The
ultimate surfing song for East Coasters (in the lyrics, the song title is
followed by “… when you’re the only surfer boy around”), and the best
surfing-related song ever not done by the Beach Boys. Feel free to search for
deeper meanings about dislocation if you must.
Friday, May 23, 2014
#58 Levi Stubbs' Tears -- Billy Bragg (1986)
Another
WHFS favorite from the 1980s, this one from British punk/folk
singer/songwriter/activist Billy Bragg (who, unlike many UK performers,
definitely does NOT lose his accent when singing). I suppose the redemptive
part of this song is the power of music to get people through tough times, but
be warned that it’s considerably bleaker than, say, “Rock And Roll Lullabye”.
May 22, 2014 – Myrtle Beach Pelicans 4, Frederick Keys 3 – Harry Grove Stadium (Frederick)
Umpires:
HP: Adam Beck. 1B: Drew Freed.
Weather:
75 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 14
mph, L to R.
T: 2:38.
Att:
4,308. (Most appeared to be disguised as empty seats, although a lot of kids
were there for “History Day”.)
Section
203, Row I, Seat 1 – The early forecasts for the day were iffy in terms of
possible thunderstorms, so I held off on getting a ticket until Thursday
morning, when the outlook had improved. The highest aisle seat I could get in
my favorite section was four rows from the top, which unlike the top couple
rows is not in the shade. It was a warmish morning/afternoon out in the sun,
but very comfortable in the shaded part of the concourse. Fortunately, the
threatened showers didn’t materialize, at least during the game. Considering
that almost everyone in the section was either in the back row or the front
couple rows, I thought I might have an excellent opportunity to get a baseball,
but no luck; one of the two balls that found its way into the section bounced
quickly to the front of the section, while the other went to an usher in the
opposite aisle.
Grilled
chicken sandwiches were cheap at $5.50 – I’m on the fence whether having them
on pretzel rolls is a good idea or not. Bottles (20 oz.) of Orange Crush and
other soda were $3.75.
The game
itself was pretty uneventful. The Keys are largely bereft of actual major
league prospects this year, and slugging third baseman Joey Gallo didn’t play
for Myrtle Beach after being lifted early the night before. (Never found any
explanation, but I suspect a minor tweak.) Top catching prospect Jorge Alfaro
did play, but at first base. Only three half-innings saw any scoring. The
Pelicans took a 2-run lead in the top of the third (single, triple, single),
but the Keys fought back in the bottom of the fifth on a two-out, three-run
homer by second baseman Sammie Starr. Former top prospect Matt Hobgood, who was
the fifth pick overall in the 2009 draft, came on in relief of starter Mark
Blackmar and retired the side in order in the sixth and seventh, but Lex
Rutledge entered in the eighth to walk the leadoff batter and then surrender a
two-run homer by designated hitter Preston Beck.
The Keys
lineup also featured another familiar name in former Nationals minor league
outfielder Michael Burgess, who the Nats drafted in the supplemental first
round of the 2007 draft and traded to the Cubs in the January 2011 Tom
Gorzelanny deal. The Pelicans pitching staff included former Phillies prospect
Jason Knapp, went to the Indians 7/29/2009 as part of the Cliff Lee trade.
Proofreaders
Needed note – the “How to Keep Score” instructions in the Frederick game
program indicate that 3B stands for “Tripple”.
Monday, May 19, 2014
May 18, 2014 – Nationals 6, Mets 3 – Nationals Park
Umpires:
HP: Jon Byrne. 1B: Lance Barrett. 2B: Dana DeMuth. 3B: Ed Hickox.
Weather:
64 degrees, sunny.
Wind: 5
mph, In from LF.
T: 2:45.
Att:
36,965.
When
Wilson Ramos (aka “Buffalo” by some) was announced in the Nats starting lineup
after catching Saturday’s 4:05 game, I was joking with Terry that the team was
making sure they got their money’s worth from him after his previous DL stint.
Turns out that that he had talked himself into the lineup – fortunately for the
home team, since he sparked the Nats offense with a two-run double in the third
and a two-run double in the fifth.
Pitching-wise,
Jordan Zimmermann wasn’t as sharp as usual, but had a decent outing, yielding a
run in the second (which was matched by a Desmond HR in the bottom half), and
in the top of the sixth giving back the two runs the Nats had just scored to
extend their lead. Fortunately, the Nats bullpen (Storen, Clippard, Soriano)
retired all 9 batters they faced in the final three innings to nail down the
victory.
Bolstered
by a swarm of little leaguers, there was a nice crowd for the third straight
game of the series. Interestingly enough, the Friday night Wilson Ramos
bobblehead giveaway had the smallest paid attendance of the three games,
although I’m sure the team isn’t complaining about any of the 34,000+ crowds.
Nice day
weather-wise as well, although chilly in our shady upper-deck wind tunnel, and
traffic was pretty smooth despite the crowd. Made a detour to Subway after
arriving at The Lot Formerly Known As HH for a Black Forest Ham sub.
Saturday, May 17, 2014
May 16, 2014 – Nationals 5, Mets 2 – Nationals Park
Umpires:
HP: Dana DeMuth. 1B: Ed Hickox. 2B: Jon Byrne. 3B: Lance Barrett.
Weather:
67 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 6
mph, In from LF.
T: 3:08.
Att:
34,413.
Section
107, Row FF, Seats 11-12 – our “home away from home” for several bobblehead
games (same row as the April 27 Padres game)
One of the
Nats’ biggest problems so far this season has been falling behind early,
especially in the first inning. (Comeback victories are nice, but it’s even
nicer not to have so many early deficits to overcome.) Friday night was a
welcome exception, as Tanner Roark retired the visitors with relative ease in
the top of the first, while the Nats combined some timely hitting with Mets
defensive miscues to put up three runs in the bottom of the frame. They added
to their lead two innings later, with three hits (Ramos, Hairston, and Moore)
and two more runs.
Roark
pitched effectively through the first 4 innings, never allowing a runner to
advance beyond first base. However, his pitch count was climbing rapidly, as
the Mets seemed determined to wait him out. (The first time through the order,
not a single New York batter swung at the first pitch, although 8 of the 9 were
strikes.) The visitors finally caught up with him in the fifth, scoring two
runs and waking up the bullpen before Roark retired David Wright with two out
and two on to end it.
Ross
Detweiler replaced Roark in the sixth and retired the 3 (lefthanded) hitters he
faced, and Storen turned in an efficient seventh. Clippard allowed a single to
the first batter he faced and a two-out walk to Bobby Abreu, but escaped
without damage. There was a little more excitement in the ninth, as Soriano
began by allowing a deep fly ball from the light-hitting Anthony Recker that
Span turned into an out. With Tejada at the plate, a fan ran onto the field (first
one I can remember at Nats Park) and made it almost all the way around the
bases before being corralled by security. Soriano got Tejada out, but then
proceeded to walk two more weak hitters, Juan Lagares (on 4 pitches) and Eric
Young Jr., bringing one of the Mets best hitters (Daniel Murphy) to the plate
as the tying run. Murphy drilled Soriano’s first pitch deep to right, but
Jayson Werth made a leaping catch to end the game.
Traffic on
the way there was the usual rush-hour mess, but we made it down in about an
hour. Decided to go with the Cincinnati chili bowl from Hard Times, a relative
bargain at $7.00. Weather was relatively comfortable, although much to everyone’s
surprise we started to get some light rain in the 8th inning.
In a minor
highlight, former Phil Greg Dobbs got a pinch single in his first Nats’ at-bat.
The Fan of
the Game contest produced a mild upset (since a kid almost always wins), with
the loudest applause going to a guy sitting near us sporting a cap with buffalo
horns (presumably to match the Wilson Ramos bobblehead giveaway).
Friday, May 16, 2014
#59 Stray Cat Strut -- Stray Cats (1983)
The Stray
Cats were one of my favorites of the early 1980s – actually saw them live up in
Baltimore back in the day, with local power popster Tommy Keane opening.
#60 4th Of July – X (1987)
Dave
Alvin, formerly of The Blasters, was only with X for a year or so, but this
song of his is one of the band’s best ever, featuring much more of a roots-rock
sound that was typical for the group. I try to listen to this one every
Independence Day.
#61 The Carnival Is Over -- The Seekers (1965)
Like “Substitute”,
I heard this one for the first time on WKBO’s Sunday night British Invasion
show – not surprising, since it hit #1 in the UK but missed the Top 100
entirely over here. It’s a slow, stately ballad, unlike such Seekers hits as “I’ll
Never Find Another You” and “Georgy Girl”, but hauntingly beautiful. There’s a
great blog post in The Guardian talking about the impact of the song in the
group’s native Australia.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
May 13, 2014 – Hagerstown Suns 3, Kannapolis Intimidators 1 – Municipal Stadium (Hagerstown)
Umpires:
HP: Randy Rosenberg. 1B: Brad Polk.
Weather:
71 degrees, sunny.
Wind: 4
mph, R to L.
T: 2:21.
Att:
1,280.
Section 3,
Row K, Seat 1 – It was Eats 4 Seats Tuesday, so by bringing a nonperishable
food item (2 cans of corn in my case, which seemed fitting for a baseball
game), I was able to get a general admission ticket for the bargain price of
$4.00. Since it promised to be a hot day (it topped 90 in DC), I joined almost
everybody else in sitting in the covered grandstand behind home plate. Grabbed
an aisle seat in the section directly behind home plate, with a great view
despite being one row from the top.
Hagerstown
schedules very few day games – even their Sunday games don’t start until 5:05 –
so it was good to get to this one which started at 10:35 am, probably the
earliest professional baseball game I have ever attended. Quite a few cars in
the parking lot when I arrived (plus school buses, since it was also “Education
Day”). The ticket purchase line was short but extremely slow. No free programs
(unlike Bowie and Frederick), but the programs did come with printed sheets
that included up-to-date stats, rosters, and lineups. Eats were pretty cheap as
well – wound up getting a $3 bottle of Pepsi (20 oz.) and a decent $6 pulled
pork sandwich.
The game
itself was a briskly-moving pitchers duel between Kannapolis’s Jake Sanchez and
Nats #8 prospect Jake Johansen. Kannapolis plated a run in the top of the
first, but Hagerstown tied it in the fourth on a homer by aptly-named catcher
Spencer Kieboom, and went ahead two innings later when Sanchez threw past first
base on an infield single by Suns first baseman Jimmy Yezzo, allowing DH John
Wooten to score from second. The Suns added an insurance run in the eighth on
doubles by Wooten and Yezzo.
The win
pushed Hagerstown’s record to 29-8 (eat your heart out Nats). Many of the
players (as well as the manager) moved up from last year’s Gulf Coast League
team, which finished with a ridiculous 49-9 record.
Tall
pitchers department -- the Suns have 3 right-handed pitchers listed at 6-6:
Johansen, Ryan Ullman (who pitched innings 6-8 and got the win on Tuesday), and
top prospect Lucas Giolito.
Managerial
trivia – Suns manager Patrick Anderson grew up in Silver Spring and attended
Paint Branch High School. The Intimidators are managed by Pete Rose Jr.
Shuffle #2 (May 15, 2014)
The Bottle
– Gil Scott-Heron
Rock
Skippin’ – Jim Hall
Come A
Long Way – Michelle Shocked
Tell It
Like It Is – Aaron Neville
Massachusetts
– Bee Gees
Johnny
Hold Back – Charlie
Lonesome
Traveler – Joe & Eddie
Things We
Said Today – The Beatles
Have You
Ever Had It Blue – The Style Council
Lonesome
Town – Ricky Nelson
Thieves in
the Temple – Prince
Guess
Things Happen That Way – Johnny Cash
All Day
Music – War
California
Girls – The Beach Boys
Having A
Party – Sam Cooke
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