I once named one of my jerkball teams “Monty Stratton Got A Raw Deal”. #stand

Mike Mills rose from a chair and strolled out to his car, but not to fetch a musical instrument to perform songs from the catalog of R.E.M., his seminal alternative-rock band. A fantasy draft of Masters golfers, involving Mills and a dozen others at a house not far from Augusta National Golf Club, had just concluded. And with baseball games in the East winding down, Mills was retrieving a laptop to take stock of his ...

Loudness WAR.

“Boy, the music is loud,” said Vin Scully with some apparent irritation as the Dodger broadcast came back from commercial tonight, before following with his usual geniality, “Let’s get back to this one.”

It was the top of the sixth inning – typical storytelling time for Scully – but one of two things happened. Either the telecast came back too late to capture the bulk of a story for which “Boy, the music is loud” was the punchline, or the music was just so loud ...

Racing in the Street and Babe Shadow.

A-listed B-streeters

Rays manager Joe Maddon is excited for the Sunday and Monday pregame performances of the B-Street Band, the long-running Bruce Springsteen, right, tribute group led by his childhood buddy Willie Forte. Maddon’s favorites of their covers? “I like their Jungleland, and their Spirit in the Night is pretty good,” he said. Though it has been suggested, Maddon will not be singing. “I can’t,” he said. “Plus, it’s pregame, so that’s another ...

Sock It to Me Seger! Not quite the Debbie Harry/Ted Bundy removed VW seat..uhh, story…but this Ted Simmons/Bob Seger riff is pretty sweet.

As Ted and Maryanne hitchhiked alongside U.S. 23 North coming out of Ann Arbor, a van pulled over. Ted helped Maryanne into the front passenger’s seat, then climbed into the back.

“I get in, all the seats had been removed, and there was a full drum set in the back,” says Simmons, now a senior adviser to Mariners general manager Jack Zdurencik after a ...

I don’t like Rush, therefore…

The annals of rock music’s history are filled with legendary stories of bands’ backstage antics. But Rush bassist and singer Geddy Lee, who’ll be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April alongside his band-mates, has a habit that seems particularly unusual for a rock star – if all-too-familiar to baseball fans.

“We do an intermission between sets,” he said Tuesday while visiting MLB.com’s studios in Manhattan, “and the first thing I do is check ...

Not only was Count Matchuki a better DJ…he had a much better pitcher’s name!

By night, in the offseason, he is Mazr the deejay, standing in front of the microphones in the clubs of Seattle. Come baseball season, he is Trevor May, pitching prospect extraordinaire for the Minnesota Twins. He is a hard-throwing right-hander who walks to the mound with just one intention: strike out the hitter.

“That’s kind of my thing,” he said. “It’s like in high school where you try to strike everybody out.” ...Read More...

No Rumor: Skafish Wrigley Concert

That looks like a concert stage at Wrigley Field. (Duh.) Conclusion drawn: Pearl Jam might be playing a concert at Wrigley this year. Note the hashtag #StayTuned, which also appears on this tweet from the official Cubs Twitter account:

...“Our diamond, our jewel” are lyrics from Eddie Vedder’s Cubs song “All The Way”. (Yes, I know some of you don’t like that song. Personally, I do.) Eddie already played on a Wrigley stage last September with Bruce ...

“All I Want For Christmas Is an Alien Invasion”...and it can’t come soon enough.

MLB.com asked Major League Baseball players for their favorite holiday songs, and in Barry Zito’s case, there could be only one at the top of the charts. The Giants’ pitcher is listening again to Nat King Cole’s time-honored classic, The Christmas Song.

“We listened to it my whole life,” Zito said, “and it is the most warm and nostalgic version of any song for me because he was my dad’s best friend.”

...

Baseball, New Wave Hot Dogs and whatever…

When music journalist and WFMU deejay Jesse Jarnow decided to write a biography of Yo La Tengo, he realized that he needed to tell more than just the story of a rock ‘n roll band. So the book became Big Day Coming: Yo La Tengo & The Rise Of Indie Rock, and included carefully researched details about the birth of Hoboken’s music scene in the early Eighties.

But Jarnow went even further, and started his book by writing about baseball and the role ...

Brian Evans should have made the Basketball Hall of Fame before Jim Rice made the…huh? wha??

Boston Red Sox legend Jim Rice, a member of The Baseball Hall of Fame, has just completed a new TV commercial which will promote the new single “At Fenway,” now on sale at Best Buy and Amazon.com.

The song, written and recorded by crooner Brian Evans, was produced by multiple Grammy Award winning producer Narada Michael Walden…

After debuting at #3 on Amazon.com, astonishing given the single was ...

Shortstopyo: Game Beginning.

ESPN The Magazine’s Steve Wulf wrote about Rollins’ experience with the kids. Not surprisingly, the trip seems to have meant as much to Rollins as it did for the kids, who will hopefully get a nicer ball field due in part to Jimmy’s efforts.

The whole story is worth your time, for sure, but we thoroughly enjoyed one nugget in particular. Jimmy was pulled onto a stage during a lunchtime gathering on Martin Luther King Day and busted out a freestyle rap that went ...

Just so he can play with The Remains!

Theo Epstein, the former Red Sox general manager, will return home this weekend to help host the semi-annual “Hot Stove Cool Music” charity concert that launched 12 years ago.

Legendary baseball journalist Peter Gammons and a slew of musical performers will join Epstein, a Brookline native, at the Paradise Rock Club in Allston for Saturday night’s fundraiser – three months after he resigned as general manager of the Red Sox to lead baseball ...

Kicking TBS: Live in Atlanta…with Dale Murphy.

Q: Probably not a lot of 50-something former MVPs can say they’ve been getting into Wilco and other bands, huh?

A: Well it’s been fun, and I think that’s the fun of Twitter – this intersection or cross-section of diverse people and interests, and you connect in ways … it’s been fun. In fact, I did a [online interview] with Peter Moylan, and he was asking me about music I listen to. And he and Chipper [Jones] were wondering who half ...

$300 to see Kenny Cheney and Tim McGraw? That’s the shitkickingest thing I’ve seen since Elton Britt ran for President in 1960!

If taxpayers pick up the tab for a new sports stadium which later hosts a concert, where does that money go and does the public get a kickback for their investment? That’s a question currently occupying many minds after the first concert at Target Field sold out in only four hours.

FOX 9 News reporter Tom Lyden began looking for the answer after a viewer e-mailed, ...

Nickelback? Foo Fighters?.....You’d think Moylan would be touting the Mangel Wankers or something, but nooooo.

Embattled rock band Nickelback have found themselves in the middle of another sports controversy—a Twitter fight with Peter Moylan, a relief pitcher for the Atlanta Braves baseball team.

Moylan threw the first high heater after attending the Foo Fighters’ Dec. 2 show at AAMI Park in Melbourne, Australia, tweeting how much more he liked Dave Grohl’s band than Chad Kroeger’s.

“Note to ...

Billy Joel? Elton John? Paul McCartney? Screw the wrecking ball…bring in the mofo Wrecking Crew to tear these MOR (Middle Of the yellow brick Road) ####-tinklers down!

Combining the life stories of Billy Joel and Shea Stadium with a minor-key glimpse at the relentless, Robert Moses-driven suburbanization of Long Island, Last Play at Shea captures a moment of bittersweet transition that valiantly attempts to valorize a world that is falling apart. (In the case of Shea Stadium, of course, this ...

Tell me when it’s over, Steve…please tell me when this is all over.

Among those rooting for the Brewers to reach the World Series may have been the band, the Baseball Project. While none of the members are Milwaukee fans (or Cardinals fans), they did have a gig lined up for the Milwaukee if the Brewers made the World Series—but you know the rest of the baseball side of the story.

The group—made up of indie rock veterans Steve Wynn (the Dream Syndicate), Linda Pitmon, Scott McCaughey (the ...

Ugh, more crapthetic tie-in crap…meanwhile Shiitty/Awesome gets passed over again!

Game 7 of the World Series is slated to air on Friday night, and for the second time during the baseball classic we are going to have an “American Idol” alum performing the National Anthem.

Who is it going to be? According to reports, Chris Daughtry is going to be taking to the field in order to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” just a week or so after season 10 champ Scotty McCreery performed the same song. ...

George Thorogood is no Doug Sahm.

Who would you rather party with—the 1969 Mets or the 1986 Mets?

Oh, the ‘86 Mets. They’re closer in age to me. ... My idea of partying is sitting at a bar and nursing a beer for two hours and talking baseball. I did that in Pittsburgh once. I was with Ed Lynch and Keith Hernandez, and for about three hours we went through two beers and 50 years of baseball. That’s my idea of partying.

Keith Hernandez is great to talk to. He’s my favorite announcer. He’s ...

Beane Spill

WATCHING I like music documentaries. I just recently saw “We Jam Econo — The Story of the Minutemen,” who were a California punk band from the ’80s. The Minutemen were one of those bands that didn’t really catch on in the mainstream and yet was incredibly influential on other artists that did make it.

The other one that I saw was “Hype!,” which is about the Seattle grunge scene. It has great archive footage of bands like Nirvana and Sound Garden and also Alice in ...

“Derek, I’ve got a screw loose for you…” (cue Jaye P. Morgan gongflash)

As organizers of “The Derek Jeter Plays” can attest, not just theatrical characters find “El Capitan” inspiring.

“Basically, [actor] Wende O’Reilly came up with this fantastic idea to promote Derek Jeter by way of plays. So she wanted an evening of plays, actually she would be the only one, with her and Derek Jeter to be with her in it,” says producer-actor Joan Pelzer. “But we decided, let’s make it a big evening and ...

Closers need these songs more than anyone. Pitching just one inning to end the game, they rely on elements of intimidation that workhorse starters can’t sustain over six or seven innings. Closers are performers in the full sense of the word, and their entrance music is nearly as much a part of their personas as a filthy slider or 97-mph fastball. Yet few understand what makes a good entrance song. They have much to learn. Most of which, incidentally, can be found in the following guide.

Bourbonletta!

¡Oye como va! It’s not hard to make out the blurry figure with his arms raised behind the percussionst. That’s St. Louis Cardinals skipper Tony La Russa providing a little backup for legendary musician Carlos Santana at a recent show.

Citizen Ben Weixlmann thought that some might not believe him, so he tweeted a photo of La Russa, (pretty much) plain as day on stage at the historic Fox Theatre in St. Louis during Santana’s concert Tuesday night. La Russa reportedly scooted ...

Only because…Johnny Giavotella got his pop gun!

Along with his 26 bombs, Trumbo has driven in 80 runs, collected 55 extra base hits and has a .486 slugging percentage percentage, leading the team in all four categories. And he came up with probably the Angels’ biggest hit of the season against the Rangers on August 18, when he slammed a two-run homer off reliever Mike Adams to give his team a 2-1 win, and keep them within six games of the leaders. Without the shot, LA is swept by Texas, falls ...

The Dunedin Sound to The Sound of Eden Done…

For most of his life, my brother believed that there was a direct correlation between the Montreal Expos’ fortunes and his own. (Given my brother’s occasional happiness and success, the theory was dubious from the start, and it would finally be disproved in 2004 when the Expos were given a name-change and moved to Washington and he was not.) In 1981, the Expos made the playoffs for the first and only time in franchise history, but were defeated by ...