Baseball Post: 3 Picks - From The Chief to a Rumble at RFK

April 10
Freddy Garcia (0-1) (CHW) vs. Jeremy Bonderman (1-0) (DET)
Garcia impressed me back during his Seattle days. His last start on April 4 was just terrible and a far cry from his performance in game 4 of the World Series this past October. Bonderman put together his first winning season of his career last year (14-13) after debuting with that miserable '03 Tigers club with a 6-19 record.
update: final score - CHW 5, DET 3 -- W - Freddy Garcia, L - Jeremy Bonderman, SV - Bobby Jenks
Garcia managed to get the velocity on his fastball back for this one and the win pushed him into triple digits with career win number 100. I hope this is the Freddy Garcia that will show up for every fifth start for the White Sox. Comerica Park sounds like a big, spacious field where hitters really have to earn their home runs.
Freddy Garcia: 6.0IP, 5H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 5SO, 1HR - W
Jeremy Bonderman: 7.0IP, 6R, 4R, 4ER, 2BB, 8SO, 1HR - L

April 11
Bronson Arroyo (1-0) (CIN) vs. Glendon Rusch (0-1) (CHC)
This is a rematch from the April 5 game that featured these same starters. This time played at Wriggley Field -- another hitter friendly park so Arroyo will have a shot to hit his second career homerun in as many games.
update: final score - CIN 9, CHC 2 -- W - Bronson Arroyo, L - Glendon Rusch
I was kidding when I suggested that Arroyo would belt another homer. But he went ahead and knocked another one. Glendon Rusch is probably looking forward to matching up against somebody else next week (so he can quit being Arroyo's batting practice pitcher). If Arroyo manages to keep pace with his teammate Ken Griffey Jr. (also with 2 home runs so far this year, but a lot more plate appearances) like this or starts hitting them out of big parks like Petco Park or Dodger Stadium then I'll go ahead and pronounce this the worst trade by the Boston Red Sox since they traded the Bambino to New York. Even more impressive than his hitting (and the great run support capped off by a grand slam from Edwin Encarnacion) is Arroyo's work from the mound. 7 scoreless innings against a good hitting club. Impressive.
Bronson Arroyo: 7.0IP, 6H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 4SO, 0HR - W
Glendon Rusch: 5.0IP, 5H, 4R, 4ER, 1BB, 4SO, 4HR - L

April 12
Pedro Martinez (1-0) (NYM) vs. Tony Armas (0-1) (WSN)
After all the fireworks from Martinez's last start against these Nationals last April 6 who wouldn't want to see the sequel played out at RFK Stadium? There's also the chance to see if Pedro's control is any sharper this time around or if he'll have to continue to rely on pure intimidation.
update: final score - NYM 3, WAS 1 -- W - Pedro Martinez, L - Tony Armas, SV - Billy Wagner
The "rumble at RFK" never came to fruition. Perhaps all that negative energy was spent on the boo's lavished upon the ceremonial first pitch a couple of days ago. Martinez seems to have his control back . Though 3 strikeouts seems low by Pedro standards. But he did pitch deep into this one and wiggle out of a bases loaded jam in the sixth inning. This was a low scoring duel - just the way I like 'em.
Pedro Martinez: 7.0IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 3SO, 1HR - W
Tony Armas: 6.0IP, 8H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 4SO, 0HR - L

Scale of the Day: E Flat Whole-tone (2 - 1) 1% wide

The E Flat Whole-tone (2 - 1) 1% wide Scale.

Scale of the Day: E Flat Whole-tone mapped to the 3/2

The E Flat Whole-tone mapped to the 3/2 Scale.

Melodic Study: Melody #3 - Transposition and 7-limit Just Intonation

In a continuing sequence of posts examining various manipulations of melodic lines I would like to introduce a third melodic subject:

Example 1: Melody 3 ("Contrarian Blues")

This is a straight 12-bar blues in "F" that I've been playing around with.

Transposition

Transposition is the operation of raising or lowering each pitch in a melodic sequence by a fixed interval. For example, if we transpose up by a perfect fourth we end up with a blues in "B Flat."


Example 2: Melody #3 Transposed up by a perfect fourth.

7-limit Just Intonation

Idiomatically, the blues suggests 7-limit just intonation to my ears. Largely because of that flat (by almost a third of a "regular" semitone) 7/4 minor seventh degree that is such a big part of that "bluesy" sound. One possible 7-limit realization of this melody might look like this:

Example 3: Melody 3 in 7-limit Just Intonation.

Using the prime factors of 3, 5 and 7 to tune a melody opens up some interesting possibilities that become apparent in the last 5 bars of this blues example. The "F natural" appears as the 1 (tonic) and as a 63/32 (-27.26 cents flat). The "D natural" major sixth also appears with a couple of alternate tunings within the same passage working as a 5/3 or 27/16. I particularly like the modulation that appears in bars 7 and 11 where the D is a 5/3 in the bass part just ahead of the 27/16 in the treble. Other multiple tunings are the 5/4 and 81/64 major thirds (A natural), 3/2 and 189/128 perfect fifths (C natural) and 243/128 and 15/8 major sevenths (E natural).

The reason for multiple tunings for these intervals is harmonic context. As this blues makes its modulation for the vi-ii-V-I from bars 8 - 11 the intonation of the scale parts will reflect the gravitational pull of each new tonic. For example, the 63/32 F natural is the 7/4 of the 9/8 G natural (9/8 * 7/4 = 63/32). The 27/16 D natural is meant to sound as the 3/2 perfect fifth away from the 9/8 G natural (9/8 * 3/2 = 27/16) as opposed to the 5/3 major sixth that sounds when F natural (1) is the tonic.

For the next melodic study post I'll take a look at Just Transposition and Retrograde Melody from the atonal Melody #2.

Scale of the Day: E Flat Whole-tone (2 - 1) mapped to the Triative

The E Flat Whole-tone (2 - 1) mapped to the Triative Scale.

Baseball Post: 3 Picks over 3 Days Spanning from a King to a Gambler

Continuing with my obsession with baseball pitchers... If I were jet setting my way all over the country and taking in ball games every day this season these would be my next three destinations:

April 7
Joe Blanton (OAK) vs. Felix Hernandez (SEA)
Who wouldn't want to see King Felix make his season debut just one day shy of his 20th birthday? This guy has Seattle fans counting the days between his starts.
update: final score - OAK 5, SEA 0 W- Joe Blanton, L - Felix Hernandez
Despite the loss this wasn't a terrible outing for the King. It's hard to win much of anything with a total lack of run support (something I suspect M's pitchers will need to get used to). Hernandez only gave up one of those runs over 5 innings of work. The 4 walks tells me that his control wasn't entirely there. Blanton, on the other hand, was superb and clearly earned this victory. Only 2 hits and one walk over 8 full innings of a shutout from a guy on the back end of the rotation. Wow.
Joe Blanton: 8.0IP, 2H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 6SO, 0HR - W
Felix Hernandez: 5.0IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 4BB, 1SO, 0HR - L

April 8
Livan Hernandez (0-1) (WAS) vs. Roy Oswalt (1-0) (HOU)
Oswalt is already an early favorite for this year's NL Cy Young Award based on his incredible first start back on April 3rd. It's too soon to gauge the competition but he's clearly worth watching. Even if half the buzz is that annoying sound the pipe over the stadium PA system. Houston's offense is pathetic so Oswalt will have very little margin for each win. Livan Hernandez is one of my favorite active pitchers. He's led the league in innings pitched over the last 3 years and over the past 2 seasons he's led for most games started (35 both years). He's also 13th for most complete games for any active pitcher so I'd expect to see him work deep into this one.
update: final score - WAS 12, HOU 8 W - Livan Hernandez, L - Chad Qualls
As a true Livan Hernandez fan (as well as being no fan of the Astros) I would have loved this game. Late run support rescued the hard working Nationals starter and the loss raises some questions about the relief pitching in Houston. There were lots of runners stranded on base in this one - 28 overall - so this one could have easily turned into even more of a slugfest.
Livan Hernandez: 6.0IP, 12H, 6R, 4ER, 1BB, 4SO, 1HR - W
Roy Oswalt: 6.1IP, 7H, 5R, 5ER, 2BB, 3SO, 1HR - ND

April 9
Kenny Rogers (1-0) (DET) vs. Vicente Padilla (1-0) (TEX)
The Gambler returns to face his former team after losing his cool (and serving a suspension) last year. He used to anchor the Rangers' miserable rotation as the experienced ace on the staff. We'll have to see if the press photographers keep their distance from this temperamental character this time around. I've heard great things about this stadium. Even if it's a bit too batter friendly for my tastes.
update: final score - DET 3, TEX 5 W - Vincente Padilla, L - Kenny Rogers, S - Francisco Cordero
So the Gambler was greeted by boo's from the former home crowd and a clutch double by Brad Wilkerson in the 6th inning saddled him with Detroit's first loss of the season. I'm sure the Tigers will have many more. There were no home runs in this game. That's surprising given where it was played.
Kenny Rogers: 5.1IP, 12H, 5R, 5ER, 1BB, 5SO, 0HR - L
Vincente Padilla: 6.0IP, 7H, 3R, 3ER, 3BB, 3SO, 0HR - W

Scale of the Day: E Flat Pythagorean Whole-tone - Lydian Mode - mapped to the Square-root-of-2

The E Flat Pythagorean Whole-tone - Lydian Mode - mapped to the Square-root-of-2 Scale.