I am Your Sunshine

Tomorrow’s gonna be a busy day.

Chelsea match in the morning. A rather late kickoff (9:15am) that grants us a little more Saturday morning sleep. But then I realized that Schalke 04 match (agains Bayern Muechen) will be on GolTV earlier tomorrow morning… 6:30am. So, in the end, I still have to get up around 6. I blamed myself for deciding to root for Schalke 04 too early. But then it’s not like they broadcast Schalke game every week. Bayern Muechen game every week is more likely. So I might as well take this chance and see if Schalke and I really click.

And after the Chelsea game, I’ll have to race to Coliseum to see my fav A’s pitcher Joe Blanton, along with my other favorite A’s, such as Ellis and Swish, in action. I hope it’s not too chilly as I’d like to sport my Swisher T (if only I can buy an Ellis T,) but not too hot that I’d have a heat stroke.

I’ll be short.

Today, Dan Haren gave another try of getting his 15th win (he has 14 wins for the past two seasons) but first, the offense just refused to score more runs (see, the rookies gradually eased into the A’s way. 25 LOB for the A’s) and then Embree decided to rob the win from Haren by giving up a game tying homer. I can’t help but feeling bad for Haren. He looks like a people person, but why the heck don’t other players like him?

Honestly, Haren wasn’t that bad. We’ve seen a lot worse performances from other pitchers. However, he’s not splendid like he used to be before the All-Star Break, and now people tend to be to harsh on him when he’s not splendid. After all, he was our only hope for the A’s to capture some prize at the end of the season and now the dream has officially slipped away as well.

I was exhausted and the game didn’t help. When I knew that Haren was gonna get a no-decision for this game, I didn’t really care which team would win at the end. I mean, both teams are out of contention and the Mariners were 2-15 for the last 17 games, I don’t mind giving them a pity win. They’ve suffered enough. I know what it feels like.
.
On the side note, Embree seems to have a tendency to give up a long ball (which gets out of the ball park) and then works three quick outs. Don’t let him out unless there’s a more than 2 run lead.

oh by the way, I gotta say this. I LOVE Vidro being tagged out at the plate TWICE. I’d feel happier saying this if we had won the game, but whatever, it’s still hilarious.

秋天近了嗎?

最近天氣變得很涼爽, 終年晴空萬里的加州, 偶爾來幾個陰天並不會令人沮喪, 反而讓人覺得鬆了一口氣, 不再需要一直活力充沛, 可以放鬆可以發懶.

涼夜更好眠, 我在羽毛被上又加了一層薄被, 在暖呼呼的床上睡得特別好.

幾個禮拜前某個周末, 早起看球賽, 是電視有轉播的, 卻發現 iBook 被我丟在車上 (要一邊看比賽一邊抱著iBook推文啊!), 只好隨便披件外套出門拿. 清晨有個特殊的味道, 加上我們住的社區算是蠻多樹的 (我的房間朝東日光通通被樹葉擋住照不進來,) 走在安靜的車道上, 忽然有種以前出去畢業旅行, 或是夏天的 Rocky Mountains, 那種彷彿身處山林之間的感覺. :)

今天所有的比賽都告一個段落.
A 組, 前四強今天通通平手, Poland 0-0 Finland, Portugal 1-1 Serbia. 各加一分排序不變.

B 組 Scotland 1-0 勝 France, 以 9 場 21 分位居榜首, Italy (Di Natale) 2-1 (Sheva) 積分只落後 Italy 1分, France 也以 9 場 19 分緊追在後, 這組也是競爭激烈, 誰知道呢, 搞不好 Sheva 會帶領 Ukraine 衝上來喔.

C 組大概是我最不關心的一組. 不過今天看到 Moldova 1-0 Bosnia-Herzegovina 還蠻替他們高興的, 以前認識一個 Moldovian (?), 我對 Moldova 有一點感情.

D 組今天 Germany 沒比賽, 但是仍是以 8賽 22分穩居榜首 (好厲害呀 orz), Czech 1-0 Ireland 以 9 場 20 分居第二, 遙遙領先排名第三的 Ireland 6分. Wales 5-2 Slovakia, 兩隊都積分 10 而已. 這組看起來很穩定.

E 組, 終於來到我最關心的 E 組了!!! (前面都是為了鋪路啊…) Croatia 6-0 毫不客氣地屠殺 Andorra, 以 9 場 23 分, 3 分領先後來居上的 England. England 3-0 Russia, 阿布的賞金可以發給英格蘭裡面的藍軍嗎? Croatia 看似很安穩了, 不過剩下的三場比賽, 主場對 Israel 應該是沒問題, 客場對 England 與 Macedonia 可要小心點.

F 組我也沒有很關心, 哈. (因為我以為冰島魚不會上場… 結果沒想到他今天有被放在替補, 下半場有換上去. orz)

G 組電視有播 Netherlands v Albania, 所以有稍微瞄一下. 一直到下半場加時 Netherlands 才進球. 但我想提的是, 在進球沒多久後, 有觀眾丟爆炸物進球場裡, 就在某個 Netherlands 球員的頭上沒幾公分處爆開, 超危險的! 真是搞什麼鬼! 於是裁判 Riley (heh!) 提早吹停比賽. 巴爾幹半導真不愧是歐洲火藥庫耶! Romania 今天沒比賽, 跟 Netherlands 並列第一, 原來 Romania(Mutu!)那麼厲害!

實在是太多國家了… 眼花撩亂.

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只有我是 Croatia 迷嗎?

這場比賽是 E 組榜首 Croatia 作客吊車尾的 Andorra, Estadi Comunal 球場看起來很純樸, 三面環山, 沒有華麗的座位, 好像是國小的操場一樣. 我知道這場比賽應該是今天所有小組賽裡面最不刺激的一場, 但有 Croatia 的比賽我怎麼可能不看咧! 果然, 今天在隊長大人… 的弟弟 Robert Kovac 領軍之下, 輕鬆寫意地由 Srna, Petric x2, Kranjcar, Edurado, Rakitic 攻進六球, 榜首位置穩穩坐著. Croatia, 九場比賽, 積分 23.

另外戰況緊張的 A 組分別排名第一與第二的 Poland 與 Finland 今天以 0-0 作結, 但兩隊都已戰 11 場, 積分分別是 21 與 19. 只戰九場的 Portugal 與 Serbia 分別以 16, 15分在後面虎視眈眈. Poland 隊上有兩個我喜歡的球員, 門將 Boruc 與 中場 Dudka. 想當初 Dudka 在(某場)世界盃只有替補出場一下下, 現在已經是固定的先發球員了. 可惜雖然 Boruc 英勇地 (應該吧?) 救了好幾球, Poland 本身卻也無法得分. (Dudka 你在幹嘛? 全場數據只有犯規跟被犯規.)

反觀 D 組 Slovakia 2-5 Wales 也很歡樂, 雖然說離榜首 Germany 遠遠地差了 12 分, 但管他的呢? 只要踢得開心就好了!

剩下想關心的是 Czech (Cech, Ujfalusi) v Ireland, England (JT, ACole, JCole, SWP) v Russia, Ukraine (Sheva) v Italy.

B
Ivanhoe has been my favorite childhood read. But til now, I haven’t found any film or TV adaptation that I approve. BBC production rarely let me down. I enjoyed their Pride & Prejudice, their Jane Eyre and etc. However, the 1997 BBC and A&E co-production of Ivanhoe was a disaster, to me. I didn’t finish the entire 5-hour mini-series. The opening part made me sick and I couldn’t continue.

The 1952 adaption starring Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor and Joan Fontane was highly acclaimed, so I figured I should give it a try. They changed a lot in the plot. Richard the lion-hearted became an “issue” to move things around instead of being a crucial character. I nagged throughout the entire movie “it’s not supposed to be like this,” “they should not do this and that,” “….” but I did enjoy fight and duel scenes. You can tell it’s carefully orchestrated.

When will they make one that is faithful to the original?

四月就在想說要找個德甲球隊來支持, 作為我念德文的動力, 但左看右看沒看到個中意的球隊, 倒是平白被 AC Fiorentina 殺了進來成為我的 Serie A 球隊. 西甲也沒有特別喜歡的, 雖然 Barca 有冰島魚, 但他們都欺負他, 而且他們有奇怪的維尼熊 (長得很像 Hoobastank 主唱) 與很可怕的 Messi. 頂多就是 Valencia 或是 Seville 吧.

德甲看了半天, 小弟之前是跟我推薦 Werder Bremen, 說是走完全進攻風. 然而這賽季 FC Bayern München進了大堆名星, 包括 Fio 來的 Luca Toni, Schalke 04 的 Hamit Altıntop (他是名星嗎? ^^” 我不知道, 我只是想說他竟然把自己雙胞胎兄弟丟在 Schalke 跑來 Bayern München!), Bremen 來的 Klose(!), 馬賽的 Franck Ribéry, 新秀 Marcell Jansen…等等. 好像除了 Bayern 之外就別無選擇了. 但是… 我對星光閃閃的球隊沒有很大興趣, 好亮! 太刺眼了! (請不要拿 Chelsea 來嚷嚷.)

前陣子 CIA 有個德國球迷出現, 她說她支持的德甲球隊是 Schalke 04, 這時 Schalke 就在我腦海中留下印象. 後來 07-08 歐冠小組抽籤又抽到 Schalke 04. 然後忘記是什麼原因了 (這篇文章是三天前開始寫的 XD) 讓我決定, 好了! 就是他們. 在德甲的閃閃藍軍, Die Königsblauen, the Royal Blues.

隊歌是 “Blau und weiss wie lieb ich Dich” (Blue and White How I Love You) 跟 “Königsblauer S04” (Royal Blue S04)

(可… 可是他們官網有英文耶. 這樣我要怎麼練德文 orz)

Yeah, I’m still watching.

Today, my favorite A’s pitcher Kentucky Joe, who’s sporting a 12-9 record, takes on some Ramirez guy with 8-5 record, my favorite player Mark Ellis is in the lineup (of course), my twin brother Nick Swisher just hit two homers yesterday and it’s the long awaited major league debut for our prospect Daric Barton. Hey, that’s enough reason for me to watch the game. ;)

Ramirez started the game with a 3 up 3 down inning, using only 11 pitches. I was thinking, oh no, not another hitless (for the A’s, of course) game. But Big Joe came on and seemed to be dealing as well (a 3 up 3 down bottom of the 1st, having a 11-8 pitch-strike count, which is exactly the same with Ramirez in the previous half.) I thought, “hmmm, a pitcher duel! I hope the A’s can manage to squeeze a couple of runs.” However, on the top of 2nd, with one out, Ellis hit the first one of the game (I heart MaEl), DJ walked and Hannahan drove a single the way he drove the walk-off hit the other day, scored Ellis. And then there was Daric Barton, the prospect we’ve all been waiting for. Barton showed great eye and discipline at plate, drew a walk at his very first major league plate appearance. With the base loaded, Suzuki stepped in. The A’s fans have long been used to no score under base loaded situations, we were chatting, making snooty comments… basically, trying to have some fun while watching the lately pretty depressing A’s baseball, and Suzuki drove the ball all the way to left and out of the field. A grand slam. I forgot how to breathe for a moment and then it was like “oh my gosh I can’t believe that just happened.” My eyes were almost filled with tears as I watched Suzuki trotted the bases with a I’m-just-doing-my-job attitude.

After that, Big Joe commanded through the 6th inning given up only 4 hits and no runs; however, Feierabend and Sherril combined saw to 6 shutout innings as well. At the bottom of the 7th, Joe gave up consecutive hits and two runs but won the duel against Beltre with 12 pitches and left two runners on base without causing further damage. Embree came in in the bottom of 8th, continued his habit of giving up homers, and after he walked Vidro (unintentionally, mind you), he was replaced by Huston Street. I was kinda nervous seeing Street because of his BS record of late, but he was able to get out of the 8th using only 2 pitches. The 9th was where the drama began all over again when the A’s was in need of some insurance runs (no, Street, sadly, I don’t trust you.) Stewart leaded off with a single, but he was caught stealing while Scutaro was working on a walk. That was plain unbelievable. He could have scored on Swisher’s single coming up, but instead he made a tragically comical out. With Ellis walked, the A’s loaded the bases again and DJ was up. I didn’t have faith in DJ. All I was thinking was “I hope Street has his stuff today”, and then *BAM*, DJ grand slam. My jaw really dropped this time.

It’s a great game! I’m so happy.

(and the A’s has fewer LOBs than the opposing team, yay~)

oh, and by the way, final score: A’s 9-3 Mariners.
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It’s bad enough to watch (okay, listen. I’m so glad I didn’t watch.) the A’s being swept by Rangers, who now shared, gladly, the bottom of the division with A’s, there was no club football to root for this weekend! Last week, when Chelsea were defeated by 2-0, the A’s obliged with a 8-7 win over the Tigers to comfort my broken heart. However, I’d have to admit that given the choice, I’d rather see Cech getting a clean sheet than the A’s win (they’re out of contention anyways. <- trying to justify myself.) But instead of a club football match that I can root and cheer for while lamenting the downfall of our 2007 Oakland A's, I was provided with a hundred and thirteen international matches (actually twenty, but felt like more) that I care little about. It was the International week for European football, presenting to you the Euro '08 qualifying round. Yeah, my favorite Croatians are defending their first place in Group E, but the match was not broadcast at all. Even though they beaten Estonia by two-nil and maintained the leader place in the group with 20 points (while Russia following closely behind with 18 points and England 17), not being able to watch the game didn't help my sullen mood. Anyways, I got to watch England v Israel match, yay~ (a disheartened exclaim) There were 5 blues on the pitch and most of them did pretty well, especially our sparkling right wing Shuan Wright-Phillip. But honestly, I’d rather see them shine in blues than risking injury to play with heart and soul for a team that might, thought not likely, threaten Croatia’s standing. And too bad that Paul Robinson didn’t do anything funny. I’m very disappointed at him.

So, Croatia (N. Kovac, Kranjčar, Srna, Simic) 2-0 Estonia, England (JT, SWP, ACole, JCole) 3-0 Israel, San Marino 0-3 Czech Republic (Cech, Ujfalusi), Italy 0-0 France (Makelele, Malouda), Iceland (why wasn’t Gudjohnsen in the lineup? injured?) 1-1 Spain, Poland (Boruc, Dudka) 2-2 Portugal.
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ESPN2 小組賽只播 Liverpool, Man U 的比賽.
ESPN Deportes 只播 Real Madrid 跟 Barca 的比賽.

不是至少應該要輪流嗎?

FSC 跟 GOL 的節目表還沒出來, 最好是會給我播! =_=

好感動!!

繼之前風靡好一陣子的腦內裝什麼之後, 從 Raura 那看到有新產品: 前世及配對腦內!

我馬上就試了配對


這這這… 真是太正確了啊? XD

那這又怎麼解釋呢?


(那個”抱”真是看得我大心不已 XD)

我的九月又排滿了.

(Croatia v Estonia, band practice, Rivercats v Bees, Sonoma, Croatia v Andorra, Chelsea V Blackburn, A’s v Rangers, Emmy, Chelsea v Rosenborg, MammaMia, A’s v Mariners, LA, Chelsea v Manure, Chelsea v Hull, Chelsea v Fulham, A’s v Angels… 結果大多都是看比賽 XD)

今年會不會太忙 orz

Sotto la gronda della torre antica
Una rondine amica,
Allo sbocciar del mandorlo é tornata.
Ritorna tutti gli anni,
Sempre alla stessa data;
Monti e mare essa varca per tornar.
Solo amore
Quando fugge e va lontano
Speri in vano e non torna piú.

Nella penombra dolce della sera
passa la primavera.
Cinguettano le rondini nel volo,
Ebbre di luce e d’aria.
Ed io son triste e solo;
Monti e mare tu non varchi per tornar.
Mia piccina, fosti tutta la mia vita;
Sei fuggita e non torni piú.

沒想到河喵看起來這麼兇!

去看一場好了, 現在在打季後賽了耶 =D

It’s a matchup between the Joes (Blanton and Saunders.) And the A’s brought to us another weird lineup: Stewart, LF; Scutaro, 3B; Piazza, DH; Cust, RF; Ellis, 2B; Swisher, CF; Johnson, 1B; Suzuki, C; Murphy, SS. Saw Scoot batting second, I thought they’re finally giving Swish a day off, but no. Swish was just moved all the way down.

I’m starving. Bring on some ratatouille (er…)

So the game went like this:
Cupcakes was shaky and gave up 2 runs in the first inning but he dealt through the rest of the 7 inning giving up only 3 hits. And after the first round of batting, the A’s seemed to have adjusted and started to hit. But the game really came back to life (for the A’s) in the top of 4th when Mark Ellis hit one out of the park and turned the game around. And the A’s didn’t just stop there; they continued to add on. It’s so nice to see the A’s out hit the opposing team, which doesn’t happen quite often, even though they still outnumbered the Angels on LOB, err… Anyways, while I was hoping a complete game from Blanton (no I don’t trust Street, and neither should Blanton,) Street came in to close in the 9th. After two outs, Street put two runners on base but got out of the 9th safely. So the A’s won 6-2. Celebrate good time!

And congratulations to Mark Ellis for breaking Oakland Athletics record for homeruns in a single season by a second baseman!

當電視傳來在 Angel’s Stadium 裡響亮的 Let’s Go Oakland 加油聲時 (感動 T^T),
我們的板主跑到別人地盤請人家將我們掃地出門.

丟人現眼.

Anyways, Game 2 @ rathouse. A’s 3-4 Angels. Stew put on a good game while the #2 and #3 hitter continued to struggle.

Saw this on Magu’s blog. I, too, would like to see how I change and don’t change through life.

What’s your favorite word?
M: capricious

What is your least favorite word?
M: r12y

What turns you on (creatively, spiritually or emotionally)?
M: things that annoy me

What turns you off?
M: r12y

What is your favorite curse word?
M: shit?

What sound or noise do you love?
M: depends on the mood i’m in

What sound or noise do you hate?
M: snoring

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
M: writer

What profession would you not like to do?
M: telemarketer

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
M: you did okay, kid.

在換 MSN 顯示圖時, 看到了這張照片. 忽然百感交集.

羅本老爸與皇馬公然調情這齣歹戲拖了一整個暑假, 導致羅本在兩周前離開切爾西加盟皇馬時, 我一點感覺都沒有. “走就走吧.” 我想, 心裡早就把他當作已經離開的人. 然而看到今年拿下 FA Cup 之後, 羅本與阿科等人在場邊比出戰平阿森納後老大向球迷比出的”抬起頭”姿勢, 才真正意識到以後再也不會看到這個”羅本邊路的勾引 我為你髮線擔心”的年輕老將身著藍衣在邊翼展開華麗小飛俠的奇襲, 休息室少了他尖銳的笑聲想必會冷清許多吧.

希望你在皇馬健康快樂喔~
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