The race tightens

Mike:
Just when I'd put the notion of the Sox winning the Division out of my mind, here we are 1½ off the lead with the Little Miss Rays of Sunshine coming into the Fens.

 

---

Susan/Circle:
The Sox are now just 3 undah .500 on the road, duplicating Tampa Bay's record away, and 15-6 ovah their last 21 road games.

 

---

Mike:
And every one of the Sox seems to be getting hot at just the right time.

 

---

Susan/Circle:
And you do mean everyone — Don't look now but Coco Crisp, of all playahs, has now had 5 straight multiple hit games.

 

---

Mike:
And how about Friday night — Mike Lowell's first at bat goes yahd and ends up 3 for 5 on the night with with 4 RBI.

 

---

Mike:
Is the acquisition of the Mike Lowell the most furtive trade of the Epstein era or what? I mean if you remembah, everyone originally was swallowing Lowell like some bittah pill to choke down as the price to pay for getting Josh Beckett.

 

---

Susan/Circle:
And turns out Lowell is the friggin bomb.

 

---

Mike:
Seriously. They oughta name a dying mill town on the Merrimac aftah that guy.

 

---

Susan/Circle:
Why stop at the Merrimac, let's name one on the Quequechan.

 

---

Mike:
But you can't have two Lowells in the same state.

 

---

Susan/Circle:
No, that's why the second mill town namesake should be "Studchestah."

 

---

Author's Notes
The "name a dying mill town …" comes from Soxaholix reader Joel Millman, and is used with his permission.

Comments

[Kaz]

Brady didn't creep into their collective mindset at all? I mean I know the Sox have a big series here...but Tom Brady.

[David Pinto]

Love the new look! Thanks for the link.

[louclinton]

What about Brady? Did something happen?

Beat Rayz

lc

[yazbread]

The Sox better get another WS this year because there is certainly no Super Bowl in the Pats near future.

[Colin]

Forgive me for the mob mentality, but I must agree with lou and Kaz. I figured the potential outing of Brady for the ENTIRE season would affect their morale and then some, but then I remembered what site this is.

It's a Red Sox site and who's kicking ass right now? The Red Sox. Who's catching up to the Cindarella Rays? The Red Sox. Who's in fourth place now? Not the Red Sox...the MFY that's who. In Boston, we take care of our own and if Brady goes down, then Lil'Dusty will pick up the slack.

[Bob]

I was watching the play downfield (and Moss fumbling without being touched) when Brady got hit.

My buddy Robert said, "We're fucked."

And then I saw.

Oh, and yeah, the Red Sox are playing pretty damn well. Buckner and I are going to the game tonight (part of the record-breaking sell-out crowd), and get to see Mr. Lester pitch.

Oh, and Buck, my sunburned face looks like a over-ripened tomato after the Pats game yesterday. So don't mistake me for Ted Kennedy.

[Billy Mahty]

The moment I heard about Brady going down I thought we'd be seeing one of these today: http://www.soxaholix.com/tp/2008/08/crawling-out-of.html

[Billy Mahty]

And this won't come as a surprise: 12

Combination of Yankees losses and Red Sox wins that eliminates the Yankees from the postseason race.

[h.b]

OK, if I had a FAQ page I could just refer to the section dealing with...

1) You are only privy to one small piece of what the characters discuss on any given day. Don't assume that if something is not mentioned, (e.g., Brady whatever blah blah blah oh his knee jesusfuckingchrist!), that it isn't on their mind.

2) The character speeches on any given day are driven by two things - how easy it is to create a strip from a given topic and whether or not any humor can be derived from any given topic. Humor always wins.

3) This is my blog. I'll write about whatever I want.

4) I don't feel like writing about Tom Fucking Brady.

5) If you don't like it, tough fucking shit. Go write your own blog or go read a blog that is about the Patriots and not the Red Sox, mmm-kay.

Does that help you my dear, beloved readers?

[h.b]

BTW all above meant tongue in cheek. I'm just bustin' balls.

[Harwich Rich]

Patsaholix?

[ray]

Maybe h.b shoud have a FAQ section - then we could help him moderate the comments by simply calling out numbers. . . "FAQ 4, buddy!"

Or if someone feels up to the Patsaholix challenge, maybe h.b will lend you Lisa the temp for a guest visit or two. . . I'd follow that link.

[Kaz]

Stage 2, eh, h.b.? I understand, I understand. I was there yesterday. I'm somewhere between depression and acceptance now.

But more to the point of what you said, I just wanna say that Brady is big Boston Sports news and if you don't want to cover it nobody's stopping you. I mention it because of the fact that it's pretty big and your opinion, humor, and tangential insights are interesting on these things. When it's not in the strip, I'm curious what motivated you to not include it. I'm not looking for the canned response that goes in a FAQ. I know that answer, I've been around long enough to know you do what you want, they talk about stuff all day when they're not in the strip, etc. etc.

I was asking because I wondered what *your* particular thoughts and motivations on the matter are, dear and beloved blogger.

[Kaz]

Nice, you ass. Way to disclaim yer post while I get pulled away mid-typing here at work and don't refresh before I just hit send on my response. Hehe. :)

[Ryan with a capital "R"]

Funny, when I got done with the strip, I was surprised there was no, "Hahaha, fourth-place Yankees, hahaha." But that's okay. I was laughing about myself with my own co-workers. Plus, the series against the Rays really is more important.

[DocSatchmo]

Would that be pronounced as read or would it rhyme with Worcester ("Stud-ster")?

[h.b]

On a serious note, I've always tried to avoid having any Patriots stories filter into the Soxaholix.

Sometimes they do, especially in the offseason and especially if it's something I can riff off in a funny way.

Today didn't meet either of the above criteria.

I've got to be honest, too, this has come up before but may as well say it again -- I'm not much of Pats fan.

Yes, yes, "the characters are not me" as I'm first to remind everyone.

But still. It's more difficult for me to keep a pulse on the Pats, because I'm barely keeping track myself.

It's far easier for me to give multiple fan p.o.v's about the Sox than it is to give a single fan p.o.v. about the Pats.

So if you're OK with the fact that I'm not really a full Boston sports homer but really only a 100% Red Sox guy with only a passing interest in the Pats, Celts, and Bruins, then the best thing to do is just assume that the characters share your thoughts and concerns about the Patriots but you are just catching them when they are talking about the Sox.

[louclinton]

in re real/not real
characters/hb..

fuck, I am lost now.

lc

[Ryan with a capital "R"]

Anyone ever see Mystery Science Theater 3000? The theme song includes the line, "It's just a TV show, I should really just relax." Always applicable to most situations.

[h.b]

lc,

BTW I forgot to mention I'm writing this from the Swan station.

[birthofasoxfan97]

What must totally brand me as a non-NE native is my complete disregard for the Pats. I can't really get into any NFL since that little hottie Steve (not so) Young retired. Now, if they go the Chris Sims route, things go from bad to worse. He and his entourage screwed Major Applewhite and I haven't given a rat's about UT football either since then.

Go Sox - I have renewed faith in the division race and a refund on all my Jordan's purchases. Also have tickets tomorrow for the 11 year olds bday. Who knew back in the spring that a Sept Rays game would have any meaning?

[vermonter]

I wish Batshit was pitching tonight.

[sonomasox]

friggin sweet backdrop HB - haven't been on in a week my "vacaction" chasing my two boys under two didn't leave much time for the interwebs - all diapers and booze...with some Moody's Dinnah, Flo Dogs and Brown's ice cream thrown in. A healthy break.

HB - how's that submarine service to the Swan.

[BDM]

Thanks for making your site even MORE graphics heavy and slow...

No, really...Thanks.

[h.b]

The redesign actually sped up the load time of the site according to Google analytics.

And while the bg image is heavier, it gets cached by your browser after the first visit, so should not impact load time moving forward.

But if it's too slow for you, don't visit. I don't give a fuck. No really, I don't.

[soxdownunder]

Collingwood and Sydney both win their elimination finals and the characters say nought of it? Sheeeeeeeeee-it.

[Kaz]

*chortle* Nice one, SDU.

Those of you on Brady Watch probably want to know that he's gone for the season now and Belichick is going with Cassel (but reserves the option to pick up a 3rd QB later).

As for the site redesign, when was the last time anyone complained about a bunch of flat graphics in the broadband era? Even my phone loads the page just fine and its caching is crap. It's also completely possible to load the site with image loading turned off. The text bubbles are actual text, not images, and the images are pretty much always he-said/she-said style. The strip and the site is just as intelligible with the images turned off as it is with them turned on.

Geez, for some reason I get this image of a guy going to the Louvre to see Mona Lisa and bitching at the front desk about how he had to walk past the Venus de Milo to get to it.

[bosoxed]

best of both coasts- i get to watch the sox on nesn and then go to the angels' game to finally root for the home team against the MFY will wear sox stuff- its red, ill fit in

[-di.]

I really like the re-design.

For what it's worth, the Sox win distracted me from what is going on with the Patriots. It is only appropriate since there were many times that the Patriots distracted me from some ugly Sox losses.

Speaking of ugly losses, let's just forget Saturday's game. I love Tim Wakefield and I accept the fact that he can turn from Dr. Knuckles to Mr. Threerunhommer within one pitch, but Saturday's game was UGLY.

It is easy to see V-Tek's value as a catch when watching Cash work.

Oh how many Octobers are there? I always forget. ;-)

-Diane.

[SAC]

I just hope they can grab the lead from these ex-Devils before Wednesday...when the ATOM-SMASHA is turned on and we are all vaporized like A-rod in October.

http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/WireHeadlines/2008/09/08/some-fear-new-atom-smasher-might-create--35.php

[maggietozier]

Stud-ster it should totally rhyme will "Wooster"

God I miss being in N E