This is the 4,000th published post on this blog. Can you believe it? Sorry, I have nothing special to celebrate this....and it really doesn't mean much outside the base-10 system, ha.

Nick Green was great tonight. On the mound. It's really too bad NESN opted not to show replays of either of his rocket throws to first or either ovation he got coming off the mound. Commercials are always the most important thing. It's a shame. Also too bad our little comeback attempt to get Nick a W fell short.

But we did get Clarke/Leary in the booth which is always funny. And Drew is catching fire at the right time. And the Yanks lost. My not-so-bold prediction at the beginning of the year that Posada would have issues with one of the new pitchers seems to be coming true. Speaking of Yankee pitchers, how funny is this teaser/blurb on the Daily News site today:

"Bondy: Joba Chamberlain says his rhythm is off and he doesn't know anymore how to coax a ground ball when it is required."

The article in question is here. (And check out Jobber's first quote in the article. Genius!)

Yesterday morning I was listening to the horrible sports show hosts I'd heard so much about but never was up early enough for anyway, and they were getting mad at Youk for apparently saying that the fans were up and down and up and down, happy when the team wins and ready to kill guys when the team loses one game. Something like that. And I thought, Gee, Mr. Media Ass holes, where would he get the impression that's how "we" feel? This is why we talk about the media "running guys out of town." These guys do turn on the radio. And they hear all this crap that I make fun of. Like the word "panic" every two weeks in a playoff-caliber season. I just hope that the players, as long as they're checking the radio/TV/internet, check out what real, sane, logical fans have to say. And those guys that call talk radio don't count. In life, people rarely go out of their way to point out a positive. It's much rarer than pointing out a negative, anyway. So the radio ends up with all the complaining idiots, and the people brainwashed by the very stations that take their calls.

And yes, I've heard the new 98.5 FM sports station, and, yes, I have noticed they've got a radical new concept: talking about sports! It's already better than EEI simply by being, you know, not EEI, but I'll see after a few weeks if it's worth listening to. Very glad to have the competition either way.

Oh, so while talking about that, either D or C (I'm not trying to be condescending, I just so rarely hear them that I don't know which voice goes with which name) then said that the Red Sox have won the World Series as a wild card twice. You're battin' .500 there, guy!

I also heard the other guy use the phrase "as thick as the Manhattan phone book." I have heard this phrase before, and I'd just like to point out that Manhattan isn't even the most populous borough in its city. It's not even number two! Terrible job by whoever coined that phrase.

What a weird night. I'll never forget sitting in the living room with the game on mute as Kim, my mom (staying over on her way to go see Teddy Kennedy), and Kara (staying over to help Kim sell soap tomorrow morning), looked up at the screen to see number 22 on the mound. Soon, in a 9-2 game, we were yelling at the screen like it was the World Series.

The White Sox scored nine runs tonight! You know what this means? The Red Sox are officially the only team left in all of baseball who haven't scored exactly nine runs in a game. Hard to believe we haven't nailed it lately, with all the runs we've been putting up. Will we make it all the way to September without a 9?

Kelly O'Connor was on NESN tonight. In the ninth, in the crowd, taking pics as usual. Just off edge of my screen, so probably clearly visible on widescreen. So she gets a mention on my blog two posts in a row. You can always check out her amazing Sox photos here. [Update: I checked the archived game on mlb.tv. She was totally on, as was Cyn, aka Toeing the Rubber! Makes me realize how much I'm missing without a widescreen TV--it seems like all I could see were those two guys in the middle! Kelly's at left with red hair taking pics, and Cyn's at right, in black, about to grab the camera hanging around her neck. Green's one strike away here...]



Ticket-mania! In the last few days I've gotten:

Celtics tix so I can take Kim to see her team again this year. (It will be mind-blowing to see a ticket with a 2010 date on it.)

Steven Wright tickets! First I meet him and then I find out he's doing some shows. I've tried to see him in the past, but it's always too much money. I can't miss him now.

I thought there was more than that. Oh well. I think we're gonna try to get Pixies tixies. They're touring and playing the Doolitle album. Another can't-miss-type event.