VAGUE SPACE

Baseball's Back

With the Tour de France unceremoniously over (16th place Iban Mayo was the latest to fail a doping test today) and the Phillies and Mariners both on relatively good runs - and in second place in their division - it's time for one last big hopeful push into baseball fandom this season (before the inevitable September collapses by both leave me angry and hopeless and railing at team management).  With the trading deadline approaching fast, a number of deals have been made, the biggest being Teixeira to Atlanta (and out of the AL for any BBM fans out there), while the Phillies have been involved in two minor deals.  The M's have yet to make a move at the time of this writing, but are rumored to be in for Octavio Dotel or a Tampa Bay reliever (Al Reyes or Dan Wheeler), which is rather strange in that the Mariners bullpen is by far the greatest strength of the team and um... those are relievers they are supposedly trading for.  But this is the same management that continues to have AAA All-Star outfielder Adam Jones playing in Tacoma while Raul Ibanez continues to circle fly balls in left and Jose Vidro's sub-.400 SLG (6th lowest in the AL) continues to clog up the DH slot.  Well played, Bill Bavasi.  Well played.

Anyway, the Phillies lost Chase Utley last week for at least 4 weeks, which probably means their attempt to close the 4 game margin to the Mets is all but lost, but Tom Gordon and Brett Myers have just returned from the DL to shore up the greatest weakness of the team, their bullpen (if only the Phillies and Mariners could switch bullpens, the Phillies would be running away with this division).  Of course, in the 1 step forward, 2 steps back of Philadelphia sports life, Ryan Madson, the best remaining reliever in Gordon and Myers' absence and on something like a 13 inning scoreless streak, heard something "tear" on Sunday and is probably out for the year.  Nice.  But Tadahito Iguchi was acquired to take over 2nd for Utley (in what most are calling a make up trade between Gillick and White Sox GM Kenny Williams as a result of the offseason trade between the two of an apparently already injured Freddy Garcia).  And that will help.  Having Chris Coste up (and if Charlie Manuel had a brain, playing regularly) will help the pathetic offense from the catcher slot.  And the liberal use of Greg Dobbs at 3rd is helping the pathetic offense there.  The trade for Kyle Lohse for nobody will help the rotation by providing a body at least -- and one that is arguably a step up from JD Durbin and Adam Eaton.  But still, the great Garcia-Hamels-Myers-Moyer-Lieber-Eaton overflow of starters that we were sporting in spring training has been reduced to Hamels-Moyer and pray for rain, which is not an incredibly hopeful turn of events.  But Kyle Kendrick is now 4-1 since replacing the injured Lieber from AA, and maybe some combination of Lohse-Eaton-Durbin can put in a few quality starts down the stretch.  The offense - even without Utley - is strong enough.  Everything else is... well, pretty crappy, but hey, if they keep playing the Pirates and Nationals, anything can happen.

Happy Birthday

It's my birthday today.  It's been a pretty crazy year.  I switched jobs, sort of.  I'm going back to school.  And I'm about a month or so away from being done with a novel.  I won another EFFL championship.  I won a few poker games.  I ran a few 5ks.  I got drunk, got no sleep, and struggled to remember what happened.  And that was just this weekend.  And through it all, I've lasted through another year of blogging.  So thanks for reading.  And happy birthday to whoever's being born (TM DramaRama).

• Download DramaRama - "What are We Gonna Do?".mp3
• Download Bright Eyes - "Happy Birthday to Me".mp3
• Download Sufjan Stevens - "Happy Birthday".mp3
• Download American Analog Set - "Born on the Cusp".mp3
• Download The Wrens - "Happy".mp3
• Download Sugar - "Your Favorite Thing".mp3
• Download Pulp - "Party Hard".mp3
• Download Guided by Voices - "How's My Drinking?".mp3
• Download Pulp - "Help the Aged".mp3
• Download The Magnetic Fields - "When You're Old and Lonely".mp3
• Download The New Pornographers - "Testament to Youth in Verse".mp3
• Download Mum - "I'm 9 Today".mp3
• Download Bright Eyes - "I Will Be Grateful for this Day".mp3
• Download Jose Gonzalez - "Save Your Day".mp3
• Download Yo La Tengo - "Today is the Day".mp3

The Nightmare is Over

Our long national nightmare is over.  No, not the Bush administration.  And no, not the 2007 Tour de France.  The nightmare of running the 2007 Rounders softball franchise has ended thanks to a pair of unceremonious defeats last night to the #1 seed only two days after our first ever playoff victories.  The short rest was devastating to the team, missing one regular outfielder and forced to start a lineup with two players injured on Tuesday and barely able to walk (and I'm not even including myself).  After Jan got injured himself mid-game, there were 5 players - literally half the team - hobbling around enough to require pinch runners.  Fortunately, we weren't on base very much, so the pinch running need wasn't there.  But seriously, it was a good, fun season and the team really came together at the end, and if it wasn't such a massive headache trying to drag people out to the field, especially early in the season, I'd be eagerly signing us up for the fall league.  But anyway, thanks to everyone who ended up playing and giving their all, many despite injuries, and fighting through to a final team record of 8-18, which doesn't sound impressive to any readers until you consider that the 8 wins are probably as many as our last 3 seasons combined. 

Hell Freezes Over

For the first time in the long and illustrious history of the Woodbridge Mercy Rule/ Edison Rounders/ just Rounders franchise, my softball team has been victorious in a playoff contest.  Last night, at 9:30 pm at the Manalapan recreation center, Matt hit a sharp grounder to 3rd with the bases loaded and two outs and the score tied in the bottom of the 7th which escaped the 3rd baseman's grasp, allowing Rich to sprint past into the 3rd base bag, forcing a throw to second to try to nab an ever-slowing-in-his-old age Jan on his way to the base, and although the throw would have beat him, it sailed high and wide and Kevin - pinch-running for an injured Anthony, scored the winning run, giving the Rounders the sweep, 2 games to none.  We were playing the #7 seed in the playoffs (we were the 10 seed) so it was a mild upset, although to be honest, we definitely had the better team on the field last night.  The first game was a relative rout turned closer when our bats fell silent late in the game, and the second game was a pitcher/defense duel as our energy and enthusiasm waned, partly due to the absence of our great fan rooting section of Switsky and Young and Rudnick -- oh, wait a second, those bastards haven't shown up at a single game this season -- I meant, Norbert's wife and children, who left early in the 2nd game.  But the bats came alive when needed and the defense and pitching held on for the victories.

Highlights of the contests included the opposing team getting warned by the umpire for arguing in the 1st inning of the 1st game, which certainly distracted them early in that game, as well as somewhat erratic umpiring for the entire night, as Matt's pitches started getting called "too high," despite not being called that the entire season (this ump was new to our league I think - he asked about what the mercy rule score was and referenced a Freehold league in the ensuing discussion).  But Matt adjusted and pitched a great game, holding the "Young Gunz" to a few runs through the first five innings of the first game, while the Rounders built up a 13-3 lead despite setting a team and league record for most strikeouts in a game in a slow-pitch softball contest.  Admittedly, most were foulouts with 2 strikes, but what the hell was up with all the Ks?  Anyway, thanks to 3-hit performances by Jan and Shawn and yours truly and a 4-hit performance by Mr. Lenny Larry LegFu Gerber, the offense was clicking, and Billy hit the first Rounders HR of the season with a 3rd inning blast that gave us a 4-0 lead.  A special note on the so-called "bottom of the order" of Shawn, Larry, me, and Norbert, who scored 8 of the team's 13 runs, keeping the offense going the entire game.  The opponents came back late, but the final score was 13-9 and the Rounders took home the win.

Vino Tests Positive

Report from Velonews...

      
      

Double stage winner Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) learned Tuesday that he had tested positive for homologous blood doping following his victory in Saturday's individual time trial. 

Vinokourov and his Astana team have reportedly withdrawn from the Tour. 

The 33-year-old had lost all chance of winning the Tour with a dismal performance in Sunday's 14th stage but then bounced back to take Monday's 15th stage in the Pyrenees.

Journalists were attending a Saunier Duval-Prodir team press conference about the team's charity program to plant 1 million trees in Mali when the first story moved across the wire: Vinokourov positive for blood doping. 

David Millar was the first rider to react to the news: "Jesus Christ - there you go, that's my quote," he blurted out. "What timing, huh? This is just fucking great." 

The rehabilitated rider, who served a two-year ban for admitting to use the banned blood booster EPO, quickly composed himself and addressed the assembled scribes. 

"It makes me very sad because Vino is one of my favorite riders. He's one of the most elegant riders in the peloton," he said. "If a guy of his stature and class is doing that in what's cycling living right now, we can just all pack our bags and go home." 

It's been an incredible race this year, an absolutely wonderfully electric Tour, and Vino provided several of the highlights, from his early crash that knocked him out of contention to the dramatic wins in stages 13 & 15, but now it is all impossibly tainted.  This will overshadow the Tour much like the Landis/Ullrich/Basso controversy overshadowed last year's Tour.  Even if the Chicken somehow escapes detection as he cruises to victory, there is just a huge deflation of excitement for this die-hard fan.  So now what?  I have no idea.  I will watch today's stage.  I will hope that Alberto Contador challenges Rasmussen like he did on Monday.  And I hope that our great young American team hopeful is clean.  But it's impossible not to doubt that anyone racing - whether near the leader board or not - is not doping. 

Vino has been involved in allegations at least since last year's Tour and teamed with Ullrich, Sinkewitz, Kessler, and many other indicted riders.  So it's not such a shock.  Maybe there are clean riders.  But maybe too much damage has been done.  I don't know how they clean this up.  I don't know why riders keep doping when it seems to be so easily detectable.  I can't imagine major sponsors of decimated teams like T-Mobile and Astana will continue to put money into this sport.  The Disco boys were already looking for a new sponsor for next year with Discovery Channel bowing out.  Will Contador be destined for greatness in this sport if there's no one left to pay him?

As for Vague Space, my regular readers will be happy to hear that this will be the last Tour post of the year.  So enjoy.  I certainly am not.

(The sign to the left is taken from the actual Austrian town of "Fucking" which is an amusing name to 12-year-olds, some of my readers, British tourists who keep stealing the sign, and well... me).

Advance Copy

Through legitimate means (I actually paid for them already), I have obtained and listened to advance copies of highly anticipated new releases by Okkervil River, The New Pornographers, and Stars.  Each of these albums were leaked in the previous month and I mostly resisted downloading them, but each of the artists decided that since the albums were out there already, why not give fans a way to legitimately purchase and listen to their works instead of waiting for official release dates weeks or months after the leaks appeared.  I think this is an excellent move that helps to deflect a major complaint of "illegal" downloaders - that they can't resist downloading an advance copy of a highly anticipated release, and that when it comes out in reality, it feels anti-climactic to purchase a hard copy of an album, especially if you didn't really like it or were already tired of it.  So this is a really cool way to get the downloads immediately and then get the hard copy a few weeks or months later, but with the purchase already made.  The only downside is that I can't post any of the great new songs I'm listening to, because (a) the labels would make me take them down immediately, and (b) that defeats the whole purpose of paying for advance copies.

So here are the approved release tracks, some of which have already been posted on my site anyway.  But have a listen...

• Download The New Pornographers - "Myriad Harbor".mp3
• Purchase "Challengers"
  
  • I'm absolutely loving Challengers.  It's my favorite New Pornographers release to date (admittedly I was never much a fan of anything but the Dan Bejar tracks before).  "Adventures in Solitude" is absolutely gorgeous, while "All the Old Showstoppers", "Go Places" and the epic "Unguided" have found their way onto my iPod repeat list all month.  In addition, there's hardly a weak track in the bunch.  The only downside is the three Bejar tracks are not as brilliant as I'd hoped, but are still quite good.

• Download Stars - "Take me to the Riot".mp3
• Purchase "In Our Bedroom After the War"
  
  • I'm not entirely positive what to make of Stars and the new album.  Previous release, Set Yourself on Fire, which I thought I loved, had one absolutely wonderful track "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" and very little else that I actually loved.  The remix album that came out earlier this year was hit and miss.  And I've never even heard much of their earlier album material on Nightsongs and Heart.  So on the bright side, I really like the new album.  On the downside, nothing has stood out like "Your Ex-Lover is Dead."  But I think this is cohesive and very strong release that goes off in original and unexpected directions musically. 
  • There is an unfortunate song or two, including one in which Torquill actually sounds like he's channeling Michael Jackson ("The Ghost of Geonva Heights"), which is rather disturbing.  And later he's channeling Antony from Antony & the Johnsons ("Barricade"), which I guess is interesting, but still a little unsettling.  But otherwise, it's pretty excellent.  And the male/female interplay on songs like "Midnight Coward" and "Personal" is rather great.  Other standouts include the closing title track "In Our Bedroom after the War", "The Night Starts Here", and "Take Me to the Riot".

Stage 14

Michael Rasmussen and Alberto Contador put their stamp on this stage, declaring once and for all their dominance in the mountains on this year's Tour de France, with Contador winning the stage for Team Discovery Channel and Rasmussen putting huge gaps on all other riders for the overall victory, making him the odds-on favorite to win this year's Tour, even with 1 more long individual time trial remaining.  And Vino's great surge yesterday?  Gone.  He didn't finish within 20 minutes of Contador's blistering race-winning pace.  What a stage.

Two HC climbs concluded Stage 14, and at the start of the second one, the Plateau de Beille, a five-man breakaway group still had about a 3 minute advantage over the peloton.  The peloton had already by then been whittled to about a 25 man group, with Vino the only favorite not part of the festivities.  He just didn't have it in him today after yesterday's great effort and no one on Team Astana attempted to keep him up with the leaders.  There's a chance he may retire from the race tomorrow.  Astana did have something to cheer about early, though, as Toni Colom took off from the breakaway group and put a big gap on the rest of them, holding the lead up most of the final mountain.  The other riders were one by one eaten up by the charging remainder of the peloton.

Team Discovery had a few cards to play too, though, and they put Yaroslav Popovych - who is having by far his best Tour ever - at the front of the race, pressing hard up the mountain and shedding major favorites from the lead chase group.  Alejandro Valverde dropped off, joined by teammate Oscar Pereiro, Iban Mayo, and then later... somewhat shockingly, yesterday's 3rd-place finisher, Astana teammate Andreas Kloden, dropped off.  A select group of exactly 9 riders were holding on until Popovych finally gave way to attacks by first, his teammate Levi Leipheimer and then teammate Contador, along with race leader Rasmussen.  Dropped from the select group was Astana's last challenger Andrey Kasheckin.  Only 6 men remained in the elite group -- Rasmussen, Contador, Leipheimer, Cadel Evans, Mauricio Soler, and CSC (and Vague Space) team leader Carlos Sastre.

Vino Vidi Chicken

Stage 13's time trial was one of the best races I've seen in a long time on the Tour, as Alexandre Vinokourov came from the depths of failure to scorch the course with a dominating win, taking him from 19th place overall to 9th place overall, while Michael "Chicken" Rasmussen shocked the world (except those now convinced he's doping) to put in his best time trial performance ever and hold on to his yellow jersey.  Equally shocking was the horrendous performance of pre-stage 2nd overall, Alejandro Valverde, who got passed on the course by Rasmussen (starting 3 minutes behind) and dropped right on out of the top 10 overall.  3rd place climbing specialist Iban Mayo also got dumped right on out of the top 10 with a more expected bad ride and young rider jersey holder Alberto Contador of Team Discovery Channel moved up into 3rd with a magnificent ride of his own.  Time trial experts Cadel Evans and Andreas Kloden finished 2nd and 3rd on today's ride, only behind Vino, moving them up into 2nd and 4th overall, and with the Pyrenees mountains beginning in tomorrow's Stage 14, things are very much wide open for a whole host of riders to win this year's Tour.  As long as the Chicken doping rumors don't take over the Tour, we could have one of the all-time greatest endings.

Here are today's results, highlighted by pre-race favorite Vinokourov, whose crash in the first week lost him a minute that day and left him too injured to compete in the Alps, losing huge chunks of time on those stages and basically nearing retirement from the race.  He was back in full force and full form today, though, with only one of his two legs still bandaged up, and if he can recover, he is not out of this race at all.  Team Astana had three of the top 4 riders.  The overall contenders are in bold...

Stage 13

1) Alexandre Vinokourov, Astana, 1:06:34
2) Cadel Evans, Predictor-Lotto, 1:07:49
3) Andreas Klöden, Astana, 1:08:13
4) Andrey Kashechkin, Astana, 1:08:19
5) Bradley Wiggins, Cofidis, in 1:08:48
6) Yaroslav Popovych, Discovery Channel, in 1:08:50
7) Alberto Contador, Discovery Channel, in 1:08:52
8) Sylvain Chavanel, Cofidis, in 1:09:12
9) Levi Leipheimer, Discovery Channel, in 1:09:13
10) Mikel Astarloza, Euskaltel-Euskadi, 1:09:16
11) Michael Rasmussen, Rabobank, 1:09:29
12) Vladimir Gusev, Discovery Channel, 1:09:30
13) Leif Hoste, Predictor-Lotto, in 1:09:30
14) Linus Gerdemann, T-Mobile, in 1:09:43
15) Juan Manuel Garate, Quick Step, in 1:09:47

Our Love to Admire

The eagerly anticipated third album from modern (post-2000) indie rock legends Interpol Our Love to Admire is... well how do I put this gently... not very good?  Maybe I've lost interest in the band and the NYC post-Joy Division sound in the years since the remarkable debut blast of "Obstacle 1" and "PDA" and "NYC".  I don't know.  Second album Antics was pretty damn great, but for whatever reason, I don't find myself listening to even the best songs like "Evil" or "Slow Hands" or "Take Me On a Cruise".  I mean, just looking at my iPod plays for 2007, the most-played Interpol song other than the middling first release off the new album "The Heinrich Maneuver" is "PDA" with 5 plays.  In 6 months.  That's not good.  So maybe I'm not the best judge of the album. 

I kind of like the opening track "Pioneer to the Falls," at least after its difficult and lengthy opening, as a swirling hook arrives at the 3rd minute, portending the start to an excellent album... that just never comes.  The second track "No I in Threesome" is actually one of the more memorable tracks, undercut by horrendous lyrics, and third track "Scale" is also catchy.  Then comes "Heinrich" and after that, well... I really don't remember anything sticking out or shining.  The album just seems absent any hooks at all - any rhythm or melody -- and so it just doesn't work for me.  Sorry, guys.  Here's a track that might make you have a different outlook.  I hope so.

• Download Interpol - "Scale".mp3

And here's some better tracks from lesser known 2007 releases (highlighted by Pitchfork on Monday)...

• Download The Besnard Lakes - "For Agent 13".mp3
• Download A Sunny Day in Glasgow - "The Best Summer Ever".mp3
• Download Stars of the Lid - "The Evil that Never Arrived".mp3

You Say Party! We Say Die!

Monster video.

Their sophomore LP Lose All Time will hit stores on August 15th via Paper Bag Records.  The band just returned from a successful jaunt overseas, and will be touring with K-OS this fall.   Next up they are working on another video for the track "Like I Give A Care".