Fortune Fame, Mirror Vain, Gone Insane

Easily, the all-star game last night was the best all-star game ever, and without question, the best game of the year. When you have bases loaded, none out, no runs scored situations, teams literally being down to the last man on the roster, pitching on two days rest, and runners being cut down at the plate to keep the game going until the 15th, that's amazing. Nothing would have pulled me away from that. Maybe the laundry.
Since all goals need to be revisited from time to time, this seems like an appropiate juncture to review my pre-season progonostications. However, I'm going to start with surprises of the year, both good and bad.
Good: Rays, Josh Hamilton, and the Cubs
Honestly, who outside of Coach Maddon and Don Zimmer thought the Rays had a shot this year? Here we are, mid-July and the Rays are a half game back in the East and 2.5 up in the Wild Card. Absolutely outstanding. Unless you're a Yankee fan.
Hamilton coming back from drug addiction to become an all-star and helping his team battle in the anemic AL west.
The Cubs, see the Rays, but add on not winning the series for 100 years. Oh and having your best athlete on the DL for a month and being in first with the most accident prone pitching combination of Kerry Wood, Carlos Zambrano and Rich Harden. Best of luck to those guys being healthy.
Bad: Phil Hughes, Dontrelle Willis, The Tigers, and Andruw Jones
Obviosuly, the jury is still out on this, but really, if Phil stays this injury proned, Yankee fans might start looking at the decision to keep him over Johann Santana as being a worse decision than getting Gary Sheffield instead of Vladimir Guerrero. Yes, Santana is all but destined for Tommy John, but with a known one-year layoff, and then reasonable improvement for the first little while, this has to be a better scenario than a Mark Prior-esque career path, right?
So, Willis came from Florida, and is now back in Florida. This time, it's the minors though. And he was supposed to be the innings-eating difference maker that got them a ring. Not quite. His failure has completely over shadowing Miguel Cabrera's lack of performance, and has been a benchmark for the Tigers' demise.
Andruw Jones- Ridiculous. How is he still wearing a jersey?
Ok, let's get to what matters, namely how am I faring at this not exactly half-way mark. We'll work backwards from the order I made the predictions.
Which brings us to the NL. Which still doesn't matter. Part of me felt bad for the NL fan as they were so close to winning an All-star game for the first time in over a decade, only to see them blow it. Ouch. I'll still say that the Mets and the DBacks are worth talking about, but now I have to add the Cubs and make this a three team race. Now you're thinking, but wait, the Mets aren't even leading their division, how can you still have them as a favorite. Well, they're a half game back of the Phillies. They have a new coach, a new mentality, and, most important of all, have seemingly forgotten all about last year's historic collapse. Oh, and they haven't had a lot of injury problems this year, which should bode well for the rest of the year.
The DBacks had a bad June. I've got to put that one on myself. I showed up when they were 8 games up, and I left when they were a game up. Sorry guys. My fault. By the same token, don't look for them to fall any time soon.
Lastly, the Cubs. They've been, well, dominant in the tough NL Central, holding the best record in baseball, along with the Angels. With Harden pitching well, it seems like the juggernaut is going to keep rolling.
So the NL predictions have no reason to change, with the exception of the Wild Card. Atlanta is not cutting it, and the people above them in their own division are not dropping any time soon. I'm going to take the Brewers, after the addition, and successful outing, of CC Sabathia. It'll come out of the Central for sure, just a matter of who.
NL Recap, original in parenthesis
NL East: Mets (Mets)
NL Central: Cubs (Cubs)
NL West: DBacks (DBacks)
NL Wild Card: Brewers (Braves)
Now the part that matters, the AL. West first.
Seattle, who I had slated for a 86-win second place finish, are all but mathematically elimiated from that. Bedard has been useless and the offense has been worse than usual. That recipe always cooks up a horrible season. Beyond that, everyone is over 500 for the season. I'm not as suprised at their ability, but I am suprised at how those three seem to end up with the W in every close game. They're like the Zac Morris of the league. Always count on them to pull out of the scrapes. However, removing the Mariners from the equation, which they have done on their own, I was pretty on going Angels, A's, Rangers. I'm pleased with that.
The East has been interesting, and is now boiling down to whether or not the Yanks will be able to pull themselves up once again by their bootstraps and force themselves into the wild card. The division is the Red Sox's to lose, and not just because of that thinnest of possible margins 1/2 game over the Rays. They're firing on all cylinders, with the pitching doing fine without Schilling, and Papelbon emerging as a competitor to Rivera's throne.
Rivera leads us to talk about the Yanks. (By the way, and I'm not the first to say this but I will be one of the more adamant supporters of this, if the Yanks make it to the playoffs and Rivera performs for the rest of the year as he has already, he should get the Cy Young). They're floundering. The pitching rotation is worse than anyone could have reasonably expected, with the exception of Mussina's moderate renassaince performance, and the Joba experiment has been a good move for the starting pitching, while leaving the reliever corp cupboard bare. What's more, the offense has been weak. For example, name who's batting over 300 this year. Answer: Matsui (.323), Damon (.319), and A-Rod (3.12). That's it. More? Ok. Who has more than 20 Hrs? No one. Not A-Rod, not Giambi, not Abreu, no one. (Note: this would leave them on pace for less than 40 in the season even if they were at 20). Yikes. Good luck gentleman, but I have to move you out of the wild card. The pitching, well, we've been over Hughes lack of a season. Kennedy didn't work out nearly as good as hoped for, and it has gotten so bad that Kei Igawa was recalled (and then sent back down) in addition to the Sidney Ponson sighting a little while back.
The Rays, surprisingly, and have a great shot to hold onto the wild card. So much so, that if forced to decide right now, I would say they do hold onto it. They are in a good position, with what has been so far very consistent pitching backed by quality hitting. That's pretty good, if you like winning and all. The Yanks, more so this year than others, are floundering, and worst of all, outside of the amazing #2, none of them really seem to care about it. They had more excitement during the all-star game than they did in the series against Boston a little while back.
The Orioles suck as expected, but suck respectably, being only three games under five hundred. So while they're some 10 games back in the AL East, in the NL West, they would only be a game back and tied in the loss column. That's all the ink they deserve.
The Blue Jays are treading water at best, but are no where near worth talking about it any sense. Look for them to unload whatever talent they have, if any, for future prospects.
All in all, spot on for me, with the only thing in error right now is the switch of the Rays and Yanks for the 2-3 spots. Doing well.
The Central has been a pleasant surprise for me. The White Sox's young arms have done much better than I expected, which has been critical considering the struggle of Buehrle at the beginning of the season. Also, Carlos Quentin and Jermaine Dye are putting up terrific numbers, while Konerko and Thome have quietly had good, not great seasons. Everything is kind of working as one smooth unit, and has put us in the driver's seat. I'm very much pleased by this. So much for only 78 wins this season. I am happy to eat crow over my claim that "simply put, the White Sox are not a playoff contention team this year."
By the same token, there is no way the Tigers will be winning 97 games this season. Who would have guessed how big a flop the Willis-Cabrera deal would have been? Just has shattered this team. They'll be lucky to maintain their 500 winning percentage.
The Twins will be nipping at the sox heals all year, another moderate surprise. Torii Hunter's replacement has been outstanding, and the pitching has not seen too siginificant a drop since Santana's departure. In view of those two losses, this really has been a great season for them, and they have a legitimate chance to win the wild card or even the division.
For the Royals, see the Orioles above.
The Indians, good grief. Someone please, let Travis Hafner know it's ok if he wants to hit the ball again. Seriously, in games where Cliff Lee did not earn a decision, they are 29-51. Not kidding. Wow. Let that sink in. It's reminiscent when Seaver won 21 games and his team won something like 54 games.
Recap predictions, again original in parenthesis:
AL East: Red Sox (Red Sox)
AL Central: White Sox (Tigers)
AL West: Angels (Angels)
AL Wild Card: Rays (Yankees) [Yeah, I'll take the sexy pick. They've got the talent to make it happen]
Obviously, these changes affect playoff matches, so without further ado:
ALDS
Rays over Angels in 5
Red Sox over White Sox in 4
NLDS
Dbacks over Cubs 5
Mets over Brewers 4
ALCS
Red Sox over Rays in 6
NLCS
Mets over Dbacks in 7
World Series
Red Sox over Mets in 6
Boston is still the best team taking the field this season. Obviously, baseball playoffs has a lot more luck and momentum playing roles, so who knows what will happen in October. Look no further than last year's amazing run by the Rockies. Ideally for me, it would be White Sox DBacks with the sox winning in 7 so I can get the most money out of DBacks world series tickets while still being able to watch the Sox win in game 3. Yeah, that would definitely be ideal. Word

Is It A Whiskey Night, Or Just A Couple Beers?

There definitely are a lot more cons than pros to my recent relocation to Florida, but one of the pros has to be the fact that I'm able to post this message while fishing off my dock. If there is a lengthy pause, it's because I'm reeling in dinner. (Oh and if anyone know what type of bait/lure/action I should be using to catch fish, please let me know. My main effort includes putting a piece of hot dog on the line and letting it sink to the bottom, and wait for a catfish to eat it. Not that successful really.)
Yes the plan is definitely to catch and eat a fish within the next couple days. I've done it once, but never off my dock. A scout trip down to the keys where we went scuba fishing during the day and pretty much chilled at the campsite during the nights led to us buying a Mickey Mouse, and I mean that literally, not just figuratively, rod and reel combo and some squid bait from the bait and tackle store next door. We landed about eight fish in the space of two hours. They weren't big at all, but when you took three or four of them, it was enough to be a meal. Plus, you felt amazing knowing that you could make food happen if you ever went broke. I want to go back to those times every now and then, and this may be the last chance I get for a while.
Of course, it was sunny thirty minutes ago, so now it has to start to rain. Makes sense. Hold on, moving to the boat so I can continue fishing/blogging.
If any of you were wondering if I did land a fish tonight, the answer is yes. I pulled up a catfish, as expected, and thought about cooking it, but after asking about three people who knew more about fishing than I did, decided to kick it back into the water. And this is when the thing stabbed me with one of its whiskers. Didn't see that coming. Now I'm wondering if I need antibiotics or vaccines of some sort. Not going to go the doctor about it though, so I guess we'll just hope my foot doesn't die.
This is kind of a weak post, simply because nothing has really happened since I decided to move back to Florida. I could talk about all the fun I had in Phoenix, but that would just leave me moderately depressed about the whole leaving episode. However, I do think this is where I supposed to be right now. I think it's my best chance to get into medical school, even if I have to forgo social relations, friends, and professional baseball. By the way, expect the DBacks to tear it up now that I'm gone. They sucked while I was there, and almost lost the division lead after being up by like 15 games just before I showed up. Not to say I'm the sole cause, but I had to play some role in it. Word.

Time, Is Never Time At All. You Can Never Ever Leave, Without Leaving A Piece Of You

When I'm old, I will brag to my children about several things. There will be stories of life before the internet. Tales of purchasing tapes, audio and video. Demonstrations of the ability to write in cursive (Really, when was the last time you used cursive for anything other than your signature? Fifth, sixth grade? You learned it in fourth as though that was how all written communication was, but by seventh grade, everything was either typed or required to be printed. At this point, it only serves two purposes, to sign credit cards, and to give teenage girls an activity when they become infatuated with a boy [Like you didn't write out your last name with his last name. Go ahead, lie to me and say you've never done it.]. I honestly don't think my children will learn cursive. Really, I want to know how early in school teachers start requiring typed assignments. Jake, Jared, you've got to keep me up to date on this.).
In the sports realm, I will bore them of tales of the 2005 White Sox. I will dazzle them by telling them I saw Santana pitch in his prime. They will marvel that I was at Wimbledon while Federer dominated the world of tennis.
I hope they'll ask me of the utter beauty of Ken Griffey Jr's swing. (Arguably, the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. No really, if it were a girl, it would probably be among the top ten ever. And to see it live, it makes you want to pick up a bat and hit until the blisters pop, and then keep hitting until the those areas become calluses. It made me believe in the goodness in humanity. I miss it a lot.) I wonder if I'll have to tell them about why Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens aren't in the hall of fame.
One thing is for sure though. They will ask, "Dad, do you remember watching Tiger Woods?"
Yes, yes I do actually. I will have to ask them what they want to know about. How he is among the elite few who not only lived up, but far exceeded the hype? More than likely, they'll want tales of just how great he was. How he was the most intimidating guy to put on spikes. Or how about how just about everyone he played with would fold in the final rounds. How he would make difficult shots seem easy, and easy shots seem pedestrian. How records were re-written from the moment he first teed off.
I'll pull up clips of him sticking that 4-iron stiff on the green from some 230 out. He'll see the best nike golf commercial ever made. (How amazing was that chip? Don't answer. Just savor the memory? It always goes down smooth.)
The boys will give the upper-cut fist pump after their first home run. My girls will give the less ostentatious form after they score their first goal. Truthfully, they might know Tiger the player before they know of Tiger the jungle cat. He's just that good. It's simply amazing. And watching him for the first time ever, come from behind in the final round of a major (Yes I know he started with the lead, but he was trailing while being the last guy on the course), to force an 18-hole playoff, there is no doubt that my children will ask me about him, just like I asked my dad about Joe Montana. He's just that good.
So, what will you tell your kids when they ask about Tiger? Word.

I'll Be Like Your Medicine, You'll Take Every Dose Of Me

Ok, so this might get a little graphic, but I had to wonder it. I'm down in Arizona and today, I kid you not, my car told me that it was 108 degrees outside. Of course, it was 71 inside so no big deal, but I had to wonder, people lived here before the fantastic invention of air conditioning. This would be the time to skip ahead to the next paragraph as this may get a little visual. If during development, the testicles descend from the abdomen because the body is too hot to sustain proper production. Now, the body is typically 98.6 degrees, give or take a couple. If the outside is higher than this, two things make me curious. 1) Wouldn't they migrate back into the abdomen where it is relatively colder? 2) In either location, wouldn't the temperature be too high for proper output and therefore make the local populations sterile for a couple months out of the year? Yep, I did wonder that.

Beyond the oppressive heat, Arizona is kind of nice. I haven't seen all of it yet, but what I have, I do like. Oh and they have all four major sports as well as PGA and I think Nascar events. I live in a fantastic neighborhood and what seems to be a good ward. Basically, I'm pleased on all fronts. And it can only get better when the DBacks come back for a homestand starting on the 13th. I'll be chilling in my seats, hob knobbing with the other season ticket holders, talking about our yachts and how we hire people solely to replace the toilet paper and start our cars so they're cold whenever we get into them. That's just what we do.

Ok, I have to say this, and if you haven't seen the new Indiana Jones, you're done reading for today. I defintiely saw it, and let's just say I'm glad I only paid the matinee price. Wow. Really? That's the best you got after a fifteen or so year layoff? It definitely dissuaded me from buying the other movies because I now remember that one. Mostly, I'm just glad I didn't get that psyched for the last Rocky because it would have tarnished the first four, which were fantastic. If you want to hear more, I've got more, I just don't want to spoil it for anyone. Word.

Running In Circles, Chasing Our Tails, Coming Back As We Are

Ok, Billy Chapel is amazing. He just pitched his second perfect game of the week! There really is no comparable sports accomplishment. Maybe if you would be able to negotiate two raises of 15% or more in the space of a week, then you could put yourself up there with him. Or, if you were able to have great dates with two girls you were into during the same weekend, then you might be Chapel-esque. That's really about it. He's that good. Truth be told, the Tigers are opening a weekend series in Arizona. Maybe I can make the Saturday game and watch a master of their craft.
I'm headed down there tomorrow. I'm looking for a place to set up shop for a while. My job starts down there at the beginning of the month. (For those unaware, I landed a job with Countrywide Financial as a loan consultant. It's out of Mesa, hence the move.) I've got a couple leads that I'll be looking into this weekend. Ideally, there would be this place equidistant to work and the Diamondbacks Stadium (Of course I'm a season ticket holder. Seriously? How many, if any, of you are surprised?) that was part of a strong ward and that had at least one cute girl for me. Is that too much to ask? The question should be, is it enough to get Rick Russell? Is it?
Guess we'll find out. Some people get nervous over this moving stuff. Maybe I am. I haven't been nervous for a long time so I don't really remember what it feels like. I can tell you, that my room looks really bright without the pictures, calendar, jackets, jerseys, and hog hats on the walls. It no longer feels like I live there.
Alright, I'll level. If you talked with me over the past month and thought to yourself, "That was a little different than normal" or didn't go away feeling better, I apologize. I've been taking things a little rough. You see, I acheive goals I strive for. I succeed. Sure, it gives me that swagger that at once alienates most girls and befriends most guys, but it has been constantly replenished by continuous success.
Well, I haven't had too many successes in the past months and it all came to a head at graduation. When I came home from the mission, I set two goals for my time while at BYU. When I left I wanted to A) know who I was going to marry, if not be married and B) have a clear, stable career path. The former isn't unilateral, so I'm not over worried about it. The latter is kind of all about me. Going 0-2 on the two most meaningful goals I've set stings a lot to a guy who doesn't lose a lot.
So yeah, if you thought, he seems a little off, that's why. Maybe I should have shared this earlier, but to be honest, I don't like sharing my problems. I always want to make people feel better about things. On top of that, really, where do I have room to complain? I've lived an overly comfortable life and really had most things in life go my way. If life is a highway, I've been riding on a glass surface up until about a year ago when it got increasingly bumpy. Again, sorry.
Well, I'm heading out to Arizona for good in a little more than a week. If any of you ever come down and want to catch a baseball game, I know a guy with tickets. Unless it's a Saturday game. Then you're kind of on your own. Word.

Nothing's Going To Ever Keep You Down

Jared and Mike, sorry for the three week absence. If other people pulled up this site in the past three weeks A) I'm sorry, B) I'm impressed, and C) thanks. Ok, so some of you may know this, but I'm willing to bet most of you don't. I have a black belt in Tae Kwan Do. I'm not kidding. For like three years, I was all about it. Not to the point where I'm wearing the uniform to school or learning japanese, but more like going three nights a week to class and then going to tournaments every three weeks. Yeah, I've got trophies for this. Big ones.
Here's the thing, I'm staying up in Park City tonight with my parents and watching The Karate Kid II. Ok, for starters, if you want to watch an awesomely bad movie, put this one in and watch the middle 45 mintues. Priceless. To whet the appetite, although is is set in Okinawa, everyone speaks only english, the signs are all in english as well as japanese and the martial arts dojo is filled only by white guys. Needless to say, I was laughing while remembering how cool I thought the whole things was. In particular, I remember thinking the girl Daniel went after was hot.
She's not. At all. Really, I'm borderline embarrassed by thinking that. It's up there with how I would foolishly bet against the Yankees making the playoffs every year. (This season is the first since coming home from the mission that I haven't made some sort of wager on this. I know way too much about baseball to be betting against the Yankees.)
AMC, in all their wisdom decides to go ahead a roll Karate Kid I right after II finished. About five minutes in, my mom, who had watched the better part of II with me, asked if that was what started my martial arts kick. Honestly, I'm pretty sure it was. That's right, a movie led me to dedicate three of my formative years to something I had no business starting in the first place. It might be the most manipulated I've ever been by any media. I loved Rocky IV, but never went into the ring. I can quote the better part of Sandlot blind, but never... ok, I so love baseball, but that was before any movie.
Also, how hot was Elisabeth Shue in that movie? No really? Watch it. She was on point. A little thick, but nothing bad at all. I would go for that in a heart beat.
Now here's what I really wanted to get to-- how come she never comes up in any timeless hottie conversation? Name me one movie that she wasn't looking good in? I'll wait. I've got the time. She always looked good. I thought maybe she didn't for a second, but then was blown away by her in "Cocktail". (Catch this one on TV. I'll just say that.) Just stunning. If it wasn't going to be 2:30 when this one ends, I would start scanning channels to see if I could find The Saint, or Adventure in Babysitting.
So yeah, give it up for Elisabeth Shue, the hottie that seems attainable. (Oh and by the way, she was 21 and Daniel-San was 23 when they made Karate Kid I. They were supposed to be anywhere between sophomores and seniors in high school. Word.)

The Perfect Ending To The Bad Day I Was Just Beginning

Let's not kid ourselves. Even I got bored re-reading that last post. Good golly, it just kept going, and unless you follow those shows, no one would have blamed you for stopping after the first paragraph. If you were to write a blog about American Idol and Prison Break, I would have bailed at the title. Like an art major in the quantum physics section or Mike at BoSoxNation.com, I have no business reading any of that.

With finals bearing down and the job hunt concluding, there hasn't been much else mulled over in a while. Yes, my White Sox are tied for the AL Central lead as of 2pm today, notably after sweeping the tigers over three games in Detroit. But we're tied with the royals, who also swept the tigers, so it kind of loses some prestige. I did however, pull out a win in the first week of my fantasy league, (Really, picking a major league team and following their stats to try and garner a victory? How could I not involve myself in this?) thanks to Pudge Rodriguez going o-3 in the last game of the week.
So essentially, I've been running on Krispy Kreme's and Monster drinks this past week. It's not too bad to be honest. Takes a while getting used to the swings of sugar and glucose levels, but once you do, you handle it quite well. You want to know the craziest, and easily the best, part of living like that- the dreams. I have no explanation for it, but they're all pretty vivid and extremely random. For instance: One involved playing a skee-ball game to perfection, resulting in something like 19,500 tickets which equaled $450 in merchandise. I was buying IPods and car stereo speakers with chuck-e-cheese tickets. And of course, this was all completely rational. The other one started on the baseball field and somehow wound up in class studying the movies of Val Kilmer. Again, it all made sense.

Here's the thing: I don't know if I want to give it up. Really, I have been able to survive on donuts and energy drinks. Let that soak in. I've mixed in a little orange juice here and there, but by and large, caloric intake has been dominated by glazed donuts and Kaos Monsters. It's fantastic. Of course, I realize the health concerns, and this is a major reason why I'm not keeping it going. The other is the financial side of it. If you figure you down one large Drink a day and about half a dozen donuts, that means you're staring at a bill of about $8 a day. Now, if I had the discipline and lack of regard for society, I could do it it cost wise. But I like eating nice food. I like stepping out for dinner, and occasionally lunch. (Side bar: I love the sticky fingers at wingers. So much so I bought a bottle of the sticky finger sauce and have draped it all over any chicken dish possible. The best so far... dipping Wendy's nuggets in it. It's no tootsie rolls, but it's close.)

So I'll have to leave this for special occasions, or wicked hard tests. Both demand such a fare. Word