Me and my Sox: Back in the swing

If only I knew how to play chess I would have bought this set just so miniature Tek could face wash tiny A-Rod

After spending the weekend in New York, most of yesterday flying home and recovering, and the rest of the evening catching up on Sox news and watching my first game in four days (yay!) last night, I finally feel like I'm ready to re-enter the blogosphere.

By sifting through "a weeks worth of Globe stories" I found out that I missed quite a bit of action while I was gone, including Barry Bonds' first Fenway homer, the Sox sweeping the Giants out of town, and Coco Crisp's first career two-homer game. Whew.

Not to mention Manny's twin bombs over the weekend, another 1-0 Sox win in Dice-K's Saturday masterpiece and Schilling's second consecutive meltdown following his 1-hitter. Whew!
Not wanting to cheat my faithful readers out of my always insightful commentary, I'm going to recap some of the past before I get to the future (i.e. tonight's game) regarding our team.

Thank you for your patience.

• Beckett notches win #10 in 4-0 Sox win-- last night's rain-interrupted affair with Atlanta lasted long enough for Josh to pick up his 10th victory in his second attempt, and though he wasn't dominant (6IP, 4H, 0R, 2BB, 3K) he pitched well enough to secure the win. His night ended after a 48 minute rain delay before the seventh, but by then Papi had hit his 12th homer, Coco had made another spectacular catch, and Becks even helped his own cause with an RBI double. Nice.



• Schill shelled again, then sent home for MRI-- according to Braves 3B Chipper Jones, Curt did not have his usual 92+ velocity in Monday's 9-4 loss, and he surmised that the leather-tough vet had to be hurt. Turns out the king of bastard children and annoying DL stints was right, as the team announced yesterday that Schilling flew home to have an MRI on his shoulder. Although the results didn't show any damage, the Globe reported today that Curt says he most likely will miss his next scheduled start and will have a cortisone shot to boot. Gulp. But hey, a Schill that allows 19 hits and 11 earned runs in 9.1 innings is no good to the team anyway.



• Dice & Manny combine for 1-0 gem-- Matsuzaka bounced back from a trio of consecutive losses to throw a 3-hit masterpiece, fanning eight in his seven innings, the highlight coming when he induced Bonds to ground out with two on and no out in the sixth. Manny's 4th inning Monster shot accounted for the only run of the game, Oki struck out Bonds with two on to end the 8th, and Paps finished it with a 1-2-3 ninth. Man I wish I DVR'd this one-IDIOT!



• Coco goes cuckoo at the plate-- he's hit safely in six straight games including his 4-4, 2-HR outburst Monday, and over his last 11 games he's batted .350 (14-40) to raise his average 21 points (.226-.247). Plus he had another great catch. Awesome.



• Bonds hits #748 against his old mate-- in Sunday's victory former Pittsburgh teammate Tim Wakefield allowed career homer #748 to Bonds on a solo shot in the 6th that made the score 8-4 Boston. Of the shot Bonds said "I believe I had two, but we'll leave it at one," referring to his Pesky pole non-call on Friday. Boo hoo.



• Relief cored-- Romero cleared waivers-so long, J.C. we hardly knew ya. We knew you allowed a lot of baserunners, but that's about it...Timlin was torched again in his appearance Monday, allowing 4 hits and 2 runs in an inning and a third to run his ERA to 6.23...Donnelly was DL'd for a small forearm strain, and MattapanManny was recalled and has



• Lugo disappearing off the face of the earth-- already dropped to last in the order the $36 million dollar man has managed to sink even lower, lugging a .205 average into last night's game in which he got the night off in favor of Cora. Lugo's slump has reached Drew-like proportions (0-9, 1-17 and 4-39), and Tito has no choice but to use a platoon system until (if) Lugo breaks out of this infuriating funk

Those are just a few of the notable occurrences that have transpired in my absence, and I could go on but tonight's game (broadcast in ESPN HD-yay!) is getting ready to start soon.

It's good to be home again.

It'll be even better if the Sox win tonight's game while I get to relax on my big comfy couch and watch the game in stunning HD for the first time in a while.

Then again, Julie is pitching, so I could be in for a disappointing night.

Read More......

Back From the Abyss: in a New York state of mind

After spending the weekend in NYC, this transplanted Bostonian and lifelong Stankee hater found he actually liked the Big Apple.

Incredible views like this one from the rooftop lounge atop our hotel was just one thing that made my trip more enjoyable than I'd expected

Before you all start to vilify me, it's not like I'm admitting that the powerful allure of iconic American landmarks like Times Square, Central Park and the Empire State Building converted this Boston born Sox Diehard into some kind of closeted wannabe New Yawker...

...but after the fam and I had such a fun, fast-paced and nearly profanity-free three days in the City That Doesn't Sleep, viewing many of the most famous structures and areas in the world while attending one of the best weddings in history, I was surprised to realize that I found the city whose sports teams have caused us Boston fans so much misery over the decades to be a...gulp...a...nice place to visit.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm about to hop aboard a jet airliner and trade in my blue cap with the red script "B" for a set of pinstripes or anything, but the actual city itself, as noisy, smelly, polluted and crowded as it is, is a great place to spend some time provided you have the right combination of factors in your favor such as hotel location, weather and a family member/ friend who lives in the city.

Thankfully my sister Melissa, she of the aforemen-tioned fantastic wedding (more coverage of that event will be posted on my other blog, TampaBayBostonian, sometime tomorrow) has lived in the city for years and she aided greatly in making sure we stayed at the right hotel (Shelburne Murray Hill- hip, contemporary, and favorably located yet relatively in-expensive), went to the right places that fit in with our short time frame (Empire St Bldg, Central Park) and steered clear of places that didn't (Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero.)

Check out where this store owner decided to place Mr. April's jersey-behind baby Matsui's!Classic!

In my efforts to avoid all the coverage of the two despised baseball teams in the region, which wasn't easy since they were playing another one of those silly Subway Series, as a result I didn't get to see much Red Sox action, either.

Saturday I went to the hotel bar to catch the Dice-K game on the plasma since it was on FOX, but the US Open was on instead, and when I asked if they would put the baseball game on, I got a curt "we're watching the golf" reply from a waiter. Alrighty then.

Sunday I saw none of the game since that was the day of the wedding, and yesterday I was "lucky" enough to catch a bit of the latest Schilling shellacking on the hotel TV before we went to dinner, and from what I saw (McCann's three-run homer, Schill with nothing), I'm glad I missed the rest.

So it looks like most of my prediction before I left came true-the Sox swept the Giants series-but thanks to Schilling my hopes of starting the long road trip off on a positive note did not come to fruition, and now it turns out he might be hurt. Great.

Oh well. At least the Sox still have the best record in baseball, and more importantly I survived my first foray into the devil's den with my sanity and senses intact.

I will try to get back up to speed with my Sox postings tomorrow, after I sleep off the effects of jet lag and late night jags, and I'm sure I will revisit this new found affinity I have for the city that harbors two of RSN's most loathed rivals.

The situation is so perplexing I may have to call in Dr. Melfi on this one; she's not doing anything these days.

Meeting legendary Letterman foil Rupert Gee was one of the many highlights of a great trip

Read More......

On Vacation: Into the belly of the beast!

The Bloody Sock will be on hiatus for the next four days as I head to the Big Apple for my sister's nuptials.

That's right, this charter member of Red Sox Nation is heading into the lions den, and in the middle of another subway series, no less.

But the sis lives and works in the city as does her fiancee, plus my son & I are in the wedding, so there was really no getting around making the trip into hostile territory.

Plenty of pix and stories when I return. Hopefully the Sox will have swept the Giants by then, Bonds will be put out of action after Matsuzaka drills him in his ginourmous dome because doing so in his country is viewed as an honor, and Boston will already have taken a pair in Atlanta by the time I get back.

Hey, a guy can dream.

After all, I'm going to be visiting the city responsible for years of nightmares for the next few days!

Wish me luck, and best of luck to my sister, Melissa, and her hubby-to-be, Paul!

Read More......