Fenway Flashback: The Homer Inning

September 30, 2007
Fenway Park

It was the last game of the regular season. With nothing left to clinch and the Papelbon jig videos gone stale, Don allowed Jerry to indulge in a homer inning. The video is long, so be patient and let it load. It's worth the laughs.

wooohoooo! M.V.Pedey!

Congrats to Dustin Pedroia, the Sox teeny little MVP. Nothing like a little off-season hardware to pump you up for next season, huh? Yup, our little Rookie of the Year is all grown up to GOLD GLOVE, SILVER SLUGGER, and AL MVP! Lovelovelove that little Pedey!

Congrats, Pedey!

The Boston Globe reports the Dustin Pedroia will be named the Gold Glove 2nd baseman later this afternoon. Personally, I absolutely love watching Pedey play second... Although he's done it dozens of times, those diving catches where he pounces back to his feet in time for the throw, just never get old!

In other, even more exciting news, the Sox have requested to host the All-Star game in 2012. That's Fenway's 100th birthday! Sounds like a party!

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Don Orsillo, who not only got himself a nice, new contract, but announced his 1,000 game. Holy crap! That's a LOT of games.

Further congratulations to Dustin Pedroia who hit his 200th hit. Last week, Tim Wakefield threw his 500th game, but waited until he was home on Friday night to really celebrate with another 8 inning shutout. And congratulations to George Kottaras for scoring his first major league run, even though he struck out, and ran into a double play. Kottaras got to first on a 3rd strike that went to the back stop. Then Coco Crisp hit into an easy double play, but the ball was dropped as Kottaras arrived at the bag. Everyone was safe. Then George moved to third on a ground ball and scored on a pop fly.

Although that sounds a little crazy, it wasn't as crazy as the Sox defense at the time:

It looked a lot like a PawSox lineup, with a few exceptions, including Kevin Cash at third. YES, you read that right, Kevin Cash played third base. Luckily Devern Hansack felt mighty at home at Fenway, surrounding by all his PawSox boys and threw an outstanding 3 innings. Hansack managed to keep everyone from hitting down the third baseline, so we didn't really get to see Cash play third. It was probably for the best.

A light moment

Last night I made a discovery -- the only thing harder to watch than a Dice-K walk-fest is a Clay Buccholz' walk-fest. In a disaster of a game, there was a light moment. The FSN announcers noticed gum stuck to Dustin Pedroia's helmet. It's good to know that at least the guys are having some fun in the dugout. =)

Fenway Flashback: When Jonny Comes Marching Home Again

August 14 2007

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!

Keep Your Shirt On!

Yesterday brought the first loss of 2008, thanks to an ugly inning by Clay Buchholz and and even uglier one by Craig Hansen. The good news is that it gave Don and Jerry plenty of time to discuss the "Dancing with the All-Stars" event. Lots of funny clips, made funnier by Jerry's commentary and Don's giggling.
And if you're curious, NESN has the entire performances.

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: 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.....