Dan Gould

Lester finally spoke out about his suspension, saying that he didn't like accepting it because it makes him look guilty when he didn't intentionally throw at anyone, and he pointed out that he hit Crawford with a curveball. From the Herald: Uh, Jon, Bob Watson was playing baseball before you were alive. He hit .295 in a 19 year career with an OPS+ of 129. I think he understands baseball and has a feel for the game.

Well, the Yankees have to hope that this isn't one of Mo's customary 4-6 appearances where he isn't quite right and blows a save or loses a game or two. But it does seem to happen every season. Some of the time he'll get by after giving up a hit or two but giving up two home runs, at home, in the ninth inning over three games is pretty shocking. Then again you might just figure that the Baseball Gods are getting even for their last two ridiculous comeback wins. At least now they go to Oakland which may not be playing great but they've got the pitching and defense to keep a til-recently-struggling Yankee offense down. If they can get some hits I could definitely see Oakland take two of three. And I finally saw the mound confrontation between Garza and Navarro. Wow! I've never seen that before, a catcher getting in a pitcher's face on the mound. I don't care if the pitcher is stubborn - that's disrespectful and wrong. If I was Garza I'd kick the shit out of him in the tunnel. But if the Rays want to distract themselves with inter-team fighting, that's fine with me.

Well, my take is that the opening verse says all that he wants to, and the rest is just saying it different ways. And what he's saying is "you won't let me down" because I won't/can't/have learned not to/ expect too much from a relationship ("I found out a long time ago what a woman can do to your soul"). I've got a peaceful, easy feeling, so let's fuck, and if I don't see you again, so be it. If you disappear, you can't let me down because I'm not in the clouds over you, my feet are on the ground.

Jon, I don't get the annoyance with "Peaceful Easy Feeling" - the lyrics aren't stupid or nonsensical and the tune has those classic Eagles harmonies. I can listen to that one far more than some of their bigger '70s hits. But of course, YMMV.

And you don't even point out the most annoying thing about those lyrics: Centrifugal motion is what keeps two bodies rotating around each other, like the Earth and the moon. Do you want your baby always at the same distance away from you? Centripetal motion brings bodies together, the direction you might want if her kisses are that good.

Daddy was a cop on the east side of Chicago Back in the USA Back in the bad old days And no, Paper Lace doesn't get a pass because they were a British band and shouldn't be expected to know that the "east side of Chicago" is Lake Michigan.

No one said its a "fluke". I'm well aware of his record on clay and his consecutive French championships. And I am constantly amazed by his shot-making on clay. I'm just waiting for him to win a Slam on a different surface. Borg dominated on clay and also won Wimbledon five times. Lendl dominated on clay and won several US Opens, too. What's Nadal's excuse?

I take you up on it, Dan. I won't forget that call... As long as its not collect ...

Still can't believe that two of the most disappointing teams in the AL have both lost starting pitchers for the season (most likely). Must really suck to be fans of Detroit or Cleveland right now. Meantime, the Sox are the first to 40 wins, with another excellent performance by Masterson - six innings, three hits, one run, 4 strikeouts. He had one troublesome inning when two of his three walks came and he also needed a splending catch by the red-hot Drew (home run was the margin of victory) to avoid a big inning. Matsuzaka has just started throwing on flat ground and while they aren't saying if they'll send him out for a rehab start or two, the fact is that they are being super cautious. He's only started his throwing program, yet he is eligible to come off the DL on Thursday the 12th. So its obvious they plan to let Masterson make at least two more starts, I am guessing, and keep Dice-K inactive for three weeks or a bit more. And I have no problem with that. Now can Texas help us out a little? At least the Angels on the road should be a little challenging for the Rays, so if we can keep winning at home maybe we can open up a little bit of a lead before interleague play starts up again.

All credit and respect for Nadal's accomplishment, but call me when he wins a Slam on another surface. Until then, he ain't to Borg or Federer's level. This is a recording.

Well that's two in three days that the Yankees managed to steal. What a nauseating sight, though I guess you can't put anything past the woe begotten Royals. But this time instead of getting leads and giving them up, they kept falling behind, catching up, falling behind again. I guess last licks really help. At least they are still in last place, and Andy Pettitte looks very much like he could be on his last legs. 4.99 ERA after a ten hit, ten run outing. With Wang looking the worst he has in his career, suddenly Mike Mussina is the unquestioned "ace" of the staff. Now its time to see what Joba can do on the second day of his new job. At least Grienke is one of the best KC has. If anyone can quiet the Yankee bats, it should be him (Johnny Damon 6 for 6, capped off by the game winning hit? )

OK, this is probably a long shot but I've been trying to locate a copy of Three More Sounds - a Musical Tribute to Gene Harris on the BP label. It was a one-off with former Three Sounds members Carl Burnett and Henry Franklin with Bobby Pierce on piano doing the Gene thing. I've never had any luck through Cadence and I've never found the label on the web. Henry Franklin has a website but its not listed as a CD he is offering and he never responded to an email asking about it. So why I am posting about it here? Simple. Whenever I've run a google search it has come up on several radio station playlists, so it occurs to me that as poorly distributed as this CD was, its at least possible that this CD sits in the library of one of our many radio people. If it does, and can be made available, I'd be more than happy to send a donation. thanks in advance.

Interesting stat in the Times this morning - according to Elias, the Yankees are just the third team to have a .500 record at least 20 times through the first 60 decisions of a season. Is that not the epitome of an average club? I also see that their starters have worked the fewest innings and the bullpen the most in the AL. That is typically a recipe for disaster as the bullpen falters (or falters even worse). The problem is that the offense is still middling and if both trends continue, I think there really is a chance that the Yankees end up with about 85 wins or so. And the short-term doesn't look very good because it will be two more starts before Joba is off a pitch count, Mussina is a five inning guy anyway, and when Kennedy and Hughes return, they'll be on restricted pitch counts too, most likely. Bottom line - Wang and Pettitte have to be innings eaters again, but both have been slumping recently.

No time to read the links right now but I assume this would be the guy responsible for the "Lowell Fulson Crazy Cajun recordings"? Anyone familiar with them? I've exhausted the "classic" Fulson from pre-Chess to Chess to Bihari labels and the "living legend" comeback albums, so I've been curious about these.

You know I'll always complain, Conrad! In fact, this season come October I'll probably be pissed off when we win in five instead of our customary sweep.

7 in September.

I know that the win streak at home was going to end, and probably sooner than later but it is motherfucking pathetic when the "best team" in the league can't fucking handle the worst team, by far. I should have fucking turned this game off the moment Colon threw away the double play ball in the first.

According to the Boston papers, Aki and Crawford were in on the pummeling/scratching/hair pulling of Coco while he was down. In the meantime, let me get this straight - Sidney Ponson gets released then somehow gets a chance with Texas, goes 4-1, 3.88, then gets designated for assignment http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/articl...sp&c_id=mlb What a fucking loser. Of course you are probably better off in the end Al.

OK, penalize Crisp the worst - fine. But Gomes doesn't get as much as Shields? And Crawford did shit in the pile that was just as bad as Gomes. But what I cannot fathom is Lester's suspension. Did he do anything during the fight? Because otherwise a couple of harmless, you can't tell if it was intentional HBPs should not result in the second worst penalty on the team! At least there is an off day Monday which means that Colon can pitch on regular rest and Lester can get pushed back a day. They also got good news that Jacoby's wrist isn't seriously injured, with a negative MRI result, though he's out of the lineup tonight.

I was pretty close to the truth: The Boston papers are all mentioning that Coco had 17 knockouts in 17 amateur fights. He definitely knows how to slip a punch.

A haymaker is a boxing term that dates, I am guessing, to very early in the 20th Century. Not sure of the derivation (though I am curious) but it basically means a hard punch designed to end the fight with a single blow. Edit to say that I hope Paul spots this and answers. He knows the fight game, maybe he knows where the phrase came from.

Completely true, MG - I am pretty sure that was one of the earliest Ben Webster LPs I bought, and there were two reasons: The title and Kenny Drew.

Good morning starshine The earth says hello You twinkle above us We twinkle below Good morning starshine You lead us along My love and me as we sing Our early morning singing song Gliddy glub gloopy Nibby nabby noopy La la la lo lo Sabba sibby sabba Nooby abba nabba Le le lo lo Tooby ooby walla Nooby abba naba Early morning singing song Good morning starshine The earth says hello You twinkle above us We twinkle below Good morning starshine You lead us along My love and me as we sing Our early morning singing song Gliddy glub gloopy Nibby nabby noopy La la la lo lo Sabba sibby sabba Nooby abba nabba Le le lo lo Tooby ooby walla Nooby abba naba Early morning singing song Singing a song Humming a song Singing a song Loving a song Laughing a song Singing a song Sing the song Song song song sing Sing sing sing sing song

OK, now I've seen the play from last night. Bartlett was completely out of line. If Coco comes in with a regular slide, he's on his way to the hospital with deep spike wounds. He did it because he knows that Coco slides headfirst on steals. I've never seen a second baseman put his leg across the bag like that. Now, was the pitch at Coco pretty innocuous? Probably, though it seemed to tail in more toward his midsection than thigh (like if he had turned into the pitch instead of away, he might have had an impromptu cup check). But I still understand Coco's actions because he felt he was wronged originally and was reacting to it. Going after him is escalating it. Now on top of Jacoby's injury, it looked like Manny tweaked his troublesome hamstrings in his last at-bat and I don't know what the hell went on between him and Youk in the dugout. That's not what I expect to see lately from that roster. The Baseball Tonight guys asked if there was an issue between them over who went out to the mound during the brawl - was Youk really upset if Manny didn't make it out of the dugout or dawdled? Its nothing like it was in the early 2000s - there was one brawl where almost everyone stayed in the dugout. I remember Trot Nixon berating some of his "team"mates for not sticking up for their comrades.