9.21.06 San Diego Padres v. Arizona Diamondbacks: "I don't appreciate you jabbing us!"

Padres WIN! 3-1

Woody Williams started this game. Brandon Webb started for AZ. And I had an awesome dream. I dreamed that Dave Roberts was in left field and I was sitting right behind him. But then he turned into Jerry Hairston. And everyone was yelling at him.

I always thought that opposing fielders didn't really pay attention to hecklers. Don't you think they'd be able to block it all out? As per usual, I'm wrong.

Killer fatigue rendered this game a blur. Dave Roberts hit a triple, or did I dream that?

Petco Park is nice. The End.

Bill Gramidge

2007 Target Ballparks:

Metrodome, Minneapolis


That's all I have for now.

Do you remember Nomar time?

Wow, them San Diegans sure do love the Hoff. Not the one you're thinking of. I mean, TREVOR! Who around here would be "TREVAAAAAH!!"

Congratulations to Trevor on his record breaking acheivement. I was not at that game. I was at the one where he tied the record, which is not a very interesting story to tell.

I got to thinking about closer fanfare and how silly it all is. Hoffman's Hell's Bell's and all the ballpark flashery. M. Rivera and "Enter Sandman". Papelbon seeking suggestions for his entrance music. God, if I were them I'd plead with mgmnt. to knock it off. How embarassing! At-bat intro songs are bad enough... it just shows the world what horrible musical taste these jock gorillas have. Is it a lame hip-hop hit? A Creed song? Some Kenny/Toby/Keith? Yes.

Nomar never had at-bat music. Classy. Do you remember Nomar time? Do you remember what that was like?

IL News (old)

The Yankees have ended their affiliation with the Columbus Clippers. They are now the AAA team of the Washington Nationals! I know you're thinking, how boring, but it's a great way to learn about a team.

In other news, I had a half-baked idea that maybe I'm underestimating the Padres. Maybe everyone is.

corn me up

I'm freshly home now.

My vacation was great. And what's one of the best things that can happen when you're on vacation? No, not that.

The most memorable vacations are the ones where you learn a thing or two. And I'm not talking about what your museum tour guide told you.

See you soon.

Big Mean Man has Little Kitty Kat

Jim never has a second cup of coffee at home.

I just saw the recap of the SDP/LAD game. Please don't ask me why I'm up so early.

Freaking Nomar. The guy hits the walkoff home run in the tenth after the 4 consecutive to tie the game in the 9th (Seanez: The Gift That Keeps on Giving). And he goes nuts! Jumping up and down and screaming. Then the post-game interview, talking about how awesome the win was, how proud he was of his teammates, total team effort. Very, very effusive.

Excuse me, but is this the same guy who was the model of stoicism in Boston? Nomar NEVER displayed much emotion, regardless of his accomplishments. This did not even look like the same guy. My feelings are so hurt. I feel like as a Red Sox fan, I was deprived of Nomar the Great Teammate. Maybe he loves being a Dodger. Screw the Dodgers.

Anyhoo, I'm off for my first trip to California in a couple of days. I'll be at Petco Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night. I might try surfing. Imagine! Me on a surfboard!

9.15.06 Double Nuthins et. al. @ The Living Room, Providence

Why does it seem like I've been to the Living Room more times in the past couple of months than I have in the past 6 years?

This was a benefit for a tiny Providence newspaper called The Agenda, which I had never heard of because I'm officially square. It reminds me of the NicePaper.

A lot of bands played, which was cool. I left because I was so drowsy... and weak... and elderly.

There was a raffle and the big prize was a bicycle. My brother Phil called me at work and told me I missed it. He won the bike. So now both of us have won major awards.

In other news, FLIPPER is playing tomorrow night. Can you believe that? I'm going.

PS That's The Agenda! Read it!

watch out for wet leaves

I just came across some photos from the WS Parade back in '04 - close to Halloween?

We were at the tail end of the parade, right near the point where the D-Boats floated away and, you know, just like the 2,999,999 other kids I was screaming out the players' names with no reaction. Like Pokey Reese isn't by that time sick of waving politely every time some red-faced nut in Mardi Gras beads orgiastically screams his name.

But I saw bullpen coach Euclides Rojas and I thought, well, here's a guy who's not getting a lot of love because who even knows who he is?

EUKY!!!!!!!!!!!! got me the famous double-point.

I'm going to host a cable access special called "Red Sox WS Parade Memories" and it will be 24 hours long and every guest I have will tell the same story..."I got up SO early... hadn't gotten much sleep, thank god for the good folks at Dunkin' Donuts but I knew I had to see this for my dead relatives and my kids and..."

rapt

So sometimes at junk/antique/thrift stores, I rifle through those ubiquitous boxes of caseless cassettes. And sometimes I'll buy the blank looking ones, especially if they're not rewound because then I know there's at least SOME content on them.

I've never found anything particularly gripping, but it's kind of interesting to hear what anonymous people find worthy of recording. I found one from the 80's with a Celtics playoff game on it. Haven't listened to it, not yet.

One of my favorite weird non-blank cassettes is a Dexter Shoes promo cassette which features Suzyn Waldman singing a song about Ted Williams to the tune of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame". It's completely awful and littered with phrases like "Splendid Splinter" and so forth.

I'm cleaning my apartment and really digging for gold and finding aged weirdness. I hooked up my NEW record player and guess what? I can't get any sound.

10 Things You Could Buy At The Jackson, MS Greyhound Bus Station

1. a belt
2. a stuffed "Baby Tweety"
3. butterscotch
4. a chartreuse visor
5. a wooden scotty dog
6. a jar of jellybeans with a prayer on the jar
7. a "Best of Alice Cooper" cassette
8. a Greyhound Christmas ornament (ball style)
9. paperback - "Sunrise Temptation"
10. travel checkers

procrastinations to you both, I hope somewhere you're happy

I should be cleaning my apt. right now. I just noticed a sweet day game between the A's and Twins. I do like both teams, but I have to root for MINN here.

As much as the Metrodome is obscenely wacko, I have to attend a game there. Maybe next year. Prince is from Minneapolis, right? Who wants to come?? We'll ALL go! Let's go crazy!

I obviously have nothing to write about. I am a shell of my summer self.

sufferage

I work in Massachusetts and a lot of my co-workers were urging me to vote "yes" casino-wise. This is not actually voting for a casino, but more like voting for the OPPORTUNITY to vote for a casino.

I haven't decided which way I'm going yet, though. Aren't casinos bad? I've been to Foxwoods and I think it's weird. The few times I've gambled I've pretty much stopped when I broke even. I'm crazy like that.

Yesterday was the 5th anniv. of you-know-what. I am not at all patriotic, which translates into "I hate America and I am glad all those people died" for some people. Just because I do not align myself with Toby Keith or have stupid magnetic r/w/b ribbons on my car does not make me pro-terrorism.

Eh, I'll stop right there.

my heels are high

In lieu of minor league baseball stuff, I'll be posting selected heavenly photos from my folder.

Most of them are not mine. I'd give credit where credit is due (yeah, right!) but I've forgotten where most of them come from.

This one IS mine, though.

How'd you like to waste some time?

I never worry about singing along with my car radio. That is because most everyone else is boring and uptight and on their way to their stupid jobs. And they're probably thinking, "Wow, look at how happy and carefree that woman is!"

I'm getting very excited about going to see the SD Padres. Felicidades to Pedroia on his first HR!

Crossing Over with Box Seats

So there's this local restaurant chain called Box Seats. And it's your average sports-themed family restaurant, right? But I like it anyway and I go there sometimes.

You all remember 2004. Like, the September/October part. I was at Box Seats one night with my two crazy sisters and I decided to swipe the menu as a souvenir.

I'm so glad I did.

Era of Good Feelings

For the first time in a long time, I got excited about a Red Sox game.

Last night I was hell bent on watching the game. The White Sox are a better opponent than the Yankees for me. And it was such a good game with a wholly unexpected ending.

Aside from What Carlos Pena of Haverhill Did, I loved David Murphy coming into the game. I loved the return of Trot and I loved Mike Lowell's double. And I REALLY loved Tavares playing starter. I'm very, very proud.

And now the Twins are in the lead for the wild card. Which is what I wanted. Which is why I can never hate Pierzinski.

9.4.06 Blackstone Valley Feeballers v. NO OPPONENT - reprise

Blackstone Valley WINS! because we all stayed in school!

Seven people showed up at Attleboro High School, which is one of the ugliest high schools I've ever seen. It smells like high pregnancy rates and disinterest.

There were large puddles in the infield and the usual copious amounts of goose shit. I slipped in the mud while chasing after a ball. But it was great. I pitched for a little while... pitching is hard. Even just chucking a ball toward the plate (which is what I was doing) got me all red-faced.

A couple of jocks showed up and hung around, like they were waiting for us to leave so they could use the field. I could practically read their minds.. "Look at those pussies. They can't hit, they can't pitch, they can't catch. I don't know why they don't just leave and let someone who knows how to play the game use the field!"

One more thing: I was talking to Phil the Manager and asking him how I could throw the ball farther/harder. He said that what he does is when he's driving on the highway, he sticks his arm out the window and does throwing motions against the wind (i'm still running).

That's such a great idea! Except I'm not a lefty!

9.1.06 Brockton Rox v. New Jersey Jackals - Puritocracy

Brockton WINS! both games of this double header

This was my third visit to Campanelli Stadium, but the first time I actually made it inside. I had great seats but unfortunately, no one to share them with. So I went by myself.

I missed the first two innings of the first game because I GOT LOST! There, I said it. Getting lost is both shameful and necessary, because how else would you know where anything is? When you get lost, you discover new delis and gift shops and prettier gardens and stranger citizens. Yes.

It was a special occasion at Campanelli. Native Brocktonian Rocky Marciano would have been celebrating a birthday if he weren't dead. When the Rox players' smiling mugshots appeared on the scoreboard during their at-bats, they were accompanied by creepy ghost pictures of RM in the background. Nice touch.

The park is small, but very nice and has great facilities. If you like beer, you can get 24oz Foster drafts for four dollars! If you don't like beer, they have a Polar cola vending machine! I think that's excellent, escpecially for people who refuse to buy Coke/Pepsi products.

I've seen the Rox play a few times before, but always as a visiting team. It was great to see them at home. They announced during the game that manager Chris Miyake would continue to manage the team in 2007. This was great news for everyone, but especially for me because I am in love with Chris Miyake, the manager.

I only have one minor complaint: the PA person announced the team before the game, but it was not the starting line-up. It was merely a position-by-position list. Why would you do that, Brockton Rox PA person? A lot of people are going to assume you're running down the line-up and they'll fill out their sheets and logs and then they're going to wind up scribbling out most of it.

Terrible. Job. (tm)

In conclusion, I really enjoyed the Can-Am League this summer. They have some real talent out there and some wonderful little parks. I'm thinking about going to New Jersey next summer to check out some of those guys (Sussex Skyhawks and NJ Jackals). It was fun. And now it's over. It's practically snowing on the infield already.

Two things:
1. The Brockton Rox program is so hilarious. While many of the players have the regular up-against-the-wall/Kleig light shots in their profiles, a lot of them also have some candid photography going on. For example, one guy's chilling at home in a comfy chair reading the paper. Another guy looks like he's putting his skis on top of his jeep in the driveway. They look a little like singles ads.
2. I am apparantly not too sophisticated that I don't find two random audience members doing battle in those crazy fat sumo suits hilarious. HIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!

i've got arms that long to hold you

Holy Christ. This past weekend blew. I'm so happy for today after a painful and degrading few days at work.

I'm very close to talking about bagels again, but I won't. I will say that there's a potential baseball event taking place today, starring ME as a bumbling outfielder! I was going to go to Target and possibly use my gift certificate to buy a nice new glove, but do I really want to be in North Attleboro on Labor Day?

I always forget about Target. I haven't boycotted it, but there is something sinister about it.

Is that all there is?

So that's it. My summer of minor league ball has come to an end. I spent the remainder of it at a Brockton Rox double header tonight.

I cannot GIVE my PawSox ticket away. I even stuck it on craigslist... no takers. My little ticket is just sitting there at the Will Call window and that's where it is going to die.

I didn't stay long at the party but some of the baseball people were there and we talked about a possible game this weekend. It's funny... last year, our team was glorious. This year, nada. But there's a little time left. Even though it's essentially going to be the four of us who originally started the team. The world is a circle that never begins.

Have a great weekend and be careful. The cops are everywhere.

Things I was wrong about.

1. I think I said I didn't hate the Yankees anymore. I don't know about that. Because the thought of them winning the WS this year is as revolting as four and twenty Magnums baked in a pie.

2. Ron Calloway and Jermaine Van Buren

3. I never really understood blogging. Vain and self-absorbed much? Who the fuck is reading this shit? Then, I don't know, I don't know what happened. I realized I didn't necessarily need anyone to read my blog. It's a compulsion. I did it for myself.

At the same time, I am vain and HOPELESSLY self-absorbed.

4. I shouldn't have said that Jeff Bailey has a low IQ. That was sort of mean and personal. I'm sorry, JB.

5. I thought Lenny Dinardo had some kind of potential. I liked him. But at the Futures game I was irritated by his start. I realize now that Lenny D is nearly useless.