Dan Gould

Just very much aimed at the pop instrumental market.

Mark, you've been such an integral part of this community, its almost as if your namesake was a mascot of sorts, so its good to see him - and you - back. Here's to all the little, and not so little, buddies who are gone but never forgotten.

Its a good 'un - Clifford actually sings on it and for that reason I've come close to using it on each of my BFTs, but always ended up dropping it.

I went to bed after the second set tie-break, confident that Federer would roll the rest of the way. It must suck if you're Andy Roddick and play the best you ever have against the world number one and can't even win a set. But he does deserve credit for going after it as well as he did. As far as Serena goes, her attitude was embarrassing and unfortunately, par for their course too often. Whatever their father instilled in them regarding pride and belief in themselves, he sure as hell never taught them a lick about class.

Well, that was truly pathetic, M's fans. Here's hoping you can find some pitching for next season cuz it sure as hell ain't there this year. My only consolation today is that the Angels lost so the Sox remain the best team in the league, which, so long as everything stays status quo, leaves the Yankees trying to beat their arch-nemesis of the Torre era as the wild card team.

Well of course, and in fact when Ellsbury was drafted in 2005 and ESPN was showing highlights from his college career, someone in the Red Sox clubhouse yelled out "Hey Johnny, come look at your replacement".

You're right of course but that wouldn't have stopped CBS from hyping it to the moon. The only way to avoid that will be no long matches in the day session and a super short match for Venus since she is up first. Or better yet, a walkover. Otherwise I am going to miss this too. EDIT: I thought you were referring to the Federer-Roddick match that happens tonight and will end equally late.

No Williams vs Williams semi-final as Serena gets dumped like yesterday's garbage by Henin. What a disappointment that match was.

Well Matthew it didn't matter in the end since the Yankee bats woke up in a big way, but that started out as a very annoying game, with a 1 run deficit and like three potential scoring opportunities lost on double play grounders. After a couple of years, I've learned that is how Wang manages to win. Here's hoping Hughes doesn't regain his touch tomorrow and the M's can come out with two of three. At least Washburn is a more consistently decent pitcher than Ramirez. And at least the Sox kept it up against the Jays, and thanks to the Yankee offense, Beckett will beat out Wang as the first 17 game winner by about forty five minutes. And how about the latest Sox rookie phenom, Jacoby Ellsbury! He hits two homers in 450 ABs in the minors, and then two homers in 30 ABs in the majors. Also went a double shy of the cycle tonight, and has already made a couple of web gem catches in the OF. I'm glad Coco has bounced back a bit and re-established some value, because its obvious that Ellsbury needs to be the starting CF next year.

In that one (5-17-79) the Phils "let" the Cubs score 7 in the 5th when they were up 21-9. Tug McGraw entered the game in the 5th! He was terrible that year (this game didn't help ) , but still led the team in saves. Info above provided by Retrosheet. Thanks for the link, Eric, turns out that Schmidt only had two homers (but the second one won the game). Schmidt did hit 4 homers in one game against the Cubs at Wrigley on 4/17/1976. Final score was Phillies 18, Cubs 16. Maybe you were remembering this game? http://baseball-almanac.com/boxscore/04171976.shtml I probably had both lurking in the recesses of my mind ... some impressive stats from that game: Steve Carlton, in a season he went 20-7, couldn't get out of the second inning and gave up 7 runs, all earned. The Cubs led after 4, 13-2. Rick Reuschel lasted seven innings and left with a five run lead (a score like that, you don't figure the starter would last that long!)

Not quite as sanguine about Ramirez vs. Wang, but a sweep would be very nice indeed, but taking two of three would be just as good. Taht would leave the Mariners coming out of NY only a game behind in the Wild Card. Well, I think you need to make a statement and come out of there with the lead but on the plus side, after Wednesday, the Yankees will have just 7 games left at home and 15 on the road, and they are under .500 away from the Bronx. That should help the M's provided they make yet another big bounce back from an extended losing streak. I have to say it would be funny if Steve Phillips ends up being right. Some idiot on Foxsports.com, Kevin Hench, was actually stupid enough to refer to him as "Steve 'Zambrano for Kazmir' Phillips". Amazing that it slipped past the editor considering that Phillips had been gone from the Mets organization for like a year and a half before that trade was made.

In that one (5-17-79) the Phils "let" the Cubs score 7 in the 5th when they were up 21-9. Tug McGraw entered the game in the 5th! He was terrible that year (this game didn't help ) , but still led the team in saves. Info above provided by Retrosheet. Thanks for the link, Eric, turns out that Schmidt only had two homers (but the second one won the game).

Hey Matthew, Ramirez may have an ERA over 6 this season, but he has been lights out against the Yanks: 2 wins, 12 hits in 14 innings with a 0.68 ERA! They'll have their hands full with Wang who is 5-0, 2.78 against the M's. Then again, like Clemens, he's due for a bad start, too. Go M's!

I'm referring to huge innings in a losing effort.

I am wondering if anyone knows what is the biggest scoring inning a winning team has allowed? I ask cuz the Red Sox broke out on top of the Jays 10-1, with Dice-K sailing along into the sixth inning, where the wheels came off. The Jays sent 11 men to the plate and scored 8 times to close to 10-9. Fortunately they've scored three more in the bottom of the sixth to extend the lead back to four, but I don't think I've ever seen such a huge inning come in (potentially) a losing effort. Off hand though I do recall the crazy game the Cubs had against the Phils in the late 70s or early 80s. Iirc, the final was something like 22-20, with Schmidt hitting four homers, maybe Dave Kingman hitting three. Wouldn't surprise me if the losing team in that game had a super high scoring inning like the Jays have. I gotta say its nice that the team is scoring runs in Manny's absence, contrary to my presumption.

The simple answer is to remember that they once said they'd never reunite unless "Hell freezes over", then called their reunion tour "Hell Freezes Over" and have kept at it for at least three or more seasons of touring to huge paydays. My guess is that the whole problem with global warming is that indeed, Hell has frozen over, and all of that heat has to go somewhere.

Newsflash for you, FFA: The Noles lost SIX games last year. We've SUCKED for a long time. In fact, one can say that from the moment I got married, the team went into the crapper: I moved back to Florida in 1993. From that season through the 2000 season, they were never ranked lower than 5th, never lost more than two games in a season and won two national championships. In 2001, a young QB named Chris Rix started out with two wins against unranked opponents, and then on my Wedding Day, turned the ball over three times in a crushing loss to North Carolina, a pattern that would be repeated virtually week after week until he finally graduated. Since that season, the Noles haven't sniffed a National Championship, a top ten ranking, or given any reason to have any hope whatsoever. 21-3 late in the first half, and the beat(ing) goes on ...

I didn't watch all the way through, but very disappointed in the outcome - and I was panting after that critical point in the tie-breaker when Blake made two trips to the net, the last time getting passed on the perfect topspin lob. Too bad Blake gave up after that.

Clemens has elbow inflammation and blisters on his push-off foot. He's due to get whipped, just as the M's bats are due to wake up. Then you've got two lefties against a team that scuffles against them. I see a sweep! Go Mariners! The other good side of a below par Clemens is if Clemens can't go, the replacement is Mussina. I just don't see how the Mariners can lose today -- so that means they'll probably get blown out 11-0. Baseball, what a game.... I don't want to jinx it, Matthew but its going perfectly to plan - Clemens out, Mussina in, and King Felix doing the job. 6-1 through six.

Clemens has elbow inflammation and blisters on his push-off foot. He's due to get whipped, just as the M's bats are due to wake up. Then you've got two lefties against a team that scuffles against them. I see a sweep! Go Mariners!

Not a chance that it happens. He's thrown 140 innings, and like most intelligent organizations, they keep a tight rein on how many innings a young pitcher pitches. I don't know, Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz all pitched more innings at 22, and no permanent damage in the lot to show for it. Of course old-timers like Carlton, Kaat pitched more too (and I stopped looking at that point, since we all know modern pitchers are sissies. ) But yeah, it depends what he's used to I guess, and all that involves coddling the modern pitcher. And there will be playoff innings too, something the young Braves didn't face back then, nor Maddux (though very soon for all.) Sometimes moving kid starters to the pen can mess 'em up too. Young pitchers - they're like high-maintenance women! That last comment is spot on, but its also true that until last night, Clay hadn't thrown more than 7 innings or 90-something pitches - ever. Personally I think they'll use him in the pen under a sort of modified "Joba Rules" set up. They'll bring him in for 2 innings at a time, once or twice a week, and mostly keep him in the back pocket for any doubleheaders that may come up with a rain out. If Tavarez has to pitch, he'd be perfect to bring in around the fourth inning (Tavarez has great numbers the first time through a lineup, worse numbers the second and positively awful numbers the third time)

Be careful or I'll sick Kevin Elster on the Giants... So, Matthew, do the M's have one more run left in them or has this latest lengthy losing streak put an end to the magic carpet ride? We need King Felix to come up big but if the M's can't help us, at least they'll keep falling out of the WC and give the Sox a nice cushion when they fail to keep the Yanks at bay. I have to say it was funny watching Sportscenter this morning and seeing Steve Phillips continue to stick to his guns that the Yankees will miss the playoffs. He's certain that the Mariners will now heat up again, but I have a feeling that the Yanks could build a 5+ game lead in the wild card and he'd declare the Yanks eliminated from the post-season hunt. He must figure its better to never admit you were wrong, just stick to your guns because no one will revisit your predictions when they go splat. IMHO the Mariners are dead-in-the-water, with weak pitching, an overused bullpen failing, and an offense in a slump. It was fun while it lasted, maybe they can put it together to sweep Boston. Sweep Boston? Its sweep New York! Nine straight is crushing, but the way I look it is that they've got to start winning soon. Losing that many in a row probably actually improves the odds of taking two of three in the Bronx.

And who said economists have no sense of humor?

Well Jim S. has said it all. Alexander habitually makes nasty, extremely insensitive comments on issues of much greater significance than whether or not the Beastie Boys have artistic merit, yet because Clem keeps giving him a hard time, he makes a silly "proposal" like this one and tries to sidetrack other threads with this nonsense. You're not doing yourself any favors here, Alex.