After being swept by the St. Louis Cardinals over the weekend, the much hyped Nationals, picked by a majority of sports pundits as World Series favorites, have sputtered and gasped to an unfortunate 10-11 record to start the 2013 season. Issues abound with this team. The vaunted starting rotation has been shelled on a fairly regular basis, and the bullpen, once the real strength of this team, has been horrid. The defense until recently has been very sloppy; compiling a league leading 19 errors. And the offense? Well, the team has scored a measly 4 runs in the past 30 or so innings. Punchless doesn't even come close to describing the misery at the plate these days.
We are 21 games into the season. While it is still early - there are 141 games still to be played - there is reason to be worried. The Nats next two series are against the Reds and Braves who are both playing great baseball at the moment. Those are 8 games that, if the Nats don't get their act together, could start a death spiral from which the team may not be able to recover.
I'm not willing to throw in the towel just yet. Baseball is a finicky sport. Teams get hot and cold. Often it's not the best team, but the hottest team, at the end of the season that wins the championship. As Tommy Lasorda once said, “No matter how good you are, you're going to lose one third of your games. No matter how bad you are, you're going to win one third of your games. It's the other third that makes the difference."
GO NATS!!
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
NATITUDE, BABY!! NATIONALS 2 - MIAMI 0
Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg led the Washington Nationals with stellar performances in an opening day victory over the Miami Marlins. Harper blasted two home runs in his first two at bats of the season and assisted in a double play started by his rocket throw home from left field. Strasburg, meanwhile, gave up only three hits over seven shut-out innings that included a stretch where he retired nineteen batters in a row.
It's only one game, but if this is any indication of how the Nats are going to play this season, boy oh boy, we are in for a really fun ride.
GO NATS!! GO NUTS!!
On a side note, the Houston Astros, helped by the additions of former Nats players Rick Ankiel and Justin Maxwell, got first time manager and former Nats third base coach Bo Porter, his first ever Major League win by stomping the Texas Rangers 8-2. Maxwell had two triples and Ankiel smashed a three-run homer in the victory. The Astros, whose current payroll stands at a miniscule 18.7 million (there are currently 20 some odd MLB players whose individual salaries are more than the Astros entire payroll), are not expected to do much better than they did last year (55-107), but it's nice that Bo Porter got the victory.
It's only one game, but if this is any indication of how the Nats are going to play this season, boy oh boy, we are in for a really fun ride.
GO NATS!! GO NUTS!!
On a side note, the Houston Astros, helped by the additions of former Nats players Rick Ankiel and Justin Maxwell, got first time manager and former Nats third base coach Bo Porter, his first ever Major League win by stomping the Texas Rangers 8-2. Maxwell had two triples and Ankiel smashed a three-run homer in the victory. The Astros, whose current payroll stands at a miniscule 18.7 million (there are currently 20 some odd MLB players whose individual salaries are more than the Astros entire payroll), are not expected to do much better than they did last year (55-107), but it's nice that Bo Porter got the victory.
Friday, March 1, 2013
Fun, family and my life as a Mahjong widower.
The rattle and clack of the tiles. The constant banter. The whoops of victory and the moans of defeat. These sounds. These sounds. They will haunt me forever. Pushed into a corner with only a cold beer and bad TV to give me solace as I lose my wife to the succubus that is Mahjong...woe is me.
I can't wait to learn how to play! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Actually, the whole mahjong thing is pretty cool. Rebecca and her family are a very close knit group and this is one of the weekly things they do together. I really like Rebecca's family. While the language barrier is certainly an issue at this point, they are a very friendly bunch of folks and treat me very well. It is very much appreciated.
The first thing one needs to know about Keelong (pronounced JEE-long) and it's satellite, Ruifang, which is where Rebecca lives, is that it rains there. A LOT! In fact, it rained there the entire two weeks I was in Taiwan. Didn't rain anywhere else, just in Keelong. This, of course led to a quick re-write of the classic Bill Wither's tune to:
"Ain't no sunshine in Keelong.
It is raining everyday.
Ain't no sunshine in Keelong!
These clouds ain't goin' away."
The first few days of the vacation were spent with Rebecca's family at her mother's house eating tons of good food and playing dice games, cards, and, of course, mahjong. You have to watch it with this group because they love to gamble, and, if you're not careful, you will quickly lose your shirt.
To take a break, Rebecca and I went for a walk around her mom's house to take some photos and get some air.
The photos went from scenic to silly and back again, but it was fun just to be out and about with my honey.
A few days later, Rebecca's sister San jee-ae (3rd older sister) and her husband, San jee-ae foo (3rd older sister's husband) took Rebecca and I to a small touristy town called San-Shia for a little day trip. It was a nice little town with historic colonial era buildings. Since this was still during the New years holiday, the place was quite busy.
Rebecca crawling under a ceremonial palanquin which is supposed to bring good luck for the coming year.
Random rocks
Lookin' good , babe!
The first thing one needs to know about Keelong (pronounced JEE-long) and it's satellite, Ruifang, which is where Rebecca lives, is that it rains there. A LOT! In fact, it rained there the entire two weeks I was in Taiwan. Didn't rain anywhere else, just in Keelong. This, of course led to a quick re-write of the classic Bill Wither's tune to:
"Ain't no sunshine in Keelong.
It is raining everyday.
Ain't no sunshine in Keelong!
These clouds ain't goin' away."
The first few days of the vacation were spent with Rebecca's family at her mother's house eating tons of good food and playing dice games, cards, and, of course, mahjong. You have to watch it with this group because they love to gamble, and, if you're not careful, you will quickly lose your shirt.
To take a break, Rebecca and I went for a walk around her mom's house to take some photos and get some air.
The photos went from scenic to silly and back again, but it was fun just to be out and about with my honey.
I love this picture of Rebecca
Not sure what's going on here. lol
Very famous bridge. Really. It is. Well...not really.
Look! It's not raining!
A few days later, Rebecca's sister San jee-ae (3rd older sister) and her husband, San jee-ae foo (3rd older sister's husband) took Rebecca and I to a small touristy town called San-Shia for a little day trip. It was a nice little town with historic colonial era buildings. Since this was still during the New years holiday, the place was quite busy.
Rebecca with one of her sisters and brother-in-laws. Super friendly folks.
Yours truly with the Queen of Taiwan. Shortly after this photo was taken some random Taiwanese dude came up and wanted his picture taken with me.
Making candy on the streets of San-Shia. Reminded me instantly of the taffy pulls my mom would do when I was a little kid so many moons ago.
A variety of steamed tofu, which, much to my surprise, I found quite tasty.
My peow lien de tai tai at brunch in Carnegies, Taipei.
Taipei 101 from the patio at Carnegies.
Rebecca helping her niece Vivian with her homework. It'll take some time, but I think Vivian is finally getting used to me being around.
On one of my last days of my trip, Rebecca and I took the train to Hualien on the east coast of Taiwan. Once there we took a tour of the beaches and Toroko National Park. I'm not sure why, but I was quite surprised at the color of the water there. I know it's the Pacific Ocean, but for some reason I didn't expect it to be so blue.
After stopping at the beach for a while and a nice lunch, we headed for the Toroko Gorge. Toroko Gorge is a beautiful, rugged marble canyon. The Cross-Central Highway cuts through the gorge connecting the east and west coasts of Taiwan. The Eternal Springs Shrine (below) memorializes the 450 people who died building the highway.
It's very hard from these photos to get a sense of how high these cliffs are. They have to be a good 1000-1500 ft.
The "paparazzi photo." The guy who we asked to take the photo above this one kept taking pictures snap, snap, snap snap...
Yeah, yeah. You always see signs like this...
It's the concrete patched road next to the sign that makes you look up and go, "Hmmm."
Thus ended the trip. It was a great vacation, albeit wa-a-a-a-a-a-a-ay to short. I miss my baby and can't wait to see her again.
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