John’s Blog - Coast To Coast

Computers… you love them when they work right… you don’t love them so much when they don’t… One thing I like to do in my spare time is to do stuff such as build Wikipedia pages, work on spreadsheets so I can sharpen those skills, and also of course my new Kate Michael Yahoo group… A while back, I purchased a few domains so that I can build some websites - another of my hobbies… For whatever reason, I’ve been unable to access these new domains from my computer. I’m not exactly sure why I can’t get into them from my PC… I thought it just might be my IP address or something like that, but I tried to access the sites via a dial-up connection from my PC and also to no avail. Hopefully, I’ll get it figured out sometime later today…

As for other stuff, there was lots of baseball happening yesterday, and a little golf… I guess the most notable thing that happened yesterday was the 750th home run of Barry Bonds career. The historic homer came off Arizona Diamondbacks starter Livan Hernandez in a 4-3 San Francisco Giants 10 inning loss to the D-Backs. Bonds is now just five homers away from tying Hank Aaron’s record of 755. No matter what your opinion is on Bonds and whether you feel he achieved this number legitimately or not, it’s still quite an amazing feat… Johan Santana pitched a strong six innings, giving up only one run and five hits, while striking out six and Joe Mauer hit a grand slam off of the Tigers’ Justin Verlander as Minnesota cruised to an 11-1 victory over the Tigers. The most dramatic game of the day??? Well, there were two… In Chicago, Aramis Ramirez hit a dramatic two run, two out homer off of Milwaukee closer Francisco Cordero as the Cubs came back from a two run ninth inning deficit to win over the Brewers 6-5. In Houston, things just went from bad to worse for Colorado Rockies closer Brian Fuentes. In his previous three appearances, Fuentes had not only blown saves, but he also was handed with losses… Last night he blew his fourth straight save opportunity and was charged with his fourth loss in his past four appearances… the light hitting Mark Loretta hit a two run, two out homer to give the Astros a 9-8 win. Fuentes becomes the first closer in 29 years to have blown saves and been charged with losses in four consective outings…

In golf, the women continue to battle with the elements at the U.S. Women’s open… Three rain delays in the first two days resulted in only 25 of the 156 golfer field managing to finish the second round yesterday. Annika Soranstam was the big story of the day as she shot a 42 on her opening nine holes, putting her in danger of missing the cut. Coverage of the second and third round will continue on NBC today beginning at 3PM PT/12 noon ET. For the full live leaderboard, click here: 2007 U.S Women’s Open Leaderboard

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Benchmarks, milestones, whatever you call them, both Frank Thomas of the Toronto Blue Jays and Craig Biggio of the Houston Astros reached significant ones yesterday.

“Don’t Believe The Hype”… that’s always been one of Frank Thomas’ biggest catch phrases and there’s never been anything “hype” about him. Blessed with incredible plate patience and amazing power, the “Big Hurt” has had an amazing career… Injuries have taken away some productive time from him, but nonetheless he was stuck on 499 homers until yesterday. Thomas made sure the crowd in Minnesota’s Metrodome wouldn’t have to wait long for 500 as he crushed a 1-2 pitch from Carlos Silva into the left field seats for the historic homer. It was a great moment as the respectful Twins crowd gave him a standing ovation… even the scoreboard operator flashed the number “500″ on the board…

Craig Biggio had no idea he would reach the historic 3,000 hit milestone yesterday in Houston. Coming into the game, he was three hits short and was only hitting .233 in the month of June prior to it… Biggio’s previous high for hits in a game this year was three, so people attending the game knew there was a chance they could be seeing some history… a single in the third and another in the fifth set up the historic moment. In the seventh, Biggio lined a single to right center for hit number 3,000. Biggio would go on to collect two more hits in going 5-for-6 as the Astros would win the game 8-5 in 11 innings. One of the truly great things about the future Hall of Famer is that he’s played his entire career with one team… there are very few players in today’s age of free agency that can say that.

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Rain wreaked havoc with the U.S Women’s Open yesterday… Angela Park shot a three-under-par 68 to take the early first round lead. Most of the players were still left on the course, when play was halted… The shock of the day had to be the play of Karrie Webb as the Hall of Famer shot a 12-over-par 83, the worst round of her career. Coverage continues on ESPN today at 2pm PT/11 am ET.

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Last, and not least, just want to wish luck to my friend Reggie… his sister is competing in the Miss California Pageant this week… if she wins, she gets to compete in the 2008 Miss America Pageant!!! My friend, 2006 Miss DC Kate Michael, gave me some advice to pass onto Reggie’s sister when I saw her in DC a couple of months ago… hopefully that advice and some strong performances will make those dreams of my friend’s sis come true!!! The competition has gone as follows so far: Tuesday - Interview, Wednesday - Talent, Thursday - Evening Gown… tonight is the Swimsuit competition and then tomorrow the Top 10 Compete for the Miss California crown!!!

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The Boston Red Sox may be running away with the American League East title with their present 48-29 record and nine game lead over Toronto Blue Jays… however, they are doing it all without one of their main cogs not playing to their capability. There is no doubt that right fielder Manny Ramirez will some day be enshrined in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown - with 481 home runs, 1558 RBI’s, 1297 runs scored and a career .313 batting average he would probably be a “no brainer” first ballot entry. For each of the past nine years, Manny has hit 33 or more homers, driven in 102 or more runs and hit .292 or higher (7 times hitting .300 or better). 2007 has been different though for Manny… a .289 batting average, only 11 homers and 42 RBI’s to go with 39 runs scored through yesterday. This paces out to only 23 homers, 88 RBI’s and 82 runs scored… all of which would his worst numbers since his 1994 rookie season… At 35 years of age, Manny’s not getting any younger and unfortunately, this is not “Manny just being Manny.” Perhaps his knees are giving out or there is some sort of other undisclosed injury causing him not to be the same old Manny that we all have been accustomed to seeing all of these years… Red Sox Nation certainly hopes the second half brings back our “normal” version of Manny…

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As for the games… well basically all of my teams lost yesterday - the aforementioned Red Sox, both L.A. teams and the Nats… actually combined they scored all of one run yesterday!!! Yes, ONE!!!

In Seattle, the Mariners got a double by Jose Lopez which scored Ichiro Suzuki as the Mariners beat the Red Sox by a 2-1 score… The Red Sox had lots of opportunities, but left 11 men on base… Similarly, my Dodgers put men on all night against Diamondbacks starter Brandon Webb… they left THIRTEEN runners on base without scoring a run!!! Derek Lowe was the tough luck loser, giving up only a run and five hits in 6 2/3 innings of work in a 2-0 D-Backs win. In Anaheim, the Angels managed ten hits and a walk off of Kansas City Royals starter Jorge De La Rosa in six innings, but were also held scoreless… Jered Weaver pitched a strong seven innings, giving up only a run… that would be all the offense the Royals would need as they held on for a 1-0 win… In Atlanta, the Nats game got REALLY ugly - a 13-0 shellacking at the hands of the Atlanta Braves! 22 hits… yes, 22 hits were allowed by the Nationals pitchers… only one of those hits was by Andruw Jones so he STILL sits below the Mendoza line at .199… Actually (as I’ve mentioned before), I do like the Braves (and Cubs) thanks to the superstations… still it was just one heck of an UGLY game!!! I did get to see the Cubs win 6-4 earlier in the day thanks to being able to watch WGN…

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Lots of news on the golf front today… Tiger Woods has confirmed he will be playing in his tournament at Congressional Country Club next weekend in Washington, D.C. It became more clear that he would play as his first child was born to he and his wife back on June 18th. The big surprise is that world number two, Phil Mickelson has decided to play, meaning that the top four players in the world (Jim Furyk and Adam Scott) along with Vijay Singh (#6) will be playing… I am hoping to attend the third round of the tournament while I visit D.C. next weekend.

The women are playing their third major of the year this weekend… the U.S. Women’s Open takes place at the Southern Pines golf course in Pine Needles, North Carolina… the favorite again would have to be world number one, Lorena Ochoa. Ochoa won again last week, and looks to add another trophy to her ever growing collection… Coverage will be as follows (all times ET):

Thursday, June 28 1st Round ESPN 2:00-6:00 p.m.
Friday, June 29 2nd Round ESPN 2:00-6:00 p.m.
Saturday, June 30 3rd Round NBC 3:00-6:00 p.m.
Sunday, July 1 4th Round NBC 3:00-6:00 p.m.

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Tony Abreu certainly picked a fine time to hit his first big league homer. The Los Angeles Dodger rookie hit a 1-1 change up from Arizona Diamondbacks reliever Doug Slaten into the left field seats to give the Dodgers a 6-5 lead in the top of the 10th inning. Jonathan Broxton picked up the win in relief while Takeshi Saito closed things out in the bottom of the 10th for his 21st save. Neither starter was very effective… Both the Dodgers’ Chad Billingsley and the Diamondbacks’ Edgar Gonzalez gave up five runs in their four innings of work. Rookie James Loney continued to swing a hot bat for the Dodgers, slugging his 3rd homer of the year and going 3-for-5. Loney is now hitting .471 in his 34 at bats since his call up on June 12th. If you’re looking for a nice sleeper in your fantasy leagues who could do some damage in the second half, look no further. The Dodgers gave Nomar Garciaparra a start at third base last night and may move him there to make room for Loney and his bat. You may recall a game Loney had in Colorado last year where he hit three homers and drove in ten runs! One more thing… though he only has a little more than 100 plate appearances in his career - yes, it’s a small sample - his .654 career slugging percentage ranks second all-time to Babe Ruth’s .690. No, I don’t think he will be able to keep up this pace, but it shows just how good the kid has been so far.

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Another day, another friend moving on… Actually, this one I had known about for a while, but I had to keep “mum” on it. My friend Linda is leaving my place of employment to go do some missionary work. Linda is a very kind and generous person with a very bubbly spirit… Although she only worked with my employer a little more than a year and a half, she made a lot of friends in her short time there. She will be living in Chile for three months, serving the community and doing the Lord’s work. The area she’s going to is in the “inner city” and it’s quite dangerous. It takes a truly special heart to serve in such a place. I hope and pray that she will be safe in Chile’. She will be missed.

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The big news here in the L.A. sports scene today centers around the Lakers possibly acquiring all-star forward Kevin Garnett from the Minnesota Timberwolves… The Lakers would give up Lamar Odom, Andrew Bynum and a third player. More to come on this soon… and if it does happen to come to pass, well then a certain couple of L.A. Times sportswriters will have of making up to do with the fans of the Lakers and a certain guy who wears the #24 uniform. Why have they tried to run Kobe Bryant out of town and ruin our team? I don’t know. FYI, I have written them several times in an effort to see where they’re coming from and why they hate Kobe so much, but they never respond. More on this to come…

As for the rest of the sports scene, well it’s all about baseball right now… The Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks began the first of a pivotal four game series in Phoenix. Coming in, the Dodgers trailed the Diamondbacks by 1 1/2 games and the San Diego Padres by 1/2 game for the National League West divison lead… Brad Penny made sure the Dodgers would begin the series on a good note, pitching a strong eight innings, giving up only a run on four hits… the Dodgers would get all of the offense they would need in the top of the sixth, scoring four runs. The key hit was Russell Martin’s two run triple… Martin now has 49 RBI’s on the year, the most of any catcher in the senior circuit. The Dodgers would cruise to an 8-1 win as Penny won his league leading 10th game. With the Padres loss to the San Francisco Giants in extra innings, the Dodgers moved into second place, one half game behind the Diamondbacks. Chad Billingsley goes for the Dodgers and Edgar Gonzalez for the D-Backs tonight; the winner stakes claim to first place in the divison.

In Anaheim, the Angels had ace John Lackey going… unfortunately, for Lackey the game hinged on one play… A two out bases loaded single by David DeJesus in the second inning scored Ryan Shealy… Right fielder Vladimir Guerrero made a strong throw on the play, one which should have gotten Jason LaRue out at the plate… LaRue somehow managed to knock the ball out of Angel catcher Mike Napoli’s glove allowing both he and Joey Gathright to score. Those two unearned runs would prove costly, as the Angels would never recover, falling to the Royals by a 5-3 score. With the Seattle Mariners win over the Red Sox, the Angels American League Western division lead fell to seven games.

Last night also marked the return of Washington Nationals pitcher Jason Bergmann. Limited to a 75 pitch count, Bergmann picked up right where he left off before his injury at RKF Stadium last night as he pitched against the Atlanta Braves… Bergmann pitched a strong four innings, giving up only a run on four hits, walking one while striking out four. This was an especially encouraging performace, and needless to say, if he’s available in your fantasy leagues, NOW is the time to get him!!! Unfortunately, the game kind of got away from the Nats in the 6th inning as reliever Bobby Traber was hit hard for three runs, the key blow coming on catcher Brian McCann’s three run homer. It was a big night for McCann as he drove in the Braves other run as well. Tim Hudson finally had a good start for the Braves last night, scattering seven hits and allowing a run while striking out nine in his seven innings of work for his seventh win of the year. Bob Wickman closed out the Braves 4-1 win, picking up his 13th save in the process.

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OK… time for something new here… well, actually it isn’t all new, just kind of a rebirth of sorts… and is back by popular demand… Every Tuesday, I plan on listing my top 20 favorite songs of the week. You may recall I did this at the very beginning of this blog, but other things kind of took over precendence. So, without further ado, here are my top 20 songs of the week:

1. Home - Daughtry (2 weeks @ #1)
2. Lost In This Moment - Big & Rich
3. Makes Me Wonder - Maroon 5
4. Johnny Cash - Jason Aldean
5. First Time - Lifehouse
6. I Told You So - Keith Urban
7. How I Feel - Martina McBride
8. Ticks - Brad Paisley (2 weeks @ #1)
9. I’ll Stand By You - Carrie Underwood
10. Teardrops On My Guitar - Taylor Swift
11. I Wonder - Kellie Pickler
12. (You Want To) Make A Memory - Bon Jovi
13. Say It Right - Nelly Furtado
14. Before He Cheats - Carrie Underwood (14 weeks @ #1)
15. A Woman’s Love - Alan Jackson
16. Girlfriend (radio edit) - Avril Lavigne
17. Little Wonders - Rob Thomas
18. Wasted - Carrie Underwood (#12 weeks @ #1)
19. Stand - Rascal Flatts (3 weeks @ #1)
20. Anyway - Martina McBride (2 weeks @ #1)

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Love him, hate him, however you feel about him, there is one thing that has become very clear when it comes to NASCAR rookie Juan Pablo Montoya: the guy can drive a race car! In his first season driving stock cars, Montoya has been criticized by his fellow competitors for his overly aggressive style of racing. The other drivers definitely have a point, as Montoya has taken out many opponents this year with bold moves which have often sent them spinning or crashing into the wall.

Yesterday was a different kind of race for Montoya. Instead of being the aggressive one, the Colombian was told repeatedly to be patient by his crew at the Toyota/Save Mart 350 in Sonoma, California. Over the course of the day, he was only responsible for one accident - spinning Kurt Busch about midway through the race. Montoya, the 2000 Indianapolis 500 winner, passed Jamie McMurray for the lead for good on lap 104 of the 110 lap race. He continued to drive cautiously in the closing laps, hoping he would conserve enough fuel to make it to the end. McMurray wouldn’t be so lucky, as he ran out of gas on the very last lap in finishing 37th. Montoya took the checkered flag in only his 17th start. He also becomes just the fifth driver to win an Indianapolis 500 and a NASCAR race. Perhaps this win will mark a turning point for Montoya… will he continue to drive more passively? If so, he may just find a new legion of fans. Kevin Harvick finished behind Montoya in 2nd, while Jeff Burton came in third. Points leader Jeff Gordon overcame the penalties levied upon he and teammate Jimmie Johnson to finish 7th. Johnson came in 17th.

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The local baseball teams continue to go in opposite directions. The Dodgers were in Tampa Bay for the rubber game of their three game series against the Devil Rays. Luis Gonzalez quickly staked the blue crew to a 2-0 lead, homering in the top of the first off D-Ray starter Edwin Jackson. The former Dodger farmhand would settle down after that, pitching five scoreless innings. Dodger starter Hong-Chih Kuo pithced pretty well in his 5 1/3 innings, giving up three runs and four hits, walking one and striking out eight. Things fell apart for the Dodgers in the bottom of the 7th inning. Reliever Joe Beimal faced five batters and would not record an out! All five of those baserunners wound up scoring as the Rays would forge a 9-2 lead. James Loney (who only a week ago crashed hard into the left field wall at Dodger Stadium) came back and hit a two run homer in the top of the ninth to draw the Dodgers within five, but that was as close as they would get. The loss keeps the Dodgers in third place, a game and a half behind the division leading San Diego Padres.

In the meantime, the Angels are making a mockery of the American League West… Angel starter Bartolo Colon outdueled the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Tom Gorzelanny for six innings. The Angels carried a 3-2 lead into the final three frames. Scot Shields closed out the seveneth and eighth innings for the Angels in recording his 19th hold of the year. The ball was then given to closer Franisco Rodriguez in the bottom of the ninth, and he was uncharacteristically wild, throwing two wild pitches. Those would prove to be costly as they would put pinch runner Raji Davis into scoring position after Adam LaRoche had been walked. Xavier Nady singled Davis in on a 3-2 pitch to tie the game and send it into extra innings. Chris Bootcheck would silence the Pirates in the 10th… in the bottom of the inning, Howie Kendrick doubled with one out off of Pirates closer Matt Capps. Kendry Morales would be intentionally walked. Gary Matthews had an opportunity to win the game, but he flew out to left… Erick Aybar then took care of business for the Halos, lining a single to right, scoring Kendrick with the winning run. With the win, the Angels continue to maintain an eight game lead over the Seattle Mariners in the American League West.

In Washington, the Nationals Jason Simontacchi hoped to rebound from his disastrous start this past Tuesday against the Detroit Tigers. You may recall Simontacchi was lit up by the Tigers for 10 runs, 10 hits and two walks in his last outing. Yesterday, Simontacchi would have no such problems with the Cleveland Innings. In six innings, he held the Indians to just one run and four hits while walking one and striking out six. Ronnie Belliard led the Nats attack going 3-for-3, while catcher Jesus Flores drove in two of the Nats three runs off Indians starter Jake Westbrook. Chad Cordero pitched the ninth to secure the Nats 3-1 win. For the Nats, it was their first win of a home series in nearly a month and a half - they took three out of four against the Atlanta Braves in mid-May. Some good news and bad news for the Nats… First off, the good news is that Jason Bergmann is coming off the disabled list and will pitch today against those same Atlanta Braves. The bad news is that Shortstop Cristian Guzman found his way onto the 15 day disabled list after sprained his left thumb while tagging out Josh Barfield at second base on a steal attempt in the fifth inning. Guzman was amongst their hottest hitters at .329…

We all know how well the Minnesota Twins’ Johan Santana can pitch, but it also appears that baseball’s best pitcher can also hit! Santana pitched his usual six brilliant innings against the Florida Marlins yesterday, allowing only a solo home run to Dan Uggla (his 15th) and five hits, walking one and striking out eight in picking up his eighth win of the year. The big story was Santana’s hitting though. In the top of the second, Johan squared as if to bunt, and then swung away, driving a ball deep to the warning track in right center field off of Marlin starter Byung Hyun Kim. Johan ended up with a triple! Kim would wind up taking the loss as he struggled in his six innings, giving up six earned runs, seven hits and five walks to go along with six strikeouts. Twins catcher Joe Mauer carried the heavy lumber for the Twins, homering twice off of Kim.

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Also, my condolences go out to the major league baseball community with the passing of Rod Beck. Beck died on Saturday of unknown causes. He was only 38 years old and leaves a wife and two kids. For many years, Beck pitched for the Dodgers rival, the San Francisco Giants and was a very imposing presence on the mound with his mustache… A fun-loving guy, he was one of the games great personalities. In 1999 he saved a career best 51 games for the Chicago Cubs, leading them into the playoffs. Beck’s career ended in 2004 as he dealt with some personal issues. He will be sorely missed by anyone that considers themself a fan of the game.

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In closing, I just would like to give my best wishes to my friends Jay and Kara… I found out just yesterday that they are going to be moving to Texas at the end of the week. A few things about both of them - they are two very special people… Blessed with very good looks, they are also both just as nice on the inside as on the outside. Jay has played the guitar on stage in helping lead worship at my church, Cornerstone Community in Simi Valley, for quite some time. Although I don’t know him all that well, those that do know him well have told me nothing but good things about him. It’s also been very comforting seeing Jay and his red guitar on stage these past couple of years… Kara has been a selfless giver of her time to various causes, serving on mission trips to Romania and many other places. Her smile, kindness, zest for life and her willingness to serve ANYWHERE have been so inspiring to me in the five years that I’ve known her… I really can’t think of two people who are better examples of integrity and “living life the right way” than these two. I’ll miss them both a lot, but I know that Texas is going to be getting two AMAZING people!!!

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Last night marked my third trip to the friendly confines of Dodger Stadium over the past twelve days. Dodger games vs. the Mets (June 12) and the Angels (June 17) were the first two events. Last night though, there would be no baseball played there. Instead, a capacity crowd was there to see the legendary band The Police in concert…

Prior to heading out to the game, my friends and I had an informal send-off for our friend, Dave Dixon who is headed off to his new life in Thailand next weekend. We decided to meet at one of our favorite local hangouts - B.J.’s Restaurant and Brewhouse in Thousand Oaks. Dave could not make the trip to the concert with the rest of us due to his upcoming trip overseas, but he did make time out of his busy schedule to stop by. Appropriately, Murray Head’s hit “One Night In Bangkok” was the song playing when we happened to enter BJ’s.

Dave, John Ruppert and myself are pictured at the left, while two more Daves - Gomberg and Sweet (both are meteorologists, by the way) are on the right with my longtime friend Nicole. After enjoying some great Chicago Style Pizza and some drinks, we said our good byes to Dave and then the five of us headed off to Dodger Stadium. The drive… well, it was SLOW!!! It took us nearly two hours to get there. Just in case you forgot why I don’t drive down to L.A. too much… We arrived nearly a full hour late for the show, but since the promoters probably already knew that the crowd would be late arriving, they didn’t let the opening act (the Foo Fighters) begin playing until 7:30 PM - an hour after the 6:30 PM time printed on the tickets… The “Fighters” put on a good show, though I have to admit, I didn’t know many of their songs. The highlights for me were probably their hits “Learn To Fly” and “Best Of Me.”

During the intermission, we took some pics, and did a little window shopping for Police merchandise… Actually, the “other” John did buy a concert T. Oh, and in that picture above, we turned into a palindrome of sorts… The two Johns are the bookends, the two Daves on the inside and Nicole is in the middle… no, we didn’t plan it that way.

The Police then took the stage at 9:15 and opened with their classic, “Message In A Bottle.” Their first set of fourteen songs included songs from their classic albums of the late 70’s and early 80’s and included such hits as “Wrapped Around Your Finger,” “Don’t Stand So Close To Me,” and “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.” The set concluded with their hit “Roxanne.” Two encores followed, the highlight being their huge hit “Every Breath You Take.” Overall, they sounded GREAT in concert. The acoustics at Dodger Stadium aren’t the best for a concert, but they managed to make it sound amazing even being at this disadvantage. For those of us that remember the 80’s, this was an experience that was priceless!

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Well, I just had a feeling yesterday was going to be a really good day and guess what??? It was!!! Unfortunately, I can’t share a whole lot about the day yet, but rest assured some very good things happened. One of (if not the) hardest things about blogging that I’ve learned over the three months now that I’ve been doing this is where to draw the line between what I want to say and what I can say… Also, how personal should I be??? Some days, I really feel like sharing a lot, others not so much… One thing I do know is that certain things like politics and religion are “no brainer” off-limits topics for the most part for me… though I will touch upon them every once in a while when necessary… So far, so good though. The feedback I’ve received from friends, family and even complete strangers has been OVERWHELMINGLY positive, and I look forward to continuing this thing as long as I can… With that, I just want to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who has encouraged me during this time. You guys are the best!!!

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Summertime, sunshine and baseball go hand in hand… so with that, let’s talk about it!!! It was a good night for my favorite teams and players… and even my first place CBS Sportsline team, the California Waves had a good night, ending it with 78 points and a season high eight point lead over the second place team!!! Here’s a look at the standings:

Rk Team                   BA    HR RBI   R  SB   K   ERA   WHIP  W  S Total
1 California Waves .2767 147 540 509 67 549 3.558 1.196 30 64 78.0
2 078 BEEF             .2802 116 479 519 92 604 3.954 1.335 44 31 70.0
3 Bottom Feeders   .2864 121 524 509 35 549 4.002 1.275 44 48 69.5

The Bottom Feeders have been in first or second the entire season, but their pitchers had been overachieving A LOT the first couple of months. Tim Hudson is pitching like the mediocre pitcher he has become again, and with that, the “Feeders” have taken a mighty fall…

As for the real-life games, I’ll start with the locals… The Dodgers got yet another quality start from their ace, Derek Lowe against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Tropicana Field. The Dodgers staked “D-Lowe” to a 4-0 lead in the top of the fifth. The D-Rays did manage to get to him for single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh… In 6 2/3 innings, Lowe gave up five hits while walking one and striking out five more batters to give him 77 of them on the season. It certainly seemed strange to see Lowe listed amongst the NL’s top 10 in strikeouts in last Sunday’s papers… he’s on pace for 170 strikeouts, which would be 24 more than his previous career best. Needless to say, if you drafted him in your leagues, these strikeouts have been an unexpected bonus. Eight wins, a 3.14 ERA, a 1.14 WHIP and a .227 batting average against have made him amongst the best first half draft day bargains so far. Back to the game… the Dodgers added two more runs in the top of the eighth and Takeshi Saito closed things out for his 20th save of the year in the 6-3 Dodger win.

The Los Angeles/Anaheim Angels are starting to act like a broken record… fall behind early, mount comeback in the final three innings, give the crowd some thrills and a W. In four straight games, the Angels have faced three run or larger deficits… and going into the bottom of the 7th inning of each of those games, they faced a two run or larger deficit… They won two of their three games against the Houston Astros, only failing to come back Wednesday night in a game they actually led by three runs at one point. Last night they fell behind 4-0 to the Pittsburgh Pirates as starting pitcher Joe Saunders struggled early… Jason Bay led the Pittsburgh attack with a two run homer (his 12th) in the third inning to double what was a 2-0 lead. Saunders settled down after that though, shutting down the Pirates in the next three frames… Orlando Cabrera and Reggie Willits would be sure that the crowd would go home happy… “O-Cab” would start the Angels rally with his fourth homer of the year in the bottom of the 6th inning to pull them to within three runs. Willits then doubled in catcher Mike Napoli in the 7th to make it 4-two… O-Cab struck again, plating Willits on a single to center to draw the Angels to within one run. It was Willits’ turn again in the bottom of the 8th - another double plated Nathan Hayes to knot the game at four. Meanwhile, the Angels bullpen was once again magnificent… Chris Bootcheck shut down the Pirates for two innings after Saunders departed. Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez pitched a scoreless ninth… the Angels wouldn’t score in the bottom of the frame and the game went into extra innings. Scot Shields would hold the Pirates in check in the 10th and 11th innings… In the bottom of the 11th, it was O-Cab time again… A single to left with one out off Jason Bayliss plated Chone Figgins for the game winning run. With the win, the Halos now have a seven game lead over the Oakland A’s in the American League West.

Meanwhile, on the other coast, the Washington Nationals looked to put an end to their home losing streak as they faced the Cleveland Indians. Though they’ve been great on the road lately, the Nats had lost four straight and seven out of eight in the friendly confines of RFK Stadium. Their poor play at home coincides with my recent trip to Washington, D.C. and going to the final two games of their series against the San Diego Padres. Did I put a jinx on them? I sure hope not!!! Well, last night made me feel a little better as the Nats got an “effectively wild” 4 1/3 inning outing from starter Micah Bowie and 4 2/3 innings of shutout ball from the bullpen. Bowie struck out an impressive seven batters, but also gave up five hits and walked four batters… How he only gave up one run with all of those baserunners is a mystery to me. Los Angeles native, Brandon Wilson drove in his first two runs of the year with his first two hits since being called up from the minors, and Christian Guzman homered in a 4-1 Nats win. Chad Cordero came in to pick up his 12th save of the year. The game also featured a VERY comical moment… something which I’ve only seen happen once or twice ever before… In the second inning, the Indians’ Frankin Gutierrez hit what appeared to be a routine grounder to the Nats third-baseman Ryan Zimmerman. The ball took a bad hop though, and ended up right in Zimmerman’s shirt!!! Bowie would go on to say afterwards “that’s going to be a blooper highlight. I’ve never seen that before.” FYI, Sportscenter has been playing this clip over and over… I think it just may end up on YouTube if it hasn’t already! With that, perhaps my hex on the Nats is gone? I certainly hope so!

Speaking of hexes, what in the world has happened to Atlanta Braves slugger Andrew Jones??? Two years ago, Jones hit 51 homers and drove in 128 runs, and last year he tallied 41 HR’s and 129 RBI’s, while posting .263 and .262 batting averages those respective seasons. Last night Andrew’s batting average slipped below the dreaded “Mendoza Line!” FYI, the term “Mendoza Line” is a misnomer… People say you’re below the “Mendoza Line” when your batting average falls below .200. In fact, the man whom it is named after, Mario Mandoza, actually had a career .215 batting average! An 0 for 3 performance last night against the Detroit Tigers put Jones at a .199 batting average on the season. His power numbers are way down as well - he’s only got 11 homers and 42 RBI’s to this point. His strikeouts are also way up… he’s on pace for a career high 160 of them. Is he injured??? Is he pressing??? Is it a combination of both??? Who knows!!! All that I do know is that he probably has been the league’s most biggest disappointment so far. The fact that I have him on so many of my fantasy teams is also a little disheartening. For now, I have him benched in all of my leagues - yes, it’s a hard pill to swallow… but I want to win!!! Your third round draft pick is supposed to be a cornerstone to your offense. One can only hope that he gets himself straightened out soon and returns to the consistent Andruw Jones we have become accustomed to seeing these past nine seasons…

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Finally, on a personal note I just want to take a moment to rememeber my late father… Today would have been his 73rd birthday. On September 30, 1999 he was taken from us by cancer. Rest In Peace, Dad. We will never forget you.

*edit* I didn’t even think about this when choosing my blog title for today, but I took it from a Faith Hill song… My Dad’s favorite artist was Faith!!!… he actually knew her when she first was starting out in the music business and gave her LOTS of encouragement… she’s come a long way from those humble beginnings!

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Do you ever have one of those mornings where you just can’t wait for the sun to come up for the start of a new day? Being the eternal optimist, I look forward to the sun rising practically every day, but I particularly looked forward to it today. I just know today is going to be an amazing day and it really hasn’t even started yet…

So what am I all excited about? Could be the fact that my fantasy baseball teams are doing so well… all three of my CBS Sportsline teams are in contention near the midway point of the season and one of them is in first place! Nothing would feel better than to win some of these money leagues I’m in… winning money for doing something I love to do? Imagine that!!! Is there such an occupation as “professional fantasy baseball player?” I wonder.

I also have some more concerts coming up… the Police tomorrow night, Brad Paisley the following Saturday… I’ll be seeing a lot of friends at both events so you know what that means… It’s always a lot more fun when I can illustrate my posts with pics!

*edit* By the way, I just found out that my seat for the Paisley show is going to be in the first SIX rows!!!

Also, more trips are coming up for me… actually since I’ve used up all but 1/2 a day of vacation time from work, they’re going to have to be weekenders. Yes, the red-eye is my friend! Should I give any hints yet??? I hear there might be a “Tiger sighting” in a couple of weeks… yes, THAT Tiger! I don’t think that 16×20 picture I have of him with Jack Nicklaus (which I won in the silent auction at the EBC Golf Tournament last month) will travel too well in a plane… My friends tell me he loves to autograph this kind of stuff. I guess I’ll just have to wait until he comes to the nearby Sherwood Country Club for his annual event there in a few months…

And yes, there are more baseball games in my future… not this month though… Four MLB games in span of 16 days in two cities involving five different teams… I will be at Dodger Stadium tomorrow night, but that’s for the aforementioned Police concert…

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Speaking of baseball, lets cover a few things here before the weekend… The Dodgers trailed the Toronto Blue Jays for most of the day yesterday, falling behind 2-0. Chad Billingsley, limited to a seventy pitch count, threw precisely that many pitches before being pulled with two outs in the fourth inning… Billingsley pitched fairly well while in there, giving up only two hits while striking out two… Three walks and a two run homer to Aaron Hill in the second inning did slightly blemish the performance. Shaun Marcum pitched a very effective six innings for the Jays, giving up two runs on only three hits, while walking three… Jeff Kent hit a 2-run homer in the top of the 6th inning to tie the game at 2. Just a note on this game, it seems the home plate umpire had a slighty tight strike zone - 10 walks were issued between the two teams for the game… The Jays took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the 6th as Gregg Zahn’s sacrifice fly scored Matt Stairs… The Jays brought in Casey Janssen in the top of the 8th inning… those of us who have seen Janssen pitch the past couple of years know that the 0.95 ERA he possessed coming into the game was not reflective of the kind of pitcher he is… Simply put, he’s just a VERY average pitcher… the law of averages was overdue to catch up to him, and yesterday just that happened! The Dodgers parlayed a walk and five hits into a six run inning as Janssen saw his ERA rise to 2.37… The Dodgers then breezed to an 8-4 victory… The win puts the Dodgers only 1/2 game behind the NL Western Division co-leading San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks.

In Colorado, the Rockies slayed the mighty New York Yankees again to complete a three game sweep!!! After winning 14 of 17 games to pull within eight games of the Boston Red Sox a few days ago, the Yanks now find themselves 10 1/2 games back. A good thing for those of us that are Red Sox fans! Roger Clemens was hit hard and often by the Rockies, giving up four runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings while walking one and striking out six. Rodrigo Lopez bobbed and weaved through 5 2/3 innings for the Rockies to pick up his fourth win, giving up only two runs despite giving up seven hits and a walk. Brian Fuentes closed things out in the 9th for his 20th save of the year as the Rockies held on for a 4-3 win…

In Texas, the Rangers and Cubs finished off what can only be termed “the big disappointment series.” Both teams were expected to be contenders this year, instead both teams find themselves mired well below .500. One of the lone bright spots for the Rangers this year has been their big free agent acquisition, pitcher Eric Gagne. “Gags” has been nothing short of brilliant this year for the Rangers, and after seeing him go through everything he has the past couple of years first hand following the Dodgers, this is REALLY nice to see! In 19 innings this year, he has only given up one run for a microscopic 0.47 ERA. He also has 19 strikeouts and seven saves to go along with two wins - he picked up that second win yesterday as the Rangers scored a run in the bottom of the ninth on a Frank Catalanotto single for a 6-5 win… Life is all about perseverance and Gags is certainly a great example of that!

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It isn’t very often that a big music act makes a free in-store appearance in my hometown of Thousand Oaks. We call it “T.O.” for short by the way… our city had the moniker long before controversial NFL star Terrell Owens did. It was only by a matter of good luck/fate that I even knew that the band Lifehouse was going to be performing at the T.O. Best Buy yesterday - long story short is what happened is that I had gone to the Wal-Mart in Oxnard after work on Tuesday to pick up the new Brad Paisley, Bon Jovi and Lifehouse CD’s… I usually go to one of my local Wal-Mart stores because they have the lowest prices (usually $9.72 during the first week of release). I purchased several copies of the Paisley and Bon Jovi CD’s, however the Lifehouse CD wasn’t on sale - it was $12.99. So, I decided to head to my local Best Buy in T.O. (where it was only $9.99) and I purchased five copies… In the process I got four wristbands which would guarantee spots in line for those that wanted to get autographs from the band after the live acoustic set they were performing. I contacted a lot of my close friends to advise them of the show, but given it was such short notice, most could not make it. My longtime friend and also neighbor of almost five years, Bryan Boggs (pictured with me) was able to make it for the performance though.

Lifehouse took the stage a little after 6:45 and opened the acoustic set with their top five hit from their last album “You And Me.” They then performed the first single off of their new Who We Are release “First Time.” The crowd of was REALLY into it and then everyone went wild when they started performing their number one hit, “Hanging By A Moment.” The crowd gave a big ovation and then the band went off the stage… the people continued to cheer and screamed for an encore! The crowd got their wish as the band came back out for one more song… A very nice performance of their song “Broken” (which is also on their new CD) closed the performing part of the evening…

The band went backstage for a bit after that, and they organized us into line… we waited for what seemed like forever for them to come back out - it really was only about fifteen minutes… By 7:30, I was at the front of the line and talking to the band and getting their autographs. I then hung out for an hour or so with other fans after the show for a good hour and spent a lot of time talking to a guy named Nick - a longtime friend of founding bandmember and lead singer, Jason Wade (above left).

Just before I left, I ran into a couple of their younger fans - a couple of girls in their late teens… The two sisters were sad because they weren’t allowed to keep their wristbands as souvenirs of the event… As they didn’t have copies of the CD with them, they only had their autographs from the band on plain pieces of paper. The pink wristbands actually had the band name “Lifehouse” on them and would definitely make nice momentos… Well, since I had two unused wristbands just sitting in my wallet, there was only one thing left to do: give them to the girls!!!… You should have seen the smiles on their faces!!! Actually, you can see their smiles as they’re in the final picture of my set below! It certainly gave me GREAT joy to do something so simple, yet so meaningful to these two!!!

A fun time was had by all… I can’t say I’ve ever spent two hours at one time at my local Best Buy before - I was amongst the last to leave, by the way… Yes, I had myself a good time! I certainly wish that more big music acts would do that kind of thing here in T.O… Finally, kudos to the GREAT staff at the T.O. Best Buy for doing such a nice job in organizing things there!!!

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After that fun event, I came home to watch a little baseball. Much to my surprise, the Angels and Ervin Santana were losing 4-2 to the Houston Astros in the top of the 7th inning. Santana always pitches well at home, so it shocked me to see he had given up so many runs… Not to fear though, the Angels would come back to score six runs in the bottom of the frame, highlighted by a mammoth 3-run homer by Vladimir Guerrero. For “Vlad” it was his 13th dinger of the year. Scot Shields and closer Francisco Rodriguez would close things out in the 8-4 Angels win.

The Dodgers on the other hand didn’t have a comeback in them… Hong-Chih Kuo didn’t homer, toss his bat, or pitch very well on this night… Actually, he was downright awful in giving up eight earned runs in only 1 2/3 innings last night against the Toronto Blue Jays. The rout was on, and Roy “Doc” Halladay breezed through eight innings to pick up his eighth win of the season, only allowing a run on six hits, while walking one and striking out four in a 12-1 Blue Jays win.

In another game of note, the Chicago Cubs took on the Texas Rangers and longtime Cub, Sammy Sosa. In his first appearance against his former team, Sosa made some history, bashing his 600th career home run in the bottom of the fifth inning off of Cubs starter Jason Marquis. Sosa becomes only the fifth player to reach that historic barrier, joining Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth and Willie Mays. For someone that didn’t play at all last year, this was certainly a nice, though unexpected, accomplishment. Most people thought the 38-year-old Sosa wouldn’t do much this year… but so far he’s proved the naysayers wrong, hitting 12 homers and driving in 53 while hitting .242.

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