Another heartbreaker

Surprise Surprise!

As much as it pains me to say, I think it's now safe to say the Jays are done.

No, this isn't a spur-of-the-moment, pragmatic post - it's just straight up reality. The Jays once again showed what differentiates a contending team from a never-was - closing out games against inferior opposition. Time and time again they find themselves blowing leads to rubbish teams like the D-Rays and justify it with some hogwash that looks remarkably similar to an excuse. Injuries, bad luck, not cashing in RISP...I'm just waiting to hear that their woes are due to the new performance headgear by New Era.

They really should have won last night, but I knew after they blew it in the 9th that it was over. I left to get ready for bed, with my brother admonishing me for not keeping the faith. I responded with "I guarantee this game's over in the next 30 minutes and we're not going to be on the good side of things". And of course, 25 minutes later, Carl Crawford made my prognostication come true.

For the rest of the season I'm just going to enjoy the games for what the are - games! No vested interest in seeing a winner or loser, just some good quality baseball. I already have the Cubs for the stretch drive anyways :P

That's the mini-rant of the day. I'll try and check in later if I find anything amusing to report on.

Half a game away

Hey yaars,

While I've been somewhat skeptical of the Jays chances (though hopefully optimistic), I've been ranting since the winter about how the Cubs will take the NL Central. And after a few months of ribbing from Jamie about how terrible they were, guess who's only a 1/2 game away?

Da Cubs!

I've had an affinity for the team since 2002, my first year at the "Cable Box" and debut in the realm of fantasy baseball. I was pleasantly surprised at finishing 2nd out of 8 in my first ever pool and it was anchored by what was essentially the Cubs pitching staff. If I recall correctly, my staff consisted of Kerry Wood, Matt Clement, Carlos Zambrano, and a mid-season pickup of Mark Prior (I stayed up all night waiting for him to reach the Yahoo! waiver wires - I still think it was well worth it!).

The cincher was definitely last year's trip to Chicago, where I got the opportunity to enter the friendly confines of Wrigley Field, and had arguably my best baseball experience ever (Milwaukee this year was pretty darn close!). I've had Carlos Zambrano on a fantasy squad of mine since and may well have a man-crush on him. Big-Z has arguably been the best pitcher in baseball since the Barrett incident and he's trucking along as the only 14 game winner in the Majors. At this point, I'm trying very hard to convince my brother that a trip to Wrigley in the coming months is not only recommended, but necessary. (Our 2007 Chicago trip ended the day before the Cubs home opener :( ).

As for my hometown heroes, I have to admit I've been pleasantly surprised with the Jays solid pitching performances of late. I think it's only a matter of time before things get sorted, and I will once again re-iterate - put Thomas in the SIX spot!!! He's a liability on the base paths, and is better served driving in runs, instead of DP'ing them away! I still have faith that somehow my dream of Thomas at 6 will be solidified and I no longer have to worry about the likelihood of inning-enders.

Anyhow, thought I'd get my baseball $0.02 in, hope you enjoyed the rant!

High Five!

Hey yaars,

Yes, I'll once again take the credit for this one. After deciding to shell out some cash for the "T" hat, it seems as if the Jays are on somewhat of a winning streak. This mimics what occurred a few months back when the retro cap had them winning 8/9 games. Although this time, I think there's more to it.

The pitching: Despite not having Burnett in the rotation at the moment, ace Roy Halladay has received steady support from the rest of the staff. Shawn Marcum has been a revelation, Dustin MacGowan has FINALLY lived up to the potential we've all dreamed of, and Jesse Litcsh has been admirable as the temp.

Reed Johnson: Now that he's off of the disabled list and leading off, we've finally got that firestarter who sets the tone for the game. His return has made an immediate effect on catalysing his teammates at the plate, and his hustle is definitely respected by yours truly.

The batting lineup: I've argued this left-right-and-centre for the last month with Jamie. Frank Thomas has no legs and shouldn't be hitting earlier than 6th. This has nothing to do with his "slump", but more to do with him being a liability on the bases. Batting in the six-spot gives him the chance to drive in runs, draw walks, and reduce the odds of him hitting into inning killer DP's.

Frank Thomas: He's always had the eye to distinguish a bad pitch from a good one, unfortunately his timing has been off for the last few months. I do think he's gotten his groove back, and hopefully parlays it into a great stretch drive.

Now I know that it looks like we have a chance to gain ground, seeing that we're playing the ChiSox, Rangers, and D-Rays in the next few days. But being the scepticist that I am, I know that Toronto teams play up to AND down to their competition. If I'm right, the Jays could very easily quash any momentum they've worked so steadfastly to gain.

Here's to hoping I'm wrong!

A new streak is born!

Hey yaars,

It's been recently brought to my attention that I'm neglecting my blog in a fashion similar to an abusive parent. I ignore it for weeks and then go on spurts where I treasure it, with post after post. And thanks to a tip from a friend, I'm going to try and have a tad less of a gap between posts. On we go then...

Last night my younger brother Zan came down to the Rogers Centre to see Johann Santana pitch. When I first started working at the Jays, Zan's eyes use to light up at the sight of the stadium, and he enjoyed the games enough that he attended around 35 games in 2002. Slowly his interest and passion seem to have dwindled, exemplified by the fact that last night was his 5th Jays game this season. And while that would normally be ok, it's a sad state of affairs when he gets tickets for free!

Anyhow, the game was an exciting one, with the Jays actually lighting up a good pitcher. This once again proves the longheld Toronto theory that our teams play up to their competition when it's a good team, and down to the competition when they're crap. Just wait until we play Tampa Bay again, you'll see what I mean! In any event, they're on a three-game winning streak, and I'm going to stick my neck out and let you all know that I've added another Jays hat to my collection. Yes, I've shelled out for one of the new polyester New Era 5950s (the "T" hat), and the Jays are now 1-0 after its' debut. Remember my last cap folks...here's to hoping I can work some magic once again!

While the game was great fun, I think the after-game pleasantries where even more interesting. I finally caught up with some good friends, airing out some jokes that were somewhat off-colour (but hilarious nonetheless). Unfortunately, Zan was there, and I think he wasn't too pleased at being teased about potentially being a cover boy for a gay magazine :P

Anyhow, another fun summer night transpired, and now with a less than stellar rest I'm hoping tonight will be as fun. Cheers y'all!

Extreme Ways

Even if you don't watch cricket, watch this tribute to Wasim Akram - the legend.

Finally had an enduring week come to a close. I'm beginning to further understand the workplace frustrations people have when they have a desk job and have to go through the mundane, repetitive, 9-5er days. Not to say that I'm bitter and angst-ridden, but I've recently had a few moments that had me slightly frustrated. Thankfully the weekend couldn't come soon enough!

It also appears these days as if it's EVERYONE's birthday! The last 3 weeks have had seen 3 of my friends fête their day of birth. And with another half dozen on the way, I'm beginning to feel like I should celebrate my own early to compensate!

Since I once again have no general direction in this post, here's another session of catharsis - a.k.a The Notes!

- People driving on roads have to know their role! If you have no intention on taking a right turn for a while, DON'T stay in the right lane. You have no idea how frustrating it is after a long drive home when I get stuck behind a buffoon who has no intention of turning right (but stays in the lane to be ahead of the 4 cars in the other lanes). It's totally slap worthy

- When did Hilary Duff become a "sex symbol"? The last time I saw her on TV she was pimpin' out her Zellers clothing line for little girls. Now she's on the cover of Maxim and parading around in bikinis on the beach? More importantly, why do I know this!?!

- The kid who plays Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is a self-professed cricket lover. Now if Harry Potter loves cricket, this can only bode well for the game. Unless of course Wizardry is real...

- The whole Red Mosque chaos. As much as I like to question government decisions, I wholeheartedly agree with General Musharraf's stance on this issue. He gave them ample time to release women/children and have them surrender, but they chose to spew their rhetoric. I've seen the last message of their leader when he called Geo TV and he couldn't answer a single question properly without spewing his ignorance. While he may have one point in saying that the government should be more transparent, his idea of "sharia" should be strictly forbidden.

Pakistan was built on the basis of Muslims having a land to freely live in, avoiding the potential tyranny of a Hindu led India. It was never meant to be a "Muslim" state, but one where secularism was to be respected. And these aren't my words, they're from the founder of the country ("Quaid-e-Azam" Muhammad Ali Jinnah)

- I have a toy Bush. Before you all get too creative with it, it's a plush toy "pull-my-finger" Dubya, which was the catalyst of a huge laugh at work when a colleague was trying to find my desk. I yelled "Mine's the one with the Toy Bush!" which led to quite the hysterics.

- Yeah I sold out and got a Motorola Razr. I know it's probably about a year too late, but I was bloody tired of my previous cell provider (rhymes with Dodgers). And it's only fitting that I selected Virgin Mobile to sort me out :P

- David Beckham officially got unveiled today as the newest member of the LA Galaxy. Everywhere I watch they're comparing this to Gretzky going to the Kings back in the day. That simply isn't true. Gretzky went to LA at his peak, whereas Becks is arriving in LA almost in a semi-retirement phase. He has maybe 3 decent years left and I think he's dunzo. If this hasn't donned on soccer aficionado's yet, chew on this - his most famous goal (that tied Greece and sent England to the World Cup), was SEVEN YEARS AGO! I think the Backstreet Boys still had a song on the charts back then!

- As much as I've enjoyed cheering for Manchester United since '02 (albeit while moonlighting as a Thierry Henry supporter), I'm beginning to think it's almost too easy. While I won't jump ship, I'm searching for an underdog to root for. Right now Fulham (because of relatives who live a block away from Craven Cottage) and West Ham (because they have awesome colours and crazy fans) are the front runners. All this soccer talk this month has me pondering a trip to the UK to watch some Premier League football. Now if only I could save up enough shiny pennies...

- And if I haven't said it already, my mom HATES shrimp!

Hope that brightens your spirit folks! Talk to you soon!

Clogged sink

Hey yaars,

In the 20+ years I've lived in my apartment building, we've NEVER had a sink clog we couldn't fix. Be it my dad using his plunger, or my mom using some drano, we had it covered. Of course, Karma decides to throw us a curve and I could not (for the life of me!) get the most recent clog out. That was on Sunday.

My moms talked to the super who was SUPPOSE to call the building's contracted plumber the next morning. I guess he didn't deem it as important, as it was still clogged 2 days later at dinner time. My mom had to fight with the super, airing out all sorts of grievances to get her sink fixed (I think she was tortured with not being able to clean - something most mom's love!). My personal favourite is when she quibbed that management is very quick to cash her monthly cheques she drops off but takes forever to respond to a note that involves actual work. Suffice to say, the plumber was here within 2 hours, to do a 10 minute job.

The plumber's always been a pretty decent guy with us. My pops offered him some food and drink when he started working in our building years ago and he was always grateful for that. Evidently my pops had a few long an interesting chats about Czechoslovakia and Pakistan with him back in the day. Anyhow, he gave his personal card and said we should give him a ring for emergencies. Though we'd have to pay out of our pocket...

My mom has come to the conclusion that if anything like this ever happens again, she's calling him privately, and billing the building afterwards. I have to admit, now I understand why people like getting me riled up, as us Rathore's seem to have a way of being entertaining whilst ired.

Thought I'd mention this mini blurb just to give whatever readers I have left a laugh. I sure as hell needed it after a long few days!