i have a love-hate relationship with these games

photo from ESPN.com, the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald and me

1. i'm not proud of myself, but i have to admit, a laugh slipped out when 10K hit Slappy with that pitch. and for that i take karmic responsibility for those two runs that scored in the first inning. Matsuzaka was much more professional about this little incident, tipping his cap to Mr April in Japanese tradition.


2. you know when i knew the Yanks were in trouble? much earlier than the clips you've all seen a million times by now. it was when their rookie pitcher managed to actually walk Whiffy Mo. i wasn't even sure that was possible before now.

3. Pedroia Pocket is finally making contact! maybe they found a bat that's more his size. ;-)

4. speaking of the wee little 2B-man. in the third inning, he made a good effort at reaching for a ball, but he was just not tall enough. again in the eighth, Ol' Bluelips slapped one right over a leaping Pedroia. it's not that he isn't trying. he just can't help being so tiny. later that inning, though, he was redeemed, snatching a low line drive out of the air to end the inning & get the Sox out of a dangerous situation. if he were any taller, he probably wouldn't have been able to get there in time!




5. like any good sports fan knows, there are superstitions & personal traditions we carry out in some egotistical sense of contribution to the wins our teams achieve. RSN-West & i have been searching for something to bring good luck to our Hundred Million Dollar Man. what better than the return of Angry Lawyer, complete with Japanese Daruma to bring our new friend a little bit of help, right?


6. they talked about Mark Loretta last night & how effective he was hitting in the two-spot, with men on base. i miss Loretta. =( i know a lot of people think he was low key, but i thought he was underrated & i really liked him.

7. i love Manny home runs as much as any Sox fan, but it really drives me crazy to see him stand at home plate for 25 seconds, arrogantly watching the ball go, instead of starting the obligatory trot around the bags.

8. i know, i know. you're already sick to death of hearing about the back-to-back-to-you-know-the-drill-by-now, if you're not a Sox fan. i have to say *something* though. document for posterity or some such. if Manny's stare after his launched rocket irritated me, i quickly forgot, as Drew, Lowell & V-Tek followed suit, in a record-tying "monkey see, monkey do" home run derby -- in just *ten* pitches.

even crazier that a) when the Dodgers did this last year, JD Drew hit the second one that time too, and b) the last time this happened in the AL in 1963, Francona's father was one of the players to send it yard. i love that baseball comes full circle like this so often.

9. 6'7" Colter Bean pitching to 5'9" Dustin Pedroia. it looked completely ridiculous. wait a minute... Colter Bean?? who?! seems every other Yankee reliever that emerges from the pen is a name i've never heard before. so this is how other teams & fans felt facing Boston last year...

10. what?! a quick bathroom break & i come back to find Andy Pettitte on the mound? did i go back in time? i thought we already did this the other night... i would love to know Torre's rationale on that move.

11. the King of Doubles took it up a notch. instead of hitting for a tidy double to get on base, he doubled up on *homers* last night to put the Sox up in the seventh! now. let's not talk about him leaving us anymore, mm-kay?


12. is there anything more electric than Jon Papelbon on the mound in the ninth inning, up by one run? personal favorite quote regarding Papelbon versus Jeter: Now that's a fastball. Sit your intangibled ass down, Captain. Two outs. (Surviving Grady)

13. in oh-so-dramatic fashion, i speak of the Evil Empire as Satan's soulless minions. how fitting is it, then, that the Sox swept this series by scoring seven runs in all three games! ;-) (ok c'mon... 777... got it now? yeah, i know, it was stretch.)

14. it's not a Sox post on my blog if i don't pick on Lugo. =P doesn't it look like he's ready to belt out a round of "i feel pretty, oh so pretty..."?


15. i have to thank Touching All the Bases for two things: 1) i now have a new nickname for The Traitor: Benedict Damon. nice. and 2) this laugh-worthy description of Giambi: The man is a walking armpit. Must be a side-effect of one of his vitamins.

16. we all know the Sox swept NY. i want to take a second to applaud the Angels & the Orioles for sweeping their weekends as well.

17. Lucky 49 faces off against Ohka in five minutes. think i can make it through a game without pacing? think we'll have any bats left?