It’s not too often that I receive an email from UF President Bernie Machen. In fact, you could say that I’ve never received an email from UF President Bernie Machen. So why now?
No, he’s not asking for money. He’s not announcing an initiative to raise money. Instead, it’s an attempt at group therapy.
The Rays game was on in the background as I fiddled with the trusty PowerBook. The Rays were down their customary 3-4 runs after 3 innings when I was finishing up the last entry.
Then I looked up and saw Greg Norton smack one over the fence, and my brain said, “that’s got ‘you’re such a big, strong bat… and I deserve a spanking’ written all over it. And that’s no small feat, considering baseballs are pretty small, and there isn’t a whole lot of room for a lot of dialog.”
I’ll bet you had no idea you were going to be reading an R rated post about baseball this evening, did you?
Must be the Vicodin again.
P.S. It’s hard to believe I hadn’t taught my spell check dictionary the spelling for “Vicodin” by now.
P.P.S. Has there ever been a rookie gold glove winner; and if so, does fieldwork not directly related to catching (arm strength, accuracy, and assists) qualify you for one?
I make this entry at considerable risk. I’m going to put something in print that runs the considerable risk of jinxing the Rays’ prospects for success this season. Still, I’m positively giddy over James Shields’ performance so far this year.
No, it hasn’t been perfect. Yes, the season is only a few weeks old. Yes, he wasn’t nearly as good near the end of last season as when he started it (when he was called up). All the same, to this amateur viewer, Shields has shown flashes of being a pretty darn good pitcher. His twelve strikeouts should have been good enough for a win last Sunday (against the Indians). His performance last night apparently was good enough too (although I only read about it – I didn’t stay up to watch). I may have it all wrong, but I’d swear his velocity is up compared to last year. I thought I remembered seeing his fastball top out at 88-89 mph last year. This year it seems like it’s more often in the low 90’s. His changeup was already REALLY effective, but if his velocity is up on his fastball – it could become devastating.
Mostly, I’m just relieved they got a W on the road. It looked like the Angels made them really familiar with the woodshed.
Apparently there is some good in the world. The Rays win and sweep a short series at home against the dreaded Yankees.
The grizzled veteran of the bullpen is in the game.
Please, if there is a baseball god – don’t let the evil empire pull it out.
You are the New York Yankees. You are playing the Rays and you’re up by one in the seventh inning with runners in scoring position (2nd and 3rd). You’re pitching to Roco Baldelli (a right handed hitter), currently hitting .263 (.456 with men in scoring position) – and you intentionally walk him to load the bases – so you can pitch to Brendan Harris (another right handed hitter), currently hitting .324 (.600 with men in scoring position). Huh?
It worked out for NY (sort of). Harris got all of a line drive – that the Yankee SS made a diving play on, getting the out.
Too bad the next batter was Carl Crawford – who has been on a tear tonight – who hit a grand slam.
Go RAYS!
I spent nearly all day in a wretched state of exhaustion. Naturally I’m wide awake at a quarter to midnight. Personally, I’d like to blame it all on Brian Stokes. James Shields pitches eight innings, allows two runs, strikes out TWELVE, and leaves the Rays with a two run lead going into the ninth. Naturally, the Rays lost by two (six to four) after allowing four runs in the top of the ninth.
What a way to ruin a perfectly good day out with my daughter.
A collective sigh could be heard from as far as the Paines’ Prairie State Preserve late last week as word spread that Billy Donovan was not interested in the Kentucky job – and would be staying at Florida (for now).
Going back to my days as a UF freshman, and lonely season ticket holder under the Don Devoe regime, I’ve had a destinct inferiority complex over my allegiance to the Gator B-Ball team. Even with the recent success (a bit of an understatement), I was ready to believe that other jobs were more attractive than the UF job. Maybe it’s not true anymore.
Now UF just has to deal with the loss of the starting five and the first guy off the bench. Next year the boy wonder will earn every bit of his pay.
I hope that no matter what happens next year, everyone remembers he’s the guy who did for UF Basketball what Spurrier did for UF football.
Florida is up on Ohio State by eleven. I kid you not, Greg Oden is a basketball stud. Florida has no inside game with Oden in the game, which will be a problem in the second half if the Florida shooters cool off… and they may if they start to get tired… and Cory Brewer is playing a lot of minutes. So is Oden, but the difference is tired legs don’t affect dunks as much as outside shots. If Ohio State finds the range outside they’ll be hard to stop… going inside-outside with Oden and a hot shooter.
In short, being up eleven is better than being down eleven; but Florida isn’t exactly sitting pretty.
I wonder if there’s a correlation between televised sports and the incidence of heart disease. Specifically, I wonder if there’s a corresponding increase in heart disease in the last forty years with the rise in the number of sports on TV. My fingers are way to jittery to do any serious googling this evening.
**Note: this post was fully typed and in the process of final editing prior to the first half analysis on CBS. In short, it’s all me. Any similarities to comments by those in CBS employ is purely coincidental.