Today my wife gave birth to a baby girl called Rose (I was not allowed to call her Lilith 
)
2 children is like HC? 
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Congrats, Strix!
Thatās awesome news!
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Congratulations on the new little spawnling!
Rose is a very pretty name. Hope the family is all doing well.
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Congratulations, Strix! 
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Congratulations, Strix! Hope your wife and baby Rose are doing well.
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Happy Starwars day everyone! May the Fourth be with you!
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May the fourth be with you
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I saw that in theatersā¦
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May the Schwartz be with you!
May the Si(x)th here, now.
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Iām gonna talk about a thing thatās huge baseball news around the league.
Let me preface this with, Iām a huge Albert Pujols fan. I mean HUUUUGGGGGEEEE!
Growing up around St. Louis, and how huge Baseball is in that city, Iāve tried to follow them closer since my Dad got sick in 2006, but even casually following the sport before that, I knew how special he was when he played for us.
But lately Iāve been seeing a lot of videos and things talking about the difference between Pujols stats with St. Louis and those with the Angels, and assuming that āSt. Louis just let him go.ā
While there was a dispute between Pujols and ownership in that 2011 season, even they knew you just donāt let a Hall of Famer walkaway without trying really hard to keep them. In the end, the Cardinals offered him, which everyone has seemed to have forgot, a contract for 9 years instead of 10 but totaled an amount that would pay him more per year than even the Angels offered. Iām thinking it was somewhere between 215 and 220 mil for those nine years. He didnāt take it, but no, the Cardinals didnāt just ālet him go.ā
That all said, because St. Louis is a mid to small market team, not everyone saw what Pujols was like in the 3 years before and during 2011. Reading a stat line in a newspaper or some statistics website can tell you a lot about a player but it canāt show you everything.
There were signs in those years despite what his stat line said, that we was beginning a decline. Of course at the end of the year, his stats all pretty well matched but he labored more each season to get them. Those stats just didnāt magically appear at the end of the year, not arguing that he wasnāt great all through his years with St. Louis but those last 3 seasons with the Cardinals, we could tell he wasnāt the same as in the first 7.
What Iām saying is, Pujols didnāt just fall of a cliff when he went to the Angels, as the stat line might imply. I am saying that the difference between the player he was in his first 7 and the one he was his last three could be seen by folks who saw him play everyday.
Then the playoffs in 2011 come and the Cardinals win it all and Pujols has one monster game in the whole playoffs. Hitting 3 homeruns in 3 consecutive plate appearances of three different pitchers. Which I think fooled folks around the league that he was still great as he ever was. But in that series and the NLCS, it was David Freese that one the MVP. That was Freeseās playoffs, not Pujols.
Pujols was a huge contributor but he wasnāt the sole reason the Cardinals were good in that year or any other through his career with the Cardinals, but for some reason folks just assumed that because his stats always matched that he made the game super easy or something. He didnāt.
He was great and is a lock first ballot Hall of Famer, richly deserved. Iām just saying there was a difference between his first 7 years and the last 3 of his career with St. Louis and so it wasnāt a surprise to folks who watched him all 10 years of his service time in St. Louis that when he signed that deal with the Angels they werenāt getting the same player the Cardinals had for 10 years.
Admittedly the most negative stuff Iām seeing is from pretty young baseball fans. Possibly so young that the most they saw of him was his time in the Angels organization. So of course, they can reference some stat website and see the difference between his St. Louis stats and Angelsā stats and wonder āwhat happened? We didnāt get what we paid for.ā
Blame the organization for that, not Pujols though. The guy was great no matter what his stat line looked like at the end of his career.
Edit:
Thereās something else I want to say. The Angels put in the contract a āpersonal service agreementā for the 10 years after he retired from Baseball, that Iām pretty sure was a way to disrespect the Cardinals organization to ensure that Pujols would go into the Hall of the Fame as an Angel since it included that he couldnāt do things for other teams for 10 years following his career.
Well, now since theyāre fixing to release him, Iām pretty sure that all gets blown up, so Iām pretty sure he will go into the Hall of Fame as a Cardinal. So thatās awesome. A bit disappointed that he signed a contract with that stipulation in it. But for an extra 10 mil for after his playing days would tempt anyone so I canāt really blame him for that.
As far as the rumors that he might come back to the Cardinals after his release, though Iād pretty much like to see it, weāve still got the same owners we had when he left and the breakup after signing with the Angels wasnāt pretty. So even if we had a spot for him, which we donāt, the owners will never agree to bring him back unless it was for a 1 day contract or something that would allow us fans to recognize him for what he did for us and then prelude his inception into the Hall of Fame as a Cardinal.
And I donāt want folks to take this entire post as bashing Albert Pujols. We all know he was a great player. Right up there with Stan āThe Manā Musial. So him coming back to the organization that brought him up would be awesome if it happened.
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I have had such a productive weekend!
Highlanderās oil changed, lotās of yard work and yard trash taken out, went clothes shopping and Iām currently doing laundry.
I got up at 6.30 this morning to strangle my chickens, who sounded like they were wrestling each other in the coop for funsies!
Downside to that is I havenāt had much time to play, but today Iām playing damnit, no kidding this time, Iām going to try and solo my 1st GR 70 today, which is a big deal for me and I canāt stress how much fun Iāve had so far with Diablo.
Anyway, time to go switch over the laundry, top up my coffee and go to swinging my flail and shield!
Have a fun Sunday yāall!
/hugs
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Oh and donāt forget it Motherās Day!
Happy Mommyās Day to all you Momās! 
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Well, later today, weāre going to grill Ranch marinated boneless chicken breasts. Pretty sure the wife is also going to make her potato/green bean/red pepper steamed in butter concoction too. That second one is really good.
Diced potatoes, fresh green beans, diced red pepper with butter, salt, pepper and grilling seasoning in one of those foil pans, covered with foil and baked for a while (not sure about exactly how much time), but itās really good when allās said and done.
Will grill the chicken. What we donāt eat will probably go into a chef salad either later tonight or tomorrow for lunch.
Have I mentioned that I love my wife? lol
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So I was just joking around with my wife and said, āYou know, hun? I won the lottery when I met you. Iām talking all five numbers and the powerball.ā
And she shoots back, āAw, hun! I did too but it was only a scratch off ticket.ā
LOL!!!
Game 6 of the 2011 World Series is easily the best baseball game Iāve ever watched.
I watched it on the tube as it was happeningā¦ Talk about sitting on the edge of your seat!
Two times, down by two, one strike away from losing, they came back and tied it up. The Cardinals just wouldnāt stop. 
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The first few innings were rough. Several errors from both teams. But it was only like 4 innings like that. Cleaned up after that and it seemed like both teams had to loosen themselves up. The Rangers were probably tight because they led the series 3-2 and the Cardinals were tense being one game from elimination.
But when they looked up at the scoreboard, neither team had taken control and both knew it was a winnable game. Gotta hand it to the Rangers, they were no joke that series. Hamilton and Cruz and all the speed they had on that team was amazing.
It took everything Molina had to slow that team down. That game 6 was a back breaker for the Rangers though, and Game 7 was about as ho-hum as it got with Carpenter on the mound. The rainout the night before gave Carpenter full rest, so that helped out a bunch.
But yes, one of the best games in history in my book and ranks too far back in list, in my opinion, in many writers rankings of all time great games.
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Enjoy this nice dance from an epic movie:
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Yay, I now have my second COVID vaccine shot in me. Unfortunately I get to experience a much, much more pronounced COVID arm this time around, and a migraine to boot. Iām actually in enough pain that even the thought of trying to enjoy some cherries jubilee B&R ice cream hurts.
But on the bright side, this much pain means Iāll probably be 5G ready in two weeks. 
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