Lincoln, Friends & Baseball

The posts have been coming a bit slowly, and I'm certainly aware of that.  There hasn't been a whole lot new as far as Lincoln goes lately.  He still spends most of his awake-time crying and screaming.  Our goal with him is to inch him closer to a routine so that he'll know what is expected of him and he can settle into things.

Grandma Laura is back in Phoenix.  She was a HUGE help and a very good companion for Jenn in the early days.  The Parkinsons-West will be coming back at the end of June and we're anticipating their arrival.

Michelle & Elise (from vet-school) came for a visit today and brought Grady (Michelle's son who's 6 weeks older than Lincoln) along.  He's a cutie, too, and growing fast.  Again, Jenn really enjoyed the time spent together.

Friends from church are really coming through by providing meals two nights a week.  Jenn is appreciating the visits as much as the food.  Jessica Kiel's stromboli was especially good on Tuesday!

Yesterday, Jenn and I went to Stanton Middle School in Kent to be part of their Career Day Expo.  I spoke to 4 small groups of students about how to prepare for Veterinary School and the specifics of Veterinary Medicine.  Jenn manned the info table with Lincoln (he slept most of the time!).  Talking career with middle-schoolers is interesting... a couple of the kids were really in tune.

On a completely different subject:  I'm listening to the Indians on the radio and they're talking about how Kobayashi is the Indians' closer until Borowski returns.  This is a particularly touchy subject with me.  Just because a pitcher pitches in the last inning and gets three outs does not make him a "closer."  A closer is a guy who scares the pants off of the other team to the point that they're shaking in the batter's box.  A closer makes a batter fearful of standing too close to the plate and then throws strikes to finish the game.  In my opinion, there have only been a handful of "closers" in Major League Baseball history:  Eckersley, Hoffman, Gossage, Fingers, Stewart, Rivera, Smith, and arguably a couple of others (I'll add Smoltz, because if he didn't want to start, he'd still be a kick-butt closer).  Sure, pitchers like Mesa, Beck, Wagner, Nen, Gagne & Benitez had it for a time and could be considered "closers" for a season or two or three, but being a closer is an attitude with results, not temporary numbers.  Therefore, a closer produces over the long-haul.  The names in the first list retired as good, if not still great, closers  You don't have to agree with me, but if you want to be wrong, that's okay with me.  I'm glad that's off my chest.