Last night while my wife and I were at the Ladysmith Black Mambazo concert, she reminded me that the Super Bowl is tonight. Huh. I'm off, but not sure if I'll watch. I've never skipped it, but I've worked about ten of them in a row, so I haven't had to make the call recently, either.
Monthly Archives: February 2017
February 4, 2017: Skatin’
The boy has really got into rollerskating (well, rollerblading) in the past month. Which means we've been hanging out at the Chicago suburbs version of Roller Gardens. There's also another facility nearby, which is slightly rattier. What was Roller Garden's cousin facility called again? I can't think of the name...
Winter Wonderland: Australian League Preliminary Finals, Game Two
ADELAIDE 8, BRISBANE 4 IN BRISBANE (12 INNINGS)
Mitch Dening hit a two-run homer in the twelfth to break a 4-4 tie and Adelaide added a couple more insurance runs later in the inning. Jordan Cowan was 4-for-6 with a double for Adelaide, scoring twice and driving in one. Marcus Greene, Jr. was 3-for-6 with a two-run homer and two runs for Adelaide. Josh Altmann was 3-for-6 with a run and an RBI for Adelaide.
The best-of-three series is tied 1-1.
Winter Wonderland: Caribbean Series, Day Three
CUBA 6, PUERTO RICO 1 IN MEXICO
A three-run third broke a 1-1 tie, putting Cuba up 4-1 and in control of the game. Vladimir Garcia pitched six innings for Cuba, giving up one run on five hits and a walk with two strikeouts. William Saavedra was 3-for-4 with a two-run homer and a double for Cuba, driving in three. Eddie Rosario was 1-for-3 with an RBI for Puerto Rico.
MEXICO 5, VENEZUELA 1 IN MEXICO
Sebastian Valle hit a walk-off grand slam with none out in the ninth to break a 1-1 tie. Barry Enright struck out five in five innings for Mexico, giving up one run on five hits and no walks.
STANDINGS
Mexico, 3-0
Cuba, 2-0
Venezuela, 1-1
Dominican Republic, 0-2
Puerto Rico, 0-3
TODAY'S TILTS
Dominican Republic v. Puerto Rico
Cuba v. Venezuela
1987 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twenty-four
BOSTON 11, MINNESOTA 3 IN BOSTON
Date: Friday, August 21.
Batting stars: Tom Brunansky was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his twenty-sixth. Roy Smalley was 1-for-2 with two walks and a run. Kent Hrbek was 2-for-4 with a double.
Pitching stars: None.
Opposition stars: Roger Clemens struck out nine in 6.2 innings, giving up one run on six hits and three walks. Mike Greenwell was 3-for-5 with a triple, scoring once and driving in three. Dwight Evans was 3-for-4 with a walk, scoring once and driving in two.
The game: RBI singles by Evans and Greenwell put Boston up 2-0 in the first. The Red Sox opened the fourth with four singles, which produced three runs and made the score 5-0. Gary Gaetti singled in a run in the sixth to get the Twins on the board, but Boston got three in the seventh to put the game out of reach.
Of note: Randy Bush was once again in the leadoff spot, this time in left field replacing Dan Gladden...Kirby Puckett was 1-for-5 with a run, making his average .312...Al Newman was at shortstop, replacing Greg Gagne and batting ninth...Frank Viola started for the Twins, pitching 4.1 innings and allowing five runs (four earned) on six hits and two walks with four strikeouts...This was the fourth loss in a row by the Twins, all of them by big scores. The Twins were outscored 37-6 over the four games.
Record: The Twins were 66-58, in first place by three games over Oakland.
We hope to resume player profiles next week.
Happy Birthday–February 4
Germany Schaefer (1876)
Eddie Ainsmith (1890)
Possum Whitted (1890)
Joe Sparma (1942)
Steve Brye (1949)
Rob Picciolo (1953)
Rusty Kuntz (1955)
Chris Bando (1956)
Dan Plesac (1962)
Chris Coste (1973)
Ben Hendrickson (1981)
Half-Baked Hall: 1946-1950
And we're back at it! Due to the rule changes this time around, I first have to break some sad news about players who were on the ballot who have been unceremoniously cut off.
Sam Rice: Fell to 33% on his 5th ballot after starting out with 56% of the vote. That sound you hear is Scot weeping.
Hack Wilson: Fell to 28% on his 5th ballot after starting out with 44%. Who knew WGOMers weren't impressed with RBIs?
Earl Averill: Fell to 28% (+ 11 maybe) on his 2nd ballot.
Pie Traynor: Fell to 39% on his third ballot. Sorry Pepper.
Waite Hoyt: Actually increased his vote total to 33% (+ 6 maybe) on his third ballot, but it wasn't enough.
Tony Lazzeri: Started out with 16% of the vote but with 42% giving him a maybe. Once people realized that it was okay not to vote for a Yankee, they backed off. He fell to 28% with 0% maybe on his third ballot.
Also, these players were going to be on the last ballot before we took a break, but no longer meet the threshold. Hal Trosky, Billy Jurges, Ben Chapman, Roy Cullenbine, Curt Davis, and Freddie Fitzsimmons. We hardly knew ye.
Now for what you've been waiting for. Below is your ballot. For write-ups, I gave everyone two people this time around. If you no longer want to do write-ups, please let me know.
Final Ballot
Nobody
Returning Players
Earl Averill (3rd), Wes Ferrell (3rd), Gabby Hartnett (3rd), Bob Johnson (2nd), Chuck Klein (2nd), Bill Terry (5th)
New Hitters
Luke Appling (nibbish)
Dick Bartell (Scot)
Bill Dickey (philosopher)
Rick Ferrell (daneekasghost)
Augie Galan (bhiggum)
Joe Gordon (New Britain Bo)
Hank Greenberg (yickit)
Stan Hack (nibbish)
Babe Herman (nibbish)
Ernie Lombardi (freealonzo)
Joe Medwick (Can of Corn)
Mel Ott (freealonzo)
Arky Vaughan (New Britain Bo)
Dixie Walker (Beau)
New Pitchers
Tommy Bridges (Scot)
Dizzy Dean (philosopher)
Lefty Gomez (Can of Corn)
Mel Harder (yickit)
Carl Hubbell (DPWY)
Ted Lyons (DPWY)
Claude Passeau (freealonzo)
Schoolboy Rowe (Beau)
Red Ruffing (daneekasghost)
Bucky Walters (bhiggum)
Ballots will be sent out February 17th. Please don't stress about the write-ups. Even a passing comment or two is welcome if you're feeling stressed for time.
Tri-Tip and Skate Skiing (roller-style)
OK so food+fitness.
Tri-Tip cut (bottom sirloin with fatty chunks removed).
Olive oiled and seasoned.
Wait, UPS guy just showed up.
OK so new ride for this boyo.
Tri-tip to the smoker for 2'ish hours.
New wheels - like a young pony.
Bella cosa.
FMD: Tones I’ve Never Heard
A few days ago, my Marantz SR6011 receiver arrived via FedEx, and I bi-amped my Martin Logan 60XTs and music in my home has never even approached this level of quality. I'm laid up with influenza, so I've gotten to enjoy the hell out of them, as stairs are proving difficult for my equilibrium right now and it's easier to sit in one spot while I wait for this endless sickness to pass.
How do you listen? Any other audiophiles out there besides me and Hess?
As for the music passing through these speakers, I'm going through Pitchfork's Best New Music archives to see what I missed, as well as pulling disparate acts from the past, ranging from Portishead to Jeff Buckley to White Zombie.
Since I'm not going anywhere, I'll drop a SpookySampler up in here today.
Winter Wonderland: Australian League Preliminary Finals, Game One
BRISBANE 3, ADELAIDE 1 IN ADELAIDE
Jordan Cowan's RBI triple put Adelaide up 1-0 in the sixth. In the eighth, two singles and an error tied the score and Trent Oeltjen's two-run double put Brisbane in front to stay. Aaron Whitefield was 0-for-3 with a run for Brisbane. Logan Wade was 1-for-4 for Brisbane. Justin Erasmus struck out five in 5.2 innings, giving up one run on one hit and one walk.
Brisbane leads the best-of-three series 1-0.