17-7, Meat Puppets and Gravy

White Sox stomp on opposition...

Multiple thoughts to share today…

After the first month of the season, my beloved White Sox are 17-7 and own the best record in the major leagues. I must admit I feared a letdown after the way they cruised through the post-season last fall and then dropped a few games to the lowly Royals at the beginning of this season. Sox fans are in uncharted waters here; a championship team that seems to have improved in the off-season and appear to be headed right back to October baseball at this rate. This is just about where they were at the end of April 2005. So this is what it feels like to be a baseball fan in New York and Boston?

Oh, and a message to Mike Scioscia, Kelvim Escobar and the Angels: Take your bush league beanballs and go pound sand. Plunking A.J. on Saturday was clearly pre-meditated and reeked of frustration. Escobar was on the mound in the World Series when A.J. ran to first after the dropped third strike fiasco, and again when he tried to tag him with his glove while holding the ball in his other hand. His dislike of A.J. is well-known. Too bad Escobar never has to step into the batter’s box.

Next issue: The Meat Puppets are reuniting, plan to record new music and possibly tour. Neat trick, I first thought, since I was sure one of the Kirkwood Brothers was dead (turns out it was just a drug dealing incarceration). This could be interesting. The Pups sloppy country-punk was a little scary at first, but once they learned how to sing and play their instruments, they made some remarkable music. A huge influence on Kurt Cobain, this band was always underappreciated, in my opinion.

This news came via Billboard, which, by the way, is a great site for breaking music news. You’d think they would only cover chart topping drivel, but it’s surprisingly diverse.

Plateau from Meat Puppets II

Eyeball from No Joke!

Finally, GRAVY, a band you most likely have never heard of. My friend’s college roommate is moonlighting as a manager for this LA band, and put together this electronic press kit. To my ears, they sound like a mix of Phish and 70’s rock, and probably sound great in a small club on a Friday night after a few longnecks. I’m not sure istudio reflects how this band really sounds (which is course is a problem for many jam bands), and the lyrics need some work (also a Phish problem), but the songs grows on you. Three free mp3s in the press kit; give them a listen, or if you live in LA, check them out.

Oh Sweet April!

T.S. Eliot said April is the cruellest month. Eliot must not have been a compulsive baseball fan. For us, there is no greater joy than opening day and the promise of a new season. Today, every team is on an equal level. Even the fans in Tampa Bay can feel some optimism, however short that may last. Of course, if you're a White Sox fan, this Spring is particularly sweet. For Sox fans Spring was the time to rid yourself of the bitter aftertaste of another disappointing year. Now, coming off a unbelievable 2005 season and a stellar post-season, we may actually have a 2006 team that is improved. There is only one word for this feeling and that is swagger, baby.

Jeff Roberson/AP

I'm sure things will be a little different at Comiskey Park this year (it's still Comiskey to me, not U.S. Cellular, or the Cell). Ticket sales are going through the roof, and the Sox are much more visible in the media than ever before. At Spring Training, the players were like rock stars and we were the groupies, straining for a close-up glimpse, or holding a ball and a Sharpie through the fence for an autograph. The thought of more post-season play is not just springtime delirium, it's actually realistic. I know this feeling won't last; for now, I'm just trying to preserve it in mind.

In Tucson, my son about to get our World Series ball signed by Juan Uribe, the player who took control in the bottom of the 9th, WS Game 4.

Buy me some peanuts and baseball stats

It has come to my attention recently that the brain trust at Major League Baseball is pursuing a plan that restricts the use of game statistics without licensing fees. This is a ploy to capitalize on the growing popularity of fantasy baseball leagues. This whole flak has been around for over a year but I don’t play fantasy baseball, so I’m a bit behind.

It seems to me that the action of a few dozen players on a ball field is essentially public information. You have 30 to 40 thousand live spectators, countless tens of thousands of television viewers, and who knows how many listeners on radio. At the end of the games, I see the numbers as historical data. How MLB could control the use of this data eludes me. Does this mean that web sites like Baseball Reference become subscription sites? Will my scorecard be confiscated as I leave the ballpark so as to prevent me from “disseminating the written accounts of the game without the express written consent of Major League Baseball?” And I guess that’s the end of box scores in the newspaper, lest some enterprising individual try to compile the data. MLB says that they don’t have problem with the stats themselves, it’s the use of player’s names that is the issue. Well the stats aren’t very useful without the player’s names now, are they?

With the popularity of baseball surging in recent years and the league mostly forgiven for the 1994 strike, this seems to be a bad PR move. Let the fantasy leagues have their fun. Restricting the use of stats will ultimately have an impact on all baseball fans, and besides, the Rotisserie geeks will find some other way to collect the data anyway. If the inability of MLB to collect fees from the fantasy leagues leads to the restricted use of the stats, then all baseball fans will stand up and voice their disapproval. The legal issues are tricky, but for baseball (the national pastime, not the computer fantasy obsession) is it worth the fight?

Here's a good summary of the issue: Fantasy Firefight

Big Hurt goes West

For the last 15 years Chicago White Sox fans have had the pleasure of watching the best player in franchise history. Despite his occasional 'me first' attitude, Frank Thomas is a player for the ages. It's hard to appreciate in the here and now. Years from now, we'll talk about Frank the way we baseball fans talk about hitters like Ted Williams and Reggie Jackson.

Today, Frank joined the Oakland A's.

Most of us were not surprised to see the club part ways with Frank after the World Series. I wonder how many wished it was the end of the road for him though, so we don't have to endure a few more seasons of pure hitting for a rival team on his way to the Hall of Fame. At least he didn't end up with the Twins, which was my biggest fear. Frank 's not done, and I only hope he chooses to wear a Sox cap when he poses for that bust in Cooperstown. Good luck, Frank.

Oh by the way, I'm a huge White Sox fan. Rabid. And I didn't jump on the World Series bandwagon. I've been on board for over 30 years. 2005 was a good one.