Mark's Blog

Well, I'm in Toronto. Went to the Blue Jays - Red Sox game last night. I didn't even know Pedro Martinez was pitching until I got to SkyDome. I had seen Pedro once before, in Montreal, I think in 1996 or 1997, I believe against San Diego. If memory serves, he retired 18 batters in a row in the middle of the game, but I'll have to check Retrosheet to be sure.

It turned out that the real star of the show was Ted Lilly, who pitched one of the best games of his career, a shutout, giving up 3 hits, and striking out 13 batters. Lilly used his excellent curve ball to fool the Boston hitters time and time again. There were a surprising number of Red Sox fans at the game, apparently most of them in my section (117). I had some great seats, in the 14th row. Lilly's game score was 92, which ties Johan Santana of the Twins for the top game score in the AL this year. A most impressive performance.

Today I got up around 10, watched some live Olympics, including the awesome gold medal win by Lori-Ann Muenzer in the match sprint. Of all the events in the Olympics, this has to be my favorite, with its unique combination of tactics and brute strength.

Also checked out the Hockey Hall of Fame, which was interesting. Seeing all the trophies was interesting -- they look a lot bigger in real life somehow. Also seeing the old-time equipment was amazing. I can't even imagine staring down a slapshot with one of those masks the goalies used to use.