Monthly Archives: December 2018

WGOM Videos

Aizuri Quartet – Sophia’s Wide Awake Dreams

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I'm still spending a lot of time listening to this album.

This piece is from an opera by Lembit Beecher, "Sophia's Forest", and this two part suite is the inner world of the narrator, an immigrant child fleeing a civil war. There are nine "sound sculptures" that are electronically manipulated in addition to the four string players.

I like this (and most everything else on the album) because it is certainly modern and not just straightforward string quartet music, but there is a lyricism and a theme that comes through without difficulty.

Plus, I figured just playing The Beths would be too easy.

5 votes, average: 8.80 out of 105 votes, average: 8.80 out of 105 votes, average: 8.80 out of 105 votes, average: 8.80 out of 105 votes, average: 8.80 out of 105 votes, average: 8.80 out of 105 votes, average: 8.80 out of 105 votes, average: 8.80 out of 105 votes, average: 8.80 out of 105 votes, average: 8.80 out of 10 (5 votes, average: 8.80 out of 10)
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Keeping Track

1969 Rewind: Game Seventy-two

KANSAS CITY 7, MINNESOTA 2 IN KANSAS CITY (GAME ONE)

Date:  Sunday, June 29.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 3-for-4.  Graig Nettles was 2-for-4 with a home run, his fourth.  Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-4 with a double.  Johnny Roseboro was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  Danny Morris pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Wally Bunker pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on eleven hits and no walks and striking out three.  Bob Oliver was 3-for-5 with a two-run homer, his eighth.  Joe Foy was 3-for-5 with a stolen base, his twenty-third.  Lou Piniella was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Jackie Hernandez was 2-for-4.  Mike Fiore was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer and two walks.

The game:  The Royals jumped on Jim Perry for three runs in the first three batters.  Foy singled, Pat Kelly walked, and Fiore hit a three-run homer to put Kansas City up 3-0.

The Twins did not get a baserunner until the third, when Roseboro singled, and he was immediately erased by a double play.  They got on the board in the fourth when Uhlaender doubled and scored on Oliva's single.  The Royals got the run back in the bottom of the fourth when Hernandez singled, was bunted to second, and scored on a Foy single, making the score 4-1.

Kansas City kept adding on runs.  They scored in the fifth when Kelly singled, Eliseo Rodriguez walked, and Piniella delivered an RBI single.  They scored two in the sixth when Fiore walked and Oliver hit a two-run homer, making the score 7-1.

The Twins would score only once more, on Nettles' solo homer in the seventh.  They had chances.  They had men on first and third in the sixth and had men on second and third in the ninth.  They would've had two on in the seventh, but they had a man thrown out on the bases.

WP:  Bunker (4-4).  LP:  Perry (6-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  Rod Carew was back in the lineup but went 0-for-4, making his average .375.  Oliva raised his average to .310.  Rich Reese went 0-for-4 and was batting .308.

Despite pitching two shutout innings, Danny Morris was sent back to AAA Denver after this game.  It would be his last major league appearance of the season, his last as a Twin, and in fact his last of his career.  He would be in the Twins' organization through 1972, but would never get another shot at the majors.

So far in this series, Hernandez was 6-for-12 with two doubles.  He would bat .222/.278/.282 for the season.

"Joe Foy" has to be one of the shortest names in baseball history.  Ed Ott has him beat, and I'm sure there are a few others, but I wouldn't think there are very many.

For an expansion team, the Royals had a darn good starting rotation.  Bunker was their best, going 12-11, 3.23, 1.17 WHIP.  But they also had Dick Drago (11-13, 3.77, 1.27), Bill Butler (9-10, 3.90, 1.37), Roger Nelson (7-13, 3.31, 1.22), and Jim Rooker (4-16, 3.75, 1.32).  They couldn't hit (team average:  .240, team OPS:  .648), which is why they didn't win a lot of games, but their rotation kept them in the game most of the time.

Record:  The Twins were 39-32, second in the American League West, two games behind Oakland.

WGOM Videos

Bixiga 70 – Ilha Vizinha

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Who says a jazz band can’t play dance music? Bixiga 70 was one of my favorite musical discoveries this year — I really dig the horn section’s sound and the many-layered grooves underneath them. Their fourth album, Quebra Cabeça, dropped in October.

Bixiga 70 draws their name from the Bixiga neighborhood of central São Paulo. On the band’s website, baritone saxophonist Cuca Ferreira details the sources of their sound:

From the very beginning, what we have always had in common is African-Brazilian music. Some of us come from Candomblé, others from jazz, reggae, dub, everything. The whole idea of the band has been to take all these different elements that form us, from Africa and Brazil, and create a hybrid from them.

If you enjoyed this cut, you can catch their full Cultura Livre appearance here.

5 votes, average: 8.40 out of 105 votes, average: 8.40 out of 105 votes, average: 8.40 out of 105 votes, average: 8.40 out of 105 votes, average: 8.40 out of 105 votes, average: 8.40 out of 105 votes, average: 8.40 out of 105 votes, average: 8.40 out of 105 votes, average: 8.40 out of 105 votes, average: 8.40 out of 10 (5 votes, average: 8.40 out of 10)
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The Nation Has An Appetite

Blind Mole

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Adventures in Instant potting: making mole chicken.

We went out for dinner this weekend with friends to the locally famous Tower Cafe, where I happened to have a very, very good plate of chicken mole enchiladas. So I had a taste for mole.

Now, "real" mole is an all-day sort of affair. There's a reason I don't make it very often (like, almost never). But with the Miracle Machine (and some cheating), just maybe I could pull this off in a reasonable amount of time.

The recipe template

The ingredients
one large (28 oz) can red chile sauce ~a dozen assorted dried chiles (I used a combo of ancho/mulato, New Mexican Brown, and Guajillo) one onion, chopped
~six cloves garlic, smushed one small can diced fire-roasted tomatoes two chipotles and some of the sauce
1/3 cup raisins 1/3 cup sliced or slivered almonds 2 tbsp cocoa powder (Valrhona not required)
2 tbsp granulated onion 2 tbsp granulated garlic 1 tsp cinnamon (omitted because the Mrs is allergic, but it's authentick)
1 tsp dried oregano 1 tbsp ground cumin about six boneless, skinless chicken thighs

The technique:

stem and remove most of the seeds from the chiles. Toast for a few minutes (3-4 max) in a medium oven to bring out their fragrance. Break apart into largish pieces and set aside. Meanwhile, put your pot on "saute". When hot, add a tbsp or so of oil and saute the onion for a couple minutes, then add the garlic and saute for a minute more. Then stir in the tomatoes and all the dry ingredients (so they don't burn, but all get incorporated), the raisins and nuts, the chipotles, the dry chiles, and then the red chile sauce. Close the lid and set to about 8 minutes on "Manual." Release the pressure, scoop the sauce into a blender and blend until desired smoothness (or use a stick blender if you like things a little more chunky; I used the Vitamix to get a mostly smooth sauce). Reserve the sauce and wash the pot out so that you don't have any residual stuff to burn while starting the chicken. This will make a lot of sauce. You could omit the canned red chile sauce and instead use maybe a cup or two of chicken stock to get a smaller volume of sauce.

Put the (dried) pot back on saute. Add some oil and brown the chicken a bit (if desired; it doesn't really matter that much). Dump the sauce on top of the chicken. Don't bother to stir it in. Put on the lid and set to about 12 minutes on "Manual" (the recipe called for 10 minutes for thighs, which I used, but that did not get the chicken as done as I would have liked). Let cool ("natural release") for maybe ten minutes, then release any remaining steam manually. Mine had very little steam to release at this stage.

Remove chicken and shred. Return to pot. Check salt and correct seasoning.

Start to finish, this took about 90 minutes, less than half the time it would have taken on the stovetop. The sauce could have used more sweetness to balance (more raisins, maybe a touch of sugar) and the cinnamon. Sauce also needed some salt.

Serve with tortillas, chopped onion, sour cream, chopped cilantro, your favorite cheese for tacos, and a side of beans (I made Peruanos, which come out a creamy tan color, lighter than pintos in color and flavor -- these are often the paler refried beans you get at Mexican restaurants). And a beer or sangria or margarita.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 11

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Old Hoss Radbourn (1854)
Art Wilson (1885)
Fred Toney (1888)
Swish Nicholson (1914)
Hal Brown (1924)
Lee Maye (1934)
Mike Henneman (1961)
Thomas Howard (1964)
Jay Bell (1965)
Derek Bell (1968)
Frankie Rodriguez (1972)
Joe Blanton (1980)
Dalton Pompey (1992)

In 2014, Dalton Pompey became the first big leaguer ever to have the given first name "Dalton".  In case anyone remembers Dalton Jones (whose birthday was yesterday), his given first name was James.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 11 →

Keeping Track

1969 Rewind: Game Seventy-one

KANSAS CITY 7, MINNESOTA 4 IN KANSAS CITY

Date:  Saturday, June 28.

Batting stars:  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-2 with two doubles and a walk, driving in two.  George Mitterwald was 2-for-3.  Bob Allison was 1-for-1 with two walks.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Mike Fiore was 2-for-2 with two walks.  Lou Piniella was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs.  Jackie Hernandez was 2-for-4.  Galen Cisco struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up two hits and two walks.

The game:  The Twins put men on second and third with one out in the second but came up empty.  The Royals opened the scoring in the third.  Hernandez singled and Joe Foy walked, putting men on first and second with two out.  Fiore then singled home the game's first run.  Bob Oliver delivered another single, but Foy was thrown out trying to score from second, so the score remained 1-0.  Buck Martinez homered leading off the fourth, making it 2-0.

The Twins had a big inning in the sixth.  With one out, Harmon Killebrew singled, Allison walked, and Mitterwald singled, loading the bases.  Cardenas tied the score with a two-run double and then, with two out, Rick Renick came through with a two-run single to put the Twins ahead 4-2.

The lead didn't last long.  With two out and a man on third in the bottom of the sixth, Piniella had an RBI double and later came around to score on an error, tying it 4-4.

The Twins had chances to get back into the lead.  Cesar Tovar led off the seventh with a double, but it led nowhere.  They had men on first and third with one out in the eighth, but again the threat died.  It cost them, because in the bottom of the eighth, the Royals scored three times and took control of the game.  Oliver led off with a walk and stole second.  With one out, Martinez was intentionally walked.  It didn't work, as Kansas City then got three consecutive singles.  Piniella singled to load the bases, Hawk Taylor had a two-run single, and Hernandez had an RBI single.  The Twins went down in order in the ninth.

WP:  Cisco (1-0).  LP:  Dave Boswell (9-8).  S:  Moe Drabowsky (7).

Notes:  It was kind of a B lineup for the Twins.  Tovar was in center field, replacing Ted Uhlaender.  Allison was in left, which is not exactly unusual but he did only start fifty-two games in 1969.  Mitterwald was the catcher in place of Johnny Roseboro.  Frank Quilici was at second base, although Rod Carew pinch-hit for him in the eighth inning.  Rick Renick was at third, with Killebrew on first and Rich Reese on the bench. although Reese was used as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning.

Tony Oliva was 1-for-5 with a double and was batting .304.  Carew singled in his pinch-hitting appearance and was batting .382.

Boswell pitched 7.2 innings, but allowed all seven runs (six earned) on eleven hits and five walks, striking out six.  He had gotten into the eighth inning in each of his last four starts and five of his last six.

Future Twin Bill Butler started for Kansas City.  He struck out seven in six innings, giving up four runs on eight hits and two walks.

The Twins were 2-4 against the expansion Royals so far and had lost all four games played in Kansas City.

Record:  The Twins were 39-32, in second place in the American League West, a half game behind Oakland.