Heaven is a mobile home

Over the summer I wrote several times (maybe not here but certainly on Facebook) about my frustrations and failings in life- specifically in the arena of employment Really, though, it was all-around a difficult summer.  A difficult summer coming directly off the heels of a previous difficult summer, fraught with opportunity after opportunity falling through and... well, to say there wasn't a lot of hope would be like saying the Tigers kind of swept the Yankees to advance to the World Series (possibly a shameless ploy to justify labels to increase blog traffic).

So I feel like now, after a whirlwind month that has witnessed some changes and what I feel are significant steps forward, I owe it to those who stood beside me and held me up, hoped for me, prayed for me, encouraged me, and believed in me- I owe it to them to write about the good stuff, too. 

One month and one day ago, I was sitting home sick and watching some television when I got a call to come in for an interview.  One thing led to another, and one month and one day later I have a honest-to-goodness job in social work.  Score!  Oh yeah, and also after spending five months of living under someone elses roof, Sara and I signed a year lease for a mobile home (with 3 bedrooms to boot!).  For the first time in years, life doesn't feel like a piece of Saran wrap stretched tight over my face.

It's been quite a journey over the past couple of years.  Right after graduation, I took a job (ironically enough, at the same place that I work now although the experience is already 100% completely different) that drove me into the most pervasive and destructive pit of emotional despair that I have ever been in.  I spent about three months hating life and feeling like I could never be whole again.

It's taken a few years, but things are heading in the right direction.  I'm enjoying my job so far.  It's been challenging- but it's a good challenging, the type of challenge that brings growth and development.  As opposed to the challenging of the last few years, which was more about the challenge of trying to survive. 

I'm not naive enough to think that my entry level social work position and trailer park living signify any sort of "arrival".  But after a couple years of questioning whether I could fulfill the promise that my education seemed to tease and wondering if we'd spend forever cashing in bottles to prevent bounced checks and using loose change to buy a Hot-N-Ready for dinner, we've found stability.  A little stability.  But it's stability, and for us, a little stability feels like heaven.

Even if that heaven exists in a trailer park.

No way Jose

Disclaimer- I'm a social worker, so I believe that each and every human being has inherent value.  Also, in America I believe that everybody has the right to pursue whatever type of career they so choose and it isn't my place to tell someone what they should or shouldn't be doing.

But Jose Valverde can no longer be the closer for the Detroit Tigers.

I don't know if Valverde is a sleeper agent for the Yankees or what (and looking at his stats against the Bronx Bombers, I'd believe it), but he has certainly been awful for most of 2012.  Yet the Tigers keep trotting him out game after game after game, to a chorus of groans and soul-crushing sadness.

Why?

Look, I love Jim Leyland as much as anyone.  In this era of hyper-awareness and health consciousness, I think it's great that we have the Marlboro Man managing our $119 million baseball team.  But I also think that Jim might be too close to the situation to realize what Tiger fans realized pretty early on- Jose Valverde is not a good closer.

I'm not even sure if he's a good pitcher at this point- maybe he could be, if he could pitch in low pressure, non-save situ....(thinks back to every time Valverde pitched in a non-save situation) ah forget it.  Valverde is an awful pitcher.

Too bad that we have him signed to a long term deal and we have to being repair...wait a minute, what's that you say?  Valverde is a free agent and even though  he's making $9 million this year to sabotage our playoff chances, we are not under contractual obligation to him next year?

This is amazing!!!

Do you realize what this means???  Jose doesn't have to play.  This isn't little league, Jim.  Cut him, waive him, revoke his scholarship- whatever you have to do, just keep him off the field.  Sure, it might throw off his mojo or whatever, but he's a free agent.  Why should we care about his possibly shattered confidence?  Lord willing he'll be doing this for someone else next year.  I say sit him on the bench and pitch the guys who can, you know, get the other team out.  Shoot, I'd rather have pre-hipster-glasses Rick Vaughn or Whitt Bass at this point.

To Leyland's credit, he seemed to indicate that there is at least a chance that Valverde won't be closing the rest of the playoffs (and if divine justice is a 'thing', never ever again while donning the olde English D).  I certainly wouldn't let him.  At this point, I wouldn't even trust Valverde ordering for me at McDonalds during lunch hour. 

I'm sure Jose Valverde is an interesting human being who could be a lot of fun to be around.  As a closer though, he has less worth than the box that Hiro-San is bringing down the aisle.  It's one thing to give up a bunch of 9th inning runs in Yankee stadium in April.  It's quite another to do it in game 1 of the ALCS.

Mike Ilitch is paying 21,686,545 Hot and Ready pizzas to bring a World Series back to Detroit and right now, the biggest thing standing between that us and that title is Jose Rafael Valverde.  Jim Leyland, please, for the love of all things good, do the right thing- Bench Valverde.  Drop Valverde from the postseason roster.  Forget that Valverde exists.   Profit.