Ouch. Back at TPFKAC™, and in the first inning, our ace Mark Buehrle gives-up back-to-back home runs. I wonder if he's ever done that before? Well, I don't panic yet since it's only in the first. He hasn't given up more than two runs in any of his first four starts. Maybe he just needs to settle down. Well, he doesn't. He gives up 7 runs in 4 1/3, and his ERA goes from 1.57 to 3.27. Today was the day I wanted pitch count - and it's not on the scoreboard! The pitch speed is back. (I need to talk to somebody about this...) Our offense wasn't that stellar either, considering their pitcher Jason Davis had an ERA well over 8.00. Well, now it's down to 6.97. Ordonez now has a 16-game hitting streak, and Carlos Lee hit another homerun - he's hit one in his last 4 games. You can see it in his swing that he's got that mindset that he's going for the fence. 14,975 paid - was emptier than that for an Easter Sunday. We've never been to the park on Easter, but it does call to mind the opening of Bull Durham and The Church of Baseball:

I believe in the Church of Baseball. I've tried all the major religions, and most of the minor ones. I've worshiped Buddha, Allah, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, trees, mushrooms, and Isadora Duncan. I know things. For instance, there are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary and there are 108 stitches in a baseball. When I heard that, I gave Jesus a chance. But it just didn't work out between us. The Lord laid too much guilt on me. I prefer metaphysics to theology. You see, there's no guilt in baseball, and it's never boring... which makes it like sex. There's never been a ballplayer slept with me who didn't have the best year of his career. Making love is like hitting a baseball: you just gotta relax and concentrate. Besides, I'd never sleep with a player hitting under .250... not unless he had a lot of RBIs and was a great glove man up the middle. You see, there's a certain amount of life wisdom I give these boys. I can expand their minds. Sometimes when I've got a ballplayer alone, I'll just read Emily Dickinson or Walt Whitman to him, and the guys are so sweet, they always stay and listen. 'Course, a guy'll listen to anything if he thinks it's foreplay. I make them feel confident, and they make me feel safe, and pretty. 'Course, what I give them lasts a lifetime; what they give me lasts 142 games. Sometimes it seems like a bad trade. But bad trades are part of baseball -- now who can forget Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas, for God's sake? It's a long season and you gotta trust. I've tried 'em all, I really have, and the only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the Church of Baseball.