Just got back from some exciting White Sox baseball in the glorious Oakland / Alameda County Coliseum that I watched along with our beloved Toonder.

First observation: We didn't get any autographs on any of our balls. Together, we had three and not one got signed.

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If you want to talk Wilco, then be my guest. I have not yet heard their album and honestly can't recall a specific song by the boys, though I know their album with the Marina Towers on the cover is ubiquitous.

The most interesting music I've heard lately has been Desorden Publico, a Venezuelan Ska band. Some of their songs sound like clown music, literally.

Other recent favorites have included Bad Brains and the Melvins.

Now, let's trash the place!

I watched the bay area telecast of the Friday night contest and attended last night's game, and here are my semi-coherent thoughts:

From the telecast: the Giants are really puffing up our old buddy Aaron Rowand. Taking a page out of the Brooks Boyer guide to marketing, the Giants are beating the term "gamer" to death. I suppose they should have just gone all the was and used "grinder", but there must be an official MLB rule against beating a dead horse that badly. Good to see that he's getting his due (sort of), and very entertaining considering how they were trying to transition the face of the franchise from Bonds to Zito last year. I suppose when someone shits the bed as bad as Zito has this year, you really don't have any other choice.

As far as the Friday night game goes, great to see Wasserman come in and do his job. JD with a great over the shoulder catch when the balls started carrying in the late innings, A-Ram with his first MLB HR, gotta say I'm happy for the guy. His line shot to Castillo at 3B in the at bat before the HR was smoked, so it was clear that he was dialed in. Thanks for the memories, and you can go to triple-A now. See you next year. I'm sure the rest was sufficiently covered by others.

Last night's game was quite strange. The sweet line-out, throw-out double play by Ozuna, the interference by Ozuna, the errant pick-off throw by Yabu, Buhrle's "single" to RF, Konerko hitting an RBI single, Fat Toby with three hits, JD making what I'm guessing would be a routine play (if I watched more games) look amazing (gotta give him props for getting that wheel chair to move so quickly), and some other stuff I probably should have written down because I forgot already. I can't believe that Zito only gave up 2 runs with as poorly as he pitched. The Sox really should have pounded him.

Great to see Fat Toby with the three hits. My friend and I were rooting for him to either get another base hit in the 9th, preferably another exciting single, or be replaced by AJ so that his BA would remain over .300. It just wasn't meant to be, I guess. I'm also pissed that he left the Gentleman Masher on deck, but not really because he had those three singles ;) I think I've picked up another crappy player man-crush.

AJ is right, SF fans are totally weak. It's nothing I didn't know before, having been out in the "Gay" area for the last however many years, but it was pounded home yet again. The stadium was so quiet, at times you could hear a pin drop. I tried my best to cheer on Q! during his at-bats (perhaps my voice even made the telecast considering everyone else was silent?), but it didn't really help with him displaying his super powers. Oh well. I was happy with the sacrifice fly at least. Since the entire game seemed to be dominated by the Sox (was the score really only 3-1?), there was really no reason for organized Sox cheers, given the substantial number of Sox fans in attendance. The lady in the next seat over tried to talk some trash to me, but that was a lame attempt at best and only a one-timer. As far as I can tell, they have no one to do their golf-clapping for now that Bonds is gone. PS, their public address announcer blows.

There's plenty more nonsense that I could rattle off, but I've got to get my butt over to Old Navy park for today's game. Go Sox!

Putting this here so bay area folk (Toonder) may actually see it - apologies to all others for taking up space.

I think George and Walt's on College Ave is probably the best bet to watch the tourney games, with the Kingfish on Claremont, Cato's, Raleigh's on Telegraph in Berkeley, and a host of others not too far behind.

I doubt I'll make it out to watch the games, but if I do, I'll be heading to George and Walt's.

With all the infighting on SSS today and people talking of suicide if Ozzie butchers the lineup card before a ST game is even played, I felt that we all need a reminder that there is a reason to live.

A friend of mine enlightened me with this link , and after reading some of the reviews posted, I think you will, once again, have faith in the world.

No need to send money, your pleasant thoughts are all the thanks I need.

Come to think of it, rent is due next week...maybe you should send money...hmmm...

In reading a comment on thread regarding M. Cabrera's impact at 3B vs. LF, I got to wondering if anyone has compared the aggregate total of win shares for each player on a team vs. the team's record.

Does anyone know of any investigations into such matters? (even if they don't really matter)

Would the community generally agree that this is a reasonable way to assess the viability of the win share statistic?

If this doesn't exist, I was going to look into it in my spare time. Obviously, I prefer to not waste time replicating someone else's work, so any input is appreciated.

Anyone have any idea how often tentative schedules are changed before the season actually starts.

I've never paid close enough attention to know if if it is just a matter of time before the tentative schedules become the actual schedule or if significant changes are in store.

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I'm looking for 4 tickets to the Friday May 25 Sox vs. Devil Rays game so that my bother, sister-in-law, girlfriend, and I can attend.

If any of you season ticket holders (or otherwise ticket holders) out there are leaving town for Memorial Day weekend and don't want to "eat" those Devil Rays tickets, let me know so that we can work something out.

rhythm@berkeley.edu

Unfortunately, no bleacher tix since my sister-in-law doesn't like the bleachers.

I attended the last two games in Oakland and have finally come to terms with the fact that the Sox will not make the playoffs.  Apparently Hawk said roughly the same thing to the couple seated next to me when they saw him in Macy's yesterday.  What the hell is Hawk doing in Macy's?  Man's men don't shop in Macy's!!! ;)

I was 5 seats away from Mack's homer Friday and witnessed his subsequent butchery of a CF popup, good times.  To beat a point into the ground, he should be in LF.  And to be fair, BA misplayed a ball late in the game as well.

As for Sat., what bothered me about Vazquez was that he hung his head walking off the field after the 6th.  For god's sake, you just provided a quality start - you did your job!  Giving up a homer to Frank isn't the end of the world, it's been done 475 times before.  I think that's why Javy wasn't out there in the 7th.

Cheat's right, Ozzie's not changing his ways until the Sox are mathematically eliminated.  I expect this to coincide with Thome and Konerko actually hitting a ball and the Sox ending up 1 game out as fine window dressing to a season that has fallen short (the Sox had roughly a 10 game lead on the Twinks and the beginning of July).  This season was a fine opportunity that has been wasted.

Thomas looked good at the plate, but that's not what beat the Sox.  The Sox simply got outplayed Friday night and gave the game away yesterday with the bullpen implosion that was the 7th inning.  I wish I could come up with something witty to say about all of this, but I've got nothing.

Anyone going to watch the Sox take 2/3 from the A's in Oakland next weekend?

I'm going to the games on Friday and Sunday and am hoping to see some fellow South Siders out that way.  I would propose to meet up for a brew beforehand, but I don't know of any places close to the stadium.  Let me know if you'd like to meet up.