Is there any better time to be a Mad Boston Sports Fan? Boston College defeats Virginia Tech in a thrilling comeback, the Patriots ran their record to 8-0 with a shellacking of the Redskins, the Bruins have a winning record (!), and....
the Boston Red Sox are the 2007 World Series Champions!!!
YES!
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Seven Down, Four To Go!
The Red Sox completed another stunning ALCS comeback tonight & defeated the Cleveland Indians, 11-2, to capture the American League pennant. They face the Colorado Rockies in the World Series on Wednesday in rockin' Fenway.
Who am I kidding? I'm so fucking happy I can barely speak, never mind type. I called a couple of friends of mine at the final out & all I could say was "Oh. my. God. Omigod. Omifuckingod."
Josh Beckett was just announced as the MVP - he deserves it with his 2-0 ALCS record and the dominance he's shown in both rounds. But this award could have easily gone to Kevin Youkilis or Dustin Pedroia, who both stepped up immensely when Ortiz and Ramirez cooled off. But maybe the real MVP is manager Terry Francona, who not only kept this team focused and confident when it was on the brink of elimination, but made all the right moves at the right time.
The season continues and the Sox are four wins away from another World Series title. Goddamn.
Who am I kidding? I'm so fucking happy I can barely speak, never mind type. I called a couple of friends of mine at the final out & all I could say was "Oh. my. God. Omigod. Omifuckingod."
Josh Beckett was just announced as the MVP - he deserves it with his 2-0 ALCS record and the dominance he's shown in both rounds. But this award could have easily gone to Kevin Youkilis or Dustin Pedroia, who both stepped up immensely when Ortiz and Ramirez cooled off. But maybe the real MVP is manager Terry Francona, who not only kept this team focused and confident when it was on the brink of elimination, but made all the right moves at the right time.
The season continues and the Sox are four wins away from another World Series title. Goddamn.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Playoff Hangover
Between the elation of Friday night's game and the despair of last night, I'm beat. Just as nothing could go wrong for Boston in the ALCS opener, nothing could go right in the second game.
There's not much more one can say about Josh Beckett without sounding tedious. He stifled the Cleveland offense after surrendering a solo shot to Travis Hafner in the first, but settled down to retire 11 Indians in a row before giving up another hit. The Boston hitters provided ample support with Big Papi and Manny both reaching base in all 5 at-bats. The Red Sox machine drove Cleveland ace, C.C. Sabathia, from the game in the fifth inning after reaching him for 8 runs. Beckett was pulled from the game in the sixth after only 83 pitches, but with a commanding lead and the Sox bullpen gave up only one more run for a 10-3 victory.
Last night was a different story. The offense was good enough to come from behind twice but missed opportunities in the late innings to secure the win. Schilling was not particularly effective, charged with 5 runs and surrendering the lead twice, and the 'pen allowed the tying run in the sixth and totally crapped the bed in the 11th by handing the Indians 7 runs in the top of the frame. Deservedly maligned Eric Gagne took the loss but Javier Lopez and Jon Lester were also atrocious. The loss overshadows fine performances by Mike Timlin, Hideki Okajima, and Jonathan Papelbon, who combined for 4.2 innings of shutout ball, allowing only two hits and getting four strikeouts in the process. By contrast, the Cleveland bullpen held the Boston hitters to 3 hits over 6.2 innings.
This series will be a long, grind-it-out affair. Neither of these teams is going to roll over and the Boston fans who were thinking "sweep" after Friday's game - and there were some - got a cold dash of reality last night. The good news is that Sabathia and Carmona were hit early and often but the bad news is that we are looking at a suddenly suspect Curt Schilling along with the questions about Daisuke Matsuzaka and Tim Wakefield. If Cleveland takes the lead in the series, don't be surprised to see Josh Beckett go on short rest in Game 4.
Here's my wrapup from today's Pats game.
There's not much more one can say about Josh Beckett without sounding tedious. He stifled the Cleveland offense after surrendering a solo shot to Travis Hafner in the first, but settled down to retire 11 Indians in a row before giving up another hit. The Boston hitters provided ample support with Big Papi and Manny both reaching base in all 5 at-bats. The Red Sox machine drove Cleveland ace, C.C. Sabathia, from the game in the fifth inning after reaching him for 8 runs. Beckett was pulled from the game in the sixth after only 83 pitches, but with a commanding lead and the Sox bullpen gave up only one more run for a 10-3 victory.
Last night was a different story. The offense was good enough to come from behind twice but missed opportunities in the late innings to secure the win. Schilling was not particularly effective, charged with 5 runs and surrendering the lead twice, and the 'pen allowed the tying run in the sixth and totally crapped the bed in the 11th by handing the Indians 7 runs in the top of the frame. Deservedly maligned Eric Gagne took the loss but Javier Lopez and Jon Lester were also atrocious. The loss overshadows fine performances by Mike Timlin, Hideki Okajima, and Jonathan Papelbon, who combined for 4.2 innings of shutout ball, allowing only two hits and getting four strikeouts in the process. By contrast, the Cleveland bullpen held the Boston hitters to 3 hits over 6.2 innings.
This series will be a long, grind-it-out affair. Neither of these teams is going to roll over and the Boston fans who were thinking "sweep" after Friday's game - and there were some - got a cold dash of reality last night. The good news is that Sabathia and Carmona were hit early and often but the bad news is that we are looking at a suddenly suspect Curt Schilling along with the questions about Daisuke Matsuzaka and Tim Wakefield. If Cleveland takes the lead in the series, don't be surprised to see Josh Beckett go on short rest in Game 4.
Here's my wrapup from today's Pats game.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
I Feel Like Stewie Griffin Today
You know, the sadistic little brat from "Family Guy". "Victory is mine" indeed so I'm gonna pile it on. The only thing that mars this day from total perfection is that I had to take the day off from work and thus, I couldn't rub it in my boss' face.
Blown out in Game 1, bugged out in Game 2, pulled out Game 3, and crapped out in Game 4. That sums up the Yankees vaunted forty-leventh consecutive trip to the offseason. Tell me, does that console the fanbase in the face of a third consecutive first round KO - all since the Greatest-Choke-of-All-Time in 2004?
I tried to imagine what happened in the owner's box after the third out last night but got so scared I needed to sleep with a teddy bear.
A few words for A-Rod: If the option is yours, STICK WITH THE YANKEES! Nobody is gonna want to pay through the nose for someone who tears through the regular season and then becomes this in the playoffs, unless it's one of those teams who like to put fannies in the seats but couldn't care less about the postseason. If it was just one playoffs, I'd be first in line with the "Sign A-Rod" chants but this is 3 years in a row that he has freakin disappeared once the regular season ended.
Two words for Theo Epstein: SEE ABOVE! A-Rod is not a reclamation project a la David Ortiz. A change of laundry is not going to overcome whatever causes his playoff paralysis. Theo, you have a third baseman in the fold who is top-tier defensively and upper-middle tier offensively. Certainly, he's been a bargain in the fifth spot (at about $5 million cheaper per year than J.D. Drew). His name is Mike Lowell. Please please please sign him.
edited to add these haikus i posted in The Joy of Sox:
Unlucky thirteen
A-Rod nine for sixty-one
Invisible Man
****
There once was a man named Torre
Who again in October says "Sorry"
"We just couldn't do it"
So George says "Just screw it"
and throws Joe under a lorry
Blown out in Game 1, bugged out in Game 2, pulled out Game 3, and crapped out in Game 4. That sums up the Yankees vaunted forty-leventh consecutive trip to the offseason. Tell me, does that console the fanbase in the face of a third consecutive first round KO - all since the Greatest-Choke-of-All-Time in 2004?
I tried to imagine what happened in the owner's box after the third out last night but got so scared I needed to sleep with a teddy bear.
A few words for A-Rod: If the option is yours, STICK WITH THE YANKEES! Nobody is gonna want to pay through the nose for someone who tears through the regular season and then becomes this in the playoffs, unless it's one of those teams who like to put fannies in the seats but couldn't care less about the postseason. If it was just one playoffs, I'd be first in line with the "Sign A-Rod" chants but this is 3 years in a row that he has freakin disappeared once the regular season ended.
Two words for Theo Epstein: SEE ABOVE! A-Rod is not a reclamation project a la David Ortiz. A change of laundry is not going to overcome whatever causes his playoff paralysis. Theo, you have a third baseman in the fold who is top-tier defensively and upper-middle tier offensively. Certainly, he's been a bargain in the fifth spot (at about $5 million cheaper per year than J.D. Drew). His name is Mike Lowell. Please please please sign him.
edited to add these haikus i posted in The Joy of Sox:
Unlucky thirteen
A-Rod nine for sixty-one
Invisible Man
****
There once was a man named Torre
Who again in October says "Sorry"
"We just couldn't do it"
So George says "Just screw it"
and throws Joe under a lorry
Sunday, October 07, 2007
SWINCHED!*
That's right....swinched. A sweep/clinch. In a perfect weekend for Boston sports fans, the Patriots remained undefeated, Boston College mauled Bowling Green, the Bruins won (!), and the Boston Red Sox advanced to the ALCS after sweeping the LAA Angels 3-0 in the division series.
There was speculation in the media about how effective Curt Schilling would be, pitching on eleven days' rest but the veteran righthander quickly set aside those concerns. Although he had to pitch out of a bases loaded jam in the fourth, Schill was in control from the outset. Angels' starter Jered Weaver was equally effective and the two were locked in a pitcher's duel until the top of the fourth when Weaver made two mistake pitches that resulted in back-to-back homers by David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez.
Pitching with the lead, Schilling never looked back. He gave up only 6 hits over 7 innings, all but one a single. The lone extra base hit was a fluke double that a less generous scorer would've ruled was an error by Coco Crisp. (In fairness, Crisp snared a sinking liner after a long run and the ball was jarred loose from his glove when he hit the ground.) Schilling's counterpart, Weaver, was lifted in the fifth for Scot Shields, who held the Sox to one hit over 2 complete innings.
The Red Sox saved the explosives for the top of the eighth, when they sent 11 men to the plate and scored 7 runs to put the game away. Hideki Okajima sandwiched a double and a walk around 3 flyouts in the bottom half of the frame and Eric Gagne mopped up. Gagne continues to struggle with the concept of a "clean inning" as he surrendered the Angels' sole run.
Considering that the Angels managed to score only 4 runs in the entire series, I suppose I shouldn't bitch about Gagne. But that's the wonderful thing about being a Boston fan - we bitch about everything.
I was all set to bitch about the Pats not covering the spread, but then Randall Gay stripped Browns' tight end Kellen Winslow of a reception, recovered the fumble, and ran it in for the touchdown. Once Gostkowski kicked the PAT, the 17 point lead was regained and order was restored to the universe. However, they did give up a season-high 17 points today, so I'm starting to worry about the defense....
The Eagles of BC thrashed Bowling Green by a lopsided 55-24 score and look to move even higher in the polls this week. They are now 6-0 on the season, their best start in 65 years, but go on the road to face Notre Dame and Virginia Tech over the next two weeks.
Trot Nixon just homered off of Roger Clemens and the Indians now have a 2-0 lead against the Yankees. Sweet!
There was speculation in the media about how effective Curt Schilling would be, pitching on eleven days' rest but the veteran righthander quickly set aside those concerns. Although he had to pitch out of a bases loaded jam in the fourth, Schill was in control from the outset. Angels' starter Jered Weaver was equally effective and the two were locked in a pitcher's duel until the top of the fourth when Weaver made two mistake pitches that resulted in back-to-back homers by David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez.
Pitching with the lead, Schilling never looked back. He gave up only 6 hits over 7 innings, all but one a single. The lone extra base hit was a fluke double that a less generous scorer would've ruled was an error by Coco Crisp. (In fairness, Crisp snared a sinking liner after a long run and the ball was jarred loose from his glove when he hit the ground.) Schilling's counterpart, Weaver, was lifted in the fifth for Scot Shields, who held the Sox to one hit over 2 complete innings.
The Red Sox saved the explosives for the top of the eighth, when they sent 11 men to the plate and scored 7 runs to put the game away. Hideki Okajima sandwiched a double and a walk around 3 flyouts in the bottom half of the frame and Eric Gagne mopped up. Gagne continues to struggle with the concept of a "clean inning" as he surrendered the Angels' sole run.
Considering that the Angels managed to score only 4 runs in the entire series, I suppose I shouldn't bitch about Gagne. But that's the wonderful thing about being a Boston fan - we bitch about everything.
I was all set to bitch about the Pats not covering the spread, but then Randall Gay stripped Browns' tight end Kellen Winslow of a reception, recovered the fumble, and ran it in for the touchdown. Once Gostkowski kicked the PAT, the 17 point lead was regained and order was restored to the universe. However, they did give up a season-high 17 points today, so I'm starting to worry about the defense....
The Eagles of BC thrashed Bowling Green by a lopsided 55-24 score and look to move even higher in the polls this week. They are now 6-0 on the season, their best start in 65 years, but go on the road to face Notre Dame and Virginia Tech over the next two weeks.
Trot Nixon just homered off of Roger Clemens and the Indians now have a 2-0 lead against the Yankees. Sweet!
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Manny Being Manny
(photo courtesy of SportsIllustrated.com)
In the words of Forrest Gump "That's all I have to say 'bout that."
Boston goes up, 2-0, in the best of five ALDS series against the Angels. The teams head back to Anaheim (I think, because their name is so goddamned confusing. "The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim"? *snort*) In any case, wherever they're going, they'll be playing the third game with Curt Schilling set to face Jered Weaver.
In the other series, Cleveland eked out a win over New York to take a 2-0 lead as well. I'm lovin it. I don't want to face the Yankees in the ALCS - I want them rubbed out in the first round for the third year in a row. Mostly so I can rub my boss' face in it next week because on top of being an unmitigated asshole, he is a YANKEES FAN. (Is that redundant?) I don't have all that much confidence in Cleveland's starter, Jake Westbrook, but New York has to wonder which Roger Clemens will show up for the game.
Lots of baseball, lots of football, and still time to celebrate Mrs. Potato's birthday. Happy b-day, sweetheart.
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