A 'Wicked' good time in Chicago

Tricia and I had a great time in Chicago this weekend which was capped off by seeing the matinee of 'Wicked' at the Oriental Theater. We weren't really planning to go but were able to get decent tickets from a scalper at a Borders Bookstore right around the corner. A hint to anyone going to see it if you are in Chicago -- go to the drawing they do for front row tix (at only $25 per) and even if you don't get picked, you may be lucky to get them from a scalper who apparently hangs around the drawings. Nevertheless it was a great show and a great trip.

A big thanks to our good friends Rich and Mary and Tricia's Uncle John for their incredible and generous hospitality. Also a big thanks to Tracy and Chad for watching the kiddos.

Most of all, thanks to my lovely wife for convincing me to go, I had forgotten how much I just love hanging out with her.

My best baseball weekend this year

The Sun Devils beat UC-Irvine in their first game in the College World Series on Saturday and the Astros, led by the suddenly torrid Mike Lamb, swept the Mariners in Houston.

ASU's win came virtue of some longballs by CJ Retherford, Matt Spencer (3-run) and Ike Davis, whose solo blast in the 8th ended up being the game-winner in the Devils' 5-4 victory. The Devils face Oregon State, who they swept earlier this season up in Corvallis, on Monday in Omaha.

Roy Oswalt got the win for the Astros today but was very unRoyO-like, going only 5 - 2/3 innings and giving up 3 runs. He labored throughout and clearly struggled with his control. However, it doesn't really matter, they got the win and the sweep, their first since last September when they swept the Pirates in Pittsburgh.

Overall, it was by far the best weekend I've experienced thus far as a baseball fan this season. However, it still doesn't quite take away the sting of having to travel for business on Father's Day. The road can feel even more lonely when you're away from your family on days when you should be with them.

Japantown, San Francisco

I'm staying at the Miyako Hotel in San Francisco tonight. Basically a boutique hotel in Japantown. I'm here for a conference sponsored by IDC, a tech industry analyst group. I'm a bit surprised that IDC broke from the norm and went this venue route. The rooms are decent, but the wireless Internet is slow (like pretty much everywhere else I stay these days) but at least they don't charge you for it. However, while the hotel in and of itself is fine, I do have to say that I miss having the Starbucks on every corner like you experience at every other hotel in SF.

Wandy-ful!

Solid effort tonight by the Astros. Wandy dealed for seven plus and Mike Lamb woke up from his slumber to go 4-4 with a 2-run HR. Bullpen came in and closed out the 5-1 win.

Sun Devil alum Willie Bloomquist accounted for the Mariners' only run with an inside the park HR in the 6th.

Speaking of Sun Devils, they kick things off in Omaha Saturday night against the UC-Irvine Anteaters. By no means should the Devils look past these guys, UC-Irvine is legit, just ask fans of UT or Wichita State, two perennial college baseball powers.

In other baseball news, the Rocket must have felt like he was back in H-town as he pitched a good game for the Yankees but lost 2-0 as he was outdueled by Ollie Perez of the Mets.

Carlos Lee; king of the 9th inning double plays

Ok, this is about the third game I have seen this season where the Astros had something cooking in the 9th, only to have Carlos Lee come up and ground into a double play. How this guy is one of the league leaders in RBI, I will never know. The number say he is delivering on the promise thus far, but from what I have seen, a bunch of those RBI are of the sacrifice and fielder's choice variety. When he does get extra-base hits, usually no one is on base.

Now, as far as tonight's game, the Texaco bullpen is officially back. Wheeler gave up five runs in the 9th -- all after getting the first two batters via strikeout. To be fair, the next two batters got on via infield hits and calls at first base that could have gone either way. While he was a bit unlucky, he still had an opportunity to get out of the inning and he did not do his job. Apparently, Chris Sampson tried to console him but he wanted no part of that as he did his best Carlos Zambrano impersonation and shoved his well-meaning gestures away.

Devils headed to Omaha; Astros continue tailspin

Congrats to the Sun Devil baseball squad, in the College World Series for the second time in three years. I'll have to admit, when I was working at Grand Canyon University, I was not a big fan of ASU head coach Pat Murphy. He always came across as arrogant and did not appear to respect the legacy of the program.

However over the years I have softened a bit on Murph. Obviously the winning helps but the thing that really put me over the top was the fact that he donated $100,000 to the program after signing a contract extension after last season. Even though Murphy is one of the top paid coaches in the country, he is not paid hoops or football type money, so the amount is not insignificant relative to his overall paycheck. It sent a message to me that he does have a lot of respect for the school and is committed to the program for the long haul.

Btw, this appearance for the Devils will be their 20th in the CWS. They begin play on Saturday vs. UC-Irvine which knocked Texas and Wichita St. en route to their first ever CWS appearance.
As for the Astros, they finished a 3-4 roadtrip with a 2-1 loss to the Cubs. Congrats to Carlos Lee as he grounded into two double plays. Note to Carlos, these pitchers WANT you to swing at the first pitch.

Andrew Britton's "The American"

Finished reading "The American" by Andrew Britton. I'd probably give it 3 out 5 stars. The main character, Ryan Kealey (not to be confused with the former Sun Devil QB Ryan Kealy) was likable enough. Although it's clear that Britton was trying to make him be a cross between Jack Ryan and Jack Bauer.

His Ryanesque like qualities were more associated with his background, former military, went CIA, left to do some pseudo-teaching at a University, lived near the ocean and ultimately was quoted saying at one point in the book, "I want back in," which was very reminiscent of Ryan from "Patriot Games" if I recall correctly.

The actions of Kealey were very Baueresque as he had a couple of interesting interrogation moments with the baddies and had that "do what you think is right" type approach. One moment in the book was particularly interesting when he had to interrogate someone who was being held in a Federal holding facility but was under the watchful eye of his lawyer at the time.

I did particularly like the character development with the main baddie, Jason March, who was working with Al-Qaeda but it had nothing to do with religion. A focused individual who fell into some normal human traps that he knew at the time might be critical mistakes.

Anyhow, if you are itching to read a Tom Clancy-like book (since he hasn't written one in like five years) but without the Clancy-like attention to detail, then you will probably enjoy this book.

Astros' first consecutive wins since May 16

With their 3-2 win over the Chisox today at US Cellular, the Astros won consecutive games for the first time since May 16 when they had won four in a row against the D-backs and Giants at Minute Maid. It's also the first time since May 9 that they have won consecutive games on the road. Yes, an entire month without winning consecutive road games. These are the type of stats I always thought were reserved for the Pirates, Royals and D-Rays. I guess now you can officially consider the Astros part of the baseball dregs.

Congrats to Lance Berkman for not getting ejected from today's game. In fact, it appears we went ejection-free today. Another milestone.

Sun Devils sweep through Tempe Regional

The ASU baseball squad got some impressive starting pitching performances to sweep through Monmouth, UC Riverside and Nebraska to win the Tempe Regional in the NCAA baseball tournament. Next up for the Devils is the super-regional at Packard Stadium against Ole Miss.

I dont know much about Ole Miss, other than they play in the SEC which always fields strong post season teams and it is home conference for the tourney's number one seeded team, Vanderbilt. Defending national champ Oregon State will represent the Pac-10 in super regionals as well ASU. As I write this the University of Tucson is currently getting beat by Wichita St. Go Shockers!

Hopefully the strong starting pitching and solid relief work from Jason Jarvis will continue into this weekend for the Devils.