Who Steals Home?

What a series! I have been out of town (but watching the games of course!) and then my Internet was all sorts of messed up when I got back today, but now here I am, in the middle of a new game, to discuss Red Sox v. Yankees Part 1 '09.

What was the highlight of the 3-game series that Boston swept? Was it Jason Bay's 2-run home run in the bottom of the 9th on Friday to tie the game (off Mariano Rivera, no less)? Or was it Youkilis' walkoff HR in the bottom of the 11th to win it? How about Jason Varitek's grand slam on Saturday to make it a 6-5 ballgame? Ellsbury's solo shot to tie it at 6 apiece? No, no, it was none of those amazing moments. It was in yesterday's game, when Jacoby Ellsbury STOLE HOME out of nowhere! So awesome. It was, as ESPN pointed out, the first time a Boston player stole home in 10 years. Definitely something you don't see everyday.

So the Red Sox have swept 3 teams in a row, won 10 games in a row, and they're still 1 game out of first place? Hopefully after they sweep Cleveland, first place will be ours.

From Way Down to Feeling Great

Because I can actually watch this game, I might just do a streaming post:

7:12: The TV is on mute (as I am studying, blah) and I look up and see these new sharp red home jerseys. I wonder out loud to myself if these are new (because I am a little slow at times), unmute the TV and the Orioles announcers are discussing the debut of the new red jerseys. I think I am psychic (clearly).

7:14: First Oriole is a strikeout. This is a good sign!

7:15: And the next dude gets a hit. Strike that last comment.

7:27: I just noticed Youkilis's stupid chin-eating beard is back. Yuck.

7:40: Brad Penny just walked the last 2 guys and successfully walked in a run to put the O's up 1-0 WITH NO OUTS. UGH. It is not good when your starting pitcher already sucks in the 2nd inning. At least Mike Lowell can make awesome plays. 1 out. Brian Roberts just got a hit, 2-0. This is Crap. B.P. (interesting initials, considering he is making my BP rise) pitched well last time, what gives.

7:46: Walked in another run! You can hear the Fenway boos from miles away. I feel bad for him, actually, but I am still frustrated nonetheless.

7:47: GRAND SLAM SON OF A BITCH

7:55: Hey, something good! Jason Bay hit a 2-run HR! It's something, people, gotta dig away at this huge lead. 7-2.

8:02. Ellsbury hits a "single" in between 3 Orioles, RBI! 7-3.

8:09: Pedroia hauled ass to get a single, bases loaded with 1 out. Ortiz RBIs, 2 outs though. 7-4.

8:26: HR J.D. Drew! 7-5!

8:53: I left the room to make dinner, somehow the O's have 8. F.

9:06: J.D. Drew hit a triple to center, I love it. What will Jason Bay do? Walk! Mike Lowell? Walk! Jason Varitek? Lucky error for him, run in! Nick Green? Hits one waaaay back, 2 runs in, tie game!! Woo hoo!!!

9:40: Youkilis just got nailed in the head. The pitcher looked very concerned so I can't be mad...and he's up walking to first base. Guess he's okay, but I'm sure we'll hear more about it tomorrow. Maybe it shook Baez (O's pitcher) up because he just walked Drew to load the bases with one out!

9:46: Sac fly! We are winning!

9:48: Lowell-RBI single! 10-8!

10:24: Boston is really having to work the bullpen tonight, but they are doing a great job. We've seen Delcarmen, Lopez (who walked a guy and gave up a single and was promptly yanked, haha. Guess they learned their lesson with him), Ramirez, and Okajima just got the last 2 O's of the 8th inning.

10:45: There's the Papelbon we love! I cannot believe they just came back from 7-0 down to win 10-8. Amazing.

My guess is they won because I wore my Sox visor all day. Just a theory. I'll be wearing it all day tomorrow too, though!

A Very Good Way to Start '09

Things did not work out as planned for me yesterday. The game was supposed to be Monday at 2:00, I didn't have class, I was going to watch it. Of course it was postponed till Tuesday at 4, when I had class from 3:30-8. Not exactly how I wanted the first game of the season to go, but hey, they won.

Apparently Josh Beckett was pretty awesome, as the stats tell me so: he went 7 innings, only allowed 2 hits (wowza), 1 run, and threw 10 strikeouts. That is how you start a season, people.

Reigning MVP Pedroia started the day off with a home run, Varitek also contributed one later in the game. Looking over the box, it actually looks like everyone had a pretty good start to 2009 (well, except Ellsbury, but it's only the first game).

Baseball is back! Ahhh....it's such a great feeling!

P.S. How great is it to see Mike Lowell playing?

UPDATE: Today is Varitek-Anticipation Day

Well, folks...."At some point on Friday, Jason Varitek's status, at least when it comes to whether he will remain with the only Major League team he's played for, should finally be resolved."

His offer? One year at $5 million, plus an option for 2010 that could either be picked by the team for $5 million or by Varitek for $3 million.

Pitchers and catchers report on February 12th (so close!).

Take the deal, man.

P.S. I would like to take this opportunity to scoff at the Australian Open and the tremendously stupid decision to put the singles finals at 7:30 Australian time, 3:30 am my time! How can I be expected to stay up until 6 am to watch a tennis match? I mean, Serena/Safina, whatever, I'll watch it at 9 am taped (though I do actually think it is going to be an excellent match). But Federer/Nadal Part 239834? This is a match I need to see LIVE. But no, I'll be watching it taped, all because Australia thinks night matches are super. WhatEV.

P.P.S. He took the deal!

Youk is Here to Stay

Good news out of Boston--

"According to ESPN.com, the Red Sox have avoided arbitration with Youkilis by signing him to a
four-year, $40 million contract. The deal reportedly includes an option for the 2013 season."

I think that is what many of us have been waiting for, for the Sox to lock up Youkilis. He's just one of those invaluable Red Sox guys.

Oh man...completely out of nowhere, but I just remembered Coco Crisp isn't on the team anymore. It seems like that happened so long ago. Aww, I will miss Coco. Where is he now? Kansas City? Eek.

Now what about Varitek??

A Tidbit of News

The Red Sox made a one-year contract offer to Jason Varitek.

That's all I have. One sentence of information.

Baseball news has been slow since Pedroia won MVP. Because really, what can top that?

Leaving?

I really need to be studying, but....

"The Red Sox officially exercised Wakefield's $4 million option on Friday, allowing the venerable right-hander to continue as the longest-tenured player on the team."

Ugh.

"Jason Varitek, the starting catcher of the Red Sox since 1999 and their captain the last four seasons, officially filed for free agency on Thursday, the first day that players were eligible to do so."

Let's keep Varitek and send Wakefield to retirement. I feel bad always doubting Wakefield but...70% of the time I am right.

Timlin is thinking about retiring. I like the man Mike Timlin, but the pitcher Mike Timlin I can say goodbye to. Same with Wakefield, actually. Good people, great pitchers 4 years ago, but...you know the rest.

A Nice Turn of Events

Going into the 9th, it was looking pretty unsavory. Varitek, Hinske, and Crisp were due up, and we were on the losing end of a 6-5 ballgame.

Varitek didn't wait very long to tie the game -- he took the second pitch out of the park. Then Hinske comes up and hits a double down the first base line. The Coco was out, but then JULIO LUGO hit a 2-run home run to put us on top 8-6!! YES JULIO!! Then Ellsbury hit a double, and Pedroia popped out in foul territory but Jacoby went to 3rd on the play. Ortiz was intentionally walked, which was lame. Lowell proceeded to pop out. But we were up now instead of down.

Papelbon came in to correct his recent struggling ways. First guy swung at the first pitch and grounded out. Then the next sucker hit one to Coco, as did the next one.

We won! Going into the 9th down by a run, and we won!

E# is 6!

Took the Series

That's a triple! A bases loaded triple courtesy of Varitek in the very first inning - that's the way to start things off! And a single after that to send our captain home. Way to bounce back from that last game that we shall not talk about.

I had a feeling those 4 runs would be all we needed, and it turned out that they were - Boston took this one 6-3. Gabbard pitched 5 strong with 7 strikeouts. They did have to use 5 pitchers out of the bullpen but none of them pitched more than one inning so they should be good to go for the Yankee series that is coming up tomorrow.

Oh, and Boston now has the best record in all of the Major Leagues at 30-13. Not to mention a huge lead in the AL East. A very good thing when you're going into a series against Mussina, Wang, and Pettitte.

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!