Colors!

So... many... colors... Sandwiched between bagpipers and martial artists, and weather is fantastic. We're about to begin!

12:23PM And now we're just past Westlake...

Moving Along...

♦ My second baseball game was the complete opposite of the first, with our pitchers issuing thirteen walks on the way to the opposing Blue Rocks scoring 17 off of us in an eight inning game. We mustered eight runs, which really should be enough to win. I got to a 3-0 count in my first at bat and ended up striking out swinging. I think I got too complacent and expected a walk... oh well, lessons learned for next time: always be ready to hit. My second AB resulted in a ground out, and my third was a walk which allowed me to score on a wild pitch three batters later. With a cold and damp Saturday morning loss we were ready to turn it around during out next game on Thursday, but...

Give them nothing, but take from them EVERYTHING!

-King Leonidas, Spartan

♦ We had a late 8PM game scheduled for Thursday night, which had turned into a beautifully sunny day after questionable summer weather earlier in the week. Unfortunately at 4:30PM I received an phone call from our league's president; he had just received an e-mail saying the field (Marymoor Park in Redmond) was damaged and would be unable to host our game that evening. After furiously calling people to make sure they wouldn't show up at Redmond (a very far drive for some), I received a call from the opposing team's manager, Jason. He told me that he had guys at the field, and that it wasn't damaged at all -- there was another team playing there! Our working theory now is that King County parks double booked the field and we got the ass end of it. Our president is investigating further, but another bump in the road for an already troubled season. Luckily we don't have long to wait, as we have two back to back games coming up:
Next game: Sun. June 27th, 4PM @ Lower Woodland (Green Lake-ish!)
&
Mon. June 28th, 6PM @ Petrovitsky (Renton)

♦ But before my game tomorrow, I'll be experiencing something I never thought I would -- the Seattle Gay Pride parade! I will be decked out with gear supporting Mike Heavey (D) as he tries to get himself elected for the state's 34th Legislative District (West Seattle). Kind of a bizarre turn for me, as I am highly non-political, hate large gatherings of people and certainly love the ladies. My aversions notwithstanding, my friend needed help and if I'm going to go to one of these things I might as well go big -- that is to say, if I'm going to a parade, why not be in the parade?

Freedom is the right of all sentient beings.

-Optimus Prime, Autobot

♦ You know what else I'm not interested in at all? Soccer. And today definitely reaffirmed it. After getting back home from the bank, I turned on the TV while I made myself some lunch and just happened to tune in as overtime began in the U.S.A./Ghana match-up. Any sport where faking injuries and playing keep-away are legitimate and widely used strategies... well, it's just asinine. The beauty of baseball over other sports (football and basketball included) is that you have to beat the other team. You can't just build up a quick lead and then run clock off for the remainder of the game. Bottom of the ninth, up twelve runs, you still have to get those three outs -- no coasting allowed. But soccer is in a whole other level. One guy did a bicycle kick, landed on his back, got up, saw the ball had floated out of bounds, and then fell over. He wouldn't get up under his own power and a stretcher had to be brought out. He was subbed out for one minute later, running (sauntering) across the entire field while time elapsed. I got so frustrated watching for twenty minutes, I don't see how anyone could enjoy this sport for hours.

If you can't say something nice... don't say nothing at all.

-Thumper, Animated Rabbit

Game 1: Tough Loss

First game in the books, with us losing to the Blue Rocks 6-4. It's not too often we have real "baseball scores" in our games, with run totals in double digits not out of the question. So while that was refreshing, it was the same old news with how we lost: errors and walks. For the most part our pitchers were fantastic. We struck first, grabbing two runs in the first but our starter got hurt in the fourth inning during which he turned his ankle while fielding a softly tapped ball to his right. The Rocks tied the game in the 7th inning 3-3, but we took the lead immediately back in the bottom. We held onto the score going into the top of the ninth, but our pitcher walked the leadoff man who eventually came around to score on a perfectly executed suicide squeeze. They added two more on two infield errors.

The game was marked by mostly solid defense (three sliding catches by our CF) and mostly good pitching (five hits given up, five walks). Our two hurlers only gave up one earned run. Unfortunately despite being the best hitting team last year we managed only four hits throughout this game (and one walk). With a roster of sixteen players, everyone only got two at bats except for our bottom of the order guy -- the poor bastard only got one.

I started in right field (came in to the season thinking I was going to be 1B most of the time) and played the first and final three innings there. I fielded one ground ball and caught one sinking line drive, managing to double up the runner at second base on the latter because of a baserunning lapse. At the plate I drove in our second run in the second inning by grounding a 2-0 fastball to the second baseman with a man on third, and started the seventh inning with an infield single up the middle -- beating out the throw from SS by a step. This was followed up with a steal of second two pitches later and coming around to score (and gain the lead) when the next batter hit a ground ball that was thrown wide of first.

Already looking to our second game against the same team, so come out and cheer!

Next game: Sun. June 20th, 9AM @ Whitman Middle School

Batters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	AVG
D. Mertens	1	0	0	0	1	0	0.000
S. Flauding	2	0	0	0	0	1	0.000
S. Adams	1	0	0	0	0	0	0.000
T. Hillard	2	1	1	0	0	0	0.500
C. Ortiz	2	1	0	0	0	1	0.000
D. Shin	2	1	1	1	0	0	0.500
A. Osnaya	2	0	0	0	0	1	0.000
J. Osnaya	2	0	0	0	0	1	0.000
E. Meyer	2	0	0	0	0	0	0.000
J. Mcnew	2	0	0	0	0	1	0.000
R. Davidson	2	0	0	0	0	0	0.000
J. Flores	2	1	1	0	0	0	0.500
J. Witham	2	0	0	0	0	2	0.000
I. Hoyos	2	0	1	1	0	0	0.500
K. Jones	2	0	0	0	0	1	0.000
M. Piper	1	0	0	0	0	0	0.000
Totals	29	4	4	2	1	8

SB: D Shin (1); CS: D Mertens (1); I Hoyos (1);

Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA
S. Adams	3.2	2	1	0	0	0	0.00
A. Osnaya	5.1	3	5	1	5	2	1.69
Totals	9.0	5	6	1	5	2

Fuzzy Feasting

Beware, the bear zombies!

Crafty Joe's

Trader Joe's is smart -- fantastic PR move without the need for financial follow through. Though I feel bad for the Emergency Feeding Program.

Hands Off! (With a View)

Can you see Mt. Rainier in the back there? A beautiful sunny day so far... wish I wasn't seeing at, as my monthly 5:30am meeting was canceled (without my knowledge) for the third time in a row. Oh well, at least I'll be able to get out earlier.

I heard something on the news last night that had me severely confused and somewhat miffed. Apparently there are some wrinkles in the upcoming hands free driving law that seems to go against the very nature of the law itself. Namely:

1. Drivers with hearing aids are exempt from it.
2. Drivers are allowed to hold the phone up to their face and talk on speakerphone, just as long as the phone isn't up to your ear.

How the hell does either of these make sense? The first seems to be putting the convenience of the hearing impaired - people who probably could do with less distraction on the road anyway - ahead of safety. And the second - what? The whole point of the law is to get cellphones out of the hands of drivers so that they can keep both of them on the wheel. While I'm in the school of thought that there should be no cellphone use at all while behind the wheel, that it's not the loss of hands that's the problem but the shift in concentration needed to carry on a conversation through the phone, this law is a small step in the right direction. To circumvent it in such a manner is ridiculous.

The need now attitude of people today is ridiculous. Does anyone remember the ancient days when we waited until we got home to check our voicemails and call people back? Now a chime from their phone is a cue to snatch up their handheld, read, and peck back a text message no matter where they are or what's going on around them. Even if they are operating a two ton piece of heavy machinery traveling at speeds up to 70mph. It's akin to driving while intoxicated. You wouldn't drive drunk would you? What makes people think driving with one hand on the wheel and both eyes off the road is any better? If people want to engage in risky behavior I'm all for it, but not when they're putting other people or property in danger.

Or... Golf

The aforementioned first baseball game was washed out due to rain. Fairly unfortunate, so our first game of the season gets bumped to:

Next game: Sat. June 12th, 6PM @ Eastlake Community Field

However, Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day. And my friend Trevor was full of good ideas yesterday. One being Par 3 golf at Crossroads. The second showing me the high speed burst shooting mode on my camera. 1400 photos later, a Mixtape! Enjoy:

Baseball!

Ken Griffey Jr. retired yesterday. While many will consider him immortalized for his majestic home runs, elegance in the field, and scoring on 'The Double', I will take away from the legacy of the Kid his love of the game. He played with a smile, did it cleanly, and had fun doing it. I don't think we'll see a greater sports figure in our lifetime.

A perfect segue into my own adventures in baseball: my first game is tomorrow! Ironically I think I was in better game shape two months ago, having gone to the batting cages semiweekly and engaging in a more regulated workout/exercise/eating habits/schedule. But, here I am ready to get rolling. As has become a yearly tradition, let me outline my goals for this upcoming season:

»Bat better than .350. I smacked a high 0.431 last season, let's see if it's a fluke...
»Steal fifteen bases. Surpassed last year's goal of five with nine, I'm going to gamble more on the basepaths and utilize my speed.
»No errors. Ongoing goal every season. I'll probably be playing more first base this year, but we'll see what happens.
»Strike out less than last year. Had eight last year, a vast improvement over the year before.
»One home run (over the fence). I clubbed two last year, but they were both inside the park (and legit inside the park, not players-overthrowing-the-ball-every-which-way inside the park). It'd be great to validate all my off season workouts if I could get a hold of one.
»Have fun. Kinda in honor of Griffey, but I've never got to the point where the game has been a grind. I love going out there and playing baseball, and I hope I never lose that.

Year	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	HBP	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2009	18	65	26	28	5	2	2	18	12	8	0	9	1	0.431	0.519	0.662	1.181
2008	15	46	10	14	0	0	0	9	6	11	2	1	0	0.304	0.407	0.304	0.712
2007	16	47	7	7	3	0	0	4	16	13	1	0	0	0.149	0.375	0.213	0.588

My schedule is posted here, and if it isn't raining too badly and you've got nothing better to do Friday night, why don't you come out and see me at:

Next game: Fri. June 4th, 6PM @ Cascade High School.

Who knows, there might be some food in it for ya?