That's alot of Brian Bruney

[1] Edwar?? (har-dee-har...har....)

Joba-Phil-Mo...maybe some BabaBruney, perhaps a dash of Coke..DaRob can rest peacefully and go to rehab..

isn't there some kind of injury rule that allows a player to hop on for the LCS. if so, we can let Robertson rest and rehab and if he's ready and if we're fortunate enough to make it to Round 2, we can add him then. or, i could be waaaay the fuck off base. that would be expected...

[2] Joba's the fourth starter.

[3] Yes, you can change the roster before each series. So Robertson could be added for the ALCS if they make it. Though sounds like there's at least a chance he'll be back and ready for the ALDS.

[4] cool, thanks. who knows, if Robertson has to go down to Tampa, perhaps he'll be there and ready to pitch the last series of the regular season (if not before). that'd be a good tuneup for the ALDS.

hope the days at home with the little one and car shopping are both going well! : )

you can tap paradiddles on her little tummy and sing silly counting syllables!!! ; )

Big G, wearing #23, kicking some ass for the Rox. good for him!!!

[6] But 23 doesn't add up to 7!

[5] I do tap rhythms out on her tummy. Didn't think of practicing my paradiddles, though. I've got her dancing already. She loves nothing more than rocking out on my knee. It's awesome.

[7] i thought that about the 7 !

i was just listening to an album called "Dancing" (Mike Keneally)!

you can tap out paradiddles on your own knees. follow her eyes going back and forth, when you start on your right knee and left knee. exaggerate the initial accent. it'll probably help her count 1's & 2's, as well as learning about direction (right & left).

you can also sing or count out rhythms/melodies while tapping out the time on her 4 finger pads (no thumb). think of it as a more musical "this little piggy went to market"...!

: )

[8] That's awesome!

Ugh, it's already starting..went over to ESPN.com and of course it was all football on the main page..thank Yahweh for Keith Law's chat..

[9] if only you were a hot blonde, single woman! ; )

don't go to espn homepage, bookmark their MLB page - that's what i do.

i am loving beer again! : )

had a pretty strange happenstance tonight. when we start emailing off the banter, i'll let you. pretty good story.

i'll be attending a heavy metal festival this weekend here in atlanta, helping a vendor friend of mine, but before it starts, i hope to pick up a cool, rare jazz CD on blue note! : )

i gotta say - i'm not a fan of dreadlocks, per se, but i LOVE the fact that a Hall of Fame hitter like Manny (even with the pregnancy drugs!) has long hair!!! i am judged wrong every single day, by people who read me by my cover, and it's really infuriating and debilitating. i'm a guy with really long hair for my entire life, yet don't fit ANY of the stereotypes bestowed on longhairs, drummers or professional musicians.

i'm no cheater like Manny, nor am i a world class historical figure in my field (unfortunately), but it's nice to see a cat with long hair do good. if it wasn't meant to be long, it wouldn't grow... (and yes, i tried that theory with fingernails once, but it wasn't pragmatic...)

LET'S GO TAM-PA !!!

LET'S GO TEX-AS!!!

[11] How does one cheat at music? Stealing riffs.....naw, that's OK. As a copywriter for 24 years I know it's OK to lift an idea as long as you can make it better, it's stealing and improving,

I prefer left hand accented flamadiddles.
(Certainly can't do 'em, but I like 'em.)

[7] I'm not at all into classical, but I go ga-ga for the William Tell Overature. I loved The Lone Ranger, but the theme song at the end was the best part.

From the time my daughter was born, I used to gently sing it in her ear.
Ba da bump
Ba da bump
Ba da bump bump bump

Ba da bump
Ba da bump
Ba da bump bump bump

Ba da bump
Ba da bump
Ba da bump bump bump

Baaaaaaaaaaaaa
Ba da dump bump bump

As a toddler, if she was unset and crying, even if the wifey couldn't calm her down, I would put her on my knee and sing in her ear....

Ba da bump
Ba da bump
Ba da bump bump bump

Her eyes would grow wide....

Ba da bump
Ba da bump
Ba da bump bump bump

I had her attention....

Ba da bump
Ba da bump
Ba da bump bump bump

Baaaaaaaaaaaaa
Ba da dump bump bump

It never failed to calm her down, although sometimes I had to get all the way to the crescendo....

bump bump bump bump
bump bump bump bump
Baaaaaaaa
Da da da daaaaaaaaa
Da da da daaaaaaaaa
Da da da daaaaaaaaa
Da da da................

(big ending here)

The song still give me goose bumps

[15] Miles Davis was working for awhile here until Mr. OK Jazz Jr discovered the "Barney" DVD..now it's nothing but "Baby Bop Hop" every night...on that note I will belatedly join thelarmis in pursuing a Hefe-Weizen beer that's waiting in the fridge..

oh, some random trivia: What Yankee great hit the first ever home run in the Astrodome?

[16] The guy who potentially was the greatest player ever.
The Natural.
Mickey Mantle.
I believe he was the first (and only?) player to hit the roof of the dome.

[17] 1957, OPS+ of 227....and people thought it was a "down" year because only 34 home runs! At his best, was The Mick better than Ted Williams?? Was Joe D better than both of them because of his (allegedly) all-time great defense??

On days with no archived game to watch, what else is there but internet jazz radio and baseball reference?? at least till me lady gets home...

[18] Mickey was an excellent defender when he came up. Remember, he played on bad knees with a bum leg his entire career... and he played CF in YSI !!! He also had a tremendous arm. I saw a game late in his career. A ball was hit over his head... he tracked it down on a few bounces, turned and threw the ball with all his might to try and get a runner trying to score. He was given an error on the play because the throw went OVER the catchers head... on a fly. Think about that!

Mick was also the fastest on the team when he came up, and considered one of the fastest in baseball. We marvel and the combination of speed and power in Rickey Henderson... but Mantle may have been as fast, and his power... well... no one hit 'em as far, or as many bombs (500' an over) as Mickey.

Just for comparison.
A guy considered one of the best all-around players in the game...
ARod: career OPS+ 147
Mick: career OPS+ 172

[14] Flamadiddles on the baby's big padded diaper are always a great one, as are any of the other diddle rudiments. ... Cliff speaking from experience, you need to make sure time the bouncing of Amelia on your knee to about a half our or an hour after a feeding or change. Otherwise, you're taking a major risk.

[20]

Hey Will, Cliff ... its time for more pics of your bundles of joy. (hint hint)

[7] [15] When she was still little enough, I would put my daughter in the "football hold" and run (gently, and not very fast) around the house, "singing" the William Tell Overture to her. She loved it. My wife was never a big fan of the football hold, but she did like that it always calmed our daughter down.

[20] When they are older, very bouncy piggy back rides should also only be given after food has digested for a while. Trust me. ;)

[19] It really shows the difference in eras! That career OPS of 172+ is based on an OPS of 977.

Still something weird --the Mick's last year, he had an OPS of 782 which still translated to OPS+ of 142. Now I would imagine that an OPS+ of 142 would be desirable and still worthing keeping around.

Or maybe a 1st baseman (his position in the later years) hitting .237/.385/.398 was bad even back then. So if that's the case, then how does an OPS of .782 translate to OPS of +142? Or was he still great that last year (as evidenced by the OPS+) but the injuries really got him to retire?

[23] The Major difference between eras was not as much that the Big Guns hit 50+ now while they hit 40+ then, it's that today's non-power hitters are also posting enough HRs that they would have been considered power hitters back then.

Roy White was not a power hitter but definitely had some pop. Why... he would hit 10-12 HRs per year! There were tons of guys who hit 5 or less. Today, bat boys have more then 5 HRs.

Back then...
much bigger stadiums...
a deader ball (I believe today's ball is juiced)
higher mound
less expansion and pitching dilution (20 teams after the Mets/Astros expansion)
less emphysis on HRs... lifting weights was frowned upon.
Very little middle relief (which is today's weakest pitchers).

In his last years, Mantle was still maybe the most productive Yankee on a terrible Yankees team. His chase for 500 HRs cost him in career BA, OPS and other offensive (percentage) stats.

In his last 4 years (after '64), his eventual 977 OPS had to obsorb .831, .927, .825 and .782. Without doing the math, I'm guestimating it cost his '64 career OPS about 25 pts. So he could have finished with an OPS of about 1.000, Even today, the best hitter in the game has a career OPS of 1.059, and anything over 1.000 is still considered other worldly.

Lastly, 1968, relative to it's era, might have been the worst offensive year ever. Yaz led the lead with a .301 BA, the only .300 hitter of 1968. For example, in '65, Mickey's OPS was 49 pts higher, but his OPS+ was 10 pts LOWER.