The Obligatory Phillies Post

With everything going on in my life, you may have thought I forgot about my favorite hobby, the Philadelphia Fightin' Phils.  Of course, you would have thought wrong, because I never forget about the Phillies, especially when they play like they have of late.  This team seems to be peaking at the exact right time, led by the formidable duo of Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins.  Those 2 have come a long way since their appearance on that piece of shit sports talk show, whose name I am choosing to omit from this post.  Jimmy seems to be on base at least 3 times a game, and Howard has been mashing homers at a ridiculous pace for the last month or so.  When these 2 are ticking, we are nearly impossible to beat.

The most amazing part of this late season surge has been the consistency and reliability of their starting pitching.  Hamels, Myers, and Moyer have anchored a staff that has been tremendous down the stretch.  While Kendrick shit the bed and is now out of the rotation, and it should stay that way, Kentucky Joe Blanton and JA Happ always seem to step up when we really need a win.  They will serve as solid 4th and 5th starters as we reach the postseason.  Yes, I said it, we are going to reach the postseason, there is no doubt in my mind.  At the time of this post, we have a 1.5 game lead on the floundering Mets, and a 3 game cushion on the choke artist Brewers.  For those of you keeping track at home, we've picked up about 10 games on the Brew Crew in a little less than 3 weeks.  To add insult to injury, we also got their manager fired with 2 weeks left in the season.  Oops.

I think the NL Postseason is going to be the Phils, Cubs, and Dodgers, and the Mets rounding out the field with the Wild Card.  That would set up a Phils v. Dodgers series and a Cubs v. Mets series.  To be honest with you, I like how we match up against every single one of those teams.  The Mets have absolutely no 'pen, and this fact will become increasingly more obvious in those high-pressure postseason situations.  The Dodgers lineup is decent, and they've played good baseball down the stretch.  However, they will finish only about 8-10 games over .500 in the pathetic NL West, which doesn't impress me in the least.  I think we can tear through their pitching just like we did a few weeks ago in a 4 game sweep.  That brings us to the Cubs.  They have been the best team in the NL pretty much wire to wire, and they don't have too many weaknesses.  However, we split a 4 game series with them in Wrigley about a month ago that should have been a Phillies sweep.  Earlier in the season, we beat them 2-1 in a series that we also should have swept.  For whatever reason, we play the Cubs well, and I think we'd have a good time with them in the NLCS.  I'm not saying the Phillies will make the World Series (erection) but I am saying they have a very good shot with the way the matchups are turning out.

The Phillies biggest threat this postseason will be their bullpen.  You know you're going to get quality from at least the top 3 starters, and the hot bats should continue right into the postseason.  However, the pen has been suspect for the past 2 months, and we still have some problems in the 8th inning.  Chad Durbin has been terrible recently, JC Romero seems to have lost some of his luster, and you never know what you're going to get from Ryan Madson.  Also, while Lidge has still not blown a save this season (41 for 41 now), he has been shaky most times out, and seems to be due to blow a save.  Let's hope the first one doesn't come in the playoffs, or ever this season for that matter.  The key to this team's success is the pen, and if they can hold the leads, we're going to go far in the postseason.

I'm getting really excited for the playoffs, and I'm already figuring out ways to get off work if I happen to get tickets in the raffle this week.  It'll be sweet to be in town to feel the buzz this year, and I'm going to be there to see them off to the playoffs on Sunday.  Let's hope this year goes better than last year.  At least none of the 3 other teams will be going into the playoffs hot, and we actually will be the hottest team in the NL Playoffs this year.  Go Phils, let's finish out the last 6 games strong and carry that momentum into the playoffs!

Song of the Day:  Boyz II Men - Motownphilly

A Fantastic Pittsburgh Weekend

What a weekend.  I had an absolute blast, and I still can't believe it had been over a month since I had seen everyone.  Unfortunately, 2 days didn't seem like long enough, but it's a reality I'm going to have to live with.  For at least the immediate future, it doesn't seem like any of my trips to the 'Burgh will be longer than 48 hours.  Such is the life of a working man.

I got in on Friday night around 10:30 (Kudos to Southwest for another hassle-free travel experience.  I will never fly another airline if I don't have to.)  Mikey and Brant were nice enough to pick me up from the airport, and they also grabbed a few cases of beer so we could have people over to my old place.  Just about everyone who I was good friends with showed up, and while nothing ridiculous happened, it was great to see everyone again.

On Saturday, I had a nice return visit to Piper's to see Arsenal beat Bolton 3-1.  I really need to find a bar like that in Philly, and also some people who are into soccer to go with me.  I spent the rest of the day moving around Oakland to see whoever was around.  After a nice dinner with the Royal Fam, I headed back to pre-game for Amy's birthday celebration.  Around 9, Joey D, Scotty, Yan, Brant, Chris, and I all got together to watch shitty rap videos and throw back some Soco and Sprites.  The hour we spent pre-gaming was by far the most refreshing part of my trip, as I got to spend some quality time with my boys just shooting the shit and getting drunk.  We then made our way down to Buckhead's for Amy's birthday.  Just like Friday, nothing really crazy happened, but it was a solid, extremely fun night hanging out with all my friends.  We left around 1 and hit up everyone's favorite dive bar, Gene's, for a late night beer.  I got back to 403 Oakland at around 2:30 and spent the remainder of the night at Carlin's dancing and singing (maybe screaming) college songs until close to 4AM.

Sunday was another fun day, filled with a brunch, tailgate, and the Eagles game.  It was great being in Pittsburgh for the Eagles v. Steelers game, and it was nice to get a little revenge for the slaughter I witnessed 4 years ago at Heinz Field.  My only regret is that I had to watch the 4th quarter of the game at the airport, and wasn't able to talk shit to all those loyal Steelers fans.  O well, I'll talk it here.  15-6, no Westbrook, and a banged up McNabb.  Who's the better team?  That's what I thought.  The Eagles defense turned Big Ben into their own personal punching bag, and I enjoyed every minute of it.  It will be a while before he forgets his first game in Philly.  I am pumped for this Eagles team, and I think they're going to do big things this year if they can stay healthy.  This is the best defense I've seen from an Andy Reid coached team, and they look fantastic.  O yeah, I did get a bunch of dirty looks when the Birds sacked Leftwich for the sack that sealed the game.

Now I'm back on the plane headed for the last 3 days of training in Orlando.  I'm not sure when the next Pittsburgh trip will be, but if everything goes as planned, I should see a bunch of people at LEAD in the middle of October.  After that, I'm definitely planning on getting back to the 'Burgh at least once this semester.  Here's to hoping I'm able to accomplish that.

For all of you Pittsburgh people reading this, and you know who you are, I love all of you.  I had the most amazing time this weekend, and I'm so glad you all came out to get together with me.  You guys mean the world to me, and are the reason I keep having thoughts about moving back to the 'Burgh creep through my head every now and then.  Being back in Philly certainly has its advantages, but it would be extremely difficult for me to have weekends like the one I just had back home.  It's going to be very interesting to see where I wind up in a few years.  With that said,  I will absolutely try my best to come and visit as much as possible, and don't forget that if any of you ever want to take a trip to Philly, you always have a place to stay.  Thanks again for the amazing weekend.

- Kaps

Song of the Day:  LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends

Trip Recap: Colorado

I’m sitting on a bus right now that’s taking me to Denver International Airport.  It’s supposed to take about 90 minutes to get there and I left my books under the bus, so I’ll share a little recap of the trip with anyone who is interested.

Since I last wrote, things have certainly slowed down a bit, but I certainly had just as much fun the last 3 days of the trip.  I forgot this when I wrote about the hike, but we actually had an interesting car ride home from Mt. Bierstadt.  After stopping off at this little place called BeauJo’s for a mountain pizza (nothing special, don’t worry New York and Chicago) we visited Red Rocks Amphitheatre.  For those of you who don’t know, Red Rocks is a really sweet concert venue similar to a Post-Gazette Pavilion or Tweeter Center, located outside of Denver.  It’s completely made out of these huge Red Rocks, and seems like an amazing place to see a concert because of the scenery.  On the way to the Red Rocks parking lot, Gary and I saw a bunch of hippies and a bunch of old people.  I was wondering who could be playing that would attract such a crowd, and I quickly got my answer when we asked a security guard.  Allman Brothers.  Definitely explained the crowd.

After Red Rocks, Gary showed me Golden, Colorado, where Coors Brewing Co. located its headquarters.  It looks like a Wild West town, and is apparently very conservative.  Gary told me they give out free beer on the tour (Coors and Coors Light), so I quickly made sure we wouldn’t go on the tour.  After Golden, we headed for home.  Of course, we couldn’t escape incident there either.  We were driving along chatting about who knows what, when a pickup truck carrying a trailer fishtailed on the opposite side of the road and crashed right into a fence off his side of the road.  If it crossed over to our side of the road, I probably wouldn’t be typing right now.  Instead, we got pelted by a little bit of payload, and I was able to dial 9-1-1 for the first time in my life.  I don’t think anyone was hurt, but there was definitely going to be a nice cleanup job for some unlucky folks. 

When I got back to the house, I took a very long shower, and then watched the Phils win a great game in Chicago.  A few hours later, my cousins and I went to a restaurant called “Southern Sun.”  Gary described it very simply, “Good food, better beer.”  I’m pleased to report that he was spot on in his description.  I ordered some type of India Pale Ale on Nitro.  Basically, that means that the beer is infused with nitrogen, similar to Guinness, which gives it a creamy feel.  The beer was amazing, and at the reasonable price of $3.75 per, I ordered a few throughout the meal.  While at the restaurant, I ran into an Arsenal supporter who was wearing the kit from last season.  We talked for a few minutes about the team, and shared a “cheers” for the win earlier in the day.  Chris would have been so proud.  I must say that the people here are extremely friendly.  Bonus:  throughout the entire course of the meal (about 90 minutes) nothing but Beatles was played at the restaurant.  Sweet!

On Sunday, my cousins took me over to the Colorado University campus.  The architecture is really nice, and almost all of the buildings are structured the same, which gives the campus a really neat feel.  I made them take me to the business school during the trip, and I must say it blows Pitt’s College of Business Administration out of the water.  In fairness to Pitt, CU’s business school was remodeled just last year and the undergraduate and graduate schools are located in the same building.  However, it was nice to see a school that had more than 4 classrooms available for its undergraduate business students.  Also, no hobbit, I mean Kate McConnell sightings, I wonder if she got another job somewhere else.  The world may never know.

With that out of the way, I come to the most fantastic part of the CU experience, the women.  Maybe it’s because I attended a school like Pitt where most of the girls lack a certain attractive quality (no offense to my Pitt ladies, but it’s true, and I used the word most), but the girls here are phenomenal.  We were on campus a few hours before the Colorado v. Colorado St. football game, so the scantily clad women dressed in yellow and black were swarming all over campus.  Even my cousin, Deb, commented multiple times on the quality of the women on campus.  Not like it matters much, but most of the guys here seem to be hippie potheads or jocks.  When you have the quality of girls that CU has, I guess you can overlook that.

On Monday, I got to visit Coors Field, which is active stadium #10 for those of you who care (Raj, Neel, and Joey D).  Coors Field is located in the middle of LoDo (Lower Downtown) and there are a ton of great restaurants and other shops right around the stadium.  The entrance to the stadium looks similar to Camden Yards, and I later found out that the same architectural company built Camden Yards and Coors Field.  On the inside, Coors Field is a really nice, quality ballpark.  Its inside shares fewer similarities to Camden Yards than the outside, but you can certainly see where the two resemble each other.  The beer was relatively inexpensive compared to most of the other ballparks I’ve visited (about $6 or $6.50 per), and the ticket prices aren’t too bad either.  The concourse lacks variety in food choices and souvenir shops, but the clubhouse store was a decent size.  However, I could not find one shotglass in the entire ballpark that said “Coors Field” on it.  Coors Field has now joined Shea Stadium, Great American Ballpark, and Rogers Centre in holding that dubious distinction.  The game was a lot of fun, as the Rockies beat the Giants 4-0.  The Rockies only managed 4 hits the entire game, but they made them count, unlike a certain team from Philadelphia that I support.  We had awesome seats, (1^st base line, 16^th row, just beyond the home dugout) and a few foul balls came close to our reach.

Other than that, nothing else too exciting happened out here.  I had an absolutely amazing time, and I can’t wait to return some time soon.  It’s an outside chance, but I could actually see myself living here at some point.  The Denver area has a reasonable cost of living, the city is extremely clean and well maintained, and the scenery is absolutely majestic.  Most importantly, I could move here by myself, and not take forever to get adjusted because my cousins live out here and could certainly give me some tips on how to enjoy the area.  Who knows what will happen in the future?  All I can say right now is that I certainly wouldn’t close the door on this possibility, and I’ll definitely be keeping an open mind when it comes to future places that I visit.

With that I’ll sign off.  I have 5+ days until I leave for training on Monday, so expect some pretty deep posts over the next couple days.  Probably some stuff about the future, what I want to do with my life, things I’ve learned, and also some cool stuff about my greatest fears and weaknesses.  Stay tuned, I promise to try and make it interesting.

Song of the Day:  The Beatles – Helter Skelter