I'm very excited about Dice-K's performance tonight: no runs, a hit, nine Ks, in eight innings. So that's no runs on one hit in each of his last two starts. I said something about him being ready to dominate this season in March, and he's been doing a fine job of that of late. Once again I'll post Pete Abe's words from when he said Dice MUST be traded (I do not read his material, I just saw this on JoS): "putting him in a game is counterproductive to winning." I guess that's like saying putting Pete Abe in a salad bar is counterproductive to....eh, too easy. The point is, many fans only know what they've seen in the very recent past. When reporters do that, it's time to FIRE THEM. I know, he brought up the past season and all that, but Dice's numbers really weren't that bad for a fifth starter. It was obviously an overreaction to the most recent start--who did he expect to get as a 5 starter? As for those who are just generally annoyed with Dice's pitching style, that's justifiable enough, just don't let it cloud the talent the guy clearly has.

Anyway, we're now tied for third, a half game out of second.

I'm also excited about this: I was on that Fenway Park 100 site, and I thought "I'll look through the 2000s pictures to see if I'm in any of them." (You know my lifelong dream of being in the background of a famous picture, though being in any picture is always fun, since I'm usually the one taking the pictures. I started in 2005, then went to 2006, and noticed a pic of Buffalo Tom. I knew that was from the Fenway concert that year which I went to, so I clicked the pic. Here's what I saw (minus the Me/Kim notations, obv.):

Woohoo! Good thing I was wearing my 3/4 sleeve green Tulane shirt, making me easy to spot. And there's Kim right next to me, the two of us right between Theo Epstein (playing with the band) and the singer. You can see the original pic (taken by Brian Babineau for the Red Sox) on this page of the Fenway Park 100 site--click the "More Than a Ballpark" section at left, then click the Buffalo Tom pic which will pop up on the right. The "proof" that it's me, I guess, is in the fact that my pics from that night are from that angle.

Since I took a shot of the crowd to my left that night, I tried to match people in my shot to Babineau's pic. The girl up high is by that pole, so she's blocked by the singer. But if you look closely at my shot, you can see some red hair and a forehead. In Babineau's shot, you can see that girl, just to the right of the singer. So that's the only person who's in both shots. Anyway, I'm glad I'm a part of the official Fenway site!