vivalaultra

Yeah, he's not hurt, he just needs 'more innings' or 'more time' something before he's ready to be a closer. If I were a Rangers fan, I'd wonder why they even bothered signing Gagne when Otsuka is a really good closer himself, but, I'm not a Rangers fan so I don't care one way or the other.

Geez...now I gotta dump HIM from my fantasy team, too. Seriously, I drafted Carlos Quentin, Chone Figgins, Freddy Sanchez, Randy Johnson, Furcal, and Gagne. All of them on the disabled list. Oy vey. At least I didn't draft Kenny Rogers.

I'm so excited for the season to start that my nipples are hard. It's been a long while since I've posted something long and rambling. Oh yeah. Oh yeah, indeed.

Well, he did have a 5-pitch save today against the Royals, but that was against the Royals' minor league guys, and while the Royals' minor league guys are arguably more talented than the Major League Royals, Lidge was still crappy during ST and he hasn't really...shown anything that would suggest that he's going to be any better this year. He's supposed to be working on a cutter and a 2-seam fastball that will make him lights out again, but I shall remain my negative attitude until he stops giving up runs every game he pitches in.

Yup, Nieve got sent down...instead of just getting rid of Brian Moehler or sending Wandy down, Nieve got sent down. Fuck me if I know why. He had a good spring, definitely worthy of a spot on the club. The only reason I can think of is that the 'Stros really want to keep him as a starter and are sending him to AAA for a couple months to get stretched out and work on another pitch or something. Whatever it is, I can't see him still being in AAA at the ASB. He'll either be the set-up man for Wheeler or the #4 starter by then, I'd imagine.

The Astros set their 25-man roster today with the final 2 spots in the rotation going to Wandy Rodriguez and my 2nd favorite Astros' pitcher-Chris Sampson. I'm really happy that Sampson's got the #5 spot, but I'm not so happy that both Rick White and Brian Moehler got spots in the bullpen over either Fernando Nieve or Matt Albers. Rick White probably earned at least a shot in the pen with his excellent spring, but I'm certain that both he and Moehler are going to blow...and blow hard by June. Super utility man Eric Bruntlett surprisingly passed through waivers and made it to AAA Round Rock. I'm surprised he wasn't claimed by anybody; dude can play errorless ball at 7 positions and he'd probably be a better starting 2nd baseman or SS than some other teams have. I'm also kinda sad that almost 1/3 of my fantasy team is starting the season on the DL or, in Cantu's case, in AAA.

I haven't read the Times interview, but I have read a couple interviews and the impression I get is that he's not fond of it. When he talked to my class, it was obvious that he didn't enjoy talking about his work or talking to groups of people in general. He didn't take questions, took many sips of water, and left quickly and rather abruptly. I'm lookin' forward to the movie, too, cautioulsy. I hope they can pull off all the themes of the book and the nuances of McCarthy's prose and dialouge better than did 'All the Pretty Horses' did.

Oh, no. I was serious about that. I was joking about the Salinger and Pynchon thing, though.

I was surprised, too. The professor that I had that assigned All the Pretty Horses is like...president of his fan club or something like that. She's written lots and lots of scholarly pieces about his various works and, when we were doing AtPH, he was just...there one day in class and he stayed for about 15 minutes or so and talked about the book and various theme elements and he seemed generally uncomfortable and then he left. It was a very interesting talk, but he seemed annoyed by the whole thing. However, it wasn't as nearly surprising to see McCarthy as it was when the Grad level class had Thomas Pychon and J.D. Salinger come talk in their class.

Don't call me a 'fuck'. That's just rude. I didn't mean dry as in bad; I meant dry as in...dense and desert-like. I love Cormac McCarthy, too, I just have to be in a certain mood to read him. I read All the Pretty Horses for an English class a couple years ago, and ripped through it in a day or so. The book of his that I was referring to is The Crossing , which is a great book, but it just takes a bit to get into, what with all drawn-out wolf capturing and all, but, when the story gets going it's excellent. I've read everything by him except The Road, which I'm waiting for in paperback or at least till I get my points accrued on my Borders' card. I actually saw him speak at my college a couple years back, too.

Does nobody read no more? I figure this thread should be bumped. I have recently read Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy and Play It as It Lays by Joan Didion. The first was wonderful, the second was not so wonderful, but ok. I started reading something by Cormac McCarthy, but he's rather dry, so I stopped reading it and today I got the new Townes Van Zandt biography.

Is all of this Tom Cochrane love genuine or is it just some weird sort of...thing, because I really do dig 'Life is a Highway' and if I found out that all of this was in jest, my feelings would be hurt.

In addition to Kerry Wood starting the season on the DL, Kenny Rogers and Eric Gagne are also starting the season there. And so are, probably, two of my fantasy picks-Freddy Sanchez and Carlos Quentin. There's actually lots of guys starting the season on the DL. It seems like more this year than the last few years.

I'd like to see Rampage/Shogun II. Yeah, Jackson pretty much got handled, but, stil...And Chuck vs. Arona (in addition to Chuck/Shogun and Chuck vs. Nog). Uh...well, Fujita and Monson is already scheduled...uh...Fujita vs. Vera. Penn/Gomi II. Swick vs. Hollywood. And I really wouldn't mind seeing Nick Diaz vs. Gomi again. I know that's not Pride vs. UFC...and Diaz failed his drug test, but damned if that wasn't a great fight. Diaz busting out the gogoplata and all. There's...lots of fights that I wanna see.

Waylon Jennings wouldn't stand for it, by God! Neither should Bocephus. Bocephus should come out of hiding and whip all these new country guys asses, yo.

I didn't know that Rascal Flatts fans were so vulgar and negative. I thought they all wore frayed jeans, had frosted hair, and smiled alot. Apparently I was wrong...dead wrong.

But he can play the harmonica and he looks good in Levis.

Apparently Tom Cochrane is still pretty successful in Canada. Can any Canucks confirm or deny this?

That just shows how weird and unpredictable baseball can be that the championship round of the All-Time Baseball Tournament has come down to the '06 Twinkies and the '01 Mariners.

I was...8 or 9. One of those. I heard it first on the radio and then saw the video on TV. I didn't know what 'Coors Light' was. I remember that. I had the cassette single, but not the full CD. Not even Rascal Flatts' cover version can diminish the greatness of "Life is a Highway". I remember it was my second favorite song of the year, behind "I Love You Period" by Dan Baird who was the lead singer of the Georgia Satellites.

Well, he IS the best pitcher ever, but not because of 5 no-hit ST innings. He's the best pitcher ever because he throws...THE GYROBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get ready for this... Kerry Wood is likely to begin the season on the DL, due to major stiffness of various body parts. I say, you could knock me over with a feather.

Seriously, that has to rank as one of the most Grinch-like moves the commisioner's office has ever pulled. The Sunshine Kids, of which Craig has been the sponsor ever since he's been in Houston, is an organization that does so much for children with cancer and their families. And it's not like he's ever worn it during a game. He only wears it during BP and before Spring games because that's when they take the baseball card pictures and Craig says that the kids like to see him wearing the pin. And to change directions slightly, Wandy Rodriguez is still 'earmarked' for a spot in the Astros' rotation if only because he's left-handed. There was slight hope when he left his start today after 3 innings with an apparent ankle injury, but it wasn't serious. Not that I'd wish injury on anyone, but I read a quote today that amused me concerning the situation, something along the lines of, "If Chris Sampson decided to take up pitching with his left hand today, he'd probably outpitch Wandy Rodriguez." The good news is that Fernando Nieve pitched 4 perfect innings against the Metropolitans today. The bad news is that Brad Lidge is even giving up runs to AA players this spring. I know spring stats are meaningless, supposedly, but the Lidge Machine looks to be falling off the rails and quick.

I don't know that I've given the new CD enough of a chance. I don't think Damien Rice's strong suit has ever been writing mind-blowing lyrics, but I think musically 'O' was strong enough to not have that be so glaringly obvious as on '9 Crimes'. I'm sure if I don't listen as attentively it won't really matter much. I think I'll try it as background music. And yeah, his live show is gonna go down the crapper. I wonder what the falling out was over.

Well, in addition to his medicore latest CD, there goes my reason for caring about him. However, if she ever releases anything, I'm all over that.