Quincy

Jazzloft has Live at Dreher on sale. Forgot the price because the price isn't important. Not to oversell it, but $29, $45, it doesn't matter. You'll be glad you bought it for whatever. Ah hell, I've probably now put even higher expectations on it, but by the 2nd play if not the 1st, you'll know you have something that you'll be enjoying/exploring for the rest of your life. Okay, downshift expectations just a tad & order it, and enjoy the hell out it!

Is this still true with all the hubbub about "long tail," or is has that been replaced by some other buzzword? I would think that with the combination of older folks being disc buyers rather than downloaders, and jazz fans tending to be older (if true), then perhaps the program may keep chuggin' on. Though as you say, some of those PE firms do love their synergy.

Yes, Fearless Leader was remastered, and the upcoming ones will be also. I prefer the big box mastering to the new one, just my lousy opinion. As one who got the big box cheap cheap cheap last year, I love your lousy opinion so much I refuse to listen to any other!

True that. Of course Elias knows the answer too. Not ever, at least since 1900. Lazy bums don't have such detailed important info like this for the 19th century.

The Hip-O deluxe versions get a start on September 11th with a My Aim Is True. Billboard link, excerpt below "Elvis Costello's classic 1977 debut "My Aim Is True" will be the first original album reissued in expanded form as part of a new catalog campaign by Hip-O/UMe, Billboard.com can reveal. Due Sept. 11, the "Deluxe Edition" of the project features 48 tracks across two discs, including 29 previously unreleased or new-to-CD bonus songs. Disc one includes the original album plus outtakes of "No Action," "Living in Paradise," "Radio Sweetheart" and "Stranger in the House" and eight additional demos recorded at London's Pathway Studios. The second disc is comprised mostly of an Aug. 7, 1977, concert at London's Nashville Rooms, plus five songs from soundcheck earlier in the day. Costello's only prior release of a complete live performance was the rare 1978 album 'Live at the El Mocambo.'" For whatever reason (laziness, bootlegs that flesh things out) I'm still on my original vinyl with the debut. So I can't gripe in this case about having to buy the album 4 times.

Thanks for that. Such a shame the board was down during the BoSox visit to Safeco. Has a manager ever resigned due to "lost passion" during such a winning streak? I'm kind of relived, as I've always felt the M's could do better than Hargrove. Of course they could (and have) done worse too, so I wasn't anxious to have him fired. Still, kind of a weird thing to happen to your team, especially as they're a contender, as improbable as it seems. It may just be a summertime fling, but I'm going to enjoy it!

I'm one of those folks who thought the 1st album had a lot of charm and never cottoned to the one without Roy. My tolerance of Jeff Lynne is extremely low however, so having one member die upped his allotment just past my breaking point. I have the 1st album on cassette which is essentially a dead format for me, so I may try to snag a used copy of the old CD issue, seeing as they aren't willing to break up the package.

Classy! I feel like I'm wearing finer clothes as I'm reading posts.

My word is gold! He will be fine this year, bank on it! Seriously, the splitter was doing nothing at all in Colorado, and Tim Kurkjian said he had a history of not pitching well there, then didn't give any numbers to back it up. At Coors: 4 starts, 21 innings, 25 hits, 6 HR, 9 BB, 22 K. 4.71 ERA, 1.62 WHIP. BAA .298.

On June 26th the next round of Living Stereos are being released. A Van Cliburn will be one of them. Disc includes - Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major Op. 73" Emperor," Schumann: Piano Concerto in A.

Are you kidding? I'm thrilled the Brew-crew are having a banner year! I'm even more excited for Coco, proving once again that any pitcher that gets out of the incompetence of the Rangers "organization" always flourishes. Yeah, I am happy for them, in spite of it being Selig's team! He sold it off in 2004. And magically the team started making progress towards being a winner. Go figure!

Players are paid bi-monthly, on the 1st and 15th, but their entire salary is paid over the six months of the regular season. So if you're making, say, 12 million a "year" you will get paid a million dollars on the 1st and 15th, April through September. The only thing I may be wrong on is the start and end dates. For regular people, you get paid for the work you've performed. That suggests that players get paid starting the 15th of April and carrying through to the 1st of October. Must be rough having to budget for the entire winter. Sorry kids, no Christmas this year.

Getting older hurts. Well, at least the MRI shows no damage. Maybe some rest will help. Look at this way, if the arm/shoulder heals and if his ego could handle it he could be a great #4 come playoff time, at least if you're a believer in "experience." Zambrano's sparring partner is shipped to San Diego. Maybe he can mix it up with David Wells now.

Happy b-day to you 2 & me too! It's a "Steeplechase" day!

I liked Television, don't care for Franz Ferdinand, but I kinda liked the way the guy expressed his dislike for Marquee Moon. He said he respects it, but "Because the words "punk" and "New York" and "1977" are associated with it, it's deemed cool." There's a lot of truth to that. Mentioning the Grateful Dead too was a hoot. And having yet again heard Arcade Fire in a bar tonight and thinking how much they have in common with bombastic U2 (in other words failing yet again to appreciate what all the critics are jizzing over), Green Gartside pegged my attitude towards 'em pretty nicely. It was fun to see modern "classic" knocked down along with all of the usual suspects.

Didn't vote, as I prefer the version on Robert Fripp's Exposure.

True, that was laughable. To tell you truth I only read a few blurbs from him a year, so I'm not as plugged into the annoyances of his pontificating. I just thought with so few remaining players from the '04 team left perhaps there'd be more of the warm fuzzies & concern about him.

I had the Yahoo game log just reflecting games thru April 25 so I missed earlier ones. Oopsie, forgot about KC. Too cold, too hot, it's not easy being an old pitcher! I don't know if there is a "natural trend" for him to get worse as the weather heats up. There wasn't in 2004, and in 2002 his best months were July & August. Lifetime his best month is August. Sure all that reflects a younger guy.... I wouldn't have signed resigned him at the start of the season either, but then older players scare me too. And it wouldn't surprise if he is hurt, or just not as effective. Actually, I think he's damn foolish to have a blog where he reveals strategy (unless he's putting out disinformation.) Maddux gives away nothing, though he rightfully acknowledges with his lack of heat he can't be sharing his thoughts with the reporters. I just don't get the venom in your post. If it had just been full of worry I wouldn't have responded. Time will tell if the lack of heat is over after bad couple of outings (say, due to the old "turned over in the night and slept on the pitching arm"), injury or age. Like you say, if he goes on the DL, you get to see Lester. While you'd have rather seen him replace Tavarez, at least Lester may get a shot out of this. As far as Timlim, jump all over that m$#!^*f#@$!r! (Bitter Mariner memories, calmly filed away in the back of the brain resurface at the mention of his name.)

String him up by his bloody sock. Then in August we'll hang Manny by his jock strap! Sheeesh, what have ya done for me lately? Yes, some duds in there, but also excellent games. Started the season with 2 games going 7 innings each, 1 R & 2 R given up. 10 K to 2 BB combined between the 2 games. Those are "quality" quality starts. Early April games & stats count too. Cleveland - 7 innings, 1 R, 0 BB, 10 K. Cleveland does not suck, 'specially on offense. He didn't have it against the Tigers, yet despite 8 hits + 4 BB in 6 innings he allowed only 2 runs. Ugly as hell, but only 2 runs against another very good team. No, at 41 he's not the stud he once was. But man, given that you didn't hang Beckett from the tallest tree during last year, maybe cut the guy a little slack. Pitchers aren't machines. Be grateful you have a guy known for a bloody sock and not a fatigued groin.

Not sure what breaking the bank means on this board, but last week I bought Cambridge Audio DVD89 I got it for 2 reasons: 1) It's multi-region. I too have a bunch of PALs on DVD+/-R, and thus far it's played all sorts of DVD+/-R brands just fine. 2) It also can play SACD & DVD-A. I've been curious about the hi-res formats, especially as I've been listening to more classical lately. I paid $359. Seems to be much better construction than my old 4 year old Sony player.

Let's go even farther away! Top KC Royal prospect Alex Gordon who has been in a deep funk all year has finally broken out. .433 over his last 30 AB, homered the past 2 games and 9 RBI over the past 4. This is the guy who George Brett was ready to pay the difference ($200k I think) out of his own pocket (over 10 or 20 years) during negotiations because he so wanted to watch the kid play. The Royals have put up some runs 17 twice this week. Sorry 'bout bringing that up J.H.

That would be great if you have the time. You weren't an Amiga user per chance, were you? (Still have a 1000 that I hope to get working again someday, not that I'm working hard at making that happen.)

Yes, I saw that a few weeks ago. Bought a very cheap film noir 10 pack from deepdiscount last fall & it was part of the package (along with the excellent The Red House & Scarlet Street, both featuring Edward G. Robinson.) K.C. also includes a very young Jack Elam. He looked so young I didn't recognize him right away. In fact I thought for a moment it might be a young Abe Vigoda.

I don't think it'll do much for ya though, surprising as it seems. You can't just look at the 2003 Cubs, look at the other years; 2006 - 14th in NL ERA at 4.74. Also tops in BBs given up. 11th ERA+ 2005 - 9th in NL ERA at 4.19, 2nd best NL BAA. ERA+ 102, 7th in NL. 2004 - Better. 3rd in NL ERA. #1 in ERA+ 2003 - Same as '04 ERA-wise. Led NL in BBs given up. 5th in ERA+. 2002 - 12th in NL ERA. 3rd highest BB, middle of pack in BAA. 7th in ERA+ 2001 - 4th in NL ERA. 2nd highest BAA in NL. 3rd in ERA+ So the ERA+ (since this is Wrigley we're talking about) for the run of Cubs as NL (not MLB) K leaders (16 teams in the NL): 11th 7th 1st 5th 7th 3rd That's just 6 years, and 1/2 the time they're middle of the pack or worse. One really needs to get the count up to 20-25 looking at other league leaders. (Maybe tomorrow, though I now have more work to do after this goofing off!) Personally I'd rather have Ozzie Smith & Ryno (though not at current ages ) behind my pitcher than a guy wild thing who can strikeout 10+. Not that you'd want Wild Thing either, just saying I think you have to look at the control part of the equation. Makes sense, since the best predictors by far for winning are (offensive) OBP & SLG.

During lunch I found a bit of an oddball study from a 1998 Baseball Scoreboard (p. 84) by Brent Osland. He looked at every baseball between 1993-1997 and "compared the opposing teams' stats in a number of diiferent categories. The chart show the winning % for the team with statistical advantage for that game in the different catagories. Note that this is the team with the advantage in each category for that game only, not for the season"; Winningest Stats -1993-97 Advantage Higher On-Base% + Slg %-----------------.852 Higher On-Base%---------------------------.824 Higher Slg%---------------------------------.820 Higher Batting Avg.-------------------------.804 Fewest Errors per 9 defensive innings----.669 Most SB per 9 offensive innings-----------.653 Higher HR% (HR/PA)-----------------------.653 Higher BB% (BB/PA)-----------------------.623 Higher SB%---------------------------------.576 Most Pitcher K's per 9 defensive innings-.543 At least my memory of OBP & SLG as being the best predictors is correct. The .852 leading the way means 85.2% of the time the team with the higher on-base% + slugging% won the game. Note the pure walk percentage at .623 (as opposed to OBP.) In other words, the staff that walks fewer (or the offensive team that walks more) is more likely to win 62% of the time. There's a reason managers throw their hands up in the air when their pitcher walks a guy. Most Ks per 9 is just 4% better than a coin flip. Still I agree, K's are good. But as a predictor it's not as good as other things. Also remember the '70s Angels staff with Ryan & Tanana. Lead in K's for many years, but the rest of the staff stunk and the teams as a whole weren't very good either. It would probably be better to do what Dan did comparing the Yanks vs. Boston and list starters K/9, rather than staff totals, as it helps illustrate depth of starting staffs. Ryan had seasons where he had over a 1/3 of the staff K totals (as have others.) Of course staff K's includes the bullpen too. I'll see what else is in the stacks.