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Sunday, September 30, 2007

Buffy/Angel Fans Beware---Ripoff Alert! Ripoff Alert!!

For anyone who watches much television (guilty at some points), this week and the ones around it are very important weeks. This is the time for all the new shows to premier. Either new seasons of our old favorites, or totally new shows. This week, we enjoyed premiers of season two of "Heroes," season three of "How I Met Your Mother," a new season of "House," a new season of "Bones," and last night (thanks to the miracle of DVR), a brand new show called "Moonlight." Not "Moonlighting." That one died when Dave and Maddie finally got together. Which brings to mind a very important rule in television shows. NEVER (hear me?) EVER let the two main characters make that connection. It ruins the show. Let it stay just at the edge of what we all know could happen. Never cross that line. It makes for better tension and occasional comic relief in the show.

Okay, that said...the best of the returning premiers was far and above "House." He has fired all of his team at the end of last season (at least the ones who didn't quit), so he is all "Alone," which is the title of the premier. House can't function without someone to bounce ideas off of, so his boss and associate docter are begging him to hire a team. Meanwhile, he bounces ideas off of the janitor, going to the extreme of suiting him up in a white jacket and stethoscope. Wackiness ensues. He won't leave Cutty alone, and Miller kidnaps House's Gibson Flying V guitar. It's great.

"Heroes" was pretty good. Hiro has transported himself back to the 17th century and comes face to face with his own personal hero, the guy with the sword that he stole in the present day. Imagine his surprise when his "hero" from all the Japanese legends turns out to be an Englishman (David Anders--"Alias" fans will recognize him immediately as the infamous Sark) who fights dirty and really isn't very honorable at all. Claire and her family have relocated from Texas to some little town in California, and she is instructed to act normal. We'll see how long that lasts.

"How I Met Your Mother" was pretty much more of the same. Not that that's bad. It was pretty good, and surprise guest star Mandy Moore starred as a kind of biker chick. That was weird.

"Bones" was also good. We love the tension between David Boreanaz and Deschanel. They are a great team, and their forensic team at the "Jeffersonian" institute is complete. Hodgins and Angela are trying to track down the guy that she is allegedly married to, which interrupted their nuptials at the end of the last season.

Ok. Now to the last one. "Moonlight" premiered Friday night and we watched it last night. This is a brand new show, featuring a vampire in L.A. who fights crime. Ok, now, let's put our thinking caps on, boys and girls. Where have we ever heard that idea before? I'll give you a second.

Who said "Angel?" Did someone say "Angel?" Bingo! You get a cookie!

This show is one of the biggest ripoffs I have ever seen in my life!! I'll admit I liked it ok, I mean it was entertaining and all, but...C'MON!! Someone has spent a little too much time in "Whedonverse" to be trying to write an original tv show. They even had "Dracula" from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 5 premier, "Buffy Vs. Dracula." And guess what...he played a vampire. Or at least a vampire wannabe. Aaaaand...the plot of the premier involved a cult of people who kind of worshipped the concept of vampirism. Hm....lessee they never did that in Buffy, did they?? Hmm??

The premier also featured a guy named Kevin Weisman, whom "Alias" fans all love to death as the adorable geekster named Marshall. He plays a camerman to Beth's reporting.

The show might actually make it. I don't know. But it is truly a humongous ripoff. We could still have Angel. It would have been better, because, well...Joss Whedon, you know? 'Nuf said.

The one premier that I recorded but have yet to watch is Stargate Atlantis. I'm going to try to watch that this season because I found out Jewell Staite is in it (she played Kaylee in Firefly/Serenity).

TTFN, y'all!

Friday, September 28, 2007

RED SOX WIN THE AL EAST!!!

Thanks to a win over Minnesota tonight, and some amazing help from the Baltimore Orioles, the Boston Red Sox have won the AL East Division title for the first time since 1995.

The Orioles made an amazing comeback tonight, as they were down 9-6 going into the bottom of the ninth inning. They tied the game on a bases clearing triple, went into extra innings, and won the game in the bottom of the tenth on a suprise bases loaded, two-out bunt down the third base line. The bunt was perfect, the Yankees third baseman (was that A-Rod??) was playing too far back and had no chance to get the runner at the plate. Orioles win 10-9, Red Sox win the division, Yankees get the wild card.

The AL is finished. On the other hand, the NL is still quite the mess. As of tonight, there are still six teams in the playoff picture in the NL.

I wish I could see the celebration happening at Fenway Park right now. The Orioles announcers said that people were still sitting at the Park watching the O's game on the video board. I'm sure the place absolutely erupted.

A very happy TTFN, y'all.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Back To the Best

Or at least tied for the best. In spite of losing to the Twins, and the Evil Empire winning tonight, the Sox are, once again, atop the Major Leagues, tied with Cleveland for the best record in baseball. They still haven't clinched the AL East, though, with only a handfull of games left. They are two games ahead of the Yanks with three games left. The elimination number is also two.

This is simply too nervewracking.

I so wanted Josh Beckett to get 21 wins, but that just wasn't to be this year.

I'm figuring, if the standings hold till the end, the Yankees will likely play the Indians and the Sox play the Angels in the first round of the playoffs. Unless the Sox fool around and lose the division, in which case they might play the Indians and the Yanks play the Angels.

With that scenario in mind, the Yankees probably don't WANT to win the division. I promise you, they don't want to play the Angels in the first round, or any other round for that matter.

Stephie and I made it to the last home game for the Rangers. It was a fun time, and we had great seats, thanks to our friend at church. The Rangers blew out the Angels, too. Go figure. The Rangers swept the division champs for their last home series, including a 16-2 rout in the last game. I think everybody hit a home run in that game...possibly even a few of the fans. And Michael Young got his 200th hit (becoming only the third player to do that five consecutive seasons since 1940) at home, which was very cool.

We almost cried as we left the ballpark. It just doesn't seem like it's already over. It just started.

"No, it didn't," replied Christi.

TTFN, y'all.

Monday, September 24, 2007

It Was A Busy Weekend

Boy, was I tired after this last weekend. Three Texas Rangers games in one weekend! And they even won two of them. That, in itself, is pretty huge.

The Red Sox clinched a playoff spot this weekend, and today, they gained a half game on the Evil Empire without even playing! The Yanks lost a makeup game to the Blue Jays, and the Sox are off today. So that makes them an even 2 games ahead of the Yanks with an elimination number of FIVE!

If they are trying to make this exciting, they are certainly achieving that goal.

Two divisions got clinched yesterday. The Angels clinched our American League West division, and the Injuns clinched the AL Central.

None of the NL teams are anywhere close to clinching. There are still NINE teams in that playoff race. Unreal. I'm pulling for the Mets and the Cubs and the Padres. Why, you might ask? Good question, because I really don't like any NL teams. The Mets, because I hate the Yankees. So if I can see one NY team win while the Yankees lose, all the better. The Cubs, because, well, hey. They're the Cubs. What else can you say. And White Sox fans are some of the meanest, rudest people I have ever seen. The Padres because they have Chris Young, who should still be with the Rangers, and for a long time, had the lowest ERA in the entire MLB.

One more week in the season, and yesterday morning at church, one of our members came up and handed me some season tickets and a free parking pass for the last home game of the season on Wednesday afternoon. Sooo....I guess I need to go to that game, eh?

Who needs sleep anyway??
~~~~~~~~~~

I wanted to mention here that we had an excellent message yesterday. Our pastor, Bill Burton, really brought the concept of mercy home to us in his message. I told him later (while we were watching the Rangers beat the O's) that my toes were still sore. He's been preaching through the beatitudes, and made some good correlations between the first three and the second three yesterday. Primarily for yesterday, putting the concept of being "poor in spirit" with being "merciful." The idea being that, if we recognize how desperately destitute we are withouth God, then we should have no trouble showing mercy to others in the same position (which is, of course, EVERYONE!). Good stuff. Hard stuff. And painful stuff. But it's what we need, and it's what God wants from us.

TTFN, y'all!

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Red Sox Make the Playoffs!!

It's been a momentous weekend!

The Red Sox clinched at least a wild card berth in the playoffs last night, when they had a rare ninth inning rally to beat the Devil Rays 8-5. The rally was magnificently sparked by a lead-off home run by Tek to tie the game.

It was fun listening to the end of the game on the Red Sox radio station (via mlb.com). The announcers said that there were about three times as many Sox fans as Devil Rays fans (they were playing in Tampa Bay, mind you) and started calling the stadium the new "Fenway South."

They still need 6 wins to clinch the division title. And the Yankees are not giving up easily, so it will go down to the wire.

Friday, September 21, 2007

A Good Night

What a night it was!

While Stephanie and I watched the Rangers beat the Orioles at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, the Red Sox soundly defeated the D-Rays, 8-1 in Tampa Bay. This was a badly needed victory for the Sox.

We also watched the scoreboard for the game between the Toronto Bluejays and the Evil Empire. The Jays had them down 4-0 in the bottom of the ninth, when the Bombers did that thing they do. But they didn't quite do it enough. They tied the game 4-4. It went extra innings all the way to the 14th, when the Jays scored one more and held off the Yanks for a final of 5-4.

The Red Sox move to 2.5 games ahead in the AL East and that reduces the Yanks elimination number to 7.

Life is good.

TTFN, y'all.

Down To the Wire

I, along with, I'm sure, thousands of other Red Sox fans across the nation, are extremely nervous right now. We're watching a nightmare that is similar to last season's collapse. Except this time, everyone except Manny is healthy.

I'm not sure what's going on with this slump. Last night, the Sox had a rest day. Apparently, so did them that shall not be named. I'm sincerely hoping that this day off gave Tek and Company a chance to breathe and regroup. Neither team has a particularly hard schedule to close out the season.

The interesting thing this season is that, if you look at the big picture, only two of the 6 division of the MLB have "magic numbers" of less than 9 or 10. The AL West, in which the Angels clinched at least a tie last night, and the AL Central. The other four divisions are going down to the last game. What an exciting, nerve-wracking finish. In fact, in the NL, if you count the three teams in first place, there are a whopping NINE teams still in the playoff race! Wow!

In the meantime, the other team that I watch, those pathetic Rangers, has managed to lose 9 out their last 11 games, to the point that a .500 season is now "dust in the wind." Sadly, at the end of their last home stand, they were something like five games under .500. Now, I think they are at least 11.

There was one night this week, in which both the Rangers and the Sox had one of those "what were they THINKING??" nights. The Red Sox were beating Toronto and they let Eric Gagne pitch in the bottom of the eight inning. Now Gagne was doing great as a closer for the Rangers. But, frankly, he is doing horribly in a Red Sox uniform. That night, he gave up 3 runs in the bottom of the eighth, and the B-Jays went on to win 4-3.

The same night, the Rangers were losing 4-2 to the Twins. It was the top of the ninth and the Rangers were down to their last out (they were playing in Minnesota, "Don'tcha know"). I was listening to the radio on the way to work and heard Eric Nadel say that Brad Wilderson was in the on deck circle, getting ready to pinch hit. I believe I almost lost control of my van at this point. Apparently, Ron Washington has paid no attention to the season at all. Apparently, he has not watched Brad Wilderson bat. The wisdom of this managing decision (or lack thereof) totally escapes me. Wilkerson has had the nickname in my family, "King of Strikeouts" for the whole time he has been a Texas Ranger. And he certainly lived up to that nickname this fateful night. Of COURSE he struck out! That's what he DOES in clutch situations! Egad!

And they've extended Washington's contract for another year. Fortunately, Wilkerson will be a free agent after this season, and I'm pretty sure the Rangers have no interest in trying to keep him.

Duh.

Looking forward to next season, there are some crucial things that need to happen. First and foremost, Tom Hicks needs to sell the Rangers to someone who gives a flying you-know-what about WINNING! Second, Jon Daniel, the "boy wonder," has got to go, too. The only decent trade he has made since he has been GM was the Gagne deal, for which we got Kason Gabbard and David Murphy, and some guy named Elvis. We haven't seen him yet. Third, we need a first baseman, darn it! Obviously, we haven't had one since they traded Teixeira. We've had a mediocre catcher playing first base, or a mediocre outfielder playing first base. That doesn't work. Management had better go after a real first baseman during this off season. Last, and certainly not least, pitching, pitching, PITCHING!! The only winning pitcher on the staff has been Kason Gabbard. Vicente Padilla needs to GO!! He is a serious liability to the team's morale. Besides the fact that if he's pitching, you can count on a four hour game! And several hit batters. Millwood, the alleged "ace," is inconsistent at best. He has 5 good innings. Problem is, you never know when those 5 are going to start. Sometimes they don't start until inning 3, when they are already so far behind they can't catch up. McCarthy can't stay well. Kameron Loe, as much as I like him, just isn't starting material. Heck, let's go after Curt Schilling next season! He will likely be a free agent. He's struggled this season, but he's still got some good stuff, and, hey. He fits one of the criteria that the Rangers have obviously adapted in their accquisition philophy of late...he's over 40!

So there you go. I'm not an expert. But I've been watching baseball for...lessee...um...(takes off shoes)...over 40 years. I think that gives me a little bit of knowledge of the game, and what can make a winning team. The Red Sox have had it year after year (except for last year, but that was all circumstances that were uncontrollable). The Rangers have not had it. Not since their brief flirtation with champtionship in the mid nineties, with Johnny Oates at the helm, God rest his soul. And the Rangers will not have it. Not without some fundamental changes in management/ownership and managerial philosphy.

Oh. I almost forgot. One more thing that needs to happen before next season. They need to can Ron Washington and just eat that contract. Then they need to hire Trey Hillman. He's coming back home from Japan, where he has won multiple championships. I bet he could do good with the Rangers.

Stephie and I are going to all three games this weekend. All against Baltimore. I'm hoping we get to see Michael Young make another 200 hit season, for his fifth consecutive year.

TTFN, y'all!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Drastic Fantastic

I'm not writing about the Red Sox today.

Instead, I'm writing about one of my favorite young performers, KT Tunstall. I fell in love with her music with her first release, "Eye To the Telescope." I was listening to it long before any of the songs made radio play, and now they're all over the radio. "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" became immensely popular, as did "Suddenly I See," which was my favorite track on the album, again, before it hit the airwaves.

Well, her new album was released last week (on 9/7). I'm not sure if the initial release was UK only (she is Scottish), or not. Yahoo! Music Unlimited currently has one song, "Someday Soon," which I have just listened to, and the UK Amazon site has a video of another song, "White Bird." The album is called, as the title of this post so aptly suggests, "Drastic Fantastic." The cover of the album suggests a little more electric guitarness on this album, however, both the Yahoo! song and the Amazon video are acoustic to the max. I love both songs, though. I'm going to try to put the link to the video here. Let's see if it works.

Video here

By Jove, I think it worked! Huzzah!

Oh, and, speaking of "Huzzah!" do y'all know what tomorrow is??? (That would be September 19.) Well, besides being the tenth anniversary of Rich Mullins's tragic death, it's TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!!! Arrrrrr.....

TTFN, y'all

Monday, September 17, 2007

So What? We're Still the Best!

So the Yankees won the series. (Ironically, the Sox outscored them, 20-13.)

So the Yankees won the series for the year, 10-8.

So what?! The Red Sox, on September 17, 2007, are still the best team in baseball. They have held that honor for almost 130 consecutive days. They have also been in first place 150 days.

That stretch is amazing, no matter what happens for the remainder of the season. Anything could still happen. This old man has been watching baseball long enough to know that nothing is over until it's over. The magic number for the Sox is 9. Kind of complicated, but this means that any combination of Red Sox wins and second place team losses adding up to 9 will clinch the division title. There are 12 games left for the Sox. That's little too close for my blood. But it makes for an exciting season finish. But the way this works is this: Let's say the Red Sox win tonight and the Yankees lose. Not likely to happen, since the Yanks are playing Baltimore. But, hey. Any given team, etc., etc... In that scenario, the magic number would drop by 2, making it 7. If both teams win tonight, the number only drops by one, making it 8. If, God forbid, the Red Sox lo...lo...*ahem*, well you get my drift, the magic number stays the same. Oddly, it never goes up.

The wild card race is even more exciting. Detroit is only 2.5 games behind New York, with a magic number of 11, and only 12 games left! This means the wild card race could very well go down to the last game of the season.

Well, neither the Sox nor the Yankees have a particularly tough schedule to close out the year. Unfortunately, the Yankees don't have to play the Angel any more. They are the only team with an overall winning record against the Yankees. However, I just noticed that Baltimore is ahead of the Yankees 8-4 in this years series, and they have two more series (serieses?) left play. Hah. GO O's!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On another subject, Stephanie seems to be doing much better today. We have some homework to work on tonight, so hopefully, that won't be a problem.

TTFN, y'all

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Prayers Needed

As I'm sitting here getting ready to watch the final game in the Fenway series between Boston and New York, we are having some serious issues with Stephanie. Those of you who know us know that she is diagnosed as "high functioning autistic." She has been having a pretty major meltdown today. This involves constant arguing when she doesn't get what she wants, to the point of screaming, slamming doors, etc. Seemingly normal teenage stuff, but it is typical of Stephanie during these fits. And it is really worse than "typical teenage stuff." This is the kind of behavior that we saw at about this time last year right before we wound up sending her to the Sundance Center here in Fort Worth that deals with mental health. As a result of that 6 week period, she is still seeing a psychiatrist on a semi-regular basis, and taking Abilify and Welbutrin daily.

We are kind of at our wits' end right now. We thought last year that we had figured out what was causing this, but now we aren't so sure. Granted, she just started a new school year, and I'm sure this causing some serious anxiety. But she has some great teachers who seem to be willing to go out of their way to help Stephie succeed. All prayers would be much appreciated.

TTFN, y'all

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Revenge Is Sweet

What a game this afternoon. Final score, Red Sox 10, Yankees 1. The only Yankee run was off of a Derek Jeter in the first inning. The Sox immediately answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the first. And it stayed 1-1 for quite a while as both pitchers shone. Beckett was the victor, though, when the Sox blew it open with runs in the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th. And this time, the defense held on. The crowning blow was the only home run for the Sox from Hinske in the bottom of the 8th. One downer was Youk getting hit in the left forearm/wrist with a pitch from Wang. The X-rays showed a contusion (fancy word for bruise??), so he should be good soon. Beckett got 7 Ks in the game as he became the only 19 game winner in the MLB. Here's looking for 20!!

Here's the box.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E

NYY (84-64) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 0

BOS (90-59) 1 0 0 0 1 3 4 1 X 10 12 0

W: J. Beckett (19-6, 3.20); L: C. Wang (18-7, 3.82)
HR: NYY: D. Jeter (10). BOS: E. Hinske (6).


If the Tigers hang on and beat the Twins, they will move to only 3.5 behind the Yanks in the wild card race.

One more game in this series tomorrow evening. I'll watch as much as I can before I have to go to work. :-(

TTFN, y'all

What Do You Know, the World Didn't End

Well, the sun came up this morning (I think...I haven't actually been out there, yet), and in spite of last night's nightmare (chronicled in the post immediately before this one), the Red Sox are still the best team in baseball and have been for 124 consecutive days this season.

And has been aptly noted, they can actually afford to lose this series. The Yankees can't. Detroit Tigers won last night, as well, and they are pretty close behind the Yankees in the Wild Card race.

Today's match-up features the only two 18 game winners in major league baseball, Josh Beckett and something-or-other Wang. Wang. Hehe. *ahem* Anyway, perhaps one of them (Beckett, hopefully) will come away as the only 19 game winner.

On another subject, I want to say that just because a book is on my "recently read" list over to the left, doesn't mean I recommend it. Case in point, Jamestown, by Matthew Sharpe. Don't waste your time. I mean it. It's a horrible book. I'll admit it made me laugh out loud a few times, but, overall, it's a waste of paper, time, not to mention the slight amount of energy it takes to read a book.

He's trying to write an amusing alt-history of the founding of Jamestown. The setting of this one is in the future, though, in a kind of "road warrior" setting. It has a Pocohantas and a John Smith and a Powhatan and everything. His Pocohantas is kind of a slut, though, and there's quite a bit of homosexuality in the book. It's really pretty crude and disgusting. Why did I finish it, you ask? I'm just kind of stubborn that way. I can't stand to not finish a book.

Friday, September 14, 2007

The Series of the Year

Here we go.

I've got my chips and Rotel dip, the pizza's on the way, got my HD tv and AT&T U-verse.

And I've got my bottle of Rolaids.

The Red Sox are playing the Yankees at Fenway Park for the last series of the year for the two teams.

This is the series of the year. If the Sox can sweep this series, the Yankees may be knocked out of the playoffs.

I'll update as the night goes on.

________________________________________ 1st Inning


The Sox barely escaped disaster in the top of the first. The Yankees got the bases loaded, thanks to a bad play by Dice-K and an error by Lugo, then Dice hit A-Roid (can't say I minded that too much). But they got out of it with no runs. 27 pitches for Dice-K, who his struggling right now. Not a good start.

________________________________________ 2nd Inning

After two innings, and two Dice-K strikeouts, the Sox lead 1-0.
________________________________________ 3rd Inning

Hehe...Dice just struck out A-Roid.

*singing* Giambi made an error...Giambi made an error...

After 3 innings, Boston leads 2-0. It should be 3-0, but Papi made a bad, bad running mistake. Got thrown out by a magnificent throw from the Yankees center fielder.
________________________________________ 4th Inning

2-1 now. Melky Cabrera hit into a couble play, but it was a really close call. I'm not sure he was really out. Another K for Dice-K. Good bottom of 4th for the Sox. Score now 5-1.
________________________________________ 5th Inning

Wow. Dice just struck out A-Roid again. Plus one other...I think he has 6 Ks so far in this game. Nothing doing for the Sox in the bottom. Still 5-1.
________________________________________ 6th Inning

Pitching change. Dice K comes out with 120 pitches, 2 outs and bases loaded. Timlin comes in. Yanks get one, Timlin strikes out Jeter. 5-2. In the bottom, the Sox get two more. More troubled fielding by Giambi Juice. Maybe he forgot his dose of juice today. Youk gets an RBI. 7-2.
________________________________________ 7th Inning

Nothing doing for NY. Still 7-2. Ditto for Sox.

________________________________________ 8th Inning

Yankees doing what they do best. Giambi (must have gotten some juice between innings) popped a homer, followed by Cano hitting one as well. No outs and 7-4. And here we go. The score is now tied, and we have no outs yet. Papelbon is already pitching. This is what the Yankees are notorious for.

Horrors. Middle of the 8th, Sweet Caroline time. Yankees 8, Sox 7.

Red Sox get nothing. Mike Lowell got to first after a strikeout (Posada totally missed the ball), they brought in Crisp to pinch run. Youk flied out, then Crisp was thrown out trying to steal second. That was a majorly stupid call.

________________________________________ 9th Inning

oh no. Francona has brought in Gagne to pitch the top of the ninth. Might as well go to bed. *cry*

Wonder of wonders. Gagne got them out. So this is it. Bottom of the ninth, but Rivera is in.

Game over.

TTFN, y'all.

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Buddy Guy

I'm going to try to experiment with some pictures, here. I've just read up on how to post pictures on the blog, so I'm going to try this. I got some good pictures of Buddy Guy and company last Friday night at Billy Bob's, so I'm going to try to put them in here. In case you don't know who Buddy Guy is, he's one of the premier blues guitarists from days gone by, still plugging away at 71 years old (I think that age is correct...70-something). Ok...that one is a little blurry, but it was a good shot of him in action. That one's better. Notice he seems to really like polka dots. When we saw him play at the Crossroads Guitar Festival in '04, his guitar had polka dots all over it, too.

TTFN, y'all!

Friday, September 7, 2007

15 Games From A Clinch, 30 Over .500

Just got home from watching the Rangers beat the Oakland A's in Arlington, 5-3. It was a fun game, and Stephie and I sat right in front of Chuck Morgan's booth in the pressbox. Morgan is the voice of the Rangers at their home games. We also got broadcasters Eric Nadel and Victor Rojas's autographs in our game program. They are the radio announcers for the Rangers on KRLD.

But hey. This blog really isn't about the Rangers, is it? While we were watching the Rangers, we were intensely concentrating on the out of town scoreboard in left field. We watched with much glee as Jon Lester baffled the Baltimore Orioles and the Red Sox won 4-0. I was hoping that he might have thrown a no-no, but found out after we got home that the O's got 4 hits. The KC Royals made a valiant effort, but, alas, were unable to stifle the Evil Empire, losing 3-2. It was close, though. So the Sox remain 6.5 games ahead in the AL East, and their magic number to clinch the division is 15. They are also now 30 games over .500, at 86-56.

Tomorrow night, Stephie and I will return to Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, to see Kason Gabbard pitch (ironically, we saw Gabbard pitch agains Texas at Fenway Park in July...now we get to see him pitch for Texas, as he was part of that disastrous deal the Sox made with the Rangers for Eric Gagne--disastrous for the Sox, great for the Rangers). Dice-K and the Red Sox will take on the O's once again tomorrow night.

Life is good when there's baseball.

TTFN, y'all!

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Roll, Sox, Roll

The Red Sox continue to roll towards their first American League East Championship in this century. In fact, the first since 1995. After 1995, the East has belonged to the Evil Empire all but one year.

It's about time for that reign to be over. Am I counting my proverbial chickens? Not at all. I know what kind of things can happen. No one knows better than I after the dismal collapse of the Red Sox in 2006. I watched in horror as circumstances totally beyond their control launched them into a tail-spin that resulted in a horrific third place finish in the AL East. It all started when Varitek and Nixon went down on the same day. Then Manny got hurt. Then Papi got sick. And finally, the nail in the coffin...Jon Lester was diagnosed with cancer.

So, I don't dare begin to celebrate. But things are looking pretty good with less than a month to go in the season. The Yanks continue to struggle, and the Sox, even though they were swept by the Yankees in New York, continue to dominate. And they seem to be getting stronger as the season moves to a close.

We were all pleasantly stunned Saturday night as the rookie from Texas, Clay Buchholz threw a no-no. Then Lester shone the next night. Beckett is now one of two ML pitchers with 17 wins, and has reached a career high number of wins. I'm hoping he might make 20 wins this season.

And hats off to ex-Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez, who, this week, became one of the elite number of pitchers with 3000 or more strikeouts. I like Pedro and miss him being a Red Sox. He went to New York, but it was to the NL New York, so that's ok. Unlike Johnny Demon. Damon! I meant Damon! Really, I did!

TTFN, y'all!

Saturday, September 1, 2007

And Tonight, History Is Made At Fenway Park

Clay Buchholz, rookie pitcher, in his second major league start ever, has just become the first rookie pitcher in Red Sox history to pitch a no-hitter.

The Red Sox have defeated the Baltimore Orioles 10-0, as Buckholz struck out 9 and only gave up 3 walks. The last batter struck out looking.

Wow. What a day for Buchholz and the Red Sox. To help out, Youk hit a three run homer that bounced back onto the field from the Monster. He tried to stop at second base, not even aware that he had cleared the fence. Ortiz also contributed with a three run double, and Dustin Pedroia saved the day with a diving stop at second base to throw out Tejada at first base, in the top of the 7th, to save the no-no. He gets the play of the game.

The Sox really needed this game, after being swept in the Bronx, and then not quite making the come-back against the O's last night.

Unfortunately, the Evil Empire also won today, keeping the Red Sox lead to only 5, and maintaining their lead in the wild card race.

TTFN, y'all!