Super Manny!

So, like I usually do on Wednesday's, I rushed to my mailbox after school today to get my copy of Sports Illustrated. An article titled "Inconvenient Truths" (by Chris Ballard) quickly caught my eye. The article, which you can read here, was a satirical one that asked athletes, coaches, and other famous sports-related people to tell the truth and confess to something. It was pretty amusing and I found myself laughing a few times, but there was one line that didn't make me happy:

I want Manny Ramirez to tell Boston Red Sox beat writers, "They don't pay me to play defense, so why should I?"

Ouch. That one stung. We all know that, sometimes, Manny decides to just be, well, "Manny" out on the field, but I wouldn't take it that far. I figured that I'd hear this line more than a few times from Yankee's fans at school tomorrow...

And then, almost in retaliation of this attack, Manny makes an absolutely spectacular catch out in left field. As if the catch itself wasn't brilliant enough, Manny goes ahead and jumps up on the wall to give a fan a high-five! After all of that, he STILL makes the throw to first base for the double play.

Because it was just so amazing, I can't help but include the video:


I'm sure everyone has seen that almost a million times already, but even that is not enough to capture how awesome it is. And look at the other players watching the replay...they're jumping up and down like the lunatics they truly are! Manny' reenactment of the play is hilarious.

I don't know if I've ever been this happy after a loss (especially after a game that we really could have won), but a play like that definitely deserves it. Now just imagine how I'll feel after he hits home run number five hundred...

I'm Back!

Hey, everybody! I'm back from Disney (which was really, really awesome).
So, I found this in one of the gift shops, and, of course, I just had to buy it:

One of the most magical things I found in Disney wasn't the Castle at Magic Kingdom nor was it all of the awesome roller coasters and it wasn't even just having a great time with my friends and family. No, seeing all of the Red Sox hats and shirts everywhere was probably the most delightful part of the trip. Seriously, Rex Sox fans were everywhere. If you turned around 360°, you would see at least one person wearing some type of Red Sox apparel. Maybe this doesn't seem weird for some of you (especially those who live in New England), but it was unlike anything else for me. The Yankee fans from my school didn't like this one bit (because, for once, they were the minority), but I absolutely loved being able to see how big Red Sox Nation really is.

Now, I move from one of the most relaxing weeks of my life to one of the most stressful, all thanks to AP Exams. I'll try to explain this without being too confusing: AP stands for 'Advanced Placement', which means it's similar to a college-level class. In May, you can take an AP Exam (for $80), and if you score well (1 is the worst; 5 is the best) you can get college credit that you can use to skip a pre-requisite of a class or a class altogether when you get to college.

I'm taking AP English, US History, and European History this year. Because whoever made the schedule obviously hates me, I have both my US and Euro History exams on Friday. Each exam lasts a few hours (with 80 multiple choice questions and three essays EACH), so I won't even get to eat lunch between tests (unless I sneak in a snack while switching rooms).

If I live past Friday, I'm taking my English exam next Wednesday. This test is one that you can't study for at all, and the multiple choice part is kind of like the reading sections on the SAT/ACT, except about a billion times harder, and there's also three essays for this one.

So, if I'm not around commenting or posting in the near future, that means:
a) I'm studying for an AP Exam
b) I'm catching up on sleep from Disney
c) I died or my hand fell off while taking an AP Exam

I'm trying to prevent the last one, but I'm not sure if I'll be that lucky...

♫ M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E ♫

After being swept by the Devil Rays, Florida was not a wonderful place for the Red Sox this weekend. Even after thirteen strikeouts from Beckett, we failed to score a single a run.

I'm hoping, however, that I'll have a much better time in Florida than the Sox did. From (very early) Wednesday morning to (very late) Sunday night, I'll be in Disney World for a parade in Magic Kingdom with my marching band! The Sox are facing the Rays again next weekend (at good old Fenway this time), so (hopefully) I'll be able to find the game somewhere on TV there.

Before the Sox face the Devil Rays again, though, they play against the Toronto Blue Jays for the last two days of the month. We're 15-12 right now, so no matter what happens, we will finish out April with a record over .500, which is wonderful place to be right now!

One Pitch

One pitch, just one little pitch, was the deciding factor in our loss to Rays last night. Even though he earned a loss, Clay Buchholz had an excellent performance. Giving up a mere three hits, it was Buchholz's one bad pitch in the eighth that let up the game-winning home run by Iwamura.

I might be exaggerating a little when I say he only had one bad pitch, but I would not be exaggerating at all in saying that he had barely any. By tying his personal record of nine strikeouts and lasting the whole night, he clearly took on the dominant role of the game.

Our offense, on the other hand, wasn't quite as productive. If we would have managed to score just one more run, the game would have went to extra-innings, and we would have had a good chance of winning. I can't stand blaming everything on the flu and injuries, but with only five hits last night (with 40% of them from Ellsbury), it seems I have no other choice.

On a more up-beat note, Kevin Youkilis broke yet another record last night!
"The veteran set a Major League record with 1,701 chances without a miscue at first base."
The modest Youk responded by saying, "I didn't even know when I did it. I go out there, play the game and it's not a big deal to me. Winning ballgames right now is probably my main [concern]. We need to get this team back on track."

That's right, Youk. We need to get back on track, and there's no better way to do this than with Josh Beckett on the mound tommorow. With Josh pitching to Rays, the worst we'll have to worry about is sunburn!

SWEEP!

While my hockey team was unsuccessful in defeating the New York Rangers, the Sox were able to defeat the ones from Texas in four straight games.

I missed it because I was at school, but based on the score and the stats of last yesterday's game, Buchholz was pretty awesome. I have to admit that I've been a little nervous about him, but I think that, with this victory, he's trying to show us that he's ready to be a permanent fixture of our rotation.

Due to neck stiffness, Josh Beckett was scratched from his start tonight against the Angels. At first, I thought it was probably related to his back soreness earlier this year, but then I stopped freaking out when I realized it could just be some symptoms of the flu that he and Varitek have been suffering from all week.

Even though Beckett might be a little sick, at least he still has his sense of humor. From the Boston Herald:
“I want to be traded …,” Beckett told Francona, attempting to conceal his smirk, “… unless we get the ice cream machine back. I’m going to ask to be dealt unless the Red Sox put the ice cream machine back in the players’ lounge."
Well, I guess that's how the saying goes--I scream, you scream, Josh screams for ice cream!

Also, you can check out a pretty awesome article on Manny (who's getting extremely close to HR #500) right here.

Yankee's Recap

After an awesome eight-inning performance by our very own Josh Beckett, a 7-5 victory over the Yankees was well-deserved. Manny reached homerun number 495 by hitting two off of Mussina last night.

We know that Manny is doing especially well when Derek Jeter, of all people, says something like this, "Manny's one of those guys, he's as good a hitter as anyone there is in baseball. When he gets hot, there's no way to get him out."

Well, Derek, I think Kyle Farnsworth tried to find a way to get Manny out--by almost knocking him out with a pitch to the head. "Farnsworth claimed the ball just "slipped," a product of his trying to pitch inside against arguable the game's hottest hitter." I thought it looked pretty intentional, but I guess Kyle's the only one who really knows.

The two-game Yankee series also brought along three very funny videos, which you can watch here. The best one, in my opinion, is Sean Casey crawling back to first base and calling himself safe as his helmet falls over his eyes (it's hard to explain, but it's great when you watch it).

The David Ortiz jersey that was buried under Yankee Stadium is now on sale (in a package with a new Ortiz jersey, a Yankee Universe (if that really exists) shirt, and tickets to a home Sox game) on eBay, where you can see some pretty cool pictures of the tattered shirt. It's a good thing the money from the jersey is going to charity because the bid is already over $36,000!
Edit: The winning bid of the Papi Jersey was $175,100. Wow!

Unearthing the Truth

I'm sure everyone has heard already, but the story of the Red Sox jersey being dug up at the site of the New Yankee Stadium is actually true. Two feet under slabs of concrete, a jersey with "Red Sox" on the front and "Ortiz" on the back was found. In an attempt to curse the Yankees, Gino Castignoli, a construction worker, buried the shirt back in August.

Hank Steinbrenner didn't like this very much and showed this by saying, "I hope his co-workers kick the [explitive] out of him"

While Gino's plan may not have worked, there is some good that will come from this. The shirt will be auctioned off, with the money going to the Jimmy Fund.

Upon thinking about the "curse" that Gino tried to set, I realized that it may have actually backfired. David Ortiz (just like Tiger Woods) hasn't exactly been up to par recently, and he didn't even play in last night's game. It's just a thought, but maybe it has something to do with his jersey being buried under concrete. Hopefully, the unearthing of his jersey will also dig him out of the little slump that he's been in!

An article with a bunch of quotes about the situation can be found here, and a great video about the whole thing is here.