Fewnay Flashback: Sympathy for the Devil (Rays)

September 10-12, 2007
Fenway Park

It was a different time. I was a time when the Rays admitted the Devil was in them and wore green vests. Yes, vests. Change was coming to those Rays though. They were showing signs of the team they were about to become, especially through the arm of Scott Kazmir and the bat of Carlos Pena. When they came to town in early September of 2007, the Devil Rays were scratching and clawing (like little girls) there way out of last place, while the Sox were clinging to first place with the red hot Yankees hot on their trail. The Sox-Rays rivalry was just a shell of what it would become, but nonetheless, better baseball is seldom seen. It was a fantastic three game series with all the twist and turns of a playoff series.

Game 1 pit the veteran Schilling against the young superstar Scott Kazmir. It was a tremendous pitching battle, ending in the Rays' 1-0 shutout of the Red Sox, with only 12 hits between the two teams. In stark contrast, Game 2 was a hitters' game. Wakefield, who had only 2 career losses against the Rays, took the mound. Wake, perhaps, had started to struggle with the same injuries that would eventually take him off the playoff roster. He gave up a pile of runs early and the Sox fell behind 8-1. The one run came on a homer by Jacoby Ellsbury. It was looking like it was going to be a long night. Well, it was a long night, but the Sox quickly started chipping away at that 7 run lead. A two RBI base hit by the now Yankee, Kevin Cash, helped to turn the tide. The Sox scored 3 runs in the 4th inning, bringing the score to 8-4. Although the Rays scored an additional run, the Sox piled on the basehits in the 5th inning, bringing themselves within one run. The score was now 9-8. Pedey got things going in the 6th inning with a solo homerun to tie the game at 9 runs apiece. That pretty much drove the pitcher out of the game and the Rays called on Grant Balfour. I love it when they call on Balfour! With some great at bats against the Aussie, the Sox then loaded the bases for Kevin Youkilis.

The Sox followed it up with a Big Papi homer and another homer by Drew. It was quite a night of baseball. In the end, The Sox beat the Devil Rays 16-10 and the teams combined for 38 hits.

Game 3 was another hard fought battle that resulted in the Sox trailing going into the 9th inning.

'nuff said.

Best Virgin Nominee

Big Papi was nominated for the Best Virgin Relly Award on Regis and Kelly. The Best Virgin Award goes to the best first time guest. You can vote for Papi until midnight tonight Vote often, because Papi's up against Brad Pitt! Good luck, Papi! Here's the clip from his award nominated performance:

Big Papi celebrates Bay's 4 hits

Red Sox sweep and Papi steals a base!

Big Papi on Regis and Kelly Minus the Regis Again

Silly me. When I heard that David Ortiz was not going to be able to play in the All-Star game, I didn't think he'd be there. At all. Not only was he there, but he was the center of attention at much of batting practice and he made the media rounds. Here he is on Regis and Kelly, but again Regis was not there. Why is this always the case? Is Regis afraid of the power of the Papi? His loving charm might convert him to the dark side -- the Red Sox side??

Big Papi Loves Live TV

David Ortiz never misses an opportunity to goof around on live tv. Sunday on ESPN was no exception:

Manny Being Manny and Big Papi Being Big Papi

Now that games count again, (Thank God!) the Sox pitching is back on track. Dice-K and Lester both threw outstanding games against the Oakland As. Papelbon's command came back as well. The bats were looking a little jet-lagged until Big Papi hit this fantastic homerun. Manny, of course, tried to steal the show -- and he succeeded by starring in the funniest clip of the day. I love Manny being Manny...

Fenway Flashback: Papi Keeps the Peace

August 13, 2007

In the best pitching performance, I've ever seen from Tim Wakefield -- he went 6 innings without a hit and in the end, threw an 8 inning shut out, giving up only 2 hits -- Big Papi tried to steal the show with his antics at the plate. When others might throw punches, Papi keeps the peace..

And Jon Lester tries to steal the show by being so dang cute:

Papi Police

Papi got to ride sidecar in the police escort in DC. Francona and Snyder also took a turn. I can't imagine Snyder's long legs squished up in there...

Fenway Flashback: (Flower) Power Papi

July 28th, 2007
Tropicana Field

It was Flower Power night at Tropicana Field. I can't imagine having to do stunts like this to get people to a ballgame... nonetheless, it did provide a few laughs. The players' scoreboard pictures were hippied out. Manny's was the funniest:

It was a nightmare of a game --complete with extra innings, a blown save, and walked in runs, and FIVE hours in length. The Rays came from behind in the 9th with a homerun against Paps to tie the game. It took 3 more innings for the Rays bullpen to fall apart (which is always does) and the Sox finally took the win. Lester did pitch pretty well, but the highlight, by far, was Papi's broken bat check swing. Laughs!

Fenway Flashback: Father's Day

Have I mentioned that I hate interleague play? Well, the June series against the Colorado Rockies cemented my opinion. The only thing that made the series slightly watchable was the knowledge that the Sox will kick the crap out the Rockies in a few short months -- when it matters. Every Holliday hit had me thinking, 'whatever, he gets picked off in the world series' ;)... Then there was Beckett's first loss decorated with a grand slam. Bad bats and bad times at Fenway.

Then the strangest thing happened... JD Drew led off. I know, weird, huh? But it worked! The jolly green Giant came to town. It was the Drew-Pedroia one-two show. It was fantastic! The two went head to head to see who could get more hits and RBIs and Dustin won, going 5-5, including a homerun! The Sox won 10-2. Night 2 was a little tighter -- Manny hit a homerun for the only run of the night for either team. Who needs Barry Bonds when you have Manny! And finally it was Father's Day and the Bonds finally hit a homerun off Wakey. No matter, the Sox still won... The highlight for me was Donnelly getting dumped onto the DL and MANNY DELCARMEN getting the call. He didn't throw particularly well, but I know it's the start of good times in that Sox bullpen.

The other highlight was this tiny little clip of Little Papi taking BP...He's the cutest little guy ever!

Fenway Flashback: Double Trouble

June 4-6, 2007
McAfee Colliseum

I don't have cable and I live on the left coast. So before I figured out mlb.com, the only Red Sox regular season games I ever saw were against the As. There is a broadcast station out of the Bay Area that airs a mix of As and Giants games several nights a week. So I caught a bunch of these As vs Sox games last summer and while I was told that the Sox were great, I have to admit it was hard to see. What I did see, which I'm seeing again right now, is double play after double play after double play. It seems like everytime the Sox get a runner on, they end up hitting into a double play. So either the Sox suck or the As are a fantastic defensive team. It is nice to see these games from the hometown (NESN) point of view and in doing so, I came across this funny clip of Big Papi accidentally spitting on little Pedroia.

BTW, I have to admit that these As have to be about the best looking team in the AL... despite their nerdy white shoes. It took me some games to see past the glare of the white shoes -- but seriously -- Travis Buck, Dan Haren, Bobby Crosby, Eric Chavez, and that Swisher guy... i think i might pay more attention next year when those As games are on...

The highlight, by far, of the series (thus far) is Tito getting kicked out. Once he realized he was gone, he got rid of the gum and chew and really let 'em have it! I've never seen Francona quite like this:

Fenway Flashback: On and on and on and on

June 4, 2007
McAfee Colliseum

The Sox finished losing to the Yankees on Sunday night after a 4 hour game and hopped on a flight to Oakland. They got in around 5am for a night game against the As. Tito attempted to rest a bunch of regulars and put forth a line-up that looked like he expected an easy win. Varitek, Lowell, Lugo, and Crisp were all on the bench. But four hours and 11 innings later, everyone had played... Papi got bored and was caught reading in the dugout:

The game ended in the 11th with a walk-off homerun for the A's 3rd baseman. While I would have liked to see a Sox win, I was grateful that the game ended before Beckett had to pinch hit ;)

Fenway Flashback: Yankees Win, Manny Dives, Pigs Fly

June 3, 2007

Beckett's perfect (8-0) record was looking like it might come to and end, until this sweet bases clearing double by Dustin Pedroia. I just love love love this clip, because it has (1) Dustin's giant swing, (2) Coco Crisp has to slow down to keep from running over Willy Mo on the basepaths, (3) Big Papi hobbling all the way into a triple, and best of all (4) Josh Beckett cheering from the dug out!

And then there was this super fun, kinda surprising slide, I mean, dive, by Manny.

Then shocking things happened -- Oki gave up the tying run to blow the save and Papelbon gave up the winning run to A-Rod to get the L.... in the darkest moments, the Fenway Faithful chanting WHERE IS ROGER? Clemens postponed his middle-aged, drug-enhanced comeback yet again.

Good game ruined, not by the final score, but the horrible announcing of ESPN. If you want to get wasted, drink everytime they mention Manny playing shallow in left field.....

Fenway Flashback: Papi Being Papi

May 3, 2007

Big Papi got caught in a double play and tagged himself out.

Papi Being BeDazzled

Papi was on Late Night with Conan, with a Bedazzled lambourghini on his jacket....

Okay, it's really a scorpion, but Papelbon has him pegged! I never used to like Conan, but he's truly funny in this clip....