Stephen King and Stewart O'Nan chronicled in their book "Faithful" , the Red Sox simply do not play well on the West Coast. Ever. Well....A quick look at Baseball-reference.com show that's not entirely the case. Since '99, going into this season, the Sox have a road record against the A's and the Halos of 40...and 40. As in .500. Ironically King and O'Nan wrote that the Sox never win on the West Coast in 2005. Which was in fact the first year since 99 that the Red Sox didn't have an overall winning record in California. From 2000 through 2004, had a 24-15 record in CA, but since then only a 12-21 record. Why is this? Still, the opening 3-6 record in 2009 shouldn't be the cause of too much concern. Clearly, with the exception of Youk and Wake, the rest of the team is playing very much below expectations, and most of them should improve (and some, including Lowell, have shown that they are). However, what is more a cause for concern is Big Papi. I watched 2 of the West Coast games, and every time he comes up to bat, my first thought is: There's no way that wrist is 100 %
He looks uncomfortable in the batter's box, his swing looks noticably slower and pitchers clearly have his number right now. Bay and Drew have the potential to make up some of the power numbers, and Youk is on a mission to steal the MVP title from his team mate, but if BP remains a shadow of his former self, then with the loss of Mannyland, this team will struggle with power. I've been wrong with predictions before, so but I'll be watching with a sligly baited breath.... However, with the punching bag otherwise known as the Orioles coming to town, I suspect the Red Sox will be substantially closer to .500 by the end of the series.
I'm a music nut.There's no other way to describe it.After getting my first radio and cassette player (remember those?!?) at an early age, my life has been surrounded by music. More or less every significant event or time period in my life can be connected to certain songs, albums or artists.Junior High? My metal phase, mainly Iron Maiden (The Power Slave and Somewhere in Time albums) and Van Halen. Albums on heavy rotation were 1984, 5150 and the aforementioned IM records.High School? My guitar was my life in junior high and early high school and I listened more to guitarists than bands, so Eddie Van Halen, Clapton and Steve Lukather featured frequently. I moved after my first year in high school and making new friends expanded my musical genres, and I was introduce to The Cure and Depeche Mode, and later the first ventures into dance music - which also coincided with the beginning of regular concert going. Albums included Staring at the Sea, Violator, Fahrenheit and Lettin' Off Steam. In college? More of The Cure, and got introduced to Red Hot Chili Peppers, Barenaked Ladies, D:A:D and Manic Street Preachers. This was also the period when I started DJing, both at clubs and on the radio, so my music taste became even more eclectic; discovering more house music, R'n'B, hiphop and soul. A Tribe Called Quest, De-La-Soul, Guru, KLF, NWA/Ice Cube and Snoop/Dr.Dre did many turns on the turntables. Most of my income was spent on records, and I had now amassed a substantial collection. Influential albums; Gold Against The Soul, Gordon, Blood Sugar Sex Magic and The White Room.Emigrating? Moving from Sweden to the UK ironically made me embrace Swedish music to a greater extent as well as some new British discoveries. Eric Gadd and Blacknuss represented Sweden, whilst Fat Boy Slim and to an extent Oasis represented Britain. I also reacquainted myself with Aerosmith and Beastie Boys, and a certain Marshall Mathers came on the scene. Albums included Allstars, 2001, What's the Story?, You've Come A Long Way Baby, Nine Lives and
Floating.Often I'd go through more bands than clothes. Whenever I'd discover a new band, I HAD to get all the records the artist had ever released, and I'd listen exclusively for a few weeks or months until I found the next one. Some artists stuck, others were laid by the wayside.Somewhat bizarrely, on a trip to India I spotted a video on an Indian music channel by John Mayer, and his music has played a big part in my recent life. His Continuum album came out days after discovering the events that lead to my divorce, but luckily I can now listen to the album without my first thoughts going back to that time period.In the last eight to ten years my taste has returned a little bit to the more guitar oriented genres, and artists frequently played on my iPod(s) include Linkin Park, Lostprophets and probably my all time favourite - the Foo Fighters. I've over the years been to more concerts in my life than I can remember, but I sadly never got to see Van Halen with their original line-up. Despite that I did manage to many of the bands I listened to more frequently, including this (at least in Europe) somewhat unknown band that my Canadian dorm-mate introduced me to in 1992 - Barenaked Ladies. All good things must come to an end, but it's still sad to find out that one of the lead singers, Steven Page, went down a path in his life that ultimately ended with him leaving the band. At least I managed to see the original line-up several times, including a very memorable New Years Eve in Phoenix, AZ.Ah well, time to go to work, so it's Paramore and Prodigy on the iPod...
