Phillies

I stayed up for the whole game last night (it was rain-delayed an hour and a half, so it didn't even start until 10). Even if we're not at the ballpark, it's really cool to have the World Series so close to us. I ran up to the roof in the bottom of the 9th and caught the whole fireworks show from the stadium. As soon as they won I could hear people yelling and honking their horns.

It's a pretty pessimistic city, especially about sports, but people are cautiously excited now. On my walk home from work I see a Phillies sign in a window, colored and signed by a kid, maybe in school or daycare. The city workers are all wearing Phillies hats. "Fightin' Phils" towels hang in upstairs windows.

The other day I heard a kid telling his mom, "You be Ryan Howard and I'll be Jimmy Rollins, and I'll pitch to you..."
The mom said, "But Jimmy Rollins isn't a pitcher."
"Oh, who's the pitcher?" the kid said.
"Cole Hamels."
"Okay, I'll be Cole Hamels, and you be Ryan Howard..."

The Homebrew Experience (Take 1, continued...)

Got up at 6:30 this morning for baseball and discovered my fermentation vessel was foaming over. Luckily I caught it in time to prevent a big mess. I rigged up a hose to allow the overflow to spill into a bucket, and I think I was able to clean out the airlock lock (basically an "S" shaped plastic vessel that allows gas to escape the tank while keeping contaminants out) well enough to salvage it.

We won both games today (2/5, 2 RBI, BB) which puts us at 2-4 on the season so far. Beautiful day, 70° and sunny. Public transportation to some of these fields is a nightmare (I hate you SEPTA!), but today it turned out to be worth the hassle.

So now I'm home again and have resolved the first homebrew crisis. The sanitized airlock is back in place and bubbling away quite rhythmically. I think I'll take a nap before the Sox play tonight.

The Homebrew Experience (Take 1)

Just finished cleaning up after brewing my first batch of beer. The recipe kit came from Home Sweet Homebrew: "Dark Star Brown Ale." The specific gravity is supposed to be somewhere around 1.040-1.045, but my brew came out to 1.026. I think I added too much water filling up the fermenting vessel. Oh well, we'll see in a few weeks when it's done.

Dodgers just swept the Cubs in the NLDS. Hopefully the Phillies can finish up in Milwaukee tomorrow. I like a Dodgers/Phillies matchup...that'll be fun.

ALDS Game 2: D Matsuzaka vs. E Santana

I forgot Daisuke is pitching tonight so we don't have any sushi for the game.

Dunkin' Donuts "Uphill Battle" spot makes its Treeboat television premiere.

I'm hoping the early lead prompts Daisuke to work in the strike zone a little more than he usually does. Except with Vladdy at bat. Just roll the ball to the plate on the ground and let him swing at that.

Whoops. Torii Hunter just wrecked his knee in protest of a close play at first. That's embarrassing.