Some damping down

Mike:
Waking up to a Monday is bad enough, waking up to a Monday in second place is a great abeyance.

 

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Susan/Circle:
Memo to the pink hats: We've got a bullpen problem.

 

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Mike:
What the frig has happened to Okajima?

 

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Mike:
I mean I knew there'd be some regression from his off the chahts work last year, but I didn't think I'd need to dig out my black cassock.

 

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Susan/Circle:
Seriously, Oki's supah stah trajectory is falling so rapidly I half expect to see a Page Six headline linking him to Amy Winehouse.

 

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Mike:
So much for the promising "Doki Doki" secret pitch.

 

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Susan/Circle:
So much for the "hero in the dahk."

 

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Mike:
But while we're burying Okajima, let's not forget the othah troubles — Tek in the mothah of all slumps, Ellsbury struggling, and the usual zen-like Manny going all Bruce Bannistah on people.

 

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Susan/Circle:
This is midseason, then, a modest aggrievance.

 

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Mike:
And nothing a sweep of the Rays won't draw away like a poultice.

 

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Comments

[Daubie]

Plunk those bastahds.

[Bob]

Amy Winehouse. Heh.

"Oki, pass the pipe. No, not the bong, the PIPE. No, not the one-hitter, the PIPE. Shit Oki, throw me the damn pipe! There ya go, slow and right down the middle to mamma."

[Ryan with a capital "R"]

Between the series with the Rays and Yanks and the Track and Field Olympic Trials, it's a very good sports week.

Oh, and suck it, Germany.

[yazbread]

Francoma did his zombie-like impression yesterday bring in Oki. Did anyone actually expect a different outcome?

Listened to Sunday's game on XM with the Houston announcers. I don't think that I have ever heard worst announcers in my life. I guess the lead announcer is Milo Hamilton - evidently this guy has been around since the Flood. No wonder they say Astro fans are long suffering.

[Scott]

Interleague record is not encouraging. Of course the schedule makers helped the Skanks and Rays more than the Sox.

Who gets traded for bullpen help?

[yazbread]

Track and Field Olympic Trials?

You call that coverage? A one hour telecast with literally 7 minutes of competition (if that). NBC and Bob Costas are so clueless when it comes to Trials/Olympics. Talk about coverage directed to the pink hats. Give me European Track and Field TV coverage any day. I scream at those pathetic human interest stories. Please Lord, keep Pistorius off the South African team.

[vermonter]

Even with all the problems, questions, and injuries...the Sox are the first to 50 W's. All part of the ups and downs of a long season.

[Kaz]

But yaz, if they don't get you emotionally invested into the athletes' stories, then they can't get you to come back and watch the commercials during the real Olympics!

You want an early indicator that NBC is going to screw up the Olympics coverage? Watch a new episode of American Gladiators. One hour show, 6 1-minute events plus the Eliminator final event...and yet somehow, because of all the Hulk/Ali interviews, background stories, and 30% commercials: They have to summarize the outcome of 2 of the 6 events!! What in the hell did they think I'm watching for??

Speaking of networks screwing up TV shows, a big "FUCK YOU!" to WCVB The Boston Channel, News Station, Weather Doppler, Live in the Sky, Your Super Station, Channel 5! I'm watching the Euro 2008 final yesterday. The bastards do not have an HD overlay for their weather alert crawler, so twice during the game I had to squint through the loss of definition on my 50" TV to figure out what was going on on the field because there was some lightning north of Worcester. Great. But then the mother of all fuck-ups! They interrupted a LIVE soccer game so their weather guy could bring us BREAKING news that NOTHING was happening but MIGHT happen at ANY MINUTE in the Middle of Nowhere, MA! 15 minutes (real time 15 minutes, not NFL or NBA "15 minutes" which last an hour) left in a 1-0 final match between two great soccer nations and I'm looking at a rain cloud on Doppler!! Unacceptable! We missed some sort of crazy save by Germany where the keeper had to punch it off his own chest or something...because there was a thunderstorm! A THUNDERSTORM!

Geezus cripes...Channel 5, you're officially on my shit list.

[Ryan with a capital]

Well, yazbread, I'm taking what I can get here, you know? I Tivo it and I skip the human interest stuff. But, as much as they chopped up the women's 10,000 meters, that was a spectacular race. Shalene Flanagan let it fly in the last 400 meters. It was also great to see Amy Begley earn her spot right there. And wind-aided or not, the men's 100 meters was just jaw-dropping.

I'm also looking forward to the the men's 1500 meters and the 400 meters.

[Ryan with a capital "R"]

Wow, Kaz. You're making me appreciate WTNH in Connecticut. They just had a continuous crawl about thunderstorms during the game. They never cut in.

[Ryan with a capital "R"]

And was it just me that (mis)heard this or did the color guy call the ref a wop during the second half yesterday?

[Kaz]

Missed that, Ryan, but then again, I didn't get to see all of the second half.

[yazbread]

Ryan with a capital 'R' - I do the same with TIVO. I am just pissed that track and field coverage is so pathetic in this country. The TV schedule link at USATF is an embarrassment. Just another example where European TV coverage is superior to the crap we get in this country.

[RationalSoxFan]

Man, I don't know why Francona went to Oki at that moment. Aardsma only pitched to two batters, and there was no upcoming match up that favored Okajima. When we got Okijima, no one thought he'd be more than some middle relief help, but he amazed us all last year. Maybe he's settling into what he really is? Or, maybe he's tipping a pitch or two? Injury?

But, you'd still love to see the Sox score more than two measly solo home runs. The Rays will be tough at home. Hope the Sox get up for this one. I'm sure th eRays will be edgy. One inside pitch will get them all jittery for a fight. Should be fun!

[sonomasox]

who woke up on the wrong side of the cot?

so the weather sucks back there - at least there's no flooding or fires.

so you missed some track & field - at least we'll win a bunch of gold and you can probably watch most of it online.

so the good guys dropped 2 of 3 - we still have 50 wins & Papi will be back soon.

someone please pass the cool-aid...my cup is now empty

[Steve in MD]

13 men left on base.

0 for the game with RISP.

that game was one disappointment after another.

[paddy24]

I see too many slow bats for this time of year - namely Ellsbury, Varitek (how many slow tappers to 2B can a batter hit in one season?), and Manny. Manny is a shadow of his former self. He has enough power to take a fastball deep the other way. Or, he can sit on an offspeed pitch and pull it - but at age 36, fastballs are overpowering him when he tries to pull the ball. Coco had an incredible year defensively last season. This year, on most plays he appears disinterested. Lugo bobbles nearly every chance (when not double-clutching on double play attempts). Lowrie needs to get called up ASAP. The bullpen? Let's not even go there. Too depressing. Fortunately, there's still tons of talent on the farm that will make a difference. Plus Varitek calls a great game, Pedroia has come alive, Lowell's looked fantastic and so has Drew. Hopefully, the front office will take the same approach with Papi that they did last season with Manny. Just let him heal so he can come back 100%. There will be no World Series victory this season without Papi in the lineup. Lastly, Francona is a leader of men, but he can't handle in-game strategy. It's tough watching him get schooled game in and game out. Fortunately, you don't get any extra points for winning 105 games as opposed to 95. So I'll just have to be happy with World Series Championships.

[Ryan with a capital "R"]

Oh, another paddy post.

"So I'll just have to be happy with World Series Championships."

I know. It's bummer. I'm pressuring NASA to develop an FTL drive, too, so the Sox can play in the Pan-Galatic Club Championship.

Glad to see that the combination of medication and therapy has lifted your mood to such heights, paddy.

[h.b]

I see BigBri finally took it to the next level of crazy:

"Major League Baseball are sending security teams to St. Petersburg, Fla., for the Red Sox-Rays series because of a threat made against Boston players, the Boston Herald reports."
link

[Natalie]

I agree with paddy24 when it comes to Lugo. Holy Christ is that guy painful to watch or what? Do we need to stage an intervention with the PTB to get Lowrie called up? Theo's like a meth addict with these shortstops: attracted to new shiny things, frenetic, incomprehensible, and- at the end of the day- destined to kill us...

[Kev]

Ryan - I think we left our clutch hitters back on Caprica :-).

[da'beads]

Yellow card: h.b.

[Ryan with a capital "R"]

Kev, that's going to present problems. Those Cylon pitchers are like machines out there.

[sonomasox]

I'll take Theo's obsession w/ mediocre SS if we get another WS ring. In tough times I keep telling myself 2 in 4 years

[Natalie]

True that, sonomasox. True that. I guess Monday back at work after a long weekend + crappy interleague play made me a tad pissy. :)

[NYSoxfan]

Thanks H.B. for that poultice reference. Sox Nation needs a giant friggin' poultice right now to suck out all that bitterness in the world (see Boston Herald story on threats mailed to the Sox). The rednecks out there might not embrace the motley cast of characters we call the Red Sox, but I dare say Sox Nation would rise up and smite any assjack who threatens our Champions. In the words of the Dude, 'This aggression will not stand, man...'

[soxdownunder]

Hideki-san
Boston wolves are at your door
Get used to it pal.

[Alternative final line:
How soon they forget]

[Kaz]

Oh, come on, h.b. A fictional character (Roy) having "plagarized emotions"?

Ha ha, that's rich.

[Kaz]

Aw, come on, Francoma....Varitek and Lugo down by 2 with the tying run in scoring position? That's the best we can do?

Damnit.