The Indians retire none of the first 12 batters we send up in the sixth. And all 12 score before an out is recorded. Red Sox roll 13-3, with Youk, Jacoby, and Papi out. Lugo and Rocco came through. Well, everybody did in that one inning...

Yanks are in a homer-fest with Tampa at Air Current Stadium. Pettitte gave up four dongs. But Damon's two-out, eighth inning homer tied it at 6, and Mo came in for the ninth...and he gave up two home runs! Yanks trail 8-6, going bottom nine. I will update.

Update, 10:38: And just after the entire Red Sox post-game coverage ends (our game was 2:35 long), the Yanks' ninth ends--they lose their fifth in a row! The empty seats are PISSED right now.

This Cleveland guy, LaPorta, LOVES the Red Sox. But he's not on the team due to "god's plan." If you love the Sox so much, I'd say Goddy McGee's lost a little off his fastball!

That Just For Men "high school reunion" commercial ("Who's that?" "My husband.") needs to just shut up. And who's singing, the Whos down in Whoville?

Sox/CLE starts soon--the pregame talk has begun. Eck called it "sickening." Lowell says the list of people kids can look up to is getting shorter and shorter. And Kotsay's pissed because he's a Dodger fan! Jim Rice: "I didn't use drugs. You don't need that."

As of 6:27, in our contest, we've got the Phillies alone in first, and the five untaken teams making a group of six. Then there are six teams tied for second, six tied for third, and six tied for fourth. 6!

When A-Rod was caught, Yankee fans deflected it by saying "oh, everybody did it," "eh, nothing surprises me," and the worst one: "it's just sad," implying you're a bad person if your reaction was anything else (like being pissed off at him for being a cheater, or being happy that a player you hate got caught).

So....I expect they'll say all the same things now, right? Fat chance.

People always say, "nothing would shock me anymore" when it comes to performance enhancing drugs. But I just got shocked!


I'm sure it will be the usual tale of something he took not knowing etc. etc....we shall see.

That was a chimp of a game. Big leads mean moving to better seats, though, so I did get some good pics from the field boxes. I'd take a win a million times out of a million over that, though.

I listened to Francesa on the way up, and it was amazing. He was really making fun of the empties at Yankee Stadium. And he was PISSED about Joba going nuts while LOSING the game. "Can ya get a lead first?!" Oh, man, he was yellin' like Dog used to. And he was also all over the Yes guys for acting like Joba--again, the losing pitcher who gave up four runs before getting an out--turned in the greatest performance in history.

Yanks lost tonight--at home again. So there's that. Tex had a chance to tie it with just a sac fly in the 10th, but failed. (And they have to be a little pissed at Pavano beating us tonight. Just a little.) I heard some of Sterling in the car on the way home, and he said, and I swear I'm not making this up, "I've never seen a team get fewer breaks than the Yanks. You'd think they could catch a break just once!" (The next pitch got past the catcher moving Damon to third as the potential tying run, at which point he added, "they get a break there...")

I'll post pics tomorrow.

Just found out--Remy had lung cancer surgery and that's why he's been out. Here's to a smooth recovery, RemDawg.

Pre-gallery notes: Cheap food extended into May! (As I thought, since they did a radio spot for it after the last April home game had been played.) And--get your Don Orsillo shirt. (Let's see if more people than just my mom and Michael Leggett buy this one.)

With bleacher seats in deep center, I didn't plan on many game shots that night (although I shot video of Bay's game-tying HR), but I did get some interesting pre-game shots. First, I went up on the Monster with my RSN card--my mom was supposed to meet me, but was late, so I went up without her--but she gave a sob story when she got there and joined me. Above, Papelbon down on the field, who would boo the fans up there for missing a ball tossed up to them.

Now I'm in my bleacher seat. My mom took this shot of me. When I bought these, I was excited at the possibility of being against the back wall (seats # 1 and 2) and a very short row, due to the angle of the wall. Sure enough, it was a two seat row! You can see the yellow bag on the seat next to me. That's the row. In front of us, a five seat row, and they get longer as you go down.

It was like having our own non-luxury box. We had room to either side and behind us, never had to get up for anyone, and could stand whenever we wanted. I'd watch the last few crazy innings standing, leaning on the back wall.

Looking along the top of the back bleacher wall. Look closely and you'll see the antenna of the Prudential building right at the top of the wall, and you can see some of the bleacher seats at right.

And turning the camera around, looking back down the back wall toward the Monster Seats, with Lansdowne Street on the right.

Looking straight up at the underside of the centerfield message board, with the red '07 WS flag barely visible.

Another shot looking to the right. It was a gorgeous day with classic Fenway chill as soon as it got dark.

Peering over the back wall down at a ticket window on Lansdowne. See the letters spelling out "TICKETS"?

The field from our "box" seats.

Our view of the light tower was from the exact side-perspective.

Close-up of bleacher seats.

United States of Coke.

Looking down the bleacher steps.

Some Yankees with long shadows.

There's always plenty of this at Sox-Yanks games. (Also note the long shadows on the field and of the Sox fan's hand.)

Turning around, looking straight out over the back wall, this is all we could see of the Citgo sign.

Military dude--and note another camera on top of the roof of the camera well. Since NESN no longer regularly uses the well, with that crappy new robot cam in the straightaway CF position, maybe they put this robot cam here in case they want the "classic" (but a little higher) shot for replays. That new view is still messing with me. On the first game of every road trip, we say "whoa, this camera's waaaay to the side!" And then we realize it's "normal," and we've just gotten used to the NESN straightaway shot.

Vapor trails or whatever.

Tek isn't making a weird motion to the crowd, he's stretching. There was quite a crowd gathered watching him, considering you can see this every game.

It was our first live look at the socky hats.

Finally it was time for...


vs.



And you all know what happened that night. But I did do a further description in this post, and the video is linked above in this one. But here are just a few shots from during the game:

Fenway at dusk.

What Lansdowne Street looks like during the late innings of a packed Yanks-Sox game.

Looking up and to the right at that board that gives lineups and stuff--this isn't blurry, look closely. Weird how that board was made.

And Phil Coke enters the game! (Too bad his name is kind of blurry, woulda been a great shot.)

Okajeter.

Papelbon strikes out Teixeira to end the top of the...tenth I think.

And Youk rounds third on his walk-off homer, and we all go crazy, and then hang out until every fan has left Fenway....

Then the Sox came back from down 6-0 to win the next night, as I watched from the bleachers again, and the next night I went yet again, got a batting practice ball, saw a steal of home, and saw the Sox sweep the Yanks in one of the greatest weekends in Fenway history. So...

Okay, for real this time: The Don Orsillo shirt. Pick what kind of shirt you want, then the color, then the size. It seems like you have to pick in that order before it gives you a chance to buy.

Later today: Finally, those pics from last Friday at Fenway.

This series sweep is one you hoped neutral fans got to see, so they could witness the difference between Red Sox and Yankees. Joba's strike zone was bigger than his mom's meth lab, yet he, and the fans, would still whine like crazy on literally every call that didn't go their way, right or wrong. And then the DUI decimal cyst goes and hits Jason Bay completely on purpose.

This was the classic game that the Yanks win--last century. Their fans are slowly but surely realizing whose century this is. You don't win because you wear pinstripes. In fact, you're more likely to stumble. How sweet it is. Beckett just wouldn't break, and our solid bullpen out-pitched their nameless one, and we take the rain-soaked win.

Eck was on fire tonight. He's just like the rest of us, with the comments he makes. I'm thinkin' "waste a pitch," and he says it. I'm thinkin' "they got lucky there," and he says it. I'm thinkin' "Molina stinks, don't you dare let him get on base," and he, essentially, says it. Yet he doesn't do any over-the-top rooting, which has become the norm around the league. A fine job by him filling in.

I love that I got to go to the last three games of the last homestand (all wins over the Yanks) and will be going to the first one of this one (after a sweep of the Yanks in New York).

Contest Update: The Phils scored 10! They are one total away from winning! (And are the team Lee "settled" on after the controversy when two people picked the Rangers at the same time.) I guess I don't need to come up with any tie-breaking rules until TWO teams are one total away, though. Only the Phillies can win tomorrow night (unless KC comes up with a late rally right now), so we'll see what happens and we'll talk again afterwards. They play at the Mets and they need 11 runs--I'll keep an eye on the board at Fenway. Good luck scoring 11 off Santana, though...

I've been wondering about our contest, in terms of official rules. Like, what if two teams reach "the goal" on the same day? Or what if two teams do it while playing each other? I will lay it all out once a team gets to within one.

But now there's a new wrinkle which I hadn't thought of. Today's Astros-Nationals game has been suspended. It will be completed when the two teams meet again in July. It's 10-10 in the 11th. When the finish this game in July, it will still be considered today's game, though. For example, if a guy has a hitting streak on the line in this game and doesn't have a hit so far, and then gets to 56, we'd have to wait until this game is completed to see whether or not he gets 57, or if the streak had a gap in it, and therefore counts as merely two shorter, non-record streaks. Or if a guy has 499 HR right now, and hits his 500th in the end of this game in July, the HR he hits tomorrow will become 501 instead of 500.

So....how does this affect our contest? If either of these teams is the first to come within one of the goal, but then another team gets to the goal before July, do we have to wait and see if they ended up getting that 13th total? Because then they would've done it before that other team. Or do I just say "first to get there, regardless"?

Again, I have until some team gets to within one to make the official call. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, the Jays scored 10 today, so they're tied for first with the Royals (who got there yesterday), Rays, Twins, Phils, and Marlins. The Jays and Royals need a 0 and a double-digit, while the rest all need two double-digits, so I'd say Tor and KC are your two best bets right now. Maybe tonight's the night someone gets within one!

I made up a Don Orsillo T-shirt. Buy it here. [Update: Like with my Tavarez shirt, they took it down because of their stingy rules. Screw cafepress, I'm going to e-shirt. (I like to make my own stuff, but I don't have silkscreening equipment. But I should get/make some.)]

Posada on the 15-day.

I don't know where to start with all the ridiculous Yankee crap today.

This NYT article was obviously written late in the game, assuming that Girardi's ejection would automatically make the Yanks win. It's actually been cleaned up since I read it last night after the game--back then the whole beginning of the article was about this big magical spark Girardi gave the Yanks. Like the guy wrote it assuming the Yanks would win--he must be in the wrong century--and then didn't have time to re-write it. But the headline about the "spark" remains. Look, just because a manager gets ejected, or a team gets in a fight, doesn't mean that team will then win. And if they don't, you definitely shouldn't go ahead with the article you would have written had they won! Like usual, the Yanks' tactics are contrived and just don't work.

That sentiment is in this article Reb sent me. It's good, though it says what I've been saying for years: that the Yanks wish they were the Red Sox. From Johnny Damon (and Bellhorn, Minky, Embree, etc.) to "Yankees Universe" to closer/starter controversy to whether or not to go with young pitchers in your rotation, the Yanks are always a step behind and, ironically, a buck short.

And what the flying fuck is this supposed to mean? Telling Yankee fans they must root for drunk-driving Joba because the drug user/dealer who gave birth to him got arrested? Gimme a break.

No loitering, Paul O'Neill!

Remember the Fenway guy who tells people batting practice is off? That seems tame compared to what happened in the rain at the New Loo last night.

And about those expensive, empty seats there--what bothers me most of all is that they don't let people from other sections sit there. It happens at a lot of places, of course, and it's so stupid. Charge your thousands for the seats, that's your call, but if no one's sitting there, let someone who IS at the game sit there. To avoid the huge embarrassment of seeing almost nothing but empty seats at every game on TV, they really might have to cave on this issue--but they'd sooner give the seats away for free to CEOs. Or hire seat fillers.

It didn't start until almost 9:30. It didn't end until after 1. But we got the job done in front of a sea of empty seats at the New Loo. 6-4, and 4-0 against the Swine Fluzies this season. Lester was great, though he had one rough spot with back to back dongs, accounting for all three runs he gave up in 7 innings.

Teixeira stayed a false Yankee tonight, striking out as the potential winning run in the ninth. Pap made it scary, but held on.

Bay and Lowell with homers, and Ortiz had two doubles.

Toronto lost, so we're one game back, and NY is 3.5. With only 136 left to play...

Eckersley and Roberts were fun in the booth tonight. Lots of Eckisms. Hearing them fumble through the promos was tough, though.

Fitting that we'd win our first game at their new stadium, this being our century and all.

That's actually not a joke.

Let's take a look at the mother-and-son mug shots:



Sox-Yanks in a rain delay.....

Update: Game to start at 9:20

Rich Gedman's son Mike is hitting .319, and has a 2.25 ERA for UMass this season. Nice job, young Geddy!

That's Big Papi after the Sox win over the Yanks from last Saturday. Below is the video of Papelbon coming into the same game, if you missed it.

I did a post on Baseball Digest about Red Sox pitchers who played the field/fielders who pitched throughout history. There have been 43 Boston players who have both pitched and played the field. (I'd done another post which inspired the full list, right after Lopez played right and Van Every pitched the other day.)



Mike Dee is out, and rumor has it Kapstein may be in, as Red Sox CEO...maybe the headphones have been a direct line to the situation...

Okay, so the "______Nation" (or country, land, universe, whatever) thing has pretty much been exhausted.

And "get your _____ on" reached suburbia years and years ago, and every time I hear another company use it as their slogan, I figure it's the last time.

But the Washington Nationals, always a bastion of originality (what?), have said Damn the torpedos, we're going all out.

It's "Get Your Red On" in "NatsTown"! Yeah!

Frustration from the first, as we had loaded/one out/one in, but couldn't add to it. And as crappy as Penny was at the start, he settled down, and a few bloops (and Julio Lugo) were the only reason he gave up more than a run.

Crawford with six effing stolen bases. Three times we didn't even throw. And Ellsbury, when you steal and you're clearly safe but are called out, can you at least glare at the ump?

So we go into the 2-game Yanks series 1.5 ahead of them.

Remy gave a little update about his health on Twitter. (Because it's not like he has any way to contact the public--he doesn't have his own website and doesn't have a major TV network at his disposal to give info....come on famous people, you don't need Twitter. And regular people, you don't either.) Anyway, he says he's just taking extra time to fully recover from his pneumonia.

Sox 1, Tampa 1, in the fourth.

And the contest, going into today, has an even feel: Three teams in first place, five in second, nine in third, five in fourth, three in fifth. And the five untaken teams. It's a perfect bell curve.

Make it 3-1 Tampa now.

I was fully expecting a game where we get an early lead and never look back. I was almost right. 6-1 became 6-5, but fortunately we pulled away for a 10-6 win.

Pedroia 2-3 with three walks. Bay came out after fouling a ball off his ankle, but he says he's fine now and won't miss any time.

How funny was it when Maddon intentionally walked Dustin to face Papi, and then Papi gets on by HBP, and Youk gets a walk, too?

Remy still out with Canine Flu.

So we're a game out, Yanks are three, TB 6.5, Orioles 7.

The Angels tried! They tried to give the game away! But fortunately for us, they failed, hanging on for an 8-4 win.

In our contest, the board looks a bit different now. First place: Marlins, Twins, Phillies. Each two totals away from the championship. Second place: Cards, Rays, Indians, Braves.

Sabathia fails again. 5-1 Angels in the 7th. Hopefully those assholes can hang on to a late lead today.

Also, I got the weirdest comment just now. It's on my post about Hunter Jones. This person claims to know me, saying he used to "date Jason's mom" (I have know idea who that could be) and that I liked to "ride in his Jaguar with the 'grey Poupon tables'." Wha????? Now I've ridden in a Cadillac hundreds of times. Thousands! But a Jaguar? I have no recollection of this, especially not one with tables in the back.

Okay, update: Upon re-reading, I figured out the guy was talking directly to Hunter Jones with his Jaguar comments. So, there you have it--Hunter used to ride around with Jason's mom's boyfriend in his Grey Poupon Jaguar...

Crappy baseball night. I'm glad I missed most of this action, as Kim and I were at my nephew's birthday party.

So classic: Seven of New York City Councilmembers say they like both the Mets and Yanks. Fortunately, there are more Mets fans than Yankee fans overall in the City Council though. My favorite part of that article is this:

Then there is Bill de Blasio, an up-and-coming councilman from Park Slope, Brooklyn, now running for the citywide office of public advocate. Mr. de Blasio, who grew up in Cambridge, Mass., roots for the Boston Red Sox. And despite his ambitions, he is not shy about displaying his feelings.

Mr. de Blasio and Erik Martin Dilan of Bushwick, Brooklyn, have had a running bet for six years. If the Red Sox win the American League East division, Mr. Dilan buys Mr. de Blasio a steak at Peter Luger Steak-house. If the Yankees win, Mr. de Blasio buys the steak.

In 2004, when the Red Sox overcame a three-game deficit to the Yankees to earn a spot in the World Series, Mr. de Blasio took matters a step further: He required Mr. Dilan to wear a Red Sox cap at a Council meeting, rise and make a speech praising the Boston club.

Mr. de Blasio gloated, “He was very uncomfortable, but he honored the agreement.”

Mr. de Blasio, who is raising his children to be Red Sox fans, said that “everyone should be proud of whatever team they root for.” (He added that among New York teams, he has a soft spot for the Mets.)

If you were a Yankee fan, would you wear a shirt that had the Red Sox logo, but with the socks in blue, boasting that you wear "navy sox"? Well here's your chance! Seriously, the person who came up with that was thinking way too hard. Or not at all. I know I wouldn't wear a shirt boasting of my love for white pinstripes (which are on the white Red Sox home uniform, you just...can't see 'em! Hey, you can't disprove it, they're invisible! Like marshmallows in a snowstorm.) Thanks to Pat for the link. (Ironically, Friday is the night the Sox DO wear navy socks--at least I think they still will be with the blue alternate jerseys, which are the Friday night uniform, though they've gone back to red with the regular road uni. We'll see tonight. Hey, if they listened to our complaints about the blue socks, let's all write in and tell them to scrap ALL alternate crap!)

Also, the discounted food prices at Fenway were supposed to be for April. Yet O'Brien on radio read the ad for it the other night, even though the team had already played their last April home game. I hope this means they'll continue it...but it could just further show that Dave's asleep at the wheel.

And what's going on with Remy? What's this under the weather crap? It's at the point where everybody's wondering, so they might as well just tell us.

Clemens: man-boobs. But we could see those anyway.