Shuffle #17 (July 12, 2014)

Long May You Run – The Stills-Young Band

All Day And All Of The Night – The Kinks

Romeo’s Tune – Steve Forbert

Smoke From A Distant Fire – Sanford-Townsend Band

Count Me In – Gary Lewis & The Playboys

Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door – Bob Dylan

California Dreamin’ – The Mamas & The Papas

I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry – B.J. Thomas

Have I Told You Lately – Van Morrison

Can’t Hold Us – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

July 9, 2014 – Big Train 5, Thunder Bolts 2 – Shirley Povich Field

Pleasant evening, another Big Train win

Although I had purchased a season pass several months ago for the Bethesda Big Train’s 2014 summer season of collegiate baseball, this actually wound up being the first game I attended. The week saw a lot of rain both Tuesday evening, forcing the postponement of the Nats-Orioles game at Nationals Park, and Thursday evening, Wednesday produced no rain and comfortable temperatures. Pregame and between-innings entertainment featured the Mariachi Los Mensajeros del Sur band and Ethiopian shoulder dancing, in addition to the usual (mascot race, musical chairs, etc.). I grabbed a cheeseburger (OK, not exactly one of my healthier choices) and an Honest Ade Orange Mango prior to the game. I wound up sitting in the front row just beyond the T-Bolts dugout on the first-base side, joining most of the other Metropolitan Washington Ear volunteers (we were one of the “nonprofits of the night”), so had to pay close attention. Fortunately no line drives came into our section, although there was a shot directly into the dugout.

The Big Train struck first, scoring two runs in the bottom of the second on a bases-loaded single by Cody Manzella. The T-Bolts cut the lead in half in the top of the sixth, but the Big Train came back to score 3 in the bottom of the inning, keyed by Stephen Alemais’s two-run double. Alemais, Manzella, and Kevin Tatum each had a single and a double to lead the Big Train attack.

The Big Train pitchers – starter and winner Sean Labsan, Ray Lambert, and Tim Yandel – effectively stifled the Silver Spring-Takoma offense throughout, giving up only 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 10.

We learned during the game from the mother of one of the T-Bolts players that their starting pitcher, Brandon Holsworth, is deaf. The Gazette just ran a feature article on his baseball experiences.

#43 Smoke from a Distant Fire -- Sanford-Townsend Band (1977)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCWVuCCWqzQ

Somewhere there must be a dictionary that has a picture of these guys next to the term “one-hit wonder”. If you’re only going to have one hit, though, might as well make it a song as great as this one.

#44 Stay Together Young Lovers -- Brenda & The Tabulations (1967)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwsKC8ifSNI

Philadelphia’s Brenda & The Tabulations specialized in slow, aching R&B ballads that sounded as though they should have come out five or ten years earlier than they did. This one didn’t make much of an impression on the charts (a couple of their other singles did dent the top 25), but it would have been a perfect slow dance for a high school prom back in the day.

Shuffle #16 (July 10, 2014)

King Street Rain – The Kane Gang

Lawdy Miss Clawdy – The Buckinghams

Urge For Going – Joni Mitchell

Mighty Love – The Spinners

Thought It Would Be Easier – Shelby Lynne

The Promised Land – Bruce Springsteen

Going Back To Harlan – Emmylou Harris

I Hate Myself For Loving You – Joan Jett & The Blackhearts

Let’s Stay Together – Al Green

Counting Crows w/ Toad the Wet Sprocket, Wolf Trap Filene Center, 7/5/2014

So Wolf Trap has a sun field – who knew?

Unlike most evenings at Wolf Trap, this one started at 7:00 rather than 8:00. A band from Nashville, Daniel and the Lion, started things off with a short 6-song, 20-minute set. Pretty much standard pop-rock, can’t say any of the material made a particular impression on me.

20 minutes later Toad came out (to the strains of 2Pac’s 1996 rap classic “California Love” – OK, the band is from California). At that point, the band was looking directly into the late-afternoon sun, which prompted lead singer Glen Phillips to borrow a pair of shades from a fan sitting in the pit. They played a tight, enjoyable 55-minute set that started with the lead single (“The Moment”) from their latest album, but focused on their 1990s pop-rock hits and near-hits, winding up with “All I Want”, “Fall Down”, and “Walk on the Ocean”.

Adam Duritz and the rest of The Counting Crows came out shortly after 9:00 and went until close to the 11:00 Wolf Trap curfew. They started off well with “Sullivan Street” from their first album, and kicked things into high gear near the end, ending the main set with “A Long December” and “Hanginaround” before returning with a three-song encore, highlighted by an extended version of “Rain King” that featured most of “Oh Susanna” in the middle. I wasn’t as taken by the middle of the show – a lot of unfamiliar cuts (at least to me), coupled with an overabundance of rock-star shtick (fog, strobes, lights shining uncomfortably into the audience, etc.). Their version of “Round Here” (not one of my favorites to start with) was pretty over-the-top in a MeatLoafish sort of way. A couple of songs from their upcoming album did show promise, notably “Palisades Park” (their first encore) and “Earthquake Driver”.

July 6, 2014 – Nationals 2, Cubs 1 – Nationals Park

Replay is our friend

Umpires: HP: Mike Everitt. 1B: Paul Schrieber. 2B: Ted Barrett. 3B: Will Little.

Weather: 85 degrees, partly cloudy.

Wind: 13 mph, R to L.

T: 3:12.

Att: 32,941.

Unlike the previous day’s 13-0 dismantling of the Cubbies, Sunday’s game was close throughout – one of those games where one or two close plays could make the difference. Thanks to two favorable rulings on replay challenges, the Nats were able to pull out the victory.

Chicago starter Jake Arietta had gone deep into each of his two previous starts without yielding a hit, but any suspense in that regard was gone early, as Denard Span led off the bottom of the first with a shot to center that Justin Ruggiano misplayed into a double. Two ground balls later, the Nats had a 1-0 lead.

Ryan Sweeney led off the top of the third for the Cubs with a grounder to Rendon at second and was initially ruled safe at first, but Williams challenged the call and it was overturned on replay – a good thing, as it turned out, as the next two Chicago batters followed with singles. With the first out in the books, however, Jordan Zimmermann was able to get out of the inning with his shutout intact.

Zimmermann ran high pitch counts in the early innings and scattered seven hits, but he was able to hold onto the lead through his six innings of work. (Unfortunately, in the bottom of the fifth, he dampened the Nats’ chances for an insurance run or two by failing to lay down a sacrifice after Desmond and Ramos led off the inning with singles.)

Drew Storen has pitched extremely well for the Nats all season, but was not able to hold onto the lead, giving up a sacks-loaded sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh to knot the game at one. Jerry Blevins, who has had his struggles, did come in with two outs to prevent further damage by fanning Luis Valbuena. Clippard made things interesting in the top of the eighth by allowing the first two Cubs batters to reach base on a single and a walk, but after a Darwin Barney sac bunt he got out of trouble by striking out pinch-hitter Welington Castillo and getting Sweeney on a ground ball.

Span led off the bottom of the inning with a line drive to right on which he aggressively went for a double. He was called safe on a close play, which was challenged by the Cubs but ultimately upheld by the replay crew. After Rendon and Werth were retired, the Cubs decided to play the percentages by intentionally walking the left-handed LaRoche to face Ryan Zimmerman, who unfortunately for them singled in Span to regain the lead for the Nats. Zimmerman also fielded two grounders in the ninth without incident after Williams opted not to replace him with Espinosa to improve the defense.

It was perfect ice-cream weather – warm, but not hot enough to cause immediate melting – so after finishing my roast beef sub from Subway I took advantage of my eCash card to bypass the horrendously long line at the Sweet Spot stand. Traffic seemed a little lighter than usual both coming and going.

Serendipity #16

I Want To Be Your Girlfriend – Mary Chapin Carpenter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAIet_q5HpQ

Heard 7/4/2014 shortly before noon, at Roy Rogers in Gaithersburg