HOW Crappy was 2006?

I planned on writing about how much I enjoyed 2006, but truth be told, I didn’t.  Personally, it was a truly lousy year for me.  I touched upon some of it here (the deaths of people I love for example) but there is a lot that has been unwritten.  Suffice it to say, I’m truly looking forward to 2007.  So, with that in mind, I went through my posts from the past year and have come up with a list of the things related to baseball that made this year a bit stinky. 

(And you all thought I was Suzy Sunshine!)

Let me just mention, first, that ‘sistah’ Sox Cruiser wrote a wonderful post over at the Sox Sistahs blog about the GOOD parts of 2006 (Red Sox-related!).  I contributed there in the comments section.  Maybe I’ll put up a positive post too, but right now I’m so happy this year is ending I thought I’d give some reasons why!

January 2006 – Double Dose of suhk.  Not only did we spend January getting over Johnny being a Yankee…but, yet again, Jim Rice gets overlooked for the Hall of Fame.  I, sadly, sense more of the same coming in a week or two.

February 2006 – Curt Gowdy passed away, and JOHNNY JUST WOULDN"T SHUT UP!!!!!

March 2006 – Johnny Pesky fractured his ankle, the WBC ruined many a pitcher for the regular season,  Julian Tavarez acted all, well, Julian Tavarezy, but worst of all…well it can be summed up in six words:  Bronson Arroyo for Wily Mo Pena.  😦.  And, as you all know, I still haven’t gotten over it.

April 2006 – Josh Bard.  Josh freaking Bard.  Added to Wakefield’s woes?  NO freaking run support!!!  But most annoying, Sox fans starting the season BOOING their own damn team!  (And let us not forget – "Bonds on Bonds"!)

May 2006 – Getting rained out at my first Yankees/Sox game of the year!  Johnny Damon, yet again.  Mike Vaccaro, idiot extraordinaire.  Josh Beckett and his blister, er NOT a blister and Matt Clement…oh, Matty.

June 2006 – Good God why is Matt Clement still pitching??  Brett Myers, ladies man.  And, Jason Johnson.  Good Lord, Jason Johnson.  Peter Gammons was struck down, but bounced back, thankfully!

July 2006 – Ending the errorless streak.  The Devil Rays stomp all over the Sox.  AJ Pierzynski?  AJ PIERZYNSKI?????  19 innings is a long freaking time.  Three more years with "Haze".  Wake goes on the DL.  Oh Mike.  What the hell do I do without wireless access???  Did Mark Loretta get traded?  No, but Trot got injured and Matt Clement went on the 60-day disabled list.  What a lousy month!

August 2006 – Ugh, the Captain on the DL.  Oh, and you stay classy Yankees fans.  You too, Sox fans.  Rudy, Rudy, Rudy.  And, apparently, I had enough at this point.  Emily’s last day in Boston – not a good day.  The Red Sox try to kill Big Papi.  But in all seriousness, the worst hit was the one to Jon Lester.  Thankfully, that ended well.

September 2006 – "Um, am I being arrested?"  The best laid plans. "Do me, Lenny!", but please don’t pitch!  What, no basebrawl?

October 2006 – Aside from the Red Sox finishing in third place…the worst part of October baseball was saying goodbye to Trot.

Yes, on the whole there were wonderful parts of 2006 baseball, but a lot of crummy ones as well.  Here’s hoping the New Year brings a lot of BETTER times for Red Sox fans!

Happy New Year, folks!  Thanks for reading all year ’round, I really appreciate it!

Bring on 2007!

“The” List

Had a nice get-together with some of the ‘sistahs‘ yesterday.  We sat, overlooking the Green Monster and chatted about, among other things, baseball.  It was a great day.

Of course, the topic of ‘the list’ came up and we speculated, as it seems everyone is, on whose name could be on it.  I’m not naive enough (nor are my friends) to believe that the names of Red Sox players couldn’t be on the list of almost 100 players who tested positive for steroids.  In all probability, there’s a name from every team. 

I visited some baseball message boards over the past couple of days to see what the fans all think of this.  It’s interesting that just about every fan base except the Red Sox has fans who believe David Ortiz’ name will be on that list.  As I wrote, I’m not naive enough to think there will be NO Red Sox named, but Papi isn’t really where I was going with my list of possible players from Boston.  It’s funny that the fans seem to go straight to Ortiz just because he plays well, ignoring all the other factors that go into why someone should legitimately be suspected of using.

Of all the players I THINK could have tested positive for the Red Sox in 2003, only one is still on Boston’s roster this year.  That’s as much as I’ll say about my beliefs, since I think it is unfair to start an accusatory witch hunt on any players, not just the Red Sox.

Sidenote for those who will jump right on this:  Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield and Barry Bonds don’t fit the criteria as, one way or another, we’ve all been made aware that they HAVE used.

If it helps build a case against Bonds, I say it’s well worth it.  And if it helps keep Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada out of prison, they should step it up.

I’m guessing the names on the list will never be officially released to the public…that we’ll read about leaks and only find out about Bonds if he’s on it because of the case against him.  But I think it’s worth even finding out that players I like and respect are on this list if baseball is ever going to truly clean up its act.  And shame on the players’ union.  If they were even remotely serious about wanting to comply with the rules and wanting baseball cleaned up, they wouldn’t be appealing this decision. 

My sistah Dale said it best yesterday when she said she enjoyed baseball more when we just watched the games and cheered for our team.  With this ‘age of information’ upon us, we know far too much about these players.  It starts to **** the fun out of it.

Mish Mash

In the off-season, unless things are really cooking, I usually scan the Internet to see what’s going on during any given day to give me ideas on what to write.  So, I was saddened to find, over the course of doing this today, that President Ford passed away.  I vaguely remember Nixon as President (mostly I remember the end of his presidency), but I remember Ford.  I actually used to watch his addresses on television.  Didn’t know what was going on, but I figured if the President was on tv it was important enough to watch.  So I’m sad about his passing.  93 years is a long time, but never long enough for the people who love you.

On a happier note, I had to get in a ‘Happy Birthday’ to my mom.  Regular readers around here know she peeks her head in and comments every so often, and she even wrote her own entry here on Mother’s Day this year.  My mother and I are very close, as everyone who knows me knows, and her support in all of my wackiness over the years has been immeasurable.  Just wanted to get in a ‘happy birthday’ and "I love you, MD" to her!

January is coming more quickly than it should…but the beginning of the year brings on some fun for me.  Just found out I’ll be at the "Hot Stove, Cool Music" show on January 7th…and then the following week brings 2 Bronson Arroyo concerts.

I’m nothing, if not loyal, eh? 

I hope everyone had a great holiday…I’m enjoying my week off!  Today with my mother, tomorrow with my sistahs and Friday with Madison…it’s a full week of fun and relaxing that, I promise you, I really need!

Have a great day, folks!

You know you’re getting old when…

…you read that Jeff Suppan signed with the Brewers and your initial thought is "Why would he want to go back to the American League?".

It’s been that kind of week (month, really!).  I know perfectly well that the Brewers are now a National League team, but every so often my memory gets stuck in the early 90s, apparently.

Senility shouldn’t be settling in this early. 

Merry Christmas!

In my family, Christmas Eve is the big deal.  Christmas Day is nice, what with opening presents from under the tree (and from Santa!) and having dinner with more of the family, but Christmas Eve is when all the BIG cooking and baking gets done and when we get together for our Yankee Swap and gift exchange for the kids in the family.  In my town, a parade of emergency vehicles rides through the town Christmas Eve night and at the end of it is Santa on his sleigh.  It has become a tradition in my family for all of us, adults and children, to run outside and wait for Santa to show up…it’s something we all really look forward to and I can’t wait for it again tonight!  I’ll probably be sneaking in a midnight mass as well.  Something I haven’t done EVER.  December has been a crazy month for me, but tonight makes it all worthwhile. 

A little baseball talk before I sign off to finish wrapping presents and bake cookies.

If JD Drew doesn’t become a Red Sox player, I won’t be devastated.  I worry about his shoulder and about his body of glass so if Theo walks away from this train wreck, good for him!  On the other hand, I really believe if Drew can stay healthy, he’s a bat we really need in the lineup.  So, for me, the Drew situation is a win-win (until, of course, we sign him and he breaks his arm driving to the press conference).  Of course, all things considered, I’d still rather have Trot Nixon.

As happy as I am to have Dice-K on the team, and I am, I just can’t get into all this "mania" surrounding him.  I’m excited to see him pitch as anyone, but I’d like to see the media back off of him until spring training.  Give the kid some breathing space, folks!

According to Gordon Edes, the Red Sox received permission to start the Patriots Day game at 10:05am.  As insane as this sounds to some, if you’ve ever been to Fenway on Patriots Day, you know that this is a brilliant move and will cut down on pedestrian traffic.  I haven’t been to a game on Patriots Day since, I think, 2002, but it’s a fun day to be in Boston (and for those of us who work in Boston, it’s a day off!) and with the early start this year it will be even easier to leave the  game and check out the end of the Marathon.

And, finally, wanted to take this time to thank everyone who has come by the blog this year…I really appreciate the feedback and your visits! 

Merry Christmas to all my fellow MLBLoggers, all the folks who visit here and all my friends and relatives!

Here’s hoping Santa is good to us all!

Thinking of Jon Lester

Today, Jon gets his last chemo treatment.  It’s a special day and my thoughts and prayers are with him and all his family!

My ‘vacation’ has yet to start…one more morning of work and then I’m good. 🙂  Went to the Celtics game last night and, in spite of the score, it was a great time!

Have a great day, folks!

Merry Christmas, Bobby

Bobby Darin died on this day in 1973.  The title of the post is in reference to something silly and sentimental…an inside joke between someone else and the Red Sox Chick.  🙂 (Do you remember, MD?)

He’s still the coolest cat there was.

One more day and then ‘vacation’ for me, with some time to focus on the issues facing the Red Sox. 

Have a great day, folks!

Double-Duty

Okay, I’ve been crazy busy in my ‘real life’ so my apologies for not writing more here…but I’m on vacation until the new year after the office Christmas party on Wednesday, so I’ll be able to focus a little more over here.

For now, I once again link to an entry I’ve written over at the Sox Sistahs blog.  (There are certain subjects more appropriate for the Sistahs blog than for this one and this seemed to be one of them!). 

Oh and, by the way, thanks for the messages, folks!  If I haven’t responded, I promise I will by the end of the week!

Take care.

Phil Kessel

Because I feel that since this is an MLB blog, baseball is what I should be writing about, I don’t write about other sports often.  But I’m sitting at home writing out Christmas cards and I have NESN on because they’re about to being a press conference with Phil Kessel (and, according to NESN, his mom!!!!) and I think, given my activism where Jon Lester is concerned, it is worth mentioning.

For those of you not familiar with the name, Kessel is the 19 year-old rookie center for the Boston Bruins who had surgery for testicular cancer this week.

His doctor is speaking now.  He says the cancer hasn’t spread, the outcome is excellent and the likelihood of recurrence is low.  He also said that Phil should only need about two weeks’ rest before he can get back to playing.

I’m an old lady.  (I’m not…I’m 37, but there are many days I feel ‘old’.)  Watching this kid speak, I can’t get over how young he is.  And, of course, Jon Lester comes to mind.

Right now I know so many (too many) people personally who are battling cancer.  Some very young, some older…and I’m amazed at the progress that has been made over the years.  I grew up in an era when most people diagnosed with cancer were given an immediate death sentence.  Not so the case any longer.  Thank God.

Phil just mentioned he wants to become a spokesperson for this and he just told younger folks to get themselves checked out if they think there is something wrong.  He seems to be a sweet, soft-spoken kid.  He played last Saturday knowing his diagnosis.  Kid’s a gamer.  I wish him the best.

(The reporters are using this time to ask the doctor specific questions about testicular cancer…it’s actually impressive.  Nice work, folks.)

Nice name, Brendan!

Well, I guess I know which jersey I’m buying this season!  🙂  (I always seem to end up with a soft spot for the guys NOT in the union.)

So other families do this?  Whenever we hear of someone famous with the same last name as ours, my family always has to talk about it.  Now, we know they aren’t related, at least not directly, but someone always brings it up.

Tim Donnelly was on "Emergency!"
Jamie Donnelly was in the movie "Grease".
Brendan Donnelly helped the Angels win a World Series!
(And then of course there was always Donnelly Rhodes.  I always said if I ever had a child, whether girl or boy, its first name would be Donnelly – I’m pretty proud of my last name.)

And those are only the ones I thought of off the top of my head.

We follow these people and try to see (in the case of the first two) how their careers went.  I’ve always liked Brendan, mostly because of his name.  Even when he got caught with the pine tar in his glove (which, as I’ve written here, I’m against and am certain/hopeful he won’t be pulling that in Boston) – I was disappointed, but I still liked him.  So, I have to admit to being kind of happy that we got him.  He’s a decent pitcher who can help us in the bullpen…and he has a pretty great last  name too.  🙂

Welcome to Boston, Brendan!