Tuesday, July 26

Pulled it out

The Sox pulled out tonight's game in Extra Innings. It was a wild one though.
Damon made a GREAT catch at the wall in the bottom of the ninth that saved the day. Schilling owes him some beer.
Then Damon came up to bat and hit a nice homerun to give us the 9-8 lead. Tek knocked in another to make it 10-8.
Schilling gave up one run in the bottom of the 10th to make it 10-9. I got a little nervous. He managed to get out of the inning and get the save, or maybe he'll get the win.
Clement seems like he might be ok. Gonna spend the night in the hospital.
Our new young guy from Boston looked pretty good.
4:15 game tomorrow, what's up with that?

Consistent

Well The Sox keep on looking like a pretty mediocre baseball team. They seem to be lacking one big thing, the ability to play consistent baseball.
Here's what the dictionary has to say about the word consistent:

Main Entry: con·sis·tent
Pronunciation: k&n-'sis-t&nt
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin consistent-consistentns, present participle of consistere
1 archaic : possessing firmness or coherence
2 a : marked by harmony, regularity, or steady continuity : free from variation or contradiction b : COMPATIBLE -- usually used with with c : showing steady conformity to character, profession, belief, or custom
3 : tending to be arbitrarily close to the true value of the parameter estimated as the sample becomes large

- con·sis·tent·ly /-lE/ adverb

I would like to point out my biggest point: marked by harmony, regularity, or steady continuity. At the moment that would not really describe the Red Sox. One night we're good, one night we're not. I wish we could stick with the being good part.
I'm not going to go into my normal game by game run down. I'll just hit the high, or maybe low, lights of the last week or so.

TAMPA BAY SERIES
After losing the first game and looking pretty sad we managed to win the next two games. Don't remember what happened Tuesday night but Wednesday we scored six runs before the D-Rays could get an out. We won that won 9-4. The NESN guys were making me laugh during that one. They're pretty damn funny.

WHITE SOX SERIES
I was not optomistic about this one. The White Sox are one of the best teams in baseball and have won something like 10 more games then we have this year. We managed to get a split though, we won Thursday and Saturday and they won Friday and Sunday. Sunday was a game we could have had. We just seem to lack any sort of passion this year.

TAMPA BAY...AGAIN.
Back to Tampa Bay, scene of the big time brawls earlier in the season. I was hoping for three nice wins to get us some confidence back. That doesn't seem to be what the Sox were thinking about.
Monday night we lost 4-3. Like Sunday's game with the White Sox we squandered quite a few chances to win the game, including having the bases loaded in the ninth. It also turned into our first extra inning game of the year. Sadly it turned into a loss for Schilling on a ball that was mis-played by Trot Nixon. How we can't beat the crap out of Tampa bay is beyond me.

The Yankess continue to play good baseball and lurk pretty close behind us. Befor tonight's game they were a game back and have already won there game tonight. If we lose tonight it will be a tie a top the AL East again. The O's are fading, in fact they got swept by the Rays over the weekend.

Tonights game seemed to be going well as we got out to a 5-0 lead. Then Clement got rocked in the back of the head by a line drive in the third. Anytime we have to go to our not so good bullpen in the third inning is not good. Bradford came in and did hs funny little side arm thing and loaded the bases up. Guess what happened next? Come on, I bet you can guess! That's right. Tampa Bay Grand Slam. Tie game at 5-5. Oyy. The game has gone back and forth and we just got two in the top of the ninth to tie the game at 8. Dale Sveum sent Older Dude around from third after he started at first. That's a bit of a head scratcher.
D-Rays are up in the bottom of the ninth, here comes Schilling.

Monday, July 18

Frustration

A few weeks ago I put a nice little picture in of a fire and talked about how the Red Sox were hot like a fire.
I now post this instead:




This person is very cold, SO ARE THE DAMN SOX.

It was a lovely All Star game. The AL won and were pretty much in control the whole game. Big Pappi had another good game. Yeah for the AL. If only I was still feeling so positve about the Sox's chances of enjoying that home field advantage.
Ya see, the Sox aren't playing so well these days. Not so good at all.
Everyone was calling the four game set with the Yankees at Fenway right after the break to set the tone for the rest of the season. Well I for one don't like the tone.

THURSDAY GAME
EVIL EMPIRE 8 (47-40)
RED SOX 6 (49-39) LOST 3

When I turned this game on the first inning was still going on and the Sox were up 4-0. After that the boys seemed to fall asleep as the Yankees crawled there way back into the game. It was tied at 6 when we hit the ninth. Everyone knew what was coming next, here comes Schilling from the pen. The place was rocking, flash bulbs were going off all over the place, you could sense good things were about to happen. But they didn't. Roid boy Schfield got a double and then "Could I look any gayer with my highlights" A-Rod hit a bomb to make t 8-6. The iar was let out of Fenway. The botton half of the ninth went by faster then you could say Mariano.

FRIDAY'S GAME
EVIL EMPIRE 1 (47-41)
RED SOX 17 (50-39) WON 1

For the second time this season we beat the Spankees 17-1. This game was highlighted by Trot's inside the park HR. There was lot's of scoring. The spankees called up someone from Triple A to pitch which probablly helped. I wish I could be more excited about this win.

SATURDAY'S GAME
EVIL EMPIRE 7 (48-41)
RED SOX 4 (50-40) LOST 1

All the sudden our starting pitching just ain't looking so good. Clement has been solid all year long but on this day he gave up 6 runs in three innings. The boys tried to battle back but it just wasn't happening. The Yankess haven really gotten it all together. For the most part their pitching has come around (last nights game really doesn't count), they have been hitting the ball all over the place with an insanse amount of homerun's. They are playing like they should be. They have also creeped right back into the race.

SUNDAY'S GAME
EVIL EMPIRE 5 (49-41)
RED SOX 3 (50-41) LOST 2

This game was a pretty good example of how the tides have shifted in the last few weeks. Al Leiter pitched for the Yankess after being picked up from the Marlins. He had been pretty mediocre most of the year. His first day as a Yankee he got to pitch against the Sox at Fenway, and he smoked us. He had lot's of strike outs and only gave up one run and a couple of hits. This game had a lot of similarity to the game I saw last Sunday in Baltimore. Wake pitched well but gave up two long balls. The Damn empire got 5 runs off 5 hits. After the 4th Wake shut them down until the 8th when Fag Rod went yard yet again. I had pretty much given up on this one when the 9th rolled around. Manny hit a HR then there was a huge error by Cano and a couple of key hits we had the bases loaded with no outs and were down by 2. I thought for the first time since the first week of the season Rivera was going to blow it. Up steps Alex Cora with his first chance to make a splash as a Sox. Instead he grounds into a double play (out at home and out at first) although the play at first was questionable. We still had a chance though when Mr Hit Streak Damon came up with runners at 2nd and 3rd. A single would have tied the game. Instead he grounds out to first, game over.
FOR AN OFFENSIVE TEAM LIKE THE SOX TO NOT SCORE ANY RUNS WITH THE BASES LOADED AND NO OUTS IT NOT OK! ESPECIALLY IN KEY TIMES LIKE THIS!
My frustration with the Sox is building. I keep expecting to see some major moves but it ain't happening.
The Emprie is 1/2 game out.

Now the Evil Empire might in first once again.

MONDAY'S GAME
DEVIL RAYS 3 (32-62)
RED SOX 1 (50-42) LOST 3

THREE DAMN HITS AGAINST THE D-RAYS! DID YOU SEE THEIR RECORD? THEY SUCK. THREE HITS. NOT OK.
I'M OVER WADE MILLER. HE'S NOT GOOD.
WAIT, WE'RE NOT VERY GOOD RIGHT NOW.
FYI-WE ARE NO LONGER IN FIRST, THE YANKESS (WHO JUST KEEP ON HITTING LOT'S OF HOMERUNS) ARE. Hold please. I just checked in and the Rangers have taken the lead. Maybe there is still hope.
BUT STILL, WE LOST TO THE D-RAYS.
Did anyone else notice that we play four games at the VERY GOOD White Sox this weekend. Oyyy.

Tito needs to light some series fires under some asses. NOW!

Sunday, July 17

Some Photo's from Baltimore

So I never got around to putting in some photo's of my cool trip to Baltimore. So here they are.
I went with standing room tickets but ended up getting a single on the club level. It was VERY sweet. I was looking right down the first base line. Great seats. The waitress service wasn't half bad either.



SOX TAKE A LITTLE BP.
I was really hoping to get close and get some autographs or something. Fenway south was in full effect and that proved a little hard. So I just watched.



MORE BP
It really was a beautiful day. Pretty damn hot though. Camden is a great stadium.



WAKE PITCHES
Wake had an ok day. Gave up 4 runs but had no support from the offense.



PAPPI BATS AND MANNY WARMS UP
I sure wish we had some more offense in this game.

I am going back to Camden for two games in September. Hopefully we'll win

Thursday, July 14

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.

Friday, July 1

Day's off are boring








I'll be moving soon. What fun.

When the boys play an afternoon game on Wednesday then don't play another game until Friday evening it is kinda a bummer. I guess it's good for them though. All that rest and what not.
There's a funny article in the Globe today about how there are lot's of babies being born in Boston this month because it is nine months after the Sox beat the Yankess in the ALCS and then won the series. It's funny. Read it here.
Today is my last day working in NYC. On Tuesday my lovely fiance and I will be moving to Arlington VA. I am very excited about the whole thing and excited about my new job. I will miss the good friends that I have made in NYC but hopefully we will all keep in touch.
Forgive me if the Blog goes a little un-updated for a while. Gotta get the new internet set up and all that. One of the exciting things is that shortly after I get there I will be getting a fancy new I-Mac which will be very exciting. New toys are fun.
Next Thursday I'm going to see the Sox and the O's. Looks like next weekend will see the return of Schill. That is great. I think when that happens Wade Miller should move into the bullpen. He has been our weakest starting pitcher so far.
We've had a tough time with the Blue Jays this year, I hope we can get over that this weekend.
Until next time.