So, terribly, I forgot about the fact that today was the day to Monster seats if you won the lottery. Which I didn't. But on that day, they always put seats on sale in the afternoon by phone for non-winners. It used to be 3:00, but now it's 2:00. (I told you to read that entire press release which points this out!) Anyway, I forgot about it, until about 4:30. But I figured I'd give it a shot anyway....

...and I got through! I'm telling you, getting tickets to Fenway is NOT as hard as everyone thinks. I'm practically a season ticket holder at this point.

So I got four for one game--as opposed to last year, when I went the slightly more selfish route of getting two seats for one game and singles for two others. And when I say "seats," I mean the 30-dollar standing room. I've never paid for the over-100 dollar seats up there, but have ended up sitting in them plenty of times, as sometimes people don't show up, leave early, or just deal with the fact that there's one less seat because of you, and stand behind their kid or whatever.

So call now! It's the 877 REDSOX9 number.... (Opening Day and Yanks sold out, as are a lot of weekends, but I did get a summer Sunday.)

Here I am last year sitting in a front row Monster seat (again, I paid 30 bucks and sat here all game, with a friend next to me), when a special guest came and sat down beside me:

The dome is a driving range today. They should do this at Fenway. Thanks to our Philly buddy for these.

We just got some great news. Our friend is currently golfing in the Metrodome.

He says he'll be sending pics. I'll post them when I get them. Stay tuned.

Remember that picture I posted of Papi and Pedro the other day? That was from pretty recently, during a training session in the DR. That's the thing that was run by the shady character guy. Papi was there along with Pedro, Cano, A-Rod, etc.... Anyway, Papi has stated that the dude never pushed him toward 'roids. Rice and beans, man, rice and beans.

I've been a fan of Conan O'Brien since he took over Dave Letterman's old show in 1993--when I was a freshman in college. Since then I've watched every episode in its entirety. That's a lie. But I've seen a lot of them, including two in person. His show came to an end tonight. And it's really not that big of a deal since he's just moving up an hour, as host of The Tonight Show--but still, it's sad to see the 12:30 version of Conan come to an end, just as it was when Dave moved up, leaving the door open for Conan in the first place.

He said something I loved right before his final sign-off, which was basically that a lot people have been saying that since he'll be moving up an hour, he'll have to "grow up." He reassured us by adding, "it's just never gonna happen," at which point the audience burst into applause...

...and then were rewarded with pieces of the set Conan had chopped up with an ax.

In case you were delusional enough to think A-Rod told the truth and could simply move on and no one would think about the whole thing ever again, click here.

Check out photo 16 in this gallery. Kinda sad to see Alex Cora in another team's camp.

Open this link in a new window to see the World Series winners/losers and read along while I recite them with my eyes covered in the video below. Interactive fun!

He says we cheered Bay in his first at bat because we'd grown tired of Manny and Bay was a "breath of fresh air."

So how does explain the signs in the crowd right behind Bay that said "we miss Manny"?

Look, we cheered Bay because we were welcoming him in as our new starting left fielder.

If you have something to say, feel free to leave a comment. But if you're just going around pasting the same thing on dozens of blogs, I'm not going to let it through on mine. (Especially if you're selling something, and are attempting to mask it by acting like someone who happened to notice that thing and just happen to want to tell me about it. The worst part is that if you're supposed to be a salesman and these are the best techniques you've come up with, well, maybe you should consider a new field.)

Have you heard the story of Bobby Tolan's son? Do some research on that one. It should piss you off immensely.

Wow, can you believe they found "the cousin" so fast?

Got the rejection letter on the Monster lottery today. But it seems like I always win the second chance drawing on that one.

As for tickets overall, a week or so ago, they took down the T's on all weekend games, except for the first and last ones of the season. I know they've got seats left for those games, because I'd been checking, and they still had a lot of sections for sale right before their T's came down, so they probably just pulled 'em, and will dump 'em back in later. Keep your eyes open. As for the weekday games, still plenty of singles and obstructed views left. And plenty of standing room--I'm telling you, you buy four $25 pavilion standing room and just chill out way up there on a summer night with three friends, and you're golden.

As for Amalie's video where she says there are nine April and May games left with tickets available--it's 13. I'm wondering if the management (from which she's relaying the "news") was thinking they took off that first weekend series, plus Patriots' Day. Subtract those 4 from 13 and get 9. But it's 13--Pats' Day, the first April weekend series, plus the other nine weekday games besides Opening Day. And, like I said, you've also got all the other weekday games (plus that last weekend), besides Yanks games, through the end of the season.

I feel like people are gonna see Lucchino in his red hat with the socks on it and mention how he's got the "new" hat, not realizing that the "hanging sox" logo has been isolated on hats and things for years, it just was never used on the uniform. Larry's been wearing that hat for years. I've definitely seen people online being very confused about the history of the logo. I've been wearing my "hanging sox" hat since well before they decided to have the team wear them, too--and I fear people will see me and think I'm following the trend or something. However, yesterday, some kids came to my door selling something yesterday, and said he liked my "old school" hat. So now I don't know what to think. Except that I shouldn't think so much about this.

I just did a search on my book, and I found a library is doing a discussion group about it! I checked the date--the 18th at 7 PM. That's right now! So, sorry, I guess it's too late to go, but I hope people showed up and are having fun talking baseball. Wow, right now a group of people are discussing something I did. That's so weird.

[Update: my mom called that library (in Ledyard, CT) and they said they had a good group there. So, if you were at tonight's event, and it's your first time at this blog, welcome.]

The last piece of Shea Stadium has come down.

Some props and set-pieces from Late Night with Conan O'Brien are up for auction here.

Nice job by Boo-urns tonight with Inning 7. This is the one where the Dodgers finally beat the Yanks, and then they and the Giants leave New York. It ends with Teddy Ballgame retiring. They're showing Inning 8 on Thursday. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that I appear in the new episode (Inning 10). Here's a previously unseen pic I took of Burns on the day I was at Fenway while he was filming:
MLB Network is following tonight's episode with the 1959 World Series. And it's in color! It seems like all the World Series footage was black & white before '67, but I guess not. They just showed the famous Al Smith beer shower. I love this stuff.

A-Rod said he was lying in bed in March 2003 when he decided to stop taking steroids because he feared what they might do to him...but continued taking them for the next six months.

Mike Francesa has been great on this whole A-Rod thing. He's used the word "garbage" more than any other today. Click the listen live button on wfan.com.

The one thing A-Rod asks is that we judge him from this day forward. Okay, then you've got zero home runs. But you had no rings so you don't lose anything there....

Why did he keep saying he was 24? He turned 24 in July of '99. Even Joel Sherman can tell you that's sixty-seven years before 2001.

The worst part of this whole thing is how he won't admit he cheated, but then, when asked why he kept his three years of injections a secret, he said he knew he wasn't taking Tic-Tacs. He acts like he didn't know he was doing anything wrong, but then says a line like that. After an awesome, long pause, complete with extended "holy shit, you got me" face.

And as to my original question, it appears he admitted to taking the stuff (bought and by administered by his nameless "cousin") well into 2003. He got his little epiphany in bed in spring training of '03, but then kept taking this stuff, which said he didn't even know how to use, or whether or not it was working. And which he took for three years.

He also said he used "Rip Fuel" in Seattle.

Funny moment at the A-Rod press conference when Joel Sherman said, "you took the injections twice a month for three years. Basic math says that's 36 times."

I guess you need "advanced math" to come up with the "correct" answer (2 x 12 x 3 = 72).

A-Rod's press conference is about to start. We'll see if he clears up the huge hole in his story--the fact that he claims he stopped when he was injured in spring training of '03, yet he tested positive after that point. See my post about it here.

He never actually did say "I stopped at that moment." He only said that he decided to stop at that moment, and that the time he used was "pretty much" '01 to '03. I still say his "lying in bed" story is complete bull, an attempt to make it appear he only was using in Texas. The guy's gonna slip at some point (possibly today) or something else is gonna come out that will prove him to be even more of a liar than he already is.

I love how this whole thing is showing everyone how delusional Yankee fans are. Their guy is caught cheating, and their mind goes right to "well, your guy is, too." Even though our guy is completely innocent. It's as ludicrous as if your neighbor murdered someone, and when you say, Hey, terrible job, murderer, they come back with, "You murdered someone, too!" You can't just invent facts in life. Sometimes bad things happen to you, and you have to deal with them. The Yankee motto continues to be "IF."

Here's the photo.

Gimme the exact date.

My friend Anthony has been taking some great photos of abandoned places--buildings, houses, vehicles, etc. Out-check them here.

pic of Papi and Pedro by Eduardo Munoz

I just read that PECOTA's team-by-team predictions were off by an average of 8.5 wins per team for 2008. I just did a little math, and found out that if I had predicted each team to go 81-81 last year, the average win total error margin would be about 9.3. That average, picking 81-81 over the last four seasons, goes to right around 8.5.

So I guess I'll issue the 81-81 challenge to PECOTA this year. Granted, they had a down year last year, but hey, I could take a few teams and add a few wins or losses. Like, I could give the Red Sox and Yanks and Cubs 85 wins, give the Nationals 75, just to improve myself a little. Check back on October 4th, we'll see how it worked out.

I just flipped on MLB Network, and Saito was pitching to Josh Bard, in the Dodgers' four consecutive HR game. Now Dave Roberts is facing Aaron Sele. Those four guys represent four very different parts of Red Sox history. Also in this game are JD Drew and Julio Lugo. Ooh, now Manny Alexander is on deck. And, of course, Grady Little is the Dodgers' manager, and isn't it Nomar that ends up with the game-winning dong?

The first thing I noticed when I put this game on was how the seats behind the plate at Dodger Stadium looked much different--it used to be that underground standing area with Mike Brito wearing his hat and holding his gun. Now it's just regular seats. With no Brito. The game's from 2006, so obviously I haven't been paying attention--but I never do when it comes to the National, or bizzaro, League. I had only last year noticed the new seats down the lines. I think I liked it the old way.

But what happened to Brito? He doesn't even have a Wikipedia page! It seems he disappeared with little fanfare, after 20-plus years behind the plate. Or maybe he's come back since, I don't know. Anyone?

Speaking of Saito, I think he's gonna be key for us this year. In fact, our entire pitching staff from top to bottom is pretty amazing. I think our pitching will win us another championship, with our hitters just pounding away for the fun of it. In other words, I can't wait for this season to start.

That reminds me, don't you hate it when it's April, and people, especially those in the sports media field, say things like, "I'm not fully into baseball yet"? It happened a lot last year, with the early start in Japan. What, the five month layoff wasn't enough for you?

And now Bellhorn is on my screen. And from there, cut to a shot of Rudy Seanez. So with all those guys, plus Lowe and Mueller, there were a good dozen ex- or future Sox in this game. Okay, here's the boxscore. Penny started, Embree pitched, the list goes on and on.

And now Nomar is hitting the dong--and I'll switch over to HBO for the new Flight of the Conchords. (Kim got me a Bret & Jemaine T-shirt for Valentine's Day.) (And Jim Gaffigan was hilarious on it last week. I highly recommend this show.)


...Cla Meredith, Todd Walker....even Paul McAnulty, who's in camp with us right now...

I just read something by [a reporter] that said J.D. Drew is still feeling the effects of that mystery back ailment. Great. You got a month and a half, guy. No wait, you've had the past four months. Just be ready. You do want to be in the lineup when we sweep the World Series, right?

Peter Gammons on NESN today, about the stE-ROiD interview:

"He was very close to hyperventilating at one point."