Dan Johnson, Robert Andino & Bryce Harper?

It has been a season of colossal collapses.  Shortly after the Braves tied the 1964 Phillies for the greatest squandering of a September lead (8.5 games), the Red Sox, in truly dramatic fashion, finished frittering away a 9 game cushion.  If you do not know about Johnson and Andino, I shall allow the good people from MLB.com to edify you below.  So, why the heck is Bryce Harper's name on the list?

On August 18th, the Harrisburg Senators played the last game of a three game set against the Aeros in Akron.  Jonesing for Harper's signature on a baseball, I bought the first row seats right next to the visitor's dugout.  Long story short, Bryce signed for a bunch of yahoos that were spilling over from the three rows back and, literally, signed for the retard next to me before sauntering into the dugout, leaving my desires unrequited.  I know that it seems utterly inconsequential.  I recognize that, in the grand scheme of things (whatever the hell that is), my lack of Bryce Harper's autograph is about on par with whether you trimmed your toe nails today.  Still, examined outside of a vacuum (I'll tell you later), the incident threw me into a spiral of despair.  As I struggled with the notion that life is comprised of only pain and disappointment, most other aspects of my life suffered.

One of those affected acitivities was... wait for it... my fantasy baseball team.  As I journeyed north for the long weekend that would undoubtedly include my acquisition of a prized sovereign, my fantasy team, The Long Ball (cuz chicks dig it), held a 29.5 point advantage.  As I utterly neglected my team, 20 points bled away in a week.  By the time that I finally regathered myself, it was too late.  Even as frantic transactions stabalized the situation, the lead continued to trickle into oblivion.  In mid-September, I relinquised 1st place for the first time since April.  Similar to Boston and Atlanta, I came into the final day still with an opportunity to avoid disaster.  I trailed by 3.5 and I had Matt Cain going.  Then Cain got scratched.  Crap.  In the end, the 120 transactions that shuffled my roster over the course of the 162 game schedule were inadequate and The Long Ball finished 2nd, 2 points behind.

To Jonathan Papelbon, to Craig Kimbrel.  To Derek Lowe and Daniel Bard.  To the fans on Yawkey Street and in Fulton County, as the long, cold winter begins, I will quote from from the Gospel of Baldwin, the prophet Stephen, the book of The Usual Suspects, "Bad day... fuck it."

Cheers.





P.s. Nice recap piece here.  Or as I said about 32 times, "Are you kidding me?"  Best night of regular season baseball that I have ever seen.  Maybe that has something to do with the fact that I had the Braves on the big screen, the Sox on my laptop and the Rays on an iPhone.  ;-j

Pretty Girl 09.29.11 - Mellisa Stark

I know she's a sideline girl, but that counts, right?  All I can think of when I look at her is the phrase "sweater puppies."

Pretty Girl 09.28.11 - Leryn Franco

I don't know about this pole vaulter, she seems a bit top heavy.  Still, any chick trained to vault poles is cool with me.

A Quest Called Tribe

I was not going to write tonight.  Then, Jim Thome laced an opposite field RBI double to draw him to within 2 ribs of 25th all-time.  This led me to look up Jimmy's numbers.  Turns out that the two-bagger pushed his average with the Tribe to an even .300.  Awesome.  Since September 6, Thome is batting .417 with an OPS of 1.167.  Forever humble, the Indians' all-time home run leader has stated that he might play one more year, but he "has to wait for the phone to ring first."  Ha.

I could sit here, bitch & moan.  I bet you thought I was going to start ranting on how Jeanmar Gomez squandered all of his positive momentum going into the off season.  I'm sure you pictured me down on my knees, thanking the almighty that I shall never have to watch C.H.U.D. Durbin throw another pitch for the Indians.  Sure, all of that is true.  Instead, I'll focus on the impressive work of Nick Hagadone.  Tonight, Nick did absolutely everything that you want a left-handed relief pitcher to do.  After entering with a runner on second and one out, Hagadone proceeded to retire All-Star catcher Alex Avila (a lefty) and Ramon Santiago (switch-hitter) to escape further damage.  In the seventh he was more dominant still, striking out a pair and picking off Ryan Raburn, whom he had walked, on an excellent move to first.  Now, he still has some control issues (16/29 pitches for strikes today, 6 BB in 11 IP), but his OBA is .118.  .118!  Given some of Tony Sipp's problems down the stretch (4.25 ERA since the end of June, 10 HR allowed in 62.1 IP), fully expect Hagadone to challenge for a bullpen spot next spring.

There is not much else to say, except that the boys fanned 13 more times and have a real shot to overtake the Mariners for the AL lead if they continue swing and miss tomorrow.  Huh, #1: Injuries, #2: Strikeouts.  It's startin' to come together, Pepper.

Here's to going out with a bang (and a .500 season).

Cheers.

P.s.  Here's a picture of Ty Cobb (just right of the dude in the straw hat) in an Indians uniform from the Addie Joss Benefit Game at League Park in 1911.  Never heard of it?  Before today, neither had I.  The Georgia Peach's trunk never arrived, so he had to borrow a uni.  Check out an excellent piece on the game here.

Flick to Click: The Grey

Opens 01.27.12

The Eye Of the Beholder

There lies beauty...





...which one do you prefer?

What's With the Scarves?

Hipster Bullies - watch more funny videos

So if I give up sports and only drink PBR, I don't have to get a job? I think I was a hipster before hipsters were hipsters.

Pretty Girl(s) 09.27.11 - Bia & Branca Feres

Even better than golf is synchronized swimming.  Whatever, dude, you can't argue with twins.

Music For the People

PSA time, cats.  If you have not yet, stop buying CDs.  Stop paying iTunes.  All music is now officially (and legally) free.  There are two options, one replacing the radio and the other, owned media.

Unless you're listening to the radio for the witty banter, log on to Slacker.com.  There are a plethora of stations to suit every taste.  Unlike Pandora, the service provides more than an odd dalliance of songs "related" to something you pick (their AI sucks).  If you like someone else to choose your music (my preference) or would just like to explore something new, check it out.

Option #2 (and, frankly, the one that blows my mind) is Spotify.  Sign up through their website (perma-link at the bottom of the sidebar) and gain access to the sharing of nearly every song ever recorded.  You can't (legally) download them, but who cares.  Via their stand alone platform, you can create and share playlists, rate music and check out the music of Facebook friends.  There is plenty of additional functionality that I have not even explored yet.  To be clear, they do not have literally every song ever made, but the only holes that I have found thus far have been local bands and the Beatles (ugh, Yoko give it up).

Between the two, all of your music needs are satisfied and both offer mobile services (for those of you with the smarty phones).

Check 'em out and save your coin for the things that will never go virtual.  You know what I mean.  ;-j

Cheers

Pretty Girl 09.26.11 - Anna Rawson

Wait... another golfer?  Maybe I should give this "sport" a chance.