FRS

Oh, This Twinkie Thing, It Ain’t Over Yet


Mirabeau Blue Genesis Coupe

Bike rode to pay our bills (cable, water, power & doctor) this morning and ended up at Atlanta Bread Company for breakfast. Maybe tomorrow I’ll tell the paper cup story.

This afternoon I fixed something, which is a rare occurrence around here. Last time I went to use the leaf blower it wouldn’t go. The gas line from the tank to the “carburetor” was broken. It had dried out and cracked in a couple places. We found a kit at Big Box Home Store and I managed to replacethem without too much trouble. I did have to enlarge one hole in the plastic tank to fit one of the plastic tubes through. There appears to be a miniscule bit of leakage at that point, but I doubt it creates any hazard.

With that repaired, I proceeded to blow the oak pollen clusters off the roof and back deck. Donna then took over and cleaned the front walk and driveway. While she did that, I finished hosing the pine pollen off the screened porch, so that maybe we can enjoy our dinner out on Monday.

Tonight I’m watching the Red Sox – Yankees game on ESPN, but listening to it on the WEEI off the ‘net. I’ve tried several times in the past to do this, but the audio and video never lined up. Tonight, for some reason, they are in sync.

Started up, went down, still down.
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Dog Gone It

Gozque – Spanish for small yapping dog.

The Red Sox finally won a game. The starting pitcher for the FRS gave up 6 runs in 7 innings and lowered his ERA by nearly 10! As a bonus the 9 -6 win came against the dreaded Yankees.

We rode the tandem to work today and it was a great ride. It is Spring Break around here for the schools and it is amazing the amount of traffic that eliminates. During school time we see maybe a dozen cars, but today we were lucky if we saw 3.

My dabbling in Ubuntu Linux, will always be just that, just dabbling. Late last night I discovered that you cannot stream Netflix in Linux. Plus I should read my own posts…back last October when I loaded it on the laptop I realized that my most used Geocaching program doesn’t have a Linux version.

Started down, went up, went down, still down.
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Oh & Five

Columbus: It’s amazing how fast the world can go from bad to total shit storm.

9:45 PM
I sit down at the PC and check on the FRS score – ooh, only losing 3 to 2 in the sixth, we’re still in this one.

By the time I get logged into Gameday Audio the Indians have scored another run, it’s now 4 to 2.

Why, oh why, MLB.com, when I click the audio button on the web page of the Boston Red Sox do I get the Cleveland radio announcing team. You would think if I’m on the FRS page I would get the WEEI crew of Joe Castiglione & Dave O’Brien.

By the time the audio player is loaded and I have changed broadcasting teams, I hear like two pitches called and then on the third pitch some moke for the Tribe hits it into the right field seats with two runners on base. 7 – 2.

9:50 PM
I close the Gameday Audio player and open up Winamp to listen to the soothing sounds of GotRadio New Age Nuance.

Started up, went down, still down.
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9-5 12-5 5-1

We got our baseball preview issue of Sports Illustrated last week and guess which team they picked to win the American League East? The Boston Red Sox. They picked the Red Sox to beat the A’s in the Division Series and the Sox to beat Twins to win the American League and play the Giants in the World Series. Who did they pick to win the World Series? Right. The Red Sox. SI isn’t the only ones singing the praises of the Boys from Beantown this year either.

Maybe the players believed with all that good press and they would just have to show up to crush their enemies, see them driven before themselves, and to hear the lamentation of their women! Or maybe they forgot that this season started before the first weekend in April not after it. But for whatever reason, the FRS were soundly beaten by the Texas Rangers in the first three games of the season by a combined score of 26 to 11 (see post title.)

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
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No Buck & McCarver

I’m watching Game 2 of the World Series with the TV sound muted and listening to the Texas Ranger’s radio broadcasters through MLB Gameday Audio. Unlike when I tried this trick with the FRS a couple of times during the regular season the audio and video are very close to matching up, probably less than a second, so it is entirely bearable.

There is an article on Deadspin on how to sync up the audio and video. In my case the video is slightly ahead of the audio, so my fix to perfectly sync them up is to use a DVR, which I don’t have (good thing it is close.) If your audio is ahead of the video there are several ways to sync them up using some software and maybe some cabling depending on your audio setup requirements.

As a bonus, the juxtaposition of the audio from one commercial over the video of a different one makes the between innings gaps a lot more interesting.

Silencing Joe Buck And Tim McCarver: A Simple Tech Solution To Our Crappy World Series Announcers

Started down, went up, went down, still down.
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Citgo Sign

Even though the Sox’s chances of making the playoffs are extremely thin*, I still believe. And back just in time off the disabled list to help them make that run to the post season is, Citgo Sign, the outside the park left fielder.

*Anywhere from 1.6%to 4% according to baseballprospectus.com. Although they are sinking fast as we speak because the FRS are trailing the Blue Jays 7-2 in the 5th inning.

Tonight, along with Take Me Out To The Ballgame, 218,000 new LED lights will once again illuminate the night above the Green Monster after 2 months of darkness.

Started down, went up, back down, back up, down again, still down.
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SAD

Posting here has been a little slack recently. I have several excuses lined up, including my nagging little back ache, the slight dissociative feeling from the pain pill for said back ache, company swarming the normally quiet home in Dunbarton Oaks and, I know this will be hard to believe because of my usual exciting life, nothing blogworthy has happened. But in all reality it is probably Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Not in the classical definition though as the days, although shortening a little each solar time segment, have not become short enough for that, but the realization that your favorite baseball team’s season is over. While not mathematically eliminated, the FRS really haven’t had a legitimate shot at making the playoffs for last three weeks at least. Baseball Prospectus has their odds of making the post season at 2%, but there is still hope. We still have 6 games left with the MFY and if Tampa Bay can beat them a majority of 5 games they have left with them…

Started down, went up, still up.
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