Lets see --so he is on pace to have about 500RBI? Good idea to check your shoe size every once in a while.
Sox desperately need someone to catch a knuckleball, Its Bards only job and he had 4 passed balls last night and already has 11 this year--I know its a tough job but its like watching a little league catcher out there.
Papelbon is 9 for 9 in saves and hasnt given up a run yet. On a lost bet he cut his hair into a mohawk like the Charlie Sheen character in Major League--they're playin Wild Thing when he comes in now.
That's hilarious! Brad Wilkerson (the guy we got in the Soriano deal) was just talking today on the radio about having just watched "Major League"...
On a sadder (maybe not) note... Cordero got 'shelved' today, at least for this road trip... Otsuka is going to be "the closer" for the time being... he's had great numbers setting up Cordero in the eighth...
It would be the perfect bookend and capoff to a legendary career for him to come back and end where he began....
please come back Rog, we're sorry we didnt mean it
Dream on buddy... dream on...
Saw a graphic during the game on RBI from the DH position, it had Gomes at 19 and Ortiz at 18 (or the other way around, either way big so far)... could that be right? You guys have already gotten 40 RBI from the DH position? Or do those numbers include when they played a position?
Mench became the first right hander in MLB history to homer in 7 straight today... that's about all the good news I have from this end... dang Indians just plink and plunk away don't they? ...down the lines, Texas leaguers, etc... guess that's why they're number 1 or 2 in most all of the offensive categories...
The perfect bookend to Rog's career would have been to never have left. Pretty funny that they thought he was 'washed up' years ago.
Of course Rog will go where the money is, and it's hard to bet against George there.
Steve Howe's life ended tragically, but then that's fitting for him. Never was anyone given more second chances. He screwed up royally, but I still think the media and fans were too hard on him. If you were in his shoes you'd take the opportunity if it were handed to you. He was basically a good guy who couldn't control his life. He should never have been given all those 'do-overs'.
I don't know if drugs had anything to do with the crash, but I was sad for him and his family.
Meanwhile, the west coast version of the Red Sox is hit and miss so far. Bill Muellar is amazing, never has a bad at bat, and has become my favorite Dodger. Nomar had a game winning grand slam homer coming off the dl, but is still struggling. Derek Lowe is as unpredictable as always, and Grady Little hasn't won over Dodger fan yet, but no one is blaming him so far.
"the Western version of the Red Sox" good one hiway! we've been patiently awaiting your input...
have they started on the "changes" to Chavez Ravine" yet?
The Rangers minor league report that I subscribe to (interesting I think even if you aren't a stRangers fan) included this in an email this morning:
You knew it would end suddenly and prematurely and sure enough it did. The life of former Ranger Steve Howe is over at age 48. He died in a single vehicle accident in California early yesterday morning.
I just now got back from Cooperstown after a whim trip at about 5 this AM. I forget what a place that is---
how many times in your life do you actually touch home plate from Ebbets Field, see the glove that Willie had when he made "the catch", Joe D's bat from game #56, or a million other things that are ingrained deeply in every baseball fans life. Its an amazing feeling walking through that little place---A lot to digest and then I hear about this--damn---
I never knew Howe all that well really, those west coast NL teams may as well play in another country most of the time for all that I see them, but I hate to see anyone die out of time
I told you you'd like Bill Mueller---god he is a ballplayer....He is a joy to watch isnt he? hope his knees hold up ---all the others sound about right too, Ya never know with Lowe, flashes of brilliance but he gets rattled and distracted to easily . Its early yet with Grady give him time.... Im hoping that Nomar gets beyond where he is to where everyone knows he could be.
Gomes plays for Tampa I think Dr. Strange, although i wouldn't mind having those 19 RBI Nobody is hitting on the Sox right now, They're about 2-5 on this road trip. Maybe they should have their shoe sizes checked
what else? well of course it would have been great if Roger never left. Those who said he was on the tail end of his career 10 years ago are the ones who are all gone now--none of them are even in baseball anymore, except old GM Dan Duquette who runs the semi pro Pittsfield Dukes, who on a good night might get 30 people to come see them. Hows that for foot in your mouth.
There are new owners and an entirely new group who knows what he means to baseball and what he means to Boston, who (hopefully) are willing to make the past foolishnesses right.
ahhh -you guys should see all the No Hitter balls lined up, a display case about 25 feet long, and 4 feet high with ?hundreds of balls signed and dated in numerical order of pert near every one ever pitched---Ive never even seen one before but today --this very day ( to yom)I saw em all.....when I walked around the corner and saw them my heart leaped and for a few moments or maybe just one fleeting second I was 10 again.
I've been to Cooperstown 3 times in the last 10 years, as east coast trips have taken me from Rochester NY, to Connecticut, and I never pass up the opportunty to sidetrack there.
It really is a beautiful place. I don't know if baseball was really invented there, or how much ol' abner doubleday had to do with it(besides having a great baseball name), but it's the perfect venue for baseball. I even entertain thoughts of retiring there when I walk around the town.
I'm hoping to catch a game at the great field there sometime .
Mstar-it takes a little work to be up on both coasts and leagues, but it's not that hard anymore, especially with all the espn games coming from anywhere, anytime. I understand it though. Growing up in Connecticut as a Yankee fan, I was completely myopic about them. I lived and breathed pinstripes, and actively detested the Mets, so I watched few national league games. I still consider myself an 'american leaguer', though I go to about 20 Dodger games to 1 Angel game every year.
Somewhere along the way, probably due to moving so much, I found I enjoyed getting the whole baseball world, and began to lose focus on one team. I love living 10 minutes from Dodger Stadium, and enjoy the luxury of close access to major league ball. I even enjoyed Columbus ,Ohio, and being close to the Columbus Clippers.
Even though I'm a coast away though, I still try to follow the east coast teams as much as possible. I admit to not being up on the KC Royals, though.
Dodger Stadium is looking good, as I've reported . The problem is by the time he's done, the Boston Parking Lot owner, will have decimated the beast part of LA with condos, and citywalks. I'm enjoying the serenity while I can.
I admit Im a home team guy, it was along journey to get here and part of it is just being in this region. When i am other places I am a much broader baseball fan, and i do enjoy just the beauty of the sport. If I lived someplace else i would still love the game and probably in a much wider sense
The Red Sox enamored me when i was about 10 and i stayed that way for quite a few years. then years of traveling, different things to sink my head into (like a certain cult) and I lost a lot. When I moved back to Mass after being gone for about 25 years, the Red Sox were again rekindled in me and also a common ground of contact with just about anyone in the region. Its different than being a fan, its a passion at times and can become an all consuming passion.
Thats not to say I dont appreciate whats going on in other places I just have hard time keeping up with it all, I catch the highlights most days on ESPN, but its not the same to me as the nuances you see up close that get you to know at least some of the intricacies ans strengths and weakness of the personalities.
You've seen guys like Lowe up close now that with time and practice are easy to read. When he gives up a double, hangs his head, and walks around flustered for a moment before delivering his next pitch, you know its not only going to be along afternoon but could be 2 or 3 weeks before he finds himself again. Its little things like that and a million more that they dont show and dont pick up on that keeps me really fascinated.
Like Mench's shoes that Tom mentioned. Of course i still love the parks and the feel and the game itself if I stop at any game anywhere, I just dont get to follow it as closely as i would like....
..anyway i had the same thought yesterday about dusting off what rusty research skills I might ever have had and burying myself in the HOF fame archives and getting a little place by the lake, or renting out a store on Main Street and trading memorabilia. It is a nice little town.
It must be a slice of heaven to be 10 minutes from the park, at this point I can only imagine it...those tv screen things on the deck facade are bad enough I'll be hoping McCourt can come to his senses before they totally ruin it
I don't know if baseball was really invented there, or how much ol' abner doubleday had to do with it(besides having a great baseball name),
I think they've known for awhile thats its just apart of the mythology but not really true. I know just recently ( within a year or two) that they found a document not far from me in Pittsfield MA, that is the earliest dated reference to 'base-ball'. Its from the 1780's or so and outlaws the playing of base-ball within 80 yards of the Meeting House. Presumably so windows which were a rare commodity wouldnt get broken. That was at least 50 years before Doubledays claims,, of course children have been playing with balls and sticks and running ever since there have been children.
They had apicture of an Egyptian Frieze from 1460BC at the Hall that had two Egyptian Gods with a ball and a 'bat', I always thought so but now Im pretty sure the game was a gift from the Gods myself
I know Sox fan is passionate, and they tend to hold on to that passion as if it makes them somehow superior to other fans-which is absurd. It's the same disease Cub fan has.
This is the morning of Damons return to Fenway. He will of course be booed mightily, which is to be expected and is the fan's right and privelege to do. "Betrayal' is a powerful hurt, even though without him, the Sox would probably still be looking for a championship.
I just hope the 'passion' doesn't translate into a bad incident. I went to a Giants game at Dodger Stadium last week, and security was multiplied beyond reason because of Barry Bonds and what might happen. One guy was caught smuggling in a needle, which one assumes he planned to throw on the field. I was at the Giant game and in the parking lot when a fan was shot and killed a couple years ago, because he wasn't wearing the correct laundry.
I'm all for passion and involvement -I only hope nothing happens in Boston today that we'll all be sorry for. Yanks-Sox may be the 'greatest rivalry in sports', but over the last few years it's become tedious and anything but fun.
I agree hiway... no disrespect mstar... but ESPN and FOX have been shoving Yanks/BoSox down the throats of the rest of the country at an exceptionally high rate for the last 3 or 4 years...
And I don't doubt that something might happen today... but am hoping that it'll be more of the "harmless knucklehead" variety with no real danger to anyone involved...
I've never been to Cooperstown... although that is my "Mecca" that I have to make at least one pilgramage to before I die... and I've never gotten that hung up on the Doubleday thing... I don't know why... maybe it's because I've loved the game and it's heroes a lot longer than I've even known about Doubleday...
Oh... and... FIRST PLACE TEXAS RANGERS...
(sorry guys, you have to allow me a little latitude here, we don't get to do that often... imagine what shape we'd be in without all of the blown saves! But 2 out of 3 from the Indians is OK by me... I hope the boys keep winning series one at a time... step by step!)
.well I do too Tom-It would be good for the city, and the whole state.....i can understand your guys frustration about the networks BS -i would be upset too if they tried to shove something down my throat that really didnt concern me. Being from here its something that is natural --generations and generations of 100 years of history that these two teams have been tthrough together makes it somethinmg we look forward to from both sides...the networks just figured it out a few years back and having been trying to capitalize on it, which in some ways is just as obnoxious to us here as it would be to anyone anywhere else.
As far as The Second Coming of Johnny Damon goes, I think it actually more likely that he gets a standing O tonightwith a smattering of boo's, Boston fans are passionate but not stupid either ( of course every place will have a handful of real idiots). People remember him sacrificing himself sprinting headlong into walls, making diving catches, and of course the two homeruns in game 7 of the ALCS. And Everyone knows he is forever "one of the 25". The initial shock has worn off, he'll get the standing O he deserves and has earned out of respect and then the same people will hope he goes 0-4 , me included ...I apprecite what he did and always will, but tonight I still want to win..that's baseball..A bigger ovation may be for Doug Mirabelli who was reacquired today and who was sorely missed. It will be interesting, for the most part even though the rivalry upclose is passionate, its 99% more goodnatured than it is given credit for, It appears rough because it brings out the wits of two cities that were never known for being genteel but I dont think that there are too many fans on either side who wouldnt walk through a fire to save someone from the other side. There is a mutual respect that goes along with all the bickering.
I live in a cusp town, some of my best friends are Yankee fans, we'd do near anything for each other we carry on for hours in a goodnatured way.. I still hold out hope that they will come to the light, be converted and healed.
Its mostly that way.
o yea-- All Hail the first place Rangers!
and Tom -If youve never been ---- You have to come up and see Cooperstown, case closed-- put it on your calendar somewhere
Not a bad interview at all... he answered very quickly (and I took honestly) about the fans... sincere thanks... comes across as a good guy, and that stuff about selling his house to Papi! too funny!
Mirabelli is back... guess you gotta have someone to catch Wakefield...
...or should I say someone who CAN catch Wakefield...
Yea Wakefields personal catcher arrived at the ball park in uniform with a state trooper escort at 7:01 for a 7:05 game, Its good to see him back. I was sort of ticked when i heard the ESPN guys call him" just a backup catcher", he may be a specialist but he is also one helluva a well rounded player and a great clubhouse presence. I guess you dont get more specialized than being the only guy in the world who is really good at catching a knuckleball.
Anyway Johnny has had his moment, It was standing and it sounded mixed to me, then it quickly turned back to business and he is being booed just like any other Yankee
it's 'good natured' amongst normal human beings-those being the vast majority of fans , thankfully. It's ugly among the rest, and beer is the ammunition that really fouls a ballpark.
I'm no crusader of morals, and will enjoy a beer as much as the next guy, I'm just sick of idiots at the ballpark, and nowhere does one find more idiots than at Fenway or the Bronx.
Oh well, I've ranted about this before. Don't mind me.
But I understand and have been involved with the 'rivalry' as much as any fan. I was as rabid a yankee fan as you will find for the first 40 odd years of my life, and lived and died with every pitch through my formative, teen, tweens, 30's into my 40's. I just contend that it has taken on an ugliness that wasn't always there, but I'll shut up about it now.
Im definitely not a big fan of drunks at the ballpark, or anywhere for that matter- That is bad , I definitely agree with you there a small few or even a single one can put a bad stain on things.,like the uncalled for needle thrown at Bonds . I have no use for those people. The guy who last year leaned over the rail and touched brushed Sheffield as he ran by at Fenway during a game had his front row season tickets revoked.
Its noisy and on the cruder side but I still think it has its place and a lot of it is fairly creative and humorous, its part of the cathartic carnival atmosphere that you dont normally get at home, the ofice or other places. It is part of the allure of the game.
When Damon took the field, the CF fans threw real money on the field,and he was gretted to his position by a pile of cash, i though that was hilarious myself.it wasnt dangerous. It made the point
Anyway with all the RedSox off season GM problems I still think they played their hand very well, passing on Damon and getting a young frontliner like Josh Beckett, who the Yankees could have certainly benefitted from given their pitching woes, and then got Coco Crisp at 10M/year cheaper than Damon.
well...maybe we're idiots-I wont try to change your mind--but their my idiots -its like being part of some huge dysfunctional but really good and fun family for the most part
...if i was born in a different time and place I wouldve loved to have been a Brooklyn fan
Throwing money at Damon is harmless, but the point is totally lost that he would have never been a Red Sox (Red Sock?), if he hadn't left Kansas City in the first place. He had a successful career with the Royals AND with the A's before following the money to Boston.
I thought Damon handled the whole thing quite well, particularly enjoyed the hat tip to the crowd at his first at bat. He did look like he was better off playing behind Wakefield's knuckleball rather than trying to hit it.
I just heard the audio of when Damon was introduced... and loved how they went from a lot of boos to having more cheers mixed in when he stepped out and 'saluted' the dugout and the crowd...
and BTW mstar... it'll be another dry year for the BoSox when it's all said and done unless you guys get Gabe back on the 25 man roster... you know in your heart of hearts that it was Gabe that brought an end to the curse...
yes, Iknow -"when I get honest* " in the heart of my heart --It was.... we would never have won without Gabe --------
or any of the other 24 either.
It took em all.
It took Pokey Reese too, I'd love to have him back..and Curtis Leskanic..and....
Someone circulated a picture a few years back of Kapler-the guy is built. He was given the name "The Worlds Most Perfectly Sculpted Jew". Schilling who has been around along time and says what he means all the time (sometime even to his detriment said in 18 years Kapler was the best teammate he had ever had. Somewhere I have apicture of Kapler and Damon together in the outfield in the ninth inning of game four of the WS and all youu can see are the numbers "19" "18" side by side smiling...1918-It was another of those strange moments that made that time surreal.
and the thing about Damon, I dunno I cant explain it, I know he is following nhis career path and all that , but there is more to it from this end--maybe its the screwball Boston fans, he was a cult figure, he was like a saint or a God. If you ever view baseball as a metaphor, which alot of people do he was like a saviour or messiah who lead an entire group of people to the promised land after spending 86 years in purgatory and suffering. I know it sounds overblown but thats the way it felt here. He was idolized. He finally beat the bad guys, those devils who had kicked us down so many times- and then he went and joined them It would be like a devout christian waking up one morning and finding that Jesus had converted to Islam or Satanism or something.
To him-he was following his career path, but he became more than that because of what he did here, he was alegend in the making, one day he would have had bridges and schools and parks named after him but probably not now that he has come back down to earth and become a normal person again, I suppose I dont blame him for moving on and maybe I would have done the same thing if I were in his shoes, but I do think that players and fans have a completely different perception of what the game means. Players are mechanics who come and go but the fans are the ones who pull meaning or project meaning into the games...for aminute we really thought he was one of us and understood all the complexities that he help guide us through, but he is not, he is still a good guy and I like him, but it was like a love realtionship that ends when your best girlfriend of all time leaves to go to the person you are in bitter rivalry with. You wish her well and wish it coulkd have been anyone else because that one reallystings.
anyway thats my two cents--what else is happening out there-has Pujols hit number 50 yet? -Who's pitchin' tonight?
well... we called up Tejeda and he's doing quite nicely against the D-Rays... we got six out of him, 2 runs allowed... Benoit is on now...
I think Pujols has only hit 45 so far... but BB is only 2 away from Ruth now...
ya know... most folks pretty much root for the laundry these days, but every now and then you get a group of unique guys together that become more than the laundry... that's what you guys had in 2004... there's a lot of guys on the stRangers that have 'grown up' with us and I'm sure that I'll root for them if/when they go somewhere else... we haven't had much else to root for since they've only made the playoffs a couple of times so we kind of like them... (except the pitchers, they're in a rotating door)...
mstar-that DOES sound overblown, I mean... I hardly know how to respond to all those messianic metaphors. And I have to admit, that a part of me as a still deep down yankee fan , takes offense at being referred to as a 'devil'-ok, you're not calling ME a devil, just that I would support 'devils'. Might be something wrong with our 'scale of values' as they say, when a baseball game is taken that seriously.
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kimberly
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Tom Strange
Please humor me... since returning to the linup 7 games ago with new shoes...
0 RBI in his first 41 at bats, 20 RBI in the last 22
6 homers in the last 6 games including 2 GS (yep, one more today)
We like Shrek anyway... but we really like him when he's doing his Ruth imitation...
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mstar1
Lets see --so he is on pace to have about 500RBI? Good idea to check your shoe size every once in a while.
Sox desperately need someone to catch a knuckleball, Its Bards only job and he had 4 passed balls last night and already has 11 this year--I know its a tough job but its like watching a little league catcher out there.
Papelbon is 9 for 9 in saves and hasnt given up a run yet. On a lost bet he cut his hair into a mohawk like the Charlie Sheen character in Major League--they're playin Wild Thing when he comes in now.
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Tom Strange
That's hilarious! Brad Wilkerson (the guy we got in the Soriano deal) was just talking today on the radio about having just watched "Major League"...
On a sadder (maybe not) note... Cordero got 'shelved' today, at least for this road trip... Otsuka is going to be "the closer" for the time being... he's had great numbers setting up Cordero in the eighth...
Good for Popoblam!
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mstar1
20 years ago today Roger K'd 20 at Fenway.
thats 20
Twenty
two-zero
in a nine inning game
( Click on the video icon in the article to see highlights of "the young righthander from the University of Texas" )
It would be the perfect bookend and capoff to a legendary career for him to come back and end where he began....
please come back Rog, we're sorry we didnt mean it
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Tom Strange
Dream on buddy... dream on...
Saw a graphic during the game on RBI from the DH position, it had Gomes at 19 and Ortiz at 18 (or the other way around, either way big so far)... could that be right? You guys have already gotten 40 RBI from the DH position? Or do those numbers include when they played a position?
Mench became the first right hander in MLB history to homer in 7 straight today... that's about all the good news I have from this end... dang Indians just plink and plunk away don't they? ...down the lines, Texas leaguers, etc... guess that's why they're number 1 or 2 in most all of the offensive categories...
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hiway29
The perfect bookend to Rog's career would have been to never have left. Pretty funny that they thought he was 'washed up' years ago.
Of course Rog will go where the money is, and it's hard to bet against George there.
Steve Howe's life ended tragically, but then that's fitting for him. Never was anyone given more second chances. He screwed up royally, but I still think the media and fans were too hard on him. If you were in his shoes you'd take the opportunity if it were handed to you. He was basically a good guy who couldn't control his life. He should never have been given all those 'do-overs'.
I don't know if drugs had anything to do with the crash, but I was sad for him and his family.
Meanwhile, the west coast version of the Red Sox is hit and miss so far. Bill Muellar is amazing, never has a bad at bat, and has become my favorite Dodger. Nomar had a game winning grand slam homer coming off the dl, but is still struggling. Derek Lowe is as unpredictable as always, and Grady Little hasn't won over Dodger fan yet, but no one is blaming him so far.
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Tom Strange
"the Western version of the Red Sox"
good one hiway! we've been patiently awaiting your input...
have they started on the "changes" to Chavez Ravine" yet?
The Rangers minor league report that I subscribe to (interesting I think even if you aren't a stRangers fan) included this in an email this morning:
It is sad...
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mstar1
Damn Im saddened to hear about Howe..
thats really tough to take.
I just now got back from Cooperstown after a whim trip at about 5 this AM. I forget what a place that is---
how many times in your life do you actually touch home plate from Ebbets Field, see the glove that Willie had when he made "the catch", Joe D's bat from game #56, or a million other things that are ingrained deeply in every baseball fans life. Its an amazing feeling walking through that little place---A lot to digest and then I hear about this--damn---
I never knew Howe all that well really, those west coast NL teams may as well play in another country most of the time for all that I see them, but I hate to see anyone die out of time
I told you you'd like Bill Mueller---god he is a ballplayer....He is a joy to watch isnt he? hope his knees hold up ---all the others sound about right too, Ya never know with Lowe, flashes of brilliance but he gets rattled and distracted to easily . Its early yet with Grady
give him time.... Im hoping that Nomar gets beyond where he is to where everyone knows he could be.
Gomes plays for Tampa I think Dr. Strange, although i wouldn't mind having those 19 RBI Nobody is hitting on the Sox right now, They're about 2-5 on this road trip. Maybe they should have their shoe sizes checked
what else? well of course it would have been great if Roger never left. Those who said he was on the tail end of his career 10 years ago are the ones who are all gone now--none of them are even in baseball anymore, except old GM Dan Duquette who runs the semi pro Pittsfield Dukes, who on a good night might get 30 people to come see them. Hows that for foot in your mouth.
There are new owners and an entirely new group who knows what he means to baseball and what he means to Boston, who (hopefully) are willing to make the past foolishnesses right.
ahhh -you guys should see all the No Hitter balls lined up, a display case about 25 feet long, and 4 feet high with ?hundreds of balls signed and dated in numerical order of pert near every one ever pitched---Ive never even seen one before but today --this very day ( to yom)I saw em all.....when I walked around the corner and saw them my heart leaped and for a few moments or maybe just one fleeting second I was 10 again.
Its a pretty cool place
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hiway29
I've been to Cooperstown 3 times in the last 10 years, as east coast trips have taken me from Rochester NY, to Connecticut, and I never pass up the opportunty to sidetrack there.
It really is a beautiful place. I don't know if baseball was really invented there, or how much ol' abner doubleday had to do with it(besides having a great baseball name), but it's the perfect venue for baseball. I even entertain thoughts of retiring there when I walk around the town.
I'm hoping to catch a game at the great field there sometime .
Mstar-it takes a little work to be up on both coasts and leagues, but it's not that hard anymore, especially with all the espn games coming from anywhere, anytime. I understand it though. Growing up in Connecticut as a Yankee fan, I was completely myopic about them. I lived and breathed pinstripes, and actively detested the Mets, so I watched few national league games. I still consider myself an 'american leaguer', though I go to about 20 Dodger games to 1 Angel game every year.
Somewhere along the way, probably due to moving so much, I found I enjoyed getting the whole baseball world, and began to lose focus on one team. I love living 10 minutes from Dodger Stadium, and enjoy the luxury of close access to major league ball. I even enjoyed Columbus ,Ohio, and being close to the Columbus Clippers.
Even though I'm a coast away though, I still try to follow the east coast teams as much as possible. I admit to not being up on the KC Royals, though.
Dodger Stadium is looking good, as I've reported . The problem is by the time he's done, the Boston Parking Lot owner, will have decimated the beast part of LA with condos, and citywalks. I'm enjoying the serenity while I can.
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mstar1
I admit Im a home team guy, it was along journey to get here and part of it is just being in this region. When i am other places I am a much broader baseball fan, and i do enjoy just the beauty of the sport. If I lived someplace else i would still love the game and probably in a much wider sense
The Red Sox enamored me when i was about 10 and i stayed that way for quite a few years. then years of traveling, different things to sink my head into (like a certain cult) and I lost a lot. When I moved back to Mass after being gone for about 25 years, the Red Sox were again rekindled in me and also a common ground of contact with just about anyone in the region. Its different than being a fan, its a passion at times and can become an all consuming passion.
Thats not to say I dont appreciate whats going on in other places I just have hard time keeping up with it all, I catch the highlights most days on ESPN, but its not the same to me as the nuances you see up close that get you to know at least some of the intricacies ans strengths and weakness of the personalities.
You've seen guys like Lowe up close now that with time and practice are easy to read. When he gives up a double, hangs his head, and walks around flustered for a moment before delivering his next pitch, you know its not only going to be along afternoon but could be 2 or 3 weeks before he finds himself again. Its little things like that and a million more that they dont show and dont pick up on that keeps me really fascinated.
Like Mench's shoes that Tom mentioned. Of course i still love the parks and the feel and the game itself if I stop at any game anywhere, I just dont get to follow it as closely as i would like....
..anyway i had the same thought yesterday about dusting off what rusty research skills I might ever have had and burying myself in the HOF fame archives and getting a little place by the lake, or renting out a store on Main Street and trading memorabilia. It is a nice little town.
It must be a slice of heaven to be 10 minutes from the park, at this point I can only imagine it...those tv screen things on the deck facade are bad enough I'll be hoping McCourt can come to his senses before they totally ruin it
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mstar1
I think they've known for awhile thats its just apart of the mythology but not really true. I know just recently ( within a year or two) that they found a document not far from me in Pittsfield MA, that is the earliest dated reference to 'base-ball'. Its from the 1780's or so and outlaws the playing of base-ball within 80 yards of the Meeting House. Presumably so windows which were a rare commodity wouldnt get broken. That was at least 50 years before Doubledays claims,, of course children have been playing with balls and sticks and running ever since there have been children.
They had apicture of an Egyptian Frieze from 1460BC at the Hall that had two Egyptian Gods with a ball and a 'bat', I always thought so but now Im pretty sure the game was a gift from the Gods myself
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hiway29
I know Sox fan is passionate, and they tend to hold on to that passion as if it makes them somehow superior to other fans-which is absurd. It's the same disease Cub fan has.
This is the morning of Damons return to Fenway. He will of course be booed mightily, which is to be expected and is the fan's right and privelege to do. "Betrayal' is a powerful hurt, even though without him, the Sox would probably still be looking for a championship.
I just hope the 'passion' doesn't translate into a bad incident. I went to a Giants game at Dodger Stadium last week, and security was multiplied beyond reason because of Barry Bonds and what might happen. One guy was caught smuggling in a needle, which one assumes he planned to throw on the field. I was at the Giant game and in the parking lot when a fan was shot and killed a couple years ago, because he wasn't wearing the correct laundry.
I'm all for passion and involvement -I only hope nothing happens in Boston today that we'll all be sorry for. Yanks-Sox may be the 'greatest rivalry in sports', but over the last few years it's become tedious and anything but fun.
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Tom Strange
I agree hiway... no disrespect mstar... but ESPN and FOX have been shoving Yanks/BoSox down the throats of the rest of the country at an exceptionally high rate for the last 3 or 4 years...
And I don't doubt that something might happen today... but am hoping that it'll be more of the "harmless knucklehead" variety with no real danger to anyone involved...
I've never been to Cooperstown... although that is my "Mecca" that I have to make at least one pilgramage to before I die... and I've never gotten that hung up on the Doubleday thing... I don't know why... maybe it's because I've loved the game and it's heroes a lot longer than I've even known about Doubleday...
Oh... and... FIRST PLACE TEXAS RANGERS...
(sorry guys, you have to allow me a little latitude here, we don't get to do that often... imagine what shape we'd be in without all of the blown saves! But 2 out of 3 from the Indians is OK by me... I hope the boys keep winning series one at a time... step by step!)
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mstar1
.well I do too Tom-It would be good for the city, and the whole state.....i can understand your guys frustration about the networks BS -i would be upset too if they tried to shove something down my throat that really didnt concern me. Being from here its something that is natural --generations and generations of 100 years of history that these two teams have been tthrough together makes it somethinmg we look forward to from both sides...the networks just figured it out a few years back and having been trying to capitalize on it, which in some ways is just as obnoxious to us here as it would be to anyone anywhere else.
As far as The Second Coming of Johnny Damon goes, I think it actually more likely that he gets a standing O tonightwith a smattering of boo's, Boston fans are passionate but not stupid either ( of course every place will have a handful of real idiots). People remember him sacrificing himself sprinting headlong into walls, making diving catches, and of course the two homeruns in game 7 of the ALCS. And Everyone knows he is forever "one of the 25". The initial shock has worn off, he'll get the standing O he deserves and has earned out of respect and then the same people will hope he goes 0-4 , me included ...I apprecite what he did and always will, but tonight I still want to win..that's baseball..A bigger ovation may be for Doug Mirabelli who was reacquired today and who was sorely missed. It will be interesting, for the most part even though the rivalry upclose is passionate, its 99% more goodnatured than it is given credit for, It appears rough because it brings out the wits of two cities that were never known for being genteel but I dont think that there are too many fans on either side who wouldnt walk through a fire to save someone from the other side. There is a mutual respect that goes along with all the bickering.
I live in a cusp town, some of my best friends are Yankee fans, we'd do near anything for each other we carry on for hours in a goodnatured way.. I still hold out hope that they will come to the light, be converted and healed.
Its mostly that way.
o yea-- All Hail the first place Rangers!
and Tom -If youve never been ---- You have to come up and see Cooperstown, case closed-- put it on your calendar somewhere
edit:Damon Interview
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Tom Strange
Not a bad interview at all... he answered very quickly (and I took honestly) about the fans... sincere thanks... comes across as a good guy, and that stuff about selling his house to Papi! too funny!
Mirabelli is back... guess you gotta have someone to catch Wakefield...
...or should I say someone who CAN catch Wakefield...
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mstar1
Yea Wakefields personal catcher arrived at the ball park in uniform with a state trooper escort at 7:01 for a 7:05 game, Its good to see him back. I was sort of ticked when i heard the ESPN guys call him" just a backup catcher", he may be a specialist but he is also one helluva a well rounded player and a great clubhouse presence. I guess you dont get more specialized than being the only guy in the world who is really good at catching a knuckleball.
Anyway Johnny has had his moment, It was standing and it sounded mixed to me, then it quickly turned back to business and he is being booed just like any other Yankee
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hiway29
it's 'good natured' amongst normal human beings-those being the vast majority of fans , thankfully. It's ugly among the rest, and beer is the ammunition that really fouls a ballpark.
I'm no crusader of morals, and will enjoy a beer as much as the next guy, I'm just sick of idiots at the ballpark, and nowhere does one find more idiots than at Fenway or the Bronx.
Oh well, I've ranted about this before. Don't mind me.
But I understand and have been involved with the 'rivalry' as much as any fan. I was as rabid a yankee fan as you will find for the first 40 odd years of my life, and lived and died with every pitch through my formative, teen, tweens, 30's into my 40's. I just contend that it has taken on an ugliness that wasn't always there, but I'll shut up about it now.
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mstar1
Im definitely not a big fan of drunks at the ballpark, or anywhere for that matter- That is bad , I definitely agree with you there a small few or even a single one can put a bad stain on things.,like the uncalled for needle thrown at Bonds . I have no use for those people. The guy who last year leaned over the rail and touched brushed Sheffield as he ran by at Fenway during a game had his front row season tickets revoked.
Its noisy and on the cruder side but I still think it has its place and a lot of it is fairly creative and humorous, its part of the cathartic carnival atmosphere that you dont normally get at home, the ofice or other places. It is part of the allure of the game.
When Damon took the field, the CF fans threw real money on the field,and he was gretted to his position by a pile of cash, i though that was hilarious myself.it wasnt dangerous. It made the point
Anyway with all the RedSox off season GM problems I still think they played their hand very well, passing on Damon and getting a young frontliner like Josh Beckett, who the Yankees could have certainly benefitted from given their pitching woes, and then got Coco Crisp at 10M/year cheaper than Damon.
well...maybe we're idiots-I wont try to change your mind--but their my idiots -its like being part of some huge dysfunctional but really good and fun family for the most part
...if i was born in a different time and place I wouldve loved to have been a Brooklyn fan
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hiway29
Throwing money at Damon is harmless, but the point is totally lost that he would have never been a Red Sox (Red Sock?), if he hadn't left Kansas City in the first place. He had a successful career with the Royals AND with the A's before following the money to Boston.
I thought Damon handled the whole thing quite well, particularly enjoyed the hat tip to the crowd at his first at bat. He did look like he was better off playing behind Wakefield's knuckleball rather than trying to hit it.
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Tom Strange
I just heard the audio of when Damon was introduced... and loved how they went from a lot of boos to having more cheers mixed in when he stepped out and 'saluted' the dugout and the crowd...
and BTW mstar... it'll be another dry year for the BoSox when it's all said and done unless you guys get Gabe back on the 25 man roster... you know in your heart of hearts that it was Gabe that brought an end to the curse...
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mstar1
yes, Iknow -"when I get honest* " in the heart of my heart --It was.... we would never have won without Gabe --------
or any of the other 24 either.
It took em all.
It took Pokey Reese too, I'd love to have him back..and Curtis Leskanic..and....
Someone circulated a picture a few years back of Kapler-the guy is built. He was given the name "The Worlds Most Perfectly Sculpted Jew". Schilling who has been around along time and says what he means all the time (sometime even to his detriment said in 18 years Kapler was the best teammate he had ever had. Somewhere I have apicture of Kapler and Damon together in the outfield in the ninth inning of game four of the WS and all youu can see are the numbers "19" "18" side by side smiling...1918-It was another of those strange moments that made that time surreal.
and the thing about Damon, I dunno I cant explain it, I know he is following nhis career path and all that , but there is more to it from this end--maybe its the screwball Boston fans, he was a cult figure, he was like a saint or a God. If you ever view baseball as a metaphor, which alot of people do he was like a saviour or messiah who lead an entire group of people to the promised land after spending 86 years in purgatory and suffering. I know it sounds overblown but thats the way it felt here. He was idolized. He finally beat the bad guys, those devils who had kicked us down so many times- and then he went and joined them It would be like a devout christian waking up one morning and finding that Jesus had converted to Islam or Satanism or something.
To him-he was following his career path, but he became more than that because of what he did here, he was alegend in the making, one day he would have had bridges and schools and parks named after him but probably not now that he has come back down to earth and become a normal person again, I suppose I dont blame him for moving on and maybe I would have done the same thing if I were in his shoes, but I do think that players and fans have a completely different perception of what the game means. Players are mechanics who come and go but the fans are the ones who pull meaning or project meaning into the games...for aminute we really thought he was one of us and understood all the complexities that he help guide us through, but he is not, he is still a good guy and I like him, but it was like a love realtionship that ends when your best girlfriend of all time leaves to go to the person you are in bitter rivalry with. You wish her well and wish it coulkd have been anyone else because that one reallystings.
anyway thats my two cents--what else is happening out there-has Pujols hit number 50 yet? -Who's pitchin' tonight?
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Tom Strange
well... we called up Tejeda and he's doing quite nicely against the D-Rays... we got six out of him, 2 runs allowed... Benoit is on now...
I think Pujols has only hit 45 so far... but BB is only 2 away from Ruth now...
ya know... most folks pretty much root for the laundry these days, but every now and then you get a group of unique guys together that become more than the laundry... that's what you guys had in 2004... there's a lot of guys on the stRangers that have 'grown up' with us and I'm sure that I'll root for them if/when they go somewhere else... we haven't had much else to root for since they've only made the playoffs a couple of times so we kind of like them... (except the pitchers, they're in a rotating door)...
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hiway29
mstar-that DOES sound overblown, I mean... I hardly know how to respond to all those messianic metaphors. And I have to admit, that a part of me as a still deep down yankee fan , takes offense at being referred to as a 'devil'-ok, you're not calling ME a devil, just that I would support 'devils'. Might be something wrong with our 'scale of values' as they say, when a baseball game is taken that seriously.
perhaps it's best we just move on
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Tom Strange
well... they are universally known as The Evil Empire!
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