Somebody's got a case of the Tuesdays

My oh my, it has been a while since I last wrote. Let me tell you, it hasn't been due to lack of material to write about, that's for sure.

First of all, my sister Laura got married last week, so congratulations to her and her husband Mike. They're great together and are currently enjoying the island of Jamaica.

Tuesday was unequivocally one of the most "interesting" days that I've had in a long time. My adventure actually started the previous night, when we had a particularly nasty thunderstorm move through the area. All was well when I went to bed, but that changed when I was awoken sometime after 4 in the morning. My mom came to open my windows, and I asked why she was doing that. Then I looked at the clock, saw that we had no power, and put 2 and 2 together. Apparently, the power went out well after the storm came and went. I'm guessing that ComEd, in their effort to restore power to others' homes and businesses, screwed something up and caused us to lose power. In any event, we did not have power until sometime around 8 PM. Thank God it was less hot and humid than the previous few days because not having air conditioning in the July heat can be unbearable.

I took Tuesday off because I had a dentist appointment scheduled for noon and I was going to the Cubs game at night. As you may or may not know, the Cubs won the game, 4-2, increasing my personal winning streak to 9 games. I had a bad feeling about the game, with Carlos Marmol taking on Roy Oswalt, but they managed to play pretty well on my behalf. It was reminiscent of a game I went to last year, also against Houston, when another youngster, Sergio Mitre, pitched for the Cubs against Roger Clemens. The Cubs won that game by the same 4-2 score, although it took a complete implosion by Brad Lidge for that to happen. Anyway, this was the first time I've been in the "Bud Light Bleachers," which is what the Cubs refer to the newly reconstructed outfield seats as. It was a positive experience for the most part, although there were the usual annoying bleacher fans to put up with. In our case, there were two kinds, the first of which being the slutty (and often disgusting) girls, aged 19-21, who wear clothes about 3 sizes too small and don't actually watch the game. These are types of "fans" that White Sox use to mock the Cubs, and I can see why. There was one girl in particular who was a constant source of "amusement" because she decided to call somebody else who was sitting in a reserved seat elsewhere in the stadium. Then she waved and tried to get this person to notice her. The problem with this is that she called this same person about 10 times and did the SAME thing each time! The other type of annoying bleacher fan is the one who gets piss-drunk before the 1st pitch and then decides to heckle the closest opposing outfielder for no real reason. It's one thing if you're actually clever in your heckling, like Randy Quaid's character in Major League II, but unfortunately for his real-life counterparts, there isn't a Hollywood writer to back them up. That being said, I enjoyed the game and the bleachers and I'm looking forward to making my final visit to Wrigley Field this year when I go to see the Cubs and Cardinals hook up next Friday with Bill.

After the game, Stacey and I quickly exited the bleachers and made it to the Pace bus that was to take us back to Woodfield. As I may or may not have mentioned previously, I've grown fond of the Pace Cubs Roundtripper, where I can catch a bus from the Woodfield area to the Cubs game and back and avoid all the parking hassles and costs that come with a game at Wrigley Field. Anyway, everything was going well until just after we got onto I-90, when the bus driver pulled off to the side of the road. Apparently there was something wrong with the bus and, try as he might, he couldn't get it fixed. So there we were, stuck in a broken-down bus on the shoulder of a busy tollway at 11 PM on a warm and muggy Tuesday evening. Eventually we got onto one of the busses that left after us, and thankfully Stacey and I got the last two seats—everybody else had to stand. While Stacey might hold a grudge and vow to never take the bus again, I plan to stick with the bus assuming there isn't any more craziness like that. As far as I'm concerned, anytime you travel on the road your vehicle can break down, and I'd rather the vehicle belong to somebody other than me.

Well it's really late and I am very tired, so I'm going to get to bed. Have a great day and a great weekend!

-Mark

Fantasy baseball update: week 15

I'll make this post short and sweet, since it's quite late: last week was better than the previous one. As you may remember from my last update, I lost my matchup with the HATE THE YANKS '06 league's worst team. Last week, I played the league's best team, one which hadn't lost since the first week of the season. Of course I ended up winning this week—go figure. It probably helped my cause that it was a short week due to the All-Star game, but I'll take it all the same. I figure, we both had the same number of days to accumulate stats, so I don't feel too bad for my opponent.

Over in the Jack Bauer's Agents league, I ended up with a tie last week. My offense did very well, but unfortunately all of my great pitching decided not to be so great and I ended up with only 1 win and an ERA of 6.81. Thankfully it doesn't really matter at this point—just as long as the pitchers (and hitters) hit their strides come playoff time.

HATE THE YANKS '06
Bricks and Ivy: 107-90-13, 4th place, 24 games behind the first place team and 4.5 games ahead of the best non-playoff team

Jack Bauer's Agents
Soulpatch's Cubs Mug: 112-70-28, 1st place, 17 games ahead

Fantasy Stud of the Week (3-way tie)


Lance Berkman, 1B/OF, Astros
.444, 8 H, 4 R, 1 HR, 6 RBI


Curt Schilling, SP, Red Sox
1-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.43 WHIP, 9 K


Erik Bedard, SP, Orioles
1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 6 K

Fantasy Dud of the Week

Nobody—too small of a sample size

-Mark

I'm baaaaaaaack!

It's nice to write to you from the comfy seat at my desk back home in Schaumburg. After finishing up my work in Phoenix on Wednesday, I flew home Thursday morning, just in time for my sister's wedding rehearsal and dinner. She's getting married today, so in a few minutes I'll be getting my tuxedo on and getting prepared to (hopefully) not screw up, as I'm a groomsman. If you're lucky, I post some pictures from the shindig. :-)

Tomorrow we're having a little BBQ here in the afternoon, then I'm heading over to my friend Nick's house for a big bash there. Come Sunday, he'll still be cleaning up the huge mess that we're going to leave for him! (Just kidding, Nick... maybe...) Most of my good buddies will be there, so it will be nice to see them all again.

Come Monday, I'll be heading back to the office to resume work here in Chicago. I'm looking forward to that, although I wish I could take my commute (or lack thereof) from Phoenix with me. I really don't want to fight traffic each morning and evening anymore, now that I've been so spoiled! Oh well, life is a give-and-take process, so no complaining from me. :-)

Have a great weekend everybody!

-Mark

Fantasy baseball update: week 14

As I alluded to in my last fantasy baseball update, last week was a tough one—at least in HATE THE YANKS '06. Coming off 2 straight victories and playing the team with the worst record in the league, my spirits and expectations were high. Unfortunately, they came crashing down thanks to my hitters' collective decision to go cold as ice (they hit a combined .221) and I lost, 6-5. 7 of my hitters hit .200 or worse, including many of my better players, unfortunately. My only saving grace was my pitching, where I had a nice 3.47 ERA and 1.11 WHIP, although I got screwed out of the strikeout and win categories (more on that later).

Certain events served to tell me that I wasn't meant to win this week. First, I had Curt Schilling going on Sunday against the White Sox, needing a victory to take the lead in that category. He left with a 3-2 edge and the Boston bullpen managed to hold that lead until the bottom of the 9th, when normally reliable closer Jonathan Papelbon gave up a game-tying homer to Jermaine Dye. To make matters worse, one of my hitters, Trot Nixon, got 9 at-bats in the entire 19-inning game and got NO hits. Nice job there! Ugh... Later that evening, when Scott Rolen homered in the Sunday night game to tie up the home run category, I was feeling a little better. I still had reason to be concerned, however: both my opponent (Braden Looper) and me (Adam Wainwright) had Cardinals relievers, and there were several pitching categories that were either tied or where I held a slight lead that could be affected by those pitchers. Well, wouldn't you know it, once the game goes into extra innings, good old Tony LaRussa decides to put in Looper, who ends up pitching for 2 innings and tallying 3 strikeouts and the win, notching both categories for my opponent. To make matters worse, Scott Rolen had a chance to be the one to drive in the winning runs, but he struck out so that bench jockey Aaron Miles could be the hero. This urther illustrates that it just wasn't my week!

As usual, my saving grace this week was my team in the Jack Bauer's Agents league, which won 10-4. My pitching was huge: I had a 2.05 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP. My hitting wasn't the best, but it was a hell of a lot better than in my other league!

Anyhow, here's what we're left with as the dust settles:

HATE THE YANKS '06
Bricks and Ivy: 100-85-11, 4th place, 26 games behind the first place team and 6 games ahead of the best non-playoff team

Jack Bauer's Agents
Soulpatch's Cubs Mug: 106-64-26, 1st place, 13.5 games ahead

Fantasy Stud of the Week (Tie)


Edgar Renteria, SS, Braves
.464, 13 H, 10 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI


Erik Bedard, SP, Orioles
2-0, 1.29 ERA, 0.71 WHIP, 13 K

Fantasy Dud of the Week*


Trot Nixon, OF, Red Sox
.050, 1 H, 1 R, 0 HR, 1 RBI

-Mark

*-It was hard to choose only 1, believe me!

Thank God it wasn't a scorpion

It's almost 1 A.M. here in Phoenix. I just awoke suddenly, for no apparent reason. I did notice an itch on my arm, so I attempted to scratch it. Of course, I ended up coming in contact with something that was definitely not my arm—it was a rather large insect crawling around my skin! It wasn't cockroach-sized, but it was big enough to propel my ass out of bed and into the bathroom to grab a tissue.

I'm not afraid of bugs, but I do get really creeped out at the thought of them crawling around me or my body. It's hard to go back to sleep now, as I have the urge to investigate any and every slight sensation I feel on my skin to make sure it's not Jiminy Cricket going for a late night stroll.

I hope you slept better than I will tonight.

-Mark

Fantasy baseball update: week 13

Last week was a pretty good one for both of my teams. I won 8-4 in HATE THE YANKS '06, marking my first back-to-back victories of the season. My offense was on fire, hitting a cumulative .324. (It's hard to type that because, as I type this, my offense is hitting .208 this current week. Where's the consistency?!) My pitching was not nearly as good, going 2-5 with a 6.02 ERA and 1.45 WHIP. I did manager to win the strikeout and saves categories, however. I did make a big roster move: I finally cut Greg Maddux and replaced him with Jamie Moyer (2.81 ERA and 1.12 WHIP at home) and Eric Bedard. The latter might end up being a steal because he's pitched extremely well as of late. Let's hope so, because my starting pitching can use a shot in the arm! (This is especially true while Pedro Martinez is on the DL—a week after throwing batting practice to his former team... I'm still angry about that one!)

In my other league, Jack Bauer's Agents, I beat Billy 9-1. It was a very well-balanced attack for me as I hit .320 and had a 2.64 ERA with a 1.00 WHIP. This week, I'm playing Tim, and so far so good.

HATE THE YANKS '06
Bricks and Ivy: 95-79-8, 4th place, 22.5 games behind the first place team and 5.5 games ahead of the best non-playoff team

Jack Bauer's Agents
Soulpatch's Cubs Mug: 96-60-26, 1st place, 15 games ahead

Fantasy Stud of the Week


Rocco Baldelli, OF, Devil Rays
.391, 9 H, 5 R, 2 HR, 8 RBI

Fantasy Dud of the Week


Pedro Martinez, SP, Mets
0-1, 18.00 ERA, 3.00 WHIP, 1 K

-Mark

A little YouTube to tide you over

Hey everybody, sorry I haven't posted this week. Between my extended weekend and some craziness at work, I've been pretty worn out and haven't mustered up enough energy to sit down and spill my guts. Seeing as I'm stuck here in Phoenix this weekend, however, I promise I will give you some reading material in the next day or two. :-)

In the meantime, check out these video clips and web sites for a few laughs:

John Daker sings the hits

Not your ordinary preacher

When my computer breaks, I get mad—but not as mad as this guy

Hello, my future girlfriend—an Internet classic!

Disabled List offers Mark Prior two-year, $8 million extension

-Mark

The streak lives on

Try as they might, the lowly Cubs couldn't end my personal winning streak, which now stands at 8 after their crazy 15-11 win over the White Sox this afternoon. (In my last post, I had mentioned that it would have been 7 with a win, but I was actually 1 off.) With Carlos Zambrano and Mark Buerhle facing off, the matchup featured the two teams' respective aces, both of whom will represent their clubs in the all-star game this month (Buerhle will start for the AL). I was expecting a pitcher's duel, but a football game broke out (albeit one in which both teams got a two-point conversion). Although I can't say for sure, I'm pretty confident that the wind was blowing out of the park today, which would explain the combined 9 home runs hit by the two teams today. (Interesting note: besides Michael Barrett, none of the Cubs batters who hit home runs today—Carlos Zambrano, Neifi Perez, and Angel Pagan twice—are home run hitters—or even good hitters, for that matter.)


After the White Sox scored twice with 2 outs in the top of the first, I figured this would be a long day. That feeling was short-lived, however, as the Cubs jumped all over Buerhle in the bottom half of the frame. Usually he shuts down the Cubs, even when they're actually playing well, but not today. He got lit up like a Christmas tree to the tune of 7 runs, and with that the craziness was underway. Not trusting the Cubs, I didn't want to party too soon, and the Sox came fighting back several times. Thankfully, the Cubs matched every jab with an uppercut of their own, and they managed to hold off the South Siders, at least for one game.


Before the game, Stacey noticed a guy sitting in the section in front of ours sporting a Neifi Perez jersey. This, of course, trails only the Jose Macias jersey I saw being worn by some confused soul at a game last year. Anyway, I think the guy must have been on to something, as Neifi went 2/5 with 4 RBI. I'm thinking the Cubs should give him and me season tickets, as we obviously inject life into this team just by being there.

Speaking of the streak, here's a list of the last 11 Cubs games I've attended, along with the Cubs' starting pitcher. Although I don't recall the dates of games I went to previously, I think my record of 10-1 with an 8-game winning streak speaks for itself:

• 8/08/2001: Cubs 2, Rockies 1 (Jason Bere)
  
• 5/15/2003: Cubs 4, Brewers 2 in 17 innings (Kerry Wood)
  
• 7/13/2003: Braves 7, Cubs 2 (Carlos Zambrano)
  
• 7/17/2004: Cubs 5, Brewers 0 (Greg Maddux)
  
• 8/19/2004: Cubs 9, Brewers 6 (Maddux)
  
• 4/24/2005: Cubs 5, Pirates 2 (Wood)
  
• 5/24/2005: Cubs 4, Astros 2 (Sergio Mitre)
  
• 6/28/2005: Cubs 2, Brewers 0 (Zambrano)
  
• 9/13/2005: Cubs 4, Reds 3 in 10 innings (Zambrano)
  
• 4/9/2006: Cubs 8, Cardinals 4 (Sean Marshall)
  
• 7/2/2006: Cubs 15, White Sox 11 (Zambrano)

I know I'm kind of going around in circles here, but I do have a few more comments about the game. Most of the fans for both sides were fairly well-behaved, at least from what I could see. There were a couple of obnoxious White Sox fans sitting a few rows behind us, but verbal abuse is to be expected at any baseball game so I wasn't really surprised. I will say that the Sox, while lacking a lot of big-name players, are a team that flat-out refuses to give up and is a nightmare for an opposing team to close out. It doesn't matter how many runs they are down or how late it is in the game, they always manage to claw their way back into the game. I give them a lot of credit for that.

Okay, enough baseball for now—I did do other stuff this weekend, you know. (Speaking of this weekend, I have to mention how nice it is to type this up from my own bedroom on a Sunday night. I really wish I didn't have to fly back to Phoenix!) On Saturday, as I mentioned in my last post, Stacey and I went furniture shopping. After finding out that we could pay $400 for the washer and dryer belonging to our future house's current tenants, we had three major purchases to make: couch, dining room table, and bed. We managed to get the couch and bed, leaving us with a table still to be bought. Hopefully that gets taken care of soon, but all in all it wasn't a bad day. We ended up getting a LA-Z-BOY two-cushioned, reclining couch, which is very comfortable. As for the bed, it's king size with springs that are not only comfy (and sport memory foam, to boot), they also somehow manage to absorb movement so that one person doesn't get woken up when the other tosses and turns. That is a very nice feature, as I tend to move a lot while sleeping.

In the course of shopping, I have to say that I have found a new equal for car salesmen: bed salesmen. Oh my gosh, they can be really pushy and desperate. Okay, maybe it was just the one guy we saw—he had half-inch long fingernails (no joke) and tried everything he could to get us to buy a bed without leaving the store. We ended up going to comparison shop at two other bed stores, one of which had the bed we eventually chose. We really did not want to go back to face the slightly-creepy fingernail guy, so it was a relief to find a great bed somewhere else. The fact that the salesman there knew how to do his job properly was a pleasant surprise.

I've been rambling these last few paragraphs, so I think I'm going to call it a night. It's 11:30 here, and I need to get some beauty rest. Have a great Fourth of July, everybody! I'll be back with a fantasy baseball update soon.

-Mark