Friday, September 30

Big Win Last Night...let's get three more



PAPI DID IT AGAIN LAST NIGHT-THE CROWD WENT NUTS.
Great photo

So it comes down to this. Three games at Fenway with the Yankees. If we sweep we win the division and leave the Yankees in the hunt for the wild card with the Indians (more on that later). If we win 2 out of 3 we end up tied and hopefully head to a one game playoff.
The hardest part about this weekend is going to be who to root for in the White Sox-Cleveland series. I would like the Indians to win so the White Sox don't end up with the best AL record. At the same time I would kinda like them to lose so if we happen to not win the division we have a shot at the wild car. Tough Call.
I have a good feeling about this weekend though. Tonight it Wells and Chang. I think Wells dominate and we take the game easily. I think tomorrow we win 1-0. Last time Wake and Randy pitched we lost 1-0 even though Wake pitched amazing. I think it's our turn. That leaves us with all the momentum going into Sunday and Schilling pitching. It's close but I think we win.
We get the sweep and win the division. That's my call.
GO RED SOX!!!

Thursday, September 29

MVP

Big Pappi...
MVP...
That's all I have to say.

So Close

Manny was 90' away with no outs and the game tied.
We couldn't get him in.
Please don't let that come back to haunt us.

MUST WIN

Bronson threw a crappy game last night. We lost. The Yankees won.
I would call tonight a must win. We don't want to go into the weekend series needing a sweep.
We are down 4-1 at the moment.
Whay can't we beat the Blue Jays?

Wednesday, September 28

Could this race be any tighter?

Wow. What a last five days of the season it is going to be. All I can say is wow.
After stumbling against the D-Rays the boys enjoyed their first day off in 30 days. Hopefully they had a nice time in Baltimore and went to some nice restaurants or something like that. The day off seems to have helped.
We swept the O's which was much needed. After having trouble with them all year we finally seem to have mastered them over the weekend. I'm sure the fact that the O's pretty much suck right now helped out the cause. Friday night Bronson pitched a decent game and got the win. Saturday was a much more dramatic game and Clement got the win.
I got to witness the Sunday game in person. It was great. I know this has been mentioned all over the place but playing in Baltimore is really like a home game for the Sox. There are Sox fans everywhere. It is great. I went with Trisha and we had seats up in the roof. I stopped at the ticket booth and asked if they had any better seats available, man am I glad I did. We ended up with 2 seats just behind home plate. They are the seats that are used for people who accompany handicap folks. So the seats were very spacious not to mention an amazing view. I'll put some pictures up later. In one of my last posts I talked about Hansen and his pink back pack. It appears the O's play that game as well. After BP and right before the game got started I look in the outfield and you see a bullpen pitcher headed out to the pen all by himself, toting a little pink roll along suitcase. Very funny stuff. A couple minutes later Hansen made his way out to the pen with his little pink backpack. Funny stuff.
I had a feeling this was not going to be a close game. Some guy named Maine was pitching for them and we were hungry. We got 5 runs in the first to confirm that. It was a great game to watch, lot's of offense. Older Dude had a big double and Damon had a nice homerun. The funny thing was right before his Johnny's HR I turned to Trisha and said "he really hasn't hit many home runs this year". It was a lovely day at the ballpark.
Then it was back home to finish off the season. Monday's night game got rained out which meant a double header yesterday. That would be god not really helping us out. Damn him. I thought JC was our homeboy!
Wakefiled continues to pitch like a mad man and he won the afternoon game for us. Tito was faced with some hard choices. It would have been nice to have Wake finish off the game and leave the bullpen for the night cap but at the same time Wake is slated to pitch one of the key games with the Yankees this weekend so he didn't want to over extend him. So Paperboy pitched the 8th and Timlin the 9th. That came back to haunt us in the night cap.
Things were looking pretty good in the night game. We had some decent offense going and shaky Schilling on the mound. I thought our 5-2 lead was going to hold up but I was wrong. Schilling stayed in the game a little to long and the game got tied up at 5. It would have been a great time to bring in Paperboy but he was out of action from the afternoon. So we went with Bradford, Myers, Hansen, Gonzalez, and the guy from the Astros and none of them could hold of the Jays.
The good news is that both the Yankees and the Indians lost last night so the division and the wild card. The yankess got spanked by the O's and had to use almost their whole bullpen. That could end up hurting them tonight.
The sad news is that last night was a very winable game and that would have put us in the lead by a game. That little cushion would have been nice.
2 more with the Jays then the showdown with the Yankess which is going to decide it all. We could win our last two with the Jays and they could lose their last two with the 0's. I wouldn't mind that. Then we would just need one win over the weekend to take the division.
I just hope it doesn't come down to Schilling on Sunday. I don't have a ton of confidence in that.

Wednesday, September 21

Unacceptable

After 64 games in first the Red Sox have lost first place to the damn Yankees.
We gave up 5 runs in the 8th to lost the game.
We lost the series to the Devil Rays.
THE FUCKING DEVIL RAYS.
Unacceptable.

What's the deal?

With these random Spammers posting comments?
I get so few comments I get excited when I see I have one. What a let down to find out it is only some guy telling me about his Ukraine bride website.
go Sox.

Bat's Come Alive-Sox Romp



Can you say MVP?

15-2 over the D-Ray's.
Now that's more like it.
What a night the middle of the lineup had. Ortiz was 4-5 with 2 2 run HR's and 4RBI's. Manny was 4 for 4 with 2 HR's and 3 RBI's. Trot was 4-6 with 3 RBI's, and Tek was 4 for 5 with 2 RBI's. Not bad at all. One of Papi's homerun's was a monster shot that apparently ended up in some children's playing area. Older-Dude had a great line from that one: "They need to put out a public address [announcement] to tell those children out there to be careful". Older-Dude is funny! How bout that!
Schilling wasn't looking so hot in the beginning but he pulled it together and pitched a solid game. One of the runs that was scored the runner tagged up from 2nd on a sac fly and scored. I didn't know that was possible. I guess Damon was a little lazy on the play.
I was at a bar with a buddy and it was nice to be able to watch the game on a TV and see the NESN guys. The whole computer thing just get's a little old, especially in our current cramped computer quarters.
I like winning.
It is very funny to see rookie pitcher phenom Craig Hansen carrying around his pink backup. That is a rookie hazing thing. It is a good one. Having been on the both sides of hazing I like the people who make it fun. Back in the day when I was in a fraternity I used to make pledges wander the house like they were superheros. One of them had to be Mr Invisible and he was pretty damn good at it. The other one had to be spider man and he couldn't touch the floor. Now that's humor. So is this guy carrying his pink back pack with him everywhere and having it at his feet in the bullpen. He also seems to be taking it with a good sense of humor as well. That's funny.
Hopefully Wake can keep up his great pitching again tonight and lead us to another win. I wouldn't mind if the Yankees could lose too. This series in Baltimore this weekend is huge. I was supposed to go to 2 damn games but now I only get to go to 1 due to some family stuff. Ohh well.

Tuesday, September 20

Grrrrrrrr

1/2 game back. That's where the Yankee's tand right now. 1/2 of a game. Oyyy.
We manged to split the seried with Oakland thanks the David Ortiz. He had two crucial home runs in the two games that we won. He really is an amazing clutch hitter. He's the man in my book. Friday and Saturday's games were played in miserable weather. Friday night it was raining something fierce. I was worried that Wakefiled wouldn't be able to make his knuckle ball move aorund like he'd like it too. Thankfully he was on the ball again. He's also the man at the moment. In general we're having real problems with the basics of playing baseball. Lot's of errors, not the greatest hitting, mediocre pitching, and other things like that.
Sunday afternoon we just stunk up the place big time. Clement didn't make it through three innings and he gave up a pile of runs. We looked pretty sad.
Last night we continued the theme of looking pretty sad by losing to the damn Devil Rays. The Devil Rays. They are 20 something games out of first place! We should be able ot beat them with Pawtucket. Wells continued the theme of crappy pitching by not making it through three innings and giving up a pile of runs. We couldn't get runners in when we needed to and we had some more errors. In general we just lookedl ike crap.
The yankees on the other hand can't seem to be beat and are winnings all the games they are suppoused to. We should sweep the D-Rays and the O's and then the D-Rays again while the Yankess lose a game here and there. Instead we are playing like carp and the next thing we know we are going to be looking up at the division title and up at the wild card. The Indians are smoking hot right now and no one can seem to beat them. If they don't catch up with the White Sox and win the division they will defintely get the wild card.
That leaves us or the Yankees high and dry. I sure hope it's not us.
Hopefully Schilling will bring his A game tonight and we'll get back on track. Hopefully.

Friday, September 16

Nerve-wracking


Schilling and the boys are having a bit of a tough time at the moment.

Holy crap this is going to be a stressful two weeks.
Every night is like another stress event. Watching the Sox and keeping track of the Spankees and the Indians. Good thing my heart is not old and tired, then we might have a real problem.
After the series with the Yankees we headed up north to play the Blue Jays. We sure have had a heck of a time with them this year, who knows why.
We got the win in the first game thanks to Big Pappi. At times it feels like he really is carrying this team right now. He hit a HR in the 10th to win it. The bullpen managed to blow a 5-0 lead. Oyyy.
Tuesday night Clement got rocked and we all around didn't look so good. We lost 9-3.
Wednesday night was another so so night but it was topped off by another game winning HR by Papi. Thank god.
Meanwhile the Yankees finally figured out the D-Rays and swept them. They have won 4 in a row and seem to be peaking at the right time.
Last night we started a four game set with the A's. Schilling got roughed up for 2 runs in the first inning and we never seemed to get back in it. We lost 6-2. So much for Schilling being back in control of his game.
This whole thing is getting very nerve-wracking. The Yankees are winning the games they need to and we aren't. They are now within a game and a half. This weekend they are playing the Blue Jays while we play the A's. I would say they have the momentum at the moment that is for sure. If we fall out of first we also fall out of the wild card. That is not an exciting thought, not at all. The Indians are on fire and at this rate they may catch the White Sox.
It's gonna be a tricky couple weeks.
I sure would like to win the next three against the A's.
GO RED SOX!

Monday, September 12

Time is growing short

There is only a little under three weeks left in this years season and I have a feeling it is going to be one great ending.
The Sox and the spankees played a great series last week in the Bronx. There was some sloppy play by both teams but all and all it was a damn good series. I just wish we could have won 2 out of 3. I think that would have pretty much sealed the deal as far as the division title goes.
Friday night we played sloppy baseball. Wells pitched good enough to get the win but didn't get much help from his friends. the first run of the night was scored on an error after Tony G threw the ball to the invisible first baseman. Then we went ahead 3-1 then they pulled ahead 4-3. The game really went to hell in the 5th (I think). Millar went to throw to Wells covering first but mishandled the ball. A couple of plays later on what should have been a single Damon mis-plays the ball and boots it far away. He finally gets it back and throws in to Renteria who proceeds to throw the ball into the ground. That was pretty much the end of the night. We did have a chance at one point with the bases loaded. We hit into a double play though and that was the end of that.
Saturday we the Yankees turn to play sloppy baseball. It was an even game until the 4th when we blew it open. We had Chancon on the ropes when Pappi hit a fly ball to left. Hiedki lost it in the sun or something but he plain old dropped the ball and we loaded the bases with no outs. We played batting practice for a while and knocked in 5 runs to make 8-0.
Schilling pitched a great game. He was in fine form and it was great to see. He was in total control and took care of the Spankees.
Yesterday's game was a total pitchers duel. Wakefield gave up a solo home run in the first then struck out 12 but lost the game 1-0. We couldn't do anything against Randy Johnson. The D-rays don't seem to have that problem but I don't think he has pitched that well all year. There was 6 hits total in the game. It was a true pitchers duel.
Wakefield must have been bummed out when we went into the clubhouse. He was probably like "come on guys, I struck out 12 and you can't score 1? When fatty Wells pitches you give him like 6 runs at least. What's the deal!"
Before the Yankees series we took 2 our of 3 from the Angels and 2 out of three from the 0's. I would have like a sweep in one of those series but beggars can't be choosers. Really I just want to put a big a gap between us and the Yankees as possible.
The biggest concern for the Yankees right now is actually the Indian's. They are on fire and have won like 9 in a row. The lead the wild card by a game and a half. So the Yankees are looking up at us and at the Indians. Ha Ha.
It would be so great is the Spankees didn't make the playoffs. But I'm not going to get my hopes up yet.
We have a three game set with the Toronto this week. We have had some trouble with them so I would really like to buck it up and get a sweep. More distance between us and the yankees is good.
Then we go home for a four game set with the A's.
Meanwhile the Yankees are at Tampa Bay. Then they only play Baltimore, Toronto, and us to end the season. They have a little bit easier of a schedule. the big bonus is we finish the season with 7 games at home while they are on the road for 7.
The Indians have a big series with the A's that could really help them make some distance. They have 9 games against the Royals and D-Rays.
We must hold on to first.
GO RED SOX!

Time is growing short

There is only a little under three weeks left in this years season and I have a feeling it is going to be one great ending.
The Sox and the spankees played a great series last week in the Bronx. There was some sloppy play by both teams but all and all it was a damn good series. I just wish we could have won 2 out of 3. I think that would have pretty much sealed the deal as far as the division title goes.
Friday night we played sloppy baseball. Wells pitched good enough to get the win but didn't get much help from his friends. the first run of the night was scored on an error after Tony G threw the ball to the invisible first baseman. Then we went ahead 3-1 then they pulled ahead 4-3. The game really went to hell in the 5th (I think). Millar went to throw to Wells covering first but mishandled the ball. A couple of plays later on what should have been a single Damon mis-plays the ball and boots it far away. He finally gets it back and throws in to Renteria who proceeds to throw the ball into the ground. That was pretty much the end of the night. We did have a chance at one point with the bases loaded. We hit into a double play though and that was the end of that.
Saturday we the Yankees turn to play sloppy baseball. It was an even game until the 4th when we blew it open. We had Chancon on the ropes when Pappi hit a fly ball to left. Hiedki lost it in the sun or something but he plain old dropped the ball and we loaded the bases with no outs. We played batting practice for a while and knocked in 5 runs to make 8-0.
Schilling pitched a great game. He was in fine form and it was great to see. He was in total control and took care of the Spankees.
Yesterday's game was a total pitchers duel. Wakefield gave up a solo home run in the first then struck out 12 but lost the game 1-0. We couldn't do anything against Randy Johnson. The D-rays don't seem to have that problem but I don't think he has pitched that well all year. There was 6 hits total in the game. It was a true pitchers duel.
Wakefield must have been bummed out when we went into the clubhouse. He was probably like "come on guys, I struck out 12 and you can't score 1? When fatty Wells pithces you give him like 6 runs at least. What's the deal!"
Before the Yankees series we toke 2 our of 3 from the Angels and 2 out of three from the 0's. I would have like a sweep in one of those series but beggars can't be choosers. Really I just want to put a big a gap between us and the Yankees as possible.
The biggest concern for the Yankees right now is actually the Indian's. They are on fire and have won like 9 in a row. the lead the wild card by a game and a half. So the Yankees are looking up at us and at the Indians. Ha Ha.
It would be so great is the Spankees didn't make the playoffs. But I'm not going to get my hopes up yet.
We have a three game set with the Toronto this week. We have had some trouble with them so I would really like to buck it up and get a sweep. More distance between us and the yankees is good.
Then we go home for a four game set with the A's.
Meanwhile the Yankees are at Tampa Bay. Then they only play Baltimore, Toronto, and us to end the season. They have a little bit easier of a schedule. the big bonus is we finish the season with 7 games at home while they are on the road for 7.
The Indians have a big series with the A's that could really help them make some distance. They have 9 games against the Royals and D-Rays.
We must hold on to first.
GO RED SOX!

Thursday, September 1

Sometimes Baseball Just Doesn't Matter

So the Sox are doing ok these days. They are still struggling mightily in the pitching department but the bats seem to bail them out on a nightly basis. Two nights in a row they have come back from pretty big deficits (5 runs) and won the game. That is a good thing. Schilling still looks pretty mediocre and the bullpen is still suspect. We are keeping the yankees at bay which is a good thing.
But really that doesn't even matter these days. What is going on in New Orleans and the Gulf Goast is just so devastating that every thing else that is going on right now just seems insignificant. The tragedy that is unfolding in the south is something that I'm not sure that any of us can even really understand.
New Orleans is probably the saddest situation of them all. The city did ok with the actual hurricane but shortly afterwards the levees that protect the city gave way and water came flodding into the city. NO is basically a big bowl that sits below sea level. Once those levees are broken and water starts flowing into the city there is no way to stop it without plugging the levee. That ain't so easy to do. There is also no way of getting the water out without pumping it out. You can't pump it out without electricity.
So all of the people that didn't evacuate before the hurricane are now pretty much trapped in the city with no water, food, electricity, phones, or bathrooms. 30,000 of them are trapped in the Super Dome where they have been for days in pretty much the sam condition. The water raised so fast that many people had to climb up into their attics and chop holes in the roof to get out. Then they had to wait on the roof to get rescued. I'm sure some of them are still waiting there.
You also have a select group of individuals who have decided that this would be a good time to act like thugs and go loot. The first instance of this was in Alabama at a Wal-Mart. First off the conditions in Alabama aren't nearly as bad as in other places second of all what the fuck good in a PS2 going to do you now? I can kinda understand people in NO who are breaking into places to get food and water and other basic necessities but that is about it. You hear stories of armed thugs wandering the streets of NO after stealing guns. I think the National Guard should be able to shoot them if they have to. People have been stealing stuff from hospitals and this morning then even shot at a helicopter that was trying to rescue people. How stupid and selfish can you be?
The thing that is kinda mind boggling to me about the whole deal is the basic lack of any kind of plan for an event like this. How can you have a city that is situated like this and not have a plan for when the levees break? Did they really think that for all of eternity these things were never gonna give way? The people there are literally abandoned with no way of getting out and many not having seen help for days. HOW CAN THAT HAPPEN?
Bush is all about getting the government involved-four days after the event. They are sending the big hospital ship from Baltimore but it won't be there until next week. At that point the only thing it will be good for is storing the 1,000's of dead bodies. The wheels for all of this should have been put in motion on Monday when the first levee gave way. Then they would have been seeing help now instead of next week. How come the only way to save these people is one at a time on a helicopter? What if they got boats like the cruise ship life boats and used those? How come they can't at least drop supplies into these people? Where is the rest of the world who we help at the drop of a hat?
The whole thing just makes me so sad. I just want to drive down there with a big ass truck full of water and food and help but that won't work. There's no gas and I probably couldn't get there.
Speaking of gas...over 3 a gallon? You got to be kidding me.
Ok, I have to try and focus and do some work.
It is just astonishing to me that something like this could happen in the US. I just can't believe that we can't help these poor people at all.