Chalupa

Phillies sweep the Mets!! http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=270916121 Philadelphia won 12 of 18 against the Mets this season, including a franchise-best three series sweeps. The Phillies have defeated the Mets eight straight times.

Saturday, September 15, 2007 Phillies diehards know how the story ends By Howard Bryant ESPN.com PHILADELPHIA -- Charlie Manuel is salty. His right fielder grabs his calf running down the first-base line, the same calf that landed him on the disabled list. When the player, Shane Victorino, is surprised he's not in the lineup the next day, he gives his manager a little nudge, as they say, right under the bus. "I don't know why I'm not playing," he says. "I'm fine." Another player, the mercury-quick reserve outfielder Michael Bourn has been out for weeks, yet upon his return Manuel did not use him in a key situation, and thus the walls once more are closing in on the Philadelphia Phillies. "I saw where he said when he turns the bases that his ankle hurts him," Manuel said of Bourn. "If you were the manager, what would you think?" Questions are no longer innocent in this town, if ever they were -- and Manuel's skeptical eyes narrow to a mean little slit when he catches even a whiff of insinuation that the Phillies are once again too far from shore to swim home. In between complete sentences, Manuel waves the white flag of language, muttering despairing fragments such as "write whatever you want," and "I don't care" in between complete sentences. Jim Salisbury, the veteran Phillies writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, tosses a little levity at the manager. "Charlie, you seem unusually feisty today." "That's right. I'm feisty," Manuel said. "I'm trying to win a ballgame." There's a difference between being nervous and being scared. Nervous can be butterflies. It can be adrenaline. Scared is in a different area. It means you're scared to get it done. --Phillies manager Charlie Manuel Don't blame Charlie. You'd be feisty too if it was as hot in your kitchen as it is in his these days, two games out of a playoff spot with 15 games left. Manuel -- a good southern baseball man who seems to be suffering from the same East Coast condescension that doomed Grady Little in Boston -- is managing without a contract for next season. The cosmetics in these tough towns are as important as words and deeds, and in times of trouble, the common reflex is easy to dismiss Manuel as unsophisticated, as if a rough Philly accent would raise his team's earned-run average. It is unclear if he will return to Philadelphia in 2008, and his ballclub, the Phillies, are squeezed tight into a pennant race for the sixth time in seven years. The previous five Septembers have not been kind, and on this night, your team, which leads the league in hitting, runs, hits, total bases, doubles, RBI, walks, slugging and on-base percentage, had just been pasted 12-0 by the Colorado Rockies, shutout by a kid (Denny Bautista) who entered the game with a 19.06 ERA and a winless pitcher (Mark Redman) with an 11.86 ERA. They are unquestionably the biggest tease in Philadelphia, if not all of Major League Baseball. Take a global perspective and you'll weep: The last championship in this city was 1983, when the Philadelphia 76ers won the last of their two NBA titles. The Eagles have been to two Super Bowls, but haven't won a league championship since 1960. The Phillies have been playing baseball for money since 1883, when they were the Philadelphia Quakers. In 124 years, they have one championship, 1980. The Cubs, Red Sox and White Sox have nothing on this town. The last few years have been especially tantalizing, each ending in special agony. In 2001, the Phillies were tied with Atlanta for the division lead on Sept. 24, and then lost six of nine. They finished two games out. In 2003, they were two games behind the Braves on Sept. 19, only to lose six in a row, and seven of eight. In 2004, they muddled along at 65-68 on Sept. 1, then roared to a too-little, too-late 21-8 finish. In 2005, they tasted the wild-card lead on the final weekend and won more games (88) than they had since winning the pennant in 1993, and yet Houston took it all away. Last year, they won more games than St. Louis, the team that won the World Series. None of this, it should be noted, is easy to do. Since the wild card was instituted in 1995, no team has won at least 85 games five years in a row and failed to make the playoffs. The Phillies, in their own special way, are close to making history. Historically, everybody eventually breaks through. Everybody, that is, but the Phillies. The Giants of the 1960s were tortured by great teams with coal in their stockings. From 1965 to 1969, the Willie Mays Giants finished second five straight years, but three years earlier, they went to the World Series. The Hank Aaron Braves were consistently thwarted at the end by the Dodgers but went to consecutive World Series, winning it all in 1957. Even the Phillies of the 1970s hit the wall with Reds and Dodgers but made the playoffs and finally won the whole thing. But here's the funny thing: The Phillies haven't reached the mountain, but nor have they -- as most teams do -- regressed and fallen apart after coming close and not making it. The White Sox -- the World Series winners in 2005, and in the hunt every year since 2000 -- are now in last place, threatening to lose 90 games. Jimy Williams, the Phillies' bench coach, offers up his old Toronto Blue Jays as a parallel to these Phillies. "Yep, there is a similarity. We had some good, good teams there," he said. "We had [Jesse] Barfield, and [Lloyd] Moseby and [Dave] Stieb. We had to climb that hill, too." But those teams did, like all the rest, make the playoffs in 1985, and after the big climb, win consecutive World Series titles in 1992, beating the Phillies the following year when Joe Carter … oh, the diehards know the rest. For their suffering, the diehards walk around as if they've eaten paste for breakfast. And lunch. And dinner. The counterman at Pine Street Pizza on 12th and Pine Streets in Center City is watching a replay of the second of Matt Holliday's two home runs last Tuesday while sloshing a basket of French fries in a fryolator. "They're the kiss of death," he said of the Phillies. "They get close. They make it interesting. I've been a Phillies fan my whole life. And this is it. Every year. They get close, and then, the kiss of death. All Philadelphia teams, really, are just like this." And then there is Carol Wagner, the 52-year old Haverford College horticulturalist who could only be described as a True Believer, since her grandfather, Harry Pritchard, loved the Phillies when they played at Baker Bowl during the turn of the century. Why Old Harry would pass along the Phillies' pedigree to his unsuspecting granddaughter could only be described as love. From 1918 to 1948, the Phillies finished higher than fifth -- in an eight-team league -- but once, when they went 78-76, 12 games behind, yes, the Cubs. "It's a Philly thing, like we know they'll narrowly lose it," she said. "And then we say, 'Oh well, we're in Philly.' But we're very dedicated, very loyal, no matter what they do." Carol is old school, both in her enthusiasm for baseball and her lineage. No cable, no mlbtv.com, no DirecTV Extra Innings package. If the games aren't on free television, she listens to the Phils on the radio. She has a Richie Allen button, a Phillie Phanatic doll given to her from her grandmother 30 years ago that still sits on her bed. She was there for Steve Carlton's 3,000th strikeout and still has the photo she took of him warming up. She owns T-shirts of Chase Utley and Cole Hamels. She even wears the Philadelphia equivalent of the Scarlet Letter: a Billy Wagner jersey. "People say to me, 'What are you doing wearing a Wagner jersey,' " she says of one of the least popular recent Phillies. "I tell them, 'That's not a Billy Wagner jersey. That's a Carol Wagner jersey." Ryan Howard After sweeping the Mets on Aug. 27-30, the Phillies were just two games out of first place. They would lose five of the next seven games. Citizen's Bank Park, the Phillies' lavish ballpark, is unkind to pitchers -- home run parks are unkind to any team that wants to win a championship -- and quite possibly a central reason why many baseball people believe the Phillies will not win a World Series. Before the shutout, the Phillies were 14th in ERA, runs allowed and earned runs allowed, 15th in bullpen era and last in home runs allowed. The scouts who watch the game more than the standings say confidently that Manuel is doing more than his share. "There's no way this team, with that pitching, should even think about making the playoffs." After the 12-0 pasting -- which was followed by a 12-4 Phillies win that underscored the all-or-nothing personality of this team -- Manuel was just as salty after the game as before, when he said he knew there were guys on his team that were scared of these high September moments. Phillies fans know the moments well: the crushing home sweep at the hands of eventual pennant-winner Houston in 2005, the series where David Bell's first-inning error led to four runs and doomed them in the opener, or when Wagner couldn't get outs or keep Astros baserunners from stealing at will in a 2-1, ninth-inning loss in the second game, leading up to the heartbreaking finale. In the third game, leading 6-5 with two out and nobody on in the ninth, Bell committed another error, and Wagner gave up a single and a home run to lose 8-6. And then there was last year, when the Phillies won eight of nine to hold a half-game wild-card lead with a week to go only to lose three of four to lowly Washington. "There's a difference between being nervous and being scared. Nervous can be butterflies. It can be adrenaline," Manuel said. "Scared is in a different area. It means you're scared to get it done. … When Houston got here, or when we didn't execute in Washington. We couldn't pick up the ball. We couldn't get the ball to first. That all comes from a scared thing. It's hard to produce. It's hard to execute. It's hard to do the things we need to get done." Even Manuel veered from the traditional optimism-or-die position most managers must take. After Wednesday's 12-0 pasting, Charlie sounded as unsure as the guy at Pine Street Pizza. "I think you've got to step up. There's no sense in even sugarcoating. It's kind of like a show-me time," he said. "It's kind of like, 'Let's go, if we have it, let's see it.' That's kind of how I look at it. We've got 17 games left, that's what it it's all come down to. I think that everything has to fall right. And fall right means that we've got to pitch good enough to get there. "And can we do it? I don't know if we can do it. Like I said, it's time for us to see." And yet … and yet … the Phillies are still in it, robustly. They beat the Mets for the fourth straight time Friday night and are still three games out of the wild-card lead. "It's there," said closer Tom Gordon, who by dint of having played in Boston, New York and now Philadelphia, happens to be a graduate of the holy trinity of Big Bad Baseball cities. "The fans, well, they are different. They let us have it and you can hear it. But we have a chance. All you can ask for is a chance."

A town in Poland had only one cow and it stopped giving milk. The townspeople did a little research and discovered they could get a cow from Moscow for 2000 rubles - or one from Minsk for only 1000 rubles. So, naturally, --- they got the cow from Minsk. It was a great cow: had a wonderful disposition, and gave lots of milk and lots of cream. Everybody loved it dearly. The people decided they would mate the cow and get more cows like it, and then they would never have to worry about their milk supply again. So they got a bull and led the cow and the bull into the pasture. When the bull came in from the right to mount the cow, the cow moved to the left. When the bull moved in to mount the cow from the left, the cow moved to the right. This went on all day. Finally, in desperation, the people decided to go ask the rabbi what to do. After all he was very wise. They told him the story. "Rabbi, we've tried all day to mate our cow. When the bull moves in from the right the cow moves left and when the bull moves in from the left the cow moves to the right. What do we do?" The Rabbi thought a moment and asked, "Did you buy this cow from Minsk?" "Rabbi!" they replied as one, "You are so wise! We never said we bought the cow from Minsk. How did you know that?" The Rabbi said, sadly, "My wife is from Minsk."

Once upon a time, a young man went to the circus. He was very excited, as he lived in western Manitoba, the kind of town where you shave and the trolley stops, and had never seen a circus before. Anyway, as the circus days drew near, the young man grew ever more excited. He arrived before dawn to get the best seat in the house, and was seated hours before the first trapeze act. Finally, the trapeze artists gave an awe-inspiring performance, the elephants danced, and the lion tamer tamed. At last, the clowns came out in full regalia and green hair. They rode around by the gross in a purple Volkswagen. The volksie pulled up to the center of the ring, and an overweight clown with orange hair, acne, and a purple nose advanced to the podium: "Will the person in section A, row Y, seat 42 please stand up?" The young man looked at his ticket, and to his surprise, he was sitting in that very seat. The young man stood up. Clown sez, "Wellllll, there's the horse's ass, now where's the rest of the horse?" The man, dumbfounded, stood for a moment, then made his way quickly through the crowd and out of the tent. Returning home, the man wept for days, and mourned the loss of dignity and honor. Eventually reason overcame his grief and the man grew determined. "I'm not going to get mad, I'm going to get even, and avenge the honor of myself, my family, and this town," exclaimed the man. He picked up the curriculum guide for the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV) correspondence courses and started to read. Eventually his eyes came to rest on an advertisement for a class in "Quick Wit Retorts." "Learn how to use those snappy comebacks to your advantage, now!" So the man sent in his $19.95 and soon received the course materials. In a few weeks, the man mastered the materials, and sent the final back to UNLV. Much to his surprise, a registered letter arrived from the president of UNLV. It read: Dear Sir: We are utterly flabbergasted at your performance in Quick Wit Retorts 101. We would be most gratified if you could come to UNLV to complete your degree with our fine academic institution. Here's a check to cover your expenses. To make a long story short, the man made straight A's in the QWR program. He was awarded numerous distinctions and honors, and when he graduated, the graduation speaker Ed Meese awarded the man the Presidential Medal of Outstanding Quick Wit Retorts, signed by the President himself! Some days afterward, Harvard University sent a Lear Jet to pick the man up for an interview. The graduate admissions officer didn't mince words. "If you complete our masters/doctoral tenured track program in QWR, you will never have to worry about money again," said he. Needless to say, the man promptly moved to Cambridge. In 5 years, the man had finished his doctorate. By this time, the man was known throughout the world as the leading expert in Quick Wit Retorts. Word had even reached western Manitoba, which made his mother very proud. Everyone from the Pentagon pundits to Beltway bandits consulted the man on technical questions of QWR. One day, while sitting at his desk reading his hometown newspaper, the man noticed that the circus was coming to his hometown again. An evil smile crossed the man's face. "Siegfried," cried the man to his assistant, "We must be away to Manitoba. Ready the jet!" As the plane crossed the downlands of Michigan, the man savored the moment of victory that was to be his. The man arrived at the circus tent very early, making sure to get the seat in section A, row Y, seat 42. Finally, the trapeze artists gave an awe-inspiring performance, the elephants danced, and the lion tamer tamed. At last, the clowns came out in full regalia and green hair. They rode around by the gross in a purple Volkswagen. The volksie pulled up to the center of the ring, and an overweight clown with orange hair, acne, and a purple nose advanced to the podium: "Will the person in section A, row Y, seat 42 please stand up?" The man glanced at his ticket. This time he was ready. Clown sez, "Wellllll, there's the horse's ass, now where's the rest of the horse?" The man rose to his feet, full of confidence. He thrust out his chest and said in the loudest voice you can imagine: "FUCK YOU, CLOWN!!!!"

Maria is a devout Catholic. She gets married and has 17 children. Then her husband dies. She remarries two weeks later, and has 22 children by her next husband. Then he dies. A while later, she dies. At the funeral, the priest looks skyward and says, "At least they're finally together." A guy sitting in the front row says, "Excuse me father, but you do mean her and her FIRST husband, or her and her SECOND husband?" The priest says, "I mean her legs." (Add drum roll and rim shot here)

A Frenchman, an Englishman, and a New Yorker are captured by cannibals. The chief comes to them and says, "The bad news is that now that we've caught you, we're going to skin you, put you in a pot and cook you, eat you, and then use your skins to build a canoe. The good news is that you get to choose how you die." The Frenchman says, "I shall die by poison." The chief gives him a potion. "Vive la France!" he screams, as he downs the mixture. The Englishman says, "A pistol for me, please." The chief gives him a pistol. The Brit points it at his head, says, "God save the queen!" and blows his brains out. The New Yorker says, "Gimme a fork." The chief is puzzled, but he shrugs and gives him a fork. The New Yorker takes the fork and starts jabbing himself all over, saying "Here's your fuckin' canoe!"

FYI.... SUN RA DISCO 3000 COMPLETE CONCERT RELEASE, ARTYARD CD001 Now Available To Order Direct, at £14 EACH TWO CD SET, 24BITMASTERED FROM THE ORIGINAL TAPES, WITH LINER NOTES FROM MICHAEL RAY. DISC ONE 1. Disco 3000 2. Sun of The Cosmos 3. Echos of The World 4. Geminiology 5. Sky Blues 6. Friendly Galaxy Running Time 67.07 DISC TWO 1. Third Planet incl, Friendly Galaxy 2. Dance of The Cosmo Aliens 3. Spontaneous Simplicity 4. Images incl, Over The Rainbow 5. When There is no Sun 6. We Travel The Spaceways Running Time 62.38 Recorded at The Teatro Cilak, 23/01/1978, Milan Italy. Sun Ra { piano, organ, moog synth, rhythm machine, vocals } John Gilmore { tenor sax, drums, vocals } Luqman Ali { drums, vocals } Michael Ray { trumpet, vocals } June Tyson { vocals } Enterplanetary Koncepts BMI In the winter of 1977-8, philosopher, pianist and bandleader Sun Ra was to be found in Italy. He may have made two trips there, or made one extended stay: at this distance from these events it's difficult to be sure. (There's usually a mystery where Sun Ra is concerned.) Sun Ra's musical activity that winter is well attested: a CD from a piano concert in Venice in November 1977, two double albums cut in the studio for the Horo label in January 1978. The Italian tour also resulted in releases on Sun Ra's own Saturn label, Although the records have long been out of print and all but impossible to find.With the re-release of DISCO 3000 and MEDIA DREAMS, two of these elusive Saturn albums and arguably among the most important documents of Sun Ra's long musical career, are now once more available. They represent a real pinnacle of creativity, even for this prolific period of the late 1970s, when his record output hit a peak: 1977-8 saw some twenty Sun Ra albums, plus two video documents. DISCO 3000 and MEDIA DREAMS are pivotal: a unique chance to hear Sun Ra's music expounded in live performance by a quartet, rather than his full Arkestra. Sun Ra was joined in Italy by saxophonist John Gilmore, trumpeter Michael Ray and drummer Luqman Ali. Sun Ra himself played piano and electronic keyboards, including a Crumar Mainman.† January 1978 was a fruitful month for Sun Ra. As well as days spent in the recording studios in Rome, Ra, played several gigs in Italy before flyimg back to the US. The magic music from one night in the Teatro Cilak, on 23/01/1978 in Milan, is preserved on Disco 3000.† Chris Trent

SUN RA DISCO 3000 COMPLETE CONCERT RELEASE, ARTYARD CD001 Now Available To Order Direct, at £14 EACH TWO CD SET, 24BITMASTERED FROM THE ORIGINAL TAPES, WITH LINER NOTES FROM MICHAEL RAY. DISC ONE 1. Disco 3000 2. Sun of The Cosmos 3. Echos of The World 4. Geminiology 5. Sky Blues 6. Friendly Galaxy Running Time 67.07 DISC TWO 1. Third Planet incl, Friendly Galaxy 2. Dance of The Cosmo Aliens 3. Spontaneous Simplicity 4. Images incl, Over The Rainbow 5. When There is no Sun 6. We Travel The Spaceways Running Time 62.38 Recorded at The Teatro Cilak, 23/01/1978, Milan Italy. Sun Ra { piano, organ, moog synth, rhythm machine, vocals } John Gilmore { tenor sax, drums, vocals } Luqman Ali { drums, vocals } Michael Ray { trumpet, vocals } June Tyson { vocals } Enterplanetary Koncepts BMI In the winter of 1977-8, philosopher, pianist and bandleader Sun Ra was to be found in Italy. He may have made two trips there, or made one extended stay: at this distance from these events it's difficult to be sure. (There's usually a mystery where Sun Ra is concerned.) Sun Ra's musical activity that winter is well attested: a CD from a piano concert in Venice in November 1977, two double albums cut in the studio for the Horo label in January 1978. The Italian tour also resulted in releases on Sun Ra's own Saturn label, Although the records have long been out of print and all but impossible to find.With the re-release of DISCO 3000 and MEDIA DREAMS, two of these elusive Saturn albums and arguably among the most important documents of Sun Ra's long musical career, are now once more available. They represent a real pinnacle of creativity, even for this prolific period of the late 1970s, when his record output hit a peak: 1977-8 saw some twenty Sun Ra albums, plus two video documents. DISCO 3000 and MEDIA DREAMS are pivotal: a unique chance to hear Sun Ra's music expounded in live performance by a quartet, rather than his full Arkestra. Sun Ra was joined in Italy by saxophonist John Gilmore, trumpeter Michael Ray and drummer Luqman Ali. Sun Ra himself played piano and electronic keyboards, including a Crumar Mainman.† January 1978 was a fruitful month for Sun Ra. As well as days spent in the recording studios in Rome, Ra, played several gigs in Italy before flyimg back to the US. The magic music from one night in the Teatro Cilak, on 23/01/1978 in Milan, is preserved on Disco 3000.† Chris Trent

A young woman was so depressed that she decided to end her life by throwing herself into the ocean. She went down to the docks and was about to leap into the frigid water when a handsome young sailor saw her tottering on the edge of the pier crying. He took pity on her and said, "Look, you've got a lot to live for. I'm off to Europe in the morning, and if you like, I can stow you away on my ship. I'll take good care of you and bring you food every day." Moving closer he slipped his arm round her shoulder and added, "I'll keep you happy, and you'll keep me happy". The girl nodded yes. After all, what did she have to lose? That night, the sailor brought her aboard and hid her in a lifeboat. >From then on every night he brought her three sandwiches and a piece of fruit, and they made passionate love until dawn. Three weeks later, during a routine inspection, she was discovered by the captain. "What are you doing here?" the Captain asked. "I have an arrangement with one of the sailors," she explained. "I get food and trip to Europe, and he's screwing me." "He sure is, lady," the Captain said. "This is the Staten Island Ferry."

A farmer wanted to have his hens serviced, so he went to the market looking for a rooster. He was hoping he could get a special rooster - one that service all of his many hens and when he told this to the market vendor, the vendor replied: "I have just the rooster for you. Randy here is the horniest rooster you will ever see!" So the farmer took Randy back to the farm. Before setting him loose in the hen house though, he gave Randy a little pep talk. "Randy", he said, "I'm counting on you to do your stuff". And without a word he strutted into the hen house. Randy was as fast as he was furious, mounting each hen like a thunderbolt. There was much squawking and many feathers flying, til Randy had finished having his way with each hen. But Randy didn't stop there, he went in to the barn and mounted all the horses, one by one and still at the same frantic pace. Then he went to the pig house,where he did the same. The farmer, watching all of this with disbelief, cried out, "Stop, Randy, you'll kill yourself". But Randy continued, seeking out each farm animal in the same manner. Well the next morning, the farmer looked out and saw Randy lying there on his lawn. His legs were up in the air, his eyes rolled back, and his long tongue hanging out. A buzzard was already circling above Randy. The farmer walked up to Randy saying, "Oh you poor thing, look what you did, you've gone and killed yourself. I warned you my little buddy". "Shhhhh," Randy whispered, "The buzzard's getting closer."

I hate to admit it but it looks like it's Boston's to lose this year. The one team from the NL who could give them trouble would be the Padres with their pitching, but they might not even get into the playoffs. PS: The less said about the Mariners at this point, the better... Aren't the Pods down to one good pitcher, Peevey, with Young being hurt lately? I'm liking Red Sox vs. Mets in World Series, with advantage Red Sox. Outside shot to the Dbacks. Yeah, as much as it chagrins me to admit it the Mets do look like the favorites to represent the NL in the Fall classic.

ESPN headline... Ducks roll as Wolverines suffer worst loss since '68 Michigan. Season. Over.

One bright, beautiful Sunday morning, everyone in tiny Smithville wakes up early and goes to their local church. Before the service starts, the townspeople sit in their pews and talk about their lives, their families, etc. Suddenly, at the altar, Satan appears!! Everyone starts screaming and running for the front entrance, trampling each other in their determined efforts to get away from Evil Incarnate. Soon, everyone is evacuated from the church except for one man, who sit calmly in his pew, seemingly oblivious to the fact that God's ultimate enemy is in his presence. This confuses Satan a bit. Satan walks up to the man and says, "Hey, don't you know who I am?" The man says, "Yep, sure do." Satan says, "Well, aren't you afraid of me?" The man says, "Nope, sure ain't." Satan, perturbed, says, "And why aren't you afraid of me?" "Well, I've been married to your sister for 25 years."

One night , after the couple had retired for the night, the woman became aware that her husband was touching her in a most unusual manner. He started by running his hand across her shoulders and the small of her back. He ran his hand over her breasts, touching them very lightly. Then, he proceeded to run his hand gently down her side, sliding his hand over her stomach, and then down the other side to a point below her waist. He continued on, gently feeling her hips, first one side and the other. His hand ran further down the outside of her thighs. His gentle probing then started up the inside of her left thigh, stopped and the returned to do the same to her right thigh. By this time the woman was becoming aroused and she squirmed a little to better position herself. The man stopped abruptly and rolled over to his side of the bed. "Why are you stopping darling?" she whispered. He whispered back, "I found the remote!"

How's the Horo album??

In that one (5-17-79) the Phils "let" the Cubs score 7 in the 5th when they were up 21-9. Tug McGraw entered the game in the 5th! He was terrible that year (this game didn't help ) , but still led the team in saves. Info above provided by Retrosheet. Thanks for the link, Eric, turns out that Schmidt only had two homers (but the second one won the game). Schmidt did hit 4 homers in one game against the Cubs at Wrigley on 4/17/1976. Final score was Phillies 18, Cubs 16. Maybe you were remembering this game? http://baseball-almanac.com/boxscore/04171976.shtml

I was never a huge Moby Grape fan, like their first album a good bit, love "Omaha". I'm not a country rock guy (the Byrds totally lost me with 'Sweetheart of the Rodeo'). I've never gotten 'Oar' at all. Sounds to me like what I understand it to be, the semicoherent ramblings of a madman. But I know a lot of people love it. I was just listening to this yesterday. Moments of greatness followed by moments of .....not so greatness. I like OAR a lot despite its "demo tape" production values. It kind of reminds me of Syd Barrett's two solo albums in that the performances are reminiscent of a wobbly train that is just about to run off the tracks yet somehow manages to stay on the rails. His voice takes some getting used to though. I feel exactly the same way about Moby Grape and Love. I do like Moby Grape's first album--they caught a compelling mood in the studio while recording it, for me. Other than that, I just don't love their music, although I have tried. All of Love's output is the same way for me. Another group that I want to like from that time, but just really don't, is the group with Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder, the Rising Sons. I can see where you're coming from, but I think the Forever Changes album by Love is pretty damn amazing in it's way, kind of a slightly underappreciated classic, though admittedly with a notoriously long "kick-in" time. Forever Changes is amazing. When you compare it to the first two records there's a hyper-space leap forward in songwriting sophistication and arrangements. "Andmoreagain" is just gorgeous. I was lucky to see Albert a few years back when he was performing the "Forever Changes" album in its entirety. He was in pretty good form the night I saw him and his back up band(Baby Lemonade?) were top notch. Outside of their first album, MG never did anything for me .

Ha-ha. I just found a website that sells them... http://www.cafepress.com/buy/dick/-/pv_des...pt_/pg_/c_/fpt_

Dick Cheney Eats Kittens.

Sharapova out = TV off.

That was the first time ever a Division I-AA team had beaten a ranked team. Michigan can say buh-bye to the national championship.

Wow. Red Sox Nation is happy tonight.

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/obituaries..._loved_him.html Luqman Ali - 'all the cats loved him' By JOHN F. MORRISON morrisj@phillynews.com 215-854-5573 A CRITIC once wrote that Luqman Ali was "an historic archetype, the quintessential traveling musician, born in one place at one moment, but . . . finding home to be at many places over many years, all over the globe." His skills, the critic wrote, were "sharpened by the hard work of years traveling through the smokey forgotten clubs, bars and restaurants of the chitlin circuit, and in the concert halls of eminent spectacle, alongside the most famous of performing stars." That profile, written by guitarist David Hotep, succinctly sums up the life and career of a man whose percussion skills graced many a musical aggregation over the years, around the country and around the world, most notably with the Sun Ra Arkestra, based in Germantown. Luqman Ali, who had been performing since the age of 7, when he began singing spirituals in his native Mississippi; who took up the drums in high school; and who was devoted to his family and his Islamic faith, died Aug. 19. He was 67 and lived in Germantown. "He was a beautiful cat," said Danny Thompson, who plays baritone sax and flute in the Arkestra. "He could really push a band. It's one thing to be a drummer, but to push 15 or 16 guys, that's a whole other deal." He said Luqman could play many styles of drumming - New Orleans, Chicago, Memphis - because he had lived and played in those cities. "This is a big loss," Danny said. "All the cats loved him." The Arkestra played at Luqman's funeral service at the Ellis Funeral Home, 529 Rising Sun Ave., on Monday, and at Mount Moriah Cemetery in Southwest Philadelphia, where he was buried. "We wanted to give him a real New Orleans send off," Danny said. Luqman idolized Max Roach, who died Aug. 15. Danny said that Luqman became ill about three weeks ago and that he decided not to tell him about it. "I didn't want to upset him," he said. Luqman was still driving the Arkestra, now run by alto saxophonist Marshall Allen, as late as the middle of last month, when it played at the Clef Club in Philadelphia and the West Oak Lane Dance Festival. He had met Sun Ra, born Herman Poole Blount, in Chicago in the 1960s. Sun Ra, who died in 1993, moved his base to Germantown in the late '60s. The band was famous for its offbeat and experimental music, but also played traditional jazz. Luqman was born Edward Skinner in Starksville, Miss., and was raised by his grandparents. When he was 9, the family moved to Memphis, where he went to school. By seventh grade, he aspired to play saxophone in the school band, but he couldn't afford the instrument. But he was able to buy a drum book, sticks and practice pad from a classmate. In the ninth and 10th grades, he and other students formed an ensemble that played at a local hotel. Guitarist BB King would sit in with the group in the days before he became famous. After high school, Luqman began playing in road bands, mostly R&B, with the likes of James Brown, the Midnighters, Jackie Wilson, Sam Cooke and others. Back home in Memphis, he was playing at the Trumpet Inn with a young Isaac Hayes. It was in 1964 that Luqman came upon the teachings of Islam. He was transformed from Edward Skinner to Luqman Ali, and was sent with a cadre of believers to build a Nation of Islam temple in Springfield, Ill., requiring him to work in brick and mortar. His work with the Nation of Islam occupied him for the next 15 years. He and his family moved to North Africa, where they remained for several months. When he returned, he got back into music. He moved to New York City and began performing and making records with Sun Ra. In the late '80s, he moved to Germantown, where he remained, performing and recording with Sun Ra. He is survived by three sons, Cedric, Khalif and Zahido; a daughter, Fatima; a brother, James Skinner, and seven grandchildren. *