Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Bill:
Well, they're all a fluttah in New York this morning.

 

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Mike:
Man, have times changed or what? Used to take nothing less than a pennant to stir up the New Yankahs, but now moving into first by percentage points the first week of August is enough give 'em all a collective hard on?

 

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Bill:
It'd be sad if it wasn't so funny.

 

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Mike:
Want anothah example of how things have changed since the Red Sox upended the cosmic order? Here's Buckley, a journo like the CHB with a rep for yelling "Fiah" in a movie theater with his acerbic attacks, instead penning a glowing tribute to Papi's respect for the game's history.

 

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Bill:
No shit, the morning aftah the Sox picked up just one hit in nine at bats with runners in scoring position in a loss to the Indians and with the news that Tek's going to get his knee scoped and be out a month and the Yankees move into a tie for first, yet there isn't a single "We're all gonna die!" hit piece in the Boston media.

 

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Mike:
I'm loving the new world ordah.

 

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Bill:
Well, they're all a fluttah in New York this morning.

 

---

Mike:
Man, have times changed or what? Used to take nothing less than a pennant to stir up the New Yankahs, but now moving into first by percentage points the first week of August is enough give 'em all a collective hard on?

 

---

Bill:
It'd be sad if it wasn't so funny.

 

---

Mike:
Want anothah example of how things have changed since the Red Sox upended the cosmic order? Here's Buckley, a journo like the CHB with a rep for yelling "Fiah" in a movie theater with his acerbic attacks, instead penning a glowing tribute to Papi's respect for the game's history.

 

---

Bill:
No shit, the morning aftah the Sox picked up just one hit in nine at bats with runners in scoring position in a loss to the Indians and with the news that Tek's going to get his knee scoped and be out a month and the Yankees move into a tie for first, yet there isn't a single "We're all gonna die!" hit piece in the Boston media.

 

---

Mike:
I'm loving the new world ordah.

 

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Comments

[jcw]

Numbers extracted from a story on redsox.com:

Since the start of 2005, in regular-season games in potential walk-off plate appearances, Ortiz's line reads:

.889 / .923 / 2.556

that's an OPS of 3.479 for those of you keeping score at home.

[Natalie]

Not to be all Mopey Martha here, but the 'Tek thing is killing me (and not only because it puts on hold my ongoing nightly fantasy of nibbling on his thighs like they're corn on the cob - hey, it's the fringe benefit of being a chick Sox fan :). I fear his injury could mean the season, so important is he to the pitching staff. I'm not hauling out the sackcloth and ashes yet, but I am wearing black this morning...

[Redsauce]

Love the new Jeter perfume--all the accompanying PR photos that are coming out with it are hilarious. The best headline I've seen about it: "Strong Enough For a Man....But Made For a Yankee" over at Surviving Grady.

[carlos]

This is the way your season ends: Not with bang but a whimper.....
The good news? Kelly Stinnett is available off the waiver wire!

[soxdownunder]

I'm posting from Sydney Australia. I've been enjoying this site for a fair while now and I am NOT LIKE TIMMY.

My partner and I travelled through New England in 2002 and watched a traditional late season fold. We went to 4 games at Fenway (I cried when I smelt the sausages outside the Park)and we lost 3 of the four: 1 to the Angels and twice shut out by the Yanks (first time in xx number of years). We went on and watched three in the Bronx and lost 2 of those. [Also saw David Ortiz playing for the Twins in the stubid-dome before he became a great and awesome international hero].

Anyway, I wanted to say hi to all you crazy people. And I thought a night (it's night here when you publish HB ... and ... it's yesterday) when the strip is mysteriously repeated like deja vu right there before my very eyes, very eyes (it is impossible to say just what I mean) was as good a night as any.

Oh, and Australia loves Manny and wants the 'Sox to sign him forever.

Don't worry about the rotten Yanks. In the new world ordah, they're toast.

believe

[Redsauce]

We're slowly taking over the world....

[soxdownunder]

You sure got me going ... and I'm not alone ...

[louclinton]

I'm not drinkin, but does the strip repeat itself?

[soxdownunder]

I'm not drinking either but the whole thing is repeated down here from 'well they're all in a flutter' to 'ordah'

[Devine]

Heh. Some Yanks fans are committing the cardinal sin of writing us out of this race. Oh sure, we MIGHT be out of the playoffs, but the last thing you wanna do is write off your seemingly vanquished foe...it's bitten both fanbases in the ass the last 2-3 years...

[Dave S.]

...you're right on, Devine. The Sox are to be written off only when they are numerically eliminated. Fools count their chickens before they're hatched. I mean, the Sox have the third best record in baseball, do they not? However, I can say that in my office here, it's been the Sox fans who are all Gloom & Doom today. None of the Yankee fans are comfortable in the least. Happy, sure, but not comfortable.

[Rob in CT]

HB - Thanks for brightening me up a bit with your sanguine world view this morning. I've been feeling a little down in the dumps watching Lowell leave the game and the news of V-Tek going under the scope (which, of course, ESP radio is viewing as another sign of the Apocolypse). I'm not exactly looking at Tek's thighs like a nice ear of sugar corn as Natalie does, but I agree with her on his vital importance to both the pitching staff and defense.

Nuts! Timing stinks on this whole affair.

Cheers to our new found Aussie friend. Welcome!

[NewtonNephew]

You're kidding right? I'm not a Yankee fan, but that Post headline celebrates Abreu while mentioning first place in passing. And the other evidence that NYers are excited is a terse web item from a radio station... in Buffalo, which is farther from NYC than is Richmond, Virginia. Mike needs some work on the basic relationship between signifier and signified.

[Dave S.]

I generally dislike ESPN, but their Sportsnation poll today is an interesting one: who is the greatest clutch performer in Boston sports history: Bird, Orr, Russell, Brady or Ortiz?

Nationally, Bird's the winner, but regionally, Ortiz has the nod in the Northeast. I'd think Bird's gotta be the guy at this point, but more voters from Mass pick Ortiz.

[Kaz]

If you tie Brady with Vinatieri, then I might have to give them the nod together over David and Bird. Just Brady falls below Bird and Ortiz though.

[illegitimate son of dwight evans]

I think Ortiz needs to pull a few more postseason walkoffs for him to eclipse Larry Legend. He's got a few more years to try it.

I can't say I'm particularly doom and gloom about Tek going under the knife - I don't think he's *that* critical to the pitching staff, important as he is, and his bat's been mostly quiet this year. That being said, I'd still prefer to see his steely gaze from behind home plate any day of the week.

What chafes me is the bats going quiet last night. Not cool (no pun intended). Plus, the yanks are playing some good ball, despite the efforts of their pitching staff to screw it up. And while we're on the pitching tip, what is it with throwing a couple of proven fallen-apart reconstruction projects in Wells and Johnson out there on back to back nights? Giving up 3 runs is probably Johnson's best performance, meanwhile Kyle Snyder throws 4.1 shutout innnings in relief of the Big Salami and he gets demoted?

I'm glad to see Lester going tonight. Let's hope his one bad outing is just one bad outing.

[Aaron]

Lord knows, I love Brady, Orr, Bird, and Ortizzle, but how is this even a contest? Bill Russell is the greatest winner in the history of North American professional sports. 11 NBA titles in 13 seasons!

[Rob in CT]

Aaron - the question is who is/was the most "clutch" player.

Basketball Jesus, by a good margin, at least for now...

(I still got faith, Papi!)

[vermonter]

The players sound pretty worried about losing Tek. I hear it in their voices. That scares me. I'd like to hear one of them say how it's all going to be ok. The next week or so is pretty important as it may set the tone for the next 4-6 weeks.

[Dave S.]

I've read the Sox are looking to pick up Javy Lopez through a waiver trade (then again, I also read recently that Soriano staying in DC was an impossibility). Could work...I don't think even the Yanks would be willing to pick up his contract in a waiver block at this point. Plus Will Carroll over at BP has a potential three-week window in mind concerning Varitek's absence. Consider how during June the Yanks kept in it despite losing Matsui and Sheffield, despite A-Rod's total disappearance, despite their back-of-the-rotation woes, and all during Logan's Run; I imagine that the Sox can keep it together with Schilling, Papelbon, Ortiz, Ramirez, and others during Varitek's absence. I definitely see the AL East coming down to the wire, and, considering that the AL Central top dogs have more games against each other that the AL East down the stretch, can now see the WC coming out of the AL East again.

[tessie]

Sometimes living away from NE has it's good points. I don't have to hear the negative Nellies or Mopey Marthas for that matter, if I don't pursue them.

Got in this morning and found and article about last night's game taped to my monitor. This was a big win for the Tribe's fans, considering they haven't had very many of those W things lately. We'll get back on track tonight and I get extract a little revenge, right?

Welcome to soxdownunder!

[BB]

I used to read this strip every day. It became redundant after a while, so I stopped. Now I just drop by on days like this, when the feces is hitting the wind oscillator in Red Sox Nation.
True to form H.B, I mean H.B's CHARACTERS lash out at NY Yankee's fans reaction to moving into 1st place while once again) invoking the fading memory of 2004.

A team does well, so their fans are happy. Ain't no shame in that. And it ain't no different than any other year (or any other team)in baseball.

"If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility"

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

[Jason O.]

no one has referenced the title yet??!!?? definitely one of Bowie's best 3 songs, along with life on mars and space oddity...

"ooh look out, you rock and rollahs"

[Dustysglove2006]

Thanks HB...I need this today, because I'm feeling like a Mopey Martha myself. But somehow, someway, I just know that somebody on this team is going to step up and deliever for us and keep us in the race until the end. My bet is on Wily Mo and Lester.

[IkeG]

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww wham bam, thank you ma'am

[Jason O.]

Ike, I'll thank you not to reveal the intimate details of my torrid relationship with Hazel Mae.

[soxdownunder]

Hey, thanks Tessie.

[Oy!]

What's the point of being a baseball fan if you're not happy when your team finally reaches first after a lot of struggle?

[Kaz]

When your "struggle" consists of buying golden Dutch boy fingers to plug into the ever-leaking, ever-aging dike, then there's not a lot of celebration needed.

For the price of the Yankees, you could buy most countries...together...at the same time of purchase. To not be in first place is a shame...struggling to finally reach it shouldn't be seen as the long end to a Sisyphusian effort.

Congratulations...act like you've been there before.

Man, I know it was 2000 since the last time, but geez, it should at least still be somewhat fresh in your mind.

[IkeG]

A Yankee fan dating Hazel Mae? Yoiks. Whom does the Sox fan get to date ... Suzyn Waldman? Sheesh.

Maybe one of the females at this site can date Jeter after he breaks up with A-Rod.

[vasoxfan]

Jason O's on drugs.
Unless he is actually in sufragette city. I think not.

[Billy Mahty]

Song for today:

Filing into Fenway Park, so many mothers sighing
News had just come over, we had eight weeks left to cry in
News guy wept and told us, Tek was really whining
Cried so much and wet his pants, then I knew he was not lying
I heard cell phones, ESPN, favourite melodies
I saw boys, toys, bloody socks and red 'C's
My brain hurt like the Monster, it had no room to spare
I had to cram so many things to store everything in there
And all the fat-skinny people, and all the tall-short people
And all the nobody people, and all the somebody people
I never thought I'd need so many people

We've got eight weeks, check out Tek's thighs
Eight weeks, no '04 reprise
We've got eight weeks, Wells sure does look fat
Eight weeks, that's all we've got

[Evan]

Is this the same Jason that was telling us that Abreu was better than Papi? i listen to nothing he says after that.

[Lazlo Freem]

Fear not, my brethren. Tek now has an opportunity to recharge his bat & batteries. A well deserved rest, my captain. When we see him again,he will be electrified as he once was and should be. Sleep tight New England. Hey New York! Yank these.