The Red Sox Win!
I had a terrific ride into work yesterday. Most of the road construction between home and work has been completed, so I no longer have the luxury of a short walk past the construction at the top of the first of the three big hills i have to climb on my way in. Nonetheless, I was still able to get to the top of the second hill before I took my short rest (which at this point is more to catch my breath than rest my muscles).
Moreover, the final hill I climb is perhaps the worst of all of them, and I managed to get up it without dropping all the way to first gear. I even nearly made it up in third gear, but the hill gets a little steeper just before I turn off of it into my workplace's driveway, so I had to go down to second. That was cool; I was very pleased with myself. (Can you tell?)
And tonight I was sitting at home tapping on my laptop while watching the Yankees/Rangers game on ESPN, and I realized that my jeans are feeling a little loose at the waist. Yes, I think I feel another belt-tightening coming up! I may really be heading into uncharted territory here! (Well, uncharted for several years, anyway.) If this keeps up, I may keep biking well into the winter just to see how much thinner I can get before it's really Too Darned Cold.
And just this morning I was concerned that I'm not losing any actual pounds because I haven't modified my eating habits enough, but maybe my first guess - that I'm still mainly converting fat into muscle - was correct.
Today the AL playoffs kicked off with Boston playing in Cleveland. The Red Sox had lost 13 consecutive postseason games dating back to 1986: They lost the last 2 games of the 1986 World Series, were swept by Oakland in 4 games in the 1988 ALCS, the A's did the same to them again in 1990, and the Indians swept them in 3 in the 1995 Division Series. In the last, Mo Vaughn went 0-for-17, so the team all around was looking for a little revenge, and justice.
And they got both. Indians pitcher Jaret Wright gave up a couple of leadoff hits, and then Vaughn hit a three-run home run before a single our had been recorded. My work buddy Andrew and I went to a nearby sports bar for lunch so we saw the first few innings of the game. The strange thing about Vaughn's homer is that it almost looked like a check swing, and I saw the left fielder going back, back, back... and I was thinking, "C'mon, it's a fly ball; how far back are you going?" Well, "All the way" seems to have been the answer to that question.
Wright never quite got it together, and pitched a little gingerly around several of the Sox. Nomar Garciaparra hit a three-run shot, and Mo Vaughn hit another home run and a double, and collected 7 RBIs all together, a very impressive number in any game. The Indians hit a couple of harmless home runs off Sox ace Pedro Martinez, but the Sox bullpen dominated (in the same way the Tribe bullpen did not), and the Sox rolled to a dominating 11-3 victory.
It would be great if the Sox could win this series in 4 games like the pundits are predicting, so they can field Martinez in game 1 of the ALCS.
In the NL, the Padres stunned Astros ace Randy Johnson, winning 2-1 with their own ace Kevin Brown pitching a very dominant game. And as I type this tonight the Yankees are holding on to a narrow lead over the Rangers. The Rangers are the AL equivalent of the Cubs, I think; their offense is good but not fantastic, and their pitching has a lot of holes. It'd be great to see them take the Yankees, but I think they're the weak link in the league, so I don't expect it. If they can string things out for five grueling games, that would be fine.
I think the big question for the Red Sox is whether their #2-3-4 starters can pitch well in the postseason. Tim Wakefield has been fairly consistent this year - good, but not dominating, generally - so hopefully he can keep us in the game. Bret Saberhagen struggled midway through the year, but has been strong later on. He's really a 6-inning pitcher, though, so a good bullpen performance is important. And Pete Schourek is still a bit of a question mark, although he came on in his last few starts. The Yankees have three near-ace quality pitchers in David Wells, David Cone and Andy Pettitte, so we'll need everything they can give us.
Oh, and the other NL game? The Cubs play in Atlanta tomorrow.
Things should be better tomorrow as I start in on my next project. And I must admit that the results of one of my projects today left me rather proud with what I turned up by digging around in some functionality I'm not too familiar with.
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