Two fun facts about Luke Perry: He's older than I am and I've never seen him in a Yankees cap! (I have no idea what the origins of this photo are)

I’m not particularly proud of this, but last night when home plate umpire Tom Hallion bent over and didn’t upright himself until they walked him off the field, I had two thoughts.  The first was, “Man, I hope he’s all right” but the second (and longer) one was “Great.  Now we have to wait for another ump to suit up while Papelbon stands on the mound getting cold with two outs behind him”.

Like I said, I’m not proud.  I’m not proud but I’m happy.  According to MLB.com, the tests on Hallion came backn negative, so he’s okay, and Papelbon got Nick Markakis to ground out to end the game.  All’s well that ends well.

At the very least, Sox won’t be getting swept by the Orioles this week.  Tonight, Daisuke is on the mound to try and eke out a series win.  Last night’s game was another example of how much fun this team is to watch and why I’m compelled to keep doing so.

Baseball has an interesting rivalry brewing between the Nationals and the Marlins.  I didn’t see it last night but if you go here, MLB has a good compilation video put together with both broadcasts covering the melee.  Keith Olbermann nails why Nyjer Morgan, the player who was hit last night and then got a purpose pitch behind him is the one getting all the grief today (and he agrees with the Marlins broadcasters who think MLB needs to do something about Morgan).  I enjoy the contrast of the Marlins announcers blaming Nyjer Morgan for starting the fight and the Nationals announcers worrying about his teammates getting Morgan out from under the pigpile.  What Olbermann doesn’t specifically write in his piece is that Tuesday night, because of one of those “brutal” collisions with a catcher, Morgan caused Marlins rookie catcher Brett Hayes to suffer a separated shoulder and ended his season. Can’t say it’s tough to blame the Marlins for their reactions last night.  (See the video here – can’t believe the kid held on to the ball.  And for folks defending Morgan, as the announcers said, had he actually slid like he should have he probably would have been safe.)

I have one question:  Who decided that we need to be given play by play of the fights on the field?  I don’t mind it.  It actually cracks me up.  It makes me laugh that these guys are giving us play by play of a game as tame as baseball and then switch gears and become announcers for the WWE.

I will not lie…I enjoy a good basebrawl once in a while. But the problem with basebrawls is that even though people laugh at them (usually most “brawls” are players milling around the field not really engaging each other too physically) someone could get seriously hurt.  Having written that, Hayes was just doing his job and got wrecked.  I can completely understand the Marlins doling out a little street justice.

Today is 9/02/10 (or “90210″) so pop culture nerds (which I am) will be flooding your Twitter feeds and Facebook pages with this information (which I won’t).  I found it interesting that when Beverly Hills 90210 began in 1990, I was 21 years old and TWELVE of the guys on the active roster for the Red Sox weren’t even 10 years old.  Maybe interesting isn’t the right word? Maybe depressing is?

I’m on a mini-vacation for the next few days.  The plan is to keep posting but I suppose that depends on how much fun I have!  Hope everyone stays safe this holiday weekend and avoids anyone named “Earl”.

Good luck in Colorado, Little Manny! Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.smugmug.com and used with permission.

It is sometimes difficult to find something to write each day.  Today was especially difficult as last night’s game wasn’t one we want to relive yet I didn’t want to leave a blank space where something should be written.

I was pleased to find this in the comments today (from “Sharpie”):

Balty’s starter pitched his ass off & Josh was just as good & lasted longer

As anyone who visits this blog regularly knows, I’m all about finding silver linings and trying to accentuate the positive and it tickled me that someone beat me to the punch (and instead of my inspiring you, you inspired me).

I just can’t give up on this team.  No matter how hard is sometimes is to watch, no matter how many comments or emails I get from people who want to rub salt in the wound they assume is there, no matter how bad the chances become that the Sox play deep into October, I can’t give up on them – and I won’t.

I’m a little surprised at the number of fans who have admitted that they’ve moved on to football.  I’m surprised that members of a fan base supposedly so dedicated can just give up that easily.  From 2000 through 2009, the Red Sox have been in the playoffs six times.  They’ve finished second in the division eight times, finished third once and finished first once.  How many fan bases have been this fortunate?  How many fans know that their team will most likely be in the playoffs and if not in them damn near close to getting in them every year?

Out of the last ten opportunities, the Red Sox have missed the playoffs four times.  In those six playoff appearances, two were ended in game 7 of the ALCS and two ended with World Series championships.  We’ve been quite fortunate.  There’s a great chance this season will mark five out of eleven – does that make this team any less your team?  Do you like baseball less because your team isn’t good?  No one makes you become a fan.  Either you like baseball or you don’t.  I don’t get the mindset of “I support the team unless they aren’t going to the playoffs”.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying everyone should have rose-colored glasses on and be absolutely positive the Sox can still make it to the playoffs.  I’m just baffled by the number of people complaining about how the Red Sox are done and saying that now it’s time to focus on football (or whatever you activity of choice is once baseball season is over).

I’m still watching.  I’m still hoping for good baseball and crossing my fingers that meaningful baseball will get played at Fenway come late September.  Even if the baseball is “meaningless”, I’m still watching.

Before the season began, when it was announced that the final series at Fenway would be against the Yankees, Kelly O’Connor bought tickets for the last game and emailed me saying I was going with her because if the game was meaningful (and turned out good) we’d want to be there and if the game turned out to be the last game played at Fenway in 2010 we had to be there.

Right now, even though I know the possibility of that game being excruciatingly painful is tremendous, I can’t wait to be there.  Sometimes it’s worth the rough times to show the team that, good or bad, you’re there to support them.  They give us a lot of  joy over the season and it seems to me when they’re at their worst (or just having a rough go of it) it’s our job as fans to give a little back.

While I could try and get away with saying it’s because I’m in mourning over Manny Delcarmen being traded (which I’m genuinely sad about), that isn’t the reason I have to cancel tonight’s live chat.  Unfortunately, a conflict came up and I won’t be around for the start of the game.  Sorry about the short notice. 

So let’s send Josh Beckett good vibes and hope he starts the next winning streak and hopefully we’ll be back to live chatting next week!

Photo taken by me as Gabe was gracious enough to pose

Running late this morning so a longer post will come later but wanted to get this out there:  Today is NOT Gabe Kapler’s 35th birthday yet we will celebrate anyway with a live chat tonight during the Red Sox/Orioles game that starts at 7:05.

Beckett needs the mojo, folks, so join us won’t you?

I wrote this on Twitter during ESPN’s coverage of the game when Jon Miller said that it will be tough for the Red Sox to catch the Rays or the Yankees because New York and Tampa Bay had been playing much better baseball than the Red Sox lately.  It didn’t sit right with me, so I looked it up.

Before Sunday’s games were played, the Yankees’ record in August was 13-13 and they had won six out of their last ten games.  The Rays’ record was 15-11 and they also won six out of their last ten.  The Red Sox?  15-11 and wins in six out of their last ten games.

So to say that, right now, the Rays and Yanks are playing well above the Red Sox (which is pretty much what Miller was saying) is flat-out wrong.  This season hasn’t been anything if it hasn’t been a struggle but the Red Sox are playing ball at the same level as the two teams currently above them.  It doesn’t help when you look at the standings and see how far out they are but it shouldn’t be glossed over that the Rays and Yanks are so much more superior when right now they’re all playing at similar levels.

It looks like a really tough road for the Red Sox to make it to the playoffs but it isn’t impossible.  Losing the series in Florida was tough but it doesn’t mark the end of days.  Three more games against the Rays and six more games against the Yankees alone is cause for hope.  I’m not happy with the way this weekend went but I’m not wallowing in sadness either.  Still a lot of baseball to be played before their playoff chances are dashed.

Highlight of the game? Kalish's catch was fantastic! Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.smugmug.com and used with permission.

I didn’t purposely skip over posting yesterday but I can only imagine the emails I would have received had I written something.

Because, had I written an entry on Saturday, it would have been about how good Friday night felt.  The Sox beating the Rays, the Yankees losing to the White Sox, the Red Sox gaining a game all around.  It was a great feeling and a wonderful way to end the night.

As good as Friday felt is as bad as Saturday felt.  But, really, Saturday doesn’t change Friday.  Friday was still great and the Red Sox are still in the position they were in before the game Friday night.  And while I get people being upset – hell the word to describe how I felt after the game was and still is “sad” – based on emails I’ve received today without having posted yesterday, I can only imagine how much worse they would have been had I shared in full-length format how happy Friday night made me.

I received a handful of emails from different folks regarding this weekend’s games thus far.  Here’s an excerpt from one:

You were so excited on Twitter Friday night and now you look stupid. Why bother getting excited about the Red Sox when you know they’re going to lose just like they did tonight? They suck and you’re wasting your time with them.

The kicker? This came from a Red Sox fan who follows me on Twitter.  Seriously?  I’m wasting my time?

Here’s the thing.  Last night was a tremendous kick in the ass.  Until Clay starting reverting to his old self by throwing over to first a million times, he was sailing.  After that errant throw that allowed Pena to take third from first and eventually score, the wheels came off.  We all saw it, we all felt it, we all new what was coming and couldn’t stop it.  I was upset in the moment but after sleeping on it I have one question for folks:

How is what happened last night any different than what’s been happening all season???

The entire season has been a flurry of great games, sucky games, great news, sucky news, lather, rinse, repeat.  If you’ve stuck it out this long…if you’ve decided that this team has enough guts and heart and energy that you want to watch every night to see what happens…if you don’t think 5.5 games out of first place at the end of August is the worst place they can be…then why the hell would one God-awful, gut punching game make you throw in the towel now?

I get the knee-jerk reaction stuff.  Hell, sometimes I think I’m QUEEN of the knee-jerk reactions when it comes to the actions going on during the game.  But, honestly, it didn’t even take me sleeping on it for me to remember that this seasons seems to be some sort of test by the Baseball Gods and last night’s game might have been one of the hardest parts of that test but it doesn’t mean you tear up your paper and storm out of the room.

In the American League, the Orioles, the Tigers, the Royals, the Indians, the Angels and the Mariners all are playing under .500 right now, yet they still have fans who go to the games and who try to enjoy the season for what it’s worth.  One game at a time, one play at a time, one amazing win or devastating loss at a time.  The Red Sox are 18 games over .500.  They’re 5.5 games out of first place and, really, still in the middle of a pennant race whether folks think it’s an impossible goal or not.  They’re still in it.

It sucks that they lost.  It especially sucks how they lost.  But don’t be sending me (or anyone else) messages telling me I’m stupid for getting excited about the wins because they turn around and have the nerve to lose as well.  I’m a fan.  This is my team whether they suck or they excel.  Now is the time for people to step back and figure out what they want from their team and what they realistically expect from the men who take that field.

I want them to win more than they lose and I want them to entertain me.  I want them to help make my summer and early fall interesting and exciting.  So far they’ve done all of that, so you bet your ass I’m going to be here and on Twitter proclaiming my happiness for and about them.  I invite you to do the same because it beats the heck out of the alternative.