Dan Gould

And yet overall I was not greatly disturbed by Schilling or Beckett. Schilling made one obvious mistake - A-Rod's first homer - and the second one was a case of a locked-in hitter squaring up a good pitch on the outside corner. Take away A-Rod being in such a zone and Schilling had a pretty good night - and he still pitched seven innings. Beckett gave up hits yet kept the ball in the yard, which is one huge difference so far from last year, and after those first two innings really settled in. For throwing so many pitches in the first two innings and still lasting 6 2/3 is pretty impressive. The old Beckett might have started getting frustrated and just rearing back and firing but he kept to the game plan and threw his curve and change and was really pretty good from the third inning on. At least Jason Giambi said it was the best curve/change he's seen Beckett throw since he joined the league. That's a good thought for the future. You and me both are suspecting that, Marty! Great to have a lefty who can get righties out. I still worry about him leaving curveballs over the plate for homers, but I like the way Francona is utilizing the people he has. It looks like if there is a lead, seventh and eighth inning outs will be handled by Donnelly, Hideki and Timlin and with Paps in the ninth, I think there is potential there for the same kind of bullpen performance the Yanks got during the last dynasty. Best of all, it keeps Piniero and JC Romero away from high-leverage innings until they show they can handle them. Snyder I guess is the long man but I felt coming out of spring training that he has the stuff to get outs in the eighth inning. He might get a chance if Timlin or Donnelly falter. But as it is, Hidecki looks very good, and the one part of the roster everyone questioned - the bullpen outside of Papelbon - currently leads the league in ERA, and because the pitchers have been so good, they also lead the league in fewest innings pitched by the bullpen - just over 40. On the other hand, the Yankees are worst in the league in bullpen innings - over 70 now - and I'd be very concerned about that, Marty, even if Mo regains his form. Torre has never shown a great talent for managing the bullpen and typically over-works the handful of pitchers who earn his "trust". Its a very bad sign that the bullpen is throwing this many innings, and has had this many breakdowns, this early in the season.

Funny, I'm looking for that album as well... I'm not cuz I just picked a NM copy up for $8.

Yeah but Dice-K has looked absolutely horrible at the worst time. I think part of the problem at the start was the pitch selection. He's been setting up hitters with breaking pitches at the start, and I think that Varitek said to himself, "the Yankees have seen him doing this, let's start with fastballs tonite" and it really hasn't worked. When he's gotten them out, he's thrown first pitch strikes with off speed stuff. Meanwhile Pettite is on in relief for the second time in this young season. Think Torre is desperate for a win here? Unbelievable. I guess the second day after a start you're supposed to throw a bullpen, but asking Pettite to come in? He did it earlier when the pitching was so terrible, but there are a bunch of guys who didn't throw yesterday - obviously Torre has no faith in any of them. Then again, the old man got a DP grounder from Papi so I guess it worked - he gave him an inning and didn't get hurt in the process. I just can't believe how bad Dice-K was. Hitting A-Rod, hitting Jeter. I swear, he acts and talks so confidently but I think he's giving these big bad Major League hitters too much respect and letting them into his head. He was afraid of Frank Thomas and walked him in that single disastrous inning in Toronto, now he decides to throw inside to A-Rod, hits him. Inside to Jeter, hits him. Pedro would go up there and throw his pitches and say "hit it if you can, punk." I expected this guy to have the same attitude but he ain't showing it to me. The question will be what he does next Friday in the Bronx. I'm sure there are a bunch of Yankee fans who will look at this game and say, "we've seen him, he doesn't have much, we're gonna crush him next time" and I honestly can't say that I disagree.

No longer true. In the past month or two, one of the circuit courts ruled that the second amendment does confer an individual right to own guns. With the circuit courts now in disagreement, its likely that this question will be taken up by the Supremes.

I think the key isn't the actions in the public eye, its the public-fed ego that leads him to think that his time is so precious and he is "screwed" by not connecting with his daughter at the appointed time. Has anyone said that this was specifically leaked to the public by Basinger? Or was it submitted to the court as evidence of his being unworthy of having custody of the child, and it became public because its a court document? Big difference, imo. If Basinger was putting it out there to make Baldwin look bad in the public eye, as opposed to looking bad in front of the Judge, then she's a horrible person. But it becoming public because of a public right of access to court proceedings is only a reflection of the screwed up culture of celebrity.

Have you seen the t-shirts that take the Warner Brothers WB symbol and tell people to "Warn the Brothers" if cops are around? That's not just glorification of crime and violence, that's encouraging people to help "the brothas" avoid capture. Sick.

The possibility that Mariano is toast (never thought I'd write those words) is quite tantalizing to someone who has been on the opposite side for so long. That, combined with the pitching problems and how much work the bullpen has been forced to do (I think I heard its been about a 50-50 split between bullpen and rotation innings) gives me hope that it won't matter how many runs the Yankees score, they won't steamroll everyone.

A great album that BN or Water should have reissued. At least another Charles Kynard appearance will be available. This however is outrageous in its audacity.

Only if he was 8 years old in 1973.

My children love me and they are loved. You can see one of them to the upper left of my post.

Baldwin's behavior is pathetic. She's 11 years old, and this is how you talk to your own daughter? That's sickening. He has an appointed time to call her? What if she doesn't want to talk to him? I don't give a shit what she does, no 11 year old deserves to be yelled at in a voice mail like that. He's such a big, busy, important man, so he's pissed off? He's pathetic.

Well, to make a long story short, this all happened because when I was eight years old, we had recess in the gymnasium (it was rainy) and some snot nosed little shit snuck up behind me, grabbed my ankles and pulled my feet out from underneath me. I came flying down head first into the floor and broke my two front teeth. Eventually I had root canal done - did anyone else understand that root canal doesn't do anything to the root, it takes out the nerves and that space is filled with some synthetic material? ... and when I was 18 or so I had permanent crowns installed. So - the weird thing about a dead tooth that has had root canal is that the body actually treats it as foreign material and attacks it. So basically, one of my two dead teeth broke. The reason that I cannot pinpoint when or how this happened is that the root canal took out all the nerves and that spared me what surely would have been excruciating pain. SO - I now have the weekend to ponder my options (keep in mind we don't have dental coverage): A Flipper: This is a single tooth denture, like Leon Spinks or most hockey players have. The advantage is its very cheap - about $300 or less - the disadvantage is the piece that goes up into the roof of my mouth will almost certainly effect my speech, and as a voice over performer, that isn't going to be good. a new four tooth bridge: Basically three crowns plus a pretend tooth to replace the broken one. Main advantage is that it doesn't take as long to complete (about a month probably from removing the broken tooth to installation of the permanent bridge) as the last option: Implanted Pretend Tooth The issue here is how much bone is left when the broken tooth is removed and the space heals. If there isn't enough bone to anchor the implant, he may have to graft some in. Bottom line either way is that this takes a great deal more time from start to finish, and I'd be wearing a "flipper" during the interim which might be as much as 8 months. The latter two options are both in $3000 range. Major OUCH - I guess that makes up for the lack of physical pain so far.

Sad news, sorry to hear this especially for Tom. I know he'll take this news like I did when I heard Gene Harris had died.

I have a vinyl copy from the Bastards . Its decent, typical Sonny. Nothing mindblowing, nothing terrible.

And you wrote this before what he did last night! No, I wrote it immediately following, which is why my post reflected how annoyed I was.

I talked to a friend who recommended a dentist and I've got an appointment for tomorrow afternoon.

I think these are his earliest recordings and he sounds more like his inspirations (I hear more Dex in his early days than George Coleman) - there are better CDs out there.

I think that goes way beyond "lame". But in all honesty, I'm the last person to judge rap "lyrics".

I say they do great as long as they keep A-Rod in the park. Can you freakin believe what he just did? But like you say, good pitching ... and there's no doubt that Schilling, Beckett and Dice-K, plus most of the bullpen, is ten times better than the collection of stiffs Cleveland sent up there. Thanks for NOTHING, SS1.

I cannot FUCKING believe what A-Rod has done so far this season. With their defense and pitching, the Yanks are in last place without him. Unbelievable.

One nice but hard to find sideman date pairs two former Blue Note artists together - Kenny Drew with Junior, backed by Jimmy Cobb and Sam Jones. All The Things You Are, originally issued on the Japanese LOB label, AMG shows it with a different cover and label (TDK): Very nice.

What brain? Wow. Well, at least you didn't post this one: That's at the bottom of the AMG discography, after You Leave Me Breathless.

Well, it didn't happen in New York, or Boston, so who cares! Seriously, it was a hell of a pitching job, Tim, well, lets call him Tim K., on Baseball tonight mentioned that not one pitch was thrown above 90 MPH! And to do that against the Ranger's lineup is very impressive! It was a hell of a night all around in baseball, Josh Hamilton hit another home run, King Felix hurt his arm, both Pujols and Bonds homered in the same game, A-Rod hit his 9th...and does anyone know which team is the first to 10 wins????? Hey, I came upstairs to listen to the end on Game Day audio to see if he could pull it off, so believe me I was excited by the prospect that he had a shot, pleased when he completed it, and even more impressed when I saw the highlights. Just didn't come here to post about it. But since I'm here, how 'bout those Sox? Julian Tavarez vs Doc Holloday today and they're about to pull off the upset. Trailing 3-1 in the eighth, Manny homered to tie (just like last year, he had a slow start and didn't hit his first homer til the first visit to Toronto), and they scored two in the ninth off the replacement closer. Paps just closed the door. Sox win!!!!

Brain cramp, Jim? We're talking about Muse albums and you've posted his Steeplechase covers.