just tell me when it's over

photos from ESPN.com

1. anyone else notice Julian spends a lot of time walking around with his glove covering the lower half of his face?


2. Sox games have been tough on opposing catchers. over the last week, we saw no less than three catchers leave games: Posada, and his back up, Nieves. and last night, Gregg Zaun. note to future opponents: stock up on catchers.

3. new rule for the Sox (pay attention Lumpyhead! stop thinking about shiny objects & DQ Blizzards for just a second!): the following four Sox should nevermore be on the field at the same time - Manny. Lugo. Wily Mo. Julian. way too many opportunities to give up the game, right there. not a good game plan.

4. it's been a while since the last notable Manny mishap. and then there was last night. Manny threw rolled? a ball... you know what? i don't have the words for this so i am going to borrow the description of this physics-defying occurrence from Extra Bases: "One of Manny Ramirez' goals is to win the Gold Glove at some point in his career. Ah, well, it might not be this year. Manny fielded Lyle Overbay's shot off the top of the scoreboard beautifully in the fifth. It was actually a nice bare-handed grab, turned to throw... and what came out of his hand can not be put into proper words. He kind of choked the ball and it would up being a ground ball that went nowhere near the destination he likely had planned. Although, who knows where he was thinking about throwing it? Any way, the ball was retrieved by Dustin Pedroia somewhere in center. In the meantime, two Jays scored." these Manny Moments are a lot more difficult to swallow when he hasn't started hitting the ball out of the park yet.

5. after last night's painful 10-3 beating, you have no idea how badly i wanted to go back to calling him Ugly EZ. and i just cannot bring myself to do it. what is this new found softness for Julian?? if you had told me last year that i would be saying such things, i would have had a hearty laugh at your expense. but it seems it's not just me. there are others. Surviving Grady and Cursed to First are showing signs of this as well... i just don't think i've seen anyone want this Number Five spot so badly, be *so* happy about it... and it seems that his days remaining there are as good as numbered. i just can't help feeling bad for him...

6. i rest my case on Wily Mo Pena. after a booted, bobbled & completely hideous throwing effort -- all on the same play! -- i maintain that the man has zero grace for playing defense. combined with his excellence at striking out, remind me again how he hasn't found himself on a bus to Pawtucket yet?


7. much of the game went like this for me -- ::bangs head repeatedly on desk:: -- alternated with feeling much like Papi. the baseball gods require payment for last weekend, i suppose.


8. i vaguely recall some people worrying that Lowell's offensive resurge last year was nothing but a one-hit wonder. i would say after his home run last night, and his two on Sunday, that fears should be easing. me? i never was concerned to begin with.

9. yay for the next installment of Kevin Millar! two days of possibility for who knows what from El Bencho. good times. i always look forward to playing Baltimore, just for this.

10. after last night's game, here's what i have to say: i officially know way too much about Remy & Don's hotel habits now.

11. games like that slop fest we were subjected to last night are directly responsible for emails like this...
me (having just read this on Extra Innings): The Hall of Fame phoned the Red Sox today to ask for Jason Varitek's bat. Varitek hit the fourth consecutive home run in the third inning for the Sox in Sunday's 7-6 win over the Yankees. Varitek was happy to donate the bat. The Hall did not request the bats of Manny Ramirez, J.D. Drew or Mike Lowell, who also homered.
Daniel: ::smiles:: Did Mientkewicz come flying out of nowhere demanding the bat, claiming it was his, all his??
me: Rumor has it Tek had to beat him off with that very same bat. ;-)
Daniel: I could see that. He went all crazy on him, Rally Monkey style? ("What's a Rally Monkey??") [side note: you've all seen the Chevy Truck-baseball commercial by now, right?]
me: He wore Julian's jersey while he did it though, so no one would know it was him. ;-)

12. toward the end of the eighth inning, Remy, Don & Tina started discussing how a satellite Japanese school visited Fenway earlier that day to bring gifts to Okajima & Matsuzaka. there were these really cool paper crane chains, the proper name of which i admit i do not know. that's because i promptly forgot the details when they started showing the other part of the gift: Darumas!!! i direct your attention to Monday's post, Item Five, about Sunday's game. just remember who was ahead of the curve on this!!

13. Remy got a Daruma as well. he was concerned with how it was going to possible to pack their growing collection of buddies for travel. Wally in his little chair. the bobbledesk. and now the Daruma. or as a very bewildered Remy called it: the Doomba.

14. so. to recap. this past weekend, the Sox swept the Yanks, and the Orioles swept the Jays. over the last two days, the Jays took out their frustrations on my boys & the Orioles got handled by the Athletics (but the Yankees went to Tampa to have their clocks cleaned by the Rays, the one & only time i take delight in wins for our usual AL East cellar dwellers -- which means one of two things: a) the Yanks are really *that* bad right now or b) they are going to be really angry, with something to prove, this weekend, which won't make the NY series as much fun as the Fenway one). holy run-on sentence. i had a point here, which was: the good news for Nichole, Brian & i (as well as the rest of you Sox fans), and Bart & J-Dawg (both O's fans) is that, despite our performances over the last two days, we can't *both* come away with two losses. someone has to win. weather permitting, Schill goes tonight against Daniel Cabrera.