The Flying Nun

Anyone notice a resemblence to Sally Field?

Hangin' With Uncle Matt

Matt and Caroline enjoying hockey playoffs. They would have enjoyed it more if the Sabres won, though.

First Good Zulu News Since The Day Before The Draft...

Sadly, it comes at Rich Harden's expense as he goes on the DL, but Halsey for a buck is looking OK right now. From rotoworld:

Athletics placed RHP Rich Harden on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to April 27, with a muscle strain in his back.
No official word yet, but Brad Halsey figures to take Harden's rotation spot. Halsey would then compete with Esteban Loaiza to stay in the rotation after Harden returns. Hopefully, this won't require more than two- or three-start absence. Apr. 28 - 6:14 pm et

AJ Burnett: No Damage To Elbow [Update]

[Update - 25APR06] - more explanation (via rotoworld) from an orthopedic surgeon on AJ's elbow. And Zulu Nation starts to turn Blue Jay blue from holding their breath again:

An orthopaedic surgeon interviewed by the Toronto Star painted a very bleak picture regarding A.J. Burnett's elbow injury.
"Scar tissue is not as strong as the original ligament," Dr. Darrell Ogilvie-Harris said. "When there is a tear of the ligament and scar tissue, this tells us that there is residual weakness from the previous surgical repair. This complicates recovery and increases the risk of re-injury. If he had to undergo surgery again, chances are it would be career-ending." Apr. 26 - 10:18 am et Source: Toronto Star

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And Zulu Nation breathes a sigh of relief, tho he'll miss some serious time...from rotoworld:

According to a press release from the Jays, Dr. James Andrews discovered no structural damage in A.J. Burnett's arm during Monday's examination.
The team is calling Burnett's injruy a mild sprain of the ulnar collateral ligament and a slight straining of scar tissue in the elbow. Obviously, the health of the UCL is the long-term concern. If he tears it again, he'd need a second Tommy John surgery. Burnett will probably get more time off after his latest setback than he did last month, but the Jays haven't commented on any timetable yet. Apr. 24 - 5:36 pm et

While there is reportedly no structural damage in A.J. Burnett's injured elbow, the Blue Jays said Monday that he may be out over a month.
"Maybe it's a case where it's a month, six weeks, I don't know," general manager J.P. Ricciardi said. "We don't want to put a number on it, then you're held to a timetable. But this guy will definitely be pitching for us." Apr. 25 - 12:59 pm et
Source: Toronto Globe and Mail

Busting Baseball Myths: Scientist Throws Big Curveballs - Yahoo! News

Busting Baseball Myths: Scientist Throws Big Curveballs - Yahoo! News

Interesting stuff to read...

One of These Things is Not Like the Other Ones ...

Can you tell which one doesn't belong?

Cookie Action Shots

Caroline had a blast playing with Cookie Monster this morning. I don't know if it's the big eyes or just the shock of blue fur (or the funny voices we make when we're playing) but Cookie is definetly her favorite.

Eye level with Cookie (artistic version)

Chillin' with my Cookie

Coooooookie Wrestling Love the Cookie Monster
Mmmmmm. Tastes like Cookie.

I think Cookie tasted better.
All ready for my morning nap. Playing with Cookie makes me very sleepy.

Torture...

"Ummm, Mom? There's something really strange on my head. Can you take it off? Please?"

Caroline didn't like her new bunny headband as much as we did.

Happy Easter Again!

We heard some paper rustling in the living room and went in to take a look. Smokey had adopted Caroline's Easter basket as her new "lounge". Despite our attempts to discourage this, we found her curled up and asleep in the basket just minutes later.

Brian Roberts: Stealing his Way To Our Hearts

Finally! clipped from rotoworld.com:

After going without a steal for the first two weeks of the season, Brian Roberts stole five bases in the Orioles' series against the Indians. Probably a sign that Roberts' shoulder is feeling good and that he's actually getting on base. He won't provide the same sort of run production as last year, but Roberts has always been able to run. Apr. 21 - 9:37 am et
Source: Washington Post

Perhaps our Zulu Master Plan is starting to round into shape - average and speed

Updated: SUNY IT vs New Paltz

It wasn't pretty for the Wildcats in game one against New Paltz today. But things turned around during the second game of the set.
In the last half of the twin billing SUNY IT pitcher Travis Steffens stepped up in a big way. Steffens carried a perfect game through six and one third innings. Perfection was broken up when a New Paltz player hit a long fly to left field that went off the fielder's glove. Steffens finished the game with a One Hitter (depending on the story - the official scorer apparently was very generous towards the home team and issued a triple even tough the ball hit off the glove) and the left fielder said "I'm sorry" by taking him out for a nice lunch.

PS - Anybody catch a load of the Twins comeback vs the Yankees tonight? What a game! Morneau came through in the clutch against Riviera and there was much rejoicing throughout the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

UPDATE: Apparently there are still some scoring discrepancies about the game. The Obsever Dispatch has Steffens with a No-No, with the only run scored on an error. The New Paltz paper says that someone "ripped a triple" and that a run was scored because of an error. Sounds like the SUNYAC better get their scoring straight.

Happy Easter

We are so thankful for how blessed we are. We wish everyone a very Happy Easter.

Cool Shades (updated)

So far these shades are the best money we've spent at Target. Well...besides the "I heart Hot Moms" t-shirt that Jim bought.

Update: Charlene was nice enough to scrap this pic and got some really great comments on from her Digichick posting. Click here to check it out.

Old Friends...

I should have posted this picture long ago.

This is the group of us that hung out together in high school. We were the geeks that read books during lunch. We were the music nerds (except for Sara, but she was in color guard - so she was an honorary music nerd). And we loved (and still love) eachother very much.

This pic was taken about a year ago at Charlene's baby shower (if you haven't guessed, she's the very pregnant one in the middle). It was the first time that all of us had been together since 1995.

In order there's me, Joanna, Charlene, Sarah and Sara.

Sarah's baby is due today (gulp). Are we really that old that most of us have children of our own now? It just can't be possible.

The amazing thing is that it feels like no time has passed at all.

Friends are just grand.

From This Past Weekend...

The games might have been a wash for SUNY IT, but my parents and Uncle Mike got to hang out and see Matt play.

SUNY IT Swept by Cortland

It was a long day for the WildCats in Cortland. Up next: Cazenovia and then a stop in Oswego.

AND if you scroll down to the "Hit by Pitch" category you will not be suprised because, not only is Matthew leading SUNY IT in this category, he's LEADING THE LEAGUE. He's also 17th in the league in BA considering those that have 30 or more AB. Not that we're counting...

Bedtime for Caroline and Cookie

Caroline and Cookie were having far too much fun to even think about going to bed. While fortunate for them, this was very unfortunate for Mom and Dad.
At least the picture was really cute.

Gates Chili Brings Home the GOLD from Dayton!!!

I have to admit it. I thought it was a longshot, but Gates Chili has brought the first gold medal in scholastic color guard back to Rochester since the days of Bishop Kearney. Congratulations to all the ladies and to Mr Hoppe and the staff. GREAT JOB!!! After being on the WGI map for a while, now you're the Champions. Good luck in Scholastic Open next year.!!!

Blessed Sacrament is in fourth heading into Independent World finals... A half point is do-able, but really tough. They can't catch Pride or Fantasia, but can they pull off an upset of Northern Lights and medal? We'll have to wait and see...

Addendum: WGI has updated their website about Gates winning the gold. Recaps should be up soon.

Happy Friday!

It's amazing what a good night's sleep can do for a little girl. And for Mom and Dad.

Zulu Warriors Week 01 Update

1/2 way through the first week of the season, blurbs provided by rotoworld.com...and Gregg Zaun is on the DL right now...

Torii Hunter went 4-for-5 with a grand slam and a career-high six RBI in a 13-4 win over the Blue Jays Wednesday.Hunter, Joe Mauer and Luis Castillo scored three times apiece in the blowout, and Shannon Stewart and Luis Rodriguez homered. Apr. 5 - 10:29 pm et

Seth McClung was hit hard for seven runs in three-plus innings against the Orioles on Wednesday.McClung gave up five runs in the first and then walked the first two batters of the fourth inning before departing. Reliever Jesus Colome entered but was quickly replaced by Brian Meadows, who allowed three inherited runners to score as well as seven of his own runs. McClung gave up five hits and walked three while throwing 47 of 95 pitches for strikes. A rough final outing of the spring combined with tonight’s performance might mean benching him when he faces the Orioles again on Monday. Apr. 5 - 10:49 pm et

Jeremy Bonderman limited the Royals to one run and three hits over 6 2/3 innings to win Wednesday. He struck out eight and walked none.He left with the shutout intact, but Chris Spurling immediately gave up a two-run homer to Emil Brown after taking over in the seventh. If not for another long inning from the Tigers offense in the top of the seventh, Bonderman probably would have had no trouble completing seven. He was removed after 92 pitches. Apr. 5 - 5:12 pm et

After entering with a five-run lead, Eddie Guardado gave up three runs before finishing off the ninth inning against the Angels on Tuesday night.He threw 41 pitches, so there's a good chance he's going to need Wednesday off. Should the Mariners find themselves in another save situation, maybe Rafael Soriano would get the call. J.J. Putz has allowed three runs in 1 2/3 innings over the last two days. Apr. 5 - 1:31 am et

Adam Eaton could miss four months following surgery Tuesday to repair a ruptured tendon in his right middle finger.Dr. Keith Meister, the Rangers' team physician, described the injury as a ruptured pulley tendon, and said part of a tendon was taken from the pitcher's left wrist to repair the injured finger. "Adam has an extremely unique injury," Meister said. "It's an injury you see in rock climbers. No one has ever seen it in a pitcher." Eaton will remain in Arizona for six weeks of rehab under a doctor's care. Apr. 5 - 12:43 am et

Manager Buck Showalter said Monday that he will bench Laynce Nix against left-handed pitchers.When a lefty is going against the Rangers, Adrian Brown will start in center field. Nix is a career .196 hitter in 112 at-bats against southpaws. Apr. 4 - 10:30 am et

Despite only recently coming back from elbow surgery, Brian Roberts slid into first base Monday.Sliding into first is almost never a bright decision, and doing so when you had a significant injury to your arm is bordering on insanity. Roberts got a base hit, but as is usually the case he would have been safe without the slide. Apr. 4 - 9:37 am et

Hideki Matsui went 4-for-4 with a home run, four RBI and two walks from the sixth spot in the order against the A’s.The homer was a three-run shot off Kirk Saarloos. Matsui has a little less value while batting sixth, but he’s still going to receive tons of RBI opportunities and it’s not like the Yankees have guys hitting seventh-through-ninth incapable of driving in runs. Apr. 4 - 1:25 am et

A.J. Burnett (elbow) is scheduled to pitch four or five innings for Single-A Dunedin on Thursday.With Ted Lilly hurt, the Jays haven't ruled out bringing Burnett back before his scheduled return date of April 16. However, it doesn't look like they'll consider activating him this weekend. Apr. 3 - 9:06 pm et

Scott Baker was torched for 11 runs -- 10 earned -- in 1 2/3 innings by Triple-A Rochester on Sunday.What a great way to conclude the spring. "Bake just didn't have it today," manaher Ron Gardenhire said. "He was up in the zone and got whacked around, and they scored and scored and scored. We're not going to put too much stock into it, other than it was disappointing." Baker had a 3.52 ERA in his six official starts of spring training, so we suppose we also won't put too much stock into it. Apr. 2 - 6:18 pm et

Before and After

Okay - this was the picture that blogger wouldn't let me put up previously. If you consider this pic the "before" and the pics from the other post today the "after" - you can see why we're so excited that Caroline finally found her thumb. The "trying to put ten knuckles in her mouth at the same time" thing just wasn't working for her.

A New Find...

Okay - the Blogger isn't quite cooperating with me because I wanted so get some other pics up, but...

Caroline has found her thumb. The relationship is working out quite nicely except when she gets too happy about finding it and we hear her gag because she has tried to eat it.

Theme From "The Natural"

How very appropriate for today...click on the link here from gaslampbaseball.com (it's a Padres blog). Looks like some other nice baseball audio resources linked there, too.

PS - If you scroll to the bottom of the linked page on baseball audio resources, you'll read about a small town in Iowa. Many baseball fans have made pilgrimages here because of a movie about a cornfield. Let me tell you it was well worth the nineteen and a half hour trip from Boston to be there with my family and, of course, to play catch with my father.

Best Sports Prank Ever?

From bat-girl.com. Halladay and Burnett take revenge on a couple of middle infielders...

Smiley Monkey...

She's smiling because it's Christmas in Springtime. Also known as OPENING DAY!!!!