Baseball's Here!

And there are already Photo Day photos available for the Jays? I figured that maybe it was a figment of my imagination due to the sudden crash of post-Olympic Hockey Gold excitement. But when you see a professional photo of Scott Richmond wearing a spray-painted yellow piece of tin foil on a Baseball Canada lanyard, Olympic withdrawal can't even create that kind of awesomeness.

Baseball season is here. I don't care what anybody else thinks, but Spring Training is the official start of Baseball. Unfortunately, Spring Training wasn't in my cards this year so I have to stay at home, cursing the Baseball Gods as my sister gets to soak up the Florida weather along with Basebally goodness. For the 5th year in a row, I will just shout out, "Next year, Baseball Gods......Next Year."

Seeing photos of the 2010 Jays has whipped my brain into the mindset that in a little over a month, I will be sitting in my seat at the Dome for the home opener, with multiple overpriced Bud in my hands.

And I can't flipping wait.

In other related news, this picture made my brain short-circuit. Jingles in a Brewers uniform and not wearing the number 1. I wouldn't have lived to blog if Brauny was visible in the photo.

It Was Not Supposed To Be An Off-Season For Me

But so far, it pretty much has been.

I don't know if it's because I despise the off-season, or whether it's because there's just some stuff I can't handle about the longest 6 months of the year. And so far it's been even harder with the loss of Doc, Arnsberg, Scootz, and Jingles.

I do have a New Year's resolution for the blog. I don't just want to blog more often, but I want it to be less of a "venting" type blog. With the way the 2010 season is looking for the Jays, there'll probably be even more negatives than last year though they might surprise me. Life is too short to be angry. Not saying I won't be critical of stuff that pisses me off :) But you catch my drift.

I guess now that pitchers and catchers report in 32 days and State of the Franchise is coming up in less than 2 weeks (though I haven't received my invitation yet), I'm really starting to get into a Baseball mood.

It's just too bad there's no World Baseball Classic to tide me over this time around.

Mariners Get RickRom'ed

RickRom had a decent start tonight. Not a quality start, but he kept the Jays in the game. That's pretty much all you can ask from him at this rate. Then again, the Jays bazillion hits, and the two-out rally in the 6th (Holy WTF, Batman), Lylo and The Cod HRs, Scootz tying his career high for hits in a game (4), Jingles not killing the rally in the 6th (hey, I <3 him, but he's been struggling at the plate away from Vegas this season)....all in all a good night.

Here's one thing I don't get. Here in Toronto, there are fans who easily have access to see the Jays and cheer them on. As my previous entries have stated, it's totally not the case. But in Seattle, the cheers were louder than here at home for the Jays (or so it seemed) by people who follow the team just like the fans in Toronto do, who know the struggles the Jays are going through, and who probably have the same beefs as the fans in Toronto do. I didn't hear any boos for Vernon. Which again, leads me to the question, "What's wrong with the so-called fans in Toronto?"

Unfortunately, that's too philosophical of a question to be asked at 2am.


THE LEGEND STILL EXISTS! He made his first appearance tonight in Seattle since the Jays were in Tampa on July 8th. 19 days. And he didn't give up a run. One of the best, recent outings by somebody in our bullpen :P He didn't aid and abet blowing a 7-run lead. But I digress.

So...The Cod gets pied. How did I find out? By finding this picture online. What did Sportsnet do the second The Legend and The Cod shake hands after the final out? Archie says, "Thank you for watching," then it goes straight to Connected...where they talk about the highlights of the game we just watched, and most likely rambled on about Doc possibly being traded before the deadline (I don't know...I turned the TV off once that happened. But it's a typical Sportsnet type-thing to happen....such as regurgitating information from Wikipedia, verbatim. Again, I digress). My whole point is, they didn't show the post-game interview with Barajas, or the pieing. But they DID record it since it's readily available on sportscrap.ca.

Here's to hoping Marc (too late to spell his last name) fares well against Washburn tomorrow night, provided Washburn doesn't head to the Brewers right away. Then again, the Brewers effin' lost to the NATIONALS for crying out loud. I shall end my vent there.

Goodnight. Or good morning. However you'd like to look at it.

See? Now THAT'S more like it!

I love going to a game where there's absolutely no imploding involved. It definitely makes it a lot easier to breathe. Cecilicious only gave up 1 ER, Rolen hit a 3-run dinger...Joe finally got another hit lol....Jays win it 5-1. I was secretly hoping for a repeat from 2 years ago on Dog Day when McGowan was so close to having a No-No (still hate you, Jeff Baker!). But I'll definitely take a win.

But one thing that I realized today....yes, the Jays were pitiful on Saturday in the game that I will refer to as Bullpen Gate and will never mention again...why would "fans" show up just to complain the whole time they're at the game, and boo V-Dub? I would think that money would be better spent towards something you'd WANT to see. Here's the classic moment. V-Dub grounds into a double play. People boo insanely. Lind scored from third!!!!! Anybody who knows the sport and actually cares would know that yes, double plays suck...but at least it brought a run in. Then there were the lovely, sarcastic cheers when Vernon hit a single in the 8th.

But the worst was when Vernon was walking his dog with his wife and children for Dog Day festivities. Fans started yelling down at him, swearing at him, telling him he's worthless, etc. Sometimes I truly feel embarrassed to be a Jays fan.

Jays fans are quick to insult Red Sox fans. But, I'm sorry....David Ortiz was struggling a LOT more than Vernon is right now, and as far as I know, making more money (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). Did the Fenway Faithful ream him out every chance they got? Not as far as I could tell....the only thing I saw were standing ovations where the fans were cheering him on to support him in getting out of his slump.

It's depressing. I'm trying not to focus on it because it's truthfully not worth my time thinking about it. But it's still upsetting. I do know that there are people who will support this team as a whole through thick and thin, and I'm hoping that our positivity will overshadow the negativity of the Hockey hooliganism mentality.

And now it's time for a West Coast road trip.....hooray for late nights!

IN OTHER NEWS





I realized I haven't even mentioned the Brewers in any of my posts yet. My brain's just been too overloaded to mention them, I guess. But on Saturday while hosting the Braves, both teams wore Negro League uniforms as a tribute. I love the untuck/jumping thing that Brauny, Cameron and Hart do...but man, it looks even more amusing in the old-style uniforms. *sigh* I miss Miller Park

IN OTHER OTHER NEWS




My guilt has been expunged. On Wednesday night, I received Marco Scutaro's 2nd home run ball from Alexthebullpencatcher. SO excited since I <3 Scootz. (this is the third time I'm typing this out since Blogger's acting silly lol). I got home, found out it was the first time in his career that he had a multi-home run game. I started to feel guilty, and people thought I was a freak because of it. Long story short, friend of mine spoke to Sam Cosentino who spoke to Scootz who wanted the ball and was appreciative that I wanted to get it back to him. After today's game, I gave the ball to Sam, and shortly after, he came out with a fresh MLB ball signed on the sweet spot by Scootz. So now I'm guilt-free :) And I have a lovely ball.

Thank you, Sam and Scootz! <3

What the F*** was that?

Out of my almost 28 years of existence...that was probably one of the worst things I ever witnessed.

I don't know how to put it....the Jays lost the game after leading 8-0 or leading 9-1? Let's say 8-0.

We had 16 hits. 16 for crying out loud! Then what happened? The bullpen.

If the bullpen was going to blow it, at least put Dirk Hayhurst in since I can't stay mad at him for making any mistakes. Instead, he just sits there....day in and day out. I don't want to know what's going on with Downs. League can just disappear anytime soon. And in Shawn Camp's defense, despite his 0-5 record, he's been one of our most consistent pitchers out of the bullpen. At least, in my humble opinion.

It was just the most brutal thing I had ever seen, despite every single GOOD thing that happened. Hilly's chin-pube induced 2-homer game for one. Hell, that's all I can think of at the moment. Well, other than at BP when Cecilicious was 2 feet away from me, running into the dugout...*ahem* Fangirl moment over. (Sorry, gotta focus on ALL the positives lol)

Call me a moron, but how was today's game in particular JP's fault? Apparently he's the one who has to pay for what happened. And by no means am I a JP defender.

To show the gravity of how AWFUL today was....look at what was created on YouTube that I just found today. This is what the world's coming to....Jays losing after being up 8-0, and this.

More Halladay Stuff

Okay, I was a little more emotional at tonight's game than I ever thought I would be. Maybe the beer added to it. But there's one thing that I can admit as a Jays fan, the Dome was awesome tonight.

Normally, considering where my seats are, the fans can be quite....rowdy. Heckles are heard more than cheers. Sure, there were a few "CRAWWWWWFORRRRRRD" chants going on, and various "boos" for V-Dub. But the energy was positive otherwise. My last experience with Joe Inglett <3 playing in LF was far from pleasant in terms of how the fans misbehaved, but everybody was cheering for him from the beginning of the game until the end....even after he botched the bunt and the catch that allowed 2 runs to score in the 10th, leading to the Jays' demise, and Doc's no-decision after yet another mostly stellar outing.

I was almost positive before heading down to the Dome that the experience would not be enjoyable. Jays fans, including myself, are quite bitter about the mess that JP has started with the media. I was expecting a huge "Poor Doc" fest. But that was far from what it was. To me, it seemed that Jays fans collectively (though possibly subconsciously) were showing the team AND Doc that there is a fan base that can keep this team going, despite the nagging question of, "When the f*** are we going to start contending?" It showed that there is still a passion in the city of Toronto for the Jays to bring the playoffs back to Canada...and that we'd prefer it to happen with Doc leading the way.

To be honest, as awesome as Halladay is, I've never normally been a "huge Doc fan"...probably because he already has a huge outpouring of support. But tonight, I couldn't help it. Nobody could. Heck, my eyes started to water as he left the bullpen after his warmup tosses. And when he headed to the dugout after the top of the 9th, I got a lump in my throat...and massive goosebumps.

And after reading highlights from his post-game stuff, it made me truly realize how heartbroken I will be if/when he's no longer with the Jays, though I will never begrudge him if he wants to leave.

There. Enough sappy overemotional beer/exhaustion induced nattering :)

Holy Crap, I finally did it.

After spending over an hour trying to make my blog look purdy (seriously holding back on saying "as purdy as (insert player's name here)", I'm giving up to make my first post. Especially since I have to head down to the Dome (which it will ALWAYS be named...take that Rogers! *shakes fist*) for what could be Doc's final start as a Jay.

I'd probably have a huge post venting about what's going on. But I need to make sure that I'm not completely and emotionally drained before tonight's game, especially since this game could mark the end of an era.

Not to mention, I have to make sure I don't pass out due to Alex Gonzalez being the Flashback Friday guest. I won't be heading to meet him (since I don't have anything for him to sign), but he was definitely the first player who made me have stereotypical female reactions to the sport.

And Joe Inglett's back tonight. More stereotypical female reactions....and it marks the return of some more High Sock Mojo.