Feh!

No matter what the manager says, the Mariner's home series with the Angels is THE critical series of the season. Not winning this series means no chance at winning the division. Zip, none, nada. That is what this series always meant.

Not winning the division means the only playoff chance is the wildcard and they are still in the running for that. BUT, it will probably mean playing the BoSox and getting creamed by their pitching in the first round.

Thank you Jeff, they gave you a 5 run lead and you GAVE IT BACK! Take the 8M next year and use it to resign Jose Guillen.... Trade Weaver for anything you can get, if you can get anything. He may be great on a good day, but he's entirely unreliable and doesn't have enough good days. Let somebody else gamble on him.

Kim

Gettin' it done....

The family spent the weekend at Mom's cabin on Lake Coeur d' Alene and I added to the Pile o' Blocks....






I'm still not entirely happy with it. The wall with the paving stones on top makes a seat for tall people, but too tall for short people. I used all the bricks I had with me, so I'll take another one up sometime and put a second brick on the singleton at the top of the steps to make a seat for shorter people.
The other major modification would be to lift the steps, pour concrete, then set the pavers in the concrete so you don't have to keep pouring sand on them. The sand holding the pavers doesn't work on the steps very well, because it just washes away. If you enlarge the photo (just click on it) you can see the top step is uneven and the sand just washes out from between the pavers on the lower steps. Concreting them in will be for next spring though.

The Mariners ended up with a split with the cellar dwelling Rangers after the loss again today (Sunday). That is NOT getting it done. They stay two games back of the Angel's, and are only a game and a half up on the Yankees for the wild card. If they don't win the homestand against the Angels this week, they are no better than tied for the wild card and buried out of the running for the division, since they have an away series with the Yankees coming up, and three games in Oakland and four games in (Not) Los Angeles to close out travel for the season. By that time, three games at home with the Rangers probably won't matter unless they win some away series'.

Kim

Woo Hoo!

The Mariner's shut down Texas' record setting (33 runs in one game) attack, winning last night 9-4. They are one game back of the Angels for the division and two games up on the Yankees in the Wild Card. And the Angels and Yankees are done with each other, so my schadenfreude is back.

And, Voila! The Highland Badger Stronghold

I lost my schadenfreude.

The Mariners jumped all over a pitcher that held them down last week chasing the Twins' Matt Garza in the third with three two-run homers and a solo shot (Ibanez' second home run of the game). So with a win, what happens with the Yankees (a half game back in the Wild Card) and the Angels (2 games in front in the AL West) really matters. And they play each other. Nothing bad can happen. So that game is on ESPN 2, so I tune in. The A's are up at home, 1-3 after two and OK, I love to see the Yankees lose, so I hang around while I fold the laundry. And the Yankees scrape a run in the fourth, then A-Rod lasers his 40th home run for 2 more tallies and that's OK, 'cause nothing bad can happen. If the Yankees win, we stay a 1/2 game in front on the Wild Card and gain a game on the A's to be just one back? Yeah, I'd rather win the division. Then in the bottom of the seventh, the A's just spank the reliever for 3 runs to take the lead and I lost my schadenfreude. Posada hits a two run homer to tie it in the eighth, and I AM CHEERING FOR THE YANKEES! That's just wrong. And I mean by that, it's not just kinda wrong, it is I AM CHEERING FOR THE YANKEES WRONG! And unless the Mariners lose tomorrow, I will still be cheering for the Yankees tomorrow. That is just so wrong! But I can't help it.

Kim

Mariners +17, 69-52

High point for the season on a sweep of the Chicago White Sox. They're still a half game ahead of the Yankees for the Wild Card and made up a game on the (Not In) Los Angeles Angels. Another Mr. Hyde appearance from Jeff Weaver in there.... Back to the Twins on Monday.

Treasure Pile!

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words.

E-Bay score. $264 worth of minis for $100, I'm splitting with Phil.


Also making progress on the Badger Stronghold.

Mariners LIVE!

Tuesday night, David Tuttle (may he be as blessed as I) called and said he had a couple of tickets to Wednesday's day game and nobody had been able to use them, did I want them? I called my boss and begged. He gave me the vacation time and we went. They were beautiful seats, front row of the second deck just off the first base line. The Mariner's lost.....

It was an outstanding game for eight innings, a pitcher's duel at 1-1 after 7, and a bobble to let a Twins run score in the eighth. Jarod Washburn pitched a great game. The bobble made it 2-1 after eight, certainly a salvageable situation. But Sean Green gave up a hit, a walk and a sacrifice getting two outs in the top of the ninth, to put men at 2nd and 3rd. They walked Joe Mauer (.305, 5 HR) to get to Torii Hunter (.296, 24 HR), loading the bases. Hunter parked one for 4 RBI. The crowd got up and walked out. It was really quite weird to look back from the ball landing to see the aisles now filled and the seats empty..... I wondered about the intentional walk to Mauer and hindsight is 20-20, but dang! Bad move.

Are they good enough? This one belongs to the manager....

Kim

Na,na,na,na, Hey, hey, hey, goo-ood bye

Lotsa people are writing about Karl Rove's sudden resignation. I like John Edward's official statement (yes, it is OFFICIAL, from the campaign official statements):

"Goodbye. Good riddance."

'nuff said.

Kim

Mariners +16

Minnesota is a dangerous team still. Richie Sexon starts off the game with a two run double and then the team scuffles for a third run off of Johan Santana, last year's Cy Young winner. Minnesota ties the game with a big inning against the relievers but Richie mends his reputation with the home crowd with a walk off home run in the 9th. (Jeff Weaver's got a ways to go yet.) They have to keep winning these games to stay in it, but they are finally hitting good pitching and their pitchers are keeping it close. If they keep it up, they will have an October. But they've gotta keep it up.

Kim

It can't be said better--V

Trickle down economics and middle class Republicans -- "They've waited, patiently, while their pensions and protection were stripped. They stood in position to catch a trickling drab of promised prosperity, as their healthcare premiums were hiked, benefits reduced, or coverage eliminated altogether. Some waited right into their modest, middle-class graves believing to the last breath they would share in the wealth, as CEO wages skyrockected. Nary a month passed when the faithful were assured that one more round of tax giveaways, one last gravy-train load of corporate welfare, and just one, final hundred-billion dollar loan cosigned in absentia by their unborn children, would reap the promised reward. Mega-zillionaires surely laughed at us rubes all the way to the offshore bank even as their contemptous trust-fund brats giggled gleefully through luxury rehab or the sweetheart suspended sentence. Could it be time to try instead a proven percolate up approach instead of the same old trickle-down scam?" Darksyde at Daily Kos

More Photos

Here are some more photos from the Game Day in Tacoma
last weekend. The Goblin Doom Diver
deserves a better photo, but
Wow! the Dwarven Book of Grudges
is really a class miniature presentation.....





The peaceful looking village below has hired seven magnificent(?!) gunfighters to defend them from the depredations of forty bandidos. I won't bore you with details, but much fun was had by all....
Kim

Mariners 63-49

M's sweep the Oriole's with a win over Daniel Cabrera who had a 7-0 record in 9 starts against the Mariners. Meanwhile, the A's are getting the same treatment the M's got from the BoSox so going into the weekend they are a game up in the Wild Card and only 2 1/2 back of Anaheim (which is not in L.A.... or even L.A. County.) Beating up on the sub-.500 Orioles or ditto the White Sox won't prove they're good enough, but at least their keeping the jury out....

Kim

Why do you think they call it Hordes of the Things?

Hordes of the Things

UPDATE: Something has gone very wrong with this post. Most of the image links are broken somehow. I will fix them this evening.... UPDATE II: Fixed

Kim

Phil Williams has built a set of HOTT armies (and I have my Highland Badgers and BunRabs) and we held a tournament at Enfilade. I forgot the camera and bought a couple of disposables to get pictures, but they didn't turn out so very great.


We went to a game day at the Game Matrix in Tacoma (plug) last weekend and I took the new camera and tried to get some better photos. I got some better photos. I got some bad photos. It turns out that lighting is very important, and that bad lighting makes autofocus a little problematic. Herewith are the best of the photos.
Top, the Undead Stronghold.
Above, The Evil Stronghold with the Evil army defending....
Below, the Elvish Army and Stronghold.



A HOTT tournament wouldn't be complete without a Goblin Horde....
The BunRab Hero backed by a line of Blades....