Dan Gould

Sort of like saying, "I like cocaine. Why isn't the local pharmacy allowed to stock it? If they aren't allowed to sell it, I will get it from the people who do sell it." you mean there is a law that forbids Universal to re-issue this? I said it was "like saying" not exactly the same. The similarity of hardcore jazz fans jonesing for material like this, regardless of the source/legalities, to drug addicts jonesing for a fix was too appropriate to pass up. Nevertheless, if you prefer, feel free to substitute "I like Model T Fords. Why doesn't the local dealer stock them? If they can't/won't sell them, then I will buy them from people who will."

Sort of like saying, "I like cocaine. Why isn't the local pharmacy allowed to stock it? If they aren't allowed to sell it, I will get it from the people who do sell it." These rare jazz recordings are like drugs to a lot of collectors. And the dealers - the Andorran reissue labels - who traffic in what is in fact stolen merchandise - give addicts a taste and have them hooked for life.

In addition, you may want to consider that Lou is alive and kicking, so buying this from thieves is an even more egregious way of making sure an artist gets screwed.

Its also being put out by thieves who are jumping the 50 year PD period by at least 7 years or so.

Thank you for identifying my main point. Where we part ways is the significance of being a finalist one time at Wimbledon. Kevin Curren was a runner-up once. Cedric Pioline, too (who reached exactly two Grand Slam finals in his career and was a top Ten player despite only winning five titles over all). Someone named Chris Lewis lost to McEnroe in the 83 finals - that proves he mastered grass? Win a Slam that isn't played on clay - then I'll give him credit as something other than a clay court master.

Yeah I did, but the show is so far away. I was wondering how I find out about other record shows, possibly ones that are coming up sooner. I bookmarked the Record Collector's Guild site a long time ago. They have a forum where people post about upcoming record shows: http://www.recordcollectorsguild.org/index...3276855a74a017d

This reminds me of a drive from New York to Tallahassee to return to Florida State after Christmas break. I ended up pulling the overnight shift for the 24 hour drive. It wasn't my car and it had a kind of funky tape deck. The last thing the owner of the car put in before he fell asleep was John Cougar Mellencamp's Uh Huh (the one with "Little Pink Houses"). Now, I didn't hate the hit songs that came off that record, but hearing it approximately 12 times in a row was enough to cure me of any need to ever own the album.

Yes, I am. Until he wins a major on a different surface, I will not acknowledge that he is anything other than a great clay court player.

Hey, I hope he gets hotter than hell so he can be within one or two when he gets to Fenway. Then when 35000+ scream "YOU USED STE-ROIDS!" it can just confirm for him how "racist" Boston is.

Cool!

Two interesting moves by the Red Sox in the past 24 hours, one positive, one negative, imo. Dustin Pedroia has been moved into the leadoff spot and the terribly struggling Julio Lugo has been dropped down to number 9. That puts Pedroia and Youcklis ahead of Papi/Manny, which eliminates the possibility of speed on the bases messing up the pitchers. But what it really does is put two strong OBP guys in front of the mashers, and in all likelihood it takes an at-bat away from Lugo and gives it to Pedroia. Considering that one is hitting .300 and the other is heading toward the Mendoza line, that's probably a good move. After all, after the first inning, no one is batting "leadoff" anymore. The negative move, in my opinion, was optioning Jon Lester, the comebacking cancer kid, to Pawtucket. Apparently they continue to believe that Tavarez is the better option in the number 5 spot, which I just cannot fathom. I also think they are treating this kid in a manner that can come back to bite them in the ass down the road, like when its time for free agency. Lester lost his spot on the roster to a cancer diagnosis, and has since gotten a clean bill of health and pitched to a 2.01 ERA in his AAA rehab starts. What more does he need to do to prove that he is 100%? Now they are telling him that he has no pitch count, go out there and dominate and force your way back. That's B.S. No one can seriously believe that the team isn't better off with Lester in the rotation and Tavarez' rubber arm in the pen. And I think he can't be happy to be back in the bus league when he went 7-2 with cancer coursing through his veins and now he is healthy again. Maybe its football where you "don't lose your starting job to an injury" but its still not right. It makes no sense at all - unless they are telling him that he got his opportunity last year only because they were desperate and they think he needs more development time. And that is bogus.

I think that the best correlation might be K rate and staff ERA rather than winning percentage or championships. Too many other factors go into winning, while a correlation of pitching stats would have less "noise". Those highest Ks in history - its hard to argue that the Bartman Cubs weren't a good pitching team, particularly for their two short-lived aces plus Zambrano.

Yeah, I was thinking that the starts taken by certain rookies has hurt them. It will be interesting to see where they rank by the end of the season. It certainly seems like they've got their work cut out to have a more Yankee-like ranking at the end of the season. I would have looked at SO rates for playoff teams but I was too lazy to remember/look up who made it in what year. It is interesting to compare the Yankee current starters with the Red Sox starters: Pettite: 4.92 K/9 innings Wang: 4.14 Mussina: 4.5 Clippard: 6.0 Clemens: 10.5 Obviously Clemens and Clippard are small sample sizes. Clemens strikeout rate last year was 8.1 per 9 innings. Boston: Beckett: 8.37 Dice-K: 8.93 Schill: 6.99 Wake: 5.54 Tavarez: 5.85 Even the guys at the back of the rotation are out-performing the core of the Yankee rotation. I agree the connection is unclear but I would argue that in general, strikeout rates correlate with better performing staffs.

Well, that's the hope - with another year of a decrepit Giambi, and two more years of declining Damon, and probably an extention for Mo and Posada, who will almost certainly underperform before their next contracts expire. Add in some growing pains for young pitchers, and you may see a year or two of struggling to reach the playoffs. that's why I am bullish on the future for the Sox. Beckett and Dice-K and Jon Lester and Papelbon are good to great young pitchers (and there are at least two more who'll be knocking on the door next year) and Pedroia and Youklis should be strong contributors. I feel like the Sox are better situated for getting younger while still being competitive.

I have never actually lived in "Red Sox Nation" and never knew a Red Sox fan when I was growing up (that part of Fairfield County CT is filled with New Yorkers who root for the Yanks or Mets, with a scattering of Sox fans). So I have never seen a spontaneous "Yankees Suck" chant break out and would never participate in one if I were there when one started. But I certainly do feel that the Yankees suck, due to the near-lifetime experience of almost always finishing behind them, getting beaten by them in heart breaking fashion, and of course there is an element of jealousy due not so much to their advantage in rings but to their recent advantage. I will celebrate the day that Jeter and Rivera and to a lesser extent, Posada, are gone from the game. This is precisely why I will remain fixated on the Yankees and their performance - because this is the best opportunity in a long time to snap their streak of division championships. You will find Yankee fans who will claim that 2004 is "tainted" because the Red Sox were the wildcard. These same fans will continue to point to 2005 and 2006 as other times when the Sox got off to a good start but the Yankees stormed back. My need to see them put in their place this season is overwhelming. While I would be disappointed, it would not break my heart if the Red Sox win the division, the Yankees miss the playoffs, and the Sox are swept by Detroit in the first round. It would be a great season, because the Yankees lost the division and had their post-season appearance streak snapped.

Dan: Nadal has won 5 titles on a different surface (out of 22 in total), one of them against Federer: Fewer than 20% of his titles, in other words. Basically he wins titles in a single, limited season and then mostly disappears for the rest of the year. I'll amend my comment to: when he wins something significant on a surface other than clay, let me know. Five months later the one who isn't Moya is a top five player. Did anyone recognize what he would become - the best clay court player since Borg? Show me where other people predicted that, when he was 18. Otherwise, I stand by my comment at the time it was made.

Nadal is a great clay court player. If he ever wins something on a different surface, let me know. In the meantime, whether he wins the French Open or not, Federer will go down as the greatest champion of all.

A question for my fellow fans: Is the following a significant statistical finding or not? I've been noticing that the Yankee pitching staff shows a surprising inability to strikeout a lot of batters - they currently rank dead last in total Ks, with 315, and the difference between them and 29th place is much larger (25) than just about any other pair of adjacent teams. So that got me to wondering: is there a correlation between say, pennant winners and strikeouts by the pitching staff? There is a certain logic at work - pitchers who miss bats tend to avoid the really crummy outcomes, and pitchers who work to contact are at the mercy of their defense as well as to a great extent, luck. On the other hand, pitching to contact can result in great efficiency and pitching deeper into games but let's face it, the Yankee pitching staff isn't exactly keeping the bullpen well-rested. So, here's a quick and dirty survey of the data. First, pennant winners: 2006: Cards - #26 Tigers - #21 Not much to hang my hat on there. But take a look at the others: 2005: White Sox - 11 Astros - 3 2004: Red Sox - 5 Cards - 16 2003: Yankees - 7 Marlins - 6 Seems like there is some relationship between K rate and reaching the Series. So I wondered what the Yankees championship teams ranked: 2000: 16 1999: 7 1998: 14 1996: 7 Hmmmm ... seems pretty clear to me that the Yankees need to pick up the strikeouts. Of course, maybe this is a symptom and not the disease and it will all be solved with some health and a little Rocket power, but it looks to me like this team is going to rank quite low all season on strikeouts - whether it matters in the end remains to be seen.

They were (iirc) 14 games back on July 4. However, that was obviously an extraordinary year, and the Sox were still daunted (for whatever it was worth) by "the Curse." I'd agree with Dan that they've got a decent shot at the wild-card, longshot for the division. Clemens is an asset, no doubt about it, even if he is going to be a 5-6 inning pitcher. There was no curse in 1978 for the simple reason that Shaugnnesey didn't write his book until after 1986. There was no consciousness of being fated to lose, only a knowledge that it hadn't happened since 1918. Reasons why the Red Sox should be able to hold off the Yankees this time: Yankees don't have an ace named Ron Guidry. Red Sox don't have a third baseman who had to adjust the bone chips in his elbow before every pitch and still threw away 39 throws to first. Red Sox in '78 won by bashing the ball; when the offense failed, they had a tough time winning. This season they're balanced in both pitching and offense, and unlike '78 they've got a decent to excellent group of arms in the pen. That year's team had Eck plus mediocrities like Mike Torrez and El Tiante, who was at the end of the line, and Bill Lee, who was toast or pissed off his manager too often, depending on who you believe. That Yankee team was a two-time pennant winner and defending world champions. They knew how to win. This team has as many players with rings as the Red Sox do.

Thanks for the reminder. Is there any way you can come with a few million dollars and buy the Rangers from the current clueless owner? Yeah, but I've been reading that there is a lot of interest in Gagne among the many contenders who need bullpen help. I can see someone forgetting the injury history and offering a decent warm body or two and then guaranteeing Gagne's contract in order to get him to approve the trade. You'll still have the Japanese closer for those occasional leads in the ninth ( ) and can maybe get something for "winning" the Gagne sweepstakes last winter.

1. He wasn't just pitching against "the NL" last year. Due to the uneven schedule, something like 12 of his 19 starts came against NL Central foes, all or most of whom, if I am not mistaken, ranked in the lower half of the league in offense. 2. His fastball is not what it once was. That has been remarked upon by many a scout. Now, it has not declined the way Mike Mussina's fastball has, but it is still not the blow-em away fastball it once was. 3. No pitcher, far fewer crappy hitting catchers and second basemen to feast on, plus a DH who in some cases is the best hitter on the field. 4. He's a walking injury risk, and the biggest one this side of Eric Gagne. The chances he does not make a trip to the DL are virtually nil. I will be shocked if Clemens is a sub-4.00 ERA in the DH league. After all, his last two years with the Yankees he had an ERA of 4.2 and 3.9 if I remember correctly, and that was four years ago. There's no question that with the Yankee lineup, Clemens should leave with a lot more leads, and I am sure they will manage to hang on to more than a few of them. But he looks exactly like what he has been: a five inning pitcher, maybe six, and about once a month, he might go seven full. As much as the Yankees need a pitcher that will keep them in the ball game, this will do nothing to solve their bullpen issues, which are likely to remain significant even as Mariano Rivera has seemingly worked through his problems. There are too many relievers working too often, and with Clemens, Mussina and Clippard taking their turns, that rate of use is unlikely to slow. At least Pettite generally works seven innings, or seems capable of it, but really only Wang is someone who goes deep for the Yankees. The Sox, on the other hand, have four guys pitching close to seven innings a start. Having said all of that, no one in their right minds was writing the Yankees off, though it was easier to do so when their struggles were continuing. Now that they are feeling good about themselves, and hitters like Abreu are straightened out, I doubt that the Yankees will backslide too much. They have a good chance at the wild card and still an outside shot at the division.

Looks like they got clearances on a few more concerts. Definitely count me in on the Dexter, the Wes and the Trane, and probably the Duke as well. I just wish the Dex had more with Kenny Drew but beggars can't be choosers.

I'm only familiar with his compositions on Moanin', as well as the tunes "Whisper Not", "Stablemates" and "I Remember Clifford". So if he's done better elsewhere, I may eventually re-evaluate... Guy "done better elsewhere"???? I don't think there's anything that can be said except WTF?? Just a guess but I suspect that 99% of all jazz artists who have tried their hand at composing tunes wish they could have written tunes like the ones you mention. The comparison was strictly between Shorter and Golson, who are both presumably in that 1%. Guy Well, Shorter is not in my top 1%, just as Golson must not be in yours. To each his own, but I've never ever encountered anyone who would list the tunes from Moanin' plus "Stablemates" "Whisper Not" and "I Remember Clifford" as compositions that are somehow lacking or subpar and be asking for "better" examples of his composing skills.

I'm only familiar with his compositions on Moanin', as well as the tunes "Whisper Not", "Stablemates" and "I Remember Clifford". So if he's done better elsewhere, I may eventually re-evaluate... Guy "done better elsewhere"???? I don't think there's anything that can be said except WTF?? Just a guess but I suspect that 99% of all jazz artists who have tried their hand at composing tunes wish they could have written tunes like the ones you mention.