Struck out looking

Your omniscient author in absentia:
Sorry, I've started 3 different strips this morning and they've all 3 fallen flat and been unsuitable for putting in front of you.  I can't even come up with anything for Lisa the Temp. So I'm going to sit today out.   

Here's to hoping the Sox can make hay during this upcoming "cushy" stretch of the schedule.

 

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Author's Notes

Themes of the false starts:

1. Discussion of the lack of win streak longer than 5 games.
2. Discussion of how much (if not all) of the angst is due it being the hated Yankees who are so hot right now, i.e., if it were Toronto chipping at the 6 game lead we'd all be a lot more confident.
3. Discussion of how the Sox actually match up quite good against the Yankees regardless of how hot the Yanks have been, i.e., The Red Sox offense is built around drawing walks, driving up the pitch count, and getting into an opponent's bullpen, and the Yankees' bullpen is their weak point.

Comments

[Youk Rules]

HB,

Thanks for trying anyway.

Go team!

[buckner was framed]

maybe we can get a strip off the waiver wire... point #2 is pretty spot on, I think, although personally I have always been a little nervous about the bluebirds too. The whole point of being a Sox fan is being able to bitch about something, anyway- so losing 8 games off a lead to anyone over a 6 week period is cause for angst in the Nation. It's what makes us who we are as fans. The Yankee factor is there because of past history, even though rationally and intellectually we know that it shouldn't matter what happened in '78, as half the current team wasn't even alive then- at least for the Sox. Half the Yanks were in third grade in 1978, I think

[buckner was framed]

and don't be too hard on yourself, hb. Seems to me you at least went down swinging

[ygbluiyg]

Yet another consequence of the MLB ban on greenies.
If you were doped up on speed, you would have come up with something.

[Bob]

Anybody else still stuck on west coast time? It's like television jet-lag, for God's sake.

Thank God Baltimore is somehere in the vicinity. It's near Brockton, right?

[Jason O.]

Re: Weak bullpens:

1) The Skull of Death is not only the best ever, but also k'd Rios (swinging)/Wells(looking)/Thomas(looking) and hit 97 mph in the ninth earlier this week, i.e., he's fine.

(Yes, Rivera might be the son or grandson of the Red Skull, you people who read Captain America comic books as a kid will understand)

2) Vizcaino has been filthy. His ERA, K/9, BB/9 and WHIP have recovered nicely since June 1.

3) Chamberlain has already been compared to F. Rodriguez in '02...it's not far fetched given his stuff.

Conclusion: "The Yankees bullpen is weak" theme from April/May needs an update.

[soxdownunder]

Friday night, Australia.
Collingwood got smashed by a team that, hitherto, had won 1 game all season ('"and this is Richmond" said a melancholy voice, "and this is Richmond"') and I've had too much red wine. Instead of going to second we may fall out of the eight: http://afl.com.au/Season2007/Ladder/tabid/74/Default.aspx

So I'm counting on the Red Sox and Cleveland to bring my weekend back to something resembling bearable. Sausages, peppers, ONIONS and just a dash of Sriracha sauce would be good, also.

[Kelly the Ballgal is Hot]

Do the Yankees have to pay Clemens during his 5 game suspension?

[Bob]

Just a DASH of Srirachi?

Oh, SDU...

[h.b.]

Any juice the Yankees bullpen currently has will surely be pissed out of them by Joe Torre overusing them down the stretch.

Torre is to relievers what Lindsey Lohan is to lines of coke.

[soxdownunder]

I know I'm a wimp - just a dash!

[Bob]

You handled that one sausage with peppers AND ONIONS loaded with the sauce just fine. Well, I think you belched in Jim Rice's face right after, but still.

[Natalie]

Things I hate: Stupid Red Sox off-days. Stupid client meetings that mean I have to miss my company best ball tourney this afternoon (and my 5-wood shot off the fairway has been FIERCE lately). Stupid rain. And the Yankees (of course).

Things I love: my Super Big Gulp Diet Coke (the caffeine better make me chipper soon). The fact that it's Friday. 2pm Sat afternoon tee-times. And Soxaholix (of course).

Have a good weekend, all. Here's to a little avian flu in Baltimore this weekend.

[Jason O.]

No Kelly, they will appeal and manipulate the sched. to give RC an extra day of rest and ensure he won't miss a start.

[Jason O.]

and yes they will pay him...with the pats on the back he was getting after drilling Rios they might give him a bonus.

[soxdownunder]

/Torre is to relievers what Lindsey Lohan is to lines of coke./

Now I can go to bed happy! TNX HB.

[louclinton]

How about a little haiku, since I am desperately trying to start an Ourorboros groundswell.

Ourorboros, us.
Red Sox fans eat their own young.
Yankee fans just bite.

lc

[buckner was framed]

Bob, to be fair, you and I need more than 'just a dash' of srirachi because we wind up wearing 1/2 of it. SDU is more coordinated than that

[Bob]

True, Buck. My "Let Jim In" shirt still has a second mustache made out of the Srirachi.

[Bob]

Lou, I don't know how old you are (one theory has you as a very precocious 17-year-old), but you're such a Jung-un'.

[Aaron]

I can't help but think that not getting Jermaine Dye will hurt them down the stretch. And if it's true that all it would've taken to get him was Delcarmen and Wily Mo, the sting is worse.

Yeah, Delcarmen has filthy stuff, and if he ever harnesses it he will be lethal, and Theo is still justifiably nervous about trading young relievers after the Cla Meredith disaster... but still, this team is built to win now, so why not go all in? They already traded a serviceable young starter in order to rent Gagne for three months, so why stop now?

[yazbread]

Yankees throw Hughes against Carmona tonight. Entire Yankee lineup remembers how it feels to move from AAA to major league pitching.

[tessie]

I keep scrolling back up to see if hb changed his mind and posted a strip today. Alas, as true Red Sox fans we can forgive a guy a slump, right?

[Kaz]

Detroit better strap on their swamp pants...cuz it's getting seriously murky there.

I know Sheffield is good and all, but he isn't the only thing they had going. It's like watching last year's Red Sox from the outside.

[h.b.]

Not so much a slump as I'm just getting buried at work because I took vacation last week.

I've been at the office by 6am yesterday and today, which makes trying to squeeze in the strip really difficult.

As it goes, I'll probably end up working tomorrow as well.

Let's just say I've been in better moods than the one I'm in right now.

[Bob]

Welcome to my club, H.B.

The only solution is alcohol.

Join me....JOIN ME!!!

[Kaz]

Here, h.b., something to amuse you:

Picture of our soon-to-be 4th outfielder courtesy of SI

[Youk Rules]

My God, he looks like fucking Carrot Top.

[Jason O.]

hb needs lawyers, guns and money...the shit has hit the fan.

[buckner was framed]

can someone please help me? I need to know if Wed 8/15 game is a 7 or 1:05 start. The schedule says one thing, tickets the other. I can't get on the team website from work. Thanks

[Bob]

(VISUAL): Bob runs screaming from room, frightening his co-workers.

(PAUL): What the F---?

(JANICE): Bob's just having another breakdown. What's it up to now, 3 a week?

(ERIC): Heh. More like three a day.

(ALL THREE CHUCKLE)

(ERIC): Actually, I think it's that pic Kaz sent to Soxaholix.

(JANICE): That's a creepy site.

(PAUL): Yeah. I heard a satantist runs it.

(ERIC): That's just an urban legend.

(VISUAL): BOB RETURNS, SWEATING HEAVILY.

(BOB): No it's not.

[Bob]

Buck, the Red Sox website says 1:05.

[buckner was framed]

thanks, Bob. and lay off the caffeine, will ya?

[Harwich Rich]

OMG-not only can't he hit but now he can't field either.We wasted how much on this asshat?

[soxdownunder]

Oka-jima san:
An undeserving loser;
Gagne 4 E.R.

[Bob]

Anybody out there for suicide support?

How frigging pitiful is my life that I need somebody to talk me down right now?

At 1:58 AM?

Oh God.

I am not a jester right now.

[Bob]

Anybody out there for suicide support?

How frigging pitiful is my life that I need somebody to talk me down right now?

At 1:58 AM?

Oh God.

I am not a jester right now.

[Bob]

And then I accidentally double click.

Bite me, God.

[Bob]

No one, huh?

Oh well.

It rubs the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again...

[soxdownunder]

Bob, HOLD ON ... I'M COMING !!!!

[soxdownunder]

yES pRESCIOUS IT WILL GET THE HOSE

[Kaz]

You see, h.b.?!? Do you see!?

This is what happens when we have to go 3 days without a strip! It's like "Wake Up and Smile" in here.

Cats and dogs living together!

Cartoons coming to life!

[h.b.]

Kaz guilted me into doing a little something for today.

Also hoping a rare Saturday strip might help the overall mojo.