For reasons I don’t entirely comprehend, my wife actually reads this site on a regular basis, so in the interest of self-preservation and because she just all-around kicks ass (guyspeak for "I wuv u"): Happy Birthday, babe!

Okay, baseball. So we made it out to the Aztec alumni game Friday night. Didn’t get there till the third inning, but there was no score so no big deal. I didn’t recognize too many of the guys on the alumni squad: Brandon Rogers and Jim Rushford were probably the biggest names out on the field. Rogers, a catcher by trade, played an inning or two at third and was talking it up big time.

Actually, everyone was talking. The whole affair felt more like a beer-league softball game than a college baseball game. The scoreboard wasn’t working, guys in the dugout were yelling at guys on the field and laughing. A whole group of college kids who knew one of the Aztec reserves sat next to us. Every inning he’d trot out toward the bullpen area to warm up the left fielder and these kids would go nuts. (It was even worse when he got into the game.)

Note the blank scoreboard at upper left.

The game was sloppy and at times a little goofy. But it was baseball. Finally around the eighth inning, with the game well in hand (current Aztecs up, 6-1), hunger set in and we went to L & L for killer Hawaiian barbecue.

I don’t know how the game ended, and I don’t particularly care. I just know that baseball is back and life is good again.

And on the Other Side of Town…

USD also played its first game, Sunday afternoon against CETYS [site is in Spanish]. As you can see, it was a beautiful day for a ballgame:

As you can also see, it was not a beautiful ballgame:

If you can’t make that out, it’s 15-1 with two out in the bottom of the fifth. The visiting team has three hits and five errors. Time to leave.

Other News

I don’t get to visit other baseball blogs nearly as often as I’d like these days, but at least once a month I try to check in on everyone in my list of Hot Links there on the right just to make sure they’re still around and publishing interesting stuff. I did that the other day and stumbled across some gems, which I now pass along to you:

• Travis over at Boy of Summer weighs in on the Jay Payton signing.
• At Primer, folks discuss the accuracy of various player projection systems (inspired by an article at Baseball Prospectus).
• Padre board poster batpig takes a good look at the Friars’ financial situation for 2005 and 2006.
• Padres snare Ordonez to be option at short (NC Times). Not a blog but news nonetheless. Rey Ordonez will compete with Khalil Greene for the starting job. I actually don’t hate this move as much as I think I should.
• BASEBALL: The Best Players In Baseball 2004 (Baseball Crank). The list is based on win shares and established performance levels. Brian Giles tied with Bobby Abreu for #11 on the list.
• Top 100 prospects: No’s 91-100 (Fox). Stumbled onto Dayn Perry’s list by way of No Pepper. No Pads represented, but Dayn does good work. Local product Graham Koonce (Julian HS) checks in at #97.

General Silliness

• Mom leads CHP on chase to son’s school (U-T). Just one of the many things that makes me proud to be a San Diegan (thanks to the wife for this contribution).
• Mike Snider’s Formal Blog and Sonnetarium (via the Score Bard). I write poetry every now and then (mostly then). I’ve even somewhat successfully negotiated a sonnet or two. This is damned impressive.