today is monday 29 september 2003.

so todd helton loses the battle title on the last at-bat at san diego. i'd be ticked too after the intentional walk . . . what is rod beck smoking--"yeah, he plays in colorado." like altitude has anything to do with making contact.

the cubbies in atlanta is the series to watch. go cubbies. hate the braves. have the giants. dislike the a's.

today is saturday 27 september 2003.

today is homecoming. what fun. 'nuf said.

dodgers season is over--but i hate when people have to show another bonds homerun off dodger pitching. that's not necessary. first game of sat doubleheader has blue men 5-0 over the hated northern rivals.

what went wrong for the dodgers this season? 1) fred mcgriff who never gets injured, got injured. 2) adrian beltre had a typical second half. unfortunately the second half comes after a typical first half--horrible start to the season. 3) shawn green. when he hits, the whole team thinks they can hit. if he doesn't, nobody else does either. it ain't fair, but that's how the dodger offense works.

basically offense went wrong.

what went right for the dodgers this season? 1) starting pitching--from nomo to perez to brown to ishii to even alvarez, dreifort, ashby--all had flashes of brilliance. 2) the bullpen--from mota to shuey to quantrill to martin . . . the middle innings were not a bunch of pretty good pitchers called up from las vegas. 3) gagne. i'd hate to meet him in some alley in the dark. a hockey player in heart--i'd hate to think he skates, carries a stick, and wants to really hit you.

basically pitching went right.

question marks for next year? for starting pitching, i guess they're talking about the role of od perez--he could be trade bait for opening his mouth one too many times. first base? will the dodgers move green to get more offense in the outfield? outfield--will the dodgers move loduca to the left to get more offense. what about burnitz? and henderson? and ventura? wait and see.

cubbies to the postseason. i think the red sox/cubbies matchup would be pretty cool.

today is thursday 25 september 2003.

with the marlins winning, the dodgers season is over. the rest of the games are meaningless--the giants this weekend will simply tune up for the playoffs.

so what is the melvinistic response to the nl playoffs? do not cheer for the 1) the giants, because we hate them 2) the braves we hate them too 3) do cheer for the marlins--jack mckeon is magic 4) as much as i dislike houston, perhaps cheer for them--but if the cubbies win the central--cheer for them and maybe the curse is over

for the al--the angels have historically had a horrible season after a good season. history repeats itself, so don't expect any rally monkeys or too much mickey mouse. do expect the yankees, twins, red sox, and a's to put up the fight of their lives--but much more rested than their nl cohort (with the exception of atlanta or san francisco).

cubbies and red sox would be a real winner--one of the curses would have to be broken.

today is monday 22 september 2003.

dodgers are 2.5 games behind with 8 games to go. florida and phillies in one more series to kill each other--and they both get a shot to get killed by the braves. so who knows?

so jim tracy tells the blue men pack up for san diego and san francisco--and someone i guess is confident enough to say atlanta (if by chance the dodgers win--that's where the playoff game would be) . . . let me take a guess--was it od perez? isn't od perez throwing batting practice at the q tonight? padres up 4-0 bottom of the first . . .

at least the broncos are up against the raiders . . . not that i care--actually i care about that game like i watch demi moore and whichever kid she's dating ashton kuch-whatever these days. 8-0

today is sunday 21 september 2003.

normal sunday. go to church, panda express, sleep. will wake up later, and then go to church, and then get something to eat. i don't know how the panda express stuff got started--but it is sultan food. tough decision--go to someone's house for meatloaf, or go to panda express. i went with tradition today.

yesterday, hung out at downtown. free concerts at the denver art museum and then caught a performance at boettcher hall in the performing arts complex. good stuff. went to bayou bob's for dinner--don't tell me hawaiians eat weird stuff. cajun people have weird stuff. had the swamp crawl--alligator tail breaded (tastes like chicken) and the shrimp etouffee (like a soup). good stuff.

dodger season ended a month ago--but officially comes to a close in a week. it all becomes mathematically useless by midweek.

so i'm trying to prove my point in apologetics class the other day--the point that man wants to do wrong instead of to do right. so i put a cookie in front of a student to temp her--and tell her not to touch it. she's hungry, and deep down inside she wants to eat the cookie. a hear one student say, "mr. c. is playing the devil." another student says, "what if he's not playing!"

so i have a friend from college speak to my apologetics class the other day--she asks me at lunch, "do the students think i'm one of the preacher women from the seminary?"

today is friday 19 september 2003.

out in the east coast--i hear some schools got two days off because of the hurricane. i remember we used to get the week off--nice thing when hawaiian electric couldn't get the the generators on the island kick started.

dodgers miraculously won last night. one of these days gagne may blow it--but it doesn't appear to be soon.

smoltz of the braves is aching--but says he'll pitch. but something is wrong. something is definitely wrong.

padres at colorado tonight. i don't know about this series--you could see a lot of good people playing. of course, you could see a lot of pre-spring training try-outs going on.

i will be the first to say this--next year could be a very, very, very scary year in the nl west. dodgers-giants always keeps things interesting. the key for the dodgers is if they ever get any offense--a healthy green will help. burnitz will help. and whoever plays for on first should help. san fran will always be scary if felipe alou is in charge. the big surprise will be san diego--bochy still has magic--the middle lineup of nevin, klesko, giles, and nady will make the introduction of petco park miserable to the rest of the world. colorado may compete--it will be up to their pitching, though stacked has a tendency to still either be injured or ineffective. d-backs could go either way--yes we dismissed them earlier this year, but only yesterday were they eliminated from the post-season. they can compete to the end again next year.

today is thursday 18 september 2003.

the dodgers flat stink when they stink. alvarez tonight.

cobblestones from panera bread is sultan food.

i still don't get what the fascination is with me being accused of being chinese.

so a buddy calls last night and rubs it in that he's at dodger stadium. yep--pretty soon i'll be known as the chinese guy drinking coffee watching the dodgers.

cold here in denver.

today is wednesday 17 september 2003.

so i don't get it--alg 2 students have a fascination that for some strange reason i'm chinese. so i admit i'm chinese. and indian--from india. and italian. and a tongan. racism is a funny thing--you usually get insulted for being part of an ethnic group. so what do you call it when you get accused of being part of an ethnic group that you're not a part of?

dodger offense stinks again. i hate to say what i've been saying for about a month now--but the season is done. the magic number is about 9--9 wins for either phillies or marlins or dodger loses combined will keep the blue men out of the post season at least for another year. the farm looks strong, but kevin brown grows older by the year. but who knows what ever happens to ricky henderson. dodgers get killed for the second straight night by the hand of the d-backs.

curt schilling just owns the dodgers--dodgers haven't beaten him in years. even when schilling was with the phils, the dodgers couldn't beat him.

so at densem, i pray with preacher woman--"help us this weekend as we preach." 8-0

getting cold this time of year here in denver. got over most of the cold--not that warriors get real sick in the first place. i need more sleep, so i don't know why i'm blogging instead.

today is 14 september 2003.

the warrior is fallen--caught a cold in the abrupt weather change in colorado. much sleep. much water. much more sleep. not a typical sunday.

dodgers are keeping pace. two shutouts against the padres. a pitching staff strong enough to shut down most teams has been finally paired up with an offensive duo (green and beltre) than can put some numbers against most teams. twelve of fourteen not so bad--but mlb needs to find a way so that the fish and phillies can play each other and both teams lose. 8-0

not that i care, but so what is up with jlo and ben?

bus strike continues in hawaii. and no signs of big cat on maui.

today is friday 12 september 2003.

so i get this e-mail from dodgers.com--post-season tickets go on sale today. yeah, it's a good thing the phillies and marlins draw each other, and they both draw the braves--so they can keep killing each other. the dodgers get the fun draw of the padres--don't let their religious affiliation think these guys are pushovers--they're known to kill the west.

nothing much going on again. baseball wild card races are pretty wild.

today is wednesday 10 september 2003.

nothing really going on. seminary stuff going busy. school stuff going busy. beside that, dodgers have a little over 3 weeks to make things real interesting. they're streaking right now.

big cat on maui scratched a huge black lab the other night.

today is sunday 07 september 2003.

normal sunday. church, panda express, sleep, church, go out after church. a typical sunday.

dodgers swept the rockies. they were in coors field--but if their offensive explosion can be maintained--the dodgers will be a team in serious contention for the wild card.

maybe the dodgers need something to spark them. like the rally monkey for the angels last year, maybe the dodgers need a rally pierogie running around.

today is saturday 06 september 2003.

dodgers never gave the rox a chance today. coomer and green were animals. bullpen never needed to get moving.

what is up with preston wilson's hairdo? if there's a correlation with that and his rbi totals, then why is everyone shaving their heads?

molina of the angels is having surgery. which one? two of the six molina brothers are catchers for the angels.

wakefield and the sox with red shutout and four hit the yankees. wild.

talk about wild--check out the wild card standings and the races for the national central. al wild card is pretty tight too, but not as tight as the nl.

randall simon will be forever known as the sausage man. didn't assault a running sausage today--but instead gave free sausages to a section at miller park in milwaukee.

what if there's an all-chicago world series?

why doesn't coors field have pierogies? and maybe someone needs to hit a running pierogie to get these mysteries foods some notice!

today is friday 05 september 2003.

dodgers rally back when they were down 6-1. hundley, beltre, and cora came in big--but what was also huge was the bullpen. but the bullpen has been doing their job all year.

gagne is an animal. one fan behind the dodger pullpen said it correctly--"the rockies better take him seriously." actually, the entire national league has tried.

wild card is nothing short of hairy this year. dodger remain three out (with the cubbies), with the marlins and phillies within three. at least the dodgers are more or less done with san diego for the year. 8-0

today is thursday 04 september 2003.

i hate sitting in "learning communities." i hate driving in rain at night in the city. i hate fish tacos. i hate people who squeak on my chalkboard. just full of hate today--much to blog when there's stuff actually going on.

dodgers come to town tomorrow. ishii and od perez, and probably nomo on the sabbath. will get eight dodger games this year--one year i'll hit ten.

today is monday 02 september 2003.

just got back from san diego. weird place--aircraft carriers in the harbor. worst possible runway of a major metro airport. sister gave birth to huge baby. fish tacos are king--but not for me. dodgers swept colorado. then got beat 10-1 by houston. i hate hospitals. and why can't the people movers at denver international airport have at least polyphonic tones--they've had the same recording for as long as i've been here. don't take the mass transit in hawaii-they're on strike. actually stay away from all mass transit--corollas are nice cars. got class tonight. we'll see how ministering in an inter-cultural context goes. gagne of the dodgers is an animal--give him a few more dozen or so saves and he should be the cy young winner. it needs to snow here in denver.