自助餐 舒國治

自助餐

◎舒國治

此處說的「自助餐」是台灣到處可見的那種小店，非指大飯店的buffet也。

我自高一起，因學校允許中午外食，若不帶便當，常常在校門口吃自助餐。濟南路、紹興南街、青島東路、林森南路，到處有菜色繁多的自助餐店，可以說六十年代中後期是台灣式自助餐的黃金時期。從那時起，自助餐便成了台灣平民飲食文化中最習見的風景。

自助餐館之優點：一、人各菜只取一瓢，能嘗多味。

二、它的青菜很多，平日家中或菜館不可能一人有如此多選擇。

之所以難能深愛

1962年，襄陽路（約當懷寧街口）開了一家「速簡餐廳」，我父親一來因上班地緣，二來也趕新潮，帶我去吃。算是我見過、吃過最早的規格嚴正、甚具機關「制式」版本的自助餐店。名喚「速簡」自不免採取「新生活運動」所揭新、速、實、簡那種公務員樂於認同之吃飯觀念。每人捧著一個長方大鐵盤，上有幾塊圓形、方形的凹槽，以盛不同的肉或菜（大約亦有一槽可放香蕉）。這種鐵盤直至七十年代初仍有地方沿用；醫院附設的餐堂自不在話下，台大法商學院宿舍附設餐廳似乎也是。看來賣民藝品的骨董店或是將來愈來愈可能開辦的台灣常民生活博物館，除了展出小學課桌椅、老月票票根、蒸便當的學號牌，搞不好連這種自助餐鐵盤也會聊備一格。

有人生活上是升斗小民，但在進餐館吃飯上，堅決不令自己露出升斗小民的模樣。其中最不屑者，是進小店吃自助餐。有時還以「不乾淨」為理由。

旅居外地多年的人，回台見自助餐店青菜恁多，興奮不已，國外何曾一次吃得到那麼多青菜？然吃過一兩回後，便不進了，乃這些種類豐多的青菜，最終仍無法提供人們的食欲，以及對其潔淨的信心。

日本來台的留學生，初見自助餐店有如此多便宜的青菜──須知「野菜」在日本甚為昂貴──原打算從此要做其常客了，然而沒有。為什麼？自助餐店菜的陳設，硬是令人不會恆常地深愛它。

菜的陳設，日本人固深諳此道。先說自助餐。

倘若自助餐普遍做得精潔、做得好，那它必是我吃得最多、最頻去的店。它將也會是台灣最有趣又最有前途、最應當的平民用餐文化。

我一年在外要吃一千多餐，其中大可有不少是自助餐。然而沒有。為什麼？主要它們的菜色太多了；小型的店也有三、四十樣菜（如辛亥路二段171巷的「今一」或羅斯福路一段53號的上群，或如高雄瀨南街218號即「老蔡虱目魚粥」對過），大型的店（如長春路305號的「廷園」）竟有七、八十樣菜。

便因菜太多，便洗得馬虎、炒得馬虎、擺布得必然凌亂令你不能專注並很有食欲地選取菜色。

洗菜乾淨、掐摘菜葉仔細的自助餐店，主要在於店主個人的生成氣質；已遷走不做的辛亥路一段34巷3號（亦是羅斯福路三段269巷）那家小店，便是這種少有例子。民生東路五段212巷的「來來自助餐」算是洗菜仔細、配菜用心的店，而他的甜湯之調製、白飯烹煮之潤透，已可稱自助餐店中難得者。

理想的自助餐

倘一家店只有十五種菜，譬似將三個家庭飯桌上的四菜一肉加在一起、放到一家自助餐館，那麼任何人選起菜來會多愉悅、會多有食欲！索性舉出例子：一、紅燒肉燒豆乾黑木耳
二、炸鱈魚
三、牛腩燒蘿蔔
四、炸排骨
──以上四葷菜
五、醬燒茄子
六、蕃茄炒蛋
七、雪裡紅百葉
八、豆豉苦瓜或苦瓜鹹蛋
九、蒜瓣空心菜
十、清炒花椰菜
十一、清炒四季豆
十二、炒絲瓜
十三、豆腐皮燒大白菜
十四、油燜筍
十五、銀芽青椒絲


傳統上，自助餐店，因為由菜場早飯小攤（在台南，被一逕稱做「飯桌仔」。像屏東市福建路78之1號的清粥小菜，像淡水中山路50號的那家）之形式轉來，菜色中比較不備牛肉。乃牛肉在本省農耕文化與佛教信仰之飲食中原是罕食之物。

菜場早飯小攤，且別小覷，常有極佳廚藝；像南京西路233巷20號（永樂布市對過），像公館水源市場二樓30號攤，極是可口。尤值一提的是，前者雖賣清粥小菜，菜價並不便宜，一小碟高麗菜或冬瓜或茄子，要20元；一小碟地瓜葉或豆豉苦瓜，要30元；一頓早飯吃下來，常一百元。但我仍常去，因它的開店概念很佳：菜不過多，陳設優良；口味清淡，湯湯水水，很有老年代台式農業社會家庭吃飯神髓；蔬菜選擇很合我脾好，如高麗菜、冬瓜、豇豆、刺瓜。至若它價格訂得高，足見店家對自己的飯菜甚有信心，而吃者大多是常客，顯然知音亦極多也。這樣的店，最足讓自助餐業者揣摩。

台式傳統小食舖，猶記一家，在武昌街近重慶南路口，收了好多年了，七十年代初賣得好料理，遠流、遠景、長橋出版社的當時年輕老闆們亦常光顧。吃之前，常已在附近的「明星」喝了許久的咖啡。它的菜亦是先炒好，魚亦先煎好，置案上，任客人選點。飯裝在木桶裡，保其溫潤。這種小食舖菜色不甚多，如同每一樣皆是老闆特地做給客人吃的，不會像自助餐店做一些多到老闆自己都不會想到去吃的菜。

別處吃不到，只有自助餐

自助餐店有幾種菜，平常家中不甚有人做，亦不見於飯館，如甜不辣炒韭菜，頗奇特之發明。如鯊魚炒蒜苗，間襯一些芹菜，這菜滿有趣，也好吃。

豆腐皮炒白菜，這道小菜亦頗聰明，乃它清淡卻又富含滋味。館子裡見不著，家中亦不易見。草菇炒荷蘭豆，此菜之發明亦很妙。韭菜炒鴨血（或豬血），這菜當然家中也做，然館子卻較不做了。最有趣的，是胡蘿蔔絲炒蛋，此菜在六十年代我念高中時便常見自助餐館如此做，卻家庭一直沒人跟著做；家庭做的仍是番茄炒蛋、蝦仁炒蛋、與客家菜館永遠列入菜單甚且近十幾年又流行的菜脯蛋。卻硬是沒有這道胡蘿蔔絲炒蛋。可見選菜習尚與級次認定之堅守也。又這胡蘿蔔絲炒蛋實在太深入自助餐業者的人心了，故居然素食自助餐店（如台大附近「彌勒」）也自然而然有這道菜，只是它的「蛋」用的是豆皮罷了。

煎帶魚，絕不易見於菜館，雖然家中、自助餐店及菜場台式簡易食堂皆常備；乃它被認為「上不了台盤」。餐館之魚，昔日必是帶頭帶尾完整一條者，如黃魚鯧魚鯉魚草魚吳郭魚甚至即使小者如蔥烤鯽魚等是，近日亦賣截成段者如鱈魚等，說什麼也不取帶魚。

大約是因為宿命

番茄炒蛋，自助餐館常勾芡，並製成甜味，甚不好吃；而且不只一家如此炒作，足見台灣坊間之口味頗能相互薰染成習，且常成為陋習。

又國人用番茄，不似地中海國家之尚紅潤熟透，而是連半青半紅的番茄也用上。炒蛋用此，更是韻味不足。

某次見一自助餐店正要煮飯，將生米放入大型電鍋，加水後，又見他自沙拉油桶中倒出一小碗油，將這油注入。我見狀，問他放油為啥？他說：「這樣飯煮出來會顆粒較亮。」噫，這種思想便是最能得小生意人之心。這種「祕方心理」老實說，害人不少。番茄炒蛋這道菜去勾芡並調成甜味，想亦是同樣心理。

後來我又探詢了很多店，竟然連極多有規模的餐館也幹這事。可見這祕方流傳之廣。事實上沒擱油的飯，香潤多矣。

然經營小館的人硬是相信去做上一做某個動作，會心理上覺得比較出奇制勝。

試想自助餐店開得小而菜色少而精美，令人每樣幾乎都想嘗，這種小館，倘讓人覺得乾淨，對老闆配菜的品味又很信任，其實連大餐廳也未必及得上，不是嗎？至於說菜是先炒出來的，常擱冷了，似乎沒有餐廳能現炒來得理想云云，亦是無謂之語。永康街「秀蘭」，玻璃櫥裡事先做好的小菜便極好，如烤菜，如辣椒鑲肉，如烤麩，如蔥烤鯽魚，如四季豆，如油燜筍等，老實說，兩個人進秀蘭，只點四五樣小菜，再叫一碗菜飯，其實最見出秀蘭這店的佳美之處。倒不只是說避開敲竹槓而已。

說了這麼多，其實自助餐原本是極有可為的吃店形式；然自六十年代至今，四十年了，仍然沒有像樣的自助餐店，顯然它有某種如宿命式的難處。也就是，想把自助餐弄好的人恰巧就不是現下在開自助餐的人。可以說如今坊間的千家萬家自助餐店，店東認為自助餐就該是現下的樣子。你說它不乾淨也好，你說它菜色太多也好，你說它為什麼一定要放味精也好，你說它飯裡放一瓢油也好，總之它就只能弄成現在這樣子，不是才說了嗎，大約是因為宿命。

Maladath, Runed Blade of the Black Flight

Maladath, Runed Blade of the Black Flight
瑪拉達斯，黑龍軍團的符文之劍

Maddux in LA

Reds stymied in rain-filled finale
Milton solid, but Maddux untouchable in Dodgers debut

CINCINNATI -- On Thursday night, there was only one force powerful enough to prevent future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux from throwing his first career no-hitter.
Mother Nature

Mother Nature.

The Reds were no-hit by the 40-year-old veteran through six innings on the way to their fifth straight loss, 3-0, to the Dodgers before 26,053 fans at Great American Ball Park.

Maddux (10-11) was about to warm up for the bottom of the seventh inning when thunderstorms ended his night. The game was delayed 46 minutes, and Maddux did not return afterwards.

"We knew going in what he was capable of doing and what he has [done]," said Reds first baseman Scott Hatteberg, who walked twice against Maddux. "We just didn't make any adjustments."

The right-hander, acquired from the Cubs in a trade on Monday, was making his first start in a Dodgers uniform. While he didn't have his normal outstanding command -- he walked three batters -- the crafty right-hander struck out three and retired eight batters in a row at one point.

"Maddux pitched an outstanding game," Reds manager Jerry Narron said. "He kept us off-balance. ... I can't remember if we even hit a ball hard off of him. We just couldn't get anything going against him."

It didn't matter that Maddux had traded his Cubs blue for a Dodgers hat. He continued his 2006 dominance of Cincinnati on Thursday night. With the win, Maddux improved to 4-0 and lowered his ERA to 2.34 against the Reds this season.

"He's pitched well against us," Narron said.

The sparse crowd on hand booed the decision by the Dodgers to take Maddux out following the second rain delay of the game. Maddux had thrown 72 pitches through his six no-hit innings. First pitch was thrown at 8:15 p.m. ET, after the game was delayed 65 minutes by the threat of rain.

"He's one of the greatest pitchers in baseball," said Reds catcher Javier Valentin. "That's why he's still pitching. He doesn't have to throw hard ... he had good location. He didn't make a mistake tonight."

The Reds managed a meager two hits on the night -- both against the Dodgers' bullpen. The first came in the seventh inning off the bat of Scott Hatteberg, who lined a single to right field off Dodgers reliever Joe Beimel. Edwin Encarnacion added another single in the eighth.

In the last two games, the Reds have managed just six hits. It was lefty starter Eric Milton who was the victim of a lack of run support on Thursday night.

For the second consecutive start, Milton got off to a rocky start, but settled down to give the Reds a quality outing. In the first inning on Thursday, he allowed a single to leadoff hitter Rafael Furcal. Three batters later, Milton surrendered a two-run homer to Olmedo Saenz to give the Dodgers an early 2-0 lead.

But the veteran lefty buckled down and allowed just four hits, struck out three batters, and retired eight in a row at one point in his final six innings pitched.

"He gave up that first run, and after that, he worked hard," Valentin said of Milton. "He changed speeds a lot, [and] when he does that, he's tough to beat."

On Thursday night, however, the opposing pitcher was even tougher to beat.

"He feeds off of aggressive swings and guys struggling," Hatteberg said of Maddux. "He can pick apart a team trying to find itself at the plate. You have to give him a lot of credit. He was sharp tonight. We were not."

With Thursday's defeat, the Reds were swept by Los Angeles and find themselves currently mired in the midst of a five-game losing streak. They've lost seven out of their last 10 games and have started this critical 10-game homestand 0-3. They remain 3 1/2 games behind the Cardinals and are now tied for the lead in the Wild Card race with Arizona.

"We're not going to win games like that," Valentin said of the team's offensive struggles. "I know we got swept, but tomorrow we'll come back and put everything together."

北野 武 & 志村 健
Takeshi Kitano & Ken Shimura - Tap & Shamisen

W810i 20060728

魩仔魚

http://news.chinatimes.com/Chinatimes/newslist/newslist-content/0,3546,110501+112006063000651,00.html

魩仔魚 可長到15公分


魩仔魚是迷你魚，剛孵化時不到一公分，一般發育到五公分左右就不長了，但若有機會繼續發育，逃過人類捕撈，也有長到十五公分的紀錄。因此，民間認為魩仔魚是「長不大的魚」的說法，是不正確的。

魩仔魚是民間俗名，是「群數集合」名稱，不是單一魚種。在動物分類上，魩仔魚分為鯷科、鯡科兩大類，再細分有不同的屬、種。台灣常見的魩仔魚群至少包含一百多種特徵相近卻不完全相同的迷你魚，有時也會混入其他魚種。

魩仔魚在食物鏈的位階是「低能階」魚，應是鯖魚和鰹魚等的主食，沒想到人類跳過吃大魚的階段，直接吃牠們，讓靠牠們維生的魚兒面臨「斷炊」命運。

愛在近海釣魚的民眾都會發現，當專門捕撈魩仔魚的漁船出現時，附近海域絕對釣不到魚，因為魚網太密，擋住海水形成阻力，大魚察覺海流出現異狀的警訊，當然就躲得遠遠的。

SONY 820A

Wang rescues Yanks again

New York Yankees pitcher Chien-Ming Wang delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Texas Rangers, Wednesday, May 17, 2006, at Yankee Stadium in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

W4-1 IP8.0 6H 3R 2ER 1BB 3SO 1HR ERA 3.79

Wang rescues Yanks again

Right-hander gives 'pen a breather with eight strong frames

By Mark Feinsand / MLB.com

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20060517&content_id=1458786&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy

EW YORK -- In each of Chien-Ming Wang's last two starts, he has pitched one night after the Yankees had endured grueling four-hour games.

Last Friday, Wang responded with eight shutout innings against the A's. Wednesday, he didn't hold the Rangers off the scoreboard, but his eight solid innings were enough to lead the Yankees to a 4-3 win over Texas.

Wang (4-1) overcame three Yankees errors to hold the Rangers to three runs (two earned) on six hits, winning his third straight start.

"He's feeling pretty good about himself right now," said manager Joe Torre. "We could have helped him, defensively, a bit more than we did tonight, but we got through it."

Jorge Posada, whose walk-off homer on Tuesday lifted the Yankees to the biggest comeback in team history, continued his torrid streak at the plate, going 2-for-2 with two RBIs. Posada is 11-for-25 on the current homestand, a .444 average.

"I feel comfortable, like I'm doing a lot of good things," Posada said. "I'm staying behind the ball and getting the big hit. Hopefully I can continue that the whole year."

"He had some great at-bats tonight," Torre said. "We needed everything we could get."

With Boston's loss to Baltimore, the Yankees (23-15) are now in a first-place tie with the Red Sox in the American League East.

New York used a two-out rally in the fifth inning to snap a 1-1 tie, as Posada, Robinson Cano and Bernie Williams each had RBI singles, giving the Yanks a three-run lead.

Mariano Rivera, who allowed the go-ahead run in the ninth inning on Tuesday, setting up Posada's dramatic homer, held on to a one-run lead on Wednesday to earn his eighth save.

"I wanted to get Mo in there after last night," Torre said. "He seemed to be a little sharper tonight with location. He didn't have any breathing room; it was vintage Mo."

Wang looked sharp early, but the Yankees' defense didn't do much to help its starter out. Andy Phillips committed an error in the first, coming off the bag to take a throw from Alex Rodriguez, but Wang got through the inning without allowing a run.

Two innings later, Cano made the first of his two errors, receiving a potential double-play relay from A-Rod away from second base. Phil Nevin was safe at second on the play, and he went on to score on the next play, an RBI single by Kevin Mench.

Wang pounded the strike zone with sinkers and sliders, getting one ground ball after another. Cano committed another error in the sixth, but Wang erased the baserunner with a double play. Wang induced another twin-killing in the sixth, making up for a Mark Teixeira single.

"It didn't seem to bother him, because we got a double play," Torre said of Wang. "We understand that we're going to be busy in the infield when he has his game going. He's fun to watch pitch for our side, because we get a lot of quick innings."

"He doesn't get rattled by the things that are happening behind him," Posada said. "He just keeps coming. He seemed to get more comfortable as the game went along."

Texas starter Kameron Loe (2-4) got out of jams in the second and third, but he couldn't do the same in the fifth, as the Yankees put together five consecutive two-out hits to break the game open.

Wang retired the side in order in the seventh, but after retiring the first hitter in the eighth, he gave up a double to Gerald Laird and a two-run homer to Gary Matthews, pulling Texas within a run.

Cano helped Wang make it through the frame, making a nice play on a hard grounder hit by Michael Young for the second out.

"I never put my head down," Cano said. "You're going to make some mistakes, but sometimes, you'll make the right play. I made the right play at the right time."

"When he needed to make a play in the eighth inning, he made one," Torre said. "The kid is tough, but sometimes his mind wanders when he doesn't get a couple of hits."

Rivera closed it out with a scoreless ninth, throwing a perfect inning against the middle of the Rangers' lineup.

"I wanted to be in there," Rivera said. "These are the situations I always pitch in, so I expected it. I expected a good outing."

So did the Yankees. And they got one.

Mark Feinsand is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Maddux improves to 4-0 as Cubs dominate Cardinals

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=260423124

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Greg Maddux is turning back the clock for a team missing its offensive star and two of its best pitchers.

The four-time NL Cy Young Award winner, who turned 40 earlier this month, threw seven scoreless innings on Sunday to help the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-3. He has won his first four starts for the first time in his career, to go with a miniscule 0.99 ERA.

Maddux's big start is helping rescue a team that doesn't have Derrek Lee, Mark Prior or Kerry Wood.

"It's just amazing what he does because he's not throwing 94, 93 mph," outfielder Juan Pierre said. "You watch Greg Maddux, that's an art."

Maddux (4-0) held the Cardinals to five hits and also singled and scored, helping the Cubs avert a three-game sweep and win for the first time in three games since losing Lee for at least two months with a broken wrist. This is the first 4-0 start for Maddux since 2000 with the Braves when he needed six starts, and it's his first four-game winning streak since July 17-Aug. 7, 2004.

All month, Maddux has insisted that he's doing nothing different and not trying to fill the void.

"I wish I could explain it," Maddux said. "Personally, I'm just getting ready to pitch like I always have, I'm just catching a lot of breaks.

"Sometimes you catch a few breaks in this game, and right now I am," he said.

Jacque Jones hit his second homer, and second against the Cardinals, leading off the fourth against Jason Marquis (3-1).

Aramis Ramirez, who entered the game in a 3-for-18 slump, hit a two-run shot into the visitor's bullpen beyond the left-field wall in the fifth.

Todd Walker batted in Lee's third slot for the third straight game and had two hits and three RBI to raise his average to .408 for the Cubs, who completed a 5-4 road trip.

"It's nice to get a win without Derrek," Walker said. "We can start believing we can do it."

Albert Pujols, who had six RBI the first two games of the series and entered with the major-league lead in homers (11) and RBI (26), was 0-for-4.

Maddux, the only 40-plus right-handed starter in the major leagues, struck out four and his only walk came to the first batter he faced, David Eckstein. He threw a season-high 93 pitches and lowered his ERA 34 points, mastering the Cardinals for the second time.

"He's not coming with heat; he's never coming with heat," manager Tony La Russa said. "He's coming with a lot of intelligence and a great feel for pitching."

In two starts against the Cardinals, he's 2-0 and has given up one run on nine hits in 13 1/3 innings. Since turning 40 on April 14, he's surrendered one run on eight hits in 15 innings.

Marquis struggled for the first time in four starts this season while facing Maddux, his old mentor from the Braves. He left after the first three batters reached in the seventh, one on his fielding error on Pierre's sacrifice bunt and gave up seven runs -- four earned -- and seven hits.

"I don't know if I struggled all day. I just got away from my game plan and left a few pitches up in the zone," Marquis said. "Some days the mistakes are going be hit out and some days you get away with them."

All four of Marquis' career starts against the Cubs have come against Maddux. He's 1-2 with a 3.90 ERA.

Pierre doubled to lead off the third, advanced on a sacrifice and scored on Walker's infield hit to give the Cubs the lead and Jones' homer in the fourth made it 2-0.

Pierre reached on second baseman Aaron Miles' fielding error on a routine grounder to start the fifth, leading to Ramirez's homer and a pair of unearned runs that put Chicago ahead 4-0.

The Cubs extended the lead to 7-0 in the seventh on Ronny Cedeno's RBI double and Walker's two-run single.

St. Louis got a run in the eighth on Hector Luna's RBI double off Roberto Novoa.

Gary Bennett's two-run double in the ninth ended Ryan Dempster's run of 32 consecutive appearances without allowing an earned run. Dempster, who has converted 23 straight saves, last gave up an earned run on Aug. 12, 2005, at home against the Cardinals in a streak that lasted 31 1/3 innings.

Game notes
Cardinals reliever Brad Thompson had to make a quick jump to his side to avoid getting hit by a bat when Michael Barrett lost his grip while striking out in the seventh. ... The Cardinals haven't swept the Cubs at home since 2002. ... The Cardinals have sold out all nine games at new Busch Stadium, including paid attendance of 41,373 on Sunday.


http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20060423&content_id=1414578&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

Aramis Ramirez hit a two-run homer, Jacque Jones added a solo shot and Todd Walker drove in three runs to back Maddux (4-0), who gave most of the bullpen a much-needed day off and stopped a two-game losing streak.

"He's been awesome all year, and today we really needed a stopper," Walker said.

"He gave us the innings, he gave us the quality, he gave us a hit to start a rally, gave us baserunning -- he gave us anything you could get from a position player and a pitcher," Cubs manager Dusty Baker said. "We needed it badly."

This is the first time in his career that Maddux has won each of his first four starts. Not bad for a pitcher who turned 40 on April 14. He opened the 2000 season 4-0 with Atlanta, but achieved that record after six starts. He downplayed the feat.

"We've been scoring a lot of runs, too, so that helps," Maddux said. "Guys swung the bats well. Ramy got the big hit and put us ahead. Defense and runs goes a long way."

On Sunday, the Cubs right-hander struck out four and gave up one walk and five hits -- including three by Scott Rolen -- over seven scoreless innings. The four-time Cy Young winner appears to be turning back the clock. His lowest ERA in a single season was 1.56 in 1994 with Atlanta. Is he a better pitcher now?

"I wish I could explain it," Maddux said of tapping into the fountain of youth. "Personally, I"m just getting ready to pitch like I always have and catching a lot of breaks."

Like having one of Rolen's doubles hit the top of the center-field fence and not go over.

"Sometimes you catch a lot of breaks in this game, and right now I think I am," Maddux said.

"It was vintage Maddux," catcher Michael Barrett said. "He's been able to locate the ball really well early in the count. He's getting the ball down and away. Late in the count, he's keeping guys off balance by mixing his pitches. You can't say much more than vintage Maddux. He did today what he's been doing the last couple starts -- not trying to do too much."

Cardinals starter Jason Marquis (3-1) has seen Maddux's magic act before. The two were teammates in Atlanta, and this is the fourth time they've gone head-to-head.

"The guy is a special player," Marquis said. "He knows what he's doing out there. He's been baffling hitters for a long time, so it's not surprising to see what he's doing."

The good news is the Cubs now know they can win without Derrek Lee.

"We need all the help we can get since we lost our big guy," Walker said. "It was nice to get a win without Derrek. You start believing you can do it."

They still miss Lee, who will see his teammates Monday at Wrigley Field for the first time since he was hurt last week.

"It's tough losing D-Lee because he's such a good person, let alone a good player," Maddux said. "When you play with 24 other guys, some guys are really easy to root for and some you could care less. I think D-Lee is one of those guys who is really easy to root for."

Juan Pierre doubled to open the Cubs' third against Marquis, advanced on Ronny Cedeno's sacrifice and scored on Walker's infield single.

Jones, who entered the game batting .194, made it 2-0 with a leadoff homer in the fourth, his second of the year. In the Chicago fifth, Pierre reached on a fielding error by second baseman David Eckstein and two outs later, Ramirez belted his third homer to go ahead, 4-0. Ramirez also had been scuffling and came into the game batting .189.

"Aramis has been flirting with that fence for awhile," Baker said. "I'm just glad he caught one."

Maddux helped himself in the seventh when he singled, advanced on a wild pitch and on a sacrifice by Pierre before scoring on Cedeno's double. Marquis was pulled, and Walker greeted Brad Thompson with a two-run single. The three RBIs raised Walker's career total to 500.

"A few days ago, I got triple digits in homers," Walker said. "You look back in your career, it's stuff you'll remember."

Pinch-hitter Hector Luna hit an RBI double in the Cardinals' eighth off Roberto Novoa, and Gary Bennett hit a two-run double off Ryan Dempster in the ninth.

Maddux is the only Cubs starter who has pitched into the seventh inning this season.

"It says a lot for experience," Baker said. "He's not doing any more than what his Hall of Fame career has indicated."

This is the last year of the pitcher's contract with the Cubs. Would he like to talk about an extension?

"Let's just play," Maddux said. "It's not the time for that right now. The Cubs have a lot more problems than worrying about me right now. Let's take care of what we need to do to get better quicker and cross that bridge when we get to it."

2006 MLB Maddux 開幕2連勝

4/7 Stl G Maddux (W, 1-0) IP 6.1 H4 R1 ER1 HR1 BB2 SO1 87-52 ERA 1.42
4/12 Cin G Maddux (W, 2-0) IP 6.0 H3 R1 ER1 HR0 BB2 SO7 86-57 ERA 1.46

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=kurkjian_tim&id=2408010
Maddux's success driven by his impeccable control

When Greg Maddux made his major league debut in 1986, he was 20 years old, then the youngest pitcher in baseball.

"I've always thought it would be cool,'' he said a few years ago, "to leave as the oldest.''

Someday, he might get his wish. He turns 40 today, and based on how well he has thrown in his first two starts of this season, he might have several good years left.

This comes as no surprise to one of the men who knows him best, Orioles' pitching coach Leo Mazzone, who was Maddux's pitching coach for 11 years in Atlanta. Mazzone had the pleasure of working with the master craftsman of pitching, one of the greatest control pitchers of all time, and by our unofficial count, the sixth-best pitcher of all time. Mazzone was with Maddux in the bullpen in between starts and before games, in the weight room, on the bench during games and in conferences on the mound. He knows the secret to Maddux's remarkable success and longevity. And there's nothing complicated about it.

Greg Maddux isn't overpowering, but he's been overwhelmingly successful during his pitching career.
"He is so smart, he makes everything so simple,'' Mazzone said. "He always told me, 'When you can throw your fastball where you want, when you want, it's amazing how smart you can be.' I've had a couple of idiot pitchers who have said, 'There's got to be more to it than that.' He's the smartest pitcher I've ever seen. He's the greatest pitcher I've ever seen. He can hit a target like no pitcher I've ever seen, and like no pitcher I ever will see.''

Maddux's brother, Mike, the pitching coach for the Brewers, says that he and his little brother get ready for spring training by throwing to each other in January. They begin by playing catch, then, after a few minutes, Mike will get in a catcher's crouch, and Greg -- in his first throwing session in nearly three months -- will hit his glove every time.


Happy 40th, Greg Maddux!
Most wins before turning 40 ...

436 Cy Young
417 Walter Johnson
373 Christy Mathewson
361 Pud Galvin
360 Kid Nichols
341 Tim Keefe
327 Grover Alexander
327 John Clarkson
320 Greg Maddux

"The first time he threw for me in the bullpen [in 1993],'' Mazzone said, "he threw 80 percent of his pitches from the stretch. I asked him why he did that, and he said, 'The biggest pitches I make in every game come from the stretch.' It's so simple, but I'd never seen another pitcher do that. He always told me the hardest pitch for a right-handed pitcher to throw is a fastball down and away to a right-handed hitter. That's the one he practices all the time. He's always practicing, he's always thinking about what he'll do next.''
Maddux has the game planned out before it begins.

"I've had him tell me, 'In the third inning, I'm going to get that guy to pop out to third base,' and then he does it,'' Mazzone said. "I've seen us score five or six runs in the fifth inning to put the game away, and he'll come up to me and say, 'How far do you want me to go? Do you want nine? Or does the bullpen need the work, and I'll go seven?' His game plan is going to be different if he's going nine or seven. I've never seen a pitcher think the way he does.''

That philosophy relates directly to wins. Maddux holds the major league record with 17 straight seasons of at least 15 wins, a streak that ended last year. But with a 13-win season this year, he will tie Cy Young's major league record of 19 consecutive seasons with 13 or more wins. Two years ago, Maddux became the oldest non-knuckleball pitcher to lead his league in starts. This week, Maddux became the second pitcher since 1900 to get to 320 wins before he turned 40.

Maddux isn't big or strong, he doesn't even look like a baseball player or even an athlete. But looks don't tell the entire story, because he is a great athlete. He has won 15 consecutive Gold Gloves, has 248 hits in his career and is one of the game's best bunters. Despite having a soft-looking body, he has been incredibly durable -- he has been on the disabled list just once in his 20-plus-year career.

"He has great mechanics,'' Mazzone said. "He's very compact, very uncomplicated in his delivery. He never gets overextended. He's not a maximum effort guy on every pitch. His workouts are all baseball-related -- lots of running and throwing. There are a lot of days when he feels lousy, but he always goes out there. I know a lot of pitchers who won't go out there when they don't feel good.''


“He is so smart, he makes everything so simple. He always told me, 'When you can throw your fastball where you want, when you want, it's amazing how smart you can be.' ”
— Leo Mazzone on Greg Maddux
Despite Maddux's compact, uncomplicated approach, an approach that has no need for strikeouts except in strikeout situations, Maddux surpassed the 3,000-strikeout mark last year. This season, he likely will pass Bob Gibson into 12th place on the all-time strikeout list (Maddux presently has 3,060 strikeouts, while Gibson finished his career with 3,117). He has one 200-strikeout season in his career -- Phil Niekro has three among those in the 3,000-strikeout club, and everyone else has at least five. Maddux has only 16 10-strikeout games, 199 fewer than Nolan Ryan.

But even without the strikeouts, Maddux has been dominating in his own way for nearly 20 years, thanks in part to his incredible competitiveness. Several years ago, Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton invited Maddux to go out to dinner with him. Maddux politely declined, saying, "I've got a pizza that I didn't finish from last night, and I've got a video game that I can't beat, but tonight, I'm going to beat that game."

And, of course, he did. He's Greg Maddux.

Tim Kurkjian is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine.

Asus N6200 256MB & A9550GE/TD Series

Edguy - Rocket Ride World Tour 2006!

Rocket Ride World Tour 2006!

Date: Location: Venue: (tickets)

Jan 27.06 Manchester (UK) MDH
Jan 29.06 Nottingham (UK) Nottingham Rock City
Jan 30.06 Leeds (UK) University
Jan 31.06 Glascow (UK) Glascow Academy
Feb 01.06 Newcastle (UK) University
Feb 03.06 London (UK) Astoria
Feb 04.06 Vosselaar (B) Biebop *+
Feb 06.06 Pratteln (CH) Z7
Feb 07.06 Milan (I) Rolling Stone
Feb 09.06 Madrid (E) Aqualung
Feb 10.06 Porto (P) Hard Club
Feb 11.06 Bergara (E) Sala Jam
Feb 12.06 Barcelona (E) Razzmatazz 2
Feb 14.06 Lyon (F) Transbordeur
Feb 15.06 Paris (F) Elysee Mont Martre
Feb 17.06 Stuttgart (D) LKA
Feb 18.06 Kaufbeuren (D) All-Karthalle
Feb 20.06 Langen (D) Stadthalle
Feb 21.06 Koln (D) Live Music Hall
Feb 22.06 Oberhausen (D) Turbinenhalle
Feb 24.06 Lichtenfels (D) Stadthalle
Feb 25.06 Osnabruck (D) Halle Gartlage
Feb 26.06 Hamburg (D) Markthalle
Feb 28.06 Goteborg (S) Trädgarn
Mar 01.06 Stockholm (S) Arenan
Mar 02.06 Lund (S) Mejeriet
Mar 04.06 Fulda (D) Wartenberg-Oval
Mar 15.06 Osaka (JP) Quattro
Mar 16.06 Tokyo, (JP) Ebisu Liquid Room
Mar 17.06 Tokyo, (JP) Ebisu Liquid Room
Mar 19.06 Taipei (TW) Family Theater
Mar 21.06 Hong Kong (CHI) Hitec Auditorium
Mar 24.06 Peking (CHI) Red Hall
July 16.06 Vizovice (CZ) Masters of Rock



http://jukebo.cx/archives/2006/03/22/edguy-rocket-ride/

Edguy’s brilliant new album, Rocket Ride, gets a review with a difference; the band’s very own nutty vocalist Tobias Sammet helps us give a complete track-by-track rundown of the whole album. Why? Well, because we asked him to.

Edguy began this year with the release of Rocket Ride and a support tour of the UK with Dragonforce. They then took Dragonforce with them for a Europe-wide headlining tour before going to Japan. They’re now in China. The new album is a perfect power metal album. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, makes jokes in the right places, handles important issues in the right way and does the whole thing with superb vocals, excellent musicianship and most importantly, variety. It’s exactly what you’d want from a power metal album.

Myself and Tobias did this a long time ago now, over a lunchtime drink at a hotel lounge in London, before the album was even out, but I decided not to spoil the surprise for any Edguy fans out there, as Tobias was quite revealing about the album’s content, and kept it under wraps for a time. The album’s been out a little while now, so the fans have had a while to live with it. We therefore think it’s about time, we share with you Tobias’ thoughts on each track and maybe shed some light on some of the meanings of the songs for you. We might also inspire some new people to check out the album, who knows?

Sacrifice
“It’s a long song and probably the most complicated song on the album, which is why many people think it’s strange to have it on the album as the opening track, but my opinion is it doesn’t matter to a metalhead how long the opening track is. Nobody sits there with a watch checking the running time of the song, you know. Metalheads are bright enough to cope with an eight minute opening track. They don’t need a hit single as the opening track. So it doesn’t make a difference.

“It has everything Edguy is about. It has aggressive passages, it has very calmed down passages, it has aggressive guitar riffing, it has anthemic melodies, everything. So it sums up the whole range of Edguy and the whole diversity. Lyrically it’s a very serious song, which is very funny because the cover artwork is really funny and of course there’s a few funny jokes, but Sacrifice has some very serious lyrics. It’s just writing down feelings. There’s a lot of things going on around me, and it has been like that for ten years. My life is constantly moving in the fast lane, which is a good thing! Travelling around, meeting a lot of people, and being on stage all the time, being in the studio writing songs. So there’s really not a lot of time to think, for me. Not a lot of time on my own. But when you’re on your own, especially in a hotel room, and everything starts to calm down and then you have time to think, so it’s just about how sometimes you’re really irritated by when you’ve got time to think on your own that everything starts to slow down and starts to happen in slow motion. It’s really to cope with the situation, to face a situation that you don’t know, that you’re not so familiar with, and that sacrifice I have to make is when you have so much going on around you that you’re facing an unreal, a surreal situation when you finally have time on your own. It’s a sacrifice not being able to cope with just normal situations.”

Rocket Ride
“There have been periods in my life where I’ve been spending a lot time thinking about the meaning of life and trying to find a deeper meaning in everything, but then on the other hand it will lead you to nowhere spending a lot of time thinking about conspiracy theories and the meaning of life and religion and philosophy. It’s a great thing to think a lot, but it can really drive you nuts, so there has to be some point where you just have to accept that we are just animals as any other animal. So Rocket Ride is just about embracing the profanity of life. Sometimes you’ve just got to switch off your brain and just live. Enjoy being a human being with all it’s lower needs. There are some!”

Wasted Time
“Wasted Time is a classic mid-tempo track for Edguy. It’s got some Scorpions in it, especially the riffing in the verse. That’s really funny because I’ve just come from Spain and they said they just did an interview with, like Classic Rock Spain, or something, where Rudolph Schenker said Edguy are the new Scorpions of Germany. The younger generation Scorpions. I felt really honoured, because I like the Scorpions, I gotta admit, especially the ’80s stuff they did. So I think Wasted Time has got a Scorpions touch, but still it’s more bombastic, and a heavier track. Lyrically it’s about a situation where you look back at a failed relationship and you just wonder if it all was wasted. Of course it’s not, but somehow we tend to be self-destructive and we tend to be self-sympathetic, so it was just all a waste of time. It’s a nice idea to think like that and just tell the World “it was all a waste of time”, and that’s what the song is about.”

Matrix
“Matrix is nothing to do with the movie. I don’t even know the movie, I know about the movie, but I’ve never seen it, I’m not too much into movies. Musically I’ve gotta say it’s a little bit different. It used to start like a normal Dio song. Dio meets modern keyboards. Sascha (Paeth) really produced it into a different direction. We were about three minutes into the song and he came up and said “Hey, I’ve heard this song!” So he was adding a lot of keyboards and rearranging everything and finally he liked it. I don’t know if it’s a typical Edguy song, but on the other hand you’ve got to surprise people at times, just to keep it interesting and exciting. And we were fine with the song, we said “OK, let’s do it this way, let’s take the song like that.”

“Lyrically, it’s kind of like Sacrifice, it’s when you discover there are two totally controlling sides to your personality somewhere inside. I’ve always felt like a real family kind of person, you know? Being very, very close to my family and being tightly bound to my home and to where I come from. Being a touring musician, with all those temptations that you have to face, it’s a very controlled thing. The first lines have been inspired by the feeling when you wake up in morning, looking in the mirror looking like shit, remembering the Jack Daniel’s bottle you had the night before, not remembering the name of the one who’s lying in bed next to you, and just asking, like, “what am I, really? It’s really time to reboot myself and try to find out what is right and what is wrong.” But, you know, finally when the song was written, one of the backing vocalists in the studio, Amanda, she is American and she was reading the lyrics in a different way totally. She said “it looks like you’re struggling with a fucked up relationship to a girl”. And I said “oh, that’s the way you can read as well?” She said “Yeah, I think that’s what it’s about.” “Oh good, so, it’s not at all about that, but if it works like that too, cool!”

Return To The Tribe
“Return To The Tribe is a typical Edguy song, speed metal, very easy going. We have a vocal guitar solo in there, I was singing the guitar solo. We were having a few beers in the studio and I told Sascha how I sing some solos to the others to give them an idea of what I think. He said “Oh, we should record that” and I said “yeah, cool!” We ran it through an amplifier with distortion and I was singing like a guitar solo and it sounded real! So we left it like that on the album. I think it’s the first time a vocalist sings a guitar solo, but I don’t know. Lyrically it’s just about the feeling you have when you’ve been on tour for months and no matter how much you like touring, really you’re just looking forward to, and remembering, people at home, you’re looking forward to meeting them and looking forward to going back to your shelter. Just looking forward to all sorts, “I enjoy what I’m doing, and I’m looking forward to doing it again next time, but now I’m going home to the great PlayStation evenings with my friends and drinking white wine and smoking a pipe and just enjoying a great evening at home.”

The Asylum
“Asylum is a classic Edguy track. It starts as a ballad, you know, really calm, and then it explodes, which is something I really like in our songs. We do that a lot of times, when we really calm down the whole mood of the song to make it explode afterwards. That’s a typical thing that Richard Wagner did as well in his music. He always had these huge, huge, huge explosions after it had calmed down. It’s classic Dio meets Edguy bombastic stuff. It’s got a very nice guitar solo, I think, I really appreciate it. Jens did a terrific job, especially the clean guitar solo. A very, very calm guitar solo. And lyrically it’s a political song, in a way, but it was never meant to be because I don’t think it makes sense to write political songs. I don’t think a war will end just because Bob Dylan sings about anti-tank missile silos and shit. It’s really stupid for bands to do that. It should be entertaining first. If it’s entertaining then it’s OK to be political as well. This song is just exploring the roots of evil, because everybody sees evil as something different. Controlling opinions, controlling ways of life, we tend to see that as evil. Or like this whole terrorism thing. I mean, of course it’s evil to fly a plane into a building and kill innocent people. That’s evil. And to blow up bombs in a subway station. There’s no way of calling something like that not evil. But, let’s put it this way. A snake. If you corner it, it will bite you. But if you leave it alone, give it space, give it a chance to find it’s food in the forest, there’s no snake in the World that will go “ooh, a human, that’s nice pray, let’s eat it!” That’s why I think sometimes we make it too easy for ourselves to call something else evil, without understanding the position. And I think that’s what happens globally at the moment. We corner some people, and we corner certain countries. If it’s their last chance to bite back, they will bite back.”

Save Me
“Save Me is a very, very kitschy love song. I love kitsch. Maybe some people call it embarrassing, but it’s cool, we are an embarrassing band! That’s what we’re supposed to be, that’s what heavy metal is supposed to be. I mean, I wonder what Dee Snider would say if someone came up and said “you look ridiculous, you look embarrassing”. He’d say “of course! That’s what it’s intended to be like.” So, Save Me is just a typical love ballad. Of course some people say that this topic has been really, really overdone. I don’t think so much about what is needed and what is overdone and what is not overdone, you just have to have feelings, and that is what I had in mind. It’s a beautiful song, I think. It’s a classic ballad, but again Sascha produced it into a very modern direction, production wise. Some people say it sounds like Nickelback. I think it’s still just an Edguy ballad. Some other people said it sounds like Matchbox 20.”

Catch of The Century
“Dokken meets Edguy meets Van Halen! I’m really proud of that song. It’s one of my favourites because it’s a good package as a whole. It’s a song about being turned down by a woman that you don’t want to be turned down by. It’s not so much the topic itself that makes it so funny and interesting and gives it the right attitude, I think it’s more the words. “I’m going down with flying colours before I go down on someone else” and stuff like that. “You’ve got your catch going down the drain, you’re dumping the catch of the century, Lady Luck’s got her ass in pain, you’re dumping the catch of the century.” It’s just the best way to get over a situation like that, just to say “hey, you don’t want me, you don’t deserve me!” That’s what I have to tell myself several times a day. There are many people in the World who don’t deserve me, I can tell you!”

Out of Vogue
“It’s all in the title itself, pretty much. It’s a real out of vogue song, it sounds like an ’80s rock song. Jens wrote it actually, almost everything. Ironically I wrote the solo and our guitar player wrote all the rest! Which is really stupid, but it is what it is. And I wrote the lyrics. It’s just about being out of vogue, and being out of vogue is the greatest thing in the World because if you try to be in vogue you will always be late. I just don’t understand that. Even if you manage to be fashionable, you just manage to be fashionable for a short time. And that’s the stupid thing, you should stick with what you really are and what you really want to do. And that’s what we do. Many people say “oh, that’s unfashionable and that’s old fashioned” and we say “yeah! And we’re damn proud of it! We are totally out of vogue!” Some people say we suck. Some people only listen to fashionable stuff, therefore Elvis is old fashioned shit and it sucks. Well, maybe we suck, but we sound quite good sucking!”

Superheroes
“Some people say we’re going pop, just because that was the first single. Well, it was the softest song. It doesn’t make sense to take the heaviest track, or the longest track, or the most complicated track and make it the single. It reminds me of the heavier version of old Bon Jovi. And that’s a good thing, we’ve always had that hard rock appeal to it.”

Trinidad
“Trinidad was supposed to be one of two bonus tracks. But it turned out to be so funny; it has no meaning. The meaning is I’m pulling fun out of my height. I’m not the tallest guy. I’ve been with a girlfriend and she was taller than me. It was like I had to walk on the sidewalk and she had to walk in the street so we were the same size. Again, it’s not so much the topic that is funny, but I think it’s the choice of words that makes it funny. Like “I’m a sight for sore eyes if your eyes could only see, I’ve been born on tiptoes, still you look like a lighthouse next to me,” and stuff like that. The song is just about a man who’s made fun of and while his wife is sleeping he decides to go out to grab some food and goes out and departs to Trinidad and never comes back and hangs out at the beach with girls. Some people may say this is really bullshit, but I say yeah, it is, but at least it’s entertaining and interesting and funny. And the song turned out to be so good; it’s anthemic, so we said “hey, let’s put it on the album.”

Fucking With Fire
“Our goal was to write a real ludicrous ’80s cock-rock anthem. And I think we did that. Every single syllable is cliché. “I saw her coming in high heels, moving like a queen”, I mean that’s so stupid it’s embarrassing, but again, we are an embarrassing band! Hairforce One is the subtitle, which refers to hair metal, of course. We thought it was funny and in the end we thought this is an anthem and some people may think we’re nuts, and that’s good, so let’s put it on the album. And I think it should work pretty well live.”

Standing In The Rain
“Erm, Standing In The Rain isn’t going to be a bonus track at all. I mean, Standing In The Rain has been recorded and it’s completed, but we decided, because it was so strong, to take it as a song and use it for another single. At the moment there’s no plan to release another single, so we’re listening to it at home.”

Watch for the rest of our exclusive interview with Tobias coming soon.