(no subject)
Rain, rain, go away, because not only did you deprive me of the opportunity to boo Farnsworth last night, you are also killing my chances of seeing a Sea Dogs game this week. You suck.
On the plus side, though, since I've spent the last two nights in a bar to catch these games, the rainout meant that the bartender was able to put the Tigers game on a big huge flat screen TV for me. So I drank Sam Adams and watched giant Tigers. It was pretty awesome, especially the part where we completed our second sweep in a row and are half a game behind the White Sox for first place in the division. And really, it might only be May third, but being that close to first or actually in it is never, ever not awesome. The Tigers are exciting me to death this season, and I freely admit that I've been following them more closely than the Red Sox or the Astros - a perennially sucky team having its first winning April in a decade and its best April record since 1984, when they won the World Series, is quite the attention grabber. Our pitching has been madness and we can't seem to stop hitting homers (Jim Leyland would like to see the Tigers win a few without any homers, and while I have to say I agree, since we're not going to be hitting them all season, I also say why mess with a good thing while you've got it? I ain't complainin'!). And may I add that the three game sweep of the Twinkies featured a run total of 33-1?
The Red Sox were first place in my brain the other night, though, in that first game against the Yankees. (Nice segue, eh? Worthy of Tom Caron, that was.) I will say up front that I expected the Yankees to take both games, since they'd been winning and the Red Sox had been playing like shit, but I forgot two things and did not foresee two others.
* I forgot that the Red Sox are historically "meh" on the road. What do we, end up with a .500 road record if we're lucky? We do the bulk of our winning at Fenway.
* I forgot that the Yankees have no pitching. None. Seriously. They have, like, Mariano Rivera and one of Randy Johnson's knees. I didn't forget this exactly - I have happily used it once or twice to taunt a Yankee fan whose major argument was, "The Red Sox are bums!"; really, it was a waste of good logic - but I did forget that just because their offense can carry them past it sometimes, they still have no pitching, and they were coming up against our offense, and we eat bad pitching for breakfast. I do not especially fear the Yankees this year; they are in an even worse situation pitching-wise than they were last year.
* I did not foresee Doug Mirabelli. Having him come back must have provided a lovely boost in morale, as well as a sense of security - who else in the MLB do we want catching Wake? I know I felt more confident as soon as I learned that we weren't going to have to watch Josh Bard pass a scrillion more balls. That said, however, I have nothing against Bard and I hope he follows in Bronson and Rents's footsteps and plays a million times better than he did with us. Here's to batting .400 and getting a perfect handle on every pitch! *raises coffee mug*
* I did not foresee rain. Can't lose a game you don't play.
I would, by the way, highly recommend the experience of watching a Red Sox/Yankees game in a bar (in Red Sox Nation territory, anyway). When the Sox play any other team, it's a fairly calm atmosphere unless the game gets tense, but when they play the Yankees? It's like we're all in Fenway, charged with energy, cheering every Yankee K and Red Sox hit, booing every piece of defense from the Yankees and stupid call from an ump. Plus, for that particular game, we all got to boo Damon and cheer for Belli. Man, that was fun.
As for the Astros - I understand they've been doing a hell of a lot better than this time last year? Plus, the moratorium on negotiating with Clemens has expired, so hopefully we'll re-sign him soon and I can stop listening to every Boston fan and his mom act like he's coming back here. Sorry, guys, not happening. Clemens has a sweet, sweet deal going in Houston and we'd have to offer him half the Nation and Theo's theoretical daughter's hand in marriage to get him to even consider us seriously for thirty seconds. (I would like to add the caveat that I am always, always wrong when I make a firm baseball prediction, so we can expect the announcement that he's signed with Boston any second now.)
On the plus side, though, since I've spent the last two nights in a bar to catch these games, the rainout meant that the bartender was able to put the Tigers game on a big huge flat screen TV for me. So I drank Sam Adams and watched giant Tigers. It was pretty awesome, especially the part where we completed our second sweep in a row and are half a game behind the White Sox for first place in the division. And really, it might only be May third, but being that close to first or actually in it is never, ever not awesome. The Tigers are exciting me to death this season, and I freely admit that I've been following them more closely than the Red Sox or the Astros - a perennially sucky team having its first winning April in a decade and its best April record since 1984, when they won the World Series, is quite the attention grabber. Our pitching has been madness and we can't seem to stop hitting homers (Jim Leyland would like to see the Tigers win a few without any homers, and while I have to say I agree, since we're not going to be hitting them all season, I also say why mess with a good thing while you've got it? I ain't complainin'!). And may I add that the three game sweep of the Twinkies featured a run total of 33-1?
The Red Sox were first place in my brain the other night, though, in that first game against the Yankees. (Nice segue, eh? Worthy of Tom Caron, that was.) I will say up front that I expected the Yankees to take both games, since they'd been winning and the Red Sox had been playing like shit, but I forgot two things and did not foresee two others.
* I forgot that the Red Sox are historically "meh" on the road. What do we, end up with a .500 road record if we're lucky? We do the bulk of our winning at Fenway.
* I forgot that the Yankees have no pitching. None. Seriously. They have, like, Mariano Rivera and one of Randy Johnson's knees. I didn't forget this exactly - I have happily used it once or twice to taunt a Yankee fan whose major argument was, "The Red Sox are bums!"; really, it was a waste of good logic - but I did forget that just because their offense can carry them past it sometimes, they still have no pitching, and they were coming up against our offense, and we eat bad pitching for breakfast. I do not especially fear the Yankees this year; they are in an even worse situation pitching-wise than they were last year.
* I did not foresee Doug Mirabelli. Having him come back must have provided a lovely boost in morale, as well as a sense of security - who else in the MLB do we want catching Wake? I know I felt more confident as soon as I learned that we weren't going to have to watch Josh Bard pass a scrillion more balls. That said, however, I have nothing against Bard and I hope he follows in Bronson and Rents's footsteps and plays a million times better than he did with us. Here's to batting .400 and getting a perfect handle on every pitch! *raises coffee mug*
* I did not foresee rain. Can't lose a game you don't play.
I would, by the way, highly recommend the experience of watching a Red Sox/Yankees game in a bar (in Red Sox Nation territory, anyway). When the Sox play any other team, it's a fairly calm atmosphere unless the game gets tense, but when they play the Yankees? It's like we're all in Fenway, charged with energy, cheering every Yankee K and Red Sox hit, booing every piece of defense from the Yankees and stupid call from an ump. Plus, for that particular game, we all got to boo Damon and cheer for Belli. Man, that was fun.
As for the Astros - I understand they've been doing a hell of a lot better than this time last year? Plus, the moratorium on negotiating with Clemens has expired, so hopefully we'll re-sign him soon and I can stop listening to every Boston fan and his mom act like he's coming back here. Sorry, guys, not happening. Clemens has a sweet, sweet deal going in Houston and we'd have to offer him half the Nation and Theo's theoretical daughter's hand in marriage to get him to even consider us seriously for thirty seconds. (I would like to add the caveat that I am always, always wrong when I make a firm baseball prediction, so we can expect the announcement that he's signed with Boston any second now.)