Jarrod Saltalamacchia was lightheaded and left the game early last night. Perhaps the extra weight from the back of his jersey caused his equilibrium to be all out of whack. Taylor Teagarden, who has a name made for the Red Sox, will fill in for the Rangers if he can’t make it.
The on-again-off-again rumors about Ichiro batting third this year are on again. When he returns from ulcer problems (about a week and a half), he should be driving in more. Despite the perception that he has power when he wants to, he does not have a noticeably higher HR/AB ratio while batting third. (He’s done it 51 times.)
Fantasy Baseball Strategy Guide and News for 9 April 2009 (Issue 18)
April 9, 2009Joel’s Hit Show, Episode 16, 8 April 2009 Playlist
April 8, 2009Fever Ray, Seven
Pretty Girls Make Graves, Head South
The Primitives, All the Way Down
Sleepy Sun, Golden Artifact
Pre, Fudging on Our Folks
The Pipettes, Your Kisses Are Wasted on Me
March Into Paris, No Response
Pizzicato Five, Rolls Royce
Marianne Pillsbury, Sweater
Blackberry River Band, Too Drunk to Remember
Picnic, Tugowar
Persephone’s Bees, On the Earth
Ketman, Chemists Fighting
Liz Phair, Polyester Bride
Peaches, Hot Rod
Angus & Julia Stone, Hollywood
Peachcake, Make Movement Not War
Pee Shy, Jason I Thought I Saw a UFO
Hidden People, Simple Shoe
Paramore, Asleep All Day
Anna Oxygen, Baby Blue
Mistress Stephanie & Her Melodic Cat, Awfully Confusing
Operation Makeout, Lost, Unwanted… But Still Nice
Beth Orton, Countenance
These Are Powers, Parallel Shores
One Dove, Transient Truth
Orba Squara, Perfect Timing (This Morning)
The Bran Flakes, Rodeo Butterfly
OP8 Featuring Lisa Germano, If I Think of Love
Of Montreal, Lysergic Bliss
Gliss, Sleep
Now, Now Every Children, Not One, But Two
The No-No’s, Adorable Combustible
Killavox, Vinyl
Northern State, Away Away
Heather Nova, Sugar
Sara Lov, New York
Nous Non Plus, Loli
The New Pornographers, Letter From an Occupant
Sing-Sing, Going Out Tonight
Wire Daisies, Rocket Girl
The Muffs, New Love
Meshell Ndegeocello, Liliquoi Moon
Damn Handsome and the Birthday Suits, Tainted Love
18th Dye, Is
The Rocking Horse Winner, Curable
Fantasy Baseball Strategy Guide and News for 8 April 2009 (Issue 17)
April 8, 2009Mike Redmond injured his groin and would be replaced by Jose Morales if he can’t go.
Even though Brendan Ryan started at second base on Opening Day, Skip Schumaker is the starter.
Episode 992 is up
April 8, 2009Episode 991 is up
April 7, 2009Fantasy Baseball Strategy Guide and News for 7 April 2009 (Issue 16)
April 7, 2009Marco Scutaro bat leadoff yesterday. This is worth looking into.
Otherwise, don’t overreact by Opening Day. Aces always get hammered. Some no-name always gets four hits. Stay the course. April should only be used to make minor tweaks. Don’t drop a veteran unless he loses his job. If there are still problems in May, that’s when you start dropping players.
Episode 990 is up
April 7, 2009Fantasy Baseball Strategy Guide and News for 6 April 2009 (Issue 15)
April 6, 2009Jordan Schaefer hit a home run in his first major league at-bat and is the starting center fielder for the Braves. He’s a good pickup for steals, however, not power.
While Ichiro is on the disabled list, Endy Chavez will bat leadoff.
Josh Anderson will start in left field for the Tigers.
Jason Hammel was traded to the Colorado Rockies, where he will pitch in the rotation. This means Jeff Niemann will be the No. 5 starter in Tampa Bay.
Austin Kearns will start in right field, not Elijah Dukes.
James MacDonald will be the No. 5 starter for the Dodgers but should only be considered in NL-only leagues.
Superchunk “Leaves in the Gutter EP”
April 5, 2009Superchunk have been around for so long that I bet they first tried to call it a maxisingle. There are five tracks. “Learned to Surf” leads off and should remind you of Superchunk of yore. They’ve aged a bit. They almost sound a bit tired in the vocals, but the accompaniment is full of energy and proves that you can recreate the 1990s sound without being boring.
“Misfits & Mistakes” offers more of the same. Maybe it’s a little better. “Screw It Up” is a lot better. Every track on this EP is worth a listen, really.
“Knock Knock Knock” maintains the same trend: Mac McCaughan seems a little tired, but musically the track is superb.
The last track is the acoustic demo of “Learned to Surf.” Back in the proverbial day we called this “Unplugged.” It sounds better than the juiced up version, but really these are minor quibbles. We should be so lucky to have any new Superchunk to listen to at all!
Gliss “Devotion Implosion”
April 5, 2009It’s another mid-1990s fuzzy guitar occasionally female-fronted last-name-Deal knockoff. That’s fine. I always want more pseudo-Amps music. “29 Acts of Love” is as good a song as any, I suppose. Stay away from the longer tracks, though. A lot of these songs run a bit more than they should.
“Sleep” is an example of this, clocking in at 5:09, but the melody makes it worth it. Still, the tempo could be increased a bit without taking anything away from the song, and we’d all be better off. “Sad Eyes” sounds like Suffrajett. It has some hootin’ and hollerin’, but otherwise it’s still a bit tired.
“Love Songs” has smoother guitar and reminds me of Catherine Wheel. It’s understandable considering how the rest of the album sounds. All this album does is remind me of how depressing the music was when I came of age. That’s not exactly the best selling point.
Pass.
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