Daily News:

"I've never seen Mo throw a wild pitch," said an exasperated Girardi. "Never in my life."

Okay, even if you've watched most Yankee games for the past 13 years or so, I'd say it's understandable to not remember any of Mo's wild pitches, up until the game-losing one last night. But when you were the catcher while some of those wild pitches were happening, as Girardi was in these three games, maybe it's not a good idea to say you've never seen it happen in your life.


Bonus forgetfulness: Mo also threw a wild pitch with "Noe Torre" behind the plate in this ALDS game. (Then again, if Girardi has never seen one, it couldn't have happened. Maybe that pesky mask got in the way....)

For the four or five of us in the world who've been anxiously awaiting the game where the Red Sox break the all-time consecutive sellout streak, there's been a change in plans.

The day we hit 456 was supposed to be the afternoon game on September 3rd against Baltimore. That was assuming there were no rained-out games which were rescheduled for a date beyond September 3rd. That's what happened tonight. With tonight's game rescheduled for September 13th, the next home game after September 3rd becomes "the day." That day would be...September 8th! Why an exclamation point? Because that's my birthday!

Don't worry, I have tix to both games... hopefully the date doesn't get pushed back any further.

So I got a little wet at Fenway tonight, and only came out with a few rainy pics. But those are my favorite kind. I'll post them later.

The Rays, meanwhile, had a no-hitter broken up on a play that should've been scored an error. They're up 6-0 in the eighth in Texas. The Yanks are down 3-1 at home vs. KC. And they demoted Melky! Laughing my ass off. And it looks like after tonight Pedroia and Youk will be one-two in batting average in the AL.

[Update, 11:06: Rays win, so we're 3.5 out, and 2.5 up in the WC as the Twins won. Yanks are tied at 3 in the 8th.]

[Fun update, 11:58: Mo does his usual--giving up the go-ahead run in a tie game in the ninth. In the bottom half, the Yanks get a runner on, who gets picked off. Then with two outs, they get a hit, a walk, and a squibber by A-Rod which the pitcher refuses to throw to first. Loaded for Giambi, and he flies out to center. KC tried to give them a win, but they still lose. Michael Kay was going on and on about how the Yanks' woes are "hard to explain." I'll explain it: they stink, and they're getting what they deserve, though I won't be completely happy until their drought reaches 87 years. They're now 10.5 out of first with 40 to play.]

My final Monster game tonight--will I get to sit in the front row despite only having an SRO ticket? I'm not counting on it. But we'll see. Look for me up there. I'll be the one making an incredible catch of a dong.

Manny D, Aardsma, and in the middle...Charlie Zink, though I didn't know it when I took this pic, shortly after arriving at Fenway on Tuesday.

Couldn't help but notice this guy working on the robot centerfield camera. It's hardly been used at all this series, so I'm hoping the guy broke it. I actually guessed they were making it rotate-able when I saw this guy up there.

Texas' batting practice. See the kid in the white shirt at right? He made a great leaping catch of a BP dong. I was twenty rows up, trying to snag a dong that sails over those people at the fence. I figured Josh Hamilton would give me many chances. Turns out, he hardly gave anybody any.

Very weird cloud formations goin' on that evening...

The scoreboard dudes, just now getting the out of town games up, as it was the first game of the homestand.

This Ranger player was really having fun with the crowd.

He came back from the corner to tell his buddy that somebody was trying to take his picture. At the end of BP, he'd end up posing for the person and signing some autographs.

Only now, after Thursday's game, in which we completed the sweep, did I check the Rangers' roster to figure out who he was. Turns out it was tonight's loser, Tommy Hunter.

The sun visible through the bottom of this blanket of a gray cloud. And finally, Zink takes the field, stretches, and throws his very long bullpen session. Not too many more captions from here on out--but I will note that the scoreboard people put up a "77" next to "Boston." So I'm standing there taking #51's pitcher half-wondering if I had the wrong guy at first. Finally, right before or maybe during the first inning, they fixed the scoreboard.









The bullpen cop has a tattoo with a little devil with a pitchfork with something about "hell" written below it.


Look at that bird!










There you have it. Then the game started. My pics of that can be found here. (Charlie was sent back down after the game....)

Sox win 10-0 to sweep the Rangers. Rays players are dropping like flies, but they win today, so we're still 3 back, and 3 ahead in the wild card.

Recent egregious errors: NESN Sportsdesk guy just now says "the idle Yanks lose a game and a half." Try a half-game, guy. The Extra Bases blog spelled "Larry Bird" with a Y instead of an I. That one got corrected. And I'm not even gonna tell you what Bill Cosby did tonight, it was too embarrassing....

Chris "Mad Dog" Russo has been released from WFAN! Mike & the Mad Dog, split up. I owe the use of my favorite phrase, "terrible job," to Russo. I guess he's moving to satellite radio. Good luck to one of the great Yankee-haters in New York radio history, if not anywhere.

(Here's my original post about "TJ," from '05.)

...but it is our house, as of a few hours ago! Kim and I are homeowners (pay attention, Beavis) in the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

That's a picture of our staircase, with the former owners' cat, which I took when we first looked at the place. We do retain the scratch marks on the window screens....

We'll still be in Somerville till the end of the month, but the packing begins now. Now-ish....

Lester needed to give the bullpen a rest tonight and he did. 8-4 win. Rays win 3-2 with Oakland getting the tying run thrown out stealing in the ninth, so we're still 3 back. Yanks lost earlier.

Tonight, Gammons was in the booth with DO and Rem. As he left, he called Remy "Scoots." I knew Remy was called Scooter back in the day. I even mentioned it here about a year ago. Yet it appears nowhere online. Google it and you'll only find that post by me. So I feel a little less crazy now. Gammons has verified it. I feel like Baseball Reference (and others) should change his nickname on their site from RemDawg to Scooter/Scoots. RemDawg is a post-playing career nickname.

Shaky robot cam got the hook tonight after about an inning. Nice job, NESN. I actually saw a guy up there in pre-game yesterday futzing with it. Whatever improvement they made clearly didn't work. Give it up, already!

Finally, we got that pitcher Byrd yesterday while I was at Fenway. This is the guy who is all into Jesus but then somehow went against Jesus' teachings and bought some HGH. Is this the type of "antic" Manny was supposed to be doing? Would they have kept him in that case?

NOTE: My Charlie Zink/pregame gallery will be posted separately. Stay tuned for that. These shots are from the actual game only. (Update: Here are the pre-game pics.)
7:00. Chuck Zink shown on the board in the dugout, about to make his major league debut.

I got a pavilion standing room ticket earlier in the day from the team website: $29.25 total. Went to the Gate C will call window, and a big group was waiting there. They were all together, and I couldn't tell if they were just meeting there or were on line. One guy came right up to me and said, "you just get in?" I'm like, "what?" And he goes, "are you ready for all the fun?" This dude assumed I was part of his group. I told him I was just waiting for will call, and he said they weren't, so I just went ahead of them and was the second person on the will call line, behind an old Texan and two young Texans.

Charlie Zink takes the mound.

Umps are flexible.

Zink's first major league pitch.

Zink's first out, as Bay makes the catch.

Kinsler passes Zink after making the first out.

Zink's follow-through. He had a 1-2-3 first.

Looking out behind me at the setting sun and the flags. It was a little windy up there. My long sleever was perfect. A really nice night.

The lost boy, Feldman, who gave up 10 in the first.

Papi hit a three-run dong down the line. We had a great view of it. The two baserunners were pretty close together....

And Papi reaches home to make it 3-0 us.

Bay on deck.

A FedEx plane landing over the first base pavilion.

Lowrie up. He'd hit a double, tacking on more runs.

Papi bats again in the first, and AGAIN hits a three-run dong! And something I've wondered about and mentioned on this blog actually happened--the ball hit the center field fence in straight away center, just to the in-play side of the yellow line...but caromed into the crowd, over the shorter fence out in the triangle. Dong.

A ten-run first!

Papi in the dugout after hitting two first-inning dongs. Look how happy Beckett is about this.

See that fiery pink color in the middle of the pic. That's the sun reflecting off that building.

And turning around, here's that crazy red-pink sun setting.

A plane landing over "The Colonnade." Yeah, it was all scenery pics with our seemingly insurmountable lead....

Night falls over Fenway.

Josh Hamilton alone in center.

Zink seemed nervous. He kept them from coming all the way back--but did give up six runs. Tito had just come out to argue the Coco catch which was errantly called a non-catch, and then took out Zink, so Cash wasn't even on the mound to see him off.

Charlie in the dugout. As you can see, rain had fallen for a few minutes. But I was covered up there.

More bars in more places. Or something.

Papi hit what looked like another dong, a ball that went into the stands in dead center. But the ump claimed a kid reached over the fence. Here, the umps gather, but do not change the call.

Fortunately, Youk hit a dong right after, scoring he and Papi. Texas had cut it to 12-10, so this was key. Now 14-10 Sox.

And finally Texas had come all the way back to take the lead. At stretch time, after an inning's worth of pure disgust, standing there in shock while these three drunks decided to suddenly cheer wildly for the Sox in a very annoying attention-wanting way, I headed downstairs after a long walk. Man, these kids were stupid. When the Rangers had tied it, and were still batting, they started their fake cheering: "Okay, we're comin' back, here we go, woooo!" I wanted to go up to them and say, "you can't 'come back' unless A. you're behind, and B. you're batting. We're tied and the other team is up. Shut up."

The Sox would close it to one in the seventh, and here, we are all going nuts as Pedroia has doubled home pinch-hitter Ellsbury to tie it in the eighth. Hey, have you noticed Pedroia changed his at bat music? It used to be a song with a similar beat and sound to a Snoop/Dre tune, but now, I think to the delight of all of us, it's the actual Snoop/Dre song.

Papi is walked intentionally. I could've gotten closer to the field, but decided to stay toward the back of the grandstand. Down there, there was none of the wind which had been at my back up top. It was almost hot down there.

Youk comes up, and boom. Three-run shot, and it's 19-17!

Youk was going nuts as he circled the bases and afterward.

Okay, Yankee fans. A lesson. When you have a ten-run lead, blow the whole damn thing, and have a late comeback culminating in a huge dong to take a 19-17 lead in a four hour game in an August pennant race, you cheer for that player to come out and tip his cap. You don't do it on every home run! It's quite simple. You don't leave your inheritance to the kid at McDonald's who successfully got you your fries.

So now it was up to Pap.

And he gets the save. Pedroia just made the catch for the final out.

Papi greets his mates on the receiving line....and it turns out I should've pulled a Kramer with that group before the game. The people in orange hats right next to the Sox dugout? Them.