Dan Gould

I thought it was Jesus or Jim Morrison.

Now we got a party going. Jim S. is in!!

I'm not counting Wells out yet. It was his first start since the end of May. Give him at least a couple more to find his form before we declare him toast. At which point, you can declare the Sox toast, too.

According to the Globe, Lopez *has* cleared waivers. The O's will pay about half of his salary and get a player to be named. What's strange is that the Herald is saying that it will be a player not on the 40 man roster and the Globe is saying that it will be a player on the 40 man roster. Anyway ... Lopez isn't an upgrade at the plate by any means, but he's an additional bat. He can spell Youklis at first, too. He's never been a good catcher so I am not sure if he becomes the regular catcher, with Mirabelli coming in late for defense, if they switch back and forth between Mirabelli and him, or possibly Mirabelli catches and Lopez is the right handed hitter off the bench. Maybe we'll catch lightning in the bottle like the Yanks have. Looks like we need it, too. Quick edit: what may be holding things up is that if its a 40 man roster player from the Sox, he has to clear waivers for the trade to be completed. But Lopez made it through.

Yes but I'm coming from Palm Beach so its already pretty warm.

Happy birthday, my friend!

Among younger artists, I continue to enjoy Ronnie Earl, and if you like a mix of blues with jazz (similar to Earl) you may check out Dave Specter's Delmark CDs. He's recorded with Eric Alexander and Jack McDuff.

The interesting thing is, after the second time it failed in the middle, I decided to signup for the free account, and from there on it was smooth sailing.

You Send It files have been uploaded! The five participants who requested yousendit service should be receiving emails. Anyone interested in using the downloading option who haven't signed up, please PM and I will send you the URL for the downloads. The files will be available for seven days starting today. Also, any late participants who prefer disc service are still welcomed, although I'll be out of town this weekend and unable to oblige before Monday the 7th. Please post here to confirm receipt of the download or the discs (all of which have been mailed) and I hope to open the discussion thread sometime next week.

Well, third time was the charm. I finally got it to work ...

Did anyone see the rocket that Wily Mo Pena hit into (and out of) the Monster seats? I think it could have killed someone if they hadn't ducked out of the way. That boy is STRONG. I gotta say that offensively he's a big improvement over Trot, just for the extra base hit and power threat. He won't get on base like Nixon did, but he's got the BA. So long as he doesn't have any terrible adventures in RF, I think he'll make it pretty easy to say, "so long, and thanks for all the dirt" to Trot.

That's an open question right now.

So I'm trying to upload a zip file of my BFT tracks, and twice now I've "timed out". Is this an issue of my IE settings, that with 175 MBs to upload, it isn't set to wait that long? Or could this be a yousendit issue, losing contact with the server? I left the connection open and ran to do some errands, everything was cool ... and when I come back, "page Cannot be displayed". Can anyone suggest anything? I really want to get the download people serviced before I leave for a long weekend in Tampa. thanks!

Another walk-off at Fenway!!!!

Not exactly "tonsils" though clearly related. When my younger brother was about 5 years old he had to have his adenoids removed. If they were tonsils, they'd have said "tonsils". I also notice that the Wikipedia article says that adenoids are often removed at the same time as a tonsillectomy. Clearly not the exact same things.

I liked the first story, with William Hurt as a hired killer, fighting off toy soldiers come to life. And William H. Macy was fine as the writer of hardboiled detective stories (when is he ever less than fine?). The rest I could take or leave but John Boy being autopsied while still alive ...

But you forgot "Mosaics always appreciate in value, so if you don't like it you can sell it easily."

I will say this: I'm glad the Sox didn't make the deal and replace Trot Nixon with Abreu. People love Trot because he sacrifices his body every day to make a play, and looks like it, too. Abreu in right field going lah-di-da would not endear him to the Fenway faithful.

Not exactly "tonsils" though clearly related. When my younger brother was about 5 years old he had to have his adenoids removed. If they were tonsils, they'd have said "tonsils". I also notice that the Wikipedia article says that adenoids are often removed at the same time as a tonsillectomy. Clearly not the exact same things.

I thought we saw it the very first time he came up in a run-scoring situation (second and third, no outs): he was lucky he didn't get wrung up on the pitch, or the check swing. See? He isn't aggressive, he's perfectly happy with a walk, let someone else do the heavy lifting. Now, in this case, it paid off when Bernie doubled but how often will that happen? Will New York fans pick up on it when an inning expires with Abreu at first after a walk, time after time? I know, "a walk is as good as a hit" and with their lineup it won't matter. Maybe not but then all you're paying for is the OBP. Abreu is on the inevitable downside of his career. That's a given.

Thanks Scott. The problem is that the auction item and my item are indistinguishable to the untrained eye, all the way down to the heavier ink on the g at the end. Oh well. Still glad I have the LP, and its not as if I paid a fortune for it in the first place.

I don't think a lot of teams are going to put in waiver claims on back-up catchers. There's also Chris Widger, already DFA'd and released yesterday by the White Sox. The White Sox staff ERA was 3.36 when he was behind the plate. Javy Lopez is desperate for a change of scenery, has no position on the O's, and he certainly has swung a more potent bat than Mirabelli through his career. I'm not concerned about landing a backup, but I am concerned about surviving Tek's absence. You may be right, Brad, it will be a challenge from here on out. Probably the biggest key will be Wells showing that his poor start was the result of not making a rehab start and that there is still something left in the tank. I do suspect that there is, he just has to regain his command. He can still make a difference down the stretch.

Ken Huckaby was the third backup in the Spring (Flaherty quit, Bard was sent to San Diego for Mirabelli). His contract was purchased from Pawtucket. You know, I hear from plenty of Yankee fans about how bad it is to lose two of the starting nine for most of the year, and Cano for six weeks, too. Try losing 3/5 of your starting rotation, including two of your biggest winners from last year. Yes, the injury worm has turned. But anyone who thinks that the Yankees suffered injuries and the Sox have sailed along hasn't paid any attention.

Well the Sox just took another major hit to their chances: According to the Globe, Varitek is out 4-6 weeks following arthroscopic surgery on his knee. Now, Varitek wasn't hitting a lick, but he was still 80 points better than Mirabelli's .180. And Tek has some legs and can occasionally beat out a double play relay. Mirabelli can't do that in his dreams.

Jim is in! Now we'll really have a BFT if I can get the other Jim to join the fun.