Professor Thom's, NYC, tonight--come watch the game and pick up a copy of Dirty Water and have it signed by us. Here are the details. They told me they got a huge crowd for game one. Should be fun tonight. If you're in the NY-area, be there!

Quick one-shot photo gallery from last night's Celtics game at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence--we got to see the first half before getting home for ALCS Game One.

Come on, Rays, let's have a series here...

Gotta score if you wanna win.

TBS continues to look at the game solely from the Tampa perspective. Every situation, it's "what can the Rays do here," or "the Rays need to do this here." Like I said in the ALDS, which had the same announcers, I've never seen anything like this. As I'm writing this, they're signing off, and Caray is saying, "don't despair, Rays fans." Hey, at least he specified "Rays fans" instead of just assuming we're all rooting against the Red Sox. I don't care if the positives for the Rays get more of a "holy shit" type call while the Sox successes are given a "well, we've seen this before" slant. That would be natural given the histories of the teams involved. But they act like they're playing a video game against the computer, with them as the Rays, and the computer as the Sox. Surely viewers are noticing this.

And I hope that liar Tim McCarver heard the announcers tonight refer to the Red Sox' top three starters as "the three aces," and then re-thinks his statement that "the Rays have to be favored in this series."

Dice-K is a wizard. He's magic or something. That stat they gave tonight, that he only gave up one RBI on 3-1 and 2-0 counts, just amazes me. He's like the Manny of pitching. He puts you where you think you're in control--but HE's in control. We all kind of thought he'd pull a Beckett '07 this year, and he got overshadowed by the masterful Jon Lester, but give this dude another year or two, and he will be THE ace. (Though maybe still a co-ace.)

The two 3-0 fly outs for them were costly. Terrible job, guys. That one inning--first two guys on, and 3-0 on Pena, and quickly we get out of it. And then Pap finishes them off easily.

And I loved seeing that sure-as-shit look on Longoria's face at one point (before his key double play ball in the inning described above). He was like, Aw yeah, I know something you don't, this is the Trop, and we're the Rays, we always come through. Well, we're the Red Sox, ass, and it didn't happen for you. Try again tomorrow.

So Kim and I went to a Celtics game earlier tonight--they played in Providence, pre-season, at 7:30. We saw most of the first half, got to see all the starters play, and still got home in time for the first inning. I'll post a few pics from that later.

Contest board through game 1.

!!!!!!!!!!

At 3:00, I began calling. Used our home phone, Kim's cell, and Skype on my laptop, with my three hands simultaneously. Around 4:00, Kim had to leave and needed her phone. The hour was getting late, my friends, as the shadows grew longer and... anyway, 4:30 rolls around, and I'm like a robot about to short out, now even surfing the net while hitting my redial on the phone, and on the Skype whenever I happen to notice it's crapped out.

And then I hear the woman! Oh my god. Where's it coming from? The computer! I've gotten through on Skype. I immediately start thinking of the "issues" you face in this situation: 1. Sometimes Skype ends a call for no reason. 2. You have to speak your address and other info during the process, and you never know if they'll will pick your voice up through your little laptop mic.

But I began the process. When they played back what I said for my address, it was maybe 80 % clear. But I couldn't risk re-recording. The longer the call, the more likely Skype cuts out on me, ruining everything. I complete the registration process, and start checking for tix.

I try game one. Sold out. Game two. Sold out. Game three. Sold out.

DO NOT LET ME HAVE GOTTEN THROUGH ONLY TO FIND OUT NO TICKETS ARE LEFT!

But I figure, if they were all sold out, surely a message would've said that in the first place.

Game four:

"There...are...FOUR...ticket categories...for...this...game."

Woohoo!

PLEASE LET AT LEAST ONE CATEGORY BE OF THE UNDER-200 DOLLAR VARIETY!

"For....two...hundred...fifty...dollars...."

And the next two options were mega-expensive seats, too. But the fourth option was 175-dollar grandstand. Sweet.

Only separate singles available. So what? I'll take two, please. (That's the limit.)

Now it's a race--let me get my confirmation number before Skype kills the call for no reason!

I made it out! Two tix to GAME SEVEN of the WORLD SERIES at FENWAY PARK!

For all three rounds, I scored on the phone sale.

Now, let's talk about that game: Should we lose the ALCS, it won't happen. Should we win the ALCS, but see the World Series end in four, five, or six games, my game won't happen. But it's good to know that if it does, I'll be there. At game seven of the World Fucking Series. If not, I get a really cool ticket for a game that never was played, for a non-refundable fee of 15 bucks--plus I'll get 350 bucks credited back to my card as a nice little gift.

Note: Should we make the WS, you can rest assured I'll be rooting for a Red Sox sweep. And if we're up 3-2 going to Game Six, I'll be rooting for the Sox as hard as ever. I'll only get excited about actually attending this game if and when the other team reaches three wins.


[tickets shown are not authentic and are used for display purposes only, as real tickets will not arrive in mail for several days]

Pat Burrell says this to Dodgers.

Watched a little of NLCS game one--but mainly watched the 1999 David Cross special on HBO.

If Tampa goes to the World Series, it'll be a first-ever match-up between them and the Dodgers or Phillies. But if the Red Sox win, it'll be a World Series rematch.

On this date in 1915, Boston scored the winning run in the top of the ninth at Philadelphia's Baker Bowl, tying the World Series at one game apiece. The series went back to Boston (Braves Field to accommodate the larger crowds), and the Red Sox beat the Phillies three in a row, to take their third World Series title. Four of the five games saw the winning team score the go-ahead runs in their final at bat, and every game was close (3-1, 2-1, 2-1, 2-1, 5-4). It was also Babe Ruth's World Series debut, though he only appeared once, as a pinch-hitter.

On this date in 1916, the Red Sox again won game two of the World Series, and again it was a 2-1 final with Boston winning in their last at bat. This time it was in 14 innings, against the Brooklyn Robins, later the Dodgers, and now in Los Angeles. Babe Ruth was the winning pitcher, giving up a run on six hits in 14 innings. The teams split the next two games at Ebbets Field, before the Red Sox wrapped it up at Braves Field in game five. The Red Sox were repeat champions--should they win the ALCS, they'll try to do it again versus one of the two teams they beat to accomplish the feat the first time.

I: Right before Kim went to bed, we were looking for something to watch On Demand. We noticed Jaws I, II, and 3-D were on there. I suggested we take a peek at 3-D, since I for one hadn't witnessed its splendor in quite some time. Kim went to bed almost in protest before I could fire it up, but I watched the first few minutes. I'd forgotten that Dennis Quaid had taken on the grown Mike Brody role, and that he wears a Sox hat. Then I switched it off, and almost immediately saw Quaid's name appear on my screen, as he was on Letterman tonight, promoting that Oliver Stone Bush movie. Weird.

II: I first heard of Zack Hample on 9/6/07 from a comment from pweezil. He was a kid who snagged balls. Now he's on The Tonight Show--watched him after switching from Letterman. (I didn't stick around to compare 1-D 2008 Quaid with 3-D 1983 Quaid.)

3-D: I'm going to a taping of Saturday Night Live. Every August, you send in your name, and if you get chosen, you get two free tickets to either a dress rehearsal or a live show on a date of their choice. This year, I went all out, asking friends and family to submit an entry, with the caveat that if they win, they have to take me. Come on, it's my idea.... So, my mom, who's been very lucky in getting her name entered by me in contests--er, entering contests, won! We're going next month. It'll be a dress rehearsal, which is better in that we'll see eff-ups, unseen skits, and we'll get home at a reasonable hour. Don't know the host/musical guest yet.

4: I remember when Jaws 4 came out. The commercials said "this time it's personal." I always thought it should've been "sharkal."

Unnumbered: You saw this, right?

First of all, the Smiths of Baseball project will be back this offseason, along with Kwiz Season, of course. The only new Smith to play in MLB in 2008 was Oakland's Greg Smith.

So, Lester pitched Monday, the series starts on Friday, yet he's pitching games 3 and 7? Not a fan of that, I'd rather they make it more certain he pitches twice, but they had to make it so nobody gets too much or too little rest.

Hey, has anyone tried calling the ticket office for ALCS tix? I've already got game 4 and 5, but if I didn't, I'd be calling 877 REDSOX9, like, every hour. Give it a shot, anytime between 10 and 5 tomorrow, or the next day, or the next day....

As far as World Series tix, should we make it, watch this page. When they finally list the day of the "WS sale for winners" (if you're not a winner), call the 617 482 4SOX line at 3:00 on that day. (Or whatever time, if they announce it--but it's always been 3) And keep trying till you get through.

Update: Five minutes after writing "if you're not a winner," I get the e-mail: "You are not a winner." So I didn't get selected in the ALDS, ALCS, or WS lottery, but I'm still getting to at least 3 playoff games, provided there's a game 5 in the ALCS.

Update: Here's the board:

Inning # / Contestant / # of Runs

1 / Kara / 3
2 / Mighty Quinn / 1
3 / pweezil / 3
4 / nick / 0
5 / bostoneagle7 / 4
6 / AJM / 3
7 / laureen / 6
8 / Rooster / 7 (winner--prize to be announced shortly)
9 / (Ryan) / 1

I will update the board here after each game, and I'll announce the prize before game 1. Good luck. (Note: I clearly forgot to announce the prize--I'll do it at some point.)
-----

Okay, first nine people to comment with their inning of choice get in. I'll announce the prize later. Get in by Friday mid-day. Remember, the ninth inning gets all extra innings, but the flip side is the Sox might not bat at all in the ninth in games 3-5. (But it did win in the ALDS.) Here's the tiebreaker: Pick the last batter to bat in the whole series. And if the last out is made on the bases, it'll be the last batter who was standing in the batter's box. So your entry should like something like this:

74th inning. Rich Gedman.

Only your inning would be 1-9, and your player will be on one of the current rosters. Look at the other comments before posting--don't pick an inning or a person that's been chosen already. The winner is the one whose inning (through the whole ALCS) ends up with the most runs scored in it. Go.

I went to Block Island when I was--nine? And although I've had a scary association with it--eardrums bursting and dungeons, thanks to a book my mom was writing at the time, I remember it being pretty cool. After moving to Rhode Island last month, one of the first things we did was take the ferry over there.
When we got to the dock, it was so foggy I started worrying our high speed ferry would get into a mid-water collision. But we took off right into it. Really choppy on the way over, but fun. Takes about a half hour.

As you get closer to the island, you go alongside it, so you see the really cool and deadly cliffs. We broke out of the fog just in time to get a view.

Tips of islands (capes, land masses, etc.) intrigue me. So we rented bikes and pedaled as far north as you can go, then walked the beach to the northernmost point. You can see the tip in the distance above.

People (aliens?) make these little rock towers on the beach. Here, someone goes the Stonehenge route.

The tip! Waves were breaking from each side, as you can see above, slowly making the tip shorter. You're not supposed to swim around here, because of the undertow. But we definitely went in up to our knees. This was a few weeks ago--it was a really warm day.

Now onto one of the beaches where you are supposed to swim. Great waves, and way out by the cliffs, one of those para-saila-wind-kite-boarders.

Wave breaking.

These two seemed to only be in this boat so that they could go over waves and flip over repeatedly. Here, the front dude almost falls out.

Now we're up at the top of Mohegan Bluff with its famous (to me) staircase. It's cool, you take the stairs all the way down, 200 feet, to the beach.

Down on the beach.

And another beach shot.

Bonus shot: Me (and my sister) on the ferry arriving at Block Island, at some point in the mid-80s.


Get physical!

Two of my latest ideas, and one classic in case Red Sox management is reading.

1. Bowl Lick. I guess it's just cake/cookie batter in little cups, like the way they make yogurt. Lick the bowl any time!

2. A root beer scented soap called Royal Rooter. (This one's for Kim--I think she just may do it.)

3. Monster Movies. Red Sox front office--you need to make this happen. Everybody sits on blankets in the outfield on a summer night watching movies projected onto the Green Monster.

Oh, and check out this Nardwuar interview with the San Diego Chicken. I'm a huge Nardwuar fan, so I was psyched to find this. It's funny how you almost can't tell them apart. Nardwuar found his Poul-mate, I think.

This Saturday night, October 11th, my mom and I will be signing copies of Dirty Water: A Red Sox Mystery at the coolest of places--the Red Sox bar Professor Thom's in Manhattan. Game 2 of the ALCS will be on at 8:07. We'll be there at 7:00. Stop by, say hi, buy a book, get it defaced by us, and then stay for the game.

Thom's: 219 Second Avenue (between 13th and 14th Streets) (map here)

Even if you can't make it the night of the signing, I highly recommend watching a Red Sox game at Thom's, especially a playoff game. There's something special about being in New York City, and watching a Red Sox game with hundreds of other people who are all crazily rooting FOR the Red Sox.

We have a few other events coming up--I'll keep you updated here and over at the Dirty Water blog. And Professor Thom's blog is here.

I'm going to ALCS game 4 and 5 (called ticket office over and over until they picked up on the day they released the tickets). So I'm totally psyched. (Of course, game 5 won't happen if there's a sweep.) We played the Rays pretty even this year--but a lot of those games were with them giving it everything they had, while we knew we were pretty much in the playoffs anyway. I think they will see a different Sox team now that we know it's win or go home.

Now, about tonight's game, oh my freakin' lord. They put us through so much, but it just makes the results that much sweeter. I was on cloud negative 9 when Lester came out. I just thought, Stick with him, it's too important. Then Oki gives up a four-pitch walk. Masterson comes in, and another walk. Putting the tying runs on base on walks makes me want to just go and become a cricket fan or something. And even after the tying run scores, Tito just refuses to put in Pap. Hey, it worked out. I'm happy now, and that's the key.

The ninth inning: Scoscia--come on! A squeeze? You need a moderately deep fly ball to take the lead! Everything's going your way, what are you getting cute for? Whatever, man. Works for me, obviously. And then in the bottom. That right fielder gambles the series on a dive. If it skims his glove and goes around the corner instead of bouncing into the crowd, Bay's still running. Then Kiedis saves their asses, but then Lowrie bounces one to the right side. I knew it was going through. Once that squeeze failed, we weren't losing. So it goes through, and, again, I knew Bay would be safe. What a great shot that was of him rounding third. And a great celebration to follow.

A lot of weird stuff in this series. Bad defense will cause that every time. Now we go on to Tamper. Game one Friday. Game two--come on down to NYC Saturday night and watch the game at the Red Sox bar, Profesor Thom's. I'll be there. More on that soon.

Weirdest question asked in our house tonight:

"Kim, did you throw away the lucky piece of toilet paper I used to clean my glasses before game one that was sitting on the Remy/Orsillo bobbledesk?"

She had. But it turns out she made the right call!

SoxyLady wins the contest. She was one of the last to pick an inning, and chose the ninth. Her inning was tied for the lead after game one, as the Sox scored 2 in the ninth. Two more key runs in game two tied it up again with the first inning, which got 4 runs in that game. In game 3, she had four shots at it, as the ninth inning person gets all extra innings (but risks not batting at all if the team's ahead after 8 at home). The Sox didn't score, though, and she went into game 4 still tied for the lead. No other inning passed the ninth as we headed into the ninth, and when the Sox won it with a run, she got the 5th 9th-inning run of the series, breaking the tie. (Had a tiebreaker come into play, she also predicted the exact number of hits in the ninth for the series--9.) Congratulations, SoxyLady. You win a copy of Dirty Water.

Game 1 is Friday. Start thinking about what inning you all want for that one. Don't comment on that yet, I'll do a new post soon.

Know what I like? The fact that maybe we brought some neutral fans over to our side due to the fact that the announcers were so pro-Angels. I've never seen a display like that. So screw you, TBS dudes.

ALCS!!!!!!

Mike Lowell's out for Game 4. Thank you. You shouldn't have a guy who can't move in your lineup, even if he's a guy you really, really like. Drew is back for tonight. I won't be at the game, so I get to watch as the TBS announcers and umpires continue to root against us. I had hoped that maybe the reason it was so blatant in the first two games was that they were going for the "side with the home team" effect, but from what I heard about last night, that wasn't the case.

During game two, when they almost picked off Coco, on the play, as the pitcher was wheeling around, Buck Martinez yelled "got him!" That made it unmistakable who they were rooting for. It's also funny to listen to the Drew HR call by Caray--then listen to some fly balls that ended up shy of the warning track hit by Angels. You'd think the former would involve drama, anticipation, and yelling, but no, it's the latter.

Dustin Pedroia has been screwed up since his first at bat in game one. I was writing about it in the Joy of Sox thread as it happened--it's like he's trying to be too cute. Like, "Okay, here's what I have to do in this at bat." Instead of just wailing away, which is what got him such great numbers this year. I don't mean he shouldn't think about the situation when he's up--but don't try to Jeter one into shallow right when you can whack one the other way. Just seemed like he was trying too hard on those first two at bats, and he's been effed up since. I wish he would keep thinking of himself as a cleanup hitter stuck in the two hole, rather than a table-setting number two hitter. Laser show!

Contest board here. Still anybody's game.

Sox BP was just ending as we walked in, so not a lot of hometown players. But my mom was psyched to see Dice and Oki trot past us under the stands, taking the shortcut from field to secret door to clubhouse. Above, a Manny fan. Nice.

Mickey Hatcher, who played in "my" day.

What would a man in a cape be doing with Mike Scoscia? What would Mike Scoscia be doing with a man in a cape? Did you know Scoscia hits grounders to infielders during BP?

The extra media row. Only in baseball could areas in play be altered by the need for more photographers.

ALDS logo on the field.

Sager was a little more subdued, outfit-wise, for game three. You'll notice we're in the super-private section. That's because we had to have a little chat with Kapstein, shown in the background.

Usually I get the shot of Beckett holding up the wall. Right before that, he seems to bless the wall. Didn't work on this night.

Mom and I were in section 4. Here are the retired numbers from there. I noticed before the game that Pesky's 6 has been added to the numbers outside. Forgot to get a pic of that.

They were lined up three deep to watch Beckett warm up.

Papi's leg parallel to the pole.

Sager now out in right field.

Did you know military types spread their arms out so they can all be evenly spaced out when they stand in a line?

We got to see intros--it's always fun when they do that before a Yankee game, as you get to boo every Yankee right down to the traveling secretary. I didn't like how they editorialized during the intros, giving a special welcome to Jason Bay, implying "you all hate Manny and like this guy...you all hate Manny and like this guy..."

Jim Rice threw out the first ball. As you can see, we did have the foul pole between us and the mound. But that's a lot better than the other kind of pole.

Okay, this is it for the gallery--toward the very end, the fog started rolling in. And you know how the game turned out. Gotta end it tonight.

What a weird night. I guess you could say my mom (attending her first playoff game) and I got our money's worth. The full-on Fenway playoff experience, minus the winning part. The Sox are now 0-2 this year in clinching possibilities with me in the stands.

It's always a crappy feeling when you sit out in the cold for six hours and don't get a win. But we did get to see a three-run single. And we did get to see our ad for Dirty Water in Boston Baseball (the unofficial scorebook magazine). Check it out if you go Monday night, or if you see it on the newsstand. Page 19.

Good thing our "new ace" is pitching tonight....

I've already got tix for tonight, but I'm just sayin', they are answering the phones at the ticket office today. Try it today and see if you can get anything for tonight. 877 Red Sox 9.

You have to trust me when I say I just whipped this up real quick. I probably could've made this a huge project, matching up lip movements to the vocal track, etc., etc. But I just wanted to get the main idea down.



I also could've uploaded the video directly to the computer instead of just videotaping the computer screen...again, not that big a deal. But kinda funny, I think.