Vatican moves to St. Petersburg

...much rather have Schlichting than the Pope. In case anyone cares.

Josh Paul will be a good player with the Rays.  He's got respect from Maddon and should thrive.  I'm glad he'll get a shot at being an everyday player.  we might regret losing him.

 offers little to the bottom line other than warming up the pitchers between innings. . . he's a good guy, but that's about it, the fact that they got any type of prospect form him is shocking.

ANAHEIM  - It was a battle of lefties, Ranger Kenny Rogers vs Angel Jarrod Washburn, on June 22nd.  Rogers' "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" gopher ball was working overtime.  Juan Rivera solved Rogers for a 3-run home run in the 1st inning and Bengie Molina added a solo shot in the 3rd.  

    The Angels were up 5-0 after three innings when the Angels Stadium announcer said to look on page 25 of your program to see if it is signed by Josh Paul, the Angels' 3rd string catcher.  There next to the recipe for "Josh Paul's Mom's Brownies" was a photo of Paul with his arms crossed beneath the Angels letters on his uniform with an "Enjoy!  Josh Paul" signed over it.  Paul made the exclamation point curved to look like a combination of an exclamation point and a question mark.  I interpret the Zen Master's scribble to be an exclamation point.

    I waited until the game was over (a 6-0 win over the cameraman basher) before visiting Fan Relations on the field level on the 3rd base side.  I did not want to show up until I had a completed scorecard.  I had been to Fan Relations 3 years before when Rickey got lost at a game.  Yes, indeed I had won the Delta Airlines "fly roundtrip free anywhere in the continental United States" promotion.  I erroneously thought that it was a round trip for two like the "if any Angel hits a triple in tonight's game you win 2 round trip tickets" or "if an Angel homers in the 2nd inning you win 2 round trip tickets" promotions.  My bad.  An envelope containing a ticket voucher was given to me after I filled out a form with my name, address, and phone number.  Another fan's data was on the line above mine.  Evidently this program signing promotion has two winners each getting one round trip air voucher.  I was not one to complain.  A ticket in hand is better than two in the bush.  You buy a thousand programs lifetime and you ought to win something!

    When to go?  I had left All Star week open thinking that Rickey and I would go hiking to Twin Lakes below Silliman Pass in Sequoia National Park.  That is where I spent the summer of 1979 working on a trail construction crew building a switchback trail on the west side approach to Silliman Pass.  Rickey said he did not really want to go hiking so I reverted to my default answer "baseball."

    Where to go?  The weekend of July 14th to 17th has the Barry the Boneless Giants playing at Los Angeles.  Both the Giants and Dodgers have been defanged.  Better to go elsewhere.  I first thought of the Washington Nationals.  Checking an early 60's baseball yearbook I realized that I had been to all of the American League ballparks of that era EXCEPT for JFK Stadium in Washington.  The Nationals open the 2nd half of the season on the road, so no luck there.  

    I next thought about Camden Yards in Baltimore.  Not to be.  The Orioles will be in Seattle.  Scratch that.  I can drive there.  How about Jacobs Field in Cleveland?  Yes, the Chicago White Sox are playing there against the Indians.  I could combine going to three games with a trip to the Rock `n Roll Museum.  I reconsidered when I thought about listening to Chief Wahoo beating on his tom-toms in the bleachers all weekend.

    Then I found that the Houston Astros would be playing at St. Louis.  All of the other major league teams resume play after the All Star break on Thursday July 14th.  The Astros and Cardinals resume play on Friday July 15th.  That would guarantee that I would see Roger "the Rocket" Clemens.  I could see the two teams that played in the 2004 NLCS while I was in India.

    On June 30th I telephoned Delta Airlines, mentioned the flights I wanted (Santa Ana--Salt Lake City--Cincinnati--St. Louis--Atlanta--Santa Ana) and was informed that the 8:15 p.m. flight on July 14th to Salt Lake City was full.  The only way I could get on it was to buy a round trip ticket.  No way Jose!  That is bait and switch!  I proposed alternative Plan B-- I would go to Cleveland instead.  For that destination the Salt Lake City flight was open.  If it is good for the goose it should be good for the gander.  How could that be?  I was put on hold for 3 or 4 minutes before being informed that yes, I could fly to St. Louis via Salt Lake City.  That afternoon I drove to John Wayne Airport to pick up my eTickets.  I was not going to purchased Cardinal tickets, book a hotel room, and reserve a rent a car without the air tickets in hand.

    St. Louis in mid-July?  Hey, if I can handle Bangkok in July and August I can sure handle St. Louis.  Just to be safe I will be staying at a hotel that has a swimming pool.  The heat and humidity in St. Louis cannot be worse than the 99 degrees Fahrenheit and 100% humidity at the July 8th, 1992 Expos @ Dodgers doubleheader.

    This is the last year for Busch Memorial Stadium.  Busch is the sole survivor of the cookie-cutter UFO oval stadiums.  Busch's cousins in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh all have been dynamited.  The architect who designed those stadiums should be stood up in front of a wall and shot.  A multi-purpose stadium does not make for a good ball yard.  

    I was last in St. Louis on Memorial Day weekend in 1972 to see the Mets take 2-out-of-3 from the Cards.  That weekend Ron Lewis (from Portsmouth, Virginia) and I drove 950 miles round trip from Omaha to St. Louis and did NOT get to see Bob Gibson, Steve Carlton, or Tom Seaver pitch.  After the Saturday night game we drove through the riverfront section of St. Louis and passed a police car that had four cops in it.  We figured that we were in the wrong part of town.  At Offutt AFB, Lewis was nicknamed "Low Blow," the name of a Soviet radar, because of his fire hydrant build.  The Low Blow had a B354 nomenclature, easy to remember because the Cubs' Bill Madlock won the 1975 N.L. batting title with a .354 average.

    I will be returning to the scene of the crime.  On my first visit to St. Louis I went to the August 7th, 1971 Dodgers-Cardinals game.  The game was tied 2-2 in the bottom of the 10th.  With one out Matty Alou singled.  The Dodger infield had a conference at the mound but forgot to call timeout.  Alou stole 2nd base.  Jim Lefebrve belatedly backpedaled towards 2nd base.  Pitcher Pete Mikkelsen lobbed the ball over Lefebrve's head into short centerfield.  Alou high-tailed it for home and scored to win the game.  Don't have a meeting on the mound without calling time out!

    It was easy choosing to see the Cardinals play.  Rickey was on the South Sunrise Majors Cardinals team this spring.  The Majors Cardinals won all 5 of their tournament games to win the Orange City championship in early June.  I already have a Cardinals cap and shirt and will bring them with me.

    The All Star break enables both teams to realign their pitching rotations.  The Astros should start Andy Pettite, Roger Clemens, and Roy Oswalt.  The Cardinals will counter with Mark Mulder, Chris Carpenter, and Matt Morris.  With game times of 7:10 p.m. Friday, 3:15 p.m. Saturday, and 1:15 p.m. Sunday, I expect Clemens to pitch the Saturday game in order to take advantage of the shadows.  Clemens has allowed only one run (unearned) on the road all season.  With the space shuttle scratched today and pushed back to Saturday it is a question of what will happen first:  the space shuttle's launch or the Rocket's next pitch.

    This road trip will serve as a scouting trip to see the Angels possible opponent in the 2005 World Series.  Yes, the Seattle Mariners closed the first half with a 4-game sweep at Anaheim.  Not to worry.  The last time the Mariners swept the Angels in Anaheim (April 2002) the Angels won the World Championship.  If I get any guff from a Cardinals fan I will tell him I have seen David Eckstein hit more home runs that he has!

    Here's hoping I can find a beer in St. Louis other than Budweiser!  Thanks Josh!