Rumors are flying this morning that Coco Crisp will be heading to KC. Darn it! I knew this day would come but I love Coco and will definitely miss him, especially coming off the most fun (if not the best) season he's had with the Red Sox. Well it was fun for me, anyway...And I will miss him everytime someone drops a ball in the outfield.... And I'll be really pissed everytime this Ramirez guy sucks... But it may open the door for Masterson to become a starter should the Sox not pick one up this off-season. In the meanwhile, thanks for the memories, Coco... especially this one:
This is not a catch, although I was thoroughly convinced at the time: Damon was really convincing. He even convinced himself, but look closer: See? The ball was definitely not in the glove. (I really like this picture because you can see Damon's foot in the air. It's too bad he got hurt, otherwise the whole thing would have been really funny!)
Now, this, on the other hand, is a catch, although Wally Bell was thoroughly convinced that it was not: See? The ball was definitely in the glove. I'm sure once instant replay is a part of the game I will have a long list of complaints, but I do believe it's time has come...
I have to admit I was really worried about Coco when the whole of the Rays dugout landed on top of him. And the big guys thowing punches. I was surprised when he came out of the pack not bleeding. And afterwards he had this to say:
“I charged the mound. I feigned it like I was going to go to first base, just to get Navarro off me a little bit, and just charged the mound,” Crisp said. “He tried to hit me with a haymaker. He missed. I threw a punch. I pretty much missed. And the rest, went down to the ground… like the scratches on my face were people trying to scratch like we were playing football or something, like little girls, trying to scratch out my eyes. I move one hand down, scratch me right here [points to scratch to the right of his nose].“
“After that, people were trying to pull my hair like little girls. Instead of throwing some real punches or something like that… I’m down on the ground, I mean the fight’s pretty much over baseball-term wise. You wanna come in late, and throw some extra blows and get your little blows in, that’s cool. I’ll cover up. It’s all good, trying to pull some hair. It’s all right. It was between me and Shields that time and everybody tried to get their little blows in I think even more… he was unsure if he really wanted to hit me or not it seemed like, but ‘cause he didn’t really hit me hard."
I couldn't figure out what to title this blog....Kevin Youkilis plays right field. Again.... The only team I hate more than the Yankees. .. In this corner, wearing the red socks: Cocovelli Crisp...The Sox turn on themselves. .. Manny not being Manny... A little toooo much testosterone at Fenway park.... The craziest game I've ever seen.... It's not even a full moon.... I heart both Chris Carters... What the H$@@??!?!? .... THe Red Sox steal back the limelight from the Celtics.... Cash plays DH while Youk plays RF... Lowell makes an error!!.. Timlin Rules!... Hell freezes over...
What an adrenaline rush. JD Drew still rocking the #3 spot. A 3-run homer for Manny. A bench clearing brawl. The starting pitcher tossed in the 2nd. Our centerfielder tossed...A game ending injury for Ellsbury (the back up center fielder). Kevin Youkilis in right field. Again. A first major league hit for another Chris Carter.... a whole bunch of catches for Chris Carter... A fight between Manny and Youk?!?! ... Whew!!
I often fall asleep during the last few innings of games and have to watch them the next morning. It's not that the games are dull. It's that I get up at 5am. Nonetheless, I fear I might not sleep at all tonight. The Sox-Rays game is an adrenaline roller-coaster. The best and worst of baseball all rolled into one never-ending game that's conflicting with the Celtics game, even though it was moved up in order to not conflict. Woah, I can't remember such a wild game as this. It really started Wednesday night when Coco Crisp was blocked diving into second on a steal and hurt his thumb. He retaliated a few innings later by taking out Iwamura who was covering the bag.
So the first innning, Dustin Pedroia gets hit and takes his base. It has no meaning to me. Yet... JD Drew is loving life at number 3 and gets a hit. 2 are on. Manny hits 503. A 3-run homerun. He hit it right over the monster. In fact, some guys in the parking lot retrieve it. I launch off the couch. Life is good!
Then the 2nd inning, Coco Crisp leads off. I ran to the bedroom during the commercial break to get some laundry. I heard a lot of cheering and no announcing. I run back in. HOLY CRAP!!! Huge pile of players. I rewind... 2nd pitch to Coco, Shields throws directly at his thigh. Coco shakes his head like he knew it was coming. Then he charges the mound. Shields winds and throws a punch but Coco dodges and gets a punch in to the shoulder. Complete choas ensues. It may well be the best brawl I've seen. It'll be way funnier when I stop being mad...
I gotta say that I can't not believe the nastiness from Carl Crawford and Johnny Gomes. They were not at all involved in the original issue, yet they come in and start punching a pinned Coco Crisp in the head. Gomes got caught and tossed. Crawford will sure share in the suspension. The suspension concerns me because we are short one maybe two outfielders... but we'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it. The beautiful moment of the brawl: Coco popping out of the pile between someone's legs and not bleeding. That and that dodge of the first punch, his boxer dad must be proud. It had to be done. This fight was going to happen and it was genius for Crisp to get it over with in the first inning -- before Lugo and/or Pedroia got hit -- before Shields got deep into the game. So the Rays lose their starter and the Sox lose their centerfielder. No worries... Our left fielder (Ellsbury) is also a centerfielder and we've just called up a rookie left-fielder, so Manny can DH. So I'm reeling. I'm so excited to witness the stupidity of the Rays that they'd throw at Crisp in his first at bat. I've seen times when our starters wanted to throw at someone but refrain because of the threat of suspension or the threat of losing the games. But the Rays don't have this sense. I'm prepared for a huge blowout ballgame. Bring it!!
And it goes well. Not super-well, but well enough until. gASP! Ellsbury makes a superlative catch but rolls his wrist ala JD Drew in the process. CRAP. Francona is out to check. CRAP. He takes Ellsbury out of the game. On any other day this would be not the biggest deal. A bummer for sure, but today... Coco Crisp is already ejected and Manny is the DH so he can't move to left. The Sox are, once again, forced to put Kevin Youkilis in right field. Oh brother. This is quickly becoming a nightmare. Ladies and gentlemen, announcing, from left to right, your Boston Red Sox outfield... CHRIS CARTER, JD Drew, and KEVIN YOUKILIS. Oh, God, help us!
Okay, it all seems okay. Lester is pitching really well, so that helps the Sox make it through the next few inning then WHAT THE ??@?$?@$ A brawl in the dugout??? In our dugout?? What?? between Youk and and and MANNY???? Don't be ridiculous! What did Youk say he was a better outfielder than Manny?? Check it, Manny full on, has to be restrained:
Unbelievable. Rendered speechless, Don and Jerry have no choice but to turn on one another:
It reminds me of an X-Files episode where the moons and stars and birthdates aligned to turn friends to enemies. It was probably written by the other Chris Carter...
I remember reading about Chris Carter during spring training. I liked him immediately since he shared a name with the X-files creator. The article set him up as the guy who had nothing going for him but worked harder than anyone. He was on the field at first light still there well after the sun had set. I liked him. And here he is.. and lucky for Youk, the Rays hit ball after ball to left and Chris Carter proved he is awesome and Youk didn't have to prove anything. Eventually Youk had to catch a few and did so just fine. He's a dirtdog, afterall.. And after all sorts of more mild drama, Timlin pitched an inning and 2/3rd (i think) of shut out ball. Manny out with his hamstring. Cash in to pinch run... Youk got hit by a pitch but all really was well (enough) and the Sox won 7-1. I was hoping for 20-1 but I'll take whatever I can get. The Tampa Bay Rays have officially moved to the top of my most hated team list thanks to the unpunished, Carl Crawford. Watch out, Crawford. The Sox never forget...
The real highlight of the game: Coco Crisp got a standing O from the Fenway Faithful when he got kicked out of the game for fighting. God bless you, Coco Crisp....
so MLB.tv has started sprinkling the commercial breaks with their own ads. Yes, I pay to see the games on MLB.tv and StiLL get commercials for MLB.tv. Messed up. The commercials are mostly a smattering of MLB players saying keep watching MLB.tv. They've been adding lots of players lately which, I suppose, is supposed to make the words MLB.tv less boring. And honestly, hearly A-Rod struggle with the pronunciation, is less boring. However, Coco Crisp is the latest and greatest addition. Listen to how he adds the line with style. I've heard it 100 times and it still makes me laugh. I'm cuckoo for Coco Crisp.
I don't have cable. Yesterday I thanked that baseball gods that I have MLB.tv because otherwise I would have missed the 9th inning of the Yankees game. I was excited to watch a game on FOX but I don't have FX! Today, I'm blacked out on MLB.tv and I don't have ESPN. So I'm cursing the baseball gods and MLB.tv. I decided to occupy myself with a game from last August, back when David Ortiz could hit. For some reason, the boys at Rays TV showed the Coco Crisp gets run over by a moose clip. It was a really good video of the incident, so I uploaded it for your viewing pleasure. That is, if you're not otherwise occupied by a certain Yankees game!
It was Jon Lester's first start at Fenway Park in 2007 and he was greeted with quite a reception.
And he threw an outstanding game, giving up only one run and two hits over 7 innings. Lester had outstanding command of all of his pitches -- except for that first walk. He might have been a bit nervous ;) NESN had a mic on Dustin Pedroia and provided this funny little clip:
And shortly thereafter an earthquake occurred -- no, it was just Kyle Snyder goofing around in the pen...
But the real highlight was the ninth inning. I'm still cuckoo for Coco Crisp!
Nothing pleases me more than Beckett and Wally in the same picture...
Poor Tampa Bay. They are a terrible team. I feel bad for them and they are kinda hard to watch. They loaded bases in the first inning and even walked in a run. When bases are loaded for the Sox, I'm always hoping for a GRANDSLAM. And there are several Sox players who make that expectation almost realistic. One of the last people I'd expect it from is my man Coco Crisp, yet he did just that in the first inning. Check it:
His next at bat was also with bases loaded and he was met with a LET'S GO COCO chant. Very cool... There were tons 'o hits. Beckett had tons 'o strikeouts. But the highlight of the game was clearly Wally getting the best of Raymond. Check it:
On June 27th, Coco Crisp dove for a ball and missed. I can't remember ever seeing him dive and miss before this.. He sprained his thumb. He managed to finish the game but he sat out the next game. Two days later, in his place, Wily Mo Pena started. Yup, so the outfield was JD Drew, Wily Mo Pena, and Manny Ramirez. It gave me chills. I mean, there are sooooo many times -- countless times -- that Coco saved his pitchers. So many hits, spared by Coco's diving catches. Catches that clearly (no offense) that Wily Mo would have never caught. So I started thinking that noone gets through a season without a rest. Without a little injury. Without a few days off -- and so what if the Sox trade away my little Coco.. Sure. Jacoby will do a nice job, right up until he sprains a thumb or whatever. Then we are back to, ahem, Wily Mo. Wouldn't it be nice to have a utility outfield who can really really field? Who can make the clutch play -- like coco did in the playoffs?? So yeah, it'd be nice to have another Cy Young candidate in the starting rotation. But on a team that already has one too many starters, wouldn't it be nice to have a backup outfielder that the pitchers can trust to make the play behind them? ...I think so!
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I LOVE LEAD OFF HOMERUNS! JD Drew hit one against the Braves to start a little first inning homerun derby... Drews run was quickly followed by none other than my new favorite Red Sox, Coco Crisp! The Braves intentionally walked Tek (huh?) to pitch to my little Coco Crisp. Did they forget he hit two homeruns against them just 2 games earlier? Well, they must have thought it was a fluke, but they were wrong. Coco is hotter than hot... Check it:
Not to be outdone, Big Papi hit a homer in the second and the homerun dancing began:
A couple of innings later, Manny joined in the homerun fun. And then even Hinske got in on the action. Here's a little clip of all those big swings.
And here's even more dancing. This clip is a little long as the announcers are just fascinated by Manny being Manny...
That said, the weirdest part of the night. Tavarez threw a 7 inning shutout.. i might be starting to like interleague play =)
Ok, there is ONE thing I do like about interleague play. I like watching Josh Beckett bat. It's really funny. He stands up there really stiff like he's not even going to swing, but then when he does swing, he can hit! Here he hits an RBI double to help his cause...
Look how smug he looks out there on second base. =) But the real highlight of this game was another amazing play by little Coco Crisp. Another unbelievable diving catch:
About the catch, Becket has this to say: Yeah, those are my thoughts exactly! Lovelovelove me that Coco Crisp. I also love how Cora puts his fist up prematurely because he knows that if anything is in the same zip code as Coco, he's got it...Lastly, here's a cute little Manny being Manny moment that entertained the announcers:
It was the Coco Crisp show. Coco, of all people tried to save Schilling's ass in this game against the Braves, hitting TWO homeruns. Yes, you read that right, Coco Crisp hit TWO homeruns! But for me the highlight was this missed catch. I think Coco has got to be the most talented outfielder in baseball. I mean, really, he's a freaking ball magnet. He can catch anything. But he did miss this one, but in missing, he almost jumped over the centerfield wall, spiderman style. Check it...
I really love Coco Crisp. I love Ellsbury too, but I will really hate to see Coco go..
Oops the Carell video is broken. It was funny though. He's from Boston and said he's been a die-hard sox fan for 3 weeks. He explained his fascination with a player name Coco Crisp and believes that only a team with a player named Fruity Pebbles could beat them. Carell was so pumped up for that joke, he almost blew it and started laughing in the middle.
"I believe in the Church of Baseball. I've tried all the major religions, and most of the minor ones. I've worshipped Buddha, Allah, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, trees, mushrooms, and Isadora Duncan. I know things. For instance, there are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary and there are 108 stitches in a baseball. When I heard that I gave Jesus a chace. But it just didn't work out between us. The Lord laid too much guilt on me. I prefer metaphysics to theology. You see, there's no guilt in baseball, and it's never boring, which makes it like sex... it's a long season and you gotta trust. I've tried 'em all, I really have, and the only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the Church of Baseball." -Bull Durham
