The Trifecta

Sticking with a horse racing theme, I hit a bad trifecta yesterday.

*The Belmont. Don't know if I've mentioned on here before but I am a horse racing freak. The one way I'd return to newspapers is if one called and offered me a spot covering horses. I wouldn't even ask where. I saw Secretariat win his Derby and have a "shrine" to The Greatest Horse Ever in my home. This year, I was hoping for another Triple Crown. One of our Labs is nicknamed Big Brown. Very disappointing race. We watched in the Red Porch bar so I couldn't hear anything but you could tell the horse wasn't right. I told my son I didn't like the way he was lathered up going into the gate but thought early in the race he'd be OK. Nope. "I'm convinced," my son said, "that I will never see a Triple Crown." He may not.

*The game. I told my wife I'd rather have her out there when Ayala came in. She could not have done any worse. She tried to shame me into being more upbeat but after the slam-a-roo she said, "Yeah, maybe you're right." Hill deserved better. And please, please tell me Manny was not giving an OK to FLop's jog on his double play with his comment late in Chico (the writer's) story in the Post today. I don't care how out you may be. RUN. Suppose he throws it away? RUN. ACT LIKE YOU CARE.

*The storm. Eerie timing, the way the rain hit just as we were leaving. A lovely end to a lovely day.

A couple more notes:

*Minor stadium gripes last night. On the way out, on the narrow mid-level concourse between the entrance to the suites and the Five Guys stand, two guys were pushing this huge dumpster filled with nasty smelling garbage THE OTHER WAY as people were trying to get out. Unreal. Guys, you have to wait 15 minutes for the crowd to clear before you do that. It ain't that hard. Downstairs, some ushers in yellow shirts were chasing people out as the hard rain hit. To their credit, a couple of fans dug in and made it clear they were going nowhere. The ushers tried to be hard asses but failed and wandered away. I felt like applauding from my distant spot but was trying to find cover my own self.

*I'm eager to see Mock today but fear he has no chance unless he throw a shutout. I'm also eager to visit the Land of Overpriced Goods and see if they have any of those green hats for sale. I hate shopping there. I got a 15 percent one-item discount for being a season-ticket holder and everything is cheaper online even with that discount. But I'll get over it if I can get one of those hats.

Today has to be better, doesn't it?