Bookworm

Brief Blog "Vacation" Until 9/5/03

By the time this post is published (good excuse to try out the option to publish in the future), my husband and I will be on the road headed toward North Carolina. We're going to visit his parents, who are great people . . . who don't have Internet access. So, I invite you peruse the archives, check out the photoblog, root for the Yankees and watch the U.S. Open if you are so inclined, and I'll be back blogging at the end of next week.

First game of weekend series goes to the Sox

Should I glean any cold comfort from the fact that

". . . the Red Sox lead the Major Leagues in almost every relevant offensive category, including batting average, runs, hits, doubles, on-base percentage and slugging percentage," [MLB.com]

(because obviously they are doing this to everyone) or should I be worried about how the Yankee pitching staff is acquitting itself lately? Tonight their offense scored five runs, but the pitching (no errors tonight) allowed ten.

If we're looking on the glass half full side of things,

"The Yankees reduced their magic number over the Red Sox to 26 with their 7-5 victory against the White Sox yesterday, meaning any combination of Yankees victories and Red Sox losses totaling 26 will clinch the AL East for the Yankees." [NJ.com]

David Wells was jabbering a bit to the media after Stottlemyre's comments the other day. When he's on, he's a very good pitcher, but he can be a bit immature at times. He was complaining that Joe and Mel don't like him; he'd had one bad start and all heck breaks loose. Give me a break.

Baseball 08/28/03

If I refuse to post about Yankee losses, does that mean they didn't lose? (Like the "if a tree falls in the forest, but no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?" question) Sigh. They lost 13-2 to the White Sox on Tuesday in one of the worst games, statistically, of Clemens's career. At least he's got a sense of humor about it.

"Roger Clemens's mother, Bess, threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Yankee Stadium last night. Then she kissed her son before he warmed up to face the Chicago White Sox. It was a pitching change the Yankees never should have made. "They should have let her stay on the mound," Clemens said. "It's a bad night when your mother has better stuff than you do. She'll let me know about it, too." [NY Times]

They also lost 11-2 to the White Sox last night. Stottlemyre, who you rarely see quoted in the paper,

"calmly but sternly criticized Wells for failing to work hard between starts. "He just needs to do more work," Stottlemyre said. "He hasn't been throwing in between starts, and I think he needs that. I think it's showing. The last two games, at the same point in the game, he hasn't made very good pitches." [NY Times]

But! They played a day game against Chicago this afternoon and won 7-5. Whew! Mussina's record improves to 15-7 and Rivera earned his 29th save.

David Dellucci sprained his ankle and Erick Almonte has been called up to join the club. [AP/Yahoo] Having sprained my ankle(s) many times, I can only wince sympathetically in Dellucci's general direction and hope it's better soon.

Elsewhere in baseball, John Smoltz has gone on the 15-day DL with tendinitis; he is expected to return at the end of that stint and be available for the playoffs. Brian Giles has been traded from the Pirates to the Padres, who then traded former Yankee outfielder Rondell White to the Royals. [NY Times]

Rush hour power cut hits London

CNN.com - Rush hour power cut hits London - Aug. 28, 2003

"Hundreds of thousands of passengers were trapped on the London Underground and thousands of others took to the streets as a power outage struck the city during evening rush hour Thursday. Electricity was being restored to parts of London within an hour of the outage, which was blamed on a problem with the National Grid. But the city's transport services were badly affected."

A rush hour power outage two weeks after the one that happened here in the States. . . probably a coincidence, eh?

Great picture of Mars

Go check out the great picture I took of Mars the other night. Oh, ok, maybe it wasn't taken by me and my Kodak digital, maybe it was taken by the Hubble space telescope.

Bar Graph Showing Project Deficit

I suppose one can't blame GWB totally for the projected $480 billion deficit in 2004; the post-9/11 economic downturn couldn't have been predicted. But it's horrifying, nonetheless.

Remember this when you are voting for President next year.

It's Not About the Bike by Lance Armstrong

I've never really followed professional cycling. I knew the name Greg LeMonde, but that was about it. Then in 1999, Lance Armstrong became the first American to win the Tour since LeMonde, after almost dying from cancer. Winning the race is impressive, but having the guts and determination to reach that goal after beating cancer is amazing to me.

After reading the book, I am no less impressed with his athletic abilities, or his courage in dealing with the cancer treatments and aftermath. I don't know if I would like him personally. Some of the personality traits that make him a champion cyclist would appear make him a difficult person off the course. The flipside of tenacity can be stubbornness. The flipside of focus can be self-centeredness. The love of speed on the bike causes him to disregard the safety of others when driving a car. I'm sure that most elite athletes who perform at the highest levels must be similarly focused on their goals, sometimes to the exclusion of others. But Lance's charity work and large numbers of friends would seem to indicate that there are perhaps depths that do not come out in the book.

His story is inspirational and the book is very readable. Recommended for sports fans and readers who enjoy "triumph of the human spirit" true stories.

From the book:

"I had learned what it means to ride the Tour de France. It's not about the bike. It's a metaphor for life, not only the longest race in the world but also the most exalting and heartbreaking and potentially tragic. It poses every conceivable element to the rider, and more: cold, heat, mountains, plains, ruts, flat tires, high winds, unspeakably bad luck, unthinkable beauty, yawning senselessness, and above all a great, deep self-questioning. During our lives we're faced with so many different elements as well, we experience so many setbacks, and fight such a hand-to-hand battle with failure, head down in the rain, just trying to stay upright and to have a little hope. The Tour is not just a bike race, not at all. It tests you physically, it tests you mentally, and it even tests you morally." (70-71)

Tennis News 08/26/03

• Andre Agassi and Jennifer Capriati won their first round matches.
• Michael Chang lost in the first round and is retiring from tennis.
• As rumored last week, Pete Sampras has retired.
• Neither of the Williams sisters will play in the Open this year. Serena had knee surgery this summer and Venus has an abdominal injury.

U.S. Raids in Iraq and Casualty Numbers

The AP reports that "Hundreds of U.S. forces launched a series of raids Tuesday to hunt down bandits, gangsters and Saddam Hussein loyalists, capturing at least 24." And in the same article, making me think the two things are related, it is stated that "the number of American troops killed in postwar Iraq surpassed the toll of those killed in major combat, reaching 140 with the deaths of a soldier in a roadside bombing and another in a traffic accident. When President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1, the U.S. death toll stood at 138." [AP/Yahoo]

Baseball News 08/26/03

The Yankees beat the Orioles last night 5-2. Andy Pettitte got his 16th win of the season and has the statistical chance to get 20 wins this year. [NY Times] I hope he does it.

In the first inning last night "Soriano cracked his 28th homer of the season. It was the 10th leadoff homer for Soriano this season, surpassing the former team record of nine he had shared with Rickey Henderson (1986). For the season, the Yankees have 12 leadoff homers (Derek Jeter has the other two) to tie the major league record held by the 1996 Orioles. Brady Anderson had all 12 of those homers for the Birds." [NY Daily News]

After losing his spot in the rotation, then giving up a home run in relief last night, the beleaguered Jeff Weaver has been optioned to Class A Tampa; Jesse Orosco has been designated for assignment. [Yahoo Sports]

The Yankees claimed lefty reliever Felix Heredia off waivers yesterday from the Cincinnati Reds. [Yahoo Sports]