Perfecto!

Roy Halladay
Philadelphia Phillies (2010)
Doc tossed the second perfect game in franchise history, and the 20th perfect game in the history of Major League Baseball with a dominant performance against Florida Marlins tonight.  The Phillies ace threw 115 pitches and struck out 11 batters to improve his record to 7 - 3.

A Phanatic Birthday

This "can you spot the difference" game was in the program from the Phillies vs. Cubs game that I went to on Wednesday.  The photo appears to have been taken last April for the Phillie Phanatic's birthday celebration.  Guests include a giant Tastykake Butterscotch Krimpet and a gathering of inflatable mascots known as the Zooperstars.  I hadn't heard of them before but they've got some pretty awesome bad pun names, including Ken Giraffey Jr, Cow Ripken Jr, Ichiroach Suzuki and Nolan Rhino.

Light Up With Power Pellets

Pac-Man 30th Anniversary Lighter
Zippo (2009)
The iconic arcade classic was first released to arcades in Japan on May 22nd, 1980.  In honor of it's 30th anniversary, Zippo has released a set of three Pac-Man lighters.

No Run Support For Jamie Moyer

Wednesday - May 19, 2010

Chicago Cubs @ Philadelphia Phillies

Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA

Pitching: Tom Gorzelanny vs. Jamie Moyer

Results: Cubs defeat Phillies, 4 - 1

Phillies 47 year old Jamie Moyer began his Major League career with the Chicago Cubs.  I was five years old when he made his MLB debut on June 16, 1986 at Wrigley Field against Steve Carlton and the Phillies.  Since leaving Chicago after his first three seasons, Moyer pitched for the Rangers, Cardinals, Orioles, Red Sox, and Mariners before the Phillies acquired him in a trade in August 2006.

Prior to the start of the season, Moyer had pitched against the Cubs seven times, going 3-1 with a 4.60 ERA.  Last night was the 8th time he faced the team where he began his career.

Moyer pitched seven strong innings.  He struck out seven batters and gave up just two runs on four hits and a walk.  Unfortunately, the Phillies couldn't give him much in the way of run support.  Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins singled in the bottom of the 2nd, and Carlos Ruiz was hit by a pitch to load the bases with two outs, but this brought up the pitcher's spot in the lineup and the Phillies were unable to score.

The Phillies didn't have another baserunner until Shane Victorino walked to lead off the bottom of the 6th.  They didn't put a run on the board until the 8th when Ryan Howard grounded out with one out to score Placido Polanco from third.  It was their only run of the game.  The team went 1-10 with runners in scoring position and took the 4-1 loss.

 

Dewmocracy

Dewmocracy
Mountain Dew (2010)
There are three new flavors of Mountain Dew which are part of a promotion called Dewmocracy.  Fans are encouraged to vote for their favorite flavor, with the winning flavor being chosen as the next permanent flavor of Mountain Dew.  I tried all three of them and these are my thoughts.

The first one that I tried is called Distortion, which is meant to be "lime blasted Dew".  I guess it does sort of have a lime aftertaste, but it didn't really taste too much different from regular Mountain Dew.  It's not bad, but I doubt that anyone will miss this when its gone assuming that it loses the vote (which I suspect that it will).

The next one that I had is called Typhoon, which is a "punch of Tropical Dew".  This one definitely tasted different from regular Mountain Dew.  As the copy on the label suggests, it had a flavor that reminded me of fruit punch, as if you were at a fast food soda fountain and mixed Hawaiian Punch with Mountain Dew.  This one gets my vote.

 

White Out is my least favorite of the three Dewmocracy flavors.  The label says that it's a "smooth citrus Dew", but it kind of just tasted like a generic store brand version of Sprite or 7-Up.  It's not terrible, but if this flavor appeals to you, you might as well save yourself some money and just get Twist Up from Wal-Mart.

If I'm being completely honest, none of these three flavors really blew me away.  Typhoon was the only one that struck me as being significantly different from the existing lemon-lime sodas on the market, but even that one wasn't amazing or anything - it was just the best of the three.

The Stand Bookmark

Twenty years ago, The Complete and Uncut Edition of The Stand was published.  This was the version of The Stand that I first read.  It's by far my favorite novel.

Robin Roberts Seafood Restaurant

Robin Roberts Neptunalia Seafood Restaurant
Thunderbolt, GA and Savannah, GA

While looking up the career of the late Robin Roberts, I learned that he was the president and part owner of the Neptunalia Seafood Company (makers of Gold King frozen shrimp) since March 1956.  At that point, he still had another 11 years remaining in his MLB career, so the ace anchored the Phillies rotation while simultaneously running a large seafood producer and distributor.  I also found a postcard which shows that he owned two seafood restaurants in Georgia - one that was on East Victory Drive in Thunderbolt and Highway 17 (1 Mile South) in Savannah.

source: Charlotte Observer (January 30, 1962)

I wasn't able to find out what happened to the restaurants or to the seafood company that supplied their food, but there were a few articles written about Mr. Roberts' business ventures outside of baseball during his playing career.

source: Bristol Herald Courier (March 29, 1956)

source: Philadelphia Inquirer (January 24, 1957)

Moyer Blanks The Braves

Jamie Moyer
Philadelphia Phillies (2010)

Last night, Jamie Moyer became the oldest pitcher in the history of Major League Baseball to throw a complete game shutout.  At 47 years and 170 days old, the left hander gave up just two hits and no walks in the Phillies 7-0 victory against the Atlanta Braves.

The Ace Of The Whiz Kids

Robin Roberts
1926 - 2010

The legendary Robin Roberts passed away yesterday at his Florida home at age 83.  The Hall-of-Famer is one of the greatest Philadelphia Phillies of all time, and among the greatest pitchers who ever played the game.

This lithograph of the seven time All Star was created two years ago by artist Bill Purdom for the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  It depicts one of the most memorable games from his long career.  It was October 1st, 1950 - the final game of the regular season.  The Phillies were in Brooklyn playing the Dodgers with the pennant on the line.  Roberts pitched a 10 inning complete game shutout to clinch the 1950 National League pennant for the Whiz Kids.

I found out about Mr. Roberts' passing while we were in New York waiting for the theater to open for the A-Ha concert.  I took this picture of the ABC News ticker at Times Square Studio (where Good Morning America is filmed) just a few moments after I found out.

He Feels The Need...

Cannabis Connoisseur Fundraising Drive
We met this gentleman before an A-Ha concert in New York City.  I donated a few bucks to the cause in exchange for the photo.

Ending on a High Note

A-ha: Ending On A High Note Nokia Theater, New York City - May 6, 2010
This is the farewell tour for A-ha.  I've long been a fan of the group and of new wave and synthpop in general, but this show had a special meaning to me.  My girlfriend and I have been together now for almost four years and "Take On Me" has been our song from day one.

The show began with Foot Of The Mountain and The Bandstand, which are two tracks from their 2009 album, Foot Of The Mountain.  It's an incredible record, by the way.  I discovered it earlier this year and absolutely fell in love with every song.

This was followed up with the title track from their 2005 album Analogue, and then Forever Not Yours off of Lifeline, which was released in 2002.  It was about this time that I noticed a pattern start to emerge.  They began the show with their most recent hits and then worked their way back through their catalog from there.  Sure enough, the next song stayed true to the pattern.  It was Minor Earth Major Sky and Summer Moved On off of their 2000 album, followed by Move To Memphis from the 1993 album Memorial Beach.

Next came four of their hits from their phenomenal 1988 release Stay On These Roads, including The Blood That Moves The Body, the album's title track, and The Living Daylights, which is the band's 007 song that was featured in the opening credits of the first of two Timothy Dalton Bond flicks.  This was followed up by And You Tell Me, which is a beautiful ballad from their 1985 debut album: Hunting High And Low.

After these first eleven songs, the pattern of newest to oldest broke.  They performed Early Morning off of their 1990 album: East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon and then played six of the ten tracks from their second studio album, Scoundrel Days, which was released in 1986, starting with the title track which was followed by The Swing Of Things, We're Looking For The Whales, Manhattan Skyline, I've Been Losing You, and Cry Wolf.  I wish they would have kept going through the album and played one of my favorite A-ha songs, Soft Rains of April, but no such luck.  Still, I have no complaints at all.  This was amazing!

They came back and did two encores with the three biggest songs off of their debut album.  The first encore was The Sun Always Shines On TV and Hunting High And Low.  The second encore, of course, was the iconic Take On Me.  It was the perfect end to an incredible show that I never thought I'd ever have the chance to see in person.  I cannot find the words to express how happy and thankful I am to have seen this.

This was my first time to the Nokia Theater.  It's a really awesome venue that sits in the heart of the biggest city in the world, but it has a very intimate feel.  We had a perfect spot in the front and dead center of the raised general admission riser, surrounded by other A-ha fans, but with room to breathe and a completely unobstructed view.  I couldn't have wished for a better experience.

Here is the full setlist from the show:

What Flavor Of Kool Aid Goes With Pork

The Argyle Sweater
Scott Hilburn (2010)

Springtime Horror

Garden Drive In
Hunlock Creek, PA
Tonight, they're showing the remake of A Nightmare On Elm Street and Mel Gibson in Edge Of Darkness.

Back To The Eighties

Rubix Kube
Penn's Peak - Jim Thorpe, PA
I don't typically go to see a lot of cover bands, but this band had an incredible show.  The band is based out of The Canal Room in New York and is made up of Cherie Martorana and Scott Lovelady on lead vocals, with Eric Presti, Rich Forman, John LaSpina and Michael Maenza.

Strange Laundry: Dwight Gooden (Tampa Bay)

Dwight Gooden
Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2000)
The Devil Rays had terrible luck with starting pitchers in the third year of the franchise.  In January, they signed veteran starter Juan Guzman to a two year contract to join team ace Wilson Alvarez at the top of their rotation.  Things were looking positive, but then the season started and everything went wrong.  Wilson Alvarez injured his shoulder during Spring Training and began the season on the disabled list, and his injuries required arthroscopic shoulder surgery which caused him to miss the entire 2000 and 2001 seasons.  As bad as that sounds, Juan Guzman's fate was even worse.  On the same day that Dwight Gooden made his only start for the Astros, Guzman made his only start for the Devil Rays, and it would be his final appearance in an MLB game.  He gave up 8 runs on 7 hits in 1 ⅔ innings of work against the Cleveland Indians, including home runs to Omar Vizquel and Jim Thome.  He made several minor league rehab appearances in 2000 and 2001, but never again made it to the big leagues.

With their top two starters out of commission after just the fifth game of the season, the Devil Rays purchased the contract of Dwight Gooden from the Houston Astros.  Doc was impressive in his first start for Tampa Bay, which was ten years ago today. He gave up just four hits in six shutout innings against the Detroit Tigers, and he earned his first victory of the season.  Although he would go 2-0 before the end of April, his Devil Rays debut was the highlight of his time in Tampa Bay.  His ERA ballooned to 6.86 after his ninth start of the season, at which point he was released.

New York Daily News  (September 30, 2000)

Thankfully, Doc's release from the Devil Rays was not the end of his story.  He returned to the New York Yankees in July working mostly in middle relief, but he also made five spot starts.  Gooden was 4-2 with a 3.36 ERA in the final half season of his career in New York, and he even notched the second and third saves of his career.

Dwight Gooden finished the season with a record of 6-5 combined in his time with the Astros, Devil Rays and Yankees with a respectable 4.54 ERA.  The last innings of his career were pitched in the post-season, which ended in the Yankees 2000 World Series Championship.  To the best of my knowledge, he is the only pitcher to win a championship ring with both the Mets and Yankees.

Strange Laundry: Dwight Gooden (Houston)

Dwight Gooden
Houston Astros (2000)

Doc is best known for his eleven years pitching for the New York Mets, and for his career resurgence in the late 90's with the New York Yankees that included a no-hitter against the Seattle Mariners.  He finished the last two years of the decade with the Cleveland Indians, but his final season in the big leagues began ten years ago with his one and only appearance as a member of the Houston Astros.

Asbury Park Press - Asbury Park, NJ  (April 9, 2000)

Dwight Gooden was the starting pitcher for the Astros against the Philadelphia Phillies on the afternoon of April 8th, 2000.  It was the second game ever played at Minute Maid Park, which at the time had the unfortunate name of Enron Field.

Philadelphia wasted no time getting on the board when center fielder Doug Glanville smacked Gooden's second pitch of the game for a home run.  He also gave up an RBI single to Bobby Abreu in the third and back-to-back RBI doubles in the fourth by Tomas Perez and Phillies starter Chris Brock.  Doc was relieved in the fifth inning with the game tied 4-4 and did not get the decision in the Astros 8-5 victory.

 

The Tampa Tribune - Tampa, FL  (April 14, 2000)

Just five days later, the Astros traded the youngest Cy Young Award winner of all time to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, but that's a piece of strange laundry for another time.

Smart Ass

This was a project for Dr. Selden's Social Psychology course at Wilkes in 2010.  The goal was to create an infomercial that used as many of the methods of persuasion as possible.

Movie Rental Memories

Blowout Video
Airport Road - Hazleton, PA
The news of Hollywood Video closing reminded me of the Blowout Video rental store that was inside the Wal-Mart in Hazleton.  I worked there for a bit in 1999 while I was recovering from a car accident.  The store changed from Blowout Video to Movie Gallery while I was still working there, and our stock at the time was entirely VHS tapes and games for Playstation and Nintendo 64.  It closed sometime in the mid 2000's.

It was a great summer job.  We got unlimited free rentals, and we had a pretty impressive collection of horror and science fiction, so I got to catch up on a lot of movies that I've always wanted to see.  We were also allowed to put a movie on the televisions that hung in the top corners of the store (the old CRT boxes of the late 90's).  The only rule was that I couldn't show a movie that had profanity or nudity.  The Wedding Singer was one of my go-to selections, and I got really good at knowing exactly when to hit mute during Adam Sandler's rendition of "Somebody Kill Me".

The Sun Sets On Hollywood

Hollywood Video
Weis Lane - West Hazleton, PA
This has been my favorite video store in town since they opened.  They had an excellent selection of horror flicks and anime.  I first discovered Neon Genesis Evangelion here.  I was able to pick up a ton of tapes for a dollar each when they made the switch to DVD.  They also had an incredible subscription service that let you take out three movies at a time for one monthly membership fee.  I'm going to miss this place.

The Dawn Of The Whiz Kids

Life Magazine
March 27, 1950
This article was published during Spring Training in 1950.  This season's Philadelphia Phillies ballclub, which would go down in history as the Whiz Kids, went 91-63 to overtake the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants to win their second pennant in franchise history.  [1][2]

Taco Fueled Retro Gaming

Atari Kids Meal
Taco Bell (2010)

For a limited time, you will receive a vintage Atari game on CD Rom with any purchase of a Taco Bell Kids Meal.  Each game is compatible with Windows or Mac, and will also be available to purchase separately for about $1.50 per game.

The four games that are available are Asteroids, Super Breakout, Lunar Lander and Centipede.  There are three different levels of difficult, and each CD Rom includes a port of the original game as well as a second version of the game based on the Atari Classics Evolved re-release on PSP.