Artistic futility of the week

"Monochrome"

If everything were clear

Would the truth be hard to find?

If there were no shadows in the way

Would we be in such a bind?

The path of light is not so clear

Bent and blocked by clouds and rain

And the vapor hanging in the air

Blurs the eyes and fogs the brain

So I ask too many questions

As I stare off at the sea

Flashing back to when my home

Was what its supposed to be

But were guided by the icons

Who see things in monochrome

While the shades of gray give color

Light the path to golden domes

But our leaders make decisions

From their distorted ideal trail

While from the path of least resistance

We cry out to no avail

Could we all be misguided?

Now lost and far from home

Has are multicolored world

Transformed to monochrome?

The men we asked to stand with us

And right the wrongs theyve seen

Have had their views distorted

To a sickly shade of green

Suddenly opinions

From the well-connected seem

To increase in their importance

Enclosed in envelopes of green

While in the lands of colors

We live from day to day

Calling out in desperation

As we watch our world decay

In their insulated castles

Our calls can't penetrate

And the ones we had asked to help us

Become the ones we hate

The decisions based in monochrome

Have left us trapped and far off track

And our brilliant world of colors

Left no choice but fade to black...

Gas cans recap again

Again my schedule is not being of aid with regard to me posting nightly gas cans. So here's the recap.

Wednesday -- Francisco Cordero of the Rangers
Thursday -- Scott Linebrink of the Padres (Julio Franco homered and you lost the game)
Friday -- Armando Benitez of the Giants. I know Tim Worrell has the stat line to qualify but the two runs charged to him that mattered came with Benitez on the hill and needing only one out to close the deal.
Saturday -- On a night with few candidates will refer you to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Chad Orvella, I know it's one run but it's one run on bad night for candidate.

Saturday side note: Jose Mesa, please feel free to bury the hatchet. I know Omar Vizquel wrote a book and accused you of choking in the W0rld Series with the Indians, which by the way you did, but it is perfectly acceptable to conduct an Omar Vizquel at-bat without hitting him. Since you can't move on I hope you are happy with start a 2-game bean ball war which will result in numerous suspensions.

Sunday -- Gary Majewski of the Nats: Wilson Betemit hits one out of pitcher friendly RFK. I'm sure the post-game discussion with Frank Robinson was enlightening for Majewski

Song Lyric of the day (long distance dedication to Jose Mesa)
"I'm not gonna let this phase me
'Cause I've learned the beauty of letting go"
Socialburn -- Cold Night

At the sarcastic request of a reader

Gas cans in Brief

Friday April 14th: Scott Linebrink of the Padres earned the can for surrendering a home run to Jeff Francoeur to break an 8th inning tie. The Padres lost 5-4

Saturday April 15th: I've heard many Yankee fans refer to Mariano Rivera as being one of three things you can count on, the others being death and taxes. So it is on what would be tax day that the world's greatest one-pitch pitcher joins the legion of gas cans as he gave up 2 runs in the 9th in a 6-5 loss to the Twins.

Sunday April 16th: Huston Street: I know it was your bobblehead day, and I know Mark Teixiera can hit and has a lot of power. However, 4 runs in 2/3 of an inning as a closer will earn you the can most nights.

Monday April 17th: Matt Wise of the Brewers: He came in in the 7th with a 6-3 lead and promptly gave up 5 runs including a 3-run homer to Jason Lane (which gives you bonus gas can points because of the subsequent Pavement song rounding the bases in my head the rest of the night).

Tuesday April 18th: Ruddy Lugo of the Devil Ray wins only because the Astros hung on otherwise the entire bullpen would have won gas can by committee. Games where Roy Oswalt has an 11-2 lead should not end 13-12.

As for our winner, 2 runs given up while recording no outs is usually "good" enough for our criteria.

Another effort constructed while sleep deprived

Here's another one of my efforts crafted at 3:00am while medicated so if it's weak you know why.

"Some Reassembly Required"

I’ve lost my way so many times
That I don’t know where to turn
I’ve been shattered
Torn and tattered
And you’d one day I’d learn

I must respect my limitations
Not allow myself to stray
But alas I pushed the envelope
In a crumpled pile I lay

I cannot stay in pieces
Rebuilding from the ground
Drawing upon strengths of others
Whose inspiration I have found

I draw upon their courage
I draw upon their will
Their perseverance guides me
As shards pile on the sill

I rebuild all the fragments
My responsibilities the glue
I cannot let them down now
No matter what I do

Reconstructed inner strength
It’s time to move along
And to all of those who guide me
I leave to you this song

Week of gas cans in abbreviated fashion due to schedules

My schedule at work and class has been obscene thus the gas cans will be minimalist.

Sunday: The baseball gods listened. Jason Isringhausen gave up a game-losing grand slam to Michael Barrett.

Monday: Mike Stanton of the Nats for loading the bases and giving up a sac fly to Eric Bruntlett

Tuesday: Andrew Sisco of the Royals for letting the Yankees come back and win

Wednesday: Hong-Chih Kuo of the Dodgers took the loss giving up two runs after coming in to a tied game.

Thursday: Jason Isringhausen does not disappoint again giving up a walk-off to Carlos Lee

Now I'm caught up.

Tomorrow: "Some Reassembly Required"

Weekend gas cans

This weekend so far has been filled with solid attempts at on-field arson. Among the nominees from Saturday were Cliff Politte of the White Sox, Luis Vizcaino of the Diamondbacks but these two are a little short of the mark of Saturday's winner.

Chad Qualls 1/3 IP 4 hits, 4 earned runs (let 2 inherited runners score that were charged to Roy Oswalt), and generally disrupted my dinner enjoyment at a local Houston establishment. Congratulations Chad. You're the first pitcher to win the award all three years it's been given.

There has been one reliever this week who has performed like a well-trained gas can but was never in a pivotal situation to warrant the official award. Just as an excuse to type his stat line, I hereby award the award for Best Supporting Arsonist (in a non-critical role) to Chris Hammond of the Cincinnati Reds.
His week: 2 appearances, 1/3 IP 7ER for an ERA of 189.00.

Keep it up. I'm sure that performances like these will get you nominated for the official award sooner than later.

At the time of this writing, Chris Reitsma of the Atlanta Braves is the leader in the clubhouse. Although baseball gods, if you're listening, Jason Isringhausen or another Cardinal deserves the award. Can you please make this happen?

Gas can awards for Thursday and Friday

Initially there was not going to be a gas can for Thursday since I didn't watch baseball due to participation in musical events. Thankfully, often insightful contributor Jeff did my job for me and supplied nominees. So to catch up on Thursday the nominees were: Joey Eischen of the Nationals and Mike Gonzales of the Pirates. On the strength of giving up the game-losing home run, Gonzales gets the nod.

Nats fan don't worry your squad is represented with Friday's winner. I didn't need nominees for today, I saw an award-winning performance in the Astros-Nats game of almost hall of shame quality. The Nats Jason Bergmann came in with the Nats trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the 6th. Six batters and no outs later the anemic Astros offense had opened a 6-1 lead.

Bergmann's numbers: 0.0 IP 3 hits, 4 runs all earned, 2 HR, 2 walks, and hit a batter.

I hope to have my reviews of People in Planes As Far as the Eye Can See and Evans Blue Melody and Energetic Nature of Volume this week however, this may require reminders from any of you that care.

Strike a match, pour gasoline

I'm still pondering the suggestions for the namesake of the gas can of the day. I'm leaning toward the Kim award but the other suggestions are certainly still being considered (though living in Houston and giving out the Brad Lidge award to the most spectacular relief failure of the day could be fatal).

With that said the winners from the last two days are:

Tuesday-- Scott Procter of the Yankees (Rule #2: Unless there is a clear leader for the award, Yankee candidate will be preference due to my complete disdain for the team)

Wednesday-- Jorge Julio of the Mets. Coming in in the 10th inning and giving up 5 runs (admittedly 3 were unearned) while recording only two outs generally assures victory for this award.

Song Lyric of the Day
Since I used part of the song in the title of this post in the last song of the day, I will defer to another recent addition to my music library.

"Under the surface, we're all the same
Searching for purpose, running from shame"
Wideawake -- Misunderstood

A completely disjointed rant

Today, April 4th 2006, is starting off well. Happy Foiled release day to you all. I'll summarize the joy that is Foiled one day when I get around to music reviews.

Opening day in baseball brings the first installment of the "Gas Can of the Day" award. Each day the pewter can is awarded to the MLB reliever whose performance most negatively affected his team's performance. While there were a number of good stat line candidates yesterday, Only Solomon Torres of the Pirates actually took a loss while the other candidates either imploded with big leads that their teams held on to or imploded late in a blowout. As a result, It is my pleasure to hand out the first award to Solomon Torres.

I need a new pitcher to name the award after. The leader in the clubhouse is the Julian Tavarez Gas Can of the Day award, but feel free to add suggestions through comment.

Song Lyric of the Day
"We talk
Together sharpening a knife
Like killing partners for a life
Hey, we can hide the bodies on the ride home."
Blue October -- "She's My Ride Home"

First MLB post of the year

With the season 24 hours away, My inaugural baseball post is a plea to the 29 other MLB besides the Giants to feel free and mock Barry Bonds at every opportunity. Might I suggest the 10-second cheerleader intro beginning of Edgewater's "Caught in the Moment" as potential intro music for each at bat?

Song Lyric of the Day

(Cheerleaders) LET’S GO! C-H-E-A-T-E-R
(repeat 3 times)
(End Cheerleaders)
I have a weakness, for some of her sweetness.
God made her curves for me to see.
I got a feeling that I might be cheating.
Maybe I should walk away.

Edgewater-- "Caught in the Moment"