Class of '07 is well...full of class

It's been a few days but I needed it to recover from an incredible weekend. See, I had been waiting to watch Cal Ripken be inducted since I suppose 1987 when I believed he was a lock back then. Silly? Sure. But that is how much of a fan I am of him. Throughout the rest of his career he continued to prove to me as a fan that I was right. I'm not going to write about his accolades as it's been done so much over the past couple of weeks. But we all know it's not just hype and he and Tony Gwynn are all about what role models are.

The Big Day

I bought my camping tickets a while back, lucky I did...it sold out with Ripken fans at every site. We decided to drive into Cooperstown around 2am and somehow we found a parking lot about a mile from the induction site. Hoping we wouldn't be forced to move come morning, we parked and slept in the van. By the time 5am rolled around the lot was packed and it seemed our early bird mentality paid off.

We walked to the induction site, claimed our spot and walked another mile into town. I couldn't believe how many people were there. Didn't see any HOFers but wan't expecting any. It seemed like all I was doing when we got back was waiting. The skies were threatening all day and then about an hour before the ceremony it cleared up and I began to cook in the heat. I didn't care.

After all of the HOFers were introduced it was time for the big speeches. I wasn't disappointed. Both Gwynn and Ripken offered inspiring words and even Rip got me choked up at the end of his.

When he finished, I had a sense of relief for some reason and I also knew it was an ending of what I had waited for after all of these years. What I wrote may not sound that exciting, but to me, it was a dream come true and I was glad to be part of something so huge. 75,000 people and I was there.

So the Fishies are getting pounded by the White Sox on my first day back. I was a little worried that I lost my blog when I let it lapse, but I re-signed up and it let me in.

Good to be back.

Mr. Jinx, stay back!

The Marlins continue their impressive play against the lowly Devil Rays and took game one of the "citrus series" with a combo of good pitching and hitting. Taylor Tankersley actually gave up a run...probably the last one this year. Anibal Sanchez was brought up yesterday to make his debut against the Yanks of all teams. He didn't disappoint with 5+ innings of shutout baseball. He'll be sent back down, but it won't be long before he shows up again. We are o-Fish-ally (sigh) one game behind the Phillies for second place in the NL East and about 6.5 behind the wild card spot. Neither you or I thought this possible but we ain't dreamin', it's da troof.

Quote of the Year

The statement was made to be completed for the fans at Marlinsbaseball.com and had the classic response that only a true Marlin fan might only understand:

You Know You're Obsessed With The Marlins When...

"...every few years you stop talking to all of your old friends and get new, younger friends."

I was rolling on the floor when I read that because it really reads the truth.

I know the Marlins aren't the most popular team, but I still can't believe I am the only blogger on here that writes about the Fish. Not that I'm complaining, because as I said before, I have the market cornered and nothing to compare my entertainment value to except the other outstanding mlblogs around here. Don't forget to check out the list of bloggers by team which is an excellent tool for the time being. Looks like they might be looking to get feeds for all of the blogs as well which would be a great promotion tool for us.

Keep it up Marlins!
 

Many things have been going on in my life over the past month, some pretty bad. But what has truly kept me in good spirits is the play of my beloved Florida Marlins. From being one of the worst teams in the majors to climbing into third place in the NL East and eyeballing the wild card is one heck of a feat.  I don't hate Atlanta, if anything I respect that franchise and its front office and Manager tremendously, but it sure is nice to see them in last place.

In one of the few times I get to see the Fish play on real TV, it of course is raining. From what I gather they will try everything to get the game played at some point today.

A few more comments on the Marlins:

Hanley Ramirez has fallen way off the mark ever since he fell on his back a few weeks ago. Still, he is contributing to this team as a leadoff hitter and is surpassing my intitial expectations for him. Jeremy Hermida's time on the DL has cost him dearly this year. He will still be a super stud in the game and probably heat up this year, but so far he hasn't made the impact I was hoping for as of yet. The surprise of the year that not one of us as Marlin fans saw coming was the immergence of Dan Uggla. His consistant play defensively and his hot bat makes me happy Pokey Reese decided to go AWOL. Thanks Pokey!

Enough for now, my fingers are now juiced back up so I'll be writing about the thing that you really don't care about more often....and you'll like it.

bobby

....Another Nothing


Check out my current renter, Utenzi. Not sure what that is, but it seems to be a photo blog and there's some really cool pictures that you might want to check out. I'm still in that funk where I have no motivation. Funny thing is, this happened the same time last year. I'm watching baseball and reading blogs, but I have nothing to offer. Once T-Ball season is over I think I'll get my groove back. Glad I could help out some of the other mlbloggers spicing up their blogs. I know I have a fun time finding and applying new gadgets and I hope they did as well.

I had to take a little break from blogging a bit. I came on and read some other blogs but I had about zero motivation to write anything. That's really all it was....just kind of in a personal funk. I'd like to promote my current renter, SportsUnderground.com. This is a really interesting blog that I have been checking out pretty much daily since I found it. And since it has to do with sports, it's all the better! So check it out and leave some good comments.

I'll be back writing soon on a regular basis.

Marlins Free Fall Continues

This post has been brought to you by my current blog renter, A Yoga Coffee Outlook, which is the second go round on my site. It's a fantastic blog that many people visited from here last time and went back for a second or third look. So check it out and join the many readers that enjoy her blog. You know, I have  never done yoga before and well, I think I would snap in half if I ever tried any of that stuff I see people do.


Anyway, the Marlins are in danger of falling twenty games under .500 only forty games into the season. The sad thing is that they are doing it in a way that would drive any fan crazy. Games that seem to be a lock are being blown in the ninth or extra innings. The season will be fun for me here on out as I can watch the different ways the Marlins can lose. Yay, baseball!

In other news, I'll be checking out the beta version of MLB.tv Mosaic tonight. That's going to be a sweet addition to my sports life for sure.

Fish Bats Still Smokin'

In the rubber match against Pittsburgh, the Marlins exploded on the Pirates early on getting eight runs in the first two innings. Pirate starter Ian Snell basically pitched BP to the Fish giving up seven of the runs and all of them earned. If you look at the Marlins everyday lineup, three of the players are batting over .300 with Hammer going 0-4 today dropping his average to .296. I wonder when MLB is going to change his position on his bio to LF, considering it's pretty official he's our starting left fielder.

How about Shadez getting it done in the leadoff spot. He cooled off a bit earlier this month but got hot again raising his BA to .345 and his OBP to over .400. Rookie of the Year lock if he keeps up the pace. I'm not counting out Hammer or Dan Uggla for that honor either. Uggla is having quite a year himself, considering Pokey Reese was supposed to be the starting 2B until he bolted. The hitting isn't the problem with this team, it's the awful starting pitching and non-existent pen. Even with Moehler's fantastic performance today, his ERA is still over eight.

Dontrelle Willis was quoted as saying he better get his act together on the mound or he may not have a job. This is why he is now my favorite player in the league. He is completely selfless, cares only for winning, not stats and his great attitude during the game and in the clubhouse is one that every team needs. The rumors of trading him are ridiculous, because even if we got Albert Pujols straight up I wouldn't want the deal. One hitter for this team won't make a difference so why do it? I base value on more than just stats and Train in my opinion is invaluable.

I decided to change the name of my blog, just slightly. Having the word blog in a blog seemed a little weird. My first blog over at MarlinsBaseball was/is called Deep Fried Blog. The word "blog" sounds like something you would cook in a deep fat fryer so that's where the name came from. It only seemed natural to call this Deep Fried Fish for a Marlins blog. By the way, the word "blog" appears seven, er, eight times in this post. Is that a record?

So this is now officially Deep Fried Fish...if anyone cares.


Stadium Arcadium Review


Being highly biased and couldn't care less that I am, I proclaim this current Chili Pepper release a success. The two disc set, "Jupiter" and "Mars", have flat out blown me away. Once again, the Peppers have reinvented their own sound. I'm not saying they sound completely different, but enough to separate this from any other release. I'm writing this listening to the Mars disc, and from what I hear this is so far a little bit more mellow than "Jupiter".  The first single, "Dani California" is on the Jupiter disc along with the title track and a great song called "Charlie".

I'm skeptical about double discs because I feel that the band is releasing more than they need to and what ensues is about one album worth of good music and the rest is just mediocre or plain garbage. This isn't the case here, where the Peppers rock on every single song and I can say I love them all.

Finally!

Just posting this to share my excitement with everyone. Tomorrow, 5/9, the Red Hot Chili Peppers finally release Stadium Arcadium. Luckily, I have the day off from work so I'll be getting it first thing in the morning. The Peppers have been one of my favorite bands since 1989 and they never disappoint with their releases. For those of you that may know the bands older music...and I mean way back as in 1984's self titled album, I recommend spending your hard earned cash on them. I feel like a kid going to Disney World for the first time....off to bed!