since you've been gone

let's just say last week was a bad internet week & leave it at that. by the time i could be online, i needed a break from all things internet. now i feel nice & refreshed. and you know what they say about absence & the heart. ;-)

in no particular order, things that have happened since i last checked in:

1. just about the time i got myself caught up on Google Reader... well... let's just say i have a lot more catching up to do. again. so if i haven't been around in a while, i promise i will be.

2. i got tagged by a whole bunch of bloggy buddies for various things, so expect those to pop up all through the week. i also didn't get to a couple of regular posts that i do, so i will catch myself up to speed there. to my knowledge, i have tags from Julie, April and Steph. anyone i missed?

3. since they faced each other in at the Trop, the Sox have gone 7-3 and the Rays 3-7. the Sox have outscored their opponents 60-30, while the Rays have been outscored 49-36. as we roll into the All Star Break, the Sox are 57-40, with a 21-29 road record, but a strong 36-11 at home. they have played 3 more games than the Rays, thanks to the Rays having a rainout in Baltimore and the Sox playing 2 games in Japan, so while both teams had 10 scheduled days off in the first "half", the Sox will get 9 in the second, while the Rays get only 7, plus a doubleheader in the middle of a 7-day roadtrip to end their season. the Rays record stands at 55-39, going 19-25 on the road and 36-14 at home. in comparison, the Rays have played 50 home games & 44 away, while the Sox have played 50 on the road & 46 at home. this bodes well for the remainder of the season, as the Sox will play 34 more games at Fenway this season, and 31 as the away team. the Rays, on the other hand, will play 43 road games and only 25 more in Tampa. i will take that schedule and see how well the Rays fare playing considerably more road games in the second half. all that to say the most important part: the Sox will start post-All Star Break with a half-game lead in the AL East.

4. Brett Favre may be considering a comeback. i know people are all over him, saying they are sick of this game. i blame the media for it. if everyone wouldn't have been riding him for a decision right after the end of a heart-breaking season, when he was worn out mentally, emotionally & physically, perhaps given the chance, he wouldn't have retired after all. everyone is entitled to their opinion. mine is that he was rushed into a decision, making it while emotionally charged, which in my experience is the worst possible time to make choices. i think he should play for as long as he can still lead a team to the playoffs. and i think it stinks that Green Bay won't let him play somewhere else, but have instead announced that if he returns to the football field, it will be as their backup QB. after everything he has meant to that franchise, i think the least they could do is set him free, if they have in fact moved on. and while i understand that they cannot outright release him (and thus risk facing him as a division rival -- and the fact that they fear that speaks volumes), they *could* trade him. while he may not be the greatest QB in NFL history, he is by far my favorite player, because his enthusiasm & love for that game cannot be touched by many, if any at all.

5. i have photos on my camera from over a month ago. i really need to get them properly saved & backed up. as soon as i do that, i will have new albums for my trip to Connecticut and the Sox game i went to. you know, for those of you interested in such things.

6. lest i be remiss, Youk hit his first career grand slam; Wakefield pitched another beautiful game *and* got run support; the Sox scored 18 runs on the Twins; Lugo took a 4-6 week Matt Clement Vacation; JD Drew continues to shine, aching back or not; Manny is back to being Manny from home runs to RBI to hiding in the Monstah (drinking Gatorade & making call on cell phones); Matsuzaka never ceases to make games feel like an eternity; Jeemer is still loading up bases with opposing batters, but at least now he's getting out of the inning; Pedroia is on a tear at the plate & appears almost unstoppable; Papelbon seems to enjoy giving me heart failure when he gets called in; and Tek is finally remembering how to hit again, which does my heart good.

hmmmm... i think that's about it. expect posts at regular intervals to begin... soon.