From There to Here

If you don’t like poker or baseball, let me save you some time. Click that little [X] on this window, and be done with this post.

Seriously, nothing like having pocket 10s, raising preflop, having the flop come down 2 5 8 and having a very good chance of having the best hand, barring someone hitting trips or a higher pocket pair. Then when you push, get reraised, and call to see your opponent with pocket 9s, you’re positively giddy.

Then there’s a brick on the turn. No problem. On the river, he’d need a 9 and a 9 only. He can’t win unless he …

OH, COME ON! He’s FOUR PERCENT.

So that irriates me. I know that it shouldn’t, but it’s hard. If I make the same play 25 times, I’m winning 24 of them. It just feels like I’ve been losing a lot more lately. I guess I’ll be content with building up the good karma.

On a positive, the Red Sox are absolutely rolling over the Devil Rays tonight. I like when the Yanks are out west too because a) it screws with them and b) I can come home from work, shower, watch Sox pregame, and then have a good six hours of baseball ahead of me. Fun times.

Tim Wakefield, by the way, should start in every single series against Tampa. Mike absolutely hates him; I think he’s valuable, eats a lot of innings and can be totally on. Tonight, he went 7 innings, 4 hits, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts. Only through 77 pitches, and they lifted him in the eighth for Delcarmen. Not really sure why, but it’s ok, I guess.

His last two starts? 15 innings, 6 hits, 3 walks, 11 strikeouts, ZERO earned runs. It’s the right time to get hot, and he’s doing it against the DRays. For all their flaws, their offense is one of the better ones in the AL, so this could be the beginning of something good. And what’s more — it will be Wake’s 15th win, placing him in a three-way tie for leading the league in the AL. All things considered, it really couldn’t be much better.