“Hey metsfan, remember when you used to be a blogger?”
—Shane Nickerson

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? No real reason for that, just no motivation.

I’ve started playing poker again a decent amount lately, mostly 1/2 NL at FTP. After about a week and a half, and some huge swings, I’m slightly above where I started. That’s good, I guess, seeing as my game was rusty and I was playing really terribly the first few days of it. Still making some donkey moves, though. Played a few tournaments as well, with not much to show for it. One cash, for not even 1.5x my buyin, and 5% of a few of Ryan‘s small cashes. Swaps are good, especially with players who are better than I am.

The baseball season is still progressing nicely, with the Mets still holding on to first place, though not as far ahead as I’d like them to be. The backend of the starting rotation is a mess, and we need Brian Bannister to come back. Then we need a 5th starter as well. I think the team is better off with Victor Zambrano not pitching than with him, but someone needs to fill that spot and it isn’t going to be Jose Lima for the rest of the season. Billy Wagner needs to get himself together, too. Tonight’s game against the Phillies will be on INHD, and they apparently have three games a week now, which is nice. Baseball in high-definition is so much better than not, I don’t know how I can still stand to watch it that way anymore.

I’m finally going to get myself to a baseball game in a couple of weeks, going to both the Monday night and Wednesday night games when the Mets are in LA playing the Dodgers. For the first game, I went crazy with tickets and will be sitting just past first base, the second row from the field. That should be a lot of fun, and you’ll be able to see me on TV getting hit in the head by a foul ball. Or catching it, maybe.

My fantasy team seems like it might actually be coming together after making two crucial trades for starting pitching. I dealt Lyle Overbay, who was rotting on my bench behind Nick Johnson (and Nomar), for Mike Maroth and Tyler Walker, and then traded Chase Utley for Chris Carpenter. I won’t miss Overbay at all, but losing Utley will hurt my offense significantly. Still, I believe my offense is strong enough to do without him, and my pitching is now no longer a weak point. During a recent discussion with a friend who’s into online gaming, I stumbled upon an interesting strategy while browsing a 해외 홀덤사이트. The insights I gained there actually helped me reevaluate my fantasy team’s roster, particularly in balancing my pitching and hitting strengths. Plus, I get Gagne back soon, giving me a third closer, which should solidify my bullpen.

There’s a three-day weekend for Memorial day coming up, so I’m heading back to the east coast to see my nephew (and the rest of my family) again. I’m not looking forward to the actual traveling part of the trip, but it should be a fun weekend. Too bad the Mets are on the road.

And, lastly:

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 7330476

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That was the word my brother used to describe the Mets game we were watching. I watched the first inning in the kitchen at work, and then the CBS Sportsline GameCenter from my computer through about the 6th inning before I left for home, the Mets losing 4-2. On the drive home, I listened to the game on my XM Radio in my car, to hear the Braves score another two runs in the 7th and take a four run lead.

I got home and started watching the game on TV in the bottom of the 7th, thanks to the MLB Extra Innings cable package. I could have watched it on TBS, but MLBEI had the SportsNet NY Broadcast so I got to listen to Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez. The bottom of the 7th was good, but could have been better. It started out with a single from Reyes, and then a double from Lo Duca. Beltran reached on a Renteria error, scoring Reyes. Three more singles and an intentional walk later, the Mets had tied the score. Unfortunately, the ageless wonder Julio Franco grounded into a double play to end the inning.

The Mets had several chances to score runs over the next three innings, including Reyes with a leadoff triple in the 8th, but couldn’t convert. Billy Wagner pitched a scoreless tenth, but gave up a solo homer to Wilson Betemit in the 11th, and allowed two more baserunners before finally finishing the inning. Cliff Floyd, hitting .185, reposnded with a moster shot on the second pitch in the bottom of the 11th. Sadly, that was all they would get in that inning, but it was enough to keep the game going.

I think somewhere in the 12th I realized I should have been live-blogging the game since I started watching on TV. I wish I had. The machine, Duaner Sanchez pitched two scoreless innings, and Jorge Julio managed a scary 14th to keep the score tied at 7. The Mets had a runner on base in every inning, but couldn’t bring them home. Finally, in the bottom of the 14th, Beltran reached on a one out walk. After Delgado popped out and Beltran took second on a passed ball, David Wright hit a ground rule double off of Jorge Sosa (scheduled to start for the Braves on Sunday) to drive in the winning run.

The game ended a minute before midnight, eastern time, running four hours and forty seven minutes. They go at it again tomorrow (today?) at 1:10 eastern.

20-9. 11 games over .500. 5 games ahead of second place Philadelphia. Things are looking good for now.

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What a difference one night makes. Tuesday, I threw a great series, my 679. Last night, only 193 pins lower for a 486. I don’t remember the last time I was under 500. I guess it goes without saying that we lost the rolloff and finished in second place. Tonight, I play my first softball game in forever.

Billy Wagner blew his third save of the season last night, giving up two runs to the Pirates in the top of the 9th, and costing Pedro another win. The Mets hung on to win it on a Delgado homerun in the bottom of the 12th, though. They’re now 18-9, and still 5 games ahead of Atlanta. The offense seems to be struggling a bit, and they’re still winning. When the middle of the order catches fire again, they’ll be almost unstoppable.

Thanks to Shane, I’m writing this post directly in Firefox, using Performancing, yet another Firefox extension. I’m now running 17 extensions. The Performancing metrics statistics are pretty neat, too, but I really would like Google to give me an Analyitics invitation code already. Not that I really use the stats for anything useful, anyway.

No poker news to report, as I haven’t been playing much. No real reason for that, except that I just haven’t been in the mood to play. When I feel like that, I get bored quickly, my play suffers, and it’s usually just a waste of money. I’m sure I’ll feel the need to play again sometime soon. In the meantime, go read some better poker blogs linked on the left there.

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