Game 162

It's the final day of the 2012 Major League Baseball season and there are major storylines still on the table. 

1.  While both Baltimore and NY are guaranteed playoff spots, the division title is still up for grabs. My Yanks hold a one game lead in the AL East - here's hoping they keep it. Who do the Yankees play? None other than their perpetual foe, the Red Sox. 

2. The Rangers and A's face off for the AL West crown.

3. Future HOF'er Chipper Jones and longtime Brewer Ben Sheets have played their last game. 

4. Perhaps the greatest race up in the air - Miguel Cabrera might clinch a Triple Crown today, quite literally the first Triple Crown of my lifetime. 

He leads the AL in batting average at .331, well ahead of the Angel's rookie Mike Trout. He's the leader in home runs with 44, but prolific slugger Josh Hamilton is only one behind. He doesn't have to worry about the RBI title, since he's ahead in that category by 11. 

I hope he gets it :)


Two thoughts:

AL MVP - In my opinion, it has to be Cabrera. Trout is having a massive year, truly one for the record books, and he's doing it as a rookie.

There are SABRmeteric agreements that put Trout ahead of Miguel. And pound for pound Trout's arm, fielding, and baserunning might make him a better contributor than Cabrera.

But I don't see how you take a Triple Crown winner, on a team that slugged it out all year and took their division, and pass him over for an award you then hand to a rookie on a team that won't be playing again in 2012.

No matter which one wins, they'll be deserving of the honor. But if I had a choice? Trout is ROY, Cabrera is MVP. 

Secondly, I don't care one way or the other for any of the teams competing for the NL pennant, so long as the Cardinals are sent packing. 

In the AL, naturally I'm rooting for the Yankees. If they falter, my heart is with the Tigers, a gritty, blue-collar Midwest team that features a great manager, the before-mentioned Cabrera, and former Brewer Prince Fielder. 

If the Yanks don't grab ring # 28, I hope the Tigers take the Series. 

Oh, one last thing - I really have no love lost for the 2012 Orioles, an overachieving little Bad News Bears team that's annoyed my Yankees and annoyed me. Like the Cardinals, I hope they go kaput in the playoffs as soon as they begin. 

Cutie Pie

Fall is Here!

above: LuLu 'scares' me by jumping out of a pile of leaves on our lawn

Stuffed Green Peppers

I made stuffed green peppers for dinner, the first time I've ever prepared it myself. They turned out very well - I seriously, objectively think they were some of the tastiest I've ever had. The kids (minus Junie) liked 'em too, and Smiley praised my cooking. Yay me.

Lorenzers

Lovely Molly

Last night we Netflix'ed "Lovely Molly", a horror film composed largely of "found footage". Molly is a newlywed who moves into her deceased parents home and slowly unravels, slipping either into insanity or demonic possession. I vote for the insanity route myself, so I didn't agree with Lisa's assessment that the narrative was left unresolved in the end. She has a valid point, but I liked the ambiguity. I'm going to go against the majority here and give this a good rating, because dangit I *did* enjoy it (how much of that you can chalk up to Gretchen Lodge's incredible performance is incalculable). Grade: A-

Well Done, Brewers

Congratulations to the Brewers on notching a second consecutive winning season - an impressive accomplishment, given that they were 12 games under .500 with only 42 games left on the schedule. IIRC they had a similar surge to finish off a Trebelhorn year, back in '87 or '89. In other baseball news, my Yanks are back alone in first with two to play, congrats to the Tigers and Prince on clinching the Central, and to the Nationals for their first ever division title. Well done all.

Happy Fall!

The New Daughter

Just finished watching "The New Daughter", a horror film starring Kevin Costner. Costner moves his family to an idyll country home, only to discover the earth mound on the property is an ancient burial mound populated by deities who seek to restore their power by corrupting his daughter. I liked the movie. No big surprises, but it was more than substantial enough to than keep my attention and I liked Costner's acting; he physically portrayed the father as a jittery, somewhat fear driven guy. Grade: B+

YaYa Opens Her Nook E-Reader

Sure, I did a Christmas morning post, and loaded it with pictures. As I said in that write-up, however, YaYa's reaction to her Nook was worth a post all its own.

She'd been asking for a Nook, the electronic e-reader, for over a year. I had no doubt she'd use it, since she's a voracious reader, but I just couldn't afford it. Around November an opportunity arose for me to get one for her, and I didn't hestitate to fork over the cash.

She saw her Nook before it was wrapped, but Lisa (after scolding her for snooping) brushed it off by saying it was a gift for me. We made this all the more credible a statement by having me open my Nook first. She was happy for me, but you could tell she was jealous.

And then we gave her the package.

I don't think she knew what it was. Not a clue. And then she came unglued.

She started crying. She tried covering her face, but the emotions were too strong, and she lay there on the floor short of breath and weeping.

I thought she was doing this for show, but it quickly became clear that wasn't the reason. No. We had simply SCORED THE BEST GIFT EVER for the kid. :)

She calmed down and opened the Nook cover we bought her, but began to cry again. Ginger, who at the time wasn't very close to her (they grew closer here in 2012) went and put her arms around her to support her.

What a great moment. What a great reaction. What a "remember this forever" Christmas memory :)