Day 53: A New Feature - Weekly Music Reviews

Alright, so after the week hiatus, and the emotionally scarring Vikings loss I'm back and ready to turn the page. There will be some serious baseball talk coming up in the next few weeks, but until then I'm going to introduce a new weekly feature that I'll be incorporating into the blog. Once per week I'll be recommending an album for your listening pleasure. Its pretty clear where my musical tastes lie by now (see here, here, here, and here) so if you're not a fan I apologize, but maybe you'll still find something you like--anyway so here we go.

The first ever weekly album recommendation goes to:

Los Campesinos! - Romance is Boring

This Welsh band's third full album and first since they released both Hold on Now, Youngster... and We are Beautiful, We are Doomed in 2008. They've always tended more towards the power-pop genre (think New Pornographers or Vampire Weekend but with more hand claps), and this album is no different. Though that's not to say that the albums are all so similar that they sound identical (see Red Hot Chili Peppers for an example of this)--quite the contrary in fact. In each of their three albums now you can hear a sense of the band becoming more confident in their musical abilities and their exploration of their style. Each of the albums are slightly more tight than the previous, which if continued they'll start to sound like a Brian Eno produced album but hopefully they'll realize that before they sound too produced.

The stories in their songs are very memorable, but they're not told in the matter-of-fact manner of many other "indie" bands, but rather they weave their imagery using funny one-liners and whimsical lyrics. Its fairly uncommon anymore for a band to have such a strong discography after three albums, especially given the size of their Arts & Crafts label. This is an album that I've listened to four times already in the past week and a half and doesn't have any tracks that stick out as "skippable". This album flows very well and I have a feeling you'll be on board after the first listening; I know I was hooked immediately. A fantastic effort by a "small label" band, in what I consider their best and most complete album. This is going to have some serious play by me this year and I've got a feeling its going to be near the top (or maybe even at the top) of multiple lists by year's end.

Rating: 9.5/10

MySpace Album Stream

Day 52: Dropping the ball, and dropping the ball, and dropping the ball, and dropping the ball, and dropping the ball and dropping the ball

So here we are, I've got very little to say...The Vikings lost in a game where its clear they were the best team but they dropped the ball (both physically and metaphorically) six times.....6......6..............................6 times






I know they call him Purple Jesus, but I didn't think it was because Peterson has holes in his hands...I've got nothing else....


The Colts steamrolled as expected, for once I'd like to be right about a Minnesota Team...

Day 51: Freedom Isn't Free Agency

While perusing ESPN.com's MLB site yesterday I came across Jerry Crasnik's list of free agents that are still available and was blown away. For being this late in the season, I'm not sure I remember such a high quality class of Free Agents available (Twins I'm looking in your general direction). The free agency pool is usually filled with injured players with questionable work ethic; however, this year there's some real gems out there. So what I decided to do was to put together a team made entirely of free agents, replace the San Diego Padres with my Free Agency All-stars team and simulate last years playoffs (assuming the Padres won the wild card rather than the Rockies) on WhatIfSports.com--yeah I took it to another level there I know.

Here's my roster (its a little wacky but just go with it, also they made me fill out 25 players so some SP's are being forced into RP roles, but I think they'll be fine with it...):

C - Yorvit Torrealba

1B - Jim Thome

2B - Orlando Hudson

3B - Miguel Tejada

SS - Orlando Cabrera

OF - Johnny Damon

OF - Rick Ankiel

OF - Jermaine Dye

BN - Xavier Nady

BN - Rod Barajas

BN - Russell Branyan

BN - Joe Crede

BN - Jim Edmonds (You knew that was coming)

BN - Marcus Thames

BN - Rocco Baldelli

(It doesn't let you specify particular roles in the free version of WhatIfSports.com so all of my pitchers can be used for RPs as it turns out)

SP - Ben Sheets

SP - Erik Bedard

SP - Noah Lowry

SP - Braden Looper

SP - Jon Garland

RP - Pedro Martinez

RP - Todd Wellemeyer

RP - Jose Contreras

RP - John Smoltz

RP - Chien-Ming Wang

Alright so remember my Free Agency Allstars are replacing the Rockies in the 2009 Playoffs, meaning they get start off with a 5 game series against the Phillies. Also I'll be posting the Box Scores and everything, so prepare yourself for fake baseball immersion!

The full box scores are seen below, followed by the Top-Level scoring box scores. If you click on the figures below it will bring up a window allowing you to see the details (however if you middle-click then it'll open them in a new window, either that or right-click and tell it to open figure in new window...either way).

Well, somehow the scrap heap team has made it passed (what were) the defending World Series Champions, and the eventual representative of the NL in the REAL World Series (not the MTV Show). Some highlights from the 4-game series win for the Free Agency Allstars include:

• Orlando Cabrera hitting .563 through the series
• A blown save by Brad Lidge off of a pinch hit 3 Run HR by Russell Branyan in the bottom of the 9th in game 4 to seal the deal
• Edmonds with 2-run Pinch Hit HR...stud

So after advancing past the Phillies, the Free Agency Allstars then met up with the Dodgers in the NLDS for what turned out to be maybe the most epic NLDS in the history of baseball. The results are shown below. The same formatting is used here, the full box scores are shown first followed by the top-level box scores. Again, if you click on the pictures they'll open a separate window for you to see further details.

After falling behind early in the series (0-2) to the Dodgers, thanks in large part to a couple ridiculous pitching performances by the Dodgers top 2 starters (Billingsley and Kershaw), the Free Agency Allstars won Game 3 (at home) and were poised to win Game 4 until Erik Bedard (the default Closer for the Allstars) had a meltdown in the 9th and issued 4 walks in a single inning en route to giving up both the go ahead and insurance runs. The series then went back to Los Angeles for a must win Game 5.

The Free Agency Allstars were well on their way to victory behind a brilliant performance by Noah Lowry (7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER) when in the bottom of the 9th, Erik Bedard--fresh off recent struggles in Game 4--comes in and gets the first out. Shortly after that, the wheels fell off. Bedard then gave up back-to-back walks followed by a double to Manny Ramirez that cut the lead to one. After having seen enough of that, Scott Roland called in the righty Wang who promptly gave up the next run making it a tie ballgame in the bottom of the 9th. However, a two run HR in the 11th by Johnny Damon eventually put the game out of reach (although not for lack of trying as LA scored another run in the bottom of the 11th) and brought the series back to 3-2.

Back in San Diego, Game 6 was a pitching duel for the ages. Jon Garland put up what is perhaps his best game of his career going 8.0 innings of 2-hit, shutout ball before Erik Bedard got in the game and went two innings to snag the win. Los Angeles' had a 4-pitcher shutout going before giving up a double by Russell Branyan and a single by Johnny Damon in the bottom of the 10th, evening the series up at 3-3.

So here we are Game 7 of the NLCS with a team constructed solely of scrap heap players. Scott Roland opted to go with Ben Sheets on short rest for Game 7 and Los Angeles did the same going with Billingsley on 3 days rest. Things got off to a quick start for the Allstars, with Jim Thome hitting a 3-run shot along with Nady going Yard Sale (solo) in the top of the 3rd Inning, the Allstars were up 4-0 on Billingsley with 6 innings to play--you might say they were pretty optimistic at this point...Then came the bottom of the 4th. The short rest apparently caught up with Sheets, he walked 5 consecutive batters and gave up a 2-run single to Billingsley and another run on a double to Casey Blake. So after four innings everything was squared away at 4-4.

In the top of the 10th inning the Free Agency Allstars looked to have the game going their way when they loaded the bases with no outs, only Ramon Trancoso got a strikeout and an incredibly clutch double-play by Rafael Furcal to end the inning. As it would turn out, that double play was the nail in coffin for the All Stars as the bottom of the 11th approached and Jose Contreras (out of the bullpen) was their last "best" hope and it played out like so:

So the Dodgers advance to the World Series on a play at home in which ManRam slides under the tag to score the winning run. Pretty damn sweet if you ask me.

So what's the point of all of this? Twofold I guess...the first point is to show that though this is just a simulation and doesn't necessarily reflect reality or anything pertaining to reality, it does show that you can built a competitive team fairly easily and without too much payroll (the total payroll of this squad was $64 Million). The other point is to show that the Free Agent pool is ripe with talent and that teams looking for, oh, I donno, a Third basemen or perhaps some extra pitching talent or some outfielders, or pretty much anything, have a lot to choose from and if the Twins are smart (which sometimes I question) they would begin to become serious players in this pool. What actually happens remains to be seen...Is it baseball season yet?