No-no, no, NO!

The MLB trade deadline is this week and my team, the Mets, did what was expected that would do by now. They traded All-Star Carlos Beltran to the World Champion Giants for a minor league prospect and cash.
When I first heard the news I said to myself, “no, don’t give up like that.” The trade admits defeat and while I am someone who does live in reality I didn’t want the team to pack it in like that.

Beltran, who the Mets signed at 27 years of age, played nearly 7 years with the team and was going to be a free agent at the end of the year. Rather than avoid the chance that the team not get much of anything in return, they opted for this trade and a major salary jump.
They recently did the same thing with their relief pitcher, Frankie Rodriguez. They traded him for a player to be named later to the Brewers. This was another major money saver for a New York that shouldn’t have to worry about money like this in the biggest market in the world. But since the Mets owners were ripped off during the Bernie Madoff scandal, they find themselves in a position of weakness; not the best position for bargaining, that’s for certain.

The Cardinals and Blue Jays made an 8-player deal with each other yesterday. Colby Rasmus from St. Louis, and Edwin Jackson from Toronto were the main players in the deal. The Cardinals need help in fighting off the Brewers who were bolstered by the Rodriguez deal and also the Pirates who are still just a game and half out of first the NL Central currently sitting in third place.

The Angels Ervin Santana tossed a no-hitter yesterday against the Cleveland Indians to become the third pitcher this year to throw one (Justin Verlander and Francisco Liriano the others.) It was the first no-hitter against the Indians since 1993 when one-handed Jim Abbott threw one against them. It was the Angels first individual no-hitter since Mike Witt threw a perfect game for them in 1984.
While those seem like a long time there are still some teams in existence which have never had a no-hitter thrown by them including my own NY Mets which entered the league in 1962. Guys that came through the Mets system have thrown no-hitters for other teams – Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver and Dwight Gooden, for example, but never while wearing the Mets colors.

As of yesterday all of the teams that I picked to go to the playoffs this year would be in the playoffs if the season were to end now. Still the Phillies are screwing up my prediction that the Braves will win the NL East, but all else has fallen into line.

I have been a little busy for a few days and am still in the process of writing a book and helping someone else prepare to self-publish a book. But I make time for entertainment and watch TV at night (so motivated, right?)
America’s Got Talent is in the quarterfinal round and there are two acts that went through to the semi-finals last night that are of note.
The first one is Landau Eugene Murphy from WV. Landau has the best personal story of those left in the competition now. He is a 38-year old singer who has made a living working at a car wash in WV. He has never performed in front of crowds before and he sings like Frank Sinatra. The sounds that come out of his mouth when he sings just simply don’t match his appearance. That’s basically because when you think of guys who sing or sound like Sinatra (think Harry Connick, Jr. also) you get a certain picture in your head. This was why he ended up blowing everyone away on day one because initially it just looked like some delusional homeless guy had just taken the stage and was going to get a lot of laughs for a horrible attempt to try to rise from the gutter.

So Landau is now my current favorite.

Landau Eugene Murphy

 

The other act that is just sick is a guy who calls himself Professor Splash. This guy is 50 years old and the other night set a world record on “live” TV doing a belly flop from 3 stories high into a plastic blow-up pool with 12 inches of water in it.
Now I wondered if this was actually talent. The concept of the show is to find a talented act which would then get a contract to perform in Las Vegas.
Well, as even Howie Mandel (one of the judges) said, Evel Kenevil wasn’t necessarily talented. But both do one particular thing and that is entertaining a crowd. So is Professor Splash potentially a million-dollar act? Well, the judges broke a tie at the end of the show yesterday and did indeed push him through to the semi-finals. He now says that he will incorporate fire into his act. But just how far can he go? He has a few more times to perform and the bar needs to get raised to win the competition. Since he has defied death to get this far, will he need to actually die to win? Perhaps, if Landau steps up his game also!

This past Sunday I did my second show at the Rabbinical College of America in Morristown, NJ. During the summer the RCA functions as a religious camp.
Last year’s show there was great and so was this one.
Keep in mind that this is an uber conservative situation and last year I said in a skit that a cute girl was walking up to them and there were all sorts of commotion in the crowd. That skit wasn’t going down a sexual path but I was directed to come to the side of the stage and replace the word girl with squirrel. I did it as asked, but then it sort of sounded a little funny to say that the squirrel was a talent scout which had just walked over to them to audition them for a TV show.
Right before this year’s show a couple of the counselors double checked with me to make sure that I didn’t mention the word girl again this year.
Now contrast that situation to the swingers convention that I did last fall where half of the volunteers got naked on stage ten minutes into the routine simply after hearing the suggestion that it was a little hot in the room.

It makes for interesting stories around the entertainers lounge later. It does appear that I’m taking the show to a new level of clientele soon also as I am just about booked for a bi-sexual swingers convention.

I’m going to try the squirrel routine at that one.