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Showing posts from August, 2010

Concert Review: Aerosmith "Keep A Rollin" at Jones Beach in New York

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Aerosmith’s "Cocked & Loaded" 2010 Summer Tour rocked across Europe in June, wrapping up in Venice, Italy on July 3rd. This month they are bringing it home across North America with last night’s stop in New York, on Long Island at the Jones Beach Theater. The weather looked like it may be an issue, but it held off with only a few sprinkles, just enough to frizz up Steven Tyler’s hair. It’s hard to imagine that Aerosmith have now been around go ing on four decades. I go back to the seventies as a fan of the band, since they exploded on the radio with Walk this Way, and came alive out of the pages of Creem magazine. Did you practice drawing the Draw the Line album cover as much as I did? I was there as they reunited in the early eighties and I think have seen just about every tour since. I lost count but I believe last night was my ninth or tenth Aerosmith show. Once again they did not disappoint. The band opened up the show with a rocking killer version of 1975’s album tit

Former Met of the Day: Barry Manuel (1997)

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Barry Paul Manuel was born on August 12, 1965 in Mamou, Louisiana. He was a star pitcher at Louisiana State University getting drafted in the 2nd round of the 1987 amateur draft by the Texas Rangers. He came up in September 1991 and got his first MLB victory pitching in just 8 games. The next year he pitched only 3 games in September going 1-0 again. He was released then picked up by Baltimore, released & signed by Montreal. He spent four years in the minors leagues before coming back up in Montreal in 1996 going 4-1 with a 3.24 ERA. The Mets purchased his contract in Spring Training in 1997, and he was put right in the bullpen. He took a loss on the 5th game of the 1997 season, allowing two runs in the 8th inning after Rick Reed had thrown seven shutout innings. Manuel pitched in 19 games getting only that one decision, going 0-1 with a 5.26 ERA, allowing 15 earned runs in 25 innings pitched. His stay in New York was short, and he was granted free agency at the end of the year. H

Italian / American Player of the Day: Chris Coletta

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Christopher Michael Coletta was born on August 2, 1944. in Brooklyn, New York. The five foot eleven, left hand hitting outfielder grew up on Long Island. He was a star player at Hicksville high school in the early sixties, getting signed by the Boston Red Sox in 1962 as an amateur free agent. Coletta was a left hand hitting outfielder. He would spend ten seasons in the minor leagues before getting a call up as a member of the 1972 California Angels. In his minor league career he hit over .300 nine times, including batting .332 in 1972 earning the call up. He made his debut in mid August, but saw very little playing time the rest of the way. In the first game of a double header in September, he got a pi nch hit driving in a run against that years World Champion Oakland A’s. His hit came off Blue Moon Odom in the top of the 8th while down 10-0. On September 24th he hit his only career HR off Minnesota’s Jim Perry, in the 8th inning in what turned out to be the game winner 2-1. Co