Dan Gould

Buying any player you want is no guarantee of success: ask the Rangers, who finished dead last despite having Mr. $252 at shortstop every year. Or the Marlins, who BEAT the Yanks despite having a payroll that wasn’t even the same stratosphere as the Yanks. But you're still missing the point: The Rangers blew all their wad on a single player and found out that one guy can't make you a winner. If they were like the Yankees and still had money for other stars, they'd have had some success. But the Yankees have virtually unlimited resources to buy anyone, that's why they are a dominant team. The fact that at a particular moment in time, a low-payroll team like the Marlins beat them doesn't change that fact; it just makes it obvious that you have to play the games and win them, and it goes without saying that if you are good enough to reach the play-offs or the World Series, you're good enough to win it all, regardless of your opponent.

Actually, you're incorrect, Marty. Liars are liars, not posturers, and I have no respect for them. After the fight, Varitek said his emotions got away from him, as they did for Rodriguez, and that its not good for their sport. He didn't say "A-Rod started it" and he didn't point out that A-Rod said, more than once, "Let's go". Varitek owned up to it and is a stand-up guy. A-Rod is a punk and a liar, and his lies make him look like a fool. If he had the guts, Watson ought to respond to his appeal not by reducing the penalty but by tacking on a day. That might get would-be fighters attention. But no, A-Rod is A-Rod, and its a pennant race, so the suspensions will be reduced to three games, probably. Kapler got the rawest deal, undoubtedly. If the Red Sox are smart, they'll activate Nixon from the D.L. three days early, so he serves the suspension while he's not able to play anyway.

Funny, I hardly own any box sets that aren't Mosaics. So, because its both good, and the only one I own that qualifies, I'd have to say the Lester Young Verve.

OK, the suspensions are announced: 4 Games for Rodriguez and Varitek 3 for Sturtze, Kapler, Nixon Fines for a couple of other guys. Now, its good to see Sturtze getting a suspension because he was the instigator of that separate altercation. But like the equality of punishment between A-Rod and Tek, Bob Watson is unwilling to penalize the INSTIGATORS more for their actions. Sturtze pulls Kapler backwards in a choke-hold, Kapler responds, and they get even punishment??? Total bull shit. What I want to hear from Yankee fans is, what do you think of Rodriguez' UTTERLY LAUGHABLE "I'm blameless" bull crap? "I was on my way to first base"? What a joke. Can anyone defend this guy? Whatever respect I had for him is long gone.

I don't recall offhand the exact circumstances of Rocky Marciano's retirement, but he DID quit with a perfect record. I don't think guys who are undeafeated are ones who fall in the "kept fighting til they didn't have any brain cells" category.

Actually, this one was recorded after PJJ's death. It's an excellent album, though. Which is why I grouped them under "Dameronia" instead of having the two Uptown LPs under Philly Joe and this last one under, I guess, Don Sickler.

Hank Crawford: After Hours Mr. Blues/Mr. Blues Plays Lady Soul Sonny Criss: Sonny's Dream Complete Imperial Sessions Mr. Blues Pour flirter Peacock Sessions Scatman Crothers: Scatman Crothers King Curtis: Soul Meeting Dameronia: Dameronia Stop Look and Listen Live at the Theatre Boulogne-Billancourt/Paris (guess these should be under Philly Joe's name, but) Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Lockjaw/Stitt (LRC) Count Basie Presents Eddie Davis Lockjaw Three (the latter two Roulette LPs on a superb homemade two-fer)

I'm certain you are wrong. You were thinking, what, they have one person write up the review but everyone listens and gives a rating?

Peter, Just this week I got to this set in my A-to-Z Sojourn. Excellent music! Guaranteed to satisfy.

For playing the crap I imagine he subjected you with, he deserves to have lost what he stood to gain from his father's collection. Hope he tells his mom what she threw away.

Thanks, Brownie!!

Funny Rat. Not Funny. No Rats. Fool me once, shame on you. Never gave you another chance to fool me!!!

"very enjoyable" yet "not essential". I think Yanow should have done a better job (or made some effort) to explain why an album can be very enjoyable but not essential. What keeps it below the other, presumbably essential albums? Perhaps we are nitpicking what is overall a positive review, but I think Jim R. is on to something. Here's my review of Yanow's review: "A worthwhile review, but not essential. Every critic has his off-days, and while Yanow's hits far outweigh his misses, he doesn't quite come through on this one. Maybe he was a bit constipated, or perhaps he had just gotten some positive but less than thrilling news, but Yanow seems to take out his own frustration on Silver, as he chooses to praise faintly with his seemingly contradictory phrase, "although not essential, a very enjoyable set."

I, too, find it interesting that apparently Monk ceased playing at all. I can understand that he would lose interest in public performance, but after living with music his entire adult life, to just stop completely ... Wasn't in the Straight No Chaser documentary that Monk is described as living in a bedroom (in Nica's house?), and when someone played the piano in the adjoining room, if he liked what he heard, the door opened wider, but if he didn't, the door would close ... so his life wasn't devoid of music, but none came out of him for the last six years or so.

Heard a reel-to-reel recording of Prez at the Cafe Bohemia, December 22, 1956, a radio broadcast. Does anyone know if this was put out at any point? There're no details on who is backing him up-was that ever determined? Thanks!

Just read in the Boston Globe that when David Ortiz had his appeal heard with Bob Watson, he received indications that he will not be suspended for the brawl with the Yankees. They considered his actions to be geared toward separating combatants. I think that leaves A-Rod, Varitek, Sturtze, Kapler, and maybe Lofton (did anyone spot what Lofton did to get ejected? The Sox pitcher thinks Lofton punched him, but I never saw where Lofton was even).

Chris, they'll always be a dominant club because they have the revenue to buy every player they want. Where their farm system will fail them is in the ability to swing mid-season deals with the have-not teams when they discover a need (like starting pitching, or a first baseman) that they didn't expect at the start of the season. That's what is happening now.

The reason keeping Johnson is important if not critical is to give the fans a reason to come to the ballpark, especially if the team goes into full rebuild mode. Furthermore, Finley and Johnson aren't just any old farts playing out the string. They're at the top of their game, still, and if they're your best players, why shouldn't you want value, serious value, in return? As far as the Yankees are concerned, I think it isn't just a matter of time that their lack of farm team development catches up with them. It already has: RJ stays in Arizona for at least the remainder of the year. You heard it here first.

Can't argue with that.

I'm with you, Evan. I never knew Yanow panned it like that, I consider it one of Horace's all-time best. I used their version of "My One and Only Love" at my Wedding, in fact. This was one of those albums that I saw for the first time in the first blue Note album cover book and wanted it immediately; it took a while but I found a Liberty pressing a few years ago and I finally heard it, definitely NOT something that didn't live up to its promise.

Did you see the report of the exchange between Unit's agent and Garagiola? "If you don't trade him to the Yankees, you're going to have a very unhappy player." "And I would tell that how?" At this point our best hope (us being Red Sox Nation) is for the D-Backs to continue to insist on real value in exchange for Johnson and never reaching agreement .... or better yet, they wait til the off season when they might have more suitors.

If you like soulful piano that fits into the Three Sounds/Ramsey Lewis vibe, I would start with McCann's Pacific Jazz LPs, which were popular enough that they aren't terribly hard to find, should you be willing to buy vinyl.

And by the way, if you go into My Controls, you can set it so that more posts load per page, and, viola, this thread is only one page.

WHO?

Yeah, speaking of Parcel Post, my Dad sent a book Parcel Post mid-week and was shocked when I called to thank him on Saturday. So, you never know!