Dan Gould

Well, he's under contract for a lot of money, iirc. Maybe they don't want to hire another 1-2 million dollar GM to take over a totally empty farm system and come in under ownership that lost nearly a billion dollars to Madoff. You can bet there will be a total house-cleaning in 2010.

Interesting numbers for the "Ortiz is a cheater and he's through anyway" crowd: Since he started hitting homers on May 20, he's tied with Mark Teixeira for most in the league, with 20. I saw another stat recently which said that since some date in early June, he's second in the league in RBIs. With 75 ribbies to date, and 40 games to go, seems like he's got a good shot at 100, which all things considered is pretty damn impressive, and he's got a shot at 30 homers though he has to stay hot to do that, I think. Upper 20s is a near certainty though. Granted his BA is atrocious and his slugging and OBP way down, but if he finishes the season going like he has been, I'm not quite so distressed that he's got another year to go on his contract. Big Papi isn't done yet.

Actually I think the money quote is There's a certification program for being a "life coach"? For those who don't recognize the name, this was the NYT reporter who got canned a few years ago for plagiarizing nearly everything he ever wrote for the Times.

No complaints The bats have really come alive starting in Toronto - could it be 46 runs in six games now? Something like that. They've set a team mark for consecutive games with multiple home runs. If as people believe (I still don't) that the Sox will make the playoffs and take care of the Angels in the first round, is it a concern that Burnett has lost most of his mojo against Boston and particularly at Fenway? He was death to us before the Yankees signed him, now he has one good start and three horrible ones. If you line up your starters with Burnett number two, he could avoid Fenway in a seven game set with the home field advantage. But certainly this is not the Burnett the Yankees thought they signed. He's actually starting to look like John Lackey at Fenway, muttering to himself. Almost forgot to mention the best part of this - Penny was told that Wakefield is pitching his next scheduled start on Wednesday, and that Penny's status is up in the air. I am sure part of that was seeing how Tazawa would do against the same Yankee lineup. Well, Tazawa deserves another start so Penny goes to the pen or can pull a Colon and disappear for all I care. And despite Bowden's awful game last night, I'd still rather have him start if Tazawa falters than Penny ever start another game in a Boston uniform. One bad game doesn't equal a nearly 7 ERA over two full months.

With nothing else to enjoy, watching Burnett get lit up is a nice thing. Its also a necessary thing because while I think Tazawa has some potential, it will never be realized with Varitek catching him. As it was said last year about Varitek's game-calling skills, "it takes a lot to put down one finger so many times". Tazawa cannot pitch like they do in the States, working off of the fastball. Its mediocre at best and has to be spotted perfectly. How many times in his brief career has the ball gotten tatooed? He's lucky so far today - Swisher just drilled a single off the Monster - but what was so comical was Varitek twice calling for the high fastball against Melky Cabrera. With a mediocre fastball, if he doesn't elevate it, its a belt-high meatball. He should stop calling for that pitch with Papelbon (who never elevates it properly) but it should be absolutely banned with Tazawa. There. That curve that made A-Rod flinch and run away. That's what I am talking about when I say the kid has some potential. He can change speeds, throw that curve, has a decent splitter. That curve reminds me of a game in the 80s when Mark Clear threw a breaking ball to a righty that started out behind his ear and broke over the outside corner as the Yankee batter bailed out of the box. Funniest damn thing I ever saw.

:party:

That is the most important argument against such a set. Mosaic needs some exclusivity on the material. A Mobley 60's set could perhaps have been released succesfully before Blue Note started reissuing the albums as RVG, Connoisseurs, etc. Now it's too late, all the Mobley fans have the material on CD and too few would buy a Mosaic set just for the booklet and the collectible value. I wonder whether the slow-selling of the Hank 50s set reflects the fact that this material came out in Japan as TOCJs (as well as vinyl) before Mosaic put it out. I never sprang for the Hank Mosaic because I had all the material in one format or another, so it makes me wonder if, just as Claude says that Mobley fans have the 60s material and too few would buy a Mosaic set for the booklet and collectible value, the same set of facts for the 50s material explains why it has been available so long without selling out. Of course its true that the RVGs and Conns saw wider distribution than limited runs of TOCJs and JRVGs, but over time as the Japanese put out these recordings multiple times, I'll bet more than a few people got a hold of Hank's 50s output.

Stateside is the US distributor for the label. Don't know if their direct prices aren't undercut by some websites but at least you know you can get everything from Peter. Stateside Distributors 1004 N. California Chicago, Illinois 60622 Tel: 1-888-776-0436, Fax: 773-862-8630, e-mail:stateside@prodigy.net

Yes, Wakefield pitched very well for Pawtucket, and apparently the nerve-related weakness in his calf didn't prevent him from fielding his position, which is what their biggest worry has been. Since he pitched well today and threw 80 pitches, I'm going to guess that Wakefield will make his next start in Boston and replace Penny. Unless they decide to have him replace Tazawa, depending on how badly he gets clobbered by the Yankees tomorrow. Their only chance to hang on to the Wild Card is for Wakefield to go on one of his tears, and somehow for Matzuzaka to somehow return to his 2007-08 form when he is back (which is mapped out for something like September 6 if he has not setbacks). If his shoulder is strong and he's throwing mid-90s, I think that's at least a possibility. A tiny one. I guess there is something to be said for adding an All-Star pitcher and a guy who had a sub-3.00 ERA in 2008 in the five weeks of the season.

The Yankees don't have to worry about runs tomorrow against Tazawa and his 88 MPH fastball. He's gotten hammered viciously in two out of three career appearances. There's no reason to imagine he'll come close to shutting them down.

I searched Blue Note 45s on ebay - Jimmy Smith, Three Sounds, and Horace Silver definitely had the most listings.

You mean the mouth that said that the Latin players never talk when things go wrong, but he's always there to answer for it? That's the kind of outspokenness I applaud - that Met clubhouse was an f-ed up place. What in particular did he say in his time in Philly? I wouldn't be at all concerned about his mouth, if people like Ortiz, Varitek and Lowell are around.

No, that other "low risk, ZERO return" piece of shit Penny looks dead on the field. He's giving up lasers everywhere. Has anyone else looked dead? Like I said, put Bowden in for mop-up duty, and RELEASE Penny before his next start. He's as worthless as Smoltz, without the resume or a dream of ever having the same skills.

That was an incredibly stupid column filled with asininities. On a more important note, apparently the Red Sox claimed Billy Wagner off waivers from the Mets and have until Tuesday around 1 PM to work out a deal, or the Mets could simply accept the salary relief or else pull him back from waivers. I have to admit I was surprised that Wagner made it back to the majors last night, pitching a scoreless inning and hitting 96 on the gun. The Sox have lacked a lefty specialist, its an expensive month plus since he gets about two million more plus its a million dollars to buy out his option year. On the other hand, with all of their cheap "low risk, ZERO return" signings from last year, there should be no problem taking on the salary. I guess its too much to hope that he could take over Penny's spot, huh? Jesus Christ he's a worthless piece of crap. They called up Bowden today, I don't know what his schedule has been but I can only hope he'll be the first guy out of the pen in tonight's embarrassment and then they just release Penny. Just get him the fuck out of there, he serves no fucking purpose at all anymore. Let Bowden pitch. Strong WHIP and ERA at Pawtucket, he's 23, just fucking let him pitch. He can't be worse than Penny, and Penny has no upside at all, he just throws up "hit me" pitches all the fucking time. But back to Wagner - I would not at all mind having him for the rest of the season, and if he finishes it up healthy, I'd take him for next season, too. He should be happy to do it as well, one month isn't enough to re-establish himself as a closer anywhere, but if he has a good 2010, he can get another deal no problem. And let me just say, GO RAYS, because this game is going to be one ugly fucking disaster, as will tomorrow with the 88 MPH fastball Tazawa pitching, and the division will go officially bye-bye.

Well, IMHO, when someone references "smooth" and "putting to sleep" its probably not a bad idea to direct him to the G-Spot. It might be an unfortunate choice of words - "smooth" - but there's certainly a chance that is the music he is looking for. The only thing that doesn't fit is that he suggests what he likes might fall into the blues category and G-Whiz wouldn't know a blues progression if it bit him on the ass. Seriously, eliminating Kenny G would go along way toward establishing that this person's tastes are in synch with at least some of the jazz that is popular on the forum. If that's the case, I'd second the nomination of The Blue Hour sessions by Turrentine + The Three Sounds (though the original issue fits the bill better than the complete sessions) and would add the "Ballads" compilations Blue Note put out for Ike Quebec, Stanley Turrentine, and Dexter Gordon.

Hank's 60s recordings have been reissued steadily because they sold better than the 50s stuff did. They've had regular reissues, RVGs, Conns - and have been in print for a substantial portion of the last two decades. I can't see any reason why Mosaic would consider such a project. On the other hand, if jazz reissues completely crater I could see a time in ten or twenty years when interest in these recordings could be strong enough that a specialist company like Mosaic could put that set together. That's assuming that jazz attracts a new generation of collectors.

Nevertheless, to be "rare" requires that more than one copy exist. This item is unique. And overpriced.

I stumbled across the original record a couple of days ago on Ebay.

Why would the seller call it "Very Rare"? Is it suspected that there is another one floating around? Maybe Alfred sent him a Pen/Pencil desk set commemorating Our Man In Paris, too? I think the phrase he was looking for is "One of a Kind"

But the thing is, a sweep is required to give them any sort of chance. Two out of three only picks up a game and doesn't really change things. On the positive side, the bats have come alive - Bay is hitting again, Ortiz has really started to hit and Drew went 4 for 4 today with two homers. So, playing at home, with a somewhat alive offense, they've got a shot to get a little bit of revenge, but the mere fact that Francona didn't use Monday's off-day to switch Penny for Lester tonight says a lot about what the team is playing for - the Wild Card. In fact, look at the rotations - the Yankees have Pettitte, Burnett and Sabathia. The Sox have Penny, who's been atrocious for a while now, the rookie Tazawa, who got hammered by Texas, and Beckett. The fact is, the bats have to produce, big time, to have any chance at a sweep and the pitching matchups don't even favor winning the series.

It would be unfortunate if hiding in the no-DH league makes Smoltz look like he doesn't completely suck. But it surely was obvious that the POS had no business pitching in a decent division with actual talent. That debacle in the Bronx demonstrated that he has zero command of his pitches, particularly his fastball which got consistently hammered. He didn't get better in Boston, he got worse. Its the strikeout-walk ratio that is an anomaly, not the results. They should continue, though probably not as badly when he'll get a breather in the bottom third of every order. As much as I'd like to see the Cardinals fall out of contention, I'd enjoy it very much should they reach the World Series and try to rely on Smoltz against any A.L. lineup.

Aaron Rowand has been a below average hitter from the moment he left Philly. His OBP has usually been mediocre at best, and his slugging is down from his Philly highs as well (which was to be expected). On top of that, his fielding has declined dramatically too. Great heart doesn't make up for mediocre performance. And he's not even halfway through that contract he signed. But don't take my word for it - Rowand got a mention in Joe Posnanski's "Worst Contracts" column: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writ...l#ixzz0OgHjd7IS

This isn't terribly surprising - Lou has criticized fusion (or con-fusion) musicians as well as anyone in the free/A-G category. I think Lou believes good music starts and ends with bop and "sufferin' music" and nothing else counts. So I am curious what he says and I'm wondering if it will appear on the website anytime soon. How is the photo essay on Blue Note - anything we haven't seen before? The website says the intro is written by Ashley Kahn which makes me wonder how soon the long-awaited Blue Note book will come out.

Perfectly fine.

Avaiable here: http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1636275 Thanks Paul, I found another one that its on - Absolute Best of, or something like that. Judging from the samples on Amazon, I think that's the one I'll pick up.