Orel Family

Just about a year ago, I established an associates account with amazon, going primarily from my discography page (http://bruce.orel.ws/discography.html). Any amazon.com sales generated by people navigating to amazon from my site generates commissions, that amazon eventually sends my way. As I noted at that time, anything that comes my way from amazon.com will be turned over to charity, on a quarterly basis, doubled by a match from me. All selected charities will be from the set of charities documented at http://bruce.orel.ws/charities.html. During Q3 2006, a total of 68 items were sold by amazon off links from the site. Total commissions for the quarter were $52.29, more than tripling the previous high. With rounding, this quarter's donation+match is $100.00. I have selected Musicians on Call ( http://www.musiciansoncall.org/ ) this quarter's commission + match. Musicians On Call was originally founded as a division of the Kristen Ann Carr Fund; its objective is to b...

Went to the Palace last night to see Bob Dylan , and thoroughly enjoyed it. I had clued in to the pre-sale early enough to land 11th row seats, that always helps, though Lori's knee isn't good enough to let her stand the entire show. Some observations: His voice, recently described to me as now coming from a man with a stuck Harley-Davidson in his throat, sounded great. The Harley was humming throughout, and the phrasing was sublime. Sure, he doesn't have the range, and he missed some low notes on Tangled Up in Blue ... which meant, he played Tangled Up in Blue . I mean, come on, he was up there playing Tangled Up in Blue , and it sounded fucking fantastic. He can miss a couple low notes. Bob Dylan & the Just Shut Up and Play Band . This band should have a name, and that's mine. Dressed all in black, and everyone except the steel guitar player with a hat. The violinist who accompanied Dylan at the Masonic in 2005 (Elana Fremerman) was gone, but otherwise it was...

I went to my 2nd ever World Series game last night. Like the first World Series game I attended, it was the first World Series game in the city in more than 2 decades. And, like the first World Series game I attended, the opposing manager was Tony LaRussa. And, like the first World Series game I attended, LaRussa's team routed the home team. That first game, back in 1989, is hardly remembered. The A's won 13-3, 10 days after the Loma Prieta earthquake. Went with Karen and her brother Larry, amazingly his only other WS game was that very same game 3, 17 years ago. The view from the right field side, as the Cardinals take batting practice. The Tigers are heavy favorites; considering that the Cardinals starting lineup includes David Eckstein leading off, as well as Juan Encarnacion, Yadier Molina and Ronnie Beliard, this is understandable. Most people expect that Detroit will sweep the series, and the big question is whether the Cardinals will win a single game. Bob Seger...

There's a saying around here, goes something like this: If you don't like the weather in Michigan, stick around, it'll change. Of course, that doesn't always mean it'll get better . What had been a merely cool fall turned frigid this morning. I woke up to 36 degrees outside. Good thing I covered the plants last night, though I don't know if the covering held -- it was pretty windy out there. At about a quarter to 8, the snow started. According to reports that I have heard, this is the earliest ever recorded snow in the area. And this wasn't some tiny little squall, either, it was gusty with big flakes and limited visibility. There were white caps on the Detroit River today, and several more passing flurries during the afternoon. When I arrived home, there was snow on the ground. Still need to cover tonight, or at least make sure the covers haven't totally abandoned the plants -- not that there's much left, anyway. In the middle of this, the...

Gotta hand it to Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN . In a column he wrote for espn.com today , Wojo writes: "The martyr -- who missed 31 games in 2006, had only 367 at-bats, couldn't field his position, hit 29 points below his career average and produced his lowest home run total (in 112 games or more) since 1991 and his lowest RBI total (in 112 games or more) since 1989 -- is at it again. " That's pretty much right on cue, as predicted two weeks ago, when I wrote: "Much commentary on Bonds’ performance this year has focused on how he is suddenly 'human' (at age 42, who isn’t?) or that he’s not as feared as he once was, or that the assumed steroids must have worn off... On the surface, these observations might seem to have some merit: As I write, Bonds has a .262 batting average, his lowest since 1989. His .532 slugging percentage and his .988 OPS are his lowest since 1991... He has scored 69 runs; he’s never been below 89 as a qualifier. His RBI total of 6...

So the Giants went on a 10-game road trip, realistically needing to win 7 to have a decent shot of making a race of it. One game was rained out. In the 9 that were played the offense clicked well enough, putting up 51 runs, including 8 or more runs 3 times. But the woeful pitching became completely disastrous: The Giants surrendered 93 runs in the 8 games, including an astounding 26 first-inning runs (nearly 3 per game). 16 times the home team scored 3 or more runs against the Giants, including at least one such inning in each game. Given these numbers, it's no surprise that the Giants went 1-8 and fell completely out of the race (they were eliminated last night). As for Barry Bonds, here were his stats for the trip: G AB R H HR RBI BA OBP SLG OPS 8 26 5 11 2 10 .423 .464 .731 1.195 Bonds started 7 of the 9 games, and drove in the winning run as apinch-hitter in the lone Giants win. 5 times he was removed for a pinch runner or defensive replacement, including one time when...

Last Thursday (September 14), Barry Bonds had 4 plate appearances in a game against Colorado. The plate appearances were rather uneventful – a single in 3 official at bats, and a walk. The 6th inning single and the 7th inning walk both led to San Francisco runs; after the walk Todd Linden pinch-ran for Bonds. The Giants went on to win the game, 5-0. What was significant about Bonds’ 4 plate appearances, at least statistically, was that it pushed his total for 2006 to 453 total plate appearances. This was the Giants’ 146th game. In order to be a “qualifier” for awards such as batting championship or on-base percentage, a player must average 3.1 plate appearances per game, rounded to the nearest plate appearance. At 146 games, that means 453 total plate appearances. Bonds, with his 4 plate appearances, became a “qualifier” for the first time since May 29. Much commentary on Bonds’ performance this year has focused on how he is suddenly “human” (at age 42, who isn’t?) or that he’s...