carlos is crying

actually, i would guess carlos correa is pretty happy. he signed a big contract last offseason (three of them, actually), and even though he is playing below his contract value, his team is in first place.  here's a card of his 

that i found in a pack of 2022 topps update last year. 

i am not much of a fan of correa's, for what should be obvious reasons, and the title of this post is appropriate for two reasons:

1. joe kelly is back with the dodgers, and

2. the hold steady is playing tonight at the minnesota state fair and i am there!

first, you will likely recall the interaction between correa and kelly back during the latter's first stint as a dodger where the relief pitcher threw a "pouty" look at the astro hitter that was commemorated in a los angeles mural (but unfortunately not on a baseball card). correa wasn't literally crying - whining as i understood it - and kelly's reaction was a bit exaggerated (yet awesome) so i think i can exaggerate a bit as well.

second, the hold steady's latest album - "the price of progress" - includes a track titled "carlos is crying" which has shown up in many of their recent set lists. for those of you who are not familiar with the hold steady, they are my favorite active band, with roots in the twin cities and brooklyn.

i've mentioned the hold steady a few times, and i have a blog to thank for first introducing me to them. back in 2006, i was reading a bunch of music blogs, and one in particular posted a couple of links to some hold steady songs from their album "separation sunday". i wound up picking up their back catalog and their then-current album ("boys and girls in america") and listened to them quite a bit. when 2008's "stay positive" was released, i was all in and eventually saw them in concert at first ave in minneapolis (with the drive by truckers) on that tour. since then, they haven't really toured in the traditional sense, but i've managed to see them a couple more times, along with a craig finn (their lead singer) solo show. tonight marks the fourth time i've seen the band live, and i know it will be a great show.

as for kelly, he is now officially a dodger "double dipper", a title that used to qualify for a standalone post here (and did get a post for trayce thompson - one of the guys the dodgers sent to the white sox for kelly - not too long ago). i don't want to wait to see if kelly gets included in update this year as a dodger, so here's a card from his first stint with the team - it's a 2021 topps chrome platinum anniversary refractor parallel

and here's a card from his tenure with the white sox from last year's update

if kelly does get a new dodger card, i'll add it here later. 

back to the concert - finn, formerly of lifter puller, often wears a twins hat. in fact, when he released his first solo album back in 2012, i passed up an opportunity (through his record label) to go to a twins game with him. however, even though finn is a baseball fan, the song is not about carlos correa and joe kelly. regardless, i will definitely be thinking about them if the band plays the song tonight.