To Hotter

Let me take you back to the fall of 2000. I was living in a slummy apartment in New Brunswick, with 4 other ladies - two were not baseball fans (despite my constant attempts to teach them about curve balls) and the other two were. Lauren hearts the Mets and has since she was a wee babe. And Elana is a Yank like me, also from infancy, thanks to her brother and her pops. So clearly, this was an exciting fall in our home.

One night, when the Yanks were playing the A's, the cursed shortstop Miguel Tejada kept smacking our pitchers around like they were hos who owed him money. And when he wasn't slapping the ball around the outfield, he was making amazing defensive plays. For a Yankee fan, he was really freakin' annoying.

Anyway, as Elana and I sat watching the game, the announcer said:

"Tejada is really on a tear in this series. He's gone from HOT TEJADA!"

Yeah, I'm serious. He really said that. It became a long-running joke for Elana and I, and to this day, we will still call each other if Tejada gets a hit against the Yankees and repeat the line.

Anyway, Tejada made the move across country last season to play for the O's and things just keep getting better for the kid. He's batting .345 so far this season (leads the AL with RBIs and is 5th in batting average...effing Johnny Damon is the BA leader). Anyway, the Times has a profile on Tejada today. Normally, I'd feel animosity towards him, but given the Yankees current situation, and my hope that the O's will keep the BoSox out of the Series, I'm warming towards him.

In Yankee news, Anhabelle sent me Lupica's column about the Bombers. He really summed up my feelings on the matter:

"But on a day when Jeter and Martinez and Posada and Williams had eight hits among them and three home runs and seven RBI and four runs scored, this was what all Yankee fans really want:
The way things used to be. The way they were.
Tino was still at first in those days and Paul O'Neill was in right and Scott Brosius was at third and it didn't seem as if the Yankees were trying to buy everything, every single year. "

Amen to that, brother. Read the rest of it here.