some games you want to be over, even if it means you lose, just as long it ends

photos from Yahoo! Sports and the Boston Herald

1. as much as i really liked Papa Jack & The Nip, i have to say that after finishing off April, Dave Magadan & John Farrell have made me very happy in their roles as batting & pitching coaches, respectively. but they are going to need some nicknames.

2. Wednesday night, everyone in the starting line up got a hit. last night, everyone in the starting line up got a hit -- even Pedroia Pocket! -- except for Coco, but he drew a walk, stole his fifth base for 2007, and scored a run. good little batty-bats. =)


3. reading that WMP would be playing RF is a sure way to need Tums before the first pitch of the game is even thrown.

4. the away half of the first inning of this game was pure torture. three straight walks to start things off. a ground ball force out RBI, 1-0. the next batter is hit by a pitch to reload the bases. a long fly ball, 3-0. a Lugo error, 4-0. another ball off the top of Lugo's glove (initially scored an error, later credited as a hit instead - if this had been Mike Lowell, it never would have been reversed), 5-0. five runs on two hits. ouch.


5. bottom of the second. a ground rule double for Lugo scores two runs. 5-4 & suddenly the Sox are back in this game!

6. after that horrendous first inning, Matsuzaka went on to retire twelve out of thirteen Mariners. i am not so much liking the shaky inning he seems to have (a la Josh Beckett of 2006), but i am amazed & grateful for his ability to bounce back.


7. i've finally figured it out! it's like the photo negative of a goatee!


8. hang on. i have to sit down fist. Whiffy Mo went 4-for-4? and in which parallel universe have i been deposited this time?

9. Coco is still an out machine. but now he's making them in the field, instead of at the plate. 27 outs are required to retire the visiting team. ten of them belonged to Coco last night.

10. what we learned last night: Remy & Don do *not* like Wrigley Field.

11. Freaking Lugo! (which may or may not become his official blog nickname) Coco would have had eleven outs, i'm sure of it, based on the way he's been launching himself around the expanse we call CF. but then Lugo bumbled into the area, messing up Coco's timing & taking up his leaping space. the ball fell to the ground between them & a run scored. again i ask: can't we just glue Lugo to the bench until we need a pinch runner??


12. the topic from the week from Remy & Don appears to be fashion. last night, we learned that Remy believes Don changes his clothes too often over the course of a day.

13. that's *it*. there is officially too.much.hugging going on with the Red Sox. i don't care what Nichole tells me about how it's good for morale & that hugs are good for the soul. when you're caught in a run down, the idea is not to stop & then *hug* the guy who is coming to tag you out. not even if you're Big Papi.

photo from Surviving Grady

14. i know it's been way over done. but i can't help thinking, every time they do a close up on Julio Lugo, "Why the long face?"

15. fans really do act exceptionally stupid when they realize that a camera is on them.

16. Manny was here. banged out *two* home runs to put the Sox ahead, one of them to eventually win us the game. good to see you, Manny!


17. i feel bad saying this, but... seeing JC Romero warming in the pen brings back that same feeling i would get last year when i saw them reaching for the bullpen phone.

18. three-and-half hour game. the first two innings alone took an hour to play. by the time Manny sent his eighth inning moon shot out of the park (and stopped to admire its beauty, as only Manny can), i was far too exhausted to even enjoy the fact that we somehow pulled off a win tonight, in a game where we were down 5-0 before we ever saw a single Red Sox player with a bat.

19. 8:10pm, tonight. Wakefield in the hell we call the Metrodome. i am kind of hoping we didn't use up *all* our bats salvaging that win last night. because it would be nice if the offense occasionally gave a little support to Timmy Knuckles. after five starts, Wakey is 2-3. in his three losses, the Sox scored a sputtering total of four runs. i know that a lot of pitchers blame "lack of run support" when they lose, instead of taking any of the responsibility, but for crying out loud. this is ridiculous.

20. i would like to offer my public apologies, now, to Julian Tavarez for insisting repeatedly last year that he be drugged, gagged, and tied to a deep space probe. i may start up his official fan club if he manages to pull off a win against Santana tomorrow night.

21. i have had enough of the harping on Tom Brady. for all we know, the image on the hat could have been photoshopped. (i said it's *possible* - not that it was!)

Basegirl says: "Oh, and for the record, unless the hat he's wearing somehow prevents Tom Brady from throwing touchdown passes and winning Super Bowls and generally being all-around awesome, I don't care if he wears one of those beanies with a propeller.... Surely we have something more important to talk about." i said about as much to Dan yesterday evening, when he emailed me a link, asking if i'd seen the photo: Yeah he needs a good ass-kicking. But as long as he makes my Patriots win, what the crap does he need to know about baseball. I am more freaked out by the fact that he's carrying a purse!! and also They are claiming he wore the Yankees cap because he was trying to blend in & not be noticed while in NY. One thing is for sure: someone is going to take care of this craziness. Either some Bostonian is going to catch sight of him & slap him upside is pretty-boy head for wearing the wrong team on it. Or Rodney Harrison & Richard Seymour are going to crush the silly out of him, because no man on *their* football team is going to be caught on film carrying a purse.