Broxton Blows Another One

It's hard to give the team much shit for losing a game where they had to watch a teammate be carted off the field on a stretcher after taking a line drive in the head...

BUT!

SON. OF. A. BITCH!!!!!

This team is falling apart before our very eyes and taking this awesome season with them. They've got the Giants AND the Rockies nipping at their heels now with just a handful of games back and the Dodgers are looking the worst they have all season.

The starting pitching is spotty with Bills injured, Kuroda potentially out for no telling how long, and STILL no answer for the #5 slot which is a revolving door of mediocrity.

The bullpen is scary. Just scary. Broxton's been a completely different pitcher since his toe injury and I have less and less confidence with him every time he goes out there. He needs to be shut down to get healthy and let Sherrill close until then. It's not the ideal situation but neither is THIS Broxton in October.

The offense is eh. One day it's amazing, the next they can't produce for shit.

So, what's next?

I predict a desperation trade for a starting pitcher depending on the Kuroda diagnosis in the next week. But I don't know if that salvages anything.

Every team has a losing streak or six and theirs has arrived. Unfortunately, it's also arrived right when the teams chasing them have gotten hot. They need to get their shit together and make things happen.

And yeah, it's a hell of a lot easier said than done but it's the time of year where you've got to man up if you're going to win.

So, man up, damn it. My blood pressure can't handle shit like this.

Bridge School Benefit Rumors 2009

Well, I wouldn't really call them rumors, I guess. I have absolutely no evidence of anything I'm about to claim.

But, in all honesty, if you Google "Bridge School Benefit Rumors" you still get my post from last year so... well, I'm a whore for a post that'll get me quite a few page views! So sue me!

Actually, it's a little odd to not have much in the way of rumors at this point in the game. We're only a few weeks away from the lineup officially being announced. Is there that little interest this time around or is it just "too early?" My original post last year was actually August 14th which is totally coincidental, I assure you.

FYI, I successfully selected two bands last year not counting Neil Young himself. And although it wasn't in my post, I had talked about how I thought the Pumpkins were a strong possibility. So, let's say I called three of them! Wooo hoo me!

Let's take a crack at this...

First off... the "buzz" on the Internet that I was able to find had these as possibles.

Both of these are listed as "rumors" by someone on the Coachella board:

Pearl Jam (as of now, they have the dates cleared but who knows? I was surprised they didn't play last year considering it was an election year and all so I'd be doubly surprised if they don't make it back this year)

Dave Matthews Band (possible according to tour schedule but PLEASE GOD NO! I thought I was going to need to slit my wrists when they played Bridge a few years ago and I don't know if I can handle the thought of sitting through them again)

Another blog, Spinning Platters, picked a six band "educated guess" kinda like I'm shooting for. They went with Weezer, Neko Case, Rufus Wainwright, Stone Temple Pilots, Monsters of Folk, and Jason Mraz.

Yeah, I could live with that. Let's hope they're right!

My turn...

The show will, of course, start with some stuff from Pegi and Neil. That leaves 6 or 7 spots.

I'll go with the easy one first. I'm fairly sure Pearl Jam will make their BSB return this year.

And while the Neko Case argument from Spinning Platters makes sense, I'm going to say that it'll be Regina Spektor instead who will be in Los Angeles on 10/28. There's a chance there could be both - which would be awesome - but I don't expect it.

Josh Radin is playing with The Watson Twins supporting in Los Angeles on 10/28 so I'm gonna pick them to join the bill. Potentially, I might go with a Jenny Lewis or Rilo Kiley appearance here as well to work with the Watsons.

That probably only leaves 2 spots. Snow Patrol looks like they're ending their tour in Los Angeles on 10/20 and the Decemberists will be in SF the week before BSB. I'm going with my hope on this one that the Decemberists hang around for a set.

And my final pick is that Bob Dylan will be there as well. He's finishing a run of shows in LA on 10/15 so it wouldn't be too big of a stretch.

So, there it is...

Pegi kicks off the show.

The Watsons get the early day death slot.

Josh Radin goes on next.

The Decemberists are on as night starts to fall.

Regina Spektor is next.

Pearl Jam blows everyone away as usual.

Bob Dylan takes the lengthy pre-Neil slot.

Neil wraps it all up.

Oh, and I'll call the PJ/Dylan pairing on "Masters Of War" that will rock my pants.

What Have You Done For Me Lately?

I read earlier tonight that Bryan Singer is growing close to signing on to produce and possibly direct a Battlestar Galactica feature film. Ordinarily, in a post-Superman Returns world, I'm not sure I'd know how to feel about that.

Luckily, Universal has managed to make my feelings very strong about this one.

Despite the fact that they're rolling over a super-popular, critically acclaimed BSG series helmed by Ron Moore, they've decided that they don't need Moore involved with this project. And yeah, I guess that's true since they've decided to ignore the recent TV series and make this movie a throwback to the original series.

If I had the emoticon for shaking my head nearby, I'd use it here.

I mean... fuck.

Seriously?

I'm not sure where this ranks on the stupidity scale but I have to imagine it may be just a little bit lower than Fox deciding to base a Buffy movie remake on the original film and not the wildly-popular Joss Whedon TV series.

So, two amazingly talented writer/directors give you two amazingly fantastic TV series that revive your property that was basically dead and buried before they came along and their reward for their hard work and talent?

"Well, we'll just do this next one without you."

What have you done for me lately?

We're Talkin' Baseball

So, it's been a couple of days. I decided that I wasn't doing anyone [least of all myself] any favors by forcing myself to post every day when I felt like I didn't have any desire to write anything. The YouTube clips are fun but after a while, I'm sure they get annoying to everyone - even to me.

I saw this article today at work and thought it'd make an interesting post. A writer at Fox Sports decided to pick 10 ways that the 2009 baseball season could get even better before it ends. A couple of these hit home so here are my thoughts on their thoughts...

A Triple Crown For Albert Pujols
My immediate reaction was, "Holy shit - is he really that close to make that a discussion point?" Apparently, he has a shot... not a great shot... but a shot. He leads the NL in homers and RBIs and is fourth in batting average trailing the leader by 17 points. The HR and RBI lead is superslight so it'd be incredibly tough for him to win the Crown. It'll be a hell of a time if he's even close to it in September though.

A Dodgers/Yankees World Series
Awwww shit! As much as Southern California is all a-giddy at the thought of a Dodgers/Angels World Series, who wouldn't love to see the crosscountry Series just a little bit more? Well, the Angels fans, of course, but since when did their opinions count? Give me any reason for talk about Mr. October and the Bobby Welch strikeout and all those other cool Dodgers/Yankees stories.

Wild Wild Card Finishes
It's interesting because I was one of the people completely irate when the baseball divisions got split into three and the Wild Card was added and while I often think I was completely right, especially when divisional races turn out pointless because of the Wild Card, I have to admit that it's provided some damn fun races for that playoff spot in the past.

300 Strikeouts For Tim Lincecum
Agggh. I REFUSE to root for any Giant setting any kind of record but god damn, it's a cool one for him to snag. If he hits that mark, he'll be the first pitcher to do so since 2001. He'll also be the youngest pitcher to do it since Vida Blue [the first person I ever heard of it with my name] back in 1971. In fact, he'd be the youngest NL pitcher since 1900 to pull it off. Good grief. But he's a Giant so fuck that noise.

A Dodgers/Giants NLCS
God damn that would be fun. But I really have no desire to meet a rotation in the playoffs that contains Randy Johnson, Tim Lincecum, and Matt Cain. Nope. No desire. Not at all. And yeah, that may make me a coward but I'm a smart coward, damn it. Keep the Giants out of my way and things will be just fine.

Another 200 Hits For Ichiro
Wow. I didn't realize that he was one more 200 hit season from the record. Can you imagine what this guy would have managed if his entire career was spent here instead of just part of it? The funny thing is that Ichiro's continued awesomeness is the reason that every single Japanese player that gets posted gets snatched up lightning quick. Signing a Japanese player is like a box of chocolates - you just never know what the hell you might get.

A Cubs/Cardinals Photo Finish
Eh, I guess that's cool. I don't know that I really care. I've always had a soft spot for the Cubbies but it's not like I'm going to root for them unless the Dodgers don't get there so it's really a wash to me. The teams only have 3 games left against each other [who wrote that horrid schedule?] so it won't be much of a fun race, in my opinion.

The Tigers Go All The Way
Um, fuck no. Okay, fine... I rooted for New York to win the World Series after 9/11 but I'll be damned if I'm rooting for the Tigers no matter how bad of shape the auto industry is in!

A Pedro Renaissance
Um, FUCK no. I am not cheering for this - especially after being slapped around by Philly in the NLCS last year.

The Pirates Finish On A Hot Streak
Really? The Pirates managing NOT to break the record for most consecutive losing seasons (17 seasons?! My god! I'd stab my eyes out if I had to watch this team) is going to make MLB 2009 a better season? I'm not sure about that. Now if they could set that record and then become scorching hot in 2010 to shock everyone by winning their division - THAT I could get behind. The ultimate in worst to first.

Not a bad list, huh? I could dig seeing a few of those go down. It's been such a fun season to watch...

...and I STILL haven't been to a game. FUUUUUUUUCK!