Kline time

Hanger-on Jay passes along this note about the August 22, 2004 Cardinals-Pirates game: “At the game you attended in St. Louis, reliever Steve Kline got on base on a sacrifice and a fielder’s choice and then scored on either a triple or a grand slam from Larry Walker. Well, it turns out you have personally witnessed every run that Kline ever scored.”

Original comments…

Levi: I do love Steve Kline. I’ve been imagining him playing with his kids in the snow while wearing his new Orioles cap. Hunting deer while wearing his new Orioles cap. Changing the oil on Tony Womack’s purple Lamborghini while wearing his new Orioles cap.

He’ll be ready for Spring Training.

Luke, hanger-on: I’m not big on recounting dreams, but …

Last night I dreamt I saw Stacey at a Critical Mass. I asked where Levi was — and he was on a baseball-related trip to Florida.

Unfortunately that’s all I remember.

Luke, hanger-on: I’m so sorry: Another dream. Apropos of nothing but baseball.

In this dream I’m organizing a trip to the ballpark with Owen, someone I went to school with in Oregon 10 years ago and haven’t thought of since. It occurs to us that a lot of the people who would come to a game with us were named Ed, so I propose we call our event “Eds Go Out to the Ballgame.” We’d invite anyone whose name was Ed, and those whose name wasn’t Ed could change theirs, and we’d get Ed Debevic’s to sponsor us.

Two minor dreams about baseball in one week. I’m now thinking of the Peanuts series where Charlie Brown wakes up and the sun is a baseball, and by the end of the week his head is a baseball.

Three weeks, pitchers and catchers.

Maddux: CCC

I TiVoed the Cubs-Giants game today, because they’re still inconveniently scheduling baseball games for hours while I’m working. This would not have been a bad choice for a national Game of the Week, but I guess Fox and MLB are still firmly committed to the “regional” concept for the Saturday afternoon Fox coverage. Too bad it’s nearly impossible to see any Saturday afternoon game other than the one being shown in your local area (they’re not carried on the MLB Extra Innings pay-per-view package).

I am really, really tired of people in the front row leaning way over to try to get foul balls, or worse, fair balls that have rolled foul and are still in play. During this game, someone went all the way over the rail to try to get a foul ball, but jumped right back over. Fox practically made him into a folk hero, to the point of including him in the “play of the game” poll…and his play was, of course, the choice of a majority of the cell-phone-using people who bothered to vote. I contend he should have been thrown out of the stadium.

Maybe I’m slightly jealous of people who get to sit that close, but I’d still like to see the year-by-year numbers of fan interference calls…although I guess they’d have to be adjusted for the fact that most of these new stadiums have more seats closer to the action than the stadiums they replaced.

Anyway, speaking of people who get to sit close, the one celebrity Fox could find in the stands was Jim Belushi (and he was sitting in an upper deck anyway). Didn’t any Fox stars want to go to this game? If I were a cast member on a Fox show, I would have demanded tickets for me and Caroline Dhavernas, late of “Wonderfalls,” who I believe still technically counts as a Fox star. (Wait a minute, by that same logic, I could also go to the game with Paget Brewster of “Andy Richter Controls the Universe” and Sarah Silverman of “Greg the Bunny”! All right, enough of my rich fantasy life.)

In conclusion, if Levi were near a computer this weekend, he’d probably be saying something about Larry Walker.

Original comments…

Levi: Does Jim Belushi even count as a celebrity? Even for Fox?

Jim: Jim Belushi is the star of a surprisingly popular sitcom on ABC. He’s got his name in the title of the show and everything! A lot more people have heard of him than have heard of Caroline Dhavernas, that’s for sure.

Toby: Is Paget Brewster related to Punky Brewster? Or is that a whole separate family of Brewsters?

Levi: When I returned from the rehearsal dinner at midnight (Stacey had fled earlier with the niece and nephew, because she was worn out from, well, being around the niece and nephew.), I turned on the highlights and almost passed out. Larry Walker? I wanted to call my brother or bang on his hotel room door or something. But then I thought more sensibly, decided he needed a good night’s sleep on his wedding weekend, and went to bed instead.

But I did wake Stacey to tell her.

Jason: Why would Fox be pointing out an ABC ‘star’? Couldn’t they find a shot of Calista Flockhart eating a hot dog?