Rays awesomeness watch (now a regular feature, apparently)

After yesterday’s 2-1 win over the Yankees, the Rays are now alone in first place in the AL East. They’re 7 games over .500 for the first time ever; they’ve now won 11 home games in a row.

In other news, we have an actual baseball-related program activity (the original rationale for this blog, remember?) coming two weeks from today: Levi will be in L.A. on business, but is taking time out

so we can see the Angels play the Tigers in Anaheim. He’s been here a few times for his job, but this is the first time he’s going to make it to a baseball game.

Can we look back at posts like this one and laugh yet?

What are the odds? Let’s find out

During the Dodgers’ 12-1 loss yesterday to the Mets, the only interesting thing to happen to the home fans was that two of them in adjacent seats caught consecutive foul balls.

And I could have been there — someone at my office sent out an e-mail saying she had 10 free tickets available, first come first

serve. But it was a rare weekday day game, and I didn’t think my boss would appreciate me taking a 3-hour lunch. (I’m definitely glad I didn’t fake appendicitis for a 12-1 game. I probably wouldn’t have caught a foul ball, either.)

Oh, I see what your problem is

As I mentioned in the last entry, I’m at work today, instead of watching Opening Day baseball. The closest I can come is watching baseball-related videos on YouTube, such as this one (which I don’t think I’ve linked

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to here before). The serious baseball-related content starts at about 1:50 in. Dave Foley is awesome.

Predictions for 2008

Yes, this blog is still in business. It’s time for our annual look at the Sports Illustrated baseball predictions, all the better to laugh about later when the Cubs do not win the National League pennant. (Yes, that’s what SI has predicted — a Tigers-Cubs World Series, in fact, with the Tigers victorious.) As usual, they are accompanied by a set of predictions made using a quick-and-easy formula found in a Bill James Baseball Abstract from the ’80s (double last season’s win total, add the win total from two years ago, divide by 3).

Sports Illustrated Bill James formula
AL East
1. N.Y. Yankees (94-68) 1. N.Y. Yankees (95-67)
2. Boston Red Sox (92-70) 2. Boston Red Sox (95-67)
3. Toronto Blue Jays (87-75) 3. Toronto Blue Jays (84-78)
4. Tampa Bay Rays (80-82) 4. Baltimore Orioles (69-93)
5. Baltimore Orioles (64-98) 5. Tampa Bay Rays (64-98)
AL Central
1. Detroit Tigers (90-72) 1. Cleveland Indians (90-72)
2. Cleveland Indians (89-73) 2. Detroit Tigers (90-72)
3. Chicago White Sox (77-85) 3. Minnesota Twins (85-77)
4. Kansas City Royals (73-89) 4. Chicago White Sox (78-84)
5. Minnesota Twins (72-90) 5. Kansas City Royals (67-95)
AL West
1. L.A. Angels (87-75) 1. L.A. Angels (92-70)
2. Seattle Mariners (82-80) 2. Seattle Mariners (85-77)
3. Oakland Athletics (75-87) 3. Oakland Athletics (82-80)
4. Texas Rangers (72-90) 4. Texas Rangers (77-89)
NL East
1. N.Y. Mets (91-71) 1. N.Y. Mets (91-71)
2. Philadelphia Phillies (86-76)

2. Philadelphia Phillies (88-74)
3. Atlanta Braves (85-77) 3. Atlanta Braves (82-80)
4. Washington Nationals (73-89) 4. Florida Marlins (73-89)
5. Florida Marlins (72-90) 5. Washington Nationals (72-90)
NL Central
1. Chicago Cubs (91-71) 1. Milwaukee Brewers (80-82)
2. Cincinnati Reds (87-75) 2.St. Louis Cardinals (80-82)
3. Milwaukee Brewers (85-77) 3. Chicago Cubs (79-83)
4. Houston Astros (74-88) 4. Houston Astros (76-86)
5. St. Louis Cardinals (73-89) 5. Cincinnati Reds (75-87)
6. Pittsburgh Pirates (70-92) 6. Pittsburgh Pirates (68-94)
NL West
1. Colorado Rockies (89-73) 1. San Diego Padres (89-73)
2. Arizona Diamondbacks (88-74) 2. Colorado Rockies (85-77)
3. L.A. Dodgers (85-77) 3. Arizona Diamondbacks (85-77)
4. San Diego Padres (79-83) 4. L.A. Dodgers (84-78)
5. San Francisco Giants (68-94) 5. San Francisco Giants (73-89)

In other news, although I have upgraded my TV watching to high-definition since last year, I have also had a schedule change at my job. I now work a normal Monday-through-Friday week, which means I will not be at home to watch the Opening Day games, as I did in 2007 and 2006 and 2005. Sorry about that. Perhaps by 2009, I will be independently wealthy, or I’ll use a day of vacation time.

Again with the "Jeopardy!"

On tonight’s “Jeopardy!”, one of the contestants had taken a baseball road trip with his father in which they saw 9 baseball games in 9 cities in 8 days. If I ever get on the show, it’s going to look like I’m copying with my “11 baseball games in 11 cities in 10 days” story. Maybe I’ll just talk about my cat.

A new way to think about outfield defense

As pitchers and catchers are finally in camp, rather than hanging out at the Capitol trying to decide exactly how stupid Chris Shays is, I thought I should share the baseball-related dream I had the other night–from which I woke up laughing.

I was at Fenway, following David Letterman around on a videotaped tour, and I learned two things.

First, from where we were standing (in the press box?), I was able for the first time to see why Manny Ramirez is such a bad fielder. Turns out that outside the foul line in left, just off-camera, where you can’t ever see him either live or on the broadcasts, there’s a hobo who’s always standing there badgering Manny for money. And Manny’s too nice to have security get rid of him. Who knew?

Second, there’s a giant apple in a hat just outside the outfield wall. Letterman asked Baseball Related Program Activities Hanger-on (and MLB employee) Dan Rivkin, “So, I know the one at Shea, when it goes up, it’s because the Mets have hit a home run. What does this one mean?”

“Well, Dave,” said Dan. “This one’s about government. When it goes up in the air, everyone in, like, Congress, and the Vice President and President, they all have to resign. And then the 37 Amazing Dudes, who’ve been sitting patiently on the bench for like years and years, they take over.”

That’s when I laughed out loud and woke up. It made a tiny bit more sense in my dream. The 37 Amazing Dudes were presented as if they were just this ordinary group we all knew about.

Let’s play ball.

"Aqua Teen Hunger Force" is a very bizarre television program


Left to right: Neko Case as “Chrysanthemum” (with salt shaker), John Kruk as himself (with his skin peeled off), Kelly Hogan as “BJ Queen” (with harpoon)

Why so obsessed about this cartoon that makes no sense and airs at 11:45 on Sunday nights? Because it’s not even time for pitchers and catchers to report yet. Also, I’m a fan of all three of these people, and I think Levi is, too. I’ve even met Kelly Hogan, who was fortunately not trying to harpoon me at the time.

Levi and I are both invited to a wedding in Charlotte, North Carolina, the first weekend of April. I’m pretty sure I’ll be going; the last

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I talked to him, Levi was kind of iffy due to various work responsibilities. If we do end up attending, though, there may not be any baseball-related program activities. The Charlotte Knights will be out of town that weekend, and the only other team I’m all that interested in driving to see — the Durham Bulls — will also be out of town. The nearest major league team is of course the Braves, who will be in town, but Atlanta is about a 4-hour drive from Charlotte, and that’s not particularly exciting me at this point. I can’t decide if it’s because I’m getting older, or if it’s because gas is over 3 bucks a gallon.

In conclusion, now that “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” is being produced in high definition, and DirecTV is carrying the HD version of Cartoon Network, I guess it’s time for me to upgrade my TV. I wasn’t all that impressed the first time I saw baseball on an actual living-room HDTV, four or five years ago, but it looks pretty good in HD in a window on my computer monitor (courtesy of the TV tuner device I’ve had for about a year).