Monthly Archives: September 2008

September 30, 2008 · 7:11 AM

Watching Baseball

So yesterday I got home from work and was a Tigers fan. Not in the sense that I was going to buy a Alan Trammell retro jersey or anything, just in the sense that I wanted the White Sox to lose. I just think that it’s great for baseball parody to have the Twins and Rays in the playoffs with the high payroll teams like the Sox, Dodgers, Angels, Phillies, and Cubs.

So since the Tigers’ bullpen couldn’t hang on to a one run lead, there’s a show down today in Chicago. The Twins will play for their playoff berth against the White Sox. The same Twins team that swept Chicago last week in a three game set. The towels will be out at U.S. Cellular Field (had to look that one up) today but I’m rooting for the Twins.

So the Red Sox playoff schedule came out and we don’t have a four o’clock game against the Angels on Wednesday, nope, we have a ten o’clock game against the Angels. That should make for a very unproductive Thursday work day in the northeast and cement the fact that everyone will be sound asleep when the VP candidates debate at nine on Thursday.

Friday is a little better with a 9:30 start and if I were still a bar hopping 22 year old I wouldn’t mind that start time either, but after a day of mind numbing work it’ll be tough to stay up. Hopefully the No Line Lounge where I spend a bit of time watching the Patriots will keep me awake through a late Sox game. The one good thing about playing the Angels is that it never rains in Cali so no rain delays.

I just want to point out that the Angels and Sox are the only two American League teams I had correctly in my AL preview column. I was better in the NL, a column I had no confidence in even writing. Sure I had the Brewers and Cubs backwards and the Mets winning the Wild Card, but hey better than Cleveland and Detroit in the AL winning the Central and Wild Card. Whoops.

With news that Drew and Lowell will be in the lineup on Wednesday night, let’s hope that’s that spark the Sox need to come into the post season on a hot streak.

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September 29, 2008 · 7:10 AM

Sh*t Show On Deck

On the suggestion of JC I was going to run a tribute to Reg Dunlop this morning with a nice video from Youtube. Alas, the Sox trumped the story. But for a good tribute check out this article, where the guy spells his name wrong every time.

Anyways, on to the article at hand.

So I log on this morning to see how the Sox faired in the night cap of the day night double dip and low and behold they won! We figured that after they blew the lead in the ninth that they’d probably lose the game and be swept by a Yankee team with nothing to play for. But, somehow they managed to pull off a win fielding an all scrub team.

The Red Sox ownership is a greedy bunch of fucking assholes and they proved it again this weekend. Despite a fucking hurricane dumping a shit ton of rain they didn’t call the game Friday and fans were left to sit in the shit and if they stayed till the end, probably missed their train home. Then they opened the gates Saturday despite the fact there was no let up in the forecast just to cancel the game and make the fans come back last night. The least you could do is give out free hot dogs or something you greedy, corporate, fucking goons.

But the shit show title wasn’t in reference to the weather at Fenway over the weekend, nope, it was the news that Beckett injured himself eating a plate of buffalo wings… What? Throwing a side session? I could have sworn I read buffalo wings. My bad. Anyways, he’s out until at least the third game of the ALDS which at that point may be too late.

Not only are the Sox limping into the playoffs, but they’re limping in with a roster highlighting a shaky bullpen and way too many injuries. Amazingly enough this team won one less game than last year’s Championship team. It doesn’t look good at this point. How great it would be to eat my words. Come on Lester and Dice-K, you can do it.

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September 25, 2008 · 11:22 PM

Reader Mail

So surfing through my email I get a random one from Da Guy who is a regular contributor for those of you who are too lazy to read the comments. He sends me this one.

Now, it’s slow going at the beginning but stick with it (it’s about 10 minutes long) it gets plenty better, I promise.

I would like to say that this guy is not allowed on Causeway Day. I put it out there. He’s the kind of guy we see sound asleep an hour before the Celtics game because he was slammin’ Jäger or Irish car bombs after the Bruins. Fucking Amateurs.

In the same batch of emails I got the question from Da Guy about why no Troy Brown tribute. I really have no answer. My best memory of Troy, besides all the both sides of the ball stuff that extended his career a few years, was when he ran back the kickoff against the Steelers in the AFC Championship game in January 2002. Awesome!

But Da Guy’s favorite, or one of, is Troy starring in the new Honda Pilot ads.

Indeed that bison really gets his blood boiling.

I figured with the Pats off this week I really didn’t have a column to go with and I’m sure no one wants to hear about my shitty fantasy teams or my awful picks for this weekends NFL games. So this is what you get. Back Monday with some Sox playoff stuff.

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· 7:25 AM

Wild Card It Is

Well even with another great win by the Sox last night, with end of August pickup Mark Kotsay driving in the winning run and the bullpen actually holding on for the win, the Sox look destined to be the Wild Card. The Ray’s magic number is one at this point, so like I said yesterday the Sox should be resting guys and getting the rotation set for the playoffs.

My thought is that you go Beckett, Dice-K (undefeated on the road), and Lester. That’s it. A three man rotation. With the Sox having questions marks with Wakefield and Byrd I say the team goes with an 10 or 11 man pitching staff and have the extra bats off the bench. With all the days off in between games and days off for TV and the other playoff games, the three man rotation works in the ALDS.

Should the Sox make the ALCS, then they can go to a four man rotation, hopefully after a sweep so they can line up their rotation again. I know I wrote in this column that I fear going to Anaheim, but with Beckett leading the charge against whoever the Angels throw gives me confidence. Beckett is plain nasty in the post season. With Dice-K undefeated on the road, that could line up for a Sox sweep pitching Lester in game three at Fenway.

I say they leave Timlin at home. Even though he’s a veteran, who I’ve heard is a great leader in the bullpen, we all know his struggles and almost 6.00 ERA on the season. I also say that JD Drew is left off the ALDS roster unless you go with the short pitching staff and can waste a roster spot. If he shows this weekend that he’s ready to play, he gets a spot. If the team leaves Wake off the roster, it’s another slap in the face for the team’s longest serving member, but that will make back up catcher interesting. Ross and Cash both suck, so why not put Ross on the roster if Wake’s left off? Just a thought.

Anyways, this will be interesting to see how the team plays out the string, getting guys rest, setting up the rotation, and prepping for a trip out west. I don’t think we should see too many shockers when the playoff rosters come out. We’ll see soon enough. All I ask is that the MLB schedule makers don’t have a 1PM game in Anaheim. 4PM is perfect out West. Keep the Sox fans in Prime Time, Fuckers!

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September 24, 2008 · 7:17 AM

Ticket Punched

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Looking at the match up you had Tim Wakefield against Cy Young award lock Cliff Lee. Well you had to hope the Yankees would lose to Toronto because there was no way that the Sox could win the game on paper.

Well, to quote the old cliché, “That’s why they play the games.”

The Sox took a 2-0 lead into the fifth where you had to fear the wheels falling off the truck when Wakefield gave up four runs, but they didn’t. The Sox actually battled back in the bottom of the inning and Pedroia and Bay had timely hits to give the Sox a lead that would stick.

It was scary with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the eighth, but Papelbon came in and with one pitch got out of the jam. Boy did he look good in the ninth too, striking out the first two batter and getting Victor Martinez to pop out to end the game.

So what does all this mean?

Well, on a day that the Sox announced they’re retiring Bill Buckner’s #6… wait not Buckner? Oh, sorry. Johnny Pesky’s #6 will grace the facade in right field. It’s about time too.

Back to my train of thought…

With the win the Sox punch their ticket for the post season for the fifth time in six years. Talk about spoiled. We used to have to wait years for the playoffs, now it’s commonplace. The Sox are actually looking to be the first team to win back to back World Series since the 1998-2000 Yankees.

Now do you concede the division and get your starters some rest? I would. It’s not that I don’t want the home field advantage in the playoffs, but the Sox have it if they get to the World Series. That and Tampa hasn’t collapsed as we all predicted. I say rest some guys like Pedroia, who’s I’m sure dog tired, and get ready for the Yankees this weekend and likely the Angels next week.

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