FRS

A Thousand Gross Miles

There really are no gross miles in a Miata, but when I parked the Emperor in the garage tonight after getting home from work there were exactly 144,000 miles on the odometer. Twelve dozen is a gross, so a gross is 144 and that means a 1,000 gross is 144,000.

Speaking of gross, here is an update on the FRS’s pennant push. The Orioles since the break are playing slightly better ball, going 8-4. If they continue on to the end of the season playing like they have played so far, they will finish with a won/loss record of 92-70 or 2 games better that previously noted. Meanwhile the Red Sox have gone 5-8 in the same stretch and they are now 13 games out of first place. To get to 93 wins and end up ahead of the Baltimore club they only have to win 43 of their last 56 or roughly 77% of those games. While not mathematically eliminated, the chances of that happening are statistically impossible.

If the FRS continue playing as they have so far this season, I figure they will give me the gift of divisional elimination on my birthday the 27th of September way before Donna’s birthday in late August.

Second Half

The Red Sox finished up he first half* of the season tied for last in their division 9-1/2 games behind the Baltimore Orioles with a record of 43-52. If the Orioles, who finished up at the All-Star break at 52-42, play at their current pace for the rest of the year they will finish at 90-72. So, for the FRS to get 91 wins and overtake the Birds they only have to go 48-19 the rest of the way. That is a .716 pace, sure we can do that.

Well, so far they have won the first two games of the second half, so only 46 more to go. In today’s game the Red Sox have got John Lester pitching and he has not lost to the Kansas City Royals at Fenway Park, he’s 6-0. That means maybe only 45 more wins to go or more likely, the fact that the announcers mentioned that fact, John will give up about 10 runs and be bounced from the game in a couple innings.

Update: The FRS won the game 6-0. 3 down, 45 to go.

*The baseball season is 162 games long, so game 81, the real halfway point, was actually a couple of weeks ago.

44,000 Teary Eyed Fans

Tonight is the MLB All-Star Game and I considered tuning in just to see all 44,000 teary eyed fans at Target Field watching Derek Jeter’s final tip of the hat. But then I realized that Atlantic Broadband, in their continuing efforts to force a cable box on me, has removed the HD feed for FOX from my available channels, so I didn’t turn it on.

It wasn’t until the 4th inning that I realized I could watch it in HD using my MLB.TV package. This turned out to be a good thing as Jeter was already out of the game so I didn’t have to listen to the FOX announcers lavish praise on him. That reminds me, I have been lax in keeping up with Grantland.com’s fictional Derek Jeter Diary, The Captain’s Log.

I was also very lucky and missed the FRS’s “all-star” pitcher John Lester give up a single and two doubles, allowing two runs in his 2nd inning appearance.

The Purple Whale swam past the 44,000 mile mark on the way to DD this morning.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1391

Replacing the F in FRS

John Lester

Since my last, kind of negative, post about the Red Sox and their seven game losing streak, they lost three more games to make it ten games in a row down the tubes. But now it seems like it is time to replace that expletive that starts with an F with the word Fun because they have reeled off 7 straight victories.

In a nice bit of symmetry, the pitcher featured in that other post watching a home run hitter from the opposing team circle the bases, was today’s starting pitcher as well. His performance today was as different as could be from his performance was those 10 days ago, he dominated, 7 innings, 4 hits, striking out 12, walking one and allowing zero runs.

Being a fan of the team is fun again and I bet playing on the team is fun again too.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1364

Putting the F in FRS

FRS

Since last Wednesday when the FRS beat the Twins 9-4 and we were finally 2 games above .500. Since early April they have lost 7 games in a row, by the scores of 4-3, 1-0, 6-1, 6-2, 7-4, 6-4 & 7-2. Next up is a three game series against the Tampa Bay Rays who are in last place only a game worse than the Red Sox. So if all goes as it has been, by Sunday the Sox can capture sole possession of last place in the American League East. I really did pick the wrong year to pay for MLB.tv…

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1358

10 Run Mercy Rule

Kind of wish they had the 10 run mercy rule in the major leagues tonight. The FRS are down 12 to 2 in the 7th inning against the MFY. The official scorer at Fenway did take some mercy on them just now, ruling an obvious 6th error of the night a fielders choice.

The Emperor got a bath tonight. We are headed up to North Carolina to do the Foothills Photo Rally 4 and he needed to look a little less grungy around all the other cars. I was going to take the cheater’s way out and dust him off, then touch up the real dirty areas with some Quick Detailer, but realized I really needed to break out the hose and bucket. After last Saturday’s trip to Atlanta and back in the constant light rain/mist mix he was dirty enough to warrant the royal treatment.

Started down went up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1313

MLB.TV Takes Its Toll

mlb.tv

Previously on “Life of Brian” it was nothing for me to listen to the FRS game on the internet and blog away, but now that I’ve spent the big bucks to watch the game, it is really hard to minimize the game to write about some inane bit of my day.