Boston Red Sox-- 1st Half of the Season

[Sureal]

That Safeco park is a nightmare. It seems we NEVER win there. I dread going there and to Oakland. King Felix wasn't even on top of his game and we still lost. Gabbard can't be throwing up paperballs like that either. I watched the first inning and it looked terrible from the start. I fell asleep after that. Get Lester up here!!!

 

[Newc]

I hit alot of stadiums when I work out of town but this was the first time we did a family road trip....was surprised that neither of my sons did any bitching about sitting through 3 games, nearly in a row. One son likes the Braves, the other the Sox, so the first 2 games we didn't see any of our favorite teams. We went more to see the stadiums.

I shoulda had a foul ball in Pittsburgh. We were behind the plate about eye level with the top of the screen, maybe a little lower. Said before the game, there's no way we get a ball back where we were...too far back for one of those up the chimney shots and too low for one that clears the screen (figuring the arc of the ball wouldn't drop enough for us. First inning....my older son had my glove. He's sitting next to me on the left, fiddling with the glove. I'm holding my camera with the big-ass zoom lens on it.

For whatever reason I turn to him and say "lemme see that" as I try to get it on my hand while still holding the camera. Still facing him, I'm telling him I don't remember when I got that glove. I hear the people around us sort of let out a gasp so I look up. Here comes the ball but about 2 seats to my right or so. Next to me is a friggin' Yankees fan with his 2 young sons. The ball is pretty much headed for this kid's face. Neither the Dad or the kids seemed to be paying attention (at least to my recollection). Since I'm left-handed, I flash out the glove at the last second and the ball goes off the top of the webbing. Of course I get the shit booed out of me (hope to God I didn't end up on Fox Pittsburgh)....but I probably saved that kid from a really wicked shiner.

Oh....the ball ended up going down a row or 2 and someone passed it back up to the kid next to me. For the rest of the game he's playing with it despite his father telling him to put it away or he'll lose it. Eight inning comes around and sure enough he drops it....it rolls to the bottom of the section. We see some little girl carrying it out as the game ends.

I'll never hear the end of it....especially because my wife and kids call me Al Bundy for bragging about how I never dropped a fly ball or a pass when I was younger.

Thats awsome man, you're kids are gonna look back on all that one day and be really glad they had the oppurtunity to do that with their dad. I remember ball games with my dad, some of the best times of my life.

 

[Newc]

we need you tonight dice-k. But on a lighter note:

Must see: Clemens in 2057 - Extra Bases

Haha, I think that was on ESPN the other night as well. Gotta love the part when he falls asleep.

 

[Newc]

That Safeco park is a nightmare. It seems we NEVER win there. I dread going there and to Oakland. King Felix wasn't even on top of his game and we still lost. Gabbard can't be throwing up paperballs like that either. I watched the first inning and it looked terrible from the start. I fell asleep after that. Get Lester up here!!!

Its funny how some teams just can't seem to beat others...kind of like when the Angels come into Fenway.

We really missed a few good oppurtunities to score early in the game, had baseses loaded and only drove in one, men on first and second with no outs and ground into a double play then strike out to end the inning. If we were able to get just a clutch hit there the game would have turned dramatically.

As for Gabbard, I can't believe a pro pitcher can walk in runs on three occassions. Its sad when you look at the box score and see three different guys going 0-0 with and RBI....COME ON! I would really love to sit in on the discussion between Francona, Ferrell and Theo about the progress of Lester, because if there isn't something that is holding him back I say let the kid loose. I don't see him getting down on himself if he has a rough outing or something considering he fought off cancer and got himself back ready for the majors.

 

[Sureal]

yeah. So we choked that series away. can't blame that on Dice-K. Schill is out until the All-Star Break. BRING UP LESTER!!! I will be screaming that until it happens.

Wake is up tonight.

 

[Newc]

Wake pitched a hell of a game and you gotta love Pedroia jumping up into Pap's face to get him to calm down and head back to the mound during the argument at first base, that would have been killer having him run from the game.

 

[Sureal]

we need to win the majority of our games up until the All-Star break...

Did you guys check out the Aug. Schedule? Brutal...

 

[mlcspinner]

The skid STOPS tonight !!!

 

[mlcspinner]

Also the Yanks keep losing too.

 

[NDgettysburg]

Also the Yanks keep losing too.

At some point ya gotta stop looking at the Yankees and pay more attention on the 2nd place team

 

[mlcspinner]

never take your eyes off the yanks, they have to much talent and at some point they will make a run at us.

 

[Newc]

Yea, the yanks will continue to be watched by the Sox and their fans, its just the way it is.

Good offensive showing last night by our boys and Gabbard didn't look too bad either. Gotta love Pedroia at the plate as well, can you say ROY?

 

[Sureal]

Yea, the yanks will continue to be watched by the Sox and their fans, its just the way it is.

Good offensive showing last night by our boys and Gabbard didn't look too bad either. Gotta love Pedroia at the plate as well, can you say ROY?

Absolutely. The guy is one of my favorites. We still need Papi and Manny to start smacking them out.

You have to be excited about Jacob Ellsbury (mispelled). Man that guy can flat out fly!!! We need him to run a couple of fly patterns for the Irish!!! He is another Jose Reyes type. The only thing that reminds me of the Traitor (Damon) is his stance. Everything else is Jose IMO. The future looks bright. I was searching the minor league sites and I can't find a viable power hitting prospect in our farm but man do we got some arms (pitchers)...

 

[Newc]

From what I have heard Ellsbury is flat out amazing. I didn't even realize we had called him up till I saw that he scored on the passed ball last night. I wonder if he is auditioning for post July 31st.

As far as the farm system goes, the Sox don't have too many top notch position players, but our young pitchers look awesome, especially considering Lester is still one of them. Not to sound like I am pushing him out, but I don't believe that the Sox will be taking a step back when Schill leaves, it seems like we have the pieces to put into place which should make all Sox fans a little more comfortable about the future.

 

[mlcspinner]

Red Sox Win, it's the 4th, and life is good

 

[Sureal]

Who has the ball tonight?

 

[Newc]

Beckett keeps rolling, Lowell has killer night and Coco with a grand slam...it really doesn't get much better.

I really don't see how the Sox can be caught this year, especially since Manny and Papi haven't even dialed in their swings, they are gonna be monsters in the second half!

 

[Sureal]

Okajima is an All-Star (no-brainer). Beckett was mowing them down something awful. The second half will be interesting. August is a killer month check out the schedule when you get a chance...

 

[mlcspinner]

What happen last night ??? Did anything go right ????

 

[Newc]

Okajima is an All-Star (no-brainer). Beckett was mowing them down something awful. The second half will be interesting. August is a killer month check out the schedule when you get a chance...

August being killer as in bad for us or good? Just looked at the schedule and it appears to give us the advantage. 6 games against Tampa Bay, who we dominate, 6 against Baltimore who we should dominate, 4 against the White Sox who can't win a game to save their lives, 7 against the Angels, who, while they are a good team seem to struggle against the Sox, 3 at Yankee stadium, you can never predict anything between the Sox and Yanks, but it should go our way and then 3 against Seattle, who has been spanking us this year.

Predicted August Record: 20-9
Manny and Papi will get hot after the break, Schilling will come back rested and on a mission and things will continue to click. There is something very different about this year Sox team that we haven't seen in a long while. The pitching is really killing teams and our big name guys aren't constantly saving us games, role players are really contributing and the team on a whole is really playing well, thats the kind of stuff that makes World Series Champs...this team is much better than the '04 team, because its a whole team effort this year. We should all be very excited!!

 

[Sureal]

Got smacked around this weekend. I expected a tough series but not our starters getting bumped so early. Ok. Time to get rested up and get to business come the second half of the season.

 

[Newc]

Yea that was a rough way to end the first half, especially against a team we will most likely see in the post season. The last two games were very close, we missed some opportunities on saturday when we went to extra innings and had the tying run on third on sunday, both games could have easily gone our way, but it just didn't work out that way.

Lets hope this break gives our boys some time to rest up and come back fired up in the second half.