FRS

Truck Day

B9pxktqIEAAtnsK.jpg largeHard to believe, but it is that time of the year already. Spring training is just around the corner. Can the Red Sox be the first team in history to go from worst to first to worst to first?

In snow flurries an 18-wheeler truck full of baseball equipment left Boston today on its way south to Fort Meyers, Florida. Pitchers and catchers report to camp in a week with the rest of the mokes reporting on the 24th.

All I know is I’m just going for the $15 radio package this year. If they are in contention near Labor Day I might opt for the TV package at a much reduced rate for the final couple months. Last year it was painful viewing those end of season games when they were firmly entrenched in the cellar of the American League East, but I felt obligated to maximize my dollar to games watched ratio.

Now That’s Scary

Black SoxIt is that time of year again. There are bright orange pumpkins for sale everywhere. Place a large whole one on your porch for decoration or place a small one on the dining room table as a center piece. Or cut one up and make a pie 9don’t forget to bake the seeds for a delicious seasonal snack. Or of course you could carve that sucker up into a jack-o-lantern.

Every year the Valve Store(tm) has a little pumpkin carving contest and every year I think I’ll carve something up to enter, but my artistic imagination is far superior to my artistic carving ability. One time I did make a Miata-O-Lantern, but not in time to enter in the contest. This year it will be different, I’ve got the perfect idea, the FRS logo.

There won’t be many employees who think it is scary, well except for the three Red Sox fans I know of…

I Miss It Like Bad Tooth

 

 

Tonight at 7:05 PM I turned on the TV and watched….Wheel of Fortune. Its the first night of the baseball off season and they may have had the 26th worst record in the Major Leagues by losing over 90 games, but I’m sure going to miss watching the FRS bumble through 9 innings each night.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1426

Wrest of the Week Wrap

Shappire Valley

Wednesday: Top down morning drive, work, top up drive home, watch Red Sox lose on MLB.tv

Thursday: Top down morning drive, work, top up drive home, watch Red Sox lose on MLB.tv

Friday: Hawaiian Shirt Day, ride tandem to work, ride tandem home, watch Red Sox lose on MLB.tv

Saturday: Top down morning drive, lunch in Highlands, NC, top up drive home, watch Red Sox lose on MLB.tv

Sunday: Top down morning drive, rollerblade around the block, grocery shop, watch Red Sox lose on MLB.tv

Started up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1410

Doll Lane

Doll Lane

For the first time since early spring Donna and I ventured into Hitchcock Woods. We usually stay out of there in the middle of summer, but this morning it was like upper sixties and foggy, so what the heck.

Tonight I’m watching the FRS play the Yankees and this is getting painful. The Sox scored 3 runs in the bottom of the first inning and then gave up three runs right back in the top of the second.

At least with my other eye I’m watching the Giants play the Bills in the NFL Hall of Fame Game so Fantasy Football is getting closer and I need a little sports fantasy about now.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1398

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.