>Yeah. After the last 2 games against the Jays, tell me about it. The trouble is that Boston has no weak spots in their lineup. There is no batter a pitcher can feel comfortable with. And at bat or in the field, they are all playing like demons. You get the feeling that running through walls to make a play doesn't get a second thought.
>
>I saw tonight's box score and thought of you....ouch, 16-4! I noticed that one of Toronto's infielders wound up pitching the ninth. That's when you know things are bad. I see Bautista hasn't clubbed one in 13 games, but I'm sure he'll still hit 45-50 or more this year.
>
>I agree, Boston's entire lineup from top to bottom is dangerous. Ortiz and Gonzalez are on fire. I remember when they got off to the rough start, the media was ready to count them out. I figured they'd come back but I didn't count on them being this hot.
>
>Boston and Philly play 3 in Philly at the end of the month. I just checked the pitching schedules. Barring any rainouts or pitching rotation changes, here are the pitching matchups:
>
>
>Clay Buchholz vs Cliff Lee
>John Lackey vs Roy Oswalt
>Jon Lester vs Cole Hamels
>
>Philly won't get to send Doc on the mound, but hopefully Philly can still take 2 of 3. Cliff Lee looked pretty good today.

Not exactly related to your post but my long weekend in Madison was infused with baseball. The day I arrived was a completely miserable cold day, a day following record high temperatures and tornadoes;. There were downed tree limbs and entire trees the whole way there. The quaint old America town of Fort Atkinson got really whacked.

We had hoped to go to a Madison Mallards game. They are unaffiliated with any MLB farm system or hierarchy but tend to do well and have a solid local following.

The Brewers lost to the Mets that night, then swept the Cardinals to turn a 2 1/2 game deficit into a 1/2 game division lead. Every day the local rag, and it is sort of a rag, is full of Brewers news, commentary, and speculation.about the crew. For me it was like a visit to a small town, and I do not mean that pejoratively.

Now the Brewers get to feast on the seriously listing HMS Cubs. They might actually win this division, which is more than anyone expected of them. I attribute all of it to my renewed presence in Wisconsin (bowing deeply).

BTW, on the way home from dinner Friday evening we had the Brewers-Cardinals game on the radio. Her idea, not mine, and she was hanging on every pitch . Maybe I've created a monster. She has never not been a Brewers fan, not in the way she is a passionate Packers fan.-- she is surely that -- but this is a new jolt to her system. Anyway, they mentioned that it was Tony LaRussa's 5000th game as a manager. That is almost almost belief. He got his first post with the White Sox in 1979 and has been doing it ever since. He irritates me sometimes with what I consider overmanaging but the fact remains only Connie Mack (a contemporary of Shakespeare and Marcus Aurelius) ever.

She took me by hand through art galleries and a knockout free organ concert at the Overture Center, a music hall near the Capitol. Yes, that would be the site of worldwide news earlier this year. The Overture has been criticized as too ambitious for a city of 200,000 but when you're sitting there taking in the music and the appreciation, really looking at the majestic pipes, you feel like you're back in Vienna. (http://www.overturecenter.com/production/free-farmers-market-organ-concert). Both musicians are members of the Madison Symphony Orchestra. The more elderly was the organist and an excellent narrator of classical music. He introduced each piece in place and time. "He isn't that remembered today but he wrote some remarkable pieces. When he wrote this one he was the official composer of the king of England, working at St. Paul's Cathedral" -- like that.

On a whim we went to the Parthenon on State Street, an institution, and enjoyed their gyros with the white sauce running down our arms. We finished our Pepsis (no Coke, Pepsi) and moved on. To the modern art museum, as it happens, which is kind of funny. And that's sort of what Madison is like. This is one of the reasons I have avoided pushing it too hard to Emily. She is 18 years old, her world is unfolding, and it is for her to flourish. She has been launched with the best I can give her.

Cindi and I went to some nice local restaurants. We took in some local sites. We went for some some long walks, not wanting to stay inside except when we did. There are the herons, she said. Mostly we became reacquainted with being comfortable with each other without the need to impress as though dating. She reintroduced me to her mom, the first head of the Madison teachers union, and Fred, an engineer and gadget maker extraordinaire. The quiet times were just fine.

At some point you sort of know you are committed.

I'm in love again.