Baseball

This is a list of posts tagged with Baseball.

Opening day

National anthem

Mission accomplished! Photos uploaded in a timely manner. There are a lot of them. Seventy to be exact. Your best bet is to open this post and view the slide show. View it in full screen too. Please check these out. I took them for you.

So, I had to see for myself what the difference was between Opening Day and a regular game. I had the opportunity to grab a single ticket for the game when I was selected for the second chance lottery for Opening Day and Yankee tickets. Only single seats were available and it seemed like all of the Yankee games were obstructed view. I said screw it and opted to go it alone so I could finally experience an opener.

Now, I’ve seen a lot of the same pomp and circumstance before since I have gone to a 4th of July... Continue reading »

Manny more returns

The Hunt for Red Soxtober is over.

They were sunk by the Rays. Not the Yankees. Not the Angels. The no-longer-Devil Rays.

Now, I mentioned in my previous post that I’d start off with more about Manny. I am going to do that, but I am not going to suggest that the Sox would have won if they still had Manny. They wouldn’t have won. The Rays had their number this year and that little bit of extra magic in games 5 and 6 just prolonged the inevitable, right? That’s what the media want you to believe, but I am getting ahead of myself. Back to Manny.

I have been sitting on this second Manny follow-up post for more than a week. As I also mentioned previously, work was in the way again and I just postponed. Is this still relevant today? I don’t know, but maybe you could still read it.

Anyway, it start... Continue reading »

Manny being manipulated

That’s the title of a Bill Simmons e-ticket on espn.com. It is a long read and well worth it if you are Manny fan, but especially if you are no longer because of his exit behavior. I found I was shaking my head in agreement a lot as I read this today. A lot.

You might remember that I posted about missing Manny not too long ago, but this reinforced my thinking about it after it was shaken a bit by Schilling’s comments. I should have known better than to let that (now) useless blowhard shake by belief with the idea he might have brought new information to the table. I resisted posting when he inserted himself into the news for a few days a few weeks ago, less we forget he exists. After reading this new piece, I can’t help but comment about that too. Fact is, 38pitches and others... Continue reading »

Remember your first

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a Sox and Blue Jays game with Ed, his brother-in-law Eric and his son Makenna. They live in Pennsylvania and were out this way for Jason‘s East Coast wedding reception, a “Shindig,” and Jason’s parents made many tickets available to people that made the trip. (Ed has written up a nice account of the time and posted it and my comments are over there so I’ll skip that part here.)

Kenna is a big Sox fan — he can recognize Jeff Bailey, can you? — and this was his first game at Fenway Park, so a pretty big deal. I tried to get them tickets at the end of last year and again earlier this summer, but they both didn’t work out for scheduling reasons, so I was psyched that he was finally going to get to a game. There’s something about that first time. I think it really can be magical and it is certainly... Continue reading »

Missing Manny

Lost Manny (photo by Jim Davis - Boston Globe)

Yeah, I said it. I miss Manny.

I don’t undertand why Manny had to be traded. I really don’t. I know that most of the Nation is glad he is gone, but I must ask… why?

Why would you want to give up one of the greatest righthanded hitters of all time? A first ballot Hall of Famer? The ultimate protection for Big Papi? Pay seven million dollars to the Dodgers just to take him and two prospects to Pittsburgh to get Jason Bay in return?

Okay, Craig Hansen you can have — for now, unless he works out his command — but by all accounts, Brandon Moss was a good, young outfield prospect. Was he going to be next year’s starting left fielder? No, but he’s a quality fourth outfielder. The seven million? Well, ain’t... Continue reading »

No-no

Wow!

I mean… WOW!

This kid is special, right? Completes the sweep for the second Sox Series and now a no hitter. Wow!

Inspiring stuff. Really. It is hard to come up with the words.

I wish I got to see it. I didn’t watch the game tonight. In fact, I haven’t seen any of the four no-hitters that Varitek has caught. Apparently that’s a record too. However, I did see the first MLB starts for the last two guy’s; Lester and Buchholz. That’s a weird coincidence.

I know someone who had tickets to tonight’s game and decided to sell them because he had already been to like four games in April. Can’t wait to see his reaction. At least he sold them to another guy at work.

Wow!

On Johan

I’m glad it is finally over.

The Mets probably got a helluva a deal and they probably needed him the most. Santana will probably finish the year with a sub 1.00 ERA and 300 K’s in the National League and that is fine by me. I’m glad that Theo didn’t blow the payroll on this guy, regardless of whether or not you consider him the best pitcher in baseball, no one is worth that money, never mind the prospects. Ellsbury patrolling center with Lester and Buchholz battling for the fifth starter spot? I’ll take that and the financial flexibility to keep pace with the trimming down Yankees, who also didn’t blow their wad on Johan.

At first, I hated the thought of giving up Lester or Jacoby, but when whispers from scouts about Santana’s second half started to pop up, I got even more fearful. I hope he’s fine and continues his awesome career with excellent health. In the NL.

Sorry to all you Twins fans in that your new GM overplayed his... Continue reading »

Not Rocktober… Soxtober!

Not that you had time to notice, but the Colorado club fancied October as Rocktober. I think they may have succeeded in copyrighting or trademarking it. Well, we all knew it was really Soxtober, right? No one gave up on the (tied-for) best team in baseball, right?

Well, I can’t figure out if I did or not. I’m thinking not… or, at least not like in the 2004 ALCS. Yeah, I skipped watching a couple games against the Tribe, but one was on purpose and another because of work (the 2nd Beckett gem). I did see Game 6 though and of course, Game 7 following Mookie’s wedding.

Anyway, there wasn’t much doubt as soon as they got passed Cleveland. The Rox were on an incredible run, but you knew it would end when they reached an AL team, no? I never thought they were going to beat the Jake Peavy and the Padres in the one game playoff. Then I thought they’d meet their match in the just-as-hot Phillies, but no, the swept those fools. The Diamondbacks?... Continue reading »

We make soxytime

Well, other than dropping post-length comments on Ed’s blog, I haven’t posted anything here until now. That’s part lazy blogger and part didn’t-have-to because Ed did. Now that we are headed to the World Series again, I think the time has come to at least acknowledge it here.

So, let me start by saying “I told you so.” Sox in seven baby!

Hey, and that is never mind defending Drew — ask Ed or Noelle, I basically called JD’s shot — or agreeing on Ellsbury or… hey, that’s enough. The ALCS was a great series, just like I knew it would be. Of course, I’m happier that the Sox pulled it out, but had the Indians held on, props to them too. After all, they won as many games as the Sox did this year and beat a Yankees team that was probably better (at the time) than the Angels team we faced.

As for facing... Continue reading »

Shocking

What a weekend!

(Now, what a week too!)

I started writing this post on Monday night, but I got sidetracked by one of the topics, which I will get to in a minute. Funny thing about the post was everything (five things) revolves around the word shock, hence the title shocking. I find it even funnier that an event happened on Tuesday to add a sixth, so the word of the month is now shocking. Anyway, I’m trimming some of the fat since I have more to add on…

I was going to talk further about the Pat’s spying scandal because some of the other information that came out during the weekend (losing draft pick(s)?!, leak of tape, even more penalties if Belichick doesn’t turn over all data), but there is just too much and I am just too sick of it all. Now, don’t we have the Mangenius being accused of something by the Ravens? Oh, and can we stop referring to every scandal as a “Gate”? It was just Watergate. Let it go already! Anyway, I’ll just leave this one as disappointing on many angles, but particularly because it tarnishes,... Continue reading »