Strange and Bold MLB Predictions, 2019 - by Brian Phillips

The best day of the year is here! Opening Day! The Pencilstorm staff will be hunkered down at the world famous Bier Stube on High in time for 1 pm first pitch. Last year they had free hot dogs too!

Before the 2019 season unfurls itself over the next six months allow me to get some strange and bold predictions down:

National League

Arizona Diamondbacks

Three years after a World Championship the 2004 D-Backs won just 51 games. The 2019 Arizona club won't be quite that putrid, but they won't win more than 65 games either.

Atlanta Braves

Weary of his weak bat the Braves bench and then demote Dansby Swanson by June in favor of Johan Carmargo.

Chicago Cubs

With his bum shoulder healed Kris Bryant returns to his MVP form hitting over .300 with 32 plus bombs and 110 plus RBI.

Cincinnati Reds

Often compared to Joey Votto for his superior plate skills, a healthy Jesse Winker logs an all-star campaign and ends up with across the board better numbers than the Reds' first baseman.

Colorado Rockies

With his new plate approach Ryan McMahon hits his way to an NL Rookie Of The Year award.

Los Angeles Dodgers

A broken down Clayton Kershaw only makes 10 starts for the Dodgers.

Miami Marlins

Trevor Richards makes 33 starts and finishes top 10 in Cy Young voting.

Milwaukee Brewers

Realizing Mike Moustakas is a terrible second baseman the Brewers rush #1 prospect Keston Hiura to the show by mid summer.

New York Mets

Oft injured outfielder Yoenis Cespedes does not play in a single 2019 game.

Philadelphia Phillies

Shifted to death, and spooked by his mega contract, Bryce Harper is booed mercilessly when he finishes April hitting .160.

Pittsburgh Pirates

His efforts to elevate the ball paying off, Josh Bell launches 27 home runs.

San Diego Padres

With an exciting influx of great young talent and behind newly signed Manny Machado, the Padres contend into September for a playoff spot.

San Francisco Giants

The Yankees see Greg Bird injured again, and Luke Voit is exposed with every day at bats. New York swings a deal with the Giants to acquire Brandon Belt for prospects. Belt hits 15 home runs for the Yankees in August and September.

St. Louis Cardinals

In the thick of the playoff hunt the Cards realize they can no longer afford to have Dexter Fowler in the every day line up. Fowler is DFA'd and Tyler O'Neill becomes an outfield regular.

Washington Nationals

While Bryce Harper struggles all season young phenom Juan Soto is in the running for NL MVP.

American League

Baltimore Orioles

The Vegas over/under is 59.5 at last check. This club will win no more than 40 games.

Boston Red Sox

Going into the season without an established closer the Sox turn to David Price by the All Star break.

Chicago White Sox

Eloy Jimenez has a better year than Vlad Jr and wins the AL Rookie of the Year.

Cleveland Indians

Finding themselves 5 games back of the Twins at the deadline the Tribe ship Corey Kluber to the contending Padres for outfield prospects.

Detroit Tigers

For the Tigers it's a long year, but a mostly healthy Miggie makes one last run at a batting title.

Houston Astros

Justin Verlander misses two months after injuring his back having sex with wife Kate Upton.

Kansas City Royals

The Royals run so much Billy Hamilton is only third on the team in steals as he loses playing time with his continued struggles at the plate.

Los Angeles Angels

A shell of his former self and with Justin Bour enjoying a surprisingly productive season, Albert Pujols is DFA'd and asked to take a position in the front office. Refusing that offer he is traded to the Cardinals for a single A relief pitcher.

Minnesota Twins

The surprising Twins win the AL Central by five games over the Tribe and then lose four straight to the Astros in the division round. A healthy Justin Verlander pitches a shut out in game one.

New York Yankees

Miguel Andujar's defense becomes such a liability that the Yanks ship him back to triple A and acquire Kyle Seager from the Mariners.

Oakland Athletics

Never able to get their ragged pitching staff right the A's finish third behind the Astros and Angels.

Seattle Mariners

In a wholesale sell-off Seager isn't the only one traded. Edwin Encanarcion and Jay Bruce are also dealt for prospects.

Tampa Bay Rays

Fueled by young stars Blake Snell, Brandon Lowe and Willie Adames along with a career year from Tommy Pham, the Rays take the second wild card and shock the Red Sox in the wild card game.

Texas Rangers

Joey Gallo reaches a new career high in batting average by hitting .212.

Toronto Blue Jays

With the collective bargaining agreement looming and players concerned about a possible salary cap, Vladimir Guererro Junior signs a ten year $200 million dollar deal with the Jays.

Tribe Musings - by Scott Goldberg

For me there are basically two types of Cleveland sports fans: 1) This is the year--no matter how bad the last two decades have been (Browns—lately, Indians—‘60’s and 70’s) or how many tragic failings (Indians—lately, Browns—the fumble, the drive), this is the year we reach the mountaintop (for the Indians that means win the World Series, for the Browns that means finish above .500); and 2) This team will definitely break my heart.  There are the rare fans that can combine the two, but I have generally been in category 2 since the year Sports Illustrated put Joe Carter and Corey Snyder on the cover of its baseball preview issue circa 1987?? Geez, I am old. 

This year feels like when you ate that carry-out even though you probably should have thrown it out sorta year.  Gone are the bats of Encarnacion, Brantley, and Alonso, and bullpen arms Andrew Miller and Cody Allen.  I'll admit I'm not going to miss Encarnacion--his numbers look good, but it always felt like his homers came when we were already up 5 runs and struck out when the game was on the line.  It also feels like Miller and Allen's best years are behind them--like 2016 when we should have beat the Cubs in the f-ing World Series.  Brantley is going to have a big year.  Hidden somewhere in the middle of the Astros lineup, he probably ends up having champagne poured over his head as the Astros win the World Series.  Alonso seemed to have a lot of big hits, but my guess is the return of Carlos Santana will be about a wash at first base. 

Other than bringing Santana back, the Indians have done little to improve their roster.  The theory seems to be that the AL Central is so weak that they need to do little to solidify their position at the top of the division.  This gives the Tribe the luxury to find out if some of their young players are ready to be every day contributors or go out mid-season and find a piece or two for the playoffs.  I trust the front knows stuff I don't about the make up of this team, but I thought the half burrito in the fridge from last week was still good and I was wrong, very wrong. 

Lindor and Kipnis won't be available opening day.  And although, the Indians survived most of last year without Kipnis (and could again this year), we need Frankie.  It's not just his bat (he is a fantasy stud) or his glove (at least above average--he's no Omar), but mostly it's his smile.  He is the leader of the team along with Tito and makes sure everyone is loose and having fun.  He is a joy to watch and it's clear his joy is infectious for both his teammates and the fans.  Then this week Jose Ramirez gets carted off the field.  Thankfully, the injury seems minor, but the Indian’s prospects change in a heartbeat if Jose isn't in the lineup. 

The bright spot should be starting pitching.  Apart from the Tribe shopping Kluber and Bauer this offseason (what the hell was that about) and Bauer's dissatisfaction as to how he was treated in arbitration, the rotation looks to be perhaps the best in baseball.  Let's just hope Tito can save them so they have something left for the post-season.  The bullpen was shaky at best last year, doesn't feel like they added much to improve, but my sense is they won't be any worse than last year. 

Couple of guys I see stepping up this year: Leonys Martin and Greg Allen.  Not totally sure why I feel this way, but tried to pick them up late in my fantasy draft and missed on both, so that tells me others might be thinking the same thing.  

It's spring--let the games begin.  Go Tribe.  Oh, and did you here the Browns got Odell….

Corona's Covers For a Cure: Saturday, March 30th, CD 102.5 Big Room Bar - by Ricki C.

I’ll be playing a set at the third annual Corona’s Covers For a Cure cancer benefit at the CD 102.5 Big Room Bar this Saturday, March 30th, right around 5 pm. The show runs a full eight hours, 4 pm-midnight, details and a full schedule can be found here.

Corona’s Covers For a Cure is a cause that’s kinda near & dear to my heart. Two years ago – late-winter 2017 – I was leaving the Zangmeister Cancer Clinic where my sister Dianne was receiving chemotherapy treatments for colon cancer and I used to go along to hang out with her during her treatments. As I was driving home I heard a commercial on CD 102.5 for the inaugural Corona benefit show, detailing the idea that local rockers would be doing covers by artists lost to cancer. “Hey, I know some Velvet Underground songs,” I said to myself in the car. (Velvets guitarist Sterling Morrison had died in 1995 of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.)

I contacted the station to cadge my way onto the bill and they kindly accepted. That first year Colin Gawel’s League Bowlers also played the show. Bowlers drummer Jim Johnson and myself had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in previous years, so that was another compelling reason to give back to the cause. What none of us could have known in March 2017 was that Mike Parks – the genius lead guitar player of The League Bowlers – would be diagnosed with a particularly virulent strain of stomach cancer in July of 2017 and be taken from us in January 2018, before the SECOND Corona’s Covers For a Cure show even took place.

Dianne passed in November 2017 and my brother Al from complications of congestive heart failure in February 2018, so that second benefit in March 2018 was a tough one to play. But I worked up an original tune to honor all those passings, and deployed my usual helping of Velvet Underground and Mott The Hoople covers. This year will be a little easier, and I’m happy that CD 102.5 and Corona have again given me the privilege of being able to honor the memories of the musicians AND relatives & friends that we’ve lost.

The show is eight hours long, the money you’re gonna pay at the door will help people, you’re gonna get to down some Coronas and kill a few brain cells to aid a good cause for once, rather than just for the hell of it, so you should come out. I’ll see you there. – Ricki C. / March 26th, 2019.

 CORONA’S COVERS FOR A CURE SCHEDULE, 2019

4:00 Doors

4:30-4:55

Dave and Leanna Buker - The Bee Gees

5:05-5:35

Ricki C. - Ramones/Velvets/Mott The Hoople

5:45-6:30

Gregg Molnar - David Bowie

6:40-7:25

Sean Woosley - The Tragically Hip

7:35-8:20

The Kosher Salamis - The Ramones

8:30-9:15

Methmatics - The New York Dolls

9:25-10:10

Loud Pedal - The Beatles

10:20-11:05

Electro Cult Circus - The Beastie Boys

11:15-12:00

Brian Clash & the Coffee House Rebels - The Velvet Underground

My Top Five Concerts of All Time - by Pete Vogel

To continue with JCE’s inspiration to document powerful musical experiences, I’ve decided to write about my top five live concerts in the hopes of inspiring others to write about theirs.  It’s always great to hear input from other writers about the music that moves them.

This was a hard list to come up with: I’ve been to hundreds of concerts and have also played in – arguably – hundreds more.  I’ve seen so many unbelievable shows that it’s hard to classify which of the five were the most unbelievable. But after giving it some serious thought, I came up with this list because for one reason or another they resonated a little differently than others have.  

5. Quadrophenia Tour – Schottenstein Center (2/18/2013)

This wasn’t the first Quadro tour I had ever seen, but this was the most memorable.  The Who were going out as a duet this time (Daltrey, Townshend) but with a host of special guests: Zak Starkey behind the kit; brother Simon on guitar; Pino on bass.  The video/lights were extraordinary. My favorite part was when Roger sang to the video screen during “Bell Boy” where they had a montage of Keith Moon’s performances over the years.  Truly spellbinding. A real tear-jerker for any Who fan.

This is my favorite album of The Who and I think their penultimate masterpiece.  Better than Tommy. Better than “Who’s Next.” It’s the best thing the Who ever produced, IMO.

4. The Rolling Stones – Ohio Stadium (5/30/2015)

I fucking hate the Rolling fucking Stones.  Hate them. With a passion. Worst band ever.  

Horrible, ugly singer.  Lazy drummer. Guitarist has been clinically dead since 1974….hell…maybe even 1794…isn’t he like 350 years old?  The Stones suck. By law I have to say that since I’m a Who fan. You can’t like the Who and simultaneously like the fucking Stones: I’m sorry.  You can’t like Michigan AND Ohio State. Same thing. Fuck the Stones.

That said: The Stones blew me out of the water.  Out. Of. The. Water. Great performance. Great crowd.  Great musicianship. Great singing. Lots of special guests.  They even sang “Hang On Sloopy!” I finally GOT the Stones, and they immediately hopped up to my top five concerts of all time.  So you can say they shut my ass up for two and a half hours. Made me eat my words. Humble pie. Lots of it.

My favorite part of the night?  Mick Jagger on “Midnight Rambler.”  I will remember that until the day I die.  His harp playing. His singing. His dancing.  Wow. Just wow.

Did I mention I fucking hate the fucking Rolling fucking Stones?    

3.  Sir Paul McCartney -  Nationwide Arena (10/13/2015)

Royalty.  Sir Paul. Most famous person on the planet.  And deserving of everything he’s gotten. What an amazing show.  Joy. Laughter. Tears. Ballads. Rockers. Something for everyone.  Iconic. Jaw-dropping. After watching Sir Paul work his magic, everything else feels kinda minor league to me.  He actually kinda started the fire, when you truly think about it. It was nice paying homage to the source. A true genius.

2.  Yes Union Tour – Nutter Center (5/4/1991)  

I love Yes.  In many ways they are very, very high on my list of all-time favorite bands.  Very high. Nobody sounds like them. Nobody plays like them. Nobody works the highest chakra than Yes.  They are more than music: They are a movement. Yes music is a philosophy, a worldview, a consciousness. Yes music will be played in 200 years.  Yes music is the most heavenly thing I’ve ever experienced on this earth. In heaven they will be playing Yes music.

When the band decided to join forces with its primary contributors, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about the show.  My personal favorite lineup was Close to the Edge (Howe, Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Squire), but I also dug the later incarnation (Rabin, White, Kaye).  Yes Union melded the two forms in-the-rotating-round concert that was otherworldly. Truly spellbinding. Rock, classical, innovative, spiritual.

My favorite part of the night actually came when they played a song I was unfamiliar with: “Awaken” (off the Going for the One LP).  They had an interlude featuring harp, bells and Wakeman on keys. Spellbinding. Then they ramped it up into the mother of all crescendos: I could almost feel myself levitating.  I rarely have out-of-body experiences at concerts (well…sober, at least) but tonight was the night that I became a different person. Wow. My soul expanded listening to them perform that night.

1. Jeff Lynne’s Electric Light Orchestra (8/16/2018)

The reason why I have to give a nod to ELO over Yes, Sir Paul and The Who was because I discovered the band on my own when I was in the sixth or seventh grade.  My older brother Jim was the brain-trust to our musical journeys during childhood, but this was my first step into actual autonomy. As a teenager reared in the safe suburban sprawl of upper-middle-class Catholic school conformity, Jeff Lynne represented my first experience into widening my soul.  With songs such as “Strange Magic,” “Telephone Line” and “One Summer Dream” my inner life was slowly taking form due to his genius.

I had seen an incarnation of ELO back in the 90s, but its primary writer and voice wasn’t a part of the project.  Same music, different soul. So it was a homecoming to witness Mr. Lynne singing the songs that moved mountains. He played everything I hoped for and more.  I was surprised how emotional I got during the concert, but I guess when something resonates within you as a teenager those memories are wrapped in gold.

Honorable mentions?  I got ten. Monte Montgomery at Anton’s in Austin, TX (look him up).  Rush at Cooper Stadium. Yanni at Polaris (yep…you read that correctly…I love Yanni!),  Collective Soul at Newport Music Hall. Marillion at Newport Music Hall. Tears for Fears at Newport Music Hall.  The Who Farewell tour at Rupp Arena in Lexington. The Swell Season at Palace Theater. The Police at Richfield Coliseum.  And lastly: Tony Bennett at The Ohio Theater.

I hope you enjoyed the series.  I’m looking forward to hearing others’ top five concerts of all time!  Thanks for reading! - Pete Vogel

I'm Playing High Stakes Poker with a Demon - by Colin Gawel

Or put another way, how can KISS tickets be this expensive?

I last saw KISS in Dayton three years ago. There were maybe 5,000 people at the show. Paul sang OK, but it wasn’t great. When they recently announced their latest 140 date “Farewell Tour” my first two thoughts were: 1. No way Paul can sing that many shows and 2. No way they are going to be able to fill all those arenas.

The jury is still out on question one, but according to the online markets, KISS is suddenly as popular as Fleetwood Mac or Elton John. Right now I am looking at ticket prices 36 hours out from some roadie screaming “YOU WANTED THE BEST…..” and Ticketmaster is still showing a sell-out, as has been the case since the day tickets went on sale. That alone seemed suspicious. I was guesting at CD102.5  that same day and Program Director Mase (and fellow KISS fan ) said, “No way that show sold out. That’s bullshit. That’s a Groupon show for sure.” I agreed. Yet here we are, the show is sold out and.….resale markets are showing that even the worst seats in the upper deck are going for $200.

Who are all these people that are suddenly so jacked to see Kiss? I own a coffee shop and I haven’t met ONE person who has KISS tickets. And these are the sort of people that go see Cher or The Eagles just because it's the thing to do. I asked my younger, hip co-worker if KISS was suddenly cool again and she answered “Anyone I know, who actually know KISS, hates KISS.”

Even among my personal KISS super-fan circle, (mainly comprised of people who attended the KISS convention last year on Mother’s Day in Indianapolis), only half of us have tickets. I mean, if we don’t even all have tickets who are the other 18,000 folks paying top dollar to hear “Heaven’s on Fire” and “War Machine” one final time? And did I mention KISS is playing the very next night in Cleveland and then later in Cincinnati? So it’s not like they are only playing a handful of dates on the “End of the Road” tour.

Anyway, I have no answers. My brain cannot figure it out. I’ve told myself there is NO WAY i’m paying $200 to sit in the back of an arena to see a declining KISS for yet another time.

But…. my inner nine-year old knows better. KISS Alive is the reason I started playing guitar. When other guys would get grounded for sneaking out and meeting girls in high school, I got grounded for sneaking out and road-tripping to see KISS in Cincy on the Asylum tour. Instead of kissing a girl at midnight,  I spent New Year’s Eve my senior year seeing KISS at Hara Arena in Dayton on the....gulp.....Crazy Nights tour. It was a terrible show but I loved it anyway. (Click here for the setlist)  So the idea of me sitting home this Saturday night knowing full well that I’d be skipping my final chance to hear “100,000 Years” would be a bitter pill indeed.

I suspect that somewhere Gene Simmons knows this. He is calling my bluff. If an election can be rigged through Facebook, I’m sure some troll factory shared the fact I’m constantly hijacking threads with KISS-related debates and shared that info with Stubhub. I mean, just google the words: Kiss Pencilstorm and see how many stories pop up. I just did; it’s pages and pages. Even worse than my incriminating paper trail of KISS fanaticism is the actual super-powers KISS possess as seen in the acclaimed documentary KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park. Starchild can use his magic star-eye to see into my soul and say “Demon, don’t lower prices, he will ending paying whatever we tell him to pay.” The Demon would respond “RRrrrrrrrrr.”

Ugh. Why does loving KISS always have to be so damn hard? - Colin G.

Colin Gawel founded Pencilstorm and wrote this at Colin’s Coffee. He really likes the KISS record Monster but doesn’t care for Sonic Boom. Click on his Pencilstorm tab to hear his bands.

KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park (1978) with everything cut out but KISS's dialogue

Five Life-Changing Rock & Roll Shows - by JCE

I read and enjoyed the recent piece posted here on Pencilstorm called “Tales of My Misspent Youth: Five Concerts That Changed My Life” by Jim Johnson. In keeping with the series of pieces about life-changing records that hung on for several weeks here on Pencilstorm, I thought I would follow Jim with my own list. I’m calling them “shows” because I philosophically struggle to call club gigs “concerts.” And for me, four out of five on my list were in small clubs. I won’t bore you with too much detail, I’ll keep it short. Some of my shows are kind of obscure, so you might be bored anyway. Here goes, in chronological order:

1. Aerosmith w/ Golden Earring, Capital Centre, Landover, MD. If you have read any of the stuff I have posted on Pencilstorm, you should be scratching your head at this one. It’s here because it was my first concert ever, around 1975. My awesome big sister (R.I.P.) took me to this show and launched my life-long love of live rock and roll. I had the best big sister in the world. Notably, the opening act was supposed to be Styx, but they cancelled. Thank God for that.

2. The Stranglers w/ Minor Threat and Bad Brains, Ontario Theater, Washington, D.C. In middle school and high school I was a skateboarder, which led me to being pretty much a punk rocker as well. This was not the first punk show I saw by any means, but it was an early one with a great band from England (I never saw the Pistols or The Clash unfortunately). The openers were D.C. hardcore legends, a scene which later had a major impact on me.

3. Tru Fax and the Insaniacs w/ Jason & the Nashville Scorchers, Nightclub 9:30, Washington, D.C. I saw Tru Fax probably 30 times or more. They were my favorite D.C. band along with the Slickee Boys and Tommy Keene. The opening act is what gets this show on the list however. Jason & the Nashville Scorchers (they dropped the “Nashville” soon after this show) were the best live band I ever saw, second only to The Neighborhoods. I saw them about six times and they were nothing shy of spectacular every time.

4. 98 Colours, The Mineshaft, Charlottesville, VA. I realize that no one has heard of these guys. They never even made a record. But this band became the core of a group of the best friends I could imagine, as we all saw them every time they played, and it was an amazing time in my life. John (drums), Randy (bass, vocals) and David (guitar, vocals) were tremendous friends and they had a huge influence on my life. I doubt I would have met my beautiful wife of 28 years without them. I will tell their story in a future piece if the story is deemed worthy of Pencilstorm.

5. The Neighborhoods, The C&O, Charlottesville, VA. I saw The Neighborhoods many, many times with the Minehan, Harrington, Quaglia line-up. I saw them in Charlottesville every time they played, I saw them in Richmond, Washington, D.C., and even in their hometown of Boston. They are the best live band ever and therefore they MUST be on this list. The show I am picking for the list was one of the first ones I saw, if not THE first, so it is memorable. I was simply blown away. I met the guys a number of times and they were always gracious. My friends in 98 Colours opened for them several times as well. This is a band that means so much to me.

Okay, those are my five. When I sat and thought about a list, I had a dozen. It was tough to narrow down, but these were the most impactful, if not necessarily the best shows I have seen. Thanks for reading. Who’s next with their list? - JCE

Ricki C. and JCE (John, to his friends & family) first bonded over their shared mutual love of Boston's Finest Sons - The Neighborhoods - and everything extended out from that rock & roll ripple.  JCE lives in Culpeper, Virginia with his wife & daughter, and he & Ricki are STILL waiting for the long-rumored NEW Neighborhoods record to be released. Maybe in 2019.