Excited for my first game of the 2010 season...

Bilfs

Ed. note: Well, the friend who told me Wilson would be pitching tomorrow just told me Wilson's actually pitching TONIGHT.  Dammit, dammit, dammit!!! 
  
Tomorrow I'll be going to my first baseball game of the season--Yankees vs. Rangers.  I may be one very unpopular girl at Yankee Stadium because I'll be cheering for the Rangers.  I'll be cheering for them for the following reasons:
 
1. Fantasy baseball.  I have Josh Hamilton on one of my fantasy teams, and I want to see him do well!  Let's go, BILFs!
 
2. The Rangers are not the Yankees.  While I don't mind the Yankees, I'm not usually going to jump at the chance to root for them.  They beat my Phillies in the World Series last year.  They beat my Twins last year in the ALDS.  And then last night they beat the Angels when I had Kazmir pitching for me on a fantasy team, and I get annoyed when something happens where my pitcher doesn't get me a win.  I know the Yankees are a good team, so I respect them, but again--that's not gonna make me be excited to root for them.  (Besides, everybody else is rooting for them.  My opinion?  Viva la underdog!)
 
3. The Rangers are cuter.  I can't believe I'm even saying this, because liberal me doesn't generally like anything that comes outta Texas, but they've got Hamilton, Kinsler, Harden, and Wilson.  That's a whole lotta gorgeous right there.  And I like to cheer for gorgeous.
 
Tomorrow's pitching matchup is Burnett vs. Wilson.  If I had to pick a favorite Yankee, Burnett would be it.  He seems kinda edgy and seems to bring a fun attitude to the clubhouse.  (Plus I like his tattoos.)  And Wilson...well, he's probably my favorite Ranger.  He's a Lostie just like I am (in fact, I even tweeted with him once about Lost...and yeah, I was appropriately giddy about it--still kinda am, in fact!), and I always love fellow Losties.  Also, I'm totally jealous that he got to hang out with Team Darlton.  He has a really cool (and very typically un-Texas) personality.  And?  He's gorgeous.  Like seriously, seriously gorgeous.
 
So tomorrow, if you're at the game and you hear somebody screaming "LET'S GO, RANGERS!" or "JOSH HAMILTON, DO IT FOR THE BILFS!!!", come say hi.  Just don't be surprised when I've got a hoarse voice from all that yelling.  ;)

 

MLB.com, you tease, luring me in with that headline...

Streak

I'll admit it: When I see "streaking Phillies" in a headline, their recent string of wins is not exactly the first thing I think of.
 
Fine, fine, so maybe MLB.com's definition is more appropriate when it comes to talking about being successful at baseball (and I'm totally proud of the Phillies for being seriously awesome lately).  But when I think about streaking Phillies, I'm envisioning something that looks even better than that fantastic 7-1 record they've got... 
 

 

 

 

On a Phillies/Twins high...

Home

The home openers for my two favorite teams (Phillies and Twins, just in case you're new around here) were both yesterday.  Since both these teams have an off day today, I'm having a little baseball withdrawal.  I mean, there are games I can watch tonight (after Lost, of course--once May 23 hits, baseball takes top priority yet again, though!), but...they're not with Phillies or Twins.  Or anyone attractive, really.  Actually, I might watch a bit of the Rays/Orioles game tonight--that's definitely the most attractive matchup out there (Longoria, Bartlett, Balfour, Markakis).  Not that it has much to compete with in terms of BILFiness...I mean, Mets/Rox?  Oh, PLEASE--I'm not watching that until Street's back from the DL.  Reds/Marlins?  No, thank you.

But I digress.  I'm thrilled my two favorite teams both won their home openers (Phillies--7-4 over the Nats; Twins beat the Sawx 5-2).  Not so pleased that Hamels was slightly sucktacular, and also not thrilled that Werth and Rollins are now injured.  Totally happy that the Phillies have a 6-1 record, tied for best record in the National League (tied with the Giants, believe it or not...who'da thunk it?).  Also thrilled with Jon Rauch, the Twins' closer (since Nathan's out for at least the entire season)--he's netted me 5 saves so far for each of my fantasy teams.  (On a related note?  Tattoos are sexy.  Moving on...)

In related but completely unsurprising news, I really need to get my ass to Target Field at some point.  I have no interest in the walleye-on-a-stick, but watching Mauer hit a home run while I snack on some good ol' midwestern cheese curds sounds like an absolutely grand time to me!  And speaking of Mauer, I watched his Homecoming episode on ESPN last night and absolutely loved it.  Mauer seems so sweet and charming!  I've also heard that he answers all his fan mail himself, so I'm going to have to come up with something clever to write to him.  (No, it won't be "Marry me, Mauer"--that's so overdone.)  Take a little peek at Mauer's Homecoming episode by clicking here.  If you aren't totally charmed by him...well, you're probably just not human!


Soooooo pretty!

Baker

That was the phrase I overused--way, way overused--last night while watching the Twins game last night.  While I wish they'd fared better on opening day (and I really wish Godzilla would quit following my two favorite teams around and raising hell--I haven't forgotten the damage he caused during last year's Series, and I didn't need a reminder of his talents last night), at least they looked cute in the process.  Not much of a consolation, since cute doesn't improve an 0-1 record, but still.  Better than nothing, I suppose.

Their new uniforms look pretty nice.  In the picture above, Scott Baker's sporting the new uniform.  He would be more adorable if he'd pitched better last night.  I spent a significant portion of time screaming at my TV--particularly at him.  (I then went on to dream about me bitching at Baker for doing such a sucktacular job.  Me?  Obsessed with baseball?  No, never!) 

In regard to pitching, for some reason I keep forgetting that some of the Twins' relievers are really, really appealing.  I've always thought Guerrier and Joe Nathan (whom I already miss dearly) were attractive, but I forgot how adorable Neshek is.  Crain's not ugly either, and I like Rauch's edgy look.  They're not all gorgeous (*cough* MIJARES *cough*), but overall, they've probably got the most attractive pitching staff in all of MLB (especially when you factor in some of their starters, like Blackburn, Slowey, and--grrrrr--Baker).

Hopefully Blackburn will fare better on the mound tonight than Baker did last night.  In my next post, I'd really like to talk more about how the Twins played really well as opposed to how they looked really pretty while they lost...  ;)


Baseball's finally back!

Scoot

The birds are singing, the sun is shining, and--most importantly--BASEBALL IS BACK.  Just knowing that tonight I'm gonna go home and watch Twins/Angels makes me deliriously happy.  (Wish I could watch Phillies/Nats, but unfortunately, I'm working, and they'd probably get ticked if I started watching the game at work.  And they'd know about it because, well, I scream when I watch games.  And squeal.  A lot.)

I was pretty agnostic regarding who I wanted to win last night's Opening Day game, Red Sox vs. Yankees.  On one fantasy team, I have Sabathia and Scutaro (cutie!), so my ideal fantasy situation was to have Sabathia get the win and some Ks but for Scutaro to get a couple hits off him.  It didn't quite go as planned--Sabathia was less good than I'd thought he'd be, although thankfully he got a no-decision (I'd have been really ticked if he'd gotten a loss in his first game).  Scutaro ws better than I thought he'd be--he was 2 for 3 with one RBI, a run scored, and a walk.  Not too shabby at all (plus he's fun to watch because he's cute, and also because Scutaro at bat meant Ellsbury would be up next, and while Ellsbury wasn't so great last night, he at least looked good...despite also looking frustrated).

Even though I didn't really care about the outcome of last night's game, I sat there on my couch grinning like a Cheshire cat as I watched the game.  It didn't matter who was playing--baseball's finally back, and I couldn't be happier!  I'll watch any team, any game, anytime...I can always find someone to cheer for, drool over, or scream at!  Just knowing that there's an entire season's worth of this sort of awesomeness coming my way makes me feel like the happiest girl in the world!


DING-DONG...

Werth

...THE WICKED BEARD IS DEAD!!!!!

Oh, thank goodness Jayson Werth is back to looking hot again.  He apparently finally regained his common sense and shaved that bad boy off earlier this week.  Now I can look at right field without wincing.  Huzzah!

And in other Phillies news, I heart this Deadspin article!  The future's so bright, we've gotta wear shades...like a certain Mr. Werth always does!  ;)


Jinx? I sure hope not...

Doc

Oh, Doc, you look so handsome on the cover of the latest Sports Illustrated!  But in light of the Sports Illustrated curse that may or may not be real, couldn't you have suggested that they put Johan Santana on the cover instead, or maybe the entire Braves starting rotation?  Look, we've already got Blanton on the DL for 3-6 weeks and Lidge out for who knows how long (although this might not be a bad thing)...our pitchers are already cursed enough.  Here's hoping we haven't just added fuel to the cursed fire with that mighty fine SI cover...

A good news/bad news day for the Twins...

Joe

Yesterday was a good news/bad news day for the Twins.  On the bad news side, closer Joe Nathan's going to be having Tommy John surgery, which means we won't see him pitch at all during the 2010 season.  (I'm also disappointed for personal/selfish reasons--this will be the irst year I haven't had Joe Nathan as my closer on one or more fantasy teams.  Great, now I've actually gotta research who the good, non-injured closers are...)

But the good news outweighs the bad.  Joe Mauer has signed an 8-year extension with the Twins!   Minnesota born and bred Mauer is the heart of the Twins, and it's great to know he's gonna be a Twin until at least the end of the 2018 season.  This is the largest deal in Twins history, and I think it's a good one.  Mauer's certainly earned the money--over the past 6 seasons with the Twins, his batting average has been .327, he's won a bunch of batting titles, and he's coming off a season where he batted a rather amazing .365.  I already can't wait to see what he accomplishes in the 2010 season!  (And hopefully I'll be able to snag him for one of my fantasy baseball teams of BILFs...)