Iowa Cubs- July 2012 edition

The inevitability of a minor league team is that the best players will move on (Although to be fair, that seems to be truer every year in pro sports).  The 2012 Iowa Cubs' best player Anthony Rizzo has went to the parent club and has been quite successful so far.

The current crop of I-Cubs is led by Brett Jackson, who seems to have some pop and is moving into that role quite easily.

We saw them this weekend and got to see Frankie de la Cruz pitch again.  He pitched three scoreless innings, and seems a sure shot for the bigs.  The Cubs got slammed 9-1, but it wasn't de la Cruz's fault.

Other prospects on the team to watch are OF Dave Sappelt and C Welington Castillo.  Other role players in supporting roles are Alfredo Amezaga (who was drafted one spot ahead of Albert Pujols, but has been mostly a perennial minor leaguer) and 3b Adrian Cardenas who spent some time up in Chicago this year.

The New orleans Zephyrs (the winners) featured Chris Coghlan who was the NL Rookie of the Year in 2009.

Of course, everyone goes to minor league games for the mascot races.  I've been talking about it for awhile now, but Slate recently did a feature that went inside the costume.

The I Cubs race was one featured.




Buffalo's Celery-Wing-Blue Cheese race got snubbed by Slate, but you can read about them here.

On the shelf 076: Jimmy Cliff

Over the years, I have gotten to know my reggae. Although I never hung around reggae diehards (say Carbondale's Jah Bush Doctor), I was surrounded by some huge ska fans, and it has gotten easier to discover music in the technological age.

Like many a Clash fan, i started with the artists that they name-dropped (Delroy Wilson, Leroy Smart, Dillinger). British music magazines like Q and Uncut have done a great job of education and appreciation, regularly featuring the Trojan and Studio One record labels. of course, there were always websites and for roots reggae and dub, you could always peruse the ROIR label.

Through it all, I didn't really appreciate Jimmy Cliff. His biggest hit (a cover of "I can see clearly now") is pretty mellow and his big mainstream moment (Paul Simon's "Mother and Child Reunion") not that rock n roll (as opposed to Peter Tosh who hung with the Stones.)

In the last five to ten years, I finally decided I needed to spend some time with The Harder They Come soundtrack, largely considered the best reggae album ever. Finally, I understood Cliff's importance to Reggae and Pop Music. I got it.

Cliff has a new album, and it has become cliche, but yes, it's his American Recordings moment. Rancid's Tim Armstrong is the producer responsible for bringing Cliff to the third- and fourth- generation Clash fans and the mainstream audience at large. If you hate Rancid, you might take some heart that the whole idea to team Cliff with Armstrong was due to Joe Strummer.

If it didn't work, you probably wouldn't be hearing about it; but as it is, it fulfills its potential. The most press is being spent on the covers of "Guns of Brixton" and "Ruby Soho". Although those are okay (the latter is a fun ska number), it's really the rest of the album that deserves notice.

It's a solid listen and for those who only buy reggae albums on rare occasion, this one will make your list.