some losses hurt more than others

photos from The Boston Globe

i'm late, i know. i won't be watching much Sox this week so i didn't feel a rush to get this done before tonight's game. Sox are in Oakland for the next four days. except for Thursday, they don't play til 10pm. i wouldn't be able to watch more than an hour & it bugs me too much to watch just part of a game when i know i can't finish it. Thursday is a day game, so i can watch. then they go to Arizona for the weekend. i won't be home on Saturday & Sunday -- i'll be in Connecticut for Baby Girl's third birthday. but i won't be watching Friday's game either. i need to be in bed by ten so i can get up at four to make my flight, so the 9:40 start is too late for me. and *then* they are off on Monday. so... basically, if anyone needs me, i will be laying in a corner, twitching from going into Sox withdrawals. anyway...

1. i do believe his actual full name might just be Julio Freaking Lugo.

2. Lugo pulled off a steal in the third inning, but i think it worried Tito. it was a lucky play & i saw him release a slow breath of what looked like the same relief i felt.

3. what is this?! the Julio Lugo hour? jeez. (imagine this in a very begrudging voice): Lugo made a smart defensive play in the fifth to throw out the runner at third. he only had a shot to make one out & he did go for the lead runner instead of making a futile effort at a double play.

4. Pedroia's wee hit streak is at thirteen now. his bases-clearing double brought the Sox back to within a run of tying things up. what was *really* funny about that hit was that WMP was on 2B & Coco was on 1B. when you combine WMP's lumbering with Coco's hustle what you get is Coco almost crossing home plate before Wily Mo.


5. i can't stop laughing when Fenway Park rings with the chants of "Where is Roger?"

6. Sign. Mike. Lowell. Now. (and Kevin Youkilis too.)

7. lost a heartbreaker. 6-5. so many wasted opportunities... and our bullpen suffered a rare but fatal implosion.

8. Julian gets the ball tonight against one of the best pitchers in MLB this year. based on his past performances, we may actually have a shot at winning this. provided we aren't too screwed up by flying across the country after a late game last night. at least the time change worked in our favor.

9. speaking of Sox & Yankees. go Dan's Sox!! give 'em the hell we didn't!

10. i suspect the only person this hurts more than me is Youk.


and thus concludes my Sox commentary until after next Tuesday's game (with maybe a brief fix on Thursday's series closer against the thugs from Oakland).