Bell cares about the environment? Give me a break!

Not sure how many of you readers out there are Bell customers, but I was just going through my bills and found this idiotic comment on the back of the telecommunications company envelope.

Trying to explain why it still had the old Bell logo, it read:
" 'Hey, didn't Bell change its logo?' You're right, we did. But since part of making today better means not wasting paper, we're using up the old stationery first. (Help save even more trees: sign up for paperless billing at bell.ca/mybell) "

That's laughable. Hogwash. Are you kidding me? The reason I say this? Just as I suspected, in the envelope with my statement, was a junk newsletter--which I have no issue with even though I never read that stuff; companies want to advertise their products; fine, no prob. However, also included in the envelope was a return envelope.

Now, I've been a customer for years, and I've never used the return envelope since I've always paid by telephone or online banking. Yet every single month, I receive this return envelope without fail. Why Bell does not keep track of how customers pay bills is beyond me. Why keep sending me these envelopes when my past history shows I've never had to use one?

In fact, why not be the leader of the pack by not sending this stuff to customers, period? Granted, there are still many who prefer snail mail, but in this day and age, if those people still want to do that, make them sign up for paper billing. After all, since they are in a way not helping to "save even more trees", make it inconvenient for them. Just assume everyone will go the paperless route instead, and don't send it anymore! Isn't that going to encourage more people not to use paper?

Geez--even Bell can't get it right. Whenever you hear companies say they care about the environment and stuff, I just say 'hogwash.'

Today's random links:
Soccer team offers cemetery to devotees!
Despite Cliff Lee's 21-2 record, Cleveland's still cursed

This one's for House!

Well, House has requested I write something positive about the Yankees. I don't normally take requests, but this time I will. This site is called "KP's HOUSE", after all.

So, New York lost 12-1 to the LA Angels last night, but there were some positives.
* Carl Pavano pitched into the 6th, and at least kept things close for a while
* Pudge Rodriguez showed a lot of fight and emotion in being involved in a scuffle with good friend Torii Hunter -- it meant he cared (and on a side note, Hunter did NOT score despite stealing both second and third off I-Rod)

Though the Angels are great, there won't be another 11-run defeat for the Bombers.
*****
On another note, Rick owned me in last spring's playoff pool, and beat me in the new BBP last night. Hey, at least I'm #2!

And when I last checked, #83,000-something in Amazon.ca's sales ranking... not bad for a hobby!

Charles Strikes Again!

Holy cow. Charles just wrote a long passage criticizing me on grammar, and ripped me about my A-Rod comments. I have no comeback to his rants on grammar. None at all. I'm having a headache just looking at it.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/54119-a-rod-continues-homer-binge-in-meaningless-situations
by charles
Uh, yeah, I haven't a doubt you teach grammar DO. I know the "rules" and was actually poking fun at myself for offering corrections in my initial post, by citing a more traditionally correct yet less often employed grammatical construction.
Below is what some "expert" wrote:
Than I versus Than Me.
Than, as used in comparatives, has traditionally been considered a conjunction; as such, if you're comparing subjects, the pronouns after than should take the "subjective case." In other words, "He's taller than I," not "He's taller than me"; "She's smarter than he," not "She's smarter than him." If, on the other hand, you're comparing direct or indirect objects, the pronouns should be objective: "I've never worked with a more difficult client than him."
There are some advantages to this traditional state of affairs. If you observe this distinction, you can be more precise in some comparisons. Consider these two sentences:
* He has more friends than I. (His total number of friends is higher than my total number of friends.) * He has more friends than me. (I'm not his only friend; he has others.)
The problem, though, is that in all but the most formal contexts, "than I" sounds stuffy, even unidiomatic. Most people, in most contexts, treat than as a preposition, and put all following pronouns in the objective case, whether the things being compared are subjects or objects. "He's taller than me" sounds more natural to most native English speakers.
This isn't a recent development: people have been treating than as a preposition for centuries. Consider the following from big-name English and American writers:
* Matthew Prior, Better Answer: "For thou art a girl as much brighter than her,/ As he was a poet sublimer than me." * Samuel Richardson's Clarissa, 1.10.58, "I am fitter for this world than you, you for the next than me." * Lord Byron's letter of 2 November 1804, "Lord Delawarr is considerably younger than me." * Robert Southey, Well of St. Keyne, 51: "She had been wiser than me,/ For she took a bottle to Church." * William Faulkner's Reivers, 4.82: "Let Lucius get out . . . He's younger than me and stouter too for his size."
So what should you do? I don't have a good answer, other than the most general advice possible: try to size up your audience, and figure out whether they're likely to be happier with the traditional or the familiar usage. [Entry added 3 Jan. 2005.]



Today's KP links:
Tim Wakefield's career
A-Rod 0 for 10 (with bashing from "Charles")

A-Rod 0-for-10 in Seattle...

Alright! Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees has juuuuust grounded out to end the top of the 8th inning at Safeco Field, and with New York down 4-2 to the Mariners, A-Rod might not get another AB the rest of the game.

A-Rod is now 0-for-10 in the three-game series in Seattle. Nice!

Hitless in Seattle.... and if the Mariners do hang on (stopper J.J. Putz will be sent out to close things out in the 9th), the Yanks will have dropped two of three versus the last-place M's!

Check that - Seattle second baseman Jose Lopez just homered for the second time in the game, and New York is now down 5-2.

Another bonus is Mike Mussina won't be getting his 18th win today. Beautiful!

I wonder what "Charles" will have to say now... (See post below)

Today's random thoughts

I've just realized I've been quite the hypocrite on blogspot here.

A few days ago, I was ranting about how TSN2's lineup was weak, and thought both TSN and TSN2 could probably show the same events, programming, whatever.

But that's exactly what I was doing here, on this blog and on my "author blog." There were times I've posted the same material on both. Shame on me.

I'm not going to say "Tomorrow I'll be Perfect" a la Dave Stieb, but I'll "try."

Speaking of book titles, "Fess up, Jessup" is coming along very well. I'm up to 18,000 words, and it's almost finished. However, I am going to try and add a few more scenes and run up the word count. Reason? I want "Fess up, Jessup" to be a print book on its own rather than just an e-book, and it'll need to be longer than that. (See "Sweet Voice of Innocence", "False Ex-Pectations", and "Rainbow Trout", which were all just e-books.)

In regards to the A-Rod link below... you know, I appreciated "Charles'" feedback the first time, but if this dude is just picking on every word I'm saying, I'm not going to be kind in my responses. Not when it appears he's trying to be a smart-ass.

Today's KP links:
Marcum's gem vs. Rays
Tim Lincecum vs. Brandon Webb
A-Rod's "meaningless" jacks (with a reader correcting me on my grammar!)
Blue Jays win 9-0 and go 9-0 vs. Twins

Ryan ruins Marcum's gem...

Shaun Marcum did his job on Saturday afternoon. B.J. Ryan didn't. And because of that, Marcum had nothing to show for his fine efforts.

Marcum, making his first start since being recalled from Triple-A, pitched shutout ball against the first-place Tampa Bay Rays, displaying the form he'd exhibited last summer and earlier this season, when he was among the AL's ERA leaders.

Lyle Overbay hit two homers (!!) and Alex Rios added an RBI double (after homering twice himself on Friday night), and the Jays carried that 3-0 lead into the ninth inning.

The ninth turned out to be disastrous, as Ryan hit a batter before giving up a home run. A walk followed, as well as a stolen base, before pinch-runner Fernando Perez, appearing in only his second big-league game, scored on second baseman Joe Inglett's error.

For Marcum, it was another fine outing versus the AL East-leading Rays. Prior to Saturday, he'd gone 2-0 with a 1.06 ERA in two starts and one relief outing against T-Bay.

Words of wisdom from the four-letter network

In my area, they used to air Fox Sports Radio programming on the All-Sports Radio some years back, and there was this guy (not sure if he's still on now, since I don't get FSR anymore) from Cleveland -- a host -- who referred to ESPN as "the four-letter network" with disdain.

Well, I guess I will refer to this station as the four-letter network too, since a lot of the things they've said on air recently I just can't agree with at all.

For instance, a few nights ago, this host (let's call her A.L., since I won't name drop this time) made some ridiculous comments.

1. She wondered out loud when Matt Leinhart will finally get the starting QB job in Arizona, as he's supposed to be the quarterback of the future, but the Cards had announced veteran Kurt Warner would be the starter. Odd - especially since she's a Brett Favre lover and crucified the Packers for going with Aaron Rodgers. Huh? So it's "right" for Green Bay to start Favre and delay the progress of A-Rod, but "wrong" in Arizona?

It's a moot point now anyway since Favre is a Jet, and A-Rod will start in Green Bay. But c'mon, she's contradicting herself in a big way. Warner is a two-time MVP and former Super Bowl MVP. Why no love for Kurt? Naturally, in the same segment, she went on to express her excitement over being able to watch Favre play for the J-E-T-S this season.

2. She said now that Manny Ramirez is heating up and hitting well, the rest of the Dodgers are doing the same--this happening in the midst of L.A.'s recent winning streak. WRONG. During their eight-game losing streak, Ramirez was hitting home runs and getting multi-hit games too, but the Dodgers still couldn't score enough runs, or their pitching let them down. Do your homework first before speaking, A.L.!

Amazon.ca Link

I promised some of you to update you on the Amazon.ca link regarding my first print novel when it becomes available.

Click here for the link; thanks for the support!

Go "Showing Their Scales"! P.S. "Scales" here was used because that's on fish. Those of you who frequent the "Zonk on OA" will know what that's about.

Excerpt: Replacement Pitcher

I'm obviously putting the cart in front of the horse, but here's a preview of "Replacement Pitcher." Ooooh, John House is famous!

Replacement Pitcher by KP Wee
Chapter 20

Henderson didn’t speak to the media following his epic performance, and chose not to deal with them again in the subsequent days. He didn’t even bother to do any interviews with FAN 590, despite the fact his newfound fan, John House, called in to apologize about his earlier comments. Henderson just didn’t care; he needed a few days off for himself. His cell phone rang often but he never bothered to pick it up; messages piled up in his voicemail until it became full, but again he never once checked them. He simply needed some days off, away from everybody.

The Blue Jays bats took a day off too in Game Five, losing 4-0, before rebounding to win the sixth contest. The city of Toronto was abuzz as the Blue Jays and Red Sox prepared to play Game Seven at the Rogers Centre. Torontonians had the series won. Everyone was talking about the World Series already, and with the American League assured of home-field advantage, nobody in Toronto thought the Red Sox or the Los Angeles Dodgers—the National League champion—was going to claim baseball’s championship trophy in 2008.

It was certainly a sharp contrast to the afternoon of the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday, when no one in Toronto had given the Blue Jays a shot as Henderson was scheduled to pitch at Fenway Park. But in baseball, as in life, things could change in a short amount of time. Now every Torontonian was back on the bandwagon. Everywhere in downtown Toronto, everyone was talking about the Blue Jays. Cars proudly displayed Blue Jays mini pennants throughout the city.

Game Seven. It was the first such contest in Blue Jays history. Never before had the franchise, since its inception in 1977, played a seventh game. Thus, it was going to be a historic night in Toronto regardless of the outcome.

Again it was up to Henderson to be the savior. There was no other choice. Rich Ambrozic, the starting pitcher who was bumped from the rotation in the postseason, was no longer on the team. Upset he was bypassed time after time, Ambrozic had left the Blue Jays while the they were still in Boston, to go back home to Mississippi. The generally happy team had fallen apart, and there was tension in the clubhouse for the first time all year long.

Even the normally upbeat Tony Johnson didn’t know what to do.

"Well, guys," Johnson addressed the reporters and journalists gathered around the Blue Jays clubhouse. "You know the Blue Jays are a close bunch. We all pull for each other. But you know, every team has to deal with adversity at one time or another. So, we’ll have to believe in ourselves and get the job done. I have a lot of faith in Shawn Henderson—"

"If you guys don’t make it to the World Series, in your estimation, will this season be a failure, given how well you guys started?" a reporter from TSN asked.

"Well, we’re going to try our best to make sure we don’t use, but I won’t say this season will be a failure—"

"Damn right we won’t lose," interrupted a familiar voice which hadn’t spoken much for days.

Everyone turned to look at the door. Henderson had emerged, and his voice was full of conviction. "Yeah, we’ll win tonight," he promised.

It was the first time since Monday that Henderson had so much as acknowledged a teammate or the media, and Johnson was ecstatic.

"Well, you all heard the man. We’re going to win tonight!" Johnson echoed.

Meanwhile, the players in the Red Sox clubhouse somehow seemed to have the series won for the Blue Jays also. Several Boston players were bummed out and thought they blew their opportunity already. Of course, Aaron Buckley would have none of it.

"Mark my words. We’re going to destroy the building tonight," he told the reporters gathered around his locker. "We’re going to hit so many balls to the outfield that the walls are all going to dented."

Projects on the go & random thoughts

* Darn, Manny Ramirez homered twice and collected 4 hits for the second straight game (4-for-5 after going 4-for-4 a night earlier) and the Dodgers ended their 8-game losing streak, beating Dan Haren and the Diamondbacks. Ramirez is hitting a cool .419 in the NL after being acquired one month ago. I was hoping the Dodgers would never win another game this year, however unlikely that would be. (I recall a quote from Paul Beeston in one of Stephen Brunt's book where the former Blue Jays executive hoped Al Leiter lost every game he pitched for the Marlins in 1996. So, one could hope... And of course, this stemmed from the fact the Jays basically carried Leiter during his injury-plagued seasons, gave him a couple of WS rings and cheques, and he bolted after becoming a free agent.)

* Seeing the Tampa Bay Rays' success and the New York Yankees' collapse this year just reminds us all that the AL East is not just about Boston and New York. It could have been Toronto, couldn't it? Had they kept Frank Thomas, if Scott Rolen knew how to hit, if they didn't blow all those bases-loaded opportunities, the Jays might well be a wild card contender this year. Great pitching in the first half this year, but no offense. Completely the opposite in 2000, when the Jays had a shot with all that offense like Delgardo, Batista, Cruz, Mondesi, Fullmer, and Fletcher, but future Cy Young winners Roy Halladay and Chris Carpenter faltered. In fact, Halladay was sent to the minors and had the worst ever ERA by a starter over a whole season (over 10.00). What if Halladay and Carpenter pitched well then? What if the Jays had sluggers like those in 2008?

* TSN finally launched TSN2 yesterday, which surprised me, because they are a decade behind ESPN2. I was just looking at the TSN2 schedule over the next week, and it's just tennis, golf, SportsCentre, Off The Record, and other programming similar to TSN. Yawn. Yes, I know the purpose is so they could show different live events simultaneously, but still, the opening week lineup looked weak.

* "Showing Their Scales" by KP Wee is finally on Amazon.com, so what's next for me? Well, I don't intend to retire, which no doubt irritates Trout ( :P ) and others, but anyway, life goes on, and writing goes on. And I'm doing all this without ever taking a break from my busy work schedule. Next on the agenda:
-Wait for the status of "Replacement Pitcher", a sports novel about a Canadian pitcher trying to make it to the big league. (Yes, I know, odd that it took me my fourth novel before I finally penned a fiction on sports.) In this novel, I have the Toronto Blue Jays winning the AL East. Not sure if the story will be accepted, but I'd give it a 70-30 chance.
-Continue working on "Fess Up, Jessup", a story on Jesse Jessup (a fictional character) who is obsessed with a girl who only says "Oh my God." If you've seen my previous work, well, it's a series I'm working on, with 'lies, lust, and deception' as the theme. This time, no mention of Trout. And I even included a fictional pub called "House & Wings" as one of the secondary settings (no, not "House of Wings"--never been there).
-Start working on a book outline for a children's novel. Idea so far: Trout.

Haha to Dodgers, Torre, and ex-Sox

In the off-season, I mentioned when the Los Angeles Dodgers hired Joe Torre, they would lose 90 games. Well, it looks like they won't, but I doubt they'll make the playoffs.

Thanks to yet another loss on Friday night, 9-3 in Arizona, the Dodgers have lost eight straight and now trail the NL West-leading Diamondbacks 4 1/2 games in the division.

So, now Torre isn't a genius anymore, is he?

After all, the Dodgers were picked to run away with the division one month ago. They supposedly had better pitching than the D-Backs. They'd just added slugger Manny Ramirez and third baseman Casey Blake. Greg Maddux was added in August.

And yet they've now lost eight in a row.

Okay, losing four straight in Philadelphia was bad. After all, they were blown out in two of those losses, gave away another one with a one-run lead in the ninth, and were shut out in the finale.

But getting swept in Washington? The Nationals (49-85) are the worst team in baseball, for crying out loud. Two one-run losses followed by an 11-2 defeat to complete the sweep.

And Friday night, the Dodgers had to win. They were facing the D-Backs, the team they're chasing.

Ahead 2-1 in the fifth, the Diamondbacks capitalized when Nomar Garciaparra, back at shortstop, committed an error, an inning in which Arizona scored three times.

When Los Angeles rallied in two innings later to close the deficit to within 4-3, their bullpen--led by Chan Ho Park and Joe Beimel--imploded by immediately surrendering five runs to blow the game wide open.

Not that Ramirez isn't doing his job. In fact, he went 4-for-4 on Friday night after homering in Washington the day before to give the Dodgers an early lead.

Still, it's a tough road for the Dodgers, as they'll have to face the D-Backs' top two hurlers, Dan Haren (14-6, 3.10) and Brandon Webb (19-5, 2.96), in the next two games.

It's certainly great to see L.A. struggle, especially when you look at the Dodgers and you see Torre, Maddux, and ex-Sox like Ramirez, Garciaparra, and Derek Lowe.

The Week is over!

Well, a long week has finally ended.

There were some of you asking about the status of "Showing Their Scales", which is scheduled to come out this month. However, thanks to the fact I'd had an extremely busy week, I didn't get a chance to have any correspondence with the publisher. Bad timing.

What happened was,
a) a teacher (let's call him G.R.) went on vacation--thankfully only for a week,
b) I was asked to sub for his classes--why? I'm not even going to bother to get into it, but suffice it to say, it was not my decision and it made very little sense--but the lesson plans he left behind were, let's just say, crappy.
c) and, I was also responsible for my normal market research duties.

So, I didn't even have time to do much of my own stuff, and didn't even post on the OA zonk board for the bulk of the week. Just no time.

And, at this point, I'd like to add that I was able to do my writing the last few months despite the fact I was:
a) employed full-time as a teacher without any vacations, breaks, and what-not other than the statutory holidays,
b) and doing my market research stuff.
So, I didn't pull any of this Catherine nonsense--she's a fellow co-worker who likes to brag she's a writer, and she takes a lot of time off work and only worked part-time for quite a while. So, I didn't pull any of this crap.

And what's with people who strive to be late? Someone responded to my ad about teaching me Chinese, and the first session, he was late 20 minutes. Okay, fine, no problem, he called at EXACTLY the meeting time to notify me.

The second meeting, he didn't even show up, and I had to call him to find out where he was, only to hear he wasn't coming.

Three hours before the third meeting the very next day, he called to cancel. I didn't pick up because I was still at work, but I didn't call him back either, since it wasn't really a priority for me by then.

But I didn't expect him to call me EIGHT TIMES starting at the scheduled meeting time. 4:31, 4:41, 4:44, 4:57, 5:07, 5:47, 6:12, 6:18. He left several messages wanting to know if I'd received the previous ones. And if that wasn't bad enough, he texted me once in between all those calls.

Enough is enough. You know what, he's fired. And I don't really need to learn it anyway; not life or death.

And today, I was supposed to meet up another person for lunch. 40 minutes late. And that person acted nonchalently as though nothing was amiss. Yikes.

For the last three weeks, I'd been meeting up with a writing buddy as well so we can both sit down and type away, hoping our presence could inspire each other and not cause the other to slack off. All three times, the buddy was late. The last two times, I had to make a call to find out if the person was even going to show up. (Well, let's cut the writing buddy some slack; this is all very informal, so I don't even sweat it... but it's just another example about lateness...)

But like I said, I don't need a writing buddy. I'd just started this this month. Before that, I was doing just fine--and without that Catherine nonsense either.

Two companies change their logos - but why?

In the last couple weeks, Bell Canada and British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) changed their logos.

But is this for the better? On the left side, you see the original logos, and on the right the new and improved (?!) ones.

As you can see, the new Bell logo is very simple.

As for the British Columbia Lottery Corporation, they have gone the KFC route by shortening their name to simply "BCLC." That's fine. Shorter brand names are supposed to be cooler and appealing to the youth.

But the lottery corporation isn't for kids; it's for adults. And looking at the new logo (which will be implemented in September), it looks like even a child could have done it. Isn't that the serif font with some circles?

Geez.

Pathetic NL West...

The Minnesota Twins did their job on Saturday. The Los Angeles Dodgers didn't.

Minnesota, thanks to Delmon Young's two-run homer and Francisco Liriano's second win since being recalled from the minors, beat the Kansas City Royals 7-3 for their third straight victory.

The Twins' victory, couple with the Chicago White Sox's 6-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox, moved Minnesota back into first place. The Twins (65-51) are a half game up on the White Sox (64-51).

Meanwhile, the Dodgers could have moved past the Arizona Diamondbacks had they hung on to their lead against the lowly San Francisco Giants.

Of course, these were their long-time arch-rival Giants, who'd hurt them so many times in seasons past. (Yes, it is only August, but still...)

In fact, the Dodgers had two one-run leads, but couldn't hang on.

Manny Ramirez was in the middle of the action again, going 3-for-5 to up his NL batting average to .485 (16-for-33 with the Dodgers), and scored the first run of the night on pitcher Hiroki Kuroda's single.

Jeff Kent added a home run to lead off the 10th, leaving Los Angeles just three outs away from victory.

But the Giants put together a two-run rally, capped by Aaron Rowan's game-winning single, denying the Dodgers first place.

The first-place Diamondbacks have lost four straight, and have allowed 11 runs to the mediocre Atlanta Braves in back-to-back contests.

In Saturday's loss, Arizona also lost second baseman Orlando Hudson, who broke his left wrist trying to Brian McCann in the sixth inning.

Word is Hudson could be gone for the rest of the season, though he will be re-evaluated on Sunday.

And so much for Arizona starter Dan Haren (12-6), who was raked for 10 hits and six runs before being knocked out in Atlanta's 7-run sixth.

This came immediately after the D-Backs had given Haren a 3-2 lead in the last of the fifth, as the starter wasn't able to have a shut-down inning.

So much for the so-called "jungle karma", as Haren was a guest on The Jim Rome Show (aka "The Jungle") a couple days earlier, with Rome proclaiming the fact Haren and Brandon Webb would battle for the NL Cy Young Award.

The NL West surely is the biggest joke in baseball, as neither the D-Backs (59-58) nor Dodgers (58-58) want to take charge.

Either one of these teams will make the postseason, which would be a shame, if both continue to hover around the .500 mark.

But again, no sympathy here for the Dodgers' lack of run production (despite Ramirez). No sympathy for the D-Backs in losing Hudson, possibly for a while.

Either one of these teams could have gone out and picked up Barry Bonds, who is still unemployed and was, by the way, at the Dodgers-Giants game in San Francisco as part of the Jints' 50th anniversary celebration in the Bay Area.

In fact, Bonds, who signed autographs and was cheered on with a standing ovation by the crowd at AT&T Park, acknowledged first-year Dodger manager Joe Torre during his speech in the pre-game ceremony.

"I want to thank the Giants for inviting all these great guys," Bonds said during the ceremony, pointing to the Los Angeles dugout. "It's weird for me not to be in uniform with the Dodgers right there. You heard me Torre, I beat you before and I can beat you again. I haven't retired. Thank you."

Torre was seen tipping his cap at Bonds' comment.

Bonds later appeared in the broadcast booth for a couple innings and referred to Rowand as "Scott Rowand."

By the end of the game though, Rowand had the last laugh, thanks to his walk-off hit.

The Dodgers and D-Backs though, did not, as both suffered crushing defeats.

But no sympathy here.

(Source of Bonds' quote: The Associated Press - "Barry Bonds Joins Giants' Outfield Reunion")

Why must he wear 99?

This is NOT good at all - Manny Ramirez has decided to wear No. 99 in Los Angeles.

Well, I'd already sent in my manuscript for my latest book, and in the story, the antagonist wears No. 99 for the Seattle Mariners.

Urrgh! It will look like I am portraying Ramirez but I'm NOT! And besides, I'd prepared that manuscript months ago.

Another thing that upset me was this Richmond kid--that's his name, and oh, he's from Vancouver--who debuted for the Blue Jays about a week ago.

Again, in my story, I have a Canadian pitcher trying to get on the Blue Jays. Damn!

If only I'd had this published a year ago... I'd look like a prophet! Urrghh!!!

Regardless, if all goes well, then the plot includes minor characters like:

-John House (Blue Jays fair-weathered fan) LOL
-Rick Coleclough (washed-up Mariners pitcher)
-John Jessup (injured Mariners pitcher)
-Cliff Houser (injured Mariners pitcher)
-Rich Ambrozic (upset Blue Jays pitcher)
-Kip Wee (Saints coach)

I will call it "The Replacement Pitcher: Independence, Rookie, Savior."

Hahah - if House sees this, he might hunt me down. ;-)

Cliff, how did you like today's game...?

Cliff supposedly went to this game; I'll be expecting some picture evidence soon!

Anyway, here's the game recap. Runners on third in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings, and Toronto couldn't score? Wow...

http://mvn.com/mlb-bluejays/2008/07/31/blue-jays-lose-two-of-three-to-rays/

This week's featured book on Cacoethes

Alright, Young Chasing Rainbow Trout has been featured on the main page of Cacoethes Publishing House as the book of the week!

Please check it out!

http://www.cacoethespublishing.net/

Also, I will be hosting an author chat on the Cacoethes Publishing website in the upcoming weeks! This session is for readers and fans alike, so hope to see some of you out there! Should be an interesting session with me leading the discussion.

Please feel free to contact me if you'd like to participate or if you have any questions!

Curse, Jinx, Reversal in fortunes?

Wow. I checked and discovered that since I bashed the Yankees' Jason Giambi, he went on a tear in his next fifty games: .317, 15 HRs - which meant he was on pace for a 47-home run season had he kept that up.

And ever since I criticized Randy Johnson on July 1st, he has gone 4-0 in four starts. A 1.71 ERA. Back-to-back scoreless gems.

Yes, Jesse Litsch went 1-6 with an ERA over 6.00 after I praised him. Yes, I know. And he got sent down to the minors.

I think House now wants me to bash the Leafs and Blue Jays for luck.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/42582-mlb-talk-johnson-owings-litsch-giambi-and-maddux

I've been proven wrong. Again.

Nothing new, but I do acknowledge it when I get it wrong.

Ever since I bashed Arizona's Randy Johnson, he has gone undefeated. In fact, since his July 1st defeat against the Milwaukee Brewers, the Big Unit has gone a perfect 4-0 in his four starts.

His stats during the streak: 1.71 ERA, 19 strikeouts in 26.1 innings pitched.

Not a high number of K's, but Johnson does have a 10-strikeout game mixed in there. And he hasn't allowed a run in back-to-back starts.

I will say it's mind-boggling though; at the time I criticized Johnson, he was 4-7 with a 5.46 ERA and had just lost his sixth straight start. I argued he should have been taken out of the rotation because he was costing the Diamondbacks victories as the Los Angeles Dodgers were making a huge dent into Arizona's once-insurmountable lead in the NL West.

Meanwhile, Micah Owings has lost his job in the D-Backs' rotation. In fact, he'd been relegated to the bullpen since losing his fifth straight decision in late June.

At that time, Owings was 6-7 with a 5.18 ERA. Keep in mind he'd started the year 4-0. Thus, Owings' 2-7 mark in a dozen starts since then (with a 6.27 ERA) was a huge cause for concern.

My question is: at that time, why wouldn't you put Johnson in the pen and keep Owings in the rotation?

After all, Johnson is a lefty, and I'd think opposing batters would still fear the Big Unit. Imagine Johnson coming out of the pen for an inning or two and intimidating the other hitters. It would have given the D-Backs another option with an extra lefty in the pen. (Owings is right-handed.)

Also, Owings is only 25 and in his sophomore year. Johnson is 44. Wouldn't you want to keep sending a youngster out there every fifth day so he could build on his confidence? What good would sending out a forty-plus year-old pitcher every time out when (at the time) it looked like he was done?

And, Owings is a good hitter too. He smacked four dingers and batted .333 in his rookie year in 2007. This season Owings has already homered once and has 15 hits in 52 at-bats (.288 average). The righty can certainly help his own cause at the plate, meaning the D-Backs wouldn't have an automatic out in the ninth spot of the lineup.

Anyway, the D-Backs sure look brilliant now; Johnson is thriving again and Arizona is still in first place.

I guess the difference was Johnson's multiple Cy Young Awards and proven track record. Having a future Hall-of-Famer starting was surely a safer bet.

Speaking of Cy Young, I sure look dumb now when I suggested the Blue Jays' Jesse Litsch, Toronto's fifth starter at the time, was a sure All-Star and a potential Cy Young candidate when he started out 7-1 with a 3.18 ERA.

I also applauded Litsch for being a team guy by offering to pitch in relief in a blowout game in Philadelphia in May.

Since then, the wheels have fallen off. Litsch went 1-6 with a 6.12 ERA before earning a trip to the minors.

Ouch.

And I bashed Jason Giambi when he started out hitting .109.

In the 50 games since my criticisms, Giambi went on a tear, bashing out 15 homers in 161 at-bats and hitting .317. Wow. (If you do the math, that works out to be 47 home runs in 500 at-bats.)

Some in the media were writing that Giambi deserved a shot in the All-Star Game (which I totally disagreed with).

Well, from June 24th up to today, the Giambino has slumped again, hitting .215 in the last 26 games. But oh, more importantly, his New York Yankees (59-48) are back in the race, just four out in the AL East and 1 1/2 games back in the Wild Card race.

Oh yeah, New York has added I-Rod too, to play with A-Rod. The Yankees, who have lost catcher Jorge Posada for the rest of the season, picked up Ivan Rodriguez from the Detroit Tigers earlier today.

And back to Johnson and the D-Backs before I wrap up: Steve Henson from Yahoo! Sports has written that Arizona probably isn't going to acquire 351-game winner Greg Maddux. The Mad Dog reportedly has included the D-Backs and the L.A. teams as among the clubs he'd be willing to be traded to.

Arizona, however, apparently isn't interested in Maddux, which would be a shame. If Maddux does head to the desert, the D-Backs could have two 300-game winners--Johnson is eight wins away from the 300 club--in the same rotation.

Misadventure at Superstore

So, Monday morning was the school's field trip/business project, and two classes were supposed to meet at Superstore at 9:30 to get started.

Of course, Sunday night I got this email from the other teacher saying he had an emergency and couldn't make it; would I be able to handle both classes on my own?

Well, honestly, what was I going to say in that situation?

Actually, no problem, I could do it anyways. I'm not one who wimps out to begin with.

My class arrived at the meeting place at 9:30, while only half his class was there. Not wanting to waste time, I got started and explained the rules and objectives to my class and asked them to enter the store and begin.

After 10 minutes and the rest of his class still hadn't arrived, I assigned teams and team captains to the students who were there and re-explained everything, and told them to wait for their mates to arrive.

Not a big deal... until later.

Since I divided each class into two groups, there were four groups in total I had to shadow and monitor--double my normal workload.

Actually, it was all fine at the beginning. I was with one group at the toothpaste aisle, and a very friendly stocker chitchatted with some of my students and helped them out by pointing out a sale item. Very pleasant. Genuine.

I took the first group to the cashier's to pay. One problem--well, actually a few.

The cashier was not friendly; no smile, no enthusiasm, and it was only 10:20!!! It's not like it's the end of the shift; the store just opened not too long ago! I mean, c'mon, if you're in customer service and you don't like it, why are you there in the first place?

No, the cashier, who was certainly the anti-toothpaste-aisle-man, wasn't the big problem. The equipment was. I tried to use the pin pad, and the green "OK" button was missing--like a key missing on a keyboard. Whatever, I just pushed that vacated spot and moved on. But when I was to press the "Chequing" button, there were lots of problems.

I kept pressing it and nothing happened. The cashier was impatient, so I explained it didn't work. Thus, I was asked to re-do it. And to no avail. I finally showed the cashier what I was talking about, and was told to wait while the supervisor came to fix their problem.

Yes, yes, I was told that pad was working earlier today. Really though, I was fine with it; I didn't need any excuses.

The next thing I knew, a woman started yelling at my students because they were in the way. Yes, it was their fault they were crowding around and blocking people, but was it necessary to shout like that?

I talked back, and said there was no reason to be that rude, only to get more verbal trashing from her. So the two of us started arguing there on the spot. Was I out of line? Yes. So was she for yelling at my students, and I didn't see why she should get away with it. I do not stand for that kind of intimidation, and I let her know it.

The supervisor came, I got to pay for the bill using another pin pad, and then I had to go back in and check on the other three groups.

So, what lessons did I learn from this? (I take everything as a learning experience; what can I do better in the future?)

Time to get a Costco card... save more money and don't have to deal with all this attitude we were getting. Well, the stocker was great... but the rest of the trip was not.

Mental note to self: do not schedule two classes going at the same time. You never know when someone's going to pull the "emergency" stuff. Yes, I understand, sometimes things happen that you can't control. However, to avoid this from happening, I'm just going to schedule these trips separately.

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And this is the type of nonsense that goes on. Every week, if not every day, I see people do the following, and they don't get scolded:

* someone would get onto the SkyTrain and just stop inside the door/entrance... despite the fact he/she is the first one to get on at a busy station. There would be others behind waiting to get on too, and this person would just stop there suddenly even though there's room elsewhere on the train. Why not go all the way in and not block the others that are trying to get on?
* someone would press the button on the crosswalk repeatedly trying to get the light to change. (Uhm- note to all: contrary to what you all believe, the light does NOT change because you hit that button a million times!!) I wish the device would automatically reset every time someone hits that button just so he/she would stand there waiting forever. There is absolutely NO reason to continue pressing it... some people.
* someone would walk down the stairs and suddenly stop in the middle for no reason, even though there are people walking behind trying to get down too.
* someone would stand in the middle of the street and block everyone else just so he/she could check something on the phone or blackberry or whatever.
* someone would change lanes without signalling.

And on and on... go pick on them too!

Yankees praising

First posted on Bleacher Report a couple hours earlier...

House, I have once again praised the Yankees per your request; twice in two days... what's my prize ?



Perhaps the best thing for the Boston Red Sox on Sunday night is rain.

The start of the Red Sox-Yankees game has been delayed by rain, with New York looking to sweep the Bosox in three straight at Fenway Park.

New York has won eight straight and was supposed to have Sidney Ponson start Sunday night against Jon Lester.

Another Boston loss would mean the Yanks and Red Sox would be tied for second in the division, with New York percentage points ahead by virtue of having played fewer games. (Looking at it the "glass half-full" way though, the first-place Tampa Bay Rays have already lost earlier in the day, meaning a Boston win moves the Sox within a game of top spot.)

Given the way things have gone since the All-Star break, the Red Sox should just pray for the game to be postponed.

Boston is only 3-5 since the mid-summer classic, while New York is 8-0.

While it hasn't exactly been the Boston Massacre in the first two games of the series, the Red Sox have shown again they can't seem to beat the Yankees, not coming up with clutch hits or getting big outs in losing 1-0 and 10-3 thus far.

Though Sunday's scheduled starter Ponson is only 3-11 with a 6.61 ERA lifetime against Boston, the right-hander has done all right this season after being picked up by the pinstripers--and the fact remains New York has been hot since the All-Star break while Boston has not.

The Yanks have gone 4-0 in Ponson's four starts.

Meanwhile, on ESPN Radio, the eighth inning of the seventh game of the 2003 ALCS--yes, the one in which Grady Little left a tiring Pedro Martinez in to allow New York to score three runs--is being replayed as the network is waiting out the rain delay.

Why the network has chosen to re-air this particular clip is beyond me--given the fact the 2004 Red Sox triumph over the Yanks was more significant and magical.

Nonetheless, another reminder the Red Sox had been owned by the Bombers.

Well, guess what? Boston has won two of the last four World Series, while New York hasn't had reason to celebrate since 2000.

And, the Associated Press has reported that Manny Ramirez was quoted as saying he didn't mind if he was traded.

The 2004 World Series MVP supposedly said on Sunday, "I'm tired of them (the Red Sox). They're tired of me."

Four more days to go before the July 31st trading deadline ... will the Red Sox deal Man-ram? You'd at least expect Boston to go out and make some moves to try and defend its AL East title.

Anyway, Boston should just pray for more rain. That way the Yanks can leave town--New York heads home to host Baltimore on Monday--without both teams being tied.

And oh... that would be the last-place Orioles the Yankees would be facing, while the Red Sox will entertain baseball's best team, the L.A. Angels, starting Monday.

In case you are wondering, yes, it was the Angels who swept the Bosox last weekend after the All-Star break.

Not fun times coming up for the Boston Red Sox.

Time to pray for more rain...