i am way too proud of this

That is my fantasy baseball draft list of best possible players (bats on the left, arms on the right). Of the 312 total players drafted Sunday night (there were 26 positions to fill for each of 12 teams), I managed to draft all but *one* from my 180 best players list, which was based on league specifications, last year's stats, and plenty of Baseball Prospectus input. Yay, stats!

the end is a new beginning

The nation spent last week focused on changing the direction of American politics. What a historic and exhilarating election day -- definitely the best day of my voting life. It's the end of a Washington era I'm glad to see come to a close.

Alachua County voters also approved a levy that will fund many of the education programs cut or facing the chopping block in our public schools. I spent many hours helping to spread the word, and the 65 percent approval knocked my socks off. While it's not the end of education's money troubles in the state of Florida, it certainly helps ease many concerns about where we'll find money for next year.

The week before that the Rays competed in a bizarre but ultimately disappointing World Series. I was given the chance to go to my first World Series game (and the only series game the Rays won) on Thursday, Oct. 23. When the season began I never thought it would end in such an exciting way -- from worst to first in the AL East! Even though the season didn't end the way I wanted it to, it definitely ushered in a new beginning for the Rays in Tampa Bay.

And the day the Rays lost the pennant coincided with the biggest day in my personal life in some time. Tim moved from his home in Clearwater to Gainesville. To my house, now our house. It's the end of two separate lives and the beginning of lives truly shared. I spent several weeks vacillating between excitement and dread, but it turns out I had nothing to fear. We have come together almost seamlessly -- I am amazed at my ability to adapt to change after living alone for so many years. We look at each other all the time with those silly, giddy grins that come from happy hearts. The decision was definitely right for us.

Change seems to be the theme of the moment. And I am excited -- for my country, my job, my favorite baseball team, and my relationship. New beginnings used to make me nervous. Now, all I have is hope for the future.

birthday blur

Tim's 30th birthday was last week. We planned on catching a couple of Rays/Red Sox series games to celebrate. Instead, while at a game during the Yankees series the week before, Tim won tickets to the last game of the season. And not just any tickets, mind you. Tickets for the exclusive Whitney Bank Club, which include a brunch and lunch buffet throughout the game along with beer and wine. The above picture was taken by the waiter for our section (about 40 people), who was wonderful about keeping up with anything we wanted/needed (despite not being steady with a camera.) We even had the Bucs game on at the bar, which was nice since the Rays were still a bit sluggish and hung over from Saturday's post-season-clinching win. Sadly, the Rays lost both their opening and closing home games for the season. Let's hope their post-season record is better.

Also, five minutes after arriving at the Whitney Bank Club, I ran into a teacher from my school and her twin sister. How crazy is that?

There are lots of changes on the horizon for us in the next few weeks, so it was wonderful to spend the weekend visiting some of our favorite St. Pete haunts. I left feeling sad that I haven't sold my house yet. I love it down there.

P.S. You can't tell from the blurry pic and the hat, but Tim finally got the hair cut he's been talking about for months. It's super short (maybe 1/2 inch?) and completely adorable. He, of course, hates it.

sweep!

We went to two of the Rays/Sox series games for my birthday. Let me tell you, major league baseball with first-place implications is not for the faint of heart. It certainly rivaled any UT or FSU game I've ever seen in Ben Hill Griffin in terms of excitement.

And when Rays fans drowned out Red Sox fans' cheers with "Let's Go Rays," well, that was the best part of the evening. I hope the fans keep turning out, even without sweeps.

performance vs. cost

I found this amazing graph today which analyzes MLB teams' performance relative to the money they spend on salaries. I love visual representations, and this graph charts day-to-day performance so you can see the rise and fall of teams throughout the season. The website also has data for the 2005, 2006, and 2007 seasons.

Both Florida teams are doing quite well this season according to this analysis, especially considering they are the bottom two teams in amount of money spent (to even put that into perspective, the Marlins have spent less than half the amount of money as the Rays and have the same record!) Secretly though, my favorite part is visual proof that the Yankees waste ridiculous amounts of money -- 10 times more than the Marlins -- and have one less win (and three more losses) to show for it! Tee hee.

it's the little things

I've been going to Gator baseball games for years, and the same person records Florida pitchers' strike outs at every game. It has always bothered me that this person does not differentiate between swung and called strikes. Well, today I noticed he/she has apparently learned the difference -- either that or the job has been passed to someone with more baseball knowledge or who is just as picky as I am. Either way, it made my day.

Florida took the series against SEC's top-ranked Georgia this afternoon after splitting the first two games. Bats were on fire both Saturday and Sunday, and everyone was in a good mood -- lots of silly antics by Albert, the announcers, and the left-field hecklers (props to Georgia left fielder Lyle Allen for playing along with the hecklers instead of ignoring them like most left fielders do.) The Georgia players' girlfriends/supporters also decided to make the trip down to Gainesville this weekend and set up a rival heckling squad next to the home hecklers in left field. They haven't had much to cheer about the last two days, but today they brought homemade posters. My favorite: the girl with the "Gators Wear Jean Shorts" sign (which lost points for not using the proper SEC heckling term "jorts.") Ironically, she was the only one of her compatriots clad in -- wait for it -- jean shorts! I apologize for not having my camera out for that one.

opening day

I went to see the Tampa Bay Rays home opener against the Seattle Mariners Tuesday. I'd never been to a MLB season opening game before, and it was quite an event. Tim scored amazing tickets only four rows up from the Mariners' dugout, which enabled us to take great pictures. There was a sell-out crowd of over 36,000 at Tropicana Field, arguably one of the strangest places to watch a baseball game. After months of UF baseball and spring training games outside, sitting inside the can-like stadium (although freshly painted in the Rays new light blue/dark blue color scheme) still doesn't feel baseball-y to me. A constant 72 degrees, I can imagine it's a great place to relax on a July or August afternoon, but in April I'm still craving warm sunshine and pretty sunsets. I'm really excited about their new waterfront stadium, which will hopefully break ground this time next year and combine good design, the outdoors, and -- most importantly in Florida -- shade.

Here are some highlights from the game:


The view from our seats. I can't say enough about how close we really were. You could see the expressions on the Seattle players' faces as they came into the dugout. Pretty cool.


The seats were so good that Tim snapped this pic of recent Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Dick Vitale (who graciously signed autographs before the game's start) without moving from our seats. Apparently Vitale is a Rays regular.


In the most exciting event of the game, the third-base umpire threw out Rays Manager Joe Maddon in the bottom of the seventh inning over the disputed out of B.J. Upton as he slid into third base (he was clearly safe from my view.) After Maddon was thrown out, Rays fans booed the umpire for upwards of an entire extra inning. I was surprised by their anger and tenacity, not to mention some of their colorful language.


While the Rays lost the game 6-5, I was still happy to see one of my fantasy baseball players pitch his first winning game of the season. Erik Bedard's been nursing a minor hip injury, so it was good to see that it didn't seem to bother him during the six innings he pitched.

There are a lot more pictures of the action here, if you are so inclined to view them. I really had a great time and look forward to enjoying a few more games at the Trop this season.

grapefruit league begins

One of the best things about taking this year off of teaching has been the ability to travel whenever I feel like it. This weekend I spent time in Tampa Bay, which I enjoy more and more as I get to know the area better. Coincidentally it was also the start of one of my favorite times of the year, MLB Spring Training. The Grapefruit League consists of 18 major league teams that set up camp in Florida during the month of March to practice, check out new prospects, and play pre-season games against other GL teams. Several teams are located in the Tampa Bay area.


Sunday afternoon we went to see the Cincinnati Reds play the Toronto Blue Jays at their park in Dunedin. We missed the first inning due to my accidentally taking both Tim's wallet and phone with me when he went to park the car, forcing him to walk 10 blocks to the stadium (whoops!) The Blue Jays won the game 8-4, but more importantly we got a chance to see former Gator player David Eckstein play an amazing inning at shortstop by putting three batters away one after the other. He's so small we thought he was a prospect!


The weather was a perfect 70 degrees with not a cloud in the sky and a decent breeze from the water. It was a great day for getting some sun and laughing at all the bright pink Canadians and Ohioans. One of the best parts of the day for me was happening upon this beautiful orchid tree on the walk back to the car. That's what mine might look like if I could ever get it to bloom!


My plan for this month is to visit many of the Grapefruit League parks I've never been to before. I'm also going to catch the Dodgers and Indians at their home parks since both teams will be moving to Arizona for Spring Training next year. Now I just need to get good enough with my needles to be able to knit and watch baseball at the same time.

total happiness continues

I caught the last two games in UF's opening series against New York's Siena College this weekend. I was happy to see last year's core line-up mostly intact. New coach Kevin O'Sullivan has made a few changes -- some good, some strange. My thoughts:

It took me a couple of at-bats, but I quickly realized O'Sullivan instituted walk-up music (music that's played just before a batter goes up to the plate) for his players. The first thought in my head was, "I wonder who will choose 'Crazy Train'?" the ubiquitous Ozzy song used by many major leaguers including the Braves' Chipper Jones. I was rewarded just a few at-bats later by my new favorite player Jonathan Pigott (you made me laugh out loud Jonathan -- thanks!) I thought Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" was an odd choice for Brandon McArthur's walk-up music (seeing as how the song is almost as old as he is) until I sat on the third base line today and watched him make the sign of the cross before stepping into the batter's box. That actually confused me further since that song is more about false idolatry, but I digress.


O'Sullivan kept Figueroa at shortstop. Last year he had a terrible hesitation problem before throwing the most common in-field play, shortstop to first (6-3 for you scoring fans.) That cost the Gators several valuable outs too regularly, especially in close SEC matches. I'm sure it's fixable in the long run, but there has got to be someone else who can cover that position until he figures it out. Figueroa is an amazing hitter who is partial to stealing bases. Find a spot he can shine somewhere else in the in-field.


O'Sullivan perked up Sunday's traditionally lackluster pitching lineup with promising freshman pitcher Tommy Toledo. He pitched five complete innings today with two earned runs and five strike outs -- impressive in his first outing in a Gator uniform. O'Sullivan also moved senior pitcher Josh Edmondson from closer to late-inning relief pitcher. It's a much better fit and certainly takes the stress off Edmondson, who gave up too many saves last year as his confidence deteriorated. I'm curious to see what O'Sullivan will do with his pitchers given the new five game weekly schedule the NCAA instituted this year along with the later start date.


Other observations:

• What's up with the new italicized F on the caps? I suppose I'll get used to it, but why?
  
• They got rid of my favorite silly promotion (the one where some random fan gets to choose between 5 frozen pizzas and a mystery prize hidden in a box -- always choose the box!) and replaced it with two lame ones: Albert's noise meter (a plywood box that Albert opens once fans scream loud enough, prompting the staff to start throwing free T-shirts) and Fan Juke Box (the announcers name three songs and whichever gets crowd approval is played during the next inning break.)
• The music selection has gone from old, comfortable mainstays to a more hard-edged sound. There's nothing wrong with adding a few new songs, but it's not quite family friendly anymore. Maybe I'm just grousing because I actually like baseball-themed music at the ballpark.

The start of Gator baseball is also the start of spring -- this weekend left no doubt. I soaked up the sun during the wonderfully comfortable temperatures in the mid-to-upper 70s, and despite the use of sunscreen I am a light shade of pink from head to toe. I better get a decent base tan (and stronger sunscreen!) before hitting Spring Training in a few weeks or I'll really be hurting!

total happiness, shown here in photo form

New season thoughts and observations coming up after opening series' completion tomorrow.

i can't believe i forgot

Yesterday's best valentine: First date injured players, pitchers and catchers may report to Spring Training. *swoon* Also picked this up at the grocery store yesterday. Happy Valentine's Day to me!