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.