Skeeters, extra innings, the ER, and Mexican food

I've been down here in greater Palm Springs for almost a week now, and it's been basically fine. I mean, the mosquitos are sure happy, they have a whole new buffet with me here. No mitigating actions seem to help dissuade them from my sweet, juicy A-pos. Which is a convoluted way of saying, "my feet itch."

Yesterday was my dad's 83rd birthday, and though we celebrated it the day before by driving over to LA to have an evening with my sister, bro-in-law, and nephew, he spent the day itself in the emergency room. As Marty put it, that wasn't on our collective bingo card for the day.

He's fine. There was an issue with vertigo that was concerning and in the end the docs gave him some dramamine and he's doing better. I used the time Dad & Marty were waiting around at the ER to visit my friend Mark, a newly-transplanted Seattleite to the area, and gape in awe at the house he bought that he decided was a massive fixer-upper and wonder at the expense of all the renovations he's planning. More power to you, Mark! Gotta make it your own. We got caught up a bit over lunch at a nice Mexican restaurant with a big outdoor patio before I made my way back to Dad & Marty's in time for the first pitch of World Series Game 3.

What a wild one that was.

The longest game in World Series history, the eventual 6-5 Dodger victory took nearly seven hours to play. It was the second 18-inning World Series game at Dodger Stadium this century. And boy, did it have drama. Great feats! Brain farts! Good umpiring! Not-so-good umpiring! Outstanding defensive plays! Lousy defensive plays! Future Hall of Famers pitching! Why-is-that-guy-even-on-the-roster types pitching! Celebrities in the stands! Marlins guy looking at his phone! Ridiculous managerial challenges! One sensible managerial challenge! Four intentional walks to one guy! (Well, five, really.) It had a lot going on, and by the end my friend Dave and I were musing about suspended-game potentials and crazy what-ifs on BlueSky in between my posting bits of #SmoltzWisdom, words of insight uttered on the air by Fox Sports commentator John Smoltz during the game.

Those bullpens are totally spent, so both teams better hope for complete-game-level performances out of their starters tonight.