Fenway West - The Boston Red Sox Western Home

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Mother Nature: "Psyche!"

That's just the way it goes in baseball sometimes.

Baseball gets rain delays and postponements. Football? Phpffphtt! No way! (Don't forget they only play 16 regular season games.) Baseball is different. Even the parks are of different dimensions from one to the next. But one of the biggest differences is that 2 teams could play 4 & 1/2 innings, and if the umpires and Mother Nature deemed it so, that partial game could be completely wiped off the books and started over again. Can you imagine the ugly howl that would have emanated from the bowels of the Evil Empire had the rain continued last night, wiping out a Yankee 13-4 lead?! Ol' dumbass Hank would have complained to the commissioner, weather.com, the governor, GW, and Jesus Christ himself had the umps called last nights game! You don't hear the Sox whining about resuming play or why it rained today and didn't rain enough last night.

Given the history between these two team, a thought did cross the back of my mind when the Sox had scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th and were threatening to score more. I thought, "I suppose it is within the realm of possibility that the Sox could score 15 runs in one inning." (I wonder how many Yank fans were thinking the same thing~ grin/snicker/chuckle.) A basketball team could be down by 15 points with 45 seconds left on the clock and you know there is no way to make up the difference (unless the opposition walks off the court.) In football, you could be down by 15 with less than a 45 seconds to go and the same scenario ensues. But in baseball, highly unlikely as it may be, it still could happen. Actually, the Sox scored 17 runs in one inning against Detroit on 18 June, 1953, 7th inning. (This being the MLB record of the modern era.)

These are just some of the differences that make this such a great game.

And that's just the way it goes in baseball.

(Get used to it, Hank.)

What's Your Lineup For Game 1?

Game 1 begins on Wednesday night, assuming Lowell and Drew are out what should be the Sox lineup for game 1? Who should pitch? Here's what I want, put your lineup in the comments.

1. Ellsbury RF
2. Pedroia 2B
3. David Ortiz DH
4. Kevin Youkilis 3B
5. Jason Bay LF
6. Jed Lowrie SS
7. Sean Casey 1B
8. Coco Crisp CF
9. Varitek C

Jon Lester SP

Evan's Lineup from Fire Brand of the A.L

CF Ellsbury
2B Pedroia
DH Ortiz
1B Youkilis
RF Drew
LF Bay
C Varitek
3B Lowrie
SS Cora

Rainout

Today's game has been rained out, it will be made up tomorrow night as the second game of a day/night doubleheader at 7:35.

Red Sox Rally Monday 3:30 at Fenway

The Red Sox will host a rally at Fenway before the playoffs start, here is some of the press release:

Fans are invited to come to Fenway Park at 3:30 on Monday, September 29, 2008 and enter Fenway Park through Gate D. The first 2500 fans to enter the ballpark will receive a coupon good for a free hot dog and soda, compliments of ARAMARK, at the Fenway Park concession stands.
The Rally will be hosted by NESN play-by-play commentator Don Orsillo, NESN on-field reporter Heidi Watney and NESN studio analyst and former Red Sox infielder, and Framingham, MA native, Lou Merloni. The Rally will feature live interviews with Red Sox Principal Owner John W. Henry, Chairman Tom Werner, President/CEO Larry Lucchino, Manager Terry Francona along with several of the Red Sox coaches and players and Bank of America representatives. Video tributes and montages to the 2008 Red Sox will be shown on the centerfield video board and live entertainment will be presented by local Roxbury band Quest.

Mike Lowell May Miss ALDS

Mike Lowell aggravated his hip injury during an at-bat last night. His status for the ALDS is up in the air. He spoke with reporters after the game:

Red Sox Playoff Schedule

Game	Matchup	Date	Network
Gm 1	BOS at LAA	Wed., Oct. 1	TBS
Gm 2	BOS at LAA	Fri., Oct. 3	TBS
Gm 3	LAA at BOS	Sun., Oct. 5	TBS
Gm 4	LAA at BOS	Mon., Oct. 6	TBS
Gm 5	BOS at LAA	Wed., Oct. 8	TBS

ALCS

Game	Matchup	Day	Date	Time ET	TV
Gm 1	SOX @ TBY	Fri	Oct. 10	8:00 PM	TBS
Gm 2	SOX @ TBY	Sat	Oct. 11	7:30 PM	TBS
Gm 3	TBY @ SOX	Mon	Oct. 13	4:00 PM	TBS
Gm 4	TBY @ SOX	Tue	Oct. 14	7:30 PM	TBS
Gm 5*	TBY @ SOX	Thu	Oct. 16	7:30 PM	TBS
Gm 6*	SOX @ TBY	Sat	Oct. 18	4:00 PM	TBS
Gm 7*	SOX @ TBY	Sun	Oct. 19	7:30 PM	TBS

Friday, September 26, 2008

Playoff bound, but.... OUCH!!!!

It wasn't supposed to end this way. The Ray's dive to the bottom of the sea in their last three games, and the Sox thrash the Yanks in their last three. That's the way it was supposed to end. It even looked like Mother Nature was going to bat for the Sox as well. The Sox had a 3-1 lead after the 1st, but the Yanks would score in every inning afterward up until the game was mercifully stopped in the middle of the 5th with the Sox on a short end of a lopsided 13-4 score. If only the rain had continued, that score would have been wiped out and the game would start over, but it was not meant to be. The rain relented, the game ensued, the Yanks continued to vent their frustrations running the score up to 19-8. Ugh. This isn't the way it was supposed to end. Let's hope this bitch-slap the Sox got tonight knocks some playoff-winning sense into them.

Tonight's 9/26 Line-up v. Yankees

CF Ellsbury
SS Lowrie
DH Lowell
3B Youkilis
RF Kotsay
LF Bay
1B Casey
2B Velazquez

SP Pauley

5 PM (PDT) Rain delay
Weather.com Boston forecast

UPDATE: 5:35 PM (PDT) Game underway

Pesky to be Honored Sunday

The threat of rain today caused Sox officials to announce that the ceremony retiring #6 will be moved to Sunday. Pesky's birthday is on Saturday. He will be 89.

Sunday is a day game, and the ceremony will take place prior to the start of the game.

Happy Birthday Johnny and Congratulations to a true Red Sox hero.

In Lester We Trust

Jon Lester's got his grove on. His record stands at (16-6). He seems more than ready to give the Sox exactly what they are going to need in the postseason: solid pitching.

Last night he looked like he could be headed for another no-hitter. The Sox hurler took it all in stride, telling reporters, "if it ended up working out where I could have done it with not a lot of pitches, then great. If not, then no big deal."

Lester continues to impress with his performances on the field, and his ability to put the team first.

Pesky Will Have to Wait

My flight leaves Boston at 10 am and should be back in California before the start of the Red Sox/Yankees game but it is looking like the game will not be played tonight. The rain has already started here in Boston and it could rain more than 2 inches in the next 48 hours.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

RSN Governor Of California

The Red Sox announced the selection of the remaining 45 Governors and I was not one of them. I would like to thank all of you that took the time to vote for me and I congratulate California winner Karen Doherty.

Lester's Playoff Tune-up

The Sox hit the ground running and racked up 5 runs in the 1st two innings of today’s game, starting with an Ellsbury single on the 2nd pitch he saw. Given that cushion, Lester toyed with the Tribe for the rest of the game, flirting with history yet again. Except for 1 pitch, that 1 lousy pitch, ball #4 to Kelly Shoppach, Lester had a perfect game through 5 innings! No hits, no WP’s, no HBP, no errors, just that 1 pitch. He ended up with an interesting line: 6 IP, 2 hits, 1 BB, 1 ER, 1 WP, 1 Balk, 1 HBP, 4 K’s, 86 pitches (55 for strikes.) In a breakout season- which was highlighted by a no-hitter against KC in May- he finished with a 16-6 record and a 3.21 ERA. He also produced his staff-leading 20th quality start. Tito is keeping his main guys in the ‘pen sharp: Masterson came in for the 7th, Oki in the 8th, and Pap in the 9th. Those three combined for a perfect final 3 innings with 0 BB’s, 0 hits, 0 runs, and 1 K each. Offensively, Ellsbury, Lowrie, and Youk each had 2 hits and each scored 2 runs, including Youk’s #28 ‘tater.

The Tigers had seafood for dinner today, munching on the Ray’s and beating them 7-5.
And in Toronto, the Jay’s knocked the yanks around 8-2 in the battle for 3rd place.

SOX WIN 6-1 BOX SCORE

WS Trophies

FenwayWest blogger Matt O'Donnell , today, standing in the place where the 2008 World Series Trophy is to be located. Go Sox!

Tonight at Fenway

Lester Warming Up

Headed to Fenway

I'm on my way to Fenway for tonight's game. I'll be at Boston Beer Works for a beer before the game and will be sitting in row 8 of bleacher section 40 if anyone wants to say hi. This could be the last meaningful regular season game for the Red Sox now that Tampa's magic number is down to 1. For any of you that want a free Fenway souvenir, they are doing some renovation on the side of the park on Yawkey Way and chipping away some of the old bricks, you can grab a piece of Fenway brick off of the sidewalk before they clean it all up.

The Fourth Starter

Going into the playoffs the Sox will have Beckett, Lester, and Dice-K as shoe-ins for a start, who will be the fourth guy? I say it has to be Wake. With Wakefield you know what you have early in the start and if Tito is not afraid to pull him right away if he does not have it: there is a lot of upside. When Wake is on, he can totally shut down a team.

Paul Byrd did what he was supposed to do when he joined the Sox; fill in for some injuries and help the team reach the playoffs. Boston has received what they needed from him and the Sox should not expect much more. You know when Byrd starts a game the opposing team is going to score runs, if the offense does not come up big the team is headed for a loss. Picking Wake over Byrd is a gamble but one the Red Sox must take if it is needed.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Dumbass Hank Blames Yankee Elimination on MLB Playoff System

If you listen to Hank Steinbrenner you would know that the Yankees did not make the playoffs because of the unfair playoff system in Major League Baseball:

"Baseball went to a multidivision setup to create more races, rivalries and excitement,'' Steinbrenner wrote. "But it isn't fair. You see it this season, with plenty of people in the media pointing out that Joe Torre and the Dodgers are going to the playoffs while we're not. This is by no means a knock on Torre -- let me make that clear -- but look at the division they're in. If L.A. were in the AL East, it wouldn't be in the playoff discussion.''

And if the Yankees played in Japan they might have won 4 more games, and if the Yankees got to use metal bats they could hit more home runs. Funny, I don't remember the Yankees complaining about the playoff system until this year.

Sox Win, but what up with BJ's and O's?

The Sox jumped all over Fausto Carmona for 4 runs in the 1st inning tonight. Carmona was so awful that he didn’t even get sent out for the 2nd inning after having thrown 51 pitches in that one inning. 51 pitches in one inning! I remember Wake throwing less pitches in 5 (five) innings! He’s no Beckett or Lester, but the well-seasoned Byrd can give you 6 innings and keep you in the game without his cage getting rattled. It was looking like the Sox were going to fly away with this one after the 1st inning, but the Tribe chipped away at the 4 run cushion the Sox gave him, tying it 4-4 in the 5th inning. No longer in line for the win, Byrd had his feathers plucked, and Timlin came in the 6th inning. Timlin?! Yikes! Hoping for an ‘on-again’ performance (Y’know how he’s been on-again, off-again? Please don't be a turkey today!), we watched him go 1.1 innings, 1 hit, 1 K, 1 BB. Aardsma, similar numbers. Bottom of the 8th, Bailey triples, Kotsay doubles, 5-4 Sox up. Manny pitches in the 9th and garners his save #2 of the season with 1 BB and 2 K’s.

Meanwhile in Toronto and Baltimore….

Yankees and Blue Jay’s were tied at 2-2 going into the 10th when the yanks erupted for 4 runs. Sheesh Toronto! Give the Sox headaches and then go belly up on the yanks! WTFiuwTHAT?!
In Baltimore, the O’s went up 5-0 over the Ray’s by the 2nd inning. It is now 7-6 Ray’s in the 8th.

Sox win, 5-4 BOX SCORE

SEX ROD

Apparently, a Yankee fan (and most likely Darwin award candidate) thought he could slip a fast one by the Red Sox and attempted to register the mark “SEX ROD” in the same style as the “RED SOX” logo of the American League Baseball Club.

John L. Welch is a registered patent attorney with more than 30 years of experience in patent and trademark litigation, prosecution and counseling, has represented clients in scores of patent, trademark, copyright, unfair competition, and domain name lawsuits across the country, and has handled hundreds of opposition and cancellation proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

In his blog, “The TTABlog ® (Keeping Tabs on the TTAB ®), he examines the case of New Yorker and self-proclaimed "humorist" Brad Francis Sherman v. Boston Red Sox and his attempt to register the “SEX ROD” logo. The TTAB sided with the Red Sox finding that Sherman lacked a bona fide intent to use the mark, and further that the mark is both scandalous and disparaging.

If you’re looking for a light, easy reading entertainment piece, this is not it. Rather it discusses the finer points of trademark and copyright infringement as it pertains to this case involving the Red Sox.

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