Wednesday, July 01, 2009
I loves me some summer
It's summertime and the livin' is, well frankly, life is a bit difficult, what with the economy, crazies running way too many countries and the continuing lack of any true governance by most of the government in this country--but I digress.
I loves me some summer, because it's warm and sunny, first of all. Secondly, there are items of produce now available--other than cabbage, onions and assorted root vegetables--that were grown within a days drive of my local supermarket. The farmers' markets in CNY fall along an arc of pretty good to spectacular. There are, within twenty-five miles of my house, a LOT of small farms that have wonderful "truck" crops as well as a substantial number of medium to frikkin' huge orchards. Strawberries were slow in coming (both May and June were not conducive to them setting fruit, until about two weeks ago) but now they're being picked and I expect to see some excellent ones at tomorrow's market, after the warm weather of last week. Can the good sweetcorn and tomatoes be far behind?
I loves me some summer, because it's baseball season and I loves me some baseball. My beloved RedSox contributed a bit to the history and lore of the game last evening, by blowing a nine run lead over the Baltimore Orioles to lose 11-10. On the one hand I think it's unsettling that the bullpen couldn't hold the lead, otoh, it's a GAME!! I know it's how the players, managers, coaches, agents, sports journalistas, talking heads (no, they are not the same thing), concessionaires, team mascots, souvenir hawkers, sports bettors, ticket scalpers, parking lot extortionists and sundry other professionals make their livings--but it is JUST a GAME!!
But, hey, enought about my summerloves. Howzabout yours?
Whoops, I forgot one. Al Franken IS the winner of the MN senatorial race.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
Not until August, but summer means Peaches. Straight off of the tree, hot from the California Central Valley 110 degree days, to be eaten with the juice dripping down your face.
As you gentlemen often say, excuse me, I have to go lie down now.
Finally, friggin' summer rains. Summer is supposed to be about afternoon thunderstorms, with lightning ripping down here in the lightning capital of the world. I've been driving in storms where the lightning was so bright and extensive that I was left momentarily unable to see, rather like the old flashbulb experience.
But I like the heat of summer better than the cold of winter, and in fact have gotten back to the glory days when the summer heat simply didn't matter to me. We didn't have no stinking air conditioning when I was a kid.
You guys have better summer produce: better soil and less searing assaults by Old Sol. Have to go to North Carolina for competitive summer produce.
My meltdown story invovles my Gator football team, which was up like 33-3 in the third quarter and got tied by FSU 33-33. Before that, it was a 28-0 halftime lead over North Carolina that we proceeded to lose.
What is this "summer" you speak of?
It sounds great!!
Here it's been nothing but rain, rain, rain.
Hi, Gang:
I've been on the road today, down to Syracuse for several errands and to catch some jazz. I run into a bug doctor (OK, he's an entomologist not an entovetrinarian) and we discuss mostly stuff we don't specialize on--for him that's non-bug stuff, for me it's most everything!
I now live in Yankees, Mets, Giants, Jets, Bills, Knicks, Rangers, Islanders country so I don't get to see a lot of RedSoxNation on the tubage. Today, however, the blown lead of last night played, seemingly, every time I saw a television. And after that ran for a number of hours they ran the footage from today's game, in which the Beantown 9 pulled one out in the 9th and then won in the 11th. Ah, Summer.
Dear Ms. Melodysinger:
Hie yourself on up to Newburyport one of these days (when it gets sunny) and enjoy Glen's Cool Grill and Hot Bar or Ten Center Street or some other fine dive. If you want to hook up with some nice folks let me know. I have friends of both sexes and nearly all combinations of single, married, divorced, etc.,. Do not plan on going ot Plum Island between the middle of July and the end of the first week of August. The "Greenheads" (nasty as hell, and big as horseflies) will eat a tender young lady like you alive.
My word verification = waystin
Just checking in, Demo. My word verification is, ahem, “antmessi.”
I had an Aunt Messy once. But that’s a whole ’nother story.
Dave von Ebers:
I just read about the game you mentioned in your earlier post. It's in a book by Tom Seavers that I bought at a liberry buk sail for .25cents. I luv gedding smart.
wv = deerg.
I got word you guys were talking baseball and I'll tell you what. You can talk about blowing big leads in the Big Leagues if you want (and I do respect a team that can cough up a 10-1, 7th-inning lead as much as the next guy), but I am going to tell you what I like best about summer by telling you about the best summer day I ever had.
It was August 11, 1968 and the Tigers were playing the Red Sox in a Sunday doubleheader and my mom said I could go as long as I took my three kid brothers. The four of us got there and got seats in the Upper Deck in left. Here's how it went down...
Game 1: Boston takes a 4-0 lead in the top of the first which is a bit of a surprise since the pitching match-up is Earl Wilson for Detroit and Jim Lonborg for Boston--the pitchers who had tied for the AL lead in wins in 1967 with 22. Wilson gives up two, 2-run homers in .2 of an inning and is out of there, only the second time in 93 starts for Detroit that Wilson (he'd been acquired in a mid-season 1966 trade with Boston for Don Demeter who lived in my subdivision oddly enough)failed to get out of the first inning but Detroit chips away at Lonborg and winds up tying it with single runs in the 3rd, 6th, 7th and 8th. The last of those runs was scored not off Lonborg, but rather against some guy named Sparky Lyle who is tagged with his 6th blown save of the year for his efforts. Detroit wins it 5-4 in the 14th on a two-out Gates Brown pinch-hit homer into the Lower Deck in right-center off Lee Stange. It looked like a 3-iron going out. Mickey Lolich (for whom Brown was hitting) gets the win thanks to 5 innings of 2-hit, shutout relief. (Lolich will come on in relief of Joe Sparma three days later and blank the Tribe over 5 and 2/3 to beat Luis Tiant--another Red Sox of note but not until later, 3-0. Thereafter, Lolich will appear in 287 more games for Detroit, but only 2 of them will be out of the bullpen and he will never again record a decision as a relief pitcher.)
The time of the first game is 4:23. My brothers, aged 9, 8, and 7 want to leave. I say no.
Game 2: Boston breaks a 0-0 tie with two in the 7th but the Tigers tie with two of their own in the bottom of the 8th. Somewere in here my brothers--having been at the ballpark for some 8 hours, now--literally begin to cry. That's how much they want to go home. My response is, "I mean, are you kidding me?" Boston scores three in the top of the 9th and seemingly has the nightcap won and it looks like my brothers were right: We could have left. I'm glad we didn't. The lights are and its dark when Detroit comes to bat in the bottom of the 9th and scores 4 on a walk, a pop-out, and 5 consecutive singles to win it 6-5. The last of those 5 singles is hit by Brown who, after winning the opener with that homer, is making a rare start for Willie Horton in Game 2, playing left field and batting 4th. Brown appeared in 67 games for the Tigers in '68, but this is one of only 3 in which he played the entire game and it is the only game that season in which Brown has as many as 5 plate appearances. The pitcher off whom Brown got the game-winning hit in the nightcap was that guy Lyle--a Red Sox before Boston traded him to New York for Danny Cater (really, Danny Cater) and he went on to fame in what he called the Bronx Zoo. Lyle was to New York what Goose Gossage and Mariano Rivera would later become. The best closer in baseball. And a guy who Boston traded for Danny Cater.
Now, the thing I remember about that doubleheader over 40 years ago is the homer by the Gator, the game-winning single by the Gator, and the tears of my brothers. Oh, and it was a great day of baseball as I recall.
The rest of it I looked up at baseball-reference.com where if it pertains to baseball and you can't find it, you don't need to know.
Dave von Ebers:
1976 is the correct date according to the book I've got, but then, they also say it's April 17.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN197604170.shtml
This is the link to the box score of that Phillies/Cubs game from April, 1976 in which the Philadelphians defeated the Chicagos 18-16. (I don't know how to post a link in the comment thingy so you will have to cut and paste.) Included is a complete play-by-play so you can relieve in excruciating detail just how the Cubs managed to cough up an 11-run lead. Enjoy...
Post a Comment