As a fan of a wide variety of popular (and not-so-popular) music from the 1950s (and sometimes even earlier) up through the present, one of my bucket list projects for years has been to put together a list of my 100 favorite songs of all time. At some point I decided that, once I got around to figuring that out, I could put it out on a blog, for the infinitesimally small proportion of the Internet world that might be interested. So, here we are. While the Top 100 will be a major focus, I also plan to post on a variety of other musical (and occasionally non-musical) topics, in which you may or may not be interested. (If a particular posting doesn’t ring your bell, you’re only a few clicks away from a dancing cat video on YouTube.)
Start Time Weather: 88° F, Wind 4mph out to Centerfield,
Cloudy, No Precipitation.
After MacKenzie Gore’s early exit the night before, the Nationals
really needed Jake Irvin to pitch deep into the Sunday afternoon game, and he
delivered, not only getting through seven innings but doing so while giving up
only one solo homer each in the 2nd and 5th innings. The Nationals were even
less productive, but the Reds gifted them a pair of two-out runs in the bottom
of the 3rd when they cleanly picked Jacob Young off third base but botched the
rundown.
With the score still tied at two, Washington’s offense
finally struck pay dirt with two outs in the bottom of the 8th. Keibert Ruiz
started things off with a single, and Ildemaro Vargas followed with a perfectly
placed bunt base hit. At that point, with James Wood due up, Cincinnati made
the somewhat curious decision to bring in southpaw reliever Justin Wilson to
replace fellow lefty Lucas Sims. Wood wasted no time ruining that strategy,
sending Wilson’s first pitch well over the left-field wall.
Coming in with a 3-run lead, Kyle Finnegan needed only five
pitches to dispose of the visitors in the 9th, thereby saving each game of Washington’s
weekend series sweep.
Start Time Weather: 78° F, Wind 4mph out to Leftfield,
Cloudy, No Precipitation.
For whatever reason, MacKenzie Gore was far from the top of
his game on his bobblehead night. His pitches had only a nodding acquaintance
with the strike zone. He walked the first two batters he faced, and things didn’t
get much better from there, as he got behind almost every hitter. He was
fortunate to only allow two Reds to score, but he needed 48 pitches to finally
get out of the 1st inning. After needing 19 more pitches to get through the
2nd, allowing another run in the process, Davey decided that the bullpen would
take things over from that point on. The Reds continued their scoring in the
3rd, as Jordan Weems served up a one-out homer to Tyler Stephenson.
Fortunately, Washington’s bats refused to take the evening
off. Harold RamÃrez smashed a two-run shot in the bottom of the 1st, and CJ
Abrams contributed a run-scoring single in the 4th to cut the deficit to a run.
The Nats went on to tie things up after the 7th-inning stretch,
as Jacob Young singled, stole second, and scored on a Lane Thomas double. Young
came through again an inning later with the game-winning RBI single. Meanwhile,
Washington’s bullpen held the Reds scoreless over the final six innings, with Kyle
Finnegan retiring the side in order in the top of the 9th for the save.
Our pre-game experience was not nearly as positive. Along
with dozens of other season-ticket holders, we were standing in the rain
outside the first base gate from shortly after 4:00. We had been promised early
admission, starting at 4:30, to have a Q&A with Lane Thomas and view
batting practice from behind the first base dugout. Given the weather, we
figured the batting practice part would be canceled, but there was no
communication one way or the other from the Nats. Finally, shortly before 4:30,
they sent a security guy out to inform us that, not only would batting practice
be canceled, but they would not even be letting us in early, meaning that we’d
have to amuse ourselves somehow until the main gate opening an hour later. Apparently
enough of us expressed our displeasure that the season ticket reps had a
meeting this morning to review the situation and discuss ways to prevent a
recurrence in the future.
Just a few things to get off my chest, mostly in random
order, before I get back to blogging about music and Nats games.
Jobs 1A/1B: Reclaim the words Strength and Fight. (Getting
back Patriot wouldn’t hurt, either.) “Real Strength, Fighting for You” wouldn’t
be a bad campaign slogan.
Couple good examples of real strength from Joe Biden: putting
his life back together and continuing his public service after the tragedy that
killed his wife and infant daughter and injured his two young sons. Also, the
grace and strength required to accept that he was no longer the best messenger
to carry on the fight against Donald Trump.
Call Trump out as a bully. Everyone knows a lot of adults –
family members, co-workers, club members, those who share a place of worship, etc.
How many of them engage in the sort of juvenile name-calling that Trump enjoys
so much? (Little Marco etc.) Most of us, relatively early in our childhood,
gain the emotional maturity to move past that stage. I have to admit, whenever
I think of Donald Trump, one of the first things that comes to mind is that
wonderful Trump Baby balloon. Probably because both the balloon and the real
thing are filled with hot air. And certainly throw in
a reference to A Christmas Story and the fate of Scut Farkus. Bullies
aren’t strong, they’re weak. They’re the sort of people who have to recruit professional
wrestlers and UCF executives as convention speakers in an attempt to prove how
strong and macho they themselves are.
When the going gets tough, strong people get going. When the
going gets tough for Donald Trump or one of his companies, he declares
bankruptcy. [Pick an instance and throw in some stats about the cost to innocent,
everyday former employees and creditors.] Bankruptcy is meant to protect
working folks who’ve hit a run of bad luck, not to be abused by the likes of
Donald Trump.
Scoff at the Republicans’ so-called “unity” convention. It’s
a ridiculous idea that the most divisive president in recent history, who loves
only those who love him while belittling and attacking those who oppose him,
could possibly unite the country. As for the former president, the “new
improved” Trump seems to have lasted only about 5 days, ending about 45 (?)
minutes into his interminable acceptance speech.
[Catherine Rampell wrote a Washington
Post column earlier this month about how many Democratic policies are
actually more popular than Biden.] That’s what we’re going to be fighting for
(list some that are especially popular). Meanwhile, the Republicans will
continue their opposition to these common-sense ideas, while fighting for those
that primarily benefit the rich and powerful. (“Trickle-down economics” is
still a good attack line.) But don’t over-promise to actually accomplish what
you might not be able to deliver in a divided country and Congress.
Foreign policy – make the phrase “Neville Chamberlain” trend.
Trump and Vance will sell Ukraine down the river to Putin just like Chamberlain
tried to appease Hitler by giving him a chunk of Czechoslovakia. And how did
that work out? That’s not strength, that’s weakness. Trump’s foreign policy is
to pick fights with our friends and praise authoritarians. He calls his buddy Putin
“tough and strong”, and said admiringly of Xi Jinping that “he controls 1.4
billion people with an iron fist”. Why the admiration? Because Trump wishes he
had that kind of absolute power and will try everything he can to get it.
Democrats will fight for lower prices, e.g. prescription
drugs. Trump & his allies will fight against these efforts, and proposed
universal tariffs on all foreign goods, even those produced by friendly
nations, will increase prices for Americans and invite retaliation.
J.D. Vance – whatever happened to this guy? Praise his military
service and best-seller, repeat some of his insightful comments about Trump. Then
what? He apparently decided that power was more important than principle, first
realized that he’d need Trump’s approval to get elected to the Senate, and then
joined the long parade of Vice-Presidential wannabes. We all know that there
were two main qualifications for being Trump’s running mate: absolute loyalty,
and kissing his rear end as often as possible. (Apparently Vance landed the
most smooches.) In terms of blind loyalty, Trump would do anything to avoid
another Mike Pence, whose only sin was putting loyalty to our Constitution
above blind obedience to the President. J.D. Vance has already said he would
have done the opposite and supported Trump’s illegitimate attempts to remain in
power.
Also attack Vance’s role in the 2023 Ohio abortion ballot
measure. He not only opposed the measure itself, but he supported the midsummer
attempt by state Republicans to change the rules in the middle of the game to
increase the threshold required to approve the actual ballot initiative. Of
course, there are also his past statements regarding abortion.
