Dan Gould

I like him overall, but maybe more technique than soul, if you know what I'm trying to say?

Number one, let's put this in real word terms: You get in a confrontation in a bar. Dude says, "you want some of this? Let's go!" and you pop him before he pops you. Who exactly started the physical part of the confrontation, really? As far as your claim about Ortiz: Aside from bona fide attacks on umpires (like Carl Everett head-butting the guy), the League takes serious note when serious fisticuffs happen. This was a far more aggressive fight than the ALCS. Mark my words: suspensions will be in excess of five games.

And now we have A-Rod denying responsibility for the fight. Un-freaking-believable. From ESPN: Associated Press TORONTO -- New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez plans to appeal any suspension he might receive for his role in Saturday's brawl with the Boston Red Sox. "Whatever it is I'm going to appeal it," Rodriguez said Monday. "When somebody attacks, you have to protect yourself." Rodriguez Boston pitcher Bronson Arroyo hit Rodriguez with a pitch Saturday, prompting the AL MVP to stare at the mound as he moved slowly toward first base. Boston catcher Jason Varitek positioned himself in front of Rodriguez and the two began jawing before Varitek, still wearing his mask, pushed Rodriguez in the face. The dugouts and bullpens emptied. Rodriguez said that Varitek started the fight. "What was said, from my half, was simply a rebut and a reply," Rodriguez said. "What was said under the mask was a lot greater." Rodriguez said he merely stood up for himself. "If someone challenges you like that, I'm going to stand up to it," he said. *************************** If there are any A-Rod defenders out there, what were the last words from the pretty boy before Varitek introduced his fists to his face? LET'S GO The facts are clear: Arroyo threw an 88 mph curveball that tailed in and hit him. A-Rod jawed at Arroyo, Varitek did what all catchers are taught to do-protect their pitcher-and jawed back. Then A-Rod precipitated physical contact by those words quoted above. If Pretty Boy has the sac to take it like a man and take the base, nothing happens whatsoever. If there is any justice, A-Rod gets the greatest punishment, followed by Varitek, followed by Sturtze, who grabbed Kapler by the throat, followed by Kapler, Ortiz and Nixon, who only came to Kapler's defense. Every physical altercation was initiated by a Yankee, and no one can deny that. The suspensions should be: 8 for A-Rod. 7 for Varitek. 5 for Sturtze. 3 or 4 for Ortize. 3 for Lofton, Kapler and Nixon.

Michael Cochrane has some excellent CDs on Steeplechase. Start with Gesture of Faith and Footprints, a tribute to Wayne Shorter's compositions.

Henderson has credit on the Brooks album for Soulin' (he also has credit for "Homestretch".) According to this discography the album was recorded (or maybe its released, its not clear) in August of '64. The band is Blue Mitchell Gene Taylor Hugh Lawson George Bohannon Junior Cook Roy Brooks I don't have the Pearson album so I can't compare tunes.

Simple: Francona knows about Pedro losing effectiveness past the 100 or 104th pitch or whatever it is. And now he has Foulke to turn to. Pedro stays fresher because Pedro isn't left to carry the load when he's clearly gassed.

Its on Roy Brooks Jazz Workshop release, Beat. 1963.

#1, reports of their huge differences or Randy hating Curt are probably extremely overblown. They live nearby and their wives and children are friends. As far as being a World Series rotation, why not? What's the difference between the Arizona rotation that won and this one? As great as Randy is, does he have Pedro's lifetime winning percentage??? Pedro and Schilling can easily win a series. What they need is an effective Lowe and for Wakefield to do his stuff. You don't think the Sox win last year if it was Pedro, Schilling and Wake against the Yanks? Wake beat them almost singlehandedly, which is what made the end of that series so painful: one ball that doesn't knuckle, and its over. So, yeah, Beri, I'll take this rotation in a heartbeat, so long as its the Lowe we saw last night.

So, no point in giving him another taste of October baseball? No point in finding out if he could continue his recent string of excellent starts against the Red Sox? Does this mean that if the Sox face the Yanks in the play-offs, Torre should leave the 32 million dollar Cuban off the roster?

May I ask what you consider his worst to be then?

I was thinking that the Enja record was from the 70s but I couldn't confirm, being away from home. I second Jim's recommendation.

I had a feeling about where your baseball loyalties were .... guess we can put both national pastimes, politics and baseball, aside now! I certainly understand your point about what happens when its on the line, but the flaws that allowed last year's debacle no longer exist. This year's Sox team is much improved in critical areas; what's missing is an effective Derek Lowe, and the swagger and confidence that last year's team had. And I feel pretty good for the moment that at minimum, the latter is back, if the latter and the former are back, I think the Sox can easily make the playoffs again, even if they can't overcome the Yanks in the division. As for Giambi, I don't know if he has a no-trade clause, but the fact is that no one would take on his contract anyway, even if he still had the strength to clobber the ball. I read somewhere today that Giambi could even miss the remainder of the year-over another two months, the Yanks will come to love Tony Clark's defense, loathe his strikeouts and inconsistent home run output. They need an effective Giambi in the lineup, and they haven't had that for over a year and a half now. Last thing I'll mention: there was an article recently about the relationship between runs scored, runs allowed, and the resultin "expected wins". The Sox actually beat the Yanks by about 80 runs on this measure. And since over the course of a season, things even out, this measure is an excellent predictor of future performance. So, if your team has a better than expected record, you can expect lower performance in the future; but if you're team isn't winning as it should be, the stats suggest that will change. All of which is to say that the Yankees are exceeding their expected wins, the Sox are below their expected wins. I am quite confident there will be a significant tightening of the division race.

And one other thing: why favor the Yankees in any series with the Sox? So far, there have been four series between them, and the Sox have won three of them. They lead head-to-head, 8-4, with seven games left between them. To win the season series, the Yanks have to win 6 of those seven games.

C'mon Jeff, get your facts right: its 7 and a half games out, not ten If the team with the best league record and the wild card team come from the same division, they do NOT meet in the first round of the play-offs. (Yankees had the best record last year, who did they play in the play-offs? the Central winner. Sox played the A's.) And even if they did meet in the first round of the playoffs, why would you give the Yankees an edge if the Sox could conceivably pitch Schilling and Pedro for four of the five games? Even one of the clowns on Baseball Tonite said the Sox are better built for a short series than the Yanks. And the Yankees may have the best record, but it covers up gigantic problems, from starting pitching, to any reliever not named Quantrill, Gordon or Rivera (who are grossly overworked and the first two are sucking wind), to Giambi who is literally a shadow of his former self; Bernie at .235 and struggling to reach 70 RBI's for the year. IN short, there are good reasons why the Yankees are absolutely desperate to get the Unit.

Uh, the Red Sox have a half game lead in the Wild Card and just won an emotional series over the Yankees. I'd lay even odds that in September, this weekend will be recognized as the Red Sox' season turning point.

Harold and Maude, too.

How could this possibly be bad? I am surely the luckiest man alive. A couple of weeks ago my wife asked me if I wanted to see the movie. In a rare moment of total candidness (when it comes to other women) I told her that the only thing that made it a possibility was Halle in the catsuit, and she said, "Well, I figured that." So, basically, she so enjoys my company that she's willing to have me gaze at one of the most beautiful women on the planet in an S&M leather get-up, so long as she's sitting next to me. But this makes me wonder, does she also know why I watch Charmed with her? Is it possible that my carefully constructed "lustful gaze of studied indifference" isn't really that effective, and in fact, my wife reads me like a book? Naaaaahhhh .....

Gene Harris and Ray Brown. Peanut butter and banana. Peanut butter and chocolate (ice cream, though its pretty good in candy form, too). From my drinking days: Rum and coke. Vodka and OJ.

Other than life interfering, I don't have much of an excuse either for my slowness. Thanks to Nate; I was expecting a more "out" disc. Nevertheless, I can't say there were any standout discs, a few that appealed, a few that definitely did not, and even the ones that appealed didn't appeal to the level of being "gotta haves". Without further ado, the appealing ones were #s 3, 6 and 8 and 9; highly unappealing were 4, 7 and 10. But thanks again, Nate, I was expecting my ears to bleed several more times than they did.

That may be so, but they aren't on the recording I received.

The info I have doesn't refer to TV, says Baden Baden, circa 1963. It is a minute of solo piano. All told, the set list is shorter: Off Minor, Bye and Bye, Round Midnight, Blue Monk, Criss Cross. What about my question regarding Monk making a stage announcement?

I am completely shocked that he finally went for the one-day record (not shocked that he broke it though, obviously). Notice the little tics and quirks he has in his wagering? Its been a long-running joke that Trebek knows what his wager will be, always, because he likes round numbers. He also seems to get miffed if his challengers go to another category without finishing the present one. Not to nitpick, but when you have an unprecedented run like this, you get to see a person's quirks. I gave my brother an over/under of 1.5 million; I'll be surprised if I lose that bet (I said "over").

Doing another reel transfer, and on this one-from '63, Monk is heard saying this tune, "Bye bye when the morning comes," was made for a French film. Anyone know more about this? Is the movie obscure? Did he record this tune anywhere else? And something else I'm curious about-in all of the live recordings I've heard or seen, I can't recall Monk speaking to the audience. Is this a doubly rare recording, both for the tune and for Monk introducing it?

Glad I Found You has Thad Jones and Eddie Harris and is highly recommended.

This is one of those 70s LPs that Yanow absolutely utterly dismisses. Basically says, if I recall correctly, that it sounds like everyone is waiting for lunch, hardly even bothering to "phone it in".