Right, so I understand that the title of this is completely irrelevant to the topic of baseball that I'm about to dive into, but I feel that it's important to note that I'm still sane after two midterms.
Actually, I have had some unreasonably interesting things happen to me in the past few days that I'd like to talk about first.
Interesting thing #1:
I was sitting in the Marketplace, which is the coffee shop in the first floor of the building that I live in. Interestingly enough, I ran into the only person in the building that I know other than the two other economics students that live there and my RA.
I could best describe this individual as completely scattered, though I contend that some of the time his mind is vacant for reasons that could only be caused by banned substances. For example, we've talked for probably a few hours total now, but he has no idea what my name is. Nevertheless, he sat down next to me and we began into a discussion about how we were, how the NBA playoffs were going (he's a big Cavs fan) and other things. Eventually, the conversation turned to weight loss, and he intimated to me that he had been struggling with weight loss and had turned to diet pills as his solution. After a two or three minute digression into why he needed rush delivery for the pills, he got to the true question: if the diet pills worked, would I buy some? I answered that no, I wouldn't be interested in buying any diet pills, mainly because the weight gain that I had experienced was most likely due to the stress of the classes that I was taking, and that I would try to lose it in the summer. He quickly followed by asking if I would buy him more diet pills, provided the diet pills worked. I answered with no, I really couldn't buy other people diet pills, that didn't make sense.
Finally, he ended by asking to borrow my cell phone (I obliged) to make a call, which he made to some individual that he was meeting for church in Cincinnati. He followed that request up by asking if I could give him a ride to Cleveland, to which I responded that I couldn't do that because I didn't have any reason to go to Cleveland other than to give him a ride. We talked for maybe 20 more minutes before he left to let me study. I found the whole experience to be quite unique.
Interesting thing #2: (much shorter)
I slept for thirteen and a half hours on Sunday before I woke up. However, the sleep I had on Monday was unlike anything I've ever experienced. I woke up after four hours feeling completely refreshed; then, each subsequent time I woke up (I had tried to fall back asleep because of the obvious time issues) I felt even more refreshed, and I was completely happy most of Monday morning. I've never experienced anything like it. Explanations?
Now on to baseball, or the post that "conspicuously avoids mention of the Reds for fear of a five-hundred word response involving the greatness of Bronson Arroyo." That's right, I will not mention the fact that I think Edwin Encarnacion is going to be better than Chris Sabo, although he is.
If anything has surprised me about this season so far, it has to be the complete meltdown of Delmon Young. I've haven't seen a series of bad decisions like this since I chose to enter graduate school in economics. Seriously, Delmon came out criticizing Rays management, and then gave them ample opportunity to screw him over for the rest of his career by making one of the silliest decisions possible; that is, allowing a replacement minor league umpire to upset so severely that the course of Young's career might be affected. If you think I'm overreacting, you'll have to consider the idea that Young will no longer be liked by the fans; rather, he will be criticized everywhere he goes, and he'll be under an intense amount of scrutiny. The Rays have to be a little bit concerned about the Young/Upton duo that was supposed to make South Florida baseball watchable again- they're struggling in Durham, which isn't exactly the place to be right now.
Speaking of unwatchable South Florida baseball, I have to say that the Marlins are slightly better than expected, if only because Josh Willingham and Hanley Ramirez are really good. However, Jeffrey Loria has managed to ruin two franchises. I kind of wonder if he looks for terrible stadium situations, does absolutely nothing to improve his revenue except by cutting payoff, and then waits for a massive bailout. Oh wait...
The Marlins drew 6,017 individuals for their game on Monday. I'm waiting for Loria to blow San Antonio as well.
Other thoughts: Washington's poor performance should serve as some sort of indication that last year's start was a bit of a fluke; after all, Soriano is their only discernable star, and their offense is as bad as last year (which should be apparent from the fact that Royce Clayton has found himself in the everyday lineup.) I'd also like to nominate Royce Clayton as one of my finalists for the Michael Tucker "Most Unnecessary At-Bats in a Career" award- seriously, these guys have never been great at hitting, but they get all kinds of everyday appearances. I just don't get it. Also, I'd like to demote the Royals franchise to AAA, make Albert Pujols president, and Jim Thome vice president. I think a Pujols/Thome ticket would have enough charisma to make this country a great nation again. Of course, you could contend that this country is great right now, and you would be right in the general sense.
