I got a real kick out of the opening of the game. I just loved the Japanese pronunciations of the American names. I can only imagine how awful our pronunciation of Dice-K sounds to them. I especially like JACOB-E and BOOOOOOOOK-HOLZ. Laughs. The video is too dicey (pun intended) to show you the hat ceremony, but the teams traded hats and the Sox seemed genuinely excited about their new pieces of memorabilia.
And Sweet Caroline made the trip across the ocean...
Look how intense the crowds are -- and how bad Snyder's wild pitch is!
Pedroia stuck out. Youkilis struck out. I began to think it was going to be a surprisingly tough game. I also realized I have embarrassingly little knowledge of the metric system... And then David Ortiz hit a nice, easy homerun. Here is his at-bat. Enjoy the commentary ;) Big Papi's homer was followed by a couple of basehits and then a 3 run homerun by JD Drew. Man, it is nice to see Drew swing like this. Good times to come... I started to think this might go like those college games...
Wow! What a culture shock trip just to watch the Red Sox game last night. Mlb.com carried it live. The coverage began without announcers and just filmed the opening ceremonies and national anthems without commercial breaks. There was a lot of camera time for Dice-K, of course. Eventually the game began. And it wasn't until then that I realized that there were no announcers. I thought it was odd that mlb.com didn't send their boys but whatever. Then suddenly men begin what seems like yelling in Japanese. OMG! The announcers are Japanese! I don't know why it came as a surprise to me, but it sure as heck did. How funny to hear their commentary but not understand a single word. I realized how much I depend on the commentator to keep reminding me of the count and the outs. The Japanese men didn't use a score line on the screen except for every once in a while. OH and they don't have commercials at all. Well, maybe they do in Japan, but none were shown. So the men stopped talking at the 3rd out and the cameras just scanned the players and scoreboard until the next inning started and the men suddenly started talking again. Very entertaining! Because of the late hour and the long innings, I only got half way through the game. It was highlighted by Papi's first inning homer and Drew's 3 run homer. Drew is going to have a fantastic year, I'm sure! Buchholz had a great 1st inning but failed to impress after that. I'll have video clips later, after I finish the game....
The Red Sox held a two run lead right up until Eric Gagne gave it away (yet again) in the 8th inning. The lead gave Julian Tavarez a chance to catch some Zzzzzs out in the pen...
I swore off Dancing With The Stars many, many nights, but always came back again to see the very hot Maks shake his stuff. But this season he is suspiciously absent! You can imagine my horror when the lineups were announced and Maks was nowhere to be found.. I did some research and according to ET, Maks is sick of losing and taking a break. Hopefully he will cameo and be back next year...
The Sox broke up the band. They released Doug Mirabelli this morning from spring training, leaving Wakefield without a battery mate. Apparently they've forgotten the great Mirabelli trade back of 2006...
No, he's not back on the mound just yet, but the foul-mouthed, eye rolling, media hating Ace that we all know and love is back! There has been much speculation over the past month that the 2008 model of Josh Beckett is a kinder, gentler, chubbier, and more media friendly than last year's version. But yesterday's press conference brought out the real Beckett. The word started spinning again... Here's the transcript for Extra Bases.
"Today wasn't as good as yesterday. We'll just have to wait and see I guess. Doctors told me yesterday that there was a possibility I'd come in and feel like I do today so as far as that goes, the doctors were right.''
Why was that, Josh?
"I'm not a doctor, I don't know.''
Did it happen because of looseness of mound dirt Saturday?
"I'm not going to get into the blame thing, Everybody's doing their job. Nobody's job is any easier than anybody else's. I'm not getting into that.''
Was there a mis-step on the mound Saturday?
"I'm not getting into that. It's nobody's fault. It's something that happens.''
It looks pretty doubtful for you to pitch in Japan.
"I don't know. We'll make those decisions as they come.''
Realistically, two weeks from today they open, you haven't faced big-league hitters yet, can you be ready by the 24th?
"I don't know. If I'd had as much progress from yesterday to today as I did from the first day to the second day, I wouldn't have ruled that out. Today I'm just holding up my obligation (to talk to media). It probably would have been better to talk to you guys yesterday because I was a little more optimistic. I'm in a pretty crappy mood as far as this thing goes because it was a pretty frustrating day because yesterday was good and today's kind of horse(bleep).''
Lower back?
''Yes."
Any discussion about an injection to reduce inflammation?
"No. I kicked around some of those ideas because it's a tough time in spring training, trying to get everything going. You don't really want setbacks this time of year. They basically told me that they couldn't find a spot to put the shot in there.''
Did they discuss that maybe putting you on a plane for 17 hours (to Japan) might not be wise because of your back?
"No. We haven't discussed any of that. We're just doing what we're saying, going day to day on how I feel. I pretty much have an interview with two or three doctors every day and report to the manager and pitching coach and my trainer."
Have you had an MRI?
"Yes. We've done a number of tests. There's nothing wrong with the disks, and I think that's what they wanted to make sure of. It's definitely a strained muscle or pulled muscle, whatever you want to call it. It heals when it heals.''
Have you had anything like this?
"No. Not like this.''
Back issues before?
''No.''
Any idea when you'll be healthy?
''No, I have no idea.''
Can you look far enough ahead to know the next time you can be on a mound?
''No. We're going to make sure it's completely pain free. I can't even really if laying in one position too long, or sitting in one position too long or standing in one position too long it kind of goes backwards. I've got to keep moving and stuff like that.''
What do you do tomorrow?
"Whatever they want me to do. Probably the same as what today was.''
Did it respond to treatment? As you're standing here right now, is it feeling better?
"It's kind of numb right now. I've had six or seven icepacks on it this morning.''
"I was a lot more optimistic yesterday than I am today. A lot of that has to do with being in a (expletive) mood because I didn't sleep well.''
On a crazy day, when Coco Crisp got run over by a moose, David Ortiz stole a base, Mirabelli was MIA when he should have been warming up Josh Beckett while Tek got his gear back on, and Dustin Pedroia pinch hit for Big Papi, the highlight was Josh Beckett. He stuck out nine, but stole the show with this awesome pick-off:
Do you think if he were born with straight brown hair, he'd be such a clown? The only thing I like about ESPN is the in-dugout interviews. Nothing like live dugout action to liven up a dull game. During yesterday's depressing loss to the Dodgers, ESPN had Kielty's name scrolling across the screen over and over, listed as a Red Sox departure. Kielty had to prove he was in the house by disrupting Ellsbury's interview. I really hope the Sox resign Kielty and I hope that he grows his hair longer and bigger ;)Here's the video of Ellsbury's interview:
August 2007 Safeco Park, Seattle, WA Manny put his head down and ran the bases like the devil himself was chasing him. He looked up to find Kevin Youkilis on the same bag. Ooops... The next night he took quite a dramatic lead off first. Check it..
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.
It's good to have baseball back! Friday night's game brought back Don and Jerry and kicked off baseball for 2008. The first few innings looked like a Red Sox game. The rest looked like a minor league game, full of unfamiliar faces and names. It became hard to cheer correctly. I had to keep reminding myself to cheer for the men in blue. Why are they wearing blue shirts with red socks? It's not a good fashion statement... And there was Tito all wrapped up in a big blue jacket, carefully following the new rule that managers can no longer wear "nightshirts". The highlight of the game, for me, was not actually the game, but a look back at Sox Appeal. Nothing is funnier than when Don and Jerry get giggling...
The Sox won Friday night's game against the Twins with relative ease (8-3). Dice-K and Oki had very nice outings. Saturday's afternoon victory wasn't quite as smooth. A healthy Lester struggled to find the plate and a crazy Papelbon forgot his jersey. Luckily the Sox always keep extra jerseys for Manny on hand, since Manny is, well, Manny...So Pap got to be Manny for the night..
"I could feel the dreadlocks flowing, I just forgot my jersey and sure enough, they seem to always have an extra Manny jersey laying around here due to the circumstances."
Papelbon likely had a lot on his mind, as later that night he was to compete in Mike Lowell's Dancing with the All Stars charity event. Despite the distraction, Paps was perfect on the mound. On the dance floor, I can only imagine...
NECN.com is my new favorite website! Yesterday, they had that nice Beckett interview and today they have video of the Sox visiting the White House. Here's a Bush speech that I actually enjoyed... and look! There's Cheney! And he's not propped up...
Yup, it was the trade deadline and Kason Gabbard said goodbye and the Sox welcomed Eric Gagne. Look how excited everyone was:
It was not a good game for Josh Beckett. He gave up a homerun on the first pitch of the game. Not a good sign-- he did improve thereafter, but had a tough 3rd inning, and beat up a cooler afterwards. He can be a little scary:
The highlight of the game, for me, was Tek throwing out a runner at third for a third out. Those Orioles were running on him constantly, but he got them in the end:
"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
