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An Associated Press photo from April 12 shows a Varig Airlines cargo plane from Brazil parked at the airport in Mexico City with its nose in the air. Why? The cargo was unevenly distributed.

Well, when I went to the Dodgers-Phillies doubleheader last Sunday, I saw the Phils win their first game of the season after an 0-4 start when Bobby Abreu hit a two-out, three-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth inning for a 6-3 victory. Of course, the Phils dropped the nightcap of the twinbill, but I was there for the first win…that’s the important part of the story.

So since I was driving into Ocean County, NJ, today to visit my parents for Easter, I took in today’s South Atlantic League battle between the Delmarva Shorebirds (Baltimore Orioles’ Class A team) and the Lakewood BlueClaws (Phillies’ Class A team) at Lakewood’s beautiful FirstEnergy Park.

Another reason I wanted to see the game was because Shorebirds reliever Jim Hoey is a former Rider pitcher who has been in the Orioles’ system for a couple of years but has suffered some arm problems. However, he is pitching pretty well so far this year.

Anyway, the BlueClaws have been terrible out of the gate this season. In fact, that may be an understatement. Going into today, the ‘Claws were 0-9. And with Lakewood trailing 7-3 going into the bottom of the ninth, it looked like 0-10 was imminent.

That’s when a little bit of the magic from last Sunday’s Phillies win rubbed off on their Class A affiliate…the BlueClaws struck for four runs in the ninth (fortunately, the damage didn’t come against Hoey, who didn’t pitch…or else I would have been conflicted) to tie the game at 7-7 and send it into extra innings.

Four extra innings, to be exact.

With two outs and nobody on base in the bottom of the 13th inning, the BlueClaws’ Julian Williams drew a walk. Then, with Williams running, Sean Gamble—son of former major leaguer Oscar Gamble—hit a soft liner up the middle into shallow right- center field. With the speedy Williams nearly at third by the time the Shorebirds’ outfielder retrieved Gamble’s hit, the third base coach waved Williams around to try to score the winning run all the way from first base on a single. The throw home was way off line, allowing Williams to cross the plate and give the BlueClaws a dramatic 8-7 victory—their first of the season.

Here is a pic of the celebration near home plate…as you can see, the BlueClaws didn’t know quite how to react to actually winning a game…

Here is a pic of Shorebirds reliever and Rider product Jim Hoey…

And a couple of pics of FirstEnergy Park…


Now, I’m going to close down all my apps but BitTorrent with the hope of speeding up the download of the BBC season premiere of “Doctor Who.”

While Americans will get to see one of the best “Doctor Who” episodes of the 2005 season, “Dalek,” on SciFi Channel tonight, those across the pond in the U.K. will get to see the first episode of the 2006 season when the episode titled “New Earth” premieres on BBC One Saturday evening.

The BBC ran a rather lengthy—nearly three minutes—trailer for the 2006 season the other day and a vSocial user was kind enough to share with the world. I have embedded the video below. Enjoy!

The guy who publishes SanDiegoSerenade.com recreated Game 6 of the 1986 World Series between the Red Sox and Mets using the classic video game, RBI Baseball, and the actual play-by-play audio from Vin Scully.

It’s very well done…and amusing. Check it out.

UPDATE: I found the code to embed the video so here it is…

Well, I moved to a new seat late in Game 1 of the doubleheader (see previous post for my original seat location) and took these pics.

To update my previous post, I wound up having a total of five hot dogs on Dollar Dog Day. Since I was getting two games for the price of one AND paying $1 for hot dogs, I wanted to see how much money I could save on this trip to Citizens Bank Park. Here is the tally for the day:

Game ticket: $12
Parking: $0 (parked along the curb on Packer Ave.)
Food & Drink: 5 hot dogs@$1 each=$5; 1-liter Pepsi (purchased at Wawa) = $1.69
Gas: Approx. 2 gallons@$2.57/gallon (price at local Wawa gas station)= $5.14

TOTAL: $23.83

(NOTE: After a first-time experience at a Sheetz in the Middle of Nowhere, PA, this past weekend, I think Wawa might be a Native American word for “Sheetz suckz!”)

Anyway, besides the upgrade in vantage point, another advantage of changing my seat was leaving behind the idiot Phillies fans making such asinine comments like, “Go back to Venezuela,” when Bobby Abreu came up to bat. Of course, if Abreu had gone back to Venezuela, he wouldn’t have hit the three-run home run with two outs in the ninth inning to win Game 1 of the doubleheader for the Phillies.

After moving my seat, I found these creatures much more intelligent than the “fans” who had been sitting around me…

I bought a cheap seat ticket for today’s Dodgers-Phils doubleheader. It’s also Dollar Dog Day thanks to yesterday’s rain out. The cost of my ticket & 2 hot dogs…$14.

Saw Ben Folds at Bucknell University last night…and saw this Arthur Treacher’s Fish & Chips in Danville, PA, this morning…such a rare sight these days.

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I was reading this AP story about Rep. Cynthia McKinney’s apology for her role in a recent incident involving her and a Capitol polic officer when I stumbled upon one of the “cardinal sins” of journalism/grammar in the 10th paragraph:

Rep. Mel Watt, the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, has had no statement on the incident. The caucus’ silence stands in stark contrast to it’s investigations of past scuffles between the U.S. Capitol Police and members.

Now, I would expect any AP writer and/or copy editor NOT to get caught in the ol’ “its/it’s” trap, but apparently that’s asking too much these days.

Hence, a grammar lesson…

its = the possessive form of the pronoun it (ex: The team lost its second straight game.)

it’s = the contraction for the term “it is” (ex: It’s cold outside.)

Snowing at Rider on April 5, 2006, around 11 a.m. ET

And a couple of hours later…

Just came across this AP story about a somewhat peculiar oddity that will occur overnight.

Three seconds after the clock turns to 1:02 a.m., it will be 01:02:03 on April 5, 2006. Or, in other terms, it will be 01:02:03 on 04/05/06…1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Of course, this is only peculiar for Americans since most of the world formats the date differently than we do…but it’s a bit quirky nonetheless.

However, the whole 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 thing reminded me of the combination to unlock the air shield around the planet Druidia in the movie “Spaceballs”, which prompted this classic bit of dialogue (quotes from the Internet Movie Database):

[King Roland has given in to Dark Helmet’s threats, and is telling him the combination to the “air shield”]
Roland: One.
Dark Helmet: One.
Colonel Sandurz: One.
Roland: Two.
Dark Helmet: Two.
Colonel Sandurz: Two.
Roland: Three.
Dark Helmet: Three.
Colonel Sandurz: Three.
Roland: Four.
Dark Helmet: Four.
Colonel Sandurz: Four.
Roland: Five.
Dark Helmet: Five.
Colonel Sandurz: Five.
Dark Helmet: So the combination is one, two, three, four, five? That’s the stupidest combination I’ve ever heard in my life! The kind of thing an idiot would have on his luggage!
President Skroob: [enters after the interrogation of King Roland] Well? Did it work? Where’s the king?
Dark Helmet: It worked, sir. We have the combination.
President Skroob: Great. Now we can take every last breath of fresh air from planet Druidia. What’s the combination?
Dark Helmet: 1 2 3 4 5.
President Skroob: 1 2 3 4 5? That’s amazing! I’ve got the same combination on my luggage! Prepare Spaceball 1 for immediate departure!
Dark Helmet: Yes, sir!
President Skroob: And change the combination on my luggage!