Tag: MLB

Another Wednesday

It’s Wednesday. I’m back in the office. You don’t care, but I want to write about something… anything… so here we are.

Today is Juneteenth. I completely forgot. When the state first established today as a holiday we got it off. Less than a year later our company turned most of the non-national holidays into floating holidays so now we don’t get today off. It was just another day for me except that there was no traffic on the highways this morning. From my house to my office, 43 miles, took 46 minutes. Why couldn’t every commute be this easy? While having the day off would have been great, I will take this as the next best thing… sort of.

I failed to get six hours of sleep again last night. My watch tells me I got 5:45 but my heart rate numbers were pretty spectacular. Hopefully that means I won’t be too completely exhausted again today. Just mildly completely exhausted. I still haven’t hooked up my CPAP machine since coming back from Florida a few weeks ago. I think my sleep numbers (assuming my watch pulls accurate data) are implying that using the machine won’t make much of a difference. I should probably use it anyway. Maybe there will be a placebo effect or something and I won’t be quite as tired after a short night’s sleep. I don’t know.

The Oilers won last night. Yippee. Well… that’s being mean. I am glad they won. Not because I expect them to dig out of a three games to none series hole, but because it literally extended the NHL season. If they are going to lose on me and prove that I suck at picking the outcome of NHL playoff series’, then the least they can do is lose in seven games so we get our money’s worth, right?

As for the Red Sox, they have won four in a row including two wins against the first place Yankees. Glorious. I saw a post on social media where someone said that this streak proves they will not only make the playoffs, but advance to the American League Championship Series. I laughed out loud. No, let me be more specific… I laughed out loud for a long, long time. They are four games above .500. They are in third place in the division, 11.5 games behind the first place (and thoroughly evil) Yankees. They are two games out of the wild card. Oh yeah, it is June. Yeah… they are better than I thought they would be, but they are still pretty clearly mediocre. They might sneak into the wild card, but I am not holding my breath. If you’re expecting the Red Sox to do anything better than middle of the pack, then you haven’t been paying attention. No. They will not make it to the ALCS. If they do, I will happily eat my words, but I won’t have to because there’s no chance. This is the way. I have spoken.

I watched last night’s new episode of Star Wars: The Acolyte. There has been so much hate spewed at this show. Most of it rooted in sexism and racism rather than the story or anything to do with it. I’ve enjoyed the show so far and I am looking forward to seeing where it goes. I’m on for the ride, as the saying goes. Last night though… episode four… I finally had something that I didn’t like. What was it? The running time was less than 30 minutes. Come on, Star Wars. We need more than that from our weekly episodes. We need more to sink our teeth into. These episodes should be more like 45-60 minutes, right? We need that content, folks. We need it! Star Wars, babie! Give us more!

This is the way.

I have spoken.

What was I talking about?

293/365
293/365

Hockey Tease

The Oilers lost the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final series to the Panthers, virtually guaranteeing the Cup will go to Florida.

Then in game four, the Oilers won in a blow out. Tonight, in game five, the Oilers are up 4-2 after two periods.

If you were wondering what the hockey equivalent of a dick tease felt like, then know that this is it.

Even if the Oilers win tonight, there is still virtually no chance of them coming all the way back to win the Stanley Cup. They are just trying to give me a little hope so that Florida can crush my dreams the way they did when the eliminated my Bruins, both this year’s playoffs and last year’s playoffs.

Sure, I am happy the Oilers are winning in game five. It’s just going to make it more painful when they eventually lose.

In other news, the Red Sox beat Toronto again tonight. That’s four wins in a row for my home town team. I’ll take that.

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.

Why Can’t They Win at Home?

The Boston Red Sox kicked off a home stand tonight at Fenway Park.

They are trailing the Cubs 5-1 in the top of the seventh inning. The odds of them winning were low even before the Cubbies took an early lead.

Why?

Because the Red Sox can’t win at home. Why can’t the Red Sox win at home? What’s going on? It’s Fenway Freakin’ Park? Hows abouts you win some games at home, Red Sox? Let’s cut the shit.

In other Boston sports news, the Bruins play the Leafs in game four of their first round series in Toronto tomorrow night. I really wish tomorrow’s game was tonight. I hate the random two day breaks during the playoffs. One day off between games is plenty. Cut the crap, NHL. I wants me my hockey games!

Okay, enough sports for this post.

Go Red Sox (puh-leeze!)

Go Bruins.

Red Sox Fail

The Red Sox played the annual Patriots Day/Boston Marathon Monday 11:00am game today. Morning baseball, everyone!

I always enjoy listening to the Marathon Monday game on the radio while I’m at work. I don’t know why, it’s just something I particularly like to do. Today’s game was tough for a bunch of reasons. I had a whole pile of meetings on my calendar, but there were breaks during game time so it was okay. In the end the Red Sox lost to Cleveland. It was close through most of the game but once The Guardians started hitting it was painful. Lots of defensive screw ups for the Red Sox, including two players crashing into each other hard enough to draw blood. Ouch.

Those aren’t the worst parts of the game though. The worst part was the radio broadcast. As soon as I logged onto the MLB app and brought up the audio I wanted to yell at WEEI and shut it off. I didn’t, but I should have. The radio announcing team included Sean McDonough. I fucking hate Sean McDonough. He used to do Red Sox TV broadcasts years and years ago (before getting the job doing Monday Night Football? Was that really a thing?) and he sucked to high heaven. I hated every single syllable that came out of his asshole of a mouth. Ugh, I fucking hate that guy! I’d rather listen to a baby crying at 100 decibels for three hours than listen to that prick call a game.

I listened to the game though. I didn’t let that butt munch ruin my Patriots Day. Screw that guy. The team losing was just fitting though. Yeah, screw that guy.

Season On

Okay, I lied. I’ve watched a few pitches of the season opener.

Red Sox at Mariners. No score in the top of the third inning.

Happy opening day, America.

ADDENDUM: Dever’s hit a two run homer just after I published this post. The Red Sox are now up 2-0 in the top of the third. Nice.

Happy Opening Day, I Guess

Today is opening day for Major League Baseball (excluding two teams that played a game overseas somewhere? Do I have that info correct?).

Today should really be a national holiday in the United States, even though Boston Red Sox fans, like me, get royally screwed.

Game one for the Red Sox is in Seattle. The local start time in Seattle is 7:00pm. That’s fine for them, but Boston is on the opposite coast and there is a three hour time difference. Start time for us here in New England is 10:00pm. There is zero chance of me staying up to watch even one pitch of tonight’s game.

Thanks for nothing, MLB schedule makers. We don’t get a game at a watchable start time until Sunday. That’s game four for the season. Sunday is an afternoon game in Seattle, starting at 1:00pm Pacific time, which is 4:00pm Eastern time. That would be nice except that it’s also easter Sunday and we’re having dinner with my father at 4:30… so I won’t be watching that game either. What a pain in the ass?

So MLB, how about a rule that says all opening day series must be played in both teams’ local time zones. You know, so the fans can actually watch the friggin’ games. Not that MLB gives the faintest shit about the fans. Just look at the start times for playoff games. They all start too late for normal people to watch the whole game, and heaven forbid a kid should want to watch a playoff game. No way.

Thanks for nothing, assholes.

Happy Dishwasher Day

We had a new dishwasher installed today. I am in the office so I have only seen pictures so far. I want to take it for a spin when I get home. I’ll dirty up some dishes if I need to.

I was in the office yesterday. I’ll be in the office tomorrow. Then I am at home on Friday, which is good because a plumber is coming on Friday. It never ends, kids. It never ends. Totally worth it though.

Change of subject: I watched 3 Body Problem on Netflix. I enjoyed it. I was warned that episode five was a mind blower and sure enough it was. I wonder if people who read the original books enjoyed it too. It read somewhere that it was considered to be an un-adaptable book and the fear was that people who read the book would hate the show. I wonder if that’s true. I wonder how moving much of the focus away from China would affect people’s opinions. I don’t know that I am curious enough to try and read the book, but maybe. I feel the same way about Foundation on AppleTV+. I enjoyed the show, but did I enjoy it enough to give the Azimov books a go? I don’t know.

Change of subject: This coming Sunday is Easter. Easter doesn’t have any real meaning for me anymore. Sorry, not sorry. We’ll have dinner with my father. The rest of my focus this weekend will hopefully be music. I have two songs for the March edition of Record Every Month to finish and there is a lot left to do on both of them. Here’s hoping I’ll get everything done. I won’t be distracted by the start of the Red Sox season though. Some moron decided to have Boston start the season on the West coast with all of the games being night games. That means the first handful of games this season won’t start until 10pm for Red Sox fans. Screw that.

Okay, here’s today’s bad photo a day challenge picture. No reason, just cause.

209/365
209/365

I’ll be in the office tomorrow too so expect number 210 of 365 to be another thoughtless picture of whatever I happen to see in the cellar while doing my daily exercise at 5:00am.

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!

Rest in Peace

Two Boston sports legends passed away this week. First, Boston Red Sox hall of famer Tim Wakefield died of cancer.

Wakefield is an absolute legend. There is no way he should have been as dominant as he was throwing those goofy little knuckleballs, but when he was on he was untouchable. Dan Douquette is a hero for eternity for signing this guy after the Pirates cut him. He could have been a villain for all eternity after Aaron Freakin’ Boone hit that playoff series losing walk off home run off of him in 2003, but he was such a pro and the roll model team player that he was able to rise above it. Taking one for the team as the Yankees were pummeling us in game three in 2004 and thus saving the bullpen to spark the comeback that lead to the Red Sox breaking their 86 year world series drought sure helped to win the doubters back.

Rest in peace, Red Sox hero and two time world series champion, Tim Wakefield.

That was yesterday. Today, we found out we lost former Patriots star tight end Russ Francis.

I am not a football guy, but I sort of was a fan when I was a kid, back in the days when the Patriots were eternally pathetic. I remember Francis from back then… a little bit. I think I may have had his football card, and he was a pro bowl caliber player at a time when the Pats were league renown door mats. I can’t remember actually seeing him play at all. I didn’t get football enough to know who was doing what back in those days, but I do remember hearing his name on the game broadcasts and I knew it was bad news when he left.

Rest in peace, Russ Francis.

As I said, it’s been a bad couple of days for Boston sports fans.