Month: April 2004

FURTHER EDIT: I’M GOING TO THE GAME!

EDIT: TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE TODAY AND TOMORROW. Today walk up only, tomorrow $44 Grandstand can be purchased through 617-482-4SOX

…goes to the Good Guys.

I’m sure that if you bounce around the internet for a bit, you can find out just how many times Fox referred to the ‘Curse’, or replayed Boone’s home run, or talked about how the Sox should be worried about Pedro. Personally, I didn’t keep track. They were more concerned with that stupid friggin’ ball cartoon working right. Hey; it’s 10:45 and Embree is in! Let’s have a cartoon explaining that a fastball is really fast, even though most kids are asleep and the rest of us are on our 5th beer! Ugh.

Anyway, to the game. Two things I didn’t hear the announcers mention was that Vasquez is Spanish for ‘Weaver’ (at least that’s the way it appeared in the first inning, he settled down OK), and that the Yank’s best shortstop is at 3rd base (after Jeter was eaten up by a ball in the first). Since Fox screwed up the audio, I could barely hear the chants of “ARod’s Better”.

PSF.com’s own Tim Wakefield was outstanding yet again. 7 strong innings of befuddling the best lineup money can buy. And having a sense of humor during his ‘in-game’ interview (Wakes with ice on his shoulder?? And is this the all-star game? In-game interviews?). When asked what he thought of the vaunted Yankee lineup, his first reply was “Well, I’m glad to see Aaron Boone isn’t in it.” With the aquisition of Schilling, and the thought of a Pedro/Curt/Lowe 1-2-3, I think Wakes has been almost forgotten by some…and could be a big factor this year. Especially as he is now between Pedro and Schilling.

So Round 2 today at 1. Schilling vs. Moose. Should be electric yet again…and thankfully I don’t have to listen to McCarver this time. Below you’ll see an image of the new statue unveiled outside Gate B yesterday…the Splendid Splinter giving his cap to a young Jimmy Fund patient. Very nice…

HE’S KILLING THE SOX THIS YEAR! WHO WANTED TO HIRE THIS MORON!

For those that need to ask; no, I’m not serious. There is no doubt that there are people who ARE, though…I heard them on the radio last weekend. And I bet they added a couple more to their ranks today.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who thought that they were fortunate to get the lead back in the 4th, and Pedro should have been lifted. In fact, 2 of the Sox fans watching the game with me felt that. Screw pride; no need to try to manufacture a vulture win for Pedro. Chalk it up as an off day (hopefully that’s all it is), and let the pen take it home.

So the Yanks are in town tonight. National game on Fox for those of you that are out of towners. Over/under on number of times Boone’s homer is shown by Fox, which was initially 7, jumped up to 9 when Wakes became the starter after a couple of rainouts. 7 of the 19 meetings between the teams occur in the next 11 days. A chance for one team to set the tone early…

I hope this doesn’t get me perma-banned for posting hockey-related material here. I thought this was just too good to be relegated to exile in the “Other” forum. (Plus, for some strange reason, I get an error message every time I try to start a new topic in the Forums. Must be all that hockeytalk…)

This is from Kevin Paul Dupont’s column in today’s Globe. Just substitute “baseball-sized interlocking NY” for “puck-sized CH” and “Grady Little drawling ‘that’s what got us here all season'” (Don Zimmer screaming “Bucky bleepin Dent!”? Johnny Mac muttering “bleepin’ blister”?) for the Don Cherry part and I think you’ll get the idea.

"It's not like you're down there thinking, `Oh, OK, here we go again,' the way maybe a fan would," said Lapointe. "You can't play that way, because if you did, you'd go nuts."

Here in the Hub of Hockey, nuts is not a place you go. Nuts is home. Nuts is a place you've been, and you've come back, and you feel the urge to go again and again. Nuts is a padded white room, dotted with puck-sized CH crests, and a video screen that plays an endless loop of a befuddled, incredulous Don Cherry mouthing the words, "Too many men . . . "

Full article here

From this morning’s Hartford Courant:

The additional visibility from setting foot on the biggest stage in sports could only help Jim Calhoun's efforts to recruit players from New York City.

That didn't matter to the UConn men's basketball coach.

The Yankees wanted Calhoun to throw out the first pitch at an upcoming game. But as a lifelong Red Sox fan who grew up in Braintree, Mass., the coach of the national champions didn't want anything to do with the Evil Empire.

"No chance," Calhoun, 61, said Wednesday. "Sixty years of torment is enough."

Calhoun was more than happy to accept the Red Sox's invitation to throw out the first pitch Monday before the Patriots Day game against the Yankees at Fenway Park.

According to sources, Calhoun said something to the effect of, it would be "over my dead body" the day he throws out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium.HEUSCHKEL

So evidently I was way off regarding the Rainout Rotation. This is what it is going to be:

1. TON Pedro
2. FRI Wakes
3. SAT Schilling
4. SUN Lowe
5. MON Arroyo

So while Pedro misses the Yanks at Fenway, that means that the Yanks face Lowe, Arroyo, Pedro in the series in NY. Again, why the Sox play 30% of their AL East schedule in April is beyond me…

Well, that solves the controversy of Pedro not facing the Yankees this weekend, I’d guess….

Tuesday’s game is rained out, and if the weather does what they say it is going to do, it doesn’t look good for tomorrow. So what does that do to the rotation? According to Francona:

GAME TOMORROW

1. WED Lowe
2. THU Pedro
3. FRI Wakes
4. SAT Schilling
5. SUN Arroyo
6. MON Lowe

NO GAME TOMORROW(and this is a pure guess on my part)

1. THU Lowe (can’t give him TOO much rest)
2. FRI Pedro
3. SAT Schilling
4. SUN Wakes
5. MON Arroyo

Of course, this all depends if they plan on making Thursday a doubleheader…so I guess I have no idea. Frankly, I’d prefer a rainout so that Pedro/Schilling/Lowe all face the Yanks…but then Pedro and Schilling would BOTH miss the series @ NY. On the other hand; do we need to be reshuffling the rotation in April??

So my first visit to Fenway in 2004…I only noticed a couple of little changes.

1. The RF table/seats look like they have been there forever.
2. The Polaroid ad that you can see in the PSF.com banner is gone. It is now a video scoreboard. A nice one, too.
3. The HOOD bottle is gone.
4. The old Jimmy Fund billboard is also gone, replaced by a big shiny Bud sign. Kind of a shame.
5. I couldn’t find where it was sold, but I saw a couple of dudes with Guinness. There seemed to be an increased beer selection.
6. The crummy beers went from $4.95 to $5.50, but the cups went from 12oz to 16oz

I didn’t get there early enough to see if they made any Yawkey Way changes, and I didn’t see the new concourse in LF. I will check that out next time.

That’s two nice Easter games in a row, eh? Schilling looked very good (he gave up his last 2 runs while I was eating dinner, but he looked good when I got back…), the pen holds on, and some offensive squanders and Bobby Jones are pushed to the back of our minds by one David Ortiz.

We had a great time at the game last night…nice quick game, good result, and not nearly as cold as I thought it was going to be. I’ll put up more details regarding my first trip to Fenway this year when I’m not so exhausted.

No, not of the Sox. Yeah; tough to give that one away. And I know they aren’t using it as an excuse…but not sleeping at all the night before had to have been a factor.

No; I’m ashamed of being associated with Red Sox ‘fans’.

Garciaparra received a loud ovation during player introductions. Bobby Jones, who walked in the winning run Thursday night, was soundly booed and Pedro Martinez received a smattering of jeers. HEUSCHKEL NOTES

I thought that’s what I heard on TV, but I couldn’t believe it. The way some ‘fans’ view Pedro, you’d think he was Public Enemy #1 instead of arguably the best pitcher to take the mound over the past…um…ever? (when I say ‘arguably’, I mean an argument can be made, I’m not declaring Pedro the best pitcher ever.) Shame on you people that booed ANYBODY on Opening Day, especially the most consistantly dominant pitcher to ever play for the Red Sox.

I will be attending the game tonight with psf.commer Fanatic, and I’ll be sure to cheer for Pedro no matter what happens tonight.

And now, for the Sox home opener…

Unfortunately for them, after last night’s marathon, the Sox had plane trouble and landed in Boston around 7 this morning. Ouch. I didn’t see the whole game; I listened to the last several innings while playing cards…got a couple Joe/Jerry moments that turned out to be nothing. Oh, well. At least I had a good night at the poker table!

You’ll notice a couple of navigational changes here…I’ve added automatically updating ProJo Sox links (Courant doesn’t have them), and ESPN MLB links.

Short and sweet today; I haven’t anything else to offer. Of course, some might say that about EVERY post!

When I finally DID find the game last night, it was well over. I had it on the radio and heard the big inning, so I guess it wasn’t a big deal that I missed most of the game. It’s just the principle of the thing; you know?

Anyway, a solid outing by Lowe, the bats come alive, and except for the homer in his first pitch as a Red Sox, Bobby Jones didn’t look too bad for his innings. Mendoza comes out to clean it up, a job he should be relegated to all season unless he proves he can do otherwise.

The Caveman had a helluva game, going 5-5 and making a great catch to steal away a home run. Was he inspired by the forearm shiver he gave to Millar the other day?

"I think it made me look good," Damon said. "I was able to withstand a hit. Millar's not a small guy. To be able to stand on top of him like there's a Thrilla in Manilla, it felt good. It boosted my confidence a little."HEUSCHKEL

Millar isn’t a fan of Damon’s hair.

Millar, who has a scar on the bridge of his nose from the collision with Johnny Damon on Tuesday, said he felt a little stiff but not enough to keep him out of the lineup.

"I'm telling you, he needs to cut his hair so he can hear," Millar said. "His hair is hanging over his ears. I was like, `I got it!' and he can't hear."HEUSCHKEL NOTEBOOK

PSSST: Kevin…everybody knows the centerfielder has dibs!

Wakes goes tonight to close out the Camden trip, and then Fenway Opening Day tomorrow. Supposed to be FREEZING for Pedro’s Saturday night start. Oh, well. If I survived the Pats/Titans game, I can survive ANYTHING.

I hope they get swept. They suck.

That is all.

EDIT: Found the alternate channel. Screw ’em anyway.