Heads Held High

Kyle Snyder Photo by Kelly O'Connor

So a Shelley freaking Duncan home run in the 10th inning ends the season for the PawSox.  Puts a bit of a damper on the fabulous day that was the Red Sox winning their series against the Rangers, the Yankees losing their series and the Rays getting swept.  I’m thrilled that the Red Sox are creeping up on the Rays and pushing the Yankees down.  But for a little while I’m going to wallow in being bummed for the boys in Pawtucket.

The PawSox had a fabulous season.  Losing in the first round of the playoffs doesn’t change that.  These guys should be so proud of themselves, regardless of how things ended.  It’s easy for me to write that, I know, but I mean it.  And I hope they all know that their fans are proud of all they accomplished this year.

The highlight of the game today was Bartolo Colon’s pitching.  He went 7.2 innings, threw 84 pitches (and was only pulled because of a pitch count), struck out three and only gave up 2 hits.  He was amazing.

The 40-man roster has my head spinning but the least I know is the chances of Kyle getting moved to it are slim.  (Although, me being me, I still hold out hope.)  If Friday night was the last time Kyle plays this year, at least he can enjoy the off-season knowing how well he bounced back from an injury-plagued season.  I believe next season will see Kyle back in MLB.  My hope is that he’s with the Red Sox, of course, but if that isn’t meant to be, maybe he’ll get picked up by an East Coast team that I might be able to go see a game or two.  (At the very least, MLB.tv and Extra Innings will help me keep up to date – much like this year, technology loves baseball fans!)  So, good luck to Kyle, with however things work out.  If it’s the end of his season, I hope he gets to head home and actually ENJOY the off-season.  No injuries, no wondering where he’s going.  Just fun and rest.

Rays are in town this week and I’ll be at the Tuesday and Wednesday games.  How sweet would a sweep for the Sox be, huh?

Sundays come too soon

I have no idea where this Tom Brady photo came from...I just figured some beefcake was appropriate for the start of football season!

This weekend has gone by much more quickly than I would prefer – but what are you going to do?  Last night was suckorama for Red Sox fans.  No PawSox game, Wake and the Red Sox getting their hats handed to them…I choose to focus on the fact that the BoSox lost no ground in the division.  So we scrape last  night off the bottom of our shoes and we move on to today.

I’d love to say that the 1pm Pats game will fill the void until the 3pm Sox game…but that would be a lie.  Sure, I want the Pats to win but September is still my baseball time.  Once the post-season ends (even if the Sox aren’t in it, October is dedicated, mostly for me, to baseball) I can focus on caring about whether or not the Pats are winning.  Although, in my first season playing Fantasy Football, I admit to being a little giddy that I have Eli Manning and Plaxico Burress on my team, thus giving me what will probably be the only lead I have all season in the league!

As a kind of wrap-up of the Taylor Family story…Tru will be on WRKO radio tonight with Kevin Whalen to talk about what happened at Fenway and how the family is doing.    It’s on at 9:30 tonight and folks can call in with questions if they like.   You can click here and listen live if you don’t get RKO in your area.  Here’s where I really do have to send out another “thank you” to Stan Grossfeld because interest in the family and their well-being has just increased with the publishing of his story.  I hope the good karma comes back to him!

Paul Byrd on the mound today in the rubber game.  I want the Sox to win (obviously) because I want them to continue winning each series they’re in (especially with the Rays coming to town this week).  I still don’t have blind faith in Byrd, but, hell, I certainly want him to help the team win.

PawSox at 5pm in a make or break game.  They win and they live to play another game…they lose and the Red Sox can start picking from the roster, if they want, with no concerns about the playoffs because the PawSox will be out of it.  Bartolo Colon takes the mound against Philip Hughes.  You can listen to it OR watch it live through milb.com (or do what KellyO and I do and watch it without the sound on and listen to the PawSox dudes’ radio broadcast!).  Good luck, fellas!  With any luck, the postponed game will give Kyle another opportunity to pitch and his season won’t be over just yet!

It’s a beautiful, sunny day here today…I hope everyone reading this has toughed out the the bad weather and has a great day to enjoy!

It’s just a coincidence that he’s a pitcher – I swear!

Chris Smith Photo by Kelly O'Connor

Continuing my unintentional focus on the pitchers of the world…

Yesterday, the Red Sox called Chris Smith back up to the team. (Remember Chris? He suffered in the bullpen during his first call up this year, which happened to be the night of Crabcake’s no-hitter.) We lose a starter and gain a relief pitcher. Unless, of course, the think they’ll get Smith a start – nah the schedule is such that if Beckett can make his next start, the team won’t need a fifth starter just yet. (Colon is scheduled for at LEAST one more start with Pawtucket.)

Which means the boys in the rotation better get their acts together. (Yes, Paul Byrd, I’m looking at you. Mostly because you’re starting tonight but partially because I’m still annoyed that you’re on this team.)

But back to Pawtucket for a moment. The magic number to clinch a playoff start spot (“start”?  WTF?) is now “1″. Woo!

Of course, come the first of September, Theo and Tito are going to pull all the best players and the PawSox will probably get knocked out in the first round. (I kid. I hope.)

I Heart Pawtucket

 (Edited to fix all the errors, hopefully!  That’s what happens when I post while 0ver-tired!)

Photo of Kyle from today – Taken by me

What a fabulous day! Out of the house at 7, back at 7 and in between was one terrific game! A great way to spend the day.

I have a sunburn on my nose (ah, THAT’S attractive!) but that’s the only bad thing I can say about the day.

SIX Pawtucket homeruns. Six. It was ridiculous. (But quite entertaining!) Charlie Zink was, once again, ON. I enjoy watching him pitch. He has a compelling story and I really hope he does well.

So, thanks to Charlie and a ton of offense, the PawSox crushed the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees. Jeff Karstens started for the Yankees. (Last time KellyO and I saw Karstens in person, Julio Lugo was breaking his leg and we ended the night meeting Kyle Snyder!) No broken leg this time, but he probably wishes he had just stayed in bed. 11-5 was the final score. Well done, fellas!

AAA

(Photo lifted from the PawSox website) 

If you’re home today and hankering for some baseball (BoSox don’t play until 10:10pm EST), NESN is airing this afternoon’s PawSox game live!

So at 1:05pm, you’ll get to see how Charlie Zink and the rest of the team looks against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees.

Bartolo Colon is on the mound for the Sox tonight. Might be worth staying up for!

Have a great day, folks!

Oh Petey

I remember the days before 2003 well. When we, as fans, wondered why the owners and GM didn’t know that you needed pitching to win it all. That pitching was what would get you to the finish line. That Pedro Martinez couldn’t do everything for the team his damn self.

Well, we got new owners and we got pitching and we got two (so far) World Championships.

Watching the past few games (six wins in a row, baby!) and seeing how our pitchers are stepping up (I am totally willing to cop to not being thrilled about the Colon pickup. I still have some concerns, but he AND the bullpen certainly came through last night!) makes me very hopeful for the rest of this season. And got me to thinking about Pedro.

I’m convinced we’ll never see anyone like Pedro with the team ever again. Not just his loose ways in the dugout when he wasn’t pitching, but, more importantly, the way he pitched. And the reaction Pedro on the mound garnered from the fans. If you weren’t fortunate enough to ever see Pedro pitch while he was on the Red Sox, you certainly missed out. I was lucky enough to have been there live for a good lot of his games and it’s almost indescribable what the place was like. It was a rock concert. Every time he stepped out to take the mound, it was as if Elvis was in front of us.

I got to take my dad to at least three Pedro-pitched games, and he still talks about them. Some days I forget what I wore to work the day before, but I remember almost every moment of each Pedro game. Even in the days when you could get good tickets the same week, hell the same DAY as a game at the box office with no trouble, getting tickets for a Pedro game was tough. There was a buzz through the park from the minute people entered until we were walking out at the end of the game.

Rockin’ Rookies

Photo of Justin Masterson taken by me – January 2008

Following Lester’s amazing performance on Monday night, Justin Masterson comes in and pitches his second great game in MLB (and gets his first win!). Congratulations to Justin! I’m very happy for him. I was also getting concerned that the bullpen was going to cough up his lead and get him a no-decision the way they did the first time.No such bad luck. They tried, but Jonathan Papelbon would have none of it.Honestly. How much do you love watching these young guys play?

And, turns out I was right, Tito announced post-game that Justin is going to Pawtucket. It’s going to get a little crowded down there. So, selfishly, my thoughts are with Kyle. He was pitching really well before he got hurt; I want him to have a chance to keep that up. (And I’ve heard nothing about Kyle. Wonder if he IS coming off the DL this week?) EDITED TO ADD: We can also put Julian Tavarez on the list of pitchers in Pawtucket as he accepted his assignment. I honestly didn’t see that one coming.  (Although, I guess it was the smart thing to do for him so he can keep collecting his $$$ until they trade him.)

Wednesday we get Bartolo Colon. I can honestly say I’m a little concerned. Here’s hoping I’m wrong.

A good five games in a row for Sox fans. (Capped off by the Yankees getting stomped to pieces by the Orioles!)

It doesn’t suck around these parts right now.

Three and Three

Nothing breaks a losing streak like interleague play (At least for the Red Sox. Sorry Yankees.) So after a three-game sweep, we have the Kansas City Royals in town for three and our starting rotation:

Crabcakes

Justin Masterson

Bartolo Colon

I might have to watch each of these games with my hands covering my eyes.

I kid, I kid. In spite of how poorly he’s doing in Portland right now, I’m excited about Masterson’s return to Fenway. Lester has been pitching well and Colon was pitching well in Pawtucket (Colon’s, though, is a small SMALL sample size and he makes me worry).

Kyle Snyder’s old team is in town and I’m reminded, yet again, that Kyle isn’t on the team any more. I still have hopes that he’ll make his way back up for good, eventually, this season. First he has to get that groin healed up. PVs Kyle!

More photos I took on Saturday. Sad Javier Lopez above. The bullpen band below.

Sunday Blahs

I decide to read the Boston Herald online this morning, only to be greeted with these three Sox-related headlines:

“Schilling feels like 3rd wheel“

“Colon has hungry look“

“Happy that he’s bad“

And, really, is there one in that bunch that I want to click on and read?

Do I want to read Rob Bradford (who I make no bones about adoring his writing) discuss Schill bitching because he feels left out?

Do I want to read Michael Silverman write about Bartolo Colon? Maybe. But the pun about being ‘hungry’ has turned me off already. I’m no fan of bringing Colon on board, but he’s here. Yes, we know he’s overweight. Wow, imagine that. A baseball player who is overweight! We’ve never seen one of THEM before, have we? Let’s refer to this in every inane way we know how until we’ve run out of ways to insult the man.

And there is NO way I want to read Silverman telling us that Jon Lester was happy with his performance yesterday because at least he’s healthy and the reason he sucked yesterday wasn’t because of illness or recovering from illness it was just because he sucked.

This is no way for a chick to wake up on a Sunday.