"happy" doesn't do it justice

The Superstition prevents me from talking hard numbers but you can read about them here & see some great game highlights as well. feel free. ;-)

now. can i just ask you ONE. QUESTION.
Johnny Who?

i'll take me some Coco in center with an extra helping of "how the HELL did he do that??" defense over JD without a second thought.

and small ball--real execution of the fundamentals, has never been so breathtaking to behold. bunting. base-stealing. tagging up & scoring on sac flies. picking off the runner--and picther appreciation for doing so.

hitting to get on base. face-in-the-dirt, grass-stained-knees defense when it counts. with all the excitement of walk-off homers that we've had our share of celebrating in Red Sox Nation...there was something enchanting about watching my Boys manufacture runs & play red-hot defense.


"Just when you're ready to wonder if David Ortiz is only human after all, just when you're beginning to think that .260-something batting average is proof that The Shift is his Kryptonite..." Big Papi works the ball off the wall to get a double, bellyflops his thunderous self into third base on a Lowell fly ball, and tagging up, chugs home for the tying run on Tek's sacrifice fly. as long as his heart doesn't stop from the exertion & he doesn't take an injury attempting to slide into bases, i could watch Ortiz play ball like this every day, showing them that not even this shift can hold him down forever. oh yeah & his 200th career long ball just to remind you that the shift doesn't work on that either. ;-)

"I'm pretty sure he'd contribute more playing with a torn Achilles' tendon in one leg and a wooden peg for his other leg than Willie Harris and Dustan Mohr would with four healthy wheels between them." yes, i am certain that the return of Gabe Kapler has shown to be invaluable already, as priceless as it is incredible that he can dig it in & charge balls like this over there in spacious Fenway right field. i am not missing the likes of Mohr & Harris in a daily switch out routine. i just cringe when i see the fancy footwork taking place when Gabe dashes around the outfield like he's the new Bionic Man.
(quotes borrowed from Touching All the Bases)

Bring in the set-'em-up and shut-'em-down team of Timlin-Papelbon

and...I'm smiling like the goddam village idiot. And it's one of those moments that you catch yourself smiling and you're not even sure why you were smiling but you realize you so caught up in this Red Sox team that you never want this season, this game, this moment to end. (from Surviving Grady: That's a Dozen, Cousin--worth the read if only for the mention of Kevin Millar in assless chaps (how many misdirected searches do you think my blog will score for *that* reference?? LOL!) and a closing statement like this: Oh, and a hex on the schedulers who missed the golden opportunity to pitch Josh Johnson against Jason Johnson in this series, setting up what would have been an unprecedented spiral of "who's got the better johnson" jokes. Which, of course, would have been followed by the apocalypse.)

here's hoping that tonight's Boston debut for Jason Johnson doesn't leave me continuing to wistfully wish we had given David Pauley just a little bit longer to test the waters in the bigs. i want to believe that the best thing for everyone is that he is getting a little longer in the minors to develop rather than feeling as if the revolving 5-slot in the rotation is just another black hole in our pitching struggles this season.


coming up to the trade deadline, it is good to see that Manny is happy in Boston. finally. this is a whole new side to Manny we're seeing this season...and i can't say he's disappointed me with his attitude.

last but not least, let's close out on a light note, which for Boston fans everywhere needs no further explanation: