Vacation

I am on vacation this week.  My plans are to get some work done around the house.  Lawn mowing, firewood, insulating and whatever else I come across.  We were supposed to get a load of firewood delivered yesterday.  With the heavy rains we received the seller must have thought better of showing up.  Perhaps we will get the load today.  I have about three face cord already stacked.  This is wood I cut and split from downed trees in our woods.  I have another one to two face cords cut and split still in the woods.  I have some pretty good sized tops that have yet to be buzzed up.

Today I am waiting for the lawn to dry up so I can finish mowing.  I did the bulk of the lawn Monday.  Dealing with my mower's propensity for shutting down when it gets hot prevented me from completing the task Monday as it quit running three times during the project.  Hopefully I can get her going today and can finish up the job.  It is much cooler out today after the storm front moved through yesterday.  They're calling for a high of sixty-one degrees today with cloudy skies.

Patti and I will be heading out to Met Life Stadium this weekend to see the Boss in concert.  It will be the fourth time seeing him in concert: once in the Dome in Syracuse and twice in Albany.  The Wrecking Ball Tour.  Randy Day and his wife saw him at Vernon Downs last month and they left before he ended.  Springsteen had gone for over three and a half hours when they left.  Patti and I will not be leaving before the concert ends.

What is Up at Fox Sports Baseball?

I figured Fox would have the Dodgers vs. the Nationals as their Saturday game.  What better qualifications does any of today's games have over this contest?  The two best records in the NL, Billingsley vs. Strasburg, Bryce Harper making his Major League debut for the Nationals and Matt Kemp, the best all-round player in the majors, should be enough to catch someone's attention at Fox Sports.

Instead they offer Brewers-Cardinals, Angels-Indians and Royals-Twins.  We're talking a combined record of 49-69 for these six teams with only one having more than ten wins.  Both the Dodgers and the Nationals are 14-6.  Riveting baseball!

A little preview of the Dodger-Nationals game is in order.  Billingsley is 2-1 with a 3.04 ERA, a WHIP of 0.93 with 19 strikeouts in four starts.  Strasburg is 2-0 with a 1.08 ERA, a WHIP of 0.92 with 25 strikeouts in four starts.  Matt Kemp has 10 home runs, 23 RBI (note to Mike Greenburg: no "s" after RBI) with a .453 batting average for the Doders while Andre Ethier has a .299 BA with 5 HR and a league-leading 24 RBI. Adam La Roche is leading Washington's offense with a .333 BA.  He has 3 HR, one of which was a two-run blast of Kershaw last night, and 16 RBI.  Bryce Harper, 19 year old LF for the Nationals, has been called up from Triple-A Syracuse, where he has hit .250, to take the roster spot of Ryan Zimmerman, who has been placed on the DL and will make his Major League debut tonight.

Kershaw

ESPN MLB Clayton Kershaw leaves start early

Not such a good start of the season for Kershaw.  Not feeling well he was pulled early by Dodger manager, Don Mattingly.  He did manage to get the Dodger's first hit of the season before exiting the game.   The important thing is the Dodgers got the win.  Kershaw should be back as it was flu-like symptoms.

In the interim the Dodgers have jumped to a three and O start.  Granted it is against the Padres.  They did their best trying to blow last night's game.  Walk in three runs in a row?  My goodness.  They came back to get the win in the eleventh.