Rival Saturday

It's time for game number 2 in the series between the Red Sox and the Evil Empire.

I tried to set up a LiveBlog account, but I can't get the site to work right. Every time I click on the "next" button after entering the information, I get a blank screen. Oh, well. Game starts in 4 minutes.

Top of 1st. Jeter. Great stop by Lowell. One out. Demon gets a single. Tex walks on four straight pitches. They got Swisher batting cleanup?? Heh. He looks like a punk Italian kid. Swisher singles. Demon scores. 1-0 already. What's it take to get a strike called here?? Cano pops to center. Two outs. Aw...they have an honorary batboy...turns 100 tomorrow. Cool. Man, Beckett's wild in the first inning. Posada singles to left. Tex scores. 2-0. Prayer meeting at the mound. Beckett is behind 16-15, balls to strikes. Matsui grounds to Youk, easy play. Three out, but it's 2-0.

Bottom of 1st. Ellsbury leads off. He flies to Demon. One out. Ok. Shut up telling me how great Burnett is. Pedroia is up. Single for Pedie. 8 game hitting streak going on. Papi up. Struck out four times last night. Hits into a double play. Crud. Three out.

Top of 2nd Berroa grounds out to Lowell. One out. Woot! Beckett strikes out Gardner looking! Looking better already. Jeter singles to center. Two outs. Demon pops up to shallow center, Ellsbury catches. Three outs. Good inning.

Bottom of 2nd Youk's up, one of last night's heroes. Grounds out to third. One out. Drew is up, one of last night's goats. This ump is calling strikes for Burnett that were balls for Beckett. Grr. Drew walks. Bay is up, another of last night's heroes. He hits the ball right to Swisher. Swisher didn't even have to take a step. Two outs. Lowell is up. Lowell out on a pretty ugly strikeout. Three out, still 2-0.

Top of 3rdWho's that idiot in the camera pit? The ump walks Tex. Seriously, he called that same pitch a strike for Burnett! Hah. Swisher swishes! Heheheh... One out. Oh, crap. Cano hit's a two run bomb to right. 4-0. Posada singles to center. Matsui grounds to second, Posada out. Two outs. Berroa singles to right, runners at first and third. Gardner grounds out to second. Three out, but it's 4-0.

Bottom of 3rd.Tek dribbles for an easy out. One out. Nick Green grounds to short. Two out. Why are they talking about Nascar?? Ellsbury's going to bunt? Maybe not. Shoot. Ellsbury pops to second. Three out. Still 4-0.

Top of 4th. Sigh. Jeter singles to center. Demon flies to right. One out. Jeter steals second. Wow. Nice throw after fumbling with the ball a second. Tex walks again! He is very patient...walks a lot. Runners on first and second, one out. Hunter Jones is warming up. Hah. Swisher swishes again, only this time without swishing. Two out. Bad words! Bad words! &%$%^&*% Cano hits a wall double, scoring two more runs. 6-0. Beckett needs to leave now. He's not on today. Posada flies to left. Three out.

Bottom of 4th. Really needing a rally right now. I may have to get a rally cap going here. Pedie is up. Good. Pedroia draws a walk. Papi tries again. Aw, man. Papi pops out foul. What a waste of an at-bat. One out. Youk is up. Youk singles to center. Two on, one out. Drew walks, bases loaded for BayBay! One out. Bay singles to left, one run scores. For some reason, Youk is stopped by Hale, but Demon bobbles the ball. We could have had two runs. Oh, well. 6-1, bases still loaded, one out for Lowell. C'mon Mike!!! That was a sorry pitch! Same pitch he struck out on last time got him again! Two outs. Tek up. Hahahahahah....GRAND SLAM TEK!!! 6-5! The crowd chants "Yankees suck! Yankees suck!" Green up. Green strikes out, but our captain has gotten us back into the game.

Top of 5th. Oh, dear. Beckett's still in. *scared* Matsui at the bat. Grounds out to Pedroia. One out. Berroa lines straight to Youk. Two out. Delcarmen is warming in the pen. Gardner flies to Ellsbury, Beckett gets out of this inning with only 10 pitches.

Bottom of 5th. Sure feels later than the 5th inning, but I'm glad it's not. While my 'puter was frozen, Ellsbury tied up the game with a solo shot into right. Pedroia got a hit on the very next pitch. One one, no outs for Papi. Papi hits a wall double, Pedie goes to third. Runners at the corners, no outs. Youk is up. Burnett hits Youk in the leg. Bases loaded for Drew. Arrgh. Drew hits into a DP. Two out, runners at second and third for Bay. BayBay hits a wall double, scoring two runs. It's now 8-6! Lowell, up, lines to Swisher for out three. But the Sox catch up and go ahead.

Top of 6th.Beckett is back, with over 100 pitches. Jeter walks. Boo. Demon, the traitor, hits a two run shot to right, and the game is tied. Foolish on Tito's part in my opinion...shouldn't have let Beckett come back. Pitching change, Delcarmen is coming in. No outs. Hey, Tex didn't walk, he struck out! One out. Swisher doubles to left field. Cano grounds out, great tag by Youk. Two out. Posada strikes out! Three out, tied 8-8.

Bottom of 6th.Hm. New pitcher. 41. Who's that? Tek strikes out. Nick Green up. Who does not need to be replaced by Julio Lugo. Green gets hit on the arm. Ellsbury up. Another wall double. Green to third. Pedie is up. One out. Pedroia walks. Looks like a pitching change. Bases loaded for Papi. Papi flies out to right, Green tags and scores the go ahead run, but Pedie has a brain cramp and gets tagged out at second. Three out, 9-8 Sox.

Top of 7th. Delcarmen's back. Matsui up. Matsui singles up the middle. Berroa grounds to Lowell, who throws out Matsui. One out. Base hit by Gardner, Berrow gets to third. One out. Jeter up. Gardner steals second on Tek. Now we have two runners in scoring position. Jeter strikes out! Demon is up. Okajima pitching. OH MY GOSH!!!! Pedroia does a Bill Buckner!!! Two runs score on Pedie's error. Evil Empire leads 10-9. Two out and Tex is being intentionally walked. Demon gets caught off base and tagged by Pedie. Three out, 10-9.

Bottom of 7th While my 'puter was locked up again (sigh), Youk got a double, somebody got walked, and Lowell hit a homer over the Monster to put the Sox ahead 12-10. Tek flied out to left, and Green grounded out to short. 12-10 Boston after 7 innings.

Top of 8th. Okajima vs Swisher. Swisher pops up to Bay. Cano is up. Sigh. Another homer for Cano. 12-11. What a slugfest. Pitching change. Ramon Ramirez is in to pitch. Shut up about the NFL draft, you're announcing a baseball game!!! One out, Posada walks. Matsui is up. Matsui doubles, Posada goes to third. One out. Melky Cabrera in to pinch hit. Ahahaha...Cabrera grounds to pitcher, they get Posada gets caught between third and home, but Matsui was already to third, so Posada is out. Two outs. Gardner's up. Gardner grounds out to Pedroia, who gets it this time. Three out. 12-11 Sox.

Bottom of 8th. Ellsbury gets on, due to interference by Posada. Ellsbury steals second on a close play. Hmmm...we got a break there. He was tagged. Pedroia gets a hit, Ellsbury, with fire at his feet, scores from second. 13-11! New pitcher. Pedie gets to second on a passed ball. Papi flies out to Swisher, Pedroia tags and goes to third. Youk is up. They're walking Youk. Another new rule proposal. On an intentional walk, let's just let the guy go. Don't make the pitcher throw the pitches. (Papelbon is warming up for the ninth.) The walk Youk to get to Drew, which is pretty smart on their part. Drew strikes out. Anyone surprised? I think last season was a fluke. Oh, dear. Another pitching change. Let's make this game even longer. Bay is up. Bay walks after getting a full count. That brings up Mike Lowell, who has already homered in this game. Lowell gets a wall double, scoring all three runners. Demon creams the wall, but, unfortunately gets back up. 16-11 Sox. Tek up. Aw...Tek strikes out looking, thought it was a ball. Three outs.

Top of 9th.Papelbon comes in, hopefully to shut this game down. Long at bat for Jeter. He draws a walk. The announcers seem amazed that no one has left the game. It's like they've never announced a Boston home game before! Demon hits a "little flair" to Nick Green for out number one. Tex is up. Hm...Jeter got to second. Must have been "defensive indifference." Tex walks for the fifth time today. Swisher is up. Swisher swishes again. Two outs. Cano is up, who has been trouble today. These announcers are very hung up on how long this game has been. Pop up to Ellsbury. Three outs.

Final score: Red Sox 16, Evil Empire 11!