Saturday, July 23, 2011
Going Away
Not quite the no-hitter I predicted, but Beckett did a fine job. However, he left trailing 1-0. But a little Brigade action followed in the 7th, and he gets credit for the 3-1 win, Francona's 1,000th win. Yanks lost earlier, so we're three games up. Excla-effin'-mation point. Rays are down to 9.5 out. And Pedroia's got a 20-game hitting streak.
Two things about this game:
That dude. Okay, we're down 1-0, bottom 7th. Man on first, two outs. You're sitting in the front row a little to the foul side of the Pesky Pole. Liner down the right field line. Hits on the dirt, headed for the corner. Ichiro's about to let it hit the wall and then see what happens. It might roll past him, it might come off the wall toward him, but the odds it goes right to him, he gets it cleanly, and throws all the way home to get the runner are remote. What do you do? Well this asshole decides to reach out over the fence and grab the ball, then high five his drunken friends as if he's done something positive. What the guy doesn't realize is that by the ball going "into the stands," it's a ground rule double, and the tying run has to stop at third. Now they could have called it fan interference and placed the runners where they thought they'd have gone. But, it was borderline, so they're probably just gonna call the easier "ground rule double," and also, if they DID call it fan interference, they might just say the runner would have stopped at third anyway. Therefore, your move as a fan is to let the damn ball go! Fortunately, Ellsbury came through with the two-out hit and it didn't matter. Still, terrible job by the guy, and I was glad he got kicked out.
That cameraman. Top of the ninth, Seattle has the tying run up. Batter hits a fly ball down the left field line. This ball landed where stands meets wall, about halfway up the Green Monster. However, the camera is showing a spot way too high, so we're seeing the people in the Monster Seats. As the ball falls off the bottom of the screen, the cameraman has to quickly adjust, and we see the ball landing way down the wall and to the left of the line, in the front corner of section 33. This coupled with Don thinking it was a home run fooled the audience in a huge spot. A high fly ball that lands in the seats in 33? No threat there. But NESN turned it into one. Terrible job.
Two things about this game:
That dude. Okay, we're down 1-0, bottom 7th. Man on first, two outs. You're sitting in the front row a little to the foul side of the Pesky Pole. Liner down the right field line. Hits on the dirt, headed for the corner. Ichiro's about to let it hit the wall and then see what happens. It might roll past him, it might come off the wall toward him, but the odds it goes right to him, he gets it cleanly, and throws all the way home to get the runner are remote. What do you do? Well this asshole decides to reach out over the fence and grab the ball, then high five his drunken friends as if he's done something positive. What the guy doesn't realize is that by the ball going "into the stands," it's a ground rule double, and the tying run has to stop at third. Now they could have called it fan interference and placed the runners where they thought they'd have gone. But, it was borderline, so they're probably just gonna call the easier "ground rule double," and also, if they DID call it fan interference, they might just say the runner would have stopped at third anyway. Therefore, your move as a fan is to let the damn ball go! Fortunately, Ellsbury came through with the two-out hit and it didn't matter. Still, terrible job by the guy, and I was glad he got kicked out.
That cameraman. Top of the ninth, Seattle has the tying run up. Batter hits a fly ball down the left field line. This ball landed where stands meets wall, about halfway up the Green Monster. However, the camera is showing a spot way too high, so we're seeing the people in the Monster Seats. As the ball falls off the bottom of the screen, the cameraman has to quickly adjust, and we see the ball landing way down the wall and to the left of the line, in the front corner of section 33. This coupled with Don thinking it was a home run fooled the audience in a huge spot. A high fly ball that lands in the seats in 33? No threat there. But NESN turned it into one. Terrible job.
July 23rd In Red Sox Vs. Mariners History
All July 23rd games are from the same year as July 22nd games. So every one on this list (including one doubleheader) is the next game in the series from the July 22nd post. We're 3-3 on 7/23 vs. the M's, 1-1 at home.
1983 @ Sea: 5-0 L Seattle gets 5 early off Eck (2 unearned because of a Remy error) and Bob Stoddard two-hits the Sox.
1994 Sea: 6-5 W Mo Vaughn doubles twice and Damon Berryhill homers in Boston's 6-5 win in game one. Joe Hesketh wins it, and Goose Gossage makes his 7th-to-last major league appearance in the 8th. A-Rod makes his 10th major league appearance, batting 9th (and making a big error in game two). So the Gossage/A-Rod dynam-dick duo has been playing non-stop since April 1972. (Except that Goose pitched in Japan in 1990.) (Man, imagine a day with Piniella, Goose, Tino, Luis Sojo, and A-Rod all in uniform for the opposing team at Fenway? Yikes.)
1994 Sea: 6-3 L In game 2, after two hours of rain delays, the Sox let Seattle tie it late, then gave up 3 in the 11th for a split on a long, hot, soggy day at Fenway. This series was supposed to be played in Seattle, but tiles had just fallen off the Kingdome's ceiling, causing the series to move to Fenway. All seats were $10 and you could sit where you wanted. And Ken Kaiser misses the doubleheader after being involved in a car accident in Boston the day before.
2006 @Sea: 9-8 L M's go up 3-0. Sox tie it. M's go up 5-3. Sox take 7-5 lead. M's go up 8-7 on Beltre's inside-the-park homer (the first one hit at Safeco) in the 8th. With two outs in the ninth, Tek homers to tie it. Bottom 9, Richie Sexson hits walk-off dong off Timlin. The first three Boston pitchers in the game had appeared in 65 games between them. Timlin had appeared in 931.
2008 @Sea: 6-3 W Red Sox get 3 in the 12th on singles by Lowell and Casey to sweep a three-game series.
2010 @Sea: 2-1 W Bill Hall homered and, yeah it was kind of a boring game. But it was the one where Chone Figgins let a throw roll past him, and then the Mariners fought in the dugout.
Tonight we look to go above .500 all-time vs. Seattle in July 23rd games. I predict great things for Beckett tonight. Meaning a no-hitter. (Yanks down 4-2 in 8th right now. Please, Oakland. Please.)
1983 @ Sea: 5-0 L Seattle gets 5 early off Eck (2 unearned because of a Remy error) and Bob Stoddard two-hits the Sox.
1994 Sea: 6-5 W Mo Vaughn doubles twice and Damon Berryhill homers in Boston's 6-5 win in game one. Joe Hesketh wins it, and Goose Gossage makes his 7th-to-last major league appearance in the 8th. A-Rod makes his 10th major league appearance, batting 9th (and making a big error in game two). So the Gossage/A-Rod dynam-dick duo has been playing non-stop since April 1972. (Except that Goose pitched in Japan in 1990.) (Man, imagine a day with Piniella, Goose, Tino, Luis Sojo, and A-Rod all in uniform for the opposing team at Fenway? Yikes.)
1994 Sea: 6-3 L In game 2, after two hours of rain delays, the Sox let Seattle tie it late, then gave up 3 in the 11th for a split on a long, hot, soggy day at Fenway. This series was supposed to be played in Seattle, but tiles had just fallen off the Kingdome's ceiling, causing the series to move to Fenway. All seats were $10 and you could sit where you wanted. And Ken Kaiser misses the doubleheader after being involved in a car accident in Boston the day before.
2006 @Sea: 9-8 L M's go up 3-0. Sox tie it. M's go up 5-3. Sox take 7-5 lead. M's go up 8-7 on Beltre's inside-the-park homer (the first one hit at Safeco) in the 8th. With two outs in the ninth, Tek homers to tie it. Bottom 9, Richie Sexson hits walk-off dong off Timlin. The first three Boston pitchers in the game had appeared in 65 games between them. Timlin had appeared in 931.
2008 @Sea: 6-3 W Red Sox get 3 in the 12th on singles by Lowell and Casey to sweep a three-game series.
2010 @Sea: 2-1 W Bill Hall homered and, yeah it was kind of a boring game. But it was the one where Chone Figgins let a throw roll past him, and then the Mariners fought in the dugout.
Tonight we look to go above .500 all-time vs. Seattle in July 23rd games. I predict great things for Beckett tonight. Meaning a no-hitter. (Yanks down 4-2 in 8th right now. Please, Oakland. Please.)
This Is Not A Photo Gallery
I went to what turned out to be a pretty sweet game tonight, thanks to our pal Kara who had extra tix. I broke my ball-snagging drought, too! I'll probably do a photo gallery tomorrow. I saw the Yanks put up a huge number, so we stay 2 up. Tamp. falls 8.5 back.
Friday, July 22, 2011
July 22nd In Red Sox Vs. Mariners History
We're 3-2 against Seattle on this date all-time. We've never beaten them at Fenway on 7/22. Tonight's the night to change that. (And with 3 runs, we'll score our 80,000th run in franchise history!) (And a win would be our 4,900th home win.) You might see an even-year, late-July west coast trip pattern developing:
1983 @Sea: 5-4 W There have been six men named Stanton who played major league baseball. Buck, Leroy, Tom, and three Mikes. The first Mike, who lasted until 1985, pitched in the ninth inning of this game. He faced one batter, the tying run, and walked him. Then Ed Vande Berg came in and gave up three straight singles to Hoffman, Barrett, and Boggs, and the Red Sox had scored 3 in the ninth for a 5-4 win at the Kingdome. (Funny, there's basically been a Mike Stanton in pro baseball for my whole 35+ years on earth, and one of the hits described above was by Glenn Hoffman, who is part of a similar tale I recently told.)
1994 Sea: 6-3 L A year away from getting good again after the early '90s funk, we couldn't muster up much against Randy Johnson, who struck out 11 batters in 6.2 innings. A 2-run Bruno double knocked the Big Prick out of the game and cut the Seattle lead to 5-3, but the Sox wouldn't score again. Check out this sweet post I wrote on this date in 2006, which talks about the '94 game (which apparently I have some audio of on a video tape!) (which is a video tape I've been thinking about uploading to the web for completely different reasons lately--it's sitting on a shelf, I see it right now!) and shows a picture of me from that same date.
2006 @Sea: 5-2 L The post I linked above is from the day of this game. I was living in NYC and complained about being stuck with radio, and blamed the loss on that. It was Kason Gabbard's major league debut, but King Felix beat us.
2008 @Sea: 4-2 W Our 200th win against the Seattle Mariners franchise. I announced this game on YouCastr, back when it was that type of site. A knuckleballer pitched in this game. But not for our team. Dice gets the W and Lowell goes deep.
2010 @Sea: 8-6 W I called it the "weirdest win of the decade." Read the details here.
1983 @Sea: 5-4 W There have been six men named Stanton who played major league baseball. Buck, Leroy, Tom, and three Mikes. The first Mike, who lasted until 1985, pitched in the ninth inning of this game. He faced one batter, the tying run, and walked him. Then Ed Vande Berg came in and gave up three straight singles to Hoffman, Barrett, and Boggs, and the Red Sox had scored 3 in the ninth for a 5-4 win at the Kingdome. (Funny, there's basically been a Mike Stanton in pro baseball for my whole 35+ years on earth, and one of the hits described above was by Glenn Hoffman, who is part of a similar tale I recently told.)
1994 Sea: 6-3 L A year away from getting good again after the early '90s funk, we couldn't muster up much against Randy Johnson, who struck out 11 batters in 6.2 innings. A 2-run Bruno double knocked the Big Prick out of the game and cut the Seattle lead to 5-3, but the Sox wouldn't score again. Check out this sweet post I wrote on this date in 2006, which talks about the '94 game (which apparently I have some audio of on a video tape!) (which is a video tape I've been thinking about uploading to the web for completely different reasons lately--it's sitting on a shelf, I see it right now!) and shows a picture of me from that same date.
2006 @Sea: 5-2 L The post I linked above is from the day of this game. I was living in NYC and complained about being stuck with radio, and blamed the loss on that. It was Kason Gabbard's major league debut, but King Felix beat us.
2008 @Sea: 4-2 W Our 200th win against the Seattle Mariners franchise. I announced this game on YouCastr, back when it was that type of site. A knuckleballer pitched in this game. But not for our team. Dice gets the W and Lowell goes deep.
2010 @Sea: 8-6 W I called it the "weirdest win of the decade." Read the details here.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Outside Prov Squared
"Shields didn't need more than the one run," said the Daily News about the Rays-Yanks game tonight. However, since Shields gave up a run, I beg to differ. If he wanted to actually win, he'd need more than a run. Anyway, he got the second run, and Tamper beat Enwhy 2-1. So we're 2 games up! It's been a while. Good feeling. Love the 2. Yanks play lowly Oakland this weekend, and we get the Mariners, who have the same 43-55 record as the A's, only...they've lost TWELVE in a row. So we should stay even or gain this weekend. But you never can predict baseball, Suzyn.
Saw the movie Outside Providence tonight, outside, in Providence. This is the Farrelly Brothers movie that nobody seems to know about, from 1999. I don't even have any recollection of it coming out at the time, but one Alec Baldwin line about cookies did spark a memory, probably from a clip he brought to Letterman or something. Anyway, aside from the fact that I liked all the Rhode Island stuff (the Connecticut prep school where a lot of the film takes place is actually the URI campus which I'm very familiar with), it was a funny, feel-fairly-good movie. Baldwin delivers some classic lines, and the rest of the cast does a fine job with the blue-collar New England thing. It takes place in the 70s, which is my favorite era, so that was a bonus. And someone I know had a speaking role! When you move to Rhode Island, you very quickly know everyone, without even trying. But I don't think you have to live around here or remember the 70s to like this movie.
With today's off-day. I thought about doing "July 21st In Red Sox Vs. Nobody History." But come on, you really think I'm gonna look up every year the Red Sox had an off-day on July 21st? What are you, an asshole?
1903, 1906, 1912, 1916, 1918, 1938, 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1958, 1960, 1969, 1981, 1994. Happy?
Saw the movie Outside Providence tonight, outside, in Providence. This is the Farrelly Brothers movie that nobody seems to know about, from 1999. I don't even have any recollection of it coming out at the time, but one Alec Baldwin line about cookies did spark a memory, probably from a clip he brought to Letterman or something. Anyway, aside from the fact that I liked all the Rhode Island stuff (the Connecticut prep school where a lot of the film takes place is actually the URI campus which I'm very familiar with), it was a funny, feel-fairly-good movie. Baldwin delivers some classic lines, and the rest of the cast does a fine job with the blue-collar New England thing. It takes place in the 70s, which is my favorite era, so that was a bonus. And someone I know had a speaking role! When you move to Rhode Island, you very quickly know everyone, without even trying. But I don't think you have to live around here or remember the 70s to like this movie.
With today's off-day. I thought about doing "July 21st In Red Sox Vs. Nobody History." But come on, you really think I'm gonna look up every year the Red Sox had an off-day on July 21st? What are you, an asshole?
1903, 1906, 1912, 1916, 1918, 1938, 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1958, 1960, 1969, 1981, 1994. Happy?
I Sure Would
Watch either The Brady Bunch or Gilligan's Island or both just about every day of my childhood, that is. So I have to mention the death of both shows' creator, Mr. Sherwood Schwartz. Know what's weird? When we'd watch The Bunch in, say, 1987, we thought of it as completely antiquated, from another era. But it had only ended less than 13 years earlier. So that's the equivalent of watching a show from 1998 today. Granted, nobody was texting or posting video online in '98, but, come on, it's the same shit as now.
And Gilligan--that show was in black & white at first. Ancient! But again, it was only 20 years old in '87. Twenty years ago now? '91! The electric 80s were over, we were already in the future by then. Except for the shitty cell phones and computer stuff that's really not visible when looking at pictures of people and places anyway.
Don't know what my point is. Just something to think about I guess.
And Gilligan--that show was in black & white at first. Ancient! But again, it was only 20 years old in '87. Twenty years ago now? '91! The electric 80s were over, we were already in the future by then. Except for the shitty cell phones and computer stuff that's really not visible when looking at pictures of people and places anyway.
Don't know what my point is. Just something to think about I guess.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
July 20th In Red Sox Vs. Orioles History
We lost our first 6 games against them on July 20th, then won the next 4 before losing the most recent one. 4-7 in 11 games. (Now 5-7 if you include today's win.)
1921: The Red Sox led 7-0 and 9-5 going to the bottom the 8th. The Browns scored 2 in the 8th and 2 in the 9th to tie it, then won it 10-9 with a run in the bottom of the 12th. The game lasted more than 4 hours. Among St. Louis's 22 hits were 8 doubles and a triple. Billy Gerber knocked in Baby Doll Jacobsen, who slid in under catcher Muddy Ruel, to win the game--Pedroia is not the first Muddy the Sox have had.
1941: In game one, Ted Williams hit a pinch-hit 3-run dong in the 9th, but the Sox lost 6-3. In game two, Bob Muncrief whitewashed Boston 10-0. George McQuinn hit 3 homers on the day at Sportsman's Park.
1946: Jeff Heath's 2-run single in the 7th gave the Browns a 5-4 win at Fenway.
1947: Browns sweep Sox in St. Louis. 4-3 in game one, and then Boston blows a 4-0 lead in game two, losing 7-6. The Browns' manager? Muddy Ruel. One article noted that Ted Williams had gone from "Tam Ted" to "Terrible Ted." Another one I saw yesterday called him "Landy Red." Anybody know what that means? I don't.
1948: The Red Sox win for the 555th time against the Orioles franchise, beating the Browns 8-3 at Fenway. Jack Kramer, who won game one of the 1947 doubleheader for St. Louis, wins this one, now in a Boston uniform.
1969: The Sox use 6 pitchers and withstand a 3-run, 9th-inning Orioles rally to win 6-5 on Sunday afternoon at Fenway. Syd O'Brien singled, tripled, and homered in the victory. Then everyone went home and watched the first man walk on the moon.
1996: Kevin Mitchell homers and Tim Wakefield gets the W in a 2-0 Red Sox win at Fenway.
2000: Day-night doubleheader at Camden. Sox rack up 17 hits in game one and win 11-7. In game 2, current movie star Scott Hatteberg donged, but the O's won 9-4. Boston would never get closer than the 1 game out of first they were at the end of that day.
1921: The Red Sox led 7-0 and 9-5 going to the bottom the 8th. The Browns scored 2 in the 8th and 2 in the 9th to tie it, then won it 10-9 with a run in the bottom of the 12th. The game lasted more than 4 hours. Among St. Louis's 22 hits were 8 doubles and a triple. Billy Gerber knocked in Baby Doll Jacobsen, who slid in under catcher Muddy Ruel, to win the game--Pedroia is not the first Muddy the Sox have had.
1941: In game one, Ted Williams hit a pinch-hit 3-run dong in the 9th, but the Sox lost 6-3. In game two, Bob Muncrief whitewashed Boston 10-0. George McQuinn hit 3 homers on the day at Sportsman's Park.
1946: Jeff Heath's 2-run single in the 7th gave the Browns a 5-4 win at Fenway.
1947: Browns sweep Sox in St. Louis. 4-3 in game one, and then Boston blows a 4-0 lead in game two, losing 7-6. The Browns' manager? Muddy Ruel. One article noted that Ted Williams had gone from "Tam Ted" to "Terrible Ted." Another one I saw yesterday called him "Landy Red." Anybody know what that means? I don't.
1948: The Red Sox win for the 555th time against the Orioles franchise, beating the Browns 8-3 at Fenway. Jack Kramer, who won game one of the 1947 doubleheader for St. Louis, wins this one, now in a Boston uniform.
1969: The Sox use 6 pitchers and withstand a 3-run, 9th-inning Orioles rally to win 6-5 on Sunday afternoon at Fenway. Syd O'Brien singled, tripled, and homered in the victory. Then everyone went home and watched the first man walk on the moon.
1996: Kevin Mitchell homers and Tim Wakefield gets the W in a 2-0 Red Sox win at Fenway.
2000: Day-night doubleheader at Camden. Sox rack up 17 hits in game one and win 11-7. In game 2, current movie star Scott Hatteberg donged, but the O's won 9-4. Boston would never get closer than the 1 game out of first they were at the end of that day.
Sox Now
3:43: 4-0 WIN. We're currently 2 games ahead of the Yanks, who play Tamper tonight. I will put up some 7/20 Sox/O's history up here later.
3:36: 4-0, Pap in for the ninth. Gonzalez had 4 hits today.
3:19: 4-0 in mid 8th. We scored one, had bases loaded with no outs, but couldn't score again in the 8th.
3:00: Ellsbury's 2nd dong of the day makes it 3-0 us after 7.
2:42: Miller threw 5.2 skaliss, then Albers gets the last out of the 6th. 2-0 SOX going to the 7th.
2:17: 2-0 us after 5. O's break up the no-hitter in the 5th.
1:56: 2-0 us now in the 4th.
1-0 Sox after 3. Miller has allowed 5 baserunners, all walks.
3:36: 4-0, Pap in for the ninth. Gonzalez had 4 hits today.
3:19: 4-0 in mid 8th. We scored one, had bases loaded with no outs, but couldn't score again in the 8th.
3:00: Ellsbury's 2nd dong of the day makes it 3-0 us after 7.
2:42: Miller threw 5.2 skaliss, then Albers gets the last out of the 6th. 2-0 SOX going to the 7th.
2:17: 2-0 us after 5. O's break up the no-hitter in the 5th.
1:56: 2-0 us now in the 4th.
1-0 Sox after 3. Miller has allowed 5 baserunners, all walks.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
We Lose, They Lose
Still 1.5 up. Too bad, though, we may have had a shot to move into the top spot in all of baseball since the Phile are losing. Oh well, doesn't matter now.
July 19th In Red Sox Vs. Orioles History
Up to 9,968 runs vs. the Orioles all time with those 15 last night. That all but clinches the 10,000 mark being reached this season. 32 runs in 10 games is all we need. It will be the first time the Red Sox have scored 10,000 runs against any one franchise, and the first time any franchise besides the Yanks has put up 10,000 against anybody. (All this includes only the 1901- era.)
Ooh, and look at this: the Red Sox have scored 79,991 runs overall in franchise history. Nine tonight and we hit 80,000. The Yanks are the only team currently above 80,000. The Tigers are pretty close to us with 79,887.
July 19th: We've played the O's/Browns 9 times, winning 7.
1941: In game one, George McQuinn hit for that season's only cycle, and the Browns won 9-3. Game two was won in the bottom of the 7th by "Don Heffner's nervy base running," according to the St. Pete Times. He went first to third on a groundout, and scored when Jimmie Foxx's throw to third went wild. Browns 4, Red Sox 3. Just over 2,500 people witnessed the Saturday doubleheader.
1947: Ted Williams knocked Johnny Pesky and Earl Johnson threw a 3-hit shutout for a 1-0 Boston win. This time fewer than 2,500 showed up on a Saturday at Sportsman's Park.
1948: Bobby Doerr hit a grand slam off of Fred Sanford (a junk baller?) in the 1st and that was all Mel Parnell needed in the 4-1 Sox win at Fenway. The game took about an hour and a half. (And Sanford died about 4 months ago at age 91.)
1954: In game one, the Orioles led 5-0 and then 7-3. Up four in the bottom of the ninth, they walked the bases loaded but had two outs. Jimmy Piersall doubled in two, and then Ted Williams was walked intentionally despite being the winning run. Mickey Owen had pinch run for Sammy White in the eighth and now stepped to the plate. His foul pop barely reached the seats, keeping the Sox alive. Then Owen hit one into the screen atop the Green Monster for a game-winning grand slam to cap a 6-run 9th, his teammates mobbing him at home plate. Owen had not hit a home run since 1950, and this one would the 14th and last of his career. In game two, Boston homered five times in an 8-5 win. Jackie Jensen went deep in consecutive innings, and Ted the Kid donged in both games.
1967: Red Sox score 5 in the 5th and hold on to win 6-4 at Memorial Stadium. Tony C. had 2 triples and a double, and the Red Sox find a new good luck charm (see pic, from The Day 7/20/1954)
1969: Dalton Jones, on a weekend pass from military reserve duty, hit a two-run, go-ahead double in the 7th, and Boston beat first-place Baltimore 5-3 on a Saturday night at Fenway.
1996: Mo Vaughn and Mike Stanley hit 3-run dongs as the Red Sox crushed the O's 13-2 at Fenway. Jeff "And a Little Child Shall Lead Them" Frye was 2 for 3 with FIVE runs scored.
Ooh, and look at this: the Red Sox have scored 79,991 runs overall in franchise history. Nine tonight and we hit 80,000. The Yanks are the only team currently above 80,000. The Tigers are pretty close to us with 79,887.
July 19th: We've played the O's/Browns 9 times, winning 7.
1941: In game one, George McQuinn hit for that season's only cycle, and the Browns won 9-3. Game two was won in the bottom of the 7th by "Don Heffner's nervy base running," according to the St. Pete Times. He went first to third on a groundout, and scored when Jimmie Foxx's throw to third went wild. Browns 4, Red Sox 3. Just over 2,500 people witnessed the Saturday doubleheader.
1947: Ted Williams knocked Johnny Pesky and Earl Johnson threw a 3-hit shutout for a 1-0 Boston win. This time fewer than 2,500 showed up on a Saturday at Sportsman's Park.1948: Bobby Doerr hit a grand slam off of Fred Sanford (a junk baller?) in the 1st and that was all Mel Parnell needed in the 4-1 Sox win at Fenway. The game took about an hour and a half. (And Sanford died about 4 months ago at age 91.)
1954: In game one, the Orioles led 5-0 and then 7-3. Up four in the bottom of the ninth, they walked the bases loaded but had two outs. Jimmy Piersall doubled in two, and then Ted Williams was walked intentionally despite being the winning run. Mickey Owen had pinch run for Sammy White in the eighth and now stepped to the plate. His foul pop barely reached the seats, keeping the Sox alive. Then Owen hit one into the screen atop the Green Monster for a game-winning grand slam to cap a 6-run 9th, his teammates mobbing him at home plate. Owen had not hit a home run since 1950, and this one would the 14th and last of his career. In game two, Boston homered five times in an 8-5 win. Jackie Jensen went deep in consecutive innings, and Ted the Kid donged in both games.
1967: Red Sox score 5 in the 5th and hold on to win 6-4 at Memorial Stadium. Tony C. had 2 triples and a double, and the Red Sox find a new good luck charm (see pic, from The Day 7/20/1954)
1969: Dalton Jones, on a weekend pass from military reserve duty, hit a two-run, go-ahead double in the 7th, and Boston beat first-place Baltimore 5-3 on a Saturday night at Fenway.
1996: Mo Vaughn and Mike Stanley hit 3-run dongs as the Red Sox crushed the O's 13-2 at Fenway. Jeff "And a Little Child Shall Lead Them" Frye was 2 for 3 with FIVE runs scored.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Crazy-Ass 8s
Looked like Wake had #185 tonight. Blew it in the fifth. Had to leave after 4.2, losing 7-6.
We tie it in the 7th.
Then the Rock Brigade arrives. 8 in the 8th. I love innings where you score the same number of runs as the inning number. I wonder what the record is. 8 in the 8th has happened a lot. What about 9 in the 9th? I'm pretty sure I've never heard of 10 in the 10th or anything above that.
Balty did get 3 in the bottom half, but we win it 15-10. 25 runs in 9 innings, after 1 run in 16 the night before.
Dustin Muddy Chicken Pedroia now has a 16-game hitting streak. Also, he's God.
Get some sleep tonight, Red Sox.
Funny moment at the Joy of Sox thread. At one point, this guy decided he'd come over to the board and tell us he just got engaged. However, the comment showed up right after Reddick hit his foul pole dong. So you had the dong, followed by "I'M GETTING ENGAGED." At this point, I assumed he meant he was in love with Reddick. I thought of it as a "throes of passion" remark, a la Costanza's "I'm giving you a raise!" But no, the guy just happened to be announcing his engagement at that moment. Either way, I'm definitely gonna be using that line for any and all big Red Sox hits/winning moments.
In Yankee news, they're tied in the ninth at Tamper.
[11:02: Stupid ass Rays walk in go-ahead run with 2 outs in the 9th.]
[11:12: Pieces o shit. They go down 1-2-3 and lose. Blew a 4-1 lead. So they gave the Yanks a game on a throwing error and now on a walked in run. Pieces o shit. We stay 1.5 up on NY and are now 8 up on the Sellers.]
We tie it in the 7th.
Then the Rock Brigade arrives. 8 in the 8th. I love innings where you score the same number of runs as the inning number. I wonder what the record is. 8 in the 8th has happened a lot. What about 9 in the 9th? I'm pretty sure I've never heard of 10 in the 10th or anything above that.
Balty did get 3 in the bottom half, but we win it 15-10. 25 runs in 9 innings, after 1 run in 16 the night before.
Dustin Muddy Chicken Pedroia now has a 16-game hitting streak. Also, he's God.
Get some sleep tonight, Red Sox.
Funny moment at the Joy of Sox thread. At one point, this guy decided he'd come over to the board and tell us he just got engaged. However, the comment showed up right after Reddick hit his foul pole dong. So you had the dong, followed by "I'M GETTING ENGAGED." At this point, I assumed he meant he was in love with Reddick. I thought of it as a "throes of passion" remark, a la Costanza's "I'm giving you a raise!" But no, the guy just happened to be announcing his engagement at that moment. Either way, I'm definitely gonna be using that line for any and all big Red Sox hits/winning moments.
In Yankee news, they're tied in the ninth at Tamper.
[11:02: Stupid ass Rays walk in go-ahead run with 2 outs in the 9th.]
[11:12: Pieces o shit. They go down 1-2-3 and lose. Blew a 4-1 lead. So they gave the Yanks a game on a throwing error and now on a walked in run. Pieces o shit. We stay 1.5 up on NY and are now 8 up on the Sellers.]
July 18th In Red Sox Vs. Orioles History
Still 47 runs short of 10,000 all time vs. the O's. With 11 games left against them in '11, there's a good chance we'll reach the mark in September. And nobody will notice but me. I mean us.
We've played 'em 11 times on July 18th. We beat them in 1916, 1917, 1948 (twice), 1954, 1967, and 1969. We lost in 1918, 1947, 1954, and 1996.
In '16, their catcher, Hank Severeid, got bowled over at the plate by winning pitcher Babe Ruth in a 4-3 Red Sox win at Fenway.
In '17, the same dude made some bad plays in the field, leading to a 1-0 Red Sox win in St. Louis.
In '18, Dave Davenport held the future World Series champs to five hits in a 6-3 St. Louis win at Fenway.
In '47, Ted WIlliams went 5-5 with 2 dongs and the Sox had 17 hits, but lost 9-8 in St. Louis.
In '48, the Browns led 4-0 in both games, but Boston came back twice, winning 12-5 and 7-6 at Fenway.
In '54, Russ Kemmerer took a no-hitter in the 7th in his first major league start, ending up with a one-hit shutout and a 4-0 Red Sox win in game one at Fenway. In game two, Frank Sullivan walked and balked in eighth inning runs and the Browns won 4-1.
In '67, the Sox knocked out Dave McNally in the second, and Jim Lonborg got the complete game 6-2 win at Memorial Stadium, Boston's 777th over the Orioles franchise.
In '69, Providence's Ray Jarvis went all the way and drove in 2 runs in a 6-1 Sox win over the AL-dominating Orioles at Fenway. From retrosheet's play-by-play, top 8th: "Buford hit ball into rightfield stands; Conigliaro fell intostands but came up without the ball; Stewart hesitated on the call and Buford passed a confused and hesitating May between 1B and 2B; May was called out and Buford circled the bases, May getting no further than 2B; After argument, Buford was credited with single and RBI and May with run scored even though he never circled bases"
In '96, Hoiles and Surhoff homered and David Wells got the 6-3 win for Baltimore at Fenway.
Sox @ Orioles, 7:05.
We've played 'em 11 times on July 18th. We beat them in 1916, 1917, 1948 (twice), 1954, 1967, and 1969. We lost in 1918, 1947, 1954, and 1996.
In '16, their catcher, Hank Severeid, got bowled over at the plate by winning pitcher Babe Ruth in a 4-3 Red Sox win at Fenway.
In '17, the same dude made some bad plays in the field, leading to a 1-0 Red Sox win in St. Louis.
In '18, Dave Davenport held the future World Series champs to five hits in a 6-3 St. Louis win at Fenway.
In '47, Ted WIlliams went 5-5 with 2 dongs and the Sox had 17 hits, but lost 9-8 in St. Louis.
In '48, the Browns led 4-0 in both games, but Boston came back twice, winning 12-5 and 7-6 at Fenway.
In '54, Russ Kemmerer took a no-hitter in the 7th in his first major league start, ending up with a one-hit shutout and a 4-0 Red Sox win in game one at Fenway. In game two, Frank Sullivan walked and balked in eighth inning runs and the Browns won 4-1.
In '67, the Sox knocked out Dave McNally in the second, and Jim Lonborg got the complete game 6-2 win at Memorial Stadium, Boston's 777th over the Orioles franchise.
In '69, Providence's Ray Jarvis went all the way and drove in 2 runs in a 6-1 Sox win over the AL-dominating Orioles at Fenway. From retrosheet's play-by-play, top 8th: "Buford hit ball into rightfield stands; Conigliaro fell intostands but came up without the ball; Stewart hesitated on the call and Buford passed a confused and hesitating May between 1B and 2B; May was called out and Buford circled the bases, May getting no further than 2B; After argument, Buford was credited with single and RBI and May with run scored even though he never circled bases"
In '96, Hoiles and Surhoff homered and David Wells got the 6-3 win for Baltimore at Fenway.
Sox @ Orioles, 7:05.
Bobby E
Last night on the ESPN broadcast, Bobby Valentine told a story from his playing days. We all know the drill: when ex-players tell stories about old games, they seem to get the facts right about 1 to 1.3 percent of the time, with the exception of Dennis Eckersley, whose alien creators blessed him with the uncanny ability to remember every minor detail from every game he ever played in.
Since Bobby V. may in fact have been dropped off by the craft that spawned Eck, I figured his story might be fairly accurate. Besides, he actually concluded the tale with a "you can look it up."
Turns out that was his fatal flaw. I looked it up. His version of events was that he was on the Mariners in 1979, and after the third catcher got hurt, his manager, Darrell Johnson, asked if he could play catcher. Bobby, having never even put on a mask in his life, said Sure, got behind the plate in the 6th inning, and caught the last three innings.
It was easy to find the game in question. He did catch just one time in his major league career--on August 17, 1979 with the Johnson-managed Mariners. But as you can see, he pinch-hit for the catcher in the eighth, then caught the ninth. That's one inning by my count. So he's way off there. And I don't know if he meant that three catchers had gone down in that game, but the truth is that the M's used two catchers that year, and only one had played in the game in question before Bobby replaced him. That same catcher came back the next night and had four at bats. The other catcher also didn't seem to miss any extra time. So I don't know why Johnson kept Valentine in there on defense instead of switching to the other catcher (though after reading Game Six, it doesn't exactly baffle me). But I do know his story is...say it with me...bullshit.
And if you think I'm nitpicking, remember, he challenged the audience to look it up, he was so certain.
Later, he said he only got "stuck" with a non-catcher behind the plate in his managerial career one time, with the Mets, and Matt Franco the one forced to catch. A quick check at Franco's career stats showed he never appeared as a catcher in a major league game, though he did pitch twice during Valentine's reign, which could have been what he was thinking of or meant to say.
In closing, terrible job, Bobby V, for effing with Carl Everett that time. And also for getting facts wrong.
Since Bobby V. may in fact have been dropped off by the craft that spawned Eck, I figured his story might be fairly accurate. Besides, he actually concluded the tale with a "you can look it up."
Turns out that was his fatal flaw. I looked it up. His version of events was that he was on the Mariners in 1979, and after the third catcher got hurt, his manager, Darrell Johnson, asked if he could play catcher. Bobby, having never even put on a mask in his life, said Sure, got behind the plate in the 6th inning, and caught the last three innings.
It was easy to find the game in question. He did catch just one time in his major league career--on August 17, 1979 with the Johnson-managed Mariners. But as you can see, he pinch-hit for the catcher in the eighth, then caught the ninth. That's one inning by my count. So he's way off there. And I don't know if he meant that three catchers had gone down in that game, but the truth is that the M's used two catchers that year, and only one had played in the game in question before Bobby replaced him. That same catcher came back the next night and had four at bats. The other catcher also didn't seem to miss any extra time. So I don't know why Johnson kept Valentine in there on defense instead of switching to the other catcher (though after reading Game Six, it doesn't exactly baffle me). But I do know his story is...say it with me...bullshit.
And if you think I'm nitpicking, remember, he challenged the audience to look it up, he was so certain.
Later, he said he only got "stuck" with a non-catcher behind the plate in his managerial career one time, with the Mets, and Matt Franco the one forced to catch. A quick check at Franco's career stats showed he never appeared as a catcher in a major league game, though he did pitch twice during Valentine's reign, which could have been what he was thinking of or meant to say.
In closing, terrible job, Bobby V, for effing with Carl Everett that time. And also for getting facts wrong.
Long One, Live
1:55 a.m.: WIN! Sharrp one-hopper that AG makes a nice play on, fires to Pap covering. 1-0 16-inning victory, and we remain 1.5 up on the Yanks.
1:50: Shoppach grounds out on 1st pitch!!!!! Two gone. Oh, and there was the Scutaro bat throwing incident earlier too. He threw it down, but it bounced and went toward where the catcher was trying to catch his pop up. It was an accident but the Rays got pissed.
1:49: Rodgriguez up. Rays have had like 5 baserunners all night, we had left 15 men on base I think, before last inning...two strikes on Rodriguez....by the way, Reddick, #16, scored that run in top 16. Pap trying to make it a pristine 16 for our pitchers tonight. Strike three! One out
1:47: I don't know if I'll remember all the stuff I wanted to say about this game. There was the ball smashing the lights, which fell onto the field. And yes, the Trop played the theme from The Natural. Then they played Walking on Broken Glass, which also played in 1992, on my first day working my first job, at Stop & Shop, as I cleaned up a broken jar of gefilte fish. Then there was the leaping catch by Reddick at the wall in the bottom of the 9th. Okay, anyway, Pap warming up, here we go....
1:44 a.m.: Are you fucking... guy catches it at the wall, leaping. So we go bottom 16, up 1-0, Papelbon coming on.
1:42 a.m.: 16th inning, was just about to start live-blogging the *end* of this one, when Ellsbury flied out too shallow for the go-ahead run to score. Two outs, 0-0--and Pedroia gets a line single! First run of the game! Now Adrian...
1:50: Shoppach grounds out on 1st pitch!!!!! Two gone. Oh, and there was the Scutaro bat throwing incident earlier too. He threw it down, but it bounced and went toward where the catcher was trying to catch his pop up. It was an accident but the Rays got pissed.
1:49: Rodgriguez up. Rays have had like 5 baserunners all night, we had left 15 men on base I think, before last inning...two strikes on Rodriguez....by the way, Reddick, #16, scored that run in top 16. Pap trying to make it a pristine 16 for our pitchers tonight. Strike three! One out
1:47: I don't know if I'll remember all the stuff I wanted to say about this game. There was the ball smashing the lights, which fell onto the field. And yes, the Trop played the theme from The Natural. Then they played Walking on Broken Glass, which also played in 1992, on my first day working my first job, at Stop & Shop, as I cleaned up a broken jar of gefilte fish. Then there was the leaping catch by Reddick at the wall in the bottom of the 9th. Okay, anyway, Pap warming up, here we go....
1:44 a.m.: Are you fucking... guy catches it at the wall, leaping. So we go bottom 16, up 1-0, Papelbon coming on.
1:42 a.m.: 16th inning, was just about to start live-blogging the *end* of this one, when Ellsbury flied out too shallow for the go-ahead run to score. Two outs, 0-0--and Pedroia gets a line single! First run of the game! Now Adrian...
Sunday, July 17, 2011
July 17th In Red Sox Vs. Rays History
We've played the Rays once on this date. 2002. On the road. We won 6-1. Ugly game for the Devil Rays, who walked in two runs and threw two wild pitches and fell to 29 games out of first. Lowe got the win, Guapo pitched the ninth. Manny and Trot went deep.(Forgot to say yesterday that we have never played them on July 16th.)
Yanks up 5-2 in the 6th, we play tonight.
[Update: Assholes win, so we have to win to stay 1.5 ahead.]
Golden
Heard most of game on radio today. We win to stay 1.5 up. Kim and I went to ArtBeat in Somerville, where we sold her soap. This year's ArtBeat photo is of the golden living statue woman...on break, talking on the phone. So while trying to get some pre-game on the radio at one point, I heard John Rider and someone else talking about the Sox, and one of them casually saying "I could see the Sox getting swept in this series," and the other one agreeing. Now I'm not saying getting swept wasn't a possibility and I'm not saying you can't predict bad things for your team. But this was a classic case of: Red Sox win 9 of 10 games, then lose ONE, and it's "they're getting swept." You might expect this from the small but vocal fans who only know what they've seen in the past 24 hours, but why do we have to hear it from the hosts? Aren't they supposed to, like, know shit? Oh wait, of course not, this is why I supposedly stopped listening to this crap. Maybe their professional insight should have been "I can see the Sox coming back and winning the next two games in this series because they're fucking awesome, so watch out for the Rock Brigade." That's what I woulda said!
