Anti-social

I'm back to this blog, partially because I am making a conscious effort to change the way I consume and participate in social media, specifically Facebook and Twitter. The problem, especially on FB, is that more often than not, the content annoys me, bums me out, or in some way makes me less happy than before I read it, and that certainly isn't the point. I have several issues with it, ranging from minor annoyances to major things that bother me, and many of them are things that I have done myself. But the biggest problem is that, all too often, social media serves simply as a platform for someone to cyber-scream "THIS IS WHAT I THINK OR AGREE WITH AND IT IS ABSOLUTELY CORRECT."

 That pisses me off.

I fully realized this during two recent "events" (I use that term loosely) that were beaten to death over social media: the Duck Dynasty guy situation, and the knee-jerk reactions to Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman and his vitriolic post game "interview" with Erin Andrews after the NFC Championship game. What struck me as interesting in both cases, and ultimately problematic, is that there is no right or wrong view of either side of either issue, and yet everyone who strongly voiced an opinion ended up sounding like an ass. Let's cover the Duck Dynasty guy first. Were his comments ignorant, hateful, and stupid? Yup. Is he allowed to make those kind of comments? Of course he is. His supporters immediately and incorrectly invoked The First Amendment, which has absolutely nothing to do with his situation, since the government was not involved to any degree. Did the network have the right to suspend him? Of course they did. He made them look bad, and made them associated with a hateful bigot. Now, what can be debated is whether the brief sanctions were given only to generate publicity in hopes of juicing the ratings when he ultimately and inevitably returned to the airwaves, although thankfully that didn't happen.

My issue is that there was no wiggle room in anyone's stance. Everyone yelling and screaming on both sides felt they were ABSOLUTELY RIGHT and that there was no gray area, no possible other position. And there's tons of that kind of thing on Facebook and Twitter now. Much of it is entirely pointless. Nobody is going to change their religious, political, or sports team affiliations based on somebody else's posts. After the 2012 election I pledged to myself to just not post anything political anymore, because it is pointless. Most social media political posts are the internet equivalent of waving something around and shouting about it because you agree with it. Which doesn't do any good for anybody, other than generating completely hollow social media "likes" or "favorites." 

Richard Sherman's behavior was the most recent example of this kind of thing. Personally, I thought he was practically foaming at the mouth and came off like a dangerous person. I was legitimately fearful for Erin Andrews' safety as she tried to talk to him. His defenders immediately and vociferously jumped to his side, discussing how he was "in the heat of the moment" and how he must be smarter than most people because he was a communications major at Stanford. But doesn't this mean that he should have been smart enough to realize exactly how poorly he would be viewed by millions of people? Predictably, people far on the other side immediately resorted to racially-charged name calling and insults. I didn't like his act. I thought he came off like a pompous jerk. I'm also fairly certain that that was absolutely his intention. He is a pompous jerk, and he is building that brand for himself. His team is heading to the Super Bowl, and literally the only player on his squad that anyone seems to be talking about now is him. And that is exactly what he wanted. But nobody is discussing that, they are just fighting over whether what he did was acceptable or not.

So that's where I stand. I'm not talking or posting about politics or religion, and I'm even going to cut back on posting about sports, because all I'm doing is flag-waving for my teams. Sometimes I won't be able to help it, or I just won't care (WORLD CHAMPIONS!). But I'm going to try to get back to using social media for what it does best: sharing pictures and updates about people's kids, funny photos and videos of animals, and pretty Instagram shots of food.

Red Sox Panic

The Boston Red Sox are cooked. They're a fourth place team that cannot compete with the athleticism of the Tampa Bay Rays or the big budget, loaded top-to-bottom roster of the New York Yankees. The offense is anemic, the rotation is overrated, the bullpen is a mess, and the much-ballyhooed defense is a disaster.

I don't believe any of these things. But it seems like I'm in the minority, as one or all of the above thoughts are the prevailing view of the Olde Towne Team at the moment. Have they played badly? Absolutely. But the grand proclamations that the very composition of this team was a mistake seem really premature to me. We're not even 30 games into the season, and the Sox have played a huge chunk of the schedule so far without their starting left and center fielders. They are getting sub-Buddy Biancalana production from the DH spot. Ace starting pitchers that are notorious slow starters have--shocker--started slowly! I'm not ready to flip the panic switch yet about any or all of these issues. Every team has concerns, and a few bad losses early magnify them.

Take, for instance, a club that looks, in some ways, a little bit like this one on paper. The team in question had three of their five rotation members post ERAs over 4.00, including two at 4.87 and 5.42. The top two set up men were each overworked to the tune of 70+ games with ERAs north of 4.00. The defense was so bad that a mid-season trade was required to stabilize the fielding at two infield spots. That one probably gives it away, but in case it doesn't, I'm talking about...the 2004 World Champion Boston Red Sox.

I know that the two iterations of the club actually have very little in common. The point I'm making is that it is easy to cherry pick stats to make just about any argument you want to, and it's even easier less than 20% into a season. Beckett and Lester are going to be fine. The DH production will improve, whether it's Big Papi hitting more or sitting more. The defense is the most troubling thing to me, because Adrian Beltre and Marco Scutaro have not shored up the left side of the infield like I thought they would, and since they are two guys I haven't actually watched a ton before this season, there is every possibility that they simply aren't the stellar fielders that their reputations had us think they were. The fact that Fenway's infield is horrible is certainly part of the issue. There's an old baseball cliche that defense doesn't slump but I disagree. I hope that it does, and that's what we've seen so far.

And they won 17-8 last night. You'd think after two championships in the last decade everyone could just relax a little bit. That's what I'm going to do.

Summer of '10 - stuff I'm looking forward to

There's lots of great stuff on the way this summer. Here are a few things I'm psyched about.

May 7 - Iron Man 2. Okay, so May 7 isn't even really summer yet, but the release of this sequel is definitely the start of summer movie season and I'm beyond excited about this one. I loved Iron Man, and everything great about the first one looks like it has been ramped up for the sequel. I couldn't be more in. I plan on catching it in IMAX.

May 18 - Red Dead Redemption for PlayStation3. An open world, first person game set in the dying days of the Old West from the makers of Grand Theft Auto. I've checked out some videos of the game play and this one looks absolutely amazing. I don't have time to play video games as much as I used to--sad and shocking, I know--but I will find some time to give this one a good run. My hopes are high.

May 23 - The Lost finale. I have no idea how it is going to end, aside from knowing that they have to bridge the island and flash-sideways worlds together somehow. I do know that there is no way they can answer every last lingering question or tie up all the loose ends. It's impossible. But it will be really entertaining to see exactly what they do and how they do it.

June 18 - Toy Story 3. First theatrical movie experience for AJ? Could be. I think he might still be a little young, so I may hold off until '11 for Kung Fu Panda 2 or Cars 2. But this might work.

June 27 - Entourage season premiere on HBO. Last season was pretty sub par and it could be the beginning of the end, but I don't care. I'll watch this every week until it's done. If that makes me a little douchey by default, so be it.

Mid-July - Family trip to Cape Cod. This is definitely a highlight of the year. Last year we drove, and the trip up was surprisingly painless. The boy was phenomenal in the car, and also did well staying in hotels for the first time. But this time, just like with anything else we try to do now, the degree of difficulty will increase exponentially with two kids instead of one. Courtney is adorable, but she can also turn into a little demon at the drop of a hat. However, at the time we leave she'll be almost eight months old instead of the five-ish she is now, and those few months could make a huge difference. Or maybe I'm just deluding myself, and it will be two days of sheer hell. But I really hate air travel at this point, and anything else seems like a better option.

August - The Red Sox move into first place in the AL East. This one looks wildly optimistic right now, so what better time to make a bold prediction?

Random

The frequency (or lack thereof) with which I blog is pretty pathetic. So here are just some random thoughts so I can at least post something and try to get back into some sort of blogging schedule.

* I saw Kick-Ass and it was almost mind-blowingly entertaining. I'm trying to think of a movie I've seen over the last decade with a more rewarding third act and I'm coming up empty.

* The Red Sox are back to .500, thanks to stellar starting pitching the last two games: Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz combined to go 15 innings, allowing just eight hits and one run while striking out 15. I still feel good about the composition of this team, especially once we get healthy. The starting pitching is strong and deep, and the defense can't help but play better than they have. If we need another stick or a power bullpen arm, then we'll go get it at the deadline.

* The Celtics looked pretty strong in the first round demolition of the Miami Heat. Drawing the Cavaliers in the second round is a nightmare, but I at least think the Celts will make it interesting. The C's were actually stronger on the road than at home this year, so if they can steal game one in Cleveland then the series could be epic.

* I love The Office and I still watch it every week, but if next year is the final season of Steve Carell's deal then that is the perfect time to shut it down and say goodbye. The last two seasons just haven't been as funny as what came before it, and right now the show is consistently running fourth out of NBC's Thursday night comedy block for me. They had a great run, but I'd hate to see them hang around too long.

2010's first Joe Morgan blog

It's the second inning of the season opening Red Sox-Yankees tilt on ESPN2 and I have decided that a healthy way for me to deal with my ongoing Joe Morgan related rage issues is just to blog about it. So that's exactly what I'm going to do, with no plan at all.

* In the first, a fly ball was caught for an out in front of the 379 foot sign in left-center. Hall of Famer Joe's crack analysis? "That's the deepest part of the park (beat)...as far as left field goes."

* Top of the second, Jorge Posada clanks a cheap homer off the Pesky Pole in right. Joe describes the swing using the term "hands" roughly 37 times. Then he speculates what the distance might have been. My son A.J. is three and I'm pretty sure he knows that it's 302 down the line in right at Fenway. As for the pole itself, Morgan actually asks out loud if it is nicknamed for former Red Sox shortstop Johnny Pesky. First trip to Fenway Park, Joe? Just a reminder: this is a Hall of Fame player on the number one baseball broadcasting team for the largest sports provider in the known universe.

* New Yankee center fielder Curtis Granderson absolutely crushes a home run to dead center field, over the bullpen. "That's why they got him, for his defense and his speed on the base paths," observes The Village Idiot. I would almost think he's making fun of himself but there is a zero percent chance that he is that clever.

* Okay, I have a little bit of a hard time not being able to root for a big, beefy, 6'7" dude named C.C. But I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm absolutely looking forward to that wide load blowing out a knee or a shoulder sometime over the next season or two. I'm sorry, but it's true. I'd root against my own mother if she wore the pinstripes.

* Underrated side ESPN broadcast pet peeve: Jon Miller's obnoxious pronunciation of Latin names. Everyone else calls our new third baseman Adrian BELL-tray. Miller? Bel-TRAY. Annoying.

* Joe just explained that beginning one's Yankee career with a home run is preferable to going "0-for-10 and looking for that first hit." He is getting paid a lot of money to tell us insightful things like this. Really.

* Morgan made it to no outs in the bottom of the third before working in his first Cincinnati reference. Pay the under! Meanwhile, Jon Miller is making an actual case for the second Red Sox game of the year to be "Opening Day," for the people that don't like opening night. That game will be after this one, which, you know, opened the season. And it will take place roughly 40 hours from now. Opening Day...really?

* Mike Cameron just got doubled off first on a routine line drive that wasn't hit very hard. In a related story, I think I need a drink.

* How many hits do you think you'd get Googling "Joe Morgan Is An Idiot?" I'll give you a hint: more than 12 million.

* I don't want to say this game has gone completely to shit but the Yanks just swiped home on a first and third double-steal and Joe convinced himself that he somehow made a great call related to this. Just kill me. I'm on board for this "Opening Day on Tuesday" idea now. Let's do it.

* Quick question: how much interest am I really supposed to show when my wife starts asking me about kids' bedspreads that she's showing me online? I think it's a trap. I'm positive she just showed me the same one twice and asked which I like better.

* Sox fan buddy embedded in NYC checked in on Twitter to let me know how good I have it with Joe and Co., since he is stuck with the Yank-jazeera broadcast on YES. And yes, that's definitely worse.

* Joe just stated a Sabathia statistic that was blatantly incorrect (he was off by 300%), then referred to an Albert Pujols-Big Papi conversation about hitting, then disavowed any knowledge of any quote in there when the actual quote was placed on the screen with a graphic. Morgan practically pulled a muscle running backwards screaming, "Don't mind me, I'm just talking out my ass again!" Oh, and the Red Sox still have exactly one hit tonight.

* Marco Scutaro just made some new friends at the Fens with a two out, RBI single. I think Boston might love this guy this year. Worth mentioning: Yankee left fielder Brett Gardner completely airmailed the throw back in, and for the life of me I cannot understand why the Yanks didn't spend a few extra bucks to keep Johnny Damon, and I really hope it bites them in the ass this year. How bad does a throw from left have to be to make you think that Damon could have done a better job? Yikes.

* YOOOOOUK! Makes it 5-4 with a two run triple to right, thanks to a horrible angle taken by Nick Swisher.

* Sox tie it up, only to give it back with a weird kind of regular season bullpen move I have learned to live with from Terry Francona: he leaves Ramon Ramirez in to face Tex and A-Rod, who each get a solid rip. Enter Okajima. Why not do that to start the inning if you're going to pull the move with no outs?

* Apparently Chan Ho Park is still in the majors because he is now pitching for the Yankees. I'll go ahead and feel good about this. Chan Ho Park is their 7th inning righty set up guy? Honestly?

* Park just fanned Jacoby looking on a big, loopy curve. Ellsbury has done nothing good tonight, and I'll go ahead and say it: I don't like the uniform number switch either. He looks smaller.

* Dustin Pedroia knots it with a bomb over the Monster. This now feels like a game we should win.

* Wild pitch, wild pitch...8-7 lead. Watching the wheels come off like this for the Janks is quite enjoyable. "I still think he should have caught it," notes Morgan, referring to a ball that missed the plate by about ten feet. And now Joba's coming in. We've got plenty of time left for a brawl, folks.

* Clinging to a one run lead heading to the 8th and yes, I'm already preemptively sweating over Papelbon time.

* Okay, it took him nearly eight full innings but I think Joe Morgan actually said something relevant, raising the possibility that the Yankees middle relief might be a problem. Granted, this was after watching Chan Ho Park and Damaso Marte enter, pour gasoline on the infield, and set it alight, but still...a cogent point from Joe!

* Daniel Bard in the 8th is going to become really reliable and fun to watch.

* However, Steven Tyler in the 7th and Neil Diamond in the 8th is a little much for a Sunday night in April. Honestly. Meanwhile, my wife said that this comment makes me sound like my father. Which is ridiculous, because there is no way he stayed awake for either one tonight.

* In addition to the soft, gaping underbelly of the Bronx bullpen, it also warrants mentioning that anything hit up the middle between Jeter and Cano is a base hit. Any. Thing.

* Pap wraps it up in the 9th to finish off a lovely, come from behind Opening Night win. It wasn't pretty, and neither was the color commentary coming from the Big Red Idiot in the booth, but I'll take it.

Random annoyances of the week

Three things that are bugging me more than they deserve

1. The wanton references to any chosen fan base as "(blank) Nation." Sure, I'm a little possessive about this one, because obviously Red Sox Nation is the most well known, and it also happens to be appropriate. Travel anywhere and you'll find Red Sox fans. I was at a castle in the French countryside in '86 and ran into a kid my age wearing a Sox hat, and I ended up talking to him for ten minutes, getting a full report on Roger Clemens' brilliant performance in the All-Star game just days before, which I had missed because I was in Europe. That is a "nation" of fans. Throwing "Steeler Nation" around just because they won the most recent Super Bowl is stupid and annoying, and it really needs to stop.

2. Cell phone one-ear headsets. I know that people like these, and if I talked on my phone a lot I probably would too. But these people just remind me of Lobot from The Empire Strikes Back.

3. Americans that call soccer "football." Just stop it. Or move to a country that cares about soccer. Or better yet, just stop watching soccer.

The List - #111 completed

111. Watch a Red Sox game from the Green Monster seats at Fenway Park.

Okay, this one was kind of a fish-in-a-barrel choice for the list because I already had the tickets in hand. But still. First off, I had never been up there. These tickets are ridiculously tough to get a hold of and the Red Sox hold an annual lottery simply for the right to purchase them. I got lucky in the drawing a couple of years ago but we weren't around at the time, so those standing room tickets went to my brother instead. He had a blast and it sounded like I would too, so I continued to take yearly shots at the drawing.

This year I lucked out yet again. Even better, I was able to get second row seats for a game during a time frame in which I knew we would be back in Massachusetts. The seats completely lived up to my lofty expectations. The view is unique, of course, and fantastic. But I was also pleasantly surprised at the relative comfort. As anyone who has been to Fenway knows, these seats were not designed with the proportions of a 21st century human being in mind. And since I fall, umm...well to the far end of that spectrum, suffice it to say that I have a rough time sitting in just about any seat in the house. But the Monster seats are stools, with enough room that I was not banging my knees on anything. There is also a little shelf-like table perfect for holding food, drinks, cameras, and the like. There are a pair of little concession stands up there solely for the Monster seats, and a nearby bathroom tucked away behind a corner as well. All things considered, these are probably my favorite Fenway seats I've ever had.

Red Sox on FOX

The Red Sox week long meltdown has been brutal. I don't have any desire to write much about it now, but here is something from Saturday:

For a change FOX is actually blessing me with the Sox-Yanks game. I'm going to celebrate by keeping a running blog during the game. This is also simply to cling to my sanity in an attempt to refrain from jamming something in my own ears for having to listen to the stellar FOX broadcast for nine innings or, heaven forbid, longer.

3:17: The Red Sox go down 1-2-3 in the first. That makes it 16 straight innings without a run. Did I mention that I also have to listen to Smarmy Joe Buck and Clueless Tim McCarver call the action? For some inexplicable reason, there is nothing Buck enjoys quite as much as the misfortunes of the Sox. I should start drinking now.

3:22: Nick Green makes a great throw for the first out of the bottom of the first. The guy makes a ton of errors but occasionally he unleashes an absolute laser like that one.

3:23: Buck and McCarver are already harping on how bad Buchholz has been since his no-hitter. Cut to Youk botching a fly ball in left...right after I defended how he has done out there so far. Jesus.

3:24: Making a very large Captain Morgan and Diet Coke.

3:28: Clay whiffs Teixeira. And then he throws a curve at A-Rod's head...which hits his bat for a foul ball. Noted liar, cheater, and bush leaguer A-Rod tries to claim that the ball hit his shoulder. It did not. And somehow, this punk manages to become even more unlikeable. He then grounds out to end the inning.

3:34: Smarmy and The Moron wax poetically about the weather today. "This is almost like an August day in C.C. Sabathia's youth," babbles McClueless. What is that even supposed to mean?

3:35: Buck analyzes whether the Yankee Stadium booing directed at Big Papi is gamesmanship or disgust. How about both? Is there a different inflection or tone for one over the other?

3:38: 17 innings. No runs. No baserunners yet today. On the flip side, I have plenty of alcohol.

3:43: Clay's career road record: 1-9. And right now the Sox are competely unable to score. Reverse lock, so of course I bet on them today.

3:45: Nick Swisher grounds into a DP to end the 2nd. His habit of looking toward the heavens before every pitch drives me mental.

3:50: FOX sideline reporter Ken Rosenthal analyzes the black hole that has been the Boston Red Sox shortstop position since 2004. I'm a Theo Epstein fan, but this is a fair point. Rosey sums up Nick Green quite succinctly, stating, "Right now, this is what they have." In a related story, it's now been 18 innings with no runs.

3:54: We just got the first FOX promo of the day for Fringe. Chance that we will see the Fringe character known as "The Observer," aka The Creepy Bald Guy, in the stands at the stadium today: 80%.

3:59: McCarver on Derek Jeter coming up with two on and no outs: "He's having too good a year to be expected to bunt in this situation." Five seconds later, Jeter attempts a bunt.

4:00: He is still babbling about how the defense is "not prepared for Jeter to be bunting." I think the fact that they watched him bunt might be relevant.

4:02: The Sox turn their second DP, and it's a huge one.

4:05: Doucheface Teixeira gets the Yanks on the board with an RBI single, as Buck continues to slurp the entire Yankee starting nine: Jeter's "amazing year," Benedict Damon's status as a "gamer," etc. Sickening. Buchholz's control problems are even worse. Human Rally Killer A-Rod (last night notwithstanding) grounds out to end the threat. The problem is that a one run deficit feels like ten at this point.

4:09: Jacoby Ellsbury shows bunt to start the 4th, and I'm fine with him doing that every time until we score a god damned run. Jacoby then Ks. Sabathia looks on today, reminding me how unfortunate it is that I have to maintain such ill will toward a 6'7", 290 pound guy named C.C.

4:13: The Red Sox are 4 for their last 57. 19 innings and counting, by the way.

4:28: "It feels like the Red Sox are playing with a 30 man roster right now," opines the genius McCarver. We're starting Kevin Youkilis in LF, we picked up our backup shortstop on waivers two days ago, we called up yet another bullpen arm today just to have someone able to pitch in relief, we ended last night's game with a kid making his major league debut, and we have no idea who is going to start in Smoltz's spot next week. Typical brilliant McCarver misanalysis.

4:31: Buchholz works out of another jam on a nasty changeup. "Buchholz has been pretty good," mumbles Buck through his gritted, Boston-hating teeth. One run through four in a park the size of a cardboard box against the most expensive lineup in the history of the sport. Yeah, pretty good. Jackass.

4:38: Buck has stepped up onto his sanctimonious soap box to rail against the perils of HGH. He might actually have a point if he didn't come off sounding like such a holier-than-thou prick, as if the fact that he speaks into a microphone makes him a guardian of the grand old game.

4:41: Big Papi draws a walk, and the Sox have their first baserunner of the game.

4:50: McClueless still can't believe we won the World Series in 2004. That's understandable since he probably doesn't even know what year it is now.

4:51: Clay whiffs Jeter. Buchholz looks like he might be getting stronger by the inning. He's hitting 94 on the gun and his curve is sharp. If we waste this kind of effort from him I'm going to be livid.

4:52: Damon doubles over Youk's head on a ball that a real outfielder might catch.

4:55: Teixeira walks. It seems like most of Clay's walks come immediately after something bad happened. This is a huge issue against this team in this park. He cannot expect to keep dodging bullets.

4:57: A-Rod is retired on an entirely pussified excuse-me check swing.

5:00: My son is screaming as Beth carts him off to the bathroom for a poopy attempt. Luckily it is loud enough to drown out Dumb and Dumber in the FOX booth. Clay gets Matsui on an easy grounder to end another threat.

5:04: The Sox have no hits heading to the sixth. I'm calling an unlikely hero to bust this thing up. My money is on Nick Green.

5:05: Sabathia buckles Kotchman's knees on a nasty curve. Yippee. I still think he is a string of arm and knee problems just waiting to happen, and that his contract will be a total albatross within three years.

5:06: My unsung hero Nick Green flies out to left.

5:06: Jacoby singles solidly to center. Thank god that bullshit is over. Now let him steal twice so we can remember what it's like to have a guy on third base, since it's been about 20 innings.

5:08: Pedroia is called out on a foul tip third strike. Dustin gets a little hot and Tito sprints out, immediately inserting himself between the home plate ump and the reigning MVP. Why? Because we might have Manny Delcarmen playing second base if Pedey gets tossed.

5:09: Okay, I'm not going to lie: the GI Joe commercial with Kid Rock over it is all kinds of awesome.

5:13: Cano hits a leadoff double. If they score, a two run lead will essentially be insurmountable. That's honestly how it feels at this point.

5:14: Joe Girardi clearly feels the same way, as he has Swisher sacrifice Cano over to third.

5:16: Intentional walk to Melky Cabrera in order to face Harpo Molina. Part of the logic here is that I could beat Molina in a foot race, thus setting up a potential DP on any ground ball.

5:18: Sac fly for the Flying Molina Brother. We're cooked. If we come back to steal this one it will be the unlikeliest win of the season.

5:24: Red Sox 3-4-5 hitters this series: 2 for 32. Wait, and we're really not scoring any runs? Shocking.

5:27: Victor Martinez draws a lead off walk and C.C.'s pitch count is up to 100. Is there really a chance?

5:29: Youk follows with a hit. Two on, none out, Papi coming up. Yeah, this is a huge at bat.

5:32: Papi gets rung up on a HORRIBLE call. This brings up Mike Lowell, in the midst of his transformation into the Tin Man. Lowell hits a weak grounder to second and despite Youk making a great take out slide, Jeter still has enough time to hop over Youk, land, and throw Lowell out at first. That was absurd.

5:36: Clay is done for the day. Can't ask for much more from him. Oh, and Youk appears to have banged himself up a little on that slide. Great, that's exactly what we need. "He has an owwie on his knee," observes A.J. as Youk tries to get loose in left.

5:41: Ramirez drills A-Rod in the elbow armor and is ejected immediately. This is insane. Pedroia got thrown at not once but TWICE Thursday night. We're activating guys off the street and we just lost one of our set up guys after one out. Absolute bullshit.

5:48: I don't want to say that our pitching staff is in a shambles, but for the second straight game we have a relief pitcher entering a game in a huge spot to make his season debut. Welcome to the party, Enrique Gonzalez!

6:01: Wheels are coming off.

6:05: 3-0. Could have been worse. Sabathia is still in, heading to the 8th.

6:08: When you are in dire need of runs, seeing "Drew, Kotchman, and Green due up" does not exactly inspire a world of confidence.

6:10: Sabathia is done, and gets a big hand. Sure, he was great, but this doesn't make me resent and hate the obnoxious, entitled New York fans and their credit card franchise any less.

6:20 Jeter hits an absolute garbage homer into the right field seats of this putrid band box. I'm done. No reason to record any more of this. The bottom line is that the Red Sox just need to wrap up this series, limp home, lick their wounds, and get back on track. I really think they are still a playoff team. We'll see if they eventually start playing like it.

Predictable Shaughnessy Bullshit

I feel bad even acknowledging the absolutely predictable, "the sky is falling" column from Dan Shaughnessy in today's Boston Globe. But I'm really pissed about how the Red Sox are playing right now, so instead of ripping them, let's delve into this piece of shit columnist and his latest paint-by-numbers negative horseshit.

In Reverse Gear And Skidding Fast

CHB: "...Kevin Youkilis in left." He drops this bon mot in the first sentence, as if it is some sort of mortal baseball sin to throw Youk out there in LF. In his career, Youk has ventured into the outfield on 21 occasions...and handled 43 total chances without an error. Is he Willie Mays in the outfield? Of course not. But so far it has not presented even the slightest hint of a problem having Youk out there. CHB brings up the simple statement "Youkilis in left," again, hammering away at a point that just doesn't exist.

CHB: "And the Red Sox are sinking like a stone in the American League East." The Red Sox are 3.5 games back. If the season ended today, they would be in the playoffs. They have a 2.5 game edge over the next closest team behind them in the division. They have the 4th best record in all of baseball. In other words, this statement is vintage, baseless Shaughnessy Chicken Littling.

CHB: "Casey Kotchman had just made everyone forget Adam LaRoche (who?) with a two-run homer that gave the Sox a 3-1 lead in the top of the inning." This is just shitty writing. His snide insertion of "who?" takes any steam out of his shaky attempt at making a point to begin with. This sentence is complete nonsense, and yet it still manages to make Shaughnessy come off negatively, even while mentioning a positive occurrence for the Sox. Typical of his work. What an asshat.

CHB: "Then it was over, faster than you could say, “Fireball Fred Wenz.’’" This is a reference to a pitcher that played in all of nine total games for the Red Sox over 40 years ago. Worthless.

CHB: "Everybody loves Smoltz the way Everybody loves Raymond." Lazy reference to a sitcom that has been off the air for over four years.

CHB: "Suddenly the thought crosses the mind that the Red Sox might not even make the playoffs. It happened to the Patriots. It can happen to Boston’s baseball team, too." Entirely contrived point, and completely, 100% irrelevant. One thing has absolutely nothing to do with the other. It warrants mentioning that the Patriots lost their starting quarterback in the first quarter of the season and still tied for the best record in their division. However, Shaughnessy would never let facts get in the way of him taking an unwarranted dig at a local player or team. What a dick. Seriously.

CHB: "Lastly, there is the matter of one Big Papi (.222), who went 0 for 5; he is 0 for his last 16 and 1 for 19 since those first two games after the disclosure that he is on The List." Statistical cherry picking at its finest. Why the odd phrasing "since those first two games after the disclosure?" Because Big Papi homered in those first two games. Is CHB actually saying that the reveal of the list didn't start wearing on Ortiz until after those first two games? No, he just wants to spoon feed the readers more negative bullshit, which he can't do as strongly as he would like by using the actual statistics. This is beyond being a negative douche. It is basically literary fraud.

I hate Shaughnessy so much because his entire career is based on wallowing in negativity, and yet he can't even do it creatively. It's like a retarded monkey doing Mad Libs at this point. But instead of "noun, verb, and adjective," we get "statistical manipulation, spineless irrelevant dig, and worthless conjecture and hyperbole." He needs to go away. The world, and especially the world of a Boston sports fan, would be much better off without his stinking presence.

Curt Schilling is a smart man

Schill with Five Red Sox Related Questions

This is the most painful part of the All Star break. It seems like the Sox haven't played a game in years, and they don't even get going again until tomorrow night. Sports writers inevitably mail in pieces like "keys to the second half" and "what to look for." Here, in his latest blog post, Curt Schilling hits on five points, with the difference between him and most baseball writers being that he clearly knows what he's talking about and his experience allows him a much deeper and meaningful insight on the topic. Case in point: in discussing the potential acquisition of Roy Halladay, he hits on how the move would also be a big one for the Boston bullpen, because it would require them to pitch fewer innings. In all of the Halladay conjecture so far--and obviously there has been tons--I don't think I've read one writer touch on that aspect of a potential deal. I also agree with Schill that all the Red Sox really need in the second half is health. He says:

"They don’t need anything if they have health because in my opinion if they stay completely healthy they are going to run away with the division. No team can match their staff 1-5 and certainly not in a five- or seven-game series."

I couldn't agree more.

All Star break

Good luck in St. Louis, boys. Dustin Pedroia will be sitting this one out, with good reason. But I expect a nice showing from the other five. My only real hope is that Wake gets into the game and has a nice inning. It's great for him to make the squad at this point in his career.

The Red Sox are sitting in first with a three game lead in the AL East at the break and I see no cause for concern the rest of the way. Our pitching is so good and so deep, occasional bullpen hiccups aside. I really think we're in great shape. We also haven't had the whole offense firing simultaneously all season--Jason Bay is hitting .215 over the past 30 days and Kevin Youkilis is batting .220 over that same span, which is why we've had trouble scoring runs lately. Meanwhile, David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia have carried the load in July. If the top and middle of the order gets hot at once and the pitching keeps doing what they've been doing, we're going to win the division going away. This club is really built for the postseason too, probably even better than the 2004 and 2007 championship teams. It should be a fun ride.

I love the decision to bring Clay Buchholz up for a start right after the break. This accomplishes a couple of things. Theo and Tito love to find ways to grab extended patches of rest for their starting pitchers, and this is a brilliant way to do that. It also lets Clay come up to the big club, albeit briefly, which is something he deserves after the season he has had in Pawtucket so far. I hope that he is so lights out that they have to consider finding a way to keep him on the roster. This is kind of an unbelievable situation to be in--having so many good pitchers that we literally don't know what is the best way to employ them. A lot of teams in MLB are one injury away from devastation, and it's very comforting to know that we are not in that same spot.

Bring on the second half.

Yeah 'Sheed!

Rasheed Wallace to sign with Boston Celtics

This is going to be a tough one for me, at least at first. Admittedly, I root for the laundry. I always have, and I always will. But let's not sugarcoat this one: I hate Rasheed Wallace. I think I started disliking him in college, and then I grew to downright loathe the man when he started racking up technical fouls in the NBA at a rate that would shame a crack baby with Tourette's. 'Sheed was the only player ever ejected from the McDonald's All-American game. That's an All-Star game, in case you are wondering...for high school kids. He demolished the NBA single season record for technicals with 41 in 2001. That's not a typo. That's 41 Ts, or a rate of one every other game over the course of a full schedule.

But now that he's going to be wearing the Celtic Green, I dug a little deeper. I always thought 'Sheed was just a crybaby, but it turns out he thinks he is misunderstood and treated unfairly. Guess what? He has been! Wallace was suspended for seven games for confronting a ref after a game about said unfair treatment. Just hothead 'Sheed out of control, one would think. Well, what if I told you that the ref in question is currently serving time in the federal pen for rigging games? A-ha! Maybe poor 'Sheed was right all along!

Oh, who am I kidding. This one's going to take me a little while. I haven't felt like this since the Red Sox signed David Wells, who I hated with a passion. I found myself yelling "Yeah, Boomer!" during his opening start and I couldn't even get that out with a straight face. I'm sure it will be the same with Rasheed for at least a while this fall.

But I'll be well over that issue when the playoffs roll around and we grab banner number 18.

A-Rod: Still lying and cheating

It turns out the liar and cheater is an even bigger liar and cheater, including lying about cheating. Am I surprised? Not even a little bit.

A-Roid Book Bombshell

The significant details are that he's been juicing from high school until he was a Yankee, putting to bed the ridiculous notion that he "only" cheated for a few years with the Rangers. Now, I don't usually wish ill on other athletes, even ones I hate. But A-Roid deserves every bad thing that happens to him forever. He was an incredible athlete who had no need to cheat, and yet he did it anyway*. He blatantly lied about the cheating, even after he was caught dead to rights. I also love the Yankee fans who couldn't forgive him fast enough. "It's okay, because he admitted it!" was an actual Facebook post I read from a Yankee fan. Is it still okay, pinstripers? What more does he have to do to prove that he is a vile, despicable human being? Where's the line? Everyone should be done with this chump. Everyone.

* Or maybe he wasn't actually any good to begin with. This was always my biggest gripe with Barry Bonds roiding up--Bonds was a phenomenal baseball player before he ever touched drugs. If he stayed clean and played out his career, there is no doubt that he would have been regarded as one of the top five players of all time. Sure, maybe he would have ended up with "only" 600 homers if he didn't hit the juice. But he could run, he could field, he could do it all...he was the epitome of a five tool player. And he threw that all away just so he could turn the McGwire-Sosa "chicks dig the long ball" spotlight squarely on himself. I can understand why a guy struggling to make a roster would consider trying to get an edge. That at least makes sense on some level. But Bonds? Why? I don't get it. Which brings us back to A-Roid, whom I thought was in the same situation, which would have made his cheating just as stupid, if not moreso, depending on the time table. But now comes word that he has been doing this since high school, in which case he might never have been good enough to begin with. Maybe Chem-Free Alex is a fringe major leaguer, just a utility infielder. Obviously his massive, bordering-on-mentally-ill mind and ego never could have handled that. But now one thing is clear: we will never know the whole truth about A-Roid. And that's fine, because he is 100% dead to me. He's a mincing, prancing, self-obsessed, cheating phony, and not trading for him is the best transaction the Red Sox have ever been near. Getting him would have been worse than trading away Bagwell.

(P.S. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that his own Yankee teammates apparently nicknamed him "Bitch Tits" because the chemicals caused such an absurd change in his pecs. This is unfortunate, because it is a really horrible moniker and it is one that is absolutely going to be hurled at him from many places and people, including drunken fans at Fenway Park.)

(P.P.S. I think my favorite part of his comments today is the genuine enthusiasm he musters at the current Yankee two game "winning streak." Do I need to mention that their payroll is once again north of $200 million? Ladies and gentlemen, the third place finishers in the AL East in 2008, and on pace to be entrenched there once again...your New York Yankees!)

Boo!

Teixeira Expects To Be Booed At Fenway Tonight

No shit.

The Boston Globe proposes another idea: that fans simply turn their backs and give him the silent treatment. While this sounds different, and is some attempt at taking the moral high road, I'm not interested. Sports is the last place in which booing is thoroughly acceptable, and if I had a ticket tonight, I would boo Teixeira until my throat was raw. He's a fake, overpaid, money-grubbing douchebag who acts like the Red Sox somehow did him wrong during their courtship of him, when apparently he, or at least his wife, had every intent of simply signing with the Yankees all along anyway. Just like A-Rod, this seems to be a case in which I wanted the guy at the time, but was then ecstatic that the Sox didn't end up with him. He enters tonight hitting .222, for the record, despite the fact that balls have been flying out of the new Yankee stadium at a record pace. By the way, there are plenty of really good seats available to see last year's third place finishers in the AL East if you are so inclined. Have I mentioned that Teixeira has never finished in the top 5 for MVP voting, has never been out of the first round of the playoffs, and still got $180 million? Nice.

But I digress. The booing. It's not just for Doucheface. It's for anyone that puts on the pinstripes, period. And I mean that. If my own mother discovered that she has a nasty slider and is death on righties and the Yanks signed her as an 8th inning relief specialist, I would boo the hell out of her if she came in to pitch a tie game at Fenway. I love you, Mom, but I totally would. If any of my friends played for the Yankees? BOOOOOOOOO. The only scenario I can come up with that might even provide the slightest hint of conflict is if my son got drafted by them. And honestly, I don't know what I would do then. Demand a trade, probably.

But anyone else? There is no high road. If you're in the pinstripes at Fenway, you are the enemy. Period. I wish that booing was socially acceptable in lots more situations: poor service in restaurants, when the blackjack dealer keeps pulling five card 21s, and pretty much any trip to the DMV, just for starters. But I feel no need or inclination to make some highbrow attempt at being perceived as a "better" fan. Mark Teixeira led us on with no intention of ever signing with us in order to extract the most cash that he could, and then he signed with our hated rivals. If that's not worthy of our vocal derision at the ballpark, then nothing is.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Baseball auction recap

Fantasy baseball geekery of the highest order ahead; proceed at your own risk.

On Monday night I had an auction draft for a first year fantasy baseball league. Actually, it isn't my first time playing with these guys. Most of them are friends with my wife from college and I've been playing in their leagues for a few years now. But this was the first time we switched from heads-up scoring to straight Roto, and more importantly, the first time we did an auction instead of a draft. All good things. We also use not just four, or even five, but six categories each for hitting and pitching, adding OPS and holds to the standard 5X5 format.

I didn't come in with one firm plan in mind, because that can often be a road to ruin if your fellow owners don't cooperate. Instead, I thought there were two likely scenarios on how this would go with a bunch of guys that have never participated in a baseball auction before: either people would be gun shy, and there would be great buys early, or they would throw money around like drunken sailors on shore leave during the draft's early moments.

It was mostly the latter.

I had designs on grabbing one of the top three players on my board: Hanley Ramirez, Albert Pujols, or David Wright, and I was prepared to spend $40 of my $260 budget on one. That didn't happen, as each name was thrown out very early and they sold for $42, $45, and $43 respectively. Jose Reyes, Ryan Braun, and Miguel Cabrera quickly joined the $40 club as well, and I bought none of them. Time to adjust the strategy on the fly. I had a master list of top hitters broken up into two tiers. I was immediately shut out of my tier one guys, but many of my stud tier twos remained. I entered the draft planning on getting at least three of them. I proceeded to happily double that.

Who would have guessed that my first purchase would wear the dreaded pinstripes? For $34, come on down, Mark Teixeira. Sure, I hate him, but he is going to rake balls into that short porch in right and he will post elite numbers in five categories. Next up: Astros 1B Lance Berkman for $33, an outright steal at that price compared to what his slugging brethren were fetching. I don't expect steals in the high teens again, but as long as he is mostly healthy he will fill up all six offensive categories nicely. My third acquisition was Dodgers OF Matt Kemp for $26, and that's the last time for a long time that he will be going for sub-$30 in any league. He hits, his power is ticking up, he swipes bags (35 steals last year) and now he will be in a lineup with Manny Ramirez for an entire season. Kemp is also all of 24 years old. Boom.

I grabbed Evan Longoria shortly thereafter, loving his upside at the hot corner for $30. I gritted my teeth and watched my beloved Dustin Pedroia go for the same price. I love Dusty--I mean, he's a Sun Devil and a Red Sock, come on!--but I just couldn't pay the frieght on that. I really hope he proves me wrong. Diamondbacks starter Dan Haren became my first pitcher, and the key to my staff. I planned to load up on cheap pitchers later and did exactly that, but I needed one reliable guy. Haren fit the bill.

Steals are often a tough category to manage, and if you don't come away with them on draft day they can be particularly difficult to acquire, so I had every intention of coming away with a number I thought would put me in the top 3-4 in the league. I did that and then some, grabbing Dreamy Jacoby Ellsbury and soon-to-bounce-back superstar Carl Crawford. Those two alone should tally over 100 combined thefts this year. I grabbed some great cheap speed as well: Rangers rookie Elvis Andrus and Astros' 2B Kaz Matusi should combine for over 50 and they cost me just a buck each.

Everything sounds great so far, right? Not so fast. In the early and mid-early rounds, I kept grabbing offensive studs at reasonable rates. Kevin Youkilis, come on down. Jason Bay with a full season in Fenway? Yes, please! This was all great, but before I knew it, I was down to less than $20 with about 16 spots to fill. In a way, I had hoped that this would become my strategy all along, for a few reasons. First, I was prepared for the "$1 endgame" of the draft, and that worked out as well as I could have hoped, as the only thing close to a $1 reach was my backup catcher--I got both of my backstops for a buck each, in fact. But at the end, there were plenty of players left that I would have been happy to add to my squad, exactly as I thought there would be. I cornered the market on the Red Sox 5th starter slot by grabbing the entire trio of Brad Penny, Clay Buchholz, and John Smoltz for a buck a pop. I'll shelve Smoltz on the DL and maybe stash Clay on my bench for a bit to see how things play out. He has been lights out this spring, and his upside if he grabs a full time rotation spot could be a gigantic difference-maker. Some of my end game $1 pickups that I think will be worth much more than what I paid: Chris Ray, Juan Rivera, Hideki Okajima, and Damaso Marte, to name a few.

I predicted that middle relievers would be undervalued, even with holds as a category, and they were. Does it really take much to figure out that closers have less value than ever when saves are only 1/12th of a team's score? I guess it does, because mediocre closers went for double and triple the prices paid to great middle men. I only have one legit 40 save closer right now, but I plan to play the waiver wire like a harp, stream pitchers on and off my roster all season, and trade some steals for what I need in mid summer.

It will be a fun league and an enjoyable season. My team is not an impregnable juggernaut like I thought it might be, but I certainly have strengths to work from. I'll be in the money, and if things break right, I make timely additions, and I swing a key trade or two I think I could be in position to win the whole thing.

A baseball headline that makes me giddy

Joba's Fastball Still Losing Heat

Obviously I hate Joba Chamberlain. That pretty much goes without saying. But I think he may have set the record for shortest amount of time it took me to outright despise an athlete. Granted, the pinstripes alone got him halfway there, but he was instantly in my "top five hated Yankees" group almost as soon as I knew his name, thanks to his bush league continuous head hunting tactics. It's unreal. This is not like Pedro dusting people off the plate. Joba enjoys throwing the ball as hard as he can at the heads of Red Sox players. If Vegas offered a prop bet on "2009 is the year Kevin Youkilis finally charges the mound and beats Joba Chamberlain within an inch of his life," I would be all over that action. And Josh Beckett would probably be the first one off the bench to help. Aside from seeing A-Rod get destroyed--which I waited for a long time--this is probably the only remaining potential Sox-Yanks brawl that I am actually actively looking forward to. And it's going to happen...assuming Joba can still throw hard enough to make someone angry.

Good day

ASU beats Washington to advance to the Pac-10 Tournament Championship game.

The Red Sox thump the Yanks in a prime time Grapefruit League tilt...which is obviously meaningless, but Big Papi and Mike Lowell went yard, which is definitely not.

And there is word that Friday Night Lights may get renewed for not one, but two more seasons!

That's just a good day all around. And tomorrow is AJ's birthday party and in five days I'm off to Arizona for the annual boys trip. Good times.

28 awesome things from 2008

There are always tons of "best of" lists right around New Year's Day. Here is one more. Instead of a Top 10, or a Top 100, or anything so rigid and structured, here are just 28 things from 2008 that were awesome. They are not comprehensive, and they are not in any order. But they are awesome.

• Season four of Lost, especially on Blu-Ray.
• The 2008 World Champion Boston Celtics.
• The Dark Knight, especially Heath Ledger's brilliant performance.
• Season three of Dexter.
• Metallica: Death Magnetic and LIVE at Alltel Arena.
• Dustin Pedroia: Sun Devil, Red Sock, and AL MVP.
• Iron Man.
• Tropic Thunder.
• The Robert Downey Jr. resurgence in general.
• Rock Band 2.
• My second straight Chatham Bluefish Diamond Mind baseball championship.
• Scream Queens on VH1.
• Terra Naomi's acoustic hair band covers.
• The fact that a new GNR album actually came out, and it's good.
• Friday Night Lights, and the fact that it is still on TV at all.
  
• Survivor and The Amazing Race still being fairly entertaining.
• Pretty much everything AJ McC does, including his hilarious exploding vocabulary.
• Sierra Mist Free Cranberry Splash. Try some with vodka and thank me later.
• ZaZa pizza in Little Rock. The huge high heat woodburning oven is the key.
• The fact that a new movie theatre (with an Imax screen) opened right down the street, even if I don't get to go there as often as I'd like.
• That a guy who kind of rocks won American Idol.
• The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly.
• Tina Fey, both on 30 Rock and SNL.
• Van Halen LIVE at Alltel Arena.
• Catching my first Red Sox game in way too long, with a rooftop table under the Budwesier sign.
• Two Vegas trips, an AZ fire up, and a Cape Cod vacation (with the Boston trip in the middle of it).
• Lots of cool shows on the Food Network. Seriously.
• WiiFit.

And eight things that were not so awesome:

• 18-1. Still pisses me off.
• The ASU football season. An entirely different kind of letdown.
• The Sox losing game 7 of the ALCS when they clearly could have been champs again if just a couple of guys stayed healthy.
• Watching shitty teams flounder in the 2008 NFL playoffs while the superior Patriots sit at home. Sickening.
• The economy, including our old house still being on the market.
• The disgusting New York Yankees offseason spending spree.
  
• Heroes. Season one started great, and since then it's been pretty bad. And yet, I continue to watch.
• The complete tabloidization of the American media. Didn't CNN used to be a respected news outlet? Now they are People magazine with some news thrown in. Go ahead, check the website right now. What's on there? A video of Harrison Ford getting his chest waxed, apparently. And network news shows are just as bad. I cannot do it. I basically hate the news, now. I really do. Thankfully technology exists that lets me consume only what I want, for the most part. Okay. Rant over. I hope everyone has a great 2009.
  

Tough run

Saturday: Sun Devils get shut out by USC.
Saturday night: The Red Sox lose in extra innings, partially due to at least three horrible calls that all went Tampa's way.
Sunday night: The Patriots get crushed in San Diego.
Monday: The Red Sox get blown out at home with their best pitcher on the hill.

Oh, and my money league fantasy team just lost by one point on a meaningless carry on Monday night and my starting QB that has been my best player is out for a month.

This was a particularly brutal stretch. I haven't had many bad runs like this lately and I almost forgot how much it sucks.

Community service? Really?

A friend of mine got an e-mail chain started discussing how happy he was that the Red Sox selected Tim Wakefield to start game four of the ALCS. His e-mail included this line:

<<...but no one has given more to the team, community and fans.>>

I had to jump in. I should have just kept my mouth shut, but I honestly could not help it. Here is my full reply:

<<Okay, I'm sorry, but I have to chime in on one part of this--the bit about giving to the community and the fans. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Wake too. We all do. But how exactly does anything he has done for the community or the fans factor into this decision AT ALL? If Paul Byrd signed more autographs or gave millions to charity does that mean he should get the start? By your logic we should probably start Johnny Pesky.

Absurd. Come on. Give me a break.

Wake has been left off Red Sox post season rosters multiple times before, and it's because pitching him is so dangerous. The only thing that matters is who gives us a better chance to win. We both agree that it is probably Wakefield. I don't like Paul Byrd, I think he is basically the very definition of mediocre, but I was just making a case for why he would be, in some ways, a safer choice. Since you are busting on him, I'll play devil's advocate and make a case for him. He made eights starts for the Sox, and went at least five innings every time. He allowed between two and five runs every time, aside from one start in Texas when he gave up none. His career numbers are solidly consistent, and he is what he is: a guy who is probably going to give up one run every two innings. The debate isn't whether Paul Byrd is better or worse than that, it's just if getting that from him is enough to win game four. I don't know if it is. His career OPS against current Rays is a very solid .710, and a couple of their important hitters, including Evan Longoria, have never faced him. That is part of his upside.

So let's talk about Wake. He had two starts in September when he couldn't make it out of the third inning. He's also had three starts since August when he surrendered no runs. In other words, he's exactly what we think he is. The Rays stole two bases off him each time they faced him this year, whereas Byrd surrendered only five the entire season. We all like Wake because he throws a goofy pitch and he has been here since 1995. Neither of these are reasons for him to start an ALCS game. We also will tolerate a Wake blow-up a lot more readily than a Byrd one, because if Timmeh doesn't have it, then that is just Wake being Wake. But if Byrd were to get shelled, then he would get cursed by some for not being "a true Red Sock" or some such ridiculous thing, which veers perilously close to Yankee territory for me.

We're facing Andy Sonnanstine in game four, who shut us down in two huge back-to-back starts against us in September (13 IP, 7 hits, 0 earned runs, two wins), and that is a big part of why I think Wake is the way to go. We might need a shutout, and that is something you can never count on from Paul Fricking Byrd.

I guess the bottom line is that I agree with you but for completely different reasons.>>

Now I am clearly the bad guy of this thread, as a friend's girlfriend quickly chimed in with the following:

<<"But how exactly does anything he has done for the community or the fans factor into this decision AT ALL?"

Um, isn't it the income from the community and the fans that ultimately pays Wake's salary? And the salaries of everyone in the club for that matter? Aren't they inextricably linked as a result?

I lend one of the few distaff voices on this little email chain and so perhaps it will be viewed as overly romantic (and, admittedly, it is overly romantic) but, I don't see anything wrong with the motive for starting Wake being his efforts on and off the field. Kevin, I like your thinking. Especially when it seems that Byrd or Wake is six or one half dozen, so to speak, why not make it about who he is as a pitcher AND as a person to the fans and the club. Isn't that part of the reason we all love this club? The romance of the team? Did we not all eat up "Cowboy Up" and "Lovable idiots?" and, my personal favorite, a billboard in Fenway that read (before '04) "86 years and no ring but still happily married. Red Sox, a different breed of fan." Isn't it exactly this kind of connection and nostalgia that discerns us as a team and as fans from that other, hated, pinstripe army to the south (lately a fallen army, but whatever, they're still dicks)?

Remind yourself why you've been a fan all your life. Yes, most of us were born there so maybe it was incidental at the outset. And, yes, the strategy discussion to which much of this email chain has been devoted is, of course, paramount in choosing postseason pitching rotation. However, there is some of what Kevin is talking about in the decision making process (or at least the club lets the fans believe that and that's part of our pride). So, I address only that portion of the email exchange.>>

Once again, I cannot let this go unanswered. So I replied:

<<"Um, isn't it the income from the community and the fans that ultimately pays Wake's salary? And the salaries of everyone in the club for that matter? Aren't they inextricably linked as a result?">>

Well, the Red Sox home attendance was over 100% of Fenway's capacity this year, just as it has been every year dating back to 2003. Byrd's starts sell just as many tickets as Wake's, so I really see no connection there at all. Wakefield should pitch because fans like him more? If anything, this regime has shown that they are more than willing to make unpopular decisions that benefit the team on the field. Trading Nomar was generally a wildly unpopular move at the time and all it did was win us the World Series. Many people were in an uproar over the Manny trade this year and so far that one is working out too. And last season Wake himself was left off the World Series roster and all we did was sweep our way to another title. I feel bad because somehow it seems like I'm coming off anti-Wake in all of this, and I'm not at all. But if you think Tito and Theo and John Farrell sat down to discuss the ALCS rotation and Wake's popularity, service to the community, or anything like that factored into the decision then, well...I don't even know what to tell you. It's beyond ludicrous. Look, I hope Wake goes out and the knuckle is dancing and he throws eight innings of shutout ball. I understand the appeal of that as a great story, and I would love it, but ultimately I don't care if we win 1-0 behind a Wakefield gem or 9-8 in a Paul Byrd slugfest. I just want the Red Sox to win. Baseball is overly romanticized and the Red Sox get that treatment more than anyone. I love the Red Sox because I was born and raised in Massachusetts and that is all I know. If I was born in Pittsburgh then I'd probably be pining for the beloved Pirates to get back to the playoffs. I like this Red Sox team, and I like a lot of the players, but I most certainly root for the uniform. David Wells was one of my all-time most hated players, and it took less than one inning of him pitching for us for me to yell "yeah, Boomer!" at the TV and to mean it. Manny Ramirez provided some of the most enjoyable baseball viewing experiences I have ever had and now I cannot wait to boo him like a convicted felon. Obviously if Wake wins game four that is a great story, and better than anything Paul Byrd could do. I understand all of that. But as for the spot in the rotation, to quote one of (the topic starter's) favorites, Clint Eastwood in "Unforgiven," "deserve's got nothing to do with it."

(Topic starter) mentioned the notion of being offended earlier (if Byrd were considered). Well, I would be outraged if sentimentality played any part in making a decision this important. I'm a Red Sox fan. I want the Red Sox to win. Every time I watch, I want them to win that game, and every year I want them to win the World Series. All of my rooting interests come solely from that.

I'm flabbergasted that anyone that is a real fan could think even remotely differently.