Every day…

...Ozzie Guillen gives me another reason to want to kick him in the gibleys.

On Michael Bowden:

“He got us on a bad day,” said Guillen. “He’s OK. He didn’t really impress me. He beat a team right now that is not swinging the bat well. The first inning he threw all fastballs. We’re a fastball-hitting team and we couldn’t get him. When you deserve credit, I’ll give you credit. He didn’t impress me.

“He was good enough to beat the White Sox tonight.”

Yeah, Ozzie, he was. The same White Sox who lead the American League Central division right now. He got your team “on a bad day”? Right. That’s all it was.  You don’t “give him credit” because you’re a horse’s asshole and a sore loser.

More, and less cranky, stuff when I wake up!

And now…baseball

Mike Timlin Photo taken last night by ME! (I love the way he looks in b/w and I dig the way he holds his cup! Mr. Manners!)

I’ve never noticed so many fans at the park paying such close attention to pitch count as I did last night.

It seemed like every third pitch, or so, someone in our group or just in our section was looking to the right to the pitcher’s scoreboard to see what Daisuke’s pitch count was.  None of us could believe how low it was throughout the game.  I’ve been fortunate to see Daisuke pitch a few times in person and I’ve never seen him sail like that – it was fabulous.  And it was exactly what the Sox needed from him!  15 hits was pretty damn sweet to see as well.  I’ve decided that Dustin Pedroia (4-4 last night with a walk) is a machine.  At the very least, I’m starting to believe he might be one of the best all-around players in the league.  MVP, baby, MVP!  (I sense a competition between Pedroia and Youkilis brewing!)

Hey, it could happen. 🙂

So plans have changed a little for today…still definitely heading out this morning to “palooze” with friends to say goodbye to one who has decided furthering her education overseas is more important than staying here and getting drunk with us for the next year.  I’m so proud of Bridget but it’s sad to see her go!  So we’re giving her a send-off today pre-game.  What’s changed is plans for this evening.

Originally, we were heading to Pawtucket although, admittedly, I wasn’t all that enthused. Nothing against the PawSox, it’s just with the lack of an ID (my license was stolen ALONG with all the credit/debit cards) and money, traveling twice in three days to Pawtucket didn’t really appeal to me.

A wrap-up of sorts

I spent the better part of the ride home from the game last night trying to figure out what I was going to write.  I then, of course, passed out when I got home (being up 42 hours with no sleep can bring that on!) and didn’t write a darn thing.

So now I write this:  Last night it was my privilege to meet many amazing people and I was witness to an outpouring of love and support for strangers that I’ve never seen in person.  I’m still shaken and annoyed by my purse (and, really a chunk of my LIFE) being taken – but at the very least my belief that not all people suck has certainly been restored.  And I was, yet again, reminded that things could be so much worse.

But, for now, that’s all I have to say about last night.  I made a promise to one of those amazing people I met last night and I intend to keep it.  In the meantime, another huge “thank you” goes out of all of you who helped make last night possible and I promise YOU all that I’ll have a write-up and photos of the events near the end of next week.

I need to send a special shout-out to my friends who put up with being with my deadbeat butt last night!  Not having access to money (thanks to people who DO suck)  yet having an actual OBLIGATION to be somewhere that money is usually required absolutely sucks and I get to do it all over again today…if this karma stuff actually works then a lot of people have some good things, eventually, coming to them.

Fuzzy

Josh Beckett Screen Grab by The Boston Channel

Rough night but time to suck it up and start the day.

After a few hours at work, I’ll be hooking up with KellyO and Tru to meet the family and pass along the donations from everyone!  I’ll be back tonight (or tomorrow) with a more detailed account of what we collected and how thngs went down.  Thanks to everyone for their support with this.  It was certainly a great “people” experience.

We were hoping to get Beckett but get Daisuke tonight.  Works for me.  I’m concerned about Josh, but am standing by my decision to not freak out until it’s absolutely time.  🙂   PVs to Josh!

On top of the Taylors being at Fenway tonight, it’s the LMOTFer’s “annual” group game.  (Just a name for another group of my friends.)  I’m really looking forward to it (and to seeing some folks I haven’t seen in a while!)!  I just hope I can stay awake for it!  😉

Have a great day, folks.

Midnight ramblings

Kyle Snyder Photo by Kelly O'Connor

Okay, I’m awake and probably will be for the night.

So I’m getting my online reading in and notice that Jeff Horrigan mentions Kyle Snyder’s name as being one of the pitching “leading candidates” to get a call-up in September.  He also mentions Chris Smith and Hunter Jones (currently only Smith is on the 40-man roster).  I’m certain it goes without saying that I’ll be thrilled beyond belief if this happens.  Keeping my fingers crossed, because I’m being totally selfish and wallowing and want something good to happen after this total, all-around, shitstorm of a day.  Which just goes to show, as bad as I can get to feeling, I can always find a silver lining.  Good luck, Kyle, I’m pulling for you!

Speaking of which, tomorrow we get to meet the Taylor family!!  It’s their big day, and in an attempt to not give too much away online (in case prying children’s eyes are watching!) I’ll be giving a full update tomorrow night after it’s all over.

Special thanks to everyone who donated in some way.  Folks were terribly generous and it means a lot.

WTF Karma?

I’d love to complain about Okajima, Masterson and Papelbon messing with Crabcakes’ game and losing the final game at Yankee Stadium, but I can’t.  I only listened to the first couple of innings and then lots of hell broke loose.

So I’m using this space to vent because, well because I can.

I discovered this afternoon that my pocketbook had been stolen.  Right out of the bag I carry (it’s a small pocketbook), and right from my cubicle at work.  My office is pretty wide open but my cubicle is set in and I’ve never been worried about keeping my purse in my bag…yeah, someone came in my office while I was in the ladies room, grabbed my purse and bolted, without anyone knowing.  All my credit and debit cards were in there as was my driver’s license (with a truly hideous photo…) my home and work keys and my monthly t-pass.  Luckily, there was no money.

I call one of the banks I have a debit card with and they gave me a list of places the asswipe who took my bag tried to use the card.  Genius that this person is, he/she tried to use it at two different ATM machines, four different times…since my pin number isn’t something you could figure out just by having my license, they failed each time and locked themselves out of using the card.  I called all the other institutions I bank or have credit with and the person didn’t try using any of the other cards before I got them shut off.  So there’s that.

I still feel extremely violated, having this happen in a place that is pretty much my second home…and I’m pissed because I have a bit of a big weekend planned.  Tomorrow the Taylors get to go to Fenway, Saturday we say goodbye to Bridget, and Saturday and  Monday I’m supposed to be going to Pawtucket.  My emotions are running from being upset, to being nervous to being pissed…so the Sox losing one out of three games in a walk off courtesy of HGHiambi isn’t registering too high right now.

Oh, I also lost, pretty much, an entire afternoon at work and now will be working late to get the work done I couldn’t do while I was canceling all my stuff and ordering a new license.

I would  never dream of doing something so shitty to someone.  It’s upsetting me that someone was assholey enough to do it to me.

I think I  need a drink.  And a hug.

Victory is pretty damn sweet

Dustin Pedroia Photo by Kelly O'Connor

Okay, I’m trying not to be gloaty about this Sox/Yanks series but DAMN these last two games have been fabulous and fun to watch! And for the first time in a while, Crabcakes has no pressure to pitch. He doesn’t have to be the stopper, he can forget about his bad outing and just go out and pitch. Sweet.

Even sweeter is the Red Sox offense in this series. 18 runs on 27 hits. Holy cow. Alex Cora was the only guy in the lineup who didn’t get a hit last night. Dustin Pedroia went 3-5 including a grand freaking slam and Jason Bay said “hello” to old friend Xavier Nady with a double, a triple and four RBI.  All this offense makes me bummed that Thursday’s game is in the afternoon and I’ll miss watching it.

PawSox won again with a 14-4 pounding of Lehigh Valley. They had 19 hits and every guy in THEIR lineup had at least one hit. I dig the offense, baby. Kyle Snyder didn’t pitch tonight, but at least he’s still with the team! Unfortunately, Joe Thurston was dfa’d today to make room for new dude Mark Kotsay. PawSox get a day off on Thursday and then are back in Pawtucket on Friday (I’ll be at Saturday’s and Monday’s games!).

For someone who didn’t give much thought to this series before it began, I’m really delighted at the outcome. Lester beating Mussina will be gravy, if it happens. And if it doesn’t? Meh, the Sox have already won the series. I can live with that quite happily.

Flashback – September 10, 2006

Dale in the visor, me with the sign down and KellyJ holding her sign high - Photo taken, without our knowing it, by Kelly O'Connor

A story on Deadpsin about a Red Sox fan getting manhandled and thrown out of Yankee Stadium last night (for having the audacity to try and leave his seat during “God Bless America” – please don’t get me started on asshole Steinbrenner’s “All bow down before a show tune” policy!) brought to mind the one time I’ve been thrown out of a baseball park – Fenway Park. For those of you who don’t know the story, I thought I’d share it here. If for no other reason, than to illustrate that it doesn’t take much to get booted from a ballgame.

Let me set this up for you…Jon Lester has a press conference announcing he has cancer. People personally connected to Jon contact me and the end result will eventually be the “K Cancer” t-shirts I sold (donating the money collected to Fred Hutchinson and Dana Farber). But before those shirts were sold, we came up with the idea of “Jon Lester Day” at Fenway. A bunch of us wore his player t-shirt, some made their own, and a few of us brought signs.

My friend KellyJ and I both made signs to show support for Jon. Here, I post the story from the entry I wrote the night after our Sunday, Jon Lester Day, fiasco:

Hyperactive

Charlie Zink Photo by Kelly Jefferson

First off, some housekeeping.  For those of you who comment here and want to change your avatar…if you go here, you can register your email address and upload your own.  If you get a message that your email address is already registered, just “sign in” and click the lost password button and you’ll get an opportunity to sign back in.  It’s silly, but fun!

In my angst about a possible trade last night, I missed out on telling you all about Jeff Bailey and Charlie Zink!!  Congratulations are in order!  Bailey was named “International League Most Valuable Player” for the year and Zink was named “International League Most Valuable Pitcher”!

Along with those honors, four PawSox players made the “International League Post-Season All-Star Team” (chosen by the league’s managers and coaches as well as the IL media and other representatives of the clubs) – Zink (as the starting pitcher), Bailey, Joe Thurston (along with Bailey, currently up with the BoSox) and Chris Carter.

Last night, Bailey went 2-4, scoring a run and knocking in two RBI, yet Andy Pettitte was quoted after the game as saying “(Jeff Bailey) I think that’s his name”.  Andy, you gave up 10 hits in less than 5 innings…yeah, that’s his name, asswipe.

Didn’t get much sleep last night, yet woke up in quite a good mood.  It’s nice that baseball doesn’t ruin my moods like it used to, but still helps put me in a BETTER frame of mind when we get a great night like we did last night.

I’m in such a good mood, I’m not even going to bitch about Paul Byrd (who happens to be pitching against SIdney Ponson tonight).  Taking at least two out of three in the series would be sweet.  If Byrd’s the guy to help us do it…let him have at it.

You win some and you win some

Bronson Arroyo Photo by David Kohl/AP

Mini-game thread in the comments tonight – which was fun. Going to have to do that more often.

Tonight the Sox showed the Yanks they weren’t going to go quietly into the night. A little nerve-wracking what with all the men LOB and how many men the Yanks ended up leaving on base, but a satisfying and fun game to watch, nonetheless.

PawSox kicked some ass in Allentown tonight too! (Unfortunately, Scranton won as well…so they’re still in the same spot they were yesterday.)

The big news is the “the Sox picked up Mark Kotsay”, “No they didn’t” pieces coming out right now. Tip of the hat to KellyO for giving me the heads up on both Edes‘ and Bradford’s takes on this. It’s a battle between my two favorite sports writers and it’ll be interesting to see who is right. (Not really. They both had the original story, only Bradford has the Sox denying it.) Too lazy to click the link? Here is what Edes says went down (and what the Sox are denying):

The Boston Red Sox acquired outfielder Mark Kotsay from the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night pending a physical, according to a baseball source with knowledge of the deal. The Braves will receive a minor-league pitcher in return. (EDITED to Add that Bradford originally reported the pitcher is one not on the 40-man roster.)

The Red Sox acquired Kotsay, who had cleared waivers, as outfield insurance. Earlier Tuesday they placed right-fielder J.D. Drew on the 15-day disabled list with a herniated disk in his back.

Kotsay, 32, is batting .289 with six home runs and 37 RBIs in 318 at-bats this season. The Red Sox will be his fifth team in his 12-year career.

Officials from both teams would not confirm that the deal was complete.

Could be something, could be nothing. I hope Kelly’s prediction that it would only make sense for Atlanta if the trade was for one of the young ones and not, say, a six-eight, right-handed, relief pitcher who might or might not like Pop-Tarts, is accurate. On the other hand, if a trade is the way for Kyle to get back up to the bigs, I’m going to have to suck it up, not be selfish, wish him well and buy a Braves cap.

But I’ll still be selfishly bummed.

Bronson pitched a complete game tonight and got the win. For this, I am very pleased (and Bronson gets the honored spot!). Cliff Lee, pitcher extraordinaire , got his 19th win tonight and Brandon Webb is trying for his 20th (but not doing very well, thus far – losing 6-2 in the fifth as I write this).

But the only news we know is true is the Sox beating the Yanks (and the Jays beating the Rays – woot!). Everyone did their part tonight (short of a rare o-fer for Pedroia and Manny Delcarmen giving us fits again) and it gives me great hope for Wednesday night’s game!

You realize I’ll be up late tonight trying to find out if the Sox traded for Kotsay and, if they did, which pitcher is getting sent to Atlanta, right?