Storm the Field

Sidenote. That gif always kills me. It's the perfect encapsulation of the goonish-ness of Yankees fans. Gotta be at least 6 different versions of guys named "Joey" in a single frame. Big Fat Sal pulling up his size 48s that are falling off, yelling "fuuuuuuug you's" Puerto RIcan Derka giving his girl the most awkward high 5 in history.

Helo cheering on his newfound Rangers buds.

Nostradumbass

Of all the many, many, many, many, many, many AL West titles the past 7 years, this one definitely tastes the sweetest. The drizzle of Ranger tears really sends it over the stop.

Being in first after Game 162 is the only day it matters. Bout time for Sparky to get wet again.

Tucker's agent literally just jizzed in his pants.

It's Houston, aggy of pro sports. Preemptive bitching is what they do best.

Dude. Get help. Seriously, go outside and touch burnt-up grass. This Summer sucked fucking balls. No one is happy about it. Climate change is real and is a problem that needs to be addressed. Our state has ongoing problems with governance and utility/resource management that don't bode well for the future. None of that has any bearing on breathing a sigh of relief that this giant middle finger of a Summer is finally running out of gas.

Feels pretty damn good outside. Warm and sunny, but low humidity and there's a nice dry breeze. So used to it being oppressively muggy at this point of the day. Gonna take advantage of one last hot, sunny Summer Sunday watching Stros game from the pool. Water temp has come back down to a very refreshing 85. Was getting up around ~91 during the worst stretch in August. Felt like hopping from a sauna into a lukewarm bath. Looks like we've got one more warmer than average, sunny day in the mid-90's tomorrow leading into a gray, wet mid-week. Colder temps should start arriving sometime between late Thursday and early Saturday (depending on how far south you are) after the rains pass and dewpoints start to plummet. I will of course wait for the forecast to actually pan out, but pretty good chance that we can soon declare Blastfurnace 2023 kaput. A full 150 days (5/5/23-10/2/23) of the hottest, most miserable Summer most of us have ever experienced (so far). Pause for a moment, if you will, to remember the HVAC units, lawns and landscaping we're left to mourn. There will still be plenty of warm days ahead, and this thread will linger into November as always, but fellas, we're here, gasping towards the finish line of one of the shittiest marathons ever run.

Thank god. Most frustrating Astros team of all time finally does what seemed like a tap-in 2 weeks ago. Let's fuck around and be that team that sneaks its way into the ALCS and then pisses the entire country off by making it to yet another WS.

See you there at the Camelia Bowl in Montgomery!

21-0 with 6:53 left in the 1st. Already been texting with old TXST fraternity brothers. We're definitely travellling to whatever mediocre bowl game we end up in this year. Gonna enjoy the 1-2 years max that we have Kinne while it lasts.

Front late next week starting to get pretty locked in to forecasts. ~90 more hours of Longest Summer Ever and then things should start shifting. Only big change I've seen since rumors of a front first dropped has been that the window to get some rain seems to have has widened. Earlier this week, slight chance of rain on Wednesday and good chance on Thursday as front passes through. Currently pretty solid rain chances Tues-Thursday and then still a decent shot to get a little more over the weekend. "Coldest" part of the front looks like it will be next Sunday and Monday after things dry up. Warms back up a little after that, but nowhere near these recent unseasonably warm days. Closer to seasonal average temps for the 2nd week of October.

One more weekend of "not much else to do but jump in the pool with a beer and watch sports on the outdoor tv" Next weekend I swear I'll finally tackle those nagging household chores I've been putting off since May. Promise.

Inflation news.

OMG, these projected dewpoints for next Saturday at noon. Temperature ~80 with a dewpoint in the 40's?

DISCLAIMER: ANALYSIS, NOT PREDICTION!!! Last 5 GFS model runs all staying consistent, and extended weather forecasts are now starting to buy in on a "better late than never" arrival of Fall's first front a week from today, coming on the heels of some possible rain Wednesday. Unfortunately, gonna continue to feel like Neverending Summer until then. Doesn't look like temps are expected to come down drastically, maybe ~10 degrees off current highs and ~5 degrees off current lows, but dewpoints look to plummet a good 30 degrees, meaning that it would feel exponentially more pleasant. Also nice to see that, AS OF NOW, this appears to be more than a 2-3 day flash in the pan. Forecast after next weekend doesn't immediately revert back to hot and swampy. 7 days out is when you just barely get a toe over the line of usefulness, so I'd put maybe 55/45 odds on things panning out at this point. If models are still producing similar runs by the end of this weekend, I'm going all in. This late in the year, it has to happen eventually (or does it?)

Probably correct. ~240 hours out, it's little more than statistical noise. Previous run from 7 hours ago didn't pick it up at all. That said, if we get to the end of this weekend and are nearing the 120-hour range and there's something still showing up, I'll allow my hopes to start building.

Latest GFS run from an hour ago has the most optimistic forecast in a looong time. Still very far out and will shock me if it persists in future runs, but they're now modeling a fairly strong, albeit short-lived front making it here sometime next weekend. Temps in the 60's with dewpoints in the 40's from 10/7 through 10/10. https://www.tropicaltidbits.com/analysis/models/?model=gfs&region=us&pkg=T850a&runtime=2023092712&fh=246 Will keep an eye out and prepare for disappointment in future updates.

September joins August in the "hottest (insert month) since reliable records exist" category. I've mentioned before, but "latest arrival of first cool front of the year" looks likely to be the next record to go down. Current record for Houston is 10/13, which happened way back in 1904. One of only 2 instances where it occurred after 10/10. In fact, it only happens after October 1st about 10% of the time (13 times in the last 134 years). Long-range GFS models not showing anything worth a damn through 10/13 and the extended forecast through 10/11 STILL does not feature a number starting with a 6. This is a peculiar pet-peeve of mine, but I keep seeing people say shit on here/twitter/weather blogs like "I've lived here my whole life and it never cools down before November" and it's just so incredibly wrong. Hell, just last year, we got an extended front that arrived this exact week. It was in the 50's both mornings of the final weekend of September 2022. We hit the 40's 5 times during the last 2 weeks of October.

For a fun little kick in the nads, compare it to this same week last year. First strong front of the year arrived 1 year ago today and all but ended Summer for good. Following 2 weeks featured highs consistently below 90 and lows in the 60's, sometimes dropping into the 50's.

Straight out of central casting from a 1980's dark fantasy film.

I had completely forgotten what it was like to wake up to a cloudy, rainy morning. Got a decent little soaking in Houston and may get a 2nd wave around lunchtime. I ain't mad.

Quoting myself, but....1-10 today with RISP. 8-53 in our last 61 AB with RISP. The go-ahead 2B to the gap or the majestic walk-off shot jus t doesn't happen this year. When we win games, it's because we've had a lead from the start. We pretty much only win when we hold a lead. Otherwise, it's Casey at the Bat.