Buffy/Angel Fans Beware---Ripoff Alert! Ripoff Alert!!

For anyone who watches much television (guilty at some points), this week and the ones around it are very important weeks. This is the time for all the new shows to premier. Either new seasons of our old favorites, or totally new shows. This week, we enjoyed premiers of season two of "Heroes," season three of "How I Met Your Mother," a new season of "House," a new season of "Bones," and last night (thanks to the miracle of DVR), a brand new show called "Moonlight." Not "Moonlighting." That one died when Dave and Maddie finally got together. Which brings to mind a very important rule in television shows. NEVER (hear me?) EVER let the two main characters make that connection. It ruins the show. Let it stay just at the edge of what we all know could happen. Never cross that line. It makes for better tension and occasional comic relief in the show.

Okay, that said...the best of the returning premiers was far and above "House." He has fired all of his team at the end of last season (at least the ones who didn't quit), so he is all "Alone," which is the title of the premier. House can't function without someone to bounce ideas off of, so his boss and associate docter are begging him to hire a team. Meanwhile, he bounces ideas off of the janitor, going to the extreme of suiting him up in a white jacket and stethoscope. Wackiness ensues. He won't leave Cutty alone, and Miller kidnaps House's Gibson Flying V guitar. It's great.

"Heroes" was pretty good. Hiro has transported himself back to the 17th century and comes face to face with his own personal hero, the guy with the sword that he stole in the present day. Imagine his surprise when his "hero" from all the Japanese legends turns out to be an Englishman (David Anders--"Alias" fans will recognize him immediately as the infamous Sark) who fights dirty and really isn't very honorable at all. Claire and her family have relocated from Texas to some little town in California, and she is instructed to act normal. We'll see how long that lasts.

"How I Met Your Mother" was pretty much more of the same. Not that that's bad. It was pretty good, and surprise guest star Mandy Moore starred as a kind of biker chick. That was weird.

"Bones" was also good. We love the tension between David Boreanaz and Deschanel. They are a great team, and their forensic team at the "Jeffersonian" institute is complete. Hodgins and Angela are trying to track down the guy that she is allegedly married to, which interrupted their nuptials at the end of the last season.

Ok. Now to the last one. "Moonlight" premiered Friday night and we watched it last night. This is a brand new show, featuring a vampire in L.A. who fights crime. Ok, now, let's put our thinking caps on, boys and girls. Where have we ever heard that idea before? I'll give you a second.

Who said "Angel?" Did someone say "Angel?" Bingo! You get a cookie!

This show is one of the biggest ripoffs I have ever seen in my life!! I'll admit I liked it ok, I mean it was entertaining and all, but...C'MON!! Someone has spent a little too much time in "Whedonverse" to be trying to write an original tv show. They even had "Dracula" from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 5 premier, "Buffy Vs. Dracula." And guess what...he played a vampire. Or at least a vampire wannabe. Aaaaand...the plot of the premier involved a cult of people who kind of worshipped the concept of vampirism. Hm....lessee they never did that in Buffy, did they?? Hmm??

The premier also featured a guy named Kevin Weisman, whom "Alias" fans all love to death as the adorable geekster named Marshall. He plays a camerman to Beth's reporting.

The show might actually make it. I don't know. But it is truly a humongous ripoff. We could still have Angel. It would have been better, because, well...Joss Whedon, you know? 'Nuf said.

The one premier that I recorded but have yet to watch is Stargate Atlantis. I'm going to try to watch that this season because I found out Jewell Staite is in it (she played Kaylee in Firefly/Serenity).

TTFN, y'all!

RED SOX WIN THE AL EAST!!!

Thanks to a win over Minnesota tonight, and some amazing help from the Baltimore Orioles, the Boston Red Sox have won the AL East Division title for the first time since 1995.

The Orioles made an amazing comeback tonight, as they were down 9-6 going into the bottom of the ninth inning. They tied the game on a bases clearing triple, went into extra innings, and won the game in the bottom of the tenth on a suprise bases loaded, two-out bunt down the third base line. The bunt was perfect, the Yankees third baseman (was that A-Rod??) was playing too far back and had no chance to get the runner at the plate. Orioles win 10-9, Red Sox win the division, Yankees get the wild card.

The AL is finished. On the other hand, the NL is still quite the mess. As of tonight, there are still six teams in the playoff picture in the NL.

I wish I could see the celebration happening at Fenway Park right now. The Orioles announcers said that people were still sitting at the Park watching the O's game on the video board. I'm sure the place absolutely erupted.

A very happy TTFN, y'all.

Back To the Best

Or at least tied for the best. In spite of losing to the Twins, and the Evil Empire winning tonight, the Sox are, once again, atop the Major Leagues, tied with Cleveland for the best record in baseball. They still haven't clinched the AL East, though, with only a handfull of games left. They are two games ahead of the Yanks with three games left. The elimination number is also two.

This is simply too nervewracking.

I so wanted Josh Beckett to get 21 wins, but that just wasn't to be this year.

I'm figuring, if the standings hold till the end, the Yankees will likely play the Indians and the Sox play the Angels in the first round of the playoffs. Unless the Sox fool around and lose the division, in which case they might play the Indians and the Yanks play the Angels.

With that scenario in mind, the Yankees probably don't WANT to win the division. I promise you, they don't want to play the Angels in the first round, or any other round for that matter.

Stephie and I made it to the last home game for the Rangers. It was a fun time, and we had great seats, thanks to our friend at church. The Rangers blew out the Angels, too. Go figure. The Rangers swept the division champs for their last home series, including a 16-2 rout in the last game. I think everybody hit a home run in that game...possibly even a few of the fans. And Michael Young got his 200th hit (becoming only the third player to do that five consecutive seasons since 1940) at home, which was very cool.

We almost cried as we left the ballpark. It just doesn't seem like it's already over. It just started.

"No, it didn't," replied Christi.

TTFN, y'all.

It Was A Busy Weekend

Boy, was I tired after this last weekend. Three Texas Rangers games in one weekend! And they even won two of them. That, in itself, is pretty huge.

The Red Sox clinched a playoff spot this weekend, and today, they gained a half game on the Evil Empire without even playing! The Yanks lost a makeup game to the Blue Jays, and the Sox are off today. So that makes them an even 2 games ahead of the Yanks with an elimination number of FIVE!

If they are trying to make this exciting, they are certainly achieving that goal.

Two divisions got clinched yesterday. The Angels clinched our American League West division, and the Injuns clinched the AL Central.

None of the NL teams are anywhere close to clinching. There are still NINE teams in that playoff race. Unreal. I'm pulling for the Mets and the Cubs and the Padres. Why, you might ask? Good question, because I really don't like any NL teams. The Mets, because I hate the Yankees. So if I can see one NY team win while the Yankees lose, all the better. The Cubs, because, well, hey. They're the Cubs. What else can you say. And White Sox fans are some of the meanest, rudest people I have ever seen. The Padres because they have Chris Young, who should still be with the Rangers, and for a long time, had the lowest ERA in the entire MLB.

One more week in the season, and yesterday morning at church, one of our members came up and handed me some season tickets and a free parking pass for the last home game of the season on Wednesday afternoon. Sooo....I guess I need to go to that game, eh?

Who needs sleep anyway??
~~~~~~~~~~

I wanted to mention here that we had an excellent message yesterday. Our pastor, Bill Burton, really brought the concept of mercy home to us in his message. I told him later (while we were watching the Rangers beat the O's) that my toes were still sore. He's been preaching through the beatitudes, and made some good correlations between the first three and the second three yesterday. Primarily for yesterday, putting the concept of being "poor in spirit" with being "merciful." The idea being that, if we recognize how desperately destitute we are withouth God, then we should have no trouble showing mercy to others in the same position (which is, of course, EVERYONE!). Good stuff. Hard stuff. And painful stuff. But it's what we need, and it's what God wants from us.

TTFN, y'all!

Red Sox Make the Playoffs!!

It's been a momentous weekend!

The Red Sox clinched at least a wild card berth in the playoffs last night, when they had a rare ninth inning rally to beat the Devil Rays 8-5. The rally was magnificently sparked by a lead-off home run by Tek to tie the game.

It was fun listening to the end of the game on the Red Sox radio station (via mlb.com). The announcers said that there were about three times as many Sox fans as Devil Rays fans (they were playing in Tampa Bay, mind you) and started calling the stadium the new "Fenway South."

They still need 6 wins to clinch the division title. And the Yankees are not giving up easily, so it will go down to the wire.

A Good Night

What a night it was!

While Stephanie and I watched the Rangers beat the Orioles at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, the Red Sox soundly defeated the D-Rays, 8-1 in Tampa Bay. This was a badly needed victory for the Sox.

We also watched the scoreboard for the game between the Toronto Bluejays and the Evil Empire. The Jays had them down 4-0 in the bottom of the ninth, when the Bombers did that thing they do. But they didn't quite do it enough. They tied the game 4-4. It went extra innings all the way to the 14th, when the Jays scored one more and held off the Yanks for a final of 5-4.

The Red Sox move to 2.5 games ahead in the AL East and that reduces the Yanks elimination number to 7.

Life is good.

TTFN, y'all.

Down To the Wire

I, along with, I'm sure, thousands of other Red Sox fans across the nation, are extremely nervous right now. We're watching a nightmare that is similar to last season's collapse. Except this time, everyone except Manny is healthy.

I'm not sure what's going on with this slump. Last night, the Sox had a rest day. Apparently, so did them that shall not be named. I'm sincerely hoping that this day off gave Tek and Company a chance to breathe and regroup. Neither team has a particularly hard schedule to close out the season.

The interesting thing this season is that, if you look at the big picture, only two of the 6 division of the MLB have "magic numbers" of less than 9 or 10. The AL West, in which the Angels clinched at least a tie last night, and the AL Central. The other four divisions are going down to the last game. What an exciting, nerve-wracking finish. In fact, in the NL, if you count the three teams in first place, there are a whopping NINE teams still in the playoff race! Wow!

In the meantime, the other team that I watch, those pathetic Rangers, has managed to lose 9 out their last 11 games, to the point that a .500 season is now "dust in the wind." Sadly, at the end of their last home stand, they were something like five games under .500. Now, I think they are at least 11.

There was one night this week, in which both the Rangers and the Sox had one of those "what were they THINKING??" nights. The Red Sox were beating Toronto and they let Eric Gagne pitch in the bottom of the eight inning. Now Gagne was doing great as a closer for the Rangers. But, frankly, he is doing horribly in a Red Sox uniform. That night, he gave up 3 runs in the bottom of the eighth, and the B-Jays went on to win 4-3.

The same night, the Rangers were losing 4-2 to the Twins. It was the top of the ninth and the Rangers were down to their last out (they were playing in Minnesota, "Don'tcha know"). I was listening to the radio on the way to work and heard Eric Nadel say that Brad Wilderson was in the on deck circle, getting ready to pinch hit. I believe I almost lost control of my van at this point. Apparently, Ron Washington has paid no attention to the season at all. Apparently, he has not watched Brad Wilderson bat. The wisdom of this managing decision (or lack thereof) totally escapes me. Wilkerson has had the nickname in my family, "King of Strikeouts" for the whole time he has been a Texas Ranger. And he certainly lived up to that nickname this fateful night. Of COURSE he struck out! That's what he DOES in clutch situations! Egad!

And they've extended Washington's contract for another year. Fortunately, Wilkerson will be a free agent after this season, and I'm pretty sure the Rangers have no interest in trying to keep him.

Duh.

Looking forward to next season, there are some crucial things that need to happen. First and foremost, Tom Hicks needs to sell the Rangers to someone who gives a flying you-know-what about WINNING! Second, Jon Daniel, the "boy wonder," has got to go, too. The only decent trade he has made since he has been GM was the Gagne deal, for which we got Kason Gabbard and David Murphy, and some guy named Elvis. We haven't seen him yet. Third, we need a first baseman, darn it! Obviously, we haven't had one since they traded Teixeira. We've had a mediocre catcher playing first base, or a mediocre outfielder playing first base. That doesn't work. Management had better go after a real first baseman during this off season. Last, and certainly not least, pitching, pitching, PITCHING!! The only winning pitcher on the staff has been Kason Gabbard. Vicente Padilla needs to GO!! He is a serious liability to the team's morale. Besides the fact that if he's pitching, you can count on a four hour game! And several hit batters. Millwood, the alleged "ace," is inconsistent at best. He has 5 good innings. Problem is, you never know when those 5 are going to start. Sometimes they don't start until inning 3, when they are already so far behind they can't catch up. McCarthy can't stay well. Kameron Loe, as much as I like him, just isn't starting material. Heck, let's go after Curt Schilling next season! He will likely be a free agent. He's struggled this season, but he's still got some good stuff, and, hey. He fits one of the criteria that the Rangers have obviously adapted in their accquisition philophy of late...he's over 40!

So there you go. I'm not an expert. But I've been watching baseball for...lessee...um...(takes off shoes)...over 40 years. I think that gives me a little bit of knowledge of the game, and what can make a winning team. The Red Sox have had it year after year (except for last year, but that was all circumstances that were uncontrollable). The Rangers have not had it. Not since their brief flirtation with champtionship in the mid nineties, with Johnny Oates at the helm, God rest his soul. And the Rangers will not have it. Not without some fundamental changes in management/ownership and managerial philosphy.

Oh. I almost forgot. One more thing that needs to happen before next season. They need to can Ron Washington and just eat that contract. Then they need to hire Trey Hillman. He's coming back home from Japan, where he has won multiple championships. I bet he could do good with the Rangers.

Stephie and I are going to all three games this weekend. All against Baltimore. I'm hoping we get to see Michael Young make another 200 hit season, for his fifth consecutive year.

TTFN, y'all!