Monday, June 19, 2006

Game Recap III

Tonight, I played my first game in my career, in center field. A bit scary, since I don't have the greatest range, but, I'm a solid fielder. Only one ball came out to me, a solid line drive base hit, that I picked up and got back into the infield quickly. So I did fine.

We were up against a tough pitcher, who had a really high arc, and could land strikes quite regularly. My first ab, I hit a hard one hopper to the second baseman, who went to 2b for a force on the runner, but I hustled and got to first before the throw to keep out of a double play. Then a couple guys got out. My next ab, in the 3rd inning, I hit a liner over the first baseman's head (he nearly had a webgem, leaping grab on it, but it glanced off the top of his glove) for another base hit. Again, the side was retired. Then in the fifth, I got a pitch that I could pull, and hit a hard groundball past the third baseman down the line for another basehit. Again... the side was retired by the other teams good defense and pitching. Now don't get me wrong, we'd been getting hits and scoring runs here and there, just nothing out of the bottom half of the order pretty much (the guys after me, I batted 4th for the second game in a row). So, we got into the bottom of the seventh, with the game tied at 7-7. The leadoff hitter got out, but the #2 guy, hit a nice double. One of our great hitters, who had hit an inside-the-park-home-run in his previous at bat, unfortunately flew out to the centerfielder, but to shallow to let the runner advance at all. So, I was up, with two outs... I swung and missed at the first pitch, which was a bit short. Then the pitcher lofted one up, waaaay short, no way I was gonna swing at that. So, with the count 1-1, he let the pitch fly. It was coming down towards the outside and front part of the plate, my happy zone. I hit a hard shot past the second baseman, and got the walkoff victory! (I kept on running to second on the play to give myself credit for a double ~.^) So, I had another 4/4 day, with the one, important RBI :D

That's all folks. I promise my next post won't be about baseball. Ya just gotta give me a bit of a break, since it IS in the middle of the season.

-Mophia

Church of Baseball IV

Well, the Brewers lost tonight to the Detroit Tigers. But it's been a great week all around. Early in the week, Brewerfan.net had a give-a-way for their last open seat to their FanFest 2006, which I signed up for. Thursday, they held the drawing, and lo and behold.... I WAS THE WINNER!!! wOOt!

So, saturday morning, after softball practice, two hours in humid 90+ degree weather, I zipped home, showered and changed, and headed down to Milwaukee. A few minutes in line and I got parked, then spent a few minutes finding their party tent. I introduced myself and got my ticket and chilled for a couple minutes. There was about 25ish folks there. I went and played catch with one of the kids for a little while while waiting for the food to get ready. The food was great, grilled and cooked by various staff members of the website. I helped with the cleanup, since everything had to be taken care of by game time.

Well, after that we headed in to our seats, and the game was on! It was an excellently pitched game on both sides. Dave Bush had a spot of trouble in the 2nd inning. Jake Westbrook gave up only a run on an error. Then, finally, in the bottom of the 9th inning, against the Indians closer, Bob Wickman, the Brewers started mounting a rally. After Corey Koskie struck out to start off the inning, Carlos Lee drew a walk, as did Prince Fielder following him. Bill Hall got a bloop single to drop in, loading the bases for Geoff Jenkins. The entire crowd of 42,000+ people were on their feet cheering. Then he ripped a line drive down the right field line for a walkoff two run base hit and the stadium erupted! So, now i'm 3-0 in Brewer games i've attended and I had a great time!

Here's a link to some pictures (including one of me >.>) for those interested.

Here's a link to the thread discussing FanFest.

So, now for the week in review...

When last I updated y'all on their progress, they were 31-34. Including tonights loss, they are at 35-36, which is a 4-2 record last week. They swept the Indians, and won a series against the Reds, as well as the series before that (part of which includes the last update). Good luck to the Crew for this week.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Fun Times

For those of you who do not know, I joined the ranks of the unemployed Thursday, June 8th. So, I have had one thing that I haven't had in years, in plentiful supply this past week, time.

Thursday, the day I was fired, I went home and finished filling out a couple of applications I had picked up the day before and talked to various people, family and friends and let them know the news. I went through careerbuilder.com for a few hours. Took a swim in the pool. Did cleaning around the house, washed dishes for my sister, organized my desk and did various other things.

Friday, I turned in said applications, did more online job surfing (which activities are standard every day events, so I'm going to stop mentioning it now). Cleaned out my car. Mowed the parents lawn. Went out with mum, pop, sis and our former across the street neighbors.

Saturday, I had softball practice for a couple hours in the morning. Then went to my Grandma's (Dad's side) old farm and helped mow the lawn and do a few miscellaneous things. Hung out, ate supper, etc.

Sunday was church, a big shindig kids service with a big carnival outside. Everyone had fun. We rocked out at spanish service with me on the drums.

In short, I had the best weekend i've had in several years! Here's to me gettin a job soon. ^.^ PM

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Mumu of Sevenths (or something)

1st off... what in the world is a meme??? In spite of not knowing what one is, I shall embark upon this great adventure, a meme of sevens... (they appear to be lists, though how they got called 'memememememes' is beyond my grasp of culture ^.^):
(None of these are in any particular odor, in fact they all smell quite nice, i think. They also aren't in order.)

Seven Things to Do Before I Die:

1. Fly in a fighter jet.
2. Hit a HR OVER the fence.
3. Get married.
4. Have kids.
5. Have a band.
6. Have a GOOD band.
7. Record an epic CD.

Seven Things I Cannot Do:

1. Swallow pills.
2. See without my glasses.
3. Play guitar like Joe Satriani (maybe someday, but no time soon).
4. Write in cursive (yes, I learned in elementary school, but never continued practicing and have forgotten how to write it (though I can read it oddly enough), I can sign my name like a doctor though ;D).
5. Hit a HR OVER the fence.
6. Wire a house for electricity (another maybe someday).
7. Eat cow lung/stomach/any other organs that Hispanics seem to like...

Seven Books (or series) I Love:

1. Bobby's Girl - J.D. Austin
2. The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
3. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron Series - Michael A. Stackpole/Aaron Allston
4. Star Wars: The Lando Calrissian Adventures - L. Neil Smith
5. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
6. The Phule Series - Robert Asprin (Phule's Company, Phule's Paradise, A Phule and His Money, Phule Me Twice, No Phule Like An Old Phule)
7. The M.Y.T.H. Series - Rober Asprin (12 Books, I ain't listin 'em all ~.^)
8. The End of Eternity - Isaac Asimov
9. Armageddon 2419 A.D. - Philip Francis Nowlan
10. The Trixie Belden Series - Julie Campbell (First 6 Books), 'Kathryn Kenny' (several in house writers at Western Publishing)

Hmm... I GUESS I'll stop with this list here... :P

Seven Movies I'd Watch Over and Over Again

Well, most movies I watch over and over again, are due to my sister watching movies over and over again. One time a month or so is usually good enough for me ~.^

1. The Princess Bride
2. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
3. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
4. LOTR series.
5. The Chronicles of Narnia (both the new LW&W and the ole BBC/Wonderworks productions).
6. Joe Satriani: Live In San Francisco
7. The Original Star Wars Trilogy

People to tag?
Sorry, I only know one person with a blog... >.>

Well, that's all folks! Hope yer happy :D

The Church of Baseball III (with Game Recap II)

A bit long in coming, this is the third edition of, The Church of Baseball!

Over the course of these past few weeks, the Brewers have fallen to 31-34. Losing two of your starting pitchers, and their top replacement has a tendency to do that kind of thing. The merry-go-round of minor league replacements helped the Crew to an 8 game losing streak, and a record of 12-15 since I last updated you. Of course, if you factor out that losing streak, they haven't done too bad ~.^ Rick Helling, the replacement starter, is due back soon, and the pitching staff as a whole has rebounded some. Here's to good luck for the Brewers until I post again!

Now, I'm sure you're desperate to know how my softball season has been going since my first game. Well, it's been alright. I did well my second game (which was actually in a work league that was pretty sappy, but still fun). My line in that game was, 3/4, 2b, 2 R, 4 RBI. Had a few snappy plays on the defense too. Yay!

Game 3 was back in the normal league. Was fun, but not quite so good. We lost. Boohoo. ~.^ I didn't hit so well, 1/3, and even my hit was kinda icky. On the defensive side, a few balls were hit my direction, but none within my range to catch.

Game 4 was last night, and it was great all the way around. Due to a shortage of players, I actually ended up playing 3b. I've barely had any infield practice so far this year, so I was pretty rusty there. But, the I improved steadily as the game went on. The first ball that was hit to me, I kinda shied away from, and missed (really bad). The second ball, I stayed on better, and at least got a glove on and slowed it down (not too bad). the third ball, I picked up (good!) then proceeded to make a boneheaded mistake and not get any outs (bad). The fourth ball, I picked up, and got a force out at 3b (great) and attempted to throw to 1b quickly for a double play, but was a bit wild, but the 1b got in front of it and stopped it (not bad). The fifth ball, was a line drive hit to my backhand side (my right) which I snagged (great!). The sixth ball was also a line drive, this time a bit to my left, and at my feet, which i also caught quite niftily (really great!) Now, for my hitting: 4/4, 2b, 2 R, 1 RBI. First couple hits were pretty blah, but my last two were really quite good. Yay again!

Ok, that catches up the church of baseball and game recap editions. I solemnly swear to do that mumu of sevenths in the next couple days. really!

Oh yes, my season totals, which i'm sure disinterests you all greatly ;D :
9/12, 2 2b, 1 3b, 5 R, 6 RBI, .750 Avg., 1.083 Slg., 1.833 OPS.