Rumble in the Bronx

Yeah, I’m pretty sure that the title to this entry has been used countless times since the Jackie Chan movie by the same name was released, maybe even before that. This of course is presupposing that anyone still watches Jackie Chan movies. Tonight in New York, the Red Sox come to town for the second to last regular season showdown between these major league behemoths. How will Boston fair after the dust settles on Thursday afternoon? I’m expecting for the Sox to come away with one victory and hoping for two.

With the most likely of scenarios playing out, the Sox will go back up to Boston with a seven game lead over the Yanks. After the shellacking the Yankees took over the weekend in Detroit, particularly last night losing 16-0 in what was the Yankees worst shut-out loss since 1905 when they lost to the Chicago White Sox 15-0. I’m hard pressed to believe that after that crushing blow the Yankees will bounce back and sweep the Sox. Stranger things have happened though.

I’m guessing that the lineup the Sox will bring to the Bronx will not make quite the same impact against the Yankees as it did against the White Sox, however I’m guessing that at least one of the games they should be able to manage to score five or more runs and if timing permits, it should come on the day Beckett pitches. The one the thing I’m looking for (and praying for) in this series is that the Sox need to give Dice-K a little more run support. Some random act of God is preventing the Sox potent lineup from driving in runs when he takes the mound. I’m convinced Dice-K should have 17 or 18 wins right now, and if he did, the question of rookie of the year in the AL would be over. Even though the idea of giving the Rookie of Year award to veteran Japanese player is a little dicey, and I’m a huge fan of my team and Dice-K.

Joe Torre and company will throw Pettitte, Clemens and Wang in that order. The idea of a potential future Boston ace (Beckett) pitching against arguably the most legendary former ace (Clemens) of the modern Boston era is an intriguing side story for tomorrow night’s game. If Beckett can hold the Yankees to three or even four runs that should be the best shot at a W in New York. Schilling versus Wang is more than likely the Yankee’s best shot and most probable win. Tonight is the toss up game in my opinion. All the Sox need to do is score some damn runs against Pettitte, which has been done this season, and Dice-K can minimize his mistakes which he has been improving upon the past few weeks.

Despite my personal excitement and rooting interests, this series will more than likely take a backseat to the National League Central’s showdown between the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers, which makes sense considering their race, is much tighter, albeit in the most mediocre division in baseball. I swear to God, if another team from this division wins the World Series again, I many come completely unglued come October.

Timeout

Taken from my Nebraska Cornhuskers blog, "The Scarlet Letter"...

Before I get started, let me get one thing out there. I’ve never really liked Michael Vick as a football player. I never really liked him even while I was watching him at Virginia Tech back in the late 90’s. I didn’t think a black quarterback that could run and make plays with his legs was that revolutionary. For those that read this blog, Tommie Frazier had already accomplished the same type of success that Vick was. Of course as the record shows, the NFL rightly decided to recruit Vick into their ranks and allowed his type of play to sweep the country and make fans around the world. This was all fine with me, despite the fact that I was never a big fan of Michael Vick the football player. He seemed selfish, however I was a fan of playing football a different way.

We all know now what he did or maybe didn’t do. He has made his admission of guilt and in my opinion that is all you really need to know. During the entire process from after the evidence was found on his property in Virginia on a drug raid, up until he chose to plead guilty to lesser crimes than he was charged with, I’ve maintained with my friends that it is important to let the system do it’s job. When we come out on the other end, then I’ll let my opinion be known. Well, now that Vick has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to run an interstate dog-fighting ring my opinion is this.

In black and white in regards to our justice system (no racial sort-of-pun intended) I believe that he should serve out his sentence that will be handed down on December 10^th. Following his time in or out of prison he should be given the same opportunity as any convicted felon in getting his old job back. That is what would happen in an equal, perfect world. Let’s look at reality for a second. Consider yourself and you in your job. Let’s say that you are at a bar with your wife/girlfriend or husband/boyfriend and you’ve had one too many drinks. Someone at the bar repeatedly harasses you and your spouse/partner for the duration of the night. When it’s time to go home, you’ve finally had enough and you beat the person that has been heckling your partner, who you love, to the point of paramedics needing to be called to the scene. You’re arrested and eventually charged with felony assault. Now whether this action warrants this type of punishment, I don’t know, but for the sake of the story just follow me on this one. I know that in my job if I’m even charged with a felony I will lose my job. Not convicted or pleading guilty mind you, just charged, I’m fired. Let’s say the worst happens and you’re convicted of felony assault and having no criminal record you’re sentenced to one year in prison and the rest of the five year sentence gets suspended as probation. Like I’ve said, I’m not sure if this is how it works, just go with it. Now it’s the day you get out of prison and you meet with your probation officer and you inquire about getting your old job back. Tell me, what do you believe are the chances of that actually happening?

Here’s my prediction. Michael Vick will serve his time and his suspension away from playing in the NFL with no further issue. Two or three years from now, you’ll see Vick back in an NFL uniform. He won’t have the same positive exposure as before. He won’t get an endorsement deal, but he’ll be back in the NFL and playing again. People that say he should be banned for life, I’m not so sure I agree. It’s not up to us what should be done with Vick. We don’t run the NFL and if you don’t want to see him play ever again, I guess that’s just too bad. Don’t watch the games he plays in, or don’t watch the game that allows him to play. How deep do your convictions really go? That’s a good question for holier than thou individuals. Color me indifferent in regard to my personal opinion when it comes to Vick being allowed back into the NFL. Some team will take a chance on him, believe me. If NFL commissioner Roger Goodell does not ban Vick for life, he will be back. Talent supercedes almost everything in professional sports. Look at Leonard Little, look at Warren Moon and yes, even look at Lawrence Phillips. Look at every NFL or college football player that has been charged with anything. They’ve been given chance after chance, opportunity after opportunity. So, will this type of crime be where we stand up as a society of NFL fans or just sports fans and say enough is enough? Someone needs to learn a lesson and someone needs to be made an example of? I doubt it. Despite the fact that there have been many, many arrests this past offseason with NFL players and crime. I’ve even come up with a clever nickname for the NFL, the Numerous Felons League. Pretty stupid, huh? Anyway, I think the majority of people are too lazy and weak to make any kind of stand to boycott professional sports. Issues like this will just keep churning along.

I just finished listening to Vick’s statement and it went just like I expected. He said he doesn’t speak well, so we should forgive him for that. He apologized to commissioner Goodell, Atlanta Falcon’s owner Arthur Blank, Falcon’s coach Bobby Patrino (who’s probably secretly happy his team will tank and he’ll be able to draft Louisville Cardinal’s senior quarterback Brian Brohm) his Falcon’s teammates, and of course, finally, the children. Letting down the kids is probably the worst thing you can do, right? Well he left someone else out. He left out the overwhelming majority of people that are indifferent to all the people he apologized to. Do I care about the trials and tribulations of a millionaire like Blank? The answer is an emphatic no. Unless there is a silent majority that just does not care, Vick is leaving out the most important of NFL constituents, and that is the fan that pays his salary. People like you and I.

Michael Vick himself and the charges against him are only the tip of the iceberg. Do you think that when the dust has settled on this case and after he has been sentenced a few weeks before Christmas this year that it will be over? I’m inclined to say no. Why? Because of the issue of race. From day one the cry was small and concentrated. Now the swell of shrieks of racism will bubble over into not only sports media, but mainstream media as well. It already has, but it will increase and be discussed for a great deal of time. Will this be a watershed moment in examining race relations in our country? Will race relations regarding a sports figure serve as a metaphor for society? You’d think that the answer would be yes, considering the almost perfect storm of situations colliding in the middle. You have the face (not my opinion) of the NFL from the past few years, you have our most popular sport in our country and you have a subject that is near and dear to many American’s hearts. The easy answer is race, however the subject I’m referring to is the issue of your family pet and animal cruelty. If this were Peyton Manning that had been running a dog-fighting ring, would there be this much public outcry? Could you imagine a good old boy with his slow southern draw Peyton Manning in the center of a scandal like this? If you’re thinking that Peyton Manning couldn’t be in the middle of something like this because of who he is, then you’re probably a little racist. Look, Manning is a southern, white guy who comes from a good family with NFL pedigree, given every opportunity in life and because he his who he is, it would be harder to stomach for white America. It’s easy to pin this sort of thing on a black guy because most white people probably expect it. You may not say it, but you probably think it.

I am already tired of the countless representatives from the black community playing the race card. I’m equally tired of most white people that have spread the word of his guilt since this story broke almost as quickly. This issue is a magnified look into how we as American’s feel about race. Overall, white and black people don’t seem to trust each other, at least not on this issue. I know making this generalization might get me into a little bit of trouble, however if I were wrong why would this situation be breaking down like it is? And why will it continue to play itself out as such? Will we as a society surprise future historians and prove this to be our shinning moment in the sun in finally understanding each other as white and black societies? Doubtful.

White people, or white commentators I’ve listened to on this subject, are much more subversive in regards to how they add up the evidence and allegations that lead to Vick’s guilt. They talk about his mom being a single mom, how his brother has been in trouble with the law since you knew who he was and how he was raised in a community from the “wrong side of the tracks.” They talk about the culture shock of going from a nobody and someone everyone wanted to be and how hard that is on a poor black kid from Virginia. They talk about how hard it is for a black kid to cut ties with people from “the hood” from his past that he should leave behind, because poor black kids turn into poor black adults that are desperate and commit crimes like this. That’s how they break you down, the listener, into believing that Vick is guilty. Of course he’s guilty because he couldn’t help it, that's what they want you to believe. It makes you feel he’s guilty and allows you to feel sorry for him like he’s a criminal and a victim all at the same time. This is wrong and how a lot of white people want you to feel about black people. Did I mention that it's wrong?

Let me say this quick, I am not defending Vick and his actions that he has now plead guilty to. I don’t defend what he did or didn’t do, what he may have done and what he probably did. I think Vick’s aberrant actions and behavior are grotesque. I think cruelty to animals is right up there with cruelty to children. They are both innocent and helpless to a certain degree, and for adults to take advantage of this shows the lowest of the low of human spirit and capacity to be evil. Now that my late disclaimer has been stated for the record, let’s move on.

The individuals who have been nationally representing the black community on this subject, at least in the publications I have read or watched, have been a little more forthright in their mistrust of mostly white America jumping to their inevitable conclusion of “guilty.” “It’s OJ all over again, and this time we lost.” This was a quote from a sports talk show host that was on ESPN a couple of weeks ago. This has stuck with me for quite some time. Are we still harboring feelings from the OJ case that was wrapped up over a decade ago? Just a side note, I remember the OJ case was so big that when the jury came back with the verdict, they announced it over the intercom at our high school. I’m not kidding. I was watching ESPN this morning and a guy who’s name and credentials I did not happen to catch said that the reason white American is so quick to cut down a young black athlete is because we, as whites, have a hard time stomaching a young black man being rich and successful. Here is where I don’t open a can of worms regarding racial double standards. I will ask this, only because I believe it is worth asking. Who exactly was the first group of people to lob the race bomb into the mix?

I don’t have any problems with young black kids signing multi-million dollar deals to play sports. If I did, I wouldn’t watch them. I think that any professional athlete who squanders their opportunity by hanging around people that don’t have their best interests in mind should have examined their situation a little closer. We all have this problem though, there are always those couple of kids we probably shouldn’t be friends with because of the choices they make. The only difference between you and Vick is that Vick has much more to lose. When you are blessed with the talent to play on a level where you are paid a king’s ransom it is a privilege, not a right. That thought allows many fans to feel justified in persecuting athletes in the court of public opinion.

Vick’s story is yet to be completely played out, and I will always ultimately believe that he is admitting to something less than what he is truly guilty of. That is my opinion and it is based on this. Any person that will tell you they are innocent and vehemently claim their innocence and proclaim they will have their day in court and the evidence will show that they are innocent and then turn around and plead guilty to the charges they once denied, are guilty. I’m sure when Vick and his attorneys sat in either their office or in a separate room in a courthouse and were presented with the evidence that the federal prosecutors had put together, Vick and his lawyers quickly changed their tune. A man innocent of these charges would not do something like this. He would want to fight to clear his name. To this point, Vick has done nothing to clear his name. He’s taking the easier way out and not fighting the good fight to hear the words “we the jury find the defendant not guilty.” He’d rather take his plea and run and turn state’s witness and give up more information on his cohorts. That’s why I think he’s guilty of all he was charged with. There was a dog-fighting ring on your property and you didn’t know about it? Please. Oh, well, I knew about it but I didn’t gamble on it at all. Get real. Well, I may have covered all the losses for people that bet on the dogs that fought and died, but I never killed the dogs myself. Hogwash. When you’re a nobody and you get charged with prison time, you’ll flip almost immediately, just like Vick’s friends did. They sold him out and said he killed those dogs with his bare hands, and I believe them. Not because I jump to conclusions, not because I’m jealous of Vick and his money and fame, and certainly not because I’m racist. It’s because when people are backed into corners they become the most honest of honest. It is forced attrition, and it is hard to deny or refute.

I believe in forgiveness. I believe in redemption. I believe in second chances. I believe in these ideals and principles but only if they are honest and heartfelt. If Vick is truly sorry for what he did, he deserves a second chance. If his intentions are contrived in any way, shape or form then those falsehoods will show through and Vick will likely wind up in more trouble. What he did or did not do on that compound to those dogs he will have to live with. If he chooses to live with no remorse, than the God he has claimed to turn his life over to today will have something to say when his time in this time is over.

Calm Before the Storm

First team to 80 wins! It's not that important, considering the amount of baseball still left to be played. Still cool though.

Since splitting last weekend’s series with the Los Angeles Angels the Sox have gone 6-and-1 including a four game sweep of the Chicago White Sox at US Cellular Field. In said series against the pale sox, the Red Sox outscored their opponent 46 to seven. The Sox have been relying on the “big inning” and sometimes have been having more than one per game. The run bonanza was sparked by, well, basically everyone. The highlights of course include Ortiz’s performance on Friday night hitting two home runs and moving him into a tie with the likes of Red Sox great Carl Yastrzemski for multiple home runs in a game, and anytime a current player moves into a tie or breaks a record that belonged to Yaz, it’s certainly noteworthy.

Dustin Pedroia has also made more noise this week in his campaign for American League Rookie of the Year, hitting .262 with an OPS of .718 and three RBI’s. Certainly not out of this world, however quite solid. Mike Lowell has had stellar outings against the Devil Rays earlier in the week and the ChiSox this weekend with a team high 11 runs batted in. Former Rookie of the Year Eric Hinske has filled in quite well since last week getting on base frequently and racking up an OPS of 1.464, second only to Ortiz.

The Red Sox starters have also been solid. If Dice-K didn’t make his one fateful mistake in Tampa on Wednesday, giving up a two-run homer to BJ Upton, we’d be talking about Boston’s seven game winning streak. Jon Lester is still a bit of a question mark having some solid starts but basically having a rough go of it since being called up from the PawSox in late July. Surprisingly, Julian Tavarez pitched very well today in place of Lester. I watched the entire game while at my fantasy football draft and the quality of his pitches and pitch counts were that of, well, a good starter. I’m not ready to jump on the JT bandwagon, since he will be back in the bullpen when Francona and staff feel that Lester is ready to resume his roll in the five spot. Obviously, the bullpen hasn’t had much of workout, at least from the standpoint of it being meaningful. When you’re taking nine or 10 run leads into the seventh, eighth and ninth innings all you’re really doing is practicing. That’s fine, because they’re going to need all the practice they can get going into the coming week.

Jumping back a bit to the subject of starting pitching, the Sox will throw the “big three” as they wrap up their 10 game road trip in the Bronx as they face down the New York Yankees. Dice-K, Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling will all start in that order. The two teams have not played since June, where the Sox were nearly swept at Fenway as the Yanks where in the midst of torrent streak of winning baseball. Now, the Yanks are in a bit of a slump by the standards they’ve set since early June. They have been having a rough go on the road away from the confines of Yankee Stadium against quality opponents. They’re currently 2-and-4 against the Angels and Detroit Tigers, who they will wrap a four game series with tomorrow night and Comerica Park.

So now it’s time to start breaking down the rest of the regular season picture in regards to the Red Sox and Yankees. As it currently stands, the Sox will go in with no worse than a seven game lead on Tuesday night. This plays out well considering that if the Sox get swept (at worst) the Yankees will still be four games back which is where the two teams were before the Yanks last road trip. On the flip side (at best) if the Yankees drop another game to Detroit and the Sox sweep in New York, the good guys will have an 11 game lead come Thursday about 4:30 Central Time. Of course these are obvious extremes with probably neither one coming to fruition.

Looking a couple series’ beyond the AL East showdown the Sox will return home to face two other AL East opponents in the Baltimore Orioles and the Toronto Blue Jays. The Yankees will stay at home as well and play the D-Rays and Wild Card competition in the Seattle Mariners. Here’s another interesting point to consider when wrapping up the season for these two teams. New York has two more road trips including a nine gamer starting September 7^th and won’t return home until the 17^th which includes a trip up to Boston. They will also finish the season on the road in Tampa and Baltimore. I’m sure both teams would love to play spoiler to their playoff and (God forbid they’re in contention) dreams of another division crown. The Red Sox, on the other hand, also have two road trips. Don’t be fooled, it won’t be quite as challenging. The Sox will play the O’s, Jays and Devil Rays on the road for a total of ten games. The rest will be played at home against mostly divisional foes. The Sox have the easier road, but they’ll need to capitalize on every opportunity despite the lack of measurable competition.

This may be the most important fact regarding these two teams, and I'm placing this in a separate paragraph for a reason. The Yankees are 41-and-24 at home, on the road they're an unimpressive 31-and-34. Compare that to Boston's 40-and-23 at Fenway and 40-and-28 on the road. The Yankees play 15 out of their last 31 games away from the Bronx.

Are the Sox heating up for their eventual run into and hopefully through the playoffs? Or were the White Sox just that bad? I’m thinking a combination of the two, but playing this well against teams like the White Sox is exactly what Boston will need to do to keep their lead on the Yankees until the end of September.

Well Played, Sir

Very quickly, in what will be (maybe) the shortest post ever, is that tonight may have been the most emotional up and down so far this season watching the Sox. Just when I thought they were going to pack it in and I was ready to abandon all hope and watch HBO's Hard Knocks on the Kansas City Chiefs ('08 seasons tickets, here I come) the Sox pull one out of their ass and then add to it late in the game rather than coast.
It gave me some hope, despite the fact that perennial hack Julian Tavarez will start tomorrow afternoon. Back to tonight, the Sox did it with their traditional powers that be. Ortiz came through with a grand salami in the fifth, the bully line-up of All-Stars Okajima and Papelbon put the final nail in the coffin of the Angels. Hell, even Manny made a key defensive play. How often does that happen? It's a lot of fun to see the two best teams in the American League (save for the Yankees, who are playing with the best record in the last two months) slug it out and trade shots. Hopefully the Sox can score the knockout blow tomorrow before heading back out on the road next week. Talk all you want about the Central, I don't think any team other than the division champ will make the playoffs at this point. Here is an "early" post-season prediction.

Boston, New York, Detroit, LA with the dark horse being Seattle should the Sox, Angels or Yankees falter.

Oh, completely unrelated, but go see Superbad.

You're Killing Me Smalls

Looks like it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything. Work has been really busy and keeping up with all of the happenings with the Sox has been a little more difficult the past couple of weeks. However, all deadlines and extra hours aside, I’m still watching probably 4 out of 5 games from the first inning to the ninth. Since I posted last about 10 days ago, the Sox have gone 4-and-4. Going .500 isn’t anything to be ashamed of if you’re the Cincinnati Reds, but with the payroll and star-power the Sox have, and with their mid-season trade deadline experimentation, things should be going a little better than this in Boston.

It’s almost (yes, almost) safe to say that the Eric Gagne acquisition may be a bit of a problem. Gagne took the loss last night against the Angles giving up three earned in the top of the ninth. His ERA has risen to 15.00 since coming to Boston. The only saving grace is that it was against the Angels and their aggressive style to produce runs late could come against the best of relievers and closers in the majors. Despite that silver lining, the fans in Arlington may be patient, but not in Boston. The Nation has watched a train almost come off the tracks in several outings and last night is the derailing that most saw coming. Sure he did well the first half, but he’s unproven after two major surgeries since 2004 in the second half. Obviously, taking a gamble on Gagne was just that and hopefully the promise of what Gagne was earlier in his career will not outweigh what his production value is now. Sorry Theo, doesn’t look like this one is going to pan out. I know I was initially slightly tickled about the prospect of Gagne going to the pen, however, did we really need him?

The series against Baltimore was a near minor disaster, but coming off of back to back road series against Seattle and LA what else could you have expected? I penciled them in at taking 2 of 3 at best. Playing Tampa at home was like playing Tampa at home, nothing unusual there.

The offense is up and down and with Ortiz slowly deteriorating, it will be a miracle if he can help get the Sox to the division crown AND be 100% for the playoffs. I know most players are never playing at 100% at this point, but he’s a DH, not an everyday infielder. After a slow start Dustin Pedroia is making noise as a possible rookie of the year candidate, however how he finishes to make up for this slow April and May still needs to play out. He’s serving his purpose as a pesky hard-out type of hitter with admirable power for his size. His performance in the field should not be overlooked either. His fielding is at an almost veteran level at .991 with only four errors on the year.

The Sox are throwing Schilling tonight, who is yet to pick up a win since June, and Wakefield tomorrow afternoon. Wake was drilled for six runs in less than five innings last week in LA. The situation with the Yankees seems to have stabilized at least for the moment with the lead settling between four and six games the past week. If the lead should dwindle below that, expect cardio specialists in the Boston metro to be working double overtime until the beginning of October and hopefully deep into it.

Wagons East

Shitty movie title, I know but it’s late for me and I’m tired.

Tomorrow night, Boston may or may not be the first team to 70 wins this year. They’ll head back to the east coast for a three game road series this weekend with the Baltimore Orioles. They haven’t quite enjoyed the success they’ve come to know the past few years against the O’s in ’07, but by all accounts should win the series. The Sox are in the middle of a nine game, 10 day and three city road trip and are 3-3 so far. The Sox will be home next week when they play Tampa Bay then play the Angels again for a four game series at Fenway.

With Boston playing Baltimore and the New York Yankees playing in Cleveland, ending their run of playing the worst teams in the AL, Boston should be able to put at least one more game between themselves and the Yanks. Speaking of the Yanks, after playing a three game series with the Toronto Blue Jays this week that saw A-Rod almost get cut down from the knees, they took the day off along with the Sox. To retaliate the previous games' transgressions, Yankee’s starting pitcher Roger Clemens nailed Jays SS Alex Rios in the middle of his back yesterday. Clemens never ceases to amaze me on what an incredible asshole he can be. Players policing the game themselves, fine, but that should have been taken care of the day it happened. So what happened? Players and managers from both sides were reprimanded, with Clemens facing the stiffest end of the penalty and being suspended for five games. This basically equals dick in that he’ll only miss one start, if he doesn’t appeal. God, I fucking hate the Yankees. It’s not like this doesn’t happen to other teams, but when the Yanks pull it off it just makes me hate them even more.

The series in Anaheim left me with a good feeling that the Sox aren’t just going to fold when a team like the Angels are battling them and are being aggressive. Sure, they avoided the sweep last night and lost the series, but they still played well. Teams that save face and avoid sweeps more often than not do a better job of impressing me. Of course, this week also reaffirmed that I really, really hate reliever Julian Tavarez. In the past three appearances he’s pitched three innings, gave up three earned runs, five hits, three walks and one strike out. This pans out to an ERA of 9.00 with a WHIP of 2.67. I hate you, Tavarez.

Hopefully this weekend they won’t have to turn to him in a close run situation with Dice-K, Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling pitching. One pitcher that needs mention is the newly acquired Eric Gagne. Watching Gagne pitch is like watching a train that’s about to derail every at bat. I almost woke my neighbor up last night so I had someone to slap as I watched him blunder through the 8^th inning as he brought the tying run to the plate. However, just when you thought he was going to piss the game away, bam, brilliant pitching. I don’t know how much of that I can take, especially with August fully underway. All-Stars (man, this never gets old) Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon were brilliant as always with Okajima having to come in and relieve Mike Timlin who had to relieve the Sox from Tavarez in the 5^th.

Ok, so completely unrelated to the Sox here, but not unrelated to baseball. Last night I had the best tickets I’ve ever had to a baseball game, ever. My friend and I sat five rows behind home plate, practically dead center. It was the Royals versus the Twins and it never ceases to amaze me how many people make the trek down I-35 from Minnesota to watch their team. If I were a Royals fan I’d probably be really pissed, because there are almost more Twins fans than Royals fans with their gay “Circle Me” signs. I couldn’t tell if I was at a baseball game, or on the set of WWE Monday Night Raw. I almost missed the hot dog race on the video board. Assholes. I’d be more pissed because I’d be willing to bet more than half of the fans that were there couldn’t name more than two starters from 1997 ten years ago when they sucked like the Royals are sucking now.

Watching Johan Santana was awesome and he didn’t let me down by pitching a brilliant game. The Twins lineup also decided to make contact with the baseball and racked up 19 hits and 11 runs on the seemingly hapless Royals so that was fun to watch too. Of course, those same Royals would pick up their 50^th win and take the series against the Twinkies this afternoon.

I just got done watching Baseball Tonight and did not know that Royals have only won eight less games than the Twins. Could the Royals be turning it around? I sure hope so. This town is just waiting on the edge of their seat for their hometown boys to get back to respectability. I’m still amazed how on the weekends fans show up en masse (relative to sub .500 teams) at Kauffman Stadium (and sometimes during the week) despite the Royals having back-to-back-to-back 100+ loss seasons. You look around the league with the other shitty teams and see less than 10,000 on some days. That never happens here. People want their team back, because in the 70’s and 80’s this team was it. You couldn’t buy a ticket to see the Royals and I think that would really be great if they got that back. Having your hometown team competing and playing meaningful baseball at the end of the season is something I’d really like to experience. On Sundays during the NFL season this city of a little over 2 million completely closes down. It’s really weird. On top of that, if you badmouth the Chiefs down here, you’re likely to get your ass kicked. Last fall, I went and watched my 49ers get whooped at Arrowhead 579-0 last fall and I still got shit the.entire.game. I wish I were kidding. Wearing my Ronnie Lott jersey probably didn’t help. Anyway, I’d like to see that sort of passion for the Royals again. Except for the whole ass kicking thing, beings I’m a Sox fan and all. Below is a really shitty video from my equally shitty cell phone from my seat at last night's game with Royals CF David DeJesus leading off against Santana.

Dodging Bullets...and a Moose

This visual matchup here would be the Mariners Moose versus Coco Crisp. Crisp was nearly leveled yesterday in front of the Sox dugout by this antlered would-be killer, as if yesterday's game needed any more excitement. Had this been pre-broken "Curse of the Bambino" Crisp would be out for 8 weeks after being run over by a stuffed moose.

After Friday night’s choke job, I was sure that the Sox were either going to be swept or lose the series to the Seattle Mariners. Boston has a history of suckage at Safeco Field and I didn’t really expect too much out of them. So, Saturday and Sunday’s wins were a little surprising especially with yesterday’s contest finishing up as a 9-2 victory in the Sox favor.

Yesterday’s game was a little bizarre. Manny celebrating a little too much for his 489^th home run of his career and of course, Crisp almost getting splattered by the mascot for the Mariners who was speeding around the field on an ATV. What the fuck was that all about? Coco took it in stride, almost got hit by a pitch later in the game and went on to have a good day hitting 2-for-4 with an RBI and a walk. Out of all the players to be used in the leadoff spot, Crisp seems to be the guy, at least in my opinion. With RF JD Drew playing once every series it seems (or less) and SS Julio Lugo having a streaky season at the plate, Crisp may seem like a lock to play the duration hitting lead in the lineup.

Josh Beckett had another solid outing picking up his 14^th win on the year. Beckett pitched into the 7^th inning giving up only one run, only walked two and struck out nine. Francona is also doing a good job of keeping his young ace in good condition for the home stretch limiting him to less than 120 pitches per start. It’s also important to not that having the bullpen that the Sox do for Francona to turn to doesn’t hurt either. I’m not one for babying pitchers and being a pitch count hawk because at this point in the season you should be able to take the cap off your guys and let them win. However, with the damage being done by the time the 7^th inning rolled around there was really no point to keeping Beckett in the game.

Reliever Eric Gagne ran into a few problems in Saturday night’s game and made things a little too interesting before getting out of his own self-created jam. He took a 4-2 lead into the 8^th and almost blew said lead after the Mariners scored on a Kenji Johjima single to deep left field bringing in Ben Broussard. Gagne got out of the jam by getting Yuniesky Betancourt to ground out to him and make the inning ending out at 1^st. Yikes, hopefully he can create a little less drama on the field and make the transition from starter to closer a little smoother. Closer Jonathan Papelbon came in to collect his 25^th save of the year.

Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz won’t have their normal output on RBI’s this season, however they have started to pick up the pace slightly and are at 72 and 68 RBI’s respectively. Both are hovering around .300 which is an improvement for Manny when held up against his slow start this season. Hopefully they peak at the right time through August and on into September.

Curt Schilling (6-4, 4.20 ERA) will make his first start since mid June in Atlanta tonight as the Sox travel down the Pacific Coastline to face off against the AL West leading Los Angeles Angels. Schilling returns to a rotation that has a pair of 13-game winners and a 14-game winner in Beckett, so if Schil can stay healthy the Sox may be fielding one of the best starting rotations in the Major Leagues. The Sox will try to keep the momentum rolling against the Halo’s as they put Jered Weaver (7-5, 4.00 ERA) on the mound tonight.

President of Red Sox Nation

Obviously, I just wanted an excuse to post this picture.

I've basically got two guys I'm planning I'm voting for, and being a paying member of Red Sox Nation (so I'm guaranteed a crack at Green Monster tickets when I go to Boston next summer) I feel like I need to make an educated vote. As of right now, these two guys are my two early front runners. Jerry Remy comes in at a close third, but as Bill Simmons writes, I would be concerned about him getting cancer and dying like, gee I don't know, five minutes from posting this. So, here are Peter Gammon's and Simmons' official campaign platform speeches. The only thing holding Gammons back at the moment is #9. Yikes, no thanks.

First, the Sox defeated the Baltimore Orioles this afternoon 7-4 to take the series after Tim Wakefield pitched seven innings giving up three runs. Eric Gagne was thwarted for a scoreless effort in his Red Sox debut by Aubrey Huff in the ninth. Gagne pitched in a non-save situation, but did get Jay Gibbons to fly out to end the game.

Gammons
If elected, I make 10 promises:
1. That I will get Luis Tiant, Jim Rice, Smokey Joe Wood and Janet Marie Smith into the Hall of Fame. Tip O'Neill made me promise I would fight for Smokey Joe to my deathbed.
2. That the Red Sox will provide every youngster in New England a video of Dwight Evans playing right field, so they can learn how to play that position correctly.
3. That all politicians have to pay their way into the park.
4. That, like Lyndon Johnson in 1960, Jerry Remy will be asked to be my running mate. After all, I was the first guy in Boston to discover him, at Somerset High School. And The Rev. Thomas Kennedy will be my Secretary of State, for the good of world peace, and rigging deals to get the best international players into the Red Sox farm system.
5. That the farthest west rest area on the Massachusetts Turnpike will be renamed "Wasdin Place."
6. That MIT will be renamed Matsuzaka Institute of Technology.
7. That we will built a seating section so that 1000 kids a game can get in--via a lottery--for $5 a head.
8. That if we can have cities and towns named after Red Sox like Wiilamstown, Lynn, Everett, Montgomery, Lee, the town of Westin will be renamed "Ortizton."
9. That Pearl Jam will play Fenway.
10. That every Opening Day, every school in New England will play Ken Coleman's call of Carl Yastrzemski's catch off Tom Tresh preseving Bill Rohr's no-hitter against the Yankees in 1967.

Bill Simmons
I'm running for President of Red Sox Nation for ten reasons. First, I've always wanted to be the President of something; at this point, I don't really care what it is. Second, I think I can get free tickets out of this. Third, I heard Mike O'Malley might run, and as much as I enjoy his work, we can't let him be President after he already subjected us to seven years of "Yes, Dear." Fourth, I'm the guy who once wrote a column called "Why Roger Clemens is the Anti-Christ," you have to vote me just for that. Fifth, unlike with that chainsmoker Jerry Remy, you'd never have to worry about my health during my tenure - and even if something does happen to me, you'll be in capable hands with my running mate, Rich Garces. Sixth, I dressed up as Fred Lynn for two straight Halloweens in '75 and '76- even as a kid, I was making great decisions. Seventh, I'm sure you have people in your life - in the office, in your dorm, in your family - who claim to be true Sox fans but couldn't pick Todd Benzinger or Dewey Evans out of a police lineup. I'm going to create a nationwide competency test to weed out these bandwagon jerks. Eighth, I spent the last four years in California learning about political leadership from the great Arnold Schwarzenegger - with that kind of training, I'm going to be unstoppable. Ninth, I have not one, not two but THREE friends named Sully. That has to count for something. And tenth, I'm going to use my presidential powers to get more free stuff for kids - free Red Sox Nation memberships, free tickets, free stuff from the Pro Shop and everything else. Vote for Simmons or you're basically admitting that you don't care about kids.

On Solid Ground?

This picture is dedicated to my friend over at TwinsTown. Once again, it’s not like I’m a C’s fan or anything, it’s just cool to see KG in a Sox jersey.

After last night’s performance, Boston is in the midst of still finding which identity they are going to carry (or not) into the postseason. Julian Tavarez proved once again why I hate the idea of him starting. Ever. He was quoted before last night’s game as saying being prepared to start is “mental.” It seems Tavarez has three brain cells upstairs in la cabasa that are constantly fighting and are unable to string together a complete thought or pitch sequence. You know what? I used to think that his saving grace was that he was a good guy to keep the clubhouse loose, but his ability to fuck games up out of the gate are starting to outweigh that trait. With Schilling on his way back next Monday Tavarez hopefully has a one way ticket to the bullpen for the duration of the season.

At least the Sox have their lineup to lean on, even though it hasn’t been that dependable the last two outings. They were able to mount a four run comeback in the bottom of the seventh on the backs of the heart of the lineup. It’s nice to see the big bats come through when they are needed in the clutch and come together as a team rather than just relying on one or two people night in and night out.

All-Star reliever Hideki Okajima made things interesting giving up an eighth inning solo shot to Baltimore Orioles SS Miguel Tejada. Javier Lopez came in to collect the win after closer Jonathan Papelbon came in to pitch a perfect ninth earning his 24^th save of the year.

Tim Wakefield is on the mound this afternoon for a rare mid-week day game at Fenway against Jeremy Guthrie in the rubber match with the O’s. If the Yankees keep playing the way they are, it’s going to be difficult to nurse their seven game lead in the AL East by playing .500 ball like the Sox have been doing since early June. Since going 36-16 in April and May, the Sox are 29-26 in the last two months. Like I’ve said to counter the Yankees production they have been playing some weak teams in Tampa Bay, Kansas City and the Chicago White Sox. They’ll have a tougher stretch in the second half of August playing top AL teams in Cleveland, Detroit, LA and Boston. So, we’ll see what they’re made of and if they are for real after playing those top teams in the AL by the end of this month.

Also, regarding last night’s events in Minneapolis, I’m happy to see that the Twins organization made the no brainer call to postpone today’s final game against the Kansas City Royals and the groundbreaking on their new stadium. It’s a tragedy that hits a little too close to home for me, as my uncle who works for Fox Sports Net North and aunt who works for the University of Minnesota took the bridge that collapsed yesterday to work everyday. In fact, my aunt traveled over it just minutes before it went down into the Mississippi River. I’m not the type of guy to say “keep the victims and their families in your prayers” however it’s sort of hard not to say that in a way when something unexpected like that happens. Me being me, I'd rather just make a joke about it and gain a little levity. But since this could have happened anywhere (including where I live) here’s to wishing the Minneapolis/Twin Cities community a speedy recovery.