McSteamy

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Manny Being Manny

The highlight from yesterday's disaster of an outing in Baltimore was clearly Manny's crazy catch and assist. Manny made an out-stretched catch just shy of the wall, ran up the wall and high-fived a Sox fan, ran down the wall, and fired to the infield in time to get the runner who had to go back to first to tag. Lovelovelove when Manny plays defense!

I am someone

After a lifetime of trying to define myself, I've finally got it!

I am Doug Mirabelli's cousin's yoga teacher.

I just recently figured that out and deeply regret not figuring it out back when Belli was still on the team. Nonetheless, I am proud!

Spiraling out of control...

Casey and Cora came back this weekend and it looked like the team was whole again for the first time since I can't even remember when. But they had to let Julian Tavarez go, to fit Casey and Cora back on the roster. Tavarez no doubt put a crazy voodoo curse on the team. Just look at the evidence:

• Lugo's concussion


• Jacoby's bruised knee


• Francona's mother in law died


• JD Drew's sprained wrist


• Coco's upset stomach


• Youk in right field -- seriously, can anything good come of that?


• Buchholz' broken fingernail


• Big Papi's ejection


• Beckett's win-loss record


• THE RAYS IN FIRST PLACE

Seriously? Poor Brad Mills got way more than he bargained for, huh? Did I mention that Youk played right field? All I can say is that I can't wait for the boys to get back to Boston and put this road trip behind them. And I can't wait for a NESN game. I seriously can't take anymore talk about AJ Drew, Joey Cora, and Dustin Pedroia's bruised knee from bunting.

498

Manny's right on track to hit the big 500 on the next homestand...Here's 498:

While I'm celebrating Manny, I thought I'd share these pictures of Manny hanging out in the scoreboard during the Angels game a couple of weeks ago.

The Bullpen Band

Some nice footage of the bullpen band courtesy of NESN:

Big Papi Loves Live TV

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

It's The End of An Era

The Red Sox have designated Julian Tavarez for assignment. It looks like they are trying to trade him to the Rockies. Either way, it's the end of an era. As much as he drove me nuts, I'm really gonna miss the crazy fellow! For old times sake, here's Manny petting Julian...

Masterson Walks the Walk

and so does Don..

The Fenway Flu

During the height of the Red Sox battle against the cold and flu season, I went to Fenway and came home with the flu! Coincidence? I think not! They lost that game against the Angels, but it was still great fun to be back at Fenway.

We got there in time to watch some batting practice
and Mike Timlin shag fly balls. Ortiz hit a bunch of balls out to us, which gave me a new appreciation for outfielders. The balls simply disappeared in the bright blue sky. I had to duck.
Julian Tavarez spent the entire batting practice talking at Oki and his translator. I'm pretty sure Oki doesn't understand a word Julian says. Luckily no fly balls hit the back of Julian's head.
Parlay the Parrot was safe and sound in the bullpen.
The Red Chair
It was supposed to be a Jon Lester game, but the flu wrecked havoc on the rotation. As a result, Justin Masterson was called up from AA and I got to see his outstanding Major League debut.
Luckily, Wally didn't get the flu...The pirates make their way to the pen. Most of them were affected by the flu, which was evident when they went on to lose the game for the rookie pitcher.
and about 5 minutes later, Julian Tavarez made his way to the pen. Someone forgot to wake him.
One of the highlights of the game was Big Papi's 2 run homer in the 9th. It was too little too late for the Sox, but slump busting for Big Papi.
The other highlight was definitely the great debut of the young Masterson.
The hawk even made an appearance.
It was good to see the new World Series flag flying high!Outside after the game, President and CEO, Larry Lucchino, was walking around like a mere mortal, talking to vendors.

497 = 427

Finally, Manny busted his homerun slump and is back on track toward #500...

Boys will be boys...

Lots of antics over the weekend at Fenway Park... Clip one is Lester harrassing the robotic dugout camera. You know you're in trouble when your young pitcher is trying to emulate your bad boy ace and your rookie pitcher, in turn, emulates your young pitcher. Luckily, Lester has better aim with a baseball than with sunflower seeds.

And Jerry Remy was in fine form when he got a new cellphone from NESN.

And Julio Lugo wound up in left field!
And somehow, through it all, the Sox have found themselves back on top...

Beckett Demands to be Traded

According to the Boston Herald, the Sox Ace demands to be dealt unless the players' ice cream machine is returned

Curse This, Big Papi!

Big Papi came out of his slump with a slam:

The infamous jersey

The one unearthed from Yankee Stadium is on ebay for a mere $33,100. Bid now!

I heart Sean Casey

The best thing the Sox did in the off-season was acquiring Sean Casey to play backup...Not only is he awesome, but he's hella funny, too...

Crazy in the clutch: BOS 5 - CLE 3

Well, Jason Varitek pinch hit the go-ahead run and just about won baseball boyfriend of the day, but at the very last second Jacoby Ellsbury made this crazy foul ball catch in the stands. It looks even crazier in the replay as you can see his legs flailing about. The best is he comes up all attitude like he's bad-ass. Silly rookie ;) I love him!

Ortiz jersey unearthed and so is his bat....

David Ortiz has never been in a bigger slump than he has so far this season. So on Sunday, Ortiz sat on the bench while his team played the Yankees and his jersey was dug of the new Yankee Stadium. On Monday, Ortiz and his jersery were back in the lineup and Big Papi got TWO hits! Coincidence? I think not! The curse of the jersey wasn't on the Yankees but on Ortiz. Now, with the curse lifted, we can look forward to many homeruns to come!

Whose line is it, anyway?

IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
2.2	2 0	0	0	0	4	0

Can you guess whose line that is? Oki? MannyD? Nope!! It belongs to this nutcase:

And his partner in crime hit a game winning homerun, they are definitely my collective player of the game...

The come-from-behind 9th inning was phenomenal. It had it all -- great base running, bunting, Ortiz hitting!!!, and Manny's homerun. I couldn't pick a clip of the day so here's the whole half inning (up until the pitching change)...

And Manny actually spoke to the press about it. Well, "spoke to the press about it" might be an exaggeration. But he did stand in front of the mic looking just slightly less annoyed than Josh Beckett. His answers are, of course, unintentionally hilarious.

Yankees not taking any chances

In an attempt to curse the New York Yankees, a Red Sox fan on the construction crew of the new Yankee Stadium buried an Ortiz jersey in the concrete of the new stadium. At first the Yankee management thought it was a joke, but upon realizing it was true, promptly dug it up. It took laborers 5 hours of overtime to collect the jersey. And I thought only Red Sox fans believed in curses.