4-1, but too close

Well, we beat Derek's team, but it was way too close for comfort until we batted in the bottom of the 6th. The wind was blowing in, and rain was threatening to come in, but it never did. We trailed 3-0 after the top of the first thanks to a couple of ground ball hits and a line drive over Bob's head in left field. I was on the bench for the first two innings, so I couldn't do anything.

Before the game, Dan told me it was my redemption day. He explained I was back to leading off. Nobody has been too productive leading off all season, and we've tried five different guys. I opened with a walk and Joe walked behind me, but I never got past third. Dan settled down on the mound and blanked them over the next four innings. Meanwhile, we made it 3-2, Scott had two hits and was very aggressive running the bases, which we needed to get us going. In the third, I batted with Marty on second (not much speed) and one out. Their defense was poor and I knew their weakest fielder was in right field, so I aimed to hit to the opposite field. I lined a 2-2 pitch towards the second baseman, and he jumped and took a certain RBI double away. He then doubled off Marty and the third inning was over. That was a rough one. I walked again later though I didn't score, but we eventually took a 4-3 lead.

Then they tied the game at 4-4 in the sixth with single to right field. Once again, I did not get a chance to make a catch all game. With two down, and runners on first and second, they grounded the ball to short. Paul flipped the ball to Todd, who trapped it against his chest, but he clearly possessed it. And standing right behind the bag, I could tell the ball beat the runner. But the umpire said it was a trap so no out was recorded, thus preserving the inning. We went crazy, but what were we going to do to make him change his mind? Luckily, the next guy flied to left and Billy made a fine running catch to get us out.

I lead off the bottom of the sixth and I knew I had to get on base. After taking a ball, I lined a shot over the shortstop for a single. Joe singled to right and when their fourth outfielder didn't pick the ball clean, I sped for third base. The throw was off, and I slid in safe. I bruised my right hip too. Billy walked. I scored on Paul's sac fly and Joe scored on Roger's sac fly. It was 6-4. Then, we got runners on first and second. We grounded the ball to third. Steve, an old teammate, fielded the ball, decided not to step on third, looked to second, and then threw to first, but threw low. The ball skipped past the first baseman's glove and out of play, bringing home two more runs. That's when I knew we were good. By the end of the inning, we stretched it to 10-4.

They scored once, but we took it 10-5. So we are 4-1, and I reached base 4 of 4 times. As for defense, well, Tim grounded a ball to me in short center. I had it in my fingertips and tried to throw him out of first, but he beat it. Thing is I had the ball in my fingertips, so I didn't want to throw it away.

And the Bartolo Brigade made its presence felt again. Many thanks.

Fire and Smoque

We'll start with this. I'm getting back into disc golf, and I guess a year away from it was a good move. I threw +8 at Sunrise Park, which is one of my best scores ever.

Feels good to sleep until 9 a.m. Hit the gym around 12 p.m. I learned why some people are talented at sales and marketing, particularly the ones in Waukegan. That was some line I was given two weeks ago and I'm embarrassed I actually believed it.

Then it was 90 East down to Pulaski for my visit to Smoque BBQ. This place is amazing. I first heard about it on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and they really pushed the brisket, so I figured I would give it a shot. After squeezing into a parking space, I was thinking might be illegal, I walked inside. I should have realized how small this place would be, seeing that it's a little independent company. I walked into a room that may have had room about 50 people to sit down. Most of the tables were full, but there was almost no line. So I walked up to the counter, ordered a sliced brisket sandwich, cornbread, baked beans, and sweet tea.

The tea was fresh and exactly how iced tea should taste. The beans were the best I've had, bar none. They had shredded pork, bacon, onions, and no BBQ sauce. I've never felt BBQ sauce belonged in baked beans. The cornbread was fine, and made for a great replacement for the cole slaw. And the sandwich. The meat tasted of smoke, seasoning, and filled with moisture. The sauce had a little vinegar taste to it, so it wasn't overly sweet. And on the soft, spongy roll, it was an amazing combination. And the whole thing cost about 11 bucks. By the time I was done eating, there was barely a place to move. The line was out the door, at least 20-25 people. I complimented the co-owner, Barry, and he decided to buy me a peach cobbler. I felt a little guilty, but it's only 2 bucks and who am I to ever turn down peach cobbler? It had a good crumb topping and I liked the addition of toasted almonds on top.

Smoque gets huge props and I strongly recommend this place to any serious BBQ fans. Then came the ride down to Chicago Ridge...

Saturday night is coming...

The Jets jersey is ironed. The jeans are ragged. The Ipod has the ROH playlist ready. Ring of Honor's Vendetta II is two night away. I really expect an excellent show, as always.

4 Corner Survival
Delirious vs Rhett Titus vs Silas Young vs Alex Sugarfoot Payne: The next step will be taken in the budding Delirious-Titus feud and their battle to win over Daizee Haze. Young continues to improve every match (and he comes out to "Don't Stop Believing!") and Sugarfoot always gets a huge reaction. I have never seen a white guy in my life than him. I pick Young to win.

Jay Briscoe vs Erick Stevens: Tough one. Jay wrestling singles matches with his brother still injured. This is Stevens' first match since he lost that brutal Fight Without Honor to Roderick Strong. I think Erick rebounds and wins this one.

Lights Out Match
Chris Hero vs Pelle Primeau: Pelle still trying to escape the shadow of just being a student from the ROH school. Nah, I can't say he is ready to get past Hero. I'll take Chris Hero with a best bet.

Kevin Steen & El Generico vs Tyler Black & Necro Butcher: Steenerico dropped the finals of the tag team title tournament to Black and Jimmy Jacobs. They remain the team that is so close to winning the titles but never can quite do it. With Butcher's hardcore, wild style, I expect this match to get out of control and possibly end in a no-contest. But I will pick Black and Butcher.

Brent Albright & Roderick Strong vs Adam Pearce & a mystery partner: Albright and Strong have both turned babyface and going after Sweet n Sour Inc. I have no idea about the partner but I pick Albright and Strong regardless.

Bryan Danielson vs Claudio Castagnoli: American Dragon has been in ROH since the beginning in 2002. CC came in 2005 and the two of them have never wrestled before, so this is going to be good. I have to root for the best in the world, Bryan Danielson.

ROH World Champ Nigel McGuinness vs. Jerry Lynn: Lynn makes a one-time only appearance for a non-title match against Nigel. I certainly pick Nigel, but it will be a treat to watch Lynn, who I first saw wrestle in 1991.

Austin Aries vs Jimmy Jacobs: The main event. This rivalry is heating up and fast. Where is Lacey: It's all about Lacey? I expect this feud to last into the winter and the heel has to establish himself so I pick Jacobs.

Looking back to Vendetta

On November 5, 2005, I drove 1 hour southeast from St. Charles to Chicago Ridge. I still don't know what led me to make this drive. Maybe it was Matt Hardy's run-in appearance on USA network. Maybe it was the glowing article I read in PWI on Samoa Joe. Maybe I was just looking for something to do. So I ordered a $15 GA ticket and took 355 S to 88 E to 294 S to 12 E to 43 S, made a left on Sayre, drove past two blocks of apartments, and arrived at a little park district building. A place barely large enough to host two basketball games. I walked through the little entryway, collected my $15 online ticket and looked around. It was so quaint. I could see the whole thing. A ring, ten rows of seats, and general admission bleachers. Some lighting equipment, black curtains, and three cameras. Two concession stands, one merchandise table, and only one men's room. I had entered the Frontier Fieldhouse.




I had not attended ANY live pro wrestling in 8 years, even though that 8-year gap was during wrestling's heyday, the Monday Night rivalry between WWF and WCW. And here I was going to a show put on by a company I knew nothing about. I did not know one storyline, knew nobody of the 700-800 in attendance, and knew only four wrestlers. I was just hoping to see a good night of entertainment.

The first match on the main show was Ace Steel and this crazy guy in a green mask, Delirious, against some British guy named Nigel McGuinness and Chad Collyer. When Delirious clotheslined McGuinnes about 25 or 30 times in the corner, I knew this was a different kind of wrestling than I had ever seen. A fun fast paced opener. Then both of Lacey's Angels picked up wins in singles matches as Jimmy Jacobs beat Sal Rinauro, who I thought was Tom Zenk's twin) and BJ Whitmer defeated Claudio Castagnoli. At the time, I was wondering what's with the "Hey" chant Claudio's doing? Now of course, I love it. The final match of the first half was one I was pumped up to see as Samoa Joe battled the Fallen Angel Christopher Daniels. I had heard so much about Joe's incredible hard-hitting style and this was my first chance to witness it. Joe won an excellent match that night and now is the TNA world champion.

In the second half, a new guy, Adam Pearce won a jobber match and then I saw these two guys have a grudge match that was short but downright vicious. The fans were going crazy over this. One of them was trying to cut the other one's tongue out. Turns out it was the beginning stages of the legendary feud between Homicide and Colt Cabana. Then Bryan Danielson and Roderick Strong wrestled for the ROH world title in a match that lasted about 48 minutes. I couldn't believe how good this was. A world title match with no interference, no cheating, just great wrestling and they kept the crowd into it for almost an hour. This match hooked me into the ROH product as I told Roderick when I met him in December. And Bryan has become my favorite wrestler right now and certainly in my top 3 of all time. I knew I would be back for another show.


And that wasn't even the main event. Generation Next and the Embassy continued their feuds with an 8-man tag, with AJ Styles subbing for Strong. When the Embassy marched into the ring, the crowd started hurling toilet paper at them. The visual of these guys getting smothered in this stuff looked great and made me laugh too. From the power of Abyss, to the high flying of Matt Sydal and Jack Evans, the intensity of Austin Aries, the classic heel heat of Jimmy Rave, the cocky charisma of Alex Shelley, Prince Nana playing the heel manager you want to see get killed, and the heel turn at the end, it was excellent.

That show is called Vendetta.


After missing the legendary Wrestlemania doubleshot weekend in April, I returned to the building in June for Chi-town Struggle and have seen 11 more shows since then, 10 in Chicago, 1 in New York City. So this will be #14.

And this Saturday is the show they have titled Vendetta II. Preview coming tomorrow.

3-1

We were up 21-0 after three innings and held on to win 25-11 in 5 innings. In the first 3, we actually scored 7-7-7, jackpot. I doubled home two runs, walked twice, scored three runs, and lined out to center twice. Defense was not easy during the first half of the game. The sun was glaring everyone on the left side of the field right in the face; sunglasses made no difference. I did make one catch in the final inning, just a routine catch I had to run in for a little bit.

We have Derek's team next week and they have not been doing well. I do feel bad for them because they have so many good guys on that team. Steve, Mark, Tim, Derek, and Cliff were my teammates last year.

And a shout out to the Bartolo Brigade in attendance.

A grand slam by Felix Hernandez? Disgraceful.

Sunday notes and on the Chicago Bubbles

1) Have you ever been driving on the highway and you see a piece of roadkill? You don't want to look at it, but your heads drags your eyes right at its direction? Well, that happened to me around 10 p.m. There was absolutely nothing on TV and my DVD player wouldn't cooperate. I turned to WGN and they have the 60 years of WGN televising Cubs baseball special on. Though I should have known better, I watched. I have not wanted to vomit like that since I ate that sushi in Mexico.

You know what I learned? Apparently, nothing bad has ever happened to the Cubs on WGN TV. If you showed this documentary to someone who had never watched a baseball game, that's what they would think. It is just a love-in of all the good moments and the people and the stretch. It reminded me of a Congressional hearing, it so full of half-truths. Last I checked, these are not the Yankees. They are not the Dodgers. There is not that much to celebrate; yet I thought I was watching a documentary on the 1980 US Olympic hockey team.

I liked a few features such as showing how they produced the games and hearing from a few of the local business owners. The only mentions of 1969 were Ken Holtzman's no-hitter and Ron Santo's heel clicking. The segment ends with Santo saying "And we were heading for a really good summer." That's it. The only loss they allude to in two hours was the 23-22 loss to Philly. And I had to hear a half hour describing what it would be like when they win the World Series. A full 25 percent of the show devoted to pure fantasy.

I loved this part to. Actress Bonnie Hunt noted how the fans "suffer one terrible moment after another." Uh, really? How many have there been in 50 years? 1969, 1984 NLCS first round, (The Giants were better in 1989, that doesn't count; nor does 1998, you had Wood's 20 K's and a wild card race win followed by a loss to a superior Atlanta team), the 2003 NLCS, and I'll even give last year's sweep. They have had nowhere near, NOWHERE NEAR, as many devastating moments as the Red Sox did or the San Francisco Giants have had.

And of course, now all the bandwagon fans are out in full force. A lot of them think a championship is a given (typical of the Chicago mindset (2006 Bears, anyone?) and that's why I refer to this team and their fans as the Bubbles. And when does a bad team automatically equal loyal fans? They are good right now, and the fans are loud, so now they're loyal. Please. If this team was doing what the Mets are doing, the park would have 25,000 a game, and 20,000 would show up just to get hammered. There are so many frauds, it is disgusting. Unlike 2003, if the Braves played the Cubs in the playoffs, I would root for Atlanta.

2) I dropped by the Swedish Days parade in Geneva for the first time today. One thing I noticed. If you're not enjoying a parade, don't walk alongside it. It never changes. Instead, walk backward; you will fast forward the parade. And great job by Egg Harbor Cafe, grilling up those cheeseburgers with the grilled onions. And they did the little things right with it too. One of the keys to a great burger is to warn up the inside of the bun. Almost nobody does this nowadays. They did it, and it really made the burger come together better. I could have used some pickles, but that probably would have been another two bucks.

2) Why do DVD drives on computers wear out so quickly?

3) Off Day #2 of 18 this year comes tomorrow.

4) Played disc golf last night for the first time in over a year at Sunrise Park. After struggling on the first two holes, I found my rhythm. I had some long straight drives and I was especially happy they weren't fading to the left, which I usually do. Think I might go again.

5) GregH throws the best parties. One week away....

PS Memo to Glen "Saviour" Sather. PAY SEAN AVERY!!!!

More comes out and I'm not feeling any better

Now I'm getting on the owner.

Do I have to read Fred Wilpon issue a press release an hour ago and cite Omar's full autonomy, insist the firing was Omar's decision? "Omar is in charge. It was his decision."

Freddie boy, wake up! You should be embarrassed the way your team (and it's my team in a way, too, I'm a diehard fan and have been for 20 years) is viewed by the United States of America today. Because I am more embarrassed today as a Mets fan than I was after the NLCS loss or the September swoon of 2007. There are radio stations in southern California micking us and laughing at us this morning. And we all know it was your kid who never got along with Willie and has tried push him out the door for three years. And you are the PRINCIPAL OWNER! You make the final call! I don't want to hear about Minaya's full autonomy. You're his boss! The way you, your punk kid, and the assistant GM/Latin clubhouse lawyer handled this situation over the last week has turned a guy almost everyone in New York wanted fired on Friday, into a martyr this morning. What talent that takes!

In closing, I quote Mike Vacarro, who wrote an amazing article this morning that sums up what the Mets are now.

What we know now is that Randolph was so much better than the men he worked
for, it's as if they were playing a different game in a different league.

What a fiasco. What a joke. Less than two years after Game 7, less than
nine months from opening their signature ballpark, the Mets reveal themselves,
again, for what they've been for too long.

A cheap, unfunny joke. Run by a miserable cast of miscreants.

Good for Randolph, Peterson and Nieto. They may not know this, but their
lot in life just got a bit brighter, getting away from this batch of bums.

Classless, Cowardice

What else is new? I am disgusted again by the New York Mets. I am disgusted with Fred Wilpon for showing no authority as the owner of this franchise. I am disgusted with Tony Bernazard, the Latino King of espionage, who can't keep his ass out of the clubhouse. Most of all, I am disgusted with Jeff Wilpon, who has had it in for Willie ever since he came on board for a large contract and subsequent extension.

I know he managed during the collapse of last year and the terrible start we have had this year. And his in-game management is average, at best. And I believe the comments he made about racial perception proved to be his ultimate undoing. He was out of line.

But I like this guy. He's a tough, quiet leader. Willie never had his own coaching staff. The one guy he hired, hitting coach Rick Down, was fired midway through last year. These guys strung Willie out to dry. Now I've read blogs for weeks screaming for Willie to get fired. It means nothing to me, a lot of the people who post in these things are knuckleheads. Was a change needed? Probably? But if the Mets were going to fire him all along, then why not do it after the Padres swept them in four games? Why not after the Diamondbacks disaster last week?

But no. Right after the Mets knocked off the Angels in Anaheim 9-6, Omar Minaya fires Willie, Rick Peterson, and Tom Nieto at the team hotel. Why Minaya allowed all three to make the long trip to California instead of firing them in New York on Sunday makes the timing that much more disturbing. But that's not even the best part. The shocking news was delivered by a mass e-mail sent to the media at 3:11 in the morning. A freakin' e-mail sent after the newspapers had already been printed. So they were hoping this could slide under the radar? Have you ever heard of the Internet? This is not 1965? That is the work of a bunch of a p*****s. Plain and simple.

And I look back to 2005, when Omar came in as GM. He said he wanted to mimic the Braves model, creating a farm system that would make the roster self-sustaining. He inherited Jose Reyes and David Wright, and other than that, has basically used the system for his favorite pastime, obtaining older, established players.

Minaya has constructed a roster that depended on Moises Alou, who after returning from the DL for one game Tuesday, got injured again. Minaya put together a clubhouse with such a leadership void that Marlon Anderson was orchestrating team meetings shortly after being obtained last year and was trying to be inspiring at another gathering on Tuesday, his first day off the DL.

And thank you to our dearly departed pitching coach Rick Peterson for pushing trading Kazmir for Victor Zambrano. Have all 10 minutes expired? And good luck finding a new job to Tom Nieto. I mean how good does "first base coach" look on a resume? What exactly did he do wrong?

Good luck to Jerry Manuel, our interim manager. Excuse me if I'm not doing cartwheels.

Not pretty, but good enough.

We are now 2-1 after a 4-1 win over our old rivals, Rommel. The weather was comfortable, but the wind was blowing straight in all day which made scoring runs really difficult. In fact, I only had two at-bats all day. We scored three in the top of the first and they stranded two in the bottom half, even though we missed two grounders that inning. So we were a little lucky. I singled in the second and grounded out later. But my whole idea was to hit the ball on the ground because any fly ball that was hit just hung in the air.

My big play came in the fourth inning. I was playing short center field and I lined up a few steps right behind second base. Some guy grounds one hard up the middle right in my direction. I grabbed it and fired the ball straight to first base. I knew it was straight, but I thought it could go a little high. And I know the first baseman wasn't expecting a throw, because as the ball was about halfway to him, his eyes bulged out like he couldn't believe I was throwing. And I threw the runner out. Supposedly, he was just jogging to first and didn't really bust it out of the box. That would be a no-no. I made three other catches in short center, but that was the highlight. I would say there must have been at least four or five 1-2-3 innings between both teams. The game was probably done in about 50 minutes.

I'm not a huge blues fan, but there is something about live blues in the summertime that is really cool. I hit the Blues on the Fox festival in downtown Aurora on Saturday and Marcia Ball and Kenny Wayne Shepherd were excellent. Shepherd, in particular, reminds me of Stevie Ray Vaughan, with the low, growling guitar. And on that Galena Street bridge, there was barely any room to move. It wasn't bad when I got there around 6:15. By 8:30, when Shephers strolled on stage, there must have been 10,000 people. And big props to the guys who made the 10" chargrilled Italian sausage sandwich. Delicious! And not a bad deal for a $3 bottle of Miller Lite.

Back to work.



Let's see. Alone for a week. No microwave for a week and no light in the basment for who knows how long.

It just feels like we lost seven straight

I wrote last time that I was convinced the Mets would lose seven straight games, after they had already dropped five. They came as close as you can without actually doing it. Phenomenal starting pitching from Mike Pelfrey and then Johan. Billy Wagner blows both games. Mets win one, lose one.

Good job by Carlos Beltran with a walk-off homer in the 13th, a homer he should have never had to hit. But Thursday's game is a great example of why my hair is already going gray earlier than Taylor Hicks'. Ramon Castro hits a solo homer for 1 -0 Met lead. In the third with a runner on and two out, David Wright smashes a shot to right field. But Wright doesn't bust it out of the box because he figures the ball is gone. Endy Chavez scores, Wright tries to stretch it into a triple, and gets thrown out. Inning over.

After chasing Dan Haren in the sixth inning, Fernando Tatis singles home two more in the seventh and I was feeling good with a four-run lead. But before the inning ends, the Mets load the bases with Wright and Beltran up. The two money players. Foul out and fly out. Three stranded.

Meanwhile, Johan dominated. Seven innings, three hits, 10 strikeouts, I had no problem with him coming out after the seventh. 4-0 lead, the bullpen has to hold it.

Eighth inning. Joe Smith in. One on, two outs. Conor Jackson singles and I'm a little nervous now, but still ocnfident. Mark Reynolds triples, scoring two and the D-backs are right back in it. Scott Schoeneweis relieves Smith and gets a fly out with two on to get the Mets out of trouble. Bottom half. Delgado and Easley get on with no one out. Castro strikes out, Anderson flies out, Aguila flies out. Two more stranded. Well, what can you do. Let's go to the ninth and close this.

Wagner walks the backup catcher, and I knew he had to get the next batter. Stephen Drew pinch hits, knocks a grounder up the middle that both Reyes and Easley went for. Reyes grabbed it, but nobody was in position to cover second base. Infield hit. I knew we were losing the lead. I wanted to believe we'd win, but I knew this would be Wagner's third blown save in as many chances. Chris Young doubles, second and third, no one out. Augie Ojeda walks, and up comes Orland Hudson. He grounds one to Reyes, who throws home for the first out. But Castro has his eyes transfixed on first base. He never sees Young hung up between second and third. Wright's on third waving his arms like Jimmy Orr in the end zone in Super Bowl III. If Castro would have thrown to third, it would have been an easy double play and the whole inning turns out different.
Jackson comes up, bounces one in the infield. Of course, the ball hung up for too long to turn the DP. Reyes gets the force at second, they can't turn it, tying run scores. And Wagner comes right back to strike out Reynolds, onto the bottom of the ninth. I am doing all I can not to throw my computer mouse against the wall by now.

Reyes gets an infield single and Chacez sacrifices him over. Newsflash. When the offense is this stagnant, can we give Endy the bat? Let Reyes at least steal a base, then sacrifice him and a fly ball by Wright ends the game. Poor in-game management. Wright smashes a grounder down the line. Ojeda, who had just moved over to third that inning, dives, grabs it, fires it to first, and Wright is out. Beltran and Delgado walk. Easley has a chance to become the hero. Smashes one to short. Drew, who had just come into the game that inning (notice the pattern), dives, grabs it, and flips it to second barely in time to force Delgado. Inning over.

Heilman comes in, allows a leadoff double to Justion Upton, and I knew it was over. A sac bunt, and sac fly later, Arizona leads. Castro fouls out. Castillo pinch-hits, and manages an infield single. I wasn't feeling great with Aguila up, but I figured if Chip Ambred had a game-winning hit last year, why not. Double play ball. Game over.

This team needs a major shake-up. This is not Willie Randolph's fault, but a message must be sent and sent quickly. Either a firing or a major trade. And I don't think Willie is going. for me, I blame Omar Minaya. He promised when he came to New York he would build a team that was young, fast, athletic, sustainable, etc. Willie would have been a perfect fit for that team. But look at this roster. At one point, Abraham Nunez was our best option in the minors. There is next to no minor league system in place. Minaya had no backup plan for Alou or Delgado, who has been terrible. He counted too much on Pedro and El Duque and Duaner Sanchez has been inconsistent.

Oh, and enough of Moises Alou. This stiff comes off the DL, goes 2-for-2, re-aggravates his calf, and is now going on the DL again. Two at bats and he's done. Meaning I have to suffer more of Robinson Cancel on our bench. This guy is more brittle than a dozen eggs. Enough of him.

As one man said, "I am convinced raising my son as a Mets fan is a form of child abuse."

Good news from Sloan Kettering

After four or five rounds of chemo, Brian had his liver scan last Friday. And when the results came in on Wednesday, we got some very good news. First, the cancer has not spread any further in the last month. Second, the liver has not deteriorated any further in the last month. And best of all, one-third of the cancer is completely gone. Thank God.

Now I don't know if someone who has cancer is ever completely out of the woods. I've heard so many instances about cancer going away and then returning. But the doctors feel pretty good about where he is at this point, between the results of the chemo and his appetite and weight returning.

He will continue the chemo and we'll see what kind of progress he makes from here. But we're all feeling pretty good.

Very little left to say

But to hell with it, I'll say it again. There is nothing left to root for in this baseball season except the Cubs choking. Summer time means four things to me. Hot weather, no shirts, festivals, and the Mets. And this is turning into an absolutely miserable summer. I'm almost praying for the Knicks to start because I expect them to be horrible so I can laugh out of ageda.

Losing four straight in San Diego was disgraceful enough. Three straight 2-1 losses followed by an amazing 8-6 heart-smasher, capped off by Tony Clark's (who the Mets should have signed anyway) pinch-hit three-run homer off our lights-out closer. That raises Clark's season totals to one homer and six RBI.

And then it's back in town tonight for three against Arizona. We did get Moises Alou and Marlon Anderson back for the game, and of course, our best player this year, Ryan Church finally goes on the DL. I don't expect anything from him the rest of the season, and with two concussions inside two months, I don't expect him to ever be the player he was the first two months of the season. Now only the Mets can lead 5-1 after two innings, and manage four pointless singles the rest of the way. A 1.5 hour rain delay. And as that's going on, Willie takes John Maine out of the game, not even giving him a chance to resume his game in the sixth inning. He goes straight to the pen. And that bullpen gives up six runs in four innings. Arizona wins 9-5.

As for the rain delay, how is it that Billy Wagner does a better job holding down the tarp than the pen does holding down a lead?

Now the Mets are an unbelievable 7.5 out of the division and the wild card, fourth in the division, closer to last place than first place. There is no heart, no guts, no cojones, prospects to bring into the mix. They are a mediocre baseball team. As far as the postseason goes, they are so freaking dead, it's absolutely ridiculous. The losing streak is five and approaching seven. Oh, and we get to face Brandon Webb and Dan Haren in the next two games.

The solution for gas

I understand gasoline in Venezuela costs $0.16 per gallon right now. Let's invade them. We can do it peacefully. Just lay the message down that we need to do a little business. We have a lot of assets we can offer them. I'm sure the President can negotiate a little something. Maybe then our gas prices could drop to around the level they were when I first got my license, around $2.00 a gallon.

Now a few things that are on my mind.

1) Why are 90 percent of the Facebook status updates I see either referring to how tired people are or how giddy they are over some sort of relationship milestone. Calling all people, get creative! I'm tired of reading the same lines over and over.

2) Something about a 10:45 pm showing of The Shawshank Redemption. Anything narrated by Morgan Freeman gets me in a good state of mind. He could be reading the phone book, I would think it was exciting and creative.

3) I don't know how many more years I can play softball. I only know one style to play, and that's hard. That's balls out. But it is wearing me down in a way that nothing else has. Of the seven days between games, I need at least four of them to get my body ready again to take the next pounding. But I still love the pounding. The day I can't go hard, I don't know if my heart will want to stay in the game.

4) TNA is coming to Hoffman Estates for a PPV Taping in October. I feel a little sick going to a TNA show, but I may get a ticket. Hopefully, I can get a decent one for under 50 bucks. That said, I can't imagine it will be as good as ROH. But if I go, I'll keep an open mind.

5) God bless the Von Erichs.

Song pick: "Lover's Cross" Jim Croce

Week 2 done

We go down 16-8 and while this was not a a great one, I'm not feeling too discouraged. First of all we played a team, with a load of power hitters. A few of their guys can hit a home run in a major league park. Their pitcher, who calls himself Tim Wakefield, switches his pitching motion between a straight underhand and a side arm angle. And they've won numerous championships before, not too mention they average around 20 runs per game.

I batted second and started in right field. We scored a pair in the top of the first, though we left the bases loaded. They scored 4 in the first thanks to Scott and I both misplaying deep fly balls. With the wind blowing out to right, it didn't help our fielding. Their #5 hitter drilled a three-run homer and we were behind. I did make a catch in right to end the first though. We rallied and made it 5-5 after three. Then in the fourth, I came up with runner on second and third with no one out. After taking strike 2, I took three straight balls to fill the bases. Paul comes up, our left handed power bat. He smashes the first pitch and the first baseman snags it on a line. Roger and Marty popped up and we scored nothing. I singled and scored later, not that it would matter as things would play out.

They nailed a grand slam on their way to a nine run fourth and we lost 16-8 in six. The thing was though they hit maybe five deep fly balls all game. They started grounding balls right up the middle and hitting line drives that kept falling in front of us. The problem is the RCF and RF both played with their backs literally against the fence. As I told both of them, with Dan pitching inside to the right-handed hitters, they were not going to power the ball to right field. So play in.
The amazing thing is with all those grounders and liners up the middle, if I I had played short center, they would have scored way less than 16 runs.

So we're 1-1. We'll win next week.

Week 2 Injury Report: Aggravated right big toe, sprained right ankle, bruised shin, bruised right wrist.