Time for some more TWIB Notes as the NL Wild Card race is heating up...

Braves continue to roll after 7-2 road trip
That's good enough for the 3rd best road-trip record posted during their 15-year run. What got me going the last few nights while the ATL was disposing of the Phizzlin' Phils were the E-A-G-L-E-S chants overheard from the Phillie crowd. That's why they're the best (or at least funniest) fans in sports.

Redlegs make strange deals, continue impressive Wild Card run
I'm not sure dealing young, highly productive bats for off and on middle relievers is a good idea, but Cincy hasn't lost a step on the field. Relief pitchers' confidence and effectiveness seems to come and go so quickly, while "No, Not That" Felipe Lopez and Austin "Boom-Boom" Kearns really helped make that Reds lineup holeless. Acquiring Eddie Guardado looks like a great move though, as he has yet to blow a save.

But what about Sutcliffe?
Harold Reynolds is out at ESPN, but what about Rick Sutcliffe? Sure Sut is jolly and happy to be calling games for the "Evil Empire*", but inaccuracies like "I think Vasquez needs to come clean with management about his injury" and "When you open up the newspaper tomorrow and look at the transactions, you'll see the Braves have made two - Marcus Giles to the DL and Jorge Sosa released" surely cannot be nullified by the occasional "Chuck James has all the makings of a quality starting pitcher - you'll soon see him in that rotation."

Actually, Rick Sutcliffe's untruthiness serves as "such a blessin'**" to those of us "eyeball deep***" in fantasy football research. Take it all with a grain of salt I guess because these heads can't talk that much and still say something.

* Kreider-ism
** Bender-ism
*** DebEllis-ism?

Labels: baseball

After many failed attempts, The Institute's newly redesigned web site will be going live Monday at 10am-ish. However, Blah, Blah, Blog has acquired this exclusive sneak preview of the forthcoming design:


Software/Scripts that I'll vouch for:

• Zoom Search Engine - Free version for sites under 50 pages
• Fadeshow Slideshow Script
• DU Gallery - Free image gallery application
• FipsForum - Simple Bulletin Board Application

Labels: web design, work

Intrigued by Rich B's semi-experiment, I finally completed some gas-mileage tracking:

Test     Speeds    Mi.   Gal.    MPG*
------   --------  ---   -----   ----
Tank 1   Normal**  325   15.24   21.3
Tank 2   < 65 mpg  355   16.22   21.8

I drove a whole 2 1/2 weeks without exceeding 65 mph and saved a whopping .5 mpg! I was also very conscious of my AC/Windows situation as well. I guess this means that you've got to drop below 60 or less to really start to see an improvement. Or maybe only worry about it if you're in the midst of extended highway driving.

* My car's estimated MPG is 19 city/ 27 hwy
** Normal driving includes occasional speeds between 75 and 80

P.S. Good to see the old PRE tags still work.

Labels: gas, research

You will not be able to stay home brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.
The Revolution will not be televised.

The votes are in and York's long-awaited minor league (not really) baseball team has been tagged Revolution (Flood's choice). I'm not sure York city or county could be known for "a sudden, radical, or complete change", but apparently there's some kind of connection. Other Revolutions:

New England Revolution
Greensboro Revolution

I have to admit that some of the material on the team's web site gets me a little excited about this club. The stadium location is really kind of cool - replacing an area historically known as The Swamp with a multi-million dollar baseball stadium is positive change. Maybe revolutionary. And the renderings of what the stadium will look like are impressive, complete with Brooks Robinson statue.

The Revolution will not be televised.
Will not be televised.
Will not be televised.
Will not be televised.
There will be no reruns brothers because the Revolution is live.

Labels: baseball, Revolution

I know exactly how Allen Heckard feels.

It's not easy having to share your identity with famous sports stars. The double-takes as you're walking down the street. The autograph requests. Kids wanting to see if you can catch up with their heater. It's all in a days work when you look just like Jackie Brandt.

Just like Jackie, I weigh 170 lbs., bat right, throw right, and was born in April. But c'mon people, JB's 5'11", clearly an inch shorter than me!

And to think folks say I am somehow bringing on all of this attention myself. Like I'm the only guy who walks around muttering things like "When I played, we didn't care that we only got paid $100 a week... we just loved the game" while sporting a vintage '58 Giants twill cap. Purely coincidental.

Now, thanks to Mr. Heckard's courage, I'm looking you up Jackie Brandt. You figure my age and you multiply that times the number of people under 40 who heard of you and divide that by how many times you led the league in triples and then I turn around and I figure I'm suing you for $248.11.

Labels: baseball, rants

It's been awhile since I've created desktop pictures for my Desktops web site. So long in fact that Freeservers updated their site, including major improvements to their online site-building tools. If you can stand the barrage of banner ads they place on your site, their free service is worth a shot. I gotta vouch.

Anyway, 5 new desktops have been added to my site, which has a permanent link in the left column of this blog. They're fun to create so I hope to continue adding new ones in the coming months.

Labels: Mallory, web design

Okay Mr. Todd-Tastic, I'll play your game... movie talk! Despite swearing off Will Farrell movies, this new Talladega Nights, The Ballad of Ricky Bobby movie looks funny (even if the Create Your Own Poster feature is iffy).

Labels: Mallory, movies?

Don't miss your chance to catch Lakeview Lumber Co.'s own Tony Armas, Jr. (card #1 in the Ace of Diamonds subset) live at the capital:

Jul 5 Armas will make two rehab starts before returning to the Nationals after the All-Star break. The right-hander has a strained right forearm and has been sidelined since June 20. He will start for Double-A Harrisburg on Wednesday and next Monday.

If only the York Steel Rose Choppers could deliver flamethrowers like TAJr!

Well, after trying many of the recommended proxy sites, I've come to realize that fighting the power isn't as routine as Chuck D makes it out to be. Through the proxies, I can access Yahoo's fantasy pages, but I cannot log in to my league pages. They ask for a pay service at that point, and cannot guarantee that even that will work. I feel like I'm running the Washington Nats and Peter Angelos is The Institute's IT.

Thanks to Libby (blog) for the comic strip.

Labels: websense