vivalaultra

So, anybody wonder what Kevin Brown's been up to lately?

I'd rather have Reyes pitching than P Dub playing OF, but I'm sure that he'll do better in St. Louis than in Houston. In Houston, he was expected to hit 30+ homeruns and drive in 80 or so. At least in St. Louis, he won't be expected to be one of the top 3 or so offensive contributers. As long as he doesn't take away playing time from Chris Duncan, he should be good for the Cards. Or he might strike out 30 times in his next 30 at-bats and blow big time. Still, he'll be a good pickup for not giving up anything.

Heeeeeey...I heard that my good friend Preston Wilson signed a deal with the Cardinals, which either means that Jim Edmonds is hurt and they're probably not gonna pick up his option, or they aren't grounding into enough double plays and they need some help in that regard.

Because of my often passing interest in things, I decided to look up a bunch of stuff on this case before I lose interest in it. Among some of the odd, interesting things I've learned is that: The autopsy of JonBenet Ramsey showed that she had eaten pineapple a few hours before she was murdered. Her mother was not aware of her eating pineapples. A Bible on John Ramsey's desk was opened to Psalm 118-the exact amount in millions the ransom letter asked for. Half a paintbrush from Patsy Ramsey's personal art kit was used to form the garrotte that strangeled JonBenet. The ransom note was written with a Sharpie that was in a jar in the Ramsey's kitchen. There was speculation that Patsy Ramsey murdered her daughter in a fit of rage because her daughter had wet the bed earlier that nite. There was also speculation that John Ramsey had been sexually abusing his daughter for some time and murdered her as a cover-up, but none of the DNA evidence belonged to either of them. So, using all of the evidence, and the sleuthing skills I learned on Ghostwriter, I can deduce that either the parents lied and they killed her or that this Karr fellow, if he actually did it, was comfortable enough with the Ramsey family that he could a.) feed JonBenet pineapple without her freaking out, b.) break into their house without arousing the sleeping family, c.) be comfortable enough in the home and with the home stay in the house long enough to find a murder weapon, kill JonBenet, go upstairs to the kitchen, find a Sharpie, write a "practice" ransom note, then write a real ransom note, all the while being quiet enough to not wake anybody up. I hope this case gets resolved soon before I lose interest in it for another 10 years.

I'm off suicide watch and back on the bandwagon, as the Astros beat the Brewers tonite 7-3. Jason Hirsh looked better this start than in his first start. He wasn't great, but good enough. Ben Sheets didn't look so great. I honestly can't remember any great games Ben Sheets has had against the Astros. Luke Scott continues to sizzle. He's hitting about .430, and it's starting to look like it's not a fluke nor just a streak. I doubt he'll be breaking Ted Williams record anytime in his career, but his bat has been a welcome addition. Roy Oswalt might not make his start on Saturday after getting hit by a Ronny Cedeno liner. If he doesn't, DAVE~! Borkowski's gonna get the start, which is fine by me. He's a strike-throwing machine. I think if Borkowski had been the fifth starter and Fernando Nieve the closer for the whole season, the Astros would be leading the WC. Seriously, Brad Lidge has blown 5 saves and lost at least 3 others, so if you take away those, the Astros are a few games over and in the WC/Division lead. Either way, today's win was good because the Astros gained a game on just about everyone ahead of them in the Wildcard race. Hope for an Astros' win tomorrow so I can do another Flowing Game Diatribe. ...God, I need some hobbies.

For some reason, I'm really interested in this case again. I'll keep posting AP articles in case anyone else wants to read em. Here's the latest. It's got alot of stuff already said, but some new interesting things. I put ellipses where there was stuff that's already been said.

This is the latest article. This shit's weird, yo.

But there wouldn't have been any way for this Karr fellow to know how much John Ramsey's bonus was before he "killed" JonBenet, unless he was a close friend of the family. And, even then, it would be kind of odd that he would know the exact amount of the bonus. I mean, why would John Ramsey go around telling people how much his bonus was, and wouldn't it be more likely that he would either say his bonus was "about $100,000" or $120,000? It's odd that the exact, specific amount was noted in the ransom letter. And wasn't there something else that was really specific in the ransom note? Like...something about an attache case or something? It's been a while since I had an interest in this murder.

Maybe I'm remembering it wrong, because I haven't really read up on this case in a few years, but weren't there very few to no signs of breaking and entering in the house? And then there's the older brother who was on the 911 tape who was "sleeping", and there's the ransom note that was 99.9% proven to be written by the mother. Maybe it's just the media conjecture, but there seems to be alot that points to the parents at least having some knowledge of certain events/details. If I'm remembering any of that wrong or have any of the details wrong, I retract my statement about the parents being complicit, I just remember them being awfully shady. Not O.J. shady, but still pretty shady.

I think it's obvious that, presuming this Karr guy really did have something to do with the murder, the parents at least: a.) were complicit in the murder b.) Dude had a key or something or knew some secret way to get into their house without busting down a window or door or something. There's also a chance that this guy is just a nutjob and didn't actually commit the murder. His ex-wife is saying that he was with her on Dec. 25th, 1995. He also was doing heavy research on this case and other child murder cases. Maybe he got super-obsessed and went crazy and imagined that he did it. The last article I read had a quote from him saying that it was a crime of love and that he was in love with her and all this stuff, so, clearly there's a chance that he's just completely insane. Something's fishy either way.

I'm hating this St. Louis/Cincy series. I don't wanna count the Astros out of either the Division or the Wildcard yet, considering they're less than 6 games back of each with over a month and a half to play and several games with both the Cards and the Reds, but it last series and this series all the Cards and Reds have done is trade wins and losses, so the first game between them, the Astros gain a game in the Division but lose a game in the WC, and the next game the Astros lose a game in the Division but gain a game in the WC. I guess, really, I should stop counting on the Cards to knock off the Reds or the Reds to knock off the Cards and hope the Astros can get on a Dodgers-like roll. This past series, however, was not an encouraging sign. At least Lidge is officially not the closer anymore, but "closer by committee" never works.

Yeah, I have that CD. Good stuff. I also have "Dub Side of the Moon", the Pink Floyd reggae tribute album. I'm not big into uh...crunk, so I'm not sure if this stuff is good or bad crunk, but it's...interesting enough.

Wait...there was a ballgame on today? I was...busy...grooming...my...moustcahe. Oh well, there's another one tomorrow.

"Trader" Wayne Krivsky made yet another move for a left handed pitcher, getting Scott Schoeneweis from the Blue Jays for cash. I believe the Reds have made more moves than the rest of the NL Central put together.

As far as being pissed at them losing, I mean, yeah, I wish they woulda won, but I didn't have anything to do today anyway, and it was nice seeing a Herculian effort by Dave and Chris Burke. The only person that I'm really pissed at is Brad Lidge. The game at 1PM's gonna be a sloppy ass game.

Well, Big Dave did his best and that's all I could ask for. And Jason Lane was a pitcher in college. He pitched a bit for USC in the CWS. In, I think, his freshman year, he was playing some outfield and hurt his knee diving into the stands, and that ended his pitching days. He was gonna pitch the 19th inning in the Astros-Braves NLDS last year. Goodnite, all.

The Cubs just used Carlos Marmol to pinch hit in the bottom of the 17th. Tomorrow's starter Rich Hill is about to come in. Dave Borkowski has worked about 4 innings, given up 1 hit and faced the minimum. He's thrown 45 pitches and only 9 balls.

It's going in to the 17th inning at MMP. There's a game at 1PM this afternoon. At this point, I'd really like to go to bed, but I've been watching this fucker for over 5 hours. I have too much invested. Dave Borkowski's gotten 2 ABs. It's ridiculous.

Ethier for Roy? Oswalt? Zimmerman all the way. The 'Stros damn gotta win this game this inning.

I remember when Lidge didn't give up hits, let alone homeruns, on a regular basis. I have no idea why Garner didn't leave Wheeler in. He's riding a 25 inning scoreless streak against the Cubs. I have no witty comments. I don't expect Luke Scott to win the ROTY. I'm going Zimmerman all the way. I'm just saying he should get SOME votes if he keeps up this torrid pace.

Luke Scott came into the game tonite hitting .425 and he's raised his batting average to about .435 during the game. And he's not getting soft hits, either. Even when he makes outs, he's stinging the Hell outta the ball. He's right around 100 PAs for the year. If the Astros do make the postseason and Scott finishes the year with an average of .400 or more, he's GOTTA get some consideration for Rookie of the Year.

I think the Everett triple was legit. It was pretty high off the boxes, but yeah, there's no way two runs shoulda scored on the Palmiero double. I think Jones was still keyed up from hitting that fuckin' moonshot 450 foot homerun off Clemens.

A beanball war, a Palmiero double, a 6-5 'Stros lead. Good times. I wonder if the beaning will continue to tomorrow. I doubt anybody getting hit by an 82 mph Pettitte fastball would get too upset.

I think the Mets should pick up Preston Wilson. Even the Rockies won't take him. All the Astros wanted for him was Ray King, but they said no. Poor Preston. Nobody wants him and his tomahawk swing.

Praise Jeebus.