Year 3 - Day 141 - May 20

We went down to DC today for an Orioles/Nationals game. Sadly, the Orioles did not add any more wins to their attempts at reaching .500, but we did get to see Strasburg pitch AND hit a homer. Granted, you don't really want to see the other team's pitcher hit a home run, but it was pretty cool anyway. Their stadium was nice, but ours is of course nicer. :) If we go again, we'll go early so we have time to walk around and see the park. It's way more expensive than an Orioles game. While our seats had a good view (see above), they were $20 and that's as cheap as it gets there. There are tons of tickets available for under that price at Oriole Park. The food was comparable in pricing to Camden Yards, but there wasn't the same variety. We did notice there were some fancier things downstairs but we didn't venture down there. All in all, a very nice day. Even if they lost!

Year 3 - Day 140 - May 19

We went to our friends' house for their annual Preakness Party today. On the way out, we noticed their two cats lounging in the window downstairs. Then, Killer The Neighborhood Cat walked up and Scout & Charlotte jumped to attention. It was pretty funny.

Also cute, but not showing in the photo, Killer's got a new tag on his/her collar - it's an Orioles tag. I'm 100% positive I've never seen that before! More proof that people are starting to think that maybe just maybe this will be the year to get above .500!! :)

Year 3 - Day 136 - May 15

How cool is that? (Zoom in if you can.)

Stores around town actually have "Go Orioles" signs up!

It might not last long, but it sure is fun right now.

Year 3 - Day 127 - May 6

While I was watching the Orioles game this afternoon (and evening, but more on that later), Brad's posted on Facebook that their "U-Pick" fields were open for picking. I decided to just hop over for 5 minutes or so and pick myself a snack. I got more than half a bowl, just more than 2 quarts, for $3 and change. That's a much more reasonable price than the $4.50 a quart they get for pre-picked berries.

So, the O's game. Before it came on, I got my errands done so that I could be back for the start of the game. They've been playing decently and I thought there might be a chance they'd sweep the Red Sox. After 4 or 5 innings, I headed out to pick my berries. I wasn't gone for long and watched another inning or two while I waited for Mike. We went to drop off the car and stopped by the grocery store to pick a few things up that are on sale this week and came home. Watched another inning or so while we cooked dinner and then ate dinner with the game on since they were well into extra innings at that point. When we cleaned up, the game was STILL ON. The last couple innings were the best, because that's when our 1B/DH came in to pitch. I was just worried about him blowing out an arm (I'm looking at you, Jose Canseco!) but he not only survived, he got the Win. Amazing. It was the craziest baseball game I've ever seen. And it was 6+ hours!!!

Year 3 - Day 117 - April 26

Can you read that? It's Brian Matusz's glove as shown on the Orioles' game tonight. (Thank you DVR, for allowing me to rewind and pause.)

But wait, that script doesn't say Brian Matusz! It says BRADY ANDERSON! I do know that Brian is one of the many Orioles participating in the "Brady Bunch" (a health, strength, and conditioning group from what I understand) so perhaps Brady let him use it? Who knows, but it caught my eye.

Year 2 - Day 248 - September 6

Tuesday night is class night. Even though the class is 3 hours a week, I'm definitely putting major hours into it. It's fun though, because I'm using my brain in a totally different way. It's exhausting getting home late though.

With this week being the 10 anniversary of 9/11, lots of people will be sharing "Where were you?" stories. However, today's September 6, a much happier day in our city's history.

I prefer to think, where were you on September 6, 1995? Sixteen years ago tonight, Cal broke Lou Gehrig's streak with 2131 consecutive games played. I wasn't there. I was working at Music & Arts until 9, and then raced home. Luckily, the excitement wasn't until the middle of the 5th inning (since the O's were winning, thank you pitcher Mike) and I made it with just a little time to spare. I taped the excitement on both our local sports channel (HTS at the time which has since morphed into MASN) and ESPN. What a wonderful night. I had goosebumps, and I still do when I see footage of Cal's victory lap. In addition to Cal's excitement, the Orioles were SO GOOD back then!

I was however at the game the night before, when he tied the record at 2130. That's one of my few tee shirts that survived the "cut them all up to make a quilt some day" massacre. My now husband was there too, just a couple sections over from where we were sitting!

Year 2 - Day 104 - April 15

Once baseball season starts, at least in the beginning before the Orioles completely fall apart, there is always something to watch on TV.  We watch a lot of baseball.  In general, there's a lot of sports on in this house year round, but baseball is the only one we both like! :)  I even got to watch "my" team during my Yankee years because they are on National TV regularly.  I don't follow them as much anymore now that Mike retired, and I'm putting a lot of effort into trying to care about the Orioles this year.  In Buck we trust....