Hey, we're playing the Dodgers again. Didn't we just play the Dodgers? Why yes, we did. This is where the unbalanced schedule really stinks. I don't know if I'm alone in this, but I'm always looking for an excuse to go to a Rockies game. Another series against a mediocre L.A. team missing its two best players is not a good excuse. I think I'm going to go buy Mario Superstar Baseball instead.

The other thing that's stupid about a schedule heavy on divisional matchups late in the year is in the National League at least, all of the division races are more or less wrapped up. Now three worthy NL East teams will lock in a death struggle while the Astros get to play the less challenging likes of Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, and Chicago. I'm not one of those people who's inherently against change in baseball -- hey, without the wild card, we wouldn't get the Red Sox and the Yankees in the playoffs every year -- but it is annoying when the sport simultaneously unleashes two "innovations"  that blatantly contradict each other like the unbalanced schedule and the wild card. Plus there's so many good teams I haven't gotten a chance to see this year...the Phillies, the Braves, the Astros, the Cardinals...it's annoying. Even the thrill of heckling Jeff Kent loses its luster the third or fourth time around.

So here we go, it'll be S. Kim-Weaver, B. Kim-Houlton, and Day-Penny. I think the Rockies will probably lose the Zach Day and Lesser Kim games but I have a good feeling about Byung-Hyun tomorrow. But in a weekend that I approximate has eight more interesting MLB series going on, plus college football, I will not blame any of you for shutting off whichever small part of your brain pays attention to the Rockies altogether at this point.

I haven't lived in Colorado long enough to have a rooting interest in the CU-Colorado State clash tomorrow, but the local radio stations are sure making a big deal out of it. I live in Boulder, but I also was in Chicago when Gary Barnett was the coach at Northwestern, and Gary Barnett is a horrible human being. Go, Rams. My alma mater Cal also begins play, and they're ranked (#19) in the preseason for the first time since before I went there. I don't think they should have much trouble against Sacramento State, but there you go, I just jinxed them. Honestly I don't follow college sports very closely (probably because when I went to college, my school was hopelessly bad at both football and basketball). Liverpool has the week off because of World Cup qualifiers. I guess it'll be Mario Superstar Baseball this weekend, then.