Tag: Major League Baseball

It (Probably) Ends Tonight

Game four of the Stanley Cup final. Tonight. Game time is 8:00… which was 18 minutes ago… and the game hasn’t started yet… Screw you, TV coverage. Just drop the damned puck.

Well… it’s going to end tonight, I think. Probably. The Panthers are probably going to complete the sweep over the Oilers tonight. You know the Oilers, right? The team I picked to win it?

I really don’t want the NHL season to end. I loves me some ice hockey and once Florida finishes destroying my dreams it comes to an end. At least the next regular season game I see will be the Bruins so that’s nice.

The Panthers have bounced my Bruins out of the postseason for two years in a row now. I hate them dearly. I don’t New York Yankees* hate them, but I really hate them. It is going to royally suck to have to refer to them as Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers.

Put my hockey season out of it’s misery.

Stupid friggin’ Oilers and Panthers.

*The Red Sox and Yankees are playing each other this weekend. Tonight is the second game of the series and the Red Sox are up 5-2 in the bottom of the third inning. That’s a good thing, but given the state of the two teams it’s probably going to end in tears for my Red Sox.

Shit.

Who Will They Play?

Baseball, right?

Last night the American League Championship Series between the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros went to a deciding game seven and Texas won. I am not a Rangers fan, but I am even less of an Astros fan so I guess given two teams I don’t give a crap about the Rangers are the better outcome.

About an hour ago the National League Championship Series started a deciding game seven of its own between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Philadelphia Phillies. My first little league team, when I was eight years old, was the Phillies. Given that, let’s go Phillies!

Game seven is tied at one in the bottom of the third inning. Here’s hoping the Phillies win so that I can have a team I don’t hate playing in the World Series. I don’t really want to root for the Rangers again.

Also, here’s hoping the act of posting my hopes for tonight’s game doesn’t jinx anything. That’s just another reason for the Phils to win. Prove to me that my opinion has no bearing on the actual outcome, okay Philly?

Let’s go Phillies!

Playoff Schedule Fail

I understand how and why it happened but it still seems silly to me.

Two days ago, all four Major League Baseball Wild Card round series kicked off. This round is best of three games. I happily listened to a few of the games on the radio via the MLB iOS app while working. I wasn’t rooting for or against anyone in particular, but it was nice to follow some playoff baseball.

All four series ended in sweeps. All four series ended yesterday. That means that all of the game threes that were scheduled for today are no longer necessary, which means there are no games scheduled at all today. Tomorrow was a planned travel day (or rain make up day?) so there are no games scheduled for tomorrow either. So that means in the heart of the MLB Post Season, we have two straight days where there are no games at all, league wide.

Dudes… scheduling fail. Ouch, bro. I could have really used a game today.

World Baseball Classic

The World Baseball Classic starts tonight in Taiwan.

Do I care?

Whenever they put on one of these tournaments, I always want to follow along and be a fan, but I always fail. Will this be the year that I finally catch World Baseball Classic fever?

The first two games are in Pool A. Cuba plays The Netherland tonight at 11:00pm in my time zone. Panama plays Chinese Taipei tomorrow at 6:00am in my time zone.

I kinda want to watch a game or two, but I doubt I’ll be watching either of those games at those times.

We will see.

Here’s a look at the pools and the bracket (sort of).

NESN on AppleTV

Why didn’t anyone tell me that NESN has an AppleTV app?

I just installed it and now I am watching spring training Red Sox baseball on my AppleTV! Will regular season games be blacked out by MLB? Will regular season Bruins games be blacked out? I have the account I’m using for the app tied to our Verizon cable account and NESN is in that package, so I don’t think so.

The next B’s game is Thursday. Fingers crossed until then.

Random Thoughts

How do you tell if your two cats are playing with each other, or actively tying to kill each other? One second they appear to be trying their hardest to tear each other’s throats out with their teeth, and the next second they are curled up together, grooming each other. I don’t get it. All I know for sure is that the kitten likes to stir up shit any chance she gets, and every now and then the bigger cat will turn the tables and ambush the kitten in ways that nearly make her shit herself. It’s scary and entertaining at the same time.

Harry’s coming home tonight. Just for one night. He’s having computer troubles and Jen is going to troubleshoot with him. That’s all. It’s going to be great to have him here though, even if it is a super short visit.

The weather sucks. It’s going to be super cold tomorrow, and we have another snow storm on the horizon. Hopefully I’ll be through with the car music by then. Hopefully the weather will start to improve once February ends, but we all know that Spring doesn’t come to New England anymore until mid-May at best. I want Summer. I want to move to San Diego where it’s summer all the time.

The Red Sox are playing their first Spring Training game right now. The annual beat-the-hell-out-of-a-college-team kick off to the grapefruit league season. They have a 5-3 lead over Northeastern University in the middle of the sixth inning. I am looking forward to the Red Sox season, even though it is clear we have another last place finish in our future. The fun part about Spring Training is the clean slate. Sure, our roster is a nightmare, but until you start losing games that matter, the possibilities are still very much endless. Speaking of San Diego, now that Xander Bogarts is a Padre, maybe it’s time to become a fan for real. I mean it is one of only three non-Boston stadiums I’ve ever been to. There’s personal history there. Maybe.

So television. I am currently trying to keep up with the following shows: The Last of Us, Star Wars The Bad Batch, Star Trek Picard, Poker Face, The Flash, Extraordinary, and You (season three, I am a full season behind). I may also get back into Star Trek Discovery but I’m a full season behind there too. The Mandalorian is coming back next week so we’ll add that to the mix as well. Yellowjackets season two is on the horizon too. On top of those shows, I have a weird compulsion to start binge re-watching The X-Files and Star Trek Deep Space Nine as well. Why am I torturing myself like this?

I haven’t shot any film since Disney World. I blame the weather. I still have a bunch of rolls saved up. I had way more than I needed for Disney so there’s still a nice supply available. I want to get some more black and white film to play with too, and once the weather starts clearing I am going to go WAY off the deep end, with both film and digital. I just need to find a way to convince people to go with me. Like a photography club or something, but just with people I actually know rather than random folks in some online club.

I want to go wander around Boston. I want to go wander around New York. I want to go wander around the mountains in New Hampshire and Vermont. I want to go wandering around the coast of Maine. I want to go wander around the coast of Massachusetts. I want to go back to Washington. I want to go back to San Diego and Los Angeles. I want to go to San Francisco for the first time. I want to go to Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington for the first time too. I just want to go places. Covid screwed us out of three years of exploring. I want to make up for lost time.

Okay. Back to work, Robert. Only 2.5 hours to go until the weekend when you’ll see Harry and do a mountain of work on music and spend quality time with the love of your life. Get on with it!

World Series… Someday

The matchup for the World Series is set and I am both happy and sad.

First, the bad news. I told Jen we were going to go to San Diego to see a World Series game if the Padres won the pennant. They did not win the pennant. Can we still go to San Diego? Please? I friggin’ love that city. The Phillies beat them in five games (I think… it was five games, wasn’t it?).

Now the good news. THE YANKEES WERE SWEPT AND IT IS AWESOME!!!!! The Astros have not lost a game in the post-season. Let me say that again… The Astros have not lost a game in the post-season. They beat Seattle in three games and the Yankees in four. I picked them to win, but only because they are not the Yankees.

Now for the World Series. The Phillies vs the Astros. Who should I back? Who should I root for? On the one hand, I don’t particularly care for the Astros after they eliminated my Red Sox last year, though I am very happy for the way they crushed the Yankees. I could go either way, I guess. I have been a Phillies fan in the past, though I know nothing about this year’s team and I am pissed at them for cancelling our San Diego trip. I could go either way with them as well. Does the possibility of the Astros running the table make me want to back them? Naw, I’m going to be a Phillies fan. Screw the Astros and their trash can crap*.

The only question that remains… why the hell are they waiting until Friday to start the series? Is the goal to stretch it out until Christmas? What the hell? The series is set, let’s play the friggin’ games!

Go Phillies.

*Yes, I know the Red Sox did the trash can shit too. Leave me alone.

MLB Championship Round

I totally forgot to post the teams I am rooting for in the two Major League Baseball Championship Series. My Division series teams split evenly. I lost both American League series, Cleveland and Seattle both lost, and won both National League series, Philadelphia and San Diego both won.

So two teams I don’t like are in the ALCS and two teams I do like are in the NLCS. Insert my frustrated sigh here. So who am I picking?

In the American League it’s the Yankees and the Astros. If you’ve ever read any baseball posts I’ve ever written then you know I am backing the Astros. Sure they are cheating dicks, but I’d rather pick a cheating dick than the friggin’ Yankees. Screw those New York assholes, I am picking the Astros.

In the National League it’s the Phillies, the first team I ever played for, against the Padres, the team from my second favorite city in these United States. I am picking the Padres because maybe if San Diego goes to the World Series we can use it as an excuse to go back for another visit. Hey, it could happen!

So there you have it. I am gunning for a Padres vs Astros World Series. Let’s get it done.

MLB Division Round

Three of the four teams I was rooting for in the wild card round won! Wow! That’s sure gonna come crashing down in the division round.

I was backing the Guardians, the Mariners, and the Padres. They all won. The Cardinals… not so much. Who am I backing in the next round? Well, let’s find out.

First, the American League.

The Guardians vs the Yankees. If you think I would root for the Yankees then you don’t know me and don’t let the door hit you on the ass on the way out. Cleveland Rocks, babie.

The Mariners vs the Astros. I don’t really hate the Astros. They beat us in the playoffs last year and it hurt, but they are the Astros, right? They were supposed to win. They were clearly the better team. I think I could pick the Astros… but screw that. I’m backing the Mariners again.

On to the National League.

The Phillies vs the Braves. There was a time when I was a Braves fan. The reason being that they were once the Boston Braves and were worthy of my support. I also used to be a Phillies fan. My first little league team was The Phillies and when they won the World Series in 1980 I was a total fanboy. Who to back now? I’m going with The Phillies because I’m kinda sick of the Braves. Time for something new.

The Padres vs the Dodgers. San Diego is my second favorite city in these United States. I’m totally rooting for the Padres. Also, fuck the Dodgers. Interesting side note though, I have only been to four major league stadiums* and two of them will appear in this series.

So there you have it. Bring on round two, folks! Go Bruins.

*I have technically been to five stadiums but I’ve only been inside four of them. Fenway Park, Miller Park, Dodgers Stadium, and Petco Park. I have also been to Camden Yards, though there was no game that day so we just walked up to the gate. I think technically I could say that I have been to Wrigley Field and the old Yankee Stadium too, but in Chicago we just drove by, and in New York I was on a bus that turned around in a parking lot. I chose to not include those stadiums in the count, but I could if I wanted to because I make the rules, bro.

Happy Nerd News on a Busy Morning

Today has been a touch on the nutso-busy side. Not a complaint, just a statement. Good things are going on, they are just taking up time.

I haven’t had the opportunity to post anything yet today, which is a little unusual. I haven’t been able to comment on how trading off one of my favorite Red Sox players has resulted in two wins against a World Series contender. What? How does that work? I haven’t been able to mention how I am suddenly kind of a San Diego Padres fan. Holy murderers row, Batman!

I had to take a second and write this post though because I just got an email from the photo lab and they sent me the scans of my four rolls of film. I’ve only looked at a couple of images so far, just to make sure they came out, and WOW do the ones I’ve looked at look good! Pics from Dad’s Pentax and from the Ebay Nikon both look excellent. My lunch break will see me getting everything up onto Flickr, but hot damn am I happy right now! Film-Photographically-Happy to be precise.

WOOHOO!