Monday, May 20, 2013
Sweep
Red Sox beat Twins in rainy Minnesota 5-1. Fine job by Lackey. We're now a half game out of first. The O's got swept by the Rays so they're both 4 out, and the Jays are 10 behind. Monday night we play in Chicago against the White Sox at 8:10. It's Lester against D. Axelrod, who, as any good Jaws fan knows, owes me a favor.
Here's a video I made about that play today where Don and Jerry (and Ortiz) were clueless:
Other N3SN fun:
Middlebrooks hit a rocket dong. You could tell from the sound of ball hitting bat it was a shot. The outfielders almost immediately turned and looked up at the wall. But the cameraman opted to continue to show the fielders, cutting the shot off below the top of the wall. So we missed it when the ball cleared the fence for a dong. These guys need to go to a class or something. Once both fielders looked up, there was so much time to raise the camera.
When Parmelee got hit in the cup by Ciriaco's throw, it was weird that after Don said it hit him, and after we saw the guy writhing in pain on the ground, Jerry sees the replay and says, "you're right, Don, it did hit him." Also odd how they didn't act like Ciriaco's throw was abnormal in any way. They acted like it was slightly off, when it must have slipped out of his hand because it was nowhere near first base. And then on the shot of the runner, which was in slow motion, granted, you could tell he was doing the "head down and jog" since it was a hard-hit, tailor-made DP ball, yet Jerry's comment was "you can see he's going as hard as he can."
On that ball that the ump said hit the Twins batter but clearly didn't: Don noted that it was ball four anyway, so the guy goes to first either way. But the HUGE thing they didn't mention was that the the ump saying it was a hit-by-pitch affected the Twins, because the runner on second therefore wasn't allowed to advance, which he easily would have if it had been called correctly. Don did later say "so it's first and second," with the accent on the "second" (implying "rather than third as it could have been"), but that doesn't help the casual fan, or even the normal fan who was getting a drink or something, or just didn't think of it. The point is, that's something the announcer, or color man, has to bring up. It ended up not costing the Twins in the end though.
During the rain delay, we had to go to Cambridge to meet some friends for dinner. By the time we got there, the three-hour rain delay was still going on. It was 3-1 us in the 7th before, and I didn't find out until hours later that we won 5-1, though I wasn't too worried. Pedroia's dong gave us the insurance. It's worth watching for the way it all went down, and to see how many people are still in the stands after such a long delay. And to hear some kid go, "that was not a home run!" even though it very clearly was.
Here's a video I made about that play today where Don and Jerry (and Ortiz) were clueless:
Other N3SN fun:
Middlebrooks hit a rocket dong. You could tell from the sound of ball hitting bat it was a shot. The outfielders almost immediately turned and looked up at the wall. But the cameraman opted to continue to show the fielders, cutting the shot off below the top of the wall. So we missed it when the ball cleared the fence for a dong. These guys need to go to a class or something. Once both fielders looked up, there was so much time to raise the camera.
When Parmelee got hit in the cup by Ciriaco's throw, it was weird that after Don said it hit him, and after we saw the guy writhing in pain on the ground, Jerry sees the replay and says, "you're right, Don, it did hit him." Also odd how they didn't act like Ciriaco's throw was abnormal in any way. They acted like it was slightly off, when it must have slipped out of his hand because it was nowhere near first base. And then on the shot of the runner, which was in slow motion, granted, you could tell he was doing the "head down and jog" since it was a hard-hit, tailor-made DP ball, yet Jerry's comment was "you can see he's going as hard as he can."
On that ball that the ump said hit the Twins batter but clearly didn't: Don noted that it was ball four anyway, so the guy goes to first either way. But the HUGE thing they didn't mention was that the the ump saying it was a hit-by-pitch affected the Twins, because the runner on second therefore wasn't allowed to advance, which he easily would have if it had been called correctly. Don did later say "so it's first and second," with the accent on the "second" (implying "rather than third as it could have been"), but that doesn't help the casual fan, or even the normal fan who was getting a drink or something, or just didn't think of it. The point is, that's something the announcer, or color man, has to bring up. It ended up not costing the Twins in the end though.
During the rain delay, we had to go to Cambridge to meet some friends for dinner. By the time we got there, the three-hour rain delay was still going on. It was 3-1 us in the 7th before, and I didn't find out until hours later that we won 5-1, though I wasn't too worried. Pedroia's dong gave us the insurance. It's worth watching for the way it all went down, and to see how many people are still in the stands after such a long delay. And to hear some kid go, "that was not a home run!" even though it very clearly was.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
No Doubleheader, No Double-Checking
Last year I had my suspicions that Futures at Fenway would go from a doubleheader to a single game. This year, that happened. The game will be Saturday, July 27th (while the Red Sox are in Baltimore, meaning they lose a chunk of the potential audience). The teams are Portland and Harrisburg (AA affiliate of the Washington Nationals).
It's funny, on that survey I filled out (which I'll have to do a post about because it was weird, wild stuff), they asked if post-game concerts would light a fire under my ass when thinking about purchasing Red Sox tickets. And now for the Futures game, they've replaced the second game with a post-game concert. It's something called Kidz Bop Kids.
And now, predictably, here's my "mistake report" on the Futures page:
Okay, you've got about 10 lines of text here. Gotta score a 100% on this, people. But no. We've got the line "there will be post-game autograph session with Sea Dogs players." There will be session! Ha. And then when they mention Kidz Bop Kids, they spell the second "Kids" with a Z instead of an S. How in the world would I know this is wrong? Because the e-mail I got with the link in it spelled it differently. So I did some research (on a really nice day, mind you) and found it's supposed to be Kidz Bop Kids. ("Kidz Bop" is the "thing" and the Kidz Bop "kids" are the ones performing. It took me a while to figure that out. Anyway, even if you have kids, I recommend not subjecting them to this concert as it sounds horrible.)
I'll give 'em a break* on capitalizing "affiliate" in one spot but not in another. Same with saying "First pitch" but "Gates Open." And choosing to hyphenate only between "one" and "day" in the "one-day only" phrase instead of going with "one-day-only" which would make more sense as the whole phrase is describing "presale." And putting the home team on the top/left.
*But not enough of a break to actually keep it to myself. Maybe I should just get used to this new world. But still, I know these giant companies spend countless hours on this stuff, figuring out what they want to do based on focus groups and all this crap. So it makes it even more mind-boggling to ever see a mistake. They get to that final step, they've gone over every detail, they type up the final copy, everyone agrees on it...and then they just let it go live to millions of people without double-checking it? And then either nobody notices the entire time it's up on the web, or for some reason the thing can't be changed when someone does notice? Why do they go so hard all the way and then boot it on the final, most crucial step?
It's funny, on that survey I filled out (which I'll have to do a post about because it was weird, wild stuff), they asked if post-game concerts would light a fire under my ass when thinking about purchasing Red Sox tickets. And now for the Futures game, they've replaced the second game with a post-game concert. It's something called Kidz Bop Kids.
And now, predictably, here's my "mistake report" on the Futures page:
Okay, you've got about 10 lines of text here. Gotta score a 100% on this, people. But no. We've got the line "there will be post-game autograph session with Sea Dogs players." There will be session! Ha. And then when they mention Kidz Bop Kids, they spell the second "Kids" with a Z instead of an S. How in the world would I know this is wrong? Because the e-mail I got with the link in it spelled it differently. So I did some research (on a really nice day, mind you) and found it's supposed to be Kidz Bop Kids. ("Kidz Bop" is the "thing" and the Kidz Bop "kids" are the ones performing. It took me a while to figure that out. Anyway, even if you have kids, I recommend not subjecting them to this concert as it sounds horrible.)
I'll give 'em a break* on capitalizing "affiliate" in one spot but not in another. Same with saying "First pitch" but "Gates Open." And choosing to hyphenate only between "one" and "day" in the "one-day only" phrase instead of going with "one-day-only" which would make more sense as the whole phrase is describing "presale." And putting the home team on the top/left.
*But not enough of a break to actually keep it to myself. Maybe I should just get used to this new world. But still, I know these giant companies spend countless hours on this stuff, figuring out what they want to do based on focus groups and all this crap. So it makes it even more mind-boggling to ever see a mistake. They get to that final step, they've gone over every detail, they type up the final copy, everyone agrees on it...and then they just let it go live to millions of people without double-checking it? And then either nobody notices the entire time it's up on the web, or for some reason the thing can't be changed when someone does notice? Why do they go so hard all the way and then boot it on the final, most crucial step?
Yes, Chan, I Saw Aimee Mann Too
Was I dreaming or did I just see J Mascis, Kim Gordon, Carrie Brownstein, and Steve Jones on SNL? It's kinda cool that when the current "people in charge of stuff" think "all-stars" they think Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth, Sleater-Kinney, and the Sex Pistols. Or maybe Fred Armisen just asked if he could have some friends on and they said Sure.
And here I am thinking that the "young" generation is finally taking over...before realizing that those four bands started in 1984, 1981, 1975, and 1994. It gets late early around here, I guess.
As for the Red Sox game, it went from "sweet, we're gonna blow 'em out" to "they've stranded a lot of runners but we've got the lead" to "we're pulling away, time to turn it off and go do something else knowing we've won" to "oh jesus h. christ how is this a two-run game and how is it still only the fifth???" to "woohoo, we finally actually pulled far enough ahead and it's late enough in the game to feel like it's a definite win" to "we win 12-5 and if you missed it damn you for not having to go through what I did!"
12-5 was your final. Papi hit two dongs. Everybody had at least one hit except Ciriaco. Nava also donged. The play of the game was when Pedroia made an over-the-shoulder catch in short right and whirled and fired home to easily get the tagging runner to end the inning, as Lavarnway was bowled over but hung on to the ball and got right up. This was in a bases loaded, one out situation with us only ahead by 2 in the 6th and things looking bleak. But right after that play we put up four quick runs turning a 7-5 game into an 11-5 game.
So we stay 1 back of New Y., and we're now 2.5 up on Baltim.
Sunday at 2:10 we go for the sweep of Minneso.
And here I am thinking that the "young" generation is finally taking over...before realizing that those four bands started in 1984, 1981, 1975, and 1994. It gets late early around here, I guess.
As for the Red Sox game, it went from "sweet, we're gonna blow 'em out" to "they've stranded a lot of runners but we've got the lead" to "we're pulling away, time to turn it off and go do something else knowing we've won" to "oh jesus h. christ how is this a two-run game and how is it still only the fifth???" to "woohoo, we finally actually pulled far enough ahead and it's late enough in the game to feel like it's a definite win" to "we win 12-5 and if you missed it damn you for not having to go through what I did!"
12-5 was your final. Papi hit two dongs. Everybody had at least one hit except Ciriaco. Nava also donged. The play of the game was when Pedroia made an over-the-shoulder catch in short right and whirled and fired home to easily get the tagging runner to end the inning, as Lavarnway was bowled over but hung on to the ball and got right up. This was in a bases loaded, one out situation with us only ahead by 2 in the 6th and things looking bleak. But right after that play we put up four quick runs turning a 7-5 game into an 11-5 game.
So we stay 1 back of New Y., and we're now 2.5 up on Baltim.
Sunday at 2:10 we go for the sweep of Minneso.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
So Much Better Now
Nice tenth: Pedroia undoes his Shite Nite (he had grounded into two rally-killing DPs and popped out with 2nd and 3rd to end another inning) with a leadoff single. Papi walks. Middlebrooks lays down the perfect sac bunt. Then after an IBB, Jonny Wad Gomes does what he's supposed to do: he hits a fly ball. He even stood and watched it as if to say, "I knew what my job was, and it's done, mofo." Go-ahead run scores and we win, 4-3, to stay a game out in the A.L. East. Uehara gets the save. Alex "Damien Pratt" Wilson gets his first MLB win. Miller did a fine job, as did BucHHolz.
My usual routine lately is hearing the first few innings in the car on my way home from work. And I've noticed they're way more "rock" this year going into each inning. I even heard Andrew W.K.'s "She is Beautiful" on there tonight! (Turn it UP! Aw come on, at least make it till the point where Andrew makes himself a smoothie. P.S. Speaking of Damien Pratt and Andrew W.K., I once gave Damien a ride and was playing Andrew in the car and he said "it's a shame about the sound quality of that album." And I just nodded and grunted but I really don't know what he meant because I love the sound quality! P.P.S You probably don't know who Damien Pratt is unless you lived in Danbury or Brooklyn.)
Only three teams in baseball currently have a better record than the Red Sox.
I made a list of more to say but it'll have to wait. Partly because I spent so much time filling out a survey from the Red Sox that I assumed would take 5 minutes, and now it's two int he morning. I failed to notice where it said it would take 35 minutes! By the 15-minute mark I was in too deep and had to make it to the end before doing anything else, even though that progress bar was practically moving backwards. I'll tell you more about it and all the other stuff I wanted to write about later. (Spoiler: It's the same old shit.) Good night, folks!
Okay fine, I stayed up longer just to give you a comparison between Damien and Alex:
Damien photo courtesy his MySpace. Alex photo courtesy ESPN.
My usual routine lately is hearing the first few innings in the car on my way home from work. And I've noticed they're way more "rock" this year going into each inning. I even heard Andrew W.K.'s "She is Beautiful" on there tonight! (Turn it UP! Aw come on, at least make it till the point where Andrew makes himself a smoothie. P.S. Speaking of Damien Pratt and Andrew W.K., I once gave Damien a ride and was playing Andrew in the car and he said "it's a shame about the sound quality of that album." And I just nodded and grunted but I really don't know what he meant because I love the sound quality! P.P.S You probably don't know who Damien Pratt is unless you lived in Danbury or Brooklyn.)
Only three teams in baseball currently have a better record than the Red Sox.
I made a list of more to say but it'll have to wait. Partly because I spent so much time filling out a survey from the Red Sox that I assumed would take 5 minutes, and now it's two int he morning. I failed to notice where it said it would take 35 minutes! By the 15-minute mark I was in too deep and had to make it to the end before doing anything else, even though that progress bar was practically moving backwards. I'll tell you more about it and all the other stuff I wanted to write about later. (Spoiler: It's the same old shit.) Good night, folks!
Okay fine, I stayed up longer just to give you a comparison between Damien and Alex:
Damien photo courtesy his MySpace. Alex photo courtesy ESPN.
Friday, May 17, 2013
Slide
Two months ago, I wrote a post about how Jeter made a crazy slide and literally admitted he "forgot" about sliding in general. My point was that nobody cared about it--one paper even called it a "hard slide"--yet if Manny made a slide like that, he'd be called a clown and all the other usual stuff he's called.
Well it only took two months!
(I love the super-creative closing line too! Wow, I ain't neva hoid that one befawww...)
SOX @ Twins, 8:10, Clay Pigeon against Worley Bird
Well it only took two months!
(I love the super-creative closing line too! Wow, I ain't neva hoid that one befawww...)
SOX @ Twins, 8:10, Clay Pigeon against Worley Bird
Big Win
Down to our last strike, Middlebrooks comes through with a three-run double to turn a 3-1 loss into a 4-3 win! Rodney had walked the bases loaded, much as our pitchers had done earlier, leading to them being ahead in the first place. And how does genius Joe Maddon have his outfielders not playing deep enough to cut off any ball in the gap? Heart-attacky job by Taz in the bottom of the ninth, but he gets the job done. And Victorino continues to risk life/limb for us.
The Yanks had the tying run at third with one out in the 9th, but failed, with Cano ending the game. So we close to 1 game back.
Huge night.
The Yanks had the tying run at third with one out in the 9th, but failed, with Cano ending the game. So we close to 1 game back.
Huge night.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Opp-tastic
A lot of opposite field hitting tonight. Napoli, Gomes, Papi, Pedroia, these guys are all going the other way. Drew's grand dong was pulled, but it wasn't too far right of center. It's almost like everybody realized that's what they should be doing and did it. And boom, 9 runs. Recent Jeopardy correct response* Dustin Pedroia had been trying to pull pitches that were way outside, and was hitting dribblers. He has stopped that and is hitting over .500 in his last five games.
Lester gave up 2 runs on 8 hits over 7 to move to 6-0.
The Yanks lost 12-2, and the O's lost this afternoon, so us and Balty are now 2 games back.
Okay, so tonight Don was talking about the foul poles at the Trop, and suddenly he's a genius when it comes to poles lining up if you're looking down the line but appearing misaligned from the left or right. Yet at Fenway he's completely oblivious to the exact same thing! With the foul pole and the line on the wall which. If you're a regular reader you remember my detailed posts explaining this simple effect to Don. Hopefully one day he figures out it's the same concept at both places.
*But nobody knew it! It was the college tourney. They gave the name, all you had to do was name the team. Come on, people. One kid was from MIT!
Lester gave up 2 runs on 8 hits over 7 to move to 6-0.
The Yanks lost 12-2, and the O's lost this afternoon, so us and Balty are now 2 games back.
Okay, so tonight Don was talking about the foul poles at the Trop, and suddenly he's a genius when it comes to poles lining up if you're looking down the line but appearing misaligned from the left or right. Yet at Fenway he's completely oblivious to the exact same thing! With the foul pole and the line on the wall which. If you're a regular reader you remember my detailed posts explaining this simple effect to Don. Hopefully one day he figures out it's the same concept at both places.
*But nobody knew it! It was the college tourney. They gave the name, all you had to do was name the team. Come on, people. One kid was from MIT!
Vacillating
Every once in a while I see this really long local commercial for this place called Ocean State Cardiovascular & Vein Center. The whole time, they've got their logo on the bottom of the screen. Check it out:
Cardiovasular! Spelling your own company name wrong is already unforgivable, but doing it in your logo is...impossible, I would think. Guess not. This place calls itself "world class." But next time I need cardiovascular and/or vein work, I'll be choosing any other place. In fact, if you've got cardiovascular or vein issues, why not stop in to my brand new business:
Go to them, or come to the best. Jere's CardiovasCular & Vein. 117 N. Vine St., Hollywood, CA 90028. A Merv Griffin Television Production.
So I'm still obsessed with that cloud. I finally got a non-cloud/fog shot from a spot I photographed a few days ago. Here are the before and after pics. These are not altered in any way.
Lester v. Price, 7:10.
Cardiovasular! Spelling your own company name wrong is already unforgivable, but doing it in your logo is...impossible, I would think. Guess not. This place calls itself "world class." But next time I need cardiovascular and/or vein work, I'll be choosing any other place. In fact, if you've got cardiovascular or vein issues, why not stop in to my brand new business:
Go to them, or come to the best. Jere's CardiovasCular & Vein. 117 N. Vine St., Hollywood, CA 90028. A Merv Griffin Television Production.
So I'm still obsessed with that cloud. I finally got a non-cloud/fog shot from a spot I photographed a few days ago. Here are the before and after pics. These are not altered in any way.
Lester v. Price, 7:10.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Roofed & Mo Zoned
After the Red Sox lost thanks to a ball lost in the roof that may or may not have hit or gone over effing catwalks, I switched to MLBN and saw the last two pitches of the Yanks game. And to add insult to my still-aching injury, I see this pitch called a strike to end the game:
And I was about to make a video about 2001 and 2004 ULTIMATE CHOKER Mariano Rivera's Kardashian-butt-sized strike zone and how if the MLBN hosts had any guts they'd say what a travesty it was, they went and did just that! Or at least Billy Ripken did. He did a great job of letting the pain of seeing such bullshit come out loud and clear in his voice. Let's listen and watch:
I'd say "unbelievable" but I've seen it so many times I totally believe it. There was no K-Zone or whatever, but you didn't even need it on this one. To see the catcher set up slightly outside and have the pitcher hit the glove is one thing, but to have him miss even that target, with the ump positioned right behind the glove, that's a total joke.
Back to our game, did you notice how NESN, after the pop-up landed, cut away before we saw whether it rolled foul or not? And then on the replay, again they cut away early! It wasn't till later that obviously former major league infielder Jerry Remy and Don had someone whisper in their ear that it would have been a foul ball had it rolled foul without anyone touching it. Only then did they show us the full replay with Pedroia waiting on it and it stopping just shy of the foul line. Don called the play as if as soon as it landed fair, it was a fair ball and that was that. We should have been shown Pedroia waiting on the ball as it rolled, with the announcer saying "and it's rolling, rolling...". You know, something like that, but in an excited tone.
And we all know about the "Locked NESN Monster," which is what NESN sometimes turns into after a ball is hit. They stay on the pitch camera, meanwhile the fielder is fielding the ball and we're still seeing the hitter. I once saw a batter take 6 steps to first before they cut to the other camera so we could see where the ball was. Tonight it happened, granted, on a hard line drive, but if you can't show us the fielder catching the ball, can you at least show us a replay so we know if it was a routine catch or he lunged for it or....
Is this the first time Ellsbury's sleeve-thing was black/navy?
And can someone tell Don Orsillo that the host of The Gong Show was Chuck Barris, not Chuck Berry? (I almost linked to this pic for that second one, but I didn't think people would get the Marvin Berry reference.)
And I was about to make a video about 2001 and 2004 ULTIMATE CHOKER Mariano Rivera's Kardashian-butt-sized strike zone and how if the MLBN hosts had any guts they'd say what a travesty it was, they went and did just that! Or at least Billy Ripken did. He did a great job of letting the pain of seeing such bullshit come out loud and clear in his voice. Let's listen and watch:
I'd say "unbelievable" but I've seen it so many times I totally believe it. There was no K-Zone or whatever, but you didn't even need it on this one. To see the catcher set up slightly outside and have the pitcher hit the glove is one thing, but to have him miss even that target, with the ump positioned right behind the glove, that's a total joke.
Back to our game, did you notice how NESN, after the pop-up landed, cut away before we saw whether it rolled foul or not? And then on the replay, again they cut away early! It wasn't till later that obviously former major league infielder Jerry Remy and Don had someone whisper in their ear that it would have been a foul ball had it rolled foul without anyone touching it. Only then did they show us the full replay with Pedroia waiting on it and it stopping just shy of the foul line. Don called the play as if as soon as it landed fair, it was a fair ball and that was that. We should have been shown Pedroia waiting on the ball as it rolled, with the announcer saying "and it's rolling, rolling...". You know, something like that, but in an excited tone.
And we all know about the "Locked NESN Monster," which is what NESN sometimes turns into after a ball is hit. They stay on the pitch camera, meanwhile the fielder is fielding the ball and we're still seeing the hitter. I once saw a batter take 6 steps to first before they cut to the other camera so we could see where the ball was. Tonight it happened, granted, on a hard line drive, but if you can't show us the fielder catching the ball, can you at least show us a replay so we know if it was a routine catch or he lunged for it or....
Is this the first time Ellsbury's sleeve-thing was black/navy?
And can someone tell Don Orsillo that the host of The Gong Show was Chuck Barris, not Chuck Berry? (I almost linked to this pic for that second one, but I didn't think people would get the Marvin Berry reference.)
Mom's Day Photo Gal'ry
Monday, May 13, 2013
Go Mom
I've been in the dugouts. I've been in the clubhouses. I've walked the warning track. I've played catch in the outfield. I've taken swings at home plate. But I didn't complete the Sextuple Crown* until today--I have now run the bases at Fenway Park. Moms and "kids"--meaning me--were allowed to do it after today's Mother's Day game. So I filmed her as she sprinted around. We got to the front of the line and she was proud to be the first mom to reach home plate. I was the first adult kid to make it. Here's the vid:
If you pause it just before the end you see a kid with the t-shirt that I said right away should be a t-shirt.
I may post some pics from today's crappy game (we're now in third place) later.
*I guess you could include going inside the Green Monster as part of the Septuple Crown. I've never been in there! Only peered through the holes....
If you pause it just before the end you see a kid with the t-shirt that I said right away should be a t-shirt.
I may post some pics from today's crappy game (we're now in third place) later.
*I guess you could include going inside the Green Monster as part of the Septuple Crown. I've never been in there! Only peered through the holes....
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Second Place
They gave us a fun 8th, but lost it in the 9th.
As I understand it, you have a better chance of scoring with a man on third and one out than you do with a man on second and no outs.* Maybe Farrell had Drew's brother swing away since he's been hitting well lately. But I was rooting for the sac. Get the guy to third, then score him on a fly ball and go to extras. You only need one run there.
Dempster goes against a guy making his season debut Sunday in the latex liaison.
*You have a better chance of scoring MORE runs when you DON'T bunt there, but again, we only needed one.
As I understand it, you have a better chance of scoring with a man on third and one out than you do with a man on second and no outs.* Maybe Farrell had Drew's brother swing away since he's been hitting well lately. But I was rooting for the sac. Get the guy to third, then score him on a fly ball and go to extras. You only need one run there.
Dempster goes against a guy making his season debut Sunday in the latex liaison.
*You have a better chance of scoring MORE runs when you DON'T bunt there, but again, we only needed one.
Friday, May 10, 2013
Lester's Bester
Lester only faced 28 batters. He faced 29 in his no-hitter. This one was better, it just lacks a cool name. Anyway it's good to see complete game shutouts regardless of how many baserunners are allowed. SOX win 5-0.
So sick of these hockey updates that happen right during game action. As if it's crucial to talk to those two hockey guys at that exact moment. They're just sitting there between periods! Why not have them talk during a break in the action? (I think we know the greenish answer to that one.) Or at the very least, start the incredibly unnecessary conversation after an at bat. And Ricky Gervais himself couldn't script the awkwardness that occurs every single time the two sets of announcers try to talk to each other, completely unaware of how long to talk, if the other is supposed to respond and when, how to end things, etc. Tonight they interrupted a PERFECT GAME for this crap. Imagine if the perfecto had been broken up right when the baseball announcers were forced to make chit-chat about hockey, with the game in a tiny box on less than half the screen thanks to the fact that we absolutely must see the two hockey guys as they talk....
Think, NESN!
*In case you think this has to do with the fact that I don't like hockey, I'll clarify: If they suddenly put up a live shot of me on my couch on half the screen during an at bat, you'd all get to see me yelling at them to cut the crap and show the damn game.*
Sunday is Mother's Day. Take your mom to Fenway! You get to run the bases with her after the game....
So sick of these hockey updates that happen right during game action. As if it's crucial to talk to those two hockey guys at that exact moment. They're just sitting there between periods! Why not have them talk during a break in the action? (I think we know the greenish answer to that one.) Or at the very least, start the incredibly unnecessary conversation after an at bat. And Ricky Gervais himself couldn't script the awkwardness that occurs every single time the two sets of announcers try to talk to each other, completely unaware of how long to talk, if the other is supposed to respond and when, how to end things, etc. Tonight they interrupted a PERFECT GAME for this crap. Imagine if the perfecto had been broken up right when the baseball announcers were forced to make chit-chat about hockey, with the game in a tiny box on less than half the screen thanks to the fact that we absolutely must see the two hockey guys as they talk....
Think, NESN!
*In case you think this has to do with the fact that I don't like hockey, I'll clarify: If they suddenly put up a live shot of me on my couch on half the screen during an at bat, you'd all get to see me yelling at them to cut the crap and show the damn game.*
Sunday is Mother's Day. Take your mom to Fenway! You get to run the bases with her after the game....
We Lose
No matter how many times they practice it, a pitcher can never throw a strike to second base. This play haunts me in my sleep. It cost Lackey today, as we lose our sixth in seven tries. Too bad the Twins closer borrowed the Mo Zone in the ninth. It's now a three-way tie for first.
Thursday, May 09, 2013
Three Kings
Pressly, in relief of Hernandez, gets the win, Webster gets the loss. Wait a minute. Pressly, spelled differently, is the King of Rock 'n' Roll*. And another Hernandez is King Felix. And Emmanuel Lewis, who played Webster, was friends with Michael Jackson, the King of Pop. (*It should also be noted that Perkins also pitched in this game. So it's really two kings, and two friends of kings.)
Anyway, some game, huh? We lose 15-8. I wasn't a fan of Doubront leaving the rotation, no offense to Webster, but they both ended up getting a chance tonight, with each of them crapping all over that chance. It was pretty sweet when we scored 5 in our first at bat after giving up 4 in theirs, but we quickly went behind again, and it was all downhill from there.
The highlight was Remy accusing Don of stealing Carlton Fisk's credit card.
The O's win ties them with the Sox for first. Us, them, and the Yanks all have 13 losses. NY is still an effed-up team--they even batted their pitcher 8th and had Vernon Wells at third base briefly tonight--but managed a win to close to within a game of first. The go-ahead run came with two outs in the ninth on an infield single where the guy hesitated before throwing to first. It still stinks that they can just put Mo in and have basically any pitch he throws be called a strike, but it's what the rest of us have to deal with, I guess.
Classic media: Shaughnessy decides he's gonna accuse David Ortiz of being on steroids to his face, writes article about it, then NESN Daily teaser says "And Peter Gammons weighs in on the latest David Ortiz PED rumors." So let's recap:
Person A: "Person B, are you a murderer?"
Person B: "No."
Person A: "Everybody, have you heard the rumors about Person B being a murderer?!"
Then there's the whole thing about how the media bash the guy whenever he doesn't hit, saying he's done, etc., then when he starts hitting again, it's "why are you on steroids?" Ortiz himself noticed this one and addressed it in a dugout interview, basically asking "what the hell do you have to do to make these people happy?"
The funniest part about Shaughnessy is how he pretends not to be a slimeball. The guy will rip you out of one side of his mouth while telling you with the other side that he's this nice, innocent guy. When he did the talk show circuit after the Francona book, he'd shamelessly tell each host how it's not meant to be a controversial book and how more is being made of it than should be, meanwhile, ten seconds earlier he was spewing the same controversy-inventing crap he wrote in the first place.
P.S. Word verification is back on. The spams are up to about 25 a day, I need a break. I don't mean banned Yankee fan comments, I mean actual robot spam, written in the same template every time, pretending to be a "real" person, ending with a link to a weight-loss diet site or whatever. "Great site! Hey, is anyone else having trouble with the format of this WordPress blog? My web site: acne products." It's been going on for months. Blogger recently came up with a new spam filter, and everything was fine. Then, the flood gates opened. So, I apologize. Good luck with those weird-looking words.
P.S.S or P.P.S. The "Allision Brown" ads have been running again. And I got a random person commenting on one of my old posts about it. Since I don't have the "recent comments" feature, you'd never know unless I told you. So thanks, that guy!
Anyway, some game, huh? We lose 15-8. I wasn't a fan of Doubront leaving the rotation, no offense to Webster, but they both ended up getting a chance tonight, with each of them crapping all over that chance. It was pretty sweet when we scored 5 in our first at bat after giving up 4 in theirs, but we quickly went behind again, and it was all downhill from there.
The highlight was Remy accusing Don of stealing Carlton Fisk's credit card.
The O's win ties them with the Sox for first. Us, them, and the Yanks all have 13 losses. NY is still an effed-up team--they even batted their pitcher 8th and had Vernon Wells at third base briefly tonight--but managed a win to close to within a game of first. The go-ahead run came with two outs in the ninth on an infield single where the guy hesitated before throwing to first. It still stinks that they can just put Mo in and have basically any pitch he throws be called a strike, but it's what the rest of us have to deal with, I guess.
Classic media: Shaughnessy decides he's gonna accuse David Ortiz of being on steroids to his face, writes article about it, then NESN Daily teaser says "And Peter Gammons weighs in on the latest David Ortiz PED rumors." So let's recap:
Person A: "Person B, are you a murderer?"
Person B: "No."
Person A: "Everybody, have you heard the rumors about Person B being a murderer?!"
Then there's the whole thing about how the media bash the guy whenever he doesn't hit, saying he's done, etc., then when he starts hitting again, it's "why are you on steroids?" Ortiz himself noticed this one and addressed it in a dugout interview, basically asking "what the hell do you have to do to make these people happy?"
The funniest part about Shaughnessy is how he pretends not to be a slimeball. The guy will rip you out of one side of his mouth while telling you with the other side that he's this nice, innocent guy. When he did the talk show circuit after the Francona book, he'd shamelessly tell each host how it's not meant to be a controversial book and how more is being made of it than should be, meanwhile, ten seconds earlier he was spewing the same controversy-inventing crap he wrote in the first place.
P.S. Word verification is back on. The spams are up to about 25 a day, I need a break. I don't mean banned Yankee fan comments, I mean actual robot spam, written in the same template every time, pretending to be a "real" person, ending with a link to a weight-loss diet site or whatever. "Great site! Hey, is anyone else having trouble with the format of this WordPress blog? My web site: acne products." It's been going on for months. Blogger recently came up with a new spam filter, and everything was fine. Then, the flood gates opened. So, I apologize. Good luck with those weird-looking words.
P.S.S or P.P.S. The "Allision Brown" ads have been running again. And I got a random person commenting on one of my old posts about it. Since I don't have the "recent comments" feature, you'd never know unless I told you. So thanks, that guy!
Wednesday, May 08, 2013
The Cloud
Thing about Newport is it has its own weather systems. And I don't mean that in a "if you don't like the weather in [insert my town or area here], wait five minutes!" kind of way. I mean that there's something about that island that makes it have different weather than everything around it. I'll never forget a few years ago when Kim and I did Cliff Walk, and a giant cloud walked along side us, all the way to the beach, at which point we walked around in it. Turns out this is a common thing, as I've discovered working in that area. Monday night, a cloud came in and sat on First Beach. Tuesday, when I got back there, it was still there. I don't call it fog, fog's different. Or maybe that's what fog means. But I think of this as being inside a cloud. I did a bootleg dash-cam video of me driving into and back out of the cloud:
I hope you can tell by the white sky and sudden lack of shadows that I was going through the cloud, but if not, here's a comparison of what it normally looks like at that spot (Google Maps Street View, left) and my video (right).
A few hours earlier, I walked around in the cloud on the beach:
Also got a shot of it rolling in, coming over the sea wall:
Maybe this whole thing is the effect of the sun hitting the cold water. Because it's obviously moving, yet it appears to stay over one large area. But then why wouldn't it do that every sunny day? And in every place where there's water? Can some scientist help me out?
I hope you can tell by the white sky and sudden lack of shadows that I was going through the cloud, but if not, here's a comparison of what it normally looks like at that spot (Google Maps Street View, left) and my video (right).
A few hours earlier, I walked around in the cloud on the beach:
Also got a shot of it rolling in, coming over the sea wall:
Maybe this whole thing is the effect of the sun hitting the cold water. Because it's obviously moving, yet it appears to stay over one large area. But then why wouldn't it do that every sunny day? And in every place where there's water? Can some scientist help me out?
Yanks Lose To Rockies, And Other Baseball News
We had a shot tonight, until the Twins put it away with 4 in the 8th, an inning that started with two consecutive errors by Pedro. (Glad Wakefield noticed the slight bad hop on the first one in the postgame, unlike Orsillo and former infielder Remy.) We also had Middlebrooks and Ross collide--both would eventually leave the game. 6-1 loss, but we've still got the best record in baseball and we're two up on the Yanks, who got Chicagoed in Colorado. Francesa has been making a huge deal about how worried about the Yanks as they leave for this trip. They did not disappoint in game one. Anyway, the O's jump into second place, a game behind us.
Was flipping around after the game and saw four doofuses sitting around on that CSNNE channel, and they had this graphic up:
"Red Sox Have Had Trouble Scoring Runs This Season"
You know how many teams in all of baseball have scored more runs per game than the Red Sox in 2013? Five! I later flipped by again and saw they had "Blanking Out" up there. Do they know we scored a run tonight? I hope most fans realize these shows are total jokes at this point, done solely to get ratings by inventing problems.
Hilarious photo caption from a Daily News article about that Mickey Mantle corking controversy:
"Mantle, who died in 1995 at age 63, was a celebrity of Derek Jeter-caliber during his heyday."
I kid you not, I didn't make that up. That's a real sentence written by some type of journalist. Or at least a captioner.
Was flipping around after the game and saw four doofuses sitting around on that CSNNE channel, and they had this graphic up:
"Red Sox Have Had Trouble Scoring Runs This Season"
You know how many teams in all of baseball have scored more runs per game than the Red Sox in 2013? Five! I later flipped by again and saw they had "Blanking Out" up there. Do they know we scored a run tonight? I hope most fans realize these shows are total jokes at this point, done solely to get ratings by inventing problems.
Hilarious photo caption from a Daily News article about that Mickey Mantle corking controversy:
"Mantle, who died in 1995 at age 63, was a celebrity of Derek Jeter-caliber during his heyday."
I kid you not, I didn't make that up. That's a real sentence written by some type of journalist. Or at least a captioner.
Tuesday, May 07, 2013
Random Vid Of The 24-Hour Period
Daniel Bard throwing in the bullpen. From a few days ago. Turn your volume up.
Red Sox v. Twins, 7:10, Dumpster Divin'. I mean Dempster/Diamond.
These Guys
Drew's brother was the star tonight, going 3 for 4 and driving in the winning run to cap off a 2-out rally in the bottom of the 11th. He also was called out at home earlier when he was actually safe, though if he'd just slid in much lower it would've made the ump's call easier.Pedroia broke a tie in the 8th with a light tower power dong, prompting the two men shown here to go nuts. Hanrahan shit the bed as he's wont to do, blowing the save and sending it to extras. He left the game with an injury, and Bailey's already on the DL. And you know what? When you let the guy who knows how to close the door walk, as we did with Papelbon for reasons I'll never understand, you don't need to go with one closer. And that's a good thing when you've got a lot of solid arms in your 'pen. So maybe we can do that for a while, and see if either of our closers can eventually figure out how to A. be healthy and B. close.
That Twins pitcher gave us a gift on Salty's grounder in the 11th which started the rally. In classic 2011-present "everything's a hit" style, they actually gave Salty a hit. But I don't know how much more error-y you can get than picking up a routine grounder cleanly and throwing it nowhere near first base with the runner still steps away from the bag. Either way, that gift started it all.
And then on the final hit, the left fielder could have caught the ball. It hit about waist-high on the scoreboard. But for some reason, Don/Rem/TC/Wake decided this wasn't even something worthy of discussion. Seems to me like it'd be the only thing to discuss on that play, but I'm just some guy.
Ortiz extends to 26 with his double in the 8th.
And don't forget we were down 3-0 and 4-1 in this game, after having been swept. It was huge to get this win. Texas lost and St. Louis was idle, so we're back to having the best record in baseball. The lead is 2 in the east.
Look at this horse shit in NESN's box score. They only show the most recent nine innings in the linescore. I know mlb.com does this too, but at least they have a tiny arrow you can click to reveal the first few innings. But to not have it at all is preposterous! You just don't know how many runs were scored and when in each of the first two innings. In a 20-inning game, you'd be clueless on the first 11 innings of the game. The only way to figure it out is to go to "gameview" and then look at each missing inning's details. But you shouldn't have to do that. How are they not fixing this? (I just checked some other places. SI.com is also on board with the "final 9 innings only, with no scroll-back arrow" method. All you can do there is go to the play-by-play to figure it out. Same deal with Yahoo, though they give you the most recent ten innings. ESPN has the novel idea of...actually showing all innings in the linescore.) Oh well, at least I got to see this article about Otis Nixon cracking and driving. Check out that mug shot!
Speaking of NESN eff-ups: During Sunday's game, there was a scroll all day long showing the Bruins being in the "Stanley Cup Quarterfinals." I don't give a or know shit about hockey, but I'm pretty sure they're in the first round, and I'm pretty sure it's the same number of teams in the playoffs as the NBA. So wouldn't this be the...eighth-finals? In other words, the conference quarterfinals. Then it's conf. semis, then conf. finals, then Stanley Cup finals. I could be wrong, but I don't think I saw the word "conference" in there. If I'm right, terrible job, NESN.
Monday, May 06, 2013
Have I Got Some Mistakes For You!
Red Sox lose. Swept. We now go home to face the Twins, still with the best record in baseball (tied) and still with a 1.5 game lead in the east over the Orioles and also Yanks. More on the game later, But first, the mistakiest dong ever!
Just after I predicted that "Ortiz will hit a home run that will awe the crowd" (no proof available), Papi did just that. Unfortunately, NESN's camera people don't know how to track home run balls. We never saw where it landed as they showed us a spot nowhere near where the ball was. Then they cut to a close-up of the ball in flight (one which also didn't show the landing spot), and we see that the Rangers' scoreboard still uses the old (changed after 2008 season) version of that Red Sox logo:
Then we see a shot of a Sox fan in the stands, who's a big enough fan of Carl Yastrzemski to name a pet after him....
...but not big enough a fan to know how his name is spelled. All you have to do is ask! Or try the Web, it knows too! Granted, it's a difficult name. It seems logical it would start with "Y-A-Z". But in my opinion, the moment you decide to name a pet after the guy should be the moment you say, "I'm gonna go ahead and learn this name for good."
Later, NESN showed us a graphic about some Twins players....
Let's take a closer look!
Maybe we've got a big H.G. Wells fan in the NESN control room. Or maybe they do this shit just about every game. It's not like this is some obscure player, it's Justin Morneau!
Then you've got Don doing one of his classic "in the dark" calls. Maybe I should call him Don Squier. (After watching that again I started thinking maybe I'm the a-hole, that the guy really didn't know if the ball went out since he had looked down for the bag the first time, but...even in that case, you'd say he wasn't sure, as Don did, AND that he was going back to touch the base he missed. Man, if you haven't clicked on the vid yet, you don't know what the hell I'm e-babbling about right now....)
Another funny Don moment: Berkman hit a ball that "almost got out of here." Except it bounced on the warning track.
And on the Ross homer, again, NESN misses where it lands, even zooming in on the wrong spot as the ball is landing in the deck above.
Here's some great reporting from the ESPN Dallas blogger. Awesomeness in bold:
Beltre is 6-for-36 with runners in scoring position this season, but that's not why Farrell decided to walk him. He wanted the righty-righty matchup with Mortensen against Beltre, and he also wanted to set up the force play.
Mortensen got ahead of Beltre with a 1-2 count on all sliders. Beltre even swung through the third pitch in the sequence. He didn't miss the fourth slider, lining over the glove of Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia's glove [...]
No, they didn't walk Beltre to pitch to Beltre, and no, Dustin Pedroia's glove does not wear a glove. Then he goes on to write the following sentence--maybe he only had one verb left and had to use it twice:
They were able to grind out three runs on Lester and grind out a walk-off win.
Where do they find these people?
Back to the lecture at hand: I was pissed at Drew's brother. In the 7th, with one out and the game tied, Darvish walks Ross on four pitches. Drew then takes the first two pitches for balls. Catcher goes out to talk to Yu. Now maybe we were thinking, "here comes a strike, swing away." But I'm just saying, six balls in a row, game tied late, #8 hitter up, pitcher started that inning with more than 100 pitches, he's just giving us baserunners...you gotta make the guy throw a strike. Instead Drew swings, and fouls off a pitch that's probably gonna land outside the zone. It should have been 3-0 there, leading to a probable walk. Even if Ciriaco then goes down, at least you've got a shot with Ellsbury and the go-ahead run on second. Instead, it's 2-1, and Drew goes on to strike out. As does Ciriaco to end the inning. We wouldn't score the rest of the game.
Papi's streak is now 25.
Terrible job by Elvis raising the fist while running home with the winning run, on a play that turned out to be pretty close. It's pompous and it could cost your team big time. You better know you're gonna score before you start pulling that Jeter-ish crap.
And as long as this post is full of my pet peeves, to add insult to Inge, the mlb.com headline about this game was "Rangers walk off to sweep Sox."
Just after I predicted that "Ortiz will hit a home run that will awe the crowd" (no proof available), Papi did just that. Unfortunately, NESN's camera people don't know how to track home run balls. We never saw where it landed as they showed us a spot nowhere near where the ball was. Then they cut to a close-up of the ball in flight (one which also didn't show the landing spot), and we see that the Rangers' scoreboard still uses the old (changed after 2008 season) version of that Red Sox logo:
Then we see a shot of a Sox fan in the stands, who's a big enough fan of Carl Yastrzemski to name a pet after him....
...but not big enough a fan to know how his name is spelled. All you have to do is ask! Or try the Web, it knows too! Granted, it's a difficult name. It seems logical it would start with "Y-A-Z". But in my opinion, the moment you decide to name a pet after the guy should be the moment you say, "I'm gonna go ahead and learn this name for good."
Later, NESN showed us a graphic about some Twins players....
Let's take a closer look!
Then you've got Don doing one of his classic "in the dark" calls. Maybe I should call him Don Squier. (After watching that again I started thinking maybe I'm the a-hole, that the guy really didn't know if the ball went out since he had looked down for the bag the first time, but...even in that case, you'd say he wasn't sure, as Don did, AND that he was going back to touch the base he missed. Man, if you haven't clicked on the vid yet, you don't know what the hell I'm e-babbling about right now....)
Another funny Don moment: Berkman hit a ball that "almost got out of here." Except it bounced on the warning track.
And on the Ross homer, again, NESN misses where it lands, even zooming in on the wrong spot as the ball is landing in the deck above.
Here's some great reporting from the ESPN Dallas blogger. Awesomeness in bold:
Beltre is 6-for-36 with runners in scoring position this season, but that's not why Farrell decided to walk him. He wanted the righty-righty matchup with Mortensen against Beltre, and he also wanted to set up the force play.
Mortensen got ahead of Beltre with a 1-2 count on all sliders. Beltre even swung through the third pitch in the sequence. He didn't miss the fourth slider, lining over the glove of Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia's glove [...]
No, they didn't walk Beltre to pitch to Beltre, and no, Dustin Pedroia's glove does not wear a glove. Then he goes on to write the following sentence--maybe he only had one verb left and had to use it twice:
They were able to grind out three runs on Lester and grind out a walk-off win.
Where do they find these people?
Back to the lecture at hand: I was pissed at Drew's brother. In the 7th, with one out and the game tied, Darvish walks Ross on four pitches. Drew then takes the first two pitches for balls. Catcher goes out to talk to Yu. Now maybe we were thinking, "here comes a strike, swing away." But I'm just saying, six balls in a row, game tied late, #8 hitter up, pitcher started that inning with more than 100 pitches, he's just giving us baserunners...you gotta make the guy throw a strike. Instead Drew swings, and fouls off a pitch that's probably gonna land outside the zone. It should have been 3-0 there, leading to a probable walk. Even if Ciriaco then goes down, at least you've got a shot with Ellsbury and the go-ahead run on second. Instead, it's 2-1, and Drew goes on to strike out. As does Ciriaco to end the inning. We wouldn't score the rest of the game.
Papi's streak is now 25.
Terrible job by Elvis raising the fist while running home with the winning run, on a play that turned out to be pretty close. It's pompous and it could cost your team big time. You better know you're gonna score before you start pulling that Jeter-ish crap.
And as long as this post is full of my pet peeves, to add insult to Inge, the mlb.com headline about this game was "Rangers walk off to sweep Sox."
Sunday, May 05, 2013
Mid-Game Fun
The Yanks just left the tying/winning runs on base in the bottom of the ninth. Wells strikes out to end it. Beautiful.
Red Sox leading 3-1, halfway through. Runs came on Dongs by Davids.
Red Sox leading 3-1, halfway through. Runs came on Dongs by Davids.
Lester/Yu
Great match-up today at 3:05. Sox look to avoid the sweep.
Last night was pretty puke-barfy, we couldn't do shit on offense. But Papi did extend his hitting streak to 24. We're now 1, 3, 6, and 11 games up in the division in the loss column.
Meanwhile, I'm psyched for the new show Family Tree. It's by Christopher Guest and includes his usual ensemble, plus that really funny guy who played the cop in Bridesmaids.
Last night was pretty puke-barfy, we couldn't do shit on offense. But Papi did extend his hitting streak to 24. We're now 1, 3, 6, and 11 games up in the division in the loss column.
Meanwhile, I'm psyched for the new show Family Tree. It's by Christopher Guest and includes his usual ensemble, plus that really funny guy who played the cop in Bridesmaids.
