Love stuff

"ALLISON," three or four people have said to me this week, "how can you not see that Carlos Marmol looks exactly like Barack Obama?"  "I just don't see it," I said.  But now it's like that optical illusion with the vase and two faces: I can't stop seeing it.  It's all about the ears.

Another issue that concerns me: has anyone else noticed that Ronny Cedeno's uniform always looks too big for him?  It looks like he's wearing pajamas.  Oh, Ronny.

Yesterday in a bookstore I actually took Zambrano's biography and hid it under my Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms so I could pretend to be doing my work.  Here is another highlight from the delightful story of how Z met his wife: before he asked her to be his girlfriend, he went to another friend of theirs and said, and I quote: "Hey!  Go tell Ismari some stuff from me, like love stuff."  "Just like Cyrano," my mother said.  I know I would swoon.

Two brief items

1.) Jesus School is selling $10 Cubs/Astros tickets, but it's on a night I have class. That is HORRIBLE news. Why, God?

2.) I just read this in one of Rick Telander's columns:

So in the Cubs' locker room, Harden pondered this [his pitch count]. ''Highway to Hell'' blared over the music speakers, Mark DeRosa tried to explain how he has hit home runs in four consecutive games (''It's definitely nice, but I don't know why''), Alfonso Soriano sang to himself in Spanish, Ryan Theriot sat beneath the sticker on his locker that says ''In Loving Memory of Dusty,'' and catcher Geovany Soto praised the slumping Kosuke Fukudome for his pinch-hit home run in the seventh.

Sigh. Where to begin?

"Zambrano spit out the tooth and stayed in the game"

It may be because I'm tired and overly excited in a little-kid way about my Jesus School orientation, my new neighborhood, and other such things, but this MLB article made me laugh so much.  Let's take a look:

Carlos Zambrano has come out of games because he's thrown too many pitches, because he's given up too many runs, and even because of cramps caused by either too much time on the computer [what?  Did he really say that?  Probably reading this blog.  Hi, Z!] or dehydration.
On Thursday, the problem was a cracked molar.

"I've been out to the mound many times to check pitchers' injuries," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said of a visit in the fifth inning, "but never for a cracked molar. We needed a dentist."

Zambrano spit out the tooth and stayed in the game. He didn't need much help as he almost single-handedly beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2. The right-hander hit his fourth home run, and gave up one run over seven innings for the win, ending his three-game winless streak. On Friday, he'll get his tooth fixed.

It was just another "Cubby occurrence," a phenomenon Piniella has discovered in his nearly two years in Chicago.

"That was a first for me and a first for the umpires," Piniella said.

"I think I ate too much gum, and the gum has a lot of sugar," Zambrano said. "I keep telling my daughter not to eat a lot of gum and I'm not a good example. I think my daughter today will be all over me at the house. I accept it."

Then later:

The only other glitch for the Cubs came in the Reds eighth when Joey Votto launched his 15th homer off Carlos Marmol, the first runs off the right-hander in 16 innings since the All-Star break. Marmol did not report any problems with his teeth after the game.

I also love the mention of Z's "several animated conversations with himself" during this game. "He's had conversations before," Lou helpfully explains.  "I'm excluded from those conversations."  I guess it's another Cubby occurrence.

Rich get richer

I wish I could have somehow recorded and shared my mother's running commentary during tonight's game.  It went something like this: 

"Look at how that pitcher [Cueto] is wearing his hat.  That is so strange, isn't it?  He looks crazy.  What kind of angle is that?  He's making me nervous.  He's hitting batters, almost hitting batters, and his hat is crazy.  Oh, here comes the infield.  Somebody needs to knock his hat right off.  Maybe one of the Cubs will knock it off with the ball.  NOW HE TOOK HIS HAT OFF AND PUT IT BACK ON AT THE WEIRD ANGLE.  What is wrong with him?  Somebody help."

And so on.

Also, Geo continues to light up my world, with his baserunning and what my friend R. calls "baby-bird hair."  Also, I may be developing Feelings for Rich Harden.  You know what I mean.

Moving update

I am mostly moved in; my bedroom is a teeny tiny box, but at least Jesus School has provided nice furniture, and we have an okay-sized kitchen/living room area.  Not to mention the location, which is really too awesome.  You can see the lake from my window.

I've gotten a couple of my syllabi, and they're very exciting.  Lots of readings from the Bible, if you can believe that, and assignments about "your ministry" and "your calling" and Jesus.  Especially since I come from an extremely secular background, this is actually shocking.  What are we, in seminary or something?  Less shocking is the enormous amount of reading for each class; this makes me a little nervous but I'm also very much looking forward to it.  I do love being in school.

Let's see, how about baseball?  What a great game today.  I love when they rally for those big innings.  After two or three runs I always just start screaming in total, insane ecstasy, alarming everyone in the neighborhood.  Also, Ryan Dempster is a wonderful man (as far as I can determine).  And that's all I know about that.

Going up to Wisconsin for the weekend, and then MOVING TO JESUS SCHOOL on Sunday.  Please wish me luck, because I'm sure I'll desperately need it.  

My orientation isn't until the following Saturday, so I'll probably be in and out of my parents' house until then, but I'm not sure how reliable my Internet will be at school.  I'll update as soon as I can.  Go Cubs!

A warm glow of contentment

I'm very happy about sweeping the Braves, and also happy that a fight didn't break out tonight, even though the benches cleared after Teddy's incident with Yunel Escobar.  Escobar then, our announcers explained, "spent the commercial break staring menacingly into the Cubs dugout."  Brrrr.  I'm also glad Aramis seems to be okay - it looked like he was really in pain after that slide.  I hope he'll be back soon.

In perusing other Cubs blogs, I'm reminded that some of the bad blood between the Cubs and the Braves started last year, after Teddy was ejected from a game for hitting Edgar Renteria with a pitch.  Later, Renteria slid into second and punched Mike Fontenot in the face.  Really?  You feel like hitting somebody and you pick Mike Fontenot?  That's just so low.

I am a seventh-grader (not literally)

My aunt got me one of these, because of how awesome she is.  I'm planning to hang it over my bed at Jesus School.

That is all.  Oh, except: Z and Fontenot's dugout antics during tonight's game were too much for my heart to take.