Out With A Bang

/ Sara / Leave a comment

The Red Sox opened the last series they will ever play at the House That Ruth Built. And they opened it with style.

wakey.jpg
Wake did more than I expected him to after coming back to the lineup, if you manage to scatter 8 hits over five innings with only three runs scoring means you’re either Dice-K or you’re doing pretty good.

All in all, Wake was solid. Manny, not so much, J-Mas (as we are starting to call him) was the beast of the bull pen that he has become. Can we discuss how perfect it was that both Wake and Masterson got the great and powerful A-Rod to hit into a double play? Wow. Did I mention he was 5-0 tonight? Not good for the #4 spot. Sorry, I can’t resist the chance to poke a little bit of fun at the Yankees. I’m a Sox fan, its in my genes.

I will say this, if only to kharmically balance out poking fun at A-Rod. Damon clearly still has Wake’s number. I guess he’s seen the knuckler in action enough to be able to hit off him. That’s my theory, anyways.

A couple of double-plays, a few good hits, and some good base-running later, we had a lead. Always good with the Sox, but with the Sox, doesn’t always mean much. The good news is this, in a game where we won 7-3, our big guys were having a little bit of an off night. We have no Mikey (who was struggling, but you can never count him out), we have no Drew, and Pedroia was a little off his game. That said, Papi had a Yankee-killing night, Bay and Bailey (yay new guy!) had a pair of RBIs each, Youk only had 1 hit, but it was an RBI. And Jacoby, back in the lead-off where he doesn’t do as well (lets face it, he has to grow into that spot) only had one hit, but it was a clutch 2-out RBI.

pedey.jpgDP getting a little DP action.
And finally, we have this gem given to us by the ‘stash himself:

bay safe.jpgI can hear the New York fans screaming “Don’t worry about him! Throw the runner out at HOME!” Of course, probably with a few more explitives thrown in. A-Rod fields the ball, throws, but Bailey is too fast, he’s safe, all the Umps are doing that motion that looks like they’re flattening a sheet, you know, really emphatically to get all the wrinkles out, and Giambi isn’t looking. He’s not sure if Bailey is out or not. Of course, it didn’t help that the Sox runners were their faster ones (I love him, but I’m glad it was Coco not Big Papi running those bases)

Finally, lets talk injuries (and no, I don’t mean Brady’s mysterious bone-bruising that will magically disappear in September)
Beckett will be back in the line-up Friday, Mikey is working his way back in, JD wants to be back by the 2nd. Needless to say, once September comes a-knocking, its amazing how many players come off the DL, especially if their team is in or close to being in the post-season. Now, I’m not knocking the players and saying they’re faking it, I’m saying that Lowell will play through hip pain if it can secure him another shot at the World Series, and JD Drew will do everything in his power to make his back feel better in time to get to October. They will push and work hard and get their way through rehab as fast as they can because, hey, its September, where one series can be the difference between going golfing in October or playing on for all the marbles.

I’m gonna say this now, baseball gods, do not be angered, it is not a prediction, merely an observation. If they Yankees do not win this series against the Wild Card Race leading Sox, then their chances at October are looking pretty slim. Merely for the fact that they only go head-to-head with the Sox once more this year, and a 7 or 8 game deficit is hard to make up in one month. Because then not only do you have to win pretty much every game, you have to pray that the Sox will lose games. They both have a similar (and tough) schedule coming up, but the Yanks have some serious road-tripping, while Boston stays mostly at home. All I know is that I hope and pray that the Sox win, the Yankees lose, and if Tampa Bay starts tanking, I wouldn’t mind that much either.

Out With A Bang

/ Sara / Leave a comment

The Red Sox opened the last series they will ever play at the House That Ruth Built. And they opened it with style.

wakey.jpg
Wake did more than I expected him to after coming back to the lineup, if you manage to scatter 8 hits over five innings with only three runs scoring means you’re either Dice-K or you’re doing pretty good.

All in all, Wake was solid. Manny, not so much, J-Mas (as we are starting to call him) was the beast of the bull pen that he has become. Can we discuss how perfect it was that both Wake and Masterson got the great and powerful A-Rod to hit into a double play? Wow. Did I mention he was 5-0 tonight? Not good for the #4 spot. Sorry, I can’t resist the chance to poke a little bit of fun at the Yankees. I’m a Sox fan, its in my genes.

I will say this, if only to kharmically balance out poking fun at A-Rod. Damon clearly still has Wake’s number. I guess he’s seen the knuckler in action enough to be able to hit off him. That’s my theory, anyways.

A couple of double-plays, a few good hits, and some good base-running later, we had a lead. Always good with the Sox, but with the Sox, doesn’t always mean much. The good news is this, in a game where we won 7-3, our big guys were having a little bit of an off night. We have no Mikey (who was struggling, but you can never count him out), we have no Drew, and Pedroia was a little off his game. That said, Papi had a Yankee-killing night, Bay and Bailey (yay new guy!) had a pair of RBIs each, Youk only had 1 hit, but it was an RBI. And Jacoby, back in the lead-off where he doesn’t do as well (lets face it, he has to grow into that spot) only had one hit, but it was a clutch 2-out RBI. 

pedey.jpgDP getting a little DP action.
And finally, we have this gem given to us by the ‘stash himself:

bay safe.jpgI can hear the New York fans screaming “Don’t worry about him! Throw the runner out at HOME!” Of course, probably with a few more explitives thrown in. A-Rod fields the ball, throws, but Bailey is too fast, he’s safe, all the Umps are doing that motion that looks like they’re flattening a sheet, you know, really emphatically to get all the wrinkles out, and Giambi isn’t looking. He’s not sure if Bailey is out or not. Of course, it didn’t help that the Sox runners were their faster ones (I love him, but I’m glad it was Coco not Big Papi running those bases)

Finally, lets talk injuries (and no, I don’t mean Brady’s mysterious bone-bruising that will magically disappear in September)
Beckett will be back in the line-up Friday, Mikey is working his way back in, JD wants to be back by the 2nd. Needless to say, once September comes a-knocking, its amazing how many players come off the DL, especially if their team is in or close to being in the post-season. Now, I’m not knocking the players and saying they’re faking it, I’m saying that Lowell will play through hip pain if it can secure him another shot at the World Series, and JD Drew will do everything in his power to make his back feel better in time to get to October. They will push and work hard and get  their way through rehab as fast as they can because, hey, its September, where one series can be the difference between going golfing in October or playing on for all the marbles.

I’m gonna say this now, baseball gods, do not be angered, it is not a prediction, merely an observation. If they Yankees do not win this series against the Wild Card Race leading Sox, then their chances at October are looking pretty slim. Merely for the fact that they only go head-to-head with the Sox once more this year, and a 7 or 8 game deficit is hard to make up in one month. Because then not only do you have to win pretty much every game, you have to pray that the Sox will lose games. They both have a similar (and tough) schedule coming up, but the Yanks have some serious road-tripping, while Boston stays mostly at home. All I know is that I hope and pray that the Sox win, the Yankees lose, and if Tampa Bay starts tanking, I wouldn’t mind that much either. 

Home Run Derby

/ Sara / Leave a comment

Dustin Pedroia hit a three run shot, Coco hit a solo, Lowrie hit the game-winning solo homer. In a six-run game, five runs were scored on homers. Of course, the game also went into extras. But we won the rubber match. As we close in on September and, more importantly, October, these games become more important than ever.

We have a day off today before taking on the Yanks. Good news though. Wake is back! Of course, he was moved up because Beckett is still experiencing numbness/pain. Yikes.

Football season starts soon. Yay!

Home Run Derby

/ Sara / 1 Comment

Dustin Pedroia hit a three run shot, Coco hit a solo, Lowrie hit the game-winning solo homer. In a six-run game, five runs were scored on homers. Of course, the game also went into extras. But we won the rubber match. As we close in on September and, more importantly, October, these games become more important than ever.

We have a day off today before taking on the Yanks. Good news though. Wake is back! Of course, he was moved up because Beckett is still experiencing numbness/pain. Yikes.

Football season starts soon. Yay!

Ehem…Aboot The Red Sox

/ Sara / Leave a comment

Hello all. So, as I said in my blog last week, the Olympics have taken over my life. That, combined with the wedding I was in, moving my sister into school, getting ready for school myself, and actually attending a Red Sox game have made it difficult to find time to blog. I went to game 2 of the Sox-Os series, had great seats, and sat next to a kindred spirit. If you don’t know by now, I’m a HUGE Tek fan. I jump to his defense the minute someone says something bad about him. Well, what do you know but I was sitting next to another huge Tek fan who swears the reason for his slump was because she hadn’t seen him play this year. At first, I thought “yeah, right” but then the captain, in his first at-bat, ripped one to left center for a solo shot. He’s hit a home run in his last three games. Even when he flew out, it wasn’t a weak popper to the infield or right to the outfielder, no, it was a long, almost out of the park beauty that the O’s had to chase. Hopefully he’s working his way out of the slump.

Dustin got tossed from the game after having a few choice words with the Ump (mind you, the strike zone was TERRIBLE) and Tito must have come out to argue at least three or four times. But lets talk about Dustin, and if we talk about Dustin, we must mention Youk. The two of them are absolutely fierce. I mean, if Youk continues his performance he could be in talks for the MVP, which he totally deserves. (I think) They are having great at-bats now, they’re hard to get out (most of the time), they hit homers, doubles, triples, sac-flies, RBIs and lots of singles. They spark rallies. They are great fielders. And the best part is, they’ll be great for years to come because they’re not that old (crossing fingers, praying for no injuries and/or trades).

p1_pedroia.jpg

He is just too cute!

Mikey and Drew are still out (sad face!) but Byrd looked good last night. He got rocked a little, but he got good back-up from the bats (and the lower part of the order too!) So if we have Beckett, Dice-K, Lester, Byrd and Wake (when he returns) then Colon, Masterson, Paps, Smith, Lopez, and Okajima, we’ll actually have a pretty good pitching staff. (bull pen is still a little scary, but if the starters can go six or seven without getting rocked too hard, we’ll manage) If we just keep that offense chugging, keep Lugo on the DL and get everybody healthy, we have a very good shot at the post-season.

A Rays collapse wouldn’t hurt either. And a Twins collapse. And if the Yankees start losing even more ground, I wouldn’t complain.

My boy is pitching today, so bring on the Jays!

In football news…

The Pats lost another pre-season game, reinforcing the idea that if Tommy gets hurt in the regular season, the New England Patriots are officially screwed.

Ehem…Aboot The Red Sox

/ Sara / Leave a comment

Hello all. So, as I said in my blog last week, the Olympics have taken over my life. That, combined with the wedding I was in, moving my sister into school, getting ready for school myself, and actually attending a Red Sox game have made it difficult to find time to blog. I went to game 2 of the Sox-Os series, had great seats, and sat next to a kindred spirit. If you don’t know by now, I’m a HUGE Tek fan. I jump to his defense the minute someone says something bad about him. Well, what do you know but I was sitting next to another huge Tek fan who swears the reason for his slump was because she hadn’t seen him play this year. At first, I thought “yeah, right” but then the captain, in his first at-bat, ripped one to left center for a solo shot. He’s hit a home run in his last three games. Even when he flew out, it wasn’t a weak popper to the infield or right to the outfielder, no, it was a long, almost out of the park beauty that the O’s had to chase. Hopefully he’s working his way out of the slump.

Dustin got tossed from the game after having a few choice words with the Ump (mind you, the strike zone was TERRIBLE) and Tito must have come out to argue at least three or four times. But lets talk about Dustin, and if we talk about Dustin, we must mention Youk. The two of them are absolutely fierce. I mean, if Youk continues his performance he could be in talks for the MVP, which he totally deserves. (I think) They are having great at-bats now, they’re hard to get out (most of the time), they hit homers, doubles, triples, sac-flies, RBIs and lots of singles. They spark rallies. They are great fielders. And the best part is, they’ll be great for years to come because they’re not that old (crossing fingers, praying for no injuries and/or trades).

p1_pedroia.jpg

He is just too cute!

Mikey and Drew are still out (sad face!) but Byrd looked good last night. He got rocked a little, but he got good back-up from the bats (and the lower part of the order too!) So if we have Beckett, Dice-K, Lester, Byrd and Wake (when he returns) then Colon, Masterson, Paps, Smith, Lopez, and Okajima, we’ll actually have a pretty good pitching staff. (bull pen is still a little scary, but if the starters can go six or seven without getting rocked too hard, we’ll manage) If we just keep that offense chugging, keep Lugo on the DL and get everybody healthy, we have a very good shot at the post-season.

A Rays collapse wouldn’t hurt either. And a Twins collapse. And if the Yankees start losing even more ground, I wouldn’t complain.

My boy is pitching today, so bring on the Jays!

Oh What A Night

/ Sara / Leave a comment

Order of the day: first we’ll talk baseball, then college football and then the NFL

First up: Baseball
This game was the most ridiculous, the longest, and the craziest game I have ever sat
through.

papihomer.jpgAnd I had to balance this while watching the oh-so-nerve-wracking gymnastics team finals (USA won a silver…they should have had gold) and Michael Phelps (who was, at least, stellar and I never doubted him) I can’t handle more nights like this one.

Papi hits not one, but TWO homers in the first. We go into the second inning 10-0 against the rangers. Game over, right?

Wrong.

If anything, this game highlighted our bullpen problems and then put them under the microscope. Zink was good for three, then he got rocked. The innings between Zink and Okajima were horrible. Who has a 12-2 lead and blows it to be losing 16-15 in the eighth? Ladies and Gentlemen, our bullpen.

This was Zink’s first game at the Show ever, so I am willing to forgive him and let him have another chance. He was nervous. And we made a lot of errors. That was a sloppy game. That could have been the most embarassing loss in the history of the regular season (we have had some stupid post-season losses that I will not mention here). All I gotta say is thank goodness for Youk. The beastly man struggled earlier when the Sox were hitting like an offensive machine, but came up with not one, but TWO homers in the fifth and eighth. The second of which would prove to be the game-winner.

youkcelebrate.jpg
Here’s the goal for tonight: bring that same offense, but please, please, please have better defense. With the solid southpaw on the mound, I have no doubt that Lester can rebound from the loss to the ChiSox and turn in a dominant performance. Everyone will be tired, I know, but that’s okay, because the Rangers had to stay up for last night’s nonsense too. I told my housemate how long the game was and she said “Wow. How many innings did it go to?” and I replied “Eight and a half.” That is so not normal.

Oh well, we are the Sox, and we did notch the all-important W (which is even sweeter coming off a day where the Rays snagged a beautiful L) I think the absence of Longoria is hurting them and the Sox need to capitalize on this. Perhaps the addition of Byrd (thank goodness for replacing Buchholz) will give the Sox that extra bit that they need to maybe even take back the division.

Speaking of Clay. Look, he’s a young, talented pitcher, but something is not clicking. It might be something small, I mean, look at Okajima. He went from lights out to terrible, and then changed one pitch and started looking lights out again. The big boys know Clay’s pitches. He’s not really throwing that poorly, but he’s getting hit. A lot. So maybe a little trip down to the minors and a little work on his pitches to really get in there and fool a batter and we could possibly have another ace on our hands. Call me crazy, but I have faith in the kid.

And now onto college football…

I just have one complaint to go on: I hate that Ohio State is expected to go to the BCS championship again this year. I’m so tired of seeing them ride their easy schedule to the top only to lose and/or be blown out by a better team. The BCS either needs to go to a playoff system so we can have a real national championship, or at least end the love affair with Ohio State and come up with a way to get the two best teams into the National Championship, even if they do have two losses. As a consumer (my fave team is I-AA and has no shot) who wants to watch good football, I want to see a game for the national championship, not OSU getting their butts handed to them, again.

Finally, the NFL:

Okay Ladies and Gents, football season is fast approaching, and power rankings are in. Here are mine:

  • New England Patriots
    • Not only am I a fan, but no one has come up with an answer for the Brady-Moss-Welker trio and with five versatile and talented backs, that offense will keep defenses guessing
  • San Diego Chargers and Indianapolis Colts
    • These guys are tied, mostly due to injuries. While they don’t keep them out of the running for Superbowl contention, they certainly don’t help.
  • Dallas Cowboys
    • Good until the end…this may be Romo’s year to finally win a post-season game. Maybe.
  • Jacksonville Jaguars
    • The human bolling ball and big man tandem of Taylor and Jones-Drew is scary good
  • Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns
    • Tie, again, though the Browns may slip because of injuries. Big Ben looks great this year, and the depth of the Browns is great, not to mention they are hungry for the playoffs after being kept out last year
  • Minnesota Vikings
    • Running backs! And QB Jackson looks a lot better, so teams will have to start paying attention to him as well.
  • New York Giants
    • Despite being reigning champs, a few off-season losses and the dreaded superbowl
      hangover don’t help much.
  • Washington Redskins
    • Don’t laugh, Jason Campbell is the real deal, and he’s only going to get better. Plus the addition of Jason Taylor will only help. And for the first time EVER the Skins have minimal injuries and no key players out at the start of the season.
  • Green Bay Packers, Seattle Seahawks, Philadelphia Eagles and New Orleans Saints
    • Why a four-way tie? These four teams are the wild cards, each making some moves in the off season that might propel them to greater hieghts or they might just stay middle-of-the pack. Here’s each team’s various wild-cards. Green Bay: Aaron Rogers. It could go either way. As for Seattle, they’ve stepped up the defense, but the offense has been doing some shifting. The Eagles its all about health. If they stay healthy, they stay in contention. Problem is, when are the Eagles ever healthy? Finally, the Saints have beefed up their defense to match what is, already, a really good offense.
  • Houston Texans
    • Their rank would be higher, if only they weren’t in the AFC South
  • Tampa Bay Buccaneers
    • Mostly because the only division competition they face is the New Orleans Saints, if the Bucs stay consistent, they’ll probably be in the playoffs.

The Runners Up
(This bunch of teams probably won’t make the playoffs, but they might be 8-8 or 6-10 on the season, and deserve mentioning.)

  • Buffalo Bills
  • Arizona Cardinals
  • Denver Broncos
  • Baltimore Ravens
  • New York Jets
  • Carolina Panthers
  • Chicago Bears
  • Cincinnati Bengals
  • Detroit Lions
  • Miami Dolphins (I think adding Pennington gave them a big boost)

And the Bottom of the Barrel Teams (lets just call it a “rebuilding year”)

  • St. Louis Rams
  • Kansas City Chiefs
  • San Fransisco 49ers
  • Atlanta Falcons
  • Oakland Raiders

Oh What A Night

/ Sara / 1 Comment

This game was the most ridiculous, the longest, and the craziest game I have ever sat
through.

papihomer.jpgAnd I had to balance this while watching the oh-so-nerve-wracking gymnastics team finals (USA won a silver…they should have had gold) and Michael Phelps (who was, at least, stellar and I never doubted him) I can’t handle more nights like this one.

Papi hits not one, but TWO homers in the first. We go into the second inning 10-0 against the rangers. Game over, right?

Wrong.

If anything, this game highlighted our bullpen problems and then put them under the microscope. Zink was good for three, then he got rocked. The innings between Zink and Okajima were horrible. Who has a 12-2 lead and blows it to be losing 16-15 in the eighth? Ladies and Gentlemen, our bullpen.

This was Zink’s first game at the Show ever, so I am willing to forgive him and let him have another chance. He was nervous. And we made a lot of errors. That was a sloppy game. That could have been the most embarassing loss in the history of the regular season (we have had some stupid post-season losses that I will not mention here). All I gotta say is thank goodness for Youk. The beastly man struggled earlier when the Sox were hitting like an offensive machine, but came up with not one, but TWO homers in the fifth and eighth. The second of which would prove to be the game-winner.

youkcelebrate.jpg
Here’s the goal for tonight: bring that same offense, but please, please, please have better defense. With the solid southpaw on the mound, I have no doubt that Lester can rebound from the loss to the ChiSox and turn in a dominant performance. Everyone will be tired, I know, but that’s okay, because the Rangers had to stay up for last night’s nonsense too. I told my housemate how long the game was and she said “Wow. How many innings did it go to?” and I replied “Eight and a half.”  That is so not normal.

Oh well, we are the Sox, and we did notch the all-important W (which is even sweeter coming off a day where the Rays snagged  a beautiful L) I think the absence of Longoria is hurting them and the Sox need to capitalize on this. Perhaps the addition of Byrd (thank goodness for replacing Buchholz) will give the Sox that extra bit that they need to maybe even take back the division.

Speaking of Clay. Look, he’s a young, talented pitcher, but something is not clicking. It might be something small, I mean, look at Okajima. He went from lights out to terrible, and then changed one pitch and started looking lights out again. The big boys know Clay’s pitches. He’s not really throwing that poorly, but he’s getting hit. A lot. So maybe a little trip down to the minors and a little work on his pitches to really get in there and fool a batter and we could possibly have another ace on our hands. Call me crazy, but I have faith in the kid.

A Long Road Home

/ Sara / Leave a comment

It has now been five days since my last entry. Dang. I knew I was behind, but I didn’t know I was this behind. What’s my excuse? Between watching the Red Sox, preseason football, Michael Phelps and the Olympics, sleep has fallen by the wayside. Now fully rested and able to snag a few minutes, I will now talk what we are all here to discuss: baseball.

We split a series against the ChiSox, and quite a few things happened during this four-game series.

-my rock, my best hope (Lester) lost his first game in 2.5 months (that’s just a ridiculous stat, by the way)
-Pedroia stops his road hitting streak at 29. (also ridiculous, considering how bad the Sox can be on the road)

buch.jpg

-Clay B. had a really bad (and somewhat unlucky) night, though I tell you what, he was throwing good, they were just hitting better. I have hope for him yet.

-the bullpen wasn’t too terrible. no, really, they were actually pretty decent (what we saw of them)

-the Sox come home with a winning record for a road trip! 4-3

-how ’bout Jason Bay being as solid as he can be? I mean, he’s no Manny, but that trade , which significantly lowered the level of stress for the Sox, added years to Tito’s life
–Jose Contreras came of the DL on August 9th, and promptly returned following an Achilles tear and is out for the rest of the season (his surgery yesterday was successful, however)
-Jed Lowrie. I want him at short, or Cora, but mostly Jed. Julio, take your time on the DL.

Other good/funny things that happened over the weekend:

-Evan Longoria was placed on the DL (no, I don’t wish people would be hurt, but this does help out the Sox) So now they Rays have two key players out for at least two weeks

-The Yanks are now 9 games behind Tampa, and 5 games behind the Red Sox. Please oh please oh please can they keep losing?

phelps.jpg -The American’s crushed the World record (and the trash-talking French) in the 4X100m relay in what was one of the greatest Olympic moments ever.
And then the men’s gymnastics team, with ZERO Olympic experience, and not favored to medal at all, had a stellar night to take home the Bronze.

-finally, Manny is already stirring up controversy at his new post in La-La-Land. Many great player’s locks have fallen to the will of Joe Torre. Damon, for example, lost his Jesus-do after acting like Judas and jumping over to the Dark Side. Now Torre is in the land of image-is-everything, did you really think he’d stop the whole hair cut thing? 11 days ago he asked Manny to trim his hair (wherever he goes, the Manny must be appeased). Manny, who thought he was finished early last night and could not be found for a few minutes (classic), has yet to get the requested “trim”. Here’s some more on the “Dreadlock Deadlock“

manny.jpg

Oh Manny, how I miss you, yet how glad I am that you are gone …(hey, I’m a Red Sox fan, it’s my nature to be contradictory)

becks.jpg Becks pitched a gem last night, racking up the Ks. Problem was, John Danks was almost perfect. Then he whacked Wheels (Ellsbury) on the butt with a pitch and it all went downhill from there. Beckett looked like the Ace we all know and love last night (good timing with that, by the way) in what will be a very important month for the Sox, Beckett’s return to a higher standard is welcome news. Wake is on the DL, Buchholz, though he is actually pitching OK, can’t seem to fool batters, and Dice is heart-attack inducing (though he rarely loses). This makes watching the Sox pitch so much more stressful, especially when Beckett is so close but just a little off. But this resurgence is great, because the means now (hopefully) we have the stellar 1-2-3 punch of Dice, Beckett and Lester, plus Zink, who should be pretty good, and Clay has a lot of potential, he just needs a little work. We still have one of the best (and certainly the most interesting) closers in Paps.

So here’s to Beckett (may he be as dominant in Aug-Sept-Oct 2008 as he was in 2007) and a good road trip. Now, lets hope that the temporary set-backs can stall the Rays out a bit to get the Sox back in contention. (What, I still am, and will always be, worried that the Yankees are going to go on a run at the end and take it all away from us)

Back at home tonight with the high-scoring Texas Rangers (yee-haw!) Good news: Zink is pitching in his MLB debut (13-4, 2.89 ERA, .228 opponents batting average in the minors). That means most of these batters have never seen him before. Hopefully Tito and Cash and all the guys can allay his nerves and he’ll be the heir-apparent to Wake (the guy is 42, he’ll retire eventually)

I leave you with a question. There have been (not counting war years and a few lost to injury) five major players spanning the years to play in Left Field at Fenway: Lewis (whose cliff is now gone), Williams, Yaz, Rice, Greenwell, and Manny. Will Bay be like the few, the proud, the Sox Left Fielders? Or will he be like the names we don’t mention here, a handful of starters scattered over the near 100 years of Fenway and the Monster? Who knows, he’s a young guy, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

A Long Road Home

/ Sara / Leave a comment

It has now been five days since my last entry. Dang. I knew I was behind, but I didn’t know I was this behind. What’s my excuse? Between watching the Red Sox, preseason football, Michael Phelps and the Olympics, sleep has fallen by the wayside. Now fully rested and able to snag a few minutes, I will now talk what we are all here to discuss: baseball.

We split a series against the ChiSox, and quite a few things happened during this four-game series.

    -my rock, my best hope (Lester) lost his first game in 2.5 months (that’s just a ridiculous stat, by the way)
    -Pedroia stops his road hitting streak at 29. (also ridiculous, considering how bad the Sox can be on the road)

buch.jpg

    -Clay B. had a really bad (and somewhat unlucky) night, though I tell you what, he was throwing good, they were just hitting better. I have hope for him yet.
 
   -the bullpen wasn’t too terrible. no, really, they were actually pretty decent (what we saw of them)

    -the Sox come home with a winning record for a road trip! 4-3

    -how ’bout Jason Bay being as solid as he can be? I mean, he’s no Manny, but that trade , which significantly lowered the level of stress for the Sox, added years to Tito’s life
    –Jose Contreras came of the DL on August 9th, and promptly returned following an Achilles tear and is out for the rest of the season (his surgery yesterday was successful, however)
    -Jed Lowrie. I want him at short, or Cora, but mostly Jed. Julio, take your time on the DL. 

Other good/funny things that happened over the weekend:

    -Evan Longoria was placed on the DL (no, I don’t wish people would be hurt, but this does help out the Sox) So now they Rays have two key players out for at least two weeks

    -The Yanks are now 9 games behind Tampa, and 5 games behind the Red Sox. Please oh please oh please can they keep losing?

phelps.jpg    -The American’s crushed the World record (and the trash-talking French) in the 4X100m relay in what was one of the greatest Olympic moments ever.
And then the men’s gymnastics team, with ZERO Olympic experience, and not favored to medal at all, had a stellar night to take home the Bronze.

    -finally, Manny is already stirring up controversy at his new post in La-La-Land. Many great player’s locks have fallen to the will of Joe Torre. Damon, for example, lost his Jesus-do after acting like Judas and jumping over to the Dark Side. Now Torre is in the land of image-is-everything, did you really think he’d stop the whole hair cut thing? 11 days ago he asked Manny to trim his hair (wherever he goes, the Manny must be appeased). Manny, who thought he was finished early last night and could not be found for a few minutes (classic), has yet to get the requested “trim”. Here’s some more on the “Dreadlock Deadlock“

manny.jpg

Oh Manny, how I miss you, yet how glad I am that you are gone …(hey, I’m a Red Sox fan, it’s my nature to be contradictory)

becks.jpgBecks pitched a gem last night, racking up the Ks. Problem was, John Danks was almost perfect. Then he whacked Wheels (Ellsbury) on the butt with a pitch and it all went downhill from there. Beckett looked like the Ace we all know and love last night (good timing with that, by the way) in what will be a very important month for the Sox, Beckett’s return to a higher standard is welcome news. Wake is on the DL, Buchholz, though he is actually pitching OK, can’t seem to fool batters, and Dice is heart-attack inducing (though he rarely loses). This makes watching the Sox pitch so much more stressful, especially when Beckett is so close but just a little off. But this resurgence is great, because the means now (hopefully) we have the stellar 1-2-3 punch of Dice, Beckett and Lester, plus Zink, who should be pretty good, and Clay has a lot of potential, he just needs a little work. We still have one of the best (and certainly the most interesting) closers in Paps.

So here’s to Beckett (may he be as dominant in Aug-Sept-Oct 2008 as he was in 2007) and a good road trip. Now, lets hope that the temporary set-backs can stall the Rays out a bit to get the Sox back in contention. (What, I still am, and will always be, worried that the Yankees are going to go on a run at the end and take it all away from us)

Back at home tonight with the high-scoring Texas Rangers (yee-haw!) Good news: Zink is pitching in his MLB debut (13-4, 2.89 ERA, .228 opponents batting average in the minors). That means most of these batters have never seen him before. Hopefully Tito and Cash and all the guys can allay his nerves and he’ll be the heir-apparent to Wake (the guy is 42, he’ll retire eventually)

I leave you with a question. There have been (not counting war years and a few lost to injury) five major players spanning the years to play in Left Field at Fenway: Lewis (whose cliff is now gone), Williams, Yaz, Rice, Greenwell, and Manny. Will Bay be like the few, the proud, the Sox Left Fielders?  Or will he be like the names we don’t mention here, a handful of starters scattered over the near 100 years of Fenway and the Monster? Who knows, he’s a young guy, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.