Well, not entirely, but I’m getting there. About the only thing that “normalizes” travel for me is my bike; it goes wherever I go. For all it’s beauty, one of the things baseball lacks is the sheer exhilaration of hard, sustained aerobic effort - nothing is better for clearing my mind of the clutter that builds up during the day.
Solid win for the Lynx last night after coming off an 11-1 loss - hard to get real bent out of shape over the Monday night game though, it’s a long season. The nice thing about baseball is that a team gets the chance to get right back on the field the next day and put the loss behind them quickly. Great to see Lou Collier hit one out, which effectively puts an end to the similarity between the Lynx and Louisville (i.e. “they each have one Homer” Hat tip: Neate Sager).
Being out of town, I missed Phillippe Aumont’s debut at Lynx Stadium - too bad the team wasn’t in town. It would have been nice if he could have thrown out a first pitch, or been honored in some fashion in front of his hometown fans and family. According to MiLB.com, he’ll be pitching at Lynx Stadium again this Sunday.
Speaking of future prospects, PhuturePhillies Ottawa contact has posted a good interview with J.A. Happ. And finally (for now), here’s one of the two announcements I’ve been mentioning: ottawalynx.blogspot.com will be closing its doors, likely by the end of this week. I’ve made the decision to change blog formats from “Blogger” over to “WordPress”. I’ve also registered a website “http://ottawalynxblog.com” to host the blog and my hope is that it will be a little easier to remember (and find) than the current address. I’m in the process of moving all of the 350+ posts from Blogger over to WordPress - a task I hope to have complete by this weekend. Moving links and changing the new template will be a work in progress. For now, I’ll be updating the blog here and at the new site - in a week or two, this site will automatically re-direct to the new one. Right now the new site looks a lot like PhuturePhillies - but how could I not use red for the template?!
Stay tuned for the second announcement…
(Live blog: Lynx up 1-0 in the seventh in Louisville…)
Sorry about the lack of quality blogging of late - I’ve been down in Toronto on work-type stuff since Sunday night (didn’t think it was wise to broadcast on the web that my wife was home alone with the kids). I’ve got a lot of catching up to do with the team and team related news - I’ve essentially been cut-off from the internet for the last 2.5 days. I did, unfortunately, notice an 11-1 loss last night. Ouch.
Blogging tomorrow will be equally sporadic as I try to catch up with things at the office - should have something up around noon, including the first part of the “big news” I’ve been promising. It probably won’t live up to the hype, but hey, what ever does?
On the road again. The Lynx are away down south this week and for some of next week too. This frees me up to prattle on, if only a little bit, regarding last week’s action.
Friday evening’s game, the last contest of the Lynx homestand, was a gas gas gas. Ahem. The boys in white and red won but I did not take many photos due to the hilarity that was happening in our area of the park. I more or less kept my camera in my lap, right next to my gut, which I kept busting all through the baseball game. Jokes, capers and shenanigans galore, daddio! We kept good company. Had some fun companions who hollered and cheered and were as clever as heck.
My pals and me, we cheer for our team and although we sit near the visitors, we almost never holler anything negative against the opposing team. Often we will pick a visiting player and cheer for him in a sincerely positive way. Why not, eh? This past Friday our choice was Louisville first baseman Joey Votto. “Ooh! He’s cute!” said the ladies. “Yeah? And he’s Canadian.” replied we fellows. We Googled him on Tatiana’s mini-computer, looking for dirt to dish, perhaps. All we came up with was his full name (Joseph Daniel Votto) and hometown. (Toronto, Ontario) Not much to run with but enough. Just enough.
During his at-bats, Mr. Votto was taunted with our rowdy cheers of, “JOE-seph DAN-iel! Clap clap. Clap clap clap!” He must have been thinking, “Oh my goodness! They know my middle name! How ever am I going to hit the baseball now?” I love hanging out with my pals and acting all silly at the ball park. Oh yes, and taking pictures, when I remember to. Here are a couple:
A longtime Ottawa baseball fan, enjoying the sunshine.
Joe Thurston makes the play, topples over.
Danny Sandoval arrives on a Triple!
Jeff Keppinger fires to Joey Votto.
Oh say can you seagull?
Click here for the rest of the game in pictures. For many more Lynx baseball photographs, please click here.
Just a quick post before I hit the road for today. Clay Condrey’s received “the call” from Philadelphia (last Saturday) and Ryan Cameron (whom I discussed here) has been sent down.
Speaking of “The Call”, here’s an interesting Youtube video chronicling three players’ recollection of their call up (including Chris Coste’s).
This will likely be the “one and only” for me today. Right now the Lynx lead the Red Wings 2-0 (bottom 1), after splitting the double header yesterday. Buffalo took over the division lead with an incredible come from behind win yesterday (scoring 9 runs in the bottom of the ninth to win 15-14 over visiting Pawtucket). Quick update on Jim Rushford: He would appear to be healthy as he was in yesterday’s games and is in today’s lineup also. Good news. Bad news: The Phillies continue to struggle mightily. That it’s coming at the hands of Barry Bonds is all the more sickening.
Look for two big blog announcements in the next week or so - one should be coming in the next day or two, if my schedule permits. Unfortunately, today’s schedule permits very little and I’ve gotta bounce.
Sorry, but Saturday’s my day to get other stuff done - principally, riding my bike. It was another nice win last night and I couldn’t decide who to give the “game ball” to - Dusty Wathan, who went 2-3 with a double that looked for a moment to have HR potential, or to Matt Childers who went 8 solid innings, and knocked in a pair of his own. Gotta go with Matt. It’s been interesting seeing Gary Burnham in right field and Dusty Wathan playing first of late - is the move designed to get Dusty more at bats because there’s something brewing? Is Jim Rushford injured? Jim was pulled in the second inning of the May 1 game against the Bats after appearing to pull up lame at third on a Brennan King hit that likely should have scored him.
“Mystery Philadelphia coach” man was still in the dugout last night (note: should have a photo up later). Who’s he looking at now? With Ryan Howard benched today, pinch hitter Greg Dobbs hitting .200 for the season, and catcher Rod Barajas sitting at .235, could Chris Coste be next to get the call? You might think his .186 average would prevent such a move, but he was hitting .170 last year in May in SWB before being called up.
Finally (for now), there’s a good CBC interview with Chris Roberson which you can find here - it’s in the archives for May 4. Hat tip: “Educated” blog reader.
*** UPDATE ***
Brian Mazone pitches 6 innings of 2 hit ball to win game 1 of the doubleheader with Rochester 2-1. Ottawa now within 2.5 of the division lead.
you lose. Last night, I noticed that there was a fourth coach in the Lynx dugout, only this one was wearing a Phillies jacket with an American flag on the right shoulder. Knowing that Tom Gordon was experiencing more shoulder problems, I wondered if the Phils weren’t looking at someone in Ottawa to replace him. I was going to publish my speculation, but never got to it today. Now we find out that Yoel Hernandez has been called up to take a spot in the bullpen. In all honesty, I was going to guess that they were taking a look at Joe Bisenius, who by the way, was awfully good last night, or Brian Sanches.
Just a quick update on my post from yesterday. I’ve received a few e-mails on this one and I guess I have some clarifying to do. First, I understand that a casino is different from the baseball stadium in that the profits are shared directly with the province and the local community. I get that. I also understand the difference between the “public-private partnerships” which were formed that lead to the construction of the various ice pads, and the agreement struck to build Lynx Stadium.
What I was attempting to point out was the appalling irony here – the City goes off in search of new “revenue streams” while it systematically and concurrently cuts off others. It borders on negligence, if not certainly incompetence.
In any event, I think the examples cited illustrate very clearly one of the central themes of this blog: My frustration and disappointment about the gap, the disconnect between what this organization deserves and what it gets.
Having said that, and since the matter is being litigated, it may be time for me to move on and let this issue go. And the email isn’t all critical: To a friend south of the border – thanks for the note. I hope you get out to Durham and catch up with the team.
Is there any room for anything else in anyone’s life anyway? Hmm.
Everything gets good and busy after May Day. This homestand is a really cool thing to watch. How did I ever have any time to do anything else outside of baseball, anyway? Here are some photos from Tuesday and Wednesday’s games versus the Louisville Bats.
Joe Thurston.
Homer Bailey.
Joe Thurston & Dewayne Wise.
Mark Bellhorn over Chris Roberson.
Rick Bauer fires.
Carlos Leon slides. Safe!
Sure, I stayed at home on Thursday, I had work to do here, but I tuned in. A very groovy broadcast. Thanks, lads. I’ll be at the yard Friday at 6:05. See you there, okay? Yeah.
Click an image for a larger view. More Ottawa Lynx photos can be found here.
Lou-hoo-hoo-hoo!!!
