Kevin's Ramblings…

Well, baseball wise, this weekend sucked. Yesterday, there was an inch of snow on the ground and the diamonds were closed. We had one game cancelled. Today, the high temp was around 4C and our double header was cancelled. Playing baseball in near freezing temperatures isn’t a lot of fun. It is nearly impossible to stay warm, it isn’t good for the pitchers, for sure. Position players have it a little easier, not much though. Catchers might be the only position that might enjoy it. They would be able to stay cool for a change.

So, we missed out on three games, I’m not sure when we will be able to make them up either. We might get a game in this week, during the week, not sure. I do hope we make some of them up at least.

On the Jays front, they did clinch the AL East but missed out on securing the best record in the American League and home field advantage throughout. I hate the Royals, so I’m hoping they lose anyway. That would be fine with me.

The Bills also lost today. All in all, this was a crappy weekend for sports and the teams I follow. I guess the only bright spot was the Stampeders late game win in Hamilton.

Back to work tomorrow and back to mid teens for temps. Sounds good to me.

Today is supposed to be much warmer than it was yesterday, but, that’s still not saying a lot. It might hit 10C today, might only be 8C. Baseball is looking sort of doubtful for today as well. It I supposed to be sunny, I think, so that’ll help but if we do play, it is going to be a couple of cold games.

Dinner last night at Big T’s was excellent. I ate way too much food though. Deep fried pickleswere amazing, as always. Their chili was awesome, made with brisket. I also had onion rings, good but a little greasy. When we were done, I was asked if I wanted dessert… Yeah, like I have room for that. I was home before 9 and went to bed, was really tired for some reason. Going to bed that early had one side effect for me, it is 4am and I’m up, patiently (or not) waiting for coffee to brew.

Yesterday, Blondie, Hera and I went to the dog park as well. There was an inch of snow on the ground, making it rather slick. I’m not sure how much snow Hera might have seen last winter. She likely wasn’t out too much when she was that small. We also had a mile winter and not a heck of a lot of snow. Anyway, she quickly discovered that she didn’t quite have the traction and stopping ability that she would normally have on dry grass. It was a bit funny watching her chase a ball only to go sliding past it or wiping out trying to turn to quickly. They had fun and got some needed excercise at any rate, that’s what’s important.

A return trip today will be dryer. They love to go and it is good for all of us. Baseball, if we have it, is later in the day. The weekend is zipping by quickly, as it always does. I hope yours is going well for you.

Well, it is around 2C and white stuff is falling from th sky. This has resulted in my baseball game scheduled for 2pm being cancelled. I am not sure if it will be rescheduled for sometim this week, I sort of doubt it though. Even if it was dry, we wouldn’t be playing, cold temps don’t go well with baseball, it is much mor of a football thing.

So, now what do I do with myself today? I do have some groceries to get. I do have to fill my truck with gas, although that is much more of an activity to do while on my way somewhere. M&M Meats is a destination for today for sure. Does that not sound overly exciting?

If it doesn’t snow too hard or for too long, we will take a trip to the dog park. I am not sure how much sno Hera has seen in her lifetime. She would have been a very young pup last winter and may not have spent a lot of time outside, plus, we had very little snow last winter. I’m sure she’ll like it, she wears a nice, thick, fur coat. 

Tonight is one of the best BBQ places in th city. Looking forward to that. Hopefully, the snow won’t stick around and also doesn’t make it too wet to play some ball tomorrow. Guess we will see.

This week has been a little slower paced, which is nice. Work has been busy, but not insane busy. I had my salary review yesterday, decent pay increase despite the economic turn down. I was happy with that. I’m also really enjoying my job. It is obviously nice not having to commute to work on a daily basis but also, the people that I work with are generally pret good.

No mid-week baseball games this week.  We do have a practice on Thursday evening though. We will continue to concentrate on hitting and outfield defence and throw in some infield drills as well. The team is coming together well, everyone is improving and the players that I’d expect to be team leaders are just that.

We have three games scheduled this weekend. I’m willing to bet that the Saturday game will be postponed though. The forecast is calling for 5C as a high and flurries. Not ideal baseball weather. Sunday’s forecast is improved, low teens and sunny. Well, it is (or will be) October in Calgary.

I’ve been invited to a friends place for Thanksgiving dinner which is nice. Sounds like a bunch of singles with no local family are getting together, should be a good evening. Turkey is one of my favourite dishes. I was actually considering buying a stuffed turkey this year and going all out, now I don’t have to. Maybe I’ll do that at Christmas time.

Next week is the Flames home opener and I’m going. I was able to get a single ticket, no doubles were available, except the used market where the price is typically a bit high. Should be a good Tim, I still want to secure a home jersey from someone, hopefully I can find one. I don’t want to spend $150 or so on a jersey, not at the moment anyway.

There, you are all caught up on me. 🙂

It was a busy weekend of baseball with two games on Saturday and a third on Sunday. That folow d a Wednesday night game as well, so 4 games in 5 days. The team is coming together quite well. The hitting is timely, defence is solid and the pitchers are throwing ball well. We are throwing runners out at the bases on steal attempts and on the other side of the coin, we are stealing bases with ease, it would seem.

We swept the weekend series, 3 games and 3 wins. This bring us to a 5-4 record and second place in the 5 team league. We have some recoup time now with no games scheduled until this coming weekend.

Speaking of this coming weekend, the long range forecast is calling for possible snow. That doesn’t go well with baseball, not at all. Not that I believe a forecast nearly a week out of course. They can’t typically get tomorrow’s forecast correct, never mind 5 days out. 

So, in short, congrats to the Babe Ruth Fall Ball Bandits on an awesome weekend of ball, good job all around.  Congrats as well to the Toronto Blue Jays in securing their first post season spot since the early 90’s. It’ll be nice watching the Jays in some post season action. Winning the AL East is the next goal and I think their magic number is no down to 4. I’m sure the Yankees will find a way to blow it, that is presuming the Jays don’t continue to crush the ball. Hope they make it deep into the post season.

Yesterday, my Fall Ball team, the Bandits had a double header. The first game was at 2pm with the back half starting at 5pm.

The day started out cold, ended that way as well, but the 2pm game was actually quite nice, the sun was shining brightly and temps were in the upper teens. 

We played two good games, kept leads in both and were never in serious jeopardy of losing either game. Starting pitching was solid, the relievers did a great job and we had some clutch defence when it was needed. The offence has come around and we are hitting the ball quite well. We still have a few players who struggle with the the bat, hopefully they’ll continue to improve. It is tough to get ahead though, when you don’t come to practice.

We finish the weekend today with the late game. It would be sweet to sweep the weekend, guess I will see what happens. 

Fall Ball has been enjoyable. We have a good crop of players, eager to learn the game and those that have played for a while, eager to improve their skills. It is great to see players from other Babe Ruth teams imprv e as well, if I can return them to their club teams as better players then when I got them, my job is done. I also made my third base debut yesterday in the late game. We scored 4 runs in the first and never looked back. We were aggressive and smart on the bases, exactly what I like to see.

At least with a few wins, it shows me that I sort of know what I’m doing, I was getting a little worried earlier this year as wins were few and far between. I’ve skill got a strong coaching bug, so that’s good. I can see coaching with Babe Ruth for a while.

Go Bandits !!!

My week back to work after two weeks off was a little crazy. September is likely IT’s busiest month of the year and the last quarter is by far our busiest quarter. It flew by which is great.

I made a trip into the Calgary offic yesterday, nice to see some former coworkers. Well, not former, but people that I used to see on a daily basis. I’m starting to get busier on the server team, I think it is going to be enjoyable. It is a good thing wh you love what you do for a living.

It was also a busy week of baseball. We played a game Wednesday, was a good evening. Thursday night is practice night. We only had 8 guys out to practice but those that were there had a good session. There is also a benefit to coming to practice, they will start the first game today and most will play a full game. 

So, today we have a double header. It isn’t supposed to be overly warm, highs around 12C but it’ll be dry. We play at 2 and 5. We also play tomorrow, late game. I’m enjoying Fall Ball. A few players look like very good prospects to be drafted in the 2016 draft. I haven’t seen any catcher prospects as yet, none who,are ready for AAA anyway. We will see who comes out to evaluations in the late winter sessions.

Enjoy your weekend.