Totally Disruptor Umpire

Daily Ramble 208: Totally Disruptor Umpire

It’s really sad when an umpire or any official interjects themselves into a game so much that it effects the outcome. I’m not really sure this umpire caused the loss since Boston took advantage of everything possible in the game but when you gotta throw down the middle to get any calls it hurts your possibilities. In any case, Boston thoroughly dominated the Angels on Tuesday. So I went and finished off my Advanced Military Career Path during the end of the game and then read a really good comic. It almost made up for the bad calls but I still felt like my team was robbed.

Red Sox vs. Angels Game 1

With the help of the home plate umpire, the Red Sox jumped out to a 3 run lead by the 2nd inning. With the strike zone appearing in my MLB app, it’s pretty clear there were a number of Ohtani pitches that were in the zone that were recorded as balls. I sure wish I knew that umpires studied these things to learn how to perform their job better. In any case, Shohei was done by the 2nd inning and the Angels had a comeback to orchestrate.

It didn’t stop there. With Mookie Betts having a hell of a night, he smacked his second HR in the 3rd and the Angels were down 8–0.

And then the home plate umpire was overturned on a challenge and things started to change. Or so I thought…in reality, the next thing I knew, Pujols was being ejected for complaining about the bad calls. It was only the 9th time he’s been ejected in 18 years.

In the end though, the Angels lost pretty badly…10–1. Pujols knocked in their only run in the 3rd and he stood up to the poor umpiring at home plate so I give him my Player of the Game. I just hope this official watches the replay of his bad calls and figures out how to properly call a major league baseball game. It’s a shame for such bad umpiring to impact a game but then there are over 160 of them.

On the flip side, Boston enjoyed the benefits of a bad ump and made a game of it. 3 home runs by Betts sealed the deal and he had a real good game. After getting 13 home runs over the first 15 games, with the umpire requiring balls be thrown down the middle of the plate, they knocked 6 in a single game. Hard to pitch well when the strike zone is so small.

I suppose I’ll keep an eye on Vic Carapazza to see if he learns from this game…hopefully the Angels won’t have to face him again for a while.

First Look at Totally Awesome Hulk #1

Cho Time: Part One by Greg Pak and Frank Cho. Published by Marvel comics, 2015
Amadeus Cho is his name and Hulking is his game! This is definitely not your father’s Hulk, this is the Totally Awesome Hulk and this is a fun comic. Something happened to Bruce Banner 4 months ago in Kenya and I’m not really sure where he’s at in this time frame, but the world still needs a Hulk. So Amadeus took over, though I’m not sure yet how, but I figure the origin story will be coming soon. In any case, super genius Cho is one of the top 10 smartest people in the world and now he’s got the brawn to go with the brains.

In this first issue, we learn that he and his sister, Maddy, are on a mission to fight monsters. And they’re not alone as we see Spider-Man and She-Hulk team up with the Chos to take on some beastly thugs who I think are called Gnasher and Gasher in New Zealand. Glorious smashing and thunderous fight scenes abound in this comics where I actually think the hero enjoys being a hero and that’s a nice change from so much of the angst riddled spandex wearers I’ve read lately.

The whole issue is fun and the art perfectly fits the story and the tone of this Hulk. I’m hooked!

What’s also interesting is that Amadeus is the Hulk that Logan fights in Old Man Logan #2

I rate this first issue a definitive A.

This comic can be found on Marvel Unlimited, Comixology or at your local comic book shop.

Disruptors, Webs, and Stabilizers

Ettes Alureel enlisted me in the Advanced Military Career Path and introduced me to lots of neat gadgets. Warp Disruptors, Stasis Webifiers , and Warp Core Stabilizers are all part of the fun when you start dealing with actual combat in Eve. And these are some of the most powerful devices in the game, particularly when you read some of the lore. There are many stories of week old capsuleers who show up to a battle in a frigate and lock down huge ships that cost thousands of real world dollars. These tools can be used pretty much right away in the game and they can have an impact on veterans that have been in the game since day one.

These are the items that really set Eve apart from other MMOs since you’d never see a level 1 Mage or Hunter able to do anything to a max level character in WOW or any other MMO.

In any case, I ran through all 10 of the missions Ettes had for me and reacquainted myself with these cool tools of Eve. With that taken care of I think I’ve only the exploration career path to work through to finish off the basic training.