Author: Jim Ellwanger

Here’s something you don’t see every century

Yes, I know I claimed I wasn’t going to post any more Devil Rays updates until they put another long winning streak together, but Maura practically ordered me to post this…

At one point this season, the Rays were 18 games under .500. Now they’re 1 game over .500.

As of Friday night, they became the first team to claw their way back up to .500 after being 18 under since the 1899 Louisville Colonels.

Original comments…

maura: this run has also inspired some excellent google searches.

Jim: No wonder the Rays are doing so well; Lou Piniella seems to have gone insane. A potential bikini wax is supposed to motivate the team? And between him and Tony La Russa, that’s too many people from Tampa that I’ve been forced to picture nude recently (yes, I know La Russa wasn’t the naked one in the Steve Kline incident, but that’s still a little too close for comfort). The only people from Tampa who I want to think about being naked are Alesha Oreskovich (Playboy’s Miss June 1993) and both Rebecca Romijn-Stamos and Laura Harring’s characters in “The Punisher.” I don’t even enjoy picturing myself nude.

Jason: If you check the 2nd link from Maura’s google search, you might find some pics of me floating around there.

Jim: Jason’s secret other life revealed!

Nineteen!

All right, last Devil Rays update for now, at least until their new winning streak reaches double digits.

I always enjoy how two teams can play completely different games on consecutive days: 2-1 in 10 innings on Wednesday, and then 19-13 on Thursday. So I hope we see examples of both types on our trip.

Original comments…

Jason: Tampa Bay pitcher Dewon Brazelton had a no-hitter going until the 8th in the Devil Rays’ 2-0 win over Florida. It’s their 12th straight interleague win.

Maybe they should trade places with the Marlins.

The big letdown

So much for the Devil Rays’ win streak. If there’s any consolation, it’s that they didn’t go out quietly, since it took the Blue Jays 10 innings to win tonight’s game.

Tomorrow, the new streak starts!

Original comments…

thatbob: Well, no. Technically the new streak started the night of the loss. Perhaps tomorrow (ie. today) the streak will continue, 2L?

Jim: No, I meant that a new winning streak would start tomorrow. And it did!

thatbob: Oh.

Actual trip-related content

The Devil Rays have an off day, and since I’ve got the AAA Tourbooks piled up around me, here are some questions for Levi et al. to ponder…

1. After the game in Davenport, when there are going to be four of us, do we want one hotel room or two? One room would be somewhat cheaper and would be a fun slumber party, but two rooms would mean two bathrooms.

2. How is Stacey getting from Detroit to Chicago — Amtrak? Greyhound? Teleportation device of some sort? The answer to this question may determine where we stay in Detroit, or perhaps I should say the greater Detroit area. (The one hotel that’s definitely within walking distance of Comerica Park is quoting what seems like a ridiculously high rate, so I’m looking elsewhere.)

3. Does either potential laptop have an Airport card (or other wireless card)? At least one potential place of lodging I’m looking at advertises free wireless Internet access.

Original comments…

sandor: 3. My available laptop does not, but perhaps you could borrow a card from someone else. Or buy one and return it a week and half later.

Levi: Ours has wireless Internet capability, if I understand such things properly.

thatbob: No, I don’t think you understand correctly. You’ll still need an Airport card. Which you might have, you should just ask Tony. But “wireless Internet capability” is a little like saying that my computer is “printer ready,” I would still need a printer.

Luke: One hotel room would be fine for this frugal hanger-on. More money for bowling.

Levi: Like, I mean that I’ve used it with the wireless internet here at work.

Does that mean I have an airport card?

sandor: Yeah, that means it’s wireless ready. It means it’ll pick up any wi-fi network it finds and allow you online, assuming it’s a free network.

stacey: monroe (our computer) will pick up any available network. also, i’m not sure if i’m going to go all the way to detroit yet . . . i was thinking maybe of just heading back from carmi. luke, want to travel together? which do you prefer?

Jim: Heading back to Chicago from Carmi with Luke will involve getting shoved out of the car at the University Park Metra station, so be aware of that. Unless you’re trying to keep your teleportation device secret from the government, wink wink.

Eleven!

The Devil Rays have now set the MLB record for longest win streak of the 2004 season. Too bad they have to play an AL team on Tuesday.

Original comments…

maura: yeah, but it’s the blue jays. who are without both vernon wells and carlos delgado.

i have faith. i mean, sheesh, mark hendrickson got out of that bases-loaded jam today, and i thought he was TOTALLY SCREWED at that point.

maura: not to mention: rocco baldelli WALKED today. when does he ever do that?!?

(rocco, if you find this via google, i still adore you! and your bobblehead is right next to my powerbook)

Levi: You know, when they were talking about moving the Diamondbacks to the AL a few years ago, maybe they were talking about the wrong team moving. I haven’t looked at the standings today, but I bet a 70-0 record would lead any National League division.

Steve: Eleven in a row is pretty awesome. But I would think that after 11 straight wins less than 1/2 way through the season the team would be a little better than 10 games out. Wasn’t Lou Pinella going around Tampa during the off-season touting how well the D-Rays were going to do. I heard something about how in the course of a week in front of three different audiences he said they would, “not finish last,” “finish third,” “challenge for a playoff spot” Paraphrasing of course…..

Levi: Also, I would think that after five seasons of finishing in last place, with almost no signs of progress, D-Rays GM Chuck LaMar would have been fired six or seven times.

maura: if they were in the al west, or al central, or nl east, they’d be less than five games out. the yankees (sigh) are running away with the al east, and boston, who the rays are now six games behind, has a better record than both those division’s leaders (and the nl east’s phillies, too)

thatbob: Gee! If I were in the al west, or al central, or nl east, maybe I’d be less than five games out, too! Gives a boy a chance to dream…

maura: 😛

I hope this is anxiety, not premonition

I just dreamed that we overslept and then dawdled and missed the second stop on this trip. However, I clearly don’t have our itinerary locked in my subconscious, since the dream was set at my aunt and uncle’s house in the Philadelphia suburbs, and we were late to Toronto. But what my subconscious did get right is that after I said to Levi something to the effect of, “It’s 4:00, so it’s too late for us to get to Toronto,” he swore loudly.

All was not lost, though, because I then grabbed the laptop and started looking up the NY-Penn League schedules. The dream ended before we made it to a game, but I’d like to think we did get to see some baseball.

The worst part of having this dream is that it was disturbing enough that I’m wide awake way too early after going to bed late last night (for those who don’t have this entire blog memorized, the posts here are being stamped in Central time, but I’m living on Pacific time).

Ten!

People in the Tampa Bay area are so shocked by the Devil Rays’ winning streak, they’re hitting the wrong pedal even more often than usual!

Oh, yeah, Levi wanted me to write about the Cardinals, didn’t he? Well, they’re only 8-2 in their last 10 games. And they may have only four losses in the month of June, but the Rays only have three losses this month. I repeat, they’re making people want to pick up their baggage at the Tampa airport really fast so they can get home to watch the games on PAX 66!

Nine!

Maybe the Devil Rays suddenly realized that the possibility exists for them to win the World Series in the same year that their hockey counterparts, the Lightning, won the Stanley Cup.

Or maybe the thought process is, “Well, we’re never going to see these NL West teams again, because we’ll probably be contracted out of existence before they come around again in the interleague rotation, so let’s make the most of it.”

More Tank McNamara, TiVo, and baseball

Whoever colorized today’s “Tank McNamara” strip has apparently never seen a TiVo remote. The buttons are in a variety of festive colors, not just red, assuming you consider gray and black to be festive colors.

Also, the colorizer has made everyone but the main characters orange, but that’s less of a problem.