Last Night's Game: Bleurgh!

Pardon me while I vomit for a few seconds. Man.... that was just flat out awful. It was disgusting, and...

GAG!

OK. I think I got it out of my system for a while. It is no longer Tuesday. It is Wednesday. Do you know what happens on Wednesday if the weather behaves? That's right. We get Beckett. Being the gamer that Beckett is, don't think for a second that he has any intention of trusting our bullpen with any kind of lead. He's going nine today. Because unlike Fetus, Oki, Saito, and Paps, Beckett knows that we're facing the Orioles, and they ARE NOT A GOOD TEAM!

Not a good goddamned team at all! They're what, 12 games out of the division with four of the best teams in baseball in front of them?! That should have never happened. Unfortunately it did, and I am ultra-annoyed... especially because it was the Orioles. Wow, ok, I guess it wasn't completely out of my system yet. Deep breath... we're ok. It was a blip. You're not going to see our awesome bullpen give up ten runs every night.

But, because that was such a horrendous game that we need some kind of sugar coating to make it easier to swallow.... some positives from last night! Check me out, I'm gonna give you reasons to not be angry.

Positive number ONE! Did you see Smoltz? Did you see him?! He was great. I know, it was the Orioles, and I can't emphasize enough how bad of a team I think they are (because they're a bad team... who just happened to kick some serious Sox butt last night), but he was fantastic. He's going to get better as he gets stronger and more comfortable on a big league mound again. This, above all else should be a big smile-inducing point for everyone except Clay Buchholz. Don't worry, Clay, there's always next year to make the big club.

Positive number TWO! Our offense scored ten runs. We were having some issues with scoring runs in the last couple of games, in case you weren't aware, but they pulled their act together and managed to string together hits and home runs and general awesomeness. Who doesn't like to see that?

Positive number THREE! Manny Delcarmen didn't give up a run. He even got more outs than baserunners (2 outs, 1 baserunner)... whereas the same cannot be said for some of our other relievers. So MDC was the shining star of the black-hole of a bullpen we had last night. Way to go, Manny!

Positive number FOUR! Did you know 'Tek is now batting .238 with 11 home runs? Did you expect even this from Tek this year? Neither did I, and I love the guy. So take that however you want it, because I am happy with Tek.

Positive number FIVE! We have two players batting over .300 and Jacoby Ellsbury is one of them! No way, right? Really. He's at .303. Color me impressed.... actually now that I think about it, I don't really understand that saying. What color is 'impressed' anyway? How will I even know the color of impressed will match my outfit. Let's just leave me the color I am, and say that I'm happy with Jacoby.

Positive number SIX! Munchkin stole a base! Actually, for the season, he's stolen 14. Dig it, Munchkin can run. Is there anything he can't do? I don't know... he might not be able to reach the high shelves, but that's why we have Fetus. That's why we have him, right? Cause he's tall?

Obviously I'm kidding. I love Fetus. Which leads me to positive number SEVEN! Fetus' 5th and 6th innings were terrific. I guess we have learned that he is a two inning sort of guy, right? Since the 7th inning last night was by far as bad as I've ever seen from him, we can believe that there's no where for him to go but up, right? Right.

Speaking of going up... positive number EIGHT! Jeff Bailey. Making good use of his time in the big leagues. Way to go, Bails.

Positive number NINE!.... uh.... hmm. No one got hurt? This is starting to get difficult.

So, I'm going to end it with this... positive number TEN! We're still in first place in our division. Beat that, everyone else in the AL East.

Brad Penny: Way More Than I Expected

Perhaps it's not fair. Perhaps it's even downright mean of me, but truth be told, whenever I hear Brad Penny is pitching, I cringe. Just a little. Barely a cringe, really, because I try to be a good Sox fan and be supportive. He just fails to impress me usually. Last night was not the case. Last night, he was a super shiny Penny. He was the kind of Penny where, if you're walking down the street and you spot it just lying there, glimmering in the sun you just have to run over and pick it up. And it becomes the bright spot in your day. He glistened, and it wasn't just because of the rain. Six innings, six hits, no runs. Really, can you ask for anything more from the number five guy in your rotation? His ERA is even down below 5.5!

Delcarmen, on the other hand, didn't enjoy his night nearly as much. 3 runs in 2/3rds of an inning brings his ERA up to 2.08. I don't care what anyone says about ERA. Especially in June, I still feel it's a good indicator of how someone is pitching. The thing is that it was a rare game for Manny, to be sure. He's been good this year. I don't expect a repeat performance any time soon. Saito turned in a stellar performance, saving Manny from any more trouble. Nine pitches for Paps? Awesome.

And how about that Papi, huh? Almost looks like he's finally charged his batteries and is at full power. Shame that he probably won't be playing in Philly this weekend, because he could really use the momentum.

Is there any doubt that Munchkin and Captain Planet pretty much gave us the win in the last two innings? Yeah, didn't think so.

Beating the Yankees is fun. Beating them 8 times to open the season is very fun. Keeping a win streak alive is even better, so... yeah. Keep it up, Sox.

I really want to write more... I do.... I'm just so damned tired from a long week and a lot of rain. I can't make it through the rest of today. Why do we not have nap time at work?!

Thursday Night at the Park: Surprises All Around

I am very behind on my blogging. It's been a busy week. You know I'm behind when my last entry was about Josh Beckett... and it wasn't the game he pitched last night. Ok, today is all about catching up.

I was driving home from work on Thursday when my friend called me and asked me if I felt like going to the game with her, so of course I did. We drove in, parked in a really horrible lot because by the time we got there, the game was already starting so our options were limited. I had left my good camera and my sweater in my own car.

We were in the bleachers, squished next to some fairly large men. Behind us, an older man with some crazy hair and his older friend with a crazy red afro. The first guy, as soon as the game started, began shouting in this old-timey lingo... sounding very much like what I would expect someone in the 1930's to sound like. It was funny for the first batter, but after that, it was annoying. It was really, really annoying, and it only got worse when the people around us got drunk and started immitating him. Despite how ear-grindingly bad this guy was, my favorite part of his shouting was when Captain Planet came to the plate. "C'mon Nick-AY, you can do it Nick-AY. Good eye! Good eye! Swing the bat, Nick-AY! Good eye... now swing! There's some high cheese for you, Nick-AY!" Now just imagine someone shouting that very loudly, in a high pitched, fast voice ... and he just kept talking through each and every at-bat. He never shut up. It teetered on absurd.

Anyhow, the game started, and it eventually began raining on us. Of course, I didn't have my sweater, and from the comforts of the bleachers, there is not much relief from the weather. I was wet from the rain, the guy next to me kept spitting peanut shells onto my legs (seriously, how obnoxious can you be?), and the game wasn't rocking yet. From where I was sitting, Wakefield was brutal. A game is much different when you're at the park. In reality, he only gave up 2 runs, but it just seemed like he hit every other batter (really only two... Saito also hit one). It didn't seem like it was going to be much of a game heading into the 6th.

We all know what happened during the 6th inning. I should have known something good would happen, because Wake was pitching and I was at the game. 12 runs in the bottom of the sixth before getting an out. Right before JayBay came up to bat, I turned to my friend and said "the only thing that would make this better is a three run home run from Bay right now." Boom. Three run home run. By this point, even annoying 1930's man stopped fazing me.

Needless to say, we won the game. Wake got the W. We ended up with 13 hits, 13 runs, and 13 RBI's... I guess 13 is a lucky number after all. So I got to go home happy. Wakefield does not lose games when I'm at the park. I think it's cause he loves me. I love him right back.

CRW: If You Fool Yourself, He Will Make You Happy

I'm sure most Sox fans watching the game last night shared that same 'holy shit!' reaction when Ells stole home. I was lying on the floor, stretching my poor back when he took off, and I just remember hearing the commentators scream something on TV, so I looked up quickly (straining the muscle in my back that's been giving me problems all over again) and waited a second just to see our boy flop onto home plate.

He flopped. He didn't slide gracefully, he flopped. It was the best flop I had ever seen.

I remember the shame and embarassment of Carl Crawford's steal of home vs. Jason Johnson. I felt humiliated for Johnson. Stealing home makes the opposing team look bad. I don't care how good of a play it was... it ALWAYS makes the other team look bad. Jacoby made Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada look bad AND made Drew look good at the same time. Without that steal, there is no way Drew would have gotten that double. Because let's face it, Drew was brutal this weekend.

In three games against the Yankees, Drew had 10 AB... he had one hit. One RBI... 2 K's... he grounded into three double plays. In the slugfest on Saturday, Drew's crowning glory was getting 2 walks and scoring a run. We had 16 RBI's in that game, and Drew got exactly zero of them. In all fairness, he wasn't the only one without an RBI... Youk and Green also had zero RBI's. But Youk did walk once, get two hits, and scored 4 runs (he was hit by a pitch, of course). And now JD has a busted leg. Give me a break. He honestly is made out of glass, isn't he?

I'll cut him some slack. Everyone has bad series, but it just seemed like Drew was the constant rally killer. Let's hope when he gets back into games, he'll get himself back in gear. Because my eyes hate bleeding. They really do.

Beckett was ugly on Saturday. Lester was good, but inefficient with his pitches on Friday. Fetus was incredible on Sunday. For that matter Hunter Jones and Michael Bowden were mighty impressive, and Saito is the '07 Okajima of '09. Okajima didn't even do THAT bad. He gave up one run on his own, and 2 runs scored because of a rare error from Munchkin. Our bullpen was incredible. Theirs... not so much. However, terrible call by Tito keeping Beckett in the game when he so obviously didn't have it. Tito was, seemingly, the only one who didn't realize that Beckett was done for the day. Thank God we pulled out that win.

The 'Tek grand slam? Honestly the last thing I expected to happen in this series. I would have predicted Ellsbury stealing home and Mikey ascending skyward in brilliant rays of light and happiness before I ever predicted that GS. Because Tek only has two in his long career. One against the Royals and one against the Orioles... not exactly the cream of the crop in baseball these days. But now... now Tek has three, and he's still yet to hit one off of a formidable opponent.

I kid... but that Yankee pitching staff is pretty bad. I hope AJ, Sabbathia, and eMpTy were worth neglecting the bullpen. My guess is that they're not.

I do, however, request to never have to listen to Joe Morgan again. Ever. He was mumbling something about how Jacoby Ellsbury's base stealing is completely dependant on how often he gets on base.

Pause.

Rewind.

Play.

Jacoby's base stealing is completely dependant on how often he gets on base.

Pause.

Really?

Isn't everyone's base stealing completely dependant on how often they get on base, or is that now a characteristic unique to our boy Jacoby? Just even thinking about what point he was really trying to make causes my brain to twitch. Have you ever had your brain twitch? It's not comfortable. I think that one line did me in for the rest of the game. I had to spend the rest of the innings bedridden. It was terrible, and very cozy all at the same time.

We're counting on Timmy to keep alive the streak that he started. Can he do it? I think he can. Scratch that... I KNOW he can. Go Sox.

Excitement and W's: Pitching Wins at Fenway This Weekend

Aside from Penny's botched attempt at being fantastic, was this weekend not great from a pitching perspective?

Our bullpen on Friday night was incredible. Penny gave up 8 runs in 3 innings, and our bullpen shut them down after that. I think it was Strike Out King that allowed the inherited run to score, but other than that, nothing. Silence from the O's bats... giving our Sox the opportunity to stage a comeback. They tacked 10 runs on the board, and ended up winning a game that we looked completely out of early. Brad Penny is not allowed to pitch home games any more.

Jeremy Guthrie shouldn't be given big leads at Fenway, because he cannot win with big leads. If memory serves me, I've seen him win games with smaller leads, but those games that look like W's for the O's... they usually turn into memorable wins for us. I don't know what it is about having a large lead. Guthrie can't handle it.

Either way, doubles for Munchkin and Green, a triple for JD, home runs for Kazerud and JD. 12 H and 9 BB's... luckily, I didn't give up on this one. It looked bad early, but I had a pinched nerve in my neck, so I wasn't going anywhere anyway. Glad I stuck it out.

Saturday night, with Commander on the mound, I felt good. He looked good, until the 5th inning, but still managed to come away with the win. The thing about Joshua is that he almost always has one inning where he seems to fall apart. I'd say it happens 90% of the time. Granted, he doesn't always fall apart completely... sometimes damage is limited to one or two runs, but he falls apart. It's usually the 3rd or the 6th inning, so when he fell apart in the 5th, I was shocked and appalled. That Josh... always switching it up on me. Just when I think I know the guy. He still managed to go 6, and his ERA is still a respectable 3.79. No, it's not a GREAT ERA, but show me one guy in our starting rotation that has a great ERA right now (besides Wakey and his magical 3.00 ERA), and I'll call you a magician. That sort of thing is going to happen slowly. Still, I love watching Josh pitch.

Oki, Saito and Paps pitched one clean inning apiece, and all of them looked good.
Offense on the night was, again, excellent. Doubles from Youk, Tek, Drew, and Mikey. A home run from Youk, and a stolen base from Kazerud. 12 H and 5 BB... granted, we left a collective 20 guys on base, but I care about that so much less in games that we win. When we lose a game, I'll go right back to complaining about it.

I can't remember which game it was that Youk got hit in the head. I think it was Friday's game... but that right there was a scary moment. Even when I don't necessarily like a guy, I never EVER want to see anyone get hit in the head. Thank goodness he was A-OK. I also had a moment of schadenfreude when I saw the score from the Yankees game... but I won't repeat it here, because that's just not polite. Tee hee...

Then, there was Sunday, and we had Binky back on the mound. I felt so good about this game, I was nearly giddy to watch it. Ok, I WAS giddy to watch it. As much as I love Joshua, that's how much I love Jon. And believe me when I say it, I love the two of them dearly. I always think we're going to win when they're on the mound. Johnny gave the best pitching performance of the weekend. It's only right to save the best for last. 7 IP, 4H, 0 ER. He was excellent. I couldn't have asked for a better start. I know, I know... it's just the Orioles, and he still has a 5.50 ERA, but he's trying. He'll be ok. He'll win games against teams that can actually go somewhere.

Not for nothing, but how good has Ramon Ramirez been so far?

We only eked out 2 runs in this one... Munckin and Mr. Awesome gathered up the RBI's.... and Saito allowed a run in the 9th, but this was a good, exciting game.

Can't ask for much more than that during an entire weekend, can you?

I Just Lost NESN

They're telling me to stand by. I don't accept this... even thought I don't really have a choice.

So Youk shaved. After trimming down a little bit and making himself look like the ultra-hillbilly, he shaved the beast off all together. It's so weird, seeing him looking like that kid that we shuttled up and down from Pawtucket again. It feels like it's been so long since I've seen him without that ridiculous beard. Youk hit a home run to add to our lead a few innings back. Always a good sign.

NESN came back just long enough to show me Saito hitting some little Twin (I have no idea who the guy is, and honestly, I don't much care either). Saito doesn't look too bad, but I think the wind is messing with the guys today.

Beckett, on the other hand, looked great. 30 pitches in 2 innings is exactly how much I like to see our pitchers throw. 5 pitches per batter, three batters per inning is what I like to see. Don't get me wrong, I have no problems with letting pitchers throw less, but in general, 15 per inning works for me. Josh is looking sharp and that makes me happy. I remind myself that it's still spring, and it's still early, but I'm feeling good about what we're seeing so far.

I was happy with Timothy's work today. 2 innings, no runs is good. He isn't as sharp as I'd like to see, but it's hard to make a knuckleball "sharp" to my standards. Still, he has a few mechanical adjustments that need to be made, but he'll be ok. Paps also looked good. Oki let up a few deep fly balls, but they were harmless, so it's not that bad.

I read somewhere this morning that Schilling wants to pitch for the Cubs.... really? Hmm...
(Editor's note... Schilling posted a blog about this very topic... and while I never mentioned that he was definitely coming back, because I hadn't heard that part of the rumor, I do want to clarify that he's not demanding to pitch for them or anything. He would like a chance to help the Cubs the way he helped the Sox. Personally, I think that would be pretty cool.)

Joshua Patrick: Already Making My Life Full of Happy

Saw this link at Out In Center Field... it made my life. I have already seen it on a few blogs, so thank you to the people who made me aware of it.

I wouldn't be the one to tell Josh that Takashi is not of a hispanic origin. I also appreciate that Josh introduced himself as though Saito wasn't going to know who he was. Que pa-so... amigo. Oh Josh. Thank you for making my sore brain happy.

You adorable redneck.

Saito Better Not Pull the Same Crap

So Saito is going to wear number 24, according to Dirt Dogs. It hurts a little. I mean, it hasn't even been a full season since Manny's been gone, so seeing someone else wearing his number has a little sting to it. I just can't be angry at Manny.... despite how he left town, I still love the big lug. Hell, it took them five years to give Nomar's number away. Couldn't we just have had a year or two? Or rather, couldn't I just have had a year or two? I'm still not over it!

In all fairness, I'm still not completely over the Bronson Arroyo trade either, but we're just gonna pretend that's irrelevant.

Charlie Zink is apparently not being shipped off to some foreign team for the good of mankind. He accepted his assignment to Pawtucket, and will continue to be one of those adorable little PawSox (whom I hope to see live at some point this year!)

David Pauley has been designated for assignment. As someone I know likes to say about him... "Pauley? We won't see him again." Actually, that's probably a lie. I'm sure we will see him again, just not on the Red Sox roster. Godspeed, David!

Alex Cora is not coming back. I'm ok with that. He was one of those players that, towards the end, frustrated me more than anything. I think it was time for a change. Good luck on the Mets, Alex. I really do wish you well, because you were such a team player. It only took two years, but Dustin Pedroia finally gets some kind of revenge for everyone wanting Prince to start over him. Actually, I think he got his revenge with the gold glove, silver slugger, AL MVP.... yeah, you get it.

-Congratulations to Jon and Farrah Lester! The two got married recently (how recently, I do not know. I can't even find the link that told me they got married). If it is indeed true, then I hope they have a long, happy life together.
-Lowe is signing with the Braves.
-The Astros are instructing Billy Boy Clemens to stay far, far away from their impressionable youth.
-Now that Rickey Henderson is in the HOF, he wants to play again. And he contends that he could still be the base stealing champ in '09. Please, Theo. Do NOT sign him.
-Gabe Kapler received an $18 raise in his paycheck. The number 18 is apparently Gabe's lucky number, and the Jewish symbol of life. See that, I learn something new every day.

In unrelated news... if I could burn down a virtual waiting room, I would. I am so sick of this stupid virtual waiting room. When April/May/Sept/Oct game tickets went on sale, I was in the virtual waiting room on two different computers and as many browsers as I could open, and calling in on the phone, and I came away with exactly 0 tickets. Zero. Not a single one. I don't do the whole standing room only thing, because I'm not a good seat snatcher, and I don't like standing for that long.

So I do my whole Red Sox Nation thing (I don't want to HEAR how it's a terrible marketing ploy and it makes me a fair weather fan and whathaveyou... I see it as an easy way to get tickets, I like touring Fenway Park whenever I can, and the 10% team store discount gets used frequently by me and my family, so it's worth it). I got my code for my tickets, and I'm plopped into the virtual waiting room. I wanted to rip my hair out. There is no need for a virtual waiting room, and I see absolutely nothing useful about the fact that if I got to the waiting room at 12 PM (the on sale time), someone who got to the waiting room a half an hour later could still get tickets before me. Hell, people who get to the waiting room five hours later could still get tickets before me. There's no justice in this system. I finally got my tickets a little while ago, but I couldn't get the game I wanted. I guess it's ok. I'm gambling on the fact that John Smoltz will be pitching the Friday night game against the Braves. I lucked out the year Pedro came back with the Mets... could the luck happen again? I'll have to wait and see.

In comparison, I got my presale tickets for Camden Yards this morning, as has become an annual tradition for me. I'm sitting in the same general area that I always sit (I really enjoy section 210). I know there were probably tons of Sox fans gearing to buy tickets for this particular weekend, because how can you really beat a weekend series at Camden Yards? It was fabulous. I clicked the link, I picked my tickets, and I was done. No stupid waiting rooms. No random drawings out of stupid waiting rooms. None of that. Just click, buy, done.

It brings me to the conclusion that the front office needlessly tortures their fans. It really gets under my skin.

Rice, Saito, McDaniels: All Integral Parts of this Post

First thing's first... Takashi Saito has agreed to a 1-year deal worth upwards of $1.5 million. We've now brought on just about every free agent who was really good and had a bad year due to injuries last season. I know Saito was really good for the Dodgers a few years back, and if he's healthy, he has the potential to be really good for us. It's going to make for a very interesting spring training. Between all of OUR guys who were injured last year and our new recruits who were injured last year, it's going to be a medical miracle if we can field a team of major leaguers for the exhibition games.

I kid. It won't be a miracle, but spring training is going to contain a lot of players who we need to keep our eyes on. Man, I can't wait for spring training...

Next... As I'm sure everyone in the free world knows by now (whether or not they care about baseball), today is the day that Jim Rice finds out (sort of) once and for all if he has made the HOF. Because of my loyalties to the Sox, I want him to get in. I didn't see a single second of Jim Rice's career. That was before my time, so I can't say for certain whether or not he deserves to be in there. I can look at the numbers, I can read and research all I want, but it's nothing like actually seeing someone play. If he doesn't get in this time, his fate is left up to the veteran's committee, and they're just not really that keen on voting people in. So, good luck Jim. We'll all be finding out your fate soon enough.

Third... Josh McDaniels, of Patriots fame has accepted a job as the coach of the Denver Broncos. Just as putting the team in the (surprisingly capable) hands of Matt Cassel was scary, losing our defensive coordinator is not something I'm looking forward to. Not that I don't wish him luck, because he deserves a shot at coaching. Many people were hoping that he would replace Bill Belichick when the man finally retires, but that's just seemingly too far in the future. Josh shouldn't have to wait around for a better job here in New England when there are opportunities to be had all over the country. I wish him the best of luck, and I hope that his teams never beat us.

Now for some quick little bits:
-Michael Young has requested that the Rangers trade him. I really, REALLY don't like when a player requests a trade. All that says to me is either "I signed here for the most money, not considering what it would be like to actually play here, so now I want to inconvenience the people that pay me by making them find another team willing to pay me" or "I wanted to win a championship, and since I no longer think it's realistic to do that here, I want to be sent somewhere where I can win." Ok - maybe that's not fair. There could be a million reasons why someone might want to be traded, but I just see it as a bailout.
-Neither Manning brother is going to be playing in the SuperBowl this year. This makes me feel better that the Patriots aren't in it. Besides, they irk the hell out of me. Don't worry, I wouldn't be seen walking around with an "I Hate Peyton Manning" shirt. I barely like them enough to mention them in my blog, nevermind having their names written on my body all day. No thanks. Go Ravens!
-The Braves have reached an agreement with Japanese pitcher Kenshin Kawakame. I know nothing about him, except for the fact that he's Japanese and he wanted to pitch in America.

That's it for me for now. I'll update again after the Hall announcement.