mstar1

Congratulations to the Little League kids from Hawai'i!! Down 5-1 with 3 outs to go, they scored 6 in the top of the 6th to take the US Championship game. Thats the comeback of the year--what an exciting game! I can always count on the little leaguers

1952 Vincent Black Lightning Richard Thompson's english version of all those 'drivin a 57 chevy' american songs

Lotsa great stuff on this page Its early morning for me Im listening to a piece of a Bach Cello Suite , a Courante, arranged for 11 string archguitar by Peter Blanchette at the moment........

You're all good, perceptive, and hardcore baseball fans...a guy on another site each year writes a very good Scouting Report-by the fans -for fans. If you have a few minutes and want to evaluate the fielding characteristics of the players on your team. Have at it LINK

Thats the tricky part that Im not clear on---Jacoby Ellsbury somehow made it on to the 25 man roster for the playoffs last year for the Red Sox and had a huge ALCS and World Series. Frankie Rodriguez (K-Rod) did the same thing for the Angels in '02--Like the "trade deadline" the miracle is lost somewhere in the fine print.... ...... I gotta send out my get well soon to Carl Yastrzemski. The last Triple Crown Winner (1967) had triple bypass surgery yesterday....apparently he is doing well from all Ive heard. HERES a profile of him written in '05 thats definitely worth the read. Thoughts and prayers... Get Well Soon Captain

I could be wrong on this (well heck I probably am but play along) I think the waiver wire trade deadline deadline absolutely final post mortem actually dead final final finish line for trading with other teams is August 31- THEN a whole 'nuther thing happens---on September 1st the roster is expanded from 25 to 40 players, and players can be brought up from AAA or AA--thats a whole other can of worms that I dont know exactly how it works --whether players already have to be on the 40 man roster, if that 40 man roser can be jostled and moved around or if minor league deals can be made to get someone onto it...so they'll be at least one or two phenoms youve never heard of making a dent in September

... Maybe all you guys could all wave palm fronds in the stands like pharaohs slaves to keep him cool--that is if you aint gonna go for the dome.... Heat might be part of it-- I think that once you get to X amount of dollars there has to be other perks to help people make a decision...I know with Schilling they presented all the baseball stuff and the money but he has written that the thing that put the RS over the top compared to other organizations was they had done the research on the details of his life and set up other things that they knew he was concerned with--- like excellent schools for his kids, and promise of big involvement in his charity work for Lou Gehrigs disease (which he is big into) and several other niceties beyond the playing field to make his stay here for him and his family very comfortable. Think about it--if you were offered twice what you are making now to uproot to say Cleveland or Milwaukee would you? Maybe --maybe not---but if someone was throwing rose petals at my feet and really showing some care for me outside of hw I perform for them--it might be alittle easier to be persuaded anyway-----Im distracted.. Im watching the Rays game on ESPN--they have one of the most exciting tams in baseball, are in first place, are playing the first place LAAAAAAAngels---yet there looks to be about 10,000 people in the stands--am I missing something? I lived in Tampa Bay for 7 years and know 5 miles away from the stadium there are beautiful beaches, boating, water sports and 10 trillion women in bikini's--but 10,000 or so for a game between 2 first place teams? cmon --that just ain't right

Cool Stuff--It looks like dichroic glass, About 15 years ago I worked in large white room and I made a spinning mobile out of dichroic glass, similar to that stuff , that I had leftover from another project and hung it near the brightest window......I honestly didnt get much work done as multi colors spent the day dancing on the ceilings and walls as I worked--too often it had me too mesmerized to work...theres is something about the spontaneous emotional appeal of pure color alive in light that belongs o the region of poetry and has a reach far beyond mere words.... anyway ---I better get back to Matt---speaking of poetry I found the lyrics to that original song that dave was asking about-- The whole thing "Gitanjali" by Rabindranath Tagore (its a little lengthy but well worth it) can be read HERE with an introduction by William Butler Yeats

Outtakes that didnt make original cut

Im a big advocate of developing pitchers from within as the way to go and keeping that top on the priority list but still think it is necessary from time to time to sign a number 1. The problems seems to come about when pitchers are signed as 1's but are never really more than a 3 or 4 in the first place and they are thrust into arole that they dont have the makeup for---- The Red Sox have been lucky (plus they did a lot of homework) when they shelled out big $$ and signed Pedro Martinez, then traded for Curt Schilling, then won the Daisuke Matsuzaka race, which were all worth it in the long run. The problem seems to come when they arent really committed to go for the best and trade for a Jeff Suppan, or a 40 year old David Wells and wrongly expect miracles to happen from a maybe .500 pitcher. The Carl Pavano signing by the Yankees was abig deal a few years ago but he has pitched around 3 games in the last 4 years. Its a gamble and a high stakes one that doesn always work...(i.e. Barry Zito) Last winter the big talk was Santana and teh squeeze was on for the Red Sox to give up Jon Lester --They held and now Lester is the real ace (although Beckett and DiceK are technically 1 &2). Just from a business standpoint if you are going to spend $100,000,000, it makes sense to put it in your player development system where you could develop 4, 5, 8, or 10 players in their young years instead of spending it on one "superstar" who may or may not perform imo Its a tough balance--like being at a casino--- There is no real clear cut answer--although some things work and some things dont. Im beginning more and more to thinks its the people behind the scenes--the scouts, the minor league coaches, the stat nerds (glad we have Bill James), the development teams that make it all really work on the Big League Fields, if for some reason a team is forced into signing big free agents ( and they all do at one pont or another) its an indicator that something needs to take place and be changed in the minor league system as they should be able to produce big league talent at a regular rate if they are running properly. It would be much more efficient/ cost effective to do it that way. I dunno--thats my two cents anyway, but Ive always been a do it yourself kind of guy... Oh and Hard to believe he has the record he has this year...He always seems to get the bases loaded...then work himself out of a jam. Jerry Remy suggested last week that they should just allow teams to come up and have the bases loaded already so we can watch him pitch. It seems to be the only time he does anything right.. Its bizarre... BUT I'll take the W--ugly or not--its still a W

Thanks RG I needed to hear that---Ive been asked to give a talk on color which to me is another amazing universal language -like dance or music--for a bunch of big woop de doo people which is coming up soon---Im not a public speaker but Ive dealt with use of color for over 30 years-----i was researching it yesterday and as I reflected and the pieces fell together--I figured that these people will either think Im totally out of my mind or hopefully like Matt striving to communicate something that is beyond the ability of words to convey. The video synchronistically showed up for me at the right time---but I have to admit Im still alittle nervous about how Ill pull it off and if I can get it to the level that it really deserves...your reinforcement helps Thanks--Love you too!

and Koufax lasted how long? until he was 30? I loved those long games and complete games, but I have to wonder how long someone like Koufax would have lasted if he wasnt pitching way over 300 innings every year with an arm injury. Its not unheard of for pitchers to pitch into their 40's now (Clemens, Johnson, Maddux). Im not fully enamored the way pitchers are used now with all sorts of specialists that fill a particular and narrow role. I.E.-The closer who ONLY comes in in the ninth with a 3 run or less lead--I liked the old firemen (more or less the equivelent of todays closer) who came in whenever the going got hot and shut things down for the final 2-3-or 4 innings if necessary--Guys like Rollie Fingers and Goose Gossage---none of this left right, left right switch pitchers 5 times nonsense--just one guy -*bang* -lights out but it is what it is until someone figures out something else --this is the way its going to be

Dave---It was dropped in my email yesterday by a friend who got it from her daughter who is a young art student..Its making the rounds, if you go to Youtube (which has a clear Hi def version) you'll notice it has over 9 million hits--as well it should. As far as the music the only thing I know is what was on the tail end of the video at about 4:20-- which says: Music by Garry Shymann Drums and engineering by Dan Blessinger Guitar Ken Dukes Vocals Palbasha Siddique Concert Master Belinda Brennan Lyrics adapted from "Stream of Life" from "Gitanjali" by Rajindranath Tagore Praan is available on Amazon MP3 you may want to re go to the video and check some of the spelling on those names Rainbows Girl Thanks for the poem-I couldnt agree with you more I didnt really know where to post this originally and was going to post it on songs that make you cry as it was so good that it brought me to the verge-- but it didnt seem to fit in with what else was there Glad you dont think Im off my rocker--but see it for what it is :) :dance: and Dave lets us know when you work out the song--or what else you find out about it--I'd love to hear it when you get it down

I got a huge kick out of this silly little video.

Speaking of pitching.....and coaching........I just caught the tail end of the Brewers game, watching Sabathia move to 8-0...How long has he been in the NL? A month or so? Any outside chance he gets the NL CY if the Brewers win the div.? The thing I was questioning watching him was that they had him throw a complete game when the Brewers were up 9-2. He had around 130 pitches. I dont know how many complete games he has with the Brewers but he leads the NL....in a month plus.... He ate through the AL last year too, then faded in the playoffs, presumably (Ithought anyway) because of his high inning total throughout the year last year. I could be wrong, but I thought that was unnecessary to push him to get the CG....Its not the 70's anymore.....I'll be watching come playoff time to see if these little things mean anything or not but his overall innings must be getting high up there

Tough break on Kinsler-- No I didnt know that Francona got his start in Texas, every once in a while he'll talk about Philly ( ...all the years I was there I thought my name was ..You Sukc!. I know he was Tito's son--so he was walking around big league ballparks since he could walk----You pick up a few things that way. /sharpening the knife for the fat cow

Kill the fatted calf! He has returned! WB Simon says! To me thats a very good point, nobody can teach someone how to "sit in a lawn chair and throw 95"...Its not always the case but it seems more often than not that the more mediocre players can make the better coaches--they were the ones who had to study the nuances of the game to stretch their meagerer abilities and find an advantage. Terry Francona was never a great ballplayer, the Sox pitching coach is John Farrell ( I couldnt tell you whatever he may have done as a player) I have heard a few interviews with him and the things that he can pickup pitch to pitch is on a whole different level than I have ever heard . . ..Although the Red Sox have some 'talent' the also understand the value of having excellent coaching. I dont really following coaching staffs all that closely but someteams always seem to have sound pitching--The Blue Jays, The Twins, The Cardinals--I doubt its ALL just organizational philosophy and park effects --some of it has to be good coaching and development--Dave Duncan in StLou comes to min

HERES the Yankee retired number list no 6, 8 twice. Maris IS in at #9 Reggie Jacksons even in there although he played for them for about 3 years. I dont know what the Yankee criteria is, I know that the Red Sox is pretty stringent--At least 10 years with the team, a member of the Hall of Fame, and must end their career with the Red Sox are a few of them--so because he's gone Manny is never going up there, even though im he belongs...There have been others that belong but for one reason or another they're not..Jimmy Foxx, Cy Young, Tris Speaker etc(of course for some of these guys its hard to retire numbers if they didnt have numbers

Cool on the vote results although I couldnt tell you who Lou Criger was.. I doubt that Ruths number will be retired by all of baseball. The Yankees already have it retired and have a plaque for him. There werent numbers when he played for the Red Sox so he (along with a few others) obviously doesnt have his RS number retired----- and although I definitely have great respect for what Robinson did, its still a little odd for me to look up on the rf porch at Fenway and see 1-4-8-9-27* in Red Sox red and then 42 in Dodger Blue--- Ruth did help to save and revitalize the game and I love him as a player but 3 in yankee pinstripes would NOT work in Fenway... Speaking of old timers --yesterday was Smokey Joe Wood Day at Fenway who made his first start for the Red Sox 100 years ago yesterday,August 17, 1908-- two of his surviving children were there--who I really enjoyed seeing... --Wood won 34 games in 1912..and pitched in some of the still legendary early "games of the century'. * 1 Bobby Doerr 4 Joe Cronin 8 Carl Yastrzemski 9 Ted Williams 27 Carlton Fisk

All got at he link was: Can you give us a review/synopsis?

Its front of the Wheaties box big! This is from the finish of the 100meter butterfly...a jillionth of a second before the finish.. Phelps is on the LEFT, check out where his hands are---and he won! some great frame by frame photos of the photo finish are HERE

Too tired right now to answer all this--As far as Dice-K, I checked out early in that game so I didnt see what you're talking about... I willsay Ihave hardly seen him throw near anyone in two years --except the occasional one which gets away, (if you check his BB stats they are very high and he has at least one extremely wild inning every outing). He even used to do that japanese bow thingy if someone got hit because an HBP was "dishonorable" in his culture. He doesnt do that anymore but I havent seen him throwing at people either. Dunno maybe he's taking lessons in American baseball...or he's been watching Joba Chamberlain. Will you guys sign Roy Halladay in the off season or trade for him or something? I hate having him in this division...he's brutal.... Its been odd going from playing the best hitting team to a great pitching and fielding team in the Bluejays---Never a dull moment ---although if someone could combine the Rangers and the Jays somehow -it would be a formidable force. ................... I looked up and read all those waiver rules last winter Geisha, they're interesting and very nuanced---I'll see if I can find the link in the AM

THIS is a cool video, in which a penguin, already a Colonel-in-Chief of the Norwegian Army, is knighted. Really. I love the proclamation: Nils Olav looks somewhat amused by the whole thing, though he does a good job of walking in a straight line while inspecting the guards standing at attention, and only very occasionally decides that some of them seem to require closer inspection. Well done, Nils Olav. And well done, King Harald V of Norway!

Whats goin on everyone? Im feeling much better about this all now after my mini Manny meltdown... a short winning streak , a little time (and some heavy medication) really does wonders. This is the fun part of the year--Im ready to play. What a great ride a season is, I have a nice box to watch Josh Beckett (whos moving into his Kick a$$ mode) mow down the Jays tomorrow. Speaking of KKK -The K-Men would work.. They'll be out tomorrow and busy and I'll be rootin for the Rangers while they have the Tampanians in town. Crank it up a notch you Rangers! Simon come out come out wherever you are

ive seen it work too, although a little differently than dmillers I belong to another board that has several layers, Anyone can lurk and read through most of the site. , including the main boards. 'Lurkers' can then register and post on many selected forums on the site . They are still considered 'lurkers' even though they can post in several places 'Members' can post on the all the boards BUT they also have their own members sections that is inaccessible to non members and lurkers There is a very stringent and tight application process to become a member, it is by no means automatic, they dont take (or want) everybody, there are no guarantees anyone will get in. IF they are accepted as members there are not ony the applications and acceptance but annual dues and requirements, and they still can be bounced out at anytime as there is a fairly complex warning/suspension/banning system in place if they break the rules, or have an attitude. There is a zero tolerance policy Occassionally 'members' get demoted to "lurkers' if they do something stupid, or proven lurkers can be promoted to probationary members. It requires diligence and work from the moderators--but it does and can work