All Star Break (Unplanned) - updated 7/15

h.b.:
Hart here on Life's Rich Trolley... Didn't plan to take today off but some unplanned stuff dropped in my lap this morning.

 

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h.b.:
Update: Extending the unplanned break into today, Weds 7/15, but this time it's not due to anything unplanned but rather pure apathy. I didn't watch the All Star Game. As I've confessed before, when it comes to baseball outside the Red Sox sphere of influence, I'm a real pink hat.

 

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Comments

[Bob]

//some unplanned stuff dropped in my lap this morning.//

Late night at a strip club, huh?

Been there. Get some rest. And antibiotics.

[h.b.]

Nothing like doing the St Bernard in the Champagne Room.

[Harwich Rich]

My life is always a rich trolley-lol

[yazbread]

Went to the game on Saturday - a mini high school reunion with seven friends. First time at Fenway in 30+ years. Brand me a heretic but it's not the same. Inside the park is still charming. But the concourses and Yawkey Way, etc. - too small, cramped, etc. Give me Camden Yards. Sorry. Flame away.

Relief pitching turned a 2.5 hour game into a 4 hour game. Walked back to the T in heavy rains. MBTA - what the hell is that all about? Two little cars periodically pull into the station and it takes forever to get to Sullivan Square. Give me the Tube, the Paris or Montreal metro, the L, the NYC subway. Anything but the T. Reminds me of those little trains that use to move freight under the city of Chicago. Ugh. Flame away.

Best part of the day? Lunch at Pagliuca's in North End. I swear central casting sent a group of 70-year old wiseguys over to dine next to us and give a Sopranos feel to the place.

[Natalie]

Hoping life's rich trolley is full of pageantry today, hb.

I hate the AS break. Always have. Always will.

[Natalie]

Oh, and yb, you don't want the Tube right now. No air conditioning. I can feel my internal organs starting to boil by the time my five stop trip is only one stop underway. During our recent heatwave, they were talking temps underground reaching above 100 degrees by 8am! Nothing like being freshly showered on your way to the office and feeling the sweat start to streak down the groove of your spine. It's awesome.

[sonomasox]

//MBTA - what the hell is that all about?//

I thought Mayor mumbles and the big dig were suppose to cure that festering wound.

It's hitting the 100 mark out here too...thy swamp ass returnth.

[jfm]

Come to atl if you want to whine about public transportation.

[Kaz]

Is that trolley retrofitted with a Positive Control System, h.b.?

Sorry, I've been listening to the NTSB hearings on the D Line crash all morning online.

[Monty in CA]

Wish I could bitch about going to Fenway....hell we dont even have public transportation in the north bay.

[ponch in jerz]

Yaz - was at game Saturday too - have vague recollections of walking to T in downpour but have been generously overserved by the Fenway concession workers I don't think I minded. Ugly game, but still fun.

[ponch in jerz]

'have been' = 'having been' - I may still be hung over a bit

[sonomasox]

c'mon Monty...our buses are great and the SMART rail will be useful for at least 12 people.

[Kaz]

Screw Joe Maddon right in his best-dressed horn-rimmed glasses. He should have pitched Wakefield!

[Kaz]

I'm seeing shades of Mussina warming himself up in Camden Yards with Cito Gaston just staring at a wall...

Damnit!

[Natalie]

I am just as happy Wake didn't pitch. Less chance of injury for something meaningless.... That said, well done, AL. Thanks for home field advantage.

[Gary in Indiana]

I knew Beckett wouldn't pitch after his complete game Sunday but thought Wake might. I'd have loved to have seen him baffle NL hitters for one inning, anyhow, especially at age 42. No matter, though. He was finally honored as an All Star and that's what was most important to me.

[Natalie]

I am your partner in pink hat apathy when it comes to non-Red Sox baseball events (also see: WBC). I am concerned however that Kaz has had an aneurysm over Madden's neglect of Timmeh. His Twitter updates had the increasingly alarming tone of someone contemplating raiding granpa's arsenal, writing a virtiolic manifesto and marching to St Louis to wreak his revenge.... :)

[Bob]

Paps was back to Healthcliff last night.

And he got the win.

Anyway, now it's on to Toronto and let's win there.

[Jeff in NC]

I wanted to see Wake pitch to watch an All Star catcher try to deal with it - would have been great. Need a large lead to indulge in that though.

Next thought - Paps should get the co-MVP award for his assist to Crawford's MVP. No homerun pitch, no catch, no hero.

Next item - A great stat I saw somewhere yesterday... avg salary of 2009 All Stars is less than avg. salary of a 2009 Yankee. Oh, the conclusions to draw from that!

Finally - Who can we find to fit Buck and McCarver for concrete shoes? Those guys suck. bad. They are so in the tank for the NL and particularly any historical Cardinal being better than anyone playing any position today. They actually blamed the 13 game winless streak for the NL on the DH. Baseball on Fox sucks.

[h.b.]

I did notice that our current POTUS throws like a girl, though.

But that's pretty much expected from the avg. politician, even the younger ones like Obama. If I knew I was going to throw the first pitch at an MLB baseball game, I'd skip the golf for a few weekends and bring in Nolan Ryan and maybe Pedro Martinez (who can refuse the POTUS?) to come to DC and work with me for a few hours to make sure I not only reach the plate but do so with verve and gusto.

But that's just me. Why should I expect politicians to have any common sense?

[Kaz]

It *was* a strike, h.b.

[Bob]

Yeah, I watched the Prez throw the pitch (wild girly-arm style) and then commented to friends at Pete's, "They didn't even show the pitch, just the throw."

After seeing the pitch later, I can understand why. How anyone can throw a hardball overhand and have it look like a slow-pitch, underhand softball delivery is beyond me.

[Kaz]

What?

Like this, Bob? That's one cool President, if so!

[Bob]

Kaz, it was a strike if the distance from rubber to plate was 59' 3".

[Bob]

Well, maybe he was throwing a Bill Lee eephus pitch.

[Bob]

Hmm, we've spent several posts analyzing Obama's delivery.

We REALLY need to get the Sox back on the field.

It's Friday today, right?

[h.b.]

Kaz, I think you're finally going to have to table your dreams to one day be an MLB umpire.

That pitch didn't make the plate and looked hopelessly effete in this MLB.com video shot.

[h.b.]

Oh, man, that Japanese pitch was so damn cool!

[Bob]

Now THAT was a gyro-ball.

Maybe we can pay his team tens of millions for his rights.

[h.b.]

// Maybe we can pay his team tens of millions for his rights. //

LOL.

Srsly. Can we trade Dice-K straight up for a crew of Japanese ballpark keg girls?

Low risk, high reward and all that.

[RonF]

Who was catching for the AL and how much did they pay Maddon (or what sexual favor did they provide him) so that he wouldn't pitch Timmeh? Because you have to figure that they were not particularly looking forward to looking like fools trying to catch it.

[Bob]

The keg girls remind me of a certain someone walking past security into Fenway.

(Well, if they were male and carried their booze in the ball sack of their underwear instead of on their backs.)

And yes, SDU and L.C., you can have a sip when we go to the game. Smells a little musky, but goes down oh-so-smooth. Other than the occasional pube.

[Harwich Rich]

Too..much..information..

[Harwich Rich]

...and speaking of going down... (BA-DOOM)

[Nolasox]

And with that post, Bob, I'm done with y'all for the day and am heading over to ">http://www.gofugyourself.com"> gofugyourself for my daily update of sartorial mishaps and amusing commentary

[Bob]

Sorry everyone. That last ("pube") line was a judgement call that I obviously didn't judge correctly.

I have no regerts about the rest of the comment though. Well, maybe the "ball sack" reference.

And bringing up the thought of me in underwear (frankly, I'm just a taaad past my prime).

Oh. Sorry. Too much information yet again.

I'll slink off back into the salt mine now.

[buckner was framed]

yeah, but Rich, I was at the game with Bob when he accidentally loaded his beer keg with sriracha.... dude's got some moves

[yazbread]

Bob - what's the problem? I thought it was a rather fitting comment given we are in the midst of a Supreme Court confirmation hearing.

[Bob]

But no Coca-Cola can, yazbread. Just beer.

[soxdownunder]

Ah, http://www.soxaholix.com/tp/2008/03/now-back-to-the.html "> keg girls , that takes me back. Beeru?

[louclinton]

mmm, nachos