They were against sending the runner home before they were for it.

Doug:
OK. That's it. No more watching 10pm staht West Coast games for me this season.

 

---

Doug:
I mean it's bad enough to get to bed late, but it's even worse to then toss and turn as your mind plays a repeated loop of Wily "Why Is He Still Here?" Pena lumbahrin' around in the outfield.

 

---

Mike:
Hey, on the bright side, at least they are, you know, "playing like a team," because just about everyone was in on the ineptitude last night …

 

---

Mike:
Coco's rainbow to home, Wakefield's walking the leadoff man after being handed the lead, Lugo's stumbling over his own feet and botching a double-play ball for the second straight nigh …

 

---

Doug:
Manny again thinking the the purpose of the cutoff man is to have a tahget to throw ovah … Youkilis's bobble a ball and then Manny Delcarmen's inability to field any ball …

 

---

Al:
Don't forget DeMarlo Hale waving Mike Lowell home.

 

---

Doug:
Jesus Christ what the hell is up with the Red Sox and 3rd base coaches?

 

---

Mike:
Wendell Kim, Dale Sveum, and now DeMarlo Hale. It's a friggin revolving door of incompetents.

 

---

Doug:
Seriously. And ff I wanted to watch nincompoops masquerading as professionals I'd be watching CSPAN and not NESN.

 

---

Al:
Meanwhile, a few weeks ago people were saying the Yankees just need to make up a game a week to catch the Red Sox … Well, gaining a game every fucking day will work too.

 

---

Doug:
I swear on the baby Jesus that I will not panic-panic until the lead is only 3.

 

---

Comments

[louclinton]

That wasn’t pretty.

I’m not gonna go all Ouroboros, though.
It’s a six-month season and the Angels are good. The Yanx are good.

I bet Bobby Kielty likes his chances of being up by the weekend, though.

Bye bye WiMP

lc

[buckner was framed]

did I hear somewhere that Wile E. Mo cleared waivers? Or was I dreaming? If so, Kielty's up by the next homestand and Wile E's DFA'd...
Bring back Eddie Popowski. Cooz-like returning the ball to the pitcher after a foul grounder, too

[Bob]

Funny strip, H.B. Painful, but funny.

Or as the wand-maker in Harry Potter said, "He did great things...terrible, yes...but great."

I feel like an Indian vindaloo dinner after a crap, BTW. It's not the 10:00 starts that hurt, it's the 1:30 finishes. And seeing Bonds' home run while innocently channel surfing doesn't help.

Bad night overall. I need a frickadelle.

[Youk Rules]

Goddammit!

Will the Yankees just lose a gd game for once in a while?

[vasoxfan]

I'm panicking.

[Scott]

TOTALLY outplayed, out hustled, out pitched, out everythinged last night. Once again this team showed me nothing.

The guy playing left field in my softball game who robbed me of a hit last night would have caught that ball in right field that WMP couldn't get to. And yes he is GONE.

That Angels team did everything but walk on water last night for their starter.

[vermonter]

I wouldn't compare Demarlo Hale to Kim or Sveum. He has been much better than both of them.

Definitely getting nervous.

[Sean O]

Welcome to the death watch. Only question now is whether we wait to lose the East lead to the Yankees when we play them on the 28th, or if we crap it away by the Angels series on the 17th.

Is there anything good to say about this team right now?

[Billy Mahty]

I was at AT&T Park last night, and no matter what one thought of Bonds, it was a magical moment. When Hank Aaron's classy surprise message showed up on the screen, with Bonds out on the field next to Willie Mays, there were a lot of glassy eyes in the house.

This is a great game we love.

[Bob]

Bonds is a cheating asshole though. Just saying.

[vasoxfan]

Are there any rumours of A-Rod being juiced? If not (and not because I particularly like the the guy) I can't wait until he breaks the record (at this rate about 6 or 7 years). Even if Bonds is innocent, he has done nothing to prove himself so and so the greatest record in all of sports is under a cloud and I want it lifted. I was listening to Gammons this morning on "Morning Joe" and he seemed wistfully sad that the record breaking night was more sad than happy for true baseball fans.I feel that way.

[Bob]

Well, Canseco's new book is supposed to address the "A-Rod is juiced" issue.

But while his first book turned out to be largely true, and as much as I despise Slappy, I just don't see it. I mean, A-Fraud's a big wuss. And his head is actually kind of shrunken, not enlarged. And he's never shown any kind of roid rage, other than the occasional bitch slap.

[Matt]

perhaps last nights game was an attempt to purge the defense of crappy plays and poor fielding.

I won't panic till till the yanks beat teams with +.500 records and/or the Sox start blowing games to teams with -.500 records.

[Steve in MD]

I sure hope the Sox pick up A-Rod in the off season, because I'd much rather cheer for him to break Bonds' record in as a Red Sox than as a Yankee.

[Kaz]

Doug, thy name is Kaz this morning.

Holy KKEEEERIST, that was a horrendous game last night.

Oh and the threat not to watch any more 10pm game starts...pretty empty. Tonight's the only one left in the season.

I'll be there. Full of piss and vinegar unless these guys turn it around tonight...but there.

[Kaz]

My head hurts...I *know* Eric Wilbur is probably right. I *know* the Postseason Odds from BP give the Yanks only a 9% chance of beating us in the AL East because of all of the reasons I mentioned in past days when the sun was brighter. I *know* all of these things to be true, but after watching last night I *feel* like we're somehow going to find a way to not only make that 9% into 100% by season's end, but somehow we're going to go against all odds and end up in the 1.50467% chance of not even making the playoffs at all.

It's like some kind of sick twisted joke to know that if 2004 taught us anything, it's that this team knows how to beat the odds! Woohoo, Goooooo Team!

Sigh...

[pinstripe thunder]

Oh, c'mon. It's not that bad. Five-game lead. Best record in baseball. I'd still rather be in your position than ours.

I swear, you guys should have a fourth outfielder named angst. I can't even heckle you when you go into self-flagellation mode like this. LC is right. I don't get it, and this is the part of being a Red Sox fan that I guess I really will never understand.

The race is going down to the wire, as we all privately knew it would (except back in May when I whistled loudly past the graveyard even as I gave my Yankees up for dead).

I would say that you can do it -- just put your lips together and whistle -- but I doubt if you're in the mood. I'd hate to see you guys when you're only winning by two or three.

And, at the risk of sounding Marty-esque, do you really care whether they're efforting as long as they win?

[yazbread]

I think when the lead was 14 or so games over the MFY, I refused to gloat. Thank God - I hate the taste of crow.

[yazbread]

Self-flagellation mode?

Time for some Python, to keep us on an even keel.

Pie Iesu domine, dona eis requiem

[Insert sound of wooden board hitting head]

[SoCal BosSox Fan]

Ever since the MFY worked their way up to second place I have been finding comfort in the fact that they would be in third place in any other division. That is no longer the case. They would now also be in second in the West.

Back when they were in third place I bet a Yankee fan that the Yankees wouldn't even make the playoffs. The bet was if they don't he wears a Red Sox hat for a week. If they do.............

Thank God I have plenty of Red Sox shirts to wear that week. But I am going to look pretty funny wearing my "Yankee Hatah" tee shirt with a Yankee hat.

[Devine]

Hey Bob, meant to thank you awhile back for the engagement congrats and the quick HP reference while you were at it. Just didn't want anyone to get spoiled at the time, otherwise I would have mentioned it at the time, but I really appreciated it.

[Jason O.]

yazbread:

Look, let me go in there and face the peril...

[Harwich Rich]

Silly English Ka-nigetts,I fart in your general direction :D

[Bob]

I think I've posted this before, but it's a highly useful tool in certain situations:

http://www.ibras.dk/montypython/justthewords.htm

[Youk Rules]

Since Wily Mo is on his way out, I am reposting this extemporaneous ode I composed in his honor.

...Also because it didn't get the recognition it deserved last week.

"Wily Mo"

Wily Mo Pena, he can't wield a bat,
And can't run the bases because he's too fat

He's got a strong arm so he can throw home,
(Gosh, how I do enjoy writing this poem)

He'll be lucky to find a ball in the glare,
But most of the time can do nothing but stare

They said that he'd be the next David Ortiz,
The power? The fight? The guts? Puh-lease!

“What's the problem?” I ask you, “What is his case?”
His crime's always the same: ten men left on base

“Base hit!,” we all cry, in a single, hoarse voice,
But Wily grounds into a fielder’s choice

Just make contact, Wily Mo, show us some brio
Why wasn’t he traded? Don’t know, let’s ask Theo

Natalie, Bob, Yaz, Kazbread, and Lou,
Watch out, Wily, or they’ll pillory you

Look sharp out there, WiMP, and start to play smart,
Your success or demise will be noted by Hart

[Natalie]

Thanks to yb for the Monty Python levity- it's moved me off the ledge where I have been perched uncomfortably since last night's "game." (I put game in quotes because "game" implies "fun," whereas that spectacle felt more like having my nostrils raped and my bottom burned off.)

In re: Wile E. Mo, maybe we can leave him on the bench to sequin vests and impersonate Clark Gable?

[Kaz]

Hey, h.b., you made Universal Hub today!

[PJ]

Now here is a song I don't mind ever getting stuck in my head...

Da da da da da...

We're Knights of the Round Table
We dance whene'er we're able
We do routines and chorus scenes
With footwork impeccable
We dine well here in Camelot
We eat ham and jam and spam a lot

We're Knights of the Round Table
Our shows are formidable
But many times we're given rhymes
That are quite unsingable
We're opera mad in Camelot
We sing from the diaphragm a lot

In war we're tough and able
Quite indefatigable
Between our quests we sequin vests and impersonate Clark Gable
It's a busy life in Camelot

I have to push the pram a lot

On second thought, let's not go to Camelot. It is a silly place...

[soxdownunder]

I watched Kaz's 'fuck' posts come in last night and felt, nay shared, his pain. That was such an ugly game for the Red Sox. Wile E Mo sometimes looks like a little leaguer in the outfield - why is he still in the line up? But the characters are right - our nine (or ten or eleven) shared in the indignity of incompetence. Private Obvious is starting to sound very chipper indeed! Sorry for the demotion.

[louclinton]

gday sdu

yanx are down 15-4 as I write this. Life is good.

In re: "because it didn't get the recognition it deserved last week"

Holy christ on a chocolate pony, I got nothing for my "Ouroboros" reference 12 hours ago [not even a lame is that Scott's brother's name?]

Swing and amiss.........

lc

[illegitimate son of dwight evans]

don't mind me, just an old friend stopping in on soxaholix. Unfortunately my new job has me out the door before HB's even working on the new strip, so I can only check at times like this. And while I'm ignoring the train wreck that is my fantasy team, let me just say that I never thought I'd see myself lamenting a 5.5 game lead in mid August. Looks like, unless things change and the Sox tighten up the defense, those yankee series won't be the anticlimax they ought to be.

In the meantime, can someone please tell Lugo to just KEEP GOING when he starts off first? Please?

[Kaz]

I hear ya ISoDE.

It was like they didn't learn anything in the past 24 hours...

At least Survivorman is coming on in a few minutes on the Science channel. Now there's a guy who can go 7 days without dying on the West Coast...

[Bob]

Dewey! Don't be such a stranger. I mean, is work so important you can't ignore it completely?