CD review, public apologies, & smarmy remarks

1) I just got my boy Bronson Arroyo's new album "Covering the Bases" (see link on the side), and I have to say I'm very impressed. The guy actually has a fantastic voice, and even though the recording company probably used the same space-aged re-mixing technology that makes Britney Spears sound half human, I still would recommend picking it up. There really were only two criticisms I had:

a) on a few of the songs, Bronson tries to emulate the original versions with his voice a bit too much (the album is all cover songs) which detracts from his real voice and
b) the song that best showcases his true singing ability, Dirty Water, has Johnny Damon, Kevin Youkilis, and Lenny Dinardo talking over it with mindless banter about the 2004 season, which kind of ruins the song. If I could get my hands on a version mixed without those guys, I would grab it in a second.

However, on the whole, this is a fantastic album. All the songs are from that early 90s mold, which are right in my wheelhouse, as they remind me of the teenage angst I formed listening to these in my formative years, eventually leading to an addiction to anti-depressants, ratty jeans, and not getting laid. As an added benefit, check out the liner notes about why Bronson chose the particular songs he did; they read like a cross between an 8-year-old's postcard home from camp and the note accompanying a mix tape that a boy gives a girl in the 8th grade. I love it. Seriously, though, the album is worth it just for his versions of "Slide", "The Freshman", and "Best I've Ever Had".

2) Now that I am done product hawking, I would like to issue an official apology. You see, I have not been putting forth an entirely legitimate weblog. It pains me to say, I have used performance enhancers to reach the level of quality that you all have come to expect from me. The pressure and the daily grind of trying to post something every day that nearly 3 people will read, well, it weighs down on you. After a while, I got to a point where, when I tried to do a day post after a night post, I could barely get out of bed and face the keyboard. And when I did start typing, I found that my word choice suffered, my metaphors were thin, and my subject matter was trite. I was not able to naturally put forth the product expected by my loyal reader. So, faced with my own writing limitations and fearing a loss of production, I cheated. I starting using a thesaurus. You know, at first, I only did it when I felt like my writing needed that little extra kick, a little more pizzazz, dazzle, appeal, allure, flash, or glamour. I would only do it once in a while. But by the end, I was using it every day; my vocabulary had swollen to the size of Jennifer Lopez's ass. But, I'm sorry to say, it didn't stop there. I started using spell-checker and eventually the grammar-check as well. Oh, by the end, I was inserting "thats" for "which", eliminating the passive voice, and injecting reformatted texts into my posts like so many hepatitis needles into Tommy Lee's arm; I mean, there were days when I would look at my old posts, so young and innocent and budding with lithe promise, then look at these new hulking posts and feel the shame that came from knowing I had ruined all that was good an innocent about the internet. And I want to say, to all those budding webloggers out there, don't do what I did. Write the way you want to, don't worry about what your audience might think if your quality dips occasionally, and just be the weblogger that God intended you to be. Thank you, and God bless.

3) So, after 98 games of 8.5 or 9 innings, the Sox finally had their first extra innings game of the year. This was the longest a team has ever gone to start the season without playing an extra inning game, so I guess that is of note. I think, really, it is just indicative of the fact that the Sox have a) a really good offense that prevents deadlocks at certain scores and b) a brutal bullpen that also does the same. Oh, and they lost the game, to Tampa Bay. The two killer blows were when, in the top of the ninth, Adam Stern allowed himself to be tagged out between 3rd and home, leading to Manny popping out with the bases loaded. The second was in the tenth when, with Trot at second base, Olerud smoked a grounder up the middle and hit Trot in the basepath, making it a man on at 1st with two outs instead of 1st and 3rd with one out (or possibly even a run in, though I doubt it). Regardless, those are the kind of things that you see happen, and you can just feel a team deflate. Oh well. At least I didn't have to listen to the game with the White Sox announcers.

4) Two housekeeping notes on the form of the weblog. As some of you have already taken advantage of, there is now an "email Fletcher" link in the "links" section, as well as two other blogs that I have found amusing (one who I found, and one who apparently found me). So feel free to email me. Also, when I do the numerical posts now, since I've lost large sections of posts into the internet nether-regions, I've decided to throw them up in piecemeal. So, if you are reading the post and the post time is relatively recent, there very well may be more sections coming. Just an FYI.

5) Greatest line ever in tonight's game preview on redsox.com:
TB: LHP Mark Hendrickson
4-7, 6.82 ERA in 2005
0-1, infinity ERA against BOS in 2005

Hendrickson gave up 6 earned runs the only time he faced us all year, without recording an out.