J.H. (though he didn't pick his own team. ) I even had the Cubs facing the Dodgers in the first round. And picked the Dodgers? Those "ifs" didn't work well for the Mariners at all, no siree. Bring on the Nationals for the baseball equivalent of the Toilet Bowl I say! You know, if the Twins end up facing Tampa it'd be an all plastic all indoors series. Kind of like the NL in the '70s (other than the indoor part, or DH...) And then there's the Young-Garza trade too. The ChiSox are up 1-0 as I write, much to the joy of grass seed growers.

Really? Sorry, don't mean to pick on your buddy's sale, but that one made me chock on my sip of water.

And he even faced Pujols 3 times. 0 for 2 with a walk. Though that playoff HR is still in orbit last I heard. to Lidge and congrats to the Phillies.

Probably tacky to reply to myself, but yes he can & did. Go Brewers!! Heh. I picked them here to go all the way (uh...vs. Cleveland. Soulstation wishes it was so. ) Though I did have them winning the division and the Cubs not making the playoffs. And the Braves winning the East. But otherwise, I got all of the NL playoff teams right.

I'll second the MacBook. I use PCs too, but I love my MacBook. You wouldn't have to, but I'd recommend maxing the RAM (2 GB) too, just to make the experience all the more pleasurable.

Another dramatic victory for the Brewers as Braun hits a grand slam in the 10th. Yovani Gallardo throws for the first time since May 1st and Ks 7 & 1 run allowed in 4 innings (held him to 64 pitches.) He had surgery last May on a torn ligament in his knee on his pushoff leg. Nice job after such a long layoff at an important time.

I check it daily, often more than once and have had nothing weird going on and I'm using Firefox. Um, on a Mac though.

No kidding! I loved how he untucked his jersey as he was rounding the bases.

????? Me too. Is that a Spinal Tap reference?

3 times in '99, '98 & '96 each time losing in the first round to the eventual champion Yankees. Their moment of glory was winning game 1 in '96 vs. the Yanks 6-2. It was a close series as game 2 went 12 innings. Game 3 took a 2 run on-the-road 9th for the Yanks to win. In the clinching game 4 the Yanks came back from a 4 run deficit.