The Best Thing

Well, the big Pirates protest is tonight. I'd say the best thing that could happen is hearing some angry WWF-like chanting on TV. The second best thing would be the Pirates getting blown out by the lowly Nationals.

Fan Protest Thingy

For those who don't know (everyone outside the Pittsburgh area), internet Pirate fans have organized a "walk-out" during the third inning of the Pirate game at PNC Park to protest the terrible, terrible ownership, leadership, direction, decisions, cheapness, etc., of our franchise. The group putting it together is call "Fans for Change."

The deal is, you wear green and walk out at the beginning of the third inning and walk over to the concourse. The green symbolizes money or something.

Now, don't get me wrong, I have no problem with the protest. If I was going to the game Saturday, i would probably participate. No one is expecting too much from this one act. It's bobblehead night (yippeezzz!!) so even if 5,000 fans protest (an optimistic number) that will barely make a dent. However, the cool thing is there will APPARENTLY be a member of the 1971 World Champion Pirates as a keynote speaker to the pre-game protest rally.

I'd love to go just to hear the funny chants that they will probably be able to get going during the game.

So anyway, the protest is cool and all, but here's what's dumb. When the Pirates failed to make any comment on the event and took down messages from their Fan Forum and instructed FSN Pittsburgh not to talk about or show the protest on TV, people flipped out and said the Pirates are censoring and that the Pirates are "afraid" or something.

Umm, this is not the case. The Pirates, I'm sure, see this as a tiny flicker of the flame, and the actions they are taking are not despearte bullying, but are more on the level of a thumb and forefinger quenching a birthday candle light.

The protest sounds great, and fun especially, and I'd love to go. But don't pretend the Pirates are actually afraid of this because they monitor their message boards and have told their TV affiliates not to discuss something that would tear down the organization. They are taking very tiny steps to ensure the protest will have practically no effect.

As for me, I'm just waiting until we trade Jason Bay. When we do, I can cheer for his new team until Mark Cuban buys the Pirates.

Winless In Seattle

The Mariners beat the Red Sox yesterday, 2-1 in 11 innings. Diasuke pitched so well. I'd be willing to say its the best he pitched all year. 8 innings of 1 run ball striking out eight. In the third, Mariner catcher Jamie Burke hit a fly ball to left center. Coco Crisp was shading him to right and was no where to be found, but somehow closed in on the ball and dove for the ball. Instead of giving us his daily Web Gem, the ball fell inches to his right and got passed him, allowing Burke to get a double. If Manny hadn't been backing him up, it would have been a triple. Ichiro came up next and got a cheap bloop single that scored Burke from second. Other than that, Diasuke was unhittable.

The lineup just couldn't score. There were plenty of opportunities. Big Papi struck out with the bases loaded and two outs early in the game. The Sox left 11 runners on base. They just didn't capitalize. Therefore, they were swept for the first time all year.

Alas! The lead in the AL is down to 9 games. That's right. Your Toronto Blue Jays are within single digits.

Speaking of the Blue Jays and Red Sox, now seems like a good team to look at both teams former Ace, the Rocket Man. The Yankees web page claims he's now their ace. He lost again yesterday and for the first time in 200 games, didn't strike anyone out. He's now 1-3 (0-3 against teams who aren't the Pirates) with a 5.32 ERA. The Evil Empire is in 3rd place, 3 games under .500, has lost 4 in a row and seven of their last 8. Glorious!

New Guy

Well, this will likely be the last post for awhile, not that I post all that often as it is...I'm heading to Korea tomorrow for the CM2007 Conference and then to India. So, pray for that as you think about it.

Last night Mike Maroth pitched his first National League game after being acquired in a trade with the Tigers and I couldn't be more pleased. He went 7 1/3 with only 2 hits, 2 walks and a run. Pretty solid against the Mets, even if they haven't been great lately. I don't expect him to pitch that well every time out, but I feel more confident having him out there than one of our many relievers thrown into the rotation.

I am excited to think that Carpenter and Mulder may be back soon...who knows how they will pitch when they do return, but if it is even close to how they should be...then there is hope of making a run in the Central. But we still have to stay close enough to be in it. And the Brewers are back to playing well.

Maybe when I get back in a month we will be healthy and in a position to be in the race. Or maybe we'll be 15 out. I wouldn't be surprised with either.

Have fun watching baseball this summer...don't take it for granted. One of the few sad things about heading overseas will be the lack of contact with baseball. Small sacrifice I suppose.

Cheers!

In reference to an earlier post...

...this was stated:

Category NL Rank
(hitting)
Runs 15th
OBP 12th
Slug 13th
OPS 13th
Steals 16th

(pitching)
ERA 16th
BAA 12th
OPS 14th
Saves 13th
WHIP 14th
Quality
Starts 15th

And not in last place???

It's the last sentence that made me curious enough to look up some stats. Here are the Cardinals ranks for these categories in the context of the NL Central:

Runs 5, OBP 4, Slug 5, OPS 5, Steals 5 (they jumped ahead of somebody here).
ERA 6, BAA 3, Saves 4, WHIP 4.

I couldn't find the other two stats on MLB.com's stats. Anyway, the point is, despite abysmal rankings compared to the rest of the NL, the Cardinals are actually last in only one of those statistics in their division. INCREDIBLE! We are witnessing a historically bad division here, people. We should feel more grateful.

We can do it!

Come on guys! Just one game of interleague play left! Let's make it FIVE losses is a row! How low can we go!

Back from the ends of the earth

Hey. I've been gone for a while. It all started last Thursday night. I was writing a blog entry when my cousin called because his dad suddenly couldn't take him to the U.S. Open the next day because of work. He wanted to know if I'd take him.

I never thought I would attend a PGA Major tournament, but there I was, about ten hours later. I saw Tiger and his army of followers and everybody else. Interesting experience. If you want to follow what is happening at a golf tournament, actually being there probably isn't your best bet. But it's good juhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifst for the experience of saying, "I've been to a Major."

As soon as I got home, we left for North Carolina, where I did not have internet access. Now I have returned.

Not much has changed with the Pirates. Since Laura mentioned the Phillies attendance (103%) I'll take this opportunity to point out that the Pirates have had as little as 8,102(!) people at a home game this season against the Astros. I've been to Tommy Maddox Foundation celebrity softball games with more people!!

What the heck, the less people that attend games, the more money the Nuttings get from revenue sharing, perpetuating our sad, losing existence. Yay communism!

(A few notes about that Tommy Maddox softball game. It was to support his new Pittsburgh-area charity, and it was during summer 2003, when he had somehow fooled everyone into thinking he could be a good NFL quarterback by beating the Cleveland Browns three times. I doubt this charity still exists. The two teams competing were called "The Tommy Guns and the Auto-Maddox." The slow-pitch softball game featured such "celebrities" as Steelers backup center and aspiring rapper Chukky Okobi and Steelers punter Josh Miller. Plaxico Burress was supposed to be there, but...)

Coco Crisp/80s night

Last time I mentioned Crisp was to point out how much he sucks and yet he's not even one of the top two problems in the Red Sox lineup. Ever since then he's been going on a tear. His last 8 games, he's 15 for 27 with three homeruns. Plus, it seems like every night he makes a stupendous diving catch. His average has sored to .258. Coco Crisp, I solute you!

Diasuke took the mound last night against Greg Maddux, both teams in their throwback 80s uniforms. Yes, the Red Sox had a different uniform in the 80s. The BOSTON on the away jerseys were blue. And there was a HUGE space between the S and the T. Every time a Red Sox got up, the Padres messed around with their pictures to make them like 80s heavy metal guitar heroes, with long hair and nose rings and make up and whatnot. Except for Big Papi. He looked like Mr. T.

Speaking of T, I still can't believe the space was that big.
"BOS TON".

Anyway, Diasuke got in trouble early. In the bottom of the first, he walked the bases loaded with no one out, and somehow, some way managed to get out of the jam only allowing one run. The Red Sox got two in the fourth, on a two strike single by Youkilis (vote for Youk!) and a RBI single by Varitek. Maddux thought he had strike three to Youk, but the umpire didn't give it to him. The announcers brought up the fact that the home plate ump was a minor league guy who sometimes fills in for vacationing Major League Umps. Probably a good thing for Maddux, because he was screaming at him and would have been tossed by a Major League guy. Though Maddux always gets those calls a foot off the plate, so the Major League guy would have probably rung Youk up. Anyway, Maddux hit in the bottom of the fourth and struck out looking. When he heard strike three called I thought he was gonna explode.


Diasuke pitched six, giving way to Lopez and Delcarmen in the eight. Manny Delcarmen was called up recently since Donnally went on the DL and though he hasn't really pitched in many jams, he's been pretty good. That's a good thing. The future of the Red Sox bullpen depends heavily on Delcarmen and Craig Hanson.

Okajima came out for the eight and was his usual 1-2-3 self, striking out two in the process before yielding to Jonathan Papelbon who struck out 2 to earn the save.

potpourri

i would like to announce publicly that the phillies beat the cardinals 6-0 tonight.

also... it was moyer who got the win... which is great... but also sobering since he's won his last two outings... right after i dropped him from my fantasy team.

i have a bit of a fantasy team predicament. the guys on my dl are coming back... and i'm not sure who to keep and who to drop.

rich harden is sort of back. he pitched an inning tonight... and will continue to stay in the 'pen until he's strong enough to return to the starting pitching position. so what the heck do i do with him in the meantime? i can't drop one of my starters for him now... b/c i need their wins. i can leave him on the dl sort of illegally for awhile... but then i'll have to drop someone or drop him. right now... my other starters are: hamels, harang, cain, and bonderman. cain's been pitching the worst, i think. but will harden return to form? who knows.

aramis ramirez is back. i picked up brandon inge. ["ginger" as amy brandt calls him... b/c curtis granderson doesn't need the extra "gr" at the start of his name.... and "inge" doesn't really work for a last name... so she added the g and r to make "ginger."] ramirez is too good to not play. but inge is playing well... so i don't necessarily wanna get rid of him. hafner is my utility player... and while i certainly don't wanna drop him... he's been sucking lately. so i could bench him and play ramirez there. shoot... but i still need to drop someone. OH! i just got my solution. tejada's going on the dl. that opens up a place on the roster. he was out for a few days and i picked up orlando cabrera... who's been playing well. so tejada's been on the bench anyway.

posednik is hitting like a machine in the minors in preparation for coming off the dl. i'll prolly keep him and drop lofton, who i picked up to give me stolen bases. but... i usually have him on the bench in favor of jermaine dye... who's also been sucking.

so... i could ditch lofton, bench dye... and play posednik. bench hafner. put tejada on the dl. and drop cain.

good moves? or stupid moves?

Tavarez would have shut'em out.

Automatic Win Day strikes again! Julian Tavarez shut'em out, beating the Braves 11-0.

In other rotation news, Schilling was sent back to Boston and had an MRI, and it looks like he's gonna miss his next start. The Sox are off tomorrow, so Beckett's gonna take Schilling's start on his usual five days rest, and Tavarez will take Beckett's place on five days. This means Tuesday's starter is unknown.

I'm thinking Jon Lester. Either that or have Tavarez pitch twice in a row.

stitch and pitch!?!??!

how weird is this:

The Phillies in conjunction with the National NeedleArts Association, are inviting needlearts enthusiasts to the first-ever Stitch n' Pitch Night at Citizens Bank Park on June 26 versus the Reds at 7:05 p.m.

so bizarre. how can you pay attention to the game if you're knitting???!!?

ps... the phillies "automatic win day"... aka... cole hamels' pitching night... didn't work this week. really sad.

tonight... lieber goes up against sabathia. yikes.

the phils are in a precarious spot. if they'd just WIN multiple games in a row like that had been doing... perhaps... just perhaps... they can pass both the detested braves and mets and take the lead in the nl east.

here's hoping lieber gets super pitching powers this evening...

The Impossible Dream: Bringing Families Together Since 1967

The Red Sox won today, 4-0 in Atlanta.

There was a rain delay that lasted about an hour, and during it, they gave a trivia question:

"Can you name the infield for the 1967 Red Sox?"

Immediately George Scott, Mike Andrews and Rico Petrocelli popped in my mind. I had no idea who played third base. I guessed Butch Hobson, but I was pretty sure he came 10 years later. Rather than log onto NESN.com or redsox.com or whatever webpage I was suppose to in order to get the correct answer, I went to my mom. Immediately she said "Joe Foy" and was kind of annoyed when I misinterpretted it to be "Floyd."

I explained why I asked, and she rattled off the three I named above and for good measure also included catchers Russ Gibson and Elston Howard ("They got Elston from the Yankees."). She then decided to log on to prove to me that she was right. Reading over the roster from '67 brought back a bunch of memories for her.

"I can't believe I remember the infield 30 years later. (Here my brother pointed out it was actually 40 years later...time flies when your having fun...). I probably won't remember the 2004 infield, but I'll always remember that team. The 1967 team. I went to about 15 games that year. Back then tickets use to cost a dollar. I would go and take my brothers and sister. And I use to take a bunch of younger kids from the neighborhood too. Their mothers would give me a dollar for them and another dollar for me. I must have made $15 every game. A lot of my friends would come too, and bring their younger brothers and sisters. There must have been 25 of us each game. My friend Colleen had a HUGE crush on Rico Petrocelli. They use to let you bring a lunch in and everything. We'd get there at 10AM for a 1 PM game, and we'd come home at 6PM. We'd go to the parking lot before the game and get autographs and we'd go to the parking lot after the game and get more autographs. I had Jim Lonborg and Tony C and Yaz. George Scott and Hawk Harrelson. All the players. They were all on programs that were in a trunk in the basement in Grandma and Grandpa's house, and they would have been yours if Mrs. Bruno hadn't flooded it. We use to spend summer nights sitting on someone's porch and listening to the games on a transister radio. That's how I spent my summer when I was 13 years old. I saw them hang up the 1967 American League Championship banner on Opening Day in 1968. It wasn't a World Series Banner, but it was still a big deal. And I had the record, The 1967 Boston Red Sox Impossible Dream. (She then started reciting the opening...I can't remember it word for word...). Grandma said I could have it. The other kids fought over it with me when it came in the mail. I was in tears, but (her older cousin) Eileen came in and said she heard my mother say it was mine. Even Noreen was screaming for it, and she didn't even like the Red Sox. I was the one who went in the paper and sent away for it. And Grandma said it was mine. I don't remember if I paid for it or she paid for it, but she told me that it was for me. I guess it was pretty stupid for us to fight over it since we could all listen to it at the same time. I think Grandpa threw it away when he moved or else I'd let you have it. I think you'd like it. I know it sounds stupidand pathetic, but that might have been the best summer of my life growing up."

We then went to Amazon to try to find the record. It wasn't there. My mom told me she tried to find it there before but couldn't. I told her to try EBay since she'd probably have to get a used one anyway. So she went and found that it was apparently re-released as a CD and someone is selling the CD brand new...or was until my mom bought it.

I'm kind of excited to give it a listen. My mom made sure to let everyone know when she died it was to go to me (I'll have to have her call Eileen and let her know, just in case a similiar situation arises with the CD...).

It's kind of cool that 40 years later, the 1967 Red Sox are bringing families together. Perhaps 80 years later I'll be telling my kids the above story, giving them a connection to my mother.

I'll also be sure to mention how the 2004 Red Sox righted a few wrongs with the Cardinals. The Sox now lead the overall World Series between the two, 10 games to 8.