MartyJazz

Dan, how could you give up on your team after Game 4? It's obviously going 7 at this point, Sox currently up 10-1, and I certainly wouldn't bet against them. Tribe pitchers gagging big time.

Yeah, bought the entire box and halfway into it I am extremely pleased. Great, great stuff and soundtracks very much improved (over some prior bootlegs I have owned of some of the material). Loved the Brubeck, Trane, Dexter and Duke and have yet to view the rest, but it's been a fabulous treat so far. P.S. As mentioned above, a bonus disc containing, among other things, a great version of Trane performing "I Want to Talk About You", is incentive enough to get the full box, especially if you're intent on buying 3 or more of the discs individually. By all means, go for the box.

A few things after reading the last 10 or so posts. This is one Yankee fan who never whines about not getting to the Big Show. I've seen plenty of 'em and while I admired this year's club for making a run for it after a horrendous start, I didn't think this club was as well rounded as you need to be to win all the marbles. For one thing, I know Wang is not an "ace", much less a lights out pitcher. That description I reserve for Josh Beckett who really deserves the Cy Young this year, even though I know that the post season does not count towards the voting. A great in season AND post season pitcher! Speaking of "ace" pitchers, what's with Sabathia? He has not impressed me at all during the entire post season, and was quite lucky to win at all (against the Yanks) thus far. Carmona on the other hand seems to be the real deal. Here's hoping he ends this series at 6 games. According to the rules Dan, Manny's shot was not a homer. It did hit the yellow and only if it had bounded into the stands could it have then been called a HR. So I don't think replay would have changed the decision. As for Manny not running it out and getting into scoring position......well, it's a good thing he's a great, great hitter because his spaceiness would be intolerable otherwise. Torre. Money aside, offering him a one year deal was an insult. He doesn't need the bucks at this point so he made the right decision. Good luck to the next Yankee manager handling all those high priced personalities. And again speaking of money, all A-Rod has to decide is whether he's happy being in New York. Money should no longer be an issue considering what he's made and will continue to make be it in New York or elsewhere. I mean it's still the case that money makes money, isn't it?

Me too. Beckett is lights out. Unfortunately for Red Sox Nation he can't pitch game 6 or 7. Can I get some of whatever shit you're smoking? You heard it here first: Beckett will last five innings and give up 7 runs, most of them coming on two crushing home runs. Sabathia will throw eight innings of 1 run ball. The Red Sox will have a nice quiet plane ride home. You have no idea - but you'll find out after this abomination is over. Oh sure, go ahead and call me gracious. I guess I'll have to rethink my post-ALCS comments. I can't understand why you're throwing in the towel. I'm old enough to remember several occasions in which a major league team came back from 3-1 to win a seven game series. And of course you freshly remember the Bosox of 2004 who were down 3-0. Beckett's been pitching wonderfully. Why can't he win tomorrow night and send it back to Boston?

Hey, it's a best of seven. Down 2-1 is not all that terrible especially for a well rounded team like the Sox. This Yankee fan remembers being up 3-0 in the 2005 ALCS. Still rooting for the Tribe, but there's a way to go yet.

10-6 at this point, still one out and highly enjoyable. Gotta give credit to the Sox fans, still in their seats for 5 hours plus, and the evening having become quite chilly. Whoa, as I write this, a three run dinger, 13-6. Seats should start emptying now.

It is a great DVD, primarily for the Bird & Hawk footage, their facial expressions - Bird's particularly - while the other "plays". The last word is in quotes because no doubt most, if not all, viewers realize that the musicians are synchronizing the motions to the previously recorded Clef material. Nevertheless, highly enjoyable.

Have to agree with your assessment even though I'll be rooting for the underdog. Note: As for not noticing Derek's fist pumps, I've seen that motion so often from so many players I hadn't realized that DJ does it all the time (if your perception is correct). P.S. If A-Rod walks, here's hoping that the Yanks bid for Lowell as I've read his contract is up. That's a home grown product they shouldn't have let get away.

A tip of the cap here to the Indians and their fans on this board from this disappointed long time (50 years+) Yankee fan. Tribe was terrific, great clutch hitting throughout the series and dominant starting pitching especially in the first two games. Turning point of course was game 2, one the Yanks had to win after getting a great performance from their one money pitcher, Pettite. But one run and three hits in 11 innings doesn't cut it, particularly in the playoffs. Some hindsight from a Yankee perspective. Can't figure out why Torre started Wang on three days rest when he had a well rested Mussina who pitched creditably in September following a brutal August. Derek as well as most of the Yankee hitters, with the possible exception of Damon, certainly didn't do anything with men on bases, however I can't fault that last DP he hit into as it was a hard shot up the middle, the Tribe 2nd baseman being positioned perfectly. (Never realized how much Derek pumps his fists to piss off at least one guy on this board, but I guess he does considering that "McFistPump" surname Dan bestowed upon him). As for A-Rod, mixed feelings about him. Certainly he is mostly responsible for getting the Yanks to the postseason, but he was brutal for most of the series, his one big hit not coming until the Yanks were down 6-2 in the final game. A-Rod's strikeout on a ball 4 pitch in the 9th inning of the 2nd game with the winning run on 2nd base is the memory I'll take from this series. I'll be rooting for the Tribe against the Red Sox.

Well I was still in diapers when the '64 collapse happened, so for me - yes. The definitive answer, however, comes from two Philly sports writers who covered the '64 collapse. Bill Conlin and Stan Hochman. You can read their feelings on the subject here and here. Thanks for the above links. The mention of Dennis Bennett in the first column evoked a personal memory. Back in '67 I was working part time at a lounge located in the Commodore Hotel in Cleveland, a place where a lot of athletes, particularly from visiting teams, showed up. Anyway, Bennett comes in as a member of the visiting Red Sox, orders a drink from me and we get involved in a conversation. When he tells me his name, I make the gaffe of asking, "Weren't you a member of the Philly team in '64 that CHOKED the last week of the season?" Immediately, I apologized for use of the word "choked". He was gracious enough to state, and I'm paraphrasing here, "That's all right, 'cause you're absolutely right". Classy, I thought. Anyway, here's a link to his career: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Bennett_(baseball)

Totally agree. I was amazed that the Padres didn't argue at all. Home plate ump should have waited. The guy scoring the winning run should then have been tagged and called out, you now have two outs and a decent shot of getting to the 14th inning tied again.

Yeah, I was kind of surprised to see the Yanks apparently giving up on tying the Sox for 1st place, by playing a bunch of 2nd stringers in tonight's game. To top it off, with a 2 run lead, they bring in not Mariano, but Jose Veras to close out the 9th, the same Veras who got hammered the other night when the Yanks blew a 5 run lead to the Devil Rays. This time he comes through and whaddayouknow, 2 games out with 3 to go. If tomorrow is like tonight, the AL East can become quite interesting the last two days. But I'm not counting on it. I think the Yanks will again go with lots of rest for the regulars tomorrow evening in Baltimore.

Yeah, with Rocket and Kennedy shut down for the rest of the season and Igawa starting tonight and possibly Sunday too. We'll see how that works out for ya. edit: Oh, and Manny is back tonight and Youk should start Wednesday. Didn't know that the Rocket would be scratched. And to blow a 5 run lead to the Devil Rays!!!!????? This is why I no longer bet regardless of my gut feel. Oh well, wiild card, here we come.

Dan: Your nightmare scenario is coming up. Yanks two out. Prediction: Yanks win 5 of next 6 while Sox split next 6. Tie for AL East winner goes to Yanks on the basis of head to head competition.

by a landslide. 31HR's, 85 RBI's, .325 BA, and he didn't come up til May 25th!!!! Still has the Brewers record for homers by a rookie. I really like Dustin Pedroia in the AL for Rookie of the Year. In the final regular season game between the Yanks and the Sox, the walk he worked off of Mariano in the 9th inning with two outs to get Ortiz up with the bases loaded after falling behind 0-2, was worthy of a hardened veteran. Does he have any serious competition in the AL?

Wow, I guess the Yanks should let up, huh, and play losing baseball and just be content to make the playoffs. No thanks, tradition won't allow it. If we don't win the AL East this year, it's not because we're just happy to get into the playoffs as you seem to be suggesting that the Sox are simply intent on doing. (FWIW, I don't think the Sox are just content to make the playoffs - Manny, he's another story however). And if we get ousted by the Angels again, well, that's baseball. The past however has nothing to do with what happens now.

The above has to be the worst letter about baseball that you have ever written. Only the supremely ignorant baseball neophyte expresses himself in that fashion. I'm not even going to take it apart piece by piece, just chalk it up to an aberration on your part. I'll add one thing. You'll never see me belittle a team's accomplishment(s) by chalking it up to "luck". I'm going to try to be gentle here, so I'll just say "Whatever". Then I will go on to repeat that the likelihood of those two pitchers going homer, homer, walk, double, single, double, single are infinitesimal. In fact, they are even smaller than I had previously presumed. When the supremely unlikely occurs, how else can it be described but as "luck"? Okajima's batting average against (lefties) is .235. He's allowed 17 walks in facing 265 batters - the likelihood of a walk is .064. Papelbon's BAA (righties) is .212. Against lefties it is .094. So, the odds are simply calculated like this: .235 X .235 X .064 X .235 (for Okajima's string) .212 X .094 X .212 (for Papelbon) The likelihood of that string of events is .... wait for it 0.0000034 If the same situation were repeated 10 MILLION TIMES, the Yankees would take the lead in the manner they did all of 34 times. And furthermore, this calculation over-estimates the likelihood because the first two hits off of Okajima were home runs, and he had allowed four home runs in 265 opponent's plate appearances. So taking that into consideration .... Well, suffice it to say that my calculator does not go out far enough for that calculation. So let's just leave it at what we have: The Yankees would duplicate their remarkable, un-aided by luck accomplishment in the same way 34 times in ten million attempts. Nope, not a smidgen of luck involved at all. Your stats are totally meaningless. What you call "luck", I call baseball. When the Red Sox beat the Yanks four straight after dropping the first three, there were a couple of plays in those four games that could have ended the series in the Yanks' favor, e.g., Tony Clark's ground rule double in the 9th inining of the 4th game which would have easily scored the winning run from 1st if the ball had not "luckily" bounced into the seats, Matsui smacking a hard line drive to right with the bases loaded in the 5th (or was it the 6th?) game only to see the ball land in the right fielder's glove, a couple of feet either way and it would have cleared the bases, etc. Instead, I applaud the Red Sox for taking advantage of opportunity no matter how "luckily" it presented itself. They won four games period. Fuck "luck", a team still has to perform when given the opportunity. Your statistical argument holds no water with me. And if you ever have the opportunity to recite such stats to a major league player or manager, they would either laugh in your face or just shrug their shoulders and say, "whatever".

The above has to be the worst letter about baseball that you have ever written. Only the supremely ignorant baseball neophyte expresses himself in that fashion. I'm not even going to take it apart piece by piece, just chalk it up to an aberration on your part. I'll add one thing. You'll never see me belittle a team's accomplishment(s) by chalking it up to "luck".

I never said we had your number. I'm very cognizant of the fact that Manny didn't play at all. If we had swept all three, then I'd be feeling somewhat fat. As for your description of the first game win, it was quite apt except for your unfortunate and somewhat poor loser use of the word "lucky". There wasn't a cheap hit in the 6 run bunch and it came against your top relievers. That's not luck my friend. And as for last night's win, the only "luck" involved was that your manager allowed Schilling to pitch the 8th, something Torre would not have done. Joba may not have been untouchable giving up that HR to one of your unsung MVP's, Mike Lowell, but that curveball of his on top of his fast ball and slider, froze a couple of Sox hitters for strike 3 a couple of times. He's a good one. This playoff season will be interesting (assuming the Yanks hold on and take the WC spot).

Damn right it was a good win even if we won't win the AL East this year. Nothing beats the sight of 30,000+ rabid Fenway fans standing up and screaming their heads off when Jeter had two strikes on him in the 8th, only to have the air go out of them when DJ socks a 3 run homer over the Monster. Simply beautiful! Have to admit that Mariano put a scare into me, hitting and walking a pair of rookies so as to face Ortiz with the bases loaded. Sick!

That first game this weekend was so long and so putrid (initially) from a Yankee fan viewpoint (the only initial highlight being Melky's strike to the plate nailing Ortiz), Yanks down 5-1, Pettite unable to pitch well and when he did cut the corner on a few occasions, the umpire's strike zone was from hell. Add sloppy fielding (Giambi letting in an unearned run, Pettite botching a grounder up the middle) and the lack of clutch hitting, I got fed up and turned it off after the 5th inning, the game already 2-1/2 hours long at that point. Needless to say, when I found out the result at around 3 AM, my joy was tempered by some disgust at myself for missing that 6 run 8th inning. And Dan, I have to admit, I thought of you and wished that I had viewed that entire game with you. I know your reaction would have been a terrifically memorable one. Ah well, Wang stunk today, but truth be told, outside of Jeter's 1st inning blast (he really surprises me sometimes with his occasional power displays), Beckett was great and Red Sox fortunes were seemingly righted. Tonight's rubber game pitting both teams' pitching patriarchs should be interesting.

After "Point of Departure", my favorite Hill recording is "Andrew!!!" - great group and compositions featuring Hutch and John Gilmore. Of the ones on the list, I'd go with "Judgment" - again I love the combination of Hill and Hutcherson.

the conn man must be ecstatic.. There was absolutely no pressure whatsoever against Brady. He didn't even have to sidestep a defender. Just stood in the pocket for 5 seconds or longer all afternoon long and then deliver. Jets' defensive scheme was simply awful and I've read that Mangini was visibly upset with Bob Sutton (Jets DC). While the Pats have reloaded and may very well go on to another Supe, the better teams, particularly in the AFC, should provide more resistance. Looking forward to San Diego's visit to Foxboro next week.

Not to mention that Ted Curson, a more sympathetic choice for Cecil, was originally chosen for the date and that KD was not at all sympatico with Cecil's approach to the music.

Box set arrived today and I've just viewed the Coltrane DVD. Wow! I had no idea that the Dusseldorf 1960 set, which contains the only recording that I know of with Coltrane and Getz together, was filmed and televised. This DVD also contains the Baden-Baden '61 set of Trane with Dolphy, as well as the Comblain-la-Tour concert of the quartet in the summer of '65. The bonus disc that comes with the box set has more Trane from Stockholm in '62. To see all the titles in the this box: http://www.jazzicons.com/