Pinky Whitney (1905)
Red Kress (1905)
Ted Strong (1914)
Jim Essian (1951)
Bill Madlock (1951)
David Cone (1963)
Edgar Martinez (1963)
Greg Swindell (1965)
Royce Clayton (1970)
Rick Greene (1971)
Jeff Suppan (1975)
Kurt Vile – Jesus Fever
Humor me for a couple of days while I play some of my favorites from the past year. Let's see if I still know how to do this...
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E8g-6s2CD4
Happy Birthday–January 1
Tim Keefe (1857)
Hugh Nicol (1858)
Webster McDonald (1900)
Ethan Allen (1904)
Hank Greenberg (1911)
Joe Reichler (1915)
Sherry Robertson (1919)
Earl Torgeson (1924)
Carl Scheib (1927)
Roy Majtyka (1939)
Bill Bethea (1942)
Rick Albert (1951)
Bob Owchinko (1955)
La Marr Hoyt (1955)
Fernando Tatis (1975)
We would like to wish a very happy birthday to mrs. bhiggum.
Wilco – One Sunday Morning (Song for Jane Smiley’s Boyfriend)
i wouldn't put it at the top, but the whole love definitely deserves mention on the year end lists. something to soothe your NYE blues:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNUG6-E2RQg
2011
happy new year, everyone.
January 1, 2012: Cheers
To the Trinket, to the Kernel, to famished pete and to the Calf. To Sheenie's fight. To socal's new gig. To the show getting picked up. To meat finding his place in Ireland after it beat him down. To Mag conquering another country. To The Boy getting accepted to the alma mater. To Beau & Stef, to nib & Linds, to Daneeka's Ghost and his wife and whatever he's going to nickname his kid. To those of you who passed the bar. To the memory of CarterHayes's stepfather. To E-6, AMR and anyone else who makes my taste in music better. To the many of you who play Werewolf and Spookymilk Survivor over at my other place. To Sean, who makes this website clean and quick, and who isn't quite as guarded in person. To Jeff's congregations - both the one he serves in his church, and the one he serves by doing such great work here. To ubes's return. To the semi-retirement of our Boss Emeritus, whom without we'd just be a bunch of nerds scattered about the country cheering for the same laundry. To all of us - the religious, the secular, the leftists and rightists, the college sports lovers and college sports haters, the married, the engaged and the still looking, to the kind, the surly, the sarcastic and the level-headed. To the World's Greatest Online Magazine.
I raise my bottle of Sierra Nevada Celebration to y'all. I love you guys.
Sunday Dinner on Friday Night.
When on the road I tend not to cook elaborate meals for a multitude of reasons not least of which is that there is very little enjoyment of eating a meal alone when you live in a frozen, cold water, walk up flat. Last night I decided that enough was enough. I was going to pull out all most some of the stops and make a pot of Guinness stew, garlic mashed potatoes, and some pan wilted cabbage. I stopped into the local butcher (I'm lucky enough to live between to family owned butchers who source their product locally, and process the meat in house) and bought about a pound of chuck steak nicely cubed for stewing.
You'll need:
1-1.5 400 mL Cans of Guinness (Pint to pint and a half)
1 large onion diced
1 large carrot sliced into rounds (or your favorite shape)
3 celery stocks sliced into small bits
2-3 cloves garlic smashed
1-2 lbs chuck steak or other cut for stewing cut into 1.5 inch cubes
flour to cover steak
seasoning of your choice for flour (I went with red chili, salt, and pepper)
Neutral Oil that can withstand high temp searing (general purpose olive, or veg / peanut)
Method:
Warm about a table spoon of oil in a dutch oven, or other oven proof pan, over medium / high heat while dredging the steak bits in the seasoned flour. Preheat the oven to 300˚. Add the meat, being careful not to crowd the pan, and sear on all sides, and remove from the pan. You may have to do this step in batches. Once all the meat has been browned add a splash of oil to the pan and toss in the diced onion. Add the carrot and celery to the pot once the onions begin to turn translucent. Cook the veggies, stirring, for 2-3 minutes until the celery goes a little soft, and add the garlic. Return the meat to the pan, and pour at least a pint of Guinness over the whole mess. Turn the heat up to to high, bring the pot to a boil, and put into preheated oven for 2-3ish hours. You can also cook this on the stove top by simmering for 2 hours.
The garlic mash is made better with a whole bunch of gruyere and a chopped green onion or two. I pan wilted the cabbage with butter and a hit of salt and pepper.
Spanning the Globe
MEXICAN LEAGUE
Hermosillo 7, Mazatlan 4 in Hermosillo. Anthony Slama pitched a perfect inning with one strikeout for Mazatlan.
PUERTO RICAN LEAGUE
Ponce 5, Caguas 2 in Ponce. Angel Morales was 1-for-4 for Ponce.
Mayaguez 6, Carolina 4 in Carolina. Daniel Ortiz was 0-for-3 with an RBI on a sacrifice fly for Mayaguez.
VENEZUELAN LEAGUE
Anzoategui 5, Lara 4 in Anzoategui (12 innings). Lester Oliveros retired both batters he faced for Anzoategui.
AUSTRALIAN LEAGUE
Perth 9, Adelaide 5 in Adelaide (Game 1—Scheduled 7 innings). Luke Hughes was 1-for-2 with two RBIs for Perth. He was also hit by a pitch.
Perth 16, Adelaide 11 in Adelaide (Game 2—Scheduled 9 innings). Luke Hughes was 2-for-3 with a double, a home run, and three walks, scoring twice for Perth.
Melbourne 15, Sydney 7 in Melbourne (Game 1). Jacob Younis was 0-for-5 and scored once for Sydney.
Brisbane 3, Canberra 2 in Brisbane (Game 1). Rory Rhodes was 2-for-4 with a home run, driving in two for Brisbane.
Brisbane 10, Canberra 2 in Brisbane (Game 2). Rory Rhodes was 1-for-3 with a home run and a walk, scoring twice for Brisbane.
Happy Birthday–December 31
King Kelly (1857)
Tom Connolly (1870)
Bobby Byrne (1884)
Syl Johnson (1900)
Tommy Byrne (1919)
Guy LaValliere (1931)
Alfredo Meli (1944)
Joe Simpson (1951)
Jim Tracy (1955)
Rick Aguilera (1961)
Esteban Loiaza (1971)
Brian Moehler (1971)
Julio DePaula (1982)
It does not appear that Bobby Byrne and Tommy Byrne are related. Minor league catcher Guy LaValliere is the father of major league catcher Mike LaValliere.
December 31, 2011: Highlights
The highlight of my professional career happened in 2011...the call from just a couple of weeks ago, obviously. This year was a good one, outside the mixed bag in L.A. Enjoy New Year's responsibly, Citizens.
The War on Drugs – Baby Missiles
If someone were to describe a song as Richard Ashcroft from the Verve singing "Anti-Christ Television Blues" from the Arcade Fire I am pretty sure I would like it.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJsqHrq3pEk
So yeah, this is me describing a song as a dude who sounds like Richard Ashcroft from the Verve singing a song that sounds like "Anti-Christ Television Blues" from the Arcade Fire.