Lack of posting

Sorry. Busy weekend. Probably more of the same tomorrow. I may have a review of the Intonation Festival tomorrow night. Saw AC Newman and Broken Social Scene today. The Hold Steady, the Wrens, and maybe the Decemberists tomorrow.

Angels 3; Twins 2

Another close one with the Twins. Nice effort from Washburn, who survived a rough fourth, but got picked up nicely by his offense in the fifth.

I'm a little disturbed by the numbe of opportunities the Angels squandered, but tonight they put enough runs across for Wash and the bullpen to get the job done. Shields picked right up where he left off, and Frankie looked very sharp. He needed the rest, although I'm sure Twins fans will be complaining about some borderline calls again. I probably would be if I were them.

Finley looked like he stroked it pretty well on a big double, and Izturis showed why none of us seem to be too excited about the return of Orlando Cabrera. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, though. Maybe the offense was struggling (more than normal) because of the injury. Let's hope that's the case. In the meantime, Ztu is getting it done.

Probably no game report tomorrow, as I'll be at a birthday barbeque for a friend. Saturday I'll be at the Intonation Festival, but Broken Social Scene should be over by 6:00, so I might be back in time to watch that game. We'll have to wait and see. Could be a big weekend, as I expect to be threatened with termination when I tell one of my senior managers that I will under no circumstances be in the office on Saturday. I'm past the point of caring.

Drinking

Yup. That's what you do on a night with no major league baseball. Normal junk to resume tomorrow. I will have processed much of the beer I consumed tonight by that point.

All Star Break

Honestly, I only watched the game until it got to be about 5-0, then I started watching Le Tour, then I played PlayStation. Once Colon had pitched, and Vlad had failed to hit, and Anderson had failed to hit, I kind of lost interest. Buy yay American League. Home field advantage if the Angels miraculously reach the world series (let alone the post-season).

So I'm gonna take this time to ask a couple of movie questions that have been bugging me:

1) I was watching Top Gun the other night, which is seemingly always on a cable station somewhere, and there's a part that I've never understood. In their first dogfight at the school, they refer to a hard-deck of 10,000 feet, under which engagement is not allowed (presumably for safety reasons). But first, they seem to be doing a hell of a lot of fighting below 10,000 feet. That's the ocean, folks. And they seemed to be darn near it, or at least near all of those mountains, which are nowhere close to 10,000 feet high. Second, when he does the "put on the breaks" thing, Jester heads straight for the hard-deck, below which they nail him. Isn't heading for the hard-deck cheating by Jester? That dude was a total liar. Tom Skerrit's character says "commander Heatherly lost sight of you and called no joy" (I looked this up). That's bullshit. He knew where he was the whole time. This isn't a game of tag where there's a 'safe' zone. What a dick.

2) I was watching "The Girl Next Door" last night, because, ya know, porn stars, and I had a few issues with the burglary scene. First, while the guy's (James Remar's character) house was nice, it wasn't what I'd expect of someone who was at the top of the porn industry food chain. Second, where did these people live? Obviously somewhere in SoCal, because, ya know, porn industry, but it sure didn't look like the Valley. Third, what kind of major porn king pin is going to be sleeping at home by himself, as in, not surrounded by chicks trying to break into the porn industry? Otherwise, what't the point (besides the money, I mean). And finally, this has nothing to do with the burglary, but are there that many SoCal kids that are that gung ho about going to Georgetown? Not saying it's impossible. Just saying it's unlikely. Maybe during the Patrick Ewing days, when everyone and their brother was wearing Georgetown gear, but whatever.

Anyway, baseball tomorrow.

Weaver wins again

5-4. 3 runs, all earned, on 3 hits, one a home run, in 5 and two thirds. Eight strikeouts to one walk. Brandon Wood is likely still enjoying the all-star experience, but Howie Kendrick had two hits.

Bill Buckner took the loss. All of the runs were earned, so reports of the winning hit going between his legs appear to be erroneous.

Recap.

Hey, it's a day off for me, too

Honestly, it's been a busy weekend and it's carried over into today, so I'm kind of digging a day with no baseball, minus the home run derby.

Caught some of the home run derby. They're better in person. I've been to two, and it's just not as fun on TV. It's also not that fun when none of the Angels are participating. It was pretty cool when GA won in Chicago a couple of years ago. At the actual game itself that year there was a guy in an Expos Guerrero jersey who kept badmouthing Troy Glaus, and you could tell he was doing it a little louder because I was seated so close to him. Granted, Troy was having a down year, but at the time, I kept wanting to ask "how many World Series MVPs does Vlad have." A year later, Vlad was in Anaheim. Expensive weekend for the all-star package, but a lot of fun.

Scary story for David Eckstein this weekend. Apparently he was on the phone with his dad when his dad started experiencing kidney failure, which looks like it runs in his family. Long story short, they got emergency assistance soon after and looks like he'll be back to normal, although he is awaiting a transplant (as he was before this incident).

To the extent that the Angels still have any shot at the playoffs, I'd really like them to play the Cardinals. Mostly, I just want to see the ovation that Eckstein would get from the fans in Anaheim. I think it would be a nice juxtaposition to what I hope would be a loud show of disdain for Jim Edmonds.

No comment

Didn't see one pitch. Played golf instead. Right now, I'd rather do just about anything other than watch this trainwreck of a team.