You don't see the three-inning save too often (Day 58)

I woke up feeling like I’d barely had any sleep at all. Of course, last night’s 12-inning affair did just end a few short hours ago, but I did manage to get some shuteye once it was finally over.

Afraid that I might be getting sick again, I took some more cold pills, signalling the potential beginning of a disastrous day. I realized I looked even worse than I felt when I saw the bags under my eyes. It kind of felt like my eyes were swollen shut a little bit, though I have experienced that before and today wasn’t nearly as bad.

When I was in university, my friend Sarah and I went on a trip to Orlando, Florida and got to stay at the Universal Studios resorts, because my aunt had a conference for work there. Prior to our trip to the sunshine state (not Queensland, though they both have the same nickname), I decided to get a base tan at home, using a tanning bed. Every time I went, I wore the little protective eye goggles, making sure not to damage my retina. During our trip, one day we were lying out by the pool and I fell asleep in the sun. I didn’t think anything of it until the next morning when I woke up and my eyes were swollen shut. I actually panicked at first and thought I was blind. As it turns out, I didn’t think to put sunscreen on my eyelids and they’d gotten burnt, swelling up overnight. I was not blind. And that’s the experience I had with that. You’re welcome.

I finally decided to get the day started and after showering and getting dressed, I posted Anna’s story on the Brisbane Bandits website. Everyone can read into the life of first baseman David “Goofy” Sutherland now. I’d like to think I am getting better with website management, though I don’t really want to jinx the success that I’ve been having as of late.

Midway through the morning I still hadn’t heard anything from Whitey so I texted him to see if he was still at the immigration office. He warned me yesterday when he dropped me off that he had to head there this morning to deal with something for Julie and that he would just pick me up when it was finished. He responded to my text to let me know that he was indeed still at immigration, and that today would just be a work-from-home kind of day. It made me wish that I hadn’t gotten out of bed and/or showered, but I guess both of those things make me a more civilized human being.

I could have done a lot more during my time at home, but I must admit that I squandered much of the day away. I definitely could have been doing the work that I need to get done for the Blue Jays, including research and compiling information, but I did not do any such thing. Why, you ask? I have no good reason.

Being home alone made me start to feel a little homesick. Not being around people at the office plus not receiving many text messages, since Carl and Whitey are busy and the team is away, made me a little lonely. I got over that loneliness with two things. One, the comfort of knowing how cold it is at home and that there is no baseball being played currently in Canada. And two, an afternoon nap. I needed the extra sleep that I’d lost from last night and it made me feel much better about life in general. Afternoon naps can do that for you. Or at least for me.

When I woke up, I got on my computer. I answered emails while eating and watching DVDs of House, still not getting any work done, for the Blue Jays or for anyone else. I saw that Justin Staatz had posted the game story from last night on his Facebook page, the version that the Courier-Mail put online. I was unimpressed, because their version was just my story without my byline. I sent Staatz a message to say that while I am promoting him, he is certainly not promoting me. That started a conversation about how I should have included information in the story about him pitching on just three days’ rest, and right after a six-hour flight to Perth in the morning, so I guess we both didn’t do things we could have.

When Erin came home from work she asked if I was still expecting her to go to the park again with me for some more circuit training. She had biked to and from work and had gone to the gym in the morning, so didn’t really want to head to Downey Park again. That was fine by me, though it meant that I needed to be really motivated if I was going to get any exercise. However, I lacked that motivation.

I finished up the player cards for the guy who I’ve been emailing with back and forth. Hopefully they can get done before the next home series, especially because if they don’t, I wasted a lot of time on them.

I checked my credit card statement again today for some reason, even though I cancelled the card when I lost it. Much to my surprise, there were more transactions on my statement. They must have just not come through yet when I last looked. I discovered that the last purchase I made on the card was for a cab, meaning that I did pay for my ride home from the bar on New Year’s Eve. I’m happy about that, and also about the fact that I probably just left all my stuff in the cab. I don’t hold out much hope for getting it back, despite this new information, because I already called the cab company and asked about my lost items and they told me they didn’t have them. I will definitely call again now though. Maybe, just maybe, someone realized my Ontario driver’s license is useless to them.

Before the Bandits game, I worked on some writing and eventually turned on the TV, looking for something to watch other than House. I didn’t think I would find anything, since we only have five channels, but I found an episode of Law and Order. It’s the first time I’ve seen the show since I left home, so that was pretty exciting. It wasn’t SVU, which is my favourite, but it was still something. I watched it until the game started, at which point I got back to work.

Maestri started the game for the Bandits, and continued right where he left off with his ast game when he won the Player of the Week award. He was dealing, though he was working through his pitch count a little faster than what would be ideal. Prior to the game I had asked him to give me the Italian translation for strikeout, which he said is eliminazione al piatto. I wanted to try and somehow get it into my story, but when I realized that my Italian grammar is probably subpar and I don’t even know how to turn the word ‘strikeout’ into ‘strikeouts’, I decided I should just stay away. Maybe next week.

The Italian Stallion got through six innings, giving up just one solo home run and striking out six. That makes him the league leader in innings pitched so far this season and ranks him second in total strikeouts on the year. What a guy. If he’s not doing all the right things in order to get himself a job for when the season is done here, I don’t know what else a guy can do.

SJ came on in relief of his roommie, which would have made for an awkward time if he wasn’t successful on the mound. He was though. SJ lasted the final three innings of the game, giving up a solo shot of his own, but otherwise throwing decently. Though the game ended 6-2, he recorded a save, because he pitched the last three frames. It’s just his second save on the season, in five opportunities. Hopefully it’s a sign of what’s to come though.

I got the story finished and sent to the media almost immediately as the game ended. My only holdup was that I was looking for a picture to go with the story on the website we use for all of our photography and I was thrown off by the date. Because it’s after midnight here,  it’s a new day, obviously. That fact was not so obvious to me however, as I was searching for photos from the wrong date. Once I figured it out, I got the story out. Getting it online didn’t take me as long as it had yesterday, so I accomplished that goal, and if you're interested you can find it here.

Having found success I figured it was time to hit the sack. I can only do so much in one day. I’m sure I will be forced into more productivity tomorrow, so I need to rest up for that.