I Complain A Bit Much

The Sox actually won a game last night, and in pretty good fashion. 7-0 over NY. I was a little worried about team morale after being swept by TB (such close games too), but looks like I needn't worry anymore. What I need to do now is focus my energy on TB and hope they stumble in the KC series...though I doubt they will!

I am quite upset that I don't get to watch half of this series on TV (though day-after MLB.TV has been helping me relive games), and it figures the Sunday night game is on TV so I will be awful at work on Monday. Oh well. Red Sox>life.

Allow me to focus on the good for a moment: Lester was awesome last night: he pitched a complete game shutout and only allowed 5 hits total. Pedroia continued his superb playing, he has now hit safely for the past 11 games. The offense killed Pettitte, who had been 4-0 with a 1.00 ERA in his last 4 starts.

But can I just say that very first called 3rd strike on Ellsbury? What a crap call!

Beckett's Hot

Josh Beckett pitched 8 excellent innings last night, Manny hit 2 home runs, and Mussina only lasted 3 innings. It was a fantastic game!

Except for that whole Farnsworth-almost-took-out-Manny incident (though we did hit A-Rod the other night, after all), everything went well. Even Papelbon giving up 2 runs was acceptable, with a 7-3 lead you are allowed. Ortiz still has an unexpectedly low average at .111, but remember how Pedroia started last year and he ended up Rookie of the Year. No worries yet about The Man.

What's up with Ellsbury getting HBP twice? He must never be injured, we need him too much. Mussina must have something against him..

Johan

Looks like Ellsbury and Pedroia are safe--Johan Santana is going to the Mets. Which is cool. I like the Mets. I'm just glad D.P. and Jacoby still have homes in Boston.

This is Fear

Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury could wind up being sent to the Minnesota Twins in a deal for vaunted lefty Johan Santana.

This is the kind of craziness I wake up to. I check my email first thing, of course, and I get Remy's Today in Sports email. Usually I skip right over it (hey it's the offseason) but I saw Pedroia and Ellsbury in the title and had to read it. So this is what I get?!?

They wouldn't trade my two favorite players...right? Because I'll be honest with you, I might be tempted to walk out on them if they did that. Every year that I announce my favorite, he goes. I thought I was safe with DP, and if they let him go...watch out!

Wrong Choice

Sabathia was listed first on 19 of 28 ballots cast by two writers in each AL city and totaled 119 voting points. Beckett received eight first-place votes and the Angels' John Lackey received one.

Beckett losing the Cy Young to Sabathia is the most perfect example I can think of as to why postseason performances NEED to be taken into consideration when deciding on these end-of-season awards. Because seriously...

Beckett owned Sabathia in the ALCS. TWICE.

And A-Rod will "most likely" get the MVP over Lowell. A man who contributed nothing to his team in the postseason vs. a man who won the WS MVP. And that first guy is picked to win?

How good can you be if your team doesn't make it to the postseason, or if you lose in the LDS?

I question how these things are decided. I am still really thrilled about Pedroia, but I am seriously disappointed that Beckett, who should have won, didn't.

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P.S. FINALLY! Youkilis shaved that horrible beard off (for charity of course)! You cannot tell me he doesn't look a million times better now:

YAAAYYYYY

Pedroia is (AL) Rookie of the Year! Yay!!!!!!!

He was listed first on 24 of the 28 ballots submitted by two writers in each league city and second on the other four to total 132 points. The Rays' Delmon Young finished second behind Pedroia with 56 points. HE DESTROYED THE COMPETITION!

Congratulations DP, now everyone will know why you're my favorite!

Just call him The Winner

Like I Needed Another Reason to Love Pedroia

The awesomest man:

Pedroia played the final two months of the 2007 season with a cracked hamate bone in his left hand, The Boston Herald reported on Saturday. Pedroia told the newspaper that he didn't know when the injury occurred, only that an MRI and bone scan on Sept. 10 revealed the break.

The rookie second baseman played in 30 games after the injury was discovered...

Compare: Wily Mo Pena missed nearly two months for the Red Sox in 2006 with a fractured hamate.

Yeah, love him.

Schilling's Back

Curt Schilling signed a one-year deal worth $8 million that could be worth as much as $14 million should he reach all the incentives in the package. That's good, hopefully he will have another good year...but maybe with a better win-loss record.

In other news, Kevin Youkilis won a Gold Glove for his awesomeness at first base. It was expected and totally deserved. He only had like 429088 consecutive error-free games...or something like that. Where is Lowell's, though?

Days I'm looking forward to:
11/12: Pedroia wins AL Rookie of the Year
11/13: Beckett wins the AL Cy Young
11/14: Lowell wins AL MVP

Yes, they will all win. Well, they SHOULD.

The Parade

Today was the day when thousands of Red Sox fans waited along the streets of Boston to catch a glimpse of their favorite team as they rolled on by to thank the fans and celebrate with them. As always, I have many pictures to document the parade (there are way too many but I couldn't stop, they were all too good):

Something tells me Papelbon is a really fun guy to hang out with:

I was going to caption this one with something about how cool it would be to be on one of these flights, but I'm so distracted by the size of Varitek's arms...huge!

Love this kid:And I want his jersey!

More Papelbon being awesome:

Who doesn't love Don?

Gotta have a picture of the man, David Ortiz:

And the man that gave America free tacos eats his!

Love the Pedroia:

Our fearless leader:

Some pitchers for your viewing pleasure:

More Papelbon (never enough!):

And the best of them all, Varitek holding the "Resign Lowell" sign:

As far as actual news goes, there's Schilling writing goodbye letters to his teammates and filing for free agency. "There's a very realistic chance I won't ever play with them again."

It's too soon to think about all that. Can we just think about winning the World Series for the next few weeks? Slow it down, the game was only a couple days ago and they're already talking about next year!

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!

Can They All Be Like This?

Game's not over yet, but the current score of 13-1 tells me we won it.

Yo. Beckett is just incredible. The entire lineup is swinging the bat amazingly well. There is not a single flaw amongst them all!

Colorado was losing with the first pitch of the night, when Pedroia sent the ball over the Monster (well, on top of it, but at Fenway that's a HR). When stuff like that happens...you know it's gonna be a good game.

DP's leadoff home run. Chants of "DP! DP! DP!" were heard 'round the house.

"The Man"

I kind of feel bad for the pitchers. Not bad enough to want to see them pitch well, but bad nonetheless. I mean, look at Francis' face! I kind of want to hug him. Then thank him for doing such a mediocre job.

This one is just a cool picture.

Gagne can't believe he got through a whole inning without allowing a run. Neither can we.

The AL Pennant is Back Home

Five minutes ago, the only thing I remembered about winning the AL pennant last night was I was sick for the majority of the game.

With a little prodding though, I now recall Pedroia being incredibly awesome; Beckett getting the most deserved MVP award ever; 3 people holding up MVP signs when Lowell was up, thus proving I am not the only one who thinks Lowell is the AL MVP; Papelbon's excited/exuberant/a little scary face when Crisp caught that last ball; Matsuzaka doing better than I'd expected/hoped.

What a night.

That game literally had me ill for the most part, even though we always had the lead and I felt the whole day that we would win, it was still very uncomfortable to watch. Anything can happen in baseball. And when Okajima stayed in 2 batters longer than I wanted, I started feeling the sickness hard...and then Papelbon came in and I was 100% better. Where would we be without him?!

Actually, where would we be without everyone on this team? Ortiz and Manny were hot the first few games and when their production decreased a bit, the bottom half stepped it up and played great. This is a well-rounded team that totally deserves to be where they are now.

Next up, a World Series win. I don't think those Rockies stand a chance.

Now for the pictures!

Oh yeah, Millar was there in the beginning! What a great way to start the game.

I'm so glad to have this picture--we saw this sign last night and thought it was great. So many clever Boston fans!

A great one for those dumb towel-waving Cleveland people. The man holding the sign had a great line: "We're not a bunch of towel waving geeks..Don't wave a white towel unless you are surrendering."

I'm throwing this one in here just because Harold Reynolds is in it and I miss him!!

What the hell kind of Red Sox wife doesn't wear a Red Sox shirt?


See ya Wednesday!!

Josh Rules

If it wasn't official before, it is now: The Only hope we have left is Josh Beckett.

He pitched 8 wonderful innings last night to get us a win and put the series at 3 games to 2. Unfortunately, what that means is Beckett's game is over, and we have Schilling up next. Who was NOT that good during his last start. We really need him to pitch a good one to get us to Game 7, so if need be, Josh can come out of the bullpen.

But that bottom of the order? You all cannot get away with 0 or 1 hits all night! They need to improve the most, because we can't win without them coming through.

Boyfriend #3 had a good game last night (might I add, finally), with 2 hits, one of which was a double. It gets hard when your favorite player is not playing well...last night was a pleasant surprise.

And where were Boyfriends #1 and 2 yesterday? Playing each other! Boyfriend #2 beat #1, which I was not too happy about. But it was really close, and it was ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC to watch them!!

P.S. In case it is not readily apparent, #1 is Juan Carlos Ferrero, #2 is Novak Djokovic, and #3 is Dustin Pedroia (if you didn't get #3, you should reconsider your fandom). Word to #2--lose the facial hair! PLEASE!

Welcome to Boston

Umm...NO. Bases loaded with one out, tie game, 6th inning. Ortiz hits what appears to be a sac fly, but suddenly we see slow Mirabelli out at the plate!

Coco Crisp just made a fantastic catch in center field, holy crap. I just forgot how mad I am at Mirabelli because of how great that catch was.

Okay, Doug, you made up for that prior out. An RBI single to put us back on top works for me! More runs to follow -- courtesy of who? Dustin Pedroia, of course. That man makes me really, really happy.

So today we got the unveiling of our newest player, none other than Eric Gagne. And he started off right: strikeout! Then another strikeout! Then a strange hit, a ground-rule double as Lowell and Cora let the ball bounce in front of them. It was weird, and nothing I got too mad over. But Manny caught the next one and the game ended in Boston's favor. As they all should!

Took 'em Long Enough

Most shocking ejection of the year: David Ortiz! I have the severe misfortune of not seeing the games, but I can only imagine how bad the call must have been to make the normally easy-going and jovial David Ortiz mad enough to be ejected. Man, I need to see footage of that!

In better news...Dustin Pedroia started the game off with a 2-run shot -- can you imagine the future of this kid? Good things will come, and the booting of Loretta for Dustin is looking better by the minute.

In best news...we finally won a game! 10-2, and it feels good. And NY finally lost, which is also quite helpful. How did we get those 10 runs? Well, Pedroia of course, a Manny force out, a J.D. Drew 2-run double, a Pedroia single, a Drew single, Pedroia hit a 2-run double, and Wily Mo sent him home with a ground out. Really, if Pedroia and Drew can get into gear, they will be all the offense we need -- Pedroia was FIVE-FOR-FIVE with FIVE RBI!! Well...I didn't want to say it, but...I think I'm in love.

Best moment of the day: Dave Roberts received a loud standing ovation of nearly a minute when he dug in for his at-bat in the top of the first inning of Friday night's Red Sox-Giants game. Aww!! He said this earlier: "It's been marked on my calendar for a long time. Just flying in, it brought a smile to my face. Getting to walk around the city last night and taking a cab over here to Fenway Park and just seeing some of my old teammates, things like that ... it was just a special time and fans here, they waited a long time for what we did in 2004. To be a part of a great team like that and be a part of history, it's a humbling experience, it really is."