Wednesday, July 31, 2013

themusicaddict's Greatest CDs: The White Stripes' "White Blood Cells"

Hello,

This is pretty close to a finished blog, if I get inspired I may add more. This is another in my continuing series of greatest CDs of all-time. I'm highlighting The White Stripes "White Blood Cells". The White Stripes were an underground band before this CD was released and remained that way for a couple of years more . This is the CD that introduced me to The White Stripes and is definitely a greatest CD of all-time. It's also my favorite of all their CDs.

Nearly every song on this CD is solid and several are classics. Some of the classics include the grab you by the collar "Hotel Yorba", "Dead Leaves and Dirty Ground", "Little Room",  the sweet "The Same Boy You've Always Known" and "We're Going To Be Friends". I could go on and on but I also love "Fell In Love With A Girl" and "I Can Wait".

1) "Dead Leaves and The Dirty Ground":



2) "Hotel Yorba":



3) "I'm Finding It Harder To Be A Gentleman Everyday" (Live):



4) "Fell In Love With A Girl":



The White Stripes haven't had many covers made of their songs that I know of, this is one of the few. I love Joss Stone's accent on "Fell In Love With A Boy":



5) "Expecting":



6) "Little Room":



7) "The Union Forever" set to edited footage of "Citizen Kane":



8) "The Same Boy You've Always Known":



9) "We're Going To Be Friends":



10) "Offend In Every Way":



11) "I Think I Smell A Rat":



12) "Aluminum":



13) "I Can't Wait":



14) "Now Mary":



15) "I Can Learn":



16) "This Protector":



themusicaddict

Dodgers Daily, July 30th, 2013: Dodgers Vanquish Yankees, Pirates Surge To First Place

Hello,

As always thanks to ESPN for many of the assorted facts scattered through this blog. Assume all the accurate facts are ESPNs.

On Tuesday the Dodgers started a two game series with the Yankees. Thanks to Mark Ellis' walk off single in the bottom of the 9th LA won again. It's hard to believe that just a few weeks I expected the Dodgers to find a way to lose, now I expect them to find a way to win. How did that happen?

The two hottest teams in MLB are the Rays and Dodgers, not coincidentally both teams are in first place in their divisions. LA is on their hottest streak since 1953, since June 22nd, LA is  27-6. Literally LA is playing at historic heights. They also have won 16 of their last 19 games, 9 of their last 10 games and 4 games in a row. With the Diamondbacks losing again, LA holds a 3.5 game lead on Arizona. The Dodgers have a 74.7% chance of reaching the playoffs.

Not only extremely hot play but LA also added the Beard to their roster. No not James Harden, but Brian Wilson. No not the sometimes Beach Boy, although the Dodgers had some fun with that. No this Beard is former ace closer of the World Series winning Giants. He's been out for awhile recovering from Tommy John surgery. Wilson signed a one year contract with the Dodgers, he's going on a minor league rehab assignment. The plan is he'll be joining the Dodgers soon. If LA really makes the playoffs, I'd much prefer to see Wilson than either Brandon League or Carlos Marmol in a save situation. It has to be nice to be Ned Colleti and not have to worry about money in signing players.

The first place Dodgers (I like writing that) play their final game of this short series against the Yankees on Wednesday. Although these two teams have had many classic World Series battles, this series isn't a precursor to a World Series rematch. It's highly unlikely the Yankees will even make the playoffs, and the Dodgers are such a rollercoaster who knows what to expect from them? Wednesday's scheduled pitching matchup is Clayton Kershaw (10-6, 1.96 ERA) vs. Hiroki Kuroda (10-6, 2.51 ERA). Kuroda is one of the few former Dodgers that I wish they would have held on to.

While the Pirates doubters are waiting for them to collapse, the Pirates continue to show that they are going to fight to the end. Not only are they likely to finish above .500, but they have a 98.3% chance of reaching the playoffs.

The Pirates are 64-42 after sweeping yesterday's double header with the Cardinals. Pittsburgh has won the first 3 games in this 5 game series and they lead the Cardinals by 1.5 games. Although the Cardinals have hit a rough patch, you'd be foolish to count them out. St. Louis is the last team I want any of my teams to meet in the playoffs. St. Louis is still 62-43 with a 97.4% chance of reaching the playoffs.

Also don't fall asleep on the Reds, although they are 6 games back now. With the NL East and NL West being so pathetically weak there's a very solid chance of the NL Central sending 3 teams to the playoffs.

Boston continues to battle the Rays for first place in the AL East, that division has been as tightly contested as most people expected. Boston trails the Rays by 1/2 of a game and the Orioles are only 5 games back. The Orioles get on a hot streak and they'll be right back in the fight for the division title. It looks like the AL East will be a three team race though the rest of the season.

The Red Sox considerably strengthened themselves Tuesday by trading for Jake Peavy. The Red Sox looked to do well anyway, but this gives them that one more top line starter which gives them even a better shot of reaching World Series glory.

The Braves won yet again as they continue to steamroll the NL East. How pathetic is that division? Did the other teams think the season is over and stop playing? The Braves have won 5 games in a row. The Nationals are 10 games back and they are the second place team? I've seen more fight out of a little Yorkie than the second to fifth place teams in the NL East.

With the Braves running away from the pathetically weak NL East, the Red Sox trading for Jake Peavy and the A's looking strong in the AL West could this finally be the year one of my teams win a World Series again? My last team that won a World Series was the 2007 Red Sox. The Dodgers haven't won the World Series since 1988, it seems money won't be a hindrance in preventing them from postseason success in 2013.

themusicaddict

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

How Toothless is MLB and it's PED Policy? (Updated July 31, 2013)

Hello,

After MLB threatened to suspend Ryan Braun for 100 games, they eventually worked out a deal with him which he agreed to accept a 65 game suspension. The Brewers weren't going anywhere anyway and Braun was battling injuries, so how much of a punishment was that really?

Currently MLB and Alex Rodriguez are fighting how long of a suspension that Rodriguez will serve. Rodriguez's lawyer says they'll fight any suspension that MLB gives him. ARod (or it it A-Ped) this is why people hate you, you might be one of the few professional athletes that's more despised than Dwight Howard. And of course this is also why people hate lawyers. We also have the namby pamby MLB saying they might suspend Rodriguez for "violations of labor deal". Why is it that I get the feeling that Rodriguez is in the driver's seat in determining what punishment he'll get.

It seems both Bill Clinton and OJ Simpson had the right idea about avoiding consequences. Their strategy seemed to be: Deny and lie until you get by. That worked for Clinton and Simpson and now it seems Rodriquez is trying the same strategy.

How about MLB man up and suspend Rodriguez for both PED and labor violations? I know there's the CBA to consider, but I can't believe that Commissioner Selig doesn't have the power to suspend anyone especially when there's overwhelming proof against them?

What in the name of Kenesaw Mountain Landis is going on with Major League Baseball? Why are there rules if they can't be enforced? Bud Selig needs to take on the spirit of Landis and start punishing people. It seems like he doesn't have that power now, but the commissioner should absolutely have that power.

Landis was the first commissioner of baseball. Landis was brought in as commissioner following the embarrassing Black Sox scandal. Landis was given "was given full power to act in the sport's best interest, and used that power extensively over the next quarter-century". (Thanks to Landis' Wikipedia page.)

"Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player that throws a ball game; no player that undertakes or promises to throw a ball game; no player that sits in a conference with a bunch of crooked players and gamblers where the ways and means of throwing ball games are planned and discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball. Of course, I don't know that any of these men will apply for reinstatement, but if they do, the above are at least a few of the rules that will be enforced. Just keep in mind that, regardless of the verdict of juries, baseball is competent to protect itself against crooks, both inside and outside the game."
(Thanks to the wikipedia.org post for Landis.)

Now hilariously Rodriguez says he wants to be a "role model". A role model for what? How to cheat and get away with it? How to be one of the most gifted baseball players of all-time yet still leave a bad taste in the mouth of baseball lovers? To be clear I don't want my kids to emulate Rodriguez or use him as a role model in anything. My kids have and will continue to mess up, but I don't want them to lawyer up or weasel their way out of accepting consequences. No ARod you aren't a role model for my kids or anyone else's. If you really wanted to be a role model, you should have thought about that about 15 years ago.

ARod's whole "role model" nonsense is a sign that he has no self-awareness. In the SI article ARod whines about the "noise" surrounding him. Alex, why is there noise? It's because of your poor choices, the refusal to man up and take your deserved punishment. Volunteer to take your punishment and you would be surprised by how much the "noise" decreases. Rodriguez should volunteer to sit out all of next season as his punishment, assuming that he's healthy enough to play. Then use that year to educate people on the dangers of steroid use. If Rodriguez has any awareness and did something simple like I suggest, he would be perceived a lot more favorably by the public. Just how unaware is Rodriquez?

theirritatedmusicaddict

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Dodgers Daily, July 28th, 2013: Puig Does It Again, Braves, A's Continue to Roll

Hello,

The Dodgers finished their series with the Reds on Sunday, with LA winning the final 3 games. LA won Sunday's game 1-0 in 11 innings and were powered by Yasiel Puig's 10th homer of the season. It was this walk off homer, I love the slide at the end of circling the bases:



I wasn't able to check the score on this game until about the 6th inning. At that time the Dodgers only had 1 hit and that hit was by pitcher Chris Capuano. LA ended up with only 5 hits in the whole game, however they had the only hit that mattered. That was Puig's 10th homer and also his 23rd RBI. I know it's not a coincidence that the Dodgers have been much better since he's been with the team.

After getting a contribution from Skip Schumaker yesterday, the Dodgers received another unexpected contribution on Sunday. Don Mattingly turned to Brandon League and he was able to deliver. League was one of 5 Dodgers pitchers that shut out the Reds. League pitched two very solid innings, he gave up no hits, no runs and only 1 walk. League got the win and improved his record to 6-3. He still has that unsightly 5.17 ERA and I'm not convinced he'll be on the Dodgers playoff roster. (Fingers crossed that LA makes the playoffs.)

With the Diamondbacks losing again, LA expanded their lead over them by 2.5 games in the NL West.

LA gets Monday off and then they have a two game series with the Yankees. Derek Jeter is back with the Yankees, hitting a home run on the first pitch he saw today. The Yankees won Sunday's game with the returning Alfonso Soriano's walk off hit. In fact Soriano was 4 for 5 in the game, I'm not sure but that seems to be how many hits he finished with in his Cubs career. Meanwhile no more word on when Alex Rodriguez will be able to play or if he's going to be suspended by MLB first. The Yankees are a decent team, at 55-50, but for them they have the misfortune of playing in the best division in MLB, the AL East.

With their current record the Yankees would be second place in the NL West. However in the AL East they are in 4th place, which is made even worse by trailing the first place Red Sox by 7.5 games. With or without Rodriguez things are looking bleak for the Yankees playoff hopes. This song describes the mixed emotions of any complicated relationship, which is what the Yankees and Rodriguez have:



Meanwhile the A's continue rolling, they slapped around the Angels today 10-6 as they strengthen their lead on the AL West. The Rangers have completely fallen apart, losing 4 in a row and 8 of their last 10 games. Meanwhile the A's have won 3 straight games and now lead the second place Rangers by 6 games. With some people thinking the A's are going to end up with Jake Peavy, it's looking good that the A's are going to reach the playoffs. In fact, ESPN.com says they have a 90.9% chance of reaching the playoffs.

Meanwhile the Braves continue to do well. Although I'm not 100% convinced they won't flop again once they reach the playoffs. They were able to sweep the Cardinals and won 4 of their last 5 games. St. Louis may be the best team in MLB now, they are a team that doesn't seem to have any weaknesses. In the NL East the Braves lead the second place Nationals by 8.5 games and the third place Phillies by 11 games.

The Nationals have won 3 games in a row, but they've only 4 of their last 10 games. The Nationals are still 8.5 games out in the NL East. I wonder how hard the Phillies are even trying, they've lost 8 games in a row. Also Philadelphia has Jonathan Papelbon whining that he didn't come to the Phillies for this kind of play. Honestly I wasn't real sad when Papelbon didn't resign with the Red Sox. I'm sure the Phillies aren't real happy about signing him either. The Phillies were planning on having a lot of success and they overpaid Papelbon to help them do that. There's still the last two years of Papelbon's 4 year, $50 million dollar contract that someone has to pay for. I'm not sure why anyone would want to pay him that kind of money. (Dearest Dodgers please don't consider trading for Papelbon.)

themusicaddict

Dodgers Daily, July 27th, 2013: Dodgers Continue Rolling, Pirates Will Break .500 This Season

Hello,

After the Reds won the first game in their series with the Dodgers, LA has won the last two games. The final game of the series will be Sunday afternoon. The Dodgers get Monday off, before welcoming their traditional rival the New York Yankees. The Dodgers-Yankees series will be two games, they'll occur on Tuesday and Wednesday. Following that series LA will go on the road for 8 games. LA plays 4 games against the trade depleted Cubs. They may lose more players by the time LA comes to town. That's followed by LA playing 4 games against the very tough Cardinals.

Back to Saturday's game: one of the heroes of tonight's game was Skip Schumaker. Matt Kemp is still on the 15 day DL and Carl Crawford sat out the game with a "high temperature and fever". (Thanks to ESPN.com.)  LA needed production from elsewhere, Schumaker was able to fill in and get the big hit.  Schumaker had his second home run of the season and his 20th and 21st RBIs of the season. His hit was also timely, he hit the tie breaking homer in the bottom of the 5th inning. Schumaker finished the game 2 for 4 and is hitting .270.Whoever might fill in for when Crawford needs to miss a game should always be ready. Very few players miss as many games as Crawford, I'm still waiting for him to go on season ending DL.  LA was able to coast to victory following Schumaker's big hit.

After giving up a lot of hits in his last couple of games Hyun-Jin Ryu had a much better outing tonight. In 7 innings he only gave up 2 hits and 1 run. He improves to 9-3 on the season and his ERA decreases to 3.14.

With the Dodgers up by 3 runs I was hoping that Don Mattingly wouldn't go with either of the blown saves twosome, Brandon League or Carlos Marmol. Thankfully he didn't, instead he brought in the very tough Paco Rodriguez, who only needed 2 pitches to get a needed out. Kanley Jensen pitched the 9th inning and earned his second save in as many nights. That's his 14th save of the season and he was able to decrease his ERA to 2.24.

Other notables in this game included Yasiel Puig. He was 2 for 3 and earned a walk, he's hitting .375 on the season. Adrian Gonzalez was 2 for 4 and is hitting .302. Hanley Ramirez remains the Dodger with the best batting average, he was 1 for 4 and is hitting .383. Those are the 3 Dodgers every day players hitting over .300.

The Dodgers continue to play well, they are 55-48, where will they be 59 games from now? I still can't quite believe the Dodgers are in first place after how bad they were through about the first half of the season. Arizona got blasted 12-3 by the Padres, the Diamondbacks fall back to 1.5 games behind in the NL West. Go Dodgers!

There was some question about who MLB's weakest division is, but I think it's clearly the NL East. At least the NL West has two teams above .500. The Braves are playing like crap and they are still running away from their NL East rivals. Atlanta only won 5 of their last 10 games and yet they've gained two games on both the Nationals and Phillies. Atlanta is 59-45 and has a 97.4% chance of reaching the playoffs. The second place NL East team is Washington, they trail Atlanta by 8.5 games. The Nationals are 51-54 with a 4.9% chance of reaching the playoffs. In third place is the Phillies, Philadelphia seems to have given up. They are offering many of their key players as trade bait. Philadelphia is 49-55 and have a 1.3% chance of reaching the playoffs. Go Braves!

Many people have been waiting for the Pirates to collapse, like they did the last couple of years. But as a loyal Pirates fan over the last couple of seasons I say this is the year they break their 20 year streak of not finishing above .500. The Pirates only have to go 21-39 over their final 60 games to finish above .500, that would give them a 82-80 record. Of course the Pirates want more, right now they are 61-41 and have a 94.3% chance of making the playoffs. Go Pirates!

Good luck to all my other teams, the Orioles, Red Sox, Cubs and A's.

themusicaddict

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Dodgers Daily, July 26th, 2013: Dodgers Beat Reds, Kershaw's Good Game

Hello,

The Dodgers beat the Reds 2-1 in the second of their 4 game series. With the victory the Dodgers remain in first place in the NL West. The Diamondbacks slapped around the Padres 10-0 and are only a 1/2 game back.

There were two heroes in this game, the first was Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw. I say that Kershaw had a good game, not a great game, as he did give up 6 hits. However he only gave up one run, had 8 strikeouts and lowered his already low ERA to 1.96. If Kershaw isn't the best pitcher in MLB, I don't know who is. The other hero was Hanley Ramirez, again, who hit his 11th home run of the season. He's also responsible for both of the Dodger RBIs, he has 33 on the season. He was 2 for 4 and is hitting .387 this season.

Kenley Jansen earned his 13th save of the season, striking out 2 of the 3 batters he faced. He also has a very low ERA, it's 2.28. Carl Crawford was 3 for 4 and is hitting .289 on the season. After having a rough stretch, he's slowly raising his batting average to near .300. LA would be a good hitting team if it could end the season with 4 .300 hitters.

The Dodgers had climbed as high as 16th place in runs scored, but as of Friday they had slipped back to 19th place. LA has scored 411 runs this season and they are almost within 100 runs of the offensive behemoth Boston. The Red Sox have scored 519 runs. But that offensive output didn't prevent them from losing 6 of their last 10 games or slip to second place in the highly competitive AL East.

themusicaddict

Friday, July 26, 2013

Dodgers Daily, July 25th, 2013: Dodgers Coming Back To Reality?

Hello,

LA has been one of the hottest teams in MLB over the last couple of weeks, they had won their last 6 road games. Coming into their game against the Reds the lead the NL West by 1.5 games. Anytime that a team wins a road game that's impressive, especially 6 games in a row since the All-Star break. But to be fair LA beat the not very good Blue Jays and Nationals. Despite LA returning home, they currently are playing a very solid baseball team in the Reds. Although the Reds are 3rd place in the extremely competitive NL Central, they still have a 92% chance of reaching the playoffs.

LA returned to Dodgers Stadium on their fantastic run, however they ran into a determined Reds team. As of now Cincinnati would qualify for the playoffs. They would play the Pirates in a one game series to advance in the playoffs. After 162 regular season games the Reds want a better shot at being in the playoffs for awhile. (MLB's regular season is way too long. Due to greed the regular season will never be shortened, but wouldn't about 140 games be much better?) I don't think Cincinnati, or anyone else, is going to catch the Cardinals. St. Louis is on too much of a roll and they are too loaded. However if at least they could pass the Pirates, then at least they'd have home field advantage for the one game Wild Card playoff.

Of course the Dodgers are probably equally determined, they have to win the NL West or they aren't going to be in the playoffs at all.

With that as the backdrop the Reds went into LA and won the first game in the series 5-2. Dodger starting pitchers continued a not very good trend of outings. Zack Greinke wasn't horrible, but he also didn't deliver the kind of performance you'd expect from someone with his kind of salary. In 7 innings he gave up 6 hits, 4 runs and a walk. Greinke finished with the loss and drops to 8-3 on the season, his ERA rises slightly to 3.49. I'm sure that Don Mattingly has his reasons, but I don't understand why the ineffective Carlos Marmol ever plays. In one inning of work Marmol gave up 2 hits and 1 run. He has an unbelievable ERA of 6.53.

The two Dodgers that have been the most effective over the last few weeks continue that way. Hanley Ramirez remains in first place for the Dodgers in batting average. He was 2 for 4 and is hitting .384. Yasiel Puig has bounced back from a brief slump. On Thursday he was 2 for 4 and he's hitting .379 this season.

The Dodgers were hoping for some help from the Cubs. Chicago ended their 4 game series with Arizona last night by losing 3-1. With the Cubs trading away many of their veterans, their already slim chances of winning continue to decrease. Although trading away Alfonso Soriono isn't a big loss to the Cubs. In fact, the postscript on that free agency signing a few years ago is that was a deal that didn't work out for the Cubs. The 8 year $136 million dollar contract Soriano signed looks ridiculous now.

I'm glad the Cubs got rid of the dead weight, although they should have held out a bit longer to make the Yankees pay more of his contract. Soriano's contract runs out at the end of 2014 season. Even though he won't be playing for the Cubs then, the Cubs will still pay him about $17.7 million of the approximately $24.5 million he's still owed.

With Chicago recently trading away both Matt Garza and Soriano they're clearly going to a youth movement. Nearly always I think that's the right idea once reaching the playoffs becomes unrealistic. Despite all the player turmoil the Cubs were able to take 2 of 4 against the Diamondbacks. However Arizona won the final game of the series last night. That meant Arizona moved back within into a 1/2 game of the Dodgers in the NL West. Arizona has 3 more games left in their 4 game series with the Reds.

Today's Dodgers-Reds scheduled pitching matchup is Clayton Kershaw (9-6, 2.01 ERA) vs. Homer Bailey (5-9, 3.84 ERA). Bailey has pitched a no-hitter both this season and last season. No disrespect to Bailey but my prediction is that most GMs would prefer Kershaw on their team. Although nearly ever GM would be happy as well to have Bailey in their starting pitching rotation.

While the Dodgers are playing a team better than them, the Diamondbacks will be playing a team that's worse than them. Arizona is playing the terrible Padres (46-57, 1.2% Poff). How bad are the Padres? They are so bad that they are last place in one of the two worst divisions in MLB, the NL West. It's hard to be that bad.

themusicaddict


Thursday, July 25, 2013

Dodgers Daily: July 24th, 2013: Dodgers Win Again, Are They Too Good To Be True?, The Amazing NL Central

Hello,

The LA Dodgers continued their amazing winning streak. After sweeping the Blue Jays, LA has won all 6 of their post All-Star break games. LA has won 10 straight road games, which is their longest such streak since 1955 according to one ESPN source. (ESPN LA's Mark Saxon says it's a LA Dodgers longest road winning streak ever. Perhaps the other streak refers to the Brooklyn Dodgers?) LA has won 23 of their last 28 games.

All those wins and this great momentum usually would make me ecstatic. The Dodgers are one of the teams I've been following since I was a kid.  My favorite player growing up was Steve Garvey. Usually I would be ecstatic about that team actually looking like they could make the playoffs. After playing very miserably for the first 70 games of the season and now they're playing lights out I wonder if this recent streak is too good to be true? Is this just a mirage?

The Dodgers hitting has been pretty great as of late, but pitching has only been okay. Hyun Jin-Ryu and Ricky Nolasco didn't overwhelm anyone lately. Ryu won his recent start, to move to 8-3 on the season. However he gave up 9 hits, 4 runs and 2 walks in only 5.1 innings. Ryu has a tendency to give up a lot of hits but not necessarily a lot of runs. His win loss record and 3.25 ERA bears that out. Last night Nolasco wasn't exactly dominant either. He was better than Ryu, but still gave up 2 hits, 2 runs and 4 WALKS in 5.2 innings.

For the most part LA's relief staff has been pretty decent. Kenley Jansen has been a solid closer. Paco Rodriguez seems to be automatic every time he pitches. I've noticed that Brandon League has been decent in his recent appearances, I just hope that Don Mattingly doesn't go to that well one too many times.

I wonder how strong of a foundation this Dodgers team is built on, especially when LA's scoring inevitability drops off?  I also wonder how good this team will be with Matt Kemp going on DL for the second time this month and third time this season. With all the games he's missed and how relatively ineffective he's been the Dodgers haven't missed Kemp as much as you would think they would. If he could somehow come back healthy and hitting .280 with some power how good could this Dodgers team be?

I'll write that blog if it comes to that, until then I'm going to celebrate this Dodgers team surge. LA expanded their lead over the Diamondbacks to 1.5 games on Wednesday. The lowly Cubs knocked off the Diamondbacks in Arizona last night.

Yasiel Puig had a rough stretch right before and shortly after the All-Star break, but he seems to be bouncing back now. He had his second good game in a row on Wednesday. Puig was 3 for 5 and is hitting .376. He also hit his 9th homer of the season and has 22 RBIs this season. He's battling Hanley Ramirez for best batting average amongst the Dodgers. Ramirez had a rough game last night, he was only 1 for 6, his batting average decreases to .381. Obviously he's hitting incredibly well.

Mr. Consistent, Adrian Gonzalez, was 2 for 5 and is hitting .301 this season. Even Andre Ethier had 4 hits and raises his batting average to .275. My excitement level would definitely go up with a healthy Kemp and a consistently good Ethier. Up to this point Ethier has been consistently mediocre.

Upcoming: the Dodgers start a 4 game series against the Reds. The series is at Dodgers Stadium. The scheduled pitching matchup is Zack Greinke (8-2, 3.36 ERA) vs. Mat Latos (9-3, 3.53). Maybe Greinke can get the Dodgers pitching staff going in the right direction and gaining positive momentum.

I don't know how to put it, but the NL West and the NL East are pathetic. Other than those two divisions winning team, nobody else in the race for the playoffs. If the Dodgers were in the NL Central with their record, they'd be in 4th place. If the Braves were in the NL Central they would also be in 4th place.

As of now it looks like 3 of the 5 NL playoffs team will be from the NL Central. Let's review: First of all the top 3 NL Central teams won Wednesday night. That division's 1st place team is the Terminator like St. Louis Cardinals. Like the Terminator they are steam rolling over whoever they encounter. It's hard to believe St. Louis lost Albert Pujols and seem to be better now. The Cardinals are a lot better than Pujol's current team. The Cardinals are 61-37 and have a 99.2% chance of making the playoffs. They've won 3 in a row and 7 of 10 games. The NL Central's 2nd place team is the Pirates, they have a 95.3% chance of making the playoffs. Pittsburgh has won 4 in a row and also 7 of their last 10 games. It would take a monumental collapse for the Pirates to not finish at least with a .500 record. Then in 3rd place is the Cincinnati Reds, they have a 90.1% chance of making the playoffs. They've only won 1 game in a row, but they've also won 7 of their last 10 games.

The Reds just took 3 of 4 games from the defending World Series champs Giants in San Francisco. Now the Reds will play against the Dodgers for 4 games.

themusicaddict


Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Dodgers Daily, July 23rd, 2013: Dodgers Make Huge Comeback, Pirates Continue Rolling

Hello,

The Dodgers have won their first two games in this series with the Blue Jays. Game 3 is Wednesday. The Dodgers season continues pointing up and it looks like the Blue Jays need to make a decision about when to give up on this season.

(My error previously I had said that LA was playing a two game series with the Blue Jays. I apologize as I looked at the schedule wrong.)

At one point LA was down 8-3 and stormed back to win 10-9. The big shot was Adrian Gonzalez's 430 foot bomb in the 8th inning. That was Gonzalez's 15th home run of the year, he also has 62 RBIs. Mr. Consistent strikes again, he was also 2 for 4 and his batting average is exactly at .300.

The Dodgers have won 5 straight games, all of which have been on the road. They've also won 8 of 10. This is the first time LA has scored double figures in back to back games since 2011, thanks to ESPN for that cool little nugget. Their hitting has been great of late, they've climbed to being tied for 19th in runs scored.

Their pitching however hasn't been great of late. Despite having both Carlos Marmol and Brandon League pitching yesterday, LA still won. Amazing. Although I have no idea how much longer LA can send either to the mound, especially Marmol. The stat Marmol is known most for is blown saves.

Also the Cubs weren't able to beat the Diamondbacks for a second day in a row, Arizona remains 1/2 game back of the Dodgers.

The Pirates continue rolling, they are are 59-39 and have a 93.9% chance of reaching the playoffs. They defeated the rapidly fading Nationals, it's time for the Nationals to prepare for the future. Pittsburgh is still 1.5 games behind the consistently good Cardinals. St. Louis is probably the best team in MLB right now.

How will the Pirates react with needing to put closer Jason Grilli on the 15 day DL, how they react could determine if they make the playoffs.

The Red Sox signed Dustin Pedroia to a 7 year- $100 million extension. Unlike the similar length and money contract the Cowboys signed with Tony Romo, I actually think this deal is good for the team also.

themusicaddict


Tuesday, July 23, 2013

themusicaddict's Greatest CDs of All-Time: Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising"

Hello,

"Born In The USA" is a great CD, but I'm not sure if it's a classic. "Wrecking Ball" may be considered a classic in a few years. However there's no doubt that on this July date "The Rising" is a classic. It's interesting how many similar themes there are in both "Wrecking Ball" and "The Rising". It's simply one of the greatest CDs of all-time.

Born out of the rage and sadness of 9/11, "The Rising" is perhaps the best artistic work that came out of that attack on America. The themes of rage and sadness are throughout the whole CD. Here's a mix of live and studio recordings to tell Bruce's story of America. Springsteen may be the perfect person to tell this story.

So many works of great art came out of both World War 2 and the Vietnam War, why have so few great works of art have come out of 9/11?

The full version of "The Rising":



1) "Lonesome Day": I love the catharsis of this performance.



2) "Into The Fire": (Thanks to OldCharver's hard work in making this poignant video.)



3) "Waitin' On A Sunny Day":



4) "Nothing Man": (Thanks To Jurgen Buchler for making this video)



5) "Countin' On A Miracle":



On Youtube Carsten0303 states "This clip was played on the live screen after concerts of the 2003 tour.":



6) "Empty Sky": (I'm not speaking for anyone and I have no idea if I'm right, but I think this is very close to how 9/11 widows and widowers could feel:)



7) "Worlds Apart": I love how much of a mid eastern feeling and sound this song has. Although it doesn't sound like much else on the CD it still fits right in.



8) "Let's Be Friends (Skin To Skin)": Again this song seems like it doesn't fit in with the rest of the CD, but in every way it feels right at home on "The Rising". I think the connective tissue to the rest of the CD is the line "Good times have a way of coming to an end."



9) "Further On (Up The Road)":



10) "The Fuse":



11) "Mary's Place":



12) "You're Missing":



13) "The Rising": The footage in this video still shocks me to this day, even 12 years later.



"The Rising" live from the 2002 VMAs:



14) "Paradise":



15) "My City Of Ruins":





themusicaddict

Dodgers Daily: July 22nd, 2013: Improbably LA Surges To First Place

Hello,

The Dodgers pounded out 14 runs in their drubbing of the Blue Jays in Toronto, winning 14-5. The newly re-injured Matt Kemp wasn't missed at all. LA has won all 4 of it's post All-Star break games. They have one more game against the Blue Jays in this series before returning to the friendly confines of Chavez Ravine.

Exactly one month previous Monday, July 22nd the Dodgers were a pathetic 31-42 and only won 4 of their previous 10 games.  They were fifth place in the NL West and 9.5 games out of first place in their division. One month ago LA was trailing the fourth place Padres by 5.5 games, according to ESPN their chances of making the playoffs was 2.2%. If someone would have told me that this Dodgers team would be in first place only month later, I would have looked at the person like they had gone stone cold crazy. I didn't realize that Dodgers team would have the heart and desire to win 21 of their next 26 games.

But I do know that this team can fall back again and just might. The Dodgers have 64 more games remaining, that's 64 more chances to live up to their payroll or return to disappointment. Which will the Dodgers do? They are 4-0 since the All-Star break and have scored 23 runs in their last two games. After being near the bottom of the runs scored stat for most of the season, LA has jumped all the way to 20th place.

The Dodgers cranked out 16 hits, 14 runs but only had 2 home runs. The hero of this game was A.J. Ellis. Ellis had one of the two Dodger home runs, which was his fifth of the season. He was 4 for 6 and is hitting .267 this season. He also added 5 RBIs and has 32 this season. Carl Crawford had his second game in a row in which he had three hits, he raised his batting average to .284. Crawford also had 2 more RBI's, he'll be crucial for the rest of the season in whether the Dodgers have success or struggle.

Kemp has been ruled out for the rest of the series with the Blue Jays, he may go back on DL in the near future. Other than that the Dodgers appear to be fairly healthy, the players that are currently injured aren't really missed. Give me Chris Capuano over either Josh Beckett or Ted Lilly any day.

Upcoming: Tuesday night's scheduled pitching matchup is Chris Capuano (3-6, 4.63) vs. Todd Redmond (1-1, 4.32). For now the Dodgers are sticking with the 5 pitcher rotation. When LA's short series is over with Toronto the Dodgers return home for 6 straight games. They play the very tough Reds for 4 games and then welcome their traditional nemesis the Yankees for two more games.

I'd like to thank the Cubs for two things, thanks to them trading stud pitcher Matt Garza to an American League team. Second of all thanks for beating the Diamondbacks 4-2, it was that win that put LA in first place. I get this feeling that the Diamondbacks aren't a very good team, but then again I don't think any team in the NL West is great.

Ryan Braun rightfully will be suspended for the rest of the season for his role in Biogenesis mess. As MLBN pointed out, how much punishment is it for Braun to sit out the rest of the season? Especially since he plays for a last place team and he's been battling injuries this season. How many more games was he going to play anyway? This is obviously a deal the MLBPA worked out for him and I think they got him a hell of a deal.

When Alex Rodriguez gets suspended I think they should put a twist on his punishment. They should make him play during his suspension. He's not going to be that much help anyway and the Yankees would still have to pay him. That's a perfect punishment for him and the Yankees for agreeing to this ridiculous deal.

themusicaddict

Monday, July 22, 2013

Dodgers Daily, July 21st, 2013: Dodgers Sweep, Kemp Big Day And Then Injured (Again)

Hello,

The Dodgers completed a 3 game sweep over the Nationals on Sunday. This was Matt Kemp's first game off of DL and he had a spectacular game, until the 9th inning. In the Dodgers dominating 9-2 victory, Kemp hit his 5th homer of the season and added a double and a single. Kemp was 3 or 4 and raised his batting average to .263. He has 27 RBIs this season.

But in an ugly play at the plate, Kemp severely sprained his ankle. So in his first game off of DL, he gets injured again. If he's not there yet, he's pretty close to being an injury prone player. To be fair the human foot isn't meant to bend like his foot did on that play. He joins other Dodger players in the same injury prone category as Ted Lilly, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett. (If LA hasn't learned yet to stay away from injury prone players, they need to turn their eyes to the Dallas Cowboys. Tyrone Crawford is already out for the season. Anthony Spencer and Jay Ratliff are already battling injuries and it's just a matter of time before DeMarco Murray, Sean Lee and a couple of other players join them on the injury list. The emperor, Jerry Jones, has no clothes.)

According to ESPN.com it seems Kemp is going to miss the entire three game series against the Blue Jays. Kemp might go back on the DL again, which would be the third time this season. LA optioned Scott Van Slyke back to the minor leagues. With Crawford and Kemp on the roster, LA should option him to the nearest LA hotel room. That way he'll be nearby when he's needed to replace another injured Dodger.

I liked what Don Mattingly did with Yasiel Puig yesterday. Puig is obviously in a funk and Mattingly gave him most of the day off. Hopefully that will give him an extra day to charge his batteries and he'll be able to hit .300 down the stretch run. That might have been Mattingly's best move all season.

The Diamondbacks were able to win, preventing the Dodgers from moving into first place. In the very mediocre NL West Arizona remains in first place at least for one more day. Arizona is 51-47 and has a 43.2% chance of making the playoffs. However the Dodgers are only 1/2 game back. LA is 50-47 and has a 40.9% chance of reaching the playoffs. Since the NL West is so mediocre the Rockies are still in striking distance, even with a below .500 record. They're in third place, 3.5 games back and have a 19.1% chance of making the playoffs. And you can never count out the wily defending World Series champs San Francisco Giants.

The Dodgers are 20-5 since June 22nd, tied with the Rays in being the hottest team in MLB in that time frame. Interestingly both teams are in second place in their divisions.

Upcoming: As I mentioned above LA opens a 3 game series with the Blue Jays on Monday. In the first game of the series the scheduled matchup is Hyun-Jin Ryu (7-3, 2.85) vs. Josh Johnson (1-5, 5.32 ERA.) Meanwhile the Diamondbacks open up a 4 game series against the downtrodden Cubs. I already cheer for the Cubs, I'll just doubly cheer for them for the next 4 games.

themusicaddict

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Dodgers Daily July 20th, 2013: Dodgers Win, Move Within 1/2 Game of Diamondbacks

Hello,

The Dodgers are currently in the midst of a 3 game series with the Nationals. Going into Saturday's game LA had won the first game of their series with the Nationals. In the second game of the series LA won again, this time winning 3-1.  Again LA won despite scoring very few runs. I'm glad the Dodgers are winning, but they aren't going to be able to maintain a winning record with this ineffective offense. LA has only scored 8 runs in their last 5 games. Thanks to their solid pitching staff LA has won 3 of those games.


In this game, guess who was the hero yet again. Why of course Hanley Ramirez, over about the last month he's thrown the Dodgers on his back and is carrying them towards first place. In the top of the 10th inning Ramirez drove in Adrian Gonzalez. Ramirez was 3 for 5 on Saturday and is hitting .390. Later in the same inning Andre Ethier came up and drove in Ramirez, Ethier's second game in a row with a crucial RBI.

Then closer Kenley Jansen shut down Washington in the bottom of the 10th inning. Jensen faced 3 Nationals and struck out 2 of them, he has 11 saves and lowered his ERA to 2.23. Meanwhile Brandon League continues to disappear from playing at all. If LA somehow makes the playoffs, would League even be on the Dodgers playoff roster?


Why are the Dodgers so inept lately in scoring runs, I wish I had the answer to that question. Actually I wish Don Mattingly had the answer to that question. On Saturday the Dodgers did have 10 hits, Zack Greinke continued his solid hitting of late. He was 2 for 2 and is hitting .406 this season, but they can't count on a pitcher for offense. One would think that the Dodgers could count on Carl Crawford, who's being paid almost $21,000,000 this season. However he was 1 for 2 and is hitting .270. Crawford came into the game as a pinch hitter and Mattingly is obviously using him sparingly to protect the fragile outfielder.

Whatever Yasiel Puig was doing so right after he joined the Dodgers in early June, he's no longer doing that. It seems the rest of MLB has figured him out, Puig was 0 for 5 and his batting average decreases to .369. Gonzalez was 1 for 5 and is hitting .298. Even though Ethier had a big RBI, he was 0 for 3 and his batting average decreases to .266. LA needs more out of Gonzalez and Ethier for the stretch run.

With the Dodgers winning and the Diamondbacks losing, LA has closed Arizona's lead to a 1/2 game. The Giants beat the Dbacks 4-3 in their game on Saturday. On Sunday both the Dodgers and Giants are going for sweeps. If both sweeps are completed then improbably the Dodgers will be in first place. Being first place in anything positive is fantastic, although leading the wimpy NL West this season isn't as impressive as many other things.

The Dodgers send perhaps the best pitcher in all of MLB to the mound as LA goes for the road sweep. Today's pitching matchup is the hard luck Clayton Kershaw (8-6,  1.98 ERA) vs. Jordan Zimmerman (12-4, 2.58 ERA). Imagine how tough this Dodgers pitching lineup would be if they could add Matt Garza. I'd be so excited about that move as long as they don't give up too much for him.

More good news for the Dodgers, they've activated Matt Kemp for today's game. I hope LA isn't rushing him back though.

themusicaddict

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Dodgers Daily, July 19th, 2013: Dodgers Win In First Post All-Star Game

Hello,

The Dodgers beat the Nationals 3-2 in both teams first game following the All-Star. Surprisingly the hero of the game was Andre Ethier, a highly paid player who rarely is the hero. His 6th home run of the season snapped a 2-2 tie in the top of the 9th inning.

With the Diamondbacks loss to the Giants, LA is now within 1.5 games of Arizona. Again the only way a team from the NL West is going to get in the playoffs is to win the weak NL West. That division is probably the weakest division in all MLB.

Despite the Dodgers winning they continue their alarming recent streak of forgetting how to score. In their last 4 games they scored 0, 1, 1 and 3 runs, a grand total of 5 runs. It's amazing LA actually won 2 of those games. Are the Dodgers battling with the Pirates to be the lowest scoring team to have a shot at the playoffs? So far LA has scored 363 runs, 25th in MLB. The Pirates are 3 runs behind and 26th place in runs scored. The 4 teams scoring less include 1 mediocre and 3 dreadful teams.

Washington is 27th place in runs scored and have won exactly half of their games, which is surely the ultimate sign of being mediocre. Washington is 7 games behind the clearly not all cylinders are firing Braves, but I predict the Braves win the NL East. That's probably the second weakest division in MLB. I expect the Braves to make the playoffs and then have their annual playoff flameout. The other 3 lower scoring teams are all absolutely dreadful, the Marlins, White Sox and Astros. Each of those teams are last place in their respective divisions and have .1% or less chance of making the playoffs.

Yasiel Puig keeps on coming back to reality, he was 0 for 4 and his batting average slipped to .381. It's a good thing Hanley Ramirez has become hot, he was 2 for 4 and is hitting .382. He had his 9th homer of the season and also has 27 RBIs. He has comparable numbers to Ethier in quite a few less games. Meanwhile Adrian Gonzalez continued his season long flirtation with .300, he was 2 for 4 and is hitting .299.

Carl Crawford was 0 for 4 as his batting average continues to plummet, he's down to .268. The 2012 trade with the Red Sox continues to look worse and worse for LA. Essentially LA took on way too much money to acquire Gonzalez. Nick Punto for a time looked like he was going to be the second best player for the Dodgers in that trade, but he's fallen back now. On this July day that trade looks like Adrian Gonzalez and the Pips. Josh Beckett will never end up making a significant difference for LA and it's only a matter of time before Crawford goes on season ending DL.

Meanwhile Dodgers fans hope that Matt Kemp, who is eligible to come off the DL soon, will be back to his former great play. Hopefully he'll be able to help carry the Dodgers down the stretch and inject some life into this suddenly wimpy offense.

The Red Sox continue to surge in their bounce back year, they're currently leading the AL East. The win Friday was a double victory as Boston knocked off the Evil Empire 4-2. The heroes of the game were Jacoby Ellsbury and Jonny Gomes. Ellsbury was 2 for 3 including his 4th home run of the season. Ellsbury is hitting .308 this season. Meanwhile Gomes added his 7th home run and has 24 RBIs this season. Gomes is only hitting .242 this season though.

Boston leads the blisteringly hot Rays by 2.5 games. However the Red Sox have only won half of their last 10 games while the Rays have won 9 of 10. Baltimore is also hanging out in the tight AL East race, they are 4.5 games out. The Orioles have won 2 in a row and 6 of their last 10 games. New York is desperately clinging to playoff relevancy, they are 7 games behind Boston. They've also lost 3 games in a row. Alex Rodriguez may come back soon, but honestly how effective is he going to be?

Congrats to my other teams who won yesterday, the Cubs, the Braves and the Orioles.

themusicaddict

Friday, July 19, 2013

themusicaddict's Greatest CDs Of All-Time: Mark Knopfler's "Sailing To Philadelphia"

Hello,

On September 26th, 2000 one of the most unappreciated CDs of all-time, "Sailing To Philadelphia", was released. The lead singer and guitarist for Dire Straits, Mark Knopfler, focuses his strengths from Dire Straits on this CD. However he doesn't remain beholden to their sound. The subtle pleasures of this CD are many. From the subtle guitar work on "Baloney Again" to his duet with James Taylor on the song "Sailing To Philadelphia" to the humor of "Do America".

I quite like the jazz inflected guitar playing on this CD. (I know that sounds incredibly pretentious, but I don't know else how to write it.) This isn't the CD for you when you want to rock. This is one of those CDs when you just want some pleasant music to relax to. This is a fantastic CD, but I don't think I could just sit down and listen to it. However every time I hear a song played randomly on iTunes, I notice how great the song is.

I could write the same comment for nearly every track, butI won't. Every song is a gentle, subtle and pleasant look into the various aspects of life.

Enjoy:

1) "Sailing To Philadelphia" (Duet With James Taylor) I'm surprised this video has over 1,000,000 views, maybe this CD isn't as obscure as I thought. And in no way should it be obscure.



2) "What It Is", this is one of the more uptempo tracks on the CD:



3) "Who's Your Baby Now", another subtle delight:



4) "Baloney Again", a seeming tongue in cheek lament:



5) "The Last Laugh" another turgid, mellow ballad:



6) "Do America" This song has a great tempo and is one of my favorite songs on the CD:



7) "El Macho", another mellow delight. I really like this song, a highlight on a CD of great songs.



8) "Prairie Wedding" a tender romantic ballad, "Do you think you can love me Mary?":



9) "Wanderlust" this is probably the mellowest song on the CD:



10) "Speedway at Nazareth":



11) "Junkie Doll", the last amazing song on this CD. The last couple of songs don't quite measure up to the rest of the CD.



12) "Silvertown Blues":



13) "Sands Of Nevada":



While Mark Knopfler has released other CDs, so far he hasn't made another CD of this caliber. Although I did listen to "Get Lucky" on Spotify yesterday and that was a decent album.

themusicaddict

Thursday, July 18, 2013

What I'm Not Writing About July 18th, 2013: "Catfish" Success, Missing Baseball, Greatest CD's Of All-Time

Hello,

Sports:

- I'm hating the 4 day MLB All-Star break. I'm so glad that I'll be able to go back to following baseball scores on ESPN.com and watching highlights of everything going on in baseball that night on MLBN. I'm looking for big second half seasons for the Dodgers and Matt Kemp. I hope Kemp is fully healthy this time, he's been on the DL way too much the last two seasons.

- With no games going on, the focus for MLB becomes the ongoing Biogenesis PED's scandal, it seems any suspensions likely won't go into effect until next season. I'm fairly certain that MLB doesn't ever want the PED scandal to be their top story.

- The Yankees are saying they hope Alex Rodriguez comes back next week, yeah right. More likely they are hoping he'll be suspended for 100 games next season, which will save them about $15 million.

- 49 days until the NFL season starts and like most hot blooded American men I'm waiting anxiously. I'm not sure how the Cowboys will collapse this year, I just know they will. Jerry Jones has ruined his own team and made a mockery of the term "America's Team".

- But no thanks to Jerruh, unless it was behind the scenes, the right thing finally happened with Josh Brent today. Brent "retired" from the NFL so that he could focus on his personal issues. The Cowboys refused to do the common sense thing with Brent, of course common sense isn't used much at Valley Ranch.

- My allegiances continue to shift to the 49ers, a team that is opposite of the Cowboys in nearly every way. That includes the most important ways, the 49ers actually can win big games. Also they don't have a crazy man ruining their team.

- My third team is the Tampa Bay Bucs, I'm looking for them to have a better season than last year. This is a make or break season for Josh Freeman, I hope he makes it and leads the Bucs to the playoffs.

-In the NBA I completely agree with Mark Cuban when he says that the Mavericks are better off without Dwight Howard. They ended up getting multiple players plus they don't have to suffer through the drama of Howard. This deal will continue to look better to Cuban and Mavs fans as the years go by. I wish Cuban could also own the Cowboys, Cuban seems to have some common sense.

TV:

I've watched "Catfish" the TV show since it began and I've always been amazed by how gullible some people are. Also why won't they let themselves see truth in spite of overwhelming proof? I thought we had another such case on Season Two's fourth episode: "Lauren and Derek". After waiting for 8 years, getting engaged and having a baby Lauren finally got to meet Derek. For Lauren's sake thank goodness Derek is who he says he is. However Derek displayed many of the signs of a dating catfish, like an unwillingness to talk via webcam and a refusal to meet. Those two things are usually almost certain signs that someone is being catfished.

Although it seems Derek has very little to hide I wonder why did he wait so long without meeting Lauren. Also why didn't he invest in a web cam? He invested in a birdbath rather than a webcam?

Derek should be damn happy that Lauren waited that long for him and perhaps waiting 8 years actually worked out for this couple. If someone that gorgeous and vivacious wanted to meet me, I wouldn't make them wait 8 days, let alone 8 years. Best wishes to Derek, Lauren and Mason, I hope things turn out amazing for all of you. And Derek remember if they don't Lauren's Dad is former military.

Also just a word to anyone who would try and catfish someone. If a person won't accept you for who you are then just move on. Why lie about about who you are and what you look like. No worthwhile relationship will be built on a solid foundation that begins with lies. My experience is that complete honesty is the only way to go. Sometimes you may have a small consequence, but that's so much better than remembering lies.

Music:

Some thoughts on my continuing series of the Greatest CDs Of All-Time. I've loved researching this topic and listening to a lot of great music once again.

Today I listened to the first 2 Everlast CDs to determine whether they are classics. "Whitey Ford Sings The Blue" is definitely not a classic, although it does have the classic song "Ends". As for the song "What It's Like", I'm still sick of that song because of how many times it was played when it was first released.

Next I listened to Everlast's "White Trash Beautiful", easily the best of the two CDs. Is it an all-time classic, I'm not sure still. But if it isn't it's very close, it's just a great CD. The CD has such classic songs as "White Trash Beautiful", "Ticking Away", "Pain" and "Sleepin' Alone". Although I would be happier if I didn't have to hear the F bomb.

Next I listened to Arctic Monkeys "Whatever People Say That I Am, That's What I'm Not". At this point I'm not convinced that it's a classic CD, in spite of it being anchored by one of the greatest songs ever. Of course that would be the amazing "I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor":



Now I'm listening to a CD that many people probably haven't even heard of and it was only a fluke that I discovered it. It's the Mark Knopfler, of Dire Straits, CD "Sailing To Philadelphia. What a great CD, the perfect CD for a mellow day. It's definitely much better than the iconic Dire Straits CD "Money For Nothing", which only has 3 great songs. And you'll know whether I consider "Sailing To Philadelphia" a classic if I feature it in an upcoming Greatest CDs Of All-Time blog.

I love me some Motley Crue and they certainly have a lot of great songs. Although I don't know if they ever made a classic CD. Although I have to admit should I be embarrassed for loving the Crue as much now as I did when I was a teenager. The "Theatre of Pain" is still one of the best concerts I've ever been to.

themusicaddict

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

themusicaddict's Greatest CDs Of All-Time: Rihanna's "Good Girl Gone Bad Reloaded"

Hello,

Without a doubt Rihanna's "Good Girl Gone Bad Reloaded" is one of the greatest CDs ever. It's classic in every sense of the word. From the gorgeous cover photo of Rihanna, to the many great songs and even Jay-Z's rapping works on "Umbrella". Many times guest rappers don't add anything to a song and it's a stunt that's obviously a desperate cash grab by the record company. But on "Umbrella", Jay-Z's rapping actually works.

Enjoy "Good Girl Gone Bad Reloaded". Here's a slightly different of the full CD if you just want to listen to it straight through:



1) "Umbrella":



I like this funked up version of "Umbrella" at the 2007 Music Video Awards show:



2) "Push Up On Me": Damn Rihanna is hawt!



3) "Don't Stop The Music" is one of the funkiest songs ever:



"Don't Stop The Music" (Live in Japan):



4) One reason this is a classic CD is even though this is probably a throw away song, it's still a great song. "Breakin' Dishes":



5) When Rihanna says "Shut Up And Drive" I'm guessing she doesn't have to say please. Did I already mention that she's damn hot?:



6) "Hate That I Love You":



The only lull in this CD occurs over the next 3 songs. They are okay songs, but they don't live up to the rest of the amazing CD.

7) "Say It"



8) "Sell Me Candy":



9) "Lemme Get That":



After the brief lull, the CD closes out with 5 more classic songs and "Question Existing", a decent song in it's own right.

10) "Rehab":



11) "Question Existing":



12) This is probably my favorite Rihanna song, "Good Girl Gone Bad". I love how she sings "forever" at the 2:00 mark:



Here she is singing the title song live:



13) "Disturbia":



14) Another one of my personal Rihanna favorites is "Take A Bow". I love the lyric "Grab your clothes and get gone, you better hurry up before the sprinklers come on."



15) "If I Never See Your Face Again" (featuring Maroon 5):



themusicaddict

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

What I'm Not Writing About Today, July 16th and 17th, 2013: The Hated Knicks, Great Books and Rivera's Classy All-Star Farewell

Hello,

These are things that I'm definitely not writing about today.

Sports:

- I thought the way AL Manager Jim Leyland handled what could have been a prickly situation in the All-Star Game with Mariano Rivera was perfect. I loved how the Mets played Rivera's song, "Enter Sandman" as he approached the mound. The timing of his entrance to the music was perfect, in every way this was a very nice moment, even for Yankees haters like myself. Rivera very deservedly should be honored as one of the best pitchers of all-time. I also loved how the players paid tribute to Rivera as well. I spent a few minutes trying to find the video that best captured Mariano's moment. This is the best video, although the sound quality is less than I would like. Here's the moment:



I wonder how much sales jumped for "Enter Sandman" after Rivera's dramatic entrance. It's a great song, there's no doubt about that.



Another nice moment at the All-Star Game was Neil Diamond's performance of "Sweet Caroline":



- I love baseball, it's drama, excitement and how the tension builds slowly during the season. We are headed into my favorite time of the MLB season, getting into the fun of the pennant race. In spite of my loving MLB I had no interest in Monday night's Home Run Derby. I wasn't invested very much in the actual All-Star game either. I'm glad that I was able to see the whole Mariano Rivera farewell/tribute. That was extremely classy.

- I really missed following games on ESPN.com and watching the funny night crew on MLBN, Harold Reynolds and the other characters on that show.

- Are the Knicks trying to be the most hated team in the NBA? First they resigned J.R. Smith, which makes me laugh more than anything else. Why would they resign that bum? Although he does fit right into the Knicks dysfunction, especially when it was announced that he'll be out for 3 to 4 months due to surgery. The Knicks are clearly the Cowboys of the NBA. I wouldn't let Jim Dolan or Jerry Jones run a Kool Aid stand.

- Maybe New York just wants to be the NBA's most mediocre team? Let's take a look at the 2013 Knicks roster. They already have the overrated, selfish and poor shooting Carmelo Anthony. Add him to the oft injured and overpaid Amare Stoudemire, two players that don't compliment each other. The Knicks resigned Smith after trading for Andrea Bargnani, a player the Raptors might have just released. It seems they decided those players wouldn't take them over the top to be the most hated or mediocre team, so they had to go out and sign Ron Arrest? Which is doubly hilarious because it comes just a couple of days after Arrest said the NBA wasn't in his plans. Did he think that "threat" was going to raise a clamor among NBA fans? Did he think there would be petitions circulated to beg Arrest to stay in the NBA? That's such a delusional Knicks/Cowboys thing to do. Both of those teams devoted and long suffering fan bases will remain miserable. Of course those are the same fans that pay to support mediocrity, so they get what they deserve. Sadly I count myself a Cowboys fan, although they haven't made a logical move since um..... thinking.

It's a good thing the Knicks aren't in the Western Conference as they would only be battling for the 7th or 8th seed. Even in the much weaker Eastern Conference you can't honestly consider the Knicks better than the 5th best team. Enjoy another year of crap Knicks fans.

While the Lakers will never be considered the most lovable team ever, they certainly have become more lovable lately. Don't feel bad for the Lakers losing out on the Dwightmare sweepstakes, feel bad for the Rockets for "winning" that. Losing Dwight decreases Lakers drama by quite a bit, plus his poor shooting won't be clogging up the Lakers salary cap for the next 5 years. Then LA amnestied Ron Arrest, which should certainly increase their likability. Again I'm a 100% Lakers hater, but they'll be much more fun to watch without Howard and Arrest.  Gaining by subtraction also decreases the number of bad shots by Lakers players.

Will the Lakers be any good this season, um no. But they'll only have to deal with Mike D'antoni one more season. He'll either be fired during the season or when the season is completed. Then I expect the Lakers will hire a much better coach this time and they'll have about $50 million underneath the salary cap. I know people are excited in Houston right now and are getting ready for their victory parade. But even at this point I'd much rather be a Lakers fan.

But I'm very glad that I'm a Jazz fan, I really like the direction they are going. In fact once the NBA season starts I think I'm going to write a blog after every Jazz game like I do now with my Dodgers Dailies. It will be a good way to keep track of the Jazz, but it will only be about half as many blogs as writing for a baseball season. Writing about 160 blogs about the Dodgers continues to be a lot of work.

Books:

- A quick recommendation about a book I recently read and quite liked. On Sunday, after picking it up only three days previous, I finished the very good "Six Years" by Harlan Coben. From the very start the book grabs you by the collar. I had a very hard time putting it down. Although as I was reading it I kept on hoping that the ending wouldn't be so bad that it would detract from the rest of the book. In other words I didn't want the experience I get after reading a Dan Brown book. I wanted to punch someone after reading the incredibly stupid "The Lost Symbol".

"Six Years" ending ended up being okay. It could have been better, but it also could have so much worse. Overall I'd give "Six Years" a B. As for "The Lost Symbol", I'm still irritated I read that stupid book. I wouldn't even give that book a F, it deserves a solid Z.

- When I finish reading a great book it puts me on a bit of a high and I look forward to starting another book. With that in mind, the fact I was missing baseball and feeling a bit nostalgic I started reading "Ladies And Gentlemen, The Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, And The Battle For The Soul Of A City" by Jonathan Mahler.

It's a good enough book about New York City being at a crossroads. The summer of 1977 was a crazy time in New York. Reggie Jackson had just joined the Yankees and that wasn't exactly smooth sailing. There were also strikes, a heatwave, it was the summer of the serial killer Son of Sam and a wild mayoral election. Definitely enough things to make for an interesting book.

I previously started reading this book twice, but I'm determined to finish it this time.

themusicaddict

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Dodgers Daily: July 14th, 2013: Dodgers Forget How To Score In Final 3 Games Before All-Star Break (Updated July 15th, 2013)

Hello,

Sunday was the last game in the Dodgers-Rockies series, Colorado won the game 3-1. It was another low scoring game in the dispiriting and boring series. The combined final score of all 4 games was 7-7, fittingly the series ended with both teams winning 2 games each. This series was a stink bomb for the Dodgers after what had been an exciting few weeks. The sooner both teams put this series behind them the better.

The All-Star break starts on Monday and every team has to have at least one All-Star, I'm not sure who's representing LA. I'd prefer players like Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig and Carl Crawford to get rest than to be in the World Series. I'm much more interested in LA winning the World Series than the National League winning the All-Star Game. LA doesn't play again until Friday when they open a 3 game series against the struggling Washington Nationals.

Hopefully LA used the rest of Sunday and then Monday through Thursday to completely rest and get healthier. I hope that Puig gets as much rest as possible and gets back to as near as full health as is possible for this time of the season. I hope he learns how to take things a bit easier. I know this is a long shot but I'm hopeful that Crawford will use this time to rest and recover from his incredible assortment of injuries. I wonder how much longer until LA just puts Crawford on season ending DL, where he can join Chad Billingsley and Josh Beckett. I ask again is there something LA can do that's better than the oft injured Crawford? The All-Star break will give Kemp 4 more days of rest with him missing no games. Plenty of rest is a good thing for the lately oft injured Kemp. Is Crawford rubbing off on him?

After LA only had 14 hits over their last 3 games, it's a good time for all Dodger players to get a mental break. Again it seems that LA needs Puig in the lineup to score runs. Puig didn't start today's game, but he came in about a third of the way through the game. He was 1 for 3 and is hitting .386. On Puig's only hit, Adrian Gonzalez drove him in. Puig scored the only Dodgers run.

LA is 25th in MLB in runs scored, they been in the bottom third of MLB all season. It seems they can't move into the top 20. If the Dodgers could get to about #15 in runs scored I believe they would have a great chance to do well in the playoffs. They have a very solid starting pitching staff.

Hanley Ramirez was 0 for 3, but did walk once. He's hitting .386 and has a .444 on base percentage. Gonzalez is hitting .297. Gonzalez is not going to overwhelm anyone with his explosive numbers ever again. He's that constant veteran presence in the clubhouse who you know what you're getting from him every night.

LA ends the first half of the season at 47-47, in second place and are 2.5 games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks. While this isn't what anyone expected with this Dodgers team after all the money that was spent on the roster, things could be much worse. LA and their fans should be very grateful that this team still has a 28.4% chance to reach the playoffs. In the topsy turvy NL West the Dodgers are still very much in the race to win the division. Of course so is Arizona, Colorado and the wily, veteran San Francisco Giants.

One of the things that holds the Dodgers back is how much dead weight they are carrying. The usual suspects Beckett, Crawford, Carlos Marmol, Ted Lilly and Brandon League. Even though Crawford still plays and sometimes even plays well, he's dead weight. If LA could dump him and his albatross of a contract they would. How much better could LA be if they didn't have to overcome the effects of the questionable 2012 trade with the Red Sox.

I realize that the Carlos Marmol signing has very little to do with him and is more about getting more money for the international draft. I still don't understand what that means exactly. But if it helps to get another Yasiel Puig then I'm all for it. Since LA traded for Marmol I haven't heard much. The latest I was able to find is that Marmol is in Albuquerque. Maybe when the rosters expand he'll come back to LA. However I think in the offseason LA will quietly let him go. I wish they could do the same with Beckett, Crawford, Lilly and League without ever having to pay any of them another undeserved cent.

Too bad that $20 million going to Lilly and League couldn't be spent elsewhere, like on a player who is both effective and healthy. I didn't know much about League when LA resigned him to a 3 year deal, but I remember at the time many baseball experts questioned the deal. I can see what they were talking about. At least the trade with the Red Sox is understandable as LA was taking a chance. I can't see any reason LA would resign League. Ned Coletti should've been tipped off by League's high school award. He was most likely to blow a save. In a series of many bad Dodger deals, the League 3 year contract extension could be Colleti's worst move by far. (Well maybe it's Andre Ethier's contract, he's getting close to being dead weight now.)

Go Dodgers!

themusicaddict

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Dodgers Daily, July 13th, 2013: Greinke Dominates, Pirates Won't Fade, Lincecum Pitches No-Hitter

Hello,

Following LA's 1-0 victory on Saturday, there's only one more game for both the Rockies and the Dodgers before the All-Star Game break. On Saturday, they played a classic pitcher's duel. LA and Zack Greinke won 1-0 and LA has won 2 of the 3 games in this series so far.

For the second night in a row the Dodgers only had 4 hits, although they were able to score a run in this game. The Dodger players getting the hits tonight were Hanley Ramirez (of course), A.J. Ellis , Zack Greinke and Skip Schumaker. It was Ramirez 25th RBI of the season that drove in the only run of the game. In Greinke's last 7 plate appearances he has 4 hits and a walk.

As I mentioned earlier this game was a pitcher's duel. Tonight's stud pitcher for the Rockies was Tyler Chatwood, he followed Juan Nicasio's outstanding pitching outing from Friday night. Saturday night Chatwood pitched a complete game 4 hit, 1 run game. He gave up only 4 hits and lowered his ERA to 2.56. There was no shame in his game tonight.

LA finally learned how to score in their recent hot streak, but they've only have scored 1 run in their last two games. Yes, I'm a more than a little concerned about that. For some reason it seems Yasiel Puig is the key to the Dodgers scoring runs. Even when he doesn't seem to have any direct influence to LA scoring, just him being in the line up seems to be enough. He was 0 for 2 and had to leave the game early yesterday, LA scored no runs. He didn't play in today's game and LA just barely pushed across a run.

Thursday night LA had moved to 22nd place in runs scored with 358 runs. They were tied with two other teams. After scoring a total of 1 run in their last two games, LA has slipped back to 25th place in runs scored. Through Saturday LA has scored 359 runs. They trail the 24th place Royals by 2 runs and lead the 26th place Pirates by 4 runs. Obviously great pitching is the answer for the Pirates, the team tied for the best record in MLB. Also congrats to the Miami Marlins for finally crossing the 300 runs barrier. They trail the first place Red Sox by 196 runs.

One of my biggest complaints about athletes is they get these big contracts and in so many situations they don't live up to them. The Rockets and their fans will never be satisfied with Dwight Howard's lack of desire or great play. I love what he said in his press conference today with the Houston media how he works on his game. If that's true then why is he such an abysmal free throw shooter? If he works on his game, then why is he getting worse at free throws? In his rookie season Howard shot a respectable .671 from the line. Last season, when the Lakers were paying him millions of dollars, he shot .492 from the line. I'm pretty sure he doesn't works on his game as much as he says he does, he just relies on his declining freak athleticism. Once his athleticism is gone his NBA career will be over.

In Dallas, head Cowboys nitwit Jerry Jones signed Tony Romo to an $108 million dollar extension. Jones may be one of few people that would sign Romo to that kind of contract. For such a great and capable businessman, he sure is dumb when it comes to ruining running his Cowboys. Romo said this off season that he's not a 8-8 quarterback, I couldn't agree more. He's more of a 5-11 quarterback. I hope Romo's big improvement this season is that he throws the ball away more, he takes too many chances.

In fact thinking about it Tony Romo and Dwight Howard have a lot in common. Both are being paid a lot based on hype and now both play professional sports in Texas. Both have been in their respective leagues for about 10 years and have underperformed. Howard has a lot more athletic ability and at least Howard's teams make the playoffs and sometimes even do damage. However both are still earning more than they are worth and they'll continue to fail.

When Zack Greinke signed a 6 year, $147 million dollar contract back in December I was fairly certain he'd be one of those players who would never live up to his contract. Then when he got into that stupid fight with Carlos Quentin I was convinced even more. I thought he was destined to be another Dodgers pitching bust like Ted Lilly and Josh Beckett. Watching him pitch I can see he has great stuff, but he's also incredibly consistent.

However on Saturday night he acted like he might live up to this contract. He pitched a 9 inning, two hit shutout. In his 99th career victory he lowered his season ERA from 3.91 to .349. He was 1 for 3 in batting and is hitting .367 this season. After his hit he also had his first stolen base of the season. That's someone that's living up to their contract! After Greinke's victory tonight, he is 8-2. What are the chances the 29 year old starter will continue to play that well for the rest of his contract?

LA remains in second place in the NL West and continue to put pressure on the Diamondbacks for the NL West lead. LA trails the Diamondbacks by 2.5 games following the Diamondbacks 5-4 victory over the Brewers. LA's chances to make the playoffs is at 29.9%. Again for the Dodgers to make the playoffs, they need to win the NL West. The Dodgers are 4.5 games out in the NL Wild Card.

Tomorrow's scheduled pitching matchup is Ricky Nolasco (6-8, 3.70 ERA). The recently arrived from Miami via trade is Nolasco. After pitching for the Marlins most of the season, he's used to his teams not scoring very many runs. Let's hope the Dodgers give him more run support than they did either Clayton Kershaw or Greinke in the last couple of games. Scheduled to pitch for the Rockies is Jhoulys Chacin (8-4, 3.62 ERA).

Upcoming: The Dodgers and Rockies play one more game and then they have the All-Star break. Like me I'm sure they are glad, I'm also looking forward to the All-Star break. Writing a Dodgers Daily everyday has been fun, but it's a lot of work. I look forward to taking the All-Star break but I'll still be writing. I'll just have the opportunity to write about something else besides the Dodgers. I plan on writing at least one or two of my greatest CDs of all-time blogs.

Also the Pirates have won 3 games and this season they are refusing to fade. Pittsburgh is 56-36 and have a 90.6% chance of reaching the playoffs. Once again they are tied with the Cardinals for best record in the NL Central, which means they are tied for the best record in all of Major League Baseball. Andrew McCutchen was the hero again, he was 2 for 4 and is hitting .303 this season. He also hit his 10th homer of the season and also has 49 RBIs.

The big story of the night was Tim Lincecum's no-hitter. Lincecum struck out 13 and walked 4 Padres in 148 pitches. 148 pitches! That's crazy. If it wasn't for the All-Star break coming up, I'd be surprised Bruce Bochy would have let him pitch the whole game. Lincecum probably has at least 6 or 7 days off. In a wierd bit of timing, Lincecum was the losing pitcher when the Reds Homer Bailey threw his no-hitter against the Giants 11 days ago. Last night he looked like the Lincecum of old, although this season he's only 5-9 with a 4.26 ERA. He's tied with Cliff Lee for 11th place in number of strikeouts, 125. (Thanks as always to ESPN.)

The Giants have really struggled of late, their record is 43-50 and they have a 9.9% chance of reaching the playoffs. They are 4th place in the NL West, 6.5 games behind the Diamondbacks. However they have won 3 consecutive games, but only 4 of their last 10 games. The NL West is so mediocre that at this time no team has been truly eliminated. The defending World Series champs aren't eliminated from the playoffs by a long shot.

themusicaddict

Dodgers Daily, July 12th, 2013: Rockies, Nicasio Shuts Down Dodgers, End LA's 5 Game Win Streak

Hello,

In the second game of the 4 game series between LA and Colorado, the Rockies won 3-0. Rockies starter Juan Nicasio shut down the Dodger bats, holding LA to 4 hits and no runs. The series is now tied at 1 game each with two more games remaining before the All-Star break.

For some reason Dodger bats don't produce much offense when their stud Clayton Kershaw is pitching. No matter how well Kershaw pitches it's impossible for him to win if LA produces no runs. Kershaw wasn't the sharpest ever yesterday, giving up 7 hits and 3 runs in 6 innings. He did have 10 strikeouts, he's 4th in MLB in that category. The Rangers Yu Darvish, who's on the DL, leads MLB with 157 strikeouts. Kershaw also has a 1.98 ERA, which leads all of MLB. Pittsburgh's Jeff Locke is second best with a 2.15 ERA.

Carl Crawford missed the game due to "back stiffness". The fragile Crawford has missed 34 of 92 games so far and will continue to miss many more. Again he and Josh Beckett are the anchors of LA's 2012 trade with the Red Sox.  By anchor I mean two players who have high paying contracts and don't play anywhere near how their amount of pay. Those two players are paid close to $40 million this season and have been less than 100%. I honestly don't ever expect anything out of Beckett ever again, even if he regains full health. After the 2014 season Beckett will be lucky to still be in MLB. As for Crawford, he'll play a few games, miss a few games and will have some good moments. When he's remembered as a Dodger it will be as someone that should have been a lot better. When his contract finally ends, LA will make only a ceremonial attempt to  resign him.

Only 4 Dodgers had hits yesterday and one of them wasn't Yasiel Puig, in fact he had to leave the game due to his troublesome hip. He was 0 for 2, his batting average has dipped to .392. Puig still has a great batting average although in his last several games he's hitting less than .250. No complaint from me about him though. The 4 Dodgers who had a hit Friday and their current batting averages are 1) Hanley Ramirez, .397 2) Skip Schumaker, .255, 3) Adrian Gonzalez .301 and 4) Andre Ethier, .274.

LA is back to .500 at 46-46 and remain in second place in the NL West. They trail first place Arizona by 2.5 games and lead third place Colorado by 2 games. Scheduled to pitch in Saturday's game is Zack Greinke (7-2, 3.91) vs. Tyler Chatwood (5-2, 2.74). Next to Kershaw, Greinke probably has the best stuff on the Dodgers. However he's incredibly inconsistent and has struggled with walks this season, it would be nice if he could play up to his contract today.

themusicaddict

Friday, July 12, 2013

Dodgers Daily, July 11th, 2013: Cruising Dodgers Win Again, 16 of 19, AL East Remains A Battle

Hello,

In the first of a 4 game series between the Dodgers and the Rockies, LA won 6-1.  For what it's worth: LA seems to really like the score 6-1, it's been the score of 3 of their last 4 games. In the recent past the Dodgers beat San Diego 6-1 on Saturday, June 22nd. They beat the Phillies 6-1 on Sunday, June 30th.

The heroes in this Dodgers victory were two players that have struggled this season so far. A.J. Ellis has been the best Ellis on the Dodgers this season, well Mark Ellis decided to throw his hat in the ring. Mark was 3 for 4 on Thursday and had 4 RBIs, although he's only hitting .261 this season. Mark Ellis is fifth on LA for number of RBIs this season, 26. He's right behind A.J., who's in 4th place, and has 27 RBIs. In batting average, excluding all the outliers, Mark Ellis is 9th on the Dodgers. In batting average, again he's right behind A.J., who's hitting .271.

The other maligned player who was a hero in the game for L.A. was Chris Capuano. He was blitzed in his last start, but he had a decent outing on Thursday. In 6.1 innings he gave up 6 hits, 0 runs and he added 8 strikeouts. Capuano improves to 3-6 as his ERA decreases to .463. Speaking of Capuano, I answered my own question about why Capuano was pitching yesterday. It's because LA is going with a rotation of 5 starters.

On the day Yasiel Puig found out he wasn't going to the All-Star game, he was 2 for 4. He raised his average back up to .397. He left the game due to a minor injury and may miss Friday's game. It's time for his teammates to pick up their games anyway. Hanley Ramirez was 0 for 2, his batting average decreases to .402. Even though he was 0 for 2, he still ended up on base 3 times. He walked 3 times, including at least once intentionally. His On Base Percentage (OBP) is .458 and he leads LA in both OBP and batting average. Adrian Gonzalez was 2 for 5 and is hitting .302.

Errata: The fragile Carl Crawford again entered the game as a pinch hitter, he was 1 for 1 and increased his batting average to .274. Crawford isn't just very durable and he'll probably miss a lot of games until his contract finally runs out and LA can dump him. I watched some of the Rockies broadcast of the Rockies -Dodgers game last night. It was mentioned a couple of times at least how Brandon League was the only Dodger who didn't play in LA's 14 inning game against Arizona. (Even Zack Greinke got in that game as a pinch hitter and earned a walk.) Why would Mattingly play him in that game, in fact why would he play him at all? It's not a big surprise the only run the Rockies scored on Thursday was against the terrible League. He gave up Carlos Gonzalez's 25th home run this season. League's ERA is at 6.25. That was hell of a signing by Ned Colleti and LA gets to pay League for two more years.

LA is above .500 for the first time since April, one of the great nuggets I found out from ESPN.  LA is 46-45 and their chances of reaching the playoffs increase to 35.2%. LA has won an incredible 16 of 19 games and are easily the hottest team in MLB. They are probably at least one significant move away from being the best team in MLB. It would help LA towards that goal if they had a healthy Matt Kemp and Crawford. I would estimate right now that LA is about the 10th best team in MLB. They aren't even the best team in California right now, that would have to be AL West leading Oakland. The A's play the Red Sox in a 3 game series starting Friday, I hate when my teams play against each other.

LA still trails the Diamondbacks by 1.5 games in the NL West. Arizona is 48-44 and has a 51.3% chance of reaching the playoffs. LA's defeat of Colorado means that the Rockies trail the Dodgers by 3 games for second place. With 3 more home games against the Rockies, the Dodgers could do a lot of damage to Colorado's playoff hopes.

The scheduled pitching matchup is the amazing Clayton Kershaw (8-5,1.89 ERA) vs. Juan Nicasio (4-4, 5.31 ERA.)

Meanwhile the AL East remains incredibly competitive, the top 4 teams in that division won Thursday. Leading the AL East is the Red Sox, who beat the Mariners 8-7 in 10 innings. Boston also continues to lead all of MLB in runs scored. They have scored 28 more runs than the second highest scoring team Tigers. Boston is 57-37 and they lead the second place Rays by 3.5 games.

The Rays beat Minnesota 4-3 and have won 8 games in a row. In third place is the Orioles, who beat Texas 3-1. Chris Davis hit his 34th home run and has 86 RBIs. While his power numbers are still very impressive, his batting average has declined significantly. He'd been hitting about .330 just a few weeks ago, but has dropped to .310. The Orioles are 5.5 games back.

Meanwhile Team Drama, the New York Yankees beat Kansas City 8-4. New York welcomed back Derek Jeter, he ended up being 1 for 4, who had a hit on his first at bat of the season. Meanwhile Alex Rodriguez was scheduled to avoid and ignore questions by MLB investigators on Friday. Meanwhile the Yanks are secretly hoping, well maybe not secretly, that he gets suspended so they can save a lot of money. The Yanks are 6 games back. The Jays lost and they trail the Red Sox by 11.5 games.

themusicaddict

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Dodgers Daily, July 10th, 2013: LA Finishes Sweep Of 1st Place Diamondbacks, Pirates Bounce Back, Ortiz Breaks Through

Hello,

Due to timely hitting and some great relief pitching LA was able to complete their 3 game sweep of the NL West leading Arizona Diamondbacks. LA has won 15 of 18 games and has surged to within 1.5 games of the Diamondbacks. For long-time Dodgers fans like myself, this has been a fun stretch. The stretch might become more fun if the Dodgers make one more trade, a move where they'd end up with a Chase Utley, Cliff Lee or Matt Garza.

LA continues to win without Matt Kemp, on DL until after the All-Star break, and an ineffective Carl Crawford. They've been able to overcome all their injuries so far, the fact that they are even relevant right now is crazy. The fact that they're playing so well lately is amazing. Don Mattingly doesn't get a lot of love from the media, many complain about him not doing a good job with his pitching staff. Well he's doing something right, perhaps the media should cut him some slack.

LA beat Arizona on Wednesday night 7-5 in 14 innings. The story of LA's victory is timely hitting and great pitching. The Dodgers were down 2-0 when Scott Van Slyke came up to bat. He got the Dodger scoring going with a sacrifice hit in the 4th inning which drove in Hanley Ramirez. In the top of 5th inning Ramirez doubled to drive in Mark Ellis and Yasiel Puig, which put the Dodgers ahead 3-2. In the bottom of the 5th inning the Diamondbacks responded with 3 runs to jump back in front 5-3. The Diamondbacks were not to score again.

In the top of the 7th, Mr. Consistent, Adrian Gonzalez hit a solo home run to bring the Dodgers to within 5-4. The score remained 5-4 going into the 9th inning and the Dodgers were down to their last chance to score. Mark Ellis grounded out and Puig struck out, quickly the Dodgers were down to their final out. Gonzalez was up and he earned a walk. Still two outs, but at least the Dodgers had the game tying run on base. Jerry Hairston Jr. ran for Gonzalez. Next up the now hottest Dodger, Ramirez, had a single. Two outs, two on base with A.J. Ellis coming up. Ellis has had some big hits of late and he had another big hit. He singled and Hairston scored and the game was tied at 5.

Then neither team could mount much offense until the top of the 14th. That's when the Dodgers had more timely hitting, Ramirez hit a solo shot. Next A.J. Ellis hit a solo homer and the Dodgers lead 7-5 going into the bottom of the 14th inning. Don Mattingly went with Kenley Jansen for two innings and he earned the win. Jansen is now 3-3 on the season and has a very small 2.38 ERA. Mattingly's move of having Jansen pitch more than usual worked out you of the unhappy media.

Hyun-Jin Ryu didn't have his best outing as a Dodger but their relief pitching was amazing. In the final 9 innings of the game 6 Dodgers pitchers held the Diamondbacks to only 2 hits and 0 runs. That's very good use of the relief staff by Mattingly. The relievers had to be that good for the Dodgers to win as it took the Dodgers offense so long to finally score the winning runs. This was a great win and a true team effort.

Yasiel Puig is struggling with all the pressure placed on him. Those pressures are starting to catch up with him on the field. On Wednesday Puig was 1 for 7 as his batting average drops to .394, which is the lowest I can remember all season. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I'm grateful for the offense, hustle, grit and the shot in the arm Puig has brought to LA. If I was a complete LA sports fan I would be glad for all he has brought to the city, especially after a season of the whiny Dwight Howard.

The now hottest Dodger is Mr. Hanley Ramirez, he was 3 for 6 and is hitting .409. He has 8 homers and 24 RBIs. A.J. Ellis was 3 for 6 and is hitting .271 this season, he has 4 home runs and 27 RBIs. Gonzalez was 2 for 4 and his batting average is exactly .300. Gonzalez has 14 home runs and 58 RBIs this season. With all the injuries and Puigmania etc. going on, Gonzalez has been the lone constant in this turbulent Dodgers season.

Carl Crawford didn't start, but came into the game as a pinch hitter. He then stayed in the game and hit 0 for 4 as his batting average continued to plummet to, he's hitting .271. He's gone from hitting around .300 all season and being one of the Dodgers best offensive players to struggling mightily. Is he really the best players the Dodgers have at his position?

LA finally returns to .500 with a 45-45 record. LA is within 1.5 games of the Diamondbacks and have a 30.6% chance of reaching the playoffs. The Dodgers are in second place, but they only lead the third place Rockies by 2 games. The Dodgers and Rockies start a 4 game series on Thursday, the Rockies are going to try and do what the Dodgers did to the Diamondbacks. Colorado wants to go into LA and smack around the Dodgers and show that they are also a power in the NL West.

Thursday's scheduled pitching matchup is Chris Capuano (2-6, 5.19 ERA) vs. Drew Pomeranz (0-2, 9.72 ERA). I'd read with the Dodgers acquiring Ricky Nolasco, that Capuano was no longer going to start. In the Dodgers rotation slot the last time it came up, LA went with Stephen Fife. It seems LA feels they have a better chance of winning with Capuano. With two starting pitchers who are struggling look for tonight's game to be high scoring. These 4 game are LA's final games before the All-Star break.

The Pirates bounced back for a 5-0 victory last night, preventing Oakland's series sweep. This is also the first time the Pirates have ever beat the A's, like ever (as Taylor Swift would say). Pirates pitcher Francisco Liriano had another outstanding effort. In 7 innings, he only gave up 4 hits and no runs. He added 6 strikeouts and Liriano has a minuscule .200 ERA. All-Star Andrew McCutchen was 2 for 3 and is hitting .303. He also had his 47th RBI.

Pittsburgh is 54-36, although they have only won 4 of their last 10 games. They remain 1.5 games behind St. Louis. The Cardinals are 55-34 and have won 5 in a row. St. Louis vs. the sacrificial lamb Chicago Cubs is Sunday Night Baseball. Pittsburgh has Thursday off and they welcome the slightly better than terrible Mets (40-48). That three game series starts Friday.

Lastly congratulations to David Ortiz, Red Sox designated hitter extraordinaire. Ortiz doubled in his first at bat, which gave him 1,689 hits as a DH.  He later added his 19th homer of the season, which is his 1,690th hit as a DH. He has the most hits for any DH ever, breaking the record held by Harold Baines. On Wednesday Ortiz was 2 for 3 in this game and is hitting .331. He also now has 65 RBIs. Good luck to many more years of great performance David Big Papi Ortiz.

themusicaddict

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