mr. blackandwhite

Still all over the place...

Well a week has past and it seems that I am still all over the place. In fact, I actually started writing this post two days ago and still have not finished it! 

This month has proven to be pretty much the same as last month as far as the busy-factor goes and this week has been one of the busiest. There's something going on every night and I leave work early, rush home, rush into the house, say 'Hi' to my Wife, change out of my work clothes, say 'Bye' to my Wife and then run right back out the door with a kid in tow for some kind of child-related activity. Sometimes if I've got an extra minute in there I have time to make a half a PB&J sammitch. Sometimes I skip dinner all together.. It's not bad, I enjoy doing stuff with the kids, it's just, busy!

The Pats win over San Fran last Sunday was very satisfying. I had written earlier that I thought that the San Fran game would show us a lot about what this year's Patriots team was going to be like and if this is what we can expect, then I think we will be in good shape. It wasn't perfect, but The Pats got the job done. Do I expect there to be rough patches and some bumps along the road? Of course. But I think the Pats showed a lot on Sunday, coming from behind, playing solid defense against a good offensive 49ers team, and moving the ball on the ground and through the air. 

It seems like the Pats made a great decision in staying on the West Coast rather than traveling back East between the San Francisco game and the San Diego game. Let's hope it pays off come Sunday night vs. The Chargers.

Switching gears to the Sox, I didn't really write too much about the ALDS and too be honest, I didn't see a lot of it. Those West Coast games were a killer and then there was the marathon Game 3... The only game I saw in it's entirety was Game 4. Yup, I'm a wuss. 

Whatever. It was great to see The Sox finish it in 4 and avoid the trip back out West for a Game 5. 

The Rays are going to be tough in the ALCS. Mission: 8W

Last but not least, the Bruins open up their '08 season tonight out in Colorado. Although I will be watching the game, I don't know how much of it I'll really get to see since it starts at 10 PM. 

Hmm, is there a theme developing here? 

I'll get to see the puck drop on the season at least. 

I know I don't write about the Bruins all that often, but I am glad that hockey is back and I am very optimistic about this upcoming season for the Black and Gold.

See ya!

All over the place..

It's October? I am completely blown away at how fast the month of September went by. It was probably the busiest month we've ever had since the kids were born. There were weeks when we had something going on every single night; soccer, cub-scouts, brownies... stuff I don't even remember. Things will start to calm down in October. There will be a brief lull for a few weeks near the end of the month for us to catch our breath before things gear up again for the crazy holiday time of year. My Wife is already buying X-Mas presents!

I don't know if anybody cared about the posts I had written about the economic bailout recently. I'm just going to say that this issue is being voted on in the U.S. Senate today and I would urge you to contact your Senators and let them know your thoughts about it. I would also urge you to contact your U.S. Representative as well and tell him or her what you think about the bailout plan, as well as anything else you have on your mind! THEY WORK FOR US.

Mission 11W: The '08 version. It's kicking off tonight in Anaheim. I expect this will be a good series. The Angels pretty much owned the Red Sox during the regular season and the Sox will come into the series with some key players dealing with some nagging injuries. In the end, as always, it will come down to pitching and with Jon Lester, a.k.a. Red Sox Ace 1A, taking the mound tonight, I think the Sox are in a good position to come out of the gate strong. A Game 1 win for the Sox would be huge and would mean there would be at least 2 home games at Fenway. Mission: 11W. GO SOX.

The Patriots week off is over and there's thirteen games left to play. The Pats will start October off with two back-to-back West Coast games, starting in San Francisco this weekend. San Fran lost to the Saints last week but have shown that they are a team that can move the ball down the field. I think this upcoming game may show us a lot about the '08 Patriots as we start the 2nd quarter of the season. Lets hope that the week off did the team some good. Time to get down to business. GO PATS

Tip 'o the ol' cap to The Rays..

I've gotta tip my hat to the Tampa Bay Rays after last night's victory over the Red Sox. At the start of this final three game series against the Rays, The Sox were looking like they were poised to take control of the A.L. East for permanent with a 13-5 win, but Tampa Bay slammed the door in games two and three, putting the Sox two games back as they head up to Toronto.

I actually think it's pretty awesome how well the Rays have done this season and if it were not for the fact that they are in direct competition with the Sox in the A.L. East, I'd be fully rooting for them as my backup team this year. The Rays have been the A.L. East doormats for so long, it is nice to see them turn it around this season, even if it does impact The Red Sox.

With their magic number for the Wildcard currently at 4, barring some kind of disaster, the Red Sox look like they will be playing baseball in October as well, otherwise I'd be a bit less congratulatory and a little more agitated regarding the Rays situation. Obviously I'd prefer to see The Sox win the East and there's still a chance it can happen, but making the playoffs is the first priority.

So nice job Tampa Bay. Enjoy the playoffs, (just not as much as the Red Sox hopefully will. Heh.)

Quick recap of the last few days from Friday up till now which is Wed.

Hey whats up everybody? Happy hump day.

Quick recap of the last few days:

The Supersuckers show last Friday = Awesome.
Driving home from Boston after the Supersuckers show with toothpicks holding my eyes open sometime prior to dawn on Saturday morning = Not awesome.

Not having to go to work after the Supersuckers show last Friday = Awesome.
Being pretty much total junk all day on Saturday due lack of sleep and seriously wondering if I'm getting too old to go to these rock shows = Not awesome.

The Patriots beating the Jets in Jersey on Sunday after football 'fans' in nyc celebrated Tom Brady's season ending knee injury and crowned themselves the presumptive AFC East Champs the week before = Awesome.

The Red Sox tying The Rayz for first place in the A.L. East on Monday = Awesome.
The Red Sox falling a game back again after The Rayz walk off win last night = Not awesome.

Finding lolinator.com earlier today = Awesome. (I like to end the post on an 'Awesome')

(H/T to the The DSC Drop for the lolinator link. Also, my drop.io is feeling lonely..)

HA!

Manny's gone to La-La land..

I was all ready to enlighten you with my thoughts on the Manny Ramirez trade to the La-La Land Dodgers, but then I read Angela's post over at Boston Brat and as usual, she has pretty much completely summed it all up very succinctly and much better than I could have done, so go over and check her post out.

As for my own thoughts on the matter, I like Manny. As far as I am concerned, Manny = Awesome.

Aside from the shoving incidents a few weeks ago, Manny's 'antics' or whatever you want to call them never bothered me. In fact, most of the time I found Manny being Manny to be entertaining. I never really understood the uproar that often ensued following one of his exploits and I am sad to see him traded away for a player that might give the Sox some of his productivity at the plate, maybe, if we're lucky.

Yeah, looking over his RBI and HR stats at Baseball Reference, outfielder Jason Bay has somewhat comparable numbers to Manny, but also comes over from the NL, which is literally an entirely different league, the league that old pitchers generally escape to in order to extend their careers when they can no longer hack it in the American League. So I guess all I can say is, we'll see what happens. It took J.D. Drew a little time, but he seems to have figured it out.

In reading about the trade, it seems that Bay liked being a Pirate (Arrg. (sorry had to do it)) and may not be exactly thrilled about being traded to pressure-town. I hope Bay is 'media scrutiny friendly' or we may have another disgruntled outfielder on our hands.

I can't go without saying something about the hypocrisy of the Boston press, who have done nothing but rag Manny and call for him to be traded away for years and who are now falling all over themselves to explain to us, the uninformed and unwashed masses, why this trade is a good thing. I have no doubt that if the Sox do not make it into the post season, these same writers will point directly to the Manny trade as part of their opening salvo against Theo and the Red Sox. (I'm not a big fan of the Boston press, for those who are unaware.)

I have often thought that The Sox should try to operate more like The Patriots and in these kinds of situations I think to myself, 'If this situation had occurred on The Patriots, what would Bill Belichick do?'

I think we all know that Belichick would not have put up with a star player who was not putting out 100% when it came time to take the field, or at any point for that matter, and in that vein, if Manny was determined to dog it for the remainder of the year, then maybe this is for the best and I give credit to Theo for having the guts to let go of a player of Manny's caliber.

Baseball savvy and smokin', on-the-verge-of-bursting-into-flames, hot Dodger fan who helps starving kids and has her own clothing line, Alyssa Milano, is very excited about the trade, I can tell you that. I wish I was but in the end, I just root for the laundry.

GO SOX

My Wife took a picture of my Sausage last Friday and said it was ok to post it online...

So here you go..

We went to last Friday's game vs the MFY (which the Sox lost, 1-0, goddammit) and sat in the State Street Pavilion section of Fenway Park. This is the section for the people who have so much money, they can afford to sit and watch the games inside at a bar located behind the seats.. 

This section also has waitresses that come around and take your food order. 

Waitress (after handing me a menu (!!)): What can I get you?

Me: Uh.. what?

--awkwardly fumbles with menu--

Me (clearly out of my element): 'Um.. I'll have a bag of nuts and a beer?'

Waitress: What kind of beer?

Me (staring at the menu and wondering if I am actually at Fenway. I can see by the view that I am, but it all seems very surreal): 

Um... Do you have Sam Adams?

Waitress: Summer or Lager?

Me: .. uh .. 

And holy fuck look at this view! 

Amazing. 

If there was one down side to sitting there, it was the fact that people who are loaded, money-wise that is, don't make much noise. I did my part and made sure to heckle A-Rod as well as to loudly boo every muther-fucking yankee player that came up to bat, with the exception of Johnny Damon, who remains my Daughter's fav so I gave him a break. And I made sure to yell 'YANKEES SUCK' when Joba threw at Youk's head. Not that it did any good on that night.. My voice was hoarse for two days. 

We'll have our revenge.

GO SOX

Next year is here.

It's here. Patriots 2008. The new season gets started today with the opening of Patriots Training Camp. No more looking back, only looking forward. In two short weeks, the Pats will face the Ravens in their first pre-season game. It's hard to believe the first game is that close, but I am psyched for Patriots Football to be back, yes indeed.

I usually try to get down to at least one of the training camp sessions but I most likely will be unable to attend this year. The schedule does not look like it's going to work out in my favor and Bill Belichick will just have to get the team ready without me. I think he can handle it.

I was a bit concerned when I saw the Patriots' physically unable to perform (PUP) list this morning. There are a lot of guys on there! Are there that many players coming back from injuries or did these guys just forget how tough the Patriots training camp conditioning test is? There's no way for us to know, of course.. Either way, hopefully the PUP list will shorten significantly over the next few days.

Once piece of good news is that the Patriots reached a contract agreement with their last unsigned draftee, first round pick, Jerod Mayo, just before camp officially got started. This was great to hear. It's common knowledge that The Patriots defense is complex and the rookie linebacker cannot afford to miss any opportunities to begin soaking it in if he hopes to make an early impact on the coaches and the team.

Well that's about it for now. I have tomorrow off from work and I'll be going to the Sox / MFY game tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to seeing Josh Beckett pitch in person, and hopefully we will see the return of Big Papi to the Red Sox line-up along with several far-reaching dingers off of MFY pitcher Joba Joba Joba. Plus, frankly, I'm pretty burnt out and I need a little vacation. If I were toast you'd have to scrape the crispy black stuff off of me into the sink, that's how burnt I am. Yes, I need a vacation. A day off will be nice and of course a trip to Fenway is always welcome. I will rejoin the collective once again.

This will only be my second time attending a Sox / MFY game, a.k.a. THE RIVALRY (ooooo, ahhh) and it will be my first time seeing the MFY at Fenway. The other game in THE RIVALRY that I attended was in The Bronx back in 2003. That was fun and it was certainly a memorable experience. Tim Wakefield got the win and Roger Clemens got shelled by the Sox in that particular game. The Bleacher Creatures that surrounded me were not pleased. As a Sox fan in enemy territory on that day, I kept my enjoyment of the experience to myself, mostly. Heh.

Have a good one. I'll try to post more than once a month now that The Patriots are back in action :-)

In Belichick We Trust

Black Flag factor helps cancel out Red Sox frustration factor.

I was jamming to some Black Flag as I watched the Red Sox implode against the Tampa Bay Rays last night.

Fucking Greg Ginn man.. - genius -

Fucking Red Sox bullpen... - not -

As far as the mixture of playing along with songs from Black Flag's 'First Four Years' and 'Damaged' while the Sox faltered away a perfectly winnable game and got swept by the Rays (the best team in baseball... what??): cathartic

Jason Varitek: I was sending the good vibes your way all night man. I'll keep em coming and it will click eventually.

There was a shot of Dustin Pedroia at the end of the game, staring out at the field and looking generally pissed off. After seeing his two doubles, a triple and a homer completely wasted, I can understand why.

The Red Sox are now 3.5 games back of the first place Rays (cue the Twilight Zone theme).. not the end of the world at this point in the season, but I'll just keep my Sox cap in the 'rally' position for the next few days anyway and hope things return to normal soon.

Hopefully the Sox regroup and take their frustrations out on the MFY this weekend.

Make it so.

Black Flag:
Nervous Breakdown
Jealous Again
Six Pack

(drop.io)

Car Songs

Semi-inspired by a recent post by Michele at A Big Victory, semi-inspired by the fact that it's the Summer Nationals this weekend in beautiful Worcester, MA and semi-inspired by the fact that I don't want to write about the Red Sox dropping another game to the A.L. East leading, Rays.. (They're still the Devil Rays to me.)

Mike Ness - I'm In Love With My Car
The Supersuckers - Hot Rod Rally
Reverend Horton Heat - Like A Rocket
Clutch - Passive Restraints
Fu Manchu - King of the Road

Bonus:
Dead Kennedys - Buzzbomb from Pasadena

Bake em up.

(drop.io)

I often wonder, where is my mind, but then I remember it is way out in the water, swimming.

Ok. Happy Monday. Not. Nobody likes Monday. Unless it's a day off, then it's a different story.

I've got 10 minutes here because the skies are clearing and I'm going to try and get some fresh air. So let's see what kind of nonsense I can spew out here in 10 min..

Last weekend was cool. Me and the two older kids set up a tent and had our first ever back yard camp-out. I dug a fire pit and we had a small camp fire with toasted marshmallows and smores while we watched for bats in the sky and looked for fireflies.

Once it got to be late enough we got into the tent and went to 'sleep'. My daughter commented that the tent smelled like 'cow-poop'. I had no explanation for this phenomena, except that it wasn't me.

Around 1/2 past dark, my son woke us all up, yelling loudly, 'I need to open it! I need to open it!!'

Thinking he was having a bad-dream I asked him, 'open what??'

'The tent!! I need to open it!'

Trying to calm him down, I told him, 'We can't open the tent up because it will get all damp in here.'

'I NEED TO OPEN IT!!'

'Do you need to go to the bathroom??' I asked.

'YES!!!'

'Well why don't you just say that?' I said as I unzipped the tent.

He came back a few minutes later to tell me he was sleeping inside the rest of the night.

'Ok,' I said, 'You don't have to sleep in the tent if you don't want to.'

With that, my daughter sat up.

'Do you want to sleep inside too?' I asked.

She hesitantly said, 'Yeeesss.'

'Ok lets all go in then.'

So much for our first back yard camp out. It was fun, but A/C, lullaby CD's and electric night-lights are better.

--
4 min..
--

George Carlin passed away this weekend. RIP. Carlin was one of my all-time favorite comedians. I first heard him on the Dr. Demento Show as a kid. All I can say is he will be missed. George Carlin was tremendously funny, at all times. The man never failed to make me laugh, plus he was Rufus in 'Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure' and he did voice overs for 'Thomas the Tank Engine'.

'The Hippy-dippy Weather Man', 'The 7 Dirty Words', 'Baseball vs Football' and of course, 'Could be meat, could be cake. Meat-Cake!'

--
Time!
--

The Sox win after 13 innings yesterday. Now that there's no Football till Training Camp and the NHL and NBA are over, The Red Sox have my full sports-attention.

--
Two min over. Time to burn some fat.
--

That's great kid, now don't get cocky..

Happy Friday everybody! I'm still enjoying the after-glow of the Boston Celtics' 17th NBA Championship. I would have loved to have attended the C's Championship parade yesterday. The weather was great and it looked like a good time was had by all. I went to one of The Patriots' parades a few years ago and it was a blast. I love a Championship Parade.

It's just a great feeling seeing the C's win another championship after 22 years, especially after the horror-show of a season they endured last year. I think I watched maybe three or four Celtics games total last season. It was just too painful to watch them lose night after night.

With the 2008 NBA finals being a Celtics / Lakers throwback to the 80's, it's been funny to look at the old pics from the '86 Championship celebration and see all the people wearing those painters caps and Ray Ban Wayfarers (I still have some of those actually).

I remember when those painters caps were the big thing. You were fully in style if you were wearing the painters cap, Wayfarers and high-top Nikie sneaks with the Sony Walkman headphones jammed in your ears. Ha! Pretty funny.

Now that the C's have won it all, as happy as I am about it, I have to admit to you, I'm almost as relieved as I am happy. It's going to feel nice to be able to just relax for a few months! All these championships are great, but man, they are extremely stressful! My sports related stress-o-meter has been through the roof! I need a break!

I need to decompress a little after the Red Sox World Series, The Pats chase for a perfect NFL record and Superbowl, The B's taking the #1 seeded (and #1 hated) Habs to seven games in the Stanley Cup playoffs and The Celts playing more playoff games than any other team in history en route to their 17th Championship. Whew!! I wonder what my average blood-pressure has been these last few months.

Now it's just nice, soothing Red Sox baseball on a warm summer night and the occasional NASCAR race till Fall, when the pennant race heats up and, hopefully for Sox fans, October, when the MLB playoffs begin.

Let's do it all again (except let the B's and Pats win at the end this time.)

Oh my goodness am I ever spoiled, or what?? Yes. I know it. Hey, at least I openly admit to it! I'm not ashamed of it, but I admit to it! HA.

One of the things I've been reading a lot lately is that the C's winning the championship has eased the pain of the Patriots loss in Superbowl XLII. I have to go along with that. That Superbowl loss was pretty tough. I've thought about it, painfully, for months. Seeing the Celtics get #17 has definetely helped put The Patriots' Superbowl loss where it belongs, in the past.

As Angela's Dad said, 'The Sports Gods couldn’t give up Super Bowl 42 because they were holding out for the Celtics #17.'

Makes sense to me.

Would I trade the C's 2008 Championship for a Pats' win in Superbowl XLII and an undefeated NFL season? Do me a favor and don't ask me that question ok? It makes my brain hurt a little to think about that question.

Ok fuck it, I'll answer it. The answer is no, even if I could, I would not trade it. I love The Pats, Sox, B's and C's and even though The Pats are head and shoulders at the top of the list, I would not, could not wish away one of my team's successes for the betterment of another. Besides it's impossible anyway so why waste time thinking about stuff like that? If I'm gonna wish for something, I'm gonna wish for a paid off mortgage and a swimming pool. And world peace, of course.

The thing that is really great is that The Pats, Sox, B's and C's are all built to remain contenders year after year. That's right Boston haters, the chances are pretty good that we'll be back again for more in a few months. Till then, enjoy your vacation from us!

(Oh yeah I AM spoiled.)

Ah, relax..

A very enjoyable Tuesday evening. I cooked some barbecue chicken on the grill earlier, delicious, then clicked on the Sox / Rays game while the kids had their bedtime stories. 

We just got the last kid-do settled and into bed a few minutes ago. Now it's time for the first martini of the summer and a little more Red Sox. 

Currently The Sox are down by one run, 4-3 in the bottom of the 6th. Youk's at the plate with two on and no outs. Hopefully The Sox can make up the difference here. 

We got Rescue Me Season 4 in the mail today so we'll probably pop that in soon. 

Feels good to kick back. Have a good one! (and GO RED SOX!!) 

(Bases are now loaded, 1 out, Tek at the plate... Tek drives in a run.. Crisp comes to the plate and gets a wall ball double. The Red Sox take the lead, 6-4. GO SOX!)

Waiting for quiet-ness...

Ohh, I'm tired. Hey what's up everybody. It's about 9 PM. I'm home alone, my Wife is out at one of her Mom Meetings (or as I call it, excuse to have a margarita). Wait, what am I saying, you don't need an excuse to have a margarita!

I'm going to be heading down to try and work on some recording in a few minutes. Got the kids settled around 8:30 and I'm just waiting here to make sure all remains quiet before I strap on the headphones.

I made a recording last night and I think it came out ok, except for one of the guitar solos, which I am not happy with and I need to re-do, and also the vocals are too high, so I'm going to fix that. Unfortunately these recordings have no bass and only a loop for drums. It's just me and the guitar and a drum loop. Other than that they are pretty ok fine I think.

Since I was recording last night, I did not see John Lester's no-no. I did not even know it was happening till it was already over and my Sister-In-Law called to see if I was excited about it. I was like, 'excited about what?' 

Well, that's how it goes. I guess I am a bad Red Sox fan right now (bows head in shame), but I did make a recording, so that counts for something, in my book at least.

The Celts face the Detroit Pistons in Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals tonight. Here's hoping the C's can win all their home AND road games in this series!!

C's win, Sox win. How about getting the Hat Trick tonight Bruins?

Well it's been a few weeks and there's been some dates added to the list, but it looks like Mike Ness is not going to grace the Boston area with his presence during his solo tour this Spring. Crazy as it may seem, I actually considered making a road trip to one of the NY or NJ shows. In fact, I am seriously considering the Saturday May 17th show in Asbury Park, NJ as I write this, but soon reality will sink in. Dammit.

Oh well maybe Mike will come back around later this year..

In the meantime, The C's won in dominating fashion last night in their first game of the NBA playoffs vs The Hawks, The Sox won today against the Rangers, getting the series sweep I might add, and the Bruins will play in the winner take all, Game 7 of the Stanley Cup quarter-finals tonight vs Montreal.

Let's make it 3 out of 3, a Hat Trick if you will, shall we Bruins? Yes, I think that would be nice, because I need to see more of Cam 'Mungo' Neely as lunatic fan, obviously too pumped up to be able to sit down during the game (I know that feeling) and jumping around like, ah, well, like one of us does whenever the Bruins score a goal. I should try and see if there is a youtube video of Neely's excited antics somewhere because it is truly awesome to behold.

A win tonight for The Bruins would be an almost complete reversal of the B's previous playoff appearance in '04, when the then #2 seeded Bruins blew a commanding 3-1 series lead to the 7th seeded Habs. A win tonight erases that collapse from my mind, something I would very much appreciate. Plus The Bruins have not won a playoff series yet this century. So they need to do that. Tonight.

I will now direct you to this wonderfully written prayer to the Hockey Gods on the Bruins behalf by Hockey Chick Courtney.

LETS GO BRUINS!!

Update:
Well I dug around a little for video of Neely losing his mind in the press box after the B's scored a goal and this is the best I could find. This is pretty funny too.

Who's scruffy lookin'?

During the Sox playoff run, I grew a playoff beard. Unfortunately I'm what you would call facial hair challenged. There are junior high school kids who can grow a better beard than I can. So I was looking pretty scruffy.

For the World Series, I shaved off most of the scruff and just kept a goatee kinda thing, or at least, the closest thing to a goatee that I can grow that is.

Now that The Sox have won it all (awesome!), it's safe to shave it off. I'm no longer scruffy. Though I kept my pathetic excuse for a mustache. So what if there are 13 year olds with better mustaches than me?

If the Pats beat the Colts on Sunday I'll get rid of it. It will be the bye week at that point anyway.

I was hoping to go into Boston for The Red Sox World Series parade today but I'm not going to make it in. I am bummed out. I was looking forward to seeing Jon Papelbon's dance moves in person but I guess I'll just have to watch the replay on TV later tonight.

Dang this whole work thing. It's always getting in the way of the important stuff!

BOSTON RED SOX - 2007 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS

(It's so much fun to write those words! Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. THIS IS AWESOME!)

Your World Series Champion Boston Red Sox

They did it. How awesome is this? For the second time in four years the Boston Red Sox are World Series Champions!!

What else is there to say other than that? Just sit back and soak in the awesome.

Time to make some room in my t-shirt drawer, clear some space on the shelves and the walls and take a day off from work for parade-related purposes.

THANK YOU RED SOX

(boston.com photo)

Mission 11W: 8 down, 3 to go. PS> I drank a giant cup of coffee before writing this so it might explain a few things...

Hey what's up everybody? In case you're wondering, which, you're not, but anyway, in case you're wondering, I'm not ignoring the Red Sox. I mean, they're in the friggin' WORLD SERIES TOTALLY AWESOME [email protected]!

What happened is, I've gotten it into my head that writing about The Sox during the ALCS was bad luck. Leading into Game 5, I wrote a quick 'I believe' post and then stopped writing about the games. From that point on, the Sox went on to take games 5, 6 and 7 and came back from a 3-1 deficit to win the ALCS. I stopped writing about the games and The Sox got to the World Series. Conclusion: my writing during the ALCS = bad luck. Obviously, my logic is impeccable and we are all in grave danger. So there you go.

In the back of my mind, I know that nothing I am doing during these playoff games is having an actual effect on the game. But back, WAAAY back in the back of my mind, past the corner with the jukebox, I know that what I do during these games DOES have an effect on the outcome of game.

Hey, all I know is, if I'm on the couch watching the game, and I'm sitting a certain way and the team is doing good, and I shift to a different position and the team starts doing bad, and then I shift back to the way I was before and the team starts doing good again, I'm gonna stay sitting on the couch in the 'good' team-helping position no matter how numb and tingly my arm may become or how bad the cramping in my leg gets. Game on people. 10th man: present and accounted for.

So in that spirit, I'll be keeping this post short and to the point, and depending on tonight's game, you might not see anything further until the conclusion of the World Series. It all depends which way the luck is flowing.

As far as this post, how do I know it's not full of jinxiness? Well let's just call it a 'feeling' that I have that tells me it's safe to write this up, as long as it's quick.. The voices in my head say its ok, aright? Otherwise I wouldn't be here. You think I'm going to do something to fuck this up just for the sake of 'blogg content'? WRONG.

Last night the Sox rode Josh Beckett's spectacular pitching and an explosion of offense to take Game 1 of the World Series. Tonight Shilling goes for The Sox and I'm hoping it will be like the movie 'Groundhog Day', with great pitching and great at-bats from The Sox. If the Red Sox can take this game and a two game lead out to Colorado, that will be huge. HUGE.

Any time Shilling takes the mound, especially in the playoffs, my confidence is high. Even though he is not the same pitcher that he was in 2004, Shilling is still THE BALLS and with the hugeness of this game tonight and the impact it will have on the eventual outcome Series, I know Shil will be ultra-focused on getting us up by 2 when he takes the mound tonight. 3 more wins...

On a final note, I was very disappointed last night when I turned down the volume on the TV and turned on the radio to listen to Joe Castiglione call the game, as I have done throughout the playoffs so far. I heard Joe, but instead of Joe Castiglione it was Joe Morgan and Jon Miller of ESPN coming out of my speakers. Talk about having to pick your poison... Joe Buck and Tim McCarver or Jon Miller and Joe Morgan. Ug. How about option C: Turn down the volume on the TV.

How do these guys keep their jobs? I don't know anybody that enjoys listening to these bozos call a baseball game.

I need to either try and get the Red Sox flag-ship station, WRKO, tuned in at my house, or figure out how to get the dolby surround sound thing working on my stereo's speakers so that I can turn down the center channel, and Buck and McCarver along with it.

3 more wins...

GO SOX

Mission 11W: Staying alive in Game 5...

I'm feeling drained today. That Red Sox / Indians game last night was rough. Actually it was that 5th inning that was especially rough. If you read my post during the game last night, you can see I go a little batty during these games. But then, don't we all?

Despite the dire situation the Sox now find themselves in, down 3-1 in the ALCS, I'm still keeping the Faith in this team to get it done and keep the series alive on Thursday. Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? HELL NO.

We've got our ace, Josh Beckett, going for us in Game 5 and if he can't stop Cleveland's momemtum, well, then maybe that's just the way things are meant to be, but I think The Sox have too much determination and pride to go out like that. I think guys like Oritiz, Tek and Lowell will step up and say no, it's not ending here on Thursday.

Personally I believe the Sox will rally with Josh on the mound and there will be a Game 6 in Fenway. Like Youk said on his blog, there is no tomorrow. Let's just get back to Fenway and go from there.

I believe.

Any chance The Sox can get Kevin Millar to come up to Cleveland on Thursday night to give them a good rallying speech and a shot of whiskey?

GO SOX

ALCS Game 4: LETS GO RED SOX

It's game 4. Mega-ultra-super-ultra critical game 4. This is MUST WIN territory here for the Red Sox. No I don't think I'm overstating this.

I'm glad we have Wake on the mound for us. I have full confidence in him and his ability to get us out of this jam with the Indians. But The Sox BATS need to come alive here. RUN SUPPORT people, RUN SUPOOOOOORRRTT!

GO SOX

I'm going with all the traditional superstitions tonight: October candle, Harpoon (Yes, even though it's Tuesday. Hey, I need to help my team!) Sox regalia, Pats cap in rally position. Plus all the various gyrations and other ticks and nonsense that go on during these high-pressure games.

I'm sort of twittering the game here. It's kind of a way to keep from going insane and pacing a groove in the carpet in front of the TV. If you want to follow along with the nonsense, feel free..

Update:
Oh my f-ing God. The Indians have scored 7 (so far..) in the bottom of the 5th. And the inning is still not over. Meanwhile the Sox bats have done.. nothing.

We are fucking done my friends. DAMMIT. I am totally bummed out at this moment. FUCK. Going to stop typing now because all I have are bad swear-words.. I'm going to go pound my head against something now. Is Tom Brady available to come out of the Sox pen? Pinch hit? Something? Maybe just levitate over the field and fill the Red Sox dugout with his aura? No?

Dammit.

How about Belichick? No? Available for Football only, huh? Well that's ok. In the end it really all comes down to Football anyway. That is what's really important around here.

Update 2:
Back to back homers from Youk and Papi. Now it's only 7-2, Tribe... I'm still choking back the swear words. Go Sox. Or whatever..

Update 3:
Ok, Manny just hit, I mean, CRUSHED a ball for a 3rd solo home-run. 7-3 Tribe. I'm not saying anything.

Final update:
Ok, any Red Sox heroics that may take place in this game will have to happen while I sleep because I'm done with this game. It's still 7-3 Tribe in the bottom of the 8th. Youk, Ortiz and Manny all came up in the top of the inning and all three popped out on fly balls. F this. Yeah I'm pissed. I still can't believe that 5th inning... At least I did not have to listen to Joe Buck and Tim McCarver call the game. I'm close enough to Springfield MA to be able to get the FM broadcast of the game. Thank God for small something or others..

(Photo: Boston.com)

Mission 11W: Still stuck at 7.

Last night the Red Sox and Indians played game 3 of the ALCS. As a Sox fan, it was a painfully frustrating experience.

I really had zero confidence in DICE going into last night's game but in the back of my mind was the hope that he would prove me wrong, for once.

It didn't happen and the Red Sox are now down 2-1 in the series with what looks like a steamroller of Cleveland momentum about to squish them.

Game 4 now takes on hyper-critical importance. If the Sox go down 3 games to 1 tonight, we are cooked. We all know that overcoming a 3 game lead in the playoffs is not impossible, but I'd rather not have to find out if it can be done again.

Thankfully The Sox have a well-rested, hopefully back-pain free Tim Wakefield going for them tonight. If anybody can give the Red Sox a chance at evening up this series at 2-2, it's him. A note to the Red Sox bats: I know this is a Tim Wakefield start, but Run Support WILL be required tonight.

The bi-polarness of my Red Sox fanness is fully showing.

Dammit.

(original image: Boston.com)

Mission: 8W. Sox / Indians sounds so much better than Sox / MFY.

The '07 ALCS starts tonight and I am looking forward to it. It's looking pretty wet outside right now so I hope the game will not be rained out. This first post-2004 ALCS trip for the Red Sox has a much different feel to it for me. Of course I want to see the Sox win the ALCS and get into the World Series, but I'm not feeling that life or death, hyper-ventilating, if they don't win this thing it's the end of the world type feeling that I had when the Sox were going into the '03 and '04 ALCS.

Finally winning the World Series in '04 has taken a lot of the edge off and this is not a bad thing. I feel like I can actually enjoy the game itself a little more now. We don't have to be hyper-focused on how long it's been since the Sox have won the Series anymore and we don't have to worry about waiting in fear for the 'how are they going to blow it this time?' moment.

It is nice to be able to enjoy the ALCS for what it is, your favorite team and a shot at getting into the World Series. Of course there will be stressful moments over the course of the ALCS, of that there is no doubt, but it will be the stress of wanting your team to win and advance, not the stress of wanting your team to win and advance because they haven't won a championship in almost 90 years and HOLY FUCK are they going to do it this time? ARE THEY EVER GOING TO DO IT??

(Cubs fans, I feel for ya.)

I'm not sure if I'm in the minority on this, but I have to say, I am extremely glad that the MFY were eliminated in the ALDS and we are not facing them in the ALCS this year, not because I was afraid of playing the MFY again, but because I can totally live without the drama of 'THE RED SOX / YANKEES RIVALRY' for once. I mean really, thank God we are being spared 'THE RIVALRY' this time around! We won't have the build up, the hype and everything else that would have surrounded another Sox / MFY ALCS circus. I'm sure the people at FOX are very disappointed, but I'm not missing 'THE RIVALRY' a single bit. In '99, '03 and '04 we had to face the Yankees. Enough is enough, don't you think? Red Sox / Indians. It feels like a breath of fresh air.

For some reason I'm not as nervous about this upcoming series as I was about the last one. I'm not feeling the superstitions that badly right now. They were dialed up pretty high for the ALDS but so far it's not that bad for the ALCS. The superstitions are there, they're just not owning me.. yet. That might change as we get closer to the game though. Hopefully the skies will clear and there will be baseball at Fenway tonight.

GO SOX

Resitance is futile, most of the time.

I went to CVS pharmacy on my lunch break to get some Tylenol. My mouth is sore today from the dental work. Anyway, I walked in to CVS and they had a full-on Patriots display set up right near the entrance. They had everything. Stickers, pens, fake tattoos, trash-cans, baby-bibs.. you name it. It was like a mini Patriots ProShop! I was completely sucked in. I will pretty much buy anything if it has a Patriots or Red Sox logo on it.. except for Bud Light. I won't buy Bud Light just because the can has a Patriots helmet on it. I draw the line there. Sam Adams with a Pats helmet on it? I'm in. Miller Lite with a Pats helmet on it? Fully there. But Bud Light? Sorry Budweiser marketing team, but my answer is no. Even I have limits*.

The Patriots display had some Red Sox stuff set up too but it all had DICE's face on it, which also equals zero interest from me..

I need a trash can for the basement so I almost bought the Patriots trash can. Then I thought, 'wouldn't this bib be nice for my youngest? She would look so nice on game-day!' And who doesn't need more pens? Especially, Patriots pens!! I know I could use some of those! I could take notes, make lists, all kinds of things! And it would be with a Patriots pen! Awesome!

Thankfully my better judgment kicked in and I did not buy any Patriots stuff. But I wanted to. Oh, I wanted to.

After I left CVS I went to Dunkin's for a coffee since I was out. There was a John Denver song playing inside the shop. He was good. RIP John Denver.

*Just because I won't buy Budweiser product does not mean I won't drink it if you hand one to me. I'm only a beer snob with my money, not yours. There's no such thing as bad beer, just some are better than others.

Worth the wait: Red Sox take ALDS Game 2

(Reuters Photo)

Red Sox / Angels, ALDS Game 2: This was one long ass game..

As the clock was nearing 12 AM I began to think, 'I don't know if I can stay up for this whole thing.' Then I thought, 'I've been up this long, I may as well see how it turns out at this point.'

As the clock was nearing 1 AM and the game headed to the bottom of the 9th still tied at 3-3, I began to think, 'I've stayed up this long, it better be worth it. This thing better turn out good.'

It was better than good. It was great. Papelbon is The Balls and Manny is The Man. His game winning home-run was an absolute thing of beauty. He fully deserved to stand at the plate and admire it for an extra second as it went over absolutely everything in left field and completely left the ball park. The Dark Horse, Okajima and the rest of the Sox bullpen were phenomenal in relief for you know who, whose performance was about as I expected it would be. Eh, I'll give Dice some credit. He at least kept the game within a run for the Sox offense.

Mission: 9W

(Bonus: The Yankees lost to Cleveland in extra innings. Cleveland now leads their series 2-0.)

GO SOX

What channel are the Red Sox on?

Hey what's up you-all? I'm just sitting here, killing time, rooting for the Indians and waiting for the Red Sox / Angels game to start. What channel are they on? Are they on after this Cleveland / MFY game? Or are they on some other channel? It's 1-1 in the bottom of the 9th at Cleveland right now. What if this thing goes to extra innings? Then what? Do they wait for this game to be over before the Sox / Angels game starts?

Dudes and ladies I'm somewhat in an f-ing confused state.. I'm in another state, another state of mind. Yes.

And what are those bugs flying everywhere at The Jake? Ladybugs? Mayflies? There's a lot of bugs flying around in Cleveland.

The Pats face off against the Browns in Foxboro on Sunday. The Browns are one of my backup teams basically because of the presence Romeo Crennel and Willie McGinest. I like to see those two guys doing well. It should be an interesting game on Sunday, with Belichick facing his friend and former defensive coordinator and Willie facing the team he used to lead on a weekly basis.. I hope Romeo and Willie get a nice ovation coming into The Razor, but once the game starts, those guys are the enemy.

Back to the Sox, I see the game has started on an alternate channel. Confusion solved. Let's go DICE. Prove to me that my feelings about you are wrong, please.

GO SOX
GO PATS

Superstition update:
I'm wearing my Red Sox socks and my 04 ALCS t-shirt. Sam Adams is in a Patriots glass and an October candle is burning. I think I'll go put the Patriots cap on. Let the Patriot Power flow down into the Red Sox stuff. Maybe I'll put it into rally-cap mode, right at the outset too. Because well, I have a feeling The Sox will need it tonight. (Yes, it's weird the way my mind works..)

Update 2:
It's the top of the 8th, the score is tied at 3 - 3 and it's approaching midnight. My superstitions all went to bed a while ago. I'm the only one still awake at this point. This is a long ass game.. GO SOX.

Mission 11W: The '07 version..

Sox / Angels, game one. Currently top of the 8th. Superstitions are cranked up for this game for some reason. But then, it is the playoffs after all..

Game one = crucial with Dice going tomorrow. Not that they're not all crucial, but.. well you know. I don't want to say it. In fact, I'm just stopping here. I think this typing is bad luck.

GO SOX

Update:
Sox win game 1, 4-0. Beckett went the full 9 and was awesome. Whew. Now I can relax. I was tense through that whole thing. Didn't want to move or do anything to break the spell. [lets out a deep breath..]

Mission: 10W

Ok DICE, you're up. Feel free to, you know, do your thing.

Just some quick stuff for a Monday..

Even though it's a Monday, so far this day has been pretty good. The Patriots won yesterday and that always makes Monday's a lot nicer. The Pats started out a little slowly against the Bills and there were some worries of a possible let-down after the big win last weekend vs. San Diego. The team was not running on all cylinders to start the game, commiting several costly penalties and even an uncharacteristic fumble by Tom Brady at the goal-line when it looked like the Pats were going in for a sure-fire touch-down on a quarterback sneak. It seemed to take The Pats a quarter or so to get things into gear, but once they did, boy, they were gone. Final score: 38-7, Patriots. The game was pretty much well in hand for The Patriots by the time the 4th quarter even started. It's nice when your team can basically play the backups for the 4th quarter and kill the clock till time expires.

Next up: Cincy on a Monday Night. Ug. I love that the Pats are featured during prime-time, because that means they're a successful team, but man I hate those late night games and being up till midnight to see the outcome.

The Toronto Blue Jays finally did us a favor and beat the Yankees today. That puts the Red Sox up by 2 games in the AL East and lowers the Magic Number to win the division to 5 games. Nice. Thank you Toronto!

I got a call from my Wife this afternoon telling me that the generator that I bought has been delivered. I had been saving up for that thing for a very long time, over a year, and it is good to finally have it. No more power outages at my house and one less thing to worry about.

One year we lost power in the winter for several days after a blizzard. My Wife had to take the kids to her Mom's house because our house got too cold, plus there was no running water, etc. I had to keep a fire in the fire-place non-stop to keep the temperature up in the house so nothing froze. It was not fun. That's when I decided I wanted a generator.

More recently, we had a very rainy Spring and the sump-pump started running due to the water table coming up. Thank goodness we have a sump-pump, because we learned the hard way that we needed one a few years back when all the snow melted in the Spring and the basement flooded. I found out first hand that bailing out your basement with a shop-vac really, really, REALLY sucks. So I am glad that the pump is there, but I absolutely HATE it when it is running. That means there is water under my foundation and the pump is keeping it at bay from rising into the basement. That means if for some reason the thing breaks or if the power goes out, disaster.

It puts me into a constant state of worry and anxiety whenever that thing comes on. This past spring I was a nervous wreck for weeks during the time that it was running. After busting my ass for over a year to turn my basement into a finished room (The Man Nook), the idea of it possibly flooding had me in a non-stop state of frayed nerves. My mind was running wild with imaginary situations that would cause a problem with the sump-pump and prevent it from working.

Now we have a generator, and I won't have to worry about the power going out and watching helplessly as water comes up into my house. Whew. Not to mention we'll now have heat, water and the refrigerator working as well should the power go out for an extended time. Double whew!

On a final note, I'm going to see a band called Turbonegro play a show in Boston tonight. It should be a lot of fun but it kind of sucks that the show is on a Monday night. I'm kind of tired as I write this right now and I'd rather just go home and check out the generator to be perfectly honest.

Hmm, does this mean my age is catching up to me?

Well the hell with that! I'm sure that I'll have fun. I just need to catch my second wind here. I'll grab a coffee on the way in to the city to help me get the energy back up for the show. I'm sure it will be interesting, that is for sure. Ok I think I've got myself sufficiently psyched up now. Turbonegro rocks and this will be my first time seeing them. It should be interesting to see the cast of characters that come out for this one. Look for a story about the show in a few days or so.

Clinch

The Red Sox clinched a post-season spot tonight after a Detroit loss and a come-back win for The Sox against the D-Rays. Excellent. But guess what? I still want to see the Sox win the AL East.. Am I too obsessed with this? Probably. Am I a totally and completely spoiled Red Sox fan? Absolutely. I'll admit it. I mean, the Sox are in the playoffs and I should be happy, and I am, and if the Sox win the Series this year, will the fact that they won or lost the A.L East really mean anything? Nope. But right now in this moment in time, I still would like to see them win the AL East anyway.. Because fuck the yankees. Fuck. Them.

Don't misunderstand. I'm very glad that the Red Sox are in the playoffs, but at the same time, I feel like there is still work to be done. Because there is. I hope the Sox feel the same. I'm not going to lie (I never do), if the Sox open any champagne tonight I'll be annoyed.

With all due respect to the Red Sox accomplishments so far this season, this team SHOULD be in the playoffs. Step one: check. Now it's on to step two.

Open the Champagne as you are raising a trophy overhead, not before.

Fear and Loathing in Patriots Nation...

I honestly don't want to read the news today. I am afraid I am not going to like what is in it regarding this whole Patriots video-taping thing, or, that there will be no new information about it at all, just a lot of speculation and opinion from the blabber-sphere, which is almost worse. I wish the Pats would come out with a statement of their own. I want to hear their side of the story.

Chez MRhé pretty much summed up my exact feelings on this whole mess the Pats are in over on his site. Angela's got it covered over on Boston Brat as well. I'm pretty much limited to gritting my teeth and slowly simmering at a near boiling point.

Musical Interlude:
Bend me shape me misdirect me
Its all the same to me
Look at all this useless talk
Look at all this useless talk
Look at all this useless talk

What was that last night at Fenway Park? The Sox came back and won the game 16 - 10 after being down at one point by 7 runs to the D-Rays, which was the point that I stopped watching by the way. I started flipping around the channels and saw that Overhaulin' is back and Chip Foose and co. were overhauling a saa-weeet 57 Corvette. Oh how I love that show. I love car porn.

I knew the ending would turn out good on Overhaulin' so I decided to stick with that as opposed to getting aggravated and annoyed by The Red Sox.

In between ads I would click over to NESN to check the score. It seemed there was some hope of a comeback happening there as the Sox looked to be clawing their way back into the game. At that point I decided it was best not to watch it. If I did, I might break the spell and ruin the Red Sox chances for a comeback. Besides I really do love Overhaulin'. Chip Foose is my hero. Did I mention that I love car porn?

This morning I checked the score of last nights game and saw that the final was 16 - 10, Red Sox. Wow. The Sox gave almost everybody in the bullpen a chance to get some pitching work it seems.

Thank God the Sox won last night because I fully expect Toronto to give us zero help against the MFY over the next few days. Yes I still have Dan Duquette in my head reminding me that the Sox have spent more days in first place, (more days in first place, more days in first place... repeat. repeat.)

With the Sox getting a day off on Thursday, the MFY automatically pick up a half game right there. Depending on what happens tonight, the MFY could potentially come into Fenway only 3 and a half back on Friday. I'd be lying if I told you I haven't been thinking about a repeat of 1978 right now. I want to have as much cushion in the standings as possible with the MFY coming in to Fenway this weekend, especially with Dice-K starting for the Sox on Friday. Frankly I have already chalked that game up as a loss. Feel free to prove me wrong Dice.

Is there any way that we can get Clay Buchholz to take Dice-K's place in the rotation this weekend? I feel like Dice could really use the rest, if you know what I mean.. (Because he sucks. He aggravates the hell out of me. He's like the Phantom Menace of baseball; a couple cool moments here and there but overall a totally over-hyped disappointment. Is Dice a guy that you would honestly want to start for The Red Sox during a playoff game? I wouldn't. No way. He's an implosion waiting to happen in every game he starts. There. I said it. And I feel better for it. Again, anything you can do to change my opinion of you would be welcomed, DICE..)

This Patriots thing has me all geared up.

Finally Friday..

It's Friday.

I made myself an exceptionally good cup of coffee this morning.

I listened to The Ramones all the way to work.

Traffic was light.

The line at Dunkin's was short.

It's Football Season. (Even though it was irritating to wake up this morning and see that the Colts won last night, 41 - 10. When I stopped watching the game at halftime it was a tie game at 10 - 10. What the hell happened after that? Maybe Peyton used that super scary stare of his on the Saint's D all throughout the second half.. That does not account for the Saints offense tho.. ??? By the way, there was a Peyton Manning advertisement during every single commercial break in the first half. I kept track. Annoying. And in case you did not get it after last night, 'this is our country'. Ug. Can someone get John Mellencamp out of my head please? Thanks a lot Chevrolet. Mission accomplished and not appreciated at all thank you. By the way I used to own a Chevy S-10 and 'reliable' is not a word that I would ever associate with that vehicle.)

I thought NBC did a good job covering the game last night, once it finally started.. I was wondering if the game was ever going to start at one point. I liked NBC's graphics. They were informative but not intrusive. Nice job NBC. You've come a long way from refusing to show the score of the game in the corner of the screen way back in the day..

The Red Sox broke a 6-6 tie in the 9th and went on to win the game against the O's last night. (The O's paid tribute to the 75th anniversary of the Negro League Baltimore Black Sox' championship last night by wearing Black Sox uniforms. For no apparent reason I was hyper focused on the big 'B' in a circle logo that adorned The O's hats and helmets. All it needed was some spokes and it would have been the Bruins logo.)

I've finally saved enough money to purchase a generator for my house. (I've been saving my pennies for this for a long time.)

Hank III tix (for the Boston show) go on sale today.

I found out that Clutch is coming to Worcester! AWESOME. I have been wanting to see those guys for a while now but they always play someplace too far away, like Maine, or there is some schedule conflict that prevents me from going. In November they're going to be playing practically right down the street at The Palladium with some other band I've never heard of, Coheed and Cambria (I'll have to check them out). I guess Clutch is actually the middle band. That's ok. I fully intend to be there anyway.

It seems that Pats coach Bill Belichick has successfully found a new and creative way to manipulate The Patriots injury reports, to the annoyance of others I'm sure. Notably from Thursdays' amazingly and thoroughly vague report:

Limited Participation in Practice:
QB Brady, Tom Right Shoulder (It's practically a running joke at this point)
WR Moss, Randy Team Decision (Will he play? Will he not play? I guess the Jets will find out on Sunday. Have fun planning for him just in case. Ha! I love it.)

Awesome.

Happy Friday

GO PATS

Thank God it's Thur. Wed was not horrible but not the greatest day ever either..

Well that did not work out nearly as I had hoped last night, with the Red Sox dropping another game to the MFY, 4-3. It was not an enjoyable game to watch in any way shape or form, except for the exception of A-Rod getting thrown out 7-4-3 at first by Hinske / Pedroia and Youk's 2 run homer which was nice but just served to get us all worked up over nothing. Just when it looked like The Sox were mounting a comeback, in came the Fruit Bat and that was that. The game ended with Ortiz standing in the on-deck circle. Dammit.

Oh well.

I have faith in Shilling getting the job done this afternoon. To be totally honest I had a feeling even before this MFY series started that The Sox would come out of NY 7 games up. Hopefully my gut is correct.

The Pats cut rookie punter Danny Baugher and signed veteran punter Chris Hanson, who has spent the majority of his career with the Jags and has consistently kicked for a 40+ yard average throughout his career.. I have to say that move had me scratching my head as I thought that Baugher had done a good job during pre-season. Maybe The Pats wanted to have an experienced punter on the squad to start the season, or maybe they are planning to have Hanson act as a mentor of sorts to Baugher, who could be back on The Pats as a practice squad guy. I thought this was kind of a strange move, but then who am I to question what The Patriots do? They know what they're doing. I'm just some dumb-ass who reads what's going on with the team on the interewarg.

The Pats play the fourth and final pre-season game tonight against the Giants. Tonight's key to the game: NO INJURIES. Football Gods, you know how awesome you are but I'll tell you anyway, you are awesome and chicks totally dig you while men want to be you. Thank you Football Gods.

GO PATS

What day is it today? I don't even know..

I think I'm a little frazzled these days. Last night I was watching the Sox / Yankees game and I was fretting about what I was going to do today, because Beckett is facing Clemens tonight, and that is something I really want to see, but at the same time, for some reason I thought the Patriots were playing tonight, not tomorrow night, and I was in a bit of an internal struggle. 'Which one do I watch, The Pats or The Sox? I have a feeling Beckett vs. Clemens is going to be something to see, but the fact is, it's coming into direct scheduling conflict with The Pats game.'

Of course, The Patriots would have won out, pre-season game or not, with lots of clicking back and forth between the two games to ensue.

Thankfully I woke up this morning and realized that today is in fact, WEDNESDAY and The Patriots game is TOMORROW. Whew. I am glad to have that problem solved. Now I can get on with my day..

Fuck. Now I have to get on with my day..

Numbers games...

The Sox:
The Red Sox @ The Other Sox game got rained out last night. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I'm not sure. On one hand I guess it's nice the team got a day of rest, sort of. On the other hand, now they have to play two today, so I'm not sure if that day of semi-rest is worth the price they now have to pay.

The Other Sox have been playing very badly over the last few weeks, losing 9 out of the last 11 games. Hopefully that trend continues over the next few days...

The Pats:
Rumors are flying that cornerback Asante Samuel is set to finally give in and sign that rotten 7 mil and change contract offer from The Patriots. Yawn.. It's not official 'till I read it on Patriots.com. Until then, it's all just rumor and conjecture. That's all I have to say about it.

The Pats are in Carolina for meaningless pre-season game 3 tonight. Will Tom Brady be there, just a few days after the birth of his first child? Selfishly, I hope he will, but if he's not, that is totally ok by me. You get to be a Daddy for the first time only once. Tom will still be a good quarterback if he misses a meaningless pre-season game. I hope all is well with his new baby.

NASCAR:
Mark Martin, a.k.a. my favorite driver, in the #8?? Now my head is really spinning. Although it would have been nice if Dale Jr. could have kept the #8, I was not really all that up in arms about it, and I really feel that it's probably better for Jr. to start fresh and create his own legacy with his own number. Drivers change numbers all the time and a bunch of my favorite drivers are now running different numbers, drivers like Mark Martin and Bobby LaBonte just to name a couple. Drivers move around to different teams and drivers change numbers. No biggie. But when I read that Mark Martin would be splitting time in the #8 next year, I could not help but go, 'Wha??' It might take a bit for me to get my head around that one. Mark Martin in the DEI #8 car. I don't think it's bad mind you, just... weird.

Odds of The Red Sox making the playoffs are now at 95.318%...

The Red Sox have a 95.318% chance of making the playoffs. I'd say that's pretty good. So despite their up again, down again lead in the A.L. East, I am confident that the Sox will be playing baseball in October.

How do I know that the Sox have a 95.318% chance of making the playoffs you may ask?

It's because of this super-cools website, SPORTS CLUB STATS.com.

Sports Club Stats' creator, Ken Roberts, e-mailed me a while back to let me know about his site and I have been extremely delinquent in getting the word out about it. (Sorry Ken!! I think you e-mailed me back when I was sick of blwgging... which also coincided with the start of summer. Doh!)

So where do these percentages come from and how are they calculated? From the site:

"I wrote a computer program that randomly generates results for each remaining game. Then it tallies each team's position and repeats, millions of times. When the simulation "plays" a game it assumes each team has an equal chance of winning, with no regard for record, injuries, matchups, or streaks. To help flush out each teams highest and lowest possible seeds, I force them to win or lose all their remaining games for 1000 of the simulation runs."

Sounds like math to me, and that's impressive. All I know is that it's really cool. Thank God Ken is good at math and stuff so I don't have to be, because it gives me fits watching the Red Sox lead in the A.L. East go from fifteen games to six games to four games to six games (let's hope for seven!), back down to four, on a daily basis.. It's much more assuring to see that the Red Sox have a 95% chance of making the playoffs and that the MFY only have a 35.329% chance.

Me likey.

So, there you have it. Ken does other sports besides baseball. He also calculates the playoff chances for The NFL, NBA, NHL, etc, as well as various racing leagues. For example, I see that Dale Jr. now only has a 8.839% chance of making the NASCAR Chase for the Championship, while Kurt Busch has a 91.35% chance. That sucks! I hate Kurt Busch. Maybe if DEI's engines could actually run for an entire race and not blow up or if the power steering in Dale's cars would stay on, or if Jr. would not over-shoot his pit during critical stops, he would have a better chance of getting into the Chase. Oh well.

So stop fretting about The Red Sox magic number (now down to 31). Check out SPORTS CLUB STATS.com.

I'm amazed...

I was driving my son somewhere today and put the radio onto a rock station, WBCN out of Boston. They were playing the new Social D song, 'Far Behind'. Social D on a mainstream radio station? Unheard of.

I'm amazed. I'm amazed...

The Pats play their first pre-season game THIS FRIDAY. The beginnings of football season are already here. I'm excited for The Patriots, but still I think, wow, I can't believe pre-season is here. As much as I love Patriots Football I can't help but be reminded that this is the harbinger of that rottenest of seasons, Winter. It's a very bitter-sweet feeling.

I'm amazed. I'm amazed...

The Red Sox keep letting the MFY creep closer and closer with each passing series. The lead is down to five measly games at this point. I don't like it. Nope. Not one bit. We need to increase that distance somehow. This is the last West Coast trip for the Sox then it's back to some East Coast action with games against The O's and Tampa Bay. Hopefully the Sox can put some space back between them and the MFY.

Avoiding a sweep tonight against the LAAoA would be nice.

I'd be amazed. Amazed.

Happy Longest Day of the Year!

Happy Longest Day of the Year!

As much as I enjoy the fact that today is a very long day here in the good ol' Northern Hem, and we are lucky to have the sun shining here where I am today, I can't help but be reminded that the days start getting shorter from this point forward. Dammit. I think before the days start getting shorter we should get a week of nice, sunny 12 hour days first. It should be a requirement. Then after that, things can start getting shorter again.

Speaking of the days getting shorter, my kids start their Summer Vaycay today. I asked my Wife what the heck she is going to do with them now that they are home all day and she told me she had no idea. Maybe it's time to start learning about the character building values of doing house-hold chores. Ha. Somehow I don't think that will go over too big with them... Maybe a trip to the town pool and the playground would be more to their liking. Ya think?

The Sox took two out of three from Atlanta and are now back to a nice double digit lead in the A.L. East. I like that. I like it when the lead is two digits. When it's only a one digit lead, things feel too close. Anything 10 or over is nice.

It's just not Friday without my Dunkin's sammitch in the morning..

Earlier this morning I walked out the door, jumped in the car and drove off, completely oblivious to the fact that my wallet was still sitting on the kitchen table. By the time I realized I had forgotten my wallet at home I was already half-way to work, so I am Dunkin's sammitch-less today.

It feels very, very weird not having my Dunkin's sammtich this morning. My Reward Friday routine is fully disrupted.

Thankfully I have plenty of gas in the car to get home because that is totally something I would do, walk out the door without my wallet and discover that it is missing when the 'hey dummy you're almost out of gas' light came on in my car..

In other un-interesting news, today is a half-day for me and I am leaving the office early! Woop! (Half-day? Must be nice...)

Today my kids are 'graduating' from pre-school and this afternoon the school is having a kid's parade to celebrate, so I will be heading out to see that extravaganza. I am not really sure why pre-schoolers need a graduation ceremony / parade, but they have fun with it so there you go. Good enough for me. And if it gets me out of work early on a Friday? Bonus!

Have a good weekend. Hopefully the Red Sox can remember how to win a game or two against The Giants over the next few days. It's Zito vs. Yo-Yo Tavarez tonight, or as I call it, Wack-job A vs. Wack-job B. Hopefully the Red Sox will come out on top in this battle of wack jobs. (Why does that sentence read as somewhat questionable to me? Hmmm. I can't wait to see how that phrase affects my search engine referrals. Phht.)

By the time I get to Ari-ZONA! ZONA! ZONA!

Sorry. With the Sox heading to Arizona to play the Diamondbacks tonight, I've got that P.E. song completely wedged into my brain and it simply will. not. come. out. I need to put some Misfits or something in there instead.

So, some quick hits for Friday...

The Sox are heading to Ari-ZONA! ZONA! ZONA! Baw-ka-waw a wow-wow... Sorry. [Cues up '20 Eyes' on iPod]

Pats mini-camp is over. Now what? It's a long way between now and training camp on July 27. Not that I want to hurry Summer (I know, I say that a lot) but this is officially the dry season for football fans.

Kurt (a.k.a. dickhead) Busch used his car as a weapon on Monday during the Dover race when he intentionally slid his car into Tony Stewart's car on pit road, endangering the life of a member of Tony's pit crew. The penalty for this action? A $100,000 fine (chump change to these guys), loss of 100 points (oooh that's harsh), and being placed on probation (whatever that is) for the remainder of the season.

By the way, just for comparison's sake, I will point out that Dale Jr. was recently docked 100 points for an illegal spoiler bracket earlier this season and Jr's crew chief, Tony Eury Jr., was fined $100,000 and suspended for six races.

How many races was Busch suspended for? ZERO.

So wait a minute. Jr. has an illegal part on his car and the penalty is WORSE than what Kurt Busch got for intentionally hitting another car on pit road and endangering a person's life? Non sequitur. Does not compute. Bullshit.

I'm an admitted NON-FAN of Kurt (and Kyle) Busch, so take that for what it is, but this punishment by NASCAR for Busch's actions at Dover is WEAK. So much for all those safety precautions on pit-road I guess... Josh Pate had a good article on NASCAR.com that summed this issue up perfectly.

This week's race is at Pocono, one of my favorite tracks on the circuit. It's kind of like a road course, kind of like an oval, except it's bent... well it's something. It's shaped like a big triangle! It's got 3 sets of turns, 3 sets of straight-aways and it all adds up to some good racing, that much I know.

Other than that, I got nuthin' else. It's FRIDAY. WOOP!! Have a great weekend everybody! Stay out of trouble.

1 hitter for Shil. AWESOME!!!

I was listening to the Sox / A's game on my way home from work. As the innings got late and the score remained 1-0 Sox, and Curt Shilling remained on the mound, I started to think it was going to happen. The elusive no-hitter.

Aside from a man reaching due to a fielding error, Curt Shilling had not allowed a hit the entire game. I was on the back roads heading to my street as the 8th inning ended and still Shilling had not allowed a runner.

As the bottom of the 9th started, I began to get that nervous feeling in my stomach that I usually only get before a really BIG game. If Curt could get through this inning without putting a man on, he will have done it. I was nervous and excited as Curt got the first, then the second outs.

1 more to go as I headed up my drive way. I stopped the car and kept the radio on. Should I run into the house to see it in person on TV? No. That could break the spell. Stay in the car and keep the radio on. One out away.

Strike one. Strike two. One strike away...

Then.. FUCK!! Shannon Stewart hits one into left. Dammit. There goes the no-no. I knew I should have kept driving around until the no-no was complete. I never should have stopped the car. Dammit. My fault. All my fault.

May as well get out of the car and watch the rest on TV now. By the time I got inside, the game was over. Curt got the last out two pitches later so I missed the end.

So what did we learn from this?

1. NEVER shake off Tek, who had called for a slider to Stewart, while Shil wanted a fast-ball away. Now, as Curt says, he'll have to live with 'what if?' for the rest of his life.

2. Whatever you're doing during a no-no, keep on doing it. No matter what. NO MATTER WHAT! That one's for me (and you).

Curt didn't get the no hitter but I'll take the win. Finally.

The hell?? ANOTHER loss??

The hell is going on here? ANOTHER loss to Oakland? Every morning I wake up and I see the Sox have lost to Oakland. What is up with this? Obviously, Oakland has our number. Have to keep that in mind should The Sox make it to the playoffs. Don't want to have to play Oakland.

So maybe the Sox can get a win today. Maybe. Avoiding a 4 game sweep would be nice.

It's an afternoon game so at least I don't have to wait till tomorrow morning to see the result. I'll have to get all geared up in my Sox gear and try to help out with some karma-tastic karma. Or something.

Fuck I gotta go to work...

OH DEAR GOD WHEN WILL THIS LOSING END????

Ok maybe that's a little over the top as The Sox have hit a little rough patch in the road over the last week, losing 3 in a row now and 5 out of the last 6. Yeesh. That's a skid if I've ever seen it.

Thankfully The Sox still have plenty of slush room in the standings and are a comfortable 9 games up over The Jays, but that lead can evaporate before your eyes. People can write all they want about how a repeat of 1978 can't happen this year but I'm not buying it. Anything can happen in baseball.

In the meantime, waking up, checking the score and seeing a Sox loss for 3 days in a row, sucks. (I couldn't stay up for the MFY game the other night. I need my sleep. Yes, I am a lightweight). It's just not a nice way to kick off the day people. Waking up and seeing a win is much more fun and gives the day a nice, positive jump. So let's shoot for that tomorrow Red Sox. Thanks.

Trot's back at Fenway...

It's good to see Trot Nixon back at Fenway. Even though he is wearing the wrong uniform, he's still got the super-messy ball cap and the wicked cool-manchu. I have always wished that I could grow one of those..

All the reasons that made Trot a favorite with so many people apply here as well. He truly deserves all of the cheers and standing ovations that he has gotten in his return to Fenway as a Cleveland Indian.

And as I watch J.D. Drew ground out to end the 7th inning in tonight's game (with the Sox leading 4-2), I have to say this: I don't like that Drew is wearing Trot's number 7. I have not liked it from the start. This is nothing against Drew himself. It's not that I don't like Drew and I don't have a problem with him per se, I just have a problem with him wearing Trot's number at this point in time.

The Sox should have let that number stand for a year or so before letting someone else wear it. Drew may be a good player and a decent guy but he's got a ways to go before he makes us forget that that 7 belongs to Trot Nixon.

Updates from last week...

Well I still am chained to the desk until I get a new wireless router. I'm thinking of getting the Airport Express.

In the mean time, chained to the desk for updates.

Last week I did the following:

- Went to a Red Sox game (Tue night game. The Sox lost 7-2. Rats.) courtesy of Iain of The Baseball Desert, who had an extra ticket for the game.

- Met Iain from The Baseball Desert.

- Met Beth's Dad.

- Met Beth's Fiance'.

- Met Jerry Remy and got his autograph.

- Had a Rem-Dog for the first time. My god. This was the most biggest hot-dog I had ever seen in my life. It was the size of a keilbassa. Good thing I like hot-dogs.

- Did not meet Beth. Supposedly she was in Chicago for work but I think she is avoiding me. We were supposed to meet at a Pats game once too. Hmmm. (If you read this, just kidding Beth!) So now I know everybody in Beth's family except for Beth, which is kind of funny.

It was great to meet all those guys as I had never met anybody from the mysterious web-o-sphere before, so that was cool. It was great fun having a few beers, getting some Rem-Dogs and going to the game. The Sox lost but we stayed right to the last out. There is always hope, after all.

- Had to go on a trip for work. That was not fun. It was only one day but it was a long day. 20 hours total. On the flight home the plane got delayed for an hour but I'm not complaining because it almost got canceled and that would have been the suckiest of suck-ness had that happened. But it didn't so I lucked out.

- This weekend I started building the third and as far as I know, to my knowledge, unless there's something my Wife is not telling me, final retaining wall in my back yard. Actually this one was all my idea. Despite the rain I've got it 90% done this weekend. I just have to find a couple nice flat cap-stones and back fill it and it is done. Look for before and after pics some time in the next week once it's been completed.

I miss my wireless interents.

Sox make Moms everywhere happy... Dice goes full 9..

Hey what's up everybody! Hope all the Moms out there had a great Mother's Day yesterday. We had the Moms up to our house for a little Mother's Day brunch. Nothing fancy. It was bagels, muffins, that sort of thing. My Sister-In-Law made some super-good smoothies and also some super, SUPER good guacamole salsa dip, which I ate way too much of. We had a nice sunny day, though it was a little cool, but it was nice enough to go spend some time in the afternoon out in the yard.

After everyone went home, I listened to The Red Sox game on the radio as the kids were outside playing. It was not sounding good for The Sox as the O's had the lead for most of the game, until the 9th inning. I have to be honest, in the bottom of the 9th, I was not expecting much. If the Sox could tack on a run or two to prevent the shut-out, that would be cool, but I did not have a lot of hope in the Sox pulling out a win being down by 5 in the 9th. Still, I continued listening, as there is always hope, however small the amount.

As the bottom of the 9th inning started, it looked like the Sox were going to get something going, and boy did they ever, as they amazingly erased the 5 run deficit and eventually came back to win the game in the bottom of the 9th.

As the inning started and the Sox were advancing around the bases, I began to get a little antsy. I could not just sit and listen so I got up and got a broom and started to sweep around the patio to help relieve the tension. I am not good at just sitting and relaxing anyway. I can usually sit down for about 5 min, then I feel the need to get up and be doing something.

So I swept the patio and listened to the game. As Tek came to the plate with the bases loaded I went to the shed and put the broom away. For some reason I felt that if I listened too closely or with too much... enthusiasm, I might break the spell. I had to let The Baseball Gods know that I was not overly worried about this 9th inning rally. So I put the broom away and nonchalantly came back to the radio, quietly saying, 'Come on..' Next thing you know, after a double by Tek, the Sox were were within striking distance.

The Red Sox batters continued to find ways to get on base as Lugo's turn came up and he came to the plate. 'Come on, Lugo...' As the play unfolded I listened to Joe Castiglione's exciting call on the radio. Lugo got a hit and reached first on a slide as the feed from former Sox fave Kevin Millar was bouncing off the glove of O's pitcher, Chris Ray, who was covering first.

With Joe Castiglione yelling 'The Red Sox WIN' in the background, I was jumping up and down in the back yard yelling 'The Sox WIN!' myself, as my Wife and Kids looked on as if I had lost my mind. 'The Sox win 6-5!!'

Wow. That was awesome.

And as I write this, tonight's game has turned out pretty good too. I only caught bits and pieces of it between commercials during '24', but Diceman avoided the meltdown and went the full 9 for the win tonight. My Sister-In-Law was at the game tonight and it was a good one to see. Nice.

I will be at tomorrow's game and it is going to be extra cool as I will be meeting up with internationally famous Red Sox writer, Iain of The Baseball Desert for a few pre-game brews and maybe a Red Dawg or two. I have never met another Red Sox blawger, or any other blawger for that matter, so this should be a lot of fun. I am looking forward to it.

Not only that, but when I told Iain I'd be interested in having a beer with him during his trip out to Boston, he informed me that he had an extra game ticket, and would I be interested in taking it?

'Um. Hmm. Let me think about it for a.. OKI'LLTAKEIT!!'

Stuff I was thinking about while eating my Dunkins sammitch..

I think Curt Shilling is great and of course I think his blawg, 38 Pitches, where he talks straight to the fans and anybody else who cares to read his opinions, totally rocks, but there have been a few recent occasions where I bet Shilling wishes he had just kept quiet.

His reaction to Gary Thorne's idiotic suggestion that 'The Bloody Sock' was a fake a few weeks ago and now his recent Barry Bonds 'cheating' comments and subsequent public apology are a couple classic, open mouth, insert foot, moments.

If these comments were from any other 'normal' person, who cares? It's just another fool and their opinion and it's no big deal. Nobody's going to get offended if Joe Baseball Fan says that he thinks Barry Bonds is a cheater on some sports-talk radio show, but that rule obviously does not apply to someone with a high profile like Curt Shilling. When someone of Shilling's stature says that kind of thing on the radio, it causes a bit of a stir.

Personally I really don't care about Shilling's recent public flubs. To me it's not as big a deal as the media is trying to blow it up to be (there's a shock). As someone who has had more than my share of embarrassment caused by my own dumb-ass comments, I do kind of feel sorry for Shil, but at the same time, what he says on the radio or writes on his site does nothing to hurt or sway my opinion of him one way or the other. All I care about is what he does on the mound every 5th day.

I did find Terry Francona's reaction to Curt's shenanigans to be quite funny. 'Zip it.'

--

This recent comment about my favorite hockey player, Ray Bourque, by The Pats newly acquired receiver, Wes Welker, made me feel old:

"We've gotten to know each other a bit; Ray is a great guy," Welker said. "He's a legend around Boston, which I'm learning more and more since I've been here. I knew of him growing up, because I used to play Sega Genesis, the ice hockey game. I was always the Bruins, and it was Ray Bourque and Cam Neely. That's who I always played with."

Welker KNEW OF HIM growing up because he used to always play as the Bruins on his SEGA GENESIS ice hockey game? Oy...

NHL Conference Finals Picks and other awesome things...

With the NHL Conference Championships starting tonight, here are my picks, (i.e., who I want to win).

West:
Detroit Red Wingers vs. Anaheim Ducks - Ducks. Ok I am fully disappointed that The Sharks did not make it into the Conference Finals. Plus I hate the Red Wings and thus, hate to see them advance. I can't give you a reason why I hate the Wings so much. It is a completely irrational hate, especially considering they don't even play in my main team's (The B's) conference, though I think it might stem from their consistently preventing my favorites in the West from making the Cup finals several years ago. Plus I hate their red uniforms. So there.

Like I said, totally irrational.

It's kind of lame that I'm really rooting against The Wings more than I am rooting for The Ducks, but it is what it is. There's some kinda love and there's some kinda hate.

East:
Buffalo Sab-Rays (That's how I pronounce Sabres) vs Ottawa Senators: Ottawa - Ottawa has been my 'team' in the East since the Playoffs started, so I'm sticking with them. Plus, have you ever seen that movie with Jim Carey where The Sabes win The Stanley Cup and there is rioting in the streets of Buffalo? I would hate to see that happen in Buffalo. Rioting, rubber bullets, explosions... it's no fun.. except maybe if you are watching a Jim Carey flick... What is that movie called again? Jim Carey is like a TV reporter or something who goes to cookie baking contests and stuff and makes weird faces... Oh well I can't remember. So ya. Go Sens!

In other news, things that are awesome:

The Weather:
The Weather has been SOOO awesome the last few days and I so forgive Mother Nature for that rotten weather we had earlier this Spring. It's shorts and t-shirt weather and everything is coming alive outside. I love seeing all the green popping out on the trees and hearing the bird's chirping and watching the plants beginning to grow in my Wife's garden. Totally awesome. We put out some bird feeders and kids love them, though my wild-boy Son likes to chase the birds away, laughing devilishly the whole time. But the birds seem to have a thing for free bird seed so they keep coming back. It's all good.

The Sox:
Josh Beckett is awesome right now. Totally awesome. I had expectations that he would be a better pitcher this year, but I never expected this. 7-0, 2.51 ERA. WOW. Incredibly WOW.

Also awesome has been the Red Sox play in general. They are consistently winning series after series. It's great to see. Even though technically 'it's still early', this sets us (I like to include myself in with the team) up for the rest of the season. And hey, no meltdown for The Diceman last night. Next thing you know, Wake will be getting insane amounts of run support. That would be nice, especially since he's facing Halladay tonight in Toronto.

What else... hmm.

Well, I have to say, life has been a lot better recently. For the first time in I don't know when, I don't have any life sucking projects looming in front of me. The basement is done, the yard is pretty much squared away. I've got jobs to do here and there, that is never going to end, but there's nothing that is going to take every weekend of the summer and turn my life into a grouchy, all I ever do is work, hell. It's a really cool feeling! I had forgotten what it was like to have a weekend arrive and NOT HAVE TO DO ANYTHING and have my Wife ask, 'What's on the agenda this weekend? and my reply be, 'Well, I'd like to mow the grass.. other than that, nothing! You want barbeque chicken and margaritas for dinner?'

Oh yeah I like it.

Run Support request...

The Wife and Kids are off visiting the in-laws and I am left alone at home to my own devices. It's Friday night baby. What does that mean? I don't know but it's Friday.

I'm spending the evening practicing my guitar and watching the Red Sox / Twins. I'm spending some quality time with my bro, Les. Les Paul. We're best buds, don'tcha know? Through thick and thin, I can always count on good ol' Les. He fully kicks ass and he's never let me down.

Meanwhile, can we please get some run support for our man Tim Wakefield? Please??

That would be nice. No. strike that. That would be awesome... So let's make it happen people.

I've got the correct Sox cap on tonight and I'm just putting it in rally mode right from the start. Let's go you guys, Tim deserves a win... Because Wake is the MAN. Yeah, you know it.

GO SOX

Thank goodness I switched caps in time!

I was watching Diceman have his normal 4th inning melt-down a little early tonight, in the 1st inning. It was 5-0 Mariners by the end of the 1st and things were not looking good. Then I realized what the problem was. I was wearing the WRONG Red Sox cap!

When the season started, I had been wearing one of those pre-faded Sox caps with the hanging Sox logo on the back that you can get at any number of stands outside of Fenway. The Sox started the season at .500.

Before the first home-stand, I realized something had to be done. Obviously, a big part of the problem was the fact that I was wearing the wrong Red Sox cap. I immediately switched over to the Official MLB 2004 Red Sox World Series game cap, the one that was just like the ones that were worn on the field during the '04 World Series.

I wore the 04 World Series cap every day and the improvement was immediate as the Sox went on a tear for the rest of the month of April.

As I was walking out the door for work this morning, I grabbed the faded 'un-official' cap and headed on my way, completely oblivious to the potential danger that I was causing. I arrived home from work, still wearing the wrong cap, and it was not until the end of the 1st inning that I realized what I had done. IDIOT!!

I quickly switched hats for the 2nd inning and once again, the improvement was immediate. The Sox scored 5 runs of their own to tie things up in the bottom of the 2nd and eventually went on to win a wild roller-coaster of a game, 8-7.

Whew. Good thing I put the correct Sox cap on when I did, and thank God I'm not superstitious or anything...

GO SOX

Paps turns out to be human after all... 1st blown save

The Sox had a 4-2 lead against Oakland heading into the 9th but Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon was not able to hold onto that lead. He gave up two runs in the 9th to tie the score 4-4.

The Sox still had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth, but with 2 outs and a man at 3rd, Coco Crisp grounded out to end the inning.

The A's tacked on another run off Sox reliever Brendan Donnelley to take the lead in the 10th. Then, in the bottom of the inning, Youk had us holding our breath with a long out that was looking like it might reach The Monster but ended up falling just short for an inning ending fly ball as The Sox were unable to come back in the bottom of the 10th inning.

For his part, Shilling pitched a good game, throwing over 100 pitches, no walks, 7 K's. Reliever Okajima was effective in the 8th. Unfortunate, but it had to happen eventually, Paps showed that he's occasionally just like the rest of us, imperfect. But, he's still THE BALLS and we know this blown save will be a rare occurrence for our 9th Inning Ace.

GO SOX

Gary Thorne: bad guy, probably not. Tool of the Week? Yes.

Baseball announcers need to fill time between pitches and unfortunately, two nights ago, Orioles broadcaster Gary Thorne said something really stupid when he suggested that the blood on Curt Shilling's sock in 2004 was really paint. This will undoubtedly go down as a classic, 'oh fuck, what did I just do?' moment for Mr. Thorne. He is indeed a dumb-ass for coming out with such an asinine statement in front of a huge audience.

The next question is, does Thorne have a history of dumb-ass-ness or was this a one time, dumb-ass moment for him? I don't know. I only know him from his work as a hockey play-by-play caller, where I have always felt he has excelled. I remember well Thorne's call during the 2001 Cup finals as my favorite player, Ray Bourque, finally raised The Stanley Cup overhead, ‘Take that thing and skate it!’

Obviously (and rightfully,) pissed off, Curt Shilling compares Thorne to CHB and several other less than stellar sports writers on his personal site. I don't know if Thorne is that bad. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't but I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt and leaning towards 'isn't'. CHB, along with his chum Ron 'I just ripped you off' Borges, is pretty much up there as high as you can get on the dick-head scale. I don't know if Thorne deserves be placed on the same perch as those guys.

Now that the dust has settled a little bit, my final take on this whole Gary Thorne / Shilling bloody sock thing is that maybe it was just a case of Thorne getting carried away and simply saying something dumb. I compare it to sending out an e-mail that, five seconds later, you wish you could take back. Once you've hit the send button there's no taking it back. You get that sinking feeling in your gut because realize you just fucked up, but it's too late and all you can do is sit back, wait for the shit to hit the fan and then suck it up when the time comes. Thorne has since come out and said the whole thing was a misunderstanding.

Is Gary Thorne really a bad guy? I'd say that's up for debate, but he definitely wins the 'Tool of the Week' award. For what it’s worth I still like the way he calls a hockey game.

How to be a tool, by Gary Thorne...

I have always liked Gary Thorne and have generally been a fan of his and of the way he calls a game, particularly an NHL game, but his recent on-air comments, stating that the blood stain on Curt Shilling's sock back in the 2004 playoffs was really paint and that the whole 'bloody sock' thing was just a made up publicity stunt, were totally, totally lame.

I give it a full '10' on the lame-o-meter. In fact, I'd even say that this one goes to '11' on the lame-o-meter.

If you are still unsure as to whether the stuff on Curt's sock back in '04 was blood, paint or ketchup, this should clear things up:

"I am planning to throw something up about this subject at some point, but needless to say it was blood, my blood, and it was coming from the sutures in my ankle. You’re either stupid or bitter if you think otherwise."
~ Curt Shilling

Gary Thorne, I am very disappointed in you. Way to be a tool, you tool.