You'll have to forgive me for not blogging yesterday. I simply didn't care. All-star weekend really is pretty boring, save for the pictures of Kate Upton and Jennie Finch at the celebrity softball game. I seem to get kind of excited for the derby every year, only to remember how boring it gets after about 20 minutes. This year, I was a little more jacked up to see Jose Bautista go, but he kind of disappointed. Who gives a shit though, really? I will admit that, despite not paying much attention to it, I did leave the derby on my computer in the background while playing video games, and by the time I started looking at it again, I did notice Robinson Cano really steal the show with a sick finish.
The best part of the all-star break is easily the endless highlight packages of the best plays of the first half of the year. I've been watching any sports channel I could get my hands on this morning, since all they do is show these clips, and I've got to say, Brent Lillibridge can play some serious defense. Which actually brings me to my next point. The thing I hate most about the All-star festivities is this little stretch of like 4 days with only 1 game. Beyond that, it's all offense in terms of position players, leaving guys like the aforementioned Lillibridge off my TV (though he sits in Chicago a lot too, so bad example).
Anyway, I typically nap my way right through the All-star game, and I can't imagine this year will be any different, if I even stay in to watch it. The Jays don't play again until Thursday evening, so I'm fairly disinterested in until then. And my sister is getting married this weekend, which means that a bunch of family and friends will be around over the next few days, so no baseball for a week, I guess.
The internet is at it again! Dock Ellis, former pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates, once pitched a no-hitter while under the influence of acid. Please read that wikipedia entry. Anyway, some guy has chosen to attempt to also throw a no-hitter, except using MLB2k11, and a create-a-player version of Dock Ellis, but still on acid. This is a surreal read (there's also a video embedded in there).
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Sunday, 10 July 2011
My head
Yes, friends. This blog entry will focus mainly on my head. I realize that, on a baseball blog, the head of he who writes upon said blog should rarely be the focus, especially on a morning in which we, as a Bluejays fanbase, should be regaling in a much more interesting topic, such as a 5-4 win in extra innings, or two taters from the bearded wonder, Jose Bautista, or even, for those of you who have been mad lately, a blown save from the bullpen.
No, my friends. I refuse to talk about that. We'll be talking about my head today, because last night was my brother-in-law's stag party. I consumed right around 25 bottles of beer and a half dozen shots over the course of the day, which began with a fishing trip at about 6 in the morning. Basically, I've got a terrible headache and feel like a box full of smashed assholes. The last time I felt like this, I ended up being entirely numb and having the spins, but I was watching Superbad so it was ok until I puked, so that's probably happening today.
Things I saw yesterday:
A guy pulled his pants down and stuck a tee in his bum, allowing another man to place a golf ball on it and hit a drive. The tee was then placed directly in the mouth of the bumholder.
A guy took a previously caught fish, put a hook in it's mouth, tied the hook to a fishing line, tied the other end of the fishing line to his penis while nobody was looking, and then said "got one!", which made us all turn around and see this.
My pants got nice and dirty, but I don't know how.
A cake was shaped like 2 boobs.
No, my friends. I refuse to talk about that. We'll be talking about my head today, because last night was my brother-in-law's stag party. I consumed right around 25 bottles of beer and a half dozen shots over the course of the day, which began with a fishing trip at about 6 in the morning. Basically, I've got a terrible headache and feel like a box full of smashed assholes. The last time I felt like this, I ended up being entirely numb and having the spins, but I was watching Superbad so it was ok until I puked, so that's probably happening today.
Things I saw yesterday:
A guy pulled his pants down and stuck a tee in his bum, allowing another man to place a golf ball on it and hit a drive. The tee was then placed directly in the mouth of the bumholder.
A guy took a previously caught fish, put a hook in it's mouth, tied the hook to a fishing line, tied the other end of the fishing line to his penis while nobody was looking, and then said "got one!", which made us all turn around and see this.
My pants got nice and dirty, but I don't know how.
A cake was shaped like 2 boobs.
Friday, 8 July 2011
That makes me Mad(men)
Hindsight here, but uhhh... Jason Frasor? You know, the best reliever on the team? Maybe that could have happened?
Magically, Jayson Nix cleared waivers and was assigned to AAA Las Vegas. Well, magically is probably the wrong word to use there.
Dustin Mcgowan pitched 2 innings for class-A Dunedin yesterday, allowing no hits, no runs, walking 2 and striking out 1. Not sure what the velocity was, which is really the main thing we all would like to know, but I'll work with what I've got.
I figured JP Arencibia would sit out yesterday's game, but he didn't, and actually got a coupla hits. I'd still expect Jose Molina to play either tonight or tomorrow, given how banged up JP is. And of course, he actually contributed yesterday, which almost always means bench time.
Farrell was asked about Kyle Drabek yesterday, and Farrell responded that there was no timetable for Drabek's return. I wouldn't be surprised if he was back in September, but it would probably take something special to get him back before then.
Peter Bourjos, the Angels' CF, pulled a hammy or something the other day, and as result, 19-year-old super prospect Mike Trout has been called up. You really wonder why they went and got Vernon Wells. Oh right, Tony Reagins!
Thursday, 7 July 2011
Romero= Superman, Boston=Kryptonite
And I'm just so over it. Don't even fucking care.
For whatever reason, Ricky Romero can't pitch against the Red Sox like he can against most other teams. Buck and Tabler were suggesting that it may be because Romero tips off his pitches and the Red Sox are the only ones who have really picked anything up... kind of like the mythical steroids Jose Bautista is using that nobody else has access to. I mean it would make sense, given that John Farrell was the pitching coach in Boston last year, and therefore would have nothing to do with the batting portion of the team. Of course I'm being sarcastic, since that's retarded.
I think the more likely scenario is some combination of small sample size anomalies and the fact that Boston is just a really good team, and has been throughout Romero's career. I'm sure the bad outfield defenses that the Jays have had, plus the awkwardness of the Fenway outfield could have something to do with it as well.
It's almost over people. Anyway, on the bright side, Travis Snider went 2-4, and Yunel Escobar had 4 hits in his return to the lineup, earning a Zaun-head.
Check this out: Jose Bautista is up for a couple of ESPY's, and seems to be retweeting a lot of people who mention the fact. Voting ends like tomorrow or the next day or something like that? So get your votes in. You can be like me and sift through all the football and basketball categories if you feel like, or you can vote for whoever the fuck you want in those ones. But you HAVE TO VOTE JOSE. No other options fellas, sorry.
Fangraphs has an article up about guys who have been effective and cheap this year, and could be turned in to something at the deadline. Not necessarily an impact move, but some kind of final piece to a playoff team. And apparently, the writer hasn't noticed that Corey Patterson has been terrible for the last month and has been relegated to mostly bench time, because he suggests someone might pick Patsy up. Please please please please please...
Something else about Jose Bautista in the community research section of Fangraphs about Jose's HOF chances.
Umm, JP Arencibia got hit by a pitch yesterday and was removed from the game as result. He's already got a shitty left thumb, and now a left wrist bean to boot. Farrell said after the game (apparently) that JP was removed simply for precautionary purposes and that no preliminary tests suggested a break or anything. I'm sure he's really excited for a couple days off during the all-star break to recharge everything and heal up and whatnot.
And finally, Reds SS prospect Zack Cozart may be getting called up this weekend. The story is breaking thanks to some crack detective work that points out that the hotel the Reds are staying at this weekend has a room booked for a Zack Cozart, though this could, in theory, be a wild coincidence, thanks to the extreme commonness of the name Cozart.
For whatever reason, Ricky Romero can't pitch against the Red Sox like he can against most other teams. Buck and Tabler were suggesting that it may be because Romero tips off his pitches and the Red Sox are the only ones who have really picked anything up... kind of like the mythical steroids Jose Bautista is using that nobody else has access to. I mean it would make sense, given that John Farrell was the pitching coach in Boston last year, and therefore would have nothing to do with the batting portion of the team. Of course I'm being sarcastic, since that's retarded.
I think the more likely scenario is some combination of small sample size anomalies and the fact that Boston is just a really good team, and has been throughout Romero's career. I'm sure the bad outfield defenses that the Jays have had, plus the awkwardness of the Fenway outfield could have something to do with it as well.
It's almost over people. Anyway, on the bright side, Travis Snider went 2-4, and Yunel Escobar had 4 hits in his return to the lineup, earning a Zaun-head.
Check this out: Jose Bautista is up for a couple of ESPY's, and seems to be retweeting a lot of people who mention the fact. Voting ends like tomorrow or the next day or something like that? So get your votes in. You can be like me and sift through all the football and basketball categories if you feel like, or you can vote for whoever the fuck you want in those ones. But you HAVE TO VOTE JOSE. No other options fellas, sorry.
Fangraphs has an article up about guys who have been effective and cheap this year, and could be turned in to something at the deadline. Not necessarily an impact move, but some kind of final piece to a playoff team. And apparently, the writer hasn't noticed that Corey Patterson has been terrible for the last month and has been relegated to mostly bench time, because he suggests someone might pick Patsy up. Please please please please please...
Something else about Jose Bautista in the community research section of Fangraphs about Jose's HOF chances.
Umm, JP Arencibia got hit by a pitch yesterday and was removed from the game as result. He's already got a shitty left thumb, and now a left wrist bean to boot. Farrell said after the game (apparently) that JP was removed simply for precautionary purposes and that no preliminary tests suggested a break or anything. I'm sure he's really excited for a couple days off during the all-star break to recharge everything and heal up and whatnot.
And finally, Reds SS prospect Zack Cozart may be getting called up this weekend. The story is breaking thanks to some crack detective work that points out that the hotel the Reds are staying at this weekend has a room booked for a Zack Cozart, though this could, in theory, be a wild coincidence, thanks to the extreme commonness of the name Cozart.
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
Jays appear to tie it in the 9th, Varitek is Jeter.
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| When you're a Saux fan, the truth doesn't really mattah. (Click on the pic for actual truth) |
Alright, I'll be honest. I saw the play and immediately thought "Not even close, out by 10 feet", and frankly, I'd have been fine with the result since any competent catcher would have successfully blocked the whole plate and made a tag and we'd be ok. I mean Varitek clearly had his ankle at an awkward angle, risking a broken ankle, or a "Posey", by outright assuming (correctly, mind you) that his leg could withstand the impact of a slide.
It is interesting though, that on second glance, we see that Varitek doesn't particularly tag Edwin until well after the little helicopter thing, which propelled Edwin in to being safe in real life, but out in the fantasy land that is a MLB umpire's mind, the very same fantasy land that coincides with the MLB's policy on video replay for important things like game-changing situations in the 9th inning with 2 out where the tying run appears to score on a high tag, if you wanna tie the game against the Red Sox in the 9th, it's a force play at the plate.
Craig Calcatera of NBC Sports has his own little view on the game:
Reds Sox 3, Blue Jays 2: [...] An assist on that to Jason Varitek, who blocked the plate in a way that we all sorta decided catchers shouldn’t do back when Buster Posey got injured, but which I’m guessing most folks will call a heads up play today. But really, if you’re looking for intellectual consistency in sports, don’t come to baseball. We’re all about nuance and duality here.
Well said.
Jose Bautista continued to be the only Jay that really matters, hitting another 2 run tater. He opted to go really high and not particularly far with this one, hitting his highest elevation (139ft) and shortest distance (336) dinger of the year. Naturally, it was over the tallest fence in baseball, so I assume he did it on purpose. According to the ESPN home run tracker, this should have been a home run in 0 ball parks around the MLB.
And hey, remember that time that Corey Patterson tried to steal third last night in the middle of a 2-out rally?
So yeah... when it happened, I said to nobody in particular "Go drown yourself, Patterson" but then took it back when I thought it was a Farrell-induced double-steal. So go drown yourself Patterson. I realize that it's kind of jumping the gun to say this now, since having just read the John Lott article, I'm furious with Patterson, but isn't it about time to end this fucking experiment? The dude played well enough through his first 50 games or whatever thanks to a babip through the roof, and probably a little bit of help in theFarrell called [Patterson's steal attempt] “a poor decision, to try to make something happen when we’ve got really the only rally … to that point in time in the game. Your four-hole hitter [is] up. That was a poor decision.”Patterson has done the same thing on at least two other occasions this season.
There's really no reason that Eric Thames should have been sitting on the bench last night, given how well he's been swinging the bat lately. Not that anyone really cares, but he had an 11-game hitting streak snapped thanks to Farrell pinch-hitting him in the 8th inning.
Wow there was a lot to get worked up about there.
Tuesday, 5 July 2011
Back to Normal
Ok, so now that I've mostly caught up on my last 5 days worth of internets, I guess I'm pretty well back to normal. If you've somehow missed any of the following, you should probably brush up on your sources (Note: please don't brush up on sources. I need the readership REALLY badly).
I dunno where to start here really... there's been a lot of stuff happen over the last week.
Let's start with Yunel Escobar. He missed a couple days after getting beaned on the hand in the first game of the weekend set with the Phillies, and missed the rest of the series, plus last night's win against the Red Sox.Good news though: Yunel is back in the lineup, batting 5th tonight. It looks like the "Rajai Davis at leadoff" experiment is going to get another shot, which I'm pretty indifferent about. He's been swinging a better bat lately, but I don't really know. I like it better than Aaron Hill at the top of the order, that's for damn sure. (Yunel was scratched during BP this evening, with Mike Mccoy taking his place. Eric Thames is somehow on the bench, despite an 11-game hit streak)
What else? Oh right.... Travis Snider is back up, and had 3 doubles yesterday. Mike Mccoy used his airmiles to come back up too. To make room for those moves, Jayson Nix and Juan Rivera have been DFA'ed. Both players have been removed from the 40-man roster, and the Jays now have 10 days to trade or release them, or if they clear waivers, they can opt to accept an assignment to the minor leagues. I would expect Rivera to accept his assignment to AAA(?) if he clears waivers, given his $5.25MM salary, minus roughly half of that since the season is half over. If he doesn't accept it, he will forfeit ~$2.5MM, minus the prorated half of the $400k MLB minimum he'd make if some other team signs him to be a glorified pinch-hitter. I would guess that some NL team will take the Jays up on that over the next couple days for a D-level prospect or 50 bucks or something. Jayson Nix on the other hand, well he might find a taker on a minor league deal.
Keith Olney expects the Jays to move some bullpen help, and sees Texas as a suitor. I can see someone giving up a decent haul for Jason Frasor, and I would guess that AA would take the first deal offered for Octavio Dotel, but don't really see him moving anyone else because.....
The newest Elias projections are out. Jason Frasor, Jon Rauch, Octavio Dotel, Frank Frank and Shawn Camp rank as Type-B relief pitchers. Aaron Hill ranks as a Type-B 2B/3B/SS, which is good news for the Jays, assuming they don't accept his options, which, if we can be serious for a quick sec, has about the same chance of my dog going a week without shitting on the floor of happening. Having said all that, I'm not even sure they offer him arbitration at the end of the year, since he'd probably accept it. As bad as he's been the last 2 years, I'm fairly sure he'd be due for a raise in arbitration, but even if he wouldn't get a raise, I don't think he would get a paycut, and I doubt any other team would offer him more than the $5MM he made this year as a free agent. There's not really anybody kicking at the door in Toronto's system as far as 2B goes, though Yunel Escobar could be moving over there depending on when/if Adeiny Hecchavarria is ready. Then again, there's always depth in other positions (Catcher, young starters, young outfielders) that can be traded. Speaking of depth...
The international free agent season opened the other day, and as expected, the Jays and their scouting department flexed their proverbial muscle, signing Dawel Lugo, a 16-year old shortstop, for a $1.3MM bonus, as well as Osman Guttierrez, a 16-year old 6'4'', 200lb right hander, for a $210k bonus. This of course doesn't mean much in terms of spots for guys like Escobar, Lawrie, Hech, and so on, since a 16-year-old shortstop is unlikely to make much of an impact in the bigs until he's at least 21, and even that is optimistic.
By the way, Brett Lawrie swung the bat yesterday for the first time since breaking a bone in his hand a few weeks back, and did so again today. He hit balls off a tee, and is set to do soft toss and live pitching later this week. I assume he is still on track to be back sometime in early August. With Edwin Encarnacion hitting 2 homeruns in a game on Thursday, and another Sunday, plus just a couple of better at-bats spread around over the last week or so, it looks like he's barely saved himself from getting cut. In my estimation, Jayson Nix was always going to be the first guy to go, and Rivera and Encarnacion were always rotating places 2 and 2a (Scott Richmond too I suppose, if we're going to talk about 40-man spots). I really feel like Rivera was always the guy who had the better chance of being traded and actually fetching something, and therefore, deserved more playing time to prove himself as potentially useful for someone, and that was probably still true up until about 10 days ago (who knows, he might still). With EE swinging the bat a little better, and Snider ready to come up, disposing of Nix and Rivera has actually opened up enough room on the 25- and 40-man rosters to bring up Brett Lawrie when the time arrives without having to cut anybody, since Mike Mccoy will most likely just be optioned down (again) to the minor leagues. Having said that, I doubt AA would hesitate to boot EE if he starts to suck again and it somehow steals AB's from any of the younger guys.
Dustin Mcgowan allowed 3 runs and 3 hits, striking out 1 in just 2/3IP in a rehab start in Class-A Dunedin the other day. This was his first game action since 2008, so I wouldn't read too much in to it, but that doesn't sound incredibly encouraging.
With regard to Zaun-heads: I can't remember the last time I gave one out, and the games are kind of blending together at this point. I do know two things: Jose Bautista and Eric Thames mashed, and no Jays pitcher was really all that special during the PHI series. As result, I'm going to give Jose Bautista 2, and Eric Thames 1 for those. Jose was really the best player on the Jays team for each of those three games, but Thames was second-best twice. Rajai Davis stole 3 bases the other day too, but whatever. Edwin for Tuesday, I guess? Brandon Morrow was real good on Wednesday, and Yunel Escobar was the only passable Blue Jays in Thursday loss to the Pirates.
K so tonight's game is already in to the third inning. Brett Cecil is pitching, and is elevating the ball pretty badly already from what I've seen, which I'm not all that fussy about.
And one more thing: Derek Jeter is getting close to 3000 MLB hits, getting up to 2996 last night. The Yankees come to Toronto immediately after the All-star break, so let's home that he gets this whole thing done with before he comes to visit, huh? Because that would seriously be the most insufferable thing to watch. Worse than Red Sox games.
I dunno where to start here really... there's been a lot of stuff happen over the last week.
Let's start with Yunel Escobar. He missed a couple days after getting beaned on the hand in the first game of the weekend set with the Phillies, and missed the rest of the series, plus last night's win against the Red Sox.
What else? Oh right.... Travis Snider is back up, and had 3 doubles yesterday. Mike Mccoy used his airmiles to come back up too. To make room for those moves, Jayson Nix and Juan Rivera have been DFA'ed. Both players have been removed from the 40-man roster, and the Jays now have 10 days to trade or release them, or if they clear waivers, they can opt to accept an assignment to the minor leagues. I would expect Rivera to accept his assignment to AAA(?) if he clears waivers, given his $5.25MM salary, minus roughly half of that since the season is half over. If he doesn't accept it, he will forfeit ~$2.5MM, minus the prorated half of the $400k MLB minimum he'd make if some other team signs him to be a glorified pinch-hitter. I would guess that some NL team will take the Jays up on that over the next couple days for a D-level prospect or 50 bucks or something. Jayson Nix on the other hand, well he might find a taker on a minor league deal.
Keith Olney expects the Jays to move some bullpen help, and sees Texas as a suitor. I can see someone giving up a decent haul for Jason Frasor, and I would guess that AA would take the first deal offered for Octavio Dotel, but don't really see him moving anyone else because.....
The newest Elias projections are out. Jason Frasor, Jon Rauch, Octavio Dotel, Frank Frank and Shawn Camp rank as Type-B relief pitchers. Aaron Hill ranks as a Type-B 2B/3B/SS, which is good news for the Jays, assuming they don't accept his options, which, if we can be serious for a quick sec, has about the same chance of my dog going a week without shitting on the floor of happening. Having said all that, I'm not even sure they offer him arbitration at the end of the year, since he'd probably accept it. As bad as he's been the last 2 years, I'm fairly sure he'd be due for a raise in arbitration, but even if he wouldn't get a raise, I don't think he would get a paycut, and I doubt any other team would offer him more than the $5MM he made this year as a free agent. There's not really anybody kicking at the door in Toronto's system as far as 2B goes, though Yunel Escobar could be moving over there depending on when/if Adeiny Hecchavarria is ready. Then again, there's always depth in other positions (Catcher, young starters, young outfielders) that can be traded. Speaking of depth...
The international free agent season opened the other day, and as expected, the Jays and their scouting department flexed their proverbial muscle, signing Dawel Lugo, a 16-year old shortstop, for a $1.3MM bonus, as well as Osman Guttierrez, a 16-year old 6'4'', 200lb right hander, for a $210k bonus. This of course doesn't mean much in terms of spots for guys like Escobar, Lawrie, Hech, and so on, since a 16-year-old shortstop is unlikely to make much of an impact in the bigs until he's at least 21, and even that is optimistic.
By the way, Brett Lawrie swung the bat yesterday for the first time since breaking a bone in his hand a few weeks back, and did so again today. He hit balls off a tee, and is set to do soft toss and live pitching later this week. I assume he is still on track to be back sometime in early August. With Edwin Encarnacion hitting 2 homeruns in a game on Thursday, and another Sunday, plus just a couple of better at-bats spread around over the last week or so, it looks like he's barely saved himself from getting cut. In my estimation, Jayson Nix was always going to be the first guy to go, and Rivera and Encarnacion were always rotating places 2 and 2a (Scott Richmond too I suppose, if we're going to talk about 40-man spots). I really feel like Rivera was always the guy who had the better chance of being traded and actually fetching something, and therefore, deserved more playing time to prove himself as potentially useful for someone, and that was probably still true up until about 10 days ago (who knows, he might still). With EE swinging the bat a little better, and Snider ready to come up, disposing of Nix and Rivera has actually opened up enough room on the 25- and 40-man rosters to bring up Brett Lawrie when the time arrives without having to cut anybody, since Mike Mccoy will most likely just be optioned down (again) to the minor leagues. Having said that, I doubt AA would hesitate to boot EE if he starts to suck again and it somehow steals AB's from any of the younger guys.
Dustin Mcgowan allowed 3 runs and 3 hits, striking out 1 in just 2/3IP in a rehab start in Class-A Dunedin the other day. This was his first game action since 2008, so I wouldn't read too much in to it, but that doesn't sound incredibly encouraging.
With regard to Zaun-heads: I can't remember the last time I gave one out, and the games are kind of blending together at this point. I do know two things: Jose Bautista and Eric Thames mashed, and no Jays pitcher was really all that special during the PHI series. As result, I'm going to give Jose Bautista 2, and Eric Thames 1 for those. Jose was really the best player on the Jays team for each of those three games, but Thames was second-best twice. Rajai Davis stole 3 bases the other day too, but whatever. Edwin for Tuesday, I guess? Brandon Morrow was real good on Wednesday, and Yunel Escobar was the only passable Blue Jays in Thursday loss to the Pirates.
K so tonight's game is already in to the third inning. Brett Cecil is pitching, and is elevating the ball pretty badly already from what I've seen, which I'm not all that fussy about.
And one more thing: Derek Jeter is getting close to 3000 MLB hits, getting up to 2996 last night. The Yankees come to Toronto immediately after the All-star break, so let's home that he gets this whole thing done with before he comes to visit, huh? Because that would seriously be the most insufferable thing to watch. Worse than Red Sox games.
Canada Day Weekend Trip Report
So basically I've been away from my laptop since Thursday morning at about 5 AM. I'm sure I could have updated from a phone or someone else's computer or something, but don't give me that shit.
Anyway, before this past Thursday, I had been on a plane once in my life, and it was when I was like 2. Sheltered life. The flight was pretty uneventful; the real fun began once we got to Pearson. You see, I was last in Toronto at age 5, and haven't really done any major travelling, and anything I've done has been to smaller places than Toronto, and has been done with someone driving me there, not flying. That airport is fucking huge for anyone (I assume), let alone a kid from little old PEI. I didn't know where the hell I was supposed to be walking or anything. Fortunately for us it was still like 8 in the morning, so it wasn't so incredibly busy that I had a panic attack or anything.
Our hotel was literally a block away from the dome, which is always convenient. Unfortunately that's far away from the airport. We had directions that we sort of followed, but we had hours to kill before our check-in time anyway, so the ensuing adventure of not taking the streetcar that would have led directly to our hotel wasn't really a huge deal. I'll know better next time I suppose.
We pretty much spent the next day and a half wandering around downtown without really knowing anything about anything. I mean you can walk around for hours and see a billion things, but I didn't really know what anything was in advance, and didn't really know how to get to a specific building or street or whatever.
Friday, we met up with a friend of mine at the game and ended up decently wasted. Seeing Roy Halladay bring the lineup card out was pretty cool, as was the ovation that he received. It was nothing compared to seeing him pitch on Saturday though. The Jose Bautista homer on Friday ended up in the section next to where we were sitting, and the ovations that he got for each of the taters he hit this weekend was a real highlight.
Anyway, during the Friday game right around the 4th inning, somewhere between beers and pees, we decided to stop by and see Gregg Zaun and Jamie Campbell at that little spot where they do their broadcasting thingy or whatever the shit that's called. Jamie was just sitting at his table spitting sunflower seeds in to a cup, just as useless as he'd typically be. Zaunny on the other hand, was signing autographs and taking pictures with kids. He finally got around to me, so I asked if I could get a picture for my blog, which I explained gave out Zaun-heads as player of the game trophies. His answer was "Oh yeah, I know you. HA!"
That shirt. By the end of the game, we along with the guys behind us, were nice and sauced, and took out our frustrations on the nearest Phillie, who happened to be Ben Francisco in LF. We chirped at him for the better part of the last 3 innings, much to the shagrin of everyone but us in the surrounding sections.
Anyway, we ended up pretty trashed by the end of the night, grabbed a shwarma, and passed out quickly at the hotel.
On Saturday we showed up nice and early for the game, taking in some batting practice and whatnot, while also complaining about the hangovers, the sun, and so on. That was the Halladay game of course, which was great fun, and will forever be known as the Rauch Freakout game. I've read somewhere (probably twitter) since then that John Farrell dislocated his jaw after that little scuffle, but I'll have to find somewhere to confirm that later. There was also a guy in front of us with a huge huge head that severely impeded our view at various times. If you were sitting in section 233 row 4 and have a huge head and are reading this, you need to go on a head diet.
We met up after the game with my girlfriend's cousin and his girlfriend, who had us to their apartment for food and drinks, and they also helped us negotiate our way both from and back to the downtown area for Sunday's game. Major thanks to Nick and Adriana for that one.
Sunday was a damn scorcher. There was approximately 0 wind, and a billion rays of sun beating directly down on my seat before the game. I forgot to put sunscreen on my kneecaps and upper ears before we left, so those got beaten pretty badly in terms of burns. Oh, and that was probably the most exciting end to a ballgame that I've ever seen. I got the Bautista homer on tape, which is still on my girlfriend's blackberry that she's conveniently brought to work with her.
After this game, we caught up with my aunt and uncle, who chauffeured us around the city for a while pointing out things that we didn't know about buildings and stuff, and then brought us back to their place for beers and a barbecue with that whole crew, and got us back to the airport safely yesterday, where we watched the Jays beat the Red Sox.
On the flight home, we flew directly above/beside a lightning storm, which was really awesome.
I'll update this with videos of things that happened when the girl gets them on to the internet.
More later. Probably.
Anyway, before this past Thursday, I had been on a plane once in my life, and it was when I was like 2. Sheltered life. The flight was pretty uneventful; the real fun began once we got to Pearson. You see, I was last in Toronto at age 5, and haven't really done any major travelling, and anything I've done has been to smaller places than Toronto, and has been done with someone driving me there, not flying. That airport is fucking huge for anyone (I assume), let alone a kid from little old PEI. I didn't know where the hell I was supposed to be walking or anything. Fortunately for us it was still like 8 in the morning, so it wasn't so incredibly busy that I had a panic attack or anything.
Our hotel was literally a block away from the dome, which is always convenient. Unfortunately that's far away from the airport. We had directions that we sort of followed, but we had hours to kill before our check-in time anyway, so the ensuing adventure of not taking the streetcar that would have led directly to our hotel wasn't really a huge deal. I'll know better next time I suppose.
We pretty much spent the next day and a half wandering around downtown without really knowing anything about anything. I mean you can walk around for hours and see a billion things, but I didn't really know what anything was in advance, and didn't really know how to get to a specific building or street or whatever.
Friday, we met up with a friend of mine at the game and ended up decently wasted. Seeing Roy Halladay bring the lineup card out was pretty cool, as was the ovation that he received. It was nothing compared to seeing him pitch on Saturday though. The Jose Bautista homer on Friday ended up in the section next to where we were sitting, and the ovations that he got for each of the taters he hit this weekend was a real highlight.
Anyway, during the Friday game right around the 4th inning, somewhere between beers and pees, we decided to stop by and see Gregg Zaun and Jamie Campbell at that little spot where they do their broadcasting thingy or whatever the shit that's called. Jamie was just sitting at his table spitting sunflower seeds in to a cup, just as useless as he'd typically be. Zaunny on the other hand, was signing autographs and taking pictures with kids. He finally got around to me, so I asked if I could get a picture for my blog, which I explained gave out Zaun-heads as player of the game trophies. His answer was "Oh yeah, I know you. HA!"
That shirt. By the end of the game, we along with the guys behind us, were nice and sauced, and took out our frustrations on the nearest Phillie, who happened to be Ben Francisco in LF. We chirped at him for the better part of the last 3 innings, much to the shagrin of everyone but us in the surrounding sections.
Anyway, we ended up pretty trashed by the end of the night, grabbed a shwarma, and passed out quickly at the hotel.
On Saturday we showed up nice and early for the game, taking in some batting practice and whatnot, while also complaining about the hangovers, the sun, and so on. That was the Halladay game of course, which was great fun, and will forever be known as the Rauch Freakout game. I've read somewhere (probably twitter) since then that John Farrell dislocated his jaw after that little scuffle, but I'll have to find somewhere to confirm that later. There was also a guy in front of us with a huge huge head that severely impeded our view at various times. If you were sitting in section 233 row 4 and have a huge head and are reading this, you need to go on a head diet.
We met up after the game with my girlfriend's cousin and his girlfriend, who had us to their apartment for food and drinks, and they also helped us negotiate our way both from and back to the downtown area for Sunday's game. Major thanks to Nick and Adriana for that one.
Sunday was a damn scorcher. There was approximately 0 wind, and a billion rays of sun beating directly down on my seat before the game. I forgot to put sunscreen on my kneecaps and upper ears before we left, so those got beaten pretty badly in terms of burns. Oh, and that was probably the most exciting end to a ballgame that I've ever seen. I got the Bautista homer on tape, which is still on my girlfriend's blackberry that she's conveniently brought to work with her.
After this game, we caught up with my aunt and uncle, who chauffeured us around the city for a while pointing out things that we didn't know about buildings and stuff, and then brought us back to their place for beers and a barbecue with that whole crew, and got us back to the airport safely yesterday, where we watched the Jays beat the Red Sox.
On the flight home, we flew directly above/beside a lightning storm, which was really awesome.
I'll update this with videos of things that happened when the girl gets them on to the internet.
More later. Probably.
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