#1

It may be the result of selection bias, but I have never seen a manager have the impact on a team that Billy did (positive short-term, negative mid- to long-term).

Merry Christmas

Cowabunga Kwanzaa to the RLYW community, and may the new year bring more glory from Mo.  Perhaps more lowering of his postseason ERA.

may the new year bring more glory from Mo

There is an entire generation of New York based 30-something Peter Pans whose ever-blooming youth is hitched to the continuing dominance of this most unusual phenomenon known as Mariano Fucking Rivera.  I am of these Pans.  How can this ride end?  What will become of me when it does?  I toast another year of youth!

Merrily Festvulness to all expressions. Lanterns to shine mostfully.
I really meen dat.

i missed the whole lantern thing.

i just watched all the bourne movies on mute.

Eelz, there was a wonderful Engrish translation from a Japanese site about Matusi in his pre-Angel free agent days that identified our GM as “Cashman(lantern)”.  It will be forever thus.  You might also find some such reference to Fuse and Chamber Ream, with similar origin.

CIA Kung Fu needs no sound.

oh man! thanks dave. did read that post, didn’t recall the lanternism. fuse & chamber ream, i thought one of you guys had just come up with. please don’t tell me “snacks pontoon” was lifted from the daily yomiuri too.

i’d never seen all three. those are some badass movies. i wouldn’t have understood what was going on anyway.

Not Cashman(lantern,, but GM (lantern) of floating dreams.
Pure poetry.

floating dreams.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=dreame001der

Why when I log on do I always get the “1 tip of a flat belly” ad?  Google knows me too well.

Merry Christmas to all, a belated Happy Hannukah and a slightly early Happy Kwanzaa.

Thurm and MC, a seafood Xmas eve is my family’s usual, but this year we went out as we are visiting my sister in New Orleans.  But we are cooking a Christmas feast today.  Ever have goose?  Well, we are.  I gave the recipe a test-drive last weekend and if it turns out as good, should be a good meal.

Re: Billy Martin, when he died I had a confused/contemptuous reaction:  Who goes out drinking on Christmas?  Until a couple years later, when I did the same.  I swear this is true:  I went boozing in a divey jazz bar in Buffalo, and sat next to Rick James.  He seemed nice enough—didn’t tie us to chairs or burn us with crack pipes.  Thank you, Christmas spirit!

FGas, was that…
THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER?
Must be one hell of a story.

I’ve always wanted to try my hand at goose, gas, but I’ve never gotten around to it for some reason.  Probably because the inspiration always hits at Christmas, and I’m too exhausted from doing the fish feast the night before.  My head didn’t hit the pillow until 3:30, and that was on the early side by recent standards.

But it was worth it.  The chef’s head is still quite swollen from all the compliments.  And judging by the paucity of leftovers, they weren’t blowing smoke.

So anyhow, goose pointers much appreciated if/when you get a chance.  I’ll be on the road tomorrow though, hoping that the rain and traffic are both light.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

Also: Billy Martin was an alcoholic. He drank on Christmas because it was a day ending in “Y.”

My clearest memory of Martin was actually the infamous Pine Tar game—I was in the stands that day, and I had no fucking clue what was going on until I got home that night, since nobody told us anything in the Stadium, and this was in the days before I could pull out my iPhone and check the LoHud blog to find out what was actually going on. Ah, how technologically weak we were back in the 20th century when we had to hand crank our computers and walk to school in the snow up hill backwards both ways…..

i’m the only one here, for once.

don’5 woey, i’l ki33p an 2y2 on things.

A belated Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Bodacious Boxing Day, Krazy Kwanzaa, and Festive Festivus to all!

I got almost everything I asked for (the return of OBP Jesus and Javy) except Matt Holliday, but there is always next year I guess (waits for Cashman (lantern) to point to corner and reveal hidden BB gun ala Mr. Parker).

[15]
Keith, that’s fascinating… what DID you think was happening?

geez. and i didn’t even hang with rick james. or prince for that matter

Goose:

I have to admit that goose #2 was not as successful.  The skin was not as crisp, yet the meat was drier.  The bird was smaller (9 lbs) versus the 12 pounder I did last time.  Perhaps that made a difference, but see below.

For the stuffing, that’s up to your taste.  I used a recipe called Christmas Goose, Dickens Style (just google it).

There are a lot of slightly different approaches out there which you can peruse by googling; here’s what I did.

To prep the bird, you start 2 days before, or 3 days, by defrosting the bird overnight.  Frozen goose is easy to find, fresh not so.  I do not know if fresh goose would be handled differently.  You can defrost in the fridge, or put it in a sink full of cool water.

The next day, pull out the giblets and save whatever you plan to use.  I reserved the liver for later use but haven’t done anything with it yet—I did not make giblet gravy either time.  Trim away exchess fat around the cavity openings.  You can save the skin too if you like for later use.

Pierce goose fat lightly all over with a skewer, pricking the skin but not the meat, holding skewer parallel to the goose.  You’ll see where the really fatty areas are; you won’t need to pierce on the legs, for example, the skin and fat are very thin.

Now, dip the bird into a pot of boiling water for a minute.  If you don’t have a really big pot you can do it in stages.  Drain and pat dry inside and out.

This is a good point to check for quills.  There will be some fine, hairlike remains but you can ignore these; you only want to get out the larger remains, which are say 1/8 wide and 1/4 to 1/2 long.  There shouldn’t be many.  Tweezers or needlenose pliers work well.

Now, at this stage the internets tell you to put it uncovered in the refrigerator for 24-48 hours.  The first goose I cooked, I missed this part and didn’t start prepping until day of.  Figuring that the time in the fridge was to dry the bird and sweat some of the fat out, I put it in an oven at 170 for an hour, then refrigerated for a couple.  With goose #2, I did the 24 hrs in the fridge.  Goose 1 came out better.  Coincidence or conspiracy?

Before cooking, rub goose with spices or whatever you’re using and stuff it.  Use wooden skewers pre-soaked in water to close the openings, or you can use kitchen twine to sew them shut.

Now, you need a deepish roasting pan, and a rack that holds the goose well above the bottom.  You need a goodly amount of water in the bottom—an inchor so—so the drippings wont splatter and burn; too little water will evaporate, and of course you don’t want the goose to touch the water and boil.

Cook for 1 1/2 hrs, breast down, at 325. 

Turn the bird, skim fat off drippings and reserve for other purposes.  Baste if you like.  The skin, if it’s going well, should be a rich brown and getting crispy already.

Cook another 1 1/2 hrs.  Skin should now be brown and crispy all over, but just in case, give it another 15 minutes at 400. 

Remove, let rest 1/2 hr, carve. 

There is much less breast meat on a goose for its size that for a chicken or domesticated turkey.  Also, I had a hard time figuring out the whole thigh area, but I’m not a good carver.

At this point, the meat should still be moist, and the skin crunchy.  You really don’t want it soft at all.

Hope this helps!

On August 4, 1960, Martin, then playing for the Reds, charged the mound in the second inning after receiving a brushback pitch from Chicago Cubs pitcher Jim Brewer. Martin threw his bat at Brewer, who picked up the bat and started to hand it to Martin as he approached. Martin punched Brewer in the right eye, breaking his cheekbone. Brewer was hospitalized for two months, and Martin served a five-day suspension. The Cubs sued Martin for $1 million for the loss of Brewer’s services. While the Cubs dropped their case, Brewer pursued his, and in 1969, a judge ordered Martin to pay $10,000 in damages. When informed of the judgment by the press, he asked sarcastically, “How do they want it? Cash or check

Belated Happy Holidays everyone.

I’m old enough I remember the tail end of the Martin era.  First year I was really a “fan” was 1985, and Martin definitely was the savior that year (even though the ending was disappointing).  Don’t recall what he did to get himself fired after that.  I learned Martin in reverse, really.  First 1985, then learned about the Pine Tar game, then the late 70’s, THEN found out he was a player at one point.

[19] We really had no idea. After the home run, we were all deflated, and then Martin came out of the dugout pointing an accusatory finger at the ground. There was a ton of discussion, and then the umpires reversed the home run call, and Brett came storming out of the dugout like a bat out of hell, looking like he was going to commit several acts of homicide in the next four and a half seconds.

We had no frapping clue what was happening until we got home. On the subway back, we were wondering and speculating. The bat never occurred to us….

Site is still a little pokey, but at least it isn’t crashing on me. Is the DoS attack over ?