I'm officially back from the East Coast and more specifically Connecticut and visiting my niece and two nephews. Strangely enough, Connecticut is the center of the universe for the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry. The state has just about as many Yankee fans as Red Sox fans. And both teams were eliminated while I was there. No wonder there was about five inches of rain during my visit and a rash of people jumping off bridges. The funny thing is that the Sports Weekly publication featured a photo of Ortiz and A-Rod proclaiming, "Beasts from the East." Glad to see $300 million can't buy you a championship. Now all we need is for the Angels to be eliminated and the top three payroll teams in the AL will be gone.
So, what's happened to the world while I was away?
- Ken Macha tried to call Billy Beane's hand. Just as no one puts baby in the corner, no one calls Billy Beane's hand. Not Jason Giambi, not Miguel Tejada, not Tim Hudson and certainly not Ken Macha. And Macha missed out on Pittsburgh and Detroit, so he will probably wind up being a bench coach again somewhere. Meanwhile, Billy Beane's heart will go on.
- Orel Hershiser's name has come up in discussions to replace the recently departed Macha. That would sort of be like Barry Bonds becoming the Dodgers manager.
- Nomar Garciaparra is diving in Boston Harbor to save people. I wonder if those two folks were Red Sox fans who wanted him shipped out back in the day.
- Dave "Hitting.com" Hudgens is out as the A's hitting coach. Yes, the same person who continues to have this quote from the .226 hitting Eric Byrnes on his site is now unemployed: "Without knowing the proper skills and techniques that Dave teaches you in the Hitting for Excellence Series, you are not giving yourself the chance you need and the opportunity you deserve."
- And finally, is it me, or is the plot of Lost going absolutely nowhere this year? Yes we found out that some guy trapped in the 70s with a Commodore 64 that can blow up the world is in the hatch...we also found out that there are more survivors. But other than that, nothing except that Kate got to wash her hair. Yay.
