Wednesday, July 03, 2013

Fake Punt Murphys

Jonny Wad does it again! Gomes with a walk-off dong to lead off the ninth. It was the type of game you felt like we were gonna win, it was just a matter of when. Kim has been talking a lot about visualization lately. I told her how Dan Quisenberry made a career out of it. (See this Baseball Bunch video uploaded by me a long time ago.) Tonight she went to bed in the 8th and I told her it was shaping up to be a magical night at Fenway. She said "it WILL be," and we both visualized the hell out of it. And it happened. And then Eckersley said something about "this is magic" and noted that Gomes likes to talk about visualization! Bonus. I guess magic is as fake as mystique and aura, but you can visualize, and it can help. Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, this is fun.

Anyway, NESN initially missed the beginning of Jonny's third-to-home "thing," and from what we saw, I did a whole video surmising what he was doing was a "fake punt," as a response to his earlier actual helmet punt. Then about ten minutes into the pre-game, they "uncover" footage of the beginning part, and sure enough he did the fake punt before pulling the ball into his belly and running for the first down. So I erased my video. But you'd think they would have been ready for all of this. Glad they finally showed us that beginning part. Then he and Erdahl got doused.

Great job by Salty earlier tying the game. As soon as it hit the wall, I was rooting for that bounce that goes over the left fielder's head, and I got it. Carp scores from first and we tie it. It stayed 1-1 till the fateful 9th.

Volquez, who Remy calls Valquez, did a good job for them, and Lester did a good job for us after a really rough first.

Taz gets the something, UE gets the oddball win. And my mom and niece were at the game! This is Warner Wolf. Jim?

In "not showing the score at the end of the inning" news, NESN did that going to the bottom of the 9th. This is a spot where you really need to tell the audience the game is tied. Instead, we only see the batters who are due up, and, bonus, Don merely says who's coming up, in an excited voice, without saying it's tied. I was watching the whole game, I knew it was tied. But for anyone who just tuned in, or was at a bar or something not giving it their full attention, you gotta set the scene for a potential game-winning inning. Someone or something has to let people know it's a tie.

It's our 8th walk-off win of the year, so I definitely don't need to go crazy talking about my usual thing I've talked about so much. I especially won't say how I still can't believe Don can look right at a scene in which the team in gray is walking off the field while the team in white is running onto the field and claim that the team in white is walking off.

O's won to stay 3.5 back. Yanks beat the Twins again. I wasn't thinking the Twins had much of a chance in this series, as they love to wither and die at the sight of the Yanks. But here's why I'm not worried about the Yanks. They have to play the east more than anybody. And which of those teams would they be favored against? None of them. But it's still early July, we'll see who they acquire and who gets healthy. For now, they sit 6 back and I'm hearting it.

As Mayor Vaughn once said, tomorrow's the 4th of July. Those beaches will be open! And the Red Sox go for the sweep of San Diego at 1:35. After that it's 10 west coast games, 7 of which start at 10 p.m. eastern or later. Woohoo! I say this every year, but I love those late games. It feels like I'm keeping watch over the flame while the whining, complaining, "don't bother me, I haven't had my precious coffee" morning people sleep. I'll try not to steer us into an iceburg. Bonus note to morning people: I got up early for the games in Japan! Hell, I got up early for the Yankee games in Japan, you didn't see me complaining when I was forced to enter your bizzaro world!

Comments:
Well managed game.
 
From the Globe:

On his fake punt of his helmet as he approached home: "The fake punt, yeah, you got to keep everyone on their toes, right? I think I’m all out of tricks now to tell you the truth."

Amazingly, headline for this article is "Do you believe in the Red Sox yet?" and Cafardo states: It's beginning to get to that point now where you have to start to believe that the Red Sox are for real.

You gotta wonder how these guys keep their jobs.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/
 
Kat, I did that thing again. Turned on the station I boycott for five minutes. It was the beginning of a show. TC was on there, it was a Red Sox-specific show. I heard their intro. And it wasn't about the Red Sox. It was about "why don't you believe in this team?" I just don't know what the hell is going on. These people live in their own world detached from the real one. But as someone who doesn't really follow the BS Media. (Boston Sports, Bull Shit, either way), I only get these snippets, and I have to connect the dots to figure out what the monthly "trending topic" is. And between what I heard and what you just told me, I guess this is it. The "do you believe?" trend. I'll just keep ignoring, but at the same time I hope it ends soon.
 
Jere, knowing your boycott, I almost didn't post this. But it was just too crazy to pass up.

Happy 4th!!
 
Yeah, the Globe had that "While you were away" article the other day, too. All I could think of was your "you haven't paid attention to your team for three months" post. Why do they think we can't multitask and pay attention to two or more things at once?

In other Globe news, the "do you believe" article quoted Farrell as saying that Gomes "walked it off." That is vague out of context, but do you think Farrell doesn't understand the concept, either? - daddybcat
 
Love that "This is Warner Wolf. Jim?" reference, Jere. Brings back some nice memories. Hope you and yours enjoy The Fourth!
 
Mom here:
My second favorite moment of my day with Emmie in Boston after the Gomes home run happened prior to the game when we were in the elevator descending fifty stories inside the Pru. (This was after our ride on "Codzilla" the cigarette boat on the harbor--don't even ask.) We were in a crush of teenage kids from another country, I would guess Slavik, but not sure, and a couple of them tried their English on us. They pointed at our shirts and said, "Red Sox." we said, "Yes." They said, "Baseball." Us, "Yes." They said, "Good baseball." Us, "Very good." "Tonight?" "Yes." "You go?" "Yes." A quiet little voice in the back said something that sounded like Good Luck. "Thanks." Then I started chanting, "Let's go Red Sox," clap,clap, clap-clap-clap. Emmie picked it up. A couple of them did the clap. Then they all joined in, words, too. At the first floor, they exited, chanting at the top of their lungs and clapping as hard as they could. Out on Boylston, they're still at it and people on the street started picking it up. But we were going left to Fenway and they were heading right so we don't know how long it lasted. (At the game, the introductory songs as each player got up was sung by Emmie except she didn't know Papi's. I didn't know any of them, needless to say.)
 
Great story, Jere's mom!
 
daddybcat: I gotta figure all the players know. But at the same time, and I think I've talked about this before here, it's a case of people taking a phrase and using it in a new way, but in this case it makes it take on the opposite meaning. It's like "sweep." This means to beat an opponent in every game of a series. Some people will say the Sox "swept away" the Padres. You could say somebody "swept away" somebody else in any game, implying a brush-aside, easy win, even if they lost to them the night before. But in that case, at least the sweeping team is doing the sweeping away of the other team so it still makes sense. But what if I said, "The Padres took their broom and swept up Fenway Park," implying they acted as lousy janitors, stunk, and lost? That would be me taking the phrase, using it in a new way to mean the same thing, BUT, it would imply the opposite of the original meaning is being done, therefore confusing the issue. That's my problem with the winning team "walking off."

Q: Cool, you too. Have been thinking of you all day, considering the Twilight Zone marathon is on.

Mom: Nice. But you don't know Buffalo Soldier (Victorino)?
 
Uh...yes, very confusing! - daddybcat
 
Mom back;

The Warner Wolf thing didn't click so thanks, The Omnipotent Q, for pointing it out. I miss Warner a lot, foul pole, fair pole, or otherwise.

And Kathryn-- you shoulda been there. these kids were so cute trying their best to interact when they noticed mine and Emmie's Sox gear. They went from so shy, to rattling the rafters.
 

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