Thinking of Joey Votto

Joey Votto is the offensive firepower of the Cincinnati Reds. He's only 25 years old and he's having an exceptional season ... maybe one of the best in the league. He's hitting .357 and has an unbelieveable OPS of 1.091. Everything you read about the guy is that he is a gamer ... the first to arrive for a game ... takes the most infield practice ... works hard to get better everyday.

OK ... quick question ... what does he have in common w/ Dolberry?

(Yep, we share the same birthday ... September 10th.)

May has been a tough month for Votto. Not hitting, but health-wise. He's had to come out of the game three times this past month because of dizziness.

The first time he was diagnosed w/ the flu. When he'd ostensibly recovered from the flu, it happened again and nobody knew what was wrong. The team doctor checked him into a clinic in San Diego and put him through a battery of tests. Eventually, they concluded he had an inner ear infection and cleared him to play. In his first game back, he mashed two homers, but then was in and out of the lineup over the rest of the week. Finally, on Friday he came out of another game in the 2nd inning.

After the game, the Reds put him on the 15-day DL w/ stress-related issues and noted that Votto asked for privacy as he worked through returning to help. Here was a quote from Votto last week:

"After all the tests I went through, it's been pretty scary the past few days,"

I really have no way of knowing, but I think Dolberry and Joey Votto have one more thing in common ... not sure what the medical term would be ... or if there's even a real medical condition like this ... but I think we both came down w/ EAFA (early-adult finiteness awareness). Simply put, it's when you go through the first 20 years of your life pretty much w/o any significant hardship and then one day ... all of a sudden ... you don't feel very good and you realize that one unknown day in the near or far future ... you are going to die.

It was the day of the OKC bombing that I had to go home from work early and see a doctor. I had been feeling progressively worse over the previous month ... basically having no energy. The tests showed high counts of mycoplasma and a case of pneumonia. I got antibiotics and you'd figure that was that. But it wasn't. I didn't really feel any better over the next two weeks, eventually getting to the point where I couldn't walk around our appartment building complex w/o becoming exhausted (& this was when I was in shape). Over time, my fingers and toes started to go numb from time to time. The doctors did more tests (EKG type stuff), but didn't really see anything wrong. I went to the ER one night w/ absolutely nothing wrong w/ me ... aside from a certainty that I was dying of something. One doctor prescribed some Xanax to reduce my anxiety and while that helped temporarily ... I started really getting worried about getting addicted to them ... think I had 1-2 refills. Many a time during that stretch I felt like I couldn't go out of the house w/o a Xanax. In the end, I never took the last 5-6 pills I had ... very strange ... but I couldn't bring myself to throw them out in case I ever needed them again. I finally pitched them one day down here a few years ago ... figuring they were probably expired anyway. The whole episode probably lasted 3-4 months before I broke out from the spiral down.

Four things helped me get out of the undertow:

1) tbKMD (& my family) were unfailingly w/ me every step which had to be hard, because I went from carefree Dolberry to neurotic Dolberry pretty much w/o any warning.

2) I eventually got routed to a great doctor in Naperville who just let me talk one time for about 45 minutes. Not a psych doc, but an internal medicine guy. He somehow made me feel better about myself in one appointment ... saying 'hey, stuff like this happens'.

3) Mary B (tbKMD's mom) gave me a prayer card that said "Lord, help me remember that nothing will happen today that You and I can't get through together." While I did throw the Xanax out eventually, I've kept that card on my desk ever since.

4) Softball. Eventually, when the weather in Chicago got nice (you know that one week every year), I remember thinking finally, I don't care if I am dying, I'm going to play some ball today.

So, I don't know if this is what's bothering Joey Votto or not. Either way, I just hope that people come alongside of him that care for him, let him talk it out w/o pressure, remind him that his life is part of something way bigger, and let him get back on the field doing what he loves. Hang in there Joey.

Just a Shadow

Good day today.

After interminable rainouts and conflicts ... got out on the ballfield tonight and went 3-3 w/ three doubles. (Their LF plays me too deep.) Also, threw a guy out at 2nd from LCF. We were down 7 zip early but rallied to win 15-12. Last game of the Apex season is tomorrow and the tournament starts Friday ... hopefully at 9pm. We're probably looking at the #3 seed.

We had our church car wash today and it wasn't a disaster. We only washed about 15-20 cars in three hours, but it was a lot of work. Last night, we had about 50-60 people in for our "Trinity Rocks" event. That was kind of a leap of faith ... not knowing two of the three bands ... but everyone was supernice and aside from the mild hearing impairment for three hours of 105 dB, there was no major damage to personnel or property. The last in the trilogy of church events of which Dolberry is at least partially responsible is next Friday (hopefully done by 8:30p ... see above) when we're having a chicken BBQ dinner to support a cool charity. Hoping to sell 200-250 dinners, but that may be wildly optimistic. After that ... a break. Looking forward to a workbreak at the end of June at the beach w/ the D'berries and Lalliberries.

APD is done w/ school. He went to a 5 hour end of school party yesterday at a classmates house. Crazy social skillz. Tonight we watched probably half of Monty Python and the Holy Grail via YouTube clips and were both laughing until we had to catch our breath. Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretty nasti.

Going back to basics for my lyrical encouragment these days. Nobody does it better than the kilt-wearing men who invented the seagull.

It went so well for you
With a place right where you wanted and the ones to fill it to
But some blows break the spell
That it hits you every day until you need to hit as well

It's just a shadow of the man you should be
Like a garden in the forest that the world will never see
You have no thought of answers only questions to be filled
And it feels like hell

It all seemed fine for you
Till the struggle of ambition turned in violence upon you
Sometimes a landslide comes
If you're hiding in that avalanche you need a place to run

It's just a shadow of the woman you should be
Like a garden in the forest that the world will never see
And you have no thought of answers only questions to be filled
And it feels like hell

I know there is no need for what's been done
I know there is enough for everyone
Frustration brings a heavy hand to bear
And there's never been a hand

Did we ever have it good
While we lived in Eldorado did we find the gold we should
If it really was the truth
Why are faces filled with anger that should only shine with youth

It's just a shadow of the people we should be
Like a garden in the forest that the world will never see
You have no thought of answers only questions to be filled
And it feels like hell

I know there is no need for what's been done
I know there is enough for everyone
Frustration brings a heavy hand to bear
And there never is a hand outside that cares
Still the promise comes of living fit for all
If we only get our back against the wall
I look at backs that pushed the wall for years
Scarred by many knives and too much fear

Dolberry makes a clown out of himself

There's a picture of APD's (from the school newsletter) getting ready for a vocal performance. They were really good this year. Probably did 6-8 performances. Not sure where his bow tie is there.

Ugh. Awful night tonight. I had a church commitment that I couldn't get out of and thus had to miss most of APD's game. Got through that meeting w/ a bad attitude on the inside ... rushed to the park ... catching every red light on the way ... to get there w/ APD up in the top of the last. Down 5-3, runner on 1st, one out. He fouls off three pitches and then gets called out on a pitch that was at his eyes. His coach got thrown out for coming out of the dugout and arguing the call ... the only ejection I can ever remember seeing in 6 years of youth baseball in Apex.

I was in a spectacularly foul mood at that point & yelled out from the bleachers ... "Blue, there is NO WAY that is a strike. NO WAY!" The game was over 4 pitches later and I managed to compose myself when the ump walked past to head to his car.

So now I guess I'm one of "those parents". After years of never criticizing umpires, always encouraging kids on both teams, thanking scorekeepers, deruffling other parents ... I feel like I ruined it all in 3 seconds.

I don't like who I'm becoming ... things have to change.

The Blog is Back (& more boring than ever)

Hey, sorry I've been out of the blogosphere for so long. Like most of you all, I suppose, Dolberry's has his arms full keeping up w/ things in the troposphere. Here's a update ... more like an upmonth ... for those of you who care at all about Dolberry and his crazy shenanigans.

Travels w/ Bono, pt. 2: APD's school had their awards program last week and he won for the 6th grade in the categories of Math, Science, Computer, Bible, and Christian Character. The last one is like the Heisman for GCS. There was one winner for each grade and the principal announced the winners from 11th, 10th, 9th, 8th, and 7th grades. Then he started to close the ceremony down ("There is cake along the wall ...) Dolberry didn't hear anything after the cake announcement ... what w/ the jostling for position and all, but tbKMD said that someone from the back of the stage came up and reminded the principal that there was a 6th grade winner as well. So, he announced "the 6th grade Christian character award goes to Alexander Dol ... which?" It's easy to stay humble when your last name is Dolberry.

My life as Stuart Adamson: Just as Big Country was forever in U2's shadow ... so it goes for Dolberry who won a gold medal for something this year as an EPA drone. I think it was for most improved worker or something like that. I do get to go up to DC for the awards ceremony. There had better be cake. And Administrator Jackson, if you are reading the DCV it's "DolBERRY".

Softball upmonth: Teams are doing fine. One is 8-4 and one is 7-3. Dolberry is actually having one of his better campaigns. Been hitting the ball well for the last couple of weeks. We ran out of outfielders one game a couple of Sundays ago (due to injuries ... i play w/ a lot of old fat guys) and in my first inning out in RF, I totally ran over the RCF who was attempting to catch a ball hit right to him. Ha. I still have a bump on my knee some three weeks later.

Life in General: Is really tiring me out. Yesterday and today were the first days in I can't remember how long that there were two consecutive days on the calendar w/o any obligation. Nothing's on the calendar for Monday either, but I have work stuff to do. (Sunday's are the busiest days of all ... which I don't think is the way it's supposed to be.) I've moved into climate stuff now ... w/ the new administration ... and it's a bottomless pit of activity. Oh, and I've gotten horribly out of shape. Haven't been to the gym, rode my bike, or ran in probably two months. I get winded simply running over fellow outfielders anymore. It's pathetic.

Ah, there's probably other stuff, but I'm getting grumpier and prumpier trying to recall this last month, so I'll stop there. Hope all is well for you.

Thoughts on Taxpayer Day

OK, obviously I'm hugely biased, but please indulge a Dolberry rant here. Last year, I payed roughly $10K in Federal income taxes. I feel like I get quite a few tangible benefits from this outlay, including but not limited to:

1) having the privilege in a country that does the right thing and provides health care and assistance to the elderly and others who cannot afford it (roughly 2K of my money)

2) getting to live in a country that is safe from outside interference & one that has the ability to promote better living conditions worldwide via an excellent military (roughly 2K of my money)

3) being part of an effort to do what I believe to be the moral obligation to provide financial assistance to the poor, elderly, and unemployed via Social Security ... and theoretically this assistance will be made available to me when I reach a certain age (roughly 2K of my money)

And then for $4,000 dollars I get everything else the Federal government does (in descending priority order): accurate weather forecasts and warnings, increasingly clean air to breathe, supporting local/State education efforts, safe roads and skies to travel, beautiful parks to visit, exploring space, supporting scientific research, assistance to disaster areas, keeping criminals off the street, etc., etc., etc.

There are not many things that Dolberry spends money on that return that sort of value:

We spent over $4,000 dollars on insurance (car, home, health) ... when we had no wrecks, fires, or major illnesses. This was a complete waste of money.

We donated roughly $4,000 dollars & while I feel very good about where we put that money, I'm not sure that money created more "good" than what our taxes did.

We spent about $7,000 dollars to educate APD. He's getting marginally smarter, so we'll call that a decent investment. When he becomes a successful golf course architect and builds us that house on the 17th green then I'll be feeling even better about that one.

We spent $129 dollars on Guitar Hero. Easily the best value-to-expense ratio for the year. I kicked Isaac Miconi's butt this weekend ... & almost kicked Gracie's ... until she narrowly avoided it at the last second ... w/ an extreme amount of luck.

We gave a ton of money (~ $9,500) to a bank to repay a loan to live in our house. Over the life of the loan we will pay for our house something like two times over in interest. I'm grateful to live in a house, but the interest we all pay on these things is ridiculous.

We spent roughly $4,000 on vacations. Wish we could spend more on this.

We spent about $1,000 dollars to keep our car running. Another $1,000 to keep hot water flowing out of our faucets. An outrageous amount of money to feed, shelter, & care for our dog (who i think returns the investment w/ how happy she gets when I come home). And I'm afraid to even guess at how much money I flat out wasted on temporary pleasures or some other foolishness.

I spent $14 for the new House of Heroes CD. You should too!

Yes, there are wasteful Federal government programs. No, I don't agree w/ everything the Federal government supports. Yes, we should do everything we can to make all levels of government as efficient as possible. The way to do that is to engage in honest, open discussions about how we spend our money. Vote for representatives who share your values and respect the rights of others to do the same. If you want to posture w/ tea bags and what not, that's fine. Maybe that can kickstart more dialogue. But incendiary dialogue about revolutions and secession, and whatnot exposes a certain lack or realism and shallowness ... if you ask me (which i don't think you did, so sorry for going on like that).



I respect the right of others to see this differently.

Dolberry in the town of beans

Well, it started a day later than expected. Got to the airport on Monday night for my 7:50 flight. But American canceled that flight and put me on a 6a flight the next morning. Then they canceled that one too. (I think AA is running some sort of Ponzi scheme now rather than an actual airline ... because they did offer me lifetime distributor rights to sell AA tickets in the E. Apex area ... so if anyone needs a flight ... let me know ...) I was about to punt on this whole trip when AA said they could reroute me thru NYC, but the people in front of me caused a stink and got on a Delta flight at the same time. The lingering bad smell must have caused the gate agent to make me the same offer.

Got to the conference only 45 minutes late after all AA's shenanigans and it was a good conference. I took copious notes, but I'll spare you blog readers that. Here's a picture from somewhere on Harvard's campus.


Because Marriott is running a double miles promotion, I stayed at a hotel 1.5 miles away from the conference. After some of those cold walks, I'm just glad they didn't have a triple miles thing in Worcester, or I'd still be out there no doubt. Here was the view from my hotel room.


There were lots of crew teams out in the Charles River in the morning. Seems like a weird thing. You have 8 rowers, 1 person who sits in the boat doing nothing apparently, one person who drives a motorized boat beside them, and one person on the motorboat w/ a megaphone yelling at the 8 rowers in the boat. So, to recap there's three cushy jobs and eight hard ones.


Yesterday, I walked over 6 miles, back & forth to Harvard (see above) and back & forth to Fenway Park (see below). You cross the Charles at the BU bridge & you get a really good view of downtown Boston.


As expected, Fenway was really cool. You come around a corner & then you see the back of the Monster and your heart skips a beat. You follow the mass of people in their Papelbon 58 shirts onto Yawkey Way, inhaling the swirling scents of hot dogs, sausage and pizza. The inside of the park is very clean and it sure doesn't look 97 years old.


The fans there are equally as impressive as the architecture. The Sox were trailing 6-1 in the 8th and not a person had left. They were on their feet when the Red Sox started to rally (YOUUUUUUUUUUK!), even before the tying run even got to the plate. They still expected to win even down 5 w/ 6 outs left. It didn't pan out that way. Scott Kazmir pitched a great game for the Rays ... shutting down the BoSox the same way we saw him shutdown the Reds last month in Sarasota. The Rays can beat you via small ball (hit & run and a safety squeeze in the same inning) and the long ball (Longoria and Pena both homered). Rays 7, Red Sox 2. They play a lot of good music at Fenway. Here's a bonus countdown for ya: top 3 songs played when Red Sox batters come to the plate:

#3 Jason Varitek: Kryptonite (3 Doors Down)
#2 Jason Bay: Alive (Pearl Jam)
#1 Jacoby Ellsbury: Cherub Rock (Smashing Pumpkins)

I headed back today and American still didn't want to take me. They said when the agents switched me to Delta on Tuesday, they switched my return flight to Delta as well (w/o telling me). Eventually, they took me though and I was glad to be home. Looking forward to the day off at home tomorrow.

Dolberry is headed to Harvard

On Monday, for a work conference. Should be interesting. The Red Sox are in town & I'm thinking about trying to get a ticket from a scalper on Wed. night. $50-60 is as much as I think I'd pay.

Speaking of work (briefly ... you might have missed it), one of the rules I've been working on quite a bit was in the news this week. See here, or here, or here. Think this has been my favorite project in my time at EPA ... should do some real good for air quality.

We finally had a softball game tonight. 4 of the first 5 were rained out. We were down 9-3 at one point but rallied to win 18-10. My last AB I hit a ball as far as I've ever hit one. It short-hopped the fence (ok, maybe long-hopped the fence) which is 310'. Very surprising. The time before, I hit a triple and the 3rd-base coach waved me home. About 3/4ths of the way down the line, I saw the catcher catch the ball. So, I braked to a stop and headed back to third. They threw to third, so I headed home and scored. I was out of breath for the next 3 innings. I am not in shape for rundowns. My 3-4 tonight was much better than my 0-3 in Game 1.

Congrats to Chad who won the DCV bracket challenge. At some point in your life you will be getting a pizza gift card from Dolberry. It will be a surprise.

Friendly DCV reader ... you need to join Lala. It's my favorite part of the whole Interwebs. Basically, you can listen to your music from any computer via the internet w/o having to cart along an IPod. You can buy web songs for ten cents a shot which is awesome. And you can listen to any song once for free. Works best at office or sitting at home. Let me know if you want me to invite you (then I get 5 free songs).

Chairman's Cup

Over the weekend, I was unexpectedly invited to fill in for a late dropout in a charity golf event for APD's school that was held at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary. It was probably the most prestigious course I've ever played (they hold a Senior PGA event there) and the event itself was a few notches classier than the usual Dolberry golf outing (i.e., Pirates' Cove mini-golf).

I played w/ a really great group of guys. Two of the four (not me, obviously) were good golfers which always makes the superball format fun. Golf is infinitely more enjoyable when you can hit your tee shot into someone's backyard pool and then ride your cart 250 yards down the center of the fairway where a teammate hit one. My best shot of the day came on the one hole where our "best" tee shot was in the rough of an adjacent hole in a swampy area (we had to jump a 3-foot creek to get there). I cranked a 4-iron over some trees for a good 180-190 yards to about 15 feet from the pin. I told my teammates I was much more accustomed to these scenarios than the whole middle of the fairway thing.

My other good shot was on a par-3 where if you hit the green you were eligible to participate in a putting contest for some fancy TaylorMade driver. I hit the green and actually didn't embarass myself in the putting thing (4th out of 14 or so). Unfortunately, on the $25,000 hole-in-one shot, I missed the green by about 20 yards to the right.

Besides being a super nice guy, the person who invited me was a former chairman of the board at APD's school. Unbeknownst to me, there was a competition among the teams that had former board chairman & we won that. Here's a picture of the team and our trophy. (Dolberry is the short one in the purple (?!?) hat.


Anyway, after Sunday's debacle this was the perfect remedy. A day away from work ... under one of God's bluest-ever North Carolina skies ... inhaling the sunshine ... whacking a golf ball around w/o any accountability ... followed by free barbeque ... pretty nice.

In at least one way ... I am still an 11-year old

So ... as you might imagine I did not enjoy yesterday's UL-MSU game at all. It reminded me of an incident when I was probably somewhere between 9 and 12. We were watching Louisville play and they lost and I made a big grumpy fuss about it and El Cueto sent me to my room for the rest of the night.

I had to send myself to my room yesterday at halftime.

I was close to out of control (yelling at TV) ... had to sort of step out of myself and say ... "Is this who you want to be? Is this really how you are?"

It was just tough, because (like many) I was sure they were going to win. The hardest time to maintain composure for me, is when you are suppose to prevail and you don't. Anyway, after halftime I made some adjustments ... resigned myself that they were going to lose ... really you could tell about 5 minutes into the game ... and it was much easier to take ... like when that guy banked in his 3 pointer I barely even grunted in disgust.

Anyway, I had a great day today to cleanse the mental palette from yesterday & I'll blog about that tomorrow (or 4 weeks from now ... whenever ... you know how it works)

Spring training trip recap

Sorry that the blog has stagnated here. Life has kind of gotten away from me. There are so many things I'd like to spend my time doing & in worrying about doing them all ... not sure I've done many of them very well. Hey, there's always tomorrow ...

Anyway, earlier this month we had a great trip down to FL for Spring Training w/ Los Cuetos. We left on Tuesday evening drove to somewhere in South Carolina. Wednesday, we met up w/ Gma and Gpa at the Orlando airport. That night we ate the world's best pizza, then headed over to Pirate's Cove where Gma and APD dominated at putt-putt.

Thursday, tbKMD & I went running around parts of the Disney neighborhood in Orlando covering around 4-5 mi in all for probably my longest run in a year or so. T'was fun. That afternoon we watched the Nationals-Braves game at Wide World of Sports. Nice enough stadium ... very clean. While watching the game, we listened to U0fL beat Providence on the satellite radio.Swam in the pool w/ APD in the morning on Friday, then we drove over to Clearwater to watch the Phillies play the Pirates. After the game we headed down to Sarasota for the evening. Watched UofL beat Villanova in the hotel room.


Saturday morning was another run w/ tbKMD, then a trip to Siesta Key. Found lots of good conch shells. Soft sand and warm sunshine. Too nice. Saw our last game ever at Ed Smith Stadium that afternoon. (Reds lost ... which was fitting.) That night we ate some awesome seafood then watched the CARDS win the Big East tournament title at the Baker-Fitzgeralds. What a great team. Need three more wins for the whole enchilada.


Sunday was another early morning swim, a big breakfast, and then to the Field of Cheesesteaks (Clearwater). Oh, they were so good. Words cannot describe. We watched the St. Louis Cardinals take BP and Albert Pujols put on a show ... at one point hitting one entirely out of the facility. Breaking news ... he's really good. Then the sad goodbyes and the long drive home where we listened to the NCAA tournament draw.

Simply a perfect vacation. Thanks to all who were a part of it.

DCV Challenge

Group: DolberryCheeryVanillaBlog
Password: gocards!

$25 gift card of winner's choosing to the champ. (Note: prizewinners may have to wait up to 12 months for prize shipping due to laziness of Dolberry!)

Top 10 Baseball games I ever attended: #4

September 4, 1988: Reds vs. Cubs

T1: Quinones K, Winningham BB(CS), Sabo K
B1: Dascenzo 5-3, Sandberg 2B, Roomes L5, Dawson P4
(Reds 0, Cubs 0)

So, this was in our first month in Chicago. Dolberry probably didn't hate Chicago at this point, but he very well might have. I lost my wallet at the very first baseball game I ever attended in the Windy City. By "lost" ... I mean I went to the game w/ my wallet and returned w/o it. I do not recall putting it down anywhere, but Dolberry could not accept the fact that it may have been stolen. Needless to say, that game did not make the Top 10.

T2: E. Davis 4-3, O'Neill 6-3, Esasky K
B2: Law L5, Berryhill 6-3, Trillo 6-3
(Reds 0, Cubs 0)

Dolberry has probably covered in sufficient detail all my issues w/ Chicago in past posts, so will let that deceased equine rest in peace for today. I think whereever I lived at that point in my life would have been a letdown from St. Louis where I had a group of great friends and real life was just the flimsiest of rumors. The great things about Chicago (pizza, softball, the running path by Lake Michigan, summer, & Wrigley Field) are truly magnificient, though.

T3: Reed 1B, Oester 1B, Jackson 1B, Quinones 1B, Winningham K, Sabo 5-3, Davis 1B, O'Neill 4-3.
B3: Salazar 6-3, Schiraldi K, Dascenzo 1B, Sandberg FC
(Reds 4, Cubs 0)

Hey, I got my 7 cent book from Amazon in the mail the other day, Tom Browning's Tales from the Reds Dugout by (surprise) Tom Browning. As a special bonus, the book was signed by Browning. Very cool. It's an excellent book ... very simple ... PG-13 though ... reads like you were sitting on a flight w/ Browning and he was just telling you stories ... in chronological order. Browning comes across as amazingly humble for someone who: pitched a perfect game, made the All-Star team, was a 20-game winner and played a pivotal role on a World Series championship team. Seemed like more then the accomplishments, he valued his friendships in and around baseball. That was cool, too.

T4: Esasky P5, Reed K, Oester P4
B4: Roomes 6-3, Dawson K, Law F8
(Reds 4, Cubs 0)

Of the teams that have been around for the last 42 years (aka The Era of Dolberry), the two with the fewest 20-game winners over that stretch are the Pirates and the Reds. Jim Merritt went 20-12 in 1970, Tom Browning went 20-9 in 1985, and Danny Jackson came into this early-September game looking to become #3 sitting at 19 wins and only 6 losses.

T5: Jackson 2B, Quinones Sac, Winningham 1B(SB), Sabo BB, Davis E6, O'Neill 3B, Esasky 1B, Reed 1B, Oester K, Jackson 1B, Quinones HR, Winningham 1B, Sabo K.
B5: Berryhill P3, Grace 3U, Salazar F9
(Reds 13, Cubs 0)

OK, I'll ruin the suspense. Danny Jackson does manage to hold onto this 13 run lead and become the Reds 3rd 20-game pitcher in the Era of Dolberry. I think Volquez or Cueto could get 20 sometime over the next 2-3 years if the offense can be improved to at least league average. Edinson came the closest since 1995 w/ his 17 victories last year. Three weeks from right now, Dolberry will be sitting in Ed Smith Stadium w/ some of his bestest buds ... soaking up the sun ... eating some hot dogs ... & trying to talk himself into the concept the Reds could maybe contend this year.

T6: Snider K, O'Neill BB, Esasky L5(DP)
B6: Webster F7, Dascenzo 1B, Sandberg 6-4-3
(Reds 13, Cubs 0)

For once, the Reds come into the season w/ a rotation that's relatively sound. I think Volquez and Cueto should both be able to make 30 some starts w/ ERA's around 3.75 (which is pretty good in the bandbox that is GABP). Harang will hopefully bounce back from his injury-plagued 2008 ... I think he will ... and again become a Top 10 pitcher. Arroyo can eat up innings w/o being a disaster most of the time. It'd be nice if Homer Bailey could come into spring w/ his teenage fastball and stuff, but if not the Reds have some depth to discover a #5 pitcher.

T7: Reed 6-3, Oester F9, Jackson E7, Quinones 1B, Winningham 4-3
B7: Roomes 1B, Dar. Jackson F8, Law 6-4-3
(Reds 13, Cubs 0)

This year's Reds lineup will probably struggle to put up enough runs, though ... even in GABP. (All the Adam Dunn haters will miss his 40 HRs and .390 OBP but won't admit it.) Jay Bruce should emerge as top MLB outfielder (something like .275 w/ 30 HR) and hopefully Votto can repeat what he did last year. The two wildcards for me and the ones most crucial to the Reds success are: Double E (who needs to have his breakout year) and Willy Tavares (who needs to get on base at .370 -.380 clip). The 2B, SS, C, and 3OF spots will likely feature subpar performance offensively. I don't expect much from the bullpen, but they shouldn't be as bad as two years ago. The manager is a nice guy ... and we'll charitably leave his job assessment at that.

T8: M Brown F7, Snider K, O'Neill BB, Esasky 1B, Reed F8
B8: Wrona 5-3, Grace 4-3, Salazar K
(Reds 13, Cubs 0)

They never did get Danny Jackson out in this game. He came into the game hitting .122 but went 4 for 5. He got his 20th win w/ a 6-hit, no walk shutout. It was the single best individual performance I've ever seen. The fact that the Reds routed the Cubs 17 to zip was quite enjoyable as well.

T9: Oester 1B, Jackson 1B, Quinones BB, Winningham BB, Brown FC, Snider FC, O'Neill 2B, Esasky F8
B9: Dascenzo 1B, Sandberg 6-4-3, Roomes 6-3

Final: Reds 17, Cubs 0

Top 10 Baseball games I ever attended: #5

June 23, 1993: Astros vs. Dodgers

T1: Biggio K, Finley P6, Bagwell F9
B1: Butler 4-3, Offerman F8, E. Davis E5, Wallach 6-3
(Astros 0, Dodgers 0)

In the summer of our first married year, tbKMD and Dolberry travelled out to the Golden State for our California baseball trip. We flew into Anaheim on a Friday afternoon and caught two White Sox games against the Angels. They lost them both by one run.

T2: Caminiti 1-3, Anthony K, L. Gonzalez HR, Servais 6-3
B2: Snyder F9, Karros F7, C. Hernandez 6-3
(Astros 1, Dodgers 0)

On Sunday morning, we drove up I-5 to Oakland where we took in a 4-1 A's victory over the Royals then we headed back to our hotel which was w/in walking distance of the Oakland Coliseum to watch Game 6 of the NBA Finals which pitted the Suns (tbKMD's favorites) vs. the Bulls. That was the one where John Paxson hit a 3 point shot w/ 3 seconds left to give the Bulls the title. Thankfully, tbKMD is the sort of person who won't let something insignificant ruin a good vacation.

T3: Cedeno F9, Drabek 5-3, Biggio 2B, Finley 1B(2-4)
B3: Harris P4, Candiotti 4-3, Butler 1B(SB), Offerman BB, Davis FC
(Astros 2, Dodgers 0)

We spent Monday walking through the Muir Woods where tbKMD lagged behind alot, but Dolberry patiently waited for her to catch up ... gasping for air ... on the uphills. Dolberry was so cheery on that day I was singing "The Hills are ALIVEEEE w/ the sound of MUUUUUSSSSIIIC", until the park rangers came and asked me to stop. Maybe that was why tbKMD was lagging behind. That night we spent the coldest June night ever in Candlestick Park. You know you're in trouble when they rent blankets at a baseball game. The Giants won that one bringing home teams to 4-0 on our vacation.

T4: Bagwell F7, Caminiti 3U, Anthony F8
B4: Wallach 6-3, Snyder 2B(8-5), Karros F8
(Astros 2, Dodgers 0)

By Wednesday June 23rd, we were back in SoCal and headed over to Chavez Ravine to consume some Dodger Dogs from the upper deck of Dodger Stadium. Dolberry had gotten all the tickets in advance by phone or by mail and we generally went for the cheaper seats. We parked our rental car and we're walking up to the stadium when we were approached by someone leaving the stadium. He didn't look homeless, or scary, or like someone from the cast of Doogie Howser, M.D.; so we stopped. Turns out it was "Beach Towel Night" and he had only come to get his towel and he wasn't planning on actually using his 2nd row seats right down the first base line. So he gave them to us. Sweet.

T5: Gonzalez F8, Servais L5, Cedeno F7.
B5: Hernandez 4-3, Harris 2B, Candiotti E6, Butler SF7, Offerman 6-3
(Astros 2, Dodgers 1)

After a day at Santa Monica Beach, we headed down to San Diego for a 4 game set matching the Padres against the Reds. The Thursday afternoon game was the Padres' first after their infamous fire sale started w/ the trade of Gary Sheffield to the Marlins (for Trevor Hoffman, who worked out pretty well for them). The San Diego fans were not in good spirits on that day. Reds won 3 of 4 and Dolberry got one of his worst sunburns ever. Despite that I think San Diego is my favorite city in the world.

T6: Drabek P5, Biggio 1B, Finley K, Bagwell F8
B6: Davis 4-3, Wallach K, Snyder 2-3
(Astros 2, Dodgers 1)

This trip was the proverbial time of one's life. Too much fun. The Dolberry clan has decided to reprise this trip in the summer of 2010, w/ APD in tow this time. Can't hardly wait. Ideally, we'd be able to spend two weeks doing it and maybe work in Phoenix and Seattle but that might be a little ambitious. See this space for more details as they become available.

T7: Caminiti K, Anthony 4-3, Gonzalez F8
B7: Karros HR, Hernandez 5-3, Harris F8, Candiotti K
(Astros 2, Dodgers 2)

With all the recent new parks, I have only been to 8 still-active MLB stadiums. Here's the countdown w/in the countdown of my Top 5 favorites: 5: Coors Field (Rockies), 4: Safeco Field (Mariners), 3: Camden Yards (Baltimore), 2: Wrigley Field (Cubs), 1: Dodger Stadium (Dodgers). It is just a beautiful place. The sort of place that would be pretty even if there wasn't a baseball field there.

T8: Servais 6-3, Cedeno BB, Drabek Sac, Biggio 5-3
B8: Butler 3U, Offerman 1B (SB), Davis 1B (CS), Wallach HBP, Snyder K
(Dodgers 3, Astros 2)

The five parks I'd like to see most that I haven't been to: 5: Great American Ball Park (Reds), 4: Kaufman Stadium (Royals), 3: Fenway Park (Red Sox), 2: Petco Field (Padres), 1: PNC Park (Pirates). I doubt if any of those would pass Dodger Stadium, though. Watching the sun go down on a warm summer's day from field level w/ your favorite person in the whole world w/ that backdrop is about as good as it gets. And it got even better when the Dodgers blew the game in the 9th.

T9: Finley BB, Bagwell K, Caminiti 1B, Anthony HR, Gonzalez 1B(SB), Servais K, Cedeno F8
B9: Karros BB, Piazza 3-6-3 DP, Harris 4-3

Final: Astros 5, Dodgers 3

Top 10 Baseball games I ever attended: #6

July 19, 1991: Brewers vs. White Sox

T1: Molitor 5-3, Hamilton 3-1, Surhoff 4-3
B1: Raines 1-3, Ventura HR, Thomas 1B, Pasqua 1B, Newson 1-3, Johnson 1B, Karkovice K
(Sox 3, Brewers 0)

This was the first of a 4-game series between the Brewers (then in the AL East) and the Sox. tbKMD and I decided we were going to watch all 4 games of the series from the same seats and pretend like we were season ticket holders. Fun to act like big shots.

T2: Vaughn K, Sheffield 2B, Stubbs P1, Bichette K
B2: Cora 1B, Guillen 4-3, Raines BB(SB), Ventura HR, Thomas K
(Sox 5, Brewers 0)

tbKMD's favorite player at the time ... maybe for all time ... was Robin Ventura. Not sure why, 'cause he was kinda homely, especially when compared to Dolberry. I think maybe she liked that early in his career (the year before) he went through an 0 for 41 slump but overcame it. Even though he was likely the best third baseman in baseball in the 1990s, he's best remembered for being on the receiving end of a noogie from Nolan Ryan when he charged the mound after a HBP.

T3: Gantner 3-1, Spiers 1B, Molitor 2-3, Hamilton F7
B3: Pasqua 2B, Newson BB, Johnson BB, Karkovice FC, Cora FC, Guillen F7.
(Sox 5, Brewers 0)

Jack McDowell was pitching for the Sox in this one. For a four-year stretch (1990-1993), he was one of the best pitchers in baseball. He was a big deal in Chicago, in part because he was in the wave of young talent (Big Hurt, Ventura, Alex Fernandez) that took the Chisox from mediocrity to an AL West pennant in 1993. Another component of his popularity was he was in an alternative rock band in the offseason and one of the early adopters of the goatee. After 4 years of throwing the split finger fastball for 250 innings a season, his career ended too quickly w/ arm trouble.

T4: Surhoff F7, Vaughn 1B(E9), Sheffield BB, Stubbs F8, Bichette 1B, Gantner F8
B4: Raines BB, Ventura 2B, Thomas P6, Pasqua K, Newson K
(Sox 6, Brewers 1)

This was the first year of the new Comiskey Park. It had been going up all 1990 season and it dwarfed the old stadium. As a fan, it was nice to have wide concourses to walk down and clean bathrooms and seats that actually faced home plate w/ no poles to look around. However, most people agreed w/ Mike Veeck that the new park "had everything but a soul". The upper deck where tbKMD and Dolberry were sitting was extremely steep. Not a good place to go if you were scared of heights. I guess it's been significantly renovated since the 90s. Dolberry will have to go back sometime.

T5: Spiers 3B, Molitor 1B, Hamilton F8, Surhoff F7, Vaughn K
B5: Johnson 1B(CS), Karkovice F9, Cora K
(Sox 6, Brewers 2)

There can't be many quieter Hall of Fame players than Paul Molitor. In 1991, at the age of 35 he led the league in hits, runs, and triples. He's 9th on the all time hits list with 3,319. It may be awhile before we see another player get 3,000 hits. It's not gonna happen in 2010 unless Griffey Jr. gets 320 hits. I doubt Junior gets to 3000 even though he's only 39. Unless he can get a cushy DH job for the Mariners or some other subpar AL team and stay reasonably healthy for 2.5 solid years. Gary Sheffield, who got one of his 2,615 hits in this game, has an outside chance to get there. The next to get to 3,000 will likely be Jeter or Pudge Rodriguez sometime in 2012.

T6: Sheffield 5-3, Stubbs P6, Bichette F9
B6: Guillen 1B, Raines BB, Ventura 2B, Thomas BB, Pasqua HR, Sosa 4-3, Johnson 4-3, Karkovice BB, Cora HBP, Guillen 1B, Raines HBP, Ventura F8
(Sox 12, Brewers 2)

So, tbKMD & I were playing the "pick to click" game, a Sox tradition started by their TV announcer Hawk Harrelson. Basically, you pick a player and whoever player has the best game wins. tbKMD's pick of Ventura won going away as by this point in the game he was 4 for 5 w/ two HRs and two doubles. Both Milwaukee's pitcher (Crim) and catcher (Surhoff) got ejected in the bottom of the 6th for the HBPs. They both got frowny faces from tbKMD in the scorebook.

T7: Gantner 1B, Spiers 1B, Molitor BB, Hamilton SF8, Dempsey 1-3, Vaughn K
B7: Thomas BB(PB), Pasqua HBP, Sosa F8, Johnson 1B, Karkovice SF8, Cora P6
(Sox 13, Brewers 3)

Sammy Sosa was in his 3rd and last year w/ the White Sox at this point. He had 33 HRs total in his first three years. In 1998 he would hit twice that many in a single season. He really got a lot better in 1998. His slugging percentage bulged over 150 points. Hmmm ... why did he get so much better. Perhaps a before and after picture would help ...

Before ...

After ...
I can only assume he picked his lawyer on the theory that, comparatively, no one would look like a slimeball when sitting right next to him. There's a segment of the baseball community (mostly younger fans) that say we shouldn't judge Bonds, Clemens, McGwire, Sosa, A-Rod, Palmeiro, ad nauseum ... for a myriad of relativist reasons. Dolberry disagrees. It may not have explicitly been against baseball's rules, but clearly taking illegal supplements is against basic rules of society and really common sense. Maybe there's a whole generation of baseball players that did it and maybe there's a whole lot of Americans now who supplement themselves w/ all sorts of pharmaceutical nonsense that they don't need ... but it's still not right. Play the game right.

T8: Sheffield 4-3, Stubbs F8, Bichette K
B8: Grebeck HR, Huff 1B, Ventura F7, Merullo BB, Pasqua P2, Sosa F9
(Sox 14, Brewers 3)

Fun game. I've only seen one better performance than that and it'll come up later in the countdown. Ventura broke his ankle in a gruesome home plate slide in Sarasota against the Reds in Spring Training. He underwent an ankle transplant a few years back & can now walk w/o a limp.

T9: Ganter 4-3, Spiers 3-1, Molitor 3B, Hamilton 6-3

Final: Sox 14, Brewers 3

Top 10 Baseball games I ever attended: #7

May 22, 1990: Reds vs. Cubs

T1: Sabo F8, Hatcher HBP, O'Neill F7, Davis K
B1: Walton 1B, Sandberg FC, Grace 1B(7-5), Dawson IBB, McClendon F8
(Reds 0, Cubs 0)

The Reds are off to a hot start ... 26-9 coming into this game. This great record is apparently in spite of manager Lou Pinella's propensity for intentionally walking guys in the first inning. Guess Lou is expecting a low-scoring game here.

T2: Morris K, Quinones BB, Oliver K, Oester 3U
B2: Salazar P6, Dunston 2B, Wrona K, Bielecki K
(Reds 0, Cubs 0)

How about that? Mike Bielecki started two of the best 10 games I ever saw (see #8). Ironically, one was for the Cubs and one was against. I was more excited to see the Reds starter, Tom Browning who was always one of my favorites. He had broken in with the Reds in 1985, finishing 2nd in the Rookie of the Year race and helped turn around the Reds from doormats to contenders.

T3: Browning K, Sabo BB(CS), Hatcher F8
B3: Walton 5-3, Sandberg F9, Grace F8
(Reds 0, Cubs 0)

It was a tumultuous time following the Reds back then. The year before, the whole Pete Rose debacle blew up. He was banned from baseball in August 1989. Far worse than that, Marge Schott was "running" the team which of course consisted of: firing all scouts ("Because all they do is sit around all day and watch baseball.") and pinching pennies whereever possible, such as not paying the $200 a game to run the out of town scoreboard ("Why would anyone care about some other game when they're watching this one?")

T4: O'Neill 1B, Davis BB, Morris 4-6-3, Quinones P6
B4: Dawson 6-3, McClendon F7, Salazar F9
(Reds 0, Cubs 0)

But 1990 was sort of a sweet spot in between the Rose years and the Schott-induced Geländemarsch to pitifulness ... where they have resided pretty much for the last decade. The 26-9 start had been led by great pitching. Browning and Jose Rijo were the expected studs of the staff, but this was the year of Jack Armstrong. Armstrong had the half-season of his life at the beginning of 1990, being named to start the All-Star game after a 9-3 start. He only won three games after the break, but his first half played a large role in getting the Reds into the playoffs for the first time since 1979.

T5: Oliver 4-3, Oester F7, Browning 1B, Sabo 5-3
B5: Dunston F8, Wrona 6-3, Bielecki 1-3
(Reds 0, Cubs 0)

Browning had retired 11 straight at this point. He is, of course, most famous for the time he retired 27 straight as part of the only perfect game thrown by a Reds pitcher. There have only been 17 perfect games in MLB history. Browning got the only one against a team that went on to win the World Series w/ a 1-0 victory over the Dodgers on 9/16/88.

T6: Hatcher 2B, O'Neill 4-3, Davis 5-3, Morris 5-3
B6: Walton 1B, Sandberg FC, Grace F7, Dawson F7
(Reds 0, Cubs 0)

tbKMD had joined Dolberry for this game. She won our traditional attendance guess ... only missing the announced crowd of 29,860 by 129 people. We were both grad students at the time, though heading in opposite directions. tbKMD was excelling in the Pharmacology program at prestigious Northwestern University ... Dolberry was flailing though Geophysical Science at U. of Wewillcallyoueverymonthuntilyoudieorgiveusmoney.

T7: Quinones 4-3, Oliver 2B, Oester 3U, Browning K
B7: McClendon P6, Salazar 5-3, Dunston 2B, Wrona IBB, Bielecki K
(Reds 0, Cubs 0)

Baseball strategy has changed a lot in the last 18 years. Nowadays, I would think many managers would have pulled Browning for a pinch hitter w/ the go-ahead run in scoring position in the 7th. Thankfully, Sweet Lou let Browning bat. Unfortunately, the gratuitous intentional walk has remained a staple of the game. Pinella bypassed the catcher who hit .172 on the season, and would be sent down to the minors for the rest of the year only one week later, to get to the pitcher who hit .163 on the season. Why Lou? Why?

T8: Sabo 6-3, Hatcher 5-3, O'Neill K
B8: Walton P6, Sandberg 2B, Grace 3-1, Dawson IBB, McClendon 5-3
(Reds 0, Cubs 0)

Even though the score was 0-0, the whole park had to sense that the Reds had the Cubs right where they wanted them. 1990 was the year of the Nasty Boys. The triumverate of Randy Myers, Rob Dibble, and Norm Charlton gave the Reds one of the most potent bullpens of all-time. Between the three of them they pitched 339 innings that year, gave up only 261 hits and struck out 351.

T9: Davis K, Morris 4-3, Quinones F7
B9: Salazar F8, Dunston P3, Wrona K
(Reds 0, Cubs 0)

Browning came out of the game after 9 innings. (Bielecki stayed in and finished the 10th.) In doing the research for this article, I found out Tom Browning had written a book entitled: Tom Browning's Tales from the Reds Dugout. It was selling for 7 cents (!) on Amazon so I bought it. (Shipping was $3.99 but still ...). Look for a book review on the DCV some time in the future. Hooray!

T10: J. Reed 1B, Oester Sac, Larkin K, Sabo 4-3.
B10: Dascenzo K, Walton F9, Sandberg F9
(Reds 0, Cubs 0)

Am guessing that Larkin didn't start this game because the next day was an off day and Barry had played every game so far in 1990. This year and 1999 were the only two years of his career that were injury-free for the Reds great hometown hero. If I had to make a list of my all time favorite Reds it would look like this: 5 - Eric Davis, 4- Ken Griffey Jr., 3 - Johnny Bench, 2 - Barry Larkin, 1 - Joe Morgan.

T11: Hatcher F7, O'Neill K, Davis 1B, Benzinger P4
B11: Grace E5, Dawson 1B, McClendon K, Salazar IBB, Dunston K, D. Smith K
(Reds 0, Cubs 0)

Dibble bailed out Charlton w/ the two K's there in the 11th. Sweet Lou put a little extra pressure on him w/ his fourth order of a free pass (to Luis Salazar?!?!?). I listen to Dibble on my XM satellite radio sometimes on the bus ride home. For a guy who broke into the league like a wild stallion ... one time hitting a woman in the upper deck w/ a ball thrown in anger ... he's fairly reasonable to listen to on the radio. Guess he's going to be the color commentator for the Nationals this year ... which is sure to be an exercise in patience.

T12: Quinones 1B, Reed Sac, Oester L5, Roomes K
B12: Wynne K, Walton BB, Sandberg K, Grace BB, Dawson IBB, McClendon 4-6.
(Reds 0, Cubs 0)

Intentional walk #5. Third of the day to Dawson who will tie Roger Maris' mark for most IBB's in a game if he gets another one. Lloyd McClendon had a rough day ... 0 for 6 and he left nine runners stranded. This earned him a frowny face from tbKMD in the scorebook, but it presumably prepared him a bit for the frustration he would face in later life managing the Pirates for five years.

T13: Sabo HR, Hatcher 4-3, O'Neill 1B(8-6), Davis 6-3
B13: Salazar HR, Dunston F8, Girardi K, Wilkerson K
(Reds 1, Cubs 1)

You have got to be kidding me! Randy Myers gives up a HR to Luis Salazar? (Lou, you should have walked him!) DCV Teaser: There's another game coming up in the countdown where Myers gave up a HR at Wrigley and something interesting happens. Stay tuned.

T14: Benzinger F7, Quinones 1B(SB), Reed 4-3, Oester IBB, Griffey Sr. 4-3
B14: Walton 6-3, Sandberg BB(PB), Grace F8, Dawson IBB, D. Clark K
(Reds 1, Cubs 1)

1990 was the year the Reds swept the vaunted Oakland A's in the World Series. Jose Rijo pitched like a madman (15 IP, 1 ER, 2 wins) and Billy Hatcher got 9 hits in 12 at bats; but for me the hero of that series will always be Eric Davis who hit a 2-run HR in Game 1 that propelled the sweep. In Game 4 of that series he lacerated his kidney trying to make a diving catch. While the rest of the Reds were celebrating their title, Davis was in an Oakland hospital. The story goes that the Reds made him pay for his trip home from the hospital, since the season was over.

T15: Sabo 1-3, Hatcher F9, O'Neill 4-3
B15: Salazar BB(SB), Dunston P2, Girardi K, Ramos F8
(Reds 1, Cubs 1)

The game ended up being the third longest game of the entire 1990 season. One of oldest baseball bromides is that "if you go to a game you are sure to see something that you've never seen before". In this game we saw something that had never HAPPENED before and has never happened since ... a player be intentionally walked 5 times in a game. After leaving 20 men on base over 15 innings, the Cubs finally capitalized in the 16th.

T16: Davis F9, Benzinger K, Quinones 1B, Reed 4-6
B16: Walton K, Sandberg 1B, Grace E6, Dawson IBB, Clark 1B

Final: Cubs 2, Reds 1

Top 10 Baseball games I ever attended: #8

August 30, 1996: Braves vs. Cubs

T1: A. Jones 1-3, Mordecai 2B, Chipper 3-1, McGriff K
B1: McRae 1B, Bullett 1B, Grace 4-3, L. Gonzalez P4, Magadan 4-3
(Cubs 1, Braves 0)

If Dolberry was going to draw up his perfect day, there's a good chance it would involve sitting in the warm August Wrigley shade beside the beautiful KMD taking in a doubleheader of baseball.

T2: Klesko 3B, Dye 4-3, J. Lopez 2B, Lemke 4-3, Bielecki K
B2: Houston 6-3, Hernandez 1-3, Haney F7
(Braves 1, Cubs 1)

The Cubs had beaten Tom Glavine 3-2 on a game-winning single by Ryne Sandberg in the first game of the now-rare baseball BOGO. The first game took only 2:13. Dolberry has a lousy memory, but I can distinctly remember holding hands w/ tbKMD while sitting down the 1st base line on this late-summer Friday afternoon.

T3: A. Jones P4, Mordecai 6-3, Chipper K
B3: Bullinger K, McRae HR, Bullett K, Grace 1B, Gonzalez F7
(Cubs 2, Braves 1)

Talking about leadoff guys in yesterday's game, can anyone believe Andruw Jones used to be a leadoff man? In August 1996, he was a slender 19 year old and in his first month in the big leagues and was maybe the biggest prospect of all time. In January 2008, the Dodgers signed him to a two-year, 36 million deal and he responded by hitting .158 in over 200 ABs. In January 2009, the Dodgers released him (gently, presumably, given the tectonic situation in SoCal). One scout said of him, "He looked like he was at a church picnic and could not care less about what was going on." Too much success at the cake wheel it appears.

T4: McGriff E6, Klesko F9, Dye K, Lopez 1B, Lemke E6, Bielecki 1B, A. Jones 4-3
B4: Magadan F9, Houston 1B, Hernandez K, Haney 6-3
(Cubs 2, Braves 2)

The nice thing about old scorecards is all the little notations in the book, some about the game, some not. In this one, tbKMD wrote "tbKMD [heart] Dolberry". (She didn't really use our blog code names, but it was still sweet.)

T5: Mordecai 1B, Chipper 1B, McGriff 4-3, Klesko 6-3, Dye K
B5: Hubbard K, McRae F8, Bullett 1-3
(Braves 3, Cubs 2)

It's worth noting that APD was at this game as well, though his seats were the ultimate "obstructed view". At that time of his life, we called him "Lil' Chipper" after Chipper Jones who was one of my favorite players at the time. (I still like ol' Larry Wayne Jones ... he's a great player.) He was one of my favorites at the time because he was one of my first Rotisserie baseball "finds". A "find" is a guy you identify when he's young and you lock him in at a cheap price before the whole world knows about him. My new "find" for those who care is Pablo Sandoval of the Giants. Let's be thankful we're past childbearing years ... Lil' Pablo doesn't sound quite the same.

T6: Lopez 1B, Lemke 6-3, Bielecki K, A. Jones K
B6: Grace 4-3, Gonzalez 1B, Magadan 1B, Servais F9, Hernandez K
(Braves 3, Cubs 2)

Even if you don't like baseball ... (Be gone heathen!) one can still enjoy the food you can get at the ballpark. I usually keep it simple. In Wrigley, Dolberry usually got a brat (or two) and a soda. On a warm day, that'd usually be followed by ice cream in one of those collectible helmets. Mmmmmmmm .... ice cream helmets .

T7: Mordecai HR, Chipper 5-3, McGriff 1B, Klesko 6-4-3
B7: Haney BB, Kieschnieck 1B, McRae BB, Bullett K, Grace K, Gonzalez 3B, Magadan K.
(Cubs 5, Braves 4)

One of the best traditions about Wrigley Field was Harry Carey singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch. Whenever the Cubs were behind he'd close the song w/ a lusty entreaty ... "Let's Get Some Runs!!!". Luis Gonzalez obliged him here w/ the go-ahead, bases-juiced triple.

T8: Dye F9, Lopez K, Lemke 6-3
B8: Servais 1B, Hernandez Sac, Haney 6-3, Gomez 4-3
(Cubs 5, Braves 4)

In Dolberry's opinion (hey it's my blog), there may not be a more overrated position in all of sports than that of the closer in baseball. The Reds are paying Francisco Cordero 48 million just because he's pitched in the 9th inning of games before. Jared Burton would perform just as well for 1/10th the money. That said, the closers decided this game. Check out Bob Patterson (Cubs) vs. Mark Wohlers (Braves) in his prime.

T9: Pendleton 1B, A. Jones E6, Mordecai P2, Chipper 1B, McGriff BB, Grissom SF9, Dye K
B9: McRae K, Bullett K, Grace K!

Final: Braves 6, Cubs 5

Top 10 Baseball games I ever attended: #9

October 12th, 1993: Blue Jays vs. White Sox

T1: Henderson K, D. White 1B, Alomar FC, Carter F9
B1: Raines F7, Cora K, Thomas F8
(Blue Jays 0, White Sox 0)

This game is Game 6 of the ALCS. I remember spending the better part of one Saturday morning calling and calling Ticketmaster trying to get Sox playoff tickets ... in the pre-Internet days ... getting nothing but a busy signal for over an hour before finally getting through. We paid $40 each for two upper box tickets at new Comiskey. I believe this is still the most Dolberry has ever paid for a ticket to any sort of sporting event, though pretty soon Spring Training games will cost that much.

T2: Olerud BB, Molitor HBP, T. Fernandez 1-3, Sprague BB, Borders 1B, Henderson FC, White 4-3.
B2: Ventura BB, Burks P4, Newson 4-3, L Johnson 3U.
(Jays 2, Sox 0)

The starting pitchers for this matchup were superb. Toronto sent Dave Stewart to the hill while Chicago countered with Alex Fernandez. Stewart was a few years removed from his dominating stint w/ the A's in the late 80's, but he had bested Fernandez just 6 days earlier in Game 2 of this ALCS. Alex Fernandez had an awesome 1993, 18-9 w/ a 3.13 ERA, but it was overshadowed somewhat by "Blackjack" McDowell's 22 win Cy Young performance. At the time, as a Sox fan, I remember thinking Fernandez had a really bright career ahead of him. As it turned out, his best season was 1993 as a 24-year old.

T3: Alomar 4-3, Carter P3, Olerud P2
B3: Lavailliere P5, Guillen 2B, Raines 1B, Cora HBP, Thomas BB, Ventura FC, Burks 5-3
(Jays 2, Sox 2)

1993 was probably the year tbKMD and I watched the most baseball games. We lived right downtown in these apartments (where GMa Karen once had popcorn AFTER eating 4 desserts) and it was really simple to get to either Comiskey or Wrigley. tbKMD was just a few months from getting her PhD and Dolberry was working out at LADCO. Those were carefree days ... very few responsibilities ... no kid, no mortgage, didn't even own a car. We got pretty emotionally invested in the Sox that year.

T4: Molitor E5, Fernandez F8, Sprague 1B, Borders FC/E4, Henderson 3-1
B4: Newson 4-3, Johnson L3, Lavalliere 5-3
(Jays 3, Sox 2)

This was the Sox first playoff appearance since 1983 and only their second since 1959, so there were a lot of rabid Sox fans that year. It was a full house despite temperatures in the mid-40s. The Jays had won the first two games of the series in Chicago, but then the "good guys" bounced back to take the next two to even the series. The Jays had beaten McDowell in Game 5, so this was an elimination game for the Sox.

T5: White 1B, Alomar 1B, Carter K, Olerud P5, Molitor BB, Fernandez P4
B5: Guillen P5, Raines BB, Cora F9, Thomas K
(Jays 3, Sox 2)

The top 3 vote getters in the 1993 AL MVP batted that past inning. #3 Olerud, #2 Molitor, #1 The Big Hurt. Frank Thomas was an awesome player in the mid 1990's. In 1994, he had a Barry Bonds like season w/o the bloated perjuring head (.492 on base % and 38 HRs in a park that favored pitchers). The Big Hurt is still trying to catch on w/ someone for 2009 ... he may be forced to retire ... sentimental ol' Dolberry would like to see him get another year.

T6: Sprague K, Borders 2B, Henderson F7, White K
B6: Ventura F9, Burks 1B, Newson K, Johnson 4-3
(Jays 3, Sox 2)

This game featured two of the best leadoff hitters of all time: Rickey Henderson and Tim "Rock" Raines. Both were on the Hall of Fame ballot this year and Henderson got in w/ 95% of the vote, but surprisingly Raines only got 22% support (you need 75% to get in). He'll get in eventually as new guard voters (who appreciate what a lifetime .385 on base percentage means to an offense) replace the ones who only care about HRs.

T7: Alomar F9, Carter F8, Olerud 1B, Molitor K
B7: Lavailliere BB, Guillen Sac, Raines L4 (DP)
(Jays 3, Sox 2)

The Southside fans were getting restless by this point. tbKMD was surprised by the fact that the White Sox supporters were booing their boys after a 94 win season appeared to be coming to end. I guess when you haven't won a single playoff series since 1917, patience & goodwill aren't your strong suits. This was the last year before the current wild-card playoff format came into effect. Unlike interleague play, I correctly tagged that as a bad idea when it happened. Does anybody really get fired up for a divisional series playoff game?

T8: Fernandez F8, Sprague P4, Borders 1-3
B8: Cora F7, Thomas 1B, Ventura K, Burks K
(Jays 3, Sox 2)

By the time the 9th inning ended, tbKMD & Dolberry were one of the few fans left in the stadium. As you will see it didn't end well. The Blue Jays went on to win the World Series over the Phillies on a walkoff Joe Carter HR. The White Sox would get their World Series in 2005 when their 1993 SS (Ozzie Guillen) was their manager. Dolberry and tbKMD went on to live happily ever after, although we haven't been to a playoff game since.

T9: Henderson 1-3, White HR, Alomar F8, Carter 1B, Olerud E4, Molitor 3B, Fernandez F8
B9: Newson HR, Johnson BB, Karkovice K, Guillen F9, Raines F9.

Final: Jays 6, Sox 3

Top 10 Baseball games I ever attended: #10

July 1st, 1997: Royals vs. Cubs

T1: Goodwin 4-3, J. Bell F9, J. Damon K
B1: Glanville 1B, McRae 2B, Grace 1B, Sosa 2B, Dunston 1B, Sandberg SF-7, Hernandez 6-4-3.
(Cubs 4, Royals 0)

In Dolberry's opinion the three best things about Chicago are how pretty Lake Michigan looks on a crisp summer day, Giordano's pizza, and Wrigley Field. So, in our last month in Chicagoland it was time to drag APD out to the Friendly Confines.

T2: J King 6-3, J. Dye 4-3, C. Paquette K
B2: Hubbard F9, F. Castillo 3-1, Glanville PO-2
(Cubs 4, Royals 0)

Remember thinking at the time that it was weird that APD's first game would be an interleague matchup. It seems like there's been interleague play for forever, but 1997 was the first year for it. I remember thinking it was a bad idea at the time, but in retrospect I have to grudgingly admit error on that one. I kind of enjoy interleague games now. From a fantasy baseball perspective, it's nice to have 15 games to track instead of 8.

T3: Fasano K, Howard 1B, Rusch E5, Goodwin 2B, Bell BB, Damon P6, King P5.
B3: McRae F8, Grace 1B, Sosa K, Dunston 1B, Sandberg 2B, Hernandez 6-3
(Cubs 5, Royals 1)

We were excited that Glendon Rusch was pitching for the Royals, because we had "seen" him pitch a no-hitter a few seasons earlier at a Single A game against the Kane County Cougars. It still is the only no-hitter I've ever "seen". Seen is in quotation marks because we were in the standing room section of a huge Sunday crowd for that little ballpark and I actually couldn't see Rusch from where we were, but it was cool to be there. Glendon did not fare as well in this one, lasting only 6 innings.

T4: Dye L5, Paquette 5-3, Fasano 5-3
B4: Hubbard F7, Castillo F9, Glanville HR, McRae F8
(Cubs 6, Royals 1)

Doug Glanville had to be one of the smartest players in MLB. He's one of only 5 Penn graduates to play in the bigs. Seemed like a nice guy.

T5: Howard 1B, Rusch K, Goodwin F9, Bell 6-3
B5: Grace F8, Sosa 6-3, Dunston 1B, Sandberg F8
(Cubs 6, Royals 1)

I remember it being a beautiful Tuesday afternoon. Our scorecard says 80 degrees yet there were only 18,745 in attendance. Nowadays, that's a sure sellout for the Cubs. Attendance in 1997 was 2.1 million. The next year was the steroid-fueled run on Maris' record and no year since 1997 has drawn less than 2.6 mil at Wrigley. The last 5 seasons have all been over 3 million.

T6: Damon 1B, King F9, Dye 3U (DP)
B6: Hernandez BB, Hubbard 4-6-3, Castillo 4-3
(Cubs 6, Royals 1)

You may or may not know this but President Obama is a big White Sox fan. I think this can only help the SouthSiders, although I'm not sure how. Maybe there's money for another starter in the stimulus package.

T7: Paquette 5-3, Fasano K, Howard 2B, S. Cooper P5
B7: Glanville BB, McRae P3, Grace 3-6-1
(Cubs 6, Royals 1)

While this was APD's first baseball game, it was not his first sporting event. He had watched Marquette win the Conference USA basketball tournament that March in St. Louis. As parents of a newborn, I remember we were scared that the loud noise of the bands might hurt his little eardrums.

T8: Goodwin K, Bell K, Damon P6
B8: Sosa 1B, Dunston F9, Sandberg P6, Hernandez 6-3
(Cubs 6, Royals 1)

I can't really remember if APD enjoyed the game or not. As far as games go, there'll be others to come in the countdown that were more interesting from a baseball perspective. Both of these teams went on to lose 94 games this year. But this one will always be special as the first one as the Dolberry family. I'm sure the drive back home to Naperville was traffic-crazy, but it was worth it.

T9: King BB, Dye K, Paquette F8, Nunnally BB, Howard 4-3

Final: Cubs 6, Royals 1

Ay Caruba!

Work's been crazy lately. Lots of projects. Lots of projects w/ lots of problems. And as it happens, I'm in the midst of another self-improvement program (Dolberry v.155) so I'm trying to have a good attitude about it all. But it seems the more stuff I shrug/laugh off the more the fates throw at me. So today, the "m" key on my keyboard stops working. Dolberry v.155 says "well, it could have been worse ... it could have been the 'e'". Dolberry v.154 says if it's still not working tomorrow, he's going to throw the keyboard against the wall until either the "m" comes back online, or until all the letters go offline. We'll see which Dolberry shows up tomorrow.

May snow here tonight. 1-3". But then maybe 70 by the weekend. Yay for that.

Our dog (Cherish) is crazy. For one thing, you can't watch a basketball game w/ her. You mildly rebuke a referee for a missed call and she gets in your face all concerned ... "What happened? What's the matter?! Are you all right?!?!? Here, let me lick your face and it'll all be better."
She's way more playful then any dog I've had before. At night, I'll be typing on the keyboard and she'll want to play. Our play sessions involved growling and howling at one another. Not sure why she finds that enjoyable.

Tomorrow, I'm starting my baseball game countdown. Don't even try to talk me out of it. Resistance is futile.

Frosted Obama Flakes

It has come to my attention that Richard Nixon is not in the news much and that if I wanted to increase traffic to the DCV via Google redirects, I should update presidents. Thus the title ...

I got my bike out today. It's generally a bad sign when you literally have to dust off your exercise equipment before using it. Here's my bike route ... it's 15 miles and it's really beautiful after the first 2 miles because you're really out in the country. There's lots of ponds and it's pretty much exclusively through the pines, so even when you're lungs are bursting (from the aforementioned out-of-shapitude), it's somehow comforting to know that if you are going to fall off your bike and die from exhaustion ... at least you'd be dying in a scenic setting.

My Super Bowl prediction, right before it happens is PIT 24 ARZ 16. Of course, the best thing about the Super Bowl is that it means that pro football is over and that it's almost baseball season and March Madness. This week I'll be counting down the best 10 baseball games I've ever attended ... to get us through those last days before pitchers and catchers report. I further predict that Springsteen ends the day w/ the 3rd best halftime show ever, behind U2 and Prince.

stop reading here if you want to avoid a mini-diatribe and a downer ... it is not intended to be holier-than-thou ... know am preaching to the alter people here (tired of the choirpeople getting all the good press) ...

So, the Super Bowl pretty much represents the apex of American gargantuanism. Oversized men chasing each other around with exaggerated senses of self-importance ... in front of millions of people waiting to be sold on what beer would make them funnier or what truck would make them more of a man than they currently are. Meanwhile, there are thousands of people dying (mostly children and the elderly) every day because of simple hunger. It's really absurd if you think about it for even a second. Check out this page if you want to help out in a small way ...