Dan Gould

I'm fucking glad I shut off the game when it was 6-3, second and third and Lee had thrown pitch 100. I had a bad fucking feeling and it sucks to have it confirmed.

Going after Armstrong for being such a strong supporter of cancer research is one gigantic pile of shit but unfortunately its also come to be expected from "Cliff". As for this year's Tour, taking what, four years off, then coming back at 39 - is that generally a recipe for a great performance?

Curtis deserves a lot of respect, but also accuracy in the details. I don't think a session player becomes "a member of The Doors". Frank Evans was the host of Frankly Jazz.

Nothing a trip to KC can't ease. There's a chance the Red Sox could lose 2 in the standings with them playing at Texas (though its nice that the Yankees get Lee and the Sox will miss him). The Rays face the O's which would normally be a cakewalk but you've got the lingering positive effects of Showalter taking over and the O's are playing very well right now. So really the Yankees ought to come out of the weekend in better shape than they go in. I'm just hoping the Orioles help us out a bit. Whatever happens down the stretch the best thing about this season is the emergence of Buchholz. It was right about this time last year that Buchholz was called up, and he pitched the best he had in his career down the stretch, but no one really knew if this was a transformation or just a fleeting glimpse. So who knew he'd be a starter all season and post a 2.50 ERA? Matthew (or was it Quincy?) was questioning Beckett's stuff lately. Whatever he has, its gotta work pretty well if he is in effect the number three starter behind Lester and Clay, right? Then Lackey and Dice. I can't stand Lackey to date, but he's not the worst #4, just the most overpaid.

Sounds like it might be from fevered clicking during online shopping. If you see this, get better soon, MG!

Would also be a season high five game losing streak. Would be nice to know the Sox have a hot Beckett on the mound with a chance for a 3.5 game deficit for the WC. How ironic would it be if the Rays and Red Sox prove my prediction wrong and the end result is that they lose to Texas in the Division Series?

Actually I think that was general suckitude, and even early in the season Girardi was afraid to let him face Boston. The difference this time is that he was actually pitching well before Friday's trouble.

That's part of why I think its legit, because a lot of those bands or their labels are probably pretty aggressive about rights issues. And yet, I've been told by one of the Dime moderators that because they've been told by at least one of the "popular" artists that he hasn't seen a dime from Wolfgang that they regard any Wolfgang-sourced concert as fair game for upload. That's what got me concerned enough to try to contact whoever is handling Horace's interests and that's how I got the response from Greg Silver.

"Dead arm" is a temporary muscular condition identified by fatigue and minor discomfort. It normally appears at some point during spring training for nearly every pitcher who is not yet ready for the physical demands of regular throwing designed to ramp up toward longer and longer outings, and it resolves without any treatment whatsoever in a week or so. In-season "dead arm" is less common but hardly unheard of. Why your "impression has always been that it's often a season-ender" is completely beyond me.

One thing I can tell you is that I informed Gregg Silver about the Newport show and while he didn't say he knew about it, its still up for sale on the site. Is that a function of the slow wheels of justice or because its kosher that they are selling it, I don't know. The big indication of a problem with estates/rights holders will be when they stop releasing new concerts or drop the whole kit and caboodle altogether.

Can hope spring eternal now that the Rays had to disable Carlos Pena? I don't know but I am sure it makes the Yankees favorites again.

I think the ultimate wild card in how things go down is going to be the Blue Jays. They are playing better than they were and have taken it to the Yankees and now the Rays in the first game of the weekend series. While I can't find an easy source of head-to-head matchups, my impression is that the Red Sox have played better against the Jays than the dregs of the league. If they keep that up, and the Jays play the leaders tough, that might help. But the reality is that if the Yankees and Rays play just .550 ball, which they haven't in any fifty game stretch of the season, the Red Sox need to win 98 to eek out the wild card. On what planet can that happen? They'd have to play better over 50 games than they have all season, and without Youkilis, while the Yankees and Rays would have to play worst than they have for any fifty game stretch. What are the odds of that?

And a calling where the demand is increasing and unlikely to fall very much even if tough economic times. Good luck, Joe - it was great seeing you guys at Clearwater I only wish there could have been a return engagement.

I don't know how I didn't catch the Joe Williams upload. I wonder if the Hubbard isn't up because of trouble with the estate or other rights holders. Either way, there is more than enough up right now to make me really really really want a membership so I get $50 in free downloads, discounts on other downloads and better bit-rate streams with no limits.

If the Times writer was a little more knowledgeable, he might mention the story that BN did sign papa Coltrane but he had signed with Prestige just before, and therefore his sole leader date said "courtesy of Prestige Records". So now a Coltrane really is signed, sealed and delivered. What that means today is probably very, very little.

Why are the Red Sox out of the race? Reason #467: After tonight, they will be 15-15 against the Indians, Orioles, Royals and Mariners. Reason #468: Former Sox pitcher Justin Masterson dominated his former club on June 9, throwing a two-hit shutout with six strikeouts and two walks. In his 11 starts prior to that game, Masterson was 1-5 with a 5.46 ERA. In his nine starts since he is 1-5 with a 6.55 ERA. Tonight he's gone 5 shutout innings so far. Everyone else beats him up, they can't buy a run. Reason #469: Jon Lester had never lost three starts in a row in his career before this season. He's on pace now to make it four straight in this hideous, disastrous, embarrassing stretch.

Glad to get my birthday wishes in under the wire. :party:

At least one aspect of our long National nightmare is over: Ellsbury will be activated today. The positive side is that now Scutaro can bat in the appropriate slot behind him. That allows Drew to lengthen the lineup after Beltre and Lowell. All to the better but hardly ideal as long as Pedroia isn't ready, and given that he can barely run from the foul line to 2B, that has to be ten days away still.

And he's up for a nice contract extension, too - and his ego won't allow anything that's less than A-Rod, nor will he countenance any suggestions that maybe, perhaps, and oh by the way it might possibly be necessary that he move off of SS. His next contract will probably have the greatest possible variance between what he'd get anywhere else and what he'll demand and get from the Yankees. 18 million a year? Does anyone think he'd get an offer, at his age, for more than 6 or 7 million? And for fewer years than the Yankees will give too. We can only hope and pray that these declines really are here to stay and their stupid contracts will indeed start biting them on the ass, with Posada having one more year to go, A-Rod booked to age 42 and Jeter about to get the same.

Saw George in the summer of 2000 with a re-formed Octet at Smoke, with an impressive group of younger guys including Rotondi, Smulyan, and Ned Otter as music director, and with Mabes in the piano chair. Great show, and there was a CD of the group available, too. I remember too how Smulyan was standing next to Rotondi and in the ensembles would have to play with one hand as the other was cupped over the ear closest to the trumpet.

Try making up 6.5 games to the two best teams in the majors without Youkilis. You're only 3 games out of the division and 3.5 out of the playoffs. 90 wins can do it for you, we've now lost our cleanup hitter for the season! How appropriate that the mother of all injury-destroyed seasons comes to a complete and utter clusterfuck by losing the team's cleanup hitter with an injury that a hand specialist says he's never seen happen in 25 years to an athlete. "Terrono said that a thumb adductor tear from a sports injury is so unusual he can't recall seeing this in the 25 years he has been specializing in hand surgery." Anyone want to claim now that the Red Sox have a chance? Better yet, how about I get some goddamn recognition for knowing enough about my team, its roster, the schedule, and the competition to correctly predict its demise when Pedroia and the rest went down in June?

I don't know about hostility what I find extremely odd is that first someone came out of nowhere to inform us that Letterman recently crapped all over jazz but in fact regularly does so, then someone else came out of nowhere to tell us that no he doesn't. And neither of them seem interested in doing anything else here. The rest of it was just standard O-stuff. Debating the merits of each, with some inside-baseball type speculations thrown in, and with our own unique flavor.

Gene Harris, as leader of his own group or with bassist Ray Brown, should be up your alley.

What I can't wrap my brain around is anyone having an exhaustive Letterman database for going on 30 years. Maybe not as sad as the Margaret thing, but dude, WTF? Are you just getting ready to write the definitive Letterman bio? And even then, you'd be missing exciting things like using the staff for his dating pool.

Do you really need an explanation? :rolleyes: Fine. The Superbowl is a one-off event that brings in literally tens of millions of people who don't watch a single game during the season. Some of those people only watch for the fucking commercials!