Forgotten Superstars-Carl Radle

Ryan sends me this note of the passing of the Kinks original bassist Pete Quaife at the age of 66 and Quaife's passing began to make me think of my favorite bassist Carl Radle.
Radle is the first musician to be profiled in our forgotten superstar series.
Radle died far too soon at the age of 38 in 1980 from complications of alcohol and narcotics,but left some excellent work behind as his legacy.

Radle first came to my attention through his work with Gary Lewis and the Playboys,but was well known for his connection with Eric Clapton in both touring with Clapton's band and worked as a focal point of Clapton's solo work throughout the seventies.
Carl also can be heard as a key performer on George Harrison's "All things must pass" album,which was Harrison's first post-Beatles solo work and featured "My Sweet Lord" and "What is Life?" as Harrison's launching pad to solo stardom.
Radle can be seen on the concert film of Harrison's Bangledesh benefit concerts from Madison Square Garden in 1971.

Radle was one of the top studio bassists of all time having worked with performers that ranged from Art Garfunkel to Leon Russell,John Lee Hooker,Donovan and Rita Coolidge among others.
Just reading that list shows the versatility of the skills of Carl Radle.

I suppose what I liked best about Radle on the bass was the way he was able to stand out while remaining in the background,as dumb as that seems to read.
Radle's play stands out as being part of the music without the flashy performances that all too often occur with standout musicians.
Great enough to be heard as terrific,yet humble enough to blend into the band and create a greater sound is the ultimate compliment for any musician.

That was the greatness of Carl Radle.
More on Carl Radle can be found at a tribute site here.

Photo Credit-Carl Radle.com

Iron Gloves and Scatter Arms

Three errors handed the Oakland Athletics two runs and they needed all of them to escape with a 3-2 win over the Pirates.
Evan Meek dropped to 3-2 with the hard luck loss,while Lastings Milledge finally hit his first long ball of the season in the defeat.
The Pirates have now lost six in a row and have lost 18 of their 20 contests.
Pittsburgh now visits Wrigley Field tonight for the first of three tonight against the Cubs.
Paul Maholm (4-6) for the Pirates while Chicago counters with Randy Wells (3-6).

Pirate Hooks

1) Ross Ohlendorf's throw on a pickoff move cost the Pirates a run as the huge patch of foul territory in Oakland allowed Cliff Pennington to move from first to third instead of stopping at second.
Garrett Jones then threw the ball away in an attempt to throw Pennington out at third and Pennington scored the A's first run.
That immediately brought to mind when I would have my runners do a similar thing in youth baseball in an attempt to manufacture runs by forcing the opposition to make their throws count.
Rarely figured I would see that in the bigs.

2) As bad as that play was ,it didn't cost the Bucs as much as another error.
Evan Meek retired everyone he faced in two innings,whiffing four,but he didn't get to put Kurt Suzuki away after a routine pop up to Jason Jaramillo was dropped in foul ground.
Suzuki then homered to left with what proved to be the game winning run.
Errors happen and I generally like Jaramillo in his role as backup backstop,but when you aren't hitting .200 and cannot carry your weight even with the glove,what is your value to the team?

3) Other than the poor pickup throw by Ohlendorf and being late covering on first in another inning,very few bad things can be said about allowing just two hits over six innings and both runs being unearned.
This does give me the chance to complain about pitchers being allowed unearned runs despite them making an error though.
One of the few baseball rules that I just cannot stand.

4) Lastings Milledge finally hit his first homer and the tossing the monkey off his back in pantomine was pretty funny,but if Milledge could add even the past power he showed it would be good for the Buccos.
Not just for the production,but it might wake John Russell up from his apparent crush on the seemingly shot Ryan Church.

5) Andrew McCutchen wasn't immune on this day as he dropped a fly ball that eventually scored Oakland's second run.
It was a long run,but it was in his glove and should have hauled it in.

6) 2-18 overall in the last 20 and 17 road losses in a row.
I couldn't add more to that,if I tried....

7) Even though I missed Saturday's game,I liked the 70's uniforms worn by both teams.
Nothing I need to see all the time,but neat to see every year or so...

Sailing on choppy waters

The Pittsburgh Pirates have continued to lose since our last post with a sweep at the hands of the Rangers and then a bullpen devastation in Oakland.
I only have to miss one more game (should see the Sunday game) and then things are back to normal between seeing games again and the abomination that is interleague play leaves for the season.

The ship pushes off with a move by the Pirates that we described as possibly being a panic move at the time of the deal that now brings back memories of Captain Dave Littlefield.
The Pirates designated Dana Eveland for assignment after he pitched in just three games (1 start,2 relief) in the under a month stay in Pittsburgh after being picked up from Toronto.I questioned the move at the time and even more so now.
Eveland was awful in his outings,but not much worse than he had been with the Blue Jays,so what did the Pirates see that made them suddenly think that he wasn't worth having?
To me,Eveland looked like the same pitcher that he had always been.
Toronto has moved Ronald Uviedo to the starting rotation at AA New Hampshire and he has pitched well there.
Could this be Neal Huntington's version of Matt Herges for Chris Young?
A long way to go to find out,but it sure hasn't started well.


Zach Duke was placed on the disabled list,which will likely cost any value that the Pirates might have been able to have for him at the trade deadline.
Daniel McCutchen replaces him in the rotation for now,but Charlie Morton will likely be the long term replacement upon his return from Indianapolis.

Steven Jackson and Justin Thomas were promoted from Indianapolis for a few days.
Jackson could be returned as early as tonight to make room for Daniel McCutchen.

Indianapolis added two players from the Altoona Curve that have somewhat revived their prospect status as Daniel Moskos and Alex Presley were called up.
No word on Moskos being used as the Indy closer,but I would hope he is used in a one inning capacity of some type in order to prepare him for Pittsburgh.

Neil Walker hit a homer last night as well as his head against Ryan Church's knee.
Walker was forced from the game and is listed as day to day for now.

Back tomorrow with a quick look at the Devils second round selection and maybe some other small things as well..

On the signing front

Signing front continues with a quick look at the Lakewood Blue Claws and help from others.
I missed tons of Pirates news and yet didn't see the two losses in Texas and will miss the first two games of the Oakland series as well with work/time issues.
Quite a few notes from Pirateland,so I'll try to do a Pirate related post tomorrow.

The Lakewood Blue Claws should have been a light series.
Team set yet to be released and just a few needs should have been an easy series.
Sebastian Valle signed on the first night and not thereafter.
Leandro Castro was the same,but with a twist.
Castro would sign his Topps pro debut card,but refused to sign his Bowman.
Considering that the same company produces both cards,I found that very odd.
First baseman Jonathan Singleton,a eighteen year old that is simply destroying SAL pitching was very nice and signed all three nights.
Singleton looks to be the next off the Phillies assembly line of young prospects.

Thanks to my friend Jason Christensen for his help with several players,including some that had been difficult for me to get.
Alex White was Cleveland's top pick in the 2009 draft,but was promoted to AA Akron from High A Kinston on the day that Kinston was scheduled to play their first game in Frederick.
Jason was able to get those signed for me as well as Lonnie Chisenhall,who was the top prospect that I had trouble getting last season for various reasons.
Jason also got me Richmond's Nick Noonan and Thomas Neal as well as Mets prospect Reese Havens on a few cards.
Thanks again to Jason.

Next time we will take a look at the Hagerstown Suns team set,who signed well,who didn't,the surprise cost of the set and the limited press run that contributed to the cost of the set...

Rangers grill Pirates

In the Pirates final interleague road swing of the season,the Pirates lost their opener in Texas to the Rangers 6-3 after a quick start that saw the Pirates score the first two runs of the game.
Ross Ohlendorf was the losing pitcher as he continued to seek his first win in dropping to 0-6.
The series continues tonight with Paul Maholm (4-5) against Dustin Nippert for the Rangers (2-3) at 8:05.

Pirate Hooks

1) This looks to be the last Pirate recap for a few days,at least as far as Hooks go.
I was just called into work for an overtime night,which is great for the wallet,but that means that I will miss the final two games of the Rangers series to go along with the first two against Oakland.
Look for some bonus Indian coverage,which appeared to be walking all over the Giants in our poll..

2) Akinori Iwamura accepted his demotion to Indianapolis and as a result will continue to receive his just under five million dollar salary.
Smart move by Iwamura,who will get nowhere near that type of coin on his next contract and by eating just a small bit of pride and playing eight or nine weeks at Indy makes money that he will never be able to make up.

3) Ross Ohlendorf retired the first ten batters than he faced before allowing a Michael Young homer.
This continued a trend for Ohlendorf,who seems to struggle seeing hitters multiple times.
Perhaps this could be a reason that the Yankees saw Ohlendorf's future as a reliever?

4) The play that might have changed the game was Ryan Doumit being waved home with one out on a Lastings Milledge double.
Doumit was out by the proverbial country mile despite a home plate collision with Matt Trainor.
Poor decision by third base coach Tony Beasley.

5) Zach Duke will throw on the side today,but if he is unable to throw,the Post-Gazette reports that he will go on the DL.
This doesn't seem super serious,but cannot help any trade value that Duke has before the deadline...

6) Bad news for Pirate prospect Tony Sanchez,who broke his jaw at the plate recently.
No final diagnosis for Sanchez or his season being over as of now.

7) No TV for the Indians on Saturday,so vote in the new poll to help make decisions on coverage...

8) Still working on the Pirate prospect series.This is taking more time as I have decided to remove the four players now in Pittsburgh.
Those were already finished,so in some ways it is starting from scratch.
However,it will be better because I will be able to factor in the first three months of the 2010 season.

Photo Credit-Cody Duty-AP Photo

Late addition

I was going to add this as a direct link to NationalsProspects.com,but they are having some issues today.
Check them out when they get things straightened out.

I have tried to be lighter on the Hagerstown Suns entertainment group this season.
I realize that I am not the targeted demographic of their entertainment,so in order to not ruin any enjoyment of what they offer by others,I have attempted to avoid it.
However at a recent game that I attended with "Sue Dinem" of NatsProspects,something was brought to my attention that I have ignored and should not have.
No longer.

The skit done by the H-Town crew that mocks Native Americans may be done in fun and without malice,but it certainly could be taken differently and needs to be eliminated.
One might see that I am being hypocritical being a Cleveland Indian fan,an organization that uses a logo that uses a stereotypical depiction of the Native American.
However,I would say the tradition of the Indians,Washington Redskins and the Boston/Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves gives them a marginal pass with marketing,although I would be reticent to say that further marketing of new variations of products etc would be a good idea.
The Redskins really should be using the yellow "Lombardi" helmet anyway, it is just so cool looking and would save them a large chunk of hassle.
The pic does not do the helmet its true justice.
The Hagerstown Suns have no tradition in this area,their team is not based on or named after a group of particular Native American and frankly the skit is just in poor taste.
I don't think that anything is meant by it and I am sure that it is meant to entertain the fans,but when someone dances with a headdress on (and a discount version at that) and adds a war dance and war whoops as well,I find that offensive.

The Native American seems to be the final group that can be offended with impunity.
Other ethnic groups would never be slandered in such a way and rightfully so.
Here is hoping that this skit and its corresponding song "Apache" can quietly retire to its place in the dust bin where it belongs and a replacement can be found without a word being said.
After all,their are tons of novelty songs that fans can enjoy,the H-Town Crew can dance to that are fun and offensive to no one.
I can ignore Monster Mash just as well as Cottoneyed Joe.

Back with the Pirates loss to the Rangers later today.

Photo Credit
Suns:Sue Dinem-NationalsProspects.com
Helmet:The Helmet Project

Cleaning out the Inbox

Tons of stuff from the inbox that has accumulated today,so right to it we go.

Ohio State looks to be set at quarterback for the foreseeable future as the top prospect of the 2011 quarterback class has committed to be a Buckeye.
Huber Heights Ohio's Braxton Miller looks to be the eventual replacement for Terrelle Pryor after a possible 2011 redshirt season.
The possible part is that the Buckeyes cannot be sure that Pryor will return for the 2011 campaign although it would serve him well to do so.
Watching the struggles of the player that Pryor is so often compared to in Vince Young,might that persuade Pryor to return to Columbus for his senior season?
It would be best for his development as a player,but that doesn't mean that money would not rule the day.

Ohio State also lost wideout Duron Carter to academic issues as Carter transferred to a Kansas JUCO to get things in order.
Carter caught the ball well,but wasn't exactly a speed burner.
The biggest concern for me is now OSU has just two experienced receivers on the roster in DeVier Posey and Dane Sanzenbacher.
That usually takes care of itself after a few games,but it still could be an issue.

Recently,the Harrisburg Patriot News looked at minor league stadiums in their radius and graded them using seven different areas of criteria.
Click here for their grades,but I have attended games at five of the nine facilities and my grades would be different.
I might do a similar post after the season when I can add three or four stadiums to my collection,but I would rate Frederick far higher than the writer did right off the bat...

This is an eleven day old post from Bucs Dugout,but this was very detailed and the author put so much research to it,I had to toss it into this spot.
"Vlad" looks at the Pirates draft picks and their signability from various points of research.
Other than our occasional guest here,Wilbur Miller,Vlad stands out as next in line as far as respected and knowledgeable Pirate fans in my opinion.

We wrap up with a very interesting look at how the Big 12 managed to work its way from its death bed to staying alive with this article from Orangebloods.com.
Well worth the read if this sort of thing interests you.

Back later with a look at the Pirates loss in Texas.