I'm An Exhibitionist

Tonight I went to see my picture at the opening reception for the Philly Photo Day exhibit at the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center. And here it is!

There were close to 900 submissions but they're helpfully arranged alphabetically by photographer's name, so mine is easy enough to find if you go. It'll be up until the 26th. It was interesting to see such a variety of photos, and yet similarities in a number of photos. City skyline shots, iconic buildings such as City Hall, the LOVE statue and the Clothespin, Pat's and Geno's steaks, a handful of shots from public transit (although I saw only one other picture showing the Market-Frankford tracks through the fence on the crossover between platforms). There were lots of quirky photos, photos of people of all ages, photos that were a bit tricked out to depict some special effect such as streaking lights, a few pictures from Occupy Philly, and so on.

And then there were two pictures of...TV screens at the moment the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series. (One can be seen in the first picture above.) Ugh.

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.

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.

Sigh

WTF?

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

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.

Phillies: So Much For Those "Previews"

At the end of June the Phillies and Boston Red Sox played a three-game series at Citizens Bank Park. The media, fans, etc. hyped it as a "World Series preview."

The Phils took two of three. The Red Sox aren't in the playoffs after their mighty September collapse, capped off by last night's stunning 9th-inning loss at Baltimore combined with the Tampa Bay Rays' rally from a 7-0 deficit to beat the Yankees in extra innings.

At the end of July, and again in early August, the Phils and San Francisco Giants got together for the first time since last year's NL Championship Series. The matchup was hyped, again, as a "preview" of a possible playoff rematch.

The Phils took 4 of 7, including 3 of 4 out west. The Giants faded badly and finished eight games out of first place. They aren't in the playoffs.

At the beginning of September the Phils welcomed the Atlanta Braves to town

My MLB Division Series Picks

After 162 games -- 163 for the Minnesota Twins -- it's time for major league baseball's postseason to begin with the best-of-five Division Series round. Here are my observations and predictions, starting with the two American League series. The team listed first in each pairing has home-field advantage.

New York Yankees vs. Minnesota Twins: It took a hot streak for the Twins to tie the Detroit Tigers for the AL Central lead, and 12 innings in their one-game tiebreaker to win the division. Their reward: flying to New York to face the Yankees less than 24 hours later. The AL East champion Yanks won 103 games, best in baseball, including all 7 against the Twins in 2009. As much as I'd love to see the Twins pull off an upset -- and even if they win Game 1, which I half-expect, because strange things happen a lot -- I can't see them moving on. Yankees in 4.

Los Angeles Angels vs. Boston Red Sox: Again? This is the 4th time in 6 years these teams have met in this round. The Sox have won every time previously, in sweeps in 2004 and 2007 and in four games last year. I think this one goes five, though. As to who wins...tough call. I think the Angels may finally break through. (Note that I use the word "may" and not "will.") They had more of a challenge winning the AL West, and the Red Sox struggled a little more than they should have to get the Wild Card. I just think LA is in slightly better shape. Angels in 5.

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. St. Louis Cardinals: The Cards had a fairly easy run to the NL Central title. The Dodgers had a big lead most of the year, but a late 5-game losing streak nearly cost them the NL West, although they had a playoff spot locked up. In this series the biggest factor is the starting pitching, and I think the Cards' rotation is clearly better. Cardinals in 4.

And finally...

Philadelphia Phillies vs. Colorado Rockies: After an awful start that got their manager fired, the Rockies poured it on the rest of the way to win the NL Wild Card and nearly steal their division from the Dodgers. The Phillies have issues. The starters were lousy early, and inconsistent at the end; the bullpen is extremely shaky; the hitters slumped through much of the last few weeks. It would be easy to pick the Rockies in this series, but every time it seemed like the Phils were in serious trouble in the NL East, they bounced back and put more distance between them and their chasers. So, for this round at least, the defending World Series champions get the benefit of the doubt. Phillies in 4.