KC Chiefs < Oakland Raiders; and it's Birthday Tiiiiiiime

It's taken some time, but the Ravens seem to have finally began to impose their will on the measly Chiefs.  After an early 41-yard jaunt to pay dirt for Jamaal Charles, not much has gone right for the AFC West champs.

The Chiefs were +9 this  year, but today, for some reason (inexperience in the playoffs) they're -2 (2 takeaways, 4 turnovers).  Cassel has two interceptions.  Charles and McCluster both have lost a fumble.  Three of their 8 possessions so far have ended in a turnover and one more ended on downs.  They've mustered up only 37 yards in the third quarter. 

Meanwhile, the Purple People Eaters have scored on 3 straight possessions, and are knocking on the door step of making it four in a row.  2nd & 4 at the KC four yard line.  TD Baltimore.  Anquan Boldin - dude's a beast.  Wacco Flacco is playing out of his mind too - 245 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Only thing that worries me is their running game is nonexistent.  Gotta get Ray Rice going downhill if they expect to keep playing past next weekend.

23-7 Baltimore.  Might as well get some things done before the Packers and Eagles start, this one's all but over.  Baltimore at Pittsburgh next week is going to be some bloodbath.  Let's go Ravens!

Silver & Black would have represented the AFC West better than the bumbling, stumbling, fumbling Chiefs.  Maybe they got too much of that KC BBQ sauce on their fingers.

Here's a feature I haven't spoken on in a while - one that was a regular in the repertoire last year - my birthday roll call.  Happy birthday to Kate Middleton, the fiancée of Prince William of Wales.  Her last one as a single woman, I'm sure she's on lockdown.  Maybe they'll let her family come to the castle once in a while, just to say hi.

On the sports side of things, Packers great Bart Starr is 77 years old today.  He helped lead the Packers to five Super Bowl titles - including being MVP of Super Bowl I and II.  The former 17th round pick (200th overall) was one of five HOF'ers in the 1956 NFL Draft.  Happy birthday Bart Starr.  I'm sure Aaron Rodgers is making you proud like his predecessor Brett Favre didn't.  Go Pack!

Time to take off, this game's almost over.  Marist leads Manhattan 61-55 with 1:28 left.  Both teams are struggling this year, looks like the Jaspers are hurting a little more.  They travel to Florida after the game to take on FAU on Tuesday in a rescheduled game (snow wiped out travel the first time they were supposed to fly down).

Bye!

moving time; time to move; yanks on the move

  for once, i am at a loss for words and topics.  i am physically drained from all the moving i've done this past week.  boxing up stuff, boxing up more stuff, and carrying some stuff to the garbage.  it seemed to never end, and then today, when it was supposed to pour all day, it didn't really rain so i finished the move relatively easy - with the help of rene ruiz - my trusty assistant.

  now all that's left to do is unpack everything.  and believe me, i plan on getting rid of a fair amount of stuff.  it's a mess in there right now and poor nathan probably feels like he's trapped in a cave, but soon enough it'll start to look like something.

  bob's discount furniture screwed us.  they were supposed to send a certificate of insurance to the new building and never did.  yada yada yada.  i called, complained (to put it lightly) and they give me $75 store credit.  i wanted nothing to do with a store credit, so i had them take the money off my order.  jackasses.

  time for bullpen city.  game this saturday at njit.  let's see how this one goes.  last weekend wasn't all rainbows and lollipops.  we beat pace 8-7 in 17 innings thanks to a 5 run burst in the 17th when we put the starters back in.  time for some of these newcomers to make a move and step up.  some hustle in practice often leads to hustle in games.  that's the sad part, a lot of these guys don't hustle.  it's the easiest thing to do.  drives me nuts.

  yankees clinched a postseason birth for i think the 15th time in 16 years.  they still trail the rays by half a game in the east so hopefully they can finish off the job and take home another pennant.  the rays finish with two games at the lowly royals while the yankees take the trip up the mass pike for a showdown with the hated red sox.  c.c. isn't scheduled to pitch so hopefully the offense (if they all aren't resting) can make up for what they lack on the mound.  it's sad to see how bad the starting pitching drops off after c.c.

  anyway, one-way ticket to bullpen city.

The Bronx is Burned

  The Bronx was once "Burning", but now it's officially burned. 

  The Yankees just finished a 4-game split with the Royals, cutting their lead over 2nd-place Tampa to 1 game.  The race remaining tight so whenever Pettitte is ready to come back won't be a day too soon.  As much as I like seeing Dustin Moseley have moments of brilliance, I still am about as comfortable with him as I am Sergio Mitre.  They need to win series' from here on out and take care of "the easy part of their schedule" as they keep saying on ESPN Radio.  Detroit (57-60) for 4 and Seattle(46-72) for 3 at the Stadium.  Then they go to Toronto (62-55) and Chicago (65-63) for 3-gamers.  Toronto   Following that, a 10-game homestand versus Oakland(57-59), Toronto, and Baltimore(41-77).  Buck has those boys in Baltimore playing well now though, so that may not be a walk in the park.  They do need to take care of business at home though against the weaker teams in the AL.  The AL (b)East and the NL West are the only two dvisions with four teams over .500.  That's a pretty astounding number.  The AL Central has two (MIN, CWS), AL West has two (TEX, LAA), NL East has two (ATL, PHI) and the NL Central has two (CIN, STL).  Winning either one of those two division ain't gonna be easy for the Yankees and Padres.  The Pads have a 3.5 game lead over the Giants and are showing no signs of slowing down.  Just hope their arms stay healthy.

  I returned Sunday night from a 3-day hiatus from this borough only to find my television not working - turns out the neighbor took it upon himself to take my DirecTV dish down.  I am going to cancel their ass, the service they've given sucks and God forbid it rains heavy or snows - service is spotty.  I guess I have no one to blame but myself so I can't be too angry.  I told them when they installed it that where they were going to place the dish was on my neighbor's yard.  This shmuck was sold on the fact that because the wall to the garage was facing my yard, it was OK.  Now take into consideration I'm renting, so whatever's whatever.  Neighbor comes around the block, tells me to move it, I relay the message to DirecTV, no luck.  They keep telling me it's fine.  Next time I need service, they come out, adjust the dish, I tell them it needs to move, they say it's fine.  Now it's sitting next to my house near the garbage pails.  Nice job DirecTV.

  We're looking for a new apartment, and had two in mind and were anxious to start somewhere new.  Broker called me today and both are rented - within the last 48 hours.  Keeping on with my hunt.

  There was a independent photo shoot on the side of the house, affectionately known as the "jungle" because of my landlords refusal to give a shit about what the yard looks like.  Sorry, it's not a yard, it's an empty lot.  Some dude was  on a motorcycle riding around in the side lot - it's a shame he wasn't able to use a lawnmower instead to cut some of those damn weeds.

  School starts in a few days, some of the athletes are back (volleyball, soccer) and the rest of the plebes come back soon.  Looking forward to another year - of baseball.  Summer is such a tranquil time of year here on campus except when the GYLC's are here.  Kids from all over the world come in and take over the dorms, forge new friendships, partake in summer love, and speak in foreign languages so that no one here can understand them.  Their invasion lasts about a week each, with 6 sets of GYLC's coming in throughout the summer.  It's over, they're out, thank God.

  Nathan had some shots the other day, one of which turned him from a dachshund into a shar pei.  His face turned into a giant swollen mess.  We raced back to the vet to get some benedryl for the swelling.  He's back to normal now, just have to keep medicating him twice daily for another 4 days.  It kind of knocks him out, so he's out of it.

  I am literally sweating my cojones off.  I have a little to nothing left to do today except see the apartment this afternoon.

  Adios kimosabe.

Break Time

   First of all, LeBron James is a bag of expletives.  Go after a title on a team where you're the man, not one head of a three headed monster.  Way to wimp out.

   Now that the MLB season has reached the All-Star break, I want to take a look at some of the top stories, as far as I'm concerned, in the first half.

   1.  Friar Power.  The San Diego Padres are 14 games over .500 (they were 75-87 last year) and up by two games in the much-improved NL West.  I mean this is a pitchers dominated team - with the best ERA (3.25) and WHIP (1.23) in the MLB.  They're hitting a paltry .250 but are in first place - pitching wins.  Look at the pathetic KC Royals - they lead the majors in hitting (.282) and are 10 games under .500 and 10.5 GB of the 1st place White Sox.  Watch out for the hooded clergy, they're here for real, and I don't think their pitching will go out of style.  They have no pressure to succeed and their best pitcher has only 27 starts under his belt for his career (Mat Latos) and a journeyman John Garland is reverting back to old form (when he won 18 games back-to-back years with the White Sox).  The Padres are good man, but so is everyone else in the West.  It's gonna be exciting.

   2.  Abe Vigoda (aka Jamie Moyer).  How in the hell is this guy 9-8?  I watched him dominate the Yankees (8 IP, 3 H, 2 R) and get shellacked by the Red Sox the very next start (1 IP, 9 H, 9 R).  He's got a 4.51 ERA in over 107 innings pitched - better than A.J. Burnett (4.75), John Lackey (4.78), and Brandon Morrow (4.86) - all guys with far superior stuff.  I watch him pitch and it actually infuriates me.  How can this guy do this at the highest level?  He throws 83 mph!  Are you kidding me?  I have to move on, it's pissing me off even thinking about it.  Good for you Jamie, you old bastard.

   3.  Vuvuzelas at a baseball game?  Really Marlins?  Fire the PR guy instead of letting Fredi Gonzalez get the axe.  This was something that people bitched about at the World Cup 2010, and once the USA was eliminated, everyone bitched about everything related to the World Cup.  And the Marlins decide it's a good idea to hand out half-assed vuvuzelas to fans for a game versus in-state rival Tampa Bay?  Give it a rest.  That goes against everything a traditional baseball fan stands for.  At least give out cowbells or something like that, everyone needs to have more cowbell.  Vuvuzela Night?  Never going to a Marlins game, on principle alone.

   4.  Marco...Polo...Teixeira?  He's hitting an eye-popping .254, but surprisingly has 17 HR and 60 RBI.  He seems to be AL version of Adam Dunn - HR's and right around a .250 BA (Dunn is at 22 HR and .288 in 2010).  He went into the break on fire, hitting .419 in July.  I mean he did virtually nothing in April (.136, 2 HR, 9 RBI) and the Yankees still managed to go 15-7.  They have a two game lead over the Rays and a five game lead over the Red Sox and they haven't even had the best record in the AL East in any given month (TB - Apr., TOR - May, BOS - June, TB - July).  Not to mention the heading to this paragraph - Mark Teixeira is having a mediocre season at best.  If they played the White Sox, Twins, and Mariners every series, he'd be hitting .450 for the year (.545 vs. CWS, .400 vs. MIN, .448 vs. SEA).  If he can stay hot after the break, watch out baseball!  Good time to be a Yankee fan.

   That's all I have time for.  Gotta go work on a few things.  We just got a new GTee in, may go take a few hacks off that, get some frustration out.

   HR Derby tonight at 8 pm Eastern (5 pm Pacific) - Swisher looking to bring the trophy back to the Bronx with him.

   Be well people.

Rants, raves, ridicule, and riots

Rant:  Bravo to Yankees OF Brett Gardner.  This little flea has scored more runs (42) than Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, and Alex Rodriguez.  He is on pretty often (.395 OBP) and tends to get himself into scoring position by stealing some bags (20 SB/4 CS).  He sees more fastballs than any other hitter in the majors except David Eckstein, he leads the AL in pitches per plate appearance (4.52).  He is the best role player in baseball, bar none.  He can probably hit HR's in the grand scheme of things (he has only 3 in 194 AB) but he knows his job is to get on base, and he's done that very well so far.  He's the kind of guy every team needs, a little pest that is never (or very rarely) an easy out.  He has probably developed his toughness by being told he was too small his whole life - 5'10", 183 lbs. is small by MLB standards.  Don't let nobody hold you down Gardy, you the man!!

Rave:  Here's a sweet Lego rave I found on the internet.  I didn't know LEGO was around and prospering.  The DJ looks like an aviator, and the ravers look like prisoners.  Looks like a good party to me, but I wouldn't show up.  For starters, I hate crowds.  Secondly, I hate loud, base-filled techno.  Third, I hate the Jersey Shore scene and the drug scene, both of which are intrinsic to a rave.  I am a bar guy, and if I walk in and I can't sit down or play Golden Tee, I'm probably leaving after one drink.

Ridicule:  Kansas City Royals, you are a joke.  Your 24 wins are more than only six other teams, and you refuse to score runs for last year's Cy Young Award winner, Zack Greinke.  Surprisingly, you aren't in the cellar in the AL Central, the Indians are two games worse.  Here's the shake down:  Greinke is 1-8 with a 4.05 ERA.  You've won only two of his thirteen starts, and have scored only 40 runs in those games - a dismal average of 3.08 runs per game - give me a break.  You score 4.34 runs a game on average, no wonder there are always rumors that he wants to leave.  If I was him, I'd demand a trade to a contender.  Granted he's not putting up numbers like last year, but who the hell does?  Score some runs for this kid already. 

Riots:  You know what, with all the kids at all these camps and clinics, I'm not sure even half of them want to be there.  I think their parents makke the decision for them to play baseball.  Here's what may go through some of their heads when (and if they ever) get to first base.  Kids don't seem to have the same drive as we had when I was growing up.  I'm not trying to knock the kids or anything, it's just a trend that keeps rearing its ugly head.  Anyway.

He gone!

José Lima...

...Rest In Peace.  This post is dedicated to the passing of former-MLB pitcher José Lima, 37, who died last night in his home in Pasadena, CA of an apparent heart attack.  "Lima Time" will no longer be observed during a game, but will never be forgotten.

From what I remembered of José Lima, he was a wacky, fun, and very average pitcher for most of his 13-year MLB career.  His 1998 and 1999 seasons with the Houston Astros were two of his best.  In '98, he went 16-8 with a 3.70 ERA and in '99 he won 21 games, posting a 3.58 ERA.  He was also a singer, and sang the National Anthem at his own Dodgers game once.

I always recall seeing a game on TV or watching highlights on SportsCenter and noticing José Lima's hair being different colors and his facial hair changing almost daily.  He was eccentric and unscripted, unlike these guys now, with their antics after a big out or save.  His teammates loved him and the fans loved him - and one manager in particular had a great line, "He was an animated guy and a fierce competitor and he got people excited," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said.  When people remember you for those aforementioned traits, you left your mark.

Lima played for the Tigers, Astros, Royals, Dodgers, and Mets during his 13 seasons, as well as spending the beginning of the 2003 season with the Atlantic League's Newark Bears.  His career ERA of 5.26 is nothing special, but he brought something to the park that stats did not  indicate - a love for the game and a man who had a great time playing the game.  He respected baseball - and you don't often see that today (see: Hanley Ramirez).

José Lima will be missed.  RIP and it'll always be "Lima Time".

Here's a little photo gallery of images I've scoured the internet for of José Lima: