That was a truly disheartening loss last night. The worst pitching staff in baseball -- so weak the Rockies have decided to experiment with an all-hands-on-deck-all-the-time approach to the question of, "Who's starting today?" -- and the best offense in the National League. The result? An early two run blast and then two hours of going quietly into that good night, over and over again.

Sigh.

Oh, well. I'm not here to lament yet another missed opportunity for this team, nor the red-hotness of the team in front of the Cards, nor the Greek tragedy that is Chris Carpenter's career taking yet another turn toward Wonder If He's Coming Back At All land. (For the record, I think Carp actually will be back, eventually; he's essentially the pitching version of Jason Voorhees at this point.) All those things are bad things, and I'm not in the mood for bad things at the moment. I have enough bad things in my life right now; today is a holiday, and will be treated as such.

Plus, I have a birthday party to attend today (and no, I'm not doing what of those crappy things where I tell you at the end the name of my friend is America, as a Toby Keith song kicks in in the background and the jingoism flows like sweet shitty adjunct lager; I have a friend whose birthday is Independence Day), and so my time is somewhat limited this afternoon.

So happy Fourth of July to everyone. Barbecue something today. Watch another frustrating ball game. Much of the Midwest seems to have put the kibosh on fireworks this year, which isn't necessarily the worst thing in the world; everything near here is tinder dry and just waiting for a rogue spark to happen along. Still, you could get drunk and pass out in the hot sun, which is always super fun.

Everyone, have a really great holiday. It's Independence Day. I hope you all enjoy it.