Just A Thought: 25

I'm not sure how I feel about Bobbysox wearing number 25. For some reason, I never had a problem with Mikey Lowell wearing the number, but letting Bobby wear it? I don't know.

Since Mike, I am a little protective of that number. Is that odd of me? Perhaps. But I love Mike Lowell, and my lifetime membership to the Mikey Lowell fan club was not negated by his retirement. I didn't see Tony C. play, so it didn't bother me as much. But Mikey? I adored watching him play.

You have upped the ante, Bobby. You better be good.

Oh Johnny: Really?

Is everyone on the Red Sox pitching staff determined to leave a bad taste in the fans' mouths? We won't be seeing Beckett or Lester again this season, and those are the pitching performances they leave us with? Ok, I expected it from Beckett, but Johnny couldn't pull one more magically good game out of himself to keep his damn near perfect September record intact? He just couldn't will himself to not suck long enough to not get swept by the White Sox? WHY?

I can't get too worked up about it, though. I'm not going into the last three games of the baseball season angry. It seems like just yesterday I was counting the minutes to opening day....er.... night, and now it's coming to an end. I may be a little disappointed with how it's going to end, but like I said before, I'm incredibly proud of this team. With 19 official trips to the disabled list, they're still in a position to win 90 games. We got to see a sparkling display of the talent in our minor leagues, and that HAS to make you feel good about the future of the team. But I'm not ready to talk about the season being over yet, and instead of focusing on the fact that we're not going to the postseason, I'm going to focus all of my love and energy into cheering for Mikey, Tek, and Papi, three players that I have tremendous love for, who may just be playing their last games in Red Sox uniforms this weekend.

Mikey will, hopefully, get a standing ovation for every single at-bat this weekend. Does hoping for this make me a little ridiculous? Sure. I've never cared about being ridiculous. From my seat somewhere along the last row of the bleachers, I'll be standing for every single AB, and cheering as loud as my lung will allow for both Tek and Papi. And who knows? Maybe Dice will surprise me! Maybe he'll have the best game of his career.

I'm very much looking forward to this weekend's games, because once they're over, it's over. I'll follow the playoffs, sure, but I don't really care. Once my team is out, I'm out. I'll be rooting for Minnesota though. Just for the hell of it.

Go Twins!

And go Red Sox! Let's make the Yankees limp into the postseason.

You Mean We're Still In This Thing?

Of course, by 'in', I mean in the sense that partycrashers who have been spotted by security are 'in' the party. They're there, but it's just a matter of moments before they're 'out.' What's left? Six games? With the injuries and the way the boys played for a good majority of the season, did anyone think they'd still technically be in the race for a playoff spot with six games left to go? I didn't. But damn if I'm not proud of them.

Dahmer came out last night and demanded that people give him a little notice for the Cy race. He won't win it, of course, but having his name in the mix is quite the accomplishment. I feel like the award is almost definitely going to Fatass in NY. He didn't deserve his first one, and if he gets it this year, he won't deserve it now either. On the risk that I'll feel foolish about complaining if he doesn't win it, I'm going to whine anyway. Everyone's so impressed with the 20 wins? Why? They weren't impressed in 2007. Sure, it's been done to death already, but I'm going to put up the numbers so far.

Sabathia King Felix
W 20 12
IP 229.1 241.2
ERA 3.26 2.31
CG 2 6
SHO 0 1
H 206 189
R 91 79
ER 83 62
HR 19 17
K 189 227
BB 72 68
ERA+ 133 171
WHIP 1.212 1.063
WAR 5.1 5.6

These are the stats that I know and feel comfortable with. I'm not so advanced when it comes to the stat world, but I understand these ones, and I feel they speak for themselves. In comparison, because no I cannot let this go, in 2007, Beckett had 20 wins. Fatass did not. Sure, Fatass pitched 40 more innings. His ERA was better by .06. He gave up nearly 40 more hits than Beckett and 3 more HR's than Beckett, had two fewer walks. Beckett had the better ERA+, and they had exactly the same WHIP. Fatass had a better WAR. For the most part, their numbers were almost identical, and though Beckett was the only player in the majors to reach 20 wins that year, Fatass got the Cy. Why? Because he pitched more innings, and did it on a less talented (albeit a very good) team.

So if Fatass wins this year, what makes it different? King Felix has more IP, a better ERA by nearly a run, more complete games, fewer hits, runs, earned runs, home runs and walks allowed, more K's, a better ERA+, WHIP, and WAR. In EVERY statistical category that matters, Felix wins hands down. But because Sabathia is in NY and he has 20 wins (a statistical category that doesn't matter and least reflects a pitcher's ability to pitch), he's the frontrunner? I don't agree. Just another reason for me to riot, I guess. Hopefully the voters will do right and give it to Felix. Not that I think they'll do that, but I can hope.

As for the Red Sox... man, all I know is that I'll be crying on Saturday, and then again on Sunday when it finally hits me that we'll never see some of these guys in Red Sox unis again. I'll miss Mike Lowell terribly. I don't know what's going to happen with Tek or Papi. Sure, a few of the newer guys are probably leaving, but Tek, Papi, and Mikey are.... I don't know. They're just special and more important because they've been here longer. There's always a chance that Jason and David will be back, but Mikey is gone after Sunday.

Just breaks my heart that he has to go out in a year where we have nearly no shot to make the playoffs. But we ARE technically still in it.

How Grand!: Sox Find Their Bats

In a completely unexpected turn of events, last night, the Red Sox discovered that (contrary to their prior belief) they ARE allowed to hit the round, white thing that the other team kept throwing at them. Perhaps the ever-fantastic Rocco Baldelli was kind enough to say "hey, guys, it's cool if you hit the baseball. You're supposed to do that!" Or maybe the equally fantastic Carlos Pena passed a note over to the home team's dugout with the words "see ball, hit ball." I don't know. I just wanted an excuse to mention both Pena and Baldelli, because I adore both of them.

More likely, it was the fact that Jeff Neimann has struggled mightily since coming back from the disabled list a few weeks ago, and the Sox were finally able to take advantage of a struggling pitcher. I can't say that before this game, they had been completely inept at the plate. Saturday, sure. They were inept. Sunday, they scored five runs. On a day when Beckett is pitching and Pap is closing, five runs generally gives you the win. Well, just to make sure, the Sox decided to score twelve yesterday. I really hope that they didn't just use up all their offense for the week.

After the first two innings, I was pretty confident that the game wouldn't end before I had to be at work this morning. Luckily, the pace did pick up eventually. I think between the first two innings, there were something like 100 pitches thrown. Our first runs came on a giant 2-run shot by Papi and a solo shot by Beltre (and yes, Victor DID rub his head afterward). After putting up three in the first and second each, the Sox piled on with five more in the fourth, four of which came on Ryan Kalish's grand slam. Man, I love the itty bitty baby Sox. They've kept us alive this year.

Lester threw a bunch of pitches and was done after six, but he was actually pretty damn good, striking out ten and only allowing 2 runs (one in the first and one in the third), and subsequently picking up his 16th win. Nice to see the 'ace' version of him come up big when we need him. Sure, we're all but dead in the water, but isn't it more fun to keep things interesting? We may not make it far, but there's no point in not trying. Our PawSox relief corp had a bit of a rough time, giving up three runs, but were good enough to hold the win. Oki closed it out, and looked good doing so, which is nice for a change. Everything clicked yesterday. I wonder if they can keep it up or if we're going to go back to spotty defense and anemic offense. Based on the pattern of the season, I think I know which I should EXPECT, but I'm hoping for the opposite. Dice-K on the mound tonight. I'll keep one eye open.

Also, in case I haven't mentioned the awesomeness of Mikey lately... the man is playing with a broken rib, because he knows we need him to. Awesomeness or badassery? Perhaps both. I do love that man.

Bill Hall: For The Win

Literally. Bill Hall created that win last night almost single-handedly. Two home runs, four RBI's, and some fancy leather work in the infield. I can't say that he hasn't been performing up to this point. He was brought in as a utility guy, and he's gotten over 200 at bats so far due to the fragile health of, well, everyone. He had something like 13 home runs coming into last night. Sure, his fielding has been a tad precarious at times, but he did what he could. But last night Backup Bill was pretty much the story.

Sure, Dahmer was good too, but we all know that you can lose a game with good starting pitching. If your offense doesn't help you out, you aren't going to win. Just ask Jon Lester how he feels about that, and he'll tell you... actually, no, he probably won't tell you anything. He'll just get into a Beckettesque speech about executing pitches and that sort of thing.

Wow, I really enjoy the word Beckettesque. But there I go, getting off track again. Dahmer pretty much rocked that pitching mound last night. Eight innings, five hits, one run., 2 walks, 4 K's. Saved the bullpen and took advantage of the rare offensive onslaught. I cannot remember the last time we won by such a large margin. I guess it's been far too long. Just so everyone is aware, Dahmer is sporting a very nifty and quite impressive 2.49 ERA. Man, do I love those ERAs.

Credit also goes to Dustin Richardson, who I was very mean to around the trade deadline when I heard that he had been promoted. It was nothing personal. I was frustrated. I also wasn't being very consistent, because I complained that I don't think the Sox should make any moves, and then I complained that we didn't make any moves. Never happy, I guess. But, really, I did stick by my belief that we have to ride it out. I just sort of wanted another reason to complain about Theo. Grudges. Hard to dispose of. But Dustin pitched a very clean, very lovely 9th innning yesterday. Granted, there was almost no pressure in this one, but it still needed to get done. Thank goodness for us that it did.

Let's see, who else on the offense side of things made me happy? Well, as usual, Mikey. Love that man. Three hits, a walk and an RBI are always appreciated. There were also HR's from Beltre and Drew, and a triple from Ronald. Poor Scutaro went 0-5 from the leadoff spot, but everyone is allowed to have a bad game once in a while. I LOVED the game last night. There haven't been many games I've truly loved this season. Feels like most of them have been more like heart attack theater than love stories, but what can you do? Bailing is not an option, because if you bail, you miss games like last night. It was refreshing. I think the whole team needed that.

Unfortunately, John Lackey, the killer of all momentum, is on the mound this afternoon. Hopefully John can prove me wrong about him and like, do something good. Because my patience with him is incredibly thin. Not like he cares.

But I'm watching you, John. Don't let me down.

Mike Lowell: Hero!

I do love that Mike Lowell. Just something about him that makes me happy. Maybe it's the dashing good looks, or the classy way he handles himself. Oh, or maybe it's the game-winning home runs. Yeah, I think it's that last one. He's done that a few times since coming back from the disabled list. But, he's probably still Theo's mortal enemy. It's cool, Youk was nice enough to take himself out of the equation so Mikey could have his last hurrah in the bigs (assuming that he will, in fact, retire at the end of the season). I prefer to think of it as an act of kindness rather that yet another unfortunate accident at the expense of our season. Gives me more of a reason to like Youk.

I thought Dice-K was good yesterday. I mean, for the first few innings, I thought he was good. He sort of did that annoying implodey thing he does at times, and allowed the Jays to match the four spot we put on the board. Also, throwing 110 pitches in 5 and 2/3rds. Not super good. He did manage to strike out seven and limit his walks to three. I don't know. I usually don't expect too much from the guy anyway, so I'm not disappointed. Felix Doubrount, I think, handled himself wonderfully out of the pen. Yes, he blew the save and gave up a home run that tied the game, but he never let the Jays pull ahead, which to me, is pretty good for a kid learning to work out of the pen. I was proud of him, but then again, I love the rookies. All of them.

MDC and Paps both managed to pitch in a close game without blowing the lead or making me panic. Really, I think that was the best part of it all. There was no heart attack theater at the end of the game. Just nice, clean innings from two guys who have concerned me tremendously all year.

Aside from Mikey's HR, he also hit a sac fly in the 3rd. JD had a solo shot in the 5th. Lowrider had 2 RBI doubles, which is always nice from someone I keep forgetting is on the team, and Beltre and CRW each added an RBI via a double and a single respectively. So it was a team effort.

I didn't cover the Yankee series at all, and honestly, I have no intention of doing so even though we won 2 out of 4. It was good enough, but we have more important issues at hand now. Like, how will Dahmer fare against Shawn Marcum. I don't know, but I can't wait to find out!

Mikey Lowell: I Will Always Love That Man

First, I need to say I'm mad at myself. I brought my camera and extra batteries, knowing that I would want to take plenty of pictures. What did I forget? My good memory card. Someone how only brought my 16 MB instead of my 2 GB, so after ten pictures or so, I was out of memory. Gah! Stupid me!

And honestly, there were so many wonderful things to take pictures of tonight. Like Mike Lowell, who deserved the two consecutive standing ovations he received (I stood for his third at-bat, but I was the only one in my section). There is no way that man doesn't know that we love him. All of us. Every single Red Sox fan in attendance. Apparently the only one who doesn't love him is Theo. I don't know why I can't accept that the Lowell situation is a business decision and not a personal one. Maybe it's because I think of Lowell more as an awesome person (based, really, on my own conclusions of what kind of person I think he is and not based on any actual information) than a baseball player. Josh Beckett called him "one of my best friends I've ever made in baseball." And if someone as anti-social and grouchy as Beckett says that (again, personal conclusions, not actual information), I think that means something. We love Mike Lowell in Boston. I'm glad he rewards our love with home runs. He deserved every second of those standing ovations, and I was so happy to see him back!

Also, Beckett. Hot. I mean in the fiery sense of the word. Yeah, of course, I can go all fangirl and gush about how gorgeous he is, but I'd actually rather gush about his eight strikeouts and his first win at Fenway since October of 2009. Another thing to gush about? Only three hits. Sure, one hit was a home run to the catcher that the Indians brought up to replace Santana, but... maybe that was just some bizarre form of reparations. He may have hit two batters, but Shin Soo Choo was faking it! You don't steal a base thirty seconds after hobbling to first if you're actually hurt. Also hot... his reaction to the Indians throwing behind Beltre. I totally appreciate standing up for your teammates, but if that gets Josh suspended, I'm not going to think it's so awesome any more. We'll see what happens. One thing I was concerned about was the lack of K-Men. I didn't see them there, and with 8 K's, it would have been a good night for them. Does this mean that Josh is officially not considered the ace any more?

I'm just so excited about Mikey and Josh and everything Mikey and Josh related that I don't even remember what else I wanted to mention. Oh yeah! Bill Hall... good work, man. Good work.

Because I only took nine pictures and I'm not feeling lazy tonight, here are a few select shots from tonight's game. I really need a new camera, though....






Directly before the home run. I didn't have much time to take this... he hit it out on the first pitch.

This is directly after the home run. I LOVE that man.

Captain in the dugout. My personal superstitious good luck charm!

Tomorrow night, I'll have my good memory card with me.

My Wish: Theo's Command!

Hah. I wish. But I did hope out loud that if Youk had to go down that we could bring up Mikey. Sure, you don't want to see anyone get hurt, but... Mikey!

At Fenway!

While I'm there!

I get Beckett and Mikey together at Fenway tonight. Consider me in fan girl mode. I'm not at all difficult to please, especially when it comes to baseball. But... yeah. Get well soon, Youk.

Santana: Get Better Soon

I sort of don't care that we lost. The Sox staged a good comeback. Sure, it fell a little short, but the didn't give up like I figured they would have. And honestly, after watching their catcher get maimed at our hands, we sort of owed them a win. Kalish felt horrible. You could see it all over his face how bad he felt. Obviously, he didn't do it on purpose, it was just a routine play where the catcher wasn't able to get into position before the collision at home. That doesn't mean it was easy to watch (though NESN apparently thought it was, re-showing it over and over), and every time I watched it, I cringed. Carlos must have been in some kind of shock, because I think I was crying harder than he was. You never want to see that sort of thing happen to anyone, especially to a young kid just trying to earn his keep at the big league level, and double especially not to a catcher, because my God do I love catchers. All I can say is that I hope he heals quickly and that they give him plenty of painkillers until he does heal.

I guess it was sort of fair that we lost Youk to a thumb injury. Yeah, having him in the lineup is a good thing, but I'll admit, I hope he goes on the DL if only to give Mikey Lowell the chance to come up and get his love and admiration from the fans before Theo ungraciously kicks him to the curb. I fail to understand why Theo seems to hate Mike so much. I used to think it was because he was part of the Beckett deal that took Hanley Ramirez away from us, but Theo seems to like Beckett. He's given him two contract extensions. The only thing I can think of now is that Theo is jealous of Mike's unbridled awesomeness, and he just can't bear to look at him and realize that he can never be Mike. I'm sure Mikey gets that a lot, but it's got to be hard being that fantastic.

Oh, but John Lackey, don't think this gets you off the hook, you giant, expensive mistake. I'd like to take an honest survey of Red Sox fans to see if there was anyone not named Theo Epstein that thought the Lackey signing was a good idea. And for five years! He wouldn't give guys like Pedro and Damon five years after their track records with the team, but he gives Lackey, a guy who never seemed to get it done on the big stage against us and was getting hurt more and more frequently, a five year contract. We really have to suffer through four more years of this? I'm especially harsh because I never liked Lackey to begin with, and he's taking up a rotation spot that could be occupied by Timothy... and before any of my hypothetical readers give me stats comparing Lackey to Wakefield, I want to point out that I'm a big fan of sentimentality and there are few players I get more sentimental over than Wakefield. If it were up to me, Trot Nixon would still be in right field. Be happy that I'm not in charge of assembling a team.

Lackey may have had a couple of good games, but I still feel like he needs to prove something... anything... to the Fenway faithful before we can get behind him. You can't fall apart like that to a team like the Indians. Much like the rest of Lackey's season, it's just not good enough. I don't care how many wins he has.

Beckett tonight. At least, Beckett better be tonight, because I bought tickets for tonight's game specifically to see Beckett. I have a history of missing Josh because of injuries, rain, or rotation changes. He's our only starter that I haven't seen live this year. I mean, for goodness sake, I got to see Felix Doubront before I got to see Josh! So I'm looking forward to seeing my favorite Texan pitcher. And he better be ready to show up Lackey because I will not tolerate another performance like last night's.

Also, for people who think it's impossible to get tickets... as soon as they announced that Wednesday night would be Lester vs. Fetus, I went on redsox.com and bought two infield grandstand tickets for face value. It's easier to get 'cheap' tickets now than it's been in half a decade. Take advantage of it. If you don't, don't complain to me that you can't get tickets, because I'll know you're just not trying.

Yawn: Yay We Win

Pardon the lack of enthusiasm. Part of it is due to the fact that I didn't watch the game... I mean the whole game. I watched innings 8 & 9 when I finally rolled home near 1 AM. Looks like our boys, even Lackey, did well. No complaints on my end. Lord knows I love a good win, and that win was good enough.

Despite not having anything interesting or compelling to write about from last night's game, I wanted to write two things (mostly because I'm avoiding doing a literature review that's due tomorrow, but that's another story entirely):

1) Mike Lowell hit three home runs for the PawSox last night. I know with Beltre, Youk, and Ortiz being incredibly useful right now, finding a place for Mikey is hard, but he's not going to be rehabbing for much longer, and we're going to need to find something to do with him. I say keep him. Well, I mean, keep him if it's in his best interest. I don't want to see Mike go back to the Yankees or to the Rays or, really, anyone in the AL. I'd rather him stay with us, but with the way our lineup is looking, I don't think it's too likely. If these are in fact Mikey's last days in the Red Sox organization, then at the very least he deserves a paragraph about his awesome offensive performance. And three home runs, I don't care at what level, qualifies as awesome for me. I love Mikey, and I only want him to be happy.

2) Beckett is pitching today (man, do I love former Marlins or what?). I won't see the start of the game, but hopefully I can catch the tail end of it. That probably means I won't get to see Joshua pitch, but I have no doubt in my mind that he'll be fine. Also, there's no one I trust more with completing a sweep. I don't even care if that trust is warranted or not. I have good feelings about today!

That is all. For now anyway. Hooray baseball!

John Lackey: Finally Earned His First Paycheck

Truth be told, I don't care that Lackey lost the no-hitter yesterday. Sure, maybe that makes me petty but I don't care. I didn't want Lackey and I haven't enjoyed watching him this season. Am I happy when he does well? Absolutely. But it's for the sake of the team, not for him. If he had gotten the no-no, I wouldn't have been angry, but... yeah. I'll just say I appreciate that old friend Josh Bard is the one who broke up the no-no. I didn't approve of the way our front office continuously brought him back and got rid of him. It was small revenge, sure, but he deserved it.

However, if we had lost this game, I would have been angry. I would have been very angry. Not that I stayed up for it. I actually had every intention of staying up for the game, but there was a pitching change in the 8th, and I thought I could just rest my eyes until they came back from commercials, and then I woke up when my alarm clock went off this morning. I couldn't have stayed up until 2 AM even if I wanted to, though.

Manny Delcarmen confuses me. What happened? On June 1st, he was sporting a 1.73 ERA and looking like the best thing to happen to the bullpen since pirate music (slight exaggeration, of course). He was our most reliable arm all through May, and most of June. Then what? He got hurt? Is that really it? Not for nothing, but he was on the disabled list and made rehab starts to take care of his forearm strain or whatever the problem was. June 3rd, the ERA started climbing. Two runs that night on two HR's to Oakland, and one run on June 6th brought it up to 2.67. After that, he enjoyed 5 1/3 IP over 6 appearances of scoreless baseball. Then in his next three appearances, he just completely and utterly fell apart, allowing nine runs on nine hits and two walks in one inning over three appearances. Two of those appearances (June 24 @ Colorado, and June 30th vs Tampa), he failed to record a single out, and then he was DL'ed. His first two outings back, he was great, allowing no hits and no runs in 2 1/3rd innings. Last night? Back to falling apart. 4 Runs on 2 hits in no innings. What's the problem? I don't know enough about pitching mechanics to know if he's doing something differently. When he's good, he's really good, but when he's bad, he is the destroyer of games. How do you pitch 1 1/3rd innings of perfect baseball one night and come back two days later looking like Eric Gagne? It doesn't make sense!

I won't even discuss Papelbon. My patience for him has slowly been getting shorter and shorter since 2008. Someone who bitches about money as much as he does needs to be able to back up his demands in performance. I also don't need to comment about our run prevention defense, considering the run preventors are mostly on the DL.

Wait. I will comment. Our defense is utter bullshit at times. To pick on Beltre for no reason, 15 errors? Seriously, my idea to call him Belteria a few months ago shouldn't have been this accurate. This was the improved defense we were supposed to get? REALLY? You honestly think Mike Lowell would have had 15 errors? The answer is no. Bill Hall has 8 errors. Eight. I know he's a backup, but eight? Marco Scutaro has TWELVE! Our run prevention infield has nore errors than I care to count. They're sloppy. It makes me angry. They're all lucky that they won last night, because that game certainly wasn't won on talent.

The last thing I can say is... it's nice to see them pull victory from the cold hands of ugly defeat. I just wish they wouldn't pull defeat from the warm, loving hands of victory so often. And good job, Patterson. You are the winner of the night.

On a side note, I did not realize that Nava had been optioned back to Pawtucket until I read an article about Mike Lowell helping the PawSox win their game last night. This means two things that I approve of: Mikey is getting close to rejoining the Sox (though I don't dare to speculate for how long), and that Wolverine is back in action. I've missed both of these individuals.

You know what else is going to happen tonight that will also win my approval? The return of Josh Beckett. I will try not to place too many high expectations on Joshua, since he's been crap all year and hasn't won a game since April 10th. But I am happy he's coming back. I've missed him, is all.

And I will stay up for the entire game.

Happy Friday, everyone.

Slightly Surprising: Lowell to DL

I may have been the last to know about the move to put Mike Lowell on the DL to open a roster spot for Dice-K. I mean, I knew Dice was coming back, but I didn't realize that Lowell was injured. Apparently, he was:

Mike Lowell felt a twinge in the back of his surgically repaired right hip before Tuesday's 2-1 loss to the Rockies and tried to erase his pain later that night with a game-winning pinch-hit. Instead, Lowell was thrown out on a one-hop throw by Clint Barmes, even though the shortstop had to make a diving stop and literally tumbled over before releasing the throw.

Ok, so now I feel better about my decision at the time not to pick on the man. I guess he was hurt. And if he wasn't hurt, then the Red Sox need him to play hurt. We need our bullpen. There's really no one we can send down right now, and (this hurts me to say) I guess Mikey is the dispensable one. Ow. My love for Mikey is hurting.

Let's just hope he gets better and can contribute to the team... the Red Sox... in the future. Who knows? We may just be able to get him some valuable at-bats, right?

.... Right?

Hairy Chested Red Sox: Falling Apart In The Mountains

Playing the Rockies again meant one thing for sure... we would hear the name Bob Apodaca about a hundred times per night. I wasn't disappointed. There was a mention of Apodaca around every corner... every pitch, it seemed. And Mr. Apodaca, who we ALL know is the pitching coach for the Rockies, made me hearing his name one hundred times worth my while when we were reminded of this quote:

"Big, hairy-chested guys, one right after another, that work the count, that pounce on your mistakes. Power and quality hitting from the left-hand side and the right-hand side. More speed in the lineup. ... They create a lot of pressure on you."

Bob Apodaca, I do not know why you've been staring at the chests of our players, but I think I found a reason to love you. I laughed out loud, and I sure needed to laugh. I definitely wasn't laughing after the game, but I got to laugh during it. Thanks, Bob!

Jon Lester got the start against the Rockies in a rematch of game four of the 2007 World Series. Lester, of course, got the win in that game, introducing himself as a future ace for the Sox. More importantly, he got run support in that game. This time around, he didn't. In the six innings that Lester was on the mound, the Sox managed to score a grand total of zero runs. In fact, they only mustered three singles. So while Jon was good (not great), he ended up with a tough-luck loss that left a bad taste in my mouth. I like pitching duels, but they are the most painful kinds of losses to me. When your pitcher is throwing a gem, and ends up losing by one run, it stings. Especially when his offense has the bases loaded twice and can't get anything out of it... that's when it hurts. But, it's one loss, and we can put it behind us.

Oki irked me. He irked me because he just had to go and give up another run. Had he not done that, we would have been tied after nine and we still could have won. I mean, we probably wouldn't have, but we could have. I guess I need a scapegoat for my unhappiness, and Oki gets the job on this occasion. Whatever. Like I said... one loss. We lose, we move on.

Also, I'll never pick on Mikey... even though I'm pretty sure he wasn't even trying to hustle down the line in the 9th. Yes, he's slow, and he's got a surgically repaired right hip, and he had been on the bench for the entire game, but maybe a little hustle? I don't know. Like I said, I won't pick on him. It just seems like we let this one get away. Shame.

Wolverine: Saving Our Butts Again

Oh, what would the X-Men do without Wolverine? Or should I call them the Sox-Men? I don't know. I'm trying to be cute here and it's not working. Admittedly, I passed out at around 10:30. I tried to stay up! I really did! I only got to see Josh get beat up (again) by the stupid Yankees. They're also whiney. Apparently, Joe Girardi decided that his team had a better chance of winning if Beckett stayed on the mound, so he's pissed that Beckett was pulled with two outs in the fourth. Yes, I am aware that they filed this complaint immediately after he was pulled (with the score 5-0 Yanks in the 5th), but come on. Beckett was injured, and the injury actually WAS more severe than a bruised ego, though I don't want to comment on him much more severe.

Again, Beckett sucked. I don't care if it was his spasm-y back or his inability to beat the Yankees that held him back, but dude has just not been good this year. I don't think it'll be like this for the remainder of his contract, but something's got to give with him. He has to figure out what he's doing wrong and fix it. We can't wait around forever for him. At this rate, we're actually getting better innings out of Wakefield than Beckett, and that tells you pretty much all you need to know.

Also on my shit list for the day... Scugo. I know the field was wet. I know playing conditions weren't optimal, but two fielding errors in one game is not acceptable. I feel pretty confident about the fact that Beckett would have gotten out of the 2nd inning with no runs allowed had Scugo not botched that ball that would have absolutely been a DP. Not cool. He damn well better dazzle me tonight if the game is actually played.

JD "Glassman" Drew is hurt. I'm not going to harp on him too much because he's been doing well. Doesn't take away from the fact that he's made of glass. It's not an insult, it's the truth. Hopefully the hamstring injury isn't going to linger because really, we need bats. Lots and lots of bats!

Anyway, on to the offense! There was literally nothing to get excited about from the Sox offense for the first five innings. Finally... FINALLY!... in the 6th, Youk took advatage of a bad Sabathia pitch and put it over the wall in left. Sabathia was hittable all night. His location wasn't on. He was all over the place, but our guys just couldn't take advantage. Maybe they were really deceptive pitches. Whatever it was, Youk's HR finally got us on the board after what was probably about 80 or 90 pitches. Luckily, the boys saved all the fun for Flyswatter and Mariano, scoring six times in two innings off of this particular combination of relievers. I don't care how bad we looked up until this point in the season, scoring runs against Mariano shows me that things are closer to getting back on track, and I am cool with that. In the eighth, we saw this sequence: error, single, double, single, ground out, single (Ortiz out at second), ground out. When it was all said and done, 4 runs got tacked on to Joba. Then in the 9th, heroics. Ronald singled, Scugo reached on an error (how appropriate), Munchkin grounded out, but then Wolverine came up against Mo and smacked a 2-run double to left over Randy Winn's head. Ugly wins are still wins, and I'll take them however they come.

Paps closed the 9th, but not before giving back a run and giving everyone a heart attack. Seriously, can we all stop considering Pap a top-tier closer now? He hasn't been this year, and he really wasn't stellar last year. Maybe I'm just being as bitchy and whiney as Joe Girardi, but Paps doesn't mean instant win to me any more, but he still acts like he's the best thing to happen to the bullpen since Keith Foulke. Him closing out the 9th of yesterday's game does not make up for the shit he put us through on Monday's game. Not even close.

Slightly off-topic... it really really pains me to read about how unhappy Mike Lowell is. I think he has every right to be unhappy. The Sox front office has gone seemingly out of their way to let him know that he's not wanted. From being forced to take him as a throw-in to the Beckett deal to trying endlessly to get rid of him.... I just don't know what Theo has against Mike. Sure, he doesn't have the offensive numbers of Beltre right now, but I don't like Beltre! Mikey is frustrated, and it makes me sad...

"I think sometimes you feel like the team might be better off if you're not on it," Lowell said. "I just eat up a roster spot. I really do. I don't know. If anything, it's a good feeling that I've had so many teammates come up to me and they say they sympathize with my situation. I think I've truly agonized over it. But it's not good or bad, it's just reality. ... I don't know what else to do."

Maybe he stays with us and gets a role on this team... more likely, he moves on. Whatever is going to happen needs to happen quick, because Mike's sadness is my sadness, and I don't want either of us to be sad. Mike doesn't deserve this treatment. He's done nothing but contribute to this team, and now we're treating him like an albatross instead of a contributing baseball player. Sad.

Fun fact: Me and Theo Epstein had something in common for one moment in time. We were both at the Pearl Jam concert on Monday, getting Sox updates on our cell phones. And for people who think that Theo (as much as I dislike him) doesn't deserve to take a night off.... seriously, shut the hell up. Theo may not be my favorite GM, but he's not the worst, and who doesn't enjoy Pearl Jam? Though, I still don't like him, and I think he should stop trying to hurt Mikey's ego. But what do I know?

Dahmer against Baker tonight at a very soggy Fenway.... if they can get the game in. We'll see.

Angels: Welcome To Fenway

First of all, I will admit right up front that I did not see the first five innings of the game. I was out having fun and getting score updates on my cell phone. The last update I got via cell phone (and mind you, I don't have none of them fancy interwebs on the cell... this was all text message updates), told me the score was 7-4 Sox heading into the fifth. I imagined that Dahmer was working relatively effectively. I couldn't get a pitch count, or a walk total, but I was at least happy enough with the results. I thought 'hey, this would be a nice little win if we can hang in there,' and I shut my phone and got in my car to turn on the radio.

The fifth was quiet. The radio guys didn't give me much information pertaining to what had already happened. I knew I was going to look it up anyway. Well, I missed an Asshat homer, Bill Hall's first home run as a member of the Sox, and a Mikey Doubles two- RBI special. In the third, the league's favorite target got hit by a pitch. What's that give Youk this year in HBP's? After the magic of internet research, I can see he's been hit 3 times on the year, but I'm not sure if baseball-reference.com has updated itself yet this morning, so it may be four. Back to the scoring... In the 4th, JD hits a bases-loaded single to score Scutaro and VMart. There you have it, 7-4. What a game, right?

Well, sort of. They exploded in the 6th for 7 runs. I know, I can't believe it either. The team who couldn't score three little runs against the last place O's unloaded on the Angels. The ones from Anaheim. Or Los Angeles. Or Orange County. Listen, I don't need to know where they're from. THEY don't even know where they're from. Just to give a quick breakdown... ground out, double, single, double, home run, line-out, walk, single, home run, single, ground out. Seven runs. Home runs for Beltre (holy hell, he can do that?!) and Munchkin. Early night for the relief pitcher, Palmer. Six runs were charged to him. But don't feel too bad, we saved four ER for Stokes, adding three more runs in the 7th inning. Three consecutive doubles and a single all before the first out in the 7th. Man... wow. That's all I can say.

Overall, our offense finished with an intentional walk, a hit-by-pitch, seven doubles, four home runs, twenty hits over all, and six walks. The offensive onslaught did absolute wonders for a lot of individual stats. Hell, JD and Mikey both had four hits on the night. You know they were feeling good. And this game was exactly what a lot of people needed, including the team. Everyone felt like garbage after this weekend. Fans just needed to know there was some fight in this team. We finally caught a glimpse of it. It makes believing in them that much easier.

As for our pitching, decent work from Dahmer. Three walks and four hits in 5.2 innings gives him the win. Would have liked to see him work a little deeper into the game, but he was over a hundred pitches (and pitchers are babied, of course), and he had a three run lead, the best decision was probably to avoid letting him blow it. Delcarmen finished the inning and pitched a clean 7th, which is just awesome. I don't know what he's changed, but he's been reliable and I appreciate that, especially since I rip on him often. Rambo, getting himself back on track also, pitched a perfect 8th. Schoe was a little frustrating. I'm still not sure that the double wasn't a foul ball, but it really doesn't matter. He's kind of a mop-up guy. I want to see better from him, but in the 9th inning of a game we're winning by 13 runs, I sort of don't care if we give four away. We still win by a large margin.

Good all around last night. A much-needed, pile-on type win by the Sox, a beating of the Cavs by the Celtics, and another exciting Bruins win over the Flyers. Boston sports fans can feel really good about the way our teams played last night. Now we just need to keep it up!

Mr. Awesome: Offense-Based Hero

Make no mistake, the real hero of the night was Dahmer. Eight innings and one ER. I can safely and confidently say that he provided the best starting pitching performance of the season thus far from the Sox rotation. And believe me, that's not something I readily admit to. While one performance does not an ace make, perhaps I'm ready to give the kid a little bit of credit. We needed that, and he was fantastic. Absolutely no complaints from a pitching standpoint in this game. Even Rambo had a nice, clean, drama-free inning to close it out. He stepped up. Sure, it was only one inning, but we didn't have any other arms available. He knew it was going to him, and he delivered. We can't overlook stuff like that, you know. There will be days when we need a good performance, and he won't deliver, and we'll be angry with him... so keep stuff like this in mind. In a one run game when no one else was available, he sealed up the win. Fantastic work, Dahmer and Rambo. Talk about an unlikely duo to be thanking on a baseball blog...

I know a majority of the game was tied, but I honestly felt like we were going to win this one. Our pitching was just too sharp. I didn't know who it would be, exactly, playing the role of the hero, but I knew it would be us. The second inning was incredibly amusing to me. I think Papi was 3-1, and Marcum had only thrown 26 pitches in the game. My logic dictates that if our pitchers are throwing less than 15 pitches per inning, that's fine. If the opposing pitcher is throwing less than 15 pitches per inning, that is not fine. I very nicely asked Papi to take at least five more pitches. Well, he took exactly five more pitches and added the extra bonus of getting on base. So, I tried again with Beltre. I asked for just a little tiny base hit. He obliged. I figured I would try again with Wolverine. Before I could figure out what I wanted from him, he was 0-2. I asked for four more pitches and a base hit. That's what I got (and I have witnesses proving that I actually did ask for these things). Sure enough, Papi came 'round to score and the game was tied. Sometimes, a 'please' takes you a long way. Most times it doesn't, but I'm glad it worked in the second inning of last night's game.

Let's see. Who else did a good job? Oh! Forgot to mention about Mikey's heroics. Let me start by saying the fact that Tito felt the need to pull Papi from the game made me sad, but ultimately I believe it was the right decision. Bases loaded, 2 outs in the eighth, Toronto brings in their closer. Maybe I missed a pitch, but I'm pretty sure he walked Mr. Awesome on four straight balls, bringing the winning run home. Isn't this the second game we've won with a bases-loaded walk? There had to have been another one. As usual, I don't care how it gets done, I'm just glad it got done.

This win brings us back up to .500 for the first time in seemingly forever. That's a good thing! It also provided us with a quick, relatively painless win that didn't embarrass and abuse our entire pitching staff. Two pitchers, only 128 pitches. Sure, Dahmer allowed 7 hits, but it's ok because he didn't panic about that. His lack of panic was more reassuring that anything. Gives me a little hope.

Yesterday, the Red Sox brought up Fabio Castro as a bullpen backup plan. All of our arms were tired. BOP was unavailable to pitch, and Atchinson had pitched quite a bit in the past few days, so they swapped Atchinson for Castro. And for a brief moment in time, Dustin Pedroia was not the shortest man on the team! They interviewed Scutaro in the pre-game, and he discussed being the judge of the contest with a laugh. The joy for Munchkin was short-lived, however, as after the game the Sox optioned Castro back to Pawtucket to make room for Alan Embree. Alan wanted to back in the big leagues by Friday, and the Sox obviously wanted to keep him. He seemed to be doing pretty good in Pawtucket, so hopefully his minor-league success will translate to being able to help out this taxed bullpen. Either way, welcome back to the big leagues, Alan.

And in my last bit o'info for the day... congratulations to the Celtics in advancing to the second round of the playoffs. I think they're on schedule to face the Cavs in the next round. If they do, that should be an interesting series. Guess we'll have to wait and see!

McDonald: (Insert Clever Pun About Wins and Hamburgers)

I want so badly to be able to say that it was one of those nights at Fenway that you never feel like we're going to lose. It definitely wasn't. A lot of us felt, with each wild pitch or each stolen base (which I will get to in a minute) that hope was being sucked out of the ballpark. There was a repeating cry of "There's still time for a rally," but it was rare to hear those words spoken with conviction. Most people were just silently begging to not see another loss. Personally, I was having a pretty good night, so even if I didn't think we were going to win, I wasn't about to leave Fenway.

So it wasn't all perfect. Sure, I got a great metered parking spot right outside Jerry Remy's restaurant, ensuring that I wouldn't be sitting in the maddening traffic coming out of the parking lots. The seats were really good, and there were plenty of nice, friendly people to banter with between innings. There were, unfortunately, an obnoxious group of kids out to celebrate someone's 21st birthday sitting in the middle of the row. They started the game by informing all of us in the row that we would hate them by the end of the night. They were right. Two or three of them got up, on average, every ten minutes for beer runs. By the 7th inning shut-off point, they were so drunk they were stumbling back to their seats. I really wished one, if not all of them, would fall on their faces and just stay down, but no such luck. I guess as far as bad parts of the game went, we could have had far worse.

I knew before the game that Mike Cameron was on the DL and that Josh Reddick was up to replace him. I found out at the game, right around the 8th inning when he came in to pinch hit for Reddick, that McDonald had been called up and Ellsbury had been put on the DL. Sadly, I can't stop calling the poor guy Ronald. I know it's not his name, but to me it is. It was a great way to get the rally going, and that home run felt like a wake-up shot. It was fantastic. It was so fantastic that I was worried about asking him to follow up his clutch hit with another clutch hit in the 9th. I'm glad he delivered, though. I love baseball, but I had been up since 5:30 in the morning and I didn't want to go to extra innings.

With two on and one out in the ninth, I really wanted Adrian Beltre to get that base hit, or sac fly or SOMETHING. I wanted so badly to have a reason to like him, but he failed me again. He failed all of us. I wonder if it gets to him at all... when Mike Lowell was announced as a pinch hitter for Papi, Fenway woke up. Everyone got on their feet. We were all screaming and clapping and going crazy! I adore Mikey. Everyone else in Fenway did, too. When Beltre comes up? He gets the slow, sarcastic clap from some people and the slow, 'I want to have a reason to like you' clap from others. Seeing how much people love Mikey, I do wonder if it makes Beltre's job a little harder.

I'm incredibly superstitious when it comes to baseball games. Every game I've ever been to where I have not gotten a picture of Jason Varitek, we've lost the game. So, of course, through 5 and a half we were losing. Then Varitek wandered out to the bullpen, I got a few pictures of him, and bam. We put 2 runs on the board, and it was all momemntum from there. The awesome combined power of Tek and Mikey won this game because it woke the park up. What a great feeling! Seeing a walk-off win is always a lovely thing, but it's even more lovely when it snaps a losing streak. There was a lot to cheer about last night.

And then, there was Victor. I'll give him the three hits. That was great, and I did enjoy them. But nine stolen bases? In six innings? Christ, Victor.... I know catching the knuckleball is just hard, but THAT is embarassing. I'm embarassed for you and about you in that regard. Really. Pull it together, because Doug Mirabelli is always ready and willing to come out of retirement, dude. I want to like Victor, but yesterday I did not. Granted, half of the blame has to go directly on Wake. As much as I hate to say it, Timmy was terrible yesterday. Shakey Wakey indeed. Two wild pitches, five walks, and six ER in six innings. I don't care how bad Victor's game calling was, those kinds of numbers are just not good enough. Tim now has zero wins in three starts. We know the wins will start to come, but can't we just get the 18 wins out of the way now? Please?

Our two glaring holes in the lineup right now are Ortiz and Drew, both piling up strikeouts at an impressive rate. Maybe Magadan needs to work with his lefties a little more effectively. Just seems odd that the only two REALLY struggling are lefties. If I had the time, I would look up pitching data about the starters that they've faced and find some comforting numbers to make me believe they're going to snap out of it, but I don't have time, so we're just going to pretend I did.

As for Drew... for some reason, he reminded me very much of a cow yesterday. I couldn't get that image out of my head. No offense to Drew or cows. Just thought I'd share.

Another positive (because you don't want to end a post about a good game on a bad note)... ZERO ERRORS for the Sox yesterday! They finally learned how to catch, and I couldn't be prouder! Exciting game, great win. Beckett on the mound tonight. I don't know about all of you, but I feel pretty good about that.

Calm Now: Not Happy, But Calm

I really needed my little mini-rant yesterday. I needed it badly. It was a rough day for me all around, with news that two family members were being rushed to two different hospitals. My stress level was already through the roof before the Sox started losing, so you'll have to forgive my outburst. And if you don't, I guess I don't care.

I also do not care if the Sox don't win a single game from here on out, there is NEVER an excuse to sit at the park and boo the players. NEVER. It's ok not to cheer if you see something wrong with the play, but booing doesn't help. I'll hopefully be at the park for my first game of the season tonight. Hopefully! Instead of booing all the folks who are struggling, we could try cheering extra loud to hopefully show them that we still support them. Yeah, winning is fun and easy, but not all times are good times no matter how hard we want them to be.

Though, at the same time, I understand how hard it is to cheer for a team that looks baffled by the concept of baseball. Truly baffled in all aspects of the game. I know my memory is pretty short, but I don't remember watching a team that just had no clue the way these guys have no clue right now. Please, someone shut off the brain drain device and let them get back to normal. I can ALMOST forgive the lack of hitting, because hitting a baseball is harder than it looks. Not catching though... no, that's not ok. If you have time to position yourself under the ball, and you still don't catch it, then what business do you have playing in the major leagues, eh?

I've heard a lot of people wondering why Ellsbury isn't on the disabled list. That's a fantastic question. I am wondering the same thing. Perhaps the Sox forgot they could do that? Or perhaps they don't want to leave Pawtucket shorthanded early in the season by taking away the good hitter that is Josh Reddick? I don't know. I'm sure they have their reasons, and as usual, the fans have more questions than answers.

Actually, the Sox season is starting to look like an episode of Lost... of which I am ridiculously obsessed. I guess Theo would be Jacob, claiming that there's a reason for everything, but not telling us what that reason is. Tito most closely resembles Locke... the eternal optimist always convinced that no one can tell him what he can't do (I mean real Locke, not smoke monster Locke. Very different characters). I wonder if I can find a Lost character for all members of the Red Sox... Let me try!

-Timmy Wakefield would be Desmond Hume - He's been connected with the island since before most of the new folks showed up. He's felt the intense pain of loss and longing more frequently than the other inhabitants. Tim and Desmond both keep coming back on a quest to get back some kind of metal object (WS trophy for Tim, Penny for Desmond).

-David Ortiz would be Hugo Reyes - He's seen great fortune in his past and reaped fantastic rewards, but he hit a patch of very, very bad luck. There's always something hanging around and pressuring him (the way the ghosts of the island hang around Hugo), and even when he knows he's doing the right thing, doubt starts to creep in.

-Jason Varitek would be Richard Alpert - He's been around a long, long time. His appearance usually doesn't change. He's generally a very calm person and good at leading people. People look to him for advice on what to do next, and even when he doesn't know, he does his best to keep his flock moving.

-Mike Lowell would be Daniel Farraday - Mike and Daniel are both extremely smart. Both men know that they're smart, and sometimes people look to them for answers. Most of the time, however, they're overlooked by people with louder ideas. Soft-spoken and very useful, Mikey and Daniel are both just trying to help everyone out, even if it is to their own detriment.

-Josh Beckett is Sayid Jarrah - Both are complete badasses who still manage to stay quiet. They know what needs to be done, and they do it. If you need some serious destruction of other people, you know who to go to.

-Kevin Youkilis is James "Sawyer" Ford - Really stretching these comparisons here, but the one thing that got me is the temper. Both of them have nasty tempers.

-Dustin Pedroia is Charlie Pace - Both are little guys who most people assumed would never do anything useful, but both proved that they have huge hearts and give their all to help the people around them.

Ok, well, I'm bored with this now, but it has put me in a much better mood about the team. I believe they'll be ok, and I believe that Tim will get the W's rolling in again. Starting tonight. See you at the Fens

Captain Tek: The Reason We Won

It was the awesome power of the Tek thighs that really powered that win last night. I love that man.... so very much. I don't know why people are surprised about Jason's two home runs right out of the gate. Now, if he's having two homerun games in September, then you can color me surprised. For now, I'm thrilled but not all that surprised.

He usually plays pretty well on his birthday. But since he isn't playing on his birthday, he had to settle for the night before. So happy birthday, Jason. You did us all proud, so you deserve a nice, relaxing birthday on the bench. There's a reason you're still the Captain.

While we're at it, happy birthday to Little Tek. I hope where ever he is right now, he's getting to play some baseball (or, you know, doing whatever he wants to do). I love April 11th. The birthday of two of my favorite players? It may as well be a national holiday.

As for the Commander.... solid performance. Yeah, I was absolutely furious in the 7th inning because he couldn't get that last goddamned out, but I was able to keep myself from swearing too loudly when I remembered that he DID get hit in the back of the head with a screaming liner. He may very well have been a little dizzy... perhaps dazed. Before he got hit in he head, I was convinced that he could go all nine. Well, after thirty pitches in the 7th, that wasn't likely. Luckily, Oki and Rambo were on their A-game and they were able to close it out for us.

I have to say... I am absolutely fed up with Rick Ankiel. Can none of our pitchers get this guy out? My God. Annoying.

Also, just so I don't forget... whoever is playing third base, be it Lowell or Beltre needs to beware. I'm just saying. Youk's been HBP by the Yankees, Munchkin and Scutaro were HBP against the Royals... in order. It's going around the infield. Whoever plays third needs to watch out, lest they become the next victim of a stray fastball. Seriously, four games and we've already had three of our players hit by pitches? No one else finds this concerning? I do!

But, onto my main point. Mike Lowell. So so good to see Mike be able to contribute to the team. He had a solid hit, (to my recollection) pretty solid at bats, and definitely the defensive play of the game. Mike Lowell can contribute. Mikey deserves to have a starting job. Hearing that he's thinking about retirement breaks my heart. I didn't think I'd ever say this because I am selfish and I want to keep Mikey for my own personal joy, but maybe I can stand to see him traded to another team so long as he gets to start on that team. Mike right now is in my top five favorite Red Sox players. Actually, he may be top 3. Everyone knows Tek is my favorite. No one will ever beat Tek as my favorite, and Beckett and Lester are my favorite pitchers... but I think Mike might actually hold my number two favorite player over the two of them, and man, that's saying a lot. I hate thinking that Mike's unhappy. I hate thinking that he might want to hang 'em up because he's frustrated. Mikey's never been anything but a professional, and he doesn't deserve this. For what it's worth, I'm sure he knows he has the fans behind him. If only the fan support could get him a starting job. I don't want to wish injury on Adrian Beltre so Mikey can have a job, but... I sort of find myself wishing exactly that. I don't have anything against Beltre, but I love Mike. His sadness hurts me.

Sigh. Anyway, to change topics... Jeremy Hermida absolutely needs a nickname. I like him, but I'm just not feeling a good name for him. Hopefully, he does something quirky and memorable so I can stop calling him Hermida.

Dahmer on the mound today, in just about an hour and a half. Let's see what the kid is going to bring to the table.

Game Four: The Last Day of the World, Ever. So They Better Win Or We're All Doomed and Babies Will Cry And...

Yawn. Yeah, the doom and gloom stuff gets old really quick. I couldn't even keep it up for what? Fifteen seconds? I think it's a sad state of affairs that I'm being one of the rational ones. Usually, I have the weapons waving around in the air declaring marshal law until the damn Red Sox do what I want them to do. How come this time around, I'm the one watching everyone else freak out like the armageddon is upon us? Why? It's not fair! Stop making me the rational one! There would be years when I'd be freaking out over early season losses and people would say 'relax, it's only April'. Now those very same people are texting me, declaring the world to be over because we lost two games. Goodness, is this karma, or what? Maybe I'm stuck on the island, and living in an alternate reality at the same time. But what the hell do I know? I still haven't figured that show out.

I'll tell ya, though. I got a HUGE laugh when I started reading about how people are questioning Victor's abilities behind the plate, even going so far as to say maybe Tek should have been handling the pitching staff all along. You're kidding me, right? Seriously? I can guarantee that every person complaining about Vic was in the mob last year that demanded that the captain's ass be glued to the bench because 'we're going to be so much better without that useless piece of garbage Varitek behind the plate. All the offense from V-Mart will be great! GREAT!' Ok, so that wasn't verbatim. I find this point hard to argue, because I've always said that I don't care what I get offensively from Tek as long as he's calling the game we all know he calls. I really don't want to hear it. Not at all. Put Varitek behind the plate. Awesome. I support that decision all day and night. But if I hear from ONE person that V-Mart needs to be in the lineup because Tek's bat is done once you get my darling back in there, it's entirely possible that I'll go on some kind of horrible rampage.

I'm not a violent person by nature. I just can't handle this much stupidity all at once. It hurts my head. Why should my head hurt?!

So, I'm going to answer/respond to some of the more popular questions/comments I've heard. This'll be fun! I get to use sarcasm! Here goes!

Q: Should we permanently bench Papi and let Mikey get all of his AB's?
A: Shut up. It's game 4. Mikey will get his chance to play. Also, may I remind you that Ortiz was the only one with an RBI in game 3? The only one. You want to take our only offense out of the lineup? While we're at it, why don't we banish him to the moon or something. It's only fair, right? He dared to hit just as well as JD Drew. He should be punished.

Q: Should Mike Lowell start at DH against lefties?
A: Only if his numbers against said lefty are better than Papi's numbers. Papi had better numbers against Elephant Man. He's never going to work his way out of his slump if you don't let him play.

Q: But didn't you say that last year about Papi? You said he would work his way out of the slump!
A: He did. His numbers weren't glamorous, but he did pick it up. Man, I am so sick of the 'what have you done for me lately?' attitude.

Q: But the reporters for the Herald/Globe/Internet site said....
A: That's your problem. Stop listening to them, stupid. They're trying to rile you up.

Q: So, John Lackey is our one and only ace now that Beckett and Lester failed against the Yankees.
A: No. Please see my previous post. Look over the numbers. If you don't know what the numbers mean... then I just can't help you. But trust me, Josh and Jon will be just fine.

Q: Should Varitek be Beckett's sole handler?
A: No. God, do you just repeat everything angry fans ramble about? Ok, Varitek is my first baseball love. No question how much I love him. But right now, his job isn't really to play baseball. I know he has that contract that says it is, but you should know that he's only being kept around because he's mentoring Victor and he's helping with the progression of the itty bitty baby catchers. You can't allow Beckett to never reach that level of comfort with Victor this year, because then next year when Tek is gone, we're screwed. Let Jason teach Victor the way, and let Victor apply the lessons. In time, you'll stop thinking such ridiculous things.

Q: Pitching and defense hasn't won games for us yet! It's not working! This is horrible!
A: Yeah, but pitching and defense did happen to help us win World Series titles in 2004 and 2007. I don't know about the rest of you, but I sort of think it's a good idea to let it work its magic.

Q: Yeah, but you can't win games if you don't get any run support!
A: You also can't win games if every time you get run support, your horrible pitching and your suspect defense give a whole bunch of those runs back. Patience, feeble minded folks. Half of our infield is new. 2/3rds of our outfield is new (technically, Jacoby being in a new position counts, since he's working from a whole new perspective). Settle down and give them time to adjust.

Thanks for participating, everyone. I'm sure I'll have to have a few more of these in the future. As for right now, I'm looking forward to seeing Timothy take the ball in Kansas City. Please, folks, don't say anything that would make me cry. Give Tim your support, and cheer the rest of the team. Lugo's gone! There's no reason to dislike ANYONE on the team!

Oh, and Joe West? You suck. Shut up and do your damn job. And, I can't believe I'm going to say this, but you go, Mo. Awesome comeback.