YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That was an AMAZING game!

What a comeback!
Games like these (from the seventh inning on, at least) are why I love this team So much.

GO SOX!!

I'm trying really hard not to quote an Alice Cooper song as the title of this post.

Okay, I didn't use it as the title, but I know I won't be able to resist throwing it in here somewhere, so why not just get it over with in the beginning?

♫ School's Out for Summer! ♫

I survived all of my exams and all of that fun stuff, so now I finally get a break. I love school and everything, but sometimes I just need a little time to relax.
I really can't believe I'm going to be a senior next year...I still feel like I'm a freshman! I have a lot to do this summer, but I have a feeling it's going to go by very quickly; before I know it, it will be time to go to band camp, then a little while later will come post-season baseball, and then, after a few months fly by a lot faster than I'd like them to, I'll be graduating. Wow...

Now that that's out of the way, I can say how great tonight's game was (unlike yesterday's). Jacoby stole his 34th (yes, you read that right--thirty fourth) base so far this year. Coco Crisp has been unusually awesome recently, which I don't mind at all, but it's just kind of weird. Lester lasted an impressive seven innings, and an interview with Tito reassured me that Dice-K's going to be alright and back with us pretty soon. Papelbon's back to normal (when I say normal, I mean normal for Papelbon, not "normal, normal"). Aside from Drew being booed (and the fact that not having school tomorrow means I can't rub this win into all of the Phillies fans' faces), tonight's game left me very satisfied (unlike last night's, which left me a little bit nervous), especially because I was actually able to watch it on television.

Absolute Insanity.

Okay, so tonight's game was really, really crazy. The brawl was pretty insane, but the oddest part was the fight between Manny and Youk. If they're going to slap each other, it should be like this.

And if they're going to attack each other, they should attack each other with hugs:




So, I was wearing this awesome shirt at school today, and (surprisingly) a lot of people--including Yankees fan--liked it. A fellow clarinet player who's a huge Yankees fan glanced quickly at me and said "Brittany, I hate your shirt," like she does everyday when I wear Red Sox apparel, which is almost everyday. About five minutes later, she came back up to me and said, "Wait--Is that the cancer-guy? I feel really bad. I thought it was the other dude from last September. I changed my mind--that shirt is awesome!" That really freaked me out because she's such a die-hard Yankees fan, and throughout the day a few random people were telling me that they just loved his story and thought that he was really inspirational. It gave me that "warm and fuzzy feeling" inside, and it made me really happy that, for once, people were able to put aside their grudges and really appreciate the true meaning of the game, as well as of life.

Another crazy story, this one from The Globe:

The Sox closer, in his own wacky way, tried to lighten the team's concern over Ortiz's left wrist injury with a postgame pronouncement that he, too, had an injury that required medical attention. The injury, he said, was to his elbow. His left elbow. "The official diagnosis is 'Elton John surgery,' " Papelbon said. "It's all good, man. Just got to ice it. There's no surgery needed for Elton John. It's just kind of nagging, kind of like Elton John songs."

Oh, Papelbon. What are we going to do with you?

I have SATs on Saturday, and I get to reward myself afterwards by watching the game against Seattle on Fox.
I might not be around much in the near future because final exams start next week, but after that, I get to watch five straight games (6/14 to 6/18) on TV (yes!).

3/4 is Still Good!

While today's game might have been a bit disappointing, we did win three out of four (on the road, too), so it actually doesn't seem so bad. Manny added yet another home run to his growing list that now totals 502.

Wakefield was actually pretty good tonight, so it stinks that he doesn't get a W for all of his efforts. Okajima, on the other hand, was very surprising; he was just all over the place! When I "watch" the games on GameDay, he's usually very accurate, but today there was no consistency what-so-ever. Oh, well--I think we can just let this one game slide because, otherwise, Oki is just plain awesome.

To make matters worse, Ortiz was placed on the DL with "a partially torn sheath of his left wrist," and is expected to be out for at least a month. Ouch.

There is one good side of this, though. It temporarily solves our problem of deciding who plays centerfield by putting Jacoby in left, Coco in center, JD in right, and Manny as the DH.

Our next series is against the first-place Devil Rays at home. A few victories here could once again put us at the top of the AL East, which is where we belong.

Edit: Also, don't forget about the Stanley Cup Finals! An intense, triple-overtime is bringing game six to Pittsburgh on Wednesday!

500.

I'm still overwhelmed, so I'll be concise:



Like usual, Ian at Sox & Dawgs has some amazing footage of the event (and more!), so be sure to visit his site.
If you want a good laugh from Manny, check out this.

Back on Track (and so much more)

After our sixth straight win, this team is looking much more like the one that won the World Series last October. With a few fresh faces mixed in, such as Colón last night and Masterson the night before, we're really on a roll and things are just as they should be, with us on top of the entire Major League. The standings of the rest of the AL East, however, are very unusual--the Devil Rays aren't very far behind us, and the Yankees are in last place!

As promised earlier, I'll expand a little more on Jon Lester's amazing achievement. While he was getting further and further into the game without any hits, I kept getting more and more anxious, but I tried to prevent myself from thinking about it too much in an attempt avoid jinxing him. When the final out was called, a huge smile came across my face as I picked up my phone to spread the good news to my dad (who was watching my little brother's baseball game, which also happened to end in 7-0 victory), but I somehow managed to keep my eyes dry. After I watched the hug between Francona and Lester (I was a little behind everyone else because I had to wait for it to load onto GameDay), however, I just completely lost it and started crying. Mixed in with all of the wonderful things Tito had to say about Jon, that hug was one of the most adorable, sweetest, and emotional things I've ever seen.

Moving away from baseball, the final game of the Champion's League (that's soccer--or football as they call it over there) was held today in Russia. The two teams vying for the trophy were Manchester United and and Chelsea. I wasn't particularly interested in who won, but I really wanted to see a good game, and that's exactly what I got! It was a very intense game that went all the way to penalty kicks to decide the winner. After the victorious Manchester team and their dedicated fans celebrated their win, the tears rushing down their cheeks blending in with the rain, all I could think of was the many victories our own team--the Red Sox--has celebrated recently. I saw a flashback of Dave Roberts diving into second in the bottom of the ninth at Yankee Stadium; I saw Foulke underhand the ball to first; I saw Seth Smith's swinging bat make the final out to sweep last year's World Series; I saw Jon Lester's left hand make a fist as Varitek caught the final out of the no-hitter. And then I saw something I didn't expect--a droplet of water floating down to the floor below. Yes, it was a tear. A tear of happiness, of celebration, of my love and pride for this team.

JON LESTER PITCHES A NO-NO!!

That's right--Jon Lester pitched a no-hitter tonight! After 130 pitches, Lester became the eighteenth Red Sox pitcher to accomplish this outstanding feat!
Also, this was the fourth time that Jason Varitek caught a no-no.


I'll probably expand more on this when my brain can function properly again, but for now I'm just going to celebrate this awesome victory!