I Must Have Been Really Drunk...

When the hell did I get married? And why isn't my wife cleaning my house, cooking my dinner or doing my laundry, dammit? And don't get me started on our love life!

 

Also, my middle initial is not "J" and the house number had a wrong digit (yet this still made it into my mailbox the other day).

Quick Review: Paranormal Activity 3

Here we go again. Like so many movie franchises, the quality continues on a downward trend in "Paranormal Activity 3." The orginal featured a woman named Katie being haunted, the sequel told the story of her sister Kristi, also haunted, and this one...well, there are no more siblings, apparently. So this time we have a prequel, going back in time to 1988, when young Katie and Kristi lived with their mother and her boyfriend. This means camera equipment is much less sophisticated. Think VHS tapes. Yet the boyfriend conveniently has a "business" (based in the garage) filming wedding videos and such, so he's got cameras to place all around the house. The same basic plot is in place -- a nice, happy family lives a nice, happy life until strange things begin to go bump in the night. Only this time it's less interesting, less intense and missing much of the humor and charm of the original. The idea that someone in danger (or trying to rescue someone else in danger) would be sure to carry his clunky VHS camera with him is ridiculous. And things are left open for another installment, which seems highly likely considering that PA3 is yet another cash cow, with a cheap budget and huge box office. The problem is, unless the filmmakers find another family in the present to scare, or have someone look for the infant from PA2, their only other option is following this same family further into the past. Sony Betamax next? My grade: D-plus.

My Odd Little Nice Day

The freak snow "storm" that showed up today (more like rain/snow/occasional sleet with much of the snow and sleet melting upon impact and the rest disappearing tomorrow) was the setting for a weird, fluky but ultimately rather good day.

It started with my alarm going off at 9:15 this morning (well, technically yesterday morning since I'm writing this a little past midnight, but go with me here). I turned it off and went back to sleep. I dreamed that the Phillies were playing, and I was suddenly called in to play third base. I was so excited! Then the batter hit a soft line drive that clanked off my glove for an error that allowed a run to score. At this point there was a pitching change, and I decided to run into the clubhouse for some reason. I was walking around, talking to someone in there for a couple of minutes. Then I heard a noise and realize that the game resumed without me. I wasn't bothered by this. I was like "Oh, well" -- and then I went out into the seats and sat down to watch more of the game. (And then I found myself out on a street with all of my family. Not sure why.)

I woke up, looked at the clock radio...and it had no time. My power had gone out. I checked my watch -- it was 10:30. I looked out my bedroom window and saw that the rain that began while I was asleep had already mixed with snow, earlier than predicted by the forecasters. I went down into my basement to check the fuse box (although why would it be a blown fuse? Hardly any electricity was being used at that time). Then I called PECO to see if they were aware of it (their automated system said they were working on it). I checked the clock that's on my oven, and saw that it was stopped at 10:15, meaning it hadn't been out long.

A little after 11, the power returned. Just then, I looked out my window and saw a FedEx truck, and there was a knock on my door. The driver had left a package. It was maybe five feet long, but not heavy at all. It was marked "fragile." I don't know why but I thought it might be a fishing rod or two. Although it had my house address on it, it had someone else's name. Perplexed, I brought it inside, went upstairs to shower and get dressed.

MixBlog 10-27-11

I need to put some content up here so the twelve or so of you who are actually reading this stuff (as compared to all the hits I get from people doing Google searches for pictures of shirtless guys*) continue to stop by, so here are some little observations...

Baseball: Right now I'm watching Game 6 of the World Series. It's kind of bizarre. It's 4-4 in the 6th as I write this and both the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals seem to be trying to give the game away with various displays of ineptitude. If they're this mistake-prone in Game 6, what happens if the Cards tie the series and they have to play the dreaded all-or-nothing Game 7? Update: 7-4 Texas in the 7th. Will this game end before I finish this post?

Hockey: Speaking of mistake-prone, I had the Flyers game on earlier. They were playing the Atlanta Thrashers Winnipeg Jets 2.0, who came into the game with a 2-5-1 record, at the Whatever-The-Bank's-Called-This-Week Center. Last night the Flyers lost at Montreal by a 5-1 score. The Canadiens were 1-5-2 before beating the Flyers and hadn't won a home game. So you had to figure the Flyers would be kind of desperate to put together a solid effort.

They fell behind 5-1 in the second period. I tweeted about it at the time and used these hashtags: #karma #apologizesimmonds (referring to this). After the teams traded goals, the Flyers then scored two more in the second and three in the first three minutes of the third period to take a 7-6 lead. I was worried that my tweet was serving as a reverse jinx.

Working At Working

Just want to vent a little.

One week and one day into my new job, and I kind of miss being out of work. While I admit I wasted plenty of time during the day, now it seems like I have little time. Working a full day, with a commute of 1 1/4 hours each way -- which is actually a little worse than the commute I used to have -- is wearing on me. Between checking the websites I regularly visit, plus Facebook and Twitter, and this little blog, plus those TV shows I watch regularly*, and keeping up with reading Entertainment Weekly and some other stuff, it feels like I have no time to just relax.

So I'm staying up as late as I can to try and squeeze it all in, which means I tend to get less sleep than I'd like. And I haven't been to a movie in this span. I was hoping to try and see something this past weekend but slept in both days. If I go to a movie it'll have to be at night or on the weekends. I thought that I'd be able to handle this particular schedule. It's a seasonal job, generally running from September through March each year. It can be extended a little bit, but essentially I'd have the whole summer off. But I'm already feeling worn down a little.

I'm wondering if I might be better off with a year-round part-time job, maybe three days per week. The problem is, even if I start applying for such jobs, I can't take any days off to go to a job interview. So I'm sort of stuck. I'm not at the point where I'd just quit this job. Obviously, I can't afford it financially. But I need to find a way to make some more time.

*There are also one or two new shows I've considered watching, but haven't started to yet. Now multiple episodes have aired and I'm behind in them, and there's just no way I can catch up now, even if the episodes are still available through On Demand.

Philadelphia Revolution Hockey?

I was about to get out of a bus near my house after I ran some errands today, and saw another bus pulling to the corner. When I saw what the bus said, I was intrigued, so when I exited my bus, I shot some video.



Seeing as how I'm not enthused about the Flyers right now, thanks to their lying (definitely) bigot (possibly) Wayne Simmonds, this intrigued me. I found their website -- it's a bit subpar, but I've been able to piece together that the Philadelphia Revolution is a junior hockey organization, with teams in three different leagues. They play their home games at a rink in Warwick Township. In fact, one team had a game there tonight, with a 5:40 pm scheduled start.

I don't know why their bus was around the corner from my house at 4:15, less than 90 minutes before game time. I think there's a chance the driver was lost, or thought he was lost. The bus was headed north on Frankford Ave. to Grant Ave., made a right on to Grant and (as I took my video) parked along the road for about two minutes before resuming the trip. But based on Google's directions from there to the rink, they were headed in the wrong direction when the bus turned onto Grant.

I wish them well. Definitely more than the Flyers right now. But they need to spell the word "sponsor" correctly.

Rittenhouse Square Yarn Bomb

I wrote about the odd and surprisingly popular phenomenon known as yarn bombing once before, and got quite a few hits on the blog because of it. Naturally, when I saw this picture, which was taken yesterday by my friend Kurt (so you can't use it without paying him -- you can send me the money and I'll be sure to get it to him), I felt that I should, you know, try and get some more hits. (Speaking of which, no noticeable uptick in hits from Joe Jonas fans. Explains his album sales, I suppose.)

This statue is "The Sundial," and it's in Rittenhouse Square. With a chill in the air, some thoughtful person decided to help these frolicking naked children keep warm. Well, one of them, anyway. Well, for the kid's head, at least...wait, what horrible creature saw these poor naked kids and decided to torture them by leaving just one hat for the two of them?

Too Long For Twitter: Joe Jonas' Album Sales

Really, this is more about the mess that is today's music industry. The debut solo album by Joe Jonas sold just 18,000 copies in its first week. Amazingly weak.

Yet that was good enough to be number 15 on the Billboard 200 top albums chart. 15. That's practically a top-10 debut, which used to be a big deal!

I guarantee that if Joe Jonas announced that he's gay (and I'm not saying he is or isn't because I have no idea) he'd have sold a lot more albums. A lot more.

Oh, all right, you talked me into it. Here's Joe and Nick on the beach, and Nick in a Los Angeles Dodgers uniform showing off his best asset.

Quick Review: 50/50

I'm not sure if it had something to do with "Green Hornet" or not, but I'm starting to tire of Seth Rogen's act. I suppose his character in "50/50" was supposed to act the way he did. After all, he was in a sense playing himself. "50/50" was written by Will Reiser, Rogen's friend, and is loosely based (so much so that their names are changed in the film) on Reiser's being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and how Rogen helped get him through chemo, and then surgery. The movie explains why Seth...I mean, Kyle, reacted the way he did to Will's...I mean, Adam's situation. Adam is played by the always adorable Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and whether Adam's dealing with his medical situation or the responses of his friend, his mother (Anjelica Huston), his needy girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard), or his fresh-out-of-college psychologist (Anna Kendrick), Gordon-Levitt never fails to connect. I'd have rated this higher but, you know, I'm just getting a little tired of Seth Rogen. Sorry. My grade: B.

2011 World Series

It's the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers this year.

Bleh. I don't want either team to win (although I suppose, if you held a gun to my head, I'd say I hate St. Louis and their phony fans and their slimy manager who supports the Tea Party nuts more than the team once co-owned by George W. Bush). I don't plan to watch very intently. It might be on in the background while I'm online or something but that's it. But since I've been making predictions for the playoffs, I guess I have to do it for this series as well, so...Rangers in 5.

Wake me up when pitchers and catchers report to Clearwater.

Quick Review: Drive

Talk about quiet intensity. "Drive" at times meets that definition (although it's still quite intense when action and violence are filling the screen). There are some periods where the dialogue is sparse, but the mood is captured by the actors. Continuing on a hot streak is Ryan Gosling, who works in a garage and sometimes gets work as a Hollywood stunt driver -- and also sometimes gets work as a getaway driver. The garage owner (Bryan Cranston) has a plan to get Gosling's character into NASCAR, but needs money to do it, and gets it from a mobster (Albert Brooks -- yes, that Albert Brooks). Gosling's Driver (with no name -- the Driver is all he's identified as) slowly becomes involved with a young mother (Carey Mulligan), until her husband gets out of prison, and then trouble ensues. It will be interesting to see if Gosling can get an Oscar nomination for this film. I think he's deserving but this might be too off-putting a film for some Oscar voters to give it a fair shake. My grade: A.

Occupy Philly...Why?

I need to get this posted fast because I need to go to bed earlier than usual. I somehow find myself no longer unemployed and, as such, actually have to get up early for work in the morning. Although it's only a temp job for a few months each year, I'm now one of the fortunate ones. Many millions of others are not. The people camped out for over 10 days outside Philadelphia City Hall (and for longer periods in other locations) want that to change. I can understand, to some extent, Occupy Wall Street. Certainly much of what's wrong in this country is the fault of giant corporations and their excessive greed.



But this -- Occupy Philly -- is misguided. There's very little that Mayor Nutter or anyone in city government can do about these problems. Nothing they are doing by camping out here is having any effect on Washington politics. And that is where action is needed. Corporations will not police or reform themselves. The government has to do it. Everyone who's sitting around here and in other places all need to head to D.C. and take the protest to Capitol Hill and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And, of course, they all have to vote in every election (primaries and general elections) and keep voting no matter what. Just voting for Barack Obama in 2008 obviously wasn't enough to effect real change.

Looking Both Ways In S. Philly

Today I was having lunch with my friend Kurt at the South Philly Bar and Grill (I had a yummy pork sandwich). I had noticed dark clouds moving in before we went inside. While we were there it began to rain, but as it turned out it didn't last long. I took these pictures at the corner of 8th and Wharton Streets at about 3 pm. On the left, the pic looking east. On the right, the pic looking west. I was really struck by the contrast between the skies on each side.

I also took (and posted to Twitter and Facebook) this picture of the South Philadelphia Musicians mural. It features singers Frankie Avalon, Chubby Checker, Al Martino, Bobby Rydell, Fabian and Eddie Fisher, as well as radio legend Jerry Blavat. No idea what the painted clock showing the time as 9:05 refers to. Let me know if you know what it means.

I love running into the murals from the Mural Arts Program, especially if I haven't seen one before. The one below, which I saw the other day on my photo jaunt (which I need to post about as well), I'm not actually sure if it's one of theirs or not. Unfortunately, I can't remember now where this particular one is. It's somewhere in a zone between 23rd Street and JFK Boulevard and 15th and Cherry Streets. Whatever route I took that day between those two points is where this is. Again, if you're familiar with it let me know.

A Little More On Outfest

My experience at this year's Outfest was different from last year in some ways. For one, I didn't see Kendra Wilkinson or any other "reality" TV "stars," which also meant that I didn't make it to national television. That didn't bother me. What did bother me a little is that the protestors who always show up at these things, while still small in number, were louder.

At least three of them, on different streets, had portable PA systems and were going on almost non-stop harassing passersby with their hatemongering. I say "almost" because there was one brief moment when someone yanked the microphone cord out, silencing the bigot. The guy who did this was immediately pounced upon by the waiting police.

I realize that these religious freaks have their rights, since the festival was out on the public streets, and I know that police have to do their jobs to keep the peace. But this sight really sickened me. Freedom of speech and freedom of religion really sucks sometimes. (Programming note: I still need to write about those "Occupy ____" people soon.) I wish there were a way to discourage these people from showing up at all. I use this analogy often: they're dinosaurs, stuck in tar pits, and soon to be extinct. I just wish the process could speed up a little. And I still think the rest of us ought to show up at their events now and then and enjoy our same freedoms.

Leg Update, Plus...

It doesn't look like this now

So this morning I was at the surgeon's office about my leg. Basically, we're doing nothing. The doctor feels it is continuing to heal on its own. He said the ultrasound I had last month indicated I'm having a girl the area with fluid measured only about an inch and to him it looked smaller than that today. He also said that if he did an incision to drain fluid it might prolong the healing process or make my leg worse. Since it doesn't bother me or impede me in any way, and there's no danger of a blood clot or anything like that, for now we're just going to let it go on clearing up. I can always go back if it does get worse somehow.

Meanwhile, something important has happened (that I tried to post to Twitter and Facebook this morning but the text disappeared, like my Outfest videos, into the Ether of Technological Incompetence). Before the doctor saw me, my vitals, height, weight, etc. were checked. And either I've been incorrectly measured my entire adult life, I was mismeasured today...or I've grown a half-inch taller, to 6 feet 1 1/2 inches. So now I'm going to say I'm 6' 2." Sounds a little more impressive, eh?

Strike A Pose At Outfest

At one point during Sunday's Outfest I made my way towards the main stage to watch the performance by  Chad D, a local guy who now lives in New York City and recently released his first album, "The Human Link." (Here are links to his Twitter and Facebook pages, and check out more, including some of his songs, here.) I took a brief video and tried posting it to Facebook, but it never showed up there, nor did the other two videos I sent. (A better video -- better sound and containing the entire performance -- is here.) I also took a photo, although I couldn't really see exactly what I got due to the glare from the sun. I moved the photos and video from my phone to my hard drive tonight. Here's the pic (cropped a bit):

Obviously I caught him mid-dance. Looking at it, at first it reminded me of this...

...which is entirely appropriate as Tuesday is National Coming Out Day and Outfest is our celebration of the day (and I'll have some more on that in a separate post, hopefully tomorrow). But, looking at it again, I sort of thought about something else instead... ;-)

Quick Review: Abduction

In deciding on a grade for "Abduction," I hit upon something: the difference, in my mind, between a C-minus and a D-plus. More on that in a moment. But first, if you combine the title of this movie and its star, Taylor Lautner, you can have some fun. "Ab-duction," because the film contrives to have his shirt off in the first few minutes, and not once more the rest of the way. "Ab-duh-ction," because of Lautner's blank stare and near-complete lack of range, the film's general stupidity, and so on. Lautner plays a teenager who comes across a picture of himself as a toddler on a missing-persons website. That leads to a sometimes-confusing story where Lautner and a schoolmate (Lily Collins) are on the run from both the CIA and Russian terrorists. Sigourney Weaver plays his psychiatrist, except she turns out to be much more. Why do you suppose she wanted to be in this movie? Maybe she figured the presence of Lautner would lead to "Twilight"-sized box office, which would enhance her own paychecks? Alas, there was no real box office bonanza for this one.

At one point Lautner and Collins are on a train, and get to make out a bit in a quiet moment before trouble breaks out. As I watched, I was dumbstruck by what I saw as she raised her hand up to his face: either the shadows were playing tricks with my eyes, or...she's got hairier forearms than he does. Also, the final act takes place at a Pirates game at PNC Park (they filmed this in the Pittsburgh area). If this were real life it would mean there was more action than usually takes place during a Pirates game.

As for that pesky grade, here's the thing: while there may be a lot of bad things about some movies, to fall into the D-level it has to go a bit beyond being bad. Hate has to enter the picture, so to speak. Something about it has to make me angry that I sat through it. It has to make me squirm and seethe and either consider walking out or wish that I had. "Abduction," despite its flaws, just didn't do that. My grade: C-minus.

Sigh

WTF?

I can't bring myself to say more yet. I just want to throw up...

Quick Review: What's Your Number

In "What's Your Number" Anna Faris is a woman who is horrified when she reads an article in a women's magazine stating that a woman who's had 20 lovers will most likely never marry. After all, she'd been with 19 men -- and then ends up having a drunken one-nighter with her ex-boss, a d-bag played by Joel McHale (speaking of whom, I really like "Community" even though I didn't begin watching it until Season 2), hitting the not-so-magical 20 plateau. She decides that one of her old boyfriends must be "the one" and, with the help of her hot neighbor, who has many one-night stands of his own (but no magazine cares whether a man has too many lovers), starts tracking them down. But it's a mostly predictable plot and we all know who ends up together at the end, don't we? But I love Anna Faris in almost anything. And Chris Evans, as the neighbor/man-slut, isn't quite as wooden as he's been in the past (plus, I assumed he filmed this after "Captain America" because his chest hair was starting to grow back in). My grade: C-plus.

Quick Review: Contagion

Because of circumstances (both beyond and within my control, to be honest) it took me a while to get around to seeing "Contagion." It wasn't really worth the wait. It's competent enough, the acting is mostly good, and for some reason I laughed at Gwyneth Paltrow getting sick, dying, and being cut open and autopsied...well, her character did, anyway. But it's rather boring and cluttered with too many characters. Paltrow's character, married to Matt Damon's character, is probably in the film the least. She picked up a new, deadly disease while on a business trip in Hong Kong, stopped in Chicago to cheat on her husband (thus passing on the virus there) and then returned home to Minneapolis, dying days later. As the virus spreads both in the United States and worldwide, scientists race to try and contain it while society starts falling apart. We're supposed to follow various plots and characters in Minneapolis, Hong Kong, the Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization, and probably some other places as well. After a while I just sort of stopped caring. That's a little scary since the events come off as rather plausible. My grade: C.

My...Something...In Comics 9-28-11

I had three weird Wednesdays in a row in September. I made no trips to the comic book store, trips that used to be a given. DC may have abandoned me in favor of new, younger (they hope, desperately) readers with their DCnU business and the younger Superman wearing jeans, workboots and a baby blanket cape, but I'm still interested in the Bongo Comics books I normally get (Simpsons, Futurama) and any others that might attract me. I suppose it's possible that something DC puts out might be of interest, but right now I'm just not ready to go back to them.

Instead of making a trip each week, though, I may just go once a month and pick up whatever books I need to. That's what I did this past Wednesday, with the three Bongo books and two others I was interested in, that were either released during September or a bit earlier...

Sherlock Holmes Year One 6 (of 6): This book was marred by some sort of production error, it seems. The fourth and fifth pages have the exact same word balloons in the exact same position on both pages, with different art (so on page 4 words are being spoken by the wrong characters, or no one at all). It took me a while to figure out how to read this, and it seems there is missing dialogue that would clarify what's going on. (Good thing this was the final issue of the miniseries because it would otherwise discourage me from future purchases.) Once I got through that mixup, I found a satisfying explanation for the "Twelve Casears" murders orchestrated by Professor Moriarty.

Kevin Keller 2 (of 4): No, I won't be buying Archie Comics regularly to replace DC Comics. As with the first issue, the story revolves around a celebration (this time, Kevin's dad's birthday party) and Kevin telling Veronica stories about his life before moving to Riverdale, including how he handled some bullies at his last high school. I guess the final two issues will follow the same pattern. Once again, I found this in Barnes and Noble instead of a comic book store. And again, the cover has numbering in smaller print indicating that it's an issue of the Veronica series (plus I noticed the store receipt lists it as "Veronica 208," not "Kevin Keller 2"). It seems the publisher is trying to have its cake and eat it too. (Come to think of it, what does that saying even mean?)

Too Long For Twitter: Arrested Development? Really?

Can't believe I'm writing this while Game 2 of the Phils-Cards NLDS playoff is on, but I need to do it while it's fresh in my mind...

There's yet more talk, perhaps as definitive as it's ever been, that the TV series "Arrested Development" is making a comeback. In the works, possibly: a movie and some more TV episodes.

What I want to know is: why?

Isn't this throwing good money after bad for whatever production companies would put together the financing? The show was always low-rated. That's why it was canceled. Is there any evidence that anyone, other than Entertainment Weekly and the same small cult that has been clamoring for it from the beginning, is even interested? I know I'm not.

Summer's Over, Summer Playlist Forever

This is another of those delayed-by-travel posts. Since my last update I've added more songs to My Big Fat Summer Playlist. A few are from this actual summer, the rest are from summers past or otherwise fit the concept...

Beautiful People - Chris Brown (feat. Benny Benassi) (I feel a little bit guilty about liking a song sung by the woman-beater. It helps that I didn't actually pay for this one.)
I Wanna Go - Britney Spears
California Gurls - Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg
Who Do You Love - Bernard Wright
High On Sunshine - The Commodores
Party Rock Anthem - LMFAO (ft. Lauren Bennett & Goon Rock) (Yes, I succumbed to the madness.)
Summer Breeze - Seals & Crofts
Stare Into The Sun - Graffiti 6 (I saw this on one of the Logo music video shows, NewNowNext or its PopLab spinoff)
Summer Madness - Kool & the Gang
School's Out - Alice Cooper
Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run) - Billy Ocean
Moves Like Jagger - Maroon 5 feat. Christina Aguilera

This brings me to 117 songs. As always, I'm looking for more. But probably not until next summer, unless I hear some old song that begs to be added.

2011 Daily News Sexy Singles: Shrinking

I'm still in a bit of a catchup mode after my California trip, which is why I'm writing about this subject just minutes before the Phillies take the field for their first playoff game.

I got home late on September 20th, so I had my subcription to the Daily News on hold until the 21st. When I got the paper on the 21st, I found that they were in the second day of their annual Sexy Singles event. I've written about it the last two years here: about how so many of their selections either work for local media outlets or the number of models/actors/athletes on the list, not to mention its inclusion (or lack thereof) of the LGBT community.

With the Daily News under new ownership and trying desperately to stay alive, you'd think that Sexy Singles would be a major deal, as it has been in the past. But it's been downsized. This year the feature ran for only two days, and with just 20 Sexy Singles. However, the more things change, the more they stay the same: by my count, 15 of the 20 fall into one or more of these categories: model, fitness instructor, was/is employed by local media outlets, or performer of some kind (including a ballet dancer, the current Miss Pennsylvania and "Top Chef" Jennifer Carroll).

The NFL is again represented, but not by an Eagle.

2011 Division Series Predictions

You can be pretty sure of one of my picks for the MLB playoffs' first round...or can you? Could I actually pick against the Phillies? Stay tuned.

First, I tweeted the AL picks earlier since I knew I wouldn't get around to this post before the games were played. Just a little elaboration, though:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

NY Yankees vs. Detroit Tigers: My thought was that the Yankees' CC Sabathia and the Tigers' Justin Verlander would cancel each other out, and that of the remaining pitching, the Tigers had the edge. So my pick was Tigers in 5. Tonight, though, Game 1 was suspended in the second inning due to rain, and will resume tomorrow. That takes both Game 1 starters, Sabathia and Verlander, out of the picture. With Game 2 now on Sunday and no off day, it appears Verlander will now pitch on Monday in Game 3, which means he couldn't start a possible Game 5. Sabathia, on the other hand, may start Game 2 and be available for a possible Game 5. This series has now taken a turn. I'm sticking with my pick, though.

Texas Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Rays: After the incredible events of Wednesday night put the Rays into the playoffs, I get the feeling they're going to ride the wave. Despite not having home-field advantage, my pick was Rays in 5. And so far, so good: Tampa Bay blasted Texas 9-0 in Game 1. Last year these teams met in the ALDS with the Rays having the extra home game, but the road team won all five games in the series as Texas went on to win the AL title. I'd be surprised if that happened again.