Mothers Day gift ideas

I got my annual 'buy mom a pink bat' email from MLB today--always good for a laugh

April visitors

Here are some way way overdue pics of our April visitors

Here's Iris with her Uncle Jack. His real name is John but I always call him ML.
Here they are playing Wii.
She & Uncle Jack bowled 6 straight strikes together--
I bet you didn't know she was such a good bowler!

ML came up with his son Reed (youngest of 3).
Iris hopes to meet her other 2 cousins Will & Luke soon!My mom (Iris's Memere) also visited in Apriland here's one of Iris and Irene at one of our early season Mariner games at Safeco Field

Our friends Lorraine and Rob from Ireland also visited us in April--
I'll post pics of their visit soon!

Mothers Day Gift Ideas

Just like last year, the Red Sox and Major League Baseball have teamed up to provided some wonderful, thoughtful Mothers Day gift ideas

What mom wouldn't want a full size pink bat?
(Nobody tell Irene that's what she's getting, OK?)

and I think Papelbon might really be crazy

Sox Win! Sox Win! Sox Win!

WOW! The Sox beat Colorado 4-3 tonight, sweeping the series 4-0 for their 2nd WS title in 4 years! I can't believe it - for 39 years of my life I never knew if I'd live to see them win one and now they've won a second just 3 seasons later - it's nuts I tell ya, NUTS! Big congrats to Series MVP Mike Lowell too. I really hope the Sox are smart enough to re-sign Mikey, who has proven himself to be a post-season stud twice now (he won a ring w/the Marlins in '03) & not go after you know who that just opted out the final 3 seasons of his contract with satan's team.

On the baby name front, since the sports guy has pretty much ruined the name Beckett for us, I'm now considering the name 'Champ' for JJ, in honor of the '07 sox. (and possibly the 19-0 2007 Patriots as well). We'll see what Irene has to say about that one. Do you think the name 'Champ' would work for either a boy or a girl? I do.

Millsy Did A Great Job

I sent this article to our friend Rod "Millsy" Mills today to thank him for his help getting the Sox to a 2-0 lead in the World Series. The key quote in the article comes from Sox catcher & captain Jason Varitek:

"Millsy did a great job right there and read the situation right and got us an easy out"

He was talking about Sox bench coach Brad "Millsy" Mills, who called for the pickoff throw for the 3rd out in the 8th inning last night, and not our friend Rod, but that doesn't matter much to me

Nice work Millsy! 2 down & 2 to go--A grateful red sox nation thanks you!

I love this play so much I have to post another photo of it:Yep - I think he was out!

Beckett Martel?

I've been (only half-jokingly--I really do kind of like the sound of it) pitching the name Beckett to Irene for a few weeks now, and today the sports guy writes this (including the caption below the pic on left):

"When Cleveland had a chance to clinch at home, Beckett laid the smack down in Game 5. In my lifetime, the most clutch Boston pitching performance was Schilling's bloody sock game in the 2004 ALCS. Second was an injured Pedro coming out of the bullpen in Game 5 of the '99 Indians-Sox series. Third was Derek Lowe throwing a one-hitter for six innings ON TWO DAYS REST to topple the Yankees in Game 7 of 2004. And the fourth? Beckett slamming the door in Game 5. He held off a pennant celebration, swung the momentum of the series and threw his hat into the ring for Team Simmons' "What should we name our son?" sweepstakes. (You have to admit, Beckett Simmons has a nice ring to it.) Baseball is the only sport where a single person can shut up 55,000 people for an extended period of time and eventually break their will. This was one of those times. Just a virtuoso performance."


So much for that! Don't suggest Lugo Martel to us either, ok? Because that ain't happening.

Indians Going to EXTREME Lengths to end Series tonight. Plus: Torre out in NY

They hired Josh Beckett's ex to sing the anthem before the game - really! "Oh but I swear, it's just a coincidence. how were we supposed to know???"


Here's the link to this article on espn:

Teams have been known to go to extraordinary lengths to get an edge. But the Cleveland Indians swear Thursday night's choice of pre-game singer is not a piece of gamesmanship.

Danielle Peck, a country music singer who also happened to date Red Sox ace pitcher Josh Beckett, will sing the national anthem and "God Bless America" at tonight's Game 5 in Cleveland. Beckett is scheduled to start the game for Boston.

"It's an incredible coincidence. Honestly," said Indians spokesman Bob DiBiasio.

Taylor Swift was supposed to be the Game 5 vocalist, but when she couldn't attend, DiBiasio said a country music booker recommended the up-and-coming Peck. She is from Coshocton and her single "I Don't" is a hit.

"She's from Ohio. Her entire family are Indians fans. We did not know anything about her connections to Beckett. The next day, we find out the rest of the story," said DiBiasio of Peck. "How are we supposed to know who Josh Beckett dates?"

With a victory tonight, the Indians would close out the Red Sox and clinch their first spot in the World Series since 1997.

Yeah - "I Don't" is a HUGE hit - it's the next Stairway to Heaven - it peaked at #28 on the country chart -- in 2005! woohoo!

Also, Joe Torre turned down the yankees low-ball offer of $5M (as much as $8M including incentives) today. That's good news for fans of all other teams. There's not much chance any other manager would do as good a job managing that roster of high priced head cases & steroid abusers.

Somebody tell Manny we're still down by 4

Sox are down 3-1 to the Indians in the ALCS, in case you haven't been watching. I feel we have them right where we want them--their #1 guy going tomorrow night, at home, trying to clinch, oozing self confidence. Yep, right where we want em.

JJ's 3rd trimester & Sox playoff tickets

Irene and JJ (and me too I guess) officially entered their 3rd trimester last Wednesday. That's right--less than 3 months to go! It's starting to feel real now--we even bought a car seat and some onesies on Saturday. I'll post a picture of Irene in the near future if I can get her to let me.

Also - The Red Sox emailed me today about signing up for a chance to buy Fenway playoff tix here. I love the picture in the email--it really captures the Fenway experience in full: an overweight, drunk, bearded white guy in a red tshirt leaning/sweating over you for 3 and a half or 4 hours.
Good times!Speaking of baseball, very very funny Onion article here.
(Warning: Contains beaucoup f-bombs)

Excellent Analysis here

I wish I could take credit for writing this breakdown of the Mariners recent meltdown, but it's from the Seattlest.com blog:

The Mariners. WTF?

Well, that was spectacular. From the heady days of August 25th, when the M's were three up in the wild card and only one back in the division, had won two straight in Texas, when we were all excited about Blue-za-palooza or whatever the fuck it was...to now, after 11 losses in 12 games, when we're all pretty much in wait 'till next year mode.

You've all seen the boat sink, here are the numbers.

August 25th-September 5th

Team pitching:
100 2/3 IP, 138 H, 20 HR (!), 5.81 ERA. Opp BA .334, Opp SLG .550

Team batting:
400 AB, 41 R, 6 HR, 22 BB, 70 K, OBP .309. 3.4 runs per game.

For a little perspective, no team's had an ERA that bad since the 109-loss, 1996 Detroit Tigers, and no team's averaged so few runs per game since the 107-loss, 1988 Baltimore Orioles.

So, in the midst of a pennant race, the M's reverted to being an epochally bad hitting and pitching team. Nice!

Reporters asked John McLaren what has to change after yesterday's game.

"We'll see what we're made out of, how about that? We'll see who steps to the plate."

Who has to step up?

"We'll start with the manager and work our way through the whole team."

The M's clamber up onto the shores of Detroit tomorrow, where they'll throw Miguel Batista against Justin Verlander. The Yankees, meanwhile, fly to the friendly town of Kansas City, where Gil Meche stands between them and reducing their magic number to 20.

Eddie's rant after sox get swept by nyy (BOO!)

My buddy Eddie (who I've known since the 8th grade & now lives out here too) sent me this email this afternoon, after the sox got 2 hits (woo hoo!) and lost 5-0 to complete the 3 game sweep by the yanks (BOO!). In the past I've described him as the "Glass is always empty" type of sox fan - he makes me look like the eternal optimist, if you can imagine that


Subject: Hot Potato

If the M's take the wild card from the Yanks, which is doubtful, and ended up playing the Sox in the playoffs, would the Sox and M's be like the Cubs and Brewers and just keep stepping back saying, "we don't want it, you take it, no really, you take it!"? Can a playoff series end in a tie due to neither team wanting to win? Friggin' joke of a week for both M's and Sox.

Sox don't deserve division if they can't hit and M's don't deserve anything after their shellacking and losing 5 straight at this time of year.

Go Pats!

At least this gives me an excuse to run the BEST PHOTO EVER again

Weaver Makes His Sad Face

Jeffy only went 4 innings in last night's 8-0 drubbing from the Angels. I am doing the unprecedented, and hereby revoking the Schrute buck he earned a few weeks back, leaving him with a grand total of zero Schrute bucks, a 2-10 record, and an ERA of 6.32 for the season.

I looked it up and he was 3-10, 6.29 (thru 16 starts--the same number he's had here) when the Angels gave up on him last year. So he was actually one win better & had a marginally lower ERA than he has this season--and they dropped him. When will Bavasi do the same? I'm guessing never, since that would require the Ms management to actually do something mid-season other than trade a guy like Mateo.

How can a team that thinks it's playoff ready have a 2-10 guy in its starting rotation? When will Bavasi be fired? These are the kinds of questions I'd like to know the answers to.

Lastly, here are the probables for the Sox-Ms series this weekend, according to the Boston Globe:

Friday, Aug. 3
Jon Lester (Red Sox) vs. Horacio Ramirez (Mariners)

Saturday, Aug. 4
Daisuke Matsuzaka (Red Sox) vs. Jarrod Washburn (Mariners)

Sunday, Aug. 5
Curt Schilling (Red Sox) vs. Miguel Batista (Mariners)

Looks good on paper but you'll get no predictions from me--I know how bad the Sox play in Seattle. They've lost their last 8 games at Safeco.

Kris, Ben & Barry plus ipod project update

Our friends Kris & Ben were at Wrigley last Thursday for the Cubs-Giants game (Ben's a Cubbies fan from way back) and they weren't even sure if Barry would play, since he was limited to one pinch hit appearance the 2 prior games of the series. But it turned out that Ben bought tickets for the right game --they got to see Barry go 3 for 3 with 2 Homers and 6 RBIs--career homers #752 and 753! NICE! He knocked out the first pitch he saw leading off the 2nd inning, then later popped a 3-run shot to center, right into a into a stiff headwind. The guys on ESPN that night said they didn't think anyone would hit one out to center that afternoon.

here's Barry receiving props from former Mariner Randy "Winny" Winn after HR #2 that day:

and I think that might be Ben holding up that sign,
though it would probably be held up much higher if it really is him:

ALSO: here's the latest update on my ipod a-z project, which I started on January 1, 2006. My goal is to listen to the entire contents of my ipod, al l in alphabetical order.

as of 4:23 PM Monday July 23: Currently listening to "Some Might Say" by Oasis. (I just heard "Some Like It Hot" by Power Station 3 times in a row from a number of 80s compilation cds I have on there--really glad that's over with).

"Some Might Say" is song #10617 of 14412.
I had hoped to finish by the end of this year, and still might but I'll need to focus and stop listening to other stuff when I'm at work. Big thanks to Kris for helping me stay on task with this when we were visiting her family's place outside of San Jose a couple weeks ago--we cranked through a lot of the S's that weekend. (Thanks for hosting us too!)

More dumping on the sox

I had to post this picture; it's too funny (and no, it' not Eddie Odey). Check out the writeup too, http://seattlest.com/2007/06/28/the_boston_mass.php. I find Red Sox fans annoying too but at least they know how to stick with a team through wins and losses. I have one more observation about Red Sox fans -- they sure love to drink. At Tuesday's game, practically every Red Sox fan had at least 2 beers in hand at any given moment. Maybe that's how they've learned to cope watching the team (win or lose).

Sox Swept! & NBA Draft tonight

What the hell??!! It's gotten ridiculous around here. The sox come to town and lose to the Mariners every game, and that just the way it goes. They've now lost 8 in a row at Seattle, which is no fun for me or Eddie or the rest of the Sox fans out here. I'm just glad the rest of the AL east is so awful this year, and that we still have a 9 game lead after a brutal June travel schedule that included 2 west coast swings in a 3 week period.

Thanks to Irene too, for noticing the Sox were playing at home when we were going to be in NH over Memorial Day weekend--we got to see them win a game this season.

The Sox will be back in August, and hopefully Terry Francona will remember to send up a pinch hitter next time we're in an 8th inning, tie game, 2 on, 2 out situtation. He didn't seem to remember he could do that yesterday & sent up SS Julio Lugo, mired in an 0 for 31 slump or something like that, who managed to turn a 3-0 count into a strikeout. End of "rally", end of sox last best hope to at least take one of the 3 games this week. And then when Piñeiro came in to pitch the 11th, everyone in the place knew the game wouldn't last much longer.

Tip of the cap to Ichi - he recorded 11 put outs on fly balls yesterday - only 1 shy of the all time record. Not that I enjoyed a single one of them, but he is a great player. Too bad for all the Ms fans that this is the final year of his contract & the team doesn't seem to be very interested in re-signing him. I just hope he's not wearing pinstripes next year.

NBA draft is tonight - Sonics have #2 pick, celtics the 5th. Smart money says the sonics will get Kevin Durant but you never know - maybe Portland will take him & the Seattle/Las Vegas/OK City Sonics will have Greg Oden for the next 10-12 yrs. Weirder things have happened. I hope Jeff Green ends up on the Celts but they're probably going to take Yi, the 7footer from China, described by the sports guy's dad as the Chinese Brad Lohaus. Hooray!

Red Sox in town

Tonight starts a 3-game series with the Red Sox in town. Of course, Jim plans to go to all 3 games. Tonight it'll be Jim and Keith (a former Amazon who now lives in VA). I get to suffer through the loud obnoxious Sox fans (including Jim) on Tuesday night. The bummer is Wednesday's game; Daisuke is scheduled to pitch and I'll be stuck at work. It's a day game starting at 1:35PM.

Considering how much talk there's been about Daisuke, there's no mention of him pitching here this week. Our lame newspapers have been occupied by the return of Griffey Jr. It was great seeing him back in Seattle, but we need to stop being so nostalgic and start focusing our energy into fixing the Mariners. Feierabend (who the hell is this guy?) is scheduled to pitch for us; his record is 1-2 with a 8.20 ERA. Though I'll miss the game on Wednesday, I don't think I can suffer through a Sox win.

Weaver is da man!

hey - to all the haters and naysayers out there who have been on Jeff Weaver's case this season, people just like me, in other words, he got win #1 last night - a complete game 4 hitter against the powerful Pittsburgh Pirates!

for this magnificent start, I'm awarding Jeff one Schrute buck

Congrats to Blazers & Sonics; Giambi=Lying Cheating Hypocritical Scumbag

Congrats to the Blazers who won the Greg Oden NBA draft lottery last night, and to the Seattle/OKCity Sonics, who got the 2nd pick consolation prize of Kevin Durant. This despite having only the 6th and 5th best chance of winning, respectively.

BUT...I'm very disappointed & angry that the Celtics, who had the 2nd best chance of winning the #1 pick, have to settle for the #5 choice. WTF?! I guess it'll be another 10 years of mediocrity in Boston & of me not really caring about the NBA.

In other news 'roid boy Giambi failed a test for amphetamines within the past year, it was reported today. This less than a week after he called for baseball to make a blanket apology to its fans, despite never apologizing for his own steroid use. what an ass!

I love Frank Robinson's reply to 'roid boy's disingenuous comments last week:

Hall of Famer Frank Robinson took issue with one of Giambi's comments, saying the Yankees first baseman should speak for himself.

"If Jason wants to confess, then he should come out and say: 'I'm guilty. I apologize. I apologize to baseball. I apologize to all the fans that have supported me and supported baseball over the years. And I will clean up my act and promise you I will not do anything like this again,"' Robinson said during an interview on ESPN. "He should not drag others into [it], because when he says baseball, that includes everybody in baseball."

Even Less Shocking

I've been singing the praises of Mariners Fan Favorite Jeff Weaver since his first start this season. He continued his perfect start today, and is now 0-6!! The good news for Ms fans is that he lowered his ERA to 14.56 with a quality outing today--only 6 earned runs in 5 innings pitched! Sweet! He's gonna break through for that first W any time now

Here he is almost getting Magglio Ordonez out!