Peace, Luv & Baseball

I suppose I should write about the Sox; and how I feel about the amazing amount of suck that is coming from the general direction that is Boston, Massachusetts.

Here’s how I feel: Who the hell cares??

They are 0-6, with 156 more games to go. Any Sox fan that is whining needs to put their big girl panties back on and shut up. No team is perfect every game of the year, and any fan that expects that from a player isn’t being honest with themselves or fair to the men that play. Baseball is a sport where you can’t look in at a weeks worth of games, or even a months worth of games to understand a player, or the team for that matter. Baseball is not a snapshot game. Baseball is a bigger picture sport. You need to look at the entire season for the team (and then the next, and the next, etc), and the entire career for the player. You would think that Red Sox Nation would be more than well trained in the arena of waiting. It took us 86 years to win the World Series after the “slump-of-all-slumps”, but we can’t wait more than 6 games to see our team succeed?! Calm down. Legends aren’t made in 6 games. They are aren’t destroyed either.

Posted in Sox Rant
Tags: red sox, red sox nation, regular season, slump, waiting

Just like last year Victoria’ Secret is offering a Major League Basbeall limited edition line, through their Pink line. However, last year, when I looked, it was never online; and Arizona stores weren’t selling any other team but the Diamondbacks, go figure. I plan to give VS some of my money in exchange for Boston and San Diego clothing. Not all teams are represented, but they are offering 23 teams. Teams that can be represented cutely (while looking like a walking ad For VS, instead of a walking ad for Alyssa Milano) are:

• Arizona Diamondbacks
• Baltimore Orioles
• Boston Red Sox
• Chicago Cubs
• Chicago White Sox
• Cleveland Indians
• Colorado Rockies
• Detroit Tigers
• Anaheim (LA) Angels
• Los Angeles Dodgers
• Milwaukee Brewers
• Minnesota Twins
• New York Mets
• New York Yankees
• Oakland Athletics
• Philadelphia Phillies
• San Diego Padres
• San Francisco Giants
• Seattle Mariners
• St. Louis Cardinals
• Tampa Rays
• Texas Rangers
• Washington Nationals

Mostly, it all looks the same, minus the team logo, and colors; but it’s another option for girl-wear when it comes to baseball. They have pants, shirts, hats, and of course panties. No bras. However, I once saw, online, a bra that looked like two baseballs. No clue where.

They even have a link to check out which team is most liked. If you know anything about baseball, I would hope you don’t have to actually click that link to see. Here’s a clue: The biggest rivalry in sports.

My last word on the matter is this: the clothes are cute, if not a bit monotonous. They give a girlier edge to baseball clothing, with shiny logos, and blinged out hats. I plan to buy some stuff, but I’m not going too crazy. Hopefully.

By the way…. If anyone has the sudden urge to buy me clothes, for any team, I won’t say no. I do like baseball.

You can check out the entire line here.

Posted in General Baseball
Tags: clothes, mlb, pink, victoria's secret

Oeltjen on deck.

Trent joined the Tucson Sidewinders in 2008, and instantly became one of my favorite players.

(Side note: Now, I have to admit something mildly embarrassing: I have this little habit of giving my favorite players nicknames and/or pet names.  They aren’t anything super clever, but once a name pops into my head for one of my players, it sticks. Oeltjen’s name: Trentson. In fact, I have video of him playing as a Sidewinder and me cheering for “Trentson”. Not Trent, not Oeltjen; but Trentson.)

After the Sidewinders left Tucson in 2008 (sadface) Trent continued to play for the Diamondback’s AAA team the new Reno Aces. He was called up a couple of times, however 2009 would be his last year playing for the Diamondback organization. Also during the 2009 season he participated in the World Baseball Classic; Trent went 6 for 12 with his team: Australia. Yes ladies, Oeltjen is an Aussie. I read once upon a time that he was from Australia, but often with athletes the information is wrong, or maybe that’s just where they were born; so I thought this was the case for Trent as well. Until I saw an interview on YouTube. Boy is Aussie!

The end of 2009 saw Oeltjen sign with the Brewers, although, he didn’t stay long; he was released in July of 2010, and then signed with the Dodgers. Trent played with the Albuquerque Isotopes, the Dodgers AAA affiliate, hitting over .340. When called up Trent played 14 games and had a .217 average. He was non-tendered and became a free agent, but was then resigned by the Los Angeles Dodgers to a minor league contract.  During the 2010 offseason Oeltjen was part of the 35-man roster for the Sydney Blue Sox, which is part of the Australian Baseball League.

So where is he now?

Oeltjen up to bat.

I saw him playing OF for the Los Angeles Dodgers just yesterday, Sunday, during a Spring Training game against the Chicago White Sox. He drew a walk and stole a base! He is listed

on the Albuquerque Isotopes roster, and while I would love to see him playing in the Majors, I can’t help but want to see him play when the Isotopes come to Tucson! The Isotopes will be here in town, playing the Tucson Padres May 14-17; perfect birthday present for my mom right?! I will try my best to keep my blog updated and you informed of how Oeltjen is doing. If you want to see some pictures of Oeltjen, at Spring training, click here.

Posted in General Baseball, Sidewinders, Spring Training
Tags: Dodgers, isotopes, sidewinders, spring training, trent oeltjen

I realize I went a little nuts with pictures of Oeltjen and Kapler, however they are two of my favorite players. The ladies probably don’t mind either.

ST: White Sox v Dodgers - Gallery (click me)

Posted in General Baseball, Spring Training
Tags: baseball, Dodgers, gabe kapler, spring training, trent oeltjen, white sox

ST: Padres v Giants - Gallery (click me)

Posted in General Baseball, Spring Training
Tags: gallery, giants, lincecum, march 2011, padres, peoria, photos, spring training

So, you may have noticed that the name, and URL to my blog have changed. What does this mean?? Not a whole lot.

I’m still a Sox fan, and still a Padres fan; however, I have found that I don’t exclusively blog/talk/watch just those two teams. I love baseball, the game. I love the players, because they play the game. Teams are just a business organization, and the list of reasons on why I love baseball doesn’t happen to include business organizations. Teams see players come and go, and I am unable to stop loving a player because he moves, I even love players that have never played for my teams. So I keep my eyes on the players I love, playing the game I love, for whichever team they happen to play with. However, I keep a very close eye on the teams I prefer: Red Sox and Padres. Why do I do this if I’m a player orientated baseball fan? Because my favorite player OF ALL TIME happened to play for both. He doesn’t play anymore, unless he happens to find his way to Ray Kinsella’s corn field; so my way of having him be a part of my life is to support and watch (and occasionally blog about) two of the teams he loved to play for.

That pretty much sums it up, but if you want the cliff notes version here it is:

I love baseball. It’s important to me. So why not rank it with other important things?!

Peace. Love. Baseball.

Posted in General Baseball, Players
Tags: baseball, padres, red sox, teams

So as all of my friends know, because I’ll tell anyone who’ll listen, we may be having MLB-affiliated baseball back in Tucson for a year or possibly two (knock on wood).

Scene:
The San Diego Padres are in the process of relocating their triple-A affiliate, the Portland Beavers, to Escondido, California; however, the park isn’t built yet. Enter Tucson (insert superhero theme song) a city close enough to San Diego to be considered “Padres territory”, and according to MLB.tv a blackout area (insert my grumpy face).

This is incredibly exciting for me, as I’ll have quality ballgames to go to again. However, I may be the only one that will be going. Tucson is renowned for not supporting any team that doesn’t have the Wildcats brand. The city as a generalized whole wants it offered, but they don’t want to have to pay for it, or go see the games, or blah blah blah. Tucsonans just don’t support baseball. Fact.

We’ve had:
The Tucson Toros (Astros minor league affiliate)
The Tucson Sidewinders (Diamondbacks minor league affiliate)
The Tucson Toros (independent league)

All of which have come and gone, due to a lack of income for the team, directly related to the fact that Tucsonans are douchey baseball fans, excluding me and my father.

I’m not too clear on the name, but it is hinted that while they are here they will be referred to as the Tucson Padres, and another interesting note is that it hasn’t actually been confirmed yet. All news articles still claim it’s just a strong possibility. In fact the Padres MLB site, when I was last there, doesn’t even have any triple-A team listed. Yet I found one news article that mentions a triple-A 4 game series the Tucson Padres will be playing in, against the Las Vegas 51′s (a Blue Jays affiliate). You can read that article here.

Another reason I am loving this relocation is for the simple fact that a few players from the Red Sox organization that were traded for Gonzalez (woot!) will now possibly be playing in Tucson. I’m hoping that they don’t keep Casey Kelly at AA, and bump him on up to AAA: I’ll attempt to keep everyone informed.

That’s all I know for now, and I plan to keep my eye on the news and rumors for more information!

Thanks for reading!
… Erin

Posted in General Baseball
Tags: AAA, baseball, casey kelly, san diego padres, triple-A, tucson padres

Posted in General Baseball, Sox Rant
Tags: arizona, baseball, chicago, cubs, diamondbacks, gluten free, padres, postseason, red sox, san diego, summer, tigers, Toros

Posted in General Baseball, Sox Rant
Tags: arizona, cardinals, chicago, cubs, diamondbacks, gluten free, padres, postseason, red sox, san diego, summer, tigers, Toros, tucson, white sox, yankees