Dan Gould

Every team has flaws, or at least things they don't do as well as they should to be strong favorites. the Yankees - suspect starting pitching and bullpen. Can the youngsters do the job in the pen? If they can't, its likely that Yankee fans will rue the overuse of Vizcaino, Mariano, et. al., down the stretch. The Red Sox - inconsistent clutch hitting and scoring; Papi and Manny are hitting better since the break, but can they turn it on throughout the stretch drive? Indians - surprisingly weak offense and suspect pitching after their first two or three starters. Tigers - Same problem, which is surprising considering their presumed pitching advantage. At this point the biggest disappointment in the league and considering how many people picked them to return to the Series, in position to be one of the biggest busts of the decade. Mariners - Just barely scored more runs than they've allowed. Have Jeff Weaver making regular starts (if that's not a flaw I don't know what is).

Yeah, Gagne and Tavarez must be the two biggest a-holes on any team's roster ever. Wait a minute - didn't Tavarez play with one Barry Lamar Bonds? Well, second place on that list isn't too bad.

Well, it was a great win and all, coming back from 5-0 with a Yankee-style crooked number in the fifth, and tacking on four more in the bottom of the eighth. But after Okajima took care of the Halos in the top of the eighth and the Red Sox made it a laugher, why why why was Papelbon brought in with a five run lead? Was he the only pitcher warming after Oki? Because now we're back in the same situation as the night game on Friday - Papelbon has been used two days in a row, there is no way he'll get the call on Sunday. Best case scenario is Oki plays closer, and Gag-me will be in there in the eighth. What the hell is Tito smoking???? I'd pray for a complete blowout but with Tavarez facing Joe Saunders, those odds only favor the Angels. Here's hoping that Bonderman takes care of the Yanks and Wang keeps up his atrocious pitching.

Now that I think about it, its a Forum issue, not a Roulette. Don't know what that means about what the price ought to be.

I hate to point this out, but the Blue Jays just might be a very dangerous club next season. I just discovered that they are now second to the Red Sox in fewest runs allowed in the league. At 514 they've allowed just 22 more runs than the Sox, and are ahead of Minnesota, Oakland and LA. They're young pitchers they've brought up look like they've got some talent; if AJ Burnett ever puts together a full season, him and Doc Holladay could front one of the best rotations in the league.

That's an OK price for the Woody Herman Roulette 'Roundtable' (should be white label with deep groove and sort of 'spoke' logo on the label). No masterpiece but its entertaining stuff nevertheless. I take its not available anywhere on CD?

Nice try, Mark, but like they used to say about Porsches, "Accept No Substitutes".

Well the Delray shop is pretty much worthless. About six linear feet of jazz LPs. Nothing special, though I guess it is to their credit that there was relatively lower proportion of fusion to "classic" jazz, and the prices weren't bad. They did have the Bobbi Humphrey BN that features Lee Morgan, one of those Blue Notes I'd never actually seen before. Otherwise, the only thing that made me pause for a moment was a Woody Herman Sextet recording, At The Roundtable. I didn't know he'd done a small group recording with Nat Adderley and Eddie Costa. Should I have snatched it up? Condition was decent, no apparent scratches but one nickel sized spot of dirt, and it was $11.99 with their twenty percent off end of summer sale. But like I said, pretty lame otherwise (don't even get me started on the blues selection), and it doesn't look like they are planning to expand the selection, so unless something decent walks in, I can't imagine that anything will change.

It was 40 years ago today.

I suppose it won't make your day any better to tell you that Gabbard came back and pitched 6-2/3 of outstanding baseball tonight. I mean, we lost as well, but it's nice to have Gabbard in good health. You have my permission to throw as many FUCK YOU'S at me as you want; I am the last person who would've thought Gagne would've backfired this badly, and would've thought he would've been a major asset to your team. Turns out I was only 3/5 right. My anger is not at you, Al. I wish you and Gabbard many years of happiness. I also cordially invite your GM to throw as much money as possible at Gagne to bring him back for next year, insuring another lost season at Arlington.

I'm glad you're enjoying my motherfucking pain.

And what the fuck happens??? That motherfucking piece of fucking shit fucks away a four rally in the eighth. THREE FUCKING WINS FUCKED AWAY BY HIM IN FOUR FUCKING APPEARANCES!

Well, the kid got the win, went six innings and allowed four runs (three earned) on 8 hits, walked three and struck out five. I should be ecstatic with the win, which puts them six games in front of the Yanks, but I have to wonder about Tito's use of the bullpen. Okajima went 1 2/3 and Papelbon got a four out save. I can't imagine either one will pitch tonight, and that means that if we have another save situation, Gagne will surely get the call. I gotta say its a curious move and I hope we clobber Santana so it doesn't come back to haunt us.

Well I guess I spoke too soon. The fifth started with a strikeout but then he gave up four straight singles to score two runs and only got out of it on an unassisted double play off a line drive hit at Youklis. I'd still let him pitch the sixth, at only 82 pitches so far. But Tito should pull him at the first sign of trouble.

Meanwhile the kid looks a little nervous, giving up some walks but not too many hits; through four he hasn't allowed an earned run and looks like he could still go six innings or even seven, if he gets a little more efficient (67 pitches through four innings - hey that's better than Lester has been doing!)

The GM of the Nationals used to hold the same position with Cincinnati, if I'm not mistaken, and has always loved WMP. So its hardly surprising that he ended up there. It does kinda suck that its a PTBN, considering we gave up Arroyo for him, but given the circumstances, its not really that surprising. Too bad he goes to such a huge park but if anyone can hit 40-50 at RFK its gotta be Wily Mo. I'll definitely be rooting for him ...

Its "the future is now" time at Fenway Park as top pitching prospect Clay Buchholz gets his first start (poor Wily Mo Pena was the victim of the roster squeeze) ... and Clay gets no support from his defense as Drew drops a fly ball and an unearned run crosses the plate. Fortunately the bats are back, and they've batted around, plated six in the bottom of the first, including five extra base hits, and these are off of John Lackey! Now if the kid will settle down we can have a great start to this day-night doubleheader, with Beckett facing Erwin Santana, who is simply horrid on the road, in the nightcap. ESPN had the matchups as Buchholz-Santana and Beckett-Lackey and that was fine by me, I figured the first game would just be a slugfest, and we'd take our chances with two of the best starters going in the second game. But I'll take it the way its going so far!

That's very cool news, I had no idea that series was still active. They've put out tremendous concerts by Dexter Gordon, Art Blakey and others. BIG

That and Jim Dye's disappearance. lets not forget mnytime - now that was strange! http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...&hl=mnytime Please, no more discussions about mnytime, I think we've had enough of those in the past and this thread is not about him. I think Evan is just reminding us that there have been other uber-bizarre events in the history of the Org.

He's not laughing about it. He's got a case of the giggles. It happens to the best of us, and it often happens at the worst possible times. The worst thing about a case of the giggles is that the more you try to stop, the harder you want to laugh. I'm sure he got in trouble, but he doesn't deserve to be canned over it. There's a guy in New York who read the news 'teasers' with an inappropriate smile on his face - Ernie Anastos. I'll never forget his smarmy smile as he'd say "Five dead, Harlem fire - film at 11." But laughing like he did - if its not grounds for dismissal, its certainly grounds for a suspension, and being demoted to weekend fill-in anchor.

Jose Offerman, We Hardly Knew Ye Funny how Jurassic Carl ends up with the bat.

That and Jim Dye's disappearance. According to his profile Jim Dye last visited the forum quite recently, on June 29, 2007. Tjobbe hasn't been here since February 26, 2007. That's interesting. Wasn't there a problem similar to the one with Tjobbe? I can't recall now and can't find a thread. Or maybe it was just that the backroom closed in his absence.

That and Jim Dye's disappearance.

Seems to me there are two news items that no one is talking about: Jose Offerman and the fact that the defending champions are just 3 1/2 games out right now I have to say that between the two former Red Sox on the LI Ducks roster, I would have bet on Jurassic Carl Everett to try to bash in the brains of a pitcher, not Jose Offerman. It is a close call though. So where is Mark Sheldon to tell us about the Redbirds comeback?

Is it OK if I pull for Cleveland over Detroit once those Yankee games are out of the way?