It's the Time of the Season...
And NOW is absolutely the wrong time for a Losing Streak!


I could never hit a baseball, and I tried. I'd get maybe one hit per SEASON. I just couldn't get with it! And I was not a very good outfielder either. (And, in the little Pee-Wee league I played in, the kids who were too uncoordinated to do anything else were relegated to the outfield.) I left the game when the team captain told me 'not to come back'. And that was 'it' for my baseball career. But I consider myself to be a pretty good fan. And, in the stands as well as in front of TV's and radios all over the northwest, we fans listen to and watch our Seattle Mariners; we live and die with 'em, living in a parallel universe of Baseball Soap Opera. And, during this late part of the season, the teams who are gonna make it are usually separated from those who'll not be playing in October. And the M's...well, yeah, those M's...............

There's a lot of pressure in the Big Leagues; maybe too much, I don't know. And our beloved Seattle Mariners have now lost 6 games in a row. SIX GAMES IN A ROW. And suddenly I'm having flashbacks to last year, because back then, the M's lost 11-straight games. Those 11 games basically brought about a premature conclusion to the M's 2006 season. The M's are now BEHIND in this year's wild-card race, because them damn New York Yankees, who got off to a slow start, have been playin' pretty good as of late. And, as long as the Anaheim (or is it Los Angeles?) Angels are playin' in the same division as the M's, well, it's beginning to look like the M's will never be a division champion. And, they're losing their grip on any Wild-Card prospects as well. It's like trying to hold water in your hands; you can do it for a while, but sooner or later the water finds a way of getting out. And I don't like the way this is feeling all of a sudden.......

No, the season's not over yet; miracles do happen...in 1995, the M's came from waaaay behind, as Rick Rizzs, M's sportscaster will usually tell you, at least eleven times per inning. So it can be done. But Anaheim (Los Angeles?) is out there, and they're just too good. And if the Yankees continue to surge, well, the M's will be watching the playoffs and series in their La-Z-Boys instead of actively participating. The M's are better this year...but they ain't that good now...the question is, "can they be?" I'm not sure, but I'm beginning to think developments like what the M's are going thru now make former manager Mike Hargrove glad he's not in the baseball rat race anymore. Does he know something we don't? He left when things were going GOOD.
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It's not a gas, but at least it's better: While driving past my regular gas station, I meant to check the prices on the sign, but since Oregon drivers ain't a whole lot better than Idaho drivers, I kept looking straight ahead. A slight break in traffic enabled me to look in the rearview mirror, and, even tho the mirrored numbers came out backwards, the sign plainly said $2.71 for regular unleaded. Progress is being made. Down 60 cents a gallon from this spring. Although, a couple of stations in another town are having a "price war", with people lining up to buy gas. And the price? A mere $2.36 a gallon. A true case of where "more" is "less"; it takes more money to buy less gas, but we think that we're saving. And that, my friends, is called "oil company hypnotization". Next year, gas will probably go up to $4.00 a gallon, and when the price gets rolled back to $3.50 a gallon after Labor Day, we'll all be SOOOO grateful that gas prices went down so much!
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If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all: It is doggone hard to get a DOCTOR down here. I had to wait 4 months to get in to see a G.P.! (let alone any kind of specialist). But I've got a fine doctor down here; he's a cool guy. Problem was, I'd forgotten when my appointment was. I thot it was this past Monday. So I went into the medical clinic and found out it wasn't until yesterday. Monday evening, my throat began to feel funny; I started breaking sweats at the Tuesday night jam, and was feeling a little feverish Wednesday, the REAL day of my doctor appointment. I really do think I caught my cold at the medical clinic when I went in there on Monday, the wrong day. Hmmm...I wonder if I should send 'em a BILL. (I can just see all the doctors and nurses in the break room, laughing at that one.) Still, my medical insurance kicked in...it pays 80% of doctors' fees and hospitalization, should I ever need that (hopefully I won't!)
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Cool, man, cool: My friends up in North Idaho are still enduring temperatures in the 80s and 90s, according to weather maps I've seen. And down here on the Oregon Coast, the temperature 'maybe' gets up to 75 degrees on a warm day. I'm lovin' it. I can keep the front and back door open, and it feels like the air conditioning's on. Other than the humid spell we had several weeks ago, the weather here is made-to-order. And when it's foggy on the coast, I enjoy the beach just as much. There's something about a semi-foggy, cool gray sky that is oddly hypnotizing. I sat on a big rock by the ocean on a day like that, closed my eyes and let the sound of the ocean waves have its way with me. Good for the soul, I do believe.
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It must've been great 'weed': I'll admit that over the years, I indulged a few times in what some call "wacky tabakkey"...but, 'no no no, I don't smoke it no more'; not that I ever did that a lot to begin with. (Although there were a couple of times when I woke up on the floor...) What brought that rememberance about was the appearance of an article in a regional newspaper about an Oregon man SHOT HIMSELF IN THE FACE at a party. Oh, and the article said he was STONED. I guess he figured he had an eye he didn't need, 'cos that's where the bullet exited. The article didn't say whether or not the marijuana lessened the pain he must have felt. The article did say the man didn't think the gun was loaded. Far out, man...
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I'm really glad she made it back: I'm referring to Barbara Morgan, the Idaho teacher who was originally the backup for the late Christa McAuliffe, who lost her life along with her crew in the Challenger disaster. So, a circle was completed; Ms. Morgan actually got to teach an Idaho classroom during the latest space mission. And, thank God, the heat-shield-tiles on the spacecraft stayed intact during re-entry; some damage had occurred during liftoff. I'm thinking, isn't it about time NASA re-designed its space vehicles? The same potentially lethal shuttle design that was used 20-odd years ago, when the Challenger disaster happened is STILL being used TODAY. Meantime, an ongoing probe is focusing on whether or not astronauts drank something stronger than "Tang" on previous space missions, while yet another astronaut (well, a female, so she'd be an astro-nette?) is all set to plead insanity to charges of kidnapping and assault; she was the one who was all star-struck with a fellow astronaut. It's a long story. I guess the private world of NASA isn't so much different from the rest of society: on one side, high ideals; on the other, insanity, craziness and drunkenness.
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And if yer thinkin' the title of this blog, "The Time of the Season" sounds like a song-title, well, you're right, for it was. The Zombies had a big hit with it in 1969. Ironically, the record charted AFTER the group broke up. And the beat goes on...