No Lugo! NO!

Word on the website is that Lugo could be back in the lineup by Monday.

Why?? Pray tell? Nick Green is doing quite well.

Anybody know where Tanya Harding is? Maybe get her to whack Lugo in the shins with a pipe?

Red Sox vs Evil Empire, Friday Night, 4/24

I'm listening to the crowd at Fenway chanting "Joba. Joba. Joba." as Joba the Hut has been rattled right out of the box. First by a balk call, advancing Jacoby to second, then the steal and passed ball, resulting in Ellsbury scoring. He then follows this by walking Pedie. I love it. Because I can't stand Joba.

Aaand Youk walks!


Lester struck out the side in the top of the second! Around a couple of walks, but still.

Bottom of second. Bay gets a nice hit. But Lowell hits into a double play. I missed the third out.

Top of third, Lester gets out of a challenge with no runs.

Bottom of third. Nick Green gets a hit. That boy is impressing me. Peds gets a double. Papi strikes out again. After going to 3-1, Joba intentionally walks Youk. Bases loaded. Drew hits a long out for out number 3. Drat.

Top of fourth. Lester's in a little trouble. Runners at 1st and 2nd, 1 out. Base hit, run scores, tie game. Fielder's choice scores another run. Evil Empire leads 2-1. Lester gets a strike-out for the 3rd out.

Bottom of fourth. Nice. Bay gets a double off that weird wall in left field. Joba hits Tek! Hah!! Nick Green hits a shot right back to Joba, and Joba makes a crappy throw to second. Everyone is safe! Dang it!! Ellsbury hits into a double play to end the inning. Still 2-1.

Top of fifth. Nothing for NY but a double by Nick Swisher. Heh. He should have changed his name. "Swisher." Hahaha...

Bottom of fifth. Pedroia got on first somehow...I missed it. Ortiz singles to right. Youk grounds, getting Ortiz out at second. Then Drew hits into another double play. Still 2-1.

Top of sixth. Manny Delcarmen's warming in the pen. Nice catch by Ellsbury for out one. Nice double play to end the first half.

Bottom of sixth. Bay hits a long out to right field. Lowell doubles off the monster! Tek gets a single, sending Lowell to third. Green singles, scoring Lowell. Tie ball game. Pitching change. Jacoby flies out. Pedroia flies out, getting Joba the Hut off the hook for the game.

Top of seventh. Okajima's in to pitch. The guy that looks at the ground when he throws. How does he do that?? Jeter gets a double because Drew was afraid of the wall. C'mon, JD!! Ok. Now, Okajima blows a sacrifice bunt and doesn't make the throw to get the guy out. Runners at the corners, no outs. Delcarmen is warming up again. Crap. Tex gets a hit, scoring Jeter. 3-2, no outs. Another hit, bases loaded. Pitching change, thank goodness. Delcarmen coming in. Bases loaded, no outs. Fly out, one out. (Michael Young just hit a two-run homer for Texas in Baltimore to put the Rangers ahead 5-4 in the top of the ninth!) Fly to Bay, but he has to dive to catch it, so runner tags. 4-2, 2 outs. Ground out for number 3. Finally out of this one.
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Bottom of 7th. Papi flies out. (Marlon Byrd just made the catch for Texas that JD Drew missed while ago. Byrd wasn't afraid of the wall. Both of those runs should be charged to Drew.) Hmmm...Youk got out while I was watching the Rangers win. 2 outs. Drew up. He walks. Pitching change. Bay hits into a fielder's choice, getting Drew out at second. Still 4-2. I'm getting nervous.

Top of 8th. Oh, no. Saito's in with his 6+ era. There's a one out walk. Nice throw by Peds to get out 2. Struck him out! Yeah!

Bottom of 8th. Need some action here. Let's have one of those famous Red Sox 8th innings! BAD call on Mike Lowell! That ball was inside. One out. Tek routine grounder. Two out. Ouch! He hits Nick Green in the knee! Changing pitcher in the middle of a batter?? C'mon! YES. Ellsbury gets a hit. Two on. NOOOO!!! Pedie gets called out on another bad pitch! What's WRONG with this ump??

Top of 9th. Lopez in and starts out by hitting the batter. Well, great. And a walk. Sob. And another walk. Whyyyyyyyyy????? Oh, yeah!!! Nice double play, getting the lead runner! And my media player freezes up. Boo. Cabrera pops out, saving the inning.

Bottom of 9th. Ortiz strikes out...again! Youk singles. Drew grounds out, but Youk gets to second. BAYBAY!!! Home run, ties the game!! Van Every comes in to replace Lowell (why??) and singles. Tek strikes out. Here we go into extra innings.

Top of 10th. Papelbon in. Molina singles. Expected sac bunt. One out, runner on second. Great play by Peds to get Jeter out...Molina advances to third. Shoot. Demon walks. Tex is up. And there's a prayer meeting on the pitcher's mound. WOOT!!! After a long at bat, Tex strikes out on a high pitch! Three out!

Bottom of 10th. New rule proposal. Batter gets to steal first anytime the catcher misses the ball, regardless of the count. Oh, Nick! Struck out on a high pitch. One out. Ellsbury pops out to Jeter. Sigh. Argh! Peds strikes out.

Top of 11th. Ramirez pitching. Posada walks. Another lead-off walk. Sac bunt fails. Posada out at second. They should know better than that. Posada is old, damaged goods. Base hit to right. Two on, one out. (In my mind, we wouldn't be here if JD Drew wasn't AFRAID OF THE WALL!!) Nice. Another double play, good play by Pedroia, the MVP! Three out.

Bottom of 11th. Ortiz has a chance to be the hero. I'm calling it. Oops. Wrong again. Ortiz strikes out.......AGAIN! Four tonight. One out. YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUK!!!!!! I called the wrong batter! Youk takes it deep for a walkoff home run (did that ball go in the street??) over the Monster, and the Sox have won 8 straight games!

Final score, Red Sox 5, Evil Empire 4.

This Is More Like It

As we approach the morning start time of the Patriot's Day game, the Sox are sitting on a 4 game winning streak. They are still tied for third place, but it's an improvement, and they seem to have come alive a bit. Yesterday's game was a nice effort by the pitching staff.

Over in my neck of the woods, the Rangers continue to struggle, but they are tied for second place, and took yesterday's game from the Royals with a walk-off homer by Michael Young. The real excitement for them was last week, though. In their 19-6 blow-out of the Orioles, Ian Kinsler was the superstar. It wasn't enough that he hit for the cycle in that game (seems to be a popular thing this season), but he also went 6-6 in the game, becoming the first Texas Ranger to ever get six hits in a regulation 9 inning game. He would eventually have 8 at-bats in a row with a hit, across mutiple games. Kinsler remains my favorite Ranger player. Yes, even ahead of Josh Hamilton. Elvis Andrus is coming that ladder really quickly, too.

However, I would be remiss if I didn't say that my favorite part of this past weekend had to be the part that happened in a brand new stadium somewhere in the Bronx. It wasn't enough that the Indians spoiled the home opener in that brand new stadium. They had to go and beat the Evil Empire 24-4 on Saturday, with a 14-run second inning. Awwww....anybody feel sorry for them? I didn't think so.

In the meantime, I'm going to try my hand at MLB 2K9 this season. See how my Red Sox fare with me manning the controls. I'm not very good at this game, so I'm playing in "rookie" mode. Pitching and fielding seem to be ok, but the batting part is killing me. I can't get the timing down yet. Oh, well..."the season is young." Bahahahaha!!!

TTFN, y'all!

AAAAARRRGH!!!!

So close! So close!

Oakland 6, Sox 5, bottom of the 12th.

Still in last place. How long can we use the excuse, "The season is still young?"

What's Going On In Boston???

Hello.....

Is there anybody in there?

Just nod if you can hear me...

Is there anyone home??

---

Hey guys!!!

The season started last week, ok??

Time to wake up and start playing baseball!

What's Going On In Texas??

Baseball season is three days old, now, and things are starting out rather strangely. I am, of course, disappointed that Boston has lost their first series to the dreaded Desperate Housewives, but right now, my attention is on my second-favorite team, the one in Texas.

Of course, we were elated that they won Opening Day, and won it very solidly. Then, they won their second game, with Nelson Cruz crushing two home runs, one going into the second deck beyond left field, over 400 ft. We're hoping that he doesn't do what he does every time he comes up from the minors. Usually, he hits like crazy for a couple of weeks, then goes to sleep. Elvis Androus also got his first major league homer in the second game (along with his first error, but, oh well). The Rangers have not won their first two games since 2000.

Then the unheard of happened. The Texas Rangers SWEPT their opening series!! The last time they did that, they won the American League West. Not trying to put the cart before the horse, but this team looks different this year.

As for the Red Sox, they are still going to be ok, I think. The season is very young, and things are just getting cranked up.

But it's baseball season, so all is well.

TTFN, y'all!

PLAY BALL!!!

It's been almost two months since I've been here. But life has begun again. Now that there has been baseball at Fenway, I can sincerely say that it is, once again, BASEBALL SEASON!!!

Can I get a "WOOT!!"

And this has been, perhaps, one of the best Opening Day (two days?) in recent history. First, Stephanie and I and another family member (Christi's stepfather) watched in somewhat chilly temperature as the Rangers got all over Cliff Lee and the Indians yesterday, 9-1. Kevin Millwood looked stellar for 7 innings, and the only run that the Indians got came in the bottom of the 7th when poor Kevin let one get away from him and Salty couldn't stop it. An Indian was on third base and scored on the wild pitch. Millwood struck out the batter on the next pitch for the third out. C.J. Wilson looked great in the 8th, and Frank Francisco closed it out in nice fashion. The game featured some great plays by all team members, a three run jack by Blalock and a solo shot by Salty. Elvis Androus made a great play at shortstop that, well, sorry, Michael, but you just probably woulnd't have gotten that one.

And then, things got better!! How, you ask? I'm glad because I'll tell ya! The Orioles beat C.C. Sabathia!!!!!! Take that, HANK! The ORIOLES!!!!

Today completed the near-perfect set of Opening Day games when our beloved Sox handed the Desperate Housewives the first of what we can only hope will be multitudes of defeats during '09. I got in on the 8th inning on MLBTV, as I was, you know, sleeping for the day. Beckett must have looked pretty good today, from what I could gather. It was 5-1 when I started watching, and Okajima had put two men on. They scored when Eva Longoria got a hit off Masterson. 5-3. But Masterson took the rest down and that was it. Papelbon closed it out as only Papelbon can do, and the Red Sox are back where they belong, in first place in the AL East.

I feel alive again.

TTFN, y'all!