Victim #15

The Oakland A's are one of those teams that I never quite count out. Billy Beane and the coaching staff there have always seemed to be able to pull out some deal or put somebody in the right position to help the team win. That's why it's taken me so long to eliminate them. But, I have to. It really looks like they're not going to make the playoffs this year, which greatly decreases the chances of them winning the World Series.

But this means that I have only one option left in the American League West: The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, after foolishly counting out the Seattle Mariners much too soon. They may both make the postseason, but I've still got my money on Anaheim.

Marlin Fishing

Egads! How is it that no matter how much you cut out of your life, the things that are still in your life expand to take up as much time, if not more, than the things you had in your life before? Sheesh. That, by way of vague explanation, is my way of apologizing for not posting as often as I had been or should be doing. It's a matter of prioritizing. I'll see what I can do.

But for now, I need to eliminate another team. It's getting tougher. I'm close to having to pick teams that have winning records. There will soon be broken hearts strewn across the heartland.

But not today. It's not like they're the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, but nobody really cares about the Florida Marlins, do they? That's why they can't hold onto their star players. That's why they can't get a new stadium deal, with time running out on their lease at Dolphins Stadium. Maybe they'll just move to Portland or Las Vegas and be done with it. Meh. Maybe not. These things take time, apparently. Maybe by then they'll field another World Series-caliber team. But not this year.

This Edition of World Series Survivor Has Been Pre-Empted to Bring You...

This.

This is the baby boy in my wife's belly. Everything looks fine and we're expecting him to arrive sometime in December.


What a nice Christmas present...

Vacation #3

Vacation #2

My Vacation

Here are some pictures from my recent trip to Philadelphia/Maryland/DC

Reading Material

After finishing The Black Echo, by Michael Connelly, I went into a big library boom and collected A Mammoth Murder and Murder Among the OWLS, by Bill Crider, Murder in the North End, by Rochester native Patricia (PB) Ryan, and The Colorado Kid, by some guy named Steve. They were all enjoyable, but I gotta say that I liked Pat's book the best. It's not because of her location, either. She writes a good story with well-drawn characters and beautiful period detail (1870s). I just learned, also, while looking for these images, that the sixth book in her "Gilded Age" series is coming out in December, entitled A Bucket of Ashes. Here's a look:

















Edit: I just learned from Patricia's site that this is going to be the last in the series, and that all threads will be tied up nicely.
NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Back from Vacation

Well, I'm back from Vacation, and it's time to get down to business. I've got lots to blog about, but I'm way behind on my doomsaying. In the original plan, I was going to give Major League Baseball a reprieve for All-Star Week, but I missed a couple of weeks along the way, so I have to eliminate someone this week, and those someones are....

The Chicago White Sox. This is the first of the recent World Series winners that I have eliminated. The Cards are still in it. The Red Sox are still in it. You'd have to go back to the 1990 World Series Champs, the Cincinnati Reds, to find the only other recent Champ to be eliminated thus far. Which probably says a lot about the atmosphere of winning. But the White Sox are floundering. The pitching that they rode back in 2005 has been virtually depleted. They made a commitment to the future by re-signing Mark Buehrle, but the future is not now.

Yikes!

Holy Crow!

It's been over two weeks since my last post! Well, I've been taking a much-needed vacation to the Mid-Atlantic. It's something I can tell you about later. But I wanted you to know that the San Francisco Giants will NOT win the World Series this year. Barry Bonds appears to be one of those guys destined to never have a ring. Oh, Well. Too much controversey anyway.