Camaraderie!
Alrighty, summary time. Let me attempt to explain what happened last night...
I was sitting in the lounge of the College Union Building when the game began. A bunch of Sox fans (and possibly a few Rockies supporters, as well) were gathered there, and there was this sports bar-like atmosphere. I was waiting for a friend there, and we were then going to go back to one of the dorms and watch with a group of people there. We watched Yaz throw out the first pitch (cool!), and then the game was on. Josh Beckett struck out the side in the first inning, and then it was our turn. Yaz read our lineup, too, and no sooner than he finished did we take the lead.
Yes, as I mentioned last night, Dustin Pedroia led off with a home run. He made history by doing so - he was only the second person in history to lead off the World Series with a home run and (obviously) the first rookie to do so. Some more lovely hitting had us up by three at the bottom of the first. Beckett allowed one run in the top of the second due to back-to-back doubles off the Monster, but he settled in after that and ended up going seven innings with nine strikeouts. Do the math - one-third of the Rockies' outs were strikeouts recorded by Josh Beckett. Wow.
The Sox added runs in the bottom of the second (1) and the bottom of the fourth (2), but it was the bottom of the fifth when the game exploded open. It was the last inning in the game in which runs were actually scored, but it left the Sox up 13-1, which meant that even Gagne could come into the game (which he did, which I'll get to in a bit). Let me just say that we went through three relievers that inning (after Jeff Francis was removed): the first man to come in, Morales, managed to get two outs, but he also gave up six hits during that time and ended up being charged with seven runs. Why was he charged with so many? The next reliever, Speier, walked in three consecutive runs, all of which were individuals Morales had let on base earlier in the inning. Colorado brought Herges in, which solved their problems, but the damage was already done.
After Josh's seven innings were completed, Timlin came in for the eighth and recorded two strikeouts of his own. The other out, the second one, was an infield pop-up which was caught by Alex Cora, who had taken over for Lugo at shortstop. Manny also got some time off in the later innings as Coco took over in center and Jacoby moved to left, and even Eric Hinske got an at-bat in the eighth.
For the ninth, it was safe to bring Gagne in, but he was surprisingly good - he didn't allow a baserunner and actually recorded a strikeout. It was nice to see, but the group I had been watching the game with ever since the end of the first inning (my friend arrived in the middle of the first and we ran to the dorm's common room in between innings) discussed ways he could still manage to blow the game. We were pleased that he didn't.
I'd just like to say that this is one of the reasons I love baseball. I barely knew the people I was watching the game with (with the exception of my friends there, of course, for there were two of them present), but we had lengthy discussions about the team anyway. We watched Royce Clayton and Coco Crisp discuss the Taco Bell "Steal a Base, Steal a Taco" promotion (you can find the video of this conversation on the MLB.com website: look through the video here on the Sox side). I wasn't the only person in the room who cringed and covered my eyes when FOX showed a replay of the Buckner play, even though the play happened before most of us, if not all of us, in the room were born. People thought it was funny when I tried to stave Gagne off like a vampire by making a cross with my fingers. We tried to find a way to keep Youk in the lineup in Colorado, which involved him trying to play right field (which he did once, if I recall - and he did it badly) in place of J.D. Drew. I told people the Dustin Pedroia - Brady Quinn ping-pong story and about the way Jacoby outran a deer when he was fourteen. We tried to choose between Tulo and Braun for the NL Rookie of the Year, but universally agreed that Dustin had a lock on the American League side. And we also tried to convert everyone who walked by to our side, convincing one or two people to reluctantly join the Nation. I then told everyone how I converted a friend (
hanachan01, incidentally) by showing her the footage of the first Papel-jig alone.
The Papel-jig (and Paps himself) came up several times in our various discussions, actually, and that wasn't just because I was wearing my Paps jersey (which I still haven't washed, incidentally - you know how mojo works!). It was because he's...well, he's just Papelbon. I told everyone the Scrabble story, and they loved the whole "pluralizing = adding -ing" thing that seems to only work in Papelbon's mind (by the way, adding '-ing' generally means you are making a verb active). We decided that it would be funnier if it was Manny doing the "pluralizing," but Papelbon's no slouch at saying weird and/or stupid things. We then went on about how he did the Y.M.C.A. the other night (if you missed it, you can see the footage on this post from Out in Center Field).
I love talking to people who know the team. It makes it that much more fun to watch a game. None of my close friends in the building in which I live really like baseball, so it's been a hard, lonely postseason for me. Luckily, I've got a group now who I can watch games with, talk to, and generally enjoy my time with. Isn't it amazing, the way one sport can bring a bunch of people together? I sure think so.
I was sitting in the lounge of the College Union Building when the game began. A bunch of Sox fans (and possibly a few Rockies supporters, as well) were gathered there, and there was this sports bar-like atmosphere. I was waiting for a friend there, and we were then going to go back to one of the dorms and watch with a group of people there. We watched Yaz throw out the first pitch (cool!), and then the game was on. Josh Beckett struck out the side in the first inning, and then it was our turn. Yaz read our lineup, too, and no sooner than he finished did we take the lead.
Yes, as I mentioned last night, Dustin Pedroia led off with a home run. He made history by doing so - he was only the second person in history to lead off the World Series with a home run and (obviously) the first rookie to do so. Some more lovely hitting had us up by three at the bottom of the first. Beckett allowed one run in the top of the second due to back-to-back doubles off the Monster, but he settled in after that and ended up going seven innings with nine strikeouts. Do the math - one-third of the Rockies' outs were strikeouts recorded by Josh Beckett. Wow.
The Sox added runs in the bottom of the second (1) and the bottom of the fourth (2), but it was the bottom of the fifth when the game exploded open. It was the last inning in the game in which runs were actually scored, but it left the Sox up 13-1, which meant that even Gagne could come into the game (which he did, which I'll get to in a bit). Let me just say that we went through three relievers that inning (after Jeff Francis was removed): the first man to come in, Morales, managed to get two outs, but he also gave up six hits during that time and ended up being charged with seven runs. Why was he charged with so many? The next reliever, Speier, walked in three consecutive runs, all of which were individuals Morales had let on base earlier in the inning. Colorado brought Herges in, which solved their problems, but the damage was already done.
After Josh's seven innings were completed, Timlin came in for the eighth and recorded two strikeouts of his own. The other out, the second one, was an infield pop-up which was caught by Alex Cora, who had taken over for Lugo at shortstop. Manny also got some time off in the later innings as Coco took over in center and Jacoby moved to left, and even Eric Hinske got an at-bat in the eighth.
For the ninth, it was safe to bring Gagne in, but he was surprisingly good - he didn't allow a baserunner and actually recorded a strikeout. It was nice to see, but the group I had been watching the game with ever since the end of the first inning (my friend arrived in the middle of the first and we ran to the dorm's common room in between innings) discussed ways he could still manage to blow the game. We were pleased that he didn't.
I'd just like to say that this is one of the reasons I love baseball. I barely knew the people I was watching the game with (with the exception of my friends there, of course, for there were two of them present), but we had lengthy discussions about the team anyway. We watched Royce Clayton and Coco Crisp discuss the Taco Bell "Steal a Base, Steal a Taco" promotion (you can find the video of this conversation on the MLB.com website: look through the video here on the Sox side). I wasn't the only person in the room who cringed and covered my eyes when FOX showed a replay of the Buckner play, even though the play happened before most of us, if not all of us, in the room were born. People thought it was funny when I tried to stave Gagne off like a vampire by making a cross with my fingers. We tried to find a way to keep Youk in the lineup in Colorado, which involved him trying to play right field (which he did once, if I recall - and he did it badly) in place of J.D. Drew. I told people the Dustin Pedroia - Brady Quinn ping-pong story and about the way Jacoby outran a deer when he was fourteen. We tried to choose between Tulo and Braun for the NL Rookie of the Year, but universally agreed that Dustin had a lock on the American League side. And we also tried to convert everyone who walked by to our side, convincing one or two people to reluctantly join the Nation. I then told everyone how I converted a friend (
hanachan01, incidentally) by showing her the footage of the first Papel-jig alone.
The Papel-jig (and Paps himself) came up several times in our various discussions, actually, and that wasn't just because I was wearing my Paps jersey (which I still haven't washed, incidentally - you know how mojo works!). It was because he's...well, he's just Papelbon. I told everyone the Scrabble story, and they loved the whole "pluralizing = adding -ing" thing that seems to only work in Papelbon's mind (by the way, adding '-ing' generally means you are making a verb active). We decided that it would be funnier if it was Manny doing the "pluralizing," but Papelbon's no slouch at saying weird and/or stupid things. We then went on about how he did the Y.M.C.A. the other night (if you missed it, you can see the footage on this post from Out in Center Field).
I love talking to people who know the team. It makes it that much more fun to watch a game. None of my close friends in the building in which I live really like baseball, so it's been a hard, lonely postseason for me. Luckily, I've got a group now who I can watch games with, talk to, and generally enjoy my time with. Isn't it amazing, the way one sport can bring a bunch of people together? I sure think so.