Disappointing, But Not Disastrous

Well, we are not off to a good start. But we aren't off to a terrible start, either. Three games with the Evil Empire, and all were very close. All of them could have easily gone the other way, too.

I'm sure there is much hate for J Papelbon at the moment, especially since his last outing for 2009 resulted in the end of the season for the Sox. I'll not join that camp just yet, just as I'm not hating on Okajima for walking in the winning run Tuesday night. After all, it was Marco Scutaro's botched throw before that that even caused him to have to pitch to that batter.

Kevin Youkillis is very wise. His response to all of that was to say that no single event or play in the game caused the loss. It is a group effort. If they had scored more runs, they wouldn't have been in that situation. That's why it's a "team."

Anyway...so we're 1-2. And, thanks to the Rangers, the Sox are now behind the Blue Jays, too. Sigh. The Rangers are experiencing bullpen troubles, as well, and their closer blew their game today. Franky Francisco entered the game in the 9th, with the Rangers ahead 1-0, and lost it. However...just like the Sox, the Rangers couldn't score any runs. They went 0-10 with runners in scoring position, and the great Vlad Guerrero was responsible for 3 of their 5 hits. The only run was unearned, scored on one of 4 wild pitches by Toronto pitchers.

The Rangers are looking like the Rangers of old, and Ron Washington is probably on the bubble, due to his drug issues, which may or may not be over. Who knows?

The Sox, on the other hand, have looked pretty good for the first three games. I think they have the looks of a solid team this year. I AM concerned about Papi. I love Papi. But he just doesn't seem to have the magic any more. I hope I'm wrong and he pulls out of this.

That's my nickel's worth for today.

TTFN, y'all!

Ex-Sox Makes Good For Rangers

David Murphy continues to be the best trade that Jon Daniels ever made in his piddly little existence.

Tonight, he put the Rangers ahead with a grand salami in the top of the 7th in KC. Once again, just like Tuesday night, the Rangers were down 5-1. Once again, they battled back. This time with no outs in the top of the 7th. After the dust cleared in the 7th inning, it was 8-5 Rangers, Byrd scoring on a sac fly. Not content with that, Murphy hit another home run on the very next pitch he received. Heh. Final score was Rangers 11, Royals 5. And our good friend Josh Hamilton seems to be back on the swing again, and...what a catch he made in foul territory over there in right field. Not sure what he was doing in right field...but, hey! He jumped really, really high and snagged a fly over the top of the fence. I thought Eric Nadel (radio broadcaster for the Rangers) was going to have a cow. His voice just kept getting higher and higher.

And our Sox did better tonight. 1-1 in this one so far, which is not bad on a road trip.

I'm not quite so hard on our boys for their road record, though. I was looking at the standings yesterday, and there are only, I think, three teams that have a winning record on the road. And there are a few who are quite a bit worse off than the Red Sox. Oddly, the Rangers, who are now (again) one game over .500, are almost exactly even in both areas, home and away. That's kind of funny. They don't do so well at home, because the idiots that designed that ballpark made it a very good park for hitters. That's why the Rangers can go in there, score 9 runs and still lose the game. Pft. Everybody blames the pitching, but I think it's really the ballpark's fault. Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful place to watch a game. But it's a really bad place to pitch.

I guess that's all for now. See you later. I'm getting all butterfly-ey in my tummy...our trip is getting closer and closer. I just got goose bumps thinking about it. Little over a month. If we get to see a sweep in July, I may never come down off of that cloud!

Oh, and Stephanie told me that Mr. Papi became an American citizen yesterday? Congratulations to him!!! That is way cool!

A Split Decision

Yesterday's double-header with the Angels was a mixed bag. It looked for a few minutes, like the Sox had pulled off another miracle come-back. Then Gagne blew another one. Here's the deal. I liked Gagne as a Ranger. But I'm hating him as a Red Sox. That was a pathetic performance last night. Then that umpire made the worst call ever. Youk foul-tipped a pitch on the second strike and the up called him out on strikes, said he missed it. The camera showed over and over that the ball hit the end of the bat and changed direction. Francona was subsequently ejected, as was Youk. They had to pull Youk away from the ump. But, hey. The ump was flat wrong. And I'm proud of Francona for getting tossed on a call like that. I would, too. I've seen Rangers managers not argue calls like that. If I'm a manager and the ump makes a blatantly wrong call, I will get tossed. He needs to know how wrong he was. And frankly, I think the club owner, in this case John Henry, should be able to throw the ump out of his ballpark! Yeah, that's it! Henry should have come down and tossed out the ump. "And don't EVER come back to MY ballpark!!" Yeah.

Oh. I forgot to say that the Sox won the first game in the double-header handily.

Then after that was over, I had to endure listening to Jamie Wright lose a game for the Rangers. On a wild pitch. Egad.

So yesterday, two Red Sox pitchers threw brilliantly, only to have the game lost by another. Well, technically, Kason Gabbard isn't a Red Sox anymore, he's a Ranger. But he pitched very well and got no decision, as it was tied when he left the game. Same happened to Josh Beckett, who is trying to get his 16th win. He may have been behind when he left...can't remember. I just know they were ahead when Gagne took over.

Tonight's game...another knuckle-biter. It's currently the bottom of the 6th, and the Sox are ahead 6-5 after a 6 run fifth. This included a fabulous grand slam home run by Papi!! Everyone knew it as soon as he swung, too. He just watched it go, started trotting towards first, and tossed down the bat, as if to say, "So, there!" Hah!

TTFN, y'all!