Dan Gould

Someone help him, please-he's confusing a CHRISTening with Islam. I'd offer help but the only christening I've been too was my niece. My wife was asked to be one of the Godparents, and part of the deal was affirming to the priest that she's "living in Christ" or some such thing. Unfortunately, she'd already turned away from her Catholic upbringing, but that didn't stop her from lying to the priest's face. So, as far as cards go, I didn't have anything to do with it, didn't see it, didn't sign it.

Well. If that's the way its going to be ... I don't know if I can handle this series! Certainly Cards fans have to know that they got an awful lot of gifts tonite. Without Wakefield's walks and those ridiculous errors, this game is maybe 9-4. Certainly, if you're a Cards fan, you have to be concerned about stopping the Red Sox offense. They just keep coming, and I'd be very worried about Morris vs Schilling tomorrow night. Morris had the worst stats of all the starters, gave up a truckload of home runs (most in the majors). If Schill's tendon "surgery" does the job again and he pitches as he's capable, I do expect to go up 2-0. Good signs for the Sox: Bellhorn and Damon's bats coming alive, continuing their upswing from Game 7. Manny getting clutch hits and driving in runs for the first time since the ALDS. Ortiz being Ortiz (that home run was huge, but smacking that ball in the 7th inning off the situational lefty was really big. Hope the second baseman doesn't miss any time.)

Its been announced that Mirabelli will catch Wakefield tonite, and it should be noted that this is not the major offensive reduction some people commented on during the ALCS. From today's Boston Globe:

Tiny Grimes: Profoundly Blue Big Time Guitar Gigi Gryce: Sayin' Somethin' The Hap'nin's Charlie Haden: Haunted Heart Frank Hailey Passing it Around Jim Hall: Good Friday Blues (Modest Jazz Trio) Dave Hamilton: Blue Vibrations Jeff Hamilton: Its Hamilton Time Live Explosive (Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra with Milt Jackson) Scott Hamilton: Organic Duke Live at Brecon Jazz Festival After Hours Radio City The Right Time Tenorshoes Tour De Force With Strings Major League Blues, Bop & Ballads The Grand Appearance Soft Lights and Sweet Music Race Point East of the Sun My Romance The Red Door Jazz Signatures Plays Ballads In New York City Live in London Swinging Young Scott A Sailboat in the Moonlight Tardo Hammer: Hammer Time Somethin' Special

Who said that?

As far as team speed goes, Wake and Pedro were bad at holding runners, Schilling and Arroyo less so. So, yes, Cards can try to run, for sure. As far as Wakefield goes, I did see that Mirabelli is getting the start, a good idea in my opinion. Whichever Card pitcher was hurt-he's done, supposedly. And another potential problem with the Card starters: don't they all give up homers, but most especially Morris (led the league?)? Not a good thing against the Sox. Keys for the Sox: Manny produces runs. Damon is the Damon we saw in Game 7. Bellhorn sets the table. Of course, number one is somewhat dependent on number two and three. The tablesetters have to do their jobs so the big boppers can do theirs. Then Red Sox Nation can sleep easy.

I generally agree with Berigan's analysis. The Cards have a tremendous offensive lineup (though the Yanks did, too), and some tremendous defenders. But don't count out the Sox on defense, either. About the only truly weak link is Manny in left, and Bellhorn is just adequate overall. The big defensive problem will be in St. Louis when Ortiz will have to play first base, and Millar probably sits unless he's been hot and Nixon hasn't. On the bullpens, I think its as close to even as you can get. The work they had to do to beat the Yanks-that's three days old when the game starts. I don't think fatigue will be that much of a factor, unless we get some more crazy games. Also, as solid as Isringhausen is, he's no Rivera. Trading in Rivera for Isringhausen means that automatically, the odds of a save have gone down. Offensively, the Cards are tremendous, no doubt about it. But the Sox do OK, too, which leads me to the important distinction: There's no devastating ace on the Cards staff. No Clemens or Oswalt or Pedro or Schilling, no Mussina and certainly no Randy Johnson. No one to strike fear in the heart of a lineup, feeling that you have to take advantage of any opportunity you get because it may be the only one. Good pitchers, all, but with that offensive juggernaut, I find it remarkable that no one managed to win more than 16 games. I know, they all won 15, but c'mon-that's a function of decent pitching with great offense. A true ace, on a team with 105 wins has got to end up with 20 wins, and no one did. Its basically a staff of third starters-terrific third starters, or second and third starters-but no one to scare the other side. And I mean no disrespect! So, if the Sox aces do their work, I think we'll be fine. And the last reason to have faith: 4 games at Fenway, and the team had the second best home record in baseball.

Just what I needed, thanks a lot!

I'm going to go with Houston, just barely, because of Clemens.

Does anyone have a source for a breakdown of Windows users, i.e., percentage who use Windows XP, 95 or 98 or ME or whatever other crappy software they've put out? Thanks!

Have you heard the Argo LP I mentioned above, Early in the Morning? Or one of her earliest, the King album Sings Pres?

Yeah, Brown's always had skills, and has always been able to deliver the goods on a semi-regular basis. But first and foremost, he's always been a headcase. When you get to a Game 7, you want your ace, your guy who's going to hunker down and stop whatever bleeding has been occurring, somebody who can kiss it and make it feel better. Somebody who's not a headcase. Sure, nobody can do it 100% of the time, but if the best you can come up with in a situation like that is Kevin Brown, well, you're going to be let down far more often than not. I don't think it had anything to do with Brown being a head case, unless there was lingering physical problems from the fight with the clubhouse wall. Really, I think we've witnessed the three month physical breakdown of a once talented pitcher who can no longer get it done. I'm sure the Yanks are desperate to dump him and his salary, but I'll be shocked if anyone takes him, and more shocked if he wins even 8 games or makes 18 starts next year. And it makes it oh so sweet that this was Steinbrenner's answer to the Schilling signing. You got the wrong aging pitcher, George!

Have you heard the Higgins produced (and Higgins composed) Soul Symphony by the Three Sounds? Its not your father's Three Sounds anymore, I know, and AMG craps on it, but its really a pretty decent date, on its own merits, not the least of which is loads and loads of soulful Gene Harris piano. Of course, I'm the former GHF, so your mileage may vary.

Now we know why Pedro pitched and Wakefield didn't. The Boston Herald is reporting that the rotation will be: Game 1 - Wakefield Game 2 - Schilling Game 3 - Pedro Game 4 - Lowe Arroyo out of the pen. The reasoning: Schilling has to pitch at Fenway since he can't be expected to bat/run. They want Pedro to get more rest after throwing harder in the LCS than he did the entire regular season. Schilling and Pedro are set for Six and Seven, if necessary. Francona's a freakin' genius! BTW, I like Arroyo out of the pen, better than Lowe. He got some clutch outs after his bad start, and he gives them an extra short reliever to work with Timlin/Embree or if they they need an extra inning or two to get to Timlin/Embree. And if Houston wins, Roger can't pitch before Tuesday. Unfortunately that wouldn't be at Fenway, but if it goes to Game 6, the fans will have one more chance to "salute" him.

Like my friend Mr. Blues, I too am speechless. I know now we "have to" win it all, but you know what? Nothing can take this feeling away, ever. It washes away all of the hurt/heartbreak/pain of so many bitter defeats, and paid the Yankees back a hundredfold for what they've done to us in the past. Why Yankee fans (present company excluded) deserve all the pain and anguish. This from the most arrogant sons of bitches on the planet? Choke on it, buddy! Have to give some props to my man Harold/Dave, who correctly foresaw that the Yankee pitching options wouldn't get it done (unlike his namesake, who always picks the Yanks, and then after the game, all of a sudden he's giving his expert commentary on why the Sox won. Why didn't he know they'd win beforehand?). But who knew that Derek Lowe, on two day's rest, would pitch such a remarkable game? Almost as gutty as Schilling, in his own way. Critical, certainly, was the early runs, which got the Yankees out there ripping away. How many times did Lowe go strike, groundball out; strike, groundball out? Four pitches, two outs-you can go far, pitching like that. And what about Johnny Damon? "Roundin' third and headin for home it's a brown eyed handsome man" The one big Second Guess is Pedro coming in in the seventh. Made no sense whatsoever, with a big lead, looking at Game 1 Saturday in Boston, when Pedro can pitch on regular rest, why even have him warm up? I could understand (just a bit) if the game were closer, but it was seven runs. Let Leskanic go in the seventh, and go batter to batter. Or use Wakefield to get to Timlin (or was Wake really not available? I can't imagine that was the case. ) Plus, it got the crowd back into the game, and when Matsui ripped the double, I was pissed. I still knew it was over (my wife was sitting tensely on the couch until the final groundout, while I was cheerfully chatting on the phone without a worry (at least, after Bellhorn's homer and Timlin's 1-2-3 8th inning). GO RED SOX!!!

Yeah, and frankly, this scares me:

Actually, there's been a lot of debate about Mirabelli being used anyway, at least ealier in the series. He is a pretty good hitter, as you say, and in fact he kills Yankee pitching, with pretty gaudy numbers at Yankee Stadium, if I'm not mistaken. And that is ironically where Tek has had a terrible time this year, though he came up with big hits last night. I know you want to win or lose with your big dogs, but I would not have a problem with Mirabelli getting the call. In fact, maybe you even start Mirabelli and keep him in until Wake is done, then have Varitek come off the bench? I honestly won't second guess Francona if Mirabelli plays tonite, however that comes about.

Oh, I think its a distinct possibility. And as scary as it would otherwise sound, the fact that Pedro won't get near the magical/disastrous 100 pitch mark makes me think he could definitely come in and get 3-6 outs. The important thing would be not getting amped up in front of the animals in the stands and losing command. If he can pitch as he did in Fenway, I'll take Pedro out of the pen in a heartbeat. For that matter, how about Pedro for nine outs, followed immediately by Wake? They sort of tried that in the regular season, thinking that sandwiching Wakefield in between Schilling and Martinez would be extra tough. But in a game, instead of a series, it might be deadly if 1-9 saw pitches in the low-mid 90s, and the next time through saw 65 mph knucklers. Or vice versa! Maybe get Wake to go three innings, and follow him with Pedro for only a couple. At least I'm confident that Francona won't pull a John McNamara and leave the starters in the pen while this year's version of Schiraldi and Nipper get pounded.

Curiouser and curiouser: still no announcement on the Yank's starter tonite?? I mean, obviously Brown is not the ideal choice, but who else is there? Vasquez, also on three day's rest? Duque on two? Brown may have looked horrible, but he's the guy with post season experience. It all makes me wonder whether they don't think Brown can even pitch on three day's rest, or whether Brown has something wrong with him. As far as the Sox go, I think its a smart move to start with Lowe, who's pitching with the most amount of rest, and see how long he can last, then let Wake come in. If we get him a lead and Wake has the same knuckler he showed in Monday's game, this can be over very quick. But either way, take your chances with Lowe and let Wakefield try to get the middle nine or more outs, when they'll really count. And I'll tell you this, Yankee fans: the mere fact that Pedro isn't starting makes me cautiously optimistic.

True, but I believe the rule says, "the last base the player reached before the interference took place." In other words, I'm not sure if, say, Jeter had been running on the play and reached second before THE CHEATER'S girly-man move, would he have returned to second instead? Neither here nor there, but my point is, the rule is punitive, but I don't think its automatically so.

I'd be much more interested in this session if it hadn't been 1971 but ten years earlier! Early in the Morning is a terrific LP she cut for Argo, with a bunch of Basie cats and Ramsey Lewis. Highly recommended if you ever see it!

I nominate the king of who likes those odd time signatures. (Might not get an accurate accounting though.)

Yeah, but considering how long Jazz Corner has been up and how long Organissimo has been up, the posts and thread data is pretty remarkable.

I think its called a "tray card", though for cassette inserts, they are known as J-cards (maybe that's what made you think of "U card"?. Anywhoo ... as Johnny Carson might say, "Weird, wild stuff."