Dice-K gave us five "serviceable for a 5th starter" innings today. Overall I'm happy with his performance, his first major league start in over a year. Eight Ks, 1 walk, along with the 4 runs that gave he District a 4-0 lead. Had we scored 10...well, we didn't score 10, we scored 2. Had some squanders too. 4-2 LOSS.

Our 'pen was perfect. Nine out of nine retired by Morales, three out of three by Albers.

NESN was trying to pull a fast one with those overhead shots. Beautiful indeed, but not from today. Early in the game, when the shadows hadn't even entered the field, they showed a shot where you could see the shadows of the light towers/stands almost completely covering the field, which wouldn't happen for a few more hours. Judging by yesterday's weather, I'd say the shots were at least 2 days old. Then later, when the shadows were covering the field, sure enough they cut to an overhead shot of a field with all sun, no shadows. No, they didn't have the word "live" on the screen, but A. they showed it while the announcers were talking and talking about what a beautiful day they were currently experiencing, and B. they don't say "live" during the game anyway, it's implied. Why not just admit the amazing shots weren't from today? Why try to deceive people? It just made me wonder about all their not-obviously-today shots.

I saw the whole game except for one inning, which I heard in the car. Dave O'Brien noted how the next two series the Red Sox play will be in the newest and second-oldest parks in baseball. Wow, that's second only to playing in the oldest and newest consecutively...which is what they're doing in this series at home and the next one in Miami! Know what I'm sayin'? Why only say the second-most/best/least/whatever thing is happening without noting that the most/best/least/whatever thing is happening too?

Our contest is going into its final game, and everyone's alive! Though it will take quite a few runs/hits for some of you. Ryan is looking great in the hit column, and is also in good position for a sweep. Details below. Good luck tomorrow....

Actual Runs/Hits:

June 5: 6 runs, 11 hits
June 6: 1 run, 7 hits
June 7: 7 runs, 9 hits
June 8: 4 runs, 8 hits
June 9: 2 runs, 5 hits
June 10:

Current Total: 20 runs, 40 hits

Projected Total: 24 runs, 48 hits
Projected Winners thru Saturday, June 9th: Bosox Fan in Wichita (23 runs), (Ryan) (50 hits)

Predictions:
Runs

22: Section 36
23: Bosox Fan in Wichita
26: Rich G
28: (Ryan)
29: Kathryn
30: Kara
32: RedSoxDiehard
34: Mark UK
36: Mom
40: El Cerdo Ignatius
42: Charlie
43: Liam, Summa Contra

Hits
36: Section 36
50: (Ryan)
56: Kathryn
57: RedSoxDiehard
68: Mark UK
69: Bosox Fan in Wichita
71: El Cerdo Ignatius
75: Mom
79: Rich G
81: Liam, Summa Contra
90: Kara
127: Charlie

Stephen Strasburg was the story of the night. Except for Bryce Harper, who was another story. And this is the view from my actual seat! Let's go back to the beginning and whatnot.

First, I took a Fenway tour with my e-friend and now real-life friend, Richard Miller, and his wife, Ellen. You may know Richard from his multi-faceted website, Miller's Time. This guy does a lot, and says a lot about it. He also holds yearly contests, one of which I won. Tickets to tonight's game was my prize. But since he was in the area, we were able to meet up and do a tour.

Here we are at the end of the tour. We had a fun time walking around Fenway and talking, but all three of us agreed that the tour itself was crappy. We'd been before, but this was supposed to be the "new and improved" tour. It DID disappoint. Admittedly, parts of the park were skipped since it was a game day tour, but still: you couldn't hear the guy even when his belt-speaker was working, lots of info about the park was left out, the whole "living museum" aspect with all the plaques and memorabilia was completely ignored, and to top it off, one of the staffers was incredibly rude to everyone at the end. My recommendation: unless you can do it in the off-season, skip the tour, and just go to a game and walk around the park. The plaques will tell you what the host doesn't. Google the rest, or e-mail me, I'll fill you in.

Also at this game was Zack Hample. He was approaching 6,000 balls snagged lifetime, and actually held back at his last game at Yankee Stadium so he could reach the milestone at Fenway tonight. He even hired a videographer to capture the moment! (Zack's at left, the videographer's at right.) I knew Zack would be waiting at the RSN early entry, so I headed over there after the tour and talked to him and some other people he was with, including Fenway-snagger Mike, the guy I showed you a picture of out at the camera well a few weeks ago. I missed batting practice at this game, since Kim and I went to dinner in the 5-7 range, but it turns out there was no BP anyway, something Zack was quite pissed about.

And shortly after Kim and I took our incredible seats (thanks again, Richard!), I spotted Zack over on the visitors' dugout. As of right now, he has yet to blog or tweet about tonight's game, so I have no idea how his snagging went, but I have to assume he reached the milestone, as he was sitting on 5,998 going in. [Update, 2:58 a.m.: Nine minutes ago, Zack tweeted that he indeed got #6,000. So he's at least 5,979 balls ahead of me.]

Here's Paula Abdul with Wally.

The Red Sox have been doing that thing lately where kids get to run out onto the field with the players. So, like, here's a picture of that. Pictured are Nava, Aviles, Pedroia, Billy, Jimmy, Dawn, Sebastian...aw fuck it, I'm making these up.

Bryce Harper on deck in the first inning. More on him later because I already wrote it below and now I'm adding this picture and...just move on.

We actually got off to a good start against Strasburg, taking a 2-0 lead. And Doubront looked okay at the beginning too. But soon we'd be down 7-2, with Strasburg striking out 13. This guy's change-up was 89-92. His fastball was 96-100. In case you haven't heard, he and The Beatles are a big deal. He had our hitters pretty baffled.

Here we are scoring early in the game on a hit by Aviles.

LaRoche has this angled Ichiro thing goin' on.

Here's the 19-year old Bryce Harper on third. This dude became the third teenager since 1940 to have three hits in a game at Fenway. One was a dong. Speaking of history, Strasburg was the youngest guy to strike out 13 at Fenway since the 1986 Clemens 20 K game.

A great night temperature-wise, but there were two major downpours before the game, and several showers during the game.

Above is a video of Youk getting ejected. We had a few squanders and would lose 7-4.

Andrew Miller on the hill late in the game.

One to add to my Broken Bat Collection. This ump was very proactive--on every broken bat he'd go running out to get it instead of letting the bat boy do all the work.

That one field, on our way back to the car. It was great how this whole field was lighted but empty, with darkness around it, and then the city in the background. I attempted to capture this but I feel I kinda failed. Still an okay shot though.

Brick of the game: These Nebraskans! As someone who is also a "NE HUSKER"--from going to school there--I was happy to see this. I looked up that name and I see the J.A. is also a Jerry! Though he spells it weird....

Updated standings in our contest are at the bottom of the original post. Ryan looking good! Two games left....

We needed a night where everything goes right. ClayHH pitches a complete game shutout. Yanks lose too, so we move back to within 3 of first place.

And now we start with the BS interleague stuff. The Easts go head to head. We're at home for Washington, the Yanks get the Mets who are in line to show up, though I'll believe it when I see it, and Philly goes into Balty. The Rays go to Miami, and the Jays are in Atlanta.

Doubront/Strasburg, Friday 7:10. Let's show the NL who's boss! (While the NL shows the rest of the AL East that they, in those particular cases are, for three days, are the boss(es).)

Old logo moment from tonight: The kids of the Red Sox Foundation's "Red Sox Rookie League" got to run out with the players before the game...

 Awww, so cute...but what's that?

Unfortunately, the Red Sox Foundation missed that logo tweak in 2008. But I guarantee you they could pick out the new Marlins logo.

And check this out, from a commercial that aired on NESN tonight:

He's the one celebrity they've got, they refer to him as a legend, yet...they can't bother to look up the fuckin' spelling of his name, in a time where everybody has unlimited resources in their pockets. It's Wilkens. If I were him I wouldn't even show up.

Can we please win a game in this series? Thanks. Random video I forgot to post: Will Middlebrooks's first major league plate appearance--pitches 3 and 4 of the 4-pitch walk.

Here we go back to April 19th, the Fenway Open House. After I went through the tunnel to the field (Part I), and then walked all around the field and saw Kevin Millar filming his talk show on the warning track (Part II), I headed upstairs to the Monster, then to the EMC club and State Street Pavilion where I saw Bernie Carbo and some fancy schmancy suites. But I've shown pics from up there before, so I'm skipping to the part where I went to the new Royal Rooters Club beyond right field. This club is exclusive to season ticket holders. It kind of stinks that they're the only ones with access to all the great memorabilia inside.*

This is a sign just outside the club. (Note the now-retired "Boston" font that died when the Circle Sox logo was tweaked and only I noticed.)

Just inside the club. Note the poles are painted like the ones in the seating bowl, even corresponding to the section you'd be in were it to extend back that far.

The view from inside. Right field is just off to the left of the shot. These people are underneath the right field bleachers. The people on the left are directly beneath the gap between the bleachers and the right field grandstand.

Here's a dual-pic (click for mega-huge and check out Balboni's bald head) of the home and away teams before the first game at Fenway in 1912 and the ones from before the 75th anniversary game in 1987. I had a feeling they'd line the teams up the next day for the 100th anniversary game, and they did (scroll down on that page).

Here are the 1946 A.L. champs.

An old line-up board, and a "full" sign.

They had the '04 and '07 trophies in there. Which I shot with the corresponding banners behind them.

They've got a bar in there. And a wall of autographed bats.

I love seeing the old signage, which hangs throughout the space.

A Babe Ruth-signed ball and an old Fenway ticket from the first game in 1912 (April 9th, Sox vs. Harvard).  I could do a really long gallery of these amazing artifacts but I'm trying to keep it reasonable.

This appears to be an incentive for Babe Ruth to win 24 or 30 games in the 1918 season, written by Harry Frazee.

One last shot of all the fans on the field from Canvas Alley as I make my way from right field back to toward Yawkey Way.

The bullpen car! Fun day, great event. I hope they do it again, even if it's just every 5 or 10 years or something.

*It also stinks that as a 10-game plan holder, I was laughed at by the guard outside when I attempted to enter during a game. He actually said "not even close!" before telling me it was only for full-season ticket holders. I asked, "so even half-season people can't go in," at which point the guy realized that there must be a cut-off at some point and suddenly wasn't so sure of himself: "I'm not the one to ask...." So, hoping that maybe he was wrong and that all "season ticket holders" (which they refer to me as sometimes), I wrote to the team and politely asked. They never wrote back. Glad I got to go in there once anyway.

Actual Runs/Hits:

June 5: 6 runs, 11 hits
June 6: 1 run, 7 hits
June 7:
June 8:
June 9:
June 10:

Current Total: 7 runs, 18 hits

Projected Total thru 2 games: 21 runs, 54 hits
Projected Winners thru 2 games: Section 36 (22 runs), Kathryn (56 hits)

Complete prediction list:

Runs

22: Section 36
23: Bosox Fan in Wichita
26: Rich G
28: (Ryan)
29: Kathryn
30: Kara
32: RedSoxDiehard
34: Mark UK
36: Mom
40: El Cerdo Ignatius
42: Charlie
43: Liam, Summa Contra

Hits
36: Section 36
50: (Ryan)
56: Kathryn
57: RedSoxDiehard
68: Mark UK
69: Bosox Fan in Wichita
71: El Cerdo Ignatius
75: Mom
79: Rich G
81: Liam, Summa Contra
90: Kara
127: Charlie

I predicted a perfecto from Beckett. I got 8 quick innings, with one bad one, for a total of 2 runs and 5 hits. Still pretty good. Unfortch, the offense only scored once. And goddamnit say all of us. I'll take that loss over a 12-11 loss, but that doesn't mean I'm not pissed. We're back to .500 and we remain alone in the basement. Still 4 out of first with a million to play though....

Tonight they showed somebody in the stands receiving hot dogs from Remy, and I couldn't help but notice the metal T-shirt two rows back:

The band is Suffocation. (How many death metal bands end with -tion? All of them, I think.) Here's a similar shirt with the same logo:

The point is: I swear, at every Red Sox game, I always see one band shirt. The last game I went to it was The Smiths. I know I've documented some of these, like that one guy with the Black Flag shirt once, but I should keep a running list.

I just heard Beckett didn't talk to the media tonight. So just remember, when they're killing him for whatever invented thing, remember, you're not mad at him. They are. His job isn't to make a bunch of people that aren't even fans happy. I love it when he disses those assholes. They deserve it. They should know that we're happy when our guys say "fuck you" to them. And I hope it was something terrible--like he was late for his Satanic Ritual Killing, so he couldn't talk to the media. Because I don't care what any of these guys do with their time. As I've said before, nobody ever makes fun of a player for spending too much time doing charity work. Then again, the A-holes could come out with the "hey, if he's pitching well, he can do what he wants" line, which is BS because it implies, as it's been proven, that if these guys aren't playing well, the media is somehow "allowed" to dig into their private lives and turn the fans against them over their butt-hurtedness. It's time for us to stop falling for it. Burn the media!

I've been using Twitter--but only as a way to alert people when I do a new post on this blog. I have no intention of using it for anything beyond that. But I wanted to know if this helps any of you. If it does, I'll keep using it (when I remember). Maybe that way is easier than the "blogs I follow" feature or dem ol' fashin feeds or whatever.

So you can answer in comments, or just by following me there. My thingy is @rsfpt. The name I first used when I set it up was John Ritchie, so don't be confused by that....

Thanks. And to be clear, if you are not a Twitter person, you won't be missing anything. I'm never going to put anything there that's not already here, save for a slightly witty notation that a new post has gone up. In fact, for contests, I don't even tweet right away--that way there's no chance some random person sees it on Twitter and beats one of my regular readers to the punch.

The Orioles pulled a "late-90s Yankees" tonight. Every time we came back to tie them or take the lead, they immediately came back and did the same to us in the top of the next inning. Right down to the 10th, when they scored 2 right after Salty's dramatic 2-run game-tying dong with 2 outs and 2 strikes in the bottom of the 9th.

Lester was so-so, but left with the tying run on base. At which point Atchison and Albers shit the bed to give the O's the lead in the 7th. Aceves gave up the winning runs in the 10th, but he did pitch a 1-2-3 9th to keep it within two for Salty's heroics.

So we stay 3 out of first, but we're alone in the cellar again. With the Rays, O's, and Yanks bunched up at the top, we can only gain a half game max on first place tomorrow night. Chen for them, Beckett with a perfect game for us.

Contest Update:

Actual Runs/Hits:

June 5: 6 runs, 11 hits
June 6:
June 7:
June 8:
June 9:
June 10:

Current Total: 6 runs, 11 hits

Current Projected Total: 36 runs, 66 hits
Current Projected Winners: Mom (36 runs), Mark UK (68 hits) (full list of contestants in original post)

When we last left off with the 1912 season, Ty Cobb and the Tigers were ready to go on strike. And they did. For one game. The replacement Tigers were slaughtered 24-2 by the A's. (Check out the pitcher's major league stats--24 runs, 26 hits, all in that one game. He would also become the only priest to have ever played major league baseball.) The next game was canceled by the league president, and the Tigers were told they'd be fined $50 for every game missed. So they each paid their $100 and went right back to the diamond.

As for the Red Sox, after May 18th, they would go on to win 9 of their next 11, and go 10-5 overall through June 4th. Highlights included a doubleheader sweep over Washington by scores of 21-8 and 12-11. In another game, Cleveland scored 3 in the 9th to tie it, but the Red Sox won in the 10th when Tris Speaker tried to go to from first to third on a sacrifice bunt--the throw went to third but the bag was uncovered, and he came home to score the winning run. Speaker also hit a 3-run homer in the win.

So Boston still sat 3 games behind the White Sox for first place 100 years ago today, with both teams even at 214 runs scored for the year. Boston will be on the road for almost the entire month of June, while it's the opposite for Chicago. So the Pale Hose have a great chance to distance themselves...will they? (Dude, it's already happened. They won't.)

Labels: 1912 Red Sox

Somebody made a map showing the birthplace of every current major leaguer. Pretty cool.

O's @ Sox tonght, 7:10. Lester against Hammel. Hammel kind of shit the bed in his last start and is supposedly battling an injury, so hopefully we can smell the blood in the water and use said smell to locate the injured animal and then kill and consume it in the form of hitting dongs and stuff.

You've got till game time tonight to get into the latest contest. You can win the Oil Can Boyd book, which I reviewed here.

You have one more day to enter the contest to win a copy of this book. Click here. My review below.

****

In 1986, my dad took my buddy and me to Fenway Park. As we headed to the ticket office, my dad spotted a man selling tickets in the street and approached him. The man offered up some seats, but my dad was no sucker--he wanted to make sure he was getting a good deal before committing...so he politely asked if they were good seats. "Best you're gonna get with The Can on the mound," the man said. We grabbed the tickets, walked into the old ballpark, and sat down. Right behind a pole. I learned a lot about scalpers that day, but I also learned about the magic of Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd. Before there was Pedro, and just before the Rocket really took off, there was The Can. And the mere mention of that quirky nickname could separate a man from his money just as it could instill fear into the best sluggers the 80s had to offer.

"They Call Me Oil Can" starts out in 1986, too, with a tale that springs right from the book's subtitle. "Baseball": The Can is on the verge of (so he thinks) starting Game 7 of the World Series. "Drugs": Instead, he finds himself in Central Park scoring coke and staying up all night getting high on the eve of the game. And "Life on the Edge": It's a life filled with anger and danger and toughness and injustice; but that edge is also the one The Can always teeters on, glory on one side, disaster on the other.

But this book is about racism. It's that simple. This is the story of a black man who grew up in a world run by white people, and entered into a game run by white people. There's a tendency for people who grew up with all the advantages in life to tag the oppressed as whiners, as people who "play the race card" and use racism as an "excuse" for their failures. Oil Can Boyd's story is a chance to see it from the other side. Until you have banana peels thrown at you for doing nothing but playing a game with people who don't look like you, or have cops attack you in your own driveway for no reason, or get denied a loan despite having plenty of money, you can't know what it's like.

As The Can points out, "when I first left Mississippi it was the Ku Klux Klan that held you down [...] When I came back [after his baseball career in the 1990s], it was [...] the sons and grandsons of those Klansmen [...]." He's had racism rear its cowardly head so often throughout his life, it's made him go so far as to say he's against integration. He shares his ongoing struggle with this--he wants everyone to be treated equally, wants to celebrate the differences in people, but still has trouble ever trusting a white man, and it's hard to blame him. It's almost as if he's decided black people would be better off just left alone rather than having to deal with being treated as something lower than animals, under the guise of an integration that he feels is really just the white man "allowing" the black man to share his world--if he's good.

But that makes even more heartwarming the tale of Boyd's fellow Mississippian white friend and lawyer who was inspired by an ancestor who fought in the Civil War--for the North--to fight for the rights of the very black people he was brought up to hate, including The Can in his struggles with racist bankers.

Boyd powerfully sums up growing up black in the South when talking about a conversation he once had about the War on Terror: "I lived through terrorism and nobody cared. [...] And it wasn't an Iraqi calling me a nigger. It wasn't a Saudi selling me crack cocaine. It wasn't an Iranian who drove through my neighborhood shooting it up. It wasn't an Afghani who kept us in economic bondage."

As for the drugs, he has no illusions of being "clean." A life-long addict, he's just happy to control his usage these days--his love of family keeps him from ever dropping too deep into that downward spiral--but he doesn't fall for tales of fellow addicts being "off the stuff." Drugs, among other reasons, is why he doesn't go back to Mississippi. He has an impossibly gigantic extended family, and everybody's related down there. So the drugs don't even come from strangers, they come right from your family: "True incest is when you got people that should be loving each other and instead they're killing each other."

Co-author Mike Shalin does a great job of letting Oil Can speak in his unique voice. If you've ever heard Oil Can talk, you know how important that is. And while the book has its serious side, Red Sox and baseball fans will love the pitching (he always called his own games) and locker room stories. The Can gives his thoughts on all his old teammates and coaches, and players throughout the league. If you grew up with the 1980s Red Sox like I did, this stuff is pure gold. It felt good knowing that Boyd seemed to get along with the players I liked the most--Bill Lee, Rich Gedman, even non-racist "redneck" Mike Greenwell. And as a guy who never really took to Wade Boggs, I loved hearing Oil Can's diss him: "I didn't put him in the Hall of Fame. White people put him in the Hall of Fame." And who would've thought Johnny Pesky knew the "black handshake"?!

Bob Stanley gets "credit" for making The Can into what some would call a hot-head. Can feels like Steamer teasing him as a rookie set the tone for the way he'd be treated by most people in the game, right through being snubbed twice for the All-Star team (along with the '86 World Series snub) to being blackballed from the game to this day. But Boyd always stayed true to himself, stood up for his rights. He wasn't about to do what was "expected" of him as a black man in a white man's world. Oil Can came from Africans who were forced into slavery, but also from Native Americans and the Irish. According to him, it was this mix of warriors that made him the tough kid he was, and got him (and gets him) through it all.
The story of The Can is a wild one. It's a quick but loaded read. Get this book for your baseball fan friends, or for anybody who thinks racism is a thing of the past or something that's exaggerated.

[Oil Can Boyd (with Bill Lee at left and Rich Gedman at right), 2008. Photo by Jere Smith, aka me.]

The G news is that our bullpen went 6.1 innings and gave up no runs and no walks.

The B news is that our starter went 1.2 innings and basically couldn't remember how to throw a strike. Bard walked lots and hit a few more. We were quickly down 5-0 and lost 5-1, as we were shut down by the Hutch.

Tied for last, three out of first.