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Archive for August 2008

SGG Keys to the Game

31. August 2008 by Orioles Fanatic.

1) Sneak into Tampa Bay locker room. Kidnap pitcher. (They have enough good pitchers, they won’t miss one.) Dress pitcher in Burres uniform.
2) When Tampa batter hits ball, catch ball. Throw ball to appropriate baseman.
3) When batting, hit ball where fielder isn’t.

There you go. Pretty straight-forward.

Posted in SGG Keys | Print | No Comments »

Fox is Evil

31. August 2008 by Orioles Fanatic.

Did you get to see the game yesterday? I didn’t.

In case you don’t live in Charlotte and haven’t had occassion to drive many times to Tampa to see friends and escape the winter, or drive to Baltimore to visit your family and friends, let me share some numbers. Charlotte is pretty close to dead smack in between Tampa and Baltimore. It is 450 miles to Baltimore and about 500 miles to Tampa.

So why then, why, when MASN is broadcast here, would Fox decide to air a game other than the Orioles vs. Tampa game yesterday?

I don’t believe that it is a huge leap of logic to deduct that there may be living in Charlotte, both Orioles fans and Rays fans. Is it? Or, am I a genius, after all? I think we all know the answer to that question. So, let’s go back to, “why?”

To be honest, it wasn’t really that big of a deal. I am so drowning in homework that by the time I started looking for a game, it was the sixth inning. Still, Fox is evil, except for the Nanny 911 and Trading Spouses shows. Those are great. And Family Guy, and King of the Hill, when I have the rare occassion to see them. Anyway, Obama sure has his work cut out for him with all these rampant corporate misdeeds. (Yes, of course this is Bush’s fault. Duh!)

It’s okay. Today, I’m all ready for the game. Shields is pitching and I can’t wait to see him. He has the most extraordinary wind-up. (At least, I think it’s him.) Also pitching for Tampa Bay today will be Brian Burres. twO was supposed to take care of him ages ago, but whatever, I guess he has other priorities. Fine.

Baseball on a Sunday. It’s good to be home!

Update: Well, it’s not Sheilds who has the funky windup. Whoever it was on Opening Day went into a stoop just before releasing the pitch. I could have sworn it was Shields. I guess I had imbibed a little too much Clipper City.

Posted in Really Not Sure How to Categorize This, What the Hell? | Print | No Comments »

Ouch!

30. August 2008 by Orioles Fanatic.

I didn’t say I wanted Tampa to win. It’s the fourth inning and the score is 10-0 (Tampa), after a grand slam and another subsequent Tampa Bay homer. Hernandez is flipping out and arguing angrily with the ump. He was just ejected.

This isn’t going to be like that unspeakable game last year, is it?

Posted in Ills of All Sorts | Print | No Comments »

Playing the Rays

30. August 2008 by Orioles Fanatic.

Maybe it was the rehab, maybe it was the shock-induced from seeing exactly how many games deeply into last place we are, but somehow over the last month, I’ve come to accept things as they are. We’re playing the Rays this weekend and I don’t expect to win. In fact, I’m kind of looking forward to seeing all this good Tampa baseball. What’s even better, perhaps, is listening for the most-certainly mentally ill man one can hear shouting vociferously during every Tampa home game. I think I know him. He sounds an awfully lot like someone I used to work with. An awfully lot like someone I currently work with, come to think of it. Oddly enough, the Tampa Bay fan and my coworker randomly shout the same things.

So even if we lose, it’s still a great day. Labor Day weekend is upon us, I will have the Orioles all weekend for the first time in a long time, Obama is going to save our country from corporate greed, and there is dessert (I used peaches instead of plums and macademia nuts instead of peanuts) and beer bread waiting in the frig.

That said, it’s really not necessary for Guthrie to walk in a few runs to test me.

Posted in 2008 Season | Print | No Comments »

HBP

20. August 2008 by Orioles Fanatic.

Bummer. That game was a real bummer…most especially because it was the Red Sox and HBP didn’t hit anyone. Not one! Worse, Trembley took him out in the fifth inning cutting short his opportunities. It’s just that kind of incompetence that has landed the Orioles in the sad place where they are now.

This is what I was so sad to be missing? HBP not hitting a batter and baldy injured?

Nevermind, let’s focus on the good. HBP is still five ahead of any other pitchers.

(I have to have something to cheer myself, don’t I?)

Posted in Bad Luck, Boston Sucks | Print | No Comments »

Sherrill…on the DL

20. August 2008 by Orioles Fanatic.

Sherrill is on the disabled list?! (Hope I didn’t give you a fright worrying that Sherrill was on the down low. I don’t even want to think about that.)

And none of you bothered to tell me? I wondered why he didn’t pitch last night, but I thought Trembley was trying to mix things up or give him a rest.

So should we just write him off now? Do we ever have a pitcher who returns from the DL?

Posted in Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

Vacation Over, with a rather appalling thud…

19. August 2008 by Orioles Fanatic.

When my plane touched down in Charlotte this morning, first I was relieved that it landed safely, of course. Next, I was disappointed that vacation was over. Just like that. All over. Just a memory. Like so much of my life already (though I’m pretty sure I’m going to beat death).

Always armed with a litle lie to help myself through hard times, I tried to take comfort in the benefits of being home: a) the pleasure of being able to watch the Orioles again b) escaping RS Nation without any mishaps, c) getting to see the cat again, who I always miss a lot, and d) the anticipation of the joy in affixing my new bumper sticker, which reads, “I don’t brake for Y’s fans,” (except it spells out that word).

Um…

…a) is still a little bit under question. (C and D were definitely the highlights of the day.)

Millar had a rather rough night. Has it been this bad the last two weeks?

I’ll classify this under my favorite category and “bad luck” because, well, you already know the other lie I always tell myself. Soon I hope to catch up with all the wonderful funny and informative posts you all give me the pleasure of reading.

Posted in Bad Luck, Boston Sucks | Print | No Comments »

Matusz

16. August 2008 by Orioles Fanatic.

Hot off the press, this just in:

The Orioles on Friday announced that they have come to terms with LHP Brian Matusz, their first-round pick (fourth overall selection) in the 2008 First Year Player Draft.

Isn’t “coming to terms with” something you do when you resign yourself to bad news? Like, “I’ve come to terms with the fact that the Orioles will definitely not be going to the World Series this year, unless a new one is invented for those of us at the bottom of the standings.” Or, as someone put it to me yesterday, “I’ve come to terms with the fact that the Orioles ‘have fallen on hard times.’”

Here’s how freedictionary dot.com describes the idiom, “to start to accept and deal with a difficult situation.”

Still, despite how the wording was phrased to suggest the Matusz will be another dismal addition to our pitching staff, if you rearrange the letters in his name, you can spell Utz, and that’s gotta be good news. If not, I at least hope HBP will share some of his special techniques to make next season interesting, if not good.

Interesting. Yes, I’ve come to terms with “interesting” being the most I should hope for.

Posted in Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

Red Sox Nation

12. August 2008 by Orioles Fanatic.

I am in Maine, and much to my surprise, this is Red Sox nation. I thought people in Maine were nice. But, everywhere you go, there are people attired in Red Sox caps and shirts, babies are decked out in the team gear, there are giveaways for Red Sox tickets, “Give blood, win two free Red Sox tickets,” “Pump your gas here to win two free Red Sox tickets,” “Get an appendectomy here, get two free tickets.” Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little, but only a little. There are so many people wearing Red Sox crap, that I’ve wondered if, in fact, the residents here have any other choices in their wardrobe. Is it formal attire here?

Oddly in this mix, I’ve seen more Maryland license plates than any other besides Maine (several of them maryland.gov plates - what’s up with that?). Yet, only one other Orioles fan, another chick, which gladdened my heart.

The other night, my husband and I were having dinner in a sports bar of sorts. The Red Sox game was on, as it always is in any establishment with a television. The Bosox were playing the Chisox, and after starting with a lead, the Chisox started acting stupid. In the privacy of our booth, I emitted a quietish sound of exasperation, something like “Oh come on!” A man sitting at the bar nearby swiveled his stool around so fast that I thought he might have given himself whiplash, all to find who could be committing such a crime so publicly. “Yeah, that’s right, Buddy,” I said under my breath. My only regret was that I had left my Orioles bucket hat in the car. Dammit! I love to give them a taste of their own medicine. Sadly though, I can’t imagine a day when Fenway is called OPACY North and the stadium is overrun with Orioles fans. So, I just do my small part wherever and whenever I can and take much, great, great pleasure in it! Heeheee.

I have learned one thing on this vacation, that is where all the Red Sox fans live. There’s a town called Falmouth. Where I come from, that would be pronounced “foul-mouth.” My husband thinks it’s a British pronunciation, “Fall-muth.” I like my explanation better.

Okay, I’ll stop being mean about the Red Sox fans now. I haven’t seen or heard an Os game in a long time and it makes me sad. I have seen a few scores and then when I look at the standings, I stare in disbelief. How can we be so far behind with this team I love so much (minus the pitching of course). Is it just in comparison to last season? Is it just that a decade and a half away from baseball before last season has left me with some fundamental lack of realistic expectations? Fine. Yes, okay. Okay, I said! You don’t need to remind me what I’ve said all season about how we would finish.

I’m changing the subject!

Our local NPR show interviewed the authors of a book called “Death at the Ballpark” and it sounds fascinating. I bored my husband for at least twenty minutes today telling him some of the stories. You can listen to the show here. It’s the first half hour, the second half hour was about a play.

I hope all my Os friends out there are enjoying their live access to the Os, whatever antics they’re up to, and you’re enjoying warmer and less wet weather than I am at the moment.

Posted in Really Not Sure How to Categorize This | Print | 1 Comment »

But then again…

6. August 2008 by Orioles Fanatic.

We beat the Angels. Once again, all is right with the world.

And we kind of deserved to lose to the Mariners given what we did to them with Bedard.

May I say again, “Luuuuuuuuuukkkkkkkkeeeeee!”

Posted in All is Right with the World | Print | No Comments »

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