Manny Who?

So now this Red Sox train is really cruising along, 11 straight wins. This run started a few weeks ago, when the ageless Tim Wakefield took the mound for the series finale with Oakland 13 days ago, and he continues to drive this engine. Check out Wake's stats beginning with that game.

On the aforementioned date, April 15, Wake goes the full game, takes a no hit bid into the 8th, and ends with a 4 hit, 2 earned run game to start the streak.

1 week later he gives 7 innings of with 1 earned run in a 10-1 win against the twins, and finally last night he gives the Sox 7 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs scored. Wakefield is now 2-1, with last night's game a no decision. The dude is gonna be 43, yet he has pitched at least 6 innings in each start (with his first game his worst, a 6 inning, 3 earned run, 5 walk day. Even with that, Wakefield is giving the team length, sparing the bullpen, and now wins. With Dice-K out, what he and Masterson are doing can't be undersold.

Finally, Jason Bay, the quality team guy who replaced the bat of Manny Ramirez. Now there is no true replacement for what Manny does on with the bat, but I will take Bays's solid production and newly added clutch element. The 2 run blast against mariano on Friday, and now last nights blast, helping send the Sox to win 11 in a row!

Oh, and the Yankees lose... again. Now a 9-10 200 million dollar debacle!!

Monday night wrap-up

So here we are, a hot monday night, and I figured I would drop in to catch up with my peeps. So the Red Sox continue to win, extending their streak to 11 wins, the Yankees lose, again, (4 straight, beautiful). I've read a few graphic novels this weekend (transhuman, streets of glory, Savage, to name three). Watched a few movies. (Dead and Buried, a cult classic from 82, along with Time Crimes, a witty mind fuck.)

I took a nice walk tonight, need to exercise daily... walked just over 3 miles.

Now watching Office Space on demand, sweat dripping down my face, relaxing.

NIce.

Beast

Spring Sweeping!

Well, that makes 3 series sweeps in a row, and it is certainly safe to say the Red Sox are rolling!

What makes this even sweeter is the text I received from a buddy of mine, a Yankee fan. At 10:24 pm Fri. night he sent me a text "game over" - game over indeed. A blown save by Mo, a blown 6 run lead on Sat (first time in over 40 yrs the Sox have come back from 6 down to bean the empire), and then last night, with the steal of home(!) the Red Sox close the deal, 3-0 series beatdown. Sox have won 10 in a row, without Dice-K, without Ortiz doing much, and with their 3rd string SS.

Mo Who?

So here's a funny story. My boss, who is a die hard Yankee fan (but a good guy anyway), and I stopped at Modell's so he could exchange some Yankee paraphenalia. He ended up being unable to complete his exhange, while I bought a new Red Sox hat that same trip. the Sox had been reeling, coming off the 2nd loss in Oakland, Dice-K was on the DL, and Beckett was facing a 6 game suspension. I realized that my previous 2 red sox hats had accomplished their goals (2004 hat, retired after 2005 season, and then the hat from 2005 to 2008, when they won but didn't repeat. It was time for new mojo!

Since I purchased that hat, the Sox haven't lost. They have won 8 straight. Swept 2 series. Beat the great Mariano in a come from behind win, they've got 2 wins from Brad Penny, 1 from Justin Masterson, Beckett won't miss his start, and my favorite player (youk) had a walk off homer to beat the team I hate most. Sweet. Now today, a cool matchup, Josh Beckett and his one time teammate, A.J. Burnett. Burnett iss 2-0 with a 3.2 ERA, so this should be a good matchup.

So now 22 minutes before gametime, I wait, with a summer sam nearby, in an almost too but not quite too living room.

Beast

NOM - Gathering Storm

Hilarious and disturbing at the same time, it's frightening that people like this still exist in 21st century America. Then again, we are coming out of 8 years of the Bush Regime.... I suggest you check out some of the parodies of this crap on Youtube in order to cleanse the mental palate of this rubbish!!

Since Wednesday

Since my last post, a quick, depressed, frustrated rant regarding the Red Sox, some good things have happened. First and foremost, the Red Sox have won 3 straight games, including a Wed. night gem pitched by old man Wakefield for a win against Oakland, followed by a terrific come from behind victory on Friday against the Orioles. In that game, Brad Penny came up heads down, and threw 3 innings with 8 earned runs! The Bullpen bore down and provided 6 innings of 0 runs baseball, and the offense finally cranked it up, coming back from a 7 run deficit to win 10-8. Sat. had Beckett, (still waiting to hear about his suspension) laboring through 6 innings but still able to keep the O's to 3 earned runs, and once again the bullpen came in to provide lights out relief and the Sox won 6-4. Additionally the team learned today that Josh Beckett could have his bogus suspension dropped to 5 games, allowing him to swap with Jon Lester for next weeks series with the Yankees, with Lester now pitchng Friday and Beckett pitching Sat, thus serving his suspension without missing a game. So.. FU Bob"I worked for the Yankees" Watson! Granted, the team still has no Dice-K, and Jed Lowrie may be lost for the season, but this minor leaguer Green is doing well in the short term and Lugo should be back soon enough.

Meanwhile, the evil empire opened their new Death Star and promptly were embarassed, losing their first real game ever in the new stadium. They were crushed 10-2 by the Cleveland indians, and big fat guy CC Sabathia, originally an Indian and currently the Yanks high priced ace. The empire squeaked a win out on Friday, only to suffer yesterdays joyful presentation for all other fans of baseball, parity, and american equality: an absolute embarassment of a loss to the Indians, 22-4, with a new record of runs scored against Vader's boys in one inning, 14 in the 2nd. As I type this, the Red sox are leading their game 2-0 in the 6th, Lester seems to have righted himself, with 7 Ks and 0 ER's, and the Empire is losing to old friend Carl Pavano 3-1. sweet!!

Son of a B**ch!!

Flip on the laptop, sip my coffee, check the score from the late night Red Sox game and ... Another loss (team now in the cellar of the Al East, at 2-6), the loss was 6-5 in 12 innings, and... Thank you WBC, for giving me a pitcher who won 18 games last year arm fatigue in April, during his 2nd start!!!!! - I have long been on record as saying that if I owned a team I would not allow my players to participate in world competitions; this is exactly why. As if it weren't bad enough that yankee lover Bob Watson laid down a 6 game suspension on Josh Beckett (after an incident in a game in which Beckett wasn't even ejected, or warned by the umps, the umps who say they saw no intent in Beckett's pitch after ex yankee Bobby Abreu called time out in a bush league manner, ) Nope, now I get to lose my other ace! This is not good, not good at all!!!

Sav

AAARRGH!! - Awakening to another Red Sox Loss

If it weren't for the Yankees getting drubbed yesterday and blowing a lead the day before I would be utterly despondent; instead i am only terrible frustrated by the Red Sox. 2-5 now, and if they don't win the next two against Oakland that will be 3 straight series losses! the Starting rotation, outside of Beckett and a reasonable start by Brad Penny has been a debacle. Jon Lester took his second start last night and came up with this doozy: 6 Innings pitched, 10 Hits, 6 Earned Runs. His season ERA is now at 9.00!!

Meanwhile, the offense has been equally frustrating: Ellsbury at .200, Pedroia at .179, Ortiz at .208, J.D.Drew at .150, and Lowell at .154!! Thank god for Youk and Bay at this point.

Dammit - need to win this series, come home and take 3/4 from Baltimore, getting the team to 7-6. Do It!

Red Sox update - one turn through the rotation

So after a delayed home opener and a 39 pitch, 4 out save by Papelbon we're left with a 2-3 baseball team, losers of their first series of the season but with a chance for opening day ace to further show us fans/members of the Nation that his first start was not a mirage!~ After poor performances from the middle of the rotations (Lester's being most disappointing), only the 6 inning, 3 run performance by Penny, with a very nice 5 outs by Ramirez operating as the bridge to Paps, and the shaky but completed save, the team can still win today, making that a nice series win, and then look to take 2/3 from Oakland, with Lester and Dice-K needing to atone. If the Sox can grab 2 wins there then whatever Wakefield gives is bonus (which is how I generally feel about Wake - if he makes his starts, gets some innings eaten up (preferably 6 or more) and leaves them with a chance to win, basically not a whole lot different than penny,at this point.

My ultimate hope would be 50 + wins for the top 3 (49 more to go!), combined with 20 wins from the back of the rotation would put the team at 70ish wins. Add in 25 games you win with no decisions and come from behinds, and there is hopefully your playoff slot, if not your division!

Blogging the Red Sox - first game of 2009 (my first blog, not their opener.. never mind)

So my first Red Sox game to blog about, after not writing the night that Lester pitched and lost. I know it's only the 5th game of the season, but for a Sox fan that is not too early to start worrying. I actually think it should be that way for any fan, but that's my opinion, man.

So after a brilliant performance by Beckett in game 1, the Sox lost games started by Lester, Dice-K, and Wakefield. They lost the first series 2-1 to the Rays, and a loss today would mean a second straight series loss, this time to the Angels. So the start today by Penny is bigger. for me, with a 5th starter in my rotations, I'm looking for 5 innings and 3 or less runs scored. Anything more or less is bonus. Well, it didn't look pretty, and I was unimpressed with Penny's physique, (have another beer and a jelly donut, jeezus), but he got through 5 innings with 3 runs, so not bad. thanks to HR's by Mike Lowell (F' U Tex, you d*@k, a 2 run blast, and another 2 run blast by Jason Bay (F' U Manny), and the Sox currently lead 4-3, 8th inning.

We're Talking Baseball

Ah yes, the days are longer but still awfully brisk here in the East, and Easter is fast approaching, so it can only mean baseball. I've been a fan of the Boys from the Back Bay since my brief year of residence in the great city of Boston, so while i have suffered a bit with the team I would never approach true hardcore Sox fans and pretend to know their pain from back in the day. However, beginning with that history making comeback from a 3 game to 0 lead against that most evil of franchises, the huge spending, arrogant a-holes (not to be confused with The A-Hole, as there can only be one A-Roid, er, A-Rod) from the Bronx in 2004, things have changed.

Let's just take a look at the opening day performances for both teams and you'll see what i mean.

Yesterday the Overpaid avatars of unchecked greed (and hasn't that been good for the country,) The Yanks sent out Big Cheeseburger Squared (C.C.) Sabathia to return the evil empire to their self appointed role as top dogs. Facing the lowly Baltimore Orioles, CC took his $161 million dollar salary to the only team in baseball spending consistenly over $200 per year and took the ball, ready to help the Evil Empire begin crushing people again. Now lets have some fun with neighbors.

CC already received over 6 million in signing bonus, will receive another $14 million dollars this year, another 3.5 more in "bonue", and then will spend $23 million more each season for the next 5 seasons! Oh, and don't forget, this deal was signed during the worst economic crisis in the Modern American Era. Oh, and he was only one of 3 monster deal the Empire made this summer.

So what was the return on investment?

4.1 innings pitched. 8 Hits allowed. 6 runs, all earned. 5 Walks - 0 Strikeouts and an ERA of 12.46!

Meanwhile, after a rainout, Josh Beckett, ace Righty for the resilient fellas from Beantown made his opening day start today instead of yesterday. Once again faced with the task of taking their relatively paltry payroll into a season in which they have to match up with the Bloated Behemonth from the Bronx, he took the ball and delivered the following:

7 innings pitched. 2 Hits, 1 Earned Run. 3 Walks, 10 strikeouts... and an ERA of 1.29. Oh, and Josh does this for less than half the price (salary just over $10 million, and the club has an option next year for $12 million, once again about half the $23 million the Yanks shell out to CC.

But you know, CC must do something special in the post season to be worth.. oh, what's that. I forgot. Josh is the one with 2 rings, a post season record of 7-2, 3 complete games, including a dominating performance against the Yanks in 03, and an ERA of 2.90. (BTW, if Beckett didn't pitch hurt all of last season and the playoffs, landing him an 8.79 ERA in last years postseason, his ERA would be downright sick instead of just dominating.

Finally, instead of spending a gazillion dollars to get him, the Sox traded the super talented Hanley Ramirez to acquire Beckett and Mike Lowell, (a throw in at the time who proved to be a critical cog in their championship of 2007) - the Sox have to be shrewd because no matter how deep their resources, they can never outspend the Yankees.

How people can root for that team is just something I will never get. Rooting against the Richest guy in the room with every advantage, not that I get!

Schools Out. Any Question Red Sox = Good, Yankees = Evil

Dismissed

A beautiful Sunday Afternoon

Yeah, yeah, take the upbeat Savvy while you can, we both know it's not lasting!

Check out this phenomenal painting,entitled "Saturn Devouring His Child" by Francisco Goya. Apparently,


Saturn Devouring His Son is the name given to a painting by Spanish artist Francisco Goya. It depicts the Greek myth of Cronus (in the title Romanised to Saturn), who, fearing that his children would supplant him, ate each one upon their birth. It is one of the series of Black Paintings that Goya painted directly onto the walls of his house sometime between 1819 and 1823.

Wikipedia. In regards to the artist,

In later life Goya bought a house, called Quinta del Sordo ("Deaf Man's House"), and painted many unusual paintings on canvas and on the walls, including references to witchcraft and war. One of these is the famous work Saturn Devouring His Sons (known informally in some circles as Devoration or Saturn Eats His Child), which displays a Greco-Roman mythological scene of the god Saturn consuming a child, possibly a reference to Spain's ongoing civil conflicts. Moreover, the painting has been seen as "the most essential to our understanding of the human condition in modern times, just as Michelangelo's Sistine ceiling is essential to understanding the tenor of the 16th century".^[11]

What more can one do?, from The Disasters of War, 1812-15.

This painting is one of 14 in a series known as the Black Paintings. After his death the wall paintings were transferred to canvas and remain some of the best examples of the later period of Goya's life when, deafened and driven half-mad by what was probably an encephalitis of some kind, he decided to free himself from painterly strictures of the time and paint whatever nightmarish visions came to him. Many of these works are in the Prado museum in Madrid.

Now this is my kind of dude! told you the happy, happy times won't last!