Explanation, Please

Pitchfork Media, the best site on the web for indie news, reviews, and interviews is curating the Intonation Music Festival this summer in Chicago. It figures to be a terrific event. Two days of affordable live music with acts as diverse as.....well, screw it. I really couldn't care less about some of the acts on the list, so let's just keep it to the good ones. The Wrens, AC Newman, Broken Social Scene, and the Decemberists lead off the good bands. I guess Les Savy Fav and Xiu Xiu are OK, but I really haven't gotten into them yet. At one time, the Fiery Furnaces were on the bill, but they've magically disappeared. And it appears that gremlins have gotten hold of some of the other details as well. To wit, the following was posted at Pitchfork on April 5th:

The gates will open at noon each day, and there will be no advance tickets (which means no dealing with the evils of Ticketmaster or scalpers). Admission will be $10 at the door and certain proceeds will go to benefit the Chicago Park District's after-school music programs. The park is located at 1419 W. Blackhawk St. Stay tuned to Pitchfork and the websites below for more information and updates to the lineup.

Sounds simple enough, and a bit of a maverick way of going about selling tickets. Only 1o bones per day, and all at the gate! No service charges! Kudos, Pitchfork. But then, somewhat curiously, this appeared just a few days ago:

Tickets are on sale for Pitchfork's Intonation Music Festival. We will be rocking Chicago's Union Park on Saturday, July 16 and Sunday, July 17. Tickets are $15 per day, and a limited number of $22 two-day passes will be available, as well. For ticket information, visit the Intonation Music Festival website by clicking here.

Hmm. Tickets are on sale, yet the event doesn't begin until July 16. That sounds like an advanced sale to me. And tickets have magically risen $5 per day. But hey, don't fret, because if you act now, you can get a two day pass for $22, saving $8 in the process, right? Not so fast, my indie friend. Yesterday I purchased my $22 two day pass. Only, to do that I had to make the purchase online. And guess what. After a $3.50 shipping charge, and $3.50 service charge, I save a whopping $1. That should be enough to buy perhaps an ounce of water at the festival. And for the record, the location changed as well, from fairly convenient Pulaski Park over in the Wicker Park area, to less convenient Union Park in the West Loop, or whatever the hell they call the area west of the West Loop.

Now, this is all gonna seem like whining, and it is to a certain extent. I can't deny that. But like I said, it's not like I won't go. There's at least three bands that I REALLY want to see, and $29 for that is more than reasonable. What gets me is the fact that there's no explanation. I understand changes in the lineup. Bands are added, bands drop out, etc. But geez, a 50% increase in price with no explanation. From no advanced sales and "We're doin' that all for you" to advanced sales and service charges.

So to recap:

Lineup = Excellent
Location = I can't complain
Price = Still quite reasonable
Changes = I can live with them
Lack of explanation = What the fuck?!

Amazing! Angels 2; Indians 1

Of course, I mean that somewhat sarcastically. I'm a lot less shocked that the Angels had 20 in a row set down than I am that they actually scored two runs.

I can't comment a whole lot on this one due to the whole "being at work" thing, but the numbers more or less speak for themselves. Two somewhat tired lineups after last night's marathon (at least, it seemed like it lasted about seven hours). Bartolo apparently had it going, and Westbrook was facing the Angels, so both pitchers gave up very few run scoring opportunities. Shields was tremendous yet again, scoring fantasy points for my bench (thanks, Angels).

Four and Two on the current road trip, with three to go in LA. Hell, 4-5 would be susccessful, so the rest is pretty much gravy. But after that article in the Times today about how the Dodgers are big cry-babies, I'd really love to shove it up their ass for a couple of games.

Day off tomorrow, so I'll try to come up with something that alienates half of my six loyal readers. Hey, I get more hits from google and technorati when I post something about music.

Addendum to previous post Re: Scheyer

I'm just gonna say this once, unless the urge strikes me to say it again and again, which it probably will. For two consecutive years, Bruce Weber has FAR exceeded expecations at the University of Illinois. He exceeded expectations at Southern Illinois for a few years before going north to Champaign. The dude can flat out coach. While people may have convinced themselves, then tried to unconvince themselves, that Scheyer was the be all and end all of the 2006 class, the truth is that he wasn't. He's a very talented player who deserved all of the accolodes that he's received, and will probably have a solid career at Duke. But the bottom line is this: Bruce Weber is going to get who he is going to get, and he's going to turn them into winners. It's what he does. He just wins. He takes what he has, and he exceeds expectations. He's done it again and again, and as long as people doubt him, he's going to keep doing it.

Weaver, Scheyer: Ain't Gonna Happen

Weaver:

The Angels have roughly a week to sign Jered Weaver, but with each passing moment, the signing looks less and less like a possibility.

"It doesn't look like it is going to get done," Stoneman said. "If it doesn't happen, then it doesn't happen."

Pretty much sums it up. Meanwhile, 3,000 miles aways sits about $5MM of Angels' investment, patiently waiting to make his way across the Gulf of Mexico to the USA. The minor league draft is a little over two weeks away. Apparently major league rules prevent the Angels from drafting Weaver again, although I suppose it would be pretty funny if that were to happen.

In the meantime, what looked like solid pitching depth in the minors is struggling this season, and the one prospect who has been living up to the hype just proved on a national stage that he's still a couple years away. This whole thing has been a fiasco from the start. The Angels are a week and a half away from having nothing to show from both the first round AND the Morales signing. In the meantime, they're major off-season acquistions are barely hitting over .200. Paul Byrd appears to be coming around, and he may be the only saving grace of the 2004-2005 off-season. The less said about all this, the better, it would seem.

Scheyer:

Glennbrook North Star Jon Scheyer chose Duke yesterday over the University of Illinois. On one level, I can't blam the kid. Supposedly he's been a Duke lean since he was 14, and one fantastic season by the Illini isn't going to change that. On the other hand, his high school coach is Bruce Weber's brother, who ran the same system that turned Deron Williams into a lottery pick and made Dee Brown and Luther Head NBA material. Kids go to Duke and don't get better. Honestly, Elton Brand has been the best pro produced by Duke in recent years, and if he had been two years older, he would have gone straight to the NBA. I don't wish injury upon him or anything, but there'd be some serious Schadenfreude if he either a) turns out to be so good that he pulls a Livingston and goes straight the NBA, or b) just really, really sucks at the college level. But damn, that is going to be one uncomfortable season next year at GNHS.

Weber has already received a commitment from one top prospect (Semrau) and is in on several others (Sherron Collins, Brian Carlwell, etc.). This is a young Illini team, and if they can land a couple of blue chippers for that 2006 class, they could be competing for a national championship when those kids are sophomores playing alongside Calvin Brock, Sean Pruitt, and Brian Randle.

Plus, UCLA will be very good for the next few years (especially in 2006-2007), so any rebuilding by the Illini will be tempered by the inevitable success of the Bruins.

Well, that wasn't altogether unexpected

Not what one would call a shining debut. Santana went 4 innings, allowing 6 earned runs on 8 hits, 3 walks, and one strike out. Ben Broussard and Travis Hafner hit home runs, with Broussard's completing a cycle in the first inning after Grady Sizemore tripled, Coco Crisp doubled, and Hafner singled. He was not getting the benefit of a large strike zone, forcing him to work behind early, and he paid for it. He has excellent velocity, and appears to have a good breaking pitch, but he needs to work on the movement on his fastball.

Coincidentally, his former namesake has also been very disappointing tonight. Johan Santana allowed three runs in the first inning of the game between the Blue Jays and Twins. That's bad news for the Guzzlers, as I rely on big points from Santana every week. I'll be lucky to get ten out of him tonight.

Kevin Gregg showed that the Angels were really no better off going with option B, coming in and giving up 2 runs on 3 hits in his first inning (it's the top of the 6th as I write this). The offense hasn't really come through in clutch situations so far. Of course, as I write that, Molina drives in a run while McPherson gets himself thrown out at on a close play at third base. Not a good night for the rookie, who also struck out on a pretty bad check swing call.

It becoming increasingly apparent that the team that won five stragight was an anomoly. They're back to being the team that can't win more than two straight. This is going to be a very frustrating season. Fortunately, the rest of the division is crappy too.

Angels 3; Injuns 1

Excellent effort by Paul Byrd, despite an uncharacteristic three walks. Solid defense behind him again for the most part, until Chone Figgins botched a double play grounder in the 8th (behind Brendan Donnelly ). Figgy just ain't right lately. His fielding has been a bit suspect, and he hasn't had a hit in about six years. But once again, the pitching and defense picks up the sluggish offense.

The contact play, which has been oddly successful this year, had a 50/50 night, accounting for a run in the 6th, but also accounting for an out just one batter later. It was a weird baserunning game for Vladimir Guerrero. He got doubled off an a line drive in the fourth, made a nice play to get to second on the bad-hop/error by Sizemore in the sixth, got cut down at the plate on the contact play in the sixth, then stole a base in the eighth which eventually led to an insurance run. You take the good with the bad, I guess.

Excellent work from Scot Shields again, who sits on the Guzzler's bench. Francisco Rodriguez looks like he'll be sidelined for at least a few days, pending the results of an MRI.

Dear Angels,

If you're going to sit a player down for a while, please make these decisions on Sundays, so that I adjust my fantasy roster accoringly. Failure to do so cost me 33 points tonight (depending on what happens in the Rangers/Sox game).

Sincerely,
Me

One thing I noticed about Shields tonight is how quickly he works. I don't
necessarily mean that in a Mark Buehrle way, but rather, the amount of time he takes to get rid of the ball from the time he starts his wind up is very small. He's like the anti-Nomo. I wonder what sort of affect that has on hitters, especially when you're bringing it at 95 mph. It's a quick, smoothe delivery that doesn't provide a real timing point for the hitter. It's something I've never heard discussed, so I could be completely off the wall with this, but I noticed it for the first time tonight, and if that didn't help him, then he sure is doing something right, because he made Hafner and Crisp look foolish.

Three and one start to the road trip. Quite frankly, if you had told me they'd go 3-6 on this trip, I would have been pleasantly surprised, so maybe they can take a couple more and head back the Big A on the heels of a successful trip.

Tomorrow is the kid against the failed prospect. Scott Elarton was supposed to really be the man a long time ago when he came up with the Astros. I don't know if the time in Colorado screwed him up, and certainly injuries have played a part, but he's never really panned out (of course, these are the famous last words before his two hit shutout tomorrow). Ervin "don't call me Johan" Santana takes the mound for the Halos in his major league debut. I know I'm looking forward to it.

Okkervil River Setlist Update

See this post for details. Props to Vicki Heather (man, I'm dumb).

The Pitcher of Tomorrow...TODAY!! (link)

Rob McMillin reports on an release by the Arkansas Travellers that Ervin Santana has been called up and will start on Tuesday against the Injuns. Major League Baseball confirms. It goes without saying that Tuesday's start will be the most anticipated of the young season. At least for me, in which case I guess it goes *with* saying, because if it's not anticipated for others, than that kind of blows the whole "goes without saying" thing.

Santana has pitched pretty well this season after struggling through injuries last season. To date, he's posted a 5-1 record in seven starts, and a 2.31 ERA in 39 innings, with 32 strikeouts and 15 walks. He's got a WHIP of 1.26, he's allowed only two homers, and opponents are hitting just .234 against him. As I posted yesterday, he was held to 30 pitches in his last start in anticipation of this call up, so he should be rested. I'm a little surprised by the strikeouts, as he's always been a high strikeout guy. I would have expected about 10 more than he has, but I'm not complaining.



He looks like a happy dude. He should. You're in the big leagues, son. Make the most of it.

Late to the Live Blogging

Because it's still too cold to play golf, you, the lucky readers, get to witness the result of live blogging today's game. I had to clean the kitchen, however, so I'm starting in the third inning.

• Wow, this inning has had everything. A walk, a bunt that puts pressure on the defense, good baserunning, some help from the umps, and some timely hitting. An RBI single from the OC, a bases loading bunt from Rivera, and Bengie with a three run double. Six runs in one inning. I repeat SIX RUNS IN ONE INNING. Hell, that's more than I expected on the enire road trip. That may actually be enough for Lackey.
• Note to the Tigers broadcasters: Nope, Nate Robinson didn't discover anything in that last start against Texas.
• Bad throw by Cabrera, but a nice turn by Kennedy to get the double play. It sure is nice to have him back at second base.
• Kotchman upate: 10 for his last 15. Three more hits yesterday. He appears to be getting back on track. His average is back up to .270 after his horrendous start.
• WOW! That ball was absolutely hammered by Rivera. I'm beginning to feel a bit more comfortable abou this game. 9-0 Angels in the top of the fourth. Seriously, he crushed that ball. It would have been a homer in the old configuration.
• Double play to end the fourth. I have a hard time on double plays like that one. Was it a great play, or was it just a great job of fixing screw ups? It reminds me of the Ichiro catch about which I recently wrote. Certainly Erstad did a great job. Kennedy made a great turn on another tough play, but made a bad throw that Erstad had to fix. Let's just call it even and two outs.
• Carlos Guillen gets thrown out stretching a double into a triple. Good call. He looked out at full speed, but if you slow it down on TiVo, it's even clearer that he's out. So what do the Tigers' broadcasters say? One needed one replay to say he was safe, the other needed two. So when they slow it down and watch it again, a frozen frame showing the glove on the leg before the foot hit the bag "Well, it's really close". Whatever fellas.
• Lackey with another strikeout. Six strong innings, one run allowed. Lost in the hoopla over the inept offense has been the fairly decent work by the starters. Keep it up, guys.
• Two Tigers hurt in this game. One is on a fantasy team of mine. That's not good.
• Dallas drew a walk. Normally not of note, but he did a good job fouling off some tough pitches and keeping the at bat alive, then he laid off a very tough pitch. Good sign. Sometimes when guys foul pitches off, they get in that swing, swing, swing mode. Dallas, of course, starts out in that mode, so when he can lay off a tough curve ball down and in, that's good to see.
• 113 effective pitches for Lackey. He tired a bit at the end, but he was solid throughout. Another quality start, and for once, the offense chipped in to help him out. Good job, John.
• Stop the presses!! Kevin Gregg threw a wild pitch!! Will wonders never cease?
• Nook Logan is given a base hit on a ball that was totally booted by Kennedy. What the hell have happened to the expectations from major leaguers when every single routine grounder is all of the sudden a "tough play" where booting it shouldn't be an error?
• 9-3 final score. Not necessarily a good job of ham-n-egging it, but a win is a win, and they needed this one. Good start to the trip. Let's see if they can keep it going in Cleveland.
  

Hey, ya know who would make a great manager?

Mickey Hatcher. Hey, Kansas City, you should hire this guy. Now. Hurry, before someone else snatches him up.

Angels - very few: Tigers - more than the Angels (game 2)

Another game in which the Angels offense makes the opposing pitcher look like Cy Young. Washburn wasn't awful, but he was worse than his numbers look to this point. Another first inning in which he was bailed out by his defense. Home runs to noted sluggers Craig Monroe and Brandon Inge. But really, the way the offense looks, once he gave up the homer to Monroe, he was pretty much going to be a loser. Give up one run, give up a hundred. Once you give up one, it's over.

Hey, remember when the Angels offense used to be good because the didn't strike out too much? Me too. And we can't even blame McPherson. We're through five innings of game 2, and they've already struck out 15 times today. 15!!!! Bonderman is good, but he only went six innings. Maroth is mowing them down throwing nothing but fastballs for strike one, then just taking what they're giving him. McPherson gonna stand 15 feet away from the plate? Just throw sliders away. Easy. Even the pitch-watchin' A's are striking out less than the Angels this season.

Note to Mike Scioscia: THIS is when you conceded runs. When you're up by 3 in the 6th against a team that really really sucks at the plate.

Just when you think there's a bit of life, they go right back and suck it out of you. Losers.

Angels 4; Tigers 2 (game 1)

Well, that's sort of how it was supposed to work. Get a good effort from your starter, push a few runs across to get a lead, and turn it over to the bullpen. Colon was limited to five innings due to the rain delays, but the Angels bats came alive in the sixth and produced a couple of runs to tie the game. In the seventh, they added two more on a perfect squeeze bunt by DaVanon (who played surprisingly well), which led to a wild throw, allowing Kennedy to get to third. Kennedy then scored on a passed ball from Pudge. It didn't get too far away, and a great play might have had him. But let's just say German doesn't move to cover the plate quite as quickly as Frankie.

Horrible start to this one, with Bonderman really dominating in the early innings before the Angels finally got to him for two runs, and before the rains came back. Tremendous relief work from Donnelly (two innings), and Shields (one) who both made the Tigers just look foolish. Frankie had it going early, but seemed to lose his location, walking Inge on five pitches, and the first pitch was probably a ball as well. Frankie had Pudge pretty well taken care of, but I-Rod got just enough of one, and put it in just the right place, to pick up an infield single, and bring the winning run to the plate. But Frankie relaxed and got the grounder to short to end the game.

Let's face it. Wins and runs are very scarce right now, so they need every bit of both that they can get. This was a much needed good start to the road trip, because the rest of the trip could get ugly.

Big question for the day: Are the extra innings folks smart enough to realize that these teams are playing a double header today, and if so, will both be televised? I'm guessing a generous 'maybe' on the former, and an almost sure 'No' on the latter. The other game they have scheduled for that channel doesn't start until late on the West Coast, so that shouldn't be an issue. But it would be almost anathema to these folks to actually think ahead for once. I'll gladly eat crow if either a) I'm wrong and it is televised, or b) neither team is carrying the second game (but I'm 99% sure that at least the Tigers are carrying it, and we've had the Tigers feed all day). We'll see if they carry it on MLB.com.

Congratulation, Comcast! For once, a complete fuck up isn't your fault!

A change in the odds

The other day, I posted this:

Gregg: 2 to 1
Bootcheck: 6 to 1
Woods: 10 to 1
Four man: 50 to 1
Santana: 200 to 1

Those were the odds I gave each of the candidates to replace Escobar in the rotation during his stint on the DL. Those odds are changing radically. The news odds look like this:

Santana: 3 to 1
Gregg: 5 to 1
Bootcheck: 15 to 1
Woods: 50 to 1
Four man: 200 to 1

Why? Just got this bit of news from Kevin Goldstein's excellent Prospect Report, available at Baseball America

LAA E.Santana 2.1 IP, 0 h, 0 r, 1 bb, 3 k - held to 30 pitches, possible spot start for Angels coming

Looks like a pretty good sign. It's either gotta be that, or another injury concern.

Science - Schmience

Rainout tonight, so not much baseball junk on which to report. So in it's place, I thought I'd let you know that science is a crock. The truth lies in Giblets.

Friday Random Ten

I think Amanda at Pandagon stole this from Tbogg, and I usually post it over at her and Jesse Taylor's site, so I figured I might as well start doing it here, then I can just copy and paste. I think the idea is that you set your iPod to random and list the first ten songs, or if you're a cheater, you skip the ones you don't want anyone to know you've put on your iPod. Me? I don't have an iPod, so I use Rhapsody, which ends up doing pretty much the same thing. So here goes for this week:

• "Waterfall" - The Stone Roses
• "Get Off" - The Dandy Warhols
• "Mansion in the Sky" - The Brian Jonestown Massacre
• "Dylan" - Throwing Muses
• "Mambo Sun" - T. Rex
• "Breezing Up" - The Ocean Blue
• "Dream All Day" - The Posies
• "Drink To Me Babe, Then" - AC Newman
• "The Have Nots" - X
• "Pwdyn Wy 1" - Gruff Rhys (that's not a typo - the album is in Welsh)

Feel free to leave your own in the comments, all two of you. More Angels crap tonight.

Spoon Update

First off, the new album is terrific. Standout tracks so far seem to be "My Mathematical Mind", "Sister Jack", and "I Summon You", but they don't stand out too much, because the rest is so damn good.

But anyway, they're on Morning Becomes Eclectic right now from KCRW in Santa Monica. Same deal as the other live shows. A short set, a little interview, and a closing set. A good introduction to Spoon if you haven't heard much from them. The link to the audio and video will be live on the MBE page for a while (meaning a few weeks). Then it will be archived.

Setlist:

• The Beast and Dragon Adored
• The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine
• I Summon You
  
• Sister Jack
• Break for Interview
  
• Utilitarian
• Everything Hits at Once
• Someone, Something
• My Mathematical Mind
  

If you're like me and listen to this stuff at work, it's a good site to peruse and check out some live performances of bands you might like while having it play in the background. Of course, you can do this at home, too. Or wherever else you damn well please. Who am I to judge what you do in your spare time?

They've archived a ton of performances. Personal favorites are performances by the Dandy Warhols, Doves (who will be appearing soon), the Beta Band, Ivy, the Arcade Fire, and well, so many more than I can't list them all. That's what the search feature is for.

Earlimart w/ Okkervil River and Kevin Devine at Schuba's

That's right, lucky readers, you get concert reviews of bands you've never heard of on back to back days!

Earlimart

WoW! These guys kicked some serious ass. Loud. Very loud. For those unfamiliar with Earlimart, they're a lo-fi act out of LA (I believe Aaron Espinoza has a studio in lovely Eagle Rock). If you listen to their albums, it's kind of a mix of slow stuff, somewhat low key yet more up-tempo stuff, with a few rockers thrown in there. Not in person. Sure, the slow stuff is still slow, but everything is loud. And boy, do they rock. One of the best shows I've EVER seen. Keep in mind that Schubas is tiny, like half the size of the Double Door, which is also tiny. It's like seeing a show in someone's stomach one night, then seeing a show in the stomach of a person who had gastric bypass the next night. And they have Blue Moon on tap, so thumbs up for Schubas, but I digress. The set list, to the extent I can remember (and as a bonus, I'll try to do the first couple in order):

• First Instant, Last Report
• The Hidden Track
• We Drink on the Job
• The Movies
• Sounds
• All They Ever Do Is Talk
• A Bell and a Whistle
• Broke the Furniture
• Unintentional Tape Manipulations
• Heaven Adores You
• Burning the Cow
• There were a couple in there that I didn't know, and they might have played Dreaming Of, but I can neither confirm nor deny that.
• The Valley and 808 Crickets was piped in as sort of mood music between songs
  

All in all, it was a pretty good set, in terms of songs selected. I can't really think of anything that I wanted to hear that they didn't play, although it would have been cool if they'd played their cover of R.E.M.'s "Strange", available on Rhapsody. Anyway, I can't complain. Good mix of old stuff and new (of course, I recently got into them, so it's mostly all new to me). I thought they might skip Burnin' the Cow, but they opened their encore with it by request, and I'm guessing that if they play a similar setlist every night, it's probably always the first requested in the encore.

This was another in the "bands with babes" series, building on last nights Raveonettes/Autolux/Peels show. This trend should continue if I go see Ivy next month. This isn't the most flattering picture of Arianna Murray, but she's pretty attractive in person. And she plays a mean bass, and keyboards to boot.


Espinoza is a master at finding the right sort of ambient sound at key points in the song, which make the keyboards especially important. The best examples of this are at the end of "Heaven Adores You", the chorus of "All They Every Do is Talk", and through "Unintentional Tape Manipulations". This creates sort of a secondary epiphany, at least it did for me. The first few times I heard these songs, I thought "hey, this is a really good band, and stuff that I could really get into." Then on about the fifth or sixth listen, I heard that extra instrumentation at the end of "Heaven Adores You" and thought "Holy crap! This song is incredible!" Now I listen to it again and again just waiting for that payoff, and it never disappoints. You can go to their site and stream them for yourselves (click on songs-->newsletter-->stream tracks). You'll see what I mean.

By the way, did I mention how loud it was? And that's not a bad thing. I love it loud.

Anyway, it was a terrific show. I'm starting to sound like someone who fawns over every band I see. Truth is, it doesn't take that much to entertain me. And if I leave entertained, I'm not gonna complain. And last night I was at a great venue, listening to good bands, at a place that sells Blue Moon, so I was more or less gonna be entertained no matter what. Anyway, on to the other two.

Okkervil River

Never heard of them before, but they had a bit of a fanbase at the show. There were a couple of people who seemed to know every song. Big act (six guys) for a tiny stage, but they made it work. These guys were very good. I was impressed as I could be, considering I had no idea what to expect. These guys are available on Rhapsody, so I would imagine that I'll spend part of the day familiarizing myself with their stuff. I can't even post a partial setlist, although I know they played a song called "Blacksheep Boy" (see below) and one called "Kansas City", which prompted someone in the crowd to confuse everyone by requesting it as "Home of the Barbeque". Man, that was a lame joke (his, I mean).

**UPDATE**

Per the comments (and thanks for visiting, Heather - you're now the second visitor who got here in some search engine contrived manner - please come back, oh, and don't let all of the Angels stuff scare you away), it turns out that I screwed up the setlist, which is tough to do when you only post two songs. Although I did notice that the Blacksheep theme made it into a couple of songs when I listened to some of the album on Rhapsody the other day. So the following is the updated setlist. If it's wrong, blame Heather. Although, I know she got the second and last songs in the right order, so she's probably not only right, but also has the right order. She's only a commenter, and she's already written the most accurate thing on this blog.

• Some Weird Sin (Iggy Pop cover)
• For Real (this one honestly really did rock)
• Westfall (makes you jealous, huh BHW)
• Get Big
• The War Criminal Rises and Speaks
• The Latest Toughs (not to be confused with Spoon's 'The Minor Tough' available on A Series of Sneaks).
• Seas Too Far to Reach
• Red
• Song of our So-called Friend
• A Favor
• Kansas City (the only one I got right)
  

Kevin Devine

Another person I'd never heard of, but he was pretty entertaining as well. Kind of what you'd expect from a singer/songwriter, and seemed like a pretty good natured guy. Kind of reminded me of Jeff Mangum, though not quite as good. Admittedly, that's a virtually impossible standard to live up to. It's like saying UCLA's basketball team this season reminded me of Illinois, but not as good.

Anyway, an evening of quality entertainment, in a quality setting, with quality beer, garnished with quality orange slices. I give the evening a big thumbs up.

Escobar to the DL

This just gets better and better, don't it? Double whammy, as he's the only player from the Angels on my fantasy team. Still, it's pretty impressive to get nine k's with a messed up arm.

So who replaces him? The Rev's got a thread and poll over at Halo's Heaven. I can't imagine that they'll go to the four man rotation. I think Gregg is the most likely candidate, because it fits pretty well with the safe route that management likes to take in these types of situations. Personally, I'd give Bootcheck a shot. Let him sink or swim. They've been waiting long enough, he's been solid this year. Let's see if he can earn a role. Woods looks like the other candidate, but I like his left arm in the pen. I see it like this:

Gregg: 2 to 1
Bootcheck: 6 to 1
Woods: 10 to 1
Four man: 50 to 1
Santana: 200 to 1

The Raveonettes, Autolux, and the Peels at the Double Door (5-11-2005)

The Raveonettes

Did you ever find yourself listening to a Buddy Holly song and thinking "Damn, I wonder what that would sound like if it were covered by the Jesus and Mary Chain?" No? Me neither. But it appears at some point that Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo did, and just like that, the Raveonettes were born. Anyway, I already posted about these guys a while back, and on repeated listens, my opinion hasn't changed all that much. But they are somewhat of a guilty pleasure. They do tend to get stuck in your head. Listen to "That Great Love Sound" a few times and tell me I'm wrong.

The live show, I'll admit, was fantastic. To start with, I was in a pretty good spot, about 15-20 feet from the stage, right in the middle. The Double Door can sound kind of crappy if you're on the edges, but the sound is pretty good if you're in a good spot. This is a band who's stuff lends itself well to live performance. Loud, heavy on the guitar, pretty up-tempo. The following is an incomplete and out of order setlist:

• Attack of the Ghost Riders
• Beat City
• That Great Love Sound
• Noisy Summer
• Let's Rave On
• Heartbreak Stroll
• Little Animal
• Untamed Girls (I think)
• Chaingang of Love (I think - I could just be remembering how much the dudes standing next to me wanted to hear it)
• Love in a Trashcan
• My Boyfriend's Back (Yes, that one)
• Red Tan
• Somewhere in Texas
• Twilight
• Ode to L.A. (complete witht the Ronnie Spector part piped in)
• You Say You Lie

I'm not real familiar with the new album, Pretty in Black, so I might have missed a few there. Twilight and You Say You Lie were probably the highlights (I think they closed the first set with Twilight, and if I'm right, that was pretty awesome, and they probably should have finished on it). They did play a fair amount from the exclusively b-flat major Chain Gang of Love, and the exclusively b-flat minor Whip It On. The lovely Sharin Foo was hotter in person.

Yowza!!

You could tell that this is a band that really seems to enjoy performing, and feeding off the packed crowd, they generated enough energy to power a small city. Considering that this is a performance that I seriously considering skipping, I came away pretty impressed. Final verdict: I wouldn't be surprised if I made the effort to see them again.

Autolux

Let's face it, these are the guys I came to see. I love their album Future Perfect, and I was really looking forward to their live set. I also was looking forward to seeing Carla Azar in person (who may or may not be dating Giovanni Ribisi - they apparently have a lot of young actor fans).

She's the girl

For the most part they didn't disappoint. They were loud, drenched in feedback, and generally interesting to watch on stage. While I normally hate to complain about the setlist, well first, here it is, to the extent I can remember:

• Turnstile Blues
• Subzero Fun
• Blanket
• Robots in the Garden
• Asleep at the Trigger
• A couple more that I can't remember

The problem is that they left out Angry Candy, Sugarless, and Here Comes Everybody. Hey, it's their setlist, and they'll play what they want, but personally, those three tracks plus Subzero Fun were what I was really looking forward to hearing. Oh well. They were still worth the price of admission, and I'm sure I'll make every effort to catch them next time they're in town.

The Peels

Never heard of this band before last night, but they were pretty good, even though I missed the first song or two. I'm not even gonna make an attempt at a setlist, although I know the last song was called Lay. Robyn Miller is the name of the lead vocalist as this was apparently a three babe gig with Azar and Foo. She was pretty hot herself, and man, she can belt out a tune. I can't find any pictures of her, so you're just gonna have to take my word for it. Kind of a deep voice that reminded me of Kristin Hersh in sound if not so much in style. Pretty much a straight forward rock band that really got into it on stage. I'm planning on doing a little research into them. I don't know if I'll like them in a week, but they certainly entertained for the half hour or so that they were on stage.

Day Game

Have I mentioned how much I hate day games? Well, I do. At least on weekdays. I'll semi live-blog this one while I'm still around. I'm meeting my cousin for dinner at 5:30 CDT, so I'll probably miss the end.

• Nice start by Kelvim. That's 8 of the last 9 outs by Angels pitchers recorded by way of the strike-out. Shields struck out the side in the 8th last night, Frankie K'd 2, and Kelvim matched Shields in the first today.
• Finley batting second? I can't argue with it. Let's hope it shakes some things up. Hey, he's in scoring position, so......GA base knock brings the run home, and HEY!!! two games in a row with a lead in the first inning. It must feel like hitting the lottery for Kelvim.
• The OC gets a hit! That makes him one for last 19 (and by implication, 2 for his last 20).
• Erstad with the day off. Probably a good idea. You figure it can't hurt, but then again, you just hope it's not one of those days that an error at first, or a ball that isn't scooped, doesn't cost you the game.
• Pitch out on a two one count following a walk. We'll see if Kelvim can pitch around it.
  
• One pitch later, Crisp goes and takes second (on a strike, obviously).
• And a walk. Two on, one out. I really question the value of that pitch-out.
• Indians anouncer mentioning that Escobar isn't really bringing it this inning. The two walks speak for themselves as to his command. Possible that this could be Escobar's last start for a while? I hope the arm isn't acting up again.
• What the?? I know this thing jumps around a bit (the computer broadcast is occasionally unreliable), but where was I when Broussard homered? Damn!
• HO-HO-HOSAY!! That's nice to see.
• I didn't think that was a strike to GA. Admittedly, I might be biased.
• Broken bat. Infield hit. Wild pitch. One hard hit ball, and just like that, the game is tied.
• 2nd and 3rd with no one out, and the Angels play the infield back. Tough situation, I guess, but conceding a run when you're offense really, really sucks isn't a very good idea, in my opionion. And it ends up costing a run. We'll see how much it hurts.
• 10 straight retired by Cliff Lee: Ahhhh, that's the Angels offense I remember. On the bright side, they're already losing, which means this one is pretty much over. At least I won't be missing too much at dinner.
  

"I just don't see a reason for any optimism"

It could just be posturing, but it looks like bad news on the Weaver front. Stoneman doesn't think it's going to happen, although Arte is still holding out hope.

Weaver, the 12th overall pick in the draft, was seeking a signing package in the $8-million range. The Angels offered the choice of a five-year major league deal for about $5 million or a minor league deal with a $4-million signing bonus.

That's a gulf as wide as the distance between the Dominican Republic and Anaheim.

Angels 5; Indians 4

Good win to help halt the momentum a bit. If they get a good effort out of Kelvim tomorrow, scratch out a few runs, then maybe all of the sudden a three game losing streak turns into a two game winning streak. There were some good signs tonight. Timely hitting (Josh Paul?), fantastic relief yet again, some struggles from Byrd, but another quality start. They picked up a run in the ninth despite a blunder from Vlad. The last few games, they wouldn't have had a baserunner to screw up, so even the screw up was a good sign. The infield single by Kennedy was lucky, but clutch. Those are the types of things that have to happen for a team to turn things around. Very nice play by Cabrera to end the game, with a good strong throw (blog foreshadowing). It's got to be nice to know, as an infielder, that there's a vacuum at first who's going to suck up almost any mistake you toss his way.

That brings up a question, and I'd love to hear any responses. Consider it an informal poll, as unscientific as it can be at a site which has seen all of five commenters to this point (and that includes me). Orlando had to range to his right to make that play, get up and fire it to first to get the final out. Does Eckstein make that play, and if so, does he make it look easier, and why? Superior positioning? Quicker lateral movement? I'm not sure he makes the throw if he starts it from the same position. I guess the question is, does he end up in the same position as Cabrera, or does he field it in position to throw? I don't have anything negative to say about Cabrera's defense so far (or McPherson's for that matter). I just wonder, 33 games into the season, what people think about the comparison of Cabrera and Eckstein defensively now that we've had a chance to see a fair amount of him (admittedly, I hadn't seen that much of him until last year's playoffs)? Keep in mind that I was watching the game on the computer (see post below), so I didn't have the chance to rewind and watch that play a couple of times.

Pitching matchup favors the Angels tomorrow (Escobar vs. Lee). The good news is, Kelvim is used to the Angels never scoring any runs, so it shouldn't rattle him. Day game, which sucks. That means I have to keep minimizing the screen when people walk by my desk. That's really gonna suck in the new building, where there will be less privacy. They're probably going to expect me to actually work and stuff over there.

I hate Comcast. With a passion

So it's a night later, cable is working again, with one small caveat. Only 9 of the 10 MLB Extra Innings channels are currently working. Which one is out, you ask? You guessed it. The one showing the Angels and Indians. Hey, Comcast, why not come over and drink all my beer while you're at it. Cocksuckers.

As of now, Byrd pitched well through the first inning. Tonight's contest will be to see how long the Angels can go until the unofficially lose, also known as when the opponent scores their first run. I'm betting on the third inning. For a sub-contest, let's see how long the Sabathia carries his no hitter. I'm guessing it gets broken up with one out in the seventh.

**UPDATE**

Vlad busts it in the first. Good job, Vlad.

OH! MY! GOD! The Angels actually scored a run! Two, to be exact. GA breathes life into the Angels offense!

5th inning:
I haven't seen Garret Anderson hustle all season. It just cost them at least one base. Hopefully it won't cost them a run.

Byrd got out of it. But he's given up two runs, and that's not gonna be good enough with this offense. Prediction: Another quality start, but the Angels still lose 2 to something more than 2.

Bottom 5th:

Prediction fails again. Josh Freaking Paul!!

6th: Byrd flirting with disaster again. You can't keep letting the other team back in it when you aren't going to get many runs. This is a freaking offensive explosion for the Angels, and if they lose this one, they might not win for another week.

Bottom 6: Great dive by Vlad. Which makes me think, God-damn our outfield is slow. They've looked like they were in their fifties tonight. Anderson loafs to ball and turns it into a triple. Vlad looks like he needs a cane half the time. Finley gets thrown out stealing. These aren't things you want to see in your outfield.

Shields, looking good. Again. Man, I love our bullpen, and I'm not afraid to admit it. Wow, a 3-2 curve ball. He's feelin' it. He strikes out the side. Well done.

Hey, is it just me, or is that redhead in the USPS commercial hot (the one where everyone in the office loads her up with boxes, which she eventually uses as cover so that she can eat a sandwich in peace) ? They do the glasses thing, and the overwhelmed look and whatnot to try to make us think that she's average. Sorry, not buyin'. She's hot.

Vlad - 3 for 4. Starting to wake up. Good sign. Then he falls asleep on the basepaths, costing the Angels a run. Bad sign.

Frankie gives up the jack, but does a good job of throwing the breaker for strikes. He gave Sizemore no chance but to swing at strike three. You could really see the difference to Boone and how effective the fastball is when he throws the slider for strikes. Boone could lay off the pitches way off the plate, but when Frankie came back close to the zone, Boone couldn't help it. Strike three. Great play by Cabrera to end the game.

Meme that nobody asked me to tackle

I wasn't going to do this, but the Angels have been pissing me off, and Norbizness did it without anyone asking him, so screw it, I'm gonna do it.

Top Five Lyrics that Move Your Heart

1) When the earth is ripe, all the worms wake up, in their stars and stripes, and their swastikas. There's a cure in sight, set your soul at ease, for the red and white, and the blue disease. - Grant Lee Buffalo from "Stars and Stripes" off of Fuzzy - Long before the right wing takeover, Grant Lee Buffalo knew what to expect.

2) Your prejudice won't keep you warm tonight. - The Smiths from "What Difference Does it Make" off of the first album - I always thought this lyric seemed a little misplaced, but somehow not. I can't really explain it.

3) You know they don't give a fuck about anybody else - Super Furry Animals from "The Man Don't Give a Fuck" single - Gruff and the boys knew of what they spoke when they ended the "Rings" tour with this one. Played while images of Stalin, Hitler, and Mussolini played in the background on tour, they could have snuck in duh-bya, and no one would have noticed.

4) I'm on a three day binge on the lunatic fringe, from Riverside all the way to Livermore. - Michael Penn from "Like Egypt Was" off of Resigned - Having attended school in Riverside, and having just received a postcard from a good friend in Livermore, it's a good reminder that Michael Penn always brings home the L.A. references.

5) We look to Los Angeles for the language we use, London is dead - Morrissey from "Glamorous Glue" off of Your Arsenal. I grew up when Morrissey was at his KROQ peak, and although 'Your Arsenal' was released after that peak, as an Angeleno by birth (and at heart), this lyric has always sent chills down my spine.


Top Five Instrumentals

Umm, I'm not sure I can think of five instrumentals, but here goes

1) "Rob's Theme" - Charlatans UK from Tellin' Stories - Tribute to the late Rob Collins

2) "(A) Touch Sensitive" - Super Furry Animals from Rings Around the World

3) "109 pt 2" - Charlatans from Some Friendly

4) "People are Expensive" - Echobelly from People Are Expensive

5) "Electric Mainline" - Spiritualized from Pure Phase


Top Five Live Musical Experiences

1) The Charlatans w/ Black Rebel Motorcyle Club - July 2001
Right after the bar exam, this was the best Charlies show I'd ever seen. Previewing the new material was nice, but the tiny venue was the best.

2) The Exile Follies - Grant Lee Phillips, John Doe, and Kristin Hersh - When you can see three of your favorites in a small club with the type of rapport that they bring, you never forget it.

3) Super Furry Animals at the Abbey - A friend of mine tipped me off to this show before I really knew about the Furries. I dove into their recent catalog to prepare, and Gruff and the boys didn't disappoint.

4) The Dandy Warhols at the Metro- Three hours, no opening act. 'Nuf said.

5) Electrafixion at the Galaxy - Nothing compares to seeing a legend on stage for the first time.


Top Five Artists You Think More People Should Listen To:

1) Spoon: I think Britt Daniel is gonna hit the big time sooner or later, but we might as well make is sooner.

2) the Super Furry Animals: Enough influences to appease everyone, and they put those influences to use in the best possible ways

3) Earlimart: Lo- Fi, LA, everything that's good about music

4) The Wrens: Meadowlands might be the best album in the history of unintelligible lyrics.

5) AC Newman: No one does power pop better.


Top Five Albums You Must Hear Start to Finish

1) Radiohead - OK Computer

2) Belle and Sebastian - Tigermilk

3) The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses

4) The Super Furry Animals - Geurilla

5) The Beta Band - Hot Shots II


Top Five Musical Heroes

1) Ian McCulloch - Not only does he continue to write great music, but he's still the King of Cool.

2) Grant Lee Phillips - Incredible musician, and a super nice guy

3) Marc Bolan - Seems like a lot of my favorite songs are T-Rex rip-offs (The Dandys' 'Hit Rock Bottom' and Supergrass' 'Seen the Light' come to mind).

4a) Dominique Durand of Ivy - What's not to like?


4b) Sonya Aurora Madan of Echobelly- Incredible vocalist, and she once responded to an email. And she's purdy.


5) John Squire - Wrote all the best Stone Roses stuff.

I think that covers everything. I'm not passing this to anyone. I just figured it was a good timekiller, and I like talking about music.

Suck

That's all I can say. I'm pretty pissed right now, so I'm just gonna bullet point this one:

• Dear Comcast, there is a phenomenon that often occurs in Chicago in the month of May. It's called rain. It's not unexepected. SO WHY THE FUCK IS MY CABLE OUT!! I could live with the loss of the Angels game, mostly because they're really, really bad. But you also caused me to miss 24, which I wouldn't have cared much about 2 months ago. But now that we're down to the wire, you go and fuck up on a Monday night. You people are morons, and you suck.
• Darin Erstad - nice agressive at bat. Hey, ya seen one fastball, ya seen 'em all, right? Apparently not, because you needed to see two more go right down the pipe just to be sure. You suck.
• Dallas - I've been patient, and I've been rooting for you. I imagine that the fastballs that Erstad saw were so pretty, you must have felt like you needed to see one up close. I hope it was worth it. You suck.
• Jose Molina - Nice double. You don't suck yet.
• Lackey - Hey, give up one run, give up a hundred. They ain't gonna score, so unless you throw a shutout, you're screwed. Don't let it get you down. You might suck, but it doesn't matter.
• Figgins - Not your fault. When you strike out looking on a pitch over your head, it's not your fault. Angel Hernandez, you suck. But then, you've ALWAYS sucked, so it's no big surprise.

I can't watch this crap anymore.

Pathetic: Angels - something (maybe); Tigers - a lot more

Washburn has struggled in the first inning of his last couple of starts, but he's been bailed out by his defense. Jeter and Ichiro, respectively have both been thrown out at the plate in those starts. Well, you can't get bailed out by the defense when you let them hit it where the defense can't catch it.

Bad Washburn showed up in the third, giving up three straight singles, a three run triple, an RBI single, an RBI double, then I threw up and stopped caring. Scioscia, didn't however, and yanked J-Dub. Let's be charitable and say this wasn't exactly a quality start.

Understatement of the year by Rex Hudler after Kevin Gregg came in and walked four batters (walking in two runs in the process): "This in not what Mike Scioscia and Bud Black had in mind bringing Kevin Gregg in here." Thanks for the insight, Rex.

8-0 after two and a half innings. I may call it a day on this one.

No Comment

I shall defer to those who witnessed this debacle, as I was busy boozing it up with the likes of Jack Vincennes, IL P-daddy, Vince Galloro, scotto, Dejesus Freak, né True Blue, et al. I'm guessing Bonderman had it going, and the fat man got a little of the Kelvim treatment. Oh well, they're gonna lose sometime, and Bonderman will make a nice replacement for Lackey/Washburn/Byrd when Arte decides to bring him over.

On the bright side, this meant about 100 points for the Guzzlers, and I'm kicking some serious ass this week. Ah, first place. It will feel good to be back in your good graces.

Weaver Talks Back On

According to the report linked above from the Times (trust me, there's a link there), the Angels have re-opened talks with first round pick Jered Weaver. Of course, the headline makes it sound a lot better than the article does. According to the report, Boras says they've made concessions, the Angels say the still hope to get something done, blah, blah, blah. No specifics, just a faint glimmer or hope.

With Weaver, the Angels farm system would probably go from one of the best to THE best. He would join Steven Shell, Joe Saunders, Ervin Santana, and the Terminator, Chris Bootcheck (who refuses to die and has regained prospect status) to make up one of the best collections of arms in the minors, and that's before factoring in Nick Adenhart, whom I suspect we'll be hearing about more in the future as he recovers from Tommy John surgery. Add that to the array of bats on the farm: Alberto Callaspo, Eric Aybar, Howie Kendrick, Brandon Wood, Reggie Willits, Casey Kotchman, Nick Gorneault, and Jeff Mathis. Then there's Kendry Morales, who may too old by the time he actually finally gets to America. In addition, there's Sean Rodriguez and Warner Madrigal down in Cedar Rapids who are struggling so far, but hey, Brandon Wood struggled there last year, and he's kicking ass now.

The future looks good, even without Weaver. But damn, I'd sure like them to bring him into the fold.

Shout Out

Big thumbs up to Rob McMillin (6-4-2), Mat Gleason (Halos Heaven), and Black Hawk Waterloo (Chonicles) for linking to this page. Since I've finally decided to make a go of this for longer than about three days, it's nice to see some traffic actually making it's way here. Anyway, if you somehow end up here, and you've never been to their sites, well, your probably here by accident. But check them out. You can find links to their pages on the right, and they're all a little better at this than I am, so you won't be wasting your time.

Angels 4; Tigers 3

Darin Erstad taketh away, but hey, Darin Erstad giveth as well. In the first inning, Erstad apparently didn't learn from Figgins' stupidity the other night. With runners on first and second, nobody out, and Vlad at the plate in the bottom of the first, Erstad was thrown out trying to steal third base. Now, we could bicker and argue about the old rule that says you never make the first or third out at third base. But no matter your opinion of that cliche, you DEFINITELY DON'T DO IT WITH VLAD AT THE PLATE!!! Anyway, Vlad flew out, and GA hit the weakest single in the history of baseball that still scored a runner from second thanks to some heads up baserunning by Figgins.

I've been waiting for Vlad to drop a fairly easy pop-up. It took a little longer than expected, but he finally did it in the first inning. Fortunately, there was a runner on first who had to hold on the short fly ball, and the Angels were able to record the out at second. No harm, no foul, no error.

I've run out of old man nicknames for Finley, but that's OK, because he's beginning to play like a younger man again, if only just a little. Before the game started, I was thinking about writing something about how even though he wasn't hitting, he was delivering some big hits (and in all fairness, he is hitting for power). He beat me to the punch by ripping a two run triple to retake the lead in the fourth inning, then an RBI double in the sixth to provide some insurance, which turned out to be pretty darn important. While I still find his range to be incredibly untrustworthy, I'll take what I can get.

In the eighth, Bill Miller decided to change the definition of the word "strike", and the pitching suffered. Escobar threw a terrific game, getting stung only by a solo shot in the top of the second from Marcus Thames (who would go on to strike out looking in his next three at bats). He got touched up a bit in the eighth, and it took Shields a batter or two to figure things out for himself before striking out Thames. Which brings us back to Erstad. With two outs, and the tying and go ahead runs in scoring position, Shields got a grounder from Ramon Martinez. It ticked off his glove, and Adam Kennedy had to make a quick throw to have a chance. The throw pulled Erstad nearly off the bag, but with an incredible stretch, he kept his foot on the base and recorded the out to end the inning and save the lead.

In the ninth, it was Frankie time. He threw a lot of pitches, got a video game type strikeout of Nook Logan (I think Jose had thrown it back the mound before Logan started his swing), walked Brandon Inge, and got a game ending ground out from Pudge on the most anti-climactic at bat of the inning.

So five in a row, and the Angels have a 3.5 game lead in the West. They're starting to assert themselves a bit in the standings, and they might be going on the 8, 9, 10 game run that they're gonna need at some point to create a little distance in the standings. Tomorrow it will be the Fat Man vs. young boy in a matchup of Colon and Bonderman. Both have been pretty good for the most part this season despite some road bumps. It's another game in which a Guzzler faces the Angels. The Angels are 1-0 in those matchups. After a five game win streak, and a heck of a good fantasy week to this point, I'll be pulling for the Angels to extend the streak, but hopefully Bonderman escapes with a quality start and a no-decision.

Rat Bastards

Some asshole decided not to put tonight's game on Extra Innings. Therefore, I'm stuck watching it on the computer. I'm not happy about it. I was going to be stuck listening to it, but I couldn't take it, and bought the package again. I am a weak, weak man.

Spoon

We are now about 5 days away from the release of 'Gimme Fiction', the fifth full length album from Spoon, aka America's Finest Rock Band. If you're not familiar with Spoon, they're a band out of Austin, Texas, which has a pretty thriving local music scene and hosts the annual South by Southwest Festival, and the Austin City Limits festival . They cut their teeth on Pixies style minimalist rock, with loud, crunchy guitars, short songs (many under three minutes), and an aggressive vocal style. Their first album, Telephono, is pretty tough to find, or tough to find cheap. Last I checked, it was going for over 50 bones on ebay.

They were signed to Elektra when they released their second album, A Series of Sneaks. They were dropped by their A&R man, Ron Laffite, just four months after its release, which inspired Britt Daniel to pen two tracks that appear as bonus material at the end of ASoS, "Laffite Don't Fail Me Now", and "the Agony of Laffite". ASoS is similar in style to Telephono, and it contains one of the coolest short rock songs I've ever heard, "Car Radio".

Their style changed with the release of album number three, Girls Can Tell. Less aggressive, smoother, a bit more slickly produced, it was a step in a new direction. More thought out, less spontaneous. Fewer obvious Pixies influences, a bit closer to something you'd expect from R.E.M., but the good R.E.M., before they got crappy.

On their fourth, the incredible Kill the Moonlight, Daniel discovered the piano, used to remarkable effect on "The Way We Get By", one of a number of standout tracks, including Small Stakes, Jonathon Fisk, Back to the Life, Someone Something, and Don't Let it Get You Down. The slick grooves of Girls Can Tell continued to evolve, but they brought back some of the spontaneity of the first two albums. You can find reviews of the most recent three albums, as well as the Love Ways EP from Pitchfork (once again, I've gone above and beyond and done the search for you).

They bring even more energy to the stage than they jam into their studio tracks. You don't realize how hard hitting a short rock song can be until you're pummeled with 12 of them in a half hour. The minimalist style transfers flawlessly to their live performances (at least the one I saw), and Daniel certainly has a charisma that is fairly engaging. Of course, that's pretty much from a two year old memory of their show at the Abbey in May of 2003. They'll be at the Vic in mid-June, and I'll probably post a review at that time. They had this nasty habit of hitting Chicago right about the time I was leaving town last year. They played the day I left for Alaska in June, and the day I left for home in December. This year, I'm planning vacation around their show.

The first six or seven tracks from Gimme Fiction are available for streaming here, and they're worth a listen. Daniel gets into a Tim Burgess circa Wonderland style falsetto on "I Turn My Camera On", and the piano is back "My Mathematical Mind". There also seems to be some dubbing/backing vocals on a couple of tracks, which is the first I've heard of that since Telephono. It's a welcome change and adds some depth.

I don't know that this will make them a commercial success, but FWIW, they're playing the Vic this time around, which probably holds three times as many people as the Abbey, so maybe that's a sign that they're building a fan base. Good and bad, I guess, as I love the Abbey, but I'm lukewarm on the Vic. It's certainly my most anticipated show of the year.

Angels 5; Mariners 2

The crazy 5:30 pm CDT start forced me to miss the first three innings. It was already 2-0 before I left the office, and it was 4-2 before I got off the red line. Some of us have to work, ya know. Actually, the more I think about it, one of the benefits to staying in the Mid-west is that I can pretty much see all of just about every game. The East Coast games start at 6:00, and if I can get out of the office by 5:30, I'm home in time to see the whole thing. That would all change if I moved back home.

Anyway, since I missed most of the scoring, I really don't have a lot to comment on. Vlad was the victim of a simply atrocious call at the plate. Good throw from Ichiro, but Vlad was clearly in before the tag. Once again, the old "tag? what tag? If the throw beats him, he's out" laziness of the umpires strikes again. The only really other notable thing was Chone Figgins being a MAJOR dumbass getting picked off second with nobody out and Vlad at the plate. That cost the Angels a run as Vlad walked, and GA drove one off the right field wall that took a bad carom right to Ichiro.

Solid outing from Paul Byrd, which is another in a string by Angels pitchers. One of the reasons has been how they've handled Beltre and Sexon. They've completely shut those two down. Of course, as I type that, Sexon drills a single to left center. Nice play Geri in center field to hold him to a single.

One crazy thing about this series has been the following stat (brief pause while I look it up): 12 walks for (make that 13 now; oops, 14), 5 walks against. They had none yesterday, but I didn't think I'd see any games this season in which the Angels drew five unintentional walks. They've done it twice in the last three games. Right now, only the White Sox have a better ERA, and the starter ERA is also second. Only the otherwordly 2.82 starter ERA of the Sox is better than the Angels 4.02, which will go down to 3.97 after today's strong effort from Byrd, 3.71 if you take out Kevin Gregg. In 2002 they had better pitching than expected. Of course, they had better everything than expected, but I still think this is a good start.

One thing about D-Mac that's worrying me (and I didn't see him play in the minors, so I could be worried for no reason), he doesn't seem to pull the ball all that much. Don't get me wrong, I like to see him go the other way, but not ALL the time. I think he's still trying to find his swing. That's OK. I'm patient.

Frankie comes on with a three run lead. 17 strike outs, no walks to this point. That's a pretty decent ratio. Jeremy Reed with an awful bunt for out number one. Tough guy to bunt on. Does one - well not even city, but state - does any geographical region have two relief pitchers who are as fun to watch as LA.? Frankie and Gagne (when healthy) are two one inning guys who are worth the price of admission. 18 strike outs, no walks. That's just filthy, filthy, dirty stuff. Dave Hansen to the plate for his first at bat of the season. Is that even fair? Make a guy take his first AB against K-Rod? Add to that, he's got an ump with a flight to catch who just called a strike on a pitch about 8 inches off the ground. And just like that, Hansen grounds out, the Angels sweep, and have won 4 straight.

Time for a day of rest, a good night for me to head to the driving range (it's supposed to be 70 degrees tomorrow), and a day to gear up for the Tigers, who are no longer gimmes.

Angels 5; Mariners 2

IT'S A MIRACLE!! The Angels have won three in a row!!

The Angels knocked it around in the first inning, got a little help from Olivo and his poor defense behind the plate, and parlayed that into a 3-0 lead which they wouldn't relinquish. The old man of the outfield went deep again, 2nd time in two games and 6th this season, to add a couple of runs to the cushion and Frankie put his jacket back on. Decent work by Shields, giving up only a meaningless run in the bottom of the ninth (and congrats to Shin S00 Choo in his first MLB hit and RBI).

Tex Lackey pitched a pretty solid game, which is (hopefully) becoming a trend for the starters. That's four not-awful starts in a row, and three downright good ones. He almost had his Lackey inning in the fifth (see post below), which was partly Jose's fault. The first runner reached on a strike out/wild pitch. But he got Beltre to look downright McPhersonesque on two straight sliders/curves to end the inning.

Speaking of Dallas, another rough night. 0-4, with two strike outs. Experience, brotha, experience. Just keeping seeing pitches, gaining experience, and getting comfortable at third. Your time will come.

Good night for the Guzzlers, so far. A 1-2-3 ninth with two K's for Mr. Zero netted me some nice points, and if the Dodgers can hang on, it will make a decent/not great start from Jeff Weaver look a hell of a lot better. Burrell went deep in his return to my lineup, and Carlos Lee had a productive night. Blalock is not sucking as much as he did last week, and Jose Uribe is back in the lineup, which is a relief. Of course, he comes back and Chase Utley gets the bench. Whaddya gonna do?

Bad feeling

3-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth with two out. I don't have a good feeling about this game. I think Reed is about to rip a two run double which will mean the beginning of the end. I hope I'm wrong, but, well, I just hope I'm wrong.

OK, so he walked instead of doubling. Great. That brings Beltre to the plate with the bases juiced. Wonderful. This may serve as my recap for the night if and when the Angels blow this.

Strikeout. Sorry, that was just some of my patented reverse psyochology. Nice of Beltre to look foolish on the same pitch twice in a row.

It's French, bitch!

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Ted Hitler, aka Stephen Colbert will be getting his own show. I think this is good news. Sometimes overexposure can hurt your favorite TV characters. As much as we used to long for Simpsons spin-offs (Police Cops with Wiggum, I'm No Longer Illiterate starring Mayor Quimby), sometimes those characters can't carry a whole show. I think if Comedy Central does this right, they can pull it off. Colbert is just that funny. I, for one, will be eagerly anticipating this.

So you should watch it, if you have the balls! Do ya? Do ya have the balls?!

First softball game of the season

Last night was our first tilt in Darien since last summer, and for me it was the first time I'd been on the field since October. Things didn't go too bad, although we lost pretty handily. The wind was blowing out, and each team reached their complement of four homers per. I was one for two (I'm calling that a hit), with a walk and run scored.

Not much going on in the field. I think we only recorded two or three outs in the outfield all night. In left, I basically only a had a few chances on base hits, but they're an agressive running team, so I feel good that no one took an extra base on me. They wore me out in the fourth inning (damn, I'm outta shape), with a homer wayyyy over my head, and few line drive singles, and fly out before I was really ready for the pitch. Pretty routine play, but it's tough there under the lights, so I don't take anything for granted. I need to catch with two hands, though. I don't worry about a lot of fundamentals, but that's one thing that I've always prided myself on. This time I'll blame it on being slightly out of position after coming on to the field after the previous homer.

If we can shore of the left side of the infield, I think we'll be OK. Must have warmed up just right because my arm was sore today. Felt great to be out chucking the ball around again. Looking forward to next week.

Angels 5; Mariners 0

Another interesting start from Washburn, another first inning where the Angels cut a run off at the plate, and another sparkling performance turned in over the rest of the evening. Wash seems to be getting a ton of ground balls this season, which is a great development. If he can keep the ball in the ballpark, he's going to be a MUCH more effective pitcher. Now the Angels will look to do something tomorrow night that they have been unable to do all season: Win three games in a row.

From the believe it or not file, Steve Finley had two hits, both for extra bases (a homer and a double). The home run came on a pretty good pitch, a curveball that Finley took from about a foot off the ground. G.A. absolutely crushed the ball that he hit out, and he hit another one pretty hard, too.

Alright, let's get to the catch. I've already heard it from my dad on this one, but I'm sorry. Great athletic feat? Sure. Great catch? Not hardly. I was instantly reminded of the lay-up that Jordan scored against the Lakers in the 1991 NBA Finals. You know the one. The one where he went up with the right hand, completely unguarded, clear path to the basket, but for some inexplicable reason, he switched to his left hand and layed in a basket that he could have dunked. It's like running 180 feet through traffic crossing three streets at intersection to get to the corner that's 60 feet away when you had a little green man calling you across. Pretty dangerous and impressive? Sure. Pretty stupid? Definitely.

The fact is Ichiro completely misread the ball. He could have caught it at the wall without so much as jumping. But instead he ran back, climbed the wall, spun around, and practically had to jump down before he could catch it. Impressive athletic feat? Sure. Almost botched slightly touhger than routine catch? Definitely. You'll see it all year on the hilight reels, and every time I see it I'll cringe and think how unworthy it was. But enough of that.

Kennedy looked, well, not sharp to start off with. Booted a fairly routine grounder. Made a real dumb-ass play by throwing to second and almost hitting Cabrera in the feet on a play where he had no chance to get Ichiro, and allowed him to get to third. He did make a nice play later in the game to save a run and end the inning. Looked a little overmatched at the plate, but that's to be expected.

D-Mac looked pretty awful at the plate tonight, but he continues to impress in the field. I guess when you look at it, he's not doing much more than making routine plays, but word out of Arkansas and Salt Lake was that he always looked uncomfortable at third. Maybe he was just uncomfortable in Arkansas and Salt Lake. I've never been to Arkansas, but I always feel uncomfortable when I'm in Salt Lake, so I can't blame him.

Angels - 2; Twins - 1

I hate games like this. I hate when one of my fantasy pitchers goes against the Angels, which will happen again next week when they face Jeremey Bonderman. But this was a big win for the Angels, coming on the heels of losing two games that they should have won. And just to show how proficient I am at predicting these things, I would have lost money on all three games if I were a betting man. And quite frankly, this is the type of game they usually lose. They're an offense that kills bad pitching, but is usually hopeless against good pitching. They didn't bust out the big lumber, but they did enough to make a great outing from the fat man hold up.

Bartolo was getting some love from the plate umpire, and just kept nailing the corners. When the Twins did put it in play, they were banging it into the carpet for ground out after ground out. The Angels, as expected, didn't do much against Johan Santana, but they did get solo shots from Vlad and Jose Molina, with Vlad's just barely staying fair (off the foul pole/net). Shields had some issues in the 8th, as he left the bases juiced for Frankie, but K-Rod induced the double play ball off the bat of Matthew LeCroy. And a special shout-out to Erstad's glove. He scooped a number of balls today, none bigger than on that double play.

McPherson looked overmatched in one at bat, but hit a nice liner to left field in another that was right at Jacques Jones. He made a terrific defensive play in the bottom of the ninth which kept the tying run off base. It required a strong throw, and it's one that Troy Glaus would have put 15 rows into the seats.

The Angels go to Seattle to start a three game set tomorrow. The division is still very tightly packed, so it would be nice to take at least two of three. They're gonna need to reel off seven or eight straight at some point, but until then if they can keep pace, and pick up an extra game here and there, they should be fine.

Twins - at least four; Angels - probably no more than one

Steve Finley just flat out sucks. I can't say it any more plainly than that. Two balls to the gap, one by noted speedster Justin Morneau, end up going for triples. The guy can't hit, and the guy can't field.

Tomorrow will complete the first sweep of the Angels this season, and probably drop them back into a tie for first with just about everyone else in the division.

Remember that thing I said about feeling like they should win every game? Yeah, that's gone. We're back to "I'd be shocked if they won tonight." This is simply a bad baseball team. And Vlad.

Debacle. Twins - 7; Angels - something less than 7

Probably a term I'll use a lot this year, but let's take care of this one quickly.

• Steve Finley sucks. That's all that can be said. He can't hit. He can't field. He's essentially worthless.
• Paul Byrd. Well, it's not pretty. He actually wasn't awful tonight, but, well, he wasn't good either. I'll admit, I've been completely wrong about him so far.
• D-Mac. He does a lot of things well, but apparently thinking isn't one of them. A baserunning mistake cost the Angels a run. Another fielding mistake led to a run. Seriously, Dallas, it's freaking Nick Punto. You don't have to play on the outfield grass.
• Estaban Yan. I'd be more concerned about his crappy outing if the game weren't already a fait accomplis.

There's not really much else to say. It's going to be tough to win a division championship if you can't win more than two games in a row. And they're gonna get beat on Sunday, so they better win tomorrow, or they'll be out of first place by Sunday.

So pretty much a pathetic performance all around.

Angels 3; Yankees 1

Fine outing by Lackey, and MAJOR props to Scioscia who didn't make the mistake of leaving him in too long again. He's been burned a couple of times, most notably in Texas a couple of weeks ago. The bullpen is living up to their promise. Excellent for three and two thirds, topped off by Frankie's two strike outs.

Legs Figgins has been on fire lately, and had the average almost up to .300. Vlad is Vlad. D-Mac had another couple of hits, including another double to the opposite field. It hasn't been mentioned much, but his power and willingness to go the other way is very encouraging. He continues to play solid defense, and almost made a terrific catch on a funky little pop-up by Sheffield, which quite honestly, should have been taken by Brendan Donnelly. But Donnelly pitched his way out of it, so no harm done.

Good start to the road trip, and they essentially kept pace with the A's, who took two of the three from what's left of the White Sox earlier in the week.

Next up are the Twins, including a start by Johan Santana on Sunday. I hate when my pitchers go against the Angels. Hopefully I'll have a big enough lead that it won't matter. I honestly don't think the Twins are that good, so I'd settle for another two out of three, which makes Paul Byrd's start tomorrow very important. I think Escobar will be nails on Saturday.

This makes 7 of the last 10 for the Halos, and while they still don't look like they're going to run away with anything yet, I still get the feeling that they should win every game before it starts. Probably just a carry-over from the fabulous season by the Fighting Illini.

The Pride of Duke University

As I'm writing this, the Dodgers are threatening in th first inning against the D-Backs, who feature one Quinton McCracken. As he came to the plate for his first inning at bat, the golden throated Vin Scully called him "The Pride of Duke University". I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that this was the first time he had been referred to as such. Why, you ask? Well let's take a look.

Mr. McCracken has played 10 seasons in the majors. In that time he has hit 19 home runs, stolen 83 bases, and is a career .279 hitter. His career OPS is .722, and his career OPS+ is 81, well below average. These are certainly respectable numbers, and let's face it, just making the majors is a hell of an accomplishment. Great job, Q.

But pride of the University? This is a university that has had at least one Nobel Prize winner (per their website). They've had a law grad go on to be president of the United States (in McCracken's defense, it *was* Nixon). They have had four national championships in the last 15 years or so, and bunch of final fours. Christian Laettner, Grant Hill, Elton Brand, Jay Williams. Chris Duhon's rib! And let's not forget Annabeth Gish.


Vin, not everyone who attended a university is the pride of that university. The day I'm the pride of UC Riverside is the day that it's renamed California Men's Correctional Facility at the Riverside Citrus Station.

Of course, this came on the heels of calling Craig Counsell the Pride of Notre Dame. Don't even get me started. He's no more the Pride of Notre Dame than he is the Hunchback of Notre Dame. I love Vin Scully (though I hate the Dodgers), but sometimes I'm reminded that he is in fact an old man. An old man who needs to fill some dead air now and then. Not that I would ever become one of those psychos who used to write to the Times and complain about Chick Hearn or anything. Vin *is* the Dodgers as far as I'm concerned, and I wish him many more years in the booth. It won't be the same when he's gone.

Angels 5; Yankees 1

Boy, this one looked like big trouble early, but a nice play by GA kept a run off the board with none out in the first, and had the added benefit of causing Jeter pain. I would have settled for the pain, but cutting the run off at the plate was nice too. Anyway, back to back doubles by Vlad and GA plated one, GA drove in two more with a bomb to left center, and Methuselah added a two run shot of his own over the short porch, accounting for all five Angel runs. J-dub was remarkably effective, holding the Yanks to one run, getting a few strikeouts, and inducing a few double plays. If he can keep getting the double play ball, it will be a very big unexpected benefit from a fly ball pitcher.

D-Mac added another double, and made a few very nice plays at third base. Started a double play (maybe two), and made a nice diving stop and quick throw to get a force at second for the third out of whatever inning he did it in. He's not going to gobble the ball up like Glaus did when healthy, but if he make good throws, he might make up for that, considering it was always an adventure when Glaus let loose, or at least it seemed that way.

Big win to keep pace after the White Sox couldn't get it done against Kirk Sarloos, which will keep Dan Meyer in the minors for another week or two. All across America, fantasy baseball players in leagues with lax rules for postition qualification are snatching up Jermaine Dye like hawks picking off defenseless field mice. Speaking of defenseless, they're doing it because he played an inning at short, replacing the already out of position Joe Crede, forced to short by the injuries to Uribe (Guzzlers starting shortstop) and Ozuna.

Speaking of the Guzzlers, big day today. Couple of homers from Derrek Lee, and very nice 90+ point effort out of Jeremy Bonderman. Mind you, I'm writing this before the inevitable "Gasoline-on-fire" performance art piece from Jeff Weaver (who, in all fairness, got out of the first inning without any damage). A nice 6-0 week could make up for some really crappy performances the last two weeks.

Yankees - A lot; Angels - not so much

Not much to say about this one. I think Colon was getting squeezed in the first couple of innings, but he made some really awful pitches to A-Rod, and he paid the price he deserved to pay. On the bright side, the home runs did a good job of rendering Figgins' horrendous defense irrelevant, so let's hope both of them got it out of their systems.

D-Mac with a nice double and a solid walk later in the game was good to see. If he can start to contribute, it would be a big boost to the offense.

Washburn vs. Mussina tomorrow. Wash has been hot and cold, and Moose's numbers are nothing to write home about so far, so it's really anyone's guess as to what will happen.

In Guzzlers news, it looks like the Ace's will both pick up wins today, while decent days at the plate for Estrada, Dunn, and Derek Lee are gonna net me some serious points. I need it after two pretty crappy weeks.

The Raveonettes

I know that sound doesn't travel as fast as light, but did Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers just recently reach the shores of Scandanavia? I'm somewhat intrigued by their "Jesus and Mary Chain does late '50s American rock and roll" schtick, but the new album is striking me as somewhat pedestrian. I defy you to listen to it a few times and distinguish one track from the next. It's not bad music, and I'll probably sit through most of their show at the Double Door. But I'll be honest, I'm glad that the band that I truly want to see will be playing earlier on the bill. I sort of doubt I'll sit through the encore. And it sucks that Autolux won't be headlining, because it means they'll play a shorter set, and probably won't even get all the way through their album. On the plus side, as an opening act, I'll probably get a pretty good spot to stand. I don't think I've ever bought a ticket solely to see an opening act. Also, it could mean that Carla Azar is hanging around afterwards.

I Am A Fugitive

Today I broke the law. Again. Recently I received a juror summons from Cook County. It was waiting for me in Chicago when I got back from roughly a one month vacation back in L.A. Seeing as how I'd been out of the office forever, and they were expecting me to show up a week later, I ditched. Not long after that, I received another. Fair enough, I guess. Things having slowed down a bit at work, I decided that it was probably unbecoming of an officer of the court (technically, anyway) to keep ditching jury duty. Also, I figure they're probably hard asses here, as opposed to back home. So I drove out to Maywood, hung out for a few hours, and got dismissed. Duty fulfilled.

So what's the problem, you ask? I have shirked my juror responsibilities yet again. Today marked the first day that I was scheduled for jury duty....in East Los Angeles! Mind you, I haven't lived in Los Angeles County in roughly six and half years. I carry an Illinois driver's license. I'm not only registered, but I've voted in two general elections in the state of Illinois (one as a Champaign resident, and one as a Chicago resident). This is about the fourth time I've received a juror summons from L.A. County in that time. The first two I ignored. The last one I finally sent in with an explanation that I no longer live there. Hell, even the hospital to whom I "owed" $3,000 (big misunderstanding, long story) finally admitted as much.

This figures to be SOP for the L.A. County court system. According to my dad, my grandmother received two summons (summonses?) after she was dead. I'm surprised my mom sent them back in. I would have called their bluff and said "come git 'er". Anyway, apparently if everything were legit, then I'd be facing a serious fine.

This time I think I'm going to send them a map.

The Vulture

Scot Shields is tied for the American League lead in wins. He's on pace for better than 20 wins. Scot Shields for Cy Young!! If he keeps winning games, he may finally get that extra T.

Two Birdies

Played my first semi-real round of the season out at Water's Edge. We didn't start until late in the day, and we were behind a big group, so we sort of jumped around a lot, and got about 20 holes in before it got dark. I hit the irons OK, but struggled off the tee for the first five or six, except for a three wood on 18 that I cranked. Figured out what I was doing on 8 (like I said, we jumped around), then put it into practice on nine, where I smoked one, the knocked it to about 8 feet before missing the birdie putt. On the signature 11th, a par five with a tight fairway and water down the right side, I hammered one down the middle, then knocked a two iron from 230, 215 of carry, to the right edge of the green. Hit the stick on the chip, and knocked in the putt for my first birdie of the year. Played the par 5 15th for the last hole of the day, hit a decent drive, kind of chunked a 3-iron, then knocked pitching wedge to about 5 feet. Made the putt for another birdie.

We didn't keep score because of the jumping around thing, but I figure I was good for an 83-85, and that's including the poor start. If I start hitting the range this month, I'd imagine that I'll be scoring as well as I did two years ago when I routinely breaking 80. If I can get off the tee like I did on Thursday, I should play well. I'd like to fire a low number at Cog Hill this year. I know I can bust the 81 I shot there last year.

Angels - 1; Athletics - 0

The calendar reads 2005, but the run support for Kelvim Escobar remains the same. The Angels couldn't put one on the board until Kelvim was long gone, but he was outstanding in his first start of the season. Joe Blanton was just as good on the other side, although he needed a bit more help from his defense. Kielty's diving catch in the sixth prevented a run. Steve Finley hit one where no one could defend, and Scot Shields and Frankie made sure that the run held up. Shields was a bit a punching bag, getting hit in the hand and the ass, but recording outs on both balls. Frankie had to pitch out of a bit of a jam, as Maicer Izturis was able to chuck one into what must be the only three feet of the dugout that isn't protected by a short fence, which allowed the A's to put a runner on second with two outs in the ninth.

Two out of three from the A's is nothing to complain about, but the Angels really need to start putting some wins together. The division is still waiting for someone to break from the pack, and right now no one seems to want to. Although, I should note that if not for some late game heroics by the A's on Friday, the Angels would be winners of five in a row. Oh well, it's a marathon, not a sprint.