The first beach day of the year, even though the water was colder than a yankee player at a World Champions banquet in December. Still, always a good feeling to walk along the really sharp rocks and scalding sand barefoot. Reb Dog came down to the beach, and I was happy to find out she was down with foot torture, too. It's just fun. Add to that a Red Sox win, with another key hit by my brother David, and a yankee loss. After the Twins took a 9-3 lead in the eighth, Sterling said, "Good night, Gracie." Indeed. Which reminds me, another thing from yesterday that pissed me off was when the yanks had come back to tie the game at three late, and Sterling said, "The yanks were dead in the water at 3-0 in the fifth." Yeah, no $200 million team has ever come back from a three run deficit with five innings left to play.

I finally got all my crapptiy crap out of my sister's attic, as her house is in it's final days in her hands, before being sold to a Red Sox fan dude and his family, who I met the other day. Now half of my crap is New Haven, (where the above-mentioned beach is) in my parents' attic. The other half will be crammed into my apartment here in NYC. It seems to be 75 degrees out now, past midnight. Which in the city feels like 95. But I like it. I like my feet bloody and my t-shirt drenched.

Things Jon Sterling said during the yankee game tonight that nauseated me:

1. Jeter missed the game with some type of flu or something. Jon said, "They showed a shot of Derek Jeter in the dugout, and he looks so sick. It's amazing that he's even here. But he's the captain, so he's here to support his team." Okay, have you noticed that Mr. "Will Play Under Any Circumstances" has been missing an awful lot of games lately? Even though Torre supposedly is not letting him play (possibly, according to Rebecca's theory, because Jeter's playing really crappily, so why not jump at the chance to bench him?). But still, if you're gonna tell me for all these years how, "If he can walk, he can play," then don't turn it into, "Wow, he's not playing, but he IS in the dugout, even though he's sick. AMAZING."

2. In the bottom of the ninth, no outs, and the yanks up a single run, Jon described the yanks' rally in top of the ninth as "the yanks' winning rally."

There was more, but this one other thing deserves a more in-depth post. You'll know it when you see it.

Also, Suzyn Waldman said "RBA" instead of "RBI" tonight.

There was a new show on NYC's WFAN, which had several hosts, one of whom is a Red Sox fan since after the 86 Series, when he switched over from the Mets. I only heard the beginning of the show, but this dude said "If Mad Dog makes you mad with what he says about the yanks, you're gonna HATE me." Nice.

And I can't believe I forgot to mention this, but the Mr.T In Your Pocket device is SO handy for when McCarver is announcing. Especially "Quit your jibba jabba," and the more to-the-point "Shut up, fool." It sounds like when Mr. T recorded the messages, he was listening to McCarver announce a game with his favorite team playing in it. He's that pissed. Unfortunately, by the end of the game, I was exclusively playing "Don't make me mad! Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr."

The one good thing about Fox games is that you get to read all the great McCarver-bashing on the blogs the next day.

Today, Tim's biggest travesty was calling Trot Nixon's baserunning a mistake, when he did exactly the right thing, going halfway on a fly ball that easily could have been caught. Then he said that Trot was "surprised" that a runner went to second on a ball down the right field line, implying that Trot was lazy in the field on the play, when in reality, he once again did exactly what he was supposed to do: Waiting to see if the ball hit the boxes, instead of rushing toward the line, which would have been a disaster if the ball had gone down into the corner, before picking up the ball and immediately firing it to second base. Then Tim brought up the baserunning non-mistake again later, just to make sure we knew how he felt about it.

Even if it had been a mistake, it wouldn't have mattered anyway in the end. McCarver wasn't nearly as concerned with the two balls that Vasquez ole'd, neither of which was scored an error, but both of which really cost the team.

If Renteria's gonna sit, why have him do it on a day when Jason sits? And why put the two backups back-to-back in the lineup, virtually killing any chance of an extended rally?

(As I write, Minnesota just hit a three-run homer, which is doubly funny, because Sterling jinxed it in his pre-game interview with Torre, who responded to Sterling's "You know Wang hasn't given up one home run?" with "Shut up, Jon." Ha.)

Yeah, so why can't Edgar play every day? You get a day off when the team has a day off. Other than that, you're young, you're healthy, you're making millions...you're on the field. And to bring in Captain Cheese (who, with all the holes in his performance lately, is Captain Swiss Cheese) is to just throw the game away at this point.

I will say that I made a pretty good prediction today. After Millar's double off the wall, I predicted he'd hit two homers into the monster seats. When he got an out in the third, I said, "He's still got a chance, 5th and 7th." He got one in the 5th and one in the 8th. When bragging about "my" accomplishment, especially the fact that he hit them right where I said he was, my dad pointed out, "Where else would Millar hit a home run?" Good point. And he actually predicted before the game that this would be a break out game for Kevin. But we both would have traded our correct predictions for a win today.

I really can't stand the rigidity of the Fox telecasts. They've got all the times of their interviews pre-planned, so that there might be a play that deserves a replay, but we don't get one, because they've already decided to show something else at that moment. Today, one of Millar's homers was shown in a little tiny square, without sound, because a pre-taped interview with the Angels' pitching coach was being shown in a bigger square. It's an interview. We don't need to see the guy talking, any more than we need to see the announcers talking during the game. Fox is like the Buck Showalter--in 1995, at least--of broadcasting, with their overmanaging. Just show the game. That's job one. Did anybody wake up today and say, "I am dying to know what the Angels' pitching coach has to say about today's game. But I won't be happy unless I personally witness the dude talking, and I'll be damned if Fox has the audacity to interrupt the interview with something as petty as the game itself!"

And Connecticut may get screwed next Saturday. The CT Fox station will have a choice of Sox-Cubs or yanks-Cards. Last year, they chose yanks every time (due to "popularity," as they told me by e-mail). So if you live in CT, even if you have NESN, you don't get the game if they choose the yanks. I did notice that our game has top-billing next week, so maybe that will force Fox-61 to choose us. That and the fact that it's the World Champs playing in Wrigley Field for the first time. (The Cubs' home games in the 1918 World Series were played at Comiskey Park, rather than Weeghman Park--later named Wrigley Field--because of Comiskey's larger seating capacity.

Great job by Bronson today. He wasn't nervously jumping off the mound like last time. Too bad Tito Cheesed him over. Also, we got to see Bronson singing and playing guitar on top of the Monster before the game. The Fuel song he played is actually one I like, despite my usual ripping of late-90s almost-rock. I remember working at Borders when that tune came out. This hippie girl, Kate Z., whose brother's middle name was Obodeodo, saw me buying that single, and admitted that she liked it as well, despite hating the rest of the radio hits of the era. I told her I was in the exact same boat. Weird how a person from a punk background can find a mainstream song that they and a person from a hippie background can both like. She was cool, that Kate Z., but it wasn't to be for us, as we were from different worlds...and she was into chicks.

Johnny Damon's got a new look. With that clean-shaven face, flowing locks, and the facial injuries causing him to look like a glam-rocker, I think he should be called "Johnny Thunders" for a while, although he could really pass for any member of:


Or even "Damon Bowie."

Check him out. That right side of his face has the blush, the Cleopatra-style mascara, it's amazing (but even more so on TV):


I'm feelin' good all over after watching the love-fest at Fenway tonight. (I'm in NESN country after hauling crap from old storage area--my sister's house--to new storage area--my parents' house.)

The Cabrera ovation was beautiful. (Dirt dog must have told the fans to do it, how else would they have known??? By the way, why is he still in my links section, especially after he kicked me off the boston.com feedster? He's coming off right now.) Orlando also thanked me and you in a pre-game interview. I'll see him in September at Fenway.

The result of the game was equally beautiful. Johnny Damon with the key three-run, game-winning double. Ah, the three-run double. I believe this is my favorite type of hit in baseball. It sounds like a dessert.

"I'll have the three-run double."

"Would you like that 'game-winning'?"

David Lander, TV's "Squiggy," was interviewed before and during the game. He has MS and is going around the country spreading the word about fighting the disease. But he goes around the country anyway, because Squiggy is a scout for the Mariners! Wow. You learn something new roughly 1.0 times a day. As it turns out, he was a baseball writer before going into acting. Also note his baseball predictions on his website, where he picks the Sox to win the east, and takes a jab at the yanks. He also said that "Lenny & Squiggy" were characters Michael McKeon and he had been doing for nine years before they wrote them into Laverne & Shirley. (Remember whe they reunited on SNL for "Quentin Tarantino's Welcome Back Kotter"?) And speaking of McKeon, I heard Christopher Guest won't be doing any more "mock-umentaries." That's a shame. But not confirmed.

When one of the NESN people interviewed Mr. Landers during the game, they called him "Lenny." Terrible job. If you're make the embarrassing mistake of calling someone by their character name from thirty years ago, at least say the right name! That's like seeing Barry Williams on the street and yelling, "Hey, Sam the Butcher!"

The yankees are now four losses away from completely negating their ten game win streak. Watching the end of that game tonight after the Sox ended was a nice capper to the evening. I liked how the camera turned the tables on Jeter, cutting immediately to a shot of him in the dugout when the game ended. They may as well have had the words "YOUR FAULT" flashing on the screen in big red letters while showing him. Then they cut to more Twins celebrating, before going right back to the yankee dugout, for a shot of a dejected A-Rod. Ha.

[Edit--stuff I forgot: Lou Merloni was interviewed tonight, and they didn't even ask him how he felt when the Sox won it all! Or whether or not he got a ring. Hey, I can dream on his behalf. Good to see Lou, says he'll be out for the year with his injury. Bruce Hurst was interviewed, and he professed his continuing love for the Sox, saying how great it was last year, and that he loved the fans so much that he even liked it when he was booed. And I guess the "B Ruth Curse" anagram is no longer relevant. Finally, With City Sox Girl was talking about the "Mr. T In Your Pocket" the other day, a device which I, naturally, own. I wanted to do an audioblog and play T's six classic sayings, but audioblogger seems to be out of commission. So I'll have to write them out. (Say them in your best T voice.)

1. "I pity the fool"
2. "Don't gimme no backtalk, sucka"
3. "Quit your jibba jabba"
4. "Don't make me mad. Rrrrrrrr"
5. "First name Mister, middle name Period, last name...T"
6. "Shut up, fool"]

Two of the newer Red Sox blogs by people who live in New York City like me.

Miles from Fenway, by a woman called Finy.

The Life of Akins and the Red Sox by a dude called Akins.

Check 'em out.

Here's part one of a list of my favorite Red Sox players for each letter of the alphabet.

Rules: 1. Has to be a dude I remember. (I was born in '75, knew the names by '78, have audio-taped proof.) 2. Can't be on a 2004 post-season player, as the list would get overrun with those guys. Just know I love them all, although I'm not exactly building any shrines to Ramiro Mendoza at this point. 3. I think that's it for rules. Except to say that rules can be broken at any time. And I'm just gonna write each name; there won't be any letter headings, i.e. "Q:". Just look at the first letter of each name, and you'll know what letter I'm on. Duh. And it's by last name. Duh again. (HM=Honorable Mention.)

Tony Armas, 83-86. One of the first guys I thought of as "new". Joined Jim Rice as a huge power hitter. Had I heard "Toe knee arm ass" at that age, I would have liked him even more. But I guess you had to live closer to Boston to know these secret sayings. HM: Benny Agbayani, 02. Was Hawaiian. And got a lot of hits right away.

Oil Can Boyd, 82-89. The Can. Totally nuts. Come on. HM: Jack Brohamer, 78-80. Always used to draw pictures of him, using his baseball card as a guide. Liked how his name sounded like Jackhammer. HM: Darren Bragg, 96-98. Got dirty. Was from CT.

Roger Clemens, 84-96. Would have killed to be him then, would kill him now. HM=Mark Clear, 81-85. Learned about his "slurve" in the yearbook, circa '83.

Dick Drago, 74-75, 78-80. Kids like dragons. And weird moustaches. Sometimes. HM: Brian Daubach, 99-02, 04. I don't know, just always liked Daubach, despite what Pat once called his "oafish looks."

Dwight Evans, 72-90. So good to have a constant in your life. From birth to age 15, Dewey was there, and he'd gun you out at third from the wall. Also, toe-up stance and curly moustache. HM: Nick Esasky, 87. Had vertigo and a red beard, and was the home run king of the summer of '87. HM: Mike Easler, 84-85. The hit man. I actually thought "hit man" was another term for "designated hitter" at that time, because Ken Coleman would announce his name and then say "the hit man," like it was his position.

Carlton Fisk, 69, 71-80. My mom still can't believe he went to the White Sox. HM: Jeff Frye, 96-97, 99-00. And a little child shall lead them.

Tie: Rich Gedman, 80-90. Geddy Gasoline. Mentioned more on this blog than any other Red Sox. Nomar Garciaparra, 96-04. In our hearts always. HM: Jackie Gutierrez, 83-85. aka Jackie G. I like shortstops. And the name Jack, for some reason. [edit: this is actually a three-way tie. How could I forget Mike Greenwell, one of my all-time faves? Refused to trade him for Mattingly (obviously) in my rotisserie league that I did through the mail at age 13 before anybody did that stuff.]

Butch Hobson, 75-80. Loved the look of him, with the eye black and the flip up shades, and the black stripes showing on the stirrups. Wouldn't make my manager-by-letter list, though. HM: Sam Horn 87-89. Almost embarrassd to put him here, for fear people would think it has anything to do with his current popularity. But read my post about my Sam Horn experience from April '04. HM: Greg Harris, 89-94. Pitched with both hands!

Daryl Irvine, 90-92. The only Red Sox player ever whose named started with the letter "I," and the inspiration for this list. HM: Daryl Irvine, 90-92. See above.

Ed Jurak, 82-85. Loved the Scrabble-centric name. "They don't pronounce the J's up in New England, White."--Phil Rizzuto (Bill White was Scooter's partner in the booth.) HM: Reggie Jefferson, 95-99. Underrated. And I liked to taunt yankee fans with the Reg-gie chant. (Chanting "Boston Sucks" at them when Daryl Boston played for the yanks wasn't nearly as cool, or accepted.)

Randy Kutcher, 88-90. Loved the scrappy kid. He was scrappy, right? We called him Batman, but I forget why. It certainly didn't have to do with hitting! But the movie Batman came out right at that time. HM: Bruce Kison, 85. For the karate kick alone.

Fred Lynn, 74-80. Kids like names that sound like Fred Flinstone. Great ballplayer, great guy, still loves the Sox. Rookie of the Year in the year I was born. HM: Steve Lyons, 85-86, 91, 92, 93. Loved Psycho I, lost interest with the sequels, and especially in the Fox years. HM: Bill Lee, 69-78. I Discovered the wonders of Lee later in life, only vaguely remember him from when I was three. HM: Carney Lansford, 81-82. One of my first favorites, but got injured right away. Was psyched to get his baseball sticker in a pack in my Easter basket in '82. (My sister came away with the 45 of J. Geils' "Centerfold" b/w "Rage In A Cage" in her basket, a controversial move by the bunny, because of the content of "Centerfold.")

Lou Merloni, 98-99, 00-02, 03. Hustled. Local guy. Hope he got slipped a ring. HM: Bob Montgomery, 70-79. Loved the tape around the bat, last catcher to wear 10 before Gedman. (I told him that when I got his autograph. He certainly didn't care. I'm an idiot.) But I really got to know him as Monty, Sean McDonough's broadcast partner. HM: Rick Miller, 71-77, 81-85. Another guy I just liked the look of as a kid. And I liked the hard sounding letters. RRRickk MiLLeRRR. And 3 is my third favorite number. Was glad to see him at the parade.

Tune in next time for part two. By next time I mean eventually.

These at-work games are crazy. Between being 3/4 asleep from my new reverse-commute schedule, and trying to keep track of the Red Sox on the 8-track of game-coverage, MLB Gameday, I don't know how I'm supposed to get any work done.

I get a ten-minute break in the afternoon, so I always have to choose my spot wisely, knowing that I can hear about a half an inning on my car radio. Today, I chose bottom-8 to go out there. I stayed in the car until the ninth, heard the O's take the lead, and then had to go back in, stuck "watching" Gameday for the bottom of the ninth.

One man on. Two out. Edgar bunts for a hit? Must be a mistake.

By the time Ortiz comes up, the imaginary crowd in my head is going wild. Three and one. Then, "Pitch 5: Foul." 3-2. And that foul could have been tipped, landing at his feet, or a home run-distance fly ball, just to the right of the pole, like in The Natural. Now Ortiz could be getting a new bat. "Pick me out a winner, Bobby."

The young Bobby Savoy brings out the bat he and Ortiz made together. "Savoy Special."

Come on, screen, say "home run". Say "home run"! Here's the pitch.

"Pitch 6: In play, run-scoring play."

Oh yeah, we're playin' with the house's money now. It's at least tied. The ball could be floating through the air, headed for the bleachers. Or it could be bouncing around the dugout after a bad throw, tying the game. No idea. Please tell me.

"Ortiz homers..."

That's all I need to read. I walk (past my boss, who has no idea that I'm jumping up and down in my mind) to the phone, knowing that I need to confirm this with someone who's actually watching the game. Rebecca tells me that it is real. Another amazing work-day afternoon, comeback, walkoff win.

Great job, Red Sox.

The yanks are one strike away from getting swept as I write this. By the worst team in baseball. The Royals announcers (I've got Gameday Audio on here) just said that the Royals have gone 78 series' without sweeping a team. Bernie's up. 3-2, 2 out. Kauffman Stadium chants "yankees suck," but the announcer says, "Crowd chanting 'sweeep'." Uh, not quite, sir. Bernie walked. Sierra is up. Station ID. WHB, my exlusive home of the Kansas City Royals.

Bases loaded. Royals up 3.

Come on, KC.

2-0. Crap. Throw strikes, man. 2-1 now. I hope he hits one to the warning track for a game ending out, just to excite Francesa for a moment. 2-2. Foul. Still 2-2. Hahhahahhahaha! It's over. yanks swept by Kansas City. So funny how all the arrogance came back, and it was totally assumed that the yanks would sweep. But they got swept.

Now can we all please not say things like, "Well, you know the yanks will snap out of it." I don't mean to get all Cossette-y on your ass, but just keep thinking that they're gonna lose. And that we're a great team who can't be held down for long. World Champs: We will win! World Chumps: They will lose! Positive thinking. We know it works. Stay focused. Okay, so we're cool, then? Sweet.

So it's June. Here's what's on tap for me: June 15th vs. Reds, Upper Bleacher. June 18th vs. Pirates, in the ten-game plan seats, section fo'-three. June 20 and 21: Jere goes to Ohio--at Cleveland, right field upper deck. June 24th: Jere goes to that weird state--at Philadelphia, forget where the seats are. Root for my camera to work, if you want to see pics from these games.

I've still got the Royals station on. There was an ad for Sonic, who has a contest, where you win something if the Royals hit an "over-the-wall" grand slam during a certain inning. What the H? Imagine how pissed you'd be, seeing an inside-the-park grand slam during the special inning, going up to claim you prize, and being told, "Sorry, sir, it has to go over the wall." (Also, if you're a woman, they'd have added insult to injury, with the whole "calling you 'sir'" thing.

Terrible job, Sonic.

Oh my god, I was just about to say how Suzyn Waldman said, while doing the out-of-town scores earlier, that Foulke "obviously blew the save in the top of the ninth." (Obviously false, Suzyn.) And now this Royals announcer says, during their score update, that the Red Sox won with three in the ninth, "two on a David Ortiz home run." This makes me really mad. With all this technology, how can these people get these facts wrong? It's ridiculous. That totally makes it sound like the game was already tied, and Ortiz hit a pressure-free homer. When in reality, we were a strike away from losing when Ortiz hit it out. It's a totally different thing. And on WCBS radio, they recently claimed that the Red Sox won, when they actually lost, on two separate days. I would've really been pissed if I hadn't known the result on one of those days, and heard them say the Sox won, and then walked around all happy, only to find out later that the news got it wrong. In one of those cases, the Sox lost 13-6, and WCBS said they won 6-2. Mind-boggling, really.

Speaking of that, check out this piece of crap article by Ron Borges, who, I kid you not, says, "Ghosts lurk everywhere inside old Fenway Park even this season..." Go die, dude.

I found this quote on a scrap of paper in my pocket: "What can writing 'What can Brown do for the yanks?' do for your journalistic career?" Good call, me. Why do people always think they're the first person to think of that whenever Kevin Brown pitches? Speakin' of that asshole, it was fun to see him all frustrated last night. And the Unit joined him tonight. The yankees' "easily sweep the worst team in baseball" plan is going great, huh? At least we're losing to the first place team.... Too bad that doesn't actually make me feel better about it.

How come announcers always say "the count's even at two and two"? I say the pitcher has the advantage when it's two and two. If you've got two buildings going up, and one will be forty stories high, and the other thirty, and both are currently at the twenty story mark, well, they may have the same amount of stories, but they aren't even. The thirty story building is two-thirds done. The forty story building is only halfway there. Terrible job, announcers.

Tonight, Chan and I went to Bed, Bath, & Beyond. We needed some stuff or whatever, for our new apartment. On our way back, who steps out of a cab and right past my face, but anti-yankee hero Luis Gonzalez. It took me a second for the face to register. I quickly figured it out and said his name, fairly loud, as he walked away from me, but he didn't react. I asked Chan why he thought LuGo didn't respond to me, and Chan said, "Because he's an idiot!" Chan's clearly still a little bitter about 2001. (Ha ha!) While I don't condone stalking, I do recommend you head over to the yuppie bar at 78th and 2nd, and thank him if you haven't had a chance to yet. Or was that 78nd and 2th? Either way. We did confirm that the D-Backs are in town, not that we needed to, since he's got such a distinctive face.

Speaking of stalking, after Rebecca whitefemailed me, and posted one of my pics of the Sox on the street from last weekend, I figure I will put some more of those shots up here. But I'll wait for the right time, and scatter them. Funny thing is, those shots I had were blown away by the shots of Rebecca with, like, every player on the team anyway.

Finally, the long awaited Part 2 of the "Red Sox Logos In Nature" series. (And you thought I was kidding.) So here it is, the Red Sox "B" tree, New Milford, CT. If you look closely, you'll notice the actual "B" superimposed over the tree. I did this on my video camera using the shot of the tree and a shot of my dirty Sox hat.

Crispin Glover and David Newhan? Anybody?

And to continue with the Back to the Future/Orioles theme, did anybody see the shot of Brain Roberts they showed on ESPN tonight, with that flux capacitor-looking scar on his chest? I think he travelled back in time to get Brady Anderson's bats from 1996. (Seriously, though, good job by that dude for going through heart surgery as a five-year old.)

Good win tonight, going from being no-hit, to Edgar and company waking up with the bats. Edgar hit about .350 in May. Hopefully Wade will keep this great pitching up. I've now seen five Sox games in a row, and in a different way each time: Friday on Hell No Network, Saturday on Fox, Sunday in person, Monday on ESPN2, Tonight on ESPN. Has to be some kind of record. And yes, Sunday's game at yankee Stadium was a little like finding the Mysterious Cities of Gold (only more urine-ey-smelling). Doo da da doo da doo, cities of gold.

The yankees, by most acounts, were to sweep the Royals. I got the impression the games were not even going to actually be played. But Buddy Bell's Royals came through tonight. Former MVP-"lock" Hideki Matsui hit his first homer since April 8th, raising his average to .261. He also continues to look confused in the outfield, despite the yankee people acting like he's a Gold Glover.

I also caught Michael Kay desribing how they got Tanyon Sturtze "off the scrap heap," like it's some award-winning move. Come on, Kay, we know what you're trying to do and it isn't working. Theo Epstein owns the freakin' scrap heap, everybody knows it. Don't pretend the yanks are savvy for getting Tanyon Sturtze. Terrible job as usual.

One more note from the yankee series, hopefully this is the last one: Tito and Torre did dugout interviews, mid-game on Saturday. Remember last year when Backwards Kay, after Tito did one, claimed that that was the difference between the two organizations? That Joe Torre would never take time out from managing to do such a thing? In your big fat face, Kay.

And from Monday's game--I was pissed at Edgar for not running on the grounder that started foul but came back fair. Just run, you know it's fair. Same with Manny on a third strike that got away from the catcher. There was a man on second and two outs. Instead of arguing the call, run to first. Make the catcher make a throw. If he makes a bad throw, it's a run. I feel like these guys are sometimes embarrassed to run on a play when it seems pointless. But for all those millions, you just have to suck it up and run it out.

John Olerud's walk-to-the-plate music tonight included "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Paranoid." Nice job, Olerud. I've been waiting a long time to hear Nirvana played at Fenway.