The Yankee Illusion

The Red Sox are 3-1 against the Yankees this year and for some reason those wins seem to mask the fact that in mid May the Red Sox are STILL sub .500!But man it feels good to win by one run against the Yankees.Bartolo Colon has 2 losses this year and both were hard luck losses against the Sox.Meanwhile Joba Chamberlain is the gift that keeps giving... if by giving you mean insurance runs.Daniel

A punch in the crotch... thank you very much

Lester on the mound...Multiple home runs...8th AND 9th inning heroics.And in the end, the Red Sox might as well have been clobbered.I hate losses like this. There were so many ways this game could have been won so naturally none of them come to fruition.WHO THE HELL IS DAVID COOPER?That's why I call these games teeth grinders.And that's why I need to update the tally.DODGED BULLET GAMES - 8April

It's a brand new month

Remember how crappy Carl Crawford started the season?Remember how he batted in 10 different spots in the first 9 games? I will have to double check my work, but that seems right.And here we are with hitting up a storm including a walk off hit. Maybe signing Crawford WASN'T a mistake.Maybe Josh Beckett can continue to dominate.One thing I DO know:It's time to update the tally.DODGED BULLET GAMES -

Raise your hand if you thought the Sox game was over in the first

Seriously, when it was 3-0 before the Sox even came to bat, I was all ready to write a post about why the Dice-K era might be winding down.But Carl Pavano said "I'll see your meltdown and raise you" birthday boy Adrian Gonzalez launched one out that would have been a harmless flyball in Petco and the Sox pulled one out.You take them when you can get them.Let's update the tally.DODGED BULLET GAMES

What I am dreaming for in the world of sports... Sunday May 8, 2011

Mothers Day 2011 looks like it is going to be an intense day of sports.Now how can everything fall into place and make me feel like it was a perfect sports day?Here's what needs to happen:THE RED SOX NEED TO BEAT THE TWINS...Edge closer to .500THE RANGERS NEED TO BEAT THE YANKEES...Have the Red Sox inch closer to first place.THE INDIANS TO WIN IN EXTRA INNINGS...The Indians continuing their

Red Sox don't get soaked

Well that wasn't so hard, was it?Clay Buchholz pitches 5 strong with a big rain delay smack dab in the middle of things and the Red Sox pull out a win. And a pretty easy one at that.It makes you wonder why they couldn't do that more often in the first month and a week.Either way, I'll take it.Dice-K tomorrow... let's get a few wins in a row.

Sox are out of sync... but haven't we heard this song before?

A big market team was coming off a season where they improbably missed the playoffs. They spent big on players in the off season, shockingly signing one free agent that seemed to be heading to a different playoff bound team.People started bitching and moaning how it wasn’t fair that they signed all of these great players but made the team the prohibitive pick going into the season.Then things

The longest and stupidist Red Sox game I have ever seen

I actually thought the game wasn't going to end. I thought it was actually going to bleed into the game tomorrow afternoon and the two games would be concurrent.The game started at 4PM West Coast time.It JUST ended at 11:45 PM.And oh yeah, somehow Marco Scutaro didn't score the tying run in one inning and was stupidly thrown out in the 12th inning when the ball was already in the infield.Dice-K

It is 1:18 AM in Boston...

And the Angels and Red Sox are still playing in the rain and going into the 10th.I hope it goes on for 18 innings (with the Sox winning of course.)Can you imagine what kind of Sox fans are left?PLEASE tell me the concession stands are still open.

Hisanori Takahashi better be buying drinks after this game

Seriously, Hisanori Takahashi was a whole lot of suck for the Angels in the first two games of their series with the Red Sox.Aces Jeff Weaver and Dan Haren got the losses, but they actually pitched well.Jeff Weaver went 6 innings with 3 earned runs on MondayDan Haren was throwing a shutout today into the 6th and finished with 7+ innings, 4 runs, 8 strikeouts and no walks. But Takahashi gave up 2

Heavenly

The Angels were my pre season pick to win the AL Pennant.They seem like a damn good team.And yet they are 0-5 against the Red Sox this year.In Non Red Sox games they are 16-8.Go figure. This one turned into a laugher and I can't put it into the Dodged Bullet category... even with Weaver pitching a Buchholz looking shaky at times.The nice fat 6 run 7th took any doubt out of this one.Next is Lester

Hot Carl

April is mercifully over.If there was one Red Sox player who wanted it all done it was Carl Crawford who was miserable and the symbol of the futile first month.Well the calendar page has turned and the Red Sox are 1-0 this month and Carl Crawford already has a 2 out 9th inning game winning hit.A sign of things to come?Oh let's hope so.And let's update the tally.DODGED BULLET GAMES - 6April 8 - 9-

There's a lot of sports going on today

There is a ton of baseball to watch.Matt Cain is on the mound for the Giants.The Blue Jays and Yankees are going at it.The Indians are looking to continue their winning ways into May.The Red Sox game is starting as they try to avoid a sweep by Seattle.Phillies play the Mets later tonight.Meanwhile my San Jose Sharks are looking to go up 2-0 in their series against the Red Wings.And the playoff

Is THIS what it has come to, Red Sox?

Seriously?After the Red Sox swept 4 in Anaheim and went on the 5 game winning streak I thought "Man! The Sox are back!"Now after losing back to back series to the Orioles and the FREAKING MARINERS AT FENWAY I am thinking "Man, the Sox that started the season 0-6 are back."11 men left on base?Being shutdown by the lawfirm of Fister, Laffey and League?A wasted good Lackey start?Having Milton

So much for a .500 April

The Red Sox had a late lead. They were playing the Mariners, not exactly a team that was a preseason pennant pick for anyone.All they needed to do was hold on to the lead and then on Saturday beat the Mariners at Fenway again. Then they would be 13-13.I grant you that is the definition of a mediocre record after 26 games.But with the rancid start the Red Sox had, finishing April at .500 would

I am NOT going to make fun of people watching the Royal Wedding

When I heard there was a Royal wedding, I thought "Does it involve George Brett? U. L. Washington? Pete LaCock?"The I realized it was Royal as in "someday king of England" royal.I couldn't possibly care less about this wedding in England today.It's not for me.Two 20 somethings are getting married. Both will spend the rest of their lives waving and not paying taxes.If you ARE caught up in it, I

A 6-3 road trip isn't bad.

The Red Sox had a 2-10 record at one point.They began this roadtrip after their Patriots Day win with a still awful 5-10 record.They come back to Boston 11-13. Still not great, but a mere 2 wins against the mediocre Mariners away from .500.The Mariners are coming into Boston with a 3 game winning streak. The law of averages say they are bound to lose a few coming up.If they drop the first two in

The Red Sox couldn't just lose, could they?

Yesterday was the perfect illustration why I don't consider all losses to be equal. Of course mathematically they all are. A 25-0 rout is as much of a loss as a 2-1 pitchers duel or a 10-9 slugfest or a blown save in the 9th.But emotionally (and it is always dangerous to imply baseball has any emotions) losing a game that including a tremendous comeback only to blow it in the late innings is a

Feet made of Clay

OK, maybe I was getting greedy.But after getting such great pitching performances out of Beckett, Lester, Lackey and Dice-K, I was hoping out other All Star starter from last year would find his stuff.Alas, Clay Buchholz once again looked ordinary and against the Orioles no less!Get that ship right, Clay. I wasn't counting on Beckett nor Dice-K this season but I WAS counting on YOU!Let's update

What if Dice-K is good again?

Seriously, was ANY Red Sox fan counting on Dice K for squat this year?Wasn't the consensus that the Daisuke Matsuzaka era in Boston was grinding down to a whimper?And yeah he had a great game on Monday. But that was a Patriots Day game and most visiting batters' timing tends to be off with the early Patriots Day start.So I guess it was easy to dismiss 7 innings of 1 hit ball.But is it so easy to