Last night on my way home, I listened to the Yanks' first inning in the car, hearing Blind Boy and the Wicked Witch brag about "the Yankees always seem to be ahead!" They took a 4-1 lead early, but with Joba on the mound, I was pretty confident for the Angels. Then I posted all my game pics, and forgot to check the Yanks score before going to bed....

I got the good news today!

And Joba claims these last two shitty games represented his "best stuff"! I love it. If this guy's career ends without ever actually being any good, how's he gonna collect all those Cy Youngs they've already prepared for him? Man, that's gonna be the least-attended Monument unveiling of all-time!

And surely you've heard me talk about how Jeter (Mr. "I'd Model My Child's Baseball Career And Life After Him") has been using ONE hand on pop-ups for his entire career. Well he finally dropped one, and it led to three runs. I haven't seen the play, though--maybe he was using two hands this time, but either way, he dropped it. The beauty part is, Posada caught one in the same inning with no glove at all.

So we're one game up again.

I knew the Red Sox would win in their last at bat, because I was in...

...the spot! Section 36, the last four short rows. I was there with my mom for that game where Bay homered off Mo and Youk won it in extras, with Kim and two friends the night we rallied in the eighth as Penny beat CC, and with my dad for the Father's Day Firacle, as Green wrapped one around the pole. Tonight I had a solo ticket, and again, Sox win in their last at bat, with Pedroia doubling home the go-ahead run in the eighth.

I had something I needed to do in Boston at 2:00, so I got over to a metered spot at 3-ish. (Do you know where the four-hour ones are? E-mail me for the secret.) I was there so early, I went to the players' parking lot entrance, and who pulled in right away?

The Coz! I saw on NESN yesterday they said he'd be there, so I knew it was him as soon as I saw his profile in the limo. Then I saw...

Joe Castiglione. I'd guess he was faking that phone call as he's pretty shy. Also note he's actually carrying a microphone, along with a Cape League Game program.

Did the Monster thing for BP again.

I like shots that show the inside and outside of the park at the same time. I didn't get any balls up there, but when I got down to the CF bleachers...

...a KC player tossed one up. I was in my current favorite spot, behind the people up against the fence, and the toss went right over their heads to me. It wasn't a "meant for someone specific" toss or I would have given up the ball.

Here's the guy who threw it, now throwing one up to the Monster seats. I haven't begun research on who he is. Anybody? He's a lefty, it should be easy.

ANd what's this? A Royal then clocked one that hit behind me, bounced off the back wall of the bleachers, and rolled down to me. I was in an aisle (obviously), and I knew I had no competition behind me or to either side basically. This one went just as I'd planned it. A tween boy later got two balls tossed to him and turned to me and happily said "tied!" I love it! He wasn't pissed that I'd gotten two, but was happy to have some competition. Anyway, this was ball #15, and both pics show me in the spot I got it, as usual. Fan Foto was all over me again--this dude took six shots of me with the second ball. This is the third time there's been a shot of me on there with a ball I think.

Sun setting over The Wall.

I took a little walk around after BP and got this shot of Canvas Alley. I actually had no idea the pitchers would be in this shot.

It was a non-rainy, nice day for a change in the northeast. Short sleeves, not even a JICJack taken in by me, and it was a good move, despite a very slightly chilly wind in the eighth and ninth.

The "not a cloud in the sky," or NACITS shot.

Look closely. Do you see the Hancock Building?

Now at the seat in "the spot." This time it was seat #1 in the second to last row, which is five seats long. I had tourists on all sides. Illinois, Pennsylvania, Detroit. I got to watch all their reactions to the Wave, which I see every game:

Me (to self): Now it's gonna start again because it didn't make it to the grandstand.

Them: Ooh! Ooh! They're trying again. (standing) Wooooo!

Me (to self, yawning): Now it's gonna hit the "dead zone" behind the first base dugout but on the next try, make it through barely, appearing to die until it rounds the home plate corner at which point it gets going again at full force since that section of the crowd is facing the outfield and has followed the thing around.

Them: Oh! Oh! Awwww.... Oh wait! Yeahhhhh!!! Wooo!

Me (to self, just sitting there, eyes rolling, hoping I don't miss the next pitch as people stand in front of me): Now it's gonna reach section 33 and after a not-quite-long-enough pause for the Monster people to do it, start up again at the center field corner of the bleachers....

Them: Yay....Oh...Oh....Here it comes again, haha! (standing) Wooooooo!

It was actually a really good one, going around maybe eight times. I've never stood for the Wave, but I know it all too well.

My view of right field.

Lansdowne Street over the fence behind me.

Is this Don up in the air guitar spot?

Papi in the red jersey and socks hat.

I'm tellin' ya, there's always one hardcore or metal shirt at Fenway, and one Whalers shirt or hat. Here's Black Flag. (I didn't get a picture of tonight's Whalers guy, but it was a gray tee with the logo on the front.)

Lester pitched a fine game for us.

As did Floyd Bannister's kid for them, but we prevailed 1-0.

The sun has just about set. I went to the widescreen for this and the shot above it.

As soon as I saw a third figure in the NESN booth, I knew it was the Coz.

I've seen some crazy beach balls in the Fenway bleachers. But this was my first giant lobster.

Varitek has just hit what looked like a dong. But it was foul. By the way, Nick Green's at bat music wasn't "Stayin' Alive" for long. It's some song I don't know now. But Youk is stil "Man in the Box."

Papelbon gets the last out on a pop-up.

Here's some footage after the win, at the end of Dirty Water, going into Tessie:



Why do people always give all the credit to Dirty Water as "the" victory song? The victory trilogy for some time has been Dirty Water, Tessie, and Joy to the World (you know, "Jeremiah was a bullfrog"). Lately, Tessie fades out at the end, and Joy to the World fades after maybe one chorus. Then they go to the organ, where it's often Build Me Up Buttercup. And tonight one of the ones after that was Some Guys Have All the Luck. After a loss it's always organ music, often Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow or On the Road Again if it's the final game of a homestand.

Bonus section:

Bruce Chen can be a real jerk! During BP, he kept teasing fans with balls, often throwing one just out of reach of kids over and over. At one point he threw to the crowd above the bullpens, and they dropped it, causing him to throw his glove down. Maybe his frustration with them was why he did this: He was standing by the open gate in the 17-18 foot center field fence. I was above him. He threw the ball up once and caught it. Then we all heard a bang on the ground right near us. It sounded like a ball landed, but we all looked down, and there was nothing there. I realized he did that thing you do to the cat where he's sitting on a table, and you start scratching the underside of it, and he thinks there's something on the table below him, but he can't find it. Chen had entered the gate, and threw the ball up at the underside of the bleachers below our feet! The difference with the cat is that eventually you let the cat in on it. But Chen came back onto the field, and right then, BP ended, so he ran off with the ball, flipping it up and catching it as he jogged away. I would have liked the act had he not actually kept the balls at the end. Here's the video of that end part: (note: the voice you hear is not mine!)

For the fourth time this year, my seat was at the top of section 36. And like the other three times, the Red Sox won in their last at bat!

More to follow.

As you know, I've been critical of this Ben Collins dude on Extra Bases since he came on there. I only check in with that site occasionally, but when I do, I can't read read two sentences of his without seeing something that outs him as not knowing his stuff. (Okay, not knowing his stuff enough to get paid for it.) It started with spelling Willie Mays wrong, and went from there.

Last night, he said David Ortiz hit a home run "to the deep part of the Monster." (Referring to where along the Wall the ball went, not how far back, as the ball just made it over.) The ball landed over the O or V in the Covidien sign, which is pretty much centered left-right on the Green Monster. Now I don't know about you, but I don't consider just left of the exact middle to be the "deep part." I'd say the right third of the Wall would be the deep part. I mean, it gets deeper as you go right toward center field, so "the deep part" is whatever you want it to be, but it shouldn't include anything left of the middle.

Then a thought came to me. A few games back, he said Jason Bay hit a home run into the as-yet claimed region of the Monster seats. Something cutesy like that. The ball was to the LEFT of the RIGHT light tower. I didn't know what he could possibly mean by uncharted or unclaimed or whatever he said. Maybe to the right of that tower, the small section of seats, could have a cute little name, but why the seats to the left? If he meant that home runs never go there, that would be wrong, and if he meant it hasn't been claimed by advertising signs, that would be wrong, too.

And that's when I made the connection. This Ben Collins guy thinks the Green Monster's dimensions get bigger as you go out to the middle of it, then get smaller as you reach center field. So, 310 down the line, out to....400? in left center...then back to 379 at the far end of the Monster out near center field. Come on! I know there's no foot marker on the wall in left center, but is there any question it's getting farther and farther from home plate as you go from left to center field?

Maybe he needs to look at the handy chart I made last year. He'll see Ortiz' ball reached the Monster at about the 340 mark. Come on, Collins! You can do this!

We really blew that one. A 4-0 lead early against the Royals, and we chimp out. Tie for first.

Yankee fans are confident because history shows us they've won the World Series more recently, won a division more recently, and don't choke in October. Oh wait. That's us! (Except in their minds, where something far different from reality exists.)

More from my old TV show "Ready!" from like eight years ago. Brian and later me (with mildly unruly mohawk) asking the citizens of Danbury, CT, who would win in a fight, Henry Rollins or Glenn Danzig.

I guess this stuff would be better for the offseason instead of during a captivating pennant race, but I'm uploading it now, so you're getting it now. Besides, I can totally show this stuff again in November anyway! Lucky for you. No, really, this stuff is gold!

Sox-KC tonight. Gotta win to stay a game up. I did my usual with the Yanks game today: See that they won, go to play-by-play to see how the other team gave them the game. It almost never fails. It really is amazing. So I check their 3-run second inning and see: First guy walks. Next guy hit by pitch. Next guy reaches on the Yankee-opponent classic, the error. Next guy gets out. Next guy walks in run. Next guy knocks in run on force play. At this point we're talking five baserunners and two runs without a hit. They won by two. You know what this means? I'm not nervous about them. They play the same shitty teams we do, but when they play us, who wins? Not them.

Pap threw one hittable 0-2 pitch to Hairston, and then follows it up with an even more hittable one. And the guy hits a near-dong that the cameraman fooled us on. NESN has a responsibility to show us the whole play. That includes the fielder, not just the ball and the sky. But again Papelbon gets out of it and we win 5-4. I still can't believe O-Cab, as the tying run, didn't get to second on his hit to right field. Nice mega-dongs by Drew and Papi tonight.

You know what else I don't like? This is isn't exclusive to NESN, but sometimes the broadcast will have specific spots for promos, and if a great play happens right before one, we don't get to see a replay. Can't they audible on that? Example from tonight: A pop up to the left side where the shortstop started almost on the outfield grass, and by the time it landed, it was the third baseman catching it on the infield grass. But we didn't get a replay because they had to cut to a promo. I hate how in this sport with 17 ninety-second breaks built into it, they have to add commercials during the action. It's bad enough that the between-inning time isn't allowed to be used to talk about the game or show stats or replays or interviews. But then they have to put more ads between pitches. And interviews which networks feel require a split screen during pitches. Call this long time fan crazy, but I wish "the game" involved much more of, you know, the game.

Wake's knucklers were like Frisbees tonight. I think we've finally figured out the perfect weather conditions for the knuckleball.

I was a little mad at Nick Green for not only missing the bag on that possible double play, but for not thinking to tag the guy either after he missed it or at the same time as a precaution. Was a bang-squared play, though. But then he went and Lugo'd the next ball. I was a little nervous when Dustin threw to him to end that inning...

I don't like when fielders give up on a tag play. Lugo's big on this. Pedroia does it sometimes, too. Like when the runner slides in, they make the tag, the guy's safe, but then they pull the glove away, not realizing that the runner went past the bag, and if they'd just held the glove there, the guy would have been out. I thought Dustin did it tonight, holding up the glove to show the ump the ball only to have the runner slide past the base. Eck did, too. But the replay showed he really had no chance to hold the glove there because of momentum and the way the runner was way on the other side of the bag.

Heard another media robot trying to still act like he was right by saying, "well, if Nomar had come back in '05, it would've been a different story." As a fan, and as someone who has been proven right on this issue, I'd like to respond to that guy (Pete Shepherd) by saying he's wrong yet again. If Nomar had been there for the ring ceremony in April 2005, the ovation would have been the same as it was Monday. I know you bitter media assholes hate Nomar, but 99% of the fans have always loved him. This is their way of trying to look good after being so wrong--"oh, well, sure, time has passed, that's why they're cheering...." Nope, you're all just simply wrong. You hate the guys we love and we hate you.

KC comes in for four. We pull a Yankees and miss Greinke.

Yanks up one in the 8th. Will update here. Update: Eff those bastids. We remain one up.

Finally I've put online the theme to the public access Brian and I used to host called "Ready!" It also kind of doubles to the song "Ready" by our band at the time, The Pac-Men. We used to show videos and interview people on the street and lots of other wacky stuff. I'm the guy at the beginning, and playing bass, and sometimes having a mohawk, and on the left at the end. Brian is the guy singing and the guy on the right at the end. Pat who you may know from comments is the guitar player, and Tim who now rescues pigs far away and probably doesn't have the Internet is on drums. More info over on this video's YouTube page.....

Have you noticed Miracle Whip is going all "Henderson Valley Eggs" on us? Fuck you, grandma! Now there's a...uh....whip for MY generation!!!

I miss this guy.

And speaking of commercials, you know that Red Sox Kid Nation one with the little girl at the press conference? Well, there's a new one with another little girl. She's saying how the ump said "uh-huh," and she said "nuh-uh," and it goes on and on, putting a manager's argument with an umpire into a kid's perspective. But the girl screws the whole thing up. By about the fifth time she says the line, the "uh-huh" sounds like the negative response, and the "nuh-uh" sounds like the positive. And half the time they both just sound the same except one starts with N. Couldn't they have just done another take? Terrible job, director.

Wake against the super dope homeboys from the Oaktown, 7:10.

Sox win 5-2 behind Beckett. Yanks up by 9 as I write, so it looks like we'll still be one game up. (Not that I'm giving up on a possible choke job by those guys....)

Stuff: Youk's been pretty unlucky lately, hitting deep flies that are caught, etc.

Eck continues to entertain, with his moss and cheese and hair and salad. Sean Casey was fun, too, this past weekend with his own lingo. I predicted Casey would work for the Sox in some way! Granted, this was a fill-in job, but I can still take credit. Oh, and Eck, if you're gonna bring up the loud cheer we gave Mariano Rivera in '05, make sure you let the fans know we were being facetious. He's a respectable dude, and one day, in his last Fenway game, we may cheer him for real, but that time in '05 had nothing to do with that, and everything to do with the fact that he blows so many games against us. I was there. (And I worried then this would become confusing over time, and my deepest, darkest fears may be coming true!)

Speaking of my fine prediction skills, why haven't I been bragging about the silent death of Wild Thing as (one of) Pap's songs. I've written about the evolution of his entrance, but as Wild Thing disappeared, I forgot to give an "I told you so" about the fact that Wild Thing, while a good song, just isn't right for a closer's entrance. Sure enough, he phased in a perfect one, which is now the only one. Nice job, whoever's in charge of that.

Remember when John Henry said how maybe the Sox and Yanks would "collaborate" on something in the "future"? Do you think he could have meant the high school all-star game between Yanks and Sox prospects at Fenway? (Or whatever it is. It's something like that, and I think they want to make it an annual event, going back and forth between the two teams' parks. For more info, Google!) (Actually, I just tried looking, and I can't find anything about it now...)

When Ellsbury runs, he reminds me of Superman running faster than the train. I look at his legs and think, "that's so fake...."

I listened to the FAN today, and there was much complaining by Yankee people about umpiring. They're acting like they're the first team to ever be screwed by the "the ball beat him" call by an ump. And because of it, rules must be changed, heads must roll! Baseball just isn't right unless the Yankees get all the advantages.

Remember the Extra Bases reporter who made a horrible first impression on me by spelling Willie Mays' name wrong? Tonight, he said,

"Green is starting to look like the best defensive Sox shortstop since Cabrera..."

Unbelievable! Alex Gonzalez was probably the best, most natural defensive infielder I've ever seen play for the Red Sox. And I'm not alone in thinking that. So there's definitely no question he's the best defensive shortstop covering the seasons 2005 to 2009. Green's doing a fine job in the field and has a great arm, but he's not even close to Alex Gonzalez.

I wasn't gonna post during this game, but I had to bring that one up. This "Mayes" guy knows how to sit in a chair and find wacky YouTube videos (I prefer to get off my ass and make my own, but that's just me), but he sure doesn't know shit about baseball.

Anyway, Sox up 4-2 in the sixth, Yanks up 3-1 early.

Finally, you can see my bleacherific view of Nomar's introduction. I fully blame YouTube for being down right at the point I needed it. I was ready to post this thing 15 hours ago. (I also added it to the other post--that other site I tried to use to get the video up was still "processing" it 15 hours later. Terrible job, Revver.)

A memorable night at Fenway, despite the chimpy game. Kim and I, both of whom have always loved Nomar, got there just as the A's started BP, and went right down near their dugout. Got lots of pics. Nomar was so nervous he was swinging and missing in batting practice, before finally launching some out of the park, as people cheered him on. Then he started signing, and fans in their Nomar shirts (I wore mine, but I actually wear it a lot) and with their welcoming signs flocked to him. He was off to our right at first, then went out past third base, and finally came back right in front of us. It was fun stuff.

Out in the bleachers, I filmed his intro during the starting lineups, and among the cheers, the old guy behind me let out a half-hearted boo. The guy proceeded to not even cheer for any of the Red Sox. A curmudgeonly type. Needless to say I used all the dirty looks I've saved up that I wanted to give cell phone drivers but couldn't because they don't see them because, of course, they're not paying attention to what's around them. On this guy.

Then it was kind of weird how things set up. The first ended with Nomar on deck, so we knew he'd get his ovation to start the second, which would be cool. But then the scoreboard beat us to it after the top of the first, with a message welcoming him back, and a live shot of him in the dugout. It was a big cheer, but we knew we'd be giving the "real" cheer a few minutes later. And we did, and it was great. And I watched the replay just now here, and not only does the Modern Lovers' "Roadrunner" get in the clip, as it was being played between innings, but right behind Nomar in the second row is a Minor Threat shirt! Sweet! He's behind and to the right of the Jack Daniels shirt guy. Anyway, our one booing friend and his three wives just sat as everyone else around them stood and cheered.

Other stuff from tonight: Several players have changed their at bat music very recently. Jacoby is now "Gangsta's Paradise" (though Kim suggested it could be "Amish Paradise" since you don't hear the lyrics), Youk is Alice in Chains' "Man in the Box," and Nick Green is "Stayin' Alive."

Janet Marie Smith walked by us randomly. I yelled her name and said "nice job."

We had to answer the "why are you guys booing Kevin Youkilis" question from the people next to us and later the people behind us. Overall, between those two groups, the shriveled dick guy who booed Nomar and his harem of witches, and the couple in front of us, we were in a "no reaction section." That's right, these people wouldn't clap for anything. It was like they were watching a movie. We got shut out on a couple of lousy hits, so the fairly uninspired crowd (other than for Nomar) was to be expected, but some people just treat it like a movie. They just sit and stare, emotionless. Until Sweet Caroline. And we were surrounded by the ten people in the park who act like this. So the night got chimpier as it went on, but we got to see our old pal Nomar, and it turned out the Yanks almost won but still lost, so an okay night all things cons'd.

Oh, one more thing. Tonight's trivia question on the scoreboard was, "Carlton Fisk won Game 6 of the 1975 World Series with a 12th inning homer. But who hit the game-tying home run in the 9th inning?"

My answer was, "Bernie Carbo. AND IT WAS THE EIGHTH INNING." Can you believe they'd mess that up? At Fenway Park?

Yanks down 7-1 late, let's hope the Jays can hold on. I've got my Nomar shirt on and I'm off to Fenway--please enjoy this video of Amazing Larry biting his claws.

Thinking of how great it would be to hear 18 straight minutes of commercials, unfunny and/or neanderthal callers, and rampant sexism and homophobia, I flipped on 103.7 FM, and sure enough, there was the talk of "what will happen?" tonight when Nomar is introduced. Now the one guy, who I've never had a problem with, Mike Mutnansky, was like me. However, Joe Haggerty was the co-host and he felt Nomar should be booed for that whole thing at the end of his time with the team. What Haggerty did was cement my feelings on Boston media people in general. This is what he said, noting that he was in the clubhouse with the '04 team:

(and I paraphrase), "Nomar said he couldn't take the pressure of the media in this town--said he felt like he was playing three games every night."

And? So you're admitting that YOU media types put all this crazy pressure on guys. And when they admit they can't handle it, you're gonna rip on them? This is what we mean when we say the media "ran a guy out of town." And this is why I hate the media for the most part. We're the fans, we're the ones who care about the team and its players. The media just wants to sell shit. They're not afraid to come right out and say that if the team goes through turmoil, it's "good for the show/paper/etc." So it makes perfect sense that a media robot would want to boo Nomar, because Nomar didn't give them what they wanted.

But he gave US what WE wanted. For many years. Even if Nomar blatantly quit on the team, asked out, whatever, for whatever reason, even IF that were true, I just don't see many of the 99 percent of Sox fans who considered Nomar their favorite or one of their favorite players for eight years holding a grudge over it, to the point where they'd miss their chance to cheer him.

AJM commented and said this one wasn't as clear cut. I think this one is very clear cut, but I will admit this: the one player's return that won't be clear cut at all is Manny. I was supporting him full-on, while many people had totally gone the other way...and then he was found to be cheating. I can't support that. But does that mean I'll boo him? No, but he made me not care so much about trying to out-cheer the booers if and when he does return to Fenway.

But as for Nomar, it's a no brainer. And I'd say EEI set this up so that they could turn this non-debate into a debate for ratings purposes if Haggerty didn't sound so sure of himself.

Another thing to remember is that we on the Internet fall into a trap of thinking this virtual world is the real world. If enough people take the time to express an opinion online, it starts to look like that's the way the world sees an issue, when in reality, this is just the voices of the very few who follow something at obsession levels. In the real world, people take their kids to the game, cheer the home team, and move on with their lives. While we were all dissecting what Nomar's body language in the dugout meant (and still remembering it five years later), most folks were changing diapers or mowing the lawn. And this may sound like I'm saying the stupid masses are correct just because there are more of them, but, I have to say, in the last few years I've done less following of the team through media sources, and it's way more enjoyable. I'm obviously as obsessed with the Red Sox as ever, but I do it just by watching the games and forming my own opinions. When I read about the team, I prefer to read other fan blogs. It still disappoints me that so many Sox fans discover the Internet side of following the team through the horrible Dirt Dogs, which I can proudly say I haven't visited in years.

Monday night, one of the most beloved Red Sox of all time returns to Fenway Park. Nomar Garciaparra will be welcomed "home" with extended ovations, some of which I'll be a art of.

How easy was that fact to say? I thought maybe this one would finally be the one where everyone just says that, knowing it's the truth. Nope. Dave O'Brien's the culprit this time. Recently he brought up the topic by saying, "I'll be verrry interested to see the reception he gets." Fortunately Joe was next to him and gave the clear impression that it would be a positive one. But again, what is it that makes people not think beloved Red Sox will be treated with anything but open arms? As long as they didn't commit any huge sins--the main one being "playing for the fucking Yankees"--what reason would we have to do anything but cheer?

I go back to my old Dunbar analogy, but I'll change it up a little: Imagine you haven't seen your grandma in five years because she's been off in a third world country helping poor children. When she then says she's back and will be attending your holiday dinner, do you "wonder" how she'll be "received"? Of course not. She's your goddamn grandma. The only reason she wouldn't be welcomed with love is if she started schtupping the old man across the street from her--the one who's Ponzi scheme destroyed your family's fortune--and missing your holiday dinners to cook a huge meal for that other family and knit sweaters and bake cookies for them instead of you.

Nomar never baked cookies for the rival family. Neither did Dave Roberts, Gabe Kapler, Derek Lowe, Trot Nixon, Pedro Martinez, etc. It's very simple.

4:32: Sox win 8-4. Tomorrow the last place Athletics come to town. What does that mean? Bad news for the Athletics.

4:05: Papi singles in the tying run on a 3-0 pitch, and then the Ms try to return the gift we gave them yesterday by walking in the go-ahead run. Then Kotsay with a two-run bingle. 7-4 us in the seventh. Yanks up 10-8 in the sixth.

3:43: Jays quickly give it all back at the Little League Field, 9-8 Yanks in the fifth. Sox trail 4-3 at stretch time. We have three dongs, but they're all solo cups.

Awesome update, 2:55: Joba had a 4-0 lead, but quickly gave up EIGHT RUNS! Seven came with two outs. I'm pretty sure this guy's entire career consists of the fact that he has a "cool name" at this point. 8-4 Toronto. We trail 4-2 now.

Update, 1:51: Dustin and Papi go deep in the first, 2-0 us. Yanks have scored their daily "runs due to other teams' mistakes" and also lead 2-0 early. And...WAKEFIELD's AN ALL-STAR! Beckett and Pap also in, and Youk is a reserve.

Update, 1:23: All-star position players announced. Pedroia and Bay in! That fucklehead Teixeira with his stupid face gets the nod at first over Youk.

Above, fireworks out my window last night.

We try to solve the Mariners again today--their pitcher has a 1.83 WHIP in four starts. Ours is Lester. I vote win.

Below, the 7 balls I've gotten so far in '09. (Six are pictured, one lives with some woman I don't know.) I started with 6 lifetime balls, and have more than doubled my total in half a season, with a few more games before the All-Star break. Of course, I'm still waiting for that first-ever in-game ball.