Game 3

1st inning
Brad Penny drills A-Rod and becomes my favorite person.

2nd inning
Brad Penny clocks in at 98. Trade Dice-K.
Nick Swisher wins worst base runner of the year and becomes my new favorite person.

3rd inning
Papi. Papi. Papi. Papi takes another curtain call and becomes my new favorite person.
Eck gushes on about the new Brad Penny. Penny strikes out A-rod and becomes my new favorite person. Trade Dice-K.

4th inning
MLB.tv quits playing suddenly and switches instantly to the 8th inning. I manage to not see the score.
Johnny Damon drops Papi's pop fly and becomes my new favorite person.

5th inning
While both starters are pitching awesome, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the Yankees starting rotation. Thanks for making these last 7 games so fun.

6th inning
Brad Penny strikes out Matsui and I'm madly in love with him. If they trade him and keep Vanilla Dice, I may never forgive theo. Penny has officially become more than Beckett's bff.

7th inning.
A-rid doesn't suck as bad as I would like him to. I try to fast forward through the pitching change. BIG MISTAKE. DVR functionality is not available at this time. And guess what?! The games aren't archived yet. I guess it hasn't been 90 minutes since the game ended. Since I've decided to move back east, of course, things have been well here, just to mess with me. But now I thank God that this is the LAST season I will ever have to endure Mlb.tv.

Click. Click. Click. Nothing. Still no archive. Thanks for next to nothing MLB.Tv. I hate you so much. I'd rather you didn't exist. Your teasing false hope is far worse than the acceptance that I used to have. If you were an individual I'd wish fir Jack Bauer to torture the crap out of you so you could feel a fraction of the pain you afflict on baseball fans with your lies and unacceptable performance.

8:39 still no archive. I'll go to bed and prevent further torture. I have a student who is a lawyer. I'll be emailing him tomorrow about class action suits.

Day 2 of Game 1

14 hours later and I haven't finished the game. Last night, the archive went up at 10:30pm PST. Yes, that's 1:30am EST and it wasn't even a 5 hour Sox-Yankees marathon. I watched the top of the first. Then I started the bottom and the video got choppy and eventually stalled. I tried changing my settings and then it wouldn't play at all. I rebooted, cycle, ran in circles and threw the remote. Nothing could get me through the first inning. So I listened to it on GameDay Audio. Of course, I didn't stay awake for long but I woke periodically so I got the gist of the game. This morning I tried rewatching and of course, it worked beautifully. I watched through 3 innings and had to go to work. I sat down an hour ago to watch the rest of the game and I can't get it to work. I click and click and click some more but I can't get it to jump to the fourth inning and when I start from the first (which I don't want to do, obviously) the video freezes. If I try to adjust my video settings, it freezes. FANTASTIC!

I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU MLB.TV

IT'S 9:13 PST THAT IS 12:13 EST AND THE ARCHIVE OF THE >>>>>>>SOX YANKEES <<<<<< GAME IS NOT UP YET. I HAVE NEVER HATED ANYONE OR ANYTHING AS MUCH AS I HATE MLB.TV. THANKS FOR DROPPING THE BALL ON THIS. I WILL BE FINDING A LAWYER TOMORROW TO EXPLORE CLASS ACTION SUITS.

Why baseball should not be played in a circus tent

I went and bought myself a slick little screen recorder (iShowU) and so I can make little video clips once again. I just had to clip this lovely snippet of Josh Beckett trying to shag fly balls during BP. Luckily, the Twins will have a new ballpark next year and will be moving out of the trash bag lined circus tent.


video courtesy of nesn

Rock bottom..aka "Screaming at the customer service agent does not help."

Last week, I thought I had hit rock bottom with mlb.tv. The video was crap the whole game. It would play for 10-30 seconds and stall for 30 seconds. I tried every video setting. Whenever I changed the video settings, I got an error. Either the DVR controls were currently unavailable or the game itself was temporarily unavailable. I reset, restarted, and cycled. No change. It was annoying but I did get to watch it. Until the 3rd inning, when the video crashed and started me over at the beginning. Again and again and again. After I spent 3 hours watching 3 innings, I called customer service. I spent a few minutes on the line during which the problem cleared up. I got off the phone and was able to watch about 15 minutes before the problem came back. I got back on the phone and spent the better part of an hour politely changing my settings. Quick sidenote: the fellow knew NOTHING about macs. If he told me to right click one more time, I thought my head might explode. You'd think that the customer service folks would be trained on both systems or would put someone on the line who was versed in mine, but alas, I digress....When none of the troubleshooting 101 suggestions worked, the customer service did the unthinkable. He actually tried to watch the game!!! Shockingly enough he had the same problems. Sorry, it looks like it's just a bad feed. There is nothing you can do. That's about when I lost it and started yelling. I know it's uncool and it doesn't solve anything. I know it's not this fellow's fault that mlb.tv sucks so badly. That said, I can hardly blame myself. Fellow waited almost an hour to try the video himself. When he noticed it didn't work, he just said sorry, not I'll call over to to tech and make sure they are working on this. ERRRRRR...

Since then, I've had pretty much the same problem when watching the archived games. I can usually get a few innings in and then I have to switch browsers and/or reboot to get to the next inning. It's pretty uncool. Last night, the uncoolness was multiplied by the fact that the game started without HD, fullscreen, or audio. I mean, seriously, could you f#$# it up more? I guess I should be grateful for the tiny out of focus video in the middle of the screen. I mean it's not like the promised me anything. OH WAIT! They did promise me HD quality when I paid the extra money for the premium membership. Regardless, it wasn't long (an inning maybe?) before I was blessed with sound. Unfortunately, it was RKO's sound and it was about 30 seconds ahead of the game. Nothing like hearing "Swing and a miss" before the ball leaves the pitcher's hand. Nice. Eventually the NESN audio did come on. And then it disappeared again. And came back and disappeared. It was never on at the beginning of an inning and most innings it did reappear at some point. Most.

Of course, I had to reboot twice to make it through the game. The overall video quality was pretty choppy, like silverlight. Obviously the game should be in HD since I pay for that. However, in the circumstances that it isn't, full screen should be full screen. Last night's game had the black bars on the top and bottom of the screen to make the player widescreen. However, the game wasn't widescreen. So they put grey bars on the left and right sides of the screen, making the screen teeny tiny. Well maybe the teeny tiny-ness was supposed to distract me from the crappy quality.

From bad to worse

It seems the in their never-ending quest to improve their troubled video player, MLB.tv has introduced an outrageous error. When the player finds a flaw in the NexDef video, it switches to the Standard video. This seems smart, huh? And if you are watching a live game, it works well. It keeps the video from quitting altogether when it finds a snag. However, when you are using the DVR function to watch a game, as I usually do, it doesn't work quite so seamlessly. I generally start watching during the late innings but immediately skip back to the start of the game, taking careful steps to not see the score when the game starts up. Well, with the new and improved feature, the game plays fine for a bit, but within a inning's time, it will inevitably hit one of those snags and switch to the Standard video. Standard video doesn't support DVR function during live games, so the video switches to the live feed. So, I'm watching along, maybe there are 2 outs in the bottom of the first. Probably runners are on base and WHAM! Suddenly I'm in the 9th inning. That's fantastic. What's even better is that it happens about once an inning.

While I sit in waiting

I'm currently waiting for MLB.tv to archive today's Sox game so I can watch it. I don't usually have to sit and wait for archives because of the fancy new DVR function that NexDef provides. I can jump in at any time and jump to the first inning. That is when NexDef is actually working.

Needless to say, it's not working tonight. And frankly I can't remember a time when it's worked in an archived game...NexDef is supposed to improve the video quality which leads me to believe that it hasn't worked properly in quite a while because my video quality has averaged about how well I can see without my contact lenses. That is to say that I can't read the score on the top of the screen or the names on the uniforms and I certainly can't see the damn ball. But I've lowered my standards of what is acceptable performance. If I'm able to see the game, I'm (relatively) happy.

Right now, I'm not even close to relatively happy.

While I was able to watch Saturday and Sunday's games live without an issue, other than poor video quality, I met with some interesting issues yesterday. I now have mlb.tv on speed dial. Last night I fell asleep in the 9th inning. I woke and rewound to the start of the inning. Like normal, it said "verifying account". Then it gave me a fantastic error - that I've logged in too many times. I've had this error many times before, but I really had logged in multiple times. Originally, I didn't know you were required to logout every time you leave that media player window and that if you load a game from the mediacenter page, it counted as a separate login. Since then, I've been sure to logout every time from the media player window. Well, I've still come across that error because there have been numerous times when the shoddy player has crashed my browser. Not much I can do about logging out in that case. The folks on the support line have assured me that if I logout every and use the links in the player, I will not encounter the error. Last night, however, I got the error when I jump to an inning! I hadn't even selected a new game, let alone, left the player! Unbelievable. Another 20 minutes of my life lost on the support line for mlb.tv.

During the time that I've spent writing this post, the Sox game has been archived, but it doesn't load. I tried with NexDef off and had no luck. I tried loading it from the player and it says it's not availble, try again soon. Yup, I freaking love you, mlb.tv.

Just when you think everything is going to be okay.

For a few long minutes on Friday night, I thought I might go postal at MLB headquarters. When I tried to start up the Sox Rays game, I was greeted with a technical difficulties error. I raced to the forum, only to find that lots of folks were met with the same error. I put MLB.tv on speed dial and rebooted everything. After rebooting, the game started right up. Whew! All was well. Unfortunately, the game itself was not really worth watching.

Tonight, I had the rare opportunity to watch a game live. It was great with just little stutters here and there, all ironically positioned in critical moments. Oki finished the 6th and the game went to commercial break. It was the longest commercial break ever! Or maybe I was just growing increasingly impatient as time went on. Nope. It was MLB.tv because when coverage finally returned, the Sox had scored a run and had 2 men on with 2 outs. HELLO???? That's a lot to miss because dude fell asleep with his finger on pause. Seriously uncool.

Karma's a bitch

I take full responsibility for last night's debacle and for that, I send my sincerest apologies to Jonathan Van Every and the Red of the Boston Red Sox who were humiliated in St. Pete last night. When the Yankees were forced to use Nick Swisher as a pitcher earlier this season against the DEVIL Rays, I was thoroughly entertained by the idea. I spent days relishing in the collapse of the most expensive pitching staff in baseball. Yeah, karma's a bitch. Last night, the Red Sox found themselves in the exact same situation in the same circus tent and chose to let Jonathan Van Every pitch the 8th inning rather than tax the already exhausted bullpen. While it was embarrassing to watch Van Every hurling 75mph fastballs and Javy Lopez chasing balls in right field, the loss did put things in perspective for me. I hate the Devil Rays. It's somewhat irrational, but I really hate them. I don't know what it is -- if it is their obnoxious fair weather fans -- Did you notice the stands were quite empty last night despite being packed with raging cowbells last fall? Maybe it's their horrible stadium that drives me over the edge. Did you see that homerun off the roof or catwalk or whatever? And poor Bay was running blind out there in left last night. The roof is the color of a baseball. Freaking genius. Maybe it is that they swagger like surly teenagers who think they have it all figured out. Whatever it is, I don't like them and I do not like losing to them and fueling their fire. I think I'd rather lose to the Yankees.

Yes, MLB.tv still sucks

Just because I haven't been complaining doesn't mean that MLB.tv has been any better. Friday's Sox Yankee 11 inning marathon was a complete nightmare. I work until 10pm EST so it is always late in the game when I start watching. Fortunately, this season's DVR capability allows me to start from the beginning of the game without waiting for the game to be archived. This is a HUGE improvement over last year's player. However, the transition from a live game to an archived game has not been exactly seamless. Usually the video freezes in the late innings and never recovers. This is exactly what happened Friday night. I watched until midway through the eighth. The video froze and try as I might I could not get the archive to play. I spent at least a half hour trying go access the video with no luck and since it was approaching 11pm PST, I gave up. I went to bed without watching the last inning and a half of a Sox Yankees game. No biggie, I mean I just watched 3+ hours, I didn't want to know who won.

I got up early the next morning. We're talking 5am. I wanted to watch that last inning plus before work because I would definitely not have time before the Fox afternoon game. But, of course, it wouldn't play. It would only load twenty minutes of the game and I couldn't skip to inning or fast forward past that point. I can't even begin to express how frustrating that was. I searched the forums. I couldn't find any answer but I did remember previous time when the NexDef wasn't working but the regular file worked fine. So I turned off NexDef. I've found that if you turn off NexDef during a live game, you lose all DVR capability. I figured the same would happen in the archive game, so I was very hesitstant to try it because I needed to be able to skip to the 8th inning. Obviously, I did not have an extra four hours before work. Finally I tried it and was shocked to find that I could jump to innings without a problem. I managed to watch the rest of the game that morning but was very late for work. Luckily for MLB.Tv, the excitement of the extra innings win overshadowed the fact that MLB.tv yet again failed to provide a product in a big game.

The next two games were blacked out, so I had no complaints, other than the fact that they were blacked out.

Wednesday night I am faced with a similar problem. In the late innings of a tie ballgame, the video froze. Without closing the player, I tried to load the archive. Safari crashes. I restart it and fire up the player. I get the error that I've logged in too many times. It's after 10pm PST. I remember that the customer service line is open until 12 midnight, but I've always assumed that was EST. I decided to call anyway and after 15 minutes of pressing 2 and waiting on hold, I got a representative. She quickly reset my account and tried to explain to me that I need to logout every time. She got an earful. I would be happy to logout but find it difficult when the player crashes the browser. That isn't even true. I shouldn't have to log out every time. The player should recognize that I'm logging in from the same computer every time. I shouldn't even have to type a password every time. Nonetheless, I am willing to log out if they are willing to provide a player that doesn't crash the browser before I have a chance to log out.

Tonight the video was just fine except for that inning with no sound. But the Sox are losing and Jerry is out sick, so who needs sound?

The only thing I hate more than MLB.tv is the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and their ridiculous circus tent of a ballpark.

Why MLB.tv, why?????

It's a double header and shockingly enough I'm able to watch Game 1 without a problem. When the game went into a rain delay, I tried to switch to the yanks game but it crashed my browser. This is frightening to me because I didn't log our before it crashed and may be locked out of my own account. Luckily, I'm okay and can log in again. So I watch the second game flawlessly until the 7th when I rewind because I miss what Dob and Jerry are laughing about. The browser crashes again. Now I'm really worried that I'll get locked out. Again I am spared and am able to start the 7th again. However at the end if that half inning, it freezes. The video just sticks on the commercial. I logout and reload the page. Nothing. I turn off nexdef. I paid extra for this but turn it off nonetheless. The video starts again and is... a......little. .... Chop...........py.....to.............say.................the................least. After much cursing, I turn down the video quality to one bar. Whew. It's much smoother. I can't read the score, but at least the video is smooth.

just when everything seemed okay

After my friendly call to mlb.tv today, I was able to watch the innings that I slept through last night. They were fun. I immediately switched from that game to today's game. I was able to watch the Sox hit like the Sox I know and love and score 6 runs. Then Beckett turned into Brad Penny who was imitating Dice-K and walked in a run. A big hit ensued. I'd love to tell you the details but...it was precisely as the ball was rolling around in the m-f outfield that my video froze. I jumped on the phone. Switched to masn. Nothing. Switched back to nesn. Nothing. Talked to some guy with an accent I couldn't understand. While I was on the phone the masn feed came on. He assured me that my complaint that the nesn feed was lost would be passed on. Now I'm watching the 6th in on MASN. MASN!!!!!!!! I had to endure the last two seasons without the ability to choose the feed. So I had to watch MASN on all the away game in Baltimore. THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY THE WORST AWAY FEED. EVER!!! Yeah. So I get to watch the away feed when the boys are at Fenway. I miss Jerry. I am one up on my New Englander Mother who can watch nothing because NESN is broadcasting the Bruins and she doesn't have (or otherwise need) a cable box. Comcast may suck almost as bad as MLB.tv but I doubt it.

mlb.tv phone line worth the wait

If you are like me and never make phones call, you might hesitate to call customer support. Since my emails have been receiving responses about 3 days after the incident, I figured I'd better call if I was going to watch today's game. Well, I'm glad I did! The fellow on the mlb.tv customer service line was very helpful and reset my password quickly. Now if only they answered phones 24/7, I might be happy! Now I must get back to watching how the heck the Sox recovered from the Penny debacle.

An ongoing complaint to mlb.tv

The support forums at mlb.tv are full of people complaining and demanding their money back. Mlb.tv owns baseball and every game played. They've got us by our short hairs. They provide the only way we can watch all the games live and they know it. Sure, they'd rather have a perfect product, so they don't have to listen to us complain constantly. However, they don't need to have a perfect product. They don't even need to have a good product and therefore, they don't. When it's working, it's awesome, but the majority of the time, it's flawed and disappointing. That means that you may have a to wait a few hours to watch the game or it may mean that the friends and family that have gathered to watch opening day, will be seeing a blank screen or maybe a game with no audio. Fantastic.

I feel the need to keep a journal of my complaints. Less than two weeks into the season and there are already too many complaints to keep straight in my head. So starting today, I'm writing them down.

Last night I had to work until the late innings of the game. I rushed home and fired up the player and started the game, but the DVR function didn't work and I couldn't rewind. I searched the forum and they said that yes, that was a problem and they were working on it. Great. So I waited for the archive. The archive came promptly at the end of the game, but the link didn't work. Nice. I tried again and again and again and again and again. Finally it worked and I got to watch the game. However it was now an hour and a half later and I was already getting tired. So I watched about half and planned to get up early for work to watch the rest during breakfast. Early is 5am mind you. Not cool.

I got up early and went directly to the game. I tried to rewind but the DVR function didn't work. I tried to jump to inning but no luck. I clicked around and tried to get it started again and eventually the window reloaded. It asked again for my username and password. I diligently entered it and was told I had logged in too many times and was now locked out. I checked the forums. Apparently you are supposed to log out every time you start a new game or restart the game that doesn't work. I emailed customer support. Previous emails have taken several days to receive a reply. I called customer service and spent 10 minutes pressing 2 before they told me that their offices were closed. Fantastic.

So, I've yet to see the game I paid to watch and now I'm at work and by the time I get home, it'll be time to watch the next game (mlb.tv willing). A baseball fan can't afford to get a game behind because of technical difficulties. But there is nothing I can do. If I cancel my services I can't watch any Sox games. I have to grin and bear and hope for the best. It's pretty freaking depressing.

I thought I had it bad

It's getting painful to watch -- or in my case, listen to Sox games. I was blacked out on mlb.tv today since Oakland is a mere 4 hour drive away, so I listed to the game on GameDay Audio and watched the coverage on GameDay. That is actually fairly cool. Nonetheless, when Lester gave up 5 runs in the second I looked around mlb.com to distract myself from the agony of being a Sox fan. I ventured over to the Yankees page because they were losing and I wanted to see what Wang's ERA was. The had a picture of Nick Swisher as the pitcher in the 8th. I scoffed and made some comment about how inaccurate mlb.com is. Then the fellows on RKO said that Swisher had pitched the 8th. WTF??? So I went over to the box scores.

Not only did Swisher pitch, but he was the star of the pen, shutting down the Rays offense. I don't know if that makes Swisher amazing or the Yankees pen absolutely pathetic......

Yeah, that helps...

It was so disappointing to have Opening Day delayed yesterday but yeah, this made it a little easier to swallow.

Of course, it means nothing, but it's pretty fun! Go Orioles! =)

Vegan Chipotle Sausage is fantastic!

I had lunch at the new hot dog joint, Freeman's Natural Hotdogs and had the Bun Burner. It's a vegan chipotle sausage with salsa and other yummy toppings. Right before I went to eat, someone reminded me how rubbery and nasty tofu hot dogs are. For a minute I was worried, but the chipotle sausage was awesome. It had a great texture and an even better flavor. I can't wait to try it with Vegan Chili... and quacamole... mmmmmmm....

That Little Leprechaun

A little leprechaun joined the Sox on the field yesterday, to bring them luck in their quest for the Mayor's Cup. Apparently David Ortiz taped the number 15 on his back. Very funny. The little fellow later joined Don and Jerry in the booth. Man, baseball on St. Patrick's Day is fun!



screencaps courtesy of NESN

Welcome back, Remy!

Boy was it good to have Remy back for the Yankees game last week. Nothing makes spring training more fun than Remy trying to find something to distract himself when the innings drag on. Last week, it was the Yankees Igawa running in the outfield that caught Jerry's eye....


video courtesy of NESN

Beckett Gone Fishin'

Thanks to Comcast Sports for this great interview. Genius! If you want to interview Josh Beckett without all the cussing and eye-rolling, just take the fellow fishing.

LOST writers sound off on the Yankees Red Sox rivalry

Thanks to abc.com for this lovely clip of LOST writers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse discussing their personal Red Sox versus Yankees rivalry. It was part of last week's official audio podcast. I just love it when my obsessions overlap! ;)

Papelbon interviews the pen

Fenway Flashback: Manny Being Post-Season Manny

September 5, 2007
Fenway Park
ALDS Game 2 LAA@BOS

There are lots of reasons that I will miss Manny. This is not one of them:

Neither is this:

But this, this I will certainly miss:

Almost makes all the antics worthwhile, doesn't it?

Spring!

How stinking cute is Jon Lester for showing up at spring training before Truck Day!?

More from the We Are One celebration

While the Springsteen number stole the show, I really enjoyed Jon Bon Jovi singing with Bettye LaVette.

and of course, U2 rocked the Memorial, but the cold took a toll on Bono's voice.

The whole show is at hbo.com. I highly recommend it...

Now I definitely need to get cable tv....

It became apparent early this off-season that the Sox were not going to re-sign Sean Casey. While I agree that there are better options defensively, I was sad to the charming first baseman go. Well, luckily, he won't be going to far! Casey has opted to retire and join the MLB network. Here's hoping they let him interview players (and keep him from talking about wrestling!).

Fenway Flashback: Remember This Guy??

October 3, 2007
Fenway Park
ALDS Game 1 LAA@BOS

I sure hope this guy is back in 2009....

Springsteen opens We Are One event

Sunday January 18th, 2009
Lincoln Memorial
Washington, DC


i have no words....

Fenway Flashback: When Bugs Attack

October 5, 2007
Cleveland, OH
While the Sox were enjoying their ALDS sweep of the Angels, the Yankees were struggling against the Cleveland Indians. I mean, really struggling. It was really fun to watch. Like when someone gave Bobby Abreu a glass bat:

And later that same night, someone released sweat-seeking bugs into the park. Who would have thought that teeny little bugs could get the best of big boy Joba Chamberlain. Here's the bug inning. Seriously, is there anything funnier than men swatting madly at invisible bugs, especially when those men are A-Rod and Jeter.

Good times...

Welcome back, Kotsay!

In honor of Kotsay signing on for 2009...

Welcome to the Hall

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.

Fenway Flashback: The Morning After

September 29, 2007
Fenway Park

the man who is supposed to take you to the promised land
What began with a quiet Dice-K win ended in the wee hours of the morning with beer boxes on heads and Irish jigs. There were clearly consequences to such reckless abandon and Jerry and Don were there to hand them out. NESN's game coverage began with this lovely montage:

Video courtesy of NESN
And Don and Jerry spent a good deal of the game provide commentary of the festivities and little Ellsbury was obviously lost his little rookie mind. I dare you not to laugh.


video courtesy of nesn
And a teeny little clip of Papelbon in the pen:


video courtesy of nesn

Fenway Flashback: O What a Night!

September 28, 2007
Fenway Park
Camden Yards

The Red Sox came into the game needing a Sox win and a Yankees loss to clinch the AL East. Dice-K was outstanding as the Sox got their win, but the Orioles stole the show down in Baltimore, while the Fenway Faithful stood vigil in Fenway. The truest of the true Red Sox fans stay in the ballpark for hours after the Sox game had ended, despite the sufficient lead that the Yankees had -- despite the fact that the Yankees had only lost one game in which they went into the 8th inning with a lead. Despite all the odds, the Fenway Faithful stood strong, willing the Orioles to rally, eyes glued to the Jumbotron. And the Orioles were feeling the love that night and mounted one of the most exciting comebacks of the year. Here's what the folks were watching on that giant television in centerfield:

video courtesy of masn
And back at Fenway:

video courtesy of nesn

Lost Writers Mea Culpa??

In the last Dharma Special Access video, LOST producers future Damon Lindelof was wearing a future NY Yankees t-shirt. In this week's video, I believe the writers' have subtly tried to right their wrong. The above screencaps show, what I believe to be, two LOST staff members wearing Red Sox caps! As Sawyer has said, it's all in the details...

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.

Lost Writers Predict Yankees in 2010

Future Damon Lindelof and Future Carlton Cuse came back from the future to warn Present Damon and Present Carlton of the mistakes that they'll make writing Lost that will lead to it's cancellation. But more importantly, future Damon is wearing a 2010 Yankees Championship jersey! You can watch the whole video at sl-LOST.com.

Fenway Flashback: An argument to keep Mike Lowell

September 19, 2007
Rogers Centre, Toronto

In an effort to make up for Clay Buchholz' throwing error, Mikey Lowell uses the ol' hidden ball trick to get an out. Awesome.

video courtesy of NESN

Now that's a cute cap..

Really it is. I'd totally get my mom one. She'd look really cute in it. It'd look really good in green. If they had it in green I'd get my brother one because he looks cute in his green B cap. Yup, this hat will even look cute in pink with glitter. cute cute cute. And that's just what I'm looking for in a uniform cap: cute. Yup, Josh Beckett sure will look cute in his new cap. And I can't wait to see Papelbon's fierce stare from under the brim of his cute new cap. I mean look at MDC, doesn't he look intimidating?

Fenway Flashback: Playing In the Band

September 11, 2007

The DEVIL Rays came to town, wearing green and grey vests and much fun ensued. It was late in the season and the team formerly known as the worst in the league was showing signs of what was to come. Much of that came in the form of Scott Kazmir, who out pitched Curt Schilling to win the first game of the series 1-0. As the score suggests, there wasn't a lot of action, other than pitching dominance. The highlight was the appearance of Clay Buchholz in the bullpen band and Julian Tavarez' refusal to participate, topped off by the always outstanding band play-by-play of Jerry Remy and Don Orsillo. Thanks to NESN for the clip.

American Music Awards

I was too busy watching Jack Bauer run around Africa to see much of the AMAs, but I did enjoy Sarah Mclachlan and Pink's duet of Angel. Pink is shockingly good live:

ohno, Coco!

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:

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!

Madonna rocks forearm balances

While browsing ashtanga images seeking inspiration for our website redesign, I came across this picture of Madonna, heels, fishnets and all, rocking her second series forearm balances. Too funny....

A totally biased commentary on small businesses

Times are tough. Big corporations are flailing and valuable stocks have become almost worthless. Folks have seen their nesteggs evaporate before their eyes. Americans are scared. So we've tightened our belts. We've cut back on gas, on groceries, on anything that we can live without. But before you put away that Gold card, think for a minute about your favorite local shops -- those small businesses that you love, that enrich your life. Yeah, you can put off buying a new car until money starts to flow a little more freely. You can put off a new house until the mortgage companies get back on their feet. Don't worry, the government will save Ford and AIG. They'll save Fannie and Freddie. But they won't save the coffee shack down on the corner. The government won't step in and save that little salon where you've had your hair cut for the last decade. They won't save the corner bar. And they won't save your favorite little yoga studio.

No one knows how long this recession will last, but we've yet to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Everytime you drive by the coffee shack without opening your wallet, the owner goes a little deeper into debt. Soon there will be no money left for rent and the doors will be shut on him. In a year or so, your stocks will be back up. Your future will feel safe again, but your favorite shops will be gone. Only the big guys -- the Walmarts, the Starbucks, the Exxons will remain. Is that the future you want?

So the next time you drive by your favorite coffee shop, corner bar, or yoga studio, stop. Drop a couple of bucks. You can live without it, but the small businesses can't. Thank you.

Fenway Flashback: If the Orioles and Red Sox brawl, what side does Kevin Millar pick?

September 7, 2007
Camden Yards
Daniel Cabrera loses his shit and Julian Tavarez talks him down. Good times...

Fenway Flashback: Yo-Yo

September 4th, 2007

People ask me, "Now that baseball's over, what do you do with your time?" Of course, I've been watching baseball. I don't know if I could handle the cold, depressing weather without baseball! During last off-season I re-watched my way through to September of 2007. Good times back then. Although, I've been happy with the changes that Theo has made in the last year, there are things I miss like Julian Tavarez being his wacky self.

Why I'm Relieved..

After the first time I heard Palin speak, I avoided her the rest of the campaign for fear I might cut off my own ears. But I came across this gem this morning. Very very funny. Well, it's only funny because there is no longer a chance she'll be our next Vice-President. Let's face it folks, she makes George W. look smart.

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!

A little political propaganda

I woke feeling proud to be an American and the Olympics aren't even on tv! That said, I present to you one last piece of political propaganda...
!

Welcome back, Wakey!

In the first play of the off-season, Theo and Co. resigned Tim Wakefield, bringing back the 42-year old knuckleballer for yet another season. Although ALCS Game 4 left a sour taste in my mouth, it really was a great season for Wakefield. His games were actually fun to watch!

Zack & Miri make me laugh...

Thanks to Tim McCarver, Phillies Win Big

Tim McCarver and FOX wanted everyone to know that the Phillies were struggling with men in scoring position. He reminded us every single time a man got in scoring position. Did you hear they were 2-33 with RISP coming into the game? Wow, it's no wonder the Phillies were losing, huh? If only they had hit with men in scoring position, they might have won. Wait. They did win. In fact, they were up in the series 2-1. Nonetheless, McCarver had a point to make and he made it perfectly clear when he said "it's almost as though the Phillies can't drive in a run unless they drive in themselves." Seriously! It's like he's writing the script for the mockumentary version of the World Series - yes it's the "Best in Show" for baseball fans. Now that's a great idea! But I digress... After McCarver's wise words, the Phillies did figure out how to drive in themselves. Ryan Howard really benefited from the baseball strategy lesson, hitting 2 homeruns and earning 5 RBIs.

Rant aside, FOX really rocks compared to TBS. Although I do miss Sager's suits.

Maddon and Sager
by beisbolct

Rollins takes one for the team

Rollins was called safe after getting a glove shoved up his ass. Ump obviously felt sorry for the guy. FOX was nice enough to put the image in a pretty frame.

No, thank you...

Now that the bitter sting of of that 3-1 Game 7 loss has faded, I can look back with a somewhat rational eye at the 2008 season. What a season it was, huh? What looked like it would be a sweet ride to the series became a long, hard fought battle that proved the character of the team, the players, and the front office. From Japan to the Fenway Flu, from Manny's high-fiving catch and his 500th homer to his adolescent melt-down, it was a wild ride. I'd like to thank the organization for a fantastic year and for all the great memories...

• the emergence of Justin Masterson


• Jon Lester's no-hitter and his rise to become one of baseball's best


• Jed Lowrie saving us from the E6


• Fight Night


• Youk's beard


• Youk badass at either corner


• Jason Bay was welcomed aboard in Fenway Fashion


• JD Drew replacing Papi's bat and winning All-Star MVP


• Pedey batting cleanup


• Ozzie intentionally walking a jockey


• Knuckleballs -- the old guys' shutout


• Dice-K's magical, yet baffling record


• Casey being Casey = hilarious


• Youk in right field


• Youk in right field again


• Game 5

Thank you, Boston Red Sox, thank you! I look forward to hearing what our fearless Theo has in store for the off-season...

Livin' On A Prayer

I almost didn't go. I'll admit to that. I found out the score was already 2-0 in the 2nd when I got off work and I considered not going to the bar to watch the game. You know, with economics being what they are and the last few games being well, downright depressing..But I had to see it through. I'm no goddamned pink hat. I've watched (or listened to) EVERY SINGLE GAME. I am Fenway Faithful. I will not desert the boys when they need me the most. HOLY FREAKING CRAP! I'm soooooooooooo glad I did. BESTGAMEVER! Well not ever because that yankees game in 2004 probably had it beat but I didn't see that, living on the west coast without cable has complicated my fandom. But it was definitely the best game I've ever seen and I'm madly in love with jd i'm-the-mvp-of-the-freaking-world-series,-punk, drew. But the real highlight was that the juke box was actually playing LIVING ON A PRAYER during Coco's at bat. DOES IT GET ANY BETTER THAT THAT? Classic....

When pumpkins drink too much

Lenny!

As if the game weren't good enough -- nesn posted Lenny Clark's appearance at the Yawkey NESN desk. Funny funny shit...

Huge Relief

It's a little sad, but at the same time, such a relief: Mike Timlin didn't make the ALDS roster. Potential disaster averted.

Josh Beckett looks FINE to me!

boston.com has a whole slideshow of rally pics

Josh Beckett Has Oblique Strain, Wall Street Panics

Okay, so one has little to do with the other, but it's definitely a day for panic. The good news is that our new ACE, Jon Lester, won AL Pitcher of the Month for September, proving that he's THE man to have on the mound in game 1. Sorry, I have to keep telling myself that, to try to avoid panic....

Because it's just too funny not to post...

and here I thought Giambi's stache was bad!

Because we could all use something to smile about

Chad Finn, at Touching All The Bases did a nice tribute to pitchers who've been around for a, well, since the mullet. He was kind enough to give us the above photo of Tim Wakefield with his MULLET!! lovelovelove it! =)

Talking myself off the ledge...

Apparently, Josh Beckett has an injured oblique. Yup, 3 days before the playoffs start, our Ace goes down..........

It's okay. Lester really is our ace. I mean, he's been the stopper all season. His season, and his record, were much better than Beckett's. So it's okay that Beckett won't start game one. Yeah, it's okay. Isn't it????

I should have seen it coming, really. I mean the Sox were extra cagey about the playoff rotation. When Francona fessed up to Beckett's oblique injury in last night's press conference, he did so with extraordinary reluctance -- as if news of this nature might send Red Sox Nation into a panicked frenzy, in the same way that a bank closure sends Wall Street spiraling.

I'm confident Beckett will be ready as promised in Game 3. A part of me thinks a sudden injury is a perfect excuse to get the rotation in order by their numbers and not by their reputation. I mean, if you base the rotation strictly on this season's numbers, Dice-K (18-3) is our guy. Since he can't play in the rain, he's not on track to start Wednesday, so we go with our number two guy, Lester (16-6), followed by Matsuzaka, followed by Beckett (12-10).

Handling Red Sox Nation is like handling a delicate political campaign. Beckett's injury allows Francona to explain away his rotation without taking responsibility. Especially after the rainy debacle that was Friday night, Francona is on unsteady ground. I try not to question the man that has brought us 2 World Championships, but handing the Rays the division title on a silver platter care of David Pauley was not my idea of championship baseball. Maybe it was smart to keep our best off the soggy field and in the end, it didn't matter. But it did throw some ice water on my playoff fever. I couldn't even sit through it. Blessedly, mlb.tv came through and dropped my connection when it was only 15 to something. I didn't bother to refresh....

Now, without cable and blacked on on mlb.tv, I'm off to plot my post season viewing strategy..

WHERE'S WALLY?

Even more fun that I thought!

Since the re-signing of Mike Lowell sometime around Thanksgiving of 2007, I knew that the Red Sox would make the post-season in 2008. I didn't, however, think it'd be so damn hard. And never, did I imagine we'd be in second place to the Devil-less Rays. Oftentimes, I've felt this season was a disappointment -- the lack of run support for Beckett, the failure for Buchholz to adapt to the bigs, the struggles of the bullpen, Mike Timlin. The list could go on and on. It hasn't really felt like a season to celebrate. But now that I'm celebrating along with the rest of Red Sox Nation, I've realized what an achievement this season has really been. Yes, the Sox looked hard to beat going into spring training, but the current team is a completely different team than the one they started the season with -- no Manny, no Schilling, no Buchholz, no Lugo, no Drew, no Lowell. And many more spent time on the DL -- Big Papi, Josh Beckett, Sean Casey, David Aardsma, among others. With so many veteran's down and out, the young guys had to pick up the slack. With the pressure on, the young Sox put together amazing seasons-- Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Jon Lester, Jed Lowrie, and Jacoby Ellsbury. And consider the phenomenal season of Mike Timlin, the perfectly timed comeback of Okajima's arm and Big Papi's bat. Yes, there is definitely reason to celebrate...

It's been a rollercoaster over the past couple of weeks. Just when I would get my hopes up that the Sox can win the division, they were quickly dashed (with runners left on). I've come to realize that the Sox can indeed win without Manny Ramirez, but I'm not sure they can win without both Mike Lowell and JD Drew. David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis just simply don't come up often enough in the batting order to make that happen. Well, Mikey Lowell seemed to be feeling much better trotting around Fenway with his champagne bottles in hand. And JD Drew looked and felt good in batting practice. Whew. That teeny clip of Drew in BP was about as sweet an image as I'd seen in sometime and then I saw Big Papi with his party hat and goggles on. Good times.

Sox Songs

Thanks to Extra Bases for this lineup of songs (one for each starter in the lineup) by Desmond Reed that are very funny!

Ain't Karma A Bitch?

A long, long time ago, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays swept the Boston Red Sox at Tropicana Field. It was mid-season, but you wouldn't know it from the frenzy inside the often empty circus tent of a ballpark. Fans relished the win, waving brooms and ringing cowbells. Such celebrations are understood when major milestones are met -- when a team clinches a playoff berth, a division title, or wins a playoff series. But such celebrations midseason, during an ordinary series, are obnoxious and unsportsmanlike. But the icing on the cake in this one, was that the Rays' played "Sweet Caroline" after the final game of the sweep. They took it way too far. And with that bad karma, I was sure they had sealed their own fate. So I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for karma to come around and kick the Devil Rays in the ass. Finally, the day came...

After dropping 2 games to the flailing New York Yankees last weekend, the Rays pitching staff melted under the pressure when the Sox arrived at the Trop last night. The Sox hit more homeruns than I could count and made it clear that they are THE team to beat. In the end, the Sox finally moved into a tie for first place. Look, isn't that pretty??

Dave Grohl is really really funny

Thanks to Bill for pointing these out:

Dave Grohl and Will Ferrell duet:


Dave Grohl covers "Tiny Dancer":

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.

In case you missed it...

Comcast has the full video and of Papelbon, I mean, Cinco Ocho..

so good so good so good

September 9th

19 Games Remaining

AL East -0.5
AL Wildcard +7
Wildcard Magic # = 13

Bring It!

September 8th

20 Games Remaining

AL East -1.5
AL Wildcard +6.5
Wildcard Magic # = 14

September 2nd

25 games remaining

-5 AL East
+3 AL Wildcard

Wildcard Magic Number = 23

Games remaining vs TB = 6

September 1st

26 Games Left
-5.5 AL East
+2.5 AL Wildcard

BAL @ BOS
NYY @ TB
MIN @ TOR