Monday, April 13, 2009
Content? Psh, what's content? Have some cartoons from my sketchbook. It seemed like a good idea to scan them in at the time.
I think all ballplayers should be required to grow strange facial hair, so that they will be easier to render in simplified cartoon form.Labels: baseball, drawn, MLB, Red Sox, Tigers
9:12 PM
Friday, February 06, 2009
Truck Day! The one true sign of spring. Or, at least, a sign that things are moving in a generally spring-ish direction. The weather today was not really in a spring frame of mind, but a small, determined, bundled-up group of fans (most of them clutching cameras) huddled around the back of the truck behind Fenway this afternoon.
Brr.
A small, chilly, but appropriately attired fan.
Johnny Pesky made a brief appearance to speak to the media and send the truck off properly. He shook his head when asked if he was heading down with the truck. "Too many people," he said, adding that he'd join up with the Sox in Fort Myers a little closer to the official start of Spring Training.
Truck Day is not much of an event in and of itself, of course; it's the symbolism of Truck Day that Red Sox Nation so adores. It means baseball is officially On the Way to Starting, and since we're all baseball-starved obsessive freaks out here, On the Way to Starting is something we take seriously. Even when it's really cold out and there are lots of other, warmer things to do at 1 pm in the city.
At least there was sun?
Happy Truck Day, kids and kittens!Labels: baseball, Johnny Pesky, MLB, photoblog, Red Sox, Spring Training, Truck Day
8:14 PM
Thursday, January 29, 2009
They should put me in the front office, I tell you what.Labels: baseball, drawn, Jason Varitek, MLB, Red Sox
10:14 PM
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Man I have not posted over here in ALL OF THE AGES. That is remarkable. I think that I feel guilty because all of my drawing goes to Roar of the Tigers and then I am like, "Oh kittens I just do not want to draw another comic for another baseball team and also there are so many Red Sox blogs and nobody cares."
Maybe I should draw some bad Red Sox comics though? I did some sketch cards and I guess I did not post them over here, but here they are.
It is kind of amazing to me that the Red Sox do not even have a real catcher yet. I guess the FO is assuming they will get Varitek one way or another, in spite of the cruel and unusual shenanigans of The Boras, but I look at the roster right now and I snicker so damn hard. We are talking Josh Bard and a bunch of folks who were born in the 80s but are not actual prospects. And it is ALMOST FEBRUARY. At what point do we just sit back and say, Wait... wait, shit.
AWESOME BASEBALL ANALYSIS
Then it is also kind of hard to post about the Red Sox when I have just written a bunch of Tigers stuff, because all the Red Sox problems seem so tiny in comparison. So, say, the Red Sox have some bullpen concerns, fact, but then I come up against the fact that THE TIGERS HAVE NO BULLPEN LIKE AT ALL. We are talking about people being KIND OF EXCITED about the idea that Brandon Lyon might be the Detroit closer by the end of Spring Training. BRANDON LYON. I know the Red Sox have issues in middle relief but at least they don't have such issues that Brandon Lyon is the best candidate for closer in their entire bullpen.
THANK YOU FOR EXISTING JONATHAN PAPELBON
And then of course there were the Lions and the Wolverines, neither of whom really inspired me to keyboard mash any more than I was already doing. There are only so many ways you can say, "Gosh we are so bad in every way," after all.Labels: baseball, blognews, Brandon Lyon, Red Sox
10:39 PM
Friday, October 17, 2008
I don't believe what I just saw.
I cannot believe that game. I just... wow. My voice is GONE. People were leaving in the 6th inning; we moved down to the loge box where my cousins have season tickets because the people who share the box with them left early. I can't even imagine how it would feel to have left that game early.
There have been articles about how complacent Red Sox Nation is getting. How blasé. And there is some truth to that; after all, there were those seats emptying in the 6th inning of a playoff game. You wouldn't have seen that in 2004. Heck, you probably wouldn't have seen that in 2007.
But that 7th inning. I am not sure I can coherently express it. The David Ortiz three-run homer brought people to their feet in a way that would make even the most die-hard 2004-vintage fan proud. The screaming. The stomping. The jumping around and, and, and.... the continued screaming. How could we NOT? It was David Ortiz, our Big Papi, who had been struggling SO HARD, who had been wishing for EXACTLY THIS HIT for SO LONG, with all of us wishing for exactly the same thing right behind him.... and he GOT IT, he got the EXACT HIT he'd been waiting for, and Fenway just exploded.
We were still down 7-4! But from that point on, we did not sit down. We did not stop making noise. The last three Rays pitchers all had names that lent themselves wonderfully to taunting chants: "Baaaaaalllll-foooouuuurrrrr!" "Wheeeeee-lllleeerrrrrrr!" "Hoooowwwww-eeelllllll!" And oh, how we chanted. ESPECIALLY for Balfour and Wheeler, who seemed to actually become more rattled and uncertain as the crowd's volume increased.
There were Rays family members sitting in the section next to my cousin's seats. She was irate because, around the 6th inning, Fenway security came over and was talking to the Rays people about protocol when it came to running onto the field and celebrating, how they could get on there to party with their family members, and so on. "RED SOX security!" my cousin said, outraged. "Can you believe that?"
It did seem unbelievable. Even down by 7... these are the Red Sox! Have we learned nothing? I know that it was something those people had to be told at some point, but AT LEAST wait until the 8th inning, jeez.
Then of course the comeback began. The unbelievable comeback. I really cannot properly express how intense it was. On our feet, screaming and clapping and chanting and hopping and living and dying with every pitch. Practically hyperventilating. I honestly felt like I was going to throw up several times, or pass out, or SOMETHING.
It has been a while since I was last at a Red Sox game where every single moment hung you out on tenterhooks like that, but there was no denying the feeling: it was that good old 2004 feeling, where you WANT every out for every Red Sox pitcher so badly that you almost feel like you're throwing the balls yourself, where you WANT every base for every Red Sox hitter so badly your hands twitch like you're holding a bat.
I'm still obviously pretty verklempt from this game and I'm not being very coherent. But holy cats. Holy freakin' cats, that GAME. This TEAM.
Even if we go on to lose the series, it will not take away from what the team did in this game. It will not take away the fact that the Red Sox looked at the Rays and said: no. Not in Fenway. Not in our house.
Down 7-0, came back to win 8-7.
I don't believe what I just saw.Labels: ALCS, baseball, Devil Rays, Red Sox, win
1:29 AM
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Well, that game sucked. Many photos to come, but really the highlight of the evening was the extremely drunk/irate guy in the right field box section behind us who decided that he hated Rays relief pitcher JP Howell.
This particular bit of right field box, if you're not familiar with the area, happens to have a good view down into the Rays bullpen, and it was not too unreasonable to expect that the Rays could hear a particularly strident crowd member from that section. In fact the very first time this guy stood up and screamed, Hey Howell!11!, Howell made the mistake of actually looking in his general direction. Regardless of the truth of the matter, the drunk guy was then dead convinced that JP Howell could hear his heckling, and so proceeded with due gusto.
Things this dude yelled at JP Howell over the course of the game:
"Hey! It's six-tee three dahgrees! Hey, nice gloves, ya pansy. It ain't 32 dahgrees out!" [Howell was wearing a sweatshirt and batting gloves while stretching in the bullpen.]
"Hey, ya big fairy! It don't matter, 'cause at the end'a the day you go home and yer still a fairy!"
"Yer sister sez hi!"
"Keep wavin' those arms, Howell! You just keep on doin' that!" [Howell was doing that windmill-arm stretching thing.]
"Must be hahd to stay warm, sittin' on that bench!"
"JP! You suck! You suck! Yer terrible!"
"I don't care what the score is! Yer still a bum!"
"Howwwwww-ellllllll! Hoooowwwwww-elllllllll!"
"Yer a custodian! Jan-ih-terrrrr!"
And a number of other things in a similar vein that I did not note down around the edges of my scorecard.
The best part is the fact that this guy didn't heckle ANY other Rays. Not the right fielder, who could certainly hear deranged drunken rants from the section if the bullpen could. Not any of the other relievers, including guys who warmed up in the 'pen and actually got into the game (something Howell did not do). JP Howell and JP Howell alone was the target of this determined fan's ire. You just have to admire that level of dedication, detail-orientation, and insanity.Labels: baseball, Devil Rays, in attendance, JP Howell, MLB, surly Red Sox fan
1:17 AM
Sunday, October 12, 2008
CATDAMMIT, TIMLIN. Why do you hate me? Why do you want me to suffer? I have never done anything to you.
I know there are many other things to blame here, including:
--Whatever Is Wrong With Josh Beckett Oh Jeez I Bet It's the Oblique Even If He Says It Isn't
--the homeplate ump and his terrible strikezone
--the throw from Drew that was awkward and offline
--Tito for leaving Beckett in so long
--every stupid feature of Tropicana Indoor Skatepark
--Jacoby's 0-for-6 night
--Mark Kotsay's 0-for-6 night
--cowbells
--Evan Longoria and everything associated with Evan Longoria
--the removal of the word 'Devil' from the Rays' name
--BJ Upton
--MLB's scheduling, which has playoff games starting after 8 pm
--the TBS announcing crew
--Joe Maddon's black magick and sorcery
--men left on base
--Javier Lopez
--the rays in the outfield touch-tank.
But because it is nearly 3 am and I am irrational with woe: CATDAMMIT MIKE TIMLIN WHY MUST YOU WOUND ME SO?!
I know that Timlin used to be a good pitcher. I know that those days are not too long gone. Why, he was downright GOOD last season.
Those times are gone forever. Mike Timlin is 42 years old. Those times are not coming back. We are collectively in a place right now where we see Timlin come into a game and we say, "Oh shit no we're doomed now," and most of the time we do that, we end up being right. Red Sox fans are naturally paranoid and pessimistic but this is not OK. We don't like being right when it's the result of our paranoia and pessimism coming to actual fruition.
With that in mind: why did Timlin come into that game? Why would you bring a ticking timebomb who doesn't even have the powers of his formerly high socks to raise him above the muddy waters of mediocrity anymore? Why would you do that in the bottom of the 11th inning of a vital ALCS game? Why do that when Papelbon had only thrown 18 pitches and had at least one night off immediately following the game?
First the first Wolverine loss to the MAC team in school history, on a frikking missed field goal, and then THIS. My frowny faces shall be epic this weekend.Labels: ALCS, baseball, Devil Rays, loss, Mike Timlin, MLB, Red Sox
2:30 AM
Friday, October 10, 2008
It's on.
All photos by Samara Pearlstein, obviously.Labels: ALCS, baseball, Devil Rays, MLB, photoblog, Red Sox, rivalry
5:12 PM
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Evidence that, no matter how much I try to be a level-headed, even-handed, sane baseball fan, I am still at heart a simple surly Red Sox fan:
This whole Yankee Stadium thing is making me throw up in my mouth a little.
I watched the game, because it is historic and all that and I'm a fan of the Game of Baseball with the caps and everything. But all the ceremony surrounding this, the media sobbing, the whole fucking circus-- ugh. For fuck's sake. Where was the outcry for Tiger Stadium? I know there was attention given to it, of course, but I don't remember it being ANYTHING like this, and Tiger Stadium WAS STILL ORIGINAL TIGER STADIUM, as opposed to this, which is Yankee Stadium Circa Mid '70s.
Tiger Stadium was a National Historic Landmark (and they still knocked it down, woo, Detroit!). Yankee Stadium is not one.
And of course this last EMOTIONALLY CHARGED HALLOWED GAME featured such starting Yankee dignitaries as Johnny Damon (member of the Red Sox team responsible for one of the greatest Yankee collapses in modern memory), Xavier Nady (who's been on the team for three months), and Jose Molina (catching in place of the injured Posada).
Ugggggh.
I know at least part of this, maybe most of it, is just my gut reaction as a Red Sox fan. I won't deny that, I own it, man. And I do understand that this is a big deal... but it is NOT as big a deal as people (maybe read: media) are making it out to be. That this should get more attention than the closing and subsequent (much-delayed) demolition of Tiger Stadium is, honestly, ridiculous.Labels: baseball, media, MLB, surly Red Sox fan, Yankee Stadium, Yankees
11:42 PM
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Ugh, that game was amazing/sucked so much. Getting to see Kazmir pitch live, for one thing-- that was the first time I'd seen him in person. Carlos Pena, whom I still love in every irrational way. The 'MVP' chants every time Pedroia came up, the hysteria when Papi came out on deck to pinch hit in the 7th, the Jason Bay homer... that homer was INCREDIBLE, I thought people were going to start passing out in their seats from all the screaming.
And then Papelbon came in and spent enough time warming up for the sound system guys to play the entirety of 'Shipping up to Boston' and everyone was clapping and singing along and oh maaaaaaan.
And then, of course, the rare blown save, with a homer from DAN JOHNSON: OAKLAND REJECT, of all people, and a double from Dioner Navarro, he of the Molina School of Baserunning. Deflating.
The sky turned a crazy color right before it got dark out and I was pretty much convinced that a tornado was going to descend from the heavens and take Jed Lowrie off to Oz or something.
Alas, Jed did not at any point during the game have to break out his ruby slippers.Labels: baseball, Dan Johnson: Oakland Reject, MLB, Red Sox
12:51 AM
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Things that screw up my brain, # 3,478: Watching the Dodgers/Phillies game, where both Manny and Nomar are in the lineup. I feel like I'm in the middle of some sort of strangely pinpointed hallucinatory flashback.
It doesn't help that Joe Blanton started the game for the Phillies, so the whole 'Deranged Alternate Universe American League Game' thing was even more strongly reinforced.
It's been feeling like Crazy AU Time with the Red Sox lately anyways. Seems like half the roster is filled with Red Sox farmhands, and since when have the Red Sox been able to fill their team with guys from their own minors? I know, I know, since THEO, but every so often I still sit back and say, "These are the Red Sox now? Shit is CRAZY!" I mean, we're at the point where trading to get a guy like Jason Bay seems almost weird and Jacoby Ellsbury is our natural, god Theo-given right. Five years ago, the opposite would've been true.
Shit is CRAZY!
I have been a wicked bad blogger over here lately. I know it, I apologize for it, I blame RotT for it (which is, of course, only blaming myself again). I keep saying posting will pick up and that continues to be a lie, but I think it really WILL pick up soon, if only because I will need somewhere to pour out all the pain and anguish in my heart as the Detroit Lions take the field.
ETA: OH CATDAMN CHAD DURBIN JUST GOT INTO THIS GAME. He loaded the bases and then got out of it scorelessly!! Chad Durbin! Everyone's favorite pimp. Chad Durbin's continued success in the game of baseball brings me inordinate amounts of happiness.
ETA2: Manny just flipped a ball in from the outfield instead of throwing it hard, allowing Shane Victorino to take second base. Weird, usually throwing in is one of the things Manny's somewhat consistently GOOD about. It's reassuring to see that he's doing the same shit out there that he did in Boston. During a pitching change that followed the play, Andre Ethier came over and gave Manny a hug, as if to say, 'Hey, it's OK, we still love you even though you are manifestly an idiot.'
ETA3: JASON JOHNSON IS IN THE GAME NOW. What is this!!? I didn't even know he was still playing!! SHIT IS CRAZY! This also supports my theory that the NL is entirely imaginary, because where else would Jason Johnson still be pitching? It could not be in any actual, real-life league.
Watching this NL game that I care nothing about has turned out to be a startlingly good decision.Labels: baseball, Chad Durbin, Dodgers, Jason Johnson, Manny Ramirez, MLB, Nomar, Red Sox
11:09 PM
Monday, August 04, 2008
Here's the thing with the Manny trade. I know, in my heart of hearts, that it was the right move, maybe the ONLY possible move at this point. Manny had created an impossible situation for himself in Boston. Even if he goes on to hit .360/.430/.667 with the Dodgers, you can't really fault Theo for the move, because he wouldn't have done that in Boston with any kind of reliable consistency, not if he felt like he was being wronged by the tiny green gnomes that live under the Monster or whatever his latest gripe would have inevitably been. Declining to run out ground balls, fine, we were used to that and had accepted it as a part of the whole general Manny-package, but he was starting to get sulky AT THE PLATE, which is.... well, it's just deeply not OK.
And for once this wasn't just a bunch of fans getting all foamy about the mouthparts: Manny's own teammates were expressing concern to the FO that Manny could no longer be relied upon in games.
It may not be the absolute best move from a pure baseball standpoint. But it may have been the only move, and thus the right one.
That said, it still sucks rat testicles and Jason Bay, whatever other positives he may have, is not going to be nearly as fun as Manny to watch. He just won't be. It isn't possible. Manny was a crazy, surly, occasionally frustrating buffoon, but he was OUR crazy, surly, occasionally frustrating buffoon, dammit, and his antics WERE often entertaining, and what the hell is baseball anyways if it's not entertainment? You know, aside from a cold-blooded soul-sucking business and a religion/tribal-analogue for otherwise jaded and sarcastic New Englanders.
So, aside from the fact that I DID just talk about it, I don't really want to talk about it. Instead, I will talk about the one thing I can pretty much guarantee no other Red Sox blog in the world is talking about right now:
The Detroit Lions!
If you, like me, have been lucky enough to view FSN Detroit lately, you have probably noticed that the Lions have started running ads for the upcoming season. These ads feature their new tagline, slogan, whatever you want to call it. The first time I heard it, I literally burst out laughing. It is marvelous. It is splendiferous. It is (are you ready for this?):
DO YOU BELIEVE IN NOW?
That's the slogan. The ad consists of vague Lions footage, and a few players staring into the camera and saying, "DO YOU BELIEVE IN NOW?" At no point is there any mention of, say, scoring points, or anything obviously insane like that. The ad does not go on to say, "Do you believe that NOW is when we will win?" There is in fact no mention of victory at all, which is both refreshingly honest and keenly disturbing in an ad that's supposed to get fans fired up for the season.
After I got over my initial reaction (the aforementioned hysterical laughter), I had to stop and think. What could this slogan really mean? It is so very open, so strangely... philosophical.
DO YOU BELIEVE IN NOW?
I mean, let's break it down. NOW. What is 'now'? 'Now' is the time at present, the current moment. 'Now' is the bit of fourth dimension that the universe is experiencing right, well, NOW. It looks neither forwards nor backwards; it is neither future nor past. It is ever-changing, never static, impossible to capture and preserve. You think you know what 'now' is? In the time it took you to read that sentence, 'now' has changed a near-infinity of times. What you thought was 'now' has become 'then'.
DO YOU BELIEVE IN NOW?
What does it mean, to believe in 'now'? Do I believe that the universe exists such that the present moment is a Real Thing, not merely a figment of my imagination or some other sort of illusion? Hard to say. We as human beings are bounded by our senses and our brains; it may be argued that we cannot 'know' the world without them. This is an inherently solipsistic way to live. 'Now' seems real. It FEELS real. But is it? After all, it cannot be captured. Time marches on; it does not stop. Maybe at the event horizon of a black hole, where space and time warp in ways we cannot experience in our daily life, there is a sort of perpetual NOW. But can we ever know that for sure?
We feel like we are experiencing a series of 'now's. But is this real, or is it merely an artifact of the limits of our human sensory equipment and the scales which our brain is able to practically comprehend? We are incapable of perceiving infinitely small demarcations of time, but such micro-moments (quantum-moments?) may exist. If you view the fourth dimension as a linear progression (this, of course is debatable) and if you assume it is not at some level an indivisible particle, you may also assume that time can be broken down into ever smaller moments, seconds to microseconds to nanoseconds and so on down to parcels of time as-yet unnamed-- to parcels of time that the human mind simply cannot comprehend in any visceral, meaningful way.
What then? Can 'now' truly be said to exist when what we perceive as 'now' is only a very rough approximation of immediacy?
Or do we ignore this? Do we say, no, 'now' is what we believe it to be, therefore it exists? Do we say that because 'now' is a human concept, it necessarily MUST exist, because if we have invented the concept-- if the concept cannot exist in a pure state-- then it must exist as defined?
DO YOU BELIEVE IN NOW?
I don't know. I don't know if I believe in 'now'. To say yes is to fall into the darkly existential well of human solipsism. To say no is to question our very perception of time. Why do the Lions demand these things of me? Why?! It is a cruel organization that so torments its fans.
What does my belief (or lack of belief) in 'now' have to do with the Detroit Lions? I am not sure. I believe that the team will exist and that a number of large men wearing Honolulu blue and silver (and sometimes, sadly, black) will appear on various football fields at various pre-determined times, where they will (badly) attempt to play the game of football as defined by the National Football League. This is a belief based on habit (all these things have happened many times in the past) and probability (it is more likely that these things will happen than it is that a previously undetected meteor will obliterate Ford Field and negate the season).
But my belief in the existence of the upcoming Lions season is not tied to my belief in the 'now'. And it is CERTAINLY not at all tied to my belief that the team will in any appreciable way do well.
THAT is something I do not believe in.
I look forward to the Lions raising more questions of this sort all season long. If they can provide exercise for my brain, maybe it will in some small way make up for the execrable things they are preparing to do on the field.
DO YOU BELIEVE IN NOW??!Labels: baseball, football, Lions, Manny Ramirez, Red Sox, trade
3:47 PM
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
So, Josh Hamilton, huh? I think he can maybe hit the baseball a little bit.
I have to admit that I had basically no expectations for the Home Run Derby. All Star festivities are generally just too much for me-- I get bored with the endless, pointless ceremony; the speeches given by people who, like Chris Berman, really have no business giving speeches; the treatment of the selections as a Srs Big Deal when they're really, REALLY not (see: Varitek, Jason); and so on. The Yankee Stadium lustfest that is this year's All Star Big Story doesn't help either. I'm sure I'd love it if I was a Yankee fan, but since I'm very much NOT, I am more annoyed by it than anything else. WE GET IT ALREADY.
Thing is, I know it's a historic stadium and historical shit happened there and like the entire Hall of Fame played there and what-the-fuck-ever. BUT IT'S NOT EVEN THAT OLD. It's not like this is Fenway or Wrigley. For cats' sake, THEY'RE KNOCKING DOWN TIGER STADIUM EVEN AS WE SPEAK and that gets MAYBE a mention and a couple seconds of video on Sportscenter. Yankee Stadium gets a bloody memorial service. I know that I'm biased, I know that full well, but I think that most everyone who is not a Yankee fan is getting sick of endless parade of wankery.
I mean, I've been to Yankee Stadium. It was kinda cool. It was interesting. It was (gasp!) historically significant and I appreciated that. HOWEVER, it was NOT a spectacularly beautiful park like Comerica or PNC, and it is NOT a perhaps-inconvenient-but-overwhelmingly-charming-due-to-its-age kinda park like Fenway or Wrigley. It originally opened in the '20s, sure, but it doesn't look like a ballpark from the '20s. It looks like a ballpark from the mid-70s, which is essentially what it is, after the remodel.
I'm not trying to hate on Yankee Stadium. Normally I am perfectly content to leave it for the (understandable!) enjoyment of Yankee fans. But this All Star crap is driving me crazy, because they're treating the place like a veritable Wonder of the World, and it just... isn't.
Anyways. Josh Hamilton!
Like I was saying before I got sidetracked into rant-mode, I had few expectations for the Home Run Derby. I had it on for the sake of having it on, but I was doing work on the computer at the same time and was only kind of watching it.
Now, I'm aware of the Josh Hamilton Story. Everyone, at this point, is aware of the Josh Hamilton Story. I know some people who derive immense amounts of joy from the Josh Hamilton Story. Personally speaking, it always skeeved me out a little bit. Of course it's awesome and great that he overcame alcoholism and heroin addiction to get back to where he is now, but I always felt wicked bad for the (Devil) Rays, who believed in him first and really got screwed over by the whole thing.
While it's good for him that finding God helped him to overcome his Issues, y'know, to each their own, it always makes me wince a little to hear another ballplayer thanking Jesus after he had a good game. Like, really? I'm with Jim Bouton on this one-- I'm waiting for the ballplayer who thanks evolution for helping him develop the hand-eye coordination he needed to hit a big homerun. And of course there's the whole race issue, which is not Josh Hamilton's own fault, of course, and many other people have already addressed it in many other places.
The point (there's a point?) is that I was pre-conditioned to be underwhelmed by the Derby, and that while I admit to the awesomeity of his story, I haven't exactly been wholeheartedly squeeing over Josh Hamilton this season.
Then he started hitting.
And you know what? It didn't matter. It didn't matter that this was a player with a somewhat controversial and probably heart warming story. It didn't matter that this was taking place during one of the most overblown 'events' of the season. It didn't matter that ESPN had like 12 guys announcing it and a single announcer would have sufficed.
I defy anyone-- ANYONE-- to watch Josh Hamilton hitting those homeruns and NOT enjoy it. It was impressive and spectacular and it was damn near impossible to keep from saying, "Wow," and, "Holy freaking cats," at the TV. It was awesome in the sense that it actually inspired awe. It was FUN. It was, probably, what the Home Run Derby SHOULD be.
Of course then there was the let-down of the second round, and the hilarious sadness of Justin Morneau actually winning in the end (getting both snubbed for the post-derby interview AND called 'Jason' by the guy giving him his check). But for that period of time when Hamilton was batting during the first round... that was what this crazy All Star crap should be all about.
(Josh Hamilton photo from a Red Sox/Rangers game in mid-April of this season.)Labels: All Star Game, baseball, Home Run Derby, Josh Hamilton, MLB, Yankee Stadium
4:56 PM
Saturday, July 05, 2008
The 4th of July was good except for how the Tigers lost at baseball. The Red Sox did not, though, and Jason Varitek got to wear stars all over his gear and get called Captain America all day long, which I bet he's been secretly waiting for since he got that big C. The 'FUCK YEAH AMERICA!!' hat designs were also OK....
...until I saw them on teams whose usual color schemes did not include blue. Teams like the A's, who looked downright absurd wearing their green jerseys with those royal blue hats, and the Diamondbacks, on whom royal blue just does not work. I get that they wanted the hats to be blue so they would still be 100% 'FUCK YEAH AMERICA!!', but if only they'd gone with a much darker blue, it would have looked less bizarre on a lot of teams.
And let us not EVEN get into the HORROR that was the Cleveland hat. On the one hand, you have a racist caricature of a native American with the American flag on it, as if to say 'FUCK YEAH AMERICA CONDONES THIS IMAGERY! THIS IS WHAT AMERICA IS ALL ABOUT!' On the other hand, much of Chief Wahoo's face is covered with the dark part of the flag design, so he looks like he's in blackface. Good work, MLB. Way to go.
The ugliest uniform of the day award, though, goes to the Chicago Wrong Sox, who apparently confused the 4th of July with Memorial Day and decided to wear camo jerseys. Desert camo jerseys. With tan pants. And brown hats. Brown hats with black-and-thus-barely-visible logos (unless they were slightly darker brown; it was hard to tell on TV). Combine that with stuff like Nick Swisher's ugly Buckeye face and you have a sight that no eyeball should ever be forced to encounter.Labels: baseball, Indians, MLB, uniform, White Sox
12:26 AM
Thursday, July 03, 2008
So that game sucked, and the dome sucked, and the series sucked. Unfortunately I can't say that the Rays sucked, because they mostly did not. Playing 'Sweet Caroline' after tonight's loss was a jerkweed kind of thing to do, but I suppose they earned it.
It's not like we as Red Sox fans are in denial over the fact that the Rays are good this season (well, I probably can't speak for everyone). The fact that this particular game featured a complete collapse of the bullpen was what made it so hard to take.
I mean, can Craig Hansen even pitch at this level anymore? I want to say yes-- he's still striking guys out more than he's walking them and, uh, he doesn't have a 135.00 ERA like Fernando Rodney did earlier this season and... uh, he got a haircut, which shows, uh... dedication to the team and. Stuff. Definitely stuff. But HOLY FREAKING CATS was he HORRIFIC in this game. Sure, he came into a shitty situation, consider that fact duly acknowledged, but in 0.0 innings of work he allowed 5 runs: 2 inherited runners, and 3 all his very own. That is not 'slight meltdown', that is 'eeeaaaayyyyaaaaggghhhh gurk gurk splat wibble'
And what of Manny Delcarmen before him, who was just handing the bases to Rays all over the place without recording a single stinkin' out, what of him? Can HE still pitch at this level? Can he do so after a meltdown this intense? If he was a closer, in a way I'd feel better, because closers at least are practically trained to forget outings like this. Run-o'-the-mill middle relievers, however.... well, if they were tough enough to keep from getting psyched out by their own suck, maybe they wouldn't be middle relievers. Also maybe if they were good at throwing baseballs.
So, all of that sucked, a whole bunch of suck, infinite suckulation, but the postgame was made AWESOME by the presence of Mr. Dennis Eckersley, who reacts to bad Red Sox pitching like it's meant to specifically and personally insult him. After ranting a little about Dice K's short (5 inning) start opening the door for Bullpenplosion, they cut to commercial, and when they came back he was smiling in that 'I laugh so I don't start screaming' way he has.
Then he had to assure the audience that he was calm, he had calmed down, so the discussion could begin again.
I do not think that there is another analyst in baseball right now who takes bad pitching so personally, and, if there is, there is most assuredly no one who does it with such amazing crazy rage and pure '70s style.Labels: baseball, Craig Hansen, Dennis Eckersley, Devil Rays, Manny Delcarmen, MLB, Red Sox
12:14 AM
Saturday, June 21, 2008
I have seen a lot of games at Fenway Park. I've seen wins and losses and extra innings. I've seen homeruns and grand slams and triples, walk-offs and double steals and brawls. I've seen Red Sox players making spectacular plays and awful plays, hugging each other and hugging players on other teams. I've seen them feeding the mourning doves that sometimes land on the field and I've seen them almost hit the red-tailed hawk that lives in the lightbanks with a high pop fly and I've seen them almost get hit in the head by low-flying swallows.
I've seen Fenway sunny, and lit up in the dark, and cloudy, and in the middle of a brilliant sunset. I've been to obnoxiously hot games at Fenway and nose-runningly cold games at Fenway and games where the temperature is absolutely perfect. I've seen rain so dense that the light towers hang double reflections in midair. I've seen mist and fog so thick the Prudential building completely disappears.
I had never seen a rainbow at Fenway.
Before tonight.
So I can check that one off the meteorological checklist.
I had also never seen Paul Pierce shaking off Jason Varitek's pitch signs before tonight, so that was a fun little bonus.
 Labels: baseball, Celtics, Fenway, MLB, Paul Pierce, photoblog, rainbow, Red Sox
1:44 AM
Monday, May 19, 2008
Jon Lester.
No-hitter.
It would have been a spectacular game from him anyways-- the strikeouts were crazy-- but what a glorious no-hitter it was. And the catch from Jacoby to preserve it, wow, talk about a heart attack after the fact. It was a good catch at the time, but as the game wore on and everyone became aware of what, exactly, that catch had made possible... eeep eep eep.
AT FENWAY! This was at Fenway. I mean, can you even imagine? Jon Lester is 24 years old and he just threw a no-hitter for the Red Sox in Fenway Park.
Tito was completely overcome after the game, and isn't that just a perfect like microcosm of us all?
TC and the Eck are talking about how the last out-- that punchy strikeout-- was the perfect way to end a no-hitter, and catdamn if they aren't right. Of course any out would have been great, 'cause, dude, no-hitter! But that strikeout, wham, bam, Jon Lester just kicked your ass PERSONALLY. Doesn't get much better than that.
Justin Verlander, Clay Buchholz, Jon Lester. I have been dead spoiled when it comes to no-hitters for my boys lately.Labels: baseball, Jon Lester, MLB, no-hitter
10:44 PM
Friday, May 16, 2008
In case you missed it (and really, I update so randomly over here that you probably did), I was at two out of the four Red Sox/Tigers games in Detroit. Good times for the Red Sox half of my brain, as I'm sure you may recall. My seats for the first game were in a luxury box (!!), so I took mostly photos of Comerica, which is decidedly a Tigers photo interest, but for the second game I showed up early enough to take in BP. Red Sox BP.
The entire photoset is here if you just wanna check 'em all out, but here are a few highlights.
There really are insufficient words to describe how amazingly nice The Mayor is. He seems extra-friendly because he's a pro ballplayer, sure, and pro ballplayers aren't exactly known as an unusually friendly group of people (more the 'prickly, overpaid prima donna' types, really), but he'd probably have people raving about his niceness even if he was a stock broker or something.
I'm not really sure what the deal with this is. It's Aardsma and Buchholz here, but lots of guys on the team were doing it. It appeared, to the untrained eye, to be Rock, Paper, Scissors, and they seemed to be doing it in greeting, you know, like instead of a high five or ass pat or other more commonplace gesture. Just a quick rousing game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Accompanied by much crazed ballplayer laughter. I don't know. Anyone got an explanation?
Jon Lester, bubble gum, triptych. Nom nom nom POP!
I know that Beth already posted with the other shot of this event, but I thought it bore repeating. Dice K snuck up on Tavarez, grabbed him from behind, and gave him a surprise back stretch.... much to Julian's delight, as you can see in the photos. Aw, hell. I don't WANT to miss Tavarez, but damn it all, I rather think I'm going to.
O hai reunion! I saw Edgah chatting quite a bit with Papi, and Manny, and (for whatever obscure reason) Youk. Actually most of the Spanish-speaking Tigers took the time to have a little meet-and-greet with Ortiz, and I took photos of a bunch of the hugs and such, but I especially liked the fact that Papi is tugging on Edgah's shirt here.
Of course I took loads of boring portrait-y shots too:
 
 
 
 
 
and so on.
As I said at the top, if you want to see the rest of the shots from the game, they're right here. Yeah, I went a little crazy. I don't usually see the Sox on the road so I don't usually get to see Sox BP. That's my excuse and I'm stickin' to it.Labels: baseball, MLB, photoblog, Red Sox
8:48 PM
Sunday, May 04, 2008
I first came to the University of Michigan in the fall of 2003.
Michigan 35, Ohio State 21. 2003.
Michigan 45, Michigan State 37, 3 overtimes. 2004.
Michigan 27, Penn State 25. 2005.
Michigan 14, Ohio State 3. 2006.
Michigan 31, Michigan State 13. 2006.
Michigan 17, Oakland University 0. 2007.
Michigan 5, Eastern Michigan 3, walkoff homerun. 2008.
Today, in May of 2008, I went to a baseball game.
Michigan 15, Ohio State 1. 2008.
Tomorrow I move out, with a BFA, a minor in Biology, and 5 years of memories.
Thanks, U of M. Thanks, Ann Arbor. I'll miss ya.Labels: baseball, football, NCAA, photoblog, University of Michigan, Wolverines
7:27 PM
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