Dan Gould

Thanks to Paul for linking this thread in the Weather Channel "smooth jazz" thread, as it gives me a chance to post about a jazz sighting that really surprised me a few years ago. February 2006, coming back from a Wedding in Tampa we stopped at a Mickey D's outside of Orlando and I was absolutely blown away when I realized that Dexter Gordon's "Cheesecake" was playing.

My Cleveland friends have my sincere sympathy as I've had my heart ripped out and stomped on many times before that streak of pain finally ended. I do think that the Indians are well-situated to get back to the playoffs and with a core of strong young players, hopefully they'll use this experience, take some motivation from it, and get it done next time. They'll have a huge step up if only Sabathia and Carmona get a harness on their emotions and pitch like they can. Having said that, I also have to say that there isn't much to defend or complain about when your team takes a 3-1 lead and proceeds to allow your opponent to outscore you 30-5 over three games and allow 13 hits a game, too. On this game in particular, despite the final score, it was one of the tensest Game Sevens I have ever watched, with so many critical moments. The Lofton situations - well, I understood the argument that maybe his hand got in there but the fact that in that situation, he never argued, suggested to me that the tag did get him, or else Lofton simply knew when the ball beat him to the base that he would be called out. We've all seen those calls before, sort of a close corollary to the "neighborhood play" - you're dead to rights when the ball arrives, you get called out. As for Lofton not scoring - well, for years Red Sox fans would complain about their third base coach for sending guys to their doom ("Send Em In" Kim comes to mind) but I've never seen a situation where a bad decision to hold up a runner would lead to a post-season of angst. Did anyone else think that Lofton was running kind of weird? Like his hip or knees are bothering him? He didn't really look like he was even getting out of first gear as he was approaching third base. It must really kill the Tribe fans that the final dagger through the heart was delivered by Betancourt, so untouchable for the last two months of the season and throughout the playoffs, and when it was absolutely critical to keep it a one run game - and then to keep it a three run game - he got crushed by little Dustin Pedroia. I think the WS will be very interesting - I am already hearing about the Rox being the same type of team as the 2003 Marlins. Super young, got hot at the right time and rode a wave of feeling as if you couldn't lose all the way to a championship. Jayson Stark has already picked them on that basis. I know that they won 2 out of 3 at Fenway in June, but for one thing, that was at the very nadir of Schilling's season. I think he made one more start against the Braves and then went on the DL. So you can throw out that start, at least to an extent (I am fully aware though that he could blow up the same way on Thursday). Beckett's start is unlikely to be repeated too - that was his first loss of the season, and he was simply due to have a stinker. I do know one thing for sure: the Rox may have impressive pitching, but they didn't face the Red Sox lineup, which is a long ways away from the one the D-Backs put out there. But whatever happens, its been a great season. I'll just be extra happy if they can keep it going and get another ring, because I've seen more than a couple of obnoxious Yankee fans who like to tell Red Sox fans to enjoy the wait until 2090 to win another crown. Shutting them up will be the final step - we beat them in 2004, took the Division title, now their team may see major changes without Torre, and another championship would put a little distance between us in the category of "21st Century Baseball Titles". Me likey!

Hasn't there been a discussion before of the fact that they occasionally use (or used, I haven't watched with the sound on in a very long time) jazz that we'd all recognize as not of the smooth variety? Funny that they'd program and market a smooth jazz comp.

Actually Coltrane isn't so big - about 40 pounds is all. He gives away a good 25 pounds to Gracie but is such an alpha male that he easily dominates her. But he's really the perfect size since he just slips between me and my wife in our queen size bed. Any bigger and one of us would be in the spare bedroom.

First they get Billy Mueller to throw out the first pitch of Game 6, and they've got Kevin Millar for Game 7. I guess that's cool and all, it was Millar who kept saying to anyone who would listen "All I'm sayin' is, don't let the Sox win tonight. Cuz if the Sox win tonight, then you got Petey, and then you got Schilling, and anything can happen in Game 7" before Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS. But if you really want to rub it in to the Indians before Game 7, don't you have to find Troy O'Leary and run him out there? Pedro and O'Leary killed the Tribe the last time they went to the final game of a series against the Sox in 1999. The sight of the guy whose two homer/7 RBI night ended your season 8 years earlier is much worse than getting Beckett's ex-squeeze to sing the Anthem, doncha think?

Pretty surprising "exclusive" in today's NY Daily News: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball...kees/2007/10/21

Someone was saying something about JD DREW but I can't remember who it was .... :g Marty, its the unfortunate truth that 2004 does not erase memories of bad post-seasons of the past. I honestly don't know when I will start to expect good things to happen - maybe my pessimistic nature will always win out, I don't know. I do feel good about tonight though because: we've got momentum we're at home important, relatively quiet bats have come alive (Pedroia, Drew) I question the likelihood of Westbrook shutting us down two in a row, and he has bad career numbers at Fenway But with Dice-K starting I just don't know what to expect. Ideally, the bats stay hot, Dice goes seven strong and we enjoy a laugher. But my best guess is that the team that starts out hitting and keeps it going will win, because it will become a battle of the bullpens. I just hope we complete the comeback because otherwise I will always lament the fact that in Game 2, Youkilis had to rip that ninth inning pitch quite so hard. If he doesn't square it up so much, it drops in front, Jacoby scores, and this thing is over with the Sox beating the two-headed monster four times.

Alfie's behavior is just like our dog Coltrane. He is the weirdest male dog we've ever seen - he wants to nursemaid anyone in the house who is sick or injured, and it really started when we brought Gracie, a big Weimaraner, home. Within a day, Coltrane had discovered that Gracie's rear paws had ant bites with big red welts. He would bring a toy to her, drop it on her head, and then lay down at her rear feet and start licking and cleaning them. My wife has owned many more dogs, and families of dogs than I have and she has never seen a male dog do that, let alone a male dog that is unrelated to the other dog. He hasn't tried to nursemaid any other species, but I bet he would if he got the chance.

Personally I think Ellsbury would have an easier time against Westbrook in Game 7, if we get there, but he can't do any worse than Coco has Whatever happens, Coco has to know when the season is over that he'll be leaving the Sox clubhouse for the last time.

I stop in very occasionally to look at the blues vinyl - the price is always right, $2 or $3 each and there is usually a Delmark or something worth buying. Jazz and blues CD stock doesn't seem to change much, I guess not much is coming through the door.

Well, since I was wrong about the Red Sox ending my misery last night, a few comments: Did anyone else doubt that Manny's shot was a home run? What are the rules about hitting yellow + hitting beyond the yellow? Obviously a home run to me, and it wasn't even clear that the ball hit yellow, it looked like a seam was lifted up on the bounce-back. We're very lucky (by which I mean, random Cleveland fans I might run into and the umpiring crew) that the run didn't matter in the end, but hopefully this will help convince the owners that instant replay on home run or foul balls really is a good idea. All you need is one person in the press box to watch the monitors, and a decision wouldn't take any longer than it already takes for the crew to huddle and talk it over, so it won't make any difference in the length of a game. The other thing that has to happen is for the Indians to re-design that section of fence. Its very simple and obvious: The horizontal part beyond the fence gets lowered by a foot or two. Then if the ball ticks off the yellow and hits beyond, it will be obvious because it will be impossible to carom back onto the field. The only balls that could still carom onto the field would be the ones two or more feet beyond the yellow, and they can't screw up those calls (can they?) So now it comes down to Schilling vs Carmona II. Can Schilling get his shit together? Once again he's pitching for his next contract, and once again, Beckett put another exclamation point on his campaign to be recognized as the modern Post-Season pitching stud. C.C. was off his game again - can it happen to Carmona again, too? Can the Red Sox take my advice and make him throw strikes by laying off that infuriating pitch? IMHO, we have a shot only if the bats wake up Saturday and again on Sunday. Youkilis and Pedroia look like they are getting on a roll, that will help - but they need someone to step up in the second half of the lineup. Too bad Tito is so wedded to stability and sticking with the guys who brung him. I'd consider giving Drew or Coco a night off and letting Ellsbury lead-off, Pedroia bat second, and drop Youk down to six. Or even keep the lineup as it is but put Jacoby in the eight spot instead of Coco.

It obviously came down to respect for Joe and what he felt he deserved after twelve years of varying degrees of success. I bet if the offer was two years at 5 million, with or without "incentives" he would have taken it, because he'd made it clear that he felt he should be the one to close the old Yankee Stadium and open the new one. With this offer, the only way he gets that, guaranteed, is if he wins the ALCS. Otherwise, he'd go through the same thing again a year from now - or never have the chance anyway because he'd be fired in May after a slow start. As far as getting 5 million elsewhere, that's not the challenge Joe faces. The challenge Joe faces is winning without a 200 million dollar payroll. Its winning when your bench players are Irving Lefkowicz and Manny Alexander, not Johnny Damon and Jason Giambi. With his history of success, Joe will get a sizeable offer that will certainly be in the Lou Piniella neighborhood. After all these years, Joe doesn't need to make 5 or 7 million. The issue now is going back to the payroll situation of his previous managerial gigs and seeing if he can win under those circumstances. He sure as hell didn't win much when he didn't have the roster the Yankees had.

Not sure if I get your drift ... is heaven segregated? Did Frank end up in H-E-Double Hockey Sticks? Or are you saying there's no heaven or hell?

I'd heard that SI was reporting that they were close to a 1 year deal with a club option for a second year. Its obvious to me they got what they wanted - make an offer, force Joe to say "forget it" and now there's less blame for making the change. And can anyone blame him, after 12 years of making the playoffs, for refusing such a short contract? It would have only meant that another slow start would result in an in-season firing. Well this is great news because this makes Posada and Mo more likely to leave, and while I've said before that Torre isn't a great in-game manager, few are better at managing personalities and the pressure of the media market, etc. No one should want to replace Joe Torre, just as no one should want to replace Bobby Bowden.

Lucky me, I happened to click on a linked blog at a blues site I occasionally check out, and what do I find out? Blue Note Records Has Moved Out of North Miami Beach to Broward County! And they are concentrating on the vinyl side now. Glad I caught this article before I started jonesing for another trip down there ... I'd have been mighty pissed off if I'd driven all the way down and found that they were gone. Actually, its a bit of a stretch to say they've moved so far away from their long-time spot and closer to the owner, Bob Perry's home. Its only six exits further north, about 7 or 8 miles, max. Should I go Friday or wait til the weekend?

Maybe I shouldn't feel quite so pessimistic today. From the Boston Globe's Baseball Blog:

This reminds me of a truly "dirty" record that was included in a Hustler magazine. Your standard moans and groans, not at all unlike that Yoko Ono track on John Lennon's last album. Not that I was going to keep it, but Mom found that one anyway ... There was also an insert that was included in, I think, Omni magazine but it wasn't really a record. It was like a black and white circular maze and you put it on your turntable and if you stared at it for thirty seconds or so, you'd get a sort of "Altered States" effect when you turned away. Or this effect:

:party:

Me too. Beckett is lights out. Unfortunately for Red Sox Nation he can't pitch game 6 or 7. Can I get some of whatever shit you're smoking? You heard it here first: Beckett will last five innings and give up 7 runs, most of them coming on two crushing home runs. Sabathia will throw eight innings of 1 run ball. The Red Sox will have a nice quiet plane ride home. You have no idea - but you'll find out after this abomination is over. Oh sure, go ahead and call me gracious. I guess I'll have to rethink my post-ALCS comments.

Yes, when all is said and done, this is what I will choose to remember about that day and what will ultimately help me heal. Duh....I had no idea you were that Rachel!!! Color me stupid... Which leads me to wonder - did you two already know each other or did you "meet" through the forum? If its the latter, then I imagine that was an Organissimo board "first".

What Jim said, and an unrelated comment that reading the post made me realize that I am getting closer and closer to the time when, should someone say "that was fifty years ago," I will realize I was also alive back then too. And that depresses the hell out of me.

It completely boggles my mind that any of this stuff can be of interest to anyone.

Well, is Manny Delcarmen the chief goat of this pathetic bunch of losers? If he does his job in game 2, Timlin, Okajima and Papelbon were lined up to keep a 1 run lead, but he pissed that away, and now he turned a 3 run deficit into a seven run deficit today. Dollars to donuts that Lester will give back the three runs they just scored. Watch it happen .... edit to say that I expect my team to win, but I have no faith whatsoever. You philosophers can try to figure that out.