Baseball Is Good

broderic on October 5, 2014

I took a half day on Thursday and then a full Friday off in order to catch the Orioles in the postseason. After 5 years of being a season ticket holder, these are my first postseason games from that investment. In reality, these are my first postseason games ever.

I didn’t make it to the ’70 postseason. My Lolo did, and he found it cold. I didn’t make it to ’83. My brother went and found fun heckling the White Sox. I didn’t care too much about baseball in ’96 or ’97. Then the Orioles went through 14 years of misery. I am not going to miss out on this.

Me and my older brother file into Camden Yards about 4 PM, 90 minutes before game time. The stadium has a rather subdued atmosphere. This isn’t like the feeling of Opening Day where everyone is absolutely excited for baseball. Postseason play leaves the spectators anxious and hungry for a win. They end up mute waiting for the fun to begin.

Yet, everyone is still excited. What will we get? A great game or bitter disappointment?

The ceremonial first pitch was done by Manny and Weiters, two key Orioles who are missing time because of injuries. Then, Chris Tillman, the ace of the staff, started the game right striking out the side in the first. The fireworks started when the Oriole came up to bat. Nelson Cruz hits a two run homer to stake the home team to 2-0 lead. It didn’t last a half inning, because Detroit came back with back-to-back homers to tie the game. After that, the pitching took over.

Tillman pitches well but inefficient for the next couple innings. In particular, Detroit’s Iam Kinsler sees 30 pitches in several at bats fouling off many of them. Tillman was done after 5 innings of work and 105 pitches. His Detroit counterpart, reigning Cy Young winner, Max Scherzer, kept the Orioles bats quiet after the early inning trouble. They didn’t get to him until the 8th.

My brother was worried all throughout the game. After a JJ Hardy homer gave the O’s the lead, it was nail biting time. Literally. I was biting my nails hoping we shut down this potent Detroit offense. I had faith, because this was the type of Orioles game that they seemed to play. A homerun, strong starting pitching, and then the bullpen to get the job done. The Orioles will have to play that game.

Then deAza hits a one out double in the eighth to knock Scherzer out of the game. Detroit’s bullpen is notorious and this half inning proves it. The Orioles batted around scoring 8 runs to put the game away.

The calm, subdued atmosphere was gone. It was loud and electric. I hate that Seven Nation Army chant, but it was still fun to do as the runs kept coming. Then a new chant picked up: “We Won’t Stop! We Won’t Stop! We Won’t Stop!” This is the slogan for the Orioles postseason and it is apropos. Orioles won’t stop scoring. Orioles won’t stop beating your stinky pitching. Orioles won’t stop until the game is over. It was a 4-3 game at the start of the inning. It became 12-3 bludgeoning.

High fives all around as this happened. The guy and his son next to you who you told that Jones Cruz would hit a first pitch homer — high five! Your brother — high five! People as you leave — high five! People as they are leaving — high five! I witnessed some drunk dude high five my brother then give the bro-hug. Baseball was good that night.

The Boxtrolls

broderic on October 5, 2014

Boy do I love animation. I am crazy for anime. I am a big fan of Pixar. CG style? I can take it. Hand drawn? Love it! Now for a little love for stop-motion style of Laika. Every couple of years the studio releases one of their hand made gems. Coraline was a revelation. Para-Norman was spooktacular and featured some of favorite animated images of the past few years.The Boxtrolls is fun animated movie to love, too.

The Boxtrolls starts with a kidnapping. The boy becomes a box troll, a race of creatures living in the sewers who recycle things into inventions. They also sound like Gizmo from Gremlins. The movie unravels the tale of why the boy was kidnapped, why the town hates the box trolls, and why cheese is a necessity.

I really dig Laika as an animation studio. Para-Norman was phenomenal and made me wonder how they did it. The Boxtrolls continues on with fine craftsmanship. The story is a little bit trite, but it works. I wish we would get more diverse animated fare in the future.

3 of 5 stars.

Septembar 36.4, 10,535

broderic on October 1, 2014

I don’t know what this was, but I thought it was one of the more hilarious Simpsons couch gags in a long while.

“You bought a duchesshood?” “No, I rented it for the day. You know those dukes and duchesses, they’re always hard up for money.”

broderic on September 28, 2014

All that flying out to Wisconsin this summer and back made me hungry for cheese. Pick up a block of it now and then. Truck it home. Make grilled cheese. It’s all tasty but sometimes you need something more. Something like cheddar cheese popcorn. Not the white cheddar you find around here, but the bright orange stuff. The stuff of your childhood. The good stuff.


It’s easy to get if you fly out through Chicago’s O’hare. There are a few kiosks that sell the stuff. I picked up a few bags. This one time, as I transferred through O’hare, I decided to pick up a bag. I only found Garrett’s, but I knew there was a Nuts On Clark there, so I searched around for it. It was around the corner. These two brands joined the other bag of popcorn I had brought back from Wisconsin. Right then and there I decided on a taste test.


First up is Seguin’s cheddar cheese popcorn. This one was at a disadvantage as the bag had been opened for a couple of days, so it wasn’t as fresh as the following two. This one also wasn’t popped fresh that day. It was probably packaged a few weeks before I bought it. Of the three, it had the sharpest cheddar taste. It also had the most normal looking of popcorn with a brilliant orange color.


Garrett’s cheddar cheese popcorn is a great contender. The popcorn are fluffy and more rounded. The cheese taste is smooth. It’s color is a a mellower yellow-tinged orange.


Nuts on Clark’s cheddar cheese popcorn is the best of the three. I recommend getting this on your trips through Chicago. It has the same mellow cheese taste as Garrett’s, but the popped kernels are slightly bigger and fluffier. I saw that they use Monster Mushroom Popcorn to achieve that awesome size and shape. I’m not sure if Garrett’s uses the same, but theirs is a smaller size.

You can’t go wrong with any of these. If you can get Seguin’s, then get it. If you want Garrett’s then want it. I recommend Nuts On Clark’s cheddar popcorn.

You should also try the Chicago mix — cheddar and caramel corn. It’s just as good.

“No offence, Joe, but that is not really a talent.” “That’s big talk coming from a tap-dancing jelly maker who may or may not have been a high school thespian.”

broderic on September 26, 2014

Link of the Day [9.26.2014]

On my trips out to Wisconsin, I bring home a block of cheese or two. The first time was two years ago. I bought the cheese at the airport in Milwaukee. This year on the trips up I bought cheese at this store. At the airport in Green Bay, they shake me down thinking this cheese is a block of C4. In reality, this cheese is the bomb. Pardon me while I go make a grilled cheese sandwich with 7 year old sharp cheddar.

http://www.seguinscheese.com

“Pure evilness?”

broderic on September 26, 2014

This is how they troll Orioles fans at Cooperstown. The Amazing Mets? Pittsburgh Pirates? Really, Cooperstown, really?

“You’re obviously crippled by mental illness!”

broderic on September 23, 2014

I went and tried to get more playoff tickets.

I thought it would be nice to invite anyone and everyone along for the second game of the ALDS. I got the chance this afternoon. As a season ticket holder, I had the chance to purchase another 2 tickets to any of the ALDS games.

I went 10 minutes into my scheduled time at 1400. I got a 2 tickets for Game 1. I selected seats for Game 2. No dice the first time. I tried a different section. No dice the second time. I worked my way down the list towards the cheaper and cheaper seats. No dice the third and fourth times.

Then I refreshed my shopping cart and tried again from the beginning.

Wait. There’s no Game 2 available.

Darn.

Now, I have to figure out who to take the first game and who the take for the second game.

Who wants to go?

“How much have you done so far?” “The outline.” “How long is it?” “Two words:the, outline.”

broderic on September 18, 2014

It has been a long time since a wrote a post about baseball or the Orioles. I didn’t have much to say lately or I didn’t know what to say. I see that my last post was from the 2012 season. There was a few from 2013, but nothing really. What is there to say about last year? It wasn’t this year!

Woohoo! Orioles won the American League East division! And I was there. I can not believe it. They did well.

This wasn’t like 2012. It was no surprise. It was a methodical beatdown of the AL East. They started slow, but as the year heated up, so did the Birds. They played better and better. And here we are.

AL East Champs!

Let’s go Orioles!