Games 67-69: A Trio Of Phish Tunes

During the first installment of the Subway Series back in May, the Yankees lined up Javier Vazquez, Phil Hughes and CC Sabathia and the Mets scheduled Hisanori Takahashi, Mike Pelfrey and Johan Santana for a Friday-Saturday-Sunday set at Citi Field. This time, as the rivalry shifts to the Bronx, the matchups and days of the week will be exactly the same.

Similar to the series the Yanks just completed against the Phillies, they won the most unlikely pitching match up of the previous series against the Metropolitans - the first game - but were doomed by an offense that went cold in the final two contests, scoring just three runs between them.

The two New York teams are in very different places that they were just about a month ago when the Mets were seven games out of the NL East lead and the Yankees were sitting four games in back of the Rays. The Mets, winners of seven straight and eleven of their last twelve, are just a half game behind the Braves. Meanwhile, despite losing two out of three against the Phillies, the Bombers are still even with Tampa with the Red Sox just two games behind them.

As the Yanks have clawed their way back into a first place tie with the Rays, we've taken a bit of a step back in our bloggerly duties. Matt's been busy with his job and I've been working outside, so we've been producing less content during the weeks that we typically aspire to.

I can't keep up with my Google Reader, so the linkarounds have run dry and I've been slacking off on getting up our recaps right after the games are over like we did in the beginning of the year. And when the weekends roll around, we've both been trying to make the most of our summers without worrying too much about what gets posted here. Which is good, because that means that we are treating this like a hobby and not a serious obligation like I have in the past and it's not like most of you stop by frequently outside of the work week anyway.

Well, this is another one of those mail-it-in weekends. I'm going to three Phish shows starting tonight in Hartford and continuing with Saturday and Sunday at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, so I won't be catching much Yankee baseball much less previewing or recapping it.

Since I am a big Phish fan but can never find a way to work their songs into previews (unless the stars align perfectly) I'm going to throw three songs from live shows from places in New York. If you look hard enough, you might be able to find some significance in the tunes as they relate to the matchups between Yankees and the Mets. If you score some mahlz in the lot and take some pulls of the endochronic skunkfunk, it will all make perfect sense.

Enjoy the games and we'll catch up with you Fackers on Monday morning.

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Game 67: Javier Vazquez vs. Hisanori Takahashi

Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan from the show on my birthday last year at Jones Beach (the first time they played it live). It's easy to hate on a band's new material but if you are a Phish fan and don't like this one, you probably aren't being fair. It has some nasty, snarling guitar work and pretty good lyrics to boot.

Gonna steal time from the faulty plan,
Gonna act as though I'm still a man,
Gonna give you one last chance to see,
Gonna shrug demands off of me.

Gonna dream, gonna dream, gonna dream,
Gonna dream, dream of being free.

Gonna steal time from the faulty plan,
Steal time from the faulty plan,
Gonna steal time from the faulty plan,
Steal time from the faulty plan.

Game 68: Phil Hughes vs. Mike Pelfrey

Character Zero from the David Letterman Show on March 5th, 1997.

I was taught a month ago,
To bide my time and take it slow,
But then I learned just yesterday,
To rush and never waste the day,
Well I'm convinced the whole day long,
That all I learn is always wrong,
And things are true that I forget,
But no one taught that to me yet.

Game 69: CC Sabathia vs. Johan Santana

It's Ice from the Roseland Ballroom on May 3rd, 2000.

He's fallen on the ice, it cracks,
Will he plunge in and join me here?
He meets my eyes, to my surprise,
He laughs in full light of my frown,
My double wants to pull me down.

O's Fever: Catch It!

Last night, Camden Yards played host to the smallest crowd in it's history: 9,129.

Granted, the O's were playing their fourth home game, squarely in the slow period after the rush to get out to the first series has worn off but before summer has arrived and the kids are out of school. They were also off to a 1-5 start (now 1-6), it was a Monday night and the Rays in town, who have a good team but few displaced fans in other cities. Still, with a solid young core like Baltimore has, you'd think it a few more people* would have made it out.

While Camden Yards is still the face of the "New Ballpark Movement", any novelty has long worn off. It doesn't seem like it, but the park is now hosting it's 18th season and is actually due for some renovations over the next year or two. As Craig notes, there are now only 10 parks older than Camden.

It's quite jarring to see the place so empty, but when the Yanks come to town at the end of the month, surely there will be fewer of those seats unoccupied.

*Noted stoner and manfish Michael Phelps was in the crowd. No word on whether or not he tried to toke some herb out of a red pepper.

Michael Kay Is One Sick Puppy

[Updated with video. H/t Crazy Yankee Chick]

I'm surprised I haven't seen this one pop up elsewhere on the interwebs today. Lost in the humiliation of losing to the Nationals last night was a pretty damn funny moment courtesy of Michael Kay.

With one on and two out in the top of the seventh, Phil Hughes faced Ryan Zimmerman. After falling behind 2-0, Hughes threw two straight fastballs to run the count to 3-1. In a fastball count, Hughes came back with a slider that Zimmerman either didn't expect or didn't like, as it he took it for strike two.

With the count full Zimmerman was looking fastball again. Hughes fooled him with a nasty, nasty curveball that completely froze Zimmerman, who promptly dropped his bat and helmet and started walking out towards third base. It was thing of beauty, reminiscient of this.

Michael Kay was so impressed that he forgot he was on the air and not at one his twisted sex parties. He commented: "Zimmerman was looking for heat all the way, but Phil Hughes dropped a deuce on him".

You are one sick bastard Michael Kay. That's not the family friendly image the YES Network is trying to project. Then again, neither is the nightly late inning Listerine pop-up ad that sounds like someone hitting a bong.

[Ed Note: Matt refuses to use Twitter, and I'm no Tweetmachine like our boy The_Real_Schiff, but I did catch this update from YESMichaelKay last night.

If you are on Twitter during Yankees games, I would highly recommend following "Michael", as the feed can be quite hilarious.

And yes, that Listerine ad sounds like a person hitting a bong, particularly because they don't say anything when it comes on. (Awkward silence...) (Bubbling...) David Cone, if you're out there, please just once intentionally miss the cough button coming out of that and start giggling uncontrollably. Thanks.]

Old Home Place

[Ed Note: This has absolutely nothing to do with sports, so feel free to take a pass. I'm taking the weekend off from blogging since I'm upstate but figured (something > nothing)]

It was about 65 today, so I decided to cue up a playlist of relatively obscure Bob Marley songs, and take a walk in my development's common land and snap some pictures. Despite what the musical selection might lead you to believe, no illegal activities occurred during the process of producing this post. Well, actually, there was about 45 seconds worth of trespassing.

I mentioned it in the Snow Day post, but here is little more about the common land, if you are so inclined: The company that developed this neighborhood had the foresight to set aside 50 of the 130 acres it is set on for the shared usage of the homeowners. Those fifty acres border on the Mohawk River and would be absolutely prime if they weren't located directly across from Knolls Atomic Power Lab and a GE Research and Development facility.

It's probably not the greatest time of year to be taking pictures back there. Actually, scratch that, it's the worst possible time. The snow is gone, aside from a few frozen waterfalls on the South side of the river, and nothing has started to come to life yet. It's gray and drab, but I think it's still incredibly beautiful in it's own way. It makes the things that are colorful stand out even more.

It was a somewhat bittersweet photo safari, as many of the trails that Sampson and I used to mosey along are totally grown over. No one really goes down there anymore, so the homeowners association has really let the place go. In a way, that's better though, because it's a lot cooler feeling like the only person to take advantage of it. It also makes the song choice even more appropriate. It's a version of The Dillard's Old Home Place performed by Phish on 06/11/98 at the Worcester Centrum.

If you watch closely, you can see Llenroc peeking through the trees in one of the pictures.

Moogis!

One of the reasons content has been a little abbreviated/slow around here lately is that after work, instead of queuing up a post or two for the following day, I've been watching the Allman Brothers' shows live on Moogis. (The name comes from drummer Butch Trucks' kids' mispronunciation of "music" when they were young.)

I mentioned it in a previous post, but for $125, you can watch all of the shows from this run at the Beacon as they are occurring or archived up to six months from now. There are also some older performances archived, which might be useful for nights like last night when there was no show or some Monday evening when the Yankees aren't playing a few months from now. I'm obviously a pretty big ABB fan so maybe I'm not speaking for everyone, but its pretty amazing to be able to cook dinner (or just sit on the couch) and watch the set lists as they are unfolding right around the block.

Nothing can replace the energy (or people watching) you experience at a live show. However, you still get the same feeling when a band whose catalog you know intimately goes into a song you love. Two nights ago, they launched into Desdemona, which I heard live at the Beacon the last time I saw them there. I wasn't any less excited this time around. Of course, there are other things you can do in the comfort of your own home that you can't do very freely at a newly renovated venue. Plus, you can drink good beer at grocery store prices and don't have to wait for the bathroom!

Another benefit is that the views from the eight cameras that Moogis uses are much better than anywhere in the venue. It's not perfect video quality, but the camera work is comparable to most concert DVDs that get produced. They zoom in during guitar solos, which is especially interesting to me since I could clearly use some schooling on the axe.

The only drawback I've noticed so far is that the sound mix isn't that great. It doesn't seem to be constantly adjusted throughout the show by their sound guy like what you would hear if you were there. It must be a direct feed to the interwebs. As a result, Warren's guitar is too loud which is extremely awesome when he is blazing through a solo, but when he is playing rythym, Derek's guitar and the vocals sometimes get drowned out. The last time I was at the Beacon (before the renovation) the sound quality in the balcony wasn't great either, so maybe it's not a colossal drop off.

Moogis is going to be especially awesome tonight and tomorrow, as it seems Eric Clapton is almost certain to make an couple of appearances. The slideshows to Little Martha they have played during this 40th Anniversary run have focused more on Duane than the nearly 38 years they have been playing since his death (for good reason).

Consequently, I'm expecting that the sets with Clapton will be fairly Derek and the Dominoes heavy, considering Duane sat in on the sessions for the album. Furthermore, Derek Trucks went on tour with Clapton in 2006 & 2007, filling in Duane's parts on those tunes. Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs is probably my favorite album of all time, so they really can't do wrong by me. (But Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad would be sensational. Please?)

Here are some screen shots I nabbed off of Moogis over the past few nights:

Greg towards the end of Soulshine

Trey having a guitargasm during In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed
(my favorite song of the run so far)

Warren and Derek ripping through the Desdemona jam

Derek and Tommy Talton playing Please Be With Me

John Hammond starting up So Many Roads, So Many Trains

The Weight, featuring Bonnie & Bekka Bramlett and Derek's Wife Susan Tedeschi

A picture of Duane from the Little Martha slide show

The cheapest ticket on StubHub for tonight is $469 (tomorrow - $417, which is only headed up).

I've got my seat. (There may still be a few available...)

Second Thoughts...

While Syracuse and UCONN rocked the sports world with their epic six overtime clash, right around the corner from my apartment, a much smaller number of attendees were rocked in a much different way.

Yesterday, Fat Jon informed me via text message of an internet rumor that Trey Anastasio and Paige McConnell from Phish might be joining the Allmans on stage at the Beacon Theater that night (part of their 40th Anniversary Run). I took this pretty seriously because Trey lives on the Upper West Side and I've had the chance to chat with him before at a street fair (extremely cool). Phish had just wrapped up Hampton and it seemed to make sense.

If you have been reading this site carefully, you could have probably guessed that this was right up my alley.

Allmans + Phish + Beacon = Me

I left work and walked right over to the Theater and check out the ticket scene. It was about 7:00 and the show didn't start 'til 8, but there were far fewer scalpers out front than usual. Since Fairway is right across the street, on my way to get groceries, I'll get caught in the crossfire if there is a show that night. As a result, I've got a pretty good feel for the atmosphere despite not going to all that many shows there.

The mix of scalpers outside of the Beacon is always a treat. There are the stereotypical skeevy-looking, quasi-homeless fat old white dudes with tattered jackets on. You could pick these creepers out of a scalper line up in a heartbeat. They tend to cluster towards the corner of 75th and Broadway, while the black dudes stay closer to 74th. They are the characters. They also look about one bender from being a full blown vagrant, but unlike the standoffish white guys, they are more friendly and engaging.

Within 12 seconds of walking up alongside Beacon Wine & Spirits, one of the guys was grumbled, "Do you need any BUD maaaaaaan?". Yes. This is how I would like to acquire some drugs. Right on a crowded street corner in Manhattan. Don't worry, there aren't six cops within 50 feet of us. All set in that department, champ. Do you have any tickets?

He directed to a bearded gentleman in a camouflage coat with the hood up who informed me that he had one ticket in the Orchestra, Row 9, for $175. I didn't even bother to bargain with him since it was so far out of my price range. I scoured around for a little while longer to no avail, and went back to my apartment to regroup.

I re-emerged at 7:30, hit the ATM and decided I would be willing to push my budget to about $100 or so to adjust to the sellers market I detected. When I got back, it was even worse. The buyer to seller ratio was roughly 50:0. No joke. I walked around until 8:15 and did not see one ticket change hands, at any price.

I was pretty disappointed, but just headed over to Fairway and picked up two crab cakes and a sirloin that was sliced off the ol' block 10 seconds before my boy Ralph the butcher bagged it for me. It was a decent consolation prize.

I checked the setlist after the 'Cuse game and indeed, Trey and Paige showed up (along with Buddy Guy).

Set 1
Little Martha
Trouble No More
Leave My Blues at Home
Who’s Been Talking (old Howling Wolf Song)
Black Hearted Woman
You Can’t Lose What You Never Had
The Sky Is Crying (with Buddy Guy)
You Don’t Love Me (with Buddy Guy)
Southbound (Buddy Guy/Page/Trey)

Set 2
I Know You Rider (w/Trey & Page)
In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed (w/Trey & Page)
Dreams
Jessica

Encore
Statesboro Blues (extended version)

Here is an awesome review of the show (where I pulled the pics from).

$175 for 9th row seats doesn't seem like that bad of an investment anymore. This post would have been roughly 2000 times better. There is an unoffical guest list floating around that details who is going to be playing with them at the Beacon, and so far it has been pretty close. Boz Scaggs is up tonight (Loan Me A Dime?) and Clapton is playing on the 19th & 20th (Mean Old World?).

Well, since I probably won't be able to get tickets to any of those without falling into a never ending spiral of credit card debt, I think I'm going to have to settle for Moogis. For $125, you can watch every one of the shows live or on demand. It's not just confined to the Beacon run, you can watch performances from 2007 at Piedmont Park. They claim to be adding more shows as well.

Who wants to have a simulcast party???

You Happy Now?

Nice work, Manny, you've accepted a deal that you just rejected under a week ago. Please step forward and claim the $5M you earned by forcing your way out of Boston. Hey, at least you got to shove around our anti-namesake in the process...

All it cost you was your hallowed place in the hearts of Red Sox Nation, your competitive integrity and your overall reputation! Isn't it rather heartwarming to see dubious move by a doobie-ous character go up in smoke? The economic environment certainly conspired against him, but karma can certainly be a bitch.

Rejoice, Yankee fans, because he officially will no longer be terrorizing the Yankees to the tune of .321/.411/.618 for 18 games a year. Good riddance Man-Ram, have fun in Cali. Joe Torre tells me the wheatgrass is amazing.

Forever Tainted?

Isn't it sort of an antiquated notion to think that a player only cheated when they were using steroids or HGH? Are the effects of heroin or cocaine contained only to the time when the user would have tested positive for them?

The reason athletes started using HGH in conjunction with steroids was that it allowed them to hold onto the extra mass gained during the extra hard workouts steroids allowed them to complete. Away from sports, it is used to combat aging by increasing bone density, muscle mass, improving heart functions and even improving skin complexion. Those don't sound like things that are going to subside immediately when you stop taking HGH.

How do you think Barry Bonds had an OPS of 1.422 (the highest single season OPS in baseball history) and had more HRs than strikeouts in 2004 at the age of 39, when the MLB had already instituted their testing policy? Does anyone actually think he wasn't still benefiting from all the steroids/HGH he took in the past?

It seems that only those older anabolic steroids such as Androstenedione and Deca-Durabolin had the drastic cycle on/off effects. As the newer, more sophisticated drugs like Primobolan evolved, those side effects were mitigated.

For the record, I really don't care about athletes using steroids. I don't have kids and don't care what kind of example it sets. Yeah, it sucks that the people who use it indirectly pressure the people who are clean to use it. That's life. Seeing someone drive by you on the highway going 85 in a 65 might tempt you to speed. You know if you get behind them, you might get pulled over.

We've all been at a party where people were smoking pot or doing coke and had to make our own decisions. Maybe it would have enhanced the experience that night, but if you got caught or were extra hungover the next day, you'd have probably regretted it. Common sense tells you it would be wrong, and you choose to either do it or not do it. Those scenarios aren't all that different.

I just think it's worth pointing out that it's awfully narrow-minded to confine the label of "cheating" to the time an athlete tested (or would have tested) positive. They have changed the chemistry of their body indefinitely.

Remember:

Barry Bonds (2000-2003) - Taking steroids/HGH/The Cream/The Clear - Best Hitter Ever

Barry Bonds (2004) - "Clean" - Even Better