Well So Much For The Excitement

These pickies of Godzilla and King Ghidorah represent my inner desire to just smash shit up today.

Couldn't Stand The Weather

It's really cold in my room, even with this heater on. When I think of the global warming issue, I feel guilty having the damn thing on, but I can only wear so many layers of clothing andf if there really was a global warming, I want some of that warmth to manifest in my room.

I've been tidying up the loose ends for the Discovery Channel Asia docos I've been working on as Associate Producer. It keeps me in the house, attached to my computer and phone. The grovelling I did two weeks ago has not paid off. They're still waiting on those tapes. So much for swallowing my pride.

Finally, Some Music
Yes, The never ending saga of 'Key Psycho' post-production continues. I have received my first music file from Jim McCrudden and have slotted it into the tracklay EDL. It sounds awesome. He's done a beautiful job, at least for the opening Main Title Theme. He nailed the Bernard Hermann feel we were after.

Slowly Collapsing But Collapsing All The Same
My Fantasy Baseball team fell to 4th today on the back of some abysmal hitting this week. A bit like the slippage of the Yankees this season, I blame Hideki Matsui. Now, Matsui issued an apology, but he sure didn't apologise to the good people out here who have him as a corner piece of their fantasy team.

Similarly, my AFL Team is struggling. They're coming 6th out of 16, but the bleak reality is that my team's upside is all of 1800 points per round. I doubt it's good enough to stay on the winning side of the ledger through this season.

I'm Livin' In Da Nile
I've signed up for the Yahoo World Cup fantasy soccer thingamijeebob.
You sign 23 players to a roster and pick your team from that pool. You can only have 3 members from a country, which rules out filling your squad with Brazillians (that's soccer players, not chicks with certain kinds of body-hair removal patterns).
I'll see how I go; watch this space.

He's Living in Denial
A piece on Terrence Long.

It's been a whirlwind journey since the Yankees called. In the span of seven days, Long signed a minor-league deal, played four games in Columbus and started in left field for the Yankees in last night's 9-5 loss to Red Sox at Fenway Park.

"Everything happened kind of fast," Long, 30, said before the game. "I went home and I sat and talked to my wife and my family for a couple of days. Then I got this got call, and it was the best thing that could have happened for me."

The injury-ravaged Yankees were desperate for outfield help. Right fielder Gary Sheffield has missed 16 games with wrist and hand injuries. Left fielder Hideki Matsui is out three months with a broken wrist. And reserve outfielder Bubba Crosby is on the disabled list with a pulled hamstring.

While there was a deep pool of players to choose from, Long seems like a decent fit considering his seven years of major-league experience and ability to play all three outfield spots.

"I'm sure I'm capable of coming in and helping," said Long, who has also played for the Mets, A's, Padres and Royals. "The good thing about it is it's not my first day in the big leagues.

Long had a rough night at the plate, going 0 for 4, but played a decent left field. He nearly allowed a run to score in the first by mishandling a ground ball, but otherwise covered his ground well.

"I felt good out there," Long said. "I had some pitches I could have hit and swung at a few I couldn't. But that's baseball."

Err, What? Capable of helping? You wanna help? Retire, Terrence, retire.
Talk about self-delusion. But wait, there's even more to this piece:

To this point in his career, Long has been productive wherever he's played. He's a .270 career hitter with good speed and a solid glove. He's also got valuable experience, appearing in 19 postseason games in four seasons in Oakland.

Long came highly recommended to the Yankees by first base coach Tony Pena, who managed Long on the Royals for part of last season.

"He's experienced, and that's sort of what we clung on to," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "I know he's got ability from what I've seen from across the field."

Oh my God. Don't cling to that hope Joe. I'm actually incredulous: The Yankee brass found positives to say about this player? They're in for a real shock. Now, here's the thing. He came at Tony Pena's recommendation. Now, they're going to listen to Tony because they're trying to sign his son Francisco.

The Yankees, Mets, Braves and Nationals are among the teams showing interest in catcher Francisco Pena, 16, the younger son of Yankees first-base coach Tony Pena. Francisco, a native of the Dominican Republic, is eligible to sign with a major-league club on July 2. Teams are attracted to his power, and Tony Pena told the Newark-Star Ledger that he didn't have as good an arm as Francisco at the same age. Pena's older son, Tony Jr., is the Braves' Class AAA shortstop.

Seriously, can there be any other explanation than they're doing Tony a big favour?

It Ain't Workin' So I'm Grumblin'
The Red Sox beat the Yankees 9-5. It was quite the thumping.
Chien-Ming Wang pitched, so wisely this time Joe Torre picked his day to put Bernie Williams in CF and Johnny Damon at DH. Of course this pushed Giambi on to 1B and Phillips to the bench, but such is life. The gaping hole in LF was filled with Terrence 'Expletive' Long who for some reason batted in front of Melky Cabrera at 8. - Melky Cabrera hit a double and scored a run, which is more than what could be said for Long who went 0-for-4 and was the last batter. While you don't want to pin hopes on Melky, you sort of think maybe that was 4 outs that did not need to be given away ahead of Melky coming to bat.

Wang had a forgettable day giving up 7 runs in 6 innings. Worse still, Colter Bean gave away two runs putting his ERA at 9.00. I guess he wasn't fooling anybody on the Sox today. I just hope they don't send him back down after 2 measley innings. I guess it's notime to be failing.
Nothing seems to be working at the moment for the Yanks.

UPDATE:
It occurred to me overnight as I grumbled my self to sleep about Terrence Long and Scott Erickson being on the roster, that maybe (just maybe) Brian Cashman is trying to educate Joe out of relying solely on 'veterans'. Everytime Joe demands a veteran, Cashman gives him one, but he makes sure the player is south of craptastic so that Joe is forced back into using the guys who are effective, regardless of experience. Need a veteran pitcher? Here, have Erickson. Need a veteran outfielder? Here, have Long. Pretty soon, Joe's going to have to count on guys like Colter Bean and Melky Cabrera - you know, actual Yankee farm produce. And just maybe those guys will stick in spite of Joe's prejudice.
In that sense Richard Hidalgo might have been just a little too good for that purpose.
Just a thought. I'm having to come up with crackpot theories to explain all this to myself.

UPDATE 2:
Colter Bean got sent don to make room for Gary Sheffield's return. It's disappointing, but also, so much for my crackpot theory.