.500 feels good
Grabbed from RedSox.com
I know it means nothing, especially given the two teams have identical records and the only reason they aren’t listed in last place is because B comes before N in the alphabet, but there is something psychologically soothing about seeing “Boston” above “NY Yankees” instead of anchoring the American League East in last place. I’ll take it.
This has been a fun run. I still am a little sore that Jonathan Papelbon got a save against the Sox but if that was the price we had to pay for the team to leave Philly with the series win I guess I’ll have to get over that. The Baltimore Orioles are another story. I actually really like the Orioles. I mean REALLY like them. If there was ever a reason I had to choose a new team (say if the Red Sox brought Brett Myers on or if Rick Pitino decided he had enough of basketball and wanted to give managing a baseball team a shot and the Sox said “Come on over!”) it would be the Orioles. But when the Red Sox play the Orioles I might dislike them even more than the Rays (never more than the Yankees). They drive me crazy. I want them to lose and lose hard. So last night didn’t exactly start the way I was hoping.
I was out of television range for the first two hours of the game. Fortunately, I could check the progress on my phone and I kept switching between the Red Sox and the Celtics and I’m being honest when I say at one point I completely shut down my phone so I wouldn’t be tempted to look at the scores and get worked up. Such different emotions from the beginning stages of both those game to the end stages, huh?
After seeing that Clay walked in two runs it was sweet schadenfreude to read that the Orioles balked in the tie-breaking run. Hooray for balks being called on the other guy! And kudos to Will Middlebrooks for instigating it over on third base. Reminded me of Coco Crisp. I was at a game in Baltimore in 2007 where Coco was similarly jiggy on third and caused Daniel Cabrera to balk in a run ~ which then caused Cabrera to lose his mind and throw at Dustin Pedroia’s head which caused a benches clearing shoving match. Good times, good times.
The Red Sox are .500 in the standings and 10-10 in the month of May. Not often do we celebrate mediocrity but when you consider they got to this point by winning 9 out oft heir last 12 games instead of identifying the team as mediocre we can now consider them on a roll.
Why are you talking about this? The *real* news is that David Ortiz said something angry during the postgame. It doesn’t matter what he said or why. As all politicans and debators know, it’s not cool to look angry, and for David Ortiz to look uncool makes him automatically wrong.
You should be freaking out about that and pretending he’s Hitler. You should be typing things like, “Waaaaah, waaaaah, what a spoiled baby!” and acting like it’s Watergate.
Imagine the nerve of him saying that nothing he or the team does is ever good enough for the press! And now we should all spend the next 48 hours absolutely trashing him and the team for saying that. I just wish you did your part as a member of the “smartest fanbase in baseball” and participate in that vicious circle rather than focusing on something so insignificant as the actual game itself.
LOL Max.
I like the Orioles too. I love their long and glorious history and their classic (and classically beautiful) uniforms and their classy, wonderful 21st century old-school ballpark. I love their (alas much concussed) second baseman and their great young catcher and their fine outfielders. I’m not a big fan of the manager, but apart from that, the only thing about the Orioles I wish were different is that crappy beer-league cap they wear at home–the one that makes their heads look enormous :-) If my Sox don’t make the postseason I would love to see the Orioles do it.
That being said, I’m so glad we played well in Camden Yards this trip. The team played hard professional ball and have been looking increasingly solid and inspired, like the 13-deep DL is becoming a rallying point and they’re kinda pulling things together as a team, like as to say, “Bleep it. Let’s play some ball.” :-)
You gotta love Adrian Gonzalez volunteering to play outfield so Youk and Middlebrooks can BOTH play for a while. Hats off to a real pro.
I am grading approximately ten thousand papers right now (hence my middle of the night post) but Terri and I will be at the Fens tonight. Go Sox!