Kyle still wreaking havoc

Kyle Snyder Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

Woo!  I love writing a post early in the morning and setting it to publish later on.  (Yes, I’m a geek.)

So yesterday, in the middle of her post covering the rally (which really didn’t cover it at all), Amalie Benjamin lets us know the deal with the playoff roster thus far:

The only roster hints being given out were that virtually everyone up in September is heading out to Anaheim. Those who are not, and will not be on the ALDS roster, are Devern Hansack, David Pauley, and David Aardsma. Those three are going to Ft. Myers to the instructional league. PauleyHansack will be stretched out into starters, and Aardsma will pitch out of the bullpen. (That has to be a disappointment for Aardsma, who has not pitched well of late, but who has been with the team much of the season.) Chris Smith and George Kottaras were sent home. The rest of the September roster — including Chris Carter, Jeff Bailey, Jonathan Van Every, and Gil Velazquez among them — are going to California.

Wow. No David Aardsma? This really surprises me.  I’ve often called Aardsma “Dude who stole Kyle’s spot in the bullpen” (or some variation of that!).  And, as has been noted, Kyle isn’t someone you want to piss off.  What goes around comes around – or something like that.  David Aardsma has been smited.  Smote?  Dude’s done been smoten.

(Aardsma seems like a nice guy.  This must suck for him and I feel sorry about that.  But I’m Irish.  My memory for these things is long and unforgiving.  😀 )

Earlier this season I joked that the Curse of Kyle was on the bullpen.  And you thought I was kidding.

(Yes, this post is just a blatant way for me to get a Kyle picture in on a dreary Tuesday morning.  Guilty!)

Off Topic – Happy Birthday Marty Stuart

It's all about the hair!

I think I’ve mentioned before that I like country music.  It connects me to my roots (my mother and my grandmother got me into it) and although I enjoy most types of music, and listen to an awful lot of everything, country is probably my favorite.  So on the baseball off-days (by the time I got home from work last night the Tigers/White Sox game was over – so it was a total off-day for me) I try to catch up on what I’m missing outside the baseball world.  Since it was all pretty much Sarah Palin or financial disaster for America, I decided to just chill out with music.  I slapped on some Marty Stuart and ended up hitting the hay early.  (Man, I wish you could pocket the extra sleep time.  I’ll be needing it for Thursday morning!)  I wake up this morning to find that it’s Marty’s 50th birthday today.

For me, Marty will always be connected with Johnny Cash – who has an extremely special place in my heart – so to celebrate his birthday, to remember my grandmother on this random day, and to post something totally not baseball-related, I give you Marty and and Johnny singing “Doin’ My Time”.

I’m hoping for another early night tonight and a load of kick ass from Jon Lester tomorrow.

Empathy

Mike Piazza Yesterday at Shea - Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

I try not to pimp the blogs of others.  Mostly because I don’t like being told what to do, so I’m not inclined to tell OTHERS what to do.  I keep a blogroll and if you see something that strikes you, you’ll seek it out.  Truth is, I don’t read many blogs.  90% of the blogs on my blogroll belong to friends of mine.  They all have interesting blogs and I truly think you’ll find something enjoyable at every one of them.  I try to get to my friends’ blogs at least once a week but, admittedly, I fail more often than not.  It isn’t that I’m not interested, I just get distracted easily.  I intend on clicking on each link and something shiny is over there and look Clay Aiken came out and I didn’t know Gil Velazquez’ dad died and hey, the new SNL Sarah Palin sketch is on You Tube…and the next thing you know, I’m asleep with the laptop shining its light on me.

I’m making a promise to myself to pimp my friends’ blogs once in a while so you can all see what you might be missing, but today I start with a blog I have in my blogroll that belongs to someone I don’t even know:  Metsgrrl.  I came  upon her blog probably a year ago and found the writing remarkable and her stories compelling.  It’s obvious from the get-go that this woman is a FAN.  But I didn’t visit her site as often as I’d like.  Neglecting it as I do others.  Until this morning.

I have no beef with the New York Mets.  Well, that isn’t entirely true, I was really bothered by how Omar Minaya dismissed Willie Randolph.  Thought Willie deserved much better than that.  But, on the whole, they’re the team I’d be rooting for if I lived in New York…so they’re okay by me.

Because of the Willie incident, I had been saying that I hoped the Mets lost and didn’t make it to the playoffs.  That is, until yesterday when they actually lost and didn’t make it to the playoffs.  My father, a fan of Willie Randolph as a player and a manager, called to tell me that I’d be happy to know they lost…and I wasn’t.  I thought about how crappy it was for the Mets fans who stick with this team and who went through all that agony LAST year and who were losing their beloved stadium.  (I’ve never been to Shea, sadly.  I know it has it’s detractors, but it’s been home for the Mets fans.  This hits them as  hard as Yankee Stadium being leveled hit the Yanks fans.)

So I read Metsgrrl today, to see how she was handling it, and that’s why I’m writing this.  Her write-up of the events yesterday is better than anything I’ve read from the “professional” sports writers.  She brought tears to my eyes and made me realize that fans, REAL fans, are, essentially, all the same.  You don’t have to be a Mets fan to understand where she’s coming from or to feel her pain, you just have to be a fan.

So give Metsgrrl a read (and maybe a little love in her comments section – we all know EXACTLY how she’s feeling today!) – I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Remain calm, people

I refuse to get all freaked out about Josh Beckett’s oblique.  It’ll suck if he can’t pitch, but Tito says he can, so we’ll deal with it if/when it comes up.  I’m not letting Steve Freaking Buckley control my emotions right now.

I’m still way too happy that Jonathan Van Every and Devern Hansack had the huge hands in beating the Yankees last night.  The guys get to go on the trip to Anaheim on a high note and that’s what makes me happy.

I’m quite sad that the season is over.  Post-season is fabulous and I’m thrilled, but I so will miss the regular season games.   No games every night?  Man, that bums me out.  But we get that exciting post-season charge now…although we have to deal with two “off-days” first (then again, we get one more regular season game tonight – even if it isn’t Boston).

At some point, I’m thinking AFTER the post-season, I’ll have my own wrap up of the season…right now, I’m just looking forward to seeing how far into October this team will take us.

Live-blogging the PawSox playing at Fenway – the final game of the 2008 regular season.

What comes up when I type "Pawtucket Red Sox" in Yahoo Images. 😀

The text I just got from KellyO tells me that we’re going to see more of the PawSox dudes than the 25-man roster guys tonight…so we’re just going to roll with it.  It’s raining in my town but I haven’t heard what it’s doing in Boston just yet.  Which means that, for now, we’re going under the assumption this game starts at 7:35pm.

7:33pm – KellyO texts me that there are about 6000 people in Fenway Park right now – and no rain.  I look at my foot, which isn’t throbbing any more but is still sore, and wonder if I would have gone in had I not messed up this morning.

7:35pm – Wake is on the mound.  He’s 10-11 this season, so a win tonight will, at least, let him hit .500.

7:37pm – Wake hits the first batter (although the replay shows that he didn’t get hit and Jim Wolf needs glasses) so Gardner is on first and Cano is up.  Gardner steals second as Wake throws strike one.

7:38pm – Along with the painful foot, I’m starting to feel a little punky tonight.  Hopefully it’s no biggie and will go away, but that stomach ache I thought Papelbon gave me hasn’t gone away…so if I suddenly stop live-blogging, it’s probably just because I’ve passed out.  😉

7:39pm – Wake strikes out Cano…woo!

7:40pm – With the shift on, Giambi grounds out and moves Gardner to third.  Also, Ponson is supposed to pitch tonight, but Phil Hughes is in the bullpen throwing.  Donnie O wonders if he’s just getting some throwing in, or if he’s going to be coming into the game.

7:41pm – Van Every catches out number three…nice inning for Wake.

7:44pm – The kid announcing the lineups totally butchers Gil Velazquez’ name and Donnie O STILL says “Good Job”.  Ponson IS in the game and Coco gets a double off of him.  Woooo!

7:45pm – One out, Coco on third and Chris Carter is up.  Carter grounds out and Coco scores.  1-0 Sox.

7:46pm – Jeff Bailey is up.  Remy waxes poetic on what a “long weekend” it has been.

7:47pm – Bailey gets an infield hit on one of those hits that could be a bunt…yay!  Here comes The Mayor!

7:49pm – Casey hits the ball to the first baseman and the inning is over.  1-0 Boston – woot!

7:51pm – Donnie O tells me Cody Ransom is up…but Cody looks an awful lot like Ivan Rodriguez and since Pudge is the one who just grounded out, well I’m going with my eyes instead of Donnie O.  🙂

7:52pm – Wilson Betemit has those Brendan Donnelly hipster glasses on tonight.  Does he always wear those?  I’ve never noticed.  No matter…he grounds out to Alex Cora and Wake has two quick outs.

7:54pm – If I’m going to live-blog I should pay better attention to the lineups, huh?  Coco catches the third out but I have no idea who hit it.

Rain-Delayed, Double-Header Live Blog

2:36pm – Got myself a cup of tea (with the bum ankle it took a bit of doing) and missed the first out.  I get to see JD Drew make a fabulous catch on Johnny Damon for the second out.  All you JD Drew naysayers can eat it.

2:38pm – The Rays are getting their asses kicked again (so far).  Pisses me off more about Friday night’s game that Tito pretty much gave away.  (Let it go, Cyn, let it go.  Maybe the Rays will continue to suck in the post-season…)

2:39pm – Bobby Abreu strikes out looking and Daisuke gets a 1-2-3 inning.  Nice way to start the game.

2:41pm – In the red jerseys I’m so fond of, here come the Sox.  First up – Jacoby Ellsbury.  Again, fellas, let’s beat the tar out of Mussina.

2:42pm – Jacoby grounds out pretty quickly.  Here’s one question, if you’re going to rest anyone, why not Tek?  We have enough catchers to cover him.

2:43pm – Dustin Pedroia just got thrown out at second by Johnny Damon.  I hope he receives much shit for this from his friends.  (They’re high-fiving him in the dugout.  Good God.)

2:45pm – Papi pops it up.  End of one.  That was fast.

2:48pm – ARod is out.  Sit down, Slappy.

2:50pm – Giambi strikes out swinging.  HGH isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

2:51pm – I wonder if Xavier Nady looks over at Jason Bay and wonders what might have been?

2:53pm – Fittingly, Nady flies out to Bay to end the inning.

A Live-Blog for Johnny Pesky

Johnny Pesky Photo by Matthew West

12:45pm – Tarp has come off the field and the game will start as planned at 1:35pm.  The tribute to Johnny Pesky and his number retirement ceremony will be happening at 1:15pm.  Remy keeps saying that the Red Sox “changed the rules” to retire Pesky’s number.  Seems to me that the Red Sox just set aside the rules – not necessarily changing them.

1:06pm – NESN is showing a montage covering the season and suddenly I’m sad that the regular season is over.  Sure we get post-season baseball and I’m certainly thrilled about that, but the end of the regular season always makes me a more than a little sad.

1:11pm – Mike Mussina has a chance to win 20 games for the first time in his career today.  Okay, so suddenly this game isn’t meaningless.  Beat him like a rented mule, boys, like a rented mule.

1:13pm – Johnny Pesky is on my tv.  Woooo!

Keep falling…keep falling…rain.

I spent yesterday at and around Fenway.  In spite of the rain and the fact that there was. ultimately, no ball game, I had a really wonderful time.  It’s nice to just be able to hang out with friends and chill…and it’s especially nice when there is no game to obsess over.  🙂

Highlights of the day:  Seeing Coco Crisp at dinner with his family (and, no, we didn’t bother him) and then seeing Javier Lopez at the same place (we didn’t bother Javy either!).  I have a soft spot for Javier and I was probably more excited about seeing him than I was Coco!

This morning, I wake up to no rain, get up and immediately twist my ankle.  I did a nice job as it’s swollen and sore right now.  Which means I’ve ruled out making the trip back to Fenway tonight for the makeup game at 7:35.  I’m bummed about not being able to go, but my foot coupled with the rain now smacking my skylight makes me realize it’s for the best.

So, since I’m going to be stuck in the house with my foot up all day, I decided to end the regular season with double header live blogging!  I’ll start early, to cover Johnny Pesky’s number retirement ceremony and live blog both games.  There’s no ESPN game tonight…so 7:35 baseball with the Sox will be the last game tonight.  (I was going to write the last game of the season, but since there are two games happening tomorrow, that isn’t accurate is it?)

Please join me, if you will (barring rain-delays), at 1pm (1:15?) for Live Blogapalooza!

Two to Go

Mike Timlin Last Night - Photo by Charles Krupa/AP

I’m reading NESN.com this morning, which, if you haven’t gone there you should.  They put up the post-game vids before anyone else plus they have classic videos too and good blogs to read.

In spite of all the good, here is one of their promotional headlines today:

SOX IN TWO:  SEE THE RED SOX LOSE TO THE YANKEES 19-8 AT FENWAY, 2PM ET

Yes.  This is something we want to re-live.  Thank you, NESN, for making it available to us.

God is teasing me by shining beautiful sun through my skylight, isn’t he?  Granted, there’s fog outside the house too, but some sun is finding its way through.  A quick glimpse at Weather.com tells me there is an 80% chance of rain in Boston today at 4pm.  Woo.  I bet, after last night, Fox is sorry they changed their Game of the Week to this one.  The game is meaningless, the weather is crappy…woo let’s show it on national television!

I’ll be heading to Fenway for the last time this season (for real this time!) in a little while.  The way I feel, I wonder how the guys who play the games actually feel.  I just want these last two games done so the playoffs can start.

Although, it’ll be nice to be in Fenway at a Sox/Yanks game where there’s no tension about the game.

So here’s hoping for a good game, not too terrible weather and a great day for everyone.  🙂

My Man Mike = Wild Man

Yanks score first and I say “meh”.  My how times have changed.  (Jacoby repays my indifference with a lead-off home run – woo!  And while I’m editing things Youk hits a two-run home run.  Sweet.)

Barstool Sports, which I generally despise, has photos from the Sox celebrating at Game On! Tuesday night after they clinched a playoff spot.  Guess they’re good for something.  (Google it.  You’ll find them.)  The photos are a lot less wild-looking than they were last year, with my favorites being of my man Mike Timlin.

My favorite part of that celebrating is it seems most of the significant others with with their men, including Dawn Timlin who witnessed her hubby letting loose.

I’m glad they got to have some fun – they certainly deserve it.  Now it’s time to finish up the season and be prepared to kick ass in October.