Because I love talking about Ryan Howard:
Ryan Howard 2011 stats v. right handed pitching:
.251 AVG / .355 OBP / .525 SLG - 20 home runs in 263 ABs
Ryan Howard 2011 stats v. left handed pitching:
.236 AVG / .299 OBP / .317 SLG - ZERO home runs in 123 ABs
The only way the Phillies should trade for a right handed bat is if we are willing to have said bat platoon with Howard at first, or pinch hit for him in the late innings if he has to face a left handed reliever. As we are not willing to do either, I see no reason to acquire said right-handed batter (who would probably not be much better than the platoon of Domonic Brown and John Mayberry).
Friday, July 29, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
Its a shame really. You have True Blood on at 9 PM, and while I think the show should have just stuck with vampires and not gotten into menads, witches, shamans, werewolves, werecats, fairies and whatever other supernatural creatures will appear in the next episode, its still pretty good. And Curb Your Enthusiasm, back on at 10 PM, is very funny. Then you have Entourage, which is limping along to its ultimate conclusion.
This season starts off 90 days or so after season 7. I say this because Vince declares he has been 90 days sober on his way out of the rehab center. In that time E and the guy from Ocean's 11 have taken over the Murray Berenson management company and now run things. I am unsure of how this has all occurred since E has never really had any big name clients other than Vince, but it is what it is. Sloan and E have broken off their engagement because E is a moron and didn't want to sign a prenup. Turtle is now a heroin addict (maybe) because he has lost 100 or so pounds.
Vince doesn't like E now, although it is not clear why he blames him for his drug problems. Nonetheless, their dispute is resolved after E says that he will try to keep friendship and business separate. What a revelation! I wonder if this has come up in any previous episodes.
Vince brainstorms a terrible movie idea, everyone agrees it is terrible, but it suddenly becomes plausible by casting Drama as the star of the movie. Turtle then tries to get rid of a joint but screws that up and burns the house down. Ari is sad that his wife has left him and is seeing another man. I'm still unsure why she left him - I think it was over some bad publicity of Ari yelling at people - and that's enough for her to get rid of him?
I don't know why I continue to watch this show.
This season starts off 90 days or so after season 7. I say this because Vince declares he has been 90 days sober on his way out of the rehab center. In that time E and the guy from Ocean's 11 have taken over the Murray Berenson management company and now run things. I am unsure of how this has all occurred since E has never really had any big name clients other than Vince, but it is what it is. Sloan and E have broken off their engagement because E is a moron and didn't want to sign a prenup. Turtle is now a heroin addict (maybe) because he has lost 100 or so pounds.
Vince doesn't like E now, although it is not clear why he blames him for his drug problems. Nonetheless, their dispute is resolved after E says that he will try to keep friendship and business separate. What a revelation! I wonder if this has come up in any previous episodes.
Vince brainstorms a terrible movie idea, everyone agrees it is terrible, but it suddenly becomes plausible by casting Drama as the star of the movie. Turtle then tries to get rid of a joint but screws that up and burns the house down. Ari is sad that his wife has left him and is seeing another man. I'm still unsure why she left him - I think it was over some bad publicity of Ari yelling at people - and that's enough for her to get rid of him?
I don't know why I continue to watch this show.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
I've done a lot of things lately that are usually identified with people half my age:
1) I bought two boxes of Topps Allen & Ginter 2011 baseball cards. I still buy cards every now and then. They've come a long way from what they used to be - most boxes have at least one autographed card in them, and there are a lot of cards with pieces of game worn jerseys in them.
Allen & Ginter is a bit of an odd duck - there are autographs of non-baseball celebrities thrown into the mix. The big hit this year is a Manny Pacquiao autograph, and if you are lucky enough to hit one you could pop it onto ebay for around $700. Not too shabby. But there are also some other cards I was interested in:
Daniel Boulud autograph (famous chef)
Heather Mitts autograph (famous hot soccer player)
Stan Lee autograph (creator of Marvel comics)
Of course, I hit none of them, getting autographs of Gio Gonzalez (an okay pitcher for the Oakland As) and Angelo Dundee (famous boxing trainer / cornerman for Muhammad Ali). I bought the Mitts and Boulud auto on ebay anyway after my unsuccesful attempt to get them the old fashioned way. I'll be happy when they arrive.
2) I played a lot of LA Noire. Its a video game that has pretty realistic graphics. It apparently needs them, because you are a detective and most of the game involves trying to figure out if someone is lying or telling the truth. I am pretty awful at the game, but it is fun nonetheless.
I didn't actually purchase the game. I mentioned it at some point to Kim's 10 year old nephew, and when they were in town he suggested to Kim that she should buy it for me because I was working so much. Kim reluctantly agreed. I give 99.5% of the credit for the purchase to him.
3) I bought the WWE Money in the Bank pay-per-view event. I still watch and follow wrestling. A few weeks ago, a wrestler named CM Punk did this amazing promo (speech) where he ran down WWE management. The promo was awesome mainly because it straddled the grounds between WWE reality and "real" reality, i.e. the behind the scenes decisions in the WWE as to who will win a match, who gets the big push, who gets on promotional materials, etc. It created quite a buzz, and was made even buzzier by the fact that his WWE contract actually was supposed to run out this past Sunday. Very few people know for sure what went on with that, whether it was real or a storyline.
Anyway, the event was in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois, and the crowd was hugely in favor of him. I've never heard a WWE crowd be so loud. Even more interesting was that he was facing John Cena, a "face" (good guy), the current champion. Cena was booed mercilessly by the crowd. What ensued was an absolutely awesome 40 minute match that resulted in CM Punk defeating John Cena for the WWE Championship. Punk then celebrated with the championship and his friends on the streets of Chicago. This made TMZ.
I understand that its not real. But people care about non-real stuff all the time. I was sad when Omar died in The Wire. I was happy when Seth Bullock beat up Alma Garrett's dad in Deadwood. And I was very happy when CM Punk won the WWE Championship in front of his hometown crowd.
1) I bought two boxes of Topps Allen & Ginter 2011 baseball cards. I still buy cards every now and then. They've come a long way from what they used to be - most boxes have at least one autographed card in them, and there are a lot of cards with pieces of game worn jerseys in them.
Allen & Ginter is a bit of an odd duck - there are autographs of non-baseball celebrities thrown into the mix. The big hit this year is a Manny Pacquiao autograph, and if you are lucky enough to hit one you could pop it onto ebay for around $700. Not too shabby. But there are also some other cards I was interested in:
Daniel Boulud autograph (famous chef)
Heather Mitts autograph (famous hot soccer player)
Stan Lee autograph (creator of Marvel comics)
Of course, I hit none of them, getting autographs of Gio Gonzalez (an okay pitcher for the Oakland As) and Angelo Dundee (famous boxing trainer / cornerman for Muhammad Ali). I bought the Mitts and Boulud auto on ebay anyway after my unsuccesful attempt to get them the old fashioned way. I'll be happy when they arrive.
2) I played a lot of LA Noire. Its a video game that has pretty realistic graphics. It apparently needs them, because you are a detective and most of the game involves trying to figure out if someone is lying or telling the truth. I am pretty awful at the game, but it is fun nonetheless.
I didn't actually purchase the game. I mentioned it at some point to Kim's 10 year old nephew, and when they were in town he suggested to Kim that she should buy it for me because I was working so much. Kim reluctantly agreed. I give 99.5% of the credit for the purchase to him.
3) I bought the WWE Money in the Bank pay-per-view event. I still watch and follow wrestling. A few weeks ago, a wrestler named CM Punk did this amazing promo (speech) where he ran down WWE management. The promo was awesome mainly because it straddled the grounds between WWE reality and "real" reality, i.e. the behind the scenes decisions in the WWE as to who will win a match, who gets the big push, who gets on promotional materials, etc. It created quite a buzz, and was made even buzzier by the fact that his WWE contract actually was supposed to run out this past Sunday. Very few people know for sure what went on with that, whether it was real or a storyline.
Anyway, the event was in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois, and the crowd was hugely in favor of him. I've never heard a WWE crowd be so loud. Even more interesting was that he was facing John Cena, a "face" (good guy), the current champion. Cena was booed mercilessly by the crowd. What ensued was an absolutely awesome 40 minute match that resulted in CM Punk defeating John Cena for the WWE Championship. Punk then celebrated with the championship and his friends on the streets of Chicago. This made TMZ.
I understand that its not real. But people care about non-real stuff all the time. I was sad when Omar died in The Wire. I was happy when Seth Bullock beat up Alma Garrett's dad in Deadwood. And I was very happy when CM Punk won the WWE Championship in front of his hometown crowd.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Not sure how I missed this the first time around:
Why don’t I believe in God? No, no no, why do YOU believe in God? Surely the burden of proof is on the believer. You started all this. If I came up to you and said, "Why don’t you believe I can fly?" You’d say, "Why would I?" I’d reply, "Because it’s a matter of faith." If I then said, “Prove I can’t fly. Prove I can’t fly see, see, you can’t prove it can you?” You’d probably either walk away, call security or throw me out of the window and shout, "F—ing fly then you lunatic."
Why don’t I believe in God? No, no no, why do YOU believe in God? Surely the burden of proof is on the believer. You started all this. If I came up to you and said, "Why don’t you believe I can fly?" You’d say, "Why would I?" I’d reply, "Because it’s a matter of faith." If I then said, “Prove I can’t fly. Prove I can’t fly see, see, you can’t prove it can you?” You’d probably either walk away, call security or throw me out of the window and shout, "F—ing fly then you lunatic."
Thursday, July 14, 2011
I joined Google+ this past weekend. I haven't spent a ton of time on it just yet, but at this point I am skeptical that I'll be sticking with it. The concept of circles is interesting enough (although I don't have all the logistics quite straight in my head), but to me it just seems like a somewhat different version of Facebook. And I'm not sure that it is necessarily better or worse.
Even if it is a slightly improved version of facebook (or even "very improved"), the point of a social networking site is that your friends are all on it. So even if it is better, everyone I know is already on Facebook. Thus, it will only become relevant if all my friends create a Google+ account as well, which is impossible right now unless you get invited by someone. The first mover advantage / inertia seems like it would be pretty important, although Friendster and Myspace have I guess shown that its not the end-all (although those were pretty crappy in retrospect).
I doubt I'll use both. If I were a betting man, I would wager I'll still be using facebook predominantly by the start of next year.
Even if it is a slightly improved version of facebook (or even "very improved"), the point of a social networking site is that your friends are all on it. So even if it is better, everyone I know is already on Facebook. Thus, it will only become relevant if all my friends create a Google+ account as well, which is impossible right now unless you get invited by someone. The first mover advantage / inertia seems like it would be pretty important, although Friendster and Myspace have I guess shown that its not the end-all (although those were pretty crappy in retrospect).
I doubt I'll use both. If I were a betting man, I would wager I'll still be using facebook predominantly by the start of next year.
Monday, July 11, 2011
We decided to have an improptu Philadelphia Phillies vacation weekend. It involved seeing the Saturday and Sunday Phillies games at Citizen's Bank Park (big series against the Braves) and an overnight stay at the Doubletree in Center City. Not a bad plan by any stretch of the imagination [pats self on back].
The trip to Philadelphia was via the Bolt Bus, which we had never taken before. The process was generally smooth, although the bus was warmer than we would have liked. Still, 25 bucks round trip for a slightly longer than 2 hour ride is a pretty good deal, especially when considering it is significantly cheaper than the Amtrak and significantly less annoying than doing some combination of NJ Transit and driving.
The first game was a tight affair that the Phillies lost in extra innings 4-1. I place most of the blame on Ryan Howard's obnoxiously bad defense, which indirectly led to the tiebreaking runs in the extra frames. We did get to witness a Cliff Lee home run, which was amazing. On the other hand, there was a very talkative Braves fan sitting behind us, and while I don't generally mind that sort of thing, I do mind it when he is just spouting gibberish in the guise of baseball knowledge.
Outright wrong things that I recall he said:
1) The Braves have no right handed relievers other than Craig Kimbrel (Wrong, there are at least two others);
2) Eric Hinske has been a pinch hitter his whole career (Wrong, he was the AL ROY when he came up and played everyday third base for the Blue Jays for around five years);
3) The Braves should put on a hit and run with a runner on second and two outs. "What's the downside" was his rationale (The downside is that there is little to no benefit and you might get thrown out at third. I think this is the first time in history anyone has ever suggested a hit and run in this situation);
4) Craig Kimbrel is really inconsistent (Wrong, Kimbrel hasn't given up a run in his last 14 innings, allowing only 6 baserunners in that stretch).
These are just the ones I remember right now. There were others. I bit my tongue and didn't say anything.
Saturday night we hung out with some old friends from high school, first having a few PBRs at a dive bar simply named "Bar". We then trekked over to a speakeasy type bar that served some very nice and meticulously crafted drinks. The end of the night involved a plate of eggs and scrapple that made me quite happy.
The Phillies game the next day was much better. A 14-1 absolute shallacking of the Braves, involving the following weird events that I will likely never, ever see again:
1) Raul Ibanez leaping and catching a ball at the wall;
2) Michael Martinez having four hits in one game;
3) Ryan Howard dropping an easy throw from shortstop Jimmy Rollins. Oh wait, that happens every other game.
Then, despite us having a ticket for the 7:30 PM Bolt Bus back to NYC, there was room on the 5:30 PM bus, so we got back even earlier than anticipated. A pretty darn good weekend overall.
The trip to Philadelphia was via the Bolt Bus, which we had never taken before. The process was generally smooth, although the bus was warmer than we would have liked. Still, 25 bucks round trip for a slightly longer than 2 hour ride is a pretty good deal, especially when considering it is significantly cheaper than the Amtrak and significantly less annoying than doing some combination of NJ Transit and driving.
The first game was a tight affair that the Phillies lost in extra innings 4-1. I place most of the blame on Ryan Howard's obnoxiously bad defense, which indirectly led to the tiebreaking runs in the extra frames. We did get to witness a Cliff Lee home run, which was amazing. On the other hand, there was a very talkative Braves fan sitting behind us, and while I don't generally mind that sort of thing, I do mind it when he is just spouting gibberish in the guise of baseball knowledge.
Outright wrong things that I recall he said:
1) The Braves have no right handed relievers other than Craig Kimbrel (Wrong, there are at least two others);
2) Eric Hinske has been a pinch hitter his whole career (Wrong, he was the AL ROY when he came up and played everyday third base for the Blue Jays for around five years);
3) The Braves should put on a hit and run with a runner on second and two outs. "What's the downside" was his rationale (The downside is that there is little to no benefit and you might get thrown out at third. I think this is the first time in history anyone has ever suggested a hit and run in this situation);
4) Craig Kimbrel is really inconsistent (Wrong, Kimbrel hasn't given up a run in his last 14 innings, allowing only 6 baserunners in that stretch).
These are just the ones I remember right now. There were others. I bit my tongue and didn't say anything.
Saturday night we hung out with some old friends from high school, first having a few PBRs at a dive bar simply named "Bar". We then trekked over to a speakeasy type bar that served some very nice and meticulously crafted drinks. The end of the night involved a plate of eggs and scrapple that made me quite happy.
The Phillies game the next day was much better. A 14-1 absolute shallacking of the Braves, involving the following weird events that I will likely never, ever see again:
1) Raul Ibanez leaping and catching a ball at the wall;
2) Michael Martinez having four hits in one game;
3) Ryan Howard dropping an easy throw from shortstop Jimmy Rollins. Oh wait, that happens every other game.
Then, despite us having a ticket for the 7:30 PM Bolt Bus back to NYC, there was room on the 5:30 PM bus, so we got back even earlier than anticipated. A pretty darn good weekend overall.
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Kim and a few of her girlfriends went to Puerto Rico for her bachelorette party. She had so much fun she decided we should take a trip there as well. This past weekend, that is exactly what we did.
Puerto Rico is a pretty strange place. But it is strange in a pretty awesome way:
It is part of the United States . . . but its not a state.
Spanish is the primary language . . . but most people speak perfectly fluent English . . . yet there are a ton of English language errors on menus, signs, etc.
There are a lot of high-end and middle-end hotels . . . and right near those same hotels are cockfighting arenas.
There are a lot of classic Puerto Rican restaurants around . . . and also a Chili's, Brother Jimmy's, Ruth Chris Steak House, etc.
The casinos were generally on the smaller side, but still a lot of fun. 5 dollar blackjack, craps and roulette tables were plentiful, as were some interesting slot machines. But the best part of the casinos was totally unrelated to gambling.
Early on in my visit I was walking over to where Kim was in the casino. On my way over there was a woman who was wheeling a cart around the casino. On this cart there was a big pot. She was giving out cups of chicken noodle soup! For free! And the soup was absolutely amazing - some of the best chicken noodle soup I've ever had. She also had ham and cheese sandwiches wrapped in foil. They gave these out for free too! I am in love with the concept. You're giving out drinks, so why not some food as well?
In terms of food, we liked almost everything we ordered, but nothing really wowed us (other than a skirt steak I had in the Condado area). Everything comes with plantains and / or rice & beans. If you like plantains and / or rice & beans, this is awesome. I like those things.
We took a tour of Old San Juan (called the Flavors of Old San Juan) that had some food stops along the way. It was overpriced and had some of the most mediocre food we had on the trip, so I cannot recommend that. Tripadvisor failed us for once. I think next time we'll just head to Old San Juan and find our own way about.
The beaches were pretty nice and clean. The ocean water was temperature was perfect. There were also random people coming around offering to sell you food. I like that kind of service.
Kim also drug me to a club on one night. It was surprisingly bearable. Although the skank level was a bit too high for Kim's liking. That wasn't so much of an issue for me.
I would wager we'll be back in Puerto Rico at some point in the near future.
Puerto Rico is a pretty strange place. But it is strange in a pretty awesome way:
It is part of the United States . . . but its not a state.
Spanish is the primary language . . . but most people speak perfectly fluent English . . . yet there are a ton of English language errors on menus, signs, etc.
There are a lot of high-end and middle-end hotels . . . and right near those same hotels are cockfighting arenas.
There are a lot of classic Puerto Rican restaurants around . . . and also a Chili's, Brother Jimmy's, Ruth Chris Steak House, etc.
The casinos were generally on the smaller side, but still a lot of fun. 5 dollar blackjack, craps and roulette tables were plentiful, as were some interesting slot machines. But the best part of the casinos was totally unrelated to gambling.
Early on in my visit I was walking over to where Kim was in the casino. On my way over there was a woman who was wheeling a cart around the casino. On this cart there was a big pot. She was giving out cups of chicken noodle soup! For free! And the soup was absolutely amazing - some of the best chicken noodle soup I've ever had. She also had ham and cheese sandwiches wrapped in foil. They gave these out for free too! I am in love with the concept. You're giving out drinks, so why not some food as well?
In terms of food, we liked almost everything we ordered, but nothing really wowed us (other than a skirt steak I had in the Condado area). Everything comes with plantains and / or rice & beans. If you like plantains and / or rice & beans, this is awesome. I like those things.
We took a tour of Old San Juan (called the Flavors of Old San Juan) that had some food stops along the way. It was overpriced and had some of the most mediocre food we had on the trip, so I cannot recommend that. Tripadvisor failed us for once. I think next time we'll just head to Old San Juan and find our own way about.
The beaches were pretty nice and clean. The ocean water was temperature was perfect. There were also random people coming around offering to sell you food. I like that kind of service.
Kim also drug me to a club on one night. It was surprisingly bearable. Although the skank level was a bit too high for Kim's liking. That wasn't so much of an issue for me.
I would wager we'll be back in Puerto Rico at some point in the near future.
Friday, July 01, 2011
One night a couple months ago I decided to join some frequent flier programs. I had recently taken some long flights (Hawaii, Europe, Vegas) and I figured it would be a waste to just lose those miles. I joined Delta, Jetblue, and whatever else I had flown on in the past few months. Of course, I didn't have enough miles to get anything worthwhile. The only thing I've actually gotten is a subscription to Sports Illustrated, which cost only 1,000 miles or so.
For the most part, the Sports Illustrateds sit there unread. But yesterday I actually had a free couple hours after a hellish two weeks of work, and I think this was the best issue of Sports Illustrated I've ever read. There was actually a theme of the issue (not swimsuit): Where are they now?
I remember four great articles:
Great: Story on Yogi Berra's life by Joe Posnanski. I actually didn't know he has the most championship rings of any baseball player.
Also Great: What seven foot basketball players do after playing basketball. Featuring Shawn Bradley, Dikembe Mutombo, Mark Eaton, Kevin Willis, and others.
Best: The story of how Major League (the movie) was made, and a roundtable discussion with everyone involved the movie, including Charlie Sheen. Sheen admits in the story that he did steroids during the filming to get his fastball up from the high 70s to the mid 80s. The director / writer also discusses how amazingly crappy Major League: Back to the Minors was.
Pretty Good: Current photographs by Walter Iooss Jr. of legendary athletes.
I think that hour I spent signing up for those programs and finding my old flight ticket numbers was worth it, if only for this issue. I wouldn't have read it otherwise.
For the most part, the Sports Illustrateds sit there unread. But yesterday I actually had a free couple hours after a hellish two weeks of work, and I think this was the best issue of Sports Illustrated I've ever read. There was actually a theme of the issue (not swimsuit): Where are they now?
I remember four great articles:
Great: Story on Yogi Berra's life by Joe Posnanski. I actually didn't know he has the most championship rings of any baseball player.
Also Great: What seven foot basketball players do after playing basketball. Featuring Shawn Bradley, Dikembe Mutombo, Mark Eaton, Kevin Willis, and others.
Best: The story of how Major League (the movie) was made, and a roundtable discussion with everyone involved the movie, including Charlie Sheen. Sheen admits in the story that he did steroids during the filming to get his fastball up from the high 70s to the mid 80s. The director / writer also discusses how amazingly crappy Major League: Back to the Minors was.
Pretty Good: Current photographs by Walter Iooss Jr. of legendary athletes.
I think that hour I spent signing up for those programs and finding my old flight ticket numbers was worth it, if only for this issue. I wouldn't have read it otherwise.
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