Marquee Match-ups

Is there anything more exciting than pitching duels in baseball?

There were three marquee match-ups yesterday.

I was fortunate enough to see Roy Halladay pitch a three-hitter against Randy Johnson.
Doc dominated the Bronx Bombers in New York. He struck nine and got a shut out.
Johnson also struck out nine and went all the way in a losing effort.
There were several brilliant defensive plays and the game was decided by one pitch,
a hanging slider, which Eric Hinske hit into the right field stand for two run homer.
The game's only runs. Jays won and now have at least a .500 record for April.
It was like a bout between two heavy weight prizefighters.

In Houston, Maddux and the Cubs and the Rocket and the Astros.
It was the first game to feature two 300 game winners in NL,
surprisingly since July 21, 1892.
Between the two, there have 11 Cy Young Awards.
Chicago won 3-2. Maddux got his 306th victory.

In Atlanta, Mulder went against Hudson. Neither pitched well. Cardinals over Braves, 6-5.

Mariners, meanwhile, beat Athletics 4-2 in Oakland.
Sele allowed only one run in six innings.
Ichiro had two basehits with runners on and had two RBIs.

Mr. Boone hit a homer in eighth off Ricardo Rincon, against whom he had previously gone 1 for 17.
He needs one more RBI to reach the 1000th.
Go Booney!

Standing Ovation for A-Rod in NY

Baseball Briefly

Congratulations, Pete Orr, from Richmond Hill, Ontario, on hitting his first major league home run!
It came in the game between Mets and Braves,
off Roberto Hernandez, in the eighth inning on Monday, the 25th, at Shea Stadium.
He wears #4 in honor of the great hockey player from Ontario, but apparently there's no relation.

Jamie off to a 4-0 start. Monday M's won in Anaheim.
Today they beat Rangers in Arlington, 7-4.
Joel got a win and Adrian had a home run.
Way to Go, M's!

Meanwhile, Alex Rodriguez went 4 for 5, driving in 10 RBIs in New York.
I saw the game and A-Rod hit three homers off Bartolo Colon:
a three-run in the first, a two-run in the third, and a grand slam in the 4th.
He had a couple more at-bats to try for a cycle homer!!
He hit the grand slam on 3-2 pitch,
Colon's 95 mph fast ball right down the middle,
to the deepest part in the center field, into the black seats.
He had a few defensive gems as well.

This Week on "A Prairie Home Companion"

Baseball Briefly
M's lost again to the Tribe.
Mr. Sele was shakey but kept the team in the game as far as 7th inning.
The offence hasn't been able to hit top-of-the-rotation type starters
three nights in a row since they faced Rich Harden.
Nice to see our old friend Arthur Lee Rhodes pitching for Cleveland.

So Sunday afternoon after a baseball game like that,
I listen to "A Prairie Home Companion" via internet.
The Armed Forces Radio carries it on Sunday
but the audio quality is much better via internet.
They air the show from the week before.

This week's show dated April 16th,
the guest musicians and singers were good,
as usual I would say.
There were bluegrass songs by Ms. Jen Larson.
Also, mezzo soprano, Ms. Jennifer Rivera, competing in Spain soon,
presented a magnificent rendition of "Una voce poco fa,"
and a fun song titled "George."
Ms. Madeleine Peyroux sang blues songs "Careless Love," "Weary Blues,"
(are they the same ones I know?)
and "Don't Wait Too Long," which was particularly nice.
All were quite enjoyable.

I am very fond of the program because there are funny skits, music, and etc.
I recall that the first time I heard Diana Krall sing was on PHC some ten years ago.

Last week's guests,
Vince Giordano and His Nighthawks were particulary interesting to me,
because they played the kind of music I love most, traditional jazz.
The skit with them was so fun.
I heard that they provided the soundtrack for the film "Aviator."
I haven't seen it yet, but I will try to see it for the music now.

Ka-Boone!

Mariners Briefly

Booney hit a grand salami today in the first inning off of Barry Zito.

Gregg Dobbs had a bases-loaded, base-clearing double in the 7th, as a pinch-hitter.

Pitching still precarious. No lead is big enough.
Joel pitched seven innings and got the first win of the season(thanks to Dobbs's double)
despite having the four-run lead wiped out.

The inning after M's offence scores some runs, the pitching still gives up runs too generously.
It could ruin the rhythm or the momentum of the offence.
But they seem to pick up each other fine, so far.

Tomorrow's match-up will feature Franklin against Victoria's Rich Harden.
Looking forward to seeing Mr. Sin-Soo Choo.

NEW LOOK SKYDOME

Baseball Briefly

I saw a double-header today,
the first one, Jays vs. Yanks,
and the night cap, the M's vs. A's.
Only the 7 o'clock game in the east starts at 8 AM in the Far East.

When there's a Yankee game from Toronto,
I can hear the audio of YES Network, not Rodgers Sportsnet.
Bobby Murcer and Ken Singleton did the game today.
Both of them do gentlemanly play-by-play.

Skydome
(I refuse to call it by the new name
because they raised the cable fee too often while I had it)

First of all,
I wonder if the new out-of-town scoreboards on the
OF fence don't bother hitters in the box.
They look bright, almost dayglo, green on TV.
I couldn't see A-Rod's double hit the scoreboard or not in the second inning.
And the color of the artifitial grass looks uneven
but it has better cushion than the carpet they had before, I guess.

As for the BlueJays,
pitching still seems to be their weeker side, but not too bad actually.
They are certainly better than last year, I hope.
Doc Halladay and Gustavo Chacin both have three wins already.

The new addition, the Pride of Anola, Manitoba,
and a former resident of White Rock, BC,
Corey Koskie isn't hitting as much as I expected.
He had a game-winning hit against Boston yesterday.
Maybe he's a slow starter.
Vernon Wells is not doing much either
(maybe without Delgado, he doesn't get many good pitches to hit),
but the rest of the line-up aren't so bad.
They don't have much speed and pop in the line-up,
but if Hillenbrand and Hinske continue to drive in runs
they will be fine.

WHiTE SMOKE!

This is something I did earlier today
when the news of the result of the conclave came on Radio-Canada,
I switched immediately to NPR and after a few minutes of waiting,
they started their live coverage from Vatican
with Sylvia Poggioli(who else?) reporting.
I sent the following to my friend in Italy as I listened to the radio

Radio Experiment 0110 Tokyo Time

Vatican-Washington-Tokyo-Mantova

A questo momento sto ascoltando la radio di NPR in
diretta,
dopo aver sentito, pochi minuti fa,
che un nuovo Papa sono stato eletto.
Immagino che la gente sta seguendo le notizie in
Italia.
Molto eccitante!! Chi sarà il Papa!!

Aspettando ancora per l'annuncio che deve venire fatto
fra poco...,
Sto molto eccitato....Un momento senza fiato....

The curtain is fluttering..., but nobody has shown up
yet....

The crowd is watching, the anticipation is
building...,
Who's it going to be?

0129 Here comes Sylvia Poggioli, the correspondent,
most respected of National Public Radio in Rome, but
no news of who it is yet...,

The suspence is still building....(come on!)

I gotta tape this....

It's already 40 minutes since the bell rang...,

Latin, it's gonna be in Latin, the announcement?
Wait, I hear some music playing in the back...Nah.
Why the wait? It's killing me....What's going on?

Wait! the curtain has been just opened....
Here somes three Cardinals....
The Chilean Cardinal starts to announce....
It's in several languages....
Annunzio(Latin)....We have a Pope!

Eminentissimum....Josephum....Ratzinger!

The name is....the Benedict the 16th!?

Here comes....the Benedict the 16th,
(Sylvia describing his attire)

"Cari fratelli e sorelle," "Dopo il Grande Papa,
Giovanni Paulo II...,"
(I get this in Italian)
Translation....

The crowd is chanting something like "Benedetto" like
a soccer crowd,
while the new Pope is waiting....

He says something in Latin. Invocation....

Amen....

The new pope, Benedict 16th is retreating behind the
curtain...
The bells are ringing again,
blessing the new pope and the crowd and everyone.

0200 Tokyo Time
There you have it, ladies and gentlemen,
We have a new pope.

This has been a little radio experiment
April 19th(20th), 2005

Strat-O-Matic

This I heard during "Morning Edition" today, April 19, 2005.


"Strat-O-Matic," I learned, is a board game that baseball nuts play with a dice
and whatever happens is based on the statistics.

According to the radio report, and the excerpt from the book: "Strat-O-Matic Fanatics,"
by Mr. Glenn Guzzo, I read at the Morning Edition web page,

Walk, On-Base Percentage, and On-Base Plus Slugging Average

are the most important stats
one should look at when drafting players for the game.
They are more indicative of success that the players might have than batting average.
But home run/at-bats ratio seems to be also important, according to the report.


Those statistics seem to be applicable in the real game as some baseball insiders
who have grown up playing Strat-O-Matic testify in this book excerpts.

Teams like Oakland A's will do well in this board game as well.
I think Scott Hatteberg is mentioned as one of the finest examples of that sort of player in "Money Ball,"
which I have not read yet.
The excerpt on the webpage says most Strat-O-Matic players agree with the philosophy of
Oakland General Manager.
If a team has a bunch of players who put up numbers like .270 15HR 80 RBI but draw walks and get on base a lot of times
then they will win a lot in Strat-O-Matic.

*I've often thought that the most interesting team to manage,
teams with which a manager can show his prowess as a strategist are
teams like the A's or the Twins: statistically average but have a lot of room where good managers can plan and execute moves.

Jon Miller, of ESPN and the voice of the San Francisco Giants, is interviewed in this segement.
He talks about his childhood memory with the board game.

He's one of the best announcers of all-time. Not that I know so many to make comparison with,
but ever since I read about him in one of the baseball guides some ten years ago,
I have always tried to catch his game and everytime he does play-by-play,
I enjoy the game a lot(as much as M's broadcasters, of course).
So I enjoyed this NPR piece immensely. He's so good, and funny too.

Mariners and White Sox

Mariners Note

M's beat Freddy in Chicago.

I saw the series on TV with the Sox broadcastors, Hawk and DJ.
Because M's team wasn't available.

Hawk(Ken Harrelson) shouts "He Gone!," every time the opposing hitter strikes out
and refers to the Sox as Good Guys, even though the line-up has Carl Everett in it...
DJ is a former Padre, and many others, Darrin Jackson.

As for the game,
our Cajun starter was a little shaky, had one inning where he could have lost the control,
but kept the team in the game until 7th.
Good job, Gil!

*I've often had funny thoughts about his name.
I believe the protagonist of the Great American Novel, by Philip Roth,
was named Gil Gamesh,
the best left-hander the God had ever created.
He was probebly named after the Sumerian King...

So, the first time I heard his name, I thought, fianlly there's an epic character in baseball.
Probably his name has nothing to do with both books.

Mèche, by the way, means: a lock of hair; wick of lamp; fuse.


Yesterday's game was more impressive, despite the loss, though
It was not only a pitching gem from both starters,
but also the shortest game M's had been involved in.
I heard it from friend and the Sox announcers.

Of the 1h 36 minutes, the TV Commercial occupied about 35 minutes.
It wasn't a getaway day but the game was a lot shorter than average.
I read somewhere that, in an average game of 3 hours, the ball actually travels for about 20 minutes.
Yesterday, it was like 10.

Mark Buehrle three-hit M's. What's new about that?

More significantly, Franklin once again amassed groundball outs.
He lowered his ERA, and raised the expectation among the coaching staff, I'm sure.

Once Again Baseball in Washington

Congratulations again, Nationals on winning the first game at RFK stadium!

I bet the fans there are happy.
This time, hold onto the team like your life depends on it!

Meanwhile, way to go Jamie and M's!
First sweep of road serieses. Many more to come, I hope.


Elsewehre
Randy Johnson gave up three homers to Redsox.
Varitek hit one out over the Volvo sign on the Green Monster.

Later picking up the rolling ball hit by Varitek near the RF fence,
Sheffield was slapped by a knucklehead from the stand
and another one poured beer on him.

Ugly scenes ensued.

In the meantime, BlueJays, suddenly, are a contender.
What do you think about that, Mr. Faulds.

On Languages

Here are some pieces from NPR which might interest you fellow amateur linguists.
These are audible by using Real Player.
There's a Past Show section on the programs' pages to navigate.


"Talk of the Nation" Feb.28, 2005,

Other Cultures `In Other Words`

The author of the book, by the name of Christopher J. Moore, who says he is a professional foreigner,
talks about untranslatable expressions from various languages.

More on the same book,
"Morning Edition" Jan. 19, 2005,

`Translating the Untranslatable`

A list of interesting expressions from various world languages appears here.


Also there's a list of liguistics related topics on this same page, which might interest ESL teachers.
There's one piece on the book, `the Power of Babel,` by John McWhorter.
I got curious about this book after learning about it in PBS Newshour.


*Personal recollection
I read this fascinating book on many aspects of languages at the library of McGill university, well air-conditioned,
during my sojourn there in summer of 2002.
While waiting for the time for me to head to the Olympic Stadium, I spent several mornings there reading the book.
Lovely view from the window, I might add.

Speaking of Montréal,
I saw a re-run of the Jazz Festival of 2004 on HDTV yesterday.
It was a concert by the Funk Brothers and the Motown singers.

The Four Tops, as well as Sam of `Sam & Dave,` made guest appearances
The Four Tops is my favorite male chorus group, so it was very, very enjoyable.
The other guests, notably Joan Osborne, and JackSoul, were pretty good.

I loved Motown songs a lot when I was listening to programs like Dick Clark's on the Far East Network.

Congratulations, Skipper!

Today in KC,

M's new manager, Mike Hargrove, got his 1000th victory!
That's a significant plateau not too many managers(only 51, according to an article I read)
have ever reached. Congratulatons!

M's won their first series of this season on Mr. Sele's strong performance.
Our #4 and 5 guys provided two consecutive wins on the road.

Pitching, so it seems, has been quite solid on both sides during this series,
but Jamie should be able to make it three in a row.

Way to go!

Elsewhere
Tomorrow M's game won't be available again.
But there's the rubber match between Boston and New York on TV.
Randy Johnson is going to pitch in Fenway. That should be interesting!
Today, I saw Schilling pitch so-so, but considering that he came off DL only the other day, he threw a great game.
Wakefield's knuckleball was really dancing Monday. That was a fun game to watch.

Musical Interlude

Today on NPR,

I heard Lang Lang play Hungarian Rhapsody during "Performance Today."

It was a great treat.
I didn't know much about him, but I had seen his CDs in the show windows at the stores.
It was funny to know that the Tom and Jerry Cartoon led him to playing the piano.

Also I heard a piece on some recordings of the locomotives.
"The Fading Giants : Bygone Train Sights and Sounds."

It was awesome sounds of the locomotives in 1950s recorded by someone in Virginia, North Carolina and etc.,
literally in the field. There is a picture of the man sitting by the railway in the grass with the machine
at the All Things Considered page.

Also, I watched an episode of Monk with Willie Nelson:
Mr. Monk and the Red-Headed Stranger.
I figured out who the culprit was right away, but didn't know how and why.
Anyway, what's important for me is that Monk plays clarinet, too.
(Great minds think alike, and have similar phobias).

Incidentally, I prefer Monk's theme from the first season.
I like the second season's, too, but musically there's no contest.

Perennial Young Man from Spiro, Oklahoma, pitches well

Franklin in KC,

looks like he did a magnificent job.
I thought all he needed was some run support.

But he did much more than just throwing 8 + scoreless innings on 80 or so pitches
according to the articles I read.

He induced a lot of groundball outs and that's a positive news.
If he can keep it up, I think he deserves to remain in rotation,
with Madritsch's shoulder requiring some time to heal,
and Meche having some elbow problem.

Joel at least looks like he's ready.
I wonder who the starters will be in a few weeks.

Too bad about Justine Morneau placed on DL.
The Pride of New Westminster, BC., hit in the head by Villone.

I'm not sure if M's relief pitching can be improved in any ways.
They lost a couple of close games.
So far the defence hasn't lived up to the expectation, either.
Mr. Boone, that's the second time since last September that the ball went right through his wickets.

M's vs. Rangers

Yesterday's game, the first game of the series, though I missed the conclusion of it on TV,
I was impressed with the ability to come back of this year's edition of the Mariners.

I couldn't see Willie B. get a two-run single in the eigth inning rally,
but I think he improved his offence as well as his defensive repertoire.
I didn't know he could play CF, too. Good for him.
And my congratulations go to Jeremy Reed for getting his first basehit, at one of the crucial moments in the game.
Also Raul did a great job hitting that go-ahead homer.

As for today's game, I think Jamie did a good enough job to keep the damage minimun
and Adrian Beltre continued to come through in clutch situations(except for the nineth, unfortunately).
The nineth inning, I don't know if the ball had a funny hop or not,
but Mr. Boone should have at least knocked it down, I think.

M's still have the same tendency to give up runs right after they score.
I could see the Rangers somewhat improved their pitcing staff, despite not having two of their relievers for this series.

Well, for tomorrow's rubber match, I hope Gil will be able to avoid the one inning where he somehow loses his composure.

Too bad for Bobby Madritsch going down on DL. I was expecting for him to have a great season.
Hope he'll come back soon.

Congratulations, Washington Nationals!

Congratulations to Washington Nationals on winning their first game
and especially Brad Wilkerson on hitting for cycle.
I heard it on the AFN sportsnews.

I went to Montreal and saw several Expos games there
and I saw them in Seattle when they played M's in 2003.

My trip to Montreal was very interesting as I took the Greyhound bus all the way from Vancouver,
and, just to see Expos games before it would be too late, I spent three straight nights in the bus.

I haven't seen the conclusion of today's Mariners game.
But from what I saw in the opening series against Minnesota, it's like watching a re-run of 2004.
They are still struggling mightily to score runs.
So far, there hasn't been much of evidence to support my expectation
that this year they are going to win it all.

Hope Mr. Sele kept the team in the game after I left.
I was one of the few Sele fans when he pitched for M's in 2000 and 2001
(I liked the way he licks his fingers and blows on his pitching hand on the mound too).

So long for now

Unintentional Walk Issued Today

Hi Folks,

This is Kleinman's Blog.

I am a baseball fan and sometimes a clarinetist(a very bad one).

My favorite team is Seattle Mariners.

My favorite radio show is called Northern Lights on CBC.
Also I'm a fan of NPR programs.

Also I like comedy shows.
I like Royal Canadian Air Farce,

and I recently became a fan of Prairie Home Companion.

Catsup for the good times, folks.

Kleinman