Misc.

TV:  Lindsay is watching "Real Housewives of NY" on DVR and this "Countess" is singing this song, and this boob who's playing the piano is convincing her she sounds good - this is total trash, I want to throw the remote through the television, but I'll hold back.  Here's the link for those of you who love torturing yourself:  LuAnn's Craptastic Song.

Music:  The first random song of the day today was "1901" by Phoenix.  Makes you want to nod your head a little bit.  I'm not a huge fan of it, but I might let it play all the way through - here's a link to this one:  "1901".

Local News:  According to NY1, more than 40% of streetlights are out on our local highways here in the Bronx.  Here's the breakdown:  Major Deegan (I-87):  38%; Cross Bronx Expressway (I-95):  46%; Henry Hudson Parkway (US-9):  43%.  Not only are we dealing with pot-hole filled roads, but the damn light aren't working either.  The Alexander Hamilton Bridge, however, is in complete darkness.

Sports:  The Yankees blew another game last night, to the Red Sox - Mariano got the loss because Marcus Thames went from hero to goat in the course of 24 hours.  Dropped a pop-up in short right field - bad baseball play.  Tonight they open up a two-game set with the best team in baseball, the Rays.  Tonight's pitching matchup is: Wade Davis (TB) 3-3, 3.38 ERA vs. A.J. Burnett (NY) 4-1, 3.31 ERA.  Fixing to be a pretty tight one, unless Davis pitches like he generally does against the Yankees - 5.73 ERA in two home starts vs. NY in his career.  This is his first time taking the bump in the Bronx.  I just hope Carlos Peña decides not to get hot - he's only hitting .191 with 5 HR this year.  Friday, the Yankees head to Queens to open up their weekend series with Los Mets. 

Miscellaneous:  Lindsay has been asking me what I want for my birthday for the past few weeks and I honestly have no idea what I want.  I am a very good gift giver, but when it comes to telling people (Lindsay) what I want, I struggle.  Nathan is here, next to me, chewing his rawhide - he loves the stuff, but only the ones with a bacon flavored treat in the middle - gives him something to work for.  He snagged a piece of Lindsay's steak tonight - I made steaks with an avocado/jalapeño/mango/salsa mixture - pretty good.  Dessert is Ben & Jerry's Key Lime Pie flavor - it's a limited batch. 

Hands Off!  Let's go Yankees!!

Walk It Off

Monday night in the MLB featured some great games and some laughers.

We'll narrow it down to the Top 3 - all walk-off wins:

#3 - At "The Trop", the Rays got a walk-off, one out squeeze bunt from Jason Bartlett in the 11th inning, beating the Indians 4-3.  Several weeks ago the Indians go burned by the Angels on a similar play, but there were two outs when Howie Kendrick got his base hit bunt past the pitcher.  Chris Perez was complaining about it being a "stupid play" - listen man, it's the big leagues, you need to get wins when you can.  It ain't Kendricks fault your team sucks.  The Rays improved to an MLB best 27-11.  The Tribe fell to 15-21.

#2 - Aramis Ramirez raised his average all the way to .175 in this one, and hit the walk-off 2R HR in the 9th off Rockies pitcher Matt Belisle to give the Cubs a 4-2 win.  Ramirez singled in the 1st, driving in the Cubs first run of the game.  Ramirez has been on a tear lately - he's raised his average from .148 to .175 over the past 10 games.  The saddest fact is, he only has 3 multi-hit games all year - this guy makes $16.75 million a year.  What is wrong with the Cubs?  Rockies fall to 19-19, Cubs improve to 17-22.

#1 - Poor Papelbon.  Ha.  Not only did he allow A-Rod to tie the game in the 9th with a 2R HR, he allowed a 2R HR by Marcus Thames to lose the game.  After the "A-bomb from A-Rod", Cano flew out to centerfield before Cervelli got drilled in the elbow.  Thames came to the plate and wasted little time - he jumped on the 92 mph fastball and hit a line-drive into the LF seats.  Yes, he pimped it a little out of the box, but you know what, it was his first career walk-off HR.  He threw the bat, and began his sprint around the bases.  Then he got the pie face.  I stayed up for it, and was pissed when the blew the lead, but man, it's always nice walking-off on the Red Sox.  Yankees 25-13, Red Sox 19-20. 

Plenty to do today - 3,600 white folding chairs waiting for me to set them up.  Graduation season is upon us.