Great weekend

Not in order…
–Had Skype video calls with my parents and grandparents, then with my youngest bro and sis-in-law.
–Assembled the girls’ highchairs.
–Cleared out a bunch of boxes from the office to be recycled.
–Sorted out clothes, including some very old but still usable business suits to be donated. (Very hard to remember the days of wearing a suit to work.)

Tonight, Norah was fussin’ after we put her to bed. Shannon went to check her, and she was on her tummy and facing the mirror at the opposite end of her crib. She was trying to inchworm her way to the gorgeous face she saw in the mirror! Full-on crawling can’t be far behind…yikes!

Oh, and the Phillies clobbered L.A. Funny that while that’s awesome, near-crawling is what makes my heart leap now.

LiveBlog: Phils/Dodgers, NLCS Game 5

10:39 p.m.: Too much in my head right now. Will get back to you tomorrow. PHILS RULE!

10:38 p.m.: Catch that pop-up, son, and here we go to the World Series!

10:35 p.m.: NOMAH!

10:34 p.m.: Victorino just plays him some centerfield. Two outs.

10:32 p.m.: C’mon Brad, get ‘er done. There’s an out, flyball to Victorino.

10:25 p.m.: Bottom 9, here comes Lidge.

10:24 p.m.: Ryan Howard’s swing is back. And it is sweet.

10:19 p.m.: We are an inning away.

10:04 p.m.: Blog break.

10:02 p.m.: Has everybody/anybody noticed Tim Allen in the 1st row behind home plate? I wonder if his agent called him: “Timmy, bubbeleh, I’m getting you some TV time. Here’s tickets to the Dodgers game.”

9:59 p.m.: I’m always freaked out when these DirecTV commercials have the same actor, just like 25 years later, “breaking the fourth wall” while re-enacting a scene from their movie. Craig T. Nelson’s “hair” just isn’t convincing.

9:55 p.m.: Shut up, Kent. It was a strike. You’re old and you suck and nobody likes you.

9:52 p.m.: Leaving Hamels in here with 1st and 2nd, 2 outs and Kent up in the bottom of the 7th. Hope you know what you’re doing, Uncle Cholly.

9:45 p.m.: Shane Victorino’s defense is still awesome. Great catch, thanks to great speed and instincts.

9:44 p.m.: Oh, by the way, Cole Hamels has been awesome.

9:43 p.m.: Shane Victorino’s defense is awesome.

9:42 p.m.: Eric Bruntlett’s beard is awesome.

9:38 p.m.: Read somebody writing today about how the Fox computer-generated strike zone is “showing up” the umpires and how lousy and inconsistent they are. I can’t wait for the day when umpiring is a computerized science.

9:36 p.m.: Here they are:

ShutUpTimMcCarver.com

BobFinnan.com/TimMcCarver/

9:33 p.m.: McCarver comparing a Presidential debate to a debate over balls and strikes between a ballplayer and an umpire. Meant to be slightly tongue-in-cheek, I’m sure, but just lame and stupid and unnecessary. Where is that IHateTimMcCarver Web site anyway?

9:33 p.m.: They’re replaying Rafael Furcal’s three errors, all in one inning. Wow.

9:32 p.m.: Oh, guess the debate is over. I’ll read a transcript tomorrow morning or something.

9:31 p.m.: Martin still in the game, behind the plate. Wonder if the ump will hold a grudge – he should.

9:29 p.m.: TOSS HIM! Russell Martin is arguing balls and strikes! That’s against the rules, son! He’s got to be ejected, umpire! I call Shenanigans!

9:26 p.m.: Big deal, Manny homers. He’s another one playing for a contract. It’s only a solo bomb. 5-1.

9:24 p.m.: Subjective journalism alerts: FOX desperately wanted L.A. to win this game. Tim McCarver is terrifically stupid. I loved how early on, one of the pitchers was about to throw, and McCarver says something like “here you’ve GOT to throw a curveball,” and the guy throws a 92 MPH fastball.

9:23 p.m.: Pat Burrell, playing for a new fat contract, makes a really good running catch. Phils up 5-0 in the bottom of the 6th. Is this some kind of weird dream?

One game away!

UPDATED THOUGHT: How the heck DO you pitch to Manny Ramirez???

After the Phillies’ thrilling victory over the Dodgers in Game 4 of the NLCS, I had a bunch of thoughts:

–Pat Gillick did make some really smart moves. Shane Victorino? Taken in the Rule 5 draft a few years back from – you guessed it – the Dodgers. Matt Stairs? They got him for a crappy lefthanded reliever in a deal that nobody noticed about a month ago.

–Shane Victorino continues to earn my platonic love by being Mr. Clutch. Good power for a little guy. He’s like Lenny Dykstra (circa 1993) without the disgusting chewing tobacco and steroids.

–Game 5 is on against the 3rd and final Presidential debate. Guess I’ll be missing out on the politics. However, I’m sure that CNN, MSNBC, Fox, CNBC, and whoever else will replay it. Or I’ll just YouTube the highlights.

–Hamels vs. Billingsley in Game 5. My man Cole is already a
legend; this could cement it.

–Holy Crap, it was 15 years ago that I stood in my college dorm room, wondering why Mitch Williams was still in the game, with that sick-to-my-stomach feeling that Joe Carter was going to take him downtown.

–IF we win, who would I rather play in the World Series? Even without Manny, Boston is a juggernaut, but they’ve looked kinda weak against Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay has a lot of great young talent, but would they be able to withstand the pressure of the World Series? TB’s manager, Joe Maddon, is supposed to be some kind of genius, so that might not be an issue.

Boston is an interesting story because former Phils manager Terry Francona is their skipper. The only other real Phils/Sox connection is Paul Byrd, who resides in Boston’s bullpen as a long reliever. J.C. Romero was a Red Sox, but that’s not much to build a rivalry.

I don’t think Tampa Bay holds a grudge over the Kevin Stocker-for-Bobby Abreu supreme ripoff trade that the Phillies did with TB years ago, and there’s no real connection other than Rays’ reliever Trever Miller pitching like 10 games for the Phillies 8 years ago.

The networks would probably love a BOS/PHI matchup because of the two major cities involved, but I think the more compelling series (and probably more winnable series for the Phillies) is TB/PHI.

LiveBlog: Phils/Dodgers, NLCS Game 3

10:21 p.m.: Oh well. This was pretty much a “must-win” for L.A., and I didn’t really think this would be an easy series for the Phils. See you tomorrow night for Game 4!

10:20 p.m.: Huge Jonathan Broxton is the Dodgers’ closer. He’s allegedly something like 6’6″, 290 and throws about 99MPH. I had him in one of my fantasy leagues. I’m sure being in the NLCS (and possibly the World Series, though I hope not) will drive up his “price.”

10:17 p.m.: Sharp Aquos, that’s who it is.

10:14 p.m.: I hate that creepy “physicist” guy in the commercials for Sony or Visio or whatever TV manufacturer it is. He looks like Florence Henderson, if she were a tall college professor with that “prematurely white hair” look.

10:09 p.m.: Are you serious? The best celebrities (after Tiger Woods) that L.A. can turn out for this game are Mary Hart and Pat Sajak? I saw Henry “The Fonz” Winkler in a super-box, but I think I read somewhere he’s a Phillies fan. And the guys from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” were uncharacteristically lame in doing the Phillies’ lineup at the beginning of the broadcast. (It was “Mac” and Danny DeVito.)

10:03 p.m.: Not sure if I’ve mentioned it for a while, but I intensely dislike Tim McCarver as a “color commentator.”

10:02 p.m.: Of course, the chances of a comeback this large in the 9th inning must be astronomical.

9:49 p.m.: Never mind. We can’t even throw out Russell Martin stealing a base – and he’s been hit by a pitch like three times tonight. This game is 97% lost cause. I only give the Phils that 3% because there was that one time…(flashback alert)…

It was June 8, 1989. I was experiencing my first bout of major disease (undiagnosed at the time), and had missed the last several months of school. I couldn’t even sit up with my legs over the edge of a chair or couch.

I remember being on the couch in the living room, watching the Phillies give up 10 runs in the first inning to the Pirates. Yep, 10-0 in the 1st. Grandpop Morey was there, and he gave his usual “man, they suck” look. And with my insanely annoying optimism, I said, “you watch, they’ll come back.”

And oddly enough, they did. They won 15-11, after getting 2 runs in the 1st, 3rd and 4th, they got 4 in the 6th and 5 in the 8th to get the W. That was also the game when one of the Pirates broadcasters (Steve Blass?) said there was no way they would lose, and that he’d walk back to Pittsburgh if they did. (And he did it at a later date, as a charity event.)

9:27 p.m.: So we’re maybe starting to chip away at the lead…7-2, men on, no outs. If by some miracle we come back, this series will be ours.

9:26 p.m.: Been busy – bathroom break (reading Hary Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) and then doing the cat litter. Yes, it’s a charmed life. 😉

8:50 p.m.: Shane Victorino was absolutely right. You wanna retaliate, just hit me in the arm, the butt, the leg. You go huntin’ my head, and that’s not right.

8:34 p.m.: I swear. One more commercial with Frank Calliendo or the GEICO Cavemen, and I will kill something.

8:28 p.m.: I still feel bad for Jamie Moyer. He just couldn’t get it done tonight, but he’s still aces in my book.

8:25 p.m.: I can’t believe it’s 6-1. It’s not insurmountable, but with Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard not hitting AT ALL, it doesn’t look good. Hope the bullpen can hold the Dodgers.

8:23 p.m.: Screw you, Manny Ramirez. Your beef should be with your wimpy pitchers who don’t retaliate by throwing at the opposing team. I, and so many Red Sox fans, would have loved to see Ryan Howard beat the snot out of you.

ALL TIMES CENTRAL.

Random Ramblin’s: Goodbye, Earth?

When Stephen Hawking says we ought to start thinking about getting off of Planet Earth, it might be time to listen.

Check it out here: Cosmos

I realized a little while ago that the only, single, solitary place that a person can write and be “published” without censorship is a blog. OK, maybe if you self-publish a book, you can count that too.

This morning at work, I went into the bathroom and to put it mildly, it reeked. I was washing my hands when another guy walked in, apparently took a whiff, turned and left. So I’m thinking, do I chase after him, yelling “That wasn’t me!” or just let it go? I let it go. We’re only in this office until the spring anyway.

Facebook is nuts. I’m re-friending all kinds of people from elementary school all the way up through college and previous jobs. It’s really cool to see what people are up to.

I do fear the Phillies/Dodgers series, but I’m hoping that the Phillies’ pitching will step up – and the big bats (Utley and Howard) come alive.

It rained on the DFW Metroplex today. First time in like 2.5 weeks. Rest of the week’s forecast is like 81 and sunny every day. Simply awesome. It’s really nice to be in a climate in which you truly feel at home.

So it’s going to cost each of us personally $2,300 to bail out Wall Street. Is that going to come off the top of my income taxes or what?

I’m not going to get all political here, but I’m disappointed in the tactics being used in the electoral campaigns. I had hoped, given the two candidates in the running, that we might have had an actual, rational discourse on the issues instead of attack ads and snarky comments.

I wonder if fast-food employees ever feel bad when they have to ask if a morbidly obese person wants to enlarge/super-size their order, and they say yes. I suppose they have to look at it as a personal choice that that person is making.

I take a total of 9 pills a day, consisting of both medications and vitamins. Sadly, none of them endow me with superpowers.

Speaking of…Heroes is on tonight. And there’s the usual round of people saying “oh, it sucks” and “it’s not as good as it used to be” or my personal favorite: “season one rocked, season two sucked and this one is just blah so far.” I kind of agree, but I’m just an easier person to please I guess. I think that most things that are “cool” at one point are inevitably overanalyzed and then found to be “uncool.” Yeah, there are storylines that each of us might not like, but at least there are several other intriguing ones at the same time.

Later.