Thursday, September 23, 2004
Two wins in a row? Stop the presses!
Before I talk a little about the Phils I’m going to write a little about my wedding / honeymoon. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t bore anyone with it (this stuff is only interesting to those who experienced it, I've found), but I suspect that everyone would find it more interesting than the Phils …
My wife and I married at 2:30 PM on Saturday, September 4, 2004 in Natrona Heights, PA. Our wedding went well, aside from an embarrassing incident involving a fight (don’t ask). Everyone had a terrific time and the pictures and videos we got back have been terrific. My wife looked beautiful in her wedding gown. My best man gave a terrific toast that was so nice that I can hear a relative of my wife’s remarking on one tape: “What a great friend…” Both families seemed to have a terrific time, and despite the fact that it was a 300+ mile drive from Philly to Pittsburgh, I had a lot of family at the church and reception. I had the time of my life.
We left two days later we left for the first leg in our journey: we flew to San Francisco and spent a day and two halves in the city by the Bay. SF is gorgeous: the Bay is crystal blue, with white sails from sailing ships dotting the horizon. We cruised the Bay, ate at Pier 39, visited the Bay Aquarium, and toured the Ripley’s Believe-It-Or-Not! Museum. On Wednesday we left for Oahu. We did our honeymoon as part of a tour group, which was fun. We got to stay at terrific hotels and ate at stellar restaurants.
On Oahu we did all of the touristy stuff: the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial (very, very evocative moment to be standing there, thinking about the over 1,000 sailors who died when the battleship blew up), the Punchbowl National Cemetary, the Polynesian Cultural Center (very interesting and very worthwhile if you get a chance: the students who perform are very talented), etc. We stayed at the Hyatt in Waikiki Beach, which offered a terrific view of the local area. Waikiki is an interesting place (lots of Japanese tourists) and a good beach: very soft surf. I saw people swimming at midnight there.
We left and spent three days on Kauai. I liked our hotel a lot (the Sheraton Kauai at Poipu Beach): it had a gorgeous view of the pool and beach and was situated just forty or so yards from Poipu Beach itself. Kauai is nice but a little too rural and quiet. We had fun doing a helicopter tour of the island (if you go to Kauai you must do it: the views of the island are sensational), but we weren’t that sorry to go. For one thing, while Poipu is nice, I don’t understand why people rave about it the way they do.
Maui, on the other hand … my wife practically cried when we left there. The beach (Ka’anapaali) is like something out of a post-card and Maui itself is just the right mix between quiet and solitude and activity that you could never get bored there. Plus, our hotel (Hyatt Maui) was a palace. Anyway, we did a lot: we snorkeled (I have a cool picture of my wife swimming with a sea turtle), took a trip to Mount Haleakala [sic], and explored Ka’anapaali. We'd go back to Maui in an instant.
We got back and found out that the Pittsburgh area got hit with six inches of rain last Friday, which flooded the rivers and left people’s boats laying on the sides of roads and flooded people out of house and home. My wife and I were fortunate that we live on a hill in an apartment complex, but others lost everything. (one of my wife’s bridesmaids’ family house got about six inches of water in the basement.) It was been very tragic to see.
Anyway, enough of that. I guess the Phils won enough games to break above .500 … their .517 winning percentage projects them to an 84-78 record. Anything less than 90 wins simply doesn’t give them a shot for the wildcard. It has been a deeply frustrating season, and the Phils sudden ability to beat the Florida Marlins seems almost a cruel joke: they shake the curse of the Fish right when the damage has already long-since been done with.
I’ll do a season wrap-up in two weeks or so, but here are some numbers to keep you satisfied:
Starters: (GPA / ISO)
Thome: .326 / .312
Abreu: .323 / .240
Bell: .284 / .171
Burrell: .282 / .214
Rollins: .264 / .150
Polanco: .258 / .144
Lieberthal: .262 / .182
Byrd: .207 / .094
Bench:
Michaels: .264 / .138
Glanville: .179 / .059
Utley: .253 / .206
Pratt: .220 / .068
Perez: .224 / .203
Howard: .368 / .375
What the stats mean:
GPA (Gross Productive Average): (1.8 * .OBP + .SLG) / 4 = .GPA
ISO (Isolated Power): .SLG - .BA = .ISO
On the bright side the Eagles are 2-0! Check out my Eagles blog …
My wife and I married at 2:30 PM on Saturday, September 4, 2004 in Natrona Heights, PA. Our wedding went well, aside from an embarrassing incident involving a fight (don’t ask). Everyone had a terrific time and the pictures and videos we got back have been terrific. My wife looked beautiful in her wedding gown. My best man gave a terrific toast that was so nice that I can hear a relative of my wife’s remarking on one tape: “What a great friend…” Both families seemed to have a terrific time, and despite the fact that it was a 300+ mile drive from Philly to Pittsburgh, I had a lot of family at the church and reception. I had the time of my life.
We left two days later we left for the first leg in our journey: we flew to San Francisco and spent a day and two halves in the city by the Bay. SF is gorgeous: the Bay is crystal blue, with white sails from sailing ships dotting the horizon. We cruised the Bay, ate at Pier 39, visited the Bay Aquarium, and toured the Ripley’s Believe-It-Or-Not! Museum. On Wednesday we left for Oahu. We did our honeymoon as part of a tour group, which was fun. We got to stay at terrific hotels and ate at stellar restaurants.
On Oahu we did all of the touristy stuff: the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial (very, very evocative moment to be standing there, thinking about the over 1,000 sailors who died when the battleship blew up), the Punchbowl National Cemetary, the Polynesian Cultural Center (very interesting and very worthwhile if you get a chance: the students who perform are very talented), etc. We stayed at the Hyatt in Waikiki Beach, which offered a terrific view of the local area. Waikiki is an interesting place (lots of Japanese tourists) and a good beach: very soft surf. I saw people swimming at midnight there.
We left and spent three days on Kauai. I liked our hotel a lot (the Sheraton Kauai at Poipu Beach): it had a gorgeous view of the pool and beach and was situated just forty or so yards from Poipu Beach itself. Kauai is nice but a little too rural and quiet. We had fun doing a helicopter tour of the island (if you go to Kauai you must do it: the views of the island are sensational), but we weren’t that sorry to go. For one thing, while Poipu is nice, I don’t understand why people rave about it the way they do.
Maui, on the other hand … my wife practically cried when we left there. The beach (Ka’anapaali) is like something out of a post-card and Maui itself is just the right mix between quiet and solitude and activity that you could never get bored there. Plus, our hotel (Hyatt Maui) was a palace. Anyway, we did a lot: we snorkeled (I have a cool picture of my wife swimming with a sea turtle), took a trip to Mount Haleakala [sic], and explored Ka’anapaali. We'd go back to Maui in an instant.
We got back and found out that the Pittsburgh area got hit with six inches of rain last Friday, which flooded the rivers and left people’s boats laying on the sides of roads and flooded people out of house and home. My wife and I were fortunate that we live on a hill in an apartment complex, but others lost everything. (one of my wife’s bridesmaids’ family house got about six inches of water in the basement.) It was been very tragic to see.
Anyway, enough of that. I guess the Phils won enough games to break above .500 … their .517 winning percentage projects them to an 84-78 record. Anything less than 90 wins simply doesn’t give them a shot for the wildcard. It has been a deeply frustrating season, and the Phils sudden ability to beat the Florida Marlins seems almost a cruel joke: they shake the curse of the Fish right when the damage has already long-since been done with.
I’ll do a season wrap-up in two weeks or so, but here are some numbers to keep you satisfied:
Starters: (GPA / ISO)
Thome: .326 / .312
Abreu: .323 / .240
Bell: .284 / .171
Burrell: .282 / .214
Rollins: .264 / .150
Polanco: .258 / .144
Lieberthal: .262 / .182
Byrd: .207 / .094
Bench:
Michaels: .264 / .138
Glanville: .179 / .059
Utley: .253 / .206
Pratt: .220 / .068
Perez: .224 / .203
Howard: .368 / .375
What the stats mean:
GPA (Gross Productive Average): (1.8 * .OBP + .SLG) / 4 = .GPA
ISO (Isolated Power): .SLG - .BA = .ISO
On the bright side the Eagles are 2-0! Check out my Eagles blog …
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: Sunday, September 17, 2006 5:31:00 PM
: Sunday, September 17, 2006 5:31:00 PM
