Dan Gould

Your boys are awful and one of the biggest disappointments of the season.

Anyone with observations on the season so far? I have to say that the Yanks deserve credit for hanging in as they have, but I think its going to be a struggle with no Small or Chacon to save their cookies, and the schedule will favor the Red Sox as they have the highest number of home games left entering the second half of any team. Interesting that their deficit last year at this time wasn't as great as it is now. I guess the Red Sox got hot and the Yanks cooled off. I wonder if that will happen again, as looking ahead, the matchups seem to favor the Sox coming out of the break: Red Sox at home against Oakland and their .245 team BA for four Yanks at home for Chicago Red Sox at home against KC Yanks at home against Seattle Red Sox at Seattle Yanks at Toronto With a little luck the Sox will have built up a lead by the time they go to Seattle and the Yanks and Toronto can fight for second place. And if it happens, look out, cuz the Sox don't have the bullpen issues this year, and they've got two aces instead of none like last year. After watching the White Sox, I have to say that I am not at all convinced that they are the best team in baseball. No doubt, the offense is better with Thome, and the heart of the order is awesome. But in the Red Sox series I saw some guys at the bottom of the order that looked pretty bad, so its not as thick a lineup as you'd think, given their run production. Pitching is also a question mark, IMO. Buerhle looks awful, Garcia hasn't been great either. Contreras is the real ace, and he was lucky to avoid a loss yesterday. Its the bullpen and the offense that is critical to their chances, unless some of those pitchers regain their form.

Not only is this a great victory in favor of copyrights but anything that pisses the hell out of the Christian Fascists gets a big from me. And as far as those who only watch R-rated films that have been "sanitized", one of my closest college friends is an extremely conservative Christian, and he and his wife manage to rent the R-rated films they are interested in. His wife covers her eyes, or they use the scene menu to skip ahead. No biggie. And there's another way to watch those movies: Cable TV. All the naughty bits will be deleted if you wait for FX to broadcast them.

I'm going to jump in to this discussion for the first and only time to say that the problem, as I see it, with the sport is that the opportunities to score are so few (which is why I find it mind-dullingly boring - and yes, I will tell you that baseball is a 100% more exciting! ) that the results are too often a function of who can con a referee into awarding a penalty kick or a red card based on nothing but superlative acting. ESPN showed a compilation of the worst of these "dives" and its truly pathetic - both that the competition comes down to these calls, and that the athletes, who are supposed to be sportsmen, act in this way. There you have it, a non-fan's view. Take it as you wish.

Tennessee Ernie Ford Gerald Ford Squeeky Fromme

Tom, If you downloaded the LD show from 1-28-05 at New Morning from Dime (this was offered last year, I think), Kyle Koehler is on that show, so you probably have heard him with Lou. (thanks for offering the earlier LD show from the same venue, it looked so familiar I had to look up the old show to see if it was a re-seed, and that's when I realized not only is it new, but the old one has this Kyle dude on it.)

The BFT Compiler is supposed to start a separate discussion thread. If you prefer to just tell us what the tracks are, that's entirely up to you.

I was going to say that this is one of my favorite BNs with Spaulding. Definitely a classic in the Pearson discography.

Double "hmmm". Third time was the charm, and I was able to download Disc 2. So, I gots mine!

Actually, they split the four game set and scored 19 runs in the second game. Too bad they couldn't keep it going.

Hmm. The CD 2 link didn't work. It timed out. I've had similar problems before with yousendit, where sometimes the link worked and sometimes it didn't. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow.

I'm downloading CD1 right now. Cool beans! I may incorporate this distribution method for mine next month.

Magnifico!

I've had this for a while. A truly essential document and probably the greatest non-BN Messengers recording (along with that Columbia album).

Interesting comparison between the 2005 and 2006 Red Sox, through 81 games: So a team that was supposed to be built for defense and pitching, with a presumed loss of offense, actually has matched or beaten the 2005 squad in all the important offensive categories, while clearly improving the pitching and fielding. Maybe there is hope that they can finally stop the Yankee streak of division titles. After all, last year the Sox had terrible problems in the back end of the bullpen, and no Schilling to lead the staff. Now they've got Papelbon plus Schilling and Beckett. And the Yanks don't have Small and Chacon to save their cookies.

I think that it is almost entirely a function of the way Chicago and the Tigers have played and the realization that neither one of us will have the fall-back position of winning the wild card, and that total lack of a margin for error makes us take a much harder look at our teams. Speaking of which, here is the single most important stat I know symbolizing the Yankee problems: In games with neither Matsui nor Sheffield in the lineup, the Yanks are 24-21. Since Matsui won't be back before late August if at all, and Sheffield will have even less time to make it back, I think its obvious that the Yanks are missing terribly that chunk of offense. Without a move that does something about it, or managing to play better with what you have, I think the Yanks will have problems the rest of the way.

Well it is an exciting play but I don't think the audacity comes from being on your own (I think some managers have called it, surely Ozzie has the cojones). What's really audacious is the fact that its happening right in front of the pitcher, and the runner has to cover the same distance only in the amount of time it takes the pitcher to deliver the ball, rather than the delivery plus the throw across the diamond from the catcher.

Wow. The NYT has more compassion than everyone who posted here combined.

I haven't offered suggestions but I've followed this thread, keeping my fingers crossed. I know very well how attached we become to our children, er, animal companions.

Make that three in a row to the D-Rays. Unless Damon is going to be on the shelf for two months, we're not good enough to put your team away, not with 40% of the starting rotation on the shelf (Clement & Wells), plus the sixth starter (DiNardo), plus using cast-offs from the Indians and KC. And Schilling and Beckett can't keep the ball in the park. And now we have one more against Tampa and three with the defending champions. Unless Tampa keeps it up against the Yanks, we could very well be out of first by the break.

Also sorry to hear of your loss, Mike, and anyone interested in Bobby Forrester, you can find copies of his last recording, Organic Chemistry through Ebay Stores, and I imagine, Amazon as well. Forrester and David "Bubba" Brooks" (Tina's brother) jam at length on a bunch of standards. Forrester sounds great on this.

Nothing I posted was political unless we've all been transported back 230 years.

Had this sent to me. Very nice! I plan to spend the afternoon watching my recently arrived DVD copy of 1776, great viewing on our nation's birthday.

And if that didn't work you'd just remind yourself how much you admire their politics.