World Series Game 3 (Emotional Rollercoaster)

12:56 am: Let me preface this by saying the following paragraphs were written at exactly the times/innings listed. So what I'm really saying is, I'm kind of psychic...

Pre-game: Jacoby Ellsbury (see, now that he has proven himself, I will bestow upon him the honor of calling him by his real name instead of Jacob) does the cutest starting lineup ever. Had to say that, because it's the truth. I think I've mentioned that I've decided he will be my second favorite player on the team, behind Pedroia of course. Love those rookies!

8:30 pm: Josh Fogg, in the regular season, was 10-9 with a 4.94 ERA. This should be good.

3rd inning: Same thing as the first: Ellsbury and Pedroia got on (JE with a double and DP with a bunt). In the 1st, the next 3 batters were out. This time, Ortiz hit an RBI double, Manny was IBB'd, Lowell hit a 2-RBI single, Drew was out, & Varitek hit a single that Manny tried to score on, but was called out at the plate. Boo. Anyway, Lugo walked and then Matsuzaka got a hit! Scored Lowell and Varitek to put us up 5-0. Ellsbury got ANOTHER double and that made it 6-0!

6th inning: Not so great. After 5 good innings, Matsuzaka got the boot after allowing 2 walks, then Javier Lopez came in and gave up an RBI single. He then proceeded to give up another RBI single. Lopez=not good. Timlin came in and Spilborghs hit one that Ellsbury caught at the very, very end of the field. So close and so good for us. Then Lugo caught a ball at the very top of his jump, it was pretty. Kept the lead safe.

11:40 pm: Timlin has started to suck. 2 batters faced, 2 men on. Perhaps it is time for him to make his exit? Yes! Okajima is coming in to stop the pain. FOX tried to jinx it by saying Okajima has allowed 0 runs in 9 2/3 innings and Papelbon has also allowed 0 runs in 7 2/3. Would it work? AHH YES IT WORKED HE GAVE UP A 3-RUN HR ON THE FIRST PITCH DAMN YOU FOX!!

12:12 am: ELLSBURY YOU WONDERFUL MAN! 4th hit of the night=another run to put it at 7-5! Pedroia!! Another hit for him to make it 9-5! Man, can I pick 'em or can I pick 'em?

9th inning: Lowell just stole 3rd base. How awesomely unexpected.
Bottom of 9th: 3 outs to go for a 3-0 lead..a deficit I don't think Colorado has a chance at overcoming. Easy out, easy out, triple (which one doesn't belong), easy out. So funny to see the depressed Rockies fans after they were cheering like crazy when it was 6-5.

12:58 am: So what did I mean by the psychic thing? Ellsbury and Pedroia had amazing games, Ellsbury especially, and I'm pretty sure I had everything to do with that by calling them out in the pre-game :)

LOVED the post-game interviews with JE and DP!

Let us all remember this day for what it really is: in 2004, Boston won the World Series on this day. So it was fantastic 3 years ago and pretty damn good in '07.

See you all tomorrow, on a night that could hold a World Series championship for the Sox..

Only 2 More to Go

That game made me a lot more nervous than Wednesday's game, but I do have to admit to something: I kind of fell asleep.

It was either the 7th or 8th inning (I was so tired I can't even remember!) and Schilling had pitched a good one, Okajima was doing his usual awesomeness, and then...I couldn't keep my eyes open! There is no excuse for falling asleep during a Red Sox World Series game, so I will not offer any. But I did wake up in the 9th. And I saw Papelbon was in, I knew we'd win, and....I fell back asleep. I KNOW IT IS WRONG but I have to get up early yo!

Okay, but what I did see was pretty funny. They showed the Holliday pick off (great article detailing the Rockies' suckiness here) on replay and that was some pretty good stuff. Not too many hits from Boston last night, but apparently we had enough: usually 2 runs on 6 hits isn't enough to win a ballgame, but it is when you play against a very disheveled Colorado Rockies team.

Let the dominance continue as they head to Colorado. Actually, it might be nice to lose a game so Fenway can celebrate Boston winning. Yes, that might be nice. The way they're playing though...we'll be celebrating in Colorado for sure.

Pics time!Looks like my advice to Mrs. Papelbon was taken! Much, much better.

That is just way too cute not to post!

AL MVP, right here.

I never need a reason for putting up a Dustin Pedroia picture!

I Can't Believe that Just Happened

I don't even know what to call the catastrophe that went down last night. One minute we're up by 5, the next we're losing by one. I swear this all took place in about 10 minutes.

I have NEVER been so disappointed.

Plus the game took like 5 hours and I was supposed to get up early this morning and you know I couldn't go to bed until the game ended.

And PAPELBON got the loss! He and Okajima gave up the 6 runs the Yankees needed to beat us. Our most reliable people. Still the most reliable, just not last night! Okajima gave up 2 solo shots as soon as the 8th inning began, and STILL Francona didn't take him out. He let him stay in for 2 more batters, who were at 2nd and 3rd by the time he finally got yanked. Then Papelbon came in and Jeter hit a single off the first pitch. Abreu got his first hit of the night, which happened to be a 2-run double. A-Rod put them on top with a single.

It was like everything that could have gone wrong did. You kept hoping Papelbon would right himself, and it didn't happen.

Sad, because Matsuzaka was in line to get his win.

Maybe today will be better?

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!

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!

A Better Outcome

Much better.

RBIs all over the place, Manny hitting a 3-run HR, and Tavarez pitching pretty decently (5.2, 2 ER). All good things that add up to equal a win.

Most shocking part of the night: Okajima gave up a run! Could it be he's not perfect after all?

Mussina gave up 7 runs, all earned. Didn't see that coming, but that's not to say I didn't enjoy it!

But Papelbon--what's up? First 2 men he sees he walks? Then he got a K and a ground out, and Jeter was up to be the "hero" and he took 3 pitches and struck out looking! Perfect ending.

A Good Win

Well, I guess they're all good wins. But this one was especially good after the late-inning mess that ruined last night's game.

Beckett is now 6-0 (thanks in large part to Boston's offense) as he only gave up 3 runs over 7 innings. It was a nice outing for him. Six and zero, people. This will be a good year.

Okajima was deservedly named AL Rookie of the Month. I keep thinking how strange it is that he is the big star to come out of Japan, but you know what? I think he is more important to have around than a guy who can only help out once every 5 days. I'm very happy that he is having success and definitely hope it continues in the future.

And now it is time to fall asleep to SportsCenter. Goodnight!

Happy Birthday Tito, From Manny, J.D., Mike, & Jason

First inning - uh-oh. Matsuzaka got his first 2 outs, then struck out Abreu twice but he was walked because the crazy umpire called those strikes balls. So it ended up being 2-0 and things really didn't look good.

But um, WOW we were down 3-0 then Manny hit a home run, followed by J.D. Drew, then Lowell, then Varitek ALL IN A ROW! In 5 minutes we went from 3-0 to 4-3. When Varitek was up my mom said, "Aww, he won't get one," and I replied, "He got one the other night!" then he proceeded to kill one way over left field. Then I started to feel a little bad for the pitcher kid but... oh well. That was pretty damn exciting. First time in team history that 4 home runs in a row were hit. WOW. My mom and I were just laughing. Man, I wish that happened more often. It's too bad I can't get a picture of Manny's reaction - he was smiling and laughing and hugging people :)

But then Matsuzaka killed the mood by giving up a double to Mient-traitor-kiewicz. And I checked to see if I spelled his name right and I cannot believe I still remember how to spell that craziness. But hey, I did win a bunch of spelling bees in elementary school :) By the way, Matsuzaka did get out of that jam. But in the 5th, he gave up a solo shot to Take-a-Seater and it was 4-4. He also struck out A-Rod for the second time. But later on he did give up another run and we were down by one.

Things got interesting in the 7th when Manny led off with a single and Drew doubled off the wall. Then they got more than just interesting when Mike Lowell hit his 2nd HR of the game, off the top of the wall, to make it 7-5!

Daisuke went 7+ innings before Hideki Okajima came in to try and continue his Yankee dominance. Matsuzaka wasn't spectacular, but he wasn't bad either. I imagine he was pretty nervous, actually. H.O. got one out then gave up a single to get men on 1st and 2nd. And then he walked the bases loaded with only one out. I think maybe he had been used too much. In came Donnelly, and it looked like he might get a double play but Cairo screwed up Lugo's throw and we only got one out and a run scored. 7-6. And then Dustin Pedroia displayed his sweet defense and made a beautiful, BEAUTIFUL diving catch. It was so nice. And just to say, Pedroia had a pretty good night tonight, offense and defense. I like what I'm seeing. <--- I had actually typed that even BEFORE he made the freaking awesome catch to get out of the 8th. Yeah, he should have a good year.

Mr. Papelbon pitched the 9th. Got Damon to fly out, Jeter struck out (ha!), and Abreu walked. Eek. So Rodriguez was up, but he was no trouble at all. Another spectacular performance by Papelbon.

First time in 17 years the Sox swept the Yanks at home.

Get out the brooms!