Moving makes blogging hard

So it's been a little while. Sue me.
I no longer live in Yankee lover Town USA. I have to say that I am not to sad about that. Moved to Alexandria VA last Tuesday. Last week was all about moving in, getting settled, taking care of a sick cat and a little bit of work. This week I have been starting the new job which has been fun. It is also the All Star break so there haven't been any games. There was also a little CPU snafu that left me computer less for quite a while.
After the series with the Indians the boys lost two out of three to Toronto at home. Not very cool at all. I was sad by that. We ended up going 2-4 on the homestand after winning 7 games in a row. For some reason we are having a very hard time playing with the Jays this weekend. I got to see the one win at a very cool Sox bar in NYC., It's funny how I found the place two days before I moved. Ohh well. It's called Pat O'Brians and it is very cool. Lot's of sox fans and a beer pong room in the back. Classic.
Then it was off the Texas for a three game set. We managed to win two out of three. I felt a little better about myself. The down side was that the one loss was another blown save by Foulke.
Next stop was a four game series in Baltimore. The first game was Thursday night and I was supposed to go. There was lot's of trauma going on in life so I couldn't make it. There was also the remains of a hurricane bearing down on Baltimore so it didn't really seem like the best idea anyway. It turned out to be the right call. The Sox lost 2-1 in a game that was only 6 innings. Trot Nixon was the bonehead of the day. It was the fourth inning and the rain had begun. It was obvious the game wasn't gonna be finished. The bases were loaded with two outs and Older-Dude was at bat. Trot got picked off at second base to end the inning. That is very sad. There was about two innings of good weather then it poured. It would have been nice to go but I'm glad I didn't.
The Sox won on Friday night then lost on Saturday. The whole game turned Saturday when Matos robbed Pappi of a 3 run shot. It was a pretty amazing catch. In general the O's played really great defense all week and made some pretty amazing plays. There defense got them some wins almost as much as the offense did.
I made up for my missed game on Thursday by going to the game on Sunday. I was supposed to go with Trisha and her sister but they both didn't want to go. So I went by myself. I was fine with that. I sold my three standing room tickets and ended up with some very cool club level seats. They were great. I was looking right down the first base line. It was very nice. As Dirt Dogs said Camden Yards really is Fenway south. I would say that the very full stadium was half sox fans and half o's fans.
It was a pretty ho-hum game sadly. In general over the last week and a half I feel like the Sox forgot how to play winning baseball. It is kinda a small miracle we are still in first. If the O's had won a few more games they would have passed us again. Trot had a solo shot in the second to make it 1-0. They went up 2-1. We had Manny and Pappi on in the third then nothing really happened until the 9th. We ain't gonna beat anyone with three singles (including a bad bunt by Damon) and a solo HR. We missed a couple defensive plays that the O's would have made that lead to runs. But it didn't really matter cause we had no offense what so ever.
After being really hot in June we have started July by winning 4 out of 10 and in general not playing very good baseball.
I don't think that both the Sox and the Yankees (who are surging again) are going to make the playoffs this year. I hope it's us.
A few mid-season thoughts, then I got to so some work.
Our starting pitching is pretty good. Arroyo and Clement have been pretty strong all year. Wells and Wakefield have been ok with some not so great moments. I am not really impressed by Wade Miller.
Our bullpen is our weakness. Schilling was activated today and is going to pitch out of the pen for a while. I'm ok with that. Foulke had knee surgery and will be out for a while.
We could be a bit better at defense.
Our offense is good most of the time.
The Sox are definitely capable of winning the AL East. They just need to play consistent and show up to play every day. Last year after the break was when we got really hot. We also play a lot of games at home for the rest of the year. I'm ok with that.
It all starts with a four game set with the Yankess. God how I would like us to sweep.