Jello with Chopsticks

Okay, let's get the baseball out of the way (until I come up with some new haiku, anyway). The hated Red Sox defeated the Yankees last night, 3-2. Tim Wakefield's knuckler looked off in the 1st inning, but then he settled down and pitched brilliantly. The Yankees went 1-9 with men in scoring position, placing all the pressure on Mike Mussina, who pitched damned well, but apparently not well enough. Mussina is not a happy camper today. The game was maddening to watch for a Yankees fan. The Sox mighty offense was held in check, really, but the Yankees just cannot hit Wakefield. I cannot think of many things more frustrating than watching your team get shut down by a guy throwing 68 mph. I was trying be nonchalant, accept that it's going to be a long series, shrug it off, but it was driving me NUTS. I was boiling inside, ready to strangle someone's pets.
Ruben Sierra came off the bench to pinch hit a homer in the 9th, but that was it. Alfonso Soriano struck out waving at pitches out of the strike zone, leaving the Yankees hot hitter and all-around October hero, Derek Jeter, in the on-deck circle. Why a cold hitter like Soriano is waving at pitches when they desperately needed a baserunner and Jeter, who's been terrific at the plate is on deck and arggggggggggh...you get the idea. Today, Boomer Wells gets the call against Derek Lowe. The Yankees jumped on Lowe in Game 2, but he's much much better at Fenway Park. I can't decide if we're going to get the great big-game David Wells, or if he's going to have one of those unfortunate flame-out games, sending the Yankees back to the Bronx needing to win both games. I just hope the Yankees can score early and let him pitch with a lead.

Before Sunday's rainout, I thought the Yankees would pounce on John Burkett and put a stranglehold on this series. Now, I think it's fated to go 7 games. I still like the Yankees to win it, but damn, its going to be a helluva fight.

After the game last night I wound down by watching Brian DePalma's Casualties of War. Not really the best choice to try to turn a down mood around, but I'd never seen it and it was on cable. Michael J. Fox was very very good in a tough part. He's got to be our window into this awful world, and yet if he seems too aww shucks goody-goody, we'll just reject him. It's one of those performances that's tougher than it looks. Meanwhile, Sean Penn pretty much chews up the jungle scenery. I'm a Penn fan, but I found his faux-Noo Yawk accent distracting--an odd choice. DePalma's direction is assured and somewhat restrained (for him), but the movie just doesn't take off to the heights it should. It's an ugly subject (specifically,the rape and murder of a Vietnamese girl by US soldiers in the field; generally, the dehumanizing effects of combat and a pointless war), and David Rabe's script never really makes any transcendent points about it all. It feels like an intended GREAT STATEMENT that got away. It never seems like DePalma's having fun, either. In his best films (like Dressed To Kill, Carrie, Blow Out, The Untouchables, the underrated Carlito's Way, even the controversial bomb Femme Fatale, which I loved), the viewer can sense DePalma's joy of filmmaking--the rush he gets from making a movie. Casualties of War just feels like an attempt to make a "great movie" without that inspiration.

Listening to Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, live at the Allen Theater in Cleveland, OH, from February 1, 1974. They were opening for Wishbone Ash! I know I've heard some Wishbone Ash songs, but I can't for the life of me remember any of them. Suffice to say, stuffed into a 45 minute opening act slot, Bruce is delivering the goods--great early material like Kitty's Back, Spirit in the Night, Blinded by the Light and songs that remained unreleased for decades, like Zero and Blind Terry and the great set-piece Thundercrack. I'm a big fan of the funky, pre-'75 E-Street Band, I wish I'd had a chance to see them live. (Not that I have any beefs with the post-'75 edition of the band) Oh well, I thank the bootleggers and Bruce & the band.

C'mon Boomer - we need this one today!