A...S...D...F...Nooooooo!!!

I finally escaped grant proposal hell yesterday, just in time for a short evening of games. I started off with baseball, Week 7, with my Cardinals at home against Sean's Padres. Last time we met, the Padres swept me 3-0 and 6-0, but since then they had fallen on hard times; the Padres were 4-8, while the Cards were 5-7.

In the first game I was limited to one hit...and won. Albert Pujols hit a solo home run at the top of the second, which turned out to be the game-winner, 1-0. It was Chris Carpenter's fourth start, and despite allowing only eight earned runs in over 30 innings, it was his first win. Only once had the Cards given him more than one run in support (against the Dodgers, Week 5), and the bullpen managed to blow that game 7-6.

But in the second game, I was forced to start Jason Marquis, who somehow compiled a 14-12 record in real life despite a 6.02 ERA (?!?). He promptly gave up four runs in the first, but managed to keep his nose clean through the fifth with no further damage. In the late innings I started picking up a run here, a run there, until I entered the bottom of the ninth down 5-4 versus Cla "The Claw!" Meredith (having already chased Trevor Hoffman). Aaron Miles grounded to second for the first out. Pinch-hitter John Rodriguez (replacing catcher Yadier Molina -- I was gambling for the win) singled, and Jim Edmonds (pinch-hitting for the pitcher's spot) walked. Juan Encarnacion then grounded weakly to the Padre shortstop, who committed his second error of the game, loading the bases. So Taguchi (that's "So Taguchi", not "So, this guy named Taguchi") flied to center, but too shallow to sacrifice home the tying run. David Eckstein again grounded to the shortstop, who this time managed not to trip over himself to save the 5-4 win for the Padres. And thus did we effectively eliminate each other from the postseason.

A party was waiting for us, itching to play party games. First came "You Must Be an Idiot!", which I keep wanting to call "Who Wants to Be an Idiot?". I failed once again to come up with any convincing bluffs and became pawn target practice whenever I missed a question; that plus making only one correct accusation all game landed me in well-deserved last. I think Michael and Ben tied for first, Ben on the strength of two sole correct answers, Michael off of several semi-bluffs (horrible answers that weren't because of an Idiot card, but just plain horrible -- Basel??). Smarty Party followed, with Brian making an early run off of Elvis songs. But I took a big lead off of operas, followed by one of the strangest lists ever: Name the top two finishers from the first two seasons of American Idol (4), the three judges (3), and the countries of Scandinavia (5...yes, 5). Give it a shot; my wife got 9. Sean took a run at me on the last question (paper towel brands?), but Brian just cleared the bar, saving my two-point win. The title of this recap comes from the best list ever -- "Name the home row keys on a standard keyboard (11), starting with Michael."

In an attempt to keep me from going home and watching football, Castle came next. I didn't have a bad draw, but a shockingly boring one -- though I had the Magician and Village Idiot early, my other seven cards were the Captain, a Siege Engine, and *five* Soldiers. Place, draw. Place, draw. And I would've won, too, if those meddling kids hadn't sent the Magician back to my hand. Chris dropped the Priest for the win.

So now I'm busy catching up on all the work I put aside during grant proposal hell, but I want to put dibs on hosting Saturday, October 13th. My wife will be out-of-state (thus temporarily satisfying Rule #1), so it should be a good day for a monster game, grilling, college football, etc.