The Gentlest of Infirmities

A Triple Play! I was there!

2009-03-22T07:14:00.000-07:00

From my vantage point, sitting halfway up between Home and First, watching it transpire, watching Berroa try to hustle down the line, it was a thing of goddamn beauty! Two innings later, while all was quiet in the stands, i lifted my face to the heavens and screamed "I saw a triple play!" to much amusement of the crowd.

5/14/1994 AL Kansas City Royals vs AL Oakland Athletics Royals Stadium
Top 3 Inning Score V-H 1 - 2 PLAY SEQUENCE: 5*-4*-3* Source: Retrosheet Event Files; BBW Box Scores
Event: 5(2)4(1)4!3/GTP/G5+ # Men On: 2 [ 1-2 ] KCA vs OAK
Batter: Geronimo Berroa First Mike Aldrete Second Stan Javier Third
Geronimo Berroa (OAK) is the batter with a 2-1 count. He hits a ground ball fielded by the 3B (Gary Gaetti) who forces the runner from second,
Stan Javier (OUT 1)
3B throws over to the 2B (Terry Shumpert) who forces the runner from first, Mike Aldrete (OUT 2)
2B throws to the 1B (Wally Joyner) who retires the batter, Geronimo Berroa (OUT 3)

My first big league baseball game!!

2009-03-22T06:57:00.001-07:00

Kansas City Royals 1, Boston Red Sox 0
DayGame Played on Saturday, August 25, 1979 (D) at Royals Stadium
BOS A 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 4 0
KC A 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 x - 1 5 1
BATTINGBoston Red Sox AB R H RBI BB SO PO A
Burleson ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 4
Papi 2b 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 5
Poquette ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Lynn cf 2 0 0 0 2 0 2 0
Rice lf 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Yastrzemski dh 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Watson 1b 3 0 0 0 0 1 11 0
Hobson 3b 3 0 0 0 0 2 1 2
Evans rf 3 0 1 0 0 1 3 0
Allenson c 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
Dwyer ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Wolfe c 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Torrez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
Totals 28 0 4 0 2 4 24 15
FIELDING -
DP: 1. Papi-Burleson-Watson.
BATTING -
2B: Yastrzemski (25,off Leonard).
SH: Papi (2,off Leonard).
Team LOB: 4.
BASERUNNING -
CS: Yastrzemski (3,2nd base by Leonard/Porter).
Kansas City Royals AB R H RBI BB SO PO A
Wilson lf 4 1 2 1 0 0 2 1
McRae dh 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Brett 3b 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 5
Porter c 3 0 0 0 1 1 5 1
LaCock 1b 4 0 0 0 0 2 10 2
Cowens rf 3 0 1 0 0 0 2 0
Otis cf 2 0 1 0 1 0 2 0
White 2b 2 0 0 0 1 0 5 2
Washington ss 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 2
Leonard p 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Totals 27 1 5 1 5 3 27 13
FIELDING -
DP: 2. Porter-White, Washington-White-LaCock.
E: Brett (29).
BATTING -
2B: Cowens (15,off Torrez).
HR: Wilson (5,1st inning off Torrez 0 on 0 out).
IBB: Otis (7,by Torrez).
Team LOB: 7.
BASERUNNING -
SB: Wilson (59,2nd base off Torrez/Allenson).
CS: White (4,2nd base by Torrez/Allenson).
PITCHINGBoston Red Sox IP H R ER BB SO HR BFP
Torrez L(13-9) 8 5 1 1 5 3 1 32
IBB: Torrez (7,Otis).
Kansas City Royals IP H R ER BB SO HR BFP
Leonard W(9-9) 9 4 0 0 2 4 0 31
Umpires: HP - Dallas Parks, 1B - Dave Phillips, 2B - Al Clark, 3B - Durwood Merrill
Time of Game: 2:10 Attendance: 37851
Starting Lineups:

Boston Red Sox Kansas City Royals
1. Burleson ss Wilson lf
2. Papi 2b McRae dh
3. Lynn cf Brett 3b
4. Rice lf Porter c
5. Yastrzemski dh LaCock 1b
6. Watson 1b Cowens rf
7. Hobson 3b Otis cf
8. Evans rf White 2b
9. Allenson c Washington ss
Torrez p Leonard p

RED SOX 1ST: Burleson singled to center; Papi out on a sacrifice
bunt (first to second) [Burleson to second]; Lynn flied out to
left; Rice grounded out (third to first); 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB.
Red Sox 0, Royals 0.

ROYALS 1ST: Wilson hit an inside the park homer to left; McRae
walked; Brett grounded out (second to first) [McRae to second];
Porter walked; LaCock grounded out (second to first) [McRae to
third, Porter to second]; Cowens grounded out (shortstop to
first); 1 R, 1 H, 0 E, 2 LOB. Red Sox 0, Royals 1.

RED SOX 2ND: Yastrzemski reached on an error by Brett; Watson
popped to second; Hobson struck out while Yastrzemski was caught
stealing second (catcher to second); 0 R, 0 H, 1 E, 0 LOB. Red
Sox 0, Royals 1.

ROYALS 2ND: Otis grounded out (pitcher to first); White walked;
White was caught stealing second (catcher to second); Washington
walked; On a bunt Wilson grounded out (pitcher to first); 0 R, 0
H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Red Sox 0, Royals 1.

RED SOX 3RD: Evans flied out to center; Allenson popped to first
in foul territory; Burleson grounded out (third to first); 0 R,
0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Red Sox 0, Royals 1.

ROYALS 3RD: McRae grounded out (second to first); Brett singled
to left; Porter grounded into a double play (second to shortstop
to first) [Brett out at second]; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Red Sox
0, Royals 1.

RED SOX 4TH: Papi grounded out (second to first); Lynn flied out
to right; Rice grounded out (shortstop to first); 0 R, 0 H, 0 E,
0 LOB. Red Sox 0, Royals 1.

ROYALS 4TH: LaCock was called out on strikes; Cowens grounded
out (shortstop to first); Otis singled to center; White grounded
out (third to first); 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Red Sox 0, Royals 1.

RED SOX 5TH: Yastrzemski doubled to left; Watson grounded out
(third to first); Hobson struck out; Evans singled to left
[Yastrzemski out at home (left to catcher)]; 0 R, 2 H, 0 E, 1
LOB. Red Sox 0, Royals 1.

ROYALS 5TH: Washington flied out to center; Wilson singled to
center; Wilson stole second; McRae reached on a fielder's choice
[Wilson out at third (pitcher to shortstop to third), McRae to
second]; Brett lined to right; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Red Sox 0,
Royals 1.

RED SOX 6TH: Allenson flied out to right; Burleson grounded out
(third to first); Papi singled to center; Lynn walked [Papi to
second]; Rice grounded out (third to first); 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 2
LOB. Red Sox 0, Royals 1.

ROYALS 6TH: Porter flied out to left; LaCock lined to right;
Cowens doubled to left; Otis was walked intentionally; White
flied out to right; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 2 LOB. Red Sox 0, Royals 1.

RED SOX 7TH: Yastrzemski grounded out (first to pitcher); Watson
struck out; Hobson popped to first in foul territory; 0 R, 0 H,
0 E, 0 LOB. Red Sox 0, Royals 1.

ROYALS 7TH: Washington flied out to center; Wilson grounded out
(third to first); McRae grounded out (second to first); 0 R, 0
H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Red Sox 0, Royals 1.

RED SOX 8TH: Evans struck out; DWYER BATTED FOR ALLENSON; Dwyer
flied out to left; Burleson flied out to center; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E,
0 LOB. Red Sox 0, Royals 1.

ROYALS 8TH: WOLFE REPLACED DWYER (PLAYING C ); Brett flied out
to left; Porter was called out on strikes; LaCock was called out
on strikes; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Red Sox 0, Royals 1.

RED SOX 9TH: POQUETTE BATTED FOR PAPI; Poquette popped to
second; Lynn walked; Rice grounded into a double play (shortstop
to second to first) [Lynn out at second]; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.
Red Sox 0, Royals 1.

Final Totals R H E LOB
Red Sox 0 4 0 4
Royals 1 5 1 7

unbelievable duet : James Brown and Pavarotti

2009-03-22T02:06:00.000-07:00

Not A Joke!

Unbelievably beautiful and mystical. Wow.

James Brown & Pavarotti - Man's World
Uploaded by PeteRock

2004ever

2009-03-10T21:38:00.000-07:00

the pure funkiness, nastiness, grooviness, and geniusness brings a tear to my eye. what joy! real music for real music lovers.

somewhere its 2004 forever and ever. i was there.

DMSR live
Uploaded by fonkdoc

For Shari

2008-12-05T08:09:00.000-08:00

You were there for me when i needed a friend! You were there for me on my birthday that year. You bought me the soundtrack to the greatest movie of all time "Magnolia". You shared my wonder at the movie and my wonder with other movies, books, artists, relationships, pain and life. You were there for me and i appreciated it SO much and now we hardly talk and its my fault and i've let alot of things fall by the wayside in my life, including people, but letting a perfectly good friend go is incredibly stupid. Especially one that saved me.

not the smartest guy in the world

2008-11-07T10:15:00.001-08:00

silliest movie death scenes EVER

2008-10-30T10:25:00.000-07:00

in line to see prince 7/7/7

2008-05-28T22:49:00.000-07:00

what a long ass day! but the 75 minutes prince played at first avenue, from 2:45 am until the cops shut it down at 4:00 am were absolutely freakin incredible. where's the damn bootleg already?

that's me with the shirt unbuttoned, the gut, and leaning into the camera at the 1:31 mark. in line from 5:30 am until 3pm.

Michael Chabon's Ebay Purchase

2005-02-17T05:26:00.000-08:00

I find it really cool to exchange e-mails with writers! "What? Some "writing" from a great published author just for me!?!" It was very thrilling exchanging e-mails with Michael Chabon years before he won the Pulitzer for "The Amaziing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" I was writing him to compliment him on his book "Wonder Boys" and to congratulate him on it becoming an upcoming movie, which I had just that day found out about. (And what a movie it turned out to be!) What was weird, and I just now remember doing it, was that I used his e-mail address in a search on ebay and found things he was bidding on! (Creepy I know! I don't know if you can still do that on ebay! Let's hope not! Wouldn't want you to see the comics I bid on!) An old Strat-O-Matic baseball game now resides in the Chabon household. (He's married to Ayelet Waldman, a fine writer herself!) Next time you're in Iowa City Michael, bring it along! I challenge thee!

Pharmacy Humor

2005-02-17T03:53:00.000-08:00

Had to make a 4 AM run to Walgreens for Preparation H suppositories (for me), condoms (for me also, ahem!), and some Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream.

Told my girlfriend I was going to tell the clerk how embarrassed we were with our purchases that we got up and came at 4 am. (While actually 4 AM to us is like 7 PM for normal folk). She said the clerk won't care but I tried it out anyway:

Laid the items out and said, a little slowly, "We are so embarrassed......at buying such.......expensive high fat Ice Cream...that we got up and came at 4 in the morning!"

Not a smile. nothing. sigh.....

Hey, I laughed in the parking lot and I'm my most favorite and most important audience so that's all that matters, I cracked myself up.

So there.

Chunky Monkey if you're wondering.

Freak Injury

2005-02-17T03:33:00.000-08:00

Not feeling like stopping at the store on the way home for some toilet paper, I asked my girlfriend if i could take a roll of hers home. Seeing as how we're on a TP Exchange program and I'm a few rolls behind, she had no viable reason to deny me although she did agree with a certain air of superiority. (Obviously she must think I'm wasteful with the TP. Hey! Your toilet jams up too easily!)

When 9 am rolled around and it was time to head to my house and my bed (we're both night people, working those late night hours) she was sound asleep and I could not find a plastic sack or anything resembling a bag to "hide" the one roll of toilet paper in. Frankly, I didn't want to walk to the car carrying a roll of toilet paper. (It just doesn't seem right.) I figured that stressful planning and diagramming out how to hide one roll of toilet paper from prying neighborly eyes would prove difficult and cut into my sleep I decided to stuff the roll down into my coat. It did look fairly natural if one stooped over a bit, kept your hands in front of your abdomen, and allowed for others thinking you were surely putting on a few pounds. Slipping on my shoes, I found I had a problem with the left one and was required to bend all the way over to get the shoe over my heel. It was indeed awkward as the toilet paper had shifted now towards my left side. (One would have to allow now for others thinking that your tumor was surely growing.) I had to reach, stretch, contort and uncomfortably work over and around the toilet paper in my coat but did finally succeed in reaching my shoe with my left hand and at the exact moment of satisfaction of getting your shoe comfortably over your heel, I pulled a muscle in my side which still hurts today.

Lesson: Always put your shoes on BEFORE abducting a roll of Charmin.

Stewart O'Nan and Stephen King

2005-02-17T02:33:00.002-08:00

Years ago, Stewart O'Nan wrote a short novel called "Dear Stephen King" about a woman on death row relating her killing spree in letters to, you guessed it, the King of Horror. King's lawyers quickly put the kabosh on the title and it was published as "The Speed Queen" with a dedication inscribed "to my dear Stephen King".

Apparently they've made up (or hell, maybe King's lawyers handled it and he wasn't even aware of it) and even went to some ball games together last year! Both are ardent Red Sox fans and sure picked the right time to collaborate on a book about the amazing season the Sox had last year. If you saw King in the stands during the playoffs and world series, you couldn't help but notice the notepad and pen. (I hope working on the book didn't spoil the 86 year wait!) O'Nan was a little more hard to see unless you were there for batting practice. Large net in hand, he stood above the Green Monster (sacriligous that one can now do so!) snagging deep flies during pre-game warmups. No one really knew who it was and he was dubbed "Netman". One thinks that if King had been up there, he might have been recognized........

I'm sure it's a good read! Published last December.

Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season
by Stewart O'Nan and Stephen King

Now for a collaborative sequel to "The Speed Queen"?

Articles of War by Nick Arvin

2005-02-17T02:33:00.001-08:00

About a year ago I discovered a fan letter in the back of a ten year old issue of Cerebus, the most successful self-published comic book ever!, by one "Nick Arvin".

Having a story collection called "In the Electric Eden" by a Nick Arvin, I quickly deduced that perhaps I had discovered said Nick Arvin's first published writing! To the Internet, Batman!

Found a website for him, his e-mail address and to make a long story short, yes, it was him!

Nick Arvin must have kept me on a mailing list, and yesterday I recieved this concerning his first novel!

From: nick@stanfordalumni.org(Nicholas�Arvin) Date: Wed, Feb 16, 2005, 8:29pm (CST-1) To: nick@stanfordalumni.org (Nicholas Arvin) Subject: Articles of War

Dear friends,
Just a note to let you know that my first novel, "Articles of War," is now available. It has already received great reviews and attention in O: The Oprah Magazine, Interview Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, The Rocky Mountain News, and The Detroit Free Press, with more to come. You can find links to most of the reviews on my website at nickarvin.com. Also, I'll be signing and reading from the book in a few cities:

February 23: Denver, Colorado
Tattered Cover, Cherry Creek Store/7:30pm

February 24: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Shaman Drum/7:00pm

February 28: Iowa City, Iowa
Prairie Lights/8:00pm

March 9: Boulder, Colorado
Boulder Bookstore/7:30pm

Come and say hi if you can!
Yours,
Nick Arvin

So there ya have it. Sight unseen, I know the book will be a good one and I can't help but think he would be nice to meet and hear read from his work....

New Book Day!

2005-02-17T02:33:00.000-08:00

In The Walled City by Stewart O'Nan. A story collection. Have read his first two novels: Snow Angels and Names of the Dead and simply loved them. Of course, perpetually behind as I am, he has 5 more novels sitting on my shelves. (See next post for a thought on one of those...)

A bit of a chore finishing Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks (what's sad is I own the next 7 or 8 science fiction books by him!). He also writes straight fiction which I love but this sort of dragged at the end. Could only seemingly read 20 pages a day the last five days of it! (The tunnels, the trains, the Mind.....zzzzzzzz, snort!) I would have loved this book 15 or so years ago. In fact, science fiction like this (mostly by Robert Silverberg) is what made me a reader back in the 80's in my formative years. But now that I'm older, and such a fan, freak, and reader of contemporary fiction, this sort of thing just doesn't seem to work for me.

On to the O'Nan! Ah! Back to the real (fictional but gloomy!) world. (O'Nan's a bit dark.)

New Book Day is a chore for me. It probably takes me an hour to decide what to read next. (The phrase "New Book Day" was coined by an ex-girlfriend who would walk into bedroom only to find me scanning over 40 or so books on the waterbed!) Pretty stupid, I know. If I would read that hour I could read 35 more books a year! That's appalling to think about considering I only read 50-70 books a year and my to read pile grows every year by probably 100 books or so. My To-Read-Pile is not a pile actually. It is stacks and stacks, shelves and shelves. I just love so many authors and love to try new authors also.

Anyway:

Stewart O'Nan! Highly recommended!

Holy Crap, Coolio, Shane's a Blogger!!

2005-02-16T06:14:00.003-08:00

I hereby copyright the phrase:

Holy Crap, Coolio!

Ok, so I'm a blogger. Big schmeal right!?! (I can't even e-mail my brother and I'm doing this!?!)

What you'll find on this blog:

Thoughts on movies, books, Prince, all the things that get my blood pumpin'! And maybe, just maybe, some insights into my life. And maybe some creative typin' also. (rambling fiction that is)

My "Magnolia" Frog

2005-02-16T06:03:00.000-08:00

Philip Seymour Hoffman gazed dumbfounded at the pool as objects plummeted into it, splashing, bouncing nearby, slamming into the ground, twisting and writhing on the ground.

"Why are there frogs falling from the sky?"

Recently I purchased (via Ebay) a rubber frog used in the filming of "Magnolia". A big old lifesize bullfrog now sits on top of the tv gathering dust. Was I nuts for paying $25 for it or should I purchase more? With my income tax check coming I figure I can just put the George Bush Child Tax Credit towards about 20 more frogs!

Well, it's a thought.