Hey, did you see it? My dirtdogs headline prediction came true: Hurt Schilling. And I was joking! Come on, DD, how about a liiiiitle thought?

As for tonight's game: Pedro did well. But as per usual, we just couldn't score against [whoever pitches against him].

Is that new U2 song on those commercials annoying as hell or what? I hate when bands just do whatever's currently popular when their career is going down the tubes.

Oh, right, I was talking about the game. Uh, yeah, we're down 2-0, but going to Fenway. I still say it's far from over. And even if it is over, you know we'll get to see the tying run on base in the ninth in every game, and get to feel that nice sweat feel on our hands and feel that heart pound in our chests, which is more than can be said for soulless, robot yankee fans. Sorry, I'm just a little pissed right now. And even if we'd won, I'd still be pissed at Fox. I'm gonna write them a nice long letter this winter because this coverage is like taking calcium without phosphorus: preposterous. (If that commercial isn't national, you're just not gonna get that joke.)

Ninth inning, two out, tying run on base. Rivera pitching to Millar. Between pitches, Fox cuts to a shot of a woman's face in the crowd. All one people who are watching the game for the purpose of a homework assignment in their Abstract Baseball Telecast Production 401 class LOVE this shot. It really shows the drama that can only come from the face of a woman who's favorite team since 1996, god forbid, might not get it's 27th world championship. However, me and everyone else who are watching Fox at that moment because A. we didn't have tickets to the game, and B. we want to SEE it, and no other network is carrying the game, are saying, "Show the pitch, show the pitch!" As we're all estimating that the pitch surely must be ABOUT to be thrown, Fox cuts not to the field, but to ANOTHER fan, a young boy who has a life of NOT getting made fun of to look forward to, as he'll most likely always end up rooting for whatever team has won the most recent World Series, or has just changed it's uniform to the current hip color. At this point, the scholarly types are revelling in this high drama and study in human emotions, while I'm now screaming, "Show the goddamn pitch!!!!!"

Finally, the camera angle switches to old reliable, that center field camera. For a SPLIT second, we see Millar, bat already wrapped around body, and Posada starting to take the ball out of his glove.

Kind of a key pitch, and one I would have very much liked to witness. Me, and the rest of the nation. But no one saw it. We saw that kid. We didn't see the pitch. And that's the camera with the delay. And they still couldn't cut to it in time! And this happened several times!

The Mueller (or Bellhorn? I forgot) at bat, where there were like 17 pitches, they showed "Pitch-by-pitch" before the at bat was over. Not a smart move to think that they could show 17 taped pitches in a row between two live pitches. But they went for it. Of course, the next pitch was the one where the ball was finally put in play. And of course, they barely caught the tail end of the swing--because they HAD to show EVERY previous pitch of that at bat AGAIN at that moment, and refused to cut away from the replays to get to the live pitch. Cute, guys.

Baseball is a sport where there's a lot of time to kill between bits of action. Which means that you've got plenty of time to finish up what you were showing before getting back to the action. But I guess it's just too hard for them to figure out. Here's a hint, Fox: When the person holding the sphere is standing on the dirt hill, looking intently toward the squatting gentleman, possibly moving his head up and down or side to side, this man is about to throw the sphere. The throwing of the sphere and what transpires afterward IS the game. Not the crowd, not the guy on first, not a graphic, not an interview done previously, not a commercial, not highlights of an entirely different game, and certainly not Derek Jeter's face. Please learn this and soon.

There was one play where Bellhorn picked up a grounder, and threw to first. Fox stayed with a close up of Bellhorn, then went to an ad for something. We literally never saw the play at first base. I've deducted that the runner was called out.

And the delay was noticeable to even the drunkest viewer, when Ortiz struck out in the ninth. The center field (delayed) camera stayed on Ortiz after he struck out, starting to zoom in on him. Then they cut to a non-delayed camera, which was already zoomed in on Ortiz' face. So you saw his face go from 'starting to scowl,' with his head pointed up, to looking down, with head down and 'completed scowl.' But again, they topped that delay nonsense with all the missed action tonight.

Good thing I've got all this to think about, because I definitely need to block out the memories of these first two games. But I'm just sayin', the further behind we get, the sweeter it will be when we win it.

That's right, media members and casual baseball fans, feel free to shop around in here, but no defecating, please.

For those one or two of you who were paying attention to what I'd said about Fox's crazy camera delays, you may have noticed that all sound was synched up with whichever angle was being used. BUT, that center field camera was still on the quarter second delay. An easy way to see this is when Sheffield's up. They'll show a close up of him, then cut to the center field camera for the pitch. Watch as he does the rhythmic bat wagging. Back, forth, back, forth, [camera switches], whoa, it went from back to forth instantaneously!

It doesn't mess me up as much as when the sound is not matched up with the picture, but it's still pretty weird.

Isn't it funny how I asked yankee fans to show some originality, instead of just making signs that say, "Hey Pedro, Who's Your Daddy?" and right away on Fox, they showed a sign that read exactly that. It just cracks me up, thinkin' about those dudes that made that sign, giggling like Beavis and Butt-head. "Huh huh, cuz he said we're his daddy, get it? He heh." "Yeah, he heh."

People make fun of John Kerry with this whole Manny Ortez thing (you do know he's running against the all-time champion of misspeaking, right?) and meanwhile, Tim McCarver, who, as you may know, I don't particularly enjoy, called Bronson Arroyo Brandon Arroyo twice. And he's considered the best color man in all the universe for some reason. Fortunately, Joe Buck actually came right out and told him about his horrible mistake. Much better than the uncomfortable silence or changed topic that normally occurs after major announcing goofs.

Speaking of Buck, well, first of all, if you're a new baseball fan, watch him closely during the pre-game intro, right after he finishes talking and throw it over to McCarver, and you'll see him make a face at the camera that'll make you laugh for sure. He has let up on his old method of listening to McCarver while practically nuzzling Tim's neck with his nose. But he still gives him those loving looks. But hey, that's his deal, more power to him. Anyway, a yankee fan called the FAN today and mentioned that Joe Buck was a "yankee hater." That shocked me, and it shocked Jody Mac as well. Jody then said something that I actually agree with: yankee fans always complain that the national announcers are anti-yankee. And the reason for that is that they're used to Michael Kay, Bobby Murcer, Jon Sterling, Steiner, all these guys that are over-the-top homers, paid by Steinbrenner. So a neutral announcer, to them, sounds ant-yankee, when they're actually just being fair to both teams.

But we Sox fans know that the national announcers ARE anti-Red Sox. Heh heh.

Can you believe the ALCS and NLCS are on at the same time tonight? These people just need some common sense.

Gordon Edes was on Mike & The Mad Dog today, and an interesting thing happened. Edes was talking about how many yankee batters Pedro has hit over his career. Mike Francesa said, "Of course there was that one time he put Jeter and Soriano in the hospital." Now I've written about that before, pointing out how the New York media considers that play as being Pedro "hitting" two batters in a row, injuring them, when in reality, one was a foul ball that got a piece of hand, on a swing, not a hit by pitch. Well, Edes jumped right in and defended the truth! "One was actually a foul ball..." Francesa immediately interrupted him and changed the subject. (I could barely hear Mad Dog start to react to this, like he was surprised, but again, Mike just cut everybody off loudly.) So I was right, the yankee media just wants the truth to be that Pedro is this crazy headhunter whose sole purpose in life is to injure these great yankees.

I just heard the press conference today, and it sounds like Schilling may not come back at all. If they can figure out a way to stabilize his tendon by Game 5, he'll pitch. If not, he gets surgery. Stankonia also said that he brought in Embree (after the "God Bless America Delay") because the Sox closed the gap in the top of the inning. This pisses me off, because unless what McCarver said (New Englanders turned off their sets in the sixth inning), I was still rooting, thinking we had a chance to come back from 6-0. When Wake came in and gave up the homer to Kenny freakin' Lofton to make it 7-0, I was really mad. My point is, I felt like Tito was giving up on the game. And if he admitted that Embree was needed because we were back in the game, then that means he didn't have much faith in the way Wake was pitching, as he shouldn't have. So why not bring in Embree the inning before!? Or leave in Mendoza, who didn't give up a run in his inning. Sure enough, we got seven runs, and at that point it should've been tied, or we should've had the lead. But that's over now, and I'm gonna stop writing and watch Game 2.

But first, another now well-accepted-as-truth lie is that the yanks "own" Pedro. The media has drilled this into yankee fans' heads so much, that every day, you hear yankee fans (who, trust me, only watch baseball in October; it's fun to look for signs of this when certain people speak) saying, "We own Pedro" or "Pedro's never beaten us." The only reason they're saying this is complete ignorance. I'm fully aware that the Sox bullpen has blown a lot of games that Pedro has pitched against the yanks. So say that. Don't say things that just aren't true.

This is really kind of ironic, because a few days ago, I was thinking, "Gee, I wonder if my heart could ever beat so hard and fast and LOUD enough to actually wake the neighbors? You know, like if I ever needed it to for whatever reason." And my question was answered last night. So, I've got that going for me. And now I might get Schill in Game 4 now. Although I'm pretty angry at that little jerk right now, as Frank Rizzo once said.

I wonder if dirt dog will have the guts to say, "White Christian savior dude lies about being okay for a game that was kind of important." And he could blow our minds by calling him "Hurt" Schilling.

The real ace goes tonight. And I'm proud of our guys for not rolling over and dying in that stadium when any other team in the league would have. We put a scare in to that stadium crowd and we're winning game two.

Okay, yankee fans, just a warning: When you make your "daddy"-related signs for Game 2, I want to see some creativity and originality. You better not be sitting at home right now thinking, "What if made a sign that said 'Hey Pedro, Who's Your Daddy'?" Just try to think of something a little less obvious. You've had several weeks. And could you consult a dictionary for a change? Or ask a friend if you need some help with punctuation? Come on, I know you've got it in you.

I'm psyched because I've got tickets to Game 4 on Saturday. I had a little problem with uh, not reading the letter I got in the mail that said that 10th Man Plan Members will have a chance to buy ALCS tickets, if their ALDS game wasn't played (mine wasn't). I thought I was just getting my money back, but instead, I'm goin' to Game freakin' Four!!!

Great piece of ignorance by WFAN mid-morning schlub Jody MacDonald today: "Pedro couldn't beat the yanks when he was one of the best pitchers in the game, how can he beat them now?" He forgot about those ten wins, including the classic Trot Nixon HR off Clemens game (which I was at, with thousands of other Sox fans in the upper deck at yankee Stadium), and the 17 strike out game. There were a lot of ignorant statements made today. That was just my fave.

Okay, I have a baseball game to watch now.

Lie #1: THE RED SOX HAVEN'T WON THE WORLD SERIES IN "ONE HUNDRED YEARS."

Didn't you hear? Everybody's rounding up to the nearest hundred now. So by that logic, the yanks haven't won in a hundred years either.

Lie #2: THE RED SOX HAVE LOST TO TO THE YANKS IN A PLAYOFF SERIES LOTS AND LOTS OF TIMES.

That's right, even though I can only count TWO playoff series the two teams have ever played against each other, the yankees OWN the Red Sox in all the other apparently undocumented encounters.

Here's a perfect example of this: That's right, it involves Michael Kay. On his radio show, a guy called in and was giving the old "history" intangible to show why he thought the yanks would win. He boasted, "The Red Sox haven't beaten the yanks in a playoff series..." Kay jumped in on his pause with, "EVER!" Ooooh, 0 for 2 (again, '78 wasn't a series). It gets worse. The caller continued, "Right, ever. They've never beaten us in a divisional race, EVER." Kay, instead of correcting the man and bringing up the multiple times the Red Sox have beaten the yanks in a divisional race, just casually went, "Mm hmmm." Man, what a horrible, lying sack of shit. Why couldn't he have been cleaning Mariano's pool instead of those innocent Panamanians?

I'm just so sick of this lying. Another guy called Kay and said, "You're the only one who's pointed this out, Michael, and I agree with you: Schilling CAN'T pitch games 1, 4, and 7, because between 4 and 7, that'd be only TWO days rest, and you can't do that." Then he moved on to his next point, so sure that what he'd said was right, and Kay just let him go on, because apparently he was the one who came up with this crazy theory. What the hell? Game 4 is Saturday, Game 5 is Sunday, travel day is Monday, Game 6 is Tuesday, Game 7 is Wednesday. That's three days rest between 4 and 7, not two. So not only is he a liar, he's a moron. Gee, I wonder why Kay was the only one to bring this up? I guess it's because everyone else can do first grade math.
Anyway, Stankonia said Schill won't pitch three games anyway, but the point is, he could and still get three days rest between starts.

All right, my list of lies was only two entries long. Maybe I shouldn't have done it that way. But there are hundreds of other lies about the Sox, just turn on New York sports radio.

Less than 24 hours til Sox-yanks. Let's do the damn thing!

Late last night, I got an e-mail from a friend of mine who is a yankee fan. It was a funny short story he'd written about how the Sox never win the World Series. The joke was that his keyboard wouldn't even let him write the phrase, "The Red Sox Win The World Series," because it's such a preposterous thought.

Well, this morning, I woke up, put on the news, and heard, "Superman is dead."

So maybe this is the year.

RIP ChRiS reeve aka
s U p E r m a n
RIP CURSE

It's fitting that the yanks would win on a passed ball. And what's with Gardenhire taking out Santana after six innings? When that happened, I just looked at the television and said to Ron, "Are you trying to lose the f'ing game?" And then the dude from Fox interviews Santana in the alley, and he says he feels fine! And wishes he was still in the game! Oh well, I guess we'll just have to take on the yanks now. And have a chance to beat 'em head to head, and then every front-running idiot can shut their big mouth.

Okay, I don't know how I'm gonna watch these games coming up, what with Fox's delayed center field camera. It completely messes me up. Am I the only one who notices this? Today, I proved to myself that I wasn't crazy. After hearing the crack of the bat when the pitch was still in the air on the first at bat of the game, I decided to tape some of the action. Here's the deal. When there's a man on first, they show a shot of the pitcher and the runner from high above third base. The pitcher comes to the set, then begins to throw. At this point, Fox switches to the center field camera, and you see the pitcher start to throw AGAIN, follwed by the pitch, then the sound of the bat hitting the ball, and THEN the bat hitting the ball. And by the time they switch back to the non-delayed camera, the ball is already way out in the outfield. I paused the tape right before they cut from live pitcher/runner cam to delayed center field cam. When I saw the pitcher's foot hit the ground as he was about to throw home, I started counting frames. As I'm counting, they switch angles, (the leg is now back up in the air). Eight frames later, the foot hits the ground again. Then I figured out how many frames per second my VCR records. I came up with roughly 32. So the center field camera is on about a quarter-second delay. I know, I lost you at hello, right?

The point is, a quarter of a second is a long time considering how fast the ball travels when it's hit. So it's really worse on the switching back to the live camera, because that's when you're skipping ahead in time, hence missing stuff. Like when Doc sent Einstein one minute in to the future. You just suddenly appear at that future moment. It's quite discerning. The switching from live to delay wouldn't be that bad, except, like I said, for the fact that you hear whether or not the ball is hit just as the batter starts his swing.

I promise you I wouldn't be making a big deal about this if it didn't really interfere with my enjoyment of the game, but it does. Please write me and tell me you're noticing this, too. (They weren't doing it on ESPN, only FOX.)

Terrible job by Hench of Hench's Hardball for writing the article about he Sox called "They're No Angels (Too Bad)" back in April. In it he said we couldn't beat the Angels or the yanks. We're halfway there, buddy.