What?? WHAT?????

What's this crap I'm hearing about the Sox maybe trading Ellsbury for Hanley Ramirez????????????????????????????????????? (I would have put more question marks, but my pinky got tired.)

Has Jon Daniels invaded Boston or something?

Help?

Two things have happened recently that are creating great trauma for me.

The first one happened earlier this week when Mark Teixeira signed a contract with the Evil Empire. The very fact that a player that I have great respect for signed with "them" is bad enough. But anyone who knows my family and my youngest daughter knows that we are now going to have a problem of Biblical proportions in my household.

THERE'S ABOUT TO BE A @$#%$& YANKEE FAN IN MY HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!

I told her I hope she likes sleeping out in the back yard.

Just kidding.

Sort of.

---

The second thing happened yesterday.

My oldest daughter went out and ordered THIS!!





Ted? I can't breathe, man! This is what you have to look forward to someday! I've never had so many emotions going through me at one time.

We don't have an official date, yet. Probably won't be until sometime in 2010, but they've ordered the dress. It won't have pink edges. They will be hunter green instead.

Sigh.

TTFN, y'all!

Breaking News

In a move that has stunned baseball fans worldwide, shortly after signing Mark Teixeira to a multi-year 180 million dollar contract, the Yankees bought baseball.

No, I'm not referring to those little white, round thingies.

The Yankees bought Baseball. The game. Worldwide. Reactions range from ecstatic to suicidal. Terry Francona, manager of the Boston Yankees, was heard to say, "I figured this was inevitable eventually. I had hoped that John Henry would manage to at least come away with half of Baseball, but I guess this is it."

Michael Young, shortstop for the Texas Yankees, was actually more upbeat about it. "Maybe we'll finally be able to afford some pitching now," he was heard to say.

One of the first projects that will be taken on is the tearing down of every major league baseball park and rebuilding them to be exact replicas of Yankee Stadium. The first, of course, will be Fenway Park, mainly because the Steinbrenners are sick of hearing about how it's "America's most loved ball park," and "the oldest ball park in America." No more of that. And no more domes. "If we can play in an open stadium in New York, then everyone should have to," said Hank Steinbrenner. "Why the *bleep* do they need a dome in Tampa, anyway? It's never cold there." I guess no one told Hank it rains every day at 2pm in Florida.

It has yet to be determined how teams will be told apart when they play each other, since all teams will now be wearing pinstripes. And there will certainly be duplicate numbers on those uniforms, as well. "There are still a lot of details to be worked out," said Hank. "Not the least of which is deciding who gets to win the World Series each year." Of course, they have now made it certain that the Yankees will win every World Series from now on.

Anyone who attempts to form another league playing Baseball, will be sued and made to cease immediately. Many players are thinking of taking up cricket.

There are only two positive outcomes to this scenario that I can see.

1. Scott Boras will no longer have a job, because agents are no longer necessary.

2. Bud Selig will also be unemployed, because the Steinbrenners will now be making all the rules.

After hearing of this development, Jerry Jones began contemplating the possibility of buying Football. Mark Cuban has begun counting up his assets as well. Ironically, no one is interested in buying Soccer, and the over-riding sentiment seems to be that the Canadians can have Hockey.

TTFN, y'all.

No Tex for Now

Scott Boras must be pulling his usual crap. The Red Sox have, extremely abruptly, completely pulled out of the race for Mark Teixeira, after reportedly making the biggest offer out there.

Anybody remember Boras lying to the Texas Rangers and telling them that Raphael Palmeiro had a better offer? When he didn't? So Palmeiro wound up playing for the O's instead of the R's.

For a team like the Sox, with all their money, to just yank out like that, something's going on.

That's ok, though. I would love to see Tex in a Red Sox uniform, but, honestly, we don't need him that badly. We got Youk, man. Who needs a Tex when you got a Youk??

(Please don't take that personally, other "Tex." Of course, we need you!)

If we can't get him, though, I'd really like to see him play in Baltimore. Why not? It's his home. I just hope he won't take that Nats deal. Dear Lord, what a horrible team. Surely, he wouldn't want to play there.

In the meantime, the Rangers are adding all kinds of improvements to their Ballpark. Seats closer to the field, LED scoreboards (which I'm opposed to, though...I'm a purist. I like the manual outfield scoreboards), and some kind of high-tech video thingy around the middle deck of the stadium.

Seems like all that money could maybe buy a pitcher.

But what do I know? Rangers "fans" don't come to watch baseball, anyway.

TTFN, y'all.

Breaking News!!

This just in from The Borowitz Report!


December 14, 2008

Yankees Sign Iraqi Hurler

Shoe-throwing Right-hander Impresses Scouts

In their latest bid to beef up their pitching rotation for the 2009 season, the
New York Yankees today signed Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zeidi to a three-year
deal worth $32 million.
The right-handed al-Zeidi, 28, impressed the Yankee scouts with his performance
in Baghdad yesterday when he threw both of his shoes at President George W.
Bush.
While neither of the shoes hit their target, both throws "had great
velocity and good movement," said Yankee owner Hank Steinbrenner.
"The first shoe was high and outside but the second one was right down the
middle," Mr. Steinbrenner said.
The Yankee boss said that he was also impressed with Mr. al-Zeidi's
fighting spirit when Secret Service agents tackled him.
"That could come in handy when we have a series with Boston," he
said.

Sad News

I regret to have to write that my wife's father passed away Saturday morning at around 4:30.

We'll be attending his funeral at 1:30 on Tuesday afternoon. It wasn't an unexpected thing, though. He had been ill for a long time.

---

Sorry I've been absent for so long. Kathy's right (in the comments for the last entry), there are other things to write about than the Red Sox.

Wait. What am I saying??

Hahaha...

Lots of stuff has been happening. The Yankees are once again trying to buy there way back into the playoffs by sucking up all the good pitchers. And now I hear they are throwing in on the Teixeira chase. Ugh. I've pretty much decided I want to see Mark Teixeira wearing Red Sox. Even Boras said he would like to send Tex to the Sox, that way he could send Manny to the Nats. But the Evil Empire has expressed interest in Manny, too.

In the meantime, the Rangers want The Big Unit. Yes, folks, the Rangers are trying to sign Randy Johnson, the oldest pitcher in baseball. If not the oldest, then certainly the ugliest. You know, if they are going to go after oldness, I'd rather see them get Curt Schilling. I have no clue why they want Johnson.

Of course, I have no clue why they traded their only starting catcher for two minor league nobody pitchers, either. And that deal of massive stupidity (has Jon Daniels never learned anything????) messed things up for a lot of people. It eliminated the possibility of any deal between the Rangers and the Sox for one of their backup catchers, both of whom the Sox were definitely interested in. It eliminated the possibility of Varitek going to the Tigers (I'm actually kind of glad about that one, but it made for one less option for Tek). At least the Rangers management is aware that they need pitching!

Stephanie and I will, once again, be attending the "Sluggers of the West" awards banquet in January. We had a nice time at last year's banquet, and I managed not to "boo" at Tom Hicks. The crowd's reception of him was somewhat less than enthusiastic, though. We got some nice pictures of Stephanie with players after the banquet, though, and I'm hoping we can do that again, this time.

---

In other news, we are rapidly approaching the end of our first semester of high school for Stephanie. At the moment, she is doing mostly ok. She's struggling with a science class, which they call "I.P.C." I think that means "Integrated Physics and Chemistry." It's supposed to be an easier level science class, but her teacher is not very good, from what I can gather. I'm hoping we can come up with some ways to raise that grade before the semester is over. She passed the first half, so we just need to get high enough to have a passing average for the semester.

Christi is doing mostly ok, after her father's passing. She is probably handling it better than most of the other family. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

The last thing is that the company I work for is cutting our wages by 10% at the beginning of 2009! Ugh! That's putting us back close to 4 years! At least I have a job, right? But still...that's a pretty hefty chunk. I'm having to cut my 401k contributions to make up for it. The sad thing is, our division is actually making money. It's the divisions that are union that are killing us all. So we have to suffer for it. That's SNF! Hahahahah!!!

I think that's got us caught up for now. I need to work on getting the rest of my Christmas shopping done.

TTFN, y'all!

Good Things Come In...Well, Boxes

Whoa. That was a long time between posts. See what happens when there's no baseball?? I'm bored and boring, both.

I got a pleasant surprise tonight. One of my buddies at work walked in carrying this box and gives it to me. (How appropriate that my other friend is listening to Pandora right now, and it's playing "Boston" by Augustana...) So, anyway...inside this dusty box (he found it in some dollar store somewhere) is *drum roll* (are you sitting down?)

A NOMAR GARCIAPARRA BOBBLEHEAD!!!!!

IN A RED SOX UNIFORM!!!!!!

EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

If he weren't a guy, I might have kissed him.

Let's don't go any farther with that thought, please...

Anyway. So now I have a "Nomah" bobblehead.

Life is good.

I'll see you next time something exciting happens.

So Long, CoCo...

Boston Globe has just announced that Coco Crisp has been traded to the Royals for relief pitcher Ramon Ramirez.

I haz a sad.

But I'm glad that it was Crisp and not Ellsbury. So it's not too bad a sad that I haz.

I'm sure there will be more dealing soon.

TTFN, y'all.

Cat and A Soda Box

Not much to talk about today, but I found this really cute video that my cousin forwarded to me.

Enjoy! And no cat-hating comments allowed. Cats rule.

TTFN, y'all (also made famous by a cat...except for the "y'all" part...I added that)!

Exit, stage left!

The Wrath of the Stephen Lich King...wait...

I'm sure by now my daughter has her copy of the new WoW expansion, Wrath of the Lich King.

She probably already has it installed on her 'puter and has already created a...what are they called?? Bloodguards? Blood Knight??

Death Knight! That's it.

Sigh.

I can't get mine until 8am at Target this morning, after I drop the other one off at school. Then I'll get it installed, but probably won't be able to actually play until tonight, at which time, I won't be able to get within a hundred million parsecs of the server I actually plan on because of all the activity from the expansion.

Sigh.

Plus I find out that this person where I work (who also plays WoW) has THE NEXT TWO DAYS OFF!!! That is so unfair! Heheheh... I tried to bribe the guy at Target last night to give me one early. But he couldn't do that.

I'll probably buy the new Stephen King book while I'm there. He just released a new book of short stories, called Just After Sunset. He retired, you know. Heh.

About three books ago.

Right.

So, anyway, if I don't update for a few days, this time, you'll know why. I'll be glued to the computer with my new Death Knight.

Dun-dun-duuunnnnn....

TTFN, y'all!

Dollhouse--Doomed Before It Starts

Ok.

Anybody who knows me (or has known me for very long) knows that I am a huge fan of all things Joss Whedon. Especially Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly/Serenity.

Joss has been preparing a new television show (much to our delight) for a while now, called "Dollhouse," which will be starring Eliza Dushku, who played "Faith" on Buffy and Angel. I also just found out tonight, while reading my newest edition of SciFi Magazine, that Amy Acker will also be on "Dollhouse."

YAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!!

Amy played the beloved "Fred" on Angel, who was later transformed into the demonic "Iliria." I probably spelled that wrong. Anyway.

But I also found out something today that has made me just bit angry.

FOX has decided to move Dollhouse from its planned Monday night spot to Friday night.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Remember Firefly?

Of course you don't! Know why???

FOX put it on Friday night!! Nothing survives Friday night.

Ok, maybe Numb3rs does, but not much else.

I encourage all three of my readers to find a way to flood FOX's email box with letters begging them to move Dollhouse back to Monday.

What?

Oh.

Ok. Two readers, then.

TTFN, y'all!

Rangers and Red Sox Making Another Trade?

Rumors, rumors, rumors.

Word on the street is that the Sox are interested in Taylor Teagarden or Jarrod Saltalawhatzitshickiedoodle. (Stephanie can spell his name...longest name in baseball, too.) I dunno about this.

I realize that if the Sox can re-sign Tek, they probably should bring a youngster for him to mentor. But I don't think Salty is the answer. I could be wrong. With someone like Tek teaching him, he might turn out ok. But I saw some pretty horrible games with him behind the plate in Texas last season. (Is it late enough to call it "last season" yet?)

Teagarden, on the other hand is supposed to be on of the Rangers' top prospects.

And I wouldn't be unhappy at all to see Clay Buchholz in a Rangers uniform. But I don't know if the Sox are interested in dealing him. The word is that the Rangers are interested in Buchholz or Masterson or Bowden.

I actually enjoy this time of year, even though I miss the games. I like the anticipation of seeing who's going to deal who (whom??) and what kind of miserable deals Jon Daniels is going to make for the Rangers.

The Teixeira conundrum is still out there, as well. He pretty much has a wide-open field in front of him. Lyle Spencer, on the "Hot Stove Blog," has called Tex "the best all-round player in the game." Well, he said that the case can be made that he is. I don't want to be guilty of misquoting.

Personally, I would love to see Tex get to go to Baltimore. That's where he is from, and they would love him there. However, I don't know if the O's can afford him, and the chances of him coming out with a WS ring from Baltimore are slim to none. Unless, that is, the O's can pull what the Rays did last season and go from "worst to first." I don't see that happening.

I'll say again that Boston doesn't really need Mark Teixeira. I would love to see him in a Red Sox uniform, especially if there were a chance he might wear pin stripes. But if Mike Lowell comes back from this hip surgery, we don't need a first baseman.

---

Congratulations to two players that I like a lot!

Michael Young of the Rangers and Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox have both been awarded Golden Gloves!! Great for both of them. Young beat out Jeter and a host of other Shortstops. I'm really proud for him.

Oh, and TED!!! Get over and vote for Josh Hamilton in the TYIB awards. He's up for hitter and for whatever category they have his performance in the HR Derby. I voted for him about a kabillion times. I got his book, too. Came out a couple weeks ago. I'll let you know how it is as soon as Stephanie gets through with it. I'm hoping I can get him to sign it sometime. It's called Beyond Belief.

I guess that's it for this one.

Wait. One more thing. Sadly, we bid adieu to Michael Crichton this week. Author of many novels, the most famous probably being Jurassic Park, he lost his battle with cancer this week. I'll miss him.

TTFN, y'all!

We're Number One! We're Number One!

According to this Yahoo! Sports article, the Red Sox are favored 3 to 1 to win the World Series in 2009.

Alright!

Let's start the season tomorrow.

No, wait. We have to give Lowell and Papi time to heal, don't we? Ok. I can wait.

.

..


...


....


.....

Are they done yet?

TTFN, y'all!

Congrats to the Phillies

First of all, Wow! Dawn. That was the best comment I've ever had. Very well thought out and, I think, pretty "spot on." I think I agree with all of it. Ultimately, I'd rather see Papi healthy, but we have to do what we have to do. Like I said in a previous post, I'm a Red Sox fan first. There are players that I love with all my heart (my jersey that I picked for my Red Sox Destinations trip was Tek's), but I want the team to win. In this day and age, I am learning to not get too attached to players. Especially with El Diablo Scot Boras running the show. Anyway, thanks, Dawn for those insights.

You, too, Ted. I always appreciate your comments, too. Don't want you to feel slighted, there.

---

So, here we are. This is the time of year that I love/hate all at the same time. Baseball is over. I love the season of Autumn, the cooler temperatures, the changing colors, etc. But baseball is over. That makes me sad. I sit around, wistfully thinking about being at games, either at Rangers Ballpark or Fenway Park. Dear Lord, even thinking about being at Fenway Park gives me goosebumps. I've been there two season in a row, and I still get all giddy at the prospect of going back. What is it about that place? Some would say it's just a baseball stadium. My reaction to a statement like that would not be pretty. That would be like saying a Rolls Royce is just a car. Or a Steinway is just a piano. (I've played a Steinway. It intimidated the crap out of me. I was playing an $86,000 piano. I'm serious. I didn't make that up.) Fenway Park is magic. Bill Simmons says it's haunted. I couldn't get our tour guide to offer an opinion about that. But Ted would, I'm sure, back me up when I say that there is definitely something special about that place. In fact, I think I just decided that that's where I want to be when Jesus comes back. Yeah. What better way to end it all? Go from heaven on earth to the real thing.

I don't even know how I got off on that tangent...

So, the Phillies have won it. I'm glad about that. I wonder if the Rays fans will be whining about the conditions. Tough bounce. It is Philadelphia in practically November. Yeah, it's cold. Duh. You knew this gig was tough when you signed up for it.

However, it brings to mind the idea that MLB needs to maybe have some kind of backup plan for the WS in just such situations as this. The NFL has their Super Bowl in a predetermined location each year. Baseball could do that, but it's different. You have potentially seven games of WS play (unless the Sox are in it) and only one Super Bowl game. What if the team that normally plays in that stadium got in the series? They would have home field advantage for the whole thing. You could wait until the playoffs are set to pick the stadium. (Or you could just pick Rangers Ballpark every year... ROFL!!!) Oooorrrrrrr...how about this?? MLB builds a stadium somewhere in the south that is for World Series games ONLY!!! Build a huge theme park around it. People who could afford a trip to the World Series would get admission to the theme park with their WS ticket.

I know. Crazy idea. And most fans would not support such a scheme. After all, what better thing than to see your team play in a World Series game in their home stadium?

But this whole thing of having to delay a game for two whole days is pretty crazy, too. And with the best teams in baseball typically being in the Northeast, well...it gets cold in them parts in October.

When do they announce MVPs and ROYs and stuff? Soon, I hope. I know one thing. Cliff Lee better get a Cy Young award. Oh, wait. Brandon Webb won 22 games, too! Hmm...that complicates things a little doesn't it? But Lee had the second best ERA in the majors.

Well, I've rambled enough for one day. I gotta go back to pretending to work for about another hour. I'll be back in a couple days, probably, to let you know what I thought of Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon.

TTFN, y'all!

What's Up With the Umps??

MLB umpires are getting worse and worse.

I'm not watching these Whirl Serious games, but I've seen two questionable calls, one in each game, that seem to have had a bearing on the outcome of the games.

Major League Baseball cannot afford this. While I acknowledge that umpires are human and, therefore, prone to make mistakes, I just can't bear to see the quality of officiating that we have had, really for the entire season. It's just been consistently bad.

Tonight, the home plate ump called one of the Rays out on a checked swing strike. Then he gave him first base. Which was it?? A strike out or a walk? How do you call a strike, then call a walk?? I saw the video clip. It was clearly a strike. His swing went past the point of no return. Does making a bad call tonight that benefited the Rays make up for the alleged botched no-balk call last night? Do two wrongs make a right? No, but three lefts do...

This is unacceptable. Perhaps if baseball had a real commissioner, he might address this issue. But since all we have is Bud Selig, that's not likely to happen. Sigh.

Rumors, rumors, rumors. Always one of the most fun parts about the off-season. And yes, as far as I'm concerned, the off-season started last Sunday night.

The most interesting rumor that I'm following is the one that has Mark Teixeira possibly becoming a Red Sox. I would love that. My daughter would also love that. We are both pretty big Tex fans, although it really pained me to see him with the Halos. I liked it better when he was with the Braves. And I really, really, really, really don't want to see him wind up with the Yankees.

But here's the problem. Do we need a first baseman? I dunno. A lot depends on Mike Lowell's status for next season. I love Mike Lowell almost as much as Dawn (ok maybe not...that would be kind of, you know, gay). If he's healthy, Youk plays first base, and we don't even need Kotsay (whom I don't feel is a good fit for the Sox anyway...he was a good bandaid). But if Lowell doesn't make it back from this hip injury, Youk could play third and Tex could play first base. Mark Teixeira is a fantastic switch-hitter (who walks a lot) and a gold glove first baseman. We saw his handiwork as we were playing the Angels in the playoffs. He robbed us several times.

I still feel like shortstop is our weakest position. What's up with that? It seems like all these years, we have never been strong at short. I don't even remember who was playing shortstop in '04. Then we got Renteria from the Cards, and he was forgettable. Then we had "E6" (thanks for that, Dawn...I love that), who is less than weak and Alex Cora, who is adequate, but not great. Jed Lowrie is ok, but still young with a lot to learn. And his plate performance leaves a bit to be desired. (I'm not just saying that because he made the last out of the season, either.) He wound up with a .258 avg, which ok, but even Lu--I mean E6--had a higher average than that. So, HEY THEO! Get us a shortstop!

We also need to get our starting rotation back in order. That kind of fell apart at the end of the season. I love Wake, but I think it's time for him to hang it up. Dice K was our best this season, going 18-3! He improved quite a bit over last year. Lester was next at 16-6. He had a pretty good season, too, along with a no-no against KC. But next was Beckett, who only won 12 games this year. He was disappointing this year, and I know he's tired of people asking him if something was wrong, but HEY...SOMETHING WAS WRONG!!

So for next season, we have Dice K, Lester and Beckett. Maybe Byrd. I don't know...jury's still out on him. I think he might be ok. We need at least one more strong starter, maybe two. The bullpen actually finished a little stronger than it started.

Ok. So. We have a few players that really need to get healthy over the winter. Lowell, Papi, Drew... We need a strong shortstop, and we need a couple of strong pitchers for the starting rotation.

I'm optimistic about '09.

Now I have to start thinking about something else to write about for um...*counting* November, December, January, February, March...*ahem* FIVE! Yeah, that's it. Five months. Dear Lord...might as well be 50! It would help if I liked football more. But even then, all we have is Jerry Diva Jones and his band of delinquent misfits and our girly-man quarterback. Pft.

Back to work with me!

TTFN, y'all!

How Long Until April?

I had my few moments of pity party.

I stomped around and grumbled about how the Sox didn't deserve to win that game.

Then I got over it.

I wear my Red Sox shirt with PRIDE! I won't go running home with my tail between my legs. (I'm speaking figuratively...I don't really have a tail. In case someone didn't know that.)

And I'll tell you something. There'd better not be ANYBODY out there trying to blame Jon Lester for that loss! He was pretty brilliant out there last night. I guess Garza was just brillianter.

"Brillianter??"

Oh, well.

All the guys are right. The Sox overcame a lot of adversity this year and I'm darned proud of them. I'm encouraged by the comments I'm reading on the web site by the players.

Yeah, they lost. But they aren't defeated.

They're the Red Sox.

And I'm a Red Sox Fan.

And I'm proud of my team.

One question, though.

Is anyone going to even be watching this Whirl Serious?

Not me. And I'm not being vindictive. I just don't care.

Perhaps I should go ahead and pull for the Housewives. My daughter's fiance is from Florida.

Whatever. Anyway...I want to make sure everyone knows this...

I'M PROUD OF OUR TEAM!!

TTFN, y'all. (I'll try to find stuff to write about...I don't have nearly as many adventures as Ted. Thank GOD! Heh.)

Just kidding, Ted. You have a beautiful family.

Really.

I mean it.

Here We Go Again!

This is un-freakin'-believable!

The Mighty Sox have forced game 7 in the ALCS for the third time in five years! Those poor Housewives really don't know what's hit them.

And can we petition the MLB to NEVER give TBS another postseason baseball game??? That was totally unacceptable. And if they had a power outage, how come they could broadcast stupid comedy shows for half an hour?? Huh?? Should have been totally dark.

Tonight, I might just watch with the internet feed from WRKO on. I'd rather hear them call the game, anyway.

Varitek. Oh, Captain, my Captain! Every time I start thinking he's about done, he pulls off something like that. Game winning home run for his first hit in the entire series. Geez.

Beckett. Wasn't totally himself, but it was good enough.

Okajima. Wow. What else can you say?

Masterson. He scares me, but last night, he got it done.

Papelbon. Is it 23 scoreless post-season innings, now? 24? 25?

I will not make any predictions for tonight. I don't dare. But Lester is on. And Garza shut them down last time.

But this is different. This is Game Seven. This is Red Sox Country.

This is the Red Sox Nation.

If we win tonight, I wonder how all those people with all those stupid haircuts are going to feel...

TTFN, y'all.

Apparently, It's Next Year Already

Those are the best tasting words I've ever eaten!!!

In an unbelievable comeback, the Red Sox have forced the series back to Tampa Bay.

J.D. Drew is tonight's hero.

Down 7-0 in the 7th inning and they win it 8-7. As that radio guy says...

"CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??"

I humbly beg forgiveness for giving up.

TTFN, y'all! See you Saturday night!!

See You Next Year

Well, it was a fun season. Sort of.

At this writing, the game is not over. But it pretty much is. Sox are swinging wildly at first pitches, Rays are up 5-0 after three home runs off Dice-K.

It will probably be one of the least watched World Series in history. I know I won't be watching. I absolutly couldn't care less about who wins it.

I would love to have to log on and eat these words later on, but that doesn't appear to be realistic.

So long friends. We'll have to find other things to write about for a while.

TTFN, y'all.

For Boston

I've got the shakes.

Like Ted, I feel lost these last couple of days.

There is a baseball game tonight, but it's, you know, National League. *pft, pft* Where's the mouthwash?

But you know, weird as it seems, I think all is as it should be. The Rays and Sox have been battling this thing out all season, so it only seems fitting that they should be playing each other for the ALCS. And I really, really, deep down in my heart, believe that the Sox are the better team. I guess we will find out this weekend.

This season went by so fast. I hate when baseball season is over. It seems like such a long time until April. I realize that we still have some post-season activity left, but the season is, essentially over, and we are down the home stretch to the finish line. I just hope our finish line is further down the road than the Rays.

Honestly, I want a Red Sox/Dodgers World Series. Bring it on!! I want to hear the Fenway Faithful BOO MANNY!!! *Cue "Shipping Up To Boston by the Dropkick Murphys* Yeah, I do. I want to hear it. And you know they will. Because you know what? At the end of the day (I really hate that phrase, but I'm using it anyway), we are RED SOX FANS!! We are not Manny fans. We are not Johnny Damon fans. We are not "Nomah" fans. WE ARE RED SOX FANS And if you wear a Red Sox uniform, we love you. But if you change that uniform, forget it. Especially if you "diss" us on the way out. We might be more or less neutral if you go peacefully, or if it was Theo's idea to trade you. And if you dare decide to go to the Evil Empire when you could have stayed in Boston??? You might as well have grown horns and exchanged your bat for a pitchfork! *Is the song over yet?*

*Whew.*

Ok. Anyway. Two more days to endure without Red Sox baseball. And then, Friday night, I won't even be able to watch the game, because I will be in Glen Rose, TX, celebrating 23 years of wonderful marriage to my beautiful wife! Woohoo!!!

Nice romantic setting, a cabin by the Paluxy River. No TV. No phone. No wireless internet, either, but that's ok. There's radio, and the game should be on ESPN radio. Unless they decide to air some stupid high school football game like they did last year. Pft. And...there's a hot tub on the deck outside. Yeah, baby!

On a more sombre note, prayers would be appreciated, as my wife will be undergoing a hysterectomy next Wednesday. It's not a life-threatening or cancer situation. Just some complications that couldn't be resolved with less drastic procedures. Should be a pretty routine thing, though. And with today's technology, they say the recovery time should be no more than two weeks! Boggles my mind.

Ok. That's it for now. I've got a driver looking at me. Back to work. See you guys Friday night! (In spirit, at least)

GO RED SOX

TTFN, ya'll!

Red Sox 7, Angels 5

I almost felt sorry for all those Angels fans they were showing at the end of last night's game. Oh, heck, I did feel sorry for them. Because I've experienced that feeling at the end of a Yankees game.

That was one incredible game, though. I watched the entire game on DVR after we got home from a dismal high school football game. (Our team lost 28-14.) Red Sox did that thing they do where they jump out in front and then slowly lose the lead for the rest of the game. Only this time, J.D. came through in the ninth.

Torii Hunter should be embarrassed. Hurt himself jumping up and down like a little boy after a close call at first base. It really affected his play for the rest of the game, too.

Then there was that close call at second base in the ninth when Crisp almost got picked off. But if you look at the video from all angles, the ump made a very good call. The short never tagged Crisp. I don't think he ever touched him at all. But if he did, it was long after he touched the base.

Jason Bay is doing a great job of making us forget Manny. He has a homer in each playoff game, now. Ellsbury continues to shine. Pedey needs to get out of his slump, though. And we need Lowell back for Sunday. But the beauty of it is that, with the players we have in place, we are ok. Kotsay did well last night.

So the Red Sox are now 11-0 against the Halos in post-season.

And wouldn't you know it? I flipped the page from September to October in my Red Sox calendar and whodoyathink is on the page?

Manny.

Ugh.

See you Sunday night. And everybody look for TED on TV!!!!

Lucky bas...oops. I can't say that, can I?? Heh.

TTFN, y'all.

"You'll Laugh So Much Your Side Will Ache..."

For your between game entertainment, I offer this side-splitting video of some amateur gymnastic blunders. I laughed so hard I cried. Really. I thought I was going to hurt myself.

Enjoy.



Extra points if you recognize where the title of the entry came from.

TTFN, y'all!

A Decisive Victory

I can breathe a lot easier tonight.

I was concerned about this playoff series. I'm still not "counting my chickens before the cows come home." The Angels have beaten the Sox 8-1 during regular season. But that was then.

This is now.

This is "Soxtober."

Jon Lester was mostly brilliant tonight. Jacoby Ellsbury was more than brilliant. 3 for 5, and that was having a triple taken away from him to be scored an error on Garry Matthews, Jr. Ellsbury was freakin' inhuman! That catch in center field was amazing.

Final score, 4-1 Sox. And the one that the Angels got was unearned. So there.

And this was the only playoff result that I'm happy with today. I was pulling for the Brewers and the Cubbies.

I'm really going to have a difficult time tomorrow. I hate the White Sox. I hate the Housewives. I'm rooting for a 0-0 tie into 30 innings. In all five games. That way, whoever it is the Sox have to play in the next round will be totally exhausted.

And listen! Do you hear that? It's the sound of silence in New York at both stadiums! What a sweet sound!

See you all Friday night.

TTFN, y'all!

YEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!

*whew*

That was the sound of me finally breathing!

I've been holding my breath for so long, I've passed out several times.

But we can finally breathe. The Sox have clinched a playoff spot.

And...

THE YANKEES AREN'T IN THE PLAYOFFS!!!!

Can I get a "HALLELUJAH!!!" And an "AMEN!!!!"

How many years has it been since the Evil Empire has missed the playoffs?

If I'm seeing right, it looks like 1993 was the last time, so 15 years?

Whatever. It's great.

We still have a shot at the division, but it's going to be close. TB won both games of the doubleheader today. Magic number is 2. And there's what...5 games left? 2 more with the Tribe and the final three with the Evil Ones. Frankly, I don't see Tampa losing enough of those last 5. We can hope, but the Sox would have to win 4 of the last 5.

At this point, I'm just happy to be able to breathe again.

TTFN, y'all!

It's All My Fault

*sob*

The first time I walked away from the computer (I have MLBTV, since we can't get any Red Sox games in Texas and ESPN couldn't be bothered to TELEVISE THE MOST IMPORTANT SERIES OF THE SEASON!!!!!!!!), the Rays broke the no-no.

The second time I walked away, they tied the game.

Then I went to bed for a nap in the middle of the eighth inning.

I'm sorry. I should have known better.

At least the Evil Empire lost, putting them one step closer to not making the playoffs for the first time in a couple of centuries. Can I get a "hallelujah?"

And it looks like the Mets enjoyed last year's collapse so much they're going to do it again.

And at least we can say that it's been a hard fought battle. And who can say that this hasn't been an exciting roller coaster of a season?

But it's just...man. How many Boston fans have been grinding their teeth because every time they look at the standings, they see the TB Rays on top?? We're used to seeing the Evil Ones there!! These guys just came out of nowhere! I need to dig out my copy of S.I. from before the season began to laugh at the predictions they made. A few of them came out right, I think, but they put the Yanks on top, and the Rangers in last. Hah. The Rangers has surprised everybody by coming in second this year. And, like they always do, they've decided to play some baseball, now that it doesn't matter any more. They have surprised the Tigers twice already this week, and the guy with the floofiest name in the MLB hit a grand salami Monday night. (That would be Taylor Teagarden in case you don't know who I'm talking about.)

How do you like that word? "Floofiest." Heh.

And I would like to have this rumor that there could be a trade of Jarrod Saltalamacchia for Clay Buckholz completely squelched!! While I would love to see Buckholz in a Rangers uniform, the LAST thing (LAST, I say!!) that the Red Sox need is Salty. He's a bloody awful catcher! Ugh.

Ok. It's time for lunch.

TTFN, y'all!

Welcome to September, Housewives!!

Hah!

Finally, the Sox win a game in Tampa Bay, and they do it in style, which also propels them back into their rightful place of first place in the AL East.

Shut up, I know they're tied. Doesn't matter, they're IN FIRST PLACE!!

I only missed it by two days. I said that they would be in first by the end of last week.

It was home run derby at the Orange Juice Stadium. In fact, almost every run was scored by home runs. At one point, it was 11-1, and the Sox only had 8 hits.

Did Jason Bay's shot ever come down? So much for the old rule that "what goes up, must come down." I think that ball is still in the catwalks. It's walking up and down singing, "I'm too sexy for my hat...too sexy for my hat...too sexy for my hat, watcha think about that??"

Now, to come back down to earth a minute, I have to remember the Toronto series, where the Sox ran away with the first one, and forgot to show up for the second one. I'm hoping that doesn't happen tonight. But this was a Sox team that looks like they want it bad. And this was a Housewives team that looks tired.

And does Joe Maddon's expression EVER change??? Sheesh!

Boston needs to sweep this series. 2 out of three isn't enough, because that would still leave them tied. They need to leave Tampa Bay all alone at the top.

In other news, I suppose I'm supposed to feel all sentimental because the Evil Ones are playing their last game in the House of Pain Sunday night. Except that they are building an exact replica RIGHT NEXT DOOR!! C'mon! Who does that??? What they gonna call it? House of Pain Deux?

---

But enough about baseball. Oh. Wait. That's not possible.

Anyway, some real life stuff. I got this phone call from Stephanie's school today. From her vice principal. Yes, she has her very own vice principal. No, not really, but they have two split up over the ninth graders. Anyway, it seems that he was having some trouble getting Stephanie to go to class.

We tried to get these people to understand, at the beginning of school, that Stephanie is high-functioning autistic with anxiety disorder. We told them. We were concerned about how she was going to adapt to this huge new school with four floors, three flights of stairs (who in their right mind builds a school like that??) and the North and West rooms on opposite ends of the school (???). But they "poo-pooed" us. "We got it," they said. Well, now they know. She finally had a miniature version of one of her meltdowns at school.

But it turned out to be a good call. I said "I told you so," in much gentler terms, and the vice principal already had a plan in his head. I'll give him lots of credit for that. He's going to talk to her "case manager" today and they are going to put her in a modified classroom, where she will have all of her work brought to her. There will only be a few kids in this class, so there will be more one-on-one type instruction. The plan is to give her a little time in this class setting and then gradually try to ease her back into the traditional setting. I think this is a great plan. They really should have tried this to begin with, but late is better than never.

And, also to their credit, they have been supportive through these first three weeks. They have worked with us on scheduling and stuff like that. They have never turned a deaf ear to us. I think they don't understand this type of thing as well as they think they do. After all, we have yet to get the ISD to agree with the diagnosis of autism, even though we have it from two different medical professionals. Go figure.

And that call was only one of four that interrupted my six hours of sleep yesterday afternoon. Sigh. So I'm a little tired tonight. I had really hoped to stay up and watch the whole game, too, but I had to get a nap.

Hah. See, there, I managed to get back to baseball, didn't I?

I know. I'm a very sick man.

TTFN, y'all.

Hear That Sound? It's Me Banging My Head On A Table!

I can't really say what I was thinking the other night when TB hit that home run in the top of the bloody 14th inning at Fenway. Can't have my church people knowing that I even think those kinds of words.

And how much help did they get from the umpires?? I'm not one to grumble that umps lost a game for anyone, but good grief. There was no freakin' way that left fielder was going to catch that foul ball that the fan interfered with. No way!

Then there was the out at second base when the infielder was bobbling the throw!

It didn't help any that the ESPN announcers were pulling for TB!

Heh. I sound like a sore loser, don't I?

WELL I AM!!!! So there.

And I guess we have to make another trip to Tampa to play a series there, where we have yet to win a game this season.

Dang it, the Sox were supposed to be in first place by now.

Ok. I'll stop whining now.

It's been a busy week for us in the real world. We had "mini-school" Monday night, where we got to follow along on Stephie's schedule in high school. We had a really good time, got to meet her teachers and also talked to a guy that we found out Sunday afternoon is her "case manager." We never had a "case manager" before. But it turns out we already knew this guy from a church that we went to a few years back. So that's cool. He remembered us, too. AND her science teacher was at that church at the same time, and HE remembered us, too! How cool is that? So we have several advocates for Stephanie in this humongous new world for her.

Her schedule has changed several times in the few weeks since school started, but we think it's finally settled in.

I think we've been to our last baseball game for the season. She wants to go to her high school football game on the 19th, when we were supposed to go see the Rangers play the Halos. But I've already got a taker for the tickets if she sticks with that idea.

I guess I should do some work. I have an hour and a half left on my shift, but it's my slow night.

Hopefully, we can win some games this weekend. Incidentally, my mother hates that the Dodgers are winning now. She figures Manny will get all the credit. For some reason, she's not very fond of him right now. Go figure.

TTFN, y'all!

Wow. What A Weekend!!

It was a great weekend in Arlington. I've got pictures, but I haven't downloaded them, yet. Uploaded? I dunno.

Anyway, I met Tex at Friday night's game. It was really cool to finally meet someone from these blogs. We chatted for a few minutes, then went back to our seats, me with my "Hambino" sandwich (yowzir!!!) and Tex to keep watching her Beckett mow down Rangers.

Sox took two of three (third straight road series they've done that, I think). 8-1, 8-15, 7-2. Saturday's game was pretty brutal because Wakefield basically, well, sucked. I can't remember, but I think he walked in something like three or four runs in that dreadful second inning.

Sunday's game was possibly the most fun. My wife was with us, and I always enjoy when she comes to a game with us. We started out in a second level box on the third base side. After about two innings of roasting in the 90+ degree sun, we decided to move to the upper deck on the first base side. It was all in the shade, and virtually empty.

It was also very exciting to get to see Papelbon pitch in the ninth. I haven't seen a replay, but I'm pretty sure that the ball that was hit into the left field corner in the bottom of the ninth was FOUL!! The idiot ump had his back turned to left field, then turned around and made a call that he could not have possible seen! But it didn't really matter, because they got the third out on the next batter.

And there was that call on Varitek, when he was called out while the first baseman was bobbling the baseball...

And a very bad scorekeeping call on Friday night...the first "hit" against Beckett was really an error. Lowrie made a bad throw, pulling Kotsay off of first, and the scorekeeper called it a hit. Again, it didn't really matter, because there was another real hit pretty soon after that, but I was going to be really mad if that had turned out to be the only "hit" of the game.

Paul Byrd was pretty amazing Sunday afternoon. He has turned out to be a pretty good addition to the team.

Papi smashed a home run on Sunday afternoon that might still be going if it hadn't hit the "Brookshire's" sign on the front of the upper deck in right field. He really crushed that ball. I think it might have just barely started its descent when it hit the front of the upper deck stands. Wow.

The most fun, though, was seeing Toronto sweep the Desperate Housewives!! Oh, yeah!! So we are 1.5 out of first, and the Evil Empire is down to fourth place. *Did he say FOURTH place???* Yes, he did. Toronto is on a hot streak, so they caught up to the E.E. by a half game. I can smell Girardi's pink slip already. Good times.

The Housewives will be in Fenway Park tonight for the record-breaking 456th consecutive sellout ballgame (do I have that right?), and by Thursday, the Sox will be in first place. Hopefully to stay.

Well...back to work, I guess.

TTFN, y'all! And, Tex, once again, it was truly an honor to meet you! Maybe I'll see you again next season. Sox should come here twice, if they follow the pattern.

Two of Three, Twice, On the Road...Not Bad!

Well, Dice-K certainly showed his stuff, the other night, throwing 8 innings with only 2 hits. He's already won more than he did last year.

But those darned Housewives just won't lose!! *cry* We've won 2 of 3 in two straight road series! That's phenomenal for our Sox this season!

It's crunch time now, though. They are rolling pretty good right now, in spite of crucial injuries, and need to keep it up.

Since today is September 1, I got to flip my Red Sox wall calendar to another page today. I've been looking at Wily Mo Pena for a month. I don't have anything against Wily Mo, except that he isn't a Red Sox anymore.

But now? My eyes get to occasionally glance over at the great and marvelous Jonathan Papelbon, right in the middle of a pitch.

Four more days until the Red Sox hit Texas like Hurricane Gustav in full force! Rangers better take cover. At least I don't have to worry about the Red Sox foiling any hope of the Rangers making the playoffs. That seems to no longer be an issue. Not that I would have been "worried" about that (just making sure there is no question about my loyalties, here).

I guess that's about it for today. Happy Labor Day, all!

C-R-U-S-H!!!!!!!

Oh, yeah!

The only thing that could have made this day better would have been the Housewives losing.

Red Sox are one game away from a sweep in their final series in the House of Pain.

And the little guy comes through tonight. First ever career Grand Salami for Dustin Pedroia. Watch it here.

Final score Red Sox 11 Evil Ones 3

Is it just me or does Girardi look like a man who's been beaten down?

I hope they still have his announcer spot open on ESPN.

Actually, no. I don't. Let him flip hamburgers.

Hee.

And...to make the night even more wonderful, the Rangers got their first three game sweep of the season and their first ever sweep in Kansas City. I know...it's just Kansas City. But it's also just the Rangers, so there.

Whoa!! And the Athletics beat the Los Angeles Anaheim California Angels of Orange County again! So the Rangers are chipping away at that 15 game lead.

BAHAHAHAHAHA. Hoo.

The Rangers better win all they can for the next week. Because next Friday night, September 7, the mighty, mighty Red Sox roll into Arlington to complete the full-season sweep of the Rangers. That's right...they're gonna take all 10 games this year. And I'll be there. Looking for Tex.

Ok. Back to work with me.

TTFN, y'all!

THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN' ABOUT!!!

And there was much celebration and dancing in the streets!

Why, you ask?? I'll bloody well tell you why!

Reason number one: Red Sox-7 Evil Empire-3!!

Reason number two: Blue Jays-6 Desperate Housewives-2!!!

Sox move within 3.5 games of first place in the AL East!

And, to top it off, Rangers-2 Royals-1, with Kevin Millwood pitching his second complete game in a row.

Life is good.

Is anyone keeping tabs on the Sox/Yanks series for the year? I'm sure I can find it, but I'm lazy.

---

We now have two days of high school out of the way. And so far, Steph still likes it. Heh.

---

In the really scary, sad department, a friend of mine at work almost died this morning. Our security guard that mans the gate from 6 in the morning had a heart attack this morning. Very serious, according to the guard on duty when I came in tonight. Prayers are going out. I hope he's ok. We talk about the Rangers and Red Sox every morning when I'm heading home.

TTFN, y'all.

I'm Back

I don't know why I haven't blogged in a while. I guess I just didn't feel like writing. I think I'm depressed because the Desperate Housewives continue to rule the AL East.

But FINALLY, yesterday, our boys got it RIGHT! They WON when the DHes LOST! And I saw the glorious ending of that ChiSox/DH game. Believe me, it's the only time I will ever root for Ozzie's bunch. Ever. Well, except for when they play the Evil Empire.

Anyway, we gained a game back, so we're back to 4.5 games out.

With somewhere in the neighborhood of 35 games left in the regular season.

Man. Didn't we just start a few days ago??? How could it be this late already?

I'm all pumped up to see the Sox in Arlington in two weeks. I know that I'm in section 18 for one game and section 218 (Lexus Club level) for Sunday afternoon's game.

Tex, where are you sitting?

---

In other news, we had a very fortunate experience yesterday that tells us that there is some hope somewhere for the human race.

My wife went to the grocery store. Well, first, her and Steph went and got haircuts. Then they went next door to the Kroger to pick up a few groceries. I had been at a meeting at church and got home while they were gone.

I heard a car door outside and Steph came in and said that Mom left her purse at the store. Turns out she left it in the shopping cart after she unloaded the groceries. She hurried back to the store, and, praise God, someone had turned it in at the Customer Service desk, and everything was still in there!

She was still shaking when she got home. But there are still some good people out there. That's nice to know.

---

Last thing. Stephie and I went to the Rangers game Friday night, and on the way, we listened to her new Jonas Brothers cd in the van. I was kind of casually listening and here is what I thought I heard:

I don't wanna fall asleep,
Cuz I don't wanna f*** it up...

EXCUSE ME?????????

I certainly perked up and started listening more closely.

I still heard the same thing.

So I started the song over. All this time, Stephanie is totally wondering what I'm doing, right?

Well, it was a little more clear earlier in the song. What it really says is this:

I don't wanna fall asleep,
Cuz I don't know if I'll get up...

*whew*

I knew, really, that the Jonas Brothers would NOT be using that word in their song. But, hey. Say it fast and slur your words a little....

I'm just sayin'.

They need to be a little more careful.

TTFN, y'all!!

Brain Test--Right or Left?

I don't usually post twice so close together, but I found this neat brain test, thanks to a friend's blog. Robin is a Christian Fiction writer who used to have a Diaryland site a few years ago. Anyway, she linked to this brain test, which is supposedly able to tell you which side of your brain you use the most, based on your answers to 20 questions. Here is my result.

Your Brain Usage Profile:
Auditory : 47%
Visual : 52%
Left : 58%
Right : 41%

Jeff, you are somewhat left-hemisphere dominant with a balanced preference for auditory and visual inputs. Because of your "centrist" tendencies, the distinctions between various types of brain usage are somewhat blurred.

Your tendency to be organized and logical and attend to details is reasonably well-established which should afford you success regardless of your chosen field of endeavor, unless it requires total spontaneity and ability to improvise, your weaker traits. However, you are far from rigid or overcontrolled. You possess a degree of individuality, perceptiveness, and trust in your intuition to function at much more sophisticated levels than most.

Having given sufficient attention to detail, you can readily perceive the larger aspects and implications of a situation or of learning. You are functional and practical, but can blend abstraction and theory into your framework readily.

The equivalence of your auditory and visual learning orientation gives you two equally effective sensory input systems, each with distinctive features. You can process both unidimensionally and multidimen- sionally with equal facility. When needed, you sequence material while at other times you "intake it all" and store it for processing later.

Your natural ability to use your senses is also synthesized in your way of learning. You can be reflective in your approach, absorbing material in a non-aggressive manner, and at other times voracious in seeking out stimulation and experience.

Overall you tend to be somewhat more critical of yourself than is necessary and avoid enjoying life too much because of a sense of duty. You feel somewhat constrained and tend to sometimes restrict your expressiveness. In any given situation, you will opt for the rational, and learning of almost any type should be easy for you. You might need certain ideas explained to you in order to fit them into your scheme of things, but you're at least open to that!

I don't know if I agree 100% with that, but it's certainly close. I especially like the part that says that I can "function at more sophisticated levels than most." Hah. Yeah. I'm reeeeaaal sophisticated. Pft.

Anyway, take the test for yourself. See how you come out.

TTFN, y'all!

What??

So I logged on tonight.

AND THERE WAS NO RED SOX GAME!!

WHO LET THAT HAPPEN???

So I watched the finale of So You Think You Can Dance with my wife. Wait...the show is not called "So You Think You Can Dance With My Wife." Maybe I should rephrase that.

Anyway, we actually watched last night's final competition and fast-forwarded through most of tonight's 2 hour finale.

We both believe the right person won. Joshua was phenomenal, and such a sweet guy. Plus he's from Fort Worth! Which we didn't realize until tonight.

On a much, much sadder note...

A family was discovered dead in their home, about two miles from where we live. Apparently, the man shot his teenage daughter and his wife, then killed himself. I heard the news this morning, and when I saw the paper after I got home from work, it showed where they lived. I immediately was fearful that this was going to wind up being someone that Stephanie knew. But no names were released until mid afternoon.

Sure enough, at about 1:30 this afternoon, Stephanie came in and woke me up to tell me the name of the 14-year old girl. She was in Stephanie's history class. She didn't know her real well, and said that she couldn't even remember ever talking to her. But still...

As we watched the news tonight, there were kids on the news, and Stephanie kept saying, "I know him," or "I know her, that's so-and-so..." She wants to go to the house tomorrow and write a message on the poster board that's hanging on the garage door. Tonight, during the 9 o'clock news, there were probably several hundred people around the house, holding a candle-light vigil.

Life is hard enough without crap like this getting thrown at you, you know?

It takes me back 34 years or so to when my best friend in the whole world killed himself one Saturday morning.

I've still have not gotten over that.

I don't expect to.

But this thing is different. I'll never, EVER understand what could possess a man to kill his family, then kill himself.

As Ted said in a comment last week...

I haz a sad.

No Ta-ta today.

Red Sox 8, Royals 2--Rangers 8, Evil Empire 6. BAM!!

So the Sox are now 4-1 A.M. (After Manny.) Or it could be P.M. (Post Manny.) Then they could have P.M.S. (Post Manny Syndrome)

Can you tell I'm sleepy? I get silly when I'm sleepy.

Note to the Red Sox. In order to catch the Desperate Housewives (previously known as the Tampa Bay Sunbeams), you have to WIN when they LOSE! Got it?? Geez.

In the meantime, the local boys (that would be the Rangers) have whooped up on the Evil Empire TWICE IN A ROW!!! And the Monday night game ended in tremendously grand fashion as Marlon Byrd hit a WOGSHR (Walk Off Grand Slam Home Run) to beat the Evil Ones 9-5. Tonight, they were up 8-2 before struggling C.J. Wilson gave up a Grand Salami to, of all people, Richie Sexson. BOOOOO!! But they still held on and won 8-6, putting the Rangers 6 games over .500 for the first time in 100 years.

That was probably a slight exaggeration.

And the Los Angeles Anaheim California Orange County Angels lost to Baltimore, so the Rangers actually gained a game on them. Oakland continues to lose (I think it's 8 in a row, now), so the Rangers are solidly in second place for now. But 10.5 games behind the Halos.

Our Sox continue to be 3 behind the Desperate Housewives.

Also, the Rangers are only 1.5 games behind the Evil Ones in the Wild Card race. That will disappear by Thursday after they achieve their first sweep of the season.

Oh, and did you see poor, poor Joba the Hut Monday night? His pride got hurt so bad from the pounding the Rangers were giving him that his shoulder started hurting. I felt soooooo sorry for him.

NOT!!

It would appear that the Rangers have his number. Now, if they would just share that number with the Sox...

Heh. And A-Roid got hit twice tonight! Twice!! Hah. So the Evils hit Josh Hamilton. Pft. Hamilton had already blasted another 2-run homer against Petite. (I know. I did that on purpose.)

I'm enjoying this way too much.

I'm hoping the Rangers can keep up the spanking Wednesday. Also hoping that the Sox can continue their A.M. winning ways.

I guess I'll go back to work now.

TTFN, y'all!

Tex, we gotta meet up somehow in September!

Back in Texas

And just like that, it's over.

We had a mostly uneventful return trip last night. Our flight out of Boston was delayed because of a pretty hefty thunderstorm, so we sat on the runway in the rain for about 30 minutes or so. We finally got off the ground, adding yet another thing in my life that I have never done before, and that's take off in the rain. I tell you this much, I would much rather take off in the rain than land in the rain.

We made it to DC for our connecting flight with just over 30 minutes to spare. We originally supposed to be there with an hour and a half layover. We had just enough time to grab some more pretzel dogs, use the restroom, discover that the gate information we had gotten was wrong and get to our proper gate. We walked up to our gate right when they were letting first class on. Great timing!

Oh, yeah. And we could have upgraded to first class for $135 each on that flight, gotten dinner and comfortable seats. But Christi said no. :-( Oh, well.

Back in Texas at around 9pm. There was a group of young people from Pennsylvania (can't remember what town) who were going on to El Paso from DFW to cross over into Juarez on a mission trip. They were going to help build a house for someone. It was cool sharing our plane trip with them. One young man on our row had never flown before. And the looks on their faces when they heard that it was 100 degrees at 9pm in Texas...THAT was priceless!!! We just told them to wait until they got to Mexico. I wished them God's blessings as we got off the plane in Dallas.

The one thing I missed the most about Texas? Drinks at Sonic. There are no Sonics in New England, at least not that we saw. So you can bet we will be stopping there on the way to church this morning!

I've got a few more pictures to upload to the computer and post at flickr, but, as you see, I have now added my flickr link to the sidebar.

In Red Sox News, Jason Bay continues to make good in Boston, hitting a home run in yesterday's route of the Athletics. I am loving this. This is the Red Sox we all know and love. I know Oakland is struggling, right now, but this is also what the Sox need to get their momentum back.

Now, if we can just find that guy that Tonya Harding hired to wack Nancy Kerrigan in the shin and sic him on Eva Longoria. EVAN! I meant EVAN!

TTFN, y'all!

Day 7--The Golden Egg and America's Stonehenge

August 1, 2008

Christi was actually up before me Friday morning. We had our usual leisurely time in the morning with our coffee. Sometime around 10am, we decided to go get something to eat and try to find a place in Salem, NH, called “America’s Stonehenge.”

We decided on a little restaurant called “The Golden Egg.” It was fabulous! Friendly service and the food was great. Christi had a special called “Fire-eaters Eggs,” I had a smoked salmon omelet, and Steph had chocolate chip pancakes. Christi’s won. I had a couple bites of her eggs, and they were “to die for.” My omelet was good, but not as good as the Fire-eaters.”

After breakfast, we set out for Salem. We had to go back into Massachusetts a bit on I-95, then back into New Hampshire on the 495. We finally found the place, thanks to our GPS thingy. It was waaaaay off the beaten path, with not a lot of signs along the way. Christi was skeptical.

We got there and went in to the main building, where we purchased our admissions. There was a 10-minute video presentation in a side room that explained the origins (or the unknown nature of the origins) of the place called “America’s Stonehenge.” There are parts of this place that have been dated back 4000 years. Much like the original Stonehenge, the origins and purpose of the place is unknown.

After the video, we set out up the trail (according to one of the girls in the shop, there would be approximately ½ mile of walking. About halfway up the first trail, Steph started freaking out on us. She didn’t want to walk, she was afraid of bugs, etc. This has happened several times on our vacation, I just didn’t write about them. This one was probably the worst, though. Finally, Christi just took her back to the gift shop so I could try to enjoy the place.

So I continued on by myself. It was a very interesting walk, and there were quite a few things of interest on the way. The central point of the whole structure seems to be a walk-in cave/chamber that the archeologists have named “The Oracle Chamber.” So named because of long tube hewn in the rocks that is called “The Speaking Tube.” There was also a place within the Oracle Chamber where a person could crawl in, hide and observe everything without being seen.

I followed all the numbers along the way, and tried to get a picture of every spot in the exhibit. I don’t really think the place lives up to its name, “America’s Stonehenge,” but I do admit that there is something strange and inviting about it. There are large stones around the periphery of the structure. The next to last stop on the trail is a large, wooden platform (from the ground, it looks like a children’s playground), from where you can overlook the whole area. There is an astronomical chart in the middle of the platform which points at the various large stones on the periphery. Each one designates a point of sunrise or sunset, such as the equinoxes, and various other dates. It was quite fascinating.

A lot of the structures in the area have been rebuilt by the archeologists, some as long as seven years ago. There are excavations, in the area, though, that they have dated back several thousand years.

Whether or not the marking stones around the outside are authentic or not, I can’t say. Do we believe the archeologists, or are they making stuff up? Who knows? It is all very interesting, though.

I got back to the gift shop, we bought some sodas, and headed back to the house.

We discussed dinner plans, and decided on a place in Rye we had passed several times, called “The Carriage House.” It had a sign that said “Casual Dining.” But it didn’t open until 5pm, so we waited a few hours, while lounging around and enjoying the ocean. We did that a lot this week, which was the primary purpose for being here.

The Carriage House was a charming little restaurant. Pricy, but the atmosphere was really nice, and the people were very friendly. Turns out was sat right next to the bar upstairs (we had a spectacular view of the nearby beach), and I had an ongoing conversation with the bartender about Manny and the Red Sox.

As for the food, well, it was different, that’s for sure. Christi and Stephanie both had a Philly Cheese-steak Wrap that came with fries, but they were sweet potato fries. Christi didn’t like those, but Steph did. I had one of the daily specials, which was grilled swordfish with a sauce that I can neither spell nor pronounce. They had a half-portion available, so I got that. It had a large shrimp on it, along with a bed of rice, a huge broccoli sprout, and some stuff that looks like it came out of the yard. I ate everything but the yard stuff. Turns out, the waitress read the special wrong. It was supposed to have been salmon. But, since she told me swordfish, the chef made it with swordfish. I’m not sure I would have cared. It was very good. We decided to have some dessert, there, too. Christi and Stephanie shared a thing at the waitress’s suggestion that was kind of a hot fudge croissant. I had Crème Brule. Holy cow! I have only had that once before, and I have loved it both times.

It was the most expensive meal on our trip, but it was really good and enjoyable.

We headed on back to the house, to watch a thick fog roll in while Steph and I watched the Red Sox game. They won!! 2-1. And Jason Bay scored BOTH runs. Later, I saw a clip of Manny hitting into a double play to end the Dodgers game, and then a clip of him doing that thing where he doesn’t run after the ball. There was a ball hit out to left-center and the center-fielder beat Manny to it. He looked kind of lost.

The really cool thing was that, when Jason Bay came up to bat the first time, he got a standing “O” that lasted several minutes. Boston fans….there’s nothin’ like ‘em!

Unfortunately, the Sunbeams won again, too. But the Halos beat the Evil Empire again, 1-0 (in the ninth inning!), and the Rangers battled back to beat the Blue Jays. So it was a mostly good night.

The power went off in the middle of the night, around 1:30am. Stayed off for almost two hours, which made sleeping difficult, especially for me, because of that machine I have to use. I don’t sleep well without it, because I have sleep apnea. But it finally came back on a little before 4am, so we got another few hours of sleep.

I’m typing this all on Saturday morning at around 8:30. We have to leave our little paradise in about an hour and a half. I’m going to get in my devotional time before we have to leave, so I will close for now.

It’s been a pretty remarkable week.

TTFN, y’all!

Day 6--Hampton Beach, New Hampshire

July 31, 2008

Thursday, we kind of puttered around the house until almost noon. We were all hungry, so we got in the car and headed down the road towards Hampton Beach, with our swimsuits on. The weather was nice with a bit of a cloud cover. It was foggy/hazy out on the ocean when we got up. I love mornings on the ocean like that. They are kind of creepy, but very pretty.

We found Hampton Beach, got a parking place (it’s $1.50/hr to park there), put in a little over 2 hours worth of quarters, and started walking to find a place to eat. We found a little restaurant on a corner that had its menu posted all over the windows. Looked decent, so in we went. Christi and I shared a meat lover’s pizza and Stephanie had a “small” calzone. They said small. It was half the size of our pizza! We ate some of that, too. We all kind of shared everything. It was pretty good.

Then we went on across the street to the beach. It was relatively crowded, but not too bad. We saw it last year on a Saturday. I wouldn’t want to be out there on a Saturday. We put our stuff down and went down to get our feet wet. The water was chilly, but, as they say, “it’s not bad once you get in.” And that was true. The initial impact was rough, but when your skin gets acclimated to it, it’s really pretty nice. I got in about waste deep, and Christi and Stephanie went in almost as far. We just kind of walked around in the ocean water for a while, then got out a loaf of bread and started feeding the gulls. After that, we went back across the street, ordered so fried dough (it’s like a funnel cake, only with no funnel) and I went to get the car and picked up Christi and Stephanie at the corner. I got back to the car with 3 minutes left on the timer. How’s that for accuracy?

We drove back to the house, Christi went out and laid on the deck some more, while Steph and I lounged in the house. Around 5pm, I put some potatoes in the oven, then around 7, we cooked a couple of big steaks and had a nice dinner. Unfortunately, by that time, it had begun to rain, so we couldn’t eat outside. We did, however, eat at our kitchen table, right by the windows, so we could watch the occasional lightning flash out on the ocean. There was also one of those cargo ships out there and at dusk it turned its lights on, so that looked pretty cool, too.

During all of this, the California Los Angeles Anaheim Orange County Angels, along with their newly acquired Mark Teixeira, were beating the whatzit out of the Evil Yankees, which I enjoyed thoroughly, even if it was the Angels. The Rangers lost to the worst team in baseball, to split their series 2-2. Rangers remain in second place, now 12.5 behind the Angels.

Thank the Lord, the Sox had the night off. They needed it, after all the drama and the sudden trade maneuvers that occurred yesterday. Manny is gone. I don’t know if that’s good or not, but he had really pushed the envelope of “Manny being Manny” this time. Hopefully, the team can recover. They play Oakland tonight, and can help themselves and the Rangers at the same time. These three team deals are confusing, but I think I finally got it. The Sox gave two players to the Dodgers; the Dodgers gave those two players along with two of their own, to the Pirates, who gave Jason Bay to the Dodgers, who in turn traded Bay to the Sox for Manny. If you’re scratching your head, join the club. I’m still not sure I totally get it, but either way, Manny’s a Dodger and Jason Bay, whoever the heck he is, is a Red Sox. I saw his numbers, though, and apparently, he’s about as good at the bat as Manny.

BUT WILL HE BE AS MUCH FUN????

I think not.

Will he be able to throw someone out at second from that corner in left field?

I think not.

Oh, well.

Sigh.

Anyway, this is our last day/night at this house in New Hampshire. Don’t know what we are going to do. We may just lounge around and do nothing all day. We’ll have a few hours tomorrow that we have to figure out what to do with, because we are supposed to be out of the house by 10am, and our flight doesn’t leave Boston until 4-something. The car is due back at 2-something. And then, back we fly, to 100+ temperatures.

Ugh. I’m sweating already.

TTFN, y’all!

So Long, Manny!

Manny Ramirez is a Dodger. Jason Bay is coming to Boston. In a deal that involved three teams, the trade was done right before the deadline. Manny will play for Joe Torre. The Sox gave up a lot for this Bay guy. Including Brandon Moss and Craig Hansen. I'm not sure we can afford to give up bullpen, even as bad as it is, lately. I hope that we can recover from the drama. We'll see. In spite of all the stupid things he said over the last couple of days, I'll miss Manny. I'm sorry to see him go to the National League. That's like leaving the country as far as I'm concerned. I care less than zero about the National League. I'll never root for a NL team. Don't know why. Just the way it is.

TTFN, y'all!

Days 3-5, Rye, New Hampshire

With this entry, I get caught up on our vacation activites, so far. Also, I've added more pictures to the flickr site. So here's the update...

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July 28, 2008

Monday morning we got up and packed up to check out. We were probably out of the hotel by 10am. All we had to do to check out was call a number on the phone and leave our key-cards in the room. We got the car and left the garage, paying our parking fee on the way out.

We had gotten directions from the concierge on how to get to the right freeway to get us out of Boston and on to New Hampshire. We had decided that we would wait to eat until we were on the road.

I need to insert a brief story here…it is funny now, but at the time, it was quite unnerving. Sunday night, while sleeping, I heard the door of the room slam shut. I jerked awake and said, “What was that?!” Christi, pretty much asleep, said that she thought Stephanie went to the bathroom. I said it sounded like the room door. Christi was up in a flash and ran to the door. She opened it and I could hear Steph crying from outside in the hall. She had sleepwalked, and went out of the room into the hall!!! Christi got her back in the room, and she was talking, saying that she didn’t know where she was. We got her calmed down, and back in bed. In the morning, she didn’t remember any of that. I guess we got her a bit too tired from the weekend. Just the night before, she had talked in her sleep and said, “Cash is coming.” Was she referring to Wakefield’s catcher?? Who knows?

There aren’t many places to stop on the highways up here, so we went ahead and found our house in Rye, New Hampshire. We got unloaded, checked out the place, took in the beautiful view for a few minutes, then headed out to find something to eat.

As is usually the case, there is a notebook of stuff in the house, including local restaurants, shopping, etc. So we chose “Ray’s Seafood” for our first meal here. Turned out to be quite good. Very good clam chowder. Christi and Stephanie had fish and chips and I had a haddock roll. It was ok, not great, but ok.

After lunch, we dropped Stephanie back at the house and went back to the grocery store that we passed on the way in to stock up on some stuff. It was kind of hard, because we were full from lunch and getting very tired. But we got that done, then came back to the house, where we just lounged for a few hours.

After that, we went back out to Ray’s for dinner, where we had more clam chowder (it was better than the first time), and this time, Stephanie had fried clam strips, Christi had a shrimp roll, and I had a tuna melt sandwich. It was all very good. The tuna melt was fantastic. The shrimp was delectable. I’m not a big fan of clams, but with tartar sauce, even they were pretty good.

After that, we took a brief drive on down the coast to see what we could see. It is a beautiful coastline and there are some really, REALLY nice houses along the way. We saw several sand beaches and also saw Rye Harbor, where we would eventually get on the boat for our fireworks cruise on Wednesday evening.

We went back to the house to spend the rest of the evening resting. And watched the Red Sox lose to the Angels.

July 29, 2008

Tuesday morning, I actually woke up kind of early. The sunrise over the ocean was very pretty (and quite bright, as well…very different from the sunset in California!). We basically just lounged most of the morning, and had frozen waffles for breakfast.

After breakfast, we got in the car and headed up to Maine, to go to Kennebunkport. We drove through Ogonquit on the way, a very picturesque little town with a beautiful coastline. We also drove through Kittery, the first town on the border, which seems to be mostly outlet malls.

We got to Kennebunkport and parked outside a small shopping area that included a restaurant called Federal Jack’s. So we decided to eat at Federal Jack’s. Last year, we came to Kennebunkport on a bus tour and ate at a place called The Landing. It was overpriced, and not very good. Federal Jack’s was pretty good. We got an order of nachos for an appetizer, and the were delicious. Christi and I both had a Pepperjack burger and Steph got Fish and Chips. It was all really good. I had to use a fork on the burger.

After lunch, we hit the shops. We didn’t get a lot of stuff there, but enjoyed walking around. Christi found a note pad to put on our refrigerator, and we got some fudge at the candy shop. Oh, and Christi got a chocolate-dipped strawberry and I got some chocolate covered cherries at this candy store. Yum, yum!!!

We drove on back to Rye and spent the evening resting, eating chips and guacamole and other snacks instead of a dinner out anywhere.

And we watched the Red Sox lose to the Angels. Also learned that the Braves have traded Mark Teixeira to the Angels. I’m thinking that the Angels are pretty much unstoppable this year.

July 30, 2008

Wednesday morning. Christi and I went to eat breakfast at a place we had seen by the grocery store called Hebert’s. Pronounced “ay-bare’s” maybe?? Anyway, it was pretty disappointing. Eggs were ok, but the potatoes were very bland and the service was only tolerable. Oh, well. Then we found a Radio Shack, where we got a car charger for Christi’s phone because she had left her charger in the hotel in Boston. At least that’s what we think, because we can’t find it. Oh, and Steph wasn’t with us, because she wanted to stay at the house.

After Radio Shack, we went into Portsmouth, a nearby town in New Hampshire. Portsmouth was absolutely charming! We loved it. Much better than Kennebunkport! Lots and lots of shops, along with some local color, a beautiful town square with a huge church in the middle. We had a blast. There was a Celtic store, along with some other places that we just had a great time shopping in. There was also a little store that had all kinds of sarcastic gifts and stuff…reminded us a bit of Spencer’s gifts, only more random. We got some gifts for relatives, etc., got a soda and headed back to the car (because our two hour parking was over). Right next to the car was a “chocolatier.” We bought some chocolate. It was divine!! We may find our way back there before we leave.

We headed on back to Rye to rest up for our evening cruise. Around 5, we went back to Ray’s for dinner. Another round of clam chowder, even better still (how do they do that??). Christi had the tuna melt, and Steph and I tried the lobster pie. It was ok, but I don’t think I liked the sherry sauce.

We got to the harbor with about 45 minutes to spare, so we just sat on a bench looking at boats and nearby houses.

Finally, it was time to board. We were a little concerned about the boat. It was smaller than I thought it would be (I seemed to think we were going on a kind of steamboat), but it didn’t go very fast, so Stephanie was ok on it. We went out about 9-10 miles off the coast of New Hampshire to the “Isles of Shoal.”

The Isles of Shoal consist of 9 small islands, some of which are in Maine, and some in New Hampshire. We got a nice narrative of history about the islands while cruising around them, including the wonderful tales of ghosts and murder involving the island known as “Smuttynose.” They never explained why it’s called “Smuttynose.” But legend has it that the ghost of Blackbeard’s 13th wife haunts the shores of Smuttynose, waiting for him to return. There is also a tale of two women who were murdered on the island and one who survived to tell the tale.

Then there is Star Island, where there is a huge conference center that is co-owned by a Universalist church and a congregational church. They host many conferences throughout the year there. That would be fun!

Another island had a nice lighthouse on it, called White Island. The lighthouse still works, but it is run by computer and has an LED lamp in it instead of the old style lamp. That’s kind of sad, but at least it’s still there. The house next to it is unused. They say that, during the Perfect Storm of 1991, the waves were actually going over the top of the lighthouse!

The other islands are mostly either privately owned or have nothing on them. One is run by a local marine organization (not the military marines, but, you know…oceanic studies), one is an experimental place that is attempting to recover a bird population. One is just a pile of rocks.

It was a very informative cruise and lots of fun. Also very pretty out there.

We went back towards the mainland and stopped about a half mile off of Hampton Beach to watch the weekly fireworks show that starts at 9pm. That was something we’ve never done before…watching fireworks from sea. It was pretty cool. The “booms” from the fireworks were surprisingly loud, and the echoes….wow! Water provides for some pretty amazing echoes.

Then we rode back to Rye Harbor, arriving around 10pm. We got in the car and headed back to the house.

And listened to the Red Sox lose to the Angels. This is depressing. I believe that this is the first time they have been swept at home since that dismal 5-game sweep against the Yankees in 2006. Well, we have Oakland in town tonight. Maybe we can recover some dignity.

Plus they have to decide what they are going to do with Manny. I think this may be it for him. He’s acting pretty badly now. Sigh.

Today, we are probably going to drive to Hampton Beach.

TTFN, y’all!

Day 3--Red Sox 9, Yankees 2!!!

July 27, 2008

Sunday, we slept in (until at least 8am) and got up to go have breakfast at the same Cheesecake factory that we ate at Saturday night, hopefully, with no disgruntled fans throwing cappuccinos. They have a nice outdoor area for dining, and it was cool outside, so we chose to eat out there. Christi and I both had a nice omelet with lots of stuff in it, like cheese, avocado, mushroom, tomatoes, onions, etc. Very tasty. Steph had French toast. After breakfast, our plan was to get tickets for the “Duck Tour.” Unfortunately, the next available tour was at 5:30! Ugh. So much for that. So we shopped around a little mall in the Prudential Center and wound up buying new tennis shoes for Steph and me, hers having the double sock emblem of the Sox and mine having the entire Red Sox logo on the side. Woot! Steph also got a Jon Lester t-shirt and I found a set of pint tumblers that were cheaper than the ones at the team store on Yawkey Way.

We went back towards our hotel, trying to decide what to do. Christi and I wanted to go find Faneuil Hall, so we discussed our options. We decided to get on the trolley tour, which takes you all around Boston, but you can get on and off anywhere. Steph didn’t want to do this, so she stayed in the room. When we got to the trolley booth (which was in the lobby of our hotel), we were told that they were currently not selling tickets because it was “full.” Well, phooey!

We took a taxi to Faneuil Hall. (Keep in mind that, this whole weekend, we are paying $32/day for parking for a rental car that we never used until Monday morning!!) We walked around Faneuil Hall for about an hour, taking in the various sites, including a trio of pretty good performers doing some flexibility/balance tricks. One guy climbed to the top of a ladder while balancing it on it’s two legs, then jumped from the top of the ladder to a very tall unicycle and rode it around for a few minutes, ending his trick with juggling three bowling pins while on the unicycle. The finale had the girl standing on the other guy’s shoulders while he balanced on one of those large, inflated gym balls. Pretty impressive. Being street performers, they rely totally on audience contributions, so we gave them $5. Faneuil Hall had a few nice little shops in it, along with an old Post Office. It was closed, of course, because it was Sunday. Quincy Market was entirely food shops. From end to end, totally packed with people! It was very difficult to get through there. We stopped and got a couple of sodas with ice along the way, because we were very thirsty. We got out from there, and there were a lot of little carts lining the side, all pretty much selling touristy stuff. We never made into the other market building, but instead, walked down toward the wharf. There were a lot of retail shops on the way, including Gap and American Eagle Outfitters, nothing that we don’t see at home. There were more carts, though, some selling cute little signs that said stuff like “Whatever” and “All because two people fell in love.” We considered buying both of those for Stephanie’s room! Haha.

We got to the wharf and found a bench to sit on for a few minutes. I took a picture for a couple of ladies and some kids so they could have one all together. One of the ladies was from Albania. There were a couple of toddlers playing in a fountain across the sidewalk. The wharf was very picturesque, with lots of boats, both large and small. There was an “Airport taxi” boat, as well as a couple of tour boats. Across the harbor was a large building that appeared to be apartments or town homes, with a deck on the roof. It was all pretty. But we were getting tired, so we headed back to the hotel, this time via subway. It was a nice subway ride, not very crowded on Sunday afternoon.

After we got back to the hotel, we pretty much crashed until close to time for our last game. Stephanie wanted donuts from the Shaw’s across the street (they had a Dunkin Donuts shop inside), so Christi took her over there. They came back in before leaving though with a report that it was pouring down rain. That got me kind of depressed because we had already seen two losses, and now it’s raining? They got umbrellas and went across to the Shaw’s for the donuts. After they got back, we started getting ready to go to Fenway. We got jackets and umbrellas (I had to wear a dark blue windbreaker! Yankee colors???) and went down to the street to, once again, pile into a taxi. When we got to Fenway, it wasn’t raining very hard at all. We got up to our seating area, and decided to get some dogs and burgers before going up to sit.

It turned out to be a very nice night. There was no more rain, even though they delayed the game for an hour, because the forecast showed possibility of more coming through. The twilight sky was brilliantly colored!

They started rolling up the tarp at about 8:30 and got the field prepared for gametime. Game started at about 9:05-ish. We had already had the lineups and National Anthem. Hah. The National Anthem was sung by two of The Cowsills. I swear, I am not making this up. I don’t know how many people reading this will remember them. Popular family group in the 60s, predating the Partridge Family (I think). Their biggest hit was called “Indian Lake.” I have at least one of their vinyl albums.

Anyway.

Game on. Red Sox hit the ground running and never slowed down. It was glorious and made the whole night worth it. Big Papi hit a rocket to the right field bleachers, and as one lady who was coming back up to our row said, “That’s what we came to see!” The Sox scored in the first 4 innings and in the 6th, leaving only three innings blank. The Yankees didn’t do much at all. Sox win 7-2, exactly as bad as they lost the night before. Lester was pretty good. We got to see our new friend Manny Delcarmen pitch again, and Timlin closed it out.

It was a tremendously frenzied weekend, and we were totally exhausted. But it was one of the best weekends of my entire life. Even if the Sox did lose the series to the Evil Ones. I took one last picture of Gate C, as we left Fenway, being reduced to tears several times during that walk. We probably won’t be back for a long time, if ever. But, hey. How could any experience ever match this? Dear Lord, I’m starting to cry just from typing this!!

We once again availed ourselves of the “Pedicabs” back to the hotel for the last time. Oh, and by this time, I had absolutely no voice left. Lots of screaming and hollering, you know.

Tomorrow, I’ll be back with some highlights of our week so far in New Hampshire. It’s absolutely beautiful up here.

TTFN, y’all!

PIcture update

I've uploaded some pictures to my flickr account. They can be seen at www.flickr.com/photos/bickleyhouse/. That should work for you. I don't think you have to have a password to look at them. They are all in public view. There are also pictures from previous vacations to Yellowstone/Grand Tetons, and the last time we went to Fenway, as well.

I'll be back tomorrow with the victory journal!!

TTFN, y'all!

Day Two--Um...Never Mind

Here's the journal entry I typed on my laptop for July 26. Um...it just dawned on me that I had the date wrong on the previous journal. I'm fixing it after this.

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July 26, 2008

We got up pretty early and headed out to find breakfast somewhere. After asking the concierge for some suggestions, we decided on a place called Charlie’s Sandwich Shop. It was a fairly short walk from the hotel, on Columbus Street. It was an adorable little diner place, very small. We were seated at the end of a table, shared by a nice couple from France. The breakfast was very good, and reasonably priced. We learned from the waitress that it was a family owned place for over 80 years. Her father had worked for the original Charlie in 1927, and become his partner later. Her and her sons and brothers currently work there.

After breakfast, we walked back to the hotel and grabbed a taxi to take us to Fenway Park. He dropped us off right at Gate D (finally found it, heh), where we waited for the tour to start. We actually went around the corner to the Game On sports bar and had some sodas while we waited. By then, the Team Store was open on Yawkey way, so we went in there for some t-shirts. At which point I discovered that I had left my debit card at the sports bar. *doh* So Christi went back to get that. By that time, people were lining up outside Gate D for our tour. It started at 9:45.

This was an amazing tour of Fenway Park. Much better than the standard tour, which we took last year. Keep in mind that this tour was part of our Red Sox Destinations package. We started where last year’s tour ended, in the blue seats behind home plate. These are the oldest seats still in use in Major League Baseball. According to our tour guide, Jessica, they are also the most uncomfortable. I agree. They are the really old style wooden seats. Five inches smaller than the newer seats. Jessica gave us a brief, but enthusiastic history of Fenway Park and the Boston Red Sox while we were seated there.

After that, the unthinkable happened. The unimaginable. The impossible.

WE GOT TO GO ON THE FIELD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the field! At Fenway Park! The hallowed ground!!

I almost cried.

We walked around the warning track (they wouldn’t let us on the grass) to where we stood right in front of the scoreboard. We took pictures, looked at the on-field memorial to Tom Yawkey and his wife (this consists of two vertical lines that have Morse Code which spells out their initials), and then…

We got to go where Manny goes. Inside the scoreboard. Wow. We got lots of pictures in there. Hundreds of people have written their names inside the Fenway Park scoreboard (including the Bickleys…) and some of the scorekeepers even memorialized themselves. We looked through the holes that the scorekeepers use to watch the games. We had a picture taken looking out of the hole, by one of the tour people. Incidentally, eventually all of the photos that they took will be posted on line and we can select ours, and they will send us a photo disc of them. Included in the package.

After we left the scoreboard, we wandered around in front of the scoreboard a little more, and then it was up to the Monstah! Yes, we got to go sit on top of the Green Monster. We had a nice view from up there while Jessica told us about broken noses and broken hands that people suffer while sitting up there. She said that during batting practice, balls come up there at an average of every 45 seconds. At about 90 mph. It’s pretty important to be paying attention.

Then we went to the press box and got to sit in there for a few minutes. She explained to use the hierarchy of seating in the box.

All of this took about an hour and a half, after which it was time for our pre-game reception.

We went to a big banquet room on the EMC level (Fenway’s version of luxury suites). After we all got seated, our guest of honor was introduced to us. Manny Delcarmen. Ok. That was cool. At least it wasn’t Lugo. They sent us all around in a line to get his autograph first. Stephanie and I had him autograph our baseballs from our package (game-used, complete with grass smudges), and Christi had him autograph her “credentials.” (That would be the VIP badge.) Then we got to go back through the line for our photo op. We chose to get a picture with all three of us instead of three individual pictures. Manny was very friendly.

Then he answered some questions. The only complaint about the whole thing was that we couldn’t hear most of the questions that were asked. They should have someone with a microphone repeating the questions.

Then it was lunch. The buffet consisted of Fenway Franks (heh), pulled pork, BBQ chicken and other stuff. Potato salad, corn on the cob, and some fairly icky brownies (shoulda got the cookie). Overall, it was pretty good. Then they gave away seven autographed items, including a ball autographed by Pedroia. We didn’t win anything. *sad face*

We still had about 20 minutes in the room, so we were allowed to stay up there if we wanted. Some people, who wanted to leave, were allowed to leave with an escort out. But there was a surprise. Since we were already in the park, if we wanted to, we were allowed to leave the room, go down to the stands and watch batting practice.

WOOT!! We got to watch Red Sox BP, right from beside home plate, just between the dugout and home. That was a treat. Some of the players even waved at us.

We wound up never having to leave the field until after the game. Actually, I’m kind of wondering if it skewed their attendance figures, because quite a few of our tickets were never scanned in. But anyway, it was an amazing day.

Then there was the game.

Sigh.

Wake started out good. We score first. That was pretty much it. Masterson gave up, what five runs??

Final score, 10-3, Evil ones.

We took bicycle rickshaws back to the hotel, and went to the pool for a little while. Then we went to the Cheesecake Factory for a bite to eat, and the most amazing Key Lime cheesecake that I’ve ever had.

Something interesting happened there while we were waiting. There was a group of people standing by the front door behind us. Suddenly, we heard the sound of something dropping and a small commotion. There was a puddle of what appeared to be Starbucks cappuccino on the floor, which had splashed all over the group of people. The person who had been holding the coffee had left. Then it occurred to us that the group there were Yankee fans. If what I think happened is what really happened, that’s pretty shameful. The rivalry is all in good fun. But if a Sox fan deliberately threw down his coffee drink just to splash those Yankee fans, that’s pretty much over the line, at least in my opinion. Oh, well. I’m a “foreigner” to these parts, but still…

We pretty much came back to the hotel and collapsed after that. Slept until after 8 the next morning.

One more game. One more chance. If we lose this one, I’m asking for a refund.

Hahaha…

TTFN, y’all!