Hate to beat a dead horse, but this is a good article about Nomar.

In Oakland’s visit to Boston in July, Mr. Garciaparra approached the plate for the first time as a visiting player. The crowd roared, first for seconds, then minutes. Stunned, Mr. Garciaparra backed away from the plate and did a slow 360, taking time to acknowledge fans in every section of the ballpark. For those watching, it seemed a very real possibility that he might not be able to maintain his composure. “He was about as choked up as you can be on a baseball field,” said A’s third baseman Adam Kennedy. It was, Mr. Garciaparra said, one of the greatest moments of his career.

I’m still very glad he got that reaction, and I’m even happier to see that he got some joy out of it.

I’m headed to 2 of the 3 games this weekend…my first trip to Fenway in 2009.  I can’t remember the last time my first trip was this late in the season…although things don’t look good for Saturday with this hurricane bearing down on the Northeast.

And I sure hope the Beckett we’ve seen the last 2 times out is an anomaly.

I suppose that the Sox could match up well in a short series with the Yanks if they got their pitching lined up just right (and their aces don’t suck)…but it’s still a tough call.

At least we know that Beckett is capable of sucking while throwing to Varitek; so there is no need to start Tek on a regular basis.

Trying out a different, integrated chat. We’ll see how it works out for a while; the Flashchat seemed broken.

And the Wordpress upgrade I just did screwed up that other theme (which I was starting to hate anyway), so I reverted back to this one.

And I’m in the process of reinstalling the last version of Flashchat that worked. Should be done this afternoon.

Yeah; mine wasn’t so hot either.

After travelling to Baltimore last weekend and witnessing the domination of the O’s, it was easy to come away feeling good about the Sox. 1/2 game back, swinging the bats well…at least ONE good starting performance…and here we sit one week later with the rug pulled out from under us.

The bright side, if there is indeed one, is that during this losing streak, a few of these games could have easily went either way. Also, we don’t have to ever see Smoltz pitch in a Sox uniform again.

In reality, we learned something we didn’t think possible after the first couple series with the Yankees. They are a far better team than the Red Sox in 2009. Not a single hole in their lineup, great 1-2-3 punch at the top of their rotation, and their bullpen is coming together nicely. And the Sox are moving in the opposite direction…the revolving door of suck that has been the SS position since 2005 continues to spin…Jason Bay has come back to earth in a BIG way…Ortiz has been not so good since the distraction of being named on that list…and after the first 2 starters, everything else is a crapshoot. Oh; and they got rid of one of their better bullpen arms for another bat.

I’m a Theo fan, but it is becoming painfully obvious that while he excels at the draft and player development…he’s had way more misses than hits when it comes to player acquisition.

So after what I’ve seen this weekend, I’m going to go right ahead and declare 2009 the battle for the wildcard for the Sox. And unless something dramatic happens in the next couple of months, I’m not too confident regarding the playoffs; even if they DO make it.

As the Sox are mired in the middle of a rough patch, I’m heading to Red Sox Nation (south) for the weekend to catch the games.

In other news, the NYT reports Ortiz and Manny both tested positive in 2003. If someone has a hold of this list of people who tested positive, why does it seem they are releasing one name at a time?

Personally, I’m tired of the steroid talk. Nobody seems to bring up the fact that until 2005, taking steroids was not a punishable offense.

For the first time in almost 5 years, Nomar Garciaparra sets foot on the Fenway field as a player tonight.

In my opinion, Nomar seems to be largely forgotten in Red Sox Nation (except for the mouth breathing douchebags…I’m looking at you, Boston Dirt Dogs…who still hold a grudge against him for some reason or another), and really underappreciated. Remember he was one of the ‘Big 3′ shortstops, and it seemed that he was going to end up second only to ARod? Now ARod isn’t a shortstop any longer (for that matter, neither is Nomar), and Jeter has definitely turned out to be a much better player. But for a few years with the Sox, Nomar was special.

I wish I could be there to give him an ovation tonight; I know I’ll make sure I’m watching for his first at-bat. I hope the true fans outrank the mouthbreathers tonight.

With regards to “Jeter made the great play while Nomar sulked” discussion….

1. Nobody remembers that in the same game, Pokey Reese made a superior play in just about the same spot.
2. Nobody remembers that the Sox tied the game in the 7th, and took the lead in the 13th; only to have Leskanic give up 2 runs in the bottom of the 13th.
3. With regards to number 1, the umpire signal here tells you all you need to know about Jeter’s superfluous dive. He’s signaling ‘fair ball’

Nice dispatch of the Yanks; hopefully they can use the broom again with the Phils today.

Maybe I should just post via Twitter…I could come up with 140 characters a day!

Gotta love home cookin’. The red-hot Blue Jays ran into the buzz saw that is the Red Sox at Fenway, and limp out only up 1/2 game. Sox pitching pretty good all the way around, and the hitters benefit from the fact that they didn’t face Halladay.

Jason Bay sure is making himself a ton of money for his next contract, eh?

I’m happy for Ortiz that he finally jacked one; but forgive me if I don’t declare him ‘back’ just yet.

Meanwhile, in the new launching pad in the Bronx, the Yanks remain red hot. Can they keep it up against good teams? We’ll see.

Holy crap. As a Manny lover, I feel like I was just punched in the gut. You knew a Sox name would have to come out eventually…but call me naive; I thought Manny was natural. Initial reports are that it is a banned GNC supplement; announcement to come later today.

The bright side is, Boras gets screwed out of a few bucks…

…be the place where Papi finally gets a dinger?

I’m not the only one who is really starting to worry about Ortiz, I assume?

Kind of a lost weekend in Tampa…lost in the suckitude that is Julio Lugo and Varitek’s arm is the fact that Penny pitched decent last night…I’ll take games like that one from the #5 starter every day and twice on Sunday.

For some reason, Flashchat was unbearably slow today. I’m testing out a new chat; you have to be logged in to use it. Click on ‘chat’ above to go to the room.

4/24 edit: old one seems fixed. Link is back if you refresh.