Based on the coroner report, those helmets for the coaches would have been useless.

Regarding the Furman Bisher column on Vin Scully that was linked in the last thread, that reads like almost willful ignorance about what Scully was trying to say. It's not as if Scully was denying that the ovation for Aaron could happen in Atlanta in 1974. But certainly given the past 100-300 years of history, it was newsworthy.

More Irrelevant Baseball Blogging:

http://tinyurl.com/2f6sta

As others pointed out in previous thread, it's hard to believe a young player - even if he is completely innocent and new to being on his own - with the kind of up front money he got, can't afford a real bed and such. But I just thought it was kind of endearing, if goofy.

4 He's keeping it real!

So I guess Twerp isn't Will Carroll after all

He's our pet... and he's adorable. Can we keep him?

Going wayyyyy OT, I have a quick question for people here (work/grant related).

How many people here played an instrument as a child, and how many here can read music (from basic understanding to fluency). Thanks!

Ignore it if it's too off topic.

8 Lordy, I wish I could help!

Do we really want this guy in our clubhouse?

"There were some balls I thought we could have caught. We could have given up only three runs. I could have stayed in the game. I threw 50 pitches, and I'm out of the game. But they didn't give those guys errors, either, so ... it didn't work out in my favor."

--Ian Snell http://tinyurl.com/prthg

2
Especially when you take into account what Aaron went through in the South when he was playing baseball in his early years. Mr. Bisher seems to have forgotten a little bit of history.

9
Yes

I understand he's trying to talk his way out of Pittsburgh. Keep talking Ian, keep talking, because if you stop Tracy will cut in and that will be the last sentence you'll ever speak.

8 - I did piano for a year and guitar for three years. I think I remember four chords. But I'm good at picking out children's songs on the piano with one hand.

8- I played instruments when I was younger and can read music. If Stolen Monkey is around, he'll claim he played an instrument, but don't believe him: he played the mellophone.

8
I started on the piano when I was a kid and then moved to the guitar and eventually the drums in my teen years. I can read and understand the basics of music but I can't sight read anymore like I once was able to. On the piano I would rate myself about (6) and that's probably being generous. On the guitar, I'd say an (8) and on the drums, I'd say a (9). Based on a diatonic scale of 1 thru 10......sorry that was a bad joke. Now if I want to learn a new song on the ol guitar, I just use tab instead. It's much easier.

8
Started playing piano at age 6. Can read music.

8 Does 16 count as a child still? I started playing the guitar then, but my extent of reading music is guitar tablature.

8
I played sax as a child. I cannot read music, nor play the sax.

8 Tuba/sousaphone and organ as a kid. Guitar as a young adult. iTunes in my Seanez-age.

Reading music is really like learning another language -- you have to use it to keep it up I think. Ten years of music, four years of German, and three of Spanish, and I only just muddle through nowadays.

I totally rock in American English, though.

16 It has more to do with before the teenage years. It's a long story, but it has to do with decoding and brain development and physical changes in the brain. Along the Kodaly stuff that people use in schools.

But any info is good info. And I turned this into a massive threadjack, sorry, and we could do this in another thread if the PK would like.

Regarding music, I'm a hell of a listener. That's about it.

16
Don't be sorry, it looks like you struck a chord with everyone!
Besides there's nothing else to really talk about right now anyway. We can all speculate though!

[2.] [10.] He's just a prickly Southerner. They all get angry when you say something about racism in the past, usually though, they bring up the fact that there are racial problems everywhere.

Does Aaron Cook really only have 66 pitches through 8 innings against the Padres right now?

I don't have a musical bone in my body.

2 Yeah that article is ignorance at it's best. .

I am obsessed on Rudy Seanez being my age, by the way, after (I think) Steiner mentioned last night that Rudy was wearing his age on his uniform -- 38 (Gagne's old number of course). That and Rudy's middle name is "Caballero."

21
was meant for 19 not 16.

Lamont you big dummy!

I used to be Schrute-like on the recorder, and I just bought a Casio DG-10 digital guitar, but that's more a measure of my ebay fascination than any sort of musical prowess.

26
You and old school skater?

8 How many people here? 73.

(Actually, it's my profession.)

29
should read "an old school skater" not and.

I'm hurtin today. Sorry.

8 I never played any musical instruments as a child. I started playing piano several years ago and can now read music.

23 If anything its nice to see Justin Germano come back to earth.

Does anyone know which Colorado pitchers we're going to see this weekend and who we have facing them?

29 31 Old school skater? I bought a skateboard after "Back to the Future" came out, rode and fell down in the driveway a few times, then stored it in the garage. Does that count?

Am I the only one that never touched a musical instrument until he passed the age of 35?

I would have bet the house that Prof. Zappala played an instrument. I'll bet at least seven of his fictional children do.

35 No

35 continued. And I still haven't.

Nice little inside read on Clayton Kershaw

8
I played piano and guitar as a kid. I stopped with guitar and just played piano for awhile (though I'm really quite bad at piano). I've recently tried to pick up the guitar again, now that I've finished school (for the time being). I can sight read just fine. What's the survey for?

I didn't play an instrument as a child, except for playing by numbers on an electric chord organ. I learned to read music as an adult, but the translation is mostly adagio.

34
You skated in the 80's so yes I would say that counts. I only asked because you said that besides being fascinated or obsessed with Rudy Seanez' age/number, you said something about his middle name being Caballero. If you didn't know, Steve Caballero was an old school skater that started in the late 70's and gained fame, fortune, and popularity in the 80's for a company called Powell Peralta. Tony Hawk was on the same team too and I know you've heard of that guy. Ok enough of the skateboarding history lesson for the day.

36 All of my kids do indeed take piano lessons.
38 What I meant was started taking lessons at a relatively late point in life.

8 I played piano as a kid but hated practicing and resented my parents for making me. I played clarinet in high school and I can still read music to this day. And, of course, I am taking piano lessons again in my 20s. What they say about regretting not practicing as a kid is all too true.

44 Good for you. Too many people regret stopping and then never have the courage to start again.

36 Know that one day, Veronica and I are gonna get married on top of a mountain. And there's going to be flutes playing and trombones and flowers and garlands of fresh herbs. And we will dance till the sun rises. And then our children will form a family band. And we will tour the countryside, and you won't be invited!

For those with kids that play instruments, do you play instruments yourselves? I had the idea that maybe kids wouldn't hate practicing so much if they saw their parents practice and play, too. I, too, regret not practicing as a kid.

overkill - Was it you that was taking a business trip to Raleigh...?

I played some guitar and piano as a kid, but genuinely hated both.

46 Overkill94's 100% Natural Good Time Family Band Solution?

Piazza has hit three homeruns this year. All against the Angels, in Anaheim.

74-pitch complete game from Aaron Cook. Man, those Padres don't seem to have much patience.

40 All you guys are smart. No joke smart. And I'll bet all of you are pretty good readers. And reading music and playing certain instruments leads to mathematic proficiency and reading fluency. But it leads to real, physical changes in certain parts of the brain. Specifically, the corpus callosum, which is the bridge between brain hemispheres. It gets complex, but you can see the overall deal here.

I'm going to be working on writing a grant for anybody, any teacher, who will ask for funds to teach reading music and string instruments. Because, at our most basic level, we are terrible at teaching children. Not assigning blame, but we fail at a basic, fundamental level. I won't even be able to use the grant, but it's for a grant program that any teacher can use.

47 Interesting to note, my father was a music major and worked professionally in his youth. He played guitar and piano quite a bit while I was a kid. On one hand, sure I wanted to be just like my dad. However, I think I sort of thought that I didn't have to work as hard for it to come me because he always made it look so easy.

My kids generally read more if they see me read, and they practice piano more if they see me practice. But if I try to teach them piano, they hate me. Examples are better than lectures.

53 That's a great idea...they just don't focus on music in schools like they used to.

Learned piano, clarinet, and ukulele as a kid. Can still play piano and read music; haven't touched the other two instruments since childhood.

I will add that my kids are helped, I think, by me not being a good piano player. They enjoy catching me make mistakes, like missing a crescendo or forgetting to play a note as staccato. I believe it is good pedagogy to have kids learn something from a teacher and then have them teach what they learned to us.

48 Yeah, but I was in and out like a...oh never mind.

I'm back in Italy now (until the end of the week), heading out to Rome tomorrow to take in the sights.

58 To teach is to learn twice

--Joseph Joubert

59
We're planning a trip to Italy next summer. Hopefully Milan, Venice, Rome, Naples, and then a few weeks in Sicily where my wife has distant relatives.

53- I'd bet having a child who's learning to play the violin in your house is one of the top three reasons couples decide not to have another kid.

My grandfather was a professional drummer during the big band era and so I bought a set of drums and thought I'd just be able to play. Funny how that didn't work out.

8 Played piano for 4 years starting at age 5, and clarinet for 7 years starting at age 7, can still read music although I struggle with Guitar Pro...

61 You would probably guess that I am an expert on Sicilian genealogy, and you would be correct. Where in Sicily will you be visiting?

61 Good choices. It seems there's another trip planned for late September during which I'm hoping to hit up Venice.

I did get to check out North Carolina St. while in Raleigh and it was a pretty nice campus. I walked around downtown a little bit but wasn't too impressed with it.

These threads move so quickly when there's no game to watch!

8 I had a couple of years of accordion practice in 1959-1960 and learned to sight-read then. I gave up the instrument shortly thereafter.

Fast forward to freshman year of college in 1968. Guitars became the instrument of choice, so I bought one in 1969. I just looked at the chords, though. Got fairly good, then gave it up when I went to Kwajalein in 1975.

Fast forward to three years ago, when I was given an electronic keyboard for Christmas. I was astonished to discover that I could still sight-read notes.

50
Let's go take some Temocil!

50
Let's go take some Temocil!

My neighbor across the street is some sort of Saxophone professional. He's constantly playing and is good at it. So, on any given evening, I can sit out in my patio and have some nice music in the background.

Everyone here wishes he could be Marty. Fruit trees. Altadena. Free sax music. What a life.

Man, this is off topic, but sad - the actor who starred in that great film The Lives of Others last year passed away from cancer. He was fairly young. (The bald-headed lead, who was the surveillance expert...) Sad!

Oh, and I never played an instrument as a kid, though I wanted to play the drums. My sister played the piano. I tried to play the harmonica but it didn't take.

Go Derek Lowe!

65
Not sure yet. One of her relatives is apparently the mayor of a small town, called (I think) Graniti. The plan is for her father and uncle (whose grandparents emigrated from Sicily) to rent a house over there and for us to stay with them and be shown around and such by the relatives.

8 We have two kids that both played violin starting in 3rd grade, 9 years of age, but both stopped after a couple of years and I would doubt either can read music now. My father still takes piano lessons at age 80, he's been taking lessons from the same guy for almost 40 years...

I did get to check out North Carolina St. while in Raleigh and it was a pretty nice campus. I walked around downtown a little bit but wasn't too impressed with it

Duke >>> UNC >>> NC State

Actually, Duke and UNC are somewhat of a tossup as they're very different. Duke's campus if very cohesive, as all the buildings look pretty much the same. UNC's is very diverse, which is good but also seems kinda hodgepodge. NC State's is by far the worst of the 3.

71- Don't forget the front loading washing machine!

60 I just got finished teaching a student Latin grammar. That is a very true axiom. In October we will be beginning Greek, a review of which I need less, but will enjoy more.

73 Graniti is about 20 minutes from where my family originates. You'll have to be sure to visit Taormina.

73- Marcello D'Amore is the mayor of Graniti. Sounds like a made up name to me. Might be an Italian Jean Val Jean situation. Did he send you candlesticks as a wedding present?

http://en.comuni-italiani.it/083/034/

You have to go to Rome - everyone has to go to Rome if they haven't been there - but in Italy, I've found people usually have a better time outside of Rome. Florence rules, and Cinqueterre (the Italian Riviera) is a very underrated spot.

there's squirts of jealousy when I read a lot of you play or played instruments in the past. my ex-girlfriend plays a really good guitar the only song i know how to play is "Boys don't cry" by the cure.

My family has a lot of musicians in it. One great uncle was an arranger for the Ed Sullivan show. Such musical ability was not passed down to me. Another relative wrote the Cardinals theme song in the mid 1970s. It was played while an electronic cardinal "flew" around the scoreboard at Busch Stadium.

I have a niece who is learning violin and a brother who can play the guitar.

I also have a niece and nephew who enjoy folk dancing and have excellent senses of rhythm and coordination. Unsurprisingly, they are adopted.

78
I will add it to our list. Are the Sicilian Zappala familes as large as their Utahn counterparts...?

79
We specifically declined wedding gifts. I'll have to ask her father if Marcello is a relative. The last name is different, which I already thought was the case.

Squirts of Jealousy would be a great band name.

There are some things wasted on me, and this is one. http://tinyurl.com/35armn

I've played it for a total of about 10 hours since I bought it in 1973.

I've been told it's now worth a couple of grand, but it's so beautiful I can't bear to part with it.

Lineup not posted yet??? Can we read anything into that? A trade being made?

77 You'll be happy to know the charter school I will never build would include mandatory Latin.

75. You're just prejudiced against ag schools. Also, definately replace Milan with Florence in your plans.

80
I forgot to add that we plan on spending some time in Tuscany as well.

We have friends who just got back from Rome, Venice, Florence, and Tuscany. I think they liked Florence, but it was the last place they visited, so they were tired by the time they got there and didn't have as much to say about it.

83 Yes. Zappala is a very common surname there, and you will likely eat Zappala-brand butter or cheese.

87 My brother's Catholic school requires him to learn Latin.

I really hope the Dodgers hold onto LaRoche. He is deadly against good fastballs from the middle to the inside corner in and has good plate discipline. That's a special combination. He's not a slider bat-speed guy (which is more palatable with a left-handed hitter such as Adrian Gonzalez or Ethier or Loney or JT Snow). LaRoche legitimately can handle a pretty good to good fastball middle in. The hiccups relating to the shoulder injuries weren't surprising. Assuming he can stay healthy, he's a keeper. Sure, he'll look dreadful on the outside pitch. But they can't keep putting it there. I love right-handed hitters with his fairly compact swing and very good bat speed.

definately replace Milan with Florence in your plans

I'll take that under advisement. The attraction of Milan is trifold:

1. We either fly into Milan or Rome, and Milan seemed more conveniently located for traveling to Venice
2. My wife likes the idea of shopping in the "fashion capital of the world"
3. My wife might also have distant relatives there. We're hoping to find some wealthy relatives without children who want to leave us their fortune someday...

91 I saved Latin. What did you ever do?

Michael Rasmussen has been dropped from the Tour de France. He had been in first place, leading Alberto Contador of Spain (and Team Discovery) by about two and a half minutes. The only reason given is that his team withdrew him for violating internal team practices by providing incorrect information about his location during the previous month. If memory serves, it was during that month that he missed two drug tests.

http://tinyurl.com/2ulmvg

33. Does anyone know which Colorado pitchers we're going to see this weekend and who we have facing them?

One place to check is the Dodgers.com website:

http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=la

Click the News tab, then click Probable Pitchers

Derek Lowe vs Matt Albers

Brad Penny vs Rodrigo Lopez

Brett Tomko vs Josh Fogg

Chad Billingsley vs Jeff Francis

Kemp and Betemit back in the lineup:

Furcal, SS
Pierre, CF
Martin, C
Kent, 2B
Gonzo, LF
Betemit, 3B
Loney, 1B
Kemp, RF
Lowe, P

86 Relax, my friend.
From ItD:

Furcal, SS

Pierre, CF

Martin, C

Kent, 2B

Gonzo, LF

Betemit, 3B

Loney, 1B

Kemp, RF

Lowe, P

yay, bottom of the order!

Kershaw as pitcher: cerebral but decisive

crush

D'oh, seconds too late.

94 "What was your major?"
Miss Cross: "I didn't have a major, but my thesis was on Latin American economic policy."
"Oh, that's interesting. Did you hear that they're not going to teach Latin anymore?"
"This was more like Central America."
"Oh, central America and whatnot."

If Martin is sore and hurt, maybe we should rest him.

Speaking of music: I can't shake Johnny Applesead out of my brain from JFC. I have been listening alot more to Joe Strummer on youtube (I hadn't previous to seeing JFC other than the occasional clash song) and feel like I really missed the boat on his music and genius.

So..where do I start? Any big fans out there want to enlighten me?

From Rotowire:
Kyle Wilson (P) LA - A 7/25/2007
Wilson, who has not pitched since July 14, is out with a shoulder injury, according to a High-A Inland Empire club official contacted by RotoWire. It is not known for how long. Wilson was having a very good year for the Dodger farm club. In 18 games, spanning 26 innings, he has an ERA of 0.35 (one earned run, way back in May), a K:BB of 25:3, and a BAA of .179. The only number not markedly better than last year's High-A numbers is his 0.42 G:F ratio, which is down from a more reassuring 1.24. We'll monitor this number, his other numbers, and his health, as this kind of year is worth noting.

I wonder if Loney, DeWitt and McDonald could get Teixeira.

96. Of course, the first pair is for tonight's game. :-)

Sunday: Mark Hendrickson vs Ubaldo Jimenez

102
London Calling by the Clash. A GREAT album to start with. I was lucky enough to see Joe Strummer play about 5 years ago at the Greek Theater in LA. He opened for Joe Cocker. What a great show! While Strummer only played his solo work with maybe one Clash song, it was phenomenal.

94 well played sir

Per ItD, Kuo had arthroscopic elbow surgery today.

All the Wes Anderson fans will be happy to know that The Darjeeling Limited looks very Wes Andersony.

Rumors on the Padres message boards have Linebrink going to the Brewers for minor leaguers. Sounds like Heath Bell was going to take over the 8th inning role anyway, but it still seems like an odd move.

My favorite Clash albums are:
1. Give Em Enough Rope
2. The Clash
3. London Calling.

108 Getting scoped is only bad if they find new damage right? Don't players come back within a month after getting scoped?

109
Nice!

With a bottom heavy lineup again tonight, here is where the Dodger lineup ranks at each spot in the batting order, by sOPS+.

sOPS+ is defined by Baseball-Reference.com as "OPS+ of this split relative to the major league OPS for this split"

1st - 87 sOPS+
2nd - 76
3rd - 77
4th - 111
5th - 102
6th - 111
7th - 130
8th - 124
9th - 111

Martin batting third instead of Garciaparra will improve that spot over time, obviously.

Sometimes I think it would be fun to have a FireJoeMorgan-esque JoeChat-ish run down of the comments on the ItD posts.

linebrink to milwaukee for three minor leaguers.

So maybe we should just reverse our lineup?

110 Looks like it's a done deal with the minor leaguers being pitchers Will Inman, Steve Garrison, and Joe Thatcher. The Brewers got screwed if you ask me.

NPUT

109 Indeed. I saw the coming attraction last night and I swear it only took me about 5 seconds into it for me to whisper to my g/f, "This has to be a Wes Anderson movie." The cast, the deadpan lines, the great music, the colorful feel, you can tell right away it's Wes.

119 Heh. Shall we start a "War of the Acronyms?" I'll bet Bob would win.

8. I learned violin at age 4 and added french horn in 5th grade. Then trumpet/cornet, then tuba, then piano. Also sang in choir (reading music) from an early age. I can read music. After college, though, I've really gotten away from music unfortunately.

115. That would be funny

2 Jon, read Hank's "I Had A Hammer". At the time, the racism was worse in the north than it was in the south. I think that what has been described as "prickly" exists because some northerners don't understand just how racist their own neck of the woods was and is. And it wasn't any new thing, as De Tocqueville observed that "race prejudice seems stronger in those states that have abolished slavery than in those where it still exists, and nowhere is it more intolerant than in those states where slavery was never known." And so there were never slaves in Columbus, Ohio, but my dad had moved to a new locale within that city and such ended Ohio State for me, as there were no "black folk" in that neck of Columbus, just n------. And to end by illustrating why it irks the Bishers of the world [courtesy of ESPN]:

"Dear Nigger Henry,
You are (not) going to break this record established by the great Babe Ruth if I can help it. ... Whites are far more superior than jungle bunnies. . My gun is watching your every black move."

"Dear Henry Aaron,
How about some sickle cell anemia, Hank?"

The letters came from every state, but most were postmarked in northern cities."

And so, query, what would Vin have said if Hank had broken the record in some northern city? Would he have said that former northern racists were now standing up and cheering for a "black" man? That's why it irks the Furman Bishers of the world.

2 To add to my last [courtesy of LiPmagazine.org]:

"King's open housing marches in Chicago were greeted with what he characterized as the most "hostile and hateful" demonstration of white racism he had ever witnessed, more violent even than Selma or Birmingham. David Garrow, in his book, Bearing the Cross, quotes King as saying that northern whites were practicing "psychological and spiritual genocide..."

one more point on my 81 her brother is a working actor who got a talking part on the movie "Freedom Writers" [one two punch]

[8] yes on both counts for me.

Fifth grade through ninth grade of single reed and read.

There exists plenty of great education research that goes ignored and unimnplemented.

To teach a subject is to learn that subject.

[94] i wrote a hit play :P

[75] your duke/unc description sounds like stanford vs. berkeley. while stanford has a very "nice" campus, all the buildings looking exactly the same makes it seem so boring to me.

[123] i'll agree with you that racism was/is a problem in the north as well, but that doesn't expunge all the things that had to happen in the south for them to get to that moment in 1974, which vinny was quite properly calling upon to put it all into perspective.

129 I disagree. The problem was never southern racism. The problem was and is WHITE AMERICAN racism. Vin's comment simply gave continuing life to a false ideological construct. And so he should have said that white America was standing up and cheering for a black American breaking the great record held by a beloved and cherished white American.