Hey Jude

Commentary doesn’t talk much about RFK Jr. If his family thinks he is a disgusting wacko who has desecrated his father’s legacy, why bother.

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According to a twitter posting, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is not happy Harris County Commissioners Court has an agenda item to send out voter registration applications. I wonder if this is a first. Lt. Gov. Patrick is worried non-citizens will register to vote. I would like to know the methodology that allows you to send applications to non-registered citizens without accumulating a ton of waste. This is interesting for sure.

The Democrats on Commissioners Court should know by now that an action like this is going to get GOPers like Lt. Gov. Patrick riled up. Oh, well.

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56 years ago today, one of the greatest tunes of all time was released by The Beatles – “Hey Jude.” Commentary remembers going to Sears to pick up the 45 disc. “Revolution” was on the B-side. I took it home and listened to it for hours. It was the coolest tune I had ever heard, going over the seven-minute mark.  “Na, na, na, na, Hey Jude!”

The tune is so rich in lyrics, like:

… don’t make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember to let her into your heart
Then you can start to make it better

Plus, this:

Hey Jude, don’t let me down

You have found her, now go and get her (let it out and let it in)
Remember to let her into your heart
Then you can start to make it better

So let it out and let it in, hey Jude, begin
You’re waiting for someone to perform with
And don’t you know that it’s just you, hey Jude, you’ll do
The movement you need is on your shoulder

And of course, this:

Better, better, better, better, better, better, oh yeah!

When it came out, it was a different sound and set up. It was a song that was meant for us to sing along to. I had never heard a tune like “Hey Jude.”

“Hey Jude” got nominated for Grammys in the Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Performance Vocal by a Duo or Group categories but came up empty. Loing out to “Mrs. Robinson” for Record, “Little Green Apples” for Song, and “Mrs. Robinson” in Duo or Group.

I get “Mrs. Robinson,” but “Little Green Apples?”

I mean “Hey Jude” has been played at a Super Bowl and Olympics.

In October of 1968, I watched along with millions the “Hey Jude” video on “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.”

I heard the live version by Paul McCartney in person at his concerts in 2002 and 2005.

Now you know.

The featured photo is my “Hey Jude” mask from the pandemic days that I still have just in case.

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We went 2-2 in Baltimore when we could have easily swept the Orioles. A grand salami given up by our bullpen Friday night was a bummer. Saturday’s loss highlighted the front office butchering of the first base position the past two seasons. Tags explains what I am talking about here:

BALTIMORE — The 104th and final pitch thrown by Astros starter Framber Valdez on Saturday afternoon appeared to have done the job. Orioles rookie outfielder Colton Cowser rolled over a sinker with two outs and hit a slow grounder. The ball came off the bat at 72.1 mph and was hit right at first baseman Jon Singleton.

Singleton initially took a step back as he fielded the three-hop grounder and immediately found himself in a footrace with Cowser, who runs well despite his 6-foot-2 frame. Just as Singleton stuck out his left foot, Cowser dove headfirst to beat Singleton to the base.

“It’s very frustrating,” Singleton said. “Sometimes one play can make or break a whole game.”

That loaded the bases for relief pitcher Tayler Scott, whose first pitch to rookie pinch-hitter Jackson Holliday — who was in an 0-for-20 slump — was ripped into the right-center-field gap for a three-run double that sent the Orioles to their second consecutive comeback win over the Astros, 3-2, at Camden Yards.

“I thought I got out of the inning there when the ball was hit,” said Valdez, who called it a routine play. “It was one of those things you can’t expect in baseball.”

Singleton thought he had more time and was taken by surprise on Cowser’s dive.

“There’s two options: run through or hopefully try to flip it,” he said. “I didn’t expect him to dive at first. It is what it is.”

Houston’s inability to complete the play at first base in the sixth underscored the team’s struggles finding consistent play at the position. The Astros jettisoned veteran first baseman José Abreu in June in the middle of a three-year, $58.5 million deal, and first base has been a revolving door since.

Seven different players have started games at first base this season, and catcher Victor Caratini and rookie Joey Loperfido — who was dealt to Toronto in July — have also had time there. The Astros have considered playing third baseman Alex Bregman at first base while he deals with some elbow inflammation.

Here is all of Tags: Framber Valdez, Astros fall to Orioles after key play at first base (mlb.com).

Very frustrating.

We have a four and a half game lead with 32 games left to play. We start a three games series in Philly this evening.