Matthew

You'd think the batting coach would say: "Hey, he pitching inside, get off the plate a bit." I mean, if you're the Twins, how do you not get what the pitching pattern is?

Man, that's like the third no-no this year, isn't it? Combining those two trains of thought... It be's that way sometimes, no doubt. I'm just sayin'... Looking at the chart, it's amazing how, with all the lefties on the Twin line-up, Weaver camped out on the inside corner, and he never left. Only nine pitches on the right side! I wonder if Weaver got more on the inside calls as the game went on?

Pablo Sandaval out 4-6 weeks with a broken hemate bone in his hand. Major bummer, the Giants' offense just went from bad to worse. I'm just not feeling the vibe with this edition of the Giants. Brandon Crawford looks awful at short right now, he just made another error. Yikes!

The Dick Van Dyke Show. Season One. Amazon had the complete set for the "Deal of the Day" for $66.99, and I jumped on it. What a great and funny show, Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke make such a wonderful couple, and Millie cracks me up all the time. Top Ten show of all time, easy.

Is there ever fair weather in Seattle? August 23, is usually the summer season....

The series was to end after the 40th Anniversary. I thought after seeing the Cool Revolution box cover they'd reissue everything from that but I guess not. I understand the reissues they put a LOT into like "California Concert" didn't sell as they had hoped according to Doug Payne. Richard Seidel was looking into reissuing the entire "Turrentine/Hubbard: in Concert" date as well as the legal issues surrounding "CTI Summer Jazz at the Hollywood Bowl" (unedited/untouched tapes probably DO exist). Shame because this CTI reissue program IMHO was the best one ever in the US. I guess CTI really doesn't sell in the US except for the well worn titles. I loved the series they did last year, and I bought everyone. I'd just love to see this series continue, but it probably won't happen *sigh*

In what capacity? Grunwald has had the interim tag removed as GM. I don't see Isiah as Coach as Woodson has done a good job and injuries have depleted them, first Lin, now Shumpert and Jeffries is very limited because of his knee. Isiah will be "Special Assistant to Dolan" next season, which is really GM-in-fact-not-in-name.

The Dallas / OKC game was a really good one to watch. We'll see what's up with the Lakers without Meta World Peace.

....and doing "The Wave"; football schtick. Classless is as classless does. Even with all that, it was by far the loudest, most involved Dodgers' crowd in three years. It was great to see & hear, brought back memories of when the Dodgers actually mattered.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yD0Uee15MA&feature=related

Dwight Howard calls owner, demands that SVG gets fired. Rinse, cycle & repeat. Howard is now in LaBron territory in terms of destroying his image.

That's what I was thinking. The Brewers moving was never going to happen, Bud Selig fought tooth-and-nail to get them into the NL. Guess when you're the Commissioner, you put this protective aura around the team that you own, so it gets to stay in the NL, it's key player doesn't get suspended (what a surprise, the only case ever overturned ), etc. Edit: ever to never to ever

One of my favorite Veeck promotions: They just don't make them like Veeck anymore....

Larry Doby and Eddie Gaedel AND SATCHEL PAIGE. Veeck is one of my baseball heroes.

I don't know this part of the history as well as I'd like, but was Larry Doby going to roll out with the Indians no matter what happened with Robinson, or was there a "wait and see" thing going on there? No, it was going through regardless. Bill Veck was the owner of the Indians at the time, and he was committed to breaking the color barrier. In some ways, I wished it was him, it would have made a great story, and Doby was no slouch either as a player or person. With Branch, there is more than a touch of the charlatan involved, but that touch is what probably made him so great.

Horace Tapscott: The Dark Tree. Played this about three times in a row. Wonderful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04zbFueiBMI

I was so thinking about it, but I already bought the ELO set this week, and I couldn't justify to myself buying so soon afterwards. Besides, I have TPF DVDs! Come on, everybody get happy!

The Partridge Family: The Complete First Season. Danny Bonaduce & Dave Madden have to be one of the funniest tandems ever. This would get me kicked off the Hoffman site, but I like the Partridge Family more than the Monkees. PS: WTH??? Music by Benny Golson? I never realized...

A whole 6 games? This kind of stressin' leads to heart attacks. A-Rod goes yard in his first AB against the Angels today. Guess I'll just ignore that pain in my left arm and the shortness of breath. Can't say I've been too impressed with the Angles, or Pujols, so far. Maybe it's just that they're one of those teams that bore me to death, along with Atlanta (sorry Berigan!), Oakland, Toronto, and Miami. Snooze Ctiy when these teams are involved.

The Dodgers actually look like the have the makings of a decent team this year. Nice game by Billingsley last night; Javy Guerra gets his fourth save; Ethier is looking healthy and interested in playing some baseball. Kemp, of course, seems to be pissed-off that he didn't win the Triple Crown & MVP last year, so he's going to try to do both this year -- talk about a player putting all the pieces together, he really is the best player in baseball right now. There are some people actually showing up for the games now, so it might be a good year for The Blue. The NL West seems to be very competitive this year, with the DBacks, Dodgers, Giants, and Rockies vying for the lead. The Giants though, wow, Lincicum didn't even last three innings last night, he really looked bad, he now has a ERA of 12.91. I loved how the Giants announcers declared that Lincicum "has is stuff tonight" after just two pitches! The dangers of being a homer I guess. 17 runs, that's pretty bad, even if it is in Denver.

The Rangers have another very good team and they're going to be tough to beat. That would be something, to have both Wild Card teams come out of the AL West, but it could very well happen. I guess you're talking about the Rangers & Angels, but if both WC teams come out of the West, who actually wins the division? Oakland or Seattle? Neffie's debut as a starter got severely underplayed in the media, thanks to the twin-hype overkills of Yu Darvish the night before & Ozzie Guillen the day of, but - some of us were worried about his mental toughness, especially after Game 6 last year. would there be any hangover, etc, but no, this cat was DEALING. Walked two in the first, but after that, nothing. No sweat, total poise, incredible command of his off-speed and breaking stuff, and, when needed, that fastball. Seven innings, four hits, hands it over to Adams & NAthan, BOOM, game over. Not even 2:30 long, if my wall clock can be trusted. There's only been something like, four or five 1-0 Ranger wins in Arlington, ever. And last night was one of them. FELIZ!!!! I'm an old man of fifty-three, I forget details.... a lot. My mind hasn't turned to 2012 yet.

The Rangers have another very good team and they're going to be tough to beat. That would be something, to have both Wild Card teams come out of the AL West, but it could very well happen.

Amazon Deal of the Day: The Complete Dick Van Dyke Show $66.99 One of my all-time favorite shows.

Yes, with Shane Victorino hitting cleanup, I'd definitely say so. But the pitching can keep you in the hunt, just ask the 2010 SF Giants.

Happy Birthday