Quick prediction before the series starts

Starters: them
Relievers: us
Catcher: draw
Infield: us on defense, them on offense, slight edge to them
Outfield: us if Vlad shows up, them if he doesn't
bench: us
Coaching: us

Pretty darn close. I have to a) pick the Angels, and b) root for a seventh game because I have tickets for that one. So here goes a tough one.

Angels in seven.

Angels 5; Yankees 3

I had a sneaking suspicion that Bart would not be able to go tonight. I mean, how many guys say "I won't be ready Sunday, but I should be fine on Monday"? And for whatever reason, be it back, shoulder, whatever, he gave all he could, but couldn't get out of the second inning. In stepped the kid. As I said over at the Rev's site, this is what legends are made of. And while his performance wasn't quite legendary, it was damn close. Five and a third, three runs on five hits. He escaped big trouble in the fifth, getting two pop ups, followed by a strike out and a friendly call from Joe West. Mea Culpa, I expected every close call to go against the Angels tonight, and I was partially wrong (the strike zone for the kid in the early innings was ridiculously small).

The bullpen, much maligned in August and last night, got the job done tonight. Kelvim was excellent, and Frankie got the big ground balls when he needed them. The pitching, the most important ingredient all year, gave this team no fewer than four more games.

One of the strenghts of the Mike Scioscia Angels has been their baserunning. It didn't show up in the stolen base numbers in this series, but it showed up tonight. Cabrera made a great read on a Vlad single, and later scored from third on a sac fly. Vlad got a great read, and won a huge gamble, going from first to third on a Bengie single, and later scored after getting a tremendous jump on a weak grounder by Erstad.

There's not much else I can say. It was a great game. I was nervous as hell all day, but this is why we all plug in. It's why we all watch. Why we all pick teams to root for instead of being detached observes (except for maybe Repoz). Keep coming back, because for the next week or so, you'll be reading one of the most unpopular people in Chicago. I can't wait to go to work tomorrow.

*update*: Welcome Sploid readers. Thanks for the link, fat.

*update 2*: Welcome South Side Sox readers. I count many friends among your ranks.

On the bright side

The Kings won. I didn't see more than bits and pieces of this one because of the Angels game, but I did see Pavol Demitra rifle home the game winner in overtime on some nifty foot work that you used to see out of Mark Messier and Craig Johnson. And yes, that's the only time you'll see Mark Messier and Craig Johnson in the same sentence.

Three one goal games, and the Kings are 2-1.

Yankees 3; Angels 2

Not really a surprising result. While not really a surprise, the effectiveness of the Angels bullpen in the first three games of the series was somewhat unexpected. The relievers live on the margins, and they are successful when they get hitters to chase pitches out of the strike zone. The Yankees don't chase pitches out of the strike zone. What results are walks, weak hits, and occasionally a hard hit ball on get me over pitch. That's what happened tonight. The Angels took a 2-1 lead into the seventh inning and were victimized by a cheap hit, a walk, another cheap hit, and a ground ball that should have been a perfect ball on which to cut-off the eventual winning run at the plate. But add a poorly thrown ball by Figgins to the previous cuts, and before long, you've opened a big enough wound to bleed away a lead. One run was enough for Mariano Rivera, who operates with the largest strike zone of anyone in the post-season.

Lackey was terrific. I'm not sure I would have removed him, as he'd only thrown 78 pitches, but Matsui has had good success against him. But we've seen the bullpen go through stretches this season where they couldn't get the big out at the proper time. They couldn't throw a strike when they desperately needed to. That, and the offense's inability to hit an average pitcher, cost them the game tonight.

We're also seeing something that wasn't all that unpredictable, and that's a brutal lack of production by Vlad. I mentioned earlier about how I was worried that he might try to do too much and swing himself into a slump. It happened in last year's playoffs, where his only real contribution was a grand slam that sent the game into extra innings when they already trailed two games to one. In his seven post-season games, the engine of the Angels offense is hitting .230 with one home run. I'm not placing blame, but the fact is, the Angels cannot win a post-season series without some help from Vlad. So far, they haven't gotten it.

It will come as no surprise that I'm not optimistic about game five. Bart is ailing, and while I think he'll give everything he has tomorrow night, the fact is we taxed the bullpen again tonight. 25 pitches out of Shields, 35 out of Escobar, and unlike the Yankees, the Angels don't have Randy Johnson available in the bullpen. Bart is going to have to have go at least six, if not seven. Too add to that, there's the Fox factor. Bart, like many of our reliever, lives on the margins. He needs to get the pitches on the corners, and sometimes just off the corners, for strikes. If the ump has a narrow strike zone, this Yankee offense will pound him. What we need right now is John Hirschbeck.

Injury and Illness

Bartolo Colon told Scioscia that he would not be ready to pitch game four today. He was sent back to SoCal and said he'd be ready for game five. They might need him, because ESPN just reported that J-Dub has a throat infection, and John Lackey, on three days rest, will start game four tonight.

The offense needs to get to Chacon early, but honestly, if anyone can thrive in this situation, it's Lackey. He's been there, done that. He's pitched in the most pressure packed game anyone could imagine, and pitched well. In addition, the day off yesterday gave extra rest to Shields and Escobar, plus, Santana should be ready as well. Lackey needs to give only five strong innings, and the pen should get them the rest of the way.

Let's hope for the best.

UCLA 47; UC Berkeley 40

Really a terrific game. There were a lot of reasons the Bruins should have lost this game. Horrible penalties that negated big plays. A bad break on missed fumble call right before UC Berkeley's first touchdown. An inexplicable failure of about 8 guys to bring down Marshawn Lynch on a huge 3rd and ten, leading to the conversion, and ultimately another touchdown. Honestly, I though the Bruins had lost the game on that play.

Maurice Drew was outstanding, scoring 5 touchdowns on the day, three on the ground, one through the air, and another on a punt return. After last week's poor showing, he really made ammends tonight. Drew Olson did not have a particularly great game, probably due in part to Berkeley's focus on his primary weapon, Marcedes Lewis. Also impacting his numbers were bad penalties and a couple of drops, including one that would have gone for a score if hadn't gone right through "Clutch Receiver" Joe Cowan's hands.

With just under 10 minutes to play, I was composing in my head a post about how Karl Dorrel had lost this game by choosing to punt on fourth and short from around midfield. Instead, they faked it, getting the ball into the hands of Jarrad Page who rumbled for the first down and much more, setting up a big touchdown. For the second straight week, Marcus Everett made the key reception to set up the game winning touchdown.

This team still has some problems, mostly on the defensive line. The Bears ran all over the Bruins, although the defense did make some key big plays. Tonight's injury to Brigham Harwell is really going to hurt on the D-line. Major credit goes to Trey Brown as well, who's interception sealed the victory. Minutes earlier he allowed a reception on a play where Ayoob telegraphed his pass, but for some reason Brown peeled off the receiver, leading to about six yards on a play that should have gone for no more than three. But he made the right read at the right time, and he helped the Bruins get to 5-0.

The Bruins will be favored in the next four, and probably next five games. 10-0 going into the U$C game is a very real possibility. Dorrell won't survive a 2001 like implosion.

Rain out

Not that you come here for news or anything, but if you haven't heard, today's game is rained out. We'll do it again tomorrow. Big question as to who takes the pill. Gotta figure it's going to be Bart. He'll be on his normal rest. So what happens with Wash? Well, hopefully he keeps his mouth shut and doesn't make any waves. I feel for him. He's had a great year, and he wants to play. He's earned it. But for whatever reason, Scioscia doesn't quite trust him. This ESPN article, probably from AP, still says Washburn vs. Chacon. But don't be surprised to see Bart vs. Moose tomorrow.

Comeback: Angels lead series 2 games to 1

Obviously, my last post was premature. Clearly, I'm drunk right now, mostly because I live about 200 feet from 10 different bars, but I digress. The bats woke up at the right time. This team, at least for one night, stepped up when they were needed the most. After blowing a 5-0 lead, they scratched, they clawed, they got an ump to make an honest call, and they got the effort out of the bullpen that they needed to take a 2-1 series lead. Worst case scenario, the Angels have Bart on full rest at home to win the series.

I spent the late afternoon at a bar downtown with Sox fans watching the White Sox winning their first post-season series in, like, forever. I've never seen my friends so happy. I remember that feeling from 2002.

It will be sad to see them lose the next series to the Angels.

Mostly, I'm glad I'll see Wash pitch again. He's had a great year, and I think he'll lead us to another round tomorrow. I'll admit it, I want J-Dub back in the fold for two more years, but I don't think the Angels will re-sign him. Let's make up for it by sending him out as a two time world champ.

Oh, and just a reminder, I am fucking wasted right now.

JUST KIDDING!!! Implosion; Yankees lead series 2-1

It was all right there. A 5-0 lead with 18 outs to go. 18 is a lot, but so is 5 runs. A blast, an error, a 12 hop single, a bloop single, another walk, and a rip to the gap made short work of the five run lead. It cost the Yankees only three outs to take control of the game, of the series.

A few days from now, we'll all be asking why, in the pivotal game of the series, the pitcher with the fourth best ERA in the league couldn't get the ball in his hands. Even better on the road. Only Scioscia and Bud Black know that. This isn't to denigrate Paul Byrd, who did a tremendous job for the Angels this year, but is there anyone, anywhere, who can explain why Jarrod Washburn wasn't starting this game.

When this offense scores five runs, the team has to win. But let's face it. The teams that win in the playoffs have reliable offenses and good enough pitching staffs. If it was the other way around, the Braves would have won 10 World Championships. There will be a lot of questions this off-season, but the biggest will be "where are the runs going to come from?" The Yankees have the ability to come from behind. The same ability the Angels had in 2002. That's what wins.

The series isn't over. The Yankees still have to win one more. But the Angels are looking at a huge hill in front of them, and they need to find the strength to climb it. It would help if they had a lead off man who could get on base. So we sit, and we wait, and watch maybe only one more game. There's always hope, I guess.

**UPDATE** Well, maybe not. Double, single, single, single, and we're back in business. C'mon boys, let's get this thing done.

**Update 2**

So far this whole "Dewey defeats Truman" thing is working. So read the post above, take it to heart, and realize that we're winning, and we currently have the bases juiced with no one out. Thank God they no longer have El Duque, who worked out of this earlier today.

**Update 3**

I keep doubting, they keep winning. See, there's method to my madness, yeswecan. Do NOT doubt me. If I give up again, you know we're going to win.

Kings 3; Coyotes 2

Nice win in the home opener for the Kings last night. Both teams were playing back to back games, so I'm not sure this feels as good as winning the second of back to back games normally does, but it's win nonetheless, and after Wednesday's debacle, it was much needed.

Three of the guys who are going to need to produce if the Kings want to be successful got on the scoreboard. Luc got his first of the season with a rocket from the left-wing circle after Parros had cleared some space, firing a perfect shot inside the far post. Frolov got his first of the season on the power play, knocking home the rebound of a Pavol Demitra shot. Finally, Demitra picked up his first of the season on a rare power play rush, flipping home a north-south pass from Frolov.

The defense stepped up and played a solid game. Much to the chagrin of many over at Lets Go Kings, Joe Corvo was the best defenseman on the ice. He made solid passes, got his shots on net, threw his body around, and made a terrific diving poke check to negate a scoring chance when he had been left all alone by his teammates. I think this is going to be a breakout year for Corvo. And while his off-ice issues will never endear him to many in the hardcore fan base, a solid season from Corvo is a must if this team wants to make the playoffs.

The Kings worked a lot harder last night, likely the result of not opening up a four goal lead in the first period. They skated harder, they hit smarter, and they stayed out of the penalty box for the most part. That's going to be a key to this season, as it seems that their PK is just awful so far. In the new NHL, that has to change if they want to make the post-season.

LaBarbera looked solid in nets, stopping 27 shots to pick up the win. I wouldn't be disappointed if they simply didn't name a number one goaltender and instead just rotated the position like in the old Hrudey/Berthiaume days. Then again, if one of them wants to elevate his game and grab that role, that's fine too. Next up are the Wild on Sunday night, who started the season without King killer Marian Gaborik. It didn't bother them Wednesday, as they beat the Flames 6-3. No word on whether he'll be in the lineup Sunday.

Branching out

My first post on a different blog is up. Head over to check out the Seitz Video Extra on the Bulls!' song of the day blog.

Angels ride the clutch; Series tied 1-1

So this is what I wrote roundabout the fourth inning

It's all over but the shouting, folks. Oftentimes in sports, there are little things that happen which, when isolated, don't seem to have much of an impact on the action. But when looked at in a broader context, these little things foreshadow the bigger things to come. A player in a slump hits line drives right at someone. A pitcher just barely off his game gives up bloop singles on great pitches. Tonight's game was full of evidence that the Angels are done, and they were done by the fourth inning. What am I talking about? In the third inning, after a lead off single, the Angels called a hit and run. A sinker ball pitcher throws a pitch practically over Figgins' head. Chone fails to make contact, and Posada has a perfect pitch to throw on. Kennedy heads back to the dugout. In the fourth, the Angels get a one out baserunner. Vlad tries to steal second. Cano, on the move to cover the bag, is in perfect position to field a ground ball which would have been a hit at any other time.

These are what they call "the breaks" and the Angels aren't getting them. In 2002, they got all the breaks. A Robin Ventura smash hits the high wall in right when it would have been long gone if it had been just a few feet to the left. Spiezio collides with AJ Pierszynski in game 2 of the ALCS, kicking the ball out of AJ's glove, giving the Angels a first inning lead. In the post-season, the teams are so close that the one that wins is the one that gets the breaks. It wasn't meant to be for the 2005 Angels, and there's no better evidence than the fact that the A's are getting all the breaks.

As has been the case many times over the years, the Angels faced a no name pitcher with decent, but not eye-popping numbers, and they make him look like the greatest pitcher in history. The Yankees decided to go with a strong infield defense with the sinkerballer on the mound, planning on getting a large number of ground balls, and the Angels were more than willing to oblige. They could have started Giambi in center field and gotten away with, because nothing was getting to the outfield in the air. Lackey, on the other hand, threw a lot of pitches, walked a few, and could not avoid getting touched up by the stout Yankees offense. When they pushed their second run across in the fifth inning, the job was all but complete. If you want one stat that's indicative of this offense, look no further than their igniter, Chone Figgins. Through two games, to this point, he's 0 for 7, with three strikeouts. His career in the post-season as a regular (five games) he's now 2 for 21 with no walks, and 8 strike outs. That's not exactly what you look for out of your lead off hitter.

The Angels had another fine season. They can add another year to their division championship banner. But for the second straight year, the Angels will leave the party early, likely after the minimum number of required games. The gas is on, the match is lit, and it will soon be time to fire up the hot stove.

I consider it cathartic to prepare myself for the worst. Otherwise, I end up watching my team blow a huge lead, like the Kings tonight, and it catches me completely off guard.

Anyway, I was 100% wrong. The breaks, well, they broke. Things started going the Angels' way. They finally made the Yankees pay for an error, and then they went and did it again in the seventh after Finley's bunt pulled Cano off the bag at first. Lackey didn't pitch badly, but he did walk way too many hitters. Of course, perhaps the walk isn't a bad option against a team of mashers. I really think if the Angels get to the next round and face Chicago, the pitchers will feel like they were swinging the weighted bat in the this series.

The top of the lineup continues to disappoint. Figgins and Anderson have been brutal with the bat in their hands, Chone's making up for it on defense. Clutch hits from Molina and Cabrera kept the wheels turning, and the bullpen looked sharp, Frankie's meatball to Posada notwithstanding. Big credit to Mike Scioscia for calling the pitch-out at a crucial moment, and props to Escobar, Bengie, and Cabrera for executing. Bengie practically caught the ball in front of home plate, and threw a perfect strike. I thought that was a real turning point.

Now it's back to New York to face their big black nemesis. Paul Byrd has come up big for the Angels at important times this season, so here's hoping he can find a few more good starts in that surgically repaired arm. My big hope for tonight's game is that Vlad will learn that the team can win without him doing everything at the plate. He needs to relax, and maybe some of the other guys picking up the slack will help him do that.

Stars 5; Kings 4

Well, maybe I won't get center ice. The Kings got four goals in the first period, three in the first five minutes, but found themselves shorthanded 13 times to Dallas' 2. The result was predictable, as Dallas scored three times in the second period, and twice in the third. The Kings could barely get the goaltender out of the net in the final minute.

It's gonna be a long season.

Neglect

Because of the success of the Angels, I've barely had any time to cover the Kings. With the NHL season getting underway tonight, it's probably a good time to mention that this blog will hopefully start featuring more Kings stuff in future, with one caveat. I calledt Comcast yesterday to order the Center Ice package, and the person with whom I spoke couldn't find any evidence that they were carrying it this year. This, quite naturally, pissed me off. However, the Center Ice package uses the same channels as the Extra Innings package. The on-screen guide has those channels showing games tonight, includind the season opener between the Kings and Stars. There's a free preview this week, so it's possible that the person I spoke with is simply a moron. I guess it's possible that they're showing the preview, but not offering the package for some reason. Honestly, with Comcast purchasing the rights to broadcast national NHL games on its stations, like OLN, you'd think their cable outlets would all be offering the package and promoting their product. But if there's one thing I've learned, it's that cable companies are stupid.

Anyway, with the rule changes, roster changes, and anything else that might have changed in the year the NHL took off, I have no idea what to expect. The Kings disappointed me this off-season, either not pursuing good targets, or failing in those pursuits. We've been told that this CBA is what they've been positioning themselves for the last few years, and they didn't really act like it this summer. They did have a terrific team in Manchester last season, so maybe they're expecting big things from the kids. The pundits don't seem to be, but those guys are rarely on the mark.

So I guess we'll sit back and see if the lack of movement pans out.

Angels offense offensive. Yankees win game one.

In the end, you really only needed to watch the first inning, as the game was summed up nicely after only six outs. No killer instinct on the mound, no killer instict at the plate. Bart was able to get ahead, but didn't have the ability to put hitters away. On the other side, Vlad took two meatballs for strikes before grounding out on a pitch that practically bounced on the plate.

Honestly, this concerns me about Vlad. I mentioned it earlier in the season when he was being walked intentionally virtually every time up. He doesn't have the care free attitude of Cabrera. You can tell he lets things get to him. Those walks led him right into a long slump, and the team slumped along with him. Take the grand slam away from last year's playoffs, and he didn't hit .150 in that series. He seems to have the temperament of a guy who is going to try too hard. I hope it doesn't take a 2-0 series deficit to loosen him up this year.

Colon looked like he was falling in love with the radar gun. He was bringing heat, to be sure, but he wouldn't get away from it, and he got burned. Tough to criticise him, though. Last year in the first half of the season, he was getting killed on two strike off-speed stuff, so I guess he's gotta do what he thinks he's gotta do. All of the damage was done with two outs. The Yankees are a team that you cannot afford to leave on life support. Bart could not plunge the knife in when he needed to.

The offense simply isn't reliable enough to score runs when the team is trailing. Their recent run of comeback wins notwithstanding, this isn't really a rally offense. It's not really a good offense, and if they get behind again, they're in trouble. Remember, this is all against a guy who got absolutely hammered by the Orioles in his last start.

Tomorrow night is the series, folks. The pitching matchup says the Angels should win, but this is a terrific Yankees offense against an anemic and unreliable Angels offense. I expect them to, at the very least, put up a better fight. But the next game is it. Lose and it's over. Win and they still have some sort of chance. They needed this one. The Angels had their ace on the mound against a shaky starter, and the Angels made Mussina look about 8 years younger. Leave the bats at home again tomorrow, and the hot stove starts heating up.

The deal with the comments

So yeah, like Richard and Rob, I've been getting ton of comment spam lately. At least one or two, if not more after every post. You might not notice, because I'm one diligent bastard, but trust me, it's grating. So for the time being, I'm going to a word verification system. Think of it as Blogger's way of shirking their responsibility and passing the frustration on to me, who has in turn decided to pass it on to you. Please don't let it keep you from commenting. The more the merrier, unless you're a spammer, in which case you'll be deleted, but quick. This is only a trial period.

Earlimart w/ Richard Swift and the Sons of National Freedom @ Schuba's - 10/2/2005

It really doesn't seem like there's that much to review, really. It was just a few months ago that Earlimart came to Schubas with Okkervil River. Last night's show was pretty much more of the same, with a similar setlist. They threw in a couple of new tracks, and there was maybe one more that I couldn't recognize, but I don't know if it was new or not. Which isn't to say the show wasn't fantastic. It was. Normally a three piece act, they brought along another guitarist/bassist, and a full time keyboard player. That didn't keep the lovely and talented Arianna Murray from moving back and forth between bass and keyboards. She was looking quite fetching, with hair that seemed a bit blonder than the the last time. And speaking of hair, I almost didn't recognize Aaron Espinoza at first, his hair a little longer than the last time.

Richard Swift kicked off the night, playing a couple of solo tunes at the piano. The crowd was pretty sparse, but it was a Sunday night. While I wasn't expecting a big crowd, I was expecting a little more than we got. Swift was recommended to me by cupie and yeswecan over at Halo's Heaven, and he didn't disappoint. Some classic troubador fare, but this guy really has a terrific voice. Kind of reminded me of Rufus Wainwright at times. After the first couple of songs, a backing band who I can only assume were the Sons of National Freedom took the stage and turned the set into a rollicking good time. Swift did a couple more alone before the band retook the stage to finish off the set. Talked to him after the show and he seemed like a pretty good guy. I'm still listening to his album, but so far so good.

Earlimart followed with a set that included the following:

• First Instant, Last Report
• The Hidden Track
• We Drink on the Job
• The Movies
• Sounds
• All They Ever Do is Talk
• Unintentional Tape Manipulations
• Heaven Adores You
• Broke the Furniture
• A Bell and a Whistle (they closed with this one)

It seems like they played more than that, so maybe they did. That's about 13 or 14 songs, though, so no complaints. Pretty fun evening. At one point Espinoza spilled his beer, which coincidentally led right into "We Drink on the Job". At one point he solicited for a sleigh bell player for "Broke the Furniture". I guess I could have gone up there. I was only about 8 feet from the stage, which was more or less the front row because of the small crowd. But honestly, no one wants to see another guy up there, so the girl in front of me finally volunteered her friend. Speaking of "Broke the Furniture", it's really an indictment of country music that bands who aren't country can write better country songs than bands who are country. I'm thinking not only of this one, but Gone for Good by the Shins as well.

This is a band that you really need to listen to, because they're really good. I'm pretty sure you can still stream their album from their website, so you have no excuse not to. But it's not enough just to listen. You need to see them live if the opportunity presents itself, because in person, it's just so much better. All of those little parts that make you say "man, that would sound better if it were way louder," well, they're way louder, and more intense. Lots of energy, and ultimately lots of fun.

I'm guessing they'll probably take some time off and record, but hopefully they'll be back before too long.

Predictions

I suppose I ought to do one of these things before tomorrow. So without any rhyme or reason to them, here goes:

Angels over Yankees in four - The Yankees may have better pitching, as Alex Belth seems to think, but here's where he's wrong. The Angels will prevent runs better. And they'll do it better in this series. I've actually had this argument before, where one of us is talking about actual pitching ability, while the other is referring to run prevention in general. Fine. Split that hair if you like. The Angels are better at keeping runs off the board, and that's why they'll win this series.

White Sox over Red Sox in four - Every post-season needs one series that goes against what everyone predicts. This one will be it. Once again, run prevention will be the difference. They don't give MVPs for this series, but my pick to click is Aaron Rowand. You read it here first. Unless someone beat me to it.

Angels over White Sox in seven - The Angels will win a dramatic seventh game, with yours truly in attendance, after which I will take the red line to Fullerton, get off and walk east toward my apartment, and stop in at the Children's Hospital emergency room on the way, because I won't be leaving the Cell unscathed.

Cardinals over Padres in three - Every post-season needs on series that goes against what everyone predicts. This one won't be it.

Braves over Astros - Why? Because the Braves always beat the Astros in the playoffs. Except last year, but that was an anomoly.

Braves over Cardinals in six - Bobby Cox outmanages Tony LaRussa, who.....aw, who am I kidding? I don't know dick about the National League anymore. I just want the Cardinals to lose.

Angels over Braves in six - The team that has been in the post-season forever loses to the team who will be in the post-season for the next forever.

There, it's saved for posterity.

Things I've learned from "The Alternative"

VH-1 Classic has a show that runs Wednesdays and Thursdays for an hour, and Sundays for two hours (10:00 am and pm Central time). Today's really sucked, but was salvaged at the end by showing the Damned's version of Arthur Lee and Love's "Alone Again Or".

This show has some issues, in my opinion. First, while they do tend to stick what one generally would consider "alternative", occasionally they'll throw a White Zombie or Ministry video in there. I like to think I was pretty well tuned in to the mainstream wing of the alternative scene 15 years ago, at least up until KROQ started playing really crappy stuff at the end of the '90s. These are not bands I would have considered alternative at the time. Second, and this isn't really a criticism, they play stuff that never got anywhere near a radio station with more than 1,000 watts while it the music was contemporary. Just today they played "Eye of Fatima" by Camper Van Beethoven. Also, they'll play obscure videos from bands that had decent hits, but they'll never play the hits. Take Gang of Four, for example. They play the video for "Is It Love" all the freaking time. But they never play "I Love a Man in a Uniform". Maybe they need an order.

One of the most interesting things I've noticed, however, is their selection of artists in heavy rotation. I swear, if you were a 17 year old kid doing a paper on major alternative acts of the last 25 years, you would thing that The Jam/The Style Council/Paul Weller, and the Sisters of Mercy were among the hugest fucking acts of all time. Now, the Jam were huge, but mostly only among people who wore black nylon jackets with orange lining and rode Vespas. And the Sisters of Mercy? I'll admit, I think Vision Thing is a pretty terrific album, and that's before taking into account the camp value, and "This Corrosion" is a classic song, but did anybody really listen to these guys back then, at least in this country? You certainly wouldn't expect them to show up on virtually every program.

That said, I'll give the VH-1 folks props, as they do play Lush and My Bloody Valentine a lot, but they don't play nearly enough Stone Roses or Echo and the Bunnymen. I guess I could start doing a "video of the every couple of days", but I wouldn't want to step on Pinko's toes.

95-67

It's hard to believe, having watched as many games as I did this season, that this is the second best team in Angels history. But there it is. 95 wins. Good enough to win the A.L. West by seven games. Good enough to take home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Good enough to play the Yankees in the first round, which thankfully means night games, which means I can actually see them play. It also means that I may have a couple of fires put out at work by the time they (hopefully) play the White Sox in the ALCS. Some other factoids, as have been noted in the halosphere: Figgins led the league in stolen bases (note to Podsednik, you have to reach base to steal), and Frankie led the AL in saves, even with his DL time, and his sucking time.

A rematch of the 2002 ALDS, this features the same offensive powerhouse Yankees, with even worse pitching than they had three years ago. The Angels enter, once again, a team with excellent pitching, but their offense is worse. We'll find out if it's worse to the same degree as the Yankees pitching. I think the Angels should win this series, but maybe they'd be better off if I gave up all hope.

No excuses. The rotation is set. The bullpen is rested. The offense is.....deep, I guess, but not necessarily reliable. It's October, folks. The most wonderful time of the year.

Random notes

So the Angels won, Lackey was good. GA homered. And, well, honestly, I didn't really see any of it. I was watching the Sox and Yankees, fell asleep, and the next thing I know, it's midnight. So I pretty much just slept all evening, which is why I'm awake on a Saturday before noon.

Anyway, you may have noticed a couple of new additions to the sidebar. First up is 3 Bulls!. Why are they called 3 Bulls!? Fuck if I know, because there's like seven of them, and that doesn't include PupH and Captain Trollypants. So head over and enjoy the antics of Pinko Punko, The Uncanny Canadian, Yosef, GregH, and my favorite, '?'. Also, they have links to the informative "song of the day", and the thought provoking "delicious or disgusting" (hint: It's delicious), where you can weigh in on your musical tastes and, well, taste tastes. They're funny, but a word of advice: Sometimes it's better not to let on that you have no idea what the hell they're talking about.

Also added is a link to Tuning Fork Media, which I admittedly stole from the Song of the Day blog. Tuning Fork exists to keep tabs on the uber-pretension of the guys at Pitchfork, and they add a little snark in the process. Also, they're gonna give me free stuff, which is more than I can say for the rest of you deadbeats. I will, say, however, that as good as that review of Pitchfork's review of the Warlocks album is, it's not as funny as Pitchfork's review of the Jet album, which I still think is a classic. Ironically, the PF review that TF spoofed was written by Nick Sylvester, who also wrote the Jet review.

And just a quick word about the coming dilemma. Work issues and MLB's douchebaggery will likely prevent me from a) watching playoff games that occur during daylight hours, and b) attending games that the Angels play against the White Sox. Just a note to forewarn. I'm not happy about it.

I'm all clairvoyant and shit

How smart am I? Well, today I was searching around Primer looking for an old story that really should never be retold because it's pretty gross. Any, I'm poking around an old lounge thread, searching for comments by and about me, because that's all that's important. Anyway, I run across this little nugget:

scotto (post #87): Pitchfork gave the London Calling reissue a 10.0, which was the first I saw of that.

Me (post #93): OK Computer and Kid A got 10.0s. I would gather that, depending on the reviewer, if they were to re-review "In the Aeroplane over the Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel, it would get a 10 as well.

Well lo and frickin' behold. Time to start playing the lottery. Only, I need to buy tickets for the one that will be held a year from now.

Oh yeah, Angels won, couple of homers, lots of runs for the good guys, Bart gets number 21. It's weird not to care about the outcome all that much, isn't it? This must be what it's like for Royals fans, but for the whole year.

Alright, seriously, what the fuck?

I've had three unique visitors today, from three different search engines, who were all searching for "Sean Been". It leads them to this post. This raises two questions. First, are they really searching for Sean Bean? Ya know, the dude who was in Patriot Games and Goldeneye? Second, if they are searching for Sean Bean, why? I assume it's because he was in that movie "Flightplan", which Matt said sucks? FWIW, I read the plot summary at the the Movie Spoiler, and it sounds really, really stupid.

By the way, some poking around the cast list of Flightplan reveals that they're doing a remake of the Wicker Man. Now, I haven't seen the original, but this still pisses me off for some reason. Hollywood sucks.

And in other site news, today we pushed past the previous record and officially made September my largest month since reloading this blog. Granted, about a thousand of those hits are from me, but whatever. I'm up to about 6,500 visitors since the beginning of May. Doesn't sound like much, but then again, I'm not that good. Thanks for stopping by. I'll try not to bore you to death during the off-season. Mostly going to write about music, the LA Kings, UCLA football and basketball, Illinois basketball, the hot stove league, and whatever else strikes my fancy.

Angels 4; A's 3: Back to back Western Division Champs!

Best fifty bucks I ever spent.

I talked to my dad after the game, and he said it was anti-climactic. I agreed. It's just the way I like it. After falling behind in the first inning, the Angels came back with two in the second, added two more later, and the kid made those four runs hold up. For the second consecutive season, the Angels are the A.L. West Champions. By the way, I just found a new comedy site. A few of these threads are HI-larious.

I've mentioned it before, and it's fairly obvious, but you can't say enough about how important it was to wrap this series, and the season, up as soon as possible. They now have a week to set the rotation. They have a week to rest the bullpen. GA has a week to stay off his feet and rest up for what will hopefully be a long grind in the post-season.

I'm guessing the rotation will depend on where they play. If they end up with home field (unlikely), then it will be Colon, Lackey, Wash, and Byrd. If they start on the road, it will be Bart, Wash, Lackey, Byrd. I think they'll set up Washburn's first start on the road.

Now we sit back, enjoy the dogfight for the final three playoff spots, with the White Sox-Indians and Yankees-Red Sox series to close it out. Hopefully those teams will find their tanks on empty much like the Angels did last year.

Congratulations, Angels.

NMH

Good Pitchfork review of one the best albums ever produced. It's one of those albums that's criminally underrated outside of indie circles, and some would claim that it's criminally overrated inside indie circles. Personally, I think it's a classic. Certainly in my all time top 10.

Angels 4; A's 3; Lead is 5 games; Magic # is 2

One more win. That's what it's down to. One win in the next three games and the Angels go to the post-season in back to back years for the first time in their history.

They got the scoring going early tonight, a Bobby Crosby error in the second inning opened the door. Erstad followed with an RBI double, and after a Steve Finley fielder's choice, a clutch two out single by Juan Rivera drove home the second run. The old man jacked a two run shot a few innings later, and although the A's crawled back, Kelvim and Frankie closed the door tight enough to bring home the victory, the last two outs coming on a controversial check swing call, and a borderline strikeout looking.

Objectively, this series should have started as a foregone conclusion. A four game lead is a tough thing to blow in one week. But anyone who has been in this situation knows that things can snowball. You lose the first one and you give your opponent life. You start to doubt yourself. They don't have to win four games. They have to win one game four times. It's not a herculean feat. That's why it was vitally important to go out and get this one tonight.

The Angels get a favorable matchup tomorrow night, as they send the kid out against the A's worst starter in Joe Kennedy. How awesome would it be to see Santana, who came in and held down the fort when Kelvim got hurt, to pick up the season clinching win? Now that this one is out of the way, it becomes equally important to win one of the next two. Bart needs his rest, and the bullpen could use some R & R.

For now, the chickens remain uncounted. No one is celebrating yet. The beer is still chillin' in the fridge. We do it again tomorrow.

Btw, A's fans are really a bunch of fucking assholes, aren't they?

Michael Penn w/ Rosie Thomas @ Schuba's - 9/25/05

The last time I saw Michael Penn (which was also the first time) was about a week or two before I re-started this blog, so there was no review. Anyway, he was back in town playing material from his new album, Mr. Hollywood Jr., 1947. Some of you probably remember him as being the brother of Chris and Sean Penn who sang that Romeo in black jeans song. Or perhaps you know him as Aimee Mann's husband. You probably don't know that he did the music for P.T. Anderson films "Hard Eight" and "Boogie Nights". His new album is his fifth.

Rosie Thomas started the evening off. It's fairly typical singer/songwriter fare, but she was plenty entertaining, and pretty funny. She also has this weird voice thing going on. When she speaks, it's in a very high, Victoria Jackson-esque voice. Then she starts singing and her voice transforms into a lower, almost Joan Baez-like tone. But not really like Joan Baez. Anyway, it was a mystery. Still, she has a beautiful voice, and what seemed like a delightful personality. Michael Penn followed, and here's an incomplete and out of order setlist:

• Out of My Hands
  
• Denton Road
• Don't Let Me Go
• Long Way Down (Look What the Cat Drug In)
• Bunker Hill
• High Time
• Walter Reed
• Brave New World
• No Myth
• Bucket Brigade
• Me Around
• Try
• Figment
• I Can Tell
• A Bad Sign
• You Know How
• On Automatic

I'm pretty sure that's it. That's a lot though, so it's not like I'm complaining. He didn't play everything I wanted to hear, but he hit some of the big ones, inlcuding I Can Tell and Bunker Hill. He even gave the backstory to Bunker Hill this time, which, in his words, is a love story set during the L.A. riots. For those unaware, there's a big hill in downtown LA called bunker hill where a lot of rich people lived and lodged about 100 years ago. A funicular train was built to take people from third street to the top of Bunker Hill and vice versa. There are references to Angels Flight in the song. A couple of years ago, after it had been restored and put back in service, they had an accident and someone died. For my Angeleno readers, especially those with an interest in the area and some knowledge of it's history (Matt, I'm looking in your direction), you should check his stuff out. It's chock full of L.A. regional references.

Anyway, if you've never been to Schuba's, it's a little corner bar with a back room, which has a stage. The room can only hold about 150 people, so it's a really tiny venue. There's no "backstage". The artists enter from a side door that opens onto the sidewalk on Belmont. I think every time I've been there, the band/artist has talked about how they can't do the cliche encore, because there's nowhere to go. As MP put it, he'd have to go stand on the street like a jackass until we clapped loud enough for him to come back in, and if we didn't clap loud enough, he'd come back in anyway.

This show was recorded for playback on the WXRT Sunday Concert Series. I don't listen the radio enough to know when they're going to play it. And I'm not sure if they archive those, although I suppose it would be easy enough to figure out. You can go here and listen to him perform on KCRW. Probably a similar experience.

Thumbs up for this one. I'd still like to see him with a full band and an electric set up. He said he really longs to do that, but it would be too expensive. Maybe someday. Hopefully it's not another 5 years between albums.

One week left

Well, this one looks like it's about done. Good thing I missed it. There's still a chance, I guess, but we were due for a loss. I really question giving the start to Colon today, especially with Daryl Cousins behind the plate. Bart needs to work the corners to be effective, and Cousins has a strike zone about the size of a dime. But no use crying over spilt milk. Assuming an A's win tonight, the Angels take a three game lead into the final week, and a split with Oakland would all but guarantee the division. Still, let's hope the Rangers nut up tonight.

As for my fantasy team, I had a pretty rough week, but the guy I'm playing in the semi-finals has had a rougher week, and it looks like I'll be heading to the championship series, with three starters lined up to get two starts. I like my chances.

Missed most of today's game because I was playing Ruffled Feathers, pretty much right across the street from Cog Hill. They had a special today. Played in a steady, yet light rain, and the course was pretty wet. Opened with two birdies, then bogeyed 7 and 8 before parring 9 to shoot even on the front, which I've done only about once this year. Bogeyed 10, parred 11 and 12, birdied 13, parred 14, then snaked in about a 35 footer for eagle on 15, bogeyed 16 and 17, and parred 18 to shoot 36-36-72. Best round of the year, and one of my best rounds ever. I just need to be able to get myself to this point by June next year instead of September.

Seeing Michael Penn at Schuba's tonight, so maybe I'll have a review in teh next day or two.

Angels 7; Devil Rays 3; Lead is 4, Magic # is 5

The good news is that Steve Finley homered and doubled, driving in three runs and leading the Angels to victory. The bad news is that Steve Finely homered and doubled, which means that Scioscia is likely to put him in the lineup next week, except maybe against Zito. But I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade. It was a big win, especially because Oakland won today. The Angels need to show the A's that they're not putting pressure on anyone. The Angels fate is in their own hands. Win five games and the division championship stays in Anaheim. Win four of 8, at least one against Oakland, same result.

After some trouble in the first inning, J-dub settled down and looked terrific. Great job getting the win in what may have been his final start in Anaheim as a member of the Angels. I have mixed opinions about possibly re-siging him, but we can deal with that later. Vlad led off the scoring with #32, and after a couple of knocks, Finely erased the early deficit with a three run shot. The Angels would single runs in three later inning, with only Estaban Yan allowing a meaningless run in the ninth providing the final margin.

Shields has looked very good for a few consecutive outings now. That's huge. What would be even better would be to win tomorrow, and take the first two against Oakland. Wrapping things up early would give them a chance to rest that bullpen. It's vitally important, with this erratic offense, to have the relievers rested and healthy for the possible playoffs. Final home game of the season tomorrow. Bart gets the start, oddly enough. I thought they'd save him for the Oakland series. But starting him tomorrow means he's in line for another start against Texas, if needed, a team who he has dominated. And if that final start is not needed, he's set up to start a possible game one with extra rest. Still, waiting until Monday to start him wouldn't have changed any of that, so I'm not quite sure why they're doing this, but that's why I don't get paid the big bucks.

80 at Cog Hill today. Two bogeys, one birdie, 11 pars, and four freaking doubles. I'm almost there, but I need to get rid of the big numbers. Ironically, two doubles came when I took either 3-wood or 2-iron off the tee to play is safe. So much for dialing it back a bit. Birdied #13, though, which is the toughest hole on the course in my opinion. And naturally, I'm starting to make my best contact right as the season is ending. Oh well.

Unwarranted Criticism

Matt says:

It's funny how you no longer update after each game, like you used to back when you had a chance to win that bet....

This is simply wrong for a number of reasons. First, it's not true that I no longer update after every game. In fact, I updated pretty quickly after most games over the last two weeks. When I don't update right after a game, there's usually a good reason. I might be going to bed. See, Matt, we have these things called time zones, and mine is two hours earlier than yours. Also, some of us have jobs where we actually need to show up and stuff. I can't just write articles from the comfort of my apartment. This is also the good concert season in Chicago, and twice in the last two weeks I've been at shows while the Angels were playing. Sometimes, like last night, I might be at a White Sox game, and I might be drunk from tailgaiting before the game. Plus, last night's game wasn't on extra innings, and I hate sitting and watching games over the computer.

Anyway, all of that is neither here nor there. The point is, I feel like I've been accused of rooting for the Angels to lose. Trust me, I've said before, and I'll say again, I'd gladly pay $50 right now to have the season be over with the Angels in first place. I think a lot of would. I hope to lose that $50. Nothing would make me happier.

Anyway, as we all know by know, Angels win, A's lose, magic number is 6. Great comeback last night, and some really clutch hitting in the 7th and 8th. Paul Byrd apparently didn't have it, and he was gone by the time I got home from the Cell. Great work by Kevin Gregg to keep them in the game. Once the Angels tied the score on the error at first base, I had a pretty good feeling about this one. Shields was terrific, as was Frankie. It seems like that must have been the first time since June that both of them pitched 1-2-3 innings. If they can win one more game in this series and go to Oakland no worse than up by three, that would be fantastic.

Anyway, I knew early in this blog's life span that I was spoiling some of you, and that when the inspiration didn't strike for some reason, I'd be called on it. There's just no pleasing some people. Remember, Matt, you're getting what you've paid for. And while I'm on the subject, I think it's pretty darn convenient that your wife just happens to be French, which means you'll just happen to be out of town when I'm in LA, thereby precluding you from buying me dinner with my money.

For the curious

I try not to get too political on this blog, because there are other people who do that a lot better than me. If you haven't already figured it out from my sidebar, here's where some quize says I stand:

You are a Social Liberal (73% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (30% permissive) You are best described as a: Democrat Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid

Do with that what you will. And speaking of the sidebar, I've added 3 Bulls to the list. Them dudes are funny, and they like good music. Also, they added me to theirs, so it's like reciprocation, eh.

Oh, I got this from John Cole.

Angels 7; Rangers 4; Lead is 3 games; Magic # is 8

Six straight wins. Three big ones over Texas, which has to be a bit of a psychological boost in the event that those three games to close the season are meaningful, and I think we all expect them to be. The kid was good again, at least, good enough to win. Another quality start, he kept the team in the game long enough for the Angels to break it open in the sixth with three runs on four hits and a walk, all with two outs. The walk was to Steve Finley. I'm pretty sure every one of us in the halosphere was expecting a pop-up there. I know I was. Bengie added a home run, and Escobar, who had pitched a great 7th and 8th got touched for a run in the ninth. It was meaningless.

Two tests lie ahead. Obviously the series with Oakland is huge, and there's no way to overstate its importance. But the upcoming set with the Devil Rays is almost as important. The Angels enter the series in position to go into Oakland no worse than tied with a week to go. Honestly, I don't expect Oakland to lose to Texas, so it's important for the Angels to take at least two games out of three. This is the same D-Ray team that swept the Angels in Tampa, and has bitchslapped the first place Yankees all over the field this season. Wash is ready to go. Byrd will need to be the rock that he's been lately. The Angels still need a starter for Sunday. With Bart's bad back, and the series with Oakland looming, the Angels will probably move Bart to Monday, which will give him two starts in the last week.

The Angels magic number, now 8, is one better than that of the White Sox, who fell apart in extra innings tonight. Why they couldn't do that while Johan Santana was in teh game is anybody's guess, but it means I didn't get the win in my fantasy league. With three days left in the semi-finals, I trail my opponent by two points, which means nothing to you if you don't know how we do the scoring, and I'm not going to take the time to explain it now. Just know that it's a virtual tie. Of course, the Sox loss also means no donuts tomorrow. I'll be at the Cell tomorrow night, so I'll try to document the atrocities.

Angels 6; Rangers 5; Lead 2.5

Quick one tonight since I have to get up to go to work tomorrow. This one was sort of unexpected. Once they got down, I expected them to lose, because they were due for one, and the Angels have a tendency to be shut down by pitchers who have no business shutting them down. But as much as we've ripped on Scioscia recently, he played most of the right cards in this one. He went back to Ztu, despite my prediction that he wouldn't, and it didn't end up hurting the team. He got the big hits from pinch hitters Quinlan and Molina (and a hit from Finley, but it wasn't big, since it didn't lead to any runs). He got burned a little by Donnelly, but Christiansen got the lefty, Shields looked terrific in the eighth, and Frankie was great in the ninth, save for a lousy call on what should have been strike three to the lead off hitter, Rod Barajas.

Lackey didn't look particularly sharp, scattering a number of baserunners, although he did have two perfect innings. The last two games have brought returns of the Lackey inning, which may survive the regular season, but could be big trouble in the post-season.

Three game lead in the loss column, and thanks to the Twins, the magic number is nine, same as the White Sox. A executive assistant at work brought in donuts this morning because she was in a good mood after the Sox win last night. I think we're all getting all expense paid trips if they win the World Series.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club with Mark Gardener at the Metro, 9/20/05

Mark Gardener led off the evening, but honestly I missed most of his set. I showed up for his final five songs. However, I was there for the good parts. For those unaware, Mark Gardener was one of the creative minds behind the influential shoegazer band Ride, of whom I'm a big fan. He played Vapour Trail, an indie classic, and In a Different Place near the end of his set. He's supposed to back in December with a full electric setup (tonight was just him and two other people, no percussion, all acoustic), so it will be interesting to see if he does more Ride stuff.

BRMC came out next, or rather, Peter Hayes came out next. A little background, BRMC's first two albums were fairly straightforward rockers. The self titled first album was critically a mixed bag. Hailed by some as a return to rock and roll, it was criticized somewhat for being a rip-off of any number of bands, including the aforementioned Ride, as well as early Verve (circa A Storm in Heaven), maybe some My Bloody Valentine, and most obviously, the Jesus and Mary Chain. Didn't bother me. I really like all of those bands, so I thought it was a pretty good listen, and it made for a good live set (I saw them for the first time in 2001 when they opened for the Charlatans at the Double Door, so that makes this the fourth time I've seen them). The second album, Take Them On, On Your Own, was more of the same, and got even worse reviews than the first, but again, made for some really great live tracks.

While writing the latest album, Howl, Robert Levon Been (formerly Robert Turner) and Peter Hayes had a falling out with drummer Nick Jago. The result was a number of songs with percussion as an afterthought. The album is slower and quieter, drawing more from Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson than William and Jim Reid. Somewhere along the line, fences were mended, and Jago is back with the band, but there's not much for him to do on a number of songs. Critically, this was a step in the right direction, and honestly, it's growing on me, although initially I didn't care for it as much as the first two, start to finish.

So anyway, Peter Hayes came out solo and did the first couple songs by himself before being joined by Levon Been and Jago for the rest of the set. The set was panned by a few people on the way out. This is probably a weird situation for the band, as the first two albums are clearly more crowd friendly at a rock concert, but I'm sure the band wants to play a lot of the new stuff. Tonight, the band won. In this blog's tradition, the following is a setlist, which should be pretty complete, since the show just ended a few hours ago. The first few songs are in order, then it's a free for all:

• Devil's Waitin'
• Fault Line
• Restless Sinner
• Weight of the World
• Shuffle Your Feet
• Ain't No Easy Way
• Howl
• Still Suspicion Holds You Tight
• Love Burns
• Whatever Happened to My Rock and Roll (Punk Song)
• White Palms
• As Sure as the Sun
• Spread Your Love
• U.S. Government (a weird version of this, with only the words remotely similar to the veriosn that appears on Take Them On....)
• Stop
• Sympathetic Noose (Very different than the version on the album as well, but the same basic melody, just louder)
• Promise
• Gospel Song
• The Line
• Open Invitation

I think that's it. They played pretty much all of the new album, except for Complicated Situation. Levon Been broke a bass string on one song, which I've never seen before, but it looked cool. Also, his voice clearly wasn't as strong as Hayes'. At first I thought it was the microphones, but you could tell when at one point, the two switched sides. Hayes was terrific all night on vocals, guitar, harmonica (I love it when bands bust out the harmonica live for some reason), and even trombone on Promise near the end.

Personally, the set didn't bother me. While I would have loved to hear more than the just the two songs they played from Take Them On..., and I would have been ecstatic if they'd played Awake, I pretty much figured they'd play a lot from the new album, so I wasn't shocked or disappointed when that's what we got. Definitely worth my $16. And since it was an early show, I was home in time to see the last few innings of the baseball game. Definitely a change for the better from their last show. Two years ago, the show was supposed to start at 10:00. Because an early show ran late, and the band still wanted their full sound check, the doors didn't open until 11:30, and the show didn't start until almost midnight. This meant BRMC opened, and the Stratford Four had to go on second, at about 1:30 am, by which time most of the crowd had cleared out. That's gotta suck.

Angels 2; Rangers 1; lead is 1.5

Steve Finley has finally found a buddy for the bench. The old man ought to clear a space for MaicEEEr Izturis, becuase I don't think MaicEEEr is going to be doing a whole lot of starting from here on in, and he may have just cost himself a spot on the post-season roster.

When MaicEEEr wasn't booting balls at third, Bart was working on his 20th win, the first 20 game winner for the Angels since Nolan Ryan in 1974, which means he's the first since I've been old enough to actually pick up a baseball, right around the time I started walking and talking. Congrats, Bart. Escobar pitched a solid 8th, working around a one out walk to the Junior Sarge. Frankie did his Frankie thing again, putting runners on, striking batters out, and generally giving everyone a heart attack. Rivera continued to make his case for being in the everyday lineup with a solo homer, which gave the Angels a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

And the White Sox finally won, which ought to allow their fans, who are gripping seriously hard, a chance to back away from the ledge a bit. Crede homered in the tenth right as I pulled into my parking space as I returned from what you may have just read about in the post above.

We do it again tomorrow night.

Brian Jonestown Massacre at the Metro (9/14/05)

This was the first time I've seen BJM. You might have seen the movie Dig, or you might have read my half assed review of it, or neither. If you've listened to late '60s Rolling Stones, you know what Brian Jonestown sounds like. Some background, the music is great, the lead singer, Anton Newcombe, is psycho. That's about it.

The show lasted over two hours, and they played 10 songs. Seriously, ten songs in over two hours. There were two reasons for this. Some songs were seemingly endless. For example, they closed with "Swallowtail" and it lasted probably close to a half hour. No joke. The songs that didn't take twenty minutes to play were usually followed by 15 to 20 minutes of ranting from Anton. This isn't really a surprise for anyone who has seen the movie. Anton comes off as someone who is pretty sure that he's the most brilliant fucking person on the planet, and I'm sure there are enough people surrounding him who feel similar that it just feeds his ego. Anyway, the rants are funny at first, but start getting old if you're my age and back starts to hurt after standing in roughly the same place for 3 hours. What's not clear, at least to me, is if Anton has always been this way, or if the band's newfound popularity since the opening the of the movie has convinced him that he needs to play to type. I never saw them before the movie, and it was filmed over seven or eight years, so you never know whether what shows up on film is the real deal, or if he's been edited to seem like even more of an asshole than he normally is. Also, keep in mind that the lineup that you see in the movie is completely different. BJM at this point is essentially Anton and whoever he can get to tour with him. No Matt Hollywood, no Joel Gion, no Miranda Lee Richards, no Peter Hayes, etc. Although, Peter Hayes will be in the same venue on Tuesday fronting Black Rebel Motorcycle Club as they play tunes from their new album Howl, which I didn't like all that much at first, but is growing on me. I hope to be there.

The setlist, such as it was, stuck pretty closely to Tepid Peppermint Wonderland, which is the 38 song retrospective that was released shortly after the movie, and a good use of thirteen bucks (see, all of you iTunes freaks, buying actual CDs can still be a good value). The played one song off of Strung Out in Heaven, called Jennifer, that doesn't appear on TPW. The rest, from memory (and remember, it's like 5 days later now):

• When Jokers Attack
• Servo
• If Love is the Drug (this one lasted forever, too)
• Vaccuum boots (I think, but don't hold me to this one)
• Nailing Honey to the Bee
• Nevertheless
• Let Me Land Next To Your Flower
• Hide and Seek (again, they may or may not have played this one, but I think they did)

That's all I can remember/recognize, or think I can remember They did not play Who, Mary Please, or Anenome, which all would have totally rocked! Oh well.

The guys that opened for them, the High Dials, were actuallly really good for the two songs that I heard. I'll be checking out their album on Rhapsody.

Angels take two over the weekend

Didn't see much of last night's game for a couple of reasons. First, it wasn't on Extra Innings. Must have been on local TV in LA, and the Tigers weren't broadcasting. It was on MLBTV, but I didn't really want to sit in front of the computer all night, so I turned it on, turned the sound up, and laid down on the couch. There weren't too many reasons to get up and watch until the 8th inning, and by that time I was waking up from a long nap, so I was too tired to watch. I did listen, however, and watched Frankie shut down the ninth.

I have today's game recorded, and I'll skim through it later, but it was bright, sunny, and 80 degrees here, so I hit the links again, this time at Cinder Ridge. Kind of a rinky dink front nine, better back nine, but it could be in better shape. 41-36-77. Not bad for the first time I've seen it, and I started to put it together a bit on the back nine. Anyway, my dad gave me the play by play of the ninth inning on the drive home. The bullpen continues to be shaky, but Paul Byrd continues to show that the Angels are better off bringing him back next year over J-Dub.

Went to a local sports warehouse bar (seriously, the place is enormous) so that I could watch the Bruins beat up on a mediocre Oklahoma team. I'll take it. It's been a while since there's been a Bruins team that could beat up on any team, including the mediocre ones. Drew Olson looked terrific, and the defense created some turnover, and took advantage of some sloppy play. I could have ordered it on PPV, but I figured the money was better spent on beer and food, plus I could watch my dad's Spartans take on my friends' Irish at the same time. They play an awful Washington team next week before they face their first real test at home versus Cal, who beat up on the Illini this week (at least in the second half). We'll give the Illini a few years to blossom under Ron Zook.

Angels 7; Tigers 6

It was a little too late for a recap last night, and by now, you probably know what happened. I'm not sure I really have any more to add to what Matt has said. Besides, I've already said it a million times. Finley sucks hard, and Erstad has no business batting fifth. However, there were faint glimmers of hope last night, as Scioscia finally removed Finley in a pressure at bat with another left hander. Sure, Kotchman struck out on a pitch that was nowhere near the strike zone, but it was a step in the right direction.

The Angels reclaimed sole posession of first after an extra inning loss by the A's, so let's hope the same happens again today.

Bruins v. Sooners today in what's really a make or break game for Dorrell. Oklahoma is wounded and vulnerable, while the Bruins' offense is clicking. The stars are going to determine the outcome of this one. Olson, Drew and Marcedes Lewis against the Sooners defense, and on the other side, it will come down to Justin London and Spencer Havner against student of the year Adrian Peterson. I think the Bruins are going to win, but it will be struggle, as I think they still need to gain confidence. I'm not sure they believe they can play with an Oklahoma team, even one that's poor by Oklahoma standards. If it's tied at half time, or the Bruins lead, they win the game. If they trail at the half, it will go to Oklahoma.

The post where I give up

Seriously, is there any reason to watch these sacks of crap anymore?

Can hockey season start now, please?

Fuck 'em all

I've never seen a team score nine runs in a game where I could say "they really deserved to lose." If you score nine runs, you usually deserve to win. But not this team. This team is made up of probably the dumbest group of players I've ever seen, all led by their dunce-in-chief in the dugout. Fuck'em.

Mariners 2; Angels 1

Mike Scioscia deserves 100% of the blame for any game in which Steve Finley plays. That goes double for any game in which Erstad bats fifth. It's that simple. On top of that, he refused to pinch hit for Darin Erstad in an obvious pinch hit situation. The logical choice would have been to call up Quinlan in that situation. Erstad was unlucky, as he hit the ball hard, but right at Beltre. Doesn't matter. It was a predictable situation, as it's a lot tougher to control the bat against a lefty with a good curve ball.

For the second night in a row, the Angels face a guy who should be selling life insurance, and they make him into an award winner. This offense is absolutely putrid. Thank God for the schedule, or at least the A's drawing the tough teams part. The easy schedule for the Angels looks like it will prove to be anything but.

Under .500 since the all star break. This, folks, is not a good baseball team. Winning three straight over another incredibly overrated team over the weekend doesn't change that.

Assuming I come to my senses tomorrow, there probably won't be a game recap. It depends on how badly I want to go see the Brian Jonestown Massacre. The Angels just gave me one more reason to NOT stay home.

Mariners 4; Angels 1

It's only the sixth inning, but this one is over. Joel Piniero has an ERA over 6 against the rest of the league, but against the Angels, they make him look like the second coming of Cy Young. And I don't mean to imply that he turns it on against them. I mean exactly what I said. This offense absolutely sucks against Piniero. At one point he threw Darin Erstad five pitches out of the strike zone and struck him out. He's thrown 49 freaking pitches through five innings. They had an entire inning that lasted as long as Barry Bonds' first at bat. Seriously. He's faced 7 teams more than once. His lowest ERA against any of those teams besides the Angels is 3.77 against the A's. Everyone else that has faced him two or more times has killed him. But the Angels treat him like they're facing his fading promise, as opposed to his true ability.

Whatever strides this offense took over the weekend, they've politely stepped right back to where they were before heading to Chicago. It doesn't help that Scioscia wants to believe so badly that he continues to punt a lineup spot by playing Steve Finley, not to mention weakening the defense at the same time.

Santana has not been sharp lately, and tonight was no exception. I'll admit, I thought his solid July and August were going to be good enough to send Escobar to the pen, but I've changed my mind. He was behind to almost every hitter. He had no control over his fastball. He's keeping his poise, but he just isn't getting guys out, and with this offense, they can't afford to have a starter give up four or five runs a game. If they don't move Escobar back into the rotation, I think they're in huge trouble. If they just throw him out there and pray, they're going to lose the division. It doesn't help when their 'gold glove' second baseman can't make a simple throw to the plate on a double steal.

Let's put this one in the books as an overmatched pitcher against a tired offense, and let's be thankful that we don't have to face Piniero again. On the bright side, maybe Finley will be returned to the bench for good. It's nice to forget about this team's problems every once in a while, but they have a great way of reminding us just how flawed they are.

Angels 6; White Sox 1

Watched the good parts of this one on the DVR after I got home from another mediocre round of golf. Not much to say, really, other than it's really awesome to listen to Hawk call a game where the White Sox just get hammered.

It's gonna take more than two decent games to get me to stop hating Finley, but he had a couple more hits to today. Garret is starting to get a bit of a power stroke back, which is going to be very important down the stretch. Going down the list, of the guys who have been regulars all season, only three are showing the power at either the level of expectation or better. Vlad, Figgins, and Molina. But what's happened to this point is water under the bridge. What matters now is what happens down the stretch. And if they can play a little long ball for the next three weeks, they'll be tough to catch.

Lackey was excellent again, as he continues to grow into an ace. It may be that growth, even more than the emergence of Santana, that makes Washburn expendable after the season. They would have three front of the rotation starters, and really Wash would be number four in next year's rotation (maybe #5 if Santana improves over the off-season). What he will command on the market is a lot to pay for a fourth or fifth starter, but it's less a reflection on him, and more a indication of the strength of this pitching staff. I realize that those roles are strictly definitional, and nothing says you can't have five number one starters. But at this point, I'll take Byrd for another year over Wash at a big number for four or five more.

Three more up the coast before the team returns home. Honestly, they've already won one more game on this trip than I expected. Hopefully they'll get three more.

Angels 10; White Sox 5

Only caught bits and pieces of this one during commercials in the Notre Dame - Michigan game. I was with a bunch of Domers, so I didn't complain. They're everywhere in this town. The parts I saw, Bart looked shaky, which seems to jibe with throwing 111 pitches in six innings. But apparenty, he's healthy, which is incredibly important. The old man and the really old man both hit homers, which is pretty amazing. Considering this team could barely score in five straight games, scoring in five straight innings is something I never would have expected. Yan was apparently crappy, but hey, he got the job done last night when it counted. I don't care if he's crappy in games in which the Angels have big leads. Incidentally, that's the second time the Angels have put up 10 against the White Sox.

They've already won as many games as I expected them to on this trip, and they cling to their lead over the A's, so if they can win two more, I'd imagine they'd head home no worse than tied for the division lead.

Great game - Angels 6, White Sox 5 (12)

I gave up on this game at least six times. But we stayed through the final pitch, and in the end, I was the only guy in our section cheering. The Angels almost always lose when I go to Commiskey, but tonight they found a way to get it done.

Crazy first inning. I've never seen a guy face seven batters in one inning, give up four hits and two runs, all while using only 16 pitches. Some really nice glove work by Zach Sorensen to go along with a couple of knocks. The bullpen was heart-attack inducing (non Kelvim edition), but effective. Bobby Jenks got some measure of revenge. I wish the kid well, and ultimately that was kind of a perfect way for him to face the Angels. He was on top of his game, but it wasn't enough to win. I'm fine with that.

Vlad, well, I don't really know what to say about Vlad. We were all watching the ball in left center, expecting it to go out. When it hit the wall, we looked down and say Vlad walking to first, and I screamed, which is something I rarely do. He looked out at second from where we were sitting, but there wasn't much of an argument. He also looked out at home, but again no argument. However, more than out, he looked really, really, incredibly stupid. It's impossible to express how lucky the Angels were to get that result on that play. Quite frankly, after what happened earlier in the season, I can't believe he didn't get hurt.

Shout outs to Robb Quinlan who played a very fine third base, and cranked one to the opposite field. And I can't forget Juan Rivera, who really threw a beauty to the plate to nail Rowand. It didn't look like it was hit hard enough to get him, and Rowand is fast. But the throw, the catch, and the tag were perfect.

Terrific night at the ballpark.

Fafnir for head of FEMA!!

Imagine the number of people in New Orleans who would have been saved if only we'd had the right people in charge.

Angels 3; Red Sox 0

Well, it wasn't easy, although for 7 innings, Paul Byrd made it look pretty easy. He was fantastic until losing it a bit in the 8th, giving up a double and a rare walk. Shields came on, causing yours truly to cringe a bit. But Shields responded by striking out ManRam, Renteria, and nemesis David Ortiz, the last two with the bases loaded. Frankie was shaky in the ninth, but he found a way to throw the breaking ball for strikes at just the right time, striking out the side, although he loaded the bases in the process.

For the second straight night, Larry Young embarrassed himself, making his case for being the most pathetic excuse for an umpire in Major League Baseball. This time, he botched a completely routine tag up by Cabrera who moved from second to third on a foul fly out to right. Trot Nixon jumped into the stands, caught the ball, exchanged some high fives, ran up for a beer and a helmet sundae, made a few phone calls, and was in the process of hitting on some ZooMass co-eds in the fifth row when Cabrera decided to leave for third, which he reached easily. The Sox appealed to second, claiming that Cabrera left early, and inexplicably, Young agreed. Two ejections later, the Sox were out of the inning.

But that wasn't the strangest moment of the night. That came in the top of the seventh when Bengie Molina actually beat a throw to first base. Sure, it was only after Renteria went into the hole and made a great stop, then went to second to try to get the lead runner, but he legged it out all the same, and it became an RBI fielder's choice.

The good news is that Escobar was up and throwing in the 8th, which may be a sign that Bart will be ready to go on Saturday, a game which I may be at, but probably not. Sunday I may skip out to play golf, but I do have tickets for tomorrow night's game. Washburn goes against Buerhle, so the game should be over in about 37 minutes.

WOW!

I just walked in the door and saw the replay, but that is THE WORST CALL I HAVE EVER SEEN!! That was Don Denkinger in the 1985 World Series bad. I mean, it's not like Cabrera even gains an advantage from leaving early. He would have been safe by a mile anyway.

If Larry Young is anywhere near an Angels post-season game, I swear, I may bring a gun and shoot him. What a fucking dick of an umpire.

Missed it

Fell asleep in the second inning, and woke up about four hours later. Sorry. Looks like I didn't miss anything.

Having watched some of it on TiVo, the kid got screwed, and Scioscia did the right thing going to bat for him.

Red Sox 3; Angels 2

One of the reasons baseball is such a great game is because occasionally you end up with wildly unpredictable results. Santana shutting out the White Sox for instance, back when the White Sox offense was at least average. Ramon Ortiz outdueling Pedro Martinez in 2000. Little David Eckstein hitting walk off grand slams. Adam Kennedy hitting three home runs in one playoff game. Of course, the reason these moments are great is because day after day, play after play we see almost nothing but the predictable. That's what makes the unpredictable so exciting.

Tonight was an example of seeing the predictable, over, and over, over. The most shocking thing about this game is that it took the Red Sox until their last at bat to win. The Angels should have been hammered. Let's break it down:

Lackey: I've never seen a pitcher so afraid of a lineup. This is a guy won a seventh game of the world series as a rookie, yet he refuses to throw anything in same zip code as the strike zone when he faces any of the Red Sox big hitters in a pressure situation. Three straight walks, a wild pitch (thanks, Bengie), and he trails 2-0. The miracle is that he escaped having only allowed two runs.

Scioscia: This can be broken into three categories.

1) The bullpen. As much as I want to blame him here (and believe me, I do), he's currently saddled with a pen that simply can't get anybody out. He has one guy with some promise, and that's Escobar, who was excellent tonight. A problem completely of his own making, however, is his refusal to use his closer in a tie game on the road. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen him do it. I understand that to win, you still need to retire the home team in the bottom of the last. But saving your best pitcher for a hypothetical situation is akin to refusing to start a well rested Roger Clemens in game six of a World Series you trail 3 games to 2 just in case you get to a game seven. A relief ace unused is a useless relief ace. But this has been Scioscia's M.O. for his entire managerial career, or do I have to remind anyone of Bernie Williams' homer in game one of the 2002 ALDS? He's not going to change now. Of course, Frankie sucks right now, too, so there's no guarantee he would have done any better. Regardless, the bullpen, and Shields in particular, blowing this game was completely predictable. Embarrassed about all of those losses out of the pen, Scot? Well, get used to seeing one more.

2) Erstad hitting fifth. What the fuck? I mean seriously, what the fuck? I realize this team has little power, but that's not an excuse to just punt the power spots in the order (no pun intended). Vlad on base four times. Vlad left on base four times. Completely predictable.

3) Finley. There is no possible explanation for this move that would satisfy just about anyone who has watched this team on a regular basis. Did he need a lefty? Bullshit. If the platoon advantage is so great against knuckleballers, why do many of the capable switch hitters actually hit from the right side against Wakefield? Was it because he's due? Yeah, and he has been for about 5 months. He's not due, he's done. Honestly, this move was completely unacceptable. Unacceptable, yet predictable.

Ultimately, this wasn't a game I expected them to win. Frankly, I don't *expect* them to win any game, and I haven't since the D-Rays series. But what makes it tough to stomach was the completely predictable nature in which it was handed over to the Red Sox. When you have a certain segment of your roster underperforming, and a manager that feels the need to accentuate that group's failures, you're going to lose a lot of games. Opposing managers don't need to look for a weakness on the Angels. Scioscia and company are putting those weaknesses on full display for all to see.

Great News!

Alex Chilton has been found. He was probably just hanging out, down the street after the hurricane (although I think that was a Chris Bell song), but according to the linked story,

Chilton was evacuated by helicopter from his home Sunday and later flown out of the area.

Chilton, who hadn’t been heard from since shortly after Hurricane Katrina struck, told Easley he stayed in his home the entire time and water had gotten up to his porch. Chilton said he had food and water but was most concerned during the week about roving gangs.

If you're wondering why I keep going on about Alex Chilton, then you probably don't know who he is. If you don't know who he is, you really need to get your head out of your ass and start listening to some good music. You can start here. Coincidentally, when I was shopping at a Walgreens today, the old Box Tops hit "The Letter" came on. Seriously.

Not to make light of the situation, but I'll never be able to think of roving gangs and hurricanes without thinking of this comment on this post on Matt's site:

Don't know if hiding in the attic is a good or a bad idea. Frankly, while I don't really like it, I can't think of a better one without seeing his actual conditions. One *BIG* concern I'd have about hiding there is that there is *probably* no escape route. If detected, you're trapped. Therefore, if he decides that the attic is the place to hide, my random thoughts are

1) Get into hiding early enough that you can be absolutely still when entry is made. The last thing you want is to be heard scrambling into hiding as they enter.

2) Scout out in advance where and how you will hide. If possible, prepare some minimal accommodations and pre-place these into the attic in advance. I'm thinking mainly about some type of minimal flooring to take and distribute your weight comfortably. Think in terms of a few
boards, etc. possibly table leaves or shelves from a bookcase. You may find yourself trapped in place for an extended period of time. You don't want to straddle a 2x4 on the balls of your feet for 90 minutes!

3) Stay ABSOLUTELY still while in hiding. Any movement can easily transmit through the framing and ceiling and give you away. Remember, you're TRAPPED!

4) Ideally, look for a hidden and or secure spot in the attic. Hidden meaning out of direct sight if someone pokes through the trapdoor. Secure meaning offering some cover (not concealment) Is there a fireplace in the house? Can you use the brick or masonry chimney for cover?

5) Are things stored in the attic? Will any of it look inviting th the thieves? How likely is it the bad guys will want to enter the attic?

6) It's likely to be dark in the attic. I would NOT take a flashlight with me. You never know what stray light will escape from attic vents at night.

7) I'd give serious thought to making the house look like it's already been ransacked. Empty drawers onto the floor. Break some glass. Dishes and windows. Throw furniture and clothes around. GET RID OF THE TV, STEREO & OTHER OBVIOUS VALUABLES Move them to deep hiding. (attic?) Do enough so it looks real. This will all be cheap enough next month if it saves your life today. If the place looks ransacked, maybe they'll just walk through and leave for the neighbors. Obviously this all needs to be done in advance, not when you're trying to hide.

8) If you own one, take a fully charged cordless circular saw with you. (Actually, pre-place it.) If you *really* get trapped (by an arson fire for example) I'd want to be able to cut my way out through the roof.

9) Turn the ringer on your cell phone off. Don't want it to ring while you're in hiding. 10) I don't think I'd want to do this with a wife and or kids. Maybe if I was alone. Remember there's no escape route.

11) Don't know the terrain or geography, but consider slipping out the back door instead of entering the attic.

12) I agree with your assessment. GET A GUN.

And Matt's response:

You are a batshit crazy lunatic.

No argument here.

Angels 5; Mariners 3

Not much to say about this one, other than it's about 12:30 on Sunday night/Monday morning, I was at work about 4 and half hours before the game started, I watched the game at work, and I left work about 6 hours after the game ended. That's right, I was in the office for about 14.5 hours on the Sunday of a holiday weekend.

Of course, now that I think about it, it seems pretty silly to be complaining about work with all that's going in the South. Sure do hope Alex Chilton turns up sometime soon. There's plenty of sites all over the place with links to where you can donate. The Red Cross website worked pretty well for me. I'm sure you've heard it a million times, but if you haven't given already, please do.

Anyway, the Angels won, Bart got hurt, Kotch homered again, the bullpen was not horrendous, but that's as far as I'll go, and the A's lost to propel the Angels back into a solo lead.

If the results from today stand (and they're subject to change overnight), then my fantasy team will have gone 0 and 6 this week, and I will have still clinched a playoff spot, as the guy in second in my division went 1 and 5, trimming my lead to 13 games with only 12 to play. The beer is flowing as the Guzzlers celebrate their first trip to the playoffs in their five years of existence!

Just how stupid are the A's and their fans?

The following is an exchange with an Athletics supporter from Matt's site, following the A's thrashing of the 87 year old Al Leiter:

Dick Bennet: This was the earliest Leiter have been knocked out in his whole career - 2/3 of an inning - and it took a great team to do it.

Me: A team so great that it managed one whole run against the Angels starters in over 24 innings.

Dickie: Indeed, Mr. Seitz, even the Mariners can shellac the Angels' pitching, but the A's seem to hold something back against them.

It goes without saying that the Angels bullpen truly sucks. I've been saying it for weeks. So has Rob. But until today, I was not aware that A's fans couldn't tell the difference between starters (who are good), and relievers (who suck). A little tip for Dickie: the starters, to whom I was referring, are the guys who are on the mound when the game begins. File that for future reference.

Then again, perhaps they get it from their genius players, like Eric Chavez, who had this to say about the Magic Man:

"Tonight we should have scored runs off that guy," Chavez told Oakland reporters after the game. "The rest of the league is doing it. We're the only team he's shut down. We need to beat a guy like that."

Eric is too stupid to realize that Santana has had 6 quality starts in his last 7 games. Too stupid to realized that he's allowed 2 or fewer runs in 10 of his 17 starts, and three or fewer in 12. Too stupid to realize that he's got an ERA of 3.32 since the all-star break, which is only that high because it includes a 4.2 inning, 7 run start at Tampa Bay.

So to answer the question in the title of this post, I'd have to say "Pretty damn stupid".