MartyJazz

My 84 year old father has been staying with us because his area in Delray Beach, 2 miles from Dan's place, has been without power and still is until I check this AM and hopefully find out otherwise. So Dan may still be out of luck. Get this, the southern half of Palm Beach County, where Dan, my father and I reside, has been "promised" that the latest date at which 100% of the residents will have power is November 22nd!!!!

Well, power was restored to my neighborhood in Palm Beach County today, 5-1/2 days after it disappeared on Monday, around 7:30 AM. Damage wasn't too bad, some roof tiles, a tree in front of my house bent 45 degrees or so that we straightened out today with the help of some rope and a neighbor's pickup truck. Back yard is a mess but all in all, can't complain. The weather subsequent to the hurricane was absolutely sensational all week, i.e., 70-75 degrees during the day, cool nights, no humidity, so we didn't swelter because of the lack of A/C. But no power ain't fun, e.g., cold showers all week. Will take a hot one tonight.

Roger pitched two innings and gave up 3 runs. Roger definitely was not at his best. Considering the Sox only scored two more the rest of the way, I think the Astro bullpen did a real good job.

OK, let's try to be civil to each other. Loved this game tonight. It had a bit of everything - clutch hitting (Crede and Berkman), wonderful plays in the field (Crede), excellent middle relief on both sides, and a terrific closing performance by Jenks. Great start to what should be a very good series.

If the Yanks are the wild card, who do you pick to win the AL East?

A belated very happy birthday, Chris. You are indeed a contributor in so many ways.

The proverbial game of inches. On a 1-2 count, Eckstein manages to hit a groundball that finds its way between the shortstop and the 3rd baseman. Edmonds takes one pitch for a ball that was very similar to the one the blind homeplate ump the night before rung him up on, on his way to a walk. The stage is then set for a real clutch hitter among quite a few super paid players who fail to perform when the prize really is on the line. Very exciting and AFAIAC, very welcome. I'm fed up with seeing 2nd place teams not only get into the WS but win it. I want to see White Sox-Cards, the teams with the two best records.

Interesting classical music for those who love the near or more avant garde jazz sounds is that composed by Edgar Varese, esp. "Ameriques". Don't know if the Abravanel/Utah Symphony Orchestra version is available on CD, but it's very worth finding.

Congrats to the White Sox. Four straight complete games pitched!! What a wonderful reminder of how the game used to be played. The starting pitcher is doing a great job - leave him in!! The current predilection of being satisfied if a starter can give you six innings and "only" give up two or three runs, so that the manager can then go to his middle inning relief pitching specialist who is then supposed to set up the closer, sucks IMO. AFAIAC, too many variables can lead to too many unpredictable finishes. In the meantime, WTF is wrong with the Cardinals? La Russa getting thrown out in a key game - not a good sign when a veteran manager does that.

I have to laugh. I guessed Al and Zoot but then said that "if you (i.e., Catesta) tell me it's Richie Kamuca and some other west coast tenor I wouldn't be surprised". And sure enough while your link only id'd the other west coast tenor (BP), a further search reveals that RK indeed fills out the front line.

Funny about track #8. Obviously the preceding verbal clues were enough to pin down the guy who's moonlighting on alto for this date. A check of my queue in Yourmusic.com where one can listen to a 30 second sample of each track on any CD confirms the session. All this to say that it's nice to know I'll be copping this CD for $5.99 next month as I've moved it to the top of the queue.

I was once driving in the Village one evening when I spotted Bowie and a friend/musician on the street. I rolled down my window and said hello to him as if I knew him, something like "How's it going, Lester"? Anyway, he asked where I was headed and when I replied that I was going to the lower east side, he asked for a ride for he and his buddy. Anyway, I should have written down all that was said on that ride, I just recall that it was extremely entertaining, thanks to Bowie's humor and wit.

Yeah, Sngry tagged #5's personnel all right. I knew it was familiar. I've had the LP for years, "Coming Home" is the familiar track I should have id'd. Alto leader is so little known, it's hardly any wonder this is a hard track to pin down.

Got this BFT a little late but I'm listening to it around 1:30 in the morning with the volume somewhat low so as not to wake up anyone here. Haven’t looked at the previous responses but will be sure to do so once I post this. 1) An old Warne & Ted favorite, I believe it’s “Smog Eyes” from the JAZZ OF TWO CITIES date, based on “There’ll Never be Another You”. Great swinging start. 2) Another two tenor feature on the standard “Indian Summer”. These guys are also very Pres influenced but without the intervening Tristano approach prevalent on track 1. A good guess here would be Al (heavier tone) and Zoot (lighter), but if you tell me it’s Richie Kamuca and some other west coast tenor, I wouldn’t be shocked. 3) Mainstream orchestral take on Duke’s “I’m Beginning to See the Light”. I hear Hawk and the inimitable Bud Freeman. Whoa, now I got it. I should have recognized the trumpets sooner - Cootie and Rex, a real all star date that I haven’t listened to in many a year but it’s come back to me now. This is no doubt from their LP (I don’t have this on CD) THE BIG CHALLENGE. 4) Entertaining flute work but I’m hopeless when it comes to id’g flautists. I’ll take a stab though at the guitarist who reminds me somewhat of Kenny Burrell. Trombonist is probably a familiar name also. 5) Well, I definitely hear Harold Land on tenor, but cannot place the alto player nor the trumpeter. Yet the track sounds so familiar to me, I’m almost positive that I have it on some obscure LP. Can’t wait to find out who this is. 6) Tenor is of a 50s mainstream/R&B style that’s never done too much for me. No guesses. 7) “Solitude” with some Ducal pianistic flourishes but definitely not the composer. No idea who. 8) “East of the Sun”, very enjoyable version. Have no idea who this altoist is. 9) Like this track a lot but again, cannot even venture a guess. 10) Rhythm changes, really “out” tenor, very unique. Like this track a lot. Want to know who this cat is. 11) OK, that’s Hodges definitely on alto. That vocalizing in the background is a pain in the ass and I know I’ve heard it before. Ah, I got it – I could never understood why this track starts off an historic meeting of Duke and Hawk, an Impulse date that has a few tracks superior to this one. 12) Down home blues. I should know the trumpet, sounds very Roy like. Tenor is unmistakably Lockjaw. 13) “More Than You Know”, done in a Benny Goodman tribute vein. Now I hear the applause. Hey, why can’t it be Benny, perhaps in one of those many live dates he did sometime during the ‘50s or ‘60s? Yeah, I’ll stick with B.G. until you tell me otherwise. 14) Another mainstream performance, this time on jazz’s “national anthem”. Norvo on vibes, Shavers on trumpet, maybe Remo Palmieri on guitar, I would guess. 15) Could only be Errol Garner. Don’t know the track. Lotta fun listening to this one. 16) Like this track, that break up by the ensemble breaks me up. First trumpet’s gotta be Clark Terry or I’ll be shocked if it’s not. Another trumpet sounds like Don Ellis. Have no ideas otherwise. Very enjoyable BFT. Looking forward to the answers.

One thing I've noticed throughout these AL playoffs is that Orlando Cabrera is definitely performing a ton better than Edgar Renteria did when the Red Sox were alive. Knowing also that ER made quite a few errors during the regular season, how do the Red Sox fans here feel about letting OC go in order to pursue ER?

That was one of the worst home plate calls I have ever seen. Just terrible! While I'm rooting for the White Sox, I was hoping that Crede would make the third out and that the game would go into extra innings because I hate to see a game decided on a blown call. But with an 0-2 count on Crede and room to waste a pitch or two, Escobar throws a strike over the heart of the plate, what are you gonna do? That umpire crew is going to get quite a greeting in L.A. come Friday.

Same here.

Ichiro and Hideki on the same team!!! Well, it's obvious that they would be frequent dinner buddies that's for sure. Yet I suspect that he'll re-sign with the Yanks - assuming he still wants to stay in the majors - and that playoff performance notwithstanding, the Yanks would want him back. And, despite all conjectures to the contrary, I think Torre will manage the Yanks another season. Objectively speaking, when you lose 3/5 of your pitching staff for all or most of the season, and you still get into the playoffs as a division winner, ya gotta cut the guy some slack IMO. Anyway that's how I feel. George is nuts if he thinks he can hire Pinella and get the same kind of levelheaded restraint from criticism as Torre shows. We'll see.

Unfortunately for this Yankee fan, you guys knocked A-Rod pretty good and he sure didn't disappoint you. And the difference between him and "Captain Clutch", aka Derek Jeter, when it comes to quality hitting in a must game will never be more glaring. The guy who really surprised me with a bad hitting performance however was Matsui - 0-9 in the last two games with lots of bad outs, e.g., pop ups with men on base. Oh well, I thought this team had too many weaknesses to go all the way, but I am surprised they're knocked out this early. Go White Sox!!!!

You'd have a better chance with Small on the hill than Chacon. The Sox pounded Chacon and I won't be at all surprised if the Angels do the same. Halos in four, and the Yankee drought goes another year longer. Between that and having the Division Championship streak snapped (do NOT tell me you're "champions" based on some silly tie-breaker, the records were exactly even and because of a stupid MLB rule, it wasn't decided on the field. That makes you co-champions) I'd say a Steinbrenner eruption might still be on the way. ← I wouldn't dream of insisting that the Yanks won the AL East Division, that's your big hangup not mine. When you're a Yankee fan, all you really care about is World Championships, AL East is just one step to get there and with the advent of wild cards, that's not even necessary anymore. However for the record, all the books, media, Internet sites, etc., that keep track of such baseball stats will record that the Yanks did win the AL East and that when a tiebreaker is decided on the basis of a head to head matchup edge that the Yanks did indeed win, there really is no cause for dispute. What you and any Red Sox fan insists about "co-champions" status doesn't mean squat.

Well, Yanks are in big trouble, a fact that I'm sure does not upset too many on this board. Hey, if I hadn't been raised a Yankee fan, I'd hate them also. In any event, weaknesses always have a way of being spotlighted in the playoffs. And the one big weakness of this year's Yankee edition has been middle relief, coupled with inconsistency from the one pitcher the Yanks were counting on to take them to the big show - Randy Johnson. I like Chacon's chances today, but if the Yanks do prevail, it sure will be tough to get another good performance from another inconsistent pitcher, Mike Mussina, especially in L.A. Oh well, we shall see.

Well, then y'all are just about due for another one, doncha think? That said, I'm far from counting y'all out either. Boston's a proven post season contender, and I'm sure that you guys are all drooling over the idea of a rematch of last year's ALCS. So, I have to hope that Freddy works his magic on the road again today. Either Dan or I will be talking shit in about 2.5 hours or so, methinks... ← Well, start talking!!! Congratulations. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this last game once El Duque came in. If the Yanks get past the Angels, it definitely will be tough getting past the team with the best record in the AL. (To think that El Duque and especially Contreras might do us in, ugh!)

Thanks a lot Johnny. I was 14 at the time, the best age for devouring baseball stats that for some ridiculous reason stay with you forever.

Having always been an American League fan, I recall watching the '59 World Series on TV and being quite happy with the first game's result: White Sox 11, Dodgers 0. These Sox lost the WS in 6. So while a 14-2 victory is very nice, I wouldn't put too much stock in it. Anyway, I read this morning that Contreras partially credits Ozzie Guillen for his success in that the manager personally speaks to him in Spanish. Gee, is that what Torre needed to get the most out of this Yankee bust? Just think Dan, if Torre could speak Spanish, you just might change your mind about his managerial prowess.