White Stuff Falls; Hard Ball

We got around 8" of snow here in the Bronx overnight and the sun is shining right now, at 11:13am.  The roads are clear (the corners are dirty snow) and traffic is moving.  Alternate side parking is suspended today and tomorrow, so luckily I won't have to move my car out of the Wednesday spot behind my building.  They say suspending alternate side facilitates snow removal, which I can't figure out.

Just a lazy day in the Bronx today.  Lindsay whipped up some pancakes for breakfast and is currently in a press conference delay, keeping her from watching The View. 

I'm sorry to all the NYC school teachers - Bloomberg didn't cancel classes.  The way they were talking about this storm, I figured it'd be snowing when I woke up.  Such was not the case.  It was a lot of snow, but it was light snow.  Powder I think is the correct term.  Nathan loved it.  He'll get another crack at it around noon, when we head out for his afternoon stroll and run in the dog park.

All this white snow makes me think of making snowballs, which, you guessed it, reminds me of baseball.

Yankees baseball.

Rumor has it the Yanks are in talks with super-agent Scott Boras about adding OF Andruw Jones for the 2011 season.  The same one who played at Yankee Stadium as a teenager playing in the World Series for the Braves.  Now 33 years-old, he hit .230 with 19 jacks for the White Sox last year.  They better not overpay for this guy, but he does have some tools.

Also rumblings out of the Bronx indicate the Bombers are looking to add former A's stud but recently injury-prone P Justin Duchscherer.  He's only been healthy for 28+ innings the past two seasons, but what got him noticed was back in 2004-2006 when he put up some gaudy numbers coming out of the pen.  In 2008, his last healthy season, he was 10-8 with a 2.54 ERA in 141 innings pitched (he started all 22 appearances).  Would be a nice addition to the Yankees, seeing how the pitching staff has been the downfall of late.  Bring in the DUKE!

Andy Pettitte, a fan favorite in the Bronx, is still unsure of his future.  I really hope he comes back for one more year.  It's not like he's hanging on for another paycheck, I honestly think he's still got something left in the tank.  Dude was 11-3 with a 3.28 ERA last year and threw two gems in the postseason.  Sure, he was on the shelf for all of August.  Sure, he's 38 years-old.  Bring it back for one more year Andy.

Time to take Nathan out.  Jerry Springer is on.  Can't believe he's still on TV.  Or that we're watching it.  It's comic relief and makes you realize how good you actually have it, compared to these honky-tonks.

Here we come snow!

Baseball and Birthdays

Well, the Yankees almost pulled it off last night against the Phillies.  Brad Lidge's ERA went up from a 1.12 to a 2.00 and he made the game pretty interesting.  He's been pretty automatic since he's been healthy this season, so it was good that the Yanks showed a little fight.  I was on the flight back from Dallas, so I missed it.  We flew AirTran but I wish I would have gone JetBlue.  AirTran has some of the most cramped seating of any airline I've ever been on.  K, K, BB, 2B, 1B, K.  He struck out the side, but all the drama started with a two-out walk to Mark Teixeira and could have ended with a walk-off. 

The Rays are reeling (7-6 in June), the Yankees have been fairly steady (10-4 in June), as are the Sox (10-5 in June).  The Blue Jays have fallen back down to Earth and the O's are still looking for an answer.  Shaping up to be a three horse race again, for like the fifth straight season. 

I am going to the Yankees game tonight - and am just counting my blessings I don't have to suffer through a Jamie Moyer start.  Kyle Kendrick vs. Andy Pettitte.  Andy is going for win #201 as a Yankee and #238 overall.  He is putting up incredible numbers thus far, with his only real bad outing being against the Rays on May 20th (5 IP, 9 H, 7 R) in am 8-6 loss.  Looking forward to the game - it's always nice seeing a game at the Stadium, freaking thing is awesome.  It's really a sight to be seen.

The Rays are on the docket too, as Big Game James Shields takes on Tim Hudson in Atlanta.  The Yanks could take over first place tonight.  Hudson has been nothing short of dominant this year (6-2, 2.43 ERA).  He's had some command issues (30 BB in 85.1 IP) but has pitched out of the jams for the most part.  His last outing was a 2-1 CG loss to the Twins (8 IP, 7 H, 2 K).  When he's on, he's tough to hit.  Let's go Timmy.

Party at the "Copacabana", Barry Manilow turns 64 years old today.  He's still knocking them dead - I mean he should be, he's probably had a lot of $$ pumped in and out of his face.  He's made quite the transformation - I mean normally, you go from left to right, he went the opposite direction.  Wrinkles be gone, poof!!  I am kind of glad he chose Barry Manilow, seeing how he was born Barry Alan Pincus.  He was raised in Williamsburg Brooklyn.  He started off writing jingles, and his most famous being State Farm Insurance ("Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there...") and Band-Aid's (I am stuck on Band-Aid, 'cause Band-Aid's stuck on me!").  Happy Birthday Barry, and thanks for taking on your mother's last name.

Back at work, gotta do some work.  Going to purchase some chain and lock it down at Gaelic.

Lock it up!

Hello, Newman.

Sorry for the lack of material this weekend - it's been pretty hectic - Saturday I was recruiting all day, Sunday was spent traveling.  Now it's Monday and I'm raring to go.  Got a lot of material to cover so let's hope you're ready to listen.

Saturday started with an 8:13am alarm clock, NIN's "Discipline" was the song of choice, as it is most days.  Some days, it's The Gaslight Anthem's "Boomboxes and Dictionaries", both solid choices to ease me into my day.

Let's start with the backbone of this blog - sports.

1.  Strasburg was dominant again, although he did walk as many guys (5) as he had in his previous 5 starts (1 MLB, 4 AAA).  He improved to 2-0 (Pirates and Indians) but let up his 2nd HR in as many starts, both to lefties, and both on a change up.  Either way, he's got 22 K in 12.1 IP.  The Nationals may make some noise after all.

2.  The Yankees completed a sweep of the Astros and in the process, moved into a tie atop the AL Beast with the Rays.  There's a World Series rematch series, beginning tonight in the Bronx, as CC Sabathia takes on Roy Halladay.  The Phillies are looking to regain their mo-jo (4-6 in their last 10 games) and crawl back into the NL Least race (3.5 behind 1st place Atlanta) while the Yanks look to distance themselves from the rest of baseball.  I hope I get a good pitching match up Thursday when I go with Lindsay and our fathers - I think it's looking like Moyer vs. Pettitte.

3.  Ted Lilly had a no-hit bid into the 9th against the White Sox, but settled for a 1-hitter and a 1-0 Cubs win.  We were in a bar here in Dallas, and there were a few Chicago fans - one guy, who everyone else refused to give pounds to regardless of how many times he tried - was the epitome of what a White Sox fan is (as told to me by another patron from Chicago).  Obnoxious.  A total jackass.  He was whining when they pinch-hit Juan Pierre to lead off the ninth, then after he broke up the no-no, he said he knew he was going to get a hit - douche.  This guy was shouting all night, almost fell off his stool several times, and was almost forcing his girlfriend (so it seemed) into making out with him - sloppy.

On Saturday, I was up at Blind Brook HS for a game after a showcase at Pace.  BBHS has quite possibly the nicest facilities for a high school I've ever seen.  Field turf abounds - football field, baseball field, soccer field, softball field - they might even have field turf in the hallways.  Almost like VCP.  Anyway, the thing that stuck out was a parent who was chirping the whole game.  Similar to a major league game, every pop up was a HR (or so he reacted), every ground ball was "just missed", and every strikeout looking was outside.  Anyway, same game, same guy - the 7 hitter snuck a dribbler between the first- and second-baseman, to which Super-Dad blurted out, "He squecked that one through there!"  Now, I'm no English major, but "squeaked" is a word.  Squecked, not a word.  #1 Dad.

Sunday was filled with air travel and ground transportation.  LaGuardia to Charlotte, Charlotte to Dallas-Ft. Worth.  The tail end of the trip was turbulent, to put it lightly.  I started getting sick from bouncing around in my seat.  Once we got below the clouds (all 3 minutes of it) and landed, it was great.  The landing was the smoothest part of the flights.  Got off the plane, went to find some "Shared Transportation" and got in.  There were 5 others in there, all going to right near where we were going.  The van was full, but the driver was convinced he may be able to pick up another passenger, so he drove around the airport (to every terminal) trying to find someone else to cram in.  Once he realized he had wasted over 25 minutes worth of gas, he decided to take to the roads, and eventually dropped us off at the hotel.  It was like riding on a wooden roller coaster with no seat belt - pretty scary.  Not quite sure if he was legal.

We strolled around Downtown Dallas a little, I of course snapped some photos, and then we went into CVS - the biggest CVS I have ever seen (I guess everything really is bigger in Texas).  While meandering through the aisles, Lindsay saw a guy and said "He looks like the guy from Jurassic Park" so I looked.  Wasn't sure who she meant, I mean it has been over ten years since I've seen the movie.  We were looking through the "Trial Size" stuff, and I saw the man again - NEWMAN!!  I wanted to be sure, so creepily stared at him for a few seconds.  Then I went up and asked if he was Wayne Knight, and that I was a huge fan (which is an exaggeration) but he is freakin' NEWMAN.  If you've never seen Seinfeld and are reading this, welcome to Earth.  Turns out he's in town shooting a show for FOX, The Good Guys.  I got him to take a picture with me - CVS was empty, so I didn't care.  Had it been full of patrons, I probably would have just taken a sneaky photo of him.  I will publish the photo when I get back to the BX.  How cool is that?

FACT:  Dallas's Downtown shuts down on Sunday.  We found a neat little Mexican restaurant for lunch - Sol Irlandes - we didn't stay for the karaoke at night though.

Passed out several times after getting back from lunch, but managed to stay awake long enough to grab a bite at Press Box Grill.  That's where we were blessed with the Chicago fans.  Ate, had a drink, left as soon as Lilly let up the lone hit in the game, and came back to the hotel to pass out.

Today I will venture out and try to find a place to eat some breakfast.  Lindsay is at the conference so I will explore, maybe I'll bump into another celeb.  Probably not, but I can care less.  NEWMAN!

Hello Big D!

NL (L)East

With the Mets deciding to finally play some baseball, there seems to be a race for supremacy in the NL East.  Well, the supremacy belongs to the Phillies, but there is at least a race for first place.  Only 2.5 games seperate the 1st-place Phillies from the 5th-place Nationals.

The Mets shutout the Phillies again last night.  The Phillies haven't scored a run against the Mets in the last 22 innings - since their 9-run outburst in the 4th inning against ace Johan Santana on May 2nd.  It doesn't get any easier for the Phillies, as Mike Pelfrey takes the bump for Los Mets, but the Phils will counter with Cole Hamels.  The Phillies roughed up Pelfrey the last time they faced him, to the tune of 6 runs and 8 hits in just four innings. 

The Mets are looking for a 3-game sweep, the Phillies are looking for some momentum heading into two road trips withing the division, at the Marlins for a three game set and then traveling to Atlanta for three.  It's a big stretch for the Phillies.

The Nationals are only 2.5 games back, but when Stephen Strasburg starts taking the hill every fifth game, that 2.5 may get a little closer.

The NL East is a tight race and seems to want to stay that way.  If I was a fan of any of those teams, I'd be psyched.  Instead, I hope Jerry Manual gets fired, Hanley hustles, Strasburg dominates, Heyward takes Strasburg yard, and Doc Halladay gets back to his early-season domination

Fire Jerry!  Time for an omelet..

Today in Sports History

2004:  40-year-old Randy Johnson throws a perfect game for the D'Backs against the Atlanta Braves.  Here's a look at the box score:

By the way, I hate this smug little bastard on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire right now.  Nice bowl cut doofus!