The Beginning Of The End

Red Sox open a 3 game stand at Yankee Stadium tonight. Tim Wakefield against Andy Pettitte. It's the bottom of the fifth, the Yankees are losing 6 -2. The Yankees have complained about every single thing already tonight. I would say that they look like little leaguers out there, but that would be an insult to little leaguers. Johnny Damon is the only reason they are still in this game. Huh, looks like John can't help but hit homers in Yankee Stadium, no matter what color his uniform is. Pettitte is arguing the strike zone, Molina is arguing interference and Giambi is playing like an idiot at first base, letting runs in while he argues. He still has that ridiculous looking pornstach on his lip. Somebody should tell him that everyone is laughing at him.
The Yankee fans are booing Arod, nothing new there. He is playing a lazy third base and can't hit Wake. The Red Sox are playing with bench warmers and call ups, the injury bug is stalking the club house. I'm amazed the Red Sox have held onto second place with the illness, injuries and brutal travel schedule. Makes me wonder where we would be if we had not started the year at a disadvantage. Regardless, the Sox have had an awesome season and they should finish with a division win or wild card. It's all good. They will go on to win another World Series. No question. No doubt. No problem. We plan on making a habit of it. I'm just sayin'...

Gratuitous Varitek

A picture of Jason Varitek because:
1. He looks really good
2. You are about to see something completely hideous in the next post, Tek will make it easier for you to deal with it.
3. He looks really, really good.
4. See numbers one and three, repeat as needed.

I heart Tek, don't you?

Is Andy Insane?

Andy Pettitte looks insane. Did you ever really take a look at his eyes? You think it's the steroids?

Uh-huh, remember he was juicing and that's apparently OK. It's not like anyone got punished. Roger Clemons probably won't get to the Hall of Fame in a big hurry, but there was no real fall out. The clear message is this: Just don't get caught, but if you do it's OK, just don't get caught again.

ESPN Hates MLB

Anyone else notice that ESPN hates Major League Baseball? The American league, in particular. It seems that since baseball season started ESPN has aired any sport but baseball. ESPN loves basketball, preseason football*, college football, NASCAR, regular season football, tiddlywinks... not baseball. They might air a game, maybe two a week. Chances are, that game is going to be a National League game. ESPN seems to like the Braves. The problem with that, for me is this: The Braves already have their own network. It's always fun when the Braves play the Reds, who also have their own network, it means I can ignore it on 3 different channels.
what ESPN really loves is basketball. They air 2-3 games a day during the season. {The NBA has the longest season I've ever seen. Is it necessary to play 11 months out of a year? I think not.} Football has a relatively short season, it just seems to take forever. I think it's all the complaining they do. They play one a game a week and bitch about it for the next 6 days. Sissys

ESPN, ESPN2 and the so called FOX Sports networks, suck. They ignore baseball all season and then pay through the nose for the right to broadcast the playoff and World Series games,and screw it up. Joe Morgan is a biased moron. Most of the hasbeens and neverweres that the sports networks hire to "announce" the games have no clue as to what it going on. I watched a Red Sox - Angels game and Morgan spent the whole afternoon talking about the Yankees. WTF???

I'm ranting about this because I just saw the broadcast schedule for the NBA on ESPN. Preseason football {instead of baseball} has been on every sports network, every night for the last few weeks. My post season aggravation is starting early this year.

*Preseason football is the equivalent of spring training baseball. I don't remember ESPN airing any spring training games. I had to watch them online, just like I have with the bulk of the regular season games, because... ESPN hates baseball.

Get out of my head!

10 cc. "I'm Not In Love"
It's stuck in my head. It's been stuck for days. My friend swears Crisco will work. I'm afraid to ask, so we can both just wonder. If you don't know this song, you didn't grow up in the 70's.* I was told once that if you get a song stuck in your head, sing it to some unsuspecting fool**, it will transfer {like magic} from your head to theirs, thus becoming their problem.

* Or maybe you did but smoked so much mother nature you just can't place it. Here is a hint: big boys don't cry, big boys don't cry, big boys don't cry.
**The jerk in front of you at 7-11 paying with pennies is a good target. In fact, even if you don't have a song stuck in your head, pick a really insidious one just as punishment. Barry Manilow's "Even Now" is good. Or the theme from Gilligan's Island. Did you know the words to that song can be sung to "Stairway To Heaven"? Did I mention I grew up in the 70's?

Blackouts

I missed the whole series against Baltimore. You know, the one where Tek hit a couple of homers and real nifty double? Uh-huh, that one. I was blacked out. Before you begin to wonder about just how much beer I was enjoying, let me be clear. MLB.COM blacked me out. Why? Because I live close enough to Baltimore to purchase a ticket and put my fanny in a seat. I went to Map quest and fed it the start and end info, this is what it spit out: Estimated Time: 8.0 hours 15 minutes Estimated Distance: 488.87 miles. I currently reside in North {Sweet} Carolina {Ba-Ba-Ba} tho, not by choice*. In fact, I live close enough to South Carolina, I could spit at it, and sometimes do. So, counting NC, Va, and driving through {i.e. all the way around!} D.C. Camden Yards is like 3 States away! 8 hours and 15 minutes, does not include, potty and fuel stops, food stops, detours, road {de}construction and all the the other crap that goes with 8 hour car trips. What it also does not take into consideration is THE TRIP BACK! THE TIME IT TAKES TO PLAY THE GAME AND THE FACT THAT I WILL HAVE TO DO IT 3 DAYS IN A ROW!!! I pay for Internet service, I pay to "watch every game, every day, everywhere" {that's what they say} in fine print it says "subject to black out". I understand that there is money to be made by having fans come out to the park. I understand that stations like FOX and ESPN want exclusivity rights to broadcast games. I'm OK with that. I'm not OK with being blacked out of nearly every game played on the East Coast. Oh yeah, you read that right. The teams I am blacked out for: Baltimore, Cincinnati, Washington DC and Atlanta. That is nearly every team on the Eastern Seaboard. The good news is, all of them but Baltimore are National League and they don't count until October. Here is how it works. MLB.TV takes my money and I get to watch my beloved Red Sox games on a small computer screen. Sometimes, the games are on ESPN, Fox or one of the Big 3 Networks. That is a BONUS! Yeah!! Sox on the big screen! Never mind the irony**

I'm still paying to watch online but it's OK, it's on the TV!! Only sometimes, FOX, ESPN, etc, buys the right to broadcast the game, but they don't air it. Or, they do, just not in my area. This falls under "regional broadcast". So, the last 3 days the Red Sox played in Baltimore and I {got to see preseason football, eeew} could not see it online OR on the TV because I live within driving distance to Camden Yards. :~)

Let's review: I'm paying {through the nose} for cable, Internet service and MLB.COM. I did NOT see the whole Baltimore series that I paid for twice because I was blacked out. Blacked out because Baltimore is within driving distance from where I live. Here, I'll draw you a picture:
Oh yeah, I'm pissed. Wouldn't you be?
*I'm not incarcerated or anything. I can leave when ever I want. It's just that we do, what we do, for those we love. Love brought me here. It could be worse.

** I have a pretty big TV, I have a fairly small monitor. 90% of my visual entertainment is baseball online, 10% is Lost, Grey's and CSI {and soon Fringe} on the television. Please note that all of these shows are on Thursday. WTF is up with that???

Bay starts a fire....

Today Papi was being Jacoby, Dice K was being Becks and Mike was being Mike. I found out that Mike Lowell has bone spurs in his hip. YOWZA!! That has got to hurt. You know Mike tho... he is still there, grinding it out. Papi stole second base and got a laugh later when he started eyeing third. I heart Papi. Dice K is having an outstanding day, his pitch count is high but he looks better than I have seen him in a long time.

The girls at Fenway are already in love with Jason Bay. I'm enjoying reading all the "Bay" signs in the bleachers. I was blown away with the standing ovation the Nation gave Bay as he walked up for his first at bat. A standing ovation. Any way you cut it, the Fenway Faithful are a classy bunch. I can't help but wonder how he would have been received at Yankee Stadium. What if he had replace Jeter, for example. I'm thinking it would have been more of a Bronx cheer.

So the game goes into a rain delay with Varitek at bat... with a full count. Crap. That seems so unfair. At least the Red Sox are winning. It's 5-2. I remember sitting through a rain delay as a kid. A couple of the players took their cleats off and went out to have some fun sliding around on the tarp. They pantomimed pitching and hitting, stealing second head first and scoring the winning run. They were soaked through and having a ball. I remember every minute of that delay but couldn't tell you who won the game or what the score was. Huh, that was 30 years ago.... but, damn. Now I feel old.

Bay found out why the boys in red socks take off their batting helmet before returning to the dug out after a run. {I'm pretty sure there should be a comma someplace in that sentence}
"...you get pounded in the head pretty good. I took that thing off immediately when I got there," Bay said. "We just have a tendency to get people in the head when they don't take off their helmet," said catcher Jason Varitek.
Jed Lowrey might be an Athletics killer. In the first two games he went 4-7. The combination of Bay and Lowrey has worked out phenomenally well these last two games and it has continued today. Ells and Tek are climbing out of their slumps and Tito might move Jacoby back to the top of the order very soon.

Delay is over and we are back to soxball. Oki is in to relieve Dice K. Top of the seventh inning. Oki has really struggled this season. I sure hope he can figure out how to get the magic back. We really miss it. Btw.. the lady sitting behind home plate must be on her third ice cream cone. That or it's taking her forever to finish it. I'm really jonesing for some ice cream... see ya.