Bizzaro Night at Fenway

For some reason, tonight is bizzarro night at Fenway Park! Its not a full moon tonight, so I'm struggling to explain this chain of events:

• Manny smacks (slams! CRUSHES!) home run 503
• Parking attendant on Lansdowne Street gets his 30 seconds on TV for finding the ball
  
• Coco Crisp hit by pitch, charges mound, throws a few punches, and then takes quite a few more
• 3 players ejected
• Carter takes over in left field, Elllsbury moves to center
  
• Ellsbury makes a great catch and rolls up on his right wrist
• Ellsbury taken out of game
• Drew moves to center field, Youkilis plays right field (for the first time in his career!)
• Youkilis and Manny get into a fight in the dugout! WTF?!?!
• Remy and Don get into a (hilarious) scrum in the broadcast booth
  
• Manny tweaks right leg checking his swing , ends up with a walk, and trots to first base
  
• Francona checks on Manny, says he's OK, and returns to dugout
• 30 seconds later, replaces Manny with pinch runner Kevin Cash
• When not playing DH, Cash runs back out to bullpen to help warm up pitchers
• Lester, Timlin, and Aardsma limit the Rays to 1 run and win the game

Tom Caron on NESN sports desk says its all because of Stephen King was on the pre-game show. I can't think of a better excuse, can you?

I have to watch the post-game show and interview with Francona just to see what the heck happened tonight!

Time to Get the Heck Out...

Its time to get the heck outta Dodge Dome. Its obvious that domes and the Sox are not getting along very well this season. They've got a mere 2 wins in 12 games - having been swept in Toronto and Tampa. They eeked out a win in Tokyo, and only took 1 of 4 here in Minnesota.

Baseball is meant to be played outdoors on natural grass. I can accept a retractable roof, as long as the stadium has some natural grass - which Milwaukee and Phoenix have done very well. No more turf! No more domes!

Why Remy and Orsillo Rule

During a slow Red Sox game, Remy and Orsillo have some of the funniest banter. This evening was no exception.

In the top of the 8th, after some prodding from Remy, Orsillo finally admitted he stole the pajamas he got on the JAL flight to Tokyo. And even better, he says they're comfortable, and make you look like a chef.

Of course, Remy, in his typical gruff style, couldn't stop complaining about the length of the flight. He's never going to take a flight that long again - his back has finally recovered! Its obvious he's not a big fan of long trips. He admitted that in his opinion, Taunton is too far.

Classic. That's why I love these guys. They're a big reason I love watching Red Sox games.

Stuff I Know - V

The Sullivan Tire commercials with Dustin Pedroia need to go. I love crappy local commercials, but this one is full of pure awfulness. (Shudder)

I used to think that the Eagle Insurance commercial I saw growing up in Chicagoland was the worst ever. Now, thanks to Pedroia and Sullivan Tire, I'm not so sure. Decide for yourself:

Look at those low rates that 1980s hair!

Pedroia Smash!

In the top of the 8th inning tonight, scrappy 5' 6" Dustin Pedroia (MLB politely has him listed at 5' 9" and 180lbs -- what a joke!) lifted a short fly ball to left field with the bases loaded and only one out. When he got back down into the dugout, NESN had a great shot of him smashing his baby helmet into the rack.

Why is that interesting? I don't know! As soon as I saw that, the first words out of my mouth were "Pedroia Smash!".

Granted, that's never going to supplant the image that I think of every time I see the guy bat. Don't get me wrong -- he's a great baseball player. But, man, he's got a great equation to describe his life:
[Jack Daniels] + [Holiday Inn Express] + [Dustin Pedroia] = DRUNK

My Brain is Fried Tonight

I just had one of those days at work that was utterly mentally draining. My brain is just fried. I spent all day reading though, understanding, and refactoring some of the worst J2EE code I've ever seen in my life. I've never seen someone use so much code to dynamically create a simple HTML SELECT box!

My brain is just so dead, I've been staring at my blog for the past 20 minutes trying to figure out what to post. This is all I could come up with.

However, I do have enough brain power to tell NESN and the Red Sox: I Approve! Nice job NESN!

Celtics or Red Sox

Well, deciding which game to watch tonight started out as a tough decision. But, after bits and pieces of the first half of the Celtics game, it was obvious that I had to tune into Tim Wakefield's gem tonight. He pitched an incredible game tonight. He merely pitched eight innings, gave up a meager 2 hits, 0 runs, and struck out six. I always enjoy watching classic Wakefield.

Now, to make things even better, the Sox game was a quick 2 1/2 hours. So I can watch the rest of the Celtics playoff game -- let's hope that the 2nd half is much better than the first.

The Glow of Fenway Park

With the overcast skies, I can see the white glow of the lights of Fenway Park from my deck. The sky over downtown Boston has an orange glow. As you turn your eyes from East to West, you can see the glow change from orange to white to orange.

NESN Camera Angle

Is it me, or is the camera angle from the outfield at a higher elevation than usual? I can't quite figure out what's different about NESN's broadcast of the Red Sox game tonight. It seems as if they've zoomed out the typical camera shot from behind the pitcher.

I hope I'm not going crazy!

Red Sox Rain Delay

When I left work today, there was a nice steady rain. I walked from the subway back to my apartment through even more rain. I came home and flipped on NESN expecting to watch the Red Sox game tonight. Of course, though, they had the tarp over the field and there was a rain delay.

For some reason, despite walking through a downpour, I simply expected the Sox game to be on. Fenway Park and the Red Sox are on the television. The weather over here in Porter Square shouldn't affect something on TV! How can the weather at my house affect the Red Sox?

And then, after my 10 second mind blip, I came back to my senses and remembered how the "real world" works.

Bill Buckner

It was great to see Bill Buckner throw out the first pitch for today's game. Its great to see that Red Sox fans can put the whole 1986 debacle behind them. (well, most fans)

So, with the 1986 World Series fading from memory, I'm hoping you all can enjoy this reenactment of the infamous game. Its not just any reenactment. This has been completely reenacted using RBI Baseball on the old 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System with the radio audio in the background.

(Note: This is by far one of the coolest things I've ever seen)



I love RBI Baseball

UPDATE: Here's the link to the story of this recreation.

Running with the Red Sox

I love the fact that there is a gym right here in my office building. Thanks to the fact that its just downstairs, I head down there pretty much every afternoon for a workout. Its a great way to break up the day and I always feel 1000 times better once I'm done.

To make things even better, the treadmills have TVs attached to them. So, this afternoon, when I head down for a run, I can watch the Sox game in Oakland! Its totally friggin awesome to head down in the middle of the afternoon to watch baseball, and get a workout at the same time.

Plus, time sure flies when you're running with the Red Sox.

Red Sox vs. Tigers

No, not the Detroit Tigers - That would be the Hanshin Tigers. I'm sure as all of you already know, the Red Sox are over in Japan and are playing two exhibition games against Japanese teams. The first game is Friday night (well, Saturday afternoon in Japan) against the Tigers. On Sunday, they'll be playing the Yomiuri Giants.

Unfortunately, neither of these games are scheduled to be televised over here. I was convinced that NESN or ESPN would broadcast the game. However, according to mlb.com, it'll only be on their MLB TV subscription service.

I'd love to watch the game. I've never seen a Japanese baseball team play - and with an 11:00 pm start time, Friday's game would be the perfect game to watch. I understand that opening day will be on March 25th - but at 6:00 in the morning, its highly probable that I'm not going to get my ass out of bed to watch.

And just an FYI - if you're interested, Game On over by Fenway will be opening at 6:00 am on the 25th to broadcast the game - complete with a delicious breakfast. Its tempting, but 6:00 am is just way to early for a lazy bachelor like me. I'll just DVR the game and watch it later.

Baseball is Back!

Hooray! The Red Sox are back on television tonight. Its the first real pre-season game of the year. (Yeah, I know the Sox blasted BC and Northeastern - but they don't count) So far, the Sox are leading the Twins 3-0 in the 5th.

Err - make that 4-0 in the 5th. :-)

So, wasn't it only about 4 weeks ago we were watching football? Think about that - its still February, and baseball is starting to get back into full swing.

Ahhhh. Baseball. I feel much better now.

Papelbon's Home Uncovered

After months of scouring the Intertubes and the night sky, I've finally discovered Jonathan Papelbon's homeland. I've highlighted it here in this map of the universe.

I know some of his teammates have claimed that he's just a "redneck from Mississippi", but through my extensive research, I've found that story is only a myth. His real home is that distant star. Did you notice that when he threw his glove up in the air after winning game 4, it never came down? That's right - he tossed it back to his family - billions of light years away.

Seriously folks, after watching him Riverdance in his underwear with googles, after throwing 98 mph fastballs, did you really think he was human?

On the other hand, after watching the parade today, I think its really obvious that Papelbon would be the lead singer of some crazy band if he wasn't playing baseball.

SWEEP

Its done. How Excellent. Mike Lowell - MVP. Perfect.

Mike Lowell

The man is so good, they named the city after him. Sure, it may be a crummy city, but its still a city. How many cities are named after you?

BTW: He needs to be re-signed

Tacoby

I think it would have been a much better deal for Taco Bell to dish out a free Taco for every double hit by Tacoby Bellsbury. By my count, I deserve at least 4 tacos now!

October Baseball is still here!

I'm not ready for the Boston baseball season to be over yet. I wasn't ready for the season to end last Thursday, nor was I ready on Saturday or Sunday. I'm still not ready for baseball to end. I can't describe how excited I am to see more Red Sox baseball this year. For some reason, even though the Sox were down 3 games to 1, I had some strange confidence that they'd be able to come back and take the series. I was really confident they could take game 5 and pretty confident that Schilling could step up for game 6. Game 7, however, was up in the air. I figured it would be a battle - which it was. The breaks seemed to go in favor of the Sox, and Dice-K didn't have his signature bad inning. Then finally, in the 7th and 8th innings, the Sox turned the dial up to 11 and poured it on!

Bring on the Rockies!

Borowski

So, here's the thing with Cleveland's "closer", Joe Borowski.

If we get in the wayback machine and head back to 2003, we'll see that he was a mediocre closer for the Chicago Cubs. Sure, all Cubs fans loved him back in the day, yet it was excruciating to watch him pitch the 9th. Borowski would constantly give up hits, walk people, and get himself into jams. He really wasn't that good of a pitcher, yet he managed to get the job done. He was considered the "working man's" closer - nothing overpowering, yet would pitch himself out of an inning.

Now, he's on the Cleveland Indians.

Now, he pitches even worse than he did on the Cubs.

It is absolutely necessary for the Red Sox to be patient, foul off his junk, and take a walk. His earned run average was way over 4.00, and he had 5 losses to his name this season. There is no reason for the Sox to let him get another post-season save this season. If the Sox can beat Mariano Rivera, facing Joe Borowski should be like facing a little league pitcher.

And one last gripe - if anyone on the Sox should know Borowski, it should be former National Leaguers Lowell and Drew. Lowell saw him many times in the '03 regular season, and again, against the Cubs in the infamous 2003 NLCS. I'm disappointed that the Sox aren't showing enough patience with him.