A Red Sox State of Maine

Going Deep in the Dome

As a sports fan in general, the top three things I hate the most are a) leadoff walks, b) walked in runs, and c) blown tackles. So, considering Dice-K committed two of the three cardinal sins in the second inning last night, you can imagine I was not a happy chickie, sitting there on my couch. I sat right up and screamed at him, "Jesus Christ, Dice-K! You're a much better pitcher when you can FIND THE FUCKING STRIKE ZONE!!!" (Truth. I do that once in a while, although not as much post-'04.)

Well, my magic shreik must have found it's way through the acid rain and carcinogens across the air to the midwest and into the Metrodome, because the Dice Man didn't walk another batter the rest of the game. Of course, that's partially because a few of the Twins never saw an outside pitch on a two strike count they didn't like, but no matter. The Dice Man winneth, and all is well in New England and Tokyo.

(As an aside, sometimes I wonder if Dice really means what his translator says he does. "The obvious difference from my previous few starts was really my feel for the ball," Dice is reported to have said after the game. We don't need to know what you do in the shower, Dice.)

Bottom of the order came up big on a night when Papi and Manny both looked like they working to make 10:30 dinner dates. I feel completely vindicated by the fact that Coco is performing so well, and maybe it's because Tito has found the perfect recipe for his use. As Remy stated after the game last night, despite all the trade talk, the Red Sox are a better team with him than without him. He doesn't seem to be complaining, is probably grateful that in the early going he has been successful, and perhaps the rotating outfiled will be good for all of them. With Papi going to need more time off than what we're used to seeing, and since Manny could use some time off in the field once in a while as well, there's no doubt the Coco/Ellsbury combination is a potent alternative. I'm not sure I see the Sox trading Coco this year if this keeps up. 

Nice to see Paps close the door without incident and two strikeouts. Not that he was ever in doubt, but at least it will shut everybody up from yapping about it for now.

Congrats to Youk and Lowrie and very productive nights. Lowrie is due to go back to Pawtucket today, which makes me sad. I wonder who is due to get sent back down when ACor (like that? I thought it up by myself!) and the mayor get back. My money right now is still on DFA'ing either Tavarez or Timlin.

C's tanked it last night. Took a 4-0 first minute lead, and then proceeded to clank shot after shot while the Cavs went on a 14-0 run and never looked back. Garnett and Pierce looked like they had just been told their dogs died after the game, as well they should. Home court is nice, but defense is still defense on the road or at the Garden, and you guys had better learn to play some off the parquet. Time to sack up, men! I picked you in five.

Happy Mother's day to all, your gift being an ESPN game tonight, where we get to be reminded every other inning or so that Joe Morgan is a HOF player and played for "The Big Red Machine." Yee-hah, can't wait. Manny, in honor of my mom, who absolutely loves you, I request you hit #498. If you could do the hat trick for her, that would be even nicer, but I don't want to be piggy.

Group Effort

Ok, not counting last Thursday's game, that was the worst game of the season.

I mean, it just sucked all the way around, especially when you consider the Twins were doing everything in their power to give the game away. Jon Lester comes back after two good outings, looking like the Barry Zito of old, to again look like the Barry Zito of new, and Julio Lugo costs the team with some pathetic fielding once more. Something has just got to give with this guy. At the rate he's going, he'll have 50 errors before it's all said and done. Props to the rest of the team for pulling themselves out of that deep hole the two of them dug early on. Twelve hits and six runs on any other night should be enough to win. But that's what you should do against a guy named "Boof," right?

And Papelbon? Far be it from me to criticize the Bot, but this has got to cease, too, before people start calling him Mariano Rivera for bad reasons (cough *2004 ALCS* cough). Two hits, a BB, and two runs in 2/3 of an inning? And the Twins were running the bases on him like a bunch of sugared up four-year-olds. I was simply not surprised when Mike Lamb got that winning hit-in fact, I hate to say, I was kind of expecting it. There was just that kind of karma around that inning. Jonathan, knock it off. We let Eric Gagne go for a reason last year, y'know.

On the bright side, David Aardsma did another nice job, and Oki was outstanding for two innings.

Back inside the decrepit 'Dome tonight, where Dice tries for #6 against some guy I've never heard of, just called up a day or so ago. Let's right the ship and get the win tonight, guys!

Time to Blue Paper Richie Sexson?

Everyone knows I'm a big Kason Gabbard fan, and apparently Richie Sexson went postal on him last night for no particular reason. The announcers for the Rangers make some funny observations, including eviscerating Sexson after the charge.

Bad Red Sox Haiku

Stares down the batter

Intensity on his face

Beckett always wins

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Last night we found out

How much Kevin Youkilis

Loves Comerica

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Manny, where art thou?

Your bat’s not in the lineup

We miss you a lot

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Ellsbury runs well

His thirteen steals leads the league

Run, Jacoby, run!

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Sean Casey’s a guy

Who knows what ballplayers like

Steaks for everyone!

While America Burns, the Senator Fiddles

Arlen Specter made me angry for a while, and still does when I think about the fact that he seems obsessed with football teams spying on each other but gives the Liar in Chief and his telecom cronies a pass when it comes to illegally spying on American citizens. Now I just think he's pathetic. In the interests of not repeating myself, I'm just going to reprint here something I wrote back in February:

Everybody else actually connected to the NFL seems willing to build a bridge and get over it, but not Senator Specter, who seems determined to pursue this with a zeal you a) wish the Bush administration had pursued Osama Bin Laden with, b) is strangely reminiscent of the same type of personal, paranoid attacks on Anita Hill Specter engaged in during the Clarence Thomas hearings, and b) was largely absent during the time when Republicans controlled both chambers of Congress and the nation was being plowed under with lies and deceitful practices. Where was Arlen Specter when George Bush was telling us Saddam had WMDs and was part of the 9/11 plot? Where has Specter been on the effort to punish George Bush's repeated rape of the Constitution of the United States? Even when he admits the president broke a law-ie, the warrantless wiretapping flap-he doesn't think the president should be punished, because even the most moderate Republicans are all about the party:

"Specter, speaking in general terms, noted that impeachment and criminal prosecution are possibilities in the event a president acted unconstitutionally. But Specter added: "I don't see any talk about impeachment here. I don't think anyone doubts the president is making a good-faith effort. He's acting in a way that he feels he must."

So, it's ok if the president violates the constitution and spys on you and me-as long as he "feels he must" (and does that excuse the serial murderer from his crimes as long as he expressed that he "felt he must?"), we'll give him a pass, but it's not ok if an NFL team breaks no laws and spies on other teams, who expect to be spyed on? Is that not the most absurd thing you have ever heard?

No, actually, it's probably just as absurd that Specter is foaming at the mouth over Spygate but thinks the telecoms should be given blanket immunity for breaking the law and helping the president spy on us:

Now there are lawsuits pending, and I think that it is true that the telephone companies have been good citizens in this whole matter. They ought not to be held responsible.

In other words, they were just following orders. As I recall, that defense didn't work at Nuremberg, Sen. Specter, although it explains why Specter seems to think the NFL should just give Matt Walsh blanket immunity no matter what he says. He was just a good foot soldier, after all.

I could go on but I think you get the point here. Sen. Specter's righteous indignation seems contrived and out of place, curiously targeted at sexually harassed staffers of powerful men and football teams accused of violating an ambiguous league rule. While the true perpetrators of fraud and injustice on the American people wend their way merrily into history with nary a slap on the wrist, the senior senator from Pennsylvania seems determined not to be remembered as a tireless defender of our civil liberties and way of life but as the Guy Who Took On Big Football.

Whatever. Wear it with pride, Senator.

It's become embarrassing to watch-he's practically begging Matt Walsh to manufacture something new just so he could be proven right. It's sickening. Our country is mired in one of the worst economic and social downturns in recent memory, thanks in no small part to an illegal war that is bleeding us dry both emotionally and financially and a president who only understands two words out of the whole English language: tax cuts. Arlen Specter's support for both these ventures-and much more in his long tenure in public life-has severely undercut his ability to speak as any kind of moral authority regarding "the integrity of the game" when the integrity of the presidency and the Congress was horrifically and systematically deconstructed under his watch and the watch of his party.

The fact of the matter is, the NFL owes Arlen Specter nothing, while Arlen Specter owes his constituents and the country at large an enormous apology for the truly mind-boggling amount of time and energy he has wasted on this spectacle while the country is being laid waste around him. Maybe we should just start calling him Sen. Nero. Or maybe it's all just a ploy to distract Americans from the fact that the Republicans are running George Bush Again as their presidential nominee? Football season is in full swing in November, after all.

In any event, this party is over, and the state of Pennsylvania should be weeping with humiliation at this point. First Freddy Mitchell, now Arlen Specter. The Eagles lost, Senator. Time to extend your arms, open your hands, and let it go.

Says It All?

Overheard on the RSFF:

What's the difference between Julio Lugo and a man with 2 girlfriends?

The man with 2 girlfriends knows how to play the field.

While Julio Lugo is working hard on attaining his dream of becoming the '08 version of the '05 version of Edgar Renteria, last night's loss could not be laid completely at his feet. He wasn't the one who gave up 18 hits, after all, or coughed up three more runs after the Sox had gotten within one in the top of the fifth. While I appreciate Julian Tavares' service over the past couple of years, he is looking more and more like a guy who may be done. When Alex Cora comes back, my advice? Release Tavares and keep Jed Lowrie. Bench depth is more important IMO than an extra pitcher anyway. You'll thank me for that when they can spell Youk more often after he goes into his late-season swan dive.

On the bright side, when I got pissed off while the Sox were getting pounded I would switch over to ESPN and watch the Yankees take meager swings and embarrass themselves against Cliff Lee of the Indians. That was fun. Listening to the excuses made after the game was entertaining as well. "Lee, a left-hander who was not included on the Indians’ playoff roster last fall, might have dissected any lineup Wednesday. But it did not help the Yankees to have the right-handed Alex Rodriguez and the switch-hitting Jorge on the disabled list, " whined the Times, and manager Joe Fool was quick to agree. “It’s a big bat. His bat’s not replaceable. You might be able to do it for a couple of days, but over the long haul, it’s not a replaceable bat. We’ve still had opportunities to score runs, but it’s hard to replace an M.V.P.”

Yeah, whatever, Joe. I suppose it has nothing to do with Robinson Cano's .216/.256/.160 or Giambi's .324/.356/.157, does it?

In other news, it looks like Matt Walsh is about to be exposed as the huge fraud that he is, and hopefully Bob Kraft is warming up his suing pen against the Boston Herald and ESPN. There is no walk through tape, and Walsh, through his lawyer is now claiming he never said there was:

“Mr. Walsh has never claimed to have a tape of the walk-through,” Levy said in a telephone interview. “Mr. Walsh has never been the source of any of the media speculation about such a tape. Mr. Walsh was not the source for the Feb. 2 Boston Herald article.”

I really, really hope John Tomase and Mike Fish are shaking in their boots right now.

Of course, Walsh still hasn't had his meeting with Goodell yet, but after all this his credibility is so shot that he could probably say Belichick swallowed live kittens as a pre-game ritual and people would yawn, and the fact is that haters will continue to hate and spin no matter what comes of it now. Whatever. That's the price you pay for fielding winning teams, I guess, and having been around for many bad years where no one cared, I'll take that trade off any day. After all this, it looks like Belichick is going nowhere,  and that's good news for the Pats and bad news for the rest of the league. Just ask Tedy Bruschi.

Beckett vs Verlander in the last game of the last series at Comerica Park this year (it's still Tiger Stadium to me, even if it's not even the same park). Time to be the stopper again, Josh!

Wake and Rondo Rule

Truth: When Nate Robertson was lifted in the seventh for Freddy Dolsi, I thought to myself, jeez, Leyland must not like this kid very much. Why else would he make him take on Manny Ramirez for his first major league-BOOM! I didn't even get to finish my thought. Manny took the very first major league pitch thrown by Dolsi to straightaway center, where it landed behind the 420' mark for career #497...welcome to the show, kid. And btw, don't you all just love that NESN graphic of Manny's countdown to 500? It makes me laugh everytime I see it.

Wake had a fabulous night, as he is wont to do from time to time, and I was relieved to see Mike Timlin have a good inning and probably get a little confidence back-it would be very nice to have him as anchor in that  shaky bullpen again. But you know who I was really impressed with? Kevin Cash. No joke. He's been remarkable this season, really, and last night was just more of the same-three hits, an RBI, and currently sporting a robust .361 batting average. "Generally speaking, I'm a once every fifth day guy and that's fine," he said after the game. "But you still want to produce when you get in there, though." No problem on that score yet. He may not have the lookability factor of a Mirabelli, but what he has done with the bat so far is more than a bonus. Good play will get our attention every time, so keep winning over those hearts and minds, Kevin!

Good news and bad news on the C's front yesterday-the good news, of course, is that they won, and completely shut down LeBron James in doing so. The bad news is that Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo (who I am completely, utterly in love with) were practically the entire offense. As bad as King James was, he was still better than Ray Allen. No worries, though. Ray will get back on track and provide the spark for a stirring game two victory at the Garden! I also have to admit, I've enjoyed watching the Hornets take it to the Spurs-since I spent a little time working down there in the early '90s, N'ahlins has been my second favorite sports town-my NFC team is the Saints, who have been a lot of fun to watch the last couple of years. What's great about the Big Easy (at least, pre-Katrina) is that I, a New England girl, am more into their teams than most of them are. It really is a very laid back way of life down there, generated mostly by the humidity that is oppressive even in January. Keep it up, Hornets!

Finally, the icing on the cake of a great night? Baby Huey giving up his "first runs" in Yankee Stadium and blowing a lead in the process. By the reaction, you'd think everybody in the Bronx's dog had died. Sheesh. Yankee fans. Get a grip, you people! 

(Manny pic from bostonredsox.com, Kevin from nesn.com)

Tigers Tamed

Dice-K's wilder than a hawk, as my mother would say, and Craig Hansen still may not be ready for primetime. Jacoby Ellsbury goes 0-for-5. It was the definition of winning ugly, but still, the Sox made it look relatively easy. Are the Tigers just not who we thought they were going to be? Where's that vaunted pitching staff? Bonderman, the best of the group so far, gave up four runs in six innings last night, and the always-interesting Todd Jones gave up Papi's 6th homer in the ninth.

The natives are getting restless in Motown, and I don't blame them. Any other night when you get ten free passes, you should win the game. But Dice saved his own bacon by not giving up a hit until the 4th inning. You got lucky tonight, Dice-K. Let's try and not let that happen too many times.

The Sox are cruising right now, looking like they did in mid-April before their bats all caught the flu. Mike Lowell is getting back into form, Ortiz is back to being Ortiz, Youk is on fire, Manny in a bit of a power drought but still being very productive. Even J.D. got two hits last night. Great time for it to happen, going on the road to towns notoriously unfriendly to the men in red socks (remember the Tiger sweep right before the break last year? No, me neither).

In other news, it's a bird, it's a plane, it's....Jason Giambi? Nope, it's Roger Clemens, issuing the standard non-apology apology for "mistakes" but still insisting it has not affected his credibility on the steroid issue. That's true, but only because he had no credibility on the steroid issue to begin with. Roger, please. This is getting embarrassing, even for those of us who can't stand you. Give it up, drop the suit, and then just go away. Officially announce your retirement, and then come out and make the happy rounds in 2013. It would be far less painful for everyone involved.

Wake takes the mound looking for win #3 tonight, and C's vs Cavs in round #2. To coin a phrase, guys, let's show these midwesterners how we do things downtown.

Turnabout is Fair Play

You sweep me in your yard, I'll sweep you in mine.

This was the way a good weekend should play out-the Sox get a big win, even when their ace is not dominant; their big guy continues to fight his way out of a slump; that pest Scott Kazmir gets an early shower, while Jon Lester continues to develop; and the big guy sits, and his replacement in the order fills in seamlessly. I mean, this is life the way it should be, right?

It's beautiful when the Sox win. Especially when they win big, as they did the last couple of games. It's actually embarrassing how much my day to day outlook depends on that...well, not totally, of course. If a twister flattens my house or I'm scheduled for emergency heart surgery or George Bush declares martial law and proclaims himself dictator for life, I may still be a little distracted and anxious despite a win, but I'm still checking the score and making a mental note of where the Sox are in the standings. I can't help it, it's in my blood. I remember visiting my father years ago in the ICU at Maine Medical Center the day after he had major surgery for cancer (Christmas Day 1985, actually) and all he wanted to talk about was the Celtics.

Speaking of whom, it's about time we saw some fire and indignation from the shamrock men-that game yesterday had a feeling of "How dare you? Who do you loser punks think you are, taking us to a game 7? Take that! And that! And that!" We have to see a little more of that attitude if this run is going to be successful, and while homefield advantage is awfully nice to have, the Celts are going to have to win at least one game a series on the road to keep up with the really good teams. At no time are the Cavaliers or Pistons or Spurs or Lakers going to bend over for the C's the way the Hawks did yesterday. King James is up next, and not only is he a Yankee fan, he's a bandwagoning one. He must be destroyed.

Dice-K goes for #5 tonight vs the Tigers in Detroit, whom the Sox were lucky to catch before in an early season slump. This time around, they will likely need every ounce of power and muscle they showed vs the Rays if they want to take series as well. Positive vibes for the road trip, and a special shout out to a recovering Brandon Moss, who apparently played his last game with a bulging, pus-filled appendix. 'Way to go, Brandon!

Round One to the Rookies

Drive-by posting today.

What did I tell you? Runs are good. A reasonably strong outing from the rookie pitcher (too many walks, too few innings, but only one run allowed!) is good, too. A really strong outing from the rookie outfielder even better. Being in first place is best!

The Celtics? Major disappointments in this series (which feels like it started last December), although maybe they can take inspiration the way Montreal seemed to after the B's backed them into a game 7 in the NHL first round. Let's show a little life there, C's, and get this done. LeBron is waitin'.

Beckett back on the mound tonight for a game I will, alas, be unable to see. Keep the home fires burning for me, folks!