WorldB3

As someone the doesn't like either team (right now I dislike the Red Sox more) I have to say the A-Rod home run was awesome. Cano's home run swing was also thing of beauty. I give props to Beckett for going as long as he did and saving the bullpen. I know his line did not look good but there were times when he flat out dominated. With the way runs were being scored in that series he still gave them a chance. If it makes Sox fans feel any better I still like them for the Wild Card, (though huge win for Texas yesterday) if they get in you have two top front line starters and if you can steal a game on the road you come back to the one of the best home field advantages in baseball.

Just finished: As horrible as the serial double murders over several years that this book goes into what is even more frighting is the corruption and incompetence of the Italian judicial systems and police. A real eye opener and great page turner. Up next: to gear up for 9/9/09

Out Of This World off of Coltrane on the Impulse label. The whole record is phenomenal, not that any of his records gets over looked but it seems like this one doesn't come up that often in his greatest recordings discussions.

I am looking forward to see what Kevin Eubanks and drummer Marvin “Smitty” Smith are going to come up with now that they are no longer on the Jay Leno show and can devote time to their own music.

say what you want but his life time record when he get 4 runs or more is 19-2 in the orange and black, and 104-6 in his 10-year career. look at any box score from any night and a lot of teams can manage 4 runs. Well...not exactly. Zito has 41 losses against only 29 wins....in his 2 1/2 [seems like 50] years with the Giants. He has given up 291 runs, 507 hits, pitched an average of 174 innings in only 91 games [that's two innings a game on average] and has been behind in runs before the third inning this year 8 times out of his 11 losses against a 4.29 ERA. In short: Zito sucks Yes, exactly. In the 21 games the Giants have got 4 or more runs when he started he has won 19 of them. Not sure where you got your math above. For the his career with the Giants I have 524 innings pitched and 507 hits allowed. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/z/zitoba01.shtml This year he has given up 139 hits in 148 innings. Anyting less than a hit per inning is considered good. Yes the walks drive me nuts and his WHIP isn't so hot but he is now a legitimate middle rotation starter again. Doesn't justify the contract but still not as bad as you think. As for Nate, Bochy doesn't play young players, I want to see what he can do when he plays everyday. Its stupid to have hitting coming off the bench when your starting lineup lacks hitting.

On another thread I was hoping for Rowand to sit out, who hit the clutch 3 run homer so Fred Lewis could start who pitch hit k'd with runners on 2nd and 3rd and didn't even run out of the batters box. If I never see Fred Lewis again it will be too soon. Never thought I would hate a bay area player as much as Jack Cust but Fred earned it. Did the Red Sox even play last night? all I saw on the ticker was the Jets @ Patriots score.

A K2 for a record I don't own and want for the price of lunch? Ordered one also, hopefully they still have them in stock. Thanks for the tip.

Posting three since its been awhile and even though its three different genres they all share a hypnotic quality and amazing playing. Eberhard Weber - Sand Glass - Yellow Fields Richard Thompson - Calvary Cross - Live In Concert 1975 Ravi Shankar - Raga Jog - Three Ragas

This will be the only time I will say this all year but Fred Lewis should start at least 3 out of 4 games in Colorado as he has something like a lifetime 700 average there. I want Nate and Veliz to play a lot also. Hopefully Freddie Sanchez will be back for the weekend. It will be a fun series and Go Giants!

say what you want but his life time record when he get 4 runs or more is 19-2 in the orange and black, and 104-6 in his 10-year career. look at any box score from any night and a lot of teams can manage 4 runs. Nate is hitting 300, he has to be in the lineup everyday. If Rowand or Wynn has to sit so be it.

I've been snagging some Garland titles lately and fwiw, I'd go with Soul Junction before Weather, which is nice, but Soul is just more dynamic, with Trane and Byrd. For trios, I preferred Red Garland's Piano and Red in Bluesville over All Kinds of Weather, but YMMV. Don't know Prelude, but will check it out. Soul Junction is definitely on the to get list, will probably hunt that one down on vinyl and try the others off emusic. thanks for the tip.

You're tied with about 42 games left, so now every game matters. I looked at the Rangers schedule the other day and they have a pretty favorable one. The last three games against the Angels may be gimmes if the Angels have clinched and they want to rest players. Much better than last year for you, right? No doubt about it: no one expected the Rangers to be this good this deep into the season (much less at all!). Still, aside from the inconsistent bats, the Rangers' biggest problem has been their inability to beat the so-called "easy" teams: they can take care of the Angels and the Red Sox with the greatest of ease, but the Twins? How in the name of the baseball gods can a team be this good, yet blow five-run leads for two consecutive games and lose to a team that is where the Rangers usually are this time of year? That's baseball, I guess... Big Al, Didn't you hear on ESPN that the Twins are part of the most exciting division race in the major leagues? There only 5 games back, they could go all the way. There should be a law that any team under 500 should not be considered a playoff contender, at least get to a game over 500 first. Dan, Since your post above was SFW I will agree with you on Rowan and I will check out that link. Rentieria and Zito should be on that list also. In Zito's defense if you throw out the W-L record he has been quite good this year and has the best ERA on the Giants post all star break. Poor guy has had 9 starts this year where his team got shut out. Obviously though the Zito contract was still horrible. That one is more the fault of the previous owner Magowen and not the GM.

Lots of great recs here! I only have all of Red's stuff with Miles, Training In and Dig It. Will be pick up All Mornin' Long and All Kinds Of Weather asap. Soul Junction and At the Prelude sometime after that..

The A's ownership wants low attendance so they can move. Good take on it here: http://www.insidebayarea.com/athletics/ci_13002019 "That would explain the unconcern with presiding over a product not only inferior but faceless, with a marketing staff either asleep or working under severe limitation. The A's were going to ignore the chance to take advantage of their most attractive promotion for '09, the 20th anniversary of Oakland's 1989 World Series champs. It was not on the original promo schedule. With so many smart folks in the building, this was no oversight but a matter of deliberate neglect. How could an entire organization remember to designate June 6 as 1989 Replica Jersey Day but forget to invite members of their most popular team into town for a weekend celebration? Oh, right. That might have sold a few more season ticket packages, which doesn't jibe with Wolff's frequent complaints about the low season-ticket base. A cynic — and there are plenty of us — might even conclude the A's embrace this trend of declining attendance because they would like to think it might grease their exit from a place they hate with a passion. If Wolff wants baseball to fail in Oakland, and most of his efforts imply he does, he is proceeding masterfully."

He didn't mean it in a nice way, more of how come every time somebody in the press asks about Jazz why is it they only ask Wynton? He said he went up to Wynton and told him I guess your the only person that knows anything about Jazz anymore.

Fred Lewis needs to go away, no doubt. But Randy Winn? Nah. Just a rough year is all for him and Rowand. Rowand makes around 12 mil, for that money he isn't entitled to back to back rough years. I love his heart and the dude will run through a wall and play hurt but right now he is stinking it up to high heaven at the plate. At least Wynn's contract runs out this winter. Check out Bruce Jenkins today, not only did the A's screw themselves but also the Giants by getting rid of Houston Street and Carlos Gonalez for Matt Holiday.

The ease of schedule thing doesn't always play in your favor. Wasn't in 06 that if the Tigers could just take one of three versus the Royals who were terrible that year on the final weekend they would clinch the division. The Royals swept. I remember being pissed as an A's fan because it meant the A's had to play the Twins in the first round, the general consensus was that the Tigers were the weakest playoff team in AL that year.

I liked the comment about Wynton as being the only person that supposedly knows anything about Jazz anymore. Some of the stuff they played he got after a few notes so he knows his stuff. I agree some of his comments did come off as insulting at least on paper, maybe in person it came off more humorously.

Well if it keeps Farve from opening a prom night chaperone service with Mark Chmura for another year I guess its a good thing.

The thing is he was the third best pitcher on that team behind Eck and Stewart, Stewart who had a better ERA of 2.56 to Welch's 2.95 and more K's 166 to 127. Eck from that year clocks in with 48 saves, 0.61 ERA, 73 innings pitched with 41 hits and 73 K's and 4 walks. A 0.61 ERA and 4 walks for a year is insane. How the hell that team got swept by the Reds in the WS I will never know.

Big Al, The Rangers have my full blessing to sweep the remaining games against the A's this year as I think it would be great for Baseball if the Rangers got in. Its all about 2010-11 for the A's anyways so go get em! The A's are tossing Tomko out to the Yankees on Tuesday so sorry Sox and Rays fans no help from the A's with the Yankees this week. Good Speak, If the Giants come back with Fred Lewis and Randy Wynn next year I will puke. Molina had the big hr Saturday but over the last couple weeks with him, Rowand and Wynn its been some of the most pathetic ab's I have ever seen in my life. Cool bit of trivia today as its the anniversary of Steve Carlton winning his 20-game and 15th straight in 1972, the year he won 27 game for the last-place Phillies who wet 59-97. One of the most awesome pitching displays of all time.

As for the F- the Dodgers thing as a bay area native I hate them also but I don't know if its a maturity thing on my part or what but this years Dodgers squad is much more likable than the Cey-Garvey era. I don't know if its my respect for Torre but aside from I would prefer the Dodgers to not win the NL West I don't have personal issues with them, in fact I enjoy watching them play as they are a exciting team to watch. Some of their fans are jackasses but every team has those.

Brian Wilson does this "X" thing after every win/save to honor his family and his faith in God. Casey Blake was mocking him during the Giants' last visit to LaLa Land. What a jackass. Wilson's display, despite what he claims it means to him, is going to be taken as showing up the batter. The display doesn't come with a spelled out disclaimer that he's "honoring his family and his faith in God," and doing it in a celebratory manner in the wake of a win/save makes that excuse for it not only lame but disingenuous. I would agree with you Noj....if Wilson was turned towards the plate or up in somebody's face doing it. But he isn't. Fact is, he turns away and toward centerfeild and looks up to and points to the sky. I seriously do not know how anyone could see it as anything else. Would you say the same about a player who crosses himself before batting? How about when [and this is quite common throughout the MLB] that same batter hits a HR and points to the sky as he crosses homeplate? No my friend, there is no mistaking what Wilson is doing after a win/save. Besides, and here's my point, nobody else in the entire league is mocking Wilson except for Blake. Hence, Casey Blake is a jackass. Brian Wilson does this "X" thing after every win/save to honor his family and his faith in God. Casey Blake was mocking him during the Giants' last visit to LaLa Land. What a jackass. Wilson's display, despite what he claims it means to him, is going to be taken as showing up the batter. The display doesn't come with a spelled out disclaimer that he's "honoring his family and his faith in God," and doing it in a celebratory manner in the wake of a win/save makes that excuse for it not only lame but disingenuous. Even though I am a huge Dodger hater I completely agree. Scroll up to my response to Noj...then tell me if you still feel the same. And Casey Blake is still a jackass. Grrrrr I understand where your coming from on this but lets remember that Blake also apologized after he he was told why Wilson does what he does. I don't think the Giants or Wilson are upset about it at all. I think Giants fans are over reacting a bit by being upset about it. Back in Gibson and Drysdale era none of this watching home runs at home plate till the ball cleared the fence and flipping the bat or relievers making gestures after big outs would fly. K-Rod for the Mets is way over the top compared to Wilson buts we are in the TV-ESPN Sports Center era. It was it is. Speaking of getting thrown at, I know you have to protect your guys and all but twice in the last couple weeks Giants pitchers came close to hitting Victorino and today hit David Wright in the head where is was obvious it was nothing more than complete lack of control. Yes it's not cool to throw at peoples heads but looking that replays its was obvious that neither were lets hit the batter situations. Luckily it cost the Mets today as Pedro went deep after the brush back (forward in this case). Hopefully David Wright is ok as that looked very scary but no way in hell was Cain tying to hit him.

haven't gone record shopping in a while so went a little nuts this week. CD's: John Surman - Brewsters Rooster John Martyn - Solid Air (Deluxe Edition) Richard and Linda Thompson - Live In Concert 1975 Vinyl: (first two thanks to the Eberhard Weber thread) Eberhard Weber - Yellow Fields Pat Metheny - Watercolors John Abercrombie - Characters George Russell Presents: Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal - Esoteric Circle Art Blakey - Drum Suite

Brian Wilson does this "X" thing after every win/save to honor his family and his faith in God. Casey Blake was mocking him during the Giants' last visit to LaLa Land. What a jackass. Wilson's display, despite what he claims it means to him, is going to be taken as showing up the batter. The display doesn't come with a spelled out disclaimer that he's "honoring his family and his faith in God," and doing it in a celebratory manner in the wake of a win/save makes that excuse for it not only lame but disingenuous. Even though I am a huge Dodger hater I completely agree.