The Trade Deadline

..is over. And we got Gagne for Gabbard. And Murphy. And Beltre. I guess they really wanted him!

I didn't pay too much attention to the trade talk, mostly because I thought we had such a great team already we wouldn't be interested in anyone. However, when I arrived home at 1:30 and ESPN was crazy with the Gagne talk (and of course, Teixeira), I figured something was up! And as 4:00 neared, the news became final, and Gabbard was no more.

(Hold up -- David Ortiz just hit his 2nd HR of the night! That's our man.)

So...I know Gagne will help the team, and we can never have too many GOOD pitchers (or else we'll trade them all away and last year will happen again...still mad about Bronson?!). But I liked Kason! And Murphy was gonna be so good...ahh, well. I guess when your 3 favorite players get traded away, nothing will bother you too much anymore!

No Extras!

I hate it when games I assume are won turn out not to be sure things after all.

Here we are, in extra innings, after having a 6-4 lead going into the 9th inning. The worst part is Papelbon is the one who gave up a 2-run shot to put us into this 11th inning. It's so rare when he does stuff like this that it's kind of hard to believe it even happened. But everyone is human, or so they say.

So Julio Lugo has doubled, which is quite good. Youkilis is having a lengthy at-bat, he finally got to a full count after 8 pitches. And he walked! All those pitches he fouled off were worth it (TB manager Joe Maddon got ejected for that one). So now we have David Ortiz at the plate. Extra innings and we need some runs, this is where he loves to shine. Unfortunately, he just struck out.

One last chance in Manny Ramirez. On a side note, I'm listening to this Fray album and it's pretty good. But back to the game. What will Manny do? Ball one..foul..foul..(getting nervous)..ball two..OUT. To the bottom of 11 we go.

Nothing happened. 12th inning: ooooh! SIX runs! They totally doubled their score in one inning. TB did nothing in their half and we ended up winning 12-6 in 12.

They can be so good sometimes!

5

5 wins in a row! Matsuzaka came out on top in a 1-0 win tonight, pitching 7 scoreless in a clearly tight game. We don't usually win those close ones, but the winning streak must go on!

Last night, the game was on TV, and Lester made his triumphant return, and we went up early and stayed up, and me? Well, I totally fell asleep in the middle of the game. And it sucked, greatly. I woke up around midnight and heard baseball on my TV, turned around to check the score and of course it wasn't the Boston game! It was the second game of the doubleheader, and I missed a great chance to see a Sox win, but...I did get a lot of sleep last night...

A Special Night in Store

Jon Lester is making his first start since his cancer diagnosis. And ESPN is carrying the game, which means I actually get to watch it. I can't wait to see how the fans react when he steps on the field.

And now...the game begins!

I Beg You

STOP LOSING!!

Those boys need to get their acts together, ASAP. Now we hold only a 7 game lead in the standings and that is nowhere near good enough. Losing to Kansas City more than once is unacceptable.

I hope the White Sox have 4 really off days!

No More Injuries, Thanks

This game has been quite good, except for the 6th inning slip up when Toronto tied the game. But then in the bottom of the 6th we scored 5 runs so that little problem was quickly taken care of. Crushing the opponent's hopes, that's what I like to see.

David Ortiz, Brendan Donnelly, Curt Schilling, J.D. Drew, all hurting... it is starting to feel reminiscent of last season's injuryfest and this is a BAD feeling! Hopefully they are getting all the injuries out of the way now before playoff time comes around.

At least we have Dustin Pedroia, whose performance this season has been a most pleasant surprise. And he will only get better!

The Derby

I can't believe I'm watching the Home Run Derby when David Ortiz isn't participating. However...my favorite non-Sox-never-was-a-Sox-player Vlad Guerrero is in it and I have to cheer the man on. It is my duty!

A Loss is Never Good

Another loss. After the extra innings mess that went down yesterday, a win would have been nice -- but now they all have a few days to recover, as they don't play again until Thursday to start a series against Toronto. But not everyone...

"Following the game, Ramirez boarded principal owner John W. Henry's private plane, along with David Ortiz, Mike Lowell, Josh Beckett, Jonathan Papelbon and Hideki Okajima, on a flight to the West Coast."

Look at all those Sox players! Doing us proud.

P.S. My other tennis team won today and we are going to the playoffs. So at least one good thing happened today (in addition to Federer beating Nadal, of course. Too bad about that Djokovic kid, I really wanted to see him in the finals!).

Huge Lead

It's like 13-2 up in Boston, and we are on the good side of that score. There is NO WAY they can blow this. NO WAY. And with All-Star Okajima in that bullpen, it's an even safer lead.

Coco Crisp hit a grand slam earlier, which is awesome. Mike Lowell hit a 3-run HR over the Green Monster, and he's got 4 RBI, Crisp has 5, and everything is going quite smoothly. If only all the games could be like this!

There's the Good and then There's the Bad

The Red Sox won tonight, and many good things happened: A two-run single that snapped an 0-for-33 hitless streak for Julio Lugo; Matsuzaka earned his 10th win of the season; and Juan Carlos Ferrero won his 4th round Wimbledon match. Oh, was that not baseball-related? I gotta show some love for my favorite tennis player, and I may not have much longer to do it -- he's playing Federer in the quarters :(

I know the Boston winning news is great, but there is something really, truly bad going on at the moment. If you've got 10 little minutes to spare, watch this video of a man who loves baseball and also happens to be 100% amazing in this clip.

Many Men Were Good

We sorely needed a win tonight and barring any crazy stupid hijinx, it looks like we will get one! Actually, Boston is one out away from a win, and after those two one-run losses, it is nice to get a big win.

Kason Gabbard started this evening, and yes I have my eye on that one. He is only 2.5 yrs older than me, after all. I might as well like him, he is wearing Bronson's number (but that golfing, fishing, and hunting thing might be a problem). And he just officially got the win. Timlin, Snyder, Lopez, and Okajima followed. You never know what you're gonna get when Mike is in the mix, but it ended well tonight.

Best moment of the night came from Eric Hinske -- a bases loaded triple will always win. Unless the game had a grand slam in it, then the triple has to take the backseat. Luckily for Hinske, he was the star for me tonight.

Keep it up now!