Steinbrenner's attempt to control the weather backfired tonight. He pressed the red button on the Rainmaker '78, thinking the game would be called for a 3-2 Dunbar win. But the rain only caused problems for the yanks' defense. The ball slipped out of Cairo's glove on the tag for the tying and go-ahead runs. Chan would have had to clean up my brain from the rug if that out had been made, as my head would have exploded. What a frustrating game until that moment. Geat win, and really tough loss for them. Important moment in the season right there. Matsui being out, along with Shef, puts them in a rough spot. If we can get Coco back soon, maybe we can open up a lead.

The Hell, No Network was going for their Emmy tonight, and it was pissing me off. The "from behind the plate" view of a pitch is artsy and sometimes cool--for replays. Don't they know that if they show us this view live, we can't tell what's going on? They did it so many times, including on a Myers to Ortiz pitch. What the audience saw: Posada's back, then Myers disappearing from sight, along with the ball. Terrible job there.

From Kay, the usual BS. But on the two catches at the wall, come on, Kay. You know those balls wouldn't have been over the wall. Especially the Damon one. But all that 'splainin' ain't gonna get ya any awards. So it's "another home run robbed!" Kay was not backing down on that. They were "robs," no doubt. O'Neill or Jim "Wordy McGee" Kaat were not even allowed to suggest he might be lying or wrong. They were great plays. But the balls wouldn't have gone over the fence. Very clearly on the second one. I could tell before even seeing the replays. TJ, Backwards Kay.

He also conveniently talked over the point where the cretins cheered loudly when Manny was almost hit in the head.

Paul O'Neill was in the booth tonight, which is always amusing. I don't like the man, don't get me wrong, but to hear him make fun of Kay, who thinks he's "in" with every player who ever put on the pinstripes, is pretty fun. He's not the brightest guy, though. After the game, he talked about how Papelbon pitched like he'd been on the yankee Stadium mound before! Yeah, Paul, maybe because he had!

It was also funny how they were praising Bernie so much for making routine plays in right, and then he ended up botching the key fly ball.

Seeing Tanyon Sturtze cry and reflecting later on how good it felt is my new hobby. Oh, no, wait, I've been doing it for quite some time now.

Now Texas comes in, and I'll be in my annual field box seats. But it looks like rain. I better not get screwed on this.

It was my idea, but Reb did the cutting, stitching, and took the photo of me. Almost decided on "souled out," but that would've blown yankee fans' minds.

Not the usual huge amount of Sox fans at the Stadium. That'll happen with an early season, mid-weeker. But still, lots of Dunbar fans were commenting that they thought they were in the wrong park, etc. So we still had a lot, just not like on a summer weekend.

Looking down the one of the pipes leading to the basin. Click on any of these to enlarge. All photos copyright me as usual. Except for the Reb one.

Love to see that red flag to the left of the blue one.

During BP.

Overcast. But a very comfortable night, weather-wise.

David and Manny during the national anthem.

Papi heads for home on his dinger.

Empty-Head tries to Jeter one to the opposite field. You know that little scumbag actually had the nerve to double-point at the bleacher cretins during their role call? Dead to me, I tell ya.

Papi coming up to bat.

Here's the guy throwing the beer again. The story was: I don't know what he did to this lady, but she got pissed at him. Really pissed. She was standing up for herself, which was cool, while trying to get the attention of security. Getting no results that way, and with him saying who knows what to her, she tosses her beer at him. To which he overhands his brew at her, to the delight of the rest of the animals. Then, her friend, another woman, moved toward the guy, pissed. Another beer on him, another one back at her.

Now a cop finally reaches the area. People were tossed.

The guy in white (center of frame, facing camera and pointing) was doing the classic "I'm ready to fight" thing with the one Sox fan near him who kept standing up. Like Frank Costanza: "You want a piece of me??" It's ironic, because people who do this are really huge cowards. Think about it. As long as they know there are a lot of people around, and between the two of them, and that nothing can go too far because of the security all over the place, they can talk like a tough guy. Hey, at least the Sox fan had the guts to stand up to him with not many friendlies around. Although his buddy was a yankee fan. You can see him in the Damon shirt on the right, and to the right of him, a little red showing on the Sox fan. I liked how later, when the Sox fan had stuff thrown at him, the Damon guy stood up for him.

At one point, tempers really started to flare between the two guys mentioned above, and as everyone was screaming and cheering them on, this dude, a uniformed member of the Coward Corps, rains a beer down from six rows above. The cops finally figured out it was him.

He pleads his case to no avail.

Then he decides the smart thing to do is try to wrestle out of the cop's hold repeatedly. This made the cop rough him up on the way out. Here a security guy joins the cop in escorting the guy back to his parents' house in Valhalla. Finally, they just stationed NYPD around our section. Nobody messed with me, though. Mainly because I know to just sit and smile. On a play, do your standing, cheering, and yelling, at the field, and then sit back down. Like you would anywhere else. I don't find fights in real life, so I know how to avoid them in yankee Stadium. If anyone did actually assault me, I think I'd just go to a cop. If he kicks me out for some reason, hey, at least I get a police escort out of that shithole.

Loretta and Mirabelli, with Varitek hidden behind Doug. Reb and I got to the hotel at the moment the bus did. I was totally unprepared. I got to take two pictures.

The only other shot I got at the hotel. You can't tell that the white blob is Varitek, but it still looks really cool, with the weird curvy lines and stuff.

Classic quotes from yankee fans I heard Wednesday night:

"Wow, this upper deck is steep!"

"What was Ruth's number, one?"

"This guy [Melky Cabrera] used to play for Boston."

"Ohhhhh!" That was the reaction by the guy to the left of us literally every time the ball was hit. Fortunately he spent at least five innings on the beer line so we didn't have to hear it all night. Speaking of that, that may have been why there were so many empty seats the whole game. But I kind of think it was just because a lot of yankee fans were afraid to show up after the 14-3 loss. This post has gone on way too long. I'll just start ranting in a new post soon.

A picture of a man posing for a camera in a bar with his arm around a fan of his is not evidence of him being drunk nor cheating on his wife.

There are websites that imply this is what's going on--every time. I recently saw a picture of David Ortiz doing just what I described: Purposely posing for a pic, with two female fans, one kissing each of his cheeks. It was bad enough that that picture was included with the others, but then it got linked on a much more popular site, which is clearly connected to the first one, under the heading "players out drinking photos." And it just really made me mad.

I can see if you've got some evidence of someone cheating, or getting absolutely wasted, wanting to expose the person. It's their business, although if they do it in public, they deserve what they get. But when it's a person having innocent fun, often proven by the fact that they're looking right at the camera, it shouldn't be shown to the world under the false pretense that it's the uncovering of some dirty secret.

On this site, I've posted plenty of pictures of Red Sox players with their arm around my friend Rebecca. I could easily start another site, put up those same pictures, and make up some story about this blonde girl that all the Red Sox players are cheating on their wives with. But that's not what it is. It's a famous person posing with a fan. The norm in that situation, I've discovered, is for the famous person to put their arm around the total stranger. When my dad spotted then-coach of the Jets, Joe Walton, in Puerto Rico, and asked if he could take a pic with his ten-year old son, Walton put his arm around me like I was his grandson. But put that pic up on childmolesters dot net, or whatever, and it would look like something entirely different.

Unfortunately, people in all walks of life cheat on their spouses or boy/girlfriends. Men, women, people whose jobs take them all over, and people who stay in the same town their whole lives. If you did a site on Wall Street dudes with their mistresses in public, it might break the internet. (Although no one would log on to see some average Joe carousing in a bar.) I'm just saying that the baseball players who don't do anything wrong end up getting a bad rap.

Some people say, "Well, come on, they all do it, there's so much temptation..." I don't know about you, but I've already decided not to cheat on my girlfriend. Seriously, is something going to come up that I hadn't thought of, where I just absolutely can't control myself? Like, "Sorry, sweetie, I was there at the bus station, and she said she wanted to have sex with me, and I said no, but then she told me that her favorite number--get this--was also eight! What was I to do?"

Someone else said something to me once about how her friend lived in new York City, and there are just so many women there, he was bound to cheat. Well, I'm in New York City. There are so many yankee fans here. Am I bound to kill one, based on sheer volume? No. I don't cheat, I don't kill. It's already been decided. (Nevertheless, don't tempt me, yankee fans.)

Every year I tell myself I'd be fine never going to that god forsaken toilet bowl in The Bronx. But then I end up going anyway. Tonight it was the usual bullcrap, and the usual wondering: why anyone would want to support that team. Those fans are worst in baseball. And the least knowledgeable. And they need to be told when to cheer. For any of them to ever bring up the word "class" is ridiculous. To see that building crumble to the ground will be one of the sweetest moments in American history. But when I decide to go to support my Sox, they can't and won't stop me. Other Sox fans: it's a shitty place, but go. They want us to stay away, and without a championship for so long, the drunks are getting more restless by the game. Just don't seek out trouble, and you'll be fine.

I can't wait to get back to friendly Fenway this weekend.

Above: Dude in Williams jersey throws beer on woman. Click to enlarge, to see the spray. (It's actually kind of cool how it looks like he's throwing it onto the "NY," aka the arachnid, on th field.)

More on all of this, and the actual game, later.

What a great day this has been. I've read some really great recaps of last night around Blogton.

I'm off to The Bronx in a few hours. I'll have a special message on my shirt which you'll see pics of later. Then Reb and I may go down to the team hotel. So, if you like candid shots of players, root for that. If you don't, root against it or just don't look at the photos.

Hey, y'all wanna be my minions for a sec? For anyone who doesn't plan on going to the All-Star game in Pittsburgh this year, if you want to help my cause, go to pirates.com and register (free) for a chance to buy tickets to the All-Star game/HR derby thing. If you win, all you have to do is buy me the tickets I ask you to, and I'll pay you for them, throwing in a little something for the effort, if I know what you mean. Because, you're not going anyway, right? Cool. What I want to do is drive to Chicago, see the Sox vs. Sox on that July weekend, then stop in Pittsburgh on the way home and maybe catch the HR Derby on Monday. No big deal, but I figure if I can get tix to the Derby (only available through this lottery), that'll give me an excuse to make the trip. Wait, why did I want to see the HR Derby? This isn't making much sense now that I actually write it out. Well, either way, if you want to help me out, register for the thing, and let me know if you win at the end of May. At which point I may say, "Eh, I'm not doin' that anymore." But it only takes a few seconds to register. I can repay you for that with a few seconds worth of great pictures to look at right here at this site, free of charge. Or I can make you an official "Jere's Temporary Minion" ID card that you can use to access the no exclusive areas of this site.

From the Daily News:

"I'm upset at a lot of them," Steinbrenner said when reporters asked for his thoughts on The Big Unit. And then, unsolicited, he added: "The third baseman."

"I don't remember the last time I pitched a good ballgame."--Randy Johnson

Wow, what a game to miss. Tonight, my sister was in town and I took her to see Pleaseeasaur. I knew I'd be missing this game well ahead of time. I did get to see the first few innings as we ate pizza at the Two Boots in Grand Central. A dude at the bar had the remote, and seemed to think that switching over to the Mets game occasionally was the way to go. But I did see us take the lead in the third.

The next update I got was when I got home. I knew the game was over, and I saw a bunch of yankee fans around at Grand Central, which told me the game was probably a blowout, since they'd left early. I flipped on the TV, and waited for Yes to come back from commercial. Then Bob Lorenz was on my screen. I tried to read the face: solemn at best. Looks good. Do you know how good it felt when he said "Red Sox 14, yankees 3"?

So then I listened to Kay make excuses, and then Paul O'Neill actually said that "a lot of things just went right" for the Red Sox tonight. 14-3, I guess they did, Paul.

And then I saw Bernie Williams throw his helmet at an umpire. And they're acting like it's no big deal! I guess we can call him Delmon Old. Terrible job, Bernie. Bob Watson, I hope you were watching.

A-Rod's defense was nice, too. And sweet to see a Manny homer with a short-haired Damon chasing after it. Great job by our Sox tonight, but, hey, me and eight other bloggers could rack up 14 against Randy.

So, what was the deal? Were Sox fans out in full force? Did Johnny get booed? (I heard Dunbar fans booed Randy--which is so much "classier" than booing a guy on the rival team.) Can somebody fill me in? I don't know if I can stay up for Dunbar Rewind.

Wednesday I'll be in the upper deck, with Jennie and another dude from work, and Reb, taking the place of Chan. So at least I have one other Sox fan with me. Should be sweet.

My entire block, from avenue to avenue, is lined with parked emergency vehicles and fire trucks. This is the view out my window. A bunch of cops are standing around a building down the street, but everyone is calm. Maybe it's a drill or something. But no one seems to know. And anyone who's parked on the street is screwed, including the UPS man, who loaded up a cart and starting walking to deliver his packages. Maybe an update later.

Update: Word on the street was it was a jumper on a building down the block. I was in front of that building when they all came out with their equipment. And then they all left. They must've talked the person down.

What did we learn here today? Something we already knew: Cops are pricks. I very politely asked one what happened, to be told "police matter," followed by a shit-eating grin. A scat-munching grin, Bill Hicks would've called it. This continues the streak of me being polite to every policeperson I've ever talked to, and them being a total dick to me for no reason. All right, 99%. There was the nice Sandra Bullock-looking bike cop in Danbury, CT. Seriously, though, anybody who chooses to be the proverbial man is obviously an ego-maniac. Screw these people. Protect and serve, my ass. They never serve my need to know what the hell is going on! If you're in the one percent of good cops, tell your buddies to stop being assholes.

New York's rudest.

I saw Damon on the news yesterday, at a press conference, just saying the usual bullshit: It's gonna be a good series, I've never faced Beckett, etc. But he ended by saying, with a smirk, "we'll have the fans on our side." Not so fast, Johnny. Have you forgotten that a yankee Stadium crowd when the Sox are in town is about 40% Sox fans? And you can move that up considerably when half of Dunbar Domicile's denizens have headed for the bridge. Think about it: All the Sox fans will boo him every time. Dunbar fans will try to drown it out the first few times. But even if there are enough of them left to do it late in the game, they just won't be as excited about cheering a guy who's been up three times already as we will be to boo his ass yet again.

But, hey, I'm sure in Johnny's mind it will all be cheers. I still can't believe he had the nerve to tip his hat to the Fenway crowd before hearing the crowd's reaction, as if to pre-empt booing. That was spineless and manipulative. It's like when George just "showed up" after quitting his job.

Also, funny how the Sox took the Accela Express to the city yesterday. Let's hope that the Sox "win" the "series"!...Oh, whoops, I forgot to insert a train pun.

Check out this "who to cheer and who to boo"-type guide over at Red Sox Diary. Pretty funny, and pretty much in tune with my feelings. Except: Grady Little. I'm in the minority, but I really think the guy did what he could, and almost got us to a World Series. I never loved him, but I also never blamed him for the Pedro thing. I felt like it was a "damned if ya do/don't" situation there. It's like when George had the "lemon tree"/"tippy-toe" codeword prepared for when he was trying to steal the answering machine tape. At the last second, he got all nervous and just scrapped the plan. That was me with the bullpen in '03. Even though we had finally figured out the bullpen thing by the ALCS, and they were doing well, and we knew about the Pedro "100 pitches" rule, I totally would have scrapped the plan and said, Pedro, finish these fuckers off. And that Posada "double" was quite the bloop if you recall. So I just say ignorance for Grady. He got us to Gmae 7, ALCS. Not bad for a Sox manager in the "cursed" era. Also, Carl Everett I liked, a lot. However, I will not cheer him, but only because he came out saying a bunch of crap about homosexuality not being natural or whatever. But I don't boo him. The dinosaur stuff is just silly, doesn't bother me. Lots of people are into Jesus, but I don't let that affect how I feel about them as a player.

Parked for $2 at the not-so-secret spot. Here's the ballpark from a Pike overpass. Click these to enlarge. They're better that way.

Here's what the Pru would look like from the top of a really tall train.

Moon over the Pru. (Can you find both? If not, TJ.)

I like taking shots of places from weird angles and locations. Do you see Fenway Park?

What about now, chief?

The lady who paints Fenway Park seemingly continuously.

A better shot of her work. In her version, the gates are open, which proves she's been working on this for a while.

The crowd gathers around Kevin Millar.

Millar does something with one of his limbs.

Ortiz and Manny.

Ortiz with his arm around an Oriole.

Find Reb.

More Kevin.

Members of the Markakis family. The O's outfielder grew up a Sox fan on Long Island.

The sun over the Monster. We're now in our upper bleacher seats, section 38 WSBK.

The sky above Fenway, pre-game.

Another shot you'd never see unless you went to Fenway. The yellowish-brick building in the background is the same one on the right edge of the painter photo.

The sun setting over Fenway.

Crazy clouds.

Millar and Lowell.

Check out that flag whipping in the wind. Before this wind, it was a lovely evening. Afterwards, it was winter.

This dude (with long beard, in red Schilling jersey), who Pat dubbed "Rip Van Winkle," was literally falling asleep every few seconds starting in the first inning. Here's a rare shot of Rip awake.

Here he's nodded off. For a while, he stayed awake. He even lit up a smoke.

But by the fifth, he was completely passed out.

Here, a security guard tries to wake him up. After ten seconds of trying, he awakens, only to be given the boot.

It's weird to have the light from the tower aiming away from you while in the park. See the daytime shot of this. Also, one of those white dots toward the top is the moon.

Here's everyone on the field after Tavarez hit a dude with a pitch.

After the game, from same spot as first pic.

I'm surprised no one's used that yet. As in the call of Aaron's 715th: "He's sittin' on 714..."

Anyway, feel free to steal it. My opinion on Bonds is that he should have an asterisk next to his records as soon as they put one next to: "NY yankees, 2003 AL Champions," since Giambi's steroid-fueled homers off of Pedro were the difference in game seven of that year's ALCS.

Every time a stadium boos Bonds, Sheffield and Giambi smile, knowing their steroid use is being overshadowed just a little more.

I don't understand why people only get mad when records are in danger. It's like, "Hey, that dude's stealing that car!" "Eh, it's okay. It's not my car."

And I still think if Bonds were more likable (read: if America liked black people), people would probably cheer him.

For Giambi's juice, for Bucky Dent's corked bat, for Jeffrey Meier reaching over the wall, for Reggie Jackson sticking his big butt into the path of the ball, for Chuck Knoblauch missing a tag by three feet but still getting the out call, for every time Derek Jeter steals a call by throwing his glove in the air and every time George, I mean "the umps" call a game after five because it's drizzling and the yanks have the lead, all of which have led to should-be-asterisked yankee championships...for all the fans who watched helplessly as the yanks beat their team by cheating: Move their most beloved player down a notch on that list, Mr. Bonds. A cheater like you is the perfect person to do it.


I was going to end it there. Then I just watched the channel 7 sports guy, Scott Clark, give this little solemn speech after his report on Bonds' 713th: "It's a shame about this man. He's a Hall of Fame player...who cheated." If he's going to say that, he should do the same thing every night that he shows Giambi and Sheffield highlights. Unbelievable. So, seriously, Barry, pass the Babe. And if he passes Aaron, well, they won't need an asterisk because of the way he'll be remembered anyway.

Pretty sweet weekend for the Red Sox. Is it safe to say that the "we have trouble with the Orioles for some reason" era is officially over? I was at Fenway on Saturday, and to answer the question, no video, just still shots from the digital, and it's a tease, with only this Millar shot. I'll post more pictures on Monday night.

And on the way home at my parents' house, nephew Joey finds a squid. After an iffy stretch, my mom informs me he is starting to take to the Red Sox, claiming, "my favorite is Manny."