Monday, May. 30, 2005
Memorial DAy Weekend, posted at 1:22 a.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com It's your anniversary. You decide to do something romantic for your girlfriend. Or maybe it's your wife. Doesn't matter. So you decide to call up a restaurant once deemed by Baltimore Magazine to be the most romantic restaurant in Baltimore. It's a nice little place with good food, classy but also bohemian and not stuffy. You call them up a few days before and make reservations. You tell them that you're going to have flowers delivered, and could they please have them sitting on the table when you arrive on Sunday night?You call back on Sunday and confirm. The servers excitedly take your call and the whole place is buzzing about this cool guy and the anniversary and the flowers.
That evening, your server (who had to leave the Tigers/O's game during the 7th inning stretch in order to make it to his shift on time, even though it was the most exciting part of the game) gets all the messages about the flowers and the anniversary. Your server picks out the perfect table at around 7, even though you're not coming in until 9. But when someone else is seated near there, he decides to change it up and sit you at a different spot so you can have your privacy.
You arrive with your girlfriend. Everything is as you planned. She is very, very happy. You have your drinks, your coffee and your dessert, and service is excellent. He's a charmer, that server. And... how much do you leave him as a tip when you leave a couple of hours later?
***
Well, if you answered $3, then you're right. That's exactly how much this cheap asshole left me. Good shift otherwise.
And a good weekend - a Tigers sweep, and I attended all three games. I do have a pang of guilt and hope that this isn't the turning point of the season for the O's - they do head for their longest road trip of the season tomorrow, and Boston is up first. The O's are making moves right now that are mystifying, and that's one reason I don't think they can keep it up. Fiorentino is so clearly not a major leaguer, as he demonstrated a number of times this weekend. Hopefully the club's insistence to bring him up from A Ball won't damage him as much as it's seeming to. There's no reason or excuse to bring him up. Then the brilliant mind of Lee Mazzilli decides to start freaking Chris Gomez at first base, even though Palmeiro is finally showing some life at the plate. And Gomez hits sixth, even though Jay Gibbons is in the lineup in the 8th slot (and I'd argue that although Gibbons has had his problems at first base, he's probably better than Gomez, who is a middle infielder and not a first baseman).
The Orioles are pretty banged up, and you might argue that the Tigers hit them at a good time, something I wouldn't argue with. But the O's also hit the similarly banged-up Tigers at a good time - Ordonez is hurt, Percival is hurt, Guillen is hurt. It's what happens in the game. How you respond to the injuries - i.e, not calling up a 21-year old A-ball outfielder - is one key to winning. A major league center fielder, not to mention a catcher, is going to be needed in this next stretch for the O's to maintain a lead in the division.