Sniffle

If I ever wanted proof that I am a terrible, selfish person (not that I ever would, because I know how selfish and terrible I am), I need look no further than my reaction to the news that Jim Thome was traded to the Orioles.

I am not a happy camper about it, and I’ve had hours to deal with it. Thank God I read it this morning after all was said and done (and after hearing the rumors), rather than yesterday. Had I found out yesterday, it probably would’ve brought me to tears. (But that may have more to do with my current mental state than anything else. I noticed earlier that I’m in “an over-emotional way,” to quote a Matchbox Twenty song called “Kody” that I always liked. I’m pretty sure most people didn’t cry as much at Bridesmaids as I did this afternoon.)

Objectively, I get that an AL team is a much better fit for Thome. Signing him to an NL team this past offseason was a beautiful experiment that, let’s face it, failed horribly. His back kept him from playing in the field. He wasn’t particularly successful as a pinch hitter. But he can still be an everyday player on an AL team by virtue of the designated hitter. And the month of June proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he still has something left in the tank. He can still contribute, he can continue to add to his home run total and put the cherry on top of his Hall of Fame career. Objectively, I get all of this and know that I should be happy for him.

But I’m not. Instead, I’m miserable that he was traded from my team. Forget how excited I was back when the Phillies signed Thome in November. He was one of the few bright spots in this season. He’s just such a great, lovable guy. Every post-game interview with him was a delight. And it was always a thrill to see him standing in the on-deck circle, waiting for his chance to pinch hit. Or during the nine game road trip in AL parks, when he gave the Phillies the only legitimate clean-up hitter they’d had all season.

So yeah, I’m a terrible, selfish person and I wish the Phillies hadn’t traded Jim Thome away. But they did. And I’ll deal with it (eventually), because it really was the best thing the organization could do for him. And you can make damn sure that I’ll continue to root for him this year. Hell, the best thing about the trade is that it officially made the Orioles my AL team, which is pretty cool because a) I’ve been to nearly as many Orioles games as Phillies games and b) the Orioles and Rays are division rivals. (Eventually it always comes back to rooting against Florida teams.)

Until tomorrow.

Woohoo!

That was awesome!

The Phillies are playing the Rays this weekend. In Philly. (It figures that they’re playing my local team during my birthday weekend, but in Philly.) Unfortunately, I am now at the mercy of the crappy MLB blackouts (since the Rays are playing and they are my local team), which means I have to watch the Rays broadcasts.

I’ve said before that as annoying as the Phillies’ TV broadcasters are, I’d still rather hear them than the other team’s broadcasters. (This is, in fact, why I pay for MLB.tv Premium.) So I wasn’t even sure that I wanted to watch the game. But then Juan Pierre hit his first home run as a Phillie (the 17th of his career), giving the team the lead in the process. That made it easier to watch the Rays broadcast.

Things got a little hairy in the eighth inning and I realized that I actually preferred the Rays broadcast to the Phillies at that moment. Wheels’ negativity is so annoying that I would rather listen to the Rays’ broadcasters being hopeful. Plus, the Phils managed to get out of the inning pretty much unscathed, so that helped.

The ninth inning was a different story. At first, I was still glad that I was watching the Rays broadcast and didn’t have to listen to Wheels. But when Papelbon blew the save the Rays’ announcers became a different kind of annoying. So rather than subject myself to what I assumed was inevitable torture, I decided to just stop watching.

I flipped over to Oxygen because they were showing Pride & Prejudice and I love that movie 🙂 But I hadn’t realized how late it was and was disappointed that Lady Catherine de Bourgh was already at the Bennets’ house. I had hoped to have a lot of Jane Austen goodness in which to drown my sorrows.

During the first commercial break I decided to check Facebook, just to see if there were any updates on the game. And were there ever. Not only had the Phillies won, but Jim Thome walked it off!!!!!

That is just so damn pretty. I’m bummed that I missed seeing it live (on TV), but still. And TMac got legitimately excited on that call, so good for him. Honestly, I’m not even mad that Papelbon blew the save since it gave us that moment. That was the 609th homer of Thome’s career (tying him with Sammy Sosa for 7th place on the home run list). It was his 101st with the Phillies. His fifth of the season. And the 13th walk-off homer of his career (giving him the most in MLB history). Not too shabby for his first pinch hit of the season.

Yep, my cousin got a pretty awesome birthday present from the Phillies. I, on the other hand, got a rained out game for my birthday (to be made up in a day-night doubleheader tomorrow). But that’s okay, because I got pretty awesome birthday presents from people I actually know.

Coolest socks I have ever owned? Yes.

As if all that wasn’t awesome enough, I saw Seeking a Friend for the End of the World this afternoon and it was phenomenal. It made me laugh. It made me cry. Plus I liked seeing Keira Knightley in a movie that wasn’t a period piece. And she and Steve Carell were fantastic.

Now I will end this great day by watching the end of Pretty Woman.

Until tomorrow.

Score!

I just found 40 bucks in my wallet that I didn’t know I had. Hooray! It was in some random zippered pocket that isn’t where I normally keep cash. I wonder how long it’s been there and why I put it there in the first place. Of course, the important thing in all this is that I found 40 bucks!

That’s not a bad way to cap off this weekend 🙂 Another thing that didn’t suck about today was Jim Thome hitting home run #608 (and his 100th as a Phillie). I know they lost and it sucked but whatever. I’m kind of over it. I just want to enjoy the good things about this team, and Thome is one of them. I cannot tell you how very much I want him to get to at least 610 homers. Oh, and since I didn’t talk about this earlier, let’s all just take a minute to enjoy this mammoth home run from the Twins series.

In other news, today is the 9th anniversary of the release of Brand New’s second record, Deja Entendu. For some terrible reason I didn’t remember that until about an hour ago, though. It makes me sad to think of how many times I could’ve listened to it today had I remembered earlier. C’est la vie. I would be remiss, however, if I didn’t include one of the videos from that record in today’s post. So here’s the “Sic Transit Gloria…Glory Fades” video. It’s directed by Marc Webb, genius director of music videos and feature films.

The worst part about today is that I have to try to get to bed at a reasonable time by normal people’s standards so that I can get up on time. I have trouble getting my ass out of bed at 7 AM, so 5 should be a lot of fun. Wish me luck.

Until tomorrow.

Huh

I’m not sad about how today’s Phillies game ended. A little bummed, sure, but not sad. I decided in the fourth inning that, regardless of the outcome, I wouldn’t be sad or angry or whatever. Or course, I was super happy at that exact moment. Why was I so happy? Because Jim Jam mashed a tater! At that point I was happy, Twitter was happy, Jim Thome was happy, Charlie Manuel was happy – it was a pretty awesome moment. So I decided that the game couldn’t possibly be all bad since something so awesome happened.

But, man, the defense was painful to watch sometimes. And it was exacerbated by the fact that I had to listen to Chris Wheeler for 12 innings. That is rough. But, in the middle of those 12 innings, I finally figured out why I hate Wheels so much: The last thing I want to hear during a baseball broadcast are my own negative thoughts and fears. It’s one thing for me to be sitting at home and worrying about the Phils’ apparent inability to score with a man on third and no outs. It’s quite another for a professional color commentator to worry about the very same thing out loud during a game. Aren’t a team’s broadcasters supposed to be optimistic during games? Not Wheels, no. He wants to fret about every stupid thing. And then, when whatever he was worrying about comes to pass, he’s like a dog with a bone. Instead of saying, “well, that sucked, but what’s done is done,” he keeps harping about it for the rest of the inning (at least). God knows I have trouble letting things go (sometimes really stupid things), but I am also not a professional baseball color commentator. I find Tom McCarthy annoying most of the time too, but I have to give him credit today because at one point he did try to get Wheels to such the hell up about the less than stellar defense. Wheels just continued whining over him, but at least T-Mac tried.

And even though it was a loss, it wasn’t all bad news. Jim Thome homered! (Did I mention that?) The Phillies held their own against a really good team. Antonio Bastardo pitched a perfect eighth. Chad Qualls pitched two (2!) clean innings, including a perfect 10th. B.J. Rosenberg pitched a perfect 11th in his major league debut, though why the hell Charlie sent him out for the 12th is beyond me. So, yeah, I’m choosing to be optomistic about this game.

Until tomorrow.

That’s Better

That’s the way a Phillies – Orioles game at Camden Yards is supposed to go down. The Phils score a lot of runs and win. Jim Thome gets to DH, going 3-5 in the process with two doubles and an infield single (what??). (And I’m anti-DH, but if it gets Jim Jam 4 ABs a game, I’ll allow it.) Jonathan Papelbon faces Robert Andino without ruining everything. And everybody goes home happy.

Seriously, I was so happy when the game ended. In fact, I was quite happy for most of the game, especially the second inning (so much awesome). I had forgotten (again) just how much Phillies wins lift my spirits. They also seem to make me crave spirits, or at least this one did. But I decided against drinking because I don’t have any ice (strange but true) and there’s no way I’m drinking Captain and Diet without ice (almost weirder given my general distaste for ice in beverages).

But then I had to ruin it by going back on Twitter. And finding out that Freddy Galvis probably has a pars fracture, which is a crack in the spine. This is such terrible, terrible news. And now I really want that drink.

On the bright side, I have “Call Me Maybe” in my head. Oh wait, that’s not good in the slightest. And all because I listened to a mash-up of it and “Semi-Charmed Life.” I didn’t think there would be any harm in listening to it, especially since I actually like “Semi-Charmed Life.” But no, now’s the time that “Call Me Maybe” finally decides to get stuck in my head.

Well, this started really happy, but not so much anymore. I should try to end on a good note. I know, go watch the trailer for Wreck-It Ralph. You can’t not smile when you watch it.

Until tomorrow.

Good News

I’m still not feeling particularly inspired, but here’s a list of things I learned in the past 24 or so hours that made me happy.

• My beloved Wawa will be close to my parents’ house!  Supposedly.  My mom read a little article in one of those lame local “newspapers” that just show up in your mailbox regardless of whether you want it that listed two West Pasco Wawa locations.  Both are pretty close to my parents’ house, but one would only be a couple of miles away.  I can find no confirmation of this, however.  Friggin’ Wawa’s Website only wants to talk about the stupid Orlando/Kissimmee locations.  I get it, Wawa, you only want to acknowledge the locations where you have broken ground, but I’m still mad that you chose to start in Orlando.  There are way more Delaware Valley transplants in Tampa than Orlando.  And don’t talk to me about Sea World (or the Wawa that will be built across the street from it).  Doesn’t it make more sense to start your campaign to take over Central Florida in a place where you have brand recognition?  Doesn’t it??  Sorry, that got rant-y.  S’anyways, this article talks about Wawa taking over one of the locations my mom mentioned (the one further from their house), but it seems less sure of Wawa’s plans than the article my mom talked about.
• Mike Sweeney is now an analyst at MLB Network!  That’s awesome.  If you’re curious about why a Phillies fan would care so much about a bench guy that we had for a couple of months (or why Enrico mentioned hugs in his post), I present this.  Sweeney and his hugs are the best and I love that guy.  And I have the shirsey to prove it 🙂
• Speaking of the Phillies, Jim Thome still looks pretty good at first base.  (If you’d prefer to watch it without having to listen to T-Mac and Sarge, Crashburn Alley has GIFs.)  The big test, of course, is how he feels tomorrow, but I’m choosing to remain optomistic.

Okay, technically I didn’t so much learn the Thome thing as watch it, but whatever.  It still made me happy.  As did finding out that the Phillies walked it off in the ninth after I had given up on the game and gone to take a nap.  I know it was just spring training, but I get way too much fun out of rooting against the Rays (and when they can lose to the Phils, it’s even better).  I’m not kidding about the Rays thing, by the way.  I’ve been to one Rays game in the four years I’ve lived here and I spent the game not so much rooting for the White Sox as rooting against the Rays.  Good times.

Until tomorrow.

Epiphany

I’ve had an epiphany. (Technically, I had it weeks ago, but this is the first time I’ve actually logged on to my blog in ages. Actually, why am I posting this? I was the only person who knew when I started planning this post. That is, until I felt compelled to come clean about it in a parenthetical digression that is now longer than the “actual” post to this point. Maybe my mom is right. Maybe I *am* a little too honest in my blog.) See, when I was in college, I occasionally told people that my dream job would be getting paid to obsess over pop culture (preferably the pop culture stuff that I actually like and obsess over for free). I think the clearest picture I had of said job (in my head) was working for MTV News as a writer for their website. This was back in the late 90s, you see, when blogs weren’t a thing. In retrospect, I’m not sure how great of a fit that would be because it turns out I’m not super comfortable attaching my name to things I write on the internet. But, y’know, maybe I’d get over it if I were getting paid.

Here’s where the epiphany comes in. It occurred to me (weeks ago) that this blog could be my opportunity to obsess (publicly) over whatever I’m currently into. Granted, I’m not getting paid, but it’s a start.

So here’s what I’m currently obsessing over: Jim Thome. I was ecstatic when I found out yesterday that the Phillies had signed him to a one-year deal. I’m talking jumping-up-and-down-screaming-my-head-off excited. Which is a much better feeling than the utter sadness I felt when the Indians claimed him off waivers last season. Such an extreme emotional reaction over a baseball player is a little out there, even for me, but Jim Thome isn’t just any baseball player in my world. I may have been able to name the entire 25-man roster this past season, but from 2003-2005 I could only name one player on the Phillies, and that one player was Jim Thome. So, maybe it’s not that weird that I’m excited he’s back.

Now I can cross writing this post off my to do list. Thank goodness. I wish I could promise to be more conscientious about blogging regularly, but I’m pretty sure that won’t be happening in the near future. I’ve got 3 research papers and 2 group projects to get done in the next month (plus 2 trips away from home during that time). So, yeah, I’ll be busy. But maybe, if I’m really excited about something, I’ll post it.

In case you were wondering, the thing I was really stoked about when I actually had my epiphany was Charisma Carpenter & James Marsters guest-starring on an episode of Supernatural. Cordelia & Spike, together again – it was heaven for my little Whedon-loving heart.

Lazy Saturday

This was a seriously lazy day for me. Highlighted by the fact that I didn’t get out of bed until 1:05. There was some kind of magic that woke me up just in time for the Phillies game. But, wait, that got rained out. (Boo!) Imagine my disappointment at getting out of bed specifically to watch the Phils only to have MLB TV tell me that the game was postponed. I was able to resist the urge to go back to bed by checking Twitter and being confronted with hundreds of tweets about Hurricane Irene. How could I possibly sleep with everything that was going on at home?

When the forecasts started indicating that Irene might be a threat to the Northeast, I thought it was terribly ironic. After all, I’m in Florida, I should be the one worrying about hurricanes and flooding, not all of my family and friends in the land of Wawa and TastyKakes. As the week went on, and John Bolaris’s tweets got more and more ALL CAPS SERIOUS, I started to see how big of an issue Irene could be. After the things I saw reported on Twitter today (tornadoes! water UNDER the Wildwood Boardwalk!!), I’m just praying that everyone stays safe.

Lost in all the crazy weather was the fact that the Phillies’ It Gets Better video was finally released. (Seriously, I saw no mention of it on either of the official Twitter accounts or the homepage. So thanks to the half-dozen or so fans that I saw tweet the link.) It’s a phenomenal video and I’m so glad the organization decided to take part in the It Gets Better project. It makes me proud to be a fan of this team. Special shout out to the players featured: Roy Halladay, Chase Utley, Hunter Pence, John Mayberry, Jr., and Mike Stutes.

By 7:00 I was getting antsy for some baseball, so I decided to put the Royals/Indians game on. I chose that game because I was interested in seeing Jim Thome back in an Indians uniform (though I would’ve much preferred to see him back in red pinstripes, but that’s another post). There was something really relaxing about watching a baseball game that I had no vested interest in. I may have to do that more often. Like tomorrow, since there won’t be a Phils game. (Boo!) Although I may have to watch a non-Indians game since I am currently feeling very bitter and conflicted towards the Indians (see above re: Thome not being in red pinstripes).