Alas, Alack

For my beloved Dodgers let the Phillies squeak by last night, 3-2. It all came apart on Lowe in the 6th at once, with Furcal's error and Utley's and Burrel's homers making Torre take him off the mound. Park, Maddux, and Kuo kept the damage to a minimum, but it still wasn't enough. I'm glad it's just the first game, though. We've got plenty more chances to make this right, and Billingsley is pitching tonight. The news that Saito will not be pitching this series saddens me, though. He's a fantastic closer who's really trying to rehabilitate that elbow of his.

I also watched the CSI premeire last night, which I never do. I prefer Spike's tactic of two regular CSI episodes a night, with a CSI:NY right afterwards. But Shanananamah's dad had told me I should watch it, and so I did. (Spoiler alert) I think it was a good one, despite the fact that they killed off one of the main characters, Warrick. I'm not really sure why they felt the need to do that (other than ratings), but since they got rid of Sara and are getting rid of Grissom, I guess they thought they needed new faces or something. I'm not a huge fan of the direction the CSI writers have taken in the last few seasons. They've tried to spice things up in all the wrong ways, and that can spell death for a show. They might get new fans, but the old ones will get disgusted with the character abuse (something I either picked up or coined: When writers deliberately make their characters do something out of character to sell more stories) and leave. I, for one, specifically stopped watching the new CSIs when Grissom and Sara hooked up because it violated one of Grissom's biggest principles: professionalism. And then the realists took over, and Sara was forced to leave. Bad writing decisions force you to live with unpleasant consequences. I know fredrin agonizes over this, and I do too. Character abuse is one of the worst sins you can commit as a writer, and I try to avoid it at all costs.

Enough shop talk. I was pleased to hear McCain and Palin bringing down the house yesterday with their criticism of Obama over Ayers and the financial crisis. It was fantastic, and one of the biggest signs that the media is panicking that we might not elect The One is that they're starting to make things up (more than usual). One kook at one McCain rally may have insulted the media there, and suddenly it's an "ugly trend" that magically spreads to all the rallies McCain's held this week. Funny how quickly those things spread, isn't it?

That should be enough ranting and raving for today. Pooky's getting off early this afternoon and doesn't have to be back until Tuesday (hooray for federal holidays!), so he's heading up to see his family and mine. I'd call him a lucky dog, except he got off at 11 last night for his second shift that day. Hopefully he can recuperate this weekend, if my nephews don't run him ragged!