I have odd residual feelings from last night’s game.  I’m happy the Sox one.  I’m thrilled that Papelbon pitched the ninth inning the way a closer is supposed to pitch and I’m especially pleased with the way Jon Lester pitched.  Having written all of that, I woke up this morning feeling like the Sox had lost last night.  I get that the Royals are a major-league team.   They aren’t going to go 0-162 on the season so there will be teams that they beat and teams that they play hard - but watching the last two games was almost painful.

Today I want an ugly beat down by the Red Sox.  John Smoltz is on the mound and he’s yet to have that game where everyone will be congratulating themselves for bringing him to Boston.  I’d like to see that game happen today.  I’m not asking for a no-hitter,  hell I’m not even asking for a shut-out.  I just want a fabulously pitched game that leaves the Royals depressed and makes the Sox want to go out and celebrate.  And a win.  I really, really want a win.

Last night I missed Kyle Snyder pitch in Pawtucket.  I knew the possibility of that happening was great but I was still a little bummed I didn’t get to see it, especially considering that he and Javier Lopez were pitching against each other.  There’s something cosmically perfect about that scenario.  The Bisons, incidentally, took both games from the PawSox.  Given that the Bisons are 31-53 and the PawSox are 43-42, I’m okay with being happy for the Bisons.  Now that they’ve left town, back to wanting the PawSox to dominate.  (The PawSox are in 3rd place, 6.5 games out of first.  PLENTY of time to make that up!)  Charlie Zink is on the mound tonight against the Syracuse Chiefs.  Hey, the game doesn’t start until 6:05pm.  Hit the road and go take in a minor league game!

I fell asleep last night while watching the Yankees pounding on the Angels.   I was disappointed that the Sox (well, their pitching anyway) toughed out such a win only for it to be, essentially, voided by the Yankees winning.  How wonderful to wake up and find that the Angels fought back to win 10-6.  Peter Abraham has an interesting take on young Justin Chamberlain:

Girardi defends the right-hander and the decision to use him as a starter, etc. Girardi thinks it’s unfair that “so much attention” is paid to Joba.

But part of that he brings on himself with the many commericials and his persona. Which is fine, but at some point you need to back that up.

Well put. They can tout this guy as the next greatest thing and TREAT him like he’s some superstar and then complain when he continues to come up short and the media points this out. If he wants the benefits of being over-rated by the Yankees then he has to take the negatives that come along with it. Then again, I’m becoming a fan of all the Joba criticism. I hate to see most any young guy get piled on when he’s down but in the case of Joba I’m more than willing to make an exception.

We have two games left before the All Star break.  I’m still debating the possibility (and the point) of live blogging the ASG.  The Red Sox also have the Thursday after the break off, which means after Sunday, and not including the All Star game, we’ll be going four games without Red Sox baseball.  My eye is starting to twitch just thinking about it.

So the Buffalo Bisons are in Pawtucket for a quick, two-game series.  They’ve already won Thursday’s game (good for them!  Worst team in the league and they’ve beaten the Yankees and the PawSox on consecutive nights!) and Friday they finish it up.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the cards for me to get down to Pawtucket this time around so I won’t be getting a Kyle Snyder sighting.  I’m hoping this means he gets into Friday’s game (since he didn’t pitch on Thursday and hasn’t pitched since July 6th in Rochester) and pitches a few perfect innings.  See, if I went to the game he’d probably get into the game and then get hit with a line drive and be out for the rest of the season.  So it’s best to stay away this weekend, eh?  (Back in January I wrote that a goal for this year was to get an interview with Kyle.  Don’t see that happening at the rate I’m going!)

Best of luck to Kyle!  I want the PawSox to win but my want for him to do well is equally as strong.  Ah, the conflicts of the heart when you follow baseball.

I just wrote a three-paragraph rant about Brad Penny and the bullpen.  Then I read it and thought “Oh, shut up!”.  So if I don’t want to read my own ramblings about the suckage we all know existed Thursday night, no one else is going to want to read it either.  I deleted the rant and it’s gone forever now!  All I’ll say is I’m greatly disappointed in the pitching (except for Daniel Bard).  Six runs against the Kansas City should be more than enough to beat them.  Losing the lead in the division this way?  Also disappointing.  Three games to go in this series, though, so there’s plenty of time to bounce back.  After crappy losses like this one we have to focus on the big picture.  (Well, the medium picture, I suppose.)  Win the series.  Still a very attainable goal.

Congratulations to Papi on hitting his 300th home run.  At least there was SOMETHING worth cheering for in that game!

Jon Lester is up next on Friday.  I won’t be at the game so Crabcakes won’t have any reason to stink. 

Live blogs* always mess me up.  I feel like I’ve written a new post because I was typing for 3+ hours and then remember that I have to come up with something else original for the next day.  My brain is not fully engaged just yet, though, so I’m going to cheat and leave you with links to stories I’ve been reading.

First up:  Dustin Pedroia!

Apparently,  Tracy Ringolsby’s knickers are in a twist because Dustin got chosen over Ian Kinsler for the All Star Game.  Boo hoo.  No, seriously.  Boo, freaking, hoo.  I’ve had enough of people whining about this.  I could have whined about Youk not getting chosen over Teixeira, but I didn’t.  (Okay, maybe I did a little.  But my reason for wanting Youk over Teixeira was, admittedly, totally selfish and petty.  It had nothing to do with feeling like he was slighted.)  The All Star Game voting is a popularity contest.  Always has been, always will be.  No amount of kvetching is going to change that.  The ONLY way the ASG will stop being a popularity contest is when you take the voting away from the fans.  Since that won’t happen (because MLB isn’t stupid.  Take the voting away from the fans and you pretty much will take away your viewers) can we put a moratorium on complaining that the “right” players don’t get picked?

The right ones DO get picked.  The players the fans want in the game are the ones who go.  If your favorite player didn’t get picked then, guess what, you didn’t vote enough for him as a fan base.  There is no conspiracy to put Pedroia in over Kinsler because of where he plays.  And if Red Sox fans truly fixed the voting, Mr. Youkilis would have won over Mr. Teixeria, no?  Not so incidentally, it’s rumored that Pedroia won’t be going to St. Louis, choosing instead to stay home with his wife.  Have no idea how true this is (though it wouldn’t surprise me) but if it that’s what ends up happening the world can’t stop rending their garments since Kinsler is sure to be chosen to take his spot.

B.J. Ryan still has $15-million owed to him on his contract.  There are one and a half years left on the 5-year contract the Jays gave him back in 2005 when Toronto signed the free agent for  $47 million.   This year he’s pitched 20 innings for the Jays and given up 15 earned runs on 22 hits.  Oh, and did I mention they signed him to be their closer?  Maybe Mr. Papelbon should start paying attention?  That long-term, big money contract he wants so dearly?  He can check the  Blue Jays off his list of potential suitors.  Fool JP Ricciardi once, shame on you.  Fool him twice…

Do I have to talk about Jonathan Papelbon?   Okay, why not?   We all are seeing him pitch this year.  Big money, long-term, HoF closers don’t make every other ninth inning hell for their team and fanbase.  According to the article I just linked:

“This season, he’s averaged 18 pitches per inning. When pitching one inning, he’s retired the side in order just eight times. Last year, he recorded 20 perfect one-inning saves.”

Being fair, he has plenty of time to catch up to or surpass the “20 perfect one-inning saves” mark.  But I’d like to know how many Sox fans fell 100% comfortable with Paps coming into the game?  Do you KNOW he’s going to get the save or do you just HOPE?  I hope.  I’ve always hoped.  Much as I  love the pomp that comes with a Papelbon appearance, I’ve NEVER been fully sold on his being the next Rivera.  I want him on this team and I like him on this team but I never feel absolutely certain he’s going to get the job done - until he does.

And, finally, there’s Nomar Garciaparra.  I’m not providing any links because, well, screw them that’s why.  What I will do is say this:

To a good lot of the Boston Sports Media, here’s a newsflash:  The majority of Red Sox fans don’t give a damn how terribly you say Nomar treated you.  Many of us don’t care if he was rude, or mean or just dismissive of you and your questions.  This is because there is a large group of US who believe you helped created the “attitude” he had in 2004.  You helped make him completely miserable and you added to his general feelings of discomfort while here.  Is that fair?  No, no it isn’t.  I suppose it isn’t your fault Nomar was born more sensitive than your average ball player.  It also isn’t your fault that Nomar never seems truly comfortable being a superstar or having to be in the spotlight.  What IS your fault is that you tried your best to convince the fans that he was no good.  You all made issues out of everything he did or didn’t do, did or didn’t say.

And it almost worked.

But too many fans remember the pre-2004 Nomar.  The Nomar who saluted the fans every year at the end of the final game of the season at Fenway.  The Nomar who signed autographs before every home game.  The Nomar who worked with the community and devoted a lot of his time to charities.  Sure, things in 2004 were a bit bleak in regard to him and his injuries and what was perceived as a bad attitude…but the fans were blessed with the World Series win in 2004 to give them a better perspective on Nomar’s time in Boston as a WHOLE  not just for those few months.  So suck it, those of you pissy about the welcome Nomar got.  It was more than well-deserved, it was an honor for us to get to thank him for all he contributed to this team and this city.

I see the sun shining today.   Let’s hope it turns into a good evening for Brad Penny and the Sox!

(*Special shout out and thanks to everyone, lurkers and contributors, who stopped by the live blog last night.  I’m debating whether I should live blog the ASG next week since there isn’t a Red Sox game until Thursday.  We’ll see!)

Quotes that will come back to bite you in the butt because people will misinterpret them:

“Of course I want to close (the All-Star game). Every closer there is going to want to close. There’s no difference (among them),” said Papelbon. “But Joe is going to make the decision there.”

Remember this from last year?

“If I was managing the team, I would close,” Papelbon said. “I’m not managing the team, so it don’t matter.”

Papelbon has now said, two years in a row, that he’d like to close the All Star game.  Last year he got a boatload of grief (including the asshats in New York heckling him at the parade along with his pregnant wife to the point where he was concerned for her) because he had the “nerve” to say he wanted to close.  So what will happen this year?   I’m sure most of the New York sports media will take that first quote from above and rip him to shreds again.  Regardless of the fact that all the guy is saying is that he wants to do HIS JOB in the All Star game it’s going to be spun that he’s dissing Mariano Rivera.  Because, as we all know, the world revolves around the Yankees and everything that is written or said is either to support or to destroy the Bronx Bombers.

Maybe I’m wrong?  Maybe this quote will just get buried with all the other sports news of the day.  Then again, if Yankees fans travel to St Louis, Paps might want to think about NOT bringing his wife and daughter along for the parade.

Speaking of children, Dustin and Kelli Pedroia had a close call regarding the birth of their first child this week (Kelli is due is 7 weeks) and of all the stories written about them, Dan Shaughnessy, of all people, has a great take on the differences in how players now are able to deal with family matters and what they had to do “back in the day”.  Yes, I just linked to a CHB story (and I enjoyed the story as well!)…that’s one of the signs of the apocalypse, right?  Best wishes to Kelli for a save delivery when the newest Pedroia finally makes his or her way into the world.

Beckett got his 10th win last night and kept the Sox in first place.  Tonight, Wake goes for his 11th win against Trevor Cahill at 7:10 and I’ll be live blogging it.  Join me, won’t you?

I have another post coming but I had to put this up.  Witness NESN’s Heidi Watney confusing rookie Aaron Bates by insulting Josh Beckett while pretending to ask him (Bates) a question.

“…He can sometimes not be the friendliest guy in the bunch…”

Heidi, are you high? The man is the Ace of the team that you cover and you get your digs in to the new guy on the block?  Nothing like putting him on the spot and making him uncomfortable. I’m sure I understand where this is coming from:

“You missed that question already, Heidi.”

Even still, whether Josh Beckett is the biggest tool to ever put on a baseball uniform or you just caught him on a bad night, it’s unprofessional to say something like that about a player TO another player, unless maybe you’re sitting in a bar shooting the breeze. Holding a microphone with cameras on you? Not too bright.

How happy do you think Josh will be now to answer any of your questions?

(I feel obligated to confess that I DO think Josh was a little harsh on her in that video - even though I don’t really think of him as a “tool”…but if, in fact, she was asking a question that was already asked, well, it isn’t exactly NEWS that Beckett doesn’t suffer fools or the media well.)

I remember the day Nomar was traded much like people remember where they were when someone famous died.  I was alone in my parents’ house sitting on the floor using their new wireless connection to stay on my laptop and watch ESPN at the same time.   The biggest rumor on that July 31st, 2004, was that Derek Lowe was going to be traded for Matt Clement.  It didn’t make sense and most of us didn’t want it - but that was the dominating rumor on the Red Sox fan forum that day.

To add fuel to that fire, Matt Clement happened to be pitching that day and came out of the game “early” which totally fed into the rumor.  (A quick glance at Baseball Reference tells me that Clement pitched 7 innings that day, gave up four hits and four runs - two earned- and struck out 10 so I’m not sure what folks considered “early” but that was certainly the buzz that day.)

The first indication that the Lowe rumor was wrong and our lives were going to be spun around was someone posting that “it’s Nomar”.  No one believed it.  Theo wouldn’t trade the current face of the franchise, would  he?  Moments later ESPN confirmed it and the wake began.  There were people online threatening Theo.  Others just threatened to stop following the Red Sox.  Many people, including myself and not limited to women, admitted to crying.  Sure there were folks who thought that getting rid of Nomar could be the shake up the team needed but there were very few of them on redsox.com at that moment.

My parents, my sister and her (then) 3 year-0ld daughter returned before Theo had given his press conference.  We all watched both Nomar and Theo talk about what happened (separately, f course) and some of us cried some more.  I remember my father not buying Theo’s argument about it all being about defense yet also feeling sorry for Theo, noting that he looked “sick” and not as self-assured as we were used to seeing him.   I didn’t know how I felt.  I trusted Theo, even back then, and I figured if he thought shaking things  up by trading Nomar was going to help the team - I had to believe he knew what he was doing.  But it hurt like hell.  Nomar was, for me, the best part of the Red Sox for a very long time and even though there were signs in 2004 that a split might be best for everyone, I never wanted it to happen.

My 3 year-old niece was taught by me to chant “Let’s Go No-mar!” from the moment she had begun speaking.  Her first piece of Red Sox gear was a Nomar jersey.  When you asked her who her favorite player was she rattled off “Nomar, Papi, Manny, Pedro and Dougie!”  (Don’t ask.  I have no idea how Doug Mirabelli got lumped into her favorites!) and she owned a Nomar “Celebriduck” as well as a McFarlane figure.  Anything she owned that was Red Sox-related had something to do with Nomar (and Nomar’s trade also prompted her to pick up a new favorite…Johnny Damon.  A story in itself for another time!).  Explaining the trade to a 3 year-old was quite the task.

But we sucked it up and moved on.  Sure I watched the occasional Cubs game to get a glimpse of him but more often than not I just put him out of my mind altogether.  I didn’t want to know how he was doing.  Why bring up the pain of his leaving over and over again?  But he was always there.  Sitting in the back of  my mind, waiting for me to check the box score for the latest Cubs game to see how he had done.  When he went to the Dodgers the Red Sox had already won the 2004 World Series but I still missed  him and still had a hard time watching him in another uniform.  I don’t think I’ve watched an entire game that he’s played in since he left the Red Sox.  Even after two championships I still miss him and wonder how things might have been different.

So when the first rumblings came about that the A’s were going to pick him up, I immediately bought a ticket for tonight’s game.  At some point last week I had the thought that two Sox games in a row directly following the Fourth of July would be a bit much so I decided to ditch tonight’s game.  I don’t ditch games easily.  It’s a painstaking process in which I go over the pros and cons of my making the trip to Fenway.  But with this game there was no arguing with myself.  I decided not to go to the game and I was all right with that.  It was a weird sensation but I shrugged it off.  Then it was pointed out to me that this would be John Smoltz’ first time pitching at Fenway as a Red Sox player and I decided to go.  But I wasn’t sold on getting there.  Something just nagged at me that it would be all right if I didn’t end up going.

Given that I, pretty much, cried from 7:00pm until just after Nomar’s first at-bat, I think I made the right decision.

Quotes like this kept the waterworks going:

“I love ‘em. I love the way they treated me,” said Garciaparra, whose eyes were filled with tears. “I’m getting emotional because when I was gone, Boston fans were everywhere. I can’t say how many times I heard, ‘Thank you. Thank you for all you did.’ Even today, I was walking down Newbury Street, a guy came up to me and shook my hand and looked me in the eye and said, ‘Thank you for all you did.’ And I just looked at him and said, ‘No … thank you.’”

Say what you will about Nomar in 2004 but I hold no hard feelings toward him. None at all. And I’m thrilled that he got the ovation I believe he deserved tonight.

I’m slightly cranky that the Sox let a rookie pitcher make them look foolish and that John Smoltz isn’t getting it done…but I choose to focus on Nomar’s return.  And given that the Fenway Faithful honored him with a one minute, ten second ovation (suck on THAT, Boston Dirt Dogs), I’d say many fans feel the same way.

The Red Sox are sending 6 players to the All Star Game this year.  They have the most players representing one team this year.  This, coupled with the fact that Youk made the team even though he didn’t make it as a starter, takes away a little of the sting of Teixeira beating out Youk in the voting.   I fully admit to being surprised that Dustin Pedroia made it past Ian Kinsler.  Stunned even.  I really expected Kinsler to get through and Youkilis to beat Teixeira.  So what the hell do I know, right?

Dustin Pedroia and Jason Bay will be starters with Kevin Youkilis on the bench and Jonathan Papelbon, Josh Beckett and Tim Wakefield in the bullpen.  My preference is usually to have our guys not do much and not wound any part of them.  That’s still  my preference.  But I’d love to see all of them get in the game at some point, even if only briefly.

At Fenway today, each player was introduced on the scoreboard and it was announced they were All Stars.  They saved Tim Wakefield’s announcement for last and the fans went wild.  I was almost disappointed that I was at Fenway today and not home to see Wake on NESN until that moment.  I can always catch a repeat on NESN but I’d never get to see what happened at Fenway today were I not there.  It was pretty damn special.

Based on extended reading tonight, I’m finding many fans (Yankees fans and the stat-head Sox fans mostly) who think Tim Wakefield shouldn’t be in the All Star Game.   I’m usually a big proponent of looking at the stats and making decisions.  And thanks to Bud Selig, I understand that “this time it counts”.  But the way Wake has pitched this season, I don’t see him as a liability on the All Star Game and I think he’s as deserving as anyone else on that team.

My happiness when I found out that Joe Maddon chose Wake for the team absolutely overshadowed my disappointment when I found out Youk didn’t get voted in.  Now the focus is on getting through the rest of this week (successfully!) and then getting the job done in St. Louis.  As a total, admitted, homer,  I’m not going to lie - I can’t wait for the All Star Game now!

Questions after a beautiful Sunday in the park:

*  Did The Sistahs showering Joe Maddon with postcards asking him to consider picking Tim Wakefield for the All Star team help?  Probably not.  Based on his comments it sounds like Maddon had his eye on Wake already.  But it didn’t hurt, right?

*  Your starter leaves the game with the score 4-2 in favor of the other team and you give him a standing ovation?  I’m sorry, but no, no you don’t.  I didn’t expect the fans to boo Jon Lester.  I didn’t want the fans to boo Jon Lester.  But a standing ovation?  The 9 strikeouts were great but they did bupkis in getting the team the win.  I get that three out of the four runs were unearned but he still let them score.  He still didn’t do what he was supposed to go out there to do.  I love that the Red Sox fans like to support their players (well, certain players anyway) but I thought it was ridiculous that Lester left the game losing, with a man on base, and he got a standing ovation.

*  Why would a pasty-white Irish gal sit in right field roof seats and not pile on the sunblock?  I have a killer burn on my face and chest (and this was after putting the block on before I left the house!).  I burn for the Red Sox.  See how committed I am?

*  How is it possible that the Toronto Blue Jays can suck as much as they did this weekend?  They can’t get the win with Roy Halladay on the mound and then they blow an 8-4 lead today.  Thanks for nothing, Jays.  Thanks for a big pile of nothing.

*  Did anyone get Tim Wakefield his potato salad at the Picnic in the Park today?

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Fourth of July!

Here’s hoping when I get back it’s to write about Youk and Wake (and Bay and maybe Pedroia as well?) being chosen for the All Star team!

I was (AM) much more cranky about last night’s loss than I expected I’d be.  So I hope no one came here hoping for me to recap the game because it isn’t happening.

I’m happy that today’s game is at 1:05pm…gives us not a lot of time to dwell on losing in extra innings.  And I’m still hopeful that the team pulls out two out of three and that we found out on Sunday that Tim Wakefield has been chosen for the AL All Star team.  I’m all about the hope today!

I’ll be spending the day with family.  Watching the game, enjoying many different grilled meats and homemade potato salad and then avoiding anything remotely connected to explosives.   All the while, Brad Penny will be doing his best to uncranky me against Garrett Olson.  I have confidence that he can do it well.

I hope you all get to enjoy today the way you want - and that you are able to do it safely.  Happy Independence Day, folks!

It’s 11am on Friday, July 3rd and I’ve been hearing (and seeing from my window) fireworks since Tuesday.  If I’m being realistic, probably since last week.  I’m happy to be an American too but you don’t see me blowing up stuff to show it.

And that’s all I say about my feelings on fireworks. 

I’m really looking forward to the series with the Mariners.  Wake, Penny and Lester make me hopeful for at least two out of three.  Although I’ll be at Fenway on Sunday with a group of rowdies in right field, tonight’s game is really the one I’m most anticipating.  Tim Wakefield makes his 16th start of the season; he’s going for his 11th win this year and when he steps on that mound he’ll become the Red Sox team leader in appearances by a starter, passing Roger Clemens with 383.

Let’s talk more about Wake.

There is a five-player tie for first place for most wins in MLB (not just the AL) and Tim is one of the five (along with Zack Greinke (Royals), Roy Halladay (Blue Jays), Jason Marquis (Rockies) and Kevin Slowey (Twins).   (As an aside, why do the stats on MLB.com still include the late Nick Adenhart?)  He has pitched two complete games, he’s struck ou t50, he’s given up 12 runs in the last 31 innings he’s pitched and at Fenway he’s 5-0.  His last start, in Atlanta, was stellar.  Six innings of scoreless ball with only one walk and three hits.  With 174 wins and 148 losses with the Red Sox, 18 more wins will tie him for the most wins by a Red Sox starter, along with Roger Clemens and Cy Young.  19 more wins gives the record to him alone.

On Sunday we’ll all find out who made it to the All Star team.  If Wake pitches like he has been and gets the win tonight that (coupled with the League adding an extra pitcher to each team) really might put him on Joe Maddon’s list for St. Louis.

The obstacles?  Well, Wake’s record against Seattle is nothing to brag about.  Career-wise he’s 4-9 against the Mariners with a 4.06 era.  But this is a new year.  A new season.  Tim Wakefield’s season.    And he won’t let past statistics (or Felix Hernandez!) stand in his way.

My dislike of exploding symbols of patriotism aside, I enjoy the Fourth of July.  I like the Pops and I enjoy many things Americana so I hope you all get to enjoy the holiday weekend as much as I plan to enjoy it!

The comments in the live blog basically sum up anything I would say about the game on Wednesday.  It was infuriating and invigorating and nerve-wracking and inspiring.  Who would think in a game where Jason Bay struck out five times and Josh Beckett gave up five earned runs in four innings - a game where thirteen different players went to bat but only five of them got hits - would end up making us so happy?

In the eleven-inning game, the last 24 batters for Baltimore didn’t reach base.  Beckett, Daniel Bard, Ramon Ramirez and Jonathan Papelbon spent 8 innings keeping the Sox in the game and it paid off.  Sox win the series, Papelbon becomes the all-time team leader in saves, and we get to forget about the abomination on Tuesday night.  Enjoy the off-day on Thursday, fellas, you earned it!

We don’t have time to dwell on Baltimore…because All Star voting ends at 11:59pm on Thursday night.  So, as a Nation, we have some work to do.

Here’s the thing:  I’m not a competitive person.  I’m just not.  Beat me?  Good for you; you were probably better than me.  I wasn’t born with whatever people have that makes them want to compete and HAVE to win.  I’m in it all for fun.  As long as I’m having fun, you can keep on winning.

But, somehow, that attitude hasn’t translated to this year’s All Star Game.  In one sense it has.  Ian Kinsler at second base?  Have at it, Ian.  Your numbers are good.  By all accounts, you seem to be a nice fella.  Very few could argue that you aren’t as good an option at second, if not better, than Dustin  Pedroia.  If Pedie ends up winning the spot, I’ll be happy too but I’m not about to stuff any ballots for him.

Kevin Youkilis is a totally different story.  Here’s where I remind people what a total homer I am.  I’ll also remind you that I openly hate the Yankees.  So it should come as no surprise that I want Kevin Youkilis to beat Mark Teixeira in the All Star voting this year.

Mind you, wanting him to win doesn’t necessarily equal wanting him to play.  If some phantom (read:  fake!) injury befell him and he couldn’t perform his duties, I’d certainly understand that.  But I want him to win.  I want The Yankee “Universe” to be collectively crestfallen that their new, multi-million dollar man missed by THAT much.  Except I don’t want it to be by THAT much - I want it to be a landslide.  I want so many votes for Youk that people won’t be sure if Teixeira came in second or third.  I want Youk to be stupid with support.  And I want to see Derek Jeter be the only player from the New York Yankees voted in as a starter by the fans.  (Not that I want Jeter in there, but he’s going so why fight it?)

So this is the final push, people.  If you haven’t already, go vote for Youk (and Pedroia if you’re so inclined)!

In what could be really good news for Tim Wakefield, MLB has decided to expand the All Star rosters this year to 33 players, adding a 13th pitcher to both teams.  This makes practical sense (wouldn’t want a position player out there pitching, right?) add another guy.  But it also puts Joe Maddon in the position of being ble to give Tim Wakefield a looksy for that slot.   I’m a sentimental homer…I’d love to see that happen.

Go enjoy the off-day, people!  And if you see Sean Casey (which isn’t so crazy since he’ll be in the booth with Donnie O all weekend!) wish him a happy 35th birthday today!

He didn’t look mad.  Didn’t look frustrated.  Basically said “Shit happens.  We know our bullpen is good and we’ll get them tomorrow.”.  (Not direct quotes, mind you!)

Sometimes, just for a moment, I forget that I live in post-2004 Red Sox Nation and I get the “25 cabs/25 players” worries.  And then I see Pedie on NESN and it quickly goes away.

What also helps get over a truly crappy loss like last night’s is visiting various Red Sox message boards and blogs and expecting everyone to be carping about the sky falling but instead finding people chanting the mantra that you’ve had for a few years now:  “As long as we win the series…”.  I was a little surprised at how many of the fans (I avoid the more negative places on the whole so I’m sure I missed a lot of the whining!) were disappointed but not devastated by the bullpen choking up the game.

We’re never going to be happy when the team loses.  But whether they lose 1-0, 15-0 or 11-1 after being ahead 10-1, it still counts the same in the standings.  The team doesn’t get penalized for “blowing” a game as opposed to “just” losing one.  So why waste the extra energy?

Josh Beckett is on the mound today.  We get AFTERNOON baseball on a day I’m actually home to see it (and live blog it!) and even though I still don’t see the sun, my windows are open and I hear birds singing (and I don’t hear rain!).  This day is shaping up to be one that will soon make us forget the ugliness of last night.

Red Sox win handily in Baltimore.  PawSox have to claw out a win in Pawtucket in fourteen freaking innings.  Both games were so different but ended the same way…with me happy.  And, some days, it’s all about me…if I’m happy, everyone is happy (at least, everyone around me!).  The only sour note of the night came out of Buffalo where my man Kyle Snyder had a rough night, giving up two hits and two earned runs - including a home run, in just over an inning pitched.  The Bisons drop another (this one in extra innings) and it bums me out to see Kyle (and the team) struggle.

Triple-A rookie Tobi Stoner threw six shutout innings in his first home start and the Bisons built a 5-0 lead through seven. Then came the most epic bullpen meltdown in Coca-Cola Field’s 22 seasons — four relievers combined to get torched for 12 runs and 15 hits in the final three frames.

With closer Elmer Dessens gone to the New York Mets, there was no relief for the crowd of about 1,200 (5,358 tickets were sold). Kyle Snyder and Jon Switzer gave up three runs in the eighth. Eddie Kunz gave up four runs in the ninth as Charlotte pulled even at 7-7 and Tim McNab yielded five after a 16-minute rain delay in the 10th.

Ouch.  Guess it wasn’t a good night for pitching around the International League North.

Michael Bowden also struggled in Pawtucket.  He couldn’t make it through five innings and in those four plus innings he gave up eight hits and four earned runs (including two home runs).  Let’s just chalk it up to having a bad night.  Old friend Javier Lopez also pitched an inning and gave up one hit, struck out one and didn’t give up any runs.   Good with bad, right?

I’ll be heading to Pawtucket Tuesday night to see Enrique Gonzalez pitch against the Syracuse Chiefs.  It’s been a while since I’ve hit McCoy and I’m really looking forward to it.  I won’t be taking a camera - it’s strictly a fun night out with friends - but I’m hoping to bring back news of a great game and another win!

On Wednesday the baseball gods have blessed us with an afternoon game!  The final game in this Sox/Orioles series is at 1:35pm - and I’ll be live blogging it - Josh Beckett v Brad Bergesen.  I’m looking forward to it as it’s been a while since I got to live blog an afternoon game.  But before we get there we have to deal with the next game:  John Smoltz going up against Rich Hill at 7:05 Tuesday night.  I won’t be around for the game but intend to get the most out of my technology to keep up with what’s going on.

Congrats go out to Jonathan Papelbon.  Who might make me uneasy most every time he takes the mound but you still can’t deny he’s a damn fine pitcher.  Monday night he got his 132nd save (which ties him for the Red Sox save record with Bob Stanley).  As much as he makes me reach for the Tums, I really do hope he gets his 500th save with the Red Sox.

And I leave you with this random bit of information.  Maybe you already knew it…it’s news to me.  Red Sox hitting coach Dave Magadan?  The cousin AND Godson of one Lou Pinella.  Small world, huh?  I guess now we know where Dave gets his hot-headedness from.

Tonight John Smoltz is going to show us that the first inning of his last outing was an aberration*.

Right?

(* I wanted to make sure I spelled aberration correctly, so I looked it up.  Next to the spelling was this sentence:  “In 1918, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series, but the success turned out to be an aberration, and the Red Sox have not won a World Series since.”  I think it’s time that Ask.com updated their entries!)

I only watched Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN intermittently last night so I missed Joe Morgan’s jab at the Red Sox.  I found out about it thanks to Ken Tremendous and Twitter:

@KenTremendous - Morgan: “Boston has stumbled a little in the last couple days.” Actual, measurable reality: Boston is 6-2 since last Saturday, 17-7 in June.

And let’s add to that Boston being 11-7 in interleague games, just for fun.  Then Yankees (the AL team Morgan was covering when he brought up the Sox) are 10-8 in interleague this year.  Since last Saturday, the Yanks are 5-3 and they’re 14-11 in June.

Let’s keep going.  Yankees and Red Sox each played in 8 series in June.  The Yankees won five out of their eight (only sweeping the Mets in this last series) and the Red Sox won 7 out of their 8 series and they swept 2 of them (including the Yankees).

I know I should be used to Joe Morgan (or Tim McCarver or anyone else on television) saying ridiculous things.  What really tears me is that he says these things just as filler for his having to do actual research for his job - and no one questions him.  No one bothers to say, “Gee, Joe, the Red Sox aren’t stumbling at all.  Just because the Yankees are playing well on a day when the Red Sox happened to lose doesn’t mean you have to bring up the Red Sox in a negative light!”.

How can you look at anything the Red Sox have done in June and say they’re stumbling?  Would I have liked them to sweep every series?  Sure, you bet.  But winning them is good enough.  Would I have preferred they stay ahead of the Yankees by winning on the same days the Yanks do?  Of course.  But, again, the series wins seem to help that all even out in the end.

I hate when someone feels obligated to stir things up just for the sake of it.  When Mr. Tremendous entertained us at “Fire Joe Morgan” at least there was SOMEONE willing to call the Hall of Famer out on his ridiculousness.  Now we  have no one.  Now, Joe Morgan will be allowed to say insipid, untrue statements every Sunday night and sit there happily in his ignorance while baseball fans everywhere bang their heads against their televisions.

On a more serious note, pvs to Jonathan Van Every.  He had his knee surgery last week and it turned out to be more serious than they expected - so now he’s out for the rest of the season.

Van Every had exploratory surgery last week to repair damage to his left knee. The hope was that the problem was a meniscal tear, which would have kept Van Every out for a month. But the damage was more extensive than anticipated, and a more significant operation was performed.

Without getting into medical specifics, Johnson said that the procedure should likely keep Van Every out for the rest of the year.

Never news you want to read.   Van Every, as just about all Sox fans will remember, hit a game-winning home run in April against the Indians and followed that up the next night by pitching an inning of relief against the Rays. (He then went back to Pawtucket, where during his first game back he hit a ninth-inning grand slam to tie the game and help the PawSox eventually win.)   He’s a personal favorite of mine (and a fan favorite as well, it seems!) and as someone who has plans to hit Pawtucket a few more times this year, I’m really disappointed I won’t be able to see him play.   The recovery process will be long but I hope it brings him back next year stronger than ever.

Interleague…she is over!!!  Tonight the Red Sox are in Baltimore (feels like home!) with Crabcakes pitching against Jason Berken at 7:05.  Here’s hoping he pitches at LEAST as well as Brad Penny did on Sunday (another shout out to Penny.  It isn’t his fault the offense didn’t come through for him!) and that the offense DOES come through this time around.

Hey, if  you see Harmon Killebrew today wish him a happy 73rd birthday!

It’s been a long weekend and my brain is fried.  I admit it.  So I’m letting other folks do most of the heavy lifting today.  Lazy Sunday, indeed.

Alex Speier says everything you need to know about Tim Wakefield here:

With the shutout performance, Wakefield became one of just three pitchers in the American League this year to reach double digits in victories. But that accomplishment was less impressive than one that attests to his place in Red Sox franchise history.

Wakefield’s 382nd start since signing with Boston in 1995 tied him with Roger Clemens for the most starts ever by a Red Sox pitcher.

So Wake’s next start (scheduled for Friday, July 3, at Fenway - a game I will most likely not be at but as of 10:00am today the Red Sox had tickets on sale for) will be the one that marks the most starts ever by a Sox pitcher.   Only fitting that someone with Wake’s character and popularity would leave Clemens in the dust.  It’s quite a milestone and Wake should be proud.  I know I am.

But wait!  Alex has more good news for us:

He now has 174 wins, third most in franchise history. He is 18 wins shy of Cy Young and Clemens for the most victories in Sox history. That mark must now be considered attainable by the end of 2010, particularly given how rapidly Wakefield is accumulating victories this year.

He also goes on to remind us that, if Wake can keep up the winning, he has a good shot at hitting 20 wins this year - something he’s never achieved. I know the dreams they are pipe dreams but Wake in the ASG and in the running for Cy Young the year he turns 43 would definitely be something to behold.

Shout out to “Tru” for this tidbit about Wake from the Providence Journal:

Wakefield had been bothered by back and shoulder injuries the last few years, and after Saturday’s game he admitted exactly what he’s been dealing with.

“It’s a torn labrum in my shoulder,” he said. “If I had [surgery during the offseason] I would have been out for a full year. So it doesn’t make any sense, especially [for] somebody my age. Even the doctors say it’s not worth doing it because if I’m out a year, I don’t know if I could come back.”

When he finally decides to permanently stop throwing his knuckleball and call it a career, he might have the procedure done then.

Are you kidding me with this? I didn’t think I could respect/adore Wake any more than I do…I was wrong! (Thanks for the trip from Tru in the comments!)

There’s a grass roots campaign afoot created to remind one Mr. Joe Maddon that Tim Wakefield is in the American League and might be of some use in the 2009 All Star Game.  The fans don’t get to vote for pitchers, so the Sistahs decided to tweak Maddon’s memory by sending him postcards with Wake’s stats on them…and politely asking for his consideration.

If you’d like to help out, you can send your postcards here:

Joe Maddon, Manager
Tampa Bay Rays
Tropicana Field
One Tropicana Drive
St. Petersburg, FL 33705

We know it’s a longshot. Who will catch Wake? There’s already so much good starting pitching in the AL, who do you bump to get Wake in? Well, we’re not the manager and we don’t have to worry about that stuff.  All we know is Tim is pretty deserving.  That isn’t to say the others aren’t as well, of course they are, but we want to see Tim in there.  So we shower Maddon with information and see what he does with it.  Join us, won’t you?

Randomly around baseball:

John Tomase tells us that Lowell “gets” it:

Asked if he has considered calling Rodriguez to discuss their injuries, Lowell said no.

“I don’t think either of us are doctors, that’s No. 1,” Lowell said. “I don’t know exactly what they did to him. I don’t know his rehab or what he’s doing. No. 2, I don’t really feel like I have to. What am I going to say to him? Plus, I don’t think Red Sox Nation would necessarily support that.”

Mrs. Lowell didn’t raise a fool. (Yes, I know it’s silly but I also know a lot of the folks who call WEEI on a regular basis  or who comment over at Boston.com would have ripped him apart if word got out that he was getting chummy with A*Rod.)

And now a message for those of you who use Twitter:  That “Jacoby M Ellsbury” account is fake.  It has been verified as fake, regardless of the fact that it says it’s Jacoby’s “official” Twitter page.  That over 2000 people “follow” some nutjob pretending to be Jacoby is freaky (more freaky is this jerk started a fake account for Jacoby’s girlfriend as well.  No, that’s not stalkerish at all.)  Stop encouraging this behavior by following fake profiles.  If you’re so eager to follow real players and their girlfriends, there are plenty of real accounts you can follow.  (Jacoby isn’t one of them.  He DOESN’T have a public Twitter account.)  Not on that list I linked is Lindsay Clubine.  Lindsay is Clay Buchholz’ girlfriend, a television “personality” in her own right, and someone who uses Twitter to promote herself and what she’s doing.  She also tweets about Clay once in a while.  Unlike Jacoby Ellsbury’s girlfriend, she’s a public figure who encourages people to follow her.  Also unlike Jacoby’s girlfriend, her profile is REAL.

I get a lot out of Twitter.  But the ridiculousness that is a fake Jacoby Ellsbury page (the person once posted as Jacoby on a night the Sox were playing at a time when Jacoby was on the damn field) and the creepiness that is a fake Jacoby Ellsbury’s girlfriend’s page makes me understand why so many dislike Twitter and other social networking sites.  (/off my soapbox for now.)

Speaking of Clay Buchholz, I should mention that he pitched in Pawtucket last night and, once again, he didn’t suck.   The PawSox needed a Freddie Guzman hit to win the game in the ninth and Clay didn’t get the win, but he DID pitch six innings.  He gave up four hits and two runs (although only one was earned) and he struck out six.  I know it must be frustrating for him that he’s still down there but my view is how fortunate we are to have him waiting in the wings.

1:30pm game today - Brad Penny against Tommy Hanson for the sweep.  How the heck did I not realize that Penny’s w/l record is 6-2?  Yes, I know wins and losses aren’t everything when discussing a pitcher but, damn, as long as they’re winning while Penny’s on the mound, who am I to complain?

4pm Sox games on Saturdays mess me up. I’m a late sleeper on the weekend so between getting up late and wanting to be around for the game, I have to cram a lot into a short period of time before the game starts. No complaints, though! It opens up the evening and gives me a chance to get right back into baseball mode.

Beckett was great last night. The Braves must just hate him, huh? Reports of his pitching from the third inning on with stomach cramps just makes his performance that much more impressive. I’d like to give Jonathan Papelbon a kick for blowing the shutout by giving up a home run to David freaking Ross. But, aside from that, it was all good last night.

Nick Green continues to impress.  Sure I know he’s playing over his head right now and we should all be worried that we don’t have a solid shortstop but I really don’t feel that way so I’m just enjoying what we have in the moment.  So far it all looks good.

The beautiful day outside coupled with my late sleeping has left me eager to get out from under the laptop and go enjoy a couple of hours of the nice weather before I hunker down for a ball game.  So I’m off.

Tim Wakefield goes for win number 10 today against Javier Vasquez.  Let’s do it for Wake, fellas!

Last night could have been so much worse.  True, the Red Sox lost and also true that John Smoltz got lit up in the first inning - but the Sox still won the series and Smoltz DIDN’T get lit up for the rest of his time in there.  I’m encouraged if moderately disappointed that the Yanks pulled up a game in the East.  Oh well.  Small steps!

Reading MiLB.com this morning, I happened upon a great headline:  “Elbert steals show from Manny“.  It seems that, since it was rainy, Manny Ramirez sat out his last scheduled start with the Albuquerque Isotopes.  Over 15,000 fans, most hoping to see Manny, weren’t disappointed (according to this story) because Isotopes pitcher Scott Elbert threw a one-hitter in six innings (the game was shortened because of the rain) while striking out seven.  Congratulations to Elbert!

It disgusts me that someone banned from MLB for 50 games for using a PED is allowed to play in the minors to get himself back into shape.  Why suspend him at all, then?  Many of MLB’s rules are a joke.  This is one of them.

Speaking of jokes in MLB:  If you are like me and don’t start voting for the All Star Game players in April, good for you!  NOW is the time to vote, though!  At the risk of outing myself as a total homer (as if I haven’t already done that!) I’m suggesting that, at the very least, you all go out and vote for Kevin Youkilis.  Sure it’s petty of me, but I want to see him kick Mark Teixeira’s butt in voting.  It pleases me that Evan Longoria  has a hefty lead over Alex Rodriguez.

Okay, here it is, my All Star ballot for 2009:

1st Base:  Kevin Youkilis (Mark Texeira currently leads over Youk)

2nd Base:  Dustin Pedroia (Ian Kinsler currently leads over Pedie - I could live with that one)

3rd Base:  Evan Longoria (I love Mike Lowell but Longoria really deserves to be there.   Lowell IS in fourth place in the voting, though.)

SS:  Jason Bartlett (Derek Jeter currently leads.  Thus proving Yankees fans can be total homers as well.)

C:  Joe Mauer (Who currently leads over Jason Varitek.  Again, I love Tek but Mauer should definitely be the one in there.)

OF:  Jason Bay, JD Drew, Carl Crawford (This is my total homer pick with Drew - I admit it!  I also could live a lifetime without another ASG where we get beaten to death with the wonderful story of how Josh Hamilton is an American hero.  Unfortunately, for me, the top three vote-getters right now are Jay Bay, Ichiro Suzuki and Josh Hamilton.)

So go vote for the All Star Game, people.  Time is running out.

Yesterday was a weird day.  With the celebrity deaths, the abandoned live blog…it was a recipe for the night ending in a way that wouldn’t please me.  Both the PawSox and the Bisons won their games on Thursday - so I’ll be happy for that and let the day go.

Today is a new day.   Sox are in Atlanta…Beckett is on the mound…here’s hoping another win is hours away!

Thanks, again, to everyone who has been coming by, whether lurking or participating - I really appreciate it!

If I never see another shattered bat in baseball I’ll be a happy woman.  The idea that Nick Green could have been speared by that thing just wigs me out.  He seemed to handle it happening to him a lot better than I did watching it happen to him.

But I have no real complaints.  The Sox did what I wanted - won the series.  This sets up tonight to be, relatively, stress-free for John Smoltz.  Sure he might have some butterflies (although I have a difficult time imagining Smoltz with “butterflies”.  Maybe vampire bats hopped up on Red Bull.) but tonight is kind of a no-lose situation.  Yes, the team wants to sweep and pad their lead in the East…but how nice is it that they can bring Smoltz out for his first major league appearance this year against the Nationals and after a four game winning streak?   I’m not conceding tonight’s game at all…I’m just saying a win will be fabulous and a loss will be workable.  I’m better with a win but I’m really okay either way.

To say I’m worried about John Smoltz would be an exaggeration.  He’s one of my all-time favorite pitchers (I’ve mentioned before how I sat in rainy Fenway to see him pitch while having an allergic reaction to all the clam chowder around me and didn’t leave until he did) and I was thrilled when the Red Sox got him.  But I don’t think he’s going to amp it up this season and win 20 games for the Sox.  I’m just happy that the team is in a position where they can afford to put him out there and hope for the best while knowing they have a backup plan in case of the worst.

Sox have won 15 games in June and lost 5.  They’re 9-5 in Interleague play this year and they’ve won 7 of their last 10 games.  They’re 5 games ahead of New York and Toronto (tied for second place) and things look pretty nice from this angle.

Speaking of Toronto,  my guy Bronson got his butt kicked by them last night.  I was torn.  I like the AL East teams to lose and I always want Bronson to win, but having the Blue Jays keep in time with the Yankees is kind of sweet!

The live blogs are much more fun when the team is winning so it was nice we got another one last night!  Thanks, again to everyone who stopped by (the contributors AND the lurkers!) and thank you for entertaining me while I do my “job”!

7:05 tonight:  John Smoltz v Jordan Zimmermann.  Zimmermann was born the year I graduated from high school.   Smoltz was born the year before I was born.  Hell, I’d be rooting for Smotlz tonight even if he wasn’t on the Red Sox.

Old dudes rule!

When the Nationals tied it up in the sixth inning I had the thought that it doesn’t matter what the record of the opposing team is, they’re going to come to play and every game won’t be a cakewalk.   I still was confident that the Sox would win but I wasn’t convinced it would be easy.

What did I know?

Four singles, two walks and a triple in the 8th inning sure made it look easy.   11 runs on 17 hits with Pedroia, Youkilis, Bay and Ellsbury all having a multiple hit game (Ellsbury and Bay with 4 - Pedroia with 3) and JD Drew and Brad Penny being the only two starters who didn’t have hits made things look easy when the game was over.  It was a fun game to watch (and re-watch!) and getting the win with Penny starting gives me hope for, at the very least, a series win with Lester going tonight.  I’m hoping Crabcakes gets the win tonight, leaving the door open for Smoltz to not “have” to win on Thursday.

Mind you, I wouldn’t be disappointed with a sweep either!  I’m enjoying the Sox  being up five games in the East (thanks to the Yanks losing to the Braves last night) and I’m looking forward to the team upping that lead.

But one game at a time.  Crabby goes against Craig Stammen tonight and I’ll be live blogging it.  Come on by if you have the chance!

If there were to be something I was complaining about today, it’d be interleague play.  I’m done with it.  No offense to the Nationals or the Braves but enough.  I can’t even pinpoint exactly why I don’t like it (Bud Selig just finding another way to bleed money from folks while messing with things comes to mind) but I don’t.  I selfishly enjoy seeing teams I wouldn’t normally see at Fenway, admittedly, but I think if we’re stuck with interleague, at the very least, it goes on too long.

But it’s tough to really complain about anything today.  I’m happy with where the Sox are.  I’m happy with how they’re playing.  Hell, I’m even happy with how they’re handling the Matsuzaka situation.  So no more complaints.

Tonight Brad Penny goes up against John Lannan and the Nationals.  Lannan was great against the Yankees in his last outing and, given how things worked out for them against the Yankees, I hope the Sox aren’t taking this team for granted.  They might be 16 games back in their division but they’ve taken a series against the Yankees as well as one against the Dodgers.  In the moment, this is a team to pay attention to and play hard against.  Go for the “W”, Brad.  Show us how happy you are that you won’t be traded any time soon.

I’ll be live blogging tomorrow night (Jon Lester v Craig Stammen - another Nationals pitcher who worked his magic against the Yanks) if you feel like stopping by!

I’ve been slacking when it comes to Kyle Snyder updates lately so here’s the skinny:  He’s bouncing between coming out of the bullpen and getting in some spot starts.  It doesn’t look like it has been easy making the adjustments but he still seems to be pitching relatively well.  The Bisons are 24-43 on the season thus far and yesterday it was announced that they had released both Wily Mo Pena and Bobby Kielty.  Tough times to be a Bisons fan (or player!) right now.   I’m still hoping to catch another Bisons/PawSox game (or two) before the end of the season and get in another Kyle sighting (or two!).

But for now, I leave you with this video.  Kyle discussing his feelings on autograph etiquette.  Hey, I’ll take what I can get!

An off-day after a successful series (or in this case, TWO) is a lot more enjoyable than an off-day coming off of a loss.  Granted, Jonathan Papelbon tried to do everything he could to ensure we had to endure an off-day after a loss, but Nick Green would have none of it.

Why is it so hard for a closer to come into a tie game and just get outs?   Ben Collins at boston.com writes:

…it seems Papelbon struggles only when he feels he can get away with it.

Which is something many have noticed. It’s a mystery to me, although Paps blows it off. As much as I like Papelbon, I hope he focuses more on his pitching and less on talking about how much money he wants when this contract it up.

With Daisuke going back on the dl it has finally hit me how fortunate we, as fans, are this year.  We have no reason to even blink.  Let him go on the dl, get his strength back or figure out whatever the heck is wrong with him (there IS a nagging worry in the back of my mind that this is a Matt Clement thing where they’re missing the diagnosis but I’m not going to worry about that just yet) and bring him back when he’s ready.  Meanwhile, the team has John Smoltz waiting to pitch on Thursday and if he turns out to be a bust, Clay Buchholz is waiting in Pawtucket for his next shot.  Depth…it’s a good thing.

A walk-off win coupled with a Yankees loss to the Marlins puts the Sox four games ahead in the American League East.  Sure it’s only June 22, but every game counts.

It’ll be nice to spend the off-day basking in the glow of a successful homestand.

Last night’s “live blog” turned more into a game day chat…and it was a lot of fun!  Hope folks enjoyed it as much as I did (and thanks to everyone for coming by!).

It was great to see DLowe get the ovations he deserved and I was also happy that he pitched well.  I didn’t want him to win but I wanted him to look good on his return.  It worked out well all around, I’d say.  He pitched a good game but Beckett pitched a better one.  Exactly what I wanted!

Josh Beckett is just, in a word, amazing.  94 pitches in nine innings.  Seven strike outs, no walks and five hits while giving up NO runs.  Not much more you could ask for there.  I noted it during the live blog - Beckett pitched against Pedro Martinez back in 2006.  Pedro got all the attention that night with Beckett being merely a footnote to the game (prior to the start of the game).  Out in the bleachers, we watched Beckett and Pedro warming up with everyone screaming to Pedro and we decided to yell encouragement to Josh since his own fans seemed to be ignoring him.   Of course, over the screams of “PEDRO!” he probably didn’t hear us.  After that game he even commented on all the focus going to Pedro.  But Josh came through that night and he did last night as well.

I’m enjoying the 2009 version of Joshua Patrick Beckett.  How about you?

1:35pm and I’ll be watching Tim Wakefield (a dad who once said he wanted to play baseball long enough to have his children realize that he gets to play at Fenway Park for a living) with my dad at home.  I hope you get to enjoy the day with your father but if you can’t I hope Wake makes your day a little brighter by kicking some Braves behind.

So what if it’s a Saturday night and if I live blog everyone will know I’m home sitting in front of my television and my laptop?  It’s Derek Lowe v Josh Beckett!  (And everyone knows that’s where I’ll be anyway - regardless of whether there is proof of it on the Internet!)

Last year I live blogged a Derek Lowe v Bronson Arroyo game so why would I back down today?

In an effort to help kickstart the Sox back to what they should be doing (we have good mojo with the live blogs) - I’ll be here at 7:00 tonight for the Beckett/Lowe live blog.

Join me, won’t you?

Daisuke was terrible last night.  No two ways about it.  But I hope everyone in Fenway who booed him gets the Swine Flu.

Over the last fourteen innings the Red Sox have amassed 3 hits (two of them being home runs).  As bad as Matsuzaka was, that isn’t his fault.  (And it should be noted that both Masterson and Saito each only gave up a hit but both gave up a run as well.)  It was a horribly played game by just about every one (thank you, Jason Bay) and it came on the heels of another game that was horribly played by them.

So the calls for something to be done about Daisuke I understand.  I’m right there with you.  I want him DL’d even if it means Clay Buchholz has to come up from Pawtucket and kneecap him himself.  But booing him is a lousy, lousy thing to do.  I know some of you think it’s a proper response to poor play but I know I’ve made my feelings about it perfectly clear.

I was pleased to have a good crowd around me last night.  No one in my section was booing Daisuke.  Although there was a guy behind me insisting JD Drew has no “desire” in him (RIGHT after he made a fantastic catch!) and who said that Manny being gone was okay because “all the fans hated him anyway” who I wanted to kick (He also thought the Sox were paying Jay Bay $12 million a year).  Aside from him, I was pleased with the crowd around me.  There were even a bunch of rally caps in the 8th and 9th innings!

In any event, I’m pleased the weather held up.  Being at Fenway before the gates opened and having the sky drop gallons and gallons of water on me was unpleasant but after that the sky was blue and it was the perfect weather for a ball game.  Too bad the Sox didn’t cooperate.

No hand-wringing here.  I can’t believe the Sox are going to sit by and watch Daisuke implode every fifth (or sixth) day.  I just can’t.  So I’m not going to spend time worrying about what is going to happen since there are others much smarter than I already working on it.  My focus is on the Sox winning the next two with Beckett and Wakefield on the mound and taking this series.  With every loss I try to remember that it’s all good as long as they take the series.  I realize it’s sometimes tough to do when they lose 2 in a row and drop an entire game in the standings…but it’s the best way to get through the season with your nerves intact!

I humbly request a win tonight from Joshua Patrick Beckett.

“You are such a farm hand homer.” - comment left on my blog a few days ago (meant to be an insult).

I am.  Hell, I’m a homer in general - big leagues and minors, I don’t discriminate (and I certainly don’t hide it).  But I DO favor the minor league players, that’s true.  And tonight I’m going to go all homer on you about Clay Buchholz (well, really about PawSox fans).

As a follow up to NECN’s Mike Giardi’s interview with Clay (the one where he talked about how he was itching to get back to the bigs) Giardi wrote this on Friday.

It has brought to my attention that the Pawtucket faithful booed Clay Buchholz Wednesday night. Can someone explain that to me?

I’d be happy to, Mike.

See, the booing didn’t happen.

How do I know this?  Well, Giardi wasn’t forthcoming in this piece with who “brought” it to his attention but I thought I’d ask someone who would most certainly have first-hand knowledge of the game.  See, I was live blogging the BoSox game that night so I couldn’t listen to the PawSox game.   I decided to go to the blog of one of the PawSox broadcasters, Dan Hoard, and see if he mentioned the booing.

If anyone would have heard the booing, I think it would be one of the guys in the broadcast booth.  Hoard is a wonderful broadcaster.  He’s extremely knowledgeable about baseball and he knows how to entertain the fans listening.  I started listening on a nightly basis when Kyle Snyder was sent down last year and try to catch as many games as I can because Hoard and his partner Steve Hyder really make you feel like you’re at the game - and share a lot of cool information about the players that you probably won’t hear anywhere else.  Dan’s also not afraid to criticize the players or the organization when need be - so I trust his opinion and his judgment.

I left a comment on Dan’s blog on Friday, asking if what Giardi posted was true.  I don’t think Dan will mind if I post part of his response to me here.

The suggestion that Buchholz got booed at McCoy is absolutely ludicrous.

For starters, I guarantee that the majority of our fan base was completely unaware of what he said to NECN (which I didn’t think was bad anyway).

Additionally, when Clay was announced into the game in the 5th inning he received a thunderous ovation.

It’s true that the fans booed when he gave up a HR in the 6th inning. . .they were booing the fact that the other team just hit a home run. Minor league crowds tend to include a lot of young kids and that’s what they do when an opponent goes deep.

I go to enough minor league games to know that last line is very true. But it’s the line about the “thunderous ovation” that’s money.  I have no doubt that Dan would have told me if there was booing.  Giardi mentions the home run at the end of his piece (not the beginning.  He starts this off by implying people were booing because of what he said and then he throws in the “Guy gives up a home run - and gets booed?!?” line at the end.  It’s entirely possible that Giardi has never been to a minor league game and doesn’t know about the fans booing when the other team scores.  But I promise you, Clay Buchholz has been around the minors long enough to know the boos after the homer weren’t for him.  Even though Giardi didn’t.  “I’m pretty sure Clay Buchholz feels the same way”, Giardi wrote, after saying the boos didn’t make sense to him.  No, Mike, I’m pretty sure you’re wrong.

As a point of reference, Dan Hoard has been calling PawSox games for 4 years.  His partner Steve Hyder has been doing them for 6 years.  Dan said neither one of them can remember the PawSox fans EVER booing one of their own players.  It also seemed really important to Dan that people know Giardi was wrong and the good fans of Pawtucket DIDN’T boo Clay Buchholz.

I’m happy to get the message out.

Let’s just hope I don’t bump into John Henry beforehand.  It might be the first time someone gets thrown out of a game before the game began.

I kid.  I’m going to be all sunshine and happiness tonight while watching Daisuke pitch against the Braves.

It’s going to be another long night, isn’t it?

The night after the fans gave them 500 consecutive sold out games, the Red Sox reward them by making them sit in that crap and watch their team lose a 5-inning game by one run because they were too greedy to call the game before it started.  Mssrs Henry, Lucchino and Werner, way to show  your fanbase and your players that you appreciate them.

Can’t think of a time when I was more disappointed with the front office than last night.

And to add insult to injury, NESN is actually replaying the shitstorm of a game as I type this.  Up yours, NESN.

The only good part of the night, baseball-wise, was the Yankees losing their series to the Nats (in another game that really shouldn’t have been played).  So the Sox didn’t lose a step in the standings for now - I guess that should make me pleased.

I have a ticket to tonight’s game.  I honestly don’t plan on going if the weather is crappy.  Can’t remember another time when I’ve made that decision but I’m in no mood today to give the Sox any more of my money (for food and drinks) after last night.

I hate writing such a cranky entry so I’m sure I’ll be back in a while with something less so.  But this morning I’m not feeling inclined to write nice things about the organization.

I’m not the only one who is crabby.  Witness Mr. Mike Lowell:

Randomness on this rainy day:

*  I’ll say it right now…Jon Lester is going to throw a no-hitter tonight.  Everything is lining up for it.  They’re playing the Marlins, the weather will be miserable and I’m going to be there.  Instant classic! (I should point out that I’m at tonight’s game with KellyO.  We go to a lot of games together but we don’t usually sit together since we both usually buy singles.  Tonight we’ll be sitting together.  This bodes well for Crabby’s outing as we sat together for Clay’s no-hitter.  The mojo is there the few times we actually get to watch a game next to each other!)

Okay, maybe he won’t throw a no-hitter but as long as the game gets played he’ll come damn close.

*  While getting ready for work today, I spent the better part of the morning watched the Red Sox On Demand on Comcast.  This has probably sealed, for me, the notion that I will NEVER get rid of Comcast no matter how many hundreds of dollars they charge me for their services.

*  According to the Wall Street Journal’s research, only 26 currently active major leaguers (including managers) have graduated from college.   They also ranked each team on how smart they were collectively and Boston tied for second place (with Arizona and Tampa Bay - Oakland ranked first).  The way they decided the rankings:

The Count ranked every ballclub by its education. Players who earned college degrees got twice the points as players who just attended. Starting players were weighted more heavily, as were players who attended elite schools. Managers were also included in the formula.

Boston would have taken first had Craig Breslow still been on the team!

*  I’m not sure if it was the liveliness of the live blog, the joy of the Yankees losing to the Nats and knowing a win would give the Sox another game up, or a combination of many things, but last  night’s Sox game felt intense to me.  Like it was a must-win.  Which, of course, it wasn’t.  Penny seeming to struggle (at least if we’re going by pitch count) early made me think it would be another long night.  Watching Penny get his 100th win (along with a welt that Terry Francona likened to a pacemaker when he touched hit) in the middle of the “Do we trade him or go with the 8-man rotation?” questions was sweet.  I want Penny to do well while he’s in Boston.  And if he’s still our number 5 guy come July, I think I could be all right with that.  This goes against my whole “Bring Clay Up!” mantra but I’m good with having Clay cool his heels in  Pawtucket if it’s because everything is going so well in Boston.

*  Speaking of Pawtucket and our pitching:  Last night seemed like the night of a thousand pitches all around.    John Smoltz’ pitching line at McCoy?  4 innings, 3 hits, 1 (earned) run, 1 walk and 2 strike outs on 61 pitches.  Buchholz’?  (I don’t think we have enough players on the team whose  name ends in “z”, do you?)  4 innings, 2 hits, 2 (earned) runs, 2 walks and 6 strike outs on 80 pitches and both gave up a home run.  PawSox won and neither Smoltz nor Buchholz hurt anything…so it was a good night.

*  I can’t be the only person who has noticed that Jason Bay seems as humorless as people accuse JD Drew of being.  KellyO’s description of his reaction to Bobby Orr coming out of the Green Monster last night nails it:

…picture Orr beaming and laughing and Jay Bay looking like someone told him his dry cleaning was ready.

I have no problem with it.  I actually like it.  Everyone has their own personality. I just find it interesting that people love to call Drew a “robot” or worse when Jay Bay could be his double.  (And I’ve seen them both get hot and loosen up while at Fenway so I don’t think either one is  robot-like.)

*  There’s a Yankees game at 1:05pm EST today - which means I can listen to Joba throwing at Ryan Zimmerman before I head out to Fenway tonight.   I’m in Schadenfreude mode today - especially after hearing the  Yankees fans booing Alex Rodriguez as he made an out last night.  The Yankees losing a series to the Nats would melt the rain away.

*  Thanks again to everyone who stopped by and contributed (or lurked) to the live blog!  I have to go back and check but I think we only have one loss in the live blogs.  Not too shabby.  The plan is to live blog again next Wednesday when the Red Sox are  playing the Nationals.

And congratulations to Red Sox Nation for selling out Fenway Park 500 games in a row.  Bandwagoners my behind…this streak started in May of 2003.  2003 and 2004 (although the Sox went quite far in the post-season of both years) weren’t the BEST of regular seasons yet folks kept showing up, didn’t they?  We were selling that place out before the 2003 ALCS and before the 2004 World Series.  That isn’t bandwagoning.  Well done, fans!

So delighted with the way Wake pitched last night.  He gets his ninth win; the Sox notch another win and keep their 2-game lead in the AL East and even Big Papi continues to come back with another home run and going 2-3 with 3 RBI.  Hell, we even got a Hanley Ramirez ERROR (Nick Green laughs at you!).

And now, a mini-rant:

I’m really, really getting tired of seeing the “Picnic in the Park” commercial (and now they have the wives on during the game to hawk it as well).  Memo to the Red Sox and the Red Sox Foundation:  the average Red Sox fan (to whom you keep gearing the advertising for these events) can’t afford $350 a person for something like this.  Stop rubbing it into the faces of the good fans who don’t have $1500 to spare to bring their family to a unique experience at Fenway.  It’s lousy that the bottom line is making the most money while limiting the time the players have to give instead of bringing in more people with a more affordable ticket price.

Yes, I rant every year about the Red Sox Foundation.  I have a huge problem with the team claiming they’re so fan-friendly and then having so many events that shut out the average fan.  So, every year around this time, expect a “Please get the Red Sox wives off my tv because they’re selling something too many people can’t buy” rant.  I chuckled last night when I realized two out of the three Sox wives on during the game probably wouldn’t have been able to afford the $350 per person price tag a couple of years ago.  I’m all for donating to charity and don’t think you need a “gift” to entice you to do so.  But don’t promise a wonderful fan/player experience (the commercial with Wake at the picnic table is amusing but also frustrating since it reflects something that isn’t even close to the actual experience and gives folks who don’t know better the idea that they might be able to bring their family to this) and then cut out the majority of the fans.  It’s lousy and it seems to be the Red Sox Foundation’s M.O.  Yes, I understand that the main directive is to make money but it wouldn’t kill them (nor cost them) to make even just SOME of these events more affordable for the average fan.  I’ll be with a group at the game the day of the Picnic.  It’ll be interesting to see how many people at the game actually stay for the picnic.  (This endeth the rant)

But back to last night.  Wake pitches another game that encourages those who feel he should be in the ASG this year.  I’m on the fence.  Every sentimental bone in my body wants Tim Wakefield to pitch in St. Louis on July 14th.  I’m not convinced, though, that his win record is the only thing he should be judged on.  Sure he has those 9 wins but what about his other stats?   I’ll admit, though, that the idea of suddenly throwing a knuckleballer in the middle of an All Star game is very appealing.  I love Wake; I’ll always love Wake; if Joe Maddon decides that Wake is worthy of being on the All Star team I’ll be delighted.

Positive vibes for Brad Penny tonight.  Make me hope the Sox don’t trade you, Brad!   Looking forward to the live blog since Brad Penny and I seem to be a good combo!

I leave you with this…in a moment of silliness it occurred to me that Wake reminds me of the main character in the cartoon below (and I don’t mean the goat!).

Well he didn’t get to pitch last night but Clay Buchholz still has everyone talking about him.  Well done, Clay, well done.

Clay told NECN’s Mike Giardi that he wanted to pitch in the bigs, whether it was for Boston or another team.  The nerve, huh?

Do I think maybe it would have served him better to say the things Michael Bowden did?  Sure.  Everyone wants to hear “Id rather stay in the minors an extra year or so to play with Boston, and to play in Boston at Fenway, with that group of guys.” instead of “If not that team, then I want be in the big leagues and I do want to go where I’ll be able to play and go and pitch every fifth day.”.  But, really, the bottom line seems to be that both pitchers want to play - and isn’t that what you want to hear?  Don’t you want your players to be eager to jump into the fray?  I sure as heck do.  Is there a small part of me that would have preferred Clay to use all the cliches you learn when dealing with the media?  I suppose.  But I agree with those who think it’s refreshing that the kid isn’t afraid to say what’s on his mind.  He didn’t disrespect anyone or insult anyone he just told Giardi how he felt and where his mind is at right now.  I don’t have much of a problem with that.  (NESN’s headline “Bowden willing to wait longer than Buchholz” killed me.  Bowden’s younger than Buchholz and has less time in the bigs.  It would make sense that he’s more patient.  Not too hard to figure that out, NESN.)

The biggest disappointment yesterday regarding Clay was that the PawSox game got rained out.  Sure, they’ll play a double-header today but NESN won’t be airing it so many folks will miss getting to see what all the hub-bub is about.

I don’t think I’ve made a secret of how I feel about Buchholz.  When he finally comes up with the big team he’ll be on my list of “favorites”.  Getting to see his first two MLB appearances - including the no-hitter - has made me quite fond of the kid.  But I’m willing to wait as long as it takes (though I really hope it isn’t that long) for him to make his return.

Regarding another pitcher:  Ian Browne reminds us that Jonathan Papelbon is quietly coming up on breaking the Red Sox all-time saves record held by Bob Stanley.   At 129 career saves, Papelbon needs three more to tie and that extra one to go ahead of Bigfoot.  As Browne points out, how amazing is it that Stanley did it over the course of thirteen seasons in MLB and Papelbon will do it before he’s even through his fourth season in the league?  Papelbon might make me bite my nails down to the quick…but there’s no denying how impressive he is on the mound.

The Florida Marlins are in town!  The last time they were here, they began the series by losing25-8.  The losing pitcher?  Carl Pavano.  Even more amusing?  The winning pitcher was Byung-Hyun Kim.  Tonight, Tim Wakefield takes the mound against Chris Volstad.  That same kind of run support would be greatly appreciated fellas!

The streak began with JPB and it ended with JPB.  I think that’s somewhat fitting.

Josh was just on NESN telling a reporter who asked if the “problem” today was George Kottaras catching. UPDATED FOR CLARITY:  The question was actually:  “Was it an adjustment at all to switch catchers?” Is this a dig toward Beckett for not being flexible or Kottaras for not being a good enough catcher?  Beckett said he doesn’t believe in putting the blame on catchers because pitchers still have to make their pitches.  I was impressed with the professional manner Beckett handled himself after the game.  I think I might have taken that guy’s recorder and stomped it into the ground.  A special tip of the cap to JPB for helping his own cause with yet ANOTHER home run in Philadelphia.  And while I’m giving away cap-tips, George Kottaras deserves a big one.  He and Rocco Baldelli certainly gave me the finger today!

It’s never fun to watch the team lose but I’m honestly okay with it.  Sox won the series.  Took two out of three  against the World Champion, first-place Phillies.  They also swept the, at the time, first place Yankees.  Prior to that they lost the series to the first-place Rangers (winning only one) and before THAT they swept the first-place Tigers.  So in 12 games against first-place teams, the Red Sox lost 3.  That is what I consider to be impressive, no?    They’re 13 games over .500.  I don’t see the point in getting worked up about one loss.

Quick trip home for the Sox and then a day off before the Florida Marlins show up to face Tim Wakefield on Tuesday.  This gives all of us a day to rest up for the continued excitement of interleague baseball.  Unless, of course, you’d like to see how Clay Buchholz is doing.  NESN will be showing the PawSox game live on Monday at 7pm and Clay is the scheduled starter.  If you’re around to watch it, I suggest you do.  Watching Clay pitch this season has been quite the treat.

As a follow-up to my post about the whining of the Yankees, apparently K-Rod put his money where his mouth was and approached Brian Bruney on the field before today’s Mets/Yanks game.

“It was cool,” [Mets] outfielder Ryan Church said. “Frankie walked right up to him and got right in his face. And the kid didn’t say a thing.”

I always say, if you can’t win the game at least win the fight.

After last night’s game, all I had to do was shut the television off, close my eyes and go to sleep.  Yet, right now, I’m wiped out.  So, even though I initially criticized (somewhere else) Tito’s lineup for today, I guess I can  understand guys who actually played that entire game needing a day off.  In case you haven’t seen it, here’s today’s lineup:

1. Julio Lugo, SS
2. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
3. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
4. Jason Bay, LF
5. Mike Lowell, 3B
6. Rocco Baldelli, RF
7. Nick Green, 2B
8. George Kottaras, C
9. Josh Beckett, RHP

Looks like a real National League lineup to me.  Glad Tito has decided to embrace the culture while in Philly.

Sox get a day off tomorrow so I guess Tito wants Tek and Pedroia rested up for the dreaded Marlins on Tuesday.

No, really, I get that guys deserve a day off.  I do.  And I’m sure they’re wiped out from the last two games.  I just hate looking at a lineup and thinking that the manager is sacrificing a game.  I know it’s a marathon and this game isn’t a do or die situation but “Baldelli, Green, Kottaras” doesn’t instill the kind of confidence in a lineup that I was looking for. (No offense to any of those guys, who have all been contributing in their own ways.  I just don’t like them all being bunched up together that way.)

But I shouldn’t complain, I know.  Five wins in a row against two good teams…well, that should instill enough confidence in the team as a whole to come together and pound out another win.

Josh Beckett v JA Happ today at 1:35pm today.  I have faith that this team can pull off another sweep.

I need to keep the mojo going…

Win, Joshua Patrick,  Just win.  (And some runs would be nice too, fellas!) <–We started this streak with  JPB and we’ll continue the streak with JPB!

As I listen to the “Let’s Go Red Sox” chant ringing through CBP and I realize I’ll probably still be watching this game at midnight (it’s about twenty past ten as I start this) I figured why not write something tonight?    But what to write about since the game is still ongoing?

How about the tremendously large yaps of the New York Yankees lately?

Where to begin?  How about with Brian Bruney?  (How many of you just said “Who’s Brian Bruney?”  Exactly.)  Bruney, while rehabbing, decided to opine about Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez after Friday’s Yankee win:

“Unbelievable, I’ve never seen anything like that,” Bruney told Ashmore. “I have, but in high school. Couldn’t have happened to a better guy on the mound, either. He’s got a tired act. I think that’s bad, but two years ago, when he lost the game…I don’t know if anybody saw it, I did. He was in Oakland and he was pitching for Anaheim, didn’t get a call, and so he was like complaining. The catcher threw it back and he just kind of did one of these (Bruney half-heartedly holds his arm out) and hit off his glove and bounced behind and the guy from third scored and they won the game. He gets what he deserves, man. I just don’t like watching the guy pitch. I think it’s embarrassing.”

Did I mention that Bruney is rehabbing in Trenton?  Hasn’t played much this season, let alone has he faced K-Rod. Oh yeah, and there’s a player on his team who does the same kind of histrionics as K-Rod in the middle of games. Glass houses and all, jackass.

K-Rod had his own words for Bruney when told of what he said after today’s Mets win:

“He better keep his mouth shut and do his job and not worry about somebody else,” Rodriguez said. “If it came out from somebody big, I might pay attention to it. But somebody like that, it doesn’t bother me.”

That, my friends, is called being put in your place. But there’s more from K-Rod!

“Instead of sending a message through the paper, next time when he sees me at Citi Field come up to me and say it to my face. Don’t be sending a message through the media. I don’t even know who that guy is. Somewhere in Double-A? I believe he hasn’t even pitched one full season. He’s always been on the DL. That’s all I know right now.”

Wondering what got to Bruney? How about his manager being a jackass as well?  Apparently, a day after Brad Penny hit A*Rod with a pitch, Joe decided he wanted to tell the world that Penny plunked him on purpose and should be punished.

“Penny’s control was pretty good. We hit [Jason] Bay [Tuesday]. I always feel if it’s intentional, [the pitcher] should be suspended. I didn’t care for him hitting him in that situation. That’s my opinion, I am not 100 percent sure.”

He might not have been 100% sure but that didn’t stop the Yankees from calling MLB and asking that Penny be suspended.  I’m beginning to think that Girardi is at the end of his rope when it comes to the Red Sox and he’s just throwing shit against the wall to see what sticks.

In all fairness, I should post what Penny’s response was to Girardi’s accusation.  Thanks to Adam Kilgore, I can do that right here:

“I don’t give two f—- what Joe Girardi says,” Penny said. “I’m coming inside. I don’t care. Anybody can say that. We can say that about the time they hit our guys. I’m just trying to pitch inside. Maybe he should worry about managing and not trying to be the commissioner.

“Why wouldn’t he say that the night before? Don’t wait a day, then say it. He should worry about managing and let the umpire crew do their job.”

Here is where I  propose my undying admiration to Mr. Penny.  Nothing like cutting to the chase, Brad.  Well done.

But my favorite of all these outburst to the media comes from Mark Teixeira.  You all remember Mark.  Jerked around the Red Sox to get the Yankees to up their price, knowing all along that he wouldn’t be signing with Boston.  The guy who practically begged Red Sox fans to boo him when he first showed up at Fenway in pinstripes.  That guy.  When the Red Sox swept the Yankees this week, John Henry tweeted (how did I have no idea Henry used Twitter?  As I told Rob Bradford, finding his tweets was like Christmas in June!) a simple line:  “the MT curse?”. When I read it, I laughed out loud. It was a joke and, I thought, a funny one.  I understand why Mark Teixeira wouldn’t think it was funny but his response to it not only told us that but it told us a little more about Mark.  I guess I’m disappointed to find out that he’s a big a doofus as he looks.

“How old is Mr. Henry?” Teixeira asked of Henry, who is 59. “There is no reason for me to get into any war of words with some 70-something-year-old man. It doesn’t make sense.” The Teixeira-Red Sox discord dates back to 1998 when Teixeira declined to sign with Boston out of high school. It continued this off-season when the Red Sox appeared to be the favorites to sign him before the Yankees swooped in.

“Everybody knows the Yankees paid the most,” Teixeira said. “This is a business. It was a family decision and a business decision. They can have their opinions — that’s fine. I made the best decision for me, and it’s worked out great.”

“You guys make that decision,” Teixeira said when describing his actions compared to Henry’s. “Whose reputation looks better?

Mark, really, you can say all that and then ask whose reputation looks better? Without giving it more than a second of thought I’m fairly certain that most anyone who reads all of the above will say “Not yours, sunshine”.

I’m thoroughly enjoying this new Yankee era.  Gone are mystique and aura.  Say hello to bellyacher and bore.

When Ramon Ramirez came in and, essentially, erased all the good Jon Lester did last night, I realized how much I wanted the team to win.  (Mind you, I’m not blaming Ramirez here.  I wanted Tito to go with Bard in the ninth instead of the 13th.  If for no other reason than it seemed like they needed to just shut down the Phillies right there or the bullpen would end up depleted.  And if we have to now start saving Masterson every game that comes before a Daisuke Matsuzaka start because the team might need him for long relief, I’m failing to see the point of having Daisuke in the rotation right now.  Okay, I’m done with the complaining.)  Unless it’s a must-win (or against the Yankees), I don’t usually get so worked up about the first game in a series.  But the adrenaline from the Yankees series must have still been coursing through my veins because I REALLY wanted this one.

As an aside, I was also watching parts of the Yankees/Mets game.  Both games gave me equal amounts of agita at certain moments but I wasn’t really invested in the New York game as much as I might have been, given the tense nature of the Sox game.  Which is a good thing since I missed Luis Castillo drop an A*Rod pop up to end the game.  Game would have been over, Mets would have won. Had the Sox lost I might have felt worse about this.  As it is, I have friends who are Mets fans and I honestly just ache for what they’re going through right now.  The Mets have lost three in a row to walk-offs…all three against rival teams.  To lose so cheaply last  night must be a dagger in the heart.  Here’s hoping they come back and ground the Yankees into dust for the rest of the weekend.

Last night the Sox gave up 5 hits over the course of that game.  Five hits and only 2 runs…along with twenty strike outs  - 11 coming from Lester while Masterson struck out the side once (to be fair,  he also gave up a double and an intentional walk in that same inning) and Daniel Bard struck out his side in the 13th freaking inning (after hitting a batter).  Short of Ramirez’ hiccup in the ninth, the pitching was great and the bats hammered out 11 hits once all was done.  (Okay, 5 runs on 11 hits might not SOUND great but the bottom line is the team won.)  How impressive have our pitchers been lately? Even with Ramirez’ struggles this week, I still look into the bullpen and never once think that there is someone in there I don’t want to see come out.  And when the starters needed to come up big, they all have.

If you look up “The Balls” in the dictionary, there should be a photo of our pitchers next to it.  S’all I’m saying.  Here’s hoping Daisuke got the ballsy memo.

It felt like it took forever  and it wasn’t pretty (well, some of it was) but at least the Sox still came out on top.  With Daisuke on the mound, tonight, I fear it’ll be a long, frustrating game.  I still have faith that the Sox will win.  7 innings from Daisuke would be nice, though, wouldn’t it?

I can’t stop now…

Win, Daisuke.  Just win.  (And some runs would be nice too, fellas!) <–Even though Lester didn’t GET the win…I’m still considering it a streak.

Okay, let me get the obligatory “These 8 games won’t mean anything if the Red Sox don’t make the playoffs” line out of the way.

But, honestly?  In this moment I’m not thinking about the playoffs.  Hell, I’m not even thinking about the Phillies series yet.  I choose to bask in the glow of a three-game sweep and an 8-game series sweep against the Yankees.  Any Yankees fans out there who think they wouldn’t be gloating today if the roles of the teams were reversed is a big, fat, liar.  This is certainly gloat-worthy, folks.

Most importantly, Brad Penny deserves all the credit we can give him.  No one had high expectations.  The Yankees Ace against the Red Sox number 5?  The guy who got millions of dollars showered upon him to win big games against the guy who could possibly be getting traded next week?  If you had money on this game and chose the Sox folks would have thought you a fool…and you would have made a boatload of money because Brad Penny chose to not only show up but kick ass.  In six innings, he gave up six hits, one walk and struck out five.  He shut out the Yankees for six innings on 117 pitches.

It was pointed out to me more than once last night (before and after Manny Delcarmen choked up the lead) that the Red Sox WANTED this game but the Yankees NEEDED it.  Even if that need was only to boost their sagging egos and make the fans feel like all was not lost.  Knowing this, Penny showed up firing on all cylinders.  CC Sabathia made a good run of it but still gave up all four of the runs the Sox needed to win.  It didn’t help that his offense was, pretty much, shut down by the Boston pitching and the  defense behind him was practically non-existent.  (Will Johnny Damon be eligible for an acting Emmy this year?  That “MY EYE” move when he dropped Papi’s pop up was classic!)

And Papi.  How can the Yankees fans keep talking about how great their team is and how “done” Papi is when he’s hit TWO home runs off of their pitching?  I’m hoping this Yankee visit was exactly what David Ortiz needed.  In any event, he’s certainly entertained the Fenway Faithful this week and I hope he savors each curtain call the fans demand!  (And for those of you who insist that the steroids chant toward A*Rod is hypocritical because it’s “obvious” Papi has been chemically enhanced, even some supposed professional sports writers, you can bit me…hard.  The rest of you who point to Manny Ramirez?  I say check the roster, baby.)

I have been skeptical of Nick Green being the savior at SS all season.  I still am but less so.  Green is another one who has come up huge when he needed to.   There’s little faith in Julio Lugo right now and Jed Lowrie is about 30 rehab at-bats away from being near the Fenway infield…so Green gets the gig by default and answers the call.  Maybe he isn’t an All-Star but, for the time being, I’ll take him.  What I could live without is his chatting and laughing with A*Rod at second base after Slappy knocked in the go-ahead run last night.  I know you guys are BFF, Nick, but moments after MDC gives up the lead and kicks Brad Penny in the nuts, you could have been less chummy.  Shoot your boy a text when the game is over, dude.

In a few hours our focus will be on inter-league play and hoping the Sox can keep this going against the Phillies.  I’m not intimidated by the pitching match-ups (Lester v Blanton, Matsuzaka v Bastardo and Beckett v Happ)…so, to me, this weekend is totally workable.  I could see another sweep ahead.  Of course, I also can see a series win but a loss on Saturday.  I won’t get my hopes up too high.  There’s no denying, though, that there already up to a good level.  What’s not to be hopeful about right now?

I humbly request a win tonight, Mr. Lester.

Screw rational thinking. 

Win, Crabby.  Just win.  (And some runs would be nice too, fellas!) <–As KellyO says, don’t mess with the streak.

It’s just so very nice to wake up and think “Hey, if the Sox don’t beat the Yankees today I’m really okay with that!”.

I want the sweep.   I’m hungry for the sweep.  I want Joe Girardi and Company to leave Fenway with their heads hanging and giant tears of inadequacy rolling down their faces.   I want the two-game lead in the East.  I want a lot but I’ll be satisfied with the series win.

Regardless of what I try to convince myself of during any given Red Sox/Yankees series, the hype that the media and fans stir up does start to get to me.  The anxiety kicked in last night (although it didn’t Tuesday!) and the adrenaline rush after the win left me hyped up for a long while after (only to crash from the exhaustion about two hours after the game ended - these games kill me).

(Neil Everett on Sports Center just called Mike Lowell’s home run off of Wang “Wang, dang doodle”.  Oh man.)

Any game where the Yankees go back to back off of one of the better guys in the bullpen and the Sox still win…this qualifies as a good game.

Everyone in the Sox lineup ended up on base last night.  All but Papi with hits (Papi walked twice).  Meanwhile, the great Alex Rodriguez struck out twice and is 0-7 in this series.  The Captain of the Yankees?  0-5 last night and 0-8 in the series.   Hell, even  Johnny Damon is 1-9 (the “1″ being one of the back to back homers last night).  Both Burnett on Tuesday and Wang last night went 2.2 innings.  I said it yesterday and I’ll say it again:  One of these teams showed up to play…and win…and the other didn’t.

The Sox are 7-0 against the Yankees this season.  Before you tell me it really doesn’t matter, remember 2005.  Remember the Yankees celebrating on the Fenway mound because winning the season series gave them the crown in the AL East even though the Sox had the exact w/l record as the Yanks.  Three more wins against the Yankees and the season series is won.  I want this as well.

Kudos to Tim Wakefield.  Many Yankees fans pointed out to me his losing record against the Yankees and even though he wasn’t technically “on” he certainly pitched well enough to win!  Also, a shout-out to everyone who reminded me that “This isn’t the Yankees team the Red Sox saw in April”.   Thank you for pointing out that, even with A*Rod back, they still have trouble beating the Red Sox.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by (and commented or lurked) the live blog last night.  We’ve watched some good games via live blog and I appreciate the company!

Tonight at 7:10 we throw Brad Penny while the Yanks bring out CC Sabathia.  I have an oddly calm feeling about this game.  It’s a nice, stress-free feeling.  It would be fabulous to see Penny pitch like Cy Young against this Yankee team and I’d love to see Sabathia pitch like it’s the playoffs.  I’ll be satisfied with an exciting game, though.

Aw, who am I kidding?

Win, Brad.  Just win.  (And some runs would be nice too, fellas!) <– 3 for 3?

At around 6:45 last night I had the thought that, if for no other reason, I was happy to be at Fenway so I didn’t have to hear all the Sox v Yanks hype that would be all over the airwaves.  At around 7:45 last night I was really happy to be at Fenway for many other reasons.

I don’t know that I’ve ever been at Fenway in June when it was 50 degrees.  I won’t lie, it was a bit chilly.  Luckily I was, somewhat, under cover and didn’t get too wet nor too cold (as I keep saying, 50 degrees in June at Fenway was a little more pleasant than 50 degrees in April at Fenway).

As an aside, I’m writing this at 9am on Wednesday.  I’ve now watched 3 variations of last night’s game.  I saw it live; I watched the two-hour replay on NESN at midnight and I just watched the one-hour replay this morning on NESN.  It is safe to say I’m very fond of this game.

Maybe in the bigger scheme of things this game won’t mean much.  Who knows?  What I DO know is that Josh Beckett put in yet ANOTHER totally dominating start, this time against a red-hot Yankees team.  One game out of first place and winning the first game of the series is big in the smaller picture, right?  Both teams really wanted this win and only one team seemed to show up.  Beckett made the bats of the Yankees look ridiculous and the Red Sox bats humiliated AJ Burnett.  Regardless of what context you put the game in, this one was fantastic for the Red Sox.

It was also a tremendous thrill to be there to see Papi hit another home run.  Again, say what you want, but for Papi to hit such a homer off of the Yankees was pure poetry.  Papi has a 7-game hitting streak.  It’s small (given that in those 7 games he’s only had one multi-hit game) but it’s definitely something to hook some hope upon.  Seeing him take advantage so early in the game…being present to witness the fans just smothering him with support…definitely worth the price of admission.

Another digression:  I know some people don’t like the curtain calls.  I’m not one of them.  (At least, not in the case of Papi.)  All over the park last night, even before the game, people were talking about how they had never seen Red Sox fans go so out of their way to support a struggling player.  The cheers at Fenway seem to get louder for Papi with every at-bat he takes.   I look at Papi’s curtain calls not as a player being lauded for being spectacular but as fans telling David Ortiz that we have his back.  Papi coming out and waving or tipping his cap - to me that’s Papi thanking us for the support.  And I won’t lie…a curtain call against the Yankees is sweet, sweet schadenfreude, no matter what the reason.

Back to the game, it seems I have to rethink my irrational dislike of Mark Kotsay on this team, eh?  Between Kotsay and Nick Green it was like the universe was telling me to get with the program.  Okay, okay, I’m there!

Not having really paid attention to pitch count (odd for me!), I couldn’t figure out why Beckett was pulled when he was.  After the game, one of my friends suggested it was because the game was well in hand and Tito didn’t want to risk Beckett retaliating for Jason Bay getting hit.  I’ll admit, when Wilton Veras hit Bay my first thought was “Please don’t retaliate, Josh!”, so maybe there is something to that theory?  I realized, when I read the game wrap-up, the Josh was over 90 pitches made me happy that the decision seemed to be based more on rational thinking.

Last night was beautiful.  I’d like more tonight but don’t want to be greedy.  Sox are tied for first place and if Wake can come through (as well as the offense again!) they could have a full game lead.  Screw it, I’m greedy.

Win, Wake.  Just win.  (And some runs would be nice too, fellas!) <- (Hey it worked yesterday!)

I look out my window and it’s dark and grey.  There is nothing about this morning, thus far, that is enticing me to be excited about sitting in an open ballpark tonight.   Not that I need to be enticed to go to Fenway normally but I almost do for Yankees games.

I’ve written it before - I’m not really a fan (any more) of going to Fenway for a Sox/Yanks game.  (Heck, I don’t like to even LIVE BLOG Yankees games - yet I’m doing both this week!)  The stress is too much.  Every series I say I won’t get sucked into it and every series I do.  When I get to Fenway tonight there are going to be Red Sox fans there for no other reason than to mix it up with Yankees fans and there will be Yankees fans there for no other reason than to be total jackasses in someone else’s park.  This is not fun.  This is anxiety wrapped in annoyance.  So why do I go?  Why do I spend money I really should be sending to Visa or Discover on these tickets?

Because it’s freaking awesome, that’s why.

Along with the annoying-ass fans (and, to be fair, not everyone at Fenway tonight will be annoying.  Just the types of fans I mentioned above and Mark Teixeira) we get hours of baseball (which, to many isn’t always a good thing but to me, on a night when I don’t have to get up in the AM for work, is heavenly) and we usually get some amazing games.  The last Sox/Yankees game I attended ended in an extra-innings, walk-off win for the Red Sox.  Sox fans practically floated out of Fenway.  Sure there’s been heartache too (I was present for the double-header loss in 2006 that began the five loss weekend against the Yankees) but, more often than not, when you watch a Sox/Yanks game you end up with an experience to truly remember.

Aside from those horrible five days in 2006, ever since 2004 losses to the Yankees don’t feel the same.  For me there’s always a “Meh, we’ll get them next time” vibe.  That doesn’t take away from the passion or how much I really, really, want the Sox to beat them but it does make the losses much easier to deal with.  Not that I expect many losses this week.

And there’s the thing…there was a time when we’d look at our pitching and look at the lineup for the Yankees and think the only way the Sox could win was if God had money on the game.  These days (”these days” being brought to you by the years 2004 and 2007 and the ownership of Henry, Lucchino and Werner) it’s a little different.  This week the Yankees have to face Beckett, Wakefield and Penny.  Penny might not be lighting up MLB with his stats but even I have to admit that, for an end of the rotation guy, he’s pitched well.  On Thursday he’ll have to pitch well against CC Sabathia and I think he has the chops to do it.  Tim Wakefield has just been, hands down, the most reliable guy in the rotation.  He’s had his share of hiccups this season but his knuckleball coupled with the fact that the Yankees are throwing Wang out there, gives me hope for Wednesday’s game.

But Josh Beckett against AJ Burnett should be the barn burner.  AJ’s okay, sure, but if there’s one game I’d love to see the Red Sox totally dominate the Yankees, it’s tonight’s.  Since the last time he faced the Yankees (on May 5th in a 7-3 Sox win where Beckett went 6, gave up 10 hits and struck out 5) Beckett’s ERA has dropped from 6.75 to 4.09 (yes, I still use ERA as one of the ways to judge a pitcher.   Just call me Joe Morgan, I guess).  He’s also pitched 7 or more innings in the five games since the Yankees game and he’s struck out 32 batters.  In Beckett’s last two games he gave up a total of 5 hits and 1 earned run.  My point?  Beckett’s getting better with each game he pitches so tonight’s game might not be the walk in the park some Yankees fans seem to expect.

Which leads me to another thing that’s interesting about the Sox/Yanks games.  Suddenly, I get email from people who have never sent me email before.  Whether it be Red Sox fan wanting to know why I don’t write more about how the Yankees suck (I really had someone ask me that) or it’s the Yankees fan taking me to task (and, trust me, that’s putting it nicely) for suggesting yesterday that the Red Sox hit Alex Rodriguez.  (There are other ways he could get ball-shaped bruises!)  Mostly it’s the Yankees fan emails that really crack me up.   I sense that many of the Yankees fans who email me are the same ones who go to Fenway and scream in the faces of Red Sox fans (This happened to a friend of mine at her first Yankees/Sox game.  She was young and a bit sensitive and it took all I had in me not to beat the gut who did it to death).  I don’t think all Yankees fans wait for these games to come out of the woodwork and be obnoxious but the anonymity of the Internet sure helps those who do.

So I’m making no real predictions but I think the Sox have a good chance of taking two out of three here if they can play like we know they are capable and not like the guys (short of Jon Lester) who played this weekend against the Rangers.

In any event, I know where I’ll be tonight.  Sitting in Fenway, most likely getting rained on (leaving the “good” camera home but will, hopefully, have some pics to share) and watching the greatest rivalry in baseball.  As much as I like to pretend it’s “just another game”, once you get to the park you realize how untrue that is.

Both AJ Burnett and Josh Beckett have been suspended this season for throwing over a batter’s head (but not actually hitting him).  Beckett served his suspension and Burnett is in the appeal phase of his.  I’m torn between being worried about the possibility of losing Beckett if his head gets hot and having a thrill at being in person to see my first Sox/Yanks fight.  I’m really hoping the cool side of Josh shows up tonight and there are no fireworks.  But if we’re THIS amped up about these games I have to imagine that the players might be too.

Win, Joshua Patrick.  Just win.  (And some runs would be nice too, fellas!)

How much did Sunday suck?

Sox lost.  Yanks won.  Lakers came back to beat the Magic.  The PawSox were winning 4-1 in the ninth and lost 5-4.  JD Drew had a cortisone injection.  Jacoby Ellsbury hurt his shoulder (for nothing, really, given how the game ended up) and might not be available Tuesday.   I spent most of Sunday offline so if there was a mass beatdown on puppies and bunnies, I didn’t hear about it but it wouldn’t surprise me.  All was wrong in the world on Sunday.  The worst part?  We get all of Monday to dwell on it.  Huzzah.   I think today is a good day to ignore most message boards, blogs or other areas where you will be faced with people who are convinced the Red Sox are on a downward spiral that can’t be stopped unless they blow up the team and start from scratch.   God, I hate those people.

The Sox are half a game out of first place…what are we to do?  Spare me.  It was a lousy series (save for Jon Lester and the offense coming through on Saturday).  We accept that and we move on.

You know what the pitching match-up is on Tuesday?  A.J Burnett versus Josh Beckett.  Which opens up the possibility of the pitchers actually throwing at each other.  Intensity?  You’ll get it on Tuesday.  Fastballs?  Ditto.  I’ll be at the game on Tuesday night (weather permitting.  Well, that isn’t accurate.  Rain or shine I’ll be there - I just don’t know if there will be a game to see).   I want it.   I want Beckett pissed about the losses to Texas and wanting to exact revenge on the Yankees.  By the end of Tuesday’s game, I want Mark Teixeira in tears.  I want Derek Jeter speechless.  I want Alex Rodriguez covered in bruises.  Baseball-shaped bruises.  I want carnage.  Bloody, drawn-out, carnage.   And I want the Red Sox to come out on top.  I want Josh Beckett dropping f-bombs on  NESN while he smirks about executing his pitches against the Yankees.  Since Beckett has been in Boston he’s seen a rookie throw a no-hitter and a cancer survivor almost throw two (did you know Jon Lester had cancer? It’s amazing that they don’t bring this up every freaking time he pitches. Oh, wait, of course they do…).  How do you think this sits with him?  Sure, he’s a good teammate and he LOOKED happy for both Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester.  But he’s also a fierce competitor.  Don’t you think the fire is burning?  He was thisclose to his own no-hitter last week.  How sweet would a no-hitter against the Yankees be?  I’m not predicted a no-hitter by any means but I think Josh Beckett is most definitely going to show up for this game looking for blood.  And I’m excited that I’m lucky enough to hold a ticket for a close-up view of it.

Because I’m oblivious sometimes, I didn’t realize my iPhone died today (it’s fine now).   KellyO was at the game and texted me exasperated that they did up the whole entrance music for Papelbon when he came into the game.  Only I didn’t get it when she sent it; I just got it about 10 minutes ago and it was what compelled me to write.  I have to agree with Kelly’s questioning of it.  We were losing the game.  He was only coming in to get some pitches thrown since he didn’t pitch Saturday and won’t be pitching Monday.  This was not cause for a celebration of his entrance into the game.   Use your common sense, audio folks.  I can see playing some of the song, it is his entrance music, but doing the whole rigmarole just seems ridiculous to me.

Sox get a day off before the New York series and the Yankees get one more game against the Rays.  Andy Pettitte and Andy Sonnanstine stand between the Red Sox and either a tie for first place or a game behind the Yanks come Tuesday.  The Yanks/Rays game is on ESPN in case you aren’t in the New York or Tampa Bay market.  Could be a decent way to get your baseball fix tonight.

Folks who were hoping the rivalry would “mean something” again seem to be getting their wish this week.

Around the fifth inning last night, it occurred to me that I was very happy to not be at Fenway.  As wonderful as it was to be there for Clay Buchholz’ no-hitter, it was also gut-wrenchingly painful.  I had friends at the park last night and was thrilled for them to be seeing such an amazingly-pitched game - but I wasn’t jealous.  I was on my couch, not moving, thinking about randomly stupid things like “If he pitches a perfect game, it’ll totally screw up the song “Harvey Haddix” (thanks to KellyO, who had put that in my head last week when Beckett did his thing).  Even so, I wanted Lester to, at the very least, get the no-hitter.  So I was as disappointed as everyone else when he didn’t. (I was thankful to not have been AT the park going through the anguish of waiting to see if they got a hit off of him.)

But forget the perfect game.  Forget the no-hitter.  Crabcakes pitched a complete, two-hit game and went into the ninth inning with less than 100 pitches thrown.  He struck out 11 and only walked two.  We shouldn’t be mourning the loss of history for him; we should be rejoicing that he pitched two fabulous games in a row.  This is what we (certainly I) have been waiting for all season.  Real proof that we aren’t going to spend the season wondering  how many pitches he can throw without his arm falling off.  More than a glimmer of hope that he was going to be even a fraction as good as everyone projected him to be this year.  I’ll still always be cautious with my enthusiasm for him - but there’s is absolutely nothing negative to say about his last two performances.  After the beatdown on Friday, it was a welcome performance last night on many levels.

Today we have Daisuke Matsuzaka pitching against Vincente Padilla.  One pitcher who is compelled to walk all nine batters at least once in the game and the other who is compelled to hit all nine batters at least once in the game.  This should be something else.

Finally, for those who asked (thanks for that!), my appearance (such as it was) on “The Baseball Show“:

I’d love to put a cheery spin on Julio Lugo’s fielding from last night but I can’t.  The ball that went by him to score that first run (and extend the inning) looked playable to me (but as Red at Surviving Grady points out about himself, I’m not exactly professional athlete material, so what the hell do I know, really?); the second one was more questionable.  So it seems apparent that, at the very least, Lugo’s range is practically non-existent.  The problem is that Nick Green’s range seems to be cousins with Julio’s range.  So what’s a manager to do?

The big idea is to trade Brad Penny for a shortstop to work with Jed Lowrie (when Jed finally gets back), no?  (Well, yes it’s “no” according to reports that the Sox are/were interested in Jeff Francoeur.  Huh? Um, no thank you, Theo.  Really.).  But Penny kind of helped his cause toward staying put by not being able to settle down and pitch like a major-league pitcher after Lugo’s run-scoring miscue (which was ruled a hit not an error, incidentally).  After that first run scored, there were two men on and Ian Kinsler hit a three-run home run.  Now the offense for the Sox did Penny no favors by forgetting  how to score runs for 9 innings so there’s plenty of “blame” to go around for last night’s loss.  Lugo at short was a part of it but so was Penny not being able to throw the pitches he should when he needed to most.  Apparently the era of my not picking on Penny has gone by the wayside.  Sadly, it seems so has my ability to fully defend Julio Lugo.

The other side of this IS that it was one loss.  One lousy loss, indeed, but still just one loss.  It’s funny how I didn’t read on any Sox message boards all week long about how bad this team is.  Four wins in a row, including a sweep of the Tigers, and everything is all sunshine and happiness.  The minute the Sox lose a game, though, it’s “the rotation needs to be revamped!  Smoltz doesn’t need rehab starts, bring him up  now!”.  See, this is why I try so much to focus on the positive.  The Sox are a half game out of first place.  They have the best bullpen in the majors and their rotation, which is SUPPOSED to be on of the best in the league, is finally coming together the way everyone expected.  Jason Bay and Dustin Pedroia are in the top ten in the American League in almost all the stats for batters.  This is not a bad team in any sense.  This is not a team that needs to rebuild (sure they need to tweak, I’ll give you that).  Why in the world would you want to spend your time bitching about the shortcomings when there is so much good to focus on (especially right now?)?  It frustrates me and that’s why I won’t devote thousands of words to it.  Yeah, last night stunk.  There’s a game at 7:10 tonight that I’m hoping (and believing) won’t stink.

Keep in mind I’m not talking about the folks who get paid to critique every little thing the Sox do.  The Chad Finns and Alex Speiers of the world need to keep pointing out the shortcomings because 1) It’s a story and 2) I don’t believe in turning a blind eye.  Were I a reporter or analyst and not just some random commentator then I suppose I’d be more critical.  But all I am is a fan.  And  I will always believe it’s better for the fans to focus on the positive (and I believe in bringing that good energy to the park).

A reminder for those who want to tune in and laugh at me (I have this Brenda Vaccaro-ish thing going on with my voice right now and am wondering how that will translate over the phone and THEN over the airwaves), I’ll be one of the guest on the “Web Sox Nation” segment of Comcast SportsNet New England’s “The Baseball Show“, once again, this morning.  I’m taping it just after 8am and, if the past is any indication, I believe it will be on around 9:50am.  Keep in mind that, for whatever reasons, even though the show is simulcast on WEEI radio, this segment isn’t, so if you really DO want to see/hear it, you need to have Comcast SportsNet NE.  Given all the out of town folks who have been kind enough to ask for it, there’s a good possibility it will end up on YouTube.  I’ll keep you all posted.

Crabcakes on the mound tonight against Derek Holland  (who was born on an off-day during the 1986 ALCS - yes, I looked up his birth date after seeing he was born in October 1986!).    Lester’s last outing was fabulous.  More of that, please, Crabby.

(Warning…this video might be different by the time you see it. Damn NESN!)

I love Twitter and I can’t stand Tony LaRussa so there are some aspects of this story that make me laugh.

St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa is suing the social-networking site Twitter, claiming an unauthorized page that used his name to make light of drunken driving and two Cardinals pitchers who died damaged his reputation and caused emotional distress.

Now I’m on the fence about making light of tragedy. On a personal level, I’m a huge fan of dark humor. I’ve never been to a funeral where we didn’t find something to laugh about (and, unfortunately, I’ve been to an awful lot of funerals).  But I also feel like you need to keep a certain level of respect for the people left behind after a tragedy.  So I understand that it could hurt someone to see jokes about someone they love who has died.

But I have a few issues with LaRussa “suing” over this.  First off, it’s satire.  Even if it’s bad, it seems to me that this would fall under that.  Even if it isn’t covered under satire it’s still just humor, no?  I never saw the original tweets of this fake LaRussa but based on what has been posted it seems to me that it was completely obvious that it wasn’t really LaRussa writing the updates.  (The fake Michael Kay tweets usually are good for a laugh or two but even before he put up the disclaimer that the page was fake, you had to be a bit slow to not realize that already.)

There were three profiles I followed when I started on Twitter that turned out to be fake.  Keith Olbermann’s,  Stephen Colbert’s and Tina Fey’s (that tells you a lot about me, I know.  Probably more than I should make public here!).  Olbermann has absolutely no love for Twitter because of the fake profile but Colbert just created his OWN profile (instead of complaining about the fake ones) and Tina Fey has commented that, although it isn’t her, she thinks the person writing the fake profile is funny.  (Although it should be noted that the person writing those tweets now calls the page NOT Tina Fey.)

I don’t think anyone should be allowed to dupe people into believing that person is someone else. So I understand LaRussa wanting Twitter to take down the fraudulent account.  But suing seems ridiculous, petty, expensive and a tremendous waste of time and resources.  According to the story I linked, there was a “warning” on the Twitter profile page that read “Bio Parodies are fun for everyone.”  So if I understand the story, LaRussa is suing for being parodied because making jokes (and I’m not arguing whether the jokes were funny or not) about the tragedies that the Cardinals have dealt with and about LaRussa’s lack of good judgment when it comes to drinking and driving, hurt poor Tony’s feelings.  So sad.  Someone needs to call the wahmbulance.

What happened to Darryl Kile was tragic.  What happened to Josh Hancock was tragic and, sadly, caused by Josh’s drunkenness.  No less sad, especially for his family and friends, but I wonder if LaRussa is a little more sensitive to it because of his own alcohol issues?  Maybe Tony has a bit of guilt because, unlike Hancock, he was fortunate enough to only have to endure public humiliation instead of a funeral?  I mean what is possessing him to SUE over this?  Whatever the case is, joking about the dead can certainly be considered bad taste but I’m not sure it’s worthy of a courty case.  If I’m sitting on the jury that catches this case (although I’m going to guess that this case never sees the inside of a courtroom) I’d be PISSED that they brought me in for something so frivilous.  Make them take down the page (which already has been done), get a thicker skin and get over it, Tony.  (The faux Twitter profile, not the tragedies.)

Since I’m ranting, I wanted to point you all here.  According to comments he made on the Dale and Holley show, Dennis Eckersley didn’t know he “couldn’t talk no-no”.  Raise you hand if you believe him.  Please, God, send us back Jerry Remy soon.  Eck is fun but I really, really miss the Rem Dawg.

(Interesting, to me anyway, note:  I’m watching Randy Johnson’s perfect game on MLBN.  Mark Grace says “Randy’s been perfect through four.”  And in the fifth inning he is making remarks about this possibly being a ’special game’.  He also said “I won’t say anything else” and then added “Yes, I will.  I’ll have to.”  So, regardless of my feelings about this issue, I’m interested to see how others look at it.  Grace was right.  It IS tough not to mention that the pitcher is perfect through so many innings.  Does that fall under the tradition of not talking about it?  The world might never know.)

Well it was a good day for the old guys, eh?  On our side, Tim Wakefield pitched 6.2 innings and after a rough 3rd inning gave up only 3 runs (on 8 hits).  Teams are batting .248 against him, his WHIP is 1.40, his record is 7-3 and he has a 4.50 ERA.  In the 70 innings he’s pitched this season, he’s given up 35 earned runs and only five home runs.  He has his moments and he makes us nervous (like he did yesterday in the 3rd) but, really, there isn’t any starter we have right now that I have more confidence in than Wake.

So many were complaining about keeping Wake on as the season began.  If not for him, the team could be in big trouble right now instead of sitting in first place tied with New York.   The Sox have won 10 out of the last 16 games (including the games at Fenway against the Jays and Mets) so it’s nice that the team has calmed the freakouts for a while.  A good series against the Rangers will help quell the fears of all the worrywarts.

Over in the National League, Randy Johnson won his 300th game.  I try to pretend that he never played with the Yankees because I always really liked him.  So I conveniently ignore those two seasons he spent in the Bronx.   Sure he’s cranky but I can look past that because I absolutely love to watch him pitch.  And the fact that he’s most likely the last pitcher to do this makes it that much more impressive and a tad bittersweet.  For all the stories out there about what a crabapple Johnson is, I found a good one that I think is worth sharing.  PawSox broadcaster Dan Hoard shared it on his blog:

Chris Carter became friendly with Johnson when they were both in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization. In fact, Carter earned Johnson’s respect when he was the only left-handed batter that was willing to face him in spring training. Once after Carter hit a few line drives off of Johnson in BP, a teammate dared him to dish out a little trash talk.

Chris took the bait - he approached the “Big Unit” in the clubhouse and said, “Man, I really hit some rockets off of you today.” Johnson gave him the death stare and said, “And you had better never do it again,” before breaking into a big grin.

As it turns out, Johnson appreciated the fact that Carter wasn’t intimidated by him in the batters box or the clubhouse.

See? He’s cranky but not evil. And I’m pleased that I got to witness (well, through television anyway) many of those 30 wins.

For the uninitiated:  Tim Wakefield will be 43 in August.  Randy Johnson?  46 in September.  The old fellas rule!

Tonight the Red Sox play the Rangers in a three-game series at Fenway.  The Rangers dropped two to the Yankees before heading into Boston so I’m hopefully they’ll continue the trend in Boston.  To see how one of the Rangers looks at the series, check out Rangers relief pitcher CJ Wilson’s Twitter feed.  Always an entertaining read.

Brad Penny against Kevin Millwood tonight.  Here is where I refrain from criticizing Penny for luck (and, if I’m being fair, there hasn’t been much to criticize of late!).  Bring us a win, Brad!

So here’s something I was thinking about all night:

Where is the line between honoring a baseball tradition and reporting what’s happening?  And who makes that distinction?

A little background to begin.  I import random Twitter feeds during my live blogs.  Last night the PawSox feed, Chad Finn, Amalie Benjamin, Surviving Grady and the “Beard of Truth” were the feeds I decided to import just for fun.  Around the fifth inning, Amalie tweeted (twittered?  For this entry we’re going with tweeted) the following:

I’m sure you know what’s going on. No getting mad at me for jinxing by giving out info cause a) it’s my job, and b) I have no impact at all.

The people who were actively following the blog (that is, reading and commenting. We seem to get a lot of lurkers at the live blogs) pretty much were all for the removal of Amalie’s feeds at that point (which I did).  With Amalie there are two issues.  Is it her job?  She isn’t a broadcaster.  She was on Twitter.  I’m relatively certain updating her Twitter feed isn’t part of her “job”.  Sure it’s a nice way to market her writing at boston.com but it isn’t as if people rely on what she has tweeted to find out what’s going on with the game.  The other issue is, the same.  IS it her job?  If you’re watching the game  “I’m sure you know what’s going on” then why is it her job to tell you what you already know?

In contrast, here’s what Chad Finn (also of boston.com fame) tweeted during the no-hit attempt:

Watching a baseball game. Yep.

After the first hit for the Tigers, I responded to him that I thought it was cool of him to respect the tradition that way (I Twitter while live blogging. Do I have talent or what?) and he responded:

It’s a cool tradition. Wish Eck would have followed it.

So here is a professional sports writer openly admitting that he thinks the broadcaster should have respected the baseball tradition of not mentioning a no-hitter. (It should be noted that Eck was liberally throwing around the word “No-no”.)  If I expected anyone in the booth to “just” do his job and mention it, I thought it would be Don Orsillo.  I was more than surprised that a former MLB pitcher who had thrown his own no-hitter over 30 years before, would disregard baseball tradition so blatantly.

This is a polarizing topic among baseball fans.  There has been thread upon thread on many message boards about how broadcasters ARE only doing their jobs when discussing no-hitters while they’re happening and how it’s a silly superstition that broadcasters (and message board participants) shouldn’t have to adhere to since they really DON’T have any outcome on the game.  I happen to be one of those folks who  never utters the words “no-hitter” during one nor do I talk about what’s happening.

I’ve told my story before.  I was present for Clay Buchholz’ no-hitter.  In the 8th inning the cell phone of someone behind me rang. Guy was at LEAST thirty if not older.  He answered it, barking, “Don’t say a freaking word!” and he hung up. Meanwhile there was a kid next to me, probably no older than nine, who kept telling his mother the Orioles didn’t have any hits. I eventually turned to the mother and gently told her that it’s traditional to NOT speak of what her son was speaking of while it was going on.  She made sure he stopped talking about it.  Now I know fully well that what we spoke of during that game “Brian Roberts is so friendly!” certainly had no impact on whether or not Clay got his no-hitter but that really isn’t the POINT.

Respect the game, respect the traditions and respect the fact that many fans do this.  I’ve watched games called where they gabbed through entire innings without really telling you anything about what was happening on the field short of “there’s another out for the pitcher”.  Is it so damned difficult to do that during a no-hitter?  If you’re watching the game then you can see the score for yourself.  You don’t need to be reminded that there are no hits.

There were other tweets about this game last night.  Some from people happy that Eck dared mention the no-hitter because they don’t believe in respecting a silly tradition.  I know how the people I enjoy baseball with feel about this.  Most, if not all, agree that regardless of the real-life impact it does (or doesn’t) have on the players and team, it’s part of baseball and should be treated as such.

I’m curious how many people couldn’t care less (or would prefer it) if a broadcaster mentions a no-hitter as it is happening?

In any even, Joshua Patrick Beckett was brilliant.  Tito bringing him back out was a bad idea and the defense (and Saito) tried to sabotage him and, thankfully failed!  Another win for the BoSox.  Quite sweet.  Congrats to Mike Lowell on his 1500th hit, JD Drew on getting his 200th home run and Rocco Baldelli on his 500th hit as well!

Don’t forget the game is in the afternoon today - a 1:05pm battle between Tim Wakefield and Dontrelle Willis.  Wish I could see it but I’ll have to settle for listening to Joe Castiglione (not such a bad way to enjoy the game!).  Here’s hoping Wake bounces back from his last outing and shows folks old guys still have it!

While I’m here I need to give a couple of shout-outs:  One to Rafe Anderson for letting us know that Remy’s back doing “Dial the Dawg“.  Back in the days when I had a land line, I actually had Remy’s voice as the outgoing message on the voice mail.  As I said to Rafe,  sometimes geek isn’t a strong enough word to describe me.

Another goes to Dan Lamothe over at Red Sox Monster for quickly finding video of the Red Sox newest fan:

So be with me tonight at 7pm for the live blog.  With Beckett on the mound, anything could happen!

I’ve grown accustomed to Daisuke throwing too many pitches and putting too many players on base before getting himself out of trouble.  I hate it but, yeah, I’m used to it.  Having written that, I could live without ever seeing another 35-pitch ninth inning from Jonathan Papelbon.  It isn’t a good sign when you’re thinking “A grand slam ties this game” with no outs in the bottom of the ninth when your closer is on the mound.

But no harm no foul, right?  Papelbon strikes out the next three batters he faces (24 of those 35 pitches were strikes), the Red Sox win 5-1 and there was much rejoicing.  My understanding is that they did it all without having to kill a squirrel so I guess everyone but the Tigers and their fans went home happy.

My live blog plans have, once again, gone awry.  I won’t be around to live blog tonight (and will miss most, if not all, of the game); I can’t live blog the game tomorrow because it’s in the afternoon and I was hoping that the game on Saturday was another early one so my live blog could help out folks who wouldn’t get to see the game - but Saturday’s game is at 7:05pm.  So my choices are Friday or Saturday for a live blog although I’m not sure who will be around for it.  I might do one just to keep in live blogging condition (and if I do it most likely will be on Saturday).

Speaking of Saturday, I’ve been asked again to be a guest on “The Baseball Show”.  If my last appearance is any indication, it will be brief, nerve-wracking and I won’t even remember what I said.  But, hey, it’s supposed to be FUN, right?  I’ll let you all know when plans are finalized but for now it does seem like I’ll be on at some point this coming Saturday morning.  I eagerly await to see what color sweater vest Felger picks for the occasion.

It’s tough for me to wrap my mind around Terry Francona managing in Boston long enough to get 500 wins.  I can’t remember ever being as passionately supportive of a Red Sox manager as I am with Tito.  The two Championships most definitely have something to do with it but it’s also just the way he deals with his team AND the Boston sports media.  I remember being really upset when Jimy Williams was fired and feeling sorry that Grady Little had to go but I’ll be positively devastated when Tito is no longer leading this team.  Who could have predicted what a positive impact he’d have on this team?  Okay, maybe Curt Schilling but that’s about it.  I might not agree with everything he does but I always think he’s doing what HE thinks is best for the team.  And I truly believe that the guy puts his health on the line every day he continues on with this organization.  He puts up with a lot, gives a lot back and I am thankful and happy that we have him on our side.  (And, see, he cares about us!)

Today is June 3.  It’s also Carl Everett’s 38th birthday.  Wondering what happened to Carl?  He’s playing with the Atlantic League Newark Bears.  Below is video of a recent game showing both Carl and Jay Gibbons at bat.  (”Throw the bat at him, Carl!” cracked me up.)  The roster for the Bears is full of ex-Major Leaguers including our own Keith Foulke.  Pawtucket favorite Edgar Martinez is also on the roster.  I wonder what the Bears have that other Atlantic League teams don’t that attracts the former  professionals?

Josh Beckett on the mound tonight against Armando Galarraga.  Tigers fans don’t seem too convinced that Galarraga will be able to defeat the Red Sox…which of course probably means this game goes into extra innings.  More of the Joshua Patrick we saw last time, please.

I don’t like to pick on other blogs but I’m making an exception today.

Yesterday a blog that shall not be named here because it makes my skin crawl (oh hell, you all know what it is….Boston Dirt Dogs) posted a whiny, ridiculous entry about the Red Sox marketing scratch and sniff, pink, baseball caps for little girls.  I did about a second and a half of research and found out, unlike what BDD would have you believe, the Red Sox did not create this, MLB did and ALL the teams have them.  I also found that people had been writing about these caps since FEBRUARY so the BDD site kind of missed the boat on this three months later.

But I’m not here to complain about BDD.

During my research, I found another site that had an entry (Last week.  BDD got scooped even as recently as a week ago on this) about the caps.  Except this site decided to use their own definition of a “pink hat” as an introduction to their rant about the caps.

If you know anything about the Red Sox, you know what a Pink Hat is. A Pink Hat is a young woman who gets free tickets from her work, shows up to the park with her pink hat, and doesn’t know a goddamn f**king thing about baseball apart from wanting to have Jacoby Ellsbury’s baby.

I’ll put it this way: If you went to either of the Red Sox parades, but you can’t tell me what channel NESN is on, you are a pink hat.

They can often be overheard saying things like “Why isn’t Clay Buckhalter pitching? He’s so hot!” and “Remember that guy Cocoa Crispies or whatever? LOL” and ask questions like “When is the game gonna be over?”

So if you show up to the park with your buddies and you find that a Pink Hat is sitting behind you, you might as well move to an obstructed view seat because you will have a better time sitting alone behind a f**king load-bearing pillar.

This person seems to have issues with women, huh?  Now my initial reaction was to leave a comment on this guy’s blog and point out that his definition was wrong. I’ve made it well-known that I hate the term “pink-hat” because it singles out women and everyone who has argued against my complaint claims it is all-encompassing. So this guy (whose blog I never read before so I admit I have no idea if he’s always this eager to insult or just wrote this to get a rise out of people) creating his own definition pretty much says all there is to be said about him. Then I decided it wasn’t worth my time or anger to leave a comment there, thus giving him more traffic during the ensuing “discussion” we’d inevitably have. I’m not giving him traffic by linking to him either but if you Google “red sox scratch and sniff” and look under “blogs”, you’ll find him.

So a “pink hat” is a woman who knows nothing about baseball except how cute Jacoby Ellsbury is?  What’s that say about the men in the stands who can’t name the rotation?  How about the guy who sat behind me in the grandstand once trying to “teach” his date about baseball who didn’t know why the pitcher didn’t come up to bat?  Or the guy who sat near me in the bleachers who kept yelling “Mark!!!  Mark Timlin!!!!” every time Alan Embree came out of the bullpen?  I have hundreds of stories about men at ballgames who knew absolutely nothing about baseball but pretended to (one of my favorites, such as it is, being Kelly O’Connor telling a group of men whose numbers were retired at Fenway and their not believing her - even though she was right - by their own admission, because she was a woman).  Most of them were wearing Red Sox caps.  Most of them were only there because it was the “in” place to be.

I’d argue that you have a better chance of randomly approaching a woman at Fenway, asking her about the Red Sox and getting the right answer than you would a guy but I know that isn’t necessarily true.  There are a lot of factors to take into consideration when trying to figure out who knows about baseball and who is there just to be there and the color of the person’s hat isn’t one of them.

Hell, it isn’t even on my top ten.

He also seems to think that any woman fan who finds a player attractive doesn’t know about baseball.  I’ve asked this question before and I’ll ask it again.  What is the difference between knowledgeable baseball fans (who happen to be women) enjoying the attractiveness of the players and knowledgeable baseball fans (who happen to be me) enjoying the attractiveness of the sideline reporters (or, in some instances, the wives of the players)?  I, admittedly, enjoy all aspects of watching baseball, including the fact that I think Bronson Arroyo is hot.  I watch Kyle Snyder and wish for his success because I like his story.  First-round draft pick plagued by injuries and DFA’d by one of the worst teams in baseball comes back to be on a World Championship team.  I also think he has gorgeous blue eyes.  Other baseball bloggers are allowed to write about what they’d like to do with an Erin Andrews or Heidi Watney…well I think women should be allowed to say “Nick Green might not be a gold glover but he sure is pretty!” without being accused of not knowing anything about the game.  Hell, we shouldn’t even have to mention the Gold Glove!  (I’ve yet to read a blogger comment negatively or positively on how well, say, Heidi Watney does her job.  It’s always just about her looks.  If I wrote an entire entry about any player and just focused on their looks, I’d be run out of blogdom by the men who would accuse me of only watching baseball for the cute guys.  It’s a lousy double-standard and I plan on beating this into the ground any time I feel like it comes up.)

I hate the pink baseball caps because I hate pink in general.  But there are plenty of people (mostly men) out there wearing Camo caps, green caps, black caps, sky blue caps, multi-colored caps and (good God) even Argyle caps.  Do none of these people know anything about baseball?  Maybe we should take them all out back and shoot them so the parks will never again be dirtied by their attendance?  (Confession time:  Just last week I bought a black on black Red Sox cap.  I’ll have to get in line too.)

Here’s the thing.  Wear whatever damn hat you want to wear.  Pink, green, yellow…who cares if there are idiots in the world waiting to call you a “pink hat” or tell you that you aren’t a real fan?  I have a dream that all my women friends who are baseball fans go to a game together wearing pink hats and shove it in the faces of every ass their who tries to give them grief about it by blowing them away with their baseball knowledge.  (Unfortunately, most of my women friends don’t like pink either so this probably won’t ever happen.  See world?  All women don’t like pink.  Go figure.)

Also, enjoy the game any damn way you please.  You know what kept me coming back to watch game after game with my parents when I was a kid?  Fred Lynn’s smile.  Yep.  I was impressed with the way he ran the outfield (because, come on, it was pretty cool watching him slam into the wall or do tumblesaults while trying to catch the ball) but it was the fact that I thought he was adorable that kept me watching.  (For the sake of this discussion, Fred Lynn was, in a sense, the Jacoby Ellsbury of his day - with the talents of a Hall of Famer - but that, sadly, is a topic for another day.)  Now I know a fair amount about the game and follow most teams, not just the Red Sox.  Does my affinity for lanky, blonde, pitchers take anything away from my love of baseball or knowledge of the game?  No.  No it doesn’t, thank you very much.

Since I brought up Kyle, for those asking for updates, he pitched Sunday and, unfortunately, didn’t fare very well.  The good news is he still seems to be healthy and, given how his other appearances went, this seems to be just a case of having a really bad day.  If he’s pitching every fifth day (which seems to be the case right now) then his next appearance will be on MiLB.tv and I’ll, hopefully, get to see some of it.

Red Sox start their series in Detroit tonight with Daisuke on the mound against Rick Porcello.  My friends KellyO and Beth will both be there to cheer on the boys in grey (safe and fun travels, ladies!) and I’m fairly certain neither of them will be wearing a pink hat (but I’m ABSOLUTELY certain either of them could rival any man when it came to discussing baseball).

So Jon Lester pitches a gem, the bats of the Red Sox finally come to life and the Sox leave Toronto without getting swept.  I’ll take it.

There still isn’t all that much confidence (from me) in a Lester appearance but yesterday he really came through.  6 innings, 12 strikeouts, only 3 walks, 3 hits and 1 earned run.  More of THIS Jon Lester, please.

Big Papi is still struggling and it’s painful to watch.  But if I read one more person suggest he go to AAA, I’m going to scream.  Over the past week I’ve read at least three different writers suggest the Sox send him to Pawtucket without the writers acknowledging that, in order to do so, you need to either put him on the disabled list and then have him rehab down there or you need to designate him for assignment, hope he clears waivers and then agrees to be assigned to Pawtucket.  You can’t just wave your hand and magically send him there.  It’s possible the people suggesting he go to Pawtucket know this but as I haven’t read those scenarios anywhere just the outcry of “He’s struggling.  Send him down!”, I’m going to guess maybe they don’t.  It’s a horrible slump that Papi is in but I’m not convinced he’s “done”.   Although, I do believe that age and his past injuries are playing a part in what’s going on with him, I’ve seen too many of his swings that looked good and just ended up in someone’s glove for me to believe he’s done.  It’s taking too long for anyone’s liking but I think he’ll bounce back.  Certainly not to the Papi of 2005 but not the one we see right now either.

Sox get a day off today.  I hate days off.  Well, for ME I love days off but for the Sox I hate them.  Thankfully, it’s a day off after a win because days off after a loss (in spite of what I wrote yesterday) really get me antsy.  I like them to get right back out there after a loss.  But they won so I can’t be too anxious.  Tomorrow starts a series against Detroit with Daisuke Matsuzaka pitching against Rick Porcello.  These next three games might prove to be tough given how the Tigers have been playing.  I’m hoping, as always, the Sox can take the series and have higher hopes for the second and third games than I do tomorrow night’s.

If you see him today, wish Derek Lowe a happy 36th birthday!  (Holy cow! D-Lowe is 36?  In baseball, once you’re over 35 does that make you one of the “old” guys?)

Enjoy the off-day, folks.  Tomorrow starts more fun for the boys!

One of the difficulties in writing a blog such as mine is how to cover the “bad” times. I’m not Amalie Benjamin. I don’t just report what happened in the game without any commentary on my feelings about it. My feelings come through in everything I write; that’s the benefit of writing a personal blog. But there’s a level of believability that needs to be kept. People won’t keep reading if they don’t think you’re honest in what you write. So if there’s a lousy game or two and I haven’t written something like “Theo should blow up the entire team” some folks wonder if I’m being genuine.

I received an email yesterday from someone who only started reading my blog when I came over to WEEI.com. The gist of it was that he didn’t believe that I don’t get “angry” (his word) when the Red Sox play poorly. He thinks that I purposely put on a happy face just for the sake of NOT upsetting anyone. (His belief seems to be that I write this blog as if the players are reading it. Which made me laugh out loud as I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t be at the top of the reading list for the Red Sox.) This belief encouraged the writer to send me an email saying I should stop writing because nothing I wrote was real. He also suggested I should write more like Dan Shaughnessy because “that’s what people want to read”. (I’d quote the entire email here but it was, in a word, long. I appreciate the feedback as always but I was amazed at how emotional this person became in writing about how upset he was that I don’t get more upset at the Red Sox.)

So I’m going to put this out there in the event that there are more folks reading me who might feel the same way this fella does.  It isn’t an act.  I absolutely don’t die with every Red Sox loss.

Well, not any more.

There certainly was a time when I did.  Hell, there was at least one game in 2004 that I turned off with tears in my eyes from the frustration of my team losing to the Yankees - again!  Too many nights, prior to 2004, were spent angry and disappointed (only to be replaced with hope the next day as a new game began).  I can’t imagine how much energy I spent fretting over this team and the perceptions folks had not only of them but of the fanbase.

2004 was genuinely life-changing for me.  As a life-long Red Sox fan, the moment the words “Red Sox fans have longed to hear it! The Boston Red Sox are world champions!” were uttered (Sadly, I was listening to Fox that night and  not Joe Castiglione) everything was different.  (Truth be told, the moment Joe Buck said, “The Boston Red Sox have won the Pennant” things started to change.)  I don’t think any fanbase in baseball has every been identified so deeply with the team they root for.  Sure the Yankees fans pretended they were great just because their team was so dominating and folks smiled at the Cubs fans for being “lovable losers” but the Red Sox fans were vilified for supporting their team.  Sox fans were stupid for holding on to a belief (for 86 years) that their team would eventually win.  Fans were mocked for having faith that someday the tides would change and the Red Sox would come out on top.

I remember taking my father to Opening Day at Fenway in 2001.  On the bus ride into Boston, a man noticed our Sox gear (my dad’s gear has always only consisted of a Red Sox cap) and started razzing my father for supporting such “losers”.   My dad is a relatively, even-tempered guy but I almost had to physically separate him from this jerk who kept saying things like “Why not root for a team that wins?  You don’t have to be a fan just because they’re the hometown team!”.  Now, my father is one of those people who absolutely believes if you have a hometown team then you ROOT for the hometown team.  So telling him to root for another team just because his team is losing would be like telling him to give up one of his daughters for a son so he has one of each.

It’s not happening.

So me, my father and thousands upon thousands if not millions of other Red Sox fans had put up with a lifetime of trying to be made to feel insecure, embarrassed or just plain BAD about the team we so deeply supported.  And if you’re a strong enough fan that you write a public blog about your team; if you’re a loyal enough fan that you try to find a way to watch or listen to every single game they play; if your team means so much to you that you only plan vacation time in the summer and travel to see them play out of town, well then when this team finally wins what every fan wants their team to win it IS life-changing.

When they won in 2004, the Red Sox made if possible for me to just genuinely enjoy baseball.  Because I won’t lie, prior to October 27, 2004, I was one of those fans.  Every Red Sox win put me in a good mood and every Red Sox loss put me in a bad one.  Granted, Red Sox wins still put me in a good mood but, amazingly enough, the losses don’t have much affect on what kind of day I’ll have.  That, coupled with the knowledge that Yankees fans no longer have the power to mock Red Sox fans, has changed what kind of fan and person I am. (In 2007, on my last trip to the old Yankee Stadium I saw a Sox loss.  In the train station as we left the game a Yankees fan jumped in my face and screamed “NINETEEN-EIGHTTEEN!”  “Dude, really?”, his friend asked.  It cracked me up.)

2007 was icing on the cake.  Not only did the Sox win in 2004 after 86 years but then they won it again in 2007.  This team wasn’t a “fluke” - they are for real.  And no amount of Yankees fans yelling “1918″ or “26 Rings!” (the chant bellowed in my face when I visited the Bronx in 2005) will EVER change that.  So the 2007 team deserves a bit of thanks as well!

The Yankees are in first place and I’m not fixing to jump off the Tobin Bridge.  Sure I want them to lose but it’s because I hate them not because I fear them.  It’s nice to not worry about the Yankees any more.  It’s fun to enjoy the rivalry without feeling like each game could mark the end of the world.  But the most fun is knowing how so many Red Sox fans feeling this way absolutely infuriates some Yankees fans.  (Okay, SOME parts of the fandom never change.  My enemy’s pain is my pleasure!)

I watched yesterday’s game.  I watched them not be able to hit the ball and I watched them walk off the field defeated.  Then I shut off the television and went on with my day.  It was a pleasant day not marred by thoughts of beating up Terry Francona.  I didn’t spend the evening wondering if Big Papi will ever crack the Mendoza line or worrying about Ramon Ramirez’ ERA uncharacteristically growing (Oh no!  1.44!  The season is OVER!!!!).  Sure it stinks that they’ve lost two in a row to a team that was struggling mightily before Friday night but that doesn’t make me think bad thoughts about the team.  I’m a huge believer in “tomorrow is another day”.  And now tomorrow is today!

If I’m being totally honest, the idea of Jon Lester being our stopper doesn’t fill me with positive vibes.  Nonetheless, I’ll be watching the game today (Or at least most of it I hope.  Family obligations might pull me away from a good portion of it).  I’ll be hoping the team wins and I won’t curl up and die if they lose.

A final note to my email friend and others who think the way he does:  If you’re looking for a blog that bashes the Red Sox just because they lose a game or two, you’re at the wrong place.  It’s as simple as that.

1:07pm today on NESN and WRKO, folks.  Be there.  Aloha.

Well that didn’t go as planned.

Thanks to one of Wake’s patented “this inning is going sour quickly and we don’t have a guy up in the bullpen yet” innings and the fact that the team couldn’t get men in scoring position to actually make it home, Sox break the Blue Jays 9-game losing streak.

Can’t have any hard feelings about Wake.  Guy’s been a horse thus far.  The hitters, on the other hand, I can fault (not-so) happily.

But let’s focus on the positive.  How about Daniel freaking Bard, eh?  Five consecutive strike outs of the 8 bats he faced?  Quite impressive, kid, quite impressive.

Last night, Amalie Benjamin wrote on Twitter:  “Not a lot of glory in being the team that ends another team’s nine-game losing streak.”  I have to disagree.  Well, maybe not “disagree” but I don’t think she is looking at it the right way.  Do the players look at each other and think “Ugh, we just lost to a team that lost 9 in a row” or do they think “The Law of Averages caught up with them and we were unlucky enough to be the team they were playing”?  To lose 10 in a row is huge.  To lose a dozen in a row even worse.  Did anyone think the Blue Jays were going to lose 12 straight games?  I didn’t.  I wanted them to but I didn’t think it would happen.

As I wrote in response to that Tweet, the odds of the Sox winning the next 2 just went up.  It’s unfortunate that the loss came on a night when the Yankees won, placing them a half game ahead of the Sox to, temporarily (!) own first place but what are you going to do?

One note about the Yankees game:  Pettitte came out of the game after getting himself in trouble.  Two on, no out and a 2-0 count to the batter he was facing.  He looked fine walking off the field but it gave the relief pitcher as much time as he wanted to warm up.  There was no visible injury and when he threw his last pitch he didn’t grab himself or limp or wince.  He hurt his back on Monday and, according to Peter Abraham, had been fighting through pain up until Girardi took him out.  Also according to Abraham, Pettitte says he’ll definitely make his next start.  I don’t know…sounds suspiciously like the old Roger Clemens trick of suddenly being injured to get out of a game.  Although Pettitte was winning when he left his game.  It sounds more like Girardi wanted his struggling starter out of the game before it got out of hand and pulled the “he’s injured” card so his reliever could get more warm-up time on the mound.  Part of me wonders why Tito didn’t try this (hey, Wake has had a bad back in the past). “Oops he’s hurt!  Let’s take him out and get someone else in there quickly!”  Another part of me is very glad that Tito’s mind doesn’t work like Joe Girardi’s.  Of course, I feel differently if it turns out Pettitte misses his next start and is genuinely hurt.  For now, I don’t believe it for a second.  Girardi got a fresh arm in there to take as many wam-up tosses as he needed and stopped what could have turned into a really ugly inning.  Good managing or just more slimeballiness from Girardi?  I suppose a little of both.

And the first one to tell me Pettitte wouldn’t be involved in such chicanery needs to be reminded of this.

Speaking of PED users:  Bud Selig has decided that he’ll have to give some thought as to what to do if Manny Ramirez gets voted into the All Star Game.  Seriously, I’d like to find every idiot who voted for him and slap them.   Give your vote to a player who hasn’t been caught cheating.  What a novel idea!  And you can come back with “For all we know they’re ALL cheating” and that is very well true, but I don’t care.  I’m not out to hang witches.  If a player has been caught or admits to using then he cheated.  I’m not pointing to every player who does well and say “He MUST be cheating!”.  That’s bull.  We KNOW Manny cheated.  THIS YEAR.  Why vote him in to the All Star Game when he is serving a suspension for that instead of playing baseball?

A quick shout-out to schadenfreude:

Brett has decided to have surgery,” added Amaro. “And it’s likely we’ll be missing him for a significant amount of time. We don’t know how much time, but he has elected to have surgery.”

According to a team spokesman, Myers was unavailable for comment.

It’s sad when bad things happen to good people isn’t it?  Oh wait…

The Sox and Jays play at 1:07pm EST!  So nice to have a Saturday game played in the early afternoon.  I had considered live blogging it but won’t be.  Tomorrow is still a possibility - we’ll see how the stars align for it.  Today Brad Penny pitches against Brian Tallet.  For as much of a hard time as I’ve given Penny this year, he’s been pretty solid for the Sox.  We don’t need a stopper today we need a STARTER.  Someone to start the winning series!  I’ll be thrilled with the Sox leaving Toronto having won 2 out of 3.  But for that to happen, GOOD Brad Penny needs to show up today (along with a bunch of hitters who don’t keep leaving men on, thanks!).

When I first started watching baseball I was fascinated with the outfielders (and not just because, even as a child, I found Rice, Lynn and Evans to be cuties!  Hey, I was a little girl.  Watching cute “boys” play ball was nothing but fun!).  It seemed like the infielders got to do most of the work while the outfielders just hung around waiting for fly balls.  I often wondered how they kept their intensity up when the game seemed to be so slow for them.  Of course, seeing them knock themselves against the Green Monster and the right field all made me change my mind about the excitement level in the outfield.

As I got older, I started appreciating the infielders much more.   I loved watching double plays get made and especially enjoyed watching the third baseman rifle the ball to first to get those close outs.  (Keep in mind, my first MLB game was Wade Boggs’ first game at Fenway.  I developed an interest in the infield rather quickly!)

But as I got even older my attention turned to the pitchers.

It’s almost at the point where I can’t understand how anyone focuses  more attention on any of the other players.  Sure JD Drew’s swing is sweet and back in the day there was nothing that brought joy more quickly than a David Ortiz walk-off.  But nothing gets the adrenaline going for me like watching a pitcher.  Whether it’s striking out a batter or working himself out of a bad inning, I’m constantly amazed at the focus and talent it takes to be a Major League pitcher.

Needless to say I was thrilled with Josh Beckett’s performance yesterday.  I missed watching it live as I was at work but got to listen to Joe Castiglione and Dave O’Brien call it.  I then went home and watched the 3-hour replay on NESN at 7pm and, currently, am watching the 1-hour replay on NESN.  Heck, I might even watch the 2-hour replay at 2pm on NESN.  This is a beautiful game to watch.

(A brief digression:  In yesterday’s game there were only a few points of interest when you’re editing it into an hour:  Beckett striking out the side in the first.  Joe Crede’s home run.  Both of Jason Varitek’s home runs.  Bailey scoring the third run and Papelbon closing it out are some.  There was something else of import yesterday, no?  Maybe the two catchers and the two managers getting thrown out of the game in the same inning by the same umpire?  NESN showed everything I listed EXCEPT Bailey scoring and all of the ejections.  I know an hour isn’t a lot of time to edit a three-hour game but when it’s a 3-1 game with not much action it seems ridiculous to EDIT OUT THE ACTION.  Tremendous FAIL, NESN.  I’m done now.)

I want the “real” Josh Beckett to stay with us.  I approve greatly of him.  111 pitches in 7 innings with 69 being thrown for strikes.  8 strikeouts, 3 hits and 1 earned run (on a home run ball).  He had a couple of opportunities where he could have let things get out of control (worst of all in the 7th inning) and he didn’t.  In the middle of my pitchers lovefest I need to stop and give credit to Jason Varitek.  Not only did he hit the two home runs that gave the Red Sox the win but he took one for the team in getting in the face of the homeplate umpire so his pitcher didn’t get booted from the game (and, possibly, suspended depending on how that could have gone).

If I’m giving out props I should probably add some for Twins pitcher Anthony Swarzak.  Kid pitched a hell of a game.  Thankfully, Beckett pitched a wee bit better.  It was a bit of a bummer that Ellsbury and Pedroia had their hitting streaks halted but it also says something about Swarzak’s pitching that it happened with him on the mound.

Although, if there has to be a trade-off, I’m good with Ells and Pedie stopping their streaks as long as it equalled a win.

But back to pitchers for a moment.   On Wednesday, Bronson Arroyo threw a 92-pitch complete game against the Houston Astros.  He only struck out 3 but he also only walked 1 and gave up 1 run on 5 hits (that only run actually coming in the first inning on a walk, a steal, a ground out and a sacrifice fly).  I need to track this game down today (mlb.com is good for SOMETHING).  Bronson gets a fair amount of criticism across the board.  He isn’t known as a true “Ace” for his team.  But this year  he has been the guy for the Reds.  As much as I mourned that damn trade for Wily Mo there is certainly no denying that it was the best thing to happen to Bronson professionally (okay, second best to winning a World Series.  Maybe third best to throwing a perfect game in Pawtucket.  Still, the trade is right up there on the list of best things to happen to Bronson in baseball!).  I’ve said this before:  Bronson should send Theo a fruit basket every March to mark the occasion.

Tim Wakefield is on the mound tonight in Toronto.  Toronto is on a major slide right now with their nine-game losing streak (started by the Red Sox, thank you very much!).  I’m terribly excited at the prospect of another sweep.  I’m  not making predictions; I’m just hoping against hope.  I’ll take the series win, though, fellas.

I missed  most of last night’s game as well.  I’m happy for Jacoby’s hitting streak being in tact but not so happy to have another road loss.  I hate dwelling on the past but realize that sometimes it’s necessary.

So, in an effort to put the last couple of games, into perspective,  here’s what went on with the Red Sox a year ago today:

The Red Sox were in Seattle and lost to the Mariners 1-0.  Tim Wakefield pitched all 8 innings, striking out 8 and giving up only 1 run on 5 hits.  The Mariners used 3 pitchers (Erik Bedard got the win and J.J. Putz the save) to 2-hit the Sox (Those hits coming from the bats of Manny Ramirez and Mike Lowell).  The Red Sox were a game and a half out of first base behind the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees were six games behind Tampa Bay and in last place.

The Sox had also lost to the Mariners in the previous game.  THAT was the game where Matsuzaka had to come out because of back pain (which quickly turned to “shoulder fatigue”) and Manny hit his 499th home run.

My point in dredging this up now?  You’re always going to go through periods of suck with the team you love.  Sometimes it’s amplified by their being on the road and sometimes, even though there were good games between the bad, you feel like the team is never going to get out of whatever funk they’re in.    Thus far, in the month of May, the Red Sox are 13-12.  Just over .500.  Sure this isn’t fantastic.  Especially when you look and see the  Yankees have gone 15-10 in May (and I know many if not most of you are looking at the Yankees as well).   But it’s May, folks.  We  have 4 entire months of regular season baseball left.  If we’re going to get worked up over a series or two that doesn’t go our way, it’s going to be a long, hot, miserable summer.

This should perk you up:  Curt Schilling has a live chat going on at noon today.  He’s using the “Cover it Live” software that’s become so popular.  Here’s hoping he also using the moderator function and doesn’t approve every insulting message he gets.  Power is fun, Curt, use it well!

Oh and then there’s that baseball game on at 1:10pm.  I have to imagine Josh Beckett is not amused by two straight losses.  Put a stop to it, JPB.

I missed baseball yesterday.  All of it.  In the process I missed most of the American League East suck eggs.  Which, in some cases, was good and in other cases kind of bums me out.

So my theory about Lester doing well when I don’t pay attention gets thrown out the window.  Oh well.  From what I can tell he was doing fine until he got himself into a little trouble and then he kind of caved.  This feels like a growing pattern.  When Jason Varitek keeps telling us that Lester is “young” and has some “maturing” to do I think we should be listening.  I know I have been.

I greeted the morning by reading email.  One message came from a Yankees fan who used to comment on my blog back when I was on MLBlogs.  (A brief digression:  MLBlogs tries to cultivate a community of bloggers, regardless of team affiliation.  This resulted in my being criticized from different areas for, essentially, not being nice to the opposing teams fans by writing digs about their team - almost exclusively the complaints came in regard to anything I wrote about the Yankees.  Back at MLBlogs I received more comments on my blog from Yankees fans than even Red Sox fans.  Not surprisingly, most of them didn’t follow me when I left.) The gist of the message was to rub it in that Lester lost again and to REALLY rub it in about David Ortiz.  This fan reasoned that Papi’s troubles come from his no longer taking PEDs.  This same fan also mentioned how Alex Rodriguez hasn’t missed a beat since returning to the Yankees.  Now maybe it’s just me but if you’re going to accuse someone who has never been proven (or officially accused) of using PEDs and in the same paragraph you sing the praises of someone who has admitted to using them, you might have a few issues of your own.  True story, I tried to email this person back and my message bounced back.  So I’ll say here what I was going to say in email.  If we’re following your logic and Papi’s dramatic struggles are a result of his no longer using PEDs, wouldn’t that mean that you should attribute A*Rod’s outburst of productivity since returning to his still using PEDs?  Makes sense to me. 

Due to circumstances slightly out of my control (read:  falling asleep after plying myself with NyQuil) there won’t be a live blog tonight.  (This whole “my being home on Wednesdays and the Sox playing day games on Thursdays” stinks.  I’d love to be live blogging in the afternoon!)  Depending on how I’m feeling, I’m looking at possibly live blogging either the Friday night or Saturday afternoon game.  We’ll see how my plans go.

The Baltimore Orioles are in last place but were the only AL East team to pull out a win yesterday.  As of right now, the Red Sox are still a game up on the Yankees and in first place.   It isn’t much but I’ll take it.

I took some decent shots yesterday and put them up on Picasa (see below).  Enjoy!

And don’t forget - Sox on NESN at 2pm today!

Dear Tim Wakefield:

See, here’s the thing:  I was okay with the team losing on Friday.  Daisuke’s first game back and all.  He pitched well; things just didn’t work out.  And last night?  Well, Papelbon has been truly remarkable this year thus far.  I was upset for a moment as I saw the home run but in the big picture knew we were bound for this to happen at some point.  I’m not about to get all banged up on a night it looked like we had 2007 Josh Beckett in the house.  Losing the series to the Mets sucks, but, all in all, I’m not getting too worked up about it.  But today?  See, I’m at the game today.  (Yesterday was spent at An Tua Nua’s with 30 or so of some fabulous people!)  I’ve never been in Fenway at the game of a sweep against the Red Sox and I have no intentions of starting now.

Think about the children, Tim.  If the Mets sweep the Red Sox today, I very well might take out a couple of obnoxious Mets fans.  Some of them might have kids.  (Not saying all Mets fans are obnoxious.  They aren’t any more than all Red Sox fans are.  But I seem to attract the obnoxious ones at the park.)  God help the Cowbell Man if I see him off of a Mets sweep.  (Who am I kidding?  God help the Cowbell Man if I see him at all today.  Okay, not if I see him but if I hear him.  My friends are scattered through the park this afternoon.  I’m sitting alone.  I’ll have no one there to remind me I should take the cowbell and shove it….well, never mind.)

Digressing for a moment:  That Wiki page on the Cowbell Man says the Yankees also have a Cowbell Man to go along with the pan-banging Freddy Sez dude.  Is it that difficult to make your own noise with your hands and voices that you need instruments?  WTF?  Wouldn’t it drive you batshit, Tim, if we banged cowbells all day?

But back to TODAY, Tim.  Win.  I know it’s unfair to ONCE A FREAKIN GAIN ask you to be our “stopper” but here it is.  You need to stop this shit and stop it now, dude.  If this means a complete game, so be it.  A no-hitter?  Do it.  A perfect game?  Come on, why not?  The team needs a win so fans don’t go mental on Julio Lugo as the team leaves the park for the airport this afternoon.

Win Tim.  Make the Mets cry.  Silence their fans.  Make sure I get to work on Tuesday instead of spending the long weekend in the clink.  This is your calling…accept it and excel.  Thank you.

PVs

Cyn Donnelly

————————————————————————————————————————————

Yesterday was an amazing day spent with friends (most of whom I haven’t seen in quite a while or hadn’t met yet!).  There are many amazing tales to tell (but not here!) - my favorite being when our friend Susan noted that we could start singing “O Canada” except no one knows the words past “O Canada!”.  Standing up and singing loudly and proudly, a group of us proved her wrong.

That our serenade didn’t get us thrown out still kind of surprises me.

If people tell you that you won’t meet any good folks online, tell them they’re wrong.  I’ve made some of my real-life closest friends online.  The Sistahs, the LMOTFers and the SGers are groups I was a part of online that turned into many off-line, true friendships.  For that I am grateful to the Red Sox (hey, all three were parts of Red Sox messages boards and or blogs).  So I can’t begrudge them a loss or two when they’ve done so much for me!

On Sunday at the game I’ll finally get to meet MetsGrrl.  I’m looking forward to it.  She’s funny and nice and she’s quite knowledgeable about baseball.  Plus, she writes wonderfully.  I have a couple of other online Mets fan friends who I get to talk baseball and other things with so I have no hard feelings towards Mets fans in general.   And when they aren’t playing the Red Sox, I like (most of) the Mets.  So I didn’t go into this weekend thinking “I’m going to get into a fight with the first Mets fan I see!”.  But twice last night there was a moment when, were I a different type of person, I probably could have put myself in a position to not only get in a fight of some sort but most definitely to get thrown out of the park.

I’m not holding it against all Mets fans.   When we were at CitiField the fans were fine.  But I was reminded last night that the ones who travel seem to get a little bit of (liquid?) courage because I was in a near fight with one last time too.

Last night, the first incident happened while I was waiting in line for ice cream. (I have a sore throat that’s killing me.  It was nice to be sitting relatively close to the soft serve ice cream stand!)  A group of Mets fans walked by and one of the lovelies decided to bellow “Red Sox Suck!” as she walked by.  I literally spun around to see who would yell such a dumbass thing in Fenway and was genuinely surprised that it wasn’t just some Red Sox fan fooling around.  No, it was  a Mets fan, decked out in all their gear (including the David Wright jersey), stumbling a bit and laughing her ass off.  Definitely not worth my tripping her and getting myself thrown out of the game before it was even midway over.

Then in the fifth, Santana hits Youk.  I’m not sure ANYONE thought it was intentional (even Youk) but it obviously hurt and Youk made that clear as he walked up the first base line.  Santana jawed back at him and it was over.  The the guy behind me started yelling (and I mean YELLING) to Youk and using the word “A-hole” (in its entirety).  Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but if I went to CitiField and Gary Sheffield took exception to being hit by Josh Beckett and I started calling Sheffield an “ass”, I’d probably get in some kind of trouble.  At the very least I’d be outed as a total horse’s ass, yes?  This same guy (in Mets jersey and cap) started barking at Big Papi during his next at bat.  The word “jerk” was used this time.  I’m sorry, this is unacceptable behavior to me.

Cheering for your team is one thing.  Heck the Sox and Mets fans (as they did at CitiField) had the “Let’s go Red Sox!  Let’s go Mets!” chants going many times over.  The woman in front of me (in one of many Jose Reyes jerseys I saw that night) cheered every time her team did something well.  Unlike the guys in front of HER, she didn’t stand up and puff out her chest and tug on her jersey.  There’s a way to act when you’re at someone else’s house and while I don’t expect fans to just shut up and sit there (I actually enjoy the park having opposing fans in it) I also don’t expect you to insult the team while you’re here.

I’ve been known to get into it with folks at games.  Usually, though, it’s Red Sox fans booing their own that I get into it with. Last night I decided to let it go.  No sense getting booted out of a game I really want to be at.  But on Sunday I’ll really not have much to lose.  If I end up near any of the obnoxious Mets fans, all bets are probably off.

Oh, I forgot to mention the guy (who has to be the same guy we saw at CitiField, right?) in the Mets jersey with “Buckner” and “86″ on the back.  I admit to absolutely wanting to go over and dump a beer on him.  But KellyO, my usually rational friend, pointed out that my reaction was exactly what he was looking for and no reaction was the best way to get back at him.  Kelly also touched on something I agree with.  If he’s wearing a Mets jersey with the name of a player who didn’t play for them, what is that saying?  Does he believe the ‘86 Mets sucked and only won the World Series because of Buckner?  What kind of fan is that?

I ended up concluding that the Buckner ‘86 guy was a sad (or pathetic.  Take your pick.)  Red Sox have won two World Series titles since 1986.  What have the Mets done, darling?

The day held a lot of good.  Got to meet up with friends for the first day of our weekend and go on the Fenway tour.  Sadly, the best part of the tour was seeing Mike Lowell and his young son playing ball on the field (Lowell’s son was wearing a Sox uniform.  The jersey he wore?  Why Dustin Pedroia’s of course!  “But dad!  HE’S the MVP!!!”).   Someone really needs to tell Dora the Explorer (otherwise known as the gal giving the tour who felt the need to SCREAM even though she was mic’d up) that Harry Frazee didn’t sell Babe Ruth to finance “No, No, Nanette”.  It’s embarrassing to hear that story told at Fenway Park by someone paid by the Red Sox.  Standing with Donna and Ted for that “lesson” and Donna wanted me to correct her while Ted wanted Donna to stop egging me on.  I stayed silent.  It wasn’t easy.  Wikipedia has Leigh Montville’s version of the “real” story:

It also turns out that there was a solid basis for the No, No, Nanette story. As Leigh Montville discovered during research for his book, The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth (Random House, 2006, p.161-164), No, No, Nanette had originated as a non-musical stage play called My Lady Friends, which opened on Broadway in December 1919. His research indicated that that play had, indeed, been financed as a direct result of the Ruth sale to the Yankees.

I’d say “solid basis” is stretching it. Bottom line is he wasn’t sold for “No, No, Nanette” and the Sox should stop telling that story. Yes, it’s supposed to be “amusing”. “Oh he sold the best player in baseball for a play with a funny name that failed!”. It’s not amusing, it’s stupid. And it’s lazy to just trot out the same old story. On the whole, I was disappointed with the Fenway tour. There’s so much more they could have done with it. It really isn’t much of a tour at all.

It was great to see Daisuke back.  (I’ve complained a lot in this entry already.  Is  now a good time to wonder again why people feel the need to write “Dice-K” when it is pronounced the same as his actual name?  Is it that much more difficult to write “Daisuke”?)  The pitching line for him last night wasn’t horrible and I was encouraged.  Aside from Santana’s 8 strike outs, the pitching lines weren’t all that different for both teams.  In 7 innings, Santana gave up 7 hits and 3 runs, walked 1 and gave up a home run.  In 5 innings, Matsuzaka gave up 5 hits and 4 runs, walked 2 and gave up a home run.  Given it was his first start back, Tito pulled Daisuke at 80 pitches while Santana stayed in for 118.  This game could have gone either way.  Once finding out that the Jays and the Yankees both lost their games so the Sox lost no ground last night, I was able to come away pleased with our pitching and the way the team played in general.

I’m not getting my sweep so I’ll settle for the series win, fellas!

Today starts a weekend of (relative) debauchery at, what has now become, an annual “Palooza” with a large group of my friends.  I’m still hoping to be posting at least once each day - but I promise very little as my attentions will be elsewhere for most of the time!

Quite pleased with the sweep of the Blue Jays…but not surprised.  Not to take much away from their hot start but it’s interesting to see how they’ve fared against most of the AL East.  Now the Sox need to take it to the Mets as well.  Another sweep would be nice, fellas, but I’ll be satisfied with a series win.

I like the Mets.  Aside from this weekend, I hope that they kick butt this season.  But this weekend I want them to go down like dogs.

I’ll be at the games tonight and Sunday.  Excited about seeing Daisuke finally pitch again and am thrilled that I’ll get to see Wake pitch.  There used to be a time when we would joke that Wake was always pitching at games we went to.  Now I feel like there could someday soon be no Wake games to see and want to get to as many as I can.  Yes, I can be maudlin.

But not this weekend!  This weekend will be dedicated to fun times and a good attitude.  Sox will win and a good time will be had by all!

Oh, Jon.  You really need a stylist, darlin’.

Tonight in your post-game press conference you were wearing a shirt that has been seen in public on both Ryan Seacrest and Ben Roethlisberger.

Are these really two guys you want to be associated with?

I missed the entire game because I worked until just after 9pm.  Was walking up to the house when the game ended and played some “Dirty Water” on the iPhone before I went in.  So all I know about the game are the snippets I got to hear.  Good for Jon for bouncing back.  Let’s hope he keeps bouncing.  I’m encouraged but I’m waiting for another game or two with this same result before I get excited.

More when I wind down.  It’s been a long day; I’m really glad the Sox didn’t make it worse!

I know it’s ridiculous how I reacted to Big Papi hitting his first home run.  I cried.  Not giant, sobbing tears, mind you, but tears nonetheless.  I was just so happy for the big guy.  Still am.  And it was amazing how comfortable he seemed to look at the plate after that.  Kudos to the Fenway Faithful for not giving in to the nastiness that’s been permeating the Boston sports media about Ortiz.

The support the fans gave him was tremendous.  The curtain call he took was proof, to me, of how much he appreciated it.  Papi’s not one to usually take a curtain call, no matter how much we ask!

And once Papi let loose, the entire team seemed to follow.  Jacoby Ellsbury not only has now kept his hitting streak alive at 15 games, but he tied the Major League record for put outs last night at 12 (And now being the Red Sox leader with put outs in a game as the old Red Sox record was 10!).  Jason Varitek hit TWO home runs last night while Jason Bay and Mike Lowell each picked up one of their own.  Heck, even Brad Penny didn’t make anyone (read:  ME) freak out.  It was a fabulous game to watch, wasn’t it?  I’m sure Daniel Bard would have preferred a less bumpy introduction to Fenway but at least he now has his “first” behind him.   Oh, and did I mention one Kevin Youkilis going 3-5 upon his return?  Apparently, his lack of production in Pawtucket was no cause for alarm.  This pleases me greatly.  Every Sox batter had a hit last night.  Varitek, Lowell, Bay, Youkilis and Ortiz all having multiple hits.  This was a good game.

That the Sox took the first two from the Jays didn’t surprise me.  Heck, I was calling for a sweep.  It’s interesting to see the difference in them when they’re playing a contending AL East team, huh?  I will admit, though, that I felt a little sorry for Brett Cecil.  Cito Gaston seemed to leave him hanging a while in the 5th.  I can’t imagine it’s any fun giving up five home runs in a game, let alone four in the same inning and two to the same hitter.  Still…the outcome was fun for us!

Jon Lester needs to shake off his previous crappy start and just go pitch his damn ass off tonight.  We all know he has it in him so tonight is as good a time as any to stop talking about how hard he works and go out there and show us.

Thanks, again, to everyone who stopped by for the live blog.  It was fun for me so I hope it was fun for you.

Jon Lester v Robert Ray at 7:10pm.  I won’t be live blogging but I still wouldn’t miss it.  A sweep could be imminent!

Thanks to Tim Wakefield and his quick game, yesterday wasn’t as long and tiring as I expected it to be.  Still, it was a long day but any day I get to see two baseball games in person and I watch my team with both games, I really can’t find much to complain about.

Clay Buchholz had his most interesting outing of the season.  He pitched in and out of trouble for the 4 1/3 innings he was in there, ultimately giving up three runs on seven hits (including a home run that  didn’t leave the park and wasn’t initially called a home run, but hit the top of the home run mark on the center field wall.  Clay wasn’t too happy about that and left the game shortly thereafter).  PawSox fan favorite Iggy Suarez (KellyO offered that Julio Lugo should change his name to Iggy because fans love a guy named Iggy) and Angel Chavez both hit home runs and even newly-mustachioed Billy Traber pitched a clean inning and got the win.

But the true highlights of our day at McCoy happened off the field.  Kyle Snyder was there with the Buffalo Bisons.  We, unfortunately, didn’t get to see him pitch, but found a moment to give him a shout-out and wish him luck.  Kyle looked relaxed and happy.  He seems quite comfortable with his teammates and even sat in the bullpen for the entire game (my  understanding is he’s now the number 5 starter for the Bisons).  It pleases me greatly to see Kyle doing so well, even if his team isn’t right now.

Also, another (not-so) old friend was at McCoy yesterday - Javier Lopez.

I interrupt my own entry to offer some background for those who don’t have it.  My friend Kelly O’Connor has a travel mascot - a stuffed ferret.  She brings “Steve T Ferret” with her to games home and on the road (he initially started hanging with us when Kelly brought him to a gathering of a bunch of us - some whom had never met.  “We’ll be at the table with the ferret on it!”).  He’s become a part of one of my gang of friends (yes, we know he’s stuffed.  We still have fun with him and he even has his own Facebook page) and is a large part of the lore surrounding that group.  Kelly got Kyle to pose with Steve in Baltimore in 2007, then we brought a poster-sized version of the picture to the 2007 World Series parade and Javi noticed it and pointed it out to Kyle.  Kelly then got him to sign the picture of he and Steve and in 2008 Kelly made a Snyder jersey for Steve - which she got Kyle to sign.

This year, Kelly made Steve a Javier Lopez jersey and yesterday was Kelly’s shot at getting Javi to sign it.  Which he did.  From all accounts (and what we could see across the park) Javi took it with the humor and appreciation that was behind it.  I know he isn’t popular with a lot of folks around these parts right now, but he really seems to be a stand-up guy and I wish nothing but the best for him.

Once the PawSox game was over, it was on to Boston.  Neither KellyO nor I drive so we had to Amtrak it back from whence we came and got to Fenway just in time for the gates to open and let us in.  Tim Wakefield, once again, proved he is currently the best pitcher in the starting rotation and Jonathan Papelbon looked like someone I hadn’t seen in a while.  Comes into a 2-1 game and doesn’t put anyone on base?  I love this Jonathan Papelbon and would like to see more of him please.

There was one thing that happened during the game that made me wish I was watching from home.  When Bailey and Pedroia both failed to catch a pop-up, I noticed Wake point at Bailey.  As I was sitting on the third base line, I only saw this from behind and was trying to figure out what the context was.  Was he reprimanding Bailey for not taking control and calling the ball?  Was he telling him it was okay?  Did they mention it on NESN when it happened?  Am I going to have to start bringing a tv to Fenway?

Two great wins to top off a beautiful day.  It was a nice way to spend a Tuesday.

Penny on the mound tonight.  Me on the couch live blogging.  I think that’s best for everyone.

So which one is true?  This account  by AP reporter Jimmy Golen (which boston.com published last night but now it seems to have disappeared from their site):

The crowd gave him a tepid cheer for each of his first three plate appearances, but rose with a “Papi!” chant when he came to bat with a runner on first in the eighth.

Or this one from Adam Kilgore who was, presumably, at the game:

The Sox offense, again, got no lift from Ortiz. He received an ovation before each of his four plate appearances, the crowd saving its loudest cheers for his final at-bat. With Dustin Pedroia on first, Ortiz walked to the plate as Fenway shook from the crowd’s chants of “Pa-pi! Pa-pi!”

As someone who was there I can tell you there wasn’t anything “tepid” about the reaction the fans had to Papi approaching the plate each time last night.  Kilgore is right about his final at-bat.  Fenway was shaking with all the cheering folks did for him.  But they gave him a standing ovation during his first at-bat and went crazy for him with support after that.  The fan support was certainly palpable.  For Golen to describe it as “tepid” is an insult to the fans and reads like a dig to Big Papi.  Enough with that crap, sports writers.

Since I’m nitpicking today:  I guess it’s time for my annual “Steve Buckley Doesn’t Get It” moment:

Red Sox fans have long memories, which is why David Ortiz [stats] was greeted so warmly when the big guy came to bat in the bottom of the first inning last night at Fenway Park [map].

Fans cheered him for his postseason heroics in 2004. They cheered him for the 54 home runs in 2006. They cheered him for the five consecutive seasons of 100 or more RBI. And for so much more.

You know what that “so much more” is, Steve?  We want him to do well.  It’s as simple as that.  We know he’s struggling and instead of booing him back to creation fans decided the best course of action was to cheer him and show him that we’re behind him.  We didn’t cheer him for his home runs or his RBI or for 2004 - we cheered him BECAUSE of all of that. There’s quite a difference.

Okay, enough crabbing.  (Wait!  Speaking of “Crabbing”, I’m told I missed a classic Crabcakes moment yesterday when Heidi Watney interviewed Jon Lester about the anniversary of his no-hitter!  NESN needs to get this up on their website ASAP!)

I’ll be back in a little while (Yay day off after 16 hours of baseball and traveling!) with a recap of the fun that was yesterday at the ballpark!  And don’t forget - Live Blog tonight at 7:00!

By the time most of you read this, I’ll be in Pawtucket with KellyO (and Steve!) waiting for the Pawsox/Bisons game to begin.  I’m leaving the house around 6:30am for a 12:05pm game.  After the PawSox game, I’ll be heading back to Boston for the Red Sox/Blue Jays game.

I’m quite looking forward to it but I’m also looking toward Wednesday to catch up on some sleep!

We’ll see Clay Buchholz pitch in Pawtucket and then Tim Wakefield in Boston.  I’m hoping for a Kyle Snyder sighting at McCoy (and realize that there might also be a Javier Lopez sighting.  It’ll be like 2007 all over again!  ).

Cute article on Kyle over at the Buffalo Bisons website - written by a fifth grader  named “Nate”.

Snyder was born on September 9, 1977 in Houston, Texas. His favorite player was San Francisco Giant Will Clark. Snyder graduated from high school in 1996 and was drafted by the Devil Rays in the amateur draft. However, he chose to go to UNC at Chapel Hill. While at college, this 6′8″ giant also played golf, basketball, and swam. In 1998, he was drafted 7th overall by the KC Royals.

Is that not the cutest thing?  Nate has good taste for a 5th grader.

The Bisons beat the PawSox on Monday 9-2.  This puts their record at 10-26 (as opposed to the record of the PawSox:  21-16).   It’s tough to begrudge the team a win with a record like that.  Maybe beating the second place team so soundly will give them that extra kick they need to get them back on track.

Kevin Youkilis was playing in Pawtucket Monday night and went 0-2 with a walk.

“I felt good,” he said. “Just a little rusty, just baseball and all that. But I felt good and excited just to be on the field again. It was good to get out there, and play a little bit, get at-bats, see the ball from the pitcher. It was good to have a guy [Buffalo starter Fernando Nieve] who had a little velocity, too, just to see that. Felt good, just, hopefully, [Tuesday] I can get some more at-bats and each day hopefully get comfortable each day playing.”

So we’ll get to see more at-bats for Youk Tuesday afternoon.  While that will be cool, I can’t wait to see him back at Fenway.  I’ve had enough of these crappy games and we need hit bat back in that lineup.

Incidentally, I’m definitely live blogging Wednesday night’s game.  7:10pm game time on Wednesday.  Much more workable than a 10:05pm start!

Wake, again, gets to be a stopper of sorts Tuesday night.  Just win, fellas, just win.

Today marks the beginning of a week of much baseball and fun for me.  I have tickets to four games (one being a Pawtucket/Buffalo game - Javier Lopez and Kyle Snyder together again - sort of!) this week and Friday starts a weekend of “paloozaing” with no less than 35 of my closest friends.  We have people coming in from Tennessee, California, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, Georgia, all over New England and even New Zealand for what promises to be a wild weekend!

So I’m having a little trouble sustaining my disappointment over the way the Boston road trip ended yesterday.

I could write about Nick Green’s errors or how many men were left on base.  I could complain that two guys who have been coming up big for us (Bay and Lowell) left the bases loaded in an inning that would have won the game.  I could talk about Rocco Baldelli taking  his DH role so seriously that he mirrored the way Papi has been hitting lately.  But what’s the point?  I was encouraged by the pitching.  Masterson, in probably his last start for a while, gave up nine hits and two earned runs in six innings.  Maybe not poetry but he also struck out six so I’ll take it.  He pitched well enough to win which is good enough for me these days.   Delcarmen and Okajima were perfect in their appearances and Ramon Ramirez, who has been perfect all season, was just a victim of circumstances.  So I have two ways to go, focus on the bad (the Blue Jays and Yankees both won again and the Sox are now three games behind Toronto and only a game and a half ahead of New York) or focus on the positives.  I’m going with the latter.

Sox get a much needed (for all of us, I think!) day off today and start up again at Fenway tomorrow night against the Blue Jays.  I’ve been telling people that I’ll start being impressed with the Jays when they start playing the AL East and winning.  They didn’t face one AL East team in April and in May have played the last place Orioles (sweeping them in a three-game series) and the Yankees (losing that series two games to one with their only win against New York coming behind a Roy Halladay complete game).  I don’t mean to insult the current division leader but I have high hopes for the Red Sox this week.  The Sox miss having to hit against Halladay by one game.  I have confidence that they’ll be able to take advantage of this.

Tim Wakefield on the mound tomorrow night.  Since I’ll be up and out of the house much earlier Tuesday than on days when I’m working (road trip to Pawtucket!) and then heading to Fenway I really am hoping for one of his patented short games (culminating in a win for the Sox!).  Tomorrow promises to be a long (but fun) day!

Although it was a long day, I was fully awake for last night’s game up through the second inning when Betancourt hit his two-run home run off of Beckett.   Then I gave in to my body begging for rest.  I was then awakened by “Jeff Bailey hits a home run on the first pitch he sees!” (or something like that) in the fifth and didn’t even lift my head because I, honestly, thought I was dreaming.  Oh me of little faith.  I didn’t wake again until the ninth inning where I got to see Papelbon finish things up for the 5-3 win over the Mariners.  Not the best way to “watch” a game but I can’t argue with the results.

Just wish I had seen more of Beckett to get a better feel for what folks are saying about him today.  120 pitches in 7 innings would have driven me nuts had I been awake for Beckett coming back for the 7th with 108 pitches already behind him.   But it all worked out. I didn’t see it, he got out of the inning and Okajima, Ramirez and Papelbon finished things up.

4:10pm (EST) today.  Masterson pitching (for the last time in the rotation before Daisuke gets back?) against Jason Vargas.  It’ll be pleasant to be able to sit and watch a game without falling asleep or wondering how I’m going to get up for work in the morning.

Charlie Zink won the Zink v Snyder battle last night in Pawtucket.  Kyle threw 71 pitches in just over five innings, giving up three  earned runs on seven hits.  Those three runs were enough, though, because Zink threw 91 pitches in six  innings, giving up two earned runs on six hits and four walks.  Charlie matched Kyle for strikes with four on the night.  PawSox radio dude Steve Hyder said Kyle looked “sharp”.  (My understanding is that was just prior to giving up the 3 runs, though.)  Well, the pressure is off me, no more wondering which team I was rooting for.  Nice to have something going on yesterday so I didn’t even get to pay attention to the game until it was over.

Road trip on Tuesday to Pawtucket for a 12pm game (and then back to Boston for the 7:10pm game against the Jays) should be fun.  And it just got a little more interesting in Pawtucket as Tito announced Kevin Youkilis will have two rehab starts at McCoy - this coming Monday and Tuesday.  I’ve missed Youk in the BoSox lineup but I’m not sure I’m all that delighted at being at a game in Pawtucket where he’s playing.  I think the crowd there changes when the big leaguers go down for rehab assignments (at least the bigger names).  Instead of the diehards who go to see the PAWSox play, you get a lot of people who wouldn’t normally go to a game head down just to see a big name player.  Takes a little away from the minor league atmosphere for me.

Looking outside at a cool, grey Sunday.  A good day to stay inside and curl up on the couch to watch baseball all day!

I think Jon Lester put it best about last night:

“I really don’t know what to say, other than it’s been [expletive],” Lester said. “I bust my [behind] every five days to go out and perform, and I’m not performing right now. I’m letting the team down. There’s no reason that we should not have won that game after four runs in the first three innings. It’s inexcusable.

That bolded part is pretty much what I said after watching that train wreck of a performance by Lester.  Please don’t tell me how great he was over the first five innings.   His meltdown in the sixth inning after he made the mental error of not being able to start the double play that would have gotten him out of the inning, for me, erases anything else he did last night.  Everyone wants to talk about Papi’s struggles and there are still many out there who want to bash Julio Lugo (who happens to be hitting .326 with a .392 OBP right now) but Jon Lester (and Josh Beckett, if I’m being fair, but that’s for another rant) seems to be untouchable when it comes to criticism.  When do people start saying “How is it that the kid so many had pegged for Cy Young this year has an ERA well past 6.00 with teams hitting .311 against him?”  Sure his strike outs are there (54 in 47 innings) but if he’s not following through to pitch well enough for the win - what good are they doing?

As a comparison, I looked up a player no one expected anything out of.  The Anti-Jon Lester, if you will.  Here are some numbers:  The Anti-Jon Lester has pitched 37.2 innings (to Lester’s 47), his ERA is 6.45 (to Lester’s 6.51), he’s given up 50 hits (to Lester’s 60), he’s given up 4 home runs (to Lester’s 10) and opponents are hitting .321 off of him (to Lester’s .311).  Lester bests him in strike outs (Lester has 54 to this guy’s 26) but the Anti-Jon Lester has a WHIP of 1.54 compared to Lester’s 1.62.

Who is the Anti-Jon Lester in this example?  Cleveland Indians pitcher Carl Pavano.

In the article I linked above, Adam Kilgore points out a couple of things that should encourage me:

Lester finished last season with a .771 winning percentage, the best in the modern era for a pitcher with at least 59 starts. Lester pitched at least seven innings in 16 starts last season. He’s done it twice in eight starts this season.

and

Lester experienced similar struggles at the beginning of last season. He did not become one of the best pitchers in the game until late last year.

I’d like to note that Lester’s winning percentage last year was actually .727.   Nitpicky to be sure, but I found it quite easy to find the proper number while researching all of Jon’s stats.  Anyway, my problem with comparing this year to last is that last year Lester was a horse for this team.  He threw just over 210 innings for the Sox and really did seem to leave it all out on the field for them.  So why am I picking on him?

Well, I don’t think I am.  But it’s tough for me to watch him have mediocre outings and then hear people complain about some other aspect of the game as if his pitching didn’t contribute to the four losses he has in the eight appearances he’s made thus far.

Do I think Lester is going to become the Carl Pavano we all knew from the Yankees?  No.  No I don’t.  But I also think at 25 he still hs a lot of growing up to do and to crown him the next Red Sox Hall of Famer is a tad premature.  Hell, even Jason Varitek seems to take every opportunity he gets to remind reporters that Lester is a work in progress and still has a lot to do in the way of becoming a reliable star in this rotation.

Many have mentioned that, lately, when they see Papi up at bat they assume an out.  Well, when I see Jon Lester on the mound, I assume a loss.  He needs to get his [expletive] together.

On a much happier note, I know I have a few readers in the Pawtucket/Providence area so if you’re looking for something to do at 6:05 tonight, how about visiting McCoy Stadium and watching Kyle Snyder pitch against Charlie Zink?  It’s truly a game I’m sorry I have to miss but, alas, I do.  Family obligations will have me nowhere near Pawtucket at 6 tonight.  I’m torn.  Can I hope that both Kyle and Charlie have kick ass games and then the PawSox win in extra innings once Kyle has left the game?  That works!

Also down in Pawtucket?  Javier Lopez.  After clearing waivers, Javi accepted the assignment.  Here’s hoping he fixes whatever needs to be fixed in Pawtucket.  It’ll be interesting to see both he and Kyle there on Tuesday.

Today is my Goddaughter’s First Communion party so I’ll be away from the Internet and hanging with family until game time.  (For once, a west coast game works in my favor!)  Go out and enjoy the day, people!  And think good thoughts for Jon Lester.

File under:  “Now is as Good a Time as Any”.

KellyJ, one of my Sistahs and dear, dear, friends as well as being a top-notch Red Sox blogger, has decided that now is the time for the first Postcard Shower of 2009.  For those not familiar with them, here’s the background:

A few years back, starting in, I believe, 2003, a group of us from the Red Sox Fan Forum decided we needed to override the constant negativity whenever a player is doing poorly…and we got together and ’showered’ specific players with postcards bearing positive messages. At the time, we called ourselves “The BOSTONS” (Babes Offering Support To Our Needed Sox). We even used to have a website. Here’s a blurb from it:

The BOSTONS was formed to show the guys on the team how much the fans support them. The definition of our “postcard shower” was to get at least 10 of the women to send out 10 postcards with positive messages of support written on them to the player we all agreed needed it the most.

We started in August 2003 with Todd Walker who was in the middle of his worst slump of the season.

According to the Boston Globe: “(As of September 8th) Since Todd returned to the second spot in the order Aug. 21, he is batting .333 (18 for 54) after hitting .177 in the previous 37 games” .

We BOSTONS know the truth! By that week of August 21st Todd was already receiving his postcards!

With the players all playing so well, we decided on Kevin Millar next since he was getting a bit of a hammering from the media. Following Kevin we chose Billy Mueller and Nomar Garciaparra. Two guys doing well for most of the season – both had been toying with slumps in the late stages of 2003.

We firmly believe that the vocal support of The BOSTONS was a major factor in the wonderful way the guys came through for us in 2003 and ESPECIALLY the way they came through for us in 2004 and we know that tradition will continue in 2005!

We were terribly excitable back then, eh?  In any event, we’ve long since stopped being The BOSTONS but we still keep up the Postcard Showers - and Big Papi certainly could use some positive reinforcement these days.  So David Ortiz has been chosen the first 2009 recipient of a Postcard Shower.  Here’s KellyJ to tell you what to do:

Get or make 10 postcards and write encouraging messages. Mail them ASAP but not after Wednesday, May 20, because they hit the road again the following Monday.

David Ortiz
c/o Boston Red Sox
4 Yawkey Way
Boston, MA 02215

Simple yet effective. So get out there and show the Large Father that we have his back!

When Sean Casey smiles…everyone smiles!  (Photo by Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission.)

The only thing I care to recall about last night’s game:

“He kind of blew my doors off a little bit there,” Napoli said. “He’s got pretty easy cheese. He brings it up there pretty good, pretty firm. From what I saw, he has pretty good stuff.”

“Easy cheese”. Eck would be proud.

I surprised myself by being genuinely pumped during a Red Sox loss to see Daniel Bard get his Major League debut AND his first Major League strike out against the first batter he faced.  (The “Easy Cheesy” Mike Napoli.)  My focus is usually on the game and the stats for the individuals is secondary.  But to see a player live up to the hype in his first appearance is pretty sweet.

Back in January, I got to see Bard at McCoy Stadium at the PawSox’ annual Hot Stove party.  It’s funny to think of now, how so many were disappointed to not get to meet Lars Anderson while Kelly and I were more worried that Bard was going to have to suddenly leave.  He was kind and funny when we met him and only slightly shell-shocked by the amount of people who showed up for the event.  It was easy to see he didn’t rattle too easily.  I was also fortunate enough to have been at Pawtucket for his first appearance there this season and saw him bring the heat (topping off at 99 mph that day).  So watching him come into a 7-4 game with the Sox losing and men on second and third with no outs and get a .316-hitting batter to strike out swinging certainly made my night.

Kyle Snyder starts today for the Bisons against the Gwinnett Braves at 1:05pm.  This is important insofar as if the rotation for the Bisons stands as is, Kyle will probably be starting against the PawSox when I go to see them this coming Tuesday.  One can hope!

Sox have a chance to win the series today - that’s TODAY for those of you still sleepy from staying up to watch them lose, not toNIGHT.  Today at 3:35pm, bane of my existence Brad Penny will face Ervin Santana before the guys hop a plane to Seattle for the weekend.  I’ll be listening and hoping that Penny, yet again, does his impression of a pitcher who doesn’t stink too much while his offense gives him some run support so they can leave town with the series win.  That’s all we need, right?

Yes, I know I should be rooting for the Blue Jays to lose but I just can’t.  Not only do I think they won’t sustain this all year but even if by some stroke of luck they did, it’d still make me happier than watching the Yankees win.  Sue me, I’m spiteful.  Last night was winning all-around.

Bruins win?  Check.

Celtics win?  Holy cow, check.

Yanks lose?  Check.

Rays lose?  Schadenfreude check.

Red Sox win?  That’s why I’m late in writing this entry check.

Surviving Grady wins “Blog of the Year” award in the first “New England Sports Blog Awards”?  Check, baby!

(Incidentally, no I didn’t win for “Best Red Sox Blog”.  Thanks to everyone who nominated and/or voted for me.  I appreciate it greatly!  Congratulations to Sox Space News for taking the prize in that category.)

All in all, a really good night and nothing to complain about.  Okay, I could live without the drama that Masterson brought to the table but it all ended good so I won’t harp on it.  Besides, for all the men on base, he got himself out of a lot of trouble.  Not an entirely terrible night for the kid.

I’ve tried to designate each Wednesday for a live blog - but I’ll be honest - no way that’s happening tonight.  The chances are good that I’ll be up for all of tonight’s game, but they are thin that I’ll be coherent enough to be blogging.  “12:45am - Sleep…when can we go to SLEEEEEP?”.  Wakefield will have to kick ass without the assist from a live blog from me.  Unfortunately, tomorrow’s game is an afternoon game so I can’t live blog that one either.  I’m considering live blogging the 10:10pm game on Friday…it’ll be interesting to see how many folks are up and/or home for that one!

I’m watching the 2009 Caribbean World Series on the MLB Network this week. If you aren’t watching it, you’re missing some really exciting baseball (And Jose Offerman! He looks exactly the same as he did when he played in Boston. Maybe even better. After this incident, Jose actually has a job in baseball? He’s the manager of the Dominican Republic team. Go figure. Well, I guess if Roger Clemens got to keep his job after chucking a bat at Mike Piazza, Offerman deserves another chance).

Christian Abraham of the Connecticut Post/Associated Press got the photos of the incident back in 2007

I wrote that back in February.  A few throwaway lines about a former Red Sox player.   Didn’t really give it much thought at the time.  But, thanks to the fabulous Stan Grossfeld (check it out - it’s a must-read!), we now know the aftermath of that incident.  I don’t usually like to create a blog entry out of work someone else has done, but Stan’s story upset me too much to just let it slide.

Offerman was arrested at the ballpark and charged with two counts of felony assault, which carried a maximum sentence of 10 years. But a Bridgeport Superior Court judge granted Offerman “accelerated rehabilitation” - two years probation - and ordered him to receive anger management treatment and pay for the medical expenses of Nathans and Beech. His record would then be expunged.

That’s what happened to Offerman. What about the two players he hit with the bat?

On Aug. 14, 2007, Nathans was struck in the head attempting to stop a bat-wielding Jose Offerman, the former Red Sox second baseman, who charged the mound after being hit by a pitch in a game between the Bridgeport Blues and the Long Island Ducks in the independent Atlantic League. Bridgeport pitcher Matt Beech suffered a broken middle finger on his non-pitching hand but was spared further injury thanks to Nathan’s actions.

John Nathans, the, now, 29 year-old catcher Offerman hit in the back of the head with a baseball bat, won’t ever play baseball again. He has difficulty doing every-day tasks, let alone dealing with the rigors of being an athlete.  Because of his injury, caused by a tantrum Jose Offerman threw because he was hit by a pitch on the calf, his equilibrium is off.  Most of the time he gets dizzy and/or nauseated and gets headaches and has trouble concentrating.  He’s in physical therapy (keep in mind this is physical therapy he’s going through almost two years after the incident) “several” times a week and some days he can’t handle any kind of “outside stimuli”.

Stan Grossfeld is the kind of writer I dream of being.  His stories are heartfelt and without purposeful malice toward anyone.  He just finds a story that he knows people will want to read and writes some of the best pieces to be published in the Boston Globe.  But even Stan has to point out that Jose Offerman, essentially, blames Nathans for his injury, saying he taunted Offerman about running slowly around the bases when he hit a home run in his first at bat and that Nathans got in the way while Offerman had his fit and was swinging the bat.  Usually Stan’s articles make you want to find the subject and give them a hug or a pat on the back.  This one made me want to do that, but it also made me want to find Jose Offerman and hit him with a baseball bat.  Fortunately for Jose, I consider myself a better person than that and wouldn’t dream of attacking defenseless people with a weapon.

I blame no one but Offerman for his actions but, certainly, you can’t help but think that part of this is because fighting (and anger, or as they call it in athletics, passion) is so accepted in sports.  You get mad because a hitter owns you (which doesn’t seem to be the case for Matt Beech hitting Offerman even though Offerman did hit a home run off of him) and you plunk him.  It’s widely accepted in baseball.  You get shown up by the opposing team in some way?  Someone needs to watch their back.  (After claiming he didn’t see Aubrey Huff’s fistpumps on Sunday, Joba Chamberlain told the media “This won’t be the last time I face him.”  That quote came after Joba said “If he wants to do a backflip, he can do a backflip. It doesn’t bother me.”  Guess Joba is going to play both sides of the fence until the Orioles and Yankees meet again.  Then what?  Then Joba lets a fastball loose and hits Huff in the head “by accident”?  When does it stop?

Joba seems to have, well let’s just say ‘issues’ that show on the mound.  He obviously has a lot of intensity/anger/passion whatever you would like to call it, that results in players getting hit or almost getting hit all too often.  He’s 23 years old.  No one is telling him that he needs to start acting like an adult.  What happens the day his “passion” gets the best of him and another player ends up like John Nathans?

I don’t mean to single out Joba, really, but right now he’s the one you see the most showing that fire on the mound.  Fire that the Yankees and their fans love about him but that really worries me.  There’s no place for anger (and make no mistake, a lot of Joba’s fire is fueled by anger.  Take into consideration the way he acted when he walked Papi and then turning around and hitting Jason Bay last week.  That was anger, pure and simple.) in a damn game.

Much to my disgust, Stan Grossfeld tells us Tom Glavine and Torii Hunter, two well-respected Major Leaguers, wrote letters of support for Jose Offerman, calling him a good, quiet person.  I think John Nathans sums it all up best:

“Everybody’s a good person until they do something bad”

One thing, among many, that I hate about a player being designated for assignment is that, when it happens, he suddenly becomes persona non grata.   He’s dfa’d, has to leave the team and you hear nothing else about him.  Like he never existed as a member of the team.  Nothing usually gets written about you again, once you’re dfa’d, unless you accept the assignment (or are part of a trade).   I remember this vividly with Kyle Snyder.  I’ve been told by one of Kyle’s teammates, one of his former managers, a handful of sports writers and other folks who know him what a great guy he is.  Yet, when he was dfa’d we heard next to nothing about him immediately after.  Does it not occur to the writers that fans might like some closure?  That just because the team feels that they have to designate a player for assignment, that doesn’t mean the fans stop being interested in how that player is doing?

How about just a “We talked to Javi about being dfa’d and what he thinks is in store for him and he said….” piece in one of the “notebooks”?  I so hate this aspect of the game.  “Well, we’re done with you.  See ya!’  It’s way too cold and uncaring for me.

That’s not to say I’m not excited about Daniel Bard being called up.  I’m plenty excited about that.  Got to see his first appearance in Pawtucket this year and the idea of watching him blow pitches by major league batters is very appealing.  I was glad he didn’t get thrown into last night’s game, though.  The idea of Joe Morgan and Jon Miller calling his first major league appearance is depressing.  (I’m sure Carlos Pena would like to thank them both for the ongoing praise yesterday.  After nine innings of “How can you not have this guy in the lineup?  He leads the league in home runs!  He’d really be helping this offense tonight”, he was put in the game in the ninth and promptly struck out against Papelbon.  I’d have punched the television if something similar happened to Bard in his debut and we had to listen to Morgan and Miller describe it.

Jonathan Papelbon has 8 saves in 8 save opportunities.  He’s perfect in that manner.  He also has given up 12 hits in the 14 innings he’s pitched (including a home run), given up 2 earned runs and walked 8 while striking out 18.  Okay, he isn’t your stereotypical closer and he gives me stomach pains and a sore mouth from grinding my teeth when he’s in…but he’s damn effective isn’t he?  (This is something I need to keep reminding myself.)

Jason Bay continues to amaze everyone but Boston fans who figured out last year that this guy was a talented player who fit right in.  Jay Bay is one of my pride projects.  Every time he does something great I remind someone about how I had to talk so many of my friends (and some readers) down when the Sox traded for him.  I don’t make all that many great calls in this regard, so I cling to Jason as one of my finest.  It’s a lot of fun to watch him play, isn’t it?

I have a ticket for the next time the Sox are back in Boston.  It’s Tuesday, May 19th.  Also  a day that I have a ticket for a Bisons/PawSox game at McCoy Stadium.  That’ll be my first park to park double header.  Given that the Bisons have put Kyle in the rotation (for now) and also given his last start (which was a damn fine one -  he pitched four innings and gave up one hit, one unearned run and struck out six!), there’s a relatively good possibility of seeing him pitch that day.  Which would be a sweet way to start the day (the PawSox game begins at noon).  Seeing Kevin Millar again (at the Blue Jays/Red Sox game) would be a great way to end the night.  But, man, I’m tired just thinking about it!

Here’s where I feel the need to give Aubrey Huff a shout-out.  Sure, the Orioles lost to the Yankees yesterday and Joba Chamberlain got the win, but he also seemed to get a taste of humble pie.  After Huff hit a three-run home run off of him, Aubrey made a point of turning to him as he rounded first and pumping his fist and yelling.  He did the same when he crossed home plate.  Although, Joba claims he didn’t see it and that he isn’t going to ‘curb’ his celebrations.  Funny, though, no fistpumps were to be seen yesterday from Joba.  Maybe he only does it  now when the Yankees are losing?  (My issue with Joba’s celebrating is this:  I understand why pitchers do it when they get themselves out of tight situations and I certainly understand why closers would do it.  But doing it because you just got the side out in the middle of a game that your team is losing mostly because your pitching stunk in the first inning is bush.  And just really stupid.  (I’m not a fan of showing up the other team.  “SEE WHAT A FABULOUS PITCHER I AM???”  So I’m all for the rest of the league catching on to his antics and giving him what-for about in in any way they see fit.)

I ended up watching pieces of both the Celtics and Bruins games.  Saw the final minutes of both games and saw the wins…and saw the best and worst of what sports can offer.  The best being a player like Glen “Big Baby” Davis making the final shot, in the final second of the game, for the win.  Although he almost took out some kid on the sideline who was stupid enough to get in his way after the shot, watching him celebrate such a feat gave me genuine joy.  The worst?  How about Carolina’s Scott Walker sucker punch Aaron Ward with less than 3 minutes to go in the Hurricanes/Bruins game?  It’s feared that Ward has a broken orbital bone because of Walker’s cowardice.  Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice thought the whole thing funny, saying:

Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice laughed off the possible repercussions.

“Scott probably has sore knuckles,” he said.

Asked whether there will be a fine, he added: “I may have to sell my truck.”

I’ll never get why hockey fans enjoy the violent side of the sport. Was it worth losing Ward to get a few minutes of excitement?  And Paul Maurice is an ass.

the orbital “bone” is actually seven strong bones that make up the encasing of the open socket of the eye;

I have two words: Freaking ow!

I’m going to stick to watching baseball, I think.  I can live without the blood and gore and broken orbital bones.

Off day today, folks.  Although Michael Bowden is on the mound for Pawtucket tonight at 6:35 so you can still get your baseball fix if you’re really looking!

God speed, Javier Lopez.  Thanks for being part of 2007 and I hope you land on your feet!

I need to rant.  I hope it is obvious that I’m not directing this toward most people (at least not most people I know) but to that loud, obnoxious, (I hope) minority that always seems to get heard above everyone else.

I am embarrassed to be part associate with a fan base that boos their own players.  I know other fans do it too.  Doesn’t make it right.  Doesn’t make me hate it any less.

There is nothing worse, to me, than showing your ignorance or arrogance by booing someone you’re supposed to be rooting for.  Don’t tell me that you do it to show your displeasure with the manager for continuing to play someone who maybe needs to sit.  Don’t tell me you think it helps the player you’re booing to play better (it doesn’t).  And don’t tell me that you’re booing him because he makes a  lot of money and deserves to be booed if he doesn’t perform well.  How well would YOU do YOUR job if every time you had a bad day or made a mistake there was an idiot in your ear booing you?

Idiots.  That what you all are, those of you who booed Julio Lugo yesterday.  Funny, I didn’t hear any boos for the pitcher who gave up 10 hits in just over four innings.  The guy who gave up 8 runs - all of them EARNED - in a game the Sox lost by nine runs.  A guy who many had pegged to be this year’s Cy Young winner who couldn’t make it out of the fifth inning.  Where were Jon Lester’s boos?

I get it.  You can’t boo Lester.  He’s a superstar.  He battled cancer and won.  He pitched the final game of the 2007 World Series.  He gives bunnies and puppies to sick children and he puts out forest fires by spitting on them.  I get it.  Lester’s a kid who we put up on a pedestal and worship, regardless of his performance and Lugo is a veteran who makes too much money and doesn’t produce enough to your liking.

There was only one error on the Sox side yesterday and Jeff Bailey made it.  Sure there were balls that looked like Lugo could have (or should have to some of you) reached.  And maybe he should have.  But most people conveniently forget that Lugo was genuinely hurt.  Most people also seem to believe that the Red Sox aren’t playing him every day just because they think Nick Green is legitimately better than him (instead of the more logical fact that they brought him back because they needed another infielder and he’s not 100% so they’re bringing him along slowly).

In a game where Boston had 10 hits and 5 runs, Lugo had two hits (including a home run).  In the nine games he’s played in he’s had 10 hits, 2 walks and a .357 average (with one fielding error).  There definitely have been a couple of hits that could have/should have been ruled as errors but if any other player (including Nick Green) had that happen, it’d be excused.  Lugo, who has a true excuse (again, his mobility is obviously not 100% just coming off of an injury and being given limited playing time) gets crucified.  It’s embarrassing and makes Red Sox fans look ignorant.  You can’t brag about being the smartest fans in baseball if you think booing a player who is having struggles is productive.

And I really don’t want to hear about your rights as a fan who pays to get into the games, thus helping to pay his salary.  Julio Lugo is part of this team.  If you choose to spend your money to support this team, you’re choosing to support them all.   And if there are players you find you just can’t support, fine, I can certainly understand that, but there’s no need to be a jackass just because you got a ticket into Fenway.

Does it come as a surprise to anyone that Lugo has feelings and your booing really doesn’t do anything but bum him out?

“It’s always good to have them on your side,” Lugo said. “There’s no one - there’s no one in any sport - that can tell you it doesn’t bother them if fans boo. If there’s somebody that says that, it’s [expletive]. It bothers them. It [expletive] bothers me.

“There’s nothing you can do. They’ve got a right to do it. But also people need to understand we’re not perfect. We’re human beings. That’s why we’re here. If not, I would have wings. I’d be beside God right now. I’d be an angel. But I’m not an angel. I’m a human being that lives right here.”

Jeez, he’s human. Go figure.

They all are.  Jon Lester too.  He’s no angel either - although many try to make him out to be.  He’s human with as many failings as the next person.  And some of those failings were on display yesterday yet no one in the park felt the need to point them out to him.

I’m not advocating booing Jon Lester.  I’m asking for people to realize that just because you think Lugo is everything that’s wrong with this team and just because you think the sun shines out of Lester’s behind, you aren’t necessarily looking at either player with unbiased glasses.

I hate being at the park and hearing one of our guys get booed.  It’s an embarrassment.  Coupled with the fact that all it really seems to do for the players is make them feel worse than they already do about their performance, what’s the point?

This entitled crap some of the fans have been radiating lately really needs to stop.  I have a radical idea.  Let’s try cheering for Lugo.  Giving him support during a stretch where he seems to need it.   How about acting like fans instead of CHB?

I shot this from section 34 in the bleachers last night.  A little blurry but I love it.  Strike 3, Carl, sit down.

A dozen runs in the sixth inning.  It was a wonderful way to punctuate the day.  Jason Bay being such a big part of it was sweet as well.  I would have certainly preferred a sweep but I’ll take a split.  Wake pitched well and the offense came out in full-force last night.  It didn’t stink to be a Sox fan on Thursday.

I’ve started four different entries about Manny and just can’t muster up enough emotion to write in-depth about it.  I’m sad that yet another superstar has, basically, shown everyone that they believe the only way to succeed is to cheat and I’m mad that Manny has now given people a reason to question the 2004 and 2007 World Championships.

Here’s my bottom line about PEDs:  For all the players who use, there are players who don’t.  But if younger players who don’t use see a Manny Ramirez and an Alex Rodriguez using and see all the success they have, what’s to stop them from using?  (”A 50-game suspension and then I get to come back like nothing happened?  I can swing that!”)  What’s to stop them from doing something to their body they might not have done on their own that could cause them harm?  Why should a player who plays clean have to compete with one who doesn’t?  That’s why PEDs piss me off so much.  These guys should be competing with each other based on their talent, not based on who has the better chemist on speed dial.

So I’m both pissed and sad about Manny. (Not to mention being pissed that Jose Canseco, once again, is vindicated.)   And unless something else earth-shattering comes out, I probably won’t be writing about this again.

Over the last two weeks, I’ve purchased two Red Sox jerseys.  A Kevin Youkilis jersey and a 2007, game-worn, Kyle Snyder road jersey.  Two jerseys I’m fairly certain I can wear with pride.

There are two issues hitting Red Sox fans that are much more worthy of our attention:  Jerry Remy’s recovery from lung cancer surgery and the death of beloved Red Sox legend, Dom DiMaggio.  I’d rather focus my energies on sending positive vibes to Jerry and remembering how much Dom means to our fanbase than focusing on the likes of Manny Ramirez any longer.

I’ll be at tonight’s Red Sox game.  The fates have conspired to place me at a Brad Penny start.  This should be a wonderful test of my patience and my ability to show support to a player that usually makes me bang my head.   I’m hoping for a no-hitter for Penny but I’ll be happy with his getting through six innings without getting crushed.  Make it so, Brad, make it so.

Sleep did me no favors last night.  I had odd dreams that kept waking me and was awake more than asleep.  None of that was connected to the Red Sox, though (one loss won’t get me down), so let’s throw cold water on our faces and start a new day.  We do that by not thinking about all the crap that happened yesterday, right?

Let’s talk about Kyle Snyder!

There’s been a lot of movement with the Bisons pitchers and, according to Adam Rubin, this is putting Kyle Snyder in a position to move into the rotation.

Kyle Snyder, who made 48 relief appearances with the Red Sox between ’07 and ’08, is easing into the rotation at Buffalo with Casey Fossum having declared free agency and signing with the Yankees. After tossing four innings against Louisville last weekend, Snyder was scheduled to pitch Game 2 of Wednesday’s doubleheader at Lehigh Valley. That pushed Jon Niese to Friday, so Niese could pitch in a nine-inning game while Snyder could start a seven-inning contest. Coincidentally, it also lines Niese up with Ken Takahashi’s turn in the Mets’ rotation.

Rubin wrote this yesterday and today Niese has already been called up. I’ll be seeing Buffalo play Pawtucket on May 19 and have my fingers crossed that I might get to see Kyle pitch! (I’ll mention this more closer to the date, but I also have a ticket to the Red Sox game on May 19. It’ll be my first, two-park double-header!)

Now how about Bronson Arroyo?

I received a comment on one of the Bronson videos I posted on YouTube that, at the very least, got today off to a laughing start:

1 inning 9 runs… he can sing ok, but he f***ing killed my fantasy team..

I was so wrapped up in the Boston sports scene last night that I forgot to check on Bronson’s start.  I have two ponies in this race:  My being a fan of his and wanting him to do well being one and his being on MY damn fantasy team being the other!  I just checked.  My fantasy team lost last night 11-2.  That just seems fitting.

Bronson’s usual response to a bad outing (Dusty Baker ended up putting in shortstop Paul Janish pitch the ninth) is to blow it off and say something like “it happens”.  It’s one of the things I love about him - while realizing it probably makes Reds’ fans crazy to hear.  Bronson didn’t disappoint in the quote department last night:

“It’s like walking into a casino, man,” Arroyo said. “You win one night, but that don’t mean you’re going to win the next night. … It just so happens we’re playing good on the road. Honestly, there’s nothing different around here. It’s about as arbitrary as saying the dietician took all the bad food out of here and that’s why we’re losing. I have no idea, man. The two times I’ve felt like a monster coming out of the pen were this game and the Atlanta game and I’ve given up a total of 18 runs in those two games,” Arroyo said. “Crazy. Pittsburgh, I felt terrible coming out of the pen and I put eight zeros on the board.

“It doesn’t jibe, man. Guess that’s why you play the game.”

“That’s why you play the game.” That sound you heard was all the Reds fan smashing their heads against something after reading that.

Fans banging their heads?  Say hello to Buffalo Bisons fans.  Once again, on a double-header night, the Bisons lost the first game and had the second game rained out.  They are 4-20 on the season thus far.  4-20.  And they have to play a game at 10:35 this morning to make up for just ONE of the rained out games.

See, folks?  It could always be worse.

A shout-out to the person who took me to my first MLB game:  my dad.  Both my parents helped encourage my love of New England sports but it was Dad who brought me to Fenway for the first time.  Back in 1982, I finally talked him into taking me to a game and we saw Wade Boggs hit his first home run as a Red Sox player (and in the bigs for Boggs).  I loved Wade Boggs for the majority of the time he played in Boston, solely because of this game.  My Dad will tell you that I’ve surpassed his passion for the Red Sox but that’s not necessarily true.  He just hides it better than I do.

So happy 74th birthday, Jim Donnelly!  Thanks for helping to raise me a passionate (yet, I hope, thoughtful) fan and for everything else you’ve done.  I love you, Dad.

Now let’s hope Wake wins tonight.  If he doesn’t, my Dad might never let me hear the end of it. 

Jon Lester, bringing new meaning to my nickname for him (”Crabcakes” in case you missed it!) courtesy of Rob Bradford:

“It’s one of those deals where I’m all for throwing in, but there comes a point somebody, whether it be baseball or the opponent, has to step in and say enough is enough,” said Sox hurler. “Balls have gone over guys heads and gone up too close. There’s a difference between throwing in and making a point and he definitely tries to make some points. I don’t know if he’s trying to him there or not, but he did and it looks bad because J-Bay did hit a home run off of him, along with the history with us and other players. He always come back and says the ball slipped, I wasn’t trying to hit anybody. One time you can fool us, two times you can maybe say OK, but it’s gotten old. In baseball it’s one of those deals where you can’t really think there’s a punishment necessary. It’s one of those deals where we might have to police it ourselves a little bit more, I don’t know.”

Lester could totally take Joba in a fistfight.  And his “I’m a cancer survivor, did you know I was a cancer survivor because I’m not sure the media has adequately covered that aspect of my career” story is way better than Joba’s “I got nabbed for a DUI but you might not have read much about it because the only media outlets that seemed to care came out of NY” story.  This needs to happen.

I don’t mean to be lighthearted about cancer.  It has hit my family and many others I love much too hard and it was heartbreaking to have Jerry Remy and NESN confirm what so many of us have suspected for a while:

NESN announced Wednesday that Red Sox color commentator Jerry Remy is taking an indefinite leave of absence to fully recover from the effects of cancer surgery.

“I want to focus on completing my recovery so that I can return to work without distractions or interruptions,” said Remy, a former smoker who underwent surgery for lung cancer late last year.

Remy expected a more immediate return but suffered a setback due to an infection and subsequent case of pneumonia. He now hopes his experience serves as a cautionary tale about the adverse health effects of smoking.

“I hope that disclosing my bout with cancer will reinforce the dangers of smoking to every member of Red Sox Nation, especially children,” said Remy, the president of Red Sox Nation.

There’s really nothing to say except my prayers are with the Jerry and I’d like him back sooner rather than later.  I have no doubt that he’s getting the best possible care but it still doesn’t take away from how frightening this all is.  We’re all thinking good thoughts for you, RemDawg.

May 6, 2009 was, all in all, a large day of suck.  And the Sox letting Carl Pavano dominate them wasn’t even close to being the worst thing to happen today.  I’m eagerly awaiting this day to end so we can move on to Thursday, May 7, 2009 and have a much better day.

Even with the loss, the live blog was fun.  Thanks to all who dropped by!  I’m 3-1 with live blogs so I’m not giving up just because there was a loss tonight.  Next Wednesday is a 10:05pm game in California.  I have to think long and hard about whether I’ll be live blogging but I’ll let you all know.

Shake off the loss, folks.  Pavano pitched well; give him his due.  Sox have another game to get a split.

I have faith Wake will not disappoint.

I’m a big fan of rainy days.  As long as they don’t interfere with my baseball, I really enjoy them.  When I woke up this morning, the sky was gray and there was rain coming down.  All that did was add to my happiness in greeting this day.

Wednesday is one of my off-days from my real job.  I get to stay home and watch NESN, ESPN and MLBN and prepare for the next Sox game.  I usually end up out of the house for a bit, just to get some fresh air and remember there’s a world outside four walls.  So it’s usually a good day for me, anyway, but having it fall the day after the Sox take both games in a short series in the Bronx?  This Wednesday just might be my favorite of all.

Beckett looked both shaky and dominant at various times last night.  He gave up 10 hits in 6 innings last night, but only allowed 3 runs while striking out five.  It wasn’t beautiful, but I’ll take it.  Josh also gets props for having the sense to not hit Derek Jeter (or any other Yankee he faced) after Joba showed his immature, punkish colors yet AGAIN by hitting Jason Bay in the top of the fifth.  Bay’s crime?  Owning the Yankees pitchers.  Another home run last night (first inning off of Joba) seemed to be more than Chamberlain could take.  I can’t ever recall Jim Rice advocating hitting a player in retaliation.  During last night’s post-game show he suggested that the next time the two teams meet that the Yankees captain would be hearing chin music - were it up to Rice.  That’s how obviously intentional the HBP was.  No matter.  The Sox got their revenge where it counted - on the scoreboard.  5-0 against the Yankees so far.  Not too shabby a way to start the season.

I have at least one friend who isn’t the Yankees hater* most Red Sox fans are.   I tell you that to set up sharing with you part of an email she sent me last night (in response to my being “cranky” about Bay getting hit):

4/24 HBP: Varitek (by Chamberlain), Green, N (by Albaladejo), Teixeira (by Lopez, J).

4/25 HBP: Youkilis (by Burnett), Green, N (by Veras).

4/26 HBP: Bay (by Melancon).

5/4 HBP: Jeter (by Papelbon), Drew (by Aceves, A).

5/5 HBP: Bay (by Chamberlain), Bailey (by Albaladejo).

So they lead us 8-2 in HBP…

Neither of us pretends that all of those HBP were intentional.  But, for me, they do seem a bit telling.  Especially Bay’s last night.  As Ted, another of my friends, wondered to me this morning:  “How can a pitcher have enough control to strike out 12 men yet hit a guy in the middle of the back?”.  The answer being that he DID have control and that’s why Bay got hit square between the numbers and not in the head.   There aren’t enough words in the English dictionary to describe how strongly I dislike Joba.

But on to happier thoughts and better pitching!!!  Okajima and Saito finished off the last three innings by not putting any men on base and striking out three between them.  I’ll admit to being concerned about Oki coming in last night but he snuffed out my worries quite handily.

Speaking of pitching, Daisuke pitched almost 3 innings in Pawtucket last night.  He struck out five and gave up no runs on two hits.  (Mind you, he’s still our Daisuke:  walking three batters in a row before getting his three outs.)  He thinks he’s ready to come back.  I hope he’s right.  Thankfully, he’ll get another start or two with the PawSox before that decision really has to be made.  The PawSox, incidentally, beat the Toledo Mudhens 4-0 with TTR faves Charlie Zink getting the win and Rocco Baldelli knocking in the first run with a sacrifice fly.

Saw a clip of David Aardsma on MLBN and thought it was good enough to share.  With the bases loaded in a tie game the ninth in Seattle, Aardsma struck out Ian Kinsler.  The Mariners still ended up losing in ten but not because of Aardsma.  Even though, for most of his stay in Boston, I referred to Aardsma as “The guy who took Kyle Snyder’s job”, I always liked him and it’s nice to see him do well.

Speaking of Kyle, his Buffalo Bisons lost another game and had another game rained out yesterday.  (God either doesn’t like the Bisons or he likes them so much that he keeps raining on their games so they don’t have to play.)  In the International League/North, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees are in first place with an impressive 20-5 record.  The PawSox are in third place (a game behind second-place Syracuse) with a record of 14-10.  The Bisons are in last place in all of the International League with a record of 4-19.  You realize, this only endears the team to me more, don’t you?  They’re 4-19 and they still go out there every day and try to win (okay, every day it hasn’t poured on them).  It has to be tough to trudge out there with everyone expecting you to lose.  How can I NOT root for this team?  The rainouts have worked in Kyle’s favor.  He’s in the Bisons’ bullpen, but because of rotation issues caused by postponed games, Kyle will start his second game with Buffalo tonight.  (Another true double-header is scheduled to being at 5:35pm.)  PV’s are being sent Kyle’s way.  Kick some ass, Kyle.  Show them what you have!

I watched the game in its entirety last night.  Then I watched the one-hour version NESN showed at 8am. At 2pm, NESN will show a two-hour edition of last night’s game (I’m hoping this one includes Chamberlain hitting Bay because hearing Eck go off on Joba is a must-listen!).  I honestly can’t get enough of this game.  Let’s hope the good feelings (and good pitching) spill into tonight’s game.

Justin Masterson up against Carl Pavano…the live blog begins at 7:00pm!

*That isn’t to say she’s a Yankees fan.  She’s just much more rational about them than I, or most Sox fans, tend to be.

Yes, I stayed up for the entire game (I’m going to guess most of you did too!).  Yes, I also cringed through the entire 9th inning.  Why does Jonathan Papelbon feel the need to make every one of his appearances “interesting”?

Let’s not focus on the pain-inducing ninth inning.  Lester pitched a great game save for two bad pitches; Papi was on base four times tonight; Yankees fans are beginning to understand why Sox fans are so happy with the Jason Bay acquisition…it’s all good when we get a win.

Interesting to read over at Peter Abraham’s blog that the Yankees where whining about the umpires (save for Phil Hughes, who refused to do so).  Yeah, it was the strike zone that lost you that game, fellas, not Lester’s dominance or the Sox getting 11 hits and six runs or your own two errors.  Also, Pete’s piece seems to imply that JD Drew got hit on purpose.  Not sure if it’s such a smart idea, letting that leak when there’s still another game to be played in this series.  Also, JD gets hit and takes his base and Jason Bay hits the game-winning two-run homer.  Wonder if Girardi is mad at himself for making the call to hit Drew or if he’ll blame that on the umps as well?

Worrisome for me is Beckett on the mound tonight with a taste of blood.  I just want Beckett to get back on track.  Which means I don’t want him thinking about revenge nor putting himself in the position for another suspension.  I’m also not a fan of putting extra men on base.  But if it’s a blowout and Beckett pitches well, I have no problem with one of the relievers tagging Teixeira on the behind with an off-speed pitch.  I nominate Javier Lopez.

Papi went 2-3 with two walks (including an intentional free pass) while Ellsbury, Bay and Lowell all, also, had multiple-hit games.  It might have been a long-ass game, but it was more than worth staying up to see.

Unfortunately, with the awesome we get some bad.  Kevin Youkilis left the game with some back pain.  I suppose I shouldn’t reveal that when I got home from work on Monday evening, the Kevin Youkilis jersey that I had purchased a couple of weeks ago was waiting for me…but it was.  If I broke Kevin Youkilis I might never forgive myself.

I’m terribly happy that the first Sox/Game at the new Yankee Stadium was won by the Red Sox.  Mike Lowell hitting the first Sox home run there was damn sweet too.  Aside from the two-hour wait, Lester’s 5th-inning struggles and Papelbon making things difficult, that game was a thing of beauty.

Another shout out to Clay Buchholz.  Yesterday he was named International League Pitcher of the Week.  Don’t start petitioning Theo to bring him up just yet.  He still seems to be on a pitch count.  I have no problem waiting on Clay as long as he’s performing well in Pawtucket while we wait.

Tonight is supposed to be Beckett v Chamberlain.  I say “supposed to” because word is that the weather will still be the suck and the reason they played through the rain last night was because today’s weather won’t be any better and might be worse.  My fingers are crossed to get this game in because it has all the possibilities of being an epic game.  Beckett struggling, Chamberlain having his mother’s photo plastered all over creation, the Sox maybe pissed about JD getting hit, the Yanks pissed about the umps and losing the first game at the new stadium against the Sox…how could the fates deny us this game?

Never have I been so happy to miss a BoSox game as I was on Sunday.  So I’m not even going to talk about it (except to say that it’s nice to not have to “blame” Brad Penny.  I hope he continues to pitch well for many reasons including the fact that it seems like he’s on tap to pitch the next time I go to Fenway!).

Spent Sunday in Pawtucket at the PawSox/Braves game and watched Clay Buchholz pitch 5.1 innings, striking out six and giving up only two hits.  He also walked two and in those innings gave up no runs.  The PawSox went on to help Clay get his first win, beating the Gwinnett Braves 1-0.  More importantly, though, was Clay’s demeanor through the entire game.  We saw a much calmer, more mature Buchholz.  It was obvious from the first time he took the mound.  Joe McDonald has a great write-up of how Clay’s mindset as a pitcher has changed (and matured).  He (with help from a Paul McAnulty error) got himself into a little trouble in the fifth inning, loading the bases with two outs thanks to an error, a single and a walk.  Last year’s Clay Buchholz would have let a run or three end up scoring; this year’s Clay Buchholz settled down and got Gwinnett’s Greg Blanco to ground out.

So Sunday, for me, was far from a disappointment.  Sadly, the same can’t be said for Mark Kotsay.  I didn’t realize he’d be playing.  For whatever reasons, I thought he’d be in the lineup early this week, not the weekend.  But, no, he was the lead-off man for Pawtucket on Sunday.   Unfortunately, after his second at-bat of the game, he pulled up lame while running to first base.

Here’s where I digress for a minute.  It was obvious to me that Kotsay did something to himself while running to first. He barely made it to the bag, bent over in pain and hobbled off the field.  YET there were idiots behind me booing him and yelling at him to “run it out”, thinking he was just dogging it to first.  If you aren’t going to pay attention to the game (and the reasons some of the players are in AAA and not in Boston, oh like because they’re REHABBING AN INJURY) you shouldn’t be allowed to yell stupid things at the park.

So Kotsay has a “mild calf strain”.  I hope this is true.  I hope it’s nothing more serious than that.  You hate to see someone rehabbing an injury get RE-injured.

Did you know that today is “Star Wars Day”?  I didn’t either until Twitter told me so.  Makes sense now that yesterday was Star Wars Day at Pawtucket.  Seeing Darth Vader throw out the ceremonial first pitch was interesting given that he was signing autographs, clapping for the youngster they had also throw out a pitch and posing for pictures with Jeff Corsaletti. Ooh, the Dark Lord of the Sith is scaaary!

Next up for the Sox is two games against the Yankees.  Lester and Beckett against Hughes and Chamberlain.   I think the Sox have a good shot at winning both of these games.  I like our hitters chances against them.  So it bothers me that I’m a little concerned that even if our hitters come to play, Lester and Beckett are going to make me want to smack them both.

I’m pleased that I decided to live blog on Wednesdays and will miss having to live blog a Yankees/Red Sox game coming off a 3 games to one losing series.  I don’t think I’m up to that kind of pressure.

No headaches for me, fellas.  Be nice.

After my appearance on “The Baseball Show” on Saturday (thanks to the folks at Comcast SportsNet for the invite!), I had a family day which pretty much knocked me out.  I did get to see the Kentucky Derby, the Red Sox game and the Celtics beat Chicago.  So all-around it was one nice day.

One of the things I did miss yesterday was Kyle Snyder’s first start of the season with the Bisons. According to the Mets blog Mets Merized:

Kyle Snyder pitched well in his first start of the season, but was tagged with the loss, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits in 4 innings.

Kyle pitched against Homer Bailey (who pitched a five-hit shutout) and, unfortunately, the Bisons ended up losing 2-0. Still, I’m encouraged! (The Bisons trip to Pawtucket and the Mets trip to Boston both aren’t far away!)

I’m leaving soon for Pawtucket.  The good?  Clay Buchholz on the mound.  The bad?  30% chance of precipitation (which is better than 50% so I’ll take it!)  I’m looking forward to seeing Clay pitch in person as much as I’m looking forward to following the Sox game on the cell phone and not having to watch Brad Penny pitch.  Although I have a strong feeling that Penny will be coming through big for the Sox today (I do!) so I’m hoping this is one of those “I didn’t watch it and they kicked ass” games.

When the Sox head to New York for the two-day series against the Yankees, they’ll be bringing Dennis Eckersley with them (filling in for Jerry Remy, who is reportedly coming back on Wednesday).  I like Eck a lot but I’m not a big fan of his color commentary (although, to be fair, it has been a while since I’ve heard him).  Heck, I just want Remy back so no one who fills in will be good enough for me.

Tim Wakefield is 3-1 with a 2.91 ERA.  His WHIP is 1.09.  Opposing hitters are currently batting .183 off of him.  Tim Wakefield is pretty much keeping this rotation alive.  Jon Lester and Josh Beckett (the starters for the Yankees series) need to follow suit.

Did everyone see when Nick Green got thrown out last night because he stumbled?  Giant hug from  Julio Lugo when he got back to the dugout.  Julio is the sunshine boy these days.  We noticed it at Citi Field in April and he doesn’t seem to have let up.  I’m not complaining at all; I think it’s wonderful.  I’m just interested to see how the shortstop issue pans out.  (Nick Green went 3–5 yesterday.  Dude wants his job.)

Off for a long day of traveling and baseball.  It should be a good day.

Randomly rambling:

Why does it annoy me that in the commercial NESN is running for the next Yankees/Red Sox series they use Don Orsillo’s “You kidding me??” from the Rangers/Red Sox game last year?  The implication is that he said it during some wild Sox/Yanks game.  He didn’t.  It was during a wild Sox/Rangers game.  No shame in that.  It isn’t Don Orsillo’s fault that the Rangers game was more exciting than the Yankees games last year.

I’m generally not a worrier.  I’m a procrastinator and that includes when it comes to worrying.  I think about worrying and then put it out of my mind until the time comes when it becomes a concern not a worry (or it just goes away!).  So I’m trying to not focus to much on it, but I’m damn worried about Jerry Remy.  Word is that he left Tampa to go home and won’t be back with NESN until next Wednesday. (Which means no Remy for the Yankees series.  I’m hoping this means we get Dave Roberts for the Yankees series because if I have to keep listening to Buck Martinez mispronounce the name ORTIZ I might kill someone.)  I don’t even want to think about what I worry is wrong with Remy so I’ll just say that I’m praying for him and hope everything is all right and all right very soon.

As I’m writing this, the Sox just lost game 2 to the Rays.  I’d love to be more bothered by this.  I’d love to be able to type some rant about how we should be worrying about our rotation but I’m just not built that way.  So if you’re here looking to read a long diatribe about the ills of the Red Sox starting pitching, you’re out of luck.  I’m not happy they lost but it’s easy to change your goals.  I wanted them to win the series.  Now I’ll be happy with a split.

I need to make a correction on the information I shared about my upcoming appearance on “The Baseball Show” this Saturday (either tomorrow or today depending on when you read this!) morning.  The show is on from 9am to 12pm and the segment I’m part of will be on around 9:55am.  You can see it on Comcast SportsNet New England or you can listen to it on WEEI Radio (or on weei.com) but it won’t be available on Comcast’s web site as I had originally thought.  Also, it’s a one-time gig that I’m told will last about a minute.   Is it bad form if I use my minute to ask Lou Merloni why he let a golden opportunity to punch Ben Affleck go by? (You realize that I have no idea if I’ll speak to Lou Merloni, right?  A gal can hope, okay?)

Sunday I’m heading to McCoy to see Clay Buchholz pitch against the Gwinnett Braves.   If my crappy memory serves, this will be the first time I’ve seen Clay pitch since 2007 and I’m really looking forward to it (did I see him pitch last year?  I really can’t remember.).  It also means I’ll miss Brad Penny pitch against the Rays since the PawSox game starts about a half an hour before the Red Sox game does.  Yes, I’m all broken up about it.  (I hate picking on Penny.  It isn’t like he wants to stink.  Maybe it’ll be good for both of us for me to not watch him pitch?)

For those who have asked, I DO intend to keep live blogging on Wednesdays.  And I’m working on that pesky troll problem.  The next live blogged game should be Justin Masterson pitching against Carl Pavano and the Indians. That could be fun!

Yes, I still keep tabs on Bronson Arroyo.  Carpal Tunnel or not, dude is pitching pretty damn well.  Friday night he went 8 scoreless innings while giving up four hits, three walks and striking out four.   Red Sox lost.  PawSox lost.  Bisons lost (and then got rained out again!) and the Yankees won in a walk-off.  Bronson’s my only baseball bright spot tonight.

Wait, that’s not entirely true.  The PawSox lost but Michael Bowden pitched six scoreless, one-hit, innings (unfortunately giving up two runs in the seventh.  The Braves won 2-0 on three hits!).  Bowden’s ERA is 1.35.  He has 17 strike outs in 20 innings and he’s only given up three runs.  Kid is on fire.  It’s too bad he got the loss tonight.  A few runs scored by the PawSox and he’d have a 2-0 record.  So Bronson and Bowden have salvaged my baseball evening.

7:08pm start on Saturday night.  7:08?  WTH?  Who comes up with these start times?  Anyway, we get Tim Wakefield, forced into the role of “stopper”, yet again, pitching against Jeff Niemann.  A win wold be nice.  Really, really nice.

Forget any other aspects of Thursday night’s game.  Only one thing lost that game:  pitching.  Matt Garza’s excellent pitching and Josh Beckett’s, well, not-so excellent pitching.

Good news? Well Josh Beckett seems to be pissed right now so maybe that will translate into some awesomeness next time around.

“I just gave up seven [expletive] runs in five innings,” Beckett said in a nearly empty visitors’ clubhouse. “That’s not close to me. Is that close to you? Yeah, it’s frustrating. It’s a lot of things. I just got to make adjustments. Obviously, I didn’t do that between my last two starts.”

Here’s hoping he does “that” this time around.

I’m only mildly ashamed to admit that I was very happy when Jacoby broke up the perfect game in the seventh inning. (Very impressive outing for Matt Garza.  Definitely deserves a tip of the hat.  But I’m really glad the Rays didn’t no-hit/perfect game the Sox.)

Let’s just take comfort in there being three more games of this series.  Today is definitely a good day to trot out “As long as they win the series, I’ll be happy”.  I mean it, too.  It’s painful to watch your team get hammered that way but when you look at the big picture, well, they’re going to lose some.  It’s over and now the focus goes to winning some.

In Pawtucket, Charlie Zink got hammered for five runs in a PawSox loss and Kyle Snyder’s Buffalo Bisons avoided another loss by having yet another game rained out.  Interesting about the Bisons rain out:  They scheduled the double-header for today to start at 5:30pm.  So there will be a genuine double-header.  MLB needs to look into doing this once in a while.

Let’s focus on something positive:  Dave Roberts is coming back to Boston!

NESN announced today that Roberts, the former Red Sox outfielder and postseason hero, has joined the network to serve as a studio analyst. Roberts will join Hall of Famers Dennis Eckersley and Jim Rice on NESN’s pre- and post-game shows.

“We are thrilled to have Dave join our team of outstanding studio analysts,” said Joel Feld, NESN’s executive vice president of programming and executive producer. “Dave is an icon in Red Sox Nation. He has a deep knowledge of the game and understands the passion of Red Sox fans.”

Roberts will make his NESN debut this Monday from the new Yankee Stadium when the Red Sox play the Yankees. During the game, he will also join NESN’s Red Sox broadcast team of Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy in the booth for a couple of innings.

I’m fairly certain the only thing to help a Red Sox/Yankees series not be so painful is Dave Roberts.  Hell, I’m certain that Dave Roberts could take a rainbow, wrap it in a sigh, soak it in the sun and make a groovy lemon pie at this point.  He can do anything!

And now he’ll be doing it on my television!!  As noted by my exclamation points, I’m very excited about this!

Tonight, Justin Masterson will make us forget last night.

While live blogging the game last night, I literally yelled out loud when Jonathan Van Every’s home run left the park.  I was watching the game alone (although online with lots of folks - thanks, again, for stopping by!) and I don’t usually get that vocal…but JVE’s home run was certainly something to yell about.  I love it when the ones who get no publicity get some glory!

I’m not going to get into how Jon Lester gave me a  headache that lasted until he left the game.

Sox won.  Van Every gets his moment in the sun.  All is well in the universe.

Speaking of the universe, it has been very kind to me lately (with a big push from many of you!).

Yesterday I get an email from someone at Comcast Sports Net asking me if I’d like to be one of three Boston Red Sox bloggers featured on Saturday’s inaugural edition of “The Baseball Show“.  Be up at 8am on a Saturday to possibly talk to Lou Merloni?  Yeah, I think I can swing that.  I’m quite appreciative that the folks at Comcast asked and I just hope I don’t drop too many r’s!  The segment I’ll be a part of will be pre-recorded but you all will get to catch it around 9:55am on both Comcast Sports Net and WEEI Radio.  For those of you  not in the area, you can also listen to it at the Comcast website or WEEI.com.  My part in it all will be short but the opportunity to plug the blog is much appreciated.

No rest for the weary:  Sox are in Florida for a four-game series against the Rays with Beckett taking the mound against Matt Garza tonight.  Beckett won’t give me a headache, right?

RIGHT?

Oh Javier Lopez.  How I was rooting for you.  You were inches from going into extra innings and instead the game was given to the Indians.

That, sadly, is all folks will probably remember about this game but the truth is the Red Sox had the lead in this game three times and all three times they gave it up.  Javi had a brain cramp, sure, but that one gut-wrenching play isn’t the only thing that lost this game.  So if you’re here looking for me to bash Javi, it isn’t happening.  Three errors (one on Lowell and one on Lugo to add to Javi’s) gave the Indians enough runs to win this game.  Javi didn’t lose it alone.  And that’s all the energy I’m spending on rehashing that ugly, long-ass, painful game.  Nothing but positive vibes going Javier’s way (Heck, Lugo’s and Penny’s too).  He doesn’t need to get beat up about this; I’m sure he’s beating himself up enough right about now.

This is what I choose to focus on:  The team just won 11 games in a row and then lost one.  This isn’t earth-shattering by any means.  Sure adding on to a streak would have been nice, but so what?  So tomorrow they put Jon Lester out there and try to win the series.  They win the series and I’m more than happy.  It’s the end of April.  I’m not quite ready to start calling for the heads of any of the players just yet.

“We gave them extra outs tonight”

So Tito tells Heidi Watney after the game.  That says it all.

Yankees won, Blue Jays won and Rays lost.  That puts the Sox one game out of first place with a 13-7 record behind the Jays with the Yanks four games behind and the Rays in last by 6.5.  Not too shabby.  (The O’s are hanging on to fourth place for now!)

Special note of thanks to all of you kind folks who took the time to nominate me for the “New England Sports Blog Awards”.  Much to my surprise, “Toeing the Rubber” has been named one of the four nominees in the “Best Red Sox Blog” category.  At some point on Wednesday, information will be released on how you can vote for your favorite sports blogs and I’ll mention it here.  Honestly, it’s a real kick to be nominated and I truly appreciate all of you taking the time to do so.

In a response to a few requests for it, I’m going to attempt to live blog at least one game a week.  Last Wednesday’s marathon live blogs seemed to be a hit (although I won’t be marathoning it - hopefully!).  I’m looking at Wednesdays as the live blog day - which means I’ll be live blogging Jon Lester v Fausto Carmona tonight!   7pm I’ll be here with bells on.  Join me won’t you?

No wackiness, no controversy, no egos.  We just have the likes of Tim Wakefield (he of the 1.86 ERA and 0.97 WHIP) and Jason Bay (with his .344 AVG and .506 OBP) helping lead this team to (thus far) eleven straight wins.  I can live very happily with that.

I also can live happily with a Big Papi who gets at least a hit in every game.  I’m not waiting on his first home run, it’ll come soon enough, as long as he’s hitting I’m convinced it will all fall back into place for him.  Little Manny Delcarmen as the most reliable arm in the bullpen?  That seems to be working well.

And how about a third baseman who so many had as “washed up” being the American League player of the week?   Yeah, that works for me too.   I could live without a closer who gives up runs in the ninth and makes every end of the game interesting, but there’s plenty of time to work on that.

Brad Penny is on the mound tonight against Anthony Reyes.   I had a brain cramp last night and honestly forgot, for a moment, that Penny was in the rotation.  I’m hopeful that his performance tonight will be sure to make me remember him from here out (and for good reasons!).

Oh and Tito?  I could totally live with Julio Lugo riding the pine until we know for sure he’s 100%.

SAVE NICK GREEN!!!!!

I don’t know that I’m over Jacoby’s steal of home just yet.  I can’t stop watching it because it’s so damn beautiful.  I remember watching the Blue Jays/Yankees game when Aaron Hill stole home on Pettitte and actually feeling a little sorry for Pettitte.  And I remember Carl Crawford stealing home on Jason Johnson in 2006 and being devastated for the kid.  None of those feelings came out last night.  Last night, the team that has practically copyrighted meaningless curtain calls got shown what kind of play actually deserves one.  I was, literally, yelling “Take the curtain call!!!!!” and was so pleased that Jacoby did.

Papi knocking in the go-ahead run to make it 2-1 in the 5th  (and then JD Drew knocking in another after Jacoby stole home) made me so very happy but watching the young guys kick butt last night (Masterson!  Jones!  Bowden!) was so satisfying.  The Red Sox needed good pitching last night and they certainly got it!

As I write this, I’m watching Sports Desk and I just love Dustin Pedroia’s quote about his own base running:

“I’m done…I keep getting thrown out”

Good call, Dustin. Leave the running to Jacoby. You have other talents that endear you to us.

Regardless of their position in the standings and regardless of whether Alex Rodriguez was with them, watching the Red Sox sweep the Yankees has to be one of the sweetest feelings a Sox fan can get.

Sox are riding on a 10-game winning streak.  They just swept the hated New York Yankees and just about everyone on the team seems to be contributing whether it’s with defense or offense.  Having players who can pick each other up (Hello bullpen!) is pretty damn sweet as well.

And the best part?  We don’t have to wait too long to continue riding the high:  Tim Wakefield v Cliff Lee at 7:05 tonight!

(I’m editing this to add this link.  It’s where you can go and nominate my blog for a “New England Sports Blog Award”.  You all know how uncomfortable I am pimping myself out for votes…but what the heck, right?  Today is the last day to get your nominations in so I guess I’m okay with doing it for a day!)