Recently in Baseball (NCAA, MLB) Category

Breaks my heart to see what has happened to one of sports most storied franchises, the Pittsburgh Pirates. I can't even remember the last time they finished in the upper half of their division. 18 straight losing seasons? The Saints endured 21 consecutive non-winning seasons but that was due to total ineptitude across the board. I don't believe that to be the case in Pittsburgh. The Pirates have made their share of mistakes in those 18 years but they are also being seriously outspent by their competitors. No matter how well they manage themselves, a well-managed team with more revenue has a distinct advantage. Baseball is a great game but they have serious problems.

For better or worse, undoubtedly worse, the CrabAppleLane Fantasy Football 2010 Cheat Sheet in Microsoft Excel. Finished just this morning. It's the one I'll use tomorrow at my first auction. Only seem to be a handful of rookies this season. Most of the good teams are loaded with veteran skill players. Rookie starters on bad teams usually don't fare well so I'd probably stay away from them anyway although rookie Sam Bradford figures to be throwing the ball a lot this year and that could give him decent fantasy numbers. His team figures to be playing from behind quite a bit. Anxious to see if he can last a whole season in the NFL.

The Saints take on the Houston Texans tonight in the SuperDome. It will be their first game in the Dome since the NFC Championship game back in January. I'd like to see better pass protection from the first unit tonight than they offered last week against the Patriots. I don't need to see #9 knocked around again.

19 days until football season ...

5 song iTune shuffle:

1. Killer Queen - Queen - Sheer Heart Attack [Bonus Track]
2. Trouble Child - Joni Mitchell - Court And Spark
3. Back Off Bitch - Guns N' Roses - Use Your Illusion I
4. Wanted It To Be - Sister Hazel - ...Somewhere More Familiar
5. Help Yourself - Sad Brad Smith - Up In The Air

Quote of the Day

A rape charge carries a possible prison sentence, while a molestation charge would not, Rosander said. In Sweden, a crime of molestation is not limited to child victims.

CNN.com

Blog of the day is here.

Quote from said blog: "Yeh, it's real.LA knows how to market baseball. No marketing dorks in charge of sales. The Dodgers do it right, sales runs marketing. Ahh, what a concept."

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Today's QOTD refers to the ratings disparity Sunday night between a meaningless exhibition football game and baseball's oldest and most-storied rivalry. I'm thinking baseball wouldn't mind a football lockout next year. Baseball is a fantastic game. How did they ever let this happen?

Saints are practicing today and tomorrow against the New England Patriots in Foxboro, MA. Both teams and their fans are pretty jazzed about it. Wonder if the Patriots will be able to get Sean Payton to do his Belichick impression. Hear it's right on.

30 days until football season ...

5 song iTune shuffle:

1. Highway To Hell - AC/DC - AC/DC Live
2. No Can Do - Mark Knopfler - Golden Heart
3. I Can't Quit You Baby - Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin I
4. Paint It Black - The Rolling Stones - Hot Rocks, 1964-1971 [Disc 1]
5. City To City - Gerry Rafferty - City To City

Quote of the Day

Not only did the Hall of Fame game crush Red Sox-Yankees as expected, it should wind up being the highest rated show on all of television all week.

Gregg Rosenthal, Pro Football Talk

Blog of the day is here.

Quote from said blog: "Members of the NFL's officiating crews will be on hand to work the joint practices."

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We spent yesterday afternoon at the emergency room. Patsy has a 2-millimeter kidney stone. She was in a lot of pain. They gave her morphine before we left. She's resting now and still hasn't passed it. Hopefully, that will happen sometime today.

Speaking of health care, the tables were turned for me not too long ago. Not sure where this person worked or what she did but she wore a uniform and a name tag that indicated she worked in that industry. I was doing something for one person on the phone and had another person waiting who was ahead of her. I excused myself to the man who was next to go into the next room to finish up the phone conversation. I told him I'd be right with him. At this time, the woman, who was put out all of 20 seconds by now, launched into a tirade about our service. The person ahead of her was so uncomfortable that he graciously told her she could go ahead of him. She refused. By the time I got to her, she had been in the building less than five minutes and it took me less than a minute to answer all of her questions at no charge.

The scorecards read like this: She entered my building, was in no pain whatsoever, had two people in front of her, was served and on her way in about five minutes, and did not have to pay a cent to see anyone. We entered a building in her industry yesterday, it's hard to tell if or how many people were ahead of us, was in excruciating pain for a good portion of the time, saw various people at 5 to 20 minute intervals, was on our way in just four hours, and I can only imagine what the final bill will be.

Is it any wonder why EVERYONE wants to tinker with that industry?

Now that about 100 games have been played, these are my thoughts on Major League Baseball after one glance at the current standings (Bet any house you have to lose): The wildcards will come out of the east in the American League and out of the west in the National League. The central division in both leagues will provide the best races. I also don't think the Rangers' 7-game lead is safe or that the Braves' 5-game lead is safe.

Speaking of baseball, how bout the headline below?

Padres Grounds Crew Dims Stadium's Lights For Romantic Night Game

Everyone who follows and writes about the NFL is convinced there will be a lockout by the owners next spring. Can I simply ask what good it does to lock out players making millions AFTER you've given them at least a year's notice at their current salaries? This is a game of brinkmanship with no brink. With apologies to Nike, JUST DON'T DO IT.

45 days until football season ...

5 song iTune shuffle from the CrabAppleLane Four Star playlist:

1. Woodstock - Joni Mitchell - Ladies Of The Canyon (Remastered)
2. I Don't Wanna Know - Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
3. King Of Pain - The Police - The Police Greatest Hits
4. Mustang Sally - The Commitments - The Commitments
5. Bring It On Home - Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II

Quote of the Day

Went to the men's room in center field about 75 minutes before the game. In the middle of the empty place: a naked man washing himself, his pile of clothes off to the side. I did a double-take, and he was quickly soaping up his armpits with the hand soap out of the dispenser, then using a cup to rinse off. On a weirdness scale of 1-10, this was a 46.

Peter King, CNN/SI

Blog of the day is here.

Quote from said blog: "Boo. Tonight was officially hat-tip worthy."

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Anyone who loves Major League Baseball and has been watching it for a while knows of and has an opinion of George Steinbrenner, owner of the New York Yankees. He passed away yesterday. How he ran his ball club was of little concern to me. I didn't care how many managers he fired, I didn't care if he ranted to the media about his under-performing players. As a long-time Yankee hater, I considered it screwball comedy. My only issue with him was how he brought all of his and his market's financial advantages to bear into the competitive arena. He "unleveled" the playing field. It's no secret how he did it. In most years, the Yankees have the highest payroll in baseball. They drive the market. That said, I've softened on him over the years. Once free agency came into existence, Steinbrenner magnified the big market / small market dilemma that MLB has but it was there all along. He didn't create the problem. He just made it worse and baseball was powerless to stop him. I read someone somewhere yesterday who went on and on about how Steinbrenner's free spending revolutionized the game but I forget whether he was praising or detracting. He used his money to get what he wanted. That one is fairly tried and true. Nothing revolutionary about it. R.I.P., George.

Congratulations to the National League All Stars on their 3-1 win last night over the American League All Stars. About damned time.

If you're really concerned or if someone asks, the chicken came first.

5 song iTune shuffle from the CrabAppleLane Five Star playlist:

1. Time Stand Still - Rush - Chronicles [Disc 2]
2. One More Tomorrow - Henry Gross - One More Tomorrow The Best Of Henry Gross
3. Further On (Up The Road) - Bruce Springsteen - The Rising
4. I Hear Them All - Old Crow Medicine Show - Big Iron World
5. Layla - Eric Clapton - Time Pieces - The Best Of Eric Clapton

Quote of the Day

Don't talk to me about aesthetics or tradition. Talk to me about what sells and what's good right now. And what the American people like is to think the underdog still has a chance.

George Steinbrenner, 1930-2010

Blog of the day is here.

Quote from said blog: "He was a force of nature, a completely unique individual. He changed how baseball goes about its business."

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Happy Father's Day, Dad - Miss you

Just a few tidbits on a hot CrabAppleLane Sunday.

• The CrabAppleLane Award for the kid who had to have had one of the most awful times in school goes to Clement von Franckenstein. Do you think there are any Frankenstein jokes he hasn't heard? He was in a movie we watched yesterday.

• Just say NO to a longer NFL season. There ought to be a "No Tinker" rule in the NFL. They should only be able to tinker with the game, except for issues regarding player safety, at 10 year intervals. Let the game evolve naturally.

• 16381 spam comments on this blog have been blocked since I activated TypePad AntiSpam (June 2008). That's a ridiculous number for an obscure place such as this, don't you think?

• When I close an ad on Facebook as "uninteresting", I get the following response:

  Thanks for your feedback. Over time, this information helps us deliver more relevant ads to you.

  For the record, I don't find that to be a particularly desirable result, either. I suppose I should just ignore them.

• What ever happened to those "Baseball Fever: Catch It" commercials? I used to love those. This play by Minnesota Twins catcher, Joe Mauer, would definitely make a good one. I meant to link that awesome play last week but I forgot. I saw it on a show I've been recording off of the MLB channel called the Plays of the Week. If you love baseball, I highly recommend it. They count down the 100 best plays of the week. It's nothing but clutch hits and defensive gems. That they can find 100 in every week's worth of games is part of baseball's magic

• About today's QOTD: I commented on that when I read about it but I didn't add the great zinger. I have serious issues with the Irsay family for moving that team out of Baltimore and I have issues with the way Bill Polian runs the team but those 53 players deserve better fans than they've got considering what that team has done not only in the last 8-10 years but pretty much the majority of their time in Indianapolis. The Saints would have had more than 11 fans welcoming them home even if they'd have lost the Super Bowl by a hundred. One other thing on that. A Colts fan had this to say in the Indianapolis Star:

  But we were so out-numbered in the stands by these "poor down-troddened'' New Orleans Saints fans that we could not even be heard. It seemed to be that the Saints fans either were given more tickets or given better deals that kept all of us hard-working, middle class true-blue Colts fans home.

  Setting aside the silly notion that ALL Saints fans are "down-troddened'', what she's saying is not an indictment of New Orleans. It's an indictment of Indianapolis. Colts fans had the exact same opportunities for tickets Saints fans had and, still, the "down-troddened" outnumbered the "hard-working, middle class true-blue". It wasn't better deals. It was better fans.

I offer two from the same area of the CrabAppleLane backyard six months apart. Love the contrast between drab January and sunny June. Prefer the weather in drab January, though. It is miserably hot outside.

The Clearing Project - January 2, 2010

CrabAppleLane Clearing Project - June 20, 2010

5 song iTune shuffle from the CrabAppleLane Five Star playlist starting with "H":

1. Happy Home - Garbage - Bleed Like Me
2. Highway Star - Deep Purple - Machine Head 25th Anniversary Edition [Disc 2]
3. Headlong - Queen - Innuendo
4. Hocus Pocus - Focus - Moving Waves
5. How Many More Times - Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin I

Quote of the Day

While New Orleans residents may never stop celebrating the Saints' Super Bowl victory, Colts fans jumped off the bandwagon quicker than it took Tracy Porter to return a Peyton Manning interception for the final touchdown.

Eleven fans greeted the Colts at Indianapolis International Airport on Monday afternoon.

Chicago Breaking Sports

Blog of the day is here.

Quote from said blog: "He remotely activated the software, which grabbed screen shots of the thief’s online activities, while the Mac’s built-in camera shot pictures of him. After eight months of activity on the Mac, the software had given police enough information to identify the thief and put the MacBook back in Mr. Sienna’s hands."

8 months? -Rob

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There are times I wish I had MLB Extra Innings. It was sacrificed at the budget altar a few years ago along with the NFL Sunday Ticket. Would kinda like to see these kids' debuts tomorrow night. I knew about Stephen Strasburg. Mike Stanton is someone I did not know about. Love seeing young guys come up.

I know summer doesn't officially start until June 20-21 but I just about fainted yesterday afternoon in the sweltering heat at CrabAppleLane and the sun wasn't even shining most of that time. The high 80s temps are manageable so I'm thinking the 100% humidity might have been the culprit. I don't know how these guys were doing what they were doing. You'd think someone (Me) who has lived here his entire life would be used to the heat and humidity by now. I don't think you ever get used to it.

There will be a new NCAA Baseball National Champion. The LSU Tigers were sent home yesterday by UC-Irvine. All of the problems they were having prior to the SEC Tournament showed up again during the regional. Slow starts in the last two games doomed them. Except for the four games they played in the SEC Tournament, they have not played very well this season considering the level of talent and experience on that team. Disappointing but they are where they belong today ... at home watching.

94 days until football season ...

5 song iTune shuffle:

1. Enter Sandman - Metallica - Black Album
2. Snakeskin Cowboys - Ted Nugent - Ted Nugent
3. Love, Reign O'er Me - The Who - Quadrophenia [Disc 2]
4. The Jean Genie - David Bowie - Aladdin Sane
5. Supernaut - Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath Vol. 4 (Remaster)

Quote of the Day

I want to reach out
And touch the sky
I want to touch the stuff
But I don't need to fly

Black Sabbath, Supernaut

Blog of the day is here.

Quote from said blog: "Mom, when you wear your hat--from a distance--you look like Sandra Bullock."

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Looks like the commissioner of baseball is digging in on overturning Wednesday's infamous call. From ESPN:

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig said he would not reverse the call, but would examine expanding instant replay in baseball.

Why not reverse the call? Pitcher Armando Galarraga's name deserves a place alongside Catfish Hunter, Don Larsen, and Sandy Koufax. No one disputes that. Bud wouldn't be giving him anything. He earned it. Umpire Jim Joyce and his family shouldn't have his honest mistake haunt them the rest of their lives. Let's not hear that "integrity of the game" crap. There's no integrity, no sanctity, no purity to be preserved here. If the purists had their way, players would still leave their gloves in the field, there would be no designated hitter, no divisional playoffs, no interleague play, no night baseball. Why give in to those twits, Bud? You're not one of them. It's their lot in life to complain about everything so let them complain. The only thing being preserved here is injustice. Fixable injustice. Baseball gains nothing by letting it stand. Nothing. Don't dig in, Bud. Dig out.

5 song iTune shuffle:

1. Paranoid - Black Sabbath - Paranoid
2. Peaceful Easy Feeling - The Eagles - Their Greatest Hits
3. Pigs (Three Different Ones) - Pink Floyd - Animals
4. Perfect Strangers - Deep Purple - Perfect Strangers [Bonus Track]
5. Praan - Garry Schyman & Palbasha Siddique - Where The Hell Is Matt?

Quote of the Day

I'm glad Galarraga behaved with the class of five British butlers, shaking off the most egregious baseball call of the 21st Century by saying, "Nobody's perfect."

Mitch Albom, Detroit Free Press

Blog of the day is here.

Quote from said blog: "Baseball commissioner Bud Selig responded to the Armando Galarraga/Jim Joyce situation. Sort of. It took him 18 hours to issue a statement that said little. Instead his decision to not reverse the call came out through “anonymous source with knowledge of the situation.” Why Selig couldn’t do this himself is beyond me."

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Put me on board for having Commissioner Bud Selig overturn this horrible call. I'm not normally a fan of selective intervention but baseball did overturn the call against George Brett and the Royals in the pine tar game. Precedent is there. That decision changed a result, wasn't the end of the world, and didn't lead baseball down the slippery slope to whatever is at the bottom of that slippery slope. This one would only change a box score and would have zero impact on the standings or anything else except that which only matters to baseball's purists. Perfect games just don't come along all that often ... except for this year. Took over a hundred years to record the first 18. Took two months, actually just three weeks since the first one came on Mother's Day, to record the last 3 this season. This error is fixable. Give the perfect game to Armando Galarraga because he earned it and fix the scoring on the last two batters. It's really not as big a deal to do as you'll make it out to be so don't wait months or years to do it. Get it done before his next start.

I think maybe the Sex and the City franchise may have finally run its course. I never really got it but that's another story. Most of the reviews I've seen are like this one, only not as funny.

98 days until football season ...

5 song iTune shuffle:

1. Make It Last - Montrose - Montrose
2. Sorrow [Live] - Pink Floyd - Delicate Sound Of Thunder [Disc 1]
3. Solid Rock - Dire Straits - Making Movies
4. Never Forget - Fleetwood Mac - Tusk
5. Heaven Is In Your Mind - Three Dog Night - Captured Live At The Forum

Quote of the Day

I just cost the kid a perfect game.

Jim Joyce, MLB Umpire

Blog of the day is here.

Quote from said blog: "This should be a proud moment for baseball."

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I was sad to hear about Dennis Hopper yesterday. He had an enormous body of work. There is a little something there for everyone, I suppose. I liked him in most of the movies I saw that had him in it. Like a few other excellent actors, though, I just wish he had done more movies I cared to see. His signature film, Easy Rider, seemed a bit amateurish to me when I finally saw it and I thought one of his other famous movies, Blue Velvet, was awful. He was easily the best thing in both of them so there's that. He was fantastic in Waterworld, True Romance, and Speed ... all CME that I liked. Yes, I liked Waterworld. R.I.P., Dennis.

The LSU Tigers, who stumbled played their way into the SEC Tournament on the last weekend of the regular season, have turned in three excellent games and are playing for the SEC Championship today. Because they're playing in Alabama against Alabama and because both teams have great fans, there figures to be a very large crowd. GEAUX Tigers.

I offer a few from around the house on this hot and muggy CrabAppleLane Sunday and then we're off to a barbecue.

CrabAppleLane - Sunday, May 30, 2010

CrabAppleLane - Sunday, May 30, 2010

CrabAppleLane - Sunday, May 30, 2010

CrabAppleLane - Sunday, May 30, 2010

5 song iTune shuffle:

1. Hide In Your Shell - Supertramp - The Autobiography Of Supertramp
2. 20th Century Boy - Placebo - Velvet Goldmine
3. Gotta Get To Know You - Foghat - Foghat
4. Heartbreaker [Live] - Grand Funk Railroad - Caught In The Act
5. Never Before - Deep Purple - Machine Head (Roger Glover Remixes) [Disc 2]

About today's QOTD: Welcome to the NFL, rookie.

Quote of the Day

The first-round pick, Florida State cornerback Patrick Robinson, got torched on the first route he defended Thursday

James Varney, The Times-Picayune

Blog of the day is here.

Quote from said blog: "Dennis Hopper, whose portrayals of drug-addled, often deranged misfits in the landmark films “Easy Rider,” “Apocalypse Now” and “Blue Velvet” drew on his early out-of-control experiences as part of a new generation of Hollywood rebel, died at his home in Venice, Calif., on Saturday. He was 74."

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The Tigers took another game in the SEC Tournament last night over yet another ranked opponent, Vanderbilt. LSU got a good outing out of their starter last night and that's going to be key for how far they go. Their pitching has been suspect and inconsistent all season. Their bats have come to life, though. They rang up 15 hits last night and 19 the night before. It's a good sign but it's still only two games. The Tigers are now a safe bet to be in the NCAA Tournament. I'm fairly sure they'll have to hit the road as a Number 2 or Number 3 seed, though.

On another note, Mike Yastrzemski, grandson of Carl, plays for Vandy. Carl is one of my all-time favorite players. Loved the way he played the wall in Fenway.

Darren Sharper of the Saints and Visanthe Shiancoe of the Vikings, a candidate for the all-name team at tight end, are tweeting trash talk at each other. Better material is available at most kindergarten schoolyards. Although this kind of silliness will have no bearing on opening night, it is fairly safe to say that both teams will be wound up pretty good by kickoff.

104 days until football season ...

5 song iTune shuffle:

1. Somebody To Roll - Nazareth - Play 'N' The Game
2. Beds Are Burning - Midnight Oil - Rock: The Train Kept A Rollin' [Disc 2]
3. Shambala - Three Dog Night - The Best Of Three Dog Night
4. White, Clean and Neat - Robert Plant - Now And Zen
5. The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) [Live] - Simon & Garfunkel - Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits

Quote of the Day

Hello lamp post
Whatcha knowin'
I've come to watch your flowers growin'

Simon & Garfunkel, The 59th Street Bridge Song

Blog of the day is here.

Quote from said blog: "And now Al’s gung-ho on organizing the closets and pantry and trying to set up systems all over the place that will help our future selves avoid getting buried under heaps of clutter and I’ll Deal With It Later boxes, so if you don’t hear from me, it is probably because I will be cleaning this fucking apartment FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE."

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Picked three cherry tomatoes yesterday. They passed under the faucet and went straight into the two salads Patsy was making last night. Three is a totally unsatisfactory serving for two people even in a full-sized salad but they were too red to save for another day. These are a variety called "Sweet 100 Hybrid Cherry Tomato". I'll look for them again next year. I've only picked a total of 4 so far but they are a perfect size and quite tasty. The bushes are ridiculous, though. I have two of them and they are a full two feet taller than the other 18. I think I'm still another 7-10 days out from picking the larger varieties.

The sleeping Tigers woke up yesterday. It remains to be seen whether they'll stay awake for long but there is enough talent and experience on the team for them to make some noise if they're so inclined. Maybe having their backs to the wall is what they needed. Or not. It may be just a one off. This is baseball we're talking about.

RIP, Art Linkletter.

5 song iTune shuffle:

1. Hells Bells - AC/DC - AC/DC Live
2. Another Brick In The Wall (Part 1) - Pink Floyd - The Wall [Disc 1]
3. Sugarhigh - Coyote Shivers - Shivers, Coyote
4. Winter - Joshua Radin - We Were Here
5. You Fool No One - Deep Purple - Burn

Quote of the Day

In a couple of months Art Linkletter would have been 98 years old, a full life of fun and goodness, an orphan who made it to the top. What a guy.

Phyllis Diller

Blog of the day is here.

Quote from said blog: "Linkletter would ask several children their thoughts on various topics; their responses were often hilariously absurd. A collection of the children’s sayings eventually became one of the best-selling books of the era."

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First things first. Only an idiot would spend over an hour in the stifling Bush heat this morning tying off tomato bushes ... and not finish. He's soaked and more than a little irritated. They reacted to the rain last week like Popeye reacts to spinach. They're starting to get bushy and also starting to outgrow their stakes. I'll be picking soon.

CAN NOT WAIT

The LSU Tigers barely made the SEC tournament this year after winning a National Championship last season. They were playing OK early in the season but they disintegrated once SEC play got underway. They lost a few important players from last year's squad but everyone thought they had enough talent and experience to make another deep postseason run. They have been a major disappointment. If they get invited to the NCAA tournament, they'll have to hit the road. I suppose anything can happen in baseball once everyone is 0-0 again but the Tigers look more like the team that will go quietly into the good night than one that will make any noise.

We know New Jersey is going to get the Super Bowl in 2014. The commissioner wants it. There are some fans who want it, too. The new home stadium of the Giants and Jets is an open air stadium. There is a potential for really bad weather for the most important game of the season. The few regular readers here know that I prefer perfect conditions. The only thing the teams should have to contend with is their opponent. I want to remember the game for the onside kick, the interception return, the touchdown pass in the corner of the endzone, the hook and trailer play, etc. I don't want to remember it for the weather. During Super Bowl week, the focus should be on football and football only. That game, in particular, should be about football and football only. This is a bad idea.

On a different note and for the record, I have nothing but contempt for Floyd Landis and anyone who gives him a microphone. He's a cheat, a liar, and a gold digger. His image and reputation cannot be restored so he is trying to take down as many people as he can with him. He's a loser. Go away, Floyd.

Inspired by the iTunes Shuffle, the incomparable Alison Krauss & Union Station. I have the DVD this performance is on. I can't recommend it highly enough. Phenomenal musicians, particularly Jerry Douglas on the dobro.

I offer three images from the CrabAppleLane Backyard on a very hot and humid Sunday in Bush, LA and I'm off for a cool shower and lunch.

CrabAppleLane Hydrangeas - May 23, 2010 - Chose this morning to explode

CrabAppleLane Tomato Garden - May 23, 2010 - Cherry tomatoes

CrabAppleLane Tomato Garden - May 23, 2010 - Starting to outgrow the stakes

5 song iTune shuffle:

1. Choctaw Hayride - Alison Krauss & Union Station - Live [Disc 1]
2. Gone, Gone, Gone - Bad Company - Desolation Angels
3. Locked Within the Crystal Ball - Blackmore's Night - Secret Voyage
4. All Mixed Up - The Cars - The Cars
5. Little Green Bag - George Baker Selection - Little Green Bag

Quote of the Day

Blog of the day is here.

Quote from said blog: "i became a
pro shoplifter

are
invisible."

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12,228 was the paid attendance at the baseball game in Oakland yesterday. That sparse crowd got to witness some of baseball's magic. A's fans saw their young pitcher, Dallas Braden, pitch a perfect game. Major League Baseball schedules 162 games per year per team and has been doing so for over 100 years. It was 156 games per team for a long time and there were fewer teams early in their history but it's still a very large number of total games. It's not the rarest feat in baseball, though. You're less likely to see an unassisted triple play. There have only been 15 of those. I learned that this morning. You're also less likely to see a player hit four home runs in a game. 15 of those, also, but only two since the turn of the 20th century. In those hundred plus years and all those games, there have been 19 perfect games, 13 in my lifetime, which is disturbing to me for a number of reasons. They're all special but I think this one has a little extra oomph. Braden did it against a red hot first place team on Mother's Day with his grandmother in attendance. Perfect. Good Job, Dallas.

5 song iTune shuffle from the CrabAppleLane Five Star Playlist today:

1. Now I'm Here - Queen - Sheer Heart Attack [Bonus Track]
2. Oh Well - Fleetwood Mac - Then Play On
3. Silvertown Blues - Mark Knopfler - Sailing To Philadelphia
4. Diamond Dogs - David Bowie - Diamond Dogs
5. Lick Your Fingers Clean - Jethro Tull - Aqualung

Quote of the Day

In the bullpen, I'm damn near perfect every day.

Dallas Braden, Oakland Athletics

Blog of the day is here.

Quote from said blog: "Big freakin’ props to Dallas Braden for pitching the 19th perfect game in MLB history and the first time in 20 years that an Oakland pitcher accomplished this feat."

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A "fan" ran onto the field the other night in Philadelphia during a major league baseball game. When he didn't surrender immediately, a security official tased him. There is some debate over whether the tasing constituted excessive force. Craig Calcaterra makes the case against tasing. Mike Celizic makes the case for.

I think I'm with Celizic on this one. People running onto the field or into the arena has been a longtime problem for all of professional sports. The vast majority of those incidents have been mostly harmless disruptions if you consider the delay of a game harmless but there have been others that were not so harmless, too. Both articles cite a few examples of the not harmless kind, including the Monica Seles tennis match where a "fan" got on the court and stabbed her in the neck.

Getting back to the Philadelphia incident, it's easy to say the fan meant no harm now that he's been subdued, arrested, and interviewed. Insert your favorite hindsight cliché here while I cite the new standard security concern. September 11 changed our view of hijackers. The Monica Seles incident and others like it should have changed our view of "fans" getting into the arena.

Finally, the use of a taser is not excessive force in my view but it is certainly not pleasant, either. The person who uses it knows exactly how much force it is because before you're allowed to carry one and tase others, you must first experience being tased. For the people who carry tasers, being tased is unavoidable. In the movie, Liar, Liar, Jim Carrey played an attorney who couldn't lie any more. When he was told that a client was on the phone, had been arrested yet again, and wanted to know what to do, he grabbed the phone and shouted, "STOP BREAKING THE LAW, ASSHOLE". Unsolicited, free advice from CrabAppleLane: If you'd like to avoid being tased at a sporting event, STAY OFF OF THE FIELD.

5 song iTune shuffle:

1. Mother's Daughter - Santana - Abraxas
2. I Love You ... I'll Kill You - Enigma - The Cross Of Changes
3. Bannister Fight - RZA - Kill Bill, Vol. 1 Soundtrack
4. Lift The Lid - Nazareth - Close Enough For Rock 'N' Roll
5. Lay Down Sally - Eric Clapton - Time Pieces - The Best Of Eric Clapton

Today's QOTD is from Ernie Harwell, longtime announcer for the Detroit Tigers, who passed yesterday. R.I.P., Ernie.

Quote of the Day

Baseball is the president tossing out the first ball of the season. And a scrubby schoolboy playing catch with his dad on a Mississippi farm. …

Ernie Harwell, January 25, 1918 — May 4, 2010

Blog of the day is here.

Quote from said blog: "Back 'in the day'
when I worked in restaurants,
we had a term
"in the weeds"...
which pretty much meant..
we were 'buried' with orders
and the food wasn't coming up as fast
as the customers orders were going in."

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