Weekly Mail October 13, 2019

Hey Everybody:

I had every intention of keeping this light this weekend, and I will, but first I have to vent a bit.

My Saturday commute to the city is usually quite relaxing. I get a seat on the LIRR all to myself and I can catch up on some reading or going over what I plan to spout off about here on the blog.

But because of track work, the train I usually take terminated at Jamaica, so I had to connect to another train in which I was squeezed in like your average sardine. I had packed a couple of extra things in my bag and that got heavier by the stop. The train of course moved like it was being pulled by a Budweiser Clydesdale.

Apparently this bull$h-t is going to be going on for the next 4 weekends. I also realize that track work is necessary and that doing it on the weekend is much more efficient than doing it during the week. Still, I was pretty grouchy as I got to my desk on Saturday afternoon. It didn't help that he first thing I saw on my phone was an alert that the Rangers lost to the Edmonton Oilers 4-1. That just added to my misery.

Oh, well. It could have been worse..

I could have been in Denver this week...



WEATHER: From Sandcastles to Snowmen...


One of my wife's co-workers was heading to Denver to see some family. Tara told me the co-worker was saying she'd be flying into a blizzard. I guess that's not too unusual for the Mile High city in October.

But when I checked the weather on my iPhone (which has become one of the pure joys of my life-which is every bit as sad as it sounds) and the temperature in Denver at 5:30 PM on Wednesday was 73 degrees. It also said the next day's high was going to be 31 degrees. I said to myself, "That can't be right."

It wasn't.

The high on Thursday was 25 degrees. And sure as hell, it was snowing.

The high temp on Wednesday was actually 81 in Denver. The low on Thursday was 16. A 65 degree drop set a new record for October in Denver. I'm stunned that's not an all time record.

We New Yorkers have been through a ton of crap, so we can pretty much handle anything, but a drop in temperature like that might send us over the edge. It would also get most of us sick. How the hell do you dress for weather like that? It's one thing to pack a sweatshirt, you have to pack the whole winter wardrobe in that situation.

I know many of you have lived in different places around the country if not the world. Have you ever experienced a temperature swing like that? Feel free to share your experience with the class.



BASEBALL: Playoff Surprises

I expected the Yankees to take care of business against the Minnesota Twins, as they seem to do every year, but I have to be honest, I wasn't expecting a sweep. The Twins were really good this year winning 101 games, and I thought their offense would give the Yanks suspect starting pitching some issues. But nothing doing. The Bronx Bombers waltzed to the ALCS.

The three other series however all went the distance. Of the three of them, I was most shocked about the Astros-Rays series going the full 5. No disrespect to Tampa, who had a good year in a tough division, but Houston's starters are as good as any in baseball. I couldn't believe how the Rays got to Justin Verlander in game 4. I'm glad the 'Stros pulled it out, as I'd rather see the Yanks have to go through Houston than through their second home to get to the Series. If the Yanks were my team, I'd root for the path of least resistance. But though my wife. my mom, my in-laws and many friends are die hard Yankee fans, I don't have a horse in this race. I just want to see a good series. Masahiro (tough actin) Tanaka pitched a gem Saturday night and Glyber Torres almost hit for the cycle. We are going to press just as Game 2 is getting under way.

Another thing I couldn't believe was how the Nationals took care of the Dodgers. Maybe I shouldn't have been, Washington has a great lineup, even sans Bryce Harper, and in Stephen Strausberg and Max Scherzer, two aces at the top of the rotation. But the Dodgers were the class of the NL again this year, with a lineup led by Cody Bellinger, Joc Pederson, Max Muncy and that turd Justin Turner.They also had Clayton Kershaw and Hyun Jin-Ryu, who gave me a scare at the All-Star break when his ERA was down in Dwight Gooden 1985 territory* I feel bad for Kershaw, a great pitcher who
seems like a decent human being who just has been snake-bitten in the post season. They are talking about getting rid of the manager Dave Roberts, which seems kind of harsh being that he took them to the World Series two years in a row. But I suppose if I were a Dodger fan I'd be calling for his head too, since that's the kind of obnoxious fan I am. But from a 3000 mile distance, that seems a tad excessive. One thing is for sure, the Dodgers should be ashamed of themselves.

As should the Braves. But this is par for the course for them (and their politically incorrect fans,)  as they pretty much choke every year they make the playoffs. In the past 30 years, the Braves have made the post season 18 times (plus one trip to the play-in game) Of those 18 post season appearances, they have made it to the World Series 5 times, winning just once, and have not been in the World Series for 20 years. My beloved Mets, on the other hand, though not nearly as successful as the Braves, have made the show twice since the Braves last made it.  I must admit I do get a kick out of pointing that out.

I don't much like the Cardinals, but I'm glad they beat the Braves and I hope they beat the Nats, though it's not looking too good on that front as Washington has taken the first two games on the road.  I tried to do Anibal Sanchez a favor by not tuning in when I saw he was pitching a no-hitter, but he gave up a hit anyway though he won the game 2-0. Same thing with Max Scherzer on Saturday, who had his no-no broken up in the 7th.

I really don't want to see a Yankees-Nationals World Series. I'd much rather see the Yanks and Cardinals play. As a fan of old time baseball, it would pit the best AL team of all time against the best NL Team of all time in terms of titles. I still don't think Washington DC deserved a third shot at a baseball team, though that's probably something I need to move on from 15 years after the fact. An Astros-Cardinals World Series to me is just an NL Central match-up. Astros-Nats would do nothing for me.


#METOO- A Bummer down Under 


A water park in Perth, Australia has folks in a tizzy since they have banned "cheeky bikini bottoms".

According to Fox News (and reprinted in the Post) Adventure Land Water Park posted to their
Facebook page a diagram showing what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable swimwear. Bikini
bottoms that display too much bottom, are no longer allowed at Adventure land which deems itself "a family water park.'

Interestingly, the outrage doesn't seem to be coming from perverts like myself, but rather from women's rights groups. There were many comments on the FB site along the lines of "Why don't you get men to cover up?" I happen to agree.

And I've done my part for Queen and Country too. When Tim and I go to Splashdown in Fishkill, I've been wearing a long sleeve swim shirt. And if you read my vacation review from Italy (published one year ago this weekend) you know you won't catch me in a banana hammock.

Now the swim shirt is as much to protect me from sunburn as it is to protect women from having to look at my beer belly. My first trip to Splashdown resulted in a sunburn so bad, I was peeling like the title character in Austin Powers Goldmember.  But any dude wearing one of those speedos should be prosecuted.

So I stand in solidarity with the ladies on this one. You want to bear your bare buns? I say go for it.



SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS....

The Number 3 Album on the Billboard 200 chart last week was ...... Abbey Road, 50 years after it's original release. Pretty awesome!  They also released a video for Here Comes the Sun, for my money the best track on the album.

There's a commercial on TV now for Celebrity Cruises that's using Jefferson Airplane's 1967 classic White Rabbit. The song plays while a woman checks out all the stuff on the ship. Tara explained to me that the woman is supposed to feel like Alice traversing through Wonderland. My question to Celebrity Cruises is this. Is the LSD included with the price of the cabin or is it charged as an extra amenity?

Have a Happy Columbus Day everyone!

and Have a Great Week




*As far as I'm concerned, Doc's 1.53 ERA in 1985 is the gold standard. I'm not taking anything away from Bob Gibson's 1.12 ERA from 1968, on the contrary, I believe that record will never be broken and IMHO, it's the most impressive modern day record in baseball history. But nobody has approached Gooden's 1985 ERA in the 35 years since he did it. Greg Maddox 1994 doesn't count because of the strike.