One month down........

Well, one month is over for the Pirates so far, and they have won 11 games and lost 10. Not too bad. Not great, but they are over .500, so I am happy for that. They just finished up a tough series with the Milwaukee Brewers. Lost all 3 games. They are tied for second place, 3 1/2 games behind St. Louis. Too many injuries so far for the Bucs. Ryan Doumit got hurt, and is out 8-10 weeks. Nate McLouth has been out for the past week, and should be back this weekend. Jack Wilson is out for a couple of weeks. If they can get all of them back, they should be okay. The pitching has been very good. All in all, not a bad start.

Another Baseball Season underway

The 2009 Baseball season started last week, and I am really excited about this year. The Pirates have started the season with 4 wins in their first 7 games. Not bad! The pitching staff has pitched well, and the offense has shown some spark. They even turned a triple play yesterday! That is very rare! They have some very exciting players this year. Nyjer Morgan bats leadoff, and he has been getting on base quite a bit in the first 7 games. He is very fast, no power, but he has a lot of spunk! Freddie Sanchez bats second, and he is off to a torrid start. He had 3 doubles today, and he has already had a 4 hit game. Another batting title for him?? Could happen! Nate Mclouth bats third. He has power, and gets on base quite frequently. He also has a gold glove from last year. Very good defensive player. Batting 4Th is Ryan Doumit, the catcher. He has a lot of power. He hit a grand slam on Saturday. Should be one of our top power hitters. After Doumit, is Adam LaRoche, the first baseman. He always starts slow, but so far this year he is doing just fine. He already has 2 homers. He didn't hit his second home run last year until May. His brother, Andy LaRoche bats sixth. He is our third baseman. He is the only one off to a slow start so far. He made 3 errors in the first 2 games, and he is hitless so far this year. Hopefully that will change for him. Batting 7Th is right fielder Branden Moss. He came to us in a trade last year. I like this kid, and he has a lot of potential. Good arm in the outfield, too. Batting 8Th is our shortstop, the elder statesman of the Pirates, Jack Wilson. Everyone thought he would be traded before the season started. He is still with the Buccos, and he is off to a great start! Lets hope they can keep it up and stay close to the league leaders this year, and be one of the contenders! Lets Go Bucs!!

Home, Sweet Home

We are back home after spending 12 days in Florida. The weather was absolutely beautiful there. Couldn't ask for anything nicer. Every day was around 80 to 85 degrees. Just perfect for swimming in the pool. We came back home a week ago. Landed in Pittsburgh, and it was pouring down rain and in the 50's. Good old Pennsylvania weather! But, you know what? I missed this place. I missed our family, and our dog Teddy. Florida is a nice place to visit, but I would not want to live there. The traffic is horrible and everything is so fast paced. I will just continue to go there once a year, and get my warm weather fix!

My niece, Gabby, was out in Los Angeles this past week for the Jeopardy Kids Tournament. I have not heard how she did, and I probably won't hear anything for awhile. They are not supposed to tell anyone how they did. But it will be aired on TV the week of July 13Th. I am sure she did very well.

Work has not been too bad this week. I kind of missed being at work. Is that weird? I guess maybe it is. Well, Dawna has supper almost ready, so I am getting out of here. Will write more later this weekend.

Pics from Bradenton, Florida

Pics at Chris and Tommy's in Largo, Florida

Orange Lake resort in Orlando, Florida

Pirate day in Florida

Today was our trip to Bradenton to watch the Pirates in spring training. We had a GREAT time and the Pirates actually won! They played the Tampa Rays, and the final score was 4-1. Dawna's favorite pirate player, Jack Wilson, had 2 hits, and Zach Duke pitched 5 shutout innings. We had some rain during the game, but not enough to damper our spirits. Before the game started, Bob Walk walked by us on his way to the press box, and Dawna recognized him, not me! I then asked him if he was Bob Walk, and he said he was, and he stopped and talked to us for a few minutes. Very nice guy! Later on, John Wehner, another announcer for the Bucs walked by, and I recognized him this time. He stopped and talked to us, also. Very nice of them to do this. I also saw Bruce Kison there, and I have a few pictures of him. He was a pitcher with the Pirates back in the 1970's. He is a scout for someone now. Not sure what team. He didn't talk to us, but, I knew who he was. Was an overall enjoyable afternoon.

After the game we took Chris and her family out to dinner at a very nice restaurant here in Largo, called BJ's Brewhouse. They brew there own beer. And then Danni treated us all to ice cream at Coldstone Creamery. That was quite the experience!

The other 2 pics on here are of the girls trying to dump me in Chris's pool. They actually got me dumped because Chris helped them. No fair Chris!

This has been a very nice vacation. I think we may go check out some beaches tomorrow. Will take more pics then, and try and get them posted on here.