Favorite Musical Artists: Eva Cassidy

I’ve expressed my feelings about Eva in an earlier post (“With the possible exception of Sinatra, I’ve never heard anyone approach Eva Cassidy as a singer, in terms of voice quality, phrasing, and the overall ability to interpret a song”), but Jefferson Morley provided an even better summary in his superb 1998 Washington Post article, “When Chuck Met Eva”:

 

“She had a voice that could silence a barroom and get the pool players to lay down their cues. A voice that could prompt casual listeners to round up their co-workers for a night out dancing. A voice that could invest all kinds of American popular music with a true portion of herself.”

 

RIP Eva. Your legend lives on.

 

Favorite Songs:

 

Over The Rainbow 

Blue Skies

You've Changed*

Dark End Of The Street

Wayfaring Stranger

 

You Don't Know Me*

Stormy Monday

American Tune

Cheek To Cheek

People Get Ready

 

Oh, Had I A Golden Thread

I Could Have Told You So*

Penny To My Name

Autumn Leaves

Won't Be Long

 

A Bold Young Farmer

Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good To You*

God Bless The Child

Honeysuckle Rose

Fields Of Gold

 

* -- with Chuck Brown

October 27, 2019 – Astros 7, Nats 1 (World Series Game 5) – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/nationals/news/astros-win-world-series-game-5-three-straight-in-dc

 

Weather: 72 degrees, Clear.

Wind: 8 mph, In From LF.

Umpires: HP--Barksdale, 1B--Holbrook, 2B--Wolf, 3B--Eddings, LF--Cederstrom, RF--Hoye.

Time: 3:19

Attendance: 43,910

 

The search for the Washington Nationals’ offense, gone missing this past Friday, proved fruitless for the third straight day, with only a single ray of hope in each of them. Even the presence of POTUS didn’t help to unravel the mystery.

 

The situation required something close to perfection from the team’s pitching. Joe Ross, starting only due to the injury-related late scratch of ace Max Scherzer, did pitch efficiently, needing only 78 pitches to get through his five innings of work. Unfortunately, he served up a two-run homer to Yordan Alvarez in the 2^nd inning, putting the home team in a quick hole, and allowed another two-run shot (this one to Carlos Correa) in the 4^th. Rainey and Doolittle blanked the visitors for two innings after Ross left, but Hudson allowed a run in the 8^th and yet another two-run dinger (this time to George Springer) in the top of the 9^th, greatly accelerating the flow of fans toward the exits.

 

Houston starter Gerrit Cole, after being treated rudely by the Nats in Game 1, got his revenge Sunday night, giving up just three hits, with the only one that hurt a bit being Soto’s solo HR following the 7^th-inning stretch. Washington’s only real scoring chance came in the top of the 2^nd, when singles by Soto and Kendrick put runners on the corners with no one out. In keeping with the script for the previous two games, however, Zim struck out and Robles grounded into an inning-ending double play.

 

Since our previous two World Series trips to Nando’s had been followed by deflating Washington defeats, we altered our pregame routine, taking advantage of the unusually warm weather to dine outside at Wiseguy Pizza. (Obviously it didn’t help, but the pizza was good enough to justify a repeat visit.)

October 26, 2019 – Astros 8, Nats 1 (World Series Game 4) – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/news/astros-win-game-4-tie-world-series-at-2?game_pk=599374

 

Weather: 63 degrees, Overcast.

Wind: 10 mph, R To L.

Umpires: HP--Hoye, 1B--Barksdale, 2B--Holbrook, 3B--Wolf, LF--Eddings, RF--Cederstrom.

Time: 3:48

Attendance: 43,889

 

The recipe for Game 4 turned out to be almost identical to that of Game 3. The Nats added some sterling defense, but also mixed in an atrocious bullpen meltdown. The main ingredients – excellent Houston pitching blended with Washington’s failure to take advantage of their scoring opportunities – remained the same, as did the final result.

 

The conventional wisdom going into the contest was that the Astros, lacking a fourth starter and therefore needing to make this a “bullpen game”, would be at a decided disadvantage, with the Nats countering with a well-regarded (and well-compensated) veteran like Patrick Corbin. The conventional wisdom turned out to be wrong.

 

Corbin, who had been up and down during the postseason, did get through six innings for the Nats. However, he dug the team into another early 2-0 hole by yielding four consecutive singles with one out in the 1^st inning. He settled down and allowed only one baserunner the next two frames, but faltered again in the 4^th, as Robinson Chirinos homered for the second straight game, this time with a man on base.

 

Meanwhile, rookie Jose Urquidy, with just 41 regular-season MLB innings to his credit, shut down the hosts for five strong innings on only two hits, as the Nats wasted Gomes’ leadoff double in the 3^rd (thanks in part to Corbin’s inability to bunt him over to third). Washington missed its best opportunity to get back in the game in the 6^th after Josh James replaced Urquidy and walked two of the three batters he faced, with the heart of the order coming up. Will Harris took over for the Astros, and Rendon managed an infield single to load the bases (and give the Nats credit for a hit with a runner in scoring position, albeit one that did not actually result in a run). Harris then induced another grounder from Soto that did score Parra as Houston recorded the second out, and then fanned Kendrick to minimize the damage.

 

Any hopes for completing the comeback died a quick death just a half-inning later. Rainey couldn’t find the plate, walking two of the three batters he faced. Rodney then entered with the proverbial can of kerosene, allowing a Michael Brantley single to load the bases, followed by an Alex Bregman grand slam. One out and three walks later, Davey was merciful enough to yank him in favor of Wander Suero, who kept the score at 8-1 by fanning Kyle Tucker. The Nats did manage to produce (and strand) a few more runners, but the meaningful part of the evening was over. The Series was now tied at 2-2, with only one more chance for the Nats to win a game at home before the action returned to Texas.